 What is up? I hope you're doing well today. So yesterday I went on a listing appointment and advised the owner That it's not a good idea to sell his property So I'm gonna get into exactly why I advised him to do that But first I want to tell you a little bit about this client kind of give you a little background This client bought the property. It's a condo on the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama He bought the condo from me about a year and a half ago Okay, so and before that he looked at property with this family as a wife and two kids One's in middle school one's in high school. Maybe three years ago. They came down. They're from Huntsville They came down they looked at property and didn't buy anything and they weren't necessarily sure if they were ready to buy or You know all those, you know Questions and red flags of somebody that probably isn't gonna buy but I'm a little unconventional, right? I'm about relationships over Transactions and if somebody comes to me and I decide I want to take them on as a client Then it doesn't matter if they really end up buying or selling or whatever the case may be I'm just trying to help them accomplish whatever they want to accomplish so at the time maybe they would have bought I didn't really know for sure but What I was gonna do was show them property. They wanted to see property. I wanted to show them property Okay, so I didn't get them pre-qualified. I didn't make them sign a buyer agency agreement Okay, that's not how I roll and I know a lot of you guys are probably gonna hit me up in the comments about How that's a horrible idea you always gonna pre-qualified you always do a buyer agency agreement but the fact is is that because I treated those people as Friend or family. I didn't try to lock them into anything or be high pressure or try to make them buy a condo that day What happened? Well, they came back to me a couple years later and bought the condo Okay, they called me a couple days ago wanting to sell the condo. Okay, so Whenever they bought the condo a year and a half ago, they told me that they were gonna buy another condo Okay, that was their long-term plan was to buy that condo and then buy another condo So when he called me a couple days ago talking about he was wondering how much it's worth if I would come look at it See what I thought it was worth thinking about selling it. I was really thrown off I didn't know what to think about him wanting to sell after him telling me that you know The original plan was to buy this one and then buy another one to have to maybe buy three Okay with like a long-term plan in place and now all of a sudden he wants to sell So that kind of threw me off a little bit so I made the appointment. I go see him at the condo. They did a few upgrades. They refurnished it You know, they painted some they did they did some things that made it look a lot better some new appliances and The view the view out the balcony to the beach looking down the beach both ways is incredible It's on the 14th floor corner unit three bedroom worth about 430 right now. He bought it for 382 a year and a half ago. So he does have some some equity there So, you know as soon as I walk in, you know, say hey to the family walk straight to the balcony Look out and say man because here's the flip side of it. I had the property listed when he bought it I got both sides of the deal So walk out I remember the balcony It's all coming back to me and I look at him right in his eye and I say What's going on? Why do you want to sell this beautiful condo that you know, the rental is doing really well? It's paying for itself and some He has equity that's built up in he's just sitting in a real really good spot really so Mike Why do you want to sell so he starts telling me about the market? Okay, they're thinking that the market might be topping out and if they sell now then now will be a good time to capture that equity and then wait for the market to come down and then maybe buy another one at the bottom and My immediate response is is I would absolutely not do that if This is an investment decision and you're trying to time the market out Okay, if you're tired of the condo game You just don't want a condo anymore and you feel tied to it to come here every time you go on vacation or You know, you're tired of the assessments and the maintenance fees or you're tired of you know Fixing up the little odds and ends that get messed up by renters If you're tired of the condo game in general then I understand you want to do something different But if you're selling it to time the market out to get back in at a later date when you feel like the Market might be lower than I think that's a really bad move and here's why I told them I Said if you if you sell it now Okay, trying to time the market out a couple of things could happen. It could go up next year Okay, if it goes up next year, you're gonna say why did I sell? Okay, that's the first scenario as it goes up and you say why did I sell you could have gained even more equity? Okay, the flip side if it goes down if it goes down, that's okay The rental is still taking care of itself because here's the great thing about Orange Beach Gulf Shores, Alabama And that is when the recession hit in 2008 Our rental income did not slow down at all It didn't go down one single penny and here's why because people that were buying more expensive vacations during that time Going to Destin Panama City, even South Florida, maybe even the Bahamas and the South Caribbean Those people were downgrading their vacation to Gulf Shores Orange Beach Okay, so we were getting different clientele But we were our rates were staying the same and we were staying booked out our rental incomes did not decrease at all Through the the big recession that we just had so so that's really key when you think about the condo investment world Down here in the Gulf Shores Orange Beach area So he was worried about rentals going down and he was just kind of worried in general with interest rates going up Transactions being lower the market seeming to flatten out this year which it has And I said look sit tight. Okay, let's see what the market does if it goes down You're still in good shape on this one. Let's buy another one at the bottom We talked about the options and what the best investment would be at that time And I said hey if it goes up another 50,000 next year, then we'll sell it You know, we'll sell it if it goes up another 50,000 and you can capture that and then we'll wait for the bottom You know, but right now you're at about a forty five thousand dollar, you know, forty fifty thousand dollar You know increase in equity since you bought it I said, you know, the cost of selling is significant. Okay, you're talking about twenty five to thirty thousand in Commissions closing costs title insurance all the stuff that you have to pay for when you sell a property I said, you know, you're really not that as far up ahead as you think you are and he said, huh Didn't think about that so he wasn't thinking about his closing cost He wasn't thinking about the scenario if the market, you know goes up next year He wasn't thinking about the rental income not decreasing if it does go down And he wasn't really just thinking about cost averaging and just keeping the condo because like I said remember his long-term plan Was to have more condos and now here he goes trying to make an emotional decision to sell the condo So I wasn't there to talk him out of selling it I was just telling him what I would do if I was in his position He's in a really good position, you know long term and I said, you know, if it does crash And you don't buy one it's gonna come back, you know and long term You're looking really good because at the peak of the market in 2004-2005 that condo was worth 550-600 somewhere around in there and you know we're at 430 right now So we still have a long way to go to get back to the peak There's still gonna be a lot of equity somewhere some way Even if we do have a downturn sometimes soon and it comes back, you know long term He's looking really good. He's gonna be paying down as long with the rental as time goes on so Yeah, overall it was just a really good, you know meeting and here's the thing They said how many agents would come in here and tell us not to sell and I said that's just how our role I want you guys to know everything that I'm thinking so that you can make the best decision possible Because the fact is I've been in the business for 16 years. I've bought and sold so many properties I own condos right now I have a game plan of the market crashes if it goes up so on and so forth so I just gave them my honest opinion and They were extremely happy with with my advice and you know already knew this because we spent so much time together I bought them dinners. We I went over the top to make the deal happen the first time around But they told me right then and there, you know, like we're your clients for life And that's what it's all about because if you think about the beginning of the story here They wanted to see property. I showed them property even though they said they weren't serious I didn't get them pre-called. I didn't get it by our agency sign They come back a year and a half later or maybe two years later by something say they're gonna buy more and they They just told me they're gonna be my clients for life. So guess what happens then? Repeat business referrals and referrals of referrals. This is what I'm talking about when I'm talking about Prospects are worth 10 to 20 deals to you over the life of your career So take that with what you will I just wanted to share this quick story of a listing appointment Or I advise a seller not to sell and we'll see what happens I'll keep you guys informed reach out if there's anything in the world I can do for you. We'll talk to you soon