Real Estate News Radio with Rowena Patton

Navigating Life's Moves: Stories of New Beginnings and the Quest for Home

• Rowena Patton

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Ever wondered what really goes on in the minds and hearts of those who upend their lives for a brand new zip code? Buckle up as we traverse the landscape of human emotion and practicality when faced with the life-altering decision to move. Bob's tale kicks us off; his Arizona-to-California career leap meant not just new digs, but a whole new way of living. We'll tackle the fears, the excitement, and the hard-won tips for anyone standing at the precipice of their own geographical leap of faith.

Then, we wade through the bittersweet waters of downsizing with Linda, a Floridian widow whose quest for simplicity in retirement is both inspiring and instructive. From the painful goodbyes to the belongings that fill a family home, to the unexpected joys of a less cluttered existence, we unpack it all. Linda's story, among others, will shine a light on the often overlooked silver linings of saying less is indeed more.

And we don't stop there. Prepare to be moved by stories of new beginnings sprouting from life's seismic shifts. Whether it's Sarah and Mike picking up the pieces post-divorce, Kevin seizing a career-propelled change of scenery, or Diane and Robert's migration to be near their precious grandchild, each narrative wraps us in the universal truth that with change comes opportunity. These chronicles remind us that while the reasons for our relocations are as varied as the paths we walk, the shared thread is our collective search for a place that feels like home.

Speaker 1:

This is the plain English real estate show with your host, rowena Patton, a show that focuses on the real estate market in Terms you can easily understand. Call Rowena now. The number is 240 99 62 1-800-570 99 62. Now, here's the English girl in the mountains, the agent that I would trust, rowena Patton.

Speaker 2:

Good morning and welcome to the show, and today we are talking about things that make you move. What things that make you move. It's not things that are going bump in the night. And sorry, youtube, I'm cleaning my lens off right now.

Speaker 3:

Things that make you move. How about 11-degree weather? That makes me move real quick into the house.

Speaker 2:

It's so rare here though.

Speaker 3:

It is rare, you're right and it's it's.

Speaker 2:

Yes, guys, it's a little chilly today if you think about moving here, but that's all right.

Speaker 3:

Oh, it's part of the joy. We have four seasons here and we're rare, it's a rare quantity to have four seasons.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, and the seasons that you know. It's not terribly hot in the summer and it's not right. Well, it's cold today, but it's just a day or two.

Speaker 3:

We're in the 60s. Next week it's called a January fall, right, right 60s?

Speaker 2:

does that mean all the little greenies will come out on the trees and my no well but.

Speaker 3:

But I will say there's little shoots of joy coming out of the ground on the front of my condo there for Daffodils yeah, daffodils, croaker.

Speaker 2:

The croakers come up first and then the snow drops are coming up if you plant snow drops. If you haven't planted snow drops, go and look up snow drops. They're very pretty.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, but I that's encouraging little science, see those little shoots coming out of the ground.

Speaker 2:

You know I used to work with a guy in the UK that you know everybody has tough years and he'd always say I feel better when the crocus Is are coming up.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, that was nice.

Speaker 2:

So we'll kick it off with the job relocation. This is Rowena pattern All star powerhouse broken by exp Today on the real estate news radio show, and if you've got friends that want to Listen into this, you can go to real estate news radiocom, real estate news radio calm, and listen anyway. You can also get the podcast there and Find all the other contact details that you might need. So just go to real estate news radio calm. So we kick it off. I've been gathering these over the last few months and these are people who've written in or Shared stories with me. Of course, we run cash CPO around the country now, so we've got all kinds of different areas covered. So this one was about job relocation and it's Bob from Arizona. You know, a guy from Arizona was in my previous book that he bought a home with us here and his parents had His father had a heart attack actually and he needed to move back to his home very quickly and we do it I love it or leave it guarantee. So we got him back to Arizona where he didn't have to pay on the Seller side to sell his home. So I've always been about finding solutions for people, and that's what cash CPO is about too. So this Bob from Arizona. So he got a job offer in California. That's funny because most people are moving out of California. He was in technology and of course he was super nervous. He's moving from Arizona to California. That's a big step. And he was excited and surprised and said this move is a big step for my career and a new adventure for our family. So they had two young children and they were moving across and it was really something that after, after discussing it with his wife, it was really something that they couldn't resist.

Speaker 2:

Of course we have realo Cpocom. I've just actually done a training program on that last night for agents on on how to work with Local employers. You know how to build that list, how to talk to the employers and Be able to help them with realo Cpocom. You know Relocation is a big step. I've done it myself from a different country and, oh my gosh, that first 18 months. We've got guides on what to do for the first 18 months and I know all about this. It really does, and so you know, if you're somebody that has moved around the country for any reason or Even moved to a different area, you know, you, you, you're building all your friends set again. Hopefully you have some friends or kids or something there that that gives you that new routing. But you don't know where the local grocery store is, you don't know where the local CVS or Walgreens or your local drug store is. You're just all out of sorts and that's not something that gets cured in two days.

Speaker 2:

No, it does take a while, and it takes a while, you know. Then you go into your local drug store, for example. I always mention that because you always need to get into the drugstore. So where's my toothbrush? Yes, I moved and I don't know where my tooth or whatever it is, you know, and and they start to recognize you yes, in that store, and you start feeling like a human being again. Yeah, so for me, when I moved across, they always said where you from. You know, because I had an accent and I always felt like a fish out of water. It's not helpful at all because I'm there, you don't feel like you're settled, you don't feel like you can move around and just be a normal person, basically. So, just know, there's lots of books on this, there's all kinds of resources you can get. Look it up. It's not, it's perfectly normal. It's not unusual to feel like a fish out of water when you move, even if you've got your kids there.

Speaker 3:

Your kids are living a different life, you know yeah, with different, with different friends and different schools and exactly, exactly everybody's getting settled.

Speaker 2:

If you're doing it with pets and children, it's even harder because you're looking out for them and often not taking care of yourself. So it is perfectly normal to to go through that and just give it 18 months, stick it out for 18 months, because lots of people go. I'm just gonna go back to where I came from. You know they feel sad. They get back on with their, with their friends or family, back where they came from maybe their ex, you know whatever it is, and it's too much of a lore in the beginning to just go back. But give it 18 months, at least a year, because over time you get settled.

Speaker 2:

You meet somebody at work that you know, I don't know, wants to go out for lunch or dinner or coffee or whatever it is. Or look at meetups to. You know meetups is a great thing where it's, in, everywhere it's. I mean Asheville must have a hundred groups, at least meetup groups. Whether you like to go hiking or drinking or go out to new restaurants or whatever it is, you know they have these meetup groups and there are often four people that move in many areas around the country again running these programs all around the country. I really see this that most of the agents report that up to 80% of the people that are buying a home in their market are coming from somewhere else and a lot of them with cash right a lot of them with cash, but that means, and a lot of them with loans as well, or maybe they're relocating.

Speaker 2:

You know all these different things that we're talking about. However, when you move, that means you can feel very lonely. So that's a lot of people all over the country up, and it's very normal for 60% of the buyers that are helping to be coming in from somewhere else, which means they're all dealing with this issue. Yeah, they are. If only we could put them all together. You know, I guess that's what meetup or those kind of programs are for this, facebook groups as well. There's all kinds of things, but these days, of course, we've gotten back into. I was reading a news report just before I got in this morning on. You know how detached kids are being, because it's all about social media and the phone now and everybody's like detaching and not doing face-to-face communication. So it's gotten even harder and harder. Yes, however, there are. There are resources out there. So Bob from Arizona got his job offer in California. He has actually moved and he settled and hopefully they're all happy. At this point, I really should check out, check in with him.

Speaker 2:

So the next one is family expansion. So we've got Emily and John in New York City is are expecting their second child and of course you know a joyous and excited and felt the need for some more space. And Emily said she was very excited, she was about in tears, said we're creating a new home for our growing family. So imagine, looking in New York, it was just outside of New York. So it's not like it's New York City, which I can only imagine. All the apartment hunting and they don't have lockboxes in in New York City so you have to go in with an agent and then you have to find the key and then you have to go and obviously driving around and getting around in New York City and trying to show a house, can you imagine so you know again, that they were selling their first house and of course we could put a full market value cash offer in on in New York. They got. They got, I think, 65% cash advance on that one and then the condo was sold and they got about another 40% on top when it was sold. But it allowed them to move on. You know they had a young toddler already and it was kind of difficult running around and looking at new places.

Speaker 2:

Anybody who's done this will know how much fun it isn't. Yeah, I mean, I'm seeing two to three houses a day and it's not fun. It's chilly out there, you know the prices are high. I'm already negotiating on one house that I'm looking at. It just isn't fun. And then there's moving and moving all your stuff and everything else. So anything we can do around that and make it family, you know, easier, certainly financially is a great thing and here's a really common one in this area and everywhere, because we have so many boomers. So now we're talking about downsizing for retirement. This is Rowena pattern on the real estate news radio show, in case you just tune in in your car and you've braved the chilly weather which is basically everywhere, including Florida this morning. Yes, as well, you know chilly in Florida means oh, it's 65 degrees. What are we gonna do?

Speaker 2:

chilly in Florida means frozen iguana iguanas that are sitting on the roof right now trying to unbake. Actually, yeah, I've seen that personally. I used to live in Miami and I came back one day when we were repairing the roof, when we'd already moved here, and there must have been 20 I'm not kidding iguanas sitting on the tile roof are you getting trying to fall out?

Speaker 2:

yes, yeah well, yeah, exactly, try to thaw out, because the tiles get warm, you know. So downsizing for retirement, this is a really big one. We do have retirement CPO that helps you through that process all over the country. Now and this is from Linda, who's a widow in Florida a children moved out and you know she felt a bit of a sense of liberation. So the kids were older this is very commonly happening too in their 40s and 50s and the kids moved out and you know they, they both met other people and moved on with their lives. Finally, at that age point and you do see this all the time now, with kids moving back in with their parents- yeah, especially coming back from college.

Speaker 2:

So you know, you've got 26, 28, 30 year olds, but their her children were older. Linda, you should just booted them out. And she actually said, you know, she felt a sense of liberation, not because she didn't love her kids, she's just ready to start a life again. Right, she'd go gone through all the sadness of, you know, losing a husband and just I think you go into hibernation after that for a while, you know, and you're grieving and everything else. And she said to me you know it's just time for a simpler, more manageable life and you can totally get that, absolutely. And she was living in a home, needed some work on it. I mean, her husband had passed and she just didn't feel like doing the work. You know she's, I mean, I see, get a little bit depressed, that's normal, right just like getting acclimated to a new neighborhood.

Speaker 3:

It takes a 12 to 18 months, exactly exactly.

Speaker 2:

So this was some years actually when, when they finally moved out, I think they were there and struggling too because they'd lost their dad. You know, even though they were older and she wanted a home that didn't need a lot of maintenance, she was happy she was on three acres and she didn't want all that land to take care of anymore. That's a burden, yeah, and it's something that's very joyous, but you know, our life is in chapters. I always think of it that way and you know why the kids remember kids are in their 50s and 60s at this point. But when her kids were growing, that was magical three acres to, yes, exactly. And they had chickens and a couple of goats and you know the kids roamed around.

Speaker 2:

I grew up on a lot of land. It was really all the farms around me. I was only on an acre, but running around on all the farms and finding the dark ponds and riding the cows, I mean it was a lot of fun you know, but now she's in her 70s and the last thing she wants to do they don't.

Speaker 2:

They don't have the animals anymore, but the last thing she wanted to do is take care of all that land and she wanted to move into. She wasn't ready for CCR or assisted living or anything like that. Yet she's still very able, probably because she was tending all that land and all those, all those animals for all that time and she didn't have doggies anymore and you know, or any pets inside the house and she was ready for just a little pot of land, a point one. Point two, where they come and maintain it for her and take care of everything inside. Now of course I was concerned for her because I have had people who've moved into that and don't like it and then want to sell it. But of course we have to live it or leave it. So you know, within six months we can sell it free on the seller side and we give a discount for up to ten years on that. That's it all. Start powerhouse and in our area a lot of our agents that we work with in our network also offer the same thing. So you can try it with. You know, not much at risk now. It means that you've got to actually step out of your comfort zone and the years that you spent with your honey-do lists and you know thinking, oh, one day I'll move on and go back to the warmth or whatever it is. You know, whatever those dreams that you have, but just get on and do it, try it or change your life.

Speaker 2:

Everybody I've spoken to who's done this does not have regrets. I haven't ever met anybody that has regrets, including me. You know, I had a come. I had three companies in the UK and I moved it moved over to DC at 29 years old. It was a massive move. I gave up my company, I gave up my home, I went to a different country. Like it was a massive move and very scary and there were definitely for that first 18 months there were definitely regrets, but, oh my gosh, I wouldn't have it any any other way. Sorry for your English, but I would never go back to the UK. Okay, I'm so happy here. You know, I found my spot, always found American from when I was a little girl and this is my home through and through. And everybody I've ever spoken to, whether they're, you know, just moving house or moving to another area or moving to another state or another country. I've never heard regrets.

Speaker 2:

I mean, life is an experience after that 12 to 18 month period exactly, exactly, and some people it's, it's sooner, but most people take at least a year. Yeah, you're making new friends, and you know people who are older especially say oh well, how will I make new friends? Well, you'd be amazed. Do you know? The biggest source of relationships once you're 17 plus is when you're in a CCR or retirement home.

Speaker 3:

I have seen so many people do that go to a retirement community and become social butterflies, oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

And for years they've been saying I hate being around people, I don't want that, I don't want to be able to force to eat in it, while you, of course, you're not. You know, especially when you go into the first level, you can cook all your own meals. It's your own place. You don't have to join in if you, if you don't want to. And what my experience with this has been that people you know step in a little bit and they just meet somebody walking by, walking their dog or something. They say, hey, you know, why don't you just come for a coffee? And then they go in and then, oh well, this isn't so bad, and they step out a little bit more and a little bit more and come out of their shell and start a new life so true, so true.

Speaker 3:

I saw it happen to my mom.

Speaker 2:

Oh, really what happened.

Speaker 3:

Well, saint, just exactly what you outlined. I've been living alone for a long, long time and was very happy doing that, but didn't have much social interaction and assisted living came up and, wow, I just saw a different person.

Speaker 2:

Wow, so she made friends. Did she have her own place, or what did the place that she lived in look like?

Speaker 3:

It was assisted living and it was all under one roof and rooms, you know, and the dining room and the care she got was just outstanding and she flourished for a while.

Speaker 2:

Wow, did she have her own little kitchen, or was it all food?

Speaker 3:

outside. Yes, oh, okay.

Speaker 2:

So she probably made her own food there. Did they shop for her or bring the food in, or did they have a bus that went out to the local the happy bus. We called it yeah, so the happy bus, and then everybody goes out shopping together and gets back on the bus.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely, and I was listening to a podcast recently about how legal marijuana is becoming all the rage in these retirement communities and each one of these retirement communities now has a cannabis a cannabis and they go to the cannabis store and place their orders and they're benefiting they're happy they have figured out what works, what helps sleep, what helps alleviate pain, what helps appetite and that's amazing. Get on the cannabis.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. And do they go shopping after the cannabis? I would love that. I don't like to shop Agreed. I like to shop with someone when there's a someone in my life and we have a list and we run around together and come out and then we go home and cook food. That's fun. Yes.

Speaker 2:

When we unpack it together all those big bags and he would help and it was so nice and put all the stuff away together and that's fun. But when you're on your own it's not so much fun, amen. So all shopping together and then going back on the bus and like, did you see those beans that were 10 cents off today? You know, I mean that's fun. So, okay, so the next trigger for moving divorce? Yeah, not a fun one.

Speaker 2:

So this was Sarah and Mike. I'm obviously not giving last names to protect everyone here. So Sarah, mike and Texas following their divorce experience mixed emotions. And Sarah said it's a fresh chance for me to redefine my life. They did not have children, they were older and they were, I guess, late fifties yeah, late fifties. And you know she said to me privately that don't all go Googling Sarah and Mike in Texas. I'm sure there's lots of them anyway. But Sarah and Mike shout out to you and you're having a great new life now, so good for you. But you know she said to me no, I'm never going to date again, like this was so awful and I'm in my fifties. Who's going to date me? You know it's not going to happen. Yeah, it's really sad, but the fact is, you do go on.

Speaker 2:

You know it might take six months or a year or yeah, or two years, but that pain goes away after a time and you start going out on meetups or you know. You know you meet friends at work or with a hobby or something like that, and it takes effort because wherever you're going, those people have got their own friends already. And we all know, in a divorce you lose half your friends. Yes, because, yeah, and you know, sometimes your other half tells stories, or either person tells stories about what happened and of course it's all their own narrative. We all know that. But you know friends are like I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole.

Speaker 3:

And exit stage left.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and so a lot of friends just disappear altogether. And then you know, a few of the good friends stick by you and if you're moving out of the area, it's all about making new friends and those friends have already got those. You know, potential friends have already got their established relationships where they're at. So you have to make the effort over and over again that's very true, you know and start living for yourself, and you know, working out or eating right or whatever it is like, reinvent yourself. It's hard work, but what would you rather do? Sit in a corner and go? Woe is me and my life sucks, exactly, which is what some people do, and you know I get that to a certain extent. So we've got Kevin moving on to a better home. So Kevin and Ohio.

Speaker 2:

So Kevin got a big promotion, a really big promotion, and he actually moved to this area and he was super proud. He was very ambitious, which you know, we all understand. He was moving his family against so many people who are going through promotions or going through that, you know, growing part of their career. I moved to another state. In fact, I used to work for a company that expected their you know their people in positions of power, if you like, to move every 18 months in the beginning. So, oh, that's that's a lot, you know. So he was super proud and ambitious and you know he said, hey, we're moving to a home that reflects a hard work and moving to an area that reflects his hard work, and he's on that career path. And again, you know that's, that's a big step.

Speaker 2:

So we do have RELO CPO for that. We have a massive relocation package all over the country that really helps with that. You can get the vast amount of your money out in 12 days. You don't have to fix anything, do anything. The RELO CPO team comes in, fixes everything necessary. You don't have to pay anything. It does come off the final profit on the house, but with you out in the cleanup and you know, maybe painting the walls or a deep clean or whatever it is, and the kind of marketing that the RELO CPO team does, it's amazing and it gets you off really fast. So, and that's what you want in that situation.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So you know we have programs that will help you through all of these and moving on to moving closer to family will take a quick break after this. Diane and Robert in Washington this is Diane and Robert did move into this area in Asheville, north Carolina. So Diane and Robert had had a grandchild and they were super excited and you know the grandchild was here and they knew that their kids would have more kids and they just wanted to be closer. They thought they were in their retirement home. They were in Washington but they were kind of tired of the weather and you know they kept visiting here because their kids had moved and like, we want to be over there in the mountains. This is cool.

Speaker 3:

I would think that that's a really big trigger for moving is to be near the grandkids.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely huge and of course we have this massive network. We can do just an old traditional listing in in Washington. The thing is the market slowed down in most areas of the country right now so you can wait it out and wait till your home sells, or in that case we did a cash CPO. They got 70 percent I think it was 68 percent of a cash advance on that one. We had Washington cash CPO expert go in and you know just help with all of that, help with their packing and, you know, help with all the right companies to move them across. So we have these big resources because all the agents are trained in relocation. That's why we have real CPO. So they know who the moving companies are If you need that help. They know who the packing companies are.

Speaker 2:

They know who the estate sale people are, because Diane and Robert didn't want to bring all the furniture with them. It's big, heavy furniture and you know more traditional. They wanted a fresh start. They wanted something more modern. They really liked the mid-century modern furniture which is all back now, of course, all the rage. You know the stuff from the 50s and 60s. So they wanted to start a fresh with that and they made.

Speaker 2:

They had about $400,000 in excess from their home in Washington, so it gave them plenty of money to, you know, go out and buy some new furniture and start a fresh. So we got all of that out, did an estate sale, everything moved Because it's never without a glitch. And now they're with their grandkids and I said to them listen, wait it out. So we looked into, I had an agent there look into how long it would be likely to take to sell their home and you know, as the market softened a little bit right now, they were selling a very high value house. The ones that are higher value generally take a little bit longer and they were looking at maybe over a year and they're like well, she's just about to have the baby and we've already got a toddler and we've been meaning to do and I hear this so often we've been meaning to do this for years.

Speaker 3:

Wow, I put it off.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, you know, at their age they were. One was in their late 60s, the other one was in their mid 70s. So, guys, we've got 10, 20 years left.

Speaker 3:

Go do it. Yeah, don't wait anymore.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, go do it. Go do it and of course you know we might live to 120, who knows and do it while you know you've still got your faculties and you can move around more easily. Because, oh gosh, if you think it's hard at 60, imagine it at 80. Go do it. Go start enjoying life. It's never too late. We're going to take a quick break. This is Rowena Patten on WWNC 570, broadcast live around the country. You can go to realestatenewsradiocom realestatenewsradiocom to listen live anywhere you're at. Share that link with your friends and they can listen if they're living on Mars, if they want to. Realestatenewsradiocom seeing just a sec.

Speaker 1:

From the 570 Weather Center. This is your Weather Channel forecast.

Speaker 4:

Even though sun will break through this afternoon, it will be windy and cold if you're going to be heading out, with a high around 18 and wind chills down to the single digits at times, as winds gusting from the north and northwest near 20 to 25 miles per hour. Overnight clear with a low of 6 and some sub zero wind chills, with gusty winds Tomorrow to ramp up the weekend dry with sunshine and a high of 38, milder temperatures Monday with some more sun and a high climbing to 48. I'm Jeff Marr from the Weather Channel.

Speaker 5:

Hi, this is Rick and we sold our home with Rowena Patton at All Star Powerhouse. We didn't really want to move, but needed to for my job. Our first realtor didn't listen, didn't care, didn't try. Not a single showing in two months. A friend recommended Rowena. She saw the hard work we'd put into the home, what it meant to us and what it could mean to someone else. Next thing you know it's sold. If you need to get your home sold and not just listed, you need to talk with Rowena Patton. Remember to call at 828-333-4483.

Speaker 2:

Rowena Patton here at All Star Powerhouse. Sell it now, don't wait. Call me at 828-333-4483.

Speaker 1:

Don't let real estate pass you by with All Star Powerhouse. This is the Plain English Real Estate Show with Rowena Patton on News Radio 570-WWNC. This is the Plain English Real Estate Show with Rowena Patton on News Radio 570-WWNC. This is the Plain English Real Estate Show with Rowena Patton on News Radio 570-WWNC. I'm back.

Speaker 2:

Hi honey, I'm home.

Speaker 1:

The shining, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

I've got 30 people lined up here and I'm only at number six. I better move at a clip.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I was at number six an hour ago Seeking a better climate or lifestyle. This is a topic for me and ask a number of people these questions and Anna from Maine they're a bit chilly right now up there Seeking some sunshine. She felt very hopeful. So I'm moving to a healthier, happy life in North Carolina. She came on here.

Speaker 3:

Where is she?

Speaker 2:

She's in Maine currently.

Speaker 3:

Maine.

Speaker 4:

She was in Maine.

Speaker 2:

She's moved down and she wanted to get outdoors. She liked the outdoors. There's plenty of hiking here, mountain biking, everything you could possibly want to do outdoors basically, lots and lots of nature. It's actually very English, which is why I think I felt it feels very English, which is why I felt so at home and, of course, Countryside like this, yes, and the trees and everything else.

Speaker 2:

And parts of England are mountainous as well, but yes, it's very interesting. Of course, Elizabeth Patton, my predecessor, Wealthy Widow, married. I don't know why all the wealth went I should probably look for that Married Davy Crockett and funded his trails just down the road.

Speaker 3:

That was the draw you had here. There's some ancestry involved. I didn't know about it.

Speaker 2:

I think it was a kind of magical draw or a God moment. So yeah, and Anna is here now and getting outdoors a whole lot more, and do we have a chilly season? Absolutely, it's cold today, but this is very unusual. Like 40s in the winter is perfectly normal. We have a few cold days in January, some in February, and next week we're going to be in the 60s again. And it's January right now.

Speaker 4:

That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2:

You know this show will be one that people listen to over and over again. So the middle of the summer, does it get hot? Sometimes? Yes, sometimes it can be in the 80s and sometimes it's humid. But it's not like the flatlands in the south, because we're in the mountains so we get those cooling breezes. It's kind of like when I lived in Miami and lived on the coast Get the ocean breezes, you get the ocean breezes, exactly, you get all that. You know that cooling effect, but it doesn't get as hot as Miami. Dc is the warmest place I have lived in. Oh my gosh, it was awful. It was either blazing hot or freezing cold, with ice storms. Blazing hot where you don't want to go outside because you felt like your eyeballs were melting. Literally, it was awful. Sorry if you live in DC. I love DC for all kinds of reasons.

Speaker 3:

I visited once in the summer and that's the highest place I've been Me too anywhere, and I've been all over the world you know, it was, yeah, it was hotter than Africa, it felt hotter

Speaker 2:

than Africa, so that's probably the other hottest place I've been to. So, you know, seeking better climate or lifestyle, that's what we were just talking about. And then we had George in Colorado who was diagnosed with a health condition. He had a heart murmur and he needed to be closer to where he was going to get the good medical care. And he was tight. You know this had been going on for years and years and years and he was tired of going back and forward and back and forward, and back and forward. So he needed to move over to Denver and of course we have an agent there in the cash GPO program and able to facilitate that on both sides and just move, you know, move him more easily. And you know he said, hey, moving to Denver just brings me closer to the care I need, which is understandable you know, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And there's a lot of people in that. I find people here have something. You know, we have amazing medical care here, which is very common in any mountainous place anywhere in the world. It's actually why Zurich has great medical care too. We think it's because hundreds of years ago, doctors and surgeons moved to the mountains because they believe that the mountains, you know, that's where people went to recuperate or if they had cancer they probably didn't know what cancer was then or any kind of illness, and you had money they'd move you to the mountains.

Speaker 3:

Tuberculosis treatment headquarters was here in. Asheville because of the mountain air.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so it was common even then that they believe so a lot of people in the medical field and you know, often people in the medical field have kids that go into the medical field. So the medical expertise has grown up around mountainous regions. So that makes absolute sense that they would move here and, you know, move to other mountainous regions when they have some kind of illness going on. So here there's a. You know, sometimes there's specific things where they want to go to Raleigh or something like that for specific care. But imagine that four-hour trip back and forward, back and forward and if it's something that's chronic and you know, sadly going on and on and on, you want to be closer to that care.

Speaker 3:

Exactly exactly, and we have. I've just been through some medical issues. We have excellent medical care here in these mountains. We really do, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, we really do and you know it's something that's almost always asked by people, even when they're younger, when they're moving here. Because we, you know, we've got a database of 60,000 people over the years who have signed up looking for a property. That's about half the population in Asheville. Those numbers.

Speaker 2:

Now do they all come? Of course not. But they often ask about the healthcare and what the healthcare is like. It's a very important, very, very important factor. So educational opportunities that's a really interesting one here and of course that's changing all over the country. So the Smith family from Pennsylvania really wanted their children educating in a different way. I'm being politically correct here and here we have so many charter schools and so many independent schools. Of course this is happening all over the country and some states are more aware of the need for it than in other places, obviously. But we do have a plethora of educational opportunities here and different kinds of schools that you can put your children in, so you know. So they said we're investing in our children's future. They said it very proudly. I mean you can imagine that.

Speaker 2:

So financial changes I better start going through these clips so I get a mention into everybody. So Helen in Michigan, after some, let's say, financial setbacks, she wanted to move to a more affordable home. So she was in Michigan, but a very high priced area of Michigan. So she moved outside into the outskirts and was still able to work mobily from home at that point, which of course you know has really changed the mobility of people where you can actually work from home in a lot of different kind of jobs. These days, of course, there's all the who-ha. Companies aren't really liking it because they found out how productivity came went down. However, you have to be the kind of person that can work from home and hold yourself accountable.

Speaker 3:

You really do, and I do a lot of work from home. I love it, absolutely love it. But I had an impact on the real estate market. There's a lot of vacant office buildings aren't there.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, very, very true. And at the same time, we were finding even on our own team, we were all working remotely and you know, I got together with the team and Patrick said I really like being in the office and Rich, I really like being. You know, everybody said, hey, I just like being in the office. So we're keeping an office, we're setting it up and we're bringing other agents in to help, because we've had, honestly, so many people requesting the cash offer locally. We can't keep up. Wow, because people are seeing what a benefit it is and there's a lot of people out there want privacy and don't want people schlepping through the house, you know, or or having it on the MLS or anything else.

Speaker 3:

So this is and you're looking for people asks, absolutely, so you're advertising, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, come on in. You can be a referral agent, you can be an agent on the ground, and this is listing opportunities. This is people who want to sell the house, and we have so many and they just keep coming in. They're talking about the silver tsunami I don't know if you've heard this where a lot of baby boomers are realizing that this might be the last chance because we're in the seven to 11 year cycle. Good old Clemence Euglars set it up in 1860.

Speaker 2:

The market's already crested most economists think that which means we're going down for three and a half to five and a half years. So if you're thinking about selling, either hold onto it for 10 years seven to 10 years before it's worth more than it's worth now. But you know, if you're 60, you might not want to do that. So that's the thing to think about. Be happy to talk to you about this in depth. Realestatenewsradiocom Real Estate News Radio. Just go to contact us and I'll get right back to you and have a very honest conversation. I'm not trying to push you out of your house I persuade a lot of people to stay in it but I can help you have that conversation. Or you can rent it out because again, in 10 years time it will be worth more than it's worth now almost definitely. There's no guarantees in life, but almost definitely. Or you can sell it now, but you know that's why they think there's going to be a silver tsunami. Because there are so many boomers Like, okay, it's time to downsize. There's going to be a lot of inventory.

Speaker 2:

Come on the market, I think by March. In this area, particularly many areas in the country, see a lot of houses put on the market in March. Guys, don't do that wherever you're listening. Don't do that. If you're in a market where you're going, oh, I'm going to wait till the leaves come on the trees, don't do that. People can see past that. There's very little inventory or very few houses almost everywhere in the country right now, so you don't have any competition. Come spring you're going to have so much competition which pushes prices down. The fact that we're even seeing prices stay remotely stable and, by the way, zillow just released that they expect a 6% drop this year in house prices. 6% on a million dollar house is a lot of money, even on a $500,000 house, and that's just in one year. And as those prices start dropping, people get scared and bias start offering the lowball offers. We're even seeing those now because people are nervous. So if you're going to sell, do it as soon as you can.

Speaker 2:

Just go to realestatenewsradiocom Rowena Patten here, all-star Powerhouse, broken by EXP. I've got an amazing network of top 1% agents around the country that I can put you with wherever you're at and, of course, if you're here, I will help you and come out and see your house. I go out and listen to appointments almost every day. I'd be more than happy to help. So, helen and Michigan is all nicely settled.

Speaker 2:

Now We've got some empty nesters Dave and Lisa, you know, and they felt a mix of sadness and freedom. Oh my gosh, it's a totally new chapter. They were in their late 50s Totally new chapter redescribing their passions. They're, you know, the kids were off with new I mean, we hear this all the time they're new careers, they're new lives. They'd both got married, they were both thinking about starting a family. They ain't coming home. Sorry, guys, I mean, let them go, let them be independent, start their own lives. If you want to be moved, to be by them and you're, all you know, actually a happy family that wants that just don't move five minutes away Get. Everybody needs a bit of space right, yeah, that or yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, dave was with that one. So neighborhood decline. This was Mark who was moving here from Detroit and he said you know, I feel unsafe and he felt real relief in moving and he moved from here originally. He met somebody and moved up there 20 years ago and had gotten divorced and he's like I'm reclaiming my peace of mind. So, yeah, a safety issue.

Speaker 2:

And of course you know you can look up all the stats as agents. We're not allowed to tell you, but you can look up all the safety stats and compare towns and remember outside the town is usually not reflective of the town. So you know, I'm sure if you're I don't know this because I don't know Detroit but if you're 20 minutes outside the town it's usually a whole different demographic and you know safety issue. So I had Jane in Seattle, so she had an accident and this is all about accessibility needs. So maybe you need a place that's more accessible and her new home gave her back her independence, so that accessibility piece is huge. Sarah and Alex got married and here's a happy one and we're excited and they both had houses already and that's of you know commonly the place now if you're not living with your parents or something like that and they wanted to buy a house together. Of course that brings all its own trials and tribulations as honey. I want that one. Just remember happy wife, happy life.

Speaker 3:

Don't forget that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and this is a common one too. This was a little while back, so it was the Thompson's down in Louisiana and there was a hurricane. It was the last hurricane and you know they just they were over it. They have so many hurricanes and they were over it. This happened to my in-laws, actually, who moved from the Keys up to Central Froliter and then got a direct hit in Seabream from the hurricane which has never happened. Yeah, after they moved.

Speaker 4:

And the Glip, the Keys, yeah, exactly Wow.

Speaker 2:

But you know, for them it was. They said it's our fresh start, it's our comeback story and just getting, you don't realize how that fear nibbles away. You're like, oh, it ain't gonna happen, it's all fine, but you don't realize how that fear, you know, might be nibbling away in the background and every news article. We've all seen it. You know the hurricane watches and everything else. Of course, I noticed it a lot more when I was living in Miami 16 years ago. So here's another one Better Schools. So this is the Garcia family in New Mexico and you know they said kids thriving in their new school makes the challenge worth it. And they had friends that were in the area that they moved to and you know the friends were always saying, oh my gosh, my kids are getting this opportunity and that opportunity and they're not schooling them. In what he said, the Garcia family is like we're tired of these woke schools. We want our kids, you know, raised with great values. So they just wanted to go to a place where, you know, the friends had these kids who were being raised. They could see the change in the kids from when their friends had moved, change in relationship status. This is like the divorce really so.

Speaker 2:

This was Emily who moved in here and you know she went through a horrible breakup. She was a friend of mine and she'd been with her honey for four years. They lived together and then, just before Christmas, he said I really want you to leave. And all kinds of things came out that you know had been happening in the background which is often the case and she was just blindsided. And this is about a year ago when she bought a house and you know it's all going on now and she's getting back to her old self.

Speaker 2:

It's nice to see her smiling again. It's just a wonderful thing to see. And you know she tells me hey, it's my journey to self-discovery. She wasn't happy, she'd been through this before, but she was madly in love with that guy, like she thought he was her soulmate, and now she's moving on. Yeah, it's a sad one, but it's not sad. It's that sadness and awfulness of you know. I know people who are staying in marriages because of the kids and they're miserable. Together they have very little, you know, they have no physical relationship, they barely talk to each other, and that's what the kids are seeing. So good luck with that, because you're teaching your kids how to have a relationship.

Speaker 3:

Not good not good.

Speaker 2:

And if you're arguing or going through a relationship and you're ignoring each other or being mean to each other, you're teaching your kids that it's horrible, it is, it's really, really miserable, and you're setting them up for a life of therapy or where they won't go to therapy and you know they don't even realize what's going on. You're setting them up for a lifetime of heartbreak really, or not being able to share their heart because they don't feel safe. It's very, very sad. Next one, closer to nature. So this is a guy who moved out of New York City here, greg, and he just he said what he always said to me is oh my gosh, now I feel alive. And he was a mountain biker and he loves going out on the mountain bikes and hiking and he found a whole new group of friends. I mean, there's lots of outside breweries here. So come spring and summer and fall, you know it's easy to meet people. People are hanging out. People are much more friendly here in general. I mean, I think Northerners know that about the South, like you know, people say hello and you go, wait, what you know is that someone ton of steel from me or something. So they tend to be quite friendly here and across the South really Other own friendly people, of course, but that happens everywhere. So, safety concerns I think we've covered that already. Cultural reasons, that can be all kinds of things. I had a friend who really felt out of place this is Lila in Ohio and she felt very out of place. I moved to Miami where you know the whole South American vibe is going on and she just felt at home the kind of food she liked and everything else. So yeah, it can be really fun. Safety concerns the Patele family in Baltimore. You know they felt like there was a lot of racism there and now their new home is the sanctuary. That's really good to hear.

Speaker 2:

Loss of a spouse and transition to assisted living oh my gosh, this is such a common one. And of course there are more boomers than anything else. Boomers also stretched you know that term they use for that demographic. It went across a very long period of time, so there are so many boomers out there. So after a husband's passing, margaret in Pennsylvania felt, I mean obviously a profound sense of loss, loneliness, that had been married for something like 70 years, 60 years, 60 years that had their golden anniversary 10 years before and a big party and she decided to move to an assisted living facility here actually, and you know she wanted to be somewhere where it wasn't quite as chilly and she wasn't dealing with the snow and her kids were here. It's the same thing again. Move back to family. It's a very common one.

Speaker 2:

Do it sooner, you know. If you're in that position, do it sooner if you can, especially now as the market's softening. Now, if money doesn't matter, it's not an issue. I'm just talking about the fact that your house is likely to be worth less, just for the next three and a half to five and a half years. But if you're already thinking about downsizing, or right sizing, as we call it, or going into assisted living or just moving and starting your new life, you know we just got through the new year. You want a new year, new me. Do it now. Just, you know, put the feelers out, call me, I'll talk you through it. I'm like your big sister or your I don't know younger cousin or something or whatever age group you're at. So I'll act like your big sister and talk you through it. I'm not going to, I'm not trying to get listings here. That's not what it's about at all.

Speaker 2:

I love helping people through these transitions. That's why I've always built these programs since 2007, to help people. We've got so many Because I looked at what situations people were going through when they were moving or selling the house and I've been through it myself so many times that when you can help and come with solutions not just talking, but come with solutions it can really really help, because moving is a big deal and it's easy to stick your head in the sand. Don't do that. So, of course, we have the assisted living CPO. We work with a lot of assisted living facilities around the country and what that means is assisted living. You get that call. You got to move fast. We've done a whole show on this. You can go to realestatenewsradiocom, look on podcasts. All these shows are podcast after being broadcast live, so you can find the one on assisted living there if that's one you're particularly interested in, and we're able to get the majority of cash out in 12 days, up to 70%. It's usually 70%, maybe 60%, 65%, but that means you can put it down on your assisted living facility and the vast majority of sellers make more than with a traditional listing.

Speaker 2:

Here's why in this situation Because you've probably got things that need doing to the house. We don't have time. You've got to get in. And do you really want to go through that? Or do you want to use the assisted living CPO team's money up front? We'll go in, we'll do it. We'll get the quotes, we'll fix everything, whether it needs a new roof, a new septic paint whatever it is or just a deep clean. Maybe you just need help with moving your furniture out, your out. We get what's called a show and go and then you're looking forward to. In the vast majority of cases, you've had your 70%. You're going to go for your 20% to 50% when we sell it, but you've got most of your money out and you can put the money down. So, career advancement I think we've already covered that one.

Speaker 2:

Moving with a business We'll finish with this one. Joe and Maggie this is one from here wanted to move out of state and they had a medical supply business that was very popular locally this was a couple of years ago, very, very popular locally and they'd bought land in. Where was it? It was Florida. So, center of Florida, they'd bought some land. They wanted to retire. They couldn't put a sign outside the house, they didn't want to lose all their business right away because they still had a couple of years. They'd already bought 30 acres down in Florida. They were going to build a house there that was going to take a couple of years so we could transition it with the RELO CPO. They got their money out, they bought a rental here with a basement to put their equipment in and you know, it solved all of that for them where they could move on, which was fantastic.

Speaker 2:

So there you go. I mean, obviously there's change of scenery. There's been closer to a significant other. Maybe you've met somebody online. Hopefully they're not in a penitentiary somewhere, if anybody's watching that show. Or you know if anybody's watching 90 day fiance, where you find them somewhere else and they come in on the K1 visa and you've got 90 days to get married or they have to go home. Hopefully it's not any of that. If it is, good luck to you and we'd love to hear your stories too. Might be environmental concerns. There's a lot of reasons why you move, but I hope that helped today.

Speaker 2:

If you've got any friends you think can benefit from this, go to realestatenewsradiocom. Realestatenewsradiocom. Click on podcasts. This show will be up there. It'll be called something like Reasons for Moving. I don't know what we'll call it, randy, and I will come up with that in a minute. It'll be up there in about 10 minutes. You just click on podcasts. You'll be able to see it. Share the links with your friends. I love it when you share it around the country, because we're here to help you. That's what we're on here to do, so I hope that helped today. If you find yourself in any of those situations, I'd love to hear from you. 828-333-4483. 828-333-4483. See you on the radio next week, guys.

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Rowena Patton, NC, FL, DC, CA

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