Latest / Wait... What's Next? / To Buy or Not to Buy: First-Time Homeownership, Renting vs. Buying, and Real Estate in 2026

Transcript

To Buy or Not to Buy: First-Time Homeownership, Renting vs. Buying, and Real Estate in 2026 · Wait... What's Next?

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to Wait.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: What's next?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new here, welcome to your safe space where we talk about all transitions, the moments in between that everyone seemed to miss in the plot of their stories.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the changes we're all a little afraid to talk about aloud.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've been listening for a while, welcome back.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have a fun one for you guys today.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: So let's do a quick little recap.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about career ships, relationships, growing up, robotums, beautiful routine.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Woof, just to name a few.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: But there was one topic missing.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, one that has been requested for quite some time.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And what is that, you may ask?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's think about it.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: What's the one thing people start questioning in their late 20s and 30s?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Based on culture, expectations, and what everyone around them seems to be doing.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Besides babies, that would be real estate.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: We've all sat the conversations with people who are obviously convinced buying a home is the best decision they'll ever make.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then there are the people who wouldn't dare buy because why would they?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's the rest of us.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Just confused.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Today, your girls are getting into a fun conversation about our own experiences with real estate from both sides of the fence.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: To buy or not to buy, that is the question.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about the pressures, the expectations, the financial realities, and yes, some of the taboo questions people are often too afraid to ask.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're dismantling the idea that real estate is some untouchable milestone and exploring why there may not actually be a right or wrong answer.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because maybe the bigger question isn't whether you should buy a house.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's whether you're building a life that truly feels right for you.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, enough of this teaser.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I won't make you guys wait any longer.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're done listening, do us a favor and send us your questions.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: We know we're not the only ones who have so confused navigating these topics.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And chances are you have thoughts too.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just keep the conversation going and let's get into it.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: How are you, house liars?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm tired.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's too much traveling per usual.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: When is your next traveling day?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Next weekend.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I leave on Sunday and I'm going to Nashville.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: For work or for fun?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: No, for work.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't done a fun trip and I mean, I guess I kind of did one a couple months ago when I was in Texas.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, not too.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am good.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I feel that I'm finally getting back to my groove and not running around.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: This week, I'm starting to also get into routine up.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm definitely working out in the mornings.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I decided because the afternoons are just hectic and I can't really do anything.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And also because of commuting, it's just really hard to come home and work out and all of that.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then your day is literally over.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I think even though it's a little challenging in the morning now that I'm used to it, it's so much better.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, and also, you know, try to record this podcast and get in into work.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Work has been super busy.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yesterday we tried to record, and literally my boss texted me.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as I'm about to accept you in, so fun.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's just annoying.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Work.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know, man.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: We depend on work so much because literally this is the life that we get to live.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, it's so hard not to complain and lose it sometimes.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let's jump right into it.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the other day I went to, I told you I was gonna go to San Francisco to meet up with our best friends.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're looking into buying a house.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's where they're at.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: I see them moving out of the city into Marine.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: To me, buying a house for a family in San Francisco is just personally, it's not worth it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And they invited me to go look at houses there, and I was about to have an intervention because the money is just not worth it.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: You pay so much for a little space, and it's just not the best quality of life for kids, in my opinion.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: But people do have, you know, people do love the city and stuff.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I went there and I was ready to give them a spiel.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And as I show up, first of all, it took me 40 minutes to cross the city just to get to where they were.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then I show up, and Will is like, abort the mission.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're not even gonna look.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: This house is gonna go to a marine.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we never even end up going on tours.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I told them, I'm so relieved because I was about to give you guys a speech of why are you guys buying here?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Why did they abort mission?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because the place they're already living at is really pretty.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've you've been to the house in San Francisco.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, but I've seen pictures, it's cute.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's cute, but at the same time, it's that if you're trying to expand your family, they already have a dog and they're already paying so much money to rent there, they're it's not gonna get any cheaper to buy a house that it's not even gonna be new, it's not gonna have all of the space just to be in the city, and also the place that they were looking at is called Richmond area, which is not even in the city.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: The city is kind of like towards the beach, which is pretty, but it's really kind of like outside of the beach of the city.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was just so many components that I it just didn't make sense to me.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, is they need to move it's this place is crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like Marine County, it's beautiful, they're gonna be able to get a bigger home.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: If they need to commute into the city, it's gonna be like 20 minutes.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's almost like close, but you get more what is that saying?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank for your back.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank for your back.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I was like, okay, yeah.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: So they decided to abort the mission.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: We ended up going to see the game, the NBA game, the Thunders Against Spars, which was pretty fun.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason why I brought that up is because our conversation today is about real estate.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I brought it up to you, and I was just gonna go over sort of the process because I have done it, but I love the angle that you brought, which is different transitions.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: All the people that I think will resonate with this episode are two people, are the ones that are between their late 20s and late 30s who either have the financial ability to invest and they don't know where to invest, and they think that sometimes real estate is the only way, or people who maybe see their friends or have this cultural upbringing where they think that real estate is the only way to go.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes it's really good to have these conversations because the baby boomer dream was you got to buy a home and that's your safety net.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I think in our new generation, we're trying to change how we think and not one answer for everyone.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I do listen to a lot of finances people talking about investment.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is there's just not one answer for everyone.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: It just depends on what you want, what your role is, and how you want to manage your investments.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely want to talk about that today because you're on the other side where you decided that that's not the route that you want to go now.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like people would really resonate with this.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you and I have different perspectives on home ownership because of some of the stuff that you listed and or listed out.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: But there's the other side too that, yeah, to your point, this episode is going to be able to hopefully resonate with people who are kind of in my space where homeownership isn't really forefront of my mind.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's not something that I'm trying to make happen anytime soon.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And from my perspective, I totally agree with you.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think that we are ingrained that we're supposed to own homes one day.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Our parents own homes, and that's a goal.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it feels like everyone's like, when I'm 30, I want to own a home and I want to have this and that.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And as I was in my late 20s, it was pretty clear to me that that just was no longer a realistic goal or at least a realistic time frame for that goal.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I've reevaluated where I wanted to put my money.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And me and my boyfriend talking about it all the time, too.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about whether or not we want to own a home and we rent in an apartment.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're in a bigger build, we're in a new build.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: We love it.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: We have all new appliances, there's a gym, there's an electric vehicle parking spot, so he can charge his car, there's a package room, there's a pool, grills.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And from my perspective, it's like I get all these amenities and I don't pay for it.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And sure, yeah, you can make the argument I pay for it and rent.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: But if something breaks, I don't pay for that.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: If the fridge breaks, I don't pay for that.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that you recently were dealing with some flooding issues and the place that you don't you do own, because where I don't own and I fully rent, you also do have a property that you do own.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: So you kind of get both.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think what you're saying is so buoyant.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And trust me, Amanda, I want to bring us back a little bit because I was never the kind of person that wanted to buy property.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was always against it.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I always would hear people saying, you know, I can't wait to buy a house.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of our friends talking about it.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that was just my last thought.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because, well, first of all, I recently just I said recently, but you know, I've been in a relationship for three years.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And this is when you're gonna start having those conversations.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Before that, I was thinking, I want to go travel, I don't want to be tied to a place.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: My biggest fear was having a financial commitment to a place and not being able to pursue the things that truly matter to me, which is traveling, which is spending money in experiences rather than a place.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: To me, I always had it clear a home is not a place, it's people and places that make me feel calm, safe, and collected.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, of course, having a place to sleep is very important, but to me, the house itself wasn't it.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I do want to tell the story of why I bought it, but sometimes the whole reason is you really need to look at your life.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I think at this conversation too, we start having those discussions about investing.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate, I do still agree, even though I have property that only real estate isn't the only investment you can do.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that everyone is looking into investing in some kind of way or other, even like 401k is that's some kind of investing.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I just hope that with this conversation, people who are in our age don't feel like they're behind, or people who maybe have the means but they don't know what to do it, they set a goal in mind and they don't follow anybody else, they just do what fits them best.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And to your point, I am renting right now, which is very interesting.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: And renting to me, a lot of people say you pay money for rent and then you just throw in money to the trash because you know you're paying.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: But you are paying for your house.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like to me, I am in that's an investment of the moment where I'm being able to just have a place to sleep, have a comfortable home, and I don't feel I'm wasting money paying for rent.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I feel we need to normalize that because rent is not wasting your money.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're literally paying for a place to live.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: That is just your well-being, right?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Starting from there.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say though that if you're not a homeowner, it's so much cheaper from a financial perspective to rent.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because to your point, the owner of the property is the one that has to pay for all for expenses when things break.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in terms of living, renting is the best way to go.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the reason why when I had the opportunity to get my apartment in San Francisco, I didn't need to leave there for a year because when you buy it, you need to live in for a year, which I know that was another concern of yours.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I always knew in the back of my head the whole time when we were trying to make the decision of whether or not to go for it, I kept saying, My biggest concern is I don't want to be tied to San Francisco.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be tied to this apartment.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's gonna happen, I'm not gonna do this.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I still want to feel like I have freedom that I can't decide to move to freaking Australia if I want to, and it doesn't really matter.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's when I started learning about sometimes it's better to buy property for an investment to rent because then that property is basically paying itself, and it's more of an investment where somebody else is taking care of that cost.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, as a homeowner, a lot of stresses come with that, which we can get into a little later on, and you can ask me any questions, but that was my whole mindset through it.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I never wanted to just settle down in this apartment and just be tied to it.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for me that was a game changer.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I can get into details of how it happened and all of that, but I think throughout the whole process, I had it very clear that it wasn't gonna be the place where I wanted to be.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was just more so, okay, this happening right now, I get to live there, and now I am renting it long term.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my story.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that to your point, like it sounds in theory, it sounds great to have a renter who is basically paying off the mortgage.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, living in California, and we live in two very expensive areas.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: San Diego property is not cheap, and San Diego nice properties are really not cheap.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, and and we've looked around, we've tried to see what are our options, what are the condos, what are the town homes, what are the actual homes, and they're really dated and they're really small.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: I like luxury, I like the nice new builds.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned that a second ago.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I've done the math and I've I've talked to Chat GPT about whether or not it'd be worth it to buy a property, because we did have an opportunity not long ago where we could have accidentally fallen into owning a home just because we knew somebody who was selling and possibly off-market and all of that stuff.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the day, it's when I looked at how much I could put down, what each of our loans would kind of look like, and the whole picture, I'm pretty sure the mortgage was still more than we're paying in rent.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're worried about all the other expenses.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm also not living in an area that I actually want to live in.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Going to what you were saying about how you don't want to be tied down, you don't want to travel.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that homeownership does tie people down because I have a friend who they own a place here in San Diego, and then they upped and left and moved to Chicago, bought a place there.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now they're moving back to San Diego.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so I've been able to see how owning a home has also allowed them to make moves because it does give them the cash that they needed when they can sell the property.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: But then you're dealing with the market and you're dealing with sellers and you're dealing with so many other variables, and it's not just uh this is exactly how it's gonna go.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And there's just so many factors that we can't predict.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what if their place doesn't sell?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing, too, is ChatGPT told me you should live in a place for five years.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, I don't know if I'd want to live somewhere for five years to make it worth it.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I probably would do what you did, where I'd live in it for a little bit, but then I would try to find a renter, and then again, then I'm dealing with all the other costs.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: So if for us it was pay rent in an apartment, but maybe have more spending money.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's the part the spending money is what I think I have known because older generations that have done it in the past, but also it has shifted so much.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: When they buy a home, all their money goes there, right?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the mortgage.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: The mortgage is this big NFN in the room that nobody talks about, but it's what people are financially tied to.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that was the concept that I grew up with owning a house, but then you're giving up everything else.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think we are changing the narrative a little bit.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's good that you can invest and still have the life that you want.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: As you said, you don't have to compromise many things.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Buying automatically, you have to compromise the place, maybe being able to be flexible mode to move is your property.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: So now you're spending more money on things because once it's your property, it does come with that psychological effect that you care.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to break it, right?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: You care because it's yours.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: It comes with all of those stresses, but at the same time, I think our generation is changing a little bit that dynamic.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I will say though, going through this process has taught me a lot about responsibility.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the one thing that I do want people to walk away with is it is simple in a way.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's a simple concept.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: You have to look at the market, you have to look at the fundamentals of where we're at and making sure that it's not a feeling decision, it's a logical decision because once you have that responsibility, you do have to face it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna come with a lot of hurdles and a lot of setbacks, and you have to prepare for that.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say having an apartment made me grow up a lot because I have to face a lot of things that I never thought I always had to do.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Can I pause you real quick?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go ahead.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm curious to hear if you would have made the same decision to buy when you bought.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: How old were you when you bought?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was 29.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: So do you knowing everything you know now, would you have still bought a property at 29?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Or do you think that you would have made different decisions knowing everything you know now?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't make different decisions because these apartments specifically, it makes sense.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, it still makes sense.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew it was gonna be a long game.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't buying to sell within the next three weeks, three years or four years.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: I knew it was gonna I'm playing the long game.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you understand a little bit about economics, there's always cycles, there's always ups and downs.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: In 30 years, we are gonna see a cycle where the apartment is gonna go up in price and it's gonna go down in price.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that's not the biggest concern for me.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: What the apartment does within the next 30 years, I don't care.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: But the most important thing is knowing that I have a fixed mortgage and that nothing is gonna change.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to the recession that we have in 2008.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people didn't have fixed interest rates.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what created this whole boom, horrible setback for everyone because it they were affected by prices going up and down.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: For me, that was the biggest thing, too.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to make it clear that throughout the process of buying this apartment, I thought of every single little thing.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Would it change anything within the next 30 years?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: As long as I have a job or is rented, whether I'm living there or renting it, it's gonna be fine.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always paying for the same thing.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And also, would I have an opportunity for this apartment to increase in price?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I can rent it for hire.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I bought it, it was 2023.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: San Francisco was still kind of slow coming back from the pandemic.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: So there was not a lot of incentive of buying in San Francisco, so the prices were still down.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: You had a sweet spot.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a sweet spot, right?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it found me at the right place in the right time.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: I had the right resources to do it.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: I had somebody who I had an agent.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't jump on it by myself.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: I found an agent that she okay, literally she was my therapist because I had to ask her so many embarrassing questions, but I had to trust her.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to find somebody that you can truly trust and be yourself.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was very ignorant of the real estate world.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how it worked.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I told her, I am gonna ask you so many stupid questions, but it's because I'm learning, but I do not want to leave anything loose.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Not lose cables because I don't want to wake up in five years thinking, oh my God, I didn't know this was gonna happen and be surprised.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love though that you did that because I'm sure that part of the reason why I'm not so interested in owning a home right now is lack of education.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Granted, I think I missed the sweet spot for being able to do it because things are definitely not how they were in 2023.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: 23.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's so crazy how literally two years, three years completely changes.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know, Amanda.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it's all about where you're at in the moment and finding the right resources.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think that if you're ever interested, start looking, start doing research, start learning what's going on.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: It could be not in San Diego, it could be an investment property that you buy, I don't know, somewhere in Orlando.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people do that.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: They invest in Orlando, they rent, the rent there is actually giving them money back.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's cheaper.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, like this is just from an ignorant place.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's what I've heard.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, you have to learn how taxes work, how all that works, and if it makes sense for you from an investment.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Perspective because obviously California is getting to a point right now with the boom of AI and all of that, that's gonna drop prices really high.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's probably not gonna be the best to buy right now.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I just want to say I was 29, I was working, I'd been working for what at the time was six, six years in the workforce.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: I never thought it was in the cars for me.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: But because I was saving for a home then, right?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't saving for a home.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: It took me by surprise.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: It completely, and it's because I was lucky enough that I was working for a brokerage and I was my clients were real estate agents.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I did learn a lot being in that world.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: I learned how the market works, I learned the prices of the homes.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: You sit down in the strategy meetings and you understand what the market's doing, and it gives you a lot of insight.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is how the world in real estate works.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: The economy works in a very interesting way, which is it's all expectations, it's all predictions, predicting where the market is gonna go, right?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes what actually happens is in a room of people that sit down and think predictions are gonna happen because that is what the market is predicted, then that's where everyone kind of takes the market.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know what comes first.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: If the prediction comes first of people speculating, creates that actually to happen.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: When a lot of people are having those conversations and you learn a lot, and it actually started as a joke.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: I had one of my clients, I'm working with her, she was showing me this really beautiful apartment in San Francisco.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, you know, the girl that is buying this apartment is actually your profile.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: She's like late 20s, she's she works for Google, it's just home.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, What?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: How can she do that?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: She's so young.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: I was so that's impossible.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: And she goes, No, I mean, are you interested in buying an apartment?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, I've been flirting with the idea.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: It would be kind of cool to have an apartment, not thinking of it.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then she goes, Well, if you're interested, let's just start walking through apartments.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'll talk to you through it.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just kind of like very mild.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I also didn't even understand, because that's something that I never talked to my clients about.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't understand if you pay agents when you go into buying apartments, you know, selling.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how that commission structure works.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so I asked her, and that's what it was cool about it.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I could ask her, how much do you charge for just consulting?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Nothing.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: You pay absolutely nothing until the day that you buy the apartment.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, mind blown.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't understand that that was possible because you know, you gotta pay for everything, nothing's free.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what's the catch here?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, Let's just do it.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then she was like, Let me just set up a few appointments for a few apartments.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, again, it just started from I don't know, a two-bedroom, two-batroom apartment.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely care that we have two bathrooms and all of that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, not to get into detail, but it started like that.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: I went on a tour with her.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Walking through apartments with her is very interesting because you think that you want something, but then agents know so well and they really know how to read you.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, listen, like, you don't want to look into this, you don't want to have this because eventually, I don't know, it's just gonna change, and you're gonna look at HOA and like didn't even know anything about HOA and all of these things.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Even just going through the process of learning, it's so great.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I honestly invite anybody to do it.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Working with an agent is free, there's nothing that you compromise, and you do get a lot of education on what's going on.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And again, you have to find somebody that you feel comfortable in that you can ask like a lot of questions.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm telling you, I did all of the stupid questions, but not regress.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I kept repeating them because I was like, Are you sure?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are you sure this is how it works?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: One thing led to another, and then things got kind of serious.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: I fell in love with the apartment that I ended up getting.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I told her, tell me how it works.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: You go into contract.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And she goes, even if you go into contract, that you still don't pay anything, you still have to go through all of the process of the mortgage getting approved and all of that.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: You do pay, once you get into contract, you do pay 3% of what the apartment is.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that like goes upfront.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: But if the mortgage doesn't get approved, then you get that money back.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like no matter what, I never lost anything until the moment when the mortgage gets accepted, and then I get to say, okay, how much do I have to pay monthly?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: All of that, and then I get to say yes or not.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it was pretty transparent throughout the process, and it really gives you an idea of what your life and your finances are gonna look like.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can plan for the future, whether it's you paying for it or eventually I can rent it and how much can I rent it for?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: CeeLo has great, you know, like you go in and you say, like, how much will my apartment rent for?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it tells you the numbers.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you can also start using that as a baseline.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then Chat GPT, our friend Chat GPT never let us down.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have Chat GPT back then, but now I would just run everything there and he would give you a very close estimate of how you would manage it.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: It makes sense, it still makes sense.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And to answer your question, Amanda, I don't regret it.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I was lucky, it was the right time, but thankfully it was a great investment.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't did an emotional buy.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I really stepped back, I had conversations, I asked a lot of questions, and it and you have to run the numbers for it to make sense.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: I wish that they taught us this kind of stuff in school.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: I went to a high school that had a business finance class, and luckily we learned about taxes.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: But this is the stuff that we should be learning is what does home ownership actually look like?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: What does a loan look like?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: What is a commission structure of an agent?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: What does mortgage look like?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's the real stuff I want to know.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that we have to cut this episode short.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: I do think that we should have a second conversation, and I'm really gonna encourage our listeners to give us some questions and both the perspective.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: You can ask me questions about my mindset and why I'm not interested in homeownership right now or how I'm investing my money because I have I'm doing the stocks and the 401 and the Roth IRA and that stuff.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then also to ask you questions about your process and how because it's funny that like this was kind of an accident, so you weren't fully saving.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I have friends who are like I'm saving for a home.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, so then the process of like what financial finances look like with that, and so please do message us because I think having some questions from our listeners would be awesome and would really like give us some room to to tell you guys different perspectives.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so glad that you said this.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: We do need those questions, send those questions because I remember after going through that process and they give me the keys, and I have a picture on Instagram with the keys, I would maybe plug it into the chat again to the post.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I got the keys and I kept thinking people were reaching out to me, oh my god, this is amazing, this is great.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I kept thinking, guys, anybody can do this, and that's why I remember people messaging me, hey, can you tell the story?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh my god, I owe the story, and I am glad that we're having these conversations because it's not that hard.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: It nothing is that hard, it's just that you gotta know to your point.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: We just don't know better.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if people sat us down and had a conversation with us and taught us from growing up, it would be so much different, and nothing will feel so impossible and unreachable.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is anybody can do it.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I was not prepared to buy a freaking apartment.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is sometimes in life you wait for the time when you're ready for things, and the truth is that time never comes.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have to make things happen and make it ready.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: When the opportunity presents itself, you just gotta go for it.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing the truth, knowing the facts, sitting down, having, you know, a cold-headed conversation and running the numbers, but knowing that it's not impossible and you don't have to wait 20, 10 years of saving, that's what mortgage charts are for.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of what's your estability, what's your income, and can you afford paying that as a rent in the case that you know you can rent it?
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And also, this is for the part two, but all of the now I have to rent it, now I have to manage the property, and all of this, that does come with extra time, a little bit of stress while you're learning.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that it is all about learning and being organized.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: There is a lot of positive things that come through that because you learn a lot.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And learning is always good.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know better, you're on the other side.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that we owe a 2.0 of this conversation.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Just normalize it.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's anything.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: If anybody wants to do something, you can totally do it.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that there's a level of unattainability for certain markets when it comes to buying homes.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm sure if we were in the Midwest, I mean I look at homes in other states all the time.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like I could get a beautiful home there, but here in San Diego, I'm, you know, whatever.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: But go ahead and take us home.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: And again, please do write us in some questions and we'll do part two on home ownership on the next episode.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I hope this episode resonates.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know it was for people who are right there and there in that transition, in the middle of feeling behind or not knowing what to do with the extra money that you have.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really important to sit down.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of podcasts, a lot of people talking about it from different perspectives.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: I listen to both.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: I listen to people in finance who say, don't buy, don't rent.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then I don't buy, but rent and put your money in the market.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then I listen to people that say it's so important to put it on real estate.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: So listen to both and grab what serves you.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: I also was thinking, Amanda, that I have a few contacts and a few agents that we can have on the pod, ask him all of the stupid questions that a lot of people will feel they can ask.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that would also be really helpful because they are in the game.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: They are in that world, and there's always something emerging.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: And being from that company and that in that industry for a long time, there's a lot of conversations that happen behind us that I feel like people should know because they are they do know better and they do have access to those resources.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we should definitely have a guest speaking on that.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's a great idea.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And to take us home, of course, please follow us and find us on wait, what's next pod?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Leave us questions.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: I am gonna promote the heck out of this episode and just put links and you can leave us questions.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can find us on all of the streaming podcast channels like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: We should hopefully have a video this time because I'm still working with Apple Podcasts to be able to upload that video on YouTube as well.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Leave us those questions, talk to us.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: We are here again.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: We are not experts, we're just living life and going with all of the experiences that come.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I hope that these conversations take you away from the taboo that it is to talk about real estate and finances and all of that and get you on the right mindset to make moves and feel you're not behind.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know how you feel, give us your questions, and we will talk to you guys next.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: See you guys next episode.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.