What’s Happening in the Market Now and Lawsuit Update

We discuss what is happening in the local market as we approach the middle of the Spring season and what is really impacting the market.  We also share the many important ways you can and should get value from your agent when you are ready to buy or sell.  We also take a look at the anticipated changes coming to the industry in light of the recent lawsuit settlements,  how veterans may be impacted and what local Realtor officials shared with politicians while in DC.  

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You are listening to the Remax realEstate Insights Show, where you get real
talk by real agents, brought toyou by Remas of Southeastern Michigan. Hello,
and thank you for joining us forthe Remax real Estate Insights Podcast.
We're happy to have you tuning inand joining us today. If you've been
following the real estate industry news oflate, you may, and I say

(00:21):
you may just have heard that there'sbeing some lawsuits settled out there. On
top of that, we've got theDepartment of Justice excuse me, the DOJ
that's been a little bit vocal aboutwhat they want to see happening in the
real estate industry, and we're goingto talk and give an update on all
of that today, what this meansfor you as potential home buyers and sellers

(00:41):
right now and what may be changinglater this year. But before we do
that, we're going to take alook at the spring market right here in
Southeastern Michigan and see how that's going. I'm Janette Schneider, I'm your host.
I'm also the president of Remax ofSoutheastern Michigan, and through this podcast,
we want to bring you tips andtrends of things that are happening in
the market, and I've got agreat guest joining me today to do just

(01:03):
that. It's Nathan Boji. Nathanhe is the vice president and associate broker
with Remax Classic. He has beena guest before and we're always happy to
have you back. Nathan. Thanksfor having me, Jeanette, it's always
going to be back. I thinkthis is maybe my fourth or fifth time.
At some point you're probably just gonnahave to add me as co hosts.
Yeah. No, it's always apleasure to be on the show and

(01:26):
talk about, you know, somethingI'm super passionate about, which is our
local real estate market and the industryas a whole. You know, I've
got a few years of experience init. I was just figuring this out
the other day. But in Juneit will be my twenty fifth year license
already, Yes, already, andyou know, and I think it's my

(01:48):
I don't know, thirty something yearjust working in the industry from prior to
being licensed. You know. Well, for those that don't know, Nathan
grew up in the end. Yeah, so family business, Yeah, only
business. We're really passionate about it. My parents been in the real estate
business a long time, and Iwas fortunate enough to find a home in
it both. Yeah, no,pun intended yet to find a home in

(02:13):
it, in both the sales endof it and the construction end of it.
So I've got, you know,quite a bit of a view on
on the industry and on the market. And then you know, in my
spare time, I've been very involvedin our local realtor association and the Greater
Metropoditsan Association Realtors, which has beenconsistently for many years the largest realtor association

(02:36):
in the state and is still todayone of the largest, and it's really
allowed me to give back to ourindustry. I was the twenty twenty three
president, the twenty twenty four pastpresident, So I think I'm comfortable in
talking about what we want to covertoday. Well, and you did a
really nice job saving me from buildingyou up. I mean, you've done,
you laid out your resume, Andthis is exactly why I have Nathan

(02:58):
here today, is because he comesfrom wearing a variety of hats in the
industry and being in different positions andbeing a really great person to talk about,
you know, kind of the lighttopic, which is our spring market
but then getting into maybe a littlebit more pesky topics. Yeah, I
think we're going to have some alittle bit of fun and then we'll get

(03:19):
down into the you know, themeat and potatoes as they say, all
right, well, I'm a bigappetizer and dessert person. This is gonna
be right up your asus's'll be rightup my alley. So I guess.
So let's start from my perspective,because I'm kind of the numbers person.
Every month I put the housing reportout. In March was not a month
that I was excited about when Isaw the numbers. March seemed like it
was down April maybe a little better. But wanted to get your take on

(03:43):
things. Yeah, so, youknow, I think there's a couple of
things going on in March was abit slow, as we would say,
and I think we're going to startto see a little bit of pick up
as we always do as the springkind of flows into summer. I mean,
that's just kind of a normal thing. However, you know, the
last few years have been very uniquein the real estate market. Is not
a word we've been using since twentytwenty. Yeah. No, So we've

(04:06):
got a couple of things going onright, Like it's the news headlines of
interest rates. They're still not youknow, favorable for most folks, and
they're nowhere near the numbers that wesaw in years past, where they were
in the twos, threes and fours. So that's one thing. The other
thing and I think this is theone that is even a bigger concern or

(04:30):
just a bigger you know, ithas a bigger position in the overall activity
in the market than the interest ratesdo. And that is the amount of
homes for sale, thank you,it is. It is staggering how few
homes there are. You know,I think March the month supply of homes
was one and a half, whichis substantially lower than where anybody wants it

(04:54):
to be, right, meaning allthe houses for sale will turn over in
a month and a half, whichis bad because that means for all of
the home buyers that are still inthe market, they're gonna have to fight
over a very limited amount of inventory. And they have been for a while.
I mean, this is not unfortunately, this isn't new. They've been
fighting for a while, yes,And you know what I find interesting is

(05:16):
that if you look at what theyou know, the values of home have
increased, you know, year overyear, I think we're up about you
know, the overall value of thehomes were up nearly two percent and then
but they've sold nearly fifteen days faster. So value is increasing, which might

(05:40):
shrink the window for buyers to getinto Insurance rates are higher and they're selling
faster, So the competition out thereis tremendous. Now there are certain segments
of the market, certain price ranges, where that's not so much the case.
You know, you get into thereally high end stuff, it's a
little bit slower, but you're seeingsome competitive uh you know markets where you're

(06:00):
getting into the million million dollar homes. I think one of the things that's
most interesting about the market is thestruggle for entry level buyers. You know,
you have. I just took aquick look at the overall mls and
if you look at homes that arebetween you know, ninety and about one
hundred and sixty thousand dollars, that'swhere the least that's where the biggest change

(06:24):
in the decrease of the amount ofhomes have been selling. So those buyers
are getting hit the hardest, andthat is one of the biggest issues that
we have, you know, cominginto the screen market is the affordability for
houses, right, and that's youknow, that's something to be said that
the you know, if you're lookingat houses under one hundred and sixty thousand

(06:44):
dollars, that there's less and lessoptions for them for buyers that are in
that market. And in part because, like you have alluded to, you
know, prices have been going up, so a house that was let's say
one twenty one thirty might now behigher than that. I mean, so
you've got not just the inventory,but the amo you're going to pay for
that home has gone on. Yeah, And and what's interesting is the numbers
that you just stated there around thatone twenty mark, that's one of the

(07:06):
ones that got hit the biggest.It was a decrease in nearly ten percent
of home sold in that price rangefrom twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four.
And I you know, so that'sthat's tough. So and I think,
but that's a good picture of what'shappening overall. Right. We know
that you know, number of homesales is down over seven percent. We

(07:30):
know that they're moving way faster,so they're selling in fifteen days approximately,
right, and which which equates tothat one and a half month supply that
we were talking about. And thenjust you know, values are going up,
and that's I don't think that's goingto change because you know, if
we all think back to that youknow econ one oh one class that we
were sitting in, it's supply anddemand, right. The demand is not

(07:53):
really changing that drastically, but thesupply is equally as slow so demanded keeping
up. Because what regardless of allof the things going on, right,
and regardless of what you know,somebody might want to do, real estate's
done based on needs. So youbuy and sell homes based on needs and
things happening. So you you know, you get a job, you lose

(08:16):
a job, you get married,you get divorced, somebody's born, somebody
dies. These are the things thatcause homes to be bought and so life,
life happens. Those events are notgoing to stop, okay, So
people are still going to need tobuy homes. However, we're not able
to build them fast enough. We'renot able to build them at a cost
effective you know, amount of money, so we can sell them, you

(08:39):
know, for a good amount,and you know, let's face it,
if you've been in your house,if you if you bought your house in
the last fifteen years, you mostlikely got a fantastic interest rate when you
bought it, or you've refiled intoa fantastic interest rate, and you have
built a tremendous amount of equity.So if you're going to sell right,
you have to think to yourself,one, I'm going to be selling and

(09:01):
buying a home at a higher interestrate, I'm going to be paying more
money. But an underlying issue thatI think is really the bigger one is
the tax implications that most folks arefacing. You know, obviously everybody's situations
could be a little different, soyou want to consult your your tax professional.
But when you go to sell ahome, you got to pay capital
gains taxes and those are pretty bignumbers based on the limits that we currently

(09:22):
have, So that knocks a lotof people out of even selling their house.
Right. If you factor in allthose instances so that you've got tax
implications, you're going to pay morefor a house, Your interesting is going
to be higher. So you're nowthinking, you know, I really don't
like the kitchen and we need toredo these bathrooms and instead of going buying
a new house with all those thingsalready done in it, maybe we'll just

(09:43):
redo them ourselves. Right. Soyou're starting to see a lot of that,
So that takes away from all thosehouses coming up on the market too.
So supply is not changing demand.Like we said, life happens,
It's going to continue to happen.Demand is going to keep going. And
you know, when that happens,prices go up. As we're seeing and
we and we've and we've been seeingit. And it's an interesting thing because

(10:05):
you're right, I mean, everysituation is unique. There's a lot of
people that actually have a desire youknow, and or a need. You
know, sometimes they both aligned.Sometimes I don't really need to, but
I want to know. I mean, you've got all of that going,
you know, going on. Andit's like if somebody came to you and
said, Nathan, you know i'vebeen thinking about, you know, buying,
is now a good time to buy? What would you What would you
say? I you know, Ihate to sound salesy, but you know

(10:30):
I'm in sales. That's how thisworks. But what I can tell you
is if you just simply look atthe information in front of you, and
that's one of the jobs of arealtor is to put the best information in
front of their buyers and sellers sothey can make the best educated decision.
So if you take the information thatyour realtor puts in front of you and
you look at it and you understandthe things that we just talked about,
So one, our supply is notgoing to get any any bigger immediately right

(10:52):
now. Over time, could thatchange, Absolutely, there's a million factors
going to it. Are price isgoing to go down? They're not.
Because we just talked about. Demandis still continuing and the supply's low,
so the pricing can go up.So if you are in that position of
where you need to buy a hometoday or you want to buy a home
today, it's probably going to bethe best time. Because here's the thing.

(11:13):
If you're going to pay an additionaltwo, three, four, maybe
eight percent next year, that's that'smoney you've paid right now. If your
interest rate stays the same, it'sthe same. Well, actually you're paying,
so give me a higher payment,right But if an interest rate comes
down, you can refine and nowyour payment's lower. But you took advantage
of the lower price then versus waitinga year paying more money for the house,

(11:37):
potentially higher interest rate or the same. But even though your payments high,
because you're right, you're the valueof the home went up that you
bought. So long story short is, if you're if you're serious about buying
right now, if you if oneof those life events have taken place,
or if you just simply like wegot to get a new place, you
know, for whatever it is,now it's time to do it. Well,
I mean, and I'm glad thatyou said that, just so listeners
know we did not talk about thisfrom before the MIC's turning on, or

(12:00):
you had no idea for sure whatfrom the hip ask you? But I
have in one of my notes thatI think the media tends to equate whether
the market is good based on ifthey would refinance their house. And right
now everybody's paying attention to interest ratesand are saying, well, now it's
not a good time to buy.Well, if I'm solely basing that decision

(12:22):
because the interest rates are higher nowthan they were twenty four months ago or
thirty six months ago. But that, like you just so eloquently put,
as we were starting the conversation.There's so much more that goes into it.
Interest rates are but one factor.And I completely agree because I literally
I am in the numbers every month. Every month, I'm pulling the numbers
by county, what's going on bycounty, And while there's some nuances that

(12:43):
are different, by and large,all counties are marching in the same direction.
Absolutely. I don't care if it'sLivingston, Oakland, McComb, Wayne.
Numbers might be slightly different on mediaand home sales price, but everybody's
moving in the same direction. Andhome values month over month over month over
month, you know than e're ofyear are increasing. So like you said,
if you're thinking of buying, ifit's something you need to families expanding

(13:05):
contracting, you know, whatever Ican I can't ever guarantee, but I
can almost guarantee if you wait tillnext year, there's going to be just
as many, if not more buyersin the market. Prices will continue to
go up. You're not going tosave money on buying your home by waiting,
No, you're not. And youknow one thing, this our little
conversation that we're having here reminds meof a conversation that I had with an

(13:26):
industry colleague is a mortgage broker,and you know, we're kind of having
the same conversation. And one ofthe things that I think everybody really needs
to understand is can you afford it? You know, pricing is going to
do what it's going to do,the market's going to do what it's going
to do. But at the endof the day, you've got to be
able to sit down and think toyourself, Okay, does this fit into

(13:48):
my budget? Does the change inwhether I buy buy a home, sell
a home, continue renting, continueleaving me home my own, whatever the
case is, does that change fitinto your budget? Because that, at
the end of the day is themost important thing that matter, because if
you can afford it, and youcan afford to to act when the market
is in your favor, all ofthis is just a conversation. You know,

(14:09):
it doesn't really it doesn't really matterin a sense. But yeah,
you know, now's the time tobuy. And I would say, you
know, one of the things thatI think is most important in this current
market and in any market if I'mif I'm being slightly biased, but especially
in this market, there are somany moving pieces right, we have all
the things that we just discussed withwhat's going on in the market. The

(14:31):
numbers are changing month to month,quarter to quarter. Like you said,
county to county, it's it's it'strending the same way. But they're all
very unique in their own rights.We just discussed. You know, homes
that are in that you know aboutone hundred to about one hundred and twenty
price range, and how hard theyare to find. It's a lot of
information to figure out. So findsomething they can help you do that.

(14:54):
Find a realtor, find a Remaxrealtor and let them guide you through it.
Let them coach through it. That'swhat their job is. Their job
is to put that information in frontof you and help you make the best
decision. At the end of theday, they're not living in the house
with you, they're not paying Yeah, so you have to make the decision
at the end of the day.But making sure you have the right information
and you understand the information, youknow. I think as a society today,

(15:16):
we have so much data that's justhitting us from every which way.
We kind of get lost in itsometimes and we might have it all,
but we don't know what it meanswell, and I think and that's a
great point because I think there's noshortages. I mean you can do you
can search anything you want, andthere's you know, literally dozens of portals
that will that will display listings foryou. So I mean buyers, we
know, can find all of thatout there. And then you've got all

(15:37):
the TikTokers and the Instagram reels andyou know, all of that coming at
you with information and it's like,Okay, I got a lot of information.
Not really sure how I utilize this. Well, Yeah, And I
think if you got a few realtorsin a room and they were comfortable that
it wouldn't get outside, they'd probablybe more for like a certain real estate
app being banned than us of TikTok, because that's what most people are doing,

(16:00):
you know, at night in bed, they're not really scrolling through TikTok.
They're usually scrolling through one of thereal estate portals, you know,
looking at houses, and it mightjust be out of curiosity. I mean,
you know, I think there's azillion and one real estate TV shows
because that's what people want to see. They want to see these crazy houses
there because they get ratings they geteyeballs. Yeah, oh, my neighbors
listen to I wonder what it's listenedfor. I wonder what the inside looks

(16:21):
like. They've never invited me over, you know. I mean, that's
that's how it works. So there'sa ton of data, but that doesn't
mean we all understand it. Youknow, I am. I'm very blessed
and fortunate. I have a hugeI have a bunch of medical professionals in
my immediate family, you know,several surgeons and nurses and pas and things
like that, and they all talkabout medicine all day long. I have

(16:42):
no clue what they're talking about halfthe time. But I'm fortunate in the
sense that they're professional, they knowwhat it means, and they can tell
me what it means. And Ireally need it, and it's really important.
I'm going to ask absolutely, Andyou know, we got to think
about our real estatetions. I mean, let's face it, for most people,
this is the largest financial decision they'reever going to make. Doesn't stocks

(17:03):
whatever, none of that living init. So there's an emotional attack absolutely,
absolutely, and and and you knowthat's kind of you know, one
of the things I thought was reallyinteresting, you know, on a different
topic that I was that we're goingto talk about a little later that I
think is important is are things thatyou know, with all the drama that's

(17:23):
going on, the important stuff thatrealtors provide, right, it's deciphering that
information, helping you make a greatdecision, because that's one of their jobs
there is they're an expert guide notonly to the information, but to the
market that you're buying in what's goingon in the market. They're objective,
right. They're going to present youthe information on everything on every house,
every neighborhood, doesn't matter what's goingon. They're going to present you all

(17:45):
that information and help you make adecision. And their opinions and the information
that they provide you are objective,right. They have no skin in the
game other than helping you right now. Granted they're compensated for their work,
which they should be just as youshould be right for your work. And
you know that's that's really where thathelp comes in, is making these decisions

(18:06):
and having the right information and alsoto you know, we're talking a lot
about buyers right now, but it'sjust as important as you go to sell
your home you know, it's yourlargest asset, right, you don't want
to just throw it to the windand say, way, man, I
hope it works out, you know, throw it up on eBay and maybe
get the bait you want. Yeah, across my fingers and hope for the
best. Yeah. So you know, it's that marketing power that that the

(18:27):
realtor, that the real estate ageand the brokerages and Remax. Remax is
one of the best, if notthe best company at branding, right,
just as our own selves. Andso we take all of that work that
we put into our own brand andwe put it to work for you in
your house. Right. So it'sthat marketing power. We've done this a

(18:47):
couple of times, so we cantalk to you about the risks. We
can talk to you about what toexpect, so that way when they do
happen, because they do, right, you know, I talked to a
lot of colleagues and a lot ofrealtors around the country, and the one
theme that I'm seeing to be gettinglately. I just spent a week in
DC and we'll get into that later, and everybody was like, there's no
more easy deals, you know,And it's not because it's a complaint.

(19:11):
It's just an observation that is everythingso tactical today, you know, whether
it's figuring out an issue on titleappraisal issues, financing issues that you know
possibly the buyer doesn't have all theirincome paperwork together, and help on that
down. You know, that's that'sall the things that have to be overcome.
And then you know, now you'rein a deal and you've got the
negotiation right, everybody focuses on price, how much can I get it for?

(19:36):
But do you have a house togo to when you sell your home?
Oh? You don't, so youneed to stay in the house afterwards?
I can see. Yeah, somaybe you need thirty sixty ninety days
in there. And if it ismore than ninety days, how does that
equal to short term rental rules inyour in your area, in your municipality.
Probably don't know that happens, butyou know that's one things realtors have
been fighting again because that's that's probablya secret battle that's been going on Lansing

(20:00):
where then maybe they're targeting Verbo andAirbnb. Absolutely, but there's you know,
there's always consequences, maybe unintended,but there are you know, I'm
unequivocally for private property and private propertyowners rights. Hands down, it's or
property, figure out what to dowith it. Obviously there's rules and zoning
and all that stuff that we haveto follow the rules for I am also

(20:21):
advocating for that, but at theend of the day, I'm advocating for
private property rights. But it isimportant to know that unique situation for your
property. You know, maybe there'srepairs that need to be done, well,
who's doing them, how they're beingdone, you know, and if
you don't know how to negotiate thatinto your transaction, you could be doing
a lot of repairs to your homethat you don't want to do. And

(20:45):
then, you know, let's faceit, buying a house might be about
the numbers, it might be aboutthe house, but it's about the people.
And anytime we involve people, there'semotions, you know. So you
know, I sort of started tolaugh to myself, and when the show
started and I was talking about myintro and sharing my experience and things like
that, I sort of think of, like, you know, realtors are

(21:07):
the Swiss Army Knife of the businessworld because I mean we you know,
yes, we're we know the market, right We know the stats, we
know how to market your property.We know all the ins and outs.
Right, we can talk to youabout how to you know, where to
find a builder, what this houseshould be done, how to decorate it,
how to stage it, you knowall these types of things. But

(21:27):
you know, we do a lotof emotional support too. You know,
a lot of therapy sessions. Yes, yep, yes, I know your
husband hates this house and you loveit. But it's just how it works.
You got to go talk, youknow, and you know, and
then but also sometimes telling you toget out of your own way. Like
you know, this house checks allthe boxes. I understand the kitchen is

(21:48):
ugly, but here's how much it'sgoing to cost you to fix that kitchen
versus everything in the location. Youcan't change that. Yeah, yeah,
So you know, get with agood agent, get with a good realtor,
and let them put all these thingsthat I've just discussed to work for
you. That's that's the best pieceof device saying give you regardless of when
you're going to buy house. Well, no, I mean, and you

(22:10):
brought up a couple things. Imade some notes while you were talking,
just to kind of you know,piggyback a couple of things that you said,
you know, the importance of dealingwith somebody who knows the market,
somebody who's done this, you know, once or twice. And as you
had mentioned, you know, Remaxagents on average, I have sixteen years
of experience. That's I mean,if I have a doctor or a financial
planner, that's the type of experienceI'd want for those, you know,
for those or or an attorney ifI'm going into court, you know these,

(22:33):
I mean, I would want thattype of experience behind me for other
areas of my life that require professionalservices. Absolutely. And we you know,
have sold our house earlier this year, and of course I was being
kind of ocd anal about it.You know, it was like trying to
get all these things done before wehad you know, somebody come over.
It's like, well, no,I know, we really need to do
this. Yeah, we probably reallyneed to do this. And when they
came over, like one thing inmy mind, now, mind you,

(22:56):
this was February, so it's notthe time to do a lot of outdoor
stop. I think all technically thedock probably could use and she's no,
no, we're not worried about it, and in the end it didn't matter.
And then I'm like, going,you know, Janet, you should
have known better. I mean it'slike you know better, but yet you
you acted like a regular not toyou know, hopefully maybe this will make
you feel better. But my wifeand I are my worst clients. You

(23:19):
know, we're in the market ourselves, looking for a home, and I've
thought about firing us about ten timestimes. Okay, So I don't feel
like you should have had her comein earlier, because we probably would have
saved ourselves a little stress in somelate nights, you know, working on
things that maybe in this market andthe big picture didn't. Man. Yeah,
I can't tell you how many times, you know, day after closing,

(23:42):
drive by the house and the brandnew carpet that the homeowners insisted on
putting in, sitting on the curb. Yeah, it's I did not do
that scene. So you're kind ofon the right track, on the right
track. Well, the other thingyou were saying, how you know it's
gotten more complicated in it. Imean, it doesn't mean that deals don't
get done. It doesn't mean thatwe've got parties arguing and fighting or contankerous

(24:03):
with each other. But I hadan agent to share with me last week,
and it made it. I justliterally got like in my stomach when
I saw it. In a titlesearch, came up a very discriminatory clause
on a property and a property inWashington, a county that's apparently still there.
In a title search, I camewith the home couldn't be sold to

(24:25):
a certain ethnicity. Yeah. Yeah, so that, you know, that's
one of those things that the averageperson, even even even somebody that may
have bought and sold two or threeproperties, you know, uh in the
last decade or two, they mightnot have any clue about because that's something
that took place, you know,decades ago. Yeah, and we're probably
getting close to one hundred year marketin this case, it was literally almost

(24:47):
on the mark. Yeah. So, you know, unfortunately, with fair
housing and and those types of thingsthat are in place today, we don't
have to worry about that in ourcurrent current you know, society and and
so forth. But unfortunately, inthe past those things didn't happen, and
they can. They can cause alot of emotion and and and cause a

(25:08):
lot of confusion for folks that aren'tunderstanding that, you know, all of
those don't have any bearing on anythingtoday, but they are on the title
and they are reflected. There aresome there are some groups, and there
is some legislation that that has gonethrough and been worked on to try and
get all of that stuff removed,which I think is a great idea.

(25:29):
But yeah, you know, there'sit's there's a million things like that,
and I guess you know, you'reyou kind of you teed me up,
so I'm gonna go ahead and takeit. You know, realtors we have
to abide by a code of ethicsand meaning we have a set of standards
that we hold ourselves to inside theindustry to provide the best service for the

(25:51):
consumer, to make sure that we'retreating everybody equally, that we're taking care
of people and we're doing things theright way, which also, you know,
prevents things like that from happening again. So you know, absolutely it's
good to have some knowledgeable that cannavigate all of those issues. Well,
I just don't know what's you know, you have no idea. Some stuff

(26:11):
you can kind of see coming,you know, different properties, but we're
gonna have to conochiate X or Y. You know, the rough clearly needs
to be redone. You know,we're gonna you know, incorporate that into
counter I mean those are kind ofthe I don't want to say obvious things,
but then you can get blindsided bysomething you didn't see coming. Yes,
there was a transaction I was involvedin several years ago. Home was
being sold by a young lady thather grandmother had passed away and she was

(26:37):
handling it all for her. Well, through some pre title work that we
did, we found out that thehome that's sitting on the property was moved
like so, put on a truckand moved and this is not a mobile
home, by the way, movedto this property that it sat on for
you know, at that time,I think it was fifty years or so.
And the property that grandma had boughtthat this house sits on, was

(27:00):
bought on a land contract from aneighbor. From the neighboring property. Well,
it was a handshake land contract.So there's no deed, there's no
record, there's nothing other than thefact that this property has been in this
you know, uh, that Grandma'sname for many many many years. No
money owed on it, everything's paid, everything's clean. But there's no trail

(27:22):
there's no paper trail. So that'sthe list of things in probate. It
took about eighteen months to navigate throughthat. The young lady she had really
no clue what to do, sowe had to kind of advise her to
give her some recommendations for, youknow, attorneys that could help her with
these matters, and then just kindof keep coaching through. Now. Eventually

(27:42):
it all worked out and the propertysold, and after you get done with
probate and things like that, sometimesfunds are shaped up a little bit.
But it worked out. But that'sthat you would never think to yeah,
I mean, that wasn't something yousaw. Yes, you run public record,

(28:02):
oh yep, there's grandma's name,but then you start doing teleshuch on
Wait a minute, all of asudden, it's grandma's name and not a
transfer of title, you know,I mean, And it just goes to
show you know. Again, we'rejust kind of probably the last we'll say
on this topic, is it matterswho you do business with. Absolutely,
it matters who you do business with, and in the market that we have
right now, if you're a buyerand we know what's competitive for buyers,

(28:25):
it has been, it's likely goingto continue to be. And if you're
on the selling side, you know, working with someone who knows what's going
on in your market doesn't let youspend money frivolously on things you don't need
to do to market your home andcan negotiate for you when you get multiple
offers come in. Because while thatultimately is a seller is a it's a
favorable position to be sitting in.But now you also go, okay,
well, which one's the best?Absolutely, and I think you know this

(28:48):
is kind of this will be sortof my like wrap up on our on
this little topic. But if you'rea buyer, thanks to expect in a
current market, you will like seea multiple offer situation, so you will
be competing directly against somebody else tryingto buy the same house. When you
are in that position, you maybe in a situation where you need to
figure out the amount of money thatyou're offering. Could be over the listing

(29:11):
price of the home. It alsocould be getting to a point where we're
offering so much over the value ofthe home that now there's a question of
appraisal value. Now you may feelthere's value in that home for what it
fits in your budget and your needsand wants, and the seller may feel
that, yes, that fits whatthey're looking for. So the buyer and

(29:32):
seller have agreed on price terms,but the banks involved don't agree. So
somebody's got to make up the difference. So as a buyer, are you
making up the difference? Is theseller making up the difference? Are you
going to split it? Those typesof things you need help navigation to navigate.
You know. Also, you knowwhat other terms of the transaction are
you going to be working with that'sgoing to make you the most attractive.

(29:53):
How much of a down payment areyou putting down? How much earns money
to depositor are you putting down.I don't recommend this. Is it going
to be be refundable or not?And for the record, I don't recommend
waving inspections period. I know,Thank goodness, I figured you were going
to say that, but yeah,I know what happens, and I know
there's people that do do that.I think it's a bad idea, you

(30:14):
know, but everybody's got to maketheir own decision. If you work with
me, I won't let you doit though. No, I mean it's
and I get that it's a competitivemarket, and I had shared on some
earlier stuff this year. If folkshave listened earlier in the year, we
definitely had one done when we bought, and glad that we did because it
uncovered some things that were visible andjust validated. But there were some that
you know, I wouldn't have knownabsolutely, And you know I've bought and

(30:36):
sold many many properties. I've beeninvolved in building properties. I have a
pretty good eye. But again,this real estate's a confusing business because we
talk about houses, but it's notabout the house. It's about the people,
and there's a lot of emotions.And sometimes when our emotions are involved,
their eyeballs don't work so well,and you either do our ears.
So you need to have somebody thatis can give you an honest opinion that

(30:59):
doesn't have any skin the game otherthan the fact that you hired them to
do a job and tell you whatthe house is all about. So get
your inspections on well, yeah,absolutely, and it's first seller. You're
gonna you get multiple offers in whichone's the best one price? You know,
I always think of the movie Rounderswhen they splash the pot right,
throw chips in the pot to makeit look like it's a big deal,
but it's not a big deal.It's like the price, right, you
get these big priced offers, butisn't an offer that's going to close?

(31:21):
Are they gonna let you stay inthe house? If you need time helping
figure all that out, it's importantto have someone that can help you,
all right. So this is ifthat was part one, which is kind
of the spring market, and thenthat kind of went into just you know,
market conditions as a whole. Rightnow, because this is what we've
been seeing, we're gonna now pivotand we're going to go to part two,
which is dealing with you know,what may have been making the news

(31:42):
of you know, certainly of late, certainly within the industry, and just
for a recap, you know,in case, you know, this is
something that you haven't been staying intune with as a consumer. Over the
past few years, there's been thishandful of lawsuits that have been kind of,
you know, kind of somewhat quietlymarching their way through a variety of
court systems, most notably one inMissouri that I had several real estate brands

(32:06):
and that that does include Remax,and then most notably the National Association of
Realtors all entered into At the time, it was tentative judgments for very large
sums of money. Most of thiscaught media attention earlier this year. The
Remax settlement, along with some otherof our competitor brands I have now been
settled. The judge accepted those tentativesettlements, the National Association a Realtor settlement,

(32:30):
and that's the one that really gota lot of eyeball, so to
speak, because the amount was fourhundred and eighteen million dollars. That tends
to get people's attention when you havea lawsuits or tentatively subtle for that much.
That one is still ongoing. Sowe've got all of that out there.
So a good place I guess Iwanted to start with you is this
lawsuit alleged a couple of different things, couple collusion, price fixing, things

(32:55):
of that nature. Buyers, youknow, aren't treated fairly in the process.
I mean, that's probably the politeway to say what was going on?
What does this lawsuit really mean forbuyers and sellers? So you know,
it's an interesting position that everybody involvedis in. And I mean that
in the sense of both industry professionals, but the consumer. And here's why

(33:21):
i'd like to I think start onwhat this means by one simple fact.
It always was, it currently is, and it always will be the case
that real estate commissions, the moneythat you pay your realtor to help you
buy or sell a home, isnegotiable, always has been. In fact,

(33:42):
I would even go as far tosay, is that the real estate
industry, whether it's in practice orin the transaction, is the most negotiated
business on the planet. And here'swhy. If you are a real estate
professional, if you're a broker,you're going to negotiate the contracts that you
have with the agents that work foryou. If you're an agent, you're

(34:05):
going to negotiate the contract that youhave with a broker. If as an
agent, when you go to meeta homeowner to help sell their property,
you're negotiating with them. You're negotiatingthe commission that you're going to charge,
the terms, the length of thecontract, all these types of things.
If you're a realtor that's sitting downwith a buyer, you're negotiating the commission
that they're going to pay you andhow long you're going to work for them
for and can you work with anybodyelse? And you know all these other

(34:27):
types of terms. So and asa buyer and seller, you negotiate every
single term of your transaction. Howmuch you're paying your realtors, how long
it's going to take you to closethe deal, how much money you're gonna
put down, how much you're goingto buy the house for. The list
goes on, right right. Negotiationis one of the foundations of the industry,
both in practice and in the transaction. So again, commissions have always

(34:50):
been negotiated, They always have been, they currently are, they forever will
be. What this all means withthe lawsuits is that it's going to be
interesting on how it plays out becauseone of the most important things in real
estate transaction is transparent transparency, andthis has been an always you know.
That's why we have seller's disclosure,so that way the seller can be transparent
and honestly inform the potential home buyerthe condition of the property. That's why

(35:15):
we have agency disclosures that tell everybodyinvolved in a transaction, even before the
transaction, but everybody involved in anycommunications regarding real estate sales. The agency
disclosure describes how this particular agent thatyou're talking to is working for a particular
party, whether it be a seller'sagent, an agent working for the homeowner,

(35:37):
a buyer's agent, an agent workingfor the home buyer. Potentially a
transaction coordinator, which could be someonethat's simply facilitating transaction. They have no
agency, no relationship with anybody.So transparency is important. I think it's
going to make the process of transparencya little bit difficult in today's world.

(35:59):
Prior you know, in August seventeenthwill be when all of these rules will
take place that we'll get into herea moment, but prior to August seventeen.
So currently today, as we're talking, commissions are displayed for the public
view on the MLS system, andthose commissions are, you know, again
the rates that were negotiated by allthe parties involved, and everybody knows how

(36:21):
much those commissions are going to be. Starting in August seventeenth, they will
not be publicly available, so youknow, realtors will be able to publish
them on their websites. They'll beable to answer a phone call when another
realtor calls and say, hey,how much commission is being offered'll be to
answer that question, or if abuyer seller calls ask the same question.
So I think it's going to makethe one of the great things about our

(36:44):
business, the transparency, think alittle bit more difficult, which ultimately I
think is going to hurt consumer.Which is interesting because it's almost like taking
a step back in time to somedegree, like before the internet, before
take the Internet way, because thisis what people did before me. I
mean, when it wasn't published ina book, or it wasn't published,
nine agents called one. Yeah,and I guess maybe let's throw the commission
thing out for a second. Right, let's just talk about representation. You

(37:06):
know, for right about the timethat I got licensed, maybe a couple
of years beforehand, or right aroundthe same time, there was this thing
called buyer agency didn't exist, rightright, Nobody represented the buyer. We
all represent the seller. If youweren't the actual listening agent, you were
a seller sub agent, meaning youworked on behalf of the seller. So

(37:28):
if you found out that mister andmus buyer happened to have an extra ten
grand in their pocket, that's burninga hole in it, you would tell
the sellers. I think we canget tell more grand out of these guys
right incomes buyer representation. Now wehave a professional that has all these things
that we've discussed previously the show,all the experience and knowledge, all this
stuff, representing the buyer and theirinterests, finding out what's going on with

(37:51):
this property, what's going on withthe seller, what kind of leverage do
we have? How can we negotiatethat representation? I think is going to
be a little confusing. Now.Now I am in no way, shape
or form saying that there isn't buyeragency going to take place, because it's
going to it's just going to looka little different. And you know,
there's all that, and if webring commission back into the conversation, is

(38:13):
what is the cost going to looklike? Are we going to see decrease?
You know? One of the thingsthat was really frustrating was that the
President of the United States made acomment that for the first time ever,
real estate commissions will be negotiated.Well, he's completely one hundred percent wrong.
They have always been negotiated and theywill always continue to be negotiated.
The issue is going to be,now who's negotiating and whose favor is it

(38:35):
going to be negotiated. That's gonnaend up making costs cheaper for the home
buyer. It's hard to see,you know, is it going to potentially
make that put them in a positionwhere they have to pay more money for
a house now because they're going tohave to include language in their offer to
get sellar concessions back, which isallowable right seller concessions back to cover their

(38:58):
commissions. So you know, asgenerus that the seller might be, they're
trying to get the most money theycan for their home right, and so
they're going to say, yeah,that's great, we can incluose concessions.
But whatever your concessions are, wegot to figure out how to make it
work, you know, so youcould be paying more money. Well,
especially in a market like we've beentalking about where there's a lot of competition
for buyers and what already, whathave buyer's been willing to do to make
their offer attractive, whether that wasoffering occupancy or and why I completely agree

(39:22):
with you. I don't agree inany way, shape or from a waving
an inspection, but I know itdoes happen. And so now if I'm
a buyer in a first time buyer, especially where I've saved it worked and
worked and worked to save my threeand a half or five percent to put
down on a house to begin with. And I know I've got some closing
costs of coming, you know,and stuff like that. Well, now
if potentially the payment of my agentshas to start to be factored into my

(39:46):
budgeting for all of this, orI want to put it in the contract
as part of the negotiation, wellnot, what does that do to the
attractiveness of my of my offer?And I think you know, all of
that ways into it. Yeah,absolutely, And you know, I think
I think those are all things thatwe've got to think about. And you
know, going back to your originalquestion kind of what does that mean for

(40:07):
everybody? And if I if Ican give it just a couple of bullet
point answers, sort of like thereader's side, just version. So going
forward after August seventeenth, once thesettlement goes into a fact commissions will no
longer be posted on the MLS forwhether it's the agent view or the consumer
view. The MLS is must definewhat cooperating means and what that's basically going

(40:30):
to boil down to today is cooperatingfrom within in regards to information the MLS
participants, so many realtors, bothagents and brokerages will no longer be able
to publish on the MLS in anyway, shape or form, what that
compensation can be. They'll have to, you know, publish it elsewhere.

(40:54):
The other thing that's going to besomething that will have to happen, and
this is one of the things I'mactually in favor of, is a buyer
agency contract. So there's I thinkI think it's a a we screwed this
number up tother thirteen or fifteen statesin the United States that require a real
estate agent to have a contract withthe buyer that they're working for. So

(41:17):
buyer agency contract, buyer representation contractthat dictates the duties of the agent to
the buyer, the duties to thebuyers to the agent, and what the
compensation is, right, whatever they'veagreed upon. Ye State of Michigan is
not one of those states. Oddlyenough, those that do, those agents
and brokers that do have their buyerssign it's strictly in practice because that's a

(41:44):
policy of their company or how theyrun their businesses and do things. That's
one of the things that remix classicWe've been adamant about that you should get
your buyers the contract signed. SoI am in favor of this. I
think it's gonna be great. One. It's going to force the conversation of
here's all the things you need toknow about buying a house. It's going
to force the conversation of here's here'show we're gonna work together. Right,

(42:06):
here's all things I'm gonna do foryou, the front end and the fronend.
Yeah. Yeah, And I guessyou just brought up a great point
is that this conversation happens before anyreal estate activities take place. Right,
So, whether you're you know you'regonna go see a bunch of houses at
three o'clock, you should be meetingprobably at about one thirty or two o'clock
to go over all this stuff andget it signed. Right. So,

(42:29):
and it's also going to make surethat the process of negotiating what you're paying
your realtor is clear cut. Thatthere's no question about it. It always
has been. Any agency disclosure orsorry, buyer representation contracts that have been
in place, it's you know,you've had it out, yeah, lays
it out. So, so I'mall for that. I think it's fantastic.

(42:52):
Well, I mean and again havingjust gone through the process stage and
I worked with of course not shockinglywas a Remax was a Remax price us
shocking? You know, that's exactlywhat happened. You had a contract,
it laid out, you know,here's how she was representing us. You
know what we owed you know,to her, and then compensation and it
clearly stayed in there. You know, you know how how much the anticipation

(43:15):
was is that it would be youknow, taking care of you know,
from proceeds from the seller. However, if that didn't happen, we were
going to be on the hook forthat, and it very clearly laid that
out. And to your point,what I like about I guess that this
part of the of the settlement isI think professional agents, professional companies such
as Remax Classic and you have beendoing this. Not everybody has, not

(43:35):
every licensed professional has, and sonow this is going to force that hand.
And like you said, have agentshave this conversation with virus before they
see property one, not after they'veseen ten fifteen properties. You know,
now you're getting ready to write anoffer. Now I'm going to slip this
in here, and we're just goingto kind of do it that way.
Yeah, And I think you knowthe other thing too, is it's going
to help folks have for just areal conversation about about the affordability. I

(43:59):
think interesting thing is if you lookat some of the programs, the financing
programs that have come out from youknow, major institutions, you know,
FANNY FHFA, FHA, you know, there's a lot of one three percent
down programs now. And the reasonthat is is because they're finding that the
consumer may not have the five,ten, twenty percent down. So that
begs the question of Okay, ifthey don't have twenty percent to put down,

(44:22):
do they have the cash to writea check directly to their agent to
pay for the services whereas previously theywould have been paying for it inside the
transaction. Okay. I don't thinkthat this is any more magnified and frankly
heartbreaking than when it comes to veterans. So historically this has been always,

(44:44):
always the VA does not allow aveteran that is taking advantage of their benefits
through the VA, which they wholeheartedlydeserve with matter of fact, should be
doing more for them, but doesnot allow them to pay a real estate
agent to represent them when buying ahome doesn't matter, if have the money,
doesn't whatever the case is, theycannot write them a check to represent

(45:06):
them, which makes It's never madesense to me. I'm the wife of
a veteran. I mean, I'venever used the V A loan for a
variety of reasons, you know,but that, to me, I've never
understood that. Yeah. So,and that's a major issue because that that
was sort of band aidd if that'sthe right word to use with how our

(45:27):
process of real estate transaction have takenplace with commissions being paid you know,
through the transaction, because you knowthat real estate agent knew that okay,
this much commission is going to bepaid out of the transaction. To me,
so that that's great. I'm doinga lot of work for this the
buyer. I'm happy to represent thisveteran. You know, I'm going to

(45:49):
do any everything I can do forthem. However, this is business and
we're going to be you need tobe compensated. So where does it leave
the VA buyer today. It doesn't. It leaves them on an island by
themselves, unrepresented, you know,because how are they going to compensate somebody.
I will say that the veteran administrationhas been in talks with any of

(46:12):
our national association realtors to figure outhow to make this work. Because if
there's any group of people that arebuying homes today, I mean they they
check a lot of boxes. Youknow, One, they've given everything for
our country. Two extremely diverse,and I mean that across all scales,
whether it's you know, financially,uh, you know, ethnicity, walk

(46:35):
different walks of life. So forall the things that we're fighting for for
home ownership, this is not thegroup to penalize. So this is like
the poster children, you know,for what you want. Absolutely, so
we've got to figure that out.However, that's going to be done between
you know, current administration, allof the different industry players n AR,

(46:55):
mortgage, uh, you know associations, and even the big brand Remax.
I mean's let's say Remax is foundedby a vet, right, Dave Leniger.
He was a Vet, and we'vehad many great veterans in leadership inside
of in Remax. So I knowthat they're on the forefront two of trying
to figure this out. But youknow, so what's in it? What's
it mean? To everybody. Itmeans that you need a professional that's going

(47:19):
to explain all this to you,that has all the information because it changes.
I was in d C last week. Just remember, so I was
gonna say you mentioned. I wasgoing to ask you, so what did
you learn there? Because you hadmentioned at the beginning of the show you
wear another hat, which is pastpresident of the Greater Metropolitan Association of Realtors.
And I know you go to nationaland statewide and all sorts of meetings.
So what did you hear in dC. So this particular meeting that
takes place in May is called theana R Mid Year Meeting. Well that's

(47:44):
what ALSEO old guys call it.It's a legislatition, legislative meetings nowadays,
but it's it's basically the Realtors NationalAssociation Realtors, we go to d C.
We spent about a week there.We learn a lot, right,
but we also act as a voice. We act as a voice for the
consumer, for the home buyers andhomeowners, and we act for a voice

(48:07):
for our industry. And in sothat we set up times where we go
meet with our legislators. Legislators,we sit down with the congressmen and women.
We sit down with senators and wesay, here are all the things
that are happening in the industry.Here are all the things that are happening
your local districts, right, andhere are some ideas that we have to
to help alleviate these issues. Youknow, you know, for example of

(48:31):
some of the things that all relatorswere talking about to their legislators as they
were meeting, or you know,more homes on the Market Act R.
Right, it's an actual bill thatis, you know, being presented at
HR thirteen twenty one. Right.Not to get all political and nerdy and
government and stuff like that, whichis stuff I don't normally like, but
I'm passionate about real estate, soI had to learn. It's basically saying,

(48:55):
hey, don't penalize people for equityin their homes so that we would
be more likely to sell it.Right. We talked earlier about the market.
You gained a ton of equity,but you're getting killed on taxes,
right, So this bill would beto help decrease those taxes and things to
homeowners so that way it would bemore incentivized to sell your property. Neighborhood

(49:17):
home investments is what I love.It's bill HR thirty nine forty, which
is to give some incentives to privateinvestment to come into neighborhoods and build homes
that are affordable or renovate homes thatare affordable that will be owner occupied.

(49:39):
So that's I think that's a fantasticthing. I mean there's a lot of
folks going in and doing multi panilyfor rentals all this kind of stuff,
which is great. I'm all forthat, but I think it's something to
be said about homeownership. I mean, it takes care of a lot of
things. It helps with wealth building, it helps with you know, investment
back into the community, education,all these types of things. So I'm
excited about that one. You know, we'll make a note about the reaction

(50:01):
we have to all of these hereand momentarily. But another one is the
Affordable Home House Affordable Housing Credit improveand Act, and it's too basically give
credits. So that way folks thatare you know, in areas that are
under the affordable housing classification, ifthey need to fix them up, maybe
they need to roof hot water,heater's bad furnace, things like that,

(50:22):
they can get some some funds forthat. You know. And the the
other thing that is I think reallyimportant is the sell tax, you know,
taking care of that. And last, but not least, this is
I think one of my favorite ones, just simply because of some of the
background story that I've had for this. It's a ten thirty one like kind

(50:45):
of exchange. So when I reallystarted getting involved in the association world and
I started really paying attention to how, you know, things are working government
and policy and legislators and all thiskind of stuff. I did a town
hall meeting with a congressional member andI won't get into names because I'm not
here to embarrass anybody or say anythingnegative, but I want to paint a

(51:07):
picture for why it's important to havepeople that will represent the consumer. We
did a soundhall, and the differentassociations that were involved that day, we
had a topic to talk about,well, g mars was the ten thirty
one like sign exchange, okay,and we you know, it was our
turn to speak, and we presenteda little piece and that particular congressional representative

(51:30):
thanked us because they were going tobe voting on it the following week,
but didn't know what it was anddidn't exactly know how it worked, how
it works. So the ten thirtyone is back on the chopping block again.
And you know, it gets abad name because everybody thinks of like,
oh, it's for these major corporationsthat are buying up swaths of neighborhoods,

(51:52):
and this is happening. That's areal issue too that we need to
pay very close attention to. Butit's not. It's for the mom and
pop investor, right that has maybetwo or three units. They're going to
sell those properties, roll them intoother properties where they're going to go in
and fix up neighborhoods and provide youknow, low income housing in in many

(52:12):
aspects, it would be devastating Ithink, not only to the real estate
industry, to home ownership, buteconomically as well. I mean, when
you look at you know, justI think this is a staggering number.
So real estate represents over sixteen percentof the GDP right all right, which

(52:34):
is higher than manufacturing and retail combined, which is somewhat mind blowing when you
hear that, it's unbelievable. Soto protect to all these little things that
I just described, they're little pieces, but they add up to a huge
thing. That affects, you know, the stability of our economy, our
country, home ownership, a lotof a lot of other things. You

(52:54):
know. One of the other things, as I mentioned, we're you know,
we were there talking about and workingon was trying to figure out how
to take care of the vets andand and so that way they can still
continue to receive representation and that conversationis not going to be an issue for
them. A baseline that we're alwaystalking about is fair housing, making sure
that anybody that wants to own ahome has the ability to do it and

(53:15):
that they get representation during that processand be able to help out. So
I think that's great. You know. One of the things I thought was
exciting, uh, regardless of whowe met with then, matter of the
side of the aisle that they wereon, is it was well received and
everybody understood the issue that we have. They understand that we're we we're under

(53:35):
uh we're under housed, meaning wewe there's a gap of about five point
five million houses needed today, uhto make the demand that you know,
that's not accounting for you know,different things that are going on in our
country, you know, with populationgrowth, uh and things like that,
and you know, and it doesn'ttake an account all the people that still

(53:57):
don't want to sell their house becauseit's too expensive and one one way or
in not another. So they allunderstand that, and I think it's important
they all understand that it's freaking expensiveto buy a house right when the I
think that, I think our localmarket was a three hundred and twenty thousand
was a medium, yeah, whichis pretty common across the country. You
talk to pretty much anybody, we'reactually lower than national medians. Yeah,

(54:19):
So you know, which is great. You know, if you're listening to
this from outside the United outside ofthe State of Mission or outside you know,
Metro Detroit and you're looking for anew place, there's tons of opportunity
here in great, great housing prices. So I know I'm getting a long
along in the window on this,but I'm passionate about it because I think
it is important for the folks thatare making policy to understand where the consumer

(54:40):
is and where, you know,the how housing industry is at well.
I think it's interesting to kind ofget a peek into the backside of things
because like so many industries, youknow, depending and you can insert real
estate or any other industry. Mostof us only know a little bit about
that industry. We have an interaction, you know, they provide a service,
or we're a client or a customerof and you know, just a
little bit of or if you evenif you work within an industry, if

(55:01):
you don't get involved on a biggerlevel, you still only know a little
bit about what's going on. Andso I know there are people like you,
you know, like you, Nathan, that go and go and do
this and talk to people, youknow, representatives you know that represent our
area. And then obviously you've gotyour peers doing the same thing for theirs.
It's kind of nice to know,because, let's be honest, a
lot of times, I think asconstituents, we get the impression that people

(55:23):
are voting on bills that they haveno idea what's in them. They get
written in the middle of the night. Now maybe these are the budget when
these are the ones they get coveredon the news, the budgets, you
know this and the other thing.And I don't expect anybody that goes to
Washington to be an expert at everything. You can't be, but you have
to be willing to listen and opento you know, hearing what are the

(55:44):
challenges industry space, how can webe part of the solution? Absolutely,
and I think that was a bitof breath, a small breath of fresh
air when talking to these folks,the representatives, that some of them were
willing to admit that, Hey,I don't know everything. You are in
the market. You are talking tothe consumer, you are talking to my

(56:06):
constituents, right, what are theysaying? No? I mean absolutely,
And I mean it's nice to hearthat, because I think we can all
get somewhat jaded, you know,when it comes to Washington. Not for
good reason, I'm going to say, but yeah, it doesn't help when
the president's bashing you know, yourindustry. So no, erroneously yeah,
that well, speaking of our presidentin Washington, I just one maybe last

(56:30):
kind of bigger topic to just kindof dig into, ever so slightly.
It hasn't I don't think got asmuch attention in the media as the lawsuits
did. As these lawsuits for postsettlements were coming up. But working kind
of in the background is the Departmentof Justice. Yes, and they're making
statements and they're making some you knowkind of uh, you know, writings

(56:51):
in the media about what they'd liketo see keeping an eye on our industry,
watching another lawsuit that's kind of maneuveringits way through the system, And
I'm just curious from your perspective.I mean, over time, you know,
they've kind of said that they're notsure agents getting paid a commission is
the right thing, that maybe anhourly rate is a better way to go.

(57:12):
I mean, so say they've saida few things. I'm kind of
just interested in your take on theDJ. Is that something that we as
the industry, we as consumers shouldbe concerned with. Do you think that
the settlements are going to kind ofappease what they were looking for? So,
I know, I could not affordmyself if I had to pay myself
hourly because the amount of time thatyou know, and I say that in

(57:34):
es, but I'm very serious aboutthat. You know, the real estate
market, the real estate industry hasgotten a lot of attention on how fast
it happens. Right, we talkedabout it today, Right, we talked
about the time time on market isfifteen days less than it was last year,
and that kind of confuses people alittle bit. But if you have
to take any consideration actual time,right, the physical tangible time that it
takes hours. Yeah, right,It would be devastating for folks to have

(57:59):
to pay per hour. You know, we think attorneys are expensive. You
know that it can crazy. Sobut the DJ and what's going on with
them. So I'm not an attorney, but I can tell you a little
bit about what what we've been educatedon is. There's a lot of talk
about it in DC and so herehere's a couple of things. So the

(58:20):
DJ had some concerns that were insideof these lawsuits. So as you hinted,
you know, how should realtors bepaid? Should they be paid?
And in what way can somebody negotiatewho's paying them? All these types of
things. If you look at theterms of the settlement, they answer a

(58:40):
lot of the DOJ's questions. Kudosto N. E. R. And
R has caught a lot of flak, uh, you know, in the
last year almost to date, andyou know, some of it we got
to get a little better at it, but some of it unfairly done.
But they've gone in, they've consideredall the different facts of what the DJ

(59:00):
was looking for, but also toto satisfy you know, the suits and
a lot of the terms of settlement, the not advertising, the commissions,
uh, clearly stating who's paying who, you know, the contracts, all
that stuff. A lot of thosetypes of things were in place to satisfy
concerns that the DJ currently has,you know, the DJ who knows what

(59:25):
they will ultimately come out and whenthey ultimately come out with what they're going
to want. Yeah, I mean, and you know, not to be
political, but that all could changetoo after the election a few months time.
Ever, we have an election incase he didn't know, breaking a
little election coming up, so youknow, depending on which way that goes,

(59:45):
you know, some of those termsand requirements that they may have might
change. But the thing I cantell you that's most important, uh when
when? If you have any concernas a consumer, and then I'll talk
for a second in an industry too, but as a consumer, give the
realter that knows knows what's going on, talk to them, ask them questions.
We have a ton of information onour fingertips that we can provide you

(01:00:06):
to detail, you know, what'sgoing on. The one thing I will
want to make sure everyone understands isthat you're gonna be able to buy and
sell your homes. You're gonna beable to get fantastic representation to do it.
You're still gonna be able to youknow, compensate that person that's doing
a great job for you. Soall is going to be well at the
end of the day. Just mightlook a little different. Uh. And
you know, for my my industryfriends, we got to get we got

(01:00:30):
to do a good job at talkingabout what we do, and we have
to do a good job at makingsure that not only those people that we
come in contact with, uh,you know, in the transaction, but
you know in your community, whichwe have so many opportunities to do because
that's where we are. We're inour communities, we're talking to everybody.
We're you know, making sure charitiesare taken care of, we're in schools,

(01:00:51):
we're with the consumers. But makesure you're talking about how we do
things, why we do them,and and and make sure educated. And
if you're having trouble with that,there's a Remax broker down the street that
can help you. And yes,this is a plug, I mean,
you know that's what that's what we'rehere for. Yeah, So, yeah,

(01:01:13):
dej is gonna be interesting. Wedefinitely need to keep our eye on
it. But I'm I'm the informationI'm seeing come out from any R with
the terms of the current settlements,I will hope go a long way with
the DJ well that I mean,that would be hopeful. I mean it's
like we I kind of feel likeyou. Our industry doesn't have anything to
hide. I don't feel that we'vedone anything wrong. There's been a lot
of spotlights put on things, andand like you, I think it is

(01:01:35):
an opportunity if you look at itas the glass half fall. Yeah,
it's an opportunity to be more transparent. You know, We've talked about that
a little bit. It's an opportunityto have some dialogue. Maybe we take
for granted people think no knows moreabout how we do business than what they
really do, and there's an opportunityto shed a light on that. And
I just was thinking back to somethingyou said a little bit ago. How
you know everything in the in thetransaction and real estate transaction is negotiating.

(01:01:58):
I mean like every little thing.And I'm thinking, Okay, when you
meet with the financial planner, doyou get to negotiate with them? I
mean they get a percentage of youknow whether it's the annuity or you know
this that the other thing. Imean, it's and they kind of don't
talk about it. It just kindof comes up, gets skimmed off the
top. And I'm thinking, we'revery transparent with all of the yeah,
yeah, financial planners, attorneys.You know, I don't know if it

(01:02:21):
goes too well and you're trying tonegotiate in those those worlds. But or
you know, uh, your doctor, your doctor, you know you need
that kidney transplant, but I don'tknow. The doctor is probably the one
I'm least likely to want to negotiate, right, Well, you know that,
I guess there's something to be said. I mean that talks about professionalism,
right. You want someone that knowswhat they're doing, knows their worth,
and will stand by it and standsby it because at the end of

(01:02:44):
the day, and this is anexcellent thing. The point you just made
is you want a professional that knowstheir worth, can tell you why tell
you their value, because especially inthe real estate transaction, they're fighting with
your money and you better want themto fight as hard for your money as
they did for theirs one hundred onehundred percent, And it goes back to

(01:03:06):
you know, transparency, and alot of what we're talking about is obviously
transparency, you know, from fromour industry, from an agent to a
consumer, a buyer or seller.And I also think that if if a
consumer maybe sees more of that.I mean, I'm not saying from you
because I think you're very transparent,but as an industry, we've got people
that maybe aren't. And if wecan as an industry get better at that,
I think in turn, then buyersand sellers become more transparent with their

(01:03:29):
agent, which is what we allneed to have a successful transaction. Yeah,
you've got to know all the insand outs. You've got to know.
You know, you'll often hear,you know, if you're if you're
gonna be buying a home any timesoon, your mortgage broker will likely make
a joke to you, be like, listen, do not go buy any
furniture this month, don't buy anew car, don't don't even go to

(01:03:52):
Starbucks. Right, open a creditcard, right, yeah, and and
and that's in. And the jokeis meaning, you know, one,
they're giving you some good, butit's as transparency. They got to know
what you're up to, just likeyou should know what they're up to and
and realtors. We got to doa good job of telling our story,
but sharing our value and what wedo to help someone navigate buying a home,

(01:04:14):
to help someone navigate selling a home, because it's it's their largetasset,
highly emotional, highly personal. Imean in most cases it's you know,
it's where you're resting your head,raising a family, potentially, you know,
whatever it might be, it's important. And you got to explain your
piece and why you're available to allyou know. To that story, well,
I think that's a great I mean, you summed it up very nicely.

(01:04:36):
So we've been talking to Nathan Boji, vice president and associate broker with
Remax Classic. Nathan, you've sharedI mean, so you've been so generous
with your time. You've been youknow, your expertise is, you know,
unparallel. If anybody was listening andthey would like to reach out to
you, maybe pick your brain onsomething, maybe have you represent them.
Where's a good place for them toreach you. So my company, Remax

(01:04:58):
Classic, we're all over southeast Michigan. You can reach me personally Nathan Boji
dot com. I'm at Nathan Bojiat just about any place, and Boji
is spelled bo Ji. Well,again, thank you, sincere, thanks
to my pleasure, Thank you forhaving me. It's always an honor.
No, it is the time goesby, so no, are we getting
into Joe Rogan round here or it'slike four hours later? Yeah, right

(01:05:20):
kid, But no, it wasso good and I hope the listeners really
appreciate it. I know, youknow, we understand that buying and selling
real estate, you know, toNathan's point, it is it's an emotional
it's a financial aspect. It meansa lot, and we just want to
hopefully you here through the conversation wehad to day in others that it means
a lot to us too to representyou and to be the people that you

(01:05:42):
trust when you go through this transaction. So again, thanks for joining us
today. We look forward as I'mlooking ahead on the dock at a couple
of potential topics coming up are goingto be staging your home. So if
you are somebody that's thinking about sellingor getting close, we're going to have
somebody talking about that. And Ithink we're also June as Prayed of home
and we're going to look to seeif we can talk about some new construction
as well. Yeah, it is, so stay tuned and we look forward

(01:06:04):
to chatting with you soon. Wehope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget
to subscribe, write a review,or rate the show as it helps us
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