39: 5 Biggest Negotiation Mistakes
I've negotiated hundreds of real estate deals over the years, and I've learned that although each one is different, there are some tactics that generally work and others that usually don't when it comes to negotiating a deal. Additionally, each transaction has multiple times when you have to negotiate, and any one of these negotiation points can derail a transaction. In this episode, I discuss ...
43m Nov 18, 2020
43m
38: Mortgage interest rates at HISTORICAL lows - what it means for you
In just two years (Nov 2018-Nov 2020), average mortgage interest rates have gone down by around 40%! We are seeing rates that are lower than we ever have seen and likely ever will see again. What does that mean practically? For starters, you can buy a lot more house now than just 2 years ago without seeing your mortgage payment go up. How much more house can you buy? Tune into this episode to f...
25m Nov 11, 2020
25m
37: Greenville's most underrated traits
Greenville has developed a reputation for a lot of things - a beautiful downtown area, talented local artists, delicious dining scene, great annual festivals/activities, etc. - but there are a lot of unique traits to the Upstate that fly under the radar while having a massive impact on one's daily life. We explore six of Greenville's (and the Upstate's) most underrated traits in this (short) ep...
19m Nov 04, 2020
19m
36: 2020 Greenville Elections Voter Guide
I am fairly involved and knowledgeable about local politics, and so I get asked with some regularity what my opinions are about different candidates. Rather than typing it out in a massive post, I decided to record a podcast about it, with a special focus on which politicians (particularly among the local ones) will be good for local real estate. I cover county/local, state, and federal electio...
45m Oct 27, 2020
45m
35: The crazy roller coaster of buying from a RE wholesaler
With there being so few homes on the market, it's important that I keep my eyes open for any opportunities that might arise for my clients. One potential avenue for finding houses (particularly investment properties) is to purchase them through wholesalers. What is a wholesaler, and what is the process like buying a house from them? If you're wondering, you're in luck with this episode, because...
26m Oct 21, 2020
26m
34: How to Assess a Fixer Upper
I get calls all the time from people who want to get into flipping houses, and for those that do, arguably the most important skill to develop is the ability to quickly assess a property. You need to assess the type of flip, the potential risk/reward, how much of an opportunity it is, and how much competition you are likely to have. In this episode, I discuss some basic criteria to give you an ...
32m Oct 14, 2020
32m
33: Wait - did the CDC really say SC landlords can't evict tenants?
Both the state of SC and the federal government (via the CDC) have issued orders/guidelines addressing a landlord's ability to evict a tenant who has been financially impacted by COVID. This is having a ripple effect on real estate, causing some investors to freak out and sell off their rentals, while others are opting to avoid purchasing future rentals until at least after the elections are ov...
21m Oct 07, 2020
21m
32: Define your spaces and increase your home value
Sometimes spaces in a home should be left flexible and open to the imagination of the buyer, but many times, defining a space and limiting its function will actually add value to your house. And oftentimes it doesn't cost much to do.  In this short episode, I discuss various real-life situations where giving a space a specific function could help or hurt your home value, as well as some practi...
21m Sep 30, 2020
21m
31: Horror stories of bad realtors
Sometimes deals literally fall apart because of a bad buyer's agent. Sometimes a good buyer's agent can present an offer in such a way that gets a house for a client when there are other, higher offers. I have a bunch of stories I could tell, and I tell a few of them in this episode to pull back the curtain on what it's like being a realtor in today's market. The moral of the story? Don't just ...
29m Sep 23, 2020
29m
30: Market Update - Greenville is setting records (not all of them good)
As we look at the latest data on the real estate market (courtesy of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors), we find that the Upstate is setting all sorts of new records, and not all of them are good. Is it still a wild seller's market? Yes, for sure. Is that changing going into the fall season? It sure looks that way - maybe even flipping to a buyer's market! We talk about all this an...
30m Sep 16, 2020
30m
29: Overcoming the challenges of buying with a home sale contingency
When it's a seller's market, sellers don't typically want to accept an offer that is contingent on the buyers selling their home. This presents some major challenges for the majority of buyers that need to sell their home in order to finance their next home purchase. How do we overcome those challenges as buyers and what should sellers be considering when looking at a home-sale contingent offer...
31m Sep 09, 2020
31m
28: Greenville's Housing Affordability Crisis
"Housing affordability" isn't just a real estate buzz word; it's a real problem in the Upstate, and it's about to come to a head. What is the trend and what can we do about it? That's what we discuss in this week's episode. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at (864) 735-7580 or by email...
22m Sep 02, 2020
22m
27: Should You Sell Your House or Rent It Out When Moving? 5 Considerations
A question that has become much more common in the past year among my real estate clients who are planning to move is whether they should go the traditional route of selling their current house when buying the next one or instead keep their old house and attempt to rent it out after buying their next one. The answer to this question isn't straightforward, and as a realtor, I'm not allowed to gi...
29m Aug 26, 2020
29m
26: Greenville's Contract is Super Weird
Due to local real estate politics, the vast majority of real estate contracts in Greenville are done on a form known as Form 310. There's a lot to like about this contract, but when it comes to how a buyer is supposed to go about his/her inspection period, Form 310 can cause a lot of confusion over what a buyer's (or seller's) options are, including confusion that results in the occasional laws...
46m Aug 19, 2020
46m
25: Is It a Seller's or Buyer's Market? Both and Neither
This is perhaps the weirdest real estate market of our time - all-time low inventory makes it a great time to sell a house while all-time low mortgage interest rates makes it a great to buy. So what does that mean practically if you're considering buying or selling a home (including investment properties) in the Upstate? I discuss several ramifications of this weird and wild real estate market ...
34m Aug 12, 2020
34m
24: The 80/20 Principle: Change How You Think About Your House
The 80/20 Principle (also known as Pareto's Law), has helped to explain a lot of things we experience in life. For instance, 80% of your enjoyment typically comes from 20% of your activities, 80% of a company's profits typically come from 20% of its clients, etc. When we apply the 80/20 principle to houses, it helps to clarify a lot of things, from what we can do to best add value to our house...
31m Aug 05, 2020
31m
23: Home Problems I Freak Out About (Or Not)
When you get that home inspection report back - whether you're buying or selling the house - it's easy to freak out at all the issues it flags, particularly the ones that involve major parts of the house, like the foundation. But not all the problems on an inspection report are as serious as they may sound, and when you're buying or selling real estate, it's important to know which "scary sound...
29m Jul 29, 2020
29m
22: Smart Home Gadgets That Will Revolutionize Your World
Smart thermostats. Smart locks. Smart outlets. EVERYTHING is smart these days. But how does smart tech impact your quality of life and home value - both for landlords and for owner occupants? In this podcast episode, I discuss several smart home gadgets that I've interacted with, how they've changed my life (mostly for good), and how they've impacted both buyer and seller clients. As always, if...
38m Jul 22, 2020
38m
21: Backup Contracts Pt 2: This Month's Success Story
Remember when I discussed utilizing backup offers and contracts in episode 15 of this podcast? Well I BACKED THAT UP with a backup contract success for one of my buyer clients just weeks later! In this episode, I tell the story about how one of my recent closings utilized a backup contract, giving you a first-hand look at how the process works and how backup offers can be leveraged in real life...
22m Jul 15, 2020
22m
20: Let's Have Some Fun: Realtor Stereotypes
Every now and then we need to have some fun and bring some lightheartedness to this podcast. So in this episode, I poke fun at realtors (like myself) and point out some of the realtor stereotypes that we've all come across (and maybe that some of us... are). Hopefully, it will bring you a few good laughs. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel fre...
32m Jul 08, 2020
32m
19: Renting vs. Owning in Greenville - which costs more?
I've seen and heard for a while that renting a house in Greenville is disproportionately expensive as compared to buying, but what does the data say? In this episode, I dig into the data on houses that have been rented and sold the past six months in the same neighborhoods to compare what it would cost to rent on average vs. paying an average estimated mortgage payment in those neighborhoods. U...
33m Jul 02, 2020
33m
18: Your House Is Your Lifestyle
We hear all the time that "your house is an investment," but the focus on numbers and the investment side of a house purchase has gone so far that now some people are downplaying the reality of how much your house dictates your lifestyle and how important of a consideration that is. I take it a step further - I believe that your is your lifestyle, and in this podcast, I describe why I feel that...
35m Jun 26, 2020
35m
17: Market Update - the closing sale plunge has happened
The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors released their monthly statistics for May, and the numbers are a mixed bag. Most notably was the plunge in closed sales for the month of May, which seems bad for sellers, but much of the other data paints a contradictory picture of the market. How does it bode for the rest of the year? We discuss all of this and more in this week's episode. As alwa...
32m Jun 18, 2020
32m
16: 5 Home Selling Gimmicks That Don't Work
As real estate agents and sellers try to find more ways to one-up the competition, they are increasingly resorting to new gimmicks to try to market properties or shave down the costs of selling. Most of these gimmicks are just that - gimmicks that don't work. In this episode I discuss five of them that I am frequently running into, and I present alternative strategies that do work and that have...
34m Jun 10, 2020
34m
15: Tips and Tricks: Backup Offers
One of the most powerful real estate tools both RE buyers and sellers can take advantage of (but frequently don't) is the use of backup offers. The reality is that many people (including real estate agents!) don't know that backup offers/contracts even exist or how they can be utilized. I have used them multiple times with success, and on this episode, I discuss how they work and some creative ...
32m Jun 05, 2020
32m
14: It's Raining; It's Pouring; the Old House Is Flooded
I don't know that I've ever seen this much rain in one year, and we're only 5 months into 2020! Rain is wreaking HAVOC on real estate around here, and you should be aware of the issues that rain can cause and what those mean for you when you're buying or selling real estate. Is a flooded crawl space a problem? What happens to a foundation when rain water comes toward it? I'm not a contractor, i...
25m May 29, 2020
25m
13: RE Investing: How to BRRRR in a Seller's Market
BRRRR (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) is a trendy acronym that a lot of so-called real estate "experts" refer to often. But the BRRRR method assumes you are purchasing a property with substantial equity, and those opportunities are few and far in between when the market (such as the one we currently have in Greenville) has such low inventory. Is there another way to utilize a BRRRR type o...
38m May 20, 2020
38m
12: What happened in April? The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors produced their monthly data for April, and there is a lot of interesting information to consider. We still have a seller's market, but with inventory going up year-on-year, we may be seeing a shift that could impact the summer/fall market. We discuss that, what we saw happen in the first part of May, and how all of this might impact your buying/sel...
27m May 12, 2020
27m
11: What to do about Storm Season #stormszn
The spring storm season is in full swing with tornadoes, hail, and tropical storm-force winds all over the Upstate! There is a lot to consider when buying/selling a home or even just as a homeowner when it comes to storm season. So we spend some time discussing practical ways to look for storm damages, what to do if you have storm damage on your home, and some little known facts about how homeo...
35m May 08, 2020
35m
10: Market snapshot - the rebound is happening
We've been tracking the local real estate market in several of these episodes, looking at new listings, new contracts, and showings in order to get a feel for what direction the market is going. This one is a short (eleven minutes!) snapshot to give a quick update on what has happened the past couple of weeks, what that means historically, and what that means compared to the activity in the mar...
12m May 01, 2020
12m
9: How much do homes appreciate in value each year? A look at some numbers.
There is a lot of debate out there over whether real estate is a good investment, and a lot of that debate stems from confusion over how much (or little) real estate appreciates in value each year. In this episode we look at data from the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors and track how much the median sales prices have appreciated in various markets within the Upstate. Nobody can guara...
31m Apr 24, 2020
31m
8: Market Statistics: What is changing (a lot) and what's staying the same (not much)
Each week the Greenville real estate market is changing, and this past week was no exception. In this episode we look at the data from the past week as well as the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors statistics for March 2020 and speculate on what all of this information could mean for the market as a whole. As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor)...
25m Apr 17, 2020
25m
7: The Real Estate market is better than you think
Everyone has opinions on what is happening in the real estate market right now and what will happen in the upcoming weeks. But what does the actual data say for what has happened in the Greenville market the past few weeks? We dive into that data, and you might end up being surprised that the market, at least for now, is better than you'd think. As always, if you have any questions or comments ...
24m Apr 09, 2020
24m
6: Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
Is there such a thing as "good debt?" I would argue that there is, especially in the world of real estate. In this episode we discuss what constitutes good debt and what constitutes bad debt, with examples both inside and outside the world of real estate. Of course, I'm not a financial advisor, so I can't advise you on your financial decisions outside of real estate, but I certainly can give so...
31m Apr 01, 2020
31m
5: 10 Real Estate Lessons from 2008 on Surviving a Recession
I'm getting a lot of questions on how to approach this year of real estate and what to do if we go into recession. The best thing we can do is look back to 2008 and combine some of those lessons with a common sense real estate approach to come up with a game plan for mitigating real estate risks in uncertain economic times. Just remember: sometimes recessions bring the best opportunities. If yo...
42m Mar 23, 2020
42m
4: Coronavirus Part 2 - What we know now
A lot has changed since we recorded our last coronavirus/COVID19-related podcast, and I want to make sure you are well-informed. Are we going into recession? Is the housing market about to collapse? We explore some of those questions and try to look at the potential impacts on the Greenville real estate market from a non-alarmist perspective. If you have any questions or comments (or, of course...
41m Mar 18, 2020
41m
3: Coronavirus - will it disrupt real estate in Greenville, SC?
We now officially have the coronavirus (aka COVID-19) in the Upstate, and people are starting to freak out. How will this impact the SC real estate market? Should we hold a few months and let the markets respond before doing any major purchases or sales? What happens if the economy goes into recession, and how will that impact local real estate? We discuss this and much more in a timely and pra...
38m Mar 09, 2020
38m
2: The 7 Biggest Mistakes Home Sellers Make
For many people, the largest investment they own is their home, and making a major mistake when selling your home can have a huge ripple effect on your financial and emotional state of being. In this episode, we discuss the top seven mistakes that people make (especially in the Greenville, SC area) when selling a home and how to avoid those mistakes. If you have any questions or comments (or, o...
34m Mar 09, 2020
34m
1: The 7 Biggest Mistakes Homebuyers Make
We've all made mistakes at times when buying something, but what about when you are buying something that, for many people, is the most expensive thing they will ever purchase? Yes, there are all sorts of mistakes people make when buying a home, whether buying as a primary residence, investment, etc., and in this episode, we discuss the seven biggest mistakes that the average homebuyer makes, a...
46m Mar 09, 2020
46m