Adventures in Home Buying
Join Adventures in Home Buying, the ultimate podcast for anyone navigating the exciting, sometimes daunting world of purchasing a home! Whether you're a first-time buyer, a seasoned investor, or dreaming of your forever home, our engaging stories and expert insights will guide you through every step of the homebuying journey. From decoding mortgages and mastering bidding wars to uncovering hidden costs and spotting sustainable home features, we deliver practical tips and real-world advice to empower you with confidence.
Tune in for captivating discussions with top home inspectors, real estate pros, and service companies who share their expertise on what makes a home a smart buy. Want to learn how to avoid costly repairs or choose the right lender? We've got you covered. Visit our website at [YourWebsiteHere] for exclusive resources, episode extras, and tools to make your homebuying adventure a success.
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Adventures in Home Buying
Finding the Right Real Estate Agent
Wondering whether to buy or rent? Struggling to find a trustworthy real estate agent? In this revealing conversation, Jim and Laura share hard-earned wisdom about the home buying journey that could save you decades of regret.
The hosts begin with a sobering story about an elderly woman forced to move after 30 years of renting—having essentially paid for her landlord's house while securing nothing for herself. This cautionary tale highlights why ownership creates financial security through equity building, which acts as a forced savings plan while giving you complete control over your living space.
Drawing from their personal experiences—from their first 910-square-foot starter home in a neighborhood where SWAT teams raided nearby houses to eventually building their dream home using equity from previous properties—Jim and Laura demonstrate how smart property decisions compound over time. They reveal the crucial "six-year rule" (if you'll stay somewhere six years or longer, buying typically beats renting) and warn against maxing out your budget, advocating instead for living comfortably below your means.
Perhaps most valuable is their insider advice on finding trustworthy professionals. Rather than contacting listing agents (who represent sellers), they suggest consulting local home inspection companies for real estate agent recommendations. Why? Because inspectors witness firsthand which agents prioritize client protection versus quick commissions. They've seen agents throw away their brochures in anger after thorough inspections revealed problems with properties—while other agents appreciate comprehensive information that protects both buyers and themselves from future liability.
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer or considering your next move, this practical guidance will help you navigate the complexities of real estate transactions with confidence. Have you considered how your housing choices today might impact your financial security decades from now?
Hey everybody, welcome to Adventures in Home Buying. This is Jim and Laura's with me.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone.
Speaker 1:The office goddess, so Laura.
Speaker 2:So Jim.
Speaker 1:Last time we talked about, should you even buy a house versus renting? To me, the answer is obviously you should own a house versus renting it. All kinds of benefits on that. You get equity. It's like a forced savings plan for yourself, because people sometimes don't do a good job of savings. You got control of what you're doing with your own house, you're not paying some other. I share the story of a lady who rented a place for 30 years.
Speaker 1:The landlord is selling the house and she's going to have to move out after living there 30 years. A lot of mortgages are 30 years. She basically bought that house and she has nothing to show for it no and she, I mean, she was uh, I don't know up, definitely in their 70s, maybe 80, and so where's she gonna go now?
Speaker 2:I?
Speaker 1:don't, know't, know, I have no idea.
Speaker 2:That's just sad.
Speaker 1:These are the decisions that you make that have really longstanding repercussions, that you may not realize that until 30 years later.
Speaker 2:I'm like oh.
Speaker 1:I should have bought that crappy place. I looked at that one time Because our first house, 910 square feet, was our first house.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was. Not the best of neighborhoods up in Toledo, but it was our little place. It was our little place it was a cool little place. I would still take that. I liked it. I liked that house.
Speaker 1:But one kid. All right, it's working.
Speaker 1:Two kids it is definitely too small, and then we wanted to get out of that area. Yeah, it was the SWAT team that raided the neighbors. Yeah, they would. Kind of neighborhood was going down. So it was like, all right, let's get out of here to get out to Toledo. So and then we bought the place in McAnisburg with like 1700 square feet, I believe 17 something yeah, 16, 17 and we bought that for, and it's McAnansburg, not a real expensive area, you know village to live in just west of Columbus, and then Nice little area.
Speaker 1:After, like we lived there 22 years, we're doing video. We can't cut that out.
Speaker 2:I know, but it happens, it happens.
Speaker 1:So then we lived there 22 years and then we ended up buying some land.
Speaker 2:But we kind of found them on accident.
Speaker 1:Yep, we found the land and then we decided, hey, let's just build a house and live down here. But over those 20 years, 22 years living there, we gained equity in that house.
Speaker 2:I think by the time it was said and done, we had what? 70,000 equity 60?.
Speaker 1:I can't remember what it was. I can't remember, yeah, something like that I really don't know the number, but we also had the home equity line of credit, because the value of the house was how much we owed and we used that to build this new place.
Speaker 2:Right, which saved our butts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it this new place right, which saved our butts. Yeah, yeah, it made it very nice. That came in very, very handsome. We had that that he liked the home equity line of credit to pay for the construction of this, this house, here, and then, once we moved in here, we sold that house and paid off that line of and we have like no mortgage at all on this house. Right, still the land, still the property. But that's going to be paid off in five years maybe.
Speaker 1:I think five, five and a half years maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't remember. It was a 10-year thing. So apparently if you buy land, it's only a 10-year loan, which we did not know Period and story. Yeah, I'm like oh.
Speaker 3:So that period and story, yeah, like, oh, so that was our, our adventure, my.
Speaker 1:So that's another conversation we're gonna have also. So let's say you decided, yes, I definitely gonna buy a house. I think a good decision because you're gonna live there at least six years, okay. So you gotta do the math on that. Around six years is like all right, it makes sense to actually own it versus just renting. Because of the expenses, right of down payment and mortgage and interest and all that, it makes sense. Six years or more. Go ahead and buy a place. So I think the first step is know what you can afford.
Speaker 2:Know your credit score.
Speaker 1:Your credit score. Your mortgage person will figure that out for you. Get a local guy, a local mortgage person. Do not do internet, we're not going to give any name, but do not do internet. We're not gonna give any name, but yeah, do not. Just don't do that ones.
Speaker 2:You, you want a local one because they know what's going on in the area yep they know, you know how to guide you different plans, different loans so I need a local.
Speaker 1:So after you know what you can afford, there's no need you go that amount. Let's say, oh, you can afford a, let's say, a five hundred thousand dollar house that does not mean that you need to buy a five hundred thousand dollar house.
Speaker 2:I would you know go 400.
Speaker 1:You know something. So because you want you don't want to be house rich, but cash poor you want. You want cat, you want money extra cash.
Speaker 2:You want to be able to go to the movies or to go out to eat once in a while or to hang out with friends. You don't want to have all of your money tied up in the house.
Speaker 1:Correct, correct. Now, the house will very, very likely go up in value over the course of your living there. So I'm like, all right, so the interest rate, you'll make more. But you don't want to be stressed out. You don't want to say, all right, hey, I bought this house, I'm really strapped for cash, but I got this mortgage, I'm paying all this stuff, and then say, something happens. And now you have to make a choice Do I fix that car, buy the new car or pay the mortgage? You don't want to be in that situation.
Speaker 2:You don't want to be homeless.
Speaker 1:Always live below your means with the house. But also the first step, find what you can afford and then you can figure out how comfortable it's going to be for you. Then you most people then go. I need to find a real estate agent to show me houses yep but how do you find a real estate agent?
Speaker 2:oh, ooh, ooh, ooh. I know, I know, I know, I know some people will go well.
Speaker 1:I'll just drive around. If I find a house that I like in this neighborhood, I'll call the agent. That's on that sign. Is that the person I need to contact? No, that is not the person you need to contact.
Speaker 2:And it's the listing agent who works for the seller.
Speaker 1:Yes, yep, and you want an agent that's going to work for you. So you want a buyer's agent. But, laura, how do you find the buyer's agent? Because buyer's agents are not listed in front of the house.
Speaker 2:That you're considering, so I think you should call your local home inspection company okay, explain, explain that I like that and I agree with that.
Speaker 1:We've been saying that for a long time, but go ahead explain that you want a company that has been doing business for a while home inspection company because, contrary to popular belief, clients talk to us.
Speaker 2:They tell us everything that their agents do or don't do. They will call and schedule appointments and if they're clueless and they have absolutely no idea what's going on or that there is a time frame or that they have to get the inspection done within a certain period, that's not a good agent, and so we make note of that and we keep track of that kind of stuff. So if somebody were to call and ask us for an agent, we have a list of agents that do very good work, that take care of their clients, that have paperwork to follow and track everything and make sure everything stays on track.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Not all agents have systems like that.
Speaker 1:Correct and home inspectors in general. They know which agents that they don't like working for Yep and there are some real estate agents that do not not want that they don't like working for yep and there are some real estate agents that do not. We've experienced ourselves. Agents will not have this. Have us on their recommended uh list because they don't want their clients to use us.
Speaker 1:They don't want their clients to get all the information as soon as they're as they are personally buying a house or their children are buying a house all of a sudden we're doing those home inspections. So some agents they have a different standard as to who they're going to recommend versus who they're going to actually use for themselves.
Speaker 2:Depending on who's buying.
Speaker 1:And we've had agents that go hey, you guys find too much stuff You're not supposed to. This is too big Like dude. We are not responsible for the condition of the house. We are responsible for accurately reporting what's in that house.
Speaker 2:And the condition of the house at that moment in time, because the client needs to know that to make an informed decision.
Speaker 1:So we recommend it's a couple different ways. You can ask your friends and family what agent did you use to buy your house?
Speaker 2:And that's what a lot of people do.
Speaker 1:That's definitely a legit way of finding out which agents to use. Also, I would recommend finding a home inspection company that has a really good reputation in your area. And here's what you do. You go hey, I'm looking at these three agents. Is there? Is there any of these agents you would recommend not using? Or what? Which two would you prefer? So you do something like that because we probably shouldn't go no, no, use this agent, never use this agent. We kind of want to stay out of that loop a little bit. But we can go no, no, no. Personally, I would use this agent instead.
Speaker 2:Or use those two agents.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, so we can definitely help guide you, because we know agents that do a very good job, very thorough, they care about their clients. Yes, and then we know some that, nope, they're mad because we reported on things.
Speaker 2:I need this sale to go through so I can make my mortgage, and we've heard that.
Speaker 1:You've heard that. Yeah, there's a lot of stories. I had a receptionist one time telling me that some agent came back. I remember this house I did the house Foundation. It had some serious issues. House I did the house foundation it was it had some serious issues. Okay, there's definitely some structural movement underneath the window, some diagonal cracking in that. I'm down the crawl space. Yep, there's, there's a good crack underneath that area.
Speaker 1:The foundation tilt to it also oh so I report that because that's that's my job, right? I got to actually report things. That agent comes in to her office, took my brochures, threw them in the trash because I hate him, wow, and all I am is protecting her client.
Speaker 2:And her from a lawsuit.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, she would not have gotten sued, probably not, she would have gone. Oh wow, the inspector should have reported that to you. Well we did.
Speaker 2:We did, and now she's mad. Now she's mad.
Speaker 1:So I would definitely recommend ask a home inspector. What agent do you recommend out of this list?
Speaker 2:Now, if you're, let's say you're in a very rural area, and you don't have limited options.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they go. Hey, maybe a home, try to go. You know what? I would recommend that you use this person here, but you would not automatically use that person. Meet with them. See how the personalities are. Some persons just don't Don't mesh, they don't play well with each other, yeah, so Always interview the agents yourself.
Speaker 2:You want to sit down with them, meet with them If they're high pressure, if they try to get you to sign stuff right away and you're not into that, that's a red flag.
Speaker 2:That's a red flag. That's a red flag to me To see what systems do they have in place. How long have they been in business? Do they have any recommendations from past clients? What kinds of contacts do they have If there's something going on in the house? Do they have a system that you can use to help get things repaired to make it flow easier? There's a lot of things that go into being an agent that Joe Schmo doesn't know.
Speaker 1:Which is beyond just the state licensing, and here's the contract law. I need to figure out how to do the paperwork beyond that, but you can ask them hey, I really don't know the sequence. Do you have a document you can send me that has the timelines, and you'll send me, so I know what's going on and what I should be doing? Do you say you're going to be listening, so you're going to be listing? Do you organize all the offers in a nice fashion so I can easily review them and find out if they have that? Some of them may not. Hey, do you have a list of contractors that you recommend that your clients have had good experience with Somewhat? You should not care if the agent has a good experience with somebody. Hey, do your clients have a good experience? Which goes back to looking at online reviews.
Speaker 2:Not all agents get reviews.
Speaker 1:Yeah, agents don't do in general, do not get a lot of reviews, so that's why you need to ask people, because you're just not going to find it on the internet. No, no, if our reviews are legit. I think we have almost 5 000 reviews now. If you look at, was it listen 360? We got like 2600 there and then we got, we've got. Oh google, we got like I don't know, 1700 on google and then on Google and then Facebook. There's some on Facebook.
Speaker 2:And yeah, they are legitimate.
Speaker 1:And they are Because every now and then, well, I had a client go, yeah, I was looking at your thing and he was concerned about something. But then he's like, oh yeah, the negative reviews. He's saying what some of he knows about all the negative reviews is like, no, these are all legit Because we've got the negative reviews. Is like like no, these are all legit Cause we, we've got some negative reviews. Most of those things come from sellers who are upset that we found things wrong with their house. I'm like, well, it's a house. This house has more moving parts and more items than your car.
Speaker 2:And your car gets serviced every three months or when the little lights go on and you need to go and take it in. Get serviced every three months or when the little lights go on and you need to go and take it in. A house doesn't have lights, it doesn't have a service schedule, but it should it should, which is maintenance.
Speaker 1:Inspections are very important to do, but nobody that's getting more popular people contacts to do an inspection on their house. Like every two to three years. We can come and do inspection, maybe do a radon test confirm that that radon is still. Either your system is still working, your radon mitigation system is still working, or radon has not changed because you did some remodeling in the house. So you definitely want to buy a house. You also definitely want to use a real estate agent to help you or get a real estate attorney to take that real estate agent's place. But a real estate agent is going to be your main way to get into houses to see what's available. There's really no way around that. You need an agent to show you the house and show you the options.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that law has changed. I think you need the agent now to be able to go and see something. I don't know. Would the attorney be able to do that?
Speaker 1:I don't think so I think it's an agent. I've never heard an attorney showing anybody houses.
Speaker 2:Nope Cause that's yeah, I'm sure as heck, Nick, I don't want to pay an attorney like 200 bucks an hour to show me around the houses. No, you don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:So you need an agent to show you houses. Yes, get your access, access to their information, who the people that they like for, like a repairman contractors, maybe a home inspectors, but some agent would not put thorough home inspectors on their list so do your own due diligence and do searches yes, so I think that's about it from this one. But yeah, find an agent. So ask a home inspector to find help you find a real estate agent. Or at least narrow down your list. I would prefer that narrow down your list because you get a list of five agents.
Speaker 1:I'm like. I'm like, nope, here's the three I recommend you choose from. Or here's the two. Pick one of them and then interview them, see how their personalities mix with you. And then, of course, you ask friends and family who they used.
Speaker 2:Or heck. We've interviewed people in line and asked questions before. Remember when we were deciding whether or not we wanted to have our kids close together and we would just pick out strangers in a line and ask them when they had kids Do that? Just ask somebody that you're standing in a checkout line with. Hey, have you sold a house recently? Do you have an agent to recommend or not?
Speaker 3:recommend.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Whichever the case may be, just start asking. That's the only way you're going to find out.
Speaker 1:So I think so far we're at find out how much you can afford, decide you're going to stay in your budget and then find a real estate agent.
Speaker 2:And stay under budget. Don't go too close to it.
Speaker 1:Live within the means easily.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So all right, thank you everybody, all right.
Speaker 3:Bye-bye, bye. Habitation investigation is the way to go for a home inspection in ohio. Trusted, licensed home inspectors for your needs, from radon to mold to you really can't go wrong. Visit homeinspectionsinohiocom.
