- On this week's show Dayna discusses inspection services with Curtis Carr of the Home Team and the benefits of a pre-inspection. Connie Browning has the latest from First Financial Bank Texas and Katie and Dayna update the real estate market.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hewll Loo, Southeast Texas, Welcome to the Dana Simmons Show.
We have a great lineup of guests for you today,
we're going to be talking about pree listing inspections. Have
you thought about putting your house on the market for sale?
Why would you want to do an inspection before you
even get a buyer? Well, we've got some great advice
and tips for you on why that may be a
(00:23):
really smart thing to do. Also, we're going to be
talking about commercial real estate a little bit. Are you
thinking about purchasing a commercial building or maybe even building one? Well,
we have some tips that Connie Browning with First Financial
Bank is going to give us on what that requires
and what that looks like. But first I want to
give you just a general update on how's the market. Well.
(00:44):
As the temperature has warmed up and as we get
a little warmer here in Southeast Texas, which I think
all of us are really happy about, so does the
real estate market. We've seen an improvement over the last
several weeks and now month or so so that we're
seeing things improve in a way that is much better
than it has been over the last eighteen months to
two years. So if you're thinking about is now the
(01:07):
right time, either as a buyer or a seller, absolutely
we would love to talk to you and give you information.
You can call my office at four O nine eight
six six team which is four oh nine eight six
six eight three two six, and someone on our team
is there to answer eight to eight Monday through Saturday
(01:27):
to be able to schedule an appointment for you to
see if now it's the right time for you. Our
goal is to make this process simple and easy for
you and to help you make a wise decision. We
will give you the information and then let you say
yes it's a good time or no it's not. So
if we can help you do that, don't hesitate to
give us a call four O nine eight sixty six
(01:50):
eight three two six or visit it visit us on
our website at Danasimmons real Estate dot com or DSR
dot com. Well, I have a one of my guests
is a first time guest here, so super happy to
have Connie Browning, who is the senior vice president and
relationship manager at First Financial Bank. And Connie, we've known
(02:11):
each other and work together many times, but this is
your first time to be able to join me on
the show.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes, this is exciting. I'm glad to be here and
I'm glad you invited me.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I'm so excited to have you talk to everyone a
little bit about what you do. I'm sure people have
seen you. You are very actively involved in our community
and you know a lot of people. But for those
who don't know you, tell everyone a little bit about
who you are. You live here in Southeast Texas and
you have so.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yes, I grew up in Beaumont, graduated from Westbrook High School,
and went off for college, but then came back to Beaumont.
I started banking many many years ago and progress through
banking and now I am a commercial lender at First
Financial Bank. First Financial Bank is a great place to work,
(02:57):
great streams and avenues of getting loans done, very creative,
and we work with everyone to help make your dream
come true on your commercial business or commercial real estate
that you want to purchase.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
And one of the things that I love is that
those decisions are made here locally correct. It's not like
you just fill out an application since somewhere to New
York and then they make a decision. I mean, it's
really a face to face, person to person walking through
the ins and outs. You can sit in front of
you at your office. I mean you can do it electronically.
(03:31):
You can do everything online, but you're in the bank
on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yes, correct, you can always come into the bank. We
can start with a phone call an email, but we
do like to see our customers. We like you to
come into the bank. We like you to have that experience.
We like to have that rapport with our clients before
we do any lending. So yeah, it's a great avenue
and we're right there on Dallan, So I always welcome
to come in.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I'm so glad to have you here to visit with
everyone about the things that you do at First Financial.
So we'll be talking about that in one of our
later segments. Also with me Curtis Carr Home Team Inspection Services. Now, Curtis,
you and I go way.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Back, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
We've been in this real estate business a while. Talk
a little bit about you. I know you live in
Southeast Texas as well, raised your family here.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Right right, well born and raised here and started this business,
the inspection business, in ninety six, nineteen ninety six, so
we're approaching almost thirty years so I've known you almost
that entire time, done lots of inspections over the years.
I have a plaque on my wall. I think I
was given this back five years ago that says twenty
(04:38):
thousand inspections.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So that's a lot. And that plays into experience, which
is a really important thing in this industry. There are
a lot of new people that do it. I'm not
saying they're not good at what they do, but experience
is really important. The inspection business is not easy. There
are a lot of parts to a home that are
somewhat complicated. And so, yeah, we've been to in a
long time, and you know, we try our very best
(05:02):
to be the best in the industry. That's what our
goal is.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, and I can say you've done many inspections for
me personally and many for our clients, and I have
absolutely loved working with you. I love what you say
about experience. Now someone can get their license to do inspections,
get their license to do real estate, and while the
state tells everyone they're qualified, experience brings a whole different
(05:29):
level to that. And so that is something that I
think people need to ask when you are talking to
a real estate agent. Who's coming, and we're going to
talk to Katie about that too. When you have someone coming,
ask for their experience, interview them, ask questions. I think
that's really important. I agree with you and Katie. That's
(05:50):
one of the questions we recommend people before they list
their home that they do have conversations to say, Hey,
how long have you been in the business, how many
houses have you sold? But first, I'm jumping into it
way before I should tell everyone a little bit about you,
and then we'll talk about what you do for our team.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yes, I'm boring, so that's why your gift tried over there.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Super exciting.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
So my name's Katie Martin. I am the listing specialist
here for Dana Simmons real Estate, and I have been.
I'm embarking on my twenty sixth year in August, which
does not make me old, it just makes me wise.
And I have two wonderful young ladies. They're not little
(06:34):
girls anymore, which makes me sad, but two girls at
legacy middle school and high school, and a wonderful husband
who is an electrician and part odor of R. D.
Martin Electric free Plug.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Which has also been around for a very long time.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yes, even longer than us.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yes, absolutely, And the Robert has purchased that from his dad,
So this is a family business that has been going
for a very long time. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
See, he started working with his dad when he was twelve.
They drug him out of bed on Saturday mornings and
every day during the summer, and he got paid in
Happy Buddha.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That was his favorite place to eat.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Two dollars an hour and Happy Buddha every day.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Listen, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea great
work ethic a twelve year old. Yeah. Well, and I
love that you brought up that coming up on your
twenty sixth year, and I'm coming up just like Curtis
on my thirtieth year. And so between us at our company,
you and I have well over fifty years of experience.
And why is the experience side of real estate so important?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yeah? I think a lot of it for us is
what we can help guide you through preemptively. So there
are things that we know, just having gone through them before,
that they're going to be an issue, or they're going
to be a challenge, or there's just unrealistic expectations, so
we try to combat those ahead of time. And I
(08:09):
think that that's one of the biggest things that can
save you headaches down the road and really a lot
of money.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Sometimes, Well, I've just had this come up with one
of our clients where they were listed with another company
for a while and did not know that their roof
was nineteen years old.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And three times this week we've had that conversation.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And so for us, that's a conversation we want to
have with them up front because that is going to
impact the sale of their home. So that's just one
example of things that we look at to say, you know,
what do we need to do to help you understand
the entire process not just sticking a sign in the
yard and waiting on a buyer. There are a lot
of other things that go into it. And so that's
(08:53):
what our next segment is going to be about. What
are some of the things you're right preemptively that you
can do to get the best price with the fewest
uncertain issues coming up and being able to move forward
in a way that you have confidence in selling your home.
And what's going to be coming up on that, So
(09:15):
don't go away. When we come back, we are going
to visit with Katie and with Curtis about that process
and what we can do to take out some of
the uncertainty in the process. So this is the Dana
Simons Show. We'll be right back. Welcome back. We are
having a wonderful time on the show today and we
(09:35):
have a great show for you. We have Curtis Carr,
he is with Home Team Inspection Service, Katie Martin who
is the listing specialist for Dana Simmon's real Estate, and
Connie Browning, Senior vice president and relationship manager at First
Financial Bank. And one of the things we wanted to
talk about today is selling a house and Katie, selling
(09:55):
a house comes with a lot of moving pieces and
the very last thing that we want is for a
deal to fall apart over unexpected repairs and things that
are uncovered in a buyer's inspection. So what are some
of the things that we like to do to ensure
that that is not something that happens. And really the
(10:18):
first part of that question is what is typically the
first reason or the highest number of reasons why a
whole deal falls apart in an option period.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Yeah, during the option period is the majority of the time,
I mean inspections, and it's the inspections, and just the
first ten days you know they're buyers are usually very
excited to make the offer. You know things are tracking
right along, and then reality sets in, Oh my goodness,
I'm about to have to be responsible for a whole
house all by myself. And if they have a good inspector,
(10:52):
I believe that inspector helps guide them. These are the
most important things. Be sure to ask for this. I've
had certain instances where Curtis has called me directly after
going to a home and said, hey, you need to
check on this because it might catch on fire type
of deal.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And sellers just don't know. It's not intentional that.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You're not crawing up in your attic except for Christmas
to get your tree down. How are you going to know?
There's spices that are touching insulation as things such as that.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And one of the things that you know, we are
getting into a hotter market and one of the things
that we've seen happen in the past when things were
really hot a couple of years ago, we saw multiple
offers coming in and the when you get a multiple offer.
While it's good to look at the highest price, one
of the things that's really beneficial is if someone doesn't
(11:45):
have to do an option period, and so having that
pre inspection kind of prevents you having to have that
if they want to take that off the table and
is able to move them forward, because if not, you
get that offer, you know, in the first day or two,
But then what happens when they have that inspection and
then they have to terminate.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Right, So I think the biggest there's several factors to
a prelisting home inspection that I think are beneficial. One
would be you're going to save yourself money. There are
things in an inspection that are not as big of
a deal as they look like on paper, and if
you can know what those things are, go ahead and
address them. It's going to save you money in the
(12:26):
long run. Because after we go under contract, it's states
in the contract you have to have somebody that regularly
performs those services. So if it's electrical, you need electrician, plumber, yadayat.
But if it's something that you can easily do yourself,
like tighten the toilet to the floor or something like
all that time, yes, and I'm like, why are we
asking for this? But they have to report it. They
(12:48):
have to report it, So those are all things that
you can be doing ahead of the contract, and then
it gives the buyer more peace of mind when you've
already stated that you've repaired those things.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And then it gives the buyer the opportunity to see
all of the items that have been noted on the
inspection as well, and so it's much easier to move forward.
When we've seen people make multiple offers and after an
inspection and maybe in that option period they terminate. Do
we see a loss of momentum once that terminate.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Absolutely. Any time you're after the first two weeks on
the market, your momentum is going to slow down. I
see it over and over. It's much harder to recapture
buyers after the fact when the listening's not new and
fresh any longer. So it's just I think a wise
investment for you to do that. But also there are
(13:44):
items that are not only going to come up on
the inspection but also the appraisal process, and those are
also things that if we can address upfront, is going
to help save the deal as well, because the appraisal
doesn't happen until way later in the process, you know,
through or four weeks down the road. And then if
we're just now realizing that those things have to be done,
(14:06):
then we're in a different position.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And that challenge could be if you're selling and trying
to buy it at the same time, and the buyer
can terminate at that point, even if you agree to
do the repairs right if anything comes up on that appraisal.
And so that is why it's so important to know
as much as you can upfront. Do we know for
certain what an appraiser's gonna call.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
No, But we see the same things over and over
almost every time, especially with FAHA or VA appraisals. They
have certain guidelines that have to be met for financing.
It is not code, it doesn't make sense for most people,
but it is an FAHA or VA guideline. So we
have to make sure that we know these things we're
(14:50):
addressing them. They also charge a reinspect fee. So if
the appraiser comes out calls a GFCI in the kitchen,
for example, and then we repair it, they have to
come back out take pictures of that, and then they
charge a reinspection fee. The buyer doesn't want to pay
for that because it wasn't their fault that the GFCI
(15:11):
wasn't fixed, so then they tried to pass that on
to the seller many times. Yeah, so that's one hundred
and fifty dollars out of your pocket, and you're fixing
the GFCI anyway.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
So getting that information up front state what you've already
talked about many of the benefits. But why do you
tell a seller or why do you recommend? Now a
seller doesn't have to do this. Our job is just
to make recommendations. So why do you recommend a seller
get a pre inspection even before we put it on
(15:41):
the market.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Another reason that I usually suggest is you have control
over the inspector. There are good ones and bad ones
out there, just like any other industry.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Absolutely, I have.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Seen inspection reports that are four pages. I do not
think that's thorough enough. But I've seen inspection reports that
are seventy eight pages, like literally every single picture of
every nick in the wall. So you do have control
over who's out there. We can help recommend that. Curtis
is usually a recommendation, and we want somebody that has
(16:16):
experience that's not just going to scare the buyer to
death over every little thing. But it's also thorough enough
to know, hey, this is really going to be important
down the road, and that you feel confident in knowing
what's really going on with your house.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Absolutely, and you're right. We want experience. And while yes,
there are some inspectors out there who've only been in
the business a couple of years, and yes they may
be doing an okay job, the challenge is the experience
that someone has who's been doing it over and over.
I'll also talk about some other things that I feel
like make Curtis just more experienced in the situation because
(16:54):
he's worked with the State of Texas on preparing all
of the inspection reports why they should be the way
they are. So when we come back, we are going
to talk to Curtis Carr and we're going to visit
about what does he do what is needed before you
even he even comes out to do an inspection, and
then what does his inspection report look like? So don't
go away, we'll be right back. This is the Dana
(17:17):
Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and we
are joined today by Katie Martin, who's the listing specialist
with Dana Simons Real Estate. She was just talking about
the benefit of having a prelisting inspection before you list
your house, and what are all the reasons for you
(17:37):
to do that. And so also with us today is
Curtis car with Home Team Inspection Services. And Curtis, you've
talked about the fact that you've been doing this about
twenty nine years, almost thirty years as well, and you
have a little bit of experience. And one of the
things I talked about at the end of the last
break was that you have experience beyond just doing lots
(17:59):
of inspection, so you also have experience on the state level.
So talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, that was something that was I really enjoyed it. It
was a lot of fun, very interesting. We're regulated by
the Texas Real Estate Commission as you are. They issue
our licenses, they tell us how we do what we do.
We have guidelines and then we can be penalized. We
can be fined, our license can be taken away if
we don't follow the rules. And so we've got to
(18:25):
understand exactly what they want us to do and do
it that way, and we're not having choice about that.
And so the state, the Real Estate Commission, has a
subcommittee that works on the inspection side of that nine members,
and I was able to be a member of that
from two thousand and five until twenty.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Thirteen, and so in that you were able to give
input from your experience of doing inspections about what is
important and some of the things that you felt like
needed to be on the report, and also some of
the things that you felt like should be altered a bit.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
That's right. It was interesting that during that time the
state had decided to revamp all the rules, and so
we were tasked with rewriting the guidelines of how an
inspection must be done. And I was one of the
three inspectors put on that subcommittee to do that. It
took us about two years to do it, believe it
(19:20):
or not. Two years. Mostly it was driving back and
forth Austin made about one hundred trips, lost a lot
of money in my business doing that actually, and then
we were able to do some of it online. But
we ended up with a really good set of rules
that laid it out very clearly for everyone. What the
state wanted was a uniformity. They wanted Inspector A goes
(19:43):
to a house, and then maybe the house deal falls
through and Inspector B goes the next week. Well, they're
going to be doing the same thing. They should be.
They shouldn't be looking at different things and having a
different type of report. And so that's really what the
state wanted, and that's what we had. Every inspection report
is mandated by the state that we have to use
(20:04):
that report. There are some freedom, some leeway on what
you might write, but for the most part, it's fairly
strictly regulated.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So one of the things that I think people don't
realize is that when they get that inspection report back,
they often think, oh, this is code for our city,
but it's not specifically code because it's for the entire
state of Texas, and so the items that are noted
on there, it's uniform across the state of Texas, and
(20:37):
codes are different in every city and county right.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Well, to a certain extent, they are. You have what's
called the IRC International Residential Code, and each municipality, let's
just say Beaumont or Lumberton, their code enforcement division will
decide what they're going to enforce. And one of the
things that I've seen is that especially on new construction
built in Lumberton versus in Beaumont, they're not exactly the same.
(21:04):
There are some differences that are allowed and they can
do that. There's no governing body looking over their shoulder
to say, well, you can't do it that way, but
generally they're pretty close. But that's different than what we
do as the home inspector. The Real Estate Commission is
not so much interested in how something is built, but
(21:25):
protecting the consumer when something is sold. That's the key
to it.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I love that you brought that up because I don't
think people realize that it's not code enforcements, it's how
do we protect the consumer to make sure that what
they're purchasing is safe and is going to function. And
that's a lot of what you have on your report.
So talk a little bit about your report. And for instance,
you've been to a house this week, that's a prelisting inspection.
(21:53):
For a seller, he wants to know everything that's on
that inspection prior to going on the market. You can
address those items. So talk about what it is that
you do with that report.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Okay, Well, first of all, there's a minimum amount that
I've got to do, and then there are some extra
things that I can do if I want. For the
most part, you could just say it this way, it
covers the house from top to bottom. It's not a
property inspection, it's a home inspection. I'm not going to
be inspecting the fence and the gate and any of that,
(22:27):
the driveway, none of that, but the home, the home itself.
And so if I think about what makes up the home,
You've got your foundation, your roof, your air conditioner, electrical cooling, heating, plumbing, appliances.
There are a lot of things there. You've got mechanical
parts and structural parts kind of your two settings. And
(22:49):
so we're going to look at every one of those
and primarily evaluate the condition. We want to tell the
consumer the condition document the condition, is it working directly?
Is it not working correctly. We're not necessarily going into
the fix for how something that is not working correctly
should be working and what would you do and how
(23:10):
much would it cost. That's not what we're there to do.
So the information that we then give is very valuable
to that buyer because it can then be used to negotiate,
and that's where your job comes in to do that negotiation.
We're certainly not going to do that, just say here's
what you have.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
What I love to compare you to whenever I talk
to clients is you're like a general physician. You look
at the whole of the property. But then you may say, Okay,
the temperature differential is higher than it should be on
this HVAC system, and then you recommend an HVAC person,
just like a doctor would say, Hey, your blood pressure
(23:51):
is a little out of whack, you need to go
see a cardiologist. And so you're looking at the overall
condition of the house, and then with something seems a
little out of whack, you may recommend a specialist come in,
an h FAT person, a foundation person. But it's not
like you have to get one of each of those,
because all of those may be functioning properly, and until
(24:14):
you know they're not, then you can then make that
request of someone who does just that.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Right. That's a good point. If we use foundations as
our example. Foundation problems are very common in our area
because of the kind of soil that we have that
what somebody might call gumbo mud. It reacts very readily
with extreme temperature change and whether the soil is wet
or dry, and so there are more than one way
(24:44):
that a foundation could be repaired. It would depend on
which company you use, and that would determine the cost.
And so as an inspector, my job would just be
to find out is there a problem? Is there something
visible there that is raising a question that could potentially
cause this new buyer some money down the road. What
(25:05):
my job is not to do is to go into
the different methods of fixing that. That would be where
the actual foundation company would come in and you would
bring those in to get the bids. Now, I might
be able to say, well, you know what, I bet
you you could fix this for about five thousand dollars
in some cases I might be accurate. But what if
(25:25):
I was wrong. What if I said that and they said,
you know what, I'll just wait until I move in,
and then they get a bid later in this twenty
five thousand dollar They're going to probably want me to
pay the difference in that. So my job is not
to get involved in the bids and the fixes, but
generally say, here is the condition.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
And then when you know the condition, it helps you
to know, Okay, how do I move forward now to
the next step to check out that and to get
the bids, because that's what happens in that ten day
option period. For example, just this week when you went
out to the pre list, the seller sent me that report.
We looked over it together and I made recommendations of
people he could contact. Some of those items that were
(26:08):
on your inspection were items that typically get called on
an FAHA or VA property. It was gfci's in the kitchen.
It was some peeling paint and rotten wood. Those are
some of the things that we know commonly. I can't
say always, but they're commonly called typically called on an appraisal.
(26:30):
And at this point he can go ahead and have
those done. It's not going to slow us down. And
he's able to accept offers that are FAHA and VA
because his house is in the condition in order for
him to do that. And so those are the advantages
of getting that done first. Now, Curtis, if someone wants
to talk to you about how do I get this
(26:54):
pre inspection or how do I connect with the home team,
I'd love for them to come out to my house.
So what is the best way for them to contact you?
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Where our number is four zero nine eight three eight
five four four zero. You can also just google our name,
go online and see that. But I really like the
approach that you're advocating here the seller's inspection. That is really,
in my opinion, a smart thing to do. Like you said,
we were both ending it almost thirty years. I don't
(27:23):
see it done very often years ago. It was popular
for a while, not really much anymore. I think your
company is one of the few companies that really does
it very much. And yet if I were going to
sell a house, I would have it done before I
put it on the market. It's such an advantage to
know ahead of time what an inspection might find that
(27:44):
the buyer hires, and that way I can decide to
I want to go ahead and fix that, and it's
not a surprise to that buyer. They could back out
over something that I could have fixed. Maybe they misunderstood it.
It wasn't a big deal, but they thought it was.
Or may say, you know what, I don't think I'm
going to do anything with that roof. I'm to disclose
it as it's that old and just leave it at that.
(28:07):
It's not a surprise any longer.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The surprises are always bad for a buyer.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
And they're bad for a seller. It's really bad on
both sides. So if we can overcome that obstacle before
we even put it on the market, and if we
can let the buyer know here are the deficiencies. These
are the items the seller is willing to pay far
and these are the ones that they're not, And so
the buyer knows that upfront and can make the decision
(28:32):
do I want to move forward on the house or not.
And it saves people time, it saves people money. I
think it's really something that every seller should consider as
they're getting their house ready to go on the market.
Any final thoughts, Curtis, No.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You know, the inspection is very important. You know, appearances
are deceiving. Yeah, a lot of the houses that we
first walk into, I think, you know, this is a
beautiful home, and unfortunately we found some major problem that
nobody knew was there. Right, So you want to find
that up front.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, whether you're the buyer or the seller, you want
to know that. And that's why home inspection is so important. Again,
if you want to reach out to Curtis, I have
his number memorized four O nine eight three eight five
four four zero. He's done many inspections for me and
so I appreciate you being on the show and giving
us your expertise. Well, when we come back, we're going
(29:26):
to be visiting with Connie Browning, senior vice president and
relationship manager with First Financial Banks. So don't go away.
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is
Dana Simmons and I have been joined today by Katie Martin,
listing specialists with Dana Simmons real Estate, and Curtis car
(29:48):
with the Home Team Inspection Services. And we've been talking
about pre listing inspections for sellers to do prior to
putting their house on the market. And next we're going
to transition in talking about commercial real estate and getting
inspections and working with contractors also is a part of
(30:08):
that commercial transaction. And Connie Browning, the senior vice president
and relationship manager with First Financial Bank, is very familiar
with those kinds of things, aren't you, Connie. Yes, So
talk a little bit about commercial real estate encompasses quite
a bit. It could be residential because there are some
(30:29):
people who put residential packages together or they're purchasing homes
for their investment portfolios. So talk a little bit about
how First Financial works with those investors as well.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yes, So we have different avenues when it comes to
commercial real estate, there's several different purchase options that you
can have. One is an investor that wants to purchase
one to four family dwellings and use them as rental property.
So that is a commercial type loan, and we do
those as well. We have several programs at the bank
(31:04):
that can help those get into what we call a
minority majority area in Beaumont, and those types of loans
are a little bit more attractive on how much you
have to put down and then also your rate.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
That is a really great program that is offered for
a residential home buyer, but the fact that they now
offer that as well for commercial talk a little bit
about the difference that that program provides versus if you
did a typical commercial loan on a residential property.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, so if it's a typical loan on the commercial side,
you would have to put twenty percent down of the
lesser of the cost or the appraisal, whichever is less.
So it's twenty percent of whatever is less of the
appraisal or the purchase price, and then your rate is
also a little bit higher and then also the term
(32:00):
that you can go. So usually on a typical commercial loan,
you go fifteen years, but if it's in this what
we call the MMCT program, you can go a little
bit longer on the amortization so that the investor can
bring home a little bit more profit, helps bring home
a little bit more and helps with the rental income
as well.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, and Connie, you've done several of these. I think
you're one of the commercial bankers that's done I think
the most correct this and so you're very familiar with this.
So if there is someone out there who is thinking
about I want to be an investor, but I don't
have the twenty percent down and I like for my
term to go a little bit longer, this is something
(32:42):
that you can sit and visit with them about.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Correct and it's the same as what you were talking
about earlier with our other guests. It's very vital to
do an inspection on those as well. I know you
always ask questions when we're doing these type loans. You know,
how's the roof condition, is it going to need to
be repaired? You know what's the stage of the property,
you know how old is it? So all those things
(33:05):
are very important as well. Before you purchase these commercial investments,
make sure you're not going to have to put in
a lot of costs and a lot of maintenance on
these properties.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, because it's not just your note you have to
think about. You have to think about what are the
costs that are going to be involved with maintaining this
property while you have a tenant in there, or maybe
while you're waiting to get a tenant in there. So
all of that is critically important. So we've covered kind
of the residential and investment side, what are some other
things that you do on the commercial side of real estate?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
So there's other options. So we have what is called
leasehold improvements, so that's if you want to lease a
space for your commercial business in a strip center or
in an office building. And then we have purchasing and
existing building. That is an option too, so you can
purchase an existing building and do improvements to it, and
(33:55):
then we have new construction. All of them are very
vital and doing your homework ahead of time before you
do this purchase, so you want to do your inspections,
you want to get a contractor out there to go
over everything you're going to need before you do this project.
Even on leasehold improvements, have someone go and visit the space.
(34:17):
Is the electrical going to need to be upgraded? Is
the AC? How long is your AC going to work
in that lease hold space? And then on an existing
building as well. You know, you want someone to go
and inspect the property, see see what's going to need
to happen to get it up to code, because it
will need to be inspected as well by the city.
(34:37):
So you don't want any surprises before you get a
bit on this contract on what all is going to
be needed to bring it up to code so that
you can start your business there.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Well. And Connie, we've been talking about experience all day
because that's so critical and you have been doing this
a very long time and you have great experience in
knowing what that process is but also being able to
recommend and refer people in those different parts of what
needs to happen, right.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Correct, Yes, you always want to get a good contractor
it's very important get someone that's very good and doing inspections.
We have a list that we recommend. We'll give you
two or three names that you can reach out to
and get all that done ahead of time and go
over what is going to be needed for that property.
(35:27):
It's very vital before you come and talk about your loan,
because you don't want to get into a loan and
you've asked for a certain amount of money and then
you have to come back and ask for more. It's
always harder to get more.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
So it's a fact after the fact.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
So it's always better to do all your homework, you know,
check the location, make sure the property is easy to
get in and easy to get out. That's so critical
for businesses. If it takes one of your customers a
hard time to get to you, a lot of businesses
fail because of that. So you know, location is everything.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, we say it, location, location, location anyways, not only
in residential but in commercial, probably more important in commercial
because you have to attract those people who are willing
to come to you, so that's critical. What are some
of the other things that you work on there at
first financial.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Mainly we do we do a lot of real estate,
but we also do loans for businesses that want to
get started. So we do have an SBA program, So
if you're looking to start a business and you need
a longer term or you need more guidance, we have
an SBA route that you can go as well. It
has a lot of different avenues a lot. It's very
(36:45):
good for a new business or a new person starting
a business to get going and we can walk you
through that process. We have a great SBA lending department
and partners that we partner with in the community as
well that help you walk you through that process.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Yeah, and I think that's the key. I mean, if
you are thinking about starting a business, investing in commercial
real estate or investing in residential you know, one of
the first things we recommend whenever someone wants to buy
a house is that they go and visit with a
mortgage person to go ahead and get preapproved. I think
(37:21):
the same is true if you are thinking about starting
a business. So sitting down and talking to someone about
what you do have, what your thoughts are, and if
they can see a way for you to qualify for
that is critically important.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yes, that's always better to do it ahead of time.
So there's a lot of costs associated with investing in
real estate. Some people don't know all of the costs,
you know, like your survey, your appraisal, you need to
get a bid, your plans, So there's a lot of
costs associated with it, and it's best if you know
all that going into the project, that you can put
(37:58):
into the bid, that can help you get that project
go in off off the ground. So it's best to
come in ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
And you've you've helped so many businesses get started that
you know many of the pitfalls, so you're able to say, Okay,
here are some of the things you may not have
thought about. Yes, and it's kind of helped guide them
through that.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah. So, like just recently, I had a client come
in and they wanted to purchase some more residential the
wonderful family dwellings, and so there was a lot of things.
You know, they wanted to put it in their personal name,
and so you know, I always reach out to them
and say, because I've had people come later and say,
oh I just talked to my CPA and now he
wants me to put in an LLC. It's very hard
(38:43):
to go back and redo that loan. So you know,
like I advise them, you know, have you talked to
your CPA, have you talked to your attorney? Do you
need a form an LLC? Do you need it in
your name? You know for liability purposes and those things
they hadn't even thought about So I said, go back
and talk to your CPA, go to your attorney, see
what all you need to do, and then come back
(39:03):
and we'll structure the loan according to their advice, because
I'm the banker, but you know the CPAs and attorneys
are knowledgeable on that part as well. So they left
and went back and did their homework and then came
back and realized that yes, they want to form an
LLC and start the process that way.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Perfect example of you being able to assist them and
guide them to where they don't fall into that pitfall.
Experience matters. It matters in every aspect of our world,
but especially in banking. It's huge. So Connie, if someone
is thinking about you know it might be interested in
doing something like that, how would they get a hold
of you?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Yeah, so you can always call me. I have a
cell phone that we have with us all the time.
We enter a twenty four to seven. That's four oh
nine seven seven nine two eight eight nine, and then
you can also call the office it's four oh nine
six zero zero six four five zero. And I also
(40:00):
have an email which you can always email as well,
which is C Browning at f FI dot com. So
either way, I'll respond and get back with you in
a very quickly manner.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
And you're right there at the first financial bank there
on dallin correct. And so if someone wanted to make
an appointment to come down and sit with you at
you're there, or you can visit with them and do
things online as well.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, Well, Connie, it has been such pleasure having you
on the show today. Thank you so much. Thank you
guys for listening and being a part of our show today.
We will be right back here next Saturday at noon,
so have a great week. This is Dana Simmons with
the Dana Simmons Show.
Well, hewll Loo, Southeast Texas, Welcome to the Dana Simmons Show.
We have a great lineup of guests for you today,
we're going to be talking about pree listing inspections. Have
you thought about putting your house on the market for sale?
Why would you want to do an inspection before you
even get a buyer? Well, we've got some great advice
and tips for you on why that may be a
(00:23):
really smart thing to do. Also, we're going to be
talking about commercial real estate a little bit. Are you
thinking about purchasing a commercial building or maybe even building one? Well,
we have some tips that Connie Browning with First Financial
Bank is going to give us on what that requires
and what that looks like. But first I want to
give you just a general update on how's the market. Well.
(00:44):
As the temperature has warmed up and as we get
a little warmer here in Southeast Texas, which I think
all of us are really happy about, so does the
real estate market. We've seen an improvement over the last
several weeks and now month or so so that we're
seeing things improve in a way that is much better
than it has been over the last eighteen months to
two years. So if you're thinking about is now the
(01:07):
right time, either as a buyer or a seller, absolutely
we would love to talk to you and give you information.
You can call my office at four O nine eight
six six team which is four oh nine eight six
six eight three two six, and someone on our team
is there to answer eight to eight Monday through Saturday
(01:27):
to be able to schedule an appointment for you to
see if now it's the right time for you. Our
goal is to make this process simple and easy for
you and to help you make a wise decision. We
will give you the information and then let you say
yes it's a good time or no it's not. So
if we can help you do that, don't hesitate to
give us a call four O nine eight sixty six
(01:50):
eight three two six or visit it visit us on
our website at Danasimmons real Estate dot com or DSR
dot com. Well, I have a one of my guests
is a first time guest here, so super happy to
have Connie Browning, who is the senior vice president and
relationship manager at First Financial Bank. And Connie, we've known
(02:11):
each other and work together many times, but this is
your first time to be able to join me on
the show.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes, this is exciting. I'm glad to be here and
I'm glad you invited me.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I'm so excited to have you talk to everyone a
little bit about what you do. I'm sure people have
seen you. You are very actively involved in our community
and you know a lot of people. But for those
who don't know you, tell everyone a little bit about
who you are. You live here in Southeast Texas and
you have so.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yes, I grew up in Beaumont, graduated from Westbrook High School,
and went off for college, but then came back to Beaumont.
I started banking many many years ago and progress through
banking and now I am a commercial lender at First
Financial Bank. First Financial Bank is a great place to work,
(02:57):
great streams and avenues of getting loans done, very creative,
and we work with everyone to help make your dream
come true on your commercial business or commercial real estate
that you want to purchase.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
And one of the things that I love is that
those decisions are made here locally correct. It's not like
you just fill out an application since somewhere to New
York and then they make a decision. I mean, it's
really a face to face, person to person walking through
the ins and outs. You can sit in front of
you at your office. I mean you can do it electronically.
(03:31):
You can do everything online, but you're in the bank
on a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yes, correct, you can always come into the bank. We
can start with a phone call an email, but we
do like to see our customers. We like you to
come into the bank. We like you to have that experience.
We like to have that rapport with our clients before
we do any lending. So yeah, it's a great avenue
and we're right there on Dallan, So I always welcome
to come in.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I'm so glad to have you here to visit with
everyone about the things that you do at First Financial.
So we'll be talking about that in one of our
later segments. Also with me Curtis Carr Home Team Inspection Services. Now, Curtis,
you and I go way.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Back, that's correct.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
We've been in this real estate business a while. Talk
a little bit about you. I know you live in
Southeast Texas as well, raised your family here.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Right right, well born and raised here and started this business,
the inspection business, in ninety six, nineteen ninety six, so
we're approaching almost thirty years so I've known you almost
that entire time, done lots of inspections over the years.
I have a plaque on my wall. I think I
was given this back five years ago that says twenty
(04:38):
thousand inspections.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So that's a lot. And that plays into experience, which
is a really important thing in this industry. There are
a lot of new people that do it. I'm not
saying they're not good at what they do, but experience
is really important. The inspection business is not easy. There
are a lot of parts to a home that are
somewhat complicated. And so, yeah, we've been to in a
long time, and you know, we try our very best
(05:02):
to be the best in the industry. That's what our
goal is.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, and I can say you've done many inspections for
me personally and many for our clients, and I have
absolutely loved working with you. I love what you say
about experience. Now someone can get their license to do inspections,
get their license to do real estate, and while the
state tells everyone they're qualified, experience brings a whole different
(05:29):
level to that. And so that is something that I
think people need to ask when you are talking to
a real estate agent. Who's coming, and we're going to
talk to Katie about that too. When you have someone coming,
ask for their experience, interview them, ask questions. I think
that's really important. I agree with you and Katie. That's
(05:50):
one of the questions we recommend people before they list
their home that they do have conversations to say, Hey,
how long have you been in the business, how many
houses have you sold? But first, I'm jumping into it
way before I should tell everyone a little bit about you,
and then we'll talk about what you do for our team.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yes, I'm boring, so that's why your gift tried over there.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Super exciting.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
So my name's Katie Martin. I am the listing specialist
here for Dana Simmons real Estate, and I have been.
I'm embarking on my twenty sixth year in August, which
does not make me old, it just makes me wise.
And I have two wonderful young ladies. They're not little
(06:34):
girls anymore, which makes me sad, but two girls at
legacy middle school and high school, and a wonderful husband
who is an electrician and part odor of R. D.
Martin Electric free Plug.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Which has also been around for a very long time.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yes, even longer than us.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yes, absolutely, And the Robert has purchased that from his dad,
So this is a family business that has been going
for a very long time. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
See, he started working with his dad when he was twelve.
They drug him out of bed on Saturday mornings and
every day during the summer, and he got paid in
Happy Buddha.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That was his favorite place to eat.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Two dollars an hour and Happy Buddha every day.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Listen, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea great
work ethic a twelve year old. Yeah. Well, and I
love that you brought up that coming up on your
twenty sixth year, and I'm coming up just like Curtis
on my thirtieth year. And so between us at our company,
you and I have well over fifty years of experience.
And why is the experience side of real estate so important?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yeah? I think a lot of it for us is
what we can help guide you through preemptively. So there
are things that we know, just having gone through them before,
that they're going to be an issue, or they're going
to be a challenge, or there's just unrealistic expectations, so
we try to combat those ahead of time. And I
(08:09):
think that that's one of the biggest things that can
save you headaches down the road and really a lot
of money.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Sometimes, Well, I've just had this come up with one
of our clients where they were listed with another company
for a while and did not know that their roof
was nineteen years old.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And three times this week we've had that conversation.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And so for us, that's a conversation we want to
have with them up front because that is going to
impact the sale of their home. So that's just one
example of things that we look at to say, you know,
what do we need to do to help you understand
the entire process not just sticking a sign in the
yard and waiting on a buyer. There are a lot
of other things that go into it. And so that's
(08:53):
what our next segment is going to be about. What
are some of the things you're right preemptively that you
can do to get the best price with the fewest
uncertain issues coming up and being able to move forward
in a way that you have confidence in selling your home.
And what's going to be coming up on that, So
(09:15):
don't go away. When we come back, we are going
to visit with Katie and with Curtis about that process
and what we can do to take out some of
the uncertainty in the process. So this is the Dana
Simons Show. We'll be right back. Welcome back. We are
having a wonderful time on the show today and we
(09:35):
have a great show for you. We have Curtis Carr,
he is with Home Team Inspection Service, Katie Martin who
is the listing specialist for Dana Simmon's real Estate, and
Connie Browning, Senior vice president and relationship manager at First
Financial Bank. And one of the things we wanted to
talk about today is selling a house and Katie, selling
(09:55):
a house comes with a lot of moving pieces and
the very last thing that we want is for a
deal to fall apart over unexpected repairs and things that
are uncovered in a buyer's inspection. So what are some
of the things that we like to do to ensure
that that is not something that happens. And really the
(10:18):
first part of that question is what is typically the
first reason or the highest number of reasons why a
whole deal falls apart in an option period.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Yeah, during the option period is the majority of the time,
I mean inspections, and it's the inspections, and just the
first ten days you know they're buyers are usually very
excited to make the offer. You know things are tracking
right along, and then reality sets in, Oh my goodness,
I'm about to have to be responsible for a whole
house all by myself. And if they have a good inspector,
(10:52):
I believe that inspector helps guide them. These are the
most important things. Be sure to ask for this. I've
had certain instances where Curtis has called me directly after
going to a home and said, hey, you need to
check on this because it might catch on fire type
of deal.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And sellers just don't know. It's not intentional that.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You're not crawing up in your attic except for Christmas
to get your tree down. How are you going to know?
There's spices that are touching insulation as things such as that.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And one of the things that you know, we are
getting into a hotter market and one of the things
that we've seen happen in the past when things were
really hot a couple of years ago, we saw multiple
offers coming in and the when you get a multiple offer.
While it's good to look at the highest price, one
of the things that's really beneficial is if someone doesn't
(11:45):
have to do an option period, and so having that
pre inspection kind of prevents you having to have that
if they want to take that off the table and
is able to move them forward, because if not, you
get that offer, you know, in the first day or two,
But then what happens when they have that inspection and
then they have to terminate.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Right, So I think the biggest there's several factors to
a prelisting home inspection that I think are beneficial. One
would be you're going to save yourself money. There are
things in an inspection that are not as big of
a deal as they look like on paper, and if
you can know what those things are, go ahead and
address them. It's going to save you money in the
(12:26):
long run. Because after we go under contract, it's states
in the contract you have to have somebody that regularly
performs those services. So if it's electrical, you need electrician, plumber, yadayat.
But if it's something that you can easily do yourself,
like tighten the toilet to the floor or something like
all that time, yes, and I'm like, why are we
asking for this? But they have to report it. They
(12:48):
have to report it, So those are all things that
you can be doing ahead of the contract, and then
it gives the buyer more peace of mind when you've
already stated that you've repaired those things.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And then it gives the buyer the opportunity to see
all of the items that have been noted on the
inspection as well, and so it's much easier to move forward.
When we've seen people make multiple offers and after an
inspection and maybe in that option period they terminate. Do
we see a loss of momentum once that terminate.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Absolutely. Any time you're after the first two weeks on
the market, your momentum is going to slow down. I
see it over and over. It's much harder to recapture
buyers after the fact when the listening's not new and
fresh any longer. So it's just I think a wise
investment for you to do that. But also there are
(13:44):
items that are not only going to come up on
the inspection but also the appraisal process, and those are
also things that if we can address upfront, is going
to help save the deal as well, because the appraisal
doesn't happen until way later in the process, you know,
through or four weeks down the road. And then if
we're just now realizing that those things have to be done,
(14:06):
then we're in a different position.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And that challenge could be if you're selling and trying
to buy it at the same time, and the buyer
can terminate at that point, even if you agree to
do the repairs right if anything comes up on that appraisal.
And so that is why it's so important to know
as much as you can upfront. Do we know for
certain what an appraiser's gonna call.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
No, But we see the same things over and over
almost every time, especially with FAHA or VA appraisals. They
have certain guidelines that have to be met for financing.
It is not code, it doesn't make sense for most people,
but it is an FAHA or VA guideline. So we
have to make sure that we know these things we're
(14:50):
addressing them. They also charge a reinspect fee. So if
the appraiser comes out calls a GFCI in the kitchen,
for example, and then we repair it, they have to
come back out take pictures of that, and then they
charge a reinspection fee. The buyer doesn't want to pay
for that because it wasn't their fault that the GFCI
(15:11):
wasn't fixed, so then they tried to pass that on
to the seller many times. Yeah, so that's one hundred
and fifty dollars out of your pocket, and you're fixing
the GFCI anyway.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
So getting that information up front state what you've already
talked about many of the benefits. But why do you
tell a seller or why do you recommend? Now a
seller doesn't have to do this. Our job is just
to make recommendations. So why do you recommend a seller
get a pre inspection even before we put it on
(15:41):
the market.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Another reason that I usually suggest is you have control
over the inspector. There are good ones and bad ones
out there, just like any other industry.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Absolutely, I have.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Seen inspection reports that are four pages. I do not
think that's thorough enough. But I've seen inspection reports that
are seventy eight pages, like literally every single picture of
every nick in the wall. So you do have control
over who's out there. We can help recommend that. Curtis
is usually a recommendation, and we want somebody that has
(16:16):
experience that's not just going to scare the buyer to
death over every little thing. But it's also thorough enough
to know, hey, this is really going to be important
down the road, and that you feel confident in knowing
what's really going on with your house.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Absolutely, and you're right. We want experience. And while yes,
there are some inspectors out there who've only been in
the business a couple of years, and yes they may
be doing an okay job, the challenge is the experience
that someone has who's been doing it over and over.
I'll also talk about some other things that I feel
like make Curtis just more experienced in the situation because
(16:54):
he's worked with the State of Texas on preparing all
of the inspection reports why they should be the way
they are. So when we come back, we are going
to talk to Curtis Carr and we're going to visit
about what does he do what is needed before you
even he even comes out to do an inspection, and
then what does his inspection report look like? So don't
go away, we'll be right back. This is the Dana
(17:17):
Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and we
are joined today by Katie Martin, who's the listing specialist
with Dana Simons Real Estate. She was just talking about
the benefit of having a prelisting inspection before you list
your house, and what are all the reasons for you
(17:37):
to do that. And so also with us today is
Curtis car with Home Team Inspection Services. And Curtis, you've
talked about the fact that you've been doing this about
twenty nine years, almost thirty years as well, and you
have a little bit of experience. And one of the
things I talked about at the end of the last
break was that you have experience beyond just doing lots
(17:59):
of inspection, so you also have experience on the state level.
So talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, that was something that was I really enjoyed it. It
was a lot of fun, very interesting. We're regulated by
the Texas Real Estate Commission as you are. They issue
our licenses, they tell us how we do what we do.
We have guidelines and then we can be penalized. We
can be fined, our license can be taken away if
we don't follow the rules. And so we've got to
(18:25):
understand exactly what they want us to do and do
it that way, and we're not having choice about that.
And so the state, the Real Estate Commission, has a
subcommittee that works on the inspection side of that nine members,
and I was able to be a member of that
from two thousand and five until twenty.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Thirteen, and so in that you were able to give
input from your experience of doing inspections about what is
important and some of the things that you felt like
needed to be on the report, and also some of
the things that you felt like should be altered a bit.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
That's right. It was interesting that during that time the
state had decided to revamp all the rules, and so
we were tasked with rewriting the guidelines of how an
inspection must be done. And I was one of the
three inspectors put on that subcommittee to do that. It
took us about two years to do it, believe it
(19:20):
or not. Two years. Mostly it was driving back and
forth Austin made about one hundred trips, lost a lot
of money in my business doing that actually, and then
we were able to do some of it online. But
we ended up with a really good set of rules
that laid it out very clearly for everyone. What the
state wanted was a uniformity. They wanted Inspector A goes
(19:43):
to a house, and then maybe the house deal falls
through and Inspector B goes the next week. Well, they're
going to be doing the same thing. They should be.
They shouldn't be looking at different things and having a
different type of report. And so that's really what the
state wanted, and that's what we had. Every inspection report
is mandated by the state that we have to use
(20:04):
that report. There are some freedom, some leeway on what
you might write, but for the most part, it's fairly
strictly regulated.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So one of the things that I think people don't
realize is that when they get that inspection report back,
they often think, oh, this is code for our city,
but it's not specifically code because it's for the entire
state of Texas, and so the items that are noted
on there, it's uniform across the state of Texas, and
(20:37):
codes are different in every city and county right.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Well, to a certain extent, they are. You have what's
called the IRC International Residential Code, and each municipality, let's
just say Beaumont or Lumberton, their code enforcement division will
decide what they're going to enforce. And one of the
things that I've seen is that especially on new construction
built in Lumberton versus in Beaumont, they're not exactly the same.
(21:04):
There are some differences that are allowed and they can
do that. There's no governing body looking over their shoulder
to say, well, you can't do it that way, but
generally they're pretty close. But that's different than what we
do as the home inspector. The Real Estate Commission is
not so much interested in how something is built, but
(21:25):
protecting the consumer when something is sold. That's the key
to it.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I love that you brought that up because I don't
think people realize that it's not code enforcements, it's how
do we protect the consumer to make sure that what
they're purchasing is safe and is going to function. And
that's a lot of what you have on your report.
So talk a little bit about your report. And for instance,
you've been to a house this week, that's a prelisting inspection.
(21:53):
For a seller, he wants to know everything that's on
that inspection prior to going on the market. You can
address those items. So talk about what it is that
you do with that report.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Okay, Well, first of all, there's a minimum amount that
I've got to do, and then there are some extra
things that I can do if I want. For the
most part, you could just say it this way, it
covers the house from top to bottom. It's not a
property inspection, it's a home inspection. I'm not going to
be inspecting the fence and the gate and any of that,
(22:27):
the driveway, none of that, but the home, the home itself.
And so if I think about what makes up the home,
You've got your foundation, your roof, your air conditioner, electrical cooling, heating, plumbing, appliances.
There are a lot of things there. You've got mechanical
parts and structural parts kind of your two settings. And
(22:49):
so we're going to look at every one of those
and primarily evaluate the condition. We want to tell the
consumer the condition document the condition, is it working directly?
Is it not working correctly. We're not necessarily going into
the fix for how something that is not working correctly
should be working and what would you do and how
(23:10):
much would it cost. That's not what we're there to do.
So the information that we then give is very valuable
to that buyer because it can then be used to negotiate,
and that's where your job comes in to do that negotiation.
We're certainly not going to do that, just say here's
what you have.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
What I love to compare you to whenever I talk
to clients is you're like a general physician. You look
at the whole of the property. But then you may say, Okay,
the temperature differential is higher than it should be on
this HVAC system, and then you recommend an HVAC person,
just like a doctor would say, Hey, your blood pressure
(23:51):
is a little out of whack, you need to go
see a cardiologist. And so you're looking at the overall
condition of the house, and then with something seems a
little out of whack, you may recommend a specialist come in,
an h FAT person, a foundation person. But it's not
like you have to get one of each of those,
because all of those may be functioning properly, and until
(24:14):
you know they're not, then you can then make that
request of someone who does just that.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Right. That's a good point. If we use foundations as
our example. Foundation problems are very common in our area
because of the kind of soil that we have that
what somebody might call gumbo mud. It reacts very readily
with extreme temperature change and whether the soil is wet
or dry, and so there are more than one way
(24:44):
that a foundation could be repaired. It would depend on
which company you use, and that would determine the cost.
And so as an inspector, my job would just be
to find out is there a problem? Is there something
visible there that is raising a question that could potentially
cause this new buyer some money down the road. What
(25:05):
my job is not to do is to go into
the different methods of fixing that. That would be where
the actual foundation company would come in and you would
bring those in to get the bids. Now, I might
be able to say, well, you know what, I bet
you you could fix this for about five thousand dollars
in some cases I might be accurate. But what if
(25:25):
I was wrong. What if I said that and they said,
you know what, I'll just wait until I move in,
and then they get a bid later in this twenty
five thousand dollar They're going to probably want me to
pay the difference in that. So my job is not
to get involved in the bids and the fixes, but
generally say, here is the condition.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
And then when you know the condition, it helps you
to know, Okay, how do I move forward now to
the next step to check out that and to get
the bids, because that's what happens in that ten day
option period. For example, just this week when you went
out to the pre list, the seller sent me that report.
We looked over it together and I made recommendations of
people he could contact. Some of those items that were
(26:08):
on your inspection were items that typically get called on
an FAHA or VA property. It was gfci's in the kitchen.
It was some peeling paint and rotten wood. Those are
some of the things that we know commonly. I can't
say always, but they're commonly called typically called on an appraisal.
(26:30):
And at this point he can go ahead and have
those done. It's not going to slow us down. And
he's able to accept offers that are FAHA and VA
because his house is in the condition in order for
him to do that. And so those are the advantages
of getting that done first. Now, Curtis, if someone wants
to talk to you about how do I get this
(26:54):
pre inspection or how do I connect with the home team,
I'd love for them to come out to my house.
So what is the best way for them to contact you?
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Where our number is four zero nine eight three eight
five four four zero. You can also just google our name,
go online and see that. But I really like the
approach that you're advocating here the seller's inspection. That is really,
in my opinion, a smart thing to do. Like you said,
we were both ending it almost thirty years. I don't
(27:23):
see it done very often years ago. It was popular
for a while, not really much anymore. I think your
company is one of the few companies that really does
it very much. And yet if I were going to
sell a house, I would have it done before I
put it on the market. It's such an advantage to
know ahead of time what an inspection might find that
(27:44):
the buyer hires, and that way I can decide to
I want to go ahead and fix that, and it's
not a surprise to that buyer. They could back out
over something that I could have fixed. Maybe they misunderstood it.
It wasn't a big deal, but they thought it was.
Or may say, you know what, I don't think I'm
going to do anything with that roof. I'm to disclose
it as it's that old and just leave it at that.
(28:07):
It's not a surprise any longer.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The surprises are always bad for a buyer.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
And they're bad for a seller. It's really bad on
both sides. So if we can overcome that obstacle before
we even put it on the market, and if we
can let the buyer know here are the deficiencies. These
are the items the seller is willing to pay far
and these are the ones that they're not, And so
the buyer knows that upfront and can make the decision
(28:32):
do I want to move forward on the house or not.
And it saves people time, it saves people money. I
think it's really something that every seller should consider as
they're getting their house ready to go on the market.
Any final thoughts, Curtis, No.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You know, the inspection is very important. You know, appearances
are deceiving. Yeah, a lot of the houses that we
first walk into, I think, you know, this is a
beautiful home, and unfortunately we found some major problem that
nobody knew was there. Right, So you want to find
that up front.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, whether you're the buyer or the seller, you want
to know that. And that's why home inspection is so important. Again,
if you want to reach out to Curtis, I have
his number memorized four O nine eight three eight five
four four zero. He's done many inspections for me and
so I appreciate you being on the show and giving
us your expertise. Well, when we come back, we're going
(29:26):
to be visiting with Connie Browning, senior vice president and
relationship manager with First Financial Banks. So don't go away.
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is
Dana Simmons and I have been joined today by Katie Martin,
listing specialists with Dana Simmons real Estate, and Curtis car
(29:48):
with the Home Team Inspection Services. And we've been talking
about pre listing inspections for sellers to do prior to
putting their house on the market. And next we're going
to transition in talking about commercial real estate and getting
inspections and working with contractors also is a part of
(30:08):
that commercial transaction. And Connie Browning, the senior vice president
and relationship manager with First Financial Bank, is very familiar
with those kinds of things, aren't you, Connie. Yes, So
talk a little bit about commercial real estate encompasses quite
a bit. It could be residential because there are some
(30:29):
people who put residential packages together or they're purchasing homes
for their investment portfolios. So talk a little bit about
how First Financial works with those investors as well.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yes, So we have different avenues when it comes to
commercial real estate, there's several different purchase options that you
can have. One is an investor that wants to purchase
one to four family dwellings and use them as rental property.
So that is a commercial type loan, and we do
those as well. We have several programs at the bank
(31:04):
that can help those get into what we call a
minority majority area in Beaumont, and those types of loans
are a little bit more attractive on how much you
have to put down and then also your rate.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
That is a really great program that is offered for
a residential home buyer, but the fact that they now
offer that as well for commercial talk a little bit
about the difference that that program provides versus if you
did a typical commercial loan on a residential property.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, so if it's a typical loan on the commercial side,
you would have to put twenty percent down of the
lesser of the cost or the appraisal, whichever is less.
So it's twenty percent of whatever is less of the
appraisal or the purchase price, and then your rate is
also a little bit higher and then also the term
(32:00):
that you can go. So usually on a typical commercial loan,
you go fifteen years, but if it's in this what
we call the MMCT program, you can go a little
bit longer on the amortization so that the investor can
bring home a little bit more profit, helps bring home
a little bit more and helps with the rental income
as well.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, and Connie, you've done several of these. I think
you're one of the commercial bankers that's done I think
the most correct this and so you're very familiar with this.
So if there is someone out there who is thinking
about I want to be an investor, but I don't
have the twenty percent down and I like for my
term to go a little bit longer, this is something
(32:42):
that you can sit and visit with them about.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Correct and it's the same as what you were talking
about earlier with our other guests. It's very vital to
do an inspection on those as well. I know you
always ask questions when we're doing these type loans. You know,
how's the roof condition, is it going to need to
be repaired? You know what's the stage of the property,
you know how old is it? So all those things
(33:05):
are very important as well. Before you purchase these commercial investments,
make sure you're not going to have to put in
a lot of costs and a lot of maintenance on
these properties.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, because it's not just your note you have to
think about. You have to think about what are the
costs that are going to be involved with maintaining this
property while you have a tenant in there, or maybe
while you're waiting to get a tenant in there. So
all of that is critically important. So we've covered kind
of the residential and investment side, what are some other
things that you do on the commercial side of real estate?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
So there's other options. So we have what is called
leasehold improvements, so that's if you want to lease a
space for your commercial business in a strip center or
in an office building. And then we have purchasing and
existing building. That is an option too, so you can
purchase an existing building and do improvements to it, and
(33:55):
then we have new construction. All of them are very
vital and doing your homework ahead of time before you
do this purchase, so you want to do your inspections,
you want to get a contractor out there to go
over everything you're going to need before you do this project.
Even on leasehold improvements, have someone go and visit the space.
(34:17):
Is the electrical going to need to be upgraded? Is
the AC? How long is your AC going to work
in that lease hold space? And then on an existing
building as well. You know, you want someone to go
and inspect the property, see see what's going to need
to happen to get it up to code, because it
will need to be inspected as well by the city.
(34:37):
So you don't want any surprises before you get a
bit on this contract on what all is going to
be needed to bring it up to code so that
you can start your business there.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Well. And Connie, we've been talking about experience all day
because that's so critical and you have been doing this
a very long time and you have great experience in
knowing what that process is but also being able to
recommend and refer people in those different parts of what
needs to happen, right.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Correct, Yes, you always want to get a good contractor
it's very important get someone that's very good and doing inspections.
We have a list that we recommend. We'll give you
two or three names that you can reach out to
and get all that done ahead of time and go
over what is going to be needed for that property.
(35:27):
It's very vital before you come and talk about your loan,
because you don't want to get into a loan and
you've asked for a certain amount of money and then
you have to come back and ask for more. It's
always harder to get more.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
So it's a fact after the fact.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
So it's always better to do all your homework, you know,
check the location, make sure the property is easy to
get in and easy to get out. That's so critical
for businesses. If it takes one of your customers a
hard time to get to you, a lot of businesses
fail because of that. So you know, location is everything.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, we say it, location, location, location anyways, not only
in residential but in commercial, probably more important in commercial
because you have to attract those people who are willing
to come to you, so that's critical. What are some
of the other things that you work on there at
first financial.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Mainly we do we do a lot of real estate,
but we also do loans for businesses that want to
get started. So we do have an SBA program, So
if you're looking to start a business and you need
a longer term or you need more guidance, we have
an SBA route that you can go as well. It
has a lot of different avenues a lot. It's very
(36:45):
good for a new business or a new person starting
a business to get going and we can walk you
through that process. We have a great SBA lending department
and partners that we partner with in the community as
well that help you walk you through that process.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Yeah, and I think that's the key. I mean, if
you are thinking about starting a business, investing in commercial
real estate or investing in residential you know, one of
the first things we recommend whenever someone wants to buy
a house is that they go and visit with a
mortgage person to go ahead and get preapproved. I think
(37:21):
the same is true if you are thinking about starting
a business. So sitting down and talking to someone about
what you do have, what your thoughts are, and if
they can see a way for you to qualify for
that is critically important.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yes, that's always better to do it ahead of time.
So there's a lot of costs associated with investing in
real estate. Some people don't know all of the costs,
you know, like your survey, your appraisal, you need to
get a bid, your plans, So there's a lot of
costs associated with it, and it's best if you know
all that going into the project, that you can put
(37:58):
into the bid, that can help you get that project
go in off off the ground. So it's best to
come in ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
And you've you've helped so many businesses get started that
you know many of the pitfalls, so you're able to say, Okay,
here are some of the things you may not have
thought about. Yes, and it's kind of helped guide them
through that.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah. So, like just recently, I had a client come
in and they wanted to purchase some more residential the
wonderful family dwellings, and so there was a lot of things.
You know, they wanted to put it in their personal name,
and so you know, I always reach out to them
and say, because I've had people come later and say,
oh I just talked to my CPA and now he
wants me to put in an LLC. It's very hard
(38:43):
to go back and redo that loan. So you know,
like I advise them, you know, have you talked to
your CPA, have you talked to your attorney? Do you
need a form an LLC? Do you need it in
your name? You know for liability purposes and those things
they hadn't even thought about So I said, go back
and talk to your CPA, go to your attorney, see
what all you need to do, and then come back
(39:03):
and we'll structure the loan according to their advice, because
I'm the banker, but you know the CPAs and attorneys
are knowledgeable on that part as well. So they left
and went back and did their homework and then came
back and realized that yes, they want to form an
LLC and start the process that way.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Perfect example of you being able to assist them and
guide them to where they don't fall into that pitfall.
Experience matters. It matters in every aspect of our world,
but especially in banking. It's huge. So Connie, if someone
is thinking about you know it might be interested in
doing something like that, how would they get a hold
of you?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Yeah, so you can always call me. I have a
cell phone that we have with us all the time.
We enter a twenty four to seven. That's four oh
nine seven seven nine two eight eight nine, and then
you can also call the office it's four oh nine
six zero zero six four five zero. And I also
(40:00):
have an email which you can always email as well,
which is C Browning at f FI dot com. So
either way, I'll respond and get back with you in
a very quickly manner.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
And you're right there at the first financial bank there
on dallin correct. And so if someone wanted to make
an appointment to come down and sit with you at
you're there, or you can visit with them and do
things online as well.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, Well, Connie, it has been such pleasure having you
on the show today. Thank you so much. Thank you
guys for listening and being a part of our show today.
We will be right back here next Saturday at noon,
so have a great week. This is Dana Simmons with
the Dana Simmons Show.
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