May 16, 2025 • 30 mins
Ready to move? Don’t just pack—plan. This episode is packed with moving tips, packing tips for moving, and expert strategies to make your next move smoother, cheaper, and less stressful.
Join Florida real estate broker Cara Ameer, moving expert and author Robert Esposito, home design authority Melissa Dittmann Tracey, and Livability editor-in-chief Amanda Ellis as they share actionable advice for buyers, sellers, and renters alike. Whether you're relocating across town or across the country, this episode will help you move smarter—not harder.
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(00:03):
- This is Real Estate today,
the number one real estateshow in America, brought to you
by the National Association of Realtors
and its realtor membersin your neighborhood.
- Welcome to Real Estate Today. Hi there.
I'm Melissa Tracy
(00:24):
and we're so glad you'rejoining us for today's show
because it's the month of May
and that means it's nationalmoving month, the busiest time
of year for movers andshakers across the country.
But let's face it, with movingcome stress on today's show,
we're tapping into the mindsof top real estate pros,
(00:45):
the agents and relocationexperts who've seen it all
and they're ready to bringyou stress saving tips
for your next big move that's coming up.
But first, let's go to theReal estate today newsroom
with Bill Thompson. Hi Bill.
- Hi Melissa. That 90 day trucein the US China Trade War is
helping ease nervousnessin the housing industry.
(01:07):
The National Association ofHome Builders estimates that 27%
of imported materials come from China
housing Wire lead analyst Logan Mo says,
- We still have very high tariffs.
We withdrew money from the economy.
We've been firing federal workers.
There's all these variablesthat are still in play,
but just for today, the worstcase scenario for the economy
(01:29):
that it looks like we'regonna do multiple deals
and there are somedeescalation with China.
- Now, where tariffs aremore complex is in consumer
sentiment, says realtor.com.
Senior economist Joel Burner.
- You know the only thing thatreally pins up the housing
market is the labor market.
So if people are afraid oflosing their jobs, it's going
to impact the housing market's,
(01:50):
gonna bring down housing values
and going to slow home sales even more
than they already have been.
- Burner spoke on Yahoo Finance,
the somewhat cloudy skieshanging over the housing
market so far this spring.
Maybe about to get brighter.
Altos Research President MikeSimonson likes the outlook
- Year to date throughthe first week of May.
We count 3% fewer totalsales than in 2024.
(02:13):
But in May and June theyearly comparisons get easy
because last year at thistime was really dry due
to the highest mortgage rates of the year.
So the next bunch of weeksshould report home sales
growth each week.
- Simonson spoke in an altosvideo. Melissa, back to you.
- Thanks Bill. Selling your house is a
(02:36):
stressful part thatkicks off a lot of moves.
What can you do to ease the process?
Ever heard of a pre-inspectionreal estate broker, Kara?
Amir says it can be a smartmove for home sellers.
She's joining us nextto talk more about that.
Kara is a real estate broker
with Coldwell Banker's VanguardRealty based in Florida's
(02:57):
Ponte Vera Beach.
Kara is also a licensedreal estate professional in
California working in two
of the fastest paced housingmarkets in the country.
Kara, welcome to Real Estate today.
- Thanks Melissa. It's great to be here.
- So it's a popular time ofyear to list a home first sale.
So let's talk about how
to get moving in the home selling process.
(03:20):
What's the first step homeownersshould take when preparing
to sell during the busier times of year?
- So as much as prep forsale is very important
and all of the, you know,decluttering and painting
and landscaping, there's onething that sellers need to do
before they do anything else.
And that is get a pre-listing inspection.
(03:42):
It's better for you as a seller
to get a grip on your home'scondition, on your time
and your terms before going to market.
- This is interesting. Sobringing the home inspector in
earlier into that process.
'cause usually sellers tend to wait until
after they have an offer
and then the buyer bringstheir inspector in.
So you're saying bring that inspector in
(04:03):
before you even list todo a checkup on the home.
- It's a very proactiveversus reactive approach,
especially in today'smarket where we're dealing
with the higher interestrates, the insurance,
the inflation, it's a lot more expensive
for a buyer to buy a home.
And so buyers don'twanna buy the money pit.
They can't afford it,especially with the cost today,
(04:24):
you know this is not 2021 withinterest rates that were 3%
and it so buyers are reallyevaluating properties
very carefully.
And if it's you know,gonna be too expensive
with too many things to repairand replace, we'll walk away
- Now we wanna help get homesellers moving today, but even
(04:45):
after an offer, some dealscan still fall through.
What are the most common issues
that could delay a home sale?
- Well there's a few.
One being inspectionslike we just talked about.
That's why getting a pre-listinginspection is so important
because I think it will helpderail a lot of the surprise
and shock that mighthappen from inspections
(05:05):
for both the buyer and the seller.
'cause working through repairissues can take a lot of time
and trying to resolve things.
So inspections, financingfor some people, you know,
depending on the kind ofloan there can be, you know,
some gotchas or sometimesan underwriter comes back
and wants the buyer to put more money down
or pay off some debt and thatmight not go over so well.
(05:28):
Appraisals have always been an area
where the property may not appraise at the
contract sales price.
Now there's a difference the buyer
and seller have to try torenegotiate and work it out.
Or maybe everybody walks away.
Maybe a buyer doesn't wannahave to come out of pocket
with additional funds.
So certainly those are somethings that can derail the deal
(05:48):
- So much to consider.
So the warmer months arealways a busier time of year
for the real estate market.
Are there advantages
to buying a home now versuslater in the year when
things are slower?
- There definitely is
because the spring is thetime when everybody's starting
to make their plans
and a lot of moving is timed
around the end of the school year.
(06:10):
So this is the time ofyear that we see a lot
of properties coming on the market.
And you tend to have more choicesnow than versus toward the
fall or the end of the year.
- How can a real estate agenthelp a buyer navigate this
this time of year?
- Well, preparation meets successequals opportunity, right?
(06:30):
So you have to really coach
your buyer clients on strategy.
Strategy is very importantfor the market you're in
because like I was saying,all markets are local
so what's going on, you know,
in one city is verydifferent from another one
and even different parts of town.
So really depending on the area
that you're interestedin buying the price point
(06:50):
and what you're tryingto find, an agent needs
to counsel you with thespecifics of that area.
They need to advise you,you know, what's the supply
and demand like how quicklyare properties turning,
what's the percentage
of asking price theseproperties are selling for?
So you know how youknow going in that hey,
if something comes onthe market, I can't wait,
(07:10):
I'm gonna have to goin with a strong offer.
You know, what's the strategy?
- Go and educate.
And are there any mistakes thatyou notice home buyers tend
to make during these peak moving times?
- I think putting thecart before the horse.
Take a step back and plan.
Don't jump into the poolyou want to, you know,
(07:34):
first step, talk to a lender.
You've gotta get yourfinancial house in order.
You need to understand whatcan I afford with what I have
to work with, you know, whatdoes my credit look like?
What are my assets and income?
What's my debt to income ratio?
What payment am I comfortable in?
And then that will drive everything else.
But until you have that,you're just guessing.
(07:54):
- Well Kira, I really want to thank you
for being on the showtoday to talk about how
to get moving in the realestate market. Thank you Kira.
- Thanks Melissa. It wasgreat to be here. As always,
- We are taking on moves in real estate.
The average cost
of a move in 2025 is about $3,000.
(08:16):
But that can vary quite a bit depending on
how far you're going and how much you own.
Whether you're moving across town
or across the country,we've got expert advice
to help you do it smart,safer and maybe even cheaper.
Joining us on real estatetoday is an expert on moving.
Robert Esposito, the author of the book,
(08:37):
nobody Move Without Reading this.
Robert is also the founder
of relocator services basedin Long Island, New York.
Robert, welcome to Real Estate today.
- Thank you. Thank you for having me.
- We're so glad you're joining us today.
So what's the very first thingsomeone should do when they
(08:57):
know a move is coming up,even if it's months away?
- The very first thing according
to like the emotional side Ialways say is I say you would
be a hero if you tellclients to video the home
before calling anyone in.
'cause they'll probably come a day
where they would payanything to have that.
And that goes for like mom's house
(09:18):
that you might've been born in
or the house you raised your children in.
On a practical sense, I wouldsay start planning immediately
and coming up with a complete game plan
where you strategically write things down.
- What's your advice forpeople trying to decide
between a DIY move
and hiring a full service moving company?
(09:41):
- Are you actually able to,I mean past the college phase
and even at that level, DIY,
it's much harder than youthink it is, you know,
and even in the book I talk about like
how is it such a top stressor?
You kind of think aboutit like rent a truck, DIY,
but it's actually a lot more to that. So
(10:04):
- Now professional movers canobviously be more expensive.
So I would assume a lot ofpeople love that DIY just
because they're cutting costs.
But you're saying it's notalways worth it in the end,
- It's not worth it in the end.
If there's fragilestuff, the actual stress
that you're gonna gothrough, it might be worth it
in some areas like withcertain specific areas
(10:27):
of your house, but as a complete hole,
it's probably not worth it.
- Now moving can be expensive.
Are there any cost cutting strategies
that don't compromise thequality or safety of the move?
- Absolutely. A lot of timespeople will think, hey,
we're gonna do the garage orwe're gonna do the backyard.
(10:48):
But those might be easy for the movers
'cause they do it every day
and they're fast things like 50%
of the contents might not equate to 50%
of the job reduction,
whereas 10% like taking TVs off the wall
or packaging
or creating fragile items mightactually be 50% of the cost.
(11:11):
So if you're able to dothose things like assembling
or dissembling or handling fragile items
that maybe you could justput in your back seat
and it'll be extremely safe
as the only thing in your backseat
that might be much more costeffective than doing a lot
of contents And by R you think, oh,
that might be a lot less money.
(11:33):
It doesn't equate that way.
And also color coding organization is the
most important thing.
And not only is that a cost saver,
like our care packages comewith color coding stickers,
you also eliminate the needto be a foreman the day
of the job and you're alreadydealing with all this stress
and then now you have tobe asked every single item
(11:53):
where it goes by color codingit, you can eliminate 80,
90% of that work.
- You've been very vocalabout shady moving practices.
How can consumers protect themselves?
- One check to make sure they'relicensed with their state.
Every state licenses movers differently.
And then there's alsothe federal motor carrier
(12:16):
that licenses for cross country moves
or state to state moves.
Another thing I would say is
communication is the biggest thing.
Some of them rightfully so,there are the shady ones
and you need to do your due diligence
because cheap isn't always,
sometimes expen cheap is expensive.
But on the flip side,movers are a different trade
(12:38):
because you're notestimating stable figures,
you're estimating most of thetime half the job at best.
And you know, I always jokelike I bet you wouldn't want the
job of guessing
how many times your spousewill want the sofa repositioned
because somebody could ask for something
to be moved 10 times
and time is money when it comes to moving.
(13:00):
- What are the most overlooked items
or tasks people forgetabout during a move? What
- Are the pets need?
What do the kids need?Where are the chargers?
Where are the remotes?
Where is the, you know, lastminute snacks that you need
to stay fueled on, movingday, things of that nature.
And then making surewhat is supposed to stay
(13:23):
for the new owners stays
and what's not supposed to stay doesn't.
- That's a big one in real estate.
So your book blends the logisticsof moving with psychology.
Moving is stressful.
What do people most oftenunderestimate about the emotional
side of moving?
- I think they underestimatethe actual effect the items
(13:47):
will have on them in grudging up old
or uncovered feelings of grief
that haven't been dealt with yet.
- So as you're going through things
and packing them up, it bringsback all these memories.
- Correct. Or like the smell
of your child's blanket in the crib
or things of that nature that you know,
(14:07):
instantly trick your brain into, you know,
remembering a time or a place or a person.
- You know, another onea lot of people point
to is moving with children.
Do you have any adviceon what parents can do
to help their kids betterprepare for the moving process?
- My advice for themto help them adjust is
to focus on the positives, thenew friends, the new sports,
(14:30):
the new events or activities they can do
and keep them as occupied
and as part of the processes possible.
Write a letter to the old home
but in a new home, pick outyour color, paint on the wall
or you know, whateveryou can engage them in
to make them part of theprocess going forward,
we'll push them forward.
(14:52):
- That's good advice.I always think back of
my child when he was three years old
and the movers came to pack everything up
and he was screaming, don't take my toys.
- Exactly.- Maybe preparing them,
Hey the movers are gonna be coming in
and this is what's gonna happen.
You know, I also hearyou're working on a journal
for movers asking them to reflect on
(15:14):
what their home means to them.
What are some of thosequestions you ask homeowners
to reflect on about their home?
- And a journal goes frompast to present to future
and it makes you think of, you know,
the traditions you started in this home,
the ones you wanna carryon to your next home.
What brought you there,what goals did you have?
(15:35):
At what point did this housebecome your home somewhere you
ran to for comfort and salvationwhen the world was crazy?
All things like that wetalk about in the journal
and we don't really write aboutit, we're just sparking you
to write about it so you can have that
for yourself and your family.
- I love that idea.
So often we think of scrapbookingthe memories of our kids
(15:58):
and vacations, but you canalso take that same idea
and make a scrapbook forthe homes you've lived in.
- Exactly.- Robert, I really wanna thank you
for being on our show today
and talking about easing the stress
of moves. Thank you Robert.
- Thank you.- And
(16:18):
now it's time for hot
or not our weekly quiz aboutwhat's trending in home design
all for the sake ofincreasing your home's appeal.
So today let's head outsideand take on our first trend
and that's spray painting your lawn green.
What do you think? Is it hot or not?
(16:41):
It's not. So if the grass isalways greener on the other
side of the fence,
well your neighbor mayhave a dirty little secret
and it's not their fancy sprinkler system.
They might just be paintingtheir lawn green. That's right.
Lawn painting.
The quick fix for droughtdamaged turf golf courses
(17:04):
and stadiums have beendoing this for years,
but now homeowners are joiningthe club, they're motivated
by water restrictions,annoying dead patches.
And let's be honest,
dying your lawn is cheaperthan having it receded
or ripping out a dead lawn entirely.
Sure this grass paint istechnically non-toxic,
(17:26):
biodegradable and safe for pets and kids,
but it takes 24 to 72 hours
to dry In that time.
You need to keep the pets kids
and curious neighbors off the lawn
or your dog may be freshlydyed green to the likes
of the incredible Hulk.
Also something to know with this,
(17:47):
the spray doesn't alwayshold up well in heavy rain.
Now another thing with this,
remember you still arepainting dead grass.
This isn't solving lawn problems.
No amount of emerald greenspray paint can fix compacted
soil shade issues or neglected lawn care.
All that said, I'll be honest,I'm intrigued by this idea.
(18:11):
Let's say you've got a patchof grass that needs a touchup
before a special event
or the dog keeps browningup that same area
and it stands out against the rest
of your perfectly manicured turf.
Go for it. Grab the green spray, why not?
But you may also considermore long-term solutions
(18:32):
by limiting the amount ofyour water loving turf areas.
Also using native grasses
or even artificial turf in some cases
because in the end, if you just reach
for the spray can again
and again realize you arenot really fooling anyone.
You can't truly fake yourlawn's health in the long run
(18:53):
and your dirty little greensecret might just be exposed
once that heavy rain comes.
Let's take on another aspect of the home.
And that's this idea makingthe rounds called no mo May.
What do you think? Is that hot or not?
(19:13):
Not there's been a real outdoormovement growing in recent
years called No Mo May, butit's hit a bit of a snag.
Despite its eco-friendly intentions,
it's now ruffling feathers with neighbors
and homeowner associations.
So for this season
and for those reasons,we're giving it a knot.
(19:35):
Now don't get me wrong,
the ideas certainly soundshot on paper an entire month
without mowing the lawn.
And it's not about being lazy.
But strategic supporters
of no mow may say it's allabout helping the planet
and protecting early seasonpollinators like bees
(19:55):
and butterflies, let the grass
and wild flowers grow in return.
You're doing theenvironment a lot of good.
But here's the twist,some scientists are saying
that letting your lawn gowild might not actually help
Pollinators all that much tall,
dense grass can crowd outthe very flowers bees need.
(20:16):
Plus it only provides abrief buffet for insects just
for one month and then it'sback to mowing as usual.
Worse yet, the original study
that helped launch thisentire movement has since
been retracted.
Researchers instead arerecommending some alternatives like
planting native species suchas nectar rich white clover,
(20:38):
and even wild strawberries and hay.
There's even a low momay option where you mow
a month instead of weekly
to keep your lawn tidy whilealso helping pollinators.
You can embrace the trend,do less, but do it smarter.
Add pollinator friendlyplants, mow a little less,
(21:02):
let nature thrive,
but do it without tickingoff your neighbors
or collecting citations fromyour homeowners association.
For more home design
and remodeling inspiration,check out house logic.com.
Up next, we're taking a look at some
of the best places to call home.
(21:23):
That's right, the areaswith bragging rights,
earning a spot on Liv Ability's.
Best Places to Live List for 2025.
Joining us to learn moreabout these trendy cities
to call home is AmandaEllis, editor in chief
of Livability Media
and the lead on this year'sBest Places to Live List.
(21:46):
Amanda, welcome to Real Estate Today.
- Hello, thanks so much for having me.
- We're so glad you're joining us today.
So, which cities topped livability
2025 Best Places to live list?
- Yes, this is one of myfavorite things to talk about.
We have moved more towardscelebrating all 100
(22:07):
of these places, whetheryour ranking would put you at
number one or number 100, right.
But that being said, Iwill let you in on some,
not necessarily secrets here,but our top scoring cities.
If you do look at the scores, some
of those were Flower MountTexas, Carmel, Indiana,
Sugarland, Texas, Naperville, Illinois,
(22:28):
and Roswell, Georgia.
Those would technicallybe our five highest
scoring cities this year.
If you do look at this as a,as a ranking versus just a list
of 100 amazing places.
- That's great. So tellus what makes a city one
of the best places to live in 2025?
- A lot of things, butas far as this list,
we do use a rather intense,if I do say so myself,
(22:50):
data-driven process andalgorithm to come up with these.
So what that looks like is wepull more than a hundred data
points on all the cities that we look at
for this list we focus onsmall to medium sized cities.
So that population that we usefor this is 70 5K to 500 K.
So all the cities that fallin that range are the ones
that we pull data on.
(23:12):
Those data points aredivided into eight different
categories and those are designed
to take into account prettymuch anything you would think
of when evaluating whether aplace is a good place to live.
So amend these
and things to do economy,education, environment,
health, housing, and cost of living.
And the other one issafety and transportation.
(23:34):
- So research from theNational Association
of Realtors has shown thatmore people are motivated
to move in order to becloser to friends and family
or for affordability,
not necessarily jobs like hasbeen the case in the past.
Do your rankings illustratethis shift in priorities?
Are you noticing that
(23:55):
- As far as the bigger trend?
We definitely see peoplewaiting that quality
of life piece equally tothat career piece, right?
They're both really important,
but if you had a jobopportunity somewhere,
unless you were really desperate,
you're probably not gonna go somewhere
that you don't thinkyou would enjoy living.
Right. And in some of ourother research we've looked at,
(24:15):
you know, asking peoplelike, how did you end up
where you're, where you're living?
And the number came in, Ibelieve around 20% of people in
that survey said that theyhad ended up in their current
city for a job, which is a decent number.
But then you think aboutthe other 80% all had
other reasons.
- Amanda's summer isjust around the corner
(24:35):
and I am dreaming of a beach town.
What are some of the best beach towns
that appeared onlivability list this year?
- We've got a good handful of places
with some solid coastalproximity, a couple of those.
So we saw Wilmington, NorthCarolina come up this year,
Charleston, South Carolina,everybody loves Charleston.
I talked about Greenville,North Carolina a little bit.
(24:57):
They're not too far awayfrom some coastal access.
Tampa, Florida was on the list.
So we definitely have some fun ones
and we do see in our researchthat people appreciate
that coastal proximityand mountain proximity to.
- Sounds great.
So did you have any citiestop livability, best places
(25:18):
to live list for some unexpected reasons,
maybe places people don'tusually think of as trending.
- So one that I alwaysthink is interesting,
it's not their first time on the list,
but Hoover, Alabama is sortof a suburb of Birmingham
and Birmingham is very cool
and also has some reallycool suburbs like that
that if you haven't spent alot of time there, you know,
(25:39):
might not be top of mind,
but that was one that wascool to see. Definitely.
- Any newcomers on this year's list?
- Greenville, North Carolina was a cool
one that was great to see.
Show up, Auburn, Alabama,Athens, Georgia was another one
that showed up this year,Gainesville, Florida.
And when I was looking at that,I had jotted down a couple
of my favorite newcomer cities
(26:00):
and I thought those are all college towns.
So it was interesting thatwe kind of saw that in common
of some of those newcomer places.
And we know that collegetowns have a lot of amenities
that everybody enjoys, even ifyou're not a student, right?
And statistically they tend tobe a little bit more diverse,
a little bit more affluent.
And of course education levels a lot
of times are a little bithigher than some other
places, so they have a lot to offer.
(26:21):
It was an interestingcommon thread between them
- And they tend to havevery lively housing markets
- Too. That's true.
- Do you think the big cityspotlight has faded a bit
and are those smaller
and midsize towns gaininga lot more attention?
- I think so,
and I think it's forseveral different reasons.
(26:43):
I think that nowadays,I think most smaller
and medium sized cities offermost of what people want
and need, right?
And in a lot of ways it'skind of easier to enjoy them.
And a lot of smaller
and medium sized cities tooare still within like a few
hours drive of a largermetro if there is something
that you feel like you just really need
(27:03):
that you don't have immediate access to.
And I also think there's alot more intentional effort in
more recent years in thosecommunities promoting themselves
in a really intentional wayto get on the radar of, again,
we talked about talent attraction
and to get on the radar of those people
that they want to reach.
So I definitely think there is.
And the large metros, Imean we all, you know,
(27:24):
know a lot about kind ofwhat their challenges are
and what makes them sofun to visit, right?
But as far as livingthere, yeah, I think day
to day there's just alot of challenges in some
of those really large metros
that are a little bit reducedin some of our smaller
or more medium sized cities.
And there's so many greatones across the country.
(27:44):
- So for people planning a move this year,
what advice would you give themfor researching a new city?
- So selfishly, I do have tostart by calling out our site
as a whole livability.com.
That's kind of our whole shtick.
We're built out to be acomprehensive relocation resource.
And I would also say thismore intentional approach
(28:05):
to talent attraction.
And that a lot of communitiesare actively doing a lot
to try to get your attention.
And so I think kind of lookingat what some of those are,
there are a lot of incentives out there.
You know, could any ofthose be somewhere you'd be
interested in and and benefit you?
You know, we're seeing some cash offers,
some home down paymentassistance, you know, things to do
(28:26):
with getting property.
So I think that's definitelysomething to think about.
Or even just programmingthat communities have
around helping you get to knowpeople and build community
and think about are there benefits there
that you can tap into?
I think would also bea really good strategy,
especially if you're lookingat the country as a whole
and thinking about, hmm,where do I wanna go next?
(28:46):
- That's great advice.
Well, Amanda, I really wannathank you for joining us today
to talk about livability best places
to live list. Thank you, Amanda.
- Thank you. Thanks so much for having us.
This was fun and one of my favorite topics
- And that wraps up our show for today.
We hope you picked up plenty of tips
(29:07):
to help you feel right at homethis national moving month.
Whether your next movetakes you to the city
or the suburbs, yourbest place might be just
around the corner.
So wherever you land, wewish you a smooth journey,
happy memories,
and we hope you'll takereal estate today along
for the ride into your next chapter.
(29:29):
Until then, from all of us hereat Real Estate Today, thanks
for listening and happyNational Moving Month,
- A brand new show every Friday.
And when you subscribe,you'll never miss an episode.
The Real Estate Today Podcast
because knowledge ispower, realtors are members
(29:51):
of the National Association of Realtors.
- This is Real Estate today,
the number one real estateshow in America, brought to you
by the National Association of Realtors
and its realtor membersin your neighborhood.
- Welcome to Real Estate Today. Hi there.
I'm Melissa Tracy
(00:24):
and we're so glad you'rejoining us for today's show
because it's the month of May
and that means it's nationalmoving month, the busiest time
of year for movers andshakers across the country.
But let's face it, with movingcome stress on today's show,
we're tapping into the mindsof top real estate pros,
(00:45):
the agents and relocationexperts who've seen it all
and they're ready to bringyou stress saving tips
for your next big move that's coming up.
But first, let's go to theReal estate today newsroom
with Bill Thompson. Hi Bill.
- Hi Melissa. That 90 day trucein the US China Trade War is
helping ease nervousnessin the housing industry.
(01:07):
The National Association ofHome Builders estimates that 27%
of imported materials come from China
housing Wire lead analyst Logan Mo says,
- We still have very high tariffs.
We withdrew money from the economy.
We've been firing federal workers.
There's all these variablesthat are still in play,
but just for today, the worstcase scenario for the economy
(01:29):
that it looks like we'regonna do multiple deals
and there are somedeescalation with China.
- Now, where tariffs aremore complex is in consumer
sentiment, says realtor.com.
Senior economist Joel Burner.
- You know the only thing thatreally pins up the housing
market is the labor market.
So if people are afraid oflosing their jobs, it's going
to impact the housing market's,
(01:50):
gonna bring down housing values
and going to slow home sales even more
than they already have been.
- Burner spoke on Yahoo Finance,
the somewhat cloudy skieshanging over the housing
market so far this spring.
Maybe about to get brighter.
Altos Research President MikeSimonson likes the outlook
- Year to date throughthe first week of May.
We count 3% fewer totalsales than in 2024.
(02:13):
But in May and June theyearly comparisons get easy
because last year at thistime was really dry due
to the highest mortgage rates of the year.
So the next bunch of weeksshould report home sales
growth each week.
- Simonson spoke in an altosvideo. Melissa, back to you.
- Thanks Bill. Selling your house is a
(02:36):
stressful part thatkicks off a lot of moves.
What can you do to ease the process?
Ever heard of a pre-inspectionreal estate broker, Kara?
Amir says it can be a smartmove for home sellers.
She's joining us nextto talk more about that.
Kara is a real estate broker
with Coldwell Banker's VanguardRealty based in Florida's
(02:57):
Ponte Vera Beach.
Kara is also a licensedreal estate professional in
California working in two
of the fastest paced housingmarkets in the country.
Kara, welcome to Real Estate today.
- Thanks Melissa. It's great to be here.
- So it's a popular time ofyear to list a home first sale.
So let's talk about how
to get moving in the home selling process.
(03:20):
What's the first step homeownersshould take when preparing
to sell during the busier times of year?
- So as much as prep forsale is very important
and all of the, you know,decluttering and painting
and landscaping, there's onething that sellers need to do
before they do anything else.
And that is get a pre-listing inspection.
(03:42):
It's better for you as a seller
to get a grip on your home'scondition, on your time
and your terms before going to market.
- This is interesting. Sobringing the home inspector in
earlier into that process.
'cause usually sellers tend to wait until
after they have an offer
and then the buyer bringstheir inspector in.
So you're saying bring that inspector in
(04:03):
before you even list todo a checkup on the home.
- It's a very proactiveversus reactive approach,
especially in today'smarket where we're dealing
with the higher interestrates, the insurance,
the inflation, it's a lot more expensive
for a buyer to buy a home.
And so buyers don'twanna buy the money pit.
They can't afford it,especially with the cost today,
(04:24):
you know this is not 2021 withinterest rates that were 3%
and it so buyers are reallyevaluating properties
very carefully.
And if it's you know,gonna be too expensive
with too many things to repairand replace, we'll walk away
- Now we wanna help get homesellers moving today, but even
(04:45):
after an offer, some dealscan still fall through.
What are the most common issues
that could delay a home sale?
- Well there's a few.
One being inspectionslike we just talked about.
That's why getting a pre-listinginspection is so important
because I think it will helpderail a lot of the surprise
and shock that mighthappen from inspections
(05:05):
for both the buyer and the seller.
'cause working through repairissues can take a lot of time
and trying to resolve things.
So inspections, financingfor some people, you know,
depending on the kind ofloan there can be, you know,
some gotchas or sometimesan underwriter comes back
and wants the buyer to put more money down
or pay off some debt and thatmight not go over so well.
(05:28):
Appraisals have always been an area
where the property may not appraise at the
contract sales price.
Now there's a difference the buyer
and seller have to try torenegotiate and work it out.
Or maybe everybody walks away.
Maybe a buyer doesn't wannahave to come out of pocket
with additional funds.
So certainly those are somethings that can derail the deal
(05:48):
- So much to consider.
So the warmer months arealways a busier time of year
for the real estate market.
Are there advantages
to buying a home now versuslater in the year when
things are slower?
- There definitely is
because the spring is thetime when everybody's starting
to make their plans
and a lot of moving is timed
around the end of the school year.
(06:10):
So this is the time ofyear that we see a lot
of properties coming on the market.
And you tend to have more choicesnow than versus toward the
fall or the end of the year.
- How can a real estate agenthelp a buyer navigate this
this time of year?
- Well, preparation meets successequals opportunity, right?
(06:30):
So you have to really coach
your buyer clients on strategy.
Strategy is very importantfor the market you're in
because like I was saying,all markets are local
so what's going on, you know,
in one city is verydifferent from another one
and even different parts of town.
So really depending on the area
that you're interestedin buying the price point
(06:50):
and what you're tryingto find, an agent needs
to counsel you with thespecifics of that area.
They need to advise you,you know, what's the supply
and demand like how quicklyare properties turning,
what's the percentage
of asking price theseproperties are selling for?
So you know how youknow going in that hey,
if something comes onthe market, I can't wait,
(07:10):
I'm gonna have to goin with a strong offer.
You know, what's the strategy?
- Go and educate.
And are there any mistakes thatyou notice home buyers tend
to make during these peak moving times?
- I think putting thecart before the horse.
Take a step back and plan.
Don't jump into the poolyou want to, you know,
(07:34):
first step, talk to a lender.
You've gotta get yourfinancial house in order.
You need to understand whatcan I afford with what I have
to work with, you know, whatdoes my credit look like?
What are my assets and income?
What's my debt to income ratio?
What payment am I comfortable in?
And then that will drive everything else.
But until you have that,you're just guessing.
(07:54):
- Well Kira, I really want to thank you
for being on the showtoday to talk about how
to get moving in the realestate market. Thank you Kira.
- Thanks Melissa. It wasgreat to be here. As always,
- We are taking on moves in real estate.
The average cost
of a move in 2025 is about $3,000.
(08:16):
But that can vary quite a bit depending on
how far you're going and how much you own.
Whether you're moving across town
or across the country,we've got expert advice
to help you do it smart,safer and maybe even cheaper.
Joining us on real estatetoday is an expert on moving.
Robert Esposito, the author of the book,
(08:37):
nobody Move Without Reading this.
Robert is also the founder
of relocator services basedin Long Island, New York.
Robert, welcome to Real Estate today.
- Thank you. Thank you for having me.
- We're so glad you're joining us today.
So what's the very first thingsomeone should do when they
(08:57):
know a move is coming up,even if it's months away?
- The very first thing according
to like the emotional side Ialways say is I say you would
be a hero if you tellclients to video the home
before calling anyone in.
'cause they'll probably come a day
where they would payanything to have that.
And that goes for like mom's house
(09:18):
that you might've been born in
or the house you raised your children in.
On a practical sense, I wouldsay start planning immediately
and coming up with a complete game plan
where you strategically write things down.
- What's your advice forpeople trying to decide
between a DIY move
and hiring a full service moving company?
(09:41):
- Are you actually able to,I mean past the college phase
and even at that level, DIY,
it's much harder than youthink it is, you know,
and even in the book I talk about like
how is it such a top stressor?
You kind of think aboutit like rent a truck, DIY,
but it's actually a lot more to that. So
(10:04):
- Now professional movers canobviously be more expensive.
So I would assume a lot ofpeople love that DIY just
because they're cutting costs.
But you're saying it's notalways worth it in the end,
- It's not worth it in the end.
If there's fragilestuff, the actual stress
that you're gonna gothrough, it might be worth it
in some areas like withcertain specific areas
(10:27):
of your house, but as a complete hole,
it's probably not worth it.
- Now moving can be expensive.
Are there any cost cutting strategies
that don't compromise thequality or safety of the move?
- Absolutely. A lot of timespeople will think, hey,
we're gonna do the garage orwe're gonna do the backyard.
(10:48):
But those might be easy for the movers
'cause they do it every day
and they're fast things like 50%
of the contents might not equate to 50%
of the job reduction,
whereas 10% like taking TVs off the wall
or packaging
or creating fragile items mightactually be 50% of the cost.
(11:11):
So if you're able to dothose things like assembling
or dissembling or handling fragile items
that maybe you could justput in your back seat
and it'll be extremely safe
as the only thing in your backseat
that might be much more costeffective than doing a lot
of contents And by R you think, oh,
that might be a lot less money.
(11:33):
It doesn't equate that way.
And also color coding organization is the
most important thing.
And not only is that a cost saver,
like our care packages comewith color coding stickers,
you also eliminate the needto be a foreman the day
of the job and you're alreadydealing with all this stress
and then now you have tobe asked every single item
(11:53):
where it goes by color codingit, you can eliminate 80,
90% of that work.
- You've been very vocalabout shady moving practices.
How can consumers protect themselves?
- One check to make sure they'relicensed with their state.
Every state licenses movers differently.
And then there's alsothe federal motor carrier
(12:16):
that licenses for cross country moves
or state to state moves.
Another thing I would say is
communication is the biggest thing.
Some of them rightfully so,there are the shady ones
and you need to do your due diligence
because cheap isn't always,
sometimes expen cheap is expensive.
But on the flip side,movers are a different trade
(12:38):
because you're notestimating stable figures,
you're estimating most of thetime half the job at best.
And you know, I always jokelike I bet you wouldn't want the
job of guessing
how many times your spousewill want the sofa repositioned
because somebody could ask for something
to be moved 10 times
and time is money when it comes to moving.
(13:00):
- What are the most overlooked items
or tasks people forgetabout during a move? What
- Are the pets need?
What do the kids need?Where are the chargers?
Where are the remotes?
Where is the, you know, lastminute snacks that you need
to stay fueled on, movingday, things of that nature.
And then making surewhat is supposed to stay
(13:23):
for the new owners stays
and what's not supposed to stay doesn't.
- That's a big one in real estate.
So your book blends the logisticsof moving with psychology.
Moving is stressful.
What do people most oftenunderestimate about the emotional
side of moving?
- I think they underestimatethe actual effect the items
(13:47):
will have on them in grudging up old
or uncovered feelings of grief
that haven't been dealt with yet.
- So as you're going through things
and packing them up, it bringsback all these memories.
- Correct. Or like the smell
of your child's blanket in the crib
or things of that nature that you know,
(14:07):
instantly trick your brain into, you know,
remembering a time or a place or a person.
- You know, another onea lot of people point
to is moving with children.
Do you have any adviceon what parents can do
to help their kids betterprepare for the moving process?
- My advice for themto help them adjust is
to focus on the positives, thenew friends, the new sports,
(14:30):
the new events or activities they can do
and keep them as occupied
and as part of the processes possible.
Write a letter to the old home
but in a new home, pick outyour color, paint on the wall
or you know, whateveryou can engage them in
to make them part of theprocess going forward,
we'll push them forward.
(14:52):
- That's good advice.I always think back of
my child when he was three years old
and the movers came to pack everything up
and he was screaming, don't take my toys.
- Exactly.- Maybe preparing them,
Hey the movers are gonna be coming in
and this is what's gonna happen.
You know, I also hearyou're working on a journal
for movers asking them to reflect on
(15:14):
what their home means to them.
What are some of thosequestions you ask homeowners
to reflect on about their home?
- And a journal goes frompast to present to future
and it makes you think of, you know,
the traditions you started in this home,
the ones you wanna carryon to your next home.
What brought you there,what goals did you have?
(15:35):
At what point did this housebecome your home somewhere you
ran to for comfort and salvationwhen the world was crazy?
All things like that wetalk about in the journal
and we don't really write aboutit, we're just sparking you
to write about it so you can have that
for yourself and your family.
- I love that idea.
So often we think of scrapbookingthe memories of our kids
(15:58):
and vacations, but you canalso take that same idea
and make a scrapbook forthe homes you've lived in.
- Exactly.- Robert, I really wanna thank you
for being on our show today
and talking about easing the stress
of moves. Thank you Robert.
- Thank you.- And
(16:18):
now it's time for hot
or not our weekly quiz aboutwhat's trending in home design
all for the sake ofincreasing your home's appeal.
So today let's head outsideand take on our first trend
and that's spray painting your lawn green.
What do you think? Is it hot or not?
(16:41):
It's not. So if the grass isalways greener on the other
side of the fence,
well your neighbor mayhave a dirty little secret
and it's not their fancy sprinkler system.
They might just be paintingtheir lawn green. That's right.
Lawn painting.
The quick fix for droughtdamaged turf golf courses
(17:04):
and stadiums have beendoing this for years,
but now homeowners are joiningthe club, they're motivated
by water restrictions,annoying dead patches.
And let's be honest,
dying your lawn is cheaperthan having it receded
or ripping out a dead lawn entirely.
Sure this grass paint istechnically non-toxic,
(17:26):
biodegradable and safe for pets and kids,
but it takes 24 to 72 hours
to dry In that time.
You need to keep the pets kids
and curious neighbors off the lawn
or your dog may be freshlydyed green to the likes
of the incredible Hulk.
Also something to know with this,
(17:47):
the spray doesn't alwayshold up well in heavy rain.
Now another thing with this,
remember you still arepainting dead grass.
This isn't solving lawn problems.
No amount of emerald greenspray paint can fix compacted
soil shade issues or neglected lawn care.
All that said, I'll be honest,I'm intrigued by this idea.
(18:11):
Let's say you've got a patchof grass that needs a touchup
before a special event
or the dog keeps browningup that same area
and it stands out against the rest
of your perfectly manicured turf.
Go for it. Grab the green spray, why not?
But you may also considermore long-term solutions
(18:32):
by limiting the amount ofyour water loving turf areas.
Also using native grasses
or even artificial turf in some cases
because in the end, if you just reach
for the spray can again
and again realize you arenot really fooling anyone.
You can't truly fake yourlawn's health in the long run
(18:53):
and your dirty little greensecret might just be exposed
once that heavy rain comes.
Let's take on another aspect of the home.
And that's this idea makingthe rounds called no mo May.
What do you think? Is that hot or not?
(19:13):
Not there's been a real outdoormovement growing in recent
years called No Mo May, butit's hit a bit of a snag.
Despite its eco-friendly intentions,
it's now ruffling feathers with neighbors
and homeowner associations.
So for this season
and for those reasons,we're giving it a knot.
(19:35):
Now don't get me wrong,
the ideas certainly soundshot on paper an entire month
without mowing the lawn.
And it's not about being lazy.
But strategic supporters
of no mow may say it's allabout helping the planet
and protecting early seasonpollinators like bees
(19:55):
and butterflies, let the grass
and wild flowers grow in return.
You're doing theenvironment a lot of good.
But here's the twist,some scientists are saying
that letting your lawn gowild might not actually help
Pollinators all that much tall,
dense grass can crowd outthe very flowers bees need.
(20:16):
Plus it only provides abrief buffet for insects just
for one month and then it'sback to mowing as usual.
Worse yet, the original study
that helped launch thisentire movement has since
been retracted.
Researchers instead arerecommending some alternatives like
planting native species suchas nectar rich white clover,
(20:38):
and even wild strawberries and hay.
There's even a low momay option where you mow
a month instead of weekly
to keep your lawn tidy whilealso helping pollinators.
You can embrace the trend,do less, but do it smarter.
Add pollinator friendlyplants, mow a little less,
(21:02):
let nature thrive,
but do it without tickingoff your neighbors
or collecting citations fromyour homeowners association.
For more home design
and remodeling inspiration,check out house logic.com.
Up next, we're taking a look at some
of the best places to call home.
(21:23):
That's right, the areaswith bragging rights,
earning a spot on Liv Ability's.
Best Places to Live List for 2025.
Joining us to learn moreabout these trendy cities
to call home is AmandaEllis, editor in chief
of Livability Media
and the lead on this year'sBest Places to Live List.
(21:46):
Amanda, welcome to Real Estate Today.
- Hello, thanks so much for having me.
- We're so glad you're joining us today.
So, which cities topped livability
2025 Best Places to live list?
- Yes, this is one of myfavorite things to talk about.
We have moved more towardscelebrating all 100
(22:07):
of these places, whetheryour ranking would put you at
number one or number 100, right.
But that being said, Iwill let you in on some,
not necessarily secrets here,but our top scoring cities.
If you do look at the scores, some
of those were Flower MountTexas, Carmel, Indiana,
Sugarland, Texas, Naperville, Illinois,
(22:28):
and Roswell, Georgia.
Those would technicallybe our five highest
scoring cities this year.
If you do look at this as a,as a ranking versus just a list
of 100 amazing places.
- That's great. So tellus what makes a city one
of the best places to live in 2025?
- A lot of things, butas far as this list,
we do use a rather intense,if I do say so myself,
(22:50):
data-driven process andalgorithm to come up with these.
So what that looks like is wepull more than a hundred data
points on all the cities that we look at
for this list we focus onsmall to medium sized cities.
So that population that we usefor this is 70 5K to 500 K.
So all the cities that fallin that range are the ones
that we pull data on.
(23:12):
Those data points aredivided into eight different
categories and those are designed
to take into account prettymuch anything you would think
of when evaluating whether aplace is a good place to live.
So amend these
and things to do economy,education, environment,
health, housing, and cost of living.
And the other one issafety and transportation.
(23:34):
- So research from theNational Association
of Realtors has shown thatmore people are motivated
to move in order to becloser to friends and family
or for affordability,
not necessarily jobs like hasbeen the case in the past.
Do your rankings illustratethis shift in priorities?
Are you noticing that
(23:55):
- As far as the bigger trend?
We definitely see peoplewaiting that quality
of life piece equally tothat career piece, right?
They're both really important,
but if you had a jobopportunity somewhere,
unless you were really desperate,
you're probably not gonna go somewhere
that you don't thinkyou would enjoy living.
Right. And in some of ourother research we've looked at,
(24:15):
you know, asking peoplelike, how did you end up
where you're, where you're living?
And the number came in, Ibelieve around 20% of people in
that survey said that theyhad ended up in their current
city for a job, which is a decent number.
But then you think aboutthe other 80% all had
other reasons.
- Amanda's summer isjust around the corner
(24:35):
and I am dreaming of a beach town.
What are some of the best beach towns
that appeared onlivability list this year?
- We've got a good handful of places
with some solid coastalproximity, a couple of those.
So we saw Wilmington, NorthCarolina come up this year,
Charleston, South Carolina,everybody loves Charleston.
I talked about Greenville,North Carolina a little bit.
(24:57):
They're not too far awayfrom some coastal access.
Tampa, Florida was on the list.
So we definitely have some fun ones
and we do see in our researchthat people appreciate
that coastal proximityand mountain proximity to.
- Sounds great.
So did you have any citiestop livability, best places
(25:18):
to live list for some unexpected reasons,
maybe places people don'tusually think of as trending.
- So one that I alwaysthink is interesting,
it's not their first time on the list,
but Hoover, Alabama is sortof a suburb of Birmingham
and Birmingham is very cool
and also has some reallycool suburbs like that
that if you haven't spent alot of time there, you know,
(25:39):
might not be top of mind,
but that was one that wascool to see. Definitely.
- Any newcomers on this year's list?
- Greenville, North Carolina was a cool
one that was great to see.
Show up, Auburn, Alabama,Athens, Georgia was another one
that showed up this year,Gainesville, Florida.
And when I was looking at that,I had jotted down a couple
of my favorite newcomer cities
(26:00):
and I thought those are all college towns.
So it was interesting thatwe kind of saw that in common
of some of those newcomer places.
And we know that collegetowns have a lot of amenities
that everybody enjoys, even ifyou're not a student, right?
And statistically they tend tobe a little bit more diverse,
a little bit more affluent.
And of course education levels a lot
of times are a little bithigher than some other
places, so they have a lot to offer.
(26:21):
It was an interestingcommon thread between them
- And they tend to havevery lively housing markets
- Too. That's true.
- Do you think the big cityspotlight has faded a bit
and are those smaller
and midsize towns gaininga lot more attention?
- I think so,
and I think it's forseveral different reasons.
(26:43):
I think that nowadays,I think most smaller
and medium sized cities offermost of what people want
and need, right?
And in a lot of ways it'skind of easier to enjoy them.
And a lot of smaller
and medium sized cities tooare still within like a few
hours drive of a largermetro if there is something
that you feel like you just really need
(27:03):
that you don't have immediate access to.
And I also think there's alot more intentional effort in
more recent years in thosecommunities promoting themselves
in a really intentional wayto get on the radar of, again,
we talked about talent attraction
and to get on the radar of those people
that they want to reach.
So I definitely think there is.
And the large metros, Imean we all, you know,
(27:24):
know a lot about kind ofwhat their challenges are
and what makes them sofun to visit, right?
But as far as livingthere, yeah, I think day
to day there's just alot of challenges in some
of those really large metros
that are a little bit reducedin some of our smaller
or more medium sized cities.
And there's so many greatones across the country.
(27:44):
- So for people planning a move this year,
what advice would you give themfor researching a new city?
- So selfishly, I do have tostart by calling out our site
as a whole livability.com.
That's kind of our whole shtick.
We're built out to be acomprehensive relocation resource.
And I would also say thismore intentional approach
(28:05):
to talent attraction.
And that a lot of communitiesare actively doing a lot
to try to get your attention.
And so I think kind of lookingat what some of those are,
there are a lot of incentives out there.
You know, could any ofthose be somewhere you'd be
interested in and and benefit you?
You know, we're seeing some cash offers,
some home down paymentassistance, you know, things to do
(28:26):
with getting property.
So I think that's definitelysomething to think about.
Or even just programmingthat communities have
around helping you get to knowpeople and build community
and think about are there benefits there
that you can tap into?
I think would also bea really good strategy,
especially if you're lookingat the country as a whole
and thinking about, hmm,where do I wanna go next?
(28:46):
- That's great advice.
Well, Amanda, I really wannathank you for joining us today
to talk about livability best places
to live list. Thank you, Amanda.
- Thank you. Thanks so much for having us.
This was fun and one of my favorite topics
- And that wraps up our show for today.
We hope you picked up plenty of tips
(29:07):
to help you feel right at homethis national moving month.
Whether your next movetakes you to the city
or the suburbs, yourbest place might be just
around the corner.
So wherever you land, wewish you a smooth journey,
happy memories,
and we hope you'll takereal estate today along
for the ride into your next chapter.
(29:29):
Until then, from all of us hereat Real Estate Today, thanks
for listening and happyNational Moving Month,
- A brand new show every Friday.
And when you subscribe,you'll never miss an episode.
The Real Estate Today Podcast
because knowledge ispower, realtors are members
(29:51):
of the National Association of Realtors.
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Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
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