Title Insurance: Costs, Myths, and Expert Advice You Should Know with Fred Glick and René Pérez Jr. of Arrivva

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

• Learn about title insurance, how it varies by state and county, who foots the bill, and why it’s a non-negotiable for mortgage lenders
• Dive deep into the discussion of whether the age of your dream home affects title insurance
• Tune in as Fred and René reveal insider strategies for mastering appraisal contingencies, ensuring you stand out in any bidding war
• Explore the unexpected impact of appliances on real estate negotiations
• Don’t miss expert analysis of the rising costs of homeownership and innovative energy solutions
• Discover upcoming listings, offering viewers a sneak peek at potential dream homes. Get ready to find your perfect home with Arrivva

In this episode with Fred Glick and René Pérez Jr.

Join Fred Glick and René Pérez Jr. as they delve into the intricacies of title insurance and market dynamics in the world of real estate. From understanding the nuances of title insurance across states and counties to exploring innovative pilot programs aimed at reducing costs, they provide invaluable insights for both buyers and sellers. 

Learn from the experts as they analyze market trends, appraisal contingencies, and the impact of inventory fluctuations on housing markets, offering expert advice to navigate the ever-changing real estate landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned investor or a first-time homebuyer, this podcast equips you with unique insights and knowledge needed to make informed decisions in today’s real estate market.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Welcome to We Fixed Real Estate. Today, we got Fred Glick, the man, the myth. Fred, how’s it going?

[00:00:05] Fred Glick: I was called a legend last week. I have a prospective buyer. I think it’s hysterical.

[00:00:10] Drew Thomas Hendricks: A legend by a respected buyer, no less.

[00:00:17] Fred Glick: A prospective buyer.

[00:00:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Prospect.

[00:00:20] Fred Glick: Right. He’d been talking just to René, and then I came in the chat room in the Slack channel, and he said, “Oh my god, it’s you. You’re a legend.”

[00:00:30] René Pérez Jr.: And I’m hoping he meant like real estate wise versus just like you because there’s a football player that’s also named Fred Glick.

[00:00:38] Fred Glick: Yeah, Freddy, Freddy Glick, actually, they call him played for Denver in the Hall of Fame. Yep. But he’s been dead for 20, 30 years, so he’s not competing with me on Twitter.

[00:00:53] Drew Thomas Hendricks: But he still competes on Google.

And we also have René today. René’s on the road selling houses. How’s it going René?

[00:01:00] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah, trying to. Yeah. So we’re, I mean, we’re getting ready to list the house in San Jose near Santana Row. So we’re just looking at the final touches you know, making sure that there’s no missing paint, that all the doorknobs work, that all the light bulbs are matching.

So yeah, it’s a fun day today. Stay tuned.

[00:01:20] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Awesome. I have not been to Santana Row in a few years. How’s that place shaping up? Did it, how did it emerge from the pandemic?

[00:01:28] René Pérez Jr.: Oh, I mean. I hate it just because I hate overpriced areas that just want to charge and upcharge you just because it’s a nice location.

[00:01:39] Fred Glick: Yeah. Bougie world.

[00:01:41] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah. But no, but there’s, there’s a lot of outdoor dining and that’s like, for a hot day, like today, we’re at 84 degrees, 85. It’s a nice place to go out and eat outside and have fun. There’s a lot of live music. So, yeah. No, it’s nice and thriving.

[00:01:58] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah. When I used to live in Santa Clara, I’d make a, my big destination was Pizza Antica to get their warm brussel sprout salad.

[00:02:04] René Pérez Jr.: Oh, I didn’t know you lived up there.

[00:02:06] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Now they have the recipe online and I make it all the time. That’s a tip, everyone. Warm brussel sprout salad. But we’re not here to talk about brussels sprouts as much as I’d like to.

We’re here to talk about real estate and how Arrivva fixed real estate. Let’s talk about title insurance. That sounds fun.

[00:02:23] Fred Glick: So depending on what county you’re in in California, you might pay for title insurance which is the owner’s title insurance or the seller pays for it. Or if you’re in another state, every state’s a little different.

Pennsylvania, the buyer pays it. Washington, the seller pays it. So anyway. But it’s a cost. Then what is it? It’s insurance that the people who are selling the house are really the sellers and are authorized to do so and recorded, meaning recorded at the county or the city, wherever it’s recorded, it’s at a level that they’ve gone through and check everything that’s recorded and you either accept it because like a easement or something like that, but make sure that there’s not 15 mortgages on the property. And it’s all electronic and it’s really easy to do and they get, you know the sellers give them their passports and driver’s license and certified. And so the thing is, there’s like this many claims.

[00:03:42] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I was going to ask about that. Like, how often is it

[00:03:44] Fred Glick: A tiny, tiny, tiny bit, and also think about this. Let me go back to something. If you’re getting a mortgage, you have the owner’s title insurance, but then you have to pay from title insurance for the lender, the lender up to the loan amount because they have to be insured.

And sometimes it’s a package deal. It depends on the state. But let’s say you go to refinance. Guess what? You’re paying title insurance again. Maybe it’s discounted, but it’s like, “Hey, lender X, you already had title insurance. Why am I getting it again?” Well, from the time you bought the place to the time you refinance, you might’ve put 27 mortgages on it.

The lender has no idea, you know, what you did. So there’s this pilot program, sort of that they’re allowing attorneys who specialize in this type of work to just do a search and then like certify the search as opposed to getting title insurance all over again. It’s dropping the cost dramatically, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

What are they doing? They’re fighting it because they want the title insurance and blah, blah, blah. And I’m sure the title industry is all over them for trying to get away from getting title insurance, but it’s a really, really big expense. And there’s now talk quietly that the CFPB might be looking into this and starting to come down on title insurance costs.

And that’s the next thing that might hit as something really big, obviously, in addition to the real estate agents. So keep a lookout for that. Hopefully, it’s nothing you can really do. You just have to wait till it happens. But we just want to let you know that maybe hopefully possibility that this doesn’t happen.

Now, let’s say you’re paying cash and I’ve had people who do this. All right. They’re buying a million-dollar house. Usually, the title company will say, “Hey, you got to buy an owner’s policy for a million dollars.” And they said, “No, I’ll buy an owner’s policy for 200, 000.” Which is significantly cheaper.

And that means you only have coverage up to 200, 000. So somebody’s long lost cousin comes and says they have this deed in it or whatever and owns 5 percent of the property. Well, if 5 percent of a million dollars is a few grand, so the title company will pay them off. So that’s a claim. So it’s saved the guy a lot of money.

There’s a one buyer we had who didn’t want to buy it at all. And it’s like, “Okay, dude.” You know, but you can’t, if you’re, if you’re getting a mortgage, you can buy the owner’s policy up to the mortgage amount if you want. That’s if you’re paying for it. Sellers paying for it, it’s kind of already done.

But it’s not costing you anything per se, but if you’re a buyer, you know, look at it. I’m not here giving you legal advice, talk to an attorney, talk to an insurance agent. But that’s kind of what’s going on in the title business and kind of what you can do to save some money. But on the refi’s, hopefully, your lenders involved in that pilot program with the attorneys, you know, it’s, I don’t know, 500 bucks or something.

It’s something small. As opposed to what you gotta pay for the actual insurance, so.

[00:07:23] Drew Thomas Hendricks: No, I haven’t bought title insurance in 14 years and I can’t remember what.

[00:07:26] Fred Glick: You don’t need to buy it. You bought, you bought, well, you don’t

[00:07:30] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Rebuy it, but gimme an idea of house title insurance.

[00:07:32] Fred Glick: Time out. You bought the house 14 years ago.

Okay. This seller because you’re in San Diego County paid for that title insurance and it paid and what you’re insuring is from the day you bought it on back in time from now, from then to today. You can go and get a search done. You can go to the city hall or county records or wherever, search your property, and see what’s, what’s on it, what’s against it.

You’re probably going to come up your, you know, it might come up if you refinance the mortgage, you might have that old mortgage still on because they forgot to pay it off, which means you go to an attorney who knows this stuff and can get you a very large settlement, especially in Pennsylvania. For the mortgage company, not clearing it off the title.

So that’s going to happen. You’ll see if there’s any leans from the city if you didn’t pay a 2 dollar tax bill in 2014, I mean, you just never know. But if somebody’s after you for money, you’re going to know it. And stay can put liens on your property if you don’t pay your income tax.

So, there are reasons to check it out, but you’re not, you can’t buy insurance unless you have a transaction to buy insurance for it. I’m sure, well, I take that back. I’m sure that some, somebody might sell you insurance just you want because you want your title insured from this day on back in time. I don’t even know. But there’s kind of no reason to do it. And everything’s electronic.

[00:09:13] Drew Thomas Hendricks: How much does it cost?

[00:09:15] Fred Glick: It depends on how much you want to insure.

[00:09:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Well say it’s a million-dollar house, what would title insurance cost on a million-dollar house?

[00:09:22] Fred Glick: I don’t know without looking it up, to be honest with you.

[00:09:24] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, and the other question, because I have questions, is the does the age of the house affect the title insurance?

Like if a house is 200 years old, it seems like

[00:09:32] Fred Glick: No, if you bought a new construction, well if you bought a house that was a year old, let’s say, compared to a house that was 30 years old, there’s, they still have to check the deeds all the way back in time.

[00:09:47] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Mm-Hmm.

[00:09:47] Fred Glick: It doesn’t matter. They’re going all the way back in time.

[00:09:50] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Okay. I guess ’cause the land was still there even before the house was built. Exactly. So the land is still years old

[00:09:57] Fred Glick: And it could have been another house that was on there and there was a violation on there. It’s of title, who knows.

[00:10:04] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Okay.

[00:10:04] Fred Glick: That’s interesting. There you go. Nuances of the real estate world.

[00:10:13] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So we’re talking, we’re still in a hot market here. Something that came up in the pre-show is something about appraisal contingencies. And even if you’re the highest bidder, you can still blow the deal.

[00:10:25] Fred Glick: Yeah, here’s the thing. We had prospective clients we’re talking to the other day who had a real estate agent that basically got screwed them out of a deal.

So they said they were the highest bid, but their agent said they should put them an appraisal contingency into the contract and they lost because somebody came in a little lower with no appraisal contingency. And here’s what you do not know that nobody’s ever told you, an appraiser gets a copy of the contract and knows the sale price before they do an appraisal of the property, and surprise, surprise, most of these deals turn out that the appraised value is the same as the sale price, remarkably. Refinances, different story. You got, you know, it’s a made-up number by a buyer. “Hey, my house is worth 400 million.” You know, but the appraiser also knows the loan to value there. They kind of know what to do with it.

So you’re saying to yourself, well, you know, in a crazy market where stuff is going up 50, 000 dollars a week, how do they get the appraisal and blah, blah, blah. Well, here’s what they have. They have, it’s called a time adjustment. So they’re, they, they put in, because it’s not a perfect system of numbers. Which will drive all our tech friends crazy.

There’s not like, okay, take 3 comps, adjust them, and divide it by 3. It doesn’t work that way. So it’s a narrative. All these are narrative appraisals. And these things are like 58 pages long, 48 of the pages are all standard crap, but they just add notes and the lenders don’t care. As long as it appraises, as long as there’s nothing wrong with the property.

The other thing is, if you’re putting a lot of money down, say 40, 50 percent down, who cares that it appraises for 20, 000 less? Because the lender could care less, because they’re still going to give you the loan. But if you have a situation, you’re buying a million dollar property and putting 10% down, and the appraisal comes in so that the loan to value between your loan and the appraised value is now 95%.

Well, guess what? They’ll still give you the loan, but they’ll give you the loan based on the 95% rates, the 95% private mortgage insurance as opposed to the 90%. So it might come in a little lower. Things just, you know, kind of wheel around, but especially in California, people are putting, you know, good amount down and they could put more down.

So it’s easy. You know, it’s other parts of the country where people are pretty tight. If it comes in, you know, even 3000 dollars less. I mean, sometimes that affects deals, but the appraisers know it and it’s just, I don’t know what more to say.

[00:13:28] René Pérez Jr.: All I can say is that. It’s dangerous to just say like, “Oh, you should just waive the appraisal.”

I think that it’s really nuanced, right? And at the end, you made the mention that in California, right? So when you’re writing an offer, okay, why do I need and why should I, should I remove the appraisal contingency? And the fact is that if you’re in a property, which has been three days in the market, and there’s 20 offers, the people that really want the house that have been on the market for a long time.

They know that it’s going to appraise because every other house they’ve been on has been sold for more than what they bid you know, last weekend. So the comps will dictate that even though there’s a whole bunch of formula is that the house in the area will sell for that higher value, right?

So it’s, it’s not, you shouldn’t just waive the appraisal just because, because some people, like, sure, yeah, there’s a lot of money in Silicon Valley, but that change in PMI, that change in the loan could make it so that people can’t purchase. Right? So it has to be really nuanced and to see that there is a risk, but that risk is something that buyers who are aggressive have to do in order to get properties.

Right? And being able to tell people the fact is that it’s going to appraise based on the general fact that appraisals are not real appraisals, right? The problem is, and I think Fred has said this in the back, is if appraisers did not have the purchase contract and they tried to appraise properties, the banking industry, I mean, the industry would crash because every single appraiser would have it wrong.

There’s, I don’t think anyone would get it wrong. Right?

[00:15:15] Fred Glick: Yeah, and the biggest thing is they’re giving you a 30 year mortgage. So the value of the property is going to go up and down over the 30 years. But, you know, so they’re tied to this. “Hey, you’re buying it today at this property at this value.” And what they’re worried about is you make no payments and they have to take over the house and they have to try to resell it.

That’s the only reason they really care about the value today. That’s it the risk assessment.

[00:15:45] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I was going to ask about that because the, I mean, really the house is worth what a 3rd party is willing to pay for it. And we’re talking right now, in the context of a housing market, that’s pretty rising.

It’s very competitive. What if we go back to, like, 2009. Where housing prices are falling dramatically every month, the house has been on the market and people are reselling it, but you put an offer and that offer may still be far above market rates.

[00:16:12] Fred Glick: Time adjustments. You can do negative time adjustments.

Same thing as positives. As a matter of fact, in a tougher market, the appraisers are going to be tougher because they don’t want to be quality-controlled and say, “Hey, this guy’s making up numbers.” They want to be more conservative. So, but now when it’s rocking and rolling doesn’t matter, so.

[00:16:34] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, I can see trying to sell a 500, 000 dollar house, but in 2009, that 500, 000 dollar house is 350, 000 and somebody naive comes in and bids 495, they’re automatically out 150 grand if the appraisal doesn’t work.

[00:16:49] Fred Glick: Yeah, but if you’re the only bidder and we’ll do this for you, if we’re, we’re in someplace that has gotten no bids, no, nothing, we’ll put it in the appraisal contingency. No problem. Mortgage contingency, inspection contingency. We’ll put in everything because the seller’s got no choice.

You know, they want your deal. So it’s again, supply and demand kids. I keep saying it’s all about supply and demand as to what you do and how you make offers. So that’s pretty much it.

[00:17:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It brings up the topic of washers and dryers. No, no segue there, René. What about washers and dryers?

Why are people still attached to their stoves?

[00:17:30] René Pérez Jr.: Well, you know, I think people are people, right? But it’s like, when we’re talking about the appraisal, right, we’re talking about things that can unnecessary items in the contract that can that, that will destroy a deal and make you lose a house.

So, you know, separating an entire contingency, we have a deal in their contract right now in which the sellers where we run an offer and they like it, but the agent, the listing agent tells me like, “Hey my sellers actually want to keep the washer and dryer.” And now the washer and dryer is probably old and actually our clients didn’t even like the washer and dryer.

But the fact is that now the buyers have to think about an extra grand, an extra 2, 000 dollars to, to purchase something new and it’s just a pain. And the sellers, they’re gonna have to pay a mover to carry the washer and dryer and the refrigerator into their new home. They have to check on whether the old washer and dryer fits in the new house.

I mean, it’s a headache. What people don’t realize is that all these big brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy and Target, they will usually bundle up the washer, dryer, fridge, where if you purchase an item, not only will they deliver the new one, but they will also get rid of your old appliances free of charge.

So you’re creating more costs for both parties, right? Where at the end of the day, like, it probably would have been the same price, if not less. Just get new appliances. And now like technically it is a counter item because now that the agreement changes, so our buyers could get cold feet and change their mind.

Like, you know what, we don’t want to, we don’t want to go to this house anymore. We can find some other house that has a washer and dryer. And it’s such a small thing. The odds of, of a washer and dryer killing a deal is really low, but these things do happen, right? And you want to get things under contract.

So as a seller. I think some of agents should be able to discuss more of the idea that before you go on the market, everything that’s in the house should be up for grabs. Like don’t, don’t just try to keep a plant in the backyard. If you wanna get rid of it. If you want to keep it, it should be, it should be gone. It should be taken from the house before you put it on the market I think. I think that’s the end of the story there.

[00:19:52] Drew Thomas Hendricks: No, that makes sense. So if you’ve got something you’re super passionate about, like you’re a culinary, just that’s what you do. And you have a La Cornue stove that you just paid 50 grand for and waited three years to get, you’re probably gonna want to take that with you.

But the advice is take it with you, get it out of there, put another stove in there, and sell the household and complete.

[00:20:13] Fred Glick: Here’s something you guys might enjoy. In France, especially, but most of Europe, when they sell a house, people take their kitchen with them. And then people bring in their own new kitchen, their appliances, even their cabinetry because it’s a thing over there.

It’s normal. Here, oh my God. So different countries, different real estate stuff.

[00:20:43] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, I can definitely can see the whole incomplete for the buyer’s mind because the one house I bought, the last house I bought didn’t come the refrigerator.

[00:20:53] Fred Glick: Yeah, that’s kind of typical fridges and washer dryers have always been like these things you take with you years ago.

And I don’t know, it’s just one of those things.

[00:21:06] René Pérez Jr.: In a way, options are good, right? Like, in a way, like, I want a new house and I want to pick and choose my new washer and dryer. Right? Like, I want to go to the store and pick and choose a touchscreen one now that they make or maybe I want the freezer to be in the bottom versus on top So so there is that aspect to it, but at the end of the day, like if you’re not going to offer something or you want to take it with you, don’t have it in the house because the people aren’t looking deep into disclosures, in the beginning, to know that it’s not going to convey Right?

So there the buyers are at open houses. They see the house and they think getting it and I think that’s what’s problematic. But It adds at the same time like a house should be ready to move in. I think that’s what buyers want, right? Buyers don’t want to have to like to do things. So, you know, when Drew bought his house, he would have, you know, enjoyed the idea of it already being ready.

We’re deciding to choose something. I guess we can’t buy a fridge because we have a really good functional one

[00:22:06] Fred Glick: We had a house. We just sold where the fridge was on its last legs. And we just told everybody, this is going to be your beer fridge to put into the garage and hopefully it’ll live. So it’s as is, you know, and the buyer knew it and he was cool with it. So, you know, case to case, but yeah, but René said, as you go into an open house, you see this beautiful fridge and washer dryer, you think you’re getting. I don’t need the MLS.

[00:22:38] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah. Year old beer fridge in my garage is outlasted to premium in my, in my kitchen.

[00:22:47] Fred Glick: There you go. I mean, it sounds like your fridge was NASA-approved or something.

[00:22:53] René Pérez Jr.: I wonder. Drew, I do wonder why that is though. Did it just because we opened it less or are they just garbage fridges?

[00:23:01] Fred Glick: The electronics, it’s all electronic now, and it’s, we’re talking about something that’s cold and wet and you’re introducing electronics to it. There’s gotta be problems.

[00:23:13] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh, yeah.

[00:23:14] Fred Glick: So, the old ones, just big ass motors and fans and just did their job.

[00:23:22] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Well, talking about cold and wet and our usual weather updates as we go through the forecast.

[00:23:28] Fred Glick: Cloudy today, a little windy in the 60s in Los Angeles.

[00:23:32] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It was hot. It was, it’s 78 where I am and for the third weekend in a row, rain.

[00:23:37] Fred Glick: I saw this weekend and René, you’re saying it’s like in the 80s in the Bay Area.

[00:23:41] René Pérez Jr.: Well, so I was in San Jose at the beginning of this call and I was at 84. Now we’re dropping to 70 degrees here in San Francisco.

[00:23:52] Fred Glick: Microclimates hit again.

[00:23:54] René Pérez Jr.: Yep, I can start to see the fog right in front of me.

[00:24:00] Fred Glick: Yeah. And to anybody who’s going to visit San Francisco, especially when you come in the summer, don’t bring your bathing suit and t-shirts, sweatshirts. You have no idea. It’s California, but it’s not the California you think it is.

[00:24:16] Drew Thomas Hendricks: The Mark Twain quote, “The coldest winter I ever felt was the summer in San Francisco.”

[00:24:21] Fred Glick: Pretty much. Pretty much.

[00:24:23] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It was brutal. Yeah. I worked on the wine store right on the, in the avenues and. All summer long, 54 degrees, lost if we had temperature control on our wine cellar. We said it’s climate-controlled.

[00:24:36] Fred Glick: Literally.

[00:24:38] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, that’s funny. Yeah, because the warehouse would, there would be so many bottles in there, even if we had like a 1 or 2 days of 80 degrees. The general, like, temperature never got above 55.

[00:24:49] Fred Glick: And then you go over the bridge and over to Danville and it’s 102. Yeah. Same day. It’s crazy.

[00:24:56] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It is. To tie it back into real estate is important to figure out the microclimate, especially in the Bay area where there is so many of them.

[00:25:04] Fred Glick: Oh yeah. I mean, every block is a microclimate in San Francisco.

[00:25:08] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Mm-Hmm. And I live down in El Granada. And that is the secret microclimate on the coast. It’s the one that, it’s sunny if it’s, if it’s foggy everywhere. It’s right there. It’s the way the harbor sticks out.

[00:25:22] Fred Glick: Interesting. I know what that is, but I didn’t know that about it.

[00:25:25] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, it’s just north of Half Moon Bay and it can be foggy going down Moss Beach, foggy going into, it can be even foggy at the beach, but if you’re right up in past the harbor, it’ll be sunny and 80 degrees.

[00:25:38] Fred Glick: Crazy weather. Okay, moving on.

[00:25:41] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Moving on. Basketball’s over and hockey is just about to start up there.

[00:25:49] Fred Glick: Yeah, they the Frozen Four is this weekend. B. U. B. C. Michigan and Denver and the Frozen Four for you hockey fans, college hockey fans, who will watch it. And then the NHL playoffs starting about this weekend. 8 or 10 days, something like that, but

[00:26:10] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Coming up.

[00:26:12] Fred Glick: Not going to talk about the Flyers. No, that’s a whole different story.

[00:26:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Well, as we’re wrapping down any last words here, Fred?

[00:26:20] Fred Glick: Kids, it’s still crazy out there. Yeah, rates went up a tick in the last couple of days because of inflation numbers, both the CPI and the PPI went up a little more than expected.

Lot of it had to do with energy costs and the cost of electric. I was watching it, Bloomberg thing about this that there’s so much more demand for electricity and these companies can’t produce places to make electricity fast enough. And that’s why the price of electricity will keep going up. Blame a lot of it on AI, because the AI chips.

It’s just sucked the life out of the processors and just trying to make them. That’s another cost of home ownership. That’s going up. Insurance keeps going up. I’m sure they’re going to raise taxes. So it’s getting more expensive outside of the mortgage payment to own a house. Anyway,

[00:27:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I just read Warren prices were doubling in California.

[00:27:21] Fred Glick: There you go. So, yeah, do your numbers kids mortgage might be okay, but everything else might not.

[00:27:28] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, it’s funny. AI, I can definitely see that with all the processing.

[00:27:31] Fred Glick: Yeah, and you can’t build enough solar. I mean, it’s just. It’s just, they haven’t figured out how to take the sun and make it just an incredible power grid on a small scale. It just, the panels just aren’t there. I don’t know about the technology. I’m sure there’s a podcast about that that you can Google and find that in detail. If you’re into that nerd stuff, but I like to superficially be into that nerd stuff. And I don’t know the details, but yeah, it’s, it’s part of home ownership. So,

[00:28:06] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, we got swollen. I thought I was buying 40 percent more than I needed, but the last true up, we’re actually using about 90 percent of our solar.

[00:28:14] Fred Glick: Wow.

[00:28:15] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I was a little surprised at that. I would have added a few more panels that I know. We thought we were getting an extra couple extra panels for the electric car. But now we’re

[00:28:25] Fred Glick: Can you still do it?

[00:28:26] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah, I’m sure we can. Well, there’s a will, there’s a way.

[00:28:29] Fred Glick: Yeah. And probably newer panels might be more efficient for it. How do you store your electric? Do you have the Tesla thing?

[00:28:37] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I don’t at the time. So we were back in the old rates. So we, SDG and he buys it back.

Now the new version is they don’t buy it back. They just take it at night. So at night, when you’re not producing solar there you’re, you’re purchasing solar from them, but you’re not using your credit that you spent during the day. So now, now it makes sense to have some battery backups, but right now.

[00:29:03] Fred Glick: Yeah. I’ve heard, and I don’t know if this is the truth, kids, so I’ll put that disclaimer out that Panasonic makes battery storage that’s better than Tesla’s and cheaper than Tesla’s. So do some Googling, and search other podcasts on what’s the best way to keep your electricity in your house.

[00:29:26] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I could see that being a, you know, a value add to someone, especially in a sunny area, if you had a full battery bank, some of those being off.

[00:29:34] Fred Glick: And if you’re selling your house and you know, it’s a big ass six bedroom, five bath, high ceilings in an area that gets really hot and your electric bills are insane, you might think about purchasing a solar system before you sell the property because it can drop the electricity, the electric costs and be more impressive for buyers to buy it.

It’s a thought think about it before you sell.

[00:30:02] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Absolutely. How about you, René? What’s the, what’s the good news on the new house in San Jose and your departing thoughts?

[00:30:09] René Pérez Jr.: Well, I think I’m seeing a good amount of new inventory popping up. So I do think that we’re going to get into a nice, a nice May of enough interested sellers wanting to get rid of their homes and moving on to the next, next point in their life.

So if you’ve been in the market for a while, you know, I do see a bunch of inventory coming on.

[00:30:33] Fred Glick: Where?

[00:30:33] René Pérez Jr.: I mean, in San Jose and Danville. I mean, there was a couple of weeks of no properties, and like one of our clients wanted it, now there’s four. So, I mean, there’s always inventory, like sure, there’s not the beautiful inventory, like the, that checks the 10 boxes, but I mean, come on, if you put Redfin on every location, there is a house, right?

So I know we can, there’s a whole podcast that we can talk about inventory and, you know, no inventory and such, but there’s properties everywhere. You just have to look, that’s my take for this end of the week.

[00:31:05] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I can’t wait to hear, can’t wait to hear how the, how the process goes in San Jose.

[00:31:09] René Pérez Jr.: Yeah, we should be on the market next week, all weekend.

[00:31:15] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Awesome.

[00:31:16] Fred Glick: We can’t pre-tell you the address, but can you tell us René, just what it is and generically where it is?

[00:31:27] René Pérez Jr.: I won’t say really, really close to the Santana Row.

[00:31:31] Drew Thomas Hendricks: The – House?

[00:31:31] René Pérez Jr.: Actually on the other side.

[00:31:34] Fred Glick: The other side. Okay. And so you’re right, you’re right near the 280 easy on and off there. That’s nice. And the road that goes past the airport 880. Or 680. I always get that confused. One of those two.

[00:31:50] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Something that has an 80 in it.

[00:31:51] Fred Glick: It’s something that has an 80 in it, yeah. It’s a good location for it.

[00:31:55] René Pérez Jr.: Then close to the 280, which takes you all through the coastal bay.

[00:32:01] Fred Glick: Yep.

[00:32:02] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Well, by the time this is out, it might be, it might be up on the site. Check out arrivva.com for the listing.

[00:32:07] Fred Glick: Slash properties.

[00:32:09] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Slash properties.

[00:32:10] Fred Glick: We list every property we’ve ever transacted, buyers and sellers on there and the results of what it was listed for and how much it went for. So it’s kind of a cool way of looking at it and we wish we could get it all funneled down so you can search by city and all that.

But if you do control F and type in the city, you’re looking at, you’ll see the ball. That just saved drew 2 hours of work.

[00:32:36] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah. Power-user tip by Fred Glick to end the show.

[00:32:40] Fred Glick: There you go.

[00:32:41] Drew Thomas Hendricks: This has been another episode of We Fixed Real Estate. Have an energetic weekend everyone.

[00:32:47] Fred Glick: Peace out.