Ep.37 "Your Offer Didn’t Lose Because of Price… Here’s What REALLY Happened"

Buying a home in 2026 is NOTHING like what most buyers expected… and the truth is, most people are completely unprepared for what happens AFTER closing day.

In Episode #37 of Real Estate UnRaked, Eric Rakers, Dane Coussens, Bridget Hodges, and Jaycee dive into the real side of homeownership that nobody talks about — from surprise expenses and emotional stress to why buyers are still losing offers even in a shifting real estate market.

🎯 In this episode, we discuss:
 ✅ What REALLY happens during the first 30 days after closing
 ✅ Hidden homeownership costs buyers forget to budget for
 ✅ Why some buyers instantly regret their purchase
 ✅ The emotional rollercoaster after buying a home
 ✅ What makes one offer win over 10 others
 ✅ Why the highest offer DOESN’T always win
 ✅ How sellers actually evaluate competing offers
 ✅ Financing mistakes that kill deals fast
 ✅ Earnest money, appraisal gaps, inspection strategy & closing timelines
 ✅ The biggest mistakes buyers are making in today’s housing market
 ✅ Real estate negotiation strategies buyers NEED in 2026
 ✅ Florida real estate market insights from experienced agents working in Northeast Florida every day

If you’re thinking about buying a home in Fleming Island, Jacksonville, Green Cove Springs, St. Augustine, Middleburg, Orange Park, or anywhere in Northeast Florida, this episode is packed with real-world advice, insider strategies, and hilarious unfiltered moments you won’t hear anywhere else.

From buyer psychology to seller expectations, this episode breaks down what actually wins deals in today’s competitive market — while also exposing the reality of what homeownership looks like after the excitement wears off.

🎙️ Expect real talk, blunt honesty, market insight, and the signature chaos of Real Estate UnRaked.

👉 Subscribe, follow, and share if you enjoy real estate conversations without the fluff.

📍 Hosted by The Rakers Home Group at United Real Estate Gallery

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever looked at a house, ran the numbers, and thought, there's no way I can afford this? So you back off, you wait, you tell yourself you need more time, more money, better rates. But what if I told you it's not that you can't afford a home, it's that you're being outplayed. Because right now, buyers are just competing with other buyers. They're competing with people who have been in the game for 20, 30, and even 40 years. Cash, equity, leverage, and why you're sitting there thinking that you're being priced out, they're walking in, buying the deal right out from underneath you. So today we're breaking down why buyers feel broke, even when they're not, and who you're actually competing against in today's market. So grab your coffee or something stronger and let's unrake it. Let's do it. All right. Welcome to Real Estate Unranked number 37. How is everybody today? Very good. The sun is still shining, things are great. It's it's just a wonderful time right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

It's such a great time of year. My pomegranate tree is starting to form. Oh so the buds, I've never seen pomegranates. It's the first time I'm watching this happen. They like bloom a little flower, then the flower petals fall and it starts hardening, and now they're turning into little balls. Very cool. Probably like this big around. Oh, it's so nice to check every morning. That's the time of that's what you can get down here in Florida. I just want to let you guys all know that that you can grow pomegranates in your backyard.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Your little green palm gardening hell like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Oh, I love your yard. Love your yard.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

You're still working on that too, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Oh, yeah. No, there's yeah, we're laying down sod this upcoming. Yeah, this upcoming Friday. We have some sod. Matt's cutting bamboo.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Oh, we just the first time I met Matt, he's like, You're from Florida. I'm like, Yeah, born and raised. He said, What do you know about Florida soil?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Like, Matt, why are you asking?

SPEAKER_06 2:01

Of all things, the first thing is what do you know about Florida soil?

SPEAKER_01 2:04

That's the first time I've ever met. Do you know about what's do you know what type of grass we have in our yard? Because I don't know what type of grass we have in the yard.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

He's texting our neighbor across the street, which I we love them. They're a great couple, and they have kids around our age too. So we hang out with their kids. But he's texting our neighbor Mark. Shout out, Mark. He's like, Mark, do you have a drill bit to put the flag up on the house? Or hey, how do you do this? Like Ellen, the wife's come over to our house. Oh they're just so sweet. They have a Lola little dog named Lola, too. Oh wow. Yeah, she's so cute.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Oh, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

I love our Lolas. They're so cute. Anyway, let's all right.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Well, let's get this thing started. Ruckle, let's do it. Dad Joe time. Oh, yep.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Yeah, I'm going last. I think mine's gonna knock it out of the water.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Everybody, are you ready, JC?

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

I'm glad that's two of us are prepared.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

We're going 50-50.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

All right, go ahead, JC.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

What do the socks say to the pants?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Sub bridges.

SPEAKER_05 3:04

Sub bridges. No, bridges, not bridges.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Did you bitch wear?

SPEAKER_05 3:09

No, I said britches.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

No, I like that. That's why I hit the explicit material button every time I sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

I'm like, you're gonna bleep me out sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Oh, you're fine.

SPEAKER_06 3:19

Daniel, you're trying to make your that was good.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

That was good.

SPEAKER_06 3:25

Yeah. You know, when your wife comes home in a white suit covered in bee stings that smell like honey, you know she's a keeper.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I like that one.

SPEAKER_05 3:40

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

It's my turn.

SPEAKER_05 3:42

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

You can't say anything about this. I showed Dane this one. What's the difference between a golf ball and a Land Rover? Oh God. Tiger Woods can drive a golf ball over 300 years.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Oh man.

SPEAKER_06 3:58

I love that one. That was great. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Oh, that's so good. Wow. That's great. Such great events. Fantastic. I love it. Tiger, hope you're not listening.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

No tigers listening.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

I hope you are.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

There's a golf course out there.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

You might have heard of it.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Yeah, you may have been there. No.

unknown 4:23

No.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

You're good. Everything's great. So, guys, what's a pirate's favorite word? A letter, sorry, in the alphabet. R. R. Do you think it's R, but his first love is the C.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Oh, you know, you tricked us on that one.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

These are good ones today.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yeah, we're you guys are on point. Even though you were a little laggy, but we we're good. God, that tiger was just on our top five now. Yeah, that's a good one. Good job.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

On this one. All right.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

So we're going to talk about why buyers feel broke, even when they're not. Buyers right now, the biggest mental block in the market right now is that buyers aren't necessarily priced out. They're just psychologically locked out.

SPEAKER_06 5:02

And you see it all the time. Buyers are making good money, they got savings, they're qualified, but they phrase when the phrase freeze when they see the payment.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Because they're comparing it to something that doesn't exist anymore. They're stuck on the 3% interest rates, the 2020 home prices, lower insurance, but that market's just gone.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

And instead of adjusting, they just stop.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yes. Put the brakes on. Put the brakes on. You know. But yeah, that that payment shocked. Let's tire about that. Maybe lack up.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

The dad choke segment carries on.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Oh my goodness. Oh man. Well, we gotta get serious. Payment shock versus reality. Buyers anchored right now to that old payment and that emotional reaction. We talked about that last week about being emotional. Right. The first payment quote always feels high. Oh my gosh. The the sticker shock when it comes to that. We explained that a couple episodes ago. That was on 35, where we explained a really good deep look into that. The second look, you know, with strategy usually changes perceptive or perception. So that what I mean by the second look is if you're dealing with a lender and you're really starting to put the numbers together and really kind of see what it's going to be, that that kind of gives you a better feeling of where you're at instead of guessing.

SPEAKER_06 6:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Because you can always make it the best educated guess you can in a situation like this, but it's always good to be rock solid, have a good relationship with the lender. Right. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 6:30

A good lender knowing that.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

That's probably two of the most important things that you really, really need as a buyer in the market or even as a seller in the market is a realtor and a loan officer.

SPEAKER_05 6:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

If you've got those two people that you can have a good relationship with and good talk, communicated back and forth, probably the best thing they could ever do. Yeah. Because if you don't have that, you're guessing and you're you're coming up and trusting those emotions and trusting a lot of other opinions that you really should be at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

That's your team.

unknown 7:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Honestly. That's your buying team.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah. That's a great point, Bridge. That's your buying team. The mental budget. That's that problem. That's why if you don't have that team, this is what you're going to run into. Buyers decide what they want to pay and not what they can pay. Lifestyle expectations versus long-term investment thinking. I brought that up last week about first-time homebuyers and town homes and everything else versus, you know, I want to go live in an area where I don't have to worry about this. I don't want to change it up. When really simply all you got to do, if you're really that focused on it, get rid of some of the extra stuff like soda and fast food. Fast food, eating out five times a week.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

You'd be a mat you would be astonished about how much money that you save if you cut just a little bit of that. Oh, absolutely. And you'd be able to get what you want.

SPEAKER_05 7:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

And trust me, as life evolves and you you adjust. You adjust more probably quicker than than you think you would.

SPEAKER_05 7:55

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

You know, a lot of people say, Well, if I buy a house like this, I'm going to be house poorer. I'm not going to be able to do anything. I guarantee you.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Life goes on.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Just like Jurassic Park. Life finds a way.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Yeah, exactly. Is that the movie with Nick Jonas? What did he say?

SPEAKER_00 8:12

What?

SPEAKER_02 8:13

I think he might be in the new one. Okay. Nick Jonas from the Joe Bros.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

I'm going to tell you right now. Well, you made a suggestion a couple episodes ago that we need to do like a movie review thing.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

And I'm going to I'm going to hold you to it during the week. That we're going to give you a movie to watch to watch. You Jurassic Park. Do you ever seen those movies? You just brought up Nick Jonas, so no, you haven't. I think he's in the new one.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

No, he's in the new one. Yeah. The reverse on Nick Jonas. And isn't The Rock in it too now?

SPEAKER_00 8:40

No. That's Jamanji.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Okay. See, I wasn't the only one.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

So you have seen Jurassic Park, right? No, she hasn't. She's seen Jamanji.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

No, I don't even want to see Jumanji. I'm not a dinosaur person.

SPEAKER_05 8:56

It doesn't matter. Yeah, no, you need to watch it. You do. It's very cool. It's not all right.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

Tonight I can't because I'm I might actually do it tonight. Man, I are watching hockey tonight, supposedly. Minnesota Wild. We're playing a big game. That's my team. The wild?

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Well, now that my team's on playoffs. No, no, no. Yeah, we're having I can't watch that. I can't really cannot make light. No, give me started.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Uh oh. They're having their squirrel. Camp of mining is not allowed. Squirrel for the squirrel.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

But but back to this, I I cannot watch Jurassic Park tonight. I can do it tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

No, no, no. Just sometime before the next time that we do this.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

Okay. Which one? There's like five of them.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah, start at the beginning. Just go to the 1993 one.

SPEAKER_05 9:36

Just start at the beginning and work your way through.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Wait, how many are there?

SPEAKER_05 9:40

Five or six.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Oh. Really?

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Just focus on the first two.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Okay. And the dinosaurs don't look real. It's really good.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah. The first one. Just watch the first one. Just watch the first one. Yeah, can I stick to one?

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Okay. That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

I don't expect you to watch all the others. She may want to. That was my daughter's favorite movie when she was a baby growing up.

unknown 9:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

You ever seen a she didn't sleep for years? No, no, no. I'm gonna be honest with you. Here we go. She loved all of them. None of them scared her. What scared her was when Jurassic World came out. And if you see the beginning part of the movie when you've got Chris Pratt, that's that's the raptor trainer. Trainer the raptors, and then that goes to that scene where the pig just like squeals and takes off and shit scares you. That's what scared her more than these dinosaurs. That's seriously. But she was walking around, she was like one and a half, two, going around the house.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Ah, dinosaur. Oh, Chloe.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

She was something else. I couldn't believe it. And then we had to buy her like a dinosaur costume. Yeah. And she was walking around the house with it.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

It was always on. She had a triceratops costume. If I could find the picture, I'll send it to you. But she that was I think her fourth word was dinosaur.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Oh my gosh, that's so cute. That's a that's a complicated word.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

It was dad, shoes, and dinosaurs. Shoes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Shout out, Chloe.

SPEAKER_06 11:02

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

So, what are buyers ignoring right now? They're ignoring the income growth over time, rent increases versus a fixed mortgage, the tax advantage, depending on the situation. We all know about the homestead credit that we get here as Florida residents.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Super important. And then we're also talking about removing taxes, property taxes, all in general in the state of Florida.

SPEAKER_06 11:23

Which has those pros and cons for another foes.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

That's for another folks.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

That should be a topic.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

That will be a topic eventually once everything. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Breaks down both sides.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Yeah. Yeah. We'll definitely talk about that. And then obviously, the other thing that nobody thinks about is refinancing opportunities later on. Yeah. And it falls into that line. You know, marry the house, state the rate.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

So affordability hacks, buyers are missing right now. Stellar's concessions. We talk about that all the time. It's like a broken record for us in rate buy downs. Adjustable rate strategies. Ooh. I don't want to get into that. No, not not.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

I feel like we need buying back on the show to we can talk about that, but that is not a great thing to do.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

That's only if you're planning on buying a house and living in a very short time. Very short time. Buyers slightly under max approval for comfort. Okay, we we mentioned about doing that. Right. Targeting homes with days on market negotiable.

SPEAKER_06 12:21

The longer, the more negotiating power you have as a buyer.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

How truthful is that right now?

SPEAKER_06 12:26

It's real good because you got a lot that are over 60, 70 days on the market. And I guarantee if you came in with an offer that was somewhat close to what they're wanting, I get I guarantee you you could negotiate a lot.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

I I agree to that statement, but let me add another layer of the onion to that.

SPEAKER_06 12:43

All right.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

All right. Versus two years ago. All right. Were days in the market the amount of shorter or longer? I would say two years ago shorter. Right. Right now, we're seeing things stay on the market a little bit longer. So where your expectation was things are being on the market for 45 days, there's a different expectation now than there was then. Yeah. They're uh well, it's been on the market for 45 days. Oh, we can really do something with it. Not as much now.

SPEAKER_06 13:14

No, not now, not at 45, but it can be a little bit more than that.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

You're looking at 60, yeah, you're getting out of the 60 plus, then you're getting in a very anxious seller, which we talked about last week. Absolutely. Versus before, if it was on the market 60 days, you're you're as a a realtor listing agent, you're getting fired and someone else is coming in because the way has and as fast as everything was going, you definitely needed to make sure that that you're on it. I'm seeing houses on the market for 150, 200 days. I've seen quite a few of them.

SPEAKER_06 13:43

And you know, whenever I have a client that's looking to buy a home and we look at one of those, you know what their first question is?

SPEAKER_00 13:49

What's wrong with it?

SPEAKER_06 13:50

What's wrong with the house?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 13:52

And so every time, well, I do this with any of my showings, but I always call the realtor just to see the story behind it. Yeah, you know, it could be something, it could be nothing.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:02

But until you ask, you know, make that phone call.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Make the phone call, communicate. We're good at doing that. And actually, there's other agents that actually love the fact that we answer the phone and we call and talk to them, give them updates, especially when we're under contract and stuff. You'd be surprised how many times I hear from other agents, especially experienced ones that have been doing it for over 30 years, going, We are pleasantly relieved that you answer your phone and you call out and reach out to us and talk to us about the deal. And said, Is there any other way? Yeah, apparently there's another way of doing it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

I bet there's people closing or doing deals on homes that don't even speak to each other.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

I think that's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. How are you servicing your customers? Right. You lose all your leverage with that too. Well, now I understand why people think real estate agents are needed. Yeah, geez. Anyhow, anyway, emotional and logical buying too for buyers. The fear is driving decisions more than math right now. Yeah, buyers are waiting for comfort, which will never come, won't ever come. No, it's not comfortable about buying a house unless you pay cash and really don't care about blowing money. Right. When there's some people that do that don't care about and this worry about way later. Anyway, that's a whole nother thing. Yeah, another stuff. Again, we talked about this last week, but confidence comes after action. Yep, not before. Agreed. You make a decision, be confident with it, you're gonna you're gonna feel better about it, I promise. But let's be real for a second. Nobody feels comfortable about buying their first house, and I mean nobody does. No, I didn't even. But what happens right now is buyers are waiting to feel good about the numbers instead of understanding the long-term play. So buyers aren't priced out, they're anchored to a market that doesn't exist anymore.

SPEAKER_06 15:40

So if you're a buyer right now, stop asking. Does it feel good? Start asking. Does this make sense long term?

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Ooh, golden question.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Yeah, golden question.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

But no, it stops all gold.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

But you know what? Here's the thing that that is that is true. You know, they don't understand understand the long-term investment with it. They don't, but they they think it's let's let's just do in and out and everything will be fine, right?

SPEAKER_06 16:06

And especially if you plan on being a home for more than I'd say seven to ten years. Definitely you need to look in the long-term investment on that for sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

So, Bridget, I got I got a question for you. You and your husband, when you guys bought your house, what was the first thing that you told yourself that you're gonna buy? How long are you gonna stay there? Okay, what's your plan?

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Our our plan is we could probably have one kid there wait till they need to go to school, and then that's when we'd start changing. So probably be there five-ish years around there.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

I would say if I had to give it a number, five to six years.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Was that what you're originally thinking about when you were looking at houses, too? Okay, that's that's smart. Yeah, yeah. You're you're in the very small percentage of people that think that way.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Thank you. Yeah, and we're thinking that, and we're already thinking, I mean, we haven't even been there a year yet either, but we were like thinking too, like, oh yeah, we're gonna have a family. There might be more family that might want to move down. Thinking about Matt's parents, they might want to come down half a year, be a snowbird. So, who could we rent our house that one house to?

SPEAKER_06 17:05

There you go. No doubt. Well, I'll tell you what, after my wife and I moved down here with with our with their grandchildren, yeah. Her mom and my mom and dad all moved down afterwards. So I think that can happen.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Yeah, it happens. And I'm like, we don't have to sell this house. We mean we could, but we don't have to. I mean, we can make this a long-term rental for a little bit longer and hang on to it for people that we know you know, we could run it. So yeah, we're we're not even a year in the house. There's options, there is options, and it's fun to think about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Well, that's that's definitely a very, very, very smart way to look at it. Yeah, and like I said, I think we're a top top tier percentage of people that that are making those moves, especially in in the newer phases of where you guys are at.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Heck, when I bought my house, I didn't think that. Yeah, you know, I I looked at it as a stepping stone at that point in time when I bought my house. And you know, I did the work on it. I I was very patient with it. I really didn't want to leave the house, but my wife did. Yeah. And we got to looking at things because we'd either thought about either adding on to the home, right, and then I got to looking at okay, would I be getting the money back if I did decide to sell?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Finding out that we were we were overpriced, overpricing our home in the area, right, and the size of the home was gonna be way larger than everything else was.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

So we we looked about investing our money differently, and that's why we got us into forming island differently.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

There's always, there's always there's so many options that you can do, like smart options. You just have to be aware of them.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Right. And this is why we tell people.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

All right.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

We're taking a break from seriousness. Oh, what's it granted? I don't know how serious this episode's been anyway, but anyway, uh it's game time.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Game time.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Game time. All right. This one is called Would You Still Buy It? Or Are You Running Out Screaming?

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

This is a new one, guys. Because I'm switching it up. Because buying a house just isn't about numbers, it's it's about situations. And some of these situations will test you as a human being. So this is how it's gonna work, okay? I'm gonna give you guys a scenario and you've got to answer one question. Are you still buying the house? Are you running out screaming? And I'm gonna tell you right now, if you're saying you're still buying some of these, you're either committed or you completely lost your mind.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Okay, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

All right. First question. This scenario is called the bubble gut showing.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

This is where I got creative in the game.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

You pull up to a showing, perfect house. Everything's you've been looking for, but the second you walk in, your stomach starts making decisions without you. Like full-blown emergency. Gotta go to the bathroom, no toilet paper, not even a card. It's emergent. Are you still buying the house or are you running out screaming?

SPEAKER_02 19:57

I'm running screaming.

SPEAKER_06 19:59

If I feel comfortable enough to go there, I might have to buy.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Okay, there's different ways to look at it.

SPEAKER_06 20:05

That's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

But there's no toilet paper and you can't go in there. What if the water's not running and it's in there?

SPEAKER_06 20:11

Truth is, you should always have wipes in your vehicle.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

I'm about to start, I'm gonna start after that.

SPEAKER_05 20:18

If you had the right reloads, yeah, they'd have that stuff on hand. Yeah, so but my my client would have no issues.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Your client wouldn't be that's what we need to do. I need to get wipes for the car.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Yep, wipes and a roll trolls. Yep, all the time, every time.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Are you serious? You guys actually have that in your car.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Yeah, I had it in my truck. I don't have it in my house. I'll go get it right now.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Okay, how many times have you done an open house where there's no toilet paper?

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Oh, Bridget.

SPEAKER_05 20:43

Almost all a lot of mine have been no toilet paper.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

Bridget. So we have a very scary squirrel moment.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Squirrel moment. All right, let's see. When JC and I were doing a showing for you, I won't say where. I had I had to I had to go number one. Just one, but it was She was like, which one do you think is gonna be the safest?

SPEAKER_03 21:07

I'm like, probably the half bath, like that fell's safe.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

None of the toilets were halfway, none of them were safe, none of them were cleaned properly. Like I felt like if I did that, I would have gotten dizzy.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

She was very scared. Oh, discovered we're both a little weird about like public bathrooms and stuff. Yeah, she's like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

So it just added to that. I thought I would be safe in a house and I wasn't safe in a house. So it's no toilet paper where you're gonna have to go. No toilet paper. This word, there's no toilet paper, no toilet paper.

SPEAKER_06 21:34

Hey, look.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

You know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_06 21:36

Yeah, it's for an open house. This is what I have on my list. You got a list? Yeah, you got a list. Tell us real quick. All right, a chair. So it's a vacant house with nobody living there. Charge it for my phone because you know you gotta make sure it's charged water. Yeah. Open house feedback form, giveaway koozies that we used to have. Um, my business cards, stand up uh uh to put the brochure of the house on. Yeah. Golden table, tablecloths, cinnamon candle, you know. You know, it's been there. In case you fart. Wipes, hand disinfectant, paper towels, and of course a buyer's contract.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Oh there you go. There you go. But you do have wipes on it. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Good job, Dane. I'm glad you prepared it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

That's a good list.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

We're just gonna add chlorox wipes. I'm gonna add yeah, I'm gonna add chorox pipes.

SPEAKER_05 22:24

I will have to add chlorox wipes to clean the toilet. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

All right, wow. Spray. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

All right, so emotional experience. Emotional experience is shaping by indecision on this one, right? First impressions matter, even weird ones.

SPEAKER_04 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

So, like you said, if you feel comfortable doing that, one, you really trust your realtor, and two, you might like the house. Yeah, be surprised. Uh, and buyers associate feeling with properties. Yeah. I mean, if you do have a bad situation, then maybe you not want to be there.

SPEAKER_06 22:54

Hey, but you know what? Life happens. We gotta get out of here. Yeah, life happens. Life happens. I mean, whether you're ready for it or not, it's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_05 23:01

It'd be like one of the choices, we gotta get out of here. Why? Because I just blew that.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

All right, sorry. Uh the overshare seller. That's the next one scenario. You're walking through the house, and the seller is there following you, narrating everything. This is where we this is where we used to argue. This is where I cried last year. Oh, and my neighbor. Yeah, we don't talk anymore. A bolt. Are you still buying this? Are you running?

SPEAKER_02 23:32

I'm running for the hills.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

That man turned a showing into a documentary. Yeah, no doubt.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

That's the do you need a therapy. Why is he even there?

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Exactly. First of all, a seller's presence kills a deal. No matter what.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

You should not, sellers should not be there.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

You know, buyer's comfort is a huge factor. Absolutely. We just talked about that before. And why showing should feel neutral? They need to. They need to generate the military.

SPEAKER_06 23:56

Well, if you're looking at a house, you want your customer to feel at home there. They don't want to see the owner there because that's just nervousness all around. They're not going to feel comfortable, they're not going to be at home. Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Yeah, you're you're painting a picture for them. What could your life be like in this house? So if you're there, get out of there. Nope.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

All right. Here's something to keep things neutral. How about this? The mystery smell.

unknown 24:23

No.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

The house looks amazing. Photos were perfect. You walk in and there's a smell. You cannot identify it. Run. It's not strong, but it's there. It follows you from room to room. Are you buying this house, maybe? Or are you running from it? Running.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

No, I don't like smell. I don't either. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

No smells, huh? Hence the candles.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Hence the candles on your list. Honestly, yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Okay, guys. Every bad real estate decision starts with someone saying, I'm sure it'll go away. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Nope. Oh, so the smell is probably one of the biggest deal killers you'll ever ever run into. Oh my gosh. I don't know how many times I tried to sell a list like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Smell's hard to get rid of.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

The previous homeowners smoked in it. Yeah, yeah. That's the hardest scenario. It's hard to get that out.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

And the buyers usually assume assume worst case scenario. Yeah. Like a body's been buried into the wall or something, you know?

SPEAKER_06 25:17

Also, that stale smell of the house has been sitting for a little while.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Yep. Terrible. Okay, how about this one? The two perfect house. You walk into a house and it's perfect. Like suspiciously perfect. Price is great, condition is flawless, been on the market 40 days. Something feels off. Are you still buying it? Are you running really scared?

SPEAKER_06 25:40

I don't know. I'd have to wait to see what the inspection says.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm like, I have to do a little bit more. I would go farther.

SPEAKER_06 25:47

I'd have to do my due diligence.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

The due diligence.

SPEAKER_06 25:50

As a matter of fact, there was a house in Fleming Island that was similar to that perfect house, perfect price pool, everything, but was on the market for a while. And then when I called the realtor to find out, uh she did share a little information as why it sat so long. So you know.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Was it a bad story?

SPEAKER_06 26:06

Yes, no, it was fixable, but uh okay, but it was uh it was cosmetically bad.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Oh I got one of those right now.

SPEAKER_06 26:14

Yeah, so yeah. Toilets, but it was uh it was uh it was a job, basically, is what it was.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

So what well uh too good to be true usually.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

It probably is. It's it probably has an hoa that you haven't read about yet.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yeah, that too.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

But buyer skepticism in today's market, yeah. And it's important to do the due diligence. Yes, and why too good to be true creates hesitation.

SPEAKER_06 26:42

Speaking of HOAs, that is too high or whatever. I've been getting a list together. I'm doing showings all day tomorrow, and there's one neighborhood, and I can't remember the name, it's in St. John's. Two HOAs on a home, not a town home or a condo.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 26:58

Two HOAs.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

How's that work?

SPEAKER_06 27:00

Uh they got an annual and then a monthly. And uh I assume there's two different, like it's a neighborhood and a big neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

A neighborhood within the community.

SPEAKER_06 27:10

Yeah, and uh that's how that works.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

That should be illegal. Yeah, that should be illegal.

SPEAKER_06 27:14

Two HOAs plus a C D D.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Oh, how are you living here?

SPEAKER_06 27:19

Guess what? We're not looking at that.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

I was gonna say, how is someone yeah, how would they be able to do it? They can afford it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

There's quite a few people who live in the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_06 27:26

There is, there's quite a few, and they all do it.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

All right, the parent FaceTime. You're in love with a house, you're ready to make an offer, you FaceTime your parents mid-showing, they immediately say, Nope, don't like it. What do you do?

SPEAKER_02 27:42

As a you know, if I like it, I'm getting it.

SPEAKER_06 27:44

Well, I'm gonna tell you, as a young man, if my parents told me no, that means an automatic yes from people.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

You that makes me say yes even harder. So, yeah, no, I'm still going for it. I don't care.

SPEAKER_06 27:56

It depends how I feel, you know. Um, that's just it's a my decision, my money.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Well, I mean, nothing kills confidence faster than a parent who hasn't bought a house since dial-up internet.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Yep. That's true.

unknown 28:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Outside influence on buyers, that's huge right now. But you need to get that confidence versus dependence thing going a little bit. Help yourself. Come on, you're an adult, right? Yeah, decision and owning that. Own it. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

You can prove your parents wrong.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

I love when that happens. Love you, guys.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

But all right, how about the rate panic? Are you ready? You're about to write an offer, lender calls, says the rates just ticked up slightly. Your payment goes up $120 a month. Are you still buying it or are you running away scared? If it's the right house, I'm buying it.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Yep. I was gonna say, if I really love the house, I would still go for it. Yeah, $120 can make do.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

That that's a very logical, right? Reasonable explanation. $120 a year.

SPEAKER_06 28:50

Donate out once a week.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

But there's still people that walk away over $120 a month and then they go finance a couch for the rental that they pay 100% interest. Right. Yep. Payment sensitivity uh versus reality. Yeah, it's there. It's on unrealistic expectations. And again, that that emotional reaction comes into play. Yeah. So I hope you guys like that one. That was not too bad. I didn't want to get anything involved with gas station sushi or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

My favorite meal.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Oh. In July. Even better time in Florida.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

But the reality is buying a house just isn't about numbers. It's emotional, it's weird, and it's uncomfortable. Yep. You're gonna have ups and downs with all of it. All right, that was a game. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

Game time.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Game time's over with. Back to reality. Reality? Reality.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Back to this this show.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

So we're gonna talk about that last little bit uh that we mentioned in the beginning is that you're not competing against buyers, you're competing against with equity. So we're talking about the part nobody really wants to admit. You're not losing to other first-time homebuyers, you're losing to people with money.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Yeah, and it's not just the money, it's equity, like we said. People who bought 10, 15, 20 years ago, and now they're sitting on massive, massive gains, like you.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Double.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

They're walking into deals with big down payments, cash offers, the ability to waive things. It's completely different playing field.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Yep. It is so who are we actually competing against right now for most of these buyers? Baby boomers are downsizing or relocating. You've got move up buyers using equity as leverage, right? Investors still active in certain price points. Now, I we talked about this an episode ago, and we in previous episodes, where people are not wanting to move because they have so much equity, yeah, and at the same time they like that 3% interest rate. They do, right? However, it's shifting quietly.

SPEAKER_06 30:51

It is. Well, what I'm seeing now, and I've had a client that do this, they're using their equity to pay off a next home.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Thank you. Yep. Now wait, till everybody else starts to do that. You're gonna have as much of an impact on it making a deal now versus when you could do it and still get where you needed to be. Do you think that it's really trending that way?

SPEAKER_06 31:14

I believe more so than not. Yeah. I I believe the percentages are going up for those that are actually using that equity to pay off their next home.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I I I really think you know why though equity is winning right now and why it was gonna win when we brought that IDF that they should be using this, right? Is you can do a larger down payment, you can do stronger offers. Absolutely. There's nothing better than having a stronger offer where somebody's gonna put a down payment on fifty or sixty thousand dollar down payment.

SPEAKER_06 31:45

I would take that more than a three thousand dollar down payment.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

So would I sure I would even highly consider looking at a binder at a higher amount above the one the traditional one percent because how many of these deals that we've seen in the course of the last year, they're only putting a minimum down? Less than one percent, right? Less than a thousand dollars or something.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yeah, that's so crazy.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

It's crazy. You can put that because you know, even when I was talking to you girls about hey, when we get an offer, this is what we need to do. We need to put at least a minimum one percent down. So it's three hundred thousand dollars, you put three thousand dollars down. Right. There's people that want to say, well, I only want to do 1500.

SPEAKER_06 32:16

I well, I had a house they just spent a thousand on. Yeah, why I had well we negotiated that though. That was part of negotiation. If you really want it, we want at least one percent down. Yeah, and they came up with it. Come on, tell me, tell me you want the house.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yeah, you know, it's like you know, I want the house, but right.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

No, we don't want that.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

That's fine. That's why they call that's why there's a due diligence. Yeah, find out if you want it or not. The ability to cover appraisal gaps, too, is important too, because you can do that. I know when you know we talk about COVID in that during that time frame or even right after that, the people were going well above asking price. The appraisals were staying where they at, so they were going over appraised value. You've got to pay that amount.

SPEAKER_06 32:57

Out of pocket.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Out of pocket.

SPEAKER_06 32:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

And this is 50,000, 60,000.

SPEAKER_06 33:01

There was even more. Well, my parents were 30,000 over when they sold first day. Wow. Wow. Back then.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

So, I mean, again, you got lower risk for sellers doing this, and it's more attractive. People that have the money, it's it's it's powerful. It really is. So that financing gap that you're seeing right now is first-time buyers relying on the financing. When you got equity buyers that can move faster and cleaner, terms matter more than price in many cases. Yeah, it does. Really does. I ran into that with the higher value luxury homes that I've been doing. People want post documentcy, they want a couple other items, and it's it's not that big of a deal.

SPEAKER_06 33:39

And that's part of making the phone call to the other realtor to see what's important to the seller.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

It is.

SPEAKER_06 33:43

Yeah, that's one thing that I highly encourage all agents to do.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

You'd be surprised that you can lose a million-dollar deal over decorative pots outside. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 33:53

I'm not gonna ask how you know that.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Oh, I know. Anyway, buyers can compete anyway, they can do strong pre-approval, not just a pre-qualification. So take it to the next step. Yeah, get your your income finance with W-2s, get all that stuff done, really go through the motions on it. You got a solid pre-approval, it's gonna feel better. You don't have to go through that first, whatever, to get it done, then you find out halfway through it's a trouble, an issue. Local lender advantages, that's also a huge thing.

SPEAKER_05 34:22

Yes, get a lender that knows your market.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

Yeah, there's a lot of brokers in the area that have many different programs that are tailored to certain areas of Northeast Florida.

SPEAKER_06 34:32

Yeah, and not all brokers are the same. So that's why we like to give you three so you can pick what's the best fit for you.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

And different ones have different incentives too. Like I have one friend, Wonder Friend, that they were offering free appraisals till end of April this month.

SPEAKER_06 34:47

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

You know, so they offer that stuff. You just gotta find the right fit and who you like.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

Flexible closing timelines is also a good thing. We talked about that postocene and a few other things. Yeah, you gotta be flexible. If you're not, I know there's some people who say, Nope, I'm closing on my house, I want it.

SPEAKER_04 35:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Which I can understand that because sometimes you don't have any place to go. Right. And you gotta do that particular thing. But a lot of first-time homebuyers kind of run at that. Well, I have rent until this month, we're covered up to this month. So we're a little bit more flexible to do that. So it just make sure that you stay flexible and stuff. Strategic escalation clauses, too. Yeah. I did I did that this week. Oh, so you got a little bit now. The excellent denim is back. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

It's been a minute.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

It has been.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

I do love a good escalation.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Do you guys know what all those what they all are? That is that you put an offer in.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

The escalation clause? Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

And you go up by and by oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

I have a love hate relationship with those because I was in those, and I remember I lost one what my buyer lost one investment property by like $200 and something dollars to this other investor, and I was like, ah, yep, it'll do it. So it's love hate because also it's got me winning too.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yeah, no doubt. Writing writing clean offers is another really, really good thing for buyers right now that I got a finance.

SPEAKER_05 36:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Less noise, fewer asks.

SPEAKER_05 36:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

We we take a look and see what we got. If there's other asks that we need, let's get into the repair treatment agreement, right? Stuff like that. That's mostly what it's gonna be anyway. The mindset shift, stop comparing yourself and start positioning yourself. You don't need to beat everyone, you just need to win the right deal. Right.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

No competition here.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

So here's here's a good truth bomb for you. If you're not walking into a fair fight, all right, that's okay. Because you don't need to outspend them, you need to out-strategize them. Yeah, and what better to help you do that than having a great real estate team behind you? Yeah, right by yourself. But hey, you're not losing because you're broke, you're losing because you're playing the game the wrong way.

SPEAKER_06 36:51

The buyers who are winning right now, they understand how to structure a deal, not just submit one. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

With a good real estate agent and team.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

We can walk. Yeah, we can we can definitely guide you for sure on whatever package you need, and we'll give you couple multiple options, seeing what's working, especially in the market right now, seeing what's winning. You know, when I tell somebody, hey guys, I think a good offer on this is actually gonna be asking. Well, we don't want to pay that much. Why would you say asking? You're just trying to make money. No, I'm not because what I'm doing is not you gotta let me finish that. It's gonna be at asking, but what we're gonna ask for is three percent of the guess concessions to help you with your closing costs. So that that $15,000 that you won off of the price of the house, what if I can multiply that and get you a lower payment? Can you do that? Yeah, let me show you. And I explain the breakdown between the two. Like, well, that's a no-brainer. Yeah, it is. Once you explain it, once you explain it, wins. So, right now, should should these people buy now or wait? And I want to settle this whole thing right now because this is a question every buyer is asking right now do you buy now or do you wait?

SPEAKER_06 38:08

Well, if you buy now, you know, there's less competition, more negotiation. If you wait, potential rate relief, maybe. You know, you don't know. Yeah, you know, depends on the interest rates. Right now they're trending down, but who knows what tomorrow has.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Yeah, you never know. I mean, uh a reason to buy now, you can control the deal. Yes, right. You can control it more, how you want it, how you want to structure it. If you wait, more inventory could hit.

SPEAKER_03 38:33

Yeah, that's potential. If you buy now, you could start building equity immediately.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

I love that. Yeah, that's so important, especially at a young age.

SPEAKER_03 38:41

Or if you wait, if you're not financially ready, don't force it.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah, no, absolutely not everyone's ready to go right now.

SPEAKER_06 38:47

That's well, you know, good point about your equity there. I have a customer we're closing next month, and the appraisal came back, and she's already got twenty thousand dollars in equity in her home. Boom. And and she goes, Well, what does that mean? I had to break that down for her. So she's like, that is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

That's a great deal, and it is happening right now, yeah, even though it's not televised, right? It's not brought up in bright lights. Yeah, hey, look at us. This is what's happening. It's right, the fear factor is still taking place. Yeah, no doubt. But the truth is, there's no perfect time, there's only the right strategy for your your particular situation.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

True.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Let me rephrase that, your yeah, situation.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

True.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

So timing the market versus time in the market. Oh, I like that. That that that's interesting. Yeah. You guys want to talk about that for a minute? So timing the market or time in the market. So let's say you're you're thinking about jumping in to buy a house. Okay. So you're you're you're thinking about ah, we're just not quite ready yet, and you kind of graze, graze Villow, or realtor.com or homes.com. Well, why don't you just do this? Not really so much deep dive into the market, but go get yourself re-approved.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Find an agent, talk to them a little bit, saying, hey, what do you think would be a good opportunity for me on this?

SPEAKER_01 40:11

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

And then when you get in the market, it's gonna be less time in it than thinking about timing it right.

SPEAKER_06 40:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 40:19

I want to find the best deal, I want to I want to wait until the rates get where they need to be. You know what? You're gonna spend less time finding a house and you're gonna put yourself in a better position because you're you're thinking about something and you're executing it.

SPEAKER_06 40:30

Well, you're ahead of the game, basically.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

Exactly. Yeah, so there is a huge difference between timing the market and time in the market. Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yeah, good point.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Do something about it. Just like if we come up with an idea for us as a team advertising-wise, and say, hey, guys, this is what I want to do, you want to do this? Yeah, well, I think we should do this. Okay, great. And we never do anything about it. Yeah, we sit on it. We sit on it. It's a great idea, but that's nothing. But if we say, Hey, I got a great idea, let's go do it, and then all four of us go, yep, we're doing it next week. And then we execute it and we go do it, there's a difference. Yeah, that's time that we're doing something versus time thinking about it, and it's just wasted. It really is. Cost of waiting, rent, appreciation, and missed deals. You're gonna have more buyers come to the market, especially at this time of the year.

SPEAKER_04 41:16

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

The rates are continually to go down, the prices are kind of staying where they're at right now. So you're you're you're in a very good mix right now. So if you're time in the market and that you just can't get yourself away from that, right now's the do it. Right now is it because you can still get that negotiation stuff going on right now. And of course, do you like paying 100% uh interest rate? Keep renting.

SPEAKER_05 41:34

Yeah, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

And if you feel like you're trapped on that, if four to six hundred dollars a difference a month is keeping you from actually owning your own home, well, then you should need to continue to rent.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

You know, there's no doubt. I'm not gonna tell you, well, hey, four to six hundred dollars a month. If you can't afford that, don't do it, don't do it. Nope. But if you can and you're using it because it's a lifestyle situation, trust me, you've got a lot of other disposable income that you have in your in your pocket that you're doing. Now you just make a slight adjustment and you can own your home. And guess what? If money's that important to you, you're gonna start building it.

SPEAKER_06 42:06

You're gonna start building it.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

Yep, personal readiness and market conditions. Again, that's the emotional thing. Yeah, you know, they're not life, it's not gonna wait on you for you to find your feelings.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

It's always moving, it's always gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

You just gotta jump in. Yep, and again, the perfect moment, myth. Nah, I don't want to talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

It doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

Strategy, guys, beats timing every every single time. Yeah, and that's kind of like the drum I've been beating this entire episode.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

If you had to take one thing out of this, it's that.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Yeah, absolutely. But here's the reality if you feel like you're priced out right now, you're not alone. But most importantly, you might not be right because what looks like an affordable problem is usually a strategy problem.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

Exactly. And once you understand that, everything starts to change, the numbers make more sense, the options open up, and the fear starts to go away.

SPEAKER_03 42:57

You don't need to have everything figured out, you just need to take the first step.

SPEAKER_06 43:00

And that's where we come in. Yep, let's build a plan. Not guess, not hope, but a real plan. We can do that for you.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

100%.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Real plan is right. I I love, like I said, we talk about this every episode. I love sitting down with customers and helping them build a plan. Yeah, help where they're at. Get your feelings out to us. Yeah. And we'll go through it, and everything's gonna be just fine. But make sure you follow us on all the platforms. We talk about this all the time: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and anything else where you find your social stuff. Yeah, yeah. All right, because we break down all this stuff, the real side of real estate, every single week. And if this hits home for you, share it with somebody who needs it and needs to hear it, that kind of thing. Because chances are they're sitting in there right now thinking that they can't buy when in reality they just haven't been shown how to yet. And don't feel like you're bothering us. Give us a call.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

It's never a bother.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

Talk to us. Yep, get to know us. Get to know us, get to know what we're like. And then if you like our jokes, well, guess what? You know, my wife really likes my jokes. She loves being tired. It's a conservative. You know, and I'm going to give a shout out to your daughter too, Dane. Right here. Yeah. All right. She is become another layer of our team. She's now helping us with transaction coordination. She's all gonna keep us walking a fine line. Yeah, Kayla.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

She's gonna make sure all our ducks are in her eye.

SPEAKER_00 44:17

That's exactly right. So I'm glad to have her on the team. Yeah, I think you guys are tours. We also, what is the other thing that we've been doing here lately? Beacons AI, Linktree.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Yeah, we have that.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

If you guys see our QR code or a link for that, and you really want to not feel like you're wasting your time, click on that. Yeah, you get to see buyer guides, seller guides. We also have where you can actually go check the market, you can actually look at things.

SPEAKER_06 44:45

You can look at our website and it'll put your information in as far as what your criteria is, and it'll pull it up for you. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

You don't have to go to a busy website. You can just go to this one link and it has everything set up for you. And then on the very top, you can schedule a consultation with us. Yeah. Schedule it. We'll call you immediately. Send us a message from there. We'll call you immediately. Heck, even send a message, a DMS through you know, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, leave a comment for us. We've gotten several emails in the last little bit here of people reaching out to us with questions and and give us any ideas you want us to talk about.

SPEAKER_06 45:16

We'll be happy to help you out and answer any questions.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Yeah, I love it. This this is for you guys. This is not for us. We're here to educate you, we're here to help you, um, to help you get to that next hurdle. And if it was just a little bit of a thing to get you over the edge, that gets you into the market to buy, by God. We'll let us help you. Yeah, we're there. All right. Well, thanks for listening, guys. And until next week, we'll see you then.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Adios.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Have a good one.