In this episode of the podcast, Tom and Ron are talking about the latest and greatest in Real Estate news. There's a lot of interesting ground to cover this week, so they dive right in.
They start off the episode by taking on the topic of home buyer's remorse. A recent survey from Trulia found that almost half of Americans have suffered some sort of buyers remorse when they purchased their home -- though not the type of remorse you would expect. They actually wish they had bought a larger home! On top of that, most renters say they are remorseful that they haven't bought at all. Tom talks about how to look at the big picture when home shopping and trying to find larger homes by expanding your search -- not necessarily by spending more money.
Up next, Ron tells Tom about an article from the New York Times reporting on the worsening housing crisis here in California. We discuss the different ways governments are trying to alleviate the problem (Property Tax Initiatives, Zoning De-Regulation), while also going into how there is a growing YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement trying to get the developments happening where we need them most. It's a fascinating conversation about how residents of certain areas actually do themselves a disservice by not allowing growth. When it gets to be too late -- they are out of control of the process and could have had more of a say along the way.
Next up, we talk about a new trend in home burglars where they are casing their hits virtually through home listing photos left on Zillow. We discuss the dangers of leaving your listing photos online and not taking them down after the sale.
And speaking of home break-ins, we talk about Ryan Lewis (the other guy who isn't Macklemore) selling his 7 million dollar estate with the help of a video where a friend/musician pretends to break in and take a tour. We discuss what it takes to market your home with an original and clever video like this -- and the potential ways it could actually work against you if you're not careful.
It's an awesome news-packed episode and we hope you'll listen and enjoy!
You may have never heard of them -- and there might be a very good reason for that. Most Real Estate Agents don't want you to think that they exist -- but the Transaction Coordinator is the unsung hero of the Real Estate Industry. On this episode, we interview Lauren Senecal, a Transaction Coordinator and owner of TC Advantage here in Southern California and we find out a lot about what happens behind the scenes when you are buying or selling a home that you may have never have even guessed.
We begin by speaking to Lauren about how she started in the industry and what has brought her to opening her own TC (that's what they're known as in the biz) company -- TC Advantage. We then talk about her day-to-day duties and how she assists agents with the process of buying or selling a house from beginning to end, making sure that deadlines are hit, the proper forms are filled out by the right people, and making sure the entire process stays organized.
We then talk about the various reasons why agents prefer to keep Transaction Coordinators a secret in order to create the illusion that they do everything from beginning to end. Lauren also talks about the things that she thinks makes transactions run smoothly and how she would change the process if she could. We also talk about various horror stories she's seen and how they could have been avoided beforehand.
It's another very interesting episode and we're so glad that Lauren could stop by to show us her wealth of knowledge and expertise. Please listen and give us comments below! We'd love to hear what you think and to know what we can do better. Also, if you have any ideas for future episodes, please let us know!
Well, we've got an extra special guest on today's podcast and we just couldn't be happier. This week we're talking to an incredible woman, an accomplished Estate Planning Attorney, and -- oh, yeah -- she just so happens to be our intrepid host's wonderful wife, Julie Clary! This week's episode is incredibly informative and lots of fun, too!
Ron starts us off by stopping everything and bringing us back to one of Tom's earlier episodes and rants about negotiation. He asks Julie if it was true that Tom had learned how to negotiate from Julie during their trip to purchase his wedding ring in the Los Angeles jewelry district. Julie confirms the story and also gives some incredibly useful advice on how to negotiate and never pay full price if you have to! Julie and Tom also discuss how important it is not to show how much you may love a house (you lose all the leverage in the deal) and how you should not get emotionally invested right away in your potential new home (you may have to walk away from the deal). A bit off on a tangent -- but incredibly useful information when it comes to purchasing a new home.
Afterwards, we get into the main reason for Julie's visit -- to discuss estate planning, wills, trusts and how someone can help their heirs avoid the mess of the probate courts. She tells us how the process works when done correctly, what "no contest" clauses are for, and how to potentially avoid issues with family members that may want more than their share. We also have a great conversation about what someone should look for when choosing an Estate Planning Attorney that will make sure their trust is "tailor made" for their specific situation and that their wishes are taken care of after they pass.
Julie really is an incredible attorney and this conversation is full of fun and great advice. We're really excited to have her as a guest and we hope that everyone will give this episode a listen and tell us what you think!
It's the day after July 4th and we're back with a BANG! (Get it? A BANG? You know? Fireworks? Oh, nevermind...)
When we first started The Clarified Realty Podcast, we promised that we would be learning right alongside all of you. This episode is definitely no exception. We're talking with Cheryl Courtney of Polycomp Administrative Services who has over 20 years of retirement planning experience.
Cheryl starts off by talking to us about her role as a Third Party Administrator and what that has to do with Real Estate in general. She explains to us how someone can own Real Estate as part of a retirement account and what other financial vehicles can be used to house Real Estate investments. She gives an introduction to REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), which are a lot like mutual funds for properties -- as well as what their pros and cons can be. We talk briefly about how someone can borrow (briefly) from their 401K in order to purchase a home and we wrap up with a discussion about how business owners who are used to spending all their money to re-invest in their companies can structure their 401k plans to put away large sums of retirement in a shorter period time when they need to.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I learned a lot during this episode and I'm pretty certain that if I did -- you will, too. Please give it a listen and let us know what you thought. And, as always, we'd always appreciate if you'd take a moment and give us a review on iTunes!