Sunbelt Housing Cools, a $10K Deed Mistake & Hormone Myths with Dr. Laura Dickerson

The Sunbelt housing market is shifting fast — and the country's hottest pandemic hotspots are cooling into buyers' markets. 

This week, we break down why sellers now outnumber buyers by nearly 47% nationwide, and why families are cashing out of inflated mortgages in Nashville, Austin, and Miami to relocate to more affordable regions across the Midwest.

But a shifting market isn't the only trap we're exposing. We break down a real-world scenario in which an unrepresented seller wrote their own real estate contract — skipping a professional title review entirely — and accidentally signed away a valuable chunk of acreage at closing. From the legal risks of post-closing rent-backs to the strategic use of interest rate buydowns over simple price cuts, we outline how to protect your biggest asset.

Later, board-certified functional medicine specialist Dr. Laura Dickerson joins the show to talk about the structural roots of physical exhaustion. She breaks down the gap left by synthetic hormone treatments during perimenopause and aging, and how hidden hormone imbalances are often misdiagnosed as depression or anxiety.

Topics covered:

• The Costly For Sale By Owner Acreage Disaster
• Builder Incentives & The Interest Rate Buydown Trick
• Eviction Risks & Post-Closing Possession Traps
• Why Buyers from Nashville, Austin, and Miami are Flocking to the Midwest
• Dr. Laura Dickerson on Bioidentical Hormones vs. Synthetic Gaps
• Misdiagnosed Hormone Gaps & Finding Your Specialist
• Agent Tip of the Month: Reviewing Legal Discrepancies in Deeds

Connect With Us: https://goldengirlzteam.com/contact-us/

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

The American dream used to be owning a home. Now it's finding a contractor who will actually call you back. No joke. That's not that is not a joke. It's too real, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_05 0:16

Welcome to the Listed podcast. I'm Christy Garnhart, a real estate agent in Illinois and Wisconsin with Remax Unites and Golden Girls team.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

I'm Abra Palermo, your local Illinois and Wisconsin real estate broker with over 25 years of experience and managing broker of the Remax Unites Golden Girls team. Listed is all about real agents talking about real estate in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and beyond. If you're interested in real estate in our region or in general, you've come to the right place. However, that gets a little messy, right? So what do you do?

SPEAKER_05 1:13

Like congratulations. You got another section. Like, how do you handle something like that when you're like, hey, oh, actually.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Well, my first thought would be part of the reason this happened was because the seller was for sale by owner, and the seller wanted to write their own contract. Not, did they, they didn't even want us to use our already attorney, state approved, board certified contracts. They were so anti-realtor that they said, nope, we're gonna write our own contract, and we're gonna have, and they didn't even have an attorney. No attorney was reviewing this contract. No attorney was writing this contract. So I guess that would be my biggest tip out of that is please don't try and write your own contracts unless you are an attorney or you have one reviewing them, or you have somebody giving you an already approved contract that already has the language and the things written in. Because the bottom line, what happened was there was never any talk about surveys and um acreage and that kind of stuff. So everybody just went off of the address and the tax ID, and that's what got sold and transferred. So you can't just Google your own contract, you know. I mean, I bet you could ChatGPT one even. But is it legal? I think didn't the attorney get disbarred for having ChatGPT write his brief or write his court something, and then they found out it wasn't legal, and so he got disbarred because he never reviewed it. I mean, so sorry folks, like Google is great, Chat GPT is great, whatever AI platform you're using, it's great. However, also keep in mind that a lot of those resources are pulling information from contracts all over the country. They're not looking at what contract is here or what contract pertains to rural property versus a commercial property. So it just, I mean, the layer of onions there just gets really, really deep. And that that whole transaction was very complicated, of course, because I was helping my clients with the buyer, but I wasn't communicating with the seller at all because again, they were very anti-realtor. So they wanted to do their own contract, they didn't want to discuss with me. I tried sending our contract and said, here, this is what we would use. Nope, that's not acceptable. So I'm kind of on the sidelines just trying to help my buyer and protect them. But this is all going to be very interesting on um, you know, what happens with this one because now we have a whole mess.

SPEAKER_05 3:54

So essentially, because somebody tried to DIY, and don't me wrong, like again, like we all try to DIY something in our lives to say money, but essentially they gave away a big chunk of property because they tried to save a couple bucks. Right. From okay. And how much is acreage per acre? Well, like, I mean, you wanna I mean 15 grand in some spots, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:16

10, 15 grand. Yeah. So $10,000 an acre, even if you gave away one acre. Yeah. Is that not the cost worth the cost of an attorney or realtor or whatever, whoever professional you're hiring? So yeah, and they tried to blame it on the title company, they tried to blame it on, you know, all these other scenarios, and um and the seller signed the deed. This was their deed that they brought to closing, and they signed it. So whose fault is that?

SPEAKER_05 4:50

I yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the reasons why you have somebody that you work with, be it you know, somebody who's a professional or trained in the legal field, because at the end of the day, like you have someone to call and you can't call the Google.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Yeah, call the Google support line.

SPEAKER_05 5:07

Tell me how that goes. If there's a person that answers, I want to know.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Absolutely. Yeah. And is there somebody behind ChatGPT answering that phone? You'd probably get another AI machine, right? Yeah, wouldn't that be what you'd get? Yeah. So yeah, so again, even if you, you know, saved and, you know, lost an acre and that $10,000 or $15,000, whatever it is. So I guess that would be how my week's gone of please hire a professional. Please don't, you know, it doesn't have to be me, it doesn't have to be Christy, but please hire someone to make sure, and somebody you trust. Because this is most likely your biggest asset that you are ever gonna own or you're ever gonna sell. And this is a huge factor. So we're here to negotiate and help you, you know, advise you and give you information and help you to, you know, know what's going on. Absolutely. It's yeah. So how about your week? Has anything flooded this week? Do you have water working?

SPEAKER_05 6:10

I have hot water this week. It's great. Yes, yes. Uh remodeling is great. So it's a great, again, it's a great problem to have.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

No, now let me preface this. Living in the remodel is an interesting problem to have.

SPEAKER_05 6:24

Right.

SPEAKER_04 6:24

I mean just that Christy's remodeling.

SPEAKER_05 6:27

Yeah. I mean, everybody likes canvas sheets for doors. Come on. It's fine. Toilets in the front yard, that is gone now, so that's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_04 6:36

That's good. Because there are boys in the household who probably thought they could use those.

SPEAKER_05 6:40

Uh-huh. I don't even want to know what our neighbors see when they look down the road from us. So we keep it.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Hopefully, they're not like right next door, and you know, they're they're farm neighbors that's not, you know, a house block neighbor. That's a um rural neighbor.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

So yes, there is a country church down the road. So we make sure we keep our crazy contained and just not on Sunday mornings when they're out running around. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:03

So some days I don't know how Christy does it. Living in a remodel, like remodeling a house is a whole issue in itself, let alone living in it. I'm, you know, just not sure you're so sane some days.

SPEAKER_05 7:13

So probably, I mean, that happens whether I'm remodeling or not. So well, no comment.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Fair. Fair. Yeah. I'm glad you have hot water though. Me too. Me too. I'm sure. There was one day where she just literally was like, okay, kids, you're gonna go swim in the pool. Grandparents, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:30

We went to the grandparents' house. So like you can go swim. Go swim. That's enough bath. Mama there. Here we go. Let's get started and take a look at this month's national real estate news. Okay, so how mortgage rate buy downs and builder incentives can make new construction more affordable, which in itself sounds like an oxymoron. Dang it! I'm gonna be positive. It's fine. It's fine. So builder incentives are becoming increasingly common as home builders work to attract buyers and a market challenged by affordability and higher mortgage rates. So rather than simply lowering prices, builders are offering perks like interest buy down rates, closing cost assistance, free upgrades, appliances, or other concessions. So while these incentives can save buyers thousands of dollars, many are tied to using the builder's preferred lender. So experts recommend comparing financing options and reading the fine print. So with buyer demand becoming more selective, builders are offering incentives throughout nearly every stage of development. So just they just want to keep that sale moving along. Right, right. Can I tell you this? So I had an interesting situation happen with this where we went through the builder's lender and then the house didn't appraise. Like the house they just built did not appraise. Right. So that was sort of like, I was like, how does this happen?

SPEAKER_04 8:56

And um the lender can't make it happen. I mean, it's not the lender's choice how much it appraises for. The lender and the appraiser, I don't know if you guys know this, the lender and the appraiser don't ever talk. Like that is illegal. Like they are not allowed to communicate. So the lender can't call up his appraiser and go, hey, you gotta make sure it appraises for like that's not allowed. There's a reason for that.

SPEAKER_05 9:17

But a mat, like when I when I had the discussion with with my buyer, because like having the whole discussion about appraisal and and that process can be very confusing. And the buyer said exactly what I just said like, are you kidding me? This is their lender and it doesn't appraise, and this house was just built. And it was a beautiful home, right? Absolutely incredibly beautiful home. But um, they did do a little work behind the scenes to make sure everything worked out. So, yes, there is some benefits of working with their lenders, but like things can still happen because they have that safety net there, right? Because you don't want people doing exactly what you're talking about, like talking to the the lender, talking to the appraiser and and you know.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Right, right, absolutely. But I do love the point about buying down the rate because that is something I've seen and talked to a couple different lenders about recently that and they've they've been counseling their buyers about it. And I've been trying to suggest it to some of my buyers of rather than asking for a $5,000 price reduction or you know, whatever it is, let's go in and ask for a $5,000 closing cost credit and then ask your lender about buying down your rate. And so that way, you know, maybe that can help you a quarter of a percent, an eighth of a percent, a half a percent, whatever that amount is, that's on 30 years. So that adds up a whole lot more, even if you stay in your house 10 years. Let's just say average, you stay in your house 10, 20 years. That adds up a whole lot more than that $5,000 off the sale price today. That lowers your payment, first of all, because your interest rates are down. So that little bit of sale value you brought your house down, that $5,000, is gonna save you a couple pennies, where the interest rate down is gonna save you dollars and those dollars compound and add up. So it's interesting that they're talking about that with builders that you can go in and say, hey, builder, you know, I'll use your lender if you can buy down my rate a quarter percent, a half a percent, you know, whatever it is, that makes a substantial difference. And especially when you're talking about new construction, because the cost of new construction is high. Of course, we've talked about that many times. So when you're buying a new construction house, you're also probably paying a pretty premium dollar. So then that even adds that even more when you're saving a quarter percent or half a percent or whatever you can save. So yeah, it's it's absolutely, you know, and that's good. Lenders will talk to you about all these different options instead of just saying, well, you're pre-approved to this. Okay, well, how about we ask for some closing costs? And, you know, and that doesn't mean you're always going down below asking price either. Sometimes if the house is asking $150 or $250, you're gonna offer them $255 and get $5,000 back in a closing cost credit. So don't always think that that's a price reduction from the sales price. It's just a price reduction from what you're what you're overall gonna pay. So it's interesting math, isn't it? Don't we like realtor math, yeah. Realtor math is very interesting.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

Yeah, but that's why we always we always recommend people that we like to work with and not because like we're not getting kickbacks or anything. Gosh, I wish. Yeah. But like we we use people that we trust, and that when goofy stuff like this happens, we can call them and they're available. And they're good teachers too. That's the thing I've I've really learned is like the best lenders, yes, like they, you know, they can work their way around with a calculator, but they're also really good at explaining things because if you've ever gone through a loan packet, it's huge. Like the, I mean, the the the files people walk away with. It's like a it's like a the big Mac sandwich of financial paperwork. I love how you relate things. It's all to food, right? It's all to food. Triple patty letter. No, just but yeah, at the best, the best lenders are ones that can help navigate through that process.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

And like you said, really educate you of all the different options. Because, okay, you know, maybe you want to buy down that rate, maybe you don't, maybe you know you're only gonna stay in the house for you know five years, so it's not that doesn't matter to you. Maybe you want to do an arm because you know you're only gonna be there for five or ten. I mean, there's a lot of different things. So that lender who can really sit down and go, okay, let's talk about your actual plan and your life trajectory here that you know, you know this is just a stepping stone, let's say, or you know, whatever it is. So yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 13:38

Yeah. And then you've like sometimes you'll have that buyer who like they they found a house and then because how their loan was structured, they were literally gonna have to pay to sell their house because of how they structured their loan. And people are like, well, what do you mean? That's crazy because property values are going up. Absolutely. But depending on how your loan is structured and how much you finance, even with your closing costs, that can really, really put, you know, that can put a clamp on your ability to buy another house if it's very very soon after you buy a home. Because sometimes happens, like you could get this job, you buy a house, and then you get a job somewhere else. Right, right. So it's it's something to consider and a good lender is gonna walk you through and say, hey, like, what does this look like I if I sell my house in five years? What does it look like if I sell my house in 10 years?

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Right, right. Yeah, because and they're also everybody wants to get the grants and the down payment assistance and things like that. Absolutely. But those also have a repayment, you know, requirement in there. So if you didn't stay the 10 years or whatever that requirement was for that grant or that down payment assistance, well then part of that has to be paid back. And so that goes as part of your closing costs. So yes, you bought the house for this price and you got a loan for this price, but there's also some grant money in there that has to be paid back because you didn't stay, you didn't meet the whole term of the grant. So a lot of times people don't, you know, remember that or don't, you know, think about that at the time because that was five years ago, let's say, and I don't remember what I did yesterday half the time. So, you know, I don't know about you, but that's me. Um, so it's definitely something that, and that's why we sit down with sellers and talk about, you know, we need to talk about, you know, how much you owe, and we need to talk about, you know, are there other liens here and grants and down payment assistance? Did you, you know, were you in some of that? There were even some tax incentives back way back when that had to be paid back if you didn't stay, you know. I mean, so all kinds of crazy things that could come up in that process.

SPEAKER_05 15:29

All right, the hidden legal dangers of letting a seller stay past the closing date. So letting a seller stay in the home after closing, commonly called rent back agreement, can help buyers with a competitive deal. But it also comes with some significant risks. So once the closing occurs, the buyer effectively becomes a landlord, meeting a seller who refuses to leave could trigger costly uh legal eviction proceedings. So these arrangements can create mortgage and insurance complications if not structured properly. Actually, experts recommend treating rent backs as a formal legal agreement with clear move outdates. So financial penalties for overstaying, escrow holdbacks, and attorney drafted protections to avoid turning a simple favor into a major headache. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

Yeah, exactly. That that expression on your face says it all.

SPEAKER_05 16:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And working with tenants too, like I mean, life happens, and yes, you want to be helpful and you want to be understanding. And um, sometimes um, you know, life happens with people and you know, they need a place to go. And so I understand wanting to be flexible as well, but in this situation, clarity is also kindness. And so that way, sellers who end up staying in the house, like they don't feel like they were surprised and when it's in writing and it's and you have an agreeing and a document or an agreement that's very specific as to what that looks like, it's gonna save you a lot of trouble down the road.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Right. Well, and it's also again, this varies in different areas. Here, we give possession at closing. So you close on your house. Excuse me, I close on my house, I'm selling it to you. I'm packed up, I'm loaded up, everything's out of the house, it's broom clean, everything's done. I go to closing, I'm all out, I'll remember, and then I hand you keys. I can't go anywhere, most people anyway, can't go anywhere until I have the money from you selling, you buying my house. You then hand me a check, I then go over here next door and I go buy my next house. I can't unload, I can't do anything because I don't get keys on that house until I've given them that check and said, here you go. So it's a very domino effect. And so many sellers look at me and say, I have to be out. What if it doesn't close? What if you know what blah blah blah, you know, all the what ifs, you know. You have to be packed up, ready to go, everything's on a truck, everything's clean. They have to have the opportunity to do a walkthrough before we close, and then you get your check. You hand them keys, you get a check. I thought I'd have like at least 30 days. I thought I'd have at least a week, I thought I'd have six months. I mean, I've I've heard it all. I thought I'd have three months. All the things. Not in Illinois. Different in other areas. Absolutely. I get that. Those are other areas that hold stuff in escrow. They completely get it. That's not how it is here. So if you want to be nice to that seller and say, I'm like, Christy, would you mind if I stayed the weekend so I could get everything cleaned up? What if I break something? What if something quits working? What if the water heater quits working? Whose responsibility is it? Or if the air conditioner goes out.

SPEAKER_05 18:39

I mean, we live in a place that gets crazy storms every once in a while, no matter what season you're in.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

Right, right. What if the hail storm comes through? Yeah. Whose insurance is covering that? I bet yours is gonna argue it and mine's gonna argue it, all the above. Where so, like you said, if we're gonna do that, there needs to be very clear details. How long, what's the penalty, who's responsible for what, who has to keep what insurance. Right. Maybe both of you need to keep insurance, most likely, be a good idea. Um all of the things. But it's also challenging to keep insurance on a property. I don't know. I now have renter's insurance, I don't have owner insurance. So again, it gets very cloudy, it gets very confusing. So make sure if you're thinking of that or if you want to go down that road asking for it or offering it all the above, make sure that it is really, really detailed in writing. Because I've seen them go really good and I've seen them go really bad.

SPEAKER_05 19:37

Like if they leave their cats there.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Oh, almost had one of those here a couple weeks ago. You talk about how's your week going? Should have asked a couple weeks ago. I had like 10 cats, and everything else was gone, but not the cats. And my buyer was like, I I will not close. Will not close. I don't care about the other trash that's outside, don't care about anything else. Will not close until they've gotten their cats re-homed. Thankfully they did.

SPEAKER_05 20:08

The cats definitely did not have agreements then, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

Nope, the cats did not have post-closing possession agreement. There was no um vet agreement there or nothing.

SPEAKER_05 20:19

So if we know that's something that we want to avoid, what do you suggest in regards to like if you want to work with the seller and be flexible on closing, but you're not necessarily cool with them staying there after the closing has happened, like what's a really good way to structure your offer so that you want to let the know that let the seller know that you want to be flexible, but at the same time too, you're very sp like you're like, okay, I'll be flexible, but closing is closing and possession is possession.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

Most of the time it's really about adjusting that closing date. Okay. You know, if they say, well, I can't, you know, um, because of course it depends on the age and the demographic and what's going on. Are they coming from a rental? Are they going to a rental? I mean, lately I've been working with a lot of older clients who are going to a rental or um senior living, you know, something like that. And so they'll say, okay, well, I can get into my place July 31st, let's say. Okay, well, let's not close on July 31st. How about we close on August 1st? So you've got everything out or August 3rd or whatever it is. So you've got everything out, you've got time to get into the new place, you've got a couple days, because that's also just looking at like a small security deposit, or they need their full payment in 30 days or 60 days, or you know, whatever it is. So um if I have a client who, you know, has to do the domino effect, I have to sell something today, so I can buy something today, you know, and do all that, then I'm really preparing everybody for look, you're gonna have to be loaded up in the truck, you've got to be, you know, everything's like said, broom clean, all done. So it's really about making sure that the seller's agent, whoever you're working with on that side, has made sure that they've had. Discussion with their seller. Um, you know, sometimes it's a matter of timing of the day. The movers are leaving, you know, today at noon. Okay, well, we can't close till four o'clock. Um, you know, and I've had a lot of people, well, don't they close on Saturday? No bankers' hours, yeah, no holidays, no weekends. Um, so you know, sometimes they even close at noon if it's uh, you know, New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve or, you know, whatever. So sometimes it's half days, you know. So no, as much as we work all hours of the day, they do not. So um, you know, so it's it's a lot of discussion early on in preparing, you know, your client, either client, buyer, or seller. And it's also different. Are they asking for a day? Are they asking for weeks? You know, it'd be one thing if we close at, you know, eight o'clock and the moving truck's not going to be out of there until noon. Okay, maybe, maybe I could, you know, I don't know. You know, it just it really depends on the situation.

SPEAKER_05 22:54

So if they're asking for a longer time, essentially you are are you should set it up so that you are the landlord with very specific very specific because otherwise you're evicting someone.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

And what are your rights to evict them? And so, you know, that's a whole nother costly process that takes time. So, you know, what are all the stipulations there? What are the fines? What are the penalties? What are you gonna be able to enforce? And it also comes down to a lot of trust. Do you, you know, has the seller taken care of that home that you feel comfortable enough with them to know that they're gonna take care of it and love it, even though they're just in there for a couple more days and they're not just gonna, oh, we don't care, whatever, who knows? Because also what happens if you just walk in and they didn't clean it up, they didn't leave all, you know, they didn't take all their stuff out, they didn't clean it, they didn't, you know, get it broom clean. What's your recourse back? They walked out, they're gone, but they left junk behind that you've got to remove, they left stuff you've got to clean. What's the recourse there? You know, do you have, like you said, is there some kind of escrow hold? Is there some kind of you know, security type of deposit like that you're holding like a landlord? So yeah, everything comes on the table and that really needs to be negotiated depending on that situation.

SPEAKER_05 24:07

And in writing, I'm is what I'm hearing. Everything in writing.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 24:11

Everything in writing.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

No, no, well, she said, no, no, mm-mm. That doesn't stand up. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:17

And I think people are well-meaning when they when they do that. But I one of the things that I have learned is that even the people who like through the entire process are super chill and they're, you know, things are going really well, like it's it's stressful. It's stressful, it's very stressful. And every I 99% of people are gonna act a little bit differently under stress, and that's understandable. Right. And so the last thing that we want to do is add to that stress with adding a different layer of like, okay, now we gotta worry about this. So it's like, how can we structure this in a way where everybody understands what's going on? And then we're not adding to probably one of the more stressful times in your life that is moving.

SPEAKER_04 24:57

And it comes down to also last minute, like, you know, they're they're trying to pack up at 7 a.m. and closings at 8 a.m. Right. You know, and they're still trying to, you know, rush around and get everything, you know, and so we don't want to walk in and do a walkthrough at, you know, 8 a.m. and still find that there's this stuff left in the house and there's still, you know, it's not clean and you know, all these things. So, you know, trying not to squeak that out to the last two seconds before closing is also just gonna add stress to everyone. Right. So, you know, don't don't wait till the last second. And you know, the movers are leaving, you know, at four o'clock last night. We tried to clean and then closing was at 8 a.m., but we didn't have enough time to finish cleaning. You know, it's just not fair to anybody, you know. So agreed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:41

Agreed.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Yeah. And it is very, and I we get it, it's very challenging to have to be out and have that domino, you know, because what if this doesn't close? I had the craziest domino I ever had was was it four deals or five deals. Now that I say that, it was four different deals that all had to close in the same time, you know, the same day. Right. So that so if that first one didn't close. Oh my gosh. You know, and that's because most people financially cannot just go buy another house without that makes my stomach hurt just thinking about that. And it and it was very stressful down to the minute. And one of them got delayed, but we were still able to close in the same day. It just but yeah, it's very stressful. And again, everybody's to their peak of stress, and then you add on top of it more stress. Do you have a favorite day of the week to close? So most people prefer to close on a Friday because then they've got the weekend. And so that's what everybody in their mind thinks. But then guess what? We had this scenario recently. Something happens and you can't close on Friday. Your next business day means closing on Monday. So now you're stuck waiting for three days.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

What if your stuff's already packed up? Are you camping in your home? Are you going to the hotel? Are you what are you doing? Because you're camping now. I mean, everything's packed up. Um, you're barely even camping. You don't even have your toothbrush, probably. It's all in a box. Right. You know, so so I don't really love to have closings on a Friday, but most people do that. And I get why? Because you want to close and then you've got the whole weekend. Many times it's even on a holiday weekend, they'll want to close on the Friday before there's a three-day weekend, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Okay, well, if something happens now, we're to Tuesday before we close. So again, and and like back years ago, this was when the foreclosure market was always going on. They wouldn't let us schedule closing, or they wouldn't let us write a contract that the closing was within the last three days of the month. Closing had to be 25th, 26th, 27th, whatever. They would not let you write it the last three business days of the of the month because they knew that something always happens. And this way we still have three business days to get this thing closed and off the books that month. Because they're also very month goal oriented. It needs to get off the books in that month. So every time we'd write a contract and the agent would send it to me and say, I want to close on July 31st. Nope. Needs to be July, whatever, like I said, that last business day is. I'd have looked at my calendar. Um and so then, you know, and they'd try and why? Well, because guess what? Something happens. And I'd rather be prepared for the worst than assume the best.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

That makes sense. All right. So Nashville, Miami, Austin, once pandemic home buying hotspots are this spring's strongest buyers' markets. So the housing market continues to favor buyers in these areas with nearly 47% more sellers than buyers nationwide in May. Okay, so nationwide. Nationwide. Start saying the song nationwide on your side. Right. Anyway, so inventory has climbed to its highest level since 2020, while buyer demand has remained relatively flat due to high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty. So markets across the Sun Belt, especially Nashville, Miami, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio are seeing the strongest buyer advantages, giving house hunters more negotiating power, more choices. However, a handful of markets like Long Island, Milwaukee, and San Francisco remain seller-friendly due to limited housing supply and strong demand. That's kind that's a very random smattering. It was very interesting, though, some of the cities.

SPEAKER_04 29:27

But you know, it's very interesting listening to those cities because part of the reason why those people have left those areas is to come to areas like here, right? Where it's affordable.

SPEAKER_05 29:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

Because look at the prices in San Antonio, Nashville, Miami. I didn't list get all those, but there are a couple others in there. Yes. You know, all those areas. Look at what their average prices were. Look at what our average prices are. How many people have we had moving in from out of the area? And I had somebody I was talking to as a fundraiser the other day, and I was sitting with this great couple. They were so sweet. And they're like, I don't understand. These people down the street, these people down the street from us came here from Tennessee. Why on earth would they come here from Tennessee? I said, Well, I don't know specifically, but I said, I can almost guarantee you they sold a $600,000 house. And I said, No, I'm just using averages. And they came here and bought a $200,000 house. Well, how'd you know? That house down the street from you sold for $200,000, right? Yep. I said that they could walk in here and pay cash or lower their cost of living. Why on earth freeport? Because it's affordable. Well, what about jobs? There are jobs. And there are people who also, when they take that kind of a reduction in cost of living, maybe one person's only working now. Maybe one person works remote and one person works, you know, wherever. There are a lot of opportunities for somebody when they reduce their mortgage price by a third, when their cost of fuel, cost of groceries, cost of insurance, cost of everything else goes down. Oh, I never thought of it that way. And so, because you know, they're seeing their neighborhood with I think that one person moved from California, one from Tennessee, another one from Texas, all places you just listed. Yeah. So it's so crazy to me because people are always like, Well, who would move to Rockford? Who would move to Freeport? Who would move to a lot of people?

SPEAKER_05 31:34

Because if you've tried to get a house under contract in Rockford lately, you're pulling your hair out.

unknown 31:38

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

And one the other day she had 10 contracts. I was like, told the buyer, and because we had the buyer on this one, and I said, Okay, you know, you guys are gonna have to know that you've given it your best shot. Yeah. Because when I talked to the agent, I knew they had seven. When it got done, she ended up with 10. And when afterwards I called the agent, I'm like, were we even in the running? She's like, Yeah, you guys did a really good job. You were in the top three. Like, I'm not sure if that makes my buyer feel better or worse. Like, I don't know if that if I should give them that news or if I should just tell them we lost. Like it's, you know, because it hurts knowing you were so close, you know, but then also knowing that you're you're on the right track, like you're making good offers. You're you're not just, you know, down there at the bottom. But anyway, I digress. So it's been so interesting. So many people say that to us all the time and say, why are people moving here? Just look at the prices. Look at the prices we've talked about. Like these are affordable areas. All of the Midwest is seeing this. So people are leaving these other sunbelt areas that are so expensive and saying, Nope, I'm gonna go back to where it's affordable. I'm gonna go back to some quality of life. I'm gonna go back to where both of us don't have to run the rat race. I mean, there's just been a lot of shifts in family dynamics, all of that have played a difference. Um, and I mean, of course, there's also people coming back to take care of aging parents and family things. And so there's a lot of diverse reasons why, but it's absolutely happening every day. We have clients calling us from all over the country.

SPEAKER_05 33:14

And then you can throw the extra money in the bank and then use it to like especially with the retirees I've seen lately. I mean, we've got some mutual friends who like used the equity on their house and they bought their little dream spot in Florida. Right. And so, yes, they both work up here. And um, shout out to Rockford and doing a really great job with not only our regional airport, but also um getting a bus service that goes into O'Hare so you can board the bus at Rockford and not have to deal with all of this. And I don't know about you, but did O'Hare get longer? Like, I feel like this like it's like I get miles. I get on my steps, and by the time I get to my gate, but like I mean, and you can get to anywhere from here, especially. I mean, we're not that far even from O'Hare Airport. So literally, like, yeah, it gets cold in the winter, but if you have that money in the bank, you can get a cute little place someplace in the sunbelt, which is on sale right now, it sounds like right, which absolutely now you can go get a deal and buy some of those properties that you've been dreaming of, or take some of that equity from your home here, or downsize all the different options.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

So, absolutely, that you know, that's a thing. And, you know, no plug for the Rockford Airport, but a plug for the Rockford Airport. I mean, it is so convenient to go through security in Rockford. First of all, you're paying to park in Rockford, not on O'Hare. You're paying, you're going through security in Rockford, not in O'Hare. And you sit on a bus, you don't have to worry about the traffic and the driving and things like that. Of course, sometimes there are delays in drive and riding on a bus, too, but you're not the one sitting there dealing with it. You didn't pay the fuel for it. You know, you're not burning your fuel. And then you get let off at a gate inside O'Hare. Not going through security again, not checking bags again, all of that stuff. It is super simple. Super simple. Done it myself. I had several friends who had talked about it. I was like, oh, give this a try. Super simple. So now I literally can fly anywhere from Rockford. Just go to Rockford and figure out am I getting on the big airline to take me to O'Hare or am I getting on, you know, the regional airport? Simple.

SPEAKER_05 35:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

They should sponsor your podcast, Barbara. Right. Rockford Airport.

SPEAKER_04 35:26

Can we get a plug? I'll plug a little more if you just a couple dollars.

SPEAKER_05 35:33

Yeah, it just makes sense. And it's it's actually, you know, I it's a nice place to live too. So I mean, I I, you know, I just think about just a couple blocks here. Actually, where we're filming this podcast is above a really, really nice restaurant that my my parents and their best friends, who they've been best friends with for over 40 years, they had their anniversary dinner downstairs just last week. You know, we're right across the street from the movie theater, like our super cute office is just a couple blocks over. Yeah, so it's a it's a really cute place. And they have really great cookies, cookie jar too.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

I love most of the downtowns. Rockford's done a great job revitalizing their downtown. All of our little communities have done a great job at really revitalizing their downtown, bringing back that, you know, boutique, hometown, you know, local feel.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

And and that's what most people want. That's what they want in their downtown is the local owners that they can, you know, stop and talk to. They know they're supporting that local person. You know, it's it's wonderful. And all the community events, like, you know, all of our downtowns are great about having these, you know, festivals and community events and you know things like that.

SPEAKER_05 36:37

So the splash pad is happening right now.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

Oh my gosh, yes. And this is, you know, it's so fun to drive by there though, too, seeing the kids just you know going crazy. And so that's super, super fun. I love when they turn that on and you know, and when it gets warm. Um, now that it finally has gotten warm.

SPEAKER_05 36:54

Yeah, except you're taking your kids to the library and they're mad that they're going inside and not to the splash pad. So that is the only drawback of the splash pad is heading to the library.

SPEAKER_04 37:01

I'm guessing that's happened. Maybe more than once. Can you bribe them with ice cream instead? Then is that what you do? Yes.

SPEAKER_05 37:08

Yeah. A little ice cream around the corner. But yeah, I mean, we've got a couple boutiques on our street, like jewelry, furniture. You literally could just start at the end of the block with absolutely nothing and walk away with a house, uh, furniture, a really cute outfit from Langley, right? Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

All of the things, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:24

Right, right. And some cookies to make everybody happy at the end of it. Right.

SPEAKER_05 37:27

A little, yeah, a little glucose to keep you going.

SPEAKER_04 37:29

And some coffee because everybody's gonna need some coffee. Yes, coffee too.

SPEAKER_05 37:34

All right, so we'll be right back with a look at our regional market updates. All right, let's jump into this regional market update. So, talking about Carroll County, so we're talking about the communities of Lake Carroll to Mount Carroll, so 17 homes sold with an average sales price of 247,000, settling in 94% from the asking price to sales. So it's only 50 homes currently for sale in the county. So in Ogle County, that's the communities of Forest and Oregon, Byron to Rochelle. So 40 homes sold with an average sale price of 256,000, selling at 97% from the asking price to the sales price, with only 43 homes currently for sale.

unknown 38:15

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 38:16

It's wild. Yeah. Stevenson County. So we're thinking, Lena, Pearl City, Dakota to Freeport, 49 homes sold with an average sale price of $172,000, selling at 96% from asking price to sales price, with only 69 homes currently for sale.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

Which is crazy. So, first of all, we were just talking about how buyers market versus sellers market 97% essentially for all three of those areas for the entire county, 97% from asking price to sales price. So that alone, seller's market, sellers market, sellers market. Like people are not going down. I was just talking to a client the other day, and like the fact that they're the buyers asking them to come down 5%. This is not, you know, it's not gonna win you the contract. Now we can start there, but it's not gonna win you the contract. You know, do you want to take that risk? Are you willing to, you know, take that chance, all that stuff? And then you look at 40 homes sold and 43 on the market, you know, 49 sold, 60 on the market, like also low, low, low inventory. Right. If nothing else listed today, every house for sale would be gone in 30 days. Nothing for sale. Because people talk to me about, well, I don't see many signs out there. It's because there's nothing. There aren't there just aren't they aren't. You aren't missing things. They put them in the trees now, people. We hide them behind the garage. We don't want anybody to know. There literally are not enough homes to sell. So, I mean, that's part of the reason. I mean, even you're remodeling. We talked about that earlier. Part of the reason you're remodeling. Let's face it, you couldn't find anything to buy. And how long did we look? A very long time. Over 10 years.

SPEAKER_05 39:57

Over 10 years.

SPEAKER_04 39:58

Until finally they said, okay, we're going to remodel. Right. And at that point, it was also, I don't like this math. No. However, what are my options? Right. Gonna move out of the area? No. No. So, you know, so you know, I so I think that's really back to our point of national headlines versus local headlines. Talk to your realtor about these stats. This is why you hire a professional to help you get your contract accepted. This is why you have us there to advise on this is what the market's doing right now. Right. This is what I'm seeing in your price range. This is what's happening. Right.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

And I was playing around with AI the other day just to just to see what it said. And you didn't have it write the contract for you, didn't you? No, I didn't. No, but because I get the question, it's like, hey, I want to get a great deal. And I was like, okay, do you want to get a deal or do you actually want to get a house? Because we can keep looking for deals and you're not going to get a house. And again, this is not me being negative, but like I was playing around AI, and AI is gonna like they're like, well, based on this. And yes, I understand where it's coming from because it's pulling from the national sales data. So we should be able to get by with less than asking price. Um, but it's funny because then you start feeding in and then, like, some do you ever yell at AI or do you argue with it? I I do yell. I was like, that doesn't make any sense, and let me tell you why. And like it'll actually like apologize, like, oh well, well, now that you say that. And um, and maybe that's just because no AI wants to be appeasatory.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

Is that the right idea?

SPEAKER_05 41:24

Yeah, it wants to be your friend, right? Right. So um, that's why I'm always like, yes, AI is a tool. Right. But like we have to really start looking at like in even neighborhoods, right? Because we look at um, you know, even in a freeport in a town, our size, like the communities have different, the different sections of town will have different um rates of how quickly they sell. Right. And you think about larger, you know, larger towns like Rockford, you know, you think about all the neighborhoods there. And so you're gonna have to get very specific. Because if you look at Rockford in general, that's not gonna give you a really clear picture of the house you're really interested in, this section of town.

SPEAKER_04 42:02

Right. Data in, data out. Yeah. Because, you know, all that's all of our market stats that we're looking at, those are averages. What if you're in the $400,000 price range versus the $200,000 price range versus the $100,000 price range? Big differences in all of those. You know, you're looking at $100,000, they're probably going over asking. Right. You're looking at $400,000. Well, maybe they're gonna come down a little bit. I mean, again, varying on the area and varying on the community, because as we saw, some of those areas are $250,000 averages and some of them are $170,000 averages. So again, gonna make a difference on what area you're in, what, you know, is it a lake community? Are you in, you know, the city of Lanark instead? Are you, you know, in Davis, not in Lake Somerset? Right. So all of those things are gonna vary based on where you are, which is again why you want to then if you're gonna ask Chat GPT, okay, well then let me feed you some data. Here are some sales, right? Local, don't use the national headlines, chat. Use these local stats, then tell me, you know.

SPEAKER_05 43:02

Right, right. And it's it's unfortunate too, because it it takes some time, like some folks just a couple opportunities of like being really interested in marketing and putting a contract in, and then being like, whoa, that was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

And it's like, yes.

SPEAKER_05 43:17

And it's like that's why like part of our jobs is just prepare you emotionally for this roller coaster.

SPEAKER_04 43:22

Right. And and I have many times gone back and said, hey, that one did, you know, have 10 offers and it went for you know, this much over. And so that way they know, okay, next time this is what we have to do. This is, you know, this is what we were competing with. And so they know why they lost to educate them, you know, for next time. Not that, you know, maybe they're not prepared to go to that price. Maybe they didn't want to go to that price on that house. That's okay. But, you know, this is what we're gonna need to do, and this is where, you know, where we're at.

SPEAKER_05 43:50

So yeah, and sometimes wild things happen. Like, I mean, we've you know, I've been in different situations where I've had clients that have lost um out on a house. And something falls through with the financing of the first contract. I had this one, this poor lady, like she was like, and this is what the listing agent had told us. Like she had this like major health crisis, was in the hospital. And the sellers are like decent people. Like, well, of course, we're not gonna make her, like, we're not gonna try to keep her earnest money because you know it's not her fault that she got like horrific pneumonia and end up in the hospital for a couple weeks. So sometimes it's just paying attention to the market because sometimes you can get a second chance. Because let's be real, like there's a frenzy in this area too. And a lot of times people are just like throwing offers into different houses just to see if something sticks. And by the time they walk through and like they walked through an inspector, and like, okay, so based on these things, like this is just not a house that I'm comfortable proceeding forward with, right? Like this is no joke. Like I had two buyers in the same week, both houses had asbestos in them. And one was like, absolutely not, like we can't, you know, we're not gonna do anything about this. The other one's like, well, I guess if there's a fire, there's some heat protection. So, you know, different, different strokes, different folks, right? I mean, just people have different things that are in different things that are important to them. So it's paying attention to the market, but also not to say blindly optimistic, but just you know, sometimes things come back around again. You just never know.

SPEAKER_04 45:18

I've had it happen numerous times. I had a closing a couple weeks ago that was just one of the best I'd had in a while. I was kind of having a rough couple days, and and um went into the closing to tell the buyer congratulations. And you know, my seller wanted to meet them, and the buyer was just literally, she's like, Can I hug you? Oh, of course, like I'm a hugger, so if you haven't met me in person, but you know, and she was like, I'm just so thankful for you. Like she was just this was so meant to be, and she's just in tears, and you know, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, congratulations, I'm so happy. And I didn't really know what she was talking about. And then she says, Well, well, uh we put an offer in when the property first came on the market and they lost. And she said, and then you called my agent back and said that that other buyer had walked away. And she said, My agent called me and said, First of all, I don't usually get this phone call. And she said, So you need to decide right now, like because this is gonna go quick if if they, you know, otherwise they're gonna put it back active on the MLS. And my seller had said, No, just call back the people who had written the other offers. So we did that first. Everybody rewrote, came back in. This buyer then won. And she's like, I just, you know, she was just so thankful and so blessed, and so, you know, like this was all meant to be. And it was just because I called back those other, you know, agents and said, Hey, are your people still interested? And boom, they were. And guess what? Her offer was then the best because she didn't want to lose it a second time. And and she did. And so she was just, like I said, she was just such in tears, and like that's that's what makes us all happy. I mean, at the end of the day, my seller was thrilled, the buyer was thrilled, we're all hugging and crying, and it's just like I mean, I say we're crying, but it was still the best day. Right. So absolutely it just reminds you of this is why we do what we do to make everybody happy and to make everybody's dreams come true, and you know, right.

SPEAKER_05 47:01

And let's be real, like we all know like that real estate agent that gives you the ick, right? And we don't like working with them either. Right. Like it just but if you can work like again, is anyone ever nobody's perfect, absolutely, like things happen, but it we want to work with people who are professionals as well because you know we want to make sure that things are fair, things are equitable, and like having good relationships with other professionals in the area is helpful to everyone in the transaction, from the lenders to the buyers to the sellers, like right. People know they're like, oh, okay, they're working with this person. And a lot of times, you know, you'll walk into a closing and you'll see a lender that you've worked with work with the other side, and you're like, okay, fantastic. Like when you see that person's name on there, you're like, you know, this this deal has a really good chance of going really well. Right. Because there are quality people around the table who are making sure that buyers are prepared, that sellers are prepared, and that the process is gonna go as smoothly as possible. Yeah, and there's great communication between us.

SPEAKER_04 48:00

And like I said, just like that buyer's agent telling, you know, her buyer that, like, look, most agents don't actually call me back. And she's like, the fact that we got this opportunity, we need to, we need to go and do it. And so that was just one of the best days of just you know reminding you that you know, there are great people out there, you know, great people to make this happen. And we all want to make it happen. The seller got to make their dreams come true, the buyer had their dreams come true. Like, that is what it's all about.

SPEAKER_05 48:25

So we're gonna take a quick break before we are joined by our community guest of the month.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

Laura, welcome back to the show. I can't tell you how exciting it is. Um, for those of you who didn't catch episode six, we talked about so many things, and I think there were a lot of conversations that were like, oh, we'll we'll we'll talk about that, we'll get to that. And there were so many things it was just like, okay, I have to have you back because we just didn't even cover half of the topics we wanted to get to. So again, for those of you who didn't see episode six, Laura Dickerson is the founder and owner of Prime Revival Health and Wellness, which is a doctorial-prepared, board-certified family nurse practitioner specializing in functional medicine and helping patients uncover the root cause of their health concerns. After years of working in acute care nursing, Laura began exploring more comprehensive approaches to wellness, leading her to functional medicine and the creation of prime revival health and wellness. Today, Laura works with patients to address everything from fatigue and inflammation to hormone imbalances and overall wellness. One area that's getting a lot more attention lately is hormone health, hormone replacement therapy and bioidentical hormones. So, Laura, to kick things off, what are one of the biggest misconceptions that people have when it comes to hormone replacement?

SPEAKER_00 49:54

To say it simply, um, most people when they hear home hormone replacement therapy, they immediately associate it with being unsafe.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:01

Um, that it is unsafe and that it causes cancer. Um, and generally it is kind of a forbidden or we should not have it. Okay. Um all of that is untrue. Um, and of course, I I generally say the the other um misconception around it is that hormone replacement therapy is there's only um one type. Um, however, there are various types, um synthetic versus bioidentical, and in also different um methods of delivery, which ultimately that those all vary um in safety, in in efficacy, and all of that type of stuff. So um again, to say it simply, the the biggest misconception is that hormone replacement therapy is unsafe and that uh we we shouldn't have it.

SPEAKER_04 50:48

So yeah, people avoid it because they've heard too many horror stories. And also, to be fair though, a lot of that was on older models of hormone therapy or older delivery systems of hormone therapy, right? Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

You know, I think I I generally um so there was uh the women's health initiative that I feel like most people are are are familiar with. Um, that was back in the early 2000s, and it was a study done on hormone replacement therapy. Um there are physicians to this day that are are have argued um the information that was presented from that study um and have asked for it to be redacted because it is false information. Um it was in I can't quote the exact statistics on it. However, um basically they did a few, you know, they had a um progestin, which is a synthetic form of progesterone versus a placebo, which is which is nothing. Um it was actually determined that the progesterone, the the progestin, which is the synthetic form, was the cause for the breast cancer in that patient population. Um however, it they came out and said that HRT, so hormone replacement therapy in general is unsafe. And from that, it kind of squashed everybody in moving forward with any form of therapy.

SPEAKER_04 52:01

Right. Right. Yeah, and that's you know, I I think we've talked about that before, is like ask questions, you know, do your research, talk to people, you know, look at your labs, talk about all the options.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

Because it is not just a patch or a shot or a you know, pellet, you know, creams, like there's just so many different things. And different things work for different people too. Yes, absolutely. Life schedules and things like that as well.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

Yes, absolutely. So it is not as when it comes to hormone, the hormone world, it it is so so imperative for um patients as well as providers to understand that it is not a one size fits all. Um, hormones are very, very individualized. And even from, say, for example, from me or you, like this morning, my hormones may look much different than what my my afternoon hormones look like, or the need may be different. Um so they're they're they change all the time. And um, I say providers that are uh putting hormones in a one size fits all are doing their patients a disservice because um it's not that is far from how hormones should be managed or even give optimal health outcomes with that.

SPEAKER_04 53:02

Right. Yeah, because like you said, we're all different, and you know, some of everybody has different stress levels, we all have different, you know, metabolisms and you know things that we're going through in our life. We're all different ages and stages in our life. Some people have had hysterectomy, some people have not. Yes, you got it. All these different things. Well, because I've learned it all from you.

SPEAKER_03 53:19

I love it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

I'm glad so that means you're listening.

SPEAKER_03 53:22

I do listen to this. Most of the time, anyway. What we what we always catch, you know, some of what we hear and you know, we remember parts of it, right?

SPEAKER_04 53:29

So yeah, and that's you know, and that's one of the things also we talked a lot about on the prior episode was all the functional medicine part, because you don't just look at hormones, you're also looking at the vitamin D's and the thyroids and the you know other components that are also affecting people.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

Yes, absolutely. So I I generally say again, um, and you know, I speak from my functional side um of medicine or health. And um it's never just so if if I specifically looked at sex hormone uh levels alone and you know, you know, applied them to the clinical picture of what I'm hearing from the patient, um, again, I feel like I would not be giving that full functional approach to the patient because you absolutely need to look at some other areas, which includes micronutrients. We kind of discussed that at our on our previous podcast, um, as well as what does the thyroid look like? Um, thyroid is part of the endocrine system. So again, hormones, they're all they're all one. I I generally describe it as um you have a a basketball team. So say you have your ovaries or you know, ovaries of an aging female or they're in peri or or or post-menopause, that their ovaries are kind of taking a seat on the bench. You know, they're like, eh, I'm gonna come play. Maybe I don't want to play today. Well, when that those ovaries take a seat on the other bench, what what happens to the the rest of the basketball team? They're like, oh no, we don't know what to do. Right. It's that same concept with like a thyroid. Um, your thyroid can can absolutely follow, follow what those ovaries are doing. So it again, you've you've hit the nail on the head. It's very important to look at the big picture and not just you know, sex hormones alone.

SPEAKER_04 54:57

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like you said, because it is the whole body. And if one thing's out of whack, then other things might be out of whack just because that thing's out of whack, too.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

So or even what I've seen in some patients too is that maybe they're clinically presenting um as if they have like quote unquote, I say hormone-related symptoms. However, when I'm looking at everything and hearing their story, it's a thyroid imbalance that is their primary primary issue. And and therefore they they may not need, or it it's not necessary for them to have hormone support at this time. They need more of a balanced thyroid, and then then we do that, support that, and guess what happens? Their symptoms get better.

SPEAKER_04 55:32

So suddenly they don't feel awful. Yep. So when we talk about hormone imbalance, and we talked about some of this, but what are people commonly experiencing as far as issues that are not getting diagnosed as hormone things? You know, they're they're going to their doctor and saying, I'm whatever it is, and it's really more hormone thing than whatever, you know, they're just telling their doctor, you know, what do you hear as that most common question?

SPEAKER_00 55:59

Um, I would say in my perimenopausal, this is a common question, or I say a great question, common question, um, but also a very loaded one. Um because I say even so peri, if you think about perimenopausal gals, you know, this can happen. Um, you know, hormones shift, they change maybe even around 35 years of age. You know, from what I hear, this is purely patient feedback. I hear that they say they've mentioned this to their primary care, their gynecologist, whatever that may be, traditional trained, you know, providers. And they'll say you're too early for perimenopause, which I feel is a very um invalid answer. Um, and what I say primarily presents around around that time is what I'm hearing from them is more of like anxiety. They're like, I have anxiety. I've never had anxiety in my entire life. That is hugely linked to a progesterone deficiency, which is the first hormone that declines when a patient is um approaching that perimenopause or in that perimenopause. Um, so with that, makes sense to me from the hormone aspect that okay, it's time for them to get a low dose progesterone compounded, right? Which is bioidentical. Right. Um, no forms of synthetic in my office. Right. Yes. I know that. Yes, yes. And then um, but however, you have a patient that may not understand the hormone world or their provider didn't offer them that. So instead they're giving them a medication that is just purely to band-aid that anxiety when that's not the problem. Right. It is uh, this is a change in their hormone, their hormone levels in their body.

SPEAKER_04 57:29

Right, right. We talked a lot about that on the prior episode of you know, prescription that takes care of the symptoms, but doesn't fix, you know, like we talked at the beginning, about your root cause, you know, your functional medicine really looking at the root cause of okay, well, why are you anxious all the time? Let's not just give you something that makes you not anxious, let's give you something that treats that anxiety internally.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:52

So you talked about that for perimenopause. What about women who are getting into menopause or postmenopausal? What are some of the symptoms that you always hear or very commonly hear?

SPEAKER_00 58:02

So common symptoms, you know, are I I'd say in that we know, you know, in the world, it's it's the hot flashes, night sweats, you know. Um, and so I generally, you know, I generally don't feel that a postmenopausal female is um, I don't want to say necessarily misdiagnosed, but I feel like they're undersupported in in the traditional world. Right. And it's simply because most of the time those symptoms are very normal. Their labs look very normal, meaning they have zero hormones. So their provider says, hey, this is normal. Right. They're not wrong. I don't argue that, but that does not mean that those females need to sit there and deal with those symptoms. Right. Because you can optimize, you can support their hormones again from a biodentical world. Right. Um so they typically say to those females, or I've had some females come to me that have been in that world, um, and they have been put on SSRIs, they've been put on this, this, this medication, this medication, or they're they're they're experiencing multiple UTIs. So they've been through multiple courses of antibiotics when no, their hormones just need to be fixed and supported.

SPEAKER_04 59:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

It's that simple.

SPEAKER_04 59:09

Right. Well, and that was when I started seeing you. And that's, you know, to kind of correlate some of that is you know, my labs were down to I had no hormones level. Like it was just down at the bottom of the chart. You know, I was I was You have no fuel. I felt like I was actually negative because that was an option. That wasn't, but but you know, and it was, you know, it was that fatigue, it was that no energy. And and I'm a positive person. Most people would probably know that. I'm a glass half full person. And I was just like, I'm just gonna stick my head under the covers and I don't even want to get up. You know, I don't I don't want to go face the day. I don't want to, you know, take on those challenges. And and like you said, my primary care was like, well, you know, we can give you something to, you know, help give you, you know, this or that. And, you know, and it was like, no, like what is wrong with me? I just feel awful.

SPEAKER_00 59:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:50

And this is just not okay. And that was when I came to you, it was just like, this is not okay. I don't know what's wrong with me, but it's not okay.

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Yeah, I I think that brings up a great, a great point too that I I I forgot to mention. It's that um, I say in perimenopause, not quite as significant. However, in those post-menopausal gals, one of the things that I notice or they, you know, talk talk to me about is that they just feel not themselves. Their confidence is gone, their personality, they say their personality has changed, they have no desire to really engage. Um, it's it's more of it's kind of like on the depressive spectrum. Right. And naturally, because you've lost how I describe it is you've lost like prime ingredients to your recipe, which are hormones. So naturally, you're gonna be blah, you're gonna be down, you're not gonna feel like yourself. Right. And it is so um, it is so, how do I say this? When I generally see a patient for the first time and hear their story, and then when I see them for their follow-up, after we've worked to we've agreed on a plan and I see them, and when they walk into my office and they have a smile on my face and they tell me in various ways, this is the best money I've ever spent on myself. I am so glad I've done this. I feel like myself again, that right there is why I continue to do what I do. Right, right. Because that's what they need. And um, it it just truly is amazing, just from one time, like one visit. Of course, there's gonna be trial and error as we move forward um in health. Um, however, that alone is why I continue to do what I do.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:13

Right. Well, and your comment earlier about, you know, somebody, the doctor saying, Oh, you're too young to go into perimenopause or menopause or whatever. And that was what I'd been told too is like, oh, you you can't be, you know, at that point yet, and you know, whatever. And it's like, I I know I am. Like, I don't, this is not me, you know. And so then I spent a lot of time trying to find, you know, a doctor that because thankfully I'd had friends older than me who had already gone through it or were going through it. And so that helped to, you know, okay, well, I need to start doing some research and finding somebody local, you know, that does what they've been through. So yeah, it was I was getting told all those same things, you know, you're too young, you know, let's put you on some antidepressant, you know, whatever. No, no, that's not okay. That's that's just not it doesn't fix yes, it doesn't fix things. Yes, that gives me a band-aid and that stuff's very addictive.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:00

And yes, and and just understanding, just uh another simple understanding is um going back to we age much faster in today's world than we ever have. So I understand that maybe those uh guidelines or those um kind of that data that those uh providers are maybe referencing to, it's it's they're not have evolved into the world today, meaning um things have changed and and processes are happening, meaning that aging process is happening much quicker. Um, therefore, yeah, uh it maybe they're not, you know, 45 or 50 and starting perimenopause, what traditional literature shows. That's not the world we live in. Right. So update yourself.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:37

Right. Yeah. Well, and I looked back and remembered, okay, well, like my mom was in that same age when she went through it. My grandma, and so it was also like there are differences in different genes and different, you know, family history and things like that. So, not to totally age myself, but you know, they were about 10 years old, you know, younger when they went through it also. And so it's like, okay, well, this makes sense if they were that age when they went through it, and why wouldn't I be? And I've been trying to prepare my daughter and praying, preparing her husband as well. Sure, absolutely. Yeah, some things you have to look forward to. Yes, yes, definitely. You know, to watch out for even because sometimes you don't even recognize it in yourself as much right away as the people around you who like, okay, why why are you, you know, acting that way or why, you know, what is going on? And you know, sometimes others catch it in you a little sooner.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

And and I do say, you know, so uh that goes right in line with, you know, um, many of my patients will come and they feel they feel ashamed. They feel such ashamed of the way that they are that, you know, I I can't believe that I am, you know, I yell at my kids all the time and I do this and I do that. And, you know, of course, they're they're recognizing in themselves that this is not normal. Um, and they have a very short tolerance, they have this, that, whatever. Um, and and so it it rides right along with that. It's kind of a lack of, I say part of it is a lack of education that we've been given to as women to understand these next chapters in our lives. Um, as far as what does perimenopause look like? Nobody prepares us for that, right? Physically or emotionally, right? We are not young and spry all for for the rest of our lives. Like that's just not, that's just not how it works. But we naturally live in a mindset of that. Um, and we're not taught that this is what your body may look like after children, this is what perimenopause looks like, this is what emotionally the things that are gonna change. Right. And so we think because we're not how we used to be, that all of a sudden we should be ashamed of these things and this is not how it should be. And that's false. We have to accept these next next chapters, um, but we have to learn about them first, and there's just not enough education out there about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:36

Right. And you think you can just, well, I'm just gonna eat right. I'm just gonna take some supplements, I'll just it'll all just be fine, you know. And and again, like you said, a lot of our parents or grandparents or whatever just lived without hormones, and that was just okay, and that was accepted, and we saw some of them struggles, or we lived through those struggles because we were the you know the kids at home or whatever, but it was just you know, you just brush it on the rug. Nobody talked about it for sure. Nobody talked about it. Yeah, and I think that's one of the reasons why I was like, okay, I gotta have you back because we just we didn't even get to that discussion, and it's such a huge thing. I talk to women all the time and you that are like struggling with some of this stuff. And I'm like, ladies, like the it you can go ask questions. I mean, I had a friend of mine who I kept pushing for the last year or two. You need to go see Laura. Like, this is this is not just you know, take anxiety meds, take depression meds, like all this stuff. You and she's like, Oh no, I'm too young, or I'm, you know, this, or no, I feel fine when I take that. Yeah, but I bet you would feel better if you took this. Yes, and absolutely try this.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:34

Uh it's just yeah, and understanding, you know, to that, understanding that, you know, her symptoms are not related to, say, for an example, like an SSRI, so an antidepressant. Her symptoms are not related to like an antidepressant deficiency. Her her symptoms are related to a hormone deficiency. Right. Um, that are food that are fuel, it's it's food, it's every it's everything our body needs. So instead, yes, you can. I say it's of course patients. choose their journey. And so yes, of course, you can stay on those medications. However, you understanding, um, doing the research, asking questions, understanding that like what the value of actual hormones are, it's a whole nother world. Um and it's then I say after you've learned the the difference there, um, then make your informed decision.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

You know?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:20

Right. Well and we talked about that with the functional medicine discussion. It's not that sometimes you don't need other medications. But if you could fix the core, you know, like you said, the the basketball team is all in place, then that's fine. Now maybe there's still other things, but let's start with the core and have your basic medic, you know, internal metabolism how how do I want to say that? Your internal metabolic system that's the word I'm looking for you know that that is all in balance and right before you start taking all the other things. Cause yeah sometimes you still need other things or need a boost or you know whatever maybe or need help sleep or things like that. Although we've done a lot of that discussion too we have yes sleep is number one right that was that was one of the things we talked about last time. So um so and I think we've touched on this a little bit but who do you feel like lends to be a good candidate for hormone replacement therapies? And is that conversation just for women or should it be for men too?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:20

Yeah that's a great question too. You know there are on certain so so there are in in certain cases hormone replacement therapy is not ideal or recommended for for some people. For example if you have a clotting disorder um whether you have you know bioidentical or synthetics you do cannot get estrogen. The same concept if you have a true underlying seizure disorder you cannot get estrogen. So again I say this is where it comes down to the provider having a broad knowledge and understanding the safety of it all in in different cases and applying that to each person because in my opinion unless there's certain areas there that we just kind of touched on everybody can benefit from hormones. Now again hormone replacement therapy is not life saving therapy. We're not in the hospital we're not saving your life with hormones however it applies it to your longevity it applies to your um your your your wellness your health journey what your health picture looks like as you age um it's gonna look much different I think I talked about this on the previous podcast as well if you took yourself which say for example you miss Abra I know we couldn't do this it's not we can't do it. So you we we took your health picture prior to hormones um and then we kind of fast forwarded 10 years we looked at what it looked like or what your health looked like your health profile 10 years without hormones on board and 10 years with hormones on board. It's gonna look very very different. Right. Yeah so again I say that comes down to do I say everybody can benefit from hormones? Absolutely. Can everybody have it? No, unfortunately and then also we always think about women and hormones we're we're just associated with that but men have them too right um and so I do say men it's not that they necessarily get the back burner in in this world um but number one they're stoic they're prideful they're they don't have a problem um which is okay right that's very okay that's why we're from different planets. Right um but I always say that it is women have ovaries men have testes they are equivalent. So um they just produce different hormones right um and so it's the same thing with men. So they go through like a perimenopause for a lack of better terms. But their menopause is considered andropause. So testosterone is an androgen which gives it that name so andropause um their testes essentially stop producing testosterone over a while after a while. They don't present I say clinically when I compare them to my to my so I compare both males and females um men present a little bit different. So they usually are very their their hormone shifts are much more subtle so they will talk about how well I I just I just feel fatigued over the last couple years. They just don't feel like going to the gym anymore. They're not like mood changes and like a light switch and then now you know we can feel happy one day and not the next like women men are much more stoic but I say that it's also because their hormone shifts happen essentially more gradually okay um women that's not the case for everybody. It can be literally like one day for the dropped all the yes absolutely um so around 45 I say typically is what I generally is my guys that are coming into my office it's around the age 45 and if I could put all the you know um information that they've given me the clinical meaning the clinical pictures I would say it's usually they say um the last couple years so 45. So I'd say you know early 40s is when men are kind of starting to to feel that way. Okay. Um yeah and they they it's the same same concept so I um testosterone of course there are synthetic versus bioidentical forms. So I only offer bioidentical at my office so that pretty much removes uh synthetic uh testosterone injections so you hear a lot of guys that are on injections and that's fine that's their prerogative um as long as they understand the safety profile on it that is much different than a bioidentical right well and I think also just like we've talked about you're also not just looking at the testosterone you're gonna be looking at that you know whole person.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:33

Yes. And and I would say that is also really a quality of life thing is not just that it's you know bringing you levels and you know things like that. It is really changing that quality of life. Yes. Because you're not just helping your health journey you are really helping that long-term quality of life because you're not gonna feel so miserable man or woman you're not gonna feel so miserable you're not gonna feel like I don't want to go to the gym you're not gonna feel like I don't even want to get out of bed today. Yes you know maybe you're not gonna be as snappy with the kids I hope and you know things like that. But also like we talked it's it's such a different thing at a different age you know you know I know you've said that people you know even um after having babies you know your hormones change and then some people you know they just they're kind of like always in that flux. Some people just it levels off. I mean like again everybody's different. Yeah absolutely Laura as you've worked with patients over the years because I know you've been doing this for quite a while now what's the biggest transformation you've seen happen when someone finally gets their hormones balanced or at least you know starting to be a little level on there and starts addressing the root cause of their symptoms?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:37

Yeah I I'm I I'd say um they get their health back. Right. They get their wellness back. They get their drive back they get them back um for lack of better terms. Right. It is not you know again hormones are not for everybody. So there are certain cases out there, I say on a rare occasion um that hormones just are not that piece of the puzzle that they need. And that's just a you know just a different it's it going to be anywhere. However hormones in general kind of as we had talked about previously um about that that drive that that um your desire your want to your ability to engage with others um when we have no hormones on board we don't want to do any of that. So if we naturally continue to go through life and feel that way we're we're um you know gonna just feel blah all the time right so bringing hormones back on board I say can give you it is a piece of the puzzle it's not the only piece um it's a piece of the puzzle to give you the the want to to give you all of that stuff back for you to get back in the gym for you to start building your muscles for you to um protect your brain you're gonna have that better brain quality um better sleep all of that good stuff that goes back to just standard health right that we all deserve right living a better life living a better life not just absolutely being miserable or or those around you being miserable even if you don't think you're miserable those around you maybe being miserable. Absolutely right um I mean there's so in in there's so many things like of course everything is so individualized. So you know I've had I have had so many people you know present to the same way. However there's still just little um you know in certain things that some people say to me because that's their journey but I I recently had a female uh no hormones on board anything like that and one of her biggest complaints that she said is she just she isolates herself right um that kind of goes back to those mood things we talked about right so yes it we are humans therefore um you know mood fluctuations are are very normal um but it depends and when you go from being a happy bubbly person meaning that personality and that kind of character um and then now all of a sudden you're in postmenopause and you isolate yourself you know that that's not normal. Right. And you didn't just all of a sudden get depressed. Like that's not that's you don't have a you didn't just all of a sudden get depressed. It's purely a an um like a presentation from the the hormone shift.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:00

Right your body finally says I I I'm done I don't I don't want to do this. It has no fuel and it just has no energy no fuel no you know you're missing part of the ingredients as we've talked about.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:10

And um so estrogen, you know estradiol right there's I say estrogen as a very umbrella term. You know there's three types of estrogen and of course I won't bore you with this type of stuff this is more of like medicine. But when so our mitochondrios we all know what those are right you know what those are right I do all the little cells in there powerhouse and cells right so it gives your cell um the energy that it needs and or you know creates that. Well estrogen when you see like estrogen's a food source for that particular that mitochondrial function. So when we see and when we see that say perimenopause it's not that your ovaries are um no longer working that's your postmenopause um but your your estrogen uh kind of reserve or I say uh tank of gas is kind of uh dropped so like your your baseline's much more low compared to what your previous baseline was when you were you know having you know the time of your life and your ovaries were you know in their prime childbearing years.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:06

So when you see that now you have to think how it happens like from a from a biochemical standpoint, you know now you have a little bit less gas to get the fuel into the cells. And now your cells are like eh I'm kind of tired. I can't do my job today.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:21

We think of ourselves and maybe it's just me being nerdy I don't know because I'm nerdy I say that's why I do what I do. We think of ourselves as humans. So me and you we see you I see you so my brain sees you but we're made up of cells like we literally are made up of cells. And so when we understand like our body's needs when you get down to that like cellular level it can make much more sense to you. Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:43

Yeah right well and as women also we power through we're just like naturally yeah I'll just I'll just you know have a cup of caffeine and I'm just gonna I'll just deal with it whatever it'll be fine. I'll worry about that tomorrow. You know exactly yeah you know it's just it's just it I just don't feel great today you know I'm just tired today you know I just I had a rough day whatever you know we just kind of brush it off until it gets to that extreme too you know which that was part of my case was I had to have had to have a hysterectomy at an earlier age because of other health complications. And I'd asked the doctor at that time, you know, well do I need to think about hormones you know whatever and he's like you know let's see how things go you know give it a little while you know and and sometimes you know you just level off and you're fine and you know whatever. And it was like okay well I'm fine. Yeah well nine years later when I finally just crashed because obviously it had been depleting for some time and I had not done anything about it because you know I'd been told you know you should be fine and waited a lot too long. Yeah sure but as all of us do again just powering through you know until it was like this is not okay and then finally found you and was like yeah look at these labs and then it all was like aha moment of no wonder I feel awful. Yeah you know and it was very validating to not just be like this is my life now this is how I feel now this is what I'm gonna go through for the next many dozens of years because I'm not that old.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:12

Yeah. And and so I you know I I don't there are wonderful providers in both worlds functional traditional that type of thing and so I do say I'm hearing a little bit more you know of uh you know your traditionally trained doctors being a little bit more receptive to um you know prescribing or managing um you know some hormones however again remembering that you as the patient have to say whether you want synthetics or bioidentical because they are very different. But I I do say that there's a little bit more um willingness from from other providers to be to say hey here we go let's you know get some hormones on board right but it also patient outcomes you know their um what what their outcomes look like also depends on that provider's ability to manage the hormones it's not just about saying hey here you go here's your estradiol here's your progesterone it's about managing right um and listening and hearing that clinical picture and knowing those changes um because I always say that if a patient is on one medicine like prescriptive dose for 10 years um that is absolutely absurd because their body has needed much different trends ups and downs and this and that um therefore that is just poor management.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:27

Yeah nothing I mean even taking vitamin D's or different things like that you don't take the same amount forever you don't take the same amount different seasonally too like in the winter when we all hide inside and haven't seen the sun for months and you know all that kind of stuff it varies all the time which is why we do labs regularly you know not something you do every month and all that kind of stuff but you do it a couple times a year typically and you know check and see where you're at and you know if we suddenly going up too much or we you know going down or you know whatever. So yeah and that's you know like you listed some of those symptoms earlier of like getting UTIs all the time and you know and things like that. And you know and and again like you said the the traditional medicine they'd said okay well here let's try this try this I didn't know about biodential and I didn't know as many options you know as one person said oh there's this option there's this option I was like okay I don't really love either of those and then thankfully not long after that I had some other friends going through it and then you know learned from their journey as well and so could learn about patches and you know all these different you know all these different things it started going okay well because again what makes sense for your life and your daily schedule and you know what you can I'm bad about remembering to take stuff sometimes and you know and that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:36

So yes I I I fully agree. And that's when it comes down to you know when a patient say they want to start hormones you know understanding the provider's knowledge behind it all um understanding whether they're choosing to do the synthetics or the bioidenticals um because I say you've you've you've said every person is individualized. So if that provider is not individualizing that care or the method of delivery of those hormones, you might want to find somebody else because it's not a one size fits all. Right. And just because say somebody is a candidate for bioidentical pellets does not mean that everybody is going to benefit from bioidentical pellets.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:11

Is there anything else that you would say is typically a misdiagnosed symptom or very commonly misdiagnosed that people come in and say, yeah my doctor said I was this when I when it was hormones that's a great question but I'm gonna answer it a little bit differently because I feel like there's so many common symptoms um that are associated with with menopause that we know.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:33

So your hot flashes your your um night sweats your fatigue your lack of motivation you just feel so tired all the time all of those are very common right when it comes to when it comes to lack of hormones um but the things that both that all that are I say very much associated with hormones are a lack of hormones but are not recognized that is um joint pain right joint pain so most this this is for male and females I say it's one of the top three symptoms of uh a lack of hormones on board is joint pain. Yes and and usually when I've worked with my patients to optimize their hormones um that's one of the symptoms that resolves and in understanding that uh hormones when they're done right right the bioethical aspect they actually have health protective properties anti-inflammatories being one of them so when we think about what joint pain is uh it's inflammation it doesn't you know it it so that with that inflammation alone now you get that anti-inflammatory hormone um not that it's its only job back on board they're like my my joint pain's gone um versus if you take that other trajectory you're gonna go get joint injections and cortisone and all of that wonderful stuff right um possibly a joint replacement later on um you know um when really you probably could have just benefited from some hormones um the other thing frozen shoulder frozen shoulder in females is really highly highly linked to a lack of hormones yes yes uh yes and learn something new today yeah and then uh the other one that's I find very interesting because I have patients say it to me particularly women um alcohol intolerance they say I've gone through life you know when they're they're regular you know um feeling fine or can have this kind of beverage then beverage and then they will say all of a sudden I just feel when I drink I just can't tolerate it anymore feel crappy usually comes down to feeling crappy or they're getting flush like meaning when they drink something they just feel flush like not drink something meaning alcohol right um they they feel like they just can't tolerate it they get hot they feel like um it makes them sick that is a lack of hormones really wow yeah it's pretty interesting very interesting of those kind of symptoms because like you said we do know all about the traditional ones but I would never relate you know getting flush from alcohol or joint pain or frozen shoulder any of those things with you know with hormone levels but also again the frozen shoulder the joint pain all makes sense when you're talking about the anti-inflammatory you know parts of that and how much that helps with it's just it's amazing it is yes it is amazing yeah so many different things and that's why I wanted to talk about this because again I have so many friends because I am that age that are you know struggling with this who are trying to just get through life and just are miserable you know they're just they don't feel right they don't feel good they don't you know like I said their their other doctors have given them anything from antidepression things to anti-anxiety things and you know and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:29

And it's just like I've known you for a long time. Like you are not a you know depressed miserable you know person.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:35

You you're like me I don't I surround myself with people who are also glass half full you know and yeah and so it just it struggles you know to see those people just you know really really struggling you know yeah and I always encourage everybody this kind of goes for everything but understanding that not one person um you know is going to offer or do hormones the same way and so as we mentioned earlier make sure that you are doing your research and I'm not talking about you know so if you're doing your research on hormone replacement therapy don't go to Chat GPT. You know it is not it is not going to give you great great information. And oftentimes I will have patients say well this kind of goes back to that first question you asked me that hormones are unsafe. Well because what they went to Google and saw the top three that are sponsored given you know probably uh scripted data right you know right so understanding that I'm talking when I say research talk to your friends that are doing it um talk to go out there and look for different providers go online and look for different providers you can see so for example you know you have somebody that has a primary care we need them right but are they specialized in hormones? No not likely can they give you the baseline and can they manage it well? Probably um but finding out what provider you align with and that you know um seeing what they do what is their history of it do they do hormones themselves meaning is that part of their wellness journey right um all of that stuff is going to get you where you want to be you know and not just a a lot of times too not just a primary care who's a family practice maybe somebody who specializes in women's health or you know and is seeing women through that whole journey of okay you know and the other thing that I also say that I see a lot um and it kind of makes me cringe is that you have a lot of these uh aesthetic or wellness practice wellness practices aesthetic practices that type of thing that are offering hormone replacement therapy and it's not that they may not be doing and they may offer bioidenticals however understanding that that is likely just um that's not their specialty they kind of offer of multiple things so you have to consider that when you're in what outcomes you're looking for. Um well because that can play a role in in how you feel and what the right thing is for you.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:47

Yeah I did look at one of those type of aesthetic type of places and I also just felt like you didn't actually see the doctor or the nurse most of the time it was just you know a technician type of you know and and it was no I really want to I mean you and I sit down and have a discussion of like okay how are you really feeling not just you know what's on my labs how are you really feeling what's going on you know what kind of stress have you been through you know what and so because that also helps you relate those labs to why you're seeing them here or there or do we need to up this or do we absolutely you know decrease this or or whatever so yeah I think um again I absolutely have a passion I love to do what I do you know this by now um so that is one thing that I will not let come in between me and my patient care is ultimately I want to see my patients.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:30

I see my patients every time does that minimize the my ability to be able to bring on all new patients under the sun absolutely right um but I love what I do and so I'm not gonna compromise that time with my patients. I think um yes could I I could get um you know technicians MAs that type of thing or RNs in there to do some things but I love my time with my patients. Right. And it helps me connect those dots you know versus hearing it from a third hand or that type of thing I can talk directly to the patient and I think that that is a huge factor when it comes to how the patient's outcomes are.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:00

Right, right, absolutely and like I said before like I've also noticed a difference in just even my primary care now going to somebody who specializes in women's health who has you know just seen that journey more through you know a whole lot of women and not just you know family practice where it's women and men and older and younger and you know and just such a diverse you know diverse really and because it is all putting it together. You still need that primary care you still need all those you know things you got it just putting all the pieces together. Absolutely keeping the puzzle in place to cut that so you know I think Laura we could sit here and talk for hours. I don't know how long it's been already but we could sit here and just continue on and on. I agree I just you know always love the conversations I love how much we can share because I really want people to understand that they don't have to hide and be miserable. And you know there are options out there. You know, find your person doesn't matter where you are start a research find your person. Find your person yeah you know it it's it's there's options out there I guess is what I'm just trying to make sure people know I don't enjoy seeing women miserable and seeing them suffer men or women but you know I think women just kind of bury it a lot more than men does absolutely I would agree. So Laura thank you again for doing this it's amazing. Yeah we could probably still have another episode continue on you know and I guess guys as you have guys or girl gals as you have questions that maybe we didn't answer yeah comment send us a message you know hey and and maybe we will put together another podcast and say okay we didn't answer these questions let's you know let's get to that so if someone wants to learn more you can go to Prime Revival Health and Wellness you can find her online you can find her Facebook page you know our website take a look if you want to contact her about hormone therapy or functional medicine um it just contact us let us know like I said send a message and and maybe we'll do another one we'll we'll think about next time like what didn't we talk about this time so between the last two episodes yeah that's great thank you so much thank you Miss Abraham my tip this month is all exciting stuff title and legal descriptions sound so fun and something you don't need to worry about you think I've had two clients just recently that have major discrepancies between their title and their legal description. So it is definitely something that you want to make sure you are checking you are looking at and you have someone professional making sure this is getting reviewed and don't just think that the title company's taking care of it and don't just always think that the quick claim deed or even the attorney is taking care of it. You need somebody to double check and double check that information. We appreciate you listening if you enjoyed this episode be sure to follow listed wherever you get your podcast