All Episodes

August 2, 2022 17 mins

Today we get the perspective on buying a home for the first time from Mathew and Katrinn Mouritsen.  They tell us how the process has been for them and what the struggles are.  Listen in and get some tips to help you in your process.



To learn more:
https://barefootbungalowrealty.com/

Barefoot Bungalow Homes
9200 Bonita Beach Rd SE, Suite 100
Bonita Springs, FL 34135
(239) 350-5535

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the live your best life barefoot podcast

(00:02):
with your host Mary Morrison andthe team at barefoot bungalow
Realty.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to the next episode of live your
best life barefoot.
I'm here with Mary

Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm.
Mary.
Hi, Ruth, how are you?
Good.
How was your weekend?
That was so good.
It went past as usual as usual.
We need to make'em longer,right?
The week go slow the weekends gofast.
We're gonna have to get on that.
Yes, let's.
We're going to do a quick marketupdate.
Okay.
Um, things are still, I found,oh, Siri.

(00:34):
Thank you.
Siri is gonna give us a marketupdate.
Gotta love it.
All right.
our market update is themarket is heating back up again.

(00:59):
So interest rates, they actuallywent down at town down.
Yeah.
And, um, I, a lot of theproperties, we still have low
inventory, but properties aremoving again.
Yeah, they are.
Yeah.
So, um, but I mean, they'restill not moving as quickly as
they were six months ago, butthey're moving pretty quick

(01:21):
again.
So, um, and they're movingquicker if they're priced.
Right, right.
They move quick.
Oh exactly.
So I think it's going better.
Yes.
So there's your quick littlemarket update and we are excited
today to have Matthew and KarinMotson with us.
Um, yes, this is my younger sonLA last name.

(01:42):
Right.
So tell us a little bit aboutyourselves.
Let's start with getting thebackstory.

Speaker 4 (01:50):
So we are both from Utah.
I recently graduated in Mainemechanical engineering and, um,
worked hard to try to get a jobas fast as I could here in the
Southwest Florida area, workingat sea keeper.
Now it's a wonderful company.
Um, yeah, this is my wife, Jen.

Speaker 5 (02:09):
Um, and since moving out here from Utah, we really
missed rock climbing and wewanted to start our own rock
climbing gym, but decided towork for a local rock climbing
gym that just recently opened upcalled Fort rock and Fort Myers.
So that's where I'm workingright now as their floor
manager.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Very nice.
Very awesome.
So what do you think aboutFlorida so far?

Speaker 4 (02:35):
What's amazing.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
We love Florida.
I've always wanted to live hereever since I was little, every
vacation that my family wouldalways take would be, um, well,
I would always want to gosomewhere warm and tropical and
beach.
Um, but my family was neverreally into that.
so when I got thechance, I was like, let's move
to Florida.
So

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yay.
This snow.

Speaker 5 (02:59):
No,

Speaker 2 (03:00):
No, no.
I know.
That's what everybody says.
No, not for us.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Awesome.
So we're having you on today?
Not just because you're a cutecouple, but we wanted to talk to
you a little bit about, um, youguys now that you're settling
down here in Florida arepurchasing your first home.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Right?

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
It's exciting.
Yeah.
So we want, we wanted to talk toyou a little bit about that.
Um, what are some of the reasonsyou are wanting to buy a home?

Speaker 5 (03:37):
We wanna have our own space.
A lot of, um, Matthew's familyhas like a lot of toys that they
like to have, and Matthew's nodifferent.
He wants to have bikes andtrailers and just space to run
around in and, um,

Speaker 4 (03:55):
Want a boat want motorcycles?
things like that.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
You don't like living with mom

Speaker 4 (04:01):
oh, I love it.


Speaker 2 (04:05):
Okay.
Good.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Good answer.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Good answer.


Speaker 3 (04:09):
But you want your own space for your toys?

Speaker 5 (04:11):
We also want a dog eventually, which can't happen
here, but, um, when we get ourown space we'll we'll probably
get a dog

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Mm-hmm nice.
Very good.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Awesome.
Um, so why are you choosing tobuy instead of rent?

Speaker 4 (04:30):
Uh, make so much more sense to me financially, because
you're not just putting money insomething that's gonna
disappear, but you're actuallyinvesting in something that you
can sell later and can even uselater, um, to make more money if
you want to rent.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Right?

Speaker 5 (04:49):
Yeah.
As we've rented before, it'sbeen kind of difficult when you
want to change something or whenthere's an issue and you can't
fix it on your own, you have toget land permission or
something.
So that's another big reason.
Like we wanna just be able topaint our walls, whatever color
we want or anything like that.
So mm-hmm,

Speaker 3 (05:07):
maybe bright green

Speaker 4 (05:09):
that's right.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah.
So have you guys started theprocess already?

Speaker 4 (05:15):
We've started looking , um, definitely looked at quite
a few properties already andkind of started to narrow down
what we want.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Did you start the preapproval process at two?

Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah.
We, uh, talked to a mortgagecompany that Mary referred us to
and we started process and arestill working on getting our
closing costs together.
But, um, yeah, that shouldhappen in the next couple of
months.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
So just as a reminder, too, for people
listening, you know, to getpreapproved, it doesn't cost you
anything.
It's free to go to a lender andhave them pre-approve you for a
house.
It doesn't cost you anythingcorrect.
Mm-hmm

Speaker 5 (05:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
So it, it does benefit you cuz then you
actually know how much you canactually afford to go look for a
house.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Exactly.
And they, they become youradvocate in ma maneuvering that
portion of the process.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah.
And, and Adam is really good,right.
He's oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
Yeah.
He's awesome.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
He's an awesome mortgage person.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
He is.
He's great.
And we have, uh, great lendersin general that we do, um, for
specific situations.
Um, they work really well withdifferent, um, home buyers and
what the, whatever their needsare.
So, um, we're happy to help youfigure that part out of it.

(06:37):
So what's been your biggesthurdle so far?

Speaker 5 (06:44):
Our biggest hurdle?

Speaker 4 (06:46):
Well, honestly we're fresh outta college.
So coming up with the money upfront is a bit, but, um, I think
that's the main thing that'sholding us back right now, as
well as taking the time toreally figure out, um, the
priorities that we want in thehouse of like land versus how

(07:09):
close to a beach versus, um, arewe gonna be able to rent it out
while we're living there?
Like a, a certain portion of thehome

Speaker 5 (07:18):
At first, Matthew was more averse to the notion of a
duplex, but as we've beenlooking at more duplexes, we've
kind of been leaning more inthat direction, being able to
live in one side and rent outthe other mm-hmm so
yeah, we've been kind of lookingat those it's important to kind
of look around at a bunch ofdifferent things and then just
kind of try things out that youmight not be open to at first,

(07:40):
but see what, what options youhave.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Mm-hmm, that's an excellent point too.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah.
Really good advice.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Especially for first time home buyers.
Right.
Because you don't really knowwhat you want until you go look.
So that's an excellent point topeople.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Well, and as you explored that, I thought that
was the cool, um, realizationthat you could actually qualify
for.
Um, more house mm-hmm the duplex you
could qualify for more becauseyou gotta count the income
potential from the other sidemm-hmm so, so your
price point in what you couldlook at actually went up

Speaker 5 (08:15):
Yeah.
When you

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Started.
Yeah.
I was pretty excited about that.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah.
So that's huge.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
That is, that's an excellent point too.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah.
Um, and, and then you can, likeyou said, down the line, you can
have a double investment mm-hmm

Speaker 4 (08:28):


Speaker 3 (08:31):
Yeah.
Um, what we kind of talked aboutit.
What are you looking for in yourfirst home?

Speaker 4 (08:39):
Well, at this point, um, I think we are leaning
towards duplex, but stillsomething with land in the
backyard.
So we could park a trailer andpark, um, fun toys on the side.
Um,

Speaker 5 (08:54):
We're looking more in Fort Myers now cause that's
where both of our jobs are.
Um, we'd love to be, you know,farther south in Bonita Springs
or Naples or even a steroid, butit's just, you know,

Speaker 4 (09:07):
Oh, it makes a lot more sense when you calculate
all the time, going back andforth between work between the
two and the traffic.
Yeah.
Traffic,

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Gas prices.
uh, traffic duringseason, wait till, you know,
January gets really bad.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
That's kind of where we're looking at now is we, we
originally were like, we're onlygonna look in Bonita Springs,
but we have kind of opened upour market a little bit more,
which is really helped us seemore.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Mm-hmm that's good.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
How hard has it been to figure this all out and, and
do the process to the pointyou're at right now?

Speaker 4 (09:47):
I think not terribly hard.
I mean, we've had it easy havinga, a realtor as a mom and
good connections.
Um, and so it's, it's not beencrazy.
You just have to get out thereand get excited about finding
what you want.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yeah.
Definitely having a realtor is,um, been really helpful.
Just being able to get into thehouses that we wanna see and not
have to like do all thescheduling ourselves.
Um, and I mean, it's been a lotof conversations between just
both of us.
Like what do we like about thishouse?
Or what do we not like aboutthis, this particular place or
location?
Um, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
You're like me .

Speaker 3 (10:34):
So have, has there been times in the process that
you have felt confused oroverwhelmed or forget it we're
just gonna rent

Speaker 2 (10:47):
.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
Um, when we, when we, uh, when I think about renting,
it kind of just fills me withmore anxiety, just cuz it's,
it's a nicer house, I guess, butit's just the money that's going
towards.
It is just basically going intosomebody else's pocket and not
into something that I am gaininganything from other than the

(11:11):
ability to live there.
Um, so I guess that's why wedon't really want to rent.
Um,

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Mm-hmm

Speaker 5 (11:20):
But yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
So what are you enjoying about the process?

Speaker 4 (11:27):
I think it's just fun to look at houses.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
It is fun.

Speaker 2 (11:30):


Speaker 3 (11:31):
I've raised you, right?

Speaker 5 (11:35):
It's fun to like, to imagine what you could do with
the house too.
Like even the very first housethat we went and looked at, it
was kind of a mess, but

Speaker 3 (11:46):
A hot mess.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
Um, just imagining the different things that we
could do with it to make itnice.
We had a really nice vision forit that probably won't end up
happening, but just like,it's fun to imagine what you
could have with a little bit ofwork.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Well, and that's good to point out too, because the
potential, you have to look atthe potential of a property,
right?
Cuz it might not be, you know,inside it might be a mess, but
look at the, you know, the, theoutside of it, what does it look
like if it's something that haspotential that you can actually
do something with mm-hmm is a good point.
Cause you might get a house thatis a lot lower cost.
If you can just fix it up theway you wanted it to.

(12:25):
Right.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 (12:25):
so

Speaker 3 (12:26):
We have a song that goes with this.
When we come to one of thesehomes

Speaker 2 (12:32):
We get

Speaker 3 (12:33):
we, we see, oh, it's a bit of a fixer upper.

Speaker 4 (12:37):


Speaker 3 (12:40):
A frozen song.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
A frozen okay.
Uhhuh so kids willunderstand that

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Exactly.
Or anybody with kids.
Exactly.
Right.
All right.
Last question.
I think what, um, advice or, um,anything about your experience
that you think is reallyimportant or valuable for first
time home buyers to know or do,

Speaker 5 (13:06):
Uh, get connections, get a realtor, find a mortgage
lender and really just, um, leanon their advice.
Cuz if you're not a local, youreally don't know a lot about
the area and a lot about whatyou like, what in a house can
make it a good house versus likea, not so good house.

(13:27):
Like I didn't even know thatlike the, um, the wood frame
houses versus the, um,

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Concrete,

Speaker 5 (13:35):
Concrete houses, like I didn't know the benefits of
either of those.
And so having like the knowledgeof just the area and what kind
of houses are for are likebeneficial.
What aspects of houses arebeneficial to you is really
something that a realtor wouldknow mm-hmm

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah.
And for the record, I did notprep these guys for this

Speaker 4 (13:58):


Speaker 3 (14:00):
That, that was a genuine answer.
It was, it was good answer theright answer.
It was a good answer.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
So let's get into something fun.
So now that you've been inFlorida, do you have any
something for our listeners thatyou've done, that you would tell
all of them to do when theybring their friends to come and
visit?

Speaker 4 (14:19):
Hmm.
It depends on what you're into.
Um,

Speaker 2 (14:22):
What's the funnest thing that you've done.

Speaker 4 (14:25):
I really like spear fishing, get out on the boat and
go find a place to dive.
Um, especially on the, the eastside will make a trip out there
in the water's clear and go seesome fish, shoot some dinner.
Thanks.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
And I love anything about boats.
So just getting on a boat andgoing out into the ocean is all
the fun I need.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Yeah.
This is the place to get out onthe water.
So if you come here, you shoulddo that.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
So I'm gonna do tell you a little side note.
These two got engaged.
Scuba diving.
Oh

Speaker 5 (15:00):
yes.
Matthew proposed to me 20 feetunder the water on a, on Emerald
reef in Miami mm-hmm

Speaker 3 (15:06):
and how romantic

Speaker 5 (15:10):
You can't beat that.
I'm really sorry.
Maybe,

Speaker 3 (15:11):
Maybe we'll have to include the link for that.
We'll we'll post that on ourYouTube and yeah.
Cool.
There you go.
Mm-hmm that's whereit all began in Florida.
Mm-hmm that'sawesome.
See, you were meant to movehere.
Right?
You got engaged here.
You were meant to meet, movehere.
Exactly.

(15:31):
well, any other lastthoughts or, um, ideas for first
time home buyers?

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Um, I was gonna say in response to your last
question I wanted to add, Ithink it's important to really,
um, schedule showings are atleast go see the house in the
neighborhood pretty early onbefore you get committed to, oh,
there's really good.
Like you can get a lot of housefor your price range in this
area, but then when you go tothat area, it might not be, you

(16:05):
know, just interesting to youjust because of the feel of, you
know, whatever it may be.
So I'd say do that early on.
So you don't waste a lot of timelooking at houses online when
you don't really know what itfeels like.
There

Speaker 3 (16:18):
That's really good advice.
That's really good advice.
Mm-hmm yeah.
Yeah.
We have, we have a suggestionthat, um, when you're interested
in an area pick like a Publix or, um, you know, some grocery
store that you frequent and, andgo and you can kind of get a
feel for, um, the vibe of thearea mm-hmm and
that's another way that kind ofhelps you to decide if it's, if

(16:42):
it's your thing.
Well, and I think you need to goat all different times of the
day too.
Yes.
Because it might be really quietduring the day, but at nighttime
you might have, you know, a loudmusic playing all the time or
whatever dogs barking.
Yep.
Dogs barking.
Mm-hmm yeah.
Good to know your neighbors.
Good to know your neighbors.
Yep.
all right.
Well thank you guys so much forbeing willing to come on and yep

(17:05):
.
Um, we'll probably drag youthrough some more oh definitely.
Um, videos and stuff through theprocess.
Yep.
So we're excited to have youguys here in Florida and helping
us out.

Speaker 5 (17:18):
Thanks, Mary.
Thanks.

Speaker 4 (17:19):
Thanks for having us.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Thanks.
Thanks.
You guys always remember to liveyour best life barefoot.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Thank you for listening to the live, your best
life barefoot put podcastsponsored buy barefoot bungalow
Realty to learn more aboutbarefoot bungalow Realty.
Go towww.barefootbungalowrealty.com
or call 2 3 9 3 5 0 5 5 3 5.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Are You A Charlotte?

Are You A Charlotte?

In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.