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Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Todd Kroupa.
🔷 Interview Summary
Todd Kroupa, a former firefighter turned top-performing real estate agent (No. 1 in Georgia, nearly $1B in lifetime sales), shares his journey of career transition, entrepreneurship, and success in real estate. [TODD KROUPA iHeart | Txt]
The interview covers:
- Leaving a stable career for entrepreneurship
- Building a real estate business from scratch in a new market
- Customer-first sales philosophy
- Practical advice for buyers and sellers
- Real estate as a long-term wealth-building strategy
It blends career reinvention, sales mindset, and real estate expertise.
🎯 Purpose of the Interview 1. Inspire career transition and risk-taking
- Show how to move from a secure job to a high-reward entrepreneurial path
2. Educate on real estate buying and selling
- Provide practical insights for:
- First-time buyers
- Families
- Sellers
3. Highlight relationship-driven sales success
- Emphasize service, trust, and referrals over commissions
4. Promote real estate as a wealth strategy
- Explain why real estate is a strong long-term investment
5. Share resilience and mindset lessons
- Demonstrate how persistence and belief overcome doubt and rejection
🔑 Key Takeaways 1. Career pivots require courage and clarity
- Kroupa left a stable firefighting career despite outside doubt
- He trusted his long-term vision over short-term safety [TODD KROUPA iHeart | Txt]
2. Block out “outside noise”
- He avoided negativity and advice that could derail his decision
- Focus and conviction were essential to success
3. Skills transfer across industries
- Firefighter experience taught:
- Problem-solving under pressure
- Customer care
- These skills translated directly into real estate
4. Relationships drive real estate success
- The business is built on:
- Trust
- Referrals
- Long-term client relationships
- Not just transactions
5. Service > commission mindset
- Top agents prioritize:
- Client outcomes
- Long-term value
- Income follows service
6. Emotion drives buying decisions
- Buyers decide within minutes based on:
- Feeling
- Personal connection
- Logic comes later in the process
7. Realtors must guide, not just sell
- A great agent:
- Identifies hidden issues
- Advises clients—even against a deal
8. Inspection is critical
- Key deal-breakers:
- Mold
- Foundation issues
- Roof problems
- Buyers must be willing to walk away
9. Real estate decisions require discipline
- Avoid overpaying or emotion
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I guess it's a farmer Atlanta firefighter who has since
become one of the nation's top real estate agents. In
twenty twenty four, he ranked in the top twenty among
more than sixteen thousand relators in the Atlanta Relators Association,
with nearly one billion dollars in lifetime sales. He is
a trusted expert in residential, luxury and equestrian properties.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
He's on the show to discuss his career change. As
I said earlier, firefighter.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Tips on when to sell your home and most importantly,
how to close the right deal.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
For you when buying a home.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Please welcome the money making conversation, masticcland Todd Krooper.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
How are you doing, Todd Sean, thank you for having
me on it. That's a lot of that time. There's
a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot. One billion
dollars in home sales. Okay, tell us about the first home.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
The first home, So first home originally from West Palmpach
area I started.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I moved up here to Atlanta in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
So I started my fire former career down in Brober
County and I transitioned.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
To the fire department about halfway through the fire it.
I loved the fire department.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
But I knew very early on that was a young
man's business, right, and after a while, it does take
a toll on your body. It takes a toll not
just your body, but your family and things like that.
So early in my career I decided I needed to
figure out what was my next step was right, right,
love helping people.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That's why I became a fireman. So real estate.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I was drawing a real estate because it was another
way to still be helping people, right, but in a
different sense. You know, I wasn't running through their house,
running to their house, you know, putting on a fire
or taking some of the ambulance.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I was basically helping that family move.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
To some other transition or life, whether it was a
new baby right, whether it was the empty of the family,
the parents, empty nesters moving on to the smaller home,
or just.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Whatever it made.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So it was a part time, yes, full time was
a firefighter kind of like a weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, now I started.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Off, it started off a couple of days a week,
and then what happened was at the time I wasn't married,
so I had a lot of time on my hands.
So I was really doing the fire department and the
real estate together full time.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So you balanced it, balanced it which was tough, which
is very tough. So I got my So I became
a firement back in nineteen ninety two. I retired in
twenty fourteen.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I got my real estate license in two thousand and two,
so it was about ten years after it became a fireman.
So come almost like right in the middle of my career.
Did that for a while, became very successful down in
West Palm Beach area doing real estate, and then I
decided I want to become a broker. So I was
married to Abbey, who's my wife now, and I said, honey,
(02:32):
what do you think about me get my broker's license right?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Because so there's a difference between a real estate license
and broker's life correct their tests.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
There's different tests, and there's different levels of education. So
let's just say a broker's license is say sixty five
hours right to get to be able to sit and
take the test.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Broker's license would be double that, so double the education.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Okay, I reached sixty five brokeers about one hundred and
thirty five one hundred and thirty give or take.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And then really what it is is if you go
from learning the industry to learning how to manage people. Okay,
So so I took that on with my wife's blessing,
and I got my brokeer's license in twenty thirteen in
West Palm Beach and opened up an office in a
city called Wellington, which is basically just west of downtown
West pomp And we opened up an office, Abbe and I.
(03:19):
I actually approached the company I worked for. They knew
me because I was pretty good in sales. And I said, listen,
I said, I got my broker's license. I would love
an opportunity because I knew Wellington, where we lived, needed
another branch. I said, like an opportunity to open up
a branch office. I'll do it on my own dime.
I'll pay for everything. I just want the brand name
(03:41):
and I want the logistical sport support. So they gave
me the blessing, and Abby and I opened up our
office and well and thin it was just me and.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Her at the time.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
At that point, I went from you know, working with
clients every day out in the field to basically now
is becoming a manager.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
It was a great office we were at at seventeen offices.
We were always ranking the top five every year in sales.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
And then one day I came home and told my wife,
I said, you know, honey, I said, I'm ready to move.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
As I said, you want to do what I said,
I'm ready to move at the time, So we open
up the office.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I decided also ke at the time, you know, doing
working with some clients in my days off.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And running a business. I realized it was two different things.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Right, because you've got a lot of people that need
you after hours, not just an occasional phone call.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Net.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So what I did in twenty fourteen is I told
her one day, I said I can't I can't do
this anymore. She said, we mean you can't do this anymore?
She thought, She thought, relationship wise, no no, no no
no no no, okaybe or everything to me.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
But I can't do the fire department.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So I walked away from a very well positioned to
go into the public sector.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So I left the private sector.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I went to the public sector, and a lot of
people I thought I was crazy to do that, because
I left a good paycheck that was there day week.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
A career career. I was high up on the level.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So in the fire department, you know, if there's ever
a layoffs, it's not from the top down, it's.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
From the bottom up.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
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(05:29):
Money Making Conversations master Class with me with Shaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Let us talk about this.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
You know that you said a lot of people questioned
you when you made this decision, and I talk about
that my intro, the liswer to your friends, co workers
or people will love you because this is your final decision.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Talk about walking through the steps. You had your wife,
but then you had that outside noise.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah, so the outside noise was being with the fire department.
Is a very good career. I encourage anybody who wants
to get into it. Right it's going to be a
study income study career. You can advance throughout the levels.
I moved from a very stable career to what can
be sometimes an unstable career.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yes, you know, real estate is very up and down right.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know, when when it's a great When the real
estate's great, everybody wants to be a military. When it's
not great, everybody jumps out of it. And I walked
away from a career that I started when I was
twenty one years old. At forty four years old, I
called it quits. It's like I'm really unannounced.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
It was. It was a quick decision.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
In fact, I avoided a lot of phone calls from
you know, people in the department because I did not
want anybody to persuade my decision. I knew real estate
was where I was going to be, you know, a
long term. I love what I did. I wasn't quite
sure I wanted to manage long term because I did
miss the you know, the clients. I love the individual
(06:53):
one on one thing. That's really where that that's where
I really shine, That's really where I feel most needed,
most wanted, and where I enjoy the most. So retired
from the fire department and very shortly after that the
office was doing great, but I just something felt missing,
And what it was was even though I was, even
though I was good at managing the office and growing
(07:14):
the brand, I didn't it's not where my heart was.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
My heart was with with clients.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know, some of my best friends, some of my
best connections have been been past clients.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You know. In fact, I think a lot of my
friends now are all past clients, yourself included. Right.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
So, so what we did. So I came home one
day and I said, I said, let's let's move. And
She's like, what, So, yeah, I said, I think it's
time we have to. You know, we were starting to
grow our family. We had summer at the time. I
think Anna was on her way. And I grew up
in South Florida, and I see the change, you know, things,
you know, wasn't you know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Not like Atlanta. I love Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You know, we have great culture here, great families, great schools,
great everything. And I said, well, I said, obviously, when
I moved to Atlanta in twenty seventeen, you know, I
had to re establish myself right right. So initially what
I was doing is I moved to Cherokee County, which
is pretty close to five point thirty five, so I
needed that commute. So I was doing When we moved
(08:12):
to Atlanta, I was doing commutes. So I did that
for a short period of time. But I knew that
was going to be short term because really, in my
heart now I was in Atlanta, my family was here,
but I had to develop my brand here. So interview
with a couple brokers here locally, and believe or not.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
A couple from turning down.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
One actually said I would not make it here in
Atlanta because I wasn't a local.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So I said, you will not make it. I will
not make it. Yes? Was that motivation? Absolutely? Or dude,
it's scary now.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
So I didn't come with a chip on my shoulder,
but I've already proved to myself that I could make
it in this industry.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I did it as a realtor, and I was successful
as a broker. But but miss industry, you still have
to stay humble.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
But that when that manager told me that I wouldn't
make it because I wasn't a local, that just put
the fire in me.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Absolutely. Absolutely, So.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
The journey of Florida Atlanta, restarting yourself, Yes, and you
start to have success, yes, Okay, why will you being
successful if somebody told you God, you are not going
to make it here. Atlanta is going to be your
death nail.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well, I will tell you so. Ivan and I talked
about this all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I think when we when we first came here, our
hearts were so into it that we didn't allow the
distractions in our minds. Sometimes your mind, your mind can
can talk out of doing something right. I was so
set on giving my girls a better life that I'm
sorry I get emotional at my kids. So that I
that I was determined to be successful here, and I
just cut the noise out. And you know, real estate
(09:45):
is you know, people are people, right, you know we're
all a little different. We're all kind of saying and
real estate is you know, the way you treat people
in real estate in Florida, it should be no different
you treat people here. The industry might be different, the
way things the way market shift and things like that
might be different, but the people are the same.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I've always known in sales one on one is meet, greet,
and get on common ground, right, right, Let's not be robots,
Let's be people. So I just took what I learned
in South Florida and just brought that here. Customer service Listen,
when you're at the fire department for twenty three years,
no one's calling you because they're having.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
A good day, right right.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I'm used to going into very bad situations and commun
the situation down, evaluating it, and turning it.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
In hopefully into a good outcome.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
With real estate, a lot of times I'm walking into
already a good situation right now.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Sometimes not so much.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
It depends what people are still in the house for
Some people are like, like we talked about real quickly,
as you know, they're expanded family, right, first time home
buyers mom and dad are downsides. But also sometimes it's
a divorce, right, It's a loss of family member, So
those situations are also involved too.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But it's just people. Just treat people the.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Way you want to be.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Just talk about those titles you get, okay, yeah, because
they all have different personality.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely, okay, your first time home buyer.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
What do they expect from you and what do you
have to deliver to a first time home buyer?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
So first time home buyer is kind of like, you know,
it's almost like taking your son out or your daughter
out to drive their car for the first time. They
know absolutely nothing, right, and you have to hold their
hand and walk them through and show them the things,
you know, show them the things that.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
They need to look for when they're buying a home.
You know, when you.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Put when I pull up to a house with a buyer,
whether it's a first time home buyer or someone who's
been buying homes your whole life, I look for certain
things that they may not look for when they're looking
for a home. You know, there's certain things that can
devalue home. There's certain things that could take away from
a home, right. So I look for those things and
I'll point those things out to new home buyer. I'll
you point them out to a buyer whose experience because
(11:50):
a lot of times people get tunnel vision right. My
job as a realtor is consulting right, making sure I
help them in every avenue I can. If it's something
I don't know, I put them in with contact with
someone who does know. But when it comes to looking
at homes, my job is to look for the pink elephant.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right hiding in the room.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's really important that you say that because of the
fact that you know, when you're selling al that's a
nice commission, and so you can look at that person
then the buyer or as a commission and want to
close the deal. But you winning right now because the
word of all and people recommending in you for because
(12:29):
of how you treated them and got them in the house.
Because I think one of the key is that when
you buy a home also being able to sell that home.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Correct, So it should never be about the commissions. Right,
commissions will come if you treat the people properly. I
have never I never focused on commissions. It's it's if
you're focused on commissions, you need to pick a different industry.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
It should be about it should be helped about helping
that person out, get them into the right house.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know, make sure you know you don't leave no
stone term because really.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
This business is about it is about referrals, it's about connections,
it's about you know, about meeting people.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
It's not about commissions.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
So family home, family, families who want to buy a home,
what's an.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Approach on that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So whether whether it's a family buying a home, new
home buyer or empty nesters, there's certain things that you
should look for when you buy a home.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Okay, right, talk to it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
So, first of all, when buyers going walk into a home,
they think they're and they're they think when they walk
the door they're looking at the home logically, they're actually
looking at the home emotionally first.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Logic comes second.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
So when someone walks home and the first thing there,
you know, within the first three to five minutes, they've
already decided.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Whether they're like that home or not. Right.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
That's why a house can have two different buyers go
into and get two different feelings and two different outcomes, right,
because everybody looks at something different. Right, when a buyer
goes into a home, what you know, what they're thinking
usually is they're thinking, does this house feel right? Does
anything turn me off? And can't see myself living here? Right?
That is the emotional side, right. Fact, I give you
(14:00):
the scenario. I just closed a deal on a house
in Alpharetta and we went down the basement. There was
a sign on the basement.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Wall and is like a suburb of Midland.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yes, we are kind of like upper middle class correct, Yeah,
And we went down to the terrorist level to the
basement and there was a sign of the wall that
they had exactly same sign in their house. And that
was the connect, That was the emotional connection. It was like,
She's like, honey, look that's the same exact sign we had.
So that was that emotional connection right when I when
(14:30):
I take take on our new listing and I meet
a seller for the first time, you know, they always
ask me when's the best time, you know to sell
a home, and really that's not the right strategy.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
There's a couple of things that go into selling a home.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
It's not only about you know, the market being in
you know, the market being in a good condition as
far as you know, you know, inventory and things like that,
but it's also the way the house looks, the way
the house presents itself right, because when Matt buyer comes
to that front door within the first three or five minutes,
that's you know, you're either going to have them locked
in or not locked in. So things like you know,
(15:03):
color color schemes, paint colors right. You know, everybody loves
to express themselves in their homes. When it comes to selling,
neutral is always better.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
You don't want to miss an episode of Money Making
Conversations Master Class, So right now follow a subscribe to
Money Making Conversations. It's free and you can find it
on the iHeartRadio app Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you
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back with more money Making Conversations master Class. Welcome back
(15:35):
to Money Making Conversations master Class with me for Shaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm talking to talk a good top. It was a
de top. I give you a title like you deserve
because you recently got an award correct.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, the award so twenty twenty four
and twenty twenty five. I'm the number one single agent
in the state of Georgia for sales and listings.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Number one, number one. So I'm talking to the bank
with Workshire halfway. Yes, I'm talking to the best one
of the goods. Yes well no, no, I'm talking to
the bet Yes you are, Thank you very much. How
do we get in touch with your dab.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You can receive it by myself which is seven to
seven zero nine one zero forty eight sixty for by website,
which is a group of Team dot.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Com and the Mela k R O U p A
and then Team t e A m okay dot com
dot com.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Let's talk about you've talked about buyer sellers. We talk
about emotion, but the inspection is the truth teller. Yes,
Now I want to talk about the inspection. Then I
want to talk about people who kind of ignore the
inspection because they still emotionally tied to the property.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yes, had those people absolutely? Okay, talk about the importance
of an inspection. Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So yeah, So when you go on a contract with
the house, you have what's called a due diligence period,
and that's really what's called the inspection period. And during
that time, Atlanta or Georgia is a due diligence state.
So as a buyer, your your job is to do
your due diligence. How do you do doance is basically
to do inspections of the property. Some inspections I highly
(17:04):
recommend you should do a rate on test, which is
a gas that comes to the soil, does cause cancer
or let's smell it, but it's very treatable.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So you do a rate on test. Sometimes you do
air quality test, and you do a full.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Inspection test, you get a pool, you do a poll test,
and really what you're doing is you're looking for issues
that will come up in an inspection that maybe you
needed to be either be corrected by the seller or
discounting the price. When you get to you fix it yourself, right, Okay,
So by doing an inspection, that gives you an opportunity
(17:42):
to go back to the seller and say, listen, we
found some major issues, whether it's you know, foundation issues,
whether it's mold issues, whether it's a roof issue, and
that's your opportunity we negotiate that price or step away
from the deal if you feel it's not worth What are.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
The I was just gonna put in that moment, Let's
say top three walk aways. If you were the client
and you see something in an inspection. Some things you
might notice right away.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
But but you didn't see it. But the expecially kind
of goes underneath what we visually can't correct.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Top three walk away, Top three walk aways mold, foundation issues,
and the other big one is going to be roof
fishes fishes, Yeah, because you know, roofs can be very expensive,
probably one of the most expensive things to replace, and
a lot of times, you know, if the roof is
old enough, it's hard to even get insurance on it.
(18:36):
So you have an issue when you if you accept
the roof in the condition that is, and it's passed
its life expectancy. A lot of times insurance companies don't
want to share that property and you can't get to
the closing cable. Right.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So when when you talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Emotion, because that's important because that's you know, you said,
if you're a buyer, you sit out options to them
and they look all the feature they see the yard
because nowadays you go online and see forty to fifty
pitches of the potential home that you want to go
see you how you physically go see it? Get the
emotion past the inspection, talk about that and how do
(19:15):
you navigate because they in the end they're going to
seek advice from you. Yes, but and that's what you say, Richard,
commission is not my number one goal. Giving them the
right long term relationship where they want to live is
to key talk about navigating that area. When you have somebody,
are some people who are adamant about going into a
(19:37):
space you may not be comfortable selling them to.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
So when we get to that part of the inspection
and things come up and there's issues, when I tell them,
if you're not comfortable with the property now, you're not
going to be comfortable with it after your clothes, right,
So sometimes you have to walk away. You know, every
house is going to have issues, like we discussed, but
issue is all, you know, all different levels and the
(20:04):
way some people look at things the way other people
look at things are totally different. So give you example,
if a inspection comes back and we have some electrical issues,
are we talking rewiring in the house? Are we talking outlets?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
You know, we have to look at what.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Those issues are because some of those issues are easy fixed,
some of them aren't. But don't be afraid to walk
away from a home. You know that, you know, and
usually if a deal is not going to work out,
it usually falls through during an inspection time.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I ask you to send me a couple of questions.
I want to make sure I can get them. And
you know, uh why more families are choosing multi generational living.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
So that's a great question. So well, first of all,
I think COVID really changed that for us.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Right, well, there's about seven million people on that how
many how many families didn't get to say.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Goodbye to loved ones. Big thing too is you know,
the cost of living has.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Got more expensive, right you know, I tell my wife
all the time, I said, honey, we might have to
just leave our homes.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Because it's getting so expensive. So what I'm seeing is
I'm seeing families pull together and do it.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Want to do you know, family compounds, which is basically,
you know, large a piece of parcel of land where
they can build either multiple homes or they can do
it in law suite. Doing in law suite is basically
it's part of the main house, right, So you have
the main house and it's connected by a breeze, right,
or it's actually connected to the house, or they they
want to do what's called it a du which is
(21:29):
an accessory dwelling unit, which is basically a separate unit.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So that's become very popular all because of those situations.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Why is real estate one of the most reliable wealth
building tools.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, let's compare real estate with a stock right.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Most of the wealthy people are in both right to
some degree as a balance as a balance, right, But
this is the true difference between the two. So with
a stock right, you can't control it, right, you can't
alter it, right, you can't improve it, and you can't
live in it right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
All those four things you can do with a home.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Not to mention, you get tax advantage, right, whether you're
doing at ten thirty one and you're rolling over your
you know, your taxification to another time frame, right investment property,
or you're taking the tax reduction in your mortgage and
your taxes in the year right, or you're renting the
property out, can't run stock out. So there's so many
advantages for for a homeowner to own a home now.
(22:28):
I recommend doing both if you can, if you know,
as a more level portfolio. But real estate by far,
to me, is superior to real estate.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I've always run into people they always say, they always
say that I want to be at the biggest house.
I want to the most expensive house. But you have
a statement to day. Buying the highest price isn't always
the smart price.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Absolutely, yeah, So you don't want to be the most
expensive house in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Where is that Well, houses will help.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So houses in your neighborhood in your area will cap
what your house can eventually exceed as far as value
goes right, right, right, because you do comps right correct, Yeah,
so when you closes compared so when you're looking, So
if you're going to sell your house and you're trying
to figure out the value of your house, you know,
you look at a couple of things. You look at
you know, what's the market doing, Like, what's the inventory
(23:21):
out there? It's just rights, you know, it's just right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
We'll have an impact on that.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Inventory has an impact on that. But houses will cap
in an area. So if you buy a house, say
like your say your.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
House is saying a million dollars, but everything around.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
You it supports a value of eight h one thousand, Right,
you're gonna you're gonna put yourself in a position of
maybe not be able to either increase that value long
term or you're gonna to wait for everybody else to catch.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Up to you, you know, because that's what it's all about.
And in closing Todd you know, one more time tell
us how they get in touched rich by.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
By by self, which is seven seven zero nine one
zero forty sixty every fond.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
The text calls twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Okay, Now, first time I multiple talking about multi generational living.
We talk about family buyers, which they want to know about,
the schools they want to know about O the other
kids in their neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Let's talk about one thing. Sometimes you can't pick your neighbors. Yes,
so you can how does that work.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You know, what kind of research can a buyer look
at if they're looking in the community.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Do they drive a different odd time different routes to
and from work?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Talk about that process before our recommendation to anybody listening
before you close that deal, what are some of the.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Tips they should do if they're interested in buying a hole. Well,
first of all, as a relative, we have to be
very careful. We don't discriminate, right, Okay, we.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Have what's called Fairhousing Aid, so the protected classes and
as a relative, we want to be as neutral as possible.
Our job is to help them make the right investment
of the house. It's really this, it's really the buyer's
job to do their due dogs and look at the neighborhood.
So I tell buyers all the time, come back, come
back tonight, come back over the weekend, drive the neighborhood.
(25:12):
You know, stop and talk to a couple of neighbors,
you know, because I do what I do tell people
all the time is you know, focus on the house,
but also look at the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Because you can't change your neighbors and you can't move
the house, right, But but you have to go out
there and talk to people.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
You know, you know what are you looking for? You know,
there's websites you can pull up online. Every county has
it where you can look to the school ratings. You
go to the schools. Unfortunately, relators, you're really sustained to
commenting on those kinds of things. But you just you know,
you want to give them, give them the resources. There's
plenty of information out there online to help that buyer
(25:47):
make a decision. Our jobs are realators is to make
sure they pick the right properly in the right investment. Cool.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Hey, thank you for coming on my show because you
know the information you've given, but also sharing your personal
story because you were challenged. Yes, and somebody told you
when you moved to Georgia you are not going to
make it and you're the number one salesperson than Georgia. Yes, sir,
congratulations by Frank you shak for come no Money Making
Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
You now if you want to be a guest on
my show Money Making Conversation Masterclass, please visit our website
Moneymakingconversation dot com and click to be a guest button.
If you're a small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer,
a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
I want you on my show.
I guess it's a farmer Atlanta firefighter who has since
become one of the nation's top real estate agents. In
twenty twenty four, he ranked in the top twenty among
more than sixteen thousand relators in the Atlanta Relators Association,
with nearly one billion dollars in lifetime sales. He is
a trusted expert in residential, luxury and equestrian properties.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
He's on the show to discuss his career change. As
I said earlier, firefighter.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Tips on when to sell your home and most importantly,
how to close the right deal.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
For you when buying a home.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Please welcome the money making conversation, masticcland Todd Krooper.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
How are you doing, Todd Sean, thank you for having
me on it. That's a lot of that time. There's
a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot. One billion
dollars in home sales. Okay, tell us about the first home.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
The first home, So first home originally from West Palmpach
area I started.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I moved up here to Atlanta in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
So I started my fire former career down in Brober
County and I transitioned.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
To the fire department about halfway through the fire it.
I loved the fire department.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
But I knew very early on that was a young
man's business, right, and after a while, it does take
a toll on your body. It takes a toll not
just your body, but your family and things like that.
So early in my career I decided I needed to
figure out what was my next step was right, right,
love helping people.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That's why I became a fireman. So real estate.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I was drawing a real estate because it was another
way to still be helping people, right, but in a
different sense. You know, I wasn't running through their house,
running to their house, you know, putting on a fire
or taking some of the ambulance.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I was basically helping that family move.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
To some other transition or life, whether it was a
new baby right, whether it was the empty of the family,
the parents, empty nesters moving on to the smaller home,
or just.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Whatever it made.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So it was a part time, yes, full time was
a firefighter kind of like a weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, now I started.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Off, it started off a couple of days a week,
and then what happened was at the time I wasn't married,
so I had a lot of time on my hands.
So I was really doing the fire department and the
real estate together full time.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So you balanced it, balanced it which was tough, which
is very tough. So I got my So I became
a firement back in nineteen ninety two. I retired in
twenty fourteen.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I got my real estate license in two thousand and two,
so it was about ten years after it became a fireman.
So come almost like right in the middle of my career.
Did that for a while, became very successful down in
West Palm Beach area doing real estate, and then I
decided I want to become a broker. So I was
married to Abbey, who's my wife now, and I said, honey,
(02:32):
what do you think about me get my broker's license right?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Because so there's a difference between a real estate license
and broker's life correct their tests.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
There's different tests, and there's different levels of education. So
let's just say a broker's license is say sixty five
hours right to get to be able to sit and
take the test.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Broker's license would be double that, so double the education.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Okay, I reached sixty five brokeers about one hundred and
thirty five one hundred and thirty give or take.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And then really what it is is if you go
from learning the industry to learning how to manage people. Okay,
So so I took that on with my wife's blessing,
and I got my brokeer's license in twenty thirteen in
West Palm Beach and opened up an office in a
city called Wellington, which is basically just west of downtown
West pomp And we opened up an office, Abbe and I.
(03:19):
I actually approached the company I worked for. They knew
me because I was pretty good in sales. And I said, listen,
I said, I got my broker's license. I would love
an opportunity because I knew Wellington, where we lived, needed
another branch. I said, like an opportunity to open up
a branch office. I'll do it on my own dime.
I'll pay for everything. I just want the brand name
(03:41):
and I want the logistical sport support. So they gave
me the blessing, and Abby and I opened up our
office and well and thin it was just me and.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Her at the time.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
At that point, I went from you know, working with
clients every day out in the field to basically now
is becoming a manager.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
It was a great office we were at at seventeen offices.
We were always ranking the top five every year in sales.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
And then one day I came home and told my wife,
I said, you know, honey, I said, I'm ready to move.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
As I said, you want to do what I said,
I'm ready to move at the time, So we open
up the office.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I decided also ke at the time, you know, doing
working with some clients in my days off.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And running a business. I realized it was two different things.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Right, because you've got a lot of people that need
you after hours, not just an occasional phone call.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Net.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So what I did in twenty fourteen is I told
her one day, I said I can't I can't do
this anymore. She said, we mean you can't do this anymore?
She thought, She thought, relationship wise, no no, no no
no no no, okaybe or everything to me.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
But I can't do the fire department.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So I walked away from a very well positioned to
go into the public sector.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So I left the private sector.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I went to the public sector, and a lot of
people I thought I was crazy to do that, because
I left a good paycheck that was there day week.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
A career career. I was high up on the level.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
So in the fire department, you know, if there's ever
a layoffs, it's not from the top down, it's.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
From the bottom up.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You don't want to miss an episode of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, So right now follow a subscribe to Money
Making Conversations. It's free and you can find it on
the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back
with more money Making Conversations master Class. Welcome back to
(05:29):
Money Making Conversations master Class with me with Shaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Let us talk about this.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
You know that you said a lot of people questioned
you when you made this decision, and I talk about
that my intro, the liswer to your friends, co workers
or people will love you because this is your final decision.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Talk about walking through the steps. You had your wife,
but then you had that outside noise.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah, so the outside noise was being with the fire department.
Is a very good career. I encourage anybody who wants
to get into it. Right it's going to be a
study income study career. You can advance throughout the levels.
I moved from a very stable career to what can
be sometimes an unstable career.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yes, you know, real estate is very up and down right.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know, when when it's a great When the real
estate's great, everybody wants to be a military. When it's
not great, everybody jumps out of it. And I walked
away from a career that I started when I was
twenty one years old. At forty four years old, I
called it quits. It's like I'm really unannounced.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
It was. It was a quick decision.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
In fact, I avoided a lot of phone calls from
you know, people in the department because I did not
want anybody to persuade my decision. I knew real estate
was where I was going to be, you know, a
long term. I love what I did. I wasn't quite
sure I wanted to manage long term because I did
miss the you know, the clients. I love the individual
(06:53):
one on one thing. That's really where that that's where
I really shine, That's really where I feel most needed,
most wanted, and where I enjoy the most. So retired
from the fire department and very shortly after that the
office was doing great, but I just something felt missing,
And what it was was even though I was, even
though I was good at managing the office and growing
(07:14):
the brand, I didn't it's not where my heart was.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
My heart was with with clients.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know, some of my best friends, some of my
best connections have been been past clients.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You know. In fact, I think a lot of my
friends now are all past clients, yourself included. Right.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
So, so what we did. So I came home one
day and I said, I said, let's let's move. And
She's like, what, So, yeah, I said, I think it's
time we have to. You know, we were starting to
grow our family. We had summer at the time. I
think Anna was on her way. And I grew up
in South Florida, and I see the change, you know, things,
you know, wasn't you know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Not like Atlanta. I love Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You know, we have great culture here, great families, great schools,
great everything. And I said, well, I said, obviously, when
I moved to Atlanta in twenty seventeen, you know, I
had to re establish myself right right. So initially what
I was doing is I moved to Cherokee County, which
is pretty close to five point thirty five, so I
needed that commute. So I was doing When we moved
(08:12):
to Atlanta, I was doing commutes. So I did that
for a short period of time. But I knew that
was going to be short term because really, in my
heart now I was in Atlanta, my family was here,
but I had to develop my brand here. So interview
with a couple brokers here locally, and believe or not.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
A couple from turning down.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
One actually said I would not make it here in
Atlanta because I wasn't a local.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So I said, you will not make it. I will
not make it. Yes? Was that motivation? Absolutely? Or dude,
it's scary now.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
So I didn't come with a chip on my shoulder,
but I've already proved to myself that I could make
it in this industry.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I did it as a realtor, and I was successful
as a broker. But but miss industry, you still have
to stay humble.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
But that when that manager told me that I wouldn't
make it because I wasn't a local, that just put
the fire in me.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Absolutely. Absolutely, So.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
The journey of Florida Atlanta, restarting yourself, Yes, and you
start to have success, yes, Okay, why will you being
successful if somebody told you God, you are not going
to make it here. Atlanta is going to be your
death nail.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well, I will tell you so. Ivan and I talked
about this all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I think when we when we first came here, our
hearts were so into it that we didn't allow the
distractions in our minds. Sometimes your mind, your mind can
can talk out of doing something right. I was so
set on giving my girls a better life that I'm
sorry I get emotional at my kids. So that I
that I was determined to be successful here, and I
just cut the noise out. And you know, real estate
(09:45):
is you know, people are people, right, you know we're
all a little different. We're all kind of saying and
real estate is you know, the way you treat people
in real estate in Florida, it should be no different
you treat people here. The industry might be different, the
way things the way market shift and things like that
might be different, but the people are the same.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I've always known in sales one on one is meet, greet,
and get on common ground, right, right, Let's not be robots,
Let's be people. So I just took what I learned
in South Florida and just brought that here. Customer service Listen,
when you're at the fire department for twenty three years,
no one's calling you because they're having.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
A good day, right right.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I'm used to going into very bad situations and commun
the situation down, evaluating it, and turning it.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
In hopefully into a good outcome.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
With real estate, a lot of times I'm walking into
already a good situation right now.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Sometimes not so much.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
It depends what people are still in the house for
Some people are like, like we talked about real quickly,
as you know, they're expanded family, right, first time home
buyers mom and dad are downsides. But also sometimes it's
a divorce, right, It's a loss of family member, So
those situations are also involved too.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But it's just people. Just treat people the.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Way you want to be.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Just talk about those titles you get, okay, yeah, because
they all have different personality.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely, okay, your first time home buyer.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
What do they expect from you and what do you
have to deliver to a first time home buyer?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
So first time home buyer is kind of like, you know,
it's almost like taking your son out or your daughter
out to drive their car for the first time. They
know absolutely nothing, right, and you have to hold their
hand and walk them through and show them the things,
you know, show them the things that.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
They need to look for when they're buying a home.
You know, when you.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Put when I pull up to a house with a buyer,
whether it's a first time home buyer or someone who's
been buying homes your whole life, I look for certain
things that they may not look for when they're looking
for a home. You know, there's certain things that can
devalue home. There's certain things that could take away from
a home, right. So I look for those things and
I'll point those things out to new home buyer. I'll
you point them out to a buyer whose experience because
(11:50):
a lot of times people get tunnel vision right. My
job as a realtor is consulting right, making sure I
help them in every avenue I can. If it's something
I don't know, I put them in with contact with
someone who does know. But when it comes to looking
at homes, my job is to look for the pink elephant.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right hiding in the room.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's really important that you say that because of the
fact that you know, when you're selling al that's a
nice commission, and so you can look at that person
then the buyer or as a commission and want to
close the deal. But you winning right now because the
word of all and people recommending in you for because
(12:29):
of how you treated them and got them in the house.
Because I think one of the key is that when
you buy a home also being able to sell that home.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Correct, So it should never be about the commissions. Right,
commissions will come if you treat the people properly. I
have never I never focused on commissions. It's it's if
you're focused on commissions, you need to pick a different industry.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
It should be about it should be helped about helping
that person out, get them into the right house.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know, make sure you know you don't leave no
stone term because really.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
This business is about it is about referrals, it's about connections,
it's about you know, about meeting people.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
It's not about commissions.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
So family home, family, families who want to buy a home,
what's an.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Approach on that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So whether whether it's a family buying a home, new
home buyer or empty nesters, there's certain things that you
should look for when you buy a home.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Okay, right, talk to it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
So, first of all, when buyers going walk into a home,
they think they're and they're they think when they walk
the door they're looking at the home logically, they're actually
looking at the home emotionally first.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Logic comes second.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
So when someone walks home and the first thing there,
you know, within the first three to five minutes, they've
already decided.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Whether they're like that home or not. Right.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
That's why a house can have two different buyers go
into and get two different feelings and two different outcomes, right,
because everybody looks at something different. Right, when a buyer
goes into a home, what you know, what they're thinking
usually is they're thinking, does this house feel right? Does
anything turn me off? And can't see myself living here? Right?
That is the emotional side, right. Fact, I give you
(14:00):
the scenario. I just closed a deal on a house
in Alpharetta and we went down the basement. There was
a sign on the basement.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Wall and is like a suburb of Midland.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yes, we are kind of like upper middle class correct, Yeah,
And we went down to the terrorist level to the
basement and there was a sign of the wall that
they had exactly same sign in their house. And that
was the connect, That was the emotional connection. It was like,
She's like, honey, look that's the same exact sign we had.
So that was that emotional connection right when I when
(14:30):
I take take on our new listing and I meet
a seller for the first time, you know, they always
ask me when's the best time, you know to sell
a home, and really that's not the right strategy.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
There's a couple of things that go into selling a home.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
It's not only about you know, the market being in
you know, the market being in a good condition as
far as you know, you know, inventory and things like that,
but it's also the way the house looks, the way
the house presents itself right, because when Matt buyer comes
to that front door within the first three or five minutes,
that's you know, you're either going to have them locked
in or not locked in. So things like you know,
(15:03):
color color schemes, paint colors right. You know, everybody loves
to express themselves in their homes. When it comes to selling,
neutral is always better.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
You don't want to miss an episode of Money Making
Conversations Master Class, So right now follow a subscribe to
Money Making Conversations. It's free and you can find it
on the iHeartRadio app Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you
get your podcasts. Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right
back with more money Making Conversations master Class. Welcome back
(15:35):
to Money Making Conversations master Class with me for Shaun McDonald.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I'm talking to talk a good top. It was a
de top. I give you a title like you deserve
because you recently got an award correct.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, the award so twenty twenty four
and twenty twenty five. I'm the number one single agent
in the state of Georgia for sales and listings.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Number one, number one. So I'm talking to the bank
with Workshire halfway. Yes, I'm talking to the best one
of the goods. Yes well no, no, I'm talking to
the bet Yes you are, Thank you very much. How
do we get in touch with your dab.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You can receive it by myself which is seven to
seven zero nine one zero forty eight sixty for by website,
which is a group of Team dot.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Com and the Mela k R O U p A
and then Team t e A m okay dot com
dot com.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Let's talk about you've talked about buyer sellers. We talk
about emotion, but the inspection is the truth teller. Yes,
Now I want to talk about the inspection. Then I
want to talk about people who kind of ignore the
inspection because they still emotionally tied to the property.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yes, had those people absolutely? Okay, talk about the importance
of an inspection. Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So yeah, So when you go on a contract with
the house, you have what's called a due diligence period,
and that's really what's called the inspection period. And during
that time, Atlanta or Georgia is a due diligence state.
So as a buyer, your your job is to do
your due diligence. How do you do doance is basically
to do inspections of the property. Some inspections I highly
(17:04):
recommend you should do a rate on test, which is
a gas that comes to the soil, does cause cancer
or let's smell it, but it's very treatable.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So you do a rate on test. Sometimes you do
air quality test, and you do a full.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Inspection test, you get a pool, you do a poll test,
and really what you're doing is you're looking for issues
that will come up in an inspection that maybe you
needed to be either be corrected by the seller or
discounting the price. When you get to you fix it yourself, right, Okay,
So by doing an inspection, that gives you an opportunity
(17:42):
to go back to the seller and say, listen, we
found some major issues, whether it's you know, foundation issues,
whether it's mold issues, whether it's a roof issue, and
that's your opportunity we negotiate that price or step away
from the deal if you feel it's not worth What are.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
The I was just gonna put in that moment, Let's
say top three walk aways. If you were the client
and you see something in an inspection. Some things you
might notice right away.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
But but you didn't see it. But the expecially kind
of goes underneath what we visually can't correct.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Top three walk away, Top three walk aways mold, foundation issues,
and the other big one is going to be roof
fishes fishes, Yeah, because you know, roofs can be very expensive,
probably one of the most expensive things to replace, and
a lot of times, you know, if the roof is
old enough, it's hard to even get insurance on it.
(18:36):
So you have an issue when you if you accept
the roof in the condition that is, and it's passed
its life expectancy. A lot of times insurance companies don't
want to share that property and you can't get to
the closing cable. Right.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So when when you talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Emotion, because that's important because that's you know, you said,
if you're a buyer, you sit out options to them
and they look all the feature they see the yard
because nowadays you go online and see forty to fifty
pitches of the potential home that you want to go
see you how you physically go see it? Get the
emotion past the inspection, talk about that and how do
(19:15):
you navigate because they in the end they're going to
seek advice from you. Yes, but and that's what you say, Richard,
commission is not my number one goal. Giving them the
right long term relationship where they want to live is
to key talk about navigating that area. When you have somebody,
are some people who are adamant about going into a
(19:37):
space you may not be comfortable selling them to.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
So when we get to that part of the inspection
and things come up and there's issues, when I tell them,
if you're not comfortable with the property now, you're not
going to be comfortable with it after your clothes, right,
So sometimes you have to walk away. You know, every
house is going to have issues, like we discussed, but
issue is all, you know, all different levels and the
(20:04):
way some people look at things the way other people
look at things are totally different. So give you example,
if a inspection comes back and we have some electrical issues,
are we talking rewiring in the house? Are we talking outlets?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
You know, we have to look at what.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Those issues are because some of those issues are easy fixed,
some of them aren't. But don't be afraid to walk
away from a home. You know that, you know, and
usually if a deal is not going to work out,
it usually falls through during an inspection time.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I ask you to send me a couple of questions.
I want to make sure I can get them. And
you know, uh why more families are choosing multi generational living.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
So that's a great question. So well, first of all,
I think COVID really changed that for us.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Right, well, there's about seven million people on that how
many how many families didn't get to say.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Goodbye to loved ones. Big thing too is you know,
the cost of living has.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Got more expensive, right you know, I tell my wife
all the time, I said, honey, we might have to
just leave our homes.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Because it's getting so expensive. So what I'm seeing is
I'm seeing families pull together and do it.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Want to do you know, family compounds, which is basically,
you know, large a piece of parcel of land where
they can build either multiple homes or they can do
it in law suite. Doing in law suite is basically
it's part of the main house, right, So you have
the main house and it's connected by a breeze, right,
or it's actually connected to the house, or they they
want to do what's called it a du which is
(21:29):
an accessory dwelling unit, which is basically a separate unit.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So that's become very popular all because of those situations.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Why is real estate one of the most reliable wealth
building tools.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, let's compare real estate with a stock right.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Most of the wealthy people are in both right to
some degree as a balance as a balance, right, But
this is the true difference between the two. So with
a stock right, you can't control it, right, you can't
alter it, right, you can't improve it, and you can't
live in it right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
All those four things you can do with a home.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Not to mention, you get tax advantage, right, whether you're
doing at ten thirty one and you're rolling over your
you know, your taxification to another time frame, right investment property,
or you're taking the tax reduction in your mortgage and
your taxes in the year right, or you're renting the
property out, can't run stock out. So there's so many
advantages for for a homeowner to own a home now.
(22:28):
I recommend doing both if you can, if you know,
as a more level portfolio. But real estate by far,
to me, is superior to real estate.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I've always run into people they always say, they always
say that I want to be at the biggest house.
I want to the most expensive house. But you have
a statement to day. Buying the highest price isn't always
the smart price.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Absolutely, yeah, So you don't want to be the most
expensive house in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Where is that Well, houses will help.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So houses in your neighborhood in your area will cap
what your house can eventually exceed as far as value
goes right, right, right, because you do comps right correct, Yeah,
so when you closes compared so when you're looking, So
if you're going to sell your house and you're trying
to figure out the value of your house, you know,
you look at a couple of things. You look at
you know, what's the market doing, Like, what's the inventory
(23:21):
out there? It's just rights, you know, it's just right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
We'll have an impact on that.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Inventory has an impact on that. But houses will cap
in an area. So if you buy a house, say
like your say your.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
House is saying a million dollars, but everything around.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
You it supports a value of eight h one thousand, Right,
you're gonna you're gonna put yourself in a position of
maybe not be able to either increase that value long
term or you're gonna to wait for everybody else to catch.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Up to you, you know, because that's what it's all about.
And in closing Todd you know, one more time tell
us how they get in touched rich by.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
By by self, which is seven seven zero nine one
zero forty sixty every fond.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
The text calls twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Okay, Now, first time I multiple talking about multi generational living.
We talk about family buyers, which they want to know about,
the schools they want to know about O the other
kids in their neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Let's talk about one thing. Sometimes you can't pick your neighbors. Yes,
so you can how does that work.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You know, what kind of research can a buyer look
at if they're looking in the community.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Do they drive a different odd time different routes to
and from work?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Talk about that process before our recommendation to anybody listening
before you close that deal, what are some of the.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Tips they should do if they're interested in buying a hole. Well,
first of all, as a relative, we have to be
very careful. We don't discriminate, right, Okay, we.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Have what's called Fairhousing Aid, so the protected classes and
as a relative, we want to be as neutral as possible.
Our job is to help them make the right investment
of the house. It's really this, it's really the buyer's
job to do their due dogs and look at the neighborhood.
So I tell buyers all the time, come back, come
back tonight, come back over the weekend, drive the neighborhood.
(25:12):
You know, stop and talk to a couple of neighbors,
you know, because I do what I do tell people
all the time is you know, focus on the house,
but also look at the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Because you can't change your neighbors and you can't move
the house, right, But but you have to go out
there and talk to people.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
You know, you know what are you looking for? You know,
there's websites you can pull up online. Every county has
it where you can look to the school ratings. You
go to the schools. Unfortunately, relators, you're really sustained to
commenting on those kinds of things. But you just you know,
you want to give them, give them the resources. There's
plenty of information out there online to help that buyer
(25:47):
make a decision. Our jobs are realators is to make
sure they pick the right properly in the right investment. Cool.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Hey, thank you for coming on my show because you
know the information you've given, but also sharing your personal
story because you were challenged. Yes, and somebody told you
when you moved to Georgia you are not going to
make it and you're the number one salesperson than Georgia. Yes, sir,
congratulations by Frank you shak for come no Money Making
Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
You now if you want to be a guest on
my show Money Making Conversation Masterclass, please visit our website
Moneymakingconversation dot com and click to be a guest button.
If you're a small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer,
a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
I want you on my show.
Host
Rushion McDonald
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