Kristina Modares 

Okay. Hey y'all! I was, I was gonna say different podcast youknow, why do we do?

 

Steph Douglass 

We listen to so many podcasts. I know which one are you gonna say? High Low?

 

Kristina Modares 

I don't know, probably Welcome to the High Low! Have a British accent?

 

Steph Douglass 

That was good.

 

Kristina Modares 

Hey y'all, welcome to the open house podcast where women talk real estate. I'm Kristina Modares.

 

Steph Douglass 

And I'm Steph Douglass. And we're going to talk to you today about how to find the best realtor and lender so basically how to build your real estate team. And so we'll go through both realtor and lender from top to bottom and how you can find the best person for you.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, Steph who was your, do you remember your first realtor?

 

Steph Douglass 

Yes, I actually my cousin is a realtor In Utah, and she has been a huge reason. I mean, she's just been a huge role model for me. And I talked to her she was the first person I talked to when I wanted to buy a house, which is probably similar to a bunch of our own clients, like they had that one person who they wanted to talk to first. And we have become that one person to a lot of people. But sometimes it's a friend, maybe it's your parents, but I asked my cousin, and she referred me to Henry. He no longer lives in Austin. He's in New Mexico now, but we keep in touch lightly like social media wise, and he was lovely. And Candace referred me to him because she knew he had a good reputation.

 

Kristina Modares 

Oh, awesome.

 

Steph Douglass 

Who was who was yours? You didn't buy a house before you became a realtor?

 

Kristina Modares 

Well, I tried. Oh, yeah. So when I first Yeah, I moved to Austin. was kind of like I was living with four people in five bedroom house and I was like, Oh yeah, maybe I should try to buy a house. So I remember Actually, I remember distinctly being with my dad and my sister on vacation and I started looking at homes in Austin. And I don't really remember how I found this realtor. I think, honestly, this is why I hate Zillow so much. I think because I had such a bad experience. I think I was searching for homes on Zillow. And then I just like clicked on a house that I liked, and then it connected me with a realtor. And it was she was very nice. But she didn't really educate me. She just like immediately started to show me homes. And I was talking with her and she was talking with me and sometimes with my dad a little bit since he knew more about the home like home ownership and buying a house but then she had showed me probably like five homes and then I found one I was obsessed with it. And then we tried to make an offer and she was like, "where's your pre approval letter?" And I was like, wait, what's that? And I was just so naive, like, I literally just jumped into this blindly through. Like, I didn't do research on finding a realtor. I didn't do research. Like about the process. I did research about, oh, this seems like a good idea. Like I knew it was a good idea because I lived with four people and I could have them you know, I could live with four people and but then have them pay the majority or all of my mortgage payment. But that was as little as I knew.

 

Steph Douglass 

That's so good. That's like your origin story. Your your realtor superhero origin story. I was wronged. And now I'm going to right the wrong for all the rest of my clients.

 

Kristina Modares 

I was just so naive. And no, didn't have anyone being like, Hey, here's some things to look into a little bit.

 

Steph Douglass 

Which is so real like we both of us experiences this when we first became realtors is everyone said that listings were the best way to be a realtor. And first time buyers, you could tell they were like, widely ignored in the realtor industry.

 

Kristina Modares 

 Mm hmm. Yeah. And I, my, I wasn't, I was more excited to solve a problem than I was about, like being a realtor. It was more of like solving this homebuyer education dilemma that I had gone through. And then I was like, if I just if this just happened to me, this must happen to many other people. I mean, surely people do way more research than me, but I don't know. I was 22. And I just was super naive and didn't know anything truly didn't know anything.

 

Steph Douglass 

I think of what we hear every day. Oh, yeah.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes. And I really didn't I think the people that we talk to actually know a lot more than the or that they should give themselves more credit. I was just like, Oh, I want to buy a house. So step one, find the house step two buy the house. I wasn't like there was no other.

 

Steph Douglass 

Which is surprising too, because your dad is so savvy in real estate.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, he must have been like, oh, she'll learn. He probably was just like, throw her in the deep end. She'll figure it.

 

Steph Douglass 

Like when they thrown babies into the water.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, I probably was like, she doesn't listen to me anyway.

 

Steph Douglass 

Sure. Well, you probably thought that the realtor would do more than the minimum.

 

Kristina Modares 

Probably. Yeah, she will she and she must have. She probably made an assumption. She probably assumed that my dad was going to buy it for me or like, he had bought a house before. So he was going to tell me, which was a problem like that should have not been her assumption. She should have asked me more questions. She didn't.

 

Steph Douglass 

Right. I love that you came became a realtor because you wanted to solve a problem, which is there's like two ways to go into business and I feel like solving a problem is one Then the other one is how I went into business is people just started asking me about real estate because I was doing I had bought two houses and I was doing renovations. And you hear like, if someone comes to you to ask you about something, then that's probably a good a good indication that you should be doing that as your job. And so I also didn't, I was not attracted to the real estate, lifestyle and job. I feel like it's not it's not appealing to me when you think of the classic realtor, right, like big hair and fancy car and very like done up which is so not me. And kinda felt also to me, which I don't know how you feel about this, but it felt like it was a backup plan. Like everybody was like, Oh, I don't like my job so I'm gonna jump into real estate.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, and it's still that's still pretty common, which is also why this episode is important. Because that's a lot of people's MO is just like, well, I may as well do this.

 

Kristina Modares 

I could sell two to three homes a year and make some side cash and you're kind of like, wow, that just sucks for the people who crossed your path like so you just are looking out for yourself and making money like that really infuriates me. That's why when a lot of people come to me like looking for advice on becoming a realtor, I asked them a lot of questions first, and if they're, if they kind of get turned off by the questions I'm asking then I'm kind of like, I don't know if you're in your heart's in the right place.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, this totally. So let's jump into it with realtor side. We wanted to start with realtor because we know that this is the the first person you should find, right?

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, I think we say this a lot like establishing this relationship early. And you're not I think a lot of people might be scared that they're wasting someone's time. But there's a right way to ask for help early on, right like, and why we say, find your realtor sooner than later is because it's kind of it's free as a buyer, like, when you're buying your house, realtor services are free to you, you're not paying for them. So you might as well kind of find that resource or use that resource as soon as possible.Yeah, and there's a right and wrong wayfor reaching out too early. I guess.

 

Steph Douglass 

I agree. I think that we really appreciate the sentiment of like people trying to not waste our time. But I think there's like Kristina said, I mean, you're, you're reaching out to establish that relationship. And you're getting the information early so that you can make the steps that you need to make so that you can then be ready.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, so maybe we talked about, like, let's say you're, you think you're two years out from being able to buy. Why reach out to this realtor? Now? I mean, they can connect you with other resources you may need. Because if you don't think you can buy a house or you you're not wanting to buy a house in the next two to three years, or until two to three years. What's that? Why, like, what's your reasoning? So they can kind of talk you through that you can explain to them your reasoning, they might. I mean, I know our realtors talk to a lot of clients who say, "Oh, you know, I can't buy now." And then as soon as we find out some more information, they leave that conversation really excited because they find out that they actually can buy sooner than they think. So connecting with the realtor first. They can help you figure out why. What resources you need now until those two years when you can buy a house. That might be credit. What is it? Credit, credit rates, credit score, oh my gosh.Okay, credit score they might be able to help you with your your credit score, or connect you with programs to or companies to help you raise your credit score or give you tips on it or paying off debt they can help you like figure out okay, "hey, you if you pay off this car payment, or lower your car payment, you might be able to afford a home sooner than later."

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, it's it's a it's kind of bold and mysterious when people are like, why would I buy a house in two years, but they don't have any context. So it's a huge step that you it's all kind of a mysterious process until you dive into it. Because there's so much information that's so personal to you that it's really ideal to start talking to your real estate team sooner rather than later. So you can actually have a plan, like people are planning for two years but there there could be you could be doing it sooner, but also you could be taking steps to make your buying experience even better. So, I love that I think reaching out early building that team building the relationship is so smart. And it's really rare that people do that. And we we do have, like, Kristina talked to me. She they've been talking for three years. You know, that's like, the it's a really ideal way to do it. If you especially if you're a planner,

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes, for sure. So we've talked about, like, finding a realtor and why that's working with a realtor as your first step towards homeownership and why that's important. But we need to discuss how to find this person because as we know, the threshold for getting your license is low. Like it's not hard. I mean, it's not the easiest, but it's, it's, it's not like nursing school, you know, it

 

Steph Douglass 

Really hard. I mean, it's really easy to get your license.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah. So essentially, you just take an online you can take an online course. Then you go take a proctor Test. And then you pass it and you got your license. And it's kind of scary. I mean, I don't think you shouldn't work with new agents. But there's a I guess we can get into that in a little bit of like qualifying will give you some qualifying questions to ask your realtor to know if they're a good fit for you.

 

Steph Douglass 

But how to find one that is we have two really different experiences. And I think people are really confused about the process just don't know and they'll click on the Zillow, the button that says, I want to look at this house because obviously you do want to look at the house, but they'll send a random person to meet you at the house. And you don't know anything about their experience. They don't you don't know about their mentorship, you don't know about their resources. And really Zillow exists to collect buyer leads. So if you have a pair because Yeah,

 

Kristina Modares 

because the realtor is paying Zillow money to get those leads. So essentially Just being connected with a realtor who paid to have your information,

 

Steph Douglass 

right. And that is just not, it's not the experience that I wish on anyone. And so really we we recommend, because we know that not everyone is here in Austin. Because obviously, we are very biased. And we think that you should work with us. But as, as we found out, we have people in other countries listening to us. So I think we're referrals from friends or people who know about industry or about the industry and have similar values to you. Yes, yeah, that's the most valuable referral that you could possibly get.

 

Kristina Modares 

For sure. And referring and I think getting referrals from friends and family or coworkers who also have the same values as you. Because if you're, if you get a referral from someone you work with, but you barely know and you're kind of like, well, they bought a new construction home. That's like a luxury Home out, you know in the suburbs or something yet you're trying to find an investment property to, like more central to the city. You know that I don't know you might need to do a little bit more digging and ask your your coworker like why did they like working with this person? So I think having the same values is super important. I think-

 

Steph Douglass 

 I love that, asking, asking that like digging deeper into not just getting a name and contact information. What did they do for you? You're asking your friends what what why was it? Why was it such a pleasure to work with them? And making sure that that is what you want in your experience? Also, if you're kind of like, Oh,

 

Kristina Modares 

I don't know, I've I don't really know anyone who's bought a house. You can also feel free to reach out to us. We have a huge network. And I know a lot of my friends from Atlanta have reached out to me being like, hey, I need to find a realtor. What do I do? And I have gone online and like done a lot of research and asked for referrals. Or you know, I've asked around and kind of ask some qualifying questions to agents being like, what do you offer for first time homebuyers if my friend is a first time homebuyer or if they're an investor, I ask qualifying questions around investing. So feel free to reach out to us if you are kind of stuck on finding a really good realtor contest.

 

Steph Douglass 

My my role model my real estate role model my cousin, she was a realtor in Utah and she was the one that referred me to my realtor in Austin. So we there is like this overarching realtor community in in the nation. And just from our brand in our company, we have a lot of realtors that reach out in different cities that we know are ready to offer resources for first time homebuyers, or whatever you need. We also like we're we're definitely not like knocking, buying a new build house in a suburb, we definitely help people buy those. Also, you just want to make sure that the person that you're that you're taking advice from has yeah, has some very similar experience similar values. And, and yeah, maybe that their realtor that they worked with only works in luxury and that's, that's not that might not be who you who would be the best fit for you?

 

Kristina Modares 

Exactly. So we kind of we touched on how to find a realtor. And then I guess we should kind of tell people what realtors do for you or what they should do for you. I think some people have this assumption that realtors are essentially just picking out homes for you and showing you homes but they should be doing so much more. And they do a lot more they own their own business. So they're doing a lot in general but yeah, do you want to touch on?

 

Steph Douglass 

Well, and I love that you said that. People think they just pick out homes and show when Actually, that's like the lowest priority drop of a realtor, especially since the internet exists now, you you see shows on HGTV or even movies where the realtor has picked out all of the houses. And the client hasn't seen any of the houses or any photos of the houses until they go to the house. Right? And it's really, I mean, we have such good resources for our clients to find their own homes on the internet that that's such a small part of our job.

 

Kristina Modares 

And but not you

 

Steph Douglass 

probably Oh, sorry, no, go. Go.

 

Kristina Modares 

That's probably with the majority of real life people getting their real estate license. I think their job is going to be because that's what is portrayed on TV. And that's probably what there's like, how many realtors in Austin like 13,000, or so. And I'm just kind of like,

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, the barrier to entry is really low when people think oh, this job is so easy. I can I can look at houses all day, when it's just Such a small, small part of our job so, so really, especially for buyers, they're free resource a free guide and they're kind of like your, your counselor or your therapist through this process. So they're, they're making sure that you feel comfortable you feel taken care of. And then like on a more technical level, they're helping you analyze the price and the value of the house they see houses every single day. You are seeing these houses for the first time. They're in this business and ideally they've had quite a bit of experience in this similar area or, or type of house that you're in the market for. So those are two big big pieces free guide, being a counselor and then helping you analyze the price and the value Yeah.

 

Kristina Modares 

And like they are helping you come up with a negotiation strategy. I think that is a huge part of our job. Kind of like knowing areas knowing price point. Because I know we're talking to realtor Our team of realtors right now. And I know one of our agents is having a lot of trouble helping a client find a property because they're getting there. They're having like multiple offers. But it's because they're looking at a certain price point in a certain area where I was just showing a client in a different area, a different price point, and we didn't have that problem. So just working with someone who knows the area knows how to get you into something and kind of knows, to prepare you like, Hey, I'm so excited that you're looking for this property for a property in this area at this price point, just a heads up. It's going to be a little bit of a bumpy road because there a super popular area. So I think just talking with someone who can counsel you through that and negotiate for you

 

Steph Douglass 

and also for you,

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes, for sure. Go to Bat for you. And there's So many, I think people get really stressed out about all the unknowns in real estate. And that's why you have a realtor to kind of guide you through and, and through each step, they're going to kind of enlighten you like, Oh, hey, guess what, this is what we're going to expect in this next step. And they're just kind of that buffer from pushy sellers and agents and anyone else who doesn't have your best interest in mind.

 

Steph Douglass 

I mean, you're choosing someone to fully represent you. And this person should have your, your, your very best interests at heart and be able to prepare you for what's coming, talk you through it when it's actually happening. And also, they're not there to just be your yes person. Like they're not trying to just say, Oh, yeah, we can do that. It's a realistic portrayal of the market so that you're not getting your hopes up. You're not getting your hopes dashed when you don't get something when you're offering too low. So That's a huge part of it. And you definitely want them to be a good negotiator. And like for sure, for sure, and and we have learned so much throughout the years of being realtors, and we're teaching that to our agents on our team. But you also want someone who has, who has a really good moral compass. And yeah, kind, like every single realtor will be nice and will be nice to you because they're trying to get your business. But you're looking for someone who is truly kind who has, who has, again, similar values to you. And so you want I think, Kristina, when we talked about this episode, you were like you, you don't just want a shark. You want a kind shark,

 

Kristina Modares 

 A kind shark!

 

Steph Douglass 

because how do you trust someone who, you know, it's kind of like having that friend where you're like, well, they talk shit about my other friend all the time, but I guess it's like they're going to do it to you too. So you want someone who is not going to do anything shady in your mind. If something feels a little off, like you feel comfortable being able to talk to them about what's going on, you want to be able to trust that person and how will you be able to do that if you just think this person is only out for money, you know, exactly. And there's also in addition to the negotiations like there's so many levels to a real estate deal, the search process and then negotiations which happened towards the beginning of the contract, but the contract part is filled with deadlines. So this the realtor once you're under contract, they become kind of a project manager and making their make sure that the lender is doing what they're supposed to do the title company you are getting your documents in, you're reaching your deadlines because it is a legal contract, a legally binding contract. So if you don't reach your deadlines or meet your deadlines, then you have money at risk. And you have, you know, your realtor is there to save you from losing money.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, and I think that kind of leads per into our next section, which is like questions that you should ask your realtor because I think I know when I first got my license, like everyone has to start somewhere. And you shouldn't really discount someone who has just gotten their license because honestly, like, when I first got my license, I was on top of everything because I knew that I didn't know. I knew I was a beginner. And I knew I didn't know everything. So I surrounded myself with people that were super smart and like the best of the best in real estate, and I went in under a lady who was like the top agent in our office, so I could learn from her. So you just have to know the right questions to ask a new realtor. And you don't necessarily I mean, I've gotten questions when people are trying to decide if they want to hire me or not. And they've asked me questions that I know that they've googled, and I'm kind of like, that's not like that's not really gonna To help you learn if I'm going to be the best person for you, they've asked like, how many sales did you make this year? Which you know what? I like? I don't really know if that translates because if I said 3 million in sales, what does that mean? You know, like, Do you even know what that means? So, I mean, I know I wouldn't, but I know if I googled, that's what it would ask. And yeah.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, so I love I love the list of questions that we came up with, because they're, they're definitely deeper. But overall, like the overarching questions are more for yourself and asking yourself, does this person seemingly align with my values? Are they going to be a good communicator? Are they going to, are they going to be trustworthy? But really, when you're when you're talking with a realtor? You want to ask what resources they offer for first time homebuyers or whoever you are. So if you're a first time homebuyer, you want resources for first time homebuyers. If you're looking For an investment property, you want resources for investors.

 

Kristina Modares 

That's a perfect question to ask because I should have asked that when I first started looking for homes. What? What do I need to know? What do I not know that I need to know? So I think what resources can you offer for first time homebuyers is perfect. And then if they are under a year license, like if they just got their license, ask them what kind of mentorship do you have? Like, who is your team of people that's helping you?

 

Steph Douglass 

What access do you have to questions being answered? And I love that you said you surrounded yourself with with the smartest people because you also neither of us are afraid to ask questions. So we, if we didn't know something, we were sure as hell going to find out. And that's that's how you learn.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, and that's what someone wants like, as a first time homebuyer or just as a homebuyer in general. You want to be able to go to your realtor and ask them a question that you tried to Google and You can't figure out you know, and that person even if they don't know it, they know how to find that answer for you. And they know how to show like, Hey, this is the information I got from this resource. And that's my understanding, because there are a lot of questions in real real estate that they don't have a yes or no answer. It's not black and white. A lot of it is opinion. So having a realtor who does have access to, you know, getting more opinions from other people is is great. I mean, I know at our brokerage, we have a Facebook group where sometimes I still go in there, jump in there and I'm like, I had a client, ask about a septic tank. This is what I think but what do you all think and just getting like 20 different opinions is so important,

 

Steph Douglass 

so valuable, having access to that community is super valuable. And even I go into that if I ever need a referral like a vendor or contractor we have a really good list are we built a good list on our own But anything like anything very specific, there was something I needed recently it was very specific, like, a window defogger like citizens so and we I had three people who were like, I know exactly who you should go to for that it's being able to find the answers to things is, is really important and admitting that you don't know like you want someone to say, Oh, I don't know, but I will find out for you. Because zactly pretending to know is pretty dangerous in real estate.

 

Kristina Modares 

For sure, you can't know everything. And you know, sometimes, if a client asked me a question, I don't know, I don't sometimes I'm not like, I don't know. But I will say, Oh, I think I have the answer for you. Look, give me like five minutes and all Yeah, go do some more research on our alas other people. I'll share my opinion, but I'll share other people's opinions. So I think that's that's great.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah. And then we didn't touch on this yet but your your realtor should have recommendations. For inspectors, for contractors for lenders, and that is super important, and that's part of their job is to is to have that arsenal of recommendations. So you can ask them about that. And you're on your first call, consultation call or however, that realtor takes in clients but but yeah, the arsenal of recommendations is really important. And then going back to you personally and your desires in a home. If you're buying a fixer upper. You're you want someone who's done this before.

 

Kristina Modares 

That's, that's true. And even I know when we walk through homes, I think I've said this before another episode, I don't know but you want someone who is going to walk through and like look at those big ticket items, especially if you're buying a fixer upper home. As a first time homebuyer, you're not really going to know what to look for. You're going to be like, Oh, I like this layout. I like this lighting. don't really like this and you want someone who's like, oh, I've renovated a home before I know how to fix this or I know how to make this, you know, more appealing, or kind of look at a house and be like, Ooh, this is going to be a lot like you told me your budget for renovating was 20 k, this is going to be 80 k ballpark in my hand. I just have kind of an idea of certain costs. So yeah, you if you're going to buy a fixer upper, you kind of want to work with someone who knows, or has renovated a home before.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, agree. Anything else about questions? Yes, I

 

Kristina Modares 

think communication is so important. And figuring out how you want to communicate or how they communicate and having a conversation around that. So how, I guess how would you present that so what's the best way I can get in touch with you? When should I expect to get in touch with you when you work versus when Do you not work? Because I think this is a problem with realtors is they just think, Oh my gosh, my client texted me at 1030 at night like I need to respond. It's a weird industry where you wouldn't do that you're like, I don't, who would you went to that your dentist like I wouldn't text my dentist or I wouldn't even text like my land like lawn person at 1030 at night expecting an answer yet in real estate. I think that's the problem with the realtors. They don't set the expectation. So, if at first your realtors like texting you at 10pm and then all of a sudden they go like cold and they don't say anything. It's kind of like Ah, wait, do they hear me what's going on? So you want to establish that communication style and know the boundary of when you should expect communication. Just so you aren't freaked out because I know like it can be emotional. So you might like be texting with your realtor one night and then the next night you're not and that you're kind of like what's going on like, do they not care anymore, like All these thoughts are going through your head. And a good. Yeah, right. Oh my gosh, it

 

Steph Douglass 

is like dating. If we could just have this conversation with like the people that we've dated, like when should I expect to hear from you? How am I Gosh, me? Will it be an email? But I think that's super important because there's a lot. So there's a lot of, of things in real estate that seem life or death. And that seems super time sensitive. But usually, it's something that can be handled in the morning. But it is it's I mean, a lot of times, this is their first time through and so it's it can get really emotional. But if you have that, if you have that communication conversation early, then you can know that it's not the end of the world.

 

Kristina Modares 

I think that's one more thing. One more thing before we move on to the next section. I wanted to go back to finding if you're looking to renovate a home finding a realtor that has done it. I think what's most important there is So how how resourceful they are. So I know that I was would still be a good option for people trying to renovate their homes before I had done it because I was on a team that had investors on our real estate team, you know. So I think this goes back to the resources, how resourceful they are, and kind of being honest with you about what they know what they don't know. I think that's so important.

 

Steph Douglass 

And what access they have to the resources that will help.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes, we can move on. Oh,

 

Steph Douglass 

I yeah, I think that does it for questions. Again, if you are struggling finding a realtor in your market or it's feels overwhelming, please don't just go to Zillow, we will we can help you. So reach out for sure we we just have a huge network. So yeah, we can help you with that. So let's move on to lenders. This is the second person that you'll add to your real estate team. And ideally, you're getting referrals from your lender or from your real estate agent. And some people that come to me ever come to our team with lender recommendations that they've gotten from their friends as well. And I'm all for that. So you could do we always recommend that you have three quotes. So you get three quotes from three different lenders. So maybe you could do two from your realtor and one from a friend. But we our team always gives three referrals. Well, you're gonna talk about when people when we reach out to lenders,

 

Kristina Modares 

So this is a question we get asked a lot is like, oh, when should I reach out to this lender? And I really, I think it just depends on what where you are financially if you have a feeling if you're like, I have a lot of debt and like a credit score's low and I'm kind of nervous about it. Honestly, I feel like you should reach out to them sooner than later because this person should be a great resource to you, they should be able to give you just like your realtors giving you a lot of resources, your lender should be giving you a lot of financial resources, they should be the ones where you go to, that if you have a lower credit score, they don't just dismiss you, you know, they, they will talk you through and be like, Oh, you just need to raise it a few points. And you know, if you paid off this one bill, you could do it. And having someone who knows that and like, will be kind and walk you through it because a lot of lenders will like near another number two, just like realtors like lenders, there's good ones and bad ones. I went to a bad one in the very beginning and it was a little scarring because I felt really hurt and sad of what they told me.

 

Steph Douglass 

Um, we get a lot of people scarred from that also, like, Oh, I talked to a lender and they said I'd needed $50,000 before they even talked to me. And that's really discouraging and it's also just, it's just not true. That you have to have X amount of money because it's so personal. So I like I like that you said, Oh, wait, what did you say? Well, I

 

Kristina Modares 

said, I talked about someone who, you know, may be a little nervous about their finances, and that's what's holding them back. But then if you are kind of like, Well, I have good credit, I have a W-2 job or whatever. It's like, easy. I feel like I'm just a little nervous still. I would still talk to someone. I mean, I don't know if you have less financial questions. Maybe you don't need to reach out like a year or two before. But why you really need to reach out to a lender before you start looking is because you cannot make offers on homes until you have something that they have which or something they can give you which is pre approval.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, but that like, it goes back to reaching out early because you want to have a true timeline. Like you want to be like okay, I can buy a house in three months. I can buy a house and two years, and here's my plan. Because before you talk to a lender, you can't know like they have such valuable information to give you. And I actually have, I'm about to refinance my house. And this is the same thing as buying essentially. But I went to them and I said, Okay, here's here are my tax returns, here's my, here's my, you know, financial landscape and they gave me this document, they have these cool credit simulators basically that say, Okay, if you paid off this card, and this card by this exact amount and this exact amount, then you will have a 785 credit score and that will give you the best possible rate. And so it is going to take them it was going to take 45 days for that to happen. And all I had to do with this those those specific steps I struggle with, like, Okay, I'm doing the good things, I think, but I don't know exactly what effect this is gonna have. Until like the uncertainty is really frustrating so when you talk to a lender everything becomes clear and you kind of have that certainty of Okay Here is my timeline I can buy when my credit score gets to this I will have the optimal rate and I will be able to buy in six months exactly knowledge is power yes yeah and so it's it's easy to be like well yeah we want to buy I don't know we probably want to buy but it's like no, you don't know you probably can. But here's how here's how it's gonna be the best possible version of this process for you and that's what everyone wants right?

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, everyone needs us in on their shoulder being like, pushing them a little like hey, you said you wanted to buy but like what research have you done?

 

Steph Douglass 

 Exactly.This is like the par nice push my friend. I know because like we can't really be pushy, like we have to be like really? And we are really understanding but also like firm with our clients but like, we can't like be we can't break it down this this

 

Kristina Modares 

My poor partner, I feel like I don't know. I just am not great with excuse. Like when someone says an excuse, I'm just like, Well, why don't you just do it?

 

Steph Douglass 

Like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I know Alan, I say a limiting belief like every day. He's like, Oh, I don't really I don't know. I don't really like that. And like, Oh, that's limiting belief. You don't like tomatoes? Well,

 

Kristina Modares 

We're the most annoying. Well, we let we get it out with our partners. We go out with our partners and then when we see our friends then we're less annoying.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, yeah, he's his buffers we get out of our system. If you date us. We Yeah.

 

Kristina Modares 

You get the brunt of it. Yeah. Um, what was Uh, what? Okay, that was Oh, one more thing. This is sorry. I think a lot of people ask us, as far as like pre approval and talking to lenders. How long will it take to get a pre approval letter? You just start the process. And I mean, if you talk to someone, so I know with a lot of lenders, we work with the processes, go on their website, fill out their information. This is if you're ready to get a pre approval letter, and you're ready to like talk seriously with them. So you go on their website, fill out their little intake form, and then they set up a time to call you. And then after that call, they're going to be like, Here, give me like, all these documents, and then it's kind of up to you, once you send them those documents. You should get your letter in the next day or two.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, super fast.

 

Kristina Modares 

And you should confirm that with the lender, especially if you're like, I found this home like I want to make an offer. That's kind of why it's good to have a pre approval ready to go. You should also kind of figure out how long the letter lasts. Usually it's like 90 to 120 days. So you it it would be good to have that letter just in case something pops up on the market and you're like ready to go

 

Steph Douglass 

Super easy to re re up that letter to.

 

Kristina Modares 

Oh, for sure. Yeah. Um, so we talked about timing a little bit anything else on for timing things.

 

Steph Douglass 

So I think that's ,that's it. I think I just knowing that you have to get a pre approval before you actually start going to look at listings is super important. So, yes.

 

Kristina Modares 

Okay, so a lot of people also don't know about different types of lending. It's a little confusing. There's big banks kind of like chase or Wells Fargo, and then there's credit unions, and then there's local lenders. We typically recommend working with a local lender or credit union for specific reasons. Yeah, it goes back to like, having the same values as you and also like, getting more attention getting more hand holding. A bank like let's let's go back and think about it. Some of the fraud and that has happened with like banks, like Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Like, they're really not looking out for your best interest. And they're such a big company. They have so many different ways that they make money that like lending. I don't know. Yeah,

 

Steph Douglass 

No, I agree, aside from the fact that they have, like, their logistics are awful. They're not pushing the timeline. They're, you know, they're, it's not as sure that they're going to reach the closing timeline that we need them to reach, which is very important. They are just like, morally bankrupt, which is the Yeah, I mean, I guess that's how you can put it there. There. We are really big on values based spending, right? And you're going to give these people a lot of your money. So I love that you brought that up. It's it's a values based decision and big banks don't don't match all of our values. But also, they are just notorious. Like none of our realtor friends like to work with big banks. It's like very common that we that we hear realtors have swayed buyers against big bangs and sellers don't like to see big banks in offers because you have to submit your letter your pre approval letter to the seller when you're making an offer and a lot of times they'll say I've had a couple times be like oh they have Bank of America on here. We need them to switch lenders or else we can't accept them.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah and that's guided by the the seller's realtor like the seller's realtor is looking out for the sellers best interest and if they've worked with a client before who had Wells Fargo, and then Wells Fargo, drop the ball and like lost the deal because financing something with financing fell through, then they're going to mourn their seller about that. So I think that's really your write stuff that's really important to to bring up. Yeah,

 

Steph Douglass 

and then online lenders which is kind of a more reasonable lenders, oh, like Quicken Loans or Rocket Mortgage discount lenders. That's what it's it's I they're just not personal. I I'm not it's not fun to work with them because they're, they're not they don't get back to you as quickly as they should. Have you worked with a discount brokerage or discount on them?

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, and and really, it just depends because I, I get what you're saying and I agree. And I think it really depends on the buyer like I know if you're a first time homebuyer, you might not want to work with someone from Quicken Loans or a discount lender, because they aren't going to walk you through they're not going to give you the information you need to make you feel more comfortable with this purchase. But if you've bought a bunch of homes before and this is if you get a really good rate with them, sure why not?

 

Steph Douglass 

Actually also the like if you have a pretty straightforward file exactly what what does that mean? Meaning you have like a W-2 job you don't have much debt like it's very straightforward actually have one right now that's doing fine.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, and also I'll give you an example of what when it's not fine is so I had a client who he had a W-2 job but he was buying a townhouse and townhouses have HOA is an HOA are their own little governments, and they have their own budgets and rules and regulations. So your lender is going to look into the HOA finances. And if there's any little hiccup here and there if they've like, you know, still need to, I don't know, like file some paperwork or pay some bill or something like the lender is looking into the HOA. And so we almost lost that deal because, luckily, the lender we worked with was a local lender, so they caught it really quickly and figured it all out. But if it was a bank, if it was like Wells Fargo, we were working with that deal. He would not have been able to buy that townhouse. They caught something with the HOA. They figured it out on the like, last minute. My client was still a little stressed out but it was like we figured it out. And then he got to buy his townhouse. So yeah, they typically over promise under deliver exactly what big banks typically do,

 

Steph Douglass 

Which is really dangerous in real estate, because the contingencies if you back out late in the deal you have you have some money on the line, you have your earnest money deposit, which we talked about in a couple of previous episodes. But that's 1% of the sales price that you have on the line that your lender could be responsible for making you lose. So you definitely don't want you want to make the right decision as far as your lender goes. But you're, you're going to find your realtor first. And they will help you with that decision also, so don't feel like this is stressful.

 

Kristina Modares 

And if you do, so, I did have a client recently where they got a few quotes from lenders, and they really, really loved working with one lender, but their rate wasn't as good as a rate that they got from another lender who wasn't really that great. So then they took that rate and brought it to the lender that they liked from the other. Does that make sense? Yeah, so better rates. From the very like, yeah, and then brought it to the lender, they really liked able to say, Hey, this is this person gave you this rate, but they like over promise in these ways and like explain to them how they kind of just like told them, it kind of lied to them about the rate that they could get. Because they wanted their business. And then the lender they really liked working with kind of show them, well, we can kind of work around to bring down your rate a little bit. I can't get as good as that one. Because that's not true. That's not possible. But they still were able to get a better rate and like talk through why that other rate wasn't even that great. And like it was just like a lie.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, the documents that lender send can can feel a little overwhelming, because there's a lot of estimates, which, you know, they can't know the exact amounts until the end and there's a lot of stuff that you there's no reason for you to know because you've never done this before. So it can be it's really nice to have a lender who We'll take the time to walk you through those things, and to make you feel comfortable with what you're signing, because that, you know, it's a big purchase.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, for sure. And you want to work with someone who has really good values. I mean, obviously, but also, I'm reading the color of law right now. And I just, it's kind of about the history of how government has like intervene to kind of make home buying and lending and everything harder for people of color to get into homes, like historically over, you know, since our country was founded, and it's just kind of crazy. Of course, we don't trust these banks, like they've screwed us over in so many different ways. And you really want to like figure out what is true and what is not. And I, I don't know. That's another aspect of it. You want to make sure you're working with someone who does care for people. And I don't know

 

Steph Douglass 

They exist.  They we have some really, really awesome lenders to refer and we've gone through I mean, over the years, we've taken people off the list, we've, you know, we're really, really, and we revisit this list every week in our in our sales meetings to make sure if we have any bad experience with any client, that person doesn't get referred anymore because they're a reflection of us. And so we are really, really careful about who we refer.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, if you're in Austin, and you need a few good recommendations to just talk to please reach out to us. I don't think we said this before, but you can reach out to us on podcast at open house. Wait. Yeah,  podcast at open house Austin. co.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah. And actually, if you're in all of Texas, because the lenders that we have are licensed throughout Texas and so I just actually referred all of our best lenders to a friend Houston, and she was just like, Oh my God, thank you so much. Because it's kind of luck of the draw. If you just talk to someone random, they can really make you feel yucky and discouraged. And you know, my gosh, well, we want to avoid.

 

Kristina Modares 

It's so true. I had a, I had a friend who he just reached out to a random lender. He should have talked to me first, but okay. And he was like, I mean, he gave me a stellar rate, but he also said some really, like, racist things to me on the phone and, and like, and, sexist things. And he, and I was like, wait, what, who is this person like? And so I immediately gave him a few other people. And I was like, here, talk to these other people instead. But yeah, it's just crazy. It's crazy.

 

Steph Douglass 

Not only do we have a referral list, we have a blacklist. Yeah. So but but I think that the other the other aspect to shopping and talking to multiple lenders is if you have a unique situation. So when we talk about straightforward file or straightforward financial situation, that means you probably have a salary job, you don't have much debt, and you have a good amount of savings. We're not all like that, right? And even Kristina and I aren't like that because we are self employed. So we have to get pretty creative and we want to work with lenders who can also get creative. And so if you're, if you're self employed or freelance W-9, there are lenders that we have that are really good problem solvers, because there's some people that like just don't want to deal with it. It's it's a harder file, it's harder to make it work. But when you find someone like that, then it makes everything seem possible. And when someone says no, just try someone else. That's our lender law.

 

Kristina Modares 

That's what we did. We'll talk about this in another episode about how we purchased our small commercial buildings. in Austin, we had to talk to quite a few banks and lenders like small banks and lenders. Everyone turns down but we just kept Yeah, kept asking around.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah. And and when you when we say turned us down, like, it's really funny because in the movies, it's portrayed as like, you get dressed up and you go and you look really nice and you show them that you're responsible, but really is it's not like that you just show them your financials, and they say, like, yes or no, this is this can't happen, but it's really crazy. Because if you get to know that person's gonna make you feel like that is the only and final answer.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes, that's so true. Especially. Not every lender works with those first time homebuyer programs that we've talked about before. So if they don't work with them, they will often say, Oh, you, you know, they'll, like make it seem like you wouldn't qualify or doesn't exist or it doesn't exist. SO yeah, that is another thing to think about when you're talking to your realtor and you're like, I'm interested in the first time homebuyer program, they should have a lender that works with a lot of those programs to refer you to.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, so I love that we talked about what type of lender, what timing, things to avoid. And then on your part, like how should you prepare to talk to a lender? How should a buyer prepare to talk to a lender? This is, this is the part where like, you have a lot of control over how this goes. You have you should have all of your financial documents ready, which includes your past two tax returns, even if you're unsure about them, they have to see the past two years and don't be embarrassed even if you have your own business and you wrote off a bunch of it looks like you made $20,000 in a year like they can help you by telling you what not to do for the next year.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, 'cause unfortunately you do want to show if you work for yourself, you you want to show a higher income for the year. that you need to show the lender when you're trying to buy a house. Yeah, getting those documents so also your they're going to look at like they're going to go through all your three months I think of credit card statements. They're going to look at any savings accounts any account you have you need to give them your past like three months statements from them driver's license, what else oh, your transcripts which eah, so tax transcripts.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah tax returns and then your your pay stubs. So if you have regular pay, which most people do, but that you they'll need your pay stubs from your from your work. So just have these things compiled. It can be a huge pain to get these things. So make sure that before you start, you're kind of compiling these things and maybe you have a file on your computer where those things just live so you can be prepared. I have that and it's really helped when I've when I've gone to apply for a loan. And then once the process gets started, you're doing your job well. So your job is to prepare, or to make sure that you have all of the documents quickly, you respond to their emails on on time, they are going to be doing their best to do that. So you can make this process go by a lot faster and less painfully, if you just are really responsive and you're gonna get a million emails and it's gonna suck, but it's not forever.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes, and it's good to get this out of the way sooner than later because you don't want to be doing all this when you're also when you just go under contract. You know, like you don't want to be trying to like scramble to find a lender and then like, send them all the documents and get a pre approval letter. When you find your dream house and really want to make an offer. And also, once you're under contract, like that's pretty stressful to do all that at once. Yes. Before we get into question stuff, is there anything else we should let them know? About lenders.

 

Steph Douglass 

I don't think so. Oh, there is one thing. People are worried about the hard credit pull. And we get this question so often so the credit bureaus have a protection for people who are shopping rates. It's consumer protection device that allows you to shop for as many different mortgage rates and lenders as you want in a two week period. And there's I think there since we have three credit bureaus, which is like how can you be more confusing America is so annoying, but there's three credit bureaus I think there's a different time length or time frame for which you can do that in each bureau but the lowest one is two weeks. So you definitely want to do your to it two weeks your diligence on your lenders shopping around. For those lenders, it'll only pull your credit one time. So even if you have Credit Karma, which you probably should, if you're thinking of buying a house in the next couple years, go into Credit Karma and then once the first person pulls your mortgage or pulls your credit. And then there's going to be a countdown on your Credit Karma on your dashboard. And we'll say you have 13 more days to shop for as many lenders as you want and not get a credit pull.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes, very good point. Okay, that leads us into what questions you should ask. Okay, so one question to ask is what will my mortgage payment look like in all different downpayment scenarios? So, a lot of people think that you have to put 20% down and you don't, your realtor should kind of let you know about that as well. But your your lender is going to really solidify if you need to or not, because I know when I first bought my house, I wanted to put 5% down, but my lender told me if you put 10% down you you can pay or you can get a higher budget essentially. So you kind of want to know what your payment will look like at 5% you know, 10% 20% if you want to put 40% whatever but you You want to like, make sure your lender is telling you what your interest rate will be a different down payment amounts, and how much your monthly payment will be just so you can make more of an educated decision on

 

Steph Douglass 

the down payment you put down. And at the price point you want to be at. So like your downpayment, maybe you're putting 10% down, and you want to see that payment in a $300,000 house $400,000 house and a $500,000 house. And that will that will really dictate your budget, because we say we love to look at the micro budget as opposed to the macro budget because that has more of effect and effect on your lifestyle. So we we, in our consultation calls, all of our agents will ask What do you feel comfortable paying monthly? And almost everybody's like, Oh my gosh, I haven't even thought of that. Because you don't you think of like I want a $400,000 house but a lot of people don't know what that means. So your lender will tell you Okay, If you buy a $400,000 house, put 10% down. This is what your payment will be. And you're like, Oh, I can I can do that. Or like, Oh, fuck, I cannot make that happen. Ooh, that may be the first f bomb I have on this on this show.

 

Kristina Modares 

Really? I feel like Ali told us that we said it in this like, teaser. Um, I think another question. A really good question to ask if you are looking for this is do you offer any first time buyer or downpayment assistance programs? I think asking like, do you have it knowing like that exists? You know, like, kind of coming in with like, Oh, I already know that this does exist. And I'm trying to figure out if you offer this or not. Yeah, and and just kind of gauging what their responses because they might say, Oh, you know, they might actually say you don't qualify, which sometimes you don't. But you want to know if if that exists in general if they have those programs available, if that's what you're looking for. And like, Why or why not? Wouldn't you qualify? Right?

 

Steph Douglass 

If you can kind of look at a lender, like a store, and like they have products, every loan product is different. And it's not just one like you go to them and they just have one they have many different loan products. And some lenders don't carry the products that you want. So like, I'll go to Trader Joe's because I like their crackers. Yeah, but like HEB doesn't carry the crackers I want so you know, and so that's how it goes with a lender they don't carry the product that you want. So they're trying to convince you to buy one of the products that they they do carry. So I like that going into it saying like, I know this exists. Do you carry this and instead so they can't just say like actually that doesn't that that product doesn't exist these these sweet potato crackers don't exist in the world. And they do you know they do. But you just what you want to see what they carry

 

Kristina Modares 

Exactly. Another good question. To ask lenders is how much will their fees be, which I haven't really been great at asking in the past, because I kind of make assumptions, which is silly of me. I've made assumptions that overall lenders fees are kind of similar, which I mean, maybe gender like, they probably are to a certain degree. But I think it's just good to just know how much of what you're paying in closing costs is a lender fee. And they do a lot of work for you. So they also, I feel bad for lenders sometimes because people do shop around so much, which is great, but like they'll one lender will give so much information to someone and then they'll go with like someone else because they have a better rate, but they never even knew that they could try to get a better rate with that lender. So I get it, but you should ask about.

 

Steph Douglass 

that totally and then they'll be able to tell you like your prepaid taxes and prepaid insurance, which is the largest part of your closing costs, and it depends From it depends on the house. So if you say, Okay, I found this house that I love now can you rerun those numbers for me, they'll give you a really good estimate of how much your closing costs will be. And so they're just like they go to for your for your numbers, obviously. But like initially when you're talking through them, the fees part is the best. Yes is the best way and then they can they can give you estimates on on everything else your, your they call it cash to close, which is like that one big number that you'll have to bring to the table at the end.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, that's a good point is they will give you an estimate. But really, until I mean, at least in Texas, you won't really know the exact amount you need to bring to the table until three days before closing. So they get which is sounds scary, but it's okay. It's very close like and they they often are conservative. So they try to like give you a little bit of a higher estimate of what they think that you'll owe. So if they Like, okay, you're gonna owe like 13,000. at closing, you might get your closing disclosure three days before closing and it'll be like 1250 or something and you're like, Oh, so then it's typically not the pretty close. Yeah, it's pretty close. It's a pretty good number.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, I remember my first house it was, for me, it was really, really low. The what I ended up having to spend and I was so surprised and happy. It was like $3,000 lower than what they estimated and I, I was stretching it then to begin with. So I was like, Yes, it's great. But usually they are they are pretty conservative with those estimates. Hmm.

 

Kristina Modares 

Another great question to ask them is how can I quickly raise my credit score? So if if you go to a lender and you have a lower credit score, they might still say, oh, you're approved. But then you can ask them, okay, but if, or they should kind of inform you anyway, like if you raise your credit score, just like to this amount You could get a better interest rate so you should have some questions ask them around that if you think your credit score could be higher and help you out with with getting a better rate.

 

Steph Douglass 

And then when you're gonna also get your pre approval letter from that lender and you want to ask them how long that will last like we said, it's usually 90 to 120 days, so three to four months. And then when they give you that pre approval letter, they're going to give you a max budget. So I've I've had clients that are like oh well they gave me a way higher way higher max budget than I wanted to spend. Like they're trying to push me higher. And it really isn't that they're trying to tell you your options and give you you know, like give you your max budget not most of them are not trying to make you spend that and then obviously, if you work with open house team, we're trying to you know, mitigate that and make sure that you're really comfortable with the monthly payment. And so a lot of times our our clients are not spending anywhere near where their max max budget is. But it is good to know what your limit is.

 

Kristina Modares 

That's a very good point. Because I've definitely had that before. Even like recently, my sister tried to get pre approval letter. And she gave them the price that she wanted. And that was the letter and I was like, well, we need to find out like, what's the Max? I'm just, I'm just curious, like what would be what would be your max budget? Just because then that gives us a few other options, especially if we were going to try to like house hack or something and have someone else pay that mortgage payment. So it's just good to know what your options are. Not saying you should spend your max budget just know what that is and why.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah. And the difference between the payments and one versus the other. You'd actually be surprised if you have a $10,000 difference. The monthly payment is very similar. Like what is it? 20 bucks a month or something?

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah, it, it depends. But yeah, it's not that much. So when when we do get to negotiating and you're like, Nope, I'm not gonna go any, they will drop the price $5,000 I give up on this house. It's kind of like, Well, why is it because of your Yeah, go a little bit like, Oh, I know, I don't want to lose. But yeah, it's kind of like,that doesn't really affect me in the long term. Right?

 

Steph Douglass 

You know, it gets it gets really emotional during those negotiation times, and they're, like, will often be arguing between thousands of dollars and you're just like, oh my god. I know, it's over 30 years, but it's like $10 a month. Yeah.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yeah. And we like to teach people how they can, you know, take that off sooner than later like, essentially pay off their principal sooner than later. Um, and then, a lot. A question that I think is super important, especially right now when it is a hot seller's market is how long will it take from contract to close? So like, essentially, what is the fastest time that this lender can close. Typically, a lender needs around 30 days. So 30 days from like, let's say your offers accepted you and the seller sign, and then you're under contract. You don't get that house for around 30 days because your lenders like going through your paperwork and like checking all the boxes of what they need, because they're about to lend you a lot of money. So they need to make sure that this house is like worth that amount. So you kind of want to figure out, well, if I am looking in a really hot area in a low budget, and I know like I'm probably going to experience multiple offers and situations. Is there a lender out there that can close sooner than 30 days? Because that if you're ever in a multiple offer situation and a seller picks a cash offer over yours, there's there's probably, you know, there's a few reasons why but one of the reasons is, if you're buying cash for a home you can close as quickly as like two days like you know, you You can just buy this house and the seller can get the money in two days, because they have all the cash and they don't need that 30 days that the lender needs. So if you can find a lender that could close in like 14 days, that's great. That puts you in an advantage.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, it's almost like a cash offer at that point. And we've we've have some lenders that are able to do that.

 

Kristina Modares 

Yes. And right now during during covid 19. Things are a little bit more delayed. So we are seeing 30 DAY PLUS closings, which is normal because of the time but we do have lenders that typically if it's a straightforward deal can close in like 14 days, which is pretty great.

 

Steph Douglass 

So great. Oh my gosh, this has been we've were on for a really long time. But this has been so great. I I honestly like initially when we started when we talked about this idea, I was like I don't know if we'll have that much to say on how to how to buy or how to find a realtor and a lender and like there's so much valuable stuff. stuff that I wish I had know, in our mind. Yeah. And yeah, I wish oh my gosh, I totally, I feel like in some ways I lucked out. And then I see so many people having bad experiences. And we want that to, we want to mitigate that as much as we can. So the more you know, the better your experience will be.

 

Kristina Modares 

So if you do need any referrals for realtors or lenders, please reach out to us. We love to help you. And, again, if you have any questions or anything you'd like us to answer on the podcast, also, please reach out you can reach us at podcast at open house. Austin Co.

 

Steph Douglass 

Yeah, we're Instagram at open house. Austin. God damn it. I never do it. Right. where we're at open house underscore Austin, very active on there. Super educational too. So if you're planning to buy a house in the next year, two years, follow us there. Again, even if you're not in Austin, there's so much valuable stuff. And that does it. Yeah. We'll talk to y'all soon.