June 18, 2025 • 26 mins
Meet Jeb Smith—a top-producing Realtor, YouTube creator, and trusted voice in the real estate industry for over 20 years. With a background in Computer Science and deep market expertise, Jeb brings a modern, data-driven approach to buying, selling, and investing in property.
From residential to commercial deals, Jeb is known for his sharp insights, client-first mindset, and proven results. He's also a proud member of the National Association of Realtors and has earned recognition as a consistent Top Producer.
Tune in as Jeb shares his journey, strategies, and expert advice to help you navigate today’s real estate market with clarity and confidence.
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Episode Transcript
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Intro (00:01):
What's up, everybody, and welcome back to another episode
of Loop It In, the Door Looppodcast, where we pick the
brains of experts in propertymanagement, real estate, and
investing.
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(00:23):
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Be sure to subscribe so youwon't miss out on any future
episode.
Galina (00:33):
Hey everyone, it's Galena Rubin, property
management expert with DoorLoop,and I will be your host for
today.
We will be joined by Jeb Smith,a real estate broker associate
with over 18 years of experiencein Orange County, California.
You can find Jeb on YouTube,TikTok, and Instagram for some
(00:54):
really valuable insightsregarding real estate.
He has over 100,000 accumulatedfollowers and subscribers.
Also, he has a course thatteaches first-time homebuyers
everything they need to know.
If you're thinking of gettinginto real estate, you need to
check it out.
Jeb, tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your background.
Jeb Smith (01:16):
Thank you for having me on.
First off, I appreciate youtaking the time out of your
schedule to talk to me.
So I've been in the businessabout 20 years.
I originally started on themortgage side back in 2002.
Over time, my career changed.
The past changed.
And in about 2012, during thiswhole time, I was doing both
(01:37):
real estate and mortgage alittle bit.
and then kind of transitioned100% into real estate in early
2012.
And that's been my primaryfocus for the better part of the
last 11 years.
From that, I've been able to,you know, you talked about some
of my social channels and thatsort of thing.
Those channels are really abouteducating buyers, sellers,
investors, actually a lot ofother real estate agents and
(02:00):
mortgage professionals watchthem as well.
And it's really just aboutproviding guidance, providing,
you know, updates on what I seeout there in the market in order
to help, you know, both sides,if you will, become, you know,
better at the home buyingprocess, selling process, as
well as those agents that arekind of going through the same
things that I'm going through.
through at that time.
Galina (02:20):
What are some key steps that homebuyers should take to
prepare for a home buyingprocess?
Jeb Smith (02:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think the most important one, and
it's often talked about, butoverlooked in many ways, because
people, what I've found is thatwhen homebuyers get the bug to
start looking at houses, they doexactly that, right?
They start to look at houses,they start on Zillow, they start
on Redfin, they go out and seeopen houses, and they haven't
really started with the basicsof, you know, really creating a
(02:47):
budget to start with to seewhere they kind of fall with
regards to what they're able toafford in a monthly payment.
But more importantly, talkingto a mortgage professional,
going through the process.
And with that, just not justhaving a conversation on the
phone, but providingdocumentation, like going
through the full process.
It's a little bit, it can be,it can require extra steps.
(03:09):
It can require a little bitmore time, but gathering
documentation, submitting it toa lender, Letting them review it
all and say, Hey, listen,you're, you know, based off the
information you provided, thisis what you're able to afford.
And then you can kind of lookat your budget and say, okay,
well, based on my budget thatfits and we can start shopping
for homes in that price range,or maybe.
that's too much for yourbudget.
(03:30):
And you know that, hey, I'm notable to go with that number.
I'm not comfortable with thatnumber.
What can I get based on thispayment?
And then the lender can workbackwards and kind of give you
an idea of where you're going tobe.
Because otherwise, if you startlooking at properties, you get
this idea of what the propertyyou're going to buy is in your
head.
And real estate's an emotionalprocess.
(03:51):
And people often buyemotionally.
They justify logically.
And this is one of those timeswhen If you can not put the cart
before the horse, if you will,and just make sure you kind of
go in these steps, it'll be amuch better process and you
won't have the anxiety and a lotof the things that come along
(04:12):
with the home buying process.
Galina (04:13):
Yes, I absolutely agree with that.
For someone looking to buy andrent in the future, what are
some tips for them to considerwhen evaluating the rental
market in the future?
Yeah,
Jeb Smith (04:25):
I mean, buying and or renting, right?
It's kind of one of thosethings that you have to decide
what's right in your life.
My whole premise when I talkabout the home buying process is
that, you know, when peoplesay, should you buy or should
you wait?
It's where are you in yourlife?
Are you at that point whereyou're stable with job security,
relationship security?
(04:46):
You're talking about the ideaof having kids or maybe you've
had a kid and you're thinking ofhaving more and you're looking
to build that foundation.
And in that case, the next stepis probably trying to find a
residence that you can be in foran extended period of time to
lay that foundation.
And in that case, buying isprobably But if you're somebody
(05:06):
that's early in your career, youdon't know where you're going
to end up, you're climbing theladder, so to speak, and you
know that that's going to takeyou in different areas,
different cities or whatever,then renting is probably the
better option.
There's no right or wronganswer to each his own.
I can see a path for both, butthere is...
(05:27):
a statistic that people need tobe aware of.
And that's that homeowners havea 40 times greater net worth
than those of renters, but itdoesn't happen immediately.
It takes time.
And that's because, you know,real estate is a long-term game.
So if you're thinking of buyingin the current environment, I
think you need to have thatfive, seven, 10 year type
horizon or timeline rather, sothat, you know, you're not in a
(05:51):
position where you're trying tosell in two or three years.
And it's not because themarket's going to crash or
anything crazy, but you justrealize, When you're buying your
property and you've only beenin it a couple of years, the
cost to sell that property andthat sort of thing are typically
higher than what you've paiddown in principal balance in a
lot of ways with the commissionsand everything involved to sell
(06:12):
than it is worth it in manyways, unless you're going to
keep it as a rental, which a lotof people do, and that can
benefit you in other ways.
But that's really the advice intalking to buyers and sellers.
I think just find out the path,where you're trying to go, and
go there and stop trying to picktops or bottoms or highs or
(06:33):
lows and rents and just do whereyou are in your life and try to
make the best fit for yourselfat that time.
Galina (06:41):
This is gold for all of you listening and watching out
there.
This is really goodinformation.
So another question, what isthe best way for home buyers to
navigate the competitive realestate market and make strong
offers on desirable properties?
Jeb Smith (06:58):
You know, work with people that understand the
business.
You know, real estate is thebarrier to entry is very, very
low.
It's very easy to get into realestate.
It's, you know, a coupleclasses here and there, take a
test and you got a license andyou can have zero education and
you can be a realtor, so tospeak, because you've paid your
(07:20):
national dues and that's yourdesignated title now.
So there's a lot of realtors,but there's not a lot of
professionals.
And And so I think you've gotto differentiate between the
professionals and the realtors.
And that can come by asking theright questions, by getting
referrals of people that havebeen through the process, that
(07:41):
you trust, that that can guideyou and answer the questions.
And really, that's where itstarts.
And just because somebody'sonly been in the business a
couple of years doesn't meanthey don't have the knowledge of
somebody that's been in thebusiness 15, 20 years.
I mean, education right now isso easily available and you can
do it at any time.
And I mean, experience isalways one of those things that
(08:03):
you can't duplicate by readingand that sort of thing.
But you know, there are agentsthat are newer, that are on
teams, that have been able totake learning, you know,
exponentially, the growth oflearning up so fast because
they're on these teams and ableto build.
So, you know, you don't have tofind the person that's been in
the business 20 years likemyself.
(08:24):
Find somebody that you'recomfortable with, that you like
to work with, that you feel likecan guide you through that
process.
But when it comes to writingoffers, I mean, there's a couple
of different strategiesdepending on the type of markets
you're in.
I which means there's lessinventory than there is buyer
demand.
And so in those markets, it'smore competitive, multiple
(08:45):
offers.
So you have to do things todifferentiate your offer in many
ways in order to stand out.
And in 20 years of selling realestate, I mean, one of the
questions that comes up oftenwhen I'm sitting at a table
talking to a seller, I ask them,what's important to you?
Nine times out of 10, price isthe answer.
Now it can go beyond that, butprice is always number one.
(09:08):
So if you're making offers inthis market, I can't tell you
how to price a property or whatprice to offer on a show like
this.
But what I can tell you is noneof the other stuff that you
decide to do in your offermatters really, unless you're
competitive on the price tostart with.
So the price needs to becompetitive.
If you're in the range to startwith, then there's some other
(09:28):
things that you can do todifferentiate yourself like
timeframes on contingencies andescrow periods and down payments
and what you ask the seller topay or not.
not pay, buyer commissions arekind of in the limelight right
now, how that's negotiated.
There's a lot of differentnuances to it, and that's why
(09:49):
it's important to make sureyou're working with somebody
that can explain this to you sothat you feel comfortable when
you're making your offer.
But we could do a whole episodeon that.
Galina (09:57):
That's for sure.
So going off of that, whatwould you say is something that
people don't think about whenthey're purchasing that you
think is important?
Jeb Smith (10:07):
You know, I think a lot of...
Buyers only look at the coststhat are involved when they're
buying a home.
So for example, you're buying ahome.
You know that, hey, I'm putting20% down, whatever the number
is.
I know I've got closing costs.
So you look at your account andyou go, well, I got the 20%.
I got enough for closing costs.
It doesn't really leave me witha lot in my bank account, but I
(10:30):
can make this happen.
And then you get in theproperty and you realize that,
oh, wow, I didn't know that thisneeded to be replaced or this
needs to be done or whatever.
something happens, there's aleak or whatever, and you're
kind of in this position whereit's like, whoa, I didn't
realize all the costs involved.
I didn't realize all thesethings were going to happen.
HOA dues go up higher than whatyou thought, depending on when
(10:53):
you bought the property.
Maybe the HOA gets anassessment.
I mean, there's all theselittle nuances that can happen
in a transaction.
And over a long period of timeof selling real estate, most of
the time it doesn't happen, butit can.
And you need to be in aposition where you are
comfortable not only with themonthly payment but comfortable
with the idea that things couldarise and that you're in a
(11:15):
position to have money toreconcile whatever it is that's
going wrong.
And I think there's too manypeople at the moment just based
on conversations that I've hadand comments that I get on
different videos that just haveenough money to get in and
aren't thinking down the road.
And I think it's important tobudget accordingly so that
you're not putting yourself in aposition where you're going to
(11:39):
fail.
Galina (11:39):
Yeah, so always, always, always budget, plan ahead.
Jeb Smith (11:44):
And a really good example is investors buying
investment properties with theidea that, hey, this property
cash flows.
Okay, it cash flows because youhaven't factored in replacement
costs.
You're not setting asidereplacement costs every single
month out of what's going thereto replace replacement the roof
down the road or the waterheater or the things that are
(12:05):
going to break on that property.
So yeah, it looks like it's acashflow property, but once you
start factoring in the expensesof things that are going to have
to be replaced at some point,maybe it's not the investment
that you thought it was.
And so I know we're talking toa lot of investors on a podcast
like this.
And so you gotta factor some ofthese unknown things in It's
not pretty and it's things wedon't want to think about.
(12:27):
And hopefully you never have todo it and the money can come
back to you, but you should bebudgeting for it.
Galina (12:32):
Yeah, for sure.
From your experience, can youshare a memorable success story
or a challenging experience?
Jeb Smith (12:40):
Memorable success stories.
I have a lot.
Just over the years, I've beenable to help a lot of people get
into property in competitiveenvironments over the last
couple of years when the marketswere absolutely crazy.
I was able to get clients intoproperties.
We weren't waiving all thecontingencies and doing all the
crazy things that you heardabout online, but You know,
(13:02):
being able to negotiate, I'vebeen able to negotiate, you
know, the highest I've ever doneis a $72,000, $73,000 repair
request on a property.
And we're talking a propertyjust over a million bucks.
So it's not like, you know, itwas a $5 million property.
It was, you know, prettysubstantial amount for things
that, you know, depending on howyou looked at it, weren't that
(13:24):
big of a deal.
So big amounts there.
On the flip side, I guess thestruggles are, that I'm facing,
that a lot of agents are facingat the moment is just the lack
of supply and having to helpbuyers understand the idea of
being patient in environmentslike this, not making irrational
(13:45):
decisions to just buy aproperty, to buy a property
that, you know, it sucks to waitwhen you're excited about the
process and you're ready to buy.
And then month after monthafter month, there's just not a
home that pops up.
And I'm experiencing a lot ofthat right now.
I have buyers that are ready.
to make offers, they'repre-approved, they're solid
buyers, large down payments, andwe just can't find what they're
(14:06):
looking for.
And whenever we do make anoffer, there's multiple offers
and it's, you know, they justdecided, well, I'm not even, I'm
not going to go through this.
So it's, that's the struggle.
And I think it's one of thosethings that there's no easy fix
for it.
It's just one of those thingsyou're just going to have to
kind of work through.
But as agents, we all deal withit.
(14:27):
We deal with different things.
The last couple of years, thestruggles were that homes were
just selling too quickly andthat if you had a buyer, there
was plenty of property, but itwas all selling very fast and
whatever.
Now we have the opposite ofthat.
We just don't have enoughproperty.
People aren't listing itbecause of where rates are and
just different struggles.
(14:48):
But it's, you know, all of itover time will correct itself.
It's just a matter of beingpatient.
Galina (14:54):
Yeah, for sure.
The next question actually tiesinto that.
For investors listening andwatching, where would you
recommend them to go to findgood deals in the market like
today?
Jeb Smith (15:05):
You know, I think like anything else, connect with
a realtor in your market.
And, you know, like me, forexample, like in my market or 20
years of selling real estate,I've been a part of different
communities with real estateprofessionals.
And, you know, I go todifferent events and different
(15:25):
seminars and some of them arereal estate related.
Some of them aren't.
But over time, I've developed alot of relationships.
And one thing about realestate, real estate is it's a
relational business.
I've built my business offrelationships.
And so I know people in realpretty much 50 states.
And if I don't know someone,someone else does.
(15:45):
And so it's always about askingthe right questions at events
like this and saying, you know,what's happening in your market
and, you know, or whatopportunities are you seeing and
that sort of thing.
So I think if, you know,assuming your agent does
business in a similar fashion,connecting with an agent in your
market and saying, hey, listen,are you aware of any
opportunities?
Where, you know, where is thegrowth happening?
(16:08):
Where should, you know, whoshould I talk to?
It's a good place to start.
You know, you don't go in andtype in something on Google
about, you know, the fastestgrowing cities and that sort of
thing, because by the time ithits there, a lot of that is
already happened and it'salready pretty well known.
So you try to find the thepeople that are doing the
business in these variousmarkets.
(16:28):
And if you don't know somebody,I mean, you could always reach
out to somebody like me.
I'm happy to put you in touchwith other people that do
business in other states, butthere's always growth.
There's always these emerginglittle markets.
But I think if you're going todo the research on your own, you
want to find cities that aregrowing, all right?
Population-wise, you want tosee cities where businesses,
(16:49):
bigger companies are now settingup other locations, right?
Because it's going to bring inworkers where hospitals are
being built, you know, brings inhealthcare.
All of these things, when yousee redevelopment in an area and
it's growing because, you know,they're having to grow because
of the population that isgrowing, those are always cities
because rentals are going to doreally well in those markets
(17:10):
because a lot of people thatmove there, especially you know,
healthcare workers and, and,and, you know, doctors and all
of these different occupations,they rent for, for a period of
time before they do anythingjust to make sure they're going
to stay there.
And one is to figure out thecities and that sort of thing.
And usually these are reallygood tenants because they have
good paying jobs.
(17:31):
And, you know, they're stableand that sort of thing.
And so they make, make forreally good opportunities for,
for tenants down the road.
And so there are definitelymarkets out there that are still
like that.
You know, rates are higher.
these properties are a littlebit harder to cash flow in some
markets, but there's alwaysopportunities.
Galina (17:50):
I'm sure you get this question asked all the time.
Where do you see the marketgoing within the next 12 to 24
months?
Jeb Smith (17:57):
I see a market really similar to the one that we saw
last year.
I think rates will come down.
The economy is likely going toslow because of where the Fed
has pushed the Fed funds rate.
So that's going to slowergrowth in the economy, which is
exactly what they're trying toaccomplish.
Inflation is likely going tocome down, continue coming down,
(18:17):
if you will.
And so with that, I think overtime, interest rates are going
to come down some.
What does that actually mean?
Hard to say.
I mean, I think, you know, Idid a forecast earlier this year
and I think rates, I think wecould see a five in front of
interest rates sometime in 2024.
Does that mean 599?
Does it mean 5.5?
Hard to say, but I think we'llbe in the fives at some point in
(18:40):
2024.
With that, I think thefollowing year, assuming the
trend continues, which I thinkit will, you'll see rates go a
little bit lower.
And as rates move a little bitlower, you're going to see more
inventory come to the market.
And now the problem that Iforesee is that even though we
get a little bit more inventorycoming to the market, most
sellers are buyers.
So they put one on the market,they take one off the market.
(19:03):
So net inventory doesn't grow.
And that is, in my eyes, thebiggest struggle out there.
Um, just because I don't knowhow you correct this.
We've got, you know, apopulation growing, we've got
more and more millennials buyingproperties that are kind of
turning prime buying age behindthat.
You have a whole nothergeneration that'll be hitting
(19:24):
prime buying age over the next10 years.
And so there's, there's growthin that market and the, you
know, Everybody wants to be ahomeowner, whether they say they
do or not.
People want to become ahomeowner.
And so the struggle at themoment is affordability.
Housing affordability is stillsitting near all-time lows.
And so that puts a strain onthe number of able buyers out
(19:45):
there in the market, right?
Everybody's a willing buyer.
The able buyers, there's justless of them because of
affordability.
Rates coming down is going toimprove affordability a little
bit.
I think there's a limit.
to some extent on the upside ofgrowth of appreciation to real
estate, just because of thataffordability metric, right?
It's not back in 2020 and 2021when rates were at 3%, 2.5%, you
(20:11):
know, where affordabilityimproved significantly.
We're now kind of on the otherside of that.
Rates are going to be lower,but home prices aren't going to
come down in any meaningful way.
In fact, I think home priceswill probably continue to go up
3%, 4%, 5% this year.
And I think that's aconservative number looking So I
think it's a market similar tolast year.
It's going to be slower.
A lot of people are predictinga big jump in transactions.
(20:34):
Last year, we sold just over 4million homes nationwide.
People are projecting somewherein the 4.6, 4.7 number.
I find that hard to believewhere, where, where we are at
the moment that we're going tosee that big jump.
So I think transactions stay onthe lower side and it looks a
lot like it did last year.
It's just a little tougher realestate market.
(20:55):
Uh, but people will continue tobuy homes and there will be
opportunities in every market.
It's just, you know, buyingwhen it's the right time for
you.
Galina (21:03):
I've mentioned earlier that you have a course called
first time home buyer, which isdedicated to helping people get
their first property.
What inspired you to createthis course?
Jeb Smith (21:14):
You know, Over time, selling real estate, you just
get the same questions over andover and over and over and over.
And I could just continue thatdown for the next 10 minutes of
how many questions just rattleoff and they're all the same.
So it's why not?
So my YouTube channel initiallystarted as this way to answer
those questions.
And what I found is all theanswers are always out there.
(21:35):
I wasn't new to answering thosequestions.
The answers have always beenthere.
I was just putting them in adifferent format on my channel.
But even then, Theinformation's out there and
people continue to ask me thesame question.
So the idea was why not putthem all in a place, you know,
kind of walk people through thehome buying process from start
to finish, what it looks like,different areas from, you know,
(21:57):
deciding whether or not to buy,whether it makes sense to buy,
to the pre-approval process, tofinding your real estate agent,
to writing offers, tonegotiating offers, to the
escrow process, the whole thing.
It all in one place, kind of inorder so that if you want to
learn what it is, it's aone-stop shop.
It's not you you having to gookay what is the next step and
then okay that's the next stepsearching for the next step
(22:19):
watching the video and thengetting it from all of these
different sources you're gettingit from one person kind of just
a walk down a path and you knowyou and I can have the
conversation but you and I canhave the conversation and it
would take a very, very longtime to go into depth like I do
in those videos that are, youknow, that you can do on your
(22:39):
own timeline.
So that's really what it'sabout.
Just kind of just throwinginformation out there.
So the people that want tobecome educated, that want to
know the process can.
Galina (22:46):
What I love about your YouTube channel is that you
explain everything so easilythat pretty much anyone can
understand what you're talkingabout.
And if you're listening orwatching and you haven't yet
seen Jeb's videos, you have togo check out his YouTube
channel.
It's absolutely amazing.
Lots of valuable information.
So definitely something tocheck out.
We've also got a question aboutwhat kind of advice you would
(23:09):
have to offer for people lookingto buy this year.
Jeb Smith (23:14):
I think you have to, this isn't the advice people
want to hear, but you got tocontrol the controllables,
right?
Too many people are worriedabout what's going to happen
tomorrow, what's going to happennext week, when are rates going
to go down, when's inventorygoing to come to the market,
when are all of these thingsthat we can't control, when are
they going to happen versus whatcan I control?
Well, I can go getpre-approved.
I can continue to save money.
(23:35):
I can work on my credit if itneeds to be worked on.
I can budget.
I can do all of these things.
I can buy a house if the rightone presents itself, but I can't
do that Until I've done all theother things that I should have
done to start with.
So control what you cancontrol.
Let the market do its thing.
And maybe you'd buy a home in2024.
Maybe you don't.
Maybe it's 2025.
You know, just unfortunately,it's we don't know how some of
(24:02):
these things are going to playout when they're going to play
out.
So.
You know, all you can do is dothe best for what you know.
And I think that's the bestadvice I can give.
Galina (24:12):
I love it.
Is there anything else that Imissed that you would like to
add?
Jeb Smith (24:18):
No, I don't think so.
I mean, I think, again, it isreal estate is long term.
So a lot of people in themarket today that are home
buyers were either kids and oryoung adults when the last
housing crash took place.
So the memory is very, it'sright there.
It's like it happenedyesterday.
(24:39):
And so when people startthinking about real estate and
they've seen home prices go upand they've seen all of this
craziness in the market, theyimmediately go back to the last
time that they remember anythinglike this.
And then what happenedafterwards?
Just understand the market thenwas entirely different than the
market now for many differentreasons.
But it's, you know, again, itis, the market's a crazy thing.
(25:04):
And trying to pick the tops orthe bottoms is a fool's game.
Just buy when it's the righttime in your life.
Focus on the things you cancontrol.
Be comfortable with thepayment.
Be comfortable with the monthlypayment.
And have the longer term timehorizon.
And ultimately, you'll be in agood position.
Galina (25:20):
Thank you so much, Jeb, for giving our audience an
insight on real estate and whatthey really need to know about
buying properties.
If anyone's interested to buywith you, how can they connect
with you?
Jeb Smith (25:34):
Well, I'll give you my contact information or you
can just reach out.
You know, again, you have myname, Jeb Smith.
If you search that, you'regoing to see this mug,
unfortunately, all over theInternet and my contact
information is everywhere.
So just, you know, you can callme, you can email me, you can
find me on Instagram and directmessage me.
But either way, would love theopportunity to help guide you,
(25:55):
to serve you and ultimately getyou into a home.
So if I can be of assistance,please reach out.
Galina (26:00):
We'll also add your information in the video as
well.
So everyone will be able to seethat.
Thank you again, Jeb.
Jeb Smith (26:07):
All right.
I appreciate it.
Intro (26:09):
We'll talk soon.
Thanks for listening all theway to the end.
Don't forget to give us a goodrating on whatever platform
you're tuning in from.
And we'll be back soon withanother new episode.
We hope to see you there.
And until next time, this hasbeen Hoop It In.
What's up, everybody, and welcome back to another episode
of Loop It In, the Door Looppodcast, where we pick the
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episode.
Galina (00:33):
Hey everyone, it's Galena Rubin, property
management expert with DoorLoop,and I will be your host for
today.
We will be joined by Jeb Smith,a real estate broker associate
with over 18 years of experiencein Orange County, California.
You can find Jeb on YouTube,TikTok, and Instagram for some
(00:54):
really valuable insightsregarding real estate.
He has over 100,000 accumulatedfollowers and subscribers.
Also, he has a course thatteaches first-time homebuyers
everything they need to know.
If you're thinking of gettinginto real estate, you need to
check it out.
Jeb, tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your background.
Jeb Smith (01:16):
Thank you for having me on.
First off, I appreciate youtaking the time out of your
schedule to talk to me.
So I've been in the businessabout 20 years.
I originally started on themortgage side back in 2002.
Over time, my career changed.
The past changed.
And in about 2012, during thiswhole time, I was doing both
(01:37):
real estate and mortgage alittle bit.
and then kind of transitioned100% into real estate in early
2012.
And that's been my primaryfocus for the better part of the
last 11 years.
From that, I've been able to,you know, you talked about some
of my social channels and thatsort of thing.
Those channels are really abouteducating buyers, sellers,
investors, actually a lot ofother real estate agents and
(02:00):
mortgage professionals watchthem as well.
And it's really just aboutproviding guidance, providing,
you know, updates on what I seeout there in the market in order
to help, you know, both sides,if you will, become, you know,
better at the home buyingprocess, selling process, as
well as those agents that arekind of going through the same
things that I'm going through.
through at that time.
Galina (02:20):
What are some key steps that homebuyers should take to
prepare for a home buyingprocess?
Jeb Smith (02:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think the most important one, and
it's often talked about, butoverlooked in many ways, because
people, what I've found is thatwhen homebuyers get the bug to
start looking at houses, they doexactly that, right?
They start to look at houses,they start on Zillow, they start
on Redfin, they go out and seeopen houses, and they haven't
really started with the basicsof, you know, really creating a
(02:47):
budget to start with to seewhere they kind of fall with
regards to what they're able toafford in a monthly payment.
But more importantly, talkingto a mortgage professional,
going through the process.
And with that, just not justhaving a conversation on the
phone, but providingdocumentation, like going
through the full process.
It's a little bit, it can be,it can require extra steps.
(03:09):
It can require a little bitmore time, but gathering
documentation, submitting it toa lender, Letting them review it
all and say, Hey, listen,you're, you know, based off the
information you provided, thisis what you're able to afford.
And then you can kind of lookat your budget and say, okay,
well, based on my budget thatfits and we can start shopping
for homes in that price range,or maybe.
that's too much for yourbudget.
(03:30):
And you know that, hey, I'm notable to go with that number.
I'm not comfortable with thatnumber.
What can I get based on thispayment?
And then the lender can workbackwards and kind of give you
an idea of where you're going tobe.
Because otherwise, if you startlooking at properties, you get
this idea of what the propertyyou're going to buy is in your
head.
And real estate's an emotionalprocess.
(03:51):
And people often buyemotionally.
They justify logically.
And this is one of those timeswhen If you can not put the cart
before the horse, if you will,and just make sure you kind of
go in these steps, it'll be amuch better process and you
won't have the anxiety and a lotof the things that come along
(04:12):
with the home buying process.
Galina (04:13):
Yes, I absolutely agree with that.
For someone looking to buy andrent in the future, what are
some tips for them to considerwhen evaluating the rental
market in the future?
Yeah,
Jeb Smith (04:25):
I mean, buying and or renting, right?
It's kind of one of thosethings that you have to decide
what's right in your life.
My whole premise when I talkabout the home buying process is
that, you know, when peoplesay, should you buy or should
you wait?
It's where are you in yourlife?
Are you at that point whereyou're stable with job security,
relationship security?
(04:46):
You're talking about the ideaof having kids or maybe you've
had a kid and you're thinking ofhaving more and you're looking
to build that foundation.
And in that case, the next stepis probably trying to find a
residence that you can be in foran extended period of time to
lay that foundation.
And in that case, buying isprobably But if you're somebody
(05:06):
that's early in your career, youdon't know where you're going
to end up, you're climbing theladder, so to speak, and you
know that that's going to takeyou in different areas,
different cities or whatever,then renting is probably the
better option.
There's no right or wronganswer to each his own.
I can see a path for both, butthere is...
(05:27):
a statistic that people need tobe aware of.
And that's that homeowners havea 40 times greater net worth
than those of renters, but itdoesn't happen immediately.
It takes time.
And that's because, you know,real estate is a long-term game.
So if you're thinking of buyingin the current environment, I
think you need to have thatfive, seven, 10 year type
horizon or timeline rather, sothat, you know, you're not in a
(05:51):
position where you're trying tosell in two or three years.
And it's not because themarket's going to crash or
anything crazy, but you justrealize, When you're buying your
property and you've only beenin it a couple of years, the
cost to sell that property andthat sort of thing are typically
higher than what you've paiddown in principal balance in a
lot of ways with the commissionsand everything involved to sell
(06:12):
than it is worth it in manyways, unless you're going to
keep it as a rental, which a lotof people do, and that can
benefit you in other ways.
But that's really the advice intalking to buyers and sellers.
I think just find out the path,where you're trying to go, and
go there and stop trying to picktops or bottoms or highs or
(06:33):
lows and rents and just do whereyou are in your life and try to
make the best fit for yourselfat that time.
Galina (06:41):
This is gold for all of you listening and watching out
there.
This is really goodinformation.
So another question, what isthe best way for home buyers to
navigate the competitive realestate market and make strong
offers on desirable properties?
Jeb Smith (06:58):
You know, work with people that understand the
business.
You know, real estate is thebarrier to entry is very, very
low.
It's very easy to get into realestate.
It's, you know, a coupleclasses here and there, take a
test and you got a license andyou can have zero education and
you can be a realtor, so tospeak, because you've paid your
(07:20):
national dues and that's yourdesignated title now.
So there's a lot of realtors,but there's not a lot of
professionals.
And And so I think you've gotto differentiate between the
professionals and the realtors.
And that can come by asking theright questions, by getting
referrals of people that havebeen through the process, that
(07:41):
you trust, that that can guideyou and answer the questions.
And really, that's where itstarts.
And just because somebody'sonly been in the business a
couple of years doesn't meanthey don't have the knowledge of
somebody that's been in thebusiness 15, 20 years.
I mean, education right now isso easily available and you can
do it at any time.
And I mean, experience isalways one of those things that
(08:03):
you can't duplicate by readingand that sort of thing.
But you know, there are agentsthat are newer, that are on
teams, that have been able totake learning, you know,
exponentially, the growth oflearning up so fast because
they're on these teams and ableto build.
So, you know, you don't have tofind the person that's been in
the business 20 years likemyself.
(08:24):
Find somebody that you'recomfortable with, that you like
to work with, that you feel likecan guide you through that
process.
But when it comes to writingoffers, I mean, there's a couple
of different strategiesdepending on the type of markets
you're in.
I which means there's lessinventory than there is buyer
demand.
And so in those markets, it'smore competitive, multiple
(08:45):
offers.
So you have to do things todifferentiate your offer in many
ways in order to stand out.
And in 20 years of selling realestate, I mean, one of the
questions that comes up oftenwhen I'm sitting at a table
talking to a seller, I ask them,what's important to you?
Nine times out of 10, price isthe answer.
Now it can go beyond that, butprice is always number one.
(09:08):
So if you're making offers inthis market, I can't tell you
how to price a property or whatprice to offer on a show like
this.
But what I can tell you is noneof the other stuff that you
decide to do in your offermatters really, unless you're
competitive on the price tostart with.
So the price needs to becompetitive.
If you're in the range to startwith, then there's some other
(09:28):
things that you can do todifferentiate yourself like
timeframes on contingencies andescrow periods and down payments
and what you ask the seller topay or not.
not pay, buyer commissions arekind of in the limelight right
now, how that's negotiated.
There's a lot of differentnuances to it, and that's why
(09:49):
it's important to make sureyou're working with somebody
that can explain this to you sothat you feel comfortable when
you're making your offer.
But we could do a whole episodeon that.
Galina (09:57):
That's for sure.
So going off of that, whatwould you say is something that
people don't think about whenthey're purchasing that you
think is important?
Jeb Smith (10:07):
You know, I think a lot of...
Buyers only look at the coststhat are involved when they're
buying a home.
So for example, you're buying ahome.
You know that, hey, I'm putting20% down, whatever the number
is.
I know I've got closing costs.
So you look at your account andyou go, well, I got the 20%.
I got enough for closing costs.
It doesn't really leave me witha lot in my bank account, but I
(10:30):
can make this happen.
And then you get in theproperty and you realize that,
oh, wow, I didn't know that thisneeded to be replaced or this
needs to be done or whatever.
something happens, there's aleak or whatever, and you're
kind of in this position whereit's like, whoa, I didn't
realize all the costs involved.
I didn't realize all thesethings were going to happen.
HOA dues go up higher than whatyou thought, depending on when
(10:53):
you bought the property.
Maybe the HOA gets anassessment.
I mean, there's all theselittle nuances that can happen
in a transaction.
And over a long period of timeof selling real estate, most of
the time it doesn't happen, butit can.
And you need to be in aposition where you are
comfortable not only with themonthly payment but comfortable
with the idea that things couldarise and that you're in a
(11:15):
position to have money toreconcile whatever it is that's
going wrong.
And I think there's too manypeople at the moment just based
on conversations that I've hadand comments that I get on
different videos that just haveenough money to get in and
aren't thinking down the road.
And I think it's important tobudget accordingly so that
you're not putting yourself in aposition where you're going to
(11:39):
fail.
Galina (11:39):
Yeah, so always, always, always budget, plan ahead.
Jeb Smith (11:44):
And a really good example is investors buying
investment properties with theidea that, hey, this property
cash flows.
Okay, it cash flows because youhaven't factored in replacement
costs.
You're not setting asidereplacement costs every single
month out of what's going thereto replace replacement the roof
down the road or the waterheater or the things that are
(12:05):
going to break on that property.
So yeah, it looks like it's acashflow property, but once you
start factoring in the expensesof things that are going to have
to be replaced at some point,maybe it's not the investment
that you thought it was.
And so I know we're talking toa lot of investors on a podcast
like this.
And so you gotta factor some ofthese unknown things in It's
not pretty and it's things wedon't want to think about.
(12:27):
And hopefully you never have todo it and the money can come
back to you, but you should bebudgeting for it.
Galina (12:32):
Yeah, for sure.
From your experience, can youshare a memorable success story
or a challenging experience?
Jeb Smith (12:40):
Memorable success stories.
I have a lot.
Just over the years, I've beenable to help a lot of people get
into property in competitiveenvironments over the last
couple of years when the marketswere absolutely crazy.
I was able to get clients intoproperties.
We weren't waiving all thecontingencies and doing all the
crazy things that you heardabout online, but You know,
(13:02):
being able to negotiate, I'vebeen able to negotiate, you
know, the highest I've ever doneis a $72,000, $73,000 repair
request on a property.
And we're talking a propertyjust over a million bucks.
So it's not like, you know, itwas a $5 million property.
It was, you know, prettysubstantial amount for things
that, you know, depending on howyou looked at it, weren't that
(13:24):
big of a deal.
So big amounts there.
On the flip side, I guess thestruggles are, that I'm facing,
that a lot of agents are facingat the moment is just the lack
of supply and having to helpbuyers understand the idea of
being patient in environmentslike this, not making irrational
(13:45):
decisions to just buy aproperty, to buy a property
that, you know, it sucks to waitwhen you're excited about the
process and you're ready to buy.
And then month after monthafter month, there's just not a
home that pops up.
And I'm experiencing a lot ofthat right now.
I have buyers that are ready.
to make offers, they'repre-approved, they're solid
buyers, large down payments, andwe just can't find what they're
(14:06):
looking for.
And whenever we do make anoffer, there's multiple offers
and it's, you know, they justdecided, well, I'm not even, I'm
not going to go through this.
So it's, that's the struggle.
And I think it's one of thosethings that there's no easy fix
for it.
It's just one of those thingsyou're just going to have to
kind of work through.
But as agents, we all deal withit.
(14:27):
We deal with different things.
The last couple of years, thestruggles were that homes were
just selling too quickly andthat if you had a buyer, there
was plenty of property, but itwas all selling very fast and
whatever.
Now we have the opposite ofthat.
We just don't have enoughproperty.
People aren't listing itbecause of where rates are and
just different struggles.
(14:48):
But it's, you know, all of itover time will correct itself.
It's just a matter of beingpatient.
Galina (14:54):
Yeah, for sure.
The next question actually tiesinto that.
For investors listening andwatching, where would you
recommend them to go to findgood deals in the market like
today?
Jeb Smith (15:05):
You know, I think like anything else, connect with
a realtor in your market.
And, you know, like me, forexample, like in my market or 20
years of selling real estate,I've been a part of different
communities with real estateprofessionals.
And, you know, I go todifferent events and different
(15:25):
seminars and some of them arereal estate related.
Some of them aren't.
But over time, I've developed alot of relationships.
And one thing about realestate, real estate is it's a
relational business.
I've built my business offrelationships.
And so I know people in realpretty much 50 states.
And if I don't know someone,someone else does.
(15:45):
And so it's always about askingthe right questions at events
like this and saying, you know,what's happening in your market
and, you know, or whatopportunities are you seeing and
that sort of thing.
So I think if, you know,assuming your agent does
business in a similar fashion,connecting with an agent in your
market and saying, hey, listen,are you aware of any
opportunities?
Where, you know, where is thegrowth happening?
(16:08):
Where should, you know, whoshould I talk to?
It's a good place to start.
You know, you don't go in andtype in something on Google
about, you know, the fastestgrowing cities and that sort of
thing, because by the time ithits there, a lot of that is
already happened and it'salready pretty well known.
So you try to find the thepeople that are doing the
business in these variousmarkets.
(16:28):
And if you don't know somebody,I mean, you could always reach
out to somebody like me.
I'm happy to put you in touchwith other people that do
business in other states, butthere's always growth.
There's always these emerginglittle markets.
But I think if you're going todo the research on your own, you
want to find cities that aregrowing, all right?
Population-wise, you want tosee cities where businesses,
(16:49):
bigger companies are now settingup other locations, right?
Because it's going to bring inworkers where hospitals are
being built, you know, brings inhealthcare.
All of these things, when yousee redevelopment in an area and
it's growing because, you know,they're having to grow because
of the population that isgrowing, those are always cities
because rentals are going to doreally well in those markets
(17:10):
because a lot of people thatmove there, especially you know,
healthcare workers and, and,and, you know, doctors and all
of these different occupations,they rent for, for a period of
time before they do anythingjust to make sure they're going
to stay there.
And one is to figure out thecities and that sort of thing.
And usually these are reallygood tenants because they have
good paying jobs.
(17:31):
And, you know, they're stableand that sort of thing.
And so they make, make forreally good opportunities for,
for tenants down the road.
And so there are definitelymarkets out there that are still
like that.
You know, rates are higher.
these properties are a littlebit harder to cash flow in some
markets, but there's alwaysopportunities.
Galina (17:50):
I'm sure you get this question asked all the time.
Where do you see the marketgoing within the next 12 to 24
months?
Jeb Smith (17:57):
I see a market really similar to the one that we saw
last year.
I think rates will come down.
The economy is likely going toslow because of where the Fed
has pushed the Fed funds rate.
So that's going to slowergrowth in the economy, which is
exactly what they're trying toaccomplish.
Inflation is likely going tocome down, continue coming down,
(18:17):
if you will.
And so with that, I think overtime, interest rates are going
to come down some.
What does that actually mean?
Hard to say.
I mean, I think, you know, Idid a forecast earlier this year
and I think rates, I think wecould see a five in front of
interest rates sometime in 2024.
Does that mean 599?
Does it mean 5.5?
Hard to say, but I think we'llbe in the fives at some point in
(18:40):
2024.
With that, I think thefollowing year, assuming the
trend continues, which I thinkit will, you'll see rates go a
little bit lower.
And as rates move a little bitlower, you're going to see more
inventory come to the market.
And now the problem that Iforesee is that even though we
get a little bit more inventorycoming to the market, most
sellers are buyers.
So they put one on the market,they take one off the market.
(19:03):
So net inventory doesn't grow.
And that is, in my eyes, thebiggest struggle out there.
Um, just because I don't knowhow you correct this.
We've got, you know, apopulation growing, we've got
more and more millennials buyingproperties that are kind of
turning prime buying age behindthat.
You have a whole nothergeneration that'll be hitting
(19:24):
prime buying age over the next10 years.
And so there's, there's growthin that market and the, you
know, Everybody wants to be ahomeowner, whether they say they
do or not.
People want to become ahomeowner.
And so the struggle at themoment is affordability.
Housing affordability is stillsitting near all-time lows.
And so that puts a strain onthe number of able buyers out
(19:45):
there in the market, right?
Everybody's a willing buyer.
The able buyers, there's justless of them because of
affordability.
Rates coming down is going toimprove affordability a little
bit.
I think there's a limit.
to some extent on the upside ofgrowth of appreciation to real
estate, just because of thataffordability metric, right?
It's not back in 2020 and 2021when rates were at 3%, 2.5%, you
(20:11):
know, where affordabilityimproved significantly.
We're now kind of on the otherside of that.
Rates are going to be lower,but home prices aren't going to
come down in any meaningful way.
In fact, I think home priceswill probably continue to go up
3%, 4%, 5% this year.
And I think that's aconservative number looking So I
think it's a market similar tolast year.
It's going to be slower.
A lot of people are predictinga big jump in transactions.
(20:34):
Last year, we sold just over 4million homes nationwide.
People are projecting somewherein the 4.6, 4.7 number.
I find that hard to believewhere, where, where we are at
the moment that we're going tosee that big jump.
So I think transactions stay onthe lower side and it looks a
lot like it did last year.
It's just a little tougher realestate market.
(20:55):
Uh, but people will continue tobuy homes and there will be
opportunities in every market.
It's just, you know, buyingwhen it's the right time for
you.
Galina (21:03):
I've mentioned earlier that you have a course called
first time home buyer, which isdedicated to helping people get
their first property.
What inspired you to createthis course?
Jeb Smith (21:14):
You know, Over time, selling real estate, you just
get the same questions over andover and over and over and over.
And I could just continue thatdown for the next 10 minutes of
how many questions just rattleoff and they're all the same.
So it's why not?
So my YouTube channel initiallystarted as this way to answer
those questions.
And what I found is all theanswers are always out there.
(21:35):
I wasn't new to answering thosequestions.
The answers have always beenthere.
I was just putting them in adifferent format on my channel.
But even then, Theinformation's out there and
people continue to ask me thesame question.
So the idea was why not putthem all in a place, you know,
kind of walk people through thehome buying process from start
to finish, what it looks like,different areas from, you know,
(21:57):
deciding whether or not to buy,whether it makes sense to buy,
to the pre-approval process, tofinding your real estate agent,
to writing offers, tonegotiating offers, to the
escrow process, the whole thing.
It all in one place, kind of inorder so that if you want to
learn what it is, it's aone-stop shop.
It's not you you having to gookay what is the next step and
then okay that's the next stepsearching for the next step
(22:19):
watching the video and thengetting it from all of these
different sources you're gettingit from one person kind of just
a walk down a path and you knowyou and I can have the
conversation but you and I canhave the conversation and it
would take a very, very longtime to go into depth like I do
in those videos that are, youknow, that you can do on your
(22:39):
own timeline.
So that's really what it'sabout.
Just kind of just throwinginformation out there.
So the people that want tobecome educated, that want to
know the process can.
Galina (22:46):
What I love about your YouTube channel is that you
explain everything so easilythat pretty much anyone can
understand what you're talkingabout.
And if you're listening orwatching and you haven't yet
seen Jeb's videos, you have togo check out his YouTube
channel.
It's absolutely amazing.
Lots of valuable information.
So definitely something tocheck out.
We've also got a question aboutwhat kind of advice you would
(23:09):
have to offer for people lookingto buy this year.
Jeb Smith (23:14):
I think you have to, this isn't the advice people
want to hear, but you got tocontrol the controllables,
right?
Too many people are worriedabout what's going to happen
tomorrow, what's going to happennext week, when are rates going
to go down, when's inventorygoing to come to the market,
when are all of these thingsthat we can't control, when are
they going to happen versus whatcan I control?
Well, I can go getpre-approved.
I can continue to save money.
(23:35):
I can work on my credit if itneeds to be worked on.
I can budget.
I can do all of these things.
I can buy a house if the rightone presents itself, but I can't
do that Until I've done all theother things that I should have
done to start with.
So control what you cancontrol.
Let the market do its thing.
And maybe you'd buy a home in2024.
Maybe you don't.
Maybe it's 2025.
You know, just unfortunately,it's we don't know how some of
(24:02):
these things are going to playout when they're going to play
out.
So.
You know, all you can do is dothe best for what you know.
And I think that's the bestadvice I can give.
Galina (24:12):
I love it.
Is there anything else that Imissed that you would like to
add?
Jeb Smith (24:18):
No, I don't think so.
I mean, I think, again, it isreal estate is long term.
So a lot of people in themarket today that are home
buyers were either kids and oryoung adults when the last
housing crash took place.
So the memory is very, it'sright there.
It's like it happenedyesterday.
(24:39):
And so when people startthinking about real estate and
they've seen home prices go upand they've seen all of this
craziness in the market, theyimmediately go back to the last
time that they remember anythinglike this.
And then what happenedafterwards?
Just understand the market thenwas entirely different than the
market now for many differentreasons.
But it's, you know, again, itis, the market's a crazy thing.
(25:04):
And trying to pick the tops orthe bottoms is a fool's game.
Just buy when it's the righttime in your life.
Focus on the things you cancontrol.
Be comfortable with thepayment.
Be comfortable with the monthlypayment.
And have the longer term timehorizon.
And ultimately, you'll be in agood position.
Galina (25:20):
Thank you so much, Jeb, for giving our audience an
insight on real estate and whatthey really need to know about
buying properties.
If anyone's interested to buywith you, how can they connect
with you?
Jeb Smith (25:34):
Well, I'll give you my contact information or you
can just reach out.
You know, again, you have myname, Jeb Smith.
If you search that, you'regoing to see this mug,
unfortunately, all over theInternet and my contact
information is everywhere.
So just, you know, you can callme, you can email me, you can
find me on Instagram and directmessage me.
But either way, would love theopportunity to help guide you,
(25:55):
to serve you and ultimately getyou into a home.
So if I can be of assistance,please reach out.
Galina (26:00):
We'll also add your information in the video as
well.
So everyone will be able to seethat.
Thank you again, Jeb.
Jeb Smith (26:07):
All right.
I appreciate it.
Intro (26:09):
We'll talk soon.
Thanks for listening all theway to the end.
Don't forget to give us a goodrating on whatever platform
you're tuning in from.
And we'll be back soon withanother new episode.
We hope to see you there.
And until next time, this hasbeen Hoop It In.
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