Real Estate Never Sleeps | REIal Talk | EP. 33

Hi guys. Welcome back to another Real Talk episode. We are on episode number 33 and I am back here again with Mark Woodring, our director of investments. And today we are going to be following up on last week's Vlog episode on how real estate never sleeps, especially during the holiday season and winter season as we move into to the colder weather. Do you want to go ahead and kick it off?

Yeah, sure. Thank you. As we were talking about earlier with the days off that are our upcoming holidays, whether it's Thanksgiving, that break from Christmas to New Year's, a lot of people are out there and they're looking for houses, whether it's an investment property or primary residence. So the real estate market, like we said, really doesn't sleep because there always needs to be something to be sold. So although we had mentioned earlier that maybe some of the banks or something like that aren't working real estate agents, you know, here at Freedom Real Estate Group we're constantly trying to communicate with our investors or future clients on what's available and you know, what, what questions that they have about those real estate. The one thing that I didn't get a chance to talk about earlier was that when properties are listed, or at least this is what we see trending like kind of in real estate is like when properties are listed on the MLS or even like during like the winter months, it's usually for a very serious buyer because nobody wants to move in the cold. Right, Right. So if you're putting your house up for sale, you know, as a realtor, if you're putting your house up for sale, like you really want to sell it versus, you know, a lot of people may wait for that maybe April or May through October. Sometimes things like just moving into school districts and stuff may play a role in that. But of course it's a lot easier to move in 80 degree weather than it is, you know, in possible snow. So most of the time when somebody is listing a house or something does become available, I mean it is a very serious shopper, very, you know, hopefully serious seller as well.

Yeah, I was actually going to mention that as well. Even look at the real estate side of things with getting the properties rented, you know, things happen and life happens and people need to move. People want to buy a house, maybe they have an opportunity right then and there to buy a house where they may not have had it before. So like you were saying, it's definitely a serious buyer or prospect looking to rent a property. Same with goes with investments. Maybe it's end of the tax year or even the beginning of tax year. Can you elaborate any on that? You know, a little more than I do.

Yeah. Right. Enough to be dangerous. So, yeah, sometimes at the end of the year, you know, you're looking to either pick up that investment property, you know, or if one of your strategies is to. To make home improvements to your secondary or investment properties so that you can use those as tax advantages. Obviously, each state has different laws as to what they can allow for that, so contact your cpa. But. But yeah, sometimes at the end of the year, you know, you have money that you need to do something with. And so, you know, buying an investment this time of year is fantastic. And I know that we have, I think, a lot coming down the pipeline here.

Absolutely.

Because the crews, even though the days are getting shorter, the crews, you know, are still hungry to work. And so, you know, it really, I don't think matters whether they're working in night or working during the day. But we're turning out some properties here.

Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like we're. We're so adapted to Ohio weather. You never know what you're going to get. It could be 70 degrees tomorrow, actually. I think here it's gonna be like 64, like on Thursday or something. And it's been snowing the past two days. It's crazy. But yeah, they're definitely hungry and definitely always working, which correlates with kind of what I do. Marketing end of things is keeping up with the Bulldog Renovations team, seeing where they're at in renovations. That way we can push those out to investors and I can plan emails and marketing for those property in advance with the holidays coming up and whatnot. You definitely have to make sure that you are planning around those holidays. You don't want to bug anyone on those specific days. I know personally I don't like to be bugged, but I certainly will help and answer if needed because things happen. Like I said, life happens. And I've had to work on the holidays in the past. No big deal. You have to do what you have to do. But definitely planning ahead of that and making sure that you are getting your social media posts out there, you're having your websites updated and scheduled for certain things and emails scheduled and things like that, but also planning for the new year and creating goals and setting new goals. Looking back what you did the previous year with sales and marketing, what worked and what didn't work and creating those new goals sitting down together. Do you have any feedback on that that you want to add as Far.

As the goal setting, I mean, you know, again, I know that sometimes when you're talking with investors and when I talk with investors, you do have to strategize as to like what you plan on doing in the upcoming year. How many properties do you plan on purchasing? You know, what kind of purchasing power do you have? Are you liquidating something to pay for it? So you're right. I mean, goal setting is one of those things. And so again, just tying it back to what we're talking about is that like real estate is not a 9 to 5 job. No, for sure it is not. We might be able to come into the office from 9 to 5, but the reality is I know that you answer emails late in the day. I know that I'll take calls 10, 11 o' clock at night because a lot of our investors are on Pacific time. We have some that are in Hawaii. So these are people that are getting off at work, five, six o' clock at night. They've got some questions so they shoot us a text. It was a call or something like that. So I mean it's, it's. I love real estate, you know, because it's like that.

Right.

I mean if I think I came in and did a nine to five every day, you know, I mean, I'd get pretty boring. So properties are always changing. Our inventory is constantly changing. I mean, yeah, right now, I mean it's a, it's a, it's a hot market.

Absolutely.

I think we talked about it a little earlier but you know, rates right now, interest rates are still low. So again that comes into that kind of preparing, you know, I mean like I don't see the, the rates and again, don't hold me to this, but I don't see them like going crazy in the next, you know, six months or something. So as they tick up, you can obviously plan accordingly.

But.

You know that it is, it is great to obviously have that goal set like you were talking about.

Yeah, absolutely. I know. Like so going back to it's not a 9 to 5 and everything. I know personally I'm looking to buy a house hopefully this spring and or summer.

Real estate agent yet?

No, but I may know one. And so we are, we are looking on the weekends and I know like in the vlog you mentioned how loan offices and some other places title. Thank you. Are closed on weekends. So a lot of people will typically tend to do their work on weekends because most are in a 9 to 5 position. And then after they get off work, you know, they may have families that they have to go home to and take care of. So weekends are kind of their downtime to do their research and look and everything. That way, when Monday comes, they are calling those offices and trying to get things moving. So going back to making sure that things are updated as soon as possible is so crucial to have done. And I know, like, I take my work phone home with me and I'm constantly checking that on weekends just to see if I have any updates that I need to do. And then I'm fortunate to also have an office and my laptop and everything at home that I can just hop on and quickly do, or I can also do on my phone if I'm out and about and not right at my computer.

Absolutely. I mean, because, you know, during a, say, residential real estate transaction you, like, you touched on, you're going to have the realtors out showing properties. These are these people that maybe again, you're working that 9 to 5. So you can only see houses at nights or on weekends.

Right.

So then that realtor has to prepare an offer, submit it, you know, then as a listing agent representing Independence Realty Group, I have to then present that to the sellers and talk through, you know, what that offer is, and then we have to get back to, to the buyers or the buyer's agent.

Right.

So you're definitely doing a lot of work. I mean, I can definitely say that with a straight face that I have. I've done deals up until midnight. Because you're working back and forth with the agent and the buyers and the sellers in coming together on a deal.

Yep.

And then once that deal is struck, then that's really the beginning of everything. Right. So then they got to contact inspections and have those performed, and then the appraiser is ordered by the bank. So there's all these different parts and moving pieces that move that down the line in order to close. And so with real estate, like we keep saying, it's not a 9 to 5 job, I would say the majority of our work is done not during traditional hours. On weekends, you're working with stuff. You're replying to inspection things. You're maybe answering questions for the appraiser. The transaction coordinators we had mentioned earlier on the vlog is the transaction coordinators. They're just constantly moving papers back and forth between buyers, sellers, title appraisers, you name is definitely an interesting industry for sure.

Yeah. And even it's funny that you said most of our work is typically not done nine to five. So I know me personally more Marketing side of things, that nine to five hour is a lot of, I would say, like more kind of like. Like admin tasks, like making sure things are planned and scheduled in advance. And then on weekends or after hours, I feel like that's when I get. Start getting a lot more updates coming from you and. Or Tiffany or Carla about a property. Or even on Monday, when we have our sales and marketing team, the first thing I ask, I ask him, like, do we have any updates on this? Because so much can happen so fast over the weekend or even in a short period of time, Sunday night, from Sunday night, between the time I get back into the office Monday morning. Especially with, like you said, so many of our investors not on Eastern standard Time. They are in several different other time zones. And so you have to line up with what they're doing because we are trying to provide them the service and give them an exceptional experience.

Oh, absolutely. In fact, you even touched on this, is that our contractors, some of these guys, work on the weekend. So I could be having a conversation with an investor on Friday. And we walk into that meeting on Monday and it's like, oh, wow, that house is done and ready to go. So it is so important that the marketing that you and your team do is getting those things ready to go because they can change at a moment's notice. You know, things could be happening on that Monday meeting, you know, by Wednesday afternoon, it's a fresh new batch. So I mean, I encourage everybody pay attention because things. Things are happening fast. As we grow as a company and grow our crews, you know, we're able to. To turn out investment properties, you know, so when you see that VIP list, sign up for it.

Oh, yeah.

Because it's going quick because, you know, the inventory is out there. But you know, again, right now, this time of year, very serious buyers keeping their eye on properties. Definitely.

Definitely.

Yeah. Gosh. I think we walked in this morning and we were like, oh, my gosh, you know. You sure that's ready? Yeah, that wasn't even ready on Thursday. And it's like.

Yeah, I was actually thinking that we had our ban board meeting yesterday, which is where we do an overview of all of our properties. And just from yesterday to today, I think there were like one or two properties that said that it's like almost completed or it's halfway. And I was like, hold up. Just yesterday there wasn't even a crew assigned. Like, what? It's insane how fast we are moving and how, like I said quickly, things can change. And just having to be on the ball with that and knowing what is going on and knowing how to prepare for it.

Yeah, it is great. I mean, it definitely is exciting because again, you know that when you do come into your nine to five week, that you never know. I mean, you could have one property, five property, ten properties to sell. It's. It's really makes for an exciting day. You never really playing around it. I know your calendar, like mine, probably is like, ebbs and flows. You're just kind of moving things around to jockey things in as information becomes available, so.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm constantly. I feel like going back between you, Tiffany, and the rehab team, I'm like, okay, where is this property? Out in rehab. And then, okay, cool. We have a contract going out on this one. Oh, can we send this one out? So it's insane.

Absolutely.

But I'm not complaining about it. It's good.

Yeah, it is good. And then you were also talking about this as well. Like, so with our. With our rehab crews, they do external projects as well. So, you know, not only are they helping us with renovating a property and getting it ready either for a turnkey solution or residential real estate, but they're able to work with our investors on taking a property that's maybe either on the turn or could use some updating and doing those projects as well. So, again, that's part of that real estate that's just constantly evolving. Updating your property. You may be looking to refinance that. And so you're putting improvements into the house. It's just an awesome industry to be a part of. And I'm super excited to obviously be here with this company, because like you said, I mean, days are great, you know, with the best job you can have. It's just constantly working.

Yep.

But enjoying the work that you do. So it's very cool.

I know every once in a blue moon, I'll have a day where I feel like I have nothing going on or nothing to do. And I'm like, this is weird. What am I missing? What's not right? Something's not right today.

Then you open your inbox and surprise.

Like, oh, my inbox. I wasn't signed in. That's what happened.

Exactly. Absolutely. So, yeah, real estate that never sleeps. It truly is, because it is an awesome industry. You know, we're happy to obviously be a part of Freedom Real Estate Group and turning out great investment properties, turning out great residential properties here in the Dayton Cincinnati mls. I obviously appreciate all the work that the marketing team does because you guys make my job a little bit easier.

Well, thank you. All right, well, I don't have anything else.

Yeah, no, that's. That was great. I think we covered everything. Obviously, if anybody has any questions about either what we do or what's on the horizon, you know, please, you know, stay tuned. There's more to come.

Absolutely. Well, as always, we appreciate you guys all for watching and or listening. We are on available on all major streaming platforms. If you guys have any questions or comments, you can comment below if you're on YouTube or you can reach us at podcastreedomrealestategroup.com and I will be glad to address any questions and or concerns or direct you to the correct people if you're reaching out to someone specific. And we always like to end this with invest smart and live happy. Thanks, guys.

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