Latest / Charleston's Leading Producers / #36 The House Isn't the Hard Part: Helping Buyers Make Better Decisions | Courtney Davis

Transcript

#36 The House Isn't the Hard Part: Helping Buyers Make Better Decisions | Courtney Davis · Charleston's Leading Producers

0:00
SPEAKER_00: We can always find the house, but we can't ever change the lifestyle or the travel time.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: You just can't.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: Hey leaders, I'm Jake, a loan officer obsessed with business growth and finding out what's actually working in our market.
0:17
SPEAKER_02: If that sounds useful, hit follow.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: Now, this week's leader.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: Alright, we're recording.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: Courtney, thanks for joining me again.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Hey, yeah, thanks for having me again.
0:32
SPEAKER_02: We were kind of just laughing about um maybe it's Halloween, so we're recording like mid-October, but our market people are losing their minds out there.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, good word for it.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: So um I I want to get into a couple things here today.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: I want to make sure that we talk about some new build stuff because I know you work a lot in that area.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, but last time you were on, we talked about how you do a deep dive with your clients right off the bat.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: And I thought it was like the coolest thing because one of the things that I'm feeling right now is that buyers are buyers in realtors and loan officers were more prone right now to try and rush into decisions, which actually feels counterintuitive because listings are sitting longer.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: It feels like we should have more time, but it's almost like there's like this air of desperation.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: So I really appreciate that you do this, you know, long conversation up front.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: Um and you're understanding their motives, their lifestyle, their preferences.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I'm just kind of curious what's changed in that conversation recently as compared to even, you know, three, six months ago.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: I would have to say that the inventory is like starting to change the buyer's mind.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: So they're thinking that they're having more time.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that that means that we're waiting for offers, which in a normal market, we are kind of right there.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: Um anything over 30 days to 60 days is kind of a normal thing.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, no price changes.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Like the the buyer, especially right now in this season, if they're moving, they're moving because of uh an important life change.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: So we what I'm seeing with my buyers is they're taking their time, we're touring more homes, and we're talking more about it.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like in the past we've been so quick to make a decision, and a lot of buyers who were rushed in that time, like during COVID, when everybody's like, we should should go back to that time.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people are regretting where they landed, and now they feel stuck, right?
2:48
SPEAKER_00: They feel stuck, like they're gonna sit there in that house with the interest rate setter, what they got for, but they are outgrowing their home.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: So I think a buyer who is especially moving from an interest rate, even fives, it is a huge decision financially now.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Um now there's other ways to get around interest rates, right, with buyer incentives and um, you know, builder incentives and stuff, but I don't think that knowledge is really opened up to the like the overall market of buyers.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: They don't know that you can do those things, you can ask for those things.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: So you mentioned the word regret, and I love this conversation right now.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: What do you think people are regretting specifically if they did buy in that like five-year-ago window?
3:42
SPEAKER_00: I think when I mentioned like regret from feedback from my clients are traveling, um, work travel traffic's getting harder for them.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: They thought that they could do it um because they got a great deal on the house.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, they didn't know the area well.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, so a lifestyle thing as well, like they are not wanting that kind of lifestyle that they thought.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, they're have their families growing or kids are moving out.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: So when they bought the house, might have bought a really big house and wasn't thinking kids were going to be moving out soon, um, and they want a primary down, or vice versa.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: They only have two, three bedrooms and they have two kids and they're gonna have another one, you know.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: So I think a lot of people when they bought five years ago, they were not able to make a decision during that time of like thinking about what the future really holds for the house.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: Man, Britt and I, my wife, we are a case study for this because we bought, I think it was 21, I want to say.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, five years ago.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, and that exact thing.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: So we were both working in Dorchester County at the time, bought in Dorchester County.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: Now, neither one of us works in Dorchester County.
5:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm down in West Ashley.
5:02
SPEAKER_02: Actually, next week our office is moving over to Mount Pleasant, and I'm like, what the hell?
5:07
SPEAKER_02: The traffic is horrible.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, but my monthly payment's too low.
5:11
SPEAKER_02: I can't give it up, you know.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, we're we're right there.
5:15
SPEAKER_02: We're literally feeling that exact thing.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, I would love to move over to Mount Pleasant, but I also don't want to pay seven times more on a mortgage payment.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I mean, it's just I think with this time of market when I'm talking to buyers more and getting feedback from agents, I'm seeing buyers really hone in on like what the future is going to hold for this house because the market has been so uh what's the right word?
5:46
SPEAKER_00: It's been hard to track.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: It's been really high, it's been low, high, and low.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Even this year alone, it changed what three to four times.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: And we're only in month 10.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: So that is very hard for a consumer to even an agent, like right, we're trying to track it, we're trying to watch comps, we're trying to advocate for them, and it is a very you've gotta be on it constantly.
6:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we I mean, you mentioned month 10.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: Well, what's gonna happen between now and the end of the year?
6:23
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: I actually when people ask me this, I answer the same way.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I have no idea.
6:29
SPEAKER_02: I mean so volatile right now, and you know, things are changing so rapidly.
6:33
SPEAKER_02: You mentioned multiple changes this year.
6:35
SPEAKER_02: I say the same thing.
6:36
SPEAKER_02: I I don't know.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say if it makes sense to them, um, then I would do it.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: There's ways to get around that interest rate, right?
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a new construction built that we were able to negotiate with the builder down to an interest rate.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: There's some builders that are doing that.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: So even um we did a resale one in Kane Bay recently where I negotiated seller concessions to buy down that rate.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: So there's ways to get around it.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Like it's not gonna be a two or a three, but how much money are you saving if you do move closer to your job and your time?
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, right, your littles are little only once.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: So the time that you're spending in the car, you know.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: So that's a lot of things that I have conversations with with my folks.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: And um I I really challenge them to when they even come from out of state and visiting, we don't really look at houses the first trip.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, we really look at location and where they're working before we do anything because we can find the house, but we I can't if we look at everything in Somerville, right?
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Just for a really good example, there's three pockets of Somerville that are very vastly different and and very different in traffic too, depending on where you're going.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: So we can always find the house, but we can't ever change the lifestyle or the travel time.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: You just can't.
8:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's something that continues to come up on this conversation is how different the little pockets of our area are.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: You mentioned even Somerville, it's not like it's a you know huge city.
8:17
SPEAKER_02: Like I grew up in Pittsburgh, you know, that's I don't know how many times the size of Somerville, South Carolina.
8:23
SPEAKER_02: Um but but it's just really interesting how different those little pockets are, you know.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: Like where we live, I mean, we're 15 minutes from downtown Somerville, and it's a totally different lifestyle.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Totally different.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I timed it one time, um, because somebody was asking me between Summer's Corner and Carnes Crossroads, I've I feel like that's a huge conversation.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Like they're very similar in community, right?
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Like they do a lot of events, it's new, it's they got the Agahood over there, and then we're getting the club over here, right?
8:57
SPEAKER_00: So we're kind of behind in the amenities of Summer's Corner, but they're coming.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: But when I look at miles versus distance of time, it takes me sometimes faster to get to Target from Summer's Corner than it is from Carnes Crossroads because of the traffic from Nexton to Target.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: So I think people also don't realize that either.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: When they get here, I'm like, we're going on a random time and day, just so you can see what a normal day would be if you were here.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: And it really changes their perspective a lot.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: How do you help a buyer decide between new construction and pre-own?
9:38
SPEAKER_02: What is the conversation that you have with them?
9:41
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm I'm thinking that a lot of you know, potential buyers go into that conversation not really knowing exactly what they want and exactly what they're looking for.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: So, how are you guiding them to make that decision for themselves?
9:54
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of interesting when I start talking to people that are not in the area, because one, they don't realize how much new built is around.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: They'll start to do research, right?
10:06
SPEAKER_00: And they'll find people online and talking about communities and they fall in love with the community.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: So when they bring that up to me, or when we're talking about their house, their dream house, right?
10:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm asking the first question I'm asking is if they don't have kids, are they what is their five-year plan?
10:26
SPEAKER_00: You know, I want to find out what their future is starting to look like because everybody has something in mind.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: And then I start to talk to them a little bit about well, you know, builders have incentives.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: We can also ask for new construct uh resales for those too.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: So it really comes down to what are they wanting in this time of season?
10:49
SPEAKER_00: Do they want something brand new because they don't want to deal with, you know, home repairs or, you know, something that's a little bit older that might be starting to needing the more major, you know, investments to fix it up?
11:03
SPEAKER_00: Or can we ask those for the sellers um to fix it up?
11:07
SPEAKER_00: So I think for me it really depends on where they're at in their season.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: And then I kind of go from there.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: And then I also narrow it down to where we're looking.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: So there's a ton of communities, right?
11:22
SPEAKER_00: So what are you exactly looking for?
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Are you looking for something with some land?
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Are you looking for something that is like a community base?
11:30
SPEAKER_00: So once I figure that out, once we figure out where you're going to work in lifestyle, then I start talking to them about new construction.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: And we do a day of just new construction, that's all we do.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the next day we'll do resales.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: So I always like to do it that way.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: And then in the buffer, I have them drive for work and lifestyle in between to just give a break so that way they can really compare new construction to new construction and not to resale.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're going to a house in resale and then we go to new construction, we're human, so we see everything bright and shiny, and it's it's all new, right?
12:11
SPEAKER_00: But they don't think about the fridge, the washer and dryer, the blinds, the fence, all of these things.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: So as we're walking those things and we're talking about it, and you know, I could I just have a conversation with them.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, look, you've got all of this stuff in the resale, and the builder is not doing much for you on this incentive.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: So either we negotiate and and then we just kind of have those conversations.
12:34
SPEAKER_02: One of the things that I've loved about doing this podcast is I have such an appreciation for realtors, like more than I think I it sounds like such a nightmare to me to drive around with a husband and a wife all day long just looking at new construction.
12:50
SPEAKER_02: That is just a personal oh my god, no, I that would drain my energy so fast.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: So I I really have appreciation for you guys being able to do that.
13:00
SPEAKER_02: And then getting up the next day and be and doing it again on like a whole other set of homes, I'd be I'd be out.
13:05
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how you guys do that.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: It is very, I mean, it is like very um even overwhelming for the consumer, right?
13:11
SPEAKER_00: The buyer, because they've getting they're getting all this information.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: So I do like a tour day.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: So I'll send them, I'll send them an itinerary.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell them like this day, we're not gonna do any homes.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: You need to explore the area.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: This is where you should kind of look at, try a restaurant, take your kids out, do this, do that, you know.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: And so that way I can recuperate, they can recuperate because there's just so much information, especially with people who are moving that do not know the area.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, it is very, and I at the end of the day, no matter the time, before the end of the day, if it's nine o'clock at night, 10 o'clock at night, I'm writing a whole list of what we looked at and what they talked about.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Like things that they were talking that, you know, they may not have seemed important to them when they said it, but when I write it down, it comes back to them when we start to talk about it, like, oh, I totally forgot about that.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: That was not something I liked, you know?
14:10
SPEAKER_00: So it helps keep our our minds, you know, as best put together when we're doing this.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Because it is, it's not only emotionally, it's physically draining too, right?
14:21
SPEAKER_00: If you're dragging kids around, kids are angry, you know, so all of the there's so much going on.
14:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I really appreciate how much you're talking about, you know, the monthly payment scenarios for buyers because it is really important.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of realtors right now are going, that's the LO side of thing.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: Talk to your LO, let them figure it out, which is also fine.
14:45
SPEAKER_02: You know, there's it's nice to have a balance between those things.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: But I know that, you know, as loan officers, we've had to get really scrappy lately.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: You know, like uh I'm doing I love the two-one buy down programs, and I always say this as long as you know a two-one buy down is properly explained, you know, that you're going to hit a certain number in two years, you know, from the LOSA, it can be a great loan program.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: You know, we're doing these asset utilization loans and all kind of out-of-the-box loans, um, which is great.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: But one of the conversations that I'm having a lot with clients um is this list price versus actual market value.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'm curious from your side, do you think buyers are making decisions right now based on purchase price?
15:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, or are they actually going deeper and looking at monthly payments and seeing the whole financial picture?
15:39
SPEAKER_02: And is sometimes even these purchase prices, or I should say list prices, because sometimes the list prices and the actual market value aren't lining up.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, and is that actually confusing some of our buyers?
15:53
SPEAKER_00: So I think it is confusing to answer that last question really quick.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: I think it's confusing for a buyer if they're going on Zillow and they're like, well, why did this house down the street sell at this price?
16:03
SPEAKER_00: So I think to put all of those questions into an answer is they're not being they don't have the guidance.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: They're not having conversations with their agent.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: Are there is their agent reaching out to those past closings?
16:18
SPEAKER_00: Are they talking to them about it?
16:20
SPEAKER_00: Was it a condition?
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Was it a smell thing?
16:23
SPEAKER_00: Was the sellers just having to get out of there and they just put it really low so they can get out?
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then there's another perspective that I just had recently um with a buyer.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: They they believed a house on 30 days on market just right now is is long.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Like the sellers are desperate because in their market where they're moving from, houses are moving faster, a week to two weeks.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: And so I had to have that conversation with them.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a very different market.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, they wanted to offer very low compared to list price, and you know, having those convers top conversations with a buyer and showing them, you know, we can we can certainly do what we want to do, right?
17:11
SPEAKER_00: But having that true honest conversation of look, this isn't the market where sellers are just if sellers are moving, they're moving because they have to.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: It's not because they want to.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: So giving away their home, there there has to be a reason, right?
17:26
SPEAKER_00: So um so just having those conversations with them, I think, is the most important thing.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: And let's flip it.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: You mentioned the hard conversation part, and I think we talked a little bit about this last time.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, but let's say you've got a resale in a new build community right now, so you're competing against you know exactly what we've been talking about the whole time the new builds, the rate buy downs, closing cost incentives, you're competing against the whole thing.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: How do you compete with that with a resale?
17:57
SPEAKER_00: With new construction, how do I compete with my resale with new construction?
18:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, say even in summer's corner, if you have a resale in summer's corner right now and you're competing against all the new builds and all the incentives and all that.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: So having those really hard conversations with the seller up front before we go on market about where we're at, what season we're in, right?
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Lenora's doing their end of the physical year.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: So we're getting hammered by concessions right now.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Making sure the home is presented as best as possible.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, because sometimes we don't have time to just, you know, get feedback and showings and stuff.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: And then I would say just continuing to network and talk to people about the listings, you know, talking to agents, talking to neighbors, talking to people about the house.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: Like I think that gets dropped sometimes.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: And so we forget that it's a market where we do have to kind of hustle and grind still to sell the houses, um, especially in a heavy new construction community.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: I love that you mentioned hustle and grind.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, I almost feel uh with the realtors that I work with a lot, past couple weeks, I feel like I've been trying to like pump them up, you know, and inject some positivity into some people.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: So, and you know, you run such a big business here in Somerville.
19:22
SPEAKER_02: You do such a great job, Courtney.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's very respectable.
19:26
SPEAKER_02: For an agent who's kind of going through um maybe a little slower time right now, maybe they're a little bit newer than you, they're still trying to build their business and they feel like they're just you know running into these walls.
19:38
SPEAKER_02: How how would you kind of coach them up right now as we get into?
19:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I actually started when the rates were really high, and that was a really challenging time too.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: I was right after COVID, it was the high of the COVID.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that's I talked to a top producing agent years ago, and so I challenged myself.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: If I started to feel, I still do, starting to feel like I am not producing or I'm not doing good in my business.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: I talked to a top producer and I ask them questions, as much questions as I can, even though I'm in the business for five years.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm still calling agents, asking them, what are they doing?
20:20
SPEAKER_00: How are you know, what's working for them in the neighborhood, maybe, what like in a neighborhood I'm looking to sell in, like what was like really insightful for them, because we are all human and everybody sees all the good online.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: And so I think to just tell an agent who's like going through it right now, that's real estate, is hard.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, and you have to continue to push.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Even days when I don't want to get out of bed and I'm like, oh, I just, you know, this is great.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: We just fell out of contract for the third time, and you know, this this really stinks.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, mentally exhausting and physically exhausting, right?
21:02
SPEAKER_00: We're looking at homes and we failed all of those contracts again, but I still do it and I still like I have a little routine, so I continue my routine.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: So I every morning, you gotta wake up, you have to have a routine.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: Even if you don't have anything scheduled for that day, I try to do one productive thing a day.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: So if that's marketing, if it's a networking event, if it's talking to another agent, um just any just trying to be as productive as I can with my time, but in a positive way.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: So not surrounding myself with people who are feeling in the grum about it, who are complaining about it, you know.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: So making sure that you're feeding filling your cup up with growth and positivity and not the negativity because everybody else is hearing it, right?
21:56
SPEAKER_00: Our buyers, our sellers, our all of everybody's hearing the negativity.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Right, they're in this gloomy world, right?
22:03
SPEAKER_00: But people are still moving, people are still getting deployed, people are having kids, there's so much still going on.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: So those people need our help.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: So just really focusing on your just focus on your lane.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Just keep focusing on yourself and just keep pushing through, even when you don't want to, because that is the consistency is right there.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: That's one of the things that I've even noticed about doing this podcast is how approachable some of the top producers are.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: They love sharing information, and it's so rare, I bet, for them to have a younger agent reach out to them and just be like, hey, I'm I'm kind of like going through this tough time.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: I've been doing this a couple years, it's really hard because they can relate to that.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, top producers, they they absolutely know what everybody's going through.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I I think if you are an up-and-coming agent in doing that 100%, reach out to somebody.
23:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, and your brokerage, I'm sure, encourages that too.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: I mean, Carolina One is such a big brokerage.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's supposed to be something that's multiple teams.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we talk about uh positivity.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's one of the values with Carolina One that I really love is whenever I talk to another core agent, whether we have a listing in the same neighborhood, we're talking about like, man, we haven't had any showings.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, we're trying to work together versus, you know, something and there's always going to be people who do not see the world in this rainbow setting, but we I think we have to protect our hearts with that a lot because it does start to feed into our business.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: So I love that Carolina one that we talk about gratitude, we talk about growing.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: If I'm talking to an agent who I has been in the business for years, um, and they're talking about how they're having a tough time this week.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: We just have those conversations of like just bringing each other back to that positivity because like I said, everybody gets in those in those seasons.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, and social media is such a huge play in the hut, right?
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Everybody sees the positive of it, right?
24:21
SPEAKER_00: They see, oh, you're really successful, but they don't see me breaking down in the car, you know, or we just scrapped everything after, you know, touring these homes, or you know what I mean?
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Like they it is very emotionally tolling, so people don't see that.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: Man, social media is such a it's you know, it's something that's probably necessary for all of our businesses, but it can be such a mentally draining and blocking thing.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: Um I just mentioned this actually, but I turned my phone.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: Did you ever see grayscale on your phone?
24:55
SPEAKER_02: It's unbelievable.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: So I just turned my phone and it's gray.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: So it's literally just black and gray, and it has helped Doom Scrolling so much because it takes all the fun out of it.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'm spending like over an hour less on average on my phone.
25:10
SPEAKER_02: So grayscale.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: I know it's been that's amazing.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: I set a timer for all my apps.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: So, like if I'm like, okay, if I know like today I don't have something I need to do physically, like I'll go on social media and work on stuff like that, or just to catch up and stuff.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: And I set a timer.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: So like midway, it'll alert me like, hey, like, all right, I set my time to 10 minutes, five minutes.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Have I been doing what I was supposed to?
25:37
SPEAKER_00: No, get back on track.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
25:39
SPEAKER_00: So then that way I'm like, because you can just get into a loop of it, and then it's like an hour later, you just doom scrolled and didn't do exactly what you're supposed to be doing.
25:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I just blow right by it though.
25:50
SPEAKER_02: I've tried the timer and I just hit the like snooze for another five minutes or whatever, like my alarm in the morning, and then I'm like, I don't know.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: I just can't follow.
25:59
SPEAKER_02: I guess I don't have the the self-discipline, but yeah.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can try like a physical alarm clock.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Some people do I talk to somebody, an agent, like she's she told me one time she puts like a her phone down, she only does it on her computer.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: It's harder to doom scroll on a computer, too.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, there's different ways to do it.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I mean that's what the data is supposed to be there for.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: It's supposed to get you to do scroll.
26:28
SPEAKER_02: They're really good at it.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Um, actually, a really good podcast that I just did you ever listen to Diary of a CEO?
26:34
SPEAKER_00: Mm-mm.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: Oh, he's he's great, but he just had his name's Stephen Bartlett, and he just had an expert in how social media gets you to keep scrolling.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was so interesting because Instagram, when Instagram first came out, it had the end.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: You could get to the end.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you remember this.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: But you only saw um content of the people that you follow.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: Right.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: And then once you saw everything, you were done.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: And you had to move on.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, obviously that is long gone.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, and but there's a reason that they got rid of it to keep you on the app.
27:09
SPEAKER_02: That's their job, you know.
27:11
SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, so um have you noticed anything different in social media lately?
27:16
SPEAKER_02: Are you doing anything different?
27:17
SPEAKER_02: Because your social media always looks so great.
27:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm curious if you have any social media tips for some people out there.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: So I try to play around with Canva a lot.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Um there's like an app called like Cap Cut for like videos.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think it's like finding your brand and what you want to consistently be at and like doing your videos and stuff with.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Um so I think that just takes time to figure out like what you want to do with it.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not a person who's going to dance in front of the the TikToks or talk about my life on social media.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: That's very that's very hard for me.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: That's not me personally.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, but even like the agent videos, bless Sarah, but she like has to really get me to get going on them.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: And she does a lot of edits, but you know, um we get them done.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: And but I think for me with social media, I just really try to keep it as close to who I am, um, and very simple.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: And that's just kind of how I am.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm not very um that's just how I try to portray it, as is just how I am.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: I have got two kids, I'm a mom, and you know, life's busy.
28:38
SPEAKER_02: Well, all of that comes through in your social media and your work.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: Um, so you do a really good job with that.
28:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, I want to ask one more question um just about this new construction versus resale, just because I find it so interesting in the market um that we're in right now, and one of the issues that it feels like is if some people bought in our community within the past couple years, they're having a little bit more of a tough time on the resale side because home prices haven't gone up as much as you know they did five, six years ago.
29:16
SPEAKER_02: Um so do you think the amount of new construction in our area is actually fundamentally changing what buyers are expecting from a home and fundamentally changing just how people are approaching our market considering this resale, um, you know, going into next year?
29:36
SPEAKER_00: I think so, Jake.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: I think the expectation to a buyer walking new construction and resale, like I mentioned, I do one day new construction, one day resale because they're not apples to apples, right?
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Some homes the people have been in for years, and so they're gonna have some wear and tear in it, right?
29:55
SPEAKER_00: It's not perfect, but um I think with the area that we're in, the challenging part is with resale.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Um but also I think it's just uh the market just correcting itself from when it was high with pricing.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: I was just talking to somebody two days ago about this.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: They were wanting, you know, to the pricing to keep lowering and lowering.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, well, you realize as a buyer, there's more people who are going to be able to qualify.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: So you're going to start to be in competition again.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: And so the people who didn't have that opportunity to really talk about and think about their future, the people who bought in COVID who are now stuck in their home because of interest rates, right?
30:46
SPEAKER_00: They're having to make those difficult decisions.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to go back to that.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: Like as much as everybody would love to go back to it, right?
30:54
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of people made a lot of mistakes and they had they and so I think with the resale and new construction, especially like in Summer's Corner and Cartons and stuff like that.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: I think the builders are trying to make it affordable too, because of the interest rates.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: So it's like this a little pull and tug with what we can control and what can't we control.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: We can't control what the market says about the house, but we can control how we can manipulate the money, right?
31:26
SPEAKER_00: We can control how to change the interest rate, how to get seller concessions, how can we be more creative and be in a better spot, right?
31:35
SPEAKER_00: So we can like when I sit down with people and we're talking about it.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the big things I talk to them about is life happens.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: You are moving here for a job, let's say, from out of town or you know, whatever, and two years from now, you you're getting relocation orders to move out.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: So what does that look like if you commit to this house?
31:57
SPEAKER_00: What that two-one buy down is gonna do to you.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna be financially okay?
32:02
SPEAKER_00: Because life always happens as much as we would love to say they're gonna be there for five years, they don't know what's gonna happen with family back home, you know.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: So there's so much that I think people need to have those deep conversations with their agents, especially, and not just looking at right now, but looking in the future.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what one of the conversations I'm having with a lot of sellers and buyers is when sellers are thinking about selling, you know, well, what would that look like?
32:34
SPEAKER_00: What would where would you go?
32:35
SPEAKER_00: And how would that make sense?
32:37
SPEAKER_00: Would it make sense now, you know?
32:39
SPEAKER_00: So those really deep conversations of not really talking them out of it, but really thinking about it all together.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: Courtney, thank you for coming on and saying all that.
32:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, you you always just bring such a nice blend of realistically what's going on right now in our market and more importantly, how to handle what's going on there.
33:05
SPEAKER_02: So I appreciate you so much for that.
33:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, if somebody wants to get in touch with you, if there was an agent that you know is feeling stuck and needs to reach out to a top producer um and wants to get in touch with Courtney Davis, or if there's anybody uh that's been listening that is thinking about buying, selling, whatever, how can they get in touch with you?
33:22
SPEAKER_00: They can contact me on Instagram.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: My um handle is Courtney DavisRealtor.charlson.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: Well done.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for coming on.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Jake.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening to Charleston's Leading Producers Podcast.
33:39
SPEAKER_02: Could you take a moment to hit subscribe on the platform that you're currently listening on?
33:44
SPEAKER_02: That allows this show to grow and bring you more of the top of the line producers and business leaders.
33:51
SPEAKER_02: And if you think these stories will help someone you know, please share this with them.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: New episodes every Wednesday.
33:58
SPEAKER_02: I'm Jake Cummings.
33:59
SPEAKER_02: See you next week.