Hello everyone and Welcome to another episode of Selling Greenville your favorite real estate podcast here in lovely Greenville South Carolina I am your host Stan McCune as you guys most likely know I am a realtor here in the greater Greenville area of South Carolina I'm also in Spartanburg I also do some stuff every now and then in Anderson lawren Pickin all these surrounding counties but Greenville is my base you know this is a small area so we have to cover kind of a wide range of places so I kind of do business in all of those places and if you need a realtor in any of those counties in any of those areas here in the greater Greenville area let me know my contact information is always in the show notes and if you like this podcast please go ahead and subscribe leave a a rating leave it a review let me know if you have any thoughts or if it's not on the podcast app that you prefer to use I've tried to get on as many podcast platforms as possible but again my contact information is in the show notes you can just text me if you're trying to find the podcast and it's not on whatever platform that you use today we're going to be talking about trust in real estate which for a lot of people is an oy right there's a lot of distrust in real estate really all over the place I'm not just talking about trust or distrust towards Realtors there is distrust across the board in real estate distrust for inspectors distrust for appraisers distrust of course for realtors distrust for the other party if you're a buyer you might have distrust towards a seller if you're a seller you might have distrust towards the buyer there is all sorts of distrust distrust towards contractors that's another big one that I hear over and over again so there's a lot of distrust in real estate and we have some as humans All Humans we have gut instincts that inform whether we should trust or distrust someone but I want to think through that a little bit and kind of spell out five categories or you might even say five questions that we can ask ourselves to determine whether or not someone is acting in a trustworthy manner in real estate and you could probably extend this Beyond simply the real estate transaction except I'm just not an expert in anything besides the real estate transaction and and let me just say none of this is like any kind of there's no research behind any of this I haven't done any kind of psychological study or anything like that this is just from my personal experience what I find to be good metrics good questions to ask to determine if someone is trustworthy in real estate I have dealt with a lot of people in real estate a lot of contractors a lot of appraisers inspectors all of that lenders a lot of different people and when someone is that is not trustworthy does something that is not trustworthy feeling my Spidey senses start to go off right I can determine okay something here is off but you know it's helpful if you can actually determine what that is to just have the spidey sense to just know that something is off that's not an entirely helpful thing I mean that might prevent you from doing something that you shouldn't but it's even better if you can identify what that thing is so that then you can be like okay is my Spidey Sense going off for the right reasons what is going on here maybe I just need to ask a different question of this person or maybe this person I just need to to fire them and find someone else so I have here five questions that are kind of five key things that that I think we can ask people in real estate or maybe not ask them but ask ourselves as we're communicating with people in real estate to help us determine if they are TR trustworthy or not the first one is one that I think is is probably the most important out of all of these they're not really these aren't really in order but this first one it's first for a reason and it is do they whoever it is you're talking to again this could be Realtors inspectors lenders appraisers whatever do they answer questions or give advice that help helps you but could hurt them do they answer questions or give advice that helps you but could hurt them now this is really really important because there is a bit of what we call a moral hazard in real estate me as a realtor when I'm communicating with my clients and and here's the thing and and I make fun every now and then of some of these real estate television shows that are out there there's so many of them now it's unbelievable so it's crazy how much that genre has exploded but you always see these Realtors and what they're doing is they're they're following the stereotypes and and if you see Realtors on movies it's the exact same thing I was just rewatching Breaking Bad recently I'm going back through it and there's a situation where there's a realtor going through a house that used to be a meth lab and she's just focused on all the positives of the house all these great things oh don't look at that don't look at at this this house is just going to be perfect all you need to do is just all these little things and it'll be great and that's the stereotype right these realtors that they are just trying to sell you on the house now in real estate we do have to to do sales obviously and if I have a listing I'm going to try to sell that house on behalf of my client but there is again like I said a moral hazard that I'm just trying to get business for myself and so I'm not necessarily going to be completely honest with someone about whatever it is that they're looking at whatever property they're looking at or whatever the case may be that is the risk that's out there and that's a risk with contractors contractors hold a ton of knowledge about code about construction just in general about cost of materials cost of Labor all sorts of different things and they have a moral hazard as well where they can try to upsell you on things and you have really unless you're you're very knowledgeable about about that World you may not be able to to even know what questions to ask in order to make sure you're not getting ripped off there is a lot of that the same thing for lenders of course one of the simplest ways to combat that is to make sure that you're communicating to multiple people that's why it's good to until you find a contractor that you like it's good to interview multiple contractors it's good good to interview multiple Realtors I always encourage people to interview multiple Realtors I feel pretty good that the vast majority of the time people interview multiple real Realtors they're going to hire me so I'm not self-conscious about that I'm not worried that I'm going to lose out on business when people H when people interview other Realtors that's fine make sure that you find someone that fits you if you find someone that fits you in your opinion better than me great work with them there are other good Realtors out there I'm not going to pretend like I'm the only one but one of the simplest ways outside of of interviewing multiple different people to determine if someone is trustworthy is when they give advice when they talk to you about something when they try to inform you about different things or answer your questions do they only ever give answers or give advice in ways that would help them that would line their Pockets that would bring them money bring them business or are they upfront with you about you know what for instance as a realtor you know what I don't think this is the right house for you this is not going to be a good investment you shouldn't do this this this doesn't make sense for you maybe they're not that pushy I personally am not a real pushy realtor I try to lay out all the information for my clients and let them make a decision so I just showed a house recently and and as soon as I walked in I immediately realized okay there is deferred maintenance in this house and it wasn't like anything big that I saw right away I could just see a lot of little things and when you start seeing a lot of little things there are big things somewhere right because people that ignore little things if they're not able to afford fixing the little things guess what they're not able to afford to fix the big things this is normally how how life works and as we went through the house it was a pretty big house as we went through the house I started noticing more and more things and then I started to see the serious things I started to see where there appeared to have been some moisture issues started to see where there appeared to be some structural issues and so guess what you think I just kept that information to myself no I went to my client as we were walking through I was like Hey listen you need to look at this this this is not good this is clear evidence that there must be a moisture issue here went around we looked at a bunch of other things I saw some other issues we go outside we look and and I see big cracks in the brick veneer now cracks in brick veneer happen all the time but this was substantial and and it became very apparent as I was looking around at different things and and we were looking around at different things I noticed this house is actually starting to fall down in one corner like it is starting to collapse just the way the grading is or whatever the house was starting to pull apart in one corner and so I told my client that and it was like yeah this is not that was kind of like the final that was like the last thing we saw and that was the final straw it's like no no no no no this is more than just okay A little bit of crack in the brick veneer homes settle all the time but if a home is settled to the point that it's starting to pull away and and that settling hasn't stopped and that was what it looked like to me it looked like the settling hadn't stopped there are some ways you can identify that maybe I'll I'll do a different podcast on that one of these days but it it looked like the settling was ongoing and that this was going to be a major major problem somewhere down the road and I've talked to lenders as well the I have a lot of lenders that I've dealt with over the years there are some really good ones and you know what the best ones they'll be like hey you know what I this is not going to be the type of loan that I can do for you there are better people out there to handle what you're looking to do let me refer you over to them I'm not going to get anything out of it just Goodwill I'm I'm going to send you over to them and they can help you out same thing with with contractors if you you have contractors and and they're looking at the house and they're like you know what this would normally be what I would advise to do this full package but you could get buy with this I mean you don't need to get the highest grade Granite what you know in this area go with a cheaper grade type of of material that will help you out in the end maybe they'll say you know what I'm we numbers are kind of tight here I've got a sub that I use a little bit here and there he doesn't do as great a work but this isn't a top the line type of project if you're okay with it and you're just trying to pinch pinch pennies I'm willing to use this sub rather than my normal guy that costs a lot more and does stuff in much nicer neighborhoods than this typically things like that that they're discussing with you the options they're talking it through with you they're not just saying okay here it is this is this is what we need to do and it just so happens that that thing that we need to do is the thing that's going to bring me the most money so that is I think the number one thing that's what we're out of all of this have spent the most time on is giving advice that doesn't necessarily help them but definitely helps you and it may end up causing them to lose money that is the number one thing to look for to help you determine if someone is trustworthy in real estate in my opinion second thing on my list second question do they admit when they're unsure of something or tell you when they're making a guesstimate so this is also a really important one there's a lot of people that just show a ton of confidence in real estate there's just overflowing with confidence in fact one of the you know one of the realtor stereotypes is is this Larger than Life type of personality type of person that they have an answer to everything they're they're really outgoing they have all kinds of ideas they know a little bit of everything well guess what I don't know everything and I don't pretend to know everything as a realtor and anyone that does pretend to know everything they are misleading you and I think it's really important you know if if I'm dealing with a contractor and the contractor says you know what I need to check the code book on that I I don't remember exactly what the most recent code is on that that's great as long as they get back with me now if they say that and then they never get back with you that's not a good sign but they say that and then they check it and they say okay we found this out I I looked it up and this is all we need to do to bring this up to code easy peasy if someone asks me you know what what do you think this house is worth that's a question that I get an awful lot you know I don't really like to answer that question off the cuff it's not that I don't have this general knowledge of what homes are worth in different areas but the difference between like saying something that's like1 to $15,000 off and being right on the money that's a big difference I'd rather not just throw out oh yeah it's worth $350,000 it it might be worth $375,000 it might be worth $325,000 who knows the market changes constantly there's constantly new comps coming on the market you also have to look at what hasn't just been sold but what is currently on the market and so I will tell people when they ask me that question question I I'll try to give them somewhat of a help helpful answer not just completely past the buck but I'll say at the end of the day you know I really need to go back and and research this out more and actually look at all the data to make sure that I know exactly how to answer this question 100% and that again that's something I think that's really important rather than just throwing something out there you you can throw something out there as long as you're as long as that person admits that they're just throwing it out there you know if I have a contractor I might ask a contractor what do you think this is this is going to cost and he'll say $110,000 you know just off the cuff right if he's just saying that off the cuff and he doesn't really know and he doesn't admit that he doesn't know that's a problem and and I appreciate it when I contractor like you know I'm not entirely sure but if I had to guess I would think it would be between like 8 and $10,000 something like that I appreciate that from a contract that contractor that is a helpful way of framing it that tells me that they are or that at least is an indication that they are going to be honest and forthright with me that's something that I think is very important to look for question number three do they provide data to back up their claims or do they only make claims again this kind of ties into the last question but when someone says okay this house is worth XYZ you know I I'll hear this from sour sometimes my house is worth $300,000 and I'll just be like oh okay did Zillow tell you that did redin tell you that like did an appraiser tell you that did you get a a CMA or a BP from from you know a local real estate firm like where did you get that number oh well my neighbor down the street sold for for 275 and my house is a lot more than that is a lot nicer than that and it's like okay that's not really data you know saying my neighbor sold for for XYZ and my house is nicer therefore my house should sell for XYZ more that's not that's not data and you'll hear this in real estate all the time you'll hear people make these claims they'll say oh this is the nicest house in the neighborhood okay maybe but probably not have you been to every house in the neighborhood I actually saw a listing one time that said that this is the nicest house in the neighborhood and you know what it's possible that they were right it's very possible they were right but that's a claim that that is kind of a turnoff to me it's kind of like I I don't know about that I'm not sure that I that I buy that that that's kind of starting me off in the wrong headp space in terms of my opinion of you if you say something like that there needs to be data to back up the claims and so this is something if you are talking to someone and again you reach a point where you build rapport with with someone if you known them for a while that you don't need to always hound them for data but when you're you're trying to learn whether you need to trust or whether you can trust someone or not when they say something that is inherently based on some sort of data they should have some sort of data to back it if they say I'm going to list your house and I think it's worth this much where are they getting that data from they should have comps that they're looking at they should be able to explain those comps and how those comps are different or similar to your house there's a lot that goes into that with again with contractors they might they might say that they have you know this opinion on on something that that should be done well what's the data to back that up why do you think that that needs to be done you think I need to rewire the whole house why show me why that needs to be done give me something other than my opinion is it needs to be done have a couple electricians come in and have them write a letter with their name on it that says this must be done for this reason or or have something you know from the codes Department that says that just saying that and just kind of making that claim up that's no good that doesn't help me there needs to be data if if claims are constantly being made without data that's a red flag that's a red flag if you're constantly having to ask for the data that's a red flag hopefully most of the time now now there are sometimes where we just have residual knowledge people that are experts in in a field they might just have residual knowledge a contractor might know oh man you know what if if we get this permitted this is what this is what the county is going to expect us to do okay they might they might just have that residual knowledge and so they they might not inherently know what part of the code book says that I understand that but if there's constantly claims being made without data to support those claims that's a problem problem that's something that is a red flag that you need to consider question number four do they have multiple solutions to problems this is a really important one because no problem only has one solution um no issue that you run into only has one way to address it there's always multiple ways to skin the cat as the expression goes and I really look for this in everyone any vendor that I that I use I want them to be able to provide me multiple solutions to problems and for them to be able to tell me the pros and the cons the plus and the minus I had there's a house that I'm flipping right now and we are doing some there's a little front porch Gable over the front porch obviously and we're going to do some accent siding on that and it's going to be bor and Baton and I was talking to the contractor about okay this is this is the board in Baton that I want here's what I'm looking for and the problem right now is it's it's pretty difficult everything is so backed up it's pretty difficult to get the exact siding that you want you really have to look at stuff that's in stock and that's really limited it's just it's just a tough time to be doing house projects and so this contractor he he said to me you know what I know a guy that pretty cheaply can make out of wood materials board and bat ins siding this isn't a very big area that we're trying to cover he can do that and then we can just paint it and what's nice about that is then if you don't like the paint color because the paint color was a big with the color was a big deal it's like if you don't like the paint color then we can just repaint it and you won't have have to like have a bunch of expenses with new siding and all of that you know what I love that great that is a great solution didn't even occur to me that he might have someone that's able to make a quality wood board and Baton siding awesome yes let's definitely do that when I have clients that come to me or other agents that come to me with a problem I'm always trying to think of different solutions to the problems I always try to have not just multiple Solutions at the beginning but a plan A A Plan B a plan C A Plan D we want to make sure that we're able to address all the potential issues that could arise here and there is a lot that can happen during a real estate transaction that we want to make sure that we get out in front of so multiple solutions to problems that is a key indicator to me that someone is trustworthy if they just say nope this is the only thing we can do we we don't have a whole lot of options here most things in life have multiple options and if someone only has one option in their mind and that's the only thing that they can come up with either they're not shooting you straight or they're being lazy or or they simply don't know their stuff I mean most of the time it's going to be one of those options because usually there are multiple solutions to a problem and we want to make sure that the person is a is someone that is willing to think outside the box and be honest and maybe they offer you solutions that they don't care for but they can be honest with that they can say like well you know I wouldn't do this but this is an option I was talking to an electrician recently about scenario where there were two prong Outlets switching them over to three what all would be involved with that and so he was explaining to me about how yes you can simply replace two prong Outlets with non-grounded GFCI Outlets that have a sticker that say that they're non-grounded GFCI outlet on them and yes you you can do that you you can get by with that but there are some disadvantages to that he was we were had a long discussion about grounding and how all that works and what the ramifications of that are in terms of safety and all of that not that I didn't know that but I'd never had that detailed of a discussion with an electrician so it was very helpful and just him explaining all of that I already knew this electrician was trustworthy but that was him exemplifying it that he was trustworthy he was able to discuss the multiple different solutions and not just offer them and give prices but talk them through here here is what this buys here is what this buys here is how all of these things work last but not least the final question for whether someone is trustworthy and realistate date is maybe a bit intuitive in some ways but nonintuitive in others it's do they have time for you do they have time to answer your questions to talk through your concerns to answer the phone when you call to and this is particularly true when something is going wrong because that's when people stop answering the phone is when they've messed up in some way they're ashamed they don't want to talk to you they don't want to deal with an angry person and it's it's difficult and so you know what it's just easier for them just to be like H they're calling again ignore that's not what a trustworthy person does a trustworthy person a standup person they're going to stand there and when that call comes through and they're going to answer that call knowing that they're about to have a difficult conversation that let me tell you we all know cuz we've all had that before that is one of the hardest things to do is to know that that call means something bad and to still sit there or stand there and answer it but I think even just aside from that even just normally if someone is just in normal trying to you trying to contact them you trying to get together with someone if they don't have time for you that is a really bad sign there is a a a guy recently that is a he's he claims to be a local lender okay doing like hard money loans and creative financing for investment properties and the like and I I like working with local people that can be really helpful really beneficial to have local people particularly when it comes to money they understand the market they're not as afraid to lend money on real estate because they get it they they get how the numbers work it's not you know them having to call you every few weeks like Hey where's my money I don't like that so this is the local guy but you know what if we're having a local person they're not like affiliated with like a major bank I want to get together with them or they're not affiliated with some major company I want to get together with them I want to have a face to face a manto man or man tooman type of of conversation with them to see what they are to read their body language to to ask them questions to to see how they respond to to some of these things that we've already gone through to see how they answer if they have multiple Solutions to problems if they are willing to give advice that could potentially hurt them I want to make sure that I can get in front of those people to to read all of that well this person who is quote unquote the local lender I couldn't get him to to commit to getting together with me ever and it was like he would he would answer the phone he would respond to messages I sent him but every time I'd be like hey I want to get together this week when are you free to get together and he'd respond with okay like that I asked you a question like responding okay is not the answer to the question and and I tried this several times before finally giving up and then lo and behold I saw later in a Real Estate Investors Group that I'm a part of a bunch of people saying that this guy was not a trustworthy person that he had done some shady things and that they highly recommended not to use him so guess what he didn't have time for me and you know what maybe it was the kind of thing where he knew if he got together with me that it would just be very clear that he wasn't TR trustworthy who knows I have no idea what all was going on there behind the scenes but the bottom line is that that was a very important metric for me I was not going to do business with this person or recommend him highly or or at all really to anyone else until I got together with him and saw that he had time for me when he didn't that told me everything I needed to know and then I found out even more than I needed to know when people that I know started to say watch out for this guy he's doing some shady stuff and so looking at how much time someone has for you whether they answer the phone when you call or call you back whether they're willing to get together all of those things that tells you something about that person and they might just be really busy but again do you want to do business with someone that's too busy to get back with you I mean that's a whole another topic for a whole another day but sometimes people don't have time for you because they're not trustworthy and I have learned that over and over throughout the years so those are my five questions do they answer questions or give advice that helps you but could hurt them do they admit when they're unsure of something or tell you when they're making a guesstimate hopefully they do do they provide data to back up their claims or do they only make claims do they have multiple solutions to problems and do they have time for you I hope that's helpful helps you to to Think Through your instincts when you find someone instinctively in your mind to be untrustworthy maybe you can fit them into one of those buckets maybe you have your own buckets I'd be happy to hear what you guys instinctively as you think through this are using to determine whether a person is trustworthy or not let me know my contact information is in the show notes again leave this podcast a rating or a review I'd really appreciate that please go ahead and subscribe download Future episodes till next time I hope you guys stay safe [Music]