How We Met the Journey Begins

In this engaging podcast episode, Barbara and Anthony share their journey into the world of real estate, discussing how they met, their individual paths, and the emotional rollercoaster that comes with being a realtor. They explore the challenges of navigating client relationships, the significance of life events in real estate transactions, and the realities of the current market. The episode concludes with their aspirations for the podcast and a heartfelt message to their listeners.

https://housenextdoortx.com

Transcript

Barbara (00:05)
hello everyone. Welcome to the house next door with Anthony and Barbara. It's where real estate meets reality. We're so excited. Me and Barbara have been planning this for a couple maybe a couple months. Yeah, we started one

I texted you while I was actually watching reality TV and having our favorite. Can we stop right there? That's our favorite. That is our favorite trash TV like nothing Nothing gets better than that. Nothing gets better than that and and You know, and honestly, that's how we met not really Is just texting him watching watching my Bravo and having a glass of wine and I was like Anthony

Would you be into doing a podcast? I don't know. Who's gonna watch it? It's probably literally our moms and like maybe my best friend. Maybe. Maybe, but she may like want She might turn it off after like, how hard are into this? She might already stop listening by now. Exactly. And so, and then so we started. We started talking about it and we decided, hey, let's just talk about, we always have all these great stories. We're always talking about.

this happened to me in real estate. Real estate is just this labyrinth of interesting life stories that can transcend to more than just real estate. so, and people always ask me too, like, tell me about this, tell me about that. So I'm like, we should just do a podcast with us just talking about it. Yeah. And I think it goes hand in hand with our life. Like when we live life.

worth living real estate. it's just, it's incredible. I was showing not too long ago and one of my clients was like, when's the worst time that you've had showing? Like the creepiest, you know? And we'll talk about that later. Yeah, we got a whole... We've got a spooky system of haunted showings. It really is the house next door. Right. But yeah, how we met, so...

How did Anthony and I meet? And we kind of figured out how we came to wanting to do this podcast, but how we met is we're both at Realty Austin Compass, and we're both realtors in the outskirts of Austin. So we do real estate in Austin, right? Yeah. We go everywhere. But we live in small town.

Someone call it Smallville. We won't mention who said We won't say who called Smithville Smallville in public, like their California show. So they were on the Bravo TV. They, yeah, exactly. Selling Smallville, Texas. Selling Smallville, Texas. Well, I can see that. But we both live in small towns surrounding Austin. I used to live in Liberty Hill, which is another small town.

Surrounding Austin and I recently moved to a farmhouse on five acres where the internet is horrible We already had that problem this morning while we were setting up it The only available internet Yeah, so I was raised in Bastrop I went to high school here and actually how we met

We were at a Realty Austin happy hour or something. And I sat, or maybe it was a training. It was a training and I was, you found out that I was moving to Bastrop or Smithville and I was looking for a historic home, but I had found one in La Grange.

That was literally kind of a nightmare, but I was in love with it. And that's how we started talking. and so whenever Barbara was talking about moving to Smithville, I was like, I know all about Smithville and Bastrop. And we kind of clicked over that. through...

Through talking about Bastrop and Smithville, we found out that we were at the same brokerage probably eight years ago, nine years ago. We did apartment locating. Not one of my ⁓ biggest accomplishments. It wasn't my proudest moment either. I used to sit in my car and cry on a regular basis. I still do that, but at least I get paid more. We had similar life paths to converge where we were talking.

historic homes in Smithville. Anthony's like, I will look, I know all the off-market stuff and he did. He started sending me off-market homes and all kinds of good stuff too because I find anything. And let's hit on that. So that's one of the keys of finding a good realtor is someone that knows the market. If you're getting an agent that doesn't know the market then...

You're not getting in touch with the properties that you might have not seen. Yeah, absolutely. that's the thing. You've got Austin and Austin's great and you know Austin, but when you start to get into these outer areas like Smithville, Bastrop, even, you know, LaGrange and Liberty Hill, sometimes those are like, man, those are niche markets where you really kind of need to have lived in the area and know because a lot of this stuff comes on the market without actually doesn't come on the market.

And that's how you find out about it. That's how I found out about that haunted house in Smithville. That's for another episode, Nevermind. We're not talking about haunted houses. It's like the house next door. Okay. But yeah, so that's kind of how we bonded. ⁓ And you know, we're completely different but completely the same. It's kind of a weird duo. It is. It is. I'm much older.

He enjoys hanging out with a 50 year old lady. Because I'm so cool. And the dogs. I'm sure that at one point the dogs will come in the picture. But Robert has these two super cute big old teddy bear dogs. They're New Finlands. I call them Newfies because I feel like I always pronounce Newfoundland wrong.

doing this podcast at my farmhouse and my big dogs want to be a part of this so badly. When we were setting up, we have this table in front of us that the computer's sitting on and one of them jumped up on the table and slobbered all over it. Yeah, he slobbered all over it. Yeah, one is 120 pounds and one's 150 pounds, so they're like small bears in my house.

So yeah, you might see them on the podcast from time to time if they overtake us, which they do. Yeah, they might jump on us. And I think we're planning on bringing this podcast to YouTube, Spotify, Apple, all the... Can I talk about the other platforms? Yeah, I don't know. We don't know the yet. This is brand new. Like I said, we may just be, you know, talking to our moms. this is how they learn about...

or you know people could enjoy hearing a little bit about real estate in our lives and how it's affected our lives and ⁓ the twists and turns real estate has taken us down and so I I've been in the industry

I guess I got my license in 2014, but that feels like a long time ago. Well, it was over a decade ago. Oh gosh. Well, I got mine in 2015. You got yours in 2015. So we've both been doing Now, did I produce for the first nine years of my real estate career? I don't know, but that's... I don't know that I certainly didn't produce the first couple of years of my real estate license. And just saw people do great. I did not do great because I was coming from graphic design, being behind a computer.

being kind more of a creative and I don't know that we ever talked about that. No, we haven't. Well, you didn't. Yeah, you didn't know what I did before. You know what I did, Yeah, yeah. Anthony was in HR, so behave yourself. The HR people are the worst people. I was, I was a graphic If you're in HR, you know. Yeah. We're the life of the party. Yes, it's true. So you were in graphic design. I was in graphic design and I was, you know, living life behind a computer.

designing a bunch of marketing for Summer on Hills, Country Club, and then also for other realtors. And then finally one day I'm like, okay, I think I should be a realtor. This would be fun if I did it for myself, right? Let's market myself. And that was a disastrous year of not making any money and not really even designing much. I don't know what, I did get into a farming game online.

The farm bill? Yes! Or was it small bill? It was small bill, part bill. And that seemed to how it soothed my soul during the first two brutal years of real estate. But then finally, well, I went to apartment locating. that's how I... So you started out in real estate and then went to apartment locating? Yes, because my first deal was selling a mobile home. Yeah, I remember that. And we couldn't find the title for the mobile home.

And it was the weirdest deal. ⁓ there was, I think it was one where it was a seller financing it and, I should not have been doing that. And that was your very first deal. my very first. Seller financing. You got thrown into the fire. And again, that goes back to your local real estate default because like in Bastrop, would, mobile homes aren't...

common, common, but we're more, like we know them better than agents from Austin or Dallas or Houston. Like we just have more concentration now. Like you live on five acres, and there's no mobile homes over here, but it's just a place, you know, if you have acreages where you can put mobile homes and it's unrestricted. And at the time, I mean, this is new for me living on five acres, but I've always lived on the outskirts of Austin, primarily because

I couldn't afford Austin the way I wanted to. You wanted this big of a house, like where we had a podcast room. I had to go to the suburbs, especially in beginning, but also I just like living on the outskirts of town. I do too, and like I drive a lot for like a lot of my business is in North Austin and I live south of Austin.

So I guess do you want me to into Mimi? Yeah! Did you finish everything? ⁓ yeah!

I started with a mobile home that was seller financed. It was so much fun. And then that's when I cried in my car for the first time. And that would be the first of many times crying in my car for the next 10 years. Now we cry at the bar. story. No, we go to the wine bar and now we cry at the wine bar. Yeah, yeah. Now we're just jaded. It's just another day. Just another day of something destroying me. Like this morning, I was talking to Barbara this weekend and I have a deal that's just a wonky deal.

I was talking to her this morning and I was like this dill like it's gonna blow up and it's gonna be pretty ugly but you know we're just taking it and we're rolling with the punches. How did you get to where you met? met in that train. Realty Austin. a little...

guess it's a lot yeah so I got my license in 2015 my mother has had her license since 1991 so I was and she started out in apartment locating then transitioned to real estate in like the early 2000s yeah yeah she did it in Dallas when we lived so I was raised in Fort Worth and so we moved when I was really young but she did apartment locating over there

Then moved to Austin and she figured out that Austin apartment locating is very different than the Dallas apartment locating. I could see that. So she had a friend that actually her broker I think in Dallas knew a broker here and got her connected into the real estate sales. And that was in the early 2000s and then...

She went and did new homes for one year or two years, I don't know, something like that. And then went back into real estate. So... You followed into her footsteps. Right down to apartment location. So I got licensed when I turned 18. Actually it was right after... Yeah, right before I turned 19. Wow.

So I got licensed and I have no really plans to use it but I knew it and I knew the good the bad and the ugly you know being raised in it we we saw 2008-2009 whenever the housing crashed and you were a legacy it was yeah we saw from the inside you know living through that as as a realtor kid you know that really changed her lifestyle

And so when I told her I was going get my license, she was like, are you sure? Do you remember 2007, 2008? And I was like, yeah, I do. And I had no plans really with that. I was going to go to college. I went to Texas State, which is in San Marcos, is where I live now. And so I really had no plan. So I got my license. I went to the same brokerage as her. I was there for maybe a year or two. And I found out that

you know, it's really expensive to be a realtor. Oh, yeah. even if, especially since I wasn't producing. Yeah. Like, it was very expensive. And so it got to a point of where it was like, I'm paying all these fees and Board of Realtors, MLS, all of that, just to have a license, like not just to have a license, but just to be a realtor. Just to be a realtor. A non-working realtor. So, so whenever,

So whenever I went ⁓ to school, there was these apartment locators and I live in a college town. And so I was like, well, I could go hang my license with them. ⁓ And at that time I was working full time at HEB, which is a local grocery store in Texas. so I got that job when I was in high school when I was 16 and just worked my way. They were paying for some of my school. ⁓ so I just, you know, I...

I just use real estate as my fun money, as I call it. But when you're a realtor and you're $1,500 a year or $2,000 a year and not making anything, then it's no longer fun money. That's not fun money, that's just fun debt. That's not fun debt, that's just depressing debt. As a college kid, I'd rather go to the bar for a whole month, I don't know.

So, um, so that's what... That's how we got to HR folks. We're not there yet. He went to the bar. So, um, so I was in school, I went to apartment locating, um, I found out pretty quickly it was not for me. Um, it's a lot of grind. It was just, you know, it's... Well, yeah, you you try to help people.

And they don't want to be helped. But they don't want to be honest. Yes. I think that's, that was the hard part. I always liked it when I got people who...

And then, yeah, don't pit bull with a felony. And I don't owe the last three apartments a thousand dollars. Yeah, I didn't break a... And then you, you know, you have to run... This is when I... There was a stint where I was working as an on-site and that's what that means is people would come in... I worked for High-Rise downtown and people come and lease and I'd have to run their background checks and stuff and they always... everybody had an impeccable background.

And then it would light up like a damn Christmas tree. And I'm like, you didn't just have, you have 17 felonies. How did you even do that? And then they're like, well, can I just pay cash for the apartment for a year? I'm like, And these are expensive high-rises, right? They were! Like a higher price point? Wow. These were good felonies, let me tell you. Were they for embezzling money? Well, yeah, maybe! Amongst other things, but yeah. yeah, it's hard. It's a hard...

And mine was a lot of college kids. And the leases are only for eight months, seven months, and the commission is very little. So it was a very challenging. And college kids are especially freshmen, they're indecisive. They'll lease with you and then go break their lease and go to another apartment because their friends are going there.

Yeah, and then you don't get paid on that lease that they broke by then. So it's, yeah. Or they would change their enrollment and not even go to Texas State and go somewhere else. It was a variety of things. It's hard on the soul. It's hard on the also your account. Oh yeah, but one of the pluses was I got a parking permit.

our office and our office was right next to campus so I would park in the morning at our office because I had a permit and then I would just walk to school so I didn't have to pay for parking so maybe it paid off for us all. That is actually probably a lot right there. The crazy thing is now that building is nothing and like it's never been able to keep a tenant in it.

Whoa, so when we worked there, there was a pizza place next door, and it'd be 10 o'clock, and it would be thumping with music. They were like a very alternative pizza place. Well, yeah, okay, at 10 a.m. Yeah, with college kids at my office meeting, I'd be like, ⁓ she would be like, dang it, and I'm not gonna say the name, but dang it, the pizza place, calm it down, it's 10 a.m. Like we'd be in the office just trying to like make phone calls, talk to on-sites, all that. ⁓

Then I went back to HomeSales and just hung my license. I thought if I could sell one house a year, it pays for my license, I can just get on with life. ⁓ So I graduated college, got a degree in business management with HR concentration. ⁓ And then I did that for a few years and did not. And then the old real estate lured him back in. He heard a call and went, I'm

So then in 2000 so I did HR for maybe three four years, but it was a lot of work it was Like there was one job where I would get up at seven in the morning start working and stop working at 7 p.m. And I do that now, but it's different

It was very mentally, yeah, it was very mentally challenging, very exhausting. I had tons of investigations and it was just was not, I was not enjoying it. So were you the one being investigated? I was not. I want to hear those stories. So in 2023, I left my HR job and

That's when you got into real estate in 2023. Full time. Yeah, so the end of, it was like November when I left HR. time to get into real estate in 2023. the market was crap, as y'all know. Well, I assume that they're watching, who's watching? Just our parents, they know. Yeah, because we complained and they had to console us during that time. Well, my mom was complaining too. Yeah, oh, that's right, your mom is a real estate, yeah, that's right. And so I was like, I'm gonna try it out for three or six months and you know, I'll figure out real quick if it's gonna work or not.

bad market it was but it was also ⁓ it was also a bad real HR or job market too because I was applying applying and I it gets discouraging so I was like I'm gonna go be my own boss and I get to set my own schedule kind of yeah and you can fire yourself yeah or somebody else fire other clients yeah I fired a client like last week yeah but

So I went in end of 23s. So really January of 24 is whenever I went full time. and a little backstory. Another great time in real estate. Can we talk about 25? Actually January, 2025, it seems like it was gearing up to be an okay. And then April, 2025 and we all just might as well go on vacation until if we had money.

Where are we going? the beach? Where to take a gas? I don't know, we're gonna go to the desert. Well, it feels like it out there. Yes, we are. We talked about this podcast is coming from the farmhouse in Smithville and we're in Smithville, Texas, which is August, right? So we're in August. So we are in the dog days of summer. This is what I would call our full winter. You don't want to go outside.

You have to have your AC on. The air is thick. The air is thick. I feel bad for my AC. I feel like it's running constantly. I was just, my AC is 30, it's going on 30 years old. But no, she's not really old. But she's been working hard in here in Texas. it's, yeah.

Sorry squirrel again, but just to imagine you walk outside and it's like it wraps you up in a nice hot flannel sweater That's been drenching in the sauna. Yeah, and you're like breathing in hot cotton. That's what it feels like in Texas in August We sell some good homes that have brand new air conditioning

says the one in Austin the North Austin one it's brand new AC. yeah so here we are I mean he started Anthony he started during one of the hardest times and you haven't you haven't ran away yet so that's great no I just like I've just been hanging on like every year I want to quit at some point and then I'm like I can't do anything real anymore

Real estate has jaded me. It's become a part of who I am. It's not a job. It's a It's like those text messages. We have a full price offer for your listing. do you? Do you? Do you? I just become, it's become a part of me, the fabric of who I am. it's, you know, you have, you have these moments of pure.

Just sadness and devastation going I got to do something else This isn't gonna work for me anymore and then you have that client that comes through for you and you you help them and you serve them and

They're just so happy and they get this wonderful home and you feel like you've done a community service, right? It's like, I do something meaningful and that brings you back to it. I think that's why I went into HR because I felt the same way that HR gave me that satisfaction, but then I learned real quick, that's not. That's not the satisfaction you No. I was firing everybody every week, like, so it was not a fun time.

But it was that satisfaction of seeing a first-time homebuyer get keys that never thought they could buy a house. ⁓ the ⁓ last year I sold a couple that they lived in their house for 30 years. It was their forever home but their kids moved to Austin and they had grandkids on the way. it was going to be their forever home. ⁓

And so it's really... And you help facilitate that. Yeah, it's really those life events. Those life events that we get to be a part of. We get to be so close to our clients. Probably too close sometimes. And they often become our friends. just to help them through these major purchases and life changes, that's so meaningful. So that's what gets... Like what other job am I going to do where

You know that I'm actually qualified to be one them. You know, honestly we're kind of like therapists, but we're kind of better. Yeah, we are better. At least there's some... Like we have... Maybe. We have some... I might not be better than a licensed therapist, I just like to think I am.

Maybe psychologically. ⁓ I think that we have the power to change the outcome. As a therapist, you're just talking to your client. Like you have no power. We have the power, which we, you know, it's really up to our client how they perceive, but we can influence those decisions and they trust us. Most of them trust us. Yeah. Biome's only real estate is, it's a wonderful thing to be a part of, even though, you know, we talk and joke about crime and that's the point of this podcast is to talk about

stories and sharing the good, the bad, the ugly, and the reality. then there's also how it affects our lives and maybe you know other realtors out there will listen to this and be like, oh god I'm not alone, thank you. And that's kind how we bonded. I think one day we went out to lunch or something and we're just talking about our crazy deal and I was like you have because Barbara's price point is very different than mine.

She has a higher price point, but her volume is lower, right? Yeah, which sucks. you have a price point and you do more, you produce more than I do, but...

It made me realize that my little problems with my little deals and I've actually a range of property like last year my You've had lot of luxury deals so don't be selling yourself short It doesn't matter if it's a It's the same problem over the same or all price points. It's the same problem It's the same process You have families that don't get along you have divorces marriages Whatever the case or husband and wife that just can't agree on the house right?

$200,000 house is just as meaningful to a family as the money for a $2.5 million house. If not more. Honestly, it might be more. Price points aside, it's it's this journey, this journey that we're on with every client and every realtor when we're in the transaction. 100%. And people don't realize that too, is like being a good realtor is being able to set those...

expectations with the other side. If I'm the buyer's agent, setting them with the listing agent because a deal can turn real ugly real fast. Oh yeah. And if you can't manage the process or your clients, it's going to hell in a handbasket. Well yeah and they trust us to get along with the other party because it's not about us, it's not about our ego.

It's not our money, it's not our decision. We're there to help facilitate with the other agents so the home can close and each side gets what they want out of it, right?

We are there to be peacemakers in a way. Yeah, we negotiate. Yeah, we've got to throw an elbow here and there. But we have to keep our egos out of it. I was going to say, I feel like whenever realtors bring egos into it, it just taints the whole deal. It does. And you might close, but at the end of the closing, the seller's not happy and the buyer's not happy. No, wasn't. And I've had so many where that has happened where I've tried my best to...

to keep it, you know, can can I just keep this peaceful? I, can I shield my clients from some of this drama? And sometimes you just can't. And then at the end of the day, it could be. Like the one right now, I have to involve my clients into the drama. Yeah, you do. And we have to be transparent to an extent. know when to share things and when not to, because sometimes it's just the other agent creating, or seller, or buyer.

creating drama that doesn't have an effect on our client. Yeah, it's not anything but just to add stress to their lives. And so you try to protect them from that, but sometimes you can't. And it's so disappointing when that happens because when you close, it could have been such a fun process. And now they're excited. Like they got the great house or they got this great price point for their house. But it's all kind of soured by the drama.

And that's something I worked so hard to protect them from, but I can't always do this. I feel like in real estate it's also you.

If the parties aren't happy, it's not doing anybody a service. No. So yeah, that's all part of this process. And part of this podcast. I love how we started out about us and now we're transitioning into... We're already jumping into our real estate game, right? We talk about all kinds of crazy stuff. But we're also going to talk about life. ⁓

personalities are so similar together that and So whenever Barbara moved to Smithville, she brought her mom from California as well She came from San Luis Obispo, California to Bastrop fell in love with a historic home

Prairie style historic home built in 1918. Oh wow. I'm obsessed with her house. It's actually my house. She just lives there and pays the mortgage. But it's actually mine. But you get to enjoy it. I do. That's all, was it, the other day I saw some videos of the dogs over there. Oh yeah, that's my third grandma. The dogs go hang out with their grandma.

explore the old house and scratch up her beautiful restored pine floors and slobber on them. just put insula on injury. But yes, we're going to talk about our lives because I don't know maybe it's interesting to our moms maybe it's interesting to Judy. Thank you Judy if you haven't not. And Auburn might be watching if Auburn's here. Auburn Auburn was listening to us.

Maybe Reagan. Reagan supports me. She shares all my stuff on Facebook, which I appreciate. But she's like, look at my bestie. Look at what he's doing. We're just talking about things that happen in

So what's going on? And like, ⁓ and then they regret. ⁓ So now they don't ask me anymore. can just like tune in every. Yeah. it Wednesday? Wednesday mornings. We're going to be doing this and they can turn it and then they can be like, OK, I don't want to hang out with her this week. I'll just listen to the podcast or I'll watch the first five minutes and tell her I did. ⁓

I can say what you talked about, but it's only in the first five minutes after then we just turn it ⁓ off But something I want to hit on too is ⁓ You shared a podcast with me that I've been watching and I kind of think that ours is modeled

Yeah, very similar. And I think it's the same dynamic. ⁓ So it's Glenda Baker and Tyler Whitman's. It's their podcast and so they're kind of similar. She's middle-aged and Tyler... Little age.

I am half a century old. Thank you. Nobody needed to know that. I did. I'm over a quarter of a century. You're a quarter of a century. Over. Over. But yes, they share the same age. They're both personalities. Both outspoken. Outspoken, vulnerable.

and in realtors right and sometimes it's about real estate sometimes it's about life. I think when you said honesty I think that's a big thing that keeps us different than other realtors is there's so many bad realtors out there that are just in it for a paycheck. And we can say that honestly. and we also can say names but we're not going to. We're professionals.

But yeah, so it's it's going to be a venture I'm excited for the podcast. I am too and I hope that people get something out of it even if it's chuckle We will have some informative or maybe they'll hate us. Yeah, maybe they'll hate us We'll have some informative stuff too where we talk about rates Talk about the state of the market

We talk about things you can do to maximize getting the most out of your house. So we'll sprinkle in hopefully some things of value along with some things of absolutely no value. In one of our goals. Like the summer heat. Right. Is someone in New York going to listen to our podcast? I don't know, but I think they're equally hot. I think they're equally hot, honest, in New York. I don't know. I don't know. So maybe Tyler is. Tyler might be listening. Yes, they paved the way, Tyler.

to have a podcast in a similar style as them. Thank you. And showing us that it's possible. I think they kind of started out the same way as us, as a, let's try it and see what happens. ⁓ I think, but, ⁓ and we might, we've talked about having guest on eventually. we haven't decided yet, but we're thinking guest speakers once we get a little...

established and find out if people like us because they might not. If figure out how to get Starlink to stay lean, make sure our mics are plugged in, then we might introduce other people to this bar. well I found out with the software you actually don't need stable internet because it makes it local and then upload it to the cloud so that we can converse because it doesn't go live. ⁓ well that is perfect because I have extremely unstable internet. Just like us, we're unstable. We're unhinged. Well, think that's it. This is conclusion This is so exciting.

And you made it all the way through if you're still listening

We love you. We love you. Send us a DM. And help us grow the podcast. Like comment, share. If you're happy, if not Tell us what ideas you'd like. you have questions. Eventually we'll get to a point where we start taking people's questions as well about real estate and things. Or life. I feel like the word of this podcast for me has been life. If we counted how many times I said life.

in the last 30 minutes. long have we 30? 30 minutes. 30 minutes. Well, alright guys. will, um, this is how we met. This is how we started this crazy little podcast and, uh, thank you for coming to the house next door. Coming to the house next door. Stay tuned for more. Where real estate meets reality. Where real estate meets You know how many times we're gonna butcher that up. Yeah, we are. We have a hard time. We can't. We can't. Alright, well thank y'all. Okay.

Until next time,