Ep#25-2025 Coachella Valley Real Estate Round Table

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The 2025 Coachella Valley Real Estate Round Table with James Suer, Billy Meraz & Donovan McDaniel.

The real estate landscape has fundamentally shifted since the pandemic boom, but what does that mean for buyers and sellers in the Coachella Valley? Three of the region's most successful realtors pull back the curtain on what's really happening in today's market.

Donovan McDaniel, Billy Meraz, and James Suer bring decades of combined experience to tackle the questions everyone's asking: Will interest rates drop? Is another housing crash coming? Where can first-time buyers still find affordable homes? Their candid conversation reveals that while the "free-for-all" days of 2021 are over, opportunities still exist for savvy market participants.

The discussion takes fascinating turns into the psychology of pricing, with sellers often stuck in 2021 mindsets while buyers wish it were 2012. Meanwhile, interest rates hovering around 6.5% have changed the game – but not necessarily in the ways you might expect. The experts caution that waiting for rates to drop could backfire, as any significant decrease would trigger a competitive feeding frenzy that would drive prices up.

Perhaps most valuable are their insights for younger buyers facing seemingly impossible affordability challenges. From Desert Hot Springs' relative bargains to creative strategies like house hacking through multi-family properties, the realtors offer practical advice for getting a foot in the door. "Your first home doesn't need to be your dream home," becomes a recurring theme worth embracing.

Whether you're considering buying, selling, or even joining the real estate profession, this episode delivers the unfiltered truth about today's market realities. Follow these experts on social media for ongoing insights: Donovan McDaniel (@donovanmcdanielrealtor), Billy Meraz (Windermere Real Estate), and James Seward (@james_suer_realtor) for "All Things Coachella Valley."

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is going on?
Everyone, I am Robert Mraz.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
And I'm Fina Mraz.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
And this is CV Hustle , and today's episode we've been
working on for a long time.
It's a real special one becauseeverybody out there knows
somebody in this industry.
This industry is probably oneof the biggest in our valley and
we wanted to kind of touch onwhat's going on in that industry
today.
So we have three real expertsin the game and today's real
estate roundup with CV Hustle.

(00:25):
So we've got some prettyspecial guests.
We're going to have them goahead and introduce themselves
from right to left and go on, goahead.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
My name is Donovan McDaniel.
I've been a realtor here in thedesert for seven years.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Yeah, I'm Billy Mraz.
I've been here in real estateas an investor since 2008.
I got my license in 2016.
I'm currently with WindermereReal Estate right now.

Speaker 5 (00:53):
And I am James Seward in my fifth year with Keller
Williams.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Awesome, awesome.
So we wanted to bring you guyson here, because the real estate
game is always ups and downs,and especially in 2025, I think
we've all seen a lot of changes,at least in the local economy
here, and I want to kind of getsome experts in here and kind of
get their read on the situationand what's hot, what's not.
So that's what today's episodeis going to focus on.

(01:18):
So first question, and we'llstart with you, donovan what
kind of trends are you kind ofseeing in the market that maybe
have popped up in the last sixmonths to a year?

Speaker 3 (01:29):
In the last six months.
In the more recent past, I'veseen a move back towards
fundamentals right.
It's not a free-for-all typemarket.
Put it up at whatever price andit'll go.
Put it up at whatever price andit'll go.
It's more driven by quality ofproduct, correct pricing,
staging, timing the fundamentalsof our industry.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
So that's where it should be.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
I think it's more of a norm than the previous markets
, especially coming out of COVID2020, 2021.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I mean I know these guys know it was crazy 2021.
I mean I know these guys knowit was it was crazy.
Um well, we, bobby, stillpissed at me that we didn't sell
the house or airbnb for likesome absorbent number cash offer
.
But I said I really want to doan airbnb um, so he goes, okay,
one year, and now it's beenthree years, so do you have any?
I guess this would be to billy.
Have you dealt with any airbnbsituations like do you have?
any?
I guess this would be to Billyhave you dealt with any Airbnb

(02:25):
situations Like do you feel thatAirbnbs are taking up a lot of
homes that could be?

Speaker 4 (02:32):
Absolutely.
Cities are putting likemeritoriums on them now so you
can't just turn it into anAirbnb because you bought it
right.
So there's a whole likeapplication process each city
has Like right now I think Indioand Bermuda Dunes are the only
one that allow them right now.
All the other cities and PalmSprings of course.
Palm Springs is kind of theleader in vacation rentals.

(02:56):
They kind of lead the way forthe Coachella Valley.
The other cities kind of takesuit of what they're doing.
They have a whole team thatthey monitor all the vacation
rentals.
They have a hotline if, like, arental gets out of hand and
stuff like that.
Some cities like the uppercities, like Indian Wells,
rancho Mirage, palm Desert, theyjust totally outlawed them.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
You can't do vacation rentals there, unless it's like
30 days, right, so it's stillconsidered short term.
That's not considered a shortterm.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
30 days is long term, 30 days and more is considered
long term, and so manycommunities are in HOAs too.
So a lot of the cities justallow the HOA to govern their
own communities too.
So most of the HOAs are 30 daysor more rentals.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
So with our Airbnb.
I have to fill out a permitevery single year and it's a
pain in the ass.
I mean I have to go back.
How many days did I rent outwhat you know, the money I made?
And then I get a big fat taxbill that I got to pay and I'm
like God you know it's not asit's a big moneymaker for the,

(03:59):
for the, for the city.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah, absolutely, especially with how the Valley's
grown so much too, with all thefestivals they have.
I mean we're coming up on theseason now with the Coachella
Fest and Stagecoach.
This is where the majority ofthe Airbnb owners make.
Their money is this next month.
Some of them I mean you canattest to this they make
probably their whole mortgagepayment in that month, so they

(04:22):
can afford to have it sit forall year just by renting it out
for these three weeks.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
So absolutely.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
James, any uh trends or kind of patterns you're
seeing in the last couple of sixmonths to a year?

Speaker 5 (04:36):
Well, you know I started uh real estate during
COVID, so I started in the time.
I didn't know anything.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
I was going to say why would you do that?

Speaker 5 (04:46):
I didn't know anything different other than
the crazy market that it was.
So now, according to peoplethat have been in this for a
while, this is more of a, likeDonovan said, a normal market
where homes are still selling,people are still selling their
homes, people are still buyingthe homes, but there's more
inventory, so they're sittinginstead of going in the first

(05:08):
week now you're seeing a lot ofhomes sitting 30, 60, 90 days,
unless, of course, it's pricedright.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, but also because of the interest rates,
right, that kind of steeped inand ruined everybody's day.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah affordability is an issue for a lot of buyers,
especially younger first-timebuyers.
They're doing all they can tosave up for a down payment and
then they get hit with the sixand a half, seven and a half
percent interest rate.
And add to that you have yourHOA costs, not to mention the

(05:41):
cost of insurance.
Insurance is going crazy rightnow.
That all factors into it thingsyou have to think about.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Yeah Well, we're such a unique market because some of
that doesn't apply to us, likethat interest rate at 6.5%.
Right, we're a destinationlocation, right, there's a lot
of second homes out here.
People have that disposableincome and they're coming from
other places and you'll see alot of cash.
You see a lot of cash In theupper level, the golf course
communities and stuff like that.
You'll see a lot of cash.

(06:05):
You see a lot of cash in theupper level, like the golf
course communities and stufflike that.
You'll see a lot of cash dealsbecause and homes sold furnished
, like we're worse, like youdon't see that in other places,
like we're, we're in a communitywhere they're second homes
people don't want to take theirfurniture with them after they
sell because they already have aprimary place that they have,
so they don't have anything todo with the furniture.
So I mean we're, we're veryunique in that regard.
That second homes and cashdeals are.

(06:29):
I mean you see them quite a bit, quite a bit, especially in the
higher end stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
What I think is kind of crazy is you guys are saying
that everything's kind oftapered down and it's back to
where it is, but not the rents,honey, because I mean my girls
are paying so much money for alittle two-bedroom condo, one
bath.
It's like $2,200.
I'm like that's like ourmortgage, that's crazy right.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
It's not just real estate, though.
That's everything.
The rents are high, but gasprices are high.
Groceries are high.
You go out to dinner and go toa restaurant.
Are you paying what you paidtwo, three, four years ago?

Speaker 2 (07:03):
No, I just go to.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
McDonald's, everything's expensive and
people say you know, oh, it'sgot to come down at some point
it's got to come down.
I mean, how does that come down?
And nothing else comes downright.
It's kind of I feel like it'sgot to come down together.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
It's going to come down and you said they pay
$2,200, which is a mortgage, nottoday.
Yeah, people that are buyingtoday wish they had a $2,200
mortgage.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Unless you put down a big chunk of change to pay that
down.
But we were talking aboutgetting rid of our Airbnb, so I
need Tattoo Mark, or whateverhis name is, to come and get rid
of all my furniture.
But we were looking at rentsand I'm, you know, we have a
pretty nice size house and soyou know I was thinking, oh how

(07:48):
about $3,000 a month?
And he's like you know right.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
I was like do your research, how much, how much is
the market saying, you know?
And then we looked and it wascrazy.
It was like that's the low endof, like the low end of the
neighborhood.
I don't think there is even ahouse in there that you could
get for that money.
So it's just crazy.
I don't understand.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
I don't think it's sustainable, right, I mean you
can't just go up and up and upand expect it to never the
system not to break at somepoint right With the rents.
The system historically doesn'tever really break.
What it does is taper off.
Historically doesn't everreally break.
What it does is taper off.
And so what you do is you getyou end up with like these

(08:30):
double digit growth years whererents are going up and up and up
and then it might cool down fora couple of years, but rarely
do rents come down from wherethey've been.
So if you're getting $2,000 amonth for a two bedroom house,
five years from now you're notgoing to see that house for
$1,200, for $1,500.
Right now in the East Valleywe're averaging about $1,000 a
bedroom for rent.
Wow, $1,000 per bedroom.

(08:52):
That's a rule of thumb.
So two bedrooms you're around$2,000.
Three bedrooms you're around$3,000.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah.
But you know what?
I just can't in good consciencedo that.
I just can't Because do that,yeah, I just can't because I was
telling him I want somebodythat can pay the damn rent,
right, not, that's like you knowI just I can't do that.
Three families living in thehouse right too, because then it
wears and tears on the houseabsolutely more people yeah, wow
, man, that's.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
This is all news to me.
Yeah, that's like that's kindof why we're here yeah, that's
why we're here.
We're getting the insideinformation.
So, speaking of interest rates,have you guys seen any
fluctuation?
I know the markets have gonekind of crazy on us here and
we're hearing that the Feds aregoing to make some moves.
Have you guys anticipate anytype of movement in that area in
the short term?
Here, what are you hearing onthe inside?

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Six and a half is probably where it's going to be.
It's going to be in the sixesfor the foreseeable future.
Probably.
You might see low sixes and youcan always buy points down too
and get them into the fives ifyou want.
But yeah, I mean you're notgoing to see.
Gone are the days of 2.5%, 3%.
That's not coming back anytimesoon.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, Good old days, huh.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
That was not too long ago.
That was a couple years ago.
You know, the Feds had to slowit down just because inflation
just got out of control, youknow.
So that was part of their wayto curb that.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
So you said it's at what?
Six and a half you said it'sgoing to be.
What the hell are we at nowthen?

Speaker 4 (10:15):
We're at six and a half.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
We're at six and a half.
I made six, it's going to beabout.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
It'll drop, you know half a point here, you know,
quarter point there, you know,but it's going to hover in the
sixes probably.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
But what people fail to mention, or not enough
attention is given to the factthat, okay, so say it does drop
a half a point the day it goesdown to a 599, it's going to be
a feeding frenzy.
And all of those homes thatwere too high, while they were
six and a half.
Now you have 25 offers becauseyou're at a 599.

Speaker 5 (10:52):
And everybody wants that 599.
Everybody's sitting on thesideline waiting for rates to
come down.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yep, is that kind of the pattern right now?

Speaker 5 (11:01):
Everybody's kind of anticipating that From the
people that I'm talking to.
Everybody says you know, we'rewaiting for rates to come down,
we can't afford it and, justlike Donovan said, you know it's
.
The rates come down, the pricesgo up.
Right now you have theopportunity to be the only
person writing an offer on thathouse.
You can negotiate the price,you can negotiate repairs, you
can negotiate closing cost,credits and things like that.
You have three, four offers onthe house and you have somebody

(11:26):
willing to not ask for creditsor, you know, pay all cash and
your offer is out the window andyou're looking for the next one
.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh, it's true, Absolutely.
When we bought our house, billywas our guy.
And how many people did we have, you know, vibing for that this
is COVID time, time, I mean,it's crazy luckily you had a

Speaker 1 (11:43):
good realtor, that's right well, yeah, that's what we
tell, that's what you telleverybody right.
But yeah, I mean, but interestrates, they're kind of all
relative right.
I mean because if you look backto I mean you got, we're all
too young to remember the 80s,but they're what in the teens,
like in the early 80s, I meanthose like I can remember our

(12:04):
grandmother talking about howthe interest rates on some of
her rental properties like 15,17 in the 80s and I'm like that
is crazy man, that's true.
So it's all kind of relativeright.

Speaker 4 (12:15):
Well, you have to think back to.
Houses were like 50 000 backthen, so 16 of 50 000 was not
that much.
Granted, they weren't making alot of money back then either,
so it was still probablyexpensive for them at the time.
But yeah, 15%, 16% on a$600,000 loan you'd be hurt

(12:35):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
That's unattainable at some point.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
So I have a question.
So what markets are hot rightnow?
Like so is, I know it's blowingup in india, where we're at
right, and then they're alsobringing in all kinds of like
low income places.
So do you guys get deals onthat can?
No, right there, those are not,those types of things are not
for sale.
But what are, I guess?
Uh, I guess what are hotmarkets right now, and like

(13:03):
where to buy and where do youthink the?
Uh, where do you think the nextdeal is coming?

Speaker 4 (13:08):
from If we do that, we wouldn't be sitting here
talking to you right now.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
What would you?

Speaker 4 (13:12):
be, we'd be out making millions of dollars.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
I'd be retired If we could predict the future.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
I would not be working.
You know where people arebuying right now, though, right.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
Well for me.
I work with a lot of first-timehomebuyers and so the most
affordable place to live rightnow is Desert Hot Springs, cause
you can still get a nice home.
You know in a nice neighborhoodwith incredible views in the
300 range that these homes areare in good condition.
You know they're 10, 15 yearold homes and you know you can
you can get a house for under400,000 out there, negotiate

(13:43):
some credits and things likethat.
And one thing that I alwayspreach to my clients when
they're a lot of first-timehomebuyers, they're looking for
their dream home.
Right, their first home has gotto be the dream home.
It's got to be the fourbedrooms, it's got to have the
pool and all those things.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Really.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
And I tell them, I say you know, your first home
doesn't need to be your dreamhome.
Your first home, you just needto get into something.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Get your foot in the door.

Speaker 5 (14:05):
If you have the ability to do something, do
something.
And if you can see yourselfliving there for a couple years,
then you use that equity, sellthat home, use that money that
you made from it to purchase thenext one until you get to your
dream home.
So I'm selling a lot of homesin Desert Hot Springs right now
to a lot of first-time homebuyers.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
So of first-time homebuyers, so there's a lot of
inventory out there.
Then Absolutely, absolutely,huh, how far do you guys, how
far can you sell?
Like I tell people all the time, I have a state license, so,
depending on the price point, Iwill go anywhere in the state
literally.
But my area is generallyRiverside County, riverside
County, inland Empire, but itall depends on the price point.
Right, I'm not going to driveto ontario for a four hundred
thousand dollar home, becausethat's a lot of commute time,
that's a lot of a lot of moneyinvested on my end for little

(14:54):
return.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
So so, speaking of investment on your time, I mean
I know you guys went relative Iused to be in the game and I
mean some of these realtors.
I used to be in the game and Imean some of these realtors were
spending buku bucks onadvertising, right, Because you
got to make the flyers, you gotto get your signs, you got to
buy food for open houses.
Like what else are you spendingmoney on for these places?

(15:16):
And yeah, you know, as it does,it work Well you have to get
creative right.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
The, the, the things that we have to spend money on,
obviously, um, you know our duesand things like that that we
have to spend money on oursignage.
Those are kind of you knowfundamental things that we spend
time on, but 2025 and you knowa little bit before we could get
creative with it.
I know James is known for hischips and salsa and his um

(15:44):
social media.
Right, how much do you pay foryour Instagram page?
I don't pay anything for myInstagram page.
My Instagram page is timeinvested and my reels are
between seven and nine secondsand I can pump out 30 of those
in a weekend.

Speaker 4 (15:59):
And I just post them in?

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, I love them yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
And it costs me absolutely nothing but a small
investment of time.
So you have to get creative,because this economy we're
operating in this economy too,our bottom line is important too
.
I went to a breakfastestablishment that shall remain
nameless and they had marketprice.
Next to the two egg breakfast,I was like eggs Market price.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Really.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
Really.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
That was the price.
Oysters ask for the price.
It's like a to be determinedprice.
Wow, that's crazy.

Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
I've not seen that before man, yeah, wow.
But you know like maybe I'mjust a dork, but when you watch
these, what is it?
Mary DeRill Estate and thesekinds of shows they're putting
on these big parties rightBecause you want to get.
You guys do caravans right, sothat's like, eh, that's just
DeRilliter people, but how doyou get people to come and see
this new listing that you'rereally proud of?

Speaker 5 (16:59):
I pour into my open houses.
I do tacos at my open housesNice, free tacos.
I don't met a lot of peoplethat say no to free tacos, so
I'll do the free taco thing.
And then I pour a lot into themarketing around that, because
to sell a house you got to getas many eyes on it as possible,

(17:20):
whether it's the person that'scoming to the open house is
looking to buy it or they knowsomebody.
But, um, you know I'll, I'llspend a good week, week and a
half, marketing that open houseto make sure that I get the
turnout.
Uh, everything from.
You know boots on the groundwalking around knocking on you
know 500, 600 doors, uh, uh, theweek before.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
You're Jehovah's witness too before probably not.

Speaker 5 (17:55):
But you know it works .
It works, you know, you, you,because no knocks on on on
anything like that.
But you know you knock on thedoor and and invite them for
some free tacos and say you knowwe're, we're giving away a 50
inch TV or something like that.
Then it piques their curiosityand they just want to come out
and see it.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
There's a raffle.
Yeah, really, you know.
I remember going into like openhouses and smelling fresh-baked
chocolate chip cookies.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Sure, that's old school Total.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
I was like I'm sold, that's like when I was like hold
on that's old school.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
That's like when I was at home.
That's old school.
That's real estate 101, right.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
So, Billy, what do you do for?

Speaker 4 (18:37):
Well, so what I would say for like newbies that are
thinking about joining thebusiness and getting into real
estate, I mean it's a toughniche to crack.
But back to what James saysopen houses are the sweat equity
to just to meet people Likeyour goal is to meet people.
It's a numbers game the morepeople you meet, the more people
you jive with, the more peoplethat you can earn their trust.
Just by sitting in an openhouse and meeting people.
You're not there as a realtorto necessarily sell the house
that you're at.

(18:57):
You're there to maybe pick up aclient, right, like this house
may not work for them, but hey,I got two or three others that
meet your criteria and what youneed.
Let's go take a look at them.
Right so that?
and I would highly recommendsomebody joining a team if
they're starting out Joining- asuccessful team because, Like,
the learning curve with being ona team is just incredible than

(19:19):
trying to figure everything outon your own or asking your
broker for nuggets along the way.
Join an established team, Workunder that crappy commission
breakdown that you have withthem.
But I mean that's part oflearning the ropes is doing that
and learning how a successfulteam operates.
What do they do that makes themsuccessful?

(19:39):
And then you can take littlenuggets and put in your bag of
tricks to establish your own.
But when you first start outyou're not going to make a ton
of money.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Not at all.
I mean, that's any business,though.
Right, you got to do the sweatequity, you got to put your
thousand hours in.

Speaker 4 (19:55):
That's any industry.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
But in our bit, like out here, we have, I think, over
5 000 real estate, registeredreal estates here in the desert.
5 000 is that so per capita?
Is that like abnormal, like youguys know that I think it's not
all of them are producing.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
These are just licensed agents.
But I think another reason forthat it goes back to we are a
retirement community, right.
So people come here, they'reretired, they need something to
do.
Let's get our real estatelicense, we can do a couple
transactions on the side kind ofthing.
Retirement community, right.
So people come here, they'reretired, they need something to
do.
Let's get a real estate license, we can do a couple of
transactions on the side kind ofthing.
And also they can do thatbecause they already they're
established, already financiallyright, they already have the
insurance, they already have anincome to where they don't need

(20:32):
to work, right.
So that's where you're going tosee such a large number out
here versus you know otherplaces.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Donovan, do you hate when nosy neighbors come to your
open houses?

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Because we are those people.
We do that all the time and I'mlike oh, that tile looks like
shit.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
You know, I'm very critiquing, but you know what do
you do, Do you guys?
Fight about where the office isgoing to be in this imaginary
home that you're never going tobuy Bobby's a big girl.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, he sure is, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
I mean probably.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
You're one of those couples.
Yeah, probably.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Well, no, to touch on what James was talking about,
absolutely not.
Like I love the neighbors, sohe does tacos.
I do donuts with Donovanbecause I do mine.

Speaker 4 (21:15):
Oh, I like that.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
I usually do Saturday , sunday, early in the morning,
because you know I've got kids,we're doing softball, we're
doing football, we're goingsomewhere on the weekend.
So I get my open houses done inthe morning and so I have donuts
and coffee and juice and thatkind of thing.
But before I do that I go anddoor knock the neighborhood,
invite the neighbors.
I make sure I mention donutswhenever the kids come to the
door so the parents can't say noright and they're like this guy

(21:38):
has donuts.
I don't know who he is, but wegot to go check him out.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
I would not say no either.
So you need to call us and letus know where your open houses
are.

Speaker 3 (21:44):
Yeah, Well, and people end up picking their
neighbors more often than not.
So the neighbor might come inand say, hey, we've been
watching this house.
It's not for us, but mycousin's moving in from out of
the area or my sister's comingfrom over here, or I have no, a
co-worker that's looking for ahome.
And the two main things that Ilearned from my mentor because I

(22:05):
started out on a team and thetwo things my mentor used to
hammer into us is relationshipsand repetition.
Those are the two things You'rebuilding relationships and
repetition again and again andagain and again.
So you can't just door knockone open house.
You got to door knock all ofyour open houses.
Right, when you build arelationship, I don't want to

(22:28):
just know you.
I want to be invited to thehousewarming, I want to get to
know the family, I want to knowwho you know and that's how you
expand your business.
Who you know and that's how youexpand your business.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
Yeah, Real estate is just all relationships.
The more people you know, themore opportunity there is to
meet somebody that's looking tobuy a house or sell a house, or
know somebody that's looking todo something like that.
So the more people you can getin front of and talk to say I'll
do open houses all day long.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
Yeah, that is one thing for new agents.
Yeah, when you don't have a lotof business.
It doesn't cost you anything.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
It's free.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
Volunteer for open houses, go hold an open house
for another agent that maybe hasyou know multiple listings
because they can only be at onelisting at a time, so they're
always looking for somebody tohelp open houses, and you know.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
I'd be like, let me do the most expensive one.
I'm glad you would.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yep, yep, go meet some people, get in front of
people.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
So I get noticed when we go on Instagram a lot, right
Like when I go to shows andstuff.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, I think for your industry she's a little
rock star, no.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I get creeped out.
Yeah, I follow you on Instagram.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
Oh my God, okay Right .

Speaker 3 (23:35):
You're like, that doesn't explain why you're
touching my arm, so anyway, soyou don't get like bugged out
like that.
Um no, not really, because I'ma people person I'm yeah, you
gotta ask my family.
My family probably gets weirdedout by it.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
I'm always talking to strangers regardless well, they
know your person, that's justmy personality right, absolutely
so so what's the goal?
Just?
I mean, just do it consistently, right, just do it, just do it
consistently.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Right, just do it.
Just do it consistently.
Find something that you can doconsistently For me.
I tried a bunch of differentthings and what I landed on was
something that was veryconsistent, it was authentic to
my personality and it was quick.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
Tell us a little bit about that, so I know what it is
, but I want you to explain it.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Well, I, I, in my search for for what to do, there
was a phrase that kept comingup over and over again, and it
was like just stop trying tofollow the popular thing and
just keep it real.
Just keep it real.
If you can do that, then you'llbe fine.
Do it five days in a row.
Just keep it real five days ina row.
Can do that, then you'll befine.
Do it five days in a row, justkeep it real five days in a row.
So then I just started makingthese videos.

(24:41):
Funny little quote followedwith the keep it real, and then
that just kind of took off andmy goal was to do 50 videos in a
row and I think I finished withlike 225.
And the biggest benefit wasbeing able to connect with a lot

(25:02):
of industry folk from all overthe country.
Mortgage lenders, realtors andclients, of course, but one of
the best things were folks likeI.
Can see your personality in thevideos and I know what area
that you're in, so if I haveanybody that's in that area,
we're going to call Very good.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
I mean you can't, you can't pay for that kind of
exposure and that's kind of thegoal of any marketing is just to
be the name top of mind whenthey need the service Right, and
I think you do an excellent jobwith them and cause.
It's just that that's how Ifigured you, figured out you
were in real estate all theseyears.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yeah, Well, that that was part of the frustration is
is knowing folks like folks thatI've known my whole life.
And then you see them the monthafter they've purchased the
home Right.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
And that was really frustrating oh yeah, you did
real estate.
Oh my gosh.
Thanks a lot, man.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Thanks a lot, you've seen my Instagram, you know,
yeah, I see you in the stories.
And now, if they say that, Ijust say keep it real.
Yeah, all right, you usesomebody else.
Congratulations you got abeautiful house.
Keep it real.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Keep it real.
But social media king in theroom is Mr James here.
I mean this guy, he's blown up.
You're probably one of the bestguys in the whole valley,
honestly, because I know youjust from all your tidbits about
what's opening up.
I mean, where did those ideascome from?
Were you just a marketinggenius?
How did that actually happen?

Speaker 5 (26:23):
Honestly, well, I moved out here in 2000,.
Was born and raised in the LAarea, and I moved out here in
2000,.
Didn't know anybody, spent 25plus years in the restaurant
business, but I was alwaysinfatuated with growth.
Anytime I saw fences go upsomewhere, I wanted to know what
was being built there, and soI'd make it kind of my mission

(26:46):
to find out.
And this was before I'll datemyself a little bit before there
was the internet and stuff, andso I'm trying to scour the
newspaper and stuff to find outwhat's being built.
And once I got into real estatesocial media is a big deal.
You got to get in front ofpeople, and so I was posting
every day just a lot of realestate stuff, random things.

(27:08):
I created a real estate pagethat nobody followed, because if
you're not buying a house,nobody cares about buying a
house.
And so I just focused onposting something every day and
I would post a picture of aconstruction site and talk about
a restaurant that was beingbuilt there or whatever it was.

(27:28):
And I got very little to nointeraction, but I stayed
consistent.
I stayed consistent.
I kept doing it.
I kept doing it.
It wasn't until I put my facein the video and made a video
about it, talking about it,rather than just a picture with
a caption, and that, uh, Ithought my, my Instagram was
broken, uh, because I went tobed.

(27:51):
I had like 1500 followers and Iwoke up I had like 4,000 and I'm
like wait what happened?

Speaker 2 (27:56):
It was the eyes.

Speaker 5 (27:59):
Well, and so I capitalized on that.
I saw that and I said, oh, thisis what everybody wants, this
is what works.
And so let me just startcreating videos like that.
And so I just made it mymission to find out what's being
built everywhere, from PalmSprings to Coachella and
everything in between.
And uh, you know, I've made aton of connections with you know
, city leaders and developers,and now it's almost at the point

(28:23):
where it's on cruise control,where I'm not even having to
search for things.
I have business owners reachingout to me and going hey, we're
building this, oh, that'sawesome, we're going to open
this business.
You know, we'd love for you tocome and check out our new
business before it opens.
We'll give you a tour.
And so I've had the opportunityto go and check out the behind
the scenes of of all sorts ofstuff that's coming.
And then I just I take a bunchof video and piece it together,

(28:45):
throw the little green screen onthere.
Everybody calls me the floatinghead.
They can call me what they want, as long as they're watching
the buoy in the ocean.
Yeah, yeah, but, uh, but, yeah's, it's, uh, it's worked.
I've made a a ton ofconnections, I've got a ton of
business from it, because againit all goes back to it's getting
in front of people, all right,and now I'm in front of, uh, uh,

(29:08):
thousands and thousands ofpeople.
I can't go anywhere now,anywhere, everywhere I go, and I
get in trouble if I'm justreading something because it
looks like I'm angry and soyou're trying to see the
words'll get.
I'll get the little, the littlenudge and like, hey, fix your
face.
People are looking at you rightnow.
I'm like I'm just reading, areading, a sign right now.
But yeah.
Yeah, so all eyes, it seemslike, are on me all the time.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
I just need a plug that I just opened up a new slab
studio, so you should comecheck.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Speaking of some opportunities to do a video.
But no, that's, I mean, that'samazing.
I mean you kind of just tookyour hobby, You're already doing
that, Right.
And then you said hey, maybepeople will enjoy this.
And wow, Do they enjoy?

Speaker 5 (29:48):
it.
It took off.
I haven't, ever, I haven'tspent any money on any social
media or anything like that.
It's all been just stayingconsistent, posting, and you
know, some of them bombed andsome of them took off, and now
they're all going.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
I want to know what's happening at the Devanes in
Indio.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
You got to watch the video.
I just did one last week.
Do you follow me?

Speaker 2 (30:11):
Yes, Well I know, who the builder is.
It's Rice Construction and I dobusiness with them.
So I'm like hey, what's goingon over at the Devane's?
And then I just got silenced.
I was like maybe it's a bigdeal Nobody's telling me about
it.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
It's a steakhouse.
They're a group out of Chicago,nice.
It's going to be a steakhousewith wine, spirits and small
plates.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
It's a beautiful place.
I know our brother-in-law wastalking about let's put a
dentist office in there, Becauseit's a great, great property it
is.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
It's a beautiful property.
That's amazing though thatstory is for all you out there
consistency, right.
Find something that people likeand just be consistent, right,
yep, and you'll blow up likeJames over here.
Well you can't be ugly, I meancrop out your face.
If you would Use that filter,there's a lot of good filters.

Speaker 4 (31:01):
I don't know, have you been on?

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Instagram, yet there's a lot of good filters
out there, there's some trollsover there getting big, oh
really.

Speaker 5 (31:07):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
Must be personality.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
Right.
Well, that's what most peopleare self-conscious about.
Is you know their voice oncamera or their face on camera?
I mean, I was, I'm like, I'mnot, not putting my face on on
social media.
You know, post a picture and acaption and that's pretty much
it.
But you know, people want tosee, like you said, you know,
they want to see who, who youare, and that kind of determines

(31:31):
if they want to work with youor not.
Is that?
You know, follow a millionpeople on on social media but if
you don't hear them speak orsee them speak, then you don't
really know what kind of personthey are.
Once they do, then you go, youknow, and I kind of vibe with
that person.
Let me, let me reach out tothem.
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
That's awesome.
I mean, everybody's addicted totheir phone.
So if you want to advertise, bethere because I think.
I just think it's all goingdigital man.
People don't watch TV anymore.
Our generation does, but we'rethe last of the.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
Mohicans on that.
We watch TV, but rarely do wewatch commercials.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
I just record everything and I'm like yeah, my
kids fall apart.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
if there's ever a commercial, they're like what is
this?

Speaker 1 (32:19):
It's like a relic of the past, right?
I think you know social mediais just that's where it's going,
so we have a pioneer here inthe building, so we appreciate
you coming out so kind of.
Moving back to real estate, Imean I know you guys all got
your crystal ball and all withyou, billy what do you, what do
you see in?
Like, in in the future?

(32:40):
Like, are you for 2025?
You know what?
Like we're barely in april asof recording right now.
We've had some turbulent dayson the market, but what are you
kind of expecting in terms of?
You know, put your littleforecast hat on and I mean we
won't hold you to this, nobodynobody will watch.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
Nobody will watch this, nobody, nobody knows.
We're just going to record it,put it on the internet right now
.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
What do you want?

Speaker 4 (33:01):
nobody knows I think it's going to be more of the
same, you know?
I mean, I think you might seeus like a slight price, slow
down um, and when you say slight, like, what is that?
Like five percent yeah tenpercent no more than no more
than more than ten percent, nomore than ten percent than 10%
even in the down market, downeconomy, 10% is our floor that's

(33:23):
right, I think.
So you're talking like within ayear yeah, I'm talking next
year yeah, I don't think.
I don't think it's gonna go downmuch, you know, just because
everything else like I wassaying before, everything else
is so high.
Gone are the $300,000single-family, three-bedroom

(33:46):
single-family homes Like in LaQuinta Cove.
Those were all over the placethere in La Quinta Cove.
Those days are gone, they'regone.
You might be able to get a deal, but I don't see it correcting
much.
If anything, it's going to goup.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Well, it always does.
There's never a right time tobuy.
I think you just got to do itright.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
If you can financially afford it and you're
not strapped and you can do it,yeah, jump in, jump in.
For sure, if it crashes, it'sgoing to be something out of
left field that we didn'tanticipate happening, like COVID
or something like that?

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Well, what about the tariffs?

Speaker 4 (34:23):
Well, when COVID hit, everyone thought it was going
to tank.
We thought everything was goingto go down, and it did the
exact opposite it skyrocketedduring COVID.
So that's what I'm saying youdon't know, you don't know.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Do you think the tariffs impact the real estate?

Speaker 4 (34:37):
Tariffs will drive it up.
It will drive the prices foreverything up.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Because of cost of building, cost of building
everything, cost of goods andinflation.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Well, I went to lunch today with my advertising girl
for KSQ and she said she had aguy who is building he's a
contractor for two houses.
He had coming up and he wantedto advertise and just canceled
the appointment because of thetariffs.
His clients were like, yeah,we're not doing anything.
So that was kind of interestingto hear from that viewpoint you

(35:07):
know, I know in my industry I'mgetting a whole bunch of new
price books I'm like you know,I'm working on a big job yeah,
have you noticed a slowdown oranything people hesitant to buy
yet?

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Because you're kind of related to this field, not
yet, I know.
And that's what's so greatabout real estate there's so
many different avenues.
You could go on in real estatefor a career, right, you can be
on the lending side.
You could be on the propertymanagement side, you can be an
investor.
So there's a lot of investing.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
So tell us about that .
Talk about boots on the ground.
You like to do all the workyourself, right, I do that's
kind of that's what.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
I enjoy the most, absolutely.
Yeah, that's how I originallygot into this business I was.
I bought some investmentproperties.
I was fortunate enough to buyit when it was low in 2012,.
You know, around that time whenthings were really low and I
got to go in there and fix it upmyself and kind of do the sweat
equity thing, you know, andwe've been fortunate to hold on

(36:08):
to them and establish, you know,a nice little passive income
stream from that, you know.
But that also helps on the realestate side too, when things
come up like inspections andstuff like that and requests for
repairs and talking yourclients through all that stuff.
That's kind of where I shine inthat kind of stuff and having

(36:32):
the contacts bringing in theexperts to take care of a lot of
that stuff.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
So, speaking of investments, do you have any
like any places that you'reinvesting in?
And same question for you.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Well, definitely not as much as Billy.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Billy's up to like 500.
Now Billy is growingexponentially.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
No, we have just a small condo that we invested in
years ago.
But outside of that, we arelooking to invest more in the
future.
But we're not waiting on themarket to collapse to do it
Right.
That's not a it's not a realthing, and I think everybody has

(37:11):
that, that kind of musclememory of 2007, 2008, thinking
that there's going to be like a50 percent pullback in prices,
and that's just not realistic.
Normal corrections are five to10 percent when the market does
correct.
And we've seen those.
Yeah, we've seen it come down,yeah five percent.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
We're not off that far off of those covet prices
with those like setting all-timehighs like we're not.
I mean we're not there anymore,but we're not that far off of
them either, you know so I gotthe comps from my house.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
I was like, don't tell my husband yeah, but in any
market and these guys can canspeak to it too any day of the
week I can find somebody thatsays I wish I would have bought
five years ago.
Doesn't matter what day of theweek, doesn't matter what year
it is, every time so you need todo a video on shoulda, woulda,
coulda shoulda, woulda, coulda,yeah, yeah, what, what is it?

(38:02):
What do they say?
The the two best times to planta tree were 20 years ago and
yesterday.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah, so there you go .

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yeah, so Same goes for real estate.
Yeah, just get your foot in thedoor.
Every possible pun intended,get your foot in the door.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
So do you have any investments?

Speaker 5 (38:18):
I do not, not yet.
That's yeah.
Exactly what started off as theplan to buy my first investment
property, I realized I'm goingto buy my next home and use my
current home as my investmentproperty, because I refinanced
during those 2% rate days.
Nice, so I have a 2% rate on mycurrent home.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Oh, that's so cool.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
Yeah, that's the best way to do it.
I would say anyone out there,buy it as your primary residence
.
You're going to get the bestrates as a primary.
Do everything you want to do toit, fix it up, get it beautiful
, put it in that pool, whateveryou want to do and then, as you
establish equity, purchaseanother one and hold that one to

(39:03):
either rent out or develop thatpassive income.
You know, yeah, if you canafford, to do it.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
So, like us, we have young girls and you know they
want to buy and they're startingtheir families and stuff and
they're like mom, there's justnothing out there that we can
afford and I'm like you need togo buy a mobile home at this
point.
I mean, what do young people doin this?
You know.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
It's tough right now for young people.
I think we're going to have alot of problems with that, with
young kids coming up and wantingto purchase that home and just
not having the credit, nothaving the financial backing to
be able to do it.
I think you're going to seepeople staying living at home
longer while they're building upa down payment.

(39:48):
It's just unfortunate reality,I feel like.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
What I like to tell young folks, and what I'm kind
of counseling my kids on doing,is think outside of the box,
right, you don't have to buy.
Like James touched on earlier,your first home shouldn't be
your last home.
You know, whenever you buy as ayoung person you should use
that as a stepping stone,starter home.
I'm I'm really big on househacking, um, and telling younger

(40:16):
folks like, hey, you're singleor it's just you and your
girlfriend and the dog.
Buy a triplex, live one side,rent the other two sides out.
Build the equity right, you canget a better rate and better
terms because it's owneroccupied, stay in it for two
years and then you move out ofyour unit.
Keep the investment, use theequity to roll it into something

(40:37):
else.
I mean, if I had to do it allover again right now, my first
home would definitely bemultifamily.
It would be a two or three unitsomething somewhere.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
I've been trying to tell him if we sell the Airbnb,
then I'll only sell it if we buya triplex or a fourplex.
I keep trying to get him tomove into that and he said no,
oh hell, no we have too manybig-ass kids, man, I don't want
to live next door to them.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
I'm trying to get.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
I'm trying to get farther away from the kids not
closer to them it'd be a familycompound.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yeah, yeah, they'd have the next, we'd be losing
money already.
Ty and mason would pay no rent.
So I just yeah, no thanks.
I'm too old for that stuff,maybe.
Maybe like 10 years ago I don't.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
I don't know that I would necessarily rent to family
but, to live in one side andrent the other two out.
I know I know I'm thinking of aspecific person.
Where they rented and they ownthe building.
They lived in one side.
They set up an LLC and then theLLC ran the building and so

(41:40):
when the two other neighborswere out front complaining about
the landlord, they would justjump in and complain about the
landlord too, even though theywere the landlord.
The other two folks didn't knowuntil something needed to be
fixed.
They called the 800 number andthe landlord called the plumber.
The plumber showed up, not thelandlord.
A lot of folks are worriedabout that.
I don't want my neighbors toknow that they're paying me rent

(42:01):
and that I'm not paying.
They don't have to know.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Okay.
So I have a question.
So your kind of niche is inlike DHS, right.
I don't know where yours is,but I know, and where's yours, I
know it's your.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
So you kind of get established into like a certain
area right, you want to, like,as you get more established, you
don't want to be driving, likeDonovan was saying, riverside
County, you don't want to bedriving to Beaumont, out to, I
mean, you ultimately want towork in your backyard, like
that's the goal, right, soyou're not having to drive
everywhere whenever you get acall, kind of thing, right, so

(42:36):
yeah, so I've kind of focused inSouth La Quinta.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
But you're within kind of what's the name of it?

Speaker 4 (42:42):
The Citrus you're within kind of what's the name
of the citrus?
Yeah, the big and the citrus,uh, um, citrus, trying to go
into rancho, la quinta mountainview, uh, pga west, I have one
right now in tradition, so justjust trying to stay, just trying
to stay in that thosecommunities.
So I'm not driving, you know,ever, you know, all over the
place.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
So I'm working on two spec houses right now, in
tradition oh yeah, there's a.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
There's not many going up, so I probably pass by
it every day?

Speaker 2 (43:10):
do you have a particular neighborhood you like
or I mean I, I prefer mybackyard.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
I love bermuda dunes.
I love north la quinta palmdesert, indio there's nothing
wrong with with indio, I meanall parts of indio, bring it on,
I love it.
Those are, those are, those aremy areas.
But also, um, when I was firstlicensed was before I moved back
to the desert, so I was insacramento.
So I still get calls fromnorthern california every now

(43:36):
and then.
And and for the right person,the right client, the right
referral.
I have no problem driving backand forth.
I'll do it so call me crazy.

Speaker 5 (43:47):
My niche is definitely not Desert Hot
Springs, I'm sorry.
What is?

Speaker 1 (43:51):
it?
What is it?
I'm sorry, I would make thatclear he was all good.
That hurt him, that hurt him.

Speaker 4 (43:55):
What the hell did you say?

Speaker 5 (43:57):
I was going to wait until they were done.

Speaker 4 (43:58):
speaking, I wanted to make sure I clarified.

Speaker 5 (44:01):
No, I work with a lot of first-time homebuyers.
First-time homebuyers okay, andthat's the most affordable
place for them to live, but asfar as just like them, I prefer
my backyard.
I live in North Indio, I loveIndio and so that's where the
majority of my listings and myclients work and live is in
Indio.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
The new North Side or the old?

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
The real North Side or the fake, yeah, yeah the real
north side or the fake north?

Speaker 4 (44:32):
my my, uh, yeah, no, my fiance's um dad lives in the
old or the original.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
I guess the original, and so that's, that's a, that's
a hot button for him.
Anytime I say north india orsomebody says north india?

Speaker 4 (44:39):
oh yeah, that's not north india yeah, that's not.

Speaker 5 (44:42):
I'm north india, that's north of the freeway.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
So what do you call it then?
The North North.

Speaker 5 (44:47):
I mean I call it North Indio.
That's north of the freeway.
There's a big sign there nowthat says North Indio.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
No, don't, yeah, let's not go there.

Speaker 5 (44:55):
Let's not bring those gang wars back from the 90s.

Speaker 4 (44:58):
That we all grew up in from Indio.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
But yeah, there's some contention on the north
side of indio right now.
What is the?

Speaker 4 (45:09):
real north indio you know, but that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
I think you guys all kind of have your own, is that?
So that's that.
Traditionally, what happens inreal estate is you guys kind of
just find your niche, your nicheareas and, yeah, typically,
they'll start.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
When you get coming into the business.
You start as a buyer's agent.
Typically, you work.
You work with buyers, you workwith buyers, right.
So what happens with buyers?
They buy a house, right.
They live in the house for Xamount of years, they become
sellers, right.
Well, who do I know that cansell my house?
The person that helped me buyit, right.
So the natural progression is,as you progress in your career,

(45:41):
those buyers turn into sellersand you become more of a listing
agent at that point and that'sultimately what you want.
You want listings because youcan control a lot of the
narrative and stuff like thatwhen you have a listing.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
What's so funny about that?
Because it doesn't hurt todouble in that sucker here.
It doesn't.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
It doesn't for sure.
If you can, yeah, Speaking oflistings wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
so correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a
federal ruling a year or twoyears ago that kind of changed
your guys' commission scale andhow the whole industry works?
Is that something that is stillgoing on?
Is that something that'schanged the game?
I mean, I kind of vaguelyremember detail.
I'm sure you guys know exactlywhat the details are, but has

(46:22):
that changed everything or is itstill business as usual?

Speaker 4 (46:25):
They try to change.
I mean, yeah, it has, it'schanged the way we do business
here.
For sure it wasn't anythingCalifornia had done.
They just got lumped into anational lawsuit with NAR,
National Association of theRealtor.
Some of the southern states Ithink Missouri was one of them,
A couple others were accused oflike price fixing commissions
and stuff like that.

(46:45):
And then also another onesellers got upset for paying the
buyer's commission, the buyer'sagent commission.
It's like why, as a seller, amI paying somebody to negotiate
against me?
That doesn't make any sense,you know.
So there was a big lawsuit andNAR ultimately settled with this
lawsuit and in turn thenational NAR changed a lot of

(47:07):
their regulations and stuff.
So we had to follow suit withit.
California is the mostlitigious state in the country.
So we have all kinds ofdocuments and stuff.
You know both sides sign that,stating everything's negotiable.
You know commissions arenegotiable.
You know commissions arenegotiable.
So, but in order to satisfy youknow, big national, social,

(47:29):
internet realtors, californiakind of fell in suit and changed
the way we do.
You know, do real estate hereLike what's in the contracts and
stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Has it changed anything in terms of like?

Speaker 3 (47:47):
what you guys are bringing back, or is it?
Is it changed?
It just changes the paperwork.
Yeah, so a lot more paperwork,really, is that the?

Speaker 1 (47:50):
end.
Is that really the end game ofall this?
Is you gotta do more?

Speaker 4 (47:53):
I feel like it's gonna change.
It always does.
We were doing this donovan andI were talking about, we were
doing this back, uh, duringcovid, with these peds they're,
uh, you couldn't go into aproperty unless your client
access disclosure yeah theyhadlosures.
Yeah, the clients had to signthem because of COVID.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Yeah, have you had a fever recently, right?
So they had to sign these.

Speaker 4 (48:11):
So there's always things like this the game's
always changing, there's alwaysforms being thrown in.
The forms are always changing.
They change probably monthly,but the way it works.
I mean it's just up to us to bemore diligent with our clients
and explain to our clients, likewhat's going on and what's
happening.
Right, so you go and do alisting for a seller, like hey,

(48:36):
the total commission is 5%,right, like I don't care how you
want to break it down.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Is that 6% anymore?
It's not, it hasn't been 6% fora while, since I used to be
around.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
Just because the prices are so high now,
commissions are increasing aswell.
So somebody will do 5% all daylong and even in the coast,
you're going to see maybe lessthan that, going to see maybe
less than that, you know.
But we, basically you have toexplain to your seller why it's

(49:09):
in their best interest to paythe buyer's commission, right,
why is it in their best interest?
Like, why do I got to pay thebuyer's agent?
Well, this is why, mr Seller,because if you don't pay that,
nobody's going to come look atit.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
They're not going to see it.
He found the buyer right.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
He's not going to show it to you.
There's two or three otherproperties that they'll take
their their clients to that arepaying the commission.
So it does you a disservice notto pay that, that, that
commission essentially so, um,and then also they can make up
for having to pay the commissionin their purchase price too,
right?
So it's just on how you explainit to your clients and making
sure that they understand, butit but it's pretty much the same
.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
So it hasn't affected the industry like they said it
was going to.
I remember when that first cameout, I think the Wall Street
Journal was saying it's going tokill the real estate market.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
The headlines kind of made everyone take a deep
breath for about 30 days,because nobody knew what was
going on, because all they weregetting were the headlines
thrown at them.
And then, once everything cameout, and we got our yeah, we got
our contracts and everythingwas kind of finalized.
Then it was like oh okay, it'sjust, it's another disclosure.
Read, read this.
This is what it means, this iswhat it meant before.

(50:18):
Basically the same thing.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
But it's just like it's just paperwork, yeah it's
in the, yeah, it's in the.
In your purchase offer you justwrite commission to be two and
a half percent and I've neverseen a seller squawk at that or
whatever your commission isNever.
They're like okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
So and and like you said, in California, we've
always disclosed more than moststates to begin with Right and
the commissions have always beennegotiable, always you just
brought something up.
What's that?

Speaker 2 (50:46):
You have to disclose that somebody died in the house.

Speaker 4 (50:48):
Disclose, disclose, disclose, within, I think, three
years.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
Two years or three years?
Three years, yeah.
I couldn't do it.
I don't think I could do it.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
When in doubt write it out Disclose.
I like it If there's a questionon whether or not you should
disclose it.
You should disclose it.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
And then how do you guys decide what escrow company
to use or what?
Because I know sometimes thebuyers excuse me, whoever the
agent is will be like we'regoing to use this, but then
there's also clients that arelike no, we're going to use this
person.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
Client relationships.
You won't hear that fromclients?

Speaker 3 (51:23):
Yeah, not from clients.
Usually it's agents that havetheir preferred team.
What do you want?
You won't hear that from.
Yeah, not from clients.
Usually it's agents that havetheir preferred team.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
What do you prefer about them?

Speaker 3 (51:31):
I prefer the way my escrow company handles my
clients.
Every time there's a phone callto be made, an email to be sent
, they're a point of contact.
They represent my business andmy style of business as much as
I do to contact.
They represent my business andmy style of business as much as
I do so, from my lender to myinspector, my escrow company.
I'd like all of that to lookuniform.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Seamless yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Yeah, exactly, and they can make or break
transactions because they alloffer similar services.
But they're not all createdequal, not at all.
Title agents, especially titleagents, title agents help out
with that day-to-day advertisingand getting information on
properties and that kind ofthing that nobody else can

(52:15):
really do.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Like oh, you got a $50,000 lien right or something.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
Yeah, or these guys probably know this term.
You have an uninsured deed.
You're not allowed to actuallysell this house, mr Seller.
You have to go through andlegally get yourself onto the
deed in order to sell the home,just because your dad gave it to
you 20 years ago.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Don't work like that.

Speaker 5 (52:42):
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff.
There's a lot of stuff, there'sa lot of stuff.
So who you work with matters,and you know me being a lot
newer than these guys in thebusiness.
Like I started, you know Iasked my fellow agents who they
used, and you know I wentthrough a handful of different
companies before I found onethat I liked, I got along with,

(53:02):
obviously right.
And if you're going to workwith these people on a
day-to-day basis, for eachtransaction, you're going to
want to have some sort of goodrapport with them and
relationship where you can callthem and speak to them and know
what you're going to get and,like Donovan said, the
relationship that they have withyour clients, because that's a
representation of you.
So I, uh, I filtered through alot of different companies

(53:23):
before I found the ones that Isaid, okay, these, these are the
people that I want to work with.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
So All right good.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
Child in there, man trial in there.
You guys got any good storiesabout a listing or open house or
something entertaining for ouraudience before we get any good.
I know you guys got something,man something.
Oh, there's always something, Iknow.
I know donovan got some goodones.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
I've had I've had probably I don't, I can't say
the most surprising showings,but I've had some pretty
shocking showings before, whereyou go to open up house and the
alarm code is on the listing andit doesn't work.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
Oh nice, and you know , you set the alarm off in a
house and of course the listingagent's not answering and you're
standing there in front of yourclients and the super doesn't
work because they have like a, atimeline, a time restraint on
it.
You can't open the lockbox andyou have clients sitting there
like are we getting in thishouse?

Speaker 2 (54:16):
and I don't know if we're getting this house break
this window real quick.

Speaker 4 (54:19):
Yeah, yeah I can't tell you how many times I've
shown houses with just people inbed sleeping.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
Yes, in one of the rooms Happens all the time, what
In?

Speaker 1 (54:28):
bed.
They're a teenager.
They couldn't get the teenagerout.
No, it's like a rental.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
And the landlord didn't tell the tenant.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
There was a showing or something like that, and he
told us it was good to go.
No one was going to be there,but he's junk passed out on the
bed, butt naked like just notjust not going to that room, you
showed that house to me.
Here it is.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
I'm gonna stay out of that room, yeah you see the
rest of the house, yeah I showedthe house one time where there
was a caretaker in the shed inthe backyard.
So I'm showing it's an emptyhouse, there's no furniture or
anything right, and I stopped.
I start to smell smoke and likefire and I'm like what's going
on?
And I walk in the backyard andI can see by the shed there's a

(55:13):
little fire.
It's in a little barbecue pit,but it's not like he's starting
a grill, it's an actual likefire.
And then all of a sudden theshed door opens and a guy peeks
his head out and he looks at meand he just kind of does a nod
and he goes you one of them.
And I said it depends.
He's like, oh, I'm watching thehouse, and he closes the door

(55:36):
and goes back in the shed and soI just locked the back door and
told my clients hey, time to go, time to go.
And then I called the listingagent and I'm like hey, did you
know about that?
And she's like oh yeah, that'sFrancisco.
He does that and I'm like youcouldn't communicate that.
You didn't want to bring that upbeforehand.

Speaker 4 (55:56):
You meet some interesting people.
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Well, when people want to list their home with you
, what know what's the?
What's the pain in the ass?
I mean, I would imagine ahoarder right Trying to get them
to part with their stuff.
But what?
What is a pain in the ass,seller for you?

Speaker 4 (56:13):
I would say somebody who's unrealistic on price.
They have like the price set intheir head and you know like
there's no way you're going tohit that number and what's going
to end up happening is, if Itake this listing at that price,
you're going to end uphappening is if I take this
listing at that price, oh,you're fine, you're going to be
pissed at me six months from now.
Why hasn't this sold?
And then you, it just developsbad blood, you know.
But then so you kind of likeyou take that with that risk,

(56:34):
knowing that hopefully theyself-realize like, okay, maybe
my house isn't worth that much,let's drop it to get this thing
sold because you want,ultimately you want the listing
and you want to sell the house,but you know it's like so you
kind of got to fill it out upfront.
So that's what is the biggestcomplaint I have with sellers
it's just unrealistic.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Out of how many like 10 sellers?
How many are doing that?

Speaker 4 (56:57):
Three?
Yeah, it seems to be.
Why are you laughing?

Speaker 2 (57:01):
He's like a lot he's like I can offer you some more
chips and salsa.

Speaker 4 (57:08):
Some tacos.
He's like a lot.
He's like I can offer you somemore chips, yeah, yeah, so tacos
.
Well, we're coming off of covidall the all-time high right.
So people are still in thatmindset, like, oh, they sold
that like two years ago.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
I can, I can get that you're like uh, no, there's
things I think it's 2021, buyersthink it's 2012.
Yeah, yeah, it's neither.

Speaker 4 (57:21):
Yeah, we're having a tough time getting together, so
there's got to be a lot of uhconcessions made from everybody
to get there.
That's kind of what we'reseeing this.

Speaker 5 (57:30):
pricing is tricky because nobody really sets the
price right.
The sellers want to set theprice.
They want to ask you what youthink the price should be and,
at the end of the day, it's themarket that sets the price.
Your house is worth whatsomebody's willing to pay for it
, and that's a tough pill toswallow, a lot of times for a
seller who's lived there and putthe money into it.

(57:52):
And this is their number andyou know when the results speak
for themselves.
If people aren't coming to seeit, it's the price.
If people are coming to see itand not writing any offers,
something about the house.
If people are coming to see itand not writing any offers,
something about the house.
So it's tricky.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Yeah, it's like anything the market will tell
you the truth, right?
Yeah, it's like anything inbusiness Every time the market
does not lie, it'll tell you.
We're kind of running upagainst time here, but we always
ask our entrepreneurs whatadvice they would give to a
young kid, maybe trying to getin the game or thinking about
getting in the game.
So let's start with you,donovan.
What would your little kernelof advice be to somebody?

Speaker 3 (58:31):
My advice is is always consistency.
Just just be consistent.
One of the best pieces ofadvice, of advice that I heard
was long, long time ago.
One of my old coaches said thatconsistency will get you places
that motivation won't.
There's going to be days whereyou just don't.
You don't want to get up, youdon't want to work late, you

(58:52):
don't want to do any more.
But if you can get thatconsistency down, that'll carry
you through those down times.
So that's what I would go with,absolutely.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Yeah, because you know what Realtors are, always
on right, doesn't matter whattime it is or what holiday or
anything.
So that's a hard one it isBilly any words of advice?

Speaker 4 (59:13):
Yeah, somebody I mean obviously somebody's coming
into the business.
They don't have any of thoseconnections typically, right?
So, like I said before, sweatequity and open houses is a big
one.
Join a team.
But also like I wouldn't quityour job right away too, because
most of the time you have billsto pay, right, you need you put

(59:36):
you know steady and you need asteady income Right.
So this business, when you do ityou're not going to get that,
it's going to be all over theplace.
You could work, I think Jamessaid, seven months before he got
a paycheck right.
So I would do it on the sidefirst until you get kind of more
established and start having alittle more consistent income,

(59:56):
and then, if you feelcomfortable in your good
financial spot, then pull thetrigger and do it full time.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
So have a side hustle .

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
For sure, that's it, got it.
Got it full time.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
So have a side hustle For sure, that's it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:06):
Yep, got it, got it, yeah, yeah.
You know the perception is thisbusiness is really easy and
you'll make a lot of money.
It's just selling houses.
When I started, my coach askedme how many homes I was going to
sell this year and this was inDecember for the next year and I
said 12.
One a month.
I can do that.
Seven months went by and I hadzero.

(01:00:34):
So you know it's um, uh, it'snot, as it's not as easy as it
looks.
Uh, every day you wake up inthis industry, you're, you're
unemployed, you have to, youhave to go and find your next
paycheck, you have to go andfind the next person that wants
to work with you, and it's tough.
My biggest challenge was goingfrom my entire life working for
somebody, clocking in, clockingout, getting a paycheck every

(01:00:55):
two weeks.
And so the challenge of, likethey said, I don't have to wake
up early today, I don't have tomake those calls, I don't have
to knock on those doors, I cando whatever I want, and the end
result of that is there's nopaycheck coming in.
So why I got into this businesswas you get out of it what you
put into it.
So if it's somebody that'swilling to work hard and do the

(01:01:17):
work and do all the things, youcan benefit from it.
But if you're somebody thatjust thinks it's going to be a
breeze and it's all going tofall on your lap and be handed
to you, it's going to be a rudeawakening for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
Absolutely.
That's some good tips there,guys.
So we got three of the best inthe game.
Where can our listeners orpeople watching on YouTube?
Where can they find you guys?
So I'll go Donovan, where cansomebody reach out and kind of
contact you if they want tospeak to you more about this or
obtain your services?

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
Well, I live on Instagram, so you can find me at
Donovan McDaniel Realtor onInstagram.
I'm atDonovanMcDanielexprealtycom.
Those are the two quickest andfastest ways.
I'm usually on the DMs, donovanMcDaniel, so you can DM, dm,
hit me up, so you work for EXPright.
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Okay, got it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Did I miss that in the beginning?
Yeah, I missed that in thebeginning.
Yeah, that's okay.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
Billy, where can people find you?
I know you're not the biggestsocial media guy.

Speaker 4 (01:02:15):
No, yeah, I'm with Windermere.
You can always reach or you cangive me a call directly
760-333-1884.
Email me to billy atmorasspropertiescom.
Is that a?

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
landline, I thought it used to be.
I am the desert.

Speaker 4 (01:02:32):
That was when I was with the team, when I first
started, oh you've grown sincethen I was with the team when I
started.
Yeah, that's why I highlyrecommend it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Got it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
All right, james, everybody should.
Who where to find you, but forthose of you under a?

Speaker 5 (01:02:49):
rock.
Where can they reach out?
And kind of, yeah, um,instagram.
Instagram is where is where Ilive?
Uh, working on building out ayoutube channel on facebook as
well.
Everything across the board isjames sewer realtor.
All things coachella valleyawesome.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
yeah, he's pretty easy to find people, you can be
like I'm James Seward and I'mthe doer New tagline.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
Just don't.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
Google that phrase.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
You don't want the images on that one, you don't
want those results.
You don't want those images,disregardful.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
You don't want those results in your history Right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Well, this has been really fun.
A lot of great tidbits in there, guys, and I can't thank you
guys enough for coming in.
We wanted to do this for a longtime.
I think there's a lot of goodthings to learn.
You have to watch this onetwice.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Yeah, and we're going to get ladies next Ladies in
the house, we'll do a ladiesroundtable coming up, so thanks
for tuning in If you found somevalue today.

Speaker 4 (01:03:47):
You guys know the routine like subscribe and
follow and we'll see you nexttime on CV Hustle.