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Smart Fixes That Help A Divorce Home Sell Faster · SPLITUP

• 0:07
  Speaker: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not legal or psychological advice.
• 0:12
  Speaker: Listening does not create a professional relationship with Split Up or any guests.
• 0:17
  Speaker: Launi and Robert are only licensed in the state of Arizona.
• 0:21
  Speaker: For legal or mental health concerns, please consult a licensed professional in your state.
• 0:26
  Speaker: Guest identities may be changed for privacy.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Hi, welcome to Split Up.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: I'm Launi Sheldon, Arizona family law attorney for over 25 years and founder of Split Up.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Today we have Matt Sheldon back.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: And welcome, Matt.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Hey, good to be back.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: All right, so we're going to be talking about selling your house and getting it sold.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: As a quick disclaimer, I am also a real estate agent, and Matt is a real estate broker and is my broker.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: The podcast is for educational purposes only.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: And watching or listening to this podcast does not create a professional or fiduciary relationship.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: So that's what we're getting started with.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: So a little bit about Matt.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: He has over 20 years of experience in real estate.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: And he is a mortgage broker in several states and a real estate agent or broker in several states.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: He has experience in both commercial and residential properties and has been doing flipping since he got his licenses.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: So I asked him to join me so that we can discuss really the selling houses when you're going through a divorce and ways that you can improve the slability and um in in a less expensive kind of way.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: So since Matt flips houses and he's used to putting, I guess, lipstick on a pig, is that what you guys call it?
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Umless it depends on the price range, right?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, to get so to get to get what you can get out of the house and to get what um especially if you don't have a lot of money.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Um I think that's the best way to um to do it.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: So Matt, again, welcome.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being here.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's going to be here.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Launi.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: That was a good intro.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: So okay, so okay.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: We want to talk a couple of about a couple of things.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: One is how to inexpensively, because these people are going through a divorce, increase the value of a home.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: And we're going to kind of break this out a little bit more, but just for starters, how do you inexpensively increase the value of a home?
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously that's the million-dollar question.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: So, you know, I too are handling a lot of divorce situations, real estate.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Uh, you know, it's tough, tough when you see people leaving money on the table, especially when they could have taken some basic steps to counter that, to, to get now.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Obviously, we know the situation.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: They're trying to there's these, you know, hopefully there's no conflict, but if there's conflict, there's there's that issue.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: But generally speaking, they're trying to sell it quickly.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: So, you know, there's that balance between trying to get top dollar versus moving quickly, right?
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean the biggest the biggest bang for your buck always, and where we start with our flips is gonna be the the paint that's interior, exterior, uh exterior, especially, because then you have the curb appeal when somebody pulls up, that's what draws them in.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: And I'll get to I'll get to the professional photos later because that's where people start as online.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: But generally you want to get them there, you want the curb appeal to invite them in, and then you want the presentation to occur when they walk through that front door.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: So having fresh paint, excuse me, inexpensively covers a lot of that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Pull up, house looks refreshed, you know, right there in the mind.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Psychologic advisors are going, oh, homes looks pretty good.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: And they go in, and and if there's other updates, they're maybe looking past, they're looking at what they want to do because it's such a personal um opinion as far as what people want to do when it comes to things like flooring and blinds and shutters.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: But the other big one, if you do have the money, let's say 10,000, uh, it's kind of a dollar mile we discussed.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Biggest bank is definitely gonna be in the kitchen.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: That's where you want to start.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: That's kind of a centerpiece for a home.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: And the more you do there, the better, as far as increase the value or just demand on the home.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Uh, another one is bathrooms.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: These are two areas where on our flips we we spend a lot of time and money is the kitchen and bathrooms.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Because you're just uh gonna appeal to a broader range of buyers and also maximize value as far as getting getting what you want out of the home.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: So I'd say, you know, without without getting too into the weeds, because you know it's always conversational.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: What does the front yard look like?
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: What do the cabinets look like?
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: How old is this?
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: Is this so assuming everything's you know average or at least presentable, these are the areas where you want to focus.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: If you have some things that are really outdated, really need some attention, obviously you want to work with that.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Because if you pull up and there's uh weeds and you know, everything's overgrown the front yard, it's gonna be tough to get people inside.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: So so a green pool is bad.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: That's the backyard.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: We haven't got even gotten there yet.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: So, but yes, that that definitely is gonna turn people off.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Because remember, this is emotional.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: We're trying to appeal to people on the on an emotional side, and and obviously then they justify we go through all the the the numbers and finance of it, but at the end of the day, it's a financial, uh not a financial, it's more of an emotional decision for almost everyone.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard because you know, selling a house because of a divorce is sometimes more emotional, um, just because the divorce and they're being forced into it.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: It's not like they're just selling a house because they want to sell the house and go get a different house.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: They're actually possibly losing their home, which maybe they didn't ask for.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Maybe they maybe it's a divorce that one person wanted and one person didn't want.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Um, and and I we will be talking to um a a real estate special commissioner um next week to talk about really the problems with dealing with divorced people, and you know that.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: But um, but yeah, so this is becomes does does become emotional.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: And oftentimes there is conflict, um, or at least somebody not wanting to put in a bunch of money into the house because they just want it, they want to dump it and be done.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: Um, but we're too much, and the other thing, you know, not being realistic on the sales price.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true too.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: And I, you know, that's that's a really good point because when you're talking about increasing the value of the home, I guess you don't necessarily talk about the value of the home there, but we're gonna go move on to the sellability.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: And I guess if you overprice it, um, it's not even gonna be looked at, right?
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Because if you if it's if you've someone's got $600,000 to spend on a house and you list it at $615, you've just dumped out those people.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: So maybe list it at $599.99.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: That one.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's perfect, actually.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: So I call it bidding against yourself.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: And I've dealt with it, you know, we all have been there.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: Um, generally, you want to use market data and and complete what's called a BPO or bright broker pricing opinion, uh, also called a CMA comparative market analysis.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: You want to use these things and generally use the parameters that use PAP is using, which is the appraisal standards.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Uh, it's gonna really help as far as being realistic about what a property can sell for.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: That being said, you know, last year was a challenging market, for example.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: You know, stuff wasn't moving for what it was appraising for.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: So just because the value might be there doesn't mean the buyers are.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: We dealt with that actually with one of our recent flips.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: We priced it at uh a bit above where kind of the market higher higher end of the market value was we had no showings.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: So within a week we dropped at 30,000 and showings started.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Um, but didn't occur until we got to the price where we had a steady flow of buyers because you don't want to ever just try to time it and get lucky with one, you want a steady flow of buyers because it's a numbers game, and so from a sellability standpoint, you don't want to be up here with the price and then start chasing buyers is also something I call it because you're negotiating against yourself because buyers see this, the agents see it, and now they know they can offer you well under where you're at, or ask for concessions or a combo.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: So, really to maximize it, you want to price right or just a little under.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: And you made a good point.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Stay at paying attention to what's called pricing bands.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Sometimes is one of the references to it.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: That's your 600,000, 625, 650s, you know, so on and so forth.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Generally, it's in in a 25 to 50,000 range, but yeah, let's say somebody's looking at 600 and you're at 605, you're not even you're not getting those.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: So the other caveat to pricing, right, is pricing at a number that captures the greatest number of buyers looking at it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: So 605, I would probably almost always go to 600 or 599.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Um, same with 625.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't go 630, I'd go 6249 or 625.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, you get the idea there.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Um, going back to it to sellability, uh, one of the big ones is is decluttering.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: That's one of the big things that's gonna affect the perception of value for buyers when they walk in.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: So, do you real quick, do you have people just take stuff out and like go put it in a storage unit?
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've I've personally I was I had a condo, so it was a long time ago, but I've even done that when I was trying to sell it, sure.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Um, but yeah, seen plenty of people do that.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: You know, it's sometimes a really good idea if that's if that's your option.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: If you're out of storage and the the garage is packed to the ceiling and you got stuff everywhere.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: You also kind of want to depersonalize the home.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Um, that's a tough one for people because you know it's it's um they're like you said, it's already emotional, it's their personal memories.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: And but the less it's statistically, I mean, it's just gonna go a whole lot further as far as saleability and and getting top dollar when you make it kind of a neutral, we'll call it when you take down the personal stuff and and store it.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're already moving anyway.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: So, you know, these things are are easy to relatively easy to do, depending on on the clutter that's there.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: But uh then when you're done with that, it makes it that much easier to clean everything.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: You really if you could do it yourself or hire someone's deep clean the baseboards, the fans, um, the cleaner and more presentable it looks, the more emotionally bought in buyers are gonna be to that home, which makes it easier to sell and get top dollar.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: That's what we're trying to do.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: What about uh baking cookies?
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, that's uh you hear that.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Is that true?
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, or cinnamon rolls.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Um, that's we've done it on at that the last couple open house.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: I did them on a flip.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Um, I don't generally do a lot there, but um, yeah, cinnamon rolls are are or cookies because that has to do with smell, so it's part of the clutter too, right?
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Especially if you have animals, we do, you know, you do a lot of it's a really common.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: So you don't want the smells to turn people off either.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Um, so make sure to be very aware of that as well.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: It's probably almost more important than the clutter is making sure the home smells whatever you have to do from a cleaning standpoint.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: Make sure, make sure it's very pleasant when you walk in, very inviting, and that's where the clutter, the smell comes in.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: And then things like the cookies and very cliche and uh the cinnamon rolls, that's just kind of the cherry on top, with um kind of getting that excitement going, like, hey, this place is great.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: You know, I got a question for you because there was a house that um your dad and I went to look at.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: And for those of you who don't know, Matt is my husband's son, and I always feel weird saying stepson, but he's my husband's son.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: So um we went and looked at a house in Payson at one point, and there was a dog barking like two doors down, and we're like, oh no, no, no.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Do you have any tricks for that?
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, besides throwing him a bone, do you ever go to a neighbor and go, hey, I'm gonna be showing the house today?
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Can you shut your freaking dog up?
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean, what can you do except that?
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously, as animal lovers, there's that no way I would ever even consider anything else.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: But I mean, yeah, maybe you could throw them bone or something to keep them quiet.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: They're gonna be outside.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're right though, that that's some people notice too.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: They notice um, you know, there's motorcycles or you know, there's certain things that certain people don't don't want them in their neighborhood, I guess.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: And I love dogs, and I got I've got a dog that barks, but I feel like if I was next to another barking dog, that they'd be barking at each other the whole time.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: That too.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, we yeah, yeah, we have foot golden that'll do that too, obviously.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: But um my I'd already know my dad doesn't like anything to do with the barking dog.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Well, he's he's stuck with our barking dogs because our you know oh no, it's it's it's someone else.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, ours are fine, sort of like kids.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: My kids are fine, I don't like anybody else's kids.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: My kids, my grandkids, fine, but uh yeah, but yeah, you and that's that goes back to like you just don't want people wondering, like thinking like what's wrong here.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: Um oh there's oh this this house is so much work.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Um, what haven't they fixed?
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Um you just you do you want to avoid those kind of things.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Um I think these are easy ways to do that, especially when you're when you're decluttering and neutralizing everything, and you're doing some fixture replacements or paint.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: You can you can do some light updating, and and that's that's gonna prevent people, it's gonna get them bought in.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: They start thinking we can put that's that's their room over there, and we can set up our TV here.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: That's what you want.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: You don't want, oh my gosh, what's wrong if this is if this is like this, you know.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: You want to avoid that mindset, and that's what we're trying to do.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: So we we kind of talk about the sellability, but how do we get more people through the door?
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: And I think part of it was that price, but how else do you get people to actually come to see it?
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: And by the way, I I also want you to say, is this what they themselves can do or what they should expect their realtor to do?
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: That's a good distinction.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Um, so I mentioned I touched on it very early, alluded to it earlier.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Photos are the way to get people in the door.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, almost everyone starts online with their home search.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: So make sure the realtor or uh whomever's doing it, make sure there's a professional photographer involved.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: You can do videos, you can do additional things.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Um, obviously the cost goes up.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: So if cost is a consideration, definitely still make sure the professional photos are there because that's that's what's gonna make people save that home.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: That's what makes people say, hey, real estate agent, realtor, I want to go see this home.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: This one looks amazing.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: That's that's number one.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Drives me crazy when I see somebody who's who's the professional pictures, but it's like a close-up of the flower, and then you see the kitchen in the background, and it's like what the the I don't want to see the flower, I don't want to see the doorknob.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Like, I don't need to see that this is a beautiful doorknob, but I can only see a glimmer of the shower, you know what I mean?
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Like, I that's so weird to me.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: So don't do that, people, just because I don't like it.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: That's where these people, yeah.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: The photographer knows how to do these, they have wide angle lenses, they touch things, touch up the photos, they enhance and um frame those things like the shower and and kitchen, whatever whatever updates might might be appealing.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: And then you're right, the pricing is gonna be big, right?
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: If you're again, it's like, well, it's one of the old ones that you hear about.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Um, well, yeah, their house down the street sold for 300,000, but ours has you know, tile and theirs has carpet in the bedrooms, so you know, we should price at 325.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Well, no, that's probably not correct.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: You know, that kind of value need to be realistic.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: Appraisers are gonna look for certain things that are going to uh increase the value over a comparable home, is what they're called, especially within a one, especially a neighborhood, but up to a one mile radius.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: So a pool actually gets a lot more than it used to.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: It used to only be about five grand.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: It was it was wild, but now now they're getting 15, 20, sometimes more on the appraised value.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: So a pool definitely do it.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Uh but again, not worth putting fifty thousand dollars necessarily into it to get the fifteen.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: No, yeah, that principle remains the pool putting in a pool is is not uh not a good return on value.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: And yeah, it's I mean replacing a roof can be, but really it's it's kind of dollar for dollar.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: So component renewal, like your HBAC and your roof, uh generally those are the two big ones.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: Hopefully, you don't have plumbing or electrical.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Um, although we did replace a panel and a couple of our flips, those are older homes, so generally you don't have that.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: The components that usually are an issue in a home are the roof and the HBAC.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: And that's when it comes down to how work, you know, what's the usable life left on the roof, an AC unit, you know, what's what's the age, you know, what what's the value of having to redo it?
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: And then you have the negotiation during inspection.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: But generally you don't have that up front.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: So getting people in, getting people bought in emotionally, that's what's critical.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: So you can work through these things as they come up during your due diligence period, which is that 10 days after you enter in the contract.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: Generally 10 days is negotiable.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: But generally 10 days after you enter into the contract, you do home inspections and you could do any number of inspections you'd like, all optional at the cost of the buyer.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: And that's that's generally where you're gonna start negotiating.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: So the more bought in they are to the home, the more they can see themselves living there.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Um, so it goes back to all the saleability from when they see it online to when they pull up in front to when they walk in the door and then their tour around the home.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: You just want to make it as appealing as possible.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: So can you should you or should the realtor um write something that is, I don't know, like the like the right, you know, where they do the description?
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Um yeah.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: You know, I always find those very interesting when I'm looking at at properties.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Um will make you really get invested in it because it'll say, you know, this is a great place to bring your family and your, you know, your extended family, and this is great for summers, and um, you know, make this a legacy kind of thing.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Do you do that?
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Do you have like chat GPT write yours at all?
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Or do you just I mean, probably it's you know, you've been doing it so long, I don't know if you need to do it, but I would do it.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: And that there's much better tools.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Uh you do have to be aware of some of the um uh requirements with descriptions, you don't get any fair housing or or other issues.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Um, but yeah, I mean, more general the better.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: It's always good, but you're right.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, writing an appealing description of the home and just um there's really an art to it.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it's art and a science, but more definitely an art to that.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: And nowadays, like we were talking about, you can give whatever AI people work with, you know, whether it's Claude or Jim and I or Chad, you know, you can give it that prompt to say, hey, have it sound conversational, have it sound uh very bubbly, have it sound, and write a description with these these uh adjectives or these components or these uh features on the home.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's really important as well, just as not as important as the pictures necessary, but they yeah, I mean, once they see the pictures, they're gonna read what the home has to offer.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and and definitely get good pictures.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: I I I can't tell you how much, and I just I look at houses a lot, probably because.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: I'm a realtor also, but also because I enjoy looking at houses and you know, everybody I think dreams about these things.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, I need this place on the beach or in the mountains.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Um, but if they don't have good pictures, I I'm out of there just because I I need to see what it looks like, unless it's a really good price.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: So I guess if if you've got a really good price, you don't need the pictures as much, but um, but both would be even more wonderful, I suppose.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, unless you're interested in fixing up homes.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about um the curb appeal because you mentioned that earlier.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: What are some things that are like big no no's and what are some easy fixes?
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: Uh big no no's are gonna be the obvious weeds uh beyond that uh unmanicured grass or lawn that's too high.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's the hedges and bushes are overgrown.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, when you when people pull up, and this is true, I've literally had Pete played, we we really didn't go in, you know, it just didn't look right when we pulled up.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: I've I've dealt with that before.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: I've been with buyers back when I did that.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: They're like, uh, let's keep going.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: You know, if they pull up and the home is hasn't been painted, and the grass is you know 12 inches high, and there's weeds, and the it's like, why would they go in?
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Because they don't want to see what else is wrong inside.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: There could be nothing wrong inside, but that's where it goes back to we're kind of stepping in, we're we're building the emotional buy-in from a buyer perspective, so that they're really like, man, this place is great.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I can see myself here.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I guess they probably think maybe if the if the front yard isn't cared for, that maybe the inside of the house hasn't been cared for.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: Um even though my mind the outside's a boy job and the inside's a girl job.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: So I know I'm I'm you know, I'm not a trad wife, but I, you know, I I still do think that like I'd rather, you know, my husband do something outside and I'll do the laundry.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: That just I just yeah, that's how Sarah and I do things, and um, you're right, but I mean, maybe especially in a divorce situation, it might not be feasible, right?
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Uh uh landscaper and paying for one may not be feasible.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Um, I would just say if that's the case, you really couldn't afford the stuff to do it yourself, don't want to, don't know how.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: Just make it known, maybe have the agent, especially when the showing schedule, hey, you know, here's a situation where the landscaping, but everything's great inside, beautiful, and really well maintained.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: If that if that's the case, you know.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: And for me, like I'm I'm allergic to the sun, so I couldn't be out there doing a bunch of yard work necessarily, but the inside might be perfect, though I'm messy.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: So if it was my house, it wouldn't be.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: Um, but just a lot of the roll by.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: So if you had if you had to have that situation, just address it.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Just actually, I don't I didn't even conclude this.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Um my dad could tell you about this, but I have had um communication be the difference in getting a deal or not getting a deal.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: In fact, one of his, the one in Boulder City, was uh I think the guy told me it was the third highest, and it was the only one that wasn't cash.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: But we still got the deal because he felt like we were the ones who would close based on the communication I had.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: So that's a huge one.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: So make sure when you're interviewing agents that they they're you know who you're getting and and what kind of representation, the kind of communication they they have with the other agent.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Because as long as they're communicating things, most people work through things with you.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Which when when it's a surprise and you weren't expecting it, and then it's the second one and the third one, that's when people start going, whoa, what's wrong?
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: We don't want that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's and that's also a fine line too, right?
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: With the realtors, they can only say so much and not give too much away.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: There's so hopefully you get on a good sort of um, like you were saying, just a good back and forth with them to even if they're not saying things, you can tell things.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: I noticed some outstanding ones all over the valley.
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: So um if it's not yourself working with them, then we can find someone, and if anyone ever needs a recommendation in that regard.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you could also get people uh if I know I've given your name out to attorneys um who needed the uh broker's analysis and things like that.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: That's something that you can do.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: They can call you up.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: I don't know how much you charge for that, but you can reach out to to Matt for that if you need something like that.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: All right, Matt, I I want to talk to you about bizarre staging choices that you've seen.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: What is like the weirdest staging choice you've seen in a house?
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: Well, staging thing, thank goodness it's not been too crazy.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Like what how people actually decorate their house is a little crazier.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: But I have had a stager put a foosball table in the middle of a room with like a couch and in front of an office, and it was about the weirdest one, and it was one of ours.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: What's this foosball table?
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: It was a couch and chairs of the table over here in front of an office with French doors over here, and it's in an Arizona room and just totally out of place.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: They're trying to show you all the possibilities that that room could be.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you don't want to take it too far, you still want to keep it simple and neutral.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: I like that word.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: Um, but yeah, the keep it simple.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: That's that principle still that that kiss, kiss, keep it simple, stupid.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Is that what it is?
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's otherwise, yeah.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: You get into just trying to do too much and and uh or yeah.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: And what about the weirdest thing you found in an inspection?
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: No foods in an inspection.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: Um, but it would go back.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: The worst stuff I saw was during my REO listing days during the 08 downturn.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: And you never knew what you were gonna walk into when you went into a property that hadn't been occupied in six months.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Um, I don't know if it's I even talk about it on here.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: I mean yeah, so well now you have to.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, is it bad?
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it was the worst one I walked into.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was it was uh I did even wait for the called a uh actually it wasn't a trash out crew they had to come into.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: I forget who they got to plant, but no PCs all over the floor and wall.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Oh good lord.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a lot of angry people, then you never knew what you were gonna get.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: And that that actually didn't just happen once.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Uh one where it was really bad.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: One was the other was like the bathroom, others, you know, mold, um, especially especially in a Nevada, because I was in Vegas.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: Um, but Phoenix, same situation, similar climate, dry.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: It's even drier up there.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: So you don't typically see mold.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: We have it sometimes, obviously, especially there's moisture.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: So that's probably the biggest one of the bigger surprises when you have mold show up in a wall because you have maybe a leak that that wasn't known about just a drip, and then mold starts, and for whatever reason it gets caught in an inspection, and now you need to do a whole abatement, and it's it's never fun.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: Which insurance might not even cover if it's just a drip, right?
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Because that might be something that's not an act, it's been something ongoing.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: It's yeah, that's a good question.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that could be a problem.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Well, Matt, thank you for all this great information.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: Is there any any other tips you think you can give our listeners that just you know to get them going?
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: One thing I tell everyone is I've always seen a workout.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: So I originally licensed in May of 2008 on the real estate side.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: And I've seen, I've personally been through it too, trying to get our home and seen plenty of people lab represented where it didn't work out.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: They they thought they were getting a home, didn't um made offers and they didn't get accepted on the selling side, thinking you have a great buyer that cancels, uh, not getting it sold.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: Uh just trust it.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: I've always seen a work out for the best.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: I don't know why that is, but just understand that that this is a whole process.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: And the biggest tip I can give you is just take it one step at a time.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: Like I said, get people in the to the house, get people inside the house, and then I mean want them bought in because it's a whole process after that.
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: That that due diligence, that inspection period, and everything goes along to closing is is a lot.
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: You know, it's three or four weeks long, and just be patient that knows.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: Yes, be patient.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Matt had to teach me that when we were buying the house that we're in.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: He had to tell me it's gonna work out, and I'm so so thankful that I got this house as opposed to the house that I thought I really wanted, which I cried about because I didn't get it.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: And then Matt's like, it's gonna work out.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: I promise it's gonna work out better.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: I did say it, right?
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: You did, you did.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: That's you.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: I I don't know how it always does, but it always works out better.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: I promise it's gonna work out, and I'm like, I wanted that house.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I um I I a hundred I applaud you on that.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: I believe you 100% because it worked for me.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: For us, I mean, uh, I don't know if you remember or even know our story was the home we wanted in Chandler that we didn't get.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's so I I believe them.
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: So it's gonna work out we went all the way to closing, you know.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: We were already we were already in closing when that happened.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: You were invested.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, we were again ready to close.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: This literally went in and got all canceled.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: All right, Matt.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for for helping our listeners, and I'm I'm sure we'll have you back again soon.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: Thanks again.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: Thanks.