Best Ways To Beat Other Buyers in a Super Competitive Market With Fred Glick and René Pérez Jr. Of Arrivva

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• Discover a distinctive method for achieving homebuying success
• Learn why transparent and accurate disclosures are non-negotiable to avoid legal repercussions and maintain buyer trust
• Explore how climate change is reshaping real estate values
• Understand the concept behind the financial strain caused by skyrocketing homeowner insurance premiums
• Learn about the roles of agents, brokers, and realtors, and how understanding these differences can empower you in your real estate decisions
• Know recent changes allowing VA (Veterans Affairs) homebuyers to pay buyer broker fees directly

In this episode with Fred Glick and René Pérez Jr.

Join Fred Glick and René Pérez Jr., as they share expert insights on navigating today’s super competitive real estate market. Discover Arrivva’s unique approach with a flat fee structure and top-tier homebuyer representation. 

Learn essential tips for beating other buyers, from effective negotiation tactics to understanding the impact of rising homeowner insurance premiums and climate change on property values. Gain clarity on legal pitfalls in online disclosures and the distinctions between realtors, agents, and brokers. Stay informed and ahead of the curve by tuning in to the We Fixed Real Estate podcast.

Resources mentioned in this episode

• Fred Glick on LinkedIn
• René Pérez Jr. on LinkedIn
• Arrivva
• California Fair Plan
• Zillow
• Craigslist
• Reddit
• Fannie Mae
• NAR
• NAR Code of Ethics
• VA loan
• OpenAI
• California Dream For All Shared Appreciation Loan

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Fred Glick: Here’s the deal with us as a buyer broker and why we’re better and different. First of all, our flat fee is $9,750, and it really doesn’t matter what the price of the house is. So we don’t have multiple tiers of representation. Everyone gets totally a hundred percent top-flight representation. You’re going to get both of us, who are brokers in California, not salespeople. We don’t pawn you off on anyone else.

And we work out of Slack Channels to keep the communications great. Everything is in writing. You sign a contract as a non-exclusive buyer. So that means you can use us for something. You can use somebody else for something. It doesn’t matter. So we work out of the Slack Channels. We get you all the information that we can all the context of everything. We talk with the other agents. We talk with agents who have properties under contract that are similar. Try to feel out the pricing. It’s just that we love the details and we know going in what you’re going to need to be able to have a successful offer. Because if you’re offering in Cupertino where they’re a single-family house, and there’s 50 other people competing, we have ways of making sure that you go to the top.

Whereas if there’s nobody else competing, we’re going to negotiate. A lot for you because we can get away with a lot. So it just all depends on the house. It depends on the context of everything going on. And we’ve just had so much experience dealing in different parts of the country. So we get an idea of what needs to be done to get you under contract.

[00:01:51] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Talking with René Pérez and Fred Glick here. This is We Fixed Real Estate and that was the one-minute plug on first-time homebuyers. Fred, we’re off to a new week.

What’s going on?

[00:02:02] Fred Glick: Oh, I don’t know. I got to check the podcast channel we have on Slack to remember what I put in there because I’m sure there’s a bunch of stuff that I throw in there of course.

[00:02:12] René Pérez Jr.: As Fred looks at what he put in there. I think a reminder. I think for, it’s not even just home buying or home selling.

Everything you put on social media, everything that you post can and will come back to you later on. So, for starters, let me just see.

Yeah. So, you know, you’re selling a house. Well, guess what?

Your name is on the cover sheet of an offer. If they do research on your home, what happens? They’re going to find out where you, how long you’ve lived there. And when a buyer looks at a home, they want to find out why are you selling. Right? Because I mean, we always talk about the California tax and, oh, you know, you pay more because you get more right in terms of lifestyle, right?

Now, if you put on a post saying, I hate the neighborhood because it’s unsafe, and et cetera, et cetera. Well, guess what? You know, just as a reminder that all that will be used against you later on, right? Yes, you want to be transparent because at the end of the day, when you sell the home, you have to disclose anything that’s bad or anything that you didn’t like about the home per se.

You want to over-disclose, but it’s nuanced to if you have done multiple complaints about a situation or you’ve had any issues, right, of concern. I mean, I know Fred, you saw that a little bit more deeply on the, on the channel, but just as a reminder, right, like, you’re going to be filled with, and then the biggest thing is like if you make that type of commentary, and then when you’re selling the house, you don’t disclose that, well, guess what?

Now there’s a lawsuit in the mix because when you were selling on the official documents, you don’t disclose that thing, but then if you go back a couple of years back, You can read up on articles and newsletters on which you did comment about things you didn’t like about the house, which you probably should have disclosed.

[00:04:16] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh, on social. So your recorded history is there.

[00:04:20] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah. I mean, it’s not necessarily there. Right. But it’s an item that if you wrote a letter to, I don’t know, city council, or if you post it on Facebook, on a Facebook group complaining about what you don’t like about your house. I mean, if most people don’t realize that, “Hey, my Facebook profile is public.”

And then later on, find out that, “Oh, if people search me up, they can find articles about me.” I mean, even with AI, I mean, if I take a picture of you and I put, I go on the search bar and I had an image, you know, I can probably find you. And it’s the same thing with the house. Like, I don’t even need to know the address any more.

I take a picture of the house. And then I, I put it on that search bar and it’s going to give me similar images of a house. If it’s been posted somewhere, it’s likely going to be found. And that’s actually how I’ve also found out about rental scams, which has been one of the biggest struggles, I think, for people looking at homes. Where you go on Craigslist, you go on Facebook marketplace and you see an amazing deal of a home being rented for like 500 bucks a month.

And what I say, it’s like, yeah, if it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true, but if you take that picture and you search up the home, odds are that it’s from a place that’s somewhere entirely elsewhere, like it might be in Canada. And even though it’s been advertised as an apartment in San Francisco or something like that.

Or it could be the same place. And it’s just listed by, say, a management company, or the owner directly on Zillow or somewhere, and then somebody just takes that off a Zillow and puts it on Craigslist because it’s not on Craigslist. And then they try to do the whole rental scam. Deposit the money, and then you can see the unit. Like no, I want to see the unit first, and then I can pay you a deposit.

Yeah, and I do that all the time.

[00:06:11] Fred Glick: And they get somebody to say that their perspective tenant, they want to see the property. That’s how they get access to it. And then they invite you to see it. And then you think it’s real. So you give them the money. It’s, it’s horrible.

[00:06:27] Drew Thomas Hendricks: But then they run.

[00:06:28] Fred Glick: And then they run. Exactly.

[00:06:29] Drew Thomas Hendricks: But to get back to, there’s a lot to unpack with what René said about the social media.

So you’re talking like, let’s use our favorite example of paranormal activity. And you didn’t declare on the declarations that the house is haunted, but someone goes into your Facebook stream and all they see is you complaining about how eerie your house is.

[00:06:47] Fred Glick: Oh, I would love an attorney to get a hold of that.

[00:06:50] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah, I mean, but yeah, you get an attorney. I mean, but it is a material disclosure, right? Because you yourself think that there’s something wrong with the property. So you should disclose it. It’s something that, I mean, if you got a great lawyer, I think there’s a case there. I mean, obviously, I’m not an attorney, but the idea is when something goes wrong, if everything is well with the house, you know what? If you just, if you didn’t disclose something, it’s fine. It’s whatever. But as soon as something wrong happens, like, “Hey, my pipe burst. Now I want 20k in credit.” And it was from a transaction from six months. Then you go look back and say like, “Hey, what did I miss? What else didn’t they disclose?”

And then you check. “Oh, wait. We also thought that this house was haunted. Well, I don’t want to live here. What if someone died?” Yeah. And that can snowball into something worse.

[00:07:40] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So pretty much just remember your histories out there and make note of it when it’s time to give your declarations.

[00:07:47] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah, and it doesn’t matter how small it is.

I mean, again, I think people should practice this idea that like, your data is being sold everywhere, right? I mean, that’s one issue. I mean, last week with like Apple’s new presentation, right? Like, oh, like, maybe OpenAI and Apple are going to be sharing data. Well, what does that mean? That means that OpenAI has all your information, right?

Has access to all your information. I mean, we plug in our phones to our computers. We’re sharing all the data there, right? So what are the effects of that?

[00:08:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Next thing he’s going to ban Apple devices in his

[00:08:21] René Pérez Jr.: Exactly. Yeah. And I mean, whether that will happen or not, I mean, that’s just, that’s just, I mean, he wants to be off topic and it generates clicks, right?

[00:08:32] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, for sure.

[00:08:33] René Pérez Jr.: But it does come from a point of truth.

I mean, that’s what Reddit, right? Like with Reddit, we post things. I mean, that’s how we started this conversation. We ask questions and we expect answers. And then guess what? You know, Google and Reddit have a deal where they’re sharing data, all of the data, everything you’re sharing.

[00:08:50] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Well, there’s that. That’s the original thing with Sam Altman and Reddit. There’s a lot of theories that he used Reddit and all those conversations to backtrack and ChatGPT.

[00:09:01] René Pérez Jr.: I’m sure, and I’m sure they did, and a little bit of everything. The problem is you can’t really prove it, right? It’s the same thing with Scarlett Johansson, right?

It’s like, you’re even using people’s voices. It’s like, “Oh, it kind of sounds like her, but oh, it’s not her.” It’s like, yeah, odds are that they were her. And that’s why there’s going to be a lot of lawsuits. The lawsuit is one thing. The other thing is like the time. I mean, even if someone, even if you posted something, and later you find out about the disclosure, it didn’t mean anything.

You’re still wasting that time, right? Because you still go through the process of, you know, mediation, arbitration, I mean, even litigation, right? So even if you win the case, all that time and effort, and especially in real estate, issues in real estate take a long time. It is not an efficient market.

Like, if you complain about a realtor, you submit a, especially in California, you submit somewhere online, and you have to wait six, seven months. I mean, I actually, I reported a scam website maybe back in December. And I think I just got the email maybe Monday, last Monday. Like, “Hey, we’re looking into the report you made about the scam rental.”

It’s like, really? Like, it takes that much? Like, by that, in six months, ten people were scammed already. And this is just a cutthroat complaints, right? Like, what is it, like, when you complain about an ethics or, but a lack of disclosure, I mean, it could take years. By that point, it’s like, well, I mean, if it takes years, like, well, at this point, I’m already selling my house again, right?

I’m not waiting. So it doesn’t even make sense anymore.

[00:10:36] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So it may be inefficient, but as Fred put something through my Slack message for this podcast, we’re talking about climate change and some of the wealthiest properties in a very short period of time. The case example was that Nantucket home that sold for 2 million earlier this year, just sold for 600,000.

Fred, do you want to add some context to that?

[00:10:56] Fred Glick: Climate change, baby. Don’t buy anything. As I have a picture behind me of what the water and the beach. And 10 years from now, that beach is gonna be gone. That’s what it is. So, you know, instead of buying that house that’s on the water, right on the strand or wherever and looking at the water.

Go up into a hill and look out at the water because it could take 100 years for that water to eventually get there. Yeah, we’re seeing climate change affect property value. Florida, I mean, come on, Southern Florida hurricanes, everything, you know, I mean, Palm Beach beachfront property, even the bay. It’s eventually going.

This just keeps getting worse and it’s just eventually going away. So stay away from beach properties right now, no matter what it is, no matter how much you want. Malibu, that’s going to be a nightmare. Absolute nightmare in years to come. So that’s the lesson from it, unfortunately, because nobody’s going to do anything about it.

[00:12:03] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It’s not just the rising sea levels. It’s the, I mean, California, I grew up in Point Loma and the hills were always eroding back in the 70s. I mean, people, there’s sandstone cliffs that you’d expect to put a house on. It was just built to fall.

[00:12:21] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, back in the day, it was a mistake that was like, easily fixable where I mean, back in the day, if you made the mistake of purchasing a coastal beach property, they’re like, okay, you know what? I’m out a 100K. But now it’s a mistake that can cost you, you know, 4 million easily. I mean, there’s quotes, I mean, and I know Fred says like, “Oh, you can go up to a hill.” Like even, even things on a hill aren’t protected, right? Like if you’re close enough, I mean, that creates other risks.

And I mean, if you’re close to a cliff, well, what happens if it erodes?

Well, now the retaining wall costs, can cost up to a million and a half, which we’ve quoted. I mean, there’s one San Diego, I think by La Jolla. We had maybe 8, 9 months ago where the quotes that they had were above. Yeah, about 1,000,000 and a half to have a retaining wall.

[00:13:16] Fred Glick: Yeah, the newest inspection requirement is going to be a geo-inspection that you have a geologist literally come out and tell you what’s gonna happen on this land.

Got certain things happen and that’ll be, probably part of our contract soon. So that you can put in a geo-inspection.

[00:13:35] René Pérez Jr.: The issue with geo-inspections are that geologists and geotechs are actually, you know, they’re used to looking at larger plots of land. So, it’s a bigger, it’s a bigger quote.

So, and there’s not a lot of, there’s not a lot of people that can do these reports. So, what happens is that nobody really wants to get out of the way to inspect a, like, a small property and get paid 500 bucks. Well, these reports can easily cost 2, 3 grand, right? And people skip these reports all the time.

If you see a lot of, if you, on the street and you look at particular parking lots that have water, that kind of just recreate little, you know, areas of water lumped together or there’s cracks. It’s because actually do the geotech analysis to actually put the, all the gravel, and all the, you know, the roads, whatever they do with the roads. I mean, I’m kind of digressing here on the words, but it’s because like, it’s just easy. It’s like, “Oh, it’s a parking lot. Let’s just not do this analysis. Let’s just not spend a 5 grand on the report.” But it’s also hard. It’s hard to get those inspectors on.

[00:14:51] Drew Thomas Hendricks: What advice do you have for homebuyers? Like, when do you order up a geo-inspection? When you’re on a hillside or it’s more of a bespoke house?

[00:14:59] René Pérez Jr.: I think.

[00:14:59] Fred Glick: You’ll know.

[00:15:00] René Pérez Jr.: I think it’s, I mean, it’s if you see a crack, right? I mean, that’s the biggest thing, right? Like, if you see a lot of settling, that’s not normal.

And by the way, normal is like, look, if it’s a house that’s been there for 60 years and floors are still flat.

There’s not a degree of, you know, like you put a ball on the floor and it doesn’t start rolling. Like, you know what, you’re probably fine.

[00:15:25] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Good. Yeah. What about flood maps and stuff like that?

Like, I know, I know I had a flood study when I bought my house.

[00:15:32] Fred Glick: Oh yeah. Everyone who gets a mortgage, they absolutely do a flood. That’s standard. And that’s if you’re not getting a mortgage, yeah, you can get your own flood search for like $15. You know, it’s worth doing. Seller should actually do that, but…

[00:15:48] René Pérez Jr.: And I think at this point, the insurance companies are, that’s what their job is, right? I think the insurance companies, their job is to like, not pay out the insurance and to ensure your, I mean, that’s, I feel like that’s kind of the way it’s, it’s going. You want to find out like, “Hey, how can I tell this home buyer? Like, I don’t want to ensure this house.” So likely it’s likely that if they’re insuring the house, probably fine.

[00:16:11] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Probably fine. You bring up a really good point on insurance. I was at a party on Friday, a couple of days ago, and a bunch of us were together talking and they were complaining about how their homeowner’s insurance has nearly doubled in the last year.

[00:16:24] Fred Glick: Yeah, they’re lucky. It only doubles.

[00:16:26] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It’s just a mine is not yet, but it’s they’re like, it’s coming.

[00:16:32] René Pérez Jr.: Well, I mean, if your grandfather gets into a home insurance, it’s at less likelihood, but you’re just going to be thrown at like a price that doubles yourself. But especially like a new home buyer, for example, like you’re just toast if you’re getting new insurance and say, maybe it was insured for a thousand bucks. The new home buyer has to pay four grand.

[00:16:56] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah. He has just renewed from two grand to four grand just as part of the normal renewal. But that just seems absolutely a huge price increase that most people aren’t willing to

[00:17:08] Fred Glick: Florida, you can’t even get insurance on a lot of places. So,

[00:17:11] René Pérez Jr.: And that’s why Florida, it’s a buyer’s market, right? Because you can’t insure it.

[00:17:16] Fred Glick: Yeah, but it’s a lot of risk to buy without insurance, especially a crappy condo that’s not Fannie Mae approvable and there’s no reserve study. I mean, it’s places are worthless.

[00:17:28] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So what happens with your mortgage if your house suddenly becomes uninsurable?

[00:17:34] Fred Glick: Oh, they can foreclose.

[00:17:36] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Okay.

[00:17:37] Fred Glick: You violated the mortgage that you don’t have insurance, or they can find insurance for you. That is usually, you know, 30 grand a year, and then you have to pay it.

[00:17:49] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh wow.

[00:17:49] Fred Glick: Because the lender has to be insured. It’s ugly. It’s ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly. Yeah. You just give it back to them. Cause you’re never going to recover.

[00:17:59] René Pérez Jr.: I won’t comment on home insurances here on the podcast, but there’s a bunch of tech-centric home warranty products out there that are, you know, a little bit more of an aggregator of sorts, where you just put the address and you try to compare against them. It’s like, I know that the most typical and well-known is the California Fair Plan.

But there’s better options in them.

[00:18:23] Fred Glick: But the lender is allowed to put their own insurance. They can go and pick it and put it on there. So they don’t care. They’ll get Lloyd’s of London policy for a zillion dollars.

[00:18:32] René Pérez Jr.: You don’t want the lender’s insurance because

[00:18:33] Fred Glick: No, of course you don’t. But if you can’t find it yourself, then you’re stuck with it. If they can ensure it, if they can’t ensure it, then it’s a bigger problem. But

[00:18:43] René Pérez Jr.: The idea is they want to lose money, right?

[00:18:46] Fred Glick: Exactly. Exactly. And they want the states to help them. That’s the other thing. So Paul, you know, we’re getting into the macro. There you go.

[00:19:00] Drew Thomas Hendricks: What else is top of mind at the start of this week?

[00:19:03] Fred Glick: Well.

[00:19:04] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, drones and real estate. We have the usual, conflict of interest and such.

[00:19:16] Fred Glick: You know, we didn’t go through this at a time kids. So we’re kind of scrolling through this.

[00:19:21] Drew Thomas Hendricks: No, we like to give it real-time. And this is like under the, under the hood podcast.

[00:19:26] Fred Glick: Okay. I don’t know if we covered this last time, but NAR pride month.

[00:19:31] Drew Thomas Hendricks: We did.

[00:19:32] Fred Glick: Post draws hundreds of anti, like

[00:19:34] Drew Thomas Hendricks: 800, 800 responses.

[00:19:37] Fred Glick: Idiots. From realtors. We’re not realtors. Okay. Let me say that again.

[00:19:43] René Pérez Jr.: I mean, I’ll say this again, even though we probably have said it hundreds of times, people still sometimes don’t realize what a realtor is, right?

In California, there’s two licenses. You can either start as a real estate salesperson, which is usually labeled as a real estate agent to simplify things. And once you’ve had two years of history and more education, then you can apply for a real estate broker’s license. That’s those in California, other states, there’s up to like five different levels of broker levels, right, and California is just those two levels.

Now, once you are licensed, you can then, decide to go to an association of realtors and pay a fee to become a realtor. I don’t know the exact amount that you pay per month to be a realtor, but you subscribe to their membership. You don’t have to, there’s no application process. There’s no test. You don’t have to like pass a certification.

You just pay the fee and you become a realtor. And then, you know, as a realtor, you get to say like, “Oh, I’m going to follow the Code of Ethics.” Now, a little background on the Code of Ethics. The state of California, never really got to build their own Code of ethics. And since the association of realtor had been alive for so long, the state just decided, and there was actually a Code of Ethics at some point, but it was just not as built as the NAR Code of Ethics.

So California pretty much just said like, “Hey, we’re going to subscribe to the Code of Ethics that NAR has. Because they’re quite extensive, they make sense.” So there’s no technical Code of Ethics for California. The NAR Code of Ethics is followed. Now the bottom line is that even though there is a Code of Ethics, you won’t lose your license if you break that Code of Ethics.

What happens is you if a realtor organization will, will go on the back end and say like, “Hey, don’t do that.” But they don’t have any power to take your license away. And it’s against their conflict of interest. It’s against their interest to say like, “Hey, because you broke the Code of Ethics, we’re going to take your license away.”

So odds are they might get fined. You know, everything’s in closed doors, but they won’t take away the license. The only person that can take away your license is the state of California. And for that to happen, I mean, you have to do other reports. It’s so it’s, it’s completely different. So, and to do business, you don’t have to be a realtor.

I think nobody should be a realtor at this point, you know, I think you should be ethical in general. I mean, you’re in a line of business that you need to be consumer-centric. You need to be an advocate for either your buyers or your sellers. But this idea that like, “Oh, only realtors are ethical.”

It’s like, well, no, that’s not necessarily true. And that’s why you see, and you see a lot of lawsuits, right? The current lawsuits are a point to prove that being a realtor doesn’t mean I’m incredibly ethical. It’s just two separate things, right?

[00:23:01] Fred Glick: I think the public knows that they don’t, they don’t trust real estate agents, but they’re right above car salesmen, used car salesmen, especially.

That’s a problem that we have because we know, you know, we don’t,

[00:23:14] René Pérez Jr.: But Fred, so, you’re trying to talk to, the idea is to explain to people that don’t understand, you know, what a realtor, what a broker is, what a real estate agent is, right. You, I mean, you’ve been in business for 200 years, right?

Like, you know what the difference is?

[00:23:33] Fred Glick: 185.

[00:23:33] René Pérez Jr.: Exactly. No. So, but it’s like, okay, well, “Hey, look, I’m a new home buyer. Everyone around me is a realtor. Why should I use you? You’re not a realtor. What is that bad?” Right? So I just want to be able to explain that. Like, hey, no. And he like, I know Fred doesn’t go to the parties, but I still go to the realtor-sponsored parties.

You know, I still go to the happy hours. I’m still on the mailing list. Why? Because they want us to help them find buyers.

At the end of the day, it’s about like, hey, who can bring buyers? Who can bring sellers? Who knows how to actually do marketing? I always get agents, you know, on, on my DMs.

So then, okay, like I have this open house here. What do you think? Well, can you give us some feedback? Because, you know, we know what we’re doing, right? And it’s just, I think it’s just the, a different, I mean, in a different world, there would probably be like 10 different organizations and it would just be even more inefficient.

I wouldn’t want that, but you know, everybody, everybody on their profile has like a, I’m 1 percent of, you know, realtors in California. Oh, one per top 180.

[00:24:47] Fred Glick: Nobody cares.

[00:24:48] René Pérez Jr.: Well, nobody cares, but also it’s a made-up thing, right? It’s just like, it’s basically like, if you look at it, it’s like, well, what does this mean?

This means that they are part of a board.

And they’re top 1 percent of that little small board. So it’s a misdirection kind of thing. And that’s why we, like, we as brokers, me and Fred are like, well, we’re not going to be a part of that. You know, we don’t need that. We don’t need that fake marketing because we prove ourselves by what we do and how we help you.

You know, that’s more important than like being 1%.

[00:25:17] Fred Glick: Well, it’s just because you grew up in a certain county and you’ve lived there all your life and your children are there and you’re a member of this society or whatever. Tell me how well you can negotiate a contract for me. Tell me, you know, the nuances of the particular properties that you can find out that nobody else can, as opposed to, I don’t care that you went to high school here.

What does that matter? How does that make you a better agent? It doesn’t. It’s just puffery. Because 30 years ago, they were told, get your picture on everything, because then you’ll be a local celebrity and people feel that… that marketing is over guys. It’s gone. It’s done. It’s finished. People don’t care anymore.

They’re looking for the reality of how well you can do for them. Period. That’s it.

[00:26:07] Drew Thomas Hendricks: There was this guy back in 2008, I think he was just starting his real estate practice in Point Loma, but he would stand out on the corner and an Uncle Sam outfit every day with a sign.

And now I see a lot of real – size, but yeah, he hammered it when no one was buying houses.

I wouldn’t be able to stand out there, but he did make a name for himself a little more than the bus stop putting your name on a bus stop.

[00:26:33] Fred Glick: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I’m Susie Smith. And here’s my bus stop at and I sell blah, blah, blah.

[00:26:40] Drew Thomas Hendricks: You know, it’s like, really? Oh, yeah. I do think knowing that someone’s in the 1 percent at least, you know, they’ve sold a home or 2.

Or bought a home or two.

[00:26:49] René Pérez Jr.: The problem is that you can, you can, there’s no way to verify, like selling one home doesn’t make you shouldn’t make you 1%, right? It’s just, that’s just ridiculous. So it’s like you put 1%, but you’re not actually 1%. I think that’s a.

[00:27:07] Fred Glick: Yeah, we can talk about this for days and days. It’s just not, you know

[00:27:11] René Pérez Jr.: It is important. No, because that’s the stuff that people actually focus on. You can talk about, you know, actual like real estate minutiae. Right? But the people don’t understand that people want to know, like, 1 percent mean?

[00:27:28] Drew Thomas Hendricks: They got a trip to Hawaii and they won a sales goal.

I mean, in the larger Compass type of real estate, you get compensated based on your sales.

[00:27:37] Fred Glick: Which means they’re overcharging you to pay for the trip to Hawaii. So $9,750 flat fee people say, hello, that’s it. So.

[00:27:51] Drew Thomas Hendricks: And then selling $15,750.

[00:27:53] Fred Glick: Thank you very much. With all the inspections and photography and everything included.

[00:27:59] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Including contingencies, should they be warranted.

[00:28:02] Fred Glick: There you go. All right, let’s move on to the next topic. And that is the VA so with the whole crap coming down because of all the lawsuits and the buyer broker contracts and all that kind of stuff, it used to be on the VA that you cannot pay your agent, period. The seller had to pay it and they paid it from the buyer broker fee that they offered.

Well, now if there’s no buyer broker fee, the VA has said the buyer, the veteran is allowed to pay a buyer broker fee, but what we heard was that we’re going to come out with a fixed fee, but now they come out with a temporary order that says you can pay anything and it’s negotiable. It’s like VA, you did good, but you didn’t do good.

Cause that really sucks for the veterans. You’re going to, veterans are going to be paying these extra fees. The agent is going to say, “Oh, well it’s required.” And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they’ll just fall into it. And it’s sad. It’s going to cost the veterans more and you can’t buried into the loan.

You can get it back by having some kind of a credit towards closing costs of the net dollars are the same, but veterans be careful out there. That’s all I’m going to say. Be very careful and read before you sign anything. Cause you’re going to have to sign a buyer broker contract. Shop around also, just like you would on a mortgage shop around. So.

[00:29:34] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah. I think too many people sign that contract lightheartedly, not knowing what it really entails.

[00:29:40] René Pérez Jr.: Where people say like, “Hey, like, I thought my contract was non-exclusive. But then I read, you know, the fine print and it said that it was exclusive.” So

[00:29:51] Fred Glick: Even though the agent said it was non-exclusive, we’ve had people come to us with that stuff, just lied, just purely lied because they don’t know how to get real business.

They only know how to get it through line, you know, and it’s like the old thing where, “Oh, well, the seller pays the commission.” Well, of course, they do, but you’re paying it in the price of the house. So, you know, it’s not a lie, but it’s a lie. You know what I mean?

[00:30:22] Drew Thomas Hendricks: What about hockey? You think it’s going to go back to Edmonton or

[00:30:31] Fred Glick: Is it tonight or tomorrow night? I believe it’s game 5 in Florida. Edmonton, I don’t know if they shot. Got too many goals. They won. What was it? 8 to 1 8 to 2. Yeah, but you know, Florida is going to come back play more defensively. Blah, blah, blah.

And it’s going to be a 2-1 game. So, but you still got Connor McDavid and Leon Drysdale.

You know what? Watch the game and find out what happens. That’s the best idea.

[00:31:03] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Well, let’s see, René. Do you have any last thoughts as we wrap down this episode?

[00:31:08] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah, I mean, I just, I guess we didn’t really touch much on, I mean, you said like, watch out veterans. Yeah, I mean, I think it, it sucks that the people that need the most help are the ones that are affected the most.

So as a veteran, I mean, if you’re offered some like premium product, we define rent because you’re probably being steered into a product that is not legitimate. Right? I mean, we see all these, organizations that say like, “Hey, I help veterans.” But it’s like, well, what does this mean? Right. So make sure that you’re not charged, you know, an initial fee to be a part of a, of a program that is supposed to help you.

It’s not just veterans, you know, if you’re part of, you know, part of June LGBTQ plus, minority, woman, just anything in general. It’s like, if you’re accepted into a program and you’re asked to pay something, and I’ve seen these programs exist, don’t, don’t sign that type of paperwork. That’s the takeaway.

[00:32:16] Drew Thomas Hendricks: That’s very wise. I mean, you shouldn’t, if you’re trying to help a disadvantaged or a subset of the real estate market, they shouldn’t be having to pay just to get in there.

[00:32:26] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah. Well, and the problem is that it’s a, it’s a good SEO, right? Like if you’re a veteran, you’re a minority, you’re going to type, you know, how to buy a house as a veteran.

And then you click on the first thing that’s sponsored by someone who’s trying to sell you a product. And they might

[00:32:41] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Programs for veterans.

[00:32:42] René Pérez Jr.: Exactly, exactly. Oh, sign up and then you’re added to the mailing list and they’re going to, they’re going to upsell you on something that doesn’t exist.

[00:32:49] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Good. PSA. What’s your last thought?

[00:32:51] Fred Glick: Okay. Good news. Bad news. One of our clients got approved and they won that lottery that we’ve been talking about in California. That’s the good news. The bad news is it takes like 17 years to process through some companies and then they take like over 30 days to close. So it’s like,

[00:33:11] René Pérez Jr.: That actually, I mean, then that goes on to like what I was just saying, right?

Like, okay. Even the products are supposed to help the clients. And it’s not 10 million years, but it is eight to 12 weeks, eight to take eight to 12 weeks in a California real estate market is

[00:33:27] Fred Glick: I don’t even know what they’re doing. The guy’s already approved for his mortgage.

We’ve pre-approved them. And why are they taking a month to close? It’s just the seller’s going to say, “No, I’m, you know, in a competitive market, I’m not waiting 30 days, more than 30 days to close.” A special program.

[00:33:45] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Wow. So you can, you have to find the house, then you start the process, which can take eight to 12 weeks.

[00:33:50] Fred Glick: No, you have to get it through the process. You got to get the pre approval thing, which takes 3 months for some reason. And then when you find a house, it’s going to take over 30 days to close, which is also ridiculous. So the bottom line is with all these great programs, there’s always a catch. And that’s why not as many people can take advantage of it. So it’s just, just buy a house.

[00:34:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Well, it’s good, it’s good that when somebody got it, that’s, that’s great. Yeah. But then they’re forced to go to a less competitive market or less competitive house.

[00:34:28] Fred Glick: Totally. Where someone got to use these special lenders and it’s just awful.

[00:34:33] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Hopefully they’ll find a house.

He’ll help them find a house.

[00:34:38] Fred Glick: We’ll see. We shall see.

[00:34:44] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Okay.

[00:34:45] Fred Glick: All right. I got enough. We’re busy. Market’s busy. It’s crazy out there. Just be prepared kids.

[00:34:52] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Have a good one everyone.

[00:34:55] Fred Glick: Bye.