Buying a Home: What could go wrong, you ask?

Summary:

In this insightful episode of Off the Record, hosts Joe Reitzug and Makayla Mast tackle the complex process of buying a home in today's real estate landscape. They shed light on recent changes in buyer broker representation and dispel common misconceptions surrounding the role of brokers, emphasizing the importance of professional guidance for homebuyers. From making competitive offers to navigating through inspections, appraisals, and financing challenges, Joe and Makayla provide a comprehensive guide to ensure a smooth and successful home buying journey. With invaluable insights and expert advice, listeners will gain the confidence to navigate potential pitfalls and make informed decisions throughout the process.

 Episode Highlights:

• Broker Representation: Explore post-NAR changes, debunking misconceptions and highlighting the need for professional guidance.
• Professional Representation: Emphasize the critical role of professional representation in navigating offers and valuing homes accurately.
• Home Inspection Essentials: Recognize timely inspections, including sewer scope and radon testing, to avoid costly repairs.
• Dealing with Mold: Address common mold issues, discussing prevention and identification to safeguard against health hazards.
• Navigating New Construction: Gain insights into inspection processes, emphasizing thorough walkthroughs and warranty leverage.
• Pre-Closing Preparations: Address issues like radon and sewer, navigate new construction pitfalls, and obtain clue reports for transparency.
• Financing Challenges: Explore common issues like credit card debt, emphasizing clear agreements and communication with lenders.
• Negotiation Strategies: Learn negotiation tips for repairs, understand the importance of appraisals, and proactive communication.
• Navigating Escrow and Title: Understand title reports and escrow processes, highlighting timely communication for a smooth closing.
• Closing Day Success: Discover tips for a seamless transition, including walkthroughs and possession procedures.

  Ready to turn "what could go wrong" into "what could go right" in your home-buying story? Let Joe and Makayla guide you through the twists and turns with expertise and ease. Contact us  today to ensure a seamless and successful home buying journey. Don't let misconceptions and challenges hold you back from achieving your dream of homeownership. Reach out now and take the first step towards finding your perfect home!

Thank you for listening to this episode. Stay up to date on the latest trends and insights by subscribing to our podcast and following us on social media.

For more information about buying or selling in the Portland Metro real estate market, please visit www.LivPortland.com or contact us directly.

We appreciate your feedback, so please leave a review and let us know what topics you would like to hear more about.

Transcript

00:00:08:17 - 00:00:27:02

Joe Reitzug

Welcome to Off the Record talking real estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and what the unvarnished inside scoop. You've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the show. Hi, Makayla.

00:00:27:07 - 00:00:29:02

Makayla Mast

Hi. How are you?

00:00:29:04 - 00:00:39:14

Joe Reitzug

I'm doing really well. I am well rested and almost feel like I'm on top of my list of to do's and whatnot for the day, which is always a good feeling.

00:00:39:17 - 00:00:43:16

Makayla Mast

Are you running around all day? Are you in the office today? What was your schedule like?

00:00:43:16 - 00:00:57:12

Joe Reitzug

I worked out of the home Office today. Ran around, got some errands done. Actually got my workout in this morning. Zoom, right. I know, it just brightens things up. So how about yourself? How are you?

00:00:57:14 - 00:01:06:00

Makayla Mast

Good. It was kind of a runaround day for me. I was in Oregon City and a listing this morning. And then raced back home for our meeting and.

00:01:06:04 - 00:01:06:17

Joe Reitzug

00:01:06:21 - 00:01:10:08

Makayla Mast

And got some little things done. And now we're here.

00:01:10:10 - 00:01:41:01

Joe Reitzug

And here we are. And I'm excited about today's topic where I was excited about the topic talking real estate. But I'm excited about this topic because with the whole Nar settlement with the changes and buyer broker representation and there's just this feeling out there that and I think it's companies like Redfin and Zillow and other different entities that have made people feel like brokers just help find the home.

00:01:41:03 - 00:01:44:16

Joe Reitzug

If that opened the door right, the offer and that's it.

00:01:44:18 - 00:01:47:19

Makayla Mast

Totally. And I think that's the biggest misconception.

00:01:47:19 - 00:02:14:17

Joe Reitzug

That is one that we're going to talk about here today. And the title of this podcast is Buying a Home. What could go wrong, you ask? And there is so much that can go wrong and so many things that have to be done the right way, and so many things that I think homebuyers don't even know that their brokers are doing, that is costing them money, time, and possibly the sale of their home.

00:02:14:19 - 00:02:16:04

Makayla Mast

Right? Definitely.

00:02:16:06 - 00:02:34:16

Joe Reitzug

We see it all the time because obviously 85, 90% of the time we're working with another broker in the sale of a home. And whether we're representing the seller or the buyer, there's a give and take an and you get to see how people operate and what they do. And there's a lot of good ones out there, some really good brokers in Portland.

00:02:34:16 - 00:02:54:12

Joe Reitzug

But like anything and like any large group of people, there's also a bunch that really just aren't that good. And with all the changes that are happening, I feel like more and more brokers are not going to educate themselves. And more and more home buyers are not going to get the representation that they deserve. So we're going to talk about that a little bit today.

00:02:54:12 - 00:03:07:19

Joe Reitzug

And, you know, it goes into why is a buyer broker representing me so important. And the big reason for that is. What looking at the notes right now, looking.

00:03:07:19 - 00:03:08:00

Makayla Mast

At the.

00:03:08:00 - 00:03:10:10

Joe Reitzug

Notes, it's actually going to be the law.

00:03:10:12 - 00:03:19:17

Makayla Mast

Oh because it's going to be the law. Ding ding ding. It's so funny because it to me it's just baked in. It's just funny that that would be in there would be another answer for that.

00:03:19:19 - 00:03:34:23

Joe Reitzug

But yeah. As of January 2025, Morgan House passed a bill saying a realtor needs to have a written contract with someone looking to buy a home, similar to needing to have a contract. When you sell someone's home.

00:03:35:01 - 00:03:43:20

Makayla Mast

It's crazy to me that we've been in this industry. This industry has existed for this long and you haven't had to have an agreement between buyer and broker.

00:03:43:22 - 00:03:54:03

Joe Reitzug

I know that seems just crazy to me as well. And a lot of brokers are freaking out about it. And a lot of consumers homebuyers are like, why, why, why do we need this?

00:03:54:03 - 00:04:12:15

Makayla Mast

Just I just think about all the times I work with anyone or any type of business, and I'm going to sign a contract at some point, you know, whether I'm working with a contractor at my house that's going to require me to sign a contract. Whether you're walking into a trampoline park, you're going to have to sign a waiver for that, you know, and then all the way up to a lawyer.

00:04:12:15 - 00:04:14:06

Makayla Mast

So you're going to need to sign in with them as well.

00:04:14:06 - 00:04:43:21

Joe Reitzug

So I think it's a good thing for the industry. I think it's a good thing for the consumer. And today we're not going to really go into the buyer broker representation and what all that looks like and all those different things. That's a podcast for another day, I think. But what we want to talk about today is why professional representation, when you're buying a home matters, and why it's important, and why you should be really diligent in doing your homework on who represents you on the purchase of your next home.

00:04:43:23 - 00:04:53:14

Joe Reitzug

Because there are so many pitfalls, there's so many traps, there's so many bumps in the road and different things out there that people don't even know about, that it matters.

00:04:53:14 - 00:04:57:11

Makayla Mast

And not to mention there's money on the line. There's money that can be lost, ton.

00:04:57:12 - 00:04:57:20

Joe Reitzug

Of money.

00:04:57:20 - 00:04:58:10

Makayla Mast

If things go.

00:04:58:10 - 00:05:19:03

Joe Reitzug

Wrong. Right. And there are so many people out there that are like, we've written 12 offers. And granted, you know, sometimes it happens that way, but that usually doesn't need to be the case, right? We'll talk about that. So we're going to talk about what can go wrong. And this is just a small sample people. We try to keep these podcasts somewhat short.

00:05:19:03 - 00:05:39:10

Joe Reitzug

If we were to go into every single thing that we've seen over the past just six months, three months of the transactions that we've done last week, it would be a 4 or 5 hour podcast that we're talking about here. Unfortunately, finding the home isn't really that tough anymore because it's all out on the aggregators like Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, all that sort of stuff.

00:05:39:10 - 00:05:57:01

Joe Reitzug

But there still are off market properties and that type of stuff. But finding the home in general really isn't the problem. It's getting the home and the really good ones are still going fast. So we'll talk about that and then finding out about the home once you get under contract and all the different things that go into that.

00:05:57:03 - 00:06:02:14

Joe Reitzug

And then after that, closing the transaction and there's just so much that goes into all of that.

00:06:02:14 - 00:06:09:07

Makayla Mast

So I love the way that you broke that up, because those are all three very different pillars. So I'm glad we're hitting on them.

00:06:09:09 - 00:06:11:00

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, that's the outline.

00:06:11:06 - 00:06:11:18

Makayla Mast

Love it.

00:06:11:19 - 00:06:34:07

Joe Reitzug

Let's start off by talking about getting the home. Let's just assume you found the home that you want. You've you know, called your realtor, texted, hey, I found this. I'm really interested in it. Can we go see it? You go see it. It's the perfect home. It's the one you've been waiting for. So let's talk about making a competitive offer.

00:06:34:07 - 00:06:35:15

Joe Reitzug

What does that look like? Mikayla.

00:06:35:16 - 00:06:59:15

Makayla Mast

Oh, gosh, there's so much to it. And we won't bore you with all the details, but that is something that we take very seriously. And there's a lot that happens on the back end that I think is worth chatting about. So in a competitive offer situation, you know, sometimes there's 4 or 5 a dozen offers on one home, and it's our job to figure out how we can write you the best offer to get you in the home.

00:06:59:19 - 00:07:02:09

Joe Reitzug

And part of that is just finding out how many offers there are.

00:07:02:10 - 00:07:22:12

Makayla Mast

Totally. And I think that's what I want to hit on, is that first conversation when we talk to the broker who's selling the home is so important to me, it lays how this is going to go completely, you know, our ability to work with other people in a way that, you know, makes everybody happy is what is going to get it done.

00:07:22:12 - 00:07:41:18

Makayla Mast

If we're calling this broken, demanding things and demanding information about what offers they have and being unprofessional, that just already sets a bad tone and is already putting you in a bad spot to maybe not get your offer accepted because that broker just doesn't want to work with us, right? So that first call with the broker, we're finding out as much information as we can on the home.

00:07:42:00 - 00:07:57:08

Makayla Mast

We're asking details that might not be obvious at the time of the walkthrough. Like have you had any pre inspections? Have you, you know, is your seller living in the home? Is there anything that your seller wants written in the offer that's different other than price. So is are there any time.

00:07:57:11 - 00:08:01:17

Joe Reitzug

To be in the home a little bit after closing? Do they need to rent back?

00:08:01:19 - 00:08:21:05

Makayla Mast

What terms can we write in this offer to write the winning one. So that's kind of step one. And then once we find out everything that we can, we take it to buyer and we see how buyer can use that information to best strategize a good offer. And that doesn't always mean offering as much as you possibly can to get in the home.

00:08:21:05 - 00:08:39:23

Makayla Mast

I think people think that writing a competitive offer means offering 50 grand above the asking price. Well, that's not always the case. And we we don't want you to do that if you don't have to. So write for us. The next step is always valuing the home. So then we'll go do our own independent research. Say a home is listed at 500,000.

00:08:39:23 - 00:08:48:04

Makayla Mast

And we do a little research, and we think it might only be worth 475,000. You know, that's worth having a conversation with the buyer.

00:08:48:09 - 00:09:09:08

Joe Reitzug

Right. And as much as you may love it, is it worth paying $25,000 more or even above that for this home right now? Basically, you'd be giving up your couple of years of appreciation by making that move. But if it's the home for you, then maybe you're okay with that. But understanding where the real value is right now is critically important.

00:09:09:10 - 00:09:33:17

Joe Reitzug

The other thing I was going to mention real quick is, you know, when we talk about communicating with the listing brokers and obviously Michael and I represent both both buyers and sellers. Experience makes such a huge difference. And I've been you know, we talk about this all the time. I'm old. I've been doing this 29 years and there's years of experience, but there's also transactional experience.

00:09:33:19 - 00:10:03:02

Joe Reitzug

And Makayla, having been in the business for a much shorter time than I have, has done more deals, more transactions closed, more sales represented, more people than 90% of the brokers in Portland over the past, you know, 3 or 4 years. And that transactional experience. The more of these transactions you do, the more experience you are with knowing who the other brokers are out there, knowing what they like to operate, knowing how they like to communicate.

00:10:03:02 - 00:10:24:06

Joe Reitzug

And that's kind of one of those things I noticed over the years is I started seeing the same brokers bring me buyers when I was representing a seller, or when we were making an offer with the same listing brokers. And when you meet those people over time, again and again and again, there becomes a familiarity and it makes a difference.

00:10:24:08 - 00:10:44:11

Joe Reitzug

And when you do good business, when you're professional and you know what you're doing, it makes a difference in how like when I'm representing a seller and I've got 3 or 4 brokers with competing offers, if I know broker A is a guy or gal that I've done business with over the years, and they're just good. They know how to get it done.

00:10:44:11 - 00:10:54:22

Joe Reitzug

They're professional, they know how the whole process works. I want to work with them. And if they're close to being, you know, the best offer, but that, you know, that adds into the mix.

00:10:54:23 - 00:11:08:17

Makayla Mast

100%. And you're also relaying that to your client, right? You're when we're showing all the offers and we're comparing them, you're pointing out, hey, broker A does really good work, and they're really fair and they do their research. And that means a lot to a client.

00:11:08:17 - 00:11:30:18

Joe Reitzug

There's this concept that people are just going to start representing themselves. And I can tell you right now if I'm representing the seller and I've got four offers and one of them is from someone representing themselves who've never sold a home before or represented themselves in the purchase of a couple of sales, all I know is I'm going to be doing a ton more work with this person.

00:11:30:18 - 00:11:55:08

Joe Reitzug

There's going to be much more liability, and the chances of that transaction going south are incredibly high versus working with broker B, who she's someone I've worked with ten times over the last five years. We both know how this game works. We both know what the expectation is. We want to keep buyer and seller together and make sure that both are treated fairly.

00:11:55:08 - 00:11:59:18

Joe Reitzug

There's a lot in there. And, you know, you talk about experience. I think all of that adds up.

00:11:59:18 - 00:12:31:14

Makayla Mast

Yeah, I completely agree. And I think it's, you know, leading into that or going back to writing the best offer, I'm just thinking about someone trying to represent themself, themselves with all these contingencies in the offer. And it just sounds like a nightmare. and that's something that we really pay attention to, of course, because it's extremely important for a buyer to know that there's, you know, your inspection contingencies and then your appraisal contingencies and then finance contingencies and then making sure all those are met before your closing date.

00:12:31:16 - 00:12:58:19

Makayla Mast

and all of those little milestones. It's like a perfect little dance that happens. for example, you want to get through the inspection period quickly, like before you decide if you're moving forward with the home or not. Because if the roof needs to be replaced and the seller isn't willing to replace the roof for you and you're not able to take on that big cost, you know, then you have a little bit of time to decide if you're going to move forward with the sale.

00:12:58:19 - 00:13:13:21

Makayla Mast

Yet at the same time, your bank, if you're financing the loan, is going to want to order an appraisal, right. And if you if they order that appraisal and if that appraisal happens before your inspection contingency is up, you're already paying for things.

00:13:13:21 - 00:13:19:11

Joe Reitzug

You're paying $1,000 to have an appraisal done if you want to buy the house yet.

00:13:19:12 - 00:13:37:04

Makayla Mast

Right, right. And those we see a lot of buyers do that. You know, a buyer's agents are already have the appraisal order before we're done negotiating on inspections. And that locks you in. And maybe, you know, you might make a decision that you otherwise would have backed out of a few. Yeah. Now the opportunity to.

00:13:37:04 - 00:13:42:16

Joe Reitzug

Well, there's a difference between ordering the appraisal and paying for the appraisal.

00:13:42:18 - 00:13:44:13

Makayla Mast

Right. But it's a dance, right.

00:13:44:15 - 00:14:06:23

Joe Reitzug

Is it is a dance that has to happen for sure. So so you know, you had touched on what's the right price. And I love that we've made it standard procedure that when someone makes an offer we'll go in, do a valuation, make sure they know exactly where it fits. And you know, sometimes they follow that, sometimes they don't.

00:14:07:01 - 00:14:29:16

Joe Reitzug

we just had one the other day where the list price was about 25 to 30,000 over what we thought the market value was, but amazing house, you know, we said, hey, let's offer that and just let them know that we're going to be firm. Well, they offered 50,000 below and we had to go back and forth, back and forth and almost lost the house and ended up at the 25,000.

00:14:29:16 - 00:14:48:04

Joe Reitzug

And it was like, now we got a little bit of ill will between buyer and seller. Don't know how that's going to come across in the repair addendum and some of the other things that need to happen, but it's it's one of those things that you want to know. The actual value of the home when you're making an offer, because the value is what someone's going to pay.

00:14:48:06 - 00:14:54:22

Joe Reitzug

But at the same time, what is the value that most people are going to pay right now is also a different thing.

00:14:55:00 - 00:15:14:07

Makayla Mast

Absolutely. Especially if there's obvious deferred maintenance in the home. And I get that, you know, and I totally understand if buyers are wanting to offer a little bit less than the lowest price. But like you said, let's find the happy medium. Let's find a reasonable number. That's not going to leave a bad taste in the sellers mouth and potentially just have a rough sale that can trickle down the line.

00:15:14:11 - 00:15:33:05

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, and another piece of that, and then we'll move on is when you do make an offer on a listing that's $50,000 below the asking price. A lot of the times if you don't have a relationship with that listing broker or you don't word things right, or don't you.

00:15:33:05 - 00:15:33:21

Makayla Mast

Explain.

00:15:34:00 - 00:15:57:21

Joe Reitzug

You explain a little bit. If you just drop that across the fence, here's your offer. Without any type of buffering or anything, a lot of times you're just not even going to get a response. Seller's going to be insulted. And before you even got started in the negotiation, you're the rejection. Yeah. And coming back from a rejection puts you in a zero leverage position.

00:15:57:21 - 00:15:58:12

Makayla Mast

Totally.

00:15:58:12 - 00:16:02:05

Joe Reitzug

Now you just said we really want the house. What do you want?

00:16:02:07 - 00:16:24:03

Makayla Mast

Yeah, I know you have no competitive edge. Yeah. We're I'm dealing with this right now with a seller. some folks came in and offered. I think it was 55,000 less than what we're asking. And she just said no. She's like, I don't even want to counter that. So, you know, that just seems like bad business to me.

00:16:24:05 - 00:16:38:00

Makayla Mast

And they came back and they have offered 35,000 and now 30,000. And it's every week they have a new offer, but we can't get close on price. And my seller just doesn't want to work with them. Yeah. She's like at this point I don't even care what they offer. I just I'm not.

00:16:38:00 - 00:17:01:20

Joe Reitzug

Going to sell them. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of those dynamics going on. And if you hire a broker that just doesn't have the experience or doesn't understand that you can write, offer after offer after offer, and even if you're not offering 50,000 below, you know, if they just don't have that communication or that experience or that wherewithal, it can be a very frustrating experience for you when you're trying to buy a home.

00:17:01:20 - 00:17:06:08

Makayla Mast

Yeah, and that's something worth considering. How much do you want to go through before you're in your home?

00:17:06:10 - 00:17:25:06

Joe Reitzug

Let's talk about finding about the home so you get the offer accepted. Who what happens after that? And we've talked a little bit about this already, but tell me about home inspections and home inspectors. And just kind of the dance that goes into that whole process.

00:17:25:11 - 00:17:50:06

Makayla Mast

Yes. Another dance like you just said. But as we touched on earlier, we you know, as soon as I hear that, we get an offer accepted. I'm reaching out to inspectors to schedule the inspection. You have the standard contract, says you have ten business days to do your home inspection and then negotiate on any repairs. Sometimes you might shorten that a little bit, and we don't usually like to do shorter than seven business days.

00:17:50:06 - 00:18:07:17

Makayla Mast

And the only reason you might do that is to make yourself have a competitive offer. So always order the home inspection or schedule the home inspection right away. I like to do it within the first three business days if we can, just so we can figure out what's going on in the home. And we'll always recommend a couple home inspectors.

00:18:07:17 - 00:18:19:22

Makayla Mast

But Joe and I have been in the business a while to know that there are great home inspectors and there are not so great home inspectors. So we try to encourage you to work with someone that we know, like and trust because that can make the process.

00:18:19:22 - 00:18:25:10

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, there's some really good ones out there and there are ones that are in the business of purchase avoidance.

00:18:25:12 - 00:18:26:08

Makayla Mast

I know just.

00:18:26:13 - 00:18:48:06

Joe Reitzug

They really like scary missions and they make it a point of and you know who you are if you're listening, don't do this people. But they like to feel like they know everything and are an authority on everything. And well, this is very dangerous. And this is a health risk. And this is not code and data data. And it's not about them.

00:18:48:11 - 00:18:59:22

Joe Reitzug

It's about the house and this consumer that's trying to purchase this product. And they want to know what that product is and what it isn't, and what needs to be done and what doesn't need to be done.

00:19:00:00 - 00:19:06:05

Makayla Mast

Yeah, I think the best inspectors are ones that leave opinion out of the report.

00:19:06:11 - 00:19:07:21

Joe Reitzug

We want the facts right.

00:19:07:21 - 00:19:30:10

Makayla Mast

And they have different inspectors, have different scales, but they'll have like worst bad fair, good, excellent is I think what our guy uses and you know inspectors are they're considered general inspectors. So their job is to look at the home from roof to foundation. And but they are experts on those things, right? They aren't contractors on the side who are doing siting.

00:19:30:15 - 00:19:33:10

Makayla Mast

They aren't specialists and all these items. So those kind.

00:19:33:10 - 00:19:38:10

Joe Reitzug

Of like your family doc, right? If I go on and to get my regular physical and he's like.

00:19:38:11 - 00:19:39:21

Makayla Mast

Oh doctor, I was like.

00:19:39:23 - 00:19:57:08

Joe Reitzug

Okay, yeah. If I go into my family doctor and he's like, oh, you got something going on with your elbow there? You know that joint? Yeah, we've got a specialist for that. Let's send you to the specialists and see what they think. He's not going to give it. He's he can tell you I think this looks like that a dad.

00:19:57:11 - 00:20:16:23

Joe Reitzug

Right. But we need more test. And we need someone that specializes in this to take a look at it. That's what you're doing with a home. If someone if an inspector tells you this is completely failed, that's just his opinion. And like, a roof or. And some things are obvious. Yeah. You look at it and go, okay, yeah, that's toast.

00:20:17:01 - 00:20:36:18

Joe Reitzug

But they're just there to give you the facts of the situation as they see it, so that if something like a roof or a foundation or the furnace or in the crawlspace has moisture or whatever the case is, let's get someone in there to take a look at that. A professional who that's what they specialize in doing for two reasons.

00:20:36:18 - 00:20:41:11

Joe Reitzug

One, is it a problem to how much of a problem is it? And I guess three, how much is it going to cost.

00:20:41:14 - 00:21:10:21

Makayla Mast

Absolutely. Yeah. But I think the good inspectors are good at, you know, kind of putting their hands up and saying this is fair. You know, I'm reading this is fair. You should contact another professional to come give their inspection. It could be great. It could be not. So great. Right. But worth noting to decipher those different items. And then in the general home inspection, one of the biggest repair items that comes up that I feel like I deal with in every other sale, sorry, is sewer scopes and people are.

00:21:10:21 - 00:21:15:07

Joe Reitzug

So you had a bad run with the Seals.

00:21:15:09 - 00:21:39:14

Makayla Mast

Gonna want to do sewer scope inspections because they're about $150. or we're dealing with our sellers here. This is, you know, this is a different side, but sellers didn't get a sewer scope video done when they purchased the house. And now the problems is even worse. Yeah. So. But it's worth every penny of $150 to have a guy come out during your general inspection.

00:21:39:15 - 00:21:52:23

Makayla Mast

He takes a camera and he scopes from the clean out outside the house to the street, because you want to make sure that that sewer line is healthy, because if it's not, it's not the city's problem to repair and it's the homeowner's problem.

00:21:52:23 - 00:22:17:07

Joe Reitzug

Well, yeah, you start having problems inside the house and those are problems no one wants to have no right. And if it goes on and on and on and the line completely fractures and breaks, yeah, it's not good. And the repair is going to be hugely expensive. So $150 versus sometimes five sometimes ten sometimes $15,000. And if you're a buyer and you say I don't really want to pay for that, well.

00:22:17:08 - 00:22:18:15

Makayla Mast

Do you want to pay your 20,000.

00:22:18:15 - 00:22:29:00

Joe Reitzug

Dollars. Yeah. You're saying I want to roll the dice and hope that there's no problem? Because if there is, I've just turned $150 into $20,000 or $15,000.

00:22:29:06 - 00:22:40:16

Makayla Mast

And a lot of people think it's a problem in older homes. That's not the case. I just did a huge sewer line repair with the seller, and they just had the sewer line put in 20 years ago. They moved from project to.

00:22:40:16 - 00:23:01:05

Joe Reitzug

And new construction. I had this in our notes here. Yeah, yeah, I had a new construction. this is a few years ago that we were closing on. We were representing the buyers, and I said, hey, you know, we should get a sewer scope done. We were going to wait to have the home inspection done until the end of their year long warranty.

00:23:01:07 - 00:23:08:09

Joe Reitzug

Right. Which is fine. But I said, you know, you really should have a sewer scope down beforehand. They're like, why? It's a new home. And I'm like.

00:23:08:11 - 00:23:10:17

Makayla Mast

You never know because there's no debris in.

00:23:10:17 - 00:23:16:17

Joe Reitzug

There. The sewer was not connected. Oh, just flat out not connected.

00:23:16:18 - 00:23:18:05

Makayla Mast

That is so bad.

00:23:18:07 - 00:23:29:13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And when he scoped it, he was like, okay, here we go. And they do. It's a commentary. This is one of them. You know, those things that I remember when Mikayla started in the business.

00:23:29:13 - 00:23:29:20

Makayla Mast

I was.

00:23:29:20 - 00:23:39:06

Joe Reitzug

Watching it. No, I mean the first time we watched one together, she was like, do we have to watch this? And I'm like, you're right. When there's issues, they're going to want to see where is the issue, right?

00:23:39:06 - 00:23:40:14

Makayla Mast

They don't want to watch the whole video.

00:23:40:14 - 00:23:58:13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Well it yeah. And that's why they say 37 seconds. So you can like fast forward to okay this is the problem. And they talk over it. And the guy was like okay so here we're going down the line and we're about ten feet past. And then it just stopped. And he's like, I remember I can't remember exactly what he said.

00:23:58:13 - 00:24:07:01

Joe Reitzug

But he was like, well this is awkward. Isn't that this is not connected to the sewer. This is going to be a problem. Sir, I hate to tell you this.

00:24:07:01 - 00:24:08:15

Makayla Mast

It's like a live show.

00:24:08:17 - 00:24:14:20

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So the builder, I mean, he was really super embarrassed because this was kind of a high end house.

00:24:14:21 - 00:24:15:21

Makayla Mast

Oh, really?

00:24:15:23 - 00:24:25:01

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And so the contractors that he had do this, they had to come back out, dig it and actually connect. It would have backed up like immediate.

00:24:25:01 - 00:24:26:00

Makayla Mast

Oh yeah.

00:24:26:02 - 00:24:27:02

Joe Reitzug

Dude had a family.

00:24:27:02 - 00:24:34:16

Makayla Mast

No. It seems like it would have been their first night. They would have known.

00:24:34:18 - 00:24:35:00

Joe Reitzug

For.

00:24:35:00 - 00:24:36:21

Makayla Mast

Sure. Well that's a man pretty quickly.

00:24:36:21 - 00:24:37:05

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00:24:37:09 - 00:24:44:04

Makayla Mast

So so sewer scope. Very important to get done. Sorry for our tangent, but also not sorry because it's worth it.

00:24:44:06 - 00:24:49:10

Joe Reitzug

And sorry if you're reading this with a cup of coffee in the breakfast in the morning here. Yeah, not exactly what you want.

00:24:49:10 - 00:25:08:16

Makayla Mast

You need a disclaimer. So the next one that we encourage test, we encourage people to get done is radon gas testing. So what the inspector does is we'll bring a little device in and he'll leave it in the home for two days. And the seller has to keep the windows and the doors closed and, not turn on any fans.

00:25:08:16 - 00:25:26:05

Makayla Mast

Radon gas is extremely bad for you. And they. So they test the levels to see how high it is within the home. the American Cancer Society said that or living in a home with high levels of radon increases your risk of cancer by a lot. I forget the personal.

00:25:26:11 - 00:25:27:02

Joe Reitzug

Amount, but.

00:25:27:02 - 00:25:38:18

Makayla Mast

It's disturbing. It's it makes me want to test my home all the time. But yeah, right on. Gas is naturally occurring in the Earth and actually moves around. So there's more areas or there's areas where it's more prevalent than others.

00:25:38:19 - 00:25:40:08

Joe Reitzug

Northeast Portland has a lot of it.

00:25:40:09 - 00:25:48:21

Makayla Mast

It does. And then older homes tend to have more radon as well, often because they have basements and homes of basements tend to have it.

00:25:48:22 - 00:26:07:01

Joe Reitzug

What happens when you get a high reading? Well, you got to get a remediation done. And this is one of those things. And we'll talk about repairs and contractors later. But radon is famously one of those things, kind of like mold where you can get a bid for $1,000 and the same house, you can get a bid for 4500.

00:26:07:02 - 00:26:24:12

Joe Reitzug

It's like, wait a second, are you guys looking at the same house here? Right. So don't contractors is critical with that. But having a high radon is not the end of the world. It just needs to be remediated, which means that gas needs to be blown outside of the house so that it's not seeping up through the floorboards in the Hvac and all that type of stuff.

00:26:24:12 - 00:26:25:00

Joe Reitzug

So it's.

00:26:25:00 - 00:26:32:14

Makayla Mast

Not that, you know, hard to get done. It just it's going to require some kind of venting in the basement or the crawlspace, but worth knowing.

00:26:32:16 - 00:26:34:09

Joe Reitzug

Tell me about mold.

00:26:34:11 - 00:26:43:17

Makayla Mast

we also deal with mold. I don't know if this is true, but I tell people that we deal with mold in about 70% of home sales in the Pacific Northwest.

00:26:43:21 - 00:26:49:04

Joe Reitzug

Is it true that it rains a lot in the northwest?

00:26:49:06 - 00:26:50:18

Joe Reitzug

I'm just asking for an expert.

00:26:50:21 - 00:26:51:09

Makayla Mast

Yes.

00:26:51:13 - 00:27:08:09

Joe Reitzug

Okay, okay. And moisture causes mold. Yeah. Sure does. So if you got moisture hanging out in your crawlspace, if your house is not sealed, well there's a good chance you're going to have mold. And you've got me. So funny when I was like does it rain here and there like.

00:27:08:11 - 00:27:10:04

Makayla Mast

Like I, I.

00:27:10:09 - 00:27:11:08

Joe Reitzug

What is in your ash?

00:27:11:10 - 00:27:15:08

Makayla Mast

I couldn't think of something funny to say. So I just kind of stared at, you.

00:27:15:10 - 00:27:35:08

Joe Reitzug

Know, it's turn it up for you to tears. But yeah, I mean in attics and all over the place. And the other thing is, and I'm probably stealing from what you were going to say here, but we get pictures all the time from inspectors who are like, this attic has mold and dadada. And you look at it and you're like, oh no, dude, that's not mold.

00:27:35:08 - 00:27:36:23

Joe Reitzug

Mold, that's lumber.

00:27:37:01 - 00:27:39:00

Makayla Mast

Right? Lumber with.

00:27:39:02 - 00:27:58:21

Joe Reitzug

So when lumber stays stacked at the yard before it's delivered to a house for delivery and it's wet and all that sort of stuff, it can get mold in the stack. That mold will go away once it's dry in the house, but it'll leave a little mark that kind of looks like mold. And we get that all the time.

00:27:58:21 - 00:28:06:22

Joe Reitzug

And it's so embarrassing to have to tell an inspector who a lot of times it's, you know, that guy who thinks that he knows everything and say, for.

00:28:07:00 - 00:28:07:23

Makayla Mast

All opinions, do we.

00:28:07:23 - 00:28:12:06

Joe Reitzug

Do we really have to send the mold specialists out there to tell us that this is a lumber yard mold.

00:28:12:06 - 00:28:12:23

Makayla Mast

Right?

00:28:13:01 - 00:28:14:18

Joe Reitzug

Come on.

00:28:14:20 - 00:28:30:00

Makayla Mast

With that. We always, coach our buyers to do proper venting and attic spaces if they aren't already properly vented, to make sure that, you know, because you can treat them all, but you want to make sure it doesn't come back. Yeah. so that's always a conversation we have.

00:28:30:02 - 00:28:48:10

Joe Reitzug

We already talked about new construction and inspections and walkthroughs and that type of thing. You know, usually, well, you get a one year warranty, right? So you know, you'll do a walkthrough and you can see different things and that type of stuff. And some people like to have their inspections later. A lot of people don't even know that they can have an inspection, which is not just crazy.

00:28:48:10 - 00:29:05:12

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And like radon and sewer, I would say get those things done right out of the chute right before you close, and then do your full home inspection before so you can say, okay, I'm still under warranty, and here's our list of stuff that is health or safety and help us out here, right?

00:29:05:12 - 00:29:23:18

Makayla Mast

I've heard of a lot of people going the new construction route and representing themselves, because a lot of people go to those model homes that you see on the side of the road, and you get all excited, and you get in there and you fall in love with the house. And then the new construction sales rep convinces you to sign a paper putting you on a wait list to get the home.

00:29:23:18 - 00:29:38:23

Makayla Mast

In that waiver, it says that you're representing yourself, or you're using a realtor that is representing the new construction or the builder instead of you or hand you. And the verbiage can be confusing and you know, you get into it before you.

00:29:38:23 - 00:29:40:20

Joe Reitzug

We do the research on this, right?

00:29:40:20 - 00:30:06:20

Makayla Mast

Right, right. Well, send them to that option. But my point with that little monologue is people aren't getting inspection reports like you just said. And how annoying is it inspection those inspections. Inspections. So, how annoying is it three months in, like, great. You have a warranty, but my Hvac isn't working or my dishwasher isn't working. You know how annoying is to have a repair person come over every two months when you can just get a whole report before you move in.

00:30:06:22 - 00:30:08:20

Joe Reitzug

You lose your leverage once you close.

00:30:08:22 - 00:30:09:18

Makayla Mast

Yes.

00:30:09:20 - 00:30:29:22

Joe Reitzug

They're on going to do some things, but yeah, they'll get to it. Yeah. The other thing with new construction that is a pet peeve of mine, is if you visit a new construction site and start talking to a representative there, and don't mention that you have a realtor and leave the site without signing your realtor's name up, and some of them won't even let you sign it up.

00:30:30:00 - 00:30:48:13

Joe Reitzug

But they won't let you. Your your broker can represent you, but they're not going to pay them. Yeah, which kind of makes it a moot point. You're not going to have representation. So when you're dealing with new construction, you just got to be diligent and make sure that you ask them upfront or tell them upfront. I have someone representing me.

00:30:48:15 - 00:30:51:12

Joe Reitzug

I think that'll all go away with the buyer broker agreement though.

00:30:51:13 - 00:30:52:20

Makayla Mast

Oh yeah, that's a good.

00:30:52:20 - 00:30:55:05

Joe Reitzug

Explanation. Agree? Yeah it should anyways.

00:30:55:07 - 00:30:58:01

Makayla Mast

True. But for the time being be careful out there.

00:30:58:01 - 00:31:00:00

Joe Reitzug

Be careful. Yeah.

00:31:00:02 - 00:31:03:18

Makayla Mast

What is your, insurance issues? This is when,

00:31:03:20 - 00:31:12:20

Joe Reitzug

This is a good one that I feel like 90% of brokers don't know about. And 101% of consumers don't know about.

00:31:12:22 - 00:31:15:04

Makayla Mast

Insurance is getting harder to get.

00:31:15:06 - 00:31:53:08

Joe Reitzug

It's getting harder to get. But also, if I asked you if you would want to know if a major insurance claim was made on the home that you're buying, would you say yes? Yeah, yeah, I think everyone would. Well, you can ask for a what's called a clue report. It stands for something I don't know what it stands for, but essentially what it is is a report on all, insurance claims that have been made on the house and so you can look back and say, because we've had this happen in the past, where you look at the seller's property disclosure and where it says is any, you know, have you had any issues with

00:31:53:08 - 00:32:16:00

Joe Reitzug

the crawl space, is there any moisture this and that and the other and the seller chips checks? Nope. And we look at the clue report and there's a $40,000 claim from a rainstorm that happened and flooded the house. That's something I would want to know. And oh, yeah, by the way, why aren't you disclosing that? And what else aren't you disclosing right?

00:32:16:04 - 00:32:19:07

Makayla Mast

Did you properly take care of it? Or did you just.

00:32:19:09 - 00:32:31:07

Joe Reitzug

Show us the invoices and was there a warranty involved and all those type of things? So clue reports, you know, kind of a must, especially on houses where you wonder what actually happened here.

00:32:31:07 - 00:32:50:19

Makayla Mast

Oh yeah. There an older home. So yeah, lots of lots that go into inspections. And you know again having the home inspection is kind of step one. I know we just talked about it forever, but as soon as you get that inspection completed, you're going to have at least some kind of list of items that you want, maybe second opinions on or quotes on.

00:32:51:01 - 00:33:00:00

Makayla Mast

That way you can negotiate with the seller on you know, what you want them to take care of. And getting those quotes back in a timely manner is something that we are pros at.

00:33:00:00 - 00:33:19:07

Joe Reitzug

People think, oh, I have ten business days to do the inspection. Now you have ten business days to schedule the inspection, do the inspection process, the inspection, get bids for any work that you're going to request for the most part, and then the seller will probably want to get bids as well, to make sure that the bid that you give them is not a ridiculously high bid.

00:33:19:07 - 00:33:29:18

Joe Reitzug

And then you can come to an agreement. So all that stuff has to come, has to happen in those ten business days. And then you have to come to a written agreement by 5 p.m. on the 10th day.

00:33:29:23 - 00:33:30:10

Makayla Mast

Right?

00:33:30:12 - 00:33:39:12

Joe Reitzug

So time is of the essence. And if you don't have contractors that will reply to you or get out to the house or help with that, you got problems.

00:33:39:14 - 00:33:55:18

Makayla Mast

we have a wonderful list of contractors that we work really closely with, and they know how we work. You know, we know that we're always going to refer them because they do good work. So they get us quotes in a timely manner. Exactly. And we can text them right away. They'll run over there and get us exactly what they need.

00:33:55:18 - 00:33:58:17

Makayla Mast

And having that in our back pocket is huge.

00:33:58:17 - 00:34:06:00

Joe Reitzug

I, I've noticed that they respond better to you and Stephanie. Are you guys nicer or is it just because.

00:34:06:00 - 00:34:11:07

Makayla Mast

I'm over the top? Nice. I'm nice. Yeah. You're nice.

00:34:11:09 - 00:34:18:12

Joe Reitzug

I just don't get the response you guys do, I don't know. Yeah, well, anyways, we'll work with it.

00:34:18:14 - 00:34:20:15

Makayla Mast

That's what me and Stephanie do.

00:34:20:20 - 00:34:22:06

Joe Reitzug

I thank you both. So sweet.

00:34:22:07 - 00:34:23:10

Makayla Mast

Oh, thanks.

00:34:23:10 - 00:34:26:03

Joe Reitzug

And nice to people. Genuinely nice. And I try.

00:34:26:03 - 00:34:28:01

Makayla Mast

To be who you are I.

00:34:28:03 - 00:34:30:02

Joe Reitzug

I don't know, I don't know I won't make it.

00:34:30:02 - 00:34:31:02

Makayla Mast

Personal for their.

00:34:31:03 - 00:34:33:13

Joe Reitzug

Friends.

00:34:33:15 - 00:34:36:16

Makayla Mast

Maybe they're sick. I told you later, dudes. All day.

00:34:36:18 - 00:34:50:10

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. No kidding. Let's talk to the really cute ladies first. so, closing the transaction, and doggone it, we could spend another hour on this, but.

00:34:50:13 - 00:34:51:00

Makayla Mast

We won't bore.

00:34:51:00 - 00:35:02:10

Joe Reitzug

You. Now. We'll just kind of skim the tops right here, because I feel like this is a whole nother podcast. But tell me about appraisals. And do you ever get nervous about appraisals?

00:35:02:12 - 00:35:08:21

Makayla Mast

You know, I didn't used to until I had one go wrong. So, you know, a couple years ago.

00:35:08:22 - 00:35:10:12

Joe Reitzug

We never worried about appraisals.

00:35:10:12 - 00:35:10:23

Makayla Mast

Oh, we're.

00:35:11:01 - 00:35:31:18

Joe Reitzug

On a 20, 21, 22. And then all of a sudden in 23 people started, you know, the lender started like, hey, make sure that house is in good shape and the value is, you know, but when a lot of these low down payment, when a buyer is only putting 3% down or 5% down, that means the bank owns 95 or 97% of that home.

00:35:32:00 - 00:35:39:05

Joe Reitzug

And if they get it back and whoopsie, it's not worth 550. It's only worth 520. I think that's a problem with that.

00:35:39:08 - 00:35:48:14

Makayla Mast

Definitely. So we chat with the appraisers. A lot of times our clients don't even know this, but we are hyping the home up to the appraiser.

00:35:48:17 - 00:35:50:11

Joe Reitzug

What can we do to help you?

00:35:50:11 - 00:36:16:07

Makayla Mast

Right. We're giving them comparable sales in the neighborhood. If it's a unique property that's out in the country, we're looking statewide for comparable sales to promote the value of the home. We're making sure they can get access to the property to do their inspection. and we're making sure it happens in a timely manner. And then if they have any questions, you know, because certain things can affect the value which we won't get into, we're making sure we get back to them right away.

00:36:16:09 - 00:36:18:05

Makayla Mast

And all those things matter.

00:36:18:10 - 00:36:39:05

Joe Reitzug

So then if you have an ongoing dialog most of the time from when you're representing the buyer, you're not going to have any dialog because the appraiser calls or text the listing broker to say, hey, I've been hired to do the appraisal on this. Can I get access on such and such date time and start having those conversations and this and that?

00:36:39:05 - 00:36:46:17

Joe Reitzug

But occasionally you do. But yeah, I mean, it makes a world of difference when you have that good communication going on.

00:36:46:18 - 00:37:09:11

Makayla Mast

Yeah, we always try to go the extra mile there and then financing issues come up unfortunately. And those are my gosh, those are tough. So there's certain things that we do to coach our buyers. And we talk about this at the beginning of the transaction rather than the end, because then it's too late. But we make sure, you know, to not rack up too much credit card debt or.

00:37:09:12 - 00:37:10:11

Joe Reitzug

Don't buy a new car.

00:37:10:12 - 00:37:11:14

Makayla Mast

Don't go buy a new car.

00:37:11:14 - 00:37:14:11

Joe Reitzug

Please don't. Please don't buy a new car when you're buying a house.

00:37:14:11 - 00:37:15:12

Makayla Mast

It's not going to work out.

00:37:15:12 - 00:37:22:19

Joe Reitzug

Love that. That makes no difference with your debt to income or any of that. That's fine, but just don't do it. Just just wait until afterwards.

00:37:22:20 - 00:37:23:12

Makayla Mast

There's a.

00:37:23:13 - 00:37:27:17

Joe Reitzug

The boat. The boat can weigh about.

00:37:27:19 - 00:37:30:12

Makayla Mast

You know, bathing season number one.

00:37:30:12 - 00:37:42:09

Joe Reitzug

My husband bought a boat, and then I get a call from the lender. They bought a boat and I was like, I just heard. And then I talked to her again. She's it. But it's boating season. I was like for it was home buying season. But not anymore.

00:37:42:09 - 00:37:43:01

Makayla Mast

For you.

00:37:43:04 - 00:37:49:09

Joe Reitzug

Not anymore. Enjoy the boat in your three bedroom, two bath boat.

00:37:49:11 - 00:37:53:19

Makayla Mast

Did it come with $1,000 and inspections that did it?

00:37:53:21 - 00:37:58:15

Joe Reitzug

Our lenders are just like banging their head against the wall. Why?

00:37:58:17 - 00:38:15:20

Makayla Mast

So that's a big one. But, it's also important to make sure you're getting all the documents to the lender that they need in order to close on time. And we're kind of, you know, managing and making sure that the lender has everything that they need and then that escrows notify that things are moving along or meeting our checkpoints.

00:38:15:20 - 00:38:36:01

Joe Reitzug

The checkpoints are a big one. Makayla. And the thing that I always get nervous about is when we're a week or two outside of closing and we don't have underwriting approval, and Mr. and Mrs. Buyer have moving trucks that they've hired and the dates are set and the sellers have their moving trucks and the dates have been set.

00:38:36:01 - 00:38:46:06

Joe Reitzug

And we can't get Ahold of the lender or the lender doesn't hasn't been getting any communication from underwriting. And well, the files sitting on so-and-so's desk are.

00:38:46:06 - 00:38:47:08

Makayla Mast

They're in Jamaica.

00:38:47:14 - 00:38:54:02

Joe Reitzug

Right. Or they're getting their loan through Rocket Mortgage. Sorry Rocket Mortgage.

00:38:54:03 - 00:38:55:04

Makayla Mast

It's just never going to be.

00:38:55:04 - 00:39:16:05

Joe Reitzug

A thing. You guys aren't good sometimes. And when you're dealing with someone on the East Coast, forget about getting a phone call back after 1:00 pm Pacific Standard. Those transactions I always know, hey, I got some calls that have to be made at like 7 a.m., right, to get Ahold of these people. But those are the type of things and financing that I think.

00:39:16:07 - 00:39:24:23

Joe Reitzug

So many buyers are like, well, my mortgage broker and my realtor will get it all figured out. Well, make sure the two of them know what they're doing right.

00:39:25:01 - 00:39:31:15

Makayla Mast

And also make sure you're getting them what they need. Not next week or tomorrow. Get it to them right away. Yeah.

00:39:31:17 - 00:39:35:14

Joe Reitzug

And if they ask you a couple of times it's probably important. Yeah, yeah.

00:39:35:16 - 00:39:37:12

Makayla Mast

Crazy how that works.

00:39:37:14 - 00:39:45:20

Joe Reitzug

Title and escrow and prelim. preliminary title reports. Preliminary title reports are always I always click on it and I'm like,

00:39:45:22 - 00:39:51:02

Makayla Mast

You know, it's so hot. I always get a. Do you does that pit in your stomach ever go away?

00:39:51:04 - 00:40:10:01

Joe Reitzug

I'm just curious on some of them. I'm like, oh yeah, this is fine. And you read through the title report and, you know, people don't know, but sometimes there's adverse, you know, there's clouds on title or all of a sudden, well, where is this loan from? And or what is going on here. And a lot of that's on the seller side.

00:40:10:01 - 00:40:37:19

Joe Reitzug

But you know, title and escrow, it's tricky. And like if you're buying it in a trust or if even if you've been divorced, sometimes the names and all these type of things, you got to stay on top of those things. Otherwise you're delaying closing and delaying closing. Most people think, oh, we'll just wait a couple of days. Well, think about the time sensitive things that you have going on, whether it be movers or taking days off or rent.

00:40:37:22 - 00:40:38:13

Makayla Mast

Like you.

00:40:38:13 - 00:40:42:05

Joe Reitzug

Friend or giving notice all that. Yeah. Good stuff.

00:40:42:05 - 00:40:46:06

Makayla Mast

Tune ups on that for me.

00:40:46:08 - 00:40:47:19

Joe Reitzug

What about repairs?

00:40:47:21 - 00:40:50:02

Makayla Mast

Oh gosh, that's a big one to gotten through.

00:40:50:02 - 00:41:04:06

Joe Reitzug

Everything you've agreed on everything seller says. Yep, I'll do one through eight on your repair addendum. No problem. Everyone agrees upon it. And then you show up at closing and it's like, well, did they do those repairs or not?

00:41:04:06 - 00:41:24:10

Makayla Mast

Don't worry. We never let that happen to you. so when you're doing your repair addendum, we put a certain date, for the sellers to have to have the repairs done by, the default is like two days before closing. but we'll make sure that we schedule a walkthrough for you to go look and make sure all the repairs are done.

00:41:24:10 - 00:41:29:18

Makayla Mast

And we're also collecting invoices from the sellers to make sure that that was taken care of.

00:41:29:18 - 00:41:34:01

Joe Reitzug

Yep. It is amazing how trusting some buyer brokers are.

00:41:34:02 - 00:41:41:04

Makayla Mast

Oh, and I love, like, you know, 17 text messages on closing day asking for the invoices.

00:41:41:06 - 00:41:42:02

Joe Reitzug

Invoice as well.

00:41:42:06 - 00:41:43:19

Makayla Mast

I got it in my file.

00:41:43:22 - 00:41:48:19

Joe Reitzug

There you go. I should have asked a couple of days before because. Yeah, what are we going to do with it now?

00:41:48:19 - 00:41:51:06

Makayla Mast

That could have been really bad for you.

00:41:51:07 - 00:42:06:05

Joe Reitzug

Closing dates and possession. We've kind of talked about of why it's important that you stick with the dates that you have, and if you have to make changes to it, do it in enough advance where you're not going to have to pay fees or penalties or whatever for different things that come up. Right?

00:42:06:07 - 00:42:23:11

Makayla Mast

Right. But usually closing day is a very exciting day, and it's usually also the day that you get possession. and so we'll meet you at the home and make sure you get the keys and the garage door openers. And we also make sure that it's clean because by contract they're supposed to leave it broom clean, which means, you know.

00:42:23:11 - 00:42:24:15

Joe Reitzug

It's a very gray term.

00:42:24:15 - 00:42:40:12

Makayla Mast

No, it is clean. And we've had issues with that term before, but, you know, it needs to meet clean even if they've moved all their stuff out. You know, there's always little dust bunnies there. They should probably have swept that up. But, you know, if you're finding little pieces of dirt on the ground, not worth freaking out over.

00:42:40:13 - 00:42:46:15

Makayla Mast

But if they've trashed the place, we want to make sure that, the seller is taking care of that for you.

00:42:46:15 - 00:43:12:07

Joe Reitzug

So and conversely, so funny in these podcasts, Michela was always looking at it from the buyer's side. I'm 99% of the time looking at it from the seller side, because that's kind of, you know, our dynamic a little bit. And I just think about when we represent a seller, you know, we'll go to the house and make sure everything's taken care of and, you know, stay on top of, you know, the keys, the openers, all those type of things.

00:43:12:09 - 00:43:37:07

Joe Reitzug

And we just had one last week where the buyer when did their walkthrough? Great broker loved working with her. And she was like, yeah, there's all this stuff that's still here. And, you know, instead of bugging our seller, we were like, okay, no problem. And we went over there with the pickup and yeah, got all that stuff, made sure, hey, you guys didn't want this stuff still, did you?

00:43:37:09 - 00:43:41:18

Joe Reitzug

Or we didn't know that that was still the. Yeah. You did. Yeah. You just forgot about it.

00:43:41:18 - 00:43:44:06

Makayla Mast

And then the last things happen.

00:43:44:06 - 00:44:02:04

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, they were just dumb with it. Yeah. That's how we're out. And so we went over and took care of all that. But you don't do a walkthrough. You're showing up to the home with your buyers and oh my gosh, this is a mess. Oh my gosh. There's so many so much stuff still here. Oh my gosh. Half the work hasn't been completed.

00:44:02:06 - 00:44:04:08

Joe Reitzug

So don't let that happen right.

00:44:04:10 - 00:44:05:09

Makayla Mast

And we well.

00:44:05:11 - 00:44:23:02

Joe Reitzug

So those are just some of the things that make it incredibly important to have a competent broker working for you. And if you've been taking notes, awesome. Just hire someone. And by law you're going to have to write unless you want to do it yourself.

00:44:23:02 - 00:44:26:04

Makayla Mast

So work with somebody that you trust.

00:44:26:06 - 00:44:27:21

Joe Reitzug

She over here is the best.

00:44:27:21 - 00:44:33:05

Makayla Mast

She's the best. I've learned everything I know from this guy, so hats off.

00:44:33:05 - 00:44:44:08

Joe Reitzug

Just keep on for ten minutes. Just complimenting each other and that'll be great. oh. All right. Well, it's been a pleasure, Makayla, as always, thank you so much.

00:44:44:09 - 00:44:46:04

Makayla Mast

Thank you. And thanks for listening.

00:44:46:06 - 00:44:48:18

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Thanks, everyone. Have a great day.

00:44:48:20 - 00:45:01:19

Makayla Mast

Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Joe, myself or the livportland team, you can go to livportland.com. Thanks for giving us a listen and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.