Real Estate News Radio with Rowena Patton

Navigating Real Estate Adventures: From Mountain Homes to Texas Trends

• Rowena Patton

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Unlock the secrets of the real estate world with me, Rowena Patton, as we navigate the snowy mountains of western North Carolina and beyond. Discover the transformative journeys of homeowners like Susan and Dennis moving to Florida and Mary and Jerry's relocation to Utah, complete with stylish property enhancements that maximize value. We'll give you exclusive insights into a soon-to-be-listed gem on 55 Tipperary Drive, featuring a pool that's sure to charm its way into buyers' hearts. Plus, uncover the hidden benefits of our certified pre-owned real estate program, ensuring homes are market-ready with all necessary inspections and appraisals.

In the next segment, we tackle the evolving landscape of real estate privacy and search efficiency, bringing you a compelling discussion on localized property search platforms like mountainhomehunt.com. Learn how these platforms prioritize your data protection and provide tailored property alerts. Joining us is Sabra Kofra, a savvy expert from Amarillo, Texas, who shares her experiences navigating market slowdowns post-COVID-19 and offers strategic insights for thriving amidst changing conditions. From job relocations to political influences on buyer behavior, there's much to explore about the Texas Panhandle's beauty and affordability.

Finally, we dive into the human side of real estate with heartwarming stories of agents going above and beyond to support clients. Whether it's finding innovative solutions for selling manufactured homes on leased land or navigating complex legal pitfalls, our tales highlight the importance of communication and creativity in real estate transactions. Listen as we explore how certified pre-owned homes can boost buyer confidence and the unique challenges of selling properties with hidden issues. Get ready for candid insights, practical lessons, and a warm Thanksgiving message to wrap up this episode.

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 in the mountains, the agent that I would trust, rowena Patton.

Speaker 2:

Good morning, this is Rowena Patton, and welcome to the Real Estate News Radio Show broadcasting live today out of the mountains of snowy western North Carolina. We had our first snow. Oh my gosh, randy. Nobody really saw that one coming, did they?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's nice, it's time it could happen any time now.

Speaker 2:

So funny, isn't it? So the week before we were still in summer, we had 78 degrees, I think even warmer than that, and the week before and then we had snow. It was absolutely gorgeous and then, just like the mountains, in about half an hour it's gone. Yeah, right, we didn't have all that great. Well, sometimes we do the mushy stuff and everything. So, wow, amazing, right. So we're going to talk about all kinds of things.

Speaker 2:

Today we're going to check in with Amarillo, texas, and we've also got a great segment called Real Life, real Estate. I'm going to kick off with that one, and it's where we dive into the day-to-day realities of the industry. Oh my gosh. It's where we hear from agents and cover real challenges and share practical solutions that make a real difference. That's our job, that's what we're meant to do, so let's take a closer look to what's happening out there in the field. So here's our weekly update on what's going on with Senior Living CPO we have.

Speaker 2:

Susan and Dennis are firmly ensconced in Florida in a color after we bought their house in Asheville, north Carolina those of you who've been listening we've been giving you updates now for about three weeks. We have fixed everything in the house that was on the inspection. All the painting has been done. It looks fantastic. The cabinets are going back on. We're actually doing like a special finish on the countertops to save a bit of moolah. We're going to clean it all up. We're going to have it coming soon this week. So susan and dennis are going to be happy about that. We're going to be coming soon. We're going to bring the buyers in and it's going to look absolutely incredible. We're selling it for about 75 000 more because everything is done, and susan and dennis will then get another check. So they've already moved to Florida. They're in the sunshine now. How about Mary and Jerry Deanna?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. So Mary and Jerry, we've just recently helped. They just moved to Bountiful, which is just north of Salt Lake City, utah, from their home in Clinton, and I visited them a couple of days ago in their new community where they moved to after we bought their house, and they are just thrilled. They have it decorated just adorable All of their artwork they have prized artwork that they took with them and is displayed in their new place and they're so happy there. Jerry actually told me that one of the easiest things was that they decided they wanted to sell it to us and we just bought it and that was good enough for him and I've seen the video.

Speaker 2:

You made a video with them that I absolutely love and probably by the time you're listening to this, the video will be up at cpoexpertscom. Cpoexpert, not dot com, sorry, take that away. Cpo experts on facebook, because we can't show you the video otherwise. So go to cpo experts on Facebook and you will be able to see the video of Mary and Jerry talking about their experience. It's so cute, you've got to see it. That was such a cute video, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

And the good news is I did another walkthrough on 55 Tipperary Estate and it is fully finished at this point. Actually, we've got a little touch up on the countertops to do and we may just put a new mantle on there, but it is so pretty. It's all Sherwin-Williams, pure white. The brick fireplace it's got a brick fireplace. It's really nicely done. That's all painted white. It's got a gas fireplace in there and it's got a pool.

Speaker 2:

So this is 55 Tipperary Drive, asheville, 28806. That will be coming soon, this week, and it's going to be $375,000. That's actually affordable in this market. So I love listing the affordable homes and I love also taking the time because this is a certified pre-owned home, because we put it through our cash CPO program. That's where we bought it. We did the inspection, we did the appraisal. We put everything right. That was. All the key things on the inspection were put right. We got the appraisal to make sure you know it was of value, which I always recommend that you do, whether you're a buyer or you're a seller getting ready to put it on the market. Very much recommend our certified pre-owned program. This house has a pool. That's kind of unusual here, isn't it, randy? But I don't think anybody necessarily will be dipping in the pool in December. However, that's going to be wonderful in the summer next year.

Speaker 3:

Oh, my gosh, oh yeah, and you know the bubbles they put over them for wintertime use, that's you know. Oh gosh, yeah, really.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I didn't know about that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the big bubbles, a big tent, basically yeah, a big tent, yeah, basically, oh my gosh, I want one. Where have you seen that they're?

Speaker 2:

around. Yeah, oh, I'm going to find that and put it in the listing because we want to help. You've been hearing about Susan and Dennis. I just gave you the weekly update in our real life real estate segment and I'm going to put that on the listing. So it's a pool bubble. It's all covered up, of course, right now this house has a two-car garage. It has a pool. It's a three-bedroom, two-full bath. It's got a little porch on the front. It's on a nice piece of land and it's probably eight minutes to downtown. You can't shake a stick at that.

Speaker 3:

And it's how much 375 000. Yeah, witherpool it's all fenced neighborhood good it's a great neighborhood yeah good, I'm not allowed to say that actually I understand

Speaker 2:

it's 28806 like there's not much in 28806, and it's it's country 28806. It's on 55 Tipperary. It's quite a big neighborhood over there actually and um, yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's an awesome little house and at that price 375. It's so funny because I have, you know, we run this, the cash CPO program around the country, so I have lots of Californian teams running the program. Obviously, deanna, who you just heard from, is in Utah Thank you, deanna, for getting up early this morning and they always laugh at our prices.

Speaker 2:

It's really funny. Like, wait, you can get a three-bedroom, two-bath on half an acre, that's all fenced in, with a pool, for $375?. That would be $1.2 million. Yeah, it's crazy, wow, yeah, and yeah, I mean they literally laugh at us. But you know, for many people, especially with everything that happened after the hurricane, $375,000 is still a lot of money, but it's just over half of the median price here. So that's pretty good. It'd be a great family home and all the neighborhood kids would be in your pool, I bet. But yeah, it's going to make a beautiful house for someone. It's got luxury vinyl plank, darker floors, and then there's all Sherwin-Williams pure white. It's very, very cool. It's not on the MLS yet, so you can't quite see it, but it will be coming soon, hopefully by the end of today, so we'll be able to get it on there for you.

Speaker 2:

You can always follow me, rowena Patton, on Facebook. I always put my new listings on there as well, so you can take a look at all those If you want to look at a whole bunch of listings or search for homes in the mountains, wherever you are. You know probably 40% of our clients I've been doing this a long time 40% of the people coming in here are coming from somewhere else, so it's nice to be able to use a site that has more local information and isn't just there trying to capture leads. If you search for houses, by the way and you, you know, even mine does that so it's going to ask you for your name and details after you've searched for a few homes. If you do that on any of the big box sites, as I call them, you'll know the ones I'm talking about. They're going to capture your details and then they're going to sell you as a lead. So I don't know about you, but I wouldn't feel very good as a buyer being sold to any agents out there that offer the highest bidding. That doesn't feel very good, whereas if you come on my site, what we're going to do is set up a full search for you. We need your details so we can send you the properties. That's why, based on what you're looking for Now, we can use AI to do that, but you can tell us what you're looking for and it gives you what I call the back end.

Speaker 2:

You know, on most sites they'll give you how many bedrooms, how many baths and four or five other criteria. Mine gives you 40. 40. Why is that important? Because the reason they only give you three or four or five criteria on the front end is because they want you to think, oh, I've got to work with an agent now, right away, or the big box sites are pulling you in so that they can sell you, literally sell you and your data to the highest bidding agent. I mean gosh right.

Speaker 2:

So go to mountainhomehuntcom If you're looking in this area. It goes all the way out to Charlotte, goes all the way out to Morganton and way south. It even touches South Carolina for some unknown reason. So, mountainhomehuntcom, you can put your search in there. After you've done a few searches, it will ask you for your data. Reason being is we can send you properties once a month. We can send you them daily. We can send them to you instantly. In other words, if you're looking for a property and I have agents who can do this for you all over the country, so that your data isn't sold off to the highest bidder, to some agent you've never heard of, right. So the great news is that we can do this anywhere in the country.

Speaker 2:

The thing I'm setting up for you in Western North Carolina mountainhomehuntcom. Start off your search. Put as many criteria in as you can to really hone down what you're looking for. You want to set it instantly only if you're ready to purchase now and you're looking now. You're going to get very tired of all these emails coming at you with the properties in. If you set it to instant and you're not ready for six months, just set it for weekly or twice a month or a month.

Speaker 2:

You've got all these different options. If you're looking under $300,000, there's very, very few properties available in that price point. If you're looking under $200,000, maybe you're an investor. There's even less available. So what you want to do then is set the results to instant. Why? Because everyone's looking at that property and competing with you if it's under that 200,000. And it means that I can see I can stalk you Not really, I mean. I can look at what you're looking at and then when you ask me a question about that property which you inevitably will that's my job, after all I can answer you because I know what property you're looking at. So that's how it works and you know, the longer you're in there, the better I can do in terms of sending you the right properties. I tend to like to leave it fairly open. Sometimes you'll say why are you sending me that one? It's got two bedrooms upstairs and I need a primary on the main. Well, you know, it might be in your price point in your school district. Whatever it is, those are the properties that are coming up and I want you to see. You know, maybe it's just you and you have guests, so one of those could possibly work for you. It's all about strategizing.

Speaker 2:

I want to head over now to Sabra Kofra in Amarillo, texas. We like to check in with agents around the country to get a sense of what's happening in different markets, whether it's the challenges they're facing or success stories they're sharing. It's always valuable to hear firsthand what's working across the country. Let's take a look at what's going on in Amarillo, texas. So we have Sabra Kofra on the line, who is from Texas. Sabra, talk about your market and what's going on in your market the pricing there, because I know that Texas has gone through some real price drops, and just what's going on generally. Your market, the pricing there, because I know that Texas has gone through some real price drops and just what's going on generally. And how are you helping people through those difficult times?

Speaker 5:

Well, it's been really tough. Actually, since COVID the market really slowed down. This year has been very, very slow. I have seller, you know lots of people needing to sell their house because you know, possibly job relocations, things like that you know they're ready to make a move or they need to downsize because things have gotten too expensive and the houses are sitting on the market. So we're having to drop prices, trying to get that buyer. And you know we thought it was interest rates. We had that little bit of a drop, had a few buyers come out. It wasn't dramatic. But now, since the election's over, we're starting to see an influx of buyers. So I think now it's going to pick up.

Speaker 5:

I think that was more important because people were so anxious, you know, about what's going to happen, you know, and it's like, hey, you're still going to need a place to live. So, no matter how you feel about it, and we're seeing that. So this is definitely helping People are coming out. This is definitely helping people are coming out. But we're also seeing that you know there's been a number of short sales, there's foreclosures, and we're trying to let people know that, hey, we're here to help you. You know, just talk to us. It's nothing to be ashamed about.

Speaker 5:

Life happens and it's been rough. Covid was rough. This has been rough since COVID. People have lost people and they've lost jobs. I mean it's just. I mean there's been and, like you were talking about, there's been natural disasters that have run people. We had, you know, fires up here in the Texas, panhandle and and, of course, with all the hurricanes and everything you know, insurance has doubled and tripled.

Speaker 5:

And we're just trying to let people know, let us help you before you lose the house. Just to us, let's see what we can do, because there's a good chance we can help you. And it's whenever they're hiding it and you lose the house and then you're going whoa, wait a minute, what do you mean? You're losing your house next week, you know, and you're scrambling to try and find somebody to pick up that note and say, yeah, the other thing that I have found and I've had this happen with a couple of people is we list the house. It doesn't sell, and so we're sitting on the market because there's, I mean, buyers aren't even looking at anything. And then so you know, they're kind of nervous about it and it's like, hey, just trust. You know you got to trust God with where you are. That's just how I feel about it, how I feel about it.

Speaker 5:

And then we come up and they're like, you know, I mean, we've been on the market for six months, eight months, right. And they're like, okay, why don't you charge me to get out of my listing? And I'll go oh, I'm not going to charge you anything, but what's going on? And they're like, well, I think now I might be able to refinance and keep my house. Well, they never told me that. They really didn't want to sell. It just became so unaffordable with all the inflation. And so now we're trying to help some people get you know, do the refi. So really just letting people know that, hey, what is your situation, what's going on in your life, how can we help you? Because we're not just here to sell a house and help you buy a house. We're here to help you solve the problems, to make your life better, for whatever it is you need and want.

Speaker 2:

I love that, and so anybody in this network, so Sabra is a cash CPO expert. Talk a little bit about where you are, sabra, and what's special about your area.

Speaker 5:

Okay, I'm in Amarillo, Texas, and everybody always thinks that that's going to be Dallas. No, go straight north. We're in the little box at the top and we service the Ho, Texas Panhandle very conservative area and our cost of living probably is less than just about anywhere else in Texas and most parts of the country and we have a lot of land and everybody has this idea that it's just black and boring. No, we have the second largest canyon in the United States, Colorado Canyon, next to the Grand Canyon. I didn't get it. It's beautiful. Oh, sometime you got to come out. It's absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 5:

They have the show called Texas that runs from May through middle of August and it's a play. It's wonderful and they tell the story about the Texas Panhandle and Charles Goodnight and you know a little Wild West there, but it's a beautiful country. You have a lot of ranch, a lot of ranchers, lots of cattle. You have farmland and when you drive across the panhandle it's, it really is beautiful. We don't have a lot of trees so we don't like to cut down trees and because there are kind of rare the fall.

Speaker 2:

right, we're almost. So many people are moving to texas, for obvious reasons, yes and um, I love what you said, sabre. I just want to hone in on that because any great agent don't be embarrassed, don't be ashamed. I know that's hard to say, especially if you've never faced, you know, not being able to afford your house before Things happen People get sick, people lose their jobs or insurance doubles because something that's happened. So important guys, we're people, people, right, and the good agents will really help you through this. Just be honest, because those of us who are good agents are also a very smart business person, right, so we can help you strategize through this. If you just can't afford the house, oh my gosh, I've had listings I've been to before where, um, the, the, uh, the couple couldn't afford the house. On Now, forget this one.

Speaker 2:

I helped the lady. She was selling some kind of supplements. I helped her do social media and build up her business. He was in construction. This is years ago. He was in construction. I got him out there and got him lots of construction work. I got her helping to set up her business in supplements so that they didn't have to sell the house. And they're like what is this? This is crazy. You're a listing agent. That's why you make your money. I'm like, listen, you're going to be talking about me forever and a day in this market because I helped you not lose your house. That's who we are, guys. So if you've got a house to sell and you've got something going on, touch base with us, because we've got 19 different ways to help you resolve this. So thank you so much for that, sabra.

Speaker 5:

Absolutely. I will tell you, since this summer I've helped three people stay in their home that thought they wanted to sell. You know they say that your house you live in is not an asset. Sometimes it is, and when that person sells, you know it looks like they're going to have a lot of money in their pocket, but your money doesn't go very far. And so we had to revisit that, and I had one last night. They called and they were so sad. They said we love you, we love you so much and we don't want to hurt you, but we don't feel like we can afford to sell and buy that house, even though we love it. Told him, I said this isn't about me, this is about you. And I said that's why. I said why don't you spend a little bit of time and really pray about this before we jump in right, because we want to make sure it's the right thing? I mean, they're in their 70s and they're fixing to put themselves in a position that he'll never retire. And it was like why would you do that?

Speaker 2:

Yes, Listen to her heart. People. This is who we are in this network. We won't work with other agents. We can find you someone everywhere. You've heard today from New Jersey. You've heard from Texas. You've heard from the West Coast of Florida. You've heard from Joey in California. This is who those agents are. Go to cashcpocom, click on, find agent In Canada as well. We've got Canadian agents out there now, my gosh. Thank you so much, sabra. That was awesome. I just love you. Know, I'm the English country girl. She's the Amarillo Texas country girl. I love it and I love fixing. I love that we say fixing out in Texas and we say fixing here too. Right, randy? Isn't that a mountain term?

Speaker 3:

It's a great term. I absolutely love it. I'm not making fun at all.

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker 3:

I'm fixing to go down there and make me some breakfast. I'm fixing to go to the mall.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I love it. Yeah, we're fixing to do it. Of course, you know I've lived in different places in the States and I don't necessarily know which sayings come from which places.

Speaker 1:

You're right.

Speaker 2:

So when I say it, people laugh at me for some reason. Because, y'all make sense, right? So they said yuns when I was in DC. But y'all make sense to me. I'm not going to say you all. How can I say that now I say y'all.

Speaker 3:

Y'all.

Speaker 2:

So when the so you know work with all these agents around the country, when they don't know me yet they think I'm a country girl. Until I get on Zoom with them Because I say, you know I type things like y'all Okay. Y'all are waiting for me on Zoom, you know, Because I apparently write like a southerner now.

Speaker 3:

Good yeah, good Good.

Speaker 2:

I definitely can't spell in English anymore. There's like 2,500 words I was given a directory when I came here that are different. It's a completely different word or a completely different spelling, like Q is spelled differently. Well, a lot of times we don't say Q, we say stand in line here. Some people say Q, but it's spelled differently yeah and tire as well. How do we spell tire t-i-r-e? T-a-r t-a what? Oh, no tire not tar, oh my tars, my tars, and then you've got your earl, which is h-u-r-l right for when you need to when you need your earl changed.

Speaker 2:

There's that too. So in our uh, real life, in real estate segment, I've I really made some notes this week about what are things that have gone wrong that you could avoid as a buyer or a seller, and these are real life stories as a buyer or a seller and these are real life stories. I haven't chose any that are going on right now for obvious reasons. These are from years back. You know I'm over 3,500 transactions in, so I've pretty much seen it all. One is this week, so I did ask permission when we had this phone call where I could use this. So a lady called in and she said I'm the niece of the lady sitting next to me and we're very upset because the landlord is kicking us out of our home and we want you to sell it for us. And I said, well, okay, no, no worries, let me help you through this. So if you are working with an agent that isn't just chasing a commission check or there's been around the block or has experience and I work with literally over a thousand around the country who fall into that category I promise you I can find you the best agent. That agent won't say so an average agent would have said in that phone call I'm'm sorry, I can't sell that for you because that's a manufactured home and the title hasn't been retired. So you're basically selling a vehicle and I can't sell that for you, sorry.

Speaker 2:

We just had this come up in Utah as well, which apparently you can actually put them on the MLS and sell them when they're when they're on lease land. How about them apples? You can't do that here or in most of the country. So if you're in a manufactured home and you're on a leased lot, then it's very hard to get it on the MLS, which is why the prices tend to be way lower on those than if you attach it. You know, we have one that we sold recently a manufactured home that was on a daylight basement that we sold for $325,000. So that's very different to the $70,000 or $80,000 or sometimes $7,000 that you see manufactured homes for sale for at that amount when it's on leased property. In other words, you go into a mobile home park, but don't make the mistake of always thinking that mobile home parks mean the the land is leased. It's not necessarily so.

Speaker 2:

Here's what I said, and I I don't say this to blow my own trumpet to say, oh, I came up with four different ways to do it, but that's fun for me. That's the strategy piece. Now could I have? You know, uh, spent my time, uh, making money and I don't know, looking at people who've raised their hand and say I want a cma please. Or you know, spent my time making money and I don't know, looking at people who've raised the hand and say I want a CMA please. Or you know, instead of spending 30 minutes on the phone with this lady, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

But I feel I'm driven to do the right thing and help her understand what her options are. And the longer you're in this business, it makes you realize that a lot of people haven't sold or bought a home for a long time, so there's no reason you'd know all of this stuff. Honestly, there's all little nuances that you wouldn't necessarily know. So here's what I came up with for her. And actually one was from Brian Hall, our station manager here, who said send Eblen. Is it Eblen or Eblen Charities, randy?

Speaker 3:

Eblen.

Speaker 2:

Eblen Charities, who will help get her rent paid, at least over this period. So it turns out she'd lost her job and therefore couldn't pay the $650 in the lease for the land $650 in the lease for the land. She owns the manufactured home outright, but the lease on the land is $650. Like two times that you could rent a house. So that's quite a lot on a piece of land. Now, of course, often you're getting the water, sewer, everything, provided You've got all the hookups there. So here was a strategy. First off, apparently the landlord is refusing everything provided you've got all the hookups there. So here here was a strategy. First off, apparently the landlord is refusing. I should have found out who it was and we could have called him live on air to see what's going on like, invited him in for interview. Maybe we'll do that next week, you know, because we'll all be nice and relaxed from thanksgiving. So we'll get him on the air and find out his point of view. The landlord is refusing to take payment at this point. So what I said is we need to stop the bleeding first, we need to send a certified letter and we need to call and leave a voicemail and record it, and we need to send an email. Let's go to all of those right and get a certified, get a check, a bank check in certified mail and off he goes. The landlord cannot say I'm not taking that payment. I mean, I can't see any scenario. And, by the way, take all this with a grain of salt, I'm not an attorney, but that is what I would suggest to do in that situation. So get it paid. You know, take that fire off your feet Once we've got it paid, because otherwise we can go into eviction proceedings at some point, depending on you know what your lease terms or your mortgage terms are. It's the same. If you've got a mortgage, at some point they'll start evicting you or start foreclosure proceedings Kind of the same thing because you're going to have to leave, because it's their house. So make sure that payment goes certified. Record it every which way that you can that you've sent that money. Whether you're late on payments on your house, take your head out of the sand. We've all been through this before.

Speaker 2:

That's what I said to them. When I spoke to them, I say I say all this with love. You've got to deal with this now. You can't leave it hanging, you know. And I understand your point.

Speaker 2:

One is let's sell it. And I said here's the deal. We'll just call a Susan, how about that? And I said Susan, you're sitting next to your aunt, where is she going to live? If she said I can help you with the sale of the manufactured, I'll give you a link. I'll send you a video on how to get it on facebook marketplace. A lot of them are sold on facebook marketplace. And I said where's she going to live? And she both of them went quiet and I said is she going to move in with you or is it somewhere for her to live? Why she gets it sold? Well, there's nowhere for her to live.

Speaker 2:

So it's kind of a knee jerk reaction, which I understand. You're dealing with this landlord breathing down your neck to oh, let's get it sold, but you've got to live somewhere, right? So I said we can look at selling it later or we can look at pulling it off. Now it costs a few thousand dollars to pull it off. The land is the problem. And we can look to purchase a piece of land for maybe $10,000, maybe $20,000, maybe $30,000. And then we've got to do the septic in the well and let's throw in 20 for that. We don't know how deep we've got to dig the well Probably going to cost us 12 to 15 for the septic. So for a $30,000 investment.

Speaker 2:

Now remember I'm speaking to someone who can't pay the rent at $650,000 and the niece is saying well, we don't really have the money to spend a few thousand pulling it off. And I said here's what I want you to do Talk to the family at Thanksgiving and see who's got some money laying around, because for $30,000, we can pull that. It was a very new manufactured home. We can pull that very new manufactured home off the site. We can invest in the piece of land and get your aunt set up for good where she's not paying 650 a month Now. Maybe she can pay 250 a month to all of you with that investment and over time that will be paid off.

Speaker 2:

Or if you go down the route of aunt finding somewhere to live, even if you don't, if you can, you know, host her for a short period of time, for a couple of months, if you can find somewhere for aunt to stay for a couple of months, what you can then do is pull that mobile home off, put it on a piece of land, invest maybe 40 000. Um, you know we need to get the septic set up, we need a permit for that. All that good stuff, let's. Let's say it takes three months. We could do it in three months, so we've got to find some somewhere for aunt to stay for three months. It's a double wide. It's very new. You know I sold one for 325 here recently. We I'm gonna go conservative and say we can sell it for 300 000 guys. We've spent 30. That means we're gonna make 270 minus commissions. All that good stuff.

Speaker 2:

Let's say we make two, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars are you hearing that for an investment of 30 to 40. So aunt now is going to take. You know we've paid back the family the 30 or 40 that they invested. Aunt is going to have $250,000 in the bank.

Speaker 2:

Let's be silly and let's say it's only $200,000. Let's get really crazy and say it's only $200,000. Oh my gosh, wouldn't you rather have your aunt with $200,000 in the bank than nothing, which is what she's got now, where she can't pay the rent and all it takes to do that is find somebody in the family that can invest a few thousand dollars? It's not a few thousand dollars, it's $30,000. You could do that on a home equity line of credit on your house, because there's no, a few thousand dollars, it's not a few thousand dollars, it's thirty thousand dollars. You could do that on a home equity line of credit on your house, because there's no.

Speaker 2:

Let's get really silly and say we've pulled off that manufacturer and we've put it on a piece of land, and the piece of land was more expensive and it takes us six months. So now you've all got a house, you how you aren't for six months. And then we put you 40,000 in. We've pulled off the manufacturer, we've put it on a new piece of land, we've got the septic. Let's say we only make $200,000. In six months your aunt is $200,000 better off than she was before, and now she's in a situation where she can't pay $650,000 in rent. Which one sounds better to you? Yeah, really, we really need to put investor teams together to do this because, quite frankly, even if an investor team did this and she split the money with them, she'd have $100,000 in the bank, and so would the investor team for investing $30,000. That's insane, it's a great yeah.

Speaker 2:

There's a good strategy for you. Am I making commission on that? No, thousand dollars, that's insane, it's right. So, yeah, there's a good strategy for you. Am I making commission on that? No, but there's always more than one way of skinning a cat. Yeah, we're not allowed to say that anymore, are we? Do we do we get cancelled now for saying skin a cat?

Speaker 3:

don't do it twice oh yeah, let's.

Speaker 2:

Oh what skinning a cat? Oh gosh. That's three times, sorry, okay, so let me go into another scenario. So one of our agents this is a while back was working with first-time buyers who had found their dream home at an incredible price as they were nearing the closing date. I feel like I need to sound like who's the guy on Dateline? You know?

Speaker 3:

that says as they were nearing the closing date, Keith.

Speaker 2:

Keith Stone, somebody Stone.

Speaker 3:

Keith, somebody yeah.

Speaker 2:

So maybe you can win a trivia prize if you call in 240-9962. Or if you're calling in from Mars, 800-570-9962. Who was it who speaks like that? I'm not sure I can do it anyway. So, however, as they were nearing the closing date, the title company discovered an unexpected issue, a lien on the property. It turned out that the current owner had once purchased the home with his then girlfriend and it was still carrying a lien placed by her after their breakup. So she'd put $50,000, $60,000 down and that lien was still on the house. She'd helped with the down payment then and never officially removed herself from the title. And when the relationship ended she placed the lien for the unpaid portion of the mortgage she felt entitled to because she'd put the money down in the beginning. The buyers were devastated, as it meant the lien meant they couldn't close until the matter was resolved. Now you can only imagine how eager the girlfriend was to sort this matter out as the buyers were coming in. You know, of course she wanted to stick it to him frankly, although my point was listen, you're going to get your money back. You know you're going to get your $40,000 back. So you know why wouldn't you get this?

Speaker 2:

Anyway, the seller was forced to settle the lien and before the sale could go through. It was a painful experience for everyone. It took months and months of legal wrangling and negotiations. It was really miserable and it just underscores the critical importance of ensuring all legal matters are fully addressed and cleared up before listing a home, especially when it comes to complex relationship issues like this one. You know the seller was claiming oh yeah, no, that was settled when she moved out and it was no problem at all. And I borrowed money to pay her off. But we couldn't find any evidence of that, so it made it very tricky. Then we've got this.

Speaker 2:

One was way back, because I'm not talking about any of my current sellers, of course you wouldn't be stubborn. So this one's called the Stubborn Seller and the Missed Opportunity. In one instance I was working with a seller who insisted on pricing their home far above the market value, despite the expert advice. Now, I won't normally take those value. Despite the expert advice, now I won't normally take those. And I really thought with that particular one and I was less experienced then, it was early in my real estate career I took it thinking that they'd drop it fairly quickly, so the property sat on the market for months with little interest. That's what happens when you price it way too high and eventually the seller agreed to reduce the price. But by then the market had shifted and they were forced to sell now at an even lower price than what was originally suggested. The reason I thought this one was important today is because we crested here a couple of years ago, so this story is a reminder of the importance of trusting your agent's expertise and being flexible in a fast-moving market.

Speaker 2:

You don't want to do what we say is chasing the market down. That's what we call it chasing the market down. You do not want to do this Now. My next story is called the Unpermitted Edition. I need to get you to record all of these.

Speaker 3:

Randy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, really we need some sound effects around them that guy's name is Keith Morrison, by the way, keith. Morrison.

Speaker 3:

That's right.

Speaker 2:

On Dateline, on Dateline. We need to AI his voice and have him read it, wouldn't that be funny. Wouldn't it be funny, oh my yeah. Wouldn't it be funny, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

I'm writing it down now Copyrighted probably.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I can have somebody that sounds like him, right, or I can learn to speak like him, maybe. Good luck with that, ro. So this one's called An Unpermitted Addition. A couple bought a home in what seemed like a great neighborhood only to discover after closing that a significant addition to the house wasn't permitted. I can't tell you honestly how often I've come across this when I've gone to list a home, and I think the issue sometimes is you've got a buyer's agent out there that maybe you know got their license a month ago and doesn't have a lot of experience. It's not their fault, although I really believe in this industry that you can't learn everything in those. You know those few hours of training, those weeks of training that you get, but it's not real life, real estate, it's things. It's legal stuff, primarily how to learn the wording of a contract. You know how, all the terminology, that the meets and bounds that go into the terminology of property in your particular state, all that kind of thing, and they do scenarios. However, you're not going to remember all of that as the brand new agent you know. So this was an agent that had helped them. That wasn't an agent anymore. 80% of agents leave within five years, over 70% have gone in year two. Think about that for a minute. So you've got all these people who get their license and then, for whatever reason, don't like real estate, can't make it in real estate, whatever it is. Maybe they move somewhere else and don't want to go through all the state licensing again, because, no, it doesn't just move with you when you move to Florida or move somewhere else. Most states don't allow that because it's very different. Even the land meets and bounds and not meets and bounds in other places. So this was an agent who was an agent, no more, and was very, very new in the field. And I guess remember how we're paid too. We're paid by getting a commission check. So I don't know if that really pushes people to look at every little dot and cross every T, and some people just aren't wired like that. So if you don't find it, you don't find it.

Speaker 2:

If you have work done, find a way to outline how that was done with a permit. If you're going to buy a property and you know something was an addition after the event Now, on my house, for example, the addition was done in the 80s we probably ain't finding any permits for that. So you need a really great inspection at that point. If you follow certified pre-owned homes, that's not going to be a problem. Why? Because you have your own inspection. You have everything looked at for beforehand, so you're setting your house up for the greatest probability of an amazing sale. How cool is that? So this would have come up. So the sellers had completed the work years ago, but the new homeowners were unable to get the proper permits or financing because the addition didn't meet code requirements. Now, if you've got something that was done a gazillion years ago, it doesn't have to be current code. Otherwise all the houses that are 100 years old most of them would have to tear down because, for example, the stairs aren't going to meet code.

Speaker 2:

Building codes are changing all of the time. What you don't want is a recent addition or electrical work or plumbing work, particularly that's done. It's all. Health and set. Permits are about health and safety. The building codes, for example, when you have stairs at a certain pitch, then they're going to be safer. That's why the building codes exist If you have them too narrow.

Speaker 2:

Back in the day, a hundred years ago, this is a true story People had smaller feet. You didn't need those. We've got fat feet. Now We've got obese feet. No, they're longer as well. You know, the ceilings were lower. We've gotten bigger. Not only have we gotten, you know, bigger in terms of obesity, we are the most obese country in the world. I'm not sure we want that wonderful tagline. However, we are, and we're also taller. Our feet are bigger We've got. You know, the doorways need to be wider, the ceilings need to be higher. You go in these older houses some of them you can be bumping your head on the ceiling. So it's not about the old stuff, it's about recent additions, recent plumbing, recent something that's been done that maybe was done without a permit.

Speaker 2:

Now there's some famous stories in. I remember one in New York, very, very sad story Actually. Somebody who bought a house with us was very pleased that we pre-inspected the listing that she was buying because in her childhood she used to go to I hope I'm remembering the story correctly. She used to go to her aunt's cottage where they had put all kinds of electrical upstairs in the attic where all the kids stayed for the summer. It wasn't permitted and there was a fire in the attic which burned out that entire attic. Thank goodness the kids weren't in it at the time, but it burned the whole house down and that's why permits are in place. It's not just to have inspectors looking over your shoulder and make you pay money. It probably is to make you pay money as well, however. That's why it's so important. So in this case, the sellers that I talked about with the unpermitted action were faced with costly repairs and even the possibility of tearing down the addition. It's a really tough lesson for everybody involved.

Speaker 2:

Highlighting the importance of the due diligence period For those of you who are listening around the country, most states are moving towards this in real estate, moving toward it in real estate. That means there's a due diligence period where you can put down. Here you can put down zero. Most people put down about one or two percent of the property value, so you put down a thousand dollars. You're not going to get that thousand dollars back by us. But here's the thing you're asking the seller to take their property off the market for a few weeks and it's like an insurance policy for you whereby you can take it off the market and you know you're going to get some cash.

Speaker 2:

It's also called putting skin in the game. That's why I love it. You know you're putting skin in the game. It's also why you want to pre-inspect your home. Do you think your buyers are more likely to put a higher due diligence down? Due diligence money no, it's not earnest money. Are your buyers likely to put more due diligence money down? That way you get to keep the check. If you've pre-inspected, you can show your buyers before they go under contract what you've done, how you fixed everything and perhaps even your appraisal if it's full, certified pre-owned. Of course they are, because they feel more comfortable. They're not going to lose their money. You know they're going to go ahead with the sale Over one third and you know all the agents I teach this to as we grow and grow and grow in the cash CPO program around the country.

Speaker 2:

You can see more about CPO certified pre-owned at cpoexpertscom cpoexpertscom as I train agents in how to use this around the country and help their sellers get a certified pre-owned home. They can't believe this statistic until they start thinking about their own deals that have fallen out. Over a third of deals fall out. That means you go into contract. You're really excited.

Speaker 2:

Finally you've got your house on the market. You're keeping it show ready, which is a real pain in the butt. You've got to take the dogs out, take the kids out, take your spouse out, take grandma out. It might be the holidays. You've got people traipsing through your house. Your phone's going off all the time, with somebody wanting to see 20 showings later. Your house still isn't under contract, especially when there's more homes to look at, you know, and people aren't jumping on it. Especially in the higher price points, people have more choice. The higher the price point, there's more houses to look at because they sit longer. Why? It's a smaller group of people that can afford them, right. So there's, you know it's likely to sit longer up there.

Speaker 2:

Certify, pre-own it. You can do. If you've got it listed already, you can do what we call reverse CPO. Have them do the inspection, have them do the appraisal, make sure everything's in place. The appraisal is going to give you absolutely accurate square footage. You can pay for someone to measure your home, but it's also going to give you an accurate current value, a snapshot of the accurate current value. More importantly, you're not going to get under contract and be part of that over 30% of the fallout. Why is that important? First of all, how awful, you know. Awful for everyone. The buyers are excited. You're excited. You're planning your new home. You may be putting a contingent offer in on your new home, maybe. If you've got children, you're planning the schools they're going to. The buyers are doing the same thing they getting packed up, they've ordered a moving company, everything that goes into that. They're applying for the new school, finding out the utilities.

Speaker 2:

We all know moving home is not a walk in the park and then over a third of the time it all falls apart and you could avoid that and you could make it 7% of the time. Yes, that's what certified pre-owned does. Of course, you could just sell it to us with the cash CPO team and two thirds of sellers make more money with that and you don't have to have people traipsing around your home or do anything. You take a cash offer, we come in, we do our HGTV magic and then you get the profit. Two thirds of sellers make more with no showings, no fixing up, no doing anything. 55 tipperary drive, 28806 west ashford.

Speaker 2:

Going on the market this week, at least going on. Coming soon, while we do the finishing touches, is a cash cpo home, which means it's been inspected, appraised, praised, all the key things have been done. That's a good example locally. We have them going on all around the country as we buy these homes and we certify pre-owned them and everything's in place and clean and dandy. That's what you want to be buying.

Speaker 2:

So you don't want to get into these situations where you've got unpermitted additions or title issues or stubborn sellers or, you know, maybe you've got something that isn't even something where a real estate agent can help you, like the lady I kicked off with who's in the car, with her aunt and thank you very much, by the way, I only spoke to you this week, if you're listening, and you gave me permission to tell your story on air.

Speaker 2:

They have a landlord that's kicking them off the land. They won't take the payment, so we went through with the certified payment and all the strategies that we could do with it. If you find yourself a great agent anywhere in the country, they're going to help you with issues like that, even though they're not making a commission, because they're creative and yeah, at the end of the day, I hope you think I'm a good person and I don't fall into that rung of realtors that you don't trust. We're one of the least trusted professions. I think attorneys are below us and used car salesmen, but we're one of the least trusted professions which you know. Who wants to be in that category?

Speaker 2:

No one, hello. So we do our part to be creative and help you along the way. I cannot believe it. We're coming up to Thanksgiving here and we only have four minutes left of the show. How bizarre is that, randy? It flies by, I know right. We've got lots of wonderful greetings for you from the Cash CPO team all over the country. I'm going to play them next week because it just feels too early to be playing greetings about Thanksgiving, and you've probably noticed everybody's doing Christmas right now. It just feels so wrong. We're not greetings about Thanksgiving and you've probably noticed everybody's doing Christmas right now. It just feels so wrong. We're not even through Thanksgiving. What is going on?

Speaker 3:

A lot of people putting up their Christmas trees now.

Speaker 2:

I know. It is what they call a short season, this time around because Thanksgiving is late. It's normally this week.

Speaker 3:

Maybe why?

Speaker 2:

It's the last Thursday, but it's late. I guess, as they call it, there's less days before Christmas, but oh my gosh, it just feels wrong. I think it feels wrong.

Speaker 2:

The snow yesterday helped and it got us all Christmassy right. But can we just get through Thanksgiving first? Did you know they celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada? I just found I felt like a dork actually. So we have Canada in the cash CPO program now. That's where we make a full market value cash offer on your home. You get to make a non-contingent offer on your next home. That's actually what Susan and Dennis did in Tipperary that I've been talking about today. They're firmly ensconced in Acala in Florida, florida and their new home. I bet they're very happy right now to be out of the snow and we're about to put their house on and just in a couple of weeks here we're going to have it sold and they're going to get their second check.

Speaker 2:

So we just brought Canada into the program and I was asking them about Thanksgiving and I said, sorry, I'm going to ask a stupid question, but there are no stupid questions, it's the ones you don't ask that are stupid, right. And I said what? Sorry, I'm going to ask a stupid question, but there are no stupid questions, it's the ones you don't ask that are stupid, right. And I said what about Thanksgiving? They're like oh no, we absolutely have Thanksgiving, it's just a different date.

Speaker 3:

Oh, ok, so how about that I didn't realize that either.

Speaker 2:

I know it's a month and a half ago. There you go, ok.

Speaker 3:

They've already had their turkey.

Speaker 2:

I think we have a voice on the radio that wants to say hi, actually, you want to jump on for a second and say hi, the big return.

Speaker 4:

Hi how you doing. Who do we have over there?

Speaker 1:

I can hardly sit here and not talk. Introduce yourself.

Speaker 6:

I started to sit in the car and wait. It's good to see you.

Speaker 2:

Introduce yourself.

Speaker 6:

Everybody's been listening to you for years. Yeah, I'm Mike Blanton who used to do Financially, Speaking here for about 10 years or so Right before me.

Speaker 2:

So here's.

Speaker 6:

Mike.

Speaker 2:

Blanton on air. And I'm sure you want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving.

Speaker 6:

Absolutely Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas too. And where?

Speaker 2:

are you living now, Mike?

Speaker 6:

In the Bahamas.

Speaker 2:

Mike is living in the Bahamas. So you still, your son runs the business. Now, right, say that again your son runs the business here, no, we sold out, you sold out.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, we sold out. By the time COVID hit. I had about four offers that month.

Speaker 2:

We have to do a show about how you can move to other places and what kind of places they would be, because so many people are interested in that, especially celebrities.

Speaker 6:

after the election you need somebody like me who lives. I've been there for three years now yes and you need to go. You need to have somebody like that that can guide you through the way it's tricky, isn't it? Doesn't work like it works.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, it really doesn't well, ellen, ellen, ellen, degeneres and portia are moving to england. Good luck with that and um, they bought a place there and they're moving over there. And let me tell you, england operates very differently, of course. When you're buying multi, multi-million dollar places, I guess you know no one's got anything to worry about anywhere.

Speaker 2:

It's a hard life, you have your minions doing it right. So we are going to bring Mike Blanton back and do a show on living elsewhere, real estate and other places. Oh my gosh, that'll be so much fun. What a great show. That's going to take some planning, as you can probably imagine. We are going to have Ellen. We'll have Ellen and Portia on the show, right, maybe not let's. Do you know their people, mike? Do you know Ellen and Portia's people?

Speaker 2:

I don't know, actually I know somebody that knows, ellen believe it or not, so we will put a little note out there to see whether we could get them on the show and talk about how they're enjoying living in the UK, because we need people. They don't have to be American necessarily, but they do have to be people that have embraced living in two places and could talk about the difference.

Speaker 6:

It's one of the best things I did, but you really need to. It really would pay to have some help. Yes, Over there and somebody probably is not in the field of real estate, but just a real person. Exactly right. Who's actually been through the trauma?

Speaker 2:

I'm going to say I'm a real person. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm sending out big hugs, big love. If you're on your own and you like to heck with this, big hugs to you. We'll get through it. You're not at home with your family. That could be a good thing.

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.

People on this episode

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Rowena Patton, NC, FL, DC, CA

Host
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Deanna Allen, Utah

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Sabre Cofer

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