Interview with Bruce Seitz | Royal LePage East Kootenay Realty

Think today's mortgage process is complicated and stressful. You're right, it is. But it doesn't have to be. This is the House Rich podcast, and we've simplified the mortgage process. Your host, Matt Parker, AKA Mortgage Matt, delivers practical advice in a fun and entertaining way to help you understand your mortgage so that you can start making money, not the bank. So let's get your homeownership journey started. Here's your host, Matt Parker.

Hey, Matt Parker here. Very excited. Grateful to have Bruce Seitz with me today. Bruce, thank you for joining me.

Yeah, thanks, Matt. I appreciate the opportunity to sit down and talk with you here.

No, it should be fun. I know that, you know, we've worked together on. In the past, and it was. It was. It was a fantastic experience. Clients raved about you, so it's good to have you on and get your insight into your market and what you're seeing out there and. And learn more about, you know, guidance that you can give and help any clients looking to purchase up your way over the coming months. So thank you again.

Yeah, we're looking forward to it.

Wonderful, wonderful. I like to start with a fun question. You can answer it, don't answer it, whatever you find comfortable. But what's one thing not many people know about you?

One thing that not many people know about me? I guess I got a little bit of an adrenaline junkie side to myself. Started off when I was quite young. I guess when I was 17, I convinced my mother to allow me to go skydiving. Did three jumps by myself and kind of ran out of money and then haven't pursued that angle since then. But really enjoy mountain biking and skiing and just staying active and get that adrenaline going through your body, makes you feel alive.

I think you're in a good place for. To do a lot of those activities, which is helpful, I'm sure.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Cranbrook and the Kootenays definitely offers a lot of different opportunities to get out there and experience the great outdoors.

That's interesting because I've never skydived or anything like that, but is. Is. I guess you have to think it can't be an affordable hobby. It must be on the more pricey side of things. That has a good point. I didn't even realize that.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. That was. It was something I thought I would like to pursue a little bit further, but once you start spending a couple hundred dollars a jump, that was back in the. Back in the 90s, a little bit further back. So I'm assuming it's quite more expensive now, fuel cost.

I'm sure they had the, had to put that in there as well, so. Interesting. That's cool that you did that because you can find other avenues to accomplish that I think is what you're trying to say.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. You don't have to be jumping out of an airplane to get that little thrill in your life.

So that's awesome. So back to real estate. How did you get into real estate? What sort of brought you to the industry? If you want to just share your experience on that?

For sure. Well, my dad has been a realtor for 20 something years. So it's always kind of been at the back of my mind growing up, didn't necessarily want that. So I, I went at it my own way. And yeah, at some point I just decided that yeah, I'd give this a shot. I experienced a couple of different careers leading up to it and with his help and his backing, I got into the business. It's lengthy process to become licensed, but end of the day it's, it's been a really good decision.

No, it's similar to, to my story which was my father was in the mortgage world. My parents had a mortgage company since I, you know, longest I've known it's since the early 90s and very, very much similar. Maybe I do that, maybe I won't. And then just by being around it, you know what's interesting is just by being around it and starting it at a very young age, I feel is the breadth of experience and knowledge that comes from that, even just having them as a resource. So I think that the experience can be so valuable. And in our both world we're same industry, but in both facets of the industry, I think having that experience and I think that mentorship is needed for anyone to potentially move in and actually have success in the industry and provide value and you know, create a very good client experience, all those kinds of things.

Yeah, yeah, you touched on it. It's that mentorship. It's somebody that's there available to answer the call, to answer questions and to bounce ideas off. And that definitely is an important part of this industry.

So day to day I know a lot of, I don't know if clients know, but I know your job. There's a, it's a lot of, you know, day to day activities that's, you know, can be taxing. There's a lot of work that's happening behind the scenes from your side of things. But what's your. I Mean, what do you love about it? What's your favorite thing about what you do?

The favorite thing is really it's getting the person into the home. It's the lengthy process. Often it can take months to find a place and then another month to get you into the home that you have finally decided that you'd like. So it's really, it's handing over the keys, it's showing the house to their kids and the smile they have on their face. And that really is definitely what I enjoy. I often say that, yeah, I like to make money, but ultimately it's about getting that family into a home that's going to grow and have different experiences. And yeah, that's what I really do look forward to.

And as you know, and as I see as well, and as people probably experience, it's not an easy thing to do to buy a house, any property, what kind of. Whatever kind of home it is, even investment, just because of whether we're faced with inventory shortages now with rising interest rates, you know, all that pent up demand that we had at the start of the pandemic, I mean, it's created a lot of challenges, affordability challenges, inflation's causing a lot of issues. So I think it allows us to be at a place of how can we serve, how can we give value and how can our goal from a mortgage side of things is how do we make this as simple and painless as possible by achieving the desired result and actually financial success at the same time. Because I know that it's become overly confusing, very stressful, and we just want to help guide people to their goal, into what they want to achieve. So I think you hit it right on there is help them achieve what they desire.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Getting them into a home that they can afford is very important to me. I don't like to try to push somebody into a house that they just can't afford. At the end of the day, I mean, life is too short and we all have things that we like to do. And if you're house poor, then I haven't done my job, I believe. So we gotta find the home that checks off the most boxes for you. You're never gonna find a perfect home, let's be honest. And even if you build your dream home, there will always be something you don't quite like. So yeah, it's getting them into the place that they can call home for at least a couple. They decide that they need something bigger or maybe downsizing or whatever.

Yeah. And like you probably, I look at this, this is a lifelong relationship. This isn't, you know, one deal, one purchase, one property. It's how do we continually give value throughout their, you know, homeownership journey. And you know, a first time home buyer might have a different set of goals than a, you know, move up buyer or someone is trying to buy their first investment property. All these different factors come into play. But if we can just help guide them through that journey and you know, give helpful, simple to understand advice. Because I think a lot of advice is not confusing, especially with mortgages these days. Well, they made it very confusing, but that's, I mean those are all great things because up in your area in Cranbrook primarily. Any advice on the market right now? I mean, as we're recording this, just so there's context for early October 2022. You know, we've seen a lot of rate hikes, we've seen a lot of changes in borrowing. Cost stress test is as high as it's ever been, or the qualifying rate is very high. Potentially a lot of people think maybe we'll see values come down and there'll be opportunities that way. You know, it's interesting to see what will actually transpire over the coming months. But it'd be very helpful to get your advice on, on the market today and how you're advising clients right now in terms of the best path forward in this market that we're in.

Yeah, I think often I would tell people to have, have some patience. We are very much low inventory and we're at historically low right across the province. And then as a buyer, you need to have a little bit of patience. We're still seeing homes that are priced correctly go for multiple offers in the affordable range. Right. So it can be a little bit stressful, but you just need to have the patience to go through the process. I guess the first thing I tell my buyer clients is to go and speak to a mortgage broker, have that conversation, know what you can afford. And then we start having the conversation about what does that price point look like. And then we go out and look at homes. That first home more than likely is not going to be the one you purchase. It's going to take several to get through before you see the one that you actually like. And with low inventory, that home might not come up right away. And so we're just going to have to work the process and it takes time. So patience I think is important. And then speaking with a mortgage broker is probably the first step in purchasing a Home, in my opinion, so that everybody knows what we can afford.

No, sir. Great points. I think that patience, knowing that it might not be right away, but also being ready, like you said, is having all of your team of professionals ready to go, your mortgage structure plan sort of prepared your ideal property, what you're looking for, and really pinpoint in on that so you're ready to move forward when that property comes. I think over the coming months, maybe we see inventory climb a little bit, potentially. But what happens in the future if there's a shift in the market, if it's easier to qualify for a mortgage again, if we see extended amortizations, if we see the qualifying rate lower? I think any of those sort of external factors that come in to sort of boost the market will create same issues that we've always had, which is lack of housing supply. So I do think that over the next three to six months can be a very, very good opportunity for someone to buy, just given what's happening out there, and talk to a mortgage person, someone that plans out these things. You know, it's interesting, over the last couple of years, big question always, what can I qualify for? Saying what can I qualify for? Versus the question which I like is, what do you want to pay? Right. Because there's a lot of difference between what can I qualify for? Well, oftentimes there isn't, but sometimes there is. But versus what are you comfortable paying and what actually works with cash flow. And now we're at a point where, you know, we're seeing, obviously, borrowing costs increase, inflation, getting a little bit challenging. So the people that actually looked at it from a budget perspective and made good financial decisions, I think will be safe and protected in economy that we're facing over the coming year versus people that say, what can I qualify for? So I think that's a very important thing is, is when talking from the financing side of things and having that communication is, here's what I can qualify for, but here's what I'm comfortable with. And having those two numbers and having the variance between the two, I think can set you up for a lot of success in the process.

Yeah, no, I think you have a great point. There is what you can afford, and then when it's coming to the house, what is important to you? You got it. You got to have a couple key points that are important to you. And then we try to narrow down and figure out what that is. Is it the neighborhood or is it a garage, or is it four bedrooms on the. On one floor? Like what is really important to you. And then we got to focus in on those points and then affordability, again I said it earlier, but affordable. I don't want to make somebody house poor like that. At the end of the day, I want to be able to see that guy out on the golf course or have their children be able to afford to go and play hockey or what have you. Right. So that's what's important. It's getting set up and finding the home that's going to work best for you and your family.

Having two young boys in hockey, I know it's not a cost effective sport these days. So yeah, having that, you know, really that budget of personal expenditures and then housing expenditures and having those align is, you know, it's not fun. It's not something that's enjoyable to do all the time. Some people love it, obviously numbers people maybe, but oftentimes it's a scary thing to look at and doing it properly can really set people up for, for success into the future. So these are. I agree 100%. So in your area, I'm sure you've seen a lot of cool properties or interesting transactions over the time. Is there one that's most memorable to you or an experience or a property that you can look back on and say, you know, that I remember that and that always gives me good memories.

There's definitely, definitely some pretty cool properties. Yeah, I got a property that just closed on a local lake around here. So it was seven acres on the lake. The family built the home 35 years ago. And you can see his hands were involved in all sorts of different things from the simple woodworking, not really simple, but quite intricate woodworking, to just the way that they position the home so that they can take in the sunlight. And just the thought process that this couple went through when they built the home so that their family would enjoy it. And then seeing that they've now sold it and they're going to make a pretty nice profit on it, obviously. And then they're being able to take this and purchase a home on the island and be with their family again. So, I mean, children grow up, they move out of the house and they now have the means to go and be with their grandchildren and their children in a different city, different location. So yeah, that was seeing that happen for these people speaking to them a couple days ago and just them coming to the realization that they're now going to be able to spend their golden years near their family again, which they haven't been close to for the last five or ten years it's been. So that definitely is. It will be one to remember for sure. I quite enjoy first time home buyers. They're really excited. And so recently here we had one, it was a young couple, he's starting out as a welding apprentice, so he's working at one of the local shops here in town. And she's in the process of getting her nursing here at the College of the Rockies here in Cranbrook. They got into a nice, affordable, clean townhouse where they'll be able to start off their life. And then they're just having that conversation with them about what that looks like and they're not quite ready for children, but we have that conversation and then it's close to all the amenities that they're looking forward to being involved in. So I enjoy the people, the homes. Yeah, that's always great. I love looking at homes, love seeing different homes. But it's definitely. It's the people that make this business enjoyable.

Yeah, no, thank you for sharing. I think that that end part, which was the people and it's like, what, what are your, like what are you trying to get, what are your goals like deep down? What does that look like? And I can help you get there if I know the truth, like the actual inside into, you know, thinking and plan that you have in your mind. If we can get that on paper or get that on, you know, into a plan of action. I think that it's still, you know, affordability concerns and things like that probably continue to be an issue into the future. But I do think that there's still potential to get into the market at some place and grow with the market and use it to achieve things into the future that maybe weren't thought of, didn't think could happen, or, you know, any different sets of scenarios. Because property values probably over the long term continue to go up with lack of inventory. I think there's a lot of opportunity for people to get in and utilize that for their benefits. And you know, it's a house rich podcast, so I like to talk about using home equity to defer yourselves going forward and really creating tax deductible good debt versus bad debt, which is primarily when we think of a mortgage, it is bad debt, there's no benefit. But let's convert that to tax deductible investment loan or, or buy a rental property and flow funds through the, you know, again, just get rid of bad debt as best we can and create tax deductibility, which then in turn minimizes Tax exposure creates a lot of opportunities. So that's what we really focus on is guiding people to that place where they can convert their home equity into that good tax deductible debt, which when you look at what wealthy people do day in and day out, is they try to pay as little tax as possible and at the same time, you know, leverage assets to further grow and invest to then create more tax deductibility. This is a very simple way that is not very utilized for, as, you know, homeowners are normal Canadians that are out there working hard to do something to that similar effect on a small scale that can be extremely powerful over time. When I say house rich to you, what comes to your mind or what do you think of when I say that?

House rich? Yeah, I think it's purchasing a home that is going to allow you the opportunity to invest into that house with a plan looking forward that allows you to do what you want in the future. So I think about, like, my house, I purchased it several years ago. We were able to do like it was an unfinished basement and we put equity into the house. But I know looking now at the current market, basically I feel I've about doubled my, my original investment on this home by purchasing something that I had to put a little bit of sweat equity into, put some of the skills of life like woodworking and learned how to do drywall thanks to YouTube. And yeah, I think that's what house rich is. And then when it's time for me to move on, I plan to like, rent this home out. Right. And so that's where when we purchased the home, we had a plan on how this was going to help us out throughout the years. So it's finding that one that is best suited for you and your family.

Yeah, no, great points. I think that's so cool that you get in there, you make it yours. You know, you learn some things along the way because I don't think any of us know everything about home ownership. And so we own a home. Right. And then all these different things come at us and you learn as you go and ask for friends, advice, ask, you know, professionals in your life to, for guidance and, you know, people are there to help if you ask and, and YouTube's there to help if, if you need it too. I love that. That's fantastic. Bruce, thank you. It's been a pleasure, you know, grateful to have you and get your guidance and your wisdom on the market and what's going on out there. What's the best way that people can reach out to you if they want to chat real estate or learn more about your business.

Yeah, for sure. I still kind of prefer the traditional way of a phone call. You can always reach me on my cell at 250-919-2677. Email is a great way as well. Brucekrealty.com and you can find me on social media too. Brucesites real estate agent on Facebook and Instagram. And yeah, check out my listings there. I enjoy doing up videos and all the listings are available 3D tours as well. So trying to get in to be better at social media is I think is always a struggle for everybody in this industry. Trying to stay in front of that. But a phone call definitely is the way to go. We can have that in depth conversation and get going at it.

Wonderful. We'll put all of those ways to contact you in the show notes. And it's a struggle to balance everything like social media and everything. As a small business owner, I fully get it. So I like the old school phone call as well. But thanks again. You know, grateful to have you and appreciate everything that you know, taking the time out of your busy day. I really appreciate that. So thank you.

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Matt and I look forward to our next deal together.

Thanks again, Bruce.

Thanks for listening to the House Rich podcast with Matt Parker. We hope you enjoyed this episode. For more information and resources to get you started on your homeownership journey, visit www.mattparker.ca and don't forget to rate and review this podcast. Thanks again for listening.