Vanessa Miller | MillerWark Real Estate Team of Oakwyn Realty

I am Matt Parker, your host of the House Rich Homeowner podcast. Managing your home finances is hard. After many years in the mortgage industry, I've decided to combine my knowledge, resources and connections and turn them over to you. Each week, I'll be featuring different home finance experts or my own personal insight to help you achieve financial peace at home. Let's. Hey, Matt Parker here. Very excited, very grateful to have Vanessa Miller with me today. Vanessa is one of the owners of the Miller Work real estate team. They've been together for quite a few years now and they've also affiliated with Oakland Realty. Vanessa, thank you for joining me.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, no, I know that you specialize in residential real estate and also project prestige units. How are you finding the market? Just sort of currently with the current situation going on. Have you seen. I know we saw pre sales, I kind of slow down with developers slowing with building and everything over the last couple years. Have you seen that same trend?

Yeah, definitely. Pre sales has slowed down over the last year, I would say. The unfortunate thing is right before the pandemic, things were taking off again. So there was consumer confidence that we haven't had in a long time. Pre sales, we were busy. We have four different projects right now, and we were seeing deals going through at all four projects, and they're completely different products in different cities. So right now, things have definitely come to a halt. I would say on the project side, the only deals we're really seeing coming through is somebody wanting to take advantage of a very slow period and looking for maybe an extra incentive, which. Which is smart. The resale side, we've been lucky to continue to do a couple deals here in the last two weeks, but we're definitely seeing that slowdown as well. And overall, everybody we're talking to, our colleagues, it's really come to a halt.

Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. I think just given the current dynamic, I think we're still so new into this current situation that it'll. It'll play itself out and hopefully reorganize a bit over the coming months. So what. How did you get into real estate? What sort of made you take that leap of faith?

Well, actually, I was living in Calgary and I went to a Seahawks game and met my husband there. My now husband. And so we ended up. I ended up moving to Vancouver and I had a completely different career back in Calgary, but my sister was already living in Vancouver and she was already in the project world. So she introduced me to that company and I interviewed with them and got into Project sales on the sales floor and did that for about three years before Charlene, my business partner, and I decided to start our own company.

Oh, perfect. Yeah. Very cool. Because. And you've been together since.

So that's been 10 years. Yeah. We had our tenure Miller work real estate anniversary this year.

Wow. Congratulations. That's. That's very cool. I know it's not. It's not an easy thing to accomplish, so that's. That's wonderful. What do you love? Yeah, yeah. What do you love about the industry and what you do?

Everything. I love my job. I think for me, it's that every day is different. It's the people. I like being able to be on the go. I'm not stuck in an office. It's just the constant interaction with people and the challenge. Every deal I find is different. They're never the same. Things get thrown at you all the time, and I like working through it. And I have a great business partner. So we balance each other out and get the job done. It makes it rewarding.

Yeah, No, I know. I mean, as do we. We deal with really amazing people and it's. It's a pleasure to get up and serve them every day to help them achieve their sort of biggest financial goals, generally speaking. So, yeah, it is. It's. It's amazing. If you weren't doing this, though, however, do you see yourself doing anything else in terms of your professional career?

Oh, God. I think if I wasn't in real estate in some capacity, maybe event planning, party planning, catering, maybe.

Do you do, like, client events and things like that for your network?

I do personal parties, a lot of them. We love throwing parties. I love to cook. So very rare that I'm cooking for just my family of four. I feel like I'm always cooking for 10 or 12 people.

Okay, what would be your signature dish then, if you. We're going to have people over.

Everybody loves the. I do. These Mexican pork tacos seems to be the big hit.

Sounds. Sounds quite nice. That sounds very good. Any of. I know. I mean, we're in a unique time given COVID 19 and the pandemic and just real estate in general and financial markets in general, just given so much volatility, if you want to speak on that, potentially in terms of what you just maybe see happening over the coming months to the year. Also, maybe just on real estate investment or purchases in general from historical sense. Do you have any advice for anyone that's looking to purchase or list their home in the. In the coming months or even in the coming year?

Absolutely. I think right now I always feel like when everybody else is pulling back, that's usually when I start looking for deals. Personally, I do a lot of real estate investment, and any of my clients who are looking to invest, I'm always calling them up. When I think, you know, when the market's slow, I'm like, guys, this is when we can take advantage of some of these incentives out there and, you know, push a little bit harder on our offer, take a harder stance and see what we can get done. I think for a lot of people who had their money in the stock market right now, I think they might be thinking of diversifying and looking at real estate and not, you know, having all their eggs in one basket. I've definitely had a few phone calls as of late. People inquiring into how they can kind of move their money around into different sectors. I've always believed in that. I personally do that myself. So I think right now, when the market's slow, there's deals. So I don't think it's necessarily a horrible time. However, everybody has to be comfortable with their situation, confident in their job status and their income. And the people that are. I think they can really take advantage of this time. The people that aren't, if there's any uncertainty, just wait, hold off. I think they need to ensure that they've got stability in their job and income before they make any major decisions on real estate. People wanting to list right now, it's tricky. As you know, we can't do open houses. We're even really limited on private appointments. We just have to adhere to all of the. All of the COVID 19 sanitary obligations and just really making sure the social distancing is done, which can be tricky. It's just one person at a time. But if you're selling somebody in a condo building, it's even thinking about getting into an elevator and making sure nobody else is in there. So it makes it. It's definitely tricky. I think the detached markets a lot easier to list right now, and virtual tours through them and. And I think the technology was already there. And personally, I think. I hope that when we kind of come through this and come out of this, I hope people appreciate more of the human interaction. You know, there was. I felt like in what we do, there was. Technology was starting to take over. It just becoming a little impersonal. And I think now maybe people will slow down a little bit and real that, you know, there's definitely something to say about the human interaction and Having a realtor take you out on those tours and guide you through the whole process. So I hope there is a silver lining in all of this.

Yeah. Great points, great points. Thank you. I think that, you know, given any time of challenge or change, I think that a lot of things come from that positive. I know it's hard to see short term, but I know that even, even from the legal side of things, just seeing the land title office push towards allowing digital signatures, which has been a very archaic industry over the, over the past while in terms of having clients, notarization, having to be done in person, that kind of thing. But I do agree with that personal relationship. I know I'm, I'm a big believer in that belly to belly relationship, like face to face and not having that, like, I mean, with technology, like this is great. I mean, obviously being able to see each other is wonderful, but not being able to be in person, shake hands, that kind of thing. It is. You do miss that interaction. So I think that, I know I've appreciated it a lot more over the last little while, not having it. So I think that once we do have that ability again, we'll, we'll really take advantage of it and probably value the trust and relationship that you have with professionals like yourself to guide you through the process. It's not just, you know, you know, not as surface level as we once were there for a little bit. Yeah. So I think that's, I think that's perfect. Having sold and being a part of a lot of real estate transactions over the years, is there a property or a situation or just anything that stands out as a very memorable experience for you?

Oh, there are many good, bad and ugly. My business partner always laughs that. She's like, if somebody has gone through a really tough deal, she always tells them to call me. She's like, I guarantee you Vanessa's gone through it at some point. I have curveballs coming at me all the time. Hard to think of one single transaction. But I just say I love working with first time buyers. I think, you know, it's such an exciting moment in their life and I like being part of that and helping them navigate through it. A lot of our clients are repeat clients, so we don't see as many of those first time buyers. But I have to say those are, I have to. Yeah, I think they're my favorite.

Yeah. No, and it's, and it's new and it's, it's probably more exciting that first time and more scary, more fearful, A lot more going on Than you know, if it's your second, third, whatever transaction that you've had. So yeah, I agree that it's fun. You know, it's a lot more able to provide true guidance throughout that process because it's the first time in the, in the journey. Right. So I like to talk to clients about house rich. I like to use that term just, just kind of a, as a different take on it because a lot of people look at Vancouver and real estate, Vancouver mortgages and all that kind of stuff as, as people are house poor or whatever, the, whatever the way they want to look at it, we guide clients a little more differently on a more of a cash flow budgetary, hey, what do I want to pay versus what can I pay style of sort of long term investment style of things. So that when I talk about how it's r. Think more of I can live life, have fun and just keep things the way I want to and invest and enjoy my life. When I say house rich to you, what do you think of when it comes to real estate or just life in general?

I mean, what comes to mind for me is that exact sentiment where I think one of the biggest issues in Vancouver is that a lot of people are house rich but cash poor. And it's one thing that we focus on right from the very initial meeting with clients, it's easy for them to set a budget and maybe one. Then we go out and we start looking at properties and it's almost inevitable that that budget has already increased 10 or 20,000 by the time we go for a second tour. You know, they're like, well, maybe we can push a little bit further. Let's see what else is out there. Can you move up that budget? And it's a slippery slope. And I think that's part of our job is to really ensure that we kind of set the budget and work really hard to only show them those opportunities within their budget. And it's tough for us sometimes, especially with limited inventory, sometimes we have to push beyond those budgets or there's really slim pickings. And then working with a mortgage professional, I think that we kind of pass the buck onto them and ensure that they're aligned as well. And you know, they know the numbers better than we do. We have to go off of what they tell us, but you guys are out there crunching those numbers. So I just, I always think my job is just to talk them through it and make sure that they know they can have the nicest house on the block. But then what, you know, are they spending all of their time at home. If they are, maybe that is the priority. But for the majority of us, we're not. We still want to travel. We still want to go out for dinners and social events. And so if that's important, then they have to ensure that they can find the balance between those two.

Yeah. And take advantage of this beautiful city we live in. Right. It's. Yeah. I always like. I always like to talk to clients about what's the long. Like, what is the plan? What are we trying to achieve long term? Because I fear that. I mean, we have a lot of clients that come to us where, you know, maybe they didn't plan out like they should have, and maybe they have these big mortgage penalties or whatever the case is that they just didn't plan for. So I think that I always like to say, the further out we can. We can look and we can plan for, the better. We can structure today to benefit us then and now. Which is probably exactly what you're alluding to with just, you know, really just thinking through it. Not just. It's such an emotional thing. I know that. You know, even when we purchase properties, my wife and I, in the past, it's. You get pretty attached to it. You want to, you know, you do get that. Ooh, this is kind of fun. This is kind of exciting. So it is hard to get back into the, you know, the numbers side of things versus just the emotional side of things. And that's probably where you can help guide them through that, which is. Which is so cool. Well, Vanessa, thank you. I really appreciate your time, your expertise, and your insight. Where is the best place for anyone that's looking to buy, anyone that's looking to sell, to connect with you?

I think phone. My phone number 778-558-6377. I am very quick to reply, call, text, or email. My email, personally. Did I lose you?

I lost you. Sorry, Vanessa. So we're right in there again. It's still recording. I don't know. I've had some weird Internet issues today, so I need to reboot it, I think. But, yeah, we were right in the. If you want to just leave off with the email, like do the email part again, then I could just blend it together.

Sounds good. So, vanessa@millerwork.com V A N E S S A and Miller work is M I L L E R W A R K dot com.

Well, thank you, Vanessa. Again, grateful to have you here. Wonderful advice, wonderful information. I'm sure people will love to reach out and we'll be in touch. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Bye.

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