[Music]
Hello everyone and Welcome once again to
another episode of the Selling
Greenville podcast I'm your host Stan McCune
realter right here in lovely
Greenville South Carolina and as always
you can find all of my contact
information in the show notes if you
want to call me text me or email me if
you know someone that needs a realtor
I'm the person to reach out to and I
would be more than happy to communicate
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real estate needs whatever it may be you
can find my information in the show
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don't miss any episodes those help get
the show out so that more people can
learn about the market here in
Greenville in the upstate of South
Carolina that's what I'm passionate
about I want to get this information out
there even if you never use me as your
realtor this is still helpful
information and as we all learn about
the market as we all educate ourselves
about the market the market gets better
it becomes a better place to buy and
sell real estate and so that's something
that I'm very passionate about
regardless of whether or not I ever do a
real estate transaction with you the
listener today we are talking about
your your house your home your primary
residence as a lifestyle it is your
lifestyle and you might be wondering
what in the world I'm talking about well
specifically we have talked a few times
in this podcast and and it's it's a lot
of the rage right now that your primary
residence is supposed to be a major
investment and of course I believe that
I believe that you should you should
view your primary residence as an
investment I think that that's a good
way of thinking about it but we need to
be careful I think the hype has gone a
little bit too far because for most of
us we don't once we move into our house
we kind of stop thinking about it as an
investment we don't make the types of
updates that would be efficient per se
you know we we'll be updating things
that don't need to be updated that if we
were truly thinking about our house as
an investment we wouldn't update those
things we go overboard on some things
that are just our own little pet peeves
you know maybe you want that you know a
really expensive filtration system or
you know whatever it may be things that
you wouldn't need if you were renting
out your property or if you were
flipping the property to try to sell it
we do a lot of things that are not good
investment decisions with regard to our
house but those decisions contribute to
our lifestyle
that's part of what I want to discuss
today is thinking about your primary
residence yes it is an investment but
it's much much more than that it is
honestly primarily your lifestyle it
impacts your lifestyle as much or more
than
anything in in your life you could
maybe argue that your job your career
impacts your lifestyle more obviously
you could you could talk about your
family but but your house is one of
the major things that impacts your
lifestyle and when I talk to buyer
clients when I talk to them about you
know what are you looking for in a house
what is it that what are the criteria
what are what are the things that you're
wanting in a house why are you looking
to move what I hear people say over and
over again is not that they are looking
for something nicer something newer
something that has you know prettier
Cosmetics etc etc those will be things
that are mentioned here and there
obviously but overwhelmingly what I hear
from people is that they want a
lifestyle change they want to move
somewhere where their entire lifestyle
is going to be upgraded in some way
where their dog is going to be able to
run around in that yard and their kids
are going to be able to have that
playground and they're going to have the
community
pool and they're going to be able to
have that wreck room that they've always
wanted these are lifestyle changes it's
not just about getting more house it's
not just about you know having an extra
bedroom it's about actually taking your
lifestyle from where it is now and
improving it tangibly and getting a new
house is one of the simplest ways that
you can do that but you need to think
about it from that standpoint if you
don't think about it from the standpoint
of your lifestyle you can get bogged
down in in the weeds of some other
things you need to to keep in the
balance as well this whole idea of your
primary residence as an investment don't
completely throw the baby out with the
bath water but it was very influential
for me several years ago Warren
Buffett in his annual letter which I
assume that he still writes every
year he said in his annual letter that
his house and of course he has a massive
you know massive house that he grew up
in but or a massive house that he
that he raised his children in I
should say it that way he said that
you know at the end of the day that
wasn't really a great
investment but for him personally from a
from a money standpoint was not a great
investment but for him personally and
for his family it was a great investment
because of the memories that were made
how it impacted their
lifestyle yeah if it was strictly
from a money standpoint it would have
made more sense for him to rent
somewhere he actually said that now I
don't know that that would necessarily
be true in the Greenville Market because
renting here is disproportionately
higher than having a mortgage at most
price points there there are price
points where that can kind of flatten
out a little bit but from Warren
Buffett's standpoint he was like yeah
actually it would have made more sense
for me to rent from a money standpoint
but he had no regrets he felt like
owning the house that he did impacted
his lifestyle and impacted his family in
a Way Beyond strictly the money part of
it there is more to life than just money
and I think that that is what we have to
consider when we're looking at a primary
residence is keeping all of those things
in the balance and at the end of the day
you're most people are looking more for
a lifestyle Improvement than they are
for the most in efficient investment
tool because for most of us that is not
what our primary residence is going to
be if you want an efficient investment
tool in real estate go buy multif
family a duplex a
quadruplex if you really insist on
living in that investment that's fine
you can live in the quadruplex most
people don't want to do that most people
want a little bit of room to spread out
those are the options at your
disposal but I want you to think about
your life and your lifestyle and think
about how much the house impacts that
here are just a few things that that
I wrote down that I've been thinking
about this week where is the place that
you spend the most amount of time for
most of us especially now right during
the Corona virus and all the
quarantining the place that you spend
the most amount of your time is your
house so
why the simplest way to improve your
life is to improve the place where you
spend the most amount of time make your
house the house that you want to live in
that you want to spend 16 20 hours a day
how however much time you spend there
get a house that that you're enjoying
all of that time it's the simp simplest
way to improve your life is to literally
improve the house that you live in and
for some people that means you got to
move right for others that means you
know what hey maybe we need to finally
take down this wall and open up this
room and and make these various
improvements
the house particularly the location
that the house houses in also has a
major bearing on your time as well just
from the standpoint of how much time you
spend in the car right none of us want
to spend a lot of time in the car I
guess unless you have like a really
sweet you know Lamborghini or
something like that but for the most
part we're trying to avoid I I know I am
at least I'm trying to avoid spending a
ton of time in the car I don't care to
be in the car all day I try to limit
that much time as much as possible where
your house is located directly impacts
the amount of time you're spending in
the car if you're living out in the
country and having to drive an hour an
hour and a half to work or whatever
the case may be it if you want to get
control back of your life of your time a
very simple way to do that is to move
within 15 or 30 minutes you're you're
now gaining
yourself 30 40 5 minutes an hour 2
hours a day I mean that's not a small
amount of time right that's potentially
a 24th or a 12th of your day that
you're losing just in the car that now
you can get back and be doing something
else I mean you could watch a whole
Netflix show during that time you
could watch a movie potentially during
that time you could have a meal during
that time I mean there's there's so much
stuff that can be done you could be
spending more time with your kids during
that time that you're driving where
your house is located directly impacts
where how much time that you are
spending in the car and again this is
why I'm saying your house it is your
lifestyle everything that happens in
your lifestyle in some way flows through
your house think about it this
way another one that a lot of people
don't think about is that your house
directly impact your
health the the simplest is that some
neighborhoods have higher crime rates
than others you're not healthy if
you're dead right you're not healthy
if you're you know getting shot or
getting injured by by your neighbors
or whatever the case may be now as a
realtor I'm not allowed to look at
health statistics and sorry not health
statistics crime statistics things like
that I have to be very careful because I
have disclose anything like that that I
know but for for you as a consumer
as a buyer as a seller all that
information is out there there are
registered sex offender Registries
out there Avail yourself of that
information and and factor that in
when it comes to looking at an area
you you want to to the the the simplest
way to stay healthy is to stay alive and
to not have dangerous people around you
you but also it directly impacts your
health where you live in other ways for
instance some communities have
exercising amenities pools
sidewalks the ability to maybe walk
or ride a bike to work or to other major
areas some areas have better
water better air quality different
things like that all of these things
affect your health if you have high
radon levels where you currently are
that can be
mitigated and you want to make sure
that wherever you are that you don't
have high radon that you're consuming
because radon gives you lung cancer you
don't want lung cancer that's bad and
and again there are ways that you can
that you can mitigate that but you need
to be thinking about wow okay my house
is is more than a house it directly
impacts
your health and I'll tell you what I
moved to from a neighborhood that didn't
have sidewalks to a neighborhood that
does my old neighborhood didn't have a
pool my new neighborhood does I'm
exercising a lot more I used to be in a
community that had an exercise a fitness
room I would use that that Fitness room
pretty frequently so those things are
are major things that we tend to not
think about that you might actually be
healthier in one neighborhood Hood than
you would in
another another thing your house
determines is your relationships like it
or not we are are in a neighborhood
now where our children they have
developed friendships already with a lot
of the kids a lot of the neighbors
next
door and so as a byproduct we have
developed relationships with their
parents with our neighbors I'm on the
HOA board I've developed relationships
with them
your relationships are majorly impacted
by where you live and we love it
having by we I mean my wife and I and
also of course my kids the neighborhood
we came from didn't have a lot of people
in the same season of life as us you
know we're still a fairly young couple
in our 30s a couple of kids and in
in our previous neighborhood there were
not at least on our side of the
neighborhood there were not other people
in that season of life and so our kids
didn't have any friends in the
neighborhood and that instantly changed
and that that impacts a lot of things I
mean you know now my wife and I we
can literally have the kids you know go
to their friends house we have a little
walkie-talkie that we can communicate
with them on to make sure that they're
safe they go to their friend's house
and we're just kind of communicating
with them a little bit and and we're
able to work on things over here or do
whatever it is that we want to do at our
house while they're having fun with
their friends and so you tend to not
think about that but the relationship
aspect of a house that's not a small
thing that's actually a pretty major
part of of a house purchase and it's
something that we we tend to quickly
dismiss but that is a direct impact on
your
lifestyle most of your children 's
memories will revolve in one way or
another around the house that you live
in so you know a lot of us we want to
leave some kind of Legacy for our
children the best Legacy that you can
leave them is good
memories and if most of those memories
are going to be in and around the house
that you live in then the honestly the
best Legacy that you can give to your
children I think is memorable fun
safe house and neighborhood I I think
that that is one of the greatest
legacies if not the best Legacy that you
can leave for your kids CU that they
will bring that with them for the rest
of their life those memories will will
always be there and that's something
that a lot of people are are again
it's it's easy to dismiss that it's easy
to forget that but we all again we we
all want to leave that
Legacy but we tend to be thinking about
it in terms of you know getting these
little toys or or in terms of you know
having a good vacation or whatever and
yes those are great things but at the
end of the day where are they sleeping
at night where what about you know
their friends what about the the things
that they can do in the house or in the
yard those things directly impact them
in ways that a weak vacation simply
won't and where ultimately where you
live is going to have a major major
impact on your children and on what they
look back for the rest of their life
when they look back on their childhood
they're going to think about that house
they're going to think about that
neighborhood and you need to to
remember that you need to keep that in
mind and of course the SCH the school
zone that you're in if your children go
to public school I mean
the school choice honestly a lot of
people Factor the school zone into
their decision-making but I don't think
that that's factored in enough I mean
there is no
impact on children beyond the the
parents and the Family Impact there's no
impact probably on them that's greater
than the school they spend the most
amount of time there they're you know
having to to do all that work there
they're having to to do all that
learning there those schools directly
shape your children honestly in ways
that make a lot of us
uncomfortable and you know that's why
for a lot of people homeschooling has
gained in
popularity but the school that your
house is owned for if you are sending
your children to a public school that
has to be that has to be the top three
for you in terms of criteria because
that is such a major impact on
them
and I would say as well another
Factor here in how your house is your
lifestyle think about how you spend your
time one of the things about home
ownership that you know we always talk
about the joys of of home home ownership
is kind of a a a sarcastic cliche
this thr around the joys of home
ownership tend to be not very joyous
right doing a lot of yard work mowing
the
lawn you know cutting down
trees etc etc those things are not
things that we necessarily want to spend
a lot of time doing the type of home
that you pick does determine that the
house that you live does determine that
some houses require a ton more lawn
maintenance than others some houses
require a ton more maintenance in
general than others those are very
important considerations because how you
spend your time you don't want to be
spending more time doing something that
you don't enjoy than you have to for
some for some people yard work is
enjoyable some people love gardening and
all that I'm not that type I do not
enjoy gardening I do not enjoy yard work
I want to minimize that as much as
possible I have a small yard right now
and I am thrilled with that I love
having a small yard it is
awesome so you need to factor that in
that is a your time is an extremely
valuable asset but we tend to not think
about it as as valuable of an asset as
we
should you don't want to be wasting it
doing a bunch of things that you don't
want to do in the car or in the yard
or you know fixing plumbing problems
doing all these different things again
some people find those things enjoyable
and that's great but a lot of us
don't and so that something that needs
to be factored in when you're thinking
about the house it's not just a numbers
game there are so many things that the
house will directly impact your
lifestyle on and that needs to be a
primary consideration and I would argue
that it needs to be the primary
consideration you can either improve
your
lifestyle keep it where it is or
actually fall back go backwards in some
way in your Lifestyles and and it's an
opportunity to improve potentially on
multiple levels now if you find that
you're looking at houses and you're and
you don't believe that you're improving
your lifestyle maybe you need to take a
step back and and maybe it's not the
right time to move maybe maybe those
improvements aren't worth what you're
going to have to give up those are some
very real considerations that need to be
thought
about but ultimately if you can
tangibly improve your lifestyle I think
you should and that's what I am trying
to do as a realtor I'm trying not to
just help people to buy houses but help
people to actually upgrade their
lifestyle that's what I see my mission
so I think this brings some things into
Focus right what if I came to you and I
said Hey
listen I can give your children better
memories and better experiences in their
childhood I can give you more time I can
give you back five hours a week that you
wouldn't normally have
I can make your life more enjoyable and
give you more memories with your
children how much would you pay for that
if I could literally sell you all of
those things honestly if there was a way
that I could could do that I could sell
probably a lot of money's worth of that
product well the good news is that that
product does exist and it's called a
house
and I'm not trying to get too salesy
with you those that of you that really
know me know that I'm not a super salesy
guy when it comes to this kind of stuff
I'm not pushy but I really believe that
I really believe that a house is an
opportunity for you to upgrade your
lifestyle into something better into
something that gives you back more
control of of parts of your life and
sometimes you have to spend a little bit
more money honestly than you might be
comfortable with in order to do
that how much money is too much to
improve your lifestyle that's a question
that needs to be asked and a lot of
people I I'm a very analytical guy
myself a lot of people crunch numbers
and obviously you have to stay within
your budget but sometimes people come up
with artificial numbers like I just
don't feel
comfortable spending this much more
per month than what I'm currently
spending or whatever it may be some
people just don't like to be in debt but
if you can afford it you can afford to
have a better life you can afford for
your family to have a better life why
not do it what is what is it that's
holding you back if you would pay for
that product that would give you more
time that would give your children more
memories that would do all of those
things I just described why not actually
get the one thing that we know can do
that which is possibly for for some
people a different house and and for
some people that might be downsizing
that might be going to a cheaper house
you know you might have way too much
house way too much maintenance and you
need to downsize and go to a cheaper
house I am all about that that is a a
more popular thing to do now than it was
a few years ago and I think that that's
a great shift in the market people are
starting to realize that just having a
massive house or a massive yard that's
not necessarily the best thing for
everyone some some of you and some of us
need to downsize need less house need
less headache and that can be an
important lifechanging decision as well
your house is your
lifestyle so make sure that it fits your
lifestyle or at least the lifestyle
that you are hoping to
have I think as well we can
downplay sometimes when we're talking
about the finances of a house we can
downplay the downsides of an House of a
house in an effort to save money but end
up doing the opposite of what we're
trying to do so what I mean by that is
let's say that house comes onto the
market it's really it's a great deal
it's it's a lot cheaper than what you
can
afford and you're just head over heels
like man I never thought that a house
this price would come on the market and
and you go in there and you look at
it and yeah it needs a ton of work and
this is going to be a project house and
and it's going to be the kind of
thing where it's going to take you years
to get everything done that needs to be
done to make that house the home that
you want it to be you need to be
thinking about it this way right maybe
that home costs
$180,000 you need to factor in the cost
of time as well right A lot of people
they'll just be like well it's 180,000
and then it's going to take $20,000 to
over the course of several years to
do all these improvements so you know
I'm basically buying a $200,000 house
but how have you negatively impacted
your lifestyle how much time are you
going to spend doing those improvements
how many years are you going to spend
without those improvements that you're
going to wish that you had those
improvements so you can have a negative
impact on your lifestyle by overlooking
things about a house in an effort to get
the house as cheaply as possible but you
are you need to factor in the cost of
time the cost of time to up update a
house the cost of time you know again
maybe you're you're moving a little bit
further away than you'd like to
in an effort to just shave a few dollars
off your mortgage payment but you're
going to have to pay more gas which is
going to put more wear and tear on your
car which is going to have more car
bills you know different repair bills
and and whatnot for your car and then
you're going to spend more time so
you're you're the only resource that you
can't buy in your life as time well at
least that that's one of the major
resour ources that you can't buy in your
life sorry I was getting on a roll there
and I might have spoken a little a
little more than I should have but
time is a resource you can't buy you
cannot buy that back so don't in an
effort to save you know $40 a month on
your mortgage don't move somewhere you
don't want to move and where you know
that you're going to be having to drive
an extra 45 minutes per day round
trip that is not worth it that's not
worth it that's you know 200
something hours a week to what 225 hours
a week that adds up that that time
adds up and that's time that you will
never be able to buy back and it may
just be worth it to Fork up the extra
whatever $40 a month or it might be more
but it might be worth it to just give
up that money
in order to make sure that that you have
the lifestyle that you that you truly
want and I'm not saying that the
lifestyle you know that we all should be
striving for you know this lifestyle of
luxury I'm just saying for whatever your
lifestyle goals are that are within your
budget don't be skimpy when it comes to
things like time like your children's
memories like their school all these
different
things and and one last thing I'll
mention and then I'll kind of wrap
this
up I I've mentioned a lot of the big
things a lot of the big lifestyle things
but some of the
simplest lifestyle things that bring the
most Joy or some of the I should say it
this way some of the simplest things
about a house that bring us the most Joy
have the most impact that's still kind
of a weird way of saying it sometimes
times the most impact comes from the
simplest things let me say it that way
and so for instance at my current
house one of the things that makes me so
so happy is that I have a natural gas
line for my grill I don't have to have a
I don't have to ever think about
refilling propane tanks on my grill or
or running out of propane or anything
like that I have a hardwired natural gas
line that was already there when we
bought the house that brings me I I
don't know why it just does it brings me
so much joy just knowing that I don't
have to be looking at the propane levels
or any of that or worried that I'm going
to run out or having one in storage
making sure that you know the car
doesn't hit it that is such a simple
thing but such a major thing I I
didn't realize how much of an impact
having sidewalks in my neighborhood
would have I really enjoy having
sidewalks I like taking a walk around
the neighborhood you know I listen to
podcast or talk on the phone that's a
very simple thing that I I honestly
didn't think would have that big of an
impact and it really has has had a a
Major Impact going from a neighborhood
with no sidewalks to one with
sidewalks another one that comes to
mind is is so my house backs up to HOA
property which goes into woods and
there's a little creek back there and
whatnot and my kids love going back
there my family we we enjoy going back
there having those Woods back there we
have some Wildlife that comes out either
a beaver probably it's probably a
woodchuck but it it looks like either a
woodchuck or a beaver or something like
that they come out back there bunnies we
have bunnies in our yard and just
that kind of stuff is really small but
those small things sometimes bring
bring the most joy and I think another
another thing that I think is is very
much worth
considering and and this is is obviously
something that can change but don't
downplay the significance of being
around people in a similar stage of life
as you I've already kind of mentioned
this but it's made a big difference
for for me and for my wife that we are
around other people other families that
are in a similar stage a similar season
of life as us and again in the past I
would have downplayed that I think that
there is more to that than I
originally thought and that is
ultimately that D again it directly
impacts your lifestyle those are people
that you might be having over at your
house those are people that you'll be
forming relationships with once you see
your house as your lifestyle and how
your lifestyle flows through your house
in so many different ways again let that
inform that your house isn't just an
investment in terms of of a of a
financial investment your house is a
lifestyle investment as well it directly
impacts what you do every single day and
so make sure that as you're considering
moving as you're thinking about you know
what your budget should be factor that
in as well that needs to be a major part
of the conversation that needs to be a
major
consideration you don't want to spend
more than what you can afford but you
also don't want to attempt to save money
unnecessarily at the expense of your
lifestyle I'm not a financial adviser
but I help clients still at to the
extent that I can walk through this
and and there are some Financial
people that I can recommend as well
if you want to involve those types of of
professionals but I just want people
to to to open up their mind more that
there is a lot to consider when you're
buying a house and it's not just a num
thing it's not just money it's also your
entire lifestyle that's impacted you
have any questions about that please let
me know I'd be happy to answer any of
that again all my contact information is
in the show notes rate review subscribe
do all those good things hope to hear
from you guys soon and pretty soon
here we will be having a
July 4th holiday so I apologize for
anyone that is already hearing the
fireworks that's kind of ridiculous that
people are already shooting those off
but regardless put the earplugs in at
night to get a good night's sleep if
you're in one of those neighborhoods and
until next time hope you guys stay
safe and let's buy and sell some houses
together
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