Move Worthy Q & A Part 2: Insights and Strategies for Navigating Market Challenges

Imagine navigating the homebuying process with confidence, avoiding common pitfalls, and securing the best deal for your dream home. That's exactly what you'll gain from our latest episode, where we unpack the critical lessons learned from real-life homebuying experiences. We kick things off with a listener's tale of making an unexpected offer and the hidden complications that followed. Learn how to ensure every detail is laid out in the contract, from window treatments to essential appliances, and discover the art of clear communication between buyers and agents to prevent costly oversights. We also shine a light on seller financing options and the advantage of partnering with a seasoned realtor to explore listings that might not pop up on your favorite property sites.

As we journey through the volatile landscape of today's real estate market, we bring to light the challenges faced by both buyers and agents alike. Join us as we explore the turbulent year of 2024, where a staggering majority of realtors reported no house sales, drawing parallels to the infamous crash of 2008. Through stories of perseverance and adapting strategies, we tackle how realtors can refine their approach, optimize their resources, and set realistic client expectations amidst the chaos. We invite you to connect with us for more insights and encourage you to join our growing community on Facebook, as we gear up to launch a dedicated podcast page for even richer discussions.

MOVE Worthy Podcast with Lauren Jones & Jenny Lendle. Together we have the experience to MOVE you forward!

Transcript

Understanding Homebuying Terms and Processes

Speaker 1 0:12

all right , we are back with our 12 12th episode 12th episode of the move Worthy Podcast with Jenny and Lauren .

Speaker 1 0:25

And today we're going to finish up the Q&A that we started last week . We have a lot of questions that came in and we're just trying to get to the bottom of them , so we'll start it off . This one's kind of funny . This one could probably . It's just , I guess , personal preference . I'll just say that , all right . So we put in our first offer on Saturday night , excited they were asking $250 , and we said $238 . I asked about first-time homebuyer grants . There was nothing out there for us . I'm nervous . We'll find out Sunday night Realize there's no window treatments in any of the windows . I'm kind of upset about that . After we made the offer . Well , you did go in under asking 12,000 .

Speaker 1 1:19

Which I think could cover your window treatments .

Speaker 2 1:21

Your window treatments .

Speaker 1 1:22

So and look , and that happens yeah like . Sometimes you might overlook something , but window treatments is not a big deal . You still have so many pieces of the process to get through and actually window treatments are immovable .

Speaker 2 1:36

So even if you did put an offer on a house that had window treatments , you would have to write it in the contract to ask them to leave them . They do not . They're not required to leave them . So ultimately , regardless of whether they had them , they could have taken them .

Speaker 1 1:55

Yeah and look that section I know in our contracts that section of the contract is in the very beginning has changed so much over the years , so many times yes . To incorporate things like now we hang TVs on the wall . What stays ? Does the TV stay ? Does the mount stay ?

Speaker 2 2:10

Right .

Speaker 1 2:10

Similar to window treatments . Do the actual curtains stay or just do ?

Speaker 2 2:14

the mounts stay , Just yes .

Speaker 1 2:16

I mean I've had a client take blinds .

Speaker 2 2:20

Yep .

Speaker 1 2:20

Custom blinds .

Speaker 2 2:21

Mm-hmm .

Speaker 1 2:23

And to no fault of their own . Of course , we have these discussions with our clients , but sometimes I think they just take everything without thinking yeah , and my , my client in that situation did have to bring them all back yeah and then I covered the cost to have them oh gosh , yeah , I I typically for my buyers .

Speaker 2 2:43

I would would explain it to where the rod would stay and the blinds would stay . But the curtains ? If the curtains or shades or whatever is an addition to the blinds or something that they want , we would need to put that in black and white in the contract , just to protect all parties .

Speaker 1 3:05

I appreciate it so much when agents do that too . They put everything in there . It might sound like a lot , but it's . You can't overlook it . You can't mess it up when it's specifically written out what they want to stay . And then I ask all my sellers hey , these things are assumed to stay .

Speaker 2 3:21

Right .

Speaker 1 3:22

What out of this group do you want to take with you ? And usually surround sound systems . Yes , security systems , cameras , the blinds . One time a bathroom mirror . I was like no bathroom mirror stay . Yes , bathroom mirror stay , and if you want to take the mirror that's there , replace it yeah , I think it's a um .

Speaker 2 3:43

One of the things that has become a real popular thing are these , uh , the ring door cameras those are not permanently fixed , they're just like they're just screwed in with a little screw , or even sometimes used with like a command strip .

Speaker 2 3:59

So , um , you know , they're not hardwired , they're not anything permanent . So a lot of times buyers assume that that's going to stay , and not only is it not a fixed um object , there's a , there's a membership and a subscription to it that you have to pay for . So I think , ultimately , at the end of the day , when it comes to things like this , you know , make sure that you're having these conversations with your agents as to what you know is mandatory to stay , what is not mandatory to stay , and don't be upset with yourself if you came in $12,000 under asking and you got the house and they didn't have window treatments Like that , you know that .

Speaker 1 4:35

You might want your own stuff .

Speaker 2 4:36

Yeah , your own colors . I just , yeah , I think that that would be for a seller If you came back and said you know , oh , I thought the window treatments were going to stay . They could probably be like hey , we gave you this much off the price , go buy your own window treatments , right exactly , exactly and look , and sometimes our as agents , maybe we overlook things too yeah but when we're in a house with a buyer we should say , hey , these things are supposed like .

Speaker 1 5:05

Is there any of this you want ? Yeah so and write all that in the contract so everyone knows .

Speaker 2 5:10

I've gotten very specific with my appliances too , because a lot of people just used to write appliances to stay . Well , what appliances ? The kitchen appliances , the washer and dryer ? I mean there's the fridge in the garage . I mean what appliances ? So I'm very specific when I , when I list appliances on a contract . I do , I do too , I think , I say all kitchen appliances plus refrigerator , plus refrigerator and garage plus washer and dryer . Washer Plus washer and dryer .

Speaker 1 5:37

Because that's not all included . So yeah , definitely specific . But again , if you get this house for $238 and they were asking $250 , call it a win and go pick out exactly what you want .

Speaker 2 5:48

Absolutely yes .

Speaker 1 5:50

All right , it seems . Well , it seems . Seller financing is my only option . How do I find listings that offer that ? Zillow doesn't seem to offer that , neither does Realtor .

Speaker 2 6:02

No .

Speaker 1 6:03

Neither does I would think none of the sites really do have a specific category for that .

Speaker 2 6:09

For that right yeah , but the MLS does .

Speaker 1 6:14

And who can access that ?

Speaker 2 6:16

Get yourself an agent a realtor .

Speaker 1 6:19

So if that's the only thing that you can do , call a realtor , ask them to search the MLS . Specify that as the criteria and we can pull up what's offered yes and I'll be honest , there's not a lot . So out of a hundred listings on the market , maybe 20 of them , so 80 20 probably maybe 20 of them might offer some sort of seller financing , owner financing , lease purchase , and maybe less so . While your options are going to be a little more limited , you're definitely going to need a realtor to help you look for that .

Speaker 2 6:54

Definitely .

Speaker 1 6:55

So it is possible .

Speaker 2 6:56

Yep .

Speaker 1 6:58

And when you do go through a process like that , make sure everything is done just as if you were buying through title companies recording legal all of that good stuff .

Speaker 2 7:09

Don't skip any good parts .

Speaker 1 7:11

There's a few things that are a little tricky and they all do about the same thing , and that is lease , purchase , rent to own owner , financing and bond for deed those are some of the things you might hear or look for when you're doing that search in the mls and just make sure you're doing whichever process that is correctly so you don't make sure there is a title attorney involved , always , always absolutely all right .

Speaker 1 7:35

Get on to the next question . What is a good way to check your credit ? I've been using credit karma , but I've heard that credit karma is not that accurate it is not .

Speaker 2 7:47

It is the furthest from accurate um . There's a couple of websites that that I've had clients use that are close , but I I'd have to say most lenders recommend that you use myficocom and you can't use the free version of it . You have to subscribe and you have to be able to run your mortgage score . So your typical experience score , transunion score those are not accurate . There is a score specific for a mortgage and that's what's going to match best to a lender . So sign up for MyFICOcom , sign up for the subscription and watch your mortgage score . I didn't even know that . You didn't . No , I didn't know that . Oh yeah , there's an auto score , there's a mortgage score . Really , oh , absolutely , I did not know that . Oh yeah , okay , most um , most auto lendings use transunion as their um , as their go-to score .

Speaker 1 8:46

But yeah , that your scores are different for mortgage , auto and then you're just your regular credit scores , huh I did not know that I do know on our , so we have capital one when we log into our app that's experience okay , it gives us a credit score .

Speaker 2 9:01

Yeah , yeah so that's a very blanket credit score , okay , um , but , and it's , it's . It's usually close , but it's not . It's not perfect . But people that are working on their credit like every point counts and every time a lender runs your credit , it costs them to to rerun it . So they typically give you know a window , like a two or three month window . If they do like those mortgage estimators or credit score estimators , they'll say if you do xyz , in this amount of time , we , we can probably get your credit score here , but they're not going to rerun it until that X amount of time is up because it costs them . Every time they run a credit on , not only does it cost them , it's a hit on you because it's a push on your credit . So they don't do it . They don't constantly watch it . So for a client to be able to watch it on something like this on myficoscorecom , they can definitely get a better idea of what it's going to look like when the lender runs it .

Speaker 1 10:01

How often do they ?

Speaker 2 10:03

how often ?

Speaker 1 10:03

does it rescore ?

Speaker 2 10:04

Yes , Most lenders rescore every six months .

Speaker 1 10:07

Oh , okay .

Speaker 2 10:08

Now , if Well , how ?

Speaker 1 10:10

often does your credit score change Like month to month ?

Speaker 2 10:13

Oh , month to month , okay , absolutely so anytime you spend , pay off something .

Speaker 1 10:18

Yep , okay , don't pay something , don't pay something ?

Speaker 2 10:21

yes , every um , and it's . There's typically a depending on the creditor . There's a a window typically a five to ten day window on when your payment was due or when your payment was made . As to when it reflects your actual credit score , but it happens monthly . Okay , interesting .

Speaker 1 10:38

Yeah , so things to know if you're working on it .

Speaker 2 10:40

Yep .

Speaker 1 10:41

Pay attention , pay things

Realtor Strategies and Market Trends

Speaker 1 10:43

off . And what's the whole deal , since we're on credit , when they say , don't close things out , is it just to show your your history ?

Speaker 2 10:51

history a good standing , okay . So a lot of lenders will say , history , a good standing okay . So a lot of lenders will say , hey , you have this , but I want you to leave 25 on it . You know , pay everything but 25 . Because what it does is it keeps the account open and it proves a good standing and that goes towards your score and then your length of time and then your length of open accounts is is important too . If you have the same account for 20 years , that's that weighs heavily on your credit score .

Speaker 1 11:16

Got it Okay . Yeah , robert was trying to get his score to a certain number , and I think the last thing he needed was an account that was at least 24 or 25 years old .

Speaker 2 11:26

Uh-huh .

Speaker 1 11:26

Or his first one that he ever opened ? Yeah , and I think he's almost there , yeah .

Speaker 2 11:30

He's getting old , jonathan and I have a credit card from when he was in high school .

Speaker 1 11:36

We have .

Speaker 2 11:36

Jonathan and I have a credit card from when he was in high school . Wow , uh-huh .

Speaker 1 11:39

And so we have a good long-standing history and I know that helps our credit score tremendously . Robert put Peyton on a credit card one of our credit cards when he was in high school , when he started driving Yep . I think that's helped him . Absolutely the only thing that hurt him , I think early on , when he first tried to get pre-approved , was just not enough , not enough , yeah , not enough history .

Speaker 1 11:57

But he still had that it started for him and we did that with Olivia already . I think Robert added her to one of our credit cards just to build that . Yeah , that history , that history so definitely good things to think about for you , for your kids , family , future .

Speaker 2 12:13

Yep , yeah , put a kid on , but don't put them on as like just a I forgot what they called it . Make sure they're an authorized user .

Speaker 1 12:25

Oh , okay , yeah .

Speaker 2 12:29

So if they're an authorized user , then they get their own card . They don't have to use it , but they get their own card and that's when it would reflect their credit .

Speaker 1 12:35

That's what we have . That's what Peyton had . And look the difference between our children . Peyton would call his dad every time he wanted to use it . Olivia uses it , collects the cash back , like if she buys food for her friends , collects the cash back from her friends and doesn't give it back to us .

Speaker 2 12:54

That's hilarious .

Speaker 1 12:55

And like wait what ?

Speaker 2 12:56

Your brother would have never , never done that , right like he knew better , right here you are like oh , I got my dad , I got my card yeah because it is .

Speaker 1 13:03

It's her card , she's an authorized user . But , yeah , difference in these kids these days for sure wow all right . So this one isn't really from a first time home buyer , but I guess we can elaborate on this . You want to .

Speaker 2 13:19

All right .

Speaker 1 13:20

So I've been seeing this a lot online throughout the different websites . A lot of realtors are citing this , quoting this 74 , there's the stat out there that says 74% of realtors sold zero homes in 2024 . Should they keep their license active like 2024 was ?

Speaker 2 13:43

A brutal year .

Speaker 1 13:44

It was brutal for a lot of people . And look , and I can see I know someone on the other side of that spectrum had a breakout year last year . It just happens like that , but 74% is huge . We saw a decrease in our office If I had to look at it from 100% of our 16 , 17 agents and now we're down 100% of our 16 , 17 agents and now we're down , I mean it's probably about 50% in our office alone the agents that got out of the business .

Speaker 2 14:14

Yeah , but on the flip side there's so many agents that got into the business when the market was great .

Speaker 1 14:20

This is true .

Speaker 2 14:21

So this is how I feel about this question Should they keep their license ? Yes , I think they should keep their license . I think the agents that work through the hard times are typically the agents that end up super successful . That's truly what I believe . I believe it mean in 2008 they had that huge crash , correct and and honestly .

Speaker 2 14:41

and you got in at oh nine and honestly you know agents that that had a terrible time got out of the business . Well , what that did was it took all of the agents that were really not making this their first priority in their true career . It kind of allowed them to step back and say you know , if I can't do this part time , then I really don't want to do it at all . And then it became less of a competitive market for realtors and then it became less of a competitive market for realtors .

Speaker 2 15:08

So I do think that right now we're kind of seeing that transition too , and I think that the agents that were really in the business part-time and doing maybe what they loved but couldn't really make it a career , this is when they're kind of getting out of it . So , if you can , if it is a full-time job for for you , if it really is a career for you and you can push through you know the tough times I think you end up on top .

Speaker 1 15:35

I think you're right , I think , and it's frustrating , it's hard , I mean it's your livelihood . Yeah to those of you , to those agents out there who didn't who . It is your career , it's rough , Um , and it was rough for some of us in our in our office as well . But push through , go back to the basics , Like what did you ? Do when you first started . What made you successful in the beginning ? Go back in and think about how you're working with your clients .

Speaker 2 16:03

What can ?

Speaker 1 16:04

you do better ? And then obviously look at your budget what can you cut , what can you get through ? You know what can you work around , and then what can you do better ? And then obviously look at your budget what can you cut , what can you get through you know what can you work around , and then what can you do to advertise yourself ?

Speaker 1 16:13

that doesn't cost a lot of money like those are some tips I think to try to get through this year . I'm look , even with the chaotic way 2025 has started I mean from a terror attack in New Orleans to a snowstorm in New Orleans , to a new president I mean 2025 is like wow . What do people say ? Like that was not on my bingo card , like I need one of these bingo cards .

Speaker 1 16:41

Jeez I have high hopes for 2025 . Um , I have high hopes for 2025 . I can see things turning , even though we're we're still working on or working through interest rates and things . I can see things turning . I'm very hopeful for it . Putting our heads down , getting to work yeah , focusing on our clients , I think we're going to make it through . And if you can hang on to your license , I think you can make it through too . Mm-hmm , and if you were part-time , didn't sell any homes and you're like you know what , I can let this go and go do something else and maybe one day get back into it .

Speaker 2 17:20

Then that's fine yeah that's fine too , so and you don't have to . You can put your license on a inactive inactive , you don't necessarily let your license can put your license on a um inactive inactive , you don't necessarily let your license go , you can keep up with it , but make it inactive and , just you know , not do real estate at this time .

Speaker 1 17:36

Correct . Save some money , go inactive , keep up with your CE , come back when the market turns around or when your clients start calling again , say , hey , let me go change that real quick and you can .

Speaker 2 17:46

can do it just absolutely just like that , yep good stuff .

Speaker 1 17:51

My daughter has been saying that a lot lately good stuff , good stuff . Um , this one is a little interesting and I think it is our last question of the day , just curious as to why realtors don't host open houses every weekend . I just sold my house recently because we had two back-to-back open houses . The other homes in my neighborhood are just sitting for months , so I think this one is super situational .

Speaker 2 18:22

It is specific to the property . There are some houses out there that will absolutely sell themselves . Yes , if you have a great realtor and it's priced right . I think that you know it .

Speaker 1 18:34

I don't think it was necessarily because of the back to back open houses .

Speaker 2 18:37

I agree , I agree , I do . I think that they're helpful in today's market . Absolutely , I really do . I think we're seeing more and more open houses . Um , do I think that open houses , in my opinion , do I think they need to happen right away ? I don't . Um , some people disagree with me .

Speaker 1 18:56

So I like them , you like them , right ? I like to come out of the gate with a new listing and do open houses . I think it's the excitement , the build-up , the you know it's on market . Let's get some people in the door . I like that .

Speaker 2 19:09

So , again , I think it's still it's situational . There's an agent that knows the market and knows the area and knows the buyers and knows the sellers can pretty much tell or pretty much get a good feel of , hey , if we , you know , put this house on the market at this price , I really do think we're going to have a lot of activity and , you know , maybe not not really require an open house , but , um , I I think it's very situational , that's a tough one it is .

Speaker 1 19:37

It is tough , um , I don't have the stats in front of me right now , but , um you can go online and find how many houses actually sell from an open house . It's very low because everyone , as realtors , we're all looking as buyers , you're all looking online .

Speaker 2 19:53

As realtors .

Speaker 1 19:54

We're all looking at the MLS Open houses . Maybe now that buyer agency has changed , could be just an easier way to pop in homes as a buyer . But it's not necessarily . You're not gonna walk into the house and just write a contract right there . I don't think that happens and I don't think that happened in this case , but maybe just the exposure of the home no , I know I've .

Speaker 2 20:17

I've walked into as a listing agent . I've walked into some homes and just been like , wow , okay , wait , I didn't expect this yeah you know , what I mean .

Speaker 2 20:26

Like those situations . I think maybe an open house would be beneficial . Something that can't be photographed well , something that you know , you maybe some perks with the actual property that you can't necessarily advertise or see , or you know something that can be something but isn't yet something right . Like maybe open houses would be beneficial for that . Um , maybe , even as crazy as it sounds , gutted houses , like when you look at picture it . When you look at pictures of a gutted house , you're like there's nothing appealing about this , right . But if you had a listing agent , they are saying , hey , they had plans to do this , this and this and this is what this would be and this would be . That's a whole nother ballgame , right . So I think open house would be super beneficial for that . So there's that too .

Speaker 1 21:14

Yeah , I think there's a lot of back and forth with the open house and in our area it's not what you see on TV , no , like when you see people lined up for an open house . That is not what's happening in our area .

Speaker 2 21:25

You might have one , maybe two , that walk through an open house on an amazing , really good day .

Speaker 1 21:30

Like we're excited for that um but it's not like what you see on tv and just know if you have a good agent . They are out there marketing your property , even if it's not in an open house . They are still working that listing , they are still trying to help you sell it and , at the end of the day , pricing is everything absolutely anything that's wrong with a house or location cosmetics , this that could factor into a price pricing fixes all that yeah pricing sells the house .

Speaker 1 22:00

Yeah , while we think it's all the marketing and everything that we do , it helps . Yes , but , the price is the main seller of a house .

Speaker 2 22:08

And look . Sometimes a house can be priced super appropriately and it doesn't sell in 30 days . Look . This is true , there are , and this market is , and this market is where we're at with that . So you know , I think it's important for buyers , agents and listing agents to say hey look , you know , while I think this is the price point we need to be at , this is the average day on market . This is what you need to expect to see .

Speaker 1 22:36

Yes .

Speaker 2 22:37

You know what I mean . We're not going to sell in 30 days . I'm not giving you this price because I think it's going to fly out of here , but I'm giving you this price because I think it's a good , solid price point . And this price because I think it's a good , solid price point and your house is worth this amount . But 90 days is the average days on market or 130 days is the average days on market and that's not unrealistic to see today . It's just not . And I mean we see houses all the time that have been on market for 200 days and sold for for asking price you're right , it just finally sells .

Speaker 1 23:08

You'll get more than one offer , yeah .

Speaker 2 23:10

Like after all of a sudden , and it sells for list price .

Navigating a Volatile Real Estate Market

Speaker 2 23:14

So it's you know , I think you really buyers , sellers and agents , everybody has to take into consideration what's happening in the market and you know what is going on at that point in time .

Speaker 1 23:24

Yeah , we're definitely in that kind of market .

Speaker 2 23:27

Yep .

Speaker 1 23:27

People ask me how's the market ? Well , it depends . You know what I say Volatile , I do too I use volatile all the time because there's no rhyme or reason .

Speaker 2 23:38

No , you know , just be prepared for this and hope for this .

Speaker 1 23:42

Yep Is kind of what I go through , and and , as realtors , that's our job is to set the expectation for what you can expect as a buyer , as a seller , in this volatile market yep all right , that is it for today .

Speaker 1 23:57

We covered all of our questions . If you have questions about real estate you're a buyer or a seller , or even if you're a realtor and you have questions , send them our way . We're both on facebook lauren jones , jenny lindley . You can find our business realtor pages . At some point , I think , we'll make a page for our podcast and then you can send all of your questions there . But for now , this was episode 12 q , a part two of the move Worthy podcast with myself , jenny Lindley and Lauren Jones and together we have the experience to move you forward .