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16W Media Group Presents The Branding Highway Podcast
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors.
16W Media Group Presents The Branding Highway Podcast
Robert Washington: Transforming Real Estate Transactions - From Hedge Funds to Flat-Fee Brokerage Models and Building a Future-Proof Real Estate Business
Curious about how recent changes in real estate regulations could impact your next home purchase? On today’s Good Neighbor Podcast, we promise to keep you ahead of the curve. Join us as we sit down with Robert Washington, broker for Savvy Buyers Realty, to dissect the new mandates from the National Association of Realtors. Discover how the requirement for a buyer's agreement before property viewings could change the dynamics between buyers and agents. Robert also unveils his flat-fee brokerage model, designed to offer more transparent and customizable real estate services.
Ever wonder what it’s like to shift from the high-stakes world of hedge funds to the bustling real estate markets of Florida? Our guest took that leap and shares his journey from a hedge fund in Dallas to building his own brokerage in St. Petersburg. We dive into the challenges and perks of running a lean operation without a team of agents, examine the influence of real estate giants like BlackRock on property values, and debate how new regulations could reshape the industry landscape. This candid discussion offers valuable insights into the grit and commitment needed to thrive in real estate.
Looking toward the future, we explore innovative strategies for expanding a real estate business, focusing on automation and franchise models. Imagine creating a standardized, turnkey brokerage system that can seamlessly launch in new markets. We also discuss the importance of flexibility, having a backup plan, and leveraging business coaching for sustained success. Learn how collaboration and smart planning can help navigate the unpredictable waters of entrepreneurship, and get a glimpse into the personal side of business life, including how our guest unwinds in scenic St. Pete, Florida.
Savvy Buyers is a Flat Fee Real Estate Agency helping Buyers save thousands in commissions. We offer a flat fee of $500 per along with a-la-cate services available for clients that would like additional assistance. Our online offer form allows Buyers to complete offer fields at their own pace with their desired terms. We also feature Partner Vendors which are in place to help clients along their home buying journey.
savvybuyersrealty.com
(813)833-4396
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Sedita.
Speaker 2:Hello out there and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, mike Sedita. We are presented by 16W Media Group and today we have the pleasure of being joined by Robert Washington, who is the broker for Savvy Buyers. Realty, robert, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:Pretty good. How about yourself?
Speaker 2:I'm doing excellent. Thank you so much for being on. I love talking to realtors, especially around this time with some of the recent changes that are going on. Realtors always seem to have some interesting stories about how they're navigating some of the new changes that are happening, and we'll get into that. Just a little bit about what we do. So you know, the Good Neighbor podcast was started back in 2020 during COVID, as a way for business owners, philanthropic groups and charities in the community to get their messaging out, and over the past now almost four and a half years the Good Neighbor podcast has evolved into a national brand. We have podcasts all over the country. I'm fortunate enough to be the person here in Tampa that gets to speak to folks and entrepreneurs like you. So, with that being said, first off, tell us a little bit about Savvy Buyers Realty. What do you guys do?
Speaker 3:So it's actually a product of the changes you're mentioning Basically on the 17th of August, of the changes you're mentioning Basically on the 17th of August. A couple of days ago, national Association of Realtors mandated that all buyers must enter into a buyer's agreement with their realtor, which was definitely not commonplace before that change was instated. So kind of a new era, I guess you could say a lot of flux. So created this concept. It's basically like a flat fee buyers brokerage and essentially 500 bucks a closing and it's kind of an a la carte service where if you want to book a call, you can do that through a Calendly link and I think I have $25 for 15 minutes, $50 for 30-minute calls. You want to write an offer? It's a $5 charge and really the only reason for that is I don't want to have too many tire kickers out there just throwing out offers and submitting a half-price offer just seeing what happens.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's pause for one second just to kind of fill the audience in a little bit. I mean, most people who listen to the podcast have generally had a real estate transaction in their life, but maybe people haven't so prior to this ruling. Essentially, an agent lists a house, just using round numbers, the house is $100,000. The commission is negotiated from the seller generally somewhere between 5% and 6%. Right, I mean, this is ballpark. And then, as the listing agent, I'm the listing agent and you are a buyer's agent. You come to me and in the past we generally split that 6%, 3% to your broker, 3% to my broker. And the new ruling essentially still allows for that negotiation correct, except the buyer's agent. You're basically setting this up to kind of protect you in case the seller's agent doesn't offer full commission. I mean, what was kind of the thinking? Just kind of a safety net to make sure you have that fiduciary responsibility to the buyer.
Speaker 3:We always have the fiduciary responsibility, so that's still in place. The difference is now you can't post as a listing agent what the seller is offering on the MLS, so we have to pre-negotiate with the buyer. Let's go into a scenario so your new buyer we're talking hit it off. Everything's great.
Speaker 2:Before I can show you a house, we have to go under contract for me to represent you and that's the big difference, right, that's the big difference now versus previously, where someone could see a house call zillow and get 50 agents to call them in 35 seconds and the first one they go with can show them all over the place before they start showing.
Speaker 3:You need to have that agreement in place exactly, and in my years experience I've actually never signed a single one. So now we have to do that. So the whole point of this concept is we have our first conversation and it's like everything Great. Now I need you to agree to pay me three percent, and the way the contract that we have to use is written, it essentially says if the seller is not going to pay me, you are. So I think naturally what buyers are going to do is start reaching out to multiple buyers brokers and say all right, I like this guy. He's doing 3%. It seems like he knows what he's doing, but I'm going to take a chance and go with this guy. He's only asking for 1%.
Speaker 2:You know what the hard part is. As me, as someone on the outside looking in, it creates another level of negotiation as a buyer's agent and you kind of leaned into it. I mean, like for me I would think, and especially with what I do in the community, listings would become way more valuable to real estate agents. Because so, full disclosure, I've had my real estate license since 1995. I got it in Atlanta when I lived there. I hated, like hated, residential real estate. Now think back, that's 20, oh God, that's even longer. I don't think how many years ago, that is 30 years ago it was a much slower process. Closings were 60 to 90 days, which was longer. There was a lot of other. There wasn't the technology to speed up the process the way there is today. I just didn't like it. But you've now. Having to truck buyers around was the most frustrating part for me as a real estate agent. But you guys leaned into it here.
Speaker 3:We did so. That's the whole point. It's like each buyer is only paying for what they use and even if you look at the site, you essentially fill out the offer, the contract document, yourself as the user, and I'll receive that and fill it out on the true state approved form. But if you want to do a showing, you book it through Calendly. If you want to have a call, book it through Calendly. So it's all there for. Just pay for what you use.
Speaker 2:But still on the flip side. Now you're negotiating with the buyer, but now you're still negotiating with the selling agent saying look, I have a buyer that I work with, We'd like to show him your place, what are you offering? And my understanding and maybe, again, I don't do this day in and day out my understanding is that seller's agents are still offering the normal split for the most part. So you're actually, essentially, every time you sign up a buyer, you're actually I don't want to say double dipping, but you are, or does the money that they pay you, does that come out of the commission you get from the seller eventually?
Speaker 3:So I'll actually be encouraging buyers to not ask for that. So now we have a separate form. When we submit an offer it says you, as the seller, agree to pay the buyer's broker X amount. It could be $500 for a savvy buyer's realty. But I'm actually encouraging them not to do that because I think what's going to happen especially if we get to where there's more multiple offer situations, like it was a couple of years ago every offer that you submit with a full price buyer's agent is going to be that much less competitive. So if you're asking the seller to pay 2.5% where a savvy buyer is only asking for $500, you make up that huge difference.
Speaker 2:Okay, but you're still going to get the $500 from the client and then the 2.5% from the seller.
Speaker 3:No, no, that 2.5%. So the way listing agreements I'm sure you've seen it are worded, if it's a decent realtor they'll give that back to the seller. But the way listing agreements are written, that listing agreement may be able to pocket the difference.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, okay, All right, so it has definitely added a level of complexity to the real estate business. Now, the funny thing is, because of what I do in the communities that I represent, the upscale communities I personally work in, to market in, some of the really good realtors that I've worked with understood hey look, and this has been going on for years, right, like this ruling just came down, but this has been in the works for I thought it was at least two or three years, right, or has it been longer than that?
Speaker 3:It's been kind of rumored about and basically what happened is a national association of realtors got sued and this is part of the settlement.
Speaker 2:So they kind of had to do something in order not to be basically taken out of existence. And let me ask you this so my understanding and again could be wrong is part of the NAR, part of the National Association of Realtors, is tied to MLS, correct? So, like, if I'm now an agent that's not in MLS, am I still subject to that ruling, the guidelines in that ruling?
Speaker 3:No, because if you're not part of NAR, you're just a state licensed agent. Yeah, then it's still business as usual.
Speaker 2:So let me ask you this question, you know, as someone who's been in this and we'll get into a little bit more of that in a second but do you think a lot of people are just going to say, look, I don't want to be a part of MLS anymore and I just want to continue to?
Speaker 3:practice the way I was. They could, but all of the listings would have to go to another site like Zillow or homescom. So if they could get the lion's share of the listings, then that would happen.
Speaker 2:Right, so give me a little bit of your background. Have you always, and how long have you, been a real estate guy? Are you originally from here? Where are you based out of in this area?
Speaker 3:So offices in St Pete I cover from Pasco County down to Sarasota. Okay, I've been a agent here for six years. I've been a real estate agent for six years and my other brokerage that I've been operating is vine real estate advisors. It's kind of an investor focused agency. I've been here for about six years before that, from Dallas, texas. So I worked at a small hedge fund there for about 10 years and we did a lot of like small commercial deals. So it kind of took that experience and basically I had a buddy that was already living here that worked at that hedge fund and he's like, hey, let's start a brokerage so we can went that experience and basically I had a buddy that was already living here that worked at that hedge fund and he's like, hey, let's start a brokerage so we can went that route.
Speaker 2:So okay. So then, when you start Savvy Buyers, realty is it? That's new, though right, like you said, that's a product of this ruling. Were you like, how many agents do you have in the brokerage that are under your umbrella? Cause, that's always the thing that fascinates me, especially with realtors that become brokers. Kind of become a realtor because you want to be an entrepreneur, run your own ship and kind of do your own thing, and then you go oh, you know what I'll get my broker's license, and then you hire a bunch of people you got to babysit and teach them how to sell real estate.
Speaker 2:So, like, how do you make that transition? How many folks do you have? What are you operating it like in that regard? It's just me, okay, so you're just the way I got the license to have the broker license, so you still are doing it like lean and mean.
Speaker 3:Exactly, it's just like you said. I don't want to be a babysitter and I also don't like a lot of the way brokers pitch to new agents is disingenuous, in my opinion. They promise the the world and all of the guidance and experience and they basically just get you in and charge you a desk fee and hope you make it. Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you when I got my license.
Speaker 2:I mean Coldwell Banker was big, better Homes and Gardens was big and Remax in Atlanta was huge. And at the time I was a young kid, I was trying to transition from a corporate job. I was trying to transition from a corporate job. I was younger and I'm like I get my license and I'll kind of feel it out Like anything in life if you're not fully in it. You're kind of half in and you take half measures and you don't really get into it. But I ended up going with Coldwell Banker at the time just because the infrastructure in place within that organization, all my post-license stuff was covered, all my continuing ed was covered and they had a whole training to kind of walk you through. And back then I mean you used to have a bind. I mean this is 30 years ago. You've been doing it for the past 10. We had a binder that you'd sit on the desk and do your listing presentation. So it was a little bit antiquated but they taught you that whole process, whereas Remax was like you make the full commission, you only pay your desk fee, like you said. But it was kind of like here you go, kid into the frying pan and just kind of figure it out and, like any business in sales, there's a cutthroat aspect to it. You know like there's like there's realtors that are really good and do it, you know and operate in a certain way. And then there's other ones that are out there. I'm sure you run into them that'll kind of try to navigate and finagle deals to make it work, you know, for them.
Speaker 2:So I stayed with Coldwell Banker for a little while but I liked doing different stuff. I was always outside the box, thinking and just straight residential. It just didn't appeal to me in that regard. I like talking to investors and I like talking about commercial leases. And Coldwell Banker just didn't let you do that back then. You had to always kind of farm it out to somebody else. So it just wasn't for me. But but it is.
Speaker 2:It's a hard business I think. I think a lot of people get into it. Like I heard I spoke to somebody on the podcast a couple of weeks ago I spoke to somebody on the podcast a couple of weeks ago there are 17,000 realtors in Tampa that have completed at least one transaction. I think that was the number, the 17th Somewhere around. It's like a ridiculous number. And then there's a whole bunch of other realtors that just get their license and name only and then don't do anything. It's a hard business. People think I'm going to get my real estate license and poof, I'm just going to start. Everybody I know is going to give me their listing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not like that and it takes months and months, sometimes years, to build up business and it's definitely not an easy process, and you kind of alluded to it earlier. Having the listings is going to become even more important now. So the I think unintentional effect of that rule change is the bigger players are only going to get bigger and control more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean. And then the other thing that I think dictates, and because you do this on the like the rehab side or the investor side, not to out hedge funds but like BlackRock, just buys up real estate properties all over the United States and that inflates rent, rent prices and then housing prices continue to go up. It is almost like that snowball going downhill and I don't know if there's a way back out of that. They own so many properties and control percentages of entire DMAs, entire markets. It's a very tough thing to get back to where it was, where you can go. Hey, you know anybody that has a house to rent, or that transaction very rarely exists.
Speaker 3:And depending on how certain things go in November, there might be a slowdown there, but I doubt that that would happen, especially in Florida.
Speaker 2:So what are you seeing? Let's talk a little bit about the market. You brought up November. I don't do politics specifically, but I do know because I deal with a ton of different business owners. The vibe that I feel is that a lot of business owners are almost kind of like holding their breath, like waiting for a shoe to drop to determine are we going to have four more years of an inflation cycle or is it going to be the old new regime that is going to be disliked for bad taste? But the economy will get restarted. So I think a lot of people are kind of in this holding pattern. Interest rates have dipped a little bit. Have you seen an uptick in the number of volume of sales from your perspective?
Speaker 3:No, it's actually been slower, with the rate drops. There was a big drop and we saw that was probably three weeks ago. We saw a little uptick in activity. It's the same as every realtor I've been talking to. They're seeing the same thing. It's been slow and you're seeing inventory raise up.
Speaker 2:Okay. So let me ask you this. That was going to be my next question. So, rate dips, everybody goes hey, now's the time that I can actually make a move. And inventory goes up. And with inventory going up, there's still those people that are gun shy because the rate might still be too high for them.
Speaker 3:I think it's a little bit more of the uncertainty due to the political situation, and I've had clients straight up tell me like, yeah, I was about to buy and pull the trigger, but I'm going to wait and see how November goes because I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, I don't dive into the politics of it. I have my opinions about it, but this is a podcast about business owners and what you have going on. So let's shift into some of the myths or misconceptions that you run into. Like you are literally in this new, like you're like in the Wild West, like you're out in Tombstone right now creating this new thing, or is a lot of what you're doing educating? Like are you going through? I'm assuming, based on your background and what you're saying, with your past experience, you have infrastructure in place to make it sort of automated for the buyer, so they're just filling out a form, everything's going on. But are you running into a lot of educating and having this explanation? This is what the ruling means, this is why we do this, et cetera. Is that most of your conversations?
Speaker 3:It is actually yes, and I'm going to be continuing doing that. And I'm going to be continuing doing that, and I'm doing more like handholding, initially launching the concept, trying to build it out to where I can have like systems in place, where there's like a SOP ready to go, and basically just I'll be more hands on in the beginning. Then hopefully the process is down the road.
Speaker 2:OK. So then let me ask you about the down the road process we just talked about. You know, hey, it's you, you run the show, you do this thing Is the goal. At some point, once you perfect the standard operating procedure and you have this in place, is the goal to open it up a little bit more? And maybe I don't know from your perspective, because it's kind of automated do you really need to have agents, or can you just have basically real estate processors that actually just process the transaction under your umbrella?
Speaker 3:There's certain things you can do have transaction coordinators and absolutely I will have as few agents as possible like license agents, just for liability reasons and I don't know industry standards and entitlement standards and entitlement, yeah. But yeah, the plan is I want people to always be able to call a licensed agent and get good advice from a licensed agent or have a showing that has to be a licensed agent, so that part will always be a licensed agent. But yeah, definitely want to expand it kind of go city by city in different regions.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean, it's kind of like a, it's sort of a franchise. Once you have that stuff perfected, it's sort of franchisable in a sense. That like because everybody's looking for that turnkey solution, right, like, hey, look here, here's a box, this is everything you need. Put it on your desk in Atlanta and open it up and it works. And put it on your desk in Dallas and it opens up and it works. Atlanta and open it up and it works. And put it on your desk in Dallas and it opens up and it works. The nice thing is, you know, in those type of markets they're so big. You could literally have, you know Savvy Buyers, realty, south Atlanta, north Atlanta, and you can have five of them in a single market. But you could sell franchise rights. Once you have all that stuff perfected, do you have in your head like, ok, this just kicked in. I mean, this is like really new. This is infant still crying, baby, new.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:In your head? Do you have like a timeframe in mind, like, look, by year end, I should have proof of concept. By end of Q2 2025, I should be able to expand within Tampa Like 2022, 2025, I should be able to expand within tampa like have you built out those projections in your? I mean, you come from a hedge fund, so I'm assuming that you're, you've lived in the world of spreadsheets, um, so you know you have.
Speaker 3:you have all that kind of mapped out yeah, I do mentally, but I've also like started a few things. So I know like what you have set is definitely not in stone. I need to be things. So I know like what you have set is definitely not in stone and you need to be flexible, but and I definitely do have goals so I want to get to at least doing a couple per month by the end of the year. Right, and basically I'm in like a proof of concept phase and if it does have legs, then start the expansion and obviously franchise is one of the models in mind, but also could do it city of city, state to state and how, and house still.
Speaker 2:And roll it out, yeah right.
Speaker 2:I mean if listen, if all you need in a particular, you don't even need to have somebody sitting in a city. You literally could take your website and just roll it out as Atlanta or roll it out as Dallas and create savvy buyers, realty Dallas, and just run it from one operation center. The same way Rocket Mortgage runs a mortgage company from one central location. I mean it's very plausible to do that. I mean it is a cool concept. Let me ask you this, though, knock on wood, if the proof of concept doesn't work out, is there a backup plan to start getting some listings? Are you currently doing that as well, to farm like a traditional real estate agent? Not that you're not a traditional real estate agent, but traditionally farm an area, grow that area. So you kind of have that not safety net, but at least that backup plan.
Speaker 3:So I do still have another brokerage that I'm operating kind of as it was. So that's it's not really a backup plan, it's still my current income and if this does have legs essentially, then I'll roll over into this and take it yeah.
Speaker 2:I get it. I mean you're kind of running a redundancy program here. Here's old school, running like this, and we're just going to run with it, and then here's new school and if it takes off we can reevaluate Exactly. You know, it's funny and I love talking to entrepreneurs about this because and you touched on it, you kind of verbalized it perfectly A lot of the business owners I talk to come up with an idea and they say this is the idea and then immediately go like this and this is how I'm going to run it, and then when something comes through that they just flexibility and the ability to adjust to the original plan. That's where I think a lot of entrepreneurs fall short in their success or their timeline for success. They might still end up being successful, it's just delayed because the unanticipated thing that occurs is kind of the you know the thing. That kind of gets them off the rails a little bit and you, knowing that going in, you know I mean you're kind of anticipating like this is some of the pitfalls. It makes it.
Speaker 3:It doesn't alleviate it completely, but it kind of makes you navigate it a little better oh yeah, I always think to myself I don't know what I don't know, so it needs to be kicked around and used a little. That way I can adjust certain things here, and the client I'm going after might not even be somebody I'm thinking of right now.
Speaker 2:Well, and then so you bring up a good point. I mean, you're running the show here. Do you have you mentioned your buddy who lived here, and all that? Do you have a collaborator? That is kind of like your sounding board, Because that's another big thing. Like I don't ever want a partner again. Like I've had partners, I don't ever want a partner again. It was harder to divorce my partner than it was to divorce both of my ex-wives combined, but having a collaborator is a valuable asset. Do you have that?
Speaker 3:I do so. It's actually a partner that I originally started the brokerage with. Here he sits right behind me, Okay so we don't feel bad about him.
Speaker 2:He's right there.
Speaker 3:And we're not a partner in this brokerage, but we just invest in some other things together and definitely talk to him almost every day about it and another group of investors we have that have gone through and like use my product and I basically just do dry runs Like, hey, pick a house and let's act like we're buying it.
Speaker 2:So you know it's funny. So like my whole life, I mean I worked in corporate for like 20 years and I've owned an ad agency for the past 15. My whole life I always kind of dismissed business coaches, as you know, listen someone who couldn't hack it in the real world. They just sit there and kind of throw out advice and they don't really know. And then I got one and it is one of the most like invaluable, like resources I could possibly have. Because when I operate my business I'm just like every other business owner, like I kind of see the way I know it business. I'm just like every other business owner, like I kind of see the way I know it because I'm inside of it, having the outside perspective, just to throw some like little grenades into the process that's out like that's almost in like a safe zone before it kind of goes out to the real world. It has been so invaluable to me to have that sounding board and that collaborator. It's changed the way I operate and the way I run the various things that I do and it's great for you to have that resource.
Speaker 2:One of the things I always like to ask business owners, because what happens with a lot of entrepreneurs is you're wrapped up in what you have going on. Downtime is like the recharging of the batteries is a big thing. So you're in st pete, what do you? What do you do for fun when you're not doing this? I mean you're out on the boat, are you down in? Uh, you know, in at frenchies? I mean, where do you? What are you doing in in st peter to get to blow off steam?
Speaker 3:uh, basically chasing kids around. We have. We have a six-year-old daughter and three-year-old identical twin boys, so hands full there.
Speaker 2:You don't have a lot of free time. I mean three-year-old twin boys. That's only just beginning.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, so yeah, anytime. I love fishing and golfing, but anytime my wife is like oh, you got time to fish and golf.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I get it. I mean, like, if you're working and doing your thing and she's taking care of the family, mom needs, mom needs a little break too. So it's kind of hard to to kind of put that all on her. Uh, is your six-year-old, is your daughter, is she into anything like dance or sports? Or you take her out fishing. What does she like to do?
Speaker 3:uh, cheerleading and golf. I've actually got her to the driving range. Luckily her kindergarten teacher was just starting out golfing too, so we'd go out together the range and just oh, that's good, it works for everybody.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, it's funny. So my 12 year old is going to be cheering as a junior bucks cheerleader friday at the bucks dolphins game. So it's gonna be. It's gonna be interesting. Like she's not, I'm like the step dad type of thing. Uh, never've never had a daughter. No, no other kids. So it's interesting to see like I'm thrown into this, like getting up to speed. Twelve is a fun age. It's like you're already kind of in the middle of them turning into women and it is like mom and her and every little, every little we'll say conversation as a nice way of saying disagreement. That goes on. You kind of have to play referee and stuff, but it is fun Like watching her cheerlead and get excited about it. It's fun to watch them do that stuff.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, definitely. I remember my sister as a teenager, so I know those conversations.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, your sister has a teenage daughter.
Speaker 3:No, no, I remember her as a teenager oh yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:So, um, so we talked about you know you have zero free time and your wife cracks the whip, other than when you can get your daughter out to play golf. Can you describe whether it was transitioning from the hedge fund and getting this started, where you've kind of run into an obstacle that you maybe weren't sure that you would get through it? How did you get through it and turn the lemons into lemonade to come out the other side where you're at now?
Speaker 3:I would say. Actually moving to Florida was that moment. So basically kind of left Texas abruptly. We had our daughter and my wife's from St Pete so she wanted to be back by her family. So we basically just I put in my notice at the hedge fund and came out here and started from scratch. So that's always tough and definitely wasn't easy, but I would say, just grinding it out, sticking with it was how I got through it.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, the thing with that is, no matter what you go through, like, look, if Savvy Buyers Realty doesn't work out, you have your other brokerage. But when you've gone through that type of transition at least I know I've been through the things that I've gone through when I'm having a rough moment, I think back to that time and say if that didn't kill me, if I got through that, this is nothing compared to that. Nothing ever measures up to that. You know the bottom of the barrel, where you were, and you know the struggling, whether it's, like you know, as a kid, like eating tuna, fish or ramen noodles for like three weeks straight, just because I had to pay rent and I lived in a place, like all that type of stuff.
Speaker 2:Those struggles are the things that, for me, motivate me to hey, look, I'm never going to go back there, number one and number two, if I made it through that, this little thing that I have with a unhappy client or something not going right, this is just background noise. It never ends up being. You know the thing that kind of overrides all the amazing things that that this kind of affords. As we start to wrap this up, what would be the one thing like you want listeners, people who are looking to buy a home they're they're out there that are listening to this. What is the one thing they need to know about Savvy Buyers, realty or you or how you operate? Give them that one thing.
Speaker 3:Yep. If you're somebody who's had a few real estate transactions in the past, you have a little experience. You don't need handholding. You just want a little guidance here and there. Savvy Buyers, realty is for you. It's going to save you money, make your offers more competitive.
Speaker 2:And what would be, I guess, the million dollar question. Not necessarily a million dollars, but what's the best way if I'm reaching out? Is it the website, the phone number? How do we get a hold of you today?
Speaker 3:The website SavvyBuyersRealtycom. You can also call me 813-833-4396.
Speaker 2:All right. So, folks, if you're listening to this, you're watching it on our YouTube channel and you're that person that has done real estate transactions before but you're like, look, this new ruling is a chance for me to maybe save a little money and get into that house, even though the interest rates aren't as low as I was hoping them to be. It kind of can help me offset some of that. If you're a renter and you're out there and you're looking to make that move into a house and you want to save your watch at every dime, you need to contact Robert. You need to contact Savvy Buyers Realty, savvybuyersrealtycom, or give him a call directly 813-833-4396. Robert, thank you so much for being on the podcast with us today. I hope you have an amazing day, man.
Speaker 3:All right.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Mike. Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Pasco. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPPascocom. That's GNPPascocom, or call 813-922-3610.