Welcome to our monthly feature, Close-ing Time – in partnership with TheClose.com.
Chris Linsell from TheClose.com discusses topics he’ll be covering at upcoming live presentation. Chris provides tips on how to stay on top of supply chain issues and how these concerns have affected the real estate market. Chris and DJ also chat about best practices for agent-client relationship. Last, Chris discusses a NAR statistics for the real estate market he found interesting this year.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Chris Linsell can be reached at chris@theclose.com.
This episode is brought to you by iGuide.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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Welcome to keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris I am your guide and host through the show and today is our monthly series called closing time with Chris Lin sell from the closed.com. Now this is a partnership between keeping it real and the closed.com. And let me tell you about the close. Now the close.com is the kind of real estate website designed to give agents teams and brokerages actionable strategic insight from industry professionals. They cover real estate marketing, lead generation technology and team building strategies from the perspective of working agents and brokers who want to take their business to the next level. Please visit the clothes.com T eight that’s th e c l o s e.com to see their amazing articles, and also subscribe to their newsletter so you get notified each time they publish an article with us as always is crystallin Sal, he is a staff writer and real estate coach for the close. Chris is the closes resident expert on real estate topics ranging from marketing lead gen transactional best practices and everything in between. He’s a licensed agent in the state of Michigan. Chris has also been part of hundreds of transactions from modest rural starter homes to massive waterside compounds. And when he isn’t writing or speaking, you’ll find Chris fly fishing or performing on the stage of his community theaters production. Chris Welcome once again to keeping it real, we’re excited to have you
Chris Linsell 2:43
DJ great to be back. Glad to glad to be sitting inside I don’t know if it’s cold and snowy where you are. But I’m watching the snowfall outside. It’s got me in the mode to talk about real estate. You know, from the comfort of indoors, I’m not really doing any walkthroughs to the
D.J. Paris 3:00
way we hear we’re not too far away from each other. Um, thankfully it is sunny and relatively warm 45 degrees Fahrenheit today here in Chicago, so do not have the snow yet. So imagine it’s coming,
Chris Linsell 3:14
it’s coming, it’s coming buddy.
D.J. Paris 3:16
And we you and I got a chance to meet in person at the National Association of Realtors Conference just a few weeks ago in San Diego and that was very exciting and fun.
Chris Linsell 3:26
Oh man so much fun. It was great to get to chat with you to talk shop a little bit to just connect us as human beings to you know, real estate. This is a human being business so always taken an opportunity to meet a virtual and now in real life friend who’s also in the biz here. And man, a lot has happened in real estate this year a lot already, you know, still happening in real estate this year. So, you know a lot was going on at NAR and man, you know, my my news feeds are continuing to blow up right now about big things that are happening in the world that are affecting our industry.
D.J. Paris 4:09
And we should also mention I Chris did a presentation at NAR he was one of the featured speakers. And he did his five bold tech predictions for 2022 which was incredible. And the audience seemed to really enjoy it. I know I did. And he had a packed house there. I imagine you will, you’ll be speaking at NASCAR, you know, hopefully every year going forward because it was it was it was controversial at times but it was really well explained. And I think it’s it’s a discussion that or a lecture so to speak, that really all of our listeners need to hear. And so I believe you might still be able to get access to that, that discussion or that that you know your your talk. If I’m not sure if that’s still the case with an hour. But if you look at the nar 2021 options to hear the recorded sessions, certainly you can do that. But you are also speaking here. Well, I guess by the time this, this goes live, it will have already been. But for anyone who is listening now watching us live, do you mind sharing where you’re going to be speaking?
Chris Linsell 5:24
Yeah, you betcha. So I’m going to be at the triple play conference in Atlantic City, fabulous Atlantic City, New Jersey, in in this month in December. And there’s going to be also some other upcoming things that can’t quite talk about just yet. But those of you out in California. Keep an eye out for Chris, in your professional news feeds, I think we’re going to have some some big stuff coming up for California specific associations here in a little while. And also, you can always find me on the clothes.com If you’re not out in California, or if you’re not attending an in person conference, I am writing making videos, starting arguments on social media on a regular basis via the close. So you can always visit me at the close.com if you just can’t get enough.
D.J. Paris 6:17
And if you’d like to attend the triple play 2021 That would probably be people who are in the New Jersey area. Also New York, Pennsylvania. You know, just go to realtors, that’s Realtors plural triple play.com. And you can see it’s really an impressive conference. I have not been to it, but it looks really cool.
Chris Linsell 6:37
Yeah, it’s gonna be it’s gonna be a good time. And and for the first time, the close is actually going to have a booth on the expo floor. So not only can you, you know, talk to the weirdest beard in real estate. Chris, we can also talk to all the incredibly smart and thoughtful people on my team that are a part of, you know, making these messages making making making these messages happen. So yeah, if you’re in New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, come to AAA in Atlantic City. love to chat with you there.
D.J. Paris 7:09
Yeah, and you can go do some gambling while you’re in and walk the boardwalk. That’s right. That’s famous, famous New Jersey Boardwalk.
Chris Linsell 7:16
Let’s get on the slot machines.
D.J. Paris 7:19
Wonderful. Well, what would we like to talk about today?
Chris Linsell 7:21
You know, DJ, I’ve got two things that are really interesting to me that I’d love to chat with you about love to get your take on? And to just start some conversations on. The first one is it’s about supply chain. Now. I know that we’ve been hearing a lot about supply chain issues in the United States. Pursuant to, you know, it’s been a kind of a crazy last couple of years, frankly, at this point supply chain has been a challenge. You know, just getting stuff into the United States and other countries, frankly, in North America has been a challenge over the last little bit. And you know, the real estate industry, a lot of folks, I think incorrectly assume that the real estate industry is insulated from these challenges. But we aren’t and we’re starting to see some real time effects on this is not just talking about the effects that builders and the new construction industry are having, or hey, we’re seeing some major effects in the real estate industry, relative to things like washers and dryers to refrigerators, to the somewhat durable goods that we purchase, as often as a part of a refinance or home equity loan for renovation purposes. And the reason I bring this up is right now, we are kind of at a crossroads for a lot of homeowners who are deciding, okay, I’ve got more equity in my home than I’ve ever had before. My home is worth more on the open market. I don’t really know if I want to sell it. But what should I do with this equity? Well, for a lot of homeowners, they say this is going to be the time I’m going to refinance, I’m going to pull out some equity, I’m going to do a big renovation to get the kitchen or the bathroom or the laundry room of my dreams. Well, because of the supply chain issues that’s getting harder and harder to do. And so you are finding homeowners who are at a crossroads right now saying I’d like to use my equity to benefit me right now. But with the supply chain issues, I can’t get the I can’t even get the appliances, much less the kitchen tile or the flooring, or even the paint that I need to do the renovation so maybe I should sell right now. So the supply chain issues are starting to creep into the residential real state space and the conversations that Realtors should be having with their clients need to need to keep this in mind right now.
D.J. Paris 10:07
Yeah, I know that probably most of our listeners are aware of this statistic, and I might not have it exactly perfect. But it was something to the extent of I think it was in 2020. Also, in this year that the rising lumber prices, I believe, of like a single family home was, on average, it was costing developers an extra, I believe, around $30,000, just in lumber that they weren’t paying prior to some of the supply chain shortages. So I think we’ve probably heard and heard that, but maybe we’re not so much thinking about furniture and appliances. And so as an agent, what might you suggest to our listeners to sort of stay on top of it or get in front of that, to which which could affect their business? Well,
Chris Linsell 11:02
I would say there’s two things that agents and brokers should be considering right now. The first is, and you know what this is even This is advice that’s relative to folks, even outside of the supply chain issue, you should be thinking about this, no matter what for your clients. If you have people in your sphere of influence, that are homeowners, especially if these are people that you helped purchase the home that they’re in, you need to have a almost top of your mind knowledge of the status of their home pretty much at all times. And I know that that gets difficult, when you have a really broad client base, when you’ve got hundreds of people, if you found that level of success, kudos to you, that’s great, you might not be able to keep the status of all of your past clients homes at the top of your mind. But this is when you employ great tools like a CRM to help you keep this knowledge. But the reason I bring this up is, as a real estate professional who is serving your clients, you can only best serve them, if you have the opportunities presented to them via their home ownership at at the ready to present to them whenever possible. And so I say this to say listen, if you’ve got clients who own a home in your market, and that client has not reached out to you in the last six to 12 months to say, you know, what’s my home worth right now in this crazy market, if they haven’t done that, you need to be reaching out to him right now. With a complimentary Hey, I was thinking about just CMA. And say this is how much your home is worth on today’s market. If you don’t want to sell, that’s great. But as your agent you deserve, I need it’s my obligation to be sharing that information with you. So you can use that information to better your financial position, your homeownership position. So that’s the first piece of advice.
D.J. Paris 13:15
I want to pop in for just a quick sec. Sorry, sorry to interrupt really low because that that really spoke to me and I was thinking about, you know, we, we talk a lot about this is the time of year where agents are going through their their CRM, looking at their contact list their sphere, and determining, you know, Hey, am I going to send out a holiday card? Am I going to maybe send a holiday gift? What am I going to do to make sure my clients are thinking about me. And one thing that you can add to that, especially if finances are tighter for you as the agent this year hand delivering the CMA is really that is really going above and beyond and I think that would be really pretty well received now I think you should announce Hey, I’m swinging by I just wanted to drop something off to let you know I was doing some doing some work on as well I think really this speaks to being a fiduciary which of course real estate agents are and this idea of of saying you know, I was I was thinking about your home and I was thinking about its value and I just thought it would be important for me to drop off this report to give you some idea of kind of where we’re at. I think that is a great sort of pop by I know Brian would would say you pop by with a cute little gift but this is a free gift you can I mean it’s free it’s of course takes your time to put it together but boy I would be so impressed if an agent came and dropped that off even an agent I didn’t know how to you know pop by and said hey, I don’t know if you’ve looked at your home value and and if you know if you’re only looking on Zillow, you know that might not be the most accurate representation of what your house is worth. But I ran some numbers and I just want you to have this. I think that would boy that would be impressive.
Chris Linsell 15:07
You know you’re you’re bang on on that and I actually want to, I want to let me let me go a level deeper on their advice here on agents. Think about what the value of a pop by gift and this is, you know no skin off the nose of Brian Buffini I love his strategies here. But popping by with a cute little gift, like, what is going to be more valuable to your clients and in the long run popping by with, you know, a pumpkin pie for the holidays are popping by with a tool that could end up netting your clients 10s of 1000s of dollars, that’s a lot of pumpkin pie here. So go with the go with usable tool here. And if you need if you’re feeling nervous about that pop by, here’s an arrow in your quiver that you can use to to knock out those nerves right away. The just about everyone unless you’ve been living in or under a rock with terrible Wi Fi service. And just about everyone has been fought has heard about Zelos woes in the market and the last, you know, the three, three months here. This is an opportunity for you to pop by and say listen, the market has just proven that Zillow isn’t as good at estimating the value of homes as we thought they were and certainly not as good as they thought they were right. I’m a local expert, and I know your home inside and out because we work together to get it for you. I put together this personalized valuation for you. Regardless of what you do with this, you deserve to have this because I am your fiduciary. So I work this up. Let me know if there’s any questions or anything I can do to help you use this tool. That using that Zillow as a conversation starter approach is a great way to break the ice. And it really gets people talking and thinking about how much their home is worth. Great. So so let’s let’s kind of get back into the supply chain conversation here. So you know, independent of supply chain issues, we should all be having these conversations with our clients about how much their home is worth in the current market, whether it’s for sale purposes, whether it’s for financing purposes, or just to be a good fiduciary to have make sure that your clients are keeping up to date on their investment. So how should we be thinking about this in the context of the supply chain issues? Well, if you go to your clients, and you say, Listen, your your home has picked up $40,000 in equity in the last 18 months. Right now you have this equity, but you might not have this equity two years from now or even 12 months from now as the markets shift. So what can you do to take advantage of this, one thing you could do is a cheap refinance or an equity cash out home loan. And you could do some renovations, you know, you know your clients, you talk to them about the things that they wanted in their home, maybe their kitchen wasn’t the kitchen that they wanted, they have the cash to do that. Now, if they wanted to do that. On the other hand, they might not have the opportunity to complete that renovation because they might not be able to get the materials necessary to do it. So this can be a vehicle then to have the next conversation, which is listen, you’ve got this extra equity. Have you considered if you can’t do the renovation for one reason or another? Should we be looking right now? Should we be looking to capitalize on the advantages that your home has acquired over the last 18 months? Is there a better option out there for you? The supply chain kind of trouble that we’re experiencing right now can be a vehicle towards home sales, if it’s positioned correctly. And of course, all of this conversation happens through the lens of what’s best for my clients. You know, this isn’t necessarily a drive to get more transactions, but it is drive to offer your clients options. And one of those options just has to be selling if you’re if you’re going to be considering the full picture.
D.J. Paris 19:32
And two, I think there since we had this first wave during sort of locked down where employers were starting to allow their employees to work remotely and you had people start to move and start to say, Oh, I’m not tethered to this geographic areas I once were and so I think we had the first wave of people have done that. And I think now we’re will probably if rates continued to stay low and And if employers tend to will, will continue to be flexible around that, I think we’ll now have a second wave of people who go, Well, you know, yeah, I could I could sell my home, it’s appreciated in value could sell my home locally today, but then I’m buying something else in my local area that may have also appreciated to the same degree, and that that may be a wash. But I wondering if if it’s going to prompt people to go, you know, our home here is appreciated, we’ve been kind of looking for an exit point. And now, you know, now we can start to look elsewhere in other geographic locations. And I think, regardless of what the client decides, telling them, oh, by the way, you have an extra 40,000, or whatever it is, in equity, might be something that they don’t know. And that might prompt them to make these bigger decisions. Like you were saying, whether it’s, you know, just selling and staying local, or maybe going to another, another city in other cities.
Chris Linsell 20:56
Yeah, 100% 100%. You know, we have, as real estate professionals, we have an obligation to provide our clients with the options that they need, in order to make the best decisions for their financial and homeownership well being. And I think a lot of agents, certainly agents that I speak to, they get a little squirrely and there’s almost a shyness, that happens, because we don’t want to feel like we are prodding for a sale. Right, which I think is a natural kind of hesitancy. You know, we don’t want to feel like we are pushing people into a sale that they’re not necessarily interested in or initiating. But that’s not what all of this is about. This is about providing information we have, for better or worse, through our experience, through our licensure and through our access to market data. We have a we, as real estate professionals are the gatekeepers of a lot of these options. And so simply by providing options to our clients, you are not pushing your clients into anything, you’re simply informing them. And we live in a culture in a world now where information is, is the currency, you want your clients to be rich. So keep providing them with as much information, let them make their own decisions and offer guidance when they ask for it.
D.J. Paris 22:34
And I’ll just mention one other quick thing I was in a relationship many, many years ago. And this is probably almost 10 years ago now. And I was visiting my partner at the time, and she received a packet in the mail. And it said, it was from somebody she didn’t know as a realtor. And it said something to the effect of, hey, you might not have known this. But there were three homes sold in a within a few blocks of you here in Chicago, within the last three months or something to that effect. And here’s what here’s, they’re similar to what you currently have very there. She was like a was a four flat. And they said here were some units that were similar to yours and other four, four flats. And it said, hey, just so you know, I looked up your records, it looks like you’ve purchased for about this amount, this amount, I actually think it’s worth about this amount without even seeing it. And if you ever want me to come by and do a more thorough analysis, boy, I would love to do that and introduce myself and I went, that is some of the best that is the best one of the best mailers I’ve ever seen. It was personalized, it was specific, and it offered immediate value to the homeowner. And she ended up not participating with it because she has a good relationship with it with it with her realtor. But I thought boy, that I would not want my client to get that lead. And I’m not practicing agent. But if I were I wouldn’t want my client to get that letter, I’d want to be the one sending that letter.
Chris Linsell 23:53
Absolutely. Absolutely. That’s and that’s a great example of the sort of, you know, the service approach to this industry, you are not selling you’re serving. And if you can kind of keep that approach as the lens that you see your business through. All of a sudden, the the outreach, the lead generation, the kind of maintaining and nurturing of relationships gets a heck of a lot easier because you’re serving people you’re not selling them. I’d
D.J. Paris 24:27
love to have a conversation with you sometime about how I think one of the challenges with agents sort of thinking about their business from a consultancy perspective is how they’re compensated and if financial advisors did this, which we don’t even refer to them as stockbrokers, which is what the title used to be, you know, 2030 years ago because they were paid mostly via commission and now that whole model for being a financial planner is now moved to a typically you you you’re charged He’s based on the assets under management typically, as a function of a percentage, and you get that annual fee, maybe it’s 1% 2%, whatever that financial advisor may charge. And so they truly are really a life long consultancy, to their client. And I think one of the, it’d be very interesting to see one day if the real estate industry can can move away from transactional Commission’s which I don’t know maybe that that that’s not going to happen. But I certainly think that would help agents if they were to be paid an annual fee from their client. And I don’t know if that’s ever going to be possible. But if it were, I think that would help facilitate some of this idea of treat treat your client as a consultant, or rather for as a consultant relationship, where you’re just giving them information. And obviously, you’re not going to get paid until the next transaction happens. But but certainly you do get paid in other ways, referrals and and you know that so
Chris Linsell 25:57
yeah, it’s fascinating. There’s a lot of conversation happening right now, around alternative Commission’s models. I too, and watching that very closely.
D.J. Paris 26:06
But let’s talk about some some statistics to that. Yeah, I know you’ve put together you’re working on an article for the close about some interesting cool dinar stats.
Chris Linsell 26:16
Yeah. So there’s a lot of cool statistics, like, like you said, I’m working on an update the 2022 edition of the real estate statistics article that I’ve got on the clothes.com. And so, yeah, let’s just let me just kind of give you a kind of some rapid fire interesting stat. I’d love to hear your your take on some of this. So okay, so, first step, in 2021, more than 20% of first time homebuyers were single females and less than 10% of first time homebuyers. Were single males. Pretty interesting.
D.J. Paris 26:57
And that, I believe you said that as basically flip flopped from 20 years ago, correct? Yeah,
Chris Linsell 27:03
20 years ago, it was almost it was orders of magnitude in the other direction, it was something like three or four times as many first time homebuyers were single males versus single females. And, you know, there’s a lot of you can speculate till the cows come home about the causes behind this. But you know, the fact is, women are in the economy, studies show that women are better educated than than men on the on the on the whole even more, something like 65, almost 70% of valedictorian, high school valedictorians for the last 15 years have been women, more women graduate from college from men, more women graduated from college, on time than men, more women are entering the workforce at above, a an entry level position than men. The fact is women have more command over their housing choices than they’ve ever had before. A lot of that is a function of you know, the access to information. And, frankly, the gatekeepers who have decided in a lot for a long time about who gets a mortgage, who doesn’t get a mortgage, who gets access to information about homes for sale, who doesn’t. All of those gates are coming down right now. And it’s you know, women are starting to exercise their financial rights. And we’re seeing that happening in the homeownership space.
D.J. Paris 28:33
Yeah, that’s very interesting. I’ve always heard the sort of the general stereotype with between a married couple, which is the women really make the majority of the buying decisions. And I guess there are some statistics to back that up. But it’s nice to it’s very interesting to see that, that single women in particular are also doing more than single men right now, with respect to homeownership. That’s, that’s particularly interesting. And I guess, you know, one of the takeaways is, if you’re an agent that, you know, is thinking, Well, you know, this, this idea that, that women are sort of secondary to, you know, as single people secondary to those kinds of big decisions, whereas, you know, men traditionally dominated the business, you know, business world and of course, thankfully that’s now changing and, and certainly with education, men dominated as well. And that’s amazingly changed. And I guess, you know, starting to just realize that, that those single women who may may or may not at some point, develop a partnership and a marriage are making these kinds of decisions. They’re not waiting, I guess, you know, until and men maybe the men are waiting. I’m not sure what’s going on with men, but I guess the takeaway that I can think of is just make sure you’re talking to everybody about homeownership. because I know the way I learned about it was I Googled it. And of course, that’s not a gender exclusive sort of situation. Anybody can can do that. And so that’s the only way I was renting. And I was too embarrassed to ask them. But if how homeownership worked, I really didn’t understand how loans worked. I just knew I didn’t have $350,000 in the bank, and I went, Well, I guess I’m not moving into a house. And then I went, Oh, maybe there’s a different way. And then I, I mean, and I was a smart person. And I definitely just didn’t know I was in my late 20s. So I think there’s a lot of people who are very career focused or just busy, and aren’t, you know, maybe they’re renting now. And they need to have those conversations with with a professional or else they’re just gonna go to Google and learn everything on their own. And then maybe they end up with a discount brokerage, feeling like I don’t really need a realtor. I can I’ve done this all myself.
Chris Linsell 30:52
Sure. Well, you know, it’s, it’s interesting, I, to some degree, I’m not surprised that this is happening in the real estate industry. Another interesting stat, women gained another percentage point, a full 65% of women make up the association membership for the National Association of REALTORS now. So it is a industry that is led by women, it makes sense that women are connecting more with homeownership opportunities. Frankly, this is a long time coming. And I you know, to some degree, I’m unqualified to talk about the benefits of, of these continued moves in our industry and in our space. And I’m excited to dialogue with those who have more firsthand knowledge and experience in that in that because I, you know, I’ll be I’ll be honest with you, I’m the daughter, excuse me, I’m the father of two young daughters, and I know I have an acute awareness of wanting to make sure that they have every opportunity in the world, regardless of their gender, and I’m excited to see these these shifts continue to happen.
D.J. Paris 32:04
And just a quick plug for the Women’s Council of Realtors, WC, our, they have chapters all over the country and internationally as well. And if you are an agent, you can don’t have to be a female to be part of the Women’s Council of realtors. But that is an incredibly supportive environment for agents who are who are women and men to I guess, really, it’s not exclusively for women. But but you know, I always thought when I first heard about Women’s Council is there a men’s Council, and I don’t believe there is and I always said it, maybe women are just smarter, and they know they need to support each other better than us men. But, but that is a great organization. And they were very, they were very, they were very prominent at the National Association of REALTORS as well. So if you’re not affiliated with Women’s Council of Realtors, boy get involved, it is a great organization and it will help your business
Chris Linsell 32:55
100%. So you know speaking of, of, of the statistics on buying another interesting statistic that came out in 2021 is that generation X has overtaken baby boomers as the largest cohort of real estate buyers in 2021. More than one out of every four homes in 2021 has been purchased by someone in the Gen X cohort, which is I believe that the the cutoff is like like early seven born early 70s to or excuse me, late 60s to early 80s, something like that. I don’t remember the exact years. But you know, those baby the baby boomer generation has dominated this space for a long time Gen Xers are here. People in their 40s and 50s. Right now are making more real estate purchases than any other group. I mean, more than one out of four homes. I mean, that’s it, that’s a massive percentage.
D.J. Paris 34:01
It is and also remember to for our listeners that Gen X I’m in the Gen X category. Also have parents who are likely either retiring or near possibly nearing retirement and are also might be considering a retirement move. So I think there’s a lot of opportunity here to focus on the Gen X client and really develop that relationship and then find out what’s going on with with their parents. Yeah, if their parents are of course still still around because, boy, there’s a lot of movement on the baby boomers are are there they’re, you know, they’re sunsetting
Chris Linsell 34:37
90%. So, yeah, actually, that reminds me of another statistic in 2021 11% of homes purchased had some form of multigenerational ownership in mind that this means having aging parents move back in this means having children over who are over the age of 18 living with them For more than one out of every 10 homes had some sort of multi generational dynamic to it. So you know, this is certainly something that we are seeing is not going to go away. In fact, it’s I would bet that in 2022, that’s just because going to be even higher, as you mentioned, as baby boomers are making decisions about, you know, where they will be living in these families are making decisions about you know, who’s going to be, you know, the homeowners who’s going to be staying with whom these are all decisions that are going to happen on mass, pretty soon, I bet you that 11% number is going to be closer to 14%, or even 15%, at the end of 2022. Yeah, that
D.J. Paris 35:45
makes sense, it’s a great opportunity to have the conversation with your client, about their family, because since so many homes stay in the family or transferred or the wealth may be transferred, this is a great opportunity to really get a deeper connection to the overall family structure, and to also possibly get introductions to the financial advisors for those families, because they are the ones that that maybe really have a full understanding of all all of the the total net worth. And so if you as an agent can say, you know, I would love the opportunity to talk to your family’s financial planner and say, here’s where I can provide value to you, Mr. or Mrs. Financial Planner, for the Smith family, where I can be sending you regular, you know, CMAs about the homes that this family? I mean, that is a tremendous opportunity. I know, I used to be a financial advisor, I never once had a real estate professional call me and say, hey, I want to be part of the process here for this family that you’re you’re helping with their investments.
Chris Linsell 36:53
Yeah. So if you make great points here in my last one, this is a quick one, but but potent here. In 2021. A reported 3% of home purchases were made by 3% of the home purchases made were made by active duty military members. And the reason I bring this up is 3% might not seem like a lot. In fact, I mean, I guess relative it isn’t, but what it does bring up is the absolute power of VA loans and, and the positioning of VA Veterans Affairs. For for loans for both active and retired military folks. These are extraordinarily powerful loan types. And I can tell you from personal experience, realtors who offer some sort of specialization in VA loans, you know, there’s really not much to do other than to know how the dynamic of that loan product works. And to have a specific connection with a mortgage broker who provides that service, you can become a referral source that is going to net you a ton of business, and it’s going to offer you a chance to serve a community that really deserves to have some dedicated service provided to it. You know, that 3% of homebuyers that number could be higher. So real estate agents, if you’ve got a military presence in your community, you know, be thoughtful about, you know how you can service those folks by being a thoughtful member of that process.
D.J. Paris 38:32
Yeah, talk to the talk to lenders that specialize in those types of loans, get enough information and to be able to have a brief intro conversation. And then of course, you know that that’s certainly the like, like you’ve found to say, and the more arrows you have in your quiver, you know, likely the better off you’ll be with with with all of your clients. So this is a great, great place to wrap up Chris and I could end up we could end up talking for another hour but Chris is busy on the speaking circuit and also the writing circuit Chris writes for the clothes.com and very quickly Chris, just tell us give us a little plug for the the clothes Yeah, come come a you know not not much to plug here the clothes speaks for itself. Go visit us at www dot the clothes.com you’ll check out you’ll see there you’ll see hundreds of fantastic articles, links to our social media including our YouTube our Facebook group. And if you want to take your your close readership to the next level, consider the close pro it’s our premium membership. 35 bucks a month gets you access to next level strategy guides really awesome courses coaching the whole works. It’s it’s a pretty fantastic community. We serve real estate agents, teams and brokers and if you want to level up your real estate business, come check it out the closed Yeah, everyone go visit the clothes.com they have the best articles for helping you build your business and 95% and maybe 98% of it is totally free. And it’s just exceptional writing. So everyone go visit the clothes.com. Chris, as always, thank you. We will see you in December. Although by the time this is released, it’ll will be a December but we will see you again in December for our year wrap up. So everyone, on behalf of our listeners, Thank you, Chris, for your time. And on behalf of Chris and myself, thank you to everyone listening, please tell a friend about our show, and we will see you next time. Thanks everybody.
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