Join Shawn and his real estate business partner, Caleb Gamblin, as they pull back the curtain on buying property, especially if it's your first rodeo. They tackle everything from the steadiness of Nashville's market amidst economic shifts to the rising interest rates that millennials and Gen Zers grapple with.
Their chat includes stories from their own experiences, making this episode as entertaining as it is informative. The nuances of home buying, like navigating commissions and market trends, are broken down in a way that's clear and actionable, enabling you to approach your next deal with confidence. Plus, they share insider tips on investment properties like Airbnb's! They also dish out some love for Nashville's neighborhoods, ranking the top spots for those million-dollar home dreams.
For all you real estate enthusiasts out there, we're excited to guide you through these discussions and share the potential that awaits in the property market.
Join Shawn and his real estate business partner, Caleb Gamblin, as they pull back the curtain on buying property, especially if it's your first rodeo. They tackle everything from the steadiness of Nashville's market amidst economic shifts to the rising interest rates that millennials and Gen Zers grapple with.
Their chat includes stories from their own experiences, making this episode as entertaining as it is informative. The nuances of home buying, like navigating commissions and market trends, are broken down in a way that's clear and actionable, enabling you to approach your next deal with confidence. Plus, they share insider tips on investment properties like Airbnb's! They also dish out some love for Nashville's neighborhoods, ranking the top spots for those million-dollar home dreams.
For all you real estate enthusiasts out there, we're excited to guide you through these discussions and share the potential that awaits in the property market.
Welcome back to In the Booth. I'm Sean Booth and thank you guys for tuning in. Wherever you're tuning in from maybe you are in Anchorage, Alaska, Maybe you're in Lafayette, Louisiana, Maybe you're tuning in from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wherever you are, we appreciate you. We appreciate the supports. If you're not listening right now in your car, you could head over to YouTube where we stream all of our episodes. In every episode, we're talking with somebody different, having a good time. That's what we're doing today. Today, we're going to talk some real estate Real estate one-on-one. I've been doing real estate for years now. Maybe some of you don't know that I've had my license. I've been doing it on the side. I flipped my first house when I was right out of college with my dad. We're getting into all of that stuff. Real estate is something I'm passionate about. Today in the studio I've got my business partner, the BG Home team. He is from Mississippi and he is Caleb Gambling everybody. How are you doing? We're doing good. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm good, I'm excited to talk real estate. I think we are in a unique place that remains strong throughout a downturn. It'll be good, it'll be fun.
Speaker 1:How long have you been doing real estate for? Oh?
Speaker 2:30 years I feel like my mother sold real estate here Eighties, nineties, got out of it once I was getting ready to go to school. I grew up going to open houses. I can remember going into new construction developments out in Brentwood Franklin area and climbing through windows when they were at framing so we could unlock doors and go look at new homes and had a passion for it for a long time. I guess I've been in the real estate game here in Nashville for coming up on four years now. I got started in the development side working with builders. I've got a little bit of background in construction. Some family work I did Summer is there in high school and college. Then transitioned into selling real estate full-time I guess about three years ago.
Speaker 1:You've seen all sides. You've seen new construction, you've seen investment properties.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've done everything from studio condos or small studio condos up to large commercial land deals. I've done a lot of single family with first-time home buyers or even secondary market buyers that are purchasing their second or forever home. Yeah, it's been a pretty big range. That's what Nashville gives you. There's real estate for everybody in town.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nashville also gives you the craziest market in the world. I feel like it has been the hottest market, it felt like in the country. Then all of a sudden just came to Screech and Holtz with interest rates going up. Where do you see Nashville and the rest of the country?
Speaker 2:One thing that I see a lot of is, on social media, people talking about market trends, and people will reach out to me and ask about certain things that they've seen on other channels. Those are all national, data-supported trends that they're explaining or showing, or growth that they're talking about, or depreciation, whatever it may be. I focus on Nashville specific. I think it's important to know what markets you're looking at and what you're talking about. I think Nashville is going to remain a strong and steady market, as it has. Yeah, we saw in 2020-21, when all the markets were going up, nashville was at an exponential growth rate compared to a lot of other national cities. Just like everybody else, we slowed down, but we didn't come to stop compared to some of the others.
Speaker 2:I think interest rates definitely affected everybody, the state of the economy and just everything that was going on in the world. We did remain consistent. We had a couple months that were slow, that you didn't see depreciation, but you saw a stale market there for a little bit leveling that really we needed, where buyers could come in and feel like they could actually purchase a home. Unfortunately, though, I think you're going to see us get back to those COVID-style market where it is high demand, a lot of pressure on buyers, low inventory. Yeah, I think the reason for that is as Nashville is so unique in all of its different offerings for home buyers, it's also a great investment market. We've got year-round tourism. We've got a strong market job industry, tons of jobs that are still coming to the city, no state income tax all these things that lead towards people wanting to be in Nashville.
Speaker 2:When you couple that with the fact that I think I saw a stat that was 60% of homeowners today have an interest rate under 4%, what that means is there's only about 40% of current homeowners that are really going to be in a position in the next probably year, even that they can sell a home.
Speaker 2:They're not losing a great interest rate that they're not selling and going used to. When you sold a home you were upgrading. Right now, if you're locked in at 4% or even sub-4 and you go buy a home, you're more making a horizontal move than you are a vertical move just because of interest rates and where your payment's going to land at, I think, with low inventory and then a lot of people that are just sick of sitting on the sidelines. It's been almost a year now with not a lot of buyers in the market. Once all that comes together and I think interest rates, you could see more of a dip. We've seen it over the last couple of weeks and even a month and a half here. They've dropped, but if they continue on a downward trajectory I think it's going to be a tough market for buyers or it's going to be an active market for buyers.
Speaker 1:A lot of people on social media too, and TikTok and Instagram Reels, you start seeing a lot of Gen Zers and millennials talking about how difficult it is to be a first-time home buyer, where you have the older generations and they were able to spend obviously a lot less money. But now, looking at the data, the housing price for an individual it's about around 20% of their income, close to 30% of their income and some even upwards towards 40, which makes it super difficult for the first-time home buyer, whereas, opposed to, back in the day, used to be around like 10%, 12%, 14% of your total income would go towards your mortgage.
Speaker 1:What tips do you have right now? If any for the first-time home buyers?
Speaker 2:For a first-time home buyer. I think, of course, my first tip is going to be get you a good real estate agent. Get somebody that understands working with first-time home buyers and also understands the state of the market If interest rates come down. If interest rates don't go down, pricing goes up. Pricing stays the same, regardless of what it is. Find somebody that can really put a game plan together that is specific for you and can kind of pivot, based on the market, where the current state of the market is.
Speaker 2:I think another thing is, as I said earlier, be careful of the information you're paying attention to. Don't predetermine where you think you are as a buyer. Talk to a lender, get your financials in order. If you're ready to go today, reach out, see where you're at. If you're thinking, oh man, I'd really like to buy a home this year, go ahead and talk to them. That's free service that you can get. It may be I need to save a little bit more. I need to knock off some debt, pay down a loan, whatever it may be, to really get you in a position that you can jump at a home if you want to, or you may get approved and it's not really the price range you want to be at or it doesn't get you the home that you want right now. That way, you have a mile marker of where you need to get to be able to afford that home you want. Another one is don't get discouraged. I think a lot of buyers get discouraged about one. What they get approved for Thinking it can be very overwhelming.
Speaker 2:Everybody talks about how expensive Nashville real estate is. It is. Nashville is a hot market. Pricing has done nothing but go up and a lot of areas in town are very expensive. But there are really cool properties and parts that are developing and growing as we keep moving forward that you can get in and next thing you'll look up in two years and you're in the next Wedgwood, houston, or you're in the next 12 South, and then also determine what your goal is. Is my goal to quit wasting money and rent? Is my goal to build equity where I have a long-term investment that I know I can cash in on later? Or is it to build a really good quality of life by having a home, having a yard? Whatever those important factors may be to you, but I think my best tip is to, if you're considering it at all, look into it Actually, talk to somebody that knows what's going on and take a chance.
Speaker 2:I mean first time home buyers. A lot of them have this idea in their head that it takes 20% down to buy a home and that you've got to go through all these hurdles to get there. It's very easy to get approved for a home, especially if you go with a FHA loan. This is a first time buyer loan. They have products out there for high debt individuals or low credit score. Obviously, yeah, if you've got 20% down and a great credit score, you're going to get a better rate, but there's products for everybody that they can use to purchase a home and then also look at do you want to be creative and go find something that's cheaper priced and maybe could use a little touch up some lipstick and really make an?
Speaker 1:investment out of it All good information there. It's been fascinating watching the market here in Nashville. And last year if a house went up on the market you would get 10 offers on it the very first day. It'd be all cash offers, it'd all be over asking price and the inventory was so low and with the rates low that it was such a seller's market. And then when everything shifted now it's. The good thing is that the pricing of the houses are coming down, but it's if you can stomach that interest rate for a little bit and refinance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's what I tell everybody. If you can buy a home today, you feel comfortable with where your payment's going to be. You're in a great position. Pricing has really stabilized in a lot of markets here or a lot of neighborhoods here in this market, and rates are historically 7% is like the national average, I think, going back 30 years. So we're under a national average right now. They're lower than they were at 8%, but yeah, they're higher than they are at 4%, which I think is going to be a long time until we see a 4% interest rate. So if you can get in right now at 6.5%, 6.75% or even closer to 6%, high fives wherever and you feel comfortable with that payment, do it. You're getting the house at a great price and then if interest rates come down, you can refinance. But at worst, if interest rates go up, you've already got a better deal than the next person to spend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know you can't predict the future, but do you think that the interest rates will ever get back as low as they got to?
Speaker 2:I hope not. I think that that's going to mean something catastrophic has happened, or another pandemic, I think. Yeah, everybody loved low interest rates, but there was a lot of shit we had to go through to get those. So I think you'll see. Definitely you'll see threes again, but I mean, this isn't my area of expertise, but I think a stable market is going to be somewhere around 5 to 5.5%. It's kind of where I feel like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, is there a certain time during the year that's better to buy a home?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the market is the hottest in spring, early summer, but if you're talking about the best time to buy a home, I'd buy in the winter.
Speaker 1:I'd buy on Christmas Day Nobody else is out looking.
Speaker 2:You know, that's kind of the caveat to it is there's a lot of inventory out there in the spring and summer, which naturally leads to buyers outlooking and that's when you see a lot of transactions done. But if you're looking for the best deal, I'd look right before spring or going into like July, August, September, when people are getting back into school and people don't want to think about moving as much and so there's less buyers in the market at that time.
Speaker 1:Right, let's talk a little bit about investment properties.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We do a lot of investment properties here in Nashville, obviously a very touristy city, a ton of Airbnb's. Do we still feel like that's a great investment? Obviously, depending on the price that you get it. But is it getting to a point where it's starting to become oversaturated, where everybody wants their hands on an Airbnb?
Speaker 2:Yeah? A short answer is yes. I think the Airbnb market here has gotten a little oversaturated as far as total number of investment properties out there. But what I also think when we go through and we're listing some of these Airbnb's, we're looking at them for clients or even just people that'll come stay in town, talking with them. There is a a large discrepancy between the number of Airbnb's that are out there in Nashville and the quality of Airbnb's that are out there. I think with the saturated market, it creates a good opportunity for people to go in and maybe get a deal on it on a short-term rental, but go in and do some value add to it and really create a unique listing that people want to come stay at. I mean, we are not losing the tourism industry. They are still piling in here every day of the week. Now I think they're even here on Wednesdays now.
Speaker 2:You used to get a little break in the middle of the week, but they're coming, yeah to that point.
Speaker 1:At my gym there is now a pedal tavern or bike bar that shares the same building and as I was coming over here, there is a ton of people out there hopping on the bikes. It's like Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday and the morning. At night we're all just working our day-to-day jobs and that bike tavern is still just picking up people and driving around the city drinking.
Speaker 2:It's a hot city, yeah, it's a great industry and having the ability to get into the short-term rental to tap into that tourism industry is great. And then also we have a huge health care industry here and then corporate job market here that provides corporate rentals, travel nurses. I mean there's a lot of different avenues that if you don't want to just do Airbnb's to Bachelorette groups that are coming to town, there's other resources that you can tap into to make it a positive investment property Okay okay, what about new construction, that process for a first-time home buyer or any home buyer?
Speaker 1:They want to get a new house and what do they have to go through for those steps?
Speaker 2:So it really depends. If it's something along the lines of a pre-sale like, if you're wanting to, you know so that's where I started was working with a developer doing new construction If you're wanting to go in and get one of the properties that they're building to put on the market for resale a spec home it typically requires a little bit more of a down payment or not a down payment, a little bit more escrow money, which is money that you're saying in good faith. I'm going to execute that contract. You know, on a typical purchase and sale we'll do 1% or so, but on new construction, if it's a long ways out, like if you're six months to completion the builder's going to want a little bit more down, so they're not tying that house up with somebody that's not serious about moving forward with it. From a lending standpoint, though, it works the exact same than any other house would. You're going to get it appraised once it's completed, as long as it meets your appraised value or the total loan amount. Then you proceed with the process the same way.
Speaker 2:You get a couple added bonuses with going with new construction.
Speaker 2:You get what's called a blue tape walkthrough, where you get to go through and call out any paint spillage or any little scuff marks in a wall, make sure it just looks real nice and it's all cleaned up. You also get a builder's warranty that covers craftsmanship structural appliances. They kind of differ in the length of that warranty but that's something that for the first year your home's going to go through some settlement and you'll be able to get the builder to come back out and make some corrections for minor crackage that you may see in drywall or splitting of your trim at joints, different things like that. The building of a new construction gets to be a little bit more challenging from a loan standpoint, especially for first-time home buyers, because to get that loan to build a home they won't typically 20 to 25% down. If you go to a bank and it's for some first-time home buyers it's hard to have 20 or 25% to put down, then if you do, it makes more sense to go conventional and pursue that avenue Right.
Speaker 1:Then you get a little more customization options, sometimes depending on the builder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of times if you get in early, they'll let you pick. A developer I work with he always said as long as they don't move a wall, I don't care what they do. Right, you can go through and pick your paint colors. Sometimes you get to pick flooring. If you get in real early, you can do cabinets, countertops, lighting's usually a big thing that builders don't care. If you want to change out because that's pretty simple, yeah, as long as it's not anything that's delaying the timeline of the job, that might be backordered or that adds cost to it. As long as it stays in budget, they're usually pretty open, some of them, to letting you go make those selections.
Speaker 1:What do you say to those who are like man? New construction, I would never. The material's cheaper, it's not as good as it was back in the day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I get that question every time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like always.
Speaker 2:And truthfully, I don't ever know how to answer it. There is a lot of shit construction.
Speaker 1:It depends on the builder you go with. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's why it's important to work with somebody that knows the players in the market, that knows who a good builder in town is. And when I say a good builder, you also want to look at how long they've been doing it. If you've got somebody that just popped up six months ago or has only been in it a year, they may not have that database of subs built up, or they may not have. With somebody that's been doing it for five, 10, 15 years, they've got a reputation. They've been around. If something goes wrong with that house, they're going to come back and take care of it. Where, if it's a one-off builder, it may cost them more to come back and fix it, so they're just going to. You know they're in the wind at that point. I think the quality of some of the builders back in the day was better. I do think you're seeing a difference in materials just because materials have gotten so expensive.
Speaker 2:I mean it's like everything else, and so they're not. They're not building them cheap, they're just not doing stone facades that they used to do on everything you know, and I mean. But that's also a totally different buyer. I'm like, if you're worried about the craftsmanship of it, you don't really want a new construction anyway.
Speaker 1:You want to be in an older home Like you, like that.
Speaker 2:There's I can't the uniqueness of the older homes. Yeah, the coziness or the white box feeling. Some people love it clean, nice edges and it's easy to maintain. Some people want an older home that's got some character to it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you do see a lot of the new builds that are very cookie cutter. It's the same set up, different colors, different cabinets. But fortunately for us, we work with some good builders here in Nashville and Peros Groupie and one of them, where they're very unique with their builds.
Speaker 2:They put a pretty cool product out there. I mean, going and looking at new construction is one of my favorite things to do and I felt like I had seen just about anything you could do until I started working with them more. And they do a great job of creating a unique floor plan too. That I think a lot of these neighborhoods that we work in. Most of the lots are the same size they're your standard lot size in that area and so the floor plan of a home ends up being the same across a bunch of different new construction. Yeah, different developers will use different finishes or use the front elevations, the massing will be different, but at the end of the day it's kind of the same. Your floor plan is always you just kind of stuck with it, but I feel like they do a pretty cool job of changing it up, really creating the character that an older home has in new construction.
Speaker 1:And when you say that you've seen like almost every style of house, that's something that you need to do as a realtor. Would you recommend is you're always checking the market every day. You're always getting notifications of the new houses that come in the market. So I got a bunch of questions here on IG and one of them was a newbie realtor, don't have much experience. What advice do you have? And from working with you, I noticed that you were just constantly checking out what's on the market, what neighborhood like, every day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think being involved is, one, the only way to provide value, but, two, the only way to learn. Knowing what's on the market is the best tool you're gonna have, whether that's if a client comes to you that wants to buy, or whether that's if a seller comes to you and wants to sell. You need to know what's out there, what's sold recently, what's gone under contract, what's coming soon. I think building a network of real estate agents that you can talk to on a regular basis that are doing transactions is great, because we've got a handful of them at the gym that are really good agents and anytime I'm in there it's like, hey, man, I got this coming, or hey, I just did this and that's all good knowledge to have, because those are things that you can't pull up on the internet sometimes and things that just your average day agent that's just sitting there watching real tracks or Zillow for the people at home they don't know about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I feel like a lot of people sometimes look at other agents as like competition or like screw that person. I'm like I think it's the opposite.
Speaker 2:Oh, they're your best friends.
Speaker 1:It's like yeah, they're your eyes as well, and you're their eyes and you've got stuff that could fit some of their clients, and vice versa. So it's always good to expand your network and talk with other realtors.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I am a very competitive person but for some reason, when it comes to real estate, I don't view many agents as competition or look at it like that. I'd rather befriend them and have that network and that relationship with them so that it makes working a deal so much easier and, at the end of the day, it provides value to your client, whoever it is. And as long as you build a great relationship with the client, you shouldn't have to worry about losing a deal to another agent. And then there's also I mean there's times that, oh, you know, we're not a good fit for some clients.
Speaker 2:And it's great to have an agent that you can refer them to that you know is gonna do a good job, and typically you can get a little bit of a kickback off of that or referral fee. And no, I think you're only as good as your network of agents that you surround yourself with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think one of the most exciting things about real estate or for some it could be the most annoying, depending on how you look at it is that every day is different. Every deal is different. We have never seen the deal that is exact same. There's always new issues that pop up. So I feel like a large part of the realtor business is problem solving, and if you can problem solve, then you'll do well, because, again, if you're somebody who just thinks you go from point A to point B straight and narrow, that ain't the case. It's always going left right up down. You gotta find solutions to get across the finish line. And you know something we've learned and there's been deals that we've lost, like other realtors, where it's like so close and you work on it for months and months and it's like boom, something happens, which is super frustrating, but that's the business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. It's managing people is what the job is problem solving, which I love to do, but I overdo it sometimes. I think that's one of the hardest parts for me as an agent is I love a difficult challenge, throw the hard ones at me and let me figure out a way to do it. But sometimes I will. I mean, I don't ever think something's done or there's something that's not a possibility and I will just keep fighting and pushing until I get there. And sometimes I have to take a step back and think about all right, what's best for my client? Is that really what they may be overextending? If that happens, you know, really put them in your shoes, or put yourself in their shoes and see what the best fit is for them. And that's the fun part is seeing working those deals and love it when a client's like, hey, go get it fully in on this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do what you gotta do yeah but it's also just as rewarding when they're like nervous about it and when they're they wanna take a step back and they want it to be a smoother process, and that's obviously what we're trying to deliver. But real estate, you can never predict how it's gonna go or what's gonna happen, and that's the market. That's a day-to-day transaction. That's a showing. That's anything.
Speaker 2:But it makes it fun. I mean I've done. I've worked for my family, I've worked corporate and I've honestly, I can say, since I've done this, I've never woken up one day and been like, oh shit, I gotta do this today, like I love it because I really don't know what I'm gonna be doing at the end of the day and it keeps me on my toes and it's exciting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely definitely keeps you on your toes. Va loans we had a question about that Buying what they VA loan the pros versus the cons.
Speaker 2:The pros are obviously you're gonna get good terms on your loan pretty good interest rate, Cheaper down payment. Yeah, you can do 100% financing on some VA loans.
Speaker 2:The cons are the requirements that the house has to meet.
Speaker 2:It has to meet certain standards, which most homes do. The ones that wouldn't would be an older home that needs to be fixed up or something along those lines, like it's usually structural issues and things that you don't wanna get into anyways. The other con to it is and this is somewhat of a con to FHA buyers, also first time home buyers is the way a seller perceives that offer. If you've got a VA loan in today's market right now, you're probably gonna be fine because there's not a ton of pressure from other buyers out there. But if you go back to the likes of the markets when you had multiple offers, a lot of cash being thrown around those VA and FHA loans because they do have to meet certain standards and because there is a separate underwriting process, it's a little harder to get that offer accepted over one that is a conventional loan or cash. So if you've got the VA or FHA option, you wanna be looking now really when there's not a ton of buyers in the market Right.
Speaker 1:Explain how the commission works, because I feel like a lot of people get confused about that. They get confused who's paying commission buyers, sellers, how much? Which agents?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's why some buyers get scared to start looking or scared to talk to agents, because they're like, what do I have to pay them? So the typical structure for the commission is negotiated between the listing agent and the seller, and it is here we're doing 6%, and then that listing agent agrees to compensate another agent that brings a buyer X amount, which is usually 3%. It's usually split right down the middle, three and three on both sides For the buyer if your real estate agent is paid by the seller.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, so if you are selling a house, you hire an agent. You're telling them we'll give you 6% commission, and then that agent is then saying hey, here's 3% to any other agent that can come and bring me this buyer. So it's a win-win for both of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the buyers don't pay it. It comes out of the seller's total closing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people talking about the interest rates. Of course, we have one person here says we have a 3.25 interest rate, which is obviously phenomenal and it's a loan from 2016,. But we're ready to move, but we feel like we're stuck and we can't, which I feel like so many people are thinking the same thing. It's like well, I wanna get a new house, but this payment is so nice.
Speaker 2:So you know, I would say if it's from 2016,. Right, They've got some equity.
Speaker 2:Yeah they've built up a lot of equity. It would really depend on what they're wanting to move. Why are they wanting to move? Is it a different area? Do they need more space? Is it gonna increase the quality of living? If so, I'd say, go for it. And then also, what is the price point? Like you know, back home in Mississippi, I can tell you if you bought a house in 2016 at a hundred thousand dollars, it's probably worth 150 to 160 right now, Like it's grown, but it's not a huge monthly burden. That appreciation here. If you bought a house in 2016, one, you didn't buy it for a hundred.
Speaker 1:Let's say you bought it for 400.
Speaker 2:It's probably worth you know seven now.
Speaker 2:That's a big jump but that's also a ton of equity in your home. So you know where are you trying to go, what are you trying to do. But then also and I do this with every client I'm a big fan of credits, you know. Go find a house you like and interest rate may be six and a half percent. Go get you a temporary buy down. Get you a seller pay credit, get a temporary buy down and buy that rate down to four and a half percent for the next year and write it out and when you see interest rates come back down, you re-fi. That way you don't feel like you're taking on that much larger of a payment. Yeah, but at the end of the day I would say for that specific person is what is going to be more important to your quality?
Speaker 1:of life. Yeah, yeah, you want to get out of there, yeah. It's like are you just going to stay in that house and wait around who knows how long? Yeah, it's probably going to be a while until you get back to that interest rate.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I would not. I would not wait on a 3.25. Yeah, yeah. If that's your goal. Yeah, yeah I wouldn't do that.
Speaker 1:That's similar to what I got my house for and I was so lucky when I got my house and it was 2019, the fall of 2019. So right before COVID Mm-hmm and I was actually searching this neighborhood for another house. It was on the market and I kept on calling the agent. Nobody was picking up, nobody would let me in the house. I really wanted to see this house and I was driving back home and I was like I don't want to see what's up on this street. I took a left and I found a house that had a for sale sign that was under contract actually, and so I loved it. I called the agent on that and they said this was like a Sunday and they were like well, actually this house was under contract, but the person who bought it we had a clause that they had to sell their current- house within two weeks and today's day 14.
Speaker 1:So it's back on the market tomorrow morning. So I put in an offer.
Speaker 2:the first, so you were able to get it before it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like the very first thing in the morning. I ended up getting it that day, yeah, which sucks for the other people. But I'm also like what are the chances of that?
Speaker 2:Like that's super lucky, yeah you know it's kind of crazy to see. I've noticed this a lot. So when I got in, the market was guy rocketing. It was great, it was awesome. But now, over the last I guess like year and a half, you see a lot more homes go under contract that come back to the market. Then you were you know when, when demand was built up and people were throwing around crazy cash offers. They were obviously this is a big reason, but you have people waving inspections and everything. I mean they just they were doing whatever they could to get a home.
Speaker 2:And you know 2020 and early 21 and it was sometimes sad. You know it was really tough. Like it was like a battle internally with myself sometimes to be like man, they really want this. You know, all right, I'm going to write it up the way they say and what it takes to get, but it's like you want to protect your clients and you know, knock on wood, nothing bad has ever happened or nobody ever made a deal that they weren't happy that they got. But there were a lot of people exposing themselves when the market was that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, just desperate times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, which you know, I think. I think we're headed back towards something similar, but it'll be a milder variation of that.
Speaker 1:So then you would recommend, with houses that are under contract, to still look at those. I would, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'd keep them. You know, I think a good agent would. If a client sends you one that's under contract, a good agent's going to reach out to that other agent and say, hey, what's the status of your home? You know, I see it's under contract. When you set the close, made it through your inspections, made it through all your contingencies. Let me know if anything happens may have somebody that's interested Just doing those little things. So that way, like like for you, if it does fall out, the other agent the agent on the other side that has that house is under contract should theoretically reach out if something does happen. And that way you know about it before it hits the market. Again, you're providing value to your client.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. People say how many houses should I look at? I mean, look at my situation? I looked at one and I got it. Yeah, it depends, You'll know.
Speaker 2:I've got.
Speaker 2:we had a client that didn't even look at the house, so you know I mean no, I mean look as many as you want until you find the one that feels right. I've had them that you get it on the first try and I've had some right now that we're probably on number 50 something. Yeah, I mean it's, it's a process. Um, I mean, you know, I would say if you're looking to just get out of renting and really make an investment, maybe don't, don't overthink it as much as you are. If you're looking for something that you really trying to build a life of forever home, something that you're going to see yourself in for the next 10 or 15 years, like make sure it's the right one, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. For most people it's the biggest purchase of their lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So and with the rent prices here in Nashville it's like geez.
Speaker 2:You know rent's high I think it's like the average for a one bedroom is like just under 1900 right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's around two grand Um which you know, people keep talking about uh, oh, this complex is offering two months free rent, or this one's doing that and this one's doing that, how they've been doing that for eight years now, you know. Now I will say there are a lot of units as far as rental units, um out there right now. But this is, uh, this is my theory, my take on it. The reason being is because you had, you could borrow money so cheap for for a long period of time, um, where builders were going out and developers were going out and doing these projects. Well, now you're seeing all that money that was borrowed in 2020. Those projects are finishing, those units are hitting the market right now.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, the market's flooded at this current moment with rental, rental units, but we've got a steady flow of people moving here. And then you also had builders and developers that quit borrowing money over the last year and a half. So what's going to happen in the next two years? Inventory is going to be low on rentals again. So I think, uh, and it's all it doesn't? You know it goes up and down, but I wouldn't be like, oh man, I'm about to start renting a, a two-year loan, a two-bedroom in the Gulch for 1800. We're not getting there, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those days are long gone. Yeah, what would you give? What advice would you give those looking for their first investment property what to look for, where to look. It's obviously ranges and it's very different. I feel like a lot of investment deals are kind of word of mouth or off the market Right, when people like us have that information through our connections and it's something we're you know you don't just readily see on a website.
Speaker 2:Yeah, If, uh, if you get an investment property through an email, you're probably you're not getting the best deal on it.
Speaker 2:Um, now, granted there, there's some out there. I mean, uh, I would say one. It depends on how much, uh, how much you've got to invest. You know what, what your goal is If you're trying to make a living off of it. Um, I would look at things where you can keep a lot of capital so you can diversify it into multiple properties and generate cash flow. Um, but then that's. The other thing is, what are you trying to get from that investment? Do you want a monthly paycheck, that's passive income, um, or are you looking to park some money in a safe investment that uh is going to grow in equity, that you could borrow against later down the road or you could cash in on later down the road?
Speaker 2:Um, really first determine what your goal is as an investor and then, uh, and then, once you've done that, determine how hands on you want to be, how hands off. You know short-term rentals are great because there's a ton of property management companies here that, uh, you buy the property, you give them the keys to it and they do everything for you from photos, listing, cleaning, supply, um, all of it and you pay them. You know percentages each month. But you know you're just collecting a check, um, or you can, uh, you can buy one, that that you are the property manager, you can go long-term um rentals where you're, you know, putting people in there for six months plus and you're managing that um, whether it may be a value add, like a fix and flip um, there's a lot of opportunities. But also, I would say, uh, and I'm bad at this, I look at investment properties here every day. I mean, my brain is constantly spending of new ideas for investment deals. Um, but don't be scared to look at investments outside of your own market.
Speaker 2:Um there's a lot of great return out there in other cities you know and um, and there's a lot of.
Speaker 2:I mean, you can get connected with the right people. Property management companies find a good one, um, and and don't be scared to pay a little bit for that, because it'll pay off in the end. Uh, if you've got somebody that's managing your property well and marketing it well and taking care of it, um, but it can be fun to do that. You know, look at, look at other areas and see what returns people are generating. And Now there's a million people sitting out there going damn, I wish I'd bought in the Nashville real estate back in 2010.
Speaker 1:Even, yeah, I'm one of those people up in here for 10 years and I'm like some of the houses I looked at when I first moved here down in areas that have just exploded like 12 South, and he's Nashville man. That's one of those things Like if I could only go back in time, yeah, I know my, uh, I wish my folks would have held on to some of the houses they had um returns would have been crazy yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, the first house that I bought uh, winslow, connecticut, was a farmhouse 1888 farmhouse I bought for $100,000 on a little farm about an acre, a nice stream next to it, a barn, and me and my dad worked on that project together. So we just did everything inside the outside um roof, we did new porches, we did kitchen bathrooms, um age family house, house, house, house back everything. But it was uh, it was a lot of fun and I was just out of college. But my dad came over on the weekends and I had some roommates too. He said let's go and I'd be in bed hungover like still young partying age, you know. But man, I cherish those times. And it was uh a deal that I found through like a family member, a kind of word of mouth type deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was so much fun though.
Speaker 2:And you lived in the house and I lived in the house, so that's why it was you know, made sense.
Speaker 1:I lived there, had a couple of buddies on my roommates, my sister lived with me at 1.2 and um would work on it throughout the week. Yeah, but that's obviously ideal. But for most people who are in flipping properties, they're trying to flip that thing as fast and as quick as possible. You only got a couple months to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they want to get in and out and you know, I think it depends, like if you can go in and do it yourself, that's great, you're going to save a lot of money, um, but it takes longer, you know. So I think, uh, like from an investor standpoint it'd be look at it and see are you trying to just make as much profit or are you trying to get your money, your return, back quicker, maybe lining with with a contractor that could go in and do that? Um, but they're fun.
Speaker 1:A fix and flip is fun. Yeah, I want to find some here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know I've I've been looking and there's a lot of opportunity out there for them. Um, but you know it takes time and that's where I'm at. It's like what do I want to do? Do I want to be hands on or do I just? You know, front the bills Um, but I love your big interior design guy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Is that where you're going? That's.
Speaker 2:I was just about to say, like the design and and the shaping of a home and repurposing it. I, uh, most of my work is is new construction, which I love, um, but there's nothing that is sexier to me than an older home that's got a? Uh, you walk in and it's got a great modern, contemporary vibe on the inside.
Speaker 2:And kind of pulling that best of both worlds and um you get so much character with some of the older homes and, uh, I think I get this from my mother and a lot from my brother too, but they're, they can see a finished product before it's ever there. And um, and I can do that too, I can, I can look at a space or a house or even a room, anything, and I can kind of already envision and visualize what that's going to be. And, um, that's what gets me excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got a good eye for that. Yeah, you know what type of homes are my favorite mid-centuries.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Love a mid-century modern. Mid-century modern. Love it. I don't know it's um, they're sweet.
Speaker 2:I mean, they are, they are. They are unique. You think you love them because the furniture's back installed. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It's uh, it's got a cool vibe to it, but not I like modern, but not too modern, and I like the uniqueness. It is pretty popular.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I mean even the farmhouse that I had. It had original 10 ceilings from 1888. Like, what are the chances you'd find those anywhere, right?
Speaker 2:now yeah, you're not.
Speaker 1:You're not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what um the mid-centuries? You know we've looked at a couple that are, uh, new construction mid centuries yeah. Do you like those as much as you do? The older mid-centuries that have been done? Do you think they're hitting um?
Speaker 1:I do like those because it's got that modern new feel to it. Yeah, Um, there's one we looked at in East Nashville. I was like man, I was going back and forth on it.
Speaker 2:But it's almost.
Speaker 1:It wasn't, yeah, but I was like, is it just because of furniture in here? Like, is that one? I'd want to buy all the staging there. Yeah, so I guess it depends how it's staged too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And how big of a deal is that when you're showing a new house?
Speaker 2:Oh, I think it's.
Speaker 1:Everything. Yeah. As opposed to just walking into an empty space, you're giving the clients an actual visual, yeah.
Speaker 2:They can. They can, you know, see how the best optimal use is for a space, See what a bed is going to look like in there and, um, you know, a lot of times rooms feel bigger with staging in it, which is kind of crazy. Um, that's one of my probably most nerve wracking moments is the uh, the moment a client sees a house that's not that that they've bought, that doesn't have the staging in it anymore, and it's like, oh, I hope they still like it, I hope it you know, looks the same to them.
Speaker 2:But staging is very important for sellers. I mean, if you're not staging a home, you're not doing yourselves any better.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean it costs a couple thousand bucks and it's worth every penny of it. I mean even photographs. I mean and doing content, you know. Like how many times have we walked in a house and didn't have staging, or it had photos that had staging in it and it didn't have it in there. Like we don't want to do the content on that?
Speaker 1:You want it to look like a home?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Um, when you're showing it and so, um, that's a big part, yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's fun too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of give it its own little feel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's a that's exciting market here in Nashville. Is there anything you don't like about the real estate business or don't enjoy necessarily every day, maybe, besides writing contracts?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um the paperwork.
Speaker 2:The paperwork can get to be a lot. Um, you know, things I don't like would be, uh, the organization that it that it requires to be effective in this, this, uh business. Um, that's not my strong suit, right? Um, I like to be on the go, working deals, talking to people, looking at houses. Um, I lack in email sometimes and correspondence, um, but as far as don't like any aspect of it, no, because it's different every day. I don't. I don't do the same thing long enough to not like it.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm not going to get burnt out. Um, are there things I wish I could do differently in the market? Yeah, Maybe so, and like there's things I need to do differently and like we've talked about it, you know, I think we're in a good position right now where we've built up a good, strong base and foundation of good clients, that that we can work with from a development standpoint, and we've got a great reach to where we can bring in new clients. And, um, you know, I I'd love to find another piece of this, this puzzle, that could really help us. I want to create.
Speaker 2:I think where I struggle is, uh, I get so caught up in the the deal that I forget about creating the experience for my clients. Yeah, and um, just trying to be able to like hone in on that and really creating something that is not just getting them what they want but making sure that they have a hell of a time while they're doing it Right, absolutely, and we've had our team now for almost two years and something you want to grow eventually as well, get more team members on there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, We've talked about it. I mean, I think, um, the right fit. You know, I'd love to throw some money in there now and see what happens. Uh, I think, um, I, obviously you with the gym and y'all's mentality there, and then this partnership me myself like I love a team, yeah, I love to have somebody to bounce ideas off of and, um work with with another person and then do that. I think it's it's fun for us.
Speaker 2:It's good and it keeps us engaged as well. You know when somebody else is leaning on you for some support or or anything. I mean it keeps you a part of it when you may not have a ton of business going on.
Speaker 1:Right, um, yeah, pro Zagans teams, and there's some people who just want to work on their own and spend for themselves, but being a on a team is always fun. You can always count on one. Another. Final four, last segment here, and the one thing's top four places to live, to move to in Nashville Tennessee If you're out of states. So we're talking like neighborhoods. Yeah, let's go. Neighborhoods of Nashville Tennessee. Rank them from four to one.
Speaker 2:Do I get a price range Like what's my budget?
Speaker 1:Nope, no price range. Oh if you came in with a million dollars.
Speaker 2:I had a million dollars to spend.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, just me. No family, no, nothing, yeah, whatever you want.
Speaker 1:No Four.
Speaker 2:Number four, million bucks, would probably be. Oh, I would say, oh, I got a million bucks. Number four would be the nations. Okay, yeah, yeah, you can get in there new for nine to nine, fifties, eight, 50 on some of them. Um, I like that area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had that, uh on my list as well. The nations it's about less than a 10 minute drive from downtown. It's this cute neighborhoods, uh, younger population demographic yeah. You see everybody walking their dogs, uh, out on the streets.
Speaker 2:There's some new restaurants there, breweries and you're close to West Mead, if you need or West Nashville. If you need to get out there, you can jump into Sylvan Park. Um, you got I mean, yeah, the nations is a great spot, right, and uh, it's got some good options.
Speaker 2:Number three I just want to see if our number one's going to be the same. Number three would be uh, just next door would be Charlotte Park, which is a little bit further West. I guess you'd say down Charlotte, um, but you get a little bit more neighborhood yard. Feel to me a little bit bigger of a home. Some of them aren't. Um, you know the nations has got a lot of uh of your HPRs. Your some call them tall and skinnies, which I don't really love.
Speaker 1:But yeah what they are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Um, Charlotte Park. You can get a little bit more of a traditional style home there.
Speaker 1:Gotcha. Number three I'm going with Wedgwood Houston. Wedgwood Houston is just south of downtown. It's actually where we're putting the new BC gym, so it might be a little biased there, but it is a another neighborhood that's. That's a growing younger demographic. Again, a lot of restaurants and, uh, things to do. Short drive to everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Number two Number two, million dollars, is going to be tough, but I'm going to say green hills. I'm going to say Sylvan Park.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I love Sylvan Park. Um, you've got McCabe golf course, the walking trail right there. Um, my favorite restaurant, cafe Nona, small Italian joints and, uh, in there Neighbors bar and grill, is just um, and I've done a lot of business there. That's where I saw my first ever house. Um, it holds a special place to me, but a million dollars I don't, it'd be stretching it, it would be stretching it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, my number two. I want to say I was going to go outside of Nashville and say Franklin, but that's not a neighborhood in Nashville, that's like 30, 40 minutes from Nashville. Yeah, there's just beautiful properties out there, like some really nice piece of old historic homes.
Speaker 2:I mean it's great, A lot of the States yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep. So uh wonder, if you're going to say 12 South, your number one. No, I'll go number two, I'll go West Mead, west Mead, nashville, a great neighborhood. Again, I'm somebody even though I mentioned the other two neighborhoods being close to everything. I also like to be a little bit away from everything and have some privacy, some land, and West Mead offers that. Right near the interstate, short drive to downtown, you can make it there in about 14 minutes every morning If you're going to work and I love the big yards you get.
Speaker 1:It's one of the few neighborhoods left in Nashville. You know that creve hall, I think, are some of the only houses you can get now that have about an acre of property.
Speaker 2:You got. I mean, it's gorgeous riding through West Mead. You know some of the homes are built now. They're ridiculous and crazy and but they're beautiful and you've got the mature trees and it's a well-matured neighborhood. You know it looks like a really strong neighborhood.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Um number one. Here we go, number one.
Speaker 2:Wedgwood, houston, wow.
Speaker 1:Wedgwood, all right.
Speaker 2:I've lived there before. I love it. I just there's something about that neighborhood that I love. I think the demographics great there. I think you've got some good restaurants, a couple of cool little bars right there, got a great gym. Coming to the neighborhood. It's close to everything and I love uh, you don't live in Nashville. You may not understand this, but it's on the East side of 65 and Wedgwood, which means you don't have to fight the traffic at Wedgwood and eight and um. It's easy access. Whether you want to go north or south, you can be downtown in a couple of minutes, um close to grocery stores.
Speaker 1:Best pizza joint in town Dices.
Speaker 2:Dices is awesome. Yeah, you can go to E Rose and get you a.
Speaker 1:BC Bowl. If you want to be a Soho member, so right there, right there.
Speaker 2:Um, there's a lot going on. I wish they would fix the on street parking issue Right. That can get a little frustrating, but, uh, I think, uh, I think that neighborhood is going to see a lot of growth in the next, um, probably three to five years. I already know. When I lived there in 2017 or 18, I guess it was and was renting um, the guy offered to sell me the house for 425. And I said no, um, because I was an uneducated first time home buyer. I should have reached out to somebody who knew what they were doing. Um, but, uh, two years ago, that same house sold for 775.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whoops, I missed out. Yeah, and now it costs me 850 to get that out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as wild. Yeah, all right, my number one I am going with just next to Westmead, I'm going Belmead. Now, a million dollars might not go very far.
Speaker 2:What house are you renting? Yeah.
Speaker 1:But Belmead is very similar to Westmead. They're obviously right next to one another Historic Belmead is what they call it and those neighborhoods are just gorgeous.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's incredible Gorgeous. I mean there's nothing, you got to do it. You got to turn on Belmead Boulevard.
Speaker 1:Right there, yes.
Speaker 2:During Christmas time. See the country club on your right. You're looking straight at the steps of Percy priests.
Speaker 1:I mean it is gorgeous, yeah, All their homes beautiful mansions, yeah, the mature trees. Um, that's a nice place to live. Yeah, maybe one day.
Speaker 2:If you had to pick one neighborhood outside of the urban core, outside of Nashville suburban area, what would you pick?
Speaker 1:Hendersonville, old Hickory, that'd be a top one for me, old. Hickory's got the water. I had a house out there and nice golf courses out there, yeah, so it's a short drive. It's also developing more. Yeah, I'd say probably Old Hickory, yeah that's a good area.
Speaker 2:That'd be. That'd be right up there for me. I may would go Brentwood. It's a little bit more. You're a.
Speaker 1:Brentwood guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I live down there for a little bit and uh, great school system, um, you're getting a lot of new construction out there. That's kind of uh, given it a little bit more. Uh, it got a little old down there for me. You know Brentwood blew up in the nineties, a little bit before that. Um, but Bellevue, if you wanted an area that was going to see some growth. I think, uh, I think Bellevue, but you'll have to look at two If I went to Brentwood.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be in the governor's in the governor's club. Yeah, yeah, that's his uh, insane neighborhood. Super fancy they have a golf course private neighborhood. That's for all those big shots in Nashville A little, I think. Yeah, the governor's club.
Speaker 2:Well, if we're going to do that, I'm headed down to Truthable yeah, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, there you have it. Um, if you guys have any real estate questions, feel free to ask us. Check out our Instagram page, bghometeam. We'll get K-thibs information there. My information love to help you out with anything. Whether you're looking to buy, invest, sell here in the Nashville area, let us know Caleb Gainlund. Thank you for joining us on In the Booth. Thank you, team on three.