July 22, 2025 • 16 mins
Mike Sposato brings nearly 25 years of real estate expertise to this fascinating conversation about Charlotte's waterfront property market. The owner of Carolina Realty Advisors shares his unique approach to client relationships, focusing first on establishing genuine connections before applying his diverse skill set across multiple market segments.
What sets Mike apart is his innovative approach to showing lakefront properties. For potential buyers coming from out of state, he conducts property tours by boat, allowing clients to experience homes from the water while learning crucial information about lake depths, navigation challenges, and ideal locations. This hands-on approach demonstrates his deep knowledge of not just the properties, but the entire lakefront lifestyle his clients are seeking.
The conversation reveals surprising insights about timing in the waterfront market. Unlike traditional real estate that follows predictable seasonal patterns driven by school calendars, lakefront properties maintain consistent demand year-round because buyers are typically empty-nesters or second-home purchasers. Current market analysis shows a healthy "conveyor belt" of inventory moving every month, with properties taking about six months from listing to closing. For strategic buyers, the November-January window might offer slight advantages when dealing with sellers who've had properties listed through the busy season.
Most valuable is Mike's candid discussion about buyer representation. He explains why contacting listing agents directly through real estate websites can be a costly mistake, comparing it to "going to court without an attorney when the other side has one." This becomes particularly problematic in North Carolina with its unique due diligence fee requirements. His passionate advocacy for proper buyer representation serves as a crucial reminder that real estate transactions remain complex negotiations where professional expertise matters tremendously.
Reach out to Mike directly at 704-619-7070 or visit CarolinaLakeFrontHomes.com to explore waterfront properties and learn more about Charlotte's lakes. Whether you're ready to buy now or just beginning to explore options, his expertise can help you navigate these specialized markets with confidence.
Carolina Realty Advisors
Mike Sposato
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local
businesses and neighbors cometogether.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning everyone and welcome to another episode
of the Good Neighbor Podcast.
My favorite thing to do is tochat with local business owners
and my goodness, mike, this ismaybe our fourth time.
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So this is Mike Sposato and he is the owner of
Carolina Realty Advisors, andyou are quite the powerhouse in
Charlotte.
Do you specialize in any typeof real estate?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, I do.
I do you know.
Let me first start off bysaying you know, after doing
this for almost 25 years, afterdoing this for almost 25 years,
how we built our business andwhy we call ourselves Carolina
Realty Advisors is we reallylook for a good fit with our
clientele.
A fit means, it's prettyobvious Do we like each other?
(00:57):
Do we feel like we'd be able towork together in a longer
business cycle, because realestate sales can take quite a
while?
That being said, if we feellike there's a fit, luckily,
through time, you know,developed a lot of different
skill sets in different markets,so I can help people do a
variety of things, which isunusual for our market because
(01:19):
most of the time when you takeyour average real estate agent,
they may work for X, y, xyzcompany and they only work in a
given area, like South Park orBallantyne or et cetera.
That's all they do, that's whatthey know and that's where
they're proficient.
But there's so manyopportunities if you have the
skill set and the negotiationability to work in different
(01:41):
markets.
So I do commercial real estate,ability to work in different
markets.
So I do commercial real estate,I do traditional residential
real estate.
I also like to do a lot of the55 and what I call 55 and better
real estate.
Love it and then you know, butreally I specialize a lot in
waterfront property.
That's where I'm mostpassionate and if anybody is
watching this and not listeningto it, but just watching the
(02:04):
video, you can see I've got theraccoon eyes.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, you do.
Yeah, that's from being out onthe boat all the time.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, and so when I when I like this week I've got
two different clients coming infrom out of state and when they
come in one of the days, weactually go out on the boat and
we'll come up to the houses thatwe're going to look at, tie up
on their dock and go out thatway so I can teach them what
they need to know aboutdifferent, like Lake Wiley or
Lake Norman and places to go to,places to avoid where the water
(02:33):
is shallow and all that goodstuff like that that you would
need to know.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That is amazing because you're absolutely right.
If you want to buy a boat, ifyou're planning on bringing a
yacht versus a pontoon totallydifferent needs Well, here we
are.
In the heat of the summer, Isthis a bad time to list your
lake house?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
No, actually there's this, is it with the lake
properties?
There's really not a bad timeto do it, and the reason is what
I'm finding.
Most of the clients I'm workingwith are coming here from out
of state.
They're usually cash buyerswhich set that aside.
The big reason is is thatthey're typically empty nesters
or this is a second home, soschools aren't that critical to
(03:17):
them most of the time.
So when people are thinkingabout the spring market, they
want to get their house listed.
When people are thinking aboutthe spring market, they want to
get their house listed.
Frequently those people wouldbe, you know, families or in a
neighborhood or area where theschool it's.
A lot of it's generated onschools and timing around
schools and things of thatnature, but on the lake, you
know, it's constant.
(03:38):
In fact, I was doing a littleresearch just a few minutes ago
before a conversation and what Ifound is, right now, if you're
looking at waterfront propertyon either Lake Norman or Lake
Wiley, both of them combined,there's 223 active listings,
which you know, take it for whatit's worth.
There's 76, though, that areunder contract, and there's 218
(04:00):
that have sold in the last sixmonths, and so if you break that
down with 223, well, 218 soldproperties.
That averages out to about 36properties are selling every
single month on either one ofthe lakes that are waterfront,
and having 76 under contractassuming it takes two months
(04:20):
from contract to close, thatmeans 38 properties are
currently selling every singlemonth, and with 223 properties
that are listed, that meansthere's an average of about
let's put it like this waythere's an average of 37
different homes getting listedeach month.
(04:40):
There's an average of 37different homes getting listed
each month, and so it's like aconveyor belt.
It's a nonstop conveyor belt.
When you put your house on themarket, on average, it's taking
six months to go through theprocess, so you list it.
It takes probably four monthsto get it under contract,
another two weeks or two monthsto get it closed out, and so
(05:02):
that's a healthy inventory.
I've always talked about buyermarket versus seller market.
Seller's market is when youlist it and it takes you like 30
days from list to close, and abuyer's market is when it takes
12 months or longer from list toclose, but when you're in that
six month area, that's the sweetspot, that's when you have a
(05:25):
healthy market and that's reallywhat you have when you're
looking at waterfront property.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, and let's say we were just talking about
listing a home.
How about buying a homestrategically?
Let's say you're not in a bighurry.
Is there a certain time of yearyou should think about looking?
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
If you're not in a big hurry.
You know on average, these arejust the laws of averages.
But when you get to the end ofthe year, you know right around
the holidays.
If anybody's home is still onthe market then, and they've
been on the market for four orfive, six months, that seller's
probably experiencing someamount of pain, frustration,
(06:07):
stress, anxiety, and they may bemore willing at that point to
take a little bit of a loweroffer just to get it off their
books.
So you know, if you were goingto try to pinpoint one time, if
you're the buyer and you want toget the deal today, it might be
to come out, you know, lateNovember into early January to
try to see what you can find.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
But then again, most of the time the inventories have
been picked through and it'salmost like a rummage sale yeah,
it seems like lakefrontpurchasing is such an emotional
decision and when you see thathouse and you think, oh my god,
this is it.
Well, so are a lot of otherpeople.
So do you find that you askpeople hey, this might be it.
(06:50):
How do you work with them whenyou see a property that's a good
fit?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, I mean, it's really.
It's kind of first starts offwith active listening.
You got to really seek tounderstand what they're saying
and what they want, becausepeople come in initially with
all sorts of different thoughts,especially if they're not from
our area.
You know lakes where they're at, or you know they're shaped
different, they're smaller,they're this or that, the houses
are different, prices aredifferent.
But once they get acclimatedand you go out and you kind of
(07:18):
look at properties with them,you do have to be able to walk
in their shoes, side by side andkind of understand really
what's important for them.
For some people it's all aboutthe view, some people it's you
know, they want there's, youknow some of the lakes, or not
some of the lakes, but some ofthe homes have really really
steep declines from the housedown into the water, you know,
(07:41):
and if they're elderly orwhatever, that's a, you know, a
no-go, it's a showstopper.
So just things of that nature.
You just got to understandwhat's important for them, you
know, and make sure that you'reyou know doing what they really
want you to do in order toprovide the service that they
need.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, and I guess being patient is part of it from
the buyer's perspective.
So, what's going on in thewhole Charlotte, you know, with
Lake, not just lakes, but giveus an update on the Charlotte
Metro area market.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, that's kind of a loaded question, because
there's.
So you, you really, when youyou have to look at little sub
markets as an example Uptown orSouth Park or even like Matthews
or Mint Hill each one'sslightly different because the
buyer pool is a little bitdifferent.
As an example, the uptown crowdor the south end crowd might
(08:33):
tend to be a little bit youngermaybe and maybe wanting that
city life, so to speak, whereasyou might look in South Park and
again it could be going aroundschools and timing around
schools and things of thatnature.
So the healthier markets arestill.
It's crazy that the higherdollar markets like I had a
(08:57):
listing that I put on the marketfive weeks ago for two point
five million and had 30, someshowings and got a cash offer on
it, which was crazy, becausethen I have other listings that
are listed for 320,000 and in 30days they get three showings.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
It's just and it's a lot because of interest rates.
I mean, when you work with thepeople every day and you see
these like when their predictivepayment comes out, if their
credit is not the greatest andthey don't have a lot of money
to put down, sometimes when theyget that, well, here's what
your payment's going to be oncewe show them a house and they
kind of factor in taxes andeverything.
(09:39):
It really is.
You know, it's a showstopperfor some people, even though
they're going to own it and it'sgoing to be write off and all
that.
Cash.
Buyers or people who have quitea bit at least 20 to maybe 50%
to put down.
That's the market that's moving.
(10:00):
It's the first time.
Buyers that have kind of sloweddown quite a bit just because of
rates.
But they keep saying rates aregoing to be better.
All the economic signs aresaying they should be better and
once they are, I think the bowis going to break and the cradle
is going to fall again and Ithink we're going to be in a
position where the buyers comerushing back in.
And who knows when that couldbe.
(10:21):
It could be tomorrow, it couldbe next year, it could be next
month, I don't know.
No one really knows, but youknow rates get down in the low,
low sixes or even mid to highfive, something like that.
I think it's going to be.
It's going to be back on.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, so when a lot of us think about we want a
different house, we look onlineand then we call that agent that
is with that listing and thatis not oftentimes the agent that
even made the listing correct.
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Well.
So it depends on where they go.
So if they go to Zillow orRealtorcom, what those companies
will do is they have premieragents in different zip codes
and cities and so forth thatthey put on those listings.
(11:18):
They're not the listing agent,but that's good for the consumer
, because if you buy and sellreal estate every year or every
other year and you do it a lotand have a lot of experience and
you maybe you can do it on yourown, that's one thing, but the
average person doesn't.
The average person at thispoint is like every six and a
(11:38):
half years they'll make a move,and the real estate commission,
national Association of Realtorsand so forth, they change all
the contracts each year.
So the terminology changes, thedance moves and putting a deal
together they change and ifyou're not up to speed, trying
to represent yourself could beproblematic.
(11:59):
The way I always explain it isthis If you go out on the
Internet and you think you'regoing to go directly to the
listing agent, you're walking inthe door with somebody who's
already working with the sellerand they've got a signed listing
agreement that stipulatesthey're going to get them the
most amount of money andrepresent their best interest,
not yours.
Another way of looking at it isif you ever had to go to court
(12:21):
on a civil matter, you know youcould be completely right on
everything, the reason you wantto go to court and you might
have documentation and you showup and you believe in everything
you're going to say, but youdon't have an attorney and that
other party does.
Probably 99 times out of 100,you're going to lose.
And so finding your own buyeragent who you like and who's got
(12:45):
the skill set that you need andsomebody you trust, is the best
way to go, I think, becauseyou're going to have somebody
who's going to represent yourbest interest.
They're going to be loyal toyou.
They're going to discuss allthe material facts about a
property before you make anoffer, and in North Carolina
it's really critical that theydo that because of our due
diligence fee that we have here.
(13:05):
So for those people out therelistening and they're not
familiar with North Carolinareal estate, in our state when
you make an offer, there is adue diligence fee that is due at
the time of contract, per thecontract, and so that due
diligence fee is not refundableunder any circumstance.
So if you were looking at ahouse for four hundred thousand
(13:28):
and you wanted to put it undercontract, you might give the
seller you know it's anegotiated amount it could be as
little as a thousand or 2000.
And if it's the house, it's inreally high demand it could be
20,000 or even more.
But if your agent isn't lookingout for your best interest and
reviewing documents and lookingat things like the roof, the
(13:51):
HVAC system, the water heater,the foundation, if they're not
doing all that prior to youwriting that offer, and then you
get under contract and you paythe seller that fee and then
find out three or four dayslater that there's a lot of
problems, then you lose thatmoney.
And so, going back to yourinternet question, you know
everybody can do whatever theywant.
(14:11):
But if it were me and I wasbuying, especially in an area I
wasn't familiar with or I hadn'tbought property in several
years, I would seek out the helpof a very good buyer agent
who's going to represent my bestinterest and be loyal to me and
formulate a workingrelationship and teamwork,
versus trying to go to the.
(14:31):
And when people come to me whenI'm listing property, they
don't have an agent.
I mean, you know I'm notobligated to represent their
best interest, because I alreadyhave an agreement with my
client.
I can help them a little bit,but they're not going to get the
full level of services and itcould.
In the end it'll cost themthousands of dollars.
And the law of agency is acritical thing, and knowing
(14:55):
who's on your team and who youcan trust and all that is so, so
important.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, we could probably do a whole show just on
due diligence on our next one,because it is so unique in North
Carolina.
Well, mike, thank you so much.
Tell our listeners how to findyou.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So the best way to find me, obviously, I think, is
just to make a quick phone call,even if you're not right in the
market today, or me, obviously,I think is just to make a quick
phone call, even if you're notright in the market today or
tomorrow, but you think you'regoing to be, just call me.
We can talk for a few minutesand just help.
You know, see where things gofrom there.
But my number is 704-619-7070.
(15:32):
And if you're interested, inwaterfront property.
You can go towwwCarolinaLakeFrontHomescom.
That's CarolinaLakeFrontHomes.
com.
You'll see all kinds ofdifferent interesting
information, articles, listings,things about the lakes.
All kinds of great informationIf you're thinking you might
(15:54):
want to buy something on one ofthe area.
Lakes like Lake Norman Lake,wiley Lake, hickory or Mount
Ninal Lake.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Fantastic.
Well, thank you so much forsharing your wisdom today.
Mike Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.
That's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.
is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local
businesses and neighbors cometogether.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning everyone and welcome to another episode
of the Good Neighbor Podcast.
My favorite thing to do is tochat with local business owners
and my goodness, mike, this ismaybe our fourth time.
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So this is Mike Sposato and he is the owner of
Carolina Realty Advisors, andyou are quite the powerhouse in
Charlotte.
Do you specialize in any typeof real estate?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, I do.
I do you know.
Let me first start off bysaying you know, after doing
this for almost 25 years, afterdoing this for almost 25 years,
how we built our business andwhy we call ourselves Carolina
Realty Advisors is we reallylook for a good fit with our
clientele.
A fit means, it's prettyobvious Do we like each other?
(00:57):
Do we feel like we'd be able towork together in a longer
business cycle, because realestate sales can take quite a
while?
That being said, if we feellike there's a fit, luckily,
through time, you know,developed a lot of different
skill sets in different markets,so I can help people do a
variety of things, which isunusual for our market because
(01:19):
most of the time when you takeyour average real estate agent,
they may work for X, y, xyzcompany and they only work in a
given area, like South Park orBallantyne or et cetera.
That's all they do, that's whatthey know and that's where
they're proficient.
But there's so manyopportunities if you have the
skill set and the negotiationability to work in different
(01:41):
markets.
So I do commercial real estate,ability to work in different
markets.
So I do commercial real estate,I do traditional residential
real estate.
I also like to do a lot of the55 and what I call 55 and better
real estate.
Love it and then you know, butreally I specialize a lot in
waterfront property.
That's where I'm mostpassionate and if anybody is
watching this and not listeningto it, but just watching the
(02:04):
video, you can see I've got theraccoon eyes.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, you do.
Yeah, that's from being out onthe boat all the time.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, and so when I when I like this week I've got
two different clients coming infrom out of state and when they
come in one of the days, weactually go out on the boat and
we'll come up to the houses thatwe're going to look at, tie up
on their dock and go out thatway so I can teach them what
they need to know aboutdifferent, like Lake Wiley or
Lake Norman and places to go to,places to avoid where the water
(02:33):
is shallow and all that goodstuff like that that you would
need to know.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That is amazing because you're absolutely right.
If you want to buy a boat, ifyou're planning on bringing a
yacht versus a pontoon totallydifferent needs Well, here we
are.
In the heat of the summer, Isthis a bad time to list your
lake house?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
No, actually there's this, is it with the lake
properties?
There's really not a bad timeto do it, and the reason is what
I'm finding.
Most of the clients I'm workingwith are coming here from out
of state.
They're usually cash buyerswhich set that aside.
The big reason is is thatthey're typically empty nesters
or this is a second home, soschools aren't that critical to
(03:17):
them most of the time.
So when people are thinkingabout the spring market, they
want to get their house listed.
When people are thinking aboutthe spring market, they want to
get their house listed.
Frequently those people wouldbe, you know, families or in a
neighborhood or area where theschool it's.
A lot of it's generated onschools and timing around
schools and things of thatnature, but on the lake, you
know, it's constant.
(03:38):
In fact, I was doing a littleresearch just a few minutes ago
before a conversation and what Ifound is, right now, if you're
looking at waterfront propertyon either Lake Norman or Lake
Wiley, both of them combined,there's 223 active listings,
which you know, take it for whatit's worth.
There's 76, though, that areunder contract, and there's 218
(04:00):
that have sold in the last sixmonths, and so if you break that
down with 223, well, 218 soldproperties.
That averages out to about 36properties are selling every
single month on either one ofthe lakes that are waterfront,
and having 76 under contractassuming it takes two months
(04:20):
from contract to close, thatmeans 38 properties are
currently selling every singlemonth, and with 223 properties
that are listed, that meansthere's an average of about
let's put it like this waythere's an average of 37
different homes getting listedeach month.
(04:40):
There's an average of 37different homes getting listed
each month, and so it's like aconveyor belt.
It's a nonstop conveyor belt.
When you put your house on themarket, on average, it's taking
six months to go through theprocess, so you list it.
It takes probably four monthsto get it under contract,
another two weeks or two monthsto get it closed out, and so
(05:02):
that's a healthy inventory.
I've always talked about buyermarket versus seller market.
Seller's market is when youlist it and it takes you like 30
days from list to close, and abuyer's market is when it takes
12 months or longer from list toclose, but when you're in that
six month area, that's the sweetspot, that's when you have a
(05:25):
healthy market and that's reallywhat you have when you're
looking at waterfront property.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, and let's say we were just talking about
listing a home.
How about buying a homestrategically?
Let's say you're not in a bighurry.
Is there a certain time of yearyou should think about looking?
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
If you're not in a big hurry.
You know on average, these arejust the laws of averages.
But when you get to the end ofthe year, you know right around
the holidays.
If anybody's home is still onthe market then, and they've
been on the market for four orfive, six months, that seller's
probably experiencing someamount of pain, frustration,
(06:07):
stress, anxiety, and they may bemore willing at that point to
take a little bit of a loweroffer just to get it off their
books.
So you know, if you were goingto try to pinpoint one time, if
you're the buyer and you want toget the deal today, it might be
to come out, you know, lateNovember into early January to
try to see what you can find.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
But then again, most of the time the inventories have
been picked through and it'salmost like a rummage sale yeah,
it seems like lakefrontpurchasing is such an emotional
decision and when you see thathouse and you think, oh my god,
this is it.
Well, so are a lot of otherpeople.
So do you find that you askpeople hey, this might be it.
(06:50):
How do you work with them whenyou see a property that's a good
fit?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, I mean, it's really.
It's kind of first starts offwith active listening.
You got to really seek tounderstand what they're saying
and what they want, becausepeople come in initially with
all sorts of different thoughts,especially if they're not from
our area.
You know lakes where they're at, or you know they're shaped
different, they're smaller,they're this or that, the houses
are different, prices aredifferent.
But once they get acclimatedand you go out and you kind of
(07:18):
look at properties with them,you do have to be able to walk
in their shoes, side by side andkind of understand really
what's important for them.
For some people it's all aboutthe view, some people it's you
know, they want there's, youknow some of the lakes, or not
some of the lakes, but some ofthe homes have really really
steep declines from the housedown into the water, you know,
(07:41):
and if they're elderly orwhatever, that's a, you know, a
no-go, it's a showstopper.
So just things of that nature.
You just got to understandwhat's important for them, you
know, and make sure that you'reyou know doing what they really
want you to do in order toprovide the service that they
need.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, and I guess being patient is part of it from
the buyer's perspective.
So, what's going on in thewhole Charlotte, you know, with
Lake, not just lakes, but giveus an update on the Charlotte
Metro area market.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, that's kind of a loaded question, because
there's.
So you, you really, when youyou have to look at little sub
markets as an example Uptown orSouth Park or even like Matthews
or Mint Hill each one'sslightly different because the
buyer pool is a little bitdifferent.
As an example, the uptown crowdor the south end crowd might
(08:33):
tend to be a little bit youngermaybe and maybe wanting that
city life, so to speak, whereasyou might look in South Park and
again it could be going aroundschools and timing around
schools and things of thatnature.
So the healthier markets arestill.
It's crazy that the higherdollar markets like I had a
(08:57):
listing that I put on the marketfive weeks ago for two point
five million and had 30, someshowings and got a cash offer on
it, which was crazy, becausethen I have other listings that
are listed for 320,000 and in 30days they get three showings.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
It's just and it's a lot because of interest rates.
I mean, when you work with thepeople every day and you see
these like when their predictivepayment comes out, if their
credit is not the greatest andthey don't have a lot of money
to put down, sometimes when theyget that, well, here's what
your payment's going to be oncewe show them a house and they
kind of factor in taxes andeverything.
(09:39):
It really is.
You know, it's a showstopperfor some people, even though
they're going to own it and it'sgoing to be write off and all
that.
Cash.
Buyers or people who have quitea bit at least 20 to maybe 50%
to put down.
That's the market that's moving.
(10:00):
It's the first time.
Buyers that have kind of sloweddown quite a bit just because of
rates.
But they keep saying rates aregoing to be better.
All the economic signs aresaying they should be better and
once they are, I think the bowis going to break and the cradle
is going to fall again and Ithink we're going to be in a
position where the buyers comerushing back in.
And who knows when that couldbe.
(10:21):
It could be tomorrow, it couldbe next year, it could be next
month, I don't know.
No one really knows, but youknow rates get down in the low,
low sixes or even mid to highfive, something like that.
I think it's going to be.
It's going to be back on.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, so when a lot of us think about we want a
different house, we look onlineand then we call that agent that
is with that listing and thatis not oftentimes the agent that
even made the listing correct.
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Well.
So it depends on where they go.
So if they go to Zillow orRealtorcom, what those companies
will do is they have premieragents in different zip codes
and cities and so forth thatthey put on those listings.
(11:18):
They're not the listing agent,but that's good for the consumer
, because if you buy and sellreal estate every year or every
other year and you do it a lotand have a lot of experience and
you maybe you can do it on yourown, that's one thing, but the
average person doesn't.
The average person at thispoint is like every six and a
(11:38):
half years they'll make a move,and the real estate commission,
national Association of Realtorsand so forth, they change all
the contracts each year.
So the terminology changes, thedance moves and putting a deal
together they change and ifyou're not up to speed, trying
to represent yourself could beproblematic.
(11:59):
The way I always explain it isthis If you go out on the
Internet and you think you'regoing to go directly to the
listing agent, you're walking inthe door with somebody who's
already working with the sellerand they've got a signed listing
agreement that stipulatesthey're going to get them the
most amount of money andrepresent their best interest,
not yours.
Another way of looking at it isif you ever had to go to court
(12:21):
on a civil matter, you know youcould be completely right on
everything, the reason you wantto go to court and you might
have documentation and you showup and you believe in everything
you're going to say, but youdon't have an attorney and that
other party does.
Probably 99 times out of 100,you're going to lose.
And so finding your own buyeragent who you like and who's got
(12:45):
the skill set that you need andsomebody you trust, is the best
way to go, I think, becauseyou're going to have somebody
who's going to represent yourbest interest.
They're going to be loyal toyou.
They're going to discuss allthe material facts about a
property before you make anoffer, and in North Carolina
it's really critical that theydo that because of our due
diligence fee that we have here.
(13:05):
So for those people out therelistening and they're not
familiar with North Carolinareal estate, in our state when
you make an offer, there is adue diligence fee that is due at
the time of contract, per thecontract, and so that due
diligence fee is not refundableunder any circumstance.
So if you were looking at ahouse for four hundred thousand
(13:28):
and you wanted to put it undercontract, you might give the
seller you know it's anegotiated amount it could be as
little as a thousand or 2000.
And if it's the house, it's inreally high demand it could be
20,000 or even more.
But if your agent isn't lookingout for your best interest and
reviewing documents and lookingat things like the roof, the
(13:51):
HVAC system, the water heater,the foundation, if they're not
doing all that prior to youwriting that offer, and then you
get under contract and you paythe seller that fee and then
find out three or four dayslater that there's a lot of
problems, then you lose thatmoney.
And so, going back to yourinternet question, you know
everybody can do whatever theywant.
(14:11):
But if it were me and I wasbuying, especially in an area I
wasn't familiar with or I hadn'tbought property in several
years, I would seek out the helpof a very good buyer agent
who's going to represent my bestinterest and be loyal to me and
formulate a workingrelationship and teamwork,
versus trying to go to the.
(14:31):
And when people come to me whenI'm listing property, they
don't have an agent.
I mean, you know I'm notobligated to represent their
best interest, because I alreadyhave an agreement with my
client.
I can help them a little bit,but they're not going to get the
full level of services and itcould.
In the end it'll cost themthousands of dollars.
And the law of agency is acritical thing, and knowing
(14:55):
who's on your team and who youcan trust and all that is so, so
important.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, we could probably do a whole show just on
due diligence on our next one,because it is so unique in North
Carolina.
Well, mike, thank you so much.
Tell our listeners how to findyou.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So the best way to find me, obviously, I think, is
just to make a quick phone call,even if you're not right in the
market today, or me, obviously,I think is just to make a quick
phone call, even if you're notright in the market today or
tomorrow, but you think you'regoing to be, just call me.
We can talk for a few minutesand just help.
You know, see where things gofrom there.
But my number is 704-619-7070.
(15:32):
And if you're interested, inwaterfront property.
You can go towwwCarolinaLakeFrontHomescom.
That's CarolinaLakeFrontHomes.
com.
You'll see all kinds ofdifferent interesting
information, articles, listings,things about the lakes.
All kinds of great informationIf you're thinking you might
(15:54):
want to buy something on one ofthe area.
Lakes like Lake Norman Lake,wiley Lake, hickory or Mount
Ninal Lake.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Fantastic.
Well, thank you so much forsharing your wisdom today.
Mike Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.
That's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.
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