.jpg)
The Carolina Contractor Show
The Carolina Contractor Show
How to Choose Your Realtor....feat. Ashton Dixon!
Think homeownership is out of reach? This eye-opening conversation with real estate expert Ashton Dixon might change your mind forever! We peel back the curtain on the home buying process, revealing pathways to property ownership that most people never discover...
The journey begins with finding the right realtor – someone genuinely invested in your success rather than just chasing a quick commission. Ashton walks us through her meticulous buyer consultation process, a 30+ minute educational session that equips clients with essential knowledge about contracts, terminology, and financing options. This approach stands in stark contrast to agents who skip this crucial step, leaving home buyers vulnerable to costly mistakes.
What truly sets exceptional agents apart is their ability to make offers stand out in competitive markets. Through a fascinating breakdown of her multi-touchpoint communication strategy, Ashton reveals how professional presentation and relationship-building with listing agents can transform your chances of securing a property, even against seemingly stronger bids.
The most surprising revelation comes when discussing financing options. Contrary to what many believe, some programs offer financing without restrictive conditions. Whether you're a first-time buyer intimidated by the process or someone who's tried and failed to enter the market, this episode provides actionable insights and renewed hope..The path to your dream home might be shorter than you think...all it takes is connecting with the right professional who knows how to navigate today's real estate landscape known as the MLS!
Listen now and discover how the right realtor can transform your homeownership journey!
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with your host, general Contractor Donnie Blanchard. All right, so there's talk about with daylight savings time or standard time and making it permanent. If you would pick one of the two, donnie, which would you pick?
Speaker 2:That's a tough one. I'd have to think that through. But I think in my world the way it is now works for me, but I don't know any other way, I like the long summer nights.
Speaker 1:I know some people with younger kids don't like the long summer nights because they said it's hard to get your toddler to go to bed at eight o'clock when the sun's still out. But our kids survived and we did it with three of them. So I like the long summer nights when it gets dark at like 845, nine o'clock. Agreed, All right. So I changed Donnie's mind, made him take a stance. Finally, and welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show. My name's Eric Smith. I do inside sales for Home Builders Supply in Wilson, Greenville. Donnie over there, who we just convinced that long summer nights are better, he owns Blanchard Building Company. He owns Sure Top Roofing and he's a general contractor and on our show we like to talk about building usually and things that relate to it, and today's subject we'll get to in a sec will relate to building and houses definitely. Plus, we have a special guest that I'll let Donnie introduce, but let me just tell you it smells good in the studio today because we had to pick up all the socks and empty pizza boxes because he said we got a guest that you know. You got to have a clean place, so we did that today. All right. So we have a website called thecarolinacontractorcom. That's the best place to go to find more information about the show. Because you want to listen to a past episode of the show, We've got links to it because we have everything in podcast form and so you can get the show based on the title or when it was aired or the subject matter and you can listen to it that way. We also have the YouTube site so you can see us and you'll be able to see our guests, and you can also ask a question you might have about the show or your house or a project or anything by asking the contractor. That's an actual button on the website you can click on and it goes to Donnie and then he'll answer those questions. And once in a while we do a show of nothing but questions and maybe we'll get one of those in the near future.
Speaker 1:But, as we said, today we have a guest and this dovetails into a couple of previous shows. We did Donnie. We did one on having a banker, people wanting to buy a house. They want to know mortgage rates and how do you get loans. And then the week after that we did one a return on your investment, Usually when you're selling a house, you want to do some things to increase the value of it, but you don't want to do something too custom, like, hey, I want a bathroom that's all black.
Speaker 1:You want to do things that's going to make a buyer go ooh, I like this house. So we did our previous show on things that were more North Carolina specific return on investment improvements you could do to your house. That show again you can listen to. But today we want to bring it all together, put a big bow on it and talk to the people who are actually buying a house. And people who are buying a house are going to need somebody that's very important to do that process and that is a real estate agent. And Donnie, you had the connection, so please introduce our guests.
Speaker 2:Yep, today I have the pleasure of introducing local real estate extraordinaire Ashton Dixon. Ashton is a friend of mine but also, I would say, my personal realtor, because that's very fair. I send folks her way all the time and I get nothing but rave reviews. And, ashton, I can't thank you enough. I know you have a busy life, but thanks for coming in today and talking to us.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Well, let's start this off real quick, because people buying a house today, ashton, don't know the first step to take, and we want to also address some of the fears that people have about the possibility of buying a house they think is out of reach. Before people go to find a realtor or buy a house, what do you recommend they do to start that process?
Speaker 3:Do the research education. It could start from looking up local realtors, looking at reviews, asking family, member or friends hey, what do you know? Who do you know? Look on social media that's another huge thing that people do to look for realtors. I would say 100%, look up realtors and look at their reviews, because we know every realtor is not going to be for everyone. Everybody has their own methods of doing things and really just finding somebody that clicks with you and, you know, has that education that you're going to need to get you where you're going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely I'll second that, Ashton, because realtors are all over the place and, just like you said, not everybody is right for everybody else. That goes both ways. So you know I'm sure that you run into homeowners that are very demanding and some people are just go with the flow, pretty darn easy. But yeah, do your research. Folks and realtors are, I want to say, a dime, a dozen, but that's not really true because everybody you've got them. I'll just be blunt about it. There are a lot of lazy realtors out there and if you're really trying to sell or buy, you want to hustle her and I've said that before on the show but somebody who really gets after it and that's in tune with the market and basically just well connected. I know that you and your husband tied into the community. The boys play every sport in the world, so you're constantly at games and I think that gives you a big advantage and I know how well tied in you are. So I think that's super important for folks to do their research and get somebody similar to yourself.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean, you can't get out there enough, to be honest. But I agree, you really just have to find that person that's going to work with you for you, and you'll be able to tell you know you need to interview a good amount of realtors If you feel like the first one or two is I don't really know Cause, when you know, it's like they say, when you know, you know.
Speaker 1:Could you start off a step-by-step process? When someone comes to you and they say I'm in the market to buy a house, what's the first thing that happens?
Speaker 3:The first thing that I always do and this is obviously just etiquette, because things happen. So I always say first question out of my mouth are you working or have you spoke to sign any any with any other realtor? Because I don't want to be that one stepping on somebody's toes where they have a client and the client comes to me and then I have them come into me like, hey, why are you helping my client? So we're going to find out if they are talking to a realtor and, if so, kind of lead them back to that if they are indeed getting help. If not, I'm going to set up an initial buyer consultation. There's a lot of ways you can go about it. You could go about it by saying, okay, do you have a lender in mind and have you gotten pre-qualified? Or you can say, okay, let's set a time where we can meet for coffee. We can do a Zoom, we can do a phone call, whatever is best for you to do a buyer consultation, which is what I would recommend. I wouldn't necessarily throw them to the wolves and the lenders, because that stuff can be scary if you don't know what you don't know and you're going into a full-blown conversation and you don't even know what due diligence money is. So that's where I come in setting up that initial buyer consult which basically goes start to finish, every little detail of what the process is, what my specific process is, what makes me different. It's going to go over even my family. I introduced me. I have two little boys that are seven and eight, my husband, because I want them to know I'm a person too. So I get it.
Speaker 3:Life happens, things happen along the way, so I want you to know me as a person and then you know, in business, I want you to know me as your realtor as well. So it would start there and I have a 20 page buyer consultation that they get, that it's there for them. But we go through that and that typically takes about 45 minutes, depending on how many questions they have. You know you have to answer all the questions and make them feel at ease, teach them and educate a lot of them, because a lot of people don't know what anything is, and that's most important, and I feel like that sets the bar really high. After doing that and saying, ok, if you don't feel like I'm the person for you, go and interview other realtors. They go to other realtors who don't even have a process or a consultation or anything.
Speaker 3:But long story short, the buyer consultation that's going to set up. It's going to tell you, it's going to show you a contract. It's going to tell you what due diligence is, earnest money, the definitions of all of those. It's going to give you the start. To finish, it's going to give you three lenders that you know I personally work with on a daily basis. If you have somebody, great, go with them. But these are ones that I've worked with. I've did 12 to 24 deals a year with. Haven't had any issues. They're highly recommended and it just goes into every little. We could do a session in itself on just a buyer consult and all of the details that you go through and what we're seeing in the market, which changes, obviously, weekly.
Speaker 2:How many realtors don't do that? I would say a lot.
Speaker 3:Probably a good amount. I can't say a number, because I meet with a lot of. I have a lot of, I wouldn't say a lot. I have a good amount of quality agents that I talk to on a weekly basis that are just the best people around and they have great reputations and they're all doing consults and they're all. But I know there's a ton of agents that I've never spoke to. I don't know who they are.
Speaker 3:They're showing my listings or they're up against me as far as when I go to present a buyer offer, but they aren't doing half of what I'm doing, which is it gives me I shouldn't say this, but it gives me more energy for my buyer because I'm like, yeah, bring your offer, because I know that we're bringing it, plus 10 other things behind it, like we're good with that. You know, I would have wished to say that 90%, 80 to 90% of agents do what I do and I know a good amount do, but I probably not even half of them, to be honest, just because everybody does think when you get in real estate easy, quick money, big dollars, and while when I started really getting into it at COVID, that was the case, but that had a whole different other factor you had to win those houses up against tons of different offers and people doing crazy things, so that was in itself a whole different ballgame. But as far as that goes, probably not enough.
Speaker 2:They're just trying to get that quick paycheck which is I'm very much set apart with that, because this is not paying my light bills, luckily, and I don't know the answer to this and I actually just thought about this before we got started, so I don't want to surprise you with a loaded question. But the MLS a lot of people don't even know what that is and that that's a thing. But what is the advantage of having exposure to the MLS versus just an internet search? Because you know you've got Zillow and some other sites out there. You know realestatecom or whatever it is, and I know a lot of people just like to search that way before they contact a realtor. But what are some advantages of MLS?
Speaker 3:Major advantage is when you're just searching like realtor in Zillow, it's going to give you that generic information. It may give you the listing agent, obviously, that you could call and talk to. But if you have a realtor that's within the MLS, it's going to give you documents like the residential property disclosure which is typically going to tell you a bit about the whole house. It's going to tell you the roof, the HVAC here you know, depending upon what the sellers know and can fill out. If they don't know it, they're putting no representation or you know that they don't know. Otherwise it's going to give you every bit. I mean I can't remember how many pages it is because they do update the forms, but it's pages of information on the home. So it is.
Speaker 3:I think it's a very key part of even before I go show a house to a buyer. I'm looking up that house, I'm getting all that information and I'm sending it to my buyer because if they know they don't want to buy a house, that let's just say a roof that has a 40-year roof, they're not going to want to have to replace it. And I'm seeing an RPD where the house was built in 1980 and there's nothing about a roof and you go to look and it looks pretty bad. They're probably going to rule that one out before even wasting their time to go see it. But it gives you a lot of insider information. As far as the home, a lot of times agents will put private agent remarks which are things that the seller may want to put in there but not necessarily want to put for all of the public to see. But if you have a realtor, they're going to see that private agent remark and then they're going to be able to relay that information to you.
Speaker 1:Ashton, when it comes to the buyer, and they find the house and we know that houses have multiple bids, let's say all the bids are relatively in the same range how do you make your buyer's bid stand out?
Speaker 3:There's a lot of key factors. That's like a loaded question, but I'll give you a prime example. It's going to kind of give you the process and the layout of my style, going from when we're going to go look at a house to when we're offering, because it kind of you got to tie it all in. So if I know we're going to go look at a house, first and foremost I'm obviously going to schedule it and then I'm going to reach out directly to the agent. I'm going to introduce myself, say thank you so much for letting us see the house compliment, it's a great listing. So much for letting us see the house Compliment, it's a great listing, congratulations. Everybody likes to hear that and people cheer everybody on. It's a good thing. So after that I'm going to find out from the seller standpoint, because everybody talks about we want to click, quick, close, we want cash. Well, that's not always the case. Sometimes somebody may be building a home and they need a longer close. So I'm going to reach out. I'm going to say is there anything specific as far as that the seller is looking for that or that you want to disclose, to let us know? Sometimes they will say you know, we need a seller possession. It would be great if they could get that and didn't have to pay anything. Or we would love a 28 day close. This is an investment property or this is a property that they inherited. They're not trying to hang on to it, it's just you know. So finding that out, that's going to be the most important for me. At that point we go, we look at the house. They love it. I'm then going to leave the house and I'm going to call the agent again, probably after a day or two, telling them that we're going to go view it and find out that information. So this is going to be like my second touch to that agent and I'm going to basically verbally give them the feedback that my client you know my client loves the house. You know they could, they could see it being their home. They could see themselves creating memories there. You know, thank you again for letting us show it. Just going to give you a heads up. We're going to send an offer your way. You again for letting us show it. Just going to give you a heads up. We're going to send an offer your way, wanted to verbally let you know. Like they are overqualified A lot of times my people will I will recommend going to a lender, talking with the lender.
Speaker 3:It depends on their finances because it can get sticky, like if they're an FHA loan and this is going into banking world, so I won't get that far into it. But if I know their loan is like kind of sticky sometimes I'll even go to the extent of calling the lender if it's one that I use regularly and I've did it multiple times and say hey, do you want to ride and see this house with our client? I'll let them know verbally what our offer is and let them know I'll be following up with an email. In the email that I do, because I can't tell you how many times on listings I've gotten offers and I've almost jumped over them in my email and that may sound bad, but it's because they're sent through like our dot loop system. They're not sent via email. It's just like send an agent an offer and there's no information. It just shows a contract. So it could very well, you know, get tangled in with my own contracts. Or they'll send an email and be like thanks for letting us see the house, here's our offer and there's nothing.
Speaker 3:So in my email I'm introducing myself once again. This is the third time, so they're going to know my name and probably be annoyed with who I am, but they're not going to forget me. Introduce my clients, tell their name, tell again they love the house. I'm going to put all of our offer terms the offer price, the due diligence date, the due diligence amount, the earnest money, the you know the type of loan, any contingencies, anything we're asking. I'm going to put that all in a paragraph so literally the listing agent can just scan it and see what our offer is without having to scroll through the contract, which they're going to do.
Speaker 3:But that makes it a whole lot easier. Then I have a paragraph again on why they love the house. I have a paragraph on such and such is working with such and such at such and such's bank. They're pre-qualified. Here's all of her information and then basically just saying we really would love the chance to work with you. So that's kind of going above and beyond. It's setting up a presentation of an offer. So even if an offer comes along that outbeats us with a stronger due diligence, but they just send an offer and it's kind of sloppy and other realtors going to see the on the listing side they're going to be like this is really put together, you know, and you're kind of just setting the tone of how a transaction will be.
Speaker 2:I was going to say if I were the seller, I would and I know this isn't for every house, because some people don't like their neighbors. I love my neighbors and if I were the seller and you came to me with that and I remember, you know we were doing some of the flip houses and I remember how those offers came in, all over the place and they may be a little more due diligence, but this one was a sure thing and there's a lot that takes place between the offer acceptance and the deal closing. So that's another question there. But what I was going to say, the one thing you said, or my takeaway, would be that you would make me feel like that couple was a good fit. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:If you have a good neighbor relations, you don't want to sell the house to some crazy. Everybody wants the most money they can possibly get, but I think most people that are decent people have good neighbor relations and you know you don't. You care about who buys your house is what I'm trying to say, because that's been your home with your family for however long.
Speaker 3:So that would make a difference to me. And with fair housing you have you kind of have to be careful with that. Like I know, some people are for writing letters and some people are like, no, you can't do that. Well, if I have a client that's like I want to put a letter with my offer, please, I'll send it to the agent and say this is totally up to you. I won't read the letter. I'm like they just want me to send this along. If you don't want to pass it along, that is totally fine. If you do pass it along, just because I'm not going to tell my client, no, but I'm also not reading it. So, with that being said, we do. That's a sticky situation, but people do do those things still because, like you said, people's homes are their personal prize position, no matter shape, size, what they are, that's their home, so that's the most important to them. So of course, they're going to want to pass it along to somebody that really is going to take care of it.
Speaker 1:What are the risks of not using Realtor? You see for sale by owner. What's the risk for a buyer trying to buy a house without a Realtor?
Speaker 3:There's a lot of risk. Well, one, now, with everything, it's going to be really hard for a buyer to look at a house that doesn't have an agent. With the new law that came out last year when everything about the commissions came out, you have to have somebody show you that house. You have to have somebody show you that house. Now, if somebody went to a homeowner that had a house and said, hey, we want to see your house, we see you have a sign in your yard for a realtor, those people are more than likely going to contact their realtor and say, hey, such and such wants to see this, and Sally from next door really wants to see it, but like they're not working with a realtor, what do I do? That realtor that's listed in the house is probably going to say shoot me their number because they have to have a signed document to get in that front door to see the house. Now they could sign that document and it could only be for a one showing listing. So you're not signing anything that's tying you to an agent for a number of months, but you're still going to have to sign it.
Speaker 3:And I don't know a ton of realtors that are going to be jumping at the thought of showing somebody a house that does not want to work with a realtor. But in that case I would be one that would do that because in my mind, in hindsight, I'm going to think, okay, they don't want a realtor, but do they really know what a realtor is? So if I'm going to get them and I'm going to show them that house for one time, I'm going to make sure that time matters. I'm going to let them know hey, I can help you, and more than likely. I mean there may be a slim chance that you may have to compensate me a little bit, but more than likely this seller may work with us to compensate me. So you just get me as an added bonus and on top of that, like I'm going to be able to make sure everything's compliant, make sure you're not getting taken advantage of, because you know these days that you hear it all the time a lot of people don't know what their home is worth.
Speaker 3:So as a buyer, you know you don't want to be overpaying. It's great to underpay, but if chances are, if you're going to look at a listing that has a realtor and you don't, you're going to be the one you know that's fallen behind. Because when you you don't know all of the documents, you don't know what's compliant, you're really just trying to buy a house and more than likely that listing agent I don't want to say you is going to take advantage of you, but they, they know what they're doing, they're working for their client for a reason. And it could be that the listing agent and I've had it before where I've had somebody that wants to see we're going to flip it that wants to see a for sale by owner home and I'm representing them as a buyer agent I'll call the for sale by owner and I'll say hey, I'm a buyer agent and I have a buyer.
Speaker 3:If I'm able, know you a willing and able buyer? Would you be willing to pay me a 3% commission if we bring you an offer that you know that's around what you want. So it's kind of flipping it a little bit. But also some agents will say you give me 4% and I'll handle. You know I'll handle the paperwork. But then that gets into dual agency and that's a whole nother topic too.
Speaker 2:Hey, I wanted to say this, so I don't ask you to say it.
Speaker 2:I know that there's been a lot of shakeup in the legislation with real estate law and that whole who gets what commission is. There's a lot to be determined in that area, but I'll say I always pitched it this way and I think a lot everybody that I'd say out of everybody, I told 70% of people didn't know that the seller, in most cases before this legislation shakeup, the seller paid the commission. So what you just said is if that is in fact the case, they get you as an added bonus, and I know that I've. When I turned you on to people, they said, well, my God, I don't know if I can afford a realtor. And I used to say look, you know, the person selling the house is paying the fee you get. You're basically getting a free professional to be your liaison through this whole process, and a lot of people just didn't know that and I'm careful with my wording because I know that's not the case anymore and that's your, your world, but it still works that way sometimes, Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it can be a sticky situation, but it's also very situational. As far as that goes, you could go into, you know, hey, I'm going to show you this house. Let me have this conversation and this is a part of my buyer console of hey, if, if per se, the seller is not willing to pay, a buyer agent, do you have willing to pay a buyer agent? Do you have and this would be me keying in the lender too, because sometimes the lender has credits that are able to help offset everything Do you have two and a half or 3%? Because, at the end of the day, I don't want to stand in between somebody being able to get a home, but also, like I don't want to do it for free either. So, you know, just having that conversation with them up front of hey, can you afford it? If this is the case, and then also talking about other situations, we could offer on this house and we could offer a little above. If comps pulled above, we could offer a little more and we could ask for a seller credit that's going to pay for your closing costs, slash commission fees. So there are ways around it and that's just where you have to get really creative and you really have to dig down deep with their lender and figure out what they truly could do.
Speaker 3:But I would say somebody, whether it be a first time homebuyer or a homebuyer that has not did it in a while, just to reach out, because you never know, you never know. I just helped somebody last year at the end of last year, just graduated college. He said I know that I'm not going to be able to buy a home for two years. I have to work and have income for two years and you know that whole two year mark and that was not the case. I got them with the lender. They had a letter from their current employer that they had a contract. We were able to get them under contract to brand new home with closing costs and concessions, and he thought he wasn't going to be able to buy for two years. But he would have never known that had he not just reached out and just made that one phone call of I'm just getting information.
Speaker 1:This is Carolina Contractor Show and we've been talking with real estate agent Ashton Dixon. I want to do a quick speed round. What this means is I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. You got to give me a 30 second answer. You think you can do it.
Speaker 3:Probably not. I like to talk, but we'll try. We'll try.
Speaker 1:Well, let's try to do it, because these are common questions. I want to make sure people hear an answer from a pro, from when they come to you and say how much is my home worth.
Speaker 3:What are the quick variables there? Quick variables are give me your address and that's basically all I need. What's your address? And if you want to get into the nitty gritty, you can tell me how much you owe, so I can tell you, when we do figure out your CMA, how much you can net from that. But really just your address. I'm plugging that into the MLS. I'm looking at the houses that are pending, that are on the market and that have closed and sold. I do ask them specifics as to have you had any updates, the roof age, all the tiny little specifics that they would need. Or, hey, what do you want to tell me quickly as far as what you've done to your home? And then I'm going to plug all that in and get it to you and generally I'm going to give it to them within 30 minutes to an hour after, and schedule a call and go over it and all of that.
Speaker 1:Question number two realistically, how long is it going to take to sell my house?
Speaker 3:That's going to be variable. So, when we essentially go to sell your house, are we choosing the method of we're going to price it low to get people on the door to drive the price up to what you want, or we're going to price it at market value to where we should be getting showings and offers? Are we going to price it a little higher to see it as far as if that works, knowing that if we're pricing it a little higher, we got to keep in mind that it's probably going to take us a little longer and we could have to price reduce it once or twice. If we're pricing it at the correct market value, it should go under contract depending because everything is so situational. It could be anywhere from one day, depending on the price point, to two to three weeks. If we're pricing it under market value, it should fly.
Speaker 1:From your experience, what are three things top of your head that a home seller can do to prepare their house for sale?
Speaker 3:First and foremost, deep clean. That's going to get rid of any smells and it's going to make everything just look better. Declutter A lot of people cannot see past clutter. As an agent in the buying world, I'm able to walk some of my clients through and I know if they can't see past it I will talk them through it. Hey, remember, all of this stuff won't be on the counter. You won't have that lime green wall, you know. But declutter is a big thing. A second big thing but not everybody wants to remove their personal belongings and those are their prized possessions in their house. So I'm not one to push that too much.
Speaker 3:So what did I say? Cleaning and decluttering? Well, I mean, you know that's. That's dependent on the buyer, because some people don't even. They're just like oh yeah, we'll replace it. Or you know, storms will come and insurance no.
Speaker 3:But third, I mean I don't know. I mean you could paint, but it's depending on what it looks like, because you don't want and this is where it gets hard, you don't want to throw your clients into doing stuff on the house. And then there's really, it doesn't hold as much value. You know like, paint your whole house, spend five thousand dollars, but you're not going to make $5,000 back to spend. You know, I, for me, personally, I would say landscape the outside of the house, make sure that, and I kind of. The reason I didn't say it is because I lump it in with cleaning, but I guess I shouldn't, because a soft pressure wash and a pressure wash and blowing the, you know, the driveway and trimming the bushes, those aren't cleaning things to people. So I would definitely say that to make sure your yard doesn't need to be immaculate, but the outside does need to be inviting, it needs to be clean, it needs to look put together, because nobody's gonna wanna see the inside of your house if the outside looks like the Addams family.
Speaker 1:We've always stressed curb appeal. I love this house and I haven't even walked inside of it yet You're setting the tone for the inside, definitely.
Speaker 1:Very good. Well, ashton, I appreciate you coming on the show. I'm glad Donnie was able to make connection because I think there's a lot of people, as we wanted to stress, that don't think they can buy a house right now, whether it's interest rates or they seem to be dipping, or they're not in a position to it or they go. I ain't got no money and you have lots of ways and information and just from being a pro at it, to say, actually I can find a house for you. You can do this. You just can't be afraid to ask a realtor to come in and talk to you and explain your situation. And next thing, you know, as I gave the example with my niece, they said we're not ready for a house for a few years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and throwing this just really quickly, just because you brought a light bulb into my mind. I work with two lenders and there are programs that they have that are paying 100% down and they are not NC housing. So it's not tying you to the house for 15 years that if you had to sell it you had to pay back all the interest. It's literally 100% down, no catch. Sometimes they even get $5,000 closing credit too. So there are a lot of programs out there that are paying 100%. So those first-time homebuyers that think we don't even have 3%, you may fall into that category or you may find that house that falls into that 100% financing too. So I've literally had a few clients last year that have gotten checks back at the closing table. They've gotten money back.
Speaker 2:I told you, Eric, the girl is good. Let me tell you how good she is. She found a really nice house for my ex-wife and she didn't even have a job. So I mean, it doesn't get any better than that.
Speaker 3:That's why it matters who you work with and the lenders that you work with. That is key.
Speaker 2:I'll put your information out there. I've got your email, I've got your number and a link to your website, so I'll put all that on the Carolina contractor, all the pages, rather, and I can testify to that. I have been fortunate enough to build Ashton and her husband's home, so I have watched her go through this whole process. She described, and she never turns it off, and you know, casey, he was giving her a hard time. He said, man, she never stops talking about real estate, but if you're looking for a realtor, I think that's what you want. So all good.
Speaker 1:You know what I want to do, ashton is, in the near future we'll have you on an episode and we'll take it from the seller's perspective because we did a deep dive into the buyers. So if you want to do that, we'll have our people call your people and we'll schedule a time when you can come on and say hey, instead of you're buying a house, you're selling a house. Why do you need someone like Ashton on your side to make that sale? So sound like a deal we can do in the future.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 1:Well, I want to thank everybody for tuning in and again, we'll have her information up on the website and all the social media and you can contact her if you're buying or selling a house and you want a pro someone on your side. She gave great insight and then in the near future we'll have her on again to talk to all you people who would like to sell your house and have a pro real estate agent represent you, and we thank you for tuning in to the Carolina Contractor Show. Thanks, Ashton, Great.