 All righty, I am super excited that you guys have joined us today. Thank you so much I've got Aaron here with me today, and I am Angela Brown Many of you know me as the house cleaning end of this particular Environment and I've been so blessed that they've included me on this this particular Conversation because today we're going to be talking about some really exciting things and it is the biggest fears That people run into when they're selling at home. And so I get to ask the questions today I'm not actually the one that answers the questions I'm the one that asks the questions and I've got Aaron Brown here So Aaron if you will share with us a little bit about your realty business and what our our friends here can expect from us today And then we'll jump into the questions that I have prepared for you Yeah, absolutely. So I've been a realtor for roughly 14 years and Work out of San Antonio, Texas in the greater area Just Well, I'm really excited because I've sold a couple of homes myself not as a realtor But just as a as a homeowner and there were a lot of the fears as I was looking over this for today There were a lot of the fears that I had when we were going to sell our home and then I was like, oh I didn't realize that this is like something everybody goes through. I thought it was just me and that I was special And I realized that it's it's something that a lot of people go through So I'm super excited that we're having this conversation today on the biggest fears of when you sell your home the first one is the emotional attachment that people have to their property and I know that Many people who have lived in a home that was their family home for many years have emotional attachments But I'm curious as we get started here. Aaron, if you will share with me What are some of the emotional attachments that you guys run into when you're trying to pull a home out from underneath somebody and help them sell that Yeah, well a couple of the biggest things we've run into is The length of time people have lived in a home and of course the memories that we create a lot of emotional attachment to the house if they make upgrades on the home, you know Their grandkids, etc. I have spent time There's just a lot of attachment to I'm letting go part of my life. I'm letting go of this chapter of life and It's it's hard sometimes for people to let go during the process of selling their home. I mean it is a big deal and You gotta kind of understand that if you're going to sell your home, we need to turn it now into a product and so There's kind of this concept between a house and a home You know a house is a product. A home is where to make memories and you have your family and so You gotta kind of move away from that that feeling like it's this is this is my whole life and As a result of that you've got to rely on the pictures and the memories you made and Then let us help you turn it into a product that we can get the most out of for you So you can get your home, so you know I know that when we were selling our last home and we were moving to the home that we're in right now One of the things that and I didn't see this coming, but it was our neighbors We had a really hard time leaving our neighbors behind and we had done a lot of backyard cookouts and a lot of social Activities and while we were moving to a new house and how exciting is this? You were really really sad to leave our neighbors behind because they were more than backdoor neighbors They were they would just show up at our house and like hey, we brought dinner and we're eating here tonight We're like okay come on in you were like our best friends And so then we made it we had to make agreements on where are we spending Thanksgiving and Christmas and holidays and you know Each of the holidays we split up will have a party at your house Then we'll have a party of my house and even though we'd moved a little ways away We were still close enough that we could still kind of stay in touch and then thank goodness for Facebook We could you know, we could stay in all the touch, but it was it was really sentimental. I was like Yeah, absolutely. No, that's that's a huge thing with we've had people that would even moved into the same neighborhood for those reasons Where they needed to get out at their house, but we kept them in the same neighborhoods But it is always heartbreaking when you're moving to a new neighborhood. I would say that You should keep your bike open though for new friends As well to kind of come into your life in that new environment That's a great a great opportunity there. I'm glad you brought that up I know that one of the emotional attachments and this is really odd and it has nothing to do with the house itself But there are I can't tell you how many how many times people like well the big tree that's in our front yard I brought that home and it was only this big around you know fit in the back of my car And now it's this great big stalwart tree and they've got tree swings on it or a tree house that they've built in it And it's it's the the whole landscape that they're leaving behind And so it's it's really emotional for some people that raised their kids in that particular house And they know that those memories are not going to be passed on to the kids You know the grandkids and what have you and that they are leaving that in fact behind And so that's that's kind of an emotional tug that we've seen from some of our our friends that have sold their homes I would say on that note It is important if you do want to get the most out of your home that you help us turn it into a product And and I know it's really tough emotionally we've had people who have stayed in their home during the show It's literally crying to please please get out of my house And it makes the house difficult to move when people are coming from that mindset and again I know there's a lot emotionally we have to work through But know that if you have a good realtor it will help you find an environment That's just as good or better than the environment you're in and you're moving because there's a life changing You need to move for the majority of the time And so it is your realtor's job to help you navigate those waters and really Help you find a better Living situation So let me ask you the question then how how do you Emotionally detach yourself from your home if that's the place that you raised your kids and you're friendly with the neighbors and Let's say that for example that you're downsizing and you don't really want to downsize But you kind of have to either for job purposes or you're maybe moving or something How do you emotionally remove yourself so that you're not hung up in the you know Well, I need a higher value for my house because about all these memories attached to it Right. I know that doesn't make any sense, but trust me when I say that's that's a true thing because we were there Yeah, absolutely again I think you have to look at the bright side and it is where am I going? You know, what's the next chapter of life going to look like and can it look better than the last chapter? A lot of us hang on so tight to the past that we think You know, we'll never get those good old days back And those were the good old days without realizing that we create the good old days. Those good old days are today And if we can look at a positive future and know that the environment we're moving into often can be better than the environment We were actually in it's it's a better room if your house is too big for you and you need to downsize it here Empty nester now It can only get better, you know Moving into into a better environment. And so you really have to look at the plus side It is it is hard to emotionally let go but so important to to keep it into perspective The fear of disclosing house defects I know in a perfect world no one would have house defects And I know that it would be really easy if This didn't have to be disclosed by law But tell me how does it work when you're afraid that maybe your house is you know shaking itself a little bit off the foundation And you got some unsightly cracks or maybe some cracked windows or like what are the rules and regulations there as far as how much You have to disclose and how how worried should we be about you know, come and clean with the the facts Yeah, so we run in I run into this daily as a realtor with people and they they're going You know that modern leak that happened a couple of years ago. It's fixed now We shouldn't have to disclose that we shouldn't have to disclose You know that the foundation has issues Etc because we want more money out of the house And so we don't want to disclose those things and there is a big fear about that What is the value? That we will actually lose at our house if people find out about these things So a little insight into that People will find out there's a no question they will a thousand percent. They're going to find out And the way they find out is your realtor does what's called a clue report When you go under contract And that means if you've ever had an insurance claim on the home Whatever the insurance claim is for will come to light If you've ever had a permit Hold on the home for any kind of anything That's going to come to light And then you're going to have an inspection on the property whether you want to or not If someone buys your home, they're going to hire a professional inspector to come inspect the house And the inspector's job is to look for defects They look at the foundation and the electrical they look at the plumbing You know everything they test every socket they test every door they look under every cabinet And they're going to find any defect with the house If you don't disclose that as a homeowner You can get sued up to three years after For up to three years after up to three years after And not just for the price of the home But for the price of the home the move and the damages And so if that person needs to move again Or whatever that is You can get sued for two or three times the amount of the house. Oh my goodness So your homeowner's insurance cover it or now if it was your fault and you didn't disclose on purpose If you didn't disclose it then you're at fault. And so your insurance doesn't cover that And so What also people don't take into consideration is a lot of these issues are not as big as we think they are You know, uh, how much value would we lose if there was a leak under one of the kitchen cabinets or under a bathroom sink? The reality is that these are usually pretty easy fixes and being negotiated out during the agreement Uh, during the contractual period where we can get you know, somebody in there to A contractor in there to give us an estimate we can there's a lot of ways to negotiate that Where either it comes off of being the purchase price or something in lieu of Etc. And so there's lots of ways to navigate those even when it comes to foundation issues Um, again, it's not the end of the world foundation issues don't cost that much in the grand scheme of things Right if you're talking about being sued for three years after I can see how that could be significantly more expensive than just Ponying up the money and saying let's get the foundation bank. Well, and I mean, so we've run into this situation before Especially here in the area. I live the soils are very expensive And so we run into a lot of foundation issues And foundation issues, you know, they range somewhere between about 15 and 25 000 dollars if you're going to repair an entire foundation Uh, and oftentimes that will wash out by just reducing the price a little bit or by, um, you know, something in lieu of Uh, we just had a situation here a couple of months ago where the gentleman actually traded his tractor In lieu of the foundation repairs And the people were so excited He traded his tractor in lieu of fixing his foundation Like I'll give you my tractor and not fix the foundation used by the house as is and you get the tractor It was a three acre parcel. Um, and they needed a little tractor for the property And because of the cost of the tractor versus the cost of foundation it was a battle wash And uh, both parties ended up happy about it. He didn't lose any value in the home and he didn't, you know, tractor where he was moving And so There's lots of ways to navigate it. If your realtor understands what's going on There's lots of ways for them to negotiate around those issues and actually get to more value out of the home right And so Anything that's happened to the house You know your ac linked in the attic and it created a problem and it got fixed and there's no problem Great disclose it and because it will come up in a clue report It will come up that somebody went out there and fix something and so better just you know upfront and If you let people know upfront Then they'll feel like you're not hiding anything more major down the road The further you get into the contract if they find some things that were hidden or not disclosed and they're like what else are they hiding? And it gives people cold feet And so better just to disclose those things to the best of your knowledge And it usually almost works out better How does that play in with like flood and fire damage? Do you have to also disclose that even if you've had a professional company come in and reset the house? Yeah, 100% because especially in those cases it will come up that it was an insurance claim And were those were those monies used on fixing that? And did the issue actually get fixed and is there documentation for that? That will usually give you the ability to sell your house faster and for more money Then somebody figuring out that it did happen and it wasn't disclosed They're for sure going to call for a whole bunch of extra Reports being done and that means you're going to have whole three meters out there. They're going to be checking air quality They're going to they're going to go through a larger gamut of People coming to the home to inspect then just your general home inspector They're going to get all of the specialty traits out there. Once that comes up in the report Just because they think that you've hidden a whole bunch of other stuff Yeah, and and just to be clear there's what's called the seller's disclosure And you as a seller you disclose anything that's happened Your realtor the realtor on the other side will also do what's called a clue report And it will pull anything that's ever happened in that house that's been recorded So if there's ever been a permit pulled if there's ever been an insurance claim If anything that your uncle tom hasn't come over and done It will show up And now we're going to figure out and get to the bottom of whatever's on these reports compared with your disclosure And if something doesn't match We're going to get to the bottom of it And it'll cost the buyer a little more upfront to get those reports done But it usually Gives us a lot more leverage to get money back out of that home if we're representing the buyer All right, so if i'm hearing what you're saying correctly You're saying like don't try to trick your realtor into thinking oh the house is like perfect because when they run these reports They're going to find it anyway Do do the realtors let let's say for example that we didn't disclose that and our realtor discovers that Is there some level of them having recourse saying we're not going to represent you or you lied to us and you tried to trick us And that puts our jobs in jeopardy or we could lose our realtor license or something if we don't disclose that So we're not going to work with you anymore or do they just kind of like smack your hands and say don't do that again Like what what how does that work? It really is up to the individual realtor at that time If we find that clients are being purposely dishonest with us At least for myself I will I will let that play it go Even though I've sold a lot of money into maybe the listing getting it prepared, you know professional photography marketing etc I would rather take the loss on that Then get into a situation where we end up in the legal battle because that's right And that legal battle is going to be between both parties and probably my brokerage and so It would be better just to avoid a legal battle altogether and let them work with another realtor It happens a lot I've got a listing right now Where during the listing the time that we put it on the market And the time that it still meant on the market There was a water leak that happened the clients moved out of the home No one was in the home And one of the pipes started leaking upstairs and created water damage where they And insurance yes is taking care of that But we immediately had to go back and disclose what was happening and let all the parties do About what's happening in the process in which it's happening so that everyone's protected I see and so even in that circumstance we were able to just get that property under contract But with the buyer's understanding that we're in the middle of an insurance claim and this happened when they moved out And so again, it's all waters that can be navigated as long as everybody's willing to disclose what's happening you know, and especially in real time because Properties especially properties that are unattended things happen like that often because no one is there So got it I know one of the fears that many people that we've been talking to have shared with us is how much work the home needs To be ready to sell the home Like they don't understand that a lot of the things that i'm going to Consider it or call it house blind like it's our own house And so we were not paying attention to the fact that perhaps Some things needed to be repaired and I think sometimes there's an overestimation of how much actually needs to be repaired When it could be something as small as like nail pops, for example, you don't have to replace or repaint the whole wall You can just do some small touch-ups What what are the fears that you've run into that people are unaware of when it comes to home repairs and thinking It's going to be so much bigger and so much more expensive to fix than it actually is A lot of what we run into is people feeling like they need to fix things That they feel like would bring more value to their home because it bothers them Versus what actually brings the value up in your home And so for example, we run into this a lot with like carpets in the kids bedrooms You know the carpet looks really trashed and we need to put brand new carpet in there because maybe carpet cleaning isn't going to do the trick You know the deck on the back of the house needs to be all set it down and we stain and we polished and So they get into this in their head where all I need to get these contractors out all these different quotes And I don't have $5,000 to replace the deck on the back of the house When what they really should be focusing on is that kitchen and master The kitchen and master that's what brings the value up in our home And if you're going to put money into anything it should be the kitchen and master and so You know like carpet in kids bedrooms Not only do people not really care but almost a hundred percent of the time Whoever buys that home will rip the carpet out before they move in and put the carpet in And oftentimes it's very specific to their preferences I've seen so many times where Clients have put brand new carpet in a room and it's being torn out and wood flooring is going in before somebody moves in Because they they want their kids their kids have allergies and there's going to be no carpet in the house Uh Not not to be a not to be a snob or anything But in the not this house that we live in now But the house that we lived in before Because I've been in the house cleaning industry so long There are certain things that I won't have in my house And like when we moved into that house they had a vinyl flooring You know it was kind of like the old-fashioned vinyl that had the little designs and patterns in it It was kind of like puffy whatever and I'm like oh no way as soon as dust or dirt gets in there It's going to get smooshed in and it's never going to look clean for the rest of forever And so I ripped all of that out was brand new house But the uh the people that had built the house they defaulted on the loan or something happened and the house became available So we bought the house, but before we moved in I'm like oh no way I'm ripping out this whole and it was brand new vinyl flooring I'm ripping out all of that and I'm going to put in um tile so that it you know It's it's going to last forever It's going to be really durable and I didn't know enough about the real estate industry to know that where I live In north carolina that was not cool like at the time hardwood floors was cool And I was like oh no no no no i'm not doing the hardwood floor i'm doing the tile And so when we sold the house we had kind of a tough time selling it because tile is not cool in my area And I said all we have to do is we got to find somebody from florida because all the homes in florida are tile Somebody from florida will buy it and they will love it and it's true So to a family from florida they're like wow check out all this tile But that's the very first thing we did is we ripped out all that brand new flooring just because I knew from cleaning I knew what it was going to look like six months from now And I knew that it would be easier right now to replace all the flooring Then when all the furniture was moved in and we you know the kitchen was in use and all that stuff Just before we move in let's do this right now and then it's done, you know Yeah, of course, absolutely. I don't think I ever told anybody that story now. You know all my secrets I would say that kind of the last thing on that note though Is door frames door frames are very inexpensive to fix and patch and usually we have the hardest wear and tear Especially if you have pets The door frames are usually two to part. They're scratched on Kids love to draw on them. They're very very Inextensive to fix They're usually are you talking interior doors or are you talking exterior doors like the front door? Both Doors themselves. They're pretty easy to get a repairman to fix and the frames themselves is is just It's just trim. It's very inexpensive. So for somebody to retry another doorway Uh, I mean you might be into a couple hundred bucks But I mean very very minimal cost to make it very nice and so A lot of the things people are afraid of like restaining that deck and sending it down It's not going to change the value of the house and most people are either going to rip the deck out of it Especially here in some older deck and so sending it down and resaving it Not something that you would even need to spend money Well, I'm glad you brought that up because our house our house is 13 years old now Excuse me, and I know that this year Um, and I say this year. I'm talking 2022 I I went out on my deck and my foot went through one of the boards And I guess it had just rotted due to the sun and the moisture and whatever and so as I I Very carefully stepped on every one of the boards And then I walked up and down to each other to find out where the weak spots were And my feet went through two of the boards and they were like in two weird random places on my deck And I don't know if it was just like those two boards were weak or whatever But my first thought was as long as we live here just for safety purposes We don't have to redo the whole deck and maybe it's going to need that in another year or two But for right now, let's just replace those two bad boards We'll restain over the two bad boards and we were able just to hire a local handyman to To do that for us and then paint them so that they matched and then kind of like hands off You know just let's call that even for right now Just so that it was a safety issue number one and then number two if we were to sell the home That we're not then trying to replace the whole deck and that somebody doesn't step through one of the boards And then go, ah you owe us a whole new deck or whatever. I mean that was one of my fears talking about this very exact thing Yeah Again, yeah, it's kind of changed that value of the home on the cell either way I'm sure it might look more aesthetically pleasing. It was great that you replaced those boards But a lot of people feel like oh, we have to replace the whole deck Or we have to you know start over from scratch and again You know most people buying the home If it's an older deck either they'll end up replacing it themselves or they'll do a different configuration completely What's becoming very popular now are concrete decks And so most people are doing the way with the wood decks and doing concrete decks either way And are you talking about like pavers? No, so actual concrete slats And so what they'll do is they'll They're put in on a slight angle so water runs off of them They can you know put their actual kitchen out there and then it's easier for them to build You know shade over those versus something that's wooden and maybe would hold up as well in back weather So someone like what would you do in retirement communities where they're doing these new retirement communities Where they're just doing like a little slab out back. Is that what you're thinking about? Um oftentimes And what we're seeing here a lot is maybe it'll be larger, you know, it might be 13 feet out or something I was just one yesterday. They could extended theirs 13 feet by 24 feet and it was just a large concrete slab But then they had put shade over the top of it everything looked gorgeous But now there's no maintenance forever On that you're gonna pressure wash it once a year and that's it And so even though the cost is a little bit more it's a forever deck It's a forever patio You know when we when we bought the house that we're in right now We did something similar because we had a hot tub and so we had like this extra slab And it was we have a deck and then we have like a patio A stone patio and then we have like this separate slab that we had in installed for the for the um the hot tub And then what's interesting about that is we planted like shrubs privacy shrubs around it And so now if we were to move right now We can't really take the hot tub with us because like there's a special slab for it And then all the trees are like kind of you know manicured around it It kind of like lives there now You know, so we would have to just up and leave it there and then get a new one at our new place Kind of thing because it kind of belongs there, you know So well back to the fears that we have Thanks for explaining all that to us tell me About some of the fears that people are running into when the neighborhood is a little bit overgrown Or the neighborhood has declined somewhat I know that in some of the homes The school district was really cool when the person bought the home And then maybe over the last, I don't know a couple years or something Maybe there's either been You know unsafe issues that have happened at the school There were either shootings or something like that where now people don't necessarily want to live in that neighborhood Because there's either a stigma or maybe the neighborhood isn't as cool as it once was Yeah, absolutely and as a quick reminder These are all questions we've had clients ask. Well, I know we've got a lot of people watching live So if anybody has questions, please feel free to ask Questions in the chat as we're talking They would love to address those as well Specifically to neighborhoods that are declining It is a big fear for a lot of people who are selling their homes. We work in a lot of neighborhoods Um That are that are in decline and You have to remember this put things into perspective People are always moving up And even though your neighborhood might feel like it's in decline There's a whole group of buyers out there where your neighborhood is Is their heaven I don't know how else to say it. They would be so happy to move into your neighborhood They would be so happy to move into your house. They would be so happy to be on your street They would be so happy to be in that property and we see this all of the time Just coming from different areas of town and as people get new jobs and they're they're upgrading their life They are legitimate concerns People do do move a lot For schools they do move a lot to be in proximity to work, etc But just know that even your school in your neighborhood Often is a better school than somewhere else across town And for a family to move into your neighborhood into your house and go to your school Is such an upgrade from where they were they would be elated to get it And so there is always a buyer for Any home out there? It's just finding that right buyer And we we do move people from all over And we see this a lot There's there's a particular school zone here in our city that It has a very low rating And for many reasons and I can't tell you how many people Have been able to move into that neighborhood and have been so grateful to get into that school for their kids Because it was better than where they were And so again, it's just perspective Sometimes we feel like oh the neighborhood is going the right Things are always changing. There's always there's always movement and change of people are always upgrading And there's always going to be a click for that That's a really great thing that you brought up. I I didn't think of it that way But your your downsize could be someone else's upgrade. I love that. That's a great perspective to have Um Real estate uh fair fair of the appraisal price This is kind of a tough one and this one has come up in a lot of the questions that we've had over the last couple of weeks A fear that the price of the house that we're going to get is going to be under valuation And that maybe we're going to lose some value as a result of it Or even the fact that it is possible that the um tax value will go up if my house is reappraised So what are your experience in in that? Is that is that the case because I'm I'm afraid right now I'm really afraid that if I sold my house today like they would reappraise my house And then my tax value is going to double just because of what the market just did Yeah, no really really legitimate concern and fear And we do get this a lot so The main thing is this kind of understanding how appraisals work and how your realtor can help you Price your property appropriately so that it will appraise Um, and so you're you're kind of looking at two things the property that you're selling You you obviously want it to appraise as much as possible So that you can get the most out of it Um in as a result of that your taxes will go up But on the home that you are moving into Also, you have to realize that it's got to be appraised value or you won't get a loan And so The way appraisals work is they take the a large market segment Of homes that are within Up an approximate square footage of your home with the same types of upgrades So let's call it a 2,500 square foot house They will take other homes that are Approximately the same square footage with the same types of upgrades that have sold in the same approximate area over a set amount of time And we go a longer amount of time based on the amount of homes that are sold in the area A typical appraisal Uses three months If there is not enough homes that are sold in that neighborhood to get Legitimate comparables Then they'll go five months six months etc until they get enough data To warrant the appraisal Does that make sense? and so Really what you have to understand is that your home is being compared to all other similar type product on the market Even though every house is individual and they all have their individual little upgrades and nuances and You know you you redid the garage floor and you put in that water software and you did those little upgrades to the home What the appraiser is looking for are other homes that have done similar types of upgrades though it may not be Match for match This one has upgraded their bathrooms and you upgraded your garage flooring similar square footage similar price point This home is roughly this value So would you would you say it is a good idea then to go ahead and do the upgrades knowing that there are Similar homes in the area that may have also done similar upgrades Or would you say try to just come as close to selling the house as close as is? And just hoping you're going to get all the money for it without spending an extra $50,000 or something On the on the front end really great question a lot has to do with the money you have to work with and If you have enough equity in the home that you could do a home equity line of credit Maybe pull some money out or you could do Maybe a contractor upgrade for a home. They give contractor loans specific for upgrades usually up to $50,000 And so what you'd have to look at It's best to do this with a realtor Yes, when you get ready to sell your home have a realtor come in and assess the home Based on the other homes in the market What a lot of people don't know also is that we as realtors we get to go to appraisal classes You're not appraisers, but we sit in on appraisal classes often usually at least one or two a year So you know what the appraiser is going to be looking at as far as the current market value and the current location and all that stuff The exact things they look for the criteria they base it off of Where they get their values how far out they're going Etc. Etc. And so if you get a good realtor your realtor should be able to come in And tell you your after repair Valiant known in real estate is your a RV And the idea there is hey if you put another 20,000 dollars into the house We could get another 60,000 dollars out of the property when we go to sell And we calculate all of those numbers based on You know all of those things we just talked about and then you know Based off of the other homes in the neighborhood that have sold say over the past three months How many of them have grand encounter terms? How many of the bathrooms were operating? How many of them have new wood flooring? Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. And then we can let you know what upgrades what makes sense to get the most value out of your home Based on your financial situation And so i'm glad you brought that up because my next question was about the The like i'm afraid i'm going to have to give up all the money in the real estate commissions And so my question is it's probably better to get and correct me if i'm wrong It's probably better to get a realtor involved because they do sit on an in on the appraiser classes They can give you those clue sheets They can share with you the information that you're going to need in order to get the most money for your house And instead of you doing it on your own And just kind of like hoping that you've figured out as you go You've got an expert that does this all day every day for a living that can actually guide you down the Right path to maybe pick up an extra 30 or 40 thousand dollars that you would have missed and left on the table Had you just kind of winged it is that is that kind of right? It's very accurate perceived notions maybe about what realtors actually do And most people feel like realtors open a door But it's the difference of um, maybe being in a legal battle and hiring a really good attorney Versus just battling it on their own You can and and you you may or may not win But hiring a great attorney the attorney will make sure there's enough cost built in for him to get paid and for you to still win As realtors the way Properties are praised. We can usually sell Your property for anywhere from 40 to 60 thousand dollars more than if a sell my owner can get out of it Really Well a lot of that has to do with market conditions How quickly we can wind somebody up for the house what you should do for upgrades, etc If you're selling it on your own, you're in replacing the kid's carpet in the bedroom. You're fixing the deck out back You're putting money into the house to try to make it look better And then you still don't know what you should price it for because Joe down the street sold his home And over the dinner table he told you he made 80 000 dollars profit on it. So you should earn yours Right And even though his house is a two-story four bedroom and yours is a one-story three bedroom You should still sell it from what? You know what I mean That's so true. I've heard that Well, but we live in the same neighborhood our houses should be valued in the same thing So what happens a lot is that people? They've heard from their neighbors and by the way If a neighbor sells their home, it's really fun to talk that story up If you actually go look at the actual record of what it sold for it's usually not what the neighbor told you As if the neighbor cut the truth just a tiny bit We run into this often and so a lot of people think well, there's like these closing costs I don't want to pay all this to a realtor Not knowing that not only will they get more out of their home But it also protects them on many fronts You know, maybe they don't end up getting sued after they move out Maybe the realtor protects them on all of these different fronts that they would think about even something as simple as title insurance Oh, I can just sell my home and I'll just sign the deed over to Joe down the street What happens if Joe buys the home and finds out that you didn't pay taxes 10 years ago for three years And now that's a crude interest and there's there's a cloud on that title or a lien on your home And now you're on the hook for $20,000 in back taxes for 15 years How how would you find out about that if you were a four sell by owner or are you just like oh You decided to do it on your own so therefore it's your responsibility So I think one of the biggest fears and I know it is for me for me being a homeowner But I think one of the biggest fears is all of those unknown costs Like what you just said about the title insurance and never thought about the title insurance But but just all the little tiny hidden costs that I have to stop and think about and then I think to myself Do I really do I really want to go down this this path? Or is is a great realtor going to actually bail me out of all this stuff by kind of like giving me the the inside scoop so great question Our job as a realtor and our fiduciary responsibility to you as a customer when you become our client Is to protect you as much as possible. We are not attorneys We're not contractors. We're not lawyers But we can get you in touch with all of those people to protect you And our job is to save you the most amount of money as possible and also Real estate just about everything is negotiable And so even when it comes to our title policy for example It's totally negotiable on who pays for that And a good realtor will sit down with you up front And run over all of these costs And here's different scenarios of what might happen and here are the costs involved And here's where we can negotiate for you as my client And what I can get for you and save you money off And so again as a forsell by owner There are so many unknowns and yes, it's fearful because It's one of the easiest industries to get sued again. There is a lot of money in it and people love to sue in real estate And you selling your home for sell my owner You don't know that you can be on the hook for the next three years for not disclosing something For not giving the right report out for not having the right type of insurance, etc And sitting down and consulting with a good real estate agent is free And a good real estate agent will sit down with you for an hour or two and run over all of those contingencies and Things that might arise and explain all of those costs to you up front So that you're going in with the knowledge of should I use this person or not? And at least this is what I should look out for And so Doesn't cost you anything and you can also do that with as many brokers as you want But just having that consultation where you sit down with somebody and they they break it down into steps and say You know step one these are the costs. This is what's involved step two step three and kind of go through it At the end of just an hour The the amount you can work by sitting down with an agent saying what is the step so much I look out for Even if you decide to do it on your own After that at least you'll understand the process um, and hopefully at least have a pamphlet or for some kind of Structure of what that would look like and what the costs would be involved in what can be negotiated What's typically a stellar cost versus a buyer And I I don't want to overwhelm anyone with the the details of that because it can get complicated But that's that's literally our job. It's what that's what we train every day for And he has just brought up a good point. She said also the realtors, and I don't know girl or guy here I'm just guessing But uh, all the realtors have a list of clients that they may already have a buyer for your house And you can spend a lot of time finding the perfect buyer on your own And I think that's a really important thing to think about because if we're spinning our wheels Trying to find the buyer on our own and we don't know all of the things that the realtor already knows Being in our market. I think that's true. You could spend a lot of your energy Wasted time wasted precious energy and leave money on the table Because there was somebody that was willing to sit down with you that already knows the market conditions And knows like oh having a swimming pool in your house is not necessarily gonna give you an extra $85,000 of value to your home you know in my area people are coming in and they're cementing over their their their The swimming pool is just because it's so much headache to try to keep up with And we live in an area where there are lots of trees and so when the fall comes It just blows like a chibillion leaves into your swimming pool So it's not it's not so much fun having a swimming pool in the backyard because it's it's literally daily Upkeep multiple times a day. So it becomes a nightmare, you know Well, yeah, and even the cost of glory has skyrocketed over the past two years And and also for supply odor a couple things to keep in mind Is how do you qualify a client before you allow them into your house? How do I don't know the answer? What's the answer to that? Well, how would you know if they're qualified? How would you know if if They're like if they have the money or the credit or whatever to pay Well, and or what their true intention is We just have a situation here local. This was literally just We have a a group specifically for realtors here in the area And it's kind of any red flag We let each other know what's going on and it was just a for somebody home for somebody homeowner issue Where somebody went into their house and tried to abuse a woman Had no intention of mind though and it was a for somebody owner and she had no way to qualify that person And thank god her dog attacked him And she was able to get away and call the police um, but it was a very intense very situation that just happened local and As a as an owner trying to sell your house on your own. You don't know who you're bringing into your environment That's true. How would you qualify them? As a realtor when we work with people we are not allowed to take them into homes without Going to a checklist of where they're at and talking about their finances and who their lender is We pre-qualify people before we ever take them out to someone's home And then the day well now I have more peers than I started out with Well, I'm sorry, but like there's a lot to look out for And as a realtor if we're taking someone into someone else's home It is our job and responsibility to know who those people are To record the date and time Who the family is And if something happens in that home we use the realtor responsible for that Whether something gets broken or whether some, you know, what doesn't matter what it is We as the realtors are responsible for that if you're just opening your home to the public There's a lot to look out for and so just be overly careful, especially in the world we live in today because I know that I know that at the house cleaner when we would go inside people's homes During the time and it was really great when they would give us like an alarm code that was specific to the house cleaner Because during the window when they are expecting us we are responsible for their home And so if anything happens after that and it's our fault it could come back on us But for the most part what we're looking for is don't let anyone else in the house While it's in your care custody and control make sure that if for any reason You're dusting the blinds and whatever that you make sure the windows and everything are locked And that nobody came in and opened a window or something so that after you leave somebody could sneak in the house or whatever I mean, it's a little tiny things that you got to pay attention to every single detail Because you are the last person in their house And if anything happens, who are they going to go look at you, you know what I mean? And so you got to double check and triple check and not to be neurotic But we were we had to be because the home for most people is their biggest asset And so when we would find ourselves in a situation where you know, somebody knocks on the door and says, hey Can you accept a ups package? Well, no, you're welcome to leave it on the porch and after you leave I can bring it in the house But I mean just even opening the door opens opens the risk of somebody like busting past you and then into the house And then how do you get rid of them in the house and they're not supposed to be there You are in control of their property. Yeah, I totally understand And it's it's literally happened to me on show where people unannounced came into the home and would have been started harassing And so like we have policies now where we will we will go in and we will lock the door behind us I got you And so we have protocol for all those things and so How will you that I'm curious not to interrupt. I'm sorry But how do you do that on an open house where it is an open house and you're expecting lots of people are going to come in If you're with a showing of a couple or something and somebody else comes in, how do you how do you manage that? Yes, specifically with open houses We have a really different protocol now We only do open houses in groups. There's at least two to three people in every open house People are qualified at the front door. So we usually have somebody at the front entry That actually stops the people intoxicated first We also have a new registration process where you scan a qr code and have to put your telephone number in before entering the property Okay, and that's why they do that I've had that happen as we've gone and looked at properties and people like can you scan it? I'm like, I don't want any cell stuff, you know And that's my first thought is that they're trying to sell me something Like I just want to take a look and see if we're interested in this But that's why it's to keep it's to know who's coming through for now Yeah, it's it's moved into more of a security issue at this point And people can say hey, I don't want any marketing materials. Please don't reach out to me. We'll honor that absolutely But we're not gonna allow someone into the home anymore that we don't know who is You can just come walk into them. Even if it's an open house. Yes, we want to invite people But who are you? And are you actually in the market to look are you just going to look at decor? Are you a neighbor that just wanted to see the home? All of which is okay as long as we know what your intentions are and we have your phone number So that we can track you down if something goes, right? Right And phone numbers are accessible enough and they're usually linked to enough social profiles That having somebody sign into a qr code. We will find you We will find you And so We at least know who's coming into that home and we can kind of navigate those waters and everybody's protected And we also know who's already in the home and who's touring them you know So a little different Lots happened over the years where there's been a lot of lawsuits and You know, etc, etc So we're always on the lookout to protect not only the client but also people coming through And I've had the opportunity to do hundreds of open houses hundreds We absolutely love it It can be a lot of fun But yeah, we we do need people to be respectful enough to let us know who they are Why they're there That that that brings up in my head not a fear But it brings up the again the importance of having a realtor to do the open houses because if you did an open house As a first sell by owner You are you are required then to be there and to help people walk through the house and that kind of thing Just because you're not going to leave your house open to strangers But then if there were up multiple people that came in and you don't have a QR code to scan You don't have two or three people that are working that showing with you You're you're kind of at a loss like what if two or three or five people showed up at once you Y'all come together. Let's do this all as a big group You know, I mean you can't really do that if you're upstairs showing somebody and somebody wanders in through the front door You know Things I never thought of So this is just a cool picture being upside down in your house But the being upside down in the house is really about where you've taken out a second mortgage or a third mortgage And all of those have to be paid off before you actually Are able to sell your house and get a clear title for the new owner Tell me about some of the fears that are going on there because I know with the economy There are a lot of people right now that are borrowing against their houses against the existing equity or like you said they took out a A repair loan or something where they could fix up their home Does all that have to be paid off before they can sell the house or can you roll that over into the new house? Like they do in a car It depends on how good your realtor is Oh, okay So again, everything is negotiable in real estate When it comes to being upside down in the house, there's lots of reasons you can be upside down in your house Here in the local area the majority of the reason is going to be military personnel They're usually moving into a home with with a little to no money down and Even after a year or so, let's say there they have to move Etc They're going to owe more on their home than they originally paid for And so there's there's now some things that come into play on how do we sell a home in a market that the Home would be overpriced. How do we get the most value out of it? And the the most simple shortest answer is typically what's called a short sell And what we'd be doing is going to the bank getting just the amount of money that's owed on the home And working with the bank through that process to get the person out of that home into another home And so that that would be the most Typical scenario would be a short sell if you're upside down There are other ways to Approach that then we help people navigate those waters every day. It's very difficult on a fursale owner To try to figure out how to sell your home on a reverse mortgage or on a home that's upside down and then still profit out of that And that was my question again because if you if you are a for sale by owner There are certain things that you either have never had experience with Or you don't know the right questions to ask And you don't know what your legal liabilities are And so you're kind of scrambling saying what what do I do now? And I can see really quickly how you could get in it a heap of hurt as my mom would say If uh, you work to to do something that would then come back either as a civil suit or a lawsuit or something like that Where you didn't disclose something or you Miss misinformed somebody about your property You know, even even if you could get financing on it and try to get out of the loan that you were in Yeah But the the shortest answer to that without getting complicated is your renter will price itself a property So at closing those things are paid off So you're not happy to come out of pocket before closing saying where to go with extra $20,000 As Idea would be those costs are wrapped into the closing so that app closing gets all paid for And so that's your realtor's job to figure out those nuances And and that kind of brings up something else that people overlook And that is your realtor really gets to sit down and they're not financial planners We're not financial planners, but we really need to dig into your finances and what's going on in your life Your job To figure out really where the leverage is that we can help get the most out of your property don't matter the circumstance And so we we have those coffee room You know Conversations where we sit down and we get a dig into your finances and your savings and your credit Figure out how best we can help you navigate the waters to get the most for you And especially in those situations where you're upside down in the home Well, let me ask you this because like my husband works in the car business and When people come to buy a car oftentimes He's looking at the paperwork and he's saying I really need to go through this bank because of the interest rate Based on the information I have here in front of me They're not going to get qualified under this other loan And then he gets on the phone and he calls the banker and he says hey We need to try to work out a deal here. I've got a couple of I don't know what you would call them But a couple of issues that need to be considered that I think we can still work through in order to make this loan happen Does a realtor do something similar where they are on the phone with the bank trying to get the loans approved? Or is that a different person altogether that handles the the money part? We spend more time usually on the phone with third parties than we do with you as the client Oh, really? We spend a tremendous amount of time with your bankers with your financial people With your title company All of all of those parties It is your realtor's job to facilitate all of that and take as much stress and pressure off of you as possible As a result of that you're giving permission To your banker to your loan officer to the title company for my realtor to help me navigate these waters And so if you're giving rent and permission to your bank for him, you know For your realtor to get on the phone and have these conversations And sometimes we'll spend hours on the phone Waiting on holy things to try to get details and work out issues and try to negotiate You know based on this person's assets and their liabilities and let's look at more than their fight goes for And they can we negotiate this and can we pull this into it and You're you're negotiating with the lender on can we move this into a portfolio loan instead of a traditional loan? And can we you know how how best can we navigate those waters? And it's our job to get on the phone with your financial person And try to figure what is best for you out and then bring you into that conversation when appropriate And say hey based on all of our conversations. We think this would be the best route for you to go Are you open to these suggestions? You know from the professionals working with you And then of course at the end of the day, it's your say it's your property It's your home and it's your say at the end of the day But it's our job to help facilitate that as best as possible Well, I have a true confession if you'd like to hear I think in the last 55 minutes here, I think you Convince me that I'm never going to do a foresell of my own Um, I just realized that you do things all day every day that number one I'm not qualified for and that there are probably a whole bunch of things that I never actually thought through That that have to do with the other side of the the home buying experience And so just to think well because it's mine. I can sell it You know, I mean I've sold things on on etsy and ebay, but I think this is probably a little bit different where Because it is a high value asset and because there are a lot of things that could malfunction That just because I walk around my house and I go, yeah, it's it's a nice house. Yeah Because I live here. It's worth all the money because I have all these happy memories here I'm realizing right now that it It's it's kind of a silly move To think that you could jump in and immediately know just by osmosis everything that a realtor does all day every day for a living When they've gone to school and they've studied this stuff And like you said you sit in on seminars and classes and even stuff like the appraisal I've never sat in on an appraisal Ceremony or session or training or whatever in my entire life You know what I mean? So to think that I could appraise my own home and be accurate with that would be just a huge, you know Magic trick, but now I'm 100% convinced that I'm not I'm not qualified to do that Can I can I say that is that like a true confession? I mean again, you could always represent yourself in court Um, no, I'm not an attorney Or you could have an attorney who does it every day all day And that's the other thing too that people should just keep in mind is that we Not only get to do this every day, but we've done it hundreds and hundreds of times. I mean literally hundreds of times As opposed to maybe you've done it once or twice or maybe never and so Just having somebody that that's in it every day all day, and that's what they do They can usually bring a set a skill set to you That would be really invaluable to replace And again, a lot of people go, well I could save $8,000 Maybe Or you might have just cost yourself 50 Or you might have just opened yourself up to a whole bunch of other things that we didn't know And so is it worth it at the end of the day? Again, it's yours It's your property and it's your decision at the end of the day. Our job is to Educate you as best as possible take as much stress off of you as possible And make it the most seamless stress-free situation as possible Um One of the most stressful things in life Is selling your home and moving they can say it's just as stressful as having a child And again, it doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be that stressful It's only stressful when you don't know how to navigate those waters and it starts to get really bumpy And that usually happens about a week into I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm sorry We have um our time is up and there are still a whole bunch more fears that Have come in that I would love for us to cover Is there a chance that we could do this again same time same place next week and pick up where we left today And cover the rest of these even knowing now going into it that we wouldn't sell our home You know for sell by owner or whatever, but there are a lot of things that I don't I don't have the answers to And I would love to to kind of know like the other side like how do you work through these issues? Can can we do this again? That would be really fun If anyone has additional questions I mean, that's what we're here for and so we do we do have a couple of questions that have come in These are unrelated questions about cleaning And so what I would like to do from the cleaning end is I would like to make youtube videos about this So that I can answer the cleaning questions and really give them the time and attention that they deserve Because I know our time is up for today But erin thanks so much for for including me in on this and tell our our viewers and our listeners where they can go to find you And and get your help if they're in the san antonio texas area Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, you find me basically anywhere online ask erin brown And again, I've been in real estate for 14 years. It is my passion as in what I love to do And uh, we do help people all over. I have a really vast network being in the market for so long And I go to a lot of conferences and so I meet realtors from literally all over the world So no matter where you are if you have a question If you're thinking about selling or if you're not buying it doesn't matter where you are We can usually connect you with a really good realtor in your area That is a professional and can really help you navigate those workers As opposed to some of whom might Do it part time and has maybe done a drill or two We can get you with those, you know Veteran realtors that have done hundreds of thousands of deals and can help you do this Awesome. Thank you so much and uh, again, I'm ask angela brown on all the social medias And so we will we will see you guys same time same place next week And go ahead and feel free to send us your questions via email or text or instagram or however you find us Because we're gonna we're gonna go again same time same place next week. So that's it for today Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much