Latest / Fully Disclosed: Real Estate in Real Life / Episode 2: Whose buttons are you pushing? Online tour requests, buyer’s agency, and who’s really on the other side.

Transcript

Episode 2: Whose buttons are you pushing? Online tour requests, buyer’s agency, and who’s really on the other side. · Fully Disclosed: Real Estate in Real Life

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fully Disclosed Real Estate, Real Life, an NP
0:06
Speaker 1: Dodge Council Buffs podcast created and produced by real estate
0:09
Speaker 1: agents who live this stuff every day.
0:11
Speaker 2: We're pulling back the curtain on.
0:12
Speaker 1: The deals, dilemmas, and details nobody warns you about. Before
0:15
Speaker 1: we get into it, a quick disclosure. This podcast is
0:17
Speaker 1: for general information and entertainment only, not legal, tax, financial,
0:21
Speaker 1: or individual real estate advice. Listening doesn't create an agency relationship,
0:25
Speaker 1: and the views shared by our hosts and guests may
0:27
Speaker 1: not represent NP Dodge. Now let's get Fully Disclosed.
0:33
Speaker 3: Welcome to Fully Disclosed, Real Estate in Real Life. My
0:37
Speaker 3: name is Jesse Scudler.
0:39
Speaker 2: And I'm Tracy True. We're here at NP Dodge in
0:41
Speaker 2: Council Bluffs, Iowa.
0:43
Speaker 3: And today we are joined by Annie Van Hoosen and
0:46
Speaker 3: Monty Wilson.
0:48
Speaker 2: We hinted at the last episode that we were going
0:50
Speaker 2: to have some familiar faces. If you have ever watched
0:54
Speaker 2: the little parody video that we put on Facebook or
0:58
Speaker 2: Instagram a few weeks ago. And so we had Annie
1:01
Speaker 2: and Monty together. act out this whole thing that we've
1:05
Speaker 2: seen happening in our market.
1:07
Speaker 3: And the best part was it was a complete surprise
1:11
Speaker 3: to them.
1:11
Speaker 4: They had no.
1:12
Speaker 2: Idea what they were watching.
1:15
Speaker 5: That was some fantastic improv. Ambush.
1:18
Speaker 4: We tricked you.
1:19
Speaker 3: But we had fun with it.
1:20
Speaker 5: It was great.
1:21
Speaker 2: And you guys did amazing.
1:22
Speaker 5: You killed that.
1:23
Speaker 4: Thank you.
1:25
Speaker 2: But that said, we were also, you know, our topic then,
1:29
Speaker 2: because that whole thing was about when people push buttons
1:32
Speaker 2: on websites to set up showings. You know, they find
1:35
Speaker 2: a house that they want to look at and they click,
1:37
Speaker 2: let's go see that. And so it's, you know, we're
1:40
Speaker 2: talking about whose buttons are you really pushing?
1:43
Speaker 4: Right.
1:43
Speaker 6: Who are you really going to be hearing back from?
1:45
Speaker 7: Yeah, for real.
1:46
Speaker 2: People, I mean, a lot of times when they click
1:48
Speaker 2: that button, they think that they're going to get the
1:49
Speaker 2: listing agent.
1:51
Speaker 4: Right. So. And the sad fact is that they're just
1:54
Speaker 4: getting somebody that's a warm body on the other end.
1:57
Speaker 4: And that's somebody that Zillow sold the lead to. Yeah.
2:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're probably paying for that lead or paying Zillow
2:04
Speaker 3: a monthly fee to get so much.
2:07
Speaker 4: They might be a brand new agent. It might be
2:09
Speaker 4: their first phone call.
2:10
Speaker 3: And it doesn't have to be just Zillow. I mean,
2:12
Speaker 3: there's hundreds of websites where these guys could be paying
2:17
Speaker 3: for those leads. And, you know, you're right. That's all
2:21
Speaker 3: it takes is that buyer just click, and then it'll
2:24
Speaker 3: ask them some information, and they think that they're setting
2:27
Speaker 3: up a time to go see it. What they don't know...
2:30
Speaker 3: is now with the law change that we have, we
2:33
Speaker 3: have to have a buyer's agency and a buyer's representation
2:37
Speaker 3: signed before we can even open that door. Otherwise, we're
2:42
Speaker 3: breaking the law.
2:42
Speaker 7: Right.
2:43
Speaker 6: You know?
2:44
Speaker 4: And what they don't realize is that contract actually obligates
2:48
Speaker 4: them to that particular agent.
2:50
Speaker 7: Right.
2:50
Speaker 4: So if you sign a contract with a brand new agent,
2:54
Speaker 4: you're kind of stuck with them. Yeah. Throughout the whole process,
2:57
Speaker 4: no matter who they are. Yeah.
2:59
Speaker 3: And according to the law, they can sign, that agent
3:03
Speaker 3: can assign that end date for up to one year.
3:07
Speaker 3: So if it ends up being, you didn't, you know,
3:10
Speaker 3: buyer didn't realize what they were signing. They just were told, hey,
3:14
Speaker 3: I need you to sign this, and then I can
3:16
Speaker 3: show you the house. You know, they don't read there.
3:19
Speaker 3: We send this stuff e-signatures.
3:21
Speaker 4: Right.
3:21
Speaker 2: Well, and a lot of times the agents are not
3:22
Speaker 2: really fully explaining it either.
3:25
Speaker 3: That's really what I see as a big problem. Agents
3:27
Speaker 3: aren't fully explaining this to the buyer so that they understand.
3:31
Speaker 4: And I get that. I mean, when you're clicking through houses,
3:34
Speaker 4: your goal is that you just want to see the house.
3:37
Speaker 4: You really could care less in your mind about what
3:40
Speaker 4: comes afterwards or what comes before. Right. So you're just
3:44
Speaker 4: anxious to get in the house. You don't want to
3:45
Speaker 4: be bogged down with the details. You don't want to
3:47
Speaker 4: be interviewed. Right.
3:48
Speaker 2: Well, I think a lot of times they don't always
3:50
Speaker 2: realize the whole process of what happens after that.
3:52
Speaker 4: Right. You know? Right.
3:54
Speaker 2: Well, and it used to be so much easier for
3:55
Speaker 2: them just to go look at houses. Like you could
3:57
Speaker 2: just be like, Oh, let's go look at houses today.
4:00
Speaker 2: Like it's HGTV or something. And, and not even, I mean,
4:04
Speaker 2: they might not even have any intention of buying. They
4:06
Speaker 2: just want to go see it.
4:07
Speaker 4: Right.
4:08
Speaker 2: I don't know how many people actually did that, but
4:09
Speaker 2: I've heard of it.
4:10
Speaker 3: It happened all the time.
4:12
Speaker 7: Yeah.
4:12
Speaker 4: I lived through the time. I used to do what
4:14
Speaker 4: was called desk duty and, you'd be here at the
4:17
Speaker 4: office and somebody would call and be dodged asking to
4:19
Speaker 4: see a house and you'd just naturally go out and
4:22
Speaker 4: show it. You'd usually ask the basic questions, are you pre-qualified?
4:26
Speaker 4: What type of house have you talked to before? Are
4:29
Speaker 4: you working with an agent? But most of the time
4:31
Speaker 4: you'd agree to go out and show them a house.
4:32
Speaker 4: Even if they'd worked with 10 agents before that or
4:34
Speaker 4: they'd been looking at houses for 10 years, you'd just
4:37
Speaker 4: go out and show it to them.
4:39
Speaker 6: Since you brought that up, it also brings up the
4:43
Speaker 6: point you'll have the general public who will sign one
4:48
Speaker 6: of these agency agreements with someone not realizing that it
4:53
Speaker 6: is binding that person to that agent for a certain
4:56
Speaker 6: period of time like you said could be up to
4:58
Speaker 6: a year so they decide well i don't like that
5:01
Speaker 6: house i'm going to click on another house the next
5:04
Speaker 6: weekend and contact another agent and see if another agent
5:07
Speaker 6: will show it to me not realizing that they're not
5:11
Speaker 6: allowed to go see houses.
5:12
Speaker 5: With anyone else other than who they've signed the exclusive
5:15
Speaker 5: agency with. So it's really a public service.
5:18
Speaker 6: To people to make sure that they know, please make
5:24
Speaker 6: your agent slow down and explain to you exactly what
5:27
Speaker 6: it is you're signing.
5:28
Speaker 5: Because when you sign, it is a binding legal document.
5:32
Speaker 6: And I don't think people realize that.
5:36
Speaker 5: In the rush to want to see their perfect house.
5:38
Speaker 2: That all said then, people are going on these websites,
5:41
Speaker 2: they're clicking the button. What do you think most people
5:44
Speaker 2: actually think is happening when they click that button?
5:49
Speaker 6: I think they're going to be contacted by the agent
5:52
Speaker 6: who has the house listed.
5:53
Speaker 2: And that's obviously not what happens.
5:55
Speaker 4: The knowledgeable person that knows everything about the house, the neighborhood,
5:59
Speaker 4: the city possibly. It's far from the truth. They might
6:02
Speaker 4: be from across the river in Elkhorn. and not even
6:06
Speaker 4: know about Council Bluffs or vice versa.
6:09
Speaker 2: Or even like out where I live, you know, where
6:11
Speaker 2: my area is.
6:13
Speaker 4: Absolutely. I mean, if I got a call from Neola,
6:15
Speaker 4: I would actually refer them to you because I don't
6:19
Speaker 4: know the city. But if you click an agent, you're
6:22
Speaker 4: going to get whoever. You're going to get a hungry agent.
6:25
Speaker 3: You literally don't know who you're going to get, who's
6:27
Speaker 3: going to respond to that.
6:29
Speaker 5: And you have no way of vetting.
6:31
Speaker 2: Right.
6:33
Speaker 5: That agent, you just get a signed one.
6:34
Speaker 2: You just get a random one. Whoever is paying for
6:36
Speaker 2: the lead, you know, there's the zip codes, the way
6:39
Speaker 2: that that, you know, obviously we know the way that
6:41
Speaker 2: that works. These agents are paying for the leads that
6:44
Speaker 2: come from any specific zip code. So, you know, you
6:47
Speaker 2: could be paying for the leads that for the council,
6:49
Speaker 2: you know, for the 51503 zip code.
6:50
Speaker 4: Right.
6:53
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't imagine what the bill would be
6:54
Speaker 2: for that. However, that's how that works. And so if
7:01
Speaker 2: anybody clicks the button for a house in that zip code,
7:04
Speaker 2: it's going to go to the agent that's paying for
7:06
Speaker 2: the leads in that zip code. And so that's what
7:08
Speaker 2: a lot of them don't understand. And there could be
7:11
Speaker 2: someone that ranks first, second, and third, however much they're paying.
7:14
Speaker 2: And it's just.
7:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, it just goes down the chain, too. If that
7:18
Speaker 4: particular agent that's paying for the lead doesn't answer, it
7:21
Speaker 4: just It goes on down the lead. You could actually
7:23
Speaker 4: get somebody from far away.
7:25
Speaker 3: The other thing that happens is when that lead gets
7:30
Speaker 3: assigned to that agent, that is tracked through those websites.
7:34
Speaker 3: And they're required to convert so many of those to closings.
7:39
Speaker 3: And so it's a way for them to show that
7:42
Speaker 3: it's progressing. So that's why sometimes it may feel like
7:46
Speaker 3: hard pressure sales.
7:47
Speaker 4: Which that is so.
7:49
Speaker 3: Far from what we do. Our first job, and I
7:51
Speaker 3: tell you guys all the time, we're problem solvers.
7:54
Speaker 4: Well, on top of that, Jesse, too, a lot of
7:56
Speaker 4: them are asking for referrals on top of the lease.
7:59
Speaker 4: So your agent that you just clicked on may be
8:02
Speaker 4: paying 20% or 30% compensation. Back to that website. Back
8:06
Speaker 4: to that website, and that's your money. That's your negotiation
8:09
Speaker 4: where it could have been used for something else.
8:11
Speaker 3: Plus the monthbook. Some of them have that on top
8:15
Speaker 3: of it for that same.
8:17
Speaker 4: Same thing.
8:18
Speaker 2: I mean, it's definitely not cheap to be the agent
8:20
Speaker 2: paying for those leads.
8:21
Speaker 4: No.
8:21
Speaker 2: Those leads are not cheap.
8:22
Speaker 4: No, and you don't want an agent motivated by money
8:26
Speaker 4: or sales or anything like that. You want somebody looking
8:29
Speaker 4: out for you.
8:30
Speaker 5: Right.
8:31
Speaker 3: Your best interest.
8:32
Speaker 4: Your best interest. Exactly.
8:34
Speaker 6: And that's what this whole thing is about, is protecting
8:37
Speaker 6: the public.
8:38
Speaker 4: Right.
8:38
Speaker 6: And making sure that their best interests are being first
8:43
Speaker 6: and foremost above anyone else's.
8:45
Speaker 4: Of course.
8:46
Speaker 2: I mean, and it doesn't do... even from the flip
8:49
Speaker 2: side of that and stuff, it doesn't help us to
8:52
Speaker 2: end up with client, you know, I don't want a
8:53
Speaker 2: client that's upset at the end of this, you know,
8:55
Speaker 2: I want this to be what's right for them. I
8:57
Speaker 2: don't want them to be unhappy. I want, you know,
9:01
Speaker 2: for them to come out of this feeling like it
9:02
Speaker 2: was a good experience they got everything that they wanted
9:04
Speaker 2: you know buying a home is a lot of people's
9:06
Speaker 2: dream and I want them to feel like it was
9:07
Speaker 2: the dream come.
9:08
Speaker 3: True yes right right and I want it to be
9:10
Speaker 3: fun for sure hopefully I mean there's a lot of
9:14
Speaker 3: moving parts right you have to.
9:15
Speaker 4: Have someone that you click with if you don't click
9:17
Speaker 4: not everybody clicks with everybody I mean I like to
9:20
Speaker 4: think I can get along with everybody I'm sure Jesse
9:22
Speaker 4: does too but there are just certain people that you
9:24
Speaker 4: just for some reason or another you just don't get
9:27
Speaker 4: along with now do you want to be with that
9:29
Speaker 4: person through A transaction, maybe two, three months, and then
9:33
Speaker 4: a closing.
9:34
Speaker 2: Well, and sometimes even the home search could be... I mean,
9:36
Speaker 2: I've worked with people for a year or more.
9:38
Speaker 4: 13 years one time.
9:41
Speaker 6: Yeah, right?
9:42
Speaker 3: Five years was my life.
9:44
Speaker 2: This is your new BFF when it comes to home
9:46
Speaker 2: hunting and getting this all done and stuff. So yeah,
9:49
Speaker 2: you definitely should like them.
9:51
Speaker 4: Yeah.
9:51
Speaker 3: Well, and back to what you were saying. I mean,
9:54
Speaker 3: there are sometimes like... I've met with a buyer and
9:57
Speaker 3: I just knew... I mean, it wasn't necessarily that we.
10:00
Speaker 7: didn't.
10:00
Speaker 3: I just knew I wasn't I wasn't going to be
10:02
Speaker 3: able to service them in the best for them. And
10:06
Speaker 3: so for me, I felt like it was best. to
10:08
Speaker 3: refer them to someone else in our office that I
10:11
Speaker 3: thought could probably serve them better than I could. And
10:14
Speaker 3: that's completely okay.
10:16
Speaker 4: And that's the way it used to be in the
10:17
Speaker 4: old days when you would meet up with somebody, you
10:19
Speaker 4: showed them that first house and maybe both of you
10:22
Speaker 4: felt the same way. You just weren't clicking and that's
10:25
Speaker 4: when you could move on. But nowadays with the new
10:28
Speaker 4: laws and the new rules, you're stuck.
10:31
Speaker 2: Well, because that buyer's agency didn't used to be a thing.
10:33
Speaker 2: We've dealt with that for what, two years?
10:35
Speaker 4: Yeah.
10:35
Speaker 3: A little over two years.
10:36
Speaker 2: And you know, that didn't used to be a thing.
10:38
Speaker 2: And so that's where I think, again, where it's like
10:41
Speaker 2: just a, where the general public doesn't understand that you
10:44
Speaker 2: have to do this because most people aren't home searching
10:46
Speaker 2: every two years.
10:47
Speaker 4: Right.
10:48
Speaker 2: You know, so they don't understand that you have to
10:50
Speaker 2: do this. So then clicking that button is a simple
10:52
Speaker 2: thing because it's not, they didn't used to be locked
10:56
Speaker 2: into anything before and now they are.
10:58
Speaker 4: Right.
10:58
Speaker 7: Right.
10:59
Speaker 3: So, so let me ask you this. What do you think, um,
11:04
Speaker 3: it looks like when a person, you know, when someone
11:08
Speaker 3: wants to look at a house, where should they start?
11:12
Speaker 4: Well, statistically, they say that everybody knows 3.5 realtors in
11:17
Speaker 4: their sphere. Makes you wonder who they have.
11:20
Speaker 3: That's probably the one with the good diet.
11:23
Speaker 2: One who doesn't have their license yet.
11:25
Speaker 4: Chances are you think about it, you probably know somebody.
11:29
Speaker 4: If you don't know somebody, you probably know a friend
11:31
Speaker 4: that's bought a house recently.
11:32
Speaker 6: Right.
11:33
Speaker 4: Or... Worst case scenario, you come down to the MP
11:35
Speaker 4: Dodge office, of course, and find yourself a good agent.
11:39
Speaker 4: But it's always good to ask friends, and I'm sure
11:43
Speaker 4: you can think of somebody. If not, we're always here.
11:46
Speaker 3: I mean, let me ask it. Maybe I should ask
11:48
Speaker 3: it this way. Should a buyer, before they even start
11:52
Speaker 3: clicking a button, hey, I want to see this house,
11:54
Speaker 3: should they find out from some friends or some family,
11:59
Speaker 3: some agents, and interview them to see who they click with?
12:04
Speaker 5: Yes.
12:06
Speaker 6: It's the single largest purchase you will ever make in
12:09
Speaker 6: your lifetime. And you should be interviewing more than one
12:15
Speaker 6: agent and you should be making sure that, like Tracy said,
12:19
Speaker 6: this person's going to be your best friend. You're going
12:21
Speaker 6: to be going into houses and looking through cabinets and
12:24
Speaker 6: doing all of the things for a few months maybe.
12:27
Speaker 6: So it needs to be somebody that you Can communicate
12:30
Speaker 6: with and understands your wants, your needs, your desires in
12:36
Speaker 6: a home. And not everybody's going to do that for you.
12:41
Speaker 2: You know, and what you said, it's someone you can
12:43
Speaker 2: communicate with. Make sure that there's someone that responds to you.
12:46
Speaker 2: that if you call them or text them, that they
12:49
Speaker 2: are getting back to you. Because I get told so
12:52
Speaker 2: many times, I've had a lot of people that have
12:54
Speaker 2: come to me after working with other situations and stuff,
12:57
Speaker 2: where they're like, well, I was working with so-and-so, but
12:58
Speaker 2: they never got back to me.
13:00
Speaker 4: That's pretty common. And to take it a step further,
13:03
Speaker 4: you might even want to search for legal disciplinary actions
13:07
Speaker 4: that have happened. Because it does come up.
13:10
Speaker 7: Oh, it does.
13:11
Speaker 4: And I don't want to disparage our industry, but there are...
13:14
Speaker 4: Johnny Carson told a joke that There was the worst
13:18
Speaker 4: doctor out there, and the unfortunate thing is that somebody
13:20
Speaker 4: had an appointment with him tomorrow morning. Of course, he
13:23
Speaker 4: told the joke better than I did, but that's true
13:25
Speaker 4: with every profession. There's bad people in every profession. And
13:30
Speaker 4: so you want to look maybe even in the licensing
13:32
Speaker 4: bureau and make sure that there's no disciplinary actions against
13:35
Speaker 4: this particular agent. And you can't do that when you
13:37
Speaker 4: click that agent and you've signed that contract. You're done.
13:40
Speaker 5: Right.
13:41
Speaker 2: That's your person now.
13:41
Speaker 4: That's your person.
13:43
Speaker 5: That's your person.
13:43
Speaker 4: You've committed to blinding.
13:48
Speaker 3: To him back to the video again.
13:51
Speaker 5: That was the worst.
13:53
Speaker 2: It was amazing.
13:54
Speaker 3: It was fun.
13:56
Speaker 4: I'm not a toxic agent.
13:58
Speaker 2: He's the sweetest guy.
14:02
Speaker 3: You know, and really, I mean, if they would just take,
14:05
Speaker 3: you know, press pause, take a little bit of a breath,
14:08
Speaker 3: get lined up with a good agent it will save
14:11
Speaker 3: them so much headache and heartache down the road. They'll
14:16
Speaker 3: be able to help them with their pre-approval process. They'll
14:20
Speaker 3: be able to help them with negotiations, how to structure
14:23
Speaker 3: things that would be best for their situation. I mean,
14:26
Speaker 3: there's a lot of things that go into it just
14:28
Speaker 3: to make sure, just take a second and make sure
14:31
Speaker 3: you're getting with the right agent.
14:32
Speaker 2: Like with what Monty touched on earlier too, an agent
14:34
Speaker 2: that's familiar with the area that you're buying or selling in.
14:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.
14:37
Speaker 2: Because I mean, again, I keep going back to this
14:41
Speaker 2: and stuck without where I'm at. The priorities of the
14:44
Speaker 2: different areas, the buyers that are looking in different areas
14:46
Speaker 2: are obviously very different. Someone who's looking in a more
14:48
Speaker 2: urban area is going to have different priorities and different
14:51
Speaker 2: conditions and wants and needs than someone who's looking in
14:54
Speaker 2: a more rural area. You know, when these small towns
14:57
Speaker 2: are all different, there's different vibes, they have different amenities.
15:00
Speaker 2: It pays to have someone who knows the area, whether
15:03
Speaker 2: they're selling in that area or buying in that area.
15:05
Speaker 4: And to top that off, I mean, in Council Bluffs,
15:07
Speaker 4: you know, there's, things called flood zones. And a lot
15:10
Speaker 4: of agents from across the river are not familiar with
15:12
Speaker 4: council blocks, don't really know where those houses are.
15:15
Speaker 7: Right.
15:16
Speaker 4: And a lot of times they're mislisted. They don't put
15:18
Speaker 4: that they're in the flood zone. Well, that can cost
15:20
Speaker 4: you $ 200, $ 300 a month for flood insurance.
15:22
Speaker 7: Easy.
15:22
Speaker 4: And can kill the deal on your house. And sometimes
15:25
Speaker 4: you're like, why is this house so cheap? Well, because
15:27
Speaker 4: you're going to pay $ 200 or $ 300 extra in flood insurance.
15:29
Speaker 7: Right.
15:30
Speaker 4: And it's just stuff only a local agent would really know.
15:33
Speaker 2: Someone who really knows that area.
15:35
Speaker 7: Right.
15:35
Speaker 4: Exactly.
15:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.
15:36
Speaker 1: You know.
15:38
Speaker 3: And I mean, I know when we first start talking
15:41
Speaker 3: with a buyer and we have to present them with
15:44
Speaker 3: the buyer's agency and the buyer's representation, go over it.
15:48
Speaker 3: You know, they get a little wide eyed and think,
15:51
Speaker 3: I'm signing a contract already. You know, and it just
15:54
Speaker 3: it's so important for us just to slow down, explain
15:58
Speaker 3: it to them. Don't don't just send everything.
16:00
Speaker 5: And an e-signature.
16:02
Speaker 4: Right.
16:02
Speaker 3: You know, send it to them and then call them
16:04
Speaker 3: on the phone. Get them on the phone while they're
16:06
Speaker 3: going through it so that you can explain. That's what
16:09
Speaker 3: the good agents are going to do.
16:10
Speaker 4: Yep. In my opinion. I get that because, you know,
16:13
Speaker 4: before I was an agent, I didn't want to sign
16:15
Speaker 4: anything when I was out. No.
16:17
Speaker 1: I just wanted to look.
16:18
Speaker 4: Nobody wants to sign a contract right away. And that's
16:21
Speaker 4: the area that we're into now, that you're signing a
16:24
Speaker 4: contract before you go looking. And nobody wants to do that.
16:28
Speaker 4: But that's where we're at. Right. It is. Exactly.
16:30
Speaker 5: Yeah.
16:31
Speaker 2: You know, and I think another thing, you know, not
16:34
Speaker 2: only just choosing a good agent and, you know, and
16:36
Speaker 2: somebody that you actually want to stay friends with for
16:38
Speaker 2: a period of time, because that's what's going to happen,
16:41
Speaker 2: you know, before you start looking at something, I think
16:43
Speaker 2: what I always hate the most is to see someone
16:45
Speaker 2: go into a house and fall in love with it
16:47
Speaker 2: and find out that they cannot afford it.
16:49
Speaker 7: Yes.
16:49
Speaker 2: And so I think that getting, you know, the first thing,
16:51
Speaker 2: even probably even before you reach out to an agent,
16:53
Speaker 2: but if you haven't yet, the agent will help you obviously,
16:56
Speaker 2: but getting pre-approved, getting set up with a letter. and stuff,
16:59
Speaker 2: you know, so what do you typically tell people if
17:02
Speaker 2: they want to start looking beforehand and they haven't done
17:04
Speaker 2: that yet?
17:05
Speaker 4: Are you pre-qualified? I mean, that's just a standard agent question.
17:09
Speaker 4: And I used to hate that too. I have the money,
17:12
Speaker 4: but you know, I got to prove that. So you
17:14
Speaker 4: need a lender, you need a lender, you need a
17:16
Speaker 4: pre-approval letter or a bank. And a local lender helps
17:18
Speaker 4: out even more. Well, I was going to get into that.
17:21
Speaker 4: One of the saddest stories I've ever had in my
17:23
Speaker 4: career was a single woman with three kids in a
17:26
Speaker 4: Ryder truck. in an office in Glenwood and the lender
17:31
Speaker 4: didn't show up for closing.
17:33
Speaker 3: My goodness.
17:34
Speaker 4: Yep.
17:34
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
17:34
Speaker 4: And it was a national lender. And both me and
17:37
Speaker 4: the other agent had told this person, please try to
17:41
Speaker 4: get pre-approved with a local lender. But they wouldn't listen
17:44
Speaker 4: to either me or the listing agent.
17:47
Speaker 2: So you gave them recommendations and they just, they did
17:49
Speaker 2: their own.
17:50
Speaker 4: They just would not listen. She would not listen. She
17:52
Speaker 4: was a single mother. And I'm still friends with her.
17:55
Speaker 4: I mean, Three years later, we were able to get
17:57
Speaker 4: her back into something, but it's one of the saddest stories,
17:59
Speaker 4: watching her, three little kids, three little girls, and her
18:01
Speaker 4: in the Ryder truck with everything.
18:03
Speaker 2: Three years later?
18:05
Speaker 4: Three years later, because they discovered a bankruptcy last minute. Oh.
18:08
Speaker 4: So that national lender decided just not to show up
18:11
Speaker 4: for the closing.
18:12
Speaker 2: He didn't communicate that with her?
18:13
Speaker 3: No.
18:14
Speaker 4: When we finally got a hold of them, they said, well,
18:15
Speaker 4: we found this bankruptcy from six years ago. Wow.
18:19
Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh.
18:21
Speaker 4: It was a sad story.
18:21
Speaker 2: That is really sad.
18:23
Speaker 5: And I think another misconception is.
18:27
Speaker 6: When an agent asks a buyer, are you pre-qualified or pre-approved?
18:31
Speaker 6: It's not us assuming that you can't afford to purchase
18:35
Speaker 6: a home. It's us making sure I don't want to
18:39
Speaker 6: show you a home that's way more expensive than what
18:44
Speaker 6: you can comfortably afford every month. Because all that's going
18:48
Speaker 6: to do is get your hopes up. And how do
18:50
Speaker 6: you think you can buy one thing when in reality
18:55
Speaker 6: you may not be able to buy that home? I
18:57
Speaker 6: would rather in doing the prequalification process, it ultimately sets
19:02
Speaker 6: you up to be successful in your home search.
19:04
Speaker 2: I think on the flip side of that too, some
19:06
Speaker 2: people are, they just assume that they can't afford to
19:08
Speaker 2: buy a house.
19:09
Speaker 5: Yes.
19:10
Speaker 2: That holds them up completely.
19:12
Speaker 4: Yes.
19:13
Speaker 2: Sometimes just calling an agent to say, you know, I'm
19:16
Speaker 2: interested in buying something. I don't know if I'm ready yet.
19:18
Speaker 2: The first thing we're going to tell you is, okay,
19:19
Speaker 2: let's go talk to a lender and let's see if
19:21
Speaker 2: you can.
19:22
Speaker 4: Right.
19:22
Speaker 3: And we'll help walk them through that.
19:24
Speaker 4: Right.
19:25
Speaker 6: And the misconception that you have to have 20% down
19:28
Speaker 6: to purchase a home, that is not the case anymore.
19:31
Speaker 4: Right.
19:31
Speaker 6: It's definitely a misconception that finding the right agent can
19:36
Speaker 6: definitely help you dispel that myth and find out exactly
19:40
Speaker 6: what you can do.
19:41
Speaker 2: You know, I had a buyer not too long ago
19:43
Speaker 2: that we, when he first came to me, he was,
19:45
Speaker 2: I mean, that was the case. He wasn't ready yet.
19:47
Speaker 2: and stuff. But so we worked with, you know, him
19:49
Speaker 2: and his lender for a year, getting him ready to buy.
19:53
Speaker 2: And then of course, then we looked at homes for
19:55
Speaker 2: six months before we found him a home and got
19:57
Speaker 2: it closed and everything, you know, but sometimes it's a lot,
20:00
Speaker 2: we're in it for the long haul, but the great
20:01
Speaker 2: thing about a good lender and, you know, is that they,
20:05
Speaker 2: they'll lay out the steps that they need to take.
20:07
Speaker 4: Right.
20:07
Speaker 2: And they don't just shut the door.
20:09
Speaker 4: And I think a lot of people my age think, oh,
20:10
Speaker 4: the Monopoly guy for a banker, you know, with the mustache.
20:13
Speaker 5: It's intimidating.
20:14
Speaker 4: And everybody's intimidated by bankers. But these days, it's a
20:17
Speaker 4: way different.
20:18
Speaker 3: It is.
20:18
Speaker 4: They're normal, average people. They're so nice. And a lot
20:21
Speaker 4: of times you can start your loan application by text
20:25
Speaker 4: without even talking to them at 8 o'clock at night. So,
20:29
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a way different world.
20:31
Speaker 2: I mean, they're just like us.
20:32
Speaker 4: You don't have to sit across from a big desk
20:34
Speaker 4: in a big fancy office from the Monopoly guy. It's
20:37
Speaker 4: much easier than it used to be.
20:39
Speaker 3: So we talked a lot about the buyer's agency and
20:42
Speaker 3: the buyer's representation. So let's dig into that a little more.
20:46
Speaker 3: What exactly does that mean for us? And what does
20:50
Speaker 3: it mean for the buyers?
20:53
Speaker 4: Well, it gives us as agents a responsibility to you
20:57
Speaker 4: to do a certain number of things professionally and ethically.
21:03
Speaker 4: It's a good thing, even though it's a contract. Nobody
21:05
Speaker 4: likes the word contract or agreement or legal obligations. but
21:09
Speaker 4: that's where we're at today. And it kind of is
21:11
Speaker 4: a template for us to be professional and for you
21:15
Speaker 4: to do your job as a buyer. Right. Cause it's
21:17
Speaker 4: a team effort. A lot of people think it's automatic
21:20
Speaker 4: that this Hayes come, but it's a team effort in
21:23
Speaker 4: buying or selling. Right. Absolutely.
21:26
Speaker 2: I always kind of, you know, I always start off
21:28
Speaker 2: with the fact that like in real estate agency means relationship.
21:31
Speaker 2: And I always, I kind of always start off with
21:33
Speaker 2: that and tell them that. And then, um, start rolling
21:38
Speaker 2: into the fact that this is basically going to lay
21:40
Speaker 2: out the terms of our relationship and what are your
21:43
Speaker 2: obligations and what are mine.
21:44
Speaker 4: Exactly. Right.
21:47
Speaker 3: I also think it helps us from a safety perspective.
21:51
Speaker 3: It allows us the opportunity to get to know someone
21:54
Speaker 3: before we ever meet them out at a property. We
21:58
Speaker 3: should be asking some questions so that we can fill
22:01
Speaker 3: in some of that information ahead of time and start
22:04
Speaker 3: having that conversation with I mean, safety is a huge
22:08
Speaker 3: thing for us anymore with the way things are going.
22:11
Speaker 4: We need to kind of know a little bit about
22:13
Speaker 4: you before we agree to meet a stranger at a
22:16
Speaker 4: house because we're going to be down in the basement
22:18
Speaker 4: with you.
22:18
Speaker 2: Banking properties.
22:21
Speaker 4: Banking properties, yeah. And it's a big issue right now,
22:24
Speaker 4: and there's been some horrible things happen right here locally.
22:28
Speaker 2: There was an NP Dodge agent, actually, that was killed
22:30
Speaker 2: in Omaha. How many years ago was that?
22:33
Speaker 3: Two years ago.
22:34
Speaker 4: Two or three years ago.
22:35
Speaker 2: And then, actually, it's been.
22:36
Speaker 4: I'm a seasoned agent, too. Yeah.
22:37
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:38
Speaker 4: I mean, I knew it. I did a deal with
22:40
Speaker 4: them about a month before that.
22:41
Speaker 3: I mean, I was shocked when I heard it, but
22:43
Speaker 3: that's where, you know, this very agreement will help us.
22:48
Speaker 3: it does help us with some of that.
22:49
Speaker 2: Well, and I just think that the odds of someone
22:51
Speaker 2: who wants to harm you being willing to sign something
22:54
Speaker 2: are probably fairly slim, right? Right. They have ill intentions.
22:58
Speaker 2: They're probably not going to want to sign anything.
23:00
Speaker 4: Right.
23:00
Speaker 5: Right.
23:01
Speaker 6: And the people who know that they don't, once it's
23:03
Speaker 6: been explained, will have no problem signing it because they
23:07
Speaker 6: know that they're on the up and up and they're
23:10
Speaker 6: there for the right reasons. But I think also it
23:13
Speaker 6: helps explain to people your client in creating an agency
23:18
Speaker 6: agreement and relationship that we, all of the things that
23:23
Speaker 6: we will be doing for them. I don't think they,
23:27
Speaker 6: the general public realizes when you, when you sign that agreement,
23:32
Speaker 6: all of the things that we as agents are obligated
23:35
Speaker 6: to do on their behalf, the fiduciary, the fiduciary duties.
23:38
Speaker 6: I think sometimes the relationships get skewed as far as
23:44
Speaker 6: clients think that the agent, kind of runs the show.
23:48
Speaker 5: And that's not the case at all.
23:51
Speaker 6: The client is the one who is setting the expectations,
23:55
Speaker 6: setting the pace, setting, you know, the speed of the
23:59
Speaker 6: meetings and whatever's happening with that.
24:04
Speaker 5: And we follow their lead.
24:05
Speaker 2: It's kind of what I always say, too, is, you know,
24:07
Speaker 2: we as agents, our job is to explain all the
24:09
Speaker 2: things to the client so that they can make the decisions.
24:11
Speaker 5: Exactly.
24:12
Speaker 3: Educate them, you know, so that they have the... information
24:16
Speaker 3: in 18.
24:16
Speaker 4: And every transaction, there's probably 30 or 40 things that
24:20
Speaker 4: go on behind the scenes that hopefully you'll never see
24:23
Speaker 4: most of.
24:23
Speaker 3: Right, right. All the weird things that can come up.
24:27
Speaker 4: It may seem like you signed the sales agreement and
24:30
Speaker 4: you're on your way, but there's things happening with title
24:33
Speaker 4: companies and the lenders and attorneys and inspectors and all
24:38
Speaker 4: kinds of moving parts behind the scenes.
24:40
Speaker 6: In those 30, 40 plus years, things that come up
24:44
Speaker 6: and things that have to be done during the life
24:46
Speaker 6: of a transaction. If, if the buyer is blissfully unaware
24:52
Speaker 6: of the majority of them, their agent is doing their
24:56
Speaker 6: job because that's our job is to make sure that
24:59
Speaker 6: we solve problems and put out fires before they become
25:03
Speaker 6: fires and take care of all of the, all of
25:06
Speaker 6: the minutia and the details of the deal so that
25:09
Speaker 6: that buyer is thinks it's a seamless transaction.
25:12
Speaker 2: Everything that we can, anyway.
25:14
Speaker 5: I mean, there are some things.
25:15
Speaker 4: Right.
25:15
Speaker 5: Right.
25:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's obviously some things you can't control. I mean,
25:18
Speaker 4: sometimes people get fired at a job.
25:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
25:22
Speaker 5: Right.
25:22
Speaker 4: There's nothing worse than a seller moving out of the house,
25:24
Speaker 4: waiting for closing, and then the buyer loses their job,
25:27
Speaker 4: and now everybody's in limbo. But you always want a
25:29
Speaker 4: good agent on your side to make sure that you
25:31
Speaker 4: get what you're entitled to back. Right. If it's something
25:33
Speaker 4: that was not your fault and the deal fell through.
25:36
Speaker 7: Right.
25:37
Speaker 4: Because some agents are not good at that.
25:39
Speaker 3: I really think it comes down to... how well educated
25:42
Speaker 3: and trained those agents are. I mean, we do a
25:45
Speaker 3: very good job here in this office of keeping all
25:49
Speaker 3: of us on the forefront of the changes in the
25:52
Speaker 3: market and what we're dealing with and how this could
25:55
Speaker 3: play out. It's constantly changing, constantly evolving, and we try
25:58
Speaker 3: and keep all of us on the forefront of all
26:01
Speaker 3: that stuff. And I think, you know, it shows because
26:04
Speaker 3: we're able to lead and guide those buyers a lot
26:07
Speaker 3: more efficiently through the process.
26:10
Speaker 2: I have always felt that I have had kind of,
26:13
Speaker 2: I mean, like, we knew, especially with the changes with
26:16
Speaker 2: this buyer agency agreement that happened in Iowa. Other states
26:20
Speaker 2: had it before us, but in Iowa, I just felt
26:22
Speaker 2: like I was on top of that. It wasn't a,
26:25
Speaker 2: you know, there was so much education on that happening
26:28
Speaker 2: in this office before it hit that by the time
26:31
Speaker 2: it did, like, we were, it was old hat already.
26:34
Speaker 3: Well, and to touch back on what Tracy was saying,
26:37
Speaker 3: you know, about making sure that You know, we were
26:40
Speaker 3: ahead of the game when these changes, because we saw
26:43
Speaker 3: that coming. We started training all of the agents here
26:47
Speaker 3: a year before it actually became law. You know, so
26:50
Speaker 3: that way, when the state actually passed it and made
26:52
Speaker 3: it law, it was unanimous through the House and the Senate.
26:56
Speaker 5: Right.
26:57
Speaker 2: Or through Congress.
26:58
Speaker 3: And they made it happen. You guys were already right there,
27:03
Speaker 3: ready to go. We already had the forms in place,
27:06
Speaker 3: ready to go.
27:06
Speaker 5: We were proactive instead of reactive.
27:09
Speaker 4: 100%, yeah.
27:10
Speaker 2: And everybody was already comfortable with it because we had
27:12
Speaker 2: spent so much time talking about it here.
27:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, right. It was, I mean.
27:16
Speaker 3: I mean, even to the point of role-playing how conversations
27:20
Speaker 3: could have went.
27:21
Speaker 4: Because we all love.
27:22
Speaker 2: Role-playing so much, especially you two.
27:23
Speaker 4: You guys really like it.
27:28
Speaker 3: Even at that time, when we saw it was coming,
27:30
Speaker 3: we did specific events geared just for the public. to
27:35
Speaker 3: invite them in so that we could explain it, go
27:38
Speaker 3: over it, ask questions, all of that. And we had
27:41
Speaker 3: people coming into the office for those things. We did
27:44
Speaker 3: several of them here. We did some down in Glenwood.
27:47
Speaker 3: People showed up because they legitimately wanted to know.
27:52
Speaker 2: We kind of talked a little bit about how it
27:54
Speaker 2: benefits everybody. We talked about how it benefits the buyers
27:57
Speaker 2: and benefits us. And I think it benefits sellers in
27:59
Speaker 2: a way too because that way they know that the
28:01
Speaker 2: people that are coming into their home are committed.
28:03
Speaker 7: Absolutely.
28:03
Speaker 3: With all that being said, are there any, like if
28:06
Speaker 3: you had to give one pointer to a buyer, what's
28:09
Speaker 3: one question they should ask an agent before committing or
28:13
Speaker 3: before signing the buyer?
28:15
Speaker 2: Before they commit to their person.
28:17
Speaker 4: Yeah. I would ask how long you've been doing this.
28:20
Speaker 4: My first question.
28:21
Speaker 6: It might not be a bad idea to ask how
28:23
Speaker 6: many deals they have going at the time.
28:25
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
28:27
Speaker 6: Because on the one hand, folks might want to be
28:30
Speaker 6: with that really successful agent who has... 10 listings and
28:34
Speaker 6: is working with 20 buyers, or they might prefer the
28:38
Speaker 6: person who doesn't have, isn't working with 10 other buyers.
28:44
Speaker 6: That agent can be more focused on them and their transaction,
28:48
Speaker 6: which every agent should be anyway.
28:50
Speaker 4: I think that's such an excellent point because if you
28:52
Speaker 4: go into some sites and say, oh, pick the busiest
28:54
Speaker 4: agent with the most transactions or the most listings, that's
28:58
Speaker 4: probably the last person you want because honestly, you want
29:02
Speaker 4: somebody that's focused on you.
29:04
Speaker 3: I guess for me, one question I would encourage a
29:06
Speaker 3: buyer to ask is, explain this to me.
29:11
Speaker 4: What they're signing.
29:12
Speaker 3: I want that agent that can actually take and break
29:16
Speaker 3: this down. I know that they know their paperwork. They
29:19
Speaker 3: know their contract. They can explain it to me in
29:21
Speaker 3: terms that I understand, and that makes sense. And if
29:26
Speaker 3: I have questions... They're willing to answer. They're not getting
29:29
Speaker 3: frustrated with me. I think that's highly important that a
29:32
Speaker 3: buyer make sure that they have the ability to ask questions. Right.
29:37
Speaker 2: I think for me, when I, you know, I would
29:39
Speaker 2: always encourage people to check and see how often that
29:42
Speaker 2: agent has been in that area. You know, do they
29:44
Speaker 2: work in that area often? How well do they know it?
29:47
Speaker 2: I feel like I see that a lot.
29:49
Speaker 3: So what do you guys think? Went pretty good.
29:52
Speaker 4: Yeah.
29:53
Speaker 7: Yeah.
29:53
Speaker 4: So not bad. Yeah.
29:54
Speaker 3: So, um, Well, with all that being said, we do
29:59
Speaker 3: encourage everybody to reach out to us. We've got the
30:02
Speaker 3: fully disclosed re at gmail.com. Feel free to email us
30:07
Speaker 3: with any questions, any topics you'd like us to cover
30:12
Speaker 3: on any of the episodes, wherever you're watching it or listening.
30:16
Speaker 3: If you wouldn't mind, hit the subscribe or the follow
30:19
Speaker 3: button just to keep us in the algorithms as we're
30:22
Speaker 3: moving forward. And with that, guys. I would say today
30:26
Speaker 3: we are fully disclosed. We'll see you next time.
30:29
Speaker 7: Finding the right real estate agent really comes down to
30:36
Speaker 7: what is the right fit for you.
30:51
Speaker 3: Maybe you're selling a home that you've lived in for
30:53
Speaker 3: 30 years and you just want someone who understands.
30:56
Speaker 4: It's more than a transaction.
30:59
Speaker 6: Maybe you're buying your first home and need someone who
31:01
Speaker 6: won't assume you already know how any of this works.
31:04
Speaker 1: Maybe a new job is bringing you here and you
31:07
Speaker 1: need someone to help you figure out where here should
31:09
Speaker 1: actually be.
31:11
Speaker 6: Or maybe you're downsizing and trying to decide what comes next.
31:15
Speaker 2: Maybe you're ready to trade city streets for gravel roads
31:18
Speaker 2: and you need someone who knows what comes with that.
31:20
Speaker 4: Maybe you've outgrown your home and you need a little
31:22
Speaker 4: more space to grow. Maybe you're looking for an agent
31:26
Speaker 4: that knows the problems and the benefits that come along
31:29
Speaker 4: with buying an investment property.
31:31
Speaker 6: Maybe you need someone who knows your town, your neighborhood,
31:36
Speaker 6: or your type of property.
31:39
Speaker 1: Or maybe you just need an agent whose personality works
31:41
Speaker 1: with yours, because you will be talking to us a lot.
31:44
Speaker 3: Whatever your next move looks like, NP Dodge and Council
31:47
Speaker 3: Bluffs can help you find the right agent for it.
31:50
Speaker 3: Call our office anytime or message us on Facebook or Instagram.
31:54
Speaker 3: We'll make the connection.