May 7, 2024 • 32 mins
May 7, 2024
134. Things You Need to Know Before Buying Your House
Imagine buying your dream home, only to find it’s a nightmare in disguise. Bob Thompson shares his eye-opening experience as a new homeowner in Portsmouth, Virginia, where his excitement quickly turned to dismay. Discover the harsh realities of outdated electrical systems, problematic neighbors, and endless repairs. Bob's story is a stark reminder of the crucial need for thorough pre-purchase inspections and the importance of knowing your neighborhood inside and out. We dive deep into the risks of overlooking essential home inspections and how they can expose you to unforeseen damages and massive expenses. Our discussion explores the ethical considerations of disclosing defects and the urgent steps required after disaster strikes. This episode is your guide to smart homeownership, helping you make informed decisions and avoid the common traps that snag unprepared buyers.
Here’s how you can follow or reach Bob:
Website: whatbobthinks.com
Email: bobthompson0429@gmail.com
Important information from Homeowners Be Aware:
Here are ways you can follow me on-line:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeownersbeaware/
Website: https://homeownersbeaware.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-siegal/
If you'd like to reach me for any reason, here's the link to my contact form:
https://homeownersbeaware.com/contact
Here's the link to the trailer for the documentary film I'm making: Built to Last: Buyer Beware.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
George Siegal (00:00):
One of the things I really want to do with this
podcast is share more of yourstories of things that have
happened to you as homeowners.
I think by sharing theseexperiences, we can help each
other avoid making the samemistakes or having the same
things happen.
There are so many challengeswith building or buying a house,
and these challenges extend torenting a house or an apartment,
(00:23):
so I posted online asking forstories and got a response from
my guest today.
Bob Thompson had some prettysignificant things happen when
he bought his house.
He probably could have avoidedmany of them.
So sit back and listen to Bob'sstory.
He's going to share some thingsthat you should pay close
attention to so you can avoidhaving them happen to you.
(00:44):
I'm George Siegal, and this isHomeowners Be Aware the podcast
that teaches you everything youneed to know about being a
homeowner.
Bob, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Bob Thompson (00:56):
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
George Siegal (01:02):
Now I found you doing a shout-out, where I'm
looking for people that arehomeowners, that have had
experiences to come on and sharethem.
I think we can learn so muchfrom hearing what other people
go through.
I know that the experiencesI've had when I tell people they
go, wow.
I've got to be aware of that.
So it sounds like you've hadsome interesting experiences.
What did you learn becoming ahomeowner or as a homeowner that
you want to share with otherpeople?
Bob Thompson (01:23):
Okay, so I bought my.
We bought our first house in2002.
At the time I worked at thechemical plant.
We were approved for 90,000 andwe paid 84 for the house.
This is in essentially,portsmouth, virginia.
This house had been on themarket for a year.
We didn't get a home inspection.
Our agent told us that we weregetting a home warranty and that
(01:45):
would cover everything, whichwas a complete and total
disaster.
The house was from 1940, theelectricity had not been updated
, so we had to deal with that.
Floors were uneven, leakywindows.
I think what, honestly, wasworse than anything was not
(02:05):
realizing who we had asneighbors.
And this is no joke.
The guy behind me was a300-pound white power guy.
We're talking Confederate flagin the front yard and that first
Saturday I woke up toessentially white power music
playing.
Saturday I woke up toessentially white power music
(02:28):
playing and the people thatowned my house before me were
black, which kind of makes methink that might be part of the
reason that they moved.
And we had a and there was anyhead roosters in the backyard.
So we literally woke up, youknow, saturday morning at 6am to
the rooster and then, like anhour later, he's got this some
sort of country white powermusic going on.
It was a complete fiasco frombeginning to end and, quite
(02:51):
honestly, when we finally movedon from that house, that house
had never been completedproperly.
It just never got fixed all theway.
George Siegal (02:58):
Now there's so many questions I have to ask you
just based on what you've toldme, and none of it is meant to
be critical, because I'vecertainly made my share of
mistakes.
Bob Thompson (03:05):
Oh, you're fine.
George Siegal (03:06):
You know, when it comes to choosing neighbors,
that's something I don't thinkpeople give enough value to and
you read about it.
If you're on Next Door or ifyou're on Facebook groups, you
hear about people that havehorrible neighbors, where they
either have barking dogs, theyhave people partying.
I know when I got one of myfirst apartments in Clovis
California, a biker gang movedin next to me and they always
(03:26):
drove up their motorcycles lateat night and had doing repair
work and revving engines all thetime.
But that was an apartment.
It's a lot easier to separatefrom a crummy apartment choice
than it is from a crummy homebuying choice.
How difficult is that on a dayto day basis?
Was that for you to deal with?
Bob Thompson (03:44):
Honest to God, it was a teetotal nightmare because
we had a neighbor on one side.
She was a raving alcoholic Likeshe would literally.
I've got old Facebook postsLike the night Obama got elected
.
I was like you know, presidentscome and go, but if you haven't
had a neighbor that's screamingat the moon at midnight, you
(04:04):
haven't lived.
I mean, she would just to thepoint of you couldn't understand
words that were coming out ofher mouth, but she'd be out
front just going off.
The neighbor on the left wasoriginally a meth addict and she
eventually died about a yearafter we moved in and of course
the house got bought, rehabbedand good, proper neighbors moved
in, but I dealt with two of thethree of those neighbors for
(04:27):
almost the entire time we livedthere.
The white power guy eventuallyput the house up for rent and
moved on, but the crazy drunkneighbor was there until the day
that I moved out.
George Siegal (04:37):
And how many years did you live there?
Bob Thompson (04:40):
We bought the house in 2002.
I personally moved out in 2015,when I when I filed for divorce
.
George Siegal (04:48):
quite honestly, yeah, that's a good gift to give
the ex-wife to say here, takethe house.
Bob Thompson (04:53):
And all it was.
George Siegal (04:54):
You know.
Now you know, I'm thankfulevery day that we happen to.
In the area that we live in,our little niche area, we have
great neighbors, we haverespectful neighbors.
We have great neighbors, wehave respectful neighbors, we
have quiet neighbors.
But a few blocks over you hearstories from people that have
problems, so that's reallysomething people need to
investigate.
You gave a great tip before wewent on that you tell people now
(05:17):
that you don't just buy a house, you have to know more about it
.
What is your drive-by tip?
I thought that was great.
Bob Thompson (05:24):
Well, because I eventually got my real estate
license and I have been afull-time real estate agent
since 2007,.
That was the greatestexperience I possibly could have
, because it was so monumentallybad that I instantly knew what
I didn't want to do, and Ireally wanted to do a good job.
It wasn't about just gettingpaid, but what I do is I tell
(05:48):
all of my clients to do what Icall the Friday night drive by.
Every house looks pretty atTuesday at two o'clock in the
afternoon, because it's Tuesdayat two o'clock in the afternoon,
but you've got to ride by thehouse at night to figure out
what's going on.
Do you have is?
Is the house next door, you know?
Are they fighting and trying tokill each other all the time?
Do they got 15 kids that theycan't control?
(06:10):
Do is it a biker gang?
Is it a?
Are they the party neighbors?
Are they people you know thatare just not of high caliber and
can you know that are shady?
To where you got to make sureyou lock your car up at night
because somebody is going tobreak in?
These are the type of thingsthat you absolutely have to look
at, and that's even in thenicest of neighborhoods.
(06:31):
It could be just as simple aslittle Joey is allowed to, you
know, have his band practice inthe garage, but yet they're
still practicing at 11 o'clockat night and you've got little
kids and they got to go to sleep.
So it doesn't have to beanything major, but you should
be aware of what's going onalways.
George Siegal (06:49):
Yeah, and now you know, the kids could be running
around with airsoft guns, theycould have dogs that are very
vicious.
You know, I've heard I had afriend who had a couple of
donkeys and the donkeys wereeaten by some pit bulls in the
neighborhood that were allowedto roam free, and so you just
really never know where it'sgoing to come from.
You also want to go by on a badweather day.
I think you want to pick a daywhen it's raining or after it's
(07:12):
rained for a couple of days.
The problem is some people arelimited by time.
So you go, look, you fly intotown, you look at a house for a
couple of days, you put an offerdown, you get it.
You really can't do thoserushed transactions, can you?
Bob Thompson (07:28):
Well, here's the thing You're not really supposed
to and that's what you're.
If you've got a real estateagent, that's their job and if
they're not smart enough tofigure out that on themselves,
then it's your responsibility tosay hey, I know that.
Like, for instance, I live inHampton Roads, which is
Chesapeake, virginia, norfolk,virginia.
For instance, I live in HamptonRoads, which is Chesapeake,
(07:59):
virginia, norfolk, virginia,virginia Beach.
We were built on a swamp thatused to all be swampland, so we
do have pockets to where, if theweather gets bad, the roads are
going to back up a little bit.
You're going day.
Yeah, you should be able to askwhoever is getting let's be
honest is getting paid to dotheir job.
There's no excuse for them notto be able to.
A check on that and B theyshould already know if they live
in the area.
I know for a fact that theworst parts of Chesapeake,
norfolk and Portsmouth andVirginia Beach that are probably
(08:21):
going to turn into swamp andit's my job to check on that,
you know it just is.
George Siegal (08:27):
Yeah, I also tell people to check your local
floodplain manager, research thehistory of the house because,
yeah, you're right, a realtor ina perfect world would tell you
all these things.
You know, our realtor who Ithought was decent never told us
they were tearing up the entirestreet and cutting down all the
trees to put in a new sewerline.
Now you could make the argumentthat well, they improved the
(08:48):
drainage in the neighborhood, sonow you're not going to flood,
but we didn't know that.
We bought the house because ofthe tree-lined street and people
just can't rely on other people.
You really, if you're your ownbest advocate, it probably works
out a lot better for you.
Bob Thompson (09:03):
A lot of ways and you should be able to do that.
And if your agent gets mad atyou, then that's on them.
You have a right to ask thosequestions and do the due
diligence, and sometimes peoplewill just point blank lie to you
.
I've got a buddy of mine that Ihelped him find a house in 2008
.
And we were told and there wasa mobile home park right across
(09:26):
the street and we were told thatthat mobile home park was
coming down.
This is by the, the lead agenton the site that we were buying
at.
He point blank to my face andmy client who, by the way, it's
still one of my closest friends,you know was hey, well, they're
tearing down the mobile homepark.
So no worries about that,because that was a legitimate
concern, because these were nicecondos that were going in Well.
(09:48):
Here it is in 2024.
That mobile home park is stillalive and well.
My buddy, irv still lives in thecondo complex and we still
laugh about it.
You know, if I go to pick himup or we go have lunch or
whatever, we still talk aboutwhat a ball face lie that that
was.
And that proves another pointthat remember, with condo
(10:08):
complexes and HOAs.
They don't have to follow theirown rules or stick to their
plan until they get typically 50to 75% of those units in.
So in Irv's case theyoriginally they were going to
build a pool and they were goingto do a pool house and all of
that type of stuff Never gotdone because when the economy
changed they shut all that down.
(10:29):
So just because they'reoffering you all of these
beautiful amenities, if thecomplex hasn't gotten to that
point yet, they're not requiredto give you squat.
They're just not.
George Siegal (10:41):
Yeah, and I think people don't realize that if
there is a board or a managementteam, the homeowners are the
minority in that, until acertain point the builder
actually has the most, or thedeveloper has the most seats at
the table, so they can operateat their own pace.
Bob Thompson (10:57):
Yeah, I mean.
Look when the economy shiftedlast time you saw a lot of what
used to be single family homesget turned into mixed use
communities because basicallythe money ran out.
Nobody could afford to buy$400,000 properties, so they
switched them over to townhousesand condos and started going
that direction.
And that affects value, whetheranybody likes it or not.
George Siegal (11:19):
It does.
Now, the thing that the big redflag that hoisted when you
first started talking was nohome inspection, and I got to
say what was your thoughtprocess there?
Bob Thompson (11:30):
I'm an idiot and I believed her.
George Siegal (11:33):
That's not why I asked you that.
Bob Thompson (11:35):
And even my father , because she point blank told
me that we were getting a homewarranty and at the time home
warranties had really juststarted taking off and maybe she
truly believed that.
I don't think she wasdeliberately lying, I just think
she didn't, as I found outlater, know her ass from a hole
in the ground quite honestly,and she was like well, you don't
(11:55):
need a home inspection, you'regetting a home warranty That'll
cover your electrical and allyour other stuff.
And come to find out it didn'tcover squat and it was just a
nightmare.
George Siegal (12:09):
No, those things are not everything that they're
crafted or cut out or they'resold to us as and usually when I
talk to people in the serviceindustries that are repair
people, plumbers, electriciansthere's a reason that there are
certain people that areavailable to work for those
companies.
They pay the lowest amount, soit's a company that needs the
business and isn't necessarilythe cream of the crop at that
particular task.
They may be good.
I've had some good people comeout when I've had those, but
(12:29):
I've also had a lot of badpeople.
Bob Thompson (12:32):
No, I agree, and I honest to God, I don't even
recommend them.
Now, if I'm working with abuyer and a seller wants to
throw one in, hey, that's fine,throw it in there, it might end
up being worth your while.
But fine, throw it in there, itmight end up being worth your
while.
But nine out of 10 times it'sbeen my experience that they
fight.
You know fixing much ofanything and they will nickel
and dime and nickel and dime.
(12:52):
You know to fix something anddo everything in their power to
have to replace it.
That's just how I feel about it.
I've always been honest aboutit.
George Siegal (12:58):
Yeah, and I think the lesson that you learned and
unfortunately there are a lotof people that were doing that
during COVID and houses in a hotmarket would say if somebody
came along and was willing totake no inspection, they were
going to win over anybody elsein that bidding war or process.
But the reality is the homeinspection is really your last
chance and best chance to get asmuch information about that
(13:20):
house.
That means finding a goodinspector too, but a lot of
people want the cheapestinspection.
They feel like if somebody justcomes through and says, yeah,
that plug socket's not workingor that light is a little dim in
the dining room, that they'regetting an inspection.
They need to have somebody lookat the roof If there's a
chimney, look at the foundation,look for termites, look for
carpenter ants.
I mean there's so many thingsthat if it gets passed on to you
(13:42):
you're really screwed as a homebuyer.
Bob Thompson (13:45):
Yeah, and I think a lot of times what happens is
you get in certain organizationsto where they're all mixed
together.
So in other words, the agentyou know uses the company home
inspector or the company termiteguy, the company this.
I think as homeowners you haveto ask those questions and make
sure that that home inspectordidn't just take a class online
(14:07):
and a few months later is a homeinspector.
I want somebody, whether welike it or not.
I want somebody that's got abackground in construction.
Give me the old, grizzled guythat has been in that industry
for 30 years, right, wrong orotherwise.
I want somebody that can showme some serious qualifications
and experience and unfortunatelyyou're going to pay more for
(14:27):
that and it's worth it always.
George Siegal (14:29):
Oh, absolutely, and you know, as we talk about,
in a documentary film I havecoming out soon, called Built to
Last, buyer Beware, we have aguy whose house was damaged by
Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and ittook him seven years to get back
in his house and he talks aboutall the things that can go
wrong in the process, and one ofthe main points he makes is
(14:52):
it's a lot more expensive to beproactive and fix things before
they're bad than to try torepair them after the problem
occurs.
That if you can get ahead ofthings as a homeowner, you're
going to be much better off.
Bob Thompson (15:04):
No, I agree, that's the beauty of the home
inspection, because it'sbasically giving you a built-in
list of, most of the time,little nickel and dime things
that you need to do.
And the best thing you can dois start on that list right away
, especially if it's stuff thatyou yourself can do, run to
Lowe's and change out an outlethere or there, and obviously, if
you can't, then you can findpeople to do that Because, again
(15:26):
, it's going to be smaller itemsand you can just kind of work
your way through the list.
Not all of us are blessed to beable to turn a wrench, but we
can hopefully find somebody elsethat can do it for us at a
reasonable price.
George Siegal (15:37):
Yeah, I can hand you a wrench.
I think I can do that prettywell.
Bob Thompson (15:41):
Trust me, I'm the same way I'm actually, believe
it or not a former class Acontractor, which means I know
how to open a book, but don'task me to fix it.
I can tell you what's wrongwith it, but I can't fix it and
I'm not going to pretend that Ican.
George Siegal (15:53):
Yeah, and I don't think anybody should mess
around with electrical unlessthey really know what they're
doing.
No, no, a lot of.
Bob Thompson (16:00):
We had major problems with.
Electrical Flooring was off,Windows wouldn't open, Windows
wouldn't close.
It was, I mean, it was by thetime I moved out we still had
repair work to do and we hadprobably spent 40 or 50 grand by
that point, easily over thedifferent over the years, being
able to do different things.
George Siegal (16:21):
Now another thing I think people don't realize
okay, you got in that situationwhere you were.
If you're playing hot potatoand the potato landed on you and
you got all the bad stuff withthis house, how much of that do
you have to tell the person whobuys it?
I mean, if, obviously, ifthere's a record of people that
have come out and worked on itand there's permits and all
these things, how difficult isit to then sell a house like
(16:41):
that?
Bob Thompson (16:42):
Realistically.
I know in the state of Virginiayou've only got to point out
material defects and that doesnot count.
Things like plumbing andelectrical.
Typically it's going to bestructural issues and things of
that nature.
So the fact that somewherealong the way I had to have the
electrical updated doesn't needto be mentioned.
I can simply, if anything, I'mgoing to use it as a plus and
say, hey, look, the electricityhas been updated.
But and simply, if anything,I'm going to use it as a plus
(17:03):
and say, hey, look, theelectricity has been updated,
but nine out of 10 times.
I don't have to disclose thatand whether we like it or not,
it is always buyer.
Beware it.
Just, unfortunately it is.
It's always going to be thatway.
I think too.
George Siegal (17:14):
Yeah, which makes it even more important that a
buyer be armed with as muchinformation as possible so they
make a good decision.
And another thing I thinkbuyers don't always think about
if you like something but you'rereally not planning on being in
the house very long, it's abridge house for you.
Possibly you're almost safergoing with things not just what
you like, but what a lot ofpeople like.
(17:36):
We tried flipping a house onceand it didn't have a garage, and
we found out afterwards youweren't even allowed to put a
carport in.
Well, what did that do?
That eliminated anybody thathad a nice car from wanting to
buy that house because of hail,potential damage and being out
in the elements.
So you want to make more moneyselling the house, but the
people who have the nice carsthat might buy that house don't
(18:00):
want it because it doesn't havethe carport or the garage.
So you really have to thinkahead, don't you?
In a lot of different ways.
Bob Thompson (18:07):
I think so, and I think you also have to remember
is that you know a lot of agentslike to say that there's always
a good time to buy a house.
That's not necessarily the case.
Sometimes it's just not theright time.
You have to be in a rightemotional space for it.
You have to know that.
You know I'm going to stay inthis house.
This is a major purchase andyou're only really going to make
(18:29):
three or four of them entireyour entire life.
And I'll give you an example.
Prior to buying that house, mywife and I were living in a
townhouse and we had custody ofour younger half brothers, and
they were 14.
So they were in high school.
Well, realistically, we onlyhad a couple.
By the time we bought thathouse, the boys were only going
to be in school for another yearand a half.
(18:49):
If we had been smart, we couldhave stayed in that townhouse as
a rental for another year and ahalf and we wouldn't have
needed the four bedroom, twobath, and we would have been
able to think about what do wewant to do?
I mean, I wasn't in a positionwhere I wanted to cut grass
every weekend and deal with allof this stuff.
So maybe if we'd have beensmart and waited, then we could
(19:10):
have said, okay, well, let'sjust go buy a townhouse or a
condo where all of thatmaintenance is done and we don't
have to deal with it.
I don't have an answer for that, but as I look back on it, we
should have.
We should have.
Just we should have waited,because then there was, we could
have bought something a littlebit smaller or maybe something
in a nicer neighborhood and nothad to worry about being in that
exact school system for thekids.
(19:32):
Our whole trajectory would havechanged.
George Siegal (19:35):
Yeah, generally to the by the um, the boils that
you see in a house anytime forme, like if there hasn't been
enough closet space or thedriveway was too steep or you
couldn't do certain things whenpeople would come look at that
house when we were selling it.
That was the first thing theynoticed in the report when they
would tell the agent as feedbackNow there wasn't enough closet
space or that driveway is toosteep for me to get my portion,
(19:58):
or whatever.
If you can think about it asbeing a problem, it's not going
to be a secret to most people.
They're going to know about it.
Bob Thompson (20:05):
No, and like oh, here's a big one I'm dealing
with a lot because I sell a lotin older neighborhoods, no
primary bathroom.
So it's basically you're goingto.
You have your, your quoteunquote three bedroom or four
bedroom and two full baths, butit's not attached.
And for a lot of people thatdoesn't work and I don't blame
(20:26):
them and I'm always like why areyou going to spend $400,000
where you got to put a robe on,to go out to your own bathroom
to get a shower and all of that?
I'm sorry.
There's something about being agrownup that I like to be able
to, to walk right into mybathroom from my bedroom and not
have to worry about if the kidsare coming around or, you know,
if I've got family staying overor whatever the case, that
makes a big difference, and inolder homes they didn't exist,
(20:49):
so it's a problem.
George Siegal (20:51):
So what do you think it is about us people in
general that makes us make suchhorrible decisions on a regular
basis?
Bob Thompson (20:59):
I think, because the people that are helping us
make those decisions and I'mgoing to include my own industry
a lot of times don't actuallyknow what they're talking about,
got into the business for thewrong reasons and, let's be
honest, we don't do enoughresearch.
As a home buyer, I mean, Iliterally pointed my finger in
the yellow pages which tells youhow long ago this was and
(21:22):
called the first agent that Isaw and talked to her.
What I should have done wasreached out to my friends and
family and interviewed severalagents and folks that get up.
That's why, for me, I valuepersonal referral over anything.
By all means, those are thepeople that I want to call me
because I have a track record.
That's what I should have done.
(21:43):
I literally, just on a whim,was like hey, I'm going to call
this person.
The other thing is we onlylooked at one other house
because we needed four bedroom,two bath.
I was impatient and I walked inthe house, looked around and
said, yeah, it'll do.
And that was the extent of theconversation, and that agent
probably should have smacked meupside the head and said dude,
what are you doing?
(22:03):
You know, let's not think aboutthe short-term income.
Think about the fact that ifshe had done her job properly,
then she would have had a fanand would have had a client for
life.
Now, granted, I eventually gotmy own license and moved on, but
if I hadn't I would.
She would have been my guy tilldoomsday, and I think a lot of
(22:24):
agents drop the ball on that.
They do the short-term thinkingand it doesn't work.
George Siegal (22:28):
I wonder how many people said yellow pages.
Bob Thompson (22:32):
Yeah, I know Almost 52.
I get it, trust me.
George Siegal (22:35):
Yeah, I mean, that's not really a great way to
find.
If you think about it, the bestway is to know.
A lot of times it's annoyingwhen you get all those flyers
from realtors in yourneighborhood, but at least you
know who's around there sellinghouses and it's a good place to
start just to ask questions.
But even on them, I would youknow.
I did that one time where wehired what we call the big
heavyweight realtor and ourhouse wasn't significant enough
(22:57):
to garner enough of herattention.
So sometimes that person isn'tthe right person either.
You really have to see whothey're selling houses for and
then ask those people how happythey are.
Bob Thompson (23:12):
Yeah, and you've got to interview and you've got
to be willing to.
Again, they should be willingto give you a list of people
that they've worked with To thisday.
If I walk into a listingappointment and they don't know
who I am, then I'm going to handthem my phone and go okay, call
, Pick anybody you want, callthem at random and we're going
to tell you what's up.
And you, with the big powerteams, you do have to be careful
(23:34):
because a lot of times you'renot actually going to get the
guy that runs the team.
I know when I was on a powerteam years ago, you weren't
going to get him to leave hisoffice.
It wasn't going to happen.
He was going to send me or oneof the other lackeys to go
actually do the listingappointment and talk about all
the great things we can do.
You have to interview and youhave to make sure that you're
comfortable with that person.
It's not about the buzz or themarketing or all the rest of it.
It's about the human beingsitting across from you.
(23:56):
Quite honestly, if you feelicky, walk away.
There's probably a reason youfeel that way.
George Siegal (24:01):
Yeah, and definitely ask and say who's
going to be taking care of me,who's the person that will be
working on my house?
I know it's like that withthose billboard lawyers, the
accident lawyers, the ones thatare on TV.
That's not usually the oneyou're going to get, unless
you're in a major accident andit's a high profile case.
Bob Thompson (24:18):
No, you're going to get the other lawyers and
everything else.
And we, I think we have atendency we want to be nice, so
we don't ask the hard questions.
And I think you absolutely haveto ask the hard questions and
if your agent can't answer them,then kindly escort them to the
door and find somebody else.
And to me, I personally I haveno problems with that Ask me the
(24:40):
hard questions.
I mean, there's absolutelynothing wrong with that, it's
important.
George Siegal (24:44):
Yeah, I want you to see how big a pain in the ass
I'm going to be before we startworking together.
Bob Thompson (24:48):
And that works both ways, because sometimes, as
an agent, you don't want towork with certain people because
, even if they're notnecessarily a pain, maybe
they're just not everybody's afit.
It's like anything else in thisworld.
If you're, if they're going toconstantly second guess what
you're trying to do, or they gottheir own drama in their own
life, it may be like you knowwhat, mr Seller, why don't you
(25:10):
go ahead and hire somebody else?
Because this isn't going towork, and there's nothing wrong
with that.
Sometimes people just don'twork.
George Siegal (25:16):
Absolutely.
That's great advice.
Now, in addition to being areal estate agent, you're also a
motivational speaker.
Yes, sir, what's the speechabout?
Bob Thompson (25:25):
Well, quite honestly, that started after the
two heart attacks and thebypass in 2018.
As I was moving my way back upinto real estate, I kind of
wanted to give back to the realestate world and mentor and
teach some younger agents on howto do things as far as I'm
concerned, the right way and itkind of snowballed from there.
Basically, what I talk about alot of is persistent progress
(25:48):
and self-checks, and, with theyoung people, I talk about
working in the dark becausethere's so much negativity.
You don't have to telleverybody your business.
Just keep it to yourself, dowhat you're trying to do and
then, when it's ready to comeout full bore, come out with it.
I can remember even working as achemist.
When I went full time fromchemist to real estate in 2007,
(26:11):
everybody told me I was insane.
I had so many people that arelike well, you've got a steady
job, you make good money.
This is a terrible idea.
You're never going to make anymoney in real estate.
Why are you doing this?
There's a recession, I mean,there's so much negativity.
Hell.
When I left the grocery businessto go work in the chemistry
industry, I literally had peopledoing the same thing in 99.
(26:34):
They were just like, well, wewere going to make you a grocery
manager.
And I'm like, ooh, you knowwhat would he do?
You know you're never going toget any better than working
produce at the Harris Teeter.
People are always trying totear you down and tell you that
you're not going to do anybetter.
So for me, I found the best wayto combat that is I don't tell
anybody squat other than mylittle circle, and I'm going to
(26:55):
make my little moves and then,when I'm ready to bust out, I'm
going to bust out because I justI don't want to hear the
negativity, because I'm smartenough to know that it will
affect me, and the best way tokeep it away is to just not tell
anybody.
George Siegal (27:09):
Yeah, no, that's.
That sounds like great advice.
Now, how do you feel about thethe commission rules changing
for realtors?
Bob Thompson (27:16):
It means absolutely nothing.
All of that means is thepaperwork's a little different,
but it's always the same,whether anybody likes it or not.
The whole point of the buyer'sagents when they came in in the
1990s was to incentivize thebuyer's agents to bring me the
deal.
So we've always quote, unquote,call it what you want.
(27:37):
You can't say split thecommission, but the fact of the
matter is if I'm getting a 5%commission, I'm going to give
half of that to the buyer'sagent.
That's not really changing.
It's not affecting price pointsin any way, shape or form.
It's simply moving the numberto the other side of the
paragraph.
That's all it's doing.
I know that it makes for greatclickbait.
(27:58):
I know I have already respondedto this a few times on several
organizations and news media andagain, it means absolutely
nothing.
At the end of the day, 99 out of100 times I think it's a great
idea to have a real estate agent, one that you can trust and
rely on, the exception to thatrule being sometimes it is
(28:20):
better to do it yourself.
If you're in a situation whereit's an investment property or
grandma and grandpa die and youdon't want to clean the house
out, sometimes the best dealisn't the highest price deal.
It all comes down to emotionalcapital and what your needs are,
and I think agents get madabout that and my attitude is
always the same.
(28:41):
You know what?
I can go to State Farm to getmy insurance, or I can call the
general.
I'm not going to get that levelof service, but it's going to
be cheaper and sometimes that'sall you need and there's
absolutely nothing wrong withthat.
There are many ways to do thatand I've never begrudged anybody
that doesn't necessarily get areal estate agent.
We all have to do what's bestfor us.
George Siegal (29:01):
What is my Wu rant?
Real estate rant.
Bob Thompson (29:06):
That is my Wu Tang real estate rant I do on every
Friday, which is basically myminute and a half to two minutes
complaints and or bitches aboutother real estate agents and
some of the stupidity and stuffthat goes on in the market.
And it could be either, you know, if your agent's telling you
(29:26):
this, they're wrong, this iswhat you need to do, or it could
be about I had a recent one,you know, dealing with oil tanks
where we had a oil tank thatwas not properly taken care of
and they just, you know, on thehome inspection, you know, the
home inspector discovered thatthe oil tank wasn't secure,
there was a bunch of oil thathad ran out and, of course, that
had contaminated the ground andhad to be taken care of.
(29:49):
So it's a lot of stuff likethat.
It's just basically my again.
It's just Bob being Bob andranting and raving, which I've
been known to do over the years.
I get myself in trouble all thetime with the Facebook real
estate groups and stuff becauseunfortunately I don't.
You know I'm not going to dothe tried and true and I'm going
to do what I'm going to do,whether you like it or you don't
.
George Siegal (30:08):
Good for you.
So what would be your finalpiece of advice for anybody
that's going out there thinkingabout buying a house?
What's the main thought processthey should have with this?
Bob Thompson (30:18):
Get referrals, get referrals, get referrals and
ask a thousand questions anddon't be afraid to.
This is one of whether we likeit or not.
You're only going to do thisthree or four times in your
lifetime.
So make sure it is the rightmove and make sure that you are
comfortable with your agent andyou trust that they know what
they're talking about.
And there are multiple ways tocheck that.
How many deals have they done?
(30:39):
Are they being honest with you?
Let's be honest If they'recoming across like a salesman,
you need to fire themimmediately.
If they have no interest in along-term relationship with you,
you should go into every Ialways go in with.
I want to be that person's guyfor my life.
I want them.
Hey, you need a real estate guyCall Bob.
That's the type of attitudethey should always have, and you
(31:03):
should be able to go throughtheir list of buyers and sellers
and, at random, call thatindividual and say, hey, you
worked with Bob three years ago.
He did this and this.
What do you think?
And that'll tell you everythingyou need to know, whether we
like it or not.
That is the best advice I canpossibly give.
Word of mouth is everything.
George Siegal (31:22):
Well listen, bob.
Your contact information linkswill all be in the show notes.
Thanks for coming on andsharing your story today.
I really appreciate it.
Bob Thompson (31:29):
Not a problem, If anybody needs anything.
I'm old so I still answer thephone.
Send me an email, send me atext.
I'll answer the phone, Even ifit's just to give a minute and a
half worth of real estateadvice or whatever.
I still have friends of minethat will send their cousins,
uncles, brother, to me inanother state just to ask a
quick question or even reviewthe contract.
Obviously, I can't review aCalifornia contract and give you
(31:52):
every detail, but I can stillread it enough to know.
Okay, well, that's a littlefunky, and this is why.
So, by all means, they shouldalways be able to ask these
questions.
George Siegal (32:01):
All right, thanks , bob.
Bob Thompson (32:03):
Thanks.
George Siegal (32:04):
I know a lot of you have stories that have
happened to you and I'd love foryou to share them here.
There's a contact form in theshow notes.
Send it my way and I'll haveyou on an upcoming episode.
Thanks for taking the time tolisten today.
I'll see you next time.
One of the things I really want to do with this
podcast is share more of yourstories of things that have
happened to you as homeowners.
I think by sharing theseexperiences, we can help each
other avoid making the samemistakes or having the same
things happen.
There are so many challengeswith building or buying a house,
and these challenges extend torenting a house or an apartment,
(00:23):
so I posted online asking forstories and got a response from
my guest today.
Bob Thompson had some prettysignificant things happen when
he bought his house.
He probably could have avoidedmany of them.
So sit back and listen to Bob'sstory.
He's going to share some thingsthat you should pay close
attention to so you can avoidhaving them happen to you.
(00:44):
I'm George Siegal, and this isHomeowners Be Aware the podcast
that teaches you everything youneed to know about being a
homeowner.
Bob, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Bob Thompson (00:56):
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
George Siegal (01:02):
Now I found you doing a shout-out, where I'm
looking for people that arehomeowners, that have had
experiences to come on and sharethem.
I think we can learn so muchfrom hearing what other people
go through.
I know that the experiencesI've had when I tell people they
go, wow.
I've got to be aware of that.
So it sounds like you've hadsome interesting experiences.
What did you learn becoming ahomeowner or as a homeowner that
you want to share with otherpeople?
Bob Thompson (01:23):
Okay, so I bought my.
We bought our first house in2002.
At the time I worked at thechemical plant.
We were approved for 90,000 andwe paid 84 for the house.
This is in essentially,portsmouth, virginia.
This house had been on themarket for a year.
We didn't get a home inspection.
Our agent told us that we weregetting a home warranty and that
(01:45):
would cover everything, whichwas a complete and total
disaster.
The house was from 1940, theelectricity had not been updated
, so we had to deal with that.
Floors were uneven, leakywindows.
I think what, honestly, wasworse than anything was not
(02:05):
realizing who we had asneighbors.
And this is no joke.
The guy behind me was a300-pound white power guy.
We're talking Confederate flagin the front yard and that first
Saturday I woke up toessentially white power music
playing.
Saturday I woke up toessentially white power music
(02:28):
playing and the people thatowned my house before me were
black, which kind of makes methink that might be part of the
reason that they moved.
And we had a and there was anyhead roosters in the backyard.
So we literally woke up, youknow, saturday morning at 6am to
the rooster and then, like anhour later, he's got this some
sort of country white powermusic going on.
It was a complete fiasco frombeginning to end and, quite
(02:51):
honestly, when we finally movedon from that house, that house
had never been completedproperly.
It just never got fixed all theway.
George Siegal (02:58):
Now there's so many questions I have to ask you
just based on what you've toldme, and none of it is meant to
be critical, because I'vecertainly made my share of
mistakes.
Bob Thompson (03:05):
Oh, you're fine.
George Siegal (03:06):
You know, when it comes to choosing neighbors,
that's something I don't thinkpeople give enough value to and
you read about it.
If you're on Next Door or ifyou're on Facebook groups, you
hear about people that havehorrible neighbors, where they
either have barking dogs, theyhave people partying.
I know when I got one of myfirst apartments in Clovis
California, a biker gang movedin next to me and they always
(03:26):
drove up their motorcycles lateat night and had doing repair
work and revving engines all thetime.
But that was an apartment.
It's a lot easier to separatefrom a crummy apartment choice
than it is from a crummy homebuying choice.
How difficult is that on a dayto day basis?
Was that for you to deal with?
Bob Thompson (03:44):
Honest to God, it was a teetotal nightmare because
we had a neighbor on one side.
She was a raving alcoholic Likeshe would literally.
I've got old Facebook postsLike the night Obama got elected
.
I was like you know, presidentscome and go, but if you haven't
had a neighbor that's screamingat the moon at midnight, you
(04:04):
haven't lived.
I mean, she would just to thepoint of you couldn't understand
words that were coming out ofher mouth, but she'd be out
front just going off.
The neighbor on the left wasoriginally a meth addict and she
eventually died about a yearafter we moved in and of course
the house got bought, rehabbedand good, proper neighbors moved
in, but I dealt with two of thethree of those neighbors for
(04:27):
almost the entire time we livedthere.
The white power guy eventuallyput the house up for rent and
moved on, but the crazy drunkneighbor was there until the day
that I moved out.
George Siegal (04:37):
And how many years did you live there?
Bob Thompson (04:40):
We bought the house in 2002.
I personally moved out in 2015,when I when I filed for divorce
.
George Siegal (04:48):
quite honestly, yeah, that's a good gift to give
the ex-wife to say here, takethe house.
Bob Thompson (04:53):
And all it was.
George Siegal (04:54):
You know.
Now you know, I'm thankfulevery day that we happen to.
In the area that we live in,our little niche area, we have
great neighbors, we haverespectful neighbors.
We have great neighbors, wehave respectful neighbors, we
have quiet neighbors.
But a few blocks over you hearstories from people that have
problems, so that's reallysomething people need to
investigate.
You gave a great tip before wewent on that you tell people now
(05:17):
that you don't just buy a house, you have to know more about it
.
What is your drive-by tip?
I thought that was great.
Bob Thompson (05:24):
Well, because I eventually got my real estate
license and I have been afull-time real estate agent
since 2007,.
That was the greatestexperience I possibly could have
, because it was so monumentallybad that I instantly knew what
I didn't want to do, and Ireally wanted to do a good job.
It wasn't about just gettingpaid, but what I do is I tell
(05:48):
all of my clients to do what Icall the Friday night drive by.
Every house looks pretty atTuesday at two o'clock in the
afternoon, because it's Tuesdayat two o'clock in the afternoon,
but you've got to ride by thehouse at night to figure out
what's going on.
Do you have is?
Is the house next door, you know?
Are they fighting and trying tokill each other all the time?
Do they got 15 kids that theycan't control?
(06:10):
Do is it a biker gang?
Is it a?
Are they the party neighbors?
Are they people you know thatare just not of high caliber and
can you know that are shady?
To where you got to make sureyou lock your car up at night
because somebody is going tobreak in?
These are the type of thingsthat you absolutely have to look
at, and that's even in thenicest of neighborhoods.
(06:31):
It could be just as simple aslittle Joey is allowed to, you
know, have his band practice inthe garage, but yet they're
still practicing at 11 o'clockat night and you've got little
kids and they got to go to sleep.
So it doesn't have to beanything major, but you should
be aware of what's going onalways.
George Siegal (06:49):
Yeah, and now you know, the kids could be running
around with airsoft guns, theycould have dogs that are very
vicious.
You know, I've heard I had afriend who had a couple of
donkeys and the donkeys wereeaten by some pit bulls in the
neighborhood that were allowedto roam free, and so you just
really never know where it'sgoing to come from.
You also want to go by on a badweather day.
I think you want to pick a daywhen it's raining or after it's
(07:12):
rained for a couple of days.
The problem is some people arelimited by time.
So you go, look, you fly intotown, you look at a house for a
couple of days, you put an offerdown, you get it.
You really can't do thoserushed transactions, can you?
Bob Thompson (07:28):
Well, here's the thing You're not really supposed
to and that's what you're.
If you've got a real estateagent, that's their job and if
they're not smart enough tofigure out that on themselves,
then it's your responsibility tosay hey, I know that.
Like, for instance, I live inHampton Roads, which is
Chesapeake, virginia, norfolk,virginia.
For instance, I live in HamptonRoads, which is Chesapeake,
(07:59):
virginia, norfolk, virginia,virginia Beach.
We were built on a swamp thatused to all be swampland, so we
do have pockets to where, if theweather gets bad, the roads are
going to back up a little bit.
You're going day.
Yeah, you should be able to askwhoever is getting let's be
honest is getting paid to dotheir job.
There's no excuse for them notto be able to.
A check on that and B theyshould already know if they live
in the area.
I know for a fact that theworst parts of Chesapeake,
norfolk and Portsmouth andVirginia Beach that are probably
(08:21):
going to turn into swamp andit's my job to check on that,
you know it just is.
George Siegal (08:27):
Yeah, I also tell people to check your local
floodplain manager, research thehistory of the house because,
yeah, you're right, a realtor ina perfect world would tell you
all these things.
You know, our realtor who Ithought was decent never told us
they were tearing up the entirestreet and cutting down all the
trees to put in a new sewerline.
Now you could make the argumentthat well, they improved the
(08:48):
drainage in the neighborhood, sonow you're not going to flood,
but we didn't know that.
We bought the house because ofthe tree-lined street and people
just can't rely on other people.
You really, if you're your ownbest advocate, it probably works
out a lot better for you.
Bob Thompson (09:03):
A lot of ways and you should be able to do that.
And if your agent gets mad atyou, then that's on them.
You have a right to ask thosequestions and do the due
diligence, and sometimes peoplewill just point blank lie to you
.
I've got a buddy of mine that Ihelped him find a house in 2008
.
And we were told and there wasa mobile home park right across
(09:26):
the street and we were told thatthat mobile home park was
coming down.
This is by the, the lead agenton the site that we were buying
at.
He point blank to my face andmy client who, by the way, it's
still one of my closest friends,you know was hey, well, they're
tearing down the mobile homepark.
So no worries about that,because that was a legitimate
concern, because these were nicecondos that were going in Well.
(09:48):
Here it is in 2024.
That mobile home park is stillalive and well.
My buddy, irv still lives in thecondo complex and we still
laugh about it.
You know, if I go to pick himup or we go have lunch or
whatever, we still talk aboutwhat a ball face lie that that
was.
And that proves another pointthat remember, with condo
(10:08):
complexes and HOAs.
They don't have to follow theirown rules or stick to their
plan until they get typically 50to 75% of those units in.
So in Irv's case theyoriginally they were going to
build a pool and they were goingto do a pool house and all of
that type of stuff Never gotdone because when the economy
changed they shut all that down.
(10:29):
So just because they'reoffering you all of these
beautiful amenities, if thecomplex hasn't gotten to that
point yet, they're not requiredto give you squat.
They're just not.
George Siegal (10:41):
Yeah, and I think people don't realize that if
there is a board or a managementteam, the homeowners are the
minority in that, until acertain point the builder
actually has the most, or thedeveloper has the most seats at
the table, so they can operateat their own pace.
Bob Thompson (10:57):
Yeah, I mean.
Look when the economy shiftedlast time you saw a lot of what
used to be single family homesget turned into mixed use
communities because basicallythe money ran out.
Nobody could afford to buy$400,000 properties, so they
switched them over to townhousesand condos and started going
that direction.
And that affects value, whetheranybody likes it or not.
George Siegal (11:19):
It does.
Now, the thing that the big redflag that hoisted when you
first started talking was nohome inspection, and I got to
say what was your thoughtprocess there?
Bob Thompson (11:30):
I'm an idiot and I believed her.
George Siegal (11:33):
That's not why I asked you that.
Bob Thompson (11:35):
And even my father , because she point blank told
me that we were getting a homewarranty and at the time home
warranties had really juststarted taking off and maybe she
truly believed that.
I don't think she wasdeliberately lying, I just think
she didn't, as I found outlater, know her ass from a hole
in the ground quite honestly,and she was like well, you don't
(11:55):
need a home inspection, you'regetting a home warranty That'll
cover your electrical and allyour other stuff.
And come to find out it didn'tcover squat and it was just a
nightmare.
George Siegal (12:09):
No, those things are not everything that they're
crafted or cut out or they'resold to us as and usually when I
talk to people in the serviceindustries that are repair
people, plumbers, electriciansthere's a reason that there are
certain people that areavailable to work for those
companies.
They pay the lowest amount, soit's a company that needs the
business and isn't necessarilythe cream of the crop at that
particular task.
They may be good.
I've had some good people comeout when I've had those, but
(12:29):
I've also had a lot of badpeople.
Bob Thompson (12:32):
No, I agree, and I honest to God, I don't even
recommend them.
Now, if I'm working with abuyer and a seller wants to
throw one in, hey, that's fine,throw it in there, it might end
up being worth your while.
But fine, throw it in there, itmight end up being worth your
while.
But nine out of 10 times it'sbeen my experience that they
fight.
You know fixing much ofanything and they will nickel
and dime and nickel and dime.
(12:52):
You know to fix something anddo everything in their power to
have to replace it.
That's just how I feel about it.
I've always been honest aboutit.
George Siegal (12:58):
Yeah, and I think the lesson that you learned and
unfortunately there are a lotof people that were doing that
during COVID and houses in a hotmarket would say if somebody
came along and was willing totake no inspection, they were
going to win over anybody elsein that bidding war or process.
But the reality is the homeinspection is really your last
chance and best chance to get asmuch information about that
(13:20):
house.
That means finding a goodinspector too, but a lot of
people want the cheapestinspection.
They feel like if somebody justcomes through and says, yeah,
that plug socket's not workingor that light is a little dim in
the dining room, that they'regetting an inspection.
They need to have somebody lookat the roof If there's a
chimney, look at the foundation,look for termites, look for
carpenter ants.
I mean there's so many thingsthat if it gets passed on to you
(13:42):
you're really screwed as a homebuyer.
Bob Thompson (13:45):
Yeah, and I think a lot of times what happens is
you get in certain organizationsto where they're all mixed
together.
So in other words, the agentyou know uses the company home
inspector or the company termiteguy, the company this.
I think as homeowners you haveto ask those questions and make
sure that that home inspectordidn't just take a class online
(14:07):
and a few months later is a homeinspector.
I want somebody, whether welike it or not.
I want somebody that's got abackground in construction.
Give me the old, grizzled guythat has been in that industry
for 30 years, right, wrong orotherwise.
I want somebody that can showme some serious qualifications
and experience and unfortunatelyyou're going to pay more for
(14:27):
that and it's worth it always.
George Siegal (14:29):
Oh, absolutely, and you know, as we talk about,
in a documentary film I havecoming out soon, called Built to
Last, buyer Beware, we have aguy whose house was damaged by
Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and ittook him seven years to get back
in his house and he talks aboutall the things that can go
wrong in the process, and one ofthe main points he makes is
(14:52):
it's a lot more expensive to beproactive and fix things before
they're bad than to try torepair them after the problem
occurs.
That if you can get ahead ofthings as a homeowner, you're
going to be much better off.
Bob Thompson (15:04):
No, I agree, that's the beauty of the home
inspection, because it'sbasically giving you a built-in
list of, most of the time,little nickel and dime things
that you need to do.
And the best thing you can dois start on that list right away
, especially if it's stuff thatyou yourself can do, run to
Lowe's and change out an outlethere or there, and obviously, if
you can't, then you can findpeople to do that Because, again
(15:26):
, it's going to be smaller itemsand you can just kind of work
your way through the list.
Not all of us are blessed to beable to turn a wrench, but we
can hopefully find somebody elsethat can do it for us at a
reasonable price.
George Siegal (15:37):
Yeah, I can hand you a wrench.
I think I can do that prettywell.
Bob Thompson (15:41):
Trust me, I'm the same way I'm actually, believe
it or not a former class Acontractor, which means I know
how to open a book, but don'task me to fix it.
I can tell you what's wrongwith it, but I can't fix it and
I'm not going to pretend that Ican.
George Siegal (15:53):
Yeah, and I don't think anybody should mess
around with electrical unlessthey really know what they're
doing.
No, no, a lot of.
Bob Thompson (16:00):
We had major problems with.
Electrical Flooring was off,Windows wouldn't open, Windows
wouldn't close.
It was, I mean, it was by thetime I moved out we still had
repair work to do and we hadprobably spent 40 or 50 grand by
that point, easily over thedifferent over the years, being
able to do different things.
George Siegal (16:21):
Now another thing I think people don't realize
okay, you got in that situationwhere you were.
If you're playing hot potatoand the potato landed on you and
you got all the bad stuff withthis house, how much of that do
you have to tell the person whobuys it?
I mean, if, obviously, ifthere's a record of people that
have come out and worked on itand there's permits and all
these things, how difficult isit to then sell a house like
(16:41):
that?
Bob Thompson (16:42):
Realistically.
I know in the state of Virginiayou've only got to point out
material defects and that doesnot count.
Things like plumbing andelectrical.
Typically it's going to bestructural issues and things of
that nature.
So the fact that somewherealong the way I had to have the
electrical updated doesn't needto be mentioned.
I can simply, if anything, I'mgoing to use it as a plus and
say, hey, look, the electricityhas been updated.
But and simply, if anything,I'm going to use it as a plus
(17:03):
and say, hey, look, theelectricity has been updated,
but nine out of 10 times.
I don't have to disclose thatand whether we like it or not,
it is always buyer.
Beware it.
Just, unfortunately it is.
It's always going to be thatway.
I think too.
George Siegal (17:14):
Yeah, which makes it even more important that a
buyer be armed with as muchinformation as possible so they
make a good decision.
And another thing I thinkbuyers don't always think about
if you like something but you'rereally not planning on being in
the house very long, it's abridge house for you.
Possibly you're almost safergoing with things not just what
you like, but what a lot ofpeople like.
(17:36):
We tried flipping a house onceand it didn't have a garage, and
we found out afterwards youweren't even allowed to put a
carport in.
Well, what did that do?
That eliminated anybody thathad a nice car from wanting to
buy that house because of hail,potential damage and being out
in the elements.
So you want to make more moneyselling the house, but the
people who have the nice carsthat might buy that house don't
(18:00):
want it because it doesn't havethe carport or the garage.
So you really have to thinkahead, don't you?
In a lot of different ways.
Bob Thompson (18:07):
I think so, and I think you also have to remember
is that you know a lot of agentslike to say that there's always
a good time to buy a house.
That's not necessarily the case.
Sometimes it's just not theright time.
You have to be in a rightemotional space for it.
You have to know that.
You know I'm going to stay inthis house.
This is a major purchase andyou're only really going to make
(18:29):
three or four of them entireyour entire life.
And I'll give you an example.
Prior to buying that house, mywife and I were living in a
townhouse and we had custody ofour younger half brothers, and
they were 14.
So they were in high school.
Well, realistically, we onlyhad a couple.
By the time we bought thathouse, the boys were only going
to be in school for another yearand a half.
(18:49):
If we had been smart, we couldhave stayed in that townhouse as
a rental for another year and ahalf and we wouldn't have
needed the four bedroom, twobath, and we would have been
able to think about what do wewant to do?
I mean, I wasn't in a positionwhere I wanted to cut grass
every weekend and deal with allof this stuff.
So maybe if we'd have beensmart and waited, then we could
(19:10):
have said, okay, well, let'sjust go buy a townhouse or a
condo where all of thatmaintenance is done and we don't
have to deal with it.
I don't have an answer for that, but as I look back on it, we
should have.
We should have.
Just we should have waited,because then there was, we could
have bought something a littlebit smaller or maybe something
in a nicer neighborhood and nothad to worry about being in that
exact school system for thekids.
(19:32):
Our whole trajectory would havechanged.
George Siegal (19:35):
Yeah, generally to the by the um, the boils that
you see in a house anytime forme, like if there hasn't been
enough closet space or thedriveway was too steep or you
couldn't do certain things whenpeople would come look at that
house when we were selling it.
That was the first thing theynoticed in the report when they
would tell the agent as feedbackNow there wasn't enough closet
space or that driveway is toosteep for me to get my portion,
(19:58):
or whatever.
If you can think about it asbeing a problem, it's not going
to be a secret to most people.
They're going to know about it.
Bob Thompson (20:05):
No, and like oh, here's a big one I'm dealing
with a lot because I sell a lotin older neighborhoods, no
primary bathroom.
So it's basically you're goingto.
You have your, your quoteunquote three bedroom or four
bedroom and two full baths, butit's not attached.
And for a lot of people thatdoesn't work and I don't blame
(20:26):
them and I'm always like why areyou going to spend $400,000
where you got to put a robe on,to go out to your own bathroom
to get a shower and all of that?
I'm sorry.
There's something about being agrownup that I like to be able
to, to walk right into mybathroom from my bedroom and not
have to worry about if the kidsare coming around or, you know,
if I've got family staying overor whatever the case, that
makes a big difference, and inolder homes they didn't exist,
(20:49):
so it's a problem.
George Siegal (20:51):
So what do you think it is about us people in
general that makes us make suchhorrible decisions on a regular
basis?
Bob Thompson (20:59):
I think, because the people that are helping us
make those decisions and I'mgoing to include my own industry
a lot of times don't actuallyknow what they're talking about,
got into the business for thewrong reasons and, let's be
honest, we don't do enoughresearch.
As a home buyer, I mean, Iliterally pointed my finger in
the yellow pages which tells youhow long ago this was and
(21:22):
called the first agent that Isaw and talked to her.
What I should have done wasreached out to my friends and
family and interviewed severalagents and folks that get up.
That's why, for me, I valuepersonal referral over anything.
By all means, those are thepeople that I want to call me
because I have a track record.
That's what I should have done.
(21:43):
I literally, just on a whim,was like hey, I'm going to call
this person.
The other thing is we onlylooked at one other house
because we needed four bedroom,two bath.
I was impatient and I walked inthe house, looked around and
said, yeah, it'll do.
And that was the extent of theconversation, and that agent
probably should have smacked meupside the head and said dude,
what are you doing?
(22:03):
You know, let's not think aboutthe short-term income.
Think about the fact that ifshe had done her job properly,
then she would have had a fanand would have had a client for
life.
Now, granted, I eventually gotmy own license and moved on, but
if I hadn't I would.
She would have been my guy tilldoomsday, and I think a lot of
(22:24):
agents drop the ball on that.
They do the short-term thinkingand it doesn't work.
George Siegal (22:28):
I wonder how many people said yellow pages.
Bob Thompson (22:32):
Yeah, I know Almost 52.
I get it, trust me.
George Siegal (22:35):
Yeah, I mean, that's not really a great way to
find.
If you think about it, the bestway is to know.
A lot of times it's annoyingwhen you get all those flyers
from realtors in yourneighborhood, but at least you
know who's around there sellinghouses and it's a good place to
start just to ask questions.
But even on them, I would youknow.
I did that one time where wehired what we call the big
heavyweight realtor and ourhouse wasn't significant enough
(22:57):
to garner enough of herattention.
So sometimes that person isn'tthe right person either.
You really have to see whothey're selling houses for and
then ask those people how happythey are.
Bob Thompson (23:12):
Yeah, and you've got to interview and you've got
to be willing to.
Again, they should be willingto give you a list of people
that they've worked with To thisday.
If I walk into a listingappointment and they don't know
who I am, then I'm going to handthem my phone and go okay, call
, Pick anybody you want, callthem at random and we're going
to tell you what's up.
And you, with the big powerteams, you do have to be careful
(23:34):
because a lot of times you'renot actually going to get the
guy that runs the team.
I know when I was on a powerteam years ago, you weren't
going to get him to leave hisoffice.
It wasn't going to happen.
He was going to send me or oneof the other lackeys to go
actually do the listingappointment and talk about all
the great things we can do.
You have to interview and youhave to make sure that you're
comfortable with that person.
It's not about the buzz or themarketing or all the rest of it.
It's about the human beingsitting across from you.
(23:56):
Quite honestly, if you feelicky, walk away.
There's probably a reason youfeel that way.
George Siegal (24:01):
Yeah, and definitely ask and say who's
going to be taking care of me,who's the person that will be
working on my house?
I know it's like that withthose billboard lawyers, the
accident lawyers, the ones thatare on TV.
That's not usually the oneyou're going to get, unless
you're in a major accident andit's a high profile case.
Bob Thompson (24:18):
No, you're going to get the other lawyers and
everything else.
And we, I think we have atendency we want to be nice, so
we don't ask the hard questions.
And I think you absolutely haveto ask the hard questions and
if your agent can't answer them,then kindly escort them to the
door and find somebody else.
And to me, I personally I haveno problems with that Ask me the
(24:40):
hard questions.
I mean, there's absolutelynothing wrong with that, it's
important.
George Siegal (24:44):
Yeah, I want you to see how big a pain in the ass
I'm going to be before we startworking together.
Bob Thompson (24:48):
And that works both ways, because sometimes, as
an agent, you don't want towork with certain people because
, even if they're notnecessarily a pain, maybe
they're just not everybody's afit.
It's like anything else in thisworld.
If you're, if they're going toconstantly second guess what
you're trying to do, or they gottheir own drama in their own
life, it may be like you knowwhat, mr Seller, why don't you
(25:10):
go ahead and hire somebody else?
Because this isn't going towork, and there's nothing wrong
with that.
Sometimes people just don'twork.
George Siegal (25:16):
Absolutely.
That's great advice.
Now, in addition to being areal estate agent, you're also a
motivational speaker.
Yes, sir, what's the speechabout?
Bob Thompson (25:25):
Well, quite honestly, that started after the
two heart attacks and thebypass in 2018.
As I was moving my way back upinto real estate, I kind of
wanted to give back to the realestate world and mentor and
teach some younger agents on howto do things as far as I'm
concerned, the right way and itkind of snowballed from there.
Basically, what I talk about alot of is persistent progress
(25:48):
and self-checks, and, with theyoung people, I talk about
working in the dark becausethere's so much negativity.
You don't have to telleverybody your business.
Just keep it to yourself, dowhat you're trying to do and
then, when it's ready to comeout full bore, come out with it.
I can remember even working as achemist.
When I went full time fromchemist to real estate in 2007,
(26:11):
everybody told me I was insane.
I had so many people that arelike well, you've got a steady
job, you make good money.
This is a terrible idea.
You're never going to make anymoney in real estate.
Why are you doing this?
There's a recession, I mean,there's so much negativity.
Hell.
When I left the grocery businessto go work in the chemistry
industry, I literally had peopledoing the same thing in 99.
(26:34):
They were just like, well, wewere going to make you a grocery
manager.
And I'm like, ooh, you knowwhat would he do?
You know you're never going toget any better than working
produce at the Harris Teeter.
People are always trying totear you down and tell you that
you're not going to do anybetter.
So for me, I found the best wayto combat that is I don't tell
anybody squat other than mylittle circle, and I'm going to
(26:55):
make my little moves and then,when I'm ready to bust out, I'm
going to bust out because I justI don't want to hear the
negativity, because I'm smartenough to know that it will
affect me, and the best way tokeep it away is to just not tell
anybody.
George Siegal (27:09):
Yeah, no, that's.
That sounds like great advice.
Now, how do you feel about thethe commission rules changing
for realtors?
Bob Thompson (27:16):
It means absolutely nothing.
All of that means is thepaperwork's a little different,
but it's always the same,whether anybody likes it or not.
The whole point of the buyer'sagents when they came in in the
1990s was to incentivize thebuyer's agents to bring me the
deal.
So we've always quote, unquote,call it what you want.
(27:37):
You can't say split thecommission, but the fact of the
matter is if I'm getting a 5%commission, I'm going to give
half of that to the buyer'sagent.
That's not really changing.
It's not affecting price pointsin any way, shape or form.
It's simply moving the numberto the other side of the
paragraph.
That's all it's doing.
I know that it makes for greatclickbait.
(27:58):
I know I have already respondedto this a few times on several
organizations and news media andagain, it means absolutely
nothing.
At the end of the day, 99 out of100 times I think it's a great
idea to have a real estate agent, one that you can trust and
rely on, the exception to thatrule being sometimes it is
(28:20):
better to do it yourself.
If you're in a situation whereit's an investment property or
grandma and grandpa die and youdon't want to clean the house
out, sometimes the best dealisn't the highest price deal.
It all comes down to emotionalcapital and what your needs are,
and I think agents get madabout that and my attitude is
always the same.
(28:41):
You know what?
I can go to State Farm to getmy insurance, or I can call the
general.
I'm not going to get that levelof service, but it's going to
be cheaper and sometimes that'sall you need and there's
absolutely nothing wrong withthat.
There are many ways to do thatand I've never begrudged anybody
that doesn't necessarily get areal estate agent.
We all have to do what's bestfor us.
George Siegal (29:01):
What is my Wu rant?
Real estate rant.
Bob Thompson (29:06):
That is my Wu Tang real estate rant I do on every
Friday, which is basically myminute and a half to two minutes
complaints and or bitches aboutother real estate agents and
some of the stupidity and stuffthat goes on in the market.
And it could be either, you know, if your agent's telling you
(29:26):
this, they're wrong, this iswhat you need to do, or it could
be about I had a recent one,you know, dealing with oil tanks
where we had a oil tank thatwas not properly taken care of
and they just, you know, on thehome inspection, you know, the
home inspector discovered thatthe oil tank wasn't secure,
there was a bunch of oil thathad ran out and, of course, that
had contaminated the ground andhad to be taken care of.
(29:49):
So it's a lot of stuff likethat.
It's just basically my again.
It's just Bob being Bob andranting and raving, which I've
been known to do over the years.
I get myself in trouble all thetime with the Facebook real
estate groups and stuff becauseunfortunately I don't.
You know I'm not going to dothe tried and true and I'm going
to do what I'm going to do,whether you like it or you don't
.
George Siegal (30:08):
Good for you.
So what would be your finalpiece of advice for anybody
that's going out there thinkingabout buying a house?
What's the main thought processthey should have with this?
Bob Thompson (30:18):
Get referrals, get referrals, get referrals and
ask a thousand questions anddon't be afraid to.
This is one of whether we likeit or not.
You're only going to do thisthree or four times in your
lifetime.
So make sure it is the rightmove and make sure that you are
comfortable with your agent andyou trust that they know what
they're talking about.
And there are multiple ways tocheck that.
How many deals have they done?
(30:39):
Are they being honest with you?
Let's be honest If they'recoming across like a salesman,
you need to fire themimmediately.
If they have no interest in along-term relationship with you,
you should go into every Ialways go in with.
I want to be that person's guyfor my life.
I want them.
Hey, you need a real estate guyCall Bob.
That's the type of attitudethey should always have, and you
(31:03):
should be able to go throughtheir list of buyers and sellers
and, at random, call thatindividual and say, hey, you
worked with Bob three years ago.
He did this and this.
What do you think?
And that'll tell you everythingyou need to know, whether we
like it or not.
That is the best advice I canpossibly give.
Word of mouth is everything.
George Siegal (31:22):
Well listen, bob.
Your contact information linkswill all be in the show notes.
Thanks for coming on andsharing your story today.
I really appreciate it.
Bob Thompson (31:29):
Not a problem, If anybody needs anything.
I'm old so I still answer thephone.
Send me an email, send me atext.
I'll answer the phone, Even ifit's just to give a minute and a
half worth of real estateadvice or whatever.
I still have friends of minethat will send their cousins,
uncles, brother, to me inanother state just to ask a
quick question or even reviewthe contract.
Obviously, I can't review aCalifornia contract and give you
(31:52):
every detail, but I can stillread it enough to know.
Okay, well, that's a littlefunky, and this is why.
So, by all means, they shouldalways be able to ask these
questions.
George Siegal (32:01):
All right, thanks , bob.
Bob Thompson (32:03):
Thanks.
George Siegal (32:04):
I know a lot of you have stories that have
happened to you and I'd love foryou to share them here.
There's a contact form in theshow notes.
Send it my way and I'll haveyou on an upcoming episode.
Thanks for taking the time tolisten today.
I'll see you next time.
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