The Jason Theory
Jason Stratton of KlopasStratton Team, a top 20 team in the nation with over 1.5 billion sold , sits down with weekly guests to talk about becoming successful, the real estate market, and crazy stories/people we run into. Visit www.klopasstratton.com to see more!
The Jason Theory
S5 E3 - Buyers!.... Multiple offers are not going anywhere - this is the only way you win
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We dig into how to win in a low-inventory, high-competition market, from pre-coaching buyers to crafting cleaner, faster offers that sellers trust. We compare the 2008 cycle to today’s supply squeeze and share seller strategies that create momentum without leaving money on the table.
• differences between 2006–08 flipping mania and today’s data-rich shortage
• why early tours and first-in offers create leverage
• how to structure offers with as-is terms and appraisal gap planning
• when to waive mortgage contingency and protect condo warrantability
• lender reputation as a tie-breaker in multiples
• pricing and light-prep strategies that return 2–3x and reduce days on market
• how turnkey premiums and two-week staleness shape buyer behavior
• weekend launch tactics that build urgency and clean decision windows
• Chicago pipeline constraints, renter pressure, and medium-term price outlook
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Cold-Start Tactics To Win Offers
SPEAKER_01I called, I got it. I'm hitting the campaign trails, right? So now if you're the listing agent, I'm calling you up, I'm reaching out and I'm appropriate too. Like I don't want to like make you feel uncomfortable and like blow you up and put you in an awkward situation, but I want to just continue to like be in your air, just be like, hey, we love it, have to have it. My lender's gonna reach out to you proactively. He's gonna confirm that these guys are rockstar.
SPEAKER_04That is a good one. That's great.
SPEAKER_01Rockstar clients, they have nothing to sell, huge down payment. They're waving their appraisal. They'll let the seller stay free for the next 30 days, you know, all these things. So I'm continuing to like be in your ear. And also, one last little tidbit is like when I submit an offer, I'm really detailed how I submit the offer. I summarize everything, I write a nice letter, and all I want the listing agent to do is forward my offer to the seller. Because I'm not going to say anything disparaging. It's all really nicely articulated, summarizes everything so perfectly. Here's the offer price, here's the down payment, here's the earnest money, here's attorney review inspection, mortgage contingency, you're waiving it.
SPEAKER_06I always put like my attorney, my inspector. Exactly. I put the attorney's name, inspector's name. Oh, that's a good idea, too. Yeah. Everybody knows Jeff Swanberg. It's always like Jeff. He's not a crazy person.
SPEAKER_01Right. And now I'll also CC the lender on the kickoff summary. And I'll just lay it up for my preferred lender to say, oh, and my preferred lender will reach out to you to validate what strong buyers my clients are. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06What's the five P's? Do you remember it?
SPEAKER_05Proper preparation, rent poor performance.
SPEAKER_06There you go. It doesn't matter how much money we get, if we don't close, it's no money, right? So no close is no money. I'm everything that I am because of my dad's death. And I wouldn't be as successful without his death. Hey, welcome to the Jason Theory Keeping It Real podcast. And we have a great lineup for you. We have a first timer. That's great. Sam Schaefer. Welcome. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00Having him to the basement.
SPEAKER_06The basement. Nick and Ken, who have been on previous podcasts. And we're going to just really shoot about what's happening in the market right now. You know, for the first time, you know, it's it's it's been how long have you guys, Sam? I know we've you've been doing this a while. Ken, you did this a while. Ken, when did you stutter?
SPEAKER_03Oh three.
SPEAKER_06Oh shit.
SPEAKER_0323 years.
SPEAKER_0623 years. I'm 22. You but I'm similar to Ken. Oh wait, oh wait. So you saw, did you catch any of the craziness of 08?
SPEAKER_05Like I was doing I was doing mortgages at the time, so that was part of the problem. So just in case you wanted to know. Okay, so you're predatory. It's more than one way. You know, option arms. Basically, the option arms 1% interest rates a good time. This is 1% with a balloon payment. Correct. Correct. But I didn't know anything about that. No. So I was doing that, and then like a mortgage broker puts in those programs they were talking about was coming in. It's like, forget this stuff. Let's just do some rentals. No one can get loans anymore. So I started doing rentals. So that's how I started.
SPEAKER_03Were you though in what mortgage company?
SPEAKER_05Oh, that's several over the years, but it was ones I can probably name all of them. Real quick. No, I forgot all of them. Capital mortgage, IBC mortgage, exclusive metro mortgage. Really? First capital, when I say first capital. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03All right. Enough. I'm sorry even asked. Yeah.
Meet The Hosts And Market Vets
SPEAKER_06So, you know, I always explain to somebody the difference between 06 to 08 and the madness that we're seeing today. So, you know, we we could all kind of talk about it because you were the tail end of that. And, you know, what are the big differences, Sam? I'm sorry to think what are the big differences that you see between the madness we have right now versus the madness that was in 06 to 08?
SPEAKER_01I mean, this market right now is bananas. The difference between 08 and now is information. I mean, people have a lot of information at their fingertips. Back in 08, it was a little bit of the wild, wild west. And I think right now people have are more educated, but we're still we're in a market right now that people have money. There's very little in inventory, and there's high buyer demand. And there's also a lot of confidence in the economy where people feel that the real estate market is going to continue to thrive and go up.
SPEAKER_02What do you see differences between the two?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I was younger and probably not as seasoned back then, so I probably didn't have the clientele that I have today. And there was there was a time, like being a new agent, I think I did pretty well back in the day, but I sort of agree with Sam. I mean, we had like four different MLSs back then. I mean, just the way to access data was never consistent, and I just don't even think like I mean, back then we were still running with BlackBerries and no internet access on our phones and everything was pretty different, you know. So I was just so different.
SPEAKER_06But the man, but the madness that you see like do you like because I have a like a really like because I did mostly new construction back then. Yeah. And the the the madness back then to me is distinctively different than the madness we have now. Like what uh in 06 to 08, when you had a client, we wrote like five contracts like every six months, and we're just flipping contracts. It was mad, but there was tons of inventory. Yeah, and the madness was driven by you guys. Where the madness now is like what Sam said, it's just there's no inventory, so it's chaotic, but no one's getting anything. Like we were like the amount of contracts we were doing was unreal. We would we would open up a 50-unit building, and there were people literally outside. I remember at the Montgomery 2007, there was a line of people, and you got in, whoever got the best units went downstairs. We were reassigning contracts the minute we got out of the sales center for 50 grand to the next person that was in line at 240 Illinois. They had an opening up party and they invited all the people that had done a ton of contracts with Montgomery. Sophia and I went to the party. At that party, we bought 17 units. The units are moving so fast that they had the computers that were on algorithms, were on like as you bought stuff, the pricing changed. They had a halt, they had to stop the computers. You bought 17 units.
SPEAKER_0317 units the flip, the flip uh at a thousand bucks to earnest money. I sort of remember it now that you bring it up because there were buildings with huge lines. I remember when 900 Kingsbury went live. I wasn't even in real estate then.
SPEAKER_06But that's that movie. That's all the same developer.
SPEAKER_03He did that one there was like insane.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And then fast forward, like then I started my own brokerage in 2009, got an office space in the West Loop in 2010-11. And I didn't do any sales in the first four years of my career. But, anyways, moving forward, talking about new construction, those three beds, three, two and a half for three baths, then the Belgraver group ones in the West Loop. They're$4.99 back then. Now they're$1.3 plus and they're flying off the shelves at$4.99. People are like waiting at that time. They're like, you know what? There's a lot of uneasiness. What's gonna happen? Can I even get a loan for$4.99? Now they're flying off the shelves at$1.3. No, I'm talking about the Bell Gravier group, the three bed, the three bed, three baths, like the 1900 square foot ones that they built. They built like four of them, CA6 and CO things. Because then they did then they did Aberby did Oprah's place. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So but like those are like And those places, Oprah's places sold even in the bad market, like two years before we were writing contracts. Correct.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they were yeah, yep, exactly. Still dirt, and they were gone. It was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01So so that's actually a good segue. If you're talking if you're looking back at pricing and how much it's appreciated between then and now, what's gonna happen right now when we're putting clients that clients are overpaying for properties according to comps? Are they really overpaying? Like we don't have the crystal ball, but three, five years from now.
SPEAKER_06We've had this discussion. Are you overpaying? I don't like I don't think so. It you can't have in like where are they gonna get inventory, right? Where are you gonna get inventory? You're not gonna get it from towers because no bank will let Chicago's blacklisted. So the only towers you can build are rental towers. That's it. And there's no permits being pulled for rental towers, so not more than 600 units being built next year. So you've got right now nine renters. I read, and you know, this stuff's it's loose, it's not accurate, but it's pretty close. There's nine renters for every available apartment that comes up on the market. That's what they say in the city of Chicago. And there's true, yeah, and there's no construction, like there's not a tower, like no one's building a one Chicago, no one's building a 505 McClurve, like there's no there's no high density build because we can't get stuff, we can't get financing. So to Sam's point, is when does the pricing stop? It just can't. If you have all this demand in the rental buildings, you're still gonna be pushing people to sales. And at some point, people are gonna be like, you know, fuck, this is where rates are staying, right? If people were smart, they would have bought at 8% three years ago when pricing was soft. But they're not looking at people now at six percent.
SPEAKER_05I'm just waiting for rates to go down. You've been waiting for things to just keep going like this. Yeah, it's about six percent.
SPEAKER_06I mean, what do you I mean the only people that say that are under 35. Correct, correct. That's exactly it. Because my first place was at like nine percent. I thought my mom was like, Oh, this is a steal.
2008 Frenzy Versus Today’s Shortage
SPEAKER_03You know what's crazy is try to take a look at the lakeview market of anything new construction around Southport that's a condo. Like everything is 15, 16, 17, 19, 453 Briar. I think it's trading for over a thousand bucks a foot. It's like it's just insane.
SPEAKER_06Can you wrap your head? This is the new man. I can't wrap my head around it. I can't either. I feel like I'm doing people a disservice when I tell them to pay 700 grand for a three-year-old two two that's 1150 square feet both the 10 foot.
SPEAKER_03But what's your alternative? Like, if you're you're you can't find that space to rent, and then your payments are probably the same. So I think people just justify these higher prices no matter what. What about the people that think prices are gonna go down?
SPEAKER_06Like now, they've all given up. Yeah, they've yelled out. Because the calls I get now from tenants, they've they've said uncle. Yeah, one person called me, I'm seeing them tonight. She's like, we waited three years. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, they go, oh, that'll work out for you. And they're like, we're finally just gonna do it. Yeah, you know, we have up to 950,000 to spend. That's why I just sent that Wolcott place to. And they're like, we're just we're just giving in. Yeah. And I'm like, dude, rates are 5.75. I'm like, this is cheap money.
SPEAKER_01So if they have$950,000 to spend and a lot of properties, most properties are going for over-asking. The conundrum is what are you going to show them? Does it make sense to show them something for$950, knowing that it's going to spit up to a million?
SPEAKER_03Sam's trying to throw you off the center.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have a client too that likes that property. I I personally wouldn't show it to them, or show them something less expensive.
SPEAKER_06Well, that's a great thing. So I have a buyer, we've lost out on three homes. So one home, one point, you know, one of them. Yeah. 1919 Fletcher, 1524 Nelson, and then another property. They all traded for over a hundred thousand cash, no inspections, no nothing. Every single one of them. Another property came on the market for 1.375. No, not no, not yes. One the one 1.395 or something. And uh, well, see, he's looking at Cox. He's got something coming up. And they won't even go see it. Why? Because our they're like, our high is 145. What's the point? And I'm like, you can't think like that. You can't, first off, you haven't been inside there. First off, the other houses that we saw were purposely, purposely listed 100 to 150,000 under because those agents are morons. So it was purposely listed. Or geniuses.
SPEAKER_03No, because they would have gotten more. You think if they priced it more, they would have gotten more?
SPEAKER_06Yeah. There's only so much that someone could physically in their mind go above asking. There is going to be a breaking point. They listed up 1990 Fletcher should have been listed at 1.5 and he would have got 1.6 to 165. He listed at 135, and the the word on the street is he got low 15s. Fair value on that house is 15. The only thing he does is he looks like a genius because all the morons that don't know the market think that he got oh he got this much over listing.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_06And you know who that agent is, and that's what he does.
SPEAKER_03And even that same agent, I mean, I just bought something on Melrose with him for$1.7. So he did sort of underprice that. I don't I don't remember what the house looks like, but it seems like it was a price way too low. The house across the street sold for 2.2 and you remember that Barry house we looked at, like Daribel, Darablanco handit. It was like eight offers, Hardy. I mean, went to like 200,000 over.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Anyways, it's pretty simple.
SPEAKER_01So going back, so going back to your going back to your buyers, is a good segue. How are you gonna help your client find a home? Like, for example, they said, oh, we don't want to get beat up and battered again because they've already lost out on three homes. They don't want to go see this house because they think it's underpriced. And you, as their fiduciary, you're like, hey, we got to be faster, quicker.
SPEAKER_02We gotta go.
SPEAKER_01Strategic. Let's get in there, let's be the first one in. And for me, when I'm working with clients, I want to be the first one in. I want to be the first offer in. And my clients will be like, well, that's not necessarily like a great strategy because they can take your offer and just kind of hold on to it. But I'm doing that anyways. Exactly. So my narrative is like, I want to operate within the spirit of the deal and kind of weigh on like the pull on the seller's heartstrings a little bit and be like, hey, we're the first offer in, we're quick, we're nimble, we're fast, we love it, we're not messing around and start campaigning and do little subtle things to have our offer kind of hover towards the top.
SPEAKER_06I I think that's a I mean, I I definitely think anything that you could do, I think it's great like that.
SPEAKER_03That doesn't hurt, but I don't think these sellers care.
SPEAKER_06I mean it's gotten so I should and I wish they cared.
SPEAKER_03I think the agents should care that it's you on the other side. And we've talked about this.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, but on multiple offers, but at multiple offers, if you stick your neck out for an agent and that agent turns around and screws you, you're done. Right? Because you're like, oh, I had all these other offers, right? So like you have to you have to be confident. I think I will tell you, right? Like the four of us, when you go out and you have an offer, we have a reputation that, hey, listen, this is gonna you know we don't hang out, we don't we don't hang around and have clients that we don't have control of. And I'm not saying control like you must do this, but like we we know that.
SPEAKER_01We're consultative, we have the confidence to to properly transact, right? Like we try to facilitate a transaction.
SPEAKER_06But there's a lot of people that don't, and that's the problem, right? You know, like a lot of these agents are just a lot of these agents won't step out and say, hey, listen, this this offers one four. I don't like for me, and I'm sure you guys do this. I'm like, this offers one four. I have no idea who this person is. I've looked up their transaction history. The largest trade that ever done is 300 grand and was six months ago. And this is a one-five house. This here, this is Sam. He's$25,000 less. However, he's done but you could take your chance with one four, but if it doesn't pan out, that one three seven five is probably gone.
SPEAKER_03Or or they could go back to Sam and say, we have a higher offer, but we like you more. I guess I guess that's tricky.
SPEAKER_01Well, what I do is I ask my seller for permission with their blessing. Would you like me to go back to this agent? His terms are great, his reputation's great, the price is not as high as this other offer, and give him an opportunity to match that offer. And a lot of times my seller's like, Yeah, that sounds great. Give them, and I call it like a bite of the apple, give him another bite of the apple.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and see what happens the number is, but just by asking you, they know that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, with my seller's permission, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, if he's giving you permission. But how do you keep like so like keeping your clients involved right now, like like buyers? Like what kind of talking are you kind of you giving them, like, hey, you know, this is the market how it is right now. Are you meeting are you meeting with your clients beforehand and telling them, hey, it's a war out there?
SPEAKER_03It is. I've already been part of an 18 offer place in Lincoln Park.
SPEAKER_06Are you pre-meeting with your buyers and saying, hey, yeah, this this is what we're gonna this is what we're gonna get into?
SPEAKER_03They didn't almost see it because the volume of people I don't know. Yeah, I don't even know if I have to explain it. They're like, this is gonna be a feeding for it.
New Construction Memories And Price Surges
SPEAKER_06You know, I had a I have a but I do this people that I'm meeting with today at six, I'm bringing the contract before we even go out. So I'm getting the buyer's agreement signed, and then I have the contract, and I am going through every part of the contract. Oh, that's a good idea and what makes you the best in that contract. All right, here's the as-is with inspection, but you can cancel. Here is you know, cash with option for mortgage. And I go through this is what makes you may not feel comfortable with this, but what I'm gonna show you here is how you can be the best and what these terms mean. Because if you wait till the time you sign the contract, people are like, what's all the what are you doing? I've no like I've never done that before, but I've done that this year because the amount of tomfoolery and trickery you have to do to try to get a place, it that they don't know what's, and the last thing I want to do is go like as is without request or this or this, and all of a sudden, well, yeah, we signed it, we didn't know we were signing, and now it blows up the deal. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And there's less and less, I think, escalation clauses up. No, it takes them anymore. No, yeah, I don't want no cookie cutter offers or not, you're not relevant.
SPEAKER_06You're just screwing yourself. Totally.
SPEAKER_01If you can go up to that one dollars, just go up to it. Exactly. So that's a good point. So when I'm working with new buyers, and I and I also I say this might sound weird because you're hiring me to get you the best deal, the best terms, the best price. And here I'm whispering in your ear, telling you all the things you have to give up to get the deal done for the seller, like how you have to make the seller feel warm and fuzzy, how you have to, you know, give the seller all these demands that they want. So I'm like, I know this sounds weird, but I'm just prepping you how to win bids in a competitive market. So I call it like we got we have to sprinkle in the goodies, and here's and I call it the tricks of the trade, and here's what it looks like. You're gonna have to get comfortable bidding over the asking price. You're gonna have to buy it as is, and I explain to them that pretty much any property you buy is always as is. Even if you don't sign a waiver or a rider saying it's as is, you can ask a seller to politely change a light bulb and they can say no, go take a break. So every transaction truly is as is. Right, that's good. And then I also I'm gonna start using that. And then I also say that you have to do what's called like an appraisal waiver gap. If you bid so much over the asking price and it underappraises, you have to have the financial wherewithal to cover the to cover the gap. And you could work directly with your lender to map that out.
SPEAKER_03And they're good good with that. I think you just waive the mortgage contingency and not even mess with the gap.
SPEAKER_01So that's a that's a baller move. And I love that move, but you have to be like overly redundant and make sure that you tell them like 10 different ways, like you are you're in a vulnerable situation. You can't get a mortgage.
SPEAKER_06I put that on email, so like it's all there. But you know what? Someone told me, John told me, Mantis told me, which is smart. He goes, do the the the no mortgage contingency. He's like, but if it's in a condo, there's gotta be something that says that the the condo has to be warrantable. Because you could go I got it, that makes sense. You know what I'm saying? Because you could go to a place, you all of a sudden there's a fast and you're screwed. Yeah, yeah, and you can't get the loan. That was a little bit yeah, I started adding that building must be warrantable. Well, is there that's like yeah, I I was like, oh yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_03Because it makes sense. You can be under credit and you can get a loan, but if they don't want a loan in that building, you're screwed.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I mean you could always go to you know buy cousin and you get a loan.
SPEAKER_01But Ken, you're you're 100% right. Like you're t I talk all about talk about sprinkling in the goodies to help win the deal. The best thing you can do is waive your mortgage contingency.
SPEAKER_06So like everyone waves, I mean, I like every time I like I like the agents, and I don't I've never done this and I should because it's a really nice thing to do. But I like the agents that mark, hey, these are the five or six offers we got. We got ten offers, five had no mortgage contingency, six were as is. What when I get those emails, everyone has some mortgage contingency. Everybody. I haven't used I haven't used a mortgage contingency this year yet.
SPEAKER_01But you have a first-time buyer that's buying a two-bedroom, two-bath in Bucktown or Wicker Park for five, six hundred grand. That's tough, tough ask if they're putting down 10, 20% to say, hey, by the way, waive your mortgage contingency.
SPEAKER_07I agree.
SPEAKER_05I think they start doing it after they feel a little bit of pressure and they lose out on a few. They start getting a little tougher skin and then they eventually do it.
SPEAKER_06But in the beginning, it's that's I send them to I send them to like I'll send them to the mortgage broker and I'll be like, hey, I tell my people, get fully underrated. Yeah. And I said just get so like all of a sudden I'll be, I'll call like I'll call up one of the mortgage guys and I'll be like, hey, are they fully under it and it's everything done? They'll be like, dude, like just need an address and a contract, and they're done. And I and then if it's over asking, do you have the funds? Or hey, can they do they have the debt to income ratio to go to 10% down versus 20? And then figure a little bit out of that. But I just I haven't I haven't used a mortgage in so long because man, you can't get anything. You can't. But I've been mostly in the single family home range where it's no one has one. I mean, everything is I mean, I lose out on as is like we're never gonna come back to the house. Like, I will see you at the walkthrough. Well, you you know, you just start doing the numbers. Like you're at a single family home. The roof, you look at it, all right. The roof is new, you have the receipts of the roof, and I'm like, okay, these are the capitals you got. You have two furnaces, a water heater, and two ACs. And you have appliances. And I'm like, hey, you know, do you want to pay a hundred thousand dollars over ask? Or do you want to pay closer to asking and just tell them as is no inspection, and you've got 80 gram that you did give them, and you can use that for whenever you want to upgrade the house.
SPEAKER_01And what happens?
SPEAKER_06We get the house with no inspection.
SPEAKER_05No inspection. No inspection.
SPEAKER_03Not even an inspection with requests. No, but that's what an A coil is.
SPEAKER_05You do.
SPEAKER_02You do your throwback.
SPEAKER_01It's a two-year throwback. So you're I mean, not ever not everyone can do that, Jason. I know, I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_06I know, I know. I have some good clients, and it's just like you just, I'm just trying to think of like, like, man, like what you can do to get a house and not pay$300,000 over asking over the or$200,000 over the last comp. Like to me, I'd rather get the house closer to fair value or as close to fair value as possible, and just say, hey, listen, you're gonna need$60,000 to$70,000 in your pocket over the next year just in case the comp components go down. But other than that, you're not gonna get the home.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, we're in a conundrum as real estate brokers trying to advocate for our clients, help them win the offer, but not push them too hard because there could be a takeaway from the podcast. Ken, you know, they're like this Ken guy's telling them to wave his mortgage contingency. Who knows the guy's gonna get a mortgage? And here's you know, Stran over here saying, Don't even do the inspection, we'll see it closing, right? So, like it's you have to have the Well, I I would call it experience and confidence and and be educated enough to guide your clients.
Are Buyers Overpaying Or Just Early?
SPEAKER_06You've also seen that 5,000 homes in 22 minutes. Right. You know, so like I mean if you're going to let's say you're going to your place at on Wells, right? I mean, do you really need an inspection? Not really. If you're in a fight with somebody, no, the components are probably are probably held by the you know, they have a chiller, yeah, yeah that the building's in good condition. All right, yeah. You may have to buy a fridge. Do you want to spend fifty thousand dollars more or buy a two thousand dollar genie free? Sure.
SPEAKER_01And you're gonna have to cock the tub too.
SPEAKER_06This is an outrage.
SPEAKER_05It's an outrage. And uh this paint thread and the anti-tip thing on the stove.
SPEAKER_06Oh, yeah, the anti-tip thing on the stove. Where do you guys see them? I mean, like, what is your feeling in terms of where we're gonna end up by the end of this year, Sam? Where you think this is still gonna be a continuing to surge to the upside?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, people are talking about 2026 is gonna be the best year ever. Yeah. But it I think it's dependent on each person as a as an individual. Like Ken's got a monster closing coming up. We can plug that. And he might have his best year ever. Me, I'm changing some team members, there's always you know evolving, making, you know, changes to the business, investing in different, you know, advertising marketing opportunities. So I would say if you look statistically, I would say we'll probably trend a little bit higher than 2025. I mean, it's a strong market, low inventory, and it's gonna stay that way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I just feel my friends competing for the same stuff, so it's it's crazy. Yeah, like somebody wins, nine people lose, and then you gotta have enough. I think what it's gonna ultimately do, though, is just weed out so many people because if you have one buyer and you can't get stuff under contract, and you're just relying on said person to be your business, it's not they're gonna lose it. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_06You know what's gotta be tough? Like I was saying, like we we have decent, we have decent DMs on social media. Over the last month, we've probably had 14 to 60 people reach out for us, but not on the sale end, on the buy end. And buyers are like, they realize that if they don't have an agent, they ain't getting anything. Well, I've just never had that many, like you know, I do I'm on the list side. Yeah, sure. But we're like 70, 30 buy. I've never been like that in my life.
SPEAKER_05They're just grounging for somewhere to find something because they've looked at all the websites, all the stuff they can handle. They're like, oh my god, social media, let's reach out to Jason, Ken, whoever, Sam, and to see if do they have something and you see your videos.
SPEAKER_06Hey, did you have a do you have anything like a magical wand or something or this or that? And it's like if I I mean, like I listen, I'll take all clients. When you get a when I get a DM from a buyer, hey, I'm looking for a house on one two to one five in Lake Viewer Wicker Park or Bucktown. I'm the sick.
SPEAKER_01Just pick out a further out.
SPEAKER_03Told me this at dinner, though. I interviewed with this couple that called me. They thought I was the listing agent on this place I sold on Oakdale, and they've been following it. But I said, no, I actually brought in the buyer. So they interviewed me because they wanted to have an agent in Lincoln Park somewhere between like seven and nine. Thought I had a good chat with them. They didn't go with me, but in my back of my head, I'm like, God, good luck. You want what everybody wants, right? So it's very true. You better have somebody that's pretty resourceful.
SPEAKER_06You want to be honest with them at the same time, you don't want them just to be like, okay, then I'm not looking, but say, hey man, this is going to be a battle. Yeah, you get and get ready for it and just stay positive. You know, it's like you're talking to your kids like that that are like going through hard times.
SPEAKER_03If they're pressing up against a lease, it's even harder because then they have to come to the conclusion of do I have to if I don't find something by May, then I have to resign for a year.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_03You know, and sometimes that's hard. You can't have a three-month housing search sometimes.
SPEAKER_05I don't know. That's a good point.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's very hard. Like it might take you nine months to a year to find a place if it for sure.
SPEAKER_05Actually, when is inventory going to come up? Like, is there any, like, not is there any inkling one is, but like we've been talking about inventory for what for four or five years now at this point? Yeah, it's Chicago's inventory that chopped by 57.
SPEAKER_0657 last year.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06I don't know. Yeah, and so the 57, we have less listings. 57 less inventory. I mean, you see it in the high-rise market. I'm in multiple offers in high-rise markets. And the sales are jumping, which means that their inventory is even shrinking more. Yeah. When you have sales up by 22%, like like we talked about last year, two years ago, that I said, listen, River North's the place to go. River North sales are up 22%, inventory is down 57%, and pricing is finally win costs. Yeah. Yep. I mean, that's just like there's gotta be, there's gotta be some sort of like, hey, we need to rectify this.
SPEAKER_03I told you before, like, I have my house, it's in Burley, my kids are in college. I almost feel like not guilty, but I'm like, some family probably could use my house more than I need my house. And it's almost like it's you should like to a condo.
SPEAKER_06I understand you probably can't have the house. No mortgage, you better hold your house.
SPEAKER_03But at the same time, I'm like, God, it's like somebody would just clamor to live a half block to Burley right now.
SPEAKER_06Well, that's what Nice to see you every. That's what Nelson was.
SPEAKER_03I know. That's the problem.
SPEAKER_06And that place was 2,800 square feet. That's gonna go for over one four. That's bananas. And they paid like 700 grand for 13 grand.
SPEAKER_03That's nuts. I don't know. I just I just find it insane. Even even that little pocket's a bit insane.
SPEAKER_06What do you guys? I mean, obviously, it's such an amazing seller's market. And sellers are still going, are still calling up roaders, you know. 86% of the sellers still use reorders. What are you guys telling, Nick? What are you telling sellers when you meet with that? Basically, you know, a lot of sellers think, oh, it's an amazing market. I can just, you know, throw an iPhone photo up and I'm gonna get 400 offers.
SPEAKER_05That's a tough one. That is a tough one. What am I telling them? Well, listen, like, this it's it's the navigating the whole deal is the tough part, right? You can easily just put a for sale by owner sign and try to get what you want, but you know, it's uh I don't even know. I'm a buyer heavy guy. Go ahead.
Coaching Buyers For Competitive Bids
SPEAKER_01So sellers, I mean when I meet with a seller, I give them the whole song and dance. Yeah, I typically I walk through their house and they show me where the kitchen is because I didn't know where it was. It's like this is our kitchen. Like, thank you for pointing that out. And then I have a seller's deck. I call it a I call it a PowerPoint, but the kids call the deck. So I'll kind of like break the ice. I'm like, I have a fancy PowerPoint, the kids call the deck, and I just walk them through the whole process and it helps me kind of hit all the talking points. I do, I haven't run in any sellers that think they can do it on their own. No, what I've run into is that sellers are focused on who's gonna tell them the highest price. And I've been aggressive with my pricing when I'm meeting with sellers because I tell them. So I I was there's no comps. So I I walked through a place at Landmark Village the other day, and the place was original owner or maybe second owner, it was a disaster. Okay. Floors were were all in horrible shape, terrible paintings, gaudy. Yeah, so tell this. So there was a comp that traded for 730. And I'm thinking that was a year ago. So like I'm like, I don't want to lose this listing. Okay, because listings are key right now, and they're selling for way over what comps are are justifying. So I made a case to say, you know, this place that traded at 730. And I have to be delicate, I don't want to tell her that the place doesn't look great. So I'm careful how I communicate, talking about her condo. So I just highlighted, you know, this is really lovely. It's an end unit, lots of light. You everyone thinks they always have the greatest parking spot of all times. Anytime I've ever shown like someone showed them floor as well, they tell me that the parking spot is the best. So, of course, like she's like, This is the best view in the complex. Of course, it is. So I basically told her that we should leave a little meat on the bone, listed at$6.99. Don't touch a thing, and try to garner as much as any prep going into listing. If you spent 30 grand, so I read the room and she's an older woman, and I don't think she wanted to lift a finger. And she's like, I she mentioned as is, and so then I kind of went with it. So I I think I felt pretty confident that even though the place is needs a lot of work, that we couldn't just take great photos, declutter, open up all the blinds, clean it, make it look as nice as possible, and then talk about that. We left a little meat on the bone for buyers to come in and redo the floors and paint, and it's turnkey. So we'll see. I don't know if I get it. You get the last you had the last good comp to point to the last good comp was$720. And I said, let's price it a little under, even though your place is not as nice, but it's an end unit. So we'll see. I someone might come in and say listed list it at$7.50. Well, that's what I might lose the listing. See, I and then I'll be like, maybe I played it wrong.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. Painted carpet staging. I mean, they didn't spend a ton of money, but the 13, 14 that they put in, I mean, they're gonna they're gonna do well because of it, and they sold quickly. So it just it's just that fine. You always will get that money back.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I think when you turn around. Oh, that's you. I think I think when you overpriced, like you buy a listing, let's say you said 750 because you wanted the listing. I think nine out of ten times, let's say eight out of ten times, it ends bad. Yeah, because you never it's like it's like you don't want to be the you don't want to the second broker ends up getting it for$6.99, ends up selling it, and you're the one that did all the work did all the work. It's like being the second husband of the second wife, right? It's like I think that's what you like. I would rather lose the listing than say$750 and just have a horrendous experience in terms of like just being called, you said this, you said this, you said this noise, you don't need to do that. Yeah, you don't need that, especially you know, when you have this not so much business as you do, it's like why do you need to to do that and then just have an just like a terrible experience?
SPEAKER_03Confidence in a skill set, yeah.
SPEAKER_06No, but he did the right thing.
SPEAKER_03I if the 750 person listed it and they might get 720, Sam could list it at 699 and end up in the same spot.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, the market discounts if it's better, yeah.
SPEAKER_03His approach would be better.
SPEAKER_06I think I think it's better for referrals, too. If you if you can get the job done the way you said it gets done, then they turn around and talk to these people. But if you're 775, oh if it cut it 750, if they cut it seven quarter, at the end, they hate you. Yeah, they're like, why did you just tell us not the right thing in the first time? Because then you're the one that's gonna say, Oh, you know what? I read I read the market wrong.
SPEAKER_01Right. And that that could happen.
SPEAKER_06And then the referral stopped, of course. But that's like a dead that that just dies. What about you love to you, you're kind of like me. I like to go in and tinker.
SPEAKER_03I like to tinker. I just this place on Hermitage, all I did was the lighting and painted the bathroom, though. Yeah, made a huge difference.
unknownAmazon.
SPEAKER_03Because all all the freaking Amazon Drapes too, and everything were yellowed. Yeah. So it could be that little to more extensive.
SPEAKER_06What do you what do you tell them when when a seller who's watching this says to you, Ken, but the market's so great, I don't really want to do anything. I've got to be able to do that. That's what I was gonna get. That was what I drew in.
SPEAKER_03But they have the meats. I think that I've had so many of these stories where if you put in 10, you'll get 20 back. If you put in 13, I mean, I had a a girl that just sold a condo that she had a beautiful bathroom, but the kitchen was completely dated. And we we freshened it up. I think if she wouldn't have done it, she would have sat on the market, and because she did the work, she recouped all that money and it that sold in December. And she could be ordered that's what we're trying to. Hold on, what do you say then?
SPEAKER_06What do you say to the person? Like, hey, I'm like, we'll role play.
SPEAKER_03I say, I say if we refresh this, I think we have a better chance to sell quickly and recoup all that money. And there are times I've actually fronted that work for my clients.
SPEAKER_05I know, I know.
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, they're reluctant, people are reluctant to put money back into a place that they've already checked out of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But I can't tell you how many times that that always pays off.
SPEAKER_02I think it's a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like to me a no-brainer.
SPEAKER_05Like, I'm dealing with that now in a listing coming up in the West Loop guide is one. No, that that's a different one. That's the that's the current one. But I got three more showings just sitting here, no floors. No, and the West Loop, like that was the thing, and you asked about the seller stuff. I came and gave him all the points and all the value added and everything. He's like, nope, I'm just gonna clean up these scuff marks and do whatever. Like, and you called me yesterday, we're ready for photos. Don't even know what I'm gonna be walking in doing next week on Monday or Tuesday. But it was a nice place. You just need to clean up some stuff, paint up some stuff, and just the typical wear and tear stuff.
SPEAKER_06But he would say to them this is the price, as is, it's this price. Yeah, correct. And if you do X, Y, and Z, I've been doing this long enough that it's gonna be this price. That's what I say to people. Are you willing to are you willing to not do that? I said, Ian, people are gonna overpay to for a turnkey. They just are. They are of course. And in this market, how long when you're looking at a listing, you have buyers. Yep. Yep. So when you're looking at a listing, at what point do you look at the days on the market and you're like, what's wrong with this place? Yeah, of course. But what at what point?
SPEAKER_00In this market, it's all like 14 days. I would say two weeks, two weeks. I'll say two weeks.
Waiving Contingencies And Risk Management
SPEAKER_06Two weeks. Yeah, stop. And that's why I tell people I think you're dealing with 98% of this country is idiots, like Siberian. I go, people are gonna see 14 days, and it doesn't matter if it's value now, or you can get this, shoot this, they're just gonna turn around. What's wrong with the market exactly? I didn't call me up with spending first. I had brokers that call me out. This has been on the market for seven days. Why would you got an offers? Like, out of your mind? Yeah. I'm like, I don't know. There was a storm. Yeah, no one left or house four days. Yeah, it's negative zero. So, what do you like when you see stuff? Do you ever like look at days in the market and does your clients ever say to you? Why is it this sold?
SPEAKER_01All the time. If I see something that's sitting for right now in this day and age for a couple weeks, I'm scratching my head. Like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_06But that's what I would say to that lady. Well, she's older, so I get it. But that's why I say to people, I go, You're on the market for 14 days, man. People are gonna think that there's somebody died here or something happened.
SPEAKER_03No, they're gonna think they don't want to do the work. People are lazy.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_03People pay up, they pay up for it to be done. Convenience because they don't know contractors, and while you know 300 shower glass door guys, they don't, you know, like they just don't. So people will pay. I that's the bottom line, they'll pay up for turnkey.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and they're paying 3x on what the work you do. Yeah, minimum of 3x.
SPEAKER_03At least you'll recoup your money. And people don't take into consideration that when you do the work and you sell faster, that that's real money too. That's easily another five, six grand.
SPEAKER_06Not only that, but I agree with you. How about the fact that you can't let's say you have to sell to buy? You can't get a I mean, I mean, has when's the last time anyone wrote a house LP Tidget Sick? 18? Yeah, 2018. I don't know if I've ever written along the point except. No, so this work that you're doing allows you at least to get into the new place. Yeah, yeah. Because you're gonna have to go under contract and be like, man, I got 60 days to get this house off. And no one's gonna come in to a place that's a dump. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's just not. And plus, I hate to say it, like I have a in my brain when I bring something to market, I like it to look a certain way. Yeah. Because I use all those photos and things for marketing down the line. I sold these three places in your neighborhood. Check out these photos, right?
SPEAKER_06So I don't want it to look like I always tell people if it doesn't look right, it doesn't sell. We're gonna sit back and be like, why didn't we do this? Or why didn't I do that? Or why didn't play like you don't want it, and there's buyers anymore, so you don't want it sellers anymore. It's like, why did I not do what I should have done? And then you can't turn the clock back. It's done. You've been on the market for 14 dates. I know my own house probably needs uh 50 to 60 to prep up the sale, bro. Forget it. Yeah, I had wood glue on on a on trim today with my kid ripped off the trim. It's like, oh baseboard.
SPEAKER_03You would have to move to sell your own house, is really what it comes to.
SPEAKER_06Oh, dude, I never sold my house while I was living in it. Yeah, I get a bridge loan. I'm like, I'm out of here. Yeah, forget about it.
SPEAKER_01When I sold my house in the city, my business partner did the renovation. I bought I moved out to the suburbs. He's like, Did you move first? I yeah, first I moved, and then my business partner does renovation construction. He's like, just give me the keys to your house. I'm gonna renovate it, stage it, and then you can come back and see what it looks like. I'm like, okay. Like I mean I sold it. I sold it. Well, he I had him sell Dan Dan Kravitz. So he he calls me, he's like, Did you come to the house? I'm like, no. He's like, okay, good, good, good. So I walked into the house, I got to see like a completely renovated, my home completely renovated, it was beautiful. And talk about pricing. I think I sold my house for$750, which I had a hard time selling it, or probably because I didn't sell it, he did. If I was to sell it, you know, different story. And then the thing traded, it's traded for like over a million dollars now.
SPEAKER_02How long?
SPEAKER_01Was it 10 years? 10 years later.
SPEAKER_03That was Sam Schaefer, Love It or Listed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm just like, I'm like, and I'm not and I have no like seller's remorse. I'm happy for the to see the market continue to excel. But just interesting to see like that house was a million dollar house. Well, I'm in Deerfield, it's a little flat. So is it? No, it's okay, but not appreciation like the city of Chicago, especially in Ukrainian village in Westtown. Sure. That's just off the charts.
SPEAKER_03See, it's always the reverse. People think the city's getting crushed and the suburbs are flattening out now.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, everyone like always says to me, like, oh, the suburbs are suburbs. And I'm like, listen, I go, I know it's hot there. I said, but I'm gonna tell you the city is out of control. Do you think it's out of control? Like we have we we have the oh actually as this we have the third most exoduses, and it's very easy, it's telescope. California and New York now. I mean California has like three X on our exit, and there are people leaving. But where are these people coming from? Is it just all renters that came here from like 19 to 23? Or like because we're if everybody's leaving, you know, where why are the knots?
SPEAKER_01They're making more people. Do you think that's what it is? Well, who who's leaving? People are leaving that are empty nesters are leaving.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, well, they're starting to come back. Who's buying? I mean, I was in multi-offers on a co-op on East Lakeshore Drive. I never heard of us. Like, people are coming back, man. The carlisle starting to grab a little bit of a bit. 1212. I'm like, that you're seeing these places start. I mean, I saw an email yesterday and telling Neversee, looking for a 2-2 at 240 Illinois. Does any have anybody have it? I'm like, well, there's a 40 of them on the market three years.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. Is are people going back to work office now? Like, I had one client call me from South Loop. She was she bought a place five years ago for her son. And she was like, Yeah, my son's coming, just bought this whole office building. They're bringing people back to work. Like, and there's nothing available in 19 to 1 KME. We want to buy another unit there, this, that, and the other. And I think I is that what's happening? Or are people going back to the office?
SPEAKER_06Well, now it's like they get it's like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, again. Like I three, they get on the Mondays and the Fridays. I don't know. I had a client who they're selling their place. That's the people are trying to find a house, can't find them anything. And they are moving to a house because the their work set, unless you unless you leave the house and work from the office, we're we're not gonna promote you. So they had to move closer to the city because the visible in the office. Like we're not getting your promotion. Yeah, we're not getting it. You can sit at your house and do your thing, yeah. And you know, and work on AI yoga. Yeah, or you can come into the office and we're gonna give you that promotion. So it's interesting in terms of that. So a little bit off topic. Favorite restaurant that you've been to in the last couple months?
SPEAKER_05Oh. I like Tradeita.
SPEAKER_02Anything for you in Tradeita?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Trade Dita in the St. Regis. Okay. Yeah. Oh, we went to the bar there. That place scored.
SPEAKER_06No, it was it there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We ate the bar. We need to go to the restaurant. It's great. Oh, wow. I like it. I've never been there. We'll do that one next time. Yeah, well, it's the east side. That's like a 20-minute drive.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm gonna steal Ken's thunder because he recommended Tanta. Is that what it was called? That we went to Tantra. Tantra?
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I couldn't make it that one. And also I had this is it pork fried rice or shrimp fried shrimp fried rice? That was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_03Yes. No MSG. But you just made me think about this place that's down the street for sale called Tama. And they're selling that building. So I just I sent it to one of my clients, and he's like, My partner's already talking to that broker. I'm like, fuck.
SPEAKER_06But there's something wrong with that space. Nothing lasts there. Yeah. That was Watson Girl and the Goats. That was her first restaurant. Oh, really? What was the I cannot remember? Yeah. That that was her first restaurant, and then and then she went to Top Shop, and the rest is the rest is the Russ.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think like that space that was the old north side would be a cool restaurant space.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah, the one they turned into that taco place and did May. Yeah, that'll be a good thing. Because why would you open another taco place when you have Big Star?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I just I don't know.
SPEAKER_06I had my first day with my wife at that place. I don't say it. Really? Yeah, blind day. Me 24 years ago.
SPEAKER_03She's like, I'll just have a quick drink with you. This is a disaster. I can take out it.
SPEAKER_06Oh, did she kill me first say? Because I used to have green contacts. She's goes, I go to your eyes and you're wearing that. And then I used to shave my arm.
SPEAKER_00She should just not write that in there. He's a shaver.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I was a lifter when I met her. She goes, Is your arm shaved? I was like, oh my God. And she goes, You have tattoos everywhere? She went, and you're and you can have no hair. Brutal. Brutal. Yeah, trust me. I was just like, I like this ghost. Make a fun of me. Yeah, it's just tough. And then what are you guys planning on doing the summer? In Chicago, summertime. Favorite thing to do.
SPEAKER_03This year, I just want to have more gatherings with friends and clients left.
SPEAKER_06Okay, that's I want to pull. What are you gonna do other than gathering in this baseball?
SPEAKER_03Well, uh, I'd like to golf more. Where would you go from the city? You don't go golf in the city. Okay, well, are you gonna do in the city? Oh, in the city? I mean, probably what everyone does. Do you want to hit some outdoor gaming drinks? I think we went to concert last summer. You went to the island? Did you go there? Well, no, we're like the oasis. It was awesome. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Stood for five hours. For me, it's pickleball. Just as much pickleball as I can put it to. I love it. No, no, no, I'm good. I'm durable, man. You can understand that.
SPEAKER_00I wasn't limping today. I'm back.
SPEAKER_01You're back already.
SPEAKER_05Superhuman. Same thing. Outdoor stuff. Anything outdoors I love. The street fests, just being outside. You like a street fest?
SPEAKER_06Do you guys ever like old time art fair? No, I don't do that.
SPEAKER_05I used to do the loop because I was there for 15 years, so I like turning around.
SPEAKER_03It's like soon as that. Early June. June.
SPEAKER_06Same with the summer is going fast. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The best art fair is bucktower fair.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. I've never been to an outdoor fair ever. You want to have a stand this year at the buck town? No, I keep standing. I'm a coraphobic. I hate seeing all those people.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Anything outdoor dining or outdoor anything? I just love it. Rooftop stuff. Hanging out with friends, like Ken said. More of that. It's good. What do you think of the White Sox? That's your White Sox. Jeez. Well, I mean, a lot of hype with the Japanese guy coming in, but we'll see what happens. I don't know. I mean, it's not going to be anything groundbreaking, I don't think.
SPEAKER_03But opening day in Milwaukee, White Sox. Ooh, let's go. Should go.
SPEAKER_05Let's go. Ken's a Milwaukee guy. I mean, listen, hopefully there's something going that way for once. It's been a while. Well, then they got Frank Thomas back.
SPEAKER_06They got Carlton Fitz. Yeah. Rock Hucker. What sports team? Are you Cubs or White Sox? Cubs. Cubs. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Die Hard Bears fan and then Cubs.
SPEAKER_06What do you feel about the Bears?
SPEAKER_01Such an unbelievable season. The fast Bears really galvanized the city of Chicago.
SPEAKER_06Are you going to go when they're in Indiana?
SPEAKER_01They're not going to Indiana.
SPEAKER_06They're leaving the city.
SPEAKER_01They'll be in Arlington.
SPEAKER_06You think they'll be in Arlington? Yeah. They're having issues just with property taxes, what Arlington wants to spend on prop with what they want to charge my property tax.
SPEAKER_01It'll it'll work itself out.
SPEAKER_06You think they'll be Arlington? Yeah. Well, they spend all that money for nothing. They could sell that shit, develop it. I think they're going to go to Indiana.
SPEAKER_05Really? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Get out of here.
SPEAKER_00This is a Wisconsin.
SPEAKER_03We don't have to talk about my stuff. I will admit that the Bears excitement bringing people to the bars. The city was on fire. Yeah. The city was on fire.
SPEAKER_06No, the bears are good. It's bigger than the bowls. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's huge.
SPEAKER_03It's huge.
SPEAKER_06Jordan Eric. People still rap. I still know every word from the Super Bowl shuffle from 85, dude.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_06January 17th. No. Was it 13th or 17th? I think it was 13th, 1986.
SPEAKER_03Getting back to the restaurant thing. I have nothing for you. I don't feel like we've ate anywhere new where you sell it.
SPEAKER_06The place in Bucktown is my favorite place right now. Which one? The new one that took the space. Mirror or the deets or delete deletes, which means delicious in Italian.
SPEAKER_03Where is that?
SPEAKER_06It took the guy that busted out.
SPEAKER_03Look at this spot top of the tongue.
SPEAKER_06Oh, that's on North Avenue. That's the bus where I thought I'd been to like we'll set some other. I didn't mind Add when it was around. It's like hard to get in. No, it's like uh 1.5x of that of where we went. So like our dinner would have been two grand.
SPEAKER_03It was$1,600.
SPEAKER_06That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03With more. With tipping the piano player. Somebody's got to look out for it. Yeah, Kendo's good. Keto's good. I will tell you one place I would like to try for a burger is that Royal Grocer. I went in there for a drink and some guy ordered it. I don't know what that is. It's on the corner right here in Damon, down by where Bristol was, with the blue awning, and then they have the side patio. That place has good food.
SPEAKER_06Oh, oh, with a patio thing there. Yeah, they got a good burger. Yeah. But you but it's weird. You go in that reference, there's like two people there always. I'm always like, what are they you in here? That's because you're not promoting it.
SPEAKER_03Let's let's do a little video about the Royal Grocery.
SPEAKER_05All right, divide all the final thoughts. This was great. Way better without John, by the way. This is my final thought. This has been a great conversation. It's been great.
SPEAKER_02That's it.
SPEAKER_05That's it. That's it. No, I mean, listen, I'm hoping inventory pops up, and I hope the buyers get a little bit of a less pressure on them for a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Have you been busy?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. But busy showing like one place. Like I'm not showing like five, like we were just talking about earlier. I scheduled six and three are gone. Like that's what's happening. I have a buyer that wants to see something Saturday. I said, You see it today, or you're it was yesterday. I see you today, or meaning tomorrow or Saturday, it's gone.
SPEAKER_06So my buyer scheduled stuff, but told me last Saturday. This isn't the eight places I wanted to see. Yeah, I'm not gonna be here.
SPEAKER_03I'm digging back on that though. When I just sold this place on Hermitage, what I thought was good was you have a block of showings on like a Friday, and then you do the open house on Saturday. So if people are gone, at least you get some people through the door. So maybe like a Thursday, Saturday. But go ahead, Sam.
SPEAKER_01No, I agree with that. That's what I like to do.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, everything that went on the market new this week that we were looking at, the only doing open houses on Saturday and Sunday into all the two. I'm like, dude, we also work.
Seller Strategy: Pricing, Prep, And Speed
SPEAKER_03Give us a give us a pride.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Thursday night.
SPEAKER_01And it also gives the buyer some credibility, too, that they're going to show up and put in the effort to show up on a Thursday or Friday to beat the crowd for the open house, to give them time to prep, to campaign for themselves, to be like, hey, I love it. I have to have it. I'm the first time.
SPEAKER_06I think that leads into what you said 20, 30 minutes ago. You go on Thursday, you write that offer on Thursday or Friday, and you tell the broker, we were the first peer, we saw it. You know, I think because it's just this that's unique.
SPEAKER_01And then yeah, and then and then just to piggyback on that, and then you have to start campaigning. I call it, I gotta, I'm gonna hitting the campaign trails, right? So now if you're the listing agent, I'm calling you up, I'm reaching out, and I'm appropriate too. Like, I don't want to like make you feel uncomfortable and like blow you up and put you in an awkward situation, but I want to just continue to like be in your air, just be like, hey, we love it, have to have it. My lender's gonna reach out to you proactively. He's gonna confirm that these guys are rocked.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that is a good one. That's great.
SPEAKER_01Rockstar clients, they have nothing to sell, huge down payment, they're waving their appraisal. They'll let the seller stay free for the next 30 days, you know, all these things. So I'm continuing to like be in your ear. And also, one last little tidbit is like when I submit an offer, I'm really detailed how I submit the offer. I summarize everything, I write a nice letter, and all I want the listing agent to do is forward my offer to the seller. Because I'm not gonna say anything disparaging, it's all really nicely articulated, summarizes everything so perfectly. Here's the offer price, here's the down payment, here's the earnest money, here's attorney review inspection, mortgage contingency, you're waiving it.
SPEAKER_06I always put like my attorney, my inspector. Exactly. I put the attorney's name, the inspector's name. Well, that's a good idea, too. Yeah, everybody knows Jeff Swanberg. It's always like Jeff, he's not a crazy person.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I'll I'll also CC the lender on the kickoff summary. And I'll just lay it up for my preferred lender to say, oh, and my preferred lender will reach out to you to validate what strong buyers my clients are.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I like all that. That those are those are all really good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, piggybacking on what Sam just said, there was a deal, a deal last year where I didn't know the agent well, but they were using Drew Boland. And I I called Drew, I said, I don't really know this guy, but I said, How are these buyers? He said, They're so strong. We got the deal done. And I think sometimes even having a lender that people know can be you have I I'm so glad you said that.
SPEAKER_06That was my party thought. You better use people that everybody knows. Yep. If you're coming with your offer and it's a quicken loan, nothing against quicken or locker or this or this, yeah, you ain't getting the deal. No, you're just not. Even Chase sometimes. No, yeah, I'm not taking Chase. I'm not taking Chase over over somebody I know at G-rate or somebody I know like like a different loan. Yeah, I'm just not going to because I don't like first off, I don't want to deal with that. Yeah, and Chase doesn't want, I mean, especially if it's multiple offers over ASCII, Chase is gonna lose their mind.
SPEAKER_03Like one of my lenders knows the condo warranty person at rate, you know, and it's invaluable. Yeah, yeah. And all that underwriting is in-house, it's not in Phoenix, Arizona.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's the first, like I had I had a consultation. They're like, well, we use this person, we use Bank of America. I'm like, this is nothing that's Bank of America, ink and the deal done. I go, Bank. I says it's gonna be a nightmare for you, right? Because Bank of America, this person's a salesperson. Once he passes you off, they'll never hear that the the appraisers over here, the underwriters is for that the quality control is in New York. I'm like, you this is like you need somebody where the underwriters literally sit behind them. I had that with Bank of America. I had a bunch of people from Ohio calling me. Yeah, they're nowhere here.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Oh, how's the tax operations work? Well, there are you know this bowl. Mike at that bow call.
SPEAKER_01Like Yeah, so I was gonna say, like in closing, so I met with a client yesterday, and he was so excited to show me his pre-approval, which is great, like perfect client. And it was from Rocket. I'm like, okay, like we're we can't use Rocket. It's okay. Like, I'll connect you with my preferred lender, but like that thing is just gonna scare people both. It just won't, it won't, it won't serve, it won't serve us well. Yeah, and but us here, we have the confidence and experience to exude that to our clients, right? So we're advocating for them in ways that a lot of other brokers don't have the experience or the confidence to do. A lot of brokers be like, well, I don't want to like tell my buyer which lender they should use. And I have someone on my team that recently did something similar to that. I'm like, no, you you're the expert, you're the consultant. You're the one, you're the one that's that's advocating on their best interest. So for you to submit an offer with a rocket pre-approval, that's ridiculous. And you know what happened? The listing agent said submit the offer again with a different lender.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_06Probably everything right now, everything matters.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, everything matters is a buyer's seller wants path of least resistance, right? That's it. That's speed bump right there, right?
SPEAKER_06I don't know how who uses those places. Obviously, we bring well, the guy owns T's.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I get it.
SPEAKER_06I mean, who buys Madden? Who buys little Caesars? That guy's got so much money.
SPEAKER_03The ESHA guy just has a 70,000 square foot house.
SPEAKER_06I know. Yeah, who's using that? Not downtown. Oh, that's oh okay. That's second final to final thought. The average buying age now is like almost close to 50. Is buyers buyers? Yes, seriously? I wouldn't have thought that.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I think yeah, like early 40s, yeah. Like 43, I think.
SPEAKER_06All my buyers are like in their late 20s and early 30s. Right. That's what I would have thought. Is it just an anomaly because we're in a bigger city that's more fluence? I don't know. It's just like oh yeah, maybe that's what I would thought.
SPEAKER_05When you said 50, I was like, No, mine's that exactly. You're your demographic or agent. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Making good money.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so I don't I don't know.
SPEAKER_05I just saw that a couple days ago, and I'm like, I don't I I might yeah, it's maybe nationwide.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05So I mean it's a nationwide. Not not our specific, yeah, specific for Chicago.
SPEAKER_01It's crazy.
SPEAKER_06All right, thank you so much for all the time. Thanks to the panel. And hopefully you are having a great. Well, it's this when this launches, the weather should be better.
SPEAKER_03That we'll be back to our third winter, right?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We'll just probably drop when we have a huge snowfall. Yeah, uh, thank you so much. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram. Let's go through the instos real quick.
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SPEAKER_06Say where people can understand.
SPEAKER_05NX Nastos is my Instagram handle.
SPEAKER_01Sam underscore shyprop ch I P R O P.
SPEAKER_05See how we did that? Yeah, that was good.
SPEAKER_01Ken Youngworth. Spell it.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, spell it because it's not how it sounds clocus straton socials. Follow us. Uh, you can find this podcast and uh follow the podcast, and it's on all of your providers. Thanks so much, and have a great this will drop in. Have a great March. See ya.