Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: And we are live. Hey, guys. I am Heather with Head in the.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: Clouds and this is Andres with Chad and real estate agent here in Huntsville, Alabama.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: And this is Real Talk where we dive into the real estate and entrepreneur business and really get behind the scenes and look at the nitty gritty, the dirty and the fun, and just bring it all out on the table.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Absolutely. This is the beautiful part of it, right. I think a lot of details are behind the scenes and we get to talk about it and have fun with it, right?
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Definitely. And we are live streaming. So we are live streaming today on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and tick tock.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Absolutely. This is awesome. And then we welcome anyone out there that's listening to us.
Again, we're going to be posting the link so you can join us in studios with, here with us and ask any questions.
So if you can please come in and we'll have a chat.
And Heather, before we, we dive in, into, into the topic for today, I was just, I was just at a mastermind this morning and we're talking about stories. How can we connect with people through, through stories now? How can we show a message through a story? Right? And, and I think you and I, when we decided to put this together, this is exactly why we put this together, because we want to hear your story.
We want to hear other people's story that are in the real estate space in any other business whatsoever.
Because this is something I emphasize on the Spanish podcast and something I'm very keen on.
We all have a story, we all have a journey on why we came here, how we got here, you know, how, how we got to be successful in the space that, that we're in.
But that's, you know, that, that wasn't always the case. Throughout the journey, throughout, we have some struggles, we have some obstacles, and I'm curious to learn, you know, other people's stories. That's one of the main reasons we put this together because with that story, we are, we're able to connect with others and we, at the same time, we're able to inspire others.
And I think it's so important because sometimes you don't know what, what when someone is going through. Right. And I can go back to, to when we met the first time around. I follow up with you consistently. I think I bug you way too many times to show up to the zoom call and, and you became my right hand, my partner.
We, we started working together, we had a chat and, and right away we saw Mantis.
We work well together. We can, you know, push each other, we can drive together and go even farther than what we can imagine.
So if it wasn't for that follow up, you know, we wouldn't have that conversation and we wouldn't be here today.
And it's part of that story. No.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Just like I mentioned yesterday on, on our community, sometimes we, we come across someone because it's the right time to connect. Right. I may not be the right time for some decisions to be made, but it was the right time to connect and just continue to, you know, bring value to those someone, regardless of what space you're in. If you're a real estate agent working with clients and you are working with other real estate agents, sometimes the right time to connect is there, but not the right time for some decision and just continue to bring value, continue to plug in and be positive and, and important to those people. Eventually things will plan out and that's how we got here.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: Not only share stories and inspiration, but also mistakes and examples so people can learn. Like if, if you messed up, if you made a mistake and it's something that you're like, ah, this is embarrassing. I don't really want to share it. But if it can help somebody else from making that same mistake, it's not just the good stories we want to hear. We also want to hear, you know, that, oops, I did this so to fix it. I did this so that everybody else can learn and nobody has to make that, that same mistake. Like, like, I'll start off with when I, I didn't get paid at closing at my, I mean, I got paid eventually, but when I was a very first baby agent, I didn't know there was a form you had to fill out to actually get paid like at closing because I, I just didn't know.
And so it took a couple of days for me to actually, I think it took like a week for me to actually get a check. And had I just filled out a simple form with my broker, I would have got that. So that sucked. But moving forward, just tell everybody. Make sure you have everything lined up for your closing.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: Well, it's, it's how we got to this podcast too, right?
We talk about it for a few months.
You know, nothing's perfect yet.
We, we hang around the idea, hey, we should do a podcast and start doing this, talk about this.
But we always, you know, like I always say, a lot of times we are our biggest obstacle.
We wanted, we're looking for perfection.
When there is no perfection, sometimes you just got to do it. And that's exactly what we did. We say, okay, let's do it next week.
Trust me, if we find any mistakes, if we screw up in some ways, people are going to tell us. People are pretty quick at telling you when you screwed.
Oh, yeah.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Tell you how you did it wrong and how they could do it better. So we mess up, we'll know it.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's like a Sean always say, you know, how many agents does it take to close a Transaction Right.
To 101 to get the DM done and, and 99 to tell you how you could have done it better. So just do it. But that's the beauty of it. And the little mistakes and the little obstacles, it's what makes us who we are today. And, and, and I'm curious because we want to put someone in the spotlight. Well, this real estate agent, whether you're restaurant owner, any type of business owners, entrepreneur.
I want to hear your story. I want to hear what those obstacles were and how you overcome them and, and made it to where you are today. So yesterday we're diving into the real estate transaction, but we want to bring more people on board that, that are able to connect.
Just thought I'd share that before we started because we were talking about that which is the essence of what we put this together.
Every day is an exciting moment just to be here and be able to put this together.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Speaking of exciting moments, also wanted to mention that we're running a contest inside our Cloud Connect with our Cloud Connect agents of who can answer the most live transfers in the month of August. So September 1st is when we'll run the final tally and see who the winner is. And I think it'd be pretty cool if the winner could either get a shout out on our podcast or maybe even wants to come on our podcast and talk about, you know, how they've been doing and how they were able to answer all of those and win that contest.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: I'm excited for that contest because of the essence of it, answering the live transfer. You don't know how many agents I see that are not, not answering the phone. Right.
Our business is related to the number of conversations that we're having.
Right. And, and we're making that live transfer, trying to connect with someone who's ready and able to talk to you right now. It's important to be able to pick the phone. So I'm curious to see, you know, the winner of this, but at the same time, I'm curious to see who did not make the cut because of so many opportunities. Missed.
Like we need to look into that.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: We won't, we won't put on blast the person who missed the most live channel. We should. But we won't. We won't.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: No, we, we won. But at the same time, you know, I want him to realize, hey, this is, these are opportunities coming your way that if you're not able to, to answer the phone for whatever reason, let's put something in place so that doesn't happen. Whether you have another team member, another agent that can make or handle those calls. Let's, let's integrate that. Because again, our goal is to put opportunities in front of you, not just let them walk away.
And it's like we always say, it's like when we go shopping, if you have a ready to go buyer, I do the same when I need a haircut.
If I go to my barbershop with an appointment and there's a two, two hour wait, sorry, but for today, I'm gonna look for somebody else.
You know, I need a haircut. I have a meeting, I need, I have a showing.
I look messy. I, I don't like showing up like that. I need a haircut.
I'm gonna find somebody that can help me.
You know, I can provide that. And I think that happens in real estate as well, right? We see it happen where we have a missed life transfer, we check in with that lid a few weeks later, they're already talking to another agent.
You know, it's not the agent's fault, but it's a missed opportunity. If you're able to connect the phone, you're giving yourself a better chance.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, you. I was gonna say you'd be surprised, but I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised with how many times I've gotten that lead and they've said, well, I'm talking to an agent, but she doesn't really answer, or he doesn't really answer. I haven't signed anything with them yet. So, you know, and that's where there's always going to be an agent waiting in the wings ready to swoop in if you're not communicating, if you haven't got that know, brokerage agreement signed yet, there's always going to be an agent there ready to take up that lead and ready to talk to them how they want to be talked to.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: And I would say it's not, doesn't happen only to agents. Yesterday, for instance, I talking to an agent and she has a deal expected to close on the 15th of this day.
All right? And, and I want to bring this scenario up because I thought it was very. Communication is key, right? We talk about this a few weeks ago.
So I'm talking to this agent, she said she has a deal that came through, expected to close on the 15th, but the, it's a VA and the appraisal came back with a crack window. They need their window to be fixed in order to close on time.
And she's trying to look for options to get this done on time.
And the loan officer is non responsive and well, how do you feel about that? What are you, what do you think of that situation? And sorry, we are off track, off topic today. But I thought that was, I had that conversation with her and, and, and her team, her brokerage and the loan officers. Mia, like what's your take on that?
[00:11:14] Speaker A: So I have select lenders that I love working with and those are my lenders that I know they're going to answer the phone, I know they're going to answer the text. They do open houses with me. So, so it's not like I'm trying to call a big corporation, dial 1, 800 and then press 9 and then 4 and then star to talk to somebody who can pull a file and give me an answer. I'm talking to somebody who's like directly working on this person who's spoken with, you know, my clients because they're also their clients. Now obviously sometimes my, my buyers have their own, you know, lender that they're bringing or they have a bank they want to use. So you, you know, you work for your client, you do whatever they want to do. But I prefer to work with lenders that are going to communicate for that reason. Right there I am, I actually remember I was doing a new construction one time and the lender on it was the preferred lender for the builder, right.
And I called her on a Saturday and she said, oh, I'm sorry, I don't take home my computer and I don't do work on the weekends. So you can hit me back on Monday.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: Seriously, I'm like crazy.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: My computer home and I don't do work on the weekends.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: And my point of view, this is just from the agent's point perspective, right? As a client, like what do you do in that situation? Because I want communication. I know what I'm keen on letting you know every step of the way what's happening. I'm on top of everyone communicating, hey, what's going on? What do you need from me? What do you need for my, from my, you know, my client for Me, that's.
That's not acceptable, you know, and it sucks. It sucks for both ends. Sucks for the agent, it sucks for the client, because if they're not communicating with the agent of the client, you are just at their mercy at this point. Right?
[00:13:09] Speaker A: I mean, at the very least, I would express to your client and let them know everything you're doing. Like, hey, I texted, I emailed, and I called the bank today. You know, I see you on the email. So you can see that I was trying to reach your lender. I haven't heard back from your lender. Give them periodic updates throughout the day so they don't just feel like everybody is ignoring them. Let them know that you're working. Maybe it's a little bit of an overshare, but at least it puts their mind at ease that you're trying to get an answer for them, especially if it's a lender or a bank they insisted on working with that you kind of already knew was going to be an issue. And then you can even. I've even told my clients in the past who I'm like, hey, I've. I called, I've texted, I've emailed. I'm not getting a hold of anybody. I cc'd you on the last email. Why don't you try. Why don't you give them a call? You try, see if you can get through. And if you get through, tell them, check their email and give me a call back. That way, you know, they can kind of feel like every effort's being done every. And most of the time, they won't get through either. If it's really that hard to get through the lender.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I just, I saw that situation, and I'm sure it's not the first time it has happened. I'm sure it has happened to a number of agents. Hasn't happened to me yet. But I would try to take measure to prevent that from happening because, well, I. I do got to say, it did happen to me to some extent.
I got a referral from. From. From the bank itself, and I try to reach out to the lender to determine, you know, information, what, you know, what they're qualifying, you know, the process, the best way to communicate with him. And I never heard from the person, so.
So, yeah, I could say there's some people out there that I don't know how seriously they take the job.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: I would say, well, now I always encourage the buyers to apply with more than one lender so they can see what actually is going to Be the, typically send them a list of like three to five lenders, depending on what type of loan they say they want and where, you know, where they're located. Send them a list of the lenders, tell them to apply with everybody, and then they can kind of sit down, go through line by line and see which is going to be the best option for them moving forward.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Absolutely. They have to, It's a big investment. They have to shop around for, for the best deal, not just an interest overall, looking at that big picture, you know, what makes more sense for them?
So very important to chop around in that, in that area as well. It's not just a house.
Right.
So, yeah, I thought I brought that up because it was very interesting to hear that, the, the point of view. And I said, let me, we're talking about it, getting a deal done today. Let me, let me bring that up tomorrow, see what Heather thinks of that.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: I am all about communication. It drives me nuts when people don't communicate. I'm like, oh, my God, just give me an update. Especially the not answering the phone thing. Now I will say I'm really bad about emails. And we learned that when Jessica, my transaction coordinator, was here. I, I am guilty. I, I don't read emails. I'm horrible at that. But when it comes to, like, business messages, business phone calls, you have to answer your phone.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. You have to wait. It's our job to answer the phone.
It's our job.
Yeah, it's. This is fun. And I think the more we dive into a specific areas of, of the process, I want to bring a client in at some point. I want to hear from a client perspective, you know, you know, what works with what, what didn't work, what was the bad experience they had at some point that allowed them to, to look at an agent differently, that allowed him to be able to connect with, you know, that pushed him away to work with another agent. So, because I know we, we can talk a lot about, from our, from our point of view, but I am very curious to learn from a client perspective in the real estate space, you know, what the mindset looks like, what that process looks like, what their whole experience was, whether it was good or bad. I wanted to hear both of them because that's, I think that's how we get better on this type of profession than we, you know, talking about those little details that are a lot of times overlooked but could be so important for, for someone.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Definitely. And when you're talking about little details, that brings us right into moving along on our little game board here and talking about the squares and the whole buying process.
I know we're going to have our lender back on here and we're going to go deep into more of the appraisal and the financing contingencies and she's really going to get into that and explain that in depth to us because that is very much lender questions. So. And that's one thing I suggest to agents, especially new agents too. Yes, it's always good to know all about all the loans, how they work, interest rates, everything like that. So you're, you know, prepared to answer questions and work the deal.
However, you're not a lender.
So if there is a lender question, you would say that is a lender question.
Let me get back to you on that or let me connect you the lender. Let me, you know, you've got the three way text going on most likely with your lender and your client. Pop the text, pop the question in that text. That way you're actually getting a real answer. I know so many people who will just give a fake answer because they don't want to say the words I don't know.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: You don't have to say those words. Actually, you know that that's a.
I don't know the details or let me, let me talk to someone that, that can provide you more specific question and I'll get back to you on that, you know and be able to get that information from the lender. Right. And they just putting something out there that want to be not truthful to could jeopardize that relationship.
Just because you want to stay, you know, on that conversation and stay working with the elite.
That is something I've been approached several times with lender question.
I do exactly that. You know what, this is something that I, I feel more comfortable if you talk to, to the lender about.
He can provide you more specific details question related to your case specifically rather than me something making.
Making up. So I put it like that. And, and they're happy to, you know, with the outcome. You know, I'm not trying to make or create any part of my language any about the whole thing. It's.
It is what it is. It's not my strength. It's not my question. For me let me direct it to a professional.
Just like when we had Steven inspection. Right.
If it's anything related with the inspection.
Me working with a Hispanic field person, I want to be able to connect someone that can, yes, I can give him an overview and overlook you know, my opinions regarding the inspection report. But if I can have someone that can communicate in Spanish with a buyer or seller, then I want to make that introduction because they're hearing straight from the expert. I think it's so important to be able to, throughout the process, connect the expert with the lead regarding specific questions.
Hello.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: And the call that I just ignored was. Was not a lead. Can make your call.
It said, scam likely. Okay, guys, don't for me, because I declined the call after just saying, answer your phone.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: I see that. Try to put you on the spot.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Life, right?
[00:21:07] Speaker B: I'm like, trust me, I've gotten a couple of them.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: That's funny. That phone call was a paid actor.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: It was. I think probably maybe Sean sent it over, right?
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Oh, you're trying to catch us off guard. But no, I think definitely just hit that. You know, that's the lender question sounds a lot better than, you know, having to say I. And it. It's not even necessarily that I don't know the answer. It's just that it's not a question that you, as an agent should be answering. It's a question that should be routed back to the lender, because you're not the lender, you're the agent. And that's how Aries explained the relationship to my buyers and sellers, especially my buyers who are working with a lender. I say, you know, Tony and I, we're the house people. We're the ones that go out, find the house, negotiate on your behalf, and then whoever their lender is is the money guy. This is the person that's going to be handling all the money and all the finance questions and everything like that. They're going to be the one you go to or the house. They're the money. And that's how you kind of define the two relationships, or how I do, anyways.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Absolutely.
And today, what do we have for the agenda? We got offer negotiations.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: Offer negotiations. And let's talk a little bit about the. Just the differences between the two states in the due diligence period and for you, for your inspection period. So let's start with Alabama, and you tell me a little bit about yours, and then we can jump into a little bit about Georgia's.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, here in Alabama, we also have the buyers beware, meaning the seller are not entitled to provide you all the information about the house, conditions, so on. So you as a buyer have to do your due diligence and get an inspection done.
Right?
Inspection. You normally have 14 days from the moment you have offers accepted to get the inspection done, and you have three days afterwards to, to cancel the contract if you're not satisfied with the inspection report. If you see too many things in there that you're like, no, this is not gonna work.
You have within three days. And so, so the seller has three days as well to accept, you know, accept that.
And I think it's, it's a very important step because just like we talked a few months ago, a few weeks ago, even when Stephen, I see a lot of, a lot of people asking, hey, an inspection was not recommended and two, three months later, you know, things started happening in the property.
So with that said, it's in the process of 30 days. You have the 14 days to get the inspection, then you have three days afterwards to request repairs or cancel the contract. And so the seller has three days to accept those repairs and respond back to the, to the buyer and saying, hey, you know, this is what's going to be able to get done. This is not what's going to get done and be able to move forward in that process.
How about for you?
[00:24:31] Speaker A: So in Georgia, what we typically do is we have a due diligence period and that can be a number of days. Kind of determine the housing market, kind of determines what that is. When it's not a crazy, crazy market, I like to do a week, I like to do a seven day due diligence period. But again, it's all about crafting your offer to what's going to be the best for the client, what the client agrees on, and how quickly you can get a home inspection done. So let's just say for whatever reason, we do a five day due diligence. What we would need to do during that five days is have the home inspector come do the home inspection. Like with, like with Steven. And again, about relationships, I try to recommend home home inspector companies that I've worked with in the past. I know they can go out, I know they can do it quickly, and I know we'll get the report back quickly.
It's not always the case with a bunch of home inspection companies, but it is what it is. So we get that home inspection done and then what we do is we look over that home inspection.
The buyer will, the buyer, you know, work with the buyer, they'll decide what they want to ask be done. And we send over an amendment to address concerns saying these are the things that the home inspector saw at the house that are wrong and we would like these things fixed to proceed. And we have up until Midnight of the last day of the due diligence period that we can terminate the agreement for whatever reason. And I, you know, they could wake up, stubborn toe on their bed and be like, I don't want the house anymore. And so we can terminate the deal.
But if we go after and we try to terminate after, we lose our earnest money. So we want to make sure that their earnest money is protected.
I personally like the seven, the seven days because it gives us time to do the inspection, get the inspection back, make sure, you know, everything's going to work.
But if it's a crazy market and you're wanting to have a competitive offer, you can do faster, you can do no due diligence. You can just buy it, you know how it is, and you can take it. I don't recommend that to any of my clients. I always tell them, hey, this is a big investment.
You want to make sure that you know what you're walking into.
But, you know, like I previously stated, at the end of the day, we just advise our clients and then, you know, they tell us how they want to proceed with the transaction.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: I think it's so important, like you said, having this conversation before you place an offer, right? What's important?
And like we mentioned last week, what's important for both parties, right? If the seller needs to close early or within the 30 days, if anything is important in that aspect, then you can negotiate all those things and then line up a few things, have a few things lined up already so that you can make that happen. Whether, you know, on the time frame for due diligence, getting inspection done, appraisal, request for repairs, getting any repairs.
It's details that sometimes get overlooked, you know, or if you don't pass that information to your client right away, you know, and, and next thing you know, your client has a few hours to respond back. And they don't like what I didn't know about this.
So it's important to let them know from the beginning. This is the time period for each particular case. That's what I like to do. Let her know, hey, once we go on the contract, we have this time to get inspection done. We have this time. If anything happens, we have this time allocated for that. We need to stay on top of each task and make sure that on our end we take care of everything. We looked at everything in detail and respond accordingly to ensure we have a smooth transaction.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: And you got to make sure that your clients are covered. And there's been quite a few occasions actually where we couldn't come to an agreement in writing, like verbally. The other agent was like, yeah, yeah, we'll fix everything. So we sent over our amendment and then they didn't sign it. They didn't sign it. They didn't sign it. And so I'll tell my client, I'm like, look, it's the last day they haven't signed it. The agent isn't answering, so I'm going to write up a termination.
And they're like, no, I love the house. I'm like, hey, hey, listen, listen, listen. Sign the termination because we want to make sure that we're protected.
So if they, I'm going to keep calling the agent, I'm going to keep trying. But if they don't sign or amendment to address concerns, we're going to send over the termination so that you're protected. Are you okay with that? And then they're like, okay, yeah, well, when you put it that way, because you have to have them everybody sign to make sure that everything's good to move forward. And if not, you need to make sure you send that term, that sign termination over before your due diligence period ends. And if it was a simple like, oh, I just, you know, oh, I was busy, my phone died, I lost my phone and I didn't get my, you know, sellers to sign. But they really want to move forward the deal. You can resurrect the deal. I think there's a special form for that too. You can just bring the deal right back, but it is dead. Once you terminate the deal, once you send over that, once you hit send on your email and you send the termination, the deal's dead, but your earnest money is protected.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: And, and that's the thing, you know, you want to protect your clients at all times because we all work differently, we all have different systems.
But like you said, some clients, some agents fail to communicate certain areas or stay on top of those things or they might missed an email.
Like if I send Heather an email.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: That'S why I have a transaction coordinator.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: They might not read it, they might not see it, and, and there's that email just sitting there. They might miss the phone call, you know, so always send them multiple ways to of contact.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: Man, I feel attacked.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: No, you're not, you're not. But I'm just saying it's important because whether it's on purposes or no, you want to make sure that you're protecting your client at all times.
And, and you just gotta be aware of what's happening at all times in the Transaction in order to. To protect them the best way you can without overlooking those areas.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: And when it comes to repair. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: Go ahead.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: I was just gonna say, and when it comes to the repairs, you know, you just sit down with your client, and what we would do is we would send over our attack. They agree to everything. Agree to some things.
Screw, you know, we're not fixing anything. Most of the time, they'll agree to some things, but not everything. And then you have to go back to your client, and you have to say, okay, this is where we're at. This is what they said they'll do. And then, you know, go from there with your client. Like, if your client's like this, that's okay. I guess we can settle for that. And if they're like, no, absolutely not. Let's do this. It's a lot of going back and forth, and it's a lot of rewriting and sending back over and everybody signing. So it's. It can be a lot during that due diligence period.
And most of the time, I find that people get really emotionally invested in, like, the little, tiny aspects of it. And sometimes you have to say, hey, this is a $500 fix. You know, are you gonna lose, you know, your. The buyers that want to buy your house over $500? Or on the other side, the buyers. Are you gonna lose a house you love over something as little as this? And if they're like, yes, I am, then okay, then it's really not the house that they, you know, want to be in. But if they're not, sometimes you have to kind of put things in perspective for them.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: And. And it's revisiting, you know, okay, what's important now. You know, are you comfortable doing this, doing that? And just to give you another example of recently, I close the transaction.
House needed a number of repairs. Small details. No, but they add up.
And the buyer was like, look, we don't want to sit here going back and forth as to what we think should be done.
How about we renegotiate the. The selling price and. And we take care of all the repairs afterwards.
We just want to move on and get into our new house. We're excited to get in here. And. And for the seller, it made total sense because they already moved out of state. The house would just sit in there. They wanted to, you know, get it done. They're like, okay, that's perfect.
You know, so it's just revisiting that and negotiating, getting that addendum in there, and Making the deal happy and done for everyone.
So those little details are important to be aware of and revisit throughout the negotiations, throughout the whole process. Because it could either make or kill or break the deal.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: It really can. And it's a lot of those little details that you have to watch. You have to make sure everything, everything is running smooth. And if you have multiple transactions going on, I suggest a transaction coordinator just to help you keep track of everything. Because it can be a lot, a lot. You have to have some type of systems in place. I would never be able to keep everything in my head straight. I have. I need to like see it.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: I will eventually. I will eventually. How about title and shipment? Why is title so important?
[00:33:45] Speaker A: So we, we need to make sure that. Who says.
These people that say they own the house. Own the house. We need to make sure it's a clear title. We need to actually that needs to be a whole thing on its own so we can really dive into that.
But just to give you kind of like a quick overview, there's different types of purchases. Whether you're doing commercial land, if you're just doing, you know, residential, there's different things that have to be done. Like you said, like that's the title search, title insurance and then land survey for if you're buying land, do you do a lot of our like commercial land or just regular land development out there?
[00:34:25] Speaker B: There is out here, but I haven't done any myself yet.
I focus more on the residential side.
But it is so important to be able to get that done not. Not few months ago actually the heart send out a message saying that there was a transaction done where the owners of the land said they were with the owners.
And after the transaction closed and further investigation H and now they were not the owners with the title search. They didn't hire a title company to follow through and do their due diligence. And it turned out that they were not the owners. And it was, it was a scam and it's unfortunate but distance happen.
It's happened consistently and it's so important to having all these things in place in order to ensure a smooth transaction and ensure everything is in order. Because yes, we're looking at the front end, we're looking at the visual aspect of things. But looking at that title and going back 30 years, it's a very important aspect of the deal to. To make sure that the new buyers are protected in the nest.
[00:35:41] Speaker A: It really is. And the same thing with, with land and land surveys. When you're doing any Any type of buying, like, just vacant land, you have to have the survey. And then we had a deal not too long ago where we were going to purchase the land, and we had the septic people come out, and they couldn't put a septic tank there.
So you need to make sure it's zoned correctly, and you need to make sure that it can either be attached to water or it can have a septic tank. And this. This land wasn't going to work for that. And then there's also. You want to have the builders go out there and look at the lot and make sure that they can actually develop it. And it's not.
I've never been through much of Alabama, but Georgia is kind. I wouldn't say crazy hilly, but it's not a lot of flat. Flat lots. There's a lot of.
I call it forest. I guess you would just call it, like, trees and woods and stuff, but, I don't know. Forest to me. So to go out and actually walk it and make sure that it is actually buildable are things you want to make sure you do before you just buy this land and you want to, like, see where it's owned. Are there any easements on it? Like, what's going on with all this land?
[00:36:50] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's demanding you buy a land, and you're like, oh, I'm gonna build a house in five years there. Next thing you know, you can even build a house there.
That would suck. Now what are you gonna do with it? Who's gonna buy it?
Now you have to find a specific buyer because you can't build anything on there, you know, and you both are thinking that, oh, I can do whatever I want.
And that's the key difference. And I can relate that back to in the art. In the art, there's no zoning permits, probably a line. You can do whatever the hell you want with it.
But over here, it's totally different. So you definitely need to have that in place in order, you know, think a few steps ahead. You know, what you want to build, and make sure that you can actually build that in that land that you're buying, because, yeah, it wouldn't happen.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: I know. I'm always a little bit suspicious when you'll see, like, older, established neighborhoods, and then suddenly there's a lot for sale in that neighborhood. And I'm like, okay, this neighborhood's been around for, like, 15 years, and there's a lot for sale here. Now, it could be that the original owner bought two lamp, two lots and built on One and was going to develop the other and never did.
Or it could be that that's not a developable lot and it's just been sitting there, and now whoever owns it is trying to get rid of it. So you always want to do your. Do your due diligence and make sure that you can build on it before you buy it.
[00:38:22] Speaker B: You know, I'm gonna look into. Into that because not too long ago, I drove through a community and.
And it looks like a pond. There's a nice pond and a stream of water that goes through. Every. Just about every house has the pond in the backyard, but there's one open lot in between two houses. And I was like, that question came up. I'm like, I wonder why.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: Is there a.
A tunnel, like, for runoff and stuff like that?
[00:38:53] Speaker B: Didn't look like it. So I will have to drive by and then look it up because I. Like I said, I just drove by. Didn't look into details or anything, but that question came up right away, like, why is that a lot empty? Like, all these nice houses here.
Why is that particular lot empty? You know, it could be that. It could be that they just bought two lots and left it open.
I love that you're not able to build something.
[00:39:23] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I'm. Now I'm intrigued. You'll have to keep us posted.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: Yeah. As I will definitely have to. I will have to try.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: By now, it'll be like on the next episode of Real Talk. Can you build in the lot that Andres found when he was driving? Is it a buildable lot?
[00:39:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
See, now. Now I have a task to do.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: Just adding more and more things to your to do list.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: I'll bring you guys an update. I'm not gonna say it's going to be on Thursday, but maybe next Tuesday.
[00:39:56] Speaker A: Next Tuesday. Okay. And I'm. First thing next Tuesday, I'm like, where's our update? Where's our update? Just kidding.
So in Georgia, we have a seller's property disclosure. So part of the listing packet is having the sellers fill out the seller's property disclosure and the cad, which is the community association disclosure. So if they have, like, a community association HOA with us, the homeowners are supposed to put down everything they know about the house, things that have happened, if there's been any, like, you know, flooding in it, any pipe burst, roof damage. And then they also put down what appliances and fixtures are staying with with the homes. Like, is. Is. I thought it was kind of weird when I moved to Georgia. People take the fridge. I'M from California. Nobody took the fridge in California. And when I came here, people are taking. I'm like, why? Why are they taking the fridge? But it's what they do. People take the fridge. So most of the time, the fridge does not stay with the home. I thought that was so weird. Everybody takes the fridge and there's no medicine cabinets.
[00:41:01] Speaker B: Yeah, there is none, actually, now that you mention it.
[00:41:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm like, what happened to medicine cabinets? And where is the fridge? So we just go hungry and have no medicine here. Okay.
[00:41:11] Speaker B: Now that you think about it, there's over here too. There's no medicine cabinet.
[00:41:16] Speaker A: Maybe that's just like. Like an old school thing. I guess.
[00:41:21] Speaker B: Probably it may be out here. It's really similar. Like I mentioned earlier, buyers beware. Sellers don't have to disclose all of that information.
It is your due diligence as a buyer to.
To get the inspection done. Go. Based on the inspection, you can ask a number of questions and the seller could answer them, but it's not guaranteed that they will answer everything right, so.
And yeah, anything that stand within the property has to be stated there in the contract.
Even the buyers. The buyers can ask for it. Hey, I want this particular chair. Can you leave it there?
You know, the fridge, stove, Leave it in there. When you make an offer, if it's not already stated in the MLS that you know, that is to stay with the property.
Very, very similar. Just the fact that the buyers be aware. I think we're the only or one of two stays that only have the buyer beware, where the seller doesn't have to provide other information on the property.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Can we.
I lost my train of thought. Oh, yeah. So when we're, when we're doing that and we're going back and forth, that's one thing is. So if you. If the buyer or that. Sorry, excuse me. If the seller knows there's something wrong with the property, they're supposed to disclose what's wrong with the property. So one of my negotiation tactics, too, within the due diligence period is I tell the other agent, I'm like, look, we've already brought to your attention all the stuff that's wrong with that. The house now. So you know what's wrong with the house now. And if we fall out of contract, you're gonna have to disclose that to the next person. You don't think they're gonna want the same things fixed, the same things repaired, and, you know, try to get them to understand and explain to their seller.
You already know these Things are wrong now. You don't think the new people are going to have a home inspection done? You don't think they're gonna find the same thing? You don't think they're also gonna want those repairs.
So since we know we do have to disclose things that are wrong with the house, is better just to be like upfront and honest. If you know something's wrong with the house, just say, you know, this is what's wrong.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Absolutely. And then we also had a warrant, the insurance and warranties, right, warranties to help the buyers, they move in the first, second year, if anything comes up.
But also the insurance. One thing I've learned recently is if there was an insurance claim, and I think we're going to bring in a, an insurance expert and the subject, an expert in the subject matter to, to elaborate a little bit more on that. Because if there was an insurance claim on the property within a certain amount of time, how does that, that affect the new buyers?
You know, that's something that's not often talked about, but the policy may change, increase because of that. So I want to bring an expert in that matter to, to so we can dive in, into that, that aspect a little bit more. And the same with the title search, the title company, so that we can dive into those areas and provide more inside information into what that process looks like and how important it is and why is it so important for, you know, homeowners coming in?
[00:44:41] Speaker A: Exactly. Like, is it, is it a flood zone? Are you going to have to have flood insurance? So tons of questions that have for the insurance agencies and asking them. And there's just a ton of questions. People don't think about all the small things that go into the real estate transaction. Like, you know, we're talking about like the disclosures, the insurance, the title, and then there's the hoa. And that's, oh my gosh, a thing on its own. So we have the cad, which is the community association disclosure, which you would put on there, how much, you know your dues are, how much the initiation is and if there's a transfer fee, all of that laid out so that the buyers know going in how much they're going to be paying monthly or annually, however they have it into the hoa. And then you want to know the HOA rules because a lot of subdivisions have very strict HOA rules. And this also applies if you're a listing agent. I can't tell you how many times we have had, especially in the higher end neighborhoods, they have rules they have rules about your sign. They have rules about open house signs, they have rules about balloons, they have rules about parking.
We had one where we couldn't even have a sign that said like our brokerage on it. It had to be a very special specific sign that they wanted us to use. Well, that like totally countered what our brokerage said, because our brokerage is like, you have to use this sign and the HOA is like, you have to use this sign. And then we had a different open house one time where the HOA said no signs, no signs, no balloons, nothing. I'm like, not like a little arrow. Can we have a little arrow pointing? And they're like, no signs. I'm like, how are people supposed to know there there's an open house if we can't even advertise the open house through? We do it up pretty big with the signs, the balloons, you know, all of that. But if you're not allowed to do that for certain HOAs, you have to get creative with it.
[00:46:31] Speaker B: Seriously. I'm gonna. In fact, I'm in the process of going to be selling a house because of the hoa.
The owner did not like how soon transpired with the hoa and although he's currently not living in the property, has a rent it, he's going to be moving back into town eventually. He's like, I absolutely want nothing to do with the HOA anymore. I love the house, but the way they. They behave on do not want that moving forward. So I'm going to put the house in the market and that's part of what I'm going to be doing. Just reaching out to the HOA and understand what their. The regulation and the aspect things are before I get the house in the market. And of course being compliance with that. But yeah, they could. It could be a headache sometimes.
[00:47:24] Speaker A: And I don't want to say HOAs are necessarily always bad because they do do a lot of good things. There are tons of people who would not cut their grass, who would not keep things updated if there was no hoa. If they were just left to their own demise, the neighborhood would go downhill pretty quick.
So there are some good aspects to an HOA, however.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Some HOAs get a little bit crazy with. You need to power wash your house, you need to power wash your driveway, you need to re shingle your roof, your mailbox is leaning to the left. Like crazy things.
[00:47:59] Speaker B: It makes you wonder, did you buy an apartment or did you buy a house? Do you buy. Are you renting for somebody to tell You. How do you. You can have your house.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: I put fake vine around my mailbox.
Straight to jail. Straight to jail. No vines around your mailbox. That's not allowed. Can't do that.
[00:48:20] Speaker B: Oh, man.
You see, it's not for everyone. I think you have to. When you're in the home search, those are details that you need to look into.
Just like I posted the video after last week, right? I'm me cutting the grass, remember? We talk about how important it is to figure it out.
You know, thinking about your property one year, two, three years down the road, and why you're gonna be there. You know, like me at that day. It took me about two hours, three hours, and then I had to finish another section over the weekend, and it was hot.
So having a show is not necessarily bad, but it's a.
Is it what you're looking for? Right.
If you plan on doing certain things in your house, you know, make sure that you are in compliance with the HOA because you don't want to move into the property. And. And a year later, be like, okay, this is. This is annoying. It's not making sense to me.
I need to move out.
And then as an agent, then you're going to be like, okay, my agent didn't say anything about this, didn't look into this, didn't show me, didn't mention it was going to be like this. So. And you, as an engine, you have to do a good job at bringing that up, making sure that they are okay with that and.
And they understand what those rules are, because it could be a headache afterwards.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that definitely can be a headache. And if you have a client, and I've had clients like this before who have been like, I don't want to live in anywhere that has an hoa, but I want to be in metro Atlanta. And I'm like, okay.
So while they're few and far between, there are some places that don't have an hoa.
It just really takes that needle in that haystack and just pounds on the hay when you're trying to find that needle in the haystack when they say no hoa. So if you're shifting through your MLS and it doesn't listen hoa, I always double check, call the agent, make sure that there is no hoa. And if the agent's like, no, I don't think so. What I would suggest doing is doing neighborhood search of that house. So if it's in. Let's just say it's in, like, Neighborhood Farm is the subdivision do the search of that house and then look at all the other listings that could be closed. Whatever. Just look at all the other listings, see if they have any attached docs and see if there's any community association disclosures there. And then see what they say in the listing themselves. And if none of them have that, then you're good. But if one of them has it, call that number and ask them if they're. If they still have an HOA over that community. That way you don't look stupid in front of your client.
[00:51:04] Speaker B: Absolutely.
So important. Those little steps will go a long way.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: All the time. As an agent, you're just on your phone.
[00:51:16] Speaker B: Just got to make sure you pick it up.
It could be. It could be a business coming in. You never know. So.
But that's. But that's why we do what we do. No, I think it's. It's a beauty in building those relationships, being able to connect with. With people in that capacity and, and grow from there. You know, just yesterday I had. Actually, I saw a referral a few months ago for.
It's an agent in Louisiana that had people moving over here from Arizona. And I introduced him. They were just looking for rent because he was looking. Coming over for a job.
So I came in, I helped him out. He came over, I had a conversation, and I figured out, hey, this is. I think this would be the best spots to rent. Because of what you do on your commute, your wife is coming to visit every so month. There's things accessible for her without needing a car. I want to make sure that she has plenty to do when she comes over while you are at work. I. I lay it all out for him, and he's like, man, you really thought about everything. I'm like, trust me, if I was in her shoes, visiting, I want to be able to do something. I don't want to be stuck in the house all day. So, yes, I'm thinking about her, not necessarily about you. For you, I'm thinking about the commute.
Like, thank you. I appreciate it. And. And yesterday he sent me a text. He's like, hey, I'm gonna be going back to Arizona they that job and send me back. But I just.
Just wanted to say, you know, how grateful I am that we came across you. And.
And if you're ever in Arizona, please reach out, because I would like to get together with you. And. And that made my day because that's part of the moments I would. That I do these four. Building that type of relationship when. When people don't don't see you as an agent, but see you more so as a friend, as a part of the family down the road.
[00:53:14] Speaker A: That's what it's all about.
[00:53:16] Speaker B: Yeah, it really is.
And so many times, so many stories. I hear that that gets lost in the transaction, you know, but this is. This is fun. I know. I know. We dive into, you know, the process and what that offer looks like, some the steps to get that done. And. Sorry that my camera keeps getting blurry because I keep moving.
So it's what's next on the board game on the Monopoly.
[00:53:49] Speaker A: Yep. All right, Bring back up our.
[00:53:52] Speaker B: Let me fix my camera here because know what's going on.
See, I moved too much, and I missed this Focus.
[00:54:05] Speaker A: Come on. This thing doesn't want to hear you.
I love when my computer runs slow. Works for my kids when they're streaming all day, but yet I want to use it, and it doesn't want to work. Here we go. So we are going to kind of skip a little bit ahead and talk about the.
The appraisal process with Marion. I believe she coming on Thursday. Are we still booked for that or no?
[00:54:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I will confirm today because he was flying out of town. But in the case we don't have Marian on board on Thursday.
My backup plan, I want to get Sean over here to go over the 77 points of clarity. So right after this, I'm going to confirm whether Marin's going to come on board or we're going to have Sean for the seven into clarity.
[00:54:51] Speaker A: And that's exciting. That's a good. That's a good reason to take a step away from the board real quick to get that because that is an awesome mastermind class. Highly suggest everybody attend that. Even if you're not a real estate agent, if you own a business and you're out here trying to get in the correct headspace, get in the correct mind space, maybe you just feel a little bit, you know, kind of the year hasn't gone the way you want it to go. I would suggest coming to this. It's a great, great mastermind. And we'll get back to the board eventually. And then I'm really excited for after we work our way all the way around the board. Some of the stuff we have coming up later in next quarter too, as well. With real talk.
I think you're frozen, Andres.
And I think we lost Andres. Give me a second. Let me try to get him back in.
Okay, guys. Well, sorry, I guess we unexpectedly lost Andres, and that's how the Internet connection goes here sometimes.
But like we were saying, if it's not going to be Marian, it will be Sean. And he'll be talking about the seven points of clarity on Thursday. After that, we're going to go back into all of the steps of being a real estate agent, all of the steps of the home buying process. And we are also going to go into the all of the steps of the selling process. So whether you're buying a home or selling a home, tune in. We'll walk you through the process completely. And then once we get past all of that, we can really take a deep dive into into other things. But to kind of get an understanding of the process first, we want to walk you through those before we jump into more crazy topics and some crazy stories and have some other agents on here to share some of their experiences as well. So again, guys, thanks so much for watching. Don't forget to, like, subscribe and follow if you want to join the Head in the Clouds community. You can scan the Scantron up here and if you go to www.realtalka.live, you can also follow us there and never miss an episode. Episode. I can talk sometimes. All right, guys, thanks and I'll see you guys on the next one.
Bye.
