15 Real Estate Terms Everyone Gets Wrong (Until Now)

Think you know what “escrow” means? What about “contingent” or “earnest money”? These everyday real estate terms are often misunderstood—even by experienced buyers and sellers. Let’s clear the confusion once and for all. 

📌 Episode Summary:

In this jargon-busting episode of Off the Record, Joe and Makayla break down the 15 most misunderstood residential real estate terms they encounter daily in the Portland market. From “pre-approval” vs. “pre-qualification” to the dreaded “short sale,” this episode is packed with clarity, insider tips, and real-life scenarios that make these terms click. Whether you're buying your first home, selling your third, or just want to sound smarter at your next open house, this fast-paced, fun, and educational episode is for you.

Bonus: Learn why your appraisal value might not match market value, what underwriters really do, and why the term "escrow" might make Joe and Makayla laugh.

⏱ Episode Highlights:

• [00:02:45] Pre-Approval vs. Pre-Qualification: Learn why sellers (and agents) take one way more seriously than the other.
• [00:04:08] Contingent vs. Bumpable: The hidden meaning behind those MLS status updates—and why you shouldn’t be scared of contingencies.
• [00:07:05] Escrow – It’s Not What You Think: Joe and Makayla debunk the “Selling Sunset” version of escrow and explain what it really means in Oregon.
• [00:09:38] Appraisal vs. Market Value: Why they rarely match, and how appraisals can sometimes sabotage your deal.
• [00:12:01] Earnest Money: What it is, how much to offer, and when it could be at risk.
• [00:15:59] Title Insurance: What it covers, why it matters, and how Lisa Wheeler saves the day.
• [00:25:50] Days on Market: What that number really says about a listing—and why 10 days might feel like a lifetime to sellers.

Hosts Joe Reitzug and Makayla Mast are top-tier Portland real estate professionals and community experts. They bring humor, honesty, and years of experience to every real estate convo—whether it’s breaking down market trends or just recommending the best local food trucks.

Connect with the team at livportland.com
Catch their foodie side hustle on YouTube: LivPortland Grub Guide

📚 Resources Mentioned:

• LivPortland YouTube Channel – Grub Guide
• Buyer & Seller Resource Books: livportland.com
• Escrow Partner: Lisa Wheeler, WFG Title

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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;06 - 00;00;21;11

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.

00;00;21;11 - 00;00;25;08

Joe Reitzug

Okay. Welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining the show. Hello, Makayla.

00;00;25;10 - 00;00;26;21

Makayla Mast

Hi, Joe. How are you?

00;00;26;22 - 00;00;33;09

Joe Reitzug

I'm fantastic. I am completely enjoying and love our new studio here. Oh my.

00;00;33;09 - 00;00;35;07

Makayla Mast

Gosh. Yes. Thank you.

00;00;35;08 - 00;00;57;17

Joe Reitzug

Yes, we are here in Northwest Portland at the new Livportland Studios in the parks and Theater. Yeah. And, we are at a new location, and it's going to be awesome. It's going to be great here, but we've got a really, really good show for you here today. I'm excited to chat with you about this because we're we both kind of decided we're just going to kind of throw 10 or 15 of these things out and then just chat about them.

00;00;57;18 - 00;01;10;28

Joe Reitzug

These are the 15 most misunderstood residential terms that we hear here in Portland. So we're going to go through those. And you know, some of these you're probably going to go yeah. But someone has asked what that means.

00;01;11;00 - 00;01;13;13

Makayla Mast

So if someone has asked and someone else is wondering.

00;01;13;17 - 00;01;19;19

Joe Reitzug

That's right. So we're going to run through that. Before we do, I want to give a quick plug to the grub guide.

00;01;19;21 - 00;01;21;07

Makayla Mast

Oh yeah.

00;01;21;09 - 00;01;32;29

Joe Reitzug

The Livportland Grub Guide is up on our YouTube channel. And Makayla and I have been visiting food trucks around the Portland metro area for the last 3 or 4 weeks.

00;01;33;01 - 00;01;34;15

Makayla Mast

We have been eating.

00;01;34;17 - 00;01;36;02

Joe Reitzug

We have been eating.

00;01;36;02 - 00;01;37;14

Makayla Mast

Spending time. Yeah.

00;01;37;20 - 00;01;43;03

Joe Reitzug

Usually there's a pint of beer involved, but yeah, we've had a good time with it and visited some really fun spots.

00;01;43;04 - 00;02;01;27

Makayla Mast

Yes we have. So check it out. We really want to do it to not only highlight local food trucks that we love, but also to show talk a little bit more about what's happening in the communities that we serve. So much about where you live is about your community and what you do and where you eat. So we want to bring awareness to that.

00;02;01;29 - 00;02;10;08

Joe Reitzug

And it's funny because when I think of areas 99% of the time, there's restaurants or food trucks that pop into my head for those areas.

00;02;10;10 - 00;02;10;23

Makayla Mast

Oh, yeah.

00;02;10;28 - 00;02;30;12

Joe Reitzug

Right. So, like, on my way to the studio here today, there are 2 or 3 bento spots here that are really good, actually. And there's a sushi place that I really, really enjoy. So anyways, go to the Livportland YouTube page. Subscribe. Please subscribe because you get to all the new deets on all the stuff we're doing.

00;02;30;13 - 00;02;34;20

Joe Reitzug

And, check out our grub guide because it's, it's fun. It's really cool.

00;02;34;23 - 00;02;39;00

Makayla Mast

And we do a lot of giveaways, but they are released in the episode, so you have to watch.

00;02;39;00 - 00;02;42;28

Joe Reitzug

So with that, let's talk about some real estate terms that people struggle with.

00;02;42;28 - 00;02;44;21

Makayla Mast

Speed round, speed round.

00;02;44;22 - 00;02;50;16

Joe Reitzug

Why don't we go back and forth here. I will throw one at you to start with preapproval versus pre-qualification.

00;02;50;17 - 00;03;19;28

Makayla Mast

Oh good one. So a pre-qualification is a term we actually don't hear as much anymore. But it's a basic estimate of what you can borrow based on unverified financial info. So this looks like a verbal conversation between somebody and the lender throwing, you know, not exact figures out about what they earn and what their debt looks like. So that we don't take a pre-qualification super seriously when we're reviewing offers for a seller because they haven't truly gone through the whole process yet.

00;03;19;29 - 00;03;22;11

Makayla Mast

What we do look for is a pre-approval.

00;03;22;12 - 00;03;38;13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, and there are different levels of pre-approval. Yeah. If the lender has pulled the credit, that's great. If the lender has no other documents they need from the buyer. That's fantastic. And the ultimate end all be all is if there's underwriting approval on the file.

00;03;38;18 - 00;03;40;12

Makayla Mast

That's the thing we want to hear. Yeah.

00;03;40;12 - 00;03;58;17

Joe Reitzug

If you got a pre-approval with underwriting approval on your file, you are ready to go and can probably close very, very quickly. Now you still gotta do your due diligence on the home. Probably still needs to be an appraisal, those type of things. But you are set as far as your financial status with getting a loan, which is always awesome.

00;03;58;18 - 00;04;08;21

Makayla Mast

Yeah, if you're going up against another offer and you're in underwriting and the other offer just has a prequel, you're going to get that offer accepted. More likely than that, if they're similar terms.

00;04;08;21 - 00;04;12;11

Joe Reitzug

And if the listing brokers are on top of their game and they the.

00;04;12;13 - 00;04;14;19

Makayla Mast

Swimming, it's an educated listing broker.

00;04;14;21 - 00;04;15;15

Joe Reitzug

Number two.

00;04;15;16 - 00;04;21;00

Makayla Mast

Contingent. People love to say contingent in the real estate world.

00;04;21;01 - 00;04;50;27

Joe Reitzug

It's contingent on this or subject to that, or what we see more often than contingent is bumper pool. Contingent was kind of an old term, and people kind of get stuck on that. But Bumper Bull is a status and armor class, and people don't quite understand that. Bumper bull means that as a seller, you've accepted an offer, but it's subject to the buyer getting their property sold that they're going to be taking the funds from and make the purchase on your home.

00;04;50;27 - 00;05;10;27

Joe Reitzug

Mr. and Mrs. Seller. So that's what's called bumper. But in the meantime, you still get to have your home on the market. Everyone in the ARM class and online will be able to see that year bumper bowl, which just means it's still available. But if you make an offer and we accept it, we're probably going to have to give 48 or 72 hours notice to that first position bumper pool buyer.

00;05;11;00 - 00;05;22;09

Makayla Mast

Well said. And because people always ask this as well, we are seeing a lot of sales that are contingent or bumper bull. So don't be afraid to enter into a situation where that needs to happen.

00;05;22;15 - 00;05;29;21

Joe Reitzug

Yeah for sure. Another one that people sometimes struggle with is just pending what is pending. Me can I can still go see that home, know.

00;05;29;21 - 00;05;32;29

Makayla Mast

Everybody wants to make an offer once it's already pending.

00;05;32;29 - 00;05;49;22

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Or they've been looking for a home and it's the end all be all one that they want to see. And on their way over there their broker gets the call saying, yeah, I'm sorry, we just accepted an offer. Were sale pending. And every time people ask can we still see it.

00;05;49;24 - 00;05;52;29

Makayla Mast

No no Mr.. Mrs. seller don't like them.

00;05;53;02 - 00;05;56;03

Joe Reitzug

Now and neither does buyer who just got their offer accepted.

00;05;56;04 - 00;06;19;03

Makayla Mast

Right. Totally. If you've already seen the property and you didn't get a chance to put in an offer, but it already went pending, you can do what's called a back up offer, which means you're in the second position. So if anything does happen with that first position offer, you're automatically bumped into first position. But you can't make an offer and be as competitive as that other first position offer.

00;06;19;03 - 00;06;19;29

Makayla Mast

They're already locked in.

00;06;20;02 - 00;06;20;24

Joe Reitzug

Number four.

00;06;20;27 - 00;06;22;01

Makayla Mast

Escrow.

00;06;22;04 - 00;06;22;29

Joe Reitzug

And escrow.

00;06;23;00 - 00;06;32;00

Makayla Mast

People also like to talk about us grow. It's a California term. They say for pending. They say it's an escrow. It's an ice cream.

00;06;32;03 - 00;06;35;04

Joe Reitzug

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Instead of pending, they say escrow.

00;06;35;06 - 00;06;43;07

Makayla Mast

Which I kind of do like. It's it feels fancy, but it's taken from all of these Selling Sunset real estate, reality TV.

00;06;43;07 - 00;06;44;17

Joe Reitzug

Show, real estate shows.

00;06;44;23 - 00;06;50;06

Makayla Mast

And so it's funny when you can tell somebody has been watching those because they love to throw around escrow.

00;06;50;07 - 00;07;05;14

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Here in Oregon, escrow means the company that's a third party intermediary that collects all the documents and gets the closing statement together, provides the title insurance, those type of things. Can we give a plug out to the absolute best an escrow officer love.

00;07;05;14 - 00;07;06;00

Makayla Mast

To.

00;07;06;05 - 00;07;26;29

Joe Reitzug

Lisa Wheeler at Wfg. Title everyone. If you're refinancing your home, make sure you tell your lender you want to close with her. If you're working with a broker that's not Makayla or Joe, please be sure to say, you know, hey, what do you think about Wfg? If he doesn't have anyone or she doesn't have anyone? Lisa Wheeler over at EFG is absolutely fantastic.

00;07;27;02 - 00;07;42;23

Makayla Mast

So in the state of Oregon, the selling agent gets to choose which company they close at escrow. And we obviously choose Lisa Wheeler every single time. But when we're representing buyers, we don't get to choose. And the difference in experience is insane.

00;07;43;00 - 00;07;43;13

Joe Reitzug

It is.

00;07;43;13 - 00;07;45;20

Makayla Mast

And always so thankful. And I get to work with her.

00;07;45;22 - 00;07;47;18

Joe Reitzug

Number five appraisal.

00;07;47;25 - 00;07;48;24

Makayla Mast

Appraisal.

00;07;48;28 - 00;08;14;11

Joe Reitzug

Appraisal can be a naughty word sometimes. Either the appraisal comes in low or whatever the case might be, but for those out there that are like, okay, what is an appraisal? An appraisal is what the lender. Right. So you have a partner when you buy a home, usually unless you're paying cash, you have a partner in that, which is the company that's going to be paying the 70, 80, 90 or 95% of the property.

00;08;14;14 - 00;08;32;19

Joe Reitzug

And they want to know that the home is worth the price that you're paying for it. So they are going to hire a third party nonaffiliated appraisal done by a licensed appraiser. And every now and again, those come in low, which we just had happen.

00;08;32;21 - 00;08;36;02

Makayla Mast

Rarely do they come in high. Sometimes. Really lame.

00;08;36;09 - 00;08;37;28

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, sometimes they do sometimes.

00;08;37;28 - 00;08;47;19

Makayla Mast

But you know, like this home appraised for $1,000 more than our contract price. We're like, all right, we'll take it. Nice. But the low ones really do hurt.

00;08;47;22 - 00;09;08;11

Joe Reitzug

Because then you got to renegotiate the whole thing. Is the seller going to take the hit, or is the buyer going to come up with more cash? How does this all work? That's kind of one of those things that appraisers are like, well, they're like everyone, you know, realtors, their job inspectors, home inspectors, mortgage brokers. It's a big group.

00;09;08;11 - 00;09;20;28

Joe Reitzug

There's some good ones, there's some bad ones, but most of them are really, really good. It's a difficult job. They're putting in a difficult situation. But yeah, so that's that's the skinny on appraisals and appraisers.

00;09;21;01 - 00;09;38;13

Makayla Mast

And appraisal value is different than market value. So a lot of times we'll have sellers who will get an appraisal before they even speak with a broker to say this is what the appraiser said the value is. And that's very different than what we were the lowest, the market value of the home for. So that's always an interesting conversation.

00;09;38;18 - 00;10;02;13

Joe Reitzug

Right. So the difference there and I think that's a great point, Makayla. The difference is when you have an independent appraisal done and you do it, you know, a lot of times they'll go through a mortgage company. And if the appraiser thinks that you're doing it for a refinance, I don't know that this happens a lot, but I've seen it and I guarantee you it still happens occasionally.

00;10;02;15 - 00;10;24;02

Joe Reitzug

If the appraisal is for a lender to loan you money and they make more money, if you get a bigger loan, guess what happens to the appraisal? It's higher, right? If the bank is loaning you money and they want an appraisal on a home that they're loaning money on, they want to know the absolute market value and don't go, hi, Mr. Appraiser, right.

00;10;24;02 - 00;10;44;28

Joe Reitzug

We want the real deal. And so in the appraisal report there is a, a thing called market position. I think I see it named as sometimes but just the market itself. Is it increasing. Is it decreasing. Is it stable. What's it doing. And sometimes that'll affect, you know, if an appraiser says, yeah. The values in this neighborhood, in this area.

00;10;44;28 - 00;10;54;28

Joe Reitzug

Right now are declining. That means that everything is going to get skewed on the downward angle with that. And we are seeing some of that here in Portland, where values are starting to come down a little bit in in some areas.

00;10;55;01 - 00;10;57;11

Makayla Mast

Let's talk about assessed value.

00;10;57;18 - 00;11;16;25

Joe Reitzug

Assessed value is another one. So everyone gets their taxes right. The county says your home is worth X. We had a client whose home we had listed at 1.4, and that county had their assessed value at $2 million.

00;11;16;26 - 00;11;18;14

Makayla Mast

That was such a pain.

00;11;18;20 - 00;11;52;17

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, that was not a good situation. And because of that, they were paying taxes that were egregiously high for the area, which caused the house to not sell. So that can be a problem. But assessed value is just what the county, the assessor has designated the value of your home at. And that can change with, you know, additions or sales or those type of things you know, in a lot of occasions the county will see a sale and go, oh, we have it assessed for 533,000, and you just sold for 1.2 million.

00;11;52;21 - 00;11;53;05

Makayla Mast

Yeah.

00;11;53;07 - 00;11;56;28

Joe Reitzug

Guess what? Your taxes are going up. So that's the situation with that.

00;11;57;00 - 00;11;59;07

Makayla Mast

Yeah I think that's all I need to know about that. Yeah.

00;11;59;08 - 00;12;01;05

Joe Reitzug

Tell me about earnest money.

00;12;01;05 - 00;12;28;10

Makayla Mast

Earnest money is the deposit that you make once your sale pending going back. That amount is due within three business days from the buyer to show that you're serious about the purchase. And that amount is held in the neutral escrow account, and it is safe and protected until you get through all of your contingencies. But after you get through your contingencies, then your earnest money could be what we call on the line, if anything were to happen with fundable.

00;12;28;12 - 00;12;32;03

Joe Reitzug

Yes, typically it's between 1 and 3%. You know.

00;12;32;05 - 00;12;32;29

Makayla Mast

The purchase price.

00;12;32;29 - 00;12;46;01

Joe Reitzug

Of the purchase price? Yes. If we see anything below one, we're definitely going to counter on that as a listing broker. And then for representing a buyer in a competitive situation, we're going to push for 2 or 3%, right, which is a lot of money, but.

00;12;46;05 - 00;12;55;04

Makayla Mast

It applies towards your down payment. So it's basically like prepaying your down payment. A lot of times the new buyers think that this is an additional cost, right. But it's not.

00;12;55;08 - 00;13;19;01

Joe Reitzug

And if you have your inspection and you're like, oh no, this doesn't work for us or you can't get your financing there are clauses in the agreement that say, if you disapprove of the inspection or if your financing fails, earnest money to be returned. And usually what we tell people is, the only way you can lose your earnest money is if we get past all the contingencies and you just decide that you're not going to buy the.

00;13;19;01 - 00;13;21;10

Makayla Mast

Home, right, for no reason.

00;13;21;13 - 00;13;28;07

Joe Reitzug

And we have had some seriously large Ernest Moniz just forfeited. I think the biggest I've seen is 50 K.

00;13;28;10 - 00;13;31;02

Makayla Mast

Oh my. Oh yeah. Gut punch.

00;13;31;07 - 00;13;33;05

Joe Reitzug

That is a gut punch.

00;13;33;07 - 00;13;52;20

Makayla Mast

If for contractual reason you have to back out, you'll get it back, right? You should be able to negotiate that. Yeah, we had a buyer back out the. It was a cash deal. They backed out the day of closing because of property condition. Because when I went to hand them the keys, the property was disgusting. There were new holes in the wall.

00;13;52;20 - 00;13;56;09

Makayla Mast

There were was an insane amount of furniture left behind.

00;13;56;11 - 00;13;58;00

Joe Reitzug

The neighbor come out and say.

00;13;58;02 - 00;13;59;00

Makayla Mast

The neighbor can.

00;13;59;00 - 00;14;01;22

Joe Reitzug

We can park anywhere we want, including on your property.

00;14;01;22 - 00;14;15;17

Makayla Mast

And was threatening the buyer. Yeah, that was that was really bad. I was yeah, I was scared. I had Joe on speaker phone because I was like, I, I know this is too scary, but we got the earnest money back.

00;14;15;17 - 00;14;17;05

Joe Reitzug

We did get their earnest money back.

00;14;17;05 - 00;14;18;00

Makayla Mast

So go us.

00;14;18;05 - 00;14;42;27

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Go us. Earnest money is one of those things that, you know, it's that's a dicey thing because I have a situation right now on a transaction where the buyer's broker is well past the deadline for the inspection contingency. So they've accepted the property right now, the smaller home, the earnest money is only $3,000, but that's $3,000, right?

00;14;42;27 - 00;15;04;24

Joe Reitzug

Right. And so we still want to make the sale happen. So we're going forward. But we don't have any agreement on this. And I'm perplexed as what this broker's doing. But, you know, those situations come up and you need to know the rules. Your broker needs to know the rules, and you need to ask questions about that. If you're in a sale that starts to get a little bit squirrely.

00;15;04;24 - 00;15;05;23

Joe Reitzug

So. Right.

00;15;05;29 - 00;15;07;16

Makayla Mast

Such a weird, such suspicion.

00;15;07;17 - 00;15;07;29

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00;15;08;05 - 00;15;12;13

Makayla Mast

Really. I feel like you taught me that on day one of just real estate school.

00;15;12;15 - 00;15;23;22

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, we teach on day one of real estate school. Do not lose your clients money for them. I'm gonna go ahead and say that's a good lesson. So you never have.

00;15;23;22 - 00;15;30;03

Makayla Mast

Have you learned? No. Okay. Should we talk about closing costs? Yeah, fine.

00;15;30;06 - 00;15;58;29

Joe Reitzug

I think people know what closing costs are. But, you know, everyone kind of doesn't figure in a lot of things like prorated taxes, re conveyance fees, recording fees, transfer taxes, all of that type of stuff. And closing cost is the financial stew, of escrow that all gets thrown in there. And then, you know, three, four, five, six days before closing, you get a what's called a settlement statement.

00;15;59;05 - 00;16;20;20

Joe Reitzug

And that shows all of your cost. We will provide our clients with an estimated net proceeds, which is always a good thing to ask for, is if you don't know how much you're going to net at closing, just ask your broker to get an estimated net proceeds sheet put together. And what that does, it'll show exactly what you're going to get from the sale.

00;16;20;27 - 00;16;42;15

Joe Reitzug

Usually, I don't ask people about what they owe on their property. People know that. So I leave that out. I don't ask that question, but I give them what all the expenses are going to be, and then they can subtract what they owe on their mortgage and get that estimated net proceeds right, which is awesome. So closing costs can be daunting, but it's an easy one to figure out for brokers.

00;16;42;15 - 00;16;44;14

Joe Reitzug

So ask your broker about that.

00;16;44;17 - 00;16;57;12

Makayla Mast

And if you're financing, the lender will work with you on estimated closing costs due at closing at the time of your pre-qualification process, so you'll know you're not going to get stuck with a giant bill right at the end.

00;16;57;16 - 00;16;59;23

Joe Reitzug

Exactly. Title insurance.

00;16;59;25 - 00;17;11;14

Makayla Mast

This is a good one. It protects against issues like unpaid liens or ownership disputes. We don't deal with this too often, but it's our disputes too often. But this is why we have insurance for these.

00;17;11;14 - 00;17;31;22

Joe Reitzug

So unpaid liens are a big one, right? If someone had a bunch of work done on their home, never paid the contractor a lean could be made against a home. And that's not good, right? Because the line stays with the home, not the owner. Title insurance is another reason why we highly, highly recommend Lisa Wheeler at Wfg.

00;17;31;22 - 00;17;51;17

Joe Reitzug

Because when things do come across her desk that are, you know, they could be these minute little sentences in this 50 page document and she sees it. She always sees it. And it's like, okay, I'm going to give you a call. So she calls me and says, what do you think about that? And I'm like, I don't think that's good.

00;17;51;17 - 00;18;12;10

Joe Reitzug

Is it lies? And she's like, no, I don't think you need like that. So we talk about how to resolve it and what it means and how should you know? We present this to the client and that type of thing. And she does the same thing for the buyers, brokers on the other side, too. Yeah. You know, hey, your folks should be aware of this, but that's the type of professional that you want working your escrow file.

00;18;12;13 - 00;18;13;15

Makayla Mast

Yeah, absolutely.

00;18;13;17 - 00;18;21;09

Joe Reitzug

Let's move on to homeowners associations. H o a we did a whole podcast on this.

00;18;21;09 - 00;18;23;06

Makayla Mast

I think it was our last episode.

00;18;23;09 - 00;18;24;11

Joe Reitzug

Could have been.

00;18;24;13 - 00;18;25;23

Makayla Mast

Could have been lost recording.

00;18;25;23 - 00;18;53;11

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. HOA fees are crazy complicated. A ton of information reserve funds, maintenance fees, different amenities, carriers and the big one assessments. It's just a whole big thing. And there's different ways there's HOA fees for neighborhoods like the one I have in my neighborhood, and they take care of the front lawn and the common areas and all that type of stuff, and I love it.

00;18;53;17 - 00;19;01;22

Joe Reitzug

It's great the condos, they take care of the common areas and but they do a ton more board meetings, all sorts of stuff.

00;19;01;22 - 00;19;13;01

Makayla Mast

Yeah, it's something you want to know about. So you want to know the history of the HOA and you want to be aware of what you're getting into. We cover that extensively in our last episode, so if you have questions on that, I think that's a good resource.

00;19;13;08 - 00;19;22;13

Joe Reitzug

That is a great point. If you're interested in finding out more about an HOA, turn on the last pod and we'll fill you up with some HOA knowledge.

00;19;22;15 - 00;19;23;24

Makayla Mast

Good fun.

00;19;23;26 - 00;19;25;27

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Good fun.

00;19;25;29 - 00;19;27;19

Makayla Mast

Tool agency.

00;19;27;21 - 00;19;51;03

Joe Reitzug

So in Oregon, it's legal with the proper disclosures for your listing broker to also represent the buyer in a transaction. And that broker needs on both sides honesty and fair dealings. They need to hold your secrets close, but they also need to hold the buyer secrets close, and it makes a very awkward situation. Sometimes some brokers like to do it.

00;19;51;04 - 00;20;11;13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, other brokers do not. I'm leaning towards the do not. And whenever we have these situations where we have an unrepresented buyer interested in one of Makayla, nice listings, what we don't typically do is one of us will drop out of the listing, meaning we'll remove ourselves from the listing and then just go represent the buyer exclusively.

00;20;11;16 - 00;20;17;10

Makayla Mast

That way we're completely separately dealing with the clients and we can truly keep their secrets.

00;20;17;10 - 00;20;18;24

Joe Reitzug

But then it pits me against you.

00;20;18;24 - 00;20;20;17

Makayla Mast

I know, and it's a battle.

00;20;20;20 - 00;20;21;02

Joe Reitzug

Battle.

00;20;21;02 - 00;20;26;28

Makayla Mast

Royale. When what you've taught me about negotiating really comes into play.

00;20;27;00 - 00;20;30;19

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And you like to just show me how much you know, don't you?

00;20;30;20 - 00;20;31;22

Makayla Mast

Oh, yeah.

00;20;31;25 - 00;20;33;00

Joe Reitzug

Well, you doing a good job.

00;20;33;02 - 00;20;33;26

Makayla Mast

Oh, geez.

00;20;33;29 - 00;20;44;16

Joe Reitzug

Thank you. This next one back in 2008 to 2010, was the hottest of all hot topics. And I'm so glad that you never had to go through that market.

00;20;44;16 - 00;20;45;26

Makayla Mast

So sad.

00;20;45;29 - 00;21;04;07

Joe Reitzug

What were you, like ten? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did the math real quick. 2008 was brutal because of all the short sales, which means that a home and a homeowner are trying to get their property sold, but it's worth less than what they owe. Tough situation.

00;21;04;09 - 00;21;05;17

Makayla Mast

Really tough situation.

00;21;05;17 - 00;21;26;23

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, really sad situation to back in 2008, 2010. They used to have companies that did nothing but negotiate short sale. So I would get a listing saying that was a short sale. We would hire a company to represent the seller, to negotiate the short sale with the lender and all of the other people that were owed money on the home.

00;21;26;23 - 00;21;27;20

Makayla Mast

Oh, wow.

00;21;27;22 - 00;21;35;03

Joe Reitzug

And then when we got a buyer, the buyer and the seller had to agree to be bound by what happened with the intermediate.

00;21;35;06 - 00;21;38;15

Makayla Mast

Oh, so they had to agree that other people were going to negotiate on their behalf.

00;21;38;16 - 00;21;42;29

Joe Reitzug

Exactly. Oh yeah. It was a hot, hot, steamy mess.

00;21;43;00 - 00;21;46;01

Makayla Mast

Yeah. And how did you ever get paid for that?

00;21;46;03 - 00;22;08;21

Joe Reitzug

It was a lot less. It was a lot less because, yeah, those companies that are like, okay, I'm taking 100,000 where this person knows me. 300,000. You, Mr. Broker, are going to take less as well. Yeah. But we don't get to share when they're taking their full, full amount. I guess we do a little bit but yeah.

00;22;08;23 - 00;22;28;22

Joe Reitzug

Anyways it's not a good thing to be in a short sale but we may see more of those in the future. If, if values drop considerably or if you know something black swan event happens where all of a sudden it's not a good real estate environment and people get underwater. So been there, done that. If it comes to that, we'll be ready to to help people.

00;22;28;22 - 00;22;34;07

Joe Reitzug

But at the same time, I just don't ever want to go back to that. Number 14 underwriting.

00;22;34;09 - 00;22;47;10

Makayla Mast

Underwriting. Well, we already talked about this, but that's okay. Yeah we do is the final loan approval process. So when they lenders review your income, credit and property before giving the green light to fund your mortgage.

00;22;47;10 - 00;22;52;06

Joe Reitzug

But what is underwriting like? I've had people ask me, who are we talking about? Who is this?

00;22;52;06 - 00;22;54;03

Makayla Mast

You know, it's the faceless, nameless.

00;22;54;03 - 00;23;00;26

Joe Reitzug

Faceless, nameless people that you never get to meet that pulled your future homeownership in their hands. Right?

00;23;00;28 - 00;23;02;16

Makayla Mast

They're rightfully very intense.

00;23;02;16 - 00;23;07;15

Joe Reitzug

They are very intense. And you'll hear your mortgage broker say, well, it's it's on the underwriters desk.

00;23;07;18 - 00;23;09;27

Makayla Mast

Okay. They always have so much on their desk, right?

00;23;10;01 - 00;23;13;17

Joe Reitzug

It's at the top file on their desk right now.

00;23;13;19 - 00;23;27;25

Makayla Mast

Because what it is, you know, because of that language, I picture someone in an office like like an underwriter, like writing as fast as they can with, like, files and files and files on their desk. I don't think.

00;23;27;25 - 00;23;29;15

Joe Reitzug

It's far off that.

00;23;29;17 - 00;23;32;17

Makayla Mast

I just I mean, nobody works like that anymore.

00;23;32;17 - 00;23;52;14

Joe Reitzug

The underwriter is the final person for the lending company to say, yeah, we're good. The underwriter has a checklist for the mortgage brokers and the lenders that is, depending on your situation, depending on the loan, there could be some wild, wild things that they ask for, right?

00;23;52;14 - 00;23;52;26

Makayla Mast

Oh yeah.

00;23;53;01 - 00;24;10;12

Joe Reitzug

Right. If it's FHA VA, VA has got a big long list. But all those boxes need to be checked. And sometimes it goes against common sense. And I wish I had a good example off the top of my head. But I can tell you, you know, sometimes the things they ask for, it's like.

00;24;10;14 - 00;24;11;03

Makayla Mast

A perfect.

00;24;11;10 - 00;24;12;15

Joe Reitzug

Sign of employment.

00;24;12;16 - 00;24;13;26

Makayla Mast

Right? Right. That's a.

00;24;13;26 - 00;24;41;24

Joe Reitzug

One. That's a big one. Well, I just got a new job. Well, I need to talk to your boss. I'm the boss for this region. No, I need to talk to your boss. And it goes to, like, back in New York or Boston or something like that, and goes into this swirling mess of someone will get back to you soon, and it just is like, okay, this person's making half $1 million a year and they're well qualified and you're in, you know, you're.

00;24;41;26 - 00;24;42;29

Makayla Mast

Seeing their pay stubs.

00;24;43;03 - 00;24;46;12

Joe Reitzug

They're whoever they're reporting to can't tell you that.

00;24;46;12 - 00;24;48;13

Makayla Mast

Right? Like they're lying for some reason. Let's go ahead.

00;24;48;13 - 00;24;53;16

Joe Reitzug

And look at the website. Let's go ahead. And you know here's the business card. But it's.

00;24;53;19 - 00;24;54;12

Makayla Mast

Part of the price.

00;24;54;12 - 00;24;56;07

Joe Reitzug

Have got burned many times before.

00;24;56;07 - 00;25;18;15

Makayla Mast

Who knows. One thing I thought was weird when we just did this is because they had my, like, our version of pay stubs, and then they had screenshots of our bank account. I had to, like, sign a document saying that the amount just in my account was directly from my commission disburse commission like I, and I had to identify each payment with the property that I saw.

00;25;18;16 - 00;25;21;06

Makayla Mast

It was nuts. Yeah, but again, I get it.

00;25;21;09 - 00;25;42;17

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, it's there for a reason. It's there for a reason. And you know, mortgage brokers, the good ones have patience. Like Mother Teresa. Oh yeah. We're waiting for this. Yeah, yeah, it is frustrating. Of course. You know, I feel like we're on a psychiatrist couch or something. Them telling us it's going to be all right, underwriting is going to get it done.

00;25;42;23 - 00;25;49;21

Joe Reitzug

And you're like, it's a week past when we needed it. Oh that's underwriting number 15.

00;25;49;23 - 00;25;50;17

Makayla Mast

Days on.

00;25;50;17 - 00;25;52;10

Joe Reitzug

Market.

00;25;52;12 - 00;25;57;17

Makayla Mast

That's a big one. It is. A lot of people don't know about it. You know if they're new in the market.

00;25;57;19 - 00;26;06;27

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. If they're new in the market or first time homebuyers I think that's kind of an eye opener. But when people dial into it, boy did they look at that number.

00;26;06;27 - 00;26;17;24

Makayla Mast

Six and days on market. Oh that homes been on the market for 44 days. There's no way I'm making a full price offer. And then poor seller on the other end. They're counting the days.

00;26;17;28 - 00;26;18;10

Joe Reitzug

Yeah.

00;26;18;17 - 00;26;20;00

Makayla Mast

Waking up in dread.

00;26;20;02 - 00;26;34;06

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. It used to be that anything over member and 2122 where it was like anything that was past a week or two weeks on the market, they're like, there's something wrong with that. There's something wrong with that home.

00;26;34;07 - 00;26;39;26

Makayla Mast

I swear, anything on the market longer than ten days, I didn't think it was going home.

00;26;40;02 - 00;26;58;04

Joe Reitzug

We now have one of the nicest homes I've ever represented. We've ever represented in the 650 to 700,000 price range. Awesome home, incredible neighborhood, amazing home. Very well cared for, great improvement. And and it's been on the market for 42 days now.

00;26;58;04 - 00;26;59;05

Makayla Mast

Right.

00;26;59;07 - 00;27;07;06

Joe Reitzug

And it's like what do you what do you say to the homeowners. It's like, wow. We kind of do the markets. Well, I'm really crazy right now.

00;27;07;06 - 00;27;15;13

Makayla Mast

And there's but it's just confusing because other homes on the street that are in worse condition have already sold. Yeah. And we haven't gotten feedback as to why.

00;27;15;14 - 00;27;28;29

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And a lot of it is just buyers choice. They choose because they choose, you know. But days on market is a big one. The other thing that I want to say about this is, you know, we get asked by our sellers all the time, can you talk to Zillow?

00;27;29;00 - 00;27;29;19

Makayla Mast

Oh yeah.

00;27;29;21 - 00;27;36;23

Joe Reitzug

And have them, you know, we're going to relist it because we want the days on market to go away. Yeah, it doesn't work that way.

00;27;36;25 - 00;27;40;25

Makayla Mast

Have you ever tried calling up Zillow? No I haven't they don't care.

00;27;40;27 - 00;27;47;26

Joe Reitzug

I'd rather put a nail through my throat now. They don't care though. I agree they do not care. So that's our 15 okay.

00;27;47;28 - 00;27;49;05

Makayla Mast

Good stuff Joe.

00;27;49;11 - 00;27;50;13

Joe Reitzug

Yeah yeah.

00;27;50;14 - 00;27;59;26

Makayla Mast

Yeah I think understanding this terminology helps you stay educated in a competitive market a not a competitive market. It's good to know what these terms mean.

00;27;59;26 - 00;28;34;16

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And if you have some terms that you want us to go over with, you or let you know, go get in the remarks on YouTube and let us know and we'll we'll get you some feedback on that. But as always, you can go to Livportland.com Livportland.com. And we have buyer resource books, seller resource books that go through every step of the process for both buyers and sellers and has terms and nice little helpful stories about different things and how to understand the marketplace.

00;28;34;16 - 00;28;48;16

Joe Reitzug

So feel free to visit Livportland.com. You can see our blog there podcast are all there. You can always check us out on anywhere that of our podcast, but also on YouTube. If you want to see us in person.

00;28;48;19 - 00;28;49;25

Makayla Mast

Live in the studio.

00;28;50;01 - 00;28;56;22

Joe Reitzug

Live in the studio. We appreciate you being here and reach out if there's anything we can do in the meantime. Thank you. Makayla.

00;28;56;24 - 00;28;58;11

Makayla Mast

Thank you. Yeah.

00;28;58;13 - 00;29;02;24

Joe Reitzug

Have a good day, everyone. Bye.

00;29;02;24 - 00;29;17;18

Joe Reitzug

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 lesson and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.