Seller Concessions, Rate Buydowns & Buying Now

Welcome to From Rents to Roots 0:00 Buying a home is more than just a transaction. It's a journey. And for many, it can feel overwhelming, 0:06 confusing, and even a little scary. But hey, you're not alone. Welcome to From Rents to Roots: Home Ownership with Work 0:13 Hard Mortgage, where we share real stories from real people who have navigated the home buying process. In 0:19 each episode, we sit down with first-time home buyers, industry experts, and real estate professionals 0:24 to talk about the challenges, surprises, and lessons they've learned along the way. If you're dreaming of owning a home 0:30 but don't know where to start, you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Welcome to From Rents to Roots. We have Bradley Meet Bradley Taylor 0:37 Taylor here with us today. So, thanks Brad. Thanks for coming on. Yes. Great to be here. Thank you for having me. 0:43 We're glad you're able to come on. So, let's get to know you a little bit here first. Originally from Utah. Where you Utah Roots and Elk Ridge 0:48 from originally? I grew up in Salem, Utah. And what a great place to grow up. I'll go fishing 0:53 in the pond. And back then it was a little bit smaller and you knew everybody. But yeah, it was 0:58 it's great. And I have lots of family in Utah County, so Okay. Got to visit all areas of the county, 1:05 but yeah, Salem. And do you still live there now or where do you live? I live in Elkidge right now. Which is right above Salem. But 1:11 yeah. Yeah, that's that didn't really exist before, right? I mean, yeah. I'd look out my back window and there's a few homes up there. Yeah. I 1:17 guess I'm aging myself, though, aren't you? It's okay. It's okay. But yeah, it's crazy. We we moved 1:23 Elkridge oh like 15 years ago and it's doubled in size or even more. 1:28 And is so I think of Elkridge a little more higherend homes and I is it is that all it is or is there kind of 1:34 there's actually a pretty good diversity there. There's older homes and a lot of newer I would call midsize homes. Yeah. 1:42 Affordable. Sure. And then there are some higher homes but it's pretty diverse. It's but most 1:48 people do think of Elkridge as the higher end, but it really is it's pretty diverse little community. Affordable Utah County Areas 1:54 Yeah. Didn't intend to do, but let's dive in a little bit more to affordability and stuff like that. Obviously, a lot of times we're in Le, 2:00 so a lot of times people think of Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, but kind of southern Utah County is a little bit 2:05 cheaper, too, right? Yeah. Anything past, you could be more specific, but I believe anything past is 2:11 it Spanish for you're talking for rural housing? Real housing. So, that's a big help. Yes. Yeah. But yeah, I people look at 2:18 southern Utah County and think, oh, you got Mapleton. Yeah, I think of Mapleton as high. 2:25 Exactly. But there's some really affordability, especially Sani Quinn, Pac, and even Spanish Fork. So, yeah. 2:31 Okay. Definitely. Okay. So, really that for somebody that's looking maybe first- time home, that kind of southern Utah County is a 2:36 good place to go. I really think so. And the traffic's not too bad either. And the traffic's not too bad. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. That's actually a big selling point. My 2:42 brother My brother just moved out to Springville. Oh, he did? Yeah. He likes it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can I consider everything 2:49 south of Provo as as so Springville would definitely fall into there. Yeah. As far as being a little bit 2:54 better. And we're seeing a lot more multifamily communities going in and a little more affordable. 3:00 Sure. Good. So talk to me about real estate then. So have you always been a realtor? Talk to From Vegas to Real Estate 3:05 me about your career in real estate. I haven't actually grown up in Salem. Yeah. Then went and attended college, 3:11 Snow College, Utah State, got married. Immediately we moved to Las Vegas. 3:17 Okay. Had four kids in Las Vegas. You think Las Vegas, what did you do in Las Vegas 3:22 and not gamble? That's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. You're smart enough to know that you're going to lose in that one. But yeah, we raised our family there. We 3:28 did I didn't go there to be in the hotel business, but ended up in the hotel business, which created a lot of 3:35 opportunities with the customer service. Sure. Sure. So, I did customer service for the Hard Rock Hotel, which is no longer there. 3:42 They're building a new one, but it's that's a whole different story. But but I was there for a long time and had lots 3:47 of opportunities to work with people. Yeah. Not in the gaming sense, but more just 3:52 individually helping people within the the realm of getting around Vegas and 3:58 doing things. And anyway, so that when we moved back to Utah, it just transferred that I wanted to continue to 4:04 do work with people. real estate became something that worked 4:10 within what I was already parting Hard Rock Hotel Stories 4:16 any cool stories from that time period, you know, as far as I was telling Jordan the other day when we met up that I could write a book. 4:22 Oh, I'm sure because I saw some things and give us something here. Come on. You know, so the Hard Rock Hotel was 4:29 Yeah. The Hard Rock Hotel when I helped open the Hard Rock Hotel. I started with management. 4:34 Sure. And then after a while I said, "Hey, I really want to get more with the 4:41 with the people aspect of it, not just doing books and Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, at the time the Hard Rock 4:47 Hotel was very famous for having famous people come there. Every night you could 4:53 go and you'd run into whoever. Yes. At the time. And mostly it was the younger 4:58 crowds. Sure. And I worked nights and so we took care of people. And I mean, it's funny cuz my 5:05 wife would laugh at me. I would come home and we'd be watching a TV show or something and and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, 5:11 I dealt with that person the other day." And I didn't even know who it was. She just thought it was the funniest thing 5:16 cuz I just I just tried to treat everybody like like you're like you should like you should. And so I wasn't starruck or 5:22 anything. But yeah, definitely. I uh I don't know if I should say names, but there was a individual that was very lucrative on 5:30 tips and he we took him I took him back to his hotel. I I probably shouldn't say 5:36 names or hotels, but anyway. Keeping that that part of Anyway, he would always carry around a 5:42 big Manila envelope of cash. Y that he would and he says, "Hey Brad, 5:47 get in just grab some." And I'm like, h I don't that's that's kind of high 5:52 tension because what do you you don't want to grab too much and so anyway, I grabbed some of the money and 5:58 and he says, "Show me what you grabbed." I'm like, "Ah, that's not enough." So he grabbed and so anyway, it was a lot of 6:04 money. So anyway, we I'm just saying there was a lot of different situations. We saw a lot of different things. It was 6:11 a great job. It was a lot of fun interacting and and not just the famous people, but just everyday people. 6:17 Yeah. Yeah. So now I know why you did so good in real estate. You're like, "Hey, just grab 6:22 some money." Yeah. It's not enough, man. Get a bigger house. Come on now. 6:28 No. It But it did lot of perspective on life on that people how we look at 6:35 people. Yeah. And they if somebody was famous, I found that if you treat them like just a 6:42 regular person like that you would want to be treated or I'd want to be treated Yeah. then you got a lot more from that 6:48 person than cowering down or you're being excited. Yeah. It's same with real estate. You 6:54 just want to treat people like they need to be treated. Communicate. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. 6:59 Yeah. I'm guessing being in the hotel business, you see a lot of things, some good, some bad. You're dealing with 7:04 people that are maybe asking for things they shouldn't and some not. I don't know. Just 7:10 Yeah. Utah boy down there. Take some. A lot of our job was to take 7:15 people around Vegas. Sure. And so we would drive them and we'd start a conversation and they say, "Hey, 7:21 where are you from?" And they'd say, I'd say, "I'm from Utah." And then what's the next Yeah. Obvious Yeah. Latter Day Saint or 7:27 something like that, right? But it opened up to a lot of great conversations about life and different 7:32 things. I sat with Toby Keith for probably an hour at the at the Bellagio 7:38 one night and we just talked about his life and how much he liked to go to Utah and so it just it was a fun job. 7:45 Sure. Sure. You get to kind of just rub shoulders with some of the different people out there. Was there anybody that 7:51 So you mentioned Toby Keith and he died I think too, right? Yeah. What? He was a really nice guy. He seemed like a really nice guy 7:56 actually. Yeah. Did you get to meet any other people that anybody surprised you? Oh hey, he was worse than I thought or 8:02 better than I thought. any of those stories. Yeah. You're trying to get them in trouble. Yeah. We're trying to get cancelled. That's 8:09 right. Myself and my co-workers, we actually talked about maybe putting together something, a book or something, but we 8:16 probably would have got sued. Sure. Sure. Sure. Cuz Hey, I thought this was There were some people that thought that 8:22 they were definitely better than everybody. Sure. And I'll just quick story. We 8:29 I'll say a she took us to and she was supposed to go to a premiere at a club 8:36 and we took her and this person never tipped us by the way. So that was Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. 8:42 Anyway, but we took her got to the hotel. Yeah. Their management came out says, "Hey, 8:49 we'll escort you. I want to stay in the car for a little while." And and then the people in there, oh, isn't that's funny? We're making them wait. And then 8:56 they came back out maybe 10, 15 minutes later. We really need to get you in there. And she says, "Just drive away." 9:01 Didn't even show up. Well, she was a work piece of work. Yeah, I bet. Yeah. Jeez. I'll tell you 9:07 after we behind the scenes. We get some more. Yeah. Not on camera. Most of the interaction was positive. 9:13 Yes. Good. Okay. Oh, nice save. A good safe. Okay. So obviously, so so when you moved Starting as a Realtor 9:18 to Utah, did you start right away with real estate then or how long? I did. When we were get when we were 9:23 moving back, we decided I decided that what I wanted to do and I worked for RNR 9:29 realy. Yep. And the broker is my cousin. Okay. So I already had contacted him and and 9:35 got start the process. So Okay. Okay. And so how long you been doing real estate now for? Oh, 14. 14 years. Okay. So good amount of time. 9:42 Yeah. Okay. So, what would you say going obviously from hotel management to real estate? I would assume just generally Communication and Negotiation 9:49 working with people has been helpful, but is there anything specifically where you're like, "Wow, hey, I'm really glad I had that experience in the hotel 9:54 business cuz that's helped me with real estate." That's a great question. Yeah, I think in our business, it's so important to 10:02 communicate. Yeah. And we within the hotel structure, it was very important for them to have a 10:08 very to follow up, communicate. So, I've really stuck to that. It's amazing to me 10:15 how lack of communication sometimes is in our business because it's so important that we that our clients and 10:22 our customers have that security to know that you're going to call them or we're going to call them or we're going to get 10:28 this done. And so, I that's really big on my is that communication part. Yeah. 10:34 Yeah. And that was with the hotel too and with the people we were working with so that everything would come to fruition that 10:40 it would get accomplished. So my guess is talk to me about negotiation part. Obviously as a realtor that's 10:46 negotiating with people is a big part of a transaction, right? I'm assuming again 10:52 dealing with high-end individuals, high netw worth individuals. I'm assuming having to talk to them and do that kind 10:58 of stuff probably also trickled into real estate too as far as negotiation with people and stuff like that. Is that 11:04 fair to say? Oh yeah, definitely. I think everything is a negoti everything. Yeah, you have to negotiate on everything, right? 11:10 Negotiating with our wives, our kids. That's true. That's true. Everything. But yeah, negotiation is so 11:16 huge within our business. Yeah. Even on your guys' end. That's true. Yes. No. Exactly. Yeah. Obviously with with lending and closing 11:22 costs and different things like that. Yeah. No, you have to know how to negotiate, get those little extra things that you can get. 11:28 Exactly. And your client needs to know that, too. And they and again, that goes back to the communication. Hey, what do 11:33 you want to accomplish within this? And what what numbers or areas you want to 11:39 make sure we get and and then we need to make sure we negotiate to that point. So, yeah, I think so. A lot of times people Why Agents Still Matter 11:46 wonder, hey, is an agent even necessary, right? Because, you know, hey, there's data. I can do things on my own or 11:51 something like that. Why would you say a real estate agent is important in this day and age? Why should a person use a 11:56 real estate agent? You've you got you you guys have both seen it. We we could go out and sell our own home. It it 12:03 happens all the time. But what how many times have we seen what people miss? Yeah. 12:09 Or don't miss or could we could have they got more money from the transaction or the sale of their home. the paperwork 12:17 itself, the due diligence on both sides, making sure everything's crossed and 12:22 dotted. Yeah. And it's so important because I've seen too many times where things have 12:28 happened where they just miss something and it comes back even after the 12:33 transaction's done some they didn't disclose something. Yeah. And Yeah. 12:39 No, it it really protects both sides. Yeah. It I wouldn't do it now. 12:44 Yeah. Yeah. get because again you I think what a lot of people don't so obviously you were in the hotel business for a long time you learned a lot of things being 12:52 in the hotel business that my guess is over so many years you didn't know when you first started right 12:57 and so I think people sometimes think hey I can Google this or I can learn this and and obviously you can right but 13:02 it's the same thing that happens maybe with web MD where hey now all of a sudden I know everything cuz I I went on there we still have doctors for a reason 13:08 right and there are there's nuances with things there's more there's more knowledge out there than I think people realize And again, that's why I think we 13:15 need each other in society, right? And whatever field you're in. Yeah. And I don't think the average 13:21 consumer or clientele know that we're actually a team. Yes. 13:26 And we're all looking out for the best interest of everybody. Yes. And so if you don't every every 13:33 transaction, every sale is going to be different. There's always going to be something that comes up. So yeah, you can Google or AI or whatever and that's 13:41 it's they can't catch all that kind of it. You're exactly right and I think you brought up the team and stuff like that. Referrals and Relationships 13:47 So obviously relationships matter, right? And so I'd like to think whoever comes to me, I'm going to do my best to 13:53 make sure that they have a good transaction, but I will be honest that if it's a realtor that's working with us 13:58 on a regular basis, that's a relationship I don't want to mess up, right? And if I have 30 deals at the 14:05 same time, I'm going to prioritize the ones that have relationships as opposed to the guy that just found somebody online, right? And again that's hard to 14:12 admit because ultimately you want to give best service to everyone. Sure. But the reality is if at some point there is a priority given priority is 14:19 given to relationships and and it's only human nature. Yeah. It's only human nature, right? And so I 14:25 think that's why you go back to teams and stuff like that. My guess is do where does a lot of your business come 14:30 from at this point? When we when Jordan and I sat down the other day, I mentioned to him that I didn't really have to do when I first 14:37 started. It was nice cuz my cousin was a broker and he really helped me. 14:42 That's awesome. To get because it's tough. It's tough to get into the business. It totally is. 14:47 And not have that spirit of influence. Everybody has a sphere of influence. Yes. Everybody Yeah. Friends, family, 14:53 but to work it. And so he really got me on my feet and going. And so I didn't have 14:58 to work as hard as I I should have as a realtor at the first. And so now that spirit of influence 15:04 works for myself and my team, our team. Yeah, but you got to reach out and start 15:10 finding other aspects and ways to do business and Yeah. Yeah. I'm guessing you get a decent amount of 15:16 referrals and and again those referrals, hey, that came from somebody. You want to make sure you do a good job for that 15:22 somebody. Exactly. Cuz you want that person to come back into your you know. Oh yeah. Like I hey keep referring to me person that refers. 15:28 I don't know you know. So it again those relationships matter I guess is my Yeah. No, love that. I guess on that topic, Building the Right Team 15:36 let's stay on the team topic for a second. What are you looking for in a team? What why for a buyer that's just 15:41 thinking, hey, I'm just working with a real estate agent, then I'll use my own title company or lender, but why does that team matter? What do you look for 15:48 in a good team? Title officer, inspector, home warranty company, lender, obviously. What do you look for? As we talked about first, obviously 15:54 communication. Sure. Yes. But I think everybody needs to be able to work together. Yeah. 16:00 And accomplish the goals. you guys have benchmarks that you have to hit. And I don't think the clients know, 16:07 especially on the mortgage side. Yeah. How that all works. So, I think it's important as a realtor, that we help our 16:14 clients understand not only the real estate side, Yeah. but also say, "Hey, your mortgage 16:20 professional is he's got or she's got to make certain goals, too." And so, it's 16:26 important that if you have a question, feel free to reach out to me. But a lot of times I 16:31 say, "Hey, that's not my that's that's the mortgage person or the title person. You need to give them a call." Or I call 16:37 them and ask them and get the answer back to you. But yeah, as a team, everything has to work because we all 16:44 we're all trying to hit a certain date or goal. So, we all have to be able to 16:49 work together and make sure that happens. So, I've worked with mortgage people that 16:54 I necessarily Sure. Sure. Yeah. But they get the job done. Sure. Yeah. And the client's happy, so everybody's 17:01 happy. Same on title or So, but again, that relationship matters, right? 17:07 It's the client that needs to be the one that's Yes. happy at the end. Yeah. Yeah. Let's pivot a little bit to So, there's Why Now Is a Buyer's Market 17:13 a big need out there right now. First-time home buyers, a lot of people think buying a home is out of reach. Interest rates are starting to creep up, 17:20 right, to the Iran war, different things like that. Inflation's kind of hitting. And so, a lot of people are like, "Hey, 17:25 maybe I should just wait. maybe home ownership is not for me right now. What 17:31 would you say to those people? I don't see that. You don't see that at all? Yeah, I see all what you're saying. But 17:37 there's some real advantages right now. Yeah. Sure. Interest rates are higher. Yeah. 17:42 Yeah. Prices have dropped a little. Yeah. But what happens if you can So, it's a 17:47 buyer market right now. Yeah. You have a lot of power as a buyer to go in and have that seller Yeah. 17:53 create some really good opportunities for you. maybe buy down your rate or or 17:58 get or a lot of different aspects obviously. Yeah. But again, I if you can go in and 18:04 purchase now and then when interest rates do drop, which they will, they will. 18:10 Yeah. Then you can readjust, refinance, and you're going to get that lower price on 18:16 the home. Yeah. But what's going to happen when interest rates go down? Yeah. Yeah. Then you're going to have a 18:21 lot more demand. Going to have more demand. prices more likely will probably go up. Yeah, 18:26 I think it's a good time to buy. Yeah, you the thoughts come to my mind with like the stock market when 18:31 everyone's scared, that's the best time to buy, right? And so I would say same thing with the real estate market. 18:37 Obviously, if a lot of people are scared or thinking, hey, it's not for me. That's the best time to jump in, right? 18:43 Is when everybody's thinking no. Again, if you're going with the crowd, typically you're going to have a lot more. I don't know, man. I'm sure you guys 18:49 have gotten the same amount of calls. It's just not It's not a great time to do it. And I've had clients and I'm 18:56 calling people and saying, "Hey, now's a good time, actually. Now's a good time." Yeah. Yeah. Especially this time of year when 19:02 school's back started back and people are like, "Oh, I haven't sold my home." And so they start panicking and 19:08 Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What obviously Jordan, you're in that first time home buyer demographic. What First-Time Buyer Mindset 19:14 What are you hearing on the ground with friends and different things like that on that topic? I feel like there's two 19:20 parties. There's people that have been educated and then there's people that haven't been educated. And there's obviously a need for education on the 19:28 home buying side because I also feel like parents are just they're just like, "God dang, I'm we were so lucky the 19:34 living the time that we did because it was so easy to get into a home." Sure. and they are having a harder time 19:41 relating that to their kids because they just see my interest rate is at a 1.9 19:47 and I bought my house that's now worth 1.1 million for 200 when we moved in and we built it 19:53 and we customized it and I was working as a mailman at the time and they're like so they're having a harder time 20:00 relating but the people that do set it as a goal find out that it was a lot 20:08 easier easier to achieve it when they focused on it just from the get- go. So, when their decisions were just I want to 20:14 get into a home, I have plenty of friends that are in homes or onto their second homes because that was just a 20:20 goal that they set. So, I don't think that nec and there's tons of programs that get you into a home right when 20:27 you're out of college. And it's like I just think it has to be a goal of yours and it's something that 20:33 once you look into it's like oh okay, yeah, this is actually a lot more achievable. I just have to put my mind to it for a year 20:40 and save up money and then and they always think you have to save up tons of money. That's like the one question that 20:46 I get all the time from people my age. They're like, "Do I have to save up tons of money?" You're like, "I don't know. 3.5 isn't like that much. It's a couple 20:53 months you have to put away and then you're good." And they're like, "Yeah, okay." They're like, "Well, I'll talk to you in 20:59 a couple months." And then lo and behold, they do. So, yeah. I don't think it's that shortterm memory. I guess a lot of 21:04 people because the comparison part, right? So, you're saying a lot of people are maybe thinking, hey, it's not a good 21:09 time to buy because it's not what I remember my parents are bringing up what you're saying because they're remembering, hey, yeah, the lower 21:16 interest rate, the lower prices, and therefore it's not a good time to buy because it's not equaling this. And 21:21 obviously, things have changed. Yeah. And yes, it's still a good idea. Renting will never grow your net worth owning a Homeownership Builds Wealth 21:27 home. And and I appreciate what Jordan says. Again, it goes back to what you mentioned, team. I can somebody reaches 21:33 out to me and I and like you said that there's all there's these programs out there. There are Yeah. So I can say, "Hey, call Jordan." 21:40 Yeah. And he can walk you through some of these things and get you pre-qualified and get you ready for what works for 21:47 you. Y because I also feel like people forget that the government wants people to own homes. They don't just want homes 21:54 sitting on the market. Yeah. And so they're always going to be willing to help out when it also helps 22:00 them out, too. So, it's just something to think about. There's always something. It's Yeah. The our society is based off 22:07 of people owning parts of the economy, parts of housing. That's what capitalism. That's why I think you're 22:12 seeing a little bit of the rise of socialism a little bit because people aren't they don't have any kind of ownership in the market, right? And so, 22:18 because of that, now the Senate's like, okay, I just give it to me. But the more people we can get buying homes, 22:24 investing in the stock market, different things like that, now they have a piece of the pie and they get to enjoy the the fruits of, hey, we're all rising 22:31 together, right? I don't know. No, it's true. It's really true. Yeah, I agree 100. Creating your own wealth and 22:38 Yeah. and not letting somebody else try to create it for you cuz in my opinion, that just 22:43 Yeah. No, we want more people. Again, it's just a a good way to buy to build 22:49 your net worth. And again, it's not fast. It's, you know, but this is a long-term game that you're playing and 22:55 you're thinking 20 years down the road, hey, I can't tell you how many times I've seen people that that are probably 23:00 horrible with their finances and yet they're sitting on two $300,000 in equity because they bought a home. Do 23:06 you know what I mean? And now some of them are sitting on even more equity because different things. But the but a normal scenario would be, hey, I have 23:13 equity in this home and even though I'm horrible with my finances, I have different problems and stuff like that, 23:18 but I have this equity. And so it puts them in a much better situation than had they just been renting because they're 23:24 throwing away. Just human nature is you're going to expand into your income. And so if part of your payment is going 23:30 towards a mortgage, even better, right? Definitely. Anyhow, okay. Any advice you have for Practical Advice for Buyers 23:36 kind of buyers right now? I guess just buyers in general, whether first time or their fifth home kind of thing. 23:42 Yeah. Get with a mortgage professional. Get with Jordan, get with you and and find out create a plan. 23:48 Yeah. Cuz a a lot of us don't know where to start. Yeah. Like you said, saving your money. It's 23:55 not that difficult, but it's a lot easier when you have a plan. Yeah. So, reach out to someone and say, "Hey, 24:02 help me with this." Love that. And then reach out to me. Yeah. Exactly. and I'll we'll find a 24:08 home together that works for you. Yeah. But yeah, it's it seems in our society 24:13 right now that it's so much easier just oh the interest rates or the prices that just to rent. But like you said, you're 24:19 just you're throwing your money away. You're just throwing away your money. Yeah. And again and it sounds again you're bringing up a good I like your positive 24:25 attitude on the market saying actually now is a great time to buy as a buyer. There's so many options there, right? 24:31 There's a lot of options out there right now. Yeah. Inventory is higher than it's been in a while, right? It's Yeah. Yeah. 24:36 And this is just my thought for all the skeptics out there cuz I'm also a skeptic. I'm like obviously like a realtor and a mortgage lenders are going 24:43 to say obviously. Yeah. It's always a great time to buy a house. But like 24:48 being like being professionals, it's like no, we could confidently say right now it's like oh no, this is a good time 24:54 to buy. And then the best part is that if you're not happy with the rates where they're at right now, it's like there's 25:01 something also called a refinance that like when the rates do drop, it's like you can have a perfect situation. It's 25:06 just not I feel like the I feel like people look at it and they're like there's only one window and we just have 25:13 to wait for that window to open up to jump through it. And when's that going to happen? And it's like y 25:18 you can never predict it. It's like if there's one part of the situation that is working like you can just get into a 25:25 home, go through that door or window first and then another one will open up and another one and then you'll figure 25:32 it out. That's okay. Now we're in the situation we're in a better situation than we were. But if we would have 25:38 waited, it's would have gotten a lot worse because with interest rates going down, prices of homes go up and it's 25:44 just it's like just get into a home and figure it out. you guys heard over the years. Oh, I wish I would have bought 25:50 that home five years ago or two years ago or I wish I would have done this or 25:56 and I remember I'm sure you also in the same situation as you get older and maybe when I remember my wife and I when 26:03 we bought our first home we're like, "Oh, how are we going to How are you when you got your first home?" Oh, let's see. 20, I think. 26:11 And we we didn't know how we were going to pull it off. Sure. Yeah. No, I remember that feeling, too. We were scared to death. 26:17 Yeah. What did we do? It worked great and then it just jumped us into our next situation. And yeah, 26:22 I and I think a lot of times I think a lot of people are scared to jump in 26:27 whether that's marriage, having kids, buying a house, whatever whatever things that are scary. A lot of times you're 26:33 like, I don't know how this is going to work out. But I think there is a little bit of, you know, call it faith, call it 26:38 whatever. Just that jumping into the dark a little bit sometimes. Not being unwise about it, but just stepping 26:44 sometimes into the uncomfortable. And again, that's why maybe a good realtor comes into play, too, right? You're saying, "Hey, trust me. I know you can't 26:50 see it, but it's a good idea." And so, I think that's where those relationships matter, right? Because if you have that 26:57 trust with them, they're like, "Okay, Brad says it's a good idea. I'm a little nervous. I don't see it as, but I'm 27:03 going to trust Brad. I'm going to trust the mortgage company. I'm going to trust whoever." Right. I think that's important. 27:08 Yeah. I I agree. Gosh, I've I there's been many times where we've gone through a transaction and there's a couple times 27:15 we almost were going to sit down to sign the paperwork and something that fell through. 27:20 Sure. And the clients were devastated. Yeah. But they got into something else and it 27:26 worked for them better. But at the time they didn't know it, but they they took that leap of faith and and kept the 27:32 process going. So yeah. Good. Good. And just my thoughts have just been like I feel like we're Trust the Pros, Not DIY 27:38 entering into an age where it's a bunch of DIYs and people have all this false confidence because they look it up on 27:45 chat and they're like oh AI told me to do this and now they feel like they're up to speed. The truth is that it's like 27:52 then why did I ever have a coach growing up? Why did I ever have a teacher growing up or a mentor? It's now there's 27:58 people that want what's best because not only does it benefit you, but also 28:04 benefits me and my prosperity and future to be good at my job. But then also, you can have the 28:10 confidence of, oh, he's seen this so many different times. I can have full faith and confidence that he's just 28:16 going to know what to do because he's done it way more than I have and he's put in way more time than the 20 minute 28:23 Google or chat GBT search that I put into it. So, I feel like for any younger listeners, it's like there 28:30 are times to look it up on your own and self diagnose and do it, whatever works for you. But when it comes to something 28:37 as porn as your mortgage, as your home, like yeah, you can there's people that 28:44 have put their blood, sweat, and tears into understanding the market, understanding what works, what doesn't work in certain situations, and kind of 28:50 dissecting it and knowing what to do. And it's that's why we have a job. I feel like if it was so easy then 28:56 everybody would just be their own doctors or you know own lawyers. Sure. 29:01 It's like it's not easy but it's the Yeah, it's uh again because there's a lot of pitfalls that can 29:07 happen, right? So sure if everything goes perfectly maybe you could do it but the reality is there are problems that come into play, right? 29:13 Yeah. There's always something that pops up. There's Yeah. you've seen a lot of transit. Any any examples of that as far 29:18 as the home that looks perfect and then the inspection reveals this or the sellers are trying to back out or change 29:23 this or hey, I don't know any any Oh, yeah. It happens a lot. Like you said, 29:28 mentions inspections. Yeah. Something will pop up and you might not think it's a major thing, but then it 29:35 turns into a major thing, whatever that may be. It might not be major for the seller might not think it is, but the 29:40 buyer does. And so then you have to negotiate and the seller doesn't want to budge or vice versa. 29:46 There just so many different scenarios that can happen and that's why it's really good to have somebody there that can help you and make sure that it gets 29:53 taken care of. Yeah. No, love that. We talk about buyers market and stuff like that. There Seller Strategies Today 29:59 are people that have to sell a home. What advice would you have for sellers right now? It's a little bit, let's be honest, it's 30:05 a little bit tougher right now to sell a home. Yeah. You've just got to be out front. make some maybe again maybe talk to some 30:13 people that have let me that that's not I wasn't going the right place 30:19 and we can we can cut it off. I'm on the buyer side still here. Yeah. Yeah. They've just the house has to be out 30:27 front. Okay. And how do you do that? There's a lot of different ways that how you do it. One 30:32 is obviously as we all know price. Yeah. But there's sometimes the seller really 30:37 needs to get a certain price. So, what other ways you can do it? You you can offer maybe a home warranty or you can 30:44 offer to help buy down the buyer's rates or you can offer different situations 30:50 where you can help them with maybe carpet or just you have to stand out as 30:55 the seller. I'm not saying that it's a that you can't sell your home right now. It's just that you just got to create a 31:02 situation where your house stands out. Sure. Sure. Because there's a lot of inventory out 31:07 there. We've been talking about it and it's a a little bit of a craft to where you price the house off too, 31:13 right? Isn't there a lot of times people think, "Hey, sell it for as much as you can all the time, right?" And obviously the goal is to get as much as you can, 31:19 but there's a there's an art to that. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. And we just came out of a what, five, six years 31:25 ago where you threw a sign and Sure. anybody can sell because you get multiple offers. Yeah. And and people remember that and 31:31 so they want the same which I would want too. Sure. Of course. Yeah. So, you have to 31:37 be very diplom I don't know if diplomatic is a good term, but you have to really look at your neighborhood. You 31:44 have to look at your competition. You have to price right. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot more involved 31:49 there. And so, it's important to sit down with the realtor and you can do a home evaluation 31:56 and then they can just like a buyer. It's not necessarily programs, but you can come up with a plan. 32:02 Yeah. And goals to set and I can hit this price point. We can give some concessions maybe to the buyer, but can 32:08 we hit it here? Yeah. And yeah, it's important to have that to go in before you put a sign in the yard 32:14 or Yeah. Yeah. Love that. Love that. Brad, this has been great. Anything that we didn't cover that you want to cover you Closing Thoughts and Next Steps 32:21 want to talk about? Ah, I appreciate the time and it's it's been great. I'm excited to work with 32:27 Jordan and your team. Yeah. I I just I love working with first-time home buyers. I don't necessarily 32:34 specialize in that. Sure. But it's just great to watch the somebody that's an individual or a 32:41 family go through the process and help them step by step make sure that everything's done right 32:46 and it's exciting. It's exciting to watch somebody walk into that home for the first time open that door. It's one 32:52 of the best feelings out there and both sides, realtor, mortgage people and especially for your clients. So 32:59 yeah, I'd love to help anybody out that's out there that I selling or buying. 33:04 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. And again, I think we've learned again time and time and time again how important a realtor is to 33:10 the transaction, especially one that does have that experience, knows how to work with people, knows how to 33:15 negotiate, knows all those things. Obviously, your hotel background prepped you for this, right? A lot of times 33:21 people think I don't know it just that's what makes up a whole person I think is sometimes having experience elsewhere 33:27 and then you're able to take that experience and apply it to obviously this new field. Not so new. You've been 33:32 doing this now for 14 years like you said so it's not so new anymore but but obviously you're succeeding at it. You're doing well with it. So good job 33:38 in that regard. But no, thanks for coming on. Appreciate you talking to us. Obviously we the goal is to get more 33:44 people into homes and and help them recognize how important home ownership is still. Even though sure it's 33:51 different than it was 5 10 years ago, doesn't mean anything's changed. It just means you need better partners to help 33:57 you navigate this new terrain where hey, buying a home is still a good idea, but hey, let's talk about it. Let's kind of 34:03 figure out the best ways to do it. Let's try to get you the best deal you can negotiate the most amount of things that 34:08 you can get out of that transaction for yourself. Yeah. And if you think you can't do it, 34:13 most likely you can. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And I think that's important for a lot of people to know is 34:18 that's what that's why it's important to start with an expert, right? Hey, talk to a realtor, talk to a lender right away, right? Let's that's what we do all 34:24 the time is help give them a road map so they say, "Hey, no, it's possible for you to buy. Here's how to do it." And 34:29 let's say it's not right now. Let's say their credit's not good or their income's not good or whatever. We're going to tell you how to get there. 34:35 We're not going to just say, "No, get out of here, right? Get hit the road, jack." No, it's let's help you, right? Let's get you to that position where you 34:41 can buy any. You're off your soap box now. Yeah, I'm off my saw you step down. 34:48 Let's go to Vegas. That's right. That's right. That's right. Brad, thank you. appreciate you coming on. Appreciate you talking to us 34:54 and hopefully people can find you and and get started on that transaction. Yeah, I go by Brad, but if you look for 35:00 me, it's Bradley. Bradley. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. Thanks, Bradley. Appreciate you. 35:05 Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for tuning in to Frosts to Roots. I hope today's episode gave you insight, 35:11 confidence, and maybe even a little inspiration on your home ownership journey. If you enjoyed this episode, 35:16 make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who might find it helpful. And if you're ready to take 35:22 the next step in buying a home or just have questions, reach out to me or my team at Workhard Mortgage. We'd love to 35:28 help you on your path to home ownership. Until next time, keep working hard, keep building your future, and we'll see you 35:34 soon.