KEYS TO THE COAST PODCAST WITH BERNARD FAITHFUL

On this episode of the Keys to the Coast Podcast, I  sit down with Bernard Faithful, better known as "The Faithful Realtor." Bernard shares his journey into the real estate industry, the lessons he learned along the way, and what it takes to build a successful career in today's market.

The conversation covers essential tips for first-time homebuyers, including the steps prospective homeowners should take before purchasing a home, how to prepare financially, and common mistakes to avoid. Bernard and I also discuss the ever-changing real estate market, current trends, and what buyers and sellers should be watching in Southwest Florida and beyond.

Whether you're thinking about buying your first home, investing in real estate, or simply want to stay informed about the housing market, this episode is packed with valuable insights and practical advice.

So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and tune in for an informative and engaging episode of the Keys to the Coast Podcast.

Darrel Peters | RealtyOne Group MVP
804-402-0397
darrelrprealtor@gmail.com.      


#swfloridarealestate
#realestate 
#swflorida 
#fortmyers 
#naplesrealtor

Check out my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@DarrelPeters_Realtor

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Hey ladies and gentlemen, Daryl Peters here with Realty One Group MVP, and today I am here with my special guest, Mr. Bernard Faithful. Bernard, how are you? I'm good, man. What's going on? Nothing much, nothing much. Glad to have you here. And uh Bernard is a uh Florida real estate agent, and uh we are uh glad to have him here in the studio today. Uh Bernard, why don't we go ahead and get you started and tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Absolutely. Um Bernard Faithful, um the Faithful Community Realtor. I'm a Florida-based realtor here, um, coming from Detroit, Michigan. Gotta let everyone know. From the D, man, D Detroit 313. Um been in an area about eight years now. Um, really, really starting to find my wits and the people I need to be around and you know, just building business and relationships. So relationships build business, and that's where I'm at right now in life.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Good, good, great. Excellent, excellent, excellent. So, uh, how did you get started in the uh real estate business? What and what attracted you to the real estate business?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Well, I always felt that I would be good and successful in real estate. I think everything that I have done from every position I've been in, from being a former athlete, professional athlete, um, a coach, a school teacher, and one of the final things was a um car sales manager have you know got me to the point to where I'm at now to be successful in real estate. I think you need skills from all those types of professions, um, serving people, uh managing individuals, coaching, things like that to actually be successful in this business, which is a a people business. Right. Um, you may have the knowledge, you may have um the skill to determine what's going on, how the market is, but people are gonna buy from people that they like, enjoy, um, and really trust. So you gotta have those those people skills. And I I think um just realizing that it helped me understand that, you know, um I can move forward and be successful in it. The last job was sales manager. That was my very first sales opportunity um that I really felt like, you know, let's just go try it. Even though I was scared as heck and I didn't know exactly what I was doing, I went in there, put my head down, and I just went at it and I was a sales manager um in eight months. Oh, wow. At a car dealership that was selling over a thousand cars a month. So it was it was it was interesting, but uh that gave me the encouragement to be like, all right, let me go ahead and jump in this real estate stuff and see how it goes.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

How how you do? Yeah. Okay, okay, great. Yeah, it's uh it's definitely an interesting career to be a part of and and uh a lot of fun at the same time. So what is your uh what's your biggest misconception about um people have about, or what are the biggest misconceptions people have about uh about realtors?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

That we are great communities, communication-wise, like we can communicate and we answer our phone and um I I think the successful ones, I believe that the people that wants to be, that want to be great, they work on those communication skills. Um I think um individuals believe that we should, they should have access to us 24-7, but you you have to put limits on that as a professional, right? Right, right. Um McDonald's, some of them are open 24 hours, but um the next restaurant, they probably close at 10 o'clock, right? As a professional, you gotta set your hours. If you don't set your hours, that individual is gonna probably take advantage of um being connected to you. Right, having access to you. Having access to you. So you definitely have to uh communicate, and I think a lot of people think that we are great communicators, and they find out that we really not, and then, you know, that's where the big the big debacle comes from with you know people saying that realtors don't answer their phone, they don't do anything, they get paid all this money. Right. Um, it's just individuals that just hasn't, you know, um set their business up appropriately to let people know that, you know, I'm not accessible to you 24 hours. Right. And you may have individuals like title companies, and some realtors say I am accessible to you 24 hours. So it really depends on your business. Right, gotcha. That answer your question?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Absolutely. Okay, so what has been your most memorable uh transaction? Memorable transaction? Good or bad, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I the the the best one I would say, um my transaction with um it was a school teacher, 23 years old, eager to buy a property. Um was it her first home?

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Or was it a few years?

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, first first home. And um I was there to assist, educate, assist, walk through the process. We were able to get her um down payment assistance with the hometown heroes. Oh every everything worked out, man. So that was like that was like my baby. Like, make sure I really take care of this individual because this individual is taking a leap of faith starting early, and this can be a successful situation for this individual. Um, and then two years, three years later, we're now have we have our property on the market and we're gonna sell the property. Oh wow. Well, congrats. Okay. Yeah. Um, other than that, just dealing with real other realtors and and and situations. I know we talked off camera. Um, I had a realtor that reached out to me. I was I'm really big on social media. People know that um I done calm down a lot just because, you know, business pickup, life pickup. But really big on social media everywhere, videos everywhere, posting every day. Um and I had a realtor reach out to me. It's like, hey, I'm I don't see, I see you posting your sales, but I don't, I can't find them. Well, at that particular time, I was, you know, I laughed at that situation, um, at that comment, and uh, you know, was trying to figure out how was that helping this person's life, like to find out what sales that I had. Um, my whole thing was I was on a team at that time, and when you have a team lead, most of that um those sales and transactions go towards their account or under their name. Um, so you're not gonna really find everything, or it it's it's you know, it may have some mistakes in there. But this individual inboxed me. It was like, I don't know how you you, you know, you you posting this stuff and you you you doing videos and you don't have any sales. And to me, it was like very shocking. It was more of a uh like a stalker type thing. Like, you're watching everything that I'm doing, right? Right. So it was just a weird situation. So I don't I know this person's name, I you know, I know the face. Um, I can't tell you that I actually have met this individual, but I'll definitely check this person, be like, you know, how how you doing in business? What's going on? How how did my sales help your life? Right, right. But I I learned how to block people and you know, unfollow individuals and just move on, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yep, yeah, social media is good for that as well. Yeah, you can either follow or unfollow or block or whatever you want to do. Restrict. Yep, so absolutely. So uh as far as what's going on in the market today, um what's happening in today's housing market that buyers and sellers should understand and look out for?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

I thought you said we only got 20 minutes, and it's that could take a whole day. Yeah, right. Um the thing that I'm seeing, I'm I'm seeing sellers, they are um still pricing very high. Um, a lot of people think it's the agents that are that are pricing these properties, but it's a partnership, and most of the time the the seller usually wins that battle when it comes to the price of the property. So they're still pricing it, trying to get that, those, those, um, you know, the um the the the highest bid on these properties. And the properties are staying on the market a little bit longer now, right? You you have people that are buying, things are selling, but you have a lot of inventory too. You have a lot of options. And when you have a lot of options and you have these buyers, they can take their time on on purchasing something. They don't have to purchase the third house that they see. Right. They may purchase the 10th, 11th house, and you have individuals. Um, a couple months ago, I showed a first-time homebuyer about 10 houses. Oh, wow. My limit is usually like three or five, right? Wow. We showed them 10 houses. We did pick one, and the one that we pick, and this is why I don't I don't give any emotions when I show properties anymore. I don't go into a house and say, oh, this is beautiful. This is amazing. I know you guys are love. Right. Because I've done that and it backfired, meaning that I I think it's beautiful, but they were like, no, I don't even want to walk in. Yeah, oh wow. Yeah, like, no, this is this has a bad vibe. And I'm like, oh, I shouldn't have said that. And then the the young lady I helped, the school teacher, the property that we did purchase, um, sh, I said, this, I said, I don't even, I don't even want to go on this property. Like, this is a horrible property. Why would you? And she said she loved it. Oh, wow. So she maybe she saw the potential. She did, and she she immediately um did some renovations and things. I didn't see it. I'm like, nah, you're not picking this one, right? And they picked it. But um in April, my closing of April, we we um closed in the stero, and uh we've seen all those properties, and he picked the one, and he immediately gutted the property. Oh wow. I'm talking about flooring, new um ceiling fans, um, paint, like everything. Like he took out the reef, all the appliances, the stove, the cabinets, and just changed everything. Now, what was the stuff that was in there before? Was it in like pretty good shape? It was, yeah. It wasn't, it needed some tender care and love, but it was in shape where as a first-time homebuyer you can live in. You can live, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

You can move in, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yeah, so you got buyers out there that's looking to buy, they're taking their time. You got sellers out there that's looking to sell, but they want to still price it at a price where buyers are afraid to even go look at it.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Right, exactly, exactly, exactly. So, um how have how have uh interest rates changed uh you know buyer behavior in the market? I I know we kind of touched on that just a moment ago, but uh how do the interest rates factor into all that?

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Does it make it harder for some people to get into a home or it does, it does because you you have not just interest rates that's that is causing issues. Um when you work with a first-time home buyer, they already have lack of funds. Um, they haven't just had that um that big savings account, right? Um you can't even wait and allow them to build up that savings account. But then you find a property that they may be um approved for, pre-approved for, and it's a it's in their limit. But in in a place like Naples, um you have HOA fees. So when you have these HOA fees, that would knock them out of a purchase before an interest rate would knock them out of a purchase. Because now you let's say you did get the highest interest, I mean you get a the interest rate, which is just now recently um considered high because we were in 2022-2020 um at 2% interest rate, which never happened before, right? If you ask your mom or your your your your your your grandmother when they purchased a house, what was their interest rate? It's gonna be 16%, 18%, 21%. And you know, you get the argument, oh, the prices were lower, but you gotta remember their wages were lower too. The dollar wasn't that strong back then, also. So um, back to just the interest rates, um, they are what they are. It is what it is, right? You just have to learn how to prepare for it. And I think that's one of your questions. Um, but I'll say that for next, you just you gotta learn how to prepare for it, but you can prepare for it and you get a property that's in the HOA, and that HOA is added on to what that mortgage payment is gonna be. Right. And then knock a lot of people out. Right, right. So it's it's it's a you gotta be able to negotiate, um, get down payment assistance, and also um get some type of contingency and help from a seller to help these individuals out.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yep, so you're you're right. Yeah, this was actually uh this was under the uh section advice for buyers. How much should someone really save before buying a home?

SPEAKER_00 13:04

I I had a um buyer consultation the other day and they asked that question. I really don't know. Um I I would say at least start with $10,000. But that $10,000, what a lot of buyers don't understand, is a lot of it's it's a few times where you come out of pocket to pay for something in a transaction. That is an inspection, that is paying for an appraisal, things like that, right? Um, and a down payment. Right? Um but even before you get to down payment, you got money that you need to send to. A lot of people forget this. You got money that you need to send to, it does go towards the deal, but you need to send to escrow. That's a that could be easily $5,000, $10,000 that you send it to escrow. It does go to the to the price of the property, but that's upfront money that you have to send in to make sure that the seller understands that I'm a serious buyer. Right. And you gotta have that. And it sits in the escrow account. Um, and then as it sits in the escrow crown, you can't pull that money and try to pay for an inspection. Right. Now you don't have that $10,000 anymore. So I can't really say because um each situation. Each situation is totally different. I would say save as much as you can. I would say definitely have a start point of about $10,000. But again, you you can get away with not having that, you know?

SPEAKER_01 14:26

So yeah, because there's different programs and you got VA loans, FHA loans. Absolutely. I know these uh these builders like Lenar and D.R. Horton, I mean, you can buy down the interest rate. Um I did that when I bought uh when I bought my home that I'm in now. And I I remember my townhouse, uh, even though the price on that home back in Virginia was like $120,000, it wasn't very expensive at all. But it was my first home, and man, it was it was a challenge just coming up with a few thousand dollars deposit. I just didn't have it, but I was determined to uh, you know, I think I signed the contract with a thousand dollars and they started building that section of homes, and my parents, uh fortunately, my parents uh they took out a portion of their retirement to build their house down here, uh, even though they lived in New Jersey. Uh they took out some of their retirement to build their their retirement home here. So they just took out a little bit more and helped me out and helped me get into mine. But uh a lot of people don't necessarily, you know, have that. Uh, but yeah, it's definitely to save as much as you can and make sure the credit is in good situ uh good standing and and all that plays into it. Um so what should people know before making an offer in a competitive market? I know right now it's it's it's more of a buyer's market than it is a seller's market. But if if this were a seller's market, um, you know, what what should people do or know before making an offer in a market that's you know that could potentially have multiple offers on it?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Yeah, so a seller market is you don't have a lot of properties on the market. Um the price is what the price is, and you have um almost a bidding war, you have multiple buyers looking to purchase your property. Um you should know that the seller is gonna take the best offer. Um the the best offer with the um correct terms, right? Um you can give them exactly what they're listing for, um, that'll get you higher than um or get you a better look than the other offers. Um, or you know, you can probably go $5,000, $10,000 less, but then your terms gotta be better also. Right. It just goes back down to negotiation. So if I send in an offer, um I want my terms to be uh competitive also. When I say terms, it can be instead of a 15-day inspection, I do a 10-day inspection. If you really bold, and what were what was going on in 2022, um, with 2020, 2022, is that people from out of town weren't getting inspection. They were like waving inspections. Right, right. So if you waive an inspection, you also give me a little bit over my action price, uh, yeah, I'm gonna fight for you as a seller, I'm gonna fight for you to get my property. Right, right. You know, it's just it goes just back to negotiation, man. Um, you should know that your offer and your terms should be really good if you really love that property.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, and one thing I remember about that time period, because that that's when I bought my home in 2020, and I remember for the couple years after that, where we are now, uh I mean, stuff couldn't sit on the market very more than like a week. But I remember um cash buyers are usually have the best chance, and that probably goes to some of them waiving the inspection because they're like, well, I'm a cash buyer, I don't even, you know, I don't care about the inspection. The house is only a couple years old, what can be wrong with it? Uh sort of thing. Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Don't, don't, don't do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely speak to your realtor and uh attorneys and things like that, because it can be some stuff.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, it could come back and bite you in the in the in the rear end for sure. So uh a couple of more points here. Um advice for sellers what's the best investment a seller can make before listing a home?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

To be honest with you, to be completely honest with you, because I make cold calls and some people tell me sellers to expire listings and sellers say, Oh, I need to fix up this, this roof, I need to do this and do that. Honestly, don't do nothing. You know, uh, because you may put a flooring down. The buyer that loves your house or that area may come in there and completely hate that floor. Right. Now they don't even want to put a purchase in, right? Right. So um, and you think it's probably just a basic flooring, a basic painting, things like that. I would say could can continue to make it super, super basic. White painting, um, clean floors, um, probably newer appliance, things like that, but don't put your character into the house because it's not the same as uh from the eyes of a buyer. Or from the buyer, right? So be be cautious on uh making updates. A great update that you if you have funds for, you trying to get um the exact value for the house, which it it never really happens, honestly. Right. Um, but you try to get the value of the house, it's like a, especially in this area, it's like a roof or something like that. Um HVAC system, you know, something newer that you, if you want to put money towards something, yeah, go ahead and get a new roof, go ahead and get a new HVAC system. Those are monetary things that you can improve that, you know, you may get some money back. Right, right. But like kitchen cabinets and counters, and you may not get that money back when you sell this property. Yeah. Because the value just decreased every day, you know. So that's just my take on that.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Yeah, we had to do that with my wife's home uh when she sold it uh uh earlier this year. Uh we needed the the roof was end of life, so we uh we ended up uh some somehow we worked it in the deal where I think it came out of the price of the home or something like that. I I don't remember, but I I remember, I remember we had to replace the roof. Oh, I know what it was. We had to replace the roof before the closing could happen because the type of loan that the buyer right.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

So the FHA loan, uh if you get an FHA loan, they're very um hard on um improvements and things like that before they yeah, the condition of the property before they issue that loan. So certain things have to really be um taken care of before they even say you can close on this deal. And then something like a roof, um you can probably get by with it if the buyer is willing to pay a higher deductible on the insurance or insurance price. But if you get like if if they are a cash buyer and they're not going through the loan, um they still gotta get insurance, right? And they get insurance and insurance denies them, or they give them a high deductible, whatever the high price on it, um, you can kind of get away with it. Um, but as a cash buyer, I'll try to work that in a deal. Right. Um saying that, you know, I'll continue to go with the process, but give me a contingency as as the seller towards just fixing this roof. Fixing the roof, right. Let's close, but give me a couple dollars so I can go ahead and and fix the roof and then I'll pay the the high deductible for the short. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yep, absolutely, yeah, yep. So, um how much of your job or how much of real estate is uh sales versus problem solving?

SPEAKER_00 21:59

Nah. It's a lot of problem solving. You are as a realtor, trying not to hit the mic. As a realtor, you the middle person and you bring all these other entities into this transaction. A lot of people don't know that. You trying to make sure the title company people are good. Right. The inspection person shows up on time. The um the the freaking um appraisal person actually get the right properties to to compare it to. You know, um, if you got an attorney, you you communicating with the attorney, and then you're that person that's getting hit on all sides from the buyer, from the seller, whatever type of transaction you're in. So you definitely fixing issues. Selling point, I just think that that really goes into just what it is. Is it's the market, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Um, it's nothing we get hired, but it's nothing really we can do when it comes to determining what the market is and what it's gonna do. Um we more of um being able to um determine negotiations and and being able to um represent you as the as an advocate when it comes to that transaction, but we can't determine what that seller prices his house at. Right. And then we can't determine as as for a seller what you can actually get for your property at this time. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, we do a lot of a lot of problem solving and selling, actually.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah, absolutely. Do you agree? I know, I I think you're probably spot on with that, yeah. And and and it's not really, even though, you know, it's you the title's realtor and it is the sale of a home, it's not really sales in the traditional sense. It's not like uh car sales or or you know my uh appliance salesman. It's it's a totally different, it's a totally different ballgame. It's it's nothing like that at all. You know, those those are short, uh maybe I don't know, you might have an hour conversation with someone who's buying a car if you're a car salesman and then they walk out the door. Four hours or four. Or or or even four. Yeah, you gotta keep them in a dealership at least four hours. Right, right. I don't care. No one's going into the dealership and not spending four hours. That's true, that's true. But but but my point is that you know, once that interaction is over, you're never gonna see them again. You know, you know, once they walk out with that car, that's that's it. You know, it's it's a little bit different with uh real estate. I mean, you know, because if if you show someone a house like you were saying earlier, you showed uh one buyer like 10 different homes. Yeah, you know, I mean you so you know you you multiply that by the number of hours that you spent with that one client, you know, that might have been like 30, 40 hours or something like that. You know, who knows? I'm just saying, but but it's definitely not your uh your typical sales job. But uh Bernard Bernard, I definitely appreciate it. Oh, yeah. Don't worry about the mic. Yeah, and uh appreciate you coming out. Um go ahead and give the people here your contact information, phone number, email, whatever you want to give.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah, I'm um your faithful community realtor. I'm easy to find on social media. Follow me on Instagram, TikTok, um, Facebook. It is Bernard.faithful. My first name. On all platforms. Um, yeah, you can call me. Consultations. Um I'm looking to help at least 10 families this year, rather than first-time homebuyers or you know, sellers, but usually um homebuyers, uh first-time homebuyers is looking to just be educated on a process, walk through the process and actually um see a dream come true, um, and and and and step into that vision of purchasing your your home for for you, for your family, um, and and just just you know, being out here and and producing, man. It's rough times now, you know? Yeah, yeah. You need you need some some good things and some good people in your life. This is a a relationship type of business. Right, basically, right. We we try to say we are transactional um individuals or salespeople, but it's it's really relationships, and that's where I'm at in life. Loving on people, man. I appreciate you inviting me out and thinking about me, come to the podcast. Absolutely. Always great to speak to you and and talk to the family. And yeah, man, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Okay, perfect, perfect. Well, again, uh Daryl Peters, Realty One Group MVP. You heard it here uh first from Bernard Faithful, the Faithful Realtor. And uh guys, I'll be talking to you soon. And click that like and subscribe button, and we'll see you soon. Take care.