Embark on an engrossing journey through the ebb and flow of the housing market with industry virtuosos Marcus Laughy and Andy Hilger of LHG Realty. As your host, Mark Jones, I bring you an episode brimming with insider knowledge, dissecting the intricacies of real estate and the builder industry. We tackle the rollercoaster of market fluctuations, delve into the strategies that keep builders and realtors on top, and shine a light on why the relationships you cultivate in this business could be your anchor in turbulent times.
Navigating the Texas real estate landscape requires more than just a compass; it demands a skilled guide like ours. We chart a course through the shifting sands of Texas metro home prices and tease apart the threads of interest rate unpredictability to reveal the patterns that predict recovery. Whether you're a wide-eyed newcomer to homeownership or a seasoned investor with a keen eye on market trends, this episode arms you with analysis and predictions that can transform your approach to property investment.
As the conversation winds to a close, we don't just leave you with data and forecasts; we impart the essence of what makes a realtor thrive. The art of relationship-building, the finesse of client communication, and the sincerity of gratitude are the hallmarks of a prosperous year in the real estate realm. So join us, where the wisdom of experience meets the pulse of the market, and discover how to navigate the waves of change with confidence and clarity.
Key Factors Podcast is Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Host: Mark Jones | Sr. Loan Officer | NMLS# 513437
If you would like to work with Mark on your next home purchase or as a partner visit iThink Mortgage.
Embark on an engrossing journey through the ebb and flow of the housing market with industry virtuosos Marcus Laughy and Andy Hilger of LHG Realty. As your host, Mark Jones, I bring you an episode brimming with insider knowledge, dissecting the intricacies of real estate and the builder industry. We tackle the rollercoaster of market fluctuations, delve into the strategies that keep builders and realtors on top, and shine a light on why the relationships you cultivate in this business could be your anchor in turbulent times.
Navigating the Texas real estate landscape requires more than just a compass; it demands a skilled guide like ours. We chart a course through the shifting sands of Texas metro home prices and tease apart the threads of interest rate unpredictability to reveal the patterns that predict recovery. Whether you're a wide-eyed newcomer to homeownership or a seasoned investor with a keen eye on market trends, this episode arms you with analysis and predictions that can transform your approach to property investment.
As the conversation winds to a close, we don't just leave you with data and forecasts; we impart the essence of what makes a realtor thrive. The art of relationship-building, the finesse of client communication, and the sincerity of gratitude are the hallmarks of a prosperous year in the real estate realm. So join us, where the wisdom of experience meets the pulse of the market, and discover how to navigate the waves of change with confidence and clarity.
Key Factors Podcast is Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Host: Mark Jones | Sr. Loan Officer | NMLS# 513437
If you would like to work with Mark on your next home purchase or as a partner visit iThink Mortgage.
Welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast. I'm your host, mark Jones, and we are powered by ReviewMyMortgagecom, the largest index of mortgage programs in the nation, and on today's episode, I'm actually joined by two gentlemen that had the record for the most views thus far for an episode that was back a year ago and we were discussing the builder industry and what was going on with the height of the market and the bidding wars and how to handle, as a realtor, your customers when taking them to a builder. But today we're going to talk about all kinds of stuff under the sun, but I don't want to hesitate any further. My guests today are Marcus Loffey and Andy Hilger with LHG Realty. How y'all doing Very good. Thank you, mark, awesome.
Speaker 1:So, guys, if you could and for those listening, I've been working with these two gentlemen for my entire career. They have helped me throughout my career in this industry and also are the broker for my wife, kristen. So it's safe to say that we can get pretty real here today, depending upon the discussion. So, before we go any further, I want to give you guys each a moment to just tell the folks who you are, what you're about, all that good stuff, how you came to the industry. Just give us some background, because I know who you are. I know the intricate detail. I mean, we've shared stake together, we've shared all kinds of stuff, and whiskey mostly and the folks out there have no clue, maybe, who you guys are. So let them hear why I listen to you guys' advice most of the time.
Speaker 2:Andy, you want to go first? Sure, absolutely. So I guess, entering the business right out of college, I got a job selling houses for a home builder. That went very well, ended up meeting Marcus there and we were managers together for a home builder for many years and the time came that we wanted to go out on our own and open our own brokerage and kind of start our own thing, and that was that turned out to be a very good decision. You know to do that and it's worked out well and I think we both enjoyed it a lot. I know I certainly have. And now we get to help other people and, you know, bring other people into the business and motivate other people to sell real estate and learn how to do the job right, and it's just been very, very rewarding and a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:I believe that I've been a part of it and I love seeing the growth and what's happening and the adopting to the new markets, adapting to the new markets, and we'll talk about some of that stuff today. Marcus, what's up dude? What's up Mark?
Speaker 3:So I grew up in New England but came in 96. Was my last Air Force assignment. About a house. When I was in the Air Force and thought man, this is easy, I think I want to do this. And so as soon as I got out of the Air Force I got into a new home building where I met Andy. One correction that I'll make is Andy said we got into real estate together. He sent me in the deep waters about six months before.
Speaker 3:I swam, and then he sees me you know, not only swim in a boat around on the weekend and he said I think I want some of that too, and so we formed a team which eventually became the group, which eventually became the brokerage, and I got my real estate license 12, 13 years ago, started selling homes in 2020.
Speaker 3:And so it's been a good ride and your support has been awesome. I know we help you out quite a bit, but you know, as somebody that's in the field, you need to be surrounded by professionals and as a realtor, that's not only mortgage but title and home inspectors and all these folks that you know will pick up the phone whether it's your loan or not.
Speaker 3:That's right all the time hey, so, and so is at this bill, at this lender, and this is what they're saying. What are your thoughts on that and how can we get around it?
Speaker 1:And you're always there to support us, absolutely, and I think that there needs to be more of that in the market or in our industry, but unfortunately it's more of a dog eat dog, sink or swim Right, and more so today, simply because there's not enough transactions to go around per se. I myself think that there's plenty of business out there. It's just how loud can you toot your horn to get those customers to notice you? And then, once they notice you, can you fulfill what you've set out to do for them? And I think our market over the last two years has I don't know, in a certain way given home buyers a little bit of a bad taste in their mouth just because there's so many new to the business loan officers, realtors that don't have great mentorship, that are letting buyers down in some cases. I'm not saying that's the whole, but I do think that there is something that we as industry experts are reshaping as we roll into 2024. And a lot of it is going back to the basics. A lot of it is rolling the sleeves up and getting into what we haven't in a while, but we still know how to do it, because we came up in the business having to cut our teeth, whereas if you got in the last two years. It was just falling into your lab. How do I write a contract? That's exactly right. Matter of fact, a lot of the new folks in the business realtors know more about multiple offer situations, waving appraisals, than they do how to write that contract.
Speaker 1:So, but we've got plenty to talk about today On the agenda. We've. Matter of fact. Let's start where we left off our last conversation, which we were talking about builder business. We were talking about how realtors should approach that, how buyers should approach that from an educated standpoint. What are you guys seeing going on right now with builders? I mean, they're offering low rates in some cases on some homes, some homes not. We know how they do that behind the scenes, but are they pushing the properties? Are they selling? Are they giving out more incentives? What are you guys seeing out there, because I know that you guys are back in the field and doing your thing.
Speaker 3:Right. Well, I can tell you, I've been out there quite a bit the last couple of months and they are definitely still offering the rate incentives. The funny thing that I'm noticing is it seems like I start to tighten up a little bit through the end of last year, when rates were probably at their highest Right. Would you say that, yeah, q4. And so they were offering rates that were not to say numbers, but maybe a couple points below.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 3:And we know that they're able to backdoor that by taking that pool of money, giving it to their lender is not on the settlement statement and that's why it's kind of an unfair advantage to your typical lender that doesn't have the ability to do that, or your seller that's selling their home and they couldn't contribute that much money if they wanted to, right. But the rates are about the same that they're offering in Q4, which is curious to me because they were buying it down substantially before. But now that rates have come down a little bit, they're still offering about the same Right, but they are more home specific. So they're taking their aged inventory, targeting the aged inventory, and then I notice, if you look at a different house maybe that's not, you know, it's 60 days out they might still offer some incentives, but not as much as pushing right the homes that are that need to go now because they still have a ton of inventory. But I can see them tightening up a little bit Right, definitely tightening up on on some of the closing costs, some of the incentives. The pricing hasn't really gone down. It's not like they're offering huge pricing because they're trying to stay in line with the price Sure, sure.
Speaker 3:But yeah, builders are still offering some of those things, just not as much as they were and I think, as rates continue to go down. I think that will decrease quite a bit, right, and even go away to the point where, if they don't, I mean, let's face it, an incentive is an incentive to get you to buy Absolutely, and if they don't need those, then they're going to cut those out. Yeah, and the minute they don't do that, the kindness of their heart, no, the minute that the market turns, I think that goes away and it becomes tougher for first time buyers and my veteran buyers Sure, you know like it was in 2021, 2022, where they just couldn't compete, didn't have the money, and so they definitely tightened up a little bit, still offering it, but not as much as they were, and I find it funny and I think funny is the word, because I don't think it's wrong of them, it's just the way that they go about moving those that inventory.
Speaker 1:But during the pandemic, there's a line out the door to get into the property and they were not giving any incentives. They were making you pay for everything and, in some cases, just saying no to you because you couldn't afford that home. And now, fast forward, they're giving plenty of incentives on those same homes. It's not like the home has changed, but it works for them and me personally. I have no problem with this.
Speaker 1:I think, as a lender, if I had to give any advice to you because it's still happening it would be focus on the things that you can control versus complaining and bitching about the things that you can't control, because, at the end of the day, they've got the money, they've got the inventory, they've got the product to be able to push.
Speaker 1:They have the lack of regulations that they work within to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:So, coming to terms with that and understanding that, hey, instead of bitching about what they're able to do and what we're not, why not find a way to get some of that business that is falling out Because I can guarantee you, just like I'm still getting is turned down from those builders, getting a good relationship with some of the sales counselors, having relationship with your realtors and know that, hey, if you're going to go to the builder, no problem, but if they tell you no, make sure you remember me and that's why you're continuing to build your business and not being discouraged.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of folks are getting discouraged about that, thinking that that is the only way to capitalize is to find a way to match what the builders offering. You're not going to be able to, guys, you don't have the money that they have. Instead of lowering the sales price, which would, in turn, piss off the buyer next door that just bought at the higher price point Right Effect appraisals, absolutely. They're moving that over and it makes perfect sense If they're able to offer that rate. Hey, do what's best for you, you know.
Speaker 3:Well, we're relationship based. Sorry, but we're relationship based. And so if you have that loan and you just can't compete because they're throwing so much money at that rate, the way you come across on that phone call when that buyer tells you thank you, mark, we appreciate it. You helped us fix our credit. We've been working with you for seven years. Right, we're ready to buy, but, hey, we got to do this. They're going to know how you're going to react to that. And in six months, when I have a referral, that's their niece, brother, that's right, cousin. And I say, hey, you should give Mark a call. They're going to go. How did he handle that situation? Mark was great. He told me do what's best for me, absolutely. And so you're still getting that business Right. Right, because it's all about relationships.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Some lenders don't handle it that way.
Speaker 1:It comes from a place of scarcity mindset versus abundance mindset and I think if realtor, lender, if you're doing the needle moving activities, essentially, you will constantly have your business growing or at least moving in the right direction. You had to add.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just going to say I think we're actually kind of in the middle of seeing things shift a little bit. Whenever business was so good for a few years or a couple years, builders just started putting every house on the ground they can build. Every lot they had. They just started the next house.
Speaker 2:And it still wasn't enough and it still wasn't enough. And then when the market changed, there was an overabundance of inventory and then they moved that inventory through these interest rate promotions and things of that nature over some time. And, for example, I was out a couple of weeks ago with a client. The neighborhood had one inventory home that we looked at. It wasn't right and to build a home was going to take one year. They quoted us one year.
Speaker 2:So, to your point, there's going to be a lot of buyers that aren't willing to wait one year or 10 months or whatever the time is, and that inventory pool is starting to shrink in the new builder world. So I think that's going to create a lot more opportunities for just what you're talking about. You know you be there every time for every client, if you can help, and you're going to start to see that group of people that are choosing to buy a pre-owned or whatever the case may be increased because that abundance of inventory is simply going away and a lot of people aren't going to wait a year for us.
Speaker 1:You're right, a lot of people can't wait a year for us, or just simply can't. But are making the right decision for themselves to purchase regardless. So it's like let's find something Now. You mentioned something that I wanted to bring up, and it has to do with the year of construction. I find it boggling that everything that we do in our industry and most industries tends to speed up as time goes on. We find ways to streamline.
Speaker 2:To get better, to get better To improve more efficient.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I feel like on the builder side, it's actually taking longer now and we don't have any supply issues. We don't have any of those things that caused prices to rise. So what are your thoughts on why it's taking so long? Is it lack of talent on the construction side? I mean, who knows?
Speaker 2:You know I can tell you one thing in the builder world that's kind of a pet peeve of mine, you know that may be related to that is we sell a decent amount of new houses and quite often there's delays at closing and you get down to do a final walkthrough and a project manager tells you how short-handed they are. Yeah, you know what I don't care. You know what I mean. I just simply don't care. I'm sorry, you know what I mean. That's that's y'all's situation to figure out.
Speaker 2:And you know, if I didn't perform on something, I'm not gonna make excuses. I'm just gonna try to work harder and do better and own it, and own it Right and so, and so I hate hearing that kind of thing, you know. Oh well, you know, and I, but I have heard a lot of that lately. So I don't know if maybe they've scaled down their construction resources in some cases and that's, you know, one person's handling more houses and has to order all the products and order everything to come in, and maybe that's part of it. But it's, it's a fixable problem, like you said, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean, is it, though? A lot of these companies are publicly traded companies? I mean, you look at D8. What is it, dr Horton Lenard? These are all publicly traded.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So they've got stake stockholders that are, I guess, over them, waiting for their dividend check, and by cutting the construction, okay, that keeps our margins high. But then we got to take away from that to offer these low rates to get people in here, but in turn it's turning into the cycle of bad customer service. To be honest, I mean, nobody really knows the answer to that question. You guys would know best, since you were in that world, but we didn't experience anything like that like we do now. Back then, back then it was like what anybody could qualify. Let's get them in the home. We can't build them fast enough. Right, we've got an overabundance of workers, but it's okay because they're still flying off the shelf. So who knows? I mean, I don't, I don't know the answer to that and your guess is as good as mine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think it'll balance out. Builders, as you've seen, are very reactionary. That's just that business. You know, business is good and we're selling more than normal and we put every inventory home on the ground and then business tightens up and we react again and they're constantly adjusting to the market and I think they probably did reduce some, you know some headcount in some cases and it does sound like there's less people trying to do more. But they'll react again and they'll adjust and I do think it is something that could be. You know we will.
Speaker 2:We've all seen it work before. We've seen it work in person. We've seen it work, you know, with with customers, where things close on time, happen on time, homes get built in about six months. It's very doable, you know. Yeah, it's just gonna take builders getting back and putting the business plan in place and focusing on that. You know, if you don't make it a priority, it's not gonna happen. I agree, you know you have to decide okay, we want to build a house in this amount of time. We can do it. Here's the schedule, here's the process, here's how many people we need to do it, and you have to execute, you know, otherwise it's just not gonna happen. You mean, it's that simple. I think it is that simple. I have to agree. It's been done by many builders for many years in many instances, so it's not reinventing the wheel.
Speaker 1:Right, it can be done. Yeah, no, I agree with that. So, as we shift into a different birds eye topic, I've got a couple of articles I want to go over that tie into this next discussion. But before you answer the question, here is the question what do you think the market's going to be doing as we roll into 2024? Our price is gonna go down. Are we gonna see rates go down? Are we gonna see buyers back into the market that were on the fence previously? Are we going to see more inventory come on the market? We don't know. But before you guys answer that, I want to look at a couple of articles here, because the media is giving us some mixed signals. Let's see. Go ahead, boom, alright.
Speaker 1:So our first one that I wanted to pull up is gonna be this one here says San Antonio home price is expected to drop in 2024. Even greater dip projected in Austin. Okay, and this is coming from the San Antonio Express news. I'm sure that they consult with some folks that economists or, or what is it called? Instructors at colleges, things of that nature but let me read on. It says home prices in San Antonio is expected to drop in 2024 after two years of record high national prices. Alamo City likely will see a 9.4 decrease in the median price of homes next year, according to the report from realtorcom, a real estate and financial tool website. That's what it is now. It's not a lead generation at all. Alright, let's see here. Sa market San Antonio area home sales keeps slowing in October as mortgage rates price affordable. I think that's just a link, okay, so let's see here.
Speaker 1:San Antonio is not the only Texas metro where medium home prices are expected to fall. Realtorcom predicts that Austin will see a 12.2 drop, the largest decline projected among major markets. A home price and home prices in Dallas, fort Worth and Houston are expected to fall by 8.4 percent and 4.5 percent respectively. We expect the return to pricing in line with financing cost will begin in 2024 and the home price, mortgage rates, income growth will each contribute to the improvement. Realtorcom wrote in the analysis and the analysis. Home prices are expected to ease slightly, drop less than 2% from the year on average. So that be okay. Let me matter of fact. Let me keep going. The all-time highest medium sales price in the United States was in 2022 at $413,800, according to the National Association of Realtors. June of this year saw the second highest medium, which was $410,200. We're not going to see a major breakthrough in the I don't know what that is Lodgium. I guess we're gonna go with that. That has been the housing market over the last year, so. But 2024 will be baby steps in the right direction, and that came from Danielle Hale over at realtorcom.
Speaker 1:So let's, let's talk about that brief. Well, you know what? Before we do, let's look at this, which is almost contradictory little new construction retailers, backfilling space, propel San Antonio retail market to record occupancy. So what this is saying is basically there is a demand for commercial space, maybe jobs, more jobs are coming here, more employees, more growth within the business sector. It there's quite a few things here. Let's, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:So my first thoughts are Number one are they talking about price of sold homes as opposed to listed prices? Because I believe that list prices are still on the high end of what they're actually worth or what they should be sold for. And people are doing that why? Because they're appraising. At the end of the day, if they weren't appraising, we would see a decline in that market already. The limited inventory kind of goes hand in hand with the fact that prices kind of stay stable or continue to grow with rates going down, and this is like bullet point, bullet point, bullet point. But rates going down means home prices go up. In order for that to actually happen, we've got to have rates going down but, at the same time way, more inventory and all those people on the fence staying on the fence, essentially for prices to come down, wouldn't you think?
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, because if those people on the fence jump right back in once inventory goes up, that doesn't help with the problem. Help, says in our profession, right, but it doesn't help the problem. I think that when you're looking at these numbers and I can tell you that for the past couple of months the numbers that come out from the San Antonio board have been flat yeah, as far as pricing, very flat. They just came out I think last week they were flat. But when you look at the average median price and all of that, that doesn't mean your particular home has gained or lost value. So there's a market adjustment.
Speaker 3:Just like we had an 08. 08, and we were both part of this were literally the faucet shut off in 30 days. December just shut off, just builders went from positive sales to negative sales. Pre-owns just stopped selling. That was mortgage related. I know we've beat that with a dead horse Like a dead horse. When you look at the average and the median, look at what our market is doing today and what a lot of markets are doing and I was out there showing them A year ago it was damn near impossible to find a new home under 300. Impossible. But somehow, like Andy said, builders have reacted and adjusted and I just got a house under contract for $279, but I was showing brand new homes that were $225, $240. Who would have thought that that was possible? Now you take a platted unit of what you were going to do, maybe 40 foot wide lots, and before you drop it you reevaluate and say we need to scale down.
Speaker 3:We need to scale down. And so you take those lots and you make them a little smaller, you make the product smaller, you strip it down, right, don't offer as much, take less margin and take less margin. So now that $300,000 house probably could be sold for $240, $250, because we've really minimized what's in that home compared to the others, so that house is selling for what it's worth. Maybe that drives the median and the average price down a little bit, but that doesn't necessarily mean that pricing is dropping, because now we've introduced a completely new product that nobody's ever seen. So NARA is building those tiny homes that are what 120, 140 grand, right, but they're very, very small, on very, very small lots. I'm guessing it's probably a 20, 25 foot lot, right, but that's going to contribute, right, and there is a market for that. So as they continue to sell those, that obviously contributes to the average or median price. So that doesn't mean that property values are going down.
Speaker 3:If the numbers do go down, it means that I mean, I would have to look at it to say, okay, what type of new product has been introduced and how much of the percentage is that yielding? Because I can tell you for me personally, I feel like there's three markets when it comes to single family. Now when you look at farm and ranch land commercial it's different. But I feel like there's kind of three pocketed markets and every neighborhood's going to be different. But I feel like the first time buyers are still there and that price point under three to three, 50 is still moving pretty well because it's affordable even with the higher rates. And then I was out last weekend showing 900 to 1.2 and half of them sold before we can even get an offer in. Why do you think million dollar properties are moving, mark?
Speaker 1:Honestly number one, their price right. Number two with all this inflation that's going on. You know who benefits from inflation the owners, the ones that actually pull the levers, the ones that actually can't afford those type houses, and most of the time they don't give two shits what rates are paying cash. They're not impacted by the right, even if they're financing they understand, correct.
Speaker 3:They're putting down large amounts of money if they're not paying cash. And so that market and throughout all last year, when things appeared to slow down, which I read my numbers and I knew I was doing okay, but I actually did better last year than the year before. I know a lot of people saw decrease. Yeah Well, it was pretty close but I definitely did better. But when you look at that, you know those people that have money, have the means, have the education and understand the market and what's best for their family, they're still moving forward on that and they did all last year. You know I had a ranch that was listed and it was, you know, about a million and a half right.
Speaker 3:And the showings were incredible. We got it sold but the showings were incredible on it and the people that have the money and make the moves it doesn't affect them. It's the people in the middle kind of that 350 to.
Speaker 3:I mean, if I had to guess 550, 600, right yeah, that's the part of the market that you got to work a little harder. Sure, sneeze, look a little better. We got to make sure we're on point to attract the right buyer, but you get below or above that and things are still moving, in my opinion, very well. It's kind of that middle range that you really got to buckle down and do what we're supposed to be doing, which is our jobs.
Speaker 2:I like that and I think the reason for that is that price range is that's your first time move up buyers and that's your buyers that are downsizing. Kids have left the house and they're going to move into something a little bit smaller. Well, in some cases, you run into a math problem. You know, from the beginning of 2020 to the beginning of 2023, home values have gone up 39%. Interest rates have gone up as much as they are. So to move up, you're going to have to sell your current home and jump into a payment that's significantly higher than you're expecting and if you're going to downsize.
Speaker 2:You know I talked with some buyers over the last couple years that wanted to sell their house and downsize but they just couldn't do it. They have to go down to a price point that's lower than they're comfortable, you know, to get for the payment to even come down. And so I think in that range you're talking about you run into a lot of those scenarios, you know. I know. I know I did over the last couple of years. But back to the article I was going to say you know news articles are in. I think in many cases they're skewed somehow for some reason, for somebody's person for somebody's purpose.
Speaker 2:This reminds me of what my mindset might have been in the fall of 2022, you know what they're talking about prices coming down and things changing. I feel like running a brokerage. We felt that start, that change, kind of take place in May, June of 2022. Sure, you know, and then by now I think we're in a different place than that for this coming year, I think, with rates starting to pull back a little bit. Just what I was talking about, with the buyers in that middle price range that haven't been able to make those moves over the last couple of years. Well, you're going to start to run into some pin up demand there. They've been wanting to make this change, wanting to make this move, and they've put it off because the math didn't make sense. Well, when that starts to come back into balance, you're going to have the influx Correct and I think we're going to run into that over the course of this year.
Speaker 2:We're going to start to see it going, to start to see it build up and see those people that have been holding off for whatever reason finding the way to come out Right.
Speaker 1:That fire. Somebody's adding some logs and fire is starting to trickle in.
Speaker 2:And some the best advice I could give to anybody in the industry. How many times over the last few years have you been asked about interest rates and what they're going to do and where they're going to go next, and are they going up or they going down? I bet it's multiple times a day.
Speaker 1:A day.
Speaker 2:Correct, right.
Speaker 1:And the answer to that, still guys, is if I knew what rates were going to do, I promise I wouldn't be doing this Correct Matter of fact, correct? I might be doing more of this, correct, correct and less loans.
Speaker 2:Correct, and so what I'd like to share is because I get that question so often, and if you want rates to go down, you can Google our interest rates going down and find 100 articles that will tell you why they are. And if you want them to go up, you can Google our interest rates going up and find 100 articles that will tell you why they're going up.
Speaker 2:So the bottom line is just like you said nobody really knows, but the best you can do. The Fed chair has a Fed funds meeting every other month. Every two months they meet, they make their adjustments and then they do a Q&A afterwards and they provide a forecast. It comes on at 2 pm. I watch every single one of them. It's more educational than you can read every news article out there. That's right. Or you can just watch a 30 minute Q&A and they will forecast out their project. They will make their adjustments for the next three years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like, instead of beating the dead horse, we were talking about listen to the horse from the horse's mouth, correct?
Speaker 2:I get tired of. I get tired of. I don't want to argue is not the right word, but with debating with people about it I'm like, look, all I'm going by is the people that pull the levers are saying they predict X, y and Z, and to that point they've never been right.
Speaker 2:That's a good point Every two months they change it again, but I think that's still going to be the most accurate prediction of where things are going to be, of what they're doing is reactive to what has taken place, because it's a moving target.
Speaker 1:It's always going to be a moving target. But I want to hone in on something that Marcus mentioned that I had not even considered in the concept of prices will drop. A lot of folks think because you see the headlines that say prices will drop and totally miss what you just mentioned regarding new inventory that is lower priced. That doesn't mean your home value over here is going to drop. It just means there's a completely new segment of the market that allows first time home buyers to get into the market and I think that's important for people to understand that. Number one our current home owners. Number two, the folks that are on the fence in that middle bracket or higher bracket that are financing, because their questions are well, I want to see what the market's going to do, because I don't want to buy. And then boom, it goes backwards and I just lost X amount of dollars with Texas. I don't think we've ever seen it go backwards that quickly In 2008,. It actually didn't happen until 2010 that the prices dropped a tad, but then they came right back up in Texas. I can't speak for the rest of the United States but, safe to say, texas has quite a bit of land. It's got an influx of job opportunities and, because of our tax regulations, more and more companies are moving here every single day and creating additional job opportunities for the first time home buyer segment, that middle tier that you're talking about. So that's important for folks to understand and make sure that you discuss that with your customers, with other realtors, with lenders that just don't get that concept or totally missing it, just like I did before this conversation. I didn't even that, wasn't even on my radar.
Speaker 1:The second thing is you've got three tiers and I like how you broke it into three segments. You've got your first time home buyers, your third, which is the luxury cash well means educated, know what they're doing. Then you've got that middle tier to where it is. They're doing the best they can, but the inventory isn't exactly what they want. They're unsure, they're getting mixed messages because they listen to MSNBC, et cetera, et cetera. But there's one additional bracket that we're missing and that's investors. And the reason why I bring that up is I would say goodness for the last six months.
Speaker 1:More of the transactions that I have financed are actually for folks that already own a home and they're buying their next, either primary and converting their current to investment, kind of like you were talking about. I'm on the fence. We don't need to sell this house to buy a new one, but does it make sense? They're holding onto their house, converting it to an investment property and buying the new one, and or I've done quite a bit of deals for investors that are growing their portfolio like crazy right now and we're talking about these are not big time investors like your BlackRock. These are mom and pop that understand real estate and are buying homes for VRBO. They're buying homes for long term rentals. I am not seeing very many flips going on. I also have seen a big drop in the I'm not going to call it a fad, but the trend that was happening downtown in our historic district area. You're seeing way less flips happen. Why? Because money is expensive to do those flips.
Speaker 3:And a lot of those are in that middle market I talked about, and so a lot of people are very rate conscious and really worried about the payment based on their budget right at that price point.
Speaker 1:Now you're on the money. So, that being said, let's, let's shift into. There's a video real quick, from a professor. I believe that, and we'll only be able to hear it, but I think he has a pretty solid message. If you could, JC, let's flip over to that video.
Speaker 5:It is meant for the San Antonio real estate market High home prices, even higher mortgage rates for really the North last year. But let's look forward. Now realtors are talking to the 19th Avery Everett about what to expect in 2024.
Speaker 4:It's airing again right into the family area.
Speaker 5:In the home to buy a home.
Speaker 4:And you're a very solid market.
Speaker 5:Broker associate David Anderson says he's hopeful for 2024.
Speaker 4:I think it has a potential to be really solid.
Speaker 5:After a year of high home prices and high mortgage rates, Anderson says the San Antonio real estate market is on the move Everything that was going wrong is beginning of 2022,.
Speaker 4:Is going right in 2024.
Speaker 5:Right now looking at the potential for 2024.
Speaker 4:It's a toast. Master, fire elect.
Speaker 5:Anderson said mortgage rates could see a close change.
Speaker 4:You know interest rates and last month of the week's interest rates have dropped continually. The last two weeks bumped up a little bit but we know everything that falls quickly must come back up quickly.
Speaker 5:Right now, he says, home prices in sub parts of town are still pretty steep.
Speaker 4:Prices are not coming now, but they're still going up and it is slower rate which helps out buyers.
Speaker 5:Anderson says 2024 will still be a seller's market. He need.
Speaker 4:The demand for homes is still higher than the supply, and this house in particular His advice for those looking to sell is simple Get your homes ready and get on the market now, because if you wait till the competition gets there, you're really behind the curve.
Speaker 5:Brokers tell us what's going on in the market and interest rates are usually the typical factors that can really fluctuate on market. In 2024, the real estate market could be impacted by a couple of new laws that just took effect at the beginning of this year in moment, property taxes and homeowners associations. This is something that comes for a while. John Taylor, a political science professor at UTSA, says of the 31 new laws that went into effect on January 1st, multiple could have market impacts. Regarding property taxes specifically people that keep mine, that it drives down local, school and district tax rates and WS, the Homestead exemption.
Speaker 4:Some laws that even affect current homeowners Age of ways have two wide property owners will list of what is not allowed.
Speaker 5:A new year could always bring new challenges.
Speaker 4:So, as you can imagine, all the things, the lively people moving around, but Anderson says, for the first time in a long time, he's feeling hopeful about market change.
Speaker 1:So, that being the case, I mean he talks about some good stuff there.
Speaker 1:What are you guys' thoughts on that? Because I for one realized that and I don't think it's talked about much since it took place but there was a massive property tax cut that went in effect I believe it was November of last year that allowed your Homestead exemption to be cut by 100,000 in the value of it. When it comes to the taxation in the school taxes, and that is one that for many years especially starting out when the kids were going to a private Catholic school or private school we're going well, we pay for that and we pay for them too. So I love that they did that, but it's also not being spoken about. We're talking thousands of dollars off of your annual taxes, which equates to hundreds of dollars off of your monthly payment, just in itself to combat the rates, to combat the increase of property values in a short period of time. But again, it's not being talked about. Instead, they're talking about the things that get you riled up or get you confused or whatnot. I mean, what are your thoughts on this stuff, guys?
Speaker 2:I mean I think it's a good point, Mark, it does need to be talked about. It's kind of a golden spark plug type item. You know we were talking about builders earlier and I can tell you one thing that home builders are very good about. You walk in the door to a home builder sales office that's out in the county where their taxes are lower, and your buyer is going to be told that within the first two or three minutes our taxes are lower here because nobody likes to pay more taxes than they have to. So it's going to kind of resonate with a lot of people. So I do think it should be talked about. People need to be aware of what they're saving and what's changed and what all the benefits are to purchasing now compared to other times, and that's probably something our industry needs to do a little bit better educating people on Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I guess the reason why I bring that up is because of Marcus's three segments now, for if he can adopt that investor, we'll have two or three more by the time we're done.
Speaker 1:Well, that being the case, historically the majority of home buyers each year is first time home buyers, and if they can't afford the homes, well then, yeah, I can see sales going down and continuing to do that. But with the solutions that some builders have come up with, the tax adjustments that they're making to the ability for first time home buyers to actually acquire a property, it seems like we've got light at the end of the tunnel. That's coming for us, for our buyers, for that demographic. I mean now, is it right, is it always right, for someone to purchase a home? That's kind of the question. And since I've got you both and I know you guys are upfront with your buyers I know that in many cases we want to push for that sale, but there are also cases that it's not right for a buyer to move forward, for whatever reason. What does that conversation sound like? I mean, marcus, do you ever have that talk with them?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and I think that it's kind of unfair with what we do for a living right. Somebody says how's the market? You know, is now the time to buy? 99% of people said absolutely, because I'm going to get my paycheck in 30 days of you buy.
Speaker 1:I put that comment on social media a while back that said the best time to buy was 1972. I pulled that date out of my ass, to be honest. Why?
Speaker 2:Because it was in the past that was a great time to buy, and any date in the past works right, correct.
Speaker 1:And therefore the next best time is now, so go ahead.
Speaker 3:Sorry, Maybe I think the honest answer. If you ask somebody who's into the industry, the honest answer should be depends Depends on you, depends on your family, depends on your situation. It doesn't depend on the crystal ball. What are rates going to do? They're going up and down. What's inventory going to do? Are prices going to go up or price is going to go down? Because if it's the right decision for you and your family, then you should make that decision and work with the folks that are going to educate you and figure out the best way to accomplish that goal. But let's face it, some people love to travel.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Some people don't want to mow along, some people don't want maintenance, they don't want the responsibility of a long term mortgage, and maybe they jump around from apartment to apartment every couple of years just because I want to live near Lock and Tarot. Ok, downtown's hopping, so I want to live downtown for a little while, and it's probably not a good fit for those people, right? And so I think that, as long as you build a good circle of professionals, that will give you honest information. Families a lot of times, can be very helpful, right. But then sometimes, when we look at our parents, they were super successful, made lots of money, did very well, and home ownership has always been easy for them to achieve. Good point, yeah. And maybe it's not quite right for you today.
Speaker 3:And so when I talk to people and Mark knows this I will say Mark's going to run your info and he's not going to say that you can't buy a house. It may not be today. So his answer is going to be when. It might be three months, might be six months, might be a year, and that could be the same for you personally. You need to do your own inventory and see what's right for you and your family, in the same way that some family members will discourage you Right Just to keep you down friends and family. And oh, you can't afford that, mark, there's no way you can afford that payment. Oh yeah, well, if Mark has his finances in order and his priorities in order and home ownership is a priority for Mark, then Mark can make it happen.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I think the answer is depends, because it really depends on your situation. I told you my business was still very well-asked. It did very well last year, because people are always going to need to buy and sell real estate Right. People are moving. There's divorces, unfortunately, there's deaths, there's estate sales, there's people having babies that need to move up, there's people that get married or have a new partner and they need a bigger space, and so there's always and those are the right decisions for them. So when I say depends, it was right for all of those people because it was right for them and their family Right. But don't allow people to push you in a direction to buy a house or not to buy a house without gathering all the facts.
Speaker 1:I love that and I think a lot of folks use social media as a pulse for what they should do or shouldn't do. I'm not going to say that's wrong or right, it just is what it is these days, and I think 2024 is the year of education and it's going to come from folks like us Should be. I mean, you've got all the reels and the YouTube stuff and you're trying to compete with all of the shiny objects that are out there, and most of it is scare tactics for whatever reason, one reason or another. But how do you go about competing with that level of volume when you're trying to give people the good word, so to speak, and essentially you've only got your soap box and what you have expertise and what you've experienced to give them? It's a tough task and I think it's getting tougher as we move forward because consumers, let's face it, they've got access to their cell phones and, like you said, whether they're looking up something wrong or right, they're going to find the answer that validates their stance on the situation. It's tough. So, marcus, I know we've got some education classes coming up and I think that that will be a great way to spread the and I don't want to say the influence of buying a home, but more so the education that allows them to make the decision on whether or not it's right for them or not.
Speaker 1:But that being the case, what do you guys think is some good advice for realtors as we roll into 2024, knowing what we know now, based on, I don't believe the market's going to drop. I do believe that there's going to be some new inventory that was never introduced to the market that helps a lot of folks that need it. But at the same time, you've got rates that they're not going to drop overnight. You're going to have to deal with a higher payment than what somebody purchased two years ago and, let's face it, chances are, unless we have another pandemic, we won't see those rates for a while. And I say for a while because I don't like to say never, always. You never know. That's what you're thinking. You never know.
Speaker 2:I would say education is absolutely the key. What you've both been saying, in my opinion, the folks that the time wasn't right for there's a huge difference in you tell somebody, oh, you want to do this, you want to downsize, well, it's not going to work because of X, y and Z, I would say that's never the right approach. I mean, somebody wants to make a change, whether to move up, whatever the case may be. I put all the information together just like any other deal and go out, meet with them and present everything.
Speaker 2:Here's what I think we could sell your house for right in this range. You're looking to move up or move down, whatever that is. Here's what that looks like. Let me go ahead and start sending you the types of homes that you would be able to buy in that price range. Let me connect you with a lender so you can see, based on current rates, what those payments are, and once they have all the facts, they can decide if this move makes sense for them or not. And by doing that, I think you're putting yourself in a position for all those that, for whatever reason, it's not the right time or it doesn't work. Well, this year, when we're talking about things changing and maybe that pent-up demand starts to make those moves, because the numbers change a little bit well, hopefully they're coming back to you.
Speaker 2:You're taking the time to invest in them and help them and make sure that they have the resource they need, whether it works or it doesn't. And I try to tell that to everybody, because a lot of people say well, I know it's going to be tough and I don't want to waste your time. Please don't say that this is what I do, and if I have to meet with you six times over a few years until the time comes that you're ready to buy or sell your house, I'm OK with that. That's what I'm here to do.
Speaker 1:As long as you don't cut me on the fifth time and buy on the sixth with somebody else?
Speaker 2:Yeah well, that would be a bummer right. Yeah, but the resource aspect in the education is what we should be here to do Now. I will say, when it comes to first time home buyers, if you're renting I think it's almost always if you qualify for a home, it's almost always going to make sense to purchase the home.
Speaker 1:Let's pause right there, because I love that you mentioned that and the way that you mentioned it, because you're going to have to pay for housing regardless.
Speaker 2:That's a different conversation right, because let's say somebody rents an apartment. It's $1,500 a month and in five years what's that? $90,000? That's gone and they're never getting back. It's completely gone. How many people have you sold a house to and then resold it for them? And they've made 75, 100, 120 grand within a five year period, correct? So we're talking about a $200,000 swing at a first time home buyer level by making the choice in just a handful of years, by making the choice to buy something as opposed to continue to pay rent, and I think that needs to be illustrated. So for that point, like I said, if you're renting, the answer is unless your job's not stable or you could be moving soon. If you've got some outside factor, maybe that's a different story, but it probably almost always makes sense to purchase as opposed to play with the payment Right, Because you've got a lot of first time home buyers that are in that position.
Speaker 1:Much rather start building equity. But what if? What if, what if? And those start coming out and being able to overcome those objections is typically all the same response. You cross that bridge when you get there, but at the same time you now own a home. So just because it may not have worked out for you for whatever, what if you want to pull out of the hat at that time? You can still convert it to an investment property. There's somebody that will rent it from you and you can always sell it. At the end of the day, you put some money down, so you've got a little equity. Now I think the response similar to yours is maybe, if you plan on moving and don't foresee yourself being able to manage an investment property within a year's time, if you've got a job to where they may move you out of state and you have zero interest in being a landlord or even hiring somebody to be a landlord, it's not for you. Now everybody else, hey, what make it? Make sense the other way.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Didn't know it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're going to continue to pay rent month over month, year over month, year over year, there's no scenario where it's going to make financial sense to go that path for sure.
Speaker 3:Well, I think this goes back to what are your goals? I did a listing appointment this week, new listing coming and my first question to every seller I meet with is okay, let's talk about your goals, your financial goals for the property, but what are your goals and what are your plans after this? Because I'm going to sell your home and you will be homeless. So what is that plan now? What does it look like now? And we evaluate where do you want to go? And I've got my computer and we're looking immediately to make sure that we can accomplish the goal. And it's not unrealistic for where they want to go, because if it is, I'm going to be the guy to say this probably isn't the right time for you to list your home because we cannot accomplish your goals Right Now.
Speaker 3:Well, some people list the home, it's possible, but for the most part it's about relationships, right, and so we need to talk about your goals, figure out where you're going to go and if we can accomplish those goals, great, there are going to be renters that just want to be a renter. They don't want the responsibility. But when I have those conversations, oh, taxes and maintenance and this and that, okay, well, the landlord is not doing those for free out of the kindness of their heart. You're paying taxes, you're paying repairs and so, unless you're in some type of beautiful rental in a great situation where you're paying $1,000 a month and it just doesn't get any better than that the average rents is between 18 and 1900 a month right now we could easily help somebody get into a home at those payments.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Very little out of pocket. Yeah, we're talking $240,000 house. Gets you that kind of payment. I mean, if you say you can't find anything in that price point, then you need to reset your expectations because you probably have been living in a luxury apartment, so to speak, and that doesn't correlate to property. But the good news is is who cares what your friends are thinking about your 250 home? You're building equity and, at the end of the day, guarantee you're going to make them take their shoes off before you come in your house type concept.
Speaker 3:And most departments are 7,800, 900 square feet. I mean, what's a large apartment? 1,200 square feet, that's a pretty big apartment. So even though these smaller homes that a lot of these builders and I give them credit, for they've developed, this new product that is going to be at that price point gives them the opportunity for home ownership. So it's not for everybody. Some people will be a renter, and that's great if that's what their goal is, but if your goal is to become a homeowner and you're a renter, there's somebody out there willing to show you the way.
Speaker 2:And there's an interesting kind of change taking place that I think is kind of neat with, it seems like younger buyers. I've sold several houses over the last couple years to younger clients. They might be in the military, they might be in college or right out of college, whatever the case may be, and they're buying the home and then they're renting out individual rooms within the home.
Speaker 4:It's becoming a thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's becoming a common thing and I'm like, yeah, wow, what a great idea. You're a single person and everybody.
Speaker 3:I think would rather live in a home than an apartment.
Speaker 1:So it seems like it's pretty easy to get those people to take the room for six months at a time or a year at a time, and I think it's a good idea, and I'm seeing a lot more of that and I also think that those are the indicators of what is to come, meaning if they have the mindset of doing that, then they're also going to be the type of folks that eventually buy another home and convert the entire property to an investment property, or buy multifamily units to be able to occupy one because you get to put less money down. But they're thinking more futuristic, or maybe are they just thinking how the heck do I make this cheaper for myself? Regardless, it accomplishes both of those checkmarks Right.
Speaker 3:And a lot of them are bringing their roommates. You had that last week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've had roommates show up to look at the house with the person that's buying it They've already got them picked out. Yeah, it's becoming a pretty common thing.
Speaker 1:So one more question I have for you guys in regards to when you're sending a customer to a lender that already owns a home and, for example, myself I will go through all of their options, not just hey, we want to buy a house. What does it take to buy a house Because we intend on selling this one? The first thing I ask is do you, are you selling because you have to or because you want to? Well, we need that money for down payment Makes perfect sense. Well, we thought we had to. I mean, what do you have your money saved? Yeah, absolutely Okay. Well, do you know what it looks like to become a landlord and let somebody else build some more of this equity for you while you continue to buy other properties? Because, let's face it, if you're buying another property now, probably happen again in five years or so, and it continues. What are your thoughts on lenders giving that advice, especially when you are the ones that sent that deal or that buyer to a lender intending to get a two for one?
Speaker 3:Well, I can tell you that when I'm referring out to different lenders, I'm not just sending a phone number. I'm having a conversation and, like I told you at the listing appointment, we've talked about their goals. I know what their goals are, yeah Right. And so if we've talked about their goals, there may be a time where maybe I'm not taking the listing. I'm going to help them find a place, and so that's a conversation I've already had with you to say they're thinking about selling, they're thinking about keeping it, go over those different options with them and then they can make that decision.
Speaker 1:I mean, I love that response and it continues to show you guys as level of expertise when it comes to that and the unbiased to what it benefits you at the time. Because you will have realtors that don't ask those questions, don't have those high trust conversations up front with their buyer to get that out of the way Number one and to truly understand what their goals are so that you can inject your expertise to help them get to those goals. They'll send it to the lender, lender would give their advice and options, viable options, and then the realtors going well, now I don't get the listing and I really wanted to sell that out.
Speaker 2:Oh man, you know that's one of the hardest concepts to teach people. You get it and I just get to. We have a lot of people around us that get it is. If you do the right thing, it will work out more favorably for you long term, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:If the right thing for this particular client is to save this as an investment property, for whatever reason.
Speaker 2:You've run the numbers, they've made that decision, that's the direction you want to take it and it will work out.
Speaker 2:You know, the property will probably be worth more in two or three years and they're for sure going to come back to you to sell it because they know you're the type of person that's always going to do the right thing. And a lot of people don't get that, you know, but that's probably what I would, the message I would try to get across to any agent that gets upset because they thought they were going to sell the house and maybe they didn't really need to or want to. But you know, the lender gave them fiduciary advice on exactly what they need to do and therefore they're a little. That's what they need to understand. If you talk to that client, if they understand that you're always trying to do what's best for them, the rest will work itself out. The money will come, the referrals will come, the things you need will come your way. If you do the right thing and they know you're willing to take care of them on that level.
Speaker 1:And I think that is a very clear, loud message to the realtors that are tuning into this to have those conversations with your buyers, with your sellers, that allow you to rise to the level of expertise that they go. Wow, they care. They at least asked me what my goals were. They asked me what my intent was and my interests why? Because, either way, they may or may not profit from my decisions, but at least they care enough to ask and point me in the right direction to get the job done.
Speaker 2:Right. And that's the difference between a realtor that just wants to get a deal done and a realtor that wants an established connection relationship with this client that they will carry on for many, many, many years to come. I can tell you, marcus and I have both. I've got clients that I have sale. I closed one the other day at the title company. I was trying to remember how many family members in this chain and I just kind of gave up. It was that many.
Speaker 1:They're on the spiderweb effect.
Speaker 2:They're on the spiderweb effect. Is that what you want, or do you want to get this deal closed today? That's the decision you're making in that particular scenario.
Speaker 3:Well, I've sold homes by not getting the listing. We had the honest conversation yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3:We had the honest conversation, they decided not to list. They're going to rent it, whatever the case may be. But guess what? When somebody else is talking about selling, they're cheerleading and saying my name, and I've gotten listings from homes that I haven't sold for that particular person. I've also gotten buyers from buyers that didn't buy. Maybe they weren't approved they're working on it still but they know that we as a team and the circle of professionals that we've put together are helping them. So they're cheerleading more than anybody. I'm not looking for today's transaction, today's relationship. I'm looking for next month, next year, five years down the road, relationships to be built, because then when you refer somebody and I get five referrals and then those five people refer somebody, and it goes on and on and on.
Speaker 3:So, once again talk about their goals. Andy said do the right thing and it will all work out. If you're scrambling to make a buck, you're going to make a buck. That's right.
Speaker 1:Enjoy it. Yeah, I like that. I mean I wish there was a way to kind of tie it into that teach a man to fish concept. But this is even bigger than that, because it's about building now for the future and doing the right things now that will affect you later, positive or negatively, Right?
Speaker 3:So Well, go to that pond and you could fish it out in a month and you got no fish left. Or you can take what you need and allow them to reproduce in two referrals.
Speaker 1:Yes, look at that.
Speaker 3:And that pond has fish for life. What do you?
Speaker 1:know Right, absolutely. That's pretty damn good, hell yeah, that's awesome. You asked right, absolutely. So I think we've covered everything that we wanted to discuss here today, and now I want to give you guys a moment. Is there anything that you'd like to add to this discussion? I mean, we've got some great nuggets. We've got some information for realtors, for home owners currently and the future to become home owners. You guys got anything else?
Speaker 2:One thing on the list about attracting business. We just at our first meeting of the year for our office and this is just my opinion I felt like I saw an uptick of clients wanting to list their homes. In December I put a few new ones on the market, starting to get some pretty good showing activity on these. One of them sold and I think that same concept I was talking about earlier all those folks in the middle you know that either want to move up or move down. Part of their process is a house has to be sold, correct?
Speaker 2:I think now more than ever is a good time for your circle prospecting to be. You know the past houses that you've listed and sold. Send that neighborhood, you know, a letter, let them know who you are, let them know how you sold that house, because some of these, some of them, have seen their neighbors struggle, you know, put houses on the market that didn't sell things of that nature, and so it might be refreshing for them to hear that you put this house on the market and it's sold in eight days or whatever the case may be, and and I think you will get more responses to those types of letters than we have in the past. So I think I think taking your listings and using those to try to pick up some in the immediate area is, I think, now's the time for that.
Speaker 1:I think that's powerful and again goes to the education piece, and it doesn't necessarily need to be this data oriented education. It can be real life examples, real story scenarios that just took place that people need to hear and know about, because they only you only know what you know, right, you know well, yeah, I mean we're talking about the scenarios of where of people that are unsure and will it work or what won't work.
Speaker 2:How many folks are out there that have just talked about it amongst themselves and haven't had the conversation with a professional to actually have those numbers laid out in front of them so they can really have the data they need to make? A real decision, and that's what you're trying to find. That's who you're trying to find and then, and then you can provide that education that we've been talking about.
Speaker 1:Then you rise to the occasion and do what you say you're going to do. When you say you're going to do it, right, mm-hmm Marcus you got anything to add? Well, we have one mouth in two ears, right, absolutely why is that it's because we were intended to shut the fuck up and listen.
Speaker 2:Why didn't I get it? Hell yeah, Tell me now right at the end.
Speaker 1:So go ahead, Andy, let one out.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, fucking Andy. So we've listened, we've established what the goals are of our clients.
Speaker 3:They've either purchased or sold, right. And we've mentioned that there's a lot of people on the fence, right, they're all just sitting up there. Yeah, who is communicating with those people on the fence? I guarantee you've talked to some, I've talked to some, andy's talked to some, and if we're not following up with those, when you talk about agents and lenders picking up business, if you're not following up with them and at top of mind, what's going to happen is Andy's going to sell their brother a house that's right. And their brother's going to say come off the fence, man, this guy's great, and you've lost that. And you've lost what? Not just that deal, the future deals to come, the referrals, right.
Speaker 3:And so I have it happen all the time. There's several, every single month probably I'm not going to say every week, but every month where I get the reminder hey, follow up with so-and-so. It's been three months, six months, a year, two years, right. And then all of a sudden I get busy and my phone starts ringing and I'm like man, am I lucky? I can't believe he had me called me out of the blue. But then I go through my text messages, my emails and my calls and I'm like I've been calling this guy for 18 months every month, right, and so what I've done is I've stayed at top of mind and so that when he is ready, he's going to call me, and I feel like it's out of the blue, but it's not out of the blue, whether he's responded to my messages or not.
Speaker 3:He knows you're ready to help I know what the goals are and what I would say to anybody looking for businesses. All those people are sitting on the fence right now. Right, are we communicating with them? Because they're on the fence for a reason, which means they've talked to a lender, an agent. They're on the fence for a reason and we should know what their goal is, in the appropriate time to tell them okay, it's time.
Speaker 3:You talked about your goal. Here is where it's at right now. You were looking for this community, this price point rates to go down a little bit. Whatever it is, we know what those goals are. You were finishing school. You relocated yeah, if somebody had just reached out to that, relocated January. We're waiting for their first pay stub. Well, guess what? On the 15th I'm calling saying did you get that first pay stub? Yep, how was first week of school? Great, we have showings on Sunday. Now would he have called me eventually, maybe, maybe, maybe, right, right, but he was in my file to follow up. I followed up and, honestly, as a lender or an agent, we've talked to thousands of people. Do you remember everything about every conversation? No, but you have detailed notes, right?
Speaker 2:You show it Absolutely.
Speaker 3:You know what their goal is because you have it here and you should be able to go through that tickler file every now and then and go okay, who do I need to get in contact with? And as long as you're doing that, there's plenty of business out there right now. Right, there's plenty of people buying and selling. Last year, I know in that video the agent said the first good news that I've heard in a long time. I don't know that agent. I guess I just don't hear bad news because I'm not looking for it. Good point, right, very good point it's out there.
Speaker 3:We can find as much negative that there is that's right. Right, especially with the election coming up there's going to be lots of fun. There's going to be lots of negative out there, regardless of which direction you're going, and I think that if you just focus on you, your business, your clients, your relationships, number one right and I would expect my partners to be doing that follow up as well. So if that's a client, we're working together. I would hope-.
Speaker 1:We're hitting them from both directions.
Speaker 3:Your call on me before I even get the chance to call him and say hey, just got him in, got his first paste up, he's ready to go. Can you go out this weekend? That's right, whereas that phone call is going to happen in reverse. Hey, remember this person. We're going to go out this weekend. Dust the file off, let's get ready. And so the business is out. There. There's people on the fence. Who's talking to those people? You should be that person.
Speaker 1:I love it, that. I mean that's perfect. Do you guys have anything else to add? I mean, that was, it's good shit. No, All right, guys.
Speaker 1:So first off, I want to thank you both for being transparent, for continuing to share your immense wealth of knowledge and education to those out there. That, hey, if you're listening, great, if you're not, shame on you. Right, we can only do what we can and you only know what you know until you know more. That's what this show is intended to do is to give folks access to what they don't normally have, and it's get off the media and hear from the actual professionals that are in the trenches working and doing what you're intending to do, which is accomplish the goal of buying a home, flipping your home, investing in a home, upgrading, downsizing. There's so many different things, and I think another big message is, like Marcus mentioned, if you're out there and you have customers on the fence, hopefully you've got some kind of CRM system. Maybe your lender provides you with one. I know we provide our realtors with a semi miniature CRM system so that they can keep current with their customers. Let's face it, you guys have social media that you can be top of mind with, but also keep in mind that the 500 other agents that are in their circle are also doing the same thing. So how do you stand out above the others, pick up the phone and just say, hi, how are you doing? I remember when we talked about this.
Speaker 1:Like Marcus said, if you don't know your customers well enough to be able to have that kind of conversation, shame on you. But I do believe that 2024, there's going to be plenty of business that goes around, but it's going to be those that are doing those needle moving activities that are actually following up with their book of business, staying top of mind and also providing them with education, education similar to what was shared today. Didn't even know that there are homes below the 200,000 price point, but there are and they're brand new. Have you done your research? Homestead exemption If you are a realtor and did not know that taxes were cut by $100,000 off of your property tax section, shame on you.
Speaker 1:Again. That took place back in November. These are all things that you could be bringing up to your customers. That may reinvigorate the conversation and it may address that exact reason why they were on the fence in the first place. So, lastly, again I want to thank you guys Again. Wealth of information. Thank you for sharing and, that being the case, guys, make sure to like, subscribe. Share this with a friend. Maybe another realtor in the business Go ahead.
Speaker 3:Can I just say one more thing? Hell yeah, you can. I appreciate your guidance, your expertise, your friendship and your love. I watch your podcasts, Matt. If you're watching Matt Masako thinking about Mark in the shower, that's my boy you better watch out.
Speaker 1:I love it, you guys. It's going to be a fun year. It feels good to have you guys by my side and having people that are working towards the same thing. I don't always get the deals that you guys have. I've always been okay with that. Why? Because it's what's best for the customer. Hopefully, other lenders can adopt that same concept because, again, there's plenty of business to go around. If you don't see what we see, maybe you're looking in the wrong place. That being the case, guys, we will catch you on the next one Right on. Thank you, mark.