Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / Screwed when I bought my first home and vowed to never allow that to happen to any other Santa Clarita real estate buyer or beyond

Transcript

Screwed when I bought my first home and vowed to never allow that to happen to any other Santa Clarita real estate buyer or beyond · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have a Santa Clarita update.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Today's the 5th of July, the day after July 4th, well, of course, 2025.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about what's going on in real estate.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let me get to the numbers real quick, and then we'll be able to cover the actual uh live inventory right now.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Also talk about coming soon listings.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: But currently we have 16 listings poised as coming soon on the market.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: In the last seven days, we've had 13 properties added to the coming soon category.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: We have 53 new listings that have been added in the past seven days.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: 69 properties have had their prices changed.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's a massive reduction from the typical seven-day stretch of price changes, usually in the triple digits, 100, 115.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really, really declined in the market.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And also seems like the economy is getting stronger, even though people are saying that it was supposed to fail.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we're watching this happen.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to that, we're watching as properties are starting to get more offers, multiple offers, properties are selling where they used to be, it seems, and the market's starting to change, where buyers are becoming much more active in the current market.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're getting to a point where they're realizing if they wait and the Fed ends up reducing that main Fed rate, the Fed funds rate, even though its impact on the mortgage rate isn't as robust as the impact that the 10-year bond market has.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: But it's still, it still would affect a lot of things, including the mortgage interest.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what people are looking at.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: If they wait until that happens, then real estate's going to kick off somewhere like we saw in 21 and 22, 2021, 2022.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Standing room only, potentially.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: There are going to be a lot of sellers at that time.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to come onto the market because they're actually closer to where they are.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: So they're golden handcuffs, which is a description of a person that owns a property that has a very low interest rate.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's holding them there, even though they'd like to maybe potentially leave California.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: We get a lot of phone calls on that.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then also maybe come to California selling something from somewhere else.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not as many calls, but it does happen, or even upsize or downsize within the state itself.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: But those phone calls, the holdback is these golden handcuffs, meaning they're locked in at a very low interest rate.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: They really don't want to do the property management thing as far as renting their properties out, which there is good money, but if the market breaks loose a little bit, more than likely the rental figures could also come down.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's just going to depend.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: California has always been funny for rentals.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of rules there when it comes to foreclosure actions.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Before you jump into that market and become a landlord and want to start renting out properties, make sure you investigate those rules in the particular county and also city the impacts that it could potentially have on the property that you're going to rent out.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: It might be that the people in there can stay after they're not paying for a long time, a year, year and a half.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you have the best attorneys on the case, the local rules and guidelines will prohibit you from actually getting them out of the property in an eviction type way.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And all they're going to have to prove in some cases, and this is very much a very California thing, it seems.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: I know I've talked to people from other states.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have this issue.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody doesn't pay the rent and it goes on for a while, two, three, four, five, six months after they've quit paying rent, those owners have had a notice of default filing on the property, then in very short order they're able to evict those property, the people without too much damage to themselves.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, everybody has a hardship.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, those things are able to be worked out.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: But before you do jump into the rental world, make sure you're understanding what you're doing, especially if you happen to be the owner of a property and you think, well my gosh, I have such a low interest rate.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to rent this out because I have the wherewithal to go buy something else.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's something to very much look into.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you know those rules just in case you happen to get some folks into your property that aren't very caring as far as you and your bottom line and you potentially losing the property.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if they're living in a state, if they're living in a county, or if they're living in a city that really does embrace tenants' rights over landlord rights.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about landlords that are abusive and messing with people and this and that.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean just a very fair obligation as a landlord, balanced with a fair renter.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody is in that nice symbiotic, symbiotic, symbiosis, that nice, that nice state.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody gets along, they're doing the right things.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: The landlord isn't doing too much, the renter's doing what they're supposed to, these sorts of things.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm talking about.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about where landlords are just increasing the rents because they can and hammering people.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: But just make sure where you're going to be renting these properties out.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if interest rates come down, it could be that certain people don't want to rent out their properties.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Those golden handcuffs will get a lot looser.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: They might be able to slip them, sell something, and then buy something else at a relatively low interest rate.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: If they do come down, excuse me on that.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's get into this.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's that part of the update.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So 17 properties had come back on the market, falling out of escrow.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's also a much lower number than typically we see in a seven-day snapshot, somewhere around 30, 35.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's about half.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have to watch if that trend continues.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: These are all changing numbers, very dynamic.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see what's going to happen with this as we watch the next couple weeks.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Active undermarket properties, active under contract properties 25.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely a slower number than properties that we've seen going into escrow, so a lot less has actually started the escrow time frames.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So properties are starting to slow down as far as sales go, at least right now.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is a 70 snapshot.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is brand new numbers.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: If this continues, then our market will have slowed quite a bit.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see that happening, but it could be the calm before the storm.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody stay tuned.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: 41 properties have gone pinning deeper into escrow.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: 50, 49 properties have closed.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Escrow actually sold.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: This past week we have 19 expired, nine canceled, 13 have been put on hold, three have been withdrawn from the market.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I said in yesterday's show something for a real estate buyer to watch out for is to look at those properties that have canceled, been withdrawn, or even expired from the market.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Especially that should be that first look when you start thinking about purchasing real estate.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: After you get pre-approved, you talk to that mortgage broker.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, they're going to be uh referred to you via your real estate agent.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Find out what your qualification amount is.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when you go back to your agent, they should already be doing this, but you might have to, you know, prompt them just a little bit.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: But ask them, say, hey, listen, what about these uh expired properties, withdrawn properties, and canceled properties?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is that something that we can look at fitting my criteria?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully they'll say, yeah, that's baked into the mechanistic, mass, massed.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Mechanistic, the way that I have searched for real estate, it's already built into that.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll be able to give you an idea as to how they put those searches together, because you're going to be able to search, and I'm sure you will on the syndication sites.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Just don't give up any personal information.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: You, your, your phone call will never start being texted, never start stop being called, and your email will blow up.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let your agent do that end of it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: But if you find something, something that's interesting that your agent hasn't sent you, no sweat, send it to them.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Say, hey, listen, I get this, I get this from clients all the time.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And usually what ends up happening is it's not because what I'm providing to them wasn't substantial or wasn't fitting within their criteria.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's because that particular residence that they're sending me differs in some way, shape, or form from the search I'm putting together.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the residence itself, truth be told, only has three bedrooms and my clients want to four.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: But now they're looking at properties online that have three bedrooms and maybe an office option.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe something else can be turned into a bedroom, for example.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're just talking about, you know, on paper, but you know, they see something.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we're we're at a particular price limit at a million dollars, let's say, and they're sending me something that's a million and five dollars, for example.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, typically a good agent's going to be searching not just at the limit of the client, but also other properties that they have an idea that they might be able to score for less than that amount in order to fit within that buyer's guidelines.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: For example, if I see a property, I know it's overpriced, but I know it's maybe overpriced by$20,000 or$30,000.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be using that in my search as well.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then if in fact I know that being the case, I'll reach out to the seller's agent, have a conversation with them.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if it looks like it's going to fit, then I'll notify my buyer.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: I say, listen, I know this is your top-end amount, but you're comfortable at it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: I did find a property, it looks about$20,000 overpriced.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: It will fit your criteria.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: We can go in and write the offer at that amount if you happen to like it, and then we can take it from there, even go lower than that just in case the seller is one of those that wants to counter at the halfway point or start some negotiation type process.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: If the property's on the market and time is moving and there's no offers on it, sellers are going to be very much interested in entertaining all offers.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: They should be.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: In a different market, when there are multiple offers on properties, you know, they're gonna they're gonna use those offers against each other, use those buyers against each other, and try to get the highest amount for the property.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's just the way it works.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: We see a trend in real estate, and it started kind of in the mid-cities.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're not seeing any price reductions as far as recorded sold sales as of yet.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't believe that's gonna happen.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I believe this economy is gonna kick off and move into a realm where we're gonna have another seller's market and buyers are gonna be out there in droves purchasing real estate because something's gonna happen on the Fed's fund rate end of it, causing this market to really move fast.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: But if it doesn't, I don't believe we're in for any kind of massive recession or reduction in the real estate market, especially in those areas that are around larger metropolitan series that have a massive amount of employment, like we have here around Los Angeles.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Santa Clarita is a Los Angeles suburb.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: We have our own infrastructure, own entertainment, and everything.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just a fantastic community.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to say bedroom, but it's really not.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's much more than a bedroom community because we have a lot of business based here as well.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: We have different industrial areas also.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a lot of manufacturing, a lot of mid-to-heavy machinery, and lots of different things here in Santa Clarita.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people that move out here aren't doing the commute to Los Angeles, but we also have those people too.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they're very comfortable with the freeway access points out here.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on which city you live, you could be just minutes from a freeway on ramp, and we have a great system for that as well.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: This has been your real estate update for the 5th of July, 2025.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: When you're ready, reach out to me.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I have my system at Santa ClaritaOpenhouses.com.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be able to see every single property listed for sale.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be able to look at my robust, great word, my robust blog.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So you can look at that.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I do write articles every day, such as this one.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I also talk about the real estate market from a kind of a different angle, more of a protective security type angle, because when I bought my first house back in 1996, my agent completely took advantage of me.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that was my whole catalyst in getting into this business.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was a uh a police officer back then, and you know, it it felt, I felt so insecure because there's nothing I could do about what my agent did.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to make amends.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, they were able to make amends with me after I hunted them down, but it wasn't easy.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the reason why I started to get my real estate license because if they're gonna do it to me, they'll do it to anybody.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And they did it to me, and I was able to at least make it work out okay in my favor.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: But that's time, that's trauma, that's stress, that's damage that I'm not gonna ever get back, nor will I recover from in the long run.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Everything takes those minutes away.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a lot of minutes that I expended trying to make this right, just trying to get the agent to contact me was remarkable.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I had to do it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Funny story, I had to do it, had a partner at work.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: We were shooting uh radar out on Huntington Drive in East LA.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was the street.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we're sitting out there, I think the street was the name named after Superior, maybe.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I don't even know if they intersect.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: But we're shooting radar out there.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: He knew the drill.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I bought this house, moved in, had some massive main issue with that main pipe going to the sewer, just being inundated with roots and trees.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, we had it inspected.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And my home inspector, no sweat, piece of cake.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: He knows the agent, the agent referred to him.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout that next process, when I was taking a shower the first day uh after we had moved in, the next day I was getting in the shower, and I got out and I slipped on the floor, fell on my and almost hit my head on the edge of the toilet, and then that would have been lights out for Connor.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Probably wouldn't have survived that.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, the house was flooded.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So fine, you know, we looked at different things.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I remember inside of a cabinet in the kitchen, all these plumbing, you know, when plumbers come out and do stuff, they put those, they'll put um like stickers, they'll put them on water heaters when they replace them.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: This house had a whole bunch inside, so I it was tenant occupied, so I'm guessing those tenants probably had some issues.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, go and I call one of the places and they give me the story.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: They say, Oh, on uh Atwood Boulevard.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: I say, Yeah.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: They said, Oh, yeah, yeah, we were just out there last week.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Oh, you were just out, I guess a couple weeks ago.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: You were just out here a couple weeks ago.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Yeah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I said, That's interesting.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Yeah, I guess the buyers were gonna be doing, not thinking I was the buyer.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe she thought I was working for the agent.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: But then she goes, uh, yeah, they were some well, we were doing the uh they were gonna do the home inspection, and the agent wanted the mane cleaned up from all the tree roots, so the home inspection would go smooth and there wouldn't be any water backing up and everything would flush.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when the cat was the the inspector was running everything, I said, I said, Well, isn't that something?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, come to find out, couldn't get in touch with the agent after I discovered this.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody would call me back.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: The broker was hiding, uh hiding as well.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's just a lot, a lot of stuff.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I even went by my shopping clothes, as we call that as police officers, went by in uniform on my way to work, probably shouldn't have, but I went there and again, it was sorry, can't help you, Connor.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he's not in right now.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, But his car's in the parking lot.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the broker said, Yeah, you know, he's uh he's just not here, and I know he was back there.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just couldn't see him sitting in his little cubby on the other side of this wall that was basically tinted out, but I know he was there.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: So my partner says, You're still going through that deal as we're shooting radar or yeah, radar chasing down people.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yeah, he said, Why don't I call him?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Got his number?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: So he put out his Motorola flip phone.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: You remember those with the uh eh with a single line display?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that was when you know cell phones were new.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I believe LA LA Cellular bought ATT.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that was ATT back then.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: So he calls and agent answers, of course, because it's not my number.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Basically tells them a story about he wants to buy a house.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is you know how much he's approved for.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's like half down in cash, real smooth.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: My partner Raul was just very smooth.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, so he set up an appointment and he knew my next day off because we were partners.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so he said, I'm gonna meet you there talking to the agent.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: I want to buy that house that you told me about.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been looking for a while, that one that you described that you have listed for sale sounds just wonderful.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So he hung up the phone.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Done, you gotta meet him at this address.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: He wrote it on his notepad there on the motor.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Okay, so next day, um, a couple days later, there I show up and he looked like his color left him.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that was it.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I made I had him made make good on all that BS he put me through.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: But at that time I said, you know, I don't want anybody else to go through this.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you have a fantastic day.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's a little bit of that story.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: We will see you in the next one.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Be safe to each other, watch out, take care, and let me know if I can help.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor, take care.