Transcript
Speaker: What about baking cookies before an open house or before showing? Does that really work? I love that. And i if i if one of my clients that just sold one to happens to see this podcast, which I'll tell her to come and watch, she's going to be like, Blair, yes, because she has this recipe. She will not give me the recipe.
Speaker: But she did move the status of state and she is gonna sit there there she's sending me some in the mail. And they were the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. And everybody commented on them. She did it every single time. She's like, I think my cookies sold the house. I think my cookies sold the house. So I was like, I think they did Girls, this is what I'm hearing. You need to be making cookies and like leaving out. find my mixing bowls, I will do it.
Speaker: Everything is packed away. i feel like the stager came to our house and she was like, nothing on the counters, nothing anywhere. And I was like, but I still live here.
Speaker: What is happening? Welcome to Three Little Fishes, We're three sisters who grew up in the Midwest together, but have since spread across the country. I live in Los Angeles. I'm in Nashville. And I live in Philadelphia. We are all married with children, have all had careers, but now we stay at home with our families. Join us as we share secrets and stories about being women, wives, and mothers. We welcome you to laugh along, learn something new, reach out, and join our conversation.
Speaker: So let's jump in.
Speaker: What's up, fishes? Hello. What's up, fishes? Good to see you Hi, girls. So I thought that I'd be really nice this morning and get up and make like a nice breakfast for the family because I feel like I i just felt like everybody needed a little extra getting up this morning.
Speaker: So I'm like, I'll get up and I'll make bacon and pancakes. So I started the bacon in the oven. So you made weekend breakfast during the week. Yes, I felt like we just needed a little something cha-cha to get out the door this morning. It's been a long week ah already.
Speaker: But I forgot that I started to make the batter for the pancakes, doing all the other things. And I realized I forgot about the bacon. So I burnt the bacon trying to like give them like something extra this morning. Here, have this black bacon. Well, the good news is you didn't set your house on fire.
Speaker: True. True. I did not. Well, my funny thing was last night, um we have spirit week this week at school. So all the kids. We have spirit. How about you? Right. Is that how the jingle goes? I've got, how does that go?
Speaker: I don't think quite like that, but. Yeah. How does it go? out We've got spirit. How does it go? you guys remember? Yes, we do. We've got spirit. How about you? How about Yeah, that's how it goes. We've got spirit. Yeah. Kathy, you don't sound like you have the spirit, though. You sound like- No, I mean, no, i I'm getting in the spirit. It's just that we're supposed to have just driving rain on Friday, and my son- Plays in this golf match, which is a huge deal against their rival school, Haverford. And they were talking yesterday that they may postpone it to or make it earlier, like on Wednesday or Thursday.
Speaker: But we just found out they're going to keep it Friday, which means it's going to be like driving rain and cold. It's going be terrible. but That sounds horrible. The theme for today for the kids was the great Gatsby. And so my son, that's a senior last night was like trying to get his outfit together. And he was so funny because he started like going in my middle son's closet and pulled out all this stuff and went in my older son's closet and he put himself together basically in a black, like tuck suit.
Speaker: And then we went to my husband's closet and I found this tie, which was just like perfect. like striped gold tie, like looked so good. I love it. And then he got out my husband's penny loafers. and He just, he was so cute. Like when he got himself put together. So I'm excited for them this week. I would like a picture of that.
Speaker: That sounds fun. Did you get one? They have a picture they sent this morning of like all his good friends that were dressed up and they all look adorable. I love it. I have two things to say. Number one, I am impressed that Pete has penny loafers.
Speaker: And number two, had tassels. Oh, tassels. Pardon. Yeah. Yeah. um And then Kathy, I don't know about you, but I am kind of having, I know you've already had a senior, but I'm having kind of some emotions with these events. Like it's like, it's hitting me. It's the last one for him. Like the last experience, like It's yeah kind of sad, sad and happy all at the same time. Like I'm that person who's like crying about it. It's sad. Yeah. I know it is.
Speaker: I'm not going to lie. It's a tough one. It is a tough, tough. I still have problems with it, but it makes me feel better. week Yeah. I mean, you just have to embrace it, Nancy. I mean, yeah. Tim and I went to go see Floyd Vance over the weekend, and he's a really beautiful singer-songwriter, and he had an opener on, and this guy had written a song about being a father. was a beautiful song. Were you just like, cheers? I mean, honestly, Tim and I looked at each other like, I'm going to lose it. I'm going to absolutely lose it. Yeah. Yeah, because he's got a soulful voice too. Yes, we're becoming those people. Like, I mean, you never know. mean, you guys, it's not even, the first semester's not even over. You guys got to pull it together. mean. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. We have a long way to go. Okay, you guys. On today's show, we're going to talk about what's the buzz. We have a special guest, Blair Teasdale, talking about real estate. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: and how to sell a house, how to buy a house, yeah and um but all the things, and what's for dinner. But before we get into it, please remember to invite your favorite fishes to jump in and join the conversation.
Speaker: What's the buzz? All right, what caught my eye is Russell Brand, did you guys see this? Yes, did. He's in jail now for like 10 years for rape.
Speaker: I think he has, how many counts? Like three counts of like of rape, of sexual assault, sexual misconduct or something. Yeah. Yeah. yeah He was found guilty. it was free He was found guilty. It was like something else. He was found guilty on three counts of sexual assault and one count of rape. Yeah. I mean, not good. Yikes. Yeah. You know, he, he says that, you know, i kind of read an article about it and he said that that was during a time where he was like on drugs, he was drinking and now he says he's sober, but it still does not excuse behavior.
Speaker: Correct. know mean You just can't do that. And correct I think, you know, there's so many people or, out there who've gotten away with things just because they're famous.
Speaker: Yeah. And I'm glad to see that he's being held accountable. Right. Agreed. Saw that he has to serve at least 75% of his sentence before he's eligible for parole. um And he's in the UK. So um yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: And I believe he's married now too. He is. And he has kids, I think. You can't behave that way. no No. Unacceptable. Also something that caught my eye this week in the news, did you guys see at Ole Miss, there were freshmen girls who were leaving their apartment and there' it's in Ole Miss, they're all they're all students there, and they walked by um their neighbor's window, who happened to be African-American, making monkey sounds and ape sounds like being very like, which is racial, racial.
Speaker: And um I found that to be very gross. And they they did make a statement. One of them made a statement, the freshman Ole Miss and said she apologized if she was offensive.
Speaker: If like, I was like, mean I think it's very clearly offensive, but yeah, that's just my witness test. Bad behavior. Very bad. Yeah. It's beyond bad behavior. Like, I'm sorry if I was offensive, like get out of here. Like, don't act like that.
Speaker: It's not okay. And then fraternities are back in the news. Did you guys see this? Linda, you have an not at the school, but at the Ohio State, at SAE.
Speaker: um fraternity party, two kids were lit on fire. Did you guys see this? Yeah. So I saw a video of it. And so it looked like they were, I don't know exactly what was happening, but it's like they were having some sort of a game, I think, that got...
Speaker: It went sideways and this kid's like sweatpants are on fire and he's like dancing around trying to get um the flames out and somebody else was on fire. Like his sweatpants were on fire. Yeah. I mean, in what universe is setting anything on fire a fun game or i don't have any reference for why they were doing this, but.
Speaker: I mean, this is also like a clear example of your frontal lobe is not developed and you are making very poor choices and you're lucky you're not dead. Right. Yeah. I mean, playing with fire is stupid. It's dumb. Like, come on. Who does that? Like, it's fall. They could have lit everything on fire. Like, they could have had some, like, huge, big, huge...
Speaker: I mean, somebody no say, no, that's not a good idea. Let's not do it. Like, is there no one there? i want to say the SAEs were also in trouble at Michigan State, like in October. Yeah.
Speaker: right I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. Like a cocaine ring or something like this. I mean, I mean, come on. These fraternities need to like. Get it together. You need to fly right a little bit. Like just because you're at school, it doesn't mean that rules are out the window. Like don't understand this. Cocaine and lighting people on fire is no good.
Speaker: No good. it's bad. Don't do it. good. Bad choices. yes We're getting ready to send more kids to college. I'm like, oh, sweet. Anything goodness out there. As if you don't have enough to worry about. They've got all this nonsense happening. I know. Aye, aye, aye.
Speaker: Your kids won't do that stuff because they're smarter than that. I mean, not all right. So talking about the buzz, we have a little buzz with you guys that you've kind of kept close to your vest that you two are both selling your houses. Yes.
Speaker: bear Yes. So you are in this, you guys are downsizing because you are getting, Kathy's getting ready to be empty nesters. Linda is an empty nester and they, you've decided that you guys want to live a little smaller. Yeah. um ye So this got us thinking about buying and selling houses and real estate. Yeah. All right, let's jump in.
Speaker: Okay, so today we're talking with a real estate professional, Blair Teasdale. She has 30 years of experience in the real estate business. She's the managing broker at Cry Like in Green Hills of Nashville. So she's in my hood and she's the director of luxury for Cry Like. She's here to give us like a little sneak peek behind the curtain, the real estate curtain and um tell us all the things. so the fishes would like to welcome Blair Teasdale.
Speaker: Hi, Blair, welcome. hi thank you. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. So I have like this burning question because I am not a real estate expert by any stretch.
Speaker: um But I've always been told that you're not supposed to put your house on the market and like heading into winter holiday time. And Kathy and Linda are both putting their house on the market when the holidays are coming.
Speaker: Are they doing it wrong? So, you know, really, really part of it is is is your your life. Like, do you have to move? Do you need to move? Like why you're moving? Like, that's a big question is like, why you're moving? What's your timing? Some it doesn't matter. Some it matters more than others. But like, honestly, I've had great November and December in 30 years. November, December have always been really good times because you'll have less showings. but you'll have more serious buyers. So people aren't just like looky-looing out there during November and December. Which I do do. I'm known to go hop in at neighborhood open houses. You're one of those people. I'm one of them. But you know, you know, sellers, that's a good point. Sellers get irritated about that sometimes or like, oh my gosh, like my, just my neighbors came. I'm like, that's great because like, they're going to go tell people like how great your house looks and you know, they want people that they like moving near there. So, so I always tell sellers like, that's a great idea. love having the neighbors over. So.
Speaker: or people that are looking the link because that you you never know what that what actually comes from those. So any eyes are good. it sounds like, yeah, I mean, they really are because you you just really never know um what somebody may do. So to answer your question, it's not a terrible time. What if you were going to put your house on in January and February and Nashville or probably most places, um Chicago, wherever I would say, probably not the best time because January, you know, Nashville gets a snow every year and we get a freeze, with a snow and a freeze. And it's generally going to be January and February. yeah And it's just gross out. Nothing looks good. um It's just, you know, I would say not the best times, but um also you get a lot less competition. So, you know. Okay.
Speaker: So holidays, not so bad, but like January, February, maybe they ah take a pause There's statistics that will say these certain few weeks or this is the best of the whole year, like in May or something. But like, you know, and when it comes to spring, there's two there's two rules of thought. There's like, OK, we can do it before all the spring breakers leave. There's not as much on the market. Everybody's getting there ready. But then everybody's like, but then my flowers don't look so pretty. I don't have my landscaping doesn't look great. It's like, yeah, but you may get a pet of some people that might need a move at spring break or they're getting ready that, you know, they're gonna come in summer. they're
Speaker: Realistic, you know, other than that, I would say not realistically, but other than that is like, I would say the this after spring break, which is, you know, mid end of March or when the spring breaks are. So April is a great, great time. If you can wait on that for landscaping and things like that to be coming out, it's always, always nice to have good carpet. So if you're selling a house, what are the top three things that you really like to see your sellers do? Like, what are the top three things that you're always like, okay,
Speaker: This is your to-do list. um So top three things. One is I'm not a huge landscaping person. Like a lot of people are like, do I need to go redo this, redo this? But like, we need a fresh layer of mulch. We need to clean everything up, that kind of thing. But also it's some little things like that that sellers don't think about. I probably don't think about on my own house. Like you really need to change that whole door handle and not like, not just a new knob. Like you need to change this whole thing. You need to stain those doors, right? You know, because this is the first thing people are seeing, right? The very first thing they're coming in and like, this is janky that's kind of you know whether kind of says like they don't really care they know this is the first thing i'm going to see they kind of don't care the next thing a lot of people forget about um is is windows it's like wash your windows inside it out it's funny i sold my dad's house last year and he's like i don't need to have my windows clean and i was like uh yeah you do and he had storm windows on too which that kind of can make it look a little darker yeah storm and it traps things inside
Speaker: So I was like, listen, I'm going to do it anyway. So we did it. And he's like, oh, my gosh, like, why didn't I do this a long time ago? Like, this is so good. I can see everything is so clear. But I think people kind of forget about about doing windows inside and out. That makes a big difference. The next thing is.
Speaker: Another thing people forget or don't think about is is as light as your light bulbs, not just your light fixtures, but light bulbs like we want to daylight, not a white, blue, you know, ah what am I trying to say? Not the.
Speaker: So the color, you yeah you're thinking about the color of the bulb. Yeah, like a daylight white, like yeah but like ah more a bright ah a brighter white, but like a daylight white versus yellow, like no yellow lighting. And then make sure all your bulbs are the same, like in lamps, like have these the same. I mean, it's ah it's funny. I look at my own house to be like, oh, that light bulb's different than that one. So those probably three things that are are are super important and that are little that you don't really think about that make a big difference. Is there something that makes you cringe, like a secret that you wish you could be like, don't do that or don't get hung up on that?
Speaker: I think that it's for a seller that a lot of times they don't they don't call the realtor till it's too late and they think they know what they should do in their house. I'll see this a lot. They'll be like, oh, well, we've just done this. and this I'm like, oh, I would have spent that money over here. Instead of that, I would have left that for last. So like that's one thing for the seller is like, go ahead and call if you're not sure who your realtor is going to be, you know, go ah ahead and interview a couple of them, see what they say. But like talk to them first, because the experienced ones really will know what to know what to do. You know how things need to be. And so that's yeah. Blair, what is it that needs to be like? What is the home renovation that you would recommend that gives the most like return on your investment?
Speaker: I tell everybody painting and light fixtures go a long way and for for a little money. So some people will say, I just, how I broker our office. So I had an agent that had me come and look at a listing with her. And as soon as you walked in, it wasn't like one room as soon as you walked in, the whole living room into the kitchen, the walls, everything was a deep, dark red. And the seller is like, I'm well, we're not going to paint. We're not going paint. And I'm like, you need to paint this like this. This is really, really easy to be. paint He didn't paint. He didn't paint. You know, he kept doing reduces price, reduces price. It produces $50,000. I'm like, you could have painted this whole thing for under 10. And it probably would have sold it. It sounds so silly because, you know, when people would be like, oh, I love this house, but that whole that kitchen's red. I could never, you know, live in there. like, I mean, I'll go paint it tomorrow for you. It's OK. Like, does the house work? you know You know, so that might be one thing. Like, don't get hung up on the.
Speaker: the a paint color or also don't get hung up the opposite way on like some people's stuff you know like yeah it looks so great um like this looks so great now imagine your stuff and imagine without stuff well don't find people don't really have a good imagination sometimes they really they really just have no vision for the most part every now and then i'll get some they'll come in and it's like oh it's so nice because they're like they can see their stuff they can see it But yes, ah that that happens a lot. that There's just no. So paint and lighting for our yeah good return on investment. Is there another room in the house that you're like, people love it when this is done? I just had somebody just recently in the same city and in Brentwood um asked me, should I? I've got a quote. I can redo my whole kitchen. It was going to be like $50,000 to redo their kitchen. And I said, didn't do not redo your kitchen right now before we sell it because you may.
Speaker: And this has happened plenty of times. The seller goes and does and it's like the wrong thing. It's the wrong color. but They don't want this. They don't want that. There is a typical like, OK, we could go with this neutral thing that's going appeal to to most people. But like as far as like doing a whole are going to get new cabinets and all this stuff. But but kitchens and the master bath are the two the two big ones that are a return on investment. Like if somebody just has, you know, one or two things in their bathroom, that's going to make a big difference. I'm like, you need to go ahead and do it. um You know, and in and the kitchen, if everything else looks good and it's like, gosh, these countertops, they're not bad, but they really need to be something else. You know, could you do countertops for 15,000, 10, 15?
Speaker: fifteen thousand ten fifteen your return on that is going to be more than double that to to go ahead and change to change something like that. Do buyers not want to do things? Or i mean are there two sides to that equation? like Are some willing to do stuff? like I remember when we bought this house, we did a lot of stuff to it. And I was like, I had the vision to see it.
Speaker: But like, I feel like some people don't, like Linda was saying, like are people more on the other side? They just want to buy a house that's done? it Right now, I have never seen it more than ever.
Speaker: that people want it done and they want a deal. They do not want to do anything. deal and done, huh? deal and done. And I mean, they just, they just do. It doesn't matter if you'd be like, oh, we'll give you a hundred thousand dollars credit, whatever you, it's, I mean, I've been there, done that. And, and this year, and it is just, they want, they want it done.
Speaker: They, and it's, I've never seen it. So it's crazy. It's really, cause you go, gosh, like, you know, you could, and and sellers that don't want to do it. they'll keep coming down and down on their price and go, I've had it happen. I have about three different people this year that said, gosh, I wish I would have just done that in the beginning. I'm like, you know, and it's hard too. I get i get it for the sellers, right? Because you're going like, gosh, i don't want to spend this money. Like, what about what's going happen? You know, and it doesn't always mean depending on the house, it doesn't always mean that you're going to get that money back, but they might choose your house over another one.
Speaker: which means a lot. But like you said, they may not like what you did. is If you keep things neutral, though, like it like I'm paint, right? Like keep paint neutral. If it's a countertop, you know, there's a nice neutral countertop that that is very popular right now. That is if it went with everything else in the house, I would say, go ahead and do something like that. I wouldn't necessarily dark, you know, woods coming back. So some people like, should I paint my, you used to is like always, yes, paint these kitchen cabinets, paint these white. And now it's kind of like the woods kind of coming back. People are just like the the separate areas are coming back. Not everybody wants everything all open anymore.
Speaker: Isn't that funny how tastes change? They like swing back and forth, right? It depends on your market to like, you know, talk to like a trusted advisor, a real estate advisor and say and and say like, what you know, what what are look at? Look at the other houses that you like when you're looking through at the photos and stuff, you know what? What kind of things make you happy? And you go, oh, yes, I like this. I like this. um And that kind of can help you a little bit too with with your own house. Is there one myth that you wish people would stop believing in?
Speaker: One is a lot of people want to try, like, I get this all the time. Can I try this price? Can I try this price? And it's like, yes, you can. And I kind of sort of have like a range that's different on every house that like, okay. And I do, I don't just pull comps and go, oh, this is the average. This is what your house should be. you know, i pull them in like seven different ways and I go through all of the houses and study them all. and And then I'll go, okay, this is probably about where it should be, but let's, you know, I think we can pull to this one because there's no other houses on the market in your neighborhood that have this or there's no other, there or there's, you know, that there's not very many here in this neighborhood, or whatever it is. So um that's one is that like, I think they think, oh, we can always try higher higher and come down. And generally that results in keeping on coming down. And then you and in you're stale and then it looks like the people are unreasonable.
Speaker: yeah um So that's probably one. what about Baking cookies before an open house or before showing. Does that really work? I love that. And if i if one of my clients that just sold one to happens to see this podcast, which I'll tell her to come and watch, she's going to be like, Blair, yes, because she has this recipe. She will not give me the recipe, but she did move out of this at a state. And she is gonna sit there's there she's sending me some in the mail.
Speaker: And um they were the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. And there she and everybody commented on them. She did it every single time. She's like, I think my cookies sold out. I think they did too. so I love, I still love that. It still is the warm, you know, you smell it when you come in.
Speaker: so So she made cookies and left them for the open house. I mean, yeah but she would do it for showings. And so then she made big batches of them and she froze them and then she would pull them out before the showings that morning. Girls, this is what I'm hearing. You need to be making cookies and like leave them out. Find my mixing bowls. I will do it.
Speaker: Everything is packed away. feel like the stager came to our house and she was like, nothing on the counters, nothing anywhere. And i was like, but I still live here. What is happening? So, I mean, if I can find my balls, I'll make cookies.
Speaker: That is a good point, too. I do tell people it is hard. I'm like the way you live in a house and the way you sell a house are just two different things. Like told I come in my friend's houses and like love this, love that everything looks just amazing. And then one of my friends goes, you think Blair's all nice and everything. So she comes in and sells your house. And she's like, that out. You got to take out. it is is very different when you go sell I mean, I will say like Blair is selling our house. She's helping us get it on the market and it is brutal and you can't take it personally. It's business. Like this is all about like, what am I going to get?
Speaker: You know, I don't want to have my house on the market for a year. I want to sell. I want to put my best foot forward. So I'm trying to listen to everything she says and everything her mean stager said that I should do. And hopefully it will work out. But it is it's it's been a rough weekend. It's a lot of work. I'm sure she wasn't mean, Linda.
Speaker: ah Mean, mean, mean. I see something right there. It's not supposed to be there. I see something behind you that's not supposed to be there, but I wasn't going to say anything. Oh, yeah. It's still there because we're not showing up the dog crate. Yeah. Yeah. I promise it will be gone by the time we take pictures and when we show. But the dog needs to go in her crate sometimes because she's naughty.
Speaker: So do you have any like red flags that you ever are like, you know, you see in a listing or a property or? an offer, like, is there anything that you like whenever you see it, you're like, oh, no, no, no, no. no Okay. Y'all think about it when you're looking through at houses, right? Just anybody.
Speaker: If there's like, why isn't there a picture of the backyard, you know, or why don't I see the kitchen or what? Like, you're like, there's ah I feel like that there's a problem.
Speaker: Like something like if that everything's done and, and I try to, with my photos, like I've had somebody who had a huge power line in front of the house, like, ah It's not going anywhere is what it is. So I put them in the photo so people don't drive up and that they cancel a showing because, oh, gosh, I didn't know that was there. yeah Some people care about it. Some people don't. Obviously, these people didn't care they about it. So, you know, try try to show stuff in pictures. So if something's missing, that's kind of a little bit of a red flag. um For a buyer or ill I'll say seller either way. So often, and I've done this on the buyer side. So if I'm listing a house and I get an offer and maybe a couple of people that want it and one of the offers comes in and says,
Speaker: well, we're gonna we're gonna we have the right to do repairs, but we're we're waiving our right to request any repairs. okay And that's one of the things in Tennessee, it's a little box you can check. And it's like, oh, they're not going ask anything. They're still going to do the repairs and they can get out of the contract if if there was something that they didn't agree to. But I'm like, hey, listen, I've done that for my buyers too, because it makes their offer look better. Like, hey, we're not going ask for anything. But it's like on the seller side, I'm going...
Speaker: okay, I get what they're saying, but I'd rather them ask for something versus walk away. Right. Like, yeah. I mean, so right I'm just saying that's just something to like, be careful with is don't let that, uh, overshadow something. Oh, but but these people aren't asking for any repairs. I mean, cause you yeah still can. And as a seller, I'd prefer them to ask and I could say no, but so, yeah and, and if I've done that, I've done that for a buyer before and still asked or asked the agent,
Speaker: There is something, but we said we weren't going to for repairs, but would you like to yeah ask? And then so it's kind the same thing, but that's kind of a little thing to watch for. So I am actually super interested in the first time home buyer because like we sold our house in Chicago and We had several offers on our house and one of them was a first time home buyer that had like little kids and they sent us this big letter and they like really had a good offer.
Speaker: And our real estate agent was like, these other two offers, I know they're real estate agents, they're older, they I know that financially they can do it, they'll be easy. This first time home buyer is more money, but they're first time home buyers. And sometimes they can be like a little persnickety because they've never done it before.
Speaker: And so we ended up taking an offer that was like a little bit less. So we wouldn't have to deal with the first time home buyer. Have you had any experiences where you're like, oh the dreaded home first home buyer?
Speaker: I know you're so that is no, no, that is, um, what that your agent said was not incorrect, but it's also, i love first time home buyers as a buyer agent. And I just today got my, um, my niece under contract on a house and, and I, but, but even the ones that I don't know and, and, um, uh,
Speaker: I love that because I know that they don't know what to ask and I know that I'm going to be able to tell them. You know what i mean? Yeah. And like the little things like, oh my gosh, I didn't know. What did ask that? You know, like, so I i know, i know they could trust me is what, you know, and I'm happy that they're. Yeah. But so I think part of it too would be like, if you had a first time home buyer, it would be, I'd want to talk to that agent. Like, okay. Like, have you, coach them through like how the home selling process goes and that because some of them just don't know and i will tell you and inspections are so scary for these buyers and threaten i tell the first time home buyers like listen like you're gonna we go to the the inspection but at the end of the the inspection about last 30 minutes so that they can especially can say hey we found this this this
Speaker: And I'll tell him, now, listen, you're going to, you just heard him and you're going get the report later. And it's going to way worse than what he just said. I said, because they've got a lot of- Because it's multiple pages. Is that like 80? Is that normal? Yes.
Speaker: Is that normal? Yes, is. Because they have to find something or they really have- it's because they have to CYA for better words, right? Like they have to cover themselves in their language of how they're putting stuff.
Speaker: yeah But they'll tell you verbally, like, listen, this is nothing to worry about. If it were mine, I wouldn't even do anything. But there is this right. But their report is going to say a fire hazard. Basically, your house could burn down at any time, you know. So I try to I try to coach them. So that's a big thing like it is is in talking to the other agent. Like, tell me about your buyers. Like, I mean, have you talked to them? Do you know them? Like, are they have you shown before? They've been under contract before. Oh, yeah. They've been under twice. They got an inspection. I'm like, you know, So I think that's part of it. But like, I wouldn't necessarily say, but just because they're new you know, you gotta watch some of the inspectors. i mean, some of them I'm like, that's cosmetic. That sounds like your opinion as you did not need to put that in your report. So like, listen, like, so nowadays with like, you know, being, everybody feels like they're an expert, right? And we have internet And we have like, you know, AI and everybody's like, I Googled that. I can be my own doctor. You know, I can be my own specialist. Like, do people feel like they can be their own realtor? Are you finding more people trying to represent themselves and making mistakes or. Not really. but It's because it seems like it is a business and you need somebody to advocate for you. So several things. So one, i find I find more buyers are doing that right now. And a lot of agents, a lot of the experienced agents, we don't.
Speaker: prefer working with an an unrepresented buyer. Everybody thinks that we want that. Like I'm gonna get double commission or the or the sellers think, oh oh yeah, and then we'll lower her commission. Like, well, well first all, i'm doing double the work. But I don't want that liability either. It's not that, because it's in Tennessee, you can do you can even do dual.
Speaker: but um But anyway, if somebody wants to be unrepresented, I mean, do they know everything? Like the likelihood, if I'm not doing more work, the likelihood is going to fall apart. he's not going They're not going to stay on a deadline. They don't know the contracts, you know, that type of thing. But we do see more buyers doing that. With sellers, I don't see it a whole lot. But um I shared with Lynn the other day that I had a really good friend. And they were like, you know, so in our neighborhood where we live, like, you know, people selling in their houses on Facebook and and our little in our little you know neighborhood Facebook. And um and then he was like, you know, if I if if I did it, would you help me if we got a contract and whatever, whatever. We talked about it a lot and told him the pros and cons. And I was like, you know, and I guess you're going have to be there for every showing to your his wife's teacher and he's working and, you know, um and he's like, well, we we just want to try it.
Speaker: Well, him trying it. Oh, and i and I told him about the price. And I go, now, if you're not going to have me, Melissa, you can maybe come down on your price. And well, he went above the price. I said, it'll be funny if they watch this too, but they'll be like, yeah, know. We know. Blair's told us enough times now. um um But because I kind of do too. I told you so. If it's my friends. Yeah. Cause they have to love me anyway. No, but, um, but anyway, they, they, they tried and tried and they, that turned into like four months and then they're like, okay, we want you sell it. We don' i sell it tomorrow. Now we're ready to go. And I'm like, Oh, okay. So now it's been out there and it's gone on Zillow. It's gone. Everybody is stale. You get the wrong price and you want me to list it back at that same price again.
Speaker: i was like, you know, that, that all can't happen. So yeah anyway, we did list it and I, and I sold it wherever. And he was like, I'm sorry. I go, no, you gotta be sorry. I get it. I get it. It's a, it's a lot of money, you know? Um,
Speaker: and ah And depending on the price of the house, you look at like, hey, you know sometimes it's like, are you doing more work for this price house versus this price house? And ah a lot of times, yes, you are. Or you're spending a lot more money on that house and and that of your you know of our money. so So I get people wanting to do some things by themselves.
Speaker: 90, 85, 90% of the time, the the I think it might be higher than that if you look at statistics, the for sale by owners that fail. that They at least go through one or two contracts that fail. um Sellers often give stuff away that they shouldn't have given away. We're like, you you would have been better off. You could have got your agent could negotiated something better for you because people don't feel bad or they're the ones talking to them. They're like, well, ok um okay. Okay, well, go ahead and give you that sofa too. give, you know, and it's... yeah generally out of goodwill on both sides, you know, but, um but I, right now we're seeing more buyers do it.
Speaker: Well, I'm kind of curious about the market. Cause I mean, I, I know I live in a completely different market than you do. um But it's like our market's been super hot and then all of a sudden it's not.
Speaker: And I'm just wondering, like, Is this happening in Nashville or you think it's just yeah because of interest rates and the election? Like, do you think it's leading up to the election was I mean, and i'm ah I'm in two different breakfast clubs with a lot of the top agents and they're all on there going like, see if anybody have any showings? Does anybody any showings? It's like, where did everybody go? um And so that was brutal here. um It's picked back up a little bit now. um and interest rates you know it depends on the price point too and for what i understand kathy i think your neighborhood's similar to to lens uh you know look feel vibe you know size all that kind of stuff and um a lot of times in that in that higher price range it's not they're not as concerned with with rates because they're either putting a lot more cash down or they're paying cash and and and And a difference in Nashville is we have in all you know Chicago, California, and New York, they're all coming down here, where they a lot of times can get you know more for their money. There's no income tax, you know state income tax and stuff like that. But um but so it definitely has has has slowed, but it is picking back up. um
Speaker: you hear different things. I would say one thing is like, don't always listen to the media. Nobody really knows, you know, I heard one thing. It's like, oh you thought 26 was going to be bad. 27 is worse. And then somebody else is like, no, tweet you know, and another thing I'll say is I had, um because I, again, I broker my office. I have agents under me and agents complaining about this and that. Well, had an agent at lunch with other days in another brokerage and she's like, ah ah this has been the my best year ever. Like she's doing great. Like she's like, you know, I'm doing wonderful. So there's always, you know, you're always going to have a little bit of both, but, but to answer you, it's, it has definitely slowed, but I, have you seen it pick up?
Speaker: You got more showings last week or so? no not yet. Yeah. It's just, it's interesting. It's like this neighborhood usually gets like maybe one or two houses that go for sale a year.
Speaker: So it's, I mean, it's a pretty coveted neighborhood. So do you have others for sale in there? No. Well, so maybe November, maybe this will be your time. Maybe somebody will come in Thanksgiving. It is true. Like a lot of you you may, you know, have one or two, but people come in at Thanksgiving and they're in town and, you know, visiting people and that's going to be a good showing time too. We're probably getting close to being done, but I wanted to ask if you could buy the house that you want, right?
Speaker: but it was maybe not in the right location or if you bought like is location, does it matter a ton? Like, what would you say to people? Like, do you buy the perfect house and not the right location or do you buy the house that's not perfect in the right location?
Speaker: Not perfect in the right location. Yeah, the location. Yeah, because it's because it's always going to appreciate, you know, like it's going to keep, especially around Nashville. I mean, you can...
Speaker: You can get a bigger house somewhere else. I mean, it depends on your lifestyle too, right? like if you're and and And what your goals are. So like if you're going if you're like, hey, I'm set. this is going to be my forever house and I want some land and I want this. I want all my stuff. I'd be like, hey, listen, you get what you want in the land. It doesn't matter. Don't worry about, you don't have to worry about school zones anymore or anything like that. Right. I will also say, you never know, right? Like people think that's going to be their forever house. It may not be. But if you know this sit in your forever house, um I would say get one and in a good location. um with Perfect example of my niece and state she's just got married this summer and um and they were looking at different places. They're like this place or that place. And I said, up you know, I think i yeah they they
Speaker: I didn't try to steer them towards an area, but it was an area that they liked and they were saying, what about this one to this one? And I was like, I think your resale on this one should be should be better. Yeah, it'll be better. Because you're not going live in that house forever. Yeah. Right. It's just starting out.
Speaker: It is an investment, right? So it's like you want to look at it as, I want to want to be able to afford it. I want to be able to enjoy where I'm living. But also, it is an investment. You hope when you sell that you- are gonna unload it for something, right? Yes, yes, completely, completely. Now, do you ever heard like say, don't do it, don't buy this house?
Speaker: Yes. ah how she Yeah, she just told you. She told her niece to go this way, not that way. Well, the location. But she was steering. But on a house. this She was steering. i have someone. I was not steering. I was not steering.
Speaker: um ah I have someone right now who wants to buy a house that I think shouldn't. I think she's talking about me. a particular one. Yeah. ah But I'm not.
Speaker: I do I? Yes, I do. I will. It depends on it depends on the reason. Right. Like I'll say I've had people had that most adorable couple and by this house. And it wasn't just in a flood zone. It was in the flood way.
Speaker: OK, so like means flood zone I could deal with. I don't get it. It freaked me out. But this had river behind it on the side of it. And it was in the flood way. And she was so cute. She was like, that's OK. We'll get flood insurance. And I i just got all new stuff. if it floods and her husband's like, oh, my gosh. And know all I'm thinking about is I don't i didn't know their parents. I'm just thinking like your parents are going to kill me. They're going to be like, who is this realtor that let you, yeah you know, and it was the house is already done. So I didn't say don't buy it. I was just like, you really need to think about these things. Right. Yeah. And it depends, too, if the house isn't perfect and you think you're going to be there for a while.
Speaker: and you've got the money to do what you need to do to it, then great. If it's got most of everything you need, but there have been houses before that I'm, I'm, I would say, i don't, i don't think I would do this one. It's especially if people are asking me. Do you kind of feel like I had a friend who's a realtor and she's like, I feel like I'm, I'm somebody's therapist when we're like shopping for a house and like, or selling a house. It's like, it's very emotional. and trying to help them like go through the process. Do you feel that way? Do you feel like you're wearing i'm different kind of hats, like a therapist hat? Yes, it really, really is.
Speaker: Yeah, it is because people you're very entwined with their lives. And I do sell a lot of my friends houses and and help them buy houses. And um and they all know that none nothing is ever shared between anything, whether it's about their relationship or their finances or whatever, because you you learn a lot and you see a lot. And and and is and it's so funny. I get I get hung up, um or not hung up, I laugh sometimes about some of the the titles that realtors give themselves and whatever. and um But it really is like a real estate advisor. Like you are, you are i have gone through people
Speaker: my age, younger people, everybody, and um I take all their finances and I'll help them with a budget and say like, okay, this is what it looks like you can do or whatever. You know you can make these choices, that the ones that asked me, of course. um And so, yeah, so you're a financial advisor, you're sort of, you're ah ah a realistic mental health advisor. Yeah. And there's ah it is very emotional. It's very emotional, the whole process.
Speaker: I remember when we moved here, because we didn't know anyone that lived in this state. And we weren't trusting our real estate person to like tell us like the truth. Is this a good area? is this like yeah We didn't know. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And that's hard. And I may get you know caught on some something and somebody goes, oh, she's doing the wrong thing. But I i will still always agree to this. I'm always going to tell people the truth. If there's something that that you know violates a fair housing law or whatever, umm obviously, I'm not going to do something like that. But somebody asked me the other day about a certain area. And I said, well, I'll just tell you that my nephew lived there and told me he heard gunshots every single night.
Speaker: You might want to look into the area and look at the crime report and think see what you think. yeah and And it was a single girl. And yeah yeah I feel like that's the right thing to do is tell her what I i had heard in the area. So, um yeah.
Speaker: But say, go do your own research too. So, yeah. I feel like real estate is a hot topic, right? It affects lots of people. I feel like we could talk about it, you know, endless for hours. Right. There's so much, so much. um Kathy and Linda, is there anything that you want to just get in there and add before we...
Speaker: um Wrap up. What's your best tip, Blair, that you could give us? Call your agent first, you know, and if you don't know who you're going to use, um you know, ask some friends. I don't totally look at.
Speaker: I mean, I think choosing a realtor is a is a is a is a big deal. And I don't. think maybe Instagram is probably the, just because somebody has more followers or something. I think it's asking your friends or if you go somewhere, you don't know somebody trying to do a little research, interviewing a couple of them and seeing who you feel most comfortable with too, right? It doesn't even matter. Like I tell my new agents, it's okay that you're a new agent. You know, I've been here 30 years. I'm going to help you. going to be there. But knowing that you feel comfortable with them and and obviously that they've got the knowledge and they they're, they're a realtor now that they know what they're talking about. They know the area. Yeah. I have people ask me, oh can I go sell this house that's and you know an hour and a half away? And I'm like, you could, but are you going to do them the best service? Do you know which side of the lake is better to live on? I mean, you know there's there's things like that. So I think really choosing your realtor is just a really big deal and talking to them first about what you should do to your house and and on the the buy side too. just um
Speaker: listen to their advice. And I think it's easier to listen when you've found that person you're comfortable with. I wouldn't necessarily tell somebody go with the biggest one, the the one that with the biggest sales. I'm also not saying don't go with those people. yeah lot of those are my friends that that are like that. So don't I'm not saying not to, but just I think really about feeling feeling comfortable and and trusting with that person.
Speaker: Well, for our listeners, we'll put your information in our show notes. So if anyone's moving to Nashville, give Blair Teasdale at Cry Likey a call and she can hook you up with maybe one of her agents or herself. She you know is ah the managing broker of the Nashville office and you know has a lot of real estate agents that work with her. So we'll put all her information in there.
Speaker: Tennessee and I work in Georgia too. And we also have ah a global networking, leading real estate companies of the world. So we could find you a realtor anywhere in the in the world if somebody needed something too. Well, thank you so much, Blair.
Speaker: Thank you all so much for having me. is You gave us a lot of really good information and I hope our listeners you know feel like they got some good nuggets. Great. I hope so too. Thanks so much.
Speaker: All right. That was really great. That was some really great information. It awesome. What's for dinner? So I have dinner this week. um This is a tried and true. This is orchetti pasta with Italian sausage and broccoli.
Speaker: So it's very basic. It's brown your sausage, add your broccoli bits with some garlic and red pepper flakes if your people let you, a little bit of broth and then cooked or sheddy with – I know. like i've Anyway. and some grated Parmesan cheese. And it just makes this natural little, very light broth sauce. And it's great. So highly recommend it. It's yummy the next day too.
Speaker: Yeah, and I like that it has some like a green vegetable in it. Like I feel like this time of year we're getting away, or at least my family is, we are really heavy into the carbs right now. Yeah. And it's a nice way to kind of get a veggie in there. and I mean, and I think you could do whatever veggie you want. I just have always done it with broccoli or broccoli rabe. um You could probably do kale. You could probably do, you know, whatever vegetable you have in your house. But the broccoli really holds up to the sausage. So anyway, hope you enjoy it. Well, we want to thank you for listening to our podcast and letting us sister jump into your day.
Speaker: Please make sure to hit the follow button and rate and review us. Have a wonderful fall weekend. Sisters.
