Real Estate News Radio with Rowena Patton

Maximizing Home Sales: Certified Pre-Owned, Inspections, and Stress-Free Selling Strategies

• Rowena Patton

Share episode

Send us a text

Discover how to seize today's unique real estate opportunities without waiting for the usual springtime rush. We promise you'll learn how to turn your home into a Certified Pre-Owned property, much like the car market innovation, enhancing your selling potential by tackling inspection issues upfront. Uncover the underestimated power of a walking tour video for your listing and why less competition means now might be the perfect time to sell.

Navigate the intricacies of home inspections and see how they can be your strongest ally in maintaining control of your sale. We'll guide you through the advantages of having a pre-listing inspection, effectively preventing those last-minute price reductions and boosting buyer confidence. From Certified Pre-Owned homes to smart disclosure strategies, mastering these steps can ensure a smooth and satisfying transaction.

Explore the emotional journey of selling a home after life-changing events, and how to transform this process into a fresh start. Through personal stories, we highlight practical tips for decluttering, embracing modern technology, and securing full market value cash offers to ease financial pressures. Whether you're downsizing or looking for a change, we share insights to make your home-selling experience as stress-free and rewarding as possible.

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 Real Estate News Radio Show. This is Rowena Patton, here with trusted Randy the producer.

Speaker 3:

Good morning as we chair dance our way into the show this morning.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, we do this on YouTube as well as being syndicated out on Fox. And well, we just decided that we need to do a different dance every week because, I mean, our dances are a bit sad.

Speaker 3:

It's a whole different ball game for an old radio guy to throw video in the mix. Come on. I know right People watching us dance.

Speaker 2:

I know, right Today we are talking about getting ready to sell because we're coming up to the spring market. I'm not sure why you'll wait for the spring market. You've been hearing me say that for 12 years.

Speaker 2:

There's not much competition out there right now, which puts you in an amazing spot. Why? Because we're in this weird market where there's very little out there on the market, although we help buyers all the time. We're helping buyers actually around the country now through CashGPO. So you know, we're helping buyers find houses. Does it take a little bit longer? Yes, and people are ready to sell because often they've been listed throughout the winter, so they're ready to go and move on and find their house in the spring when more come on. Now I don't know if you do. You know what the silver tsunami is, randy?

Speaker 3:

I feel a part of it.

Speaker 2:

So a lot of economic experts. I don't believe it's going to be a tsunami. I believe it's going to be like anything else in real estate, which is really a trickle going to a little creek, to a bold rushing stream, to a big old river and then to a waterfall and then to a tsunami. How about that? There you go. It takes time, fortunately, but once it starts going it's like water, so it really does eek at all of the bumps and the corners that it comes across and it starts flowing faster and faster. So you know, right now you have a really good spot to be able to get your house out there. So you know, as usual, I'm going to say quit waiting around, we can do it. But at the same time, I am big preparation girl, right. So I've been running certified pre-owned experts since 2007. I've been teaching agents around the country how to do that. That's basically where, as a seller, you get your inspection. So let's talk about that a little bit. We're talking about navigating the whole closing process today, but I want to go through why certified pre-owning your house is so important. Forget cash CPO, forget all of that. Just you doing CPO, whether you're a FISBO or you're thinking about selling. Or you have your agent already, or you want to call me at 828-333-4483. Or you can. Actually, if you're thinking about selling anywhere in the country, I will find you that expert agent. You don't have to do the cash offer at all. Go to cashcpocom. Cashcpocom. There's a big red button that comes up and flashes in your face saying get cash offer. You can click a button on there that says I just want a traditional listing. I happen to call them an old-fashioned listing, but that's okay. If you want a traditional listing, we're absolutely up for that. You get all the same marketing. You get the drones on the right property. You get the floor plans. You get the walking tour video. That's really important. By the way, I still see a lot of agents around the country not doing the walking tour video. That should be a deal breaker for you, gosh. You can do it yourself. If you're selling your home, if you're a FISBO, you need to do that. Here's why I coach agents all around the country. We've got 1,200 agents now in Cash CPO and they're helping buyers. They're helping sellers do traditional listings. They're helping sellers get the cash offers. All of the above it just takes them to that next expert level. So the reason it's so important is because you're going to put your house on the market.

Speaker 2:

A lot of you are saying, oh, we need to fix this little thing. And there's all the honey do list that's on there. You know, honey, I really wanted you to paint the cabinets. It's going to bring more money for the house. We need a paint job because our walls are. You know, the kids have left now, they're at college, but we still have those pink and lavender walls and some of you even have the borders of little horsies around the top. I love those. When I go in a house and see those and it's full of emotion, right, and you can see that that was a little girl's room or a little boy's room, and as a buyer, that's really hard to look at. It tugs at your heartstrings. It tugs at my heartstrings when I go in to list the homes. So you really want to neutralize all of that. So I agree with you.

Speaker 2:

However, the real kicker is the things that are going to come up on the inspection report. I've been telling you this since 2007. So, with a car you've all heard of CPO cars or certified pre-owned cars. If you know somebody that runs a CPO car division. I want you to have them call in and we'll do a whole show on CPO cars. That would be fun, wouldn't it? Yes, it would. All dealerships have certified pre-owned cars, so we do that for a $20,000 car right or a $10,000 car. They have minimum of all the ones I've seen, whether it's BMW or Mercedes or Kia, or keep going. Toyota give me some Randy. Lexus, chevy, ford Dodge me some Randy.

Speaker 1:

Lexus, chevy Ford, dodge Ford.

Speaker 2:

Dodge. All of them have a CPO program. So minimum they do 156-point inspection. That means they look at 160 points on a car. Do you think a house has more points to inspect than a car? Definitely With all the electronics and all the mechanical workings and the structure and the roof, all those things and all the little nitpicky things. Sometimes you guys call them and I get it. You know, need some cork behind the sink, like that's so easy for a homeowner to do or so easy for us to get a handy person in to do it for you. So go ahead and get that inspection. So the way to start this process. If you want somebody else to help you with it and want an agent to help you with it, I promise you I have the highest level agents in the country, anywhere in the country. I've got some in England, got some in France too at this point. So cashcpocom, cashcpocom. You can also find it at cpoexpertscom. Click on the Get Cash Offer button and just check Traditional Listing and I will get you going in the next 48 hours. We'll find that inspector for you. Whether or not you want to use an agent, we'll help you. I know that sounds weird. Hey, it's our opportunity to meet you and maybe consult with you on the differences you know, and take that opportunity, make it work for you, so we will find you that the best inspector you want.

Speaker 2:

The inspector that, honestly, agents sometimes don't like that. Find everything. That, honestly, agents sometimes don't like that. Find everything Because what's going to? Often sellers say, well, doesn't the buyer pay for that? Well, you've probably heard there's a lot of things changing in real estate and, yes, actually, traditionally the buyer has paid for that Once you're under contract. That's the difference. Once you're under contract, you're basically over a barrel. Here's why You're all saying no, we're not, we drive it. Well, I want to put you in the driver's seat. This is how you do it. Have the inspection up front. It'll cost you up to 500 bucks, pretty much anywhere in the country, and they will find all of those things. Now you can choose to do nothing, which is fine. We can disclose those items. Ah, you say see, I've heard all of this. I've been doing this since 2007 and helping people around the country do it as well, helping agents'm holding in my hand here. I know you can't see it on the radio, but here it is. The book is finally here. What does that mean for you as buyers? It means that you'll have a lot more expert agents and you'll be able to buy the book on Amazon very soon. It's going to be live on Amazon in a week or so. I'll give you a link for that and where to find it in the next week or two on the radio, but it's very good to have it in my hand.

Speaker 2:

Anybody that's written a book or been in the process of writing a book, you know how much energy goes into it. If you want to write a book and you have an idea for a book, I'll help you with that, and you know how you do it, how you put it it together. I don't mind helping you at all. Just reach out to me. You can get me on the contact button at realestatenewsradiocom. Realestatenewsradiocom. Happy to help you with that.

Speaker 2:

So back to why it's so important to get the inspection. Yeah, the buy pays for that when you're under contract. That's the difference. So if you do it beforehand, you are totally in control. You can choose not to fix anything. We can, in fact, we can just choose to give them the inspection report and people say oh no, that would be terrible. Then they'll know what's wrong with the house. They're going to know what's wrong with the house anyway and, like I said, I was presenting this in charlotte one day.

Speaker 2:

There were a few hundred agents in the room and somebody very well known, who's actually in the current book, I'm not going to call you out there said it was so great. He said this was about gosh. It's probably eight or ten years ago. It's all the same guys, if not even more critical now. So he said I can't advise my sellers to have inspections because I'm going to have 25 listings. He had 25 listings that have problems and the room went quiet and I had lunch with that same guy and then he became a massive proponent of CPO because he realized he had 25 listings of problems. It's just that those problems weren't going to come up until they go into contract.

Speaker 2:

Now what's the problem there? That means over a third of them fall out when they're under contract. A, that's not fun. B, it's what a mess. So the buyers are buying your house, or you may be the buyers buying the house. You have got your forwarding mail set up, you've got money in escrow. You've probably got due diligence put down. You're getting the school sorted out for your kids, maybe you're figuring out the moving truck, you're packing everything up and then, ah, halt, it stops. And the same for the sellers. You know, you're packing everything up, you're getting ready, finally it's sold, and now it halts. Now the problem is that the two thirds that go through most people aren't saying, oh well, no worries, we've got through. Most people aren't saying, oh well, no worries, we've got. You know, 50 items on this inspection report. No worries at all. That's probably 2%, if that. So the next group are saying, well, okay, we'll still go ahead with this, but it's making us very nervous and we want $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000 off the price.

Speaker 3:

Off the price.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, or we want you to fix it. I'm not sure which is worse, honestly, Because if they say we want you to fix it, by the way, if you're a buyer, I very strongly suggest you don't do that. Here's why Not all sellers are built equal. Some will fix it at a very basic level. Some will be builders I know a lot of you listening around the country are builders. You listen in. They might be fixing it at a higher level because they know what they're doing. Some people, just you know, want to do the right thing and they'll fix it at a very high level. However, there may be other things built in that you want to do, like maybe changing the bathroom floor, where you can fix that item at the same time as fixing the bathroom floor. Also, as the person who's going to be the owners of the house, don't you think you're going to do the fix at a higher level than the current seller will? I mean, that's just common sense, isn't it Sure?

Speaker 3:

sure yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Speaker 2:

You know you're not going to do it in the basic way, as the current owner, the seller, probably, is going to do it in the basic way. If you have any questions on this, you can call me 800-570-9962, 800-570-9962. Now, yes, there is a cost. So you're going to pay about 500 bucks, sometimes 350 in different parts of the country, sometimes 600 in different parts of the country. But that money think about that for a minute that's an investment into getting your house properly prepared. It's way more important than painting that lilac wall, I promise you.

Speaker 2:

Way more Way more important, because this is the key thing that will have it drop out. Now we're talking about certified pre-owned today, not cash CPO. I'll throw in how that's a little bit different, where you can use somebody else's money to do it for you. That's pretty cool too. So now you have this inspection report. What are you going to do with it? Well, you can disclose the items. That means, hey, you know, here's our inspection report. We took the price into account when we got the inspection. That's really, really important, because you don't want the buyer saying to you well, we know all these things are wrong with it, so we're going to give you 580 instead of 600 so we can fix the items. No, we took the price into account, whether it's 300, 600, a million, 3 million, whatever it is. We took the items because we prepared it properly, like all homes should be prepared. Oh my gosh, I heard some horror stories this week Mold in the basement, not from our homes. I hear this from other agents who are listing agents that go through all of this, and I just keep saying and I'll keep on saying, because this is my legacy piece, this is what I want to be remembered for in real estate. Prepare the home properly. It's such a small investment, but not only that, it's the gift that keeps giving, because the dropout rate when you're not inspected, you're not appraised, you're not offering a home warranty is over one third. Ours is about 7%. That's how much it takes it down. We can't fix stupid.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes, as a buyer, you go out and lease a car or buy a car or buy. Don't buy anything. You go out and lease a car or buy a car or buy something. Don't buy anything. If you're in that buying mode, shut your wallet. Just do the necessities. Don't open store cards, all of that stuff. All you need to do right now is take your credit report down just a little bit. It's going to cost you more in interest or you may not be able to get the loan. That more in interest will affect how much you can actually afford. So remember that. Don't do it. Get the home prepared properly. It's so much easier for buyers, buyers' agents and for you as the seller.

Speaker 2:

Why wouldn't you want to drop your dropout rate from a third to 7%? Now, that's just the dropout rate. So what does that mean? Everybody around the country calls and says what's wrong with it. People don't want something that's been discarded by somebody else, or they want to do a lot of research. Remember, everything's online now. Everything's online so they can see that it's dropped out on any one of our websites, whether it's our website or somebody else's website.

Speaker 2:

So what are your choices when you have that inspection report? So we already talked about one. This is Rowena Patton on the Real Estate News Radio Show. Find all the links you need at realestatenewsradiocom. Realestatenewsradiocom, or all the numbers to dial in are on there as well. So what's your second choice?

Speaker 2:

Your second choice is to actually attach the inspection report to the MLS. We don't tend to do that in our market right now. We keep it in a drawer, and when somebody's really interested, we don't really keep it in a drawer, it's electronic, it's an electronic drawer. When somebody's really interested in purchasing the home, we send that inspection report before they get into contract, and I don't remember the last time someone said no, okay, now we're not buying it because we've seen the inspection report. It barely ever happens, and that's the mind shift to make. That's the piece to really understand.

Speaker 2:

So we get so worried that if we're honest about what we've been through and, in this case, what our house has been through or what it's going through. The people won't want it. But that's not the case. It's like a dating site. Most people appreciate honesty, you know so the fact that you're laying it all out there and everybody goes in eyes wide open. And I have proof of that because one buyer after another says, ok, you know. They also know that we've taken the things that need doing into account in the price. That's why CPO homes are so popular. I'm surprised that every single real estate brokerage doesn't have a CPO division. We have new homes divisions. Why on earth don't we have a CPO division? I just realized that we're selling new houses all the time, just like car dealerships are selling new cars. We should have a CPO division.

Speaker 2:

Yeah just like they have a used car division. Exactly Well, your CPO division is called cpoexpertscom. We can find you anyone anywhere in the country that specializes in CPO and knows how to do it.

Speaker 3:

That's a genius idea. Just restructure the whole real estate firm to have a CPO division. Yeah, we're going to turn you over to our CPO division, exactly.

Speaker 2:

And the great thing there. But you've really got to know how to do it, because a lot of agents don't. And they help you with finding the inspector, they help you with how to the inspector, they help you with how to interpret that, they help you getting the appraisal, they help you putting the home warranty in place and you don't pay for the home warranty in most cases until you actually close. That's the trifecta. So you know it's really really, really worthwhile getting that inspection and, like I say, we can get you going with that anywhere. Of course we can get you going with it in Western North Carolina. I can get you going with it there. Just go to cpoexpertscom. Cpoexpertscom, click on Get Cash Offer and check the box that says I would like a traditional offer. I'm opening it up right now, except it's asking me to verify. It's me, so it will ask you to verify. You can't get in without that, but it's very easy and I put the wrong password in, never mind. There's a box right at the top of that form that says I just want a traditional offer. So just go ahead and check that one and we'll get you going with the inspection and everything else. Now what else do you need to do to get ready, so gather the required documents. You can read all this, by the way, at cpoexpertscom. Just click on Blog and click on Home Sellers. Is that what it's called? Let me check, just checking for you here. Home Sellers it's called Home Sellers. Is that what it's called? Let me check, just checking for you here. Home Sellers it's called Home Sellers. Click on Blog and it'll say All Posts and then click on Home Sellers. I'm reading you today from selling. I didn't write this so I'm just using it as prompts here on what you can find on there. It's called Selling your Home, navigating the Closing Process, and that's at cpoexpertscom. Click on blog so gather your required documents.

Speaker 2:

I've got a link on there to a very cool fireproof organizer. Now you can use this if you don't have to move, obviously to use this, but you want a really good quality one. I've got a link on there for you for that um and you know that's. That's pretty cool. It's a fireproof folder. It's got zippers, it's got labels. You can put your, your um passports in there. You can put your home documents in there. It's got little tabs for your home documents. It's got 12 pockets um and it's you know most of them are not absolutely fireproof. This one says it's fireproof and waterproof. It's not in a metal box or anything like that. You could put it in an additional safe if you wanted to. But it's so good to have this around with you to take to your closings to put in your home so you can always find those documents that you're searching for. You know, your really important documents that you're always searching for. Is it just me?

Speaker 3:

No, you're right, and that's a genius idea.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's really cool. I'll send you a link to the blog post, randy, or you can go to cpoexpertscom. Click on blog and it's called Selling your Home Navigating the Closing Process. And it's called selling your home navigating the closing process. So it's worth doing that for everyone. This one is called number one gather your required documents. You want to do that anyway. Even if you're thinking of selling in five years or not thinking of selling at all, imagine how much easier it would be for the kids one day imagine how much easier and this is all about taking stress out of your life, right, yeah, it's so stressful.

Speaker 2:

It's also stressful when you know some of you have never been out of the country or only been out once or twice. And now you get this wonderful opportunity to go abroad somewhere and you can't find your passport.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I've been there or it's expired. Yes, If I had found it, it would have been expired, you're right.

Speaker 2:

And you never know what's going to happen. You know, my mom passed a couple of years ago and I thought, oh my gosh, my passport's nearly expired.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah. It takes a while to get your passport. I got a new one in, I don't know, six or eight weeks, man.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and this was during covid, when everything slowed down and it seems to slow down for good. But we won't go there because that that's a whole other show. So if you're a for sale by owner, if you're thinking about checking it out as a for sale by owner now and I always say yeah, go for it. And honestly now, because the market crested over a year ago I'm writing cash offers all over the country every single day and I look at what's happening with the price and I'd say 95% of the time we've lost money in the previous month at this point, oh wow, by everything that's analyzing of the price of your home. Now it might only be $5,000 or $10,000, but $10,000 a month that's a lot of money and that starts ratcheting up.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

The other issue with that is that some people really need to move. You may not be one of those people, but if you really need to move and you see your home going down, you're going to take that offer at a little bit less. And guess what that does to your appraisal? It starts to be harder and harder to get those offers to fly all the contracts to fly, and that's how prices decrease because some people have to move. As the economy is getting tougher and tougher, you'll find people.

Speaker 2:

I also watch the. I have a lot of people enter into my black book who are late on payments. Because I like to help people that are late on payments, because what I often find is and I've done this in my life before you stick your head in the sand and we have a program for you that can save you from foreclosure and you do not want to go into foreclosure and get money out and everything else. So definitely reach out if that's going on. So if you're a FISBO and want to give it a go, fantastic, get your cash offer first, right? So, cpoexpertscom, cpoexpertscom, just click on Get Cash Offer. Why not get a cash offer? It's not any old cash offer. It's not the 70% offers that you're used to. This is a full market value offer offer. There's nothing like it in the country. That's why I wrote a book about it. It's different. Why wouldn't you try that? If you're thinking about listing anywhere, we're syndicated in the country. That would be everywhere. Actually, we're syndicated all over the world. So anywhere you're thinking about selling your home, we only offer this in the USA right now, but I can find you an agent to do a traditional listing anywhere in the world. So if you're thinking about listing anywhere in the USA, go ahead and get your cash offer, your full market value cash offer.

Speaker 2:

Why would you go through all of that? And I've had people say to me yeah, but if I paint those lilac walls and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no, we're coming in, we know what your home is worth and because our funding team come in, they buy your home. You get up to 70% within 12 days, or 90 days if you want longer, to move out. We use their money to paint those lilac walls. We use their money to upgrade your bathroom. We use their money to do anything it takes to get more money for your home. Well, that's great.

Speaker 2:

You say you know this is just some wealthy investor coming in and making a lot of money. No, you get most of the profit. So that's why two-thirds of our sellers get more than with a traditional listing. But you don't have to go through showings. Two-thirds, two-thirds, yeah, that's great Because, well, it's different situations, right? So if you're going through a divorce or you're going through a difficult relationship, often the reasoning is finances, or you're just depressed because you don't like each other anymore and you might have been together for years. That means your house usually suffers. It's got a few dings here and there, yeah, and most of us don't maintain our homes like we're supposed to, including me.

Speaker 3:

It's a never-ending job.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't even take my car in for servicing on time. Don't tell BMC, don't tell them. No one's going to tell them, right? Oops, never mind. You know, maintain my home like I should. Get the gutters cleaned out once a year and, you know, pump the septic and all that good stuff. Most of us don't do that. So there are going to be things that come up even in what we think is a perfect home, and there's going to be at least 40 or 50 things, guess what. They pay for the inspection, they pay for the appraisal and then we use their money to put all that stuff right Up front.

Speaker 2:

It comes off the profit at the end when you present your house in that way. You make a lot more when you're not in the house, sorry to say it. You make a lot more when your pets aren't in the house, when you know maybe you're older sellers that are thinking about going into assisted living and you're waiting for that call from the assisted living place that calls you and says, hey, you've got two weeks, we need the money. We can get you up to 70% of your home where you'll have that big chunk of cash to put down and then you're going to get a nice fat check afterwards. Like I say, two-thirds of our sellers get more when we go in. We take all your old furniture out. You know, if you're a little bit older you probably love to cook bacon. We'll take all those smells out. Maybe you've got a pet. We'll take all of that out. Maybe we'll do a fresh coat of paint. Maybe we'll put new countertops in. Maybe we'll put a new roof on. Who knows, it could be your home's perfect. That's fine too. Get access to your money fast so that you can move on. If you're getting a divorce, you know you can both move on to your new place. You're going into assisted living. You can put the money down on assisted living if you've got a new baby on the way. You've now got your money out of your current home to put down on another one without it being contingent on selling your house, because you've got most of your money out and you can buy that house with the extra bedroom that you need.

Speaker 2:

Maybe you're right sizing this is the biggest group and this is what we talk about with the with the silver tsunami. So anybody over 60 right now is a boomer, I think. Think 60s or maybe 50, somewhere 59, 60. So if you're over 60, you're a boomer. This is where we're talking about people who are 60 and up. So you don't want to wait 12 years. You'll be 72, right for the next height of the market, because that's how long it takes. You're going to be 70, 72. Do you really want to sell then, and do you really want to sell in this? You really want to stay in this big old house that you've been keeping a hold of for all that time.

Speaker 3:

For 12 more years.

Speaker 2:

For 12 more years Could be. You know, 7 to 11 is the cycle.

Speaker 3:

In 12 more years, this place is going to need a new roof. This place is going to need a new heating system. This place is going to need new appliances. Yada, yada yada.

Speaker 2:

It's going to be out of date then too. Now, most likely, it will be worth more. So if your home is a good fit for you, if there's two of you and there's five bedrooms and you have kids coming back every other weekend, great. If the bedroom's getting a bit dusty or they've got that horsey border in from 30 years ago, it's time to sell it now, unless you want to hold on to it for 7 to 11 years. The last cycle was 14 years, so it could be longer. So if you're 16 and it's another long cycle, that would make you 74. Do you really want to deal with selling your house? Then Go get comfy and give yourself a new lease of life. Oh, my house is full of stuff. I hear you say we can get you through that. I've got people that can help with that.

Speaker 2:

Um, both psychologically and physically we've had them on the show before waste management exactly, exactly, and I've got all kinds of uh boxes and tubs and stuff to help you with that and you know I'll come and consult with you for free.

Speaker 2:

Maybe you've got parents who you really think it's time that they should move on, gosh, put their home in and get a cash offer in it. If your kids have when I say kids, you're going to be in your 40s probably or 50s Get a cash offer on their home. We don't mind running the numbers for you at all. Of course we have to come out and see the home and of course we may have to amend it up or down. I get all of that and, um, you know it's a full market value cash offer. So if you've got parents that you really think should move, why don't you put it? Put their home in, just go to cpoexpertscom, click on, get cash offer, put, put the house in and, you know, take the offer to them and say did you realize your house is worth seven and fifty thousand dollars?

Speaker 3:

that's a genius idea yeah because they wouldn't know where to start.

Speaker 2:

Take it to them exactly and your parents may not be techie. I have a seller right now who doesn't. He's got a flip phone. He doesn't do text, he doesn't do email. I can't send him anything, so you know it can make it a bit tricky.

Speaker 2:

So if you're the kids, help them out with that. Maybe you're the grandkids, you know it's not much work for us, I don't mind at all. Just go and get the full market value cash offer and see what it looks like anywhere in the country. I've got people everywhere in the country now that can help you. Uh, why, you know why not do that? And and we can help guide through all the stuff in the house and everything else. Now, if you're in your 60s or 70s or 80s, imagine what it would feel like to live in a two-bedroom, two-bath or a three-bedroom, two-bath, all on one level, new, you don't have to worry about anything. Maybe even a townhouse where the exterior is taken care of for you. Maybe in a community where people are like-minded and they like playing pickleball with you, whatever it is that you like to do or like it quiet after 9 pm.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Maybe there's a place where you can go dine and meet people that are like-minded. Yes, yeah, maybe it sounded like you're looking forward to this, Randy Maybe there's a place where you can go dine and meet people that are like-minded. This is a restart to your life and I know also for people that maybe lost their partner, you know, through divorce or death or 10 years ago. They're just sitting in this big old house with all this stuff and all the memories and not being able to move on. This is a great way to move on. Yeah, you flip that switch, yeah, and have everything fresh and new and get rid of all that stuff.

Speaker 3:

It smells like bacon.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, we're actually leasing out one of our office condos and I'm going through the same thing. I've got files back from 2007. I mean, we've got racks that I thought, oh, we've got filing cabinets and you don't need filing cabinets anymore, it's all electronic. What am I going to do with these filing cabinets, the stuff? I'm going through it myself right now. You know, I've already been through it with my house and my entire house now fits in probably two garages. If that worth of stuff, it's not even that. Honestly, because I've really pared down, I've got to tell you it feels so good. It's a new lease on life.

Speaker 2:

It really is, quit procrastinating and get on with it and help your parents or your grandparents do that. If they are, just go to cpoexpertscom and go ahead and click on Get Cash Off. Or if they're thinking about listing it, let's get them with an agent. You can do it for them. Go ahead and help them, so okay, so if you're for sale by owner, you're pretty much done. At that point you do want to meet with an agent that they're going to help you. If you don't want to, that's fine too, but at least get your cash offer. Go to cpoexpertscom, click on get cash offer. So once it's under contract and you have the buyers in place, you're going to be negotiating about the repairs. We talked about that a little bit earlier. Now, if you've certified, pre-owned your home, not got the cash offer or anything else, I'm not talking about that. But if you spent that 500 bucks and pre-inspected it, you're really not going to be worried at that point. If you haven't, you're going to have 40 to 50 items that you're negotiating on. They're going to ask you for money. They're going to ask you to fix it Very, very few and right now you're saying I ain't fixing anything and I ain't going to give them any money. I know that's what you're saying, but listen, I'm at over 3,500 sales. I'll send you a link to all the sales. I feel like sometimes we're obliterating the map in Western North Carolina, all the way from Hickory over to the East to further than Waynesville, all out that way, further than Weaverville North and further than Hendersonville South. I've seen a lot of this and everyone says that in the beginning, or most people say that and most of you do. I don't remember the last time somebody says I ain't doing that. Now, if you've done the inspection, we've already told them about it right before. It's under contract, so they're not going to ask you for it, which is great. So you know you've really got through all of that and then you're going to get to closing. So you want to look at the closing disclosure very carefully and you've got your organizer with you that I talked about right in the beginning. Cpoexpertscom. Click on blog. Today we're talking about selling your home and navigating the closing process. That's the title of the blog here. The organizer is linked on there.

Speaker 2:

I did a lot of research on this because we give them out to a lot of our clients, and this is the best one that I've found, because you can put it on your bookcase, you can put it in your safe, you can put it in a drawer and you've got everything in one place. And it's not just your house stuff. You know. You've got 10 little files in there and then you've got all kinds of slots for things, so your passports can go in there, your old credit cards, your partner's phone when you don't want them to have it anymore, your kid's phones when you want to take the phone away I'm kidding, of course but all of your real estate stuff as well. You know your car title, all those bits of paper, your birth certificate, your naturalization certificate oh, I wonder where mine is. I so need to get organized, gosh, but the link to it is actually in this blog post. So go and have a look at that one.

Speaker 2:

And you know you're definitely coordinating with your real estate agent at this point, because they're used to looking at closing disclosures and when you look at them, even though they've been simplified and federally they've been simplified now when you look at them, it'll look like gobbledygook. For a lot of people It'll look like Latin. So have your agent, you know, walk you through that and then there's the final walkthrough. The walkthrough is really important and I always tell agents to do the walkthrough the morning of here's why I remember when I was doing one of my first closings. Oh my gosh, I was helping some friends buy a home. They were from Florida. We were looking all over the place I I helped them buy a home, I think at 425,000. That home is now worth at least 800,000. Spectacular views, just a gorgeous house, and I've done a lot of work to it. So the agent was very well known.

Speaker 2:

I was a new agent. What usually happens is they look at your license number and they know you're newer and then they kind of start to take advantage a little bit because they know that you're new. Right, and they're working for the seller. In north carolina you're working for the seller or the buyer. Now there is dual agency but not many people do that, because how can you work for a seller and a buyer at the same time? That's like a divorce attorney working for the husband and the wife, not necessarily advised Same thing. Agents don't like that, me saying that, because they get double the commission when they do dual agency.

Speaker 2:

So she was saying to me oh, they've just got a few things to move out, no worries at all. And I said well, listen, if the things aren't moved out, we're pushing the closing date. I'd done a lot of real estate deals deals even though I was new in real estate here. I'd done at least 42 in different parts of the country. So I've seen this before and it was just a gut feel for me and they were my friends, you know.

Speaker 2:

So I go to the house that morning. There's still sofas, chairs, big items. You know I think they're using friends to move it out. Please don't do that, guys, unless you're in your 20s and you've got lots of friends with good old backs you know good young backs. Should I say yes, don't do that. Just take a little bit of that money and pay for the movers to do it. It's all insured and you don't have to go through the hassle. So the morning of there's all insured and you don't have to go through the hassle. So the morning of there's all these big heavy items that still come out. So I moved the the closing and I thought she was going to have an anaphylactic shock. Honestly, she was really ticked off, um, and you know my buyers were ticked off too and I said listen, I just I don't want to do this before it's all out, so we moved it to the next day. I go and do the walkthrough Because you always find things the morning of because people are scrambling to get out.

Speaker 2:

That's normal. The first thing I notice is that one of the little glass windows in the garage is broken. Happened during the move. Happened during the move? Yeah, because these big, heavy things are being moved out. The glass in the front door is broken Uh-oh, that was about a $2,000 fix and the garage door stopped working.

Speaker 2:

Now that may be because it would have just stopped working anyway, but the fact is you don't have any leverage once you've moved in. So we said, gosh, it's probably 15 years ago. We said, listen, we'll close, but we want some money held in escrow until this is fixed. Or we may have taken the money honestly, I don't remember at this point. We may have taken $5,000 or something like that in order for it to close. However, had I done the walkthrough the night before and gone oh yeah, I'm sure everything will be fine I wouldn't have seen any of that the night before and gone oh yeah, I'm sure everything will be fine I wouldn't have seen any of that.

Speaker 2:

A normal wear and tear is fine. You know, I don't know a mark on the wall here and a mark on the wall there, but that's not what this was. It was some pretty serious damage and the clickers weren't on the garage. Now, most people can set their cars, but if there are clickers, you want clickers Absolutely. So you know, the walkthrough is really, really important. I can also tell you that the Real Estate Commission got involved one day this is many years ago again where I had a newer buyer agent that was being helped by a very seasoned buyer agent on my team and that buyer agent did a walkthrough.

Speaker 2:

Again this is some years ago. That buyer agent did a walkthrough and everything seemed fine and they had a little storage shed, had some rusty old shovels and forks and some tools in there that was conveying with the house. In other words, they'd thrown it in. They didn't want to move all of that, but that was locked. So whatever, it's a little storage shed outside, everything was fine, closed on it. Come to find that the buyers finally get into the locked shed and everything's been taken. The neighbors told me that the seller's kids took everything. They saw them take it and then put a lock on the door. Now why is this important? The buyers were super ticked off, of course.

Speaker 3:

As well they should be.

Speaker 2:

Yes, they were expecting, they really, really needed those tools. So that was not pretty. Oh, I can't imagine we had two brokering charges involved. We had to discuss it with the real estate commission. That agent that did the walkthrough and didn't know to make sure that one, you see, had he just said take the lock off. That's all that needed to happen. That's what would have made it right, because he'd have seen there was nothing in that shed and we'd put it on the contract. That's what you have to do. You have to put it on the contract that it conveys the personal property conveys. There's a place on the contract to do that.

Speaker 2:

And it sounds minor but it was really, really important to those buyers and they made a complaint. I actually went to my broker in charge at the time and said will you a different firm, you know, will you help me out with that this? And the broker in charge said, oh, it'll come to nothing. It's just, you know some minor shovels and forks and things and it didn't come to nothing. So very, very important, get stuff out a few days before, if you can, if you're the sellers, and if you're the buyer's agent or you're a buyer doing it on your own. God forbid, go in the morning off and do not close until everything is out, because I've seen it time and time and time again.

Speaker 2:

I've also got, I've got all kinds of tools on here. So I, if you've got carpets, I've got the best vacuum cleaner for you. Again, if you want to find this stuff, go to blog at cpoexpertscom, cpoexpertscom, cpoexpertscom. Click on blog and go to home sellers and look for the one that says um, selling your home, navigating the closing process. I think it's the number one one on there, so it's called the bissell turbo clean.

Speaker 2:

If you've got one I don't, they don't pay me to say any of this I've had one of these things for years. It's basically a vacuum cleaner that's upright, it's very easy to use and you'll be terrified. I don't care if you're moving or not. Buy one. You'll be terrified of what comes out. You'll be definitely terrified if you've got pets. So you vacuum, you know, once a day, twice a week, once a week, whatever. You vacuum when you've got pets or people running around or people that don't take their shoes off in the house and it all looks clean when you've done it and you use this thing and the water will come out black the first time you do it.

Speaker 1:

Wow yeah it's amazing.

Speaker 2:

Wow, it's just for carpets. They do make ones that do carpets and hardwood floors that in my humble opinion, they're not as good. I've tried them all. I have a little moppy thing that does that. In fact I've got that on here as well. So go have a look at that one. It's not terribly expensive. Let's see if it'll open for me on here it is. It's $113. Wow, is it really that cheap? Good Lord, it's gone down in price. So it is the Pets one. But the Pets one has the scrubby brushes on it. It doesn't ruin the carpet. It's got special stuff you put in it. Honestly, I usually just put hot water in the tank at the time. It's just a little tank that sits on the vacuum. It's so easy to use. I don't I'm very lazy, I don't, or I'm just annoyed by things that are hard to use. This is not, and you'll be so shocked at that black water that comes out of any carpet you've got in your house and, of course, if you're preparing to sell.

Speaker 2:

What a great thing to be able to clean the carpet. I use it every week, like instead of the vacuum cleaner. So what you'll find is you vacuumed it. You thought you got all the hair dust pieces up. Whatever this pulls clods of dirt pieces. Um, if you've got pets, it'll pull all the pet hair. It'll be clods all over the carpet. You have to believe me, that's amazing. It's disgusting.

Speaker 2:

So, um, a basic tool set. Make sure you've got that basic tool set and you can take it with you. That's the thing, and I've got a link to that on here as well. The one I love to use is a very basic. You may have one of these already. It's a 57 piece hammer, screwdrivers, drill bits, socket, ratchet, hex, keys, tape measure, pliers and a few other things in there. But this will both keep you safe if you're in a home right now, and especially if you're a lady on your own.

Speaker 2:

Just get this, this little kit. This is 54 bucks, so you can take that with you. You know you buy a hammer for 58, 54 bucks. This is the whole set and they're really good quality. I have this myself, but you can take it with you because when you move into your new home you won't be quite sure where your tool sets are. This is a little box. It's got a handle on it. It's a very tough box and that will be very helpful for you. So, as you're moving, or maybe you're in that old house and maybe you've got some open shelves and you want some nice utensils on there and, oh my gosh, I've got a plate fetish or something. Do you remember Grandma's Corelle?

Speaker 3:

No, I don't.

Speaker 2:

So it's the vitrelle. It's a glass dish. You don't know it's glass. It feels like porcelain, but it's very, very thin. You can stand on it upside down. It's the bestseller in dinnerware sets on amazon.

Speaker 2:

Now, if you, if you know anybody that's getting married, this is such a great set to buy them. It's so cool. You can take one of their cups and you can stand on it upside down. These things are indestructible, but they're also pretty. This is not your grandma's corral with with little flowers around the side. You'd know exactly what I'm talking about. They're white and it's got with little flowers around the side. You'd know exactly what I'm talking about. They're white and it's got like little flowers around the outside, or maybe like an Egyptian band or Greek band around the outside. You'd know exactly what I was talking about. These are white.

Speaker 3:

I'm very interested. You wouldn't believe. My mom bought me the last set of dinnerware and that was in 2008 when I moved so and so that stuff is looking ratty now and I was looking at. So what should I buy?

Speaker 2:

and I want white. I'm gonna. I'm gonna send you the blog post when I'm done. Is white is so easy, guys. It goes with everything if you're buying people. I'm gonna put a wedding pack on here too. Buy white. Go and buy the white fluffy towels. Go and buy the white dishes. It goes with everything. If you like, you can put color into the whole thing. That is cheap to change, like you know. Dinner what do you call it? Dinner things?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, doilies, no, no, not doilies.

Speaker 2:

The thing you put, whatever you call it, the thing you put the dishes down on, or a nice you know runner on the table or flowers Placemat. Pl a nice, you know, runner on the table or flowers or placemat.

Speaker 1:

Thank, you yes, or you can put your colored things around your house.

Speaker 2:

That's why sheets, white sheets you can bleach them. Yes, yeah, I'm thank you for that, because I'm going to put my my pillow ones on there, because the egyptian ones, the expensive ones, are like. I think I pay 40 bucks a set, which is not expensive for sheets, and they always go and say, oh gee, the giza ones, oh my gosh, I'm in love with them. They're amazing. But this is so. This is 51 for an 18 piece set. It's chip resistant I think I've chipped one in the whole time and you can.

Speaker 2:

You can buy a. They sell extras as well. You can buy serving bowls. They have absolutely everything because it's the best seller. But the other great thing is it's very light. So you know, uh, maybe you've got children or maybe you're collecting all the dishes and this stuff looks stellar on your dining table, like even if you have dinner services, or you know you have dinner parties and and you want it to look nice. It looks really nice. Um, and you can it to look nice. It looks really nice. And you can get big bowls. I love the big serving bowls. I use them to put, you know, noodle soup in and stuff like that.

Speaker 3:

Man, I'm so glad you brought this up. You've been reading my Amazon shopping list.

Speaker 2:

I know, isn't it? It's what everybody shops for. But if you're tired of the old dishes and want some nice new ones to take with you when you move, or you know somebody that's moving, or you want the, I need to do a whole wedding post and I really do, because I've got all the basics for you. Like, that bissell cleaner is 120 bucks. They will thank you for that way more than a freaking toaster or something else. And for people that you know want that wedding list, like to look at the basics. It's so cool and you'll be using those white plates.

Speaker 2:

I've had them for probably 20 years now. I've got a wedding set that I have for 20 years ago that I never bring out. Oh, and it stacks more easily in the dishwasher because they're very, very thin but very, very durable. Everything stacks better. And if you've got, you know, a lot of us have those open shelves now, which is why I bought them in the first place. They look good. They look great. Yeah, they're all white and you can have 20 plates and they only take up I don't know maybe three inches. Wow, yeah, it's amazing. Or in your, in your cabinets as well. So those big you know the earthenware ones chip all the potters out there don't like me. Now you can put it in the microwave, in the oven too, that's it. You can't put it on the stovetop, but it'll go in the microwave, in the oven and you can put the you know, the dishwasher saran wrap over it. I'm obviously a I can't say the word, what I am but I'm a plate, you know the word okay, yeah, that one.

Speaker 2:

So I love those darn things and and all the. I'm going to make a whole blog post on this because it's so much fun things you want to take with you. So getting prepped as well is what I want you to do. Get one of those big bags. You know those big 199 bags from from um, tj, maxx or something like that. All the shopping bags, the reusable ones. Now I love those things to move with.

Speaker 2:

I don't mean pack everything, and that's not where I'm going, but you want things like toilet paper. I wonder why, when you're on the road or you know, just get a pack of six and get really nice toilet paper. Here's why Don't get the crappy toilet paper, because you're in stress. It's stressful. Get your toilet paper to take with you. Your new house might not have it. Big white, fluffy towels Just take new ones with you. Throw all the old crap away. Unless you've got the big white, fluffy ones, if you've been listening to me for 12 years, you'll have them already. It will save you a lot of money. Soap, shampoo, other personal hygiene products, jumbo pack of paper towels you definitely want that when you're moving.

Speaker 2:

I've got all the links on here for you. Oh, I've got bedding on here, geezer sheets from my pillow. I've already got it on there, guys. Oh, I've got bedding on here, geezer sheets from MyPillow. I've already got it on there, guys. I love these sheets. They're really crisp and heavy. You can bleach them. They're white. You're never going to have a problem with them. How the heck did we talk about this for the whole show, randy? Are they called Geezer sheets?

Speaker 3:

Are you serious?

Speaker 2:

Geezer. Yes, oh great, that's because the cotton comes from Giza. That's a whole other story. I want you to go to cpoexpertscom click on blog it's the second one down when you go to Home Sellers selling your home, navigating the process We've talked about sheets, plates, all the things you need to take with you. The electronic chargers I've got a little cord and charger organized on there. First aid kit $20 for one on there. Flashlight packs, plastic tubs I love these darn things. Go, take a look. See you on the radio next week.

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

Head Shot

Rowena Patton, NC, FL, DC, CA

Host
Head Shot

Become a Contributor

Co-host
Head Shot

Chris Evensen

Co-host