Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, guys, so welcome to the first episode of the unfiltered Agent Real Talk and real estate. My name is Marlena Alvarez. I am your realtor friend in the business, and the whole goal of this show has been birthed out of all the crazy crap that's happening in the real estate market, in the real estate industry as a whole, and just making sure I'm doing my part, because coming July 2024, things are about to change. They're about to get way different and a lot more complicated. For a hot minute, I don't think they'll stay complicated, but there's gonna be a lot of consumers out there who need to be better prepared for what's coming in the market. And in general, I have some of the best friends in the industry, and I want to help equip you guys, give you all the resources and knowledge and tools. Even so, even if I'm not your agent, I can help you not get screwed in your next real estate transaction. That's my goal. So, whether you're buying, you're selling, you're investing, this podcast is to help you not get screwed. And that's that way, you're going to know what questions to ask, all the things that you need to know that you don't even know that you don't know. That's what this podcast is for. So, for the first episode, I wanted to bring on my other half, Edward, who is also a real estate agent, but he's a new real estate agent. He's been doing this a while, but not as long as me. I've been at about ten years. I got started in 2014, and he got his real estate license a couple years ago, so he could be my wingman in this whole crazy ride. And I wanted to bring him on and show him a. Show him off to you guys, but also be. Have him be part of the conversation, get to know me a little bit, and just talk about what's going on. So, thanks, Ed, for being on with me.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: It's been a fun ride this last, what, two and a half years? Started as your assistant, and then next thing I know, I had a license, and it's grown from there. It's been fun.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: Yep. So, I. If you don't know me already, I'm a real estate agent. I work for La Rosa Realty, and Ed also works with La Rosa Realty here in Florida, central Florida. And I also own a real estate brokerage in South Carolina. I have some awesome agents up there rocking and rolling, selling houses, and I've been doing residential real estate, like I said, since 2014 as a licensed agent. But I've been working in the business since 2008, so I've seen a lot. So from the housing crisis, market crash, rebound, all the things that happened during COVID the market going nuts with 2.4% interest rates, and to present day, which was when Ed got his license, when everything started getting really freaking expensive.
Most people right now have a very hard time if they don't have a lot of liquidity just because freaking mortgage rates are all time highs for our generation. I know everybody else is like, oh, well, you should have heard them when they were, you know, 17% in the eighties and seventies, but we're not there. Okay, everybody, all us millennials have sticker shock and we can barely afford anything, and it sucks. So it's a weird time to be in real estate. And this podcast is all about that. Why would you want to be in real estate in 2024 when they're estimating that? Like, I was reading an article by Housingwire.com, which was actually off of a really big analysis that potentially a million real estate agents are going to be leaving the industry and coming in the next 24 months. So the next two years because of this big Nar lawsuit. Now, I want to touch on, what is this NAR lawsuit? Why does it matter to you? Why would it cause 1 million realtors to leave the industry now? Mind you, that's two thirds of the industry. Because there's only 1.5 million realtors. Yeah, approximately. That's. That's. That's a new word I learned.
But anyway, there's a lot of people who are going to be exiting this business, and some people have been like, oh, my God, that's great. I'm so happy there's going to be less realtors because I can't go to Publix and walk 5ft without bumping into one.
And other people are terrified because it's their livelihood. They're scared of what this is going to mean for them if they no longer have a job. But, you know, what do you think of this Nar lawsuit? I know you're new to real estate, so some of it's still a little bit hazy, but that's why we're having this conversation. I think you can bring a lot of insight into the non real estate perspective.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's a good question because it's really going to expose the gaps of where, you know, what we used to do has shifted a little bit, where when we were presenting a property or we're going to.
We're working with a buyer or a seller.
How we present that is going to shift a little bit. A lot of people, I've learned with time, don't like change. And it's not a plus b equals c anymore. And it's also not that complicated either. I think a lot of people, if they haven't had a background in negotiations, maybe, or maybe they, you're going to see where these little bit of holes, and I think good realtors are going to adapt and overcome, and it's going to play to their strengths. And I think, as you said, maybe the million that exit are going to be the exact opposite. But I see this as actually a great opportunity for realtors.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it could be. It could be a great opportunity for a lot of people. It could be a really bad thing. So for those of you who don't know what the NAR lawsuit is, let me just give you a very general explanation. So this started all back in March of 2019. And there have been several big conglomerate investment groups who bought up a lot of real estate through COVID. And they've gone after Nar, they've gone after Keller, Williams, re Max Real, a ton of other huge real estate brokerages, accusing them of price fixing, accusing them of saying that standard, you know, putting a standard rate of commission in the MLS is basically creating a scenario where buyers and sellers don't realize that's negotiable. And while we do post a commission, when I. So if I listed your house for sale, and currently with the way the law sits, I can advertise what I would pay. So if Ed had the buyer, he brought buyer and he sent me an offer on my listing in the MLS, it states, this is only where we as agents can see this. In the multiple listing service where I list your house online and then it goes out to all the other websites on the realtor only side that we can see. It shows what I'm willing to pay him if he brings me a buyer. And the seller is currently the one responsible for paying that commission.
And it's always been negotiable. I mean, if you don't want to, you know, pay that as a seller, you decide that when you list your house with the agent, you decide to go go with and they're going to broker your property, you know, you decide, right? Then when you, when you, when you go under contract with that listing agent, what you're going to pay the other side. What this NAR lawsuit basically said is that these large investment companies who are buying up all this real estate lost millions of dollars because they paid what they claim to be unnecessary buyer agent commissions. Now, are buyer agent commissions unnecessary? Absolutely not. They're very important because a lot of people would not be able to afford to pay their buyer's agent and pay closing costs and pay their down payment and buy furniture and buy food. Like it's just the buyers in the home market right now are so inundated with cost and fees that if a lot of consumers have this fear that when they are now having to pay potentially now, what this lawsuit would mean is that you'd no longer be able to put a co broker commission like in the MLS. So if you had this buyer, right, and you were going to write an offer and send it to me on my listing, you would then have to put it on a separate addendum or on the contract depending on how that brokerage decides to set that up. What you want to be paid for bringing me that buyer. And then at that point you can either a ask the seller to pay the commission, which is what is probably going to be standard still, and, or if the seller says I'm not paying a buyer's agent commission, which they can do that because it's negotiable, it's a negotiable item on the, it's not been pre negotiated as it is now, but it's going to be, have to be negotiated along with the offer, then the buyer could be responsible for paying that, right. Or if the buyer can't pay and the seller can't pay, what are you going to do? That is the question that we don't quite know the answer to. Is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going to offer some alternative to be able to put that commission as a finance item on the closing statement where they can work it into their loan?
There's going to be new creative things come up, but this lawsuit doesn't. They've settled. So Nar, which is the National association of Realtors, agreed to pay like what, $413 million over the next four years. So we're paying that from our nar dues that we pay to these people that they've settled with. There's lots of other lawsuits. This is just the bigger one.
And it just covered all that lawsuit, covered all the individual brokers that were I think, had a net worth of like less than like 2 million. And all the bigger ones are now having to settle on their own like Keller Williams and Remax and real, I know, real just settled and it's been a big stink. That's a big company and it's kind of hurt. A lot of people that I know that work for that company, they're not happy about that, but it's like, what do you do? Thankfully, our company isn't that big yet.
Hopefully one day it will be, but we're covered under that lawsuit. So what we're saying is because now real estate commissions are going to have to be negotiated. When you put that offer in, as a newer agent coming into the business, where do you feel you're not necessarily your hangups? Because I know you're very good at negotiating and you're good at advocating for your value and yourself, but where do you feel like the gaps are going to be at? And why do you feel like they're saying, because of this change? This is the change. It's just the commissions aren't going to be on MLS anymore. The buyers and the sellers will have to negotiate that at the time of the purchase agreement. That's the only change. That's really the major change that's gonna affect consumers that's been created. But why do you think that that's gonna cause those 1 million agents to leave the industry?
[00:10:43] Speaker B: I think a lot of people, and I've seen this just outside of real estate or with realtors, is the fear of asking or the fear of before it was set, you knew right then it was 2.5%.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: And I think a lot of people have this, like, fear of rejection or maybe this fear of something there that is really going to be challenging to a lot of people.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: So you're saying they don't know how to negotiate, they're not going to know how to advocate, they're not going to know how to present.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Negotiation is a skill and, you know, and it's a, to me, there's a lot of great books on it, but it's something that a lot of people always think of negotiation as like confrontation or it's just like, it's just all we're doing is seek into a solution. And I'm saying, hey, would you be open to a, b or c? And then I present something to you and you say, I like b. Would you entertain the idea of d? And then we just come to a win win? And that's how I think of it. That's the best way to speak of it. It's win win. So when I'm negotiating, I'm there to make sure everybody wins, my client win. You know, we're also working. I win, my seller wins, the buyer wins. Because that's what we're here to do is everybody gets to move this ball down the field. And my buyer's happy with this home, this stream home they love. The seller's happy because we negotiated a fair rate where he felt it was okay. And then I think, and that's the joy that I think you get from that negotiating. Now, I think a lot of people see this little bit of curve when we talk about money and we talk about the word commission. And I go, no, it's just the same thing.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's not something we've had to talk about. Like, I've never up, I've been in real estate now ten years and I've never had to have a buyer pay my commission ever. So, and it not only is that going to be a true statement for most agents that I know, but I think that's, that's an industry wide. Most buyers agents have never had to negotiate this or even talk about commissions with a buyer that's hired them to go show homes or even to do a buyer consultation.
Another big thing now that's going to shift, especially in Florida and other states. This is not relevant. Like South Carolina, we already do this standard. But in Florida, currently, consumers are not required to hire an agent to go show a home, meaning you don't have to sign an actual contract. Right. So if I have some friends that call me up right now, the way the law sets in the state of Florida, this is not true for other states, but for Florida, I can, I can function for them as a transaction broker with no buyer agent agreement in writing. I could just be a transaction broker and go open doors for them. I can write offers for them without any official paperwork, without having any conversation about, okay, I'm your agent. This is what this means. This is what my duties are to you fiduciary wise, and this is what your duties are to me.
Here, sign here. We haven't had to do that in Florida. So essentially a buyer could work with multiple agents at once with no legal obligations to one party, unless that agent had a standard practice of doing a buyer agent, you know, agreement. But that's going to be a big shift. And with that, this new conversation that's going to be had with buyers and with consumers is that, hey, buyer, I am now going to have to negotiate my fees like any attorney would any, like if you've ever had to hire an insurance advocate, any other industry, you know, typically they're paid out of the settlement. Right. And real estate, that's been true, too. But if they don't, if for some reason I can't negotiate my commission out of the deal.
Hey, so, hey, buyer, you're going to have to pay me. This, this is the expectation. And what I think that's going to create is a scenario where agents are going to have to get really good at articulating their value. What value do you actually bring that would merit me as a buyer now having to pay you? Whereas before buyer representation was always covered in the sale of the house, your, your buyer's agent was. And maybe you're a new buyer. You've never even bought a house before. Or maybe you've bought and sold a couple houses, but you really weren't clear on how it worked. You just kind of went through the motions. The buyer's agent's paid by the seller. So when you currently buy or sell a home, it comes out from the net proceeds that the seller would have taken. So they're paying it on your behalf. And when you go to sell your house, you'll list the house with a broker. They'll pay, you'll pay the buyer agent commission. If one gets brought to you now, it's a whole different conversation. It's kind of got turned on its head because now you have this. I'm going to negotiate. Here's my value. Here's everything I'm going to do. Here's how I'm going to support you and make this a great deal for you. But agents are going to have to really come to bat with their best, you know? And I think when it's the experienced ones who are very articulate, who know how to negotiate, who know how to advocate for their value and for themselves and can do so for their clients, your track record of success is going to matter more than it's ever, ever has. Your client reputation is going to matter. People are going to want to know that you actually know what the heck you're talking about.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: Because if you're going to have to pay somebody, you're gonna care about. That's my project and I'm just projecting. That's my opinion.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Yeah. I think that decisions can be made no different than if you go and you buy a brand name product or you buy a generic product. I'm not saying either good or bad. I'm saying you get to make a choice every time. And it's within, like, say, as a realtor. Like when I'm working with an investor, the first thing I do is I start with not my value, but we start looking at the whole picture of something and my God, my goal is not only to get there smoothly, but how do I help him win along the way.
You said earlier, connections, who do you know and when I can help pilot that between lenders, retitle, we got electricians, we got anything in that arbitrary like we've worked to build something to help make that path smoother for him. I think there's value built into that. And once they see that, you know that that's, it's not just also negotiating a price all the time. We always think about the term of dollars, but what happens when we go in and we do an inspection period and we have these problems, what happens next? And that's where you're going to see experience, not just in the what to do, but the negotiations of here's how we're going to represent this back to the seller.
And that hasn't happened a lot of times. A lot of times I see a deal and it just goes ABC and I think there's a lot left on the table. And now you're going to see good realtors, a lot left on the table with people and maybe someone got what they wanted. But I do know that inside of this you're going to see a lot better with these people that know how to pivot and protect their buyer or protect their seller. I always think the cream rises to the top and it's going to be very relevant. I don't know how the whole commission structures and all are going to work out in the end and the negotiations, there's a lot of unknowns. But I do know one thing that the conversations do change between how I speak to my buyer or speak to my seller or how we orchestrate from a to z. There will be shifts there. And I think that's what's going to throw a lot of realtors off.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: They're not going to know how to do it.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: They're not going to know how to talk and they're not going to know how to articulate it. They're not going to have the, they're going, it's, it's. I think this is my personal opinion. I think if you're not a strong negotiator or an advocate for yourself, if you don't do good business and you can't get up in front of a buyer and be like, yeah, I do really good business and I'm worth it. I'm worth this commission. I'm worth being paid for what I do.
I think you're not gonna, you're not gonna be able to do it. And I think a lot of people in this industry got into it because they thought it was quick money, easy money, a lot. I saw tons of people get into the business in COVID, you know, and they thought, oh, this is gonna be quick and easy money. I'm gonna be able to get in here and sell some houses and make a couple G's and turn and burn. And they don't care about customer service. They don't care about being a true expert in their field, in their industry. And they're just kind of skating through contracts or if they're lucky enough to actually get anything under contract. But I think for the ones who are already struggling, it's gonna be a destiny. And I think for the ones who have been in business for a while, who have a good track record of success, have done some deals, but maybe you're not, like, on it like you necessarily should be. You need to turn it on because things are about to get very competitive. And if you've got to stand up and really stand up for yourself in a deal, you've got to know how to articulate that. You've got to know how to, how to present that in a way that's confident and powerful. And you can put your, you know, your client in a position where they feel like that you're. Even if I had to pay you, it's worth it. And I've talked to actually, some of my clients about this and, like, how they feel about it. And, you know, my buddy's like, man, I'd pay you. I'd definitely pay you. Cause he knows the value that I bring. He's like, I wouldn't want to do this without you there, you know, to help me through it. But he can also afford to pay me because he's an investor. Right? But what about all these people out there now? And this is truly what inspired this podcast. All the people out there who can't afford to pay a buyer, agent commission, do their down payment and their closing costs, who are now going to be like, yeah, I think I'm just going to go open house, hop through this buying process and work with the seller, thinking, oh, I'm going to cut out some fees, which is probably potentially true, but they don't even know what they don't know. They don't know what they're up against. They've never been through the buying process. They don't understand how the mortgages work. They don't understand they can shop their rate, know what a frickin underwriter looks for? They don't know about an inspection period. And that, oh, by the way, you can have five days, ten days, that all those items are negotiable. You think if they go directly to that seller's agent, do you think they're going to get adequate representation?
[00:20:30] Speaker B: No, I don't. And I've got a witness of just recently some things you've done. And this is what makes it. I'm going to brag on you for a second. From her ten years in the industry or so is, you know, she closed on a home, I think, a month ago. And would you get 6.25% on that home? And with no pine down in points, I'm trying to close on home. I'm a realtor, 7%. And I'm like, I have 800 credit score. Why am I 0.75 higher? And that's just, it amazes me, um, watching that depth of skill with those years of experience. But also, you know, I think as a consumer, also got it. We're talking a lot. I always kind of think first as a realtor or an investor, but if I had to flip to consumer, I think this is one of the greatest times to be the best interviewer. Like, you don't.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Well, I'm thinking, I'm talking about when. So if a buyer's going to get, going to work with a listing agent, do you feel they're going to get a fair shake?
[00:21:27] Speaker B: It's hard to guess on that one.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Well, they don't have any representative. It's like going to getting divorced.
And your ex wife has an attorney and you don't.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Oh, I apologize. I heard your question now. Oh, yeah, I heard you now. You definitely wouldn't show up. I know it feels like you're going to save 1% or 2%. I'm making up numbers here for conversation purposes, but a lot of people think.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: What is a buyer's experience if they go to a seller with no representation? And I'll tell you what I think it looks like. It looks like a buyer going in there. They don't understand the contract. That listing agent works for the seller. They work for the person who is in the, in their fiduciary that they're legally obligated to represent. So that means they're not going to tell you what their motivations are. They're not going to tell you all of your options for inspection periods, what's negotiable, what's not.
They're not really able to, in any legal way, advocate for you, give you the fair shake that you deserve because they represent the seller. So that would be against the best interest of the seller. If they're working for you, they're helping you with your. Because we don't do, especially in Florida, we don't do dual agency in South Carolina, they do, which is a whole nother topic. I can get into it another day. But when you just, in the sense of you have a seller that's represented in a buyer, that's not, the buyer's losing out. You're not going to get all of the information that you're entitled to get, or I feel you're entitled to get that you don't even know. You know, you don't know that your inspection period is negotiable. Like they may say, oh, well, I can do five days. Well, it's negotiable. Maybe I could do 20. Maybe I could do ten. Or you get the inspection and you're like, I don't just want a four point, I want a full inspection. I want a mold test. I want a wind mitigation. I want to know if the pool pump works. I want to do a septic inspection. I want a water test. It's got a, well, all these things that your real estate agent would be telling you, if you go to that seller because you feel you genuinely can't afford to hire a realtor, you can't afford not to hire a realtor. We're being completely honest and my heart's broken for the eight, for all the buyers I know who are going to be open house hopping and hop in the front door of some jerk agent who is just trying to make a double sided commission or make it all the money himself and not have to deal with a buyer's agent and just close that thing, they're not really worried about you. And if you got a good deal or not. And there's a lot of agents out there that are like that.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: I think some of the hardest deals we, even, if you look at in hindsight right now, before this goes down, is when someone wants to self list their home because they don't want to pay it.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a nightmare.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: I got friends doing it. It's a mess. And because they thought they were going to save three or four grand. This is their, their acknowledged, this is.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Their, their logic, right?
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Yep. Their photos were subpar. House set on the market and a great market up for 100 and 2150 plus days. Still on the market, too. And they thought they were saving pennies, but, you know, it's picking up pennies and leaving dollars. And then also, the deal is extremely difficult because they. Since they're doing it themselves, nothing's ever right. The paperwork's never right. And it's like, but this is what you signed up to do for a.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Couple dollars, and then they call you, and they're like, hey, yes.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Every time.
[00:24:52] Speaker A: What do you think about this? And I'm like, huh?
Maybe you should have hired me to help you because it's messy. You can diy. And there's a lot of people out there that I feel like are smart and capable, and they can list their house, and they can do it effectively, but that's a small percentage of the population. Okay? Like, a very small percentage of people that are actually capable of doing this themselves.
Just like, some people could dye their hair at home, but most of us shouldn't.
There's some people, women out there who are freaking talented and can, like, they look amazing, and I just did this. Not all of us are, Susie, homemakers. And there's some things I know I'm not good at that I will never do, but there's some things I do like to learn. But real estate's complicated, and it is very, very volatile. And there's so many things, even as agents, that we don't know going into a deal. And we at least know we don't know everything, but we know where to shine the flashlight for you. That's the value that an agent brings. We help you know what questions need to be asked, and we manage that project and that deal till closing. So from the time you go in to get your paperwork signed, we're checking behind the lender, we're checking behind the listing agent. We're making sure the seller's disclosure is filled out, that they have all their other things. We're looking and making sure we're at the inspection for you, with you, and making sure, like, if you got to go to work, we're going to be there. And if your agents aren't doing these things, then they're probably not a good realtor. But these are the things that I think are gonna matter, you know?
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: The people who do their job properly, who take pride, who show their value and their worth, and they know how to communicate that, are gonna be the ones that succeed. And I think a lot of good realtors are gonna fall out of the game, not because they're not good realtors, but because they're not willing to learn, to negotiate, to learn to advocate, to learn to articulate what they actually do. Right. That's a big part of why we're doing this podcast. I want you guys to know this business and at least be a little bit freaking smarter than you were before and be on the up and up, just like with this nar stuff. A lot of people will not realize until after it's happened. That January, not January, July. Something I think is like the 14th, the 24th that the laws are going to change now and there if they're buying a house, then they're going to potentially have to be paying their buyer agent commission. Whereas if they wait, you know, if they, if they do it now, they don't have to not, I'm not pressuring anyone to buy now. You buy when it makes sense. Just be aware that these things are changing and that if you.
My best advice and what I really want to talk about what this means for consumers specifically. Right. Like if you're a consumer, you're thinking about buying a house in the next nine, nine months, twelve months. What does this look like? I think regardless if you're worried about buyer agent commission or not, I think liquidity is super important. Like you need to have enough money when you go up to buy the house that you want to buy, you're going to need to save. And that doesn't mean having 20%, but it means having enough money to cover whatever you need to cover. So if that dream house comes up, you can afford to pay a realtor, you can afford to pay for your inspections, you're not going to skimp out on what needs to happen to. It's the biggest investment you'll make in your life. Like, it's worth it, worth putting, putting it into and having that liquidity, even if you don't need it, you could save it and invest it in something else. But I think that, quit eating out for a little while. Pinch some pennies, you know, figure out where you can save some in your budget to put it away, put more away, put some more of that tax refund back. I think people are just going to have to be more conscious now moving forward, especially traditional buyers, homebuyers, non investors. But the home buyers that are, that are on the residential side are going to want to.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: I think not the change. I think that's just a good way to think. You know, it's.
[00:28:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: Regardless, you've got to start future forecasting, especially if you're watching this video right now, you're in some area that you're like, all right, maybe I don't have my dream home, or maybe I want to buy investments or there's some kind of real estate thing that you foresee yourself going into in the next year or two. And so with that thought process, it's good to start having these kind of conversations. And you know, I love that you're starting this podcast because it's allowing people to start generating the questions, to start getting answers that they're seeking. Because I'll tell you, it's a, it's like the wild, wild west out there when you start at first, but it's kind of cool. Once you learn this, you start asking the right questions, it gets a lot more clear cut. It's not so scary anymore. Yeah, it's actually scary fears a lot of people they get scared of.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: It's a lot of fun because there's a lot of potential in real estate to make.
You can really build wealth in real estate, but you can also maximize your current assets. And just having a home instead of renting, there's no reason why if you're able to have a full time income and you can put back some money, that you shouldn't be able to be a home. I think everybody deserves that, worked hard in this country, should be able to have a home of their own. They should be able to own, I think, the way, and call me a conspiracy theorist, but it kind of feels like the way things are going, like the powers that be, big brother, they don't want regular Americans buying homes. They want us to be a renter society like it is over in Europe, where it's so freaking hard to get credit, it's so hard to actually buy a house. And in America, we're very blessed up to this point where anyone who had good credit paid their bills and could save some money could go buy a house. And I think that's freaking amazing. And I work in real estate because I value that right and that privilege that we have here. And I don't feel like legislation, the government's decisions have been really working toward protecting that lately. And there's a lot of people who would rather you pay them rent because they figured out, you know, they make a whole lot more money off of renters and owning it all than selling even the mortgage side. Because if you look at it back, 2008, they made, before leading up to that. How are these hedge funds making money? By writing loans to consumers like us, which drove, you know, all of the requirements out the window. So anybody can get a loan with no income verification, nothing like that? Well, now that's crashed. And the government's kind of slapped their hands and said, oh, no, no, everybody's got to meet all these requirements, all these loans need to meet these certain guidelines. And with that, it's not as easy to make money for them anymore. And with interest, think about it. Interest rates were so low.
How did anybody make money as an investor in those big portfolios at two and a half percent? I think personally that was, it was great, but it was too low. It didn't make any sense. But now the government's trying to offset that and it's swinging. So now they're at 7.5% but they're not writing any new debt going to go in and buy because then they can, they know they can make money in the renter because then they control it all. So they, I think, I think that this is just a natural progression.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: And I think that's a good topic, too because a lot of people, I hear one thing that buyers, consumers say all the time is I'm going to wait until rates go down. Yeah, that, that's a, that's almost a whole video for another day. Like it's a big time. It really is. Or the rates of the percentages right now, what does it mean? And I think that's a, that's a question that everybody should be asking a very experienced realtor. And it's not always like, let's go shopping. That's what everybody thinks that a realtor.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: Is going to tell you. Call my lender buddy and run your statistics before we even go out to look at houses because if you don't know where your money's at, you don't even know what you can buy.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: And a lot of people think, well, they got to pull more credit right now. No, we just need to get a breakdown so we can kind of start clearing up that picture that you have and create a game plan. And I'm working with people that have a six month game plan right now. A twelve month game plan. We're building credit with some people, but that's the goal of a realtor, is there? I'm to be a professional advisor to help.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Yeah, we're your advocate.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: An advocate.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: And that's what they should be. They should be an advocate. So, absolutely, when it goes back to why are 1 million people going to be leaving the business and leave 500 of us? And I'm saying I'm going to still be here because I'm going to still be here, but why are 1 million people going to leave it's because a lot of people are half ass. I really feel like a lot of people are not willing to step up and be that advocate for people. They don't even want to answer their freaking telephones. Most real estate agents won't return a telephone call. They won't even leave feedback after they show your house.
And it's going to separate the wheat from the chaff in a lot of ways. And I hope that we can all come together as an industry and use this as a call out for all the ones who weren't showing up and doing right and making us, the good ones look bad, for one thing. Okay. But that will all be, you know, a lot more aggressive when it comes to education, how we're showing up in the business and be better professionals in general. I think that's what's going to take if you want to stay in this business and be really good at marketing yourself.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: I think that's very true. And then also I think realtors on the flip side, they just need to know what they enjoy.
What they enjoy, like what type of clientele they like, what type of, you know, that's the one. It's like you don't. You're not a jack of all trades. Some people love commercial. Some people love residential. I love working with investors.
You know, it's. That's my niche inside of my expertise and I know that. And so when I go to speak with someone, I knowing if it's not in my niche, I say, hey, have you met Marlena?
[00:34:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: You know, and we understand our gaps inside of what we do, but that way we can serve our buyer, our seller, to that utmost. It's very important.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's super important. And with that, I think a lot of agents are going to have to find where they fit in real estate with this new chapter, especially if they're not going to be able to be that hard hitting negotiator. I think it's going to matter what brokerage you work for, how well they're training you on how to deal with this new upcoming change in july, and being able to circumnavigate that will depend on your ability to change. Like you said before, most people don't like change, but change is a reality, you know? So with that, I really. I really enjoyed this conversation. It's really been something that's consumed a lot of our time and a lot of our mental space over the last couple weeks with this huge announcement that was made. But it's something I have a lot of peace about, because I have a plan.
I know my values, you, and I'm not scared, you know, but I am scared for all the consumers who aren't going to have a realtor representing them. That, that keeps me up at night. That is the one thing that I genuinely lose sleep over. And so that's why we're doing this podcast, because I care about the consumer. I want them to be informed and educated, and I want them to have real unbiased info, not just some realtor up here telling you what they think so they can be, you know, sell themselves, sell the house. I don't care about that. I really want people to get the real deal, the real info, so they can be really an informed consumer. So if they had to go on their own, they'd know. But, and then, but then they'll probably know so much, they'll realize that they really do need professional help. But being able to know the difference, you know?
[00:36:04] Speaker B: So I think that's a good one right. There is, you know, if anything from this video, from my side at least, is ask good questions. Ask multiple people. You're not cheating on your realtor or anybody. You're just asking questions so you can be consciously competent to make a very valid decision. That's a very big decision, a 30 year decision.
And, you know, like, if this is not your ending home, then you ask those questions. And that's the thing that I love that you're going to be able to do. You can ask Marlene, you ask myself, and that way you start putting that puzzle together, you know, you don't have to be an expert in it, but I do want you to be in control of the decision so we can work with you and then we can kind of get to that finish line together.
People have overdelegated in the past. You said earlier, don't get screwed. That was one of the big openers.
[00:36:51] Speaker A: I don't want people getting screwed in.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: Feeling screwed is just because there was a lack thereof of something that didn't get asked and there was a feeling that created and whether you did or did not, you know, it's not a good feeling afterwards.
[00:37:03] Speaker A: No. Well, typically, it's not just about feeling. It's like somebody usually loses money. Yeah, they usually lose money or they buy a bad house.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: And that's. That's a big deal. So we, we want to help you avoid that, protect you.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: So that's, that's our show for today. Thank you guys for taking time to watch. I look forward to getting into all the juicy topics, asking all the questions that you need to know the answers to so you guys can go out there and not get screwed in your next deal. I'm Arlena. Thanks for watching or listening if you're tuning in on the podcast side. And we'll see you next week.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: Bye, guys.
