The Real Reason Top Agents Love the Real Estate Career

Discover the real reason top agents love their career in real estate, and how it can lead to a fulfilling and lucrative agent life. As a real estate agent, you have the potential to earn a significant agent income, but it's not just about the money - it's about the freedom and flexibility that comes with being your own boss in the housing market. In this video, we'll explore the benefits of a real estate career, from the rewards of helping people find their dream homes to the opportunities for growth and development as a realtor. Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your real estate business to the next level, you'll learn valuable real estate tips and gain insights from experienced realtors who have made a successful career in the industry. By understanding what drives top agents to love their job, you can set yourself up for success and build a thriving real estate career that brings you financial rewards and personal satisfaction.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

All right, we're here still in May. We're talking to Mr. Stratton Goins and Misty White. How are you guys today?

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Good. Good, good. Hope you are.

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah. Just uh trying to get through kind of a I mean it ain't really a difficult market, but it's a different market for sure. Um I personally had more going on last year this time than than I do now, but you guys are rocking and rolling.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

See, I'm the opposite.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

We're two rock stars here. Well, you had you had less last year. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Yes, I have more going on this year. So well that's good.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

That's a blessing. That's a good feeling.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

That's a blessing, yes.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Um, we'll talk about a few things. What what did uh what got y'all into the wonderful world of real estate career? Because uh either one of you guys, it wasn't me. You know, y'all came to y'all came to help with reality. So what I'll start with Misty, what what got you into this?

SPEAKER_02 1:02

I liked helping people. Um and you know, I did teaching, so and I I don't know, I I guess I just got burned out with teaching, but I still like helping people. And so that was I thought, hey, I can help people buy their forever home, sell their home, you know, whatever. And that's what did it for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

I mean What'd you teach?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

High school math.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

That's why we brought Misty White on to do math here at Helpa Reality so to kind of continue our math of all finances and all that kind of stuff. That's why she said, No, I'm just joking.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

She's the numbers lady. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Lots of numbers. She's the numbers. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Lots of sales numbers too.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

What do you uh how do you feel right now on uh career versus career? You know, uh I should have done it earlier. Ah, okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

So some I should have quit teaching a a lot earlier. Really? No offense to the educators because Absolutely. Absolutely. Y'all are busting it right now, but I I know I had to be out of that. I had to take myself out of that situation. Right. Because it was it was rough. I mean, I'm I'm way even mom I talked to my mother last night. She said, Honey, I'm so glad you're happy. I can tell you're much happier in real estate than you were teaching. And she's right, I am. Yeah, I am. That's good to hear as you know as a broker.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Yeah, that's great to hear as an agent. You know, the agent here is happier now than a past career. That's really happy. Makes me feel good anyway.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Nathan, if your mother called you, would she say that you're happier? I'm gonna read I'm not gonna answer for myself on that question.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

She probably would. I would I would say so. My dad would say I had to find something to talk a lot with. So that's where you go. Yeah. Yeah, I would I would say she would say that. Yeah, yeah. So you you like um you like real estate a little bit more than uh teaching?

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I love it. I do. I love it because I still I had a passion for helping kids learn math and now have a passion for helping people find their forever home or listing their property, you know, to move to the next the next location. So yeah, I love next part of their life.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Yep. That's great. That's great. I love it. And you've been in it a while now. You've been in it, let's see here, is it six years?

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yeah, this is six years because I got my license in 2019.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Right before COVID. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

You picked a great time. I did. I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Almost as bad as me. I picked uh uh right before the market crash, you know, two years before, you know, when I was like, oh, this is a great career to start, and then the market crash in 08, and I said it was it was like So you got yours in 2006. 2006, 2006 license, and then 08 hit, and I thought, what in the world did I just do? Because I had a pretty good job. Um Thomas Bus. Uh most people know that. Thomas Bus been there, you know, I was there 15 and a half years total. Um then I quit, and then the you know, the market crashes, and everybody's like, you're kind of dumb, you know. But uh, you know, you you live, you learn, you you work through stuff. But uh so what what about you, Stratton?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Well, let's see, I um came here probably in 2016-ish. That's about right 15 or 16. I think I got licensed in 14 or 15. Was at another firm for a short period of time and then came here, but um really got licensed from an investment standpoint, um, had some rental properties and wanted to learn that just a little bit more. So uh didn't really anticipate selling real estate, but uh just worked out that way. I enjoy it. I love it really. It's been great for our family for me as a career, a lot of flexibility, uh, a lot of hours, but you know, worked out good.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

So yeah, you do work a lot of hours, that's for sure. I see it. Not a lot of people see it, but yeah, you you put the hours in, that's for sure. What do you think? Um well let's just compare it to something that you did before this. What do you think hour like you know, hour-wise dollar for hour, so to speak? Do you think it's better, worse, the same?

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Do you know it's probably this is definitely more more lucrative, but um I mean I've worked a lot of different jobs. I've worked for myself, worked uh in manufacturing. I just don't like punching a clock.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

You know, I hate I hated that. So uh you definitely don't have to punch a clock here, but to your point, Maybe we should get one.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Yeah, I just try to fill it home.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

I mean, if it's uh, you know, you said you're a little slow right now and we've had a really good spring. Um, but it just ebbs and flows, you know, it's feast or famine. But uh once you're in it for a while, it does even out some. I mean, you know, you might have 10 transactions versus two, but you usually always have something going on and that's good.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

I think that's that's probably I think I've I've told a few people here, you know, it's what you put your time into. Obviously, this room that we're sitting in, you know, took away, you know, a little bit of time that I could have been pushing, yeah, hustling, you know. So now it's back.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

And since we've got this going and well, we talked about this for a while. A little while. A little while. You know, uh I thought it would be a great idea. Um hopefully we'll do some more longer form podcasts and stuff and have some guests on here. But I thought, you know, it'd be neat to have. Maybe you could rent it out, um get some sponsors. We don't have any sponsors yet. So if you want to sponsor the Hapler Realty Podcast, you can I'm sure Nathan will take your money. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

We we can do it however, whatever form you guys want to sponsor us, yeah. We will take.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

So uh we're always for hire. Um you have to put a lot of time into it. So I think it looks great and uh hopefully we'll get some good use out of it.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

I think so.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Uh you're the only one that knows how to work the equipment, so you'll have to be in here forever for all of these.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

But um Oh, you're gonna learn. Yeah, you're gonna learn. You're gonna learn.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

So turn the cameras off, which I asked Nathan to do already, but he didn't do it.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Oh, you have to be on. You have to be on. Stratton's our you know, kind of our commercial too, like commercial guy. Um does definitely does more commercial than I do. It's I don't know how he got into that. I don't know if you remember how you got into commercial, but it's definitely something that I thought, wow, you know, he's actually really good at commercial land, commercial, you know, as far as buildings and stuff. What do you think about the commercial um career part of having a license?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Well, you know, I've always liked the business-to-business sales aspect. Um, you're dealing with a lot of investors and business owners and things like that. Um of the properties that I have are are commercial, like retail lease type space. I don't remember my first commercial deal, to be honest with you. I don't know for sure, but a lot of light industrial, some land development, things like that. It's not quite as emotional as residential sales. No, that's interesting here.

SPEAKER_03 7:45

Yeah, I can see that. I can see that.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

But I do enjoy it and done a fair amount of that.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

So you have, and it surprised me, like I said, it surprised me. I don't think I've ever told you that, but it surprised me how much commercial if you look back at sales, you know, uh, which we do, and we kind of uh carry ourselves on different things just to make sure we're in the right direction. And it's like, wow, this is quite a bit of commercial real estate that we've done. And it's like a, you know, I know that I wasn't a part of it, so I was like, who in the world sold all this commercial stuff? It's like always stratting. That's good. I mean, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah, he's the go-to.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

He is, he is.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

And that was one thing that attracted me to coming here, you know, is being a full service firm, which I think we didn't really do commercial when I first started, but you did property management. Um, and having that along with residential sales and now commercial too. Yeah. Uh it can be a one-stop shop for for clients, but it can also be um a way to kind of diversify our sales, our knowledge base, and our income. Uh, you know, so I think that's good.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

Yeah, I think that's kind of what I wanted to uh, you know, create here years ago was you know, just a different, not just one um type of real estate, um, even for sales. The property management, I think me and you have talked a lot about that. It's like, you know, it's kind of a it's kind of a hit and miss sometimes. It's kind of a hate-love relationship on property management. Uh it is love, hate, it's a lot of work, and it's a lot of headache. It's a lot of work, it's a lot of headache, and maybe not quite as much. I hate to say, you know, income, but at the same time, reward, I guess, is really what I need to say. The the reward is really not as high as some of the sales that we've all seen. So it's kind of like, all right, I've spent, you know, 900 hours in this month for property management, and this is the reward. It's like, why do we even do it? But it it is part of the firm. It's it actually did get me through probably 08-09 uh along with some BPOs. That's kind of what got the firm through.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

So uh you know, well, it's a great way to yeah, and I think it's a great way to meet investors. And obviously, I think you have some investment property as well. I know I do, and that's one of the reasons that it just incorporates well. I mean, I'm gonna manage my own. You're gonna manage your own. I'm gonna manage it, yeah. Manage some friends and family, and next thing you know, you're in property management. Yeah. Especially if you work with some investors, they want you to manage it as well. Um, so uh because you've never really advertised for it, right? I really haven't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Not really at all. No, no video on it, no signs, no, I mean, other than what we've got for rent, we put a sign on the ground. But now we're up to like a hundred and I think we're at 173 or 4. I mean, it's yeah, it's like how in the world, you know, do we get that?

SPEAKER_00 10:21

And not everybody in the office does property management, which is fine, but uh I know there's me and you and a couple of us that do it. You know, I I think it's uh good way to kind of even it out a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

If you don't mind the headache of it.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

The headache, yeah. Yeah, and we've got um, you know, every once in a while I see an agent here that's, you know, buying or uh now we got Misty that's buying a uh bigger house. She's gonna keep we're gonna talk her, she don't know it yet, we're gonna talk her into renting her old house somehow. What do you uh, Misty, what do you think um you've learned in the past six years uh on real estate that got you comfortable enough to purchase something else and you know, kind of move along with the real estate world uh as far as bigger and better and more square footage. We're not gonna tell you where, we're not gonna tell the your your address or anything like that, but uh it's a mansion, it's it's it has a pool. It's pretty it's pretty fat. It's it's uh it's it's yeah, I'm impressed. It's uh I'm impressed. You ought to be proud.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Real estate helped with that. Real estate helped. Real estate helped, yeah. It was not teaching real estate. I'm just I mean, that's real estate is how I was able to put my oldest through college because it was not teaching. Teaching just paid the bills, it did not help me save at all.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

That is what I hear a lot of, yeah. Yeah, it it it kind of gets you over just getting by and paying, you know, as far as real estate does.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

But every like everywhere you go is an opportunity to meet somebody that doesn't know about hey, you sell real estate, they don't know that, so you you gotta make that happen. Right. So everywhere I go, hey, how are you? You know, just I don't I'm don't I'm not pushy, so I don't push myself on people. You know, I'm not like that.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

But yeah, I I I see that. I think that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

The last listing I got is from somebody I knew.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

They they told somebody I knew at a coffee shop, yep. Told somebody else, and that's how they contacted me. So that's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

I don't do leads, so yeah, we don't I mean, some of us pay here and there for leads, but um, you know, it's it's been probably 90% for me, you know, on past business and referrals and that kind of thing. What do you think, uh, Misty, what do you think the the next five year span is gonna uh what does it look like for you in the real estate world? Hopefully, hopefully I'm putting you on the spot, keep it all. Since you're in HIPAA reality in the studio, hopefully you're not gonna be like, well, I'm gonna quit next week.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Hopefully not.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

I'm planning on leaving now.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

No, not definitely not. No, I just I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm like now when I wake up, I'm I'm so motivated to go to work. I don't mean that I don't mean anything against teachers, but when I taught, I was not motivated to go to work. I was like just the the dread of going to work on Monday. And now it's not like that at all. I'm like, yes, I get to do this today. So that's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. So I'm excited. See what happens.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

Stratton, what motivates you uh to get up other than your three kids that are needing to be needed needing presents.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Let's just say here soon. Out of the three of us, only one of us does not have a pool. So I just want to point that out. I just want to point that out. But um, but yeah, I I mean I've worked by you don't have a pool yet.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yet. Yeah. It's coming.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Yeah. Um I'm gonna dig. Let me go talk to your wife right quick. It's been raining for like five days. So um, but I think, you know, I've worked by the hour, worked, like I said, by the job, which is you know, um basically what we're doing here. But um income can be a great motivator. And I know at teaching, obviously, and a lot of things that I've done in the past, you don't get paid anymore if you work any harder. You know, that's uh super, super aggravating.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

So um I would say that. I would say that that's something you know, if somebody's listening that uh is thinking about the real estate career, I think that is something that I've seen both uh on the negative side with people that's here that may have been here in the past that didn't want to work, you know, more than 40 hours, and then the people kind of like us that it's like we know kind of figured out already that we know what it takes. Like it's not gonna be like, all right, I'm gonna shut my phone down at you know five o'clock in the afternoon. That's unfortunate. Yeah, unfortunately, it just it just that's just not part of it. I wish it was kind of, but um Shredon, what do you think um in the next five years, where you where you uh where you're gonna be in real estate? And again, hopefully you're not gonna say anything that I don't know. Well, I've got this plan.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

You don't think now's a great time to break again? I'm starting my own firm. Oh my god. No, hopefully I'll be here. Hopefully we'll grow and expand. And uh I think real estate as a market is I mean, North Carolina's a really big influx state from people moving here and has been since before COVID, but especially during COVID. So our population continues to grow, and uh we're right in between basically Charlotte and Raleigh. Uh a lot of great interstate systems here. We have a lot of people that are in our market that commute back and forth to those areas, but there's a lot of development happening here too. Um a lot of commercial development. Um, so and and resident residential development which follows, obviously. So um I think it's gonna continue to expand and grow and hopefully the prices don't go up too much.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Uh but uh it's a great place to live and work and raise a family. Um I've certainly enjoyed it. I don't know anywhere else. Maybe there's one or two places, but that I'd rather live.

unknown 15:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

So, you know. Unless you're unless you've got some kind of uh water or ocean in front of you.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Yeah, if I've got an ocean or something like that, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

It tends to be a little more expensive there.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

So But don't drag me out to Phoenix or anything like that. I can't imagine living. I mean, I I know it's never actually been there, but out in the middle of a desert. But we've got mountains two hours away, a coast three hours away, and uh a lot of great things to do right here.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

So that's true. Yes, that is true. Um, Misty, what do you think your favorite type of real estate? I mean, probably residential is what you've done the most of, but you know, buyer, seller, listing. What what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Definitely listings.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

Definitely listings.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yeah, because I like doing the social media. And you know, and yeah, I just I I just like that. I don't know. Once I learned it, I thought I'm gonna use this. So yeah, uh, yeah, I like that a lot.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

I think you probably have got the you've got a got the bite of me, like too. It's like you like creating things and then watching the showing time, you know, maybe uh an appointment happen. It's like, oh, you know, okay. Yes, I put that on and now it's getting showed and maybe an offer.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Exactly. Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

I like that as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah, I mean don't get me wrong, I like helping buyers too. But I think my favorite, if I had to choose it, it'd definitely be like listing, yeah. Listing side.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Yeah, listing on residential. Straight, what about you? What do you what do you think the fate most favorite, you know, of of of real estate?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

I really like land development. I've done a lot of that.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

You have done a lot of that, actually.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I like land development and uh I actually kind of hate to see it happen. I like to keep land together, but um you know, not a lot of agents do a lot of vacant land or or land development, you know. Um but going through the you know, rezoning process or special use process or you know, just subdividing, getting it utilities and stuff put in. Um there's a lot that goes into that. Not everybody gets to do. Um, but I think that's rewarding. I like that. So that's probably one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Yeah. I could see that. You you're good at it. There's a lot of things that a lot of agents don't know about, you know, um splitting up land or developing. So I mean, I think you do you do a great job of that. Sometimes I'm looking back at, you know, what you've done to kind of make sure that I'm still on track and know, because I mean you've done more than me, that's for sure, as far as land. I think mine would probably be probably listings on a we'll call it clean house, and that's not like anything to do with how clean they are on the inside. It's a clean house as far as, you know, it's let's just say it's 10 years old or less, and there's not a whole lot of repairs. Have y'all dealt with repairs like I've dealt with lately? What what is y'all's, you know, your last, let's just say your last couple of transactions. Um, what is your challenges, Misty, that you see a lot of uh in the last year or two recent? What is your challenges?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Getting someone to show up.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

If you call uh you know somebody for repairs then. Okay, yeah. Or uh yeah, I I'd say that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

I could see that. Yeah. That that's yeah, that's always been kind of an issue.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yeah, and the uh in the past I'm gonna say two months, appraisal coming in low.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Coming in.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Yeah. Where I was one side I was on the buying side, the other side was on the listing side. So yeah. I've had but they use lenders that were not local.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

Oh, that's a big deal, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

That's a big deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

That's a big problem. Or it can be a big problem. I've had two appraisals not to come in in the last probably six months um that I thought was a little bit odd, but Stratton, what is your um what is yours? I mean, is it like to, you know, is your is your biggest struggle to get every agent out of your way so you can sell more, or what's uh get out of my way so I can sell this house.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

I mean it's every transaction I think is a little different. Every buyer wants something different. Yeah. You know, depending on their lifestyle. You know, a lot of first-time homebuyers don't have a great grasp on what I think, on what they really want. Um they want to max out their budget a lot of times. So if they are approved for 350, they want to buy a 350. Uh I don't always recommend that. We love our home inspectors, but you know, they get scared by home inspections, and that's part of our job is to you know, walk them through that.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

And we do that, of course. You know, and then on the listing side, you have some some buyers, some agents, uh, whoever it may be, that um you know, they'll see that a home inspection has the HVAC and the roof, and all those systems are working fine, you know, but they're older and they'll want credits for upgrades and they'll want them to be replaced. And you know, that's just not realistic for most sellers to do. And it's not really something that we expect them to do, to be honest. I mean, if a heat and air system is working correctly and it's just old, they're probably not gonna replace that, and they're probably not gonna give you five thousand dollars to replace it in three years when it goes out. But it's something that the buyer needs to be aware of, and that's the reason it's on the report. So um you know, I think that's important. But uh on the buyer's side, of course, you don't want to move in there in week one and your heat and air go out. That's never good. That's true. Sometimes we can mitigate that with a home warranty, but um, you know, it's just part of home ownership. Home ownership, you have you have something that is gonna require maintenance, just like a vehicle. You know, it's just something that we have to prepare buyers for, um, especially first time home buyers. You know, somebody who's on the home, they they know that already. But first time home buyers, uh like I said, they want to max out their budget and they don't always take into consideration uh the maintenance and upkeep that that comes along with it.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

So Yeah. Yeah. Misty, if you had uh a new buyer in front of you or that maybe listen to this, what what would you give them as far as advice? The first thing to do? What would be the most intelligent thing for a new buyer to do?

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Talk to a local lender. Have you talked to a local lender?

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Local lenders.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

They ask me why should I use a local lender? I can tell them why.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Yeah. Yeah. I think the local for me, this is, you know, my small minded opinion. But you know, it's just a somebody that we can get a hold of, somebody that um knows the area. You'd be surprised how many out of state lenders there are. You know, if you go online, Lending Tree and all this different things, um, you know, they're out of state, but they've got a license for North Carolina. They don't need they've never been to High Point, they've never been to Greensboro. And so they don't know the area, they don't know kind of, you know, and something might pop up is what I've found in the past. It's like, why is this popping up? You know, you should have known this. Oh, you're in Virginia, you know.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Or they wait until the day before closing to say there's an issue. Yeah. That's happened to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

Yeah, I would say probably Stratton would probably uh agree. You know, it's kind of like um go to your local bank, but that may not be the best choice uh as well. You kind of want to get an answer from them, yeah. But at the same time, you know, definitely um shop a little bit. Don't don't just go to one person and be like, okay, this is who's gonna be doing it if you've never done a loan, if you've never, you know, purchased a house with them. So, you know, kind of be aware that there's multiple lenders out there. There's probably, I don't know the numbers and I should. There's probably, I would say there's probably 25 or so in every city around us, somewhere in there, you know, that that's on the books of doing multiple loans. Um there's plenty of choices out there.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

And I'm sure we'll have some guests on here, but yeah, they have a lot of them do the upfront underwriting now, which is great. Um for self-employed people, sometimes it's a little bit more of a challenge, you know, to get a home loan, uh, especially if they haven't been you know self-employed that long, or maybe they don't show a ton of uh profit um you know, outside of on their taxes, things like that. But yeah, I think using a local lender doing the upfront underwriting, um somebody that is has their hands on the file, somebody who pays special attention, especially for self-employed folks, um, because sometimes those um those can get held up in underwriting um with tax-related things.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

So Yeah, I think that's good. I think it's a good point. And you know, I tell a lot of my buyers when they're brand new. I've got one brand new guy, you know, this afternoon, for instance, and I kind of tell them, and they sometimes they listen. You know, be prepared. You know, they're gonna ask for probably two years of tax returns. Y'all see that probably. Yeah. Two months of bank statements if it's not the same, you know, bank that you're dealing with a lender. So why not just go ahead and get that in a PDF form, you know, get it on your phone or whatever, because guess what? They're gonna ask you probably more than once. So don't let that irritate you. You know, they might ask you today and they might ask you again because a different department, you know, they don't communicate well sometimes. And they might ask you that again. Don't let that get you all, you know, flustered up to where you don't want to you don't want to buy a house just because somebody's asking you know the same question twice. So be prepared, get your stuff together.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

But I think they're renting it in, but you know, if you if you put an application in, you'll probably have a gazillion people reach out to you with different different lending firms and different mortgage brokers trying to get your business. They'll all have different rates and some of them are charging a premium for those rates, you know. Um whatever the rate is today is what most of them work off of. But you can buy them down for points.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

A lot of people don't realize you can buy them down. That's actually a good point. So you can actually buy your interest rate down.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

It may cost you an extra five or ten thousand dollars, and sometimes they don't tell you that. So um you know, but they do have different fees, different origination fees, things like that that you can shop around for.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

Um so Yeah, and what do y'all see about closing costs? That that's one thing that I I don't think the general public um understands is because, you know, the the cost of these houses around us, you know, we're I I kind of keep my fingertips pretty close to Thomasville. Obviously, offices here, I live here. Um, you know, our old, I guess about five to six years ago average here was about a 153. You know, that's kind of what kind of the was the staying average. And now we're probably past Misty looks a lot more than I did, probably past 250, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:27

Somewhere's in the 254 range. So another $100,000. Well, what that does to closing cost, unfortunately, a lot of things are calculated, you know, towards closing or towards the purchase price. So if it's, you know, a 1% origination fee and now you're all of a sudden into a market that's $100,000 more, well, now your closing cost is higher. And a lot of people don't realize that. They think, well, my brother bought a house six years ago and he brought four grand. It's like, it's not gonna happen. Four grand is not gonna happen now, you know, because I already know origination fee and prepaids as far as your taxes and insurance are all gonna be higher. Uh, and now we're not even gonna get into like taxes, you know, as far as whether revaluations and all that. That's you know, definitely made a difference. If somebody's uh house was twelve hundred dollars a year and now all of a sudden it's twenty five hundred dollars a year in taxes. Yeah, that's gonna affect your closing costs because they're gonna make you get probably what? What do y'all see?

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Three to twelve months usually on prepaids as far as taxes and they usually get a year up front and then uh then a three three months to start the escrow account. Yeah. Um same thing for insurance, a year, your premium and three months to start the to start the escrow.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

And what we're talking about for somebody new is escrow, you know, they start an actual account, it's not at your bank. Uh you don't get to dip into it. You don't get to put really any money in or take money out, but it's there to pay your taxes and insurance. And of course, that is for uh if you don't have 20% or more going down on a property. So if you have less than 20%, um they're 100% going to make you, every lender is gonna make you do an escrow account and they want to pay your taxes and insurance because taxes tromped the mortgage. If you don't pay taxes, they will take your house, uh, unfortunately. So that's everywhere. That's not just here. What do you think you're most showed, like as far as client? Let's just go buyer. How many houses have you showed, Misty, on as far as a maximum?

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Okay, I only know this because the buyer told me how many houses I showed. Oh, so they kept up with it. Okay. Yes, because I don't I don't that don't keep up with.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Now, is that because they were tired of you or they could have been just telling me they could have been tired of me.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Yeah, they're very sweet. Yeah, they're very sweet. Um 85.

SPEAKER_03 28:41

85. That's actually higher than I thought. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

And it was more than 30 offers I had written. It was like a I think it was like a year time span, 85. 85. And we saw all kinds of stuff. We saw um flood floodlights indoors. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Um you've seen a lot of stuff in 85 houses, yeah. Yeah. Um pretty much this are are these all 85 in the in a certain area or are they just all over? Really? Pretty much Thomas. Really? Wow.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

And yes.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

So you had a stretch of time that you probably showed every house, you know, and pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Yeah, and this is why I was still teaching, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:18

Oh wow, wow. So he's doing double duty and after workouts.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

But I loved I loved going to look at houses. I mean, you know, because I wasn't teaching.

SPEAKER_03 29:27

At some point, did you think, are they gonna are they gonna buy? Is this am I just gonna keep going?

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Well, see, teaching taught me to be very patient. Because, you know, will we get a raise? No. Next year, maybe. No, and then it didn't work, it never works out. You never get so I was very patient. So yeah, I mean, it yeah, it yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Yeah, learn patience, okay. Yeah, 85. Well, that's what teaching taught me. Patience very, yeah. Wow. I I did not know anybody else had had really got over 50. Stratton, what is your uh highest that do you think?

SPEAKER_00 30:00

I really don't know, but it had to be years ago before COVID, yeah, probably in the 40 range. Um I think as your real estate career develops, you show less and less houses. I think you're right. I think we're better at it, and I think we're better at kind of reeling in. Now that being said, I did just uh show basically from here to Raleigh um about 12 houses, but we did consolidate it and they found one that they liked and it worked out. But um you know, back during COVID it was great. There wasn't 80 houses to show. That's right. Like anywhere. That's right. You had like three and you had to pick one. But it's not like that. I mean, the inventory is up some buyers have a have more choices now, which is good. Yeah. Uh they have a little bit more negotiating power and leverage, which is good. So um, but yeah, we're here for it. 85 or five. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, you know, we're here for it. We'll come show you 100 if we have to. That's right. Whoever buys is uh obviously they have to live there, not us. So make sure they like it.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Uh yeah, make sure they like it, make sure it's the right one that fits, not just you know, what both spouses I've seen that a lot. I I'm sure y'all have too, where it's like, you know, this is the perfect house, and then and then the spouse says, Well, I really need my wife to see it. Yeah, you know, and you've already got it pretty much sold. It's like this is exactly what you wanted, you know, fence backyard, it's got a garage, it's in the school district, it's in the right price, and then the other it don't have to be the wife, then the other spouse comes and looks and just like completely shoots it down. That's that's kind of tough.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

You know, and it's a journey. I mean, some folks that we have that say, hey, we want East Davidson School District, and we want a three-bed, two bath, and we don't want it to be over 325. Well, there's not a lot of houses that fit that. And you can all you can go see those houses and they know kind of exactly what they want. And then you have some folks, and I know you know this, and that sometimes it's folks that are moving to the state or that haven't lived here before, and they say, Well, we can live, you know, within an hour of this location, or we can live anywhere. And um, they they may or may not have a preference on HOAs. Uh, and really the only guideline that they probably have is just a budget, and that can make it tough. But once you start showing those houses, you know, you get a feel for what they like and what they don't like. And yeah, yeah. Do they really want an hoa with amenities or do they really not? And you can start to uh kind of hack away at all that um and and get that narrowed down.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

So Yeah, I think that's a good point too. It's you know, some people will say that I want to be in, for instance, East Davidson, where we're sitting right now, um, East David East Davidson School District, and then you'll find them a house that's actually in the city limits, but in East Davidson. So one of the spouses says, Well, you know, it's in the city. I don't want to pay city taxes. And it's like, well, you didn't say that at first, you know. So a lot of stuff we have to really just kind of ask, what about this and what about this to really kind of pre-qualify them for us, not just pre-qualifying for the loan, but pre-qualifying just really find what they want. You know, it's it's it's actually a little bit harder than probably the general public understands to find a property that's you know, two people married usually, or a family to hit school districts and price and you know Yeah, it's hard to do sometimes. Sometimes it's it is with our inventory. Sometimes it's like there is nothing. Yeah, and sometimes that's the answer. And they don't want to hear that. They're thinking, well, you know, I came to Hipporriday to, you know, find a house and you're telling me there's nothing. It's like, well, there is nothing right now. You know, there might be something in a day or a week, or you know, but sometimes that's you know the issue that we've got to do.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Or maybe there's a compromise, you know, on a garage or or Ledford School District or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I I've seen a lot. I think almost, almost everybody probably has given me a list and then somebody on in the family has come, you know, compromised a little bit. You know, it's like, well, they said this, but now they're okay with this one because it's got a pool or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Well, nothing, nothing's perfect ever.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

Nah.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

I mean, if you build your own house today, it's probably not gonna be perfect. You'll have things that you would do different. And uh Yeah, it's the same for buying a used house. I mean, you're gonna want to paint your own colors, probably. You're gonna there's gonna be something that you don't like about it, you know. And um so it's just uh just understanding that going in.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

I think so. I think uh that's a good point. I mean, I think that's important for everybody to uh to understand their their expectations, I guess is the real definition. Get that down really, you know. I know everybody kind of knows or thinks they know what they want, but do you have the correct expectations of I'm gonna find this and it's gonna be, you know, where I can afford it on one paycheck? You know, that's the tough stuff, you know, as far as a real tough conversation is expectations for me anyway. It's like, oh, you want your payment under twelve hundred dollars? It's like, you know, we need to we need to look at some houses and talk to a lender like ASAP, you know, because that may not be, you know, realistic. Getting them realistic uh expectations, I think. You know. Um, what do you guys think, you know, as far as let's just say somebody's listening to this that um is thinking about putting their house on the market for sale? I mean, me and Stratton have a we have a tightrope that we walk because we, you know, we'll talk about renting renting it out as far as an investment. But what do you guys, Missy, what do you think uh if somebody's listening that uh is interested in maybe seeing what you can do for them uh selling their house? What do what do you got to say to them?

SPEAKER_02 35:37

There's a video on YouTube they can watch. Okay. Um I always just tell them that we will um promote it, you know, on social media as as well as, you know, like including YouTube, TikTok, um, Facebook, Instagram. But we also put it on three multiple listing sites. Yep. MLS, yep. So it'll reach the we'll put it on the tr the Raleigh MLS.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

Who pushed me to get Raleigh, by the way?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

I think it was it was probably Mirawendy one or both of us. I mean she's had some up there, but so we've got Charlotte MLS.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

We're probably how how far away are we from Charlotte?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

I think Salisbury is basically the line. Once you get to Salisbury, a lot of it's in canopy. Yeah. And a lot of those agents I think have both. You'll see them in trying to do that. That is true. That is true. It's Salisbury's 30 minutes, you know, it's not very far.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

I don't know of a agency around that is a member of those three MLSs, all three of them.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Nobody has ever, that's a good point, because nobody has ever said, Oh, we are too. Nobody has. So, you know, I'm sure there's somebody, but at the same time, for our area, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

So if they list us, they're they're getting more they're getting three times the amount of showings they want.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

They're getting more eyeballs on it. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good point. Um, and you use a photographer, and I'm pretty sure that you're the one that gave me the photographer that you use that I'm using. So I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

Uh uh he started following me on Instagram. That's how I used to. Yeah, I was like, oh, let me just let me try him out. I sure did. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see him tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

We'll see if we can we'll we'll push push him on maybe coming in and promoting his uh photography business. You know, that'll be that'll be something. Um professional photography is one of those things that I, man, Stratton can tell you, I really um took a long time to understand and to bite the bullet, so to speak, and be like, all right, we need to do professional, we need to call a photographer. Because I was, you know, my mindset is I'm always trying to do everything myself. And I'm trying to get out of that. But um, being with this room, I didn't do too good on that. But what do you uh Stratton, what do you think on uh photography as far as if somebody's listening to this that says, hey, I might want to get one of them to list my house? What do you, what do you, what can you offer somebody that's wanting to list?

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Yeah, um, you know, we uh I on my listings, I always do professional photos. Um you know, drone. We have a matterport camera, we do 3D walk walk walkthrough tours with that. Um we want to get as many eyes on it as possible, and we want that to be a great first impression. Um the things that we can't do, I think, as agents is leave a lasting impression, which is when they actually show up to your house. Um, you know, things that don't convey online like smells, that's true, cleanliness on the day of showing. Um those are things that we don't have a ton of control over, but that you can control as the the seller, especially if you're living in the home from a seller standpoint, making sure that it's presentable, making sure that it's picked up, making sure it's clean.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Yeah, declined.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Um, especially if you have animals in the house, which most people do, um, that there's not a dirty litter box or you know, that's great dog hair advice everywhere. Um you know, uh, or if you have kids, you know, toys everywhere, um, things like that. So um I think that's important, and I think that leaves a lasting impression. I mean, if I show a client six houses today, there's gonna be one that sticks out in their mind as kind of being above the rest. Yeah. They're all gonna be similar price points, they're all gonna be similar square footage, but there's gonna be one of those.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

There's gonna be one that's like, I like this one better, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

And sometimes that means a coat of paint, sometimes it doesn't. But often what it is, I think, is just being mindful of hey, I live here every day and I live this lifestyle, but the people that are looking at my house may not live this lifestyle.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

That's true. That's true. I I I'm you know a big believer in trying to tell people, you know, this is what I think, you know, that you need to do. And and like Stratton said, you know, clean a clean house. Golly, I can't I can't even describe in words, you know, how important that is. If you've got a bunch of dogs or kids, um kind of think of if you're putting on on you know your house on the market with anybody really, but you know, of course we're trying to get your listing. But um definitely try to get a cleaner. You know, that's that's one of the things. If you live in it, just like my house right now, I've got I've got um some doors, uh French doors that I put up that I painted, okay. And if you can imagine the glass in the doors, I haven't got the paint off yet. You know, and it's been a really long time. I don't even know how long don't let that lie.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

His house is always clean. He lives with a house cleaner.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

I do live, I did I did marry, I married a I married a cleaner for a reason. Not as big. Um, you know, I've got stuff like that that I think of. It's like, you know, my house wouldn't be on the market, you know, wouldn't be ready to be on the market because I don't have that one piece, you know, cleaned up, you know, and and razor bladed all the paint off the glass, you know. So that's that's and that's even my house. I just walk by it every day, you know. It's a laundry room door, you know, shut the door. And sometimes you can't help it.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Sometimes you're busting at the seams and the garage is packed full of stuff, and it just is what it is, you know. And and buyers can overlook some of that stuff. I mean, that's not not a a huge issue, but just putting your best foot forward, I think. Um as far as show-ins go and making it as presentable as possible.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

So yeah, presentable, clean. Yep. And then my second usually conversation is functions, like what doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Right.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

And then a lot of times I'll have to go through do you have any problems with this? Because they that question they'll just kind of you know gloss over. It's like, oh, everything works. And then you're looking you're looking around, it's like, well, that don't work. Oh, yeah, that haven't that hasn't worked in a year. You know, it's like, well, I just asked you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 41:32

Things that you don't use, you may not know, they don't work. Yeah, you know, like houses with crawl spaces always have something in the crawl space. They're just notorious works. Yes, always how many how many sellers go in the crawl space?

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Not many.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Zero for years, they never go in there unless they can stand up and then it's once in a blue moon, you know. They're probably storing stuff under there.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

Yeah, you open the crawl space door and uh look at the standing water and sniff the radon that's coming on the ground.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

And we all could always try to look under the crawlspace. You know, we don't crawl to every nook and cran anymore, obviously. But you know, one of our questions on disclosures are dampness and moisture and all those sorts of things. And if you got a crawl space, it has moisture.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

It's got moisture, it just does. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

I mean, you can dehumidify it, you can encapsulate it, and obviously you can mitigate it that way, but a regular moisture barrier still gonna probably have some moisture in there.

SPEAKER_03 42:26

So yeah, for sure. For sure. And I think a lot of people don't realize that. They think, you know, and on the buyer side too, you know, they think, oh, you know, why is there why does it smell musky in this crawl space? And the problem that we have, or the problem that I have is that particular buyer that's saying that, it might be the second house they've ever looked at. They might have been renting and they don't know. It's like every crawl space probably gonna have some type of moisture. There's some exceptions, you know, if somebody's got really heavy vapor barrier down and they've got a um dehumidifier running constant 24-7. Yeah, you're probably not gonna have too much, you know, moisture in that one. But um, but yeah, I mean, I I wanted to kind of go over and and and uh introduce you guys that you know to the people that do not know you uh as far as realtors here at Help Reality. And um I really appreciate you guys' time today as far as introducing yourself and what you do here at Help Reality. And again, we've got Stratton going. What how can they get in touch with you, Stratton?

SPEAKER_00 43:26

Yeah, I think um obviously through the website um or email phone number uh 336-596-4041. You can call or text me there pretty much anytime.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

That's good, that's good. And uh Misty, how can they get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Social media, Misty White Realtor. Uh, and my sale is 336-259-4209.

SPEAKER_03 43:50

Misty's like our media, like she's like our social media guru right now. She just don't want to admit it. She's on more than anybody else is. All right, well, I appreciate you guys uh first of all being at HEPA Reality, staying this long. We've got a six-year and we've got probably a 10. Probably right a 10 year. So we really appreciate you guys sticking in with HEPA Reality and sticking in with me. And I appreciate you. Absolutely, absolutely. I hope if anybody has any questions, definitely reach out to these two agents, and we will see you next time. Thank y'all