Key Factors RealEstateAF
Educational Podcast for Consumers, Mortgage & Real Estate Industry Professionals. We'll Talk About It All! Key Factors podcast, powered by https://ReviewMyMortgage.com . Your Host Mark Jones invites Industry Pros to help uncover & educate on the key factors of various topics. There’s something for everyone so let us be your guides and get educated. Subscribe & Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Facebook, Instagram, & all other podcasting platforms. Host : Mark A Jones Founder of ReviewMyMortgage.comProducing Branch MangerSr. Loan Officer. NMLS ID# 513437NMLS Consumer Access: http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Key Factors RealEstateAF
Understanding Short Sales & Foreclosures : Josh Boggs on Resilience, Philanthropy, and Market Insights
This episode delves deep into short sales and pre-foreclosures, offering clarity and guidance for both homeowners and industry professionals. Featuring expert insights from Josh Boggs, the conversation explores the current real estate landscape, the emotional aspects of navigating short sales, and the critical role of mentorship in this shifting market.
• Understanding what short sales and pre-foreclosures mean
• The challenges faced by homeowners in today’s market
• The importance of mentorship in the real estate industry
• Navigating the emotional side of short sales and their impact on families
• The role of hedge funds and investors in shaping the housing market
• Philanthropy as a key element for real estate professionals
Join us for this engaging discussion, full of valuable lessons and actionable insights that can help you thrive in an ever-changing real estate environment.
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.
we're getting it out there, dude. That's awesome. I had no idea. Yeah, one boss, so what? Is that we'll talk about it. Yeah, we'll talk about it.
Speaker 3:I want to know, yeah, um, okay. So, jc, we are ready when you are my friend. Let me hold on real quick. One more thing. I gotta put this up to thank the people, thank all them, people oh, all them peeps.
Speaker 1:Yep. See, that's wicked. You've got all this at your disposal, it took a while to set this.
Speaker 3:Up this right here. Me and JC went to my storage unit and pulled out two desktops, popped them off. The thing Went to go. Look for something else, yeah straight up. And literally went to Home Depot, built some legs and boom, all of a sudden we had a table.
Speaker 1:Isn't that how discovery happens? Anyway, you know you weren't looking for that.
Speaker 3:No, it was literally right before the episode with uh, we had jeff robert elder, um who else? There was one other person, but it was like we had to have it. We were doing it for the first time live, so we're like shit, we can't just do chairs yeah, yeah, yeah, I like how from there we stepped it up dude, you got the ferns.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, you know Between two ferns.
Speaker 3:I got the other one over somewhere oh dude, that's awesome, crazy. Oh, jc, I'm ready when you are, if you want to count it out Another episode of Key Factors Podcast in 3, 2, 1.
Speaker 6:Trying to become a homeowner is so frustrating, I mean, I wish it were easy to find out what options or things I may qualify for.
Speaker 4:There actually is an easier way. I'd love to tell you about it.
Speaker 2:There is Hold on, let me call you back. Okay, I'm interested. What's the catch?
Speaker 7:There's no catch. If you have two minutes, I can literally show you now. It's really easy. Sure, let's go. It's going to code to you line by line and have you answer some questions that will identify the best loan products for you, starting with the property address, which is specific to the area, which programs will work for you. It's going to guide you through a series of numbers, loan options and give you everything so you can choose what works best for you.
Speaker 5:Well, I had no idea there were so many options out there for me.
Speaker 8:It was so easy, it was so quick and you didn't even have to run my credit.
Speaker 3:I know I told you in less than two minutes. Right, did I make it? You did, let's go. All right, let's go and welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast Real Estate AF, where the AF stands for and finance, and I'm your host, mark Jones, and we are powered by ReviewMyMortgagecom, the largest index of mortgage programs in the nation, and it's good to be back, guys.
Speaker 3:I took about a month and a half off to focus on production. There is apparently not enough business to go around out there. I'm hearing a lot of grumbling and people saying that nobody's buying, nobody's selling, everything's sitting. But luckily for us, about a month in, I've got about almost four million in the pipeline. It's odd, and when we talk about going back to the basics, in most of the discussions we've had thus far, it stands true.
Speaker 3:A lot of folks out there haven't had an opportunity to establish the basics because they got into the business maybe 2020, 2021, and it was like shooting fish in a barrel, so to speak. But I'm here to tell you figure out, find a mentor that can teach you those basics and stick to it and then add what you want to it. But in this discussion today I wanted to hone in on another topic that seems to be rising in everybody's discussions, but unfortunately or fortunately for us it's not actually rising in numbers. So today we're going to be talking about short sales, pre-foreclosures, things like that, with the expert and, without further ado, let me introduce my guest, josh Boggs. Wow.
Speaker 1:Well, dang, what an intro. I'm excited to be here. You guys are actually crushing it, as your wall says yeah, man, I was intro. I'm excited to be here. You guys are actually crushing it, as your wall says yeah man.
Speaker 1:I'm geeking out because I want to take photos and videos. Dude you guys are. It's a whole nother level. I just got to be here and really the expert thing, I love it. Somebody called me the other day like, oh, I heard you're the king of short sales. I'm like dude. First of all, I'd never say that I don't believe I'm an expert, but I believe I'm getting to that point where I'm always learning just enough to stay ahead of the casual person.
Speaker 3:That's probably exactly what an expert would say.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Well, okay. A student to the game and a student of the game. So, Josh, there's folks out there that may or may not know who you are, but I want to give you a moment. If you could just tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you come from? What are you about All that good stuff?
Speaker 1:Man. Well, first of all, if you've seen me, I'm a 6'4 skinny, goofy bastard. I mean I look, yeah, I get it. I'm not the greatest of lookers out there. I try, right, but no, I'm originally from Indiana. I moved down here when I pretty much had $350 in my name. I thought I was going to play basketball. Tried to do a walk-on at Purdue University. When I played basketball, our team was 16th in the nation at Anderson High School, Anderson Indians, and so I sat the bench. I didn't even get to play. In fact, they cut me in my senior year. No way.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I was really upset by that and anyway, just looking for just what to do, and a girlfriend broke up for me with me. I moved to my dad's. I was working in a foundry and working like crazy. I was like 80 hours a week and it was the worst work you've ever seen. It was in a foundry and you don't have them down here because it's so hot and horrible right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then I just decided, you know what. She broke up with me on a Dear John letter and I said you know what? I'm moving to Texas. I don't know why, but I had family down here in San Antonio and I wanted to learn from him because my uncle was like this business guru didn't even finish like high school and I saw how successful he was and his whole family worked with them and I go, man, if there's anybody that can teach me business, that's him.
Speaker 3:Wow. So that is the number one cause of you moving here to San Antonio. And when you got here, what was that transition like? Going from Indiana to San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 1:I'm an QC manager at the age of 19 because I saw how much waste was going out the window.
Speaker 1:And I was like dude, get this guy in an office, which was awesome, with no college right. So then I ended up. Really, the main turnaround was I was working after apartment complexes. I was a manager at the youngest age of 19 again, okay, as soon as I came out of that for Westdale Asset Management and was managing Bandera Crossing and Vista Crossing, back and forth. And then they promoted, they demoted me because I went to spring break and got a hickey, I mean. I can't, I can't kiss and tell you know, so that really upset me.
Speaker 1:And then my uncle, who was running a nonprofit credit counseling company, had started to see, to see, hey look, you took off on the ground running. Clearly you're taking care of yourself. So that was his test to get me on board. So I ended up becoming a licensed credit counselor in a debt management company and financial counselor.
Speaker 1:By that time I was almost 21. So I did that and that's really what got me into real estate, because at the time I was part of the financial education department of that nonprofit. Well, the IRS came through and just pretty much said, hey, we got too much of these debt management plant companies out there, we're going to eliminate them. And so, for whatever reason because my uncle had built most of the family on the board that was not considered, I guess, according to the litmus test, not cool. So they were like, hey, we're going to take away your 5123. Well, we were doing almost a million dollars a month in business. Wow. So it was crazy. And, of course, me having no college, I'm like where am I going to replace a decent income like I was making?
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Once I was like sorry, sorry about you, but you guys got to go away. So it really the whole family went through a pretty. That was a rough deal and my wife had. I met my wife working there, so I decided to go to real estate. And what's funny, you're going to laugh because I would have said, well, I'm going either mortgage or real estate and I want to go mortgage and my whole family was like no, no, you'll be a better realtor.
Speaker 3:So a better realtor. So I was like I think mortgage guys have it easier, I don't know. So that's funny that you say that. In regards to your beginnings into the introduction of this industry, I myself opened a credit repair company when I was 18 years old. I had just gotten back from playing college football, didn't know much about finance and all that jazz. So I was working at the bank inside of Walmart and essentially a buddy of mine had moved back from Arizona and he was like I've got this new thing and I think we can do it. It's called credit repair.
Speaker 1:We were like okay.
Speaker 3:So we started helping people fix their credit and, as you know, the number one reason why people even want to fix their credit it's not to go get another credit card or another car, it's to buy a house and similar crossroads I had was going down the route of being a realtor or a lender. And I went and took all the real estate tests or real estate classes, got to the end and went this isn't for me. Real estate classes got to the end and went this isn't for me. After working in a bank for many years, it was like I think I can help people on the financing side a little bit more than I can on the real estate side and, no matter what, I can always go the other direction if it doesn't work out. So yeah, here I am right Smart play.
Speaker 1:I mean you like your weekends too, right? No, I mean I know you guys work your tails off too, but you're right, it is a different. It's funny how that just divided my direction. Right away, right. But when we say credit repair, so we actually that was more of a for-profit side that my uncle ran on his own. We were doing the DMPs, the debt management plans.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:Where people would come to us just crap loads and shillings in debt, right, and they were like, hey, this is all these unsecured credit cards, I can't make my payments, blah, blah, blah. They're at 25% interest rate, right, and we would get them under a plan where we consult them into one payment and then we'd basically negotiate to get them down to like 0% or like 10%, and then for us doing that, it was a genius, real business model that my uncle had found. The credit card companies were paying my uncle basically what's called revenue share on the money we are paying back.
Speaker 3:Which makes sense. It's almost like the same concept that I tell people all the time. Trust me, the bank doesn't want to foreclose on your property. They're not in the business of hoarding a bunch of properties. They're in the business of collecting interest off of your payment so that you can live your life in your home, build your equity, et cetera. Now it's funny that you mentioned the debt consolidation piece, because I feel as though there's a lot of that that is necessary in today's world. We're seeing the credit card debt at the highest it's ever been. I on the lending side am seeing every other credit report that I pull heavy with credit card debt, and I don't know if it's a matter of they thought things were going to get better sooner, or they had situations occur that could not recover from, so they're relying on those credit cards, or it's just wasteful spending. I mean all the above could be the fact yeah absolutely just wasteful spending.
Speaker 3:I mean, all the above could be that, yeah, absolutely so. As you progressed, and I will say, as you transitioned into real estate.
Speaker 1:What was that? Like yeah, you go home every day and you're like, okay, I didn't make any money. Today, my wife and my kids are looking at me like are you going to bring money? Home Are you just going out to happy hours with your title people. Right, and that's back in the day with title companies could actually do some stuff Right Cause I've been in 20 years and so I started as, like man, these title companies were no joke dude they were.
Speaker 1:Spurs games and I mean it was like, dude, I'm a rockstar, I haven't even sold one property yet. But. But it was one of those where I knew I had to buckle down and thank God I had enough savings in line where it was like seven, eight months of savings where I needed it. Yeah, and my wife at least was working at a doctor's office as a secretary or whatever, so it supplemented a little bit because we both had worked at that company, I see. So we both lost our incomes right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it was a lot of like humble pie kind of thing because, coming from a guy who was an entrepreneur, I had a landscaping company for a while and I sold that and made money, right, and everything I worked on. I worked so hard. When I touch it I was like, oh wow, I'm making money and this is cool. I'm not really going after the money, but this is good, right. So when real estate started I'll never forget I met David Jones and Craig Owen at KW and I I met David Jones and Craig Owen at KW and I thought, man, these guys are a joke yeah.
Speaker 1:Like I don't need any of this. Like they're like oh, you need to go through Camp 443 and all this training. I'm like man, I ran a business with my family. I know what I'm doing, Right. Six months later, after being at another company that has their names on the doors, when you got to get out, I realized, oh wow, it's not as easy as it sounds. So I came back as like the prodigal son and asked David Jones like please? Take me back in.
Speaker 3:And okay, going through that transition with not necessarily failing at the first brokerage. But let's call it lack of leadership, lack of mentorship, because for sure you had inspiration and drive. I mean shit money was the motivator. You needed to make some, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's nice. It's nice to have it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what was seeing the other side of the fence looking like?
Speaker 1:for you. You mean as far as the mortgage side of the fence.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, that like the oh so you worked in mortgage? Well, so no, I thought you were getting into the transition to short sale side, because I was like okay, got it, but wait, there's more Got it. I was like I opened that curtain.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, in the real estate side, it was definitely who you knew. It was a contact sport, and my claim to fame was open houses. We had the database we had from the debt management plan at the time, or the you know credit counseling company. We had my cousin got into real estate at the same time. He was the CEO, it was his family. I'm I'm an outcast, I'm from Indiana, so every single person I knew in San Antonio was through them, and guess who got all the business he did, he did and and you know I love him to death. Him and I are brothers Well, he crushed it, got rookie of the year. Of course, all those people went to him, and so I had to literally start from nothing. And then, after two years, though, his business dried up, cause he's like, hey, I'm not getting people referring to me anymore.
Speaker 1:All my sphere is sold, and he was like peace, I'm out. And then that's when I started like hustling and I give Craig a bunch of shit on this Cause. He told me the other day like man, your cousin, he's going to make it, yeah, but I don't know about you, and that's what he first told me. Okay, 20 years later, do you still think that? Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 3:No, he doesn't. And it's I guess I don't know odd that there's a lot of agents out there. You don't even have to look for it. You jump on social media, you knocking the concept of open houses, and the reason why you were doing that is so that you could meet people you had never met before. And I have a saying that says if we only did business with people that we know, we'd all be broke, Right, it's true. So would you advocate for things like that still to this day?
Speaker 1:Oh, and that's a good one, mark. So my company name Expose Homes, and I tell sellers hey, I'm pulling back the curtain, I'm exposing you what the real estate business does. Right, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And while you're saying that, jc, go ahead and throw up a reference. Let's make sure that everybody knows where to go. Exposedhomescom everybody. This is Josh Boggs' website. You can go there to discover all the things that real estate has to expose to you. Go for it.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a heck of an intro. I need to round more. Well, you'll be able to grab that clip.
Speaker 3:I love JC doing all that.
Speaker 1:By the way, it's awesome, thank you for that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, getting into that. Now I just actually went up into a listing agreement or listing consultation where I was going against four other agents and they were really good agents. The reason they chose me and they told me that after the fact is that, dude, you're brutally honest, Like you just get to the point and you don't bullshit us. That's right. And because one of the questions the wife had on chat GPT well, what you do open houses and how many will you do? And I said I'm going to do none, Because if you want an agent to use your house to amplify their business, cool, go for it, but I'm not the guy.
Speaker 3:But if you want to get it sold, I'm the guy, it's outstanding that you say that, because it rings true to an age-old philosophy of when you're doing, or when you set out to do an open house, don't expect to sell that property. That is not even the MO of doing an open house. You do an open house to generate new business, to build new relationships, to work on your mouthpiece, essentially because you're face-to-face with a customer right then and there. But the idea of selling an open house, I think it's happened maybe twice in my entire career and I'm a huge advocate for them, because realtors need to know how to do them the right way, right and you, having said that and being honest with your customer, that's that speaks volumes.
Speaker 1:Truly. Well, mark, here's the other thing too. And I tell them like, hey, this is the same thing that you guys haven't asked me yet. But I'm going to tell you I'm not showing your house to buyers. It's not me personally, right, because I represent you. I know what I mean. We're going to hit hard in this presentation of what your bottom line net could be, what you're comfortable with, how I negotiate.
Speaker 1:So, if I know all your cards, how do you know that agent hasn't divulged any of that to a buyer's agent or the buyer if they don't have an agent and say, hey, you guys figure it out and I'm just going to collect both sides of commission. And then somehow it got down to the number. You guys would say that's my bare bottom dollar. Weird, right, isn't that weird Absolutely. And so I know a lot of other agents out there might hate my guts for saying that because, oh, that's the way you sell and that's my job. Well, maybe in the luxury market it's a little bit different, right, and it's easier. But I'm just real passionate about letting them know that, guys, I'm in your court, just like you would want an attorney or anything like that. And yes, I know we're not attorneys Right, but I really am going to do everything I can to fight for you and your best interest. And when I tell you this is what I'm going to get you, I'm going for it and hopefully more.
Speaker 3:Well, man, it's like refreshing hearing that right there in itself, because for and I'll give you an example You've got a lot of buyer's agent and I'm not speaking about all of you buyer agents out there, but we've seen it recently to where, let's say, a property doesn't appraise and I've got the buyer's agent fighting for that property to go up in value, when the first question I ask is hey, show me the comps, guys, show me the comps. If they're not there, why don't you fight for your buyer, for our buyer, in this situation, so that they can get what they see now at this point a deal on the home.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. That's the scary part too. But if you and you know that and you said it in another podcast where you had a couple of amazing other agents on there too Basically, at the end of the day, most of these agents haven't gone through a shift in the market yet, so they don't have these skills and they haven't really been trained right, and I know JJ is loving it right.
Speaker 4:He kept saying I'm Robert Orr and now I'm in the playoffs, so I love JJ right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So he's got to write because most agents were just like well, I was given a problem, I don't know what to do with it. So here you guys figure it out. That's right, right. And and as a listing agent, I always have my comms, so I I'm okay with it If they come in. Hey, josh, uh, came in a little low and I'm like, awesome, I've got all my comms, I've got my, my information, I'll go back to the appraisal, they let me do it. And then I get my clients the value that I've got, absolutely. And I've had to tell them that at the very beginning, when I'm looking down at the sellers, like guys, it just doesn't mean it's all you know sweet roses. When I put it out there and bring in a buyer, I still got to find the appraiser as well. So if that appraiser whatever've got the experience and the education of almost appraiser, would just don't have a license.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right, and I think more realtors should focus on just the simple concept of learning how to read an appraisal, so that they are equipped to be able to handle that situation. Um, you wouldn't be surprised. We'll have how to read an appraisals class. We'll have two agents show up. It's like, okay, I guess you guys don't really care about this, when in actuality, that's part of your fiduciary responsibility is to know what that is. Don't call yourself an expert, don't call yourself even a professional if you don't know how to do the basics of what it takes to do your job. Yep.
Speaker 1:No, mark, I think that's the one thing about real estate. Like I tell everybody, I don't tell people I'm a realtor. When they ask me, hey, what do you do? I'm like the last thing I say I was. Oh, I'm a realtor. I actually say I own a real estate company in San Antonio and I'm a consultant.
Speaker 1:And the reason I say that is because I've noticed and there's no knock to the agents that are out there. There's beautiful agents out there that are really good at just putting themselves out there and putting a house out there and they'll get clients because they're a connector, they're a networker and they're doing their job. That's a lead gen activity, that's what they should be doing. But as far as the knowledge behind it and the know-how on how the intricacies of those deals go, it's like talking to a paper wall. They had no idea what are you talking about.
Speaker 1:So I think that's the challenge I think I've seen for myself is I'm not the greatest at getting myself out there and networking and doing a lot more of it, because a lot of the deals that get past my way are the deals where other agents had them and couldn't get it done and I said well, I'm like a firefighter, I'm jumping in there when everybody else is running out because I will figure it out. That's right and that's the dichotomy about real estate is guys like me sometimes aren't always at the head of the line, the top of the line, when it's the Facebook groups Correct People looking for referrals. Because I'm not out there all the time networking with all the agents, I'm actually getting the deals done.
Speaker 3:I'm doing my job. Yeah, isn't that crazy, though Weird.
Speaker 1:Because I know our job as agents is to lead gen. Sure, but but where does I mean? Maybe I'm an old school? Where does the job of actually getting the deal done right go in that?
Speaker 3:too. No, it's a great, great point, and I think that our industry needs more of that philosophy back into it, because it was there. But as real estate became a glamour sport, so to speak, I don't know, we were flooded with a lot of folks that just saw the paycheck and not the trade and the craft for what it is trade and the craft for what it is, and that that, to me, is it's a, it's a bummer. But at the same time, I'm also optimistic about it, because, as you see figures of people falling out of the industry that can't keep up with the hard market or the tough market I don't know if it's a tough market, hard market, what have you but it is a market and as an expert, you should be able to navigate through the good times, the bad times, because, at the end of the day, there are still folks that need to sell and still folks that need to buy.
Speaker 1:Simply put, Simply put, and you're right and you know I don't want to go on the side where I now I'm like the Jerry Maguire of real estate and write the manuscript that I was like oh Jerry, you're out of here. But I always felt like that was a little bit of my place because I did notice there's again a lot of hypocrisy up front, a lot of things that Realtors are putting out there, and the one thing that kicks me is that you can throw a stone and hit three Realtors in San. Antonio.
Speaker 1:So most of us know a lot of the same people and I'd be in front of somebody that would make a comment like oh my gosh, so-and-so is killing it. Man, they're always posting on Facebook and I'm like dude, they're posting other people's listings, they just go to do it, but I'm not going to rain on their parade, but, in their perception, because they're out there on Facebook, always posting it, which is another good point why a lot of realtors should be on Facebook a lot more then they. So it's a lot more than it.
Speaker 3:They're not getting the real story behind the deal, so well, I mean, there's an old philosophy that I believe in, but it's not the way that it's being portrayed right now, which is fake it till you make it. I'm not saying fake it by posting somebody else's listings and all of that. It's walk the walk, talk the talk and be honest. If you don't know the answer, find out from somebody or let them know you don't know the answer and you will get back to them as soon as you do Be the trusted resource, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Well, and you're right, and don't get me wrong, we all had to start somewhere and you had to fake it till you make it right, and that was the question people would ask when I got started.
Speaker 1:I was what? 25 at the time, how old are you? And I'm like I'll tell you what at the end of this transaction, if I haven't wowed your socks off, then I'll tell you my age. Right, and most of the time they just forgot about it. They're like dude, you're awesome man, and so cause I didn't want to tell them how many deals have you done? Well, I'll tell you what after you know so. So you do have to do that and surface and they get that gut reaction. And it's not always the same thing behind the scenes.
Speaker 3:That's all. That's so true, and that is essentially why we have this podcast to be basically pull back the curtain on a lot of different topics. So we've got a couple of things to talk about here and you tell me if you want to go down the road of the philanthropy that you're doing and then come back to the short sale and pre-foreclosure stuff, or we talk about that and then we end with that.
Speaker 1:Dude, let's go to philanthropy. I love that. That's a big key of everything. I'm a Christian. I believe so much in what the Bible says is you give unto others and it should be given unto you right, absolutely, and it comes back sevenfold. And that's one thing my uncle has told me and I've always, like Steve Collins, guys that have been influential in my life have told me like, hey, tithe, even when you think you don't have enough Correct or you don't, and just give God the trust. And part of that became I wanted to give back and I ended up having a motorcycle at the time, watched Sons of Anarchy and my wife was like what are you watching? And I was like oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And then next thing, I know she's like you're really going to do this. I'm like I'm going to do this. And I went full in and found a nonprofit called Guardians of the Children and when I heard their mission about helping abuse and neglect the kids and basically standing up for these kids when they have to go to court because nobody in the room can be related to them if they're going against their abuser, they need some tough, rough bikers to stand there and give them that power and that effect. They need to say what happened. Wow, what a concept, dude. It was awesome. And I tell you what that changed my world because, being a biker in that organization, they're actually now the largest nonprofit that deals with abused, neglected kids in the country. I ended up becoming the president of the Mother Chapter in San Antonio. Wow, so it started here, which is awesome 19 years ago, by the way.
Speaker 3:Wow, just a couple of weeks ago, and when did you become associated with that?
Speaker 1:2000,. I want to say 2012. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:Because I think it was probably 2018 or so when you came and gave a presentation and I was like holy shit, I knew nothing about him on that. Whoa, I think I remember that presentation. I'm sitting there like really Okay.
Speaker 1:This is awesome. Yeah, I loved it. You know what? It was just amazing watching these guys and most bikers get bad names right. They're meant to look scary. That's what they love. They're really not taking care of themselves the way they should, but they're the biggest hearts that you've and, in fact, of all the motorcycle industry here in Santa, and I got to be very connected with that. Just everybody stood up and really backed what we did, and I love that mission. But in 2020, it was time for me to head out, because my vice president was pretty much wanting to take over the reins and I'd already had my big old firework accident in 2018. And so a lot of people are like, hey, maybe you just take, take a little time off, right? So that's what happened. And then I ended up becoming licensed as a cost advocate right at that point too.
Speaker 3:So so was it? What did the firework accident? Um, let's pause there for a moment, cause there's a lot of folks out there that saw some of this stuff on social media, but was that something that pushed you to dig deeper in all of the philanthropy that you're doing and give back, even more so than you already were at that time? What changed in your life and, if you don't mind, tell us what happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I mean, as far as making me want to dig deeper, I think really, what it did is number one. It just brought back into the fact that God does exist. The fact I'm still sitting here talking to you, and in the room with JC as well, is a miracle. There was no way that firework accident—in fact, there was somebody that had almost the same thing happen to them, like a week later. Of course, we're all idiots that like to play with fireworks and they died instantly. Wow.
Speaker 1:My head was broken in three different parts. In the forehead the hardest part of the head I had a brain aneurysm. I was in ICU for two weeks. I had half my hand hanging off and they said I'd never be able to use my left thumb again. Well, I'm moving it, and so what it really did is we grew Gardens and Children so big Because when I took over, there was only like eight or nine members.
Speaker 1:There was maybe 13 kids. There was like 14 grand in the bank account. By the time I left in 2020, there was over 114,000 in the bank account. We had over what? 103 kids, wow. And we had almost 60 members Wow. So I was stressed, because it's hard to do that and run a real estate business, sure. And the other thing was too, it's sort of um. It put me on the edge of a lot of my clients that weren't really comfortable with bikers, and so they, even though the mission was great, don't mean you have a great mission. They were like if you're a biker, you're hanging out with people we're not comfortable with. Right.
Speaker 1:So it was a little bit hard for me to like really ramp my business up and take care of myself and my family more, and I think that's what really changed it, honestly, mark Wow.
Speaker 3:Wow, and a lot of folks out there take things like that for granted, truly, and that's a testament to that. Yeah, so in going through this philanthropy that you do, I mean, is that something that you're able to get your family involved in, you're able to get your community involved in, you're able to spread that to the other agents that you mentor, even from a distance. You may not know it. You're mentoring agents out there from what they see, hear, etc.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm so blessed to be part of that. It's one of those things where I'm not trying to put myself out there, but I also do hope that if people say, hey, you know what, josh, I want my life to be better. I'm not looking to do 10 more million this year and that's only my goal. I really want to have a more fulfilling purpose on this planet and that was what I want to get at. And yes, in Garden to Children, my wife was the secretary, I was the president, my kids were little guardians. We're all part of it. They all got to ride with us and everything, and then when I got out, I was a cost advocate. That's the one thing to change a little bit, because there's a lot more rules than that, because I am dealing with kids in the foster care system and the state care, where there's a lot of privacy acts and HEPA and all that stuff, so my family really couldn't get to know a lot of that stuff, but I was helping some kids that were basically needing some turnovers
Speaker 1:in their life and some role models basically needing some turnovers in their life and some like role models, right, absolutely. And then, and the last thing was I learned about why I knew from for years is amazing lady named Pamela Allen. She ran. She ran a nonprofit called Eagles Flight Ministries, okay, and one day I'd been given money to them and because that was one of my missions, I mean, you guys are doing God's work too in San Antonio. And she was like, hey, god's work too in San Antonio. And she was like, hey, we'd love you to be on the board of directors.
Speaker 1:So that just happened, what three, four months ago? And it was just awesome. I was already on the news for one of their deals with that baby Mary that was unfortunately given birth and the mom threw her down the toilet and we've seen a lot of stuff, right, I can only imagine Wow it. Just what it has done for me is obviously the network and the connections I've got, amazing friends in this city that are of high officials, public officials, things. Because of the nonprofit that it wasn't my intentions to get, but because of just wanting to help, it sort of was a byproduct, right, and so it's just been really cool. Maybe it hasn't made me this gigantic real estate company where everybody knows my name yet, but it's just more like I'm okay, just being known for giving back and helping the kids and the community to do whatever needs to be done to get it get it, get a better help to them.
Speaker 3:So I'm a big advocate for everything happens for a reason In addition to you are exactly where you are supposed to be in life based on the decisions that you've made, et cetera, et cetera. Decisions that you've made, et cetera, et cetera, and that's something that I believe speaks volumes not only to your success, but also to what it can do or lead to with success working your ass off to get the goals accomplished, et cetera and then leveraging that over to giving back and doing something that is bigger than yourself. It's huge.
Speaker 6:Trying to become a homeowner is so frustrating. I mean, I wish it were easy to find out what options or things I may qualify for.
Speaker 4:There actually is an easier way. I'd love to tell you about it.
Speaker 2:There is Hold on, let me call you back. Okay, I'm interested. What's the catch?
Speaker 7:There's no catch. If you have two minutes, I can literally show you now. It's really easy. Sure easy, sure, let's go. Okay, it's going to code to you line by line and have you answer some questions that'll identify the best loan products for you, starting with the property address, which is specific to the area, which programs will work for you. It's going to guide you through a series of numbers, loan options, and give you everything so you can choose what works best for you.
Speaker 5:Well, I had no idea there were so many options out there. For me it was so easy, it was so quick and you didn't even have to run my credit.
Speaker 8:I know I told you in less than two minutes. Right, Did I make it? You did, let's go.
Speaker 1:All right, let's go. And I appreciate that and it is a challenge to time block. I was proud of meeting here on time but that has been my biggest weakness is not showing up, because all of a sudden I'll get a call and I'll get them. You know, I'll just get into the conversation before I know. Oh crap, I got to go Right.
Speaker 3:And that's another thing that I love these podcast discussions is I get an hour interrupted from the phone to just have intellectual conversations and it's like I feel I should be paying the guests on here for free therapy.
Speaker 1:You don't have to pay me. I love it, just hang out more.
Speaker 3:Amen. So now let's jump back into the real estate side of things and as we do that, JC, if you could throw this up on the screen real quick we've got your exposed properties right here, the website. Tell us a little bit more about what that's about. Now, I know you had mentioned that you want to be the person, the group, that exposes the behind the scenes of what it takes and what homes consist of and everything else behind that. But if you could, why did you start this?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what I like to tell everybody? And it's a complete joke. But look at the three letters of expose. I'm the grandfather and the original founder of EXP. I'm just saying I don't.
Speaker 1:I should have gotten some money in the mail by now. This is ridiculous. You put the X in eXp. It was more of a two-prong approach. Right, getting real estate.
Speaker 1:I wanted to expose my clients' homes everywhere possible. So that was the branding, the marketing of it. Like, hey, as a listing agent, I'm going to expose your house to everywhere. That's our job to put it out there everywhere. So I'm really going to get real hyper-focused on all the marketing efforts and so we're exposing it out there. So if you don't want your home to be seen, don't come with us. That was the expose part.
Speaker 1:The second part was really as a client base. So just, we're going to pull back the curtains and show you what's going on so you don't have it's more of a consultation and education along the way. Um, because I remember my first experience with the realtor we were going to use at the time I would ask questions and it was just like no, no, I'll answer that later and you know, just need to do this right, there was no, no, really advising, it was just probably telling me to do. And I said, well, but I understand why. Well, it doesn't matter, that's just the way it is right, and I had a hard time with that. So I was more of a cynic and I go.
Speaker 1:You know what I would really want to create more of a relationship base with my clients and the exposure you're just going to get me it's raw. I'm not politically correct. I've failed often. I sin every day, like everybody, and I'll admit it. But I really do want you to know that I'm real passionate about giving you the best service possible and you're going to have all the tools I have, absolutely.
Speaker 3:So that was what it is. I love that because so a lot of similarities I'm seeing here and I don't say that just for a catchphrase. Behind me, loan bot review my mortgage, same concept with mortgage. When I got into the business, it's like everybody wants to keep everything secret in regards to what they can offer their borrowers or what they should be providing to their borrowers, and I'm trying to figure out okay, is it because you only know that program or are you not doing the research to discover different opportunities? In many cases, early on in my career, the branch manager was against selling bond programs because obviously we don't make a lot of money on them, of course, but in many cases, it's the best scenario or the best solution for that borrower scenario gives the borrower full transparency to what they can possibly do based on what their criteria is, without pulling credit, without talking to a lender, et cetera.
Speaker 3:Now, fast forward, we're now giving loan bot, which is the customizable tool allowing the realtor to now give that to their borrower as well. Wow, so it's uh, we're getting ready to launch it. Um, it's doing fantastic and we're looking at um, goodness gracious, we're already just under 200 of these that were given out and, uh, the goal is to spread it nationally is as wide as possible, because it truly is a tool where the realtor can give it out, just like their business card If you have an IDX. So, for example, if they can search for homes on your website, you'd put your link on there on the home search, boom, um, contact, they've got a link to the lender. If they your preferred lender doesn't have to be me, it doesn't matter. Um, the idea is is to keep them all in one place, providing them constant value.
Speaker 3:Because, let's face it, what do realtors have to give to their customers while they search for home, while they wait on the fence, et cetera? They're going to end up on Zillow, they're going to end up on the Google machine searching for this stuff anyway, you know. So, anywho, I'm off my soapbox Just so you guys know. If you are interested in signing up for LoanBot, visit LoanBotpro, and we are now taking orders for that. That being the case, you specialize in something that a lot of folks are absolutely terrified of even talking about. It's a true story, and so much so that it's almost used as a way to scare people from buying, scare people from owning and, on the other side of the token, another way to capture customers that are looking for this type of product. I'm talking about short sales. I'm talking about free pre foreclosures. How did you get into that?
Speaker 1:Man, you know it's funny being a guest. You know I'm on the other side because I wanted tell you and I didn't want to jump in. I love that concept, I really do, and I tell people all the time, just for the listener knows it's not like I'm sending you a ton of business. That's why I get on your podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I've, I've actually tried to and I'm still going to try to. I tell everybody like there's so many amazing individuals that are just crushing in this business. I wish I had more business to hand out to everybody, sure, and the one thing for me was the loyalty, and that was the one thing that I was like, okay, I've limited to one or two that I know that had the products, but I know you've had that heart and it's good to know that you have that. So we need to talk further Appreciate that no-transcript.
Speaker 1:The nation was basically go on this gigantic foreclosure wave Right and, and San Antonio really hadn't seen it that much. And I remember asking him I was like hey, bruce, no offense, but we're only not seeing that here. Of course, I was only into it three years, so I was like still green behind the ears and he goes look, america is on the same train. You guys just must be further back of the caboose, but, trust me, you're getting there. And then that's when I was like you know what my background came from financing and understanding more of the debt side, sure, and I wanted to learn more. And then that's when I really walked in with three amazing guys that were in the KW inner circle that's what I call. Them was Kevin and Fred they're out in Phoenix and a guy named Nolly Williams. So Fred Weaver and Kevin Kaufman. Those three guys were absolutely inspirational in coming around and talking about short sales and they were in Arizona.
Speaker 1:So they were in the hot spot. There was ground zero and so when I heard what they were saying and behind-the-scenes stuff and they used to call it short sale power hour there was a real thing that I connected with them and I go man, I get this and it made sense. We talked about loan loss reserves and fractional lending and all basis points and why servicers are getting paid more than Bobo To me. I got it and made a lot more sense. So I was like you know what? I'm going to jump into that because I knew the market was headed that way and instead of chasing REOs, where the banks are now your customers and they're your clients you have no database that the bank's getting you no business right. I wanted to help people avoid foreclosures. So hopefully in three to four years, after they've been able to rebound and get things back, boom, they're coming to me like Josh, you saved me, you were awesome, you were inspirational on doing this. I'd love to buy a house with you, wow.
Speaker 3:Wow, and and going through that, I guess, venture, that journey of short sales foreclosures, did you experience quite a bit of it within San Antonio's market?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, in 2009, I tell everybody this I spent over $9,000 with attorneys to create documents. I spent over $20,000 in investing and coaching to understand more of the confidence behind the scene and I almost really got out of real estate because it almost bankrupted me.
Speaker 1:I really had no money left. It took me three short sales and it took me almost nine months to figure them all out, and they were all investor-owned, so they were pretty much strategically defaulting at that point, which, again, that was things that nobody really heard of. And so I finished those three. But then it was just like again, by the grace of God, it was like he had me hanging on by a thread. I was like, dear Lord, I hope this is the right way. And then all of a sudden, boom, out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:I got connected with other people that were coming around the country doing these and they're like, hey, you've been doing short sales, hey, I've got a couple Boom and referrals. And the next thing, I built up another company called US Short Sale Solutions with a partner of mine and she was in Austin and we found stay-at-home moms that had nothing doing soccer moms and we would just say, hey, all we need to do is get on the phone with this and this and this. And we created a system and boom, we just took off and we were crushing it. We were doing 30, 40 a month Holy cow, yeah, wow, wow.
Speaker 3:And that number one, I think, matter of fact, summed up to where there is an issue, a problem, there's opportunity in many cases. And then this opportunity of course you're making money from it, but at the same time you're also helping someone in a pretty shitty situation. Um, more times than not it wasn't their fault. But at the same time, short sale, that's a kind of it's a tough pill to swallow, knowing that you just recently purchased and your home is not worth what it's worth or what you thought it was worth in this coming, let's call it next couple of years. Because we got JC, if you can throw this up here real quick.
Speaker 3:We've got this first one, this article that I found. It says foreclosure rates in all of the 50 states in March of 2024. Obviously this is old data, but this puts Texas right around. I think it was like 14, 13 or 14. Um, yeah, 14. Lone Star State, uh, withstood 2885 foreclosures this month, with foreclosure rates uh, one out of every 4040 households. This puts a second most popular uh populous state in the U? S with a? Uh whopping 11,654 housing units, 14th place. So essentially, we're not first, we're not last, um, and if you're not first, you're last.
Speaker 1:No, right, right, ricky Bobby.
Speaker 3:But then I found this other article where it shows foreclosures are drying up and it's all showing um in sales data. And essentially what this article summed up is saying is that and you can pull it away is that there's not the amount of foreclosures that everybody expected there to be this time within our market, our industry, based on what has taken place. And my only explanation for that is the banks are giving tons of opportunities to the homeowners to keep their home, such as forbearance. They're allowing their extended forbearance to go, but at the same time, the only thing that I do fear is this concept of new construction homes that are being priced by the builder and essentially purchased with all these incentives keeping the prices high, and we're already witnessing it a little bit. Uh, time to sell, or I have got a move, or I'm PCSing, or what have you, and their home's not worth the amount that, uh, the next door properties being sold for.
Speaker 1:Yep, mark, get ready, I'm going to put the tinfoil hat on. Let's do this I love it. Where's?
Speaker 3:Elon Musk. Yeah, I know right.
Speaker 1:I'll just give him a call.
Speaker 3:Podcast just went up.
Speaker 1:Right, I think Doge just sent me out of here. No, the issue that I'm seeing and headlines like this are, to me, just clickbait. So banks and when I say banks, the servicers, the mortgage servicers are basically being told to keep kicking the can on the road and have a controlled supply of these foreclosures. I'm seeing here's why.
Speaker 1:So guess what? When COVID hit, what got passed? Cares Act, right, covid I forget what the acronym stands for right, but what was going on at the time and, of course, we all know as soon as COVID hit in 2021, our market just spiked, went crazy. But when COVID hit, we had so many homeowners that were actually current with their mortgages and they could probably made by. But they got the advertisers in the mail and said hey, us government has passed these programs. We're allowing you to skip a couple of payments if you want. And I'm seeing so many clients like this right now, especially military. They'd send in their application and say great, you can start skipping payments. What they weren't told it was a forbearance setup, correct. So three, four months later they're like cool, okay, now you need to start making your payments again. And, by the way, you can't make your regular payment. You have to make the four months you've missed right now.
Speaker 3:That's right, otherwise you're going to be in default or we're going to throw it on as a second lien on your property, or or or and we're going to attack all this stuff. We we experienced that like right after it ended. We had a lot of folks that were trying to refinance into these lower rates. It's like, hey guys, you were just came out of forbearance, so well, that means you can't make your payment. That's literally what that means, whether it was done out of a necessity or taking advantage of what was there, opportunity wise. Either way, I don't think that they explained it the right way to them. It just came as a way to go. You know what? I can pause my mortgage payments and go spend money over here.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. Well, and not only that, and going into that. So you got to remember the setup. It's what we call the home retention waterfall and then the loss mitigation waterfall. So first, of course, offer the forbearance right. Well, who on their right mind really can take advantage of that? There's not a lot of people that say you know what, give me three payments to skip Right, and by the fourth month I'll be available to pay the fourth month and all those three back.
Speaker 3:It doesn't really happen. Doesn't make sense either.
Speaker 1:We're at our lowest savings ever in the US country, by the way. So in that aspect then, like you said, the partial claims is what they're coming. It was an FHA loan. They just did a deferment, right, let's throw it on the back end.
Speaker 1:Now they're even looking to do a 40-year emergency You've probably Absolutely, and so they're doing all these things just to keep pushing the problems back, so that way they don't have so much supply on the market and the REO inventory doesn't shoot up Right. But we are seeing it happen because we're seeing so many banks just kept kicking the can down the road and now, of course, we have a change in leadership. A lot more things are going on. I'm seeing people that have come to us 10, 12, 14 months delinquent.
Speaker 1:Wow, seeing people that have come to us 10, 12, 14 months delinquent, and then they're like well, I guess I'm going to face foreclosure and I heard about a short sale. So we have so many new agents though that don't know what short sales are and the buyer's agents are clueless. So when I have some of these, you know more descriptive documents about hey, what a short sale is, blah, blah, blah. It's scaring them off. And then they're like well, then I don't even know what that is, so I'm going to go somewhere else, and we're already seeing that they have the option now because their inventory keeps going up.
Speaker 1:Realtorcom has, if you look at their reports in Bexar County, for every single month last year, we had almost 2% to 3% median listing price depreciation, so we started seeing values drop, inventory go up, and obviously we're not. San Antonio is a huge market, so we have these smaller markets throughout Correct, these micro markets and there are markets where I've seen 11, 12, 13 months of inventory, where there's a lot new builds and people that bought two years ago. All of a sudden, I mean, I kid you not, I'm seeing so many homeowners that hadn't even made their first payment. Wow, and you know how that goes as an originator Boy.
Speaker 1:that's one thing you don't want to see.
Speaker 3:No, never, because you're coming back.
Speaker 1:You're buying it back or you're losing all your commission. That's right.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, we're seeing more of it on our side. I know I've been asked to go speak or do our short sale class in Corpus and now in Houston, and we used to do that back in the day. I was real hesitant to do it for the longest time because I sort of was hoping like I also wanted to be one of those optimists too. Hey, interest rates might, finally everybody's getting used to it, and then the market's going to start picking up. But we started seeing so many realtors that were overpricing their properties and just chasing the market with everybody's else inventory going up. Then they finally got to a breaking point. Oh well, now my client just told me they'd even been made payments for four months. Wow, Guess what. They're coming my way. That's right.
Speaker 3:So that's, that's that makes perfect sense. Wow, and, and, and. The idea of being that behind on your mortgage and it being allowed, that should be almost the the the the part that we hone in on, but unfortunately there's nothing we can do about it If the bank's going to allow you to do that, because, let's face it, they're not in the business of owning all these properties. They're in the business of taking the interest while you pay it off, et cetera. Yep, it can turn into something just like you're saying that out of sight, out of mind, and until it snaps and we could be approaching that breaking point, truly.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, nobody really knows this, maybe they didn't or maybe they did, but I was blown away when these servicers actually get paid more basis points on the servicing, even though the month of payment's not being paid, because it's supplemented by the government, because it's now more servicing requirements to get noticed out there In order to pay those coupons. That's right.
Speaker 1:So is there any benefit for them to get it off their books that quick Right? A lot of them aren't the investors. They don't. It's not their money that's been lent out. They're just the servicers. That's right so if they're getting paid. I mean, you know again. We all knew that story when bank of America had their biggest quarter ever, when foreclosures threw the tank. I mean we're like how is that possible? Nobody's making payments? Well, the government was spending that right, subsidizing that's right.
Speaker 1:And we're seeing all that now. With everything else going on, I really think that this is going to shake up a lot, even the mortgage Hell, the CFPB being shut down now right, and I know personally, I've seen CFPB complaints, I've filed them literally a joke when you get them back, like there, there's blatant misrepresentations and servicing issues going on and they come back like well, we investigated and they said everything's good. You just need to submit your documents on time.
Speaker 3:Give me a break, right, yeah, and, and, and it's. It's funny that you do say that, because a lot of folks are cheering on the idea of not having the CFPB. I'm kind of in between. I want people to do shit the right way, but at the same time, I know that there really ain't doing shit behind the scenes to fix it. It's just this bureaucracy that we have to adhere to, that they get to decide your fate one way or another, and it has a lot to do with money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's be honest, it's all capital system, right, that's right. And you're right, mark, I'm in the same boat, you are, I'm not. I tell everybody, I'm not poor-ass, I'm not just one way or the other. I see both sides of the coin and maybe that's probably the hardest part, right? Sure.
Speaker 1:It's because I do have a lot of empathy when I it from both sides. So, yeah, when CPP was obviously started in what, 2012, I think, by Obama, it was a great idea and they came through and they really hit some really great home runs, grand slams on some of the stuff they did, and we leaned on them at times for our short sales because we were told over and over again no, no, we're going to foreclose, we're going to foreclose. I'm like you guys have no idea what you're about to lose. You have no valuation, you have no hands on the property. I'm proud, Anyway. So it was. Yeah, it's a tough deal going on right now.
Speaker 3:So question for you in regards to the short sale concept first define short sale and then, after the definition of it, I've got a question for you. Define it first.
Speaker 1:Yep. Similarly just selling a house for less than what's owed to 10 net to bank.
Speaker 3:So if the idea of the folks that have purchased let's say, I don't know five years prior, chances are they have some equity in that property. So if someone's coming to you saying hey, we need to do a short sale, and truly not understanding what a short sale is let's say they're behind on their payments and they research online and short sale pops up's say they're behind on their payments and they research online and short sale pops up. They don't understand it fully. They come to you and say, hey, we need to do a short sale. You do your CMA and you go. I don't think you do Yep, what does that? What does that process look like?
Speaker 1:I'm so glad you said that, cause that's what I tell everybody, and this is where it's harder hardest for me, because most of my referrals for short sales are amazing agents that have referred me a lot of it, and they're agents, right.
Speaker 1:So you certainly aren't going to say, oh well, they didn't know what they're doing right. But no, it's just, we understand a lot of the red tape, how to cut through it, how to get around it, the escalation issues at servicers. We have an attorney with us that we hire out sometimes and we have to get some movement going. So what I tell them is guys, I'm going to look at every option for you and I'm going to see what other options are available without going to short sell.
Speaker 1:Because if there is equity and we've got one girl right now she was told by her agent there's absolutely no way there's equity. I looked at it and the reason she said it is she just didn't understand that the bank put a valuation on their property and said here, you need to short sell your property for this, even though, number one, the valuation was completely wrong, but number two is she didn't even know that much. So when the agent saw the letter from this large national servicer, I think it was like a Freedom Mortgage or whatever they were like oh okay, well, it's saying short sale, so we need to go right. And then that's when I look back at further. I got payoffs.
Speaker 1:Obviously we're going to do title and started looking through this and go you know what. You are in foreclosure status because they were coming up. I said let me pull it and I will get it pulled typically without a TRO and let me let them know we're on top of it and we have a pretty good resume Over 619 of these done. A bank and even an attorney usually will look at that resume and go okay, you clearly know what you're doing in this space. We're going to give you another 30 to 60 days to get it done and if we can see that valuation, we'll get them sold in that time. And there's equity there. Oh my gosh, we'll do that.
Speaker 1:And I've cut costs on our commissions as well, just to do whatever you got to do to do the right, and we've even put money towards repairs on some of these. I know the last one I did in December a poor girl. We spent almost 12 grand fixing her house up and but I knew that there was enough equity that if we stopped foreclosure got her back. I told her she was going to get five grand and she was okay with it Cause she was like well, I, she was like well.
Speaker 3:I guess versus nothing.
Speaker 1:We ended up netting her almost at that one. It was like $18,000. That's awesome. So she was like blown away and she wrote us a Google review right, that's awesome. And it just got. That was a God thing. But but yes, that's what we do, so we give them all the options. Wow.
Speaker 3:JC, how are we doing on time 101. Okay. I'm not looking at any kind of clock or nothing Tell me, you're a professional, oh man. So, josh, this has been a great discussion. We've gone down plenty of different rabbit holes within this concept of short sales foreclosures. Do you know what the I mean? How long does it take to be considered in pre foreclosure or foreclosure?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can tell you right now. So the definition is typically you're in default status after 120 days. 120 days and missed payments. You're in default status. That's when the user will put acceleration notice and then give you your 30 days to basically dispute that debt and the you know, the back debt that you owe. And if you don't respond within 30 days with a written request, then they can start moving you into it. And Texas is the fastest foreclosure sale date in the country, by the way, which is 21 days. So once that 120 days pass, I mean they can smack you with a 21-day notice of sale date and it's going to happen that first Tuesday of the very next month. Wow, yeah, it happens quick, and that was what's hard with our short sales.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because most you know we're non-judicial foreclosure in Texas, so, like states, like Florida, are judicial, so it could take them 18, 24 months to get through the court system and even get foreclosed on. So these banks are begging for a short sale. That's right, whereas in our market most of the banks areose. I'll pay a trustee $1,700 to just file a substitute trustee. Boom, they're out and then they're on the courthouse steps that first Tuesday of the month and it's gone, yeah, right. So we would have to really get creative and really be like a pain in the butt to these people saying no, no, no, if you do this you're going to lose this. We understand this.
Speaker 3:You don't understand that there's a roof leak, there's this right, that kind of stuff. So two things I wanted to kind of give our listeners. The first thing is, even though there is the opportunity to execute a short sale or pre-foreclosure sale, just know that it will take you some time in order to qualify for a new property again after that, depending on the loan program that you go to apply for. Some is four years, some is two years unless there's an extenuating circumstance such as somebody lost their job, death in the family of a breadwinner, et cetera. Matter of fact, I just had an extenuating circumstance that we got approved. The gentleman that I was working with, very young, had an incident where he got shot and when he sent it to me I was like I think this will work. I mean you had to go away for a little while and get your stuff right. He got shot in the head. Wow, oh wow.
Speaker 1:Hats off to the kid Talk about a miracle.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. The guy has fully recovered and is working at a bank and is doing well for himself, saved his money, 700 credit score, the whole nine yards Super impressed. But I just wanted the listeners to know that if there is a way to avoid having to do that, number one pay your bills on time. We know that, but there's many situations where you can't do that. You want to do what you can to avoid that. If your goal is to own property again, obviously sell it before it gets to that point.
Speaker 3:Don't consider hanging on and thinking that things are going to change if nothing that you're doing changes. Question for you the way that our market is propped up currently. If there were to be a sudden rise in short sales, foreclosures, et cetera, I believe and I don't know this to be true, but I believe the optimistic side of me says that there are plenty of investors out there that will come in and scoop these properties up faster than they ever did before, thus not necessarily tanking the market, just more so softening the blow, so to speak. What are your thoughts on?
Speaker 1:that that's a good topic.
Speaker 1:boy, I don't even know if we have enough time, because I keep reading articles that talk about the one way to get our US housing back is get out of all the hedge funds that are buying all these properties, right, like hey, because the prices kept going up and up. Get them out of the market and then now we can actually buy single family homes again. But you're already saying something that we all know, and it happened back in 09. That's right Is, the investors were the ones that came in and basically saved the economy they had to save. So, yeah, I think, as long as you can show that you're getting below levels where you're cash flowing again and I think that's the hardest part for any of us as an investor I know you're an investor it's hard with the interest rates when you're looking at these deals Ooh, I'm not even cash flowing, Breaking even. That's not a safe bet, right? And there's just a lot of people that gambled and and you know, just rolled the dice on appreciation being the ticket.
Speaker 1:And yeah, if they were in Austin, they did really well, you know, but San Antonio, we never really had that gigantic of appreciation. I know we did, it was pretty decent, but we all did, we did, yeah, we did. But I would say yes in in my, I guess, in my belief as well, and nobody has that crystal ball and that direct line to God that, yes, if the short sales and foreclosures do come back, then it's going to be the investors that are finally going to be able to get there. And that's what I've been talking with these servicers now. Sure, because they're still fighting me and they want to foreclose. We lost one to foreclosure in February just because they were like, well, we think the market's going up by 10%. I go where, where's your data? Right? And they couldn't give it to me and it was just it's a high level servicer and it was an executive there and they go well, our, our national data says this. I go well, your national data ain't San Antonio right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's true. Real estate is local, Everybody. It's always going to be local to your market. Um, and and I can't stand when people paint a picture with a broad brush, yeah, yeah, Um. One last thing that you mentioned, because I want to look it up, and I hear a lot of grumblings about these institutions and hedge funds that are purchasing homes from families, et cetera, et cetera, when in fact it's really the mom and pops that are buying the majority of the properties. And it may not be all over the United States, but I know in San Antonio, mom and pop investors make up a majority of the investor market versus the Black Rocks, et cetera that you see. Now Black Rock will come in and buy a whole damn neighborhood. Sure, oh yeah, they will.
Speaker 3:Investment property rental properties, VRBOs, short-term rentals, et cetera. Vacation rentals are owned by your everyday mom and pop homeowner. That went you know what. I've built up enough equity, I've built up enough savings. I want to go to my lender and find out what it takes to qualify to become an investor. And then they did it over and over and over, and now they've got a portfolio, just like you, just like you know what I'm saying. But the idea that that is, they're the villain. In many cases, they could also be the heroes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what, bill, I mean. I would love to dive into this because, yes, one thing I was going to have to have you back.
Speaker 3:I know I was like dude. I would.
Speaker 1:That'd be like winning the lottery twice seriously. But with Zillow, what Zillow did when Zillow was doing Zillow offers, remember? But we would see that where Zillow would come through and buy one property for ungodly high, yep, but then they would use that as a comp in order to get the neighborhood higher up for their own purchases, right, and so there was that kind of practice which, when you said it, I don't know and I want to say I've never realized how to track because, yeah, I believe there's a ton of people out there, mom and pop, investors that are owning and doing the right thing. I just never knew how to track it because I would know agents coming through telling me, hey, I've got a hedge fund guy coming out of California. It's always New York or California.
Speaker 3:Right, right.
Speaker 1:And he told me he's picking up 30 a month and so I'm doing diligent diligence and he'd show me his list and they're. They're doing like CMAs on like a hundred homes a month and they're literally going under contract 30, 40 of them a month. Right, and they were. I know they're doing in California and Arizona. I heard all types of podcasts bragging about it.
Speaker 1:So I was like you know what I know. I would love to know what San Antonio is actually real numbers are and exactly who is buying those homes in the last couple of years.
Speaker 3:Well, even even that concept in itself. Let's face it Zillow was not intended to be a property investor. Right, they were dabbling with extra money let's be straight.
Speaker 3:Honest because of you realtors they have the money to be able to play around in that that, uh, that sand pit. Um, zillow is a lead generation company. 90% I think it's like 80% of their revenue coming in is derived from lead generation your money going to put to work to change the market in your area, so to speak. Okay, so let's see here. I typed in how many San Antonio investment properties are owned by hedge funds versus individual investors. Determining the exact property investment properties of San Antonio, hedge versus individuals is a challenge due to the lack of specific, however, available information provided in 2021 institutional investors, which included entities like hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate, according to approximately 28% of the homes purchased in Texas, the higher, the highest rate in the U S. So, wow, wow, uh, we have the highest rate. Uh, as opposed to institution. Uh, let me see here.
Speaker 3:Okay, institutional investors were responsible for, uh, 43% of the home purchases and the same period. So essentially, this is your mom and pops 43% versus your um, your investment trust hedge funds I mean it's it's still almost double Um, but I mean 28%, still a pretty large number, um, and they're able to now give you this. They are absolutely able to take risks. Like you just mentioned, zillow, they can go and buy in a home more than what it's worth. Why? Because that was funny money.
Speaker 3:If they lose, oh well it is what it is.
Speaker 1:Thank you, NAR.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 1:That is so true. Yeah, gosh Mark, that's crazy. Because, yeah, you're right. As an investor myself, I mean, I just sold two of our properties when the market went up and we're like, dude, why not? But you're right, those guys had so much money to play with. They could sit for a five-year wait period until it caught back up. Or lose, or lose. Yeah, take the right off. It was funny money.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, when you see the amount of revenue. I look at it like every other week just because Review my Mortgage is essentially consumer direct education, but it is the form of lead generation for passing along that contact to a trusted loan officer in that area around the United States Awesome. So it's like, okay, this is the right trend that we're on to be able to kind of get into that sandbox. But at the end of the day, they're, they're the, the, the Megatron, they're, they're the ones that are creating that market that nobody else really has it cornered yet.
Speaker 3:So, that being said, two things that I want to ask in regards to just in general. If you were to give advice to our listeners and we've got real estate agents, we've got lenders, we've got homebuyers, we've got homeowners, insurance people, all that jazz what advice would you give from a real estate perspective? And then, what advice would you give from a finance perspective? Mind you, you're the real estate expert, not the finance expert, but at the end of the day, they, in my opinion, are one in the same when you're talking about this.
Speaker 1:Oh, man that's such a loaded question Super broad, yeah, super broad, and it's like, okay, you're on record now. Remember, in 2025, josh, you said this, yeah, going from my own things, where I would tell my clients, even when the market was great, and I kept saying, guys, I know you're seeing all these overbids and everything, if you don't need to buy right now, don't buy. And so I was going against the market, right, and a lot of buyers were thankful for that, because then two years later, they're like, yeah, we survived, we waited and then boom, now we're not spending $100,000 over Right, and in this market, I'm really sort of now, I always hated that cliche because, realtors, every year, it's a great market to buy, it's a great market to sell. First of all, you're trying to time the market. Human beings and families aren't timing the market.
Speaker 3:Things happen to us right.
Speaker 1:So you just need to be with somebody that's going to be able to understand all of the data that's there and really just be able to read it for you and break it down so you can make the most confident decision possible. And as far as giving those people advice, I would just say just keep in action and activity mode. I loved something you said on another podcast with another one of your amazing guests too Just be in front of everybody, right. Videos are where it's at. Guests, too. Just be in front of everybody, right? Videos are where it's at.
Speaker 1:Keep doing that and keep sharing your own experiences, because I really do believe now we're starting to see such a mistrust for the media and everything else and it's now coming back to almost like, like you said, real estate is not just one market. We've got micro markets. Well, you are your micro market for your people, right? Your sphere. So be the voice for your sphere. Don't be afraid. Talk about what you're seeing, what you're going through, and I would say that I would challenge anybody if you're and I'm talking to myself included be willing to sound like you don't have all the answers all the time. You're just being vulnerable.
Speaker 1:That's right, and that's the hardest part, even for me and I get for everybody it's because you don't want to put a video out there and the next day somebody comes out with a different fact. Oh well, did you see NPR's data?
Speaker 1:So, true, and that's the hard part with social media. And I would just say, even like today, I blasted about CFPB and I already got a A lot of people. It's oh man, you're on fire. And then somebody's like, oh, they did this and this just in December, josh. So what the hell? You have to be willing to take that and just understand that. Look, we're all humans, we're all trying to understand and just navigate through this and just keep in touch with everybody. That's probably the best thing. Just offer service, relationship and just be there for those people, because that's going to pay off way more than what your goals are for the year, what your bottom line needs to be. I think that's what I would say.
Speaker 3:I think that that's great advice, I think, summed up, be true to your brand and what does your brand represent? It's you. What are your values? What do you truly believe in? What do you want to hang your hat on at the end of the day? And at the end of the day, we all have to lay our heads down and are you able to sleep with yourself, knowing what advice you gave, what path you took a buyer down, seller down? The advice that you gave them?
Speaker 3:Because, let's face it, every homeowner, home buyer, renter alike, has access to the internet. Which the internet? It's right in front of us guys. You say something that is inaccurate. They're going to call you out on it and guess what? You've lost your reputation. Everything that you work for can be gone in in a quick Google search, wrong or right, to be honest. So I think that was a great discussion. We addressed short sales, we addressed pre foreclosure, we talked about the philanthropy that you do. Thank you for all of the work that you do and the words that radiate throughout the audience. For sure, this is going to be a very light discussion. I'd love to have you back soon.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely Maybe we'll get somebody else on here and do a little roundtable, but thank you for joining us, josh.
Speaker 1:No, mark, I can't tell you and JC enough Thank you for even having me and even give me opportunity. And yes, I would love to deep dive on some of that stuff. If you know, bring an attorney involved in bankruptcy turning stuff like that understanding more of just how to get the right help. Absolutely. But yeah, it's. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:I've known you for so many years not as close as I wish I did- but this is going to give me another opportunity to do so, and I really appreciate that Absolutely. It is my pleasure, uh, guys and gals, uh alike. Uh, JC, if you can share the screen real quick, we are at 20,300 subscribers and growing, and it is all because of you. I want to thank you, guys, for continuing to tune in and, um, I promise my commitment to you is to continue to provide expert guests that will be transparent. Pull back the curtain on all of the things that are nuanced in way of real estate and mortgage finance. That being the case, guys, we will catch you on the next one.
Speaker 6:Trying to become a homeowner is so frustrating. I mean, I wish it were easy to find out what options or things I may qualify for there actually is an easier way. I'd love to tell you about it there is.
Speaker 2:Uh, hold on, let me call you back. Okay, I'm interested. What's the catch?
Speaker 7:there's no catch. If you have two minutes, I can literally show you. Now it's really easy. There's no catch. If you have two minutes, I can literally show you now it's really easy.
Speaker 7:Sure, let's go. It's going to code to you line by line and have you answer some questions that will identify the best loan products for you, starting with the property address, which is specific to the area, which programs will work for you. It's going to guide you through a series of numbers, loan options and give you everything so you can choose what works best for you.
Speaker 5:Well, I had no idea there were so many options out there. For me it was so easy, it was so quick and you didn't even have to run my credit.
Speaker 8:I know I told you in less than two minutes. Right, did I make it? You did, let's go. Alright, let's go.
