Speaker 1 0:00

The BBL realtor , javier , you go to my YouTube or wherever , or my Instagram and comment just snatched and I'll know you came from this podcast . Let me know . 2017 , people were scared . There has always been people saying the market's going to crash . There's always been saying people it's the worst time to buy . So the fear , as a matter of fact , is actually less now because it's almost like they're like we're doing . They have to really analyze if they're ready to do this . So by the time they're actually doing it , they're just like ironclad , whereas before they're like yeah , I guess let's just go for it .

Speaker 2 0:32

It's about the same like when you bought welcome to the money cheese man podcast , a fun and safe space for personal finance and entrepreneurship tips where we get the on all things money with sass and humor . I am your host , violeta , a first-generation Mexican immigrant , a real estate investor , entrepreneur , and I am here to help you kick ass in the financial game . Each week , I not only bring you expert tips , but also share the financial freedom and entrepreneurship journeys from our own community , because you know , representation is important . So grab un cafecito or , si quieres , an adult beverage and let's get into this week's money chisme . Hola , welcome

Introduction

Speaker 2 1:23

to the Money Chisme podcast . So with me today is Javier Vidana , who is a licensed real estate agent based out of Phoenix , arizona , who has been assisting homebuyers since 2013 . And he also provides awesome real estate educational content to over 160,000 subscribers on YouTube . His videos cover a wide range of topics , including home buying tips , market insights and just general real estate advice . Hola , javier , thank you so much for joining me today .

Speaker 1 2:02

No worries , thank you for having me . There's no bumps that time .

Speaker 2 2:06

No , no bumps this time .

Speaker 1 2:08

That's the seventh time she's had me do it , because she keeps hearing me fart and bump and she's like okay , can you do that again , but please don't make any noise .

Speaker 2 2:16

So I was like , okay , don't move . I think you were even holding your breath at that point .

Speaker 1 2:26

She's like what did you have for breakfast ? Why do you keep partying ? It's and everything .

Speaker 2 2:29

Yeah , yeah . So for those that uh , um , I gave a little brief introduction of you . Um , can you give a little bit more of your background for those that who are unfamiliar

Javier Vidana Intro

Speaker 2 2:40

with you ?

Speaker 1 2:41

yeah , um , I uh , so my name is javier , like she said , you can call me Javi . I essentially was born and raised in Maryville , which is a part in Phoenix where primarily Hispanic , well to the not known as a good part of town , but it was totally fine growing up and really , you know , my claim to fame is the videos I make for home buyers on YouTube . I think my where I'm coming from is someone who whose parents were too busy surviving and didn't really have time to step back and just say , hey , this is how things are done , or this is what you should do with your money , this is what you should do . You know , this is what you should buy . If you're buying a house , this is what you should look at . So it's kind of things I had to learn on my own and teach people as I , you know , as a young agent , and now on YouTube , just kind of get those lessons as a almost 10-year-old and do this for 10 years old . I'm not 10 years old , I've been doing real estate for 10 years .

Speaker 2 3:47

Just been showing people now how the best way to do it to make better decisions . You know , yeah , yeah , I've been watching your YouTube videos and I really enjoy how you do your breakdowns and very like digestible , which is important to our community , is trying to figure out all the like , personal finance stuff and kind of having to hit the ground running and just like stumbling along . So I'm glad that you're , you know , on YouTube providing like the content to teach people how to

Buying My First Home Journey

Speaker 2 4:20

you know , buy their first house , ensure that it's affordable to . You know , buy their first house , ensure that it's affordable . And so I'm glad that you're on there , because I remember having to buy my own house and it was just by myself and I learned the hard way , it was a lot of things .

Speaker 2 4:38

This was .

Speaker 1 4:38

I bought my house in 2014 , my first house , oh things were cheap , but people were just nervous about the market , right .

Speaker 2 4:48

Exactly .

Speaker 1 4:49

People always say , oh , I wish it was that cheap again . But people don't forget how nervous people were .

Speaker 2 4:54

Oh , yeah , yeah , I remember , because people always thought at that time they're like , why are you getting the house ? It's just , you know , it was just me , and so , and then I got like the house and like the boondocks I got made fun of all the time . It's like , oh , you're like in the middle of nowhere and I was like , well , this is what I can afford . And then I ended up selling that house for uh right as uh the market was coming up and everything was going crazy . So like I think I bought it for uh 143 and I ended up buying for 220 and like it needed work because I had it as a rental and so I just let it go at that point . So , um , but I struggled . I like that house , like it had drafts , like it was a house that a flipper . No , well , that too , actually they did have bats .

Speaker 2 5:46

Yeah , I had like transylvania it felt like it because , I'm telling you , it was like the like , uh , kind of like the boondocks . It was like in the middle , uh , not necessarily too middle in the uh of nowhere , but like there was like forest and stuff like that around me , and so there was a few bats , not too much , it wasn't like infested with bats , but there was a like five what made you want to pick by based on your affordability , because I feel like it's a lot of times people don't struggle with that mindset .

Speaker 1 6:14

What made you did your ? Where'd you learn that from ?

Speaker 2 6:18

um from my parents like I never um with my upbringing . They always taught me , like you know , know the typical like buy everything in cash , don't get credit cards or anything like that . So I did have like that just basis and I was scared too , like I did not want to like struggle . I knew I wanted to have money to like buy furniture and stuff , money to like buy furniture and stuff . So , uh , I ended up just figuring out what I can afford , which just ended up being basically what I got loaned anyways . So I think I got I think it was uh 150ks , because I didn't have like uh really a credit score , uh anything besides my cars ,

Cultural Fears of Home Buying

Speaker 2 7:01

and so uh , how were your parents reaction when you bought a house ?

Speaker 1 7:04

were they more like panic ? Because I feel like a lot of hispanic parents either . They become very adversarial , like they're so like it's . The funny thing is like they show up to the inspection and just like , just like no , this isn't a good idea . It's almost like they're concerned and fear , which comes from a good place , becomes a very like negative thing and instead of like being the support that we need , they become very like like oh the girl uses the bad idea , you're gonna do this , or were they more like supportive and like loving ?

Speaker 2 7:35

no , so like my parents had been pushing me to not like necessarily like pushing me , but that was like the goal , like , oh you know , go to go to college and buy your first house . So when I bought my first house , uh , they were excited and you know well , just excited . But now it's funny because now , when I buy my rental properties , that's when the fear starts kicking in . It's like now you're because , I guess , if to them it's like I'm stretching too thin or whatever , I'm buying too many houses , and I was like , no , like each one has its own rental income , so it's providing itself . So when my first house , they were excited . And then after that , it's like my mom , my mom's fear is starting to kick in . It's like you're getting too much Now , you're putting yourself too much in debt and stuff , and so , yeah , yeah , that was , that was pretty interesting . And so you are saying that is that what you're seeing as you help , um , people buy their home , that they're like families are kind of like hesitant at this point I've seen , I've seen .

Speaker 1 8:40

I mean I've seen it all , but it's funny . Whenever I encounter a situation where it's a young couple , it's funny . I used to be the youngest agent in the room . I used to be the 21-year-old agent or the 20-year-old agent , so I was always like now , when I say young , I actually have to mean like younger than me , because I'm the old guy now because I'm the old guy now .

Speaker 1 9:05

But yeah , no , I've seen the younger couple who is , like , looked at hundreds of houses online , looked at maybe 10 or 20 in person , finally get one under contract and just have this experience where they take their parents to the second showing or third showing and it's almost like their soul gets absorbed from their body . You know , just seeing having to defend , defend this , their reasoning why they're doing it , or or very much , um , like , yeah , it becomes very much like a situation where they're , they're , they , they get , they're just everything is wrong with the . For why are they doing this ? They should wait that a boom , bada , boom and and um . And so I always have to remind them like it , it comes from a good place . It's coming from a good place , but unfortunately sometimes they're just not given the tools to to analyze that they're doing this cause . They care , um , and the people I help , they're buying because they can afford it . They're looking at their budget . They're not buying off what they can qualify for . So I remind them you've done the work , but it's coming from a good place .

Speaker 1 10:10

But I've also seen people who are very supportive and loving and just how proud of them they are A lot of times , whenever we're encountering situations like that , where that's the former , you know , a lot of times they just don't take their parents until it's already closed , because it's like , you know , I , this is my decision , I'm not doing it for them , um , and I don't need them telling me it's a bad or good house . Uh , I'm doing my inspections , I'm doing all my due diligence . I'll bring them when we close for the , for the , for the party , you know , and by then they really can't complain and by then is when they give you the just like anything right .

Speaker 1 10:40

my dad didn't tell me the congratulations I I'm proud of you , son , until very well into my adulthood , not when I needed it , when I was struggling .

Speaker 2 10:49

Wow , do you find that it's getting like ? That's that fear and that negative not necessarily negativity , but the hesitation Is it increasing now that everything's getting like pricier , the percent interest rate , um , and the houses are like skyrocketing ?

Speaker 1 11:08

that's a great question . It's a great question , um , also do you do . You is your light purple because your name is violeta yeah I ?

Speaker 1 11:23

you know it's . That's a great question because , no , it's always been there . It's always scary to buy . It's always like , once again , people look at . They look in the

Housing Market Crash Fears

Speaker 1 11:33

past with rose-colored glasses , when people were buying . When you bought in 2014 , when , if you look at a chart of the prices , that was the best time to buy because prices were at the lowest . Even then , people were terrified . Even then , people were scared . 2017 , people were scared .

Speaker 1 11:48

There has always been people saying the market's going to crash . There's always been saying people it's the worst time to buy . So the fear , as a matter of fact , is actually less now because it's almost like they're like we're doing . They have to really analyze if they're ready to do this . So by the time they're actually doing it , they're just like ironclad , whereas before they're like yeah , I guess let's just go for it . It's about the same like when you bought you , you paid 150 , so your payment was probably under a thousand dollars , but it probably costs about the same to rent . Right , and it's just . People always just bought because it's . It's the same If I could rent it , if I rent a house , it's the same price . It's cheap , might as well . They don't really think about the consequences .

Speaker 1 12:30

The market was still going up . It's fine , let's just go for it , and then it paid off for them . But now people really have to analyze it and it's really a blessing . I know it's a very privileged thing for me to say and you know my heart goes out to the people that can't buy right now . But having to really analyze if you're ready to buy and you can really afford it is a lot better than just buying when things are cheap and just let's just see if it works out . Because you have to really think about it and because people are thinking so thoroughly , there's almost less hesitance when they're buying . But that fear is always there . That fear is that concern is always there . There's nothing new about that . The parents are always concerned , they're concerned . The buyer's remorse always hits , no matter what price point , what time of the market . That's always there and if you prepare for that , you'll be ready for it .

Speaker 2 13:16

I didn't even consider that , that it would push a more buyer that is going to do more research and analyze their finances more , because , um , besides , just , you know , ensuring that I'm not buying like a , uh , a top of my budget , um , I really didn't consider anything else with home buying . Like I just bought a house because , like that was the thing to do , right , um , at least with with my family . That's what , uh , they pushed to , you know , get a college degree and go buy your first house , and so that's what I did , and but I didn't consider anything else that goes along with it . And I had to learn these things as they came up . Like , uh , especially buying a house that was flipped and it had a lot of like not too many issues .

Speaker 2 14:07

But , like you know , one one winter in virginia , like I froze my ass off because they didn't , you know , like seal around the doors and I couldn't figure out why I was freezing myself and my like heat , my bill was so freaking high and I was freezing my ass off . And then I finally figured it out that it was because around the doors they didn't like it was a huge draft , so , um , because they cut corners on that , so , um , and that those things end up like costing , uh , and so I learned a lot through my first and my second house , and so I feel that , yeah , you're right that now these buyers are like analyzing more what they can actually afford , rather than just going out and buying like the pretty house that has all the bells and whistles and not thinking about anything else that they need to cover . And so I guess we can go into that

Home Buying Tips

Speaker 2 15:02

of like what is some of the things that a first time home buyer should be analyzing , especially now , so that way they don't put themselves at risk .

Speaker 1 15:12

I think the first thing you have to do is you have to look at what you're going to qualify for versus what you're going to where you can comfortably afford . I think you have to also realize that the real estate agent and the lender are there to sell . They're not there to advise . They're not financial advisors . So if you a lot of times especially people in our community we kind of put agents and lenders on a pedestal , you know you go to your deal , your dad hey , you're going to buy , I want to ask some of your advice about a house . I'll go talk to your primo and you go talk to your primo and he's a real estate agent . Or you know you go talk to people that are in the business . But you know the reason there's . If you look up what a license , what the license is called for a realtor , it's actually called a real estate salesperson license . For a mortgage loan officer , it's the same . I For a mortgage loan officer , it's the same . I don't know if it's called salesperson law for mortgage , but either way , they're there to sell you a house and they're there to get you a mortgage . They're not there to advise you . So not going to them for advice is probably the first thing , and I'm saying that as a real estate agent Doing your own research on how to qualify .

Speaker 1 16:18

It's very easy to find out what you can qualify for . There's calculators online . There's videos you can watch . I have one on my Patreon . You just go . You will really just get 43% of your gross income , which is your pre-tax income . You subtract any monthly debts and that's it . You qualify for that amount and then you get that number and you think , okay , that's what they're going to qualify me for , but what can I afford ? So then you go . You get your net income , which is your post-tax income . You get 25 to 33% of that and that's the range that you should be able to afford . 25% if you're more conservative , the lots the more . The old school rule . Nowadays , I believe going to a third of your net income is a little more flexible , especially people that live in the city , like me , and you get those two numbers and if it doesn't work where you live , then you can't buy . It is that simple .

Speaker 1 17:06

Either we move to a different location , you move to the outskirts , like you did , or we build other things . I tell people in California all the time I would rather have multiple six-figure investment paths . My retirement built out all these different money like places to put my money than an ownership of a house . If I die right now I'm leaving my family a lot of debt with my mortgages . People , if you're in California and you pass away that rent , yeah , you have a place to rent , okay , but you've been able to build out your different investment avenues and you're much . That's okay .

Speaker 1 17:43

You know it know you don't have to be a homeowner to be successful . If you're in a place where you can't afford build other things out and then if that itch to become a homeowner is so strong , then you have to . I'm sorry but you're going to have to move or you're going to have to go somewhere a little further out . You know this wait for the market to crash obsession that people have right now .

Speaker 1 18:01

I understand where it's coming from , but it's just . It's just you're . It's like you're waiting for something negative to happen that's going to affect hundreds of thousand people in a very negative way for you to become a homeowner and it's just not the energy I would want to put out . It's like if you , if you're in love with someone , but they're engaged or they're married , that's like , do you really want to spend your time and energy waiting for something to collapse for you to get that person . You know what I mean . So spend that energy elsewhere , build out your other investments and build your time , and then , if the homeownership edge is so strong even after building that , then you need to probably move to a different area , and it's just the way it is .

Speaker 2 18:36

It's true , even with real estate investing , there's people that are trying to invest in their areas .

Speaker 2 18:43

Like you , like I , invest in an out of state I don't I've never set foot in that state , but that's where the market is affordable to me , and so you have to do the same with your investments . It's like you have to put yourself out there , and even with California right now , where I'm at , where it it was pricey , I bought in 2021 when you know houses were flying off the shelves and it was intimidating , it was scary and I almost was going to like back out and be like no , I don't want to buy a house here , going almost the same as a mortgage at that

Real Estate Investing Ethics and Impact

Speaker 2 19:29

point . For those that are looking to get into the market now because I hear it all the time with people that are thinking about buying it's like how can they get over that hump ? Because maybe they can't afford it . But what is it that you're helping or that you see in your buyers that is helping them get over that fear of going out there and buying their house , regardless of the market ?

Speaker 1 19:50

The common thing that I'm seeing with people right now , in spite of this market and , of course not talking about budget , not talking about savings they have their emergency funds , they have their savings for their down payment , they have all these , so they're very financially savvy people . Or they are having emergency fund but they're using some kind of assistance or some kind of new build program where they're getting a low rate , etc . Etc . But they're taking care of on the back end . The common thing is there's like a strong why . There's a strong reason why they want to own . They've either been renting for the last , you know , five , six years and moved four or five houses . They're so sick of dealing with landlords that really , if you think about it and you know , maybe you should do a little more research about this . But I personally hate real estate investors .

Speaker 1 20:35

Just feel like looking at your house as an investment is probably one of the main reasons why we got into this mess in the first place . But the thing is is that you can find a place where you think you're going to be settled in for a while , but your landlord can decide to sell it like a year , two years later and completely pull the rug under you .

Speaker 1 20:52

So it's like you never really feel like you're in a stable place when you're renting . And for a lot of people , they're either tired of having to move , tired of dealing with terrible landlords . They're either tired of having to move , tired of dealing with terrible landlords , terrible , tired of not owning where they live . They're tired for X reasons um , that they just want to own where they live and maybe the price is a little more expensive , maybe , um , like so they have to work a little harder to get the savings up , et cetera . But there's that strong why there's like I have to do this .

Speaker 1 21:22

Because of this reason , I want , I want to be able to own where I live and have , like I'm having , for example , my , our kids . I love the fact that they're and as long as I stay here , they will be going and getting consistent , stable , because I think , as a kid or if you have kids , stability is one of those main impacts . So like , hey , this is where I grew up , this is , you know , coming home , like my goal , my dream is if our kids can come home from college with their partners or single , whatever they stay and share . This is the room I grew up in , like they come for Christmas or Thanksgiving , like I would love that because that's like this is the area they grew up , this is the house they grew up in , and to some people that's important , to some people that's not . But the common thing I'm seeing is , for the people that are looking that why is so strong ?

Speaker 2 22:22

and they're doing it for that reason , that , yeah , that um , it's like , yeah , market's crazy , but I'm doing it because this reason no , I agree , I agree there's uh um a little bit , and I actually didn't uh know that you were too uh happy with real estate investors . But , like as one , as my like , there's a difference between the small real estate investor and these big companies like I do not advocate it's not even my goal to , you know , own 100 plus . Like you see , these real estate investors of , oh , I own 100 plus properties and blah , blah , blah , for me , the ones that I go for are the ones that are just trying to set themselves up as financially build those multiple sources of income and build that those little nest eggs . But I don't promote , like going after single family homes , which is why I sold my first two homes , because I did have those as rentals and I think so .

Speaker 1 23:25

You buy condos and townhouses no multifamily .

Speaker 2 23:29

Interesting , that's I I respect that , because you're leaving the single family for the owners and you're the multifamily , for , yeah , I respect that yeah , I don't even like the , the airbnb , the Airbnb type , because it's the same thing You're taking up like a single family home . And so I'm trying , like as a real estate investor , not only in advocating for , like setting yourself up financially , building that wealth and generational wealth , but trying to do that . I mean you're not going to be like super ethical . It's like you're not going to be super ethical , trying to be a real estate investor , just like with business and stuff . But you could do little things to change how we've been doing real estate investing , not taking up and trying to own the whole freaking street , you know , a whole neighborhood , making sure that you're investing .

Speaker 2 24:24

Like the neighborhoods that I invest in are low income and so I'm buying up these properties that these boomers just let be run down and so , like I'm going in there and fixing all this stuff and , you know , providing better housing for these low income families and also making sure that I am preventing the rent increase . Like with my property managers . They're always asking me like , oh , we're going to increase , and I always tell them , like , for what ? Like you know , let them be there's , I'm not getting . You know , taxes may go a little bit , but they didn't go up that high . Be there's , I'm not getting . You know , taxes may go a little bit , but they didn't go up that high , and so that's kind of like the type of real estate investor that I'm trying to promote , similar to those that have are trying to build a business . Like do not go out there and try to make your millions off . You know doing , you know the minimum wage when you know like housing and cost of living is high , like you know , just trying to do little small things that you can do .

Speaker 2 25:29

Like , I feel like we're trying to catch up with all this stuff , like trying to like build our businesses and stuff like that , but because of the other ones that have built their businesses and investments the wrong way , now that we're trying to catch up and we're trying to do it , um , we got to make sure that we're at least trying to help those and not take advantage . Um , I think there could be kind of a balance . Um , unfortunately , these are the cards we're dealt with , you know , um , we got to make the best without taking advantage of people I mean yeah , the problem is there's no wrong or right in capitalism yeah there's no , there's no ethics in it .

Speaker 1 26:08

So you're right , like , why play the ethics game when the system has been playing unethically so long , right ? So , um , so if you're , I mean , I'm all for it . If you're going to be an investor , then go for it . My biggest issue isn't necessarily the , the renter investors . Investors , it's like the wholesalers , it's that whole industry of I'm going to find someone in need . Buy their house cash cheaper than what it's worth .

Speaker 1 26:34

I'm going to flip it to another investor , make 10 or 20K off the top and let that investor flip it and it's like , well , that person could have probably sold directly to that flipper for a lot more . I get it . There's not going to . There's going to be people that don't want to deal with the flip and they want to just sell a cash . But that wholesaler , just because they're the ones out there calling or being more salesy , they picked up that person and you know , I , I don't care , care , and I've talked to many of them and they , they try to turn and twist their way into thinking how , oh yeah , we are helping people , but they're not um yeah , I mean they found an avenue to to really take advantage and I , I personally , I despise them .

Speaker 1 27:17

I really do . I think um the flipping industry too . Um they turned something so pure into . So I don't know like communities have gone so much more expensive than they have to because people are justifying the amount of money they put into these houses .

Speaker 1 27:36

And traditionally , when a house has been remodeled , I love the fact that it's someone that's lived there , that just put their heart and soul into that house and now it's really nice . But no , it's like they . They're creating like this artificial artificially nice house , just so they can make more money , and now the whole neighborhood is gaining value . And then now , next thing , you know , which is okay for the time being , but four years later , that area is now propped up and it's too expensive for anyone to afford to buy , and so I mean it's . It's a bigger issue and of course , there's flaws in my logic as well , but I'm just a hater when it comes to that .

Speaker 2 28:11

I get it because it's true Like there's a lot of things I don't like . Wholesalers either . I agree that I feel like they prey on people that are kind of on their last uh leg , try not to go into foreclosure or something , or they prey , like on the elderly or whatever . So I'm not , I'm not a big fan of those either . Um , like I said , I'm not a big fan of like airbnbs or just taking up um houses and good areas , um , but at the end of the day , we we were our communities trying to like come up as well , and this is one of the ways that you know has been proven to build wealth and multiple sources of income . But I want to push for , you know , being a real estate investor with compassion and looking at the long run , not just like out here making money , like and I feel like most of the small time real estate investors , that's all they're trying to do . They're just trying to like have that extra income so that way they don't have to be in this rat race and leave something behind . But we can do that by not being like a slumlord , like I definitely don't push for that Like take care of your tenants , give them a safe and you know , not beat down , run down home . Don't try to like nickel and dime and squeeze every penny out of them . Like you could still make money and I still , you know , make a , um , you know , cash flow and I'm not , you know , trying to squeeze everything out of them . I keep on .

Speaker 2 29:47

Right now , as a matter of fact , I'm kind of a negative cause I'm like going through and fixing like lots of stuff that uh that the previous owners just uh , like I can't , can't imagine having how they were okay , having these people live in these rundown homes that had like lead paint and all that stuff .

Speaker 2 30:09

Like it's , it's ridiculous . So I see it , as long as far as for me and the people that I try to teach , real estate is to push for that more . Now , what other tips can you give these new home buyers , even now , now that the summer is coming around ? Like I see these houses going and they're like sold within two weeks again and like how can uh ensure that they're not like rushing and um , for example , I know a few people and I'm trying to keep them from like just jumping into something , um , just because they're having the , that FOMO or that need to rush I mean , when I give advice like that's so interesting because , like my advice wouldn't apply to someone living in like somewhere like California or something Right , we're like , oh , buy under your means and everything .

Speaker 1 31:06

But it's like yeah , everything is expensive and selling above list Right .

Speaker 1 31:09

So I mean , the best I can say is just really , really knowing the numbers and the data of the areas you're buying in like before you make an offer on a house , pulling up the comparables , pulling up the data for the zip code , really going into the weeds of like where's the city going value wise , and doing your best to find that fair market value for a house and buying it cheaper than that number .

Speaker 1 31:34

That's going to take some resistance . Of course you know that means you have to find a house that doesn't have multiple offers and sometimes the seller's not going to go for it . But if you make enough offers that are not super , like low ballie , but like hey , your house is selling for 350 , but you know it's on the market for 50 , 60 days , we'll give you 335 with 15k of concessions , or 340 with 15 K 10 K concessions , or or three , 30 , no concessions , like really hitting them lower . Um , I think is the goal , because you know you don't know what's going to happen with the market , you don't know if there's any more downturn . So the best way of protecting yourself is doing that . But of course don't do that without knowing you can afford the house , knowing you can do all those things .

Speaker 2 32:17

Are you seeing like a shift now , with people not wanting to hire real estate agents now ?

Speaker 1 32:25

No , not yet . I'm sure it's coming , but I think the animosity towards agents have always been there . It's still very much a needed industry because you still need someone If you think about what the purpose of it it is . There wasn't any buyers agents before . I remember the years or the history of it , but there wasn't any buyers agents . There was agents that are representing the sellers and then they would find the buyers and but the buyers felt like that agent was representing them and this agent had to keep reminding them I'm not representing you , I'm representing the seller versus the seller . So finally , at a certain point , the buyers agent , the idea of a buyer's agent came out and then they found a way to compensate that person through the percentage of the listing right and then that got paid . And now buyers have found that they had their own representation and it works for the sellers because it's someone who is licensed , who has background checked . It's someone who is licensed , who has a background checked , and they have access to all the to be able to access a house and make sure that it's safe and make sure that you know nothing gets stolen , etc . And if they are , then that agent is held liable . So I think the idea that sellers are just going to let anybody walk in through the houses is not happening , um , so that's still a very much needed thing and I think we do provide some kind of guidance and I everybody feels like they want that guidance or need it , but there's still a lot of people that do this is a little controversial

Real Estate Commission Debate

Speaker 1 33:46

.

Speaker 1 33:46

But the whole three percent commission thing , I think it , um , I think that probably should lumber , should have been lowered after we exceeded like 250 or 300k . You know , selling a 500 000 house and getting paid three percent , you're making like 15k . It's like absurd , right ? It's like when if you sell a 250k house , it's the same amount of work and you get paid 7500 , it's so there it should have probably been reduced to two percent . Um , after like 300k price range , the average sales price went up that high . But you know , um I I think you know a lot .

Speaker 1 34:22

Oftentimes what happens in history is when there needs to be a correction if there's an overcorrection and I think the overcorrection here is completely going to a thing where the buyers are not responsible for paying the commission . I think what should have happened is we should have kind of accepted some kind of industry where the commission just gets lowered , so the sellers have to pay less , and there were .

Speaker 1 34:40

Therefore , but we can still help buyers at the same level . But you know we'll , we'll see . I mean , unfortunately for buyers , all they have to know is that you have to have that conversation . I mean , there's always going to be agents that chart very cheap , so you don't have to worry about that . I'm sure there's an agent . You can find your premium . I'll charge you almost nothing to do it . But I think , for for the time being , the sellers are going to pay for the commission still , and the issue is going to be when you're talking with agents .

Speaker 1 35:06

Is that going to cover their minimum percentage ? And if that doesn't cover it , then does then the buyer have to cover the remaining percentage ?

Speaker 2 35:13

Yeah , they're asking for this percentages and you're doing too much . And I was thinking something similar where it had brackets like a one two bedroom and one bracket , and like the three , four bedrooms , and then , once you get to the millionaire ones , you know it'd be a different uh , percentage or package deal or whatever . Now , with like technology and AI and with just like being able to automate more things , like contracts , like everything contracts , as far as I can tell again , I'm not a real estate agent , I'm just speaking from like when I've been purchasing there and everything is always all done online . Everything's pretty much automatic . How can you let them know ? Like AI is a big thing , but this is what actually goes on .

Speaker 1 36:01

What would you pay an agent If you were ? If you don't mind role-playing . Let's say you're looking to buy a house in Phoenix and let's say you're trying to talk me down . Let's say you're like , you want to pay me . I think you have a number . You don't want to say it . Let's say you want to pay me two , three K or something Right .

Speaker 1 36:18

So can you , let's say , you want to pay me two , three K or something Right , so can you ? Let's say you're in that position , and then I can kind of tell you what I would respond . So , like you , just let's say , hey , the thing that people need to realize is people have to are going to get this agreement signed before they even look at a house now , which is so , let's say , we're having that conversation .

Speaker 1 36:36

You're like Javi , I want to hire you , I want to buy this house in Phoenix , but you know , I only want to pay you two , three k , let's just go with that , um . And then you would say and I would say why do you want to pay me three k ? Then what would you say ?

Speaker 2 36:49

like , all I need is for to be able to access these houses . Um , can I have a list ? Like you know , I'm gonna have my list . I go on Zillow , whatever , realtorcom , whatever the hell . Um , these are the houses that I'm thinking of seeing . Like , can we set up to be able to for you to show me these houses , and what would be , I guess ? Well , in this case I said 2K , right , would that be feasible ?

Speaker 1 37:18

Got it . So this is what I would respond . If you're looking for an agent that's gonna open the door for you , there's gonna be agents out there that will take a flat fee for sure um and at that point I don't even know if I like I don't even know , we're not there yet .

Speaker 1 37:33

Just so you know out of there I don't know how it's gonna look like , but what I would say is yeah , there's definitely agents out there that will open the door for you for 2K , and if you want me to just go open that door , and that's it . Like you have , I can send you the contract . You don't need me to walk you through it .

Speaker 1 37:51

You don't want me to call the seller . You don't want me to call and pull up comps for you because you can look at Zillow , but Zillow you can't look up closed properties , you can't look at pending properties , you can't look on tax records , you can't actually look up historical trends of where the prices are . You can't even look at the concessions amount . So you can look up the closed listings , maybe on Zillow , but you can't see what they paid in concessions . You can't get a really good idea because the MLS data is only accessible to licensed agents .

Speaker 1 38:18

So if you're telling me that's all you want me to do and you don't want any of that , I will gladly take two , three K Upfront cash please . I'm just kidding , I'll do it upfront .

Speaker 2 38:28

But the thing is .

Speaker 1 38:30

I'm assuming I would have another level above that , when the way what I do with my clients is , yes , the contract , but you already done this before . Yes , you already done this before . Yes , you , you already know this . But when we're looking at a house , I get you a good blueprint of where we are . I give you a zip code analysis of what's going on with those specific houses . I'm going to give you a really solid idea , with the comparable market analysis , where we are with the price and what price I think we should go in at um on top of that . When we give you that , you know you're going to know a better idea of once we get that price , are we going to be trending upward or downward ? What are the potentials here ? So that's probably what I would say . I think it's more than just the contract piece of it . I think there's going to be another . The way I'm thinking about it is there's a minimum service . You want just that about it is there's a minimum service , like . You want just that .

Speaker 1 39:22

But I think you're gonna be like but if you want , this like a little more in depth which , by the way , most people don't even do that second level now , and they still get paid three percent . So I'm sure you bought a few houses where you're like , what did the agent do you know ? Or I'm sure you've also bought houses where the agent , like , gave you all this information . You're like , wow , that was great . I wish I did this every time . Right , yeah , what has it been for you ?

Speaker 2 39:41

um , recently I was gonna sell this house kind of earlier last year and I had this uh agent and I swear like I , um , I don't even remember his name , like he didn't even know it's like he didn't want to sell the house , like I was like , hey , he didn't even send me houses to look at .

Speaker 2 40:03

I was like it really is , just you put my name and my criteria and the thing , and it's supposed to send me houses . That's how it usually works , um , but instead I was doing , you know , going on there seeing what houses and I would send them to , like , hey , this popped up , what can , what can I go see it ? Blah , blah , blah . And so then he go show it to me and like he didn't even walk me through the house like I did it myself either . Maybe he just thought I just didn't need it because I was more experienced . But like , still , like something you know and you know , um , and you know , I ended up just like you know , you never mind , I'm not buying at the moment uh , just because I didn't find what I was looking for at the at that time . So I just waited till this year , um , but yeah , I've had those , I've had um , one that

Real Estate Agent Commission and Support

Speaker 2 40:55

really killed me . I really hated paying her , the commission , uh , because she was actually I could look her up I still have her .

Speaker 2 41:03

I was like man , she's in Virginia and she was like like I even tried to go through .

Speaker 2 41:08

Uh , what is it like the broker to try to like release me from the contract , like , and that dude was like off on vacation somewhere and he could not be bothered and never even called me back and uh was just like I'm on vacation . When he answered me I was like , well , thanks , I guess . And so she got some some free money because , like I had her , she was my property manager first , didn't do what she needed to do , so then I was like I'm just gonna sell the house . Surprise , she had a clause in there that I have to sell with her the house surprise she had a clause in there that I have to sell with her , and then that lasted like close .

Speaker 2 41:45

No , there was a clause in the contract for the property management that I didn't catch , so like that was a hard lesson learned . And , um , yeah , she had in there that if I decide to sell , she uh is the first dibs filter , whatever , and blah , blah , blah , and so I had to go with her . She took like three months to freaking . Finally list my house people need to know .

Speaker 1 42:08

I mean , I'll be honest , this is like I'm guilty of this too . You can find an amazing agent with great reviews , but if they're going through like a down season in their life , they're having fights in their marriage . They're going through like a down season in their life , they're having fights in their marriage , they're having , you know , a death in the family or they're just like unmotivated that quarter they're going to give you the worst experience ever .

Speaker 1 42:33

And you're going to be like I don't get it and guess what ? We've all done that . Like there's no one in this world who's been consistently awesome in everything they with their , all their life um , I've done that , everyone's done it . But then there's other times where you'll find an agent that maybe like hey , you would never expect it . But you just find them at that right season in their life where they feel really empowered and motivating . You're like holy crap , that was amazing .

Speaker 1 42:54

And then , um , so it's when you're interviewing people . It's really not like what's your credentials , what's your ? It's like where , where are you ? Where's your headspace in the next now , where are you going to be ? Every yeah , if they're about to go on vacation , y'all just heads up , probably don't go over there . It's just like yeah , because not only are they going to be checked out when they're out of town , they're probably going to check down mentally weeks before and weeks after . So it's really you have to be good at reading people and you have to get like maybe they don't have the best credentials , but man , if they're just on it like they're on fire , like hey , I'll give this person a shot , um , or maybe they sold hundreds of houses in the area , but there's just all those with .

Speaker 1 43:35

One is , when you meet them , like , oh , what the ? Hell you're gonna work with them .

Speaker 2 43:38

So that's just kind of the things you have to live and learn like what areas , what markets do you service and how can they uh reach out to you for any other like tips or like to work with you ?

Speaker 1 43:50

if you happen to be buying or selling a home in phoenix , the general phoenix , you know , you know how it is . You live in a big city , like you live in los angeles , but there's like seven other cities around Los Angeles but you don't want to say , oh , I live in this city . You just say like , so I'll say hey , anywhere in Phoenix , but obviously there's a lot of cities around Phoenix . I'm available basically in the general Metro Phoenix area . If it's an hour away from Phoenix I'll probably service that area . So East Valley , west Valley , north Phoenix , south Phoenix , I cover it all Buying or selling , love to help you . But other than that , just continue supporting the podcast , because anything to do with money , cheese , man , just continue to learn and educate and grow .

Speaker 1 44:31

And I think the challenge I have for a lot of us I'm assuming it's majority Hispanic folks is when we see another person , another fellow Hispanic or Latina person , succeeding . Let's not be a crab and bring them down , you know . Let's support each other . I feel like the biggest issue that we have in our community and our culture is we tend to , you know , we don't support each other . We see someone doing good and we start feeling envy , we start feeling , you know , that scarcity effect and that's because we were given so little as a culture right effect , and that's because we were given so little as a culture right . We're giving this little space , this little like thing , and we feel like we have to fight for when someone takes something because they're taking what's there's so much out there and someone can succeed and do great and still leave enough room for everyone else . So let's do a better job , supporting each other , supporting each other , whether it be podcasts or Instagram posts .

Speaker 1 45:20

You know , if your friend just got a BBL , him or her go support . Hey , congratulations on the BBL . If they just got a house , if they just got a car , hey , you know , congrats on that . Let's not , let's not , let's work on the envy . You know me speaking as well , talking to myself . I really want a BBL . Anyways , where am I going ?

Speaker 1 45:46

Just just , you know , we do a better job as a culture , helping each other out , I would say awesome , thank you . I'll have all your stuff , uh , linked down in the description and definitely go check out the donation link as well .

Speaker 2 45:50

He's trying to get . Yes , go find me . Go find me for that or his bbl the bbl realtor javier hey , you know what that would be ? Uh , some branding . If I , if I show up to the showing , just snatched just complete snatch .

Speaker 1 46:05

You just know that . That's because , thanks to you guys if you guys found me on this podcast and you go to my . You go to my youtube wherever , or my instagram and comment just snatched and I'll know you came from this , from this podcast . Let me know all right .

Speaker 2 46:17

Well , thank you so much for being here and I will see everyone in the next episode . Bye . Thank you so much for listening . Don't forget to like and share this episode so others can also find this podcast . Don't forget to follow me on all my social medias listed in the show notes below , where you can also find resources to help you in your financial journey . If you're interested in becoming a guest on the podcast , you can find that information in the show notes . Other than that , thank you so much for your support and I will see you in the next episode . Bye .