Real Estate News Radio with Rowena Patton

From Cozy Condos to Climbing Rates Insights into Today's Housing Market

• Rowena Patton

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As allergy season unleashes its fury, I, Rowena Patton, can't help but laugh at the irony of trying to sell homes when they're practically wearing pollen coats! In this episode, we discuss the quirks of real estate amidst nature's dusty tantrums, and I'll reveal why cash offers might just be your sneeze-free ticket to a quick sale. Also, I'll let you in on my latest obsession—innovative skylights that invite the sun in without the seasonal sneeze-fest—and share a bit of my struggle with the labyrinth that is Amazon when sprucing up our living spaces.

Rising mortgage rates can feel like a cold splash of reality, but don't let that dampen your home ownership dreams. I tackle the shifting financial landscape head-on, offering insights on why climbing that property ladder is essential, even if it starts with something cozy like a one-bedroom condo. For those pondering a sale, I'll explain why now might be the right moment to put that 'For Sale' sign up. And for anyone feeling adrift in the sea of real estate changes, remember, my door is always open for some friendly, expert navigation.

Closing out, we'll demystify the complex world of real estate commissions and buyer agency agreements. Ever heard of Cash CPO offers? Think of it as the real estate equivalent of a certified pre-owned car—except it's your home, and it could fetch a premium price. Plus, I'll share some top strategies for sellers to shine in a competitive market and discuss the undeniable allure of move-in-ready homes. So grab a cup of tea, sit back, and let's chat about getting the most out of your real estate journey—even if technology and I sometimes have our differences.

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 240-9962 or 1-800-570-9962. 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. This is Rowena Patton with the Husky Allergy Voice. I'm sure many of us have it this week. Is it just me?

Speaker 3:

I like to have Husky Allergy Voice.

Speaker 2:

I don't know what else to call it. It's true, I love it here, I love the climate here, I love the four seasons, and when it gets to this time of year, the inhaler comes out.

Speaker 3:

I know, I know, we live in a rainforest.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

We really do, yes, and there's all kinds of blossoms and pollens and trees having sex and all that stuff you know.

Speaker 2:

Trees having sex yeah.

Speaker 3:

That's what that is. The trees are having sex now, I thought that's what you said.

Speaker 2:

I just had to stop there for a minute. This is the Real Estate News radio show and we're talking about the trees having sex apparently this morning, which Randy always bleeps me for saying about anything, so I don't know what's going on this week, does the producer bleep himself at times?

Speaker 3:

well, it has happened has it really?

Speaker 2:

yeah, oh, we're going to talk about news headlines in real estate please do one is lots of pollens. If you're selling your house, actually it is an issue like how do you keep on top of all that pollen? Well, you know what I'm going to say. Just do a cash offer, cash CPO, get your full market value offer. You don't have to clean anything. Do anything. Even if your house is all new and modern and gorgeous, you still don't want to be cleaning that pollen off all the time.

Speaker 2:

That's right, I love to sit outside too. It's really my. I just love being outside. I love houses with sunrooms. I love houses with pretty patios. Anytime I can be outside, I will. In fact, I was looking up this morning. I found these skylights and they're so clever. Now you insert them into the wall. I'll put it on my Amazon shop. Yes, I have an Amazon shop. They're like these big skylights that you put in, but you just put them in the ceiling and it gives a blue light that looks like the sky. They really look like the sky.

Speaker 3:

So there's really no hole in your roof, no hole yeah. And I've always been. I've owned homes with sunlights, sun tunnels et cetera. I've always been a big fan of bringing in the light. But I've also learned over the years that a hole in your roof is not a real good idea. Maintenance-wise. Those can be problems. Is that a country song? A hole in your roof can be a problem.

Speaker 2:

I like that. Got a hole in your roof. Duralizer, it sounds like a country song, I don't know. Yeah, and without going to all that expense, really, although. I think the light technology can put in for about $1,200, $1,500. But these things are $200 or $300, and you can replace the light that's already there. It's amazing.

Speaker 2:

And they really do. Don't get the ones with clouds on. They look a bit silly and, of course, at night. What about at night? You know, just leave them off, I guess, because it's nighttime. However, it does change from noon to dusk to daytime. There's a little remote control, okay.

Speaker 3:

Isn't that cool. That is very cool.

Speaker 2:

I think I just leave the daylight on all the time. But many of us in the older homes, like I, have an older home that's something like 1964, I have an older home that's something like 1964, and the little interior bathroom has no. In fact, both little interior bathrooms have no daylight and it would be lovely to have that big skylight in the ceiling.

Speaker 3:

Yes, it would. And it wouldn't be a maintenance issue.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, and I can just switch out the light. That's already there, yeah, but I want to put them there. I want one in every room. A lot of people as well have built decks over their porches. Like, I have a little roof, a little shed roof that comes out over my front porch, which cuts the light into the living room.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, right, so it would be so easy to replace. I'd already replaced the lights when I remodeled and put the high hats in or the recessed lights. I could replace one recessed light and they're flush to the ceiling. You can actually mount them and they're very skinny. However, you can insert them into the ceiling so it really looks like a skylight and these things are amazing. That sounds intriguing. You can look at Rowena Patteron Shop on Amazon later on. So many people ask me, you know, because I'm always suggesting ways to remodel your home and, of course, people get more and more interested in this when it comes to the spring and everybody's thinking about selling the home or just remodeling, you know, and sprucing up the kitchen or something like that. So I'm putting all the products in the Amazon shop so you can actually find them.

Speaker 3:

So it's called Rowena Patton's shop or store.

Speaker 2:

It's my store, but I haven't figured out yet how you get in there.

Speaker 3:

I looked for it the other day and I searched for Rowena Patton's store and I didn't come up with anything for Rowena Patton's store and I didn't come up with anything.

Speaker 2:

I'm typing in now Amazon Rowena Patton store. There's my Kindle store. There's my Rowena Patton books. Oh, that's interesting. Okay, we'll figure that out. If any of you are Amazon gurus. I know lots of you sell Amazon from home. Now you can give us a call at 828-240-9962 and tell us how to get on there. Actually, if you follow me on Instagram, which is realestatenewsradio on Instagram, just so you know, I think of course there is a link there.

Speaker 3:

Okay, great, it goes to the store Perfect.

Speaker 2:

There is a link there.

Speaker 1:

There is a link there. Yes, that goes to the store.

Speaker 2:

Perfect, it's not loading on a high-tech screens. Maybe they don't like us going on social media.

Speaker 3:

Maybe yeah.

Speaker 2:

Could be right. So if you are thinking about a little remodel for your house, as you're thinking about listing it, or you're just thinking about sprucing it up a little bit, it's never too late. Don't be overwhelmed by the fact that you've got wallpaper everywhere, or you know, you've got crown molding that looks a bit dated, or chair rails or whatever it is, and you're you're watching. We used to watch hdgtv shows and now I think people scroll all the reels on instagram or tiktok or whatever. There's just some amazing guys and they're short. I think that's what we like about them. So in a minute you can learn how to do board and batten below a chair rail. It's so cool. Most of us just watch them and go oh, that's really cool, I've got to do that tomorrow. And then, 10 years later, we haven't done anything that's me.

Speaker 3:

I I am addicted to reels and short videos. I I love them.

Speaker 2:

We all are. They're designed to be that way, of course, yeah, to take over our minds.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

I don't know. I feel like it's a little bit okay when it's home decor, because I learn all of this stuff. It's amazing. Same here, same here I've learned a lot. Do you know? I learned about taping sheetrock this morning, which is the worst thing in the world. So you know where you put your sheetrock up, and then there's these holes in between, yeah, the joints. There's now a little machine where I've seen that, oh yeah, and you pull out the tape yeah, and it puts the mud, the tape and everything right, and you still have to.

Speaker 2:

It's just the right amount of mud on, because it's so messy doing that, and the problem is when you put the mud on sometimes it's hard to see where the line is, so your tape doesn't get quite straight yeah this is amazing there's so many little gadgets now it really is, and of course, some of the old time is like oh, we don't need any of that, we use a tape measure. Some of it makes it so much easier and a lot of us are working and doing that on the side, so you know right.

Speaker 3:

For the professionals it makes it a lot faster. Oh gosh, yes.

Speaker 2:

Especially the professionals. A lot of the professionals now in all of the trades seem to be getting into their 50s and 60s and they have these young helpers who maybe aren't quite as gifted as the person who's overseeingeing it is. I'm seeing a lot of that. So a lot of these gadgets can help sometimes it's just.

Speaker 2:

I remember first getting into real estate in 2007, I was horrified by people using their cell phones to do the pictures, because I used to run a photography company and I had Hasselblads and all the fancy cameras and over the years, my cell phone's better than the fancy cameras. I'm sorry if you're a photographer out there, photographers still do way better because they're trained and they know how to do it and those cameras are better and you can do all kinds of things with them. However, your cell phone is oh my gosh. I mean, it's so cool now to take pictures.

Speaker 3:

It really is, and the megapixels of your phone camera are right up there with the best and you get great quality.

Speaker 2:

Because of the storage now and the screens and oh my gosh, it's just incredible. So you can call. We're talking about real estate headlines today. One is, of course, that so many people are listing. We're getting a bit of a rush to listing now. We're seeing new homes coming on every day. There's definitely more inventory out there. So if you are thinking about selling this year, you want to get it on now, before there's too many coming up, because more houses mean more competition, and a lot of you are sitting around talking about doing the things that we're talking about this morning a little bit of sprucing up, a little bit of remodeling.

Speaker 2:

Oh, we'll do it next month. Don't do it, Just don't do it. It's really not worth it. Get it out there now. Whether you do a traditional listing, of course we can do those. You can give us a call. 247-828-333-4483. Real easy one to remember. 333. 4483. Real easy. Yeah, it's an easy one, isn't it? Or just look up Rowena Patton. I'm all over the place. Sadly, Never meant to be, but you know, that's what happens when you run a local company. What do you think of the voice, Randy? Should I keep this?

Speaker 3:

I like this. You kind of got me down there, you know, thinking cool morning, FM, late night talk you know jazz show.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I could do a late night.

Speaker 3:

That's right.

Speaker 2:

Maybe we'll put everybody to sleep on a Saturday morning.

Speaker 3:

It is drizzling, though, so yeah, it's a little cooler this weekend, but we get back into the 70s next week. It's just great this time of the year. We get back into the 70s next week. It's just great this time of the year. You know, on those reels and short videos, one of the things I learned recently is replacing deck boards and how I need to do that. So tell me, with these spacers that they put between the boards and these little clips, that Well, there's no screws on the surface.

Speaker 2:

Yes, those are amazing. You put them underneath, yeah, yeah. So there's no screw holes on top, which is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Speaker 3:

Yes, isn't that great.

Speaker 2:

It is great.

Speaker 3:

Those installers have now got these stand-up screw guns where they don't have to bend over.

Speaker 2:

They can stand up, stand up height, you know, and zip zip zip, zip you know, Mine's eight feet deep and I'm just thinking I need a whole bunch of them cut to eight feet and then I can put them down.

Speaker 2:

But I'm probably dreaming, yeah, getting the old ones off yeah, in the technology 30 years ago they used glues and you know you tear up creation, getting those off well and sometimes, you know, daddy joe was just putting a board in to replace a broken board and just used any old screw he found laying around and the screw's now all rested up and stuck to the board.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you tear off half the joist as you tear off the board.

Speaker 2:

I think there's little tips and tricks for getting those down too yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I asked somebody else to do it. So if you want to do a quote on my deck, give me a call 828-333-4483. We know a lot of other people that need their decks done as well, just because we're at 3,500 sales locally now and that's a lot of people who call on us to say, hey, who can help us do XYZ. So if you are a contractor, feel free to get yourself in there. In fact, cashtpocom, if you go on there, there is a link for you to enter your details, which would be very helpful for all of us. We want to help local businesses, especially those who remodel. So let's talk about the headlines.

Speaker 2:

Mortgage rates Well, they're not really moving that much. It's around seven, by the way. Seven's normal. It's supposed to be going a little bit higher, a little bit lower. Seven is normal. We're all slowly but surely getting used to it. I think very difficult to come from 2.5 out to 7. That makes a lot of difference in your payment every month for all of us and you know many of us are. The group of people that really concern me on this is at both ends of the scale. First is the new home buyer. The new home buyer is someone that doesn't necessarily have that much money to put down on the house and therefore just a little skew in the interest rates can make all the difference in actually being able to afford a home or not To qualify for the loan?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you know, if that payment goes up $250 or $500 or even $1,000 a month, that can sometimes stop the new homebuyers buying a home. All I'd say there is start off in a one-bedroom condo, if that's what you can do, get on the housing ladder, because over time you build equity. That has never not happened. And again, I'm not one of those agents that go oh, houses just keep going up. No, they don't Not true at all. Clément Jugler, 1860, set out the economic cycle what goes up must come down, must go up must come down. It's been going on. Every 7 to 11 years is the cycle. We are at that stage for a decrease in prices. But guess what, guess what the allergies have you sneezing Right in the middle of a radio show? In the middle of a radio show, it's awesome. Can you bleep the sneeze?

Speaker 3:

Too late.

Speaker 2:

I know right. So you're still going to gain equity over time. Most of you are going to stay in there for six, seven, eight years, seven to 11 years before it's worth more than it's worth now. But also think about that if you're selling so if you're in your 60s right now, for example, or in your 50s and you're selling home, or in your 40s maybe your kids are off at college at this point then is that house going to work for you in 10 years time? I just like using 10 because it's easy math. And if it isn't, you really want to be at the stage where you're thinking about selling it or sit around in it for 10 years. Don't think about selling it in two or three years, because that's likely where we'll be at the bottom.

Speaker 3:

Gotcha. So, yeah, we're at a time right now, like you said, there's more houses on the market. Everybody waited till spring, wait till spring. In spring, I'm going to put my house on the market. Well, spring's here, and so are a lot of other listings.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think we're natural procrastinators. So it's like oh, we'll see what happens with the election. Oh, we'll see what happens with interest rates.

Speaker 2:

Oh we'll see what happens when the leaves are on the trees. I mean, guys, if you're thinking about selling and you don't want to hang on to it for 10 years, get it out there now. Just have me come see it. I'll tell you whether you need. I'll tell you quite honestly whether you need to do anything or not, and I'll also give you three different pathways to help you through making the decision, because the worst thing to do is not make the decision.

Speaker 2:

This is probably your biggest financial asset that you have not make the decision. This is probably your biggest financial asset that you have not for everybody, but for most people and you want to make sure that you care for that asset properly and, at the same time, get your money out of it when you need to. So more than happy to help you. 828-240-9962. If you want to talk to us on the show today 828-333-4483 we've got people standing by 24 7. You really can call at 4 am in the morning and they will take a message and we'll get back to you. I'm not answering the phone at four o'clock in the morning, sorry no, no I mean, I'm dedicated, but not, not, not that dedicated.

Speaker 2:

We're not expecting too much to happen with interest rates, is the point on interest rates? So you know, locally and nationally, the number of home sales has actually decreased. Well, what does that mean? That means that there's more houses coming on the market and more people are listing them. So you know, I would probably go ahead. It's the same thing. You need to decide what is right for you and your family, what makes the most sense at this point.

Speaker 2:

Other headlines oh my gosh, every listing I've been to recently people have said, oh, national Association of Realtors, and there's this big settlement and now we don't have to buy buyer's agent anymore. So you know, I want to talk about that for a second National Association of Realtors who is the big. I'm not going to go into all the ins and outs of what all of this is about, but the point is that people felt that buyers and sellers weren't fully aware of who was paying what in the commission. The thing is many places in the country and we have to take responsibility as realtors for this. The big stumbling block is a thing called buyer's agency. We've had it in North Carolina for a really I don't remember ever not having it here, and I've been in real estate here since the end of 2006. So buyer's agency is something whereby a buyer comes in you might be a buyer locally, or many of our buyers are coming in from New York or Texas or wherever they're coming in from and you sign this thing called a buyer agency agreement. It basically says I'm hiring you as my buyer agent. You can get out of them at any time if you don't like your buyer's agent. I don't know why anybody doesn't sign them. Honestly, I actually do, because most buyer's agents don't, ie, the person who's representing the buyer don't actually discuss it with them. Oh, it's too difficult. You know they're not going to sign it, or? I don't want to have to explain all of that to them.

Speaker 2:

The thing is, before you put an offer in as a buyer, you need to have that written document in place. You can work under what is called a verbal buyer agency agreement. I mean, I don't know what that is really. What's a verbal agreement? Well, I don't remember her saying that. Well, I said that. Well, well, he didn't say that. I said I mean, come on, really, just put it in writing. So we've had it in North Carolina, believe it or not, some states don't have it.

Speaker 2:

So this is what explains to you very clearly as a buyer, who pays what? Essentially? Now, the sellers pay the commission to the listing agent. So I come out and list your house and we negotiate.

Speaker 2:

Whatever the commission is, there is no standard commission. Right, there's no standard commission. There never has been. Nothing has changed, guys. Nothing at all. 7%, 6%, 5%, whatever it is that is being discussed with you. There is no standard commission. In fact, that's called price fixing and it's actually illegal for us to discuss it. The standard commission has never been there. So let's throw that out of the window. Nobody requires in fact, they require us not to have a standard commission. It's the other way around.

Speaker 2:

So the way it works right now is that we come out as the listing agent and we discuss with you what commission you're going to pay, discuss with you what commission you're going to pay, and most often, not always. Again, you know there is no standard. I'll talk about what I do. So I usually share the listing commission. I'm charging you Now depending on what price point you're at is where that commission comes in, because honestly, I believe that when you're in the millions of dollars.

Speaker 2:

Six percent doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's way too much money. When you're way up there, you know, and it's. It is a lot more work with a luxury home because generally it's a bigger space. You're doing, you know, extra expensive drones. You're measuring crew, spend more money your photographic, but basically you don't need that much over there. But that's just the way I feel. There is no price fixing. I'm just discussing how I do it.

Speaker 2:

Let me put that very big disclaimer in there. So we come out and we discuss that commission and then we share half of that with the buyer's agents, the person who represents the buyer. Sometimes, as the seller, you can say things like well, you know, I've got this person that wanted to buy it last time around. Can I exclude them from the listing paperwork? Most often that's going to be a yes. So some agencies don't do it.

Speaker 2:

I generally do it, because if you found a buyer maybe it's a tenant that's thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it then I'll exclude them from the listing documentation. In other words, you don't pay commission, or maybe you pay half the commission or something like that. You know it's all about who is the person. There's no hard and fast or black and white rules on that. It depends on who the person is. Are they a tenant, are they going to? Well, it just depends on who the person is and how you brought them in, et cetera, et cetera, and we can certainly discuss that with you. But we are paying out as the listing agent to the buyer agent. We're sharing that commission with them. What the proposed settlement and remember, this is just a proposed settlement right now is saying is that the main difference is that we cannot advertise on the multiple listing service that we are sharing. That three percent.

Speaker 2:

It's kind of lost me, honestly. I wish somebody could explain to me why that makes sense at all, because, as a listing agent, all that's going to it's not forbidding me to put it on my website. It's not because it can't If you, as the seller, says and actually I have a very well-known agent here who keeps saying to me listen if the seller says I want it on the MLS, who are the MLS, to stop it being on there, even if I put it in the public remarks. And he's got a point. Because if you, as the seller, want to sell your house, then why would a buyer agent come along? Oh, because it's their job and you know they're showing six houses. Let's be realistic here. Will things change over time? Absolutely, things will be done differently.

Speaker 2:

However, I don't want you to think that buyer agents are just door openers. They're not. They've usually spent. I don't want you to think that buyer agents are just door openers. They're not. They've usually spent. I know this because I've always had a lot of buyer agents on my team for many, many years here, and those people representing buyers have often spent years with people helping them. They come in from Florida for the summer, you know, maybe six weeks in the summer or two weeks looking for a home, and then they go away and and they come back in the fall and they come back at Christmas and then they come back the next summer. Many times it takes years. That's why they get paid some of the commission.

Speaker 2:

It's a very different job to a listing agent. A listing agent has let's hope, if you're choosing a listing agent, you're going to check these boxes, so listen to these boxes. A buyer's agent needs to know the area. They obviously need to know contracts and how things work, but often they've got somebody on their team that they're working very closely with, not an agency that's well known or anything like that. That's not the necessary bit. It's about having somebody close to them that has a lot of experience. So, for example, if you're a new agent, you can call up Ro or whomever who's leading your team and say listen, how does this work? I haven't come across this before, because there's something different in real estate every single time. So, if you're a new agent, please think about being on a team.

Speaker 2:

I wish somebody had told me that, and way back when. It would have really elevated my real estate career much faster, not in terms of my volume or my earnings, that's for sure, but I think I would have been a better agent for it. So you know, make sure you're working with somebody that, if you're listing your home, that has a lot of experience. The person who's listing your home is a marketer. They are very skilled at negotiating, but that's a given. Who wouldn't be skilled at negotiating as a listing agent? That should be a given, not something that you know I'm advertising. They should be using all the latest technology, whether that's drones or great photos. Those are also givens. Those are what we call givens. They should have an amazing network.

Speaker 2:

I happen to have a great network but also a great partner who has the most amazing network. He's been on the show, mike Like everybody knows him in town, mike Bryant, and we've partnered up with him. He does a lot of commercial work and that can, especially if you've got an unusual property. He's done so many deals in the last two or three years that have no bank involved, because he knows that there are deals he's got going on right now that I can't even talk about that are amazing, whereby it's just people that he knows that he's brought together. It's amazing. So you know you need that kind of expertise behind you right now if you're going to get sold.

Speaker 2:

It is not the market from two years ago where you just throw it on the market and it doesn't matter what condition it's in and you're going to get multiple, multiple offers. That's not happening now. Will it happen again? Probably when we're at the top again, which you know the top is about 10 years, 7 to 11 years, somewhere in that timescale. However, it starts happening at year 5 and year 6. So will it happen again? Absolutely, it happens every cycle. Nothing new there, guys. It's not. This isn't a phenomenon that happened last year or the year before. It's not true. With my husky allergy voice, I can't. Can you say it for me, randy?

Speaker 3:

Say what Phenomenon? Phenomenon, phenomenon.

Speaker 2:

Phenomenon.

Speaker 3:

Phenomenon. It's not a new phenomenon.

Speaker 2:

Sip your coffee and say that five times. In fact, if you can say it five times, we will give you a gift today 828-240-9962. So there is no standard commission and there's lots of ways of setting that commission. Let's talk about lots for a second. That's a piece of bare land. If you've got a piece of bare land, I want you to think about seller financing, owner financing. Why you say I want my money now? Because pieces of land sit for a very long time. They always have, whether it's now or when things were boiling along. Pieces of land were not boiling along For every land search that I set up and I set them up daily.

Speaker 2:

So if I set up a home search right now and somebody's looking for a three bedroom, two bath master on the primary excuse me, primary bedroom on the main we can't call it a master anymore and a garage on the main level, then it's about equal between those that are pending and under contract and those that are for sale. There might be a few less that are for sale. If I do that same search for land, there's going to be. You know the kind of land people are looking for. Most often people are coming in at $50,000 and they want long-range views and ocean views and goodness knows what, and for the pieces of land, let's say $75,000,. I'm going to find and I'm approximating here obviously, because it depends what area. It depends whether it's in an HOA or not. A lot of people either love HOAs or don't want an HOA. It's not much in between. You're going to find about $50,000 for sale and maybe $5,000 and maybe 5 to 10 under contract or pending. It's the other way around. So there's so much competition out there with land.

Speaker 2:

Now what's the other issue with land? Land is not impossible to finance. It's very hard to finance and you've got to check 19 out of 20 boxes to be able to get financing for it. So if, as a seller, you can offer seller financing, or what we call owner financing that's where you hold the note, you're the bank, but you can get great rates of interest. You can do 8%, 10%, balloon it in three years. In other words, limit the time that you're holding the note. Why would you do that?

Speaker 2:

Well, think about somebody that's buying a piece of land. They don't necessarily have the cash to purchase it, especially if it's $200,000. Maybe you have a bunch of acreage. However, they want to build something on it. Once they've built something on it, they can then remortgage it and pay you off. So it could be what they call a three-year balloon, whereby you pay you off. So it could be what they call a three-year balloon, whereby you pay it off after that three years, or even one year, or two year or five years, or maybe you like those payments coming out.

Speaker 2:

We have people that don't. I'm talking I have to be careful how I talk about these deals. We have a deal that was just done for millions of dollars whereby the seller is holding 50% of the note Wow, yeah, and because they're getting a big fat payment. However, they're getting a few million dollars as cash up front. Right, you can pay off any second mortgages or investors or your real estate agent or your marketing costs, whatever it is. You can get all the taxes or whatever it is. You can get all that paid off, have a chunk of cash and then have that income coming in every month.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, a lot of people have tax considerations for income.

Speaker 2:

Very true, very true. And at the end of the day, what do you want to do? Sit on that lot for years and do nothing.

Speaker 2:

Because I can tell you many people are sitting on those lots for years. They're paying taxes on them, they're paying HOA dues on them. We should do a whole show on this, honestly, because it makes so much sense. In fact, going forward, I'm going to strongly suggest, if not, only take lots where the seller is offering seller financing, because I wrote a bestselling book called Find your Unique Value Proposition. That's it. With a piece of land, because it may. You know, I wrote a best-selling book called find your unique value proposition.

Speaker 2:

That's it with a piece of land. It's owner financing, because most buyers know that it's very tricky getting any financing. It's the same thing for homes, by the way, especially the homes that are up there, or a home that's a bit more tricky to sell. Maybe it's further out, maybe it needs work doing, maybe it's not heated. If you offer that owner financing and I know in most people's worlds they'd rather take all the money now.

Speaker 2:

But we have to be realistic and especially with a piece of land, it's likely to sit there for quite a long time. The minute you offer owner financing, it's going to give you, I would say, an 80% greater probability of getting it sold. 80%, if not more than that. Yeah, because it puts you and I put it in the public remarks too. A lot of agents put it in the agent remarks, so only the agents can see it. I want the buyers to see it, I want them to see that owner financing available and you know, especially if you're older maybe, or again it's it's you know, older or the younger scale, it's nice having that income coming in every month. Why not?

Speaker 3:

why not exactly?

Speaker 2:

so I want you to to really think about that. So, um, let's talk about again, about the nar national association of realtors and what's going on with the fees. So I've had a lot of people say so now I don't have to pay the buyer agents. That's always been true. Nothing has absolutely nothing has changed there, and this has happened before. There are things called cut rate brokers or flat rate brokers that just charge you. You charge you a small percentage to get your home on the MLS and in a seller's market that works.

Speaker 2:

When it shifts to a more moderate market, which is where we're at right now, that's more tricky because you need someone with more expertise and more marketing to get your home sold. Your home needs to stand out. The unique value proposition needs to be there with the home. Even pictures can make the difference. Now the other interesting thing there is I'm seeing a lot of homes expire every single day. I get those expired listings through and people say, oh, there's nothing on the market. I'm like that's so strange because I'm seeing two, three, four, even in neighborhoods expired listings coming through a day which we turn right around and we put a full price cash CPO offering on. Now again, this is sort of like owner financing shrunken because, well, you don't have to wait three years because you're getting up to 70%. It's usually 70% within 12 days. So, especially if your home is vacant, even if it's listed, we still pay the listing agents, commission everything else.

Speaker 2:

So if you're a listing agent out there listening and you've got a listing that's been sitting for a month or two or six months, then check this out, put it in, see whether it qualifies for the offer. So as the seller you don't even have to list it. You can just get that money. You know 70% of your equity within 12 days. Pay off your mortgage, I don't know. Pay off your uncle, granddad, whoever lent you some money in the first place. Or don't pay them off and keep the money Sorry if you're listening granddads and uncles and go on and do whatever you're doing, and a lot of people have already moved. There are those vacant houses whereby you know it would be a good idea to at least check out this offer, either before you're listed or, if you're listed now. Check it out. Just go to cashcpocom that's certified pre-owned by the cash cpocom c-a-s-h. Cash money, lolly cash cpocom and put your house in there it takes about four minutes and see whether you get the offer back or not and see what it comes out to.

Speaker 2:

You don't just get 70. We go in, we stage it, we paint the walls, we do whatever's necessary. Maybe it just needs a deep clean. Maybe you had doggies, maybe it's been sitting for a month and you've already moved and it needs a bit of an ozone refresh. It could be that minor. Maybe it needs the landscaping sprucing up. Maybe it needs new countertops, maybe it needs new hardware. And again, my store on Amazon, which we don't know how to tell you to get to, other than Real Estate News Radio on Instagram. Just look up Rowena Patton. You'll find it as all of this stuff in, because so many of you asked me about it.

Speaker 2:

I've done over 40. I've remodeled and I love doing it on a budget. I love. Taking your existing cabinets and especially hardware can make all the difference in the world. Are you talking about $150? That is worthwhile doing before your listing. Or you can take the cash GPO offer. Do nothing. We'll use our funding partner's money to do it all for you. We'll do the inspection, they'll pay for the inspection, you don't have to pay anything. At least they up front all of the money. We do any repairs necessary on the inspections and, trust me, there will be repairs. There always are. It's like death and taxes. They are always there and we'll do any light to major remodeling.

Speaker 2:

We just closed on our last cash CPO house we had listed. We had five of them, our one on Charlotte Highway. Congratulations to Claudia. I'm not going to say your last name, but congratulations, girl. We put a new septic in a new roof, on new flooring and we got way more money than the lowball offers that were coming in because it needed work. So that was really awesome. So whether you needed a lot of work, a little bit of work, or you just want the money, come take the money. It's there. You'll have the best listing on the market. It makes it unique. It makes it a certified pre-owned home.

Speaker 2:

Certified pre-owned cars CPO cars you've probably heard of those get up to 6% more. Why? Because we buy a $20,000 car and we want to feel sure about it. Don't you think buyers want to feel sure about the home they're moving into? Absolutely good lord. So you know, go get your offer. Go go see what comes out there. Don't. Don't be scared. I'm especially locally. I'm here, I'm looking at it. We run this nationwide. Now we have a book out on it. Go search. It's in my store on Amazon, but just search Rowena Patton. The books will pop up and we're running it around the country. We have over a thousand agents doing it. Why wouldn't you test it out locally?

Speaker 3:

yeah, read the book.

Speaker 2:

There's the details right, or go throw your house in there and I will talk to you about what the offer means. So two-thirds of our sellers get more money than with a traditional listing. I'm not going to force you to do a cash GPO. I just listed one last week. That isn't a cash GPO. That's fantastic. I suspect that they will become a cash GPO as it sits for a month because it's an unusual property and with a little lick of paint and a little bit of well, it's about $75,000 worth of work. We can get $150,000 more and we can get it done very quickly because we have all the contractors, all the right people in place. Um, however I'm, you know, I'll just show you what the net sheet looks like. Are you likely to make more money or less money? If it's less money, then and you don't need the money right now let's do a traditional listing. Um, if you want to get down to be with your grandkids in florida or wherever they're at, or maybe you've already moved because you've got a job, you know, maybe somebody's passed away, maybe you got a divorce, then we can get you out fast. Maybe you're going into assisted living. So you know, it's just check it out. Cash CPO.

Speaker 2:

So another myth around what's happening with the buyer's agency fees is that brokers representing the buyers now have to work for free. What would you say if you were a buyer's broker? Would you work for free? So this is where you can stand apart, right? This is where things are going to change. I know a very successful broker In fact, he's our vice president for north carolina for assisted living, for the cash cpo offer for assisted living. It's assisted living, cpocom. It's a whole business in itself and he charges seven percent commission and he's the most successful agent in the triangle. Why do people go to him? Because they're prepared to pay that extra 1%, because he's going to get you more money for your house. That's just what happens. So it doesn't matter what percent you're paying if the money in your hand at the end of the day is going to be more. So you know this is about brokers representing buyers now have to work for free. No, they really don't. That's what the buyer agency is about, which we've had in North Carolina since I can remember. You're signing a buyer's agency agreement that says I will pay you if the seller doesn't.

Speaker 2:

But here's the funny thing, guys as a seller, why would you put your house now in a seller's market where your house is flying off the shelf, I'll be saying something different. Maybe in four or five years' time, right? So, because your house will be flying off the shelf again, hopefully, maybe maybe six, seven years time. We don't have a crystal ball, but it's not going to be next year or the year after or the year after that. I can fairly confidently say that I'm about 95 confident it will not be then. So now your house has to stand out right, or just do the cash gpo offer and do nothing, obviously, and we'll make it stand out for you. We'll do the money upfront. Of course those repairs and the inspections come off the final amount, but the final amount is two thirds of the time, so much more that you're making more money. The last one we did as the cash offer we were looking at, about, well, the one that just closed, we were looking at a $30,000 differential more money for doing it this way $30,000.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's low. It's normally a lot more than that. And people say, well, what if it sits on the market and it costs me more? And blah, blah, blah, blah blah. It's going to sit on the market anyway. Those things that need doing is you're going to have investors, the low ballers, come in that offer you, you know, the 60% offer or the 70% offer. That is not what we're doing. We're offering you 90 to 120%. Essentially, that's what most sellers get. They're getting 20% more. 20% more is a lot of money. On a $500,000 house, it's $100,000 more.

Speaker 2:

And that's what we've seen over the ones that we've done, and I'm happy to give you those examples. So if you're a seller out there and let's come back to a traditional listing, you see, this is where it's going. We're all talking about these fees and whether buyer brokers are represented in all of this good stuff. Do the cash offer? This is the evolution of real estate. They're going to play me saying this hopefully not with my allergies in 10 years time and go remember that girl who was saying the thing about cash offers. You know, 90% of how we do real estate now are cash offers, because it just makes more sense. We're putting a newer, shinier, better operating house on the market. We're not the buyers who are coming in. Most buyers are going to come into your house. They're going to ask you for $15,000, $20,000 when they do the repair request, when they've had the inspection. They're going to take that money and they're never going to get around to doing the repairs. That's the truth. That's what happens. And then they go to sell it in five years' time. Guess what of those houses? Because they come back to me to sell the house. The things haven't been done. We're kicking the can down the road, whereas this way the house gets not only spruced up, it's not just cosmetic. Things work better and from a health and safety point of view, we put the gfcis in, we put all the things that are necessary from you know a health standpoint in as well, or a safety standpoint, not a health standpoint. I'm sound, I'm a safety standpoint, not a health standpoint. I'm sounding like the beacon of health today, aren't I? So if you're putting your house out there in the old-fashioned way, in a traditional listing which I'm more than happy to do, I do an awful lot of them then think about this.

Speaker 2:

If your buyers you know there's two of them say they usually are are looking at three houses and the buyer's agent is representing the buyers I'm not saying I'm not. This is not a judgment call, guys. This is not right or wrong or anything else. You've got houses A, b and C. Houseb isn't offering any buyer, commission, house A and C is, and the houses are all pretty much the same. Do you know? Those buyers often say well, a, I don't want to pay my buyer's agent. It should be paid by the seller, because that's the way it's always been done. Now, listen, it's not a judgment call, it is the way it's been done for a long time. Is that going to change over time? Yes, but we are not there yet and do not risk. I'm really nervous about this. Do not risk the sale of your house because you don't want that extra commission. It's just, it's the same as a for sale by owner.

Speaker 2:

The vast majority of for sale by owners end up saying I will give a buyer's agent 3%. So now you're saying for 2%. I'm not going to sell my house through an agent. I'm going to take all of those calls, I'm going to do all of the logistics. I'm not. I'm always going to be there when the buyers come in, because you're not going to let somebody wander around your house or most people aren't.

Speaker 2:

A real estate agency actually has tried that and failed horribly. Most people don't want people just wandering around the house. I mean gosh, we have squatters rights. Now you know we have people going into houses especially California's the worst for it where they're just staying in the house and you can't get them out. Who would want that? So that's why over 90% of for sale by owners end up going with agents. And yet they've wasted all that money doing the flat fee, listing and the photographs and all that time and energy with all those buyers coming in. They've gotten irritated. You know they might be close to going into prison because they got so ticked off with the buyers coming in and saying rude things to them or stealing their pills or whatever. So, you know, don't be.

Speaker 2:

You may as well be a for sale by owner if you're not going to pay the buyer's agent. Because if you're saying I'm going to pay you, as the listing agent, 3% and I'm not paying the buyer's agent anything, then the clients who are working with the buyer have to pay them. Now, that's fine. If that were the system, that's fine. But that amount is built into the price and that's where the argument comes in. Well, it shouldn't be because agents earn too much money and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, good luck, try it out.

Speaker 2:

And the thing is honestly, if it were me, I wouldn't do it right now, when it's a seller's market, have at it no-transcript implications later on, when you disclose things or who knows, we don't know, but you know there's obviously downsides to that as well. However, you could make more money. I mean, there's no doubt about it. Guys, now is not the time to do it. It's really not. Don't take that risk, unless you're just dipping your toe in and you don't really care if you sell it or not. That is different, you know.

Speaker 2:

Let's talk about renting as well. So you may be going, I don't care if it sells or not, I'm just going to rent it out. That is fine. But again, if you're going to rent it out, I want you to have that mindset of seven to 10 years. Why? Because if you go to sell it in two or three years time, you'll have basically lost a portion of all of the rent that you've been paid. Because if we drop even 10% and you've got a four, let's say, you've got a $400,000 house. You got a $400,000 house. We drop 10%, it's $40,000. How long does it take you to make $40,000 on a $400,000 house?

Speaker 3:

In rent.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So let's say it's $2,000 a month, that's 24,000. So it's about two years. So if you go to sell it in two years you'll have achieved nothing except having had a renter in for those two years. You can see it makes, and that's just 10%. We went down about 33% last time around and every oh my gosh. If anybody else says to me we're so special in Asheville, it won't happen here. I don't mean we're not special guys, I know we're special. That's why I moved here. I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere else, including where I grew up. So I know it's special. Special does not translate into we're protected and home prices don't go down. In fact, if anything, the house prices have bubbled up so much here that we're hard to hit. I mean, you know, randy? I mean, think about what you're a native here. Think about what home prices used to be, even 10 years ago. Oh, it's phenomenal what's happened, which is great if you're selling, of course, but imagine as a buyer trying to get your foot on the ladder.

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh, I don't know that's tough.

Speaker 2:

no wonder more kids are living at home no wonder, yeah, so be really careful when you're and your, your brokers. The thing is, a lot of brokers don't understand this either and there's a lot of brokers out there who are very nervous. You know, the applications to real estate schools have dropped dramatically. We'll lose. Last time around we had a much smaller MLS and we went from about 2,000 agents on our MLS to about 800 when the drop happened.

Speaker 2:

Because those agents who are not experienced, that don't have an engine built to bring in those buyers from elsewhere and help sellers with the, you know, the additional marketing and everything you need in this market, are just not geared up to have a machine running. So a lot of the individual agents or there's a lot of agents out there that do one or two deals a year it's not worth paying the fees. You know it's about $1,200 to be in the MLS a year. Okay, not to mention each lockbox costs about $140. And then you've got your continuing education, which is about another couple of hundred dollars. And then there's everything else. Your signs.

Speaker 2:

You know the signs are 50, 60, 70 bucks a piece, depending on and there can be a lot more than that depending on which ones you're putting. Putting on the photography for every listing is going to be two, three hundred dollars. The drones are even more than that. So it's hard if you're only doing a couple of deals a year doesn't justify it. So those agents tend to drop out of real estate. So sometimes they're the less less experienced, sometimes they're the experienced agents who are saying I just can't take where this is going. You know I've done this for many years. I'm a very experienced agent, I'm done, and you know I've made them enough money to retire, just like you do in any other industry.

Speaker 2:

And I don't want you to think too that most agents are making all this money. They're not. The average agent makes less than thirty thousand dollars a year. So that that is not these big, you know, do some of them drive around in porsches and make three or four hundred thousand dollars a year? Yes, but so do plumbers who run plumbing businesses, you know. So do painters or contractors that run contracting businesses. So to builders that that build, you know, high dollar homes, or a lot of them, will have their engine set up to make money. It's just like any other industry that run contracting businesses. So, to builders that build high dollar homes, or a lot of them, will have their engine set up to make money. It's just like any other industry that the top 2% make way more than all of the others.

Speaker 2:

So if you want to put it out there and you're like, well, I don't have to pay buyer's agents anymore, first of all, nothing is happening until July and secondly, it's proposed and everybody's fighting about it. There's millions of dollars you know billions of dollars being thrown around, honestly. So, yeah, don't look at it like that. So another myth is that you know how it's changed will do away with offers of compensation to buyers, brokers representing buyers. Well, even with a for sale by owner, there's a compensation to the buyer's agent Because, as the seller, you want the broker, you want to incentivize them to bring the buyer. So unless the system completely changes and it may do that maybe in five or 10 years, where buyers are now okay, no worries, we will pay somebody to find us a house I don't think that's very likely to happen, personally, because the industry has already changed whereby the buyers can find homes um on the internet much more easily than before, whereas a seller can't find the buyers, you know it's upside down it doesn't work that way.

Speaker 2:

So the compensation needs to go to the buyers agents to bring in those buyers right and your listing agent to market it in the right way. It does make all the difference in the world. You'll see a listing expire and then a listing go back on the market and sell in a week because it's marketed differently. The other thing is the pricing there. So let's talk about the pricing for a second in our last minute or two. I don't know where the time goes around, it's amazing it is amazing.

Speaker 2:

So let's talk about the pricing. If you were priced at 404, that means you are not with an experienced agent. I'm sorry. Agents out there have got listings that are $404,000. People are looking up to the people looking $25,000 increments. So, and especially in those $400,000 and $500,000 and even the $300,000 in different areas there's not a lot here the $300,000 mark, but the $400,000 and $500,000 here, be really careful. Why is it worth $4,000 more? Quite possibly. Here's the problem when somebody's looking up to $400,000, you're not even coming up.

Speaker 3:

You're not even making it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that $4,000 can make all the difference in the world and maybe somebody will bid it up. It's not happening very much anymore. However, do you want to sit on it for six months, which will cost you way more than $4,000? Or do you just want sit on it for six months, which will cost you way more than four thousand dollars? Or do you just want to get it out there? Or do you want us to come in with a cash offer cash cpocom, cash cpocom. Full market value offer. This is not 70, it's not 80, it's not 90 full market value. We'll do what it takes to get the extra money out, to get the fees paid on where we borrow the money from and everything's tickety-boo. You get the best listing and it competes differently. Cashgpocom. I'll see you on the radio next week, guys. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1:

This has been the Plain English Real Estate Show with Rowena Patton. Visit Rowena and post your questions at radioashvillecom or call her at 828-210-1648.

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