Mak's Homebuying Story: What It’s Really Like to Buy a Second Home Without Selling Your First

Thinking of moving up to a bigger home but overwhelmed by the process? In this episode of Off the Record, Joe interviews Makayla—his co-host, fellow broker, and recent "move-up" homebuyer. From renovating their first home to finding (and fighting for) the dream house, Makayla shares the emotional rollercoaster of navigating Portland’s competitive real estate market. You’ll hear about offer strategies, prepping a home for rent, financing without selling, and real-world lessons from someone who does this professionally.

Whether you’re a homeowner looking to level up or a first-time buyer wanting the inside scoop—this episode is a must-listen!

🎧 This episode will give you hope, strategy, and some laughs.

🔍 Episode Highlights:

• Why Makayla and her husband chose to “move up” now
• How they balanced keeping their first home as a rental while buying a second
• The emotional ups and downs of writing (and losing) multiple offers
• Insider strategies: how they beat out 3 other buyers to land the one
• Navigating financing without selling first—and what lenders really need to see
• Tips on converting your home into a rental (and avoiding rookie mistakes!)
• The value of buyer’s agents and why you shouldn’t feel bad about touring multiple homes
• Makayla’s #1 advice for today’s homebuyers in a high-interest rate market

Thinking about moving up or investing in your first rental property? Let’s make a plan. The LivPortland team is here to guide you every step of the way—from financing prep to the keys in your hand.

🔗 Helpful Links:

• Learn more about the LivPortland Team
• Ready to buy or sell? Contact Us
• Explore our Blog for more local tips and market insights
• Listen to more episodes of the Off the Record Podcast

📢 Bonus Spotlight: JT’s West Coast Gutter and Roofing

We’re excited to have JT’s West Coast Gutter and Roofing as our sponsor! They’re our go-to experts for roofing and gutters in the Portland metro area—quick, reliable, and trustworthy. We trust them with our own homes, and we know you will too! Need a roof inspection or gutter repair? Give them a call at (503) 681-8479.

Curious about how Off the Record listeners can get exclusive perks?
👉 Tune in to the episode to find out! 😉

Thinking about making your homebuying process easier or turning your current home into a rental? Let’s chat! We’ve got the know-how to make it happen because we do it every day.

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;21 - 00;00;26;04

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 want the unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen. Okay. Welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Hello, Makayla.

00;00;26;06 - 00;00;27;20

Makayla Mast

Hi. How are you?

00;00;27;22 - 00;00;35;26

Joe Reitzug

I'm fantastic. It's Friday. The sun is out. People are happy. Yeah. We got an offer on one of our properties.

00;00;36;01 - 00;00;37;03

Makayla Mast

It is a good day.

00;00;37;04 - 00;00;37;28

Joe Reitzug

It is so.

00;00;37;28 - 00;00;42;00

Makayla Mast

Bright and shiny day. I love seeing people walk around downtown again.

00;00;42;07 - 00;01;05;14

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. We are in the livportland Studios, located here in the northwest Pearl Sotheby's office. And, yeah, it's a fantastic day. And we've got a really cool conversation for everyone today. Today I'm going to be interviewing a home buyer who decided to move up from the home they were living in and make a purchase on a larger home.

00;01;05;15 - 00;01;09;17

Joe Reitzug

That home buyer is Makayla mathis. Welcome to the show.

00;01;09;18 - 00;01;11;19

Makayla Mast

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

00;01;11;23 - 00;01;40;27

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, so so fun. So we thought, you know, there's a lot of folks out there that are, you know, they're just it's a daunting task. And it's a daunting undertaking to decide that you're going to either sell your home or keep your home and try to find something larger or a different area. Whatever the case might be. We call them move up buyers because you're moving up from the home you have now to something that's usually larger, probably more expensive.

00;01;40;29 - 00;02;00;24

Joe Reitzug

And, it just can be a very difficult task. And so we thought we would interview or I thought I would interview Makayla today and just kind of give you guys some insights into her journey and how that all came about. So thank you, Makayla, for allowing me to grill you.

00;02;00;27 - 00;02;02;04

Makayla Mast

I'm in the hot seat today.

00;02;02;05 - 00;02;03;06

Joe Reitzug

You are in the hot seat.

00;02;03;06 - 00;02;03;16

Makayla Mast

And.

00;02;03;17 - 00;02;06;14

Joe Reitzug

I told her I would not make her cry.

00;02;06;17 - 00;02;08;02

Makayla Mast

You did say that.

00;02;08;04 - 00;02;08;13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00;02;08;14 - 00;02;11;08

Makayla Mast

Hopefully only happy tears. If anything.

00;02;11;11 - 00;02;23;01

Joe Reitzug

There. Absolutely will be happy tears. So first question. What made you and your husband decide that this was something you wanted to do? What made you, you know, want to make the move?

00;02;23;03 - 00;02;46;02

Makayla Mast

We are currently living in a two bedroom, one bath house. It's around 2000ft² and two dogs. And I don't know about you, but we have so much stuff. Yeah. And we love our sweet little house, but it just felt like it was time for more space. We started to feel like we're busting at the seams and just ready for an upgrade.

00;02;46;05 - 00;03;06;13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, and you guys have a fantastic home. I love your home so much. Thank you. It has been such a wonderful job with it. Thank you. All sorts of updates. You know, you guys took down some trees. Really have made it your own. And you and your husband have spectacular taste. So it is pink and wonderful. So that's good.

00;03;06;13 - 00;03;18;16

Joe Reitzug

So let me ask, what steps did you take to figure out how to get this done? What what was your kind of process for going from could we do this? Should we do this to. Yep, we're doing this.

00;03;18;17 - 00;03;34;15

Makayla Mast

Sure. So I'll back up a little bit, give some more context. So we bought our current house three and a half years ago with the goal to renovate it and then keep it as a rental, because we were lucky to buy that home when the interest rates were around 2%.

00;03;34;19 - 00;03;34;28

Joe Reitzug

Right.

00;03;34;28 - 00;03;51;17

Makayla Mast

But or not. So we always knew that that was going to be a home that we were going to hold on to for investment purposes, but that it definitely wouldn't be our forever home. So when we were doing upgrades to this current home, we kind of always had that in mind. Like, let's not go to luxury. We're not going to be living here forever.

00;03;51;17 - 00;04;10;03

Makayla Mast

Let's, you know, a step above lipstick on a pig, but enough to make it renter proof. We've had to do some projects twice because we didn't do it right the first time. I'm sure a lot of learning. So after we bought that house and took the hit, we started to, you know, make sure we could keep our credit scores really high.

00;04;10;03 - 00;04;29;04

Makayla Mast

And then almost immediately started saving for this next house. And then fast forward to around summer time or last year, we started to reach out to our lenders again and just kind of see where things were at on that side of things. Make sure, you know, all of our ducks were in a row, which takes some time. You know, you got to make sure your taxes are paid.

00;04;29;04 - 00;04;47;14

Makayla Mast

And, you know, I have too much debt. So we were working on those things. And then in the fall, we got a lot more serious started kind of looking, but not enough to like pull credit or anything like that with our lender. So we didn't do that until just about a month and a half ago when we got really serious.

00;04;47;14 - 00;04;48;21

Makayla Mast

Wow.

00;04;48;23 - 00;05;00;06

Joe Reitzug

And let me ask, who is more on board with this? Was that you or your husband, or were you both just like, all in from the get go?

00;05;00;09 - 00;05;02;26

Makayla Mast

I think we were both really all in. Yeah.

00;05;02;29 - 00;05;04;09

Joe Reitzug

That's kind of the sense I got to.

00;05;04;09 - 00;05;18;02

Makayla Mast

Yeah. Where you are, literally. It's all comes down to the bathroom. We are literally in, like a five by six bathroom. So every night when, you know, we're trying to get ready for bed, it's always a conversation.

00;05;18;04 - 00;05;21;06

Joe Reitzug

Of who goes first. Why are you taking so long?

00;05;21;07 - 00;05;27;05

Makayla Mast

Yes. And we also both work from home a lot of the times, so it feels like we're on top of each other.

00;05;27;08 - 00;05;28;03

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, I'm.

00;05;28;06 - 00;05;42;06

Makayla Mast

But we again, I love this little home. And the yard was really big. The location was great. It was a great investment, but it was always in the back of our minds that we're like, okay, we need to get out of here if we ever want to grow our family. Yeah.

00;05;42;08 - 00;05;52;00

Joe Reitzug

So you've been there three and a half years. Nice. So let's talk about your search process. You kind of outlined you know when you started that. But how long did that really take.

00;05;52;02 - 00;06;02;07

Makayla Mast

We didn't get super serious until the end of January. And we closed on our home next week April 10th. So just a couple months.

00;06;02;07 - 00;06;02;20

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00;06;02;23 - 00;06;12;12

Makayla Mast

It felt a lot longer than it was probably. But I would say the like the refreshing Zillow on a daily basis. Right. Probably started in February.

00;06;12;19 - 00;06;17;23

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And I know that this was not the first time that you may not front how many total offers to make.

00;06;17;27 - 00;06;20;02

Makayla Mast

We wrote this was our fourth offer.

00;06;20;06 - 00;06;36;10

Joe Reitzug

Wow. And you know, that's a good indication, folks, of where our market's at, the cream of the crop homes, the ones that check all the boxes for most of the people, if they're priced right, you're still getting multiples up, multiple offers on it.

00;06;36;11 - 00;06;43;00

Makayla Mast

Right. And I like you touched on criteria. Our criteria was very specific and I wasn't willing to budge.

00;06;43;03 - 00;06;44;26

Joe Reitzug

So what were your top three.

00;06;44;27 - 00;07;04;20

Makayla Mast

That meant that, you know, it felt like our criteria was similar to everyone else's. Yeah. Location. So we wanted to be in Cedar Mill or Cedar Hills, but in Washington County still, which is very hard to find. We wanted a four bedroom, 2000ft² or more, and then a lot with 8000ft² or more.

00;07;04;26 - 00;07;06;07

Joe Reitzug

Right. Because you got puppies.

00;07;06;10 - 00;07;28;25

Makayla Mast

We got puppy. And so we I love to garden and we spend so much time outside hosting in the summer. So that was really important to us. But the first two offers we wrote were competitive situations and we missed out, and it was heartbreak in the whole thing. And then we wrote another offer on this house that checked all of the boxes, but it wasn't the right house.

00;07;28;28 - 00;07;29;17

Joe Reitzug

I know.

00;07;29;18 - 00;07;49;19

Makayla Mast

And we had that offer out, which I just think this is worth noting because even as a broker, you know, I have all this insight and I do this all the time, but it's just it's so different and it's hard to articulate it, really knowing when a home is the one until you go through it. So we kind of saw this, this house that we're sell pending on now on a whim.

00;07;49;19 - 00;08;08;27

Makayla Mast

We kind of were like, let's just go see it. I was like super sick. And we just got in the car and and went and I walked in the home and I said, probably 12 times this is our house, I have to have this house. And I called Joe. I was like, we have a big problem. I have an offer out on another property.

00;08;08;27 - 00;08;27;10

Makayla Mast

We want to act in good faith. So we decided to cancel our offer on the other property and then right on this one, even knowing that it was going to be a competitive situation. So yeah, it was we were one of four offers and we put all our eggs in one basket, but we felt like this was the one to do that for.

00;08;27;12 - 00;08;52;14

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So being a broker and being a professional, this Makayla was the best. She is absolutely fantastic. But she it was interesting for me to watch you go through this process because we talked a lot. And just to see the anxiety and the stress and the hope and the defeat and just all of the emotions and everything.

00;08;52;16 - 00;09;11;17

Joe Reitzug

Was it a revelation to you or did you, you know, being the professional you are, you know, all these things, but going through it yourself. What was that like? Did it ever kind of make you look back and go, oh wow. Yeah. This is a crazy emotional thing that we're going through.

00;09;11;17 - 00;09;31;26

Makayla Mast

Yeah, it was an emotional roller coaster. And I think I learned, you know, I have so much empathy for our clients that are going through this is you just like you said, you get your hopes up. You want it so, so, so bad. It's a lot of work to put together an offer. It's a lot of just money jumbling, you know, at the very least.

00;09;31;28 - 00;09;51;26

Makayla Mast

And then to get let down and have to like just search over and over again. Yeah. It's an emotional roller coaster. I think one thing I learned is, by our clients, you know, sometimes they can be a little hard to read when we call them with the news that they didn't get that offer accepted. I think what I learned is no matter what, I'm going to go I'm going to something very kind for them.

00;09;51;26 - 00;10;01;03

Makayla Mast

And they don't get that offer accepted because I really know how it feels. And a lot of times I think they try to keep a brave face for us. Yeah. And I, I know that it's very, very sad.

00;10;01;04 - 00;10;17;08

Joe Reitzug

So I know, I know. And I felt, you know, when you didn't get those first two, I just, you know, your heart breaks and we feel about that that way about all our clients. But you know, you and I are friends. And it was just like,

00;10;17;11 - 00;10;18;05

Makayla Mast

Yeah.

00;10;18;07 - 00;10;18;29

Joe Reitzug

So, you.

00;10;18;29 - 00;10;19;09

Makayla Mast

Know.

00;10;19;13 - 00;10;19;29

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, it's a.

00;10;19;29 - 00;10;24;24

Makayla Mast

Lot, but it all worked out because this was our favorite home by far.

00;10;24;25 - 00;10;26;02

Joe Reitzug

So yeah, it.

00;10;26;02 - 00;10;27;12

Makayla Mast

Is being happen for a reason.

00;10;27;13 - 00;10;47;09

Joe Reitzug

Thanks, beautiful. I am you know what I keep going back to because I have puppies too. And I keep going back to how cool it's going to be on that first day when you bring bring the boys over, you know, and let them run around. They're going to be like, you never let us run in someone else's house.

00;10;47;09 - 00;10;49;00

Joe Reitzug

This is crazy, right?

00;10;49;02 - 00;10;53;24

Makayla Mast

I know that's we're so excited. And we're going to video them going through their yard for the first.

00;10;53;24 - 00;10;56;21

Joe Reitzug

Time that it's going to be. That's going to be fantastic.

00;10;56;24 - 00;11;23;05

Makayla Mast

So for the listener, it's a obviously a huge no no to bring your dogs to a house that you don't own yet, like in the real estate process, if there's ever a showing, you know, if there's ever a question whether you could bring your dog to a showing, the answer is no. Yeah. But we were up there last night and to check because we have the deck is getting done and we wanted to bring the dogs so bad and then even what had just been in the yard.

00;11;23;05 - 00;11;27;06

Makayla Mast

But we're waiting, waiting a couple more days and then we're going to let them loose.

00;11;27;08 - 00;11;46;23

Joe Reitzug

Well, great. Exciting. Good way to hold back. I think the big reveal for them will be fun. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. That's cool. So you're not selling your current home. What is the rental process looked like for you? What were your steps that you took to kind of figure out, okay, we're sale pending on the home that we want to buy.

00;11;46;25 - 00;11;59;08

Joe Reitzug

And now we got to get this one rented. And I know there were some, you know, for your financing, they wanted to see a rental contract within a certain amount of days. So a lot of stress there. Yeah. What did that look like?

00;11;59;10 - 00;12;12;08

Makayla Mast

So, to be completely honest, even as a licensed broker, I had no idea how in over my head I was getting. Yeah. Because the rental management side and the real estate side could not be more different.

00;12;12;09 - 00;12;14;25

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, way more different rules. Different.

00;12;14;25 - 00;12;15;05

Makayla Mast

Yeah.

00;12;15;11 - 00;12;18;10

Joe Reitzug

Laws. It's it's it's something.

00;12;18;10 - 00;12;41;23

Makayla Mast

Yeah. It's nothing to just do on a whim. On your own. Yeah. I'm, we're lucky to have so many resources and tools and insight and context to just, you know, bounce ideas off of. So that made me feel a lot more comfortable. But I think the hard thing was the timeline. Like Joe said, I had to get a renter in there in order to close on this house, this next house.

00;12;42;00 - 00;12;54;07

Makayla Mast

And it wasn't just getting the renter, it was having a signed rental agreement and deposits fully into our account. That didn't mean the deposits are on the way. They had to be fully. Yeah, it's for a deposit.

00;12;54;07 - 00;12;55;14

Joe Reitzug

You had to.

00;12;55;17 - 00;12;55;26

Makayla Mast

Yeah.

00;12;56;01 - 00;13;01;18

Joe Reitzug

To your mortgage broker with proof that, okay, this was deposited, right?

00;13;01;18 - 00;13;19;10

Makayla Mast

Which is totally fair. On the financing side, it was kind of crazy. So when we started looking for homes more seriously in February, we also started looking at rentals to just kind of see, you know, what similar homes were renting for in our area and just kind of get a range on what ours might rent for.

00;13;19;13 - 00;13;20;11

Joe Reitzug

Through Zillow.

00;13;20;13 - 00;13;43;17

Makayla Mast

We did, of any of the rental sites. Yeah. But Zillow was our greatest tool that we used by far. They've come a really long way with this whole process. It's actually pretty easy. I went to understand the laws. You have to understand your local rules and laws. Then it's it's easy to navigate. So we the biggest part is getting your home ready.

00;13;43;19 - 00;13;48;21

Makayla Mast

So that was you know, once we got our offer accepted we were like oh crap.

00;13;48;24 - 00;13;49;06

Joe Reitzug

Here we.

00;13;49;06 - 00;14;13;10

Makayla Mast

Go. It was we heard at like 8 p.m. and by 8 a.m. the next morning, my husband had done more projects on the house. He had no files, which no shame at all. It was just crazy. Know he's like, wow, I can't believe how fast they did those things. Yeah. So after that we got our photos done, we submitted it to Zillow and amazingly enough, there was a lot of interest.

00;14;13;10 - 00;14;17;14

Joe Reitzug

So yeah, we had the rental market is really competitive.

00;14;17;15 - 00;14;37;03

Makayla Mast

Yeah, it's even crazier than the purchasing market, really. Yeah. So we had like 24 people request to show the house or to see it. So we just did an open house instead because, you know, managing all those showings would have been a nightmare. We had like three people from out of state do FaceTime tours. It was crazy.

00;14;37;03 - 00;14;53;03

Makayla Mast

And then so you can't accept applications until your home has been advertised for 72 hours. So that happened to be at 11 a.m. on a Monday, right? So once that application period opened up, we were lucky enough to get seven applicants.

00;14;53;04 - 00;15;01;00

Joe Reitzug

Wow. Yeah. Fantastic. And what were your impressions of the rental applicants overall?

00;15;01;02 - 00;15;01;15

Makayla Mast

Were you.

00;15;01;15 - 00;15;03;17

Joe Reitzug

Were you happy with the group that you.

00;15;03;17 - 00;15;22;06

Makayla Mast

Guys are happy? We had to just, because they met all of our criteria. We just wrote their names and put them in a hat and drew. Oh, well, names, which is how you're supposed to do it if people submit at the same time. So it's all like a timing. Things we had. Yeah. We had three couples submit, 11 a.m. on the dot.

00;15;22;06 - 00;15;22;18

Joe Reitzug

Whoa.

00;15;22;18 - 00;15;32;13

Makayla Mast

So and they were all equally qualified and we met and loved all of them. So that's a great. Yeah, it was a really pretty easy process.

00;15;32;15 - 00;15;41;05

Joe Reitzug

So besides Zillow, were there other any other websites or any other resources that you use to kind of familiarize yourself with what the laws in the process look like?

00;15;41;06 - 00;15;50;10

Makayla Mast

We like took the Oregon Ordinance laws, you know, all those packets that are 100 pages long and we put them in the chat.

00;15;50;10 - 00;15;52;16

Joe Reitzug

You put course you did.

00;15;52;18 - 00;15;54;01

Makayla Mast

And which helped a lot.

00;15;54;03 - 00;15;55;10

Joe Reitzug

Because the rescue.

00;15;55;12 - 00;16;09;13

Makayla Mast

Reading through that is just you confuse yourself even more. And then we also have a past client who is she's lovely, who was generous enough to get on the phone with me. So she was able to answer all the questions that I had that I was a little squirrely about.

00;16;09;20 - 00;16;11;04

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah.

00;16;11;05 - 00;16;40;08

Makayla Mast

Thank you. This episode is sponsored by T's West Coast Gutter and Roofing. They are a local family owned company out of North Plains, Oregon. They service all of the Portland metro area and specialize in all things roofing and gutters. And they do roof cleanings. Obviously installs repairs and same thing with gutters and downspouts. So if you're noticing that your home needs some attention, I would highly recommend giving them a call.

00;16;40;15 - 00;17;07;22

Makayla Mast

We will link their information up in the show notes. They are the folks that we trust with all of our clients. They are super quick to come out and give free estimates and their pricing is really fair. They can always get us on the schedule really fast, which is helpful, and if there's ever any issues after the fact, they're very quick to come back and fix, you know, those mistakes as well, and they have amazing warranties that they're happy to transfer from seller to buyer.

00;17;07;22 - 00;17;28;19

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And the bottom line is they're just wonderful people. I love working with them. And they without fail, do a fantastic job on time. It's just been great working with them. So we're so excited to have them as a sponsor of the show. There is a bonus for the Off the Record listeners today's and there Makayla there is.

00;17;28;19 - 00;17;37;24

Makayla Mast

So if you reach out to JT is West Coast Gutter and Roofing and referenced this episode, they will give you 5% off of any service.

00;17;37;26 - 00;17;39;00

Joe Reitzug

5%.

00;17;39;00 - 00;18;00;05

Makayla Mast

I couldn't go a long way. She's a roof replacement or even a gutter replacement. And even if you just need a roof cleaning roof and gutter cleaning, you know, that'll go a long way too. So their number is (503) 681-8479, so I'd recommend giving them a call or reaching out to them via email. Thanks for sponsoring.

00;18;00;05 - 00;18;08;17

Joe Reitzug

Us fantastic folks. Highly recommend! Five stars. All right guys, thank you.

00;18;08;19 - 00;18;10;23

Makayla Mast

Now back to the show.

00;18;10;26 - 00;18;28;15

Joe Reitzug

Okay, so as we discussed, you bought your home without selling your current home. And you're going to keep that as a rental as an investment. Kudos. Awesome. So you know, without going into too many details on this, what did that financing process look like for doing that type of transaction?

00;18;28;15 - 00;18;53;14

Makayla Mast

Sure. So as we touched on earlier as well, we had this in the back of our minds for several months. So we're really paying attention to keeping our debt low, which is hard to do. And so that was always a conversation every single month. We worked hard to pay down our cars and keep our credit cards low. That way, when we actually went to apply, it wasn't so scary and there wasn't so much to do.

00;18;53;14 - 00;19;05;04

Makayla Mast

And so that I think was helpful. And then we weren't totally sure if we had to have that renter in there prior to closing. But, you know, it worked out pretty well. So it wasn't too terrible. That was mainly.

00;19;05;04 - 00;19;24;26

Joe Reitzug

It. Yeah. And, you know, for those of you out there that are thinking about doing something like this and holding on to your home, it's just a conversation with your lender, you know, and and having that conversation, you know, they'll ask you a bunch of questions. You know, though it's not a difficult process. And they should be able to tell you really quickly.

00;19;24;26 - 00;19;47;23

Joe Reitzug

And if you're looking for an amazing lender, go to our website. We have a couple of them on there livportland.com. Click on blog or podcast and you can find that information on our site. So that's cool. So to wrap this up, what advice would you give anyone thinking of moving up to a new home right now, which what's your takeaway?

00;19;47;25 - 00;20;08;12

Makayla Mast

Start early. Understand what the financing signs are. I understand that your monthly payment is going to be more than your current one. There's no real way to get around that right now, especially because if you're moving up, you're likely going to be, purchasing a more expensive home, which means your loan amount is going to be more. I'm trying to think the interest rates are higher.

00;20;08;12 - 00;20;33;27

Makayla Mast

Obviously, one thing we did was we we offered over the asking price, but we asked for seller concessions and we used that to buy down the interest rate. So that's probably my biggest advice in this climate right now. But it actually is a really great time to buy, despite, you know, me having to write multiple offers, there is still less competition than there has been previously.

00;20;33;29 - 00;20;40;03

Joe Reitzug

Over half right, half as many buyers in the marketplace as there were a year or two ago.

00;20;40;09 - 00;20;41;00

Makayla Mast

Crazy.

00;20;41;06 - 00;20;41;14

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00;20;41;20 - 00;21;01;29

Makayla Mast

And if you're not looking for a premier home, then chances are it won't be competitive at all. So yeah. And then, understand that it's going to take some time. You might get let down, you might miss out on a couple. But, it's part of the process. You know, even as a broker, I, I lost out on some offer.

00;21;01;29 - 00;21;07;12

Makayla Mast

So it is just part of it right now. And then I had one other thing and now has lost.

00;21;07;12 - 00;21;36;09

Joe Reitzug

We wanted to make a note on what you just said. You know, there are Premier just absolutely fantastic homes out there right now that haven't sold and haven't gotten multiple offers because they overprice to start with. Right. Or maybe there's one little flaw, right? There's, you know, a driveway that has an easement or the lot's really, really small, but there's great fines out there right now.

00;21;36;09 - 00;21;41;02

Joe Reitzug

And for those homes that have sat on the market for a while, you can get a great deal on stuff right now.

00;21;41;04 - 00;21;41;27

Makayla Mast

Absolutely.

00;21;41;27 - 00;22;04;27

Joe Reitzug

The homes we're talking about and you know, the criteria that you were looking for that is like, you know, the cream of the crop and everyone's looking for that. And those that are just have no flaws and are perfect. Great location, great home, you know, well-maintained, really great floor plan, those type of things. Yeah. Those are still going to be a hot commodity.

00;22;05;02 - 00;22;26;27

Makayla Mast

Absolutely. My last piece of advice, which I actually think is the most important, and the thing I learned the most from this process is don't be afraid to bug your broker to see homes. You don't have to just go see your top two homes or your top three homes that you think you like. Based on the photos, go see everything that meets your criteria.

00;22;26;29 - 00;22;27;19

Joe Reitzug

Because you never know.

00;22;27;20 - 00;22;33;15

Makayla Mast

You never know. This house that I walked into that is my dream home. I probably could have past it.

00;22;33;18 - 00;22;34;11

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00;22;34;13 - 00;22;56;16

Makayla Mast

Just because of the feeling I got on the pictures. I didn't even have a real reason. We. I think a lot of times our clients don't want to bother us, but this is what we do and this is what we love to do. It's not taking up too much of our time to go see two dozen houses. You know, as long as we're being productive with it and you have a set of criteria, there's I don't think there's any harm in that whatsoever.

00;22;56;16 - 00;22;59;08

Makayla Mast

So yeah. Yeah. Go see the houses. Yeah.

00;22;59;08 - 00;23;34;12

Joe Reitzug

And another thing is call your broker. You and I talked all the time, you know. Hey, what do you think about that? Can you check this out or, you know, all sorts of different questions. And that's what we're here for. We want to help support you in your in your journey, doing the things beforehand is critically important. And I think you and your husband did a fantastic job of getting yourself set up so that you can make this happen and do it in a way that you're going to be comfortable with, and then it's just a matter of finding the right home, which is, you know, part of the process, the difficult part of the

00;23;34;12 - 00;23;44;20

Joe Reitzug

process sometimes. But at that point you're not stressed about. We see it too often where people put the cart in front of the horse and go look at homes before they've got the rest of the stuff figured out.

00;23;44;22 - 00;23;47;03

Makayla Mast

More often than not, it seems like.

00;23;47;05 - 00;24;08;01

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, not the ideal way to go for your stress levels and for also getting into the home that you want, you know, every now and again or actually more often than, you know, we really want to see people find their dream home, you know, hey, we've been thinking about moving up and they've got no plan for what they're going to do with their current home.

00;24;08;01 - 00;24;27;25

Joe Reitzug

They don't have their finances in order. At least they haven't had the conversation with the lender. But they found this perfect home and they want to make an offer. Well, if you don't have a pre-approval, good luck with that. Right? And if you don't have your plan for what you're going to do with your home, you don't know what you're you know, if you're selling it, what you're going to get your estimated net proceeds on that, those type of things.

00;24;27;25 - 00;24;30;23

Joe Reitzug

It's difficult and stressful. So I'm.

00;24;30;23 - 00;24;31;09

Makayla Mast

Swirling.

00;24;31;14 - 00;24;37;29

Joe Reitzug

We thought we'd get, get this podcast out there so that people can see how it's done.

00;24;38;01 - 00;24;40;23

Makayla Mast

In a flash. It is possible.

00;24;40;25 - 00;24;45;13

Joe Reitzug

It is possible. Yes. And Makayla hit it out of the park.

00;24;45;15 - 00;24;48;01

Makayla Mast

Thank you.

00;24;48;03 - 00;24;56;16

Joe Reitzug

All right, folks, well, thank you to, our sponsor. And we really appreciate all you guys. Thank you so much. And until next time, have a great day.

00;24;56;19 - 00;25;15;23

Makayla Mast

Bye. 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.