hello everyone and welcome to another

episode of selling Greenville your

favorite real estate podcast here in

Greenville South Carolina I'm your host

as always Stan mun realtor right here in

the Greenville area of South Carolina

you can find all of my contact

information in the show notes if you

need to reach out to me for any of your

real estate needs and just a reminder as

always please reach out to Piper

Insurance Group who is sponsoring this

episode for any of your home Auto or

umbrella insurance needs or an

independent insurance agencies meaning

that they can quote multiple different

insurance companies by the way I've

heard some bad things from some

insurance companies lately that in terms

of how they're handling Helen so it's

good to not just get locked into one uh

it's good to have a company that can be

on your side that can help you out with

multiple different uh insurance

companies in fact I uh I talked to

someone recently a client of mine who

switched over to

Piper and uh this is a I I should could

paay it extra for this uh because but

this is a this is a true story um so

someone that recently switched over to

Piper and they connected my client with

an insurance carrier that they had never

heard of uh Helen happened massive tree

fell on a house and that insurance

company that they had never heard of and

quite frankly I had never heard of them

either um was incredible they did a

great job they handled the claim went

above and beyond even replaced a roof

that uh wasn't directly impacted by the

tree the tree had falling on the front

porch um so uh so yeah that that's a

really good thing that they're

independent and that's something to keep

in mind as you uh quote different

insurance carriers uh Piper Insurance

Group though they're licenses in South

Carolina North Carolina and Georgia they

help with investment properties as well

flips ground up new construction

commercial Etc so contact them for a

free quote today and if you like the

content on this show please like rate

review subscribe all of those good

things make sure you don't miss future

content all right today I'm going to be

doing something a little bit different

we're going to have a little bit of fun

and that's because uh if you know me

which well which some of you do some of

you don't um I'm on Twitter a lot I like

Twitter a lot I mostly use it for for

sports related stuff but I also follow

it very closely for uh things related to

politics for things related to the

economy for the housing market I have a

uh really curated list of people that I

follow on there and it's it can be a

great source of information uh if you uh

you know follow the right people that's

the that's the key thing well I saw a

very interesting uh thread on Twitter

recently and I had some opinions on it

and I said you know what this would be a

fun little podcast episode to do not

specifically about Greenville but this

is something that you know we could talk

about what people are thinking and what

ideas are out there what ideas are right

what ideas are wrong with regard to a

pretty innocent Twitter twiter post

about becoming a homeowner so we're just

going to jump right in I'm going to

actually share my screen so you guys can

see the uh the Tweet or the post since

apparently you know Elon must changed uh

Twitter to X that's why you keep hearing

people say uh X formerly known as

Twitter or however they say it um and uh

so Elon mus Chang us to X technically

it's not supposed to be post it's not

not supposed to be tweeting anymore it's

supposed to be posting but everyone

still says tweeting all right so I've

got a tweet here post whatever by Amanda

goats goet I don't know how to pronounce

it um but um she's got a a pretty big uh

Twitter following actually she has uh

111,000 followers so I don't know what

exactly she's doing but uh she's doing

some good things but she says this I'm

39 and never owned a house I spent 20

years in Chicago New York City and now

Miami after learning my rent was

increasing 18% woo I decided it's time

to invest my money today I'm Going house

hunting with a realtor in the

suburbs uh parenthetical never thought

I'd live in the suburbs what advice do

you have when looking at six different

houses in one day well I just want to

start by saying with regard to this

specific

post I um I've been in some classes

recently I just uh finished yesterday I

did an 8 hour class that was called uh

pricing strategy advisor and the teacher

for that class who's also taught some

other classes I've taken said he will

never show more than five houses in in

one day to one client um and that's

because they all start to blend in

together after you see five so perhaps

one piece of advice that I would give is

don't look at six different houses in

one day now I personally don't make that

rule for my clients if they really want

to look at excuse me if they really want

to look at six houses I'm not going to

arbitrarily say five is the number you

know like this uh like this instruct

instructor said um but um but that is a

lot of homes to look at in one day I

mean that would be an entire day of work

for me as a realtor you have to factor

in lunches or meals in there if there's

little kids which frequently there are

when when you're talking about a 39y old

that's a whole thing um so my first

piece of advice is don't bite off more

than you can chew looking at home in one

day also before we get into the comments

because the comments are what I really

want to focus on here the the idea that

she thought that she would never live in

the suburbs I find that to be

interesting people think of the people

have odd misconceptions about the

suburbs I I feel like suburbs are very

diverse we have in Greenville for

instance we have some suburbs in the

east side of Greenville that are really

nice really unique homes um really well

constructed mature trees you know you

feel like you're in uh just a really

nice neighborhood uh and and there's you

know places to shop places to eat all

that very close nearby now is it

walkable to those places no that's

that's what the suburbs are the suburbs

basically are walkable within themselves

but they're not walkable to amenities T

generally speaking besides parks

um and so um I think a lot of people

when they think of suburbs they just

think of these production Built Homes

you know that are lined up in a row they

look exactly the same yes those are

suburbs as well but that's not the only

thing that suburbs are there are some

really fantastic um neighborhoods that

and there are some fantastic production

built neighborhoods too but there are

some really fantastic neighborhoods that

are that are unique nice even uh some

that are luxurious that are at the end

of the day the suburbs so I would say to

anyone who is kind of fixated on I need

to live in a city think outside the box

there is a way to uh enjoy what you're

looking for in terms of a city lifestyle

without being in the city not too many

people do I know that stay in the city

long term and by the city specifically

I'm talking about Downtown

Greenville eventually they they get

tired of it you know it's like yeah it's

it's nice for season but eventually you

want more space a yard you know a Fen in

space for for the animals for the kids

all that kind of stuff and it's really

hard to get in a urban downtown

environment all right let's move on to

Amy Nixon at Texas Runner

DFW um she also has has a pretty

substantial following 59.3 th000 uh

followers um she that's because she's a

housing and economic analyst um and so

she always has uh interesting things to

say I don't always agree with her uh

with her takes but here's what she said

two pieces of advice focus on things you

can't change location lot size and

layout two L Three L's location lot size

and layout now let me just say this you

can change the layout right that that's

a misnomer if you think that you can't

change that but most people just don't

want to change it right it's a ton of

work ton of work to change layout to

remove walls and all of that um so I I

understand why she's including that but

keep in mind uh that's not

necessarily accurate um look so focus on

things you can't change location lot

size layout busy streets or noisy things

nearby public school rating okay I think

it's pretty good advice um you you

really should think about okay what are

the things that I can change what are

the things that I can't change change

right and there are some things that are

outside of your control completely

outside of your control factor that in

as well you're never going to be able to

eliminate everything and and I'll

probably be talking about this here in a

second but one question I get from

people sometimes is uh you know if if

it's a home near some vacant land well

what's going to happen with that vacant

land well that vacant land has been

vacant the entire time that it's existed

most likely um so if we look at history

it would tell us that it probably

nothing is going to happen but there's

no guarantee right and there are things

that we can look at to try to determine

if something like vacant land is going

to be you know developed or or used in

in one way or another um but there's no

way to control that and so you have to

recognize that um even though you have

more control as a homeowner than you do

as a renter you still don't have full

control over everything uh around you

when you're purchasing a home your

neighbors they can change right um I've

had that I I've had situations where I

went from great neighbors to terrible

neighbors very quickly that can change

um and so you you need to to be flexible

in your mind when it comes to this kind

of

stuff uh okay back to Amy's post uh or

her comment she said uh number two drive

by the house of neighborhood morning and

night look for kids bikes basketball

hoops people walking dogs okay um yeah I

think that this is great advice as well

I tell my clients frequently you know if

they're concerned about a neighborhood

uh really the best thing you can do is

drive by at different times of the day

right see what the traffic flow is see

what uh people are like is loud music

playing at night are are there obnoxious

kids running around things like that if

you have specific concerns that is the

the best way to address them and as I

already said your neighbors can change

right and they will right um but some

neighborhoods are more prone to uh kind

of collecting uh we'll say people that

like to blast loud music at night or

collecting uh feral children or whatever

the case may be um and unfortunately me

as a realtor due to uh due to steering

wall I shouldn't say unfortunately um it

it it feels unfortunate because it feels

like way that I could help my clients

but I can't but it is for the better

good it does um prevent Realtors from

doing things that they shouldn't um

steering laws prevent me from really

commenting much on the neighborhood uh

and me as a realtor you know I can't

tell people you know is this a safe

neighborhood all I can do is tell you

you know hey uh here's a way to look at

crime stats here's a way to look up

registered sex offenders things like

that I can't weigh into that I can can

only talk about material facts and once

we start to get into things like that

that get into demographical related

sorts of things um and potential

steering law violations I simply can't

weigh into that at all um okay back to

Amy's uh comment she said also if you

buy a new developing neighborhood near

any empty land find out what the city

has zoned and planned to build there

many in Texas find a lovely backyard

View of a sunset over an open field soon

becomes a strip mall and she has a nice

uh laughing face um Emoji um yeah so

this plays into what I was saying

earlier you can't control the vacant

land around you um and yeah if you you

can contact the city or the county to

see if anything is planned or zoned

there but that can change tomorrow so

there's not a whole lot uh yeah you

might be able to find out if there's

something in the docket currently by

doing

that but that is uh definitely not

something you can control so use some

common sense think about okay if you're

really concerned about the vacant land

being uh being developed think about it

logically how is the land being

currently used is it being used at all

um where is it located is it in a flood

plane if it's in a flood plane it's

probably at least in Greenville not

going to be uh

developed there's a lot of different

ways to kind of pieced together um you

know whether a whether land might be

developed in the future or not but that

at the end of the day you can't really

plan anything off of that because that

land could get sold to developer um it

could get you know the owner could die

and pass it on to the erors they could

decide to develop it there's a lot of

things that could happen um and so you

can't uh you cannot control your

neighbors really the only guarantee if

you're really in for a you know want of

you wanting no neighbors around you the

only way to guarantee that is just

buying a lot of acreage like that's just

the end that's just the end all Beall

when it comes to that buy a ton of

acreage put your home in the middle of

it and then you can pretty much

guarantee that you will not be seeing

people um outside of that sorry but uh

but you're kind of

stuck Scott Davis Scott Davis is also a

good account um he's got uh 3,70

followers so he's a a smaller account um

he focuses more on I believe commercial

real estate um he says if you're looking

uh at two stories focus on ones with the

master downstairs it will increase your

longevity in the house and improve your

resale value um yes so uh that is true

of course nowadays we're we're supposed

to say uh primary site rather than

Master Suite um but um but yeah if

you're looking for for two stories

having the primary Suite on the main

level absolutely makes a difference with

your home value with your um value in

the

future and with the flexibility for

using the home um and so that's

certainly a major consideration for

people when they are looking at homes

now if you're not planning to if you're

not super concerned about those things

and really you're just you're a

first-time home buyer you just need to

buy something getting a two-story home

with the primary Suite on the second

level um that that's a way to save cost

right away because you're not going to

be competing against you know any baby

boomers who are still a huge part of

this Market none of them want to mess

with stairs right now they're all at

that age where they're either wanting to

avoid stairs or they know that that day

is coming um and you know you're

eliminating a lot of others that uh

would just prefer to have that main

level primary bedroom

and so I would tell people that stay

Nimble when it comes to this consider

what your actual needs are and and what

your priorities are but what Scott said

is on a high level

correct um Nancy lur PhD have never

heard of Nancy she has 480 followers not

too many she says Buy in a neighborhood

where many parents are well off I'm

gonna correct some of the gram on some

of these because some of it's bad Buy in

a neighborhood where many parents are

well off enough to send their kids to

private school still choose the

neighborhood Public Schools those

neighbors are invested in their

communities um not not sure and and

Amanda replied funny she replied so real

um was was her response to uh to that

comment so real um yeah I this is

baloney to me okay and this is perhaps

why Nancy only has 480 followers um

which I by the way I don't have many

followers on twit ear but that's cuz I'm

just like posting nonsense about sports

all day

um buy a neighborhood where parents are

well enough uh well off enough to send

their kids to private school but choose

the neighborhood Public Schools

listen they are not doing that because

they are invested in their communities

let's just cut to the chase right now

perhaps some of my listeners you might

be someone that fits in that category

I'm not saying that every single person

that is wealthy enough to send the kids

to private school but choose public

school instead uh is doing that for

nefarious purposes not saying that I

know that there are people that choose

the public school option when they don't

have to because they do want their kids

to be a part of the community a part of

of the area and get to know uh kids in

that area right because private schools

you might get kids from all over the

place you're not going to get necessar

kids in your community so there is some

truth to that but on a high level I have

not seen that be consistent generally

speaking uh in the market in fact what

usually happens is wealthy people kind

of congregate together right that's been

happening for forever um and then they

end up gentrifying the public schools

they make the public schools basically

like private schools um so I I don't

think that uh that this is very hard to

um to measure anyway um quite frankly uh

but I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock

in that right I guess maybe the the

simplest way to look at this and and

think about this is you know the schools

that are the quote unquote award-winning

schools are probably the schools that

have more of those uh of those you know

wealthier well-to-do people that could

send their kids to the private schools

but choose the public schools instead

and that then raises the education level

for that private school I'm not saying

that's right um and and I'm not you know

none of this is me saying that any of

this is is inherently good I'm just

responding to this comment she said

something and I don't necessarily agree

with it if I agreed with it I would say

focus on the uh the school rating and um

and and that will tell you a lot about

what's happening when it comes to the

school uh REI

SLE Ray solay um 2134 followers okay

decent has some references to crypto in

uh in his profile he says a great

reminder that while owning a home has

its perks using it as an investment

vehicle isn't always the best strategy

for long-term growth options like

Bitcoin might actually be a better

investment Amy replied my kids can't

live in Bitcoin and oh I just love it I

love it now listen I'm not a crypto

hater okay I do own some Bitcoin I do

own some crypto it's not something uh

that I have a lot of um I just have it

just in the off chance that it takes off

you know I don't want to be completely

Left Behind um but um let's just be

honest this is terrible advice um and

and nothing that I'm saying is

investment advice but that guy is is

surely giving investment advice um and

um I I don't I don't think it's good

advice at all to say focus on crypto

rather F rather than focusing on real

estate these are two very different

things and he also focus on the whole

idea that that it's a better investment

he said it might actually be a better

investment he was he was careful in his

wording there um but Amanda responded my

kids can't live in Bitcoin her point is

that let's just take the investment

argument aside real estate H serves an

actual purpose right and currently

crypto's uses are pretty limited um and

you know most investment tools are

pretty limited and so this is why real

estate first and foremost when you're

buying your primary residence you should

be focused on yourself and your needs

first and foremost secondarily should be

the investment piece right because real

estate goes up and down it's been kind

of going down lately um and um and and

so the fact of the matter

is that focus on yourself first so that

you're happy right so that you're happy

you get what you want and then if you do

that likely you have things that other

people want and that will result in your

home appreciating will it appreciate to

the level as other investment products

no of course it won't real estate is a

safe investment and as such it doesn't

usually invest astronomically like other

investment products do but that is uh

the beauty of real estate is that you

can kind of have your cake and eat it as

I've got a sneeze coming on here try to

suppress

that um real estate serves a purpose

while also typically being a smart uh

investment Choice um and as long as you

make uh you know the right decision

don't overspend all that kind of good

stuff um but um but yeah telling someone

don't buy a house buy Bitcoin instead

not a

fan Monica

Sawyer 929 followers artist designer

educator sharer of resources Super Mom

of two blah blah blah um she says uh

think about your domestic routines if

you cook pretend like you are cooking

what's the cooking area like what's the

feel of going back and forth to the

fridge to the stove to the sink to the

dishwasher where's the laundry related

to the bedrooms the look of stuff you

can fix but the place not so much again

um you can fix the placements uh it's

just expensive right a full kitchen

remodel all that kind of stuff it gets

pricey I think this is pretty good

advice for Monica um think about when

you're in a home it is smart you

know I can't tell you how many times I'm

with clients that they will walk in the

kitchen and they'll just kind of look

around and be like wow nice countertops

nice cabinets what blah blah blah and

then just move on to the next room it's

like hold on interact with this open the

refrigerator open the cabinets open the

stove open the dishwasher interact with

this kitchen a little bit this is a very

important part of your home one of the

most important parts of your home you

need to get a sense how do you even know

are the cabinets slow closed or do they

slam shut are they loud um are are the

drawers slow closed but the cabinets

aren't um or or the cabinet the the

doors are not there's all sorts of very

small things like that uh that you can

identify look for the outlets right is

there an island are there outlets on the

island where are they where are they

placed is it logical what would you do

with the island think through all of

these different things um and yeah

Monica's right think about what that

home would be like for you if you were

actually living there

David day Cespedes notion

coach with 6,540 followers um he's a

certified notion consultant no idea what

that means ex architect he said review

flood maps for each area flooding varies

quite a bit based on based by

neighborhood and even sections within

the same area could be far more prone to

flooding um and Amanda responded again

Florida things so real I love her so

real responses um so I always check

flood flood maps for my clients excuse

me um flood planes in Greenville are a

problem um generally not not from the

standpoint that there are a ton of them

but just from the standpoint that it

it's really a killer to home values um

and not to mention that we just had a

major hurricane uh that came through the

area that caused a lot of flooding so

that's really front of mine probably

flood insurance costs are going to start

to be going up um in the area and so um

so this is something when when a client

you know sends me homes that they want

to look at I start doing a little bit of

research on my end one of the first

things I look at is is this in a flood

plane right because that is a huge huge

part of the equation so it's fine if my

clients want to also do some of that

digging they're welcome to it's it's not

as intuitive as you might think um so it

might be confusing um but it's a great

idea to look at flood maps and to get a

sense of of what's going on flood wise

um as a realtor I try to get out in

front of that with my

client uh we'll do a maybe a couple more

here um Shawn Michael

Floyd Adventure dealmaker contrarian

curious I sell software to governments

okay he says location matters don't use

your max Budget on it there will be

expenses that pop

up um okay so yeah first sentence

location matters yes there's the reason

why people say location location

location right those are the three top

things when it comes to uh home

ownership um he says don't use your max

Budget on it there will be expenses that

pop

up um yeah that that is true I I don't

exactly know what he's getting at in

terms of using your max Budget on it I

guess maybe he's saying you know if your

budget is 400 to 500,000 don't go all

the way up to 500,000 in order to get

the prime location but I'm not sure that

I would agree with that um and this

isn't because I'm a realtor and I just

like my clients buy the most expensive

homes available um location is just

something that you can't change right

and so yeah there will be expenses that

pop up but there will also be problems

that pop up in other locations if they

are inferior for what you're looking for

for your lifestyle so you need to to

consider your lifestyle first and

foremost obviously terms of Max budget

obviously you need always need to make

sure that you have money in reserve home

ownership does cost money it can be

expensive um there are things that come

up there are things that pop up um and

that's just the reality of the situation

so don't get caught with your pants down

um on something like that and just

deplete your

reserves um and so I would agree with

with Shawn Michael Floyd on that point

but generally speaking I would say you

need to really prioritize location right

that is that is the thing that you

cannot change after you buy a home and

that is something that a prime location

will typically always remain a prime

location that's not always the case but

that's a pretty good you know within a

30-year window typically Prime locations

remain Prime

um and so that's something to uh to

consider

there

tion um looks like he's into AI he has

uh

1,317 followers he says see if you can

get buyer agent commission rebate it's

money that buyer agent can can give to

you and despite what some agents may

tell you it's legal in many states

all right so I'm a realtor um and so I

just want to be I just want to discuss

this you know real quick how many times

do you go into a restaurant

and eat a nice meal and then ask your

waiter or your waitress if they can pay

for part of your meal out of their

paycheck how many times do you do that

that's what tion is is suggesting that

this person do with regard to her buyer

agent now here's the thing buyer agent

compensation it's all negotiable right

we've been through this this is a big

thing this year that we've had a lot of

talking points about this um it's

negotiable but it's negotiable on the

front end right now if she's already

looking at six homes most likely she has

already selected her buyer agent because

now the rules are you have to have a

written agreement in place with a buyer

agent prior to showing any homes prior

to viewing any homes and what that means

functionally um we do have an option for

a for just showing homes without someone

being represented by a buyer agent but

I'm not going to show six home you know

I already said that that there's uh a

trainer who said he won't show more than

five homes to a client well I'm not

going to have that rule but I'm sure not

going to show six homes to a non-client

okay that is a no that that is a deal

breaker cuz I'm taking an entire day

away from my clients to give to someone

that's that might not ever give me

business that makes no sense I'm not

going to do

it and so this conversation we would

have already had the compensation

conversation we would have already

agreed to that on the front end now if

my client comes to me in the middle and

then says hey can you actually give me a

rebate on your paycheck can you actually

discount your paycheck in order to help

me I'm going to say no and quite frankly

you want me to say no you know why

because you're negotiating with me and

you're not going to win and that's

because I'm a good negotiator and I'm

going to negotiate for you in the same

way when the other agent comes to me and

they make a ridiculous request like that

I'm gonna say no my client's not going

to do that and then they try to make it

more reasonable they try to explain it

they try to to you know they try to get

into logic show me you know if it's

another agent show me comp show me you

know show me this show me that and I'm

going to go at that point into you

Hardline negotiating and show them why

what my client is offering them is the

best or if I'm representing the seller

same thing I'm going to show them you

know I had uh one buyer agent that sent

me uh that sent me comps to try to prove

to me that my my price was

wrong you think that that went well with

me you think that I didn't run comps

prior to listing the home so I lit that

agent up and listen you're not going to

you're not going to win that battle with

me I'm a data guy you guys know anyone

that listens to this knows I'm a data

guy you're not going to win that with me

um you're my clients at the end of the

day if if if they try to come in and

they try to uh try to renegotiate

something that a contract that we've

already agreed with the reality is that

that's not the right approach to take

and I am going to negotiate in the way

that I negotiate with everyone I'm going

to Simply show

that I'm sorry this is not how this

works we agreed to something and we're

going to follow through on it and I'm

going to work my hardest for you and the

same negotiation tactics that I'm using

right now I if I were just to fall over

in that moment if the moment someone

asked me hey can you just give me some

money out of your paycheck and I just

said wow yeah yeah you know I I hate

confrontation and I really feel bad in

this moment I'm just going to go ahead

and do it what do you think I'm doing

when an agent when a confrontational

agent comes to me and tries to attack my

client and attack my client's offer and

make suggestions that my client's being

unreasonable and I'm just going to you

know if I were that person that avoided

the confrontation with my client who I

have a good relationship with what do

you think I'm going to do with someone

that I'm at arms length with another

agent that I don't know super well it's

not going to go over the way you think

it is you're going to end up losing

money in the long run you go with an

agent that's just willing to concede

everything to you they're going to

concede everything to the other agents

that they deal with um and so this was

one that I was looking forward to to

getting to this question um because I I

know that some people would hear that

and immediately go Oh this that's an

interesting thought um it's not as

interesting it's actually

counterproductive

in many ways and I'm not just saying

that because I'm a realtor I'm saying

that because um I have seen in real life

how some agents just I some agents you

can just bulldo in negotiation those are

the and those are the ones that if a

client with no negotiating skills can

bulldoze over their agent imagine what

another agent experien in negotiating is

going to do in that situation they're

going to completely bulldoze over them

in that situation and that's not the

kind of agent you want representing you

that's all for today's episode I hope

you guys enjoyed it thank you so much

for listening please like rate review

subscribe um listen I've not gotten a

whole lot of reviews from you guys

lately I would really appreciate I I

don't just say that at the beginning of

every every episode please leave reviews

right please like Please Subscribe I

want more subscribers get the show out

to as many people as possible show me

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the only thing I ask in addition to you

using me as my realtor and you using

Piper Insurance Group both of our

contact informations are in the show

notes thank you guys again we will talk

again next time