August 12, 2024 • 25 mins
Welcome to the Comox Valley Real Estate Podcast, hosted by Monica Parkin, an author, TEDx speaker, and local mortgage broker. In this episode, Monica invites Meta Wood, a seasoned realtor, associate broker, and community advocate, to share her unique journey into real estate and offer invaluable advice for both buyers and sellers.
Meta discusses the importance of separating head from heart in the home buying process, how to handle unexpected costs, and the role of mentoring in real estate. She also highlights her extensive community involvement, including her work with the Comox Valley Community Healthcare Foundation and their successful annual golf tournament fundraiser.
Listeners will gain insights into effective home buying strategies, the benefits of mentorship, and the impact of community service. Don't miss out on this enriching conversation and the chance to learn from one of Comox Valley's most dedicated real estate professionals.
Be sure to subscribe to stay updated on all things real estate in the Comox Valley!
You find find Meta or learn more about her at :
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello and welcome to the Comox Valley Real Estate Podcast.
My name is Monica Parkin. I'm your host. I'm an author, a TEDx speaker,
and a local mortgage broker.
And we are here today to get all your questions answered about local real estate.
Whether you are a first-time homebuyer, you are a seasoned investor,
or you're just curious about the real estate scene in the Comox Valley,
(00:24):
we are probably going to cover a topic that is interesting to you.
We're going going to be talking to everyone from real estate agents,
appraisers, home inspectors, local government.
We're going to cover everything real estate in the Comox Valley.
So grab a pen and paper, grab a cup of coffee, clump a seat,
hit the subscribe button for sure, and stay tuned for some really great conversation.
(00:47):
All right, welcome. Today, my guest is Metta Woods.
She is a realtor, an associate broker, a mentor, a FinTrack compliance officer. She wears so many hats.
It's not even funny. We were joking that I maybe need to have her on my other
podcast, the Juggling Without Balls one, for people that juggle a lot of different hats.
But Meta's roots in the Comox Valley run deep. She's the chair of the promo
(01:08):
committee, the Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation Golf Tournament.
And that is just a few of the things that she's involved with.
Her dedication to her community is as strong as her passion for real estate.
I am really excited to learn more about her today and great tips in the process. assessed.
And in fact, what prompted me to invite her on the podcast is she was involved
(01:29):
at that time with the Comox Valley Community Healthcare Foundation.
So I can't wait to learn more about that. But welcome, Metta.
Thank you very much for having me, Monica, and making me sound pretty darn amazing
with that introduction.
You are pretty darn amazing. I only have amazing people on the show,
so you're already in that club.
But Metta, I hear that there is the funny story about how you became a realtor.
(01:50):
I ask everyone this question about how they became a realtor,
and I I get all kinds of different answers.
I hear that yours is a little unique.
And I love that because my kid is just like starting to think about what to do for a career.
And I love having these stories in my back pocket to share about how you can
plan for one thing and like something else will come your way.
So you want to tell me about that?
Yeah, for sure. It actually was never on my radar to become a realtor.
(02:12):
I've always worked with kids in the school district and daycare of my house.
And I wanted to actually progress in the school district position,
but I didn't have enough experience.
So they wanted me to get six months more of experience, which landed me a job
as an assistant here at Remax, which then I absolutely fell in love with and
(02:33):
decided that office jobs are not for me. I need to be outside.
And the day I signed up for real estate school, the school district phoned me
and told me I was also hired.
So I ended up working for a year while I did school and then just fully transitioned into real estate.
Awesome. Because that first year as a realtor, it's not always hard,
but it can be a bit of a struggle just while you're building up your clientele and getting out there.
(02:56):
So to have that job to fall back on is kind of nice to have the paycheck, I would imagine.
But also, that's got to be a lot of stuff to keep in your head and to be trying
to respond to client calls.
And you're working during the week, and then on the weekends,
you're doing all the other stuff.
Did you have a life during that time? I actually had five jobs the first year.
I also bartended on the side and did some more assistant work.
So it was the juggling with hell balls.
(03:19):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Lots of juggling. But I think my experience,
and I know this of a lot of mortgage brokers and people like that too in the
finance industry, is they've often had a lot of other jobs.
And when you ask them, they say that all those jobs gave them these really amazing
interpersonal people communication skills that just make them really good at this job.
(03:41):
Did you find that working with kids, resolving conflict right there,
but all those other Other things make you, even that admin job, right?
It helps you have a process and a flow and things that make life easier for
your clients too, I would imagine.
Oh, absolutely. It's lots of different skills. The admin job,
you learn the back end of real estate before you even jump into it as a realtor, which is a huge help.
(04:01):
And then being a server, a bartender, dealing with kids, you're dealing with
people from all different walks of life, all different ages. It's a great help.
Yeah. Yeah. Learning to listen, learning to problem solve and navigate all those
challenges that just come with people and with just really great customer service.
So we're going to move on to your advice for clients.
I kind of have an idea what this is, but I want to ask you, what is your best
(04:26):
advice for clients during the home buying process for buyers,
not for sellers, but for buyers?
Well, maybe it applies to sellers too. I don't know. But what's your best piece of advice?
My best piece of advice, it does go for both sides, but mostly for buyers is
you really have to separate your head from your heart.
Which can be a challenge for sure. But you really have to sit down and separate
(04:47):
those two boxes and make sure you're making the right decision.
Yeah. And I totally get that one.
As a seller, I get that one because you're so attached to this house and you
want everyone to think it's just amazing as you are.
And maybe that creates this unrealistic version of who you want for buyer or
price point or whatever.
(05:08):
But as a buyer, what might separating your
head and your heart look like like really in
terms of like walking into this equation it's just
really hard because you're you're going off emotion emotion is a huge part of
real estate or of anything but when you're looking at something to purchase
you fall in love with it instantly you're you know it's more the cosmetic feel
(05:32):
the instant gratification when you walk in a house you have to separate that and think logically,
I always make my clients do a budget to make sure that where they're sitting is,
you know, financially stable for them.
So they're not, you know, house poor and can't still enjoy life outside of owning a house.
It's that definite separation between I love this house, this kitchen is full
(05:54):
of light versus, you know, looking at the big picture and the maintenance the
house needs or, you know, the issues, the stage of life that you're in.
There's lots of the parts that come into play that you need to separate your
head from your heart. And your gut plays a big part as well.
Yeah, totally. So I wonder if part of that separating the head from the heart,
because I totally hear what you're talking about, because I've done that where
(06:15):
I pre-approved a client for like a $450,000 mortgage.
And then they come back the next day and they're like, we made an offer for
$900,000 because we just love this house.
But like they should have never looked at that house in the first place, right?
Like once you do, then you're in love with it. And now your heart is just like,
oh my gosh, I have to have it. And like that.
I talk about this when I, because I'm a speaker also, and I also talk about
(06:38):
how like your amygdala can hijack your brain and your emotional part of your
brain basically shuts down your logical part of your brain. It doesn't work anymore.
It happens like when you're at the airport and you're freaking out because they've
got no ticket for you or whatever.
But it just occurred to me that I think it can also happen in the buying process too.
You see this place, you get this emotional hit of endorphins or whatever,
(06:59):
like, oh my gosh, I love how I feel here.
And then all the other the considerations are now out the window so absolutely
absolutely and it's that impulse,
it's the doing before you think yeah so how do we get in front of that impulse
so part of it might be planning your budget part of it might be like is it coming
up with a list of like okay i want to be near this school i want this is important
(07:23):
to me to have this in the house or not this.
Like it's part of it just coming up with that wish list ahead of time and then
maybe not going to look at the places that don't fit that list so that you don't
get drawn into that emotional like magnet thing that happens or what do you
suggest with your clients?
I always sit down with my clients and get them to make a needs versus a want list.
(07:44):
Yeah. Because those are two very different things and of course getting a pre-approval
so they know what their budget is because as you said you don't want to look
at houses outside of your range because when I show you houses in your range you don't like them.
Yeah. Because you're holding them to a higher standard that you can't get into.
So needs versus wants are important and making sure that you have a very outlined
(08:08):
game plan before we go out and start looking so that you're prepared and it
calms that impulsivity a little bit.
Yeah, totally. And also, if you haven't seen that other thing,
then you don't know it's there.
If you're just sticking within that needs and wants, well, that list that you've
got, if you're trying to stay in that area and not being like,
oh, just for fun, let's go look at that 2.3 million-hour place,
(08:31):
just because it would be fun to look at it.
And now you've like triggered this, well, nothing else is ever going to live
up to that expectation again.
So maybe save it just for fun stuff for like after you've bought your place and you're settled in.
Save those just for fun open houses for later or the HGTV show.
Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Great advice.
(08:51):
As a seller, so we talked about how this kind of applies a little bit to sellers as well.
So what do you think sellers really struggle with in that head versus heart?
Is it wanting to price their home for more than it's worth because they've got an attachment to it?
Is it being unwilling to, or maybe just not selling, like waiting too long to sell?
(09:13):
Like I've also met some seniors sometimes that maybe stayed in their house just
a tiny bit longer than they comfortably could because it had stairs and now
they're living downstairs and they never use the upstairs bedrooms because they're
so attached to that home.
What does that look like for you when you're talking to sellers that are struggling with that?
The biggest struggle I find is the emotional attachment to their home as a seller.
(09:36):
It's all those memories they've created there, and that creates in their mind a price value.
But buyers don't have those memories that they haven't lived there.
So I would say that's the biggest struggle that I find sellers have.
So it's getting them, putting them in the buyer's shoes, showing them comparables
and being, you know, like as a buyer, if you're walking into these homes,
not knowing, no emotions attached, no memories attached.
(09:59):
Which one are you going to be you know interested in
purchasing and that that comes into play a
lot with the prices those you know those memories and those values those internal
values that the sellers have yeah yeah because you're remembering that time
that summer where you build that deck together and the whole family came over
and it was so wonderful and you put so much time into it you want the buyer
(10:19):
to think this is the best deck ever but like maybe they're thinking about ripping it
down because maybe it's 20 years old, right? Yeah, exactly.
For you, it's like it was yesterday and it's beautiful and you love it.
You got to step outside that bubble.
Let's talk about some common misconceptions about finding a dream home or what
(10:40):
the process is going to be like. We always have this picture in our head.
I don't know, for example, as a mortgage broker, I had a picture in my head
of what it was going to be like. And it's nothing like that,
what I thought I was going to do every day at my job.
And I think as someone who's never bought a home before, never sold a home before,
there's also this image in your mind of what the process is going to look like.
And maybe it doesn't look quite like that when you get in it.
(11:01):
So are there some things that you commonly see where buyers are like,
oh, I wasn't expecting this?
Or what do you think that thing is that always kind of surprises people?
I would say that the stress level is one, which is, I mean, that's my job is
to try to take this away as much as the stress level.
But it's the, I find the amount and the cost of inspections and the due diligence
(11:22):
that needs to be done before you say, yes, I want to purchase this house.
I find that comes to a shock to most buyers and the closing costs outside of
what the purchase price of the house is, is all the costs behind the scenes
to get the keys. Because there's a lot of costs.
There is. And I always try to factor in, sometimes they have land transfer tax, sometimes they don't.
(11:45):
But what I find is when I'm like, well, do you have some extra?
Like, okay, so you've got your down payment, you've got enough for the lawyer,
you got enough for land transfer tax, you have a bit of extra.
And they're always like, well, what do I need extra for?
And it's like, well, there's the moving and the hooking up your hydro and hooking up this.
And there's all these things that you don't think about.
And like you say, the home inspection, or maybe you pay for one home inspection, it doesn't work out.
(12:07):
You're not going to buy that house. Well, now you're shelling out for the next
home inspection, or maybe it needs an appraisal.
So that's a great point is to not just have what you think you need,
but to have like a little extra buffer and be prepared for some of those extra costs.
And if you don't have them, great, bonus, you got more money in your wallet.
But if you do have them, then at least you're ready.
Yeah, especially with like rural properties, you could be looking at over $2,000 just on inspections.
(12:32):
Yeah, septic tanks, things like that. Yeah, perimeter drains,
all the good stuff that you don't think about. All the good stuff. Yeah, absolutely.
We were purchasing a rural property once and it was an older septic system.
So it wasn't just a regular septic inspection.
It was, the guy had to put the camera down and he had to flush the lines and,
you know, what we thought was going to be a very inexpensive little...
(12:54):
Quick little house inspection did it quickly turned into like a $1,500,
$2,000 adventure because it's a big purchase. You can't just go, oh, I hope it's good.
You want to actually know what's going on there. So yeah, those are good. Oh, exactly.
Because if you forego that $1,500 because you think it's too expensive,
you could be looking at a $25,000 fix when you move in because you didn't inspect
(13:17):
it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Do you have any tips on kind of find that balance between not like giving you
a list of 200 things that need to be done, but that's also going to like pay
attention to the big stuff?
Every home inspector, I always give my clients three names and I use the ones
that my clients have, you know, given great reviews on.
(13:38):
But there's two different aspects to me and to an inspector when you have an inspection done.
There's what I call the honey-do list, which is like everything from the kitchen
cabinet is falling off to the tub needs to be re-caulked to the major issues
that need attention now.
So they kind of split it into those two ways. So you more so pay attention to
(14:00):
that major deficiency list versus the honey-do list.
I say that's your, once you move in, you pick away at those and that's your
maintenance to keep the house chugging along in a good way versus the major
ones that need to be dealt with now. I love that. And that's awesome.
So the, okay, these are the things that like for us, it was the hot water tank
is already expired, right? It's going to need to be replaced.
(14:21):
So that's a big thing. But also maybe depending on your personality,
if you're the person that doesn't have free time and doesn't like to spend their
free time working on little things, you're going to hope for a short honey-do list.
If you're the person who's a weekend warrior who loves to spend their weekend
putting away on stuff, you're cool with a longer honey-do list.
But that might also maybe factor into your wishlist a little bit at the beginning.
(14:41):
List. too, like how much, whether you want a house where you can just move in
and unpack and not have to do anything, or whether you're the person that wants
to just keep working on things.
All right, this has been awesome. I also heard that you run a,
we haven't switched gears here, but that you run a mentoring program for new
realtors, which I think this is super cool.
It's one of the things that inspired me to move over to the brokerage that I'm
(15:04):
with now, is I get to mentor a team of agents.
And it just really appealed to me because I know certainly in the mortgage broker
industry, there is a very low barrier to entry.
And then it can be really hard those first few years because you're literally
just learning everything from scratch.
And some brokerages have these amazing mentoring programs and I watch those
agents just grow and thrive.
(15:26):
But I also often talk to agents who are struggling and I say, why are you struggling?
And it's, well, I get a file and then there's no one I can ask a question of
and I got to run and try and figure it all out myself.
And then I get overwhelmed and I'm afraid of making a mistake.
And so when I heard that you're doing this mentoring program,
my ears really perked out to hear that that's something that you're offering
(15:46):
because it's just, to me, it's so valuable.
And I wonder if you want to tell me a little bit more about that.
Yeah. So when I first started, we didn't have a mentoring program here at the office.
And then Sue Russell, who is our managing broker here, who bless her heart is
retiring, started the mentoring program and started training.
And then I took it over from her and have changed it and made my own.
(16:08):
And it's so helpful to agents because they come in knowing nothing.
What you learn at real estate school has nothing to do with being a realtor.
So it's, you come in and not knowing what
to do where to start or how to do it yeah same
being a mortgage broker I tell people like that textbook is great
it's going to teach you all about the law and the regulations but the
(16:30):
actual day-to-day job zero none like nothing like you don't I in fact even the
acronyms you know I remember my first week or two on the job my managing broker
said I had a question and it was well call your BDM I'm like okay dude you got
to back up like I don't even would know what a BDM is. You would only know that
if you're a mortgage broker.
There's just, there's so many acronyms. There's so much to know.
(16:51):
There's so many, so much evolved in the process that you just don't learn in
that textbook. And I know the two courses are very similar.
So that's been your finding with realtors too.
So we meet once a week, sometimes more. When I have appointments or clients
come in and they're here, I bring them in my appointments with me.
We do anything from role playing to help
(17:13):
them learn writing contracts going and viewing houses
together so it's it's like the hand-holding step by
step and then I'm on call for them 24 7 as as long as they need me usually I
find it's like the first year yeah and then they start to get their wings and
fly out of the nest but there's still because you learn something new every
(17:34):
day in real estate there's still times that you know they still have questions
or or doing something new that they need help with.
Yeah, but I love that. So it's a formalized training as well as an informal training.
So there's that access to your brain, like, hey, Mera, I've got a client calling
me. They asked me a question. I've never come across this before.
And then you can walk them through that scenario, as well as these formalized
(17:55):
training periods where you're sitting down and talking about different scenarios
or viewing houses and things like that.
Oh, amazing. Amazing. Yeah, we do something very similar where we have twice-week
training sessions, but then I also mentor agents where they just call me as
soon as something happens, and then we open up our computers,
we share our screens, I walk them through the different scenarios.
(18:16):
And I love that, and I love that for realtors, because I think,
I don't know if I'm correct or not, is that fairly unique in your industry?
Starting to become more common in our industry, but I think,
is that pretty unique in real estate?
Yeah, from what I understand in our area and in most areas, it is a pretty unique
way that we mentor and train our agents here. So here's my question.
(18:40):
Do most realtors, they literally just get thrown into the fire and they got to figure it out?
They stumble along their way, which is really tough because you're dealing with
legal documents and contracts and massive investments for purchasers and sellers.
So it's not one that you want to fumble your way through.
Yeah. And obviously you would have had the benefit of being someone's admin assistant first.
(19:03):
So you got some of that background before you actually jumped in to being a realtor.
But sounds like not everyone gets to do that. That not everyone gets that admin background.
And some people are just, here's your license, away you go.
Exactly. Yeah, and that definitely gave me the little bit of a head start knowing
the programs and stuff. Because you also don't know the programs when you're new.
(19:23):
And I was blessed too, again, with Sue Russell. She's always been my mentor. I call her my Mama Sue.
So I'm going to miss her immensely. But it's been great. And I find it gives,
when you mentor and when you train, it gives your agents confidence.
Yes. And then they, you know, they feel more confident and they get more excited
about what they're doing.
And that in turn helps them. A hundred percent.
(19:44):
And I would imagine it also makes you a better realtor. It's kind of like we
had a math teacher who used to say, you know, first you do it and then you teach
it. And when you teach it, you understand it even more.
So I would think every time you're teaching it to someone, you're actually growing
and deepening your own understanding of that scenario or how to do that.
And every time you're helping them through a scenario, that's now another scenario
(20:05):
that you have experience with that you can, in your brain, go back,
go, oh, remember that time I helped so-and-so do that, and we did this, and then this happened?
Now that's in your memory bank, so it's also making you a better realtor in the process.
Oh, absolutely, because I see different scenarios, too. And then on the plus
side, helping people absolutely fills my bucket.
So it's not only helping other agents grow, it also is helping me,
(20:27):
fills my heart, fills my bucket.
It's what I love to do. you yeah yeah me too there's nothing i
love more than watching someone else grow and shine and like
when you get the wings and they fly off and they start like mentoring other
people like that is just the absolute best feeling but we're coming back to
heart and head again you know we talked about separating your heart and head
in the buying process but now what you're really doing is you're bringing it
together with the mentoring in a different way right you're the head is your
(20:50):
experience of the heart is getting to feel good about what you're doing and give back to
your industry and your community and to other realtors. So phenomenal. Love it.
That's great. You also, speaking about filling your heart, you're also very
involved in your community.
I talked about in the beginning, but one of the places where I saw you at was
the Community Healthcare Foundation, Golf Classic.
(21:13):
I didn't see you there, but I saw you talking about your role there.
As community organizations go, that is one of the more phenomenal organizations
that we have in our community and they do so, so, so much.
But I'm wondering if you want to talk a little bit more about what they do,
maybe how much money you raised in that, a little bit about the event for people
that are interested for next year.
(21:35):
Yeah. So I've been part of it since 2019. There was a couple of years during
COVID we didn't have the golf tournament, but it's a great fundraiser.
They raise funds for anything to do with long-term care, acute care,
surgical equipment at our local hospital.
It's absolutely an amazing organization. This year, we were able to raise $59,000.
(22:00):
And I think actually that might've
been the most money We've raised so far since I've been a part of it.
And it's, I mean, it brings people together. It's such a fun day,
the golf tournament, and to be able to, you know, have fun, raise money for
a great cause to purchase equipment needed at our hospital.
Because whether you're healthy now, at some point in your life,
(22:22):
you are going to need the medical system in our inner valley.
So we're, you know, they're hoping to get as much ahead of the game and great
equipment to help the people to be able to age in place here in the valley.
And also to have the resources when it's needed, because we're all going to
need it at some point in our lives.
Yeah, absolutely. Every single one of us, without a doubt, will use those resources
(22:44):
in our life, even if we're not using them now, or someone we love or care about
is probably using those resources now.
And I love that idea of getting ahead of the curve, too, not just waiting until
we're really desperate, but starting to build and add those resources.
Now, I'm part of 100 Plus Women Who Care, and that was one of the organizations
that we were voting for one night, to support.
(23:05):
It was really a touching presentation and a really, really great organization. Yeah.
And I know that the golf tournament is their biggest fundraiser that they do
every year. And this year was the 32nd one. So it's an annual event.
So it's great. You get into the groove of it.
So every year becomes a little bit easier to organize because you've got all
(23:25):
the steps in place, but it's so much fun.
Yeah. And you get everyone together. You have a great day and like to walk out
of that with more than $50,000 to give to an organization, a community that does amazing things.
So amazing. I love that. If you haven't checked it out, go check out Comox Valley
Community Healthcare Foundation, the Gulf Classic.
(23:45):
When does it run every year? Is it July or June?
It's in June. In June. Perfect time. Okay. And where's it at or do you alternate?
Since I've been part of it, we always have it at Crown Isle.
That's what I thought. Yeah. Crown Isle. Wonderful.
And there's another just great community supporter there by the Crown Isle.
Just to wrap this up, though, any other events, listings, things you have coming
(24:06):
up, things you want to share with the audience that I haven't touched on?
Well, listings, I'm running out because I'm such a good realtor.
So I could use a few more. An event coming up, there's a few of us that are
partaking in the Pride Parade coming up at the end of August. Nice. So that'll be fun.
That is awesome. Yeah, I'm looking forward to going to watch that.
(24:28):
That's great. So are you going to be in the parade then?
Yes. There's seven of us that are going to be in the parade.
All right. You heard it here first.
Go check out Metta and her group in the Pride Parade the end of August.
And that's it. We will wrap this up. Thank you so much for coming, for being here today.
And yeah, have a great week. Perfect. Thank you so much for having me.
(24:50):
Dan, that's a wrap. Thanks for joining us this week on the podcast.
If you would like to connect with any of the guests that you've heard today,
you can find their information on the show notes at www.comoxvalleyrealestatepodcast.com.
The opinions expressed here by the professionals are their own.
They should not be taken for legal or financial advice
(25:12):
you should always seek out your accountant lawyer if you're
going to make a large financial decision if you have a suggestion for someone
that would make a great guest that has some value to offer the listeners i would
love to hear about it or can you just have a question feel free to reach out
to me at mortgages at monicaparkin.ca don't forget to hit the subscribe button and have a fabulous week.
Hello and welcome to the Comox Valley Real Estate Podcast.
My name is Monica Parkin. I'm your host. I'm an author, a TEDx speaker,
and a local mortgage broker.
And we are here today to get all your questions answered about local real estate.
Whether you are a first-time homebuyer, you are a seasoned investor,
or you're just curious about the real estate scene in the Comox Valley,
(00:24):
we are probably going to cover a topic that is interesting to you.
We're going going to be talking to everyone from real estate agents,
appraisers, home inspectors, local government.
We're going to cover everything real estate in the Comox Valley.
So grab a pen and paper, grab a cup of coffee, clump a seat,
hit the subscribe button for sure, and stay tuned for some really great conversation.
(00:47):
All right, welcome. Today, my guest is Metta Woods.
She is a realtor, an associate broker, a mentor, a FinTrack compliance officer. She wears so many hats.
It's not even funny. We were joking that I maybe need to have her on my other
podcast, the Juggling Without Balls one, for people that juggle a lot of different hats.
But Meta's roots in the Comox Valley run deep. She's the chair of the promo
(01:08):
committee, the Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation Golf Tournament.
And that is just a few of the things that she's involved with.
Her dedication to her community is as strong as her passion for real estate.
I am really excited to learn more about her today and great tips in the process. assessed.
And in fact, what prompted me to invite her on the podcast is she was involved
(01:29):
at that time with the Comox Valley Community Healthcare Foundation.
So I can't wait to learn more about that. But welcome, Metta.
Thank you very much for having me, Monica, and making me sound pretty darn amazing
with that introduction.
You are pretty darn amazing. I only have amazing people on the show,
so you're already in that club.
But Metta, I hear that there is the funny story about how you became a realtor.
(01:50):
I ask everyone this question about how they became a realtor,
and I I get all kinds of different answers.
I hear that yours is a little unique.
And I love that because my kid is just like starting to think about what to do for a career.
And I love having these stories in my back pocket to share about how you can
plan for one thing and like something else will come your way.
So you want to tell me about that?
Yeah, for sure. It actually was never on my radar to become a realtor.
(02:12):
I've always worked with kids in the school district and daycare of my house.
And I wanted to actually progress in the school district position,
but I didn't have enough experience.
So they wanted me to get six months more of experience, which landed me a job
as an assistant here at Remax, which then I absolutely fell in love with and
(02:33):
decided that office jobs are not for me. I need to be outside.
And the day I signed up for real estate school, the school district phoned me
and told me I was also hired.
So I ended up working for a year while I did school and then just fully transitioned into real estate.
Awesome. Because that first year as a realtor, it's not always hard,
but it can be a bit of a struggle just while you're building up your clientele and getting out there.
(02:56):
So to have that job to fall back on is kind of nice to have the paycheck, I would imagine.
But also, that's got to be a lot of stuff to keep in your head and to be trying
to respond to client calls.
And you're working during the week, and then on the weekends,
you're doing all the other stuff.
Did you have a life during that time? I actually had five jobs the first year.
I also bartended on the side and did some more assistant work.
So it was the juggling with hell balls.
(03:19):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Lots of juggling. But I think my experience,
and I know this of a lot of mortgage brokers and people like that too in the
finance industry, is they've often had a lot of other jobs.
And when you ask them, they say that all those jobs gave them these really amazing
interpersonal people communication skills that just make them really good at this job.
(03:41):
Did you find that working with kids, resolving conflict right there,
but all those other Other things make you, even that admin job, right?
It helps you have a process and a flow and things that make life easier for
your clients too, I would imagine.
Oh, absolutely. It's lots of different skills. The admin job,
you learn the back end of real estate before you even jump into it as a realtor, which is a huge help.
(04:01):
And then being a server, a bartender, dealing with kids, you're dealing with
people from all different walks of life, all different ages. It's a great help.
Yeah. Yeah. Learning to listen, learning to problem solve and navigate all those
challenges that just come with people and with just really great customer service.
So we're going to move on to your advice for clients.
I kind of have an idea what this is, but I want to ask you, what is your best
(04:26):
advice for clients during the home buying process for buyers,
not for sellers, but for buyers?
Well, maybe it applies to sellers too. I don't know. But what's your best piece of advice?
My best piece of advice, it does go for both sides, but mostly for buyers is
you really have to separate your head from your heart.
Which can be a challenge for sure. But you really have to sit down and separate
(04:47):
those two boxes and make sure you're making the right decision.
Yeah. And I totally get that one.
As a seller, I get that one because you're so attached to this house and you
want everyone to think it's just amazing as you are.
And maybe that creates this unrealistic version of who you want for buyer or
price point or whatever.
(05:08):
But as a buyer, what might separating your
head and your heart look like like really in
terms of like walking into this equation it's just
really hard because you're you're going off emotion emotion is a huge part of
real estate or of anything but when you're looking at something to purchase
you fall in love with it instantly you're you know it's more the cosmetic feel
(05:32):
the instant gratification when you walk in a house you have to separate that and think logically,
I always make my clients do a budget to make sure that where they're sitting is,
you know, financially stable for them.
So they're not, you know, house poor and can't still enjoy life outside of owning a house.
It's that definite separation between I love this house, this kitchen is full
(05:54):
of light versus, you know, looking at the big picture and the maintenance the
house needs or, you know, the issues, the stage of life that you're in.
There's lots of the parts that come into play that you need to separate your
head from your heart. And your gut plays a big part as well.
Yeah, totally. So I wonder if part of that separating the head from the heart,
because I totally hear what you're talking about, because I've done that where
(06:15):
I pre-approved a client for like a $450,000 mortgage.
And then they come back the next day and they're like, we made an offer for
$900,000 because we just love this house.
But like they should have never looked at that house in the first place, right?
Like once you do, then you're in love with it. And now your heart is just like,
oh my gosh, I have to have it. And like that.
I talk about this when I, because I'm a speaker also, and I also talk about
(06:38):
how like your amygdala can hijack your brain and your emotional part of your
brain basically shuts down your logical part of your brain. It doesn't work anymore.
It happens like when you're at the airport and you're freaking out because they've
got no ticket for you or whatever.
But it just occurred to me that I think it can also happen in the buying process too.
You see this place, you get this emotional hit of endorphins or whatever,
(06:59):
like, oh my gosh, I love how I feel here.
And then all the other the considerations are now out the window so absolutely
absolutely and it's that impulse,
it's the doing before you think yeah so how do we get in front of that impulse
so part of it might be planning your budget part of it might be like is it coming
up with a list of like okay i want to be near this school i want this is important
(07:23):
to me to have this in the house or not this.
Like it's part of it just coming up with that wish list ahead of time and then
maybe not going to look at the places that don't fit that list so that you don't
get drawn into that emotional like magnet thing that happens or what do you
suggest with your clients?
I always sit down with my clients and get them to make a needs versus a want list.
(07:44):
Yeah. Because those are two very different things and of course getting a pre-approval
so they know what their budget is because as you said you don't want to look
at houses outside of your range because when I show you houses in your range you don't like them.
Yeah. Because you're holding them to a higher standard that you can't get into.
So needs versus wants are important and making sure that you have a very outlined
(08:08):
game plan before we go out and start looking so that you're prepared and it
calms that impulsivity a little bit.
Yeah, totally. And also, if you haven't seen that other thing,
then you don't know it's there.
If you're just sticking within that needs and wants, well, that list that you've
got, if you're trying to stay in that area and not being like,
oh, just for fun, let's go look at that 2.3 million-hour place,
(08:31):
just because it would be fun to look at it.
And now you've like triggered this, well, nothing else is ever going to live
up to that expectation again.
So maybe save it just for fun stuff for like after you've bought your place and you're settled in.
Save those just for fun open houses for later or the HGTV show.
Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Great advice.
(08:51):
As a seller, so we talked about how this kind of applies a little bit to sellers as well.
So what do you think sellers really struggle with in that head versus heart?
Is it wanting to price their home for more than it's worth because they've got an attachment to it?
Is it being unwilling to, or maybe just not selling, like waiting too long to sell?
(09:13):
Like I've also met some seniors sometimes that maybe stayed in their house just
a tiny bit longer than they comfortably could because it had stairs and now
they're living downstairs and they never use the upstairs bedrooms because they're
so attached to that home.
What does that look like for you when you're talking to sellers that are struggling with that?
The biggest struggle I find is the emotional attachment to their home as a seller.
(09:36):
It's all those memories they've created there, and that creates in their mind a price value.
But buyers don't have those memories that they haven't lived there.
So I would say that's the biggest struggle that I find sellers have.
So it's getting them, putting them in the buyer's shoes, showing them comparables
and being, you know, like as a buyer, if you're walking into these homes,
not knowing, no emotions attached, no memories attached.
(09:59):
Which one are you going to be you know interested in
purchasing and that that comes into play a
lot with the prices those you know those memories and those values those internal
values that the sellers have yeah yeah because you're remembering that time
that summer where you build that deck together and the whole family came over
and it was so wonderful and you put so much time into it you want the buyer
(10:19):
to think this is the best deck ever but like maybe they're thinking about ripping it
down because maybe it's 20 years old, right? Yeah, exactly.
For you, it's like it was yesterday and it's beautiful and you love it.
You got to step outside that bubble.
Let's talk about some common misconceptions about finding a dream home or what
(10:40):
the process is going to be like. We always have this picture in our head.
I don't know, for example, as a mortgage broker, I had a picture in my head
of what it was going to be like. And it's nothing like that,
what I thought I was going to do every day at my job.
And I think as someone who's never bought a home before, never sold a home before,
there's also this image in your mind of what the process is going to look like.
And maybe it doesn't look quite like that when you get in it.
(11:01):
So are there some things that you commonly see where buyers are like,
oh, I wasn't expecting this?
Or what do you think that thing is that always kind of surprises people?
I would say that the stress level is one, which is, I mean, that's my job is
to try to take this away as much as the stress level.
But it's the, I find the amount and the cost of inspections and the due diligence
(11:22):
that needs to be done before you say, yes, I want to purchase this house.
I find that comes to a shock to most buyers and the closing costs outside of
what the purchase price of the house is, is all the costs behind the scenes
to get the keys. Because there's a lot of costs.
There is. And I always try to factor in, sometimes they have land transfer tax, sometimes they don't.
(11:45):
But what I find is when I'm like, well, do you have some extra?
Like, okay, so you've got your down payment, you've got enough for the lawyer,
you got enough for land transfer tax, you have a bit of extra.
And they're always like, well, what do I need extra for?
And it's like, well, there's the moving and the hooking up your hydro and hooking up this.
And there's all these things that you don't think about.
And like you say, the home inspection, or maybe you pay for one home inspection, it doesn't work out.
(12:07):
You're not going to buy that house. Well, now you're shelling out for the next
home inspection, or maybe it needs an appraisal.
So that's a great point is to not just have what you think you need,
but to have like a little extra buffer and be prepared for some of those extra costs.
And if you don't have them, great, bonus, you got more money in your wallet.
But if you do have them, then at least you're ready.
Yeah, especially with like rural properties, you could be looking at over $2,000 just on inspections.
(12:32):
Yeah, septic tanks, things like that. Yeah, perimeter drains,
all the good stuff that you don't think about. All the good stuff. Yeah, absolutely.
We were purchasing a rural property once and it was an older septic system.
So it wasn't just a regular septic inspection.
It was, the guy had to put the camera down and he had to flush the lines and,
you know, what we thought was going to be a very inexpensive little...
(12:54):
Quick little house inspection did it quickly turned into like a $1,500,
$2,000 adventure because it's a big purchase. You can't just go, oh, I hope it's good.
You want to actually know what's going on there. So yeah, those are good. Oh, exactly.
Because if you forego that $1,500 because you think it's too expensive,
you could be looking at a $25,000 fix when you move in because you didn't inspect
(13:17):
it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Do you have any tips on kind of find that balance between not like giving you
a list of 200 things that need to be done, but that's also going to like pay
attention to the big stuff?
Every home inspector, I always give my clients three names and I use the ones
that my clients have, you know, given great reviews on.
(13:38):
But there's two different aspects to me and to an inspector when you have an inspection done.
There's what I call the honey-do list, which is like everything from the kitchen
cabinet is falling off to the tub needs to be re-caulked to the major issues
that need attention now.
So they kind of split it into those two ways. So you more so pay attention to
(14:00):
that major deficiency list versus the honey-do list.
I say that's your, once you move in, you pick away at those and that's your
maintenance to keep the house chugging along in a good way versus the major
ones that need to be dealt with now. I love that. And that's awesome.
So the, okay, these are the things that like for us, it was the hot water tank
is already expired, right? It's going to need to be replaced.
(14:21):
So that's a big thing. But also maybe depending on your personality,
if you're the person that doesn't have free time and doesn't like to spend their
free time working on little things, you're going to hope for a short honey-do list.
If you're the person who's a weekend warrior who loves to spend their weekend
putting away on stuff, you're cool with a longer honey-do list.
But that might also maybe factor into your wishlist a little bit at the beginning.
(14:41):
List. too, like how much, whether you want a house where you can just move in
and unpack and not have to do anything, or whether you're the person that wants
to just keep working on things.
All right, this has been awesome. I also heard that you run a,
we haven't switched gears here, but that you run a mentoring program for new
realtors, which I think this is super cool.
It's one of the things that inspired me to move over to the brokerage that I'm
(15:04):
with now, is I get to mentor a team of agents.
And it just really appealed to me because I know certainly in the mortgage broker
industry, there is a very low barrier to entry.
And then it can be really hard those first few years because you're literally
just learning everything from scratch.
And some brokerages have these amazing mentoring programs and I watch those
agents just grow and thrive.
(15:26):
But I also often talk to agents who are struggling and I say, why are you struggling?
And it's, well, I get a file and then there's no one I can ask a question of
and I got to run and try and figure it all out myself.
And then I get overwhelmed and I'm afraid of making a mistake.
And so when I heard that you're doing this mentoring program,
my ears really perked out to hear that that's something that you're offering
(15:46):
because it's just, to me, it's so valuable.
And I wonder if you want to tell me a little bit more about that.
Yeah. So when I first started, we didn't have a mentoring program here at the office.
And then Sue Russell, who is our managing broker here, who bless her heart is
retiring, started the mentoring program and started training.
And then I took it over from her and have changed it and made my own.
(16:08):
And it's so helpful to agents because they come in knowing nothing.
What you learn at real estate school has nothing to do with being a realtor.
So it's, you come in and not knowing what
to do where to start or how to do it yeah same
being a mortgage broker I tell people like that textbook is great
it's going to teach you all about the law and the regulations but the
(16:30):
actual day-to-day job zero none like nothing like you don't I in fact even the
acronyms you know I remember my first week or two on the job my managing broker
said I had a question and it was well call your BDM I'm like okay dude you got
to back up like I don't even would know what a BDM is. You would only know that
if you're a mortgage broker.
There's just, there's so many acronyms. There's so much to know.
(16:51):
There's so many, so much evolved in the process that you just don't learn in
that textbook. And I know the two courses are very similar.
So that's been your finding with realtors too.
So we meet once a week, sometimes more. When I have appointments or clients
come in and they're here, I bring them in my appointments with me.
We do anything from role playing to help
(17:13):
them learn writing contracts going and viewing houses
together so it's it's like the hand-holding step by
step and then I'm on call for them 24 7 as as long as they need me usually I
find it's like the first year yeah and then they start to get their wings and
fly out of the nest but there's still because you learn something new every
(17:34):
day in real estate there's still times that you know they still have questions
or or doing something new that they need help with.
Yeah, but I love that. So it's a formalized training as well as an informal training.
So there's that access to your brain, like, hey, Mera, I've got a client calling
me. They asked me a question. I've never come across this before.
And then you can walk them through that scenario, as well as these formalized
(17:55):
training periods where you're sitting down and talking about different scenarios
or viewing houses and things like that.
Oh, amazing. Amazing. Yeah, we do something very similar where we have twice-week
training sessions, but then I also mentor agents where they just call me as
soon as something happens, and then we open up our computers,
we share our screens, I walk them through the different scenarios.
(18:16):
And I love that, and I love that for realtors, because I think,
I don't know if I'm correct or not, is that fairly unique in your industry?
Starting to become more common in our industry, but I think,
is that pretty unique in real estate?
Yeah, from what I understand in our area and in most areas, it is a pretty unique
way that we mentor and train our agents here. So here's my question.
(18:40):
Do most realtors, they literally just get thrown into the fire and they got to figure it out?
They stumble along their way, which is really tough because you're dealing with
legal documents and contracts and massive investments for purchasers and sellers.
So it's not one that you want to fumble your way through.
Yeah. And obviously you would have had the benefit of being someone's admin assistant first.
(19:03):
So you got some of that background before you actually jumped in to being a realtor.
But sounds like not everyone gets to do that. That not everyone gets that admin background.
And some people are just, here's your license, away you go.
Exactly. Yeah, and that definitely gave me the little bit of a head start knowing
the programs and stuff. Because you also don't know the programs when you're new.
(19:23):
And I was blessed too, again, with Sue Russell. She's always been my mentor. I call her my Mama Sue.
So I'm going to miss her immensely. But it's been great. And I find it gives,
when you mentor and when you train, it gives your agents confidence.
Yes. And then they, you know, they feel more confident and they get more excited
about what they're doing.
And that in turn helps them. A hundred percent.
(19:44):
And I would imagine it also makes you a better realtor. It's kind of like we
had a math teacher who used to say, you know, first you do it and then you teach
it. And when you teach it, you understand it even more.
So I would think every time you're teaching it to someone, you're actually growing
and deepening your own understanding of that scenario or how to do that.
And every time you're helping them through a scenario, that's now another scenario
(20:05):
that you have experience with that you can, in your brain, go back,
go, oh, remember that time I helped so-and-so do that, and we did this, and then this happened?
Now that's in your memory bank, so it's also making you a better realtor in the process.
Oh, absolutely, because I see different scenarios, too. And then on the plus
side, helping people absolutely fills my bucket.
So it's not only helping other agents grow, it also is helping me,
(20:27):
fills my heart, fills my bucket.
It's what I love to do. you yeah yeah me too there's nothing i
love more than watching someone else grow and shine and like
when you get the wings and they fly off and they start like mentoring other
people like that is just the absolute best feeling but we're coming back to
heart and head again you know we talked about separating your heart and head
in the buying process but now what you're really doing is you're bringing it
together with the mentoring in a different way right you're the head is your
(20:50):
experience of the heart is getting to feel good about what you're doing and give back to
your industry and your community and to other realtors. So phenomenal. Love it.
That's great. You also, speaking about filling your heart, you're also very
involved in your community.
I talked about in the beginning, but one of the places where I saw you at was
the Community Healthcare Foundation, Golf Classic.
(21:13):
I didn't see you there, but I saw you talking about your role there.
As community organizations go, that is one of the more phenomenal organizations
that we have in our community and they do so, so, so much.
But I'm wondering if you want to talk a little bit more about what they do,
maybe how much money you raised in that, a little bit about the event for people
that are interested for next year.
(21:35):
Yeah. So I've been part of it since 2019. There was a couple of years during
COVID we didn't have the golf tournament, but it's a great fundraiser.
They raise funds for anything to do with long-term care, acute care,
surgical equipment at our local hospital.
It's absolutely an amazing organization. This year, we were able to raise $59,000.
(22:00):
And I think actually that might've
been the most money We've raised so far since I've been a part of it.
And it's, I mean, it brings people together. It's such a fun day,
the golf tournament, and to be able to, you know, have fun, raise money for
a great cause to purchase equipment needed at our hospital.
Because whether you're healthy now, at some point in your life,
(22:22):
you are going to need the medical system in our inner valley.
So we're, you know, they're hoping to get as much ahead of the game and great
equipment to help the people to be able to age in place here in the valley.
And also to have the resources when it's needed, because we're all going to
need it at some point in our lives.
Yeah, absolutely. Every single one of us, without a doubt, will use those resources
(22:44):
in our life, even if we're not using them now, or someone we love or care about
is probably using those resources now.
And I love that idea of getting ahead of the curve, too, not just waiting until
we're really desperate, but starting to build and add those resources.
Now, I'm part of 100 Plus Women Who Care, and that was one of the organizations
that we were voting for one night, to support.
(23:05):
It was really a touching presentation and a really, really great organization. Yeah.
And I know that the golf tournament is their biggest fundraiser that they do
every year. And this year was the 32nd one. So it's an annual event.
So it's great. You get into the groove of it.
So every year becomes a little bit easier to organize because you've got all
(23:25):
the steps in place, but it's so much fun.
Yeah. And you get everyone together. You have a great day and like to walk out
of that with more than $50,000 to give to an organization, a community that does amazing things.
So amazing. I love that. If you haven't checked it out, go check out Comox Valley
Community Healthcare Foundation, the Gulf Classic.
(23:45):
When does it run every year? Is it July or June?
It's in June. In June. Perfect time. Okay. And where's it at or do you alternate?
Since I've been part of it, we always have it at Crown Isle.
That's what I thought. Yeah. Crown Isle. Wonderful.
And there's another just great community supporter there by the Crown Isle.
Just to wrap this up, though, any other events, listings, things you have coming
(24:06):
up, things you want to share with the audience that I haven't touched on?
Well, listings, I'm running out because I'm such a good realtor.
So I could use a few more. An event coming up, there's a few of us that are
partaking in the Pride Parade coming up at the end of August. Nice. So that'll be fun.
That is awesome. Yeah, I'm looking forward to going to watch that.
(24:28):
That's great. So are you going to be in the parade then?
Yes. There's seven of us that are going to be in the parade.
All right. You heard it here first.
Go check out Metta and her group in the Pride Parade the end of August.
And that's it. We will wrap this up. Thank you so much for coming, for being here today.
And yeah, have a great week. Perfect. Thank you so much for having me.
(24:50):
Dan, that's a wrap. Thanks for joining us this week on the podcast.
If you would like to connect with any of the guests that you've heard today,
you can find their information on the show notes at www.comoxvalleyrealestatepodcast.com.
The opinions expressed here by the professionals are their own.
They should not be taken for legal or financial advice
(25:12):
you should always seek out your accountant lawyer if you're
going to make a large financial decision if you have a suggestion for someone
that would make a great guest that has some value to offer the listeners i would
love to hear about it or can you just have a question feel free to reach out
to me at mortgages at monicaparkin.ca don't forget to hit the subscribe button and have a fabulous week.
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