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The NJ DAD Podcast
What Buying The Right Home Means To You (with Claudia Sanchez)
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SPEAKER_03There is no perfection. Don't worry about maybe there's a better one coming up soon. Like you said, with a marriage. I mean, then we none of us would ever get married if you can't say maybe somebody better is coming along.
SPEAKER_07Hey, welcome to the Fatherless Cheat Sheet. It is Andrew, your fatherless friend, your buddy. We're talking real estate today. Real estate, baby. Buying, selling, money, cash. Cash is king. Boy, they say money doesn't buy you happiness, but you know what it does? It makes things a hell of a lot easier. So if you're listening, I hope you have a lot of cash and I hope you're enjoying it. Today we're talking to a real estate agent who is a very, very impressive person. Her name is Claudia Sanchez. She's an agent with Christie Special Properties in Burton County, New Jersey. She covers the whole state, but mostly northern New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey. And she's extremely good at what she does. She's very reliable. She's very knowledgeable. She's charismatic. She's fun. She's an energy giver. And she knows what she's talking about. So we get into a little bit of everything, a little bit of the parental oversight on going to see properties. Talk a little bit about transactional stuff. We talk about a little bit of everything, to be honest with you. Just to give you a little bit of background about my real estate connection, is I did work in real estate. I'm I'm still in referral right now, what they call it, because it is an absolute pain in the ass to get a license. So when you get a license, you want to hold on to that thing so you can be in referral and referral properties and anyway. But I was an agent, sales agent for a little while, and I realized that it just was not on a day-to-day basis for me. You have to have true passion for it because it is a very difficult business and it's very loaded. There's a lot of emotion attached to it. There's a lot of nuance attached to it, a lot of knowledge and information. So if you do and you build these relationships as well with inspectors, with other agents, with attorneys. So it can be complicated. And if you're not in it, which I wasn't, just my heart wasn't in it. So that's not why I'm in it. That's not why that's that's why I'm not in it anymore, is what I'm trying to say. Sometimes I get a little tongue-tied. Give me a break in the jump seat. But it was a great conversation with Claudia. I think you're gonna like it. I think you're gonna like her a hell of a lot. And she was really so kind to be here. So enjoy this chat about real estate on the fatherless cheat cheat. All right, welcome back to the fatherless cheat cheat. I'm here today with Claudia Sanchez, an extremely accomplished and apt real estate agent, trustworthy. I've seen her make grown men cry. I've seen her make people cry by giving them the home of their dreams. And I thought she'd be a wonderful guest to tell us about real estate and a lot of questions around that. So welcome, Claudia. Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_03Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_07Thank you. And I would say that I'm not sure if I've met any three people who have your alchemy of hard work, charisma, and knowledge. And I think that's why you're so good at what you do. So kudos on that.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. And fun. Don't forget I'm fun.
SPEAKER_07You're very fun. That's the charisma part. And you have a great laugh. So hopefully I can get that out of you today at some point. So what I like to do on the show is I like to get the the tough questions, the tough stuff, meat and potatoes out of the way very early. So I'm gonna ask you this because very few people are listening. It's mostly friends and family, some newcomers. In a real estate transaction, who's the biggest pain in the ass?
SPEAKER_03Uh oftentimes it's the attorneys.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03So only because I feel that both the seller's agent and the buyer's agent, our goal is to get you get the seller to the closing table and get the buyer to the closing table. And unfortunately, sometimes the attorneys can either delay the process because I get that they have their job to do to protect their clients. Um, but for a real estate agent, it's we're generally dealing with one to maybe 10 transactions at a time. For an attorney, they're dealing with, I mean, if they're not having at least one to five closings a day, it's, you know, that's not how it works for them. So I feel that sometimes the c the communication is delayed. Sometimes there's a miscommunication, there's not a meeting of the minds, and um then if there's a delay, the buyer gets annoyed, the seller gets annoyed, and now emotion starts to play a role. So that's even though I mean I'm very careful with who I recommend as an attorney. Yeah. Love my attorneys. Of course.
SPEAKER_07Um I'm you're not talking about those attorneys, you're talking about the other ones.
SPEAKER_03It's just yeah, sometimes it's just the attorney who have to be careful. Yeah, there are a lot of players in a real estate uh uh in a real estate transaction, right? You've got the seller, the buyer, the seller's agent, the buyer's agent, the buyer's attorney, the seller's attorney, the lender, the title company, the inspectors. So there's a lot of different cooks in the kitchen. We all have to get along.
SPEAKER_07Lot of cooks, because it's g it is the most important transaction purchase you'll make, even from a rental standpoint. Yeah. You're signing up for a place to live there and to try to enjoy it and live your life the way you want to. So, you know, in this show, the fatherless cheat sheet, we talk about sort of the things, the support that potentially certain people didn't have. And obviously, we talk about this all the time too. Moms lean in big time with this kind of thing, moms and dads lean in. And what are to somebody who maybe didn't have that familial support on either side, what what are they looking for in a in a first-time real estate purchase transaction, even a rental? What are some big, big red alerts to look for?
SPEAKER_03If it you mean you as the buyer, if you're going in you're looking so what I tell buyers is uh first of all, it look at it as a business transaction. It is a business transaction, so financially it needs to make sense. For a buyer, you also though do need that emotional component, right? For a seller, you really do want your seller to really look at this as a business transaction. Don't become emotional, don't get insulted by offers, don't get insulted by requests, um, take feedback and work with it. From a buyer standpoint, yeah, it's a business transaction, so it has to make financial sense, but you have to feel the place, right? It has to, you have to walk in and feel good about where you are. Um, take a look at the neighborhood, take a look at the home overall. Uh don't make it as if uh, you know, this is your forever home. Just walk in and say, can I do this for the next five to seven years? That is really the way to look at it. If you start looking for your dream home, you you've set too high of an expectation. This is, you know, you're the one who's gonna make it the dream home in the end. It doesn't start off as the dream home. It starts off as a home. So just make sure it makes financial sense and you feel good when you're there.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. And I it's so funny because I think my wife asked herself the same question about before we get can I do this for the next five to seven years, right? Before we got married. And luckily, luckily she did because we're going on nine pretty soon. So that's a relief for me. She she she bought the house. I mean, it's definitely a fixer-upper, that's for goddamn sure. But so when you're I always when I sold real estate, I always found it fascinating to watch the dynamic between families. And usually the second visit was when they called in the big guns, whether it was dad just jiggling handles and stuff like that, and kicking floorboards or mom just sort of looking up at everything like that. What what give me something like interesting or funny you've seen from that standpoint when you've walked through with a family, if you have something like that?
SPEAKER_03Well, so now more than ever, the the the parents are involved. And I think part of it is because the cost of everything has gone up. And so first-time homebuyers do look to the parents um not just for their approval, but for a little financial support. So uh we when when a couple comes in or a single person comes in and they then make an offer, and if their offer is accepted, and then the buyer's agent says, Oh, um, they're so excited. Can they bring their parents tomorrow? You're thinking, oh my God, either this is gonna be the kiss of death, or if the parents approve, things are gonna run a little more smoothly. So that's and and you really do start to worry. You and you you say, okay, uh, do you think that there might be some sort of hedging? Is there a concern here? Are the parents key players? Does their opinion matter? And, you know, buyer's agent now wants to tell you, no, no, it's just they just want to see it. But you're sitting on eggshells until after the showing is over, the parents have walked through. And then it's like, are they still interested? Are we still moving forward? And there are times where an hour later, you get that kill letter from the buyer's attorney saying they're not moving forward with this purchase. So um, I mean, recently I had an agent. She brought her clients, they were in love with the house, absolutely in love with the listing I had. And it was a great house, but they loved it. It was their dream home. Um, the next day they brought their parents. I was there for that showing. The agent walked in, and as they were walking out, the father was saying, You are not buying this house. And that was the end of that.
SPEAKER_07So what and what, if you could say it, what was the reason? Did he see something? Did pop pop Chucky's foot go through the floorboard? Like what?
SPEAKER_03Well, I think what happens is if you haven't been in the uh market for quite some time, you're shocked by what the price points are right now. Um, in our area, we have remained in a seller's market with tight inventory, and yet buyer demand exists. It's greater than the supply. And so the price points keep going up. And I think for parents, when you tell them, you know, you're making a purchase of 1.2, 1.3, they walk in expecting to see a palace or a mansion. And it's quite the opposite. It's it's cra it is crazy. I'm not saying that the price points aren't pretty up there, but um, for a parent who hasn't been in the market, they think, have you lost your mind? You are not buying this house. And then as time goes on, um, and they go to see more and more homes, there's often that buyer's remorse of not pulling the trigger earlier on.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. And and you know, it's part like you said, partly a generational thing where you used to be able to buy buy a two, you know, 2,000 square foot home for $350,000 and it was fine. But now you are looking at these homes, you're saying $1.2 million. What? What are we talking about? But it's, you know, the the buyers kind of set the market to a large degree. It oftentimes has nothing to do with with the house itself, right?
SPEAKER_03Right. I mean, and that's what I mean, I say that to sellers all the time that while you as the seller would like to say, here's what my home is worth, it's the buyer who determines what your home is worth because you're not buying your home. And so if a buyer makes you an offer and then you as the seller reject that offer, you have, in a sense, bought your home back for that price. And I often say to sellers, would you buy your house for that price? Because you just did.
SPEAKER_07Right. Right. That's interesting. And it's so it's so hyperemotional and loaded, especially with that many people. It's almost as if uh it's a transaction sort of on par, and others is more temporary, with with a wedding. You know how with a wedding, everybody gets all crazy and ginned up and wild. It's expensive. Everyone's giving their opinion on what isn't good, what's good. It's similar to that. Obviously, that's just a day, and you hope you only do it once, but things happen. But with it with a home, how do you navigate the emotions around these things? How do you navigate the psychology and emotions? Because you're you're really good at it. How do you temper those expectations?
SPEAKER_03So I re I really do try and keep every everybody feeling positive and good. It should be a good feeling when you're purchasing a home. It should be a good feeling when you're selling the home, right? You it it is a bit, as I said, it's a business transaction, but it should be enjoyable because uh, especially when you're buying, you're you're you're looking to set the tone of where you're gonna be for the next few years. So I always try and say to everybody, look, we're all on the same page. Let's let's all get along, let's make this fun. And I always say, I'm not here to sell you something. I this I'm here to engage you in the process, right? I'm if I'm selling your home, I want to guide you through it. I want to be able to get you the maximum that the market is going to allow us to get you. I want to make sure that the terms and the conditions of the offer are favorable for you as the seller. And I want things to run smoothly. Um, when I'm working with a buyer, as I said, is this something financially you're comfortable with? Uh when you walked into the home, did you feel good? Do you like the area? Do you like the location? Uh don't look for perfection. There is no perfection. Uh don't worry about maybe there's a better one coming up soon. Like you said, with with a marriage. I mean, then we none of us would ever get married if you keep saying maybe somebody better is coming along. You know, are you feeling good? Are you feeling it? And um and just making sure that it does remain fun. I mean, it life is supposed to be fun. If it's not fun, why are we here? So I feel that way about everything. Uh, whether, you know, it's it buying a house should be fun. It should be a feel-good moment. Selling a house should be fun because it means you're going on to a different uh chapter, a different step in your life. It it it should be good.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. And I think people feed off of that high energy, that positive energy. I think there are certain people who are energy takers, and you certainly are an energy energy giver. I think that translates quite a bit in your business. And it's just more pleasant to be around, by the way. I I wish people would pick up on that a little bit. But I I don't know. I I think I say this all the time, but we are so uh incredibly ourselves that sometimes some people just can't kick that. But getting back to the real estate before I go on a diatribe, uh when you when you're buying, because things have changed, people are later starters in life. When you're buying a house when you're in your, let's just say, 30s and even 40s now, is there a different, is there a different approach to things than that?
SPEAKER_03I I think actually I think uh somebody who's purchasing a home a little bit later on in life, they first of all may have uh more of a down payment. They've saved some more, so financially they're in a better place or they feel a little bit more secure about their purchase. They haven't, they've already established a bit of their lifestyle, so they really know more of what they're looking for, where they want to be uh location-wise, house style-wise. I feel like they know themselves uh a little more. And they're a little bit more realistic, right? Uh maybe they're not relying on uh social media, Pinterest, TikTok to tell them what they need in their life and where they need to be. They're they they they you know, like they say, what would you tell your 20-year-old self? What would you tell your 30-year-old self? Um when you're 40, you've got a little more wisdom and a little bit more of an understanding of of life.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that's a great point. You do you you you dial in on those life experiences, and and I'm I'm I'll be 45 in September. I'm still trying to figure some stuff out.
SPEAKER_03But I'll be 58 and I'm still.
SPEAKER_07Oh my gosh, you look fantastic. Hey, it never ends, right? We're always learning, we're always trying to figure things out.
SPEAKER_03I think it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_07It's important.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_07It's like it's like they say when after soon after people retire, sometimes, you know, they're not uh with us anymore because they lose that purpose. So I think learning is a is a purpose. And sort of to that end, uh to piggyback off the last question, when you're talking about uh, you know, buying the right home, you know, what is that what does that really mean? We we see what it says in social media and the media tells us. What do you think of that statement? Like buying the right home. What does that mean to you?
SPEAKER_03I I think you I think when you're uh purchasing home, does it suit your lifestyle? Um you know, when you're selling a home, you know you're selling you're, in a sense, you're selling a lifestyle. When you're buying a home, you're buying a lifestyle. Does it suit the one that exists for you uh or that you want to have? So um in terms of the location, do you need to be near transportation? Or do you prefer to be in the middle of nowhere? Uh are you looking for one-floor living because you've decided, you know, hey, I want a space that I can age out in. I don't want to have to do stairs. Or are you looking for, you like the separation of living space and then having sleeping quarters upstairs? Uh do you like to entertain a lot? Is a big kitchen that opens to a family room important to you? Do you prefer, you know, more compartmentalized style of living space so that each room is separate? What I I think you have to really figure out, hey, what is your ex what how do you live? And does this house suit how you live, or can it be turned into, you know, if you open up some walls or if you all of that stuff, you you you want to talk it through. And but I always say to everybody, look, the most important thing when you're buying a house is does the location work for you and does the property work for you? Yeah. Those are the two things you're not changing. Um, you know, you can always put up, you can re-redo the landscape, you can re-put fences up, you could redo the interior, you can redo the exterior, but you're not changing where it's located. You're not changing the size of your property. Are those the things that work for you? Um, and again, taking a look at your budget, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's all have champagne taste and you know, on a beer budget that doesn't always work. So let's let's kind of figure out what's really important to to have your lifestyle fulfilled.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that's fiscal responsibility is sort of another thing and that you can be guided by. Certainly your parents on, but you you you you're old man if you have them. Do you sometimes have to tell people, hey, look, you you just you can't do this? Is that a tough conversation that comes up once in a while?
SPEAKER_03Well, I I I think unfortunately people do um they feel like their financial status or worth is they're gonna be judged on that. And I don't I don't do that. Um and so what I do is I say, look, talk to a lender, and the lender will be able to tell you He'll tell you. You know, they'll be able to say to you, hey, listen, this is what your monthly payment is gonna be. And then you're you can decide if that's something that works for you. Of course, the lender is gonna tell you whether you're approved for what amount you're approved for, but also after that, walk away from it and say, Hey, do I like to travel a lot? Do I like to go out uh a lot? Do I like to shop a lot? My problem. Um, and if I have this nut every month that I know is my housing cost, does it work for me? So I usually send them over to the lender for that financial conversation. Um, and I and I refer them to specific lenders because I've told my uh recommended lenders, don't forget. This is this is a sensitive conversation for everyone. If you're not approved for what you think you should be approved for, it's like a punch in the gut sometimes.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it's hard because then you you envision this life that you you want and you just you quite literally can't have that thing. And it's difficult. Now more than ever, there's a lot of difficulty out there around getting a home. And do you uh do you see it sort of evening out at some point or getting better down the road?
SPEAKER_03Aaron Powell I mean, at some point it has to, but right now, uh, you know, we're still in this area, an ideal in New Jersey, primarily northern New Jersey. Um, but in New Jersey overall, we are still in what's considered a seller's market. So meaning that the demand is larger than the supply. Um there are a couple of reasons for that, but it is what it is. And so because that supply is is less, you know, can't meet the demand that exists, the price points get pushed up.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And they've continued to be pushed up. Um the hope is, of course, that more inventory opens up, more people decide to sell, and uh we can satisfy some of the demand, buyers' demand, and level out the the price points.
SPEAKER_07Is is there what sort of one last sort of transactional question? Is there anything but not emotionally, but like physically with the house that you just can't get around, that you would just say, no, I can't do this. This is a bad idea, red flag type thing. Like can you get around everything? Can you f there is there a fix to everything, is my question to a degree.
SPEAKER_03Yes, but at a cost. So um, you know, and that's that's that's what I say to everyone. This could be a dra you can do anything at a price for a price, right? Uh the the only hard one I would say is, and you have to be somebody who uh recognizes that is if if a property is in a floodplain due to, you know, a river view, a brook, uh, an ocean view.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03There's a cost that comes with that beauty, right? I mean, looking at water features, whether it is a brook, it is a river, it is the ocean, um, it's beautiful. It's just, it's there's something so calming, aesthetically pleasing about it. But it comes with the cost of flood insurance and it comes with the risk of flooding. So um those are things that, you know, you I tell people if you if you can appreciate that, the aesthetics of it, and you're ready for the cost associated with it or um the possible issue.
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SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Just be I I think it's good to just be mindful of or or even, you know, simple stuff where you say to someone, listen, this roof has met its life expectancy. Yeah. It's done. You're gonna have to replace that. It's not a, you know, maybe this it has reached the end of its life expectancy. Factor in 20,000, 30,000, depending on the size of the home. Uh, you know, your heating system, while it's functioning, it has reached the end of its life. You can't, those aren't things that you ask for um following an inspection. If an inspector says that the heating system has, you know, has a life expectancy of 30 years and it's on year number 35 to ask a seller for a new one, that would be considered an upgrade. That would cause the price of the house to go up. As long as it's functioning, you're really not in a so, you know, just know the ages of your mechanical systems, your roof systems, your windows, know the ages of those. Understand that, you know, along with homeownership comes the expense of replacement and repair.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Oh, absolutely. It it it as a homeowner myself, it never ends. And it never it never will end.
SPEAKER_03So we came from we came from apartment living. And we bought a house, and I th and I thought it was so much easier living in an apartment. You cleaned up your little apartment, you walked out the door, you were good to go. You own a house, you clean the inside of the house, you go outside the house, you got to clean the outside of the house. Then you come back inside the house and something's broken inside the house. You're not calling your super to come and fix it, which is what we all did. So um homeownership is it is a great thing. Um, it's a great investment. Um, you know, for for my parents, for myself, for my husband, it is the American dream, and we're grateful to have it.
SPEAKER_07Amen. And uh on that note, if you wouldn't mind, we do a segment towards the end of the show called My Old Man Used to Say any story. I know you were very close with your father, and anything you'd like anything you'd like to share, that's great.
SPEAKER_03Um, so what my father would always say to me is so my name is Claudia Hansen Sanchez. Hansen was my maiden name, and I took it as my middle name because we don't have we didn't have a middle names uh in my family. So my but my father called me Hansen. He didn't call me Claudia, so he would always say, Hansen, don't think too much, it's dangerous. And I use that for myself and I use it with clients. I've told it to friends. We can talk ourselves out of everything. Um, and you know, paralysis by analysis, don't overthink it. If it feels right, it feels good, it makes sense, go for it. Uh, you know, and so that was one of his uh favorite things when I would start. He was also he also didn't like when I talked too much. So I think that was also a good way of wrapping up the conversation, saying, Hey Hansen, don't think too much. Just do it.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that's good. I think that's that's wonderful and lovely, and I appreciate you sharing that. And Claudia, this was a really, really great conversation. Thank you so much for being here. And I will put your information. If anybody's in the New Jersey tri-state area, I will uh put that information in the show notes and all that good stuff. So thank you so much, Claudia, for being with us.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. I love you.
SPEAKER_07We'll talk to you soon. Thank you so much. Bye. Bye-bye. Well, I hope everybody enjoyed that episode. I thought Claudia was knowledgeable, helpful, fun, funny, and just enjoy I just enjoy speaking to her generally. I always get a kick out of her, and she always adds something to the party. So I really appreciated having her here. Again, she's a an agent with uh Christy's special properties in Bergen County, New Jersey. And I will put her information alongside the episode. And if you ever need anybody, an advocate in real estate, boy, is she great. So you contact her by any means necessary. And thank you for listening to the fatherless cheat sheet YouTube. Please subscribe, like, Instagram, email, gmail, fatherless cheat sheet podcast at gmail.com. Send questions, send any communication. Just say hello. Say hey, how's it going? But I appreciate you listening, and we'll see you next time on the Fatherless Cheat Sheet.
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