Friday is My Monday - Episode 12

This week on Friday is my Monday, we’re joined by one of our TOP producers, Cassandra—and she’s sharing some exciting news you won’t want to miss.

But more importantly, we’re diving into something that truly sets great agents apart: how we counsel our buyers. In today’s market, it’s not just about finding a home—it’s about protecting one of the biggest investments our clients will ever make.

We talk about what it really means to show up every single day for your clients, the responsibility that comes with guiding them through major decisions, and how to balance using technology while still understanding its limitations.

This episode is all about discipline, consistency, and the level of service it takes to do this job the right way.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Guess what? Today is Friday, and it's not just any Friday. It is Good Friday. And yes, it is still our Monday. And we have a special guest with us today. Hi. Hi, y'all. This is Cassandra. She is from our team. She is one of our top agents, and we have some really big news. You are officially a Texas homeowner. Texas homeowner again. Again. Again. Again, exactly. So this has been a journey.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

It sure has.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

So we thought we'd really talk about your journey because some of our buyers kind of go through this too. And you being a buyer in a market that was hard, looking for that right house. Right. It's been you you went through some trial and tribulation because you were looking for that unicorn. So you almost went forward with like two or three other houses. Right. And what was it about that kind of brought you to like, no, that's not it. No, that's not it. And you had to come to like a self-realization. So kind of just tell us about that process so we can help other buyers who were like, Oh, I gotta find it, I gotta find the house.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

So um I found that I did go under contract three times, and the fourth time was the charm, but with the other three, I was settling. I was it was out of desperateness, and I felt like I had to find a home because of my situation being in temporary home and all of that. But I would get to the option period, I would do my inspections and all of that, and I my heart, this wasn't my home. It just it wasn't the right fit for us. So I would back out, and then there would be, of course, things in the inspection. Sure, yeah. And that would just kind of be like cherry on top. But I saw things in this inspection too, but I didn't back out because it was the home.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Because it had the other characteristics because you were l really looking for like all of the things to line.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

And and there's the what we tell buyers every day is that that's just not always possible.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

And also because I have in the past have always had new homes, new home construction, moved in, everything's brand new, and I had to finally sit down and figure out what was most important to me. Right. Because two of the homes that I had um offers on were new construction, just not in the location that I wanted. And I really struggled with that until at the end of February when I sat down and I was like, write down three things that are most important. And location was the first thing. I wanted to be in central sugar land. And then I had to say, Well, there are no new constructions, and it does not exist. It doesn't exist, so therefore, you have to compromise something. What else are you willing to compromise? I wasn't about to compromise floor plan, space, not just floor plan, but the space that I needed and how it's set up, how just set up, you know, um how you're in a layout of things. So those two were the most important things to me. And once I realized that I wasn't going to compromise on location, then I knew that I would be getting an older home. Yeah. That I may need to like reset your brain. I did. When you looked at houses from a different perspective at that point because location was so important. So when this one property came on the market, it was in the location that both my husband and I wanted. And it's a beautiful floor plan, it's dated, but so are the other homes. And you know, I've talked with you know with my clients about the same thing. It's cosmetic. You can change a countertop, you can paint a wall, but I wasn't listening to myself. Right. You're listening to the advice that I was giving everybody.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

You give every day. Exactly. Because there's nothing more important than what's most important, which is location, and it's different for everybody, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:44

For us, it was location and the layout of that. It could be something completely different for someone else. So I think that's what's important. Absolutely. And you know, and I totally overlooked whatever flaws the house may have had. It's older, it's not the right colors, it's not the right counters, but it's both shiny.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

It's both shiny. We'll explain that on another podcast. Um, it's all good. So you've excited. When I saw you walk into it the other day, you know, during our walkthrough, you were like, like you saw it. Like the front door is beautiful when you walk up, it's a great location. It has the attached garage that you wanted, it has the backyard where you can actually open the door, let your chick play out, and you can, you know, sit there and drink coffee on a beautiful day. We've had some great weather, we're going into April. Oh, yeah. It's exciting. It's convinced.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

And I knew it the minute I walked in myself, too. And some of you may or may not know, but my husband travels a lot for work. So he, of course, wasn't here for closing today. His picture was with us. We should have shown that. I know, and he was not, he didn't actually see the house before we bought it. Um his opinion is not that important.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

No, not for the actual purchase.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Right. But it is.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

I mean, if you make him feel like it's important, we want you to be happy. He wants me to be happy, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, but really it's about you. It is. But I mean, he was on FaceTime when I was showing them, showing him the house the first time I walked in, and he's like, You have a sparkle in your eye, this is the house. Oh go do it. He did. He's like, I've never seen you so excited about a house. Just move forward. Uh-huh. And I was like, okay, this is very nice. Very nice. So it's a journey, and it's everyone's is different. But you just have to really be honest with yourself of what's important and don't try to do something that others think is right, think it's right for you. Yeah. You do what's right for you and your family.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah, for sure. No, and and that's ex uh so true. Like, so so true. And people have to understand what's important about what they're buying. And the buyer consultation is such an important time in a in a journey. Like, there's really nothing more important than that consultation so that people can truly get to know their realtor and their realtor can get to know them and say, what is important to you? And and I tell every single buyer, every single buyer, what you write down today in our first interview is gonna be totally different after we look at some houses. Yeah, just like it was for you. It was like it was, you know, these are the things, Audra, I have to have X, Y, and Z. And then, you know, by the end of your journey, you were like, actually, none of that is gonna work for me. I don't want that, I don't want this, I don't remember that one house that you looked at with the one story, and it was a really nice floor plan. It was pretty much it. But in the end, it wasn't just the inspection, it wasn't the right location. It wasn't the right location, and that was really the problem. I was settling. You were settling because you were like, okay, I can live here. And you could have. I could have. And you would have liked the floor plan that you lived in, but you wouldn't have liked the location. No, I wouldn't. Yeah. So so that's just it's it's a part of the journey of how we help people every single day and get to know them because sometimes realtors bring us offers and we'll chit-chat with them and kind of talk to them about okay, what do they like about the property? You know, how are they gonna use the property and and things like that? And I can't tell you how many realtors are like, well, I don't know. Like, are they pre-approved? I don't know. How much are they? Yeah, I mean, they don't even understand, like, how much are they putting down? Oh, I probably need to ask them that. It's like, what? How do you help someone go out there and look for homes without understanding what's important to them? Is it the price? Is it the down payment? Is it the location? Like, what is driving you to spend time with another human being on the most expensive purchase, most likely, of their lifetime without getting to know them. And it's the most emotional one, too. Absolutely. Like, I was at an open house and I was like, hey, what's your realtor's name? And they couldn't remember their realtor's name. And let me tell you, there ain't one client I have that does not know my name. Yeah. I promise you that. They know my first name, probably my middle name, probably my nickname, and my last name. And her kids' name. And my kid's name. And my name. Because it absolutely well, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Everybody knows my dog's name. I know.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

I thought, what's your husband's name? Your dog's name is Chloe, right? Yeah, no, exactly. So, okay, that's really exciting. So we were going to um talk about also on our podcast today about something that happened, and I thought this would be interesting to discuss because this is a little bit similar to your situation, but where a realtor did not get to know their client very well. So we get an offer on a house, and it's an okay offer. We end up, you know, negotiating a price that our seller was happy with. It was not full price. So, you know, she was a little bit like, eh, you know, should I wait? It wasn't on the market very long, but she went ahead and said, you know what? If the timing works for me, the dates work for me. I'm gonna go ahead and take it. Well, they did the inspections and they did um all these inspections, and they came so the realtor sends me the inspection, okay, and says, Hey, what do you think they should fix? I was like, I'm the listing agent. Nothing. I have the same thing happen with one of my answer is nothing. And she he goes, Well, I just figured we'd work it out first. And I was like, huh? I was like, okay, well, the house looks great. These inspections look fantastic. He said, Have you read them? I was like, no, but I don't need to because I'm you asked me a question and I'm answering it, right? Well, um, so he goes to his buyer and has no discussion with them. His buyer puts the inspection into ChatGPT. And ChatGPT has a lot of CYA in it. Of course it is. Right? Okay, if you don't know what that means, look it up, or maybe it's on the screen here. So ChatGPT gives them all these ideas and all these different things and these quotes that you need to get and how much everything costs. I don't even think he put that like the cost of stuff, it wasn't even like the cost of what it is here in Houston. It's the it was the cost in some other place because a range, too. Oh, there's like these ranges, yeah. Yeah, yeah, like this is gonna cost like$29,000. I'm like, okay, this house was$500,000, first of all. Okay, um, this item was not going to cost that price, so it was a way overkill. And um, so the guy sends me the realtor, the buyer's agent sends me all of their notes from Chat GPT, and I was like, so what are you asking for? They said, all of this. And I was like, No, right? So there was no conversation, there was no conversation, and so he was just forwarding the emails back and forth, and he was not counseling his person on it, right? So when I have an inspection, I read it, I find out what's important to my clients. I also know them, so I already know what's important because we went ahead and did a bunch of research on the property. And you probably putting in an offer. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

And you when you walked with them when you were on the showing, you were actually looking at the house, not checking emails and texting. No, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah. I mean, we asked about the mechanicals, you know, how old is the age of the case?

SPEAKER_01 10:31

But look at the foundation.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Now, we're not inspectors, but no, we're not gonna counsel on that. But we could see if something was out of place, and if something was out of place, we'd make sure to mention that to the inspector, like, hey, let's take a peek at this because it's old, or this looks a little funny, or there's some water under the sink, or whatever, right? Like there's a stain on the ceiling that looks still. Suspicious. Right. Like, hey, we need some explanation here and find out what's going on. And so that guy ended up busting out of the deal. Okay. This is the crazy part. We put it back under contract for over full price and negotiated the repairs because the buyer's agent did an excellent job of talking to her client, having a conversation with them, and counseling them on what the inspection was saying. Now, they're not interpreting it, they're not acting like, you know, um, you know, inspectors or contractors or anything like that, but we have read enough inspections. Right. I I mean, uh I've sold well over what 2,500, 3,000 homes. So we have read a lot of inspections.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

We we have and really it's also about setting expectations. If you're buying a house that's that was built in 1986, you need to understand that there's certain things that are not gonna be what you're gonna find in a house that was built in 2014.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

You know, they're gonna have to provide GFCIs and ASCIIs. And they weren't code back then. They weren't, yeah. So we are not gonna ask a buyer or a seller to replace their entire electrical, you know. But you you, as the their agent, need to understand that. Yeah, and then you have to set the expectation because they don't know that's why you're there.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

And you're not getting a brand new house if the house is not brand new, right? And so you have to say, okay, did I get a fair price for this house? Did I not get a fair price for this house? What did I pay for? And what do I what is truly important to me? And so that guy who didn't get the house probably really wanted it.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

But because he did not understand the process or get counseling from his realtor to understand the process, it ended up just completely going left field.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

And can I just say that the realtor was not like a newbie? No. This was an experienced realtor.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Yes, this was an experienced realtor.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

This is not somebody who got their license yesterday or even during the COVID. Because those transactions could have all been nightmares.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah, exactly. Or so easy that they didn't have to negotiate anything, or they always did money, or they always didn't do the listing agent, and the listing agent decided. Exactly. You know, so anyway, so I just, you know, AI is definitely something that we use to make our team more amazing. However, there is some limits to it, and you do need to understand what you're typing into that computer so that your output is going to not steer you in the wrong direction because it can definitely do that too.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

It can.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

So, all right, guys. Well, listen, thank you so much for listening to us. We are getting busy for our weekend. It is Easter weekend, so we will be taking Sunday off unless somebody calls and wants to see a house mill today, then we're available. And um, but other than that, we're gonna eat some pot roast. I'm gonna eat some roast. We're making roast in a Dutch oven this week.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Oh, you are?

SPEAKER_00 13:34

I'm excited. And we're going to church, of course. So um, congratulations. Thank you. I'm we are so happy for you and your family to be Texas homeowners again and to get out of that rental. So anybody else who wants to get out of their rental and is like feeling like they can't find that unicorn, you know who to call.