Welcome to THE MARTI PARTY podcast, hosted by The Rebate Guy himself; Chris Marti!
For our very first episode we had a fun chat with our friend James Pool. From bail bonds calls to being a Dream Home Advocate for Perry Homes, James has seen it all in the world of sales and service.
You can watch the video below, or scroll down for the full transcript.
Huge thanks to James for coming on and sharing his stories, experiences, and knowledge with The Marti Party!
We’ve got a slew of cool guests coming up in the next few weeks to talk about life in Texas, real estate, singing, and… rodeo?? Like our page to keep up with the party!
Interview Transcript
Chris: [00:00:02] Everybody. This is Chris Marty. And this is the first episode of the Marty Party, our brand new series, where we cover real people in San Antonio that may or may not help you get into new construction homes in the local area. We’re going to cover a new. I don’t know how the word is. A myriad of topics, Morata topics, myriad of topics. Right. To go over some cool stuff that you may or may not know about some of the best in the new home construction business and kind of see where we end up. So no real plan here. We’re just kind of going to go with it. And thanks for tuning in as always. Please like and subscribe for more episodes and to feature some other guests coming down the road. So our first guest today is James Poole, great friend of mine, been in the business a couple of years now, works over at six years at Perry Homes over on the west side of town. If you’ve ever had the privilege of interacting with him, great, dude, I can’t say enough about him. So, James, welcome. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Tell us about yourself, man. Like, you know, who who is James Poole?
James: [00:00:59] You know, life’s busy.
Chris: [00:01:00] Life’s busy.
James: [00:01:01] My agent was able to cancel Joe Rogan so I can get here for you guys. That’s how much I like Chris.
Chris: [00:01:06] That’s good.
James: [00:01:06] I would not miss the first episode of the Mardi Party for anything like you.
Chris: [00:01:10] Just.
James: [00:01:10] Yeah, wouldn’t miss it.
Chris: [00:01:11] We love the name. We came up with the name 5 minutes ago.
James: [00:01:14] We did at lunch.
Chris: [00:01:16] Lunch on the.
James: [00:01:16] Fly. And I’m glad it stuck.
Chris: [00:01:18] It’s. It’s good. Thank you, James. We’ll give him royalties for the for the feature so I can retire. So tell us about yourself. All the good, the bad. You know, things that people don’t know.
James: [00:01:28] Man. Things that people don’t know.
Chris: [00:01:31] Oh.
James: [00:01:33] Well, my wife’s gone now. I’m just kidding. Yeah, I don’t know where to begin. So, James Poole, the person I just turned 40.
Chris: [00:01:40] Okay.
James: [00:01:41] Like 30 days ago. A little, little over 30 days.
Chris: [00:01:44] Absolutely. So you’re basically a couple of years away from the retirement home?
James: [00:01:50] Yeah, I feel that way because in my mind, I’ve always been a decade ahead.
Chris: [00:01:54] Absolutely.
James: [00:01:55] Because I grew up so fast, right? Absolutely, Dad. At 17, I had two more. So I turned 39 this year with three adult children.
Chris: [00:02:03] That’s crazy.
James: [00:02:04] Which is like what? So it seems to be working out right now.
Chris: [00:02:09] It’s good.
James: [00:02:09] But at the time it was not.
Chris: [00:02:12] Okay. Absolutely.
James: [00:02:13] There was it was quite a struggle early on, but a lot of freedom now.
Chris: [00:02:18] That’s I enjoy it. That’s great. And so what do you hobbies interest. I mean, what do you do when you’re not selling homes?
James: [00:02:26] When I’m not selling homes, I try to keep people from canceling. Just kidding. But maybe I’m serious. I like a little bit of everything. I enjoy cooking. That’s probably my biggest therapy.
Chris: [00:02:40] Okay. Any particular flavors, dishes style?
James: [00:02:44] You know, I think most guys like to be hovered over a grill, so I’ll include myself in that group. But I, you know. I don’t know. It’s always been a passion of mine. Even some of the high end foo foo stuff. And, you know, we go out to different places. You know, I’m always sending you places to try and photos and stuff, but no, we enjoy that. I really like to travel. I think we’re still in competition. You’re going to win this?
Chris: [00:03:12] No, this is my year. So this is we’ve a couple of years. We’ve just been kind of going back and forth of who who’s gone the most. Right. And it was it wasn’t even something that we tried to compete. And it just happened that, you know, every weekend it was like, oh, he’s out of town and like, oh, why is he out of town? And all of a sudden we’re just like, How many trips are you making this year? And it it kind of became an unofficial thing. So we’re right there with you love to travel. And I mean, what’s some of those favorite places that you all have gone, man?
James: [00:03:38] So, yeah, I think we’re I don’t know, we go to Vegas twice a year. That’s kind of like the normal whatever. I haven’t done a lot of international traveling.
Chris: [00:03:48] Got it.
James: [00:03:48] I want to start doing.
Chris: [00:03:49] It’s good.
James: [00:03:50] We did just get back from Puerto Rico. That was fun. You know, I think being in San Antonio, a lot of people love Cancun.
Chris: [00:03:56] It’s close.
James: [00:03:57] Like flying to Vegas two and one half hours. You can fly direct if you get the right flight on the beach.
Chris: [00:04:04] That’s great.
James: [00:04:04] That’s probably my favorite spot just anywhere in the Caribbean, man.
Chris: [00:04:07] I’m down. That makes a sense. So Beach. Beach is a preferred destination of choice. Absolutely. Well, we’re in the same boat with the international travel. Haven’t unfortunately been able to make it. Had a really fun Japan trip a couple of years back. That didn’t happen for different reasons, but we’re making pairs happen this year. We’re going in, so it’s going to be incredible and we’re excited. So OC James Poole, dad of three adult children, right. Grew up very fast. Loves to travel, loves to cook. I know that shared interest that we have because we are taking a trip to go to this is some kind of early 2000 late nineties alternative bands. Is is that the genre name.
James: [00:04:48] Yeah, it’s called When We Were Young. So I think we’re all trying to feel younger I guess. And so yeah, it’s going to be exciting. It’s basically what you mentioned ACL earlier, it’s like ACL on steroids or something, right?
Chris: [00:05:00] Absolutely.
James: [00:05:01] Just three or four stages. Yep. They literally rotate. There’s a band getting ready in the back side while the front side someone’s performing and they it’s just going to.
Chris: [00:05:11] Be mind blowing. Mind blowing. When we were Young Fest in Las Vegas this October, nothing like this has ever been done before. If you’re a fan of the scene, if you will, you know, there’s nothing like this has ever been done where they’re bringing back this just huge group of bands. As a matter of fact, when the announcement went out, a lot of people thought it was going to be like Fyre Fest 2.0. Like it wasn’t actually a real festival in that it was going to happen. So that.
James: [00:05:35] Told me that I might not have ordered.
Chris: [00:05:36] This ticket. Absolutely. So, no, it is happening. It’s going to be in October. And that’s something that we’re both going to. So we’ll have a good time. And while we’re there also, I know that you wanted to go to a Raiders game. Is that your is that your team?
James: [00:05:50] You know, I just love sports. I love live sports. It’s not my team.
Chris: [00:05:55] Who is your team?
James: [00:05:56] The Seahawks. So I was an Army brat. I moved around everywhere. The last place that was home where I finished middle school in high school was Washington State. So Tacoma, Seattle area.
Chris: [00:06:06] Got it.
James: [00:06:07] Seahawks for my football team, Lakers for my basketball team. Got it. We had the Supersonics and then they left and went to Oklahoma. I wasn’t going to support Oklahoma, so I had always sort of been a Lakers fan anyway. Absolutely. But yeah, no, I just like live sports. That’s cool. That stadium’s unreal.
Chris: [00:06:26] Absolutely.
James: [00:06:26] It’s crazy. The Death.
Chris: [00:06:28] Star. The Death Star. It’s I think it’s Allegiant. Right. Allegiance, the stadium name sponsor. So excited to go to it. I’ve never been to either. So this will be a first for us. And I think the week we’re going to the Texans, I think that’s going to see. So it’s the Raiders Texans so got a little bit of Texas you know in the yeah yeah in the Vegas 89014.
James: [00:06:48] Fans are pretty legit.
Chris: [00:06:51] Absolutely absolutely. And these indoor stadiums, they build them acoustically where they get loud. So it’s yeah, it’s going to be a good time. Well, and so we’ve got travel, we’ve got Vegas, we’ve got music. The last big thing is obviously James Poole shares the name is a big Deadpool fan. Right? You’re a big Deadpool fan. Yes. Tell us about my alter ego. Alter ego, I, Mr. Poole.
James: [00:07:13] So, yeah, naturally, that’s something I’m playing down.
Chris: [00:07:17] Absolutely. Yeah.
James: [00:07:18] I mean, if you go to my office, I’ve got this Deadpool like chair. I have a Deadpool tattoo, so I’m a fan, right?
Chris: [00:07:25] Absolutely. What about at house? Anything at home?
James: [00:07:27] Yeah. So we’ve got a Deadpool Marvel Theater room.
Chris: [00:07:31] It’s so cool.
James: [00:07:32] It’s just really Marvel everything. Vr, pinball machine, arcade emulator. You know, Duffy.
Chris: [00:07:39] Wouldn’t.
James: [00:07:39] Sign comic books. Yeah, just like that’s what I nerd out to, so.
Chris: [00:07:43] Absolutely.
James: [00:07:44] You’re mostly Star Wars. Yes, I’m more Marvel.
Chris: [00:07:46] Absolutely. So if everything could be Star Wars, I would have it that way. But no, I get down with Marvel. I mean. We’ll always go opening weekend. The most movies we just saw. Thor. Have you had a chance to see Thor yet? I did, yeah. Yeah. So.
James: [00:08:00] You know, this second wave of Marvel movies I haven’t been as impressed with, they’re still entertaining. I’m still going to watch them. I think they just did such a good job. You know, in that first go round, it’s like I think the one I liked the most was probably that shang-chi and the. Yeah, that was probably, that was probably the best one. Thor was cool it I don’t know how much of that was based on comic books.
Chris: [00:08:24] A lot. Was it. Yes. Yeah. It was kind of different though. I would talk for like 15 more minutes about this, but it was kind of different. Okay, cool. Bringing that bringing that in then. So we we’ve got the Deadpool, you know, everyday guy. Right. So you started a Perry in new home sales. Around the time that I started Rebate House, it was about five, six years back. What got you into new home sales and where did you come from? What were you doing before that?
James: [00:08:51] Yeah, so I have now.
Chris: [00:08:52] Worked through.
James: [00:08:54] Four different industries mainly. I did not go to college. So right out of high school, being a young father. Yep. I just wanted to work, man. I just wanted to grind. Just make money. That’s. That’s the only thing that was on my mind. And so I got into sales very quickly. It’s funny, my very first this was probably a better question, but my very first sales job was a bail bond company. So there’s something nobody knows about me is.
Chris: [00:09:21] That is really cool.
James: [00:09:22] That’s coming out. So you’re like.
Chris: [00:09:23] Triple A in the first in the phone book, dude.
James: [00:09:26] So the place was called Signature Bail Bonds in Tacoma, Washington, and I wanted a job so bad I was willing to do whatever, right. So the reason it was considered sales, by the way, is you would answer phones. Yep. You’d help people in the front. Yep. And there was no upper honor system. It was just like phone rings, you know. So that’s some quick.
Chris: [00:09:46] Hands, speed to speak, the phone call. And were they the were they the phones with the buttons?
James: [00:09:52] Damn, I’m not that old. I don’t think so. No, I don’t. Yeah.
Chris: [00:09:55] What are those calls. The Rotary Rotary phones. Rotary. They’re not, they’re not so speed to.
James: [00:10:00] Crank to.
Chris: [00:10:01] You know at the, at the billboard company.
James: [00:10:03] Yeah. Yeah. So we so I remember the interview and remember I’m a young father.
Chris: [00:10:09] Yes.
James: [00:10:09] And the guy the manager at the time, he tells me, you know, listen, you’re you’re a young father and stuff. So I just have to ask you, we’re going to be bailing out scum. Yeah, we bailing out the worst of the worst, you know. And in my mind, I’m like, okay, yeah. All right. And he’s like, No, seriously, we’re going to have all walks anyway. So I just I needed the job. So I told him, yeah, I don’t have a problem with it. Well, the first time I saw a charge of, you know, I think the legal charge is rape of a child. Oh, just dude. And right away was like.
Chris: [00:10:41] Yeah, after this place. Yeah.
James: [00:10:43] So any time I would have any charges like that, I would pass them on. I would give commission away.
Chris: [00:10:48] Yeah.
James: [00:10:49] You murdered someone. Okay, let’s go. Yeah, you know, I don’t know. It’s just. But, yeah, so started with Bill Bonds. Went into retail, went into retail management, specifically audio video, high end home theater kind of stuff. Yep. To this day, if I’m honest, that was the most fun job.
Chris: [00:11:09] The house. That’s cool. Where was that at?
James: [00:11:11] So there’s a local place in town called Bjorn’s Audio and Video. I think they’ve been around now for over 40 years, and it’s just it’s like a guy’s toy store, man. It’s high end products, and you get a geek out and play with them and listen to speakers that I would never be able to afford.
Chris: [00:11:30] Right? Absolutely.
James: [00:11:30] Go into half a million dollar theater room. So, yeah, it was fun.
Chris: [00:11:33] That’s cool.
James: [00:11:34] From there, I took a trip into the brokerage business.
Chris: [00:11:37] Okay.
James: [00:11:38] That was the toughest sales job I ever had. So we were syndicating oil and gas investment.
Chris: [00:11:45] Over the phone. Got it, Wolf, of Wall Street.
James: [00:11:47] Ice cold calling like I may as well been calling out of a phone book. Yeah. And we would raise millions of dollars over the phone to drill oil wells that people would never see.
Chris: [00:11:59] That’s crazy.
James: [00:12:01] We think about it today, right? Like how many telemarketing calls do you get on a?
Chris: [00:12:05] Yeah, absolutely.
James: [00:12:06] You’re not going to answer your phone unless it’s a contact generally that, you know, right? Like we all do that. And so it just blows my mind that it wasn’t that long ago. We’re talking 2009 or ten at least. That doesn’t feel that long.
Chris: [00:12:19] No, absolutely not this year.
James: [00:12:22] Now, we were calling businesses, but still. And so you had that initial gatekeeper?
Chris: [00:12:26] Yep.
James: [00:12:27] Then if you were calling the right guy, he had a private secretary that further screened the calls.
Chris: [00:12:32] Yep.
James: [00:12:34] And then if you were lucky enough to get this guy on the phone, it was showtime, right?
Chris: [00:12:39] And you had the opportunity.
James: [00:12:40] To have some impact.
Chris: [00:12:41] That’s.
James: [00:12:42] Breaking someone’s preoccupation. And along the course of however long it takes to sell them a share in this investment, you’re breaking a preoccupation, and eventually the end result is to take action. Right. So you got a gain interest. And anyway, it’s just crazy to break down that formula now because.
Chris: [00:13:04] It’s so strange.
James: [00:13:05] So mentally totalling, bro, how many hundred calls a day.
Chris: [00:13:08] Like you’re done.
James: [00:13:09] And a good day was you talk to seven people.
Chris: [00:13:12] And how and how how long did you last there?
James: [00:13:14] So I. I’m a saver. And so I saved I put together six months of survival money. Right. They gave you a very, very small amount of money to live off of. I knew I needed to supplement that. And I had just gotten off a divorce. So I was a single father.
Chris: [00:13:34] I had.
James: [00:13:35] Six months of.
Chris: [00:13:35] Savings.
James: [00:13:36] And it was like, okay, I’m going to make this work. So also, I’m not like this Booksmart kind of guy. You go to college. So the securities exams kicked my ass, man.
Chris: [00:13:47] Yeah, absolutely.
James: [00:13:47] Like, to this day, academically, it’s probably my greatest achievement. It was like, I’m serious, too.
Chris: [00:13:53] Like, I think.
James: [00:13:54] 65% of people fail.
Chris: [00:13:56] And that’s wild.
James: [00:13:57] Yeah, I know. It’s a hard test and it’s timed. And then I’m a I’m an anxious person.
Chris: [00:14:01] I keep looking at the clock.
James: [00:14:03] Anyway, I passed on the third time. And if you would, if I would have failed that third time, I would have had to wait six months to take the test.
Chris: [00:14:12] Got it. So it was make or break.
James: [00:14:13] Make or break, man. And I had already resigned at Bjorn’s.
Chris: [00:14:16] Oh, so.
James: [00:14:17] Because I couldn’t work and study, I had to, like.
Chris: [00:14:21] Close your brain, right? Yep. So.
James: [00:14:24] I, I think as I look back on, I don’t know, the last 20 years, I took calculated risks that paid off.
Chris: [00:14:33] That’s awesome. And every time it seems like every time that you’ve moved, you’ve upgraded, right? So you’ve gone from bail bonds, right? You’ve gone the Bjorn’s. Right. And that was an upgrade. You know, it sounds like security’s maybe an upgrade, maybe, but side grade and then you land at Perry, right. So how you weren’t in real estate, you weren’t a realtor, you weren’t in any type of real estate sales at all. How do you how are you selling securities? Right. I mean, oil and gas well, leases drawn up or anything that that company was doing. And now you’re selling new construction homes. How did that conversation even start?
James: [00:15:03] Yeah. So there’s one more part of the journey to I took a very short trip to the tech industry, and so I worked for a company that was kind of like a Rackspace or a US on a much smaller scale. So excuse me, I was the basically new acquisition outside sales rep for cloud computing company. So the tech got me interested, the freedom of being outside. And then, you know, I was recruited by a friend of mine and anyway, I didn’t.
Chris: [00:15:34] Do.
James: [00:15:35] The level of due diligence I normally do because of anyway the person that I was talking to at that time. But so I wasn’t there that long. However, as I look back on his plan now, I see why I went there. Because the community I’m in Carlos and ranch. Yep. I mean, it’s obviously very unique. Yes. And so I’ve I’ve only worked for the same builder and in the same community over six years, which, as you know, that’s not normal, very uncommon.
Chris: [00:16:03] You were probably on a list of a handful of reps if that maybe ten or less that that’s the case for one builder, one community, if that’s. Yes, yes, absolutely.
James: [00:16:12] So so how I got there.
Chris: [00:16:14] Question how you got there?
James: [00:16:15] So one thing that was special about that Bjorn’s company is we almost have this brotherhood. It’s interesting. We still all.
Chris: [00:16:23] Talk, we still.
James: [00:16:24] Try to hang out. We’re all in different places and stuff now. But I knew a couple of guys who several guys who went into the industry and they were just like, you got to get over here.
Chris: [00:16:37] Got it.
James: [00:16:38] And, you know, it was, of course, the money, obviously. And I’m like, you know, when I was doing the brokerage thing, it was Monday through Friday. Weekends off, right. Have to think about it. The guy I’m.
Chris: [00:16:48] Calling.
James: [00:16:49] Business owner.
Chris: [00:16:50] He’s only working Monday through Friday.
James: [00:16:51] There’s no point for me to be at work if he’s not at work. Right. So holidays, weekends, stuff like that, you have to. So that part of it was very attractive. And remember, I was a single dad.
Chris: [00:17:01] Right. So you needed I.
James: [00:17:02] Had to I had to mirror my kids schedule. So that’s what the main interest was initially was the quality of life piece. So as my kids got older and then as I hated my life at the tech company, which yeah, you know, they eventually worked on me enough where they were like, look, you just you need to get over here. And so I because I had friends who had been in the industry long enough, right? I knew who am like top two top three builders.
Chris: [00:17:31] Were got.
James: [00:17:32] It. I knew who I didn’t want to work for.
Chris: [00:17:34] Absolutely.
James: [00:17:34] And so yeah, I narrowed it down to Perry and the rest is history.
Chris: [00:17:39] Absolutely. And that’s where our our friendship tale begins, right? At Perry and the Coulson Ranch model, the old model, which is no longer where y’all are out of. And I think you’re moving again as well.
James: [00:17:50] Yeah, we’re going to have a model home park, which will be interesting.
Chris: [00:17:53] That is super. Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s crazy to think how quickly that neighborhood has grown from what it was and and what it’s become.
James: [00:18:01] It was, I want to say, an experiment initially, but we only locked in one street right when I met you. And, you know, 250, 300 acres later, here.
Chris: [00:18:12] We are absolutely sold a soul, a soul builder in California, a builder.
James: [00:18:15] Own the rest of the land based on the current trajectory. Should be there another six, seven years.
Chris: [00:18:21] Absolutely.
James: [00:18:22] Course, markets getting a little weird. Who knows? Maybe it would be ten years.
Chris: [00:18:25] Well, and we’re going to go down that road. We’re going to talk about how weird the market is. You know, the the question that I even question, just the thing that’s crazy to me is that there are people and of course, it’s all over San Antonio, but there are people in California ranch that bought in the first unit that Perry was in. Right. Unit one same floor plan. Right. Obviously, styles have changed a lot of brown cabinets and stuff back then, but relatively comfortable homes that now are our same home is double to triple what they paid in the same neighborhood.
James: [00:18:52] We have some house rich folks.
Chris: [00:18:55] Yeah, for sure.
James: [00:18:56] I was one of them. I lived in the community for three years. And you know, when when they announced they were buying the rest of the community. I absolutely I get it. I see I see the vision come in and there was good and bad with that. Yep. Because sometimes you don’t leave work.
Chris: [00:19:09] Right. And up here the homeowners are looking for you.
James: [00:19:13] I’ve tried to go in my garage and just close it and. No, my my neighbors were cool. It was it was a cool experience. But yeah, I know. You’re right, man. It’s incredible because we opened in the. Two hundredths. Yup. Mid two hundredths. And I told you at lunch I have someone closing next week for 850. It’s just like how is that possible, right. Well, you know, the demand. Absolutely, obviously. And inflation.
Chris: [00:19:38] So which makes a lot of sense. And so, you know, for the average consumer, the average viewer, just somebody that’s not necessarily inundated in real estate like we are. Right. You know, what we’re talking about is is kind of a neat concept that, you know, of course, I’m sure is in other places, but it’s really prominent in Texas, which is that these developers, these builders. Right. They come in, they take farmland and just, you know, land on the outskirts of town. They develop it. They put the utilities in, they start building these homes. And what’s crazy is when they take all these big projects, these master plan communities, you guys are down the street from another one Valley Ranch. You know, they’re locking in that land price a decade ago. And so what’s interesting about it is that they’re you as somebody that’s buying in one of these neighborhoods, you’re actually getting double wealth. You’re getting the forced price increases that the builders have because materials and costs only go up. But then there’s also a market appreciation that is coupled with that as well. So your homes appreciated appreciating significantly quicker than people that live in neighborhoods that are existing and are pre built and things like that. So I think that that’s an interesting thing to keep in mind is that when we’re talking about people that bought in the first phase, that paid mid twos on starting on the side and now you can’t come in to Coulson Ranch and be in for any less than what five.
James: [00:20:53] To get a ticket to the dance. Yeah. I mean we in the 40 fives I think we have stuff in the high four hundreds but yeah, we could just say 500, 500,000.
Chris: [00:21:00] So it’s doubled in not only a decade. Callison Ranch, it wasn’t open in 2010, I think it was in about, like we said, 15, 14, 15.
James: [00:21:08] You got there.
Chris: [00:21:08] Yeah, absolutely. So crazy. So just cool little nugget of people that may not know that this exists here. So great opportunity, great cash flow and investment. And so outside of your stuff in CALLISON. Right. I know that a lot of conversations that you and I have revolve around real estate investments. We’ve done some stuff, multiple properties, tried the Disneyworld Airbnb thing for a minute, but I also know that you’ve done some cool stuff. What do you kind of have that’s like a unique investment project you’ve done?
James: [00:21:38] Well, I’ll start by saying I’ve always loved real estate. Long before I got into the industry, I bought my first home when I was 21. Probably one of the better decisions I made that year. So and I’m so thankful I did right, because that was in 2004 or five. And so as we know, there was loans being done, you know, and that got everybody in trouble, right? So I was a clean loan. I did not foreclose on my home.
Chris: [00:22:05] That’s good.
James: [00:22:06] But I also got into a home zero down back when I was 21 broke and at least I had good credit. So I had that going for me. But it did make me a believer, right? Because so I held that home through the crash 2008 and then it allowed me to move up.
Chris: [00:22:22] Right.
James: [00:22:22] And so my wife and I were just talking about this yesterday because we were talking about the home we’re in now. And I’m like, you do realize this is a series of like good decisions that got us to this.
Chris: [00:22:33] Absolutely.
James: [00:22:34] So that first domino had to drop in like the equity dominoes and then obviously career decisions and, you know, things like that. It’s a combination of several things. But yeah, so eventually along the way I got into real estate investing. Initially I got into just single family long, long term kind of stuff, which, you know, that’s, that’s okay. Cash flow is good. And you know, like you said, the bigger thing, you know, even if you only have a property that’s cash flowing, even $100 a month, what are you getting in terms of equity?
Chris: [00:23:06] Right.
James: [00:23:07] Appreciation, your appreciation, you know, and so that that is definitely added to our net worth. And and then yeah, along the way I’ve dabbled into multifamily, I’ve dabbled into short term rentals, which that’s an interesting space, right?
Chris: [00:23:22] Yeah, very interesting.
James: [00:23:23] You know, I’m. I’m probably going to go back to long term for a couple of reasons. So the best friend a landlord can have is inflation, right? So as rents go up, profits go up, right. In the short term space, there’s so many tedious things. Yes. You know, people don’t think about it. But I’m going from traditional landlords and now I’m in the hospitality business. Right. Mind you, I have a management company for every property. I don’t do any of it. Right. So there is a short term management company that I use their OC and everything like that. But you just get silly requests, man.
Chris: [00:24:04] Got it.
James: [00:24:04] So such as, you know, when you’re launching, the management company says, Hey, how hands on do you want to be? Right. And so me being the control freak I am, I’m like, look, I’m not micromanaging anything, but I also don’t want you sitting out your plumber, that’s $200 an hour. When I got my guy that I trust. Yep. Just let me know if something goes down. I had no idea how often people, you know, and you just kind of put yourself in a traveler’s mind when you go to a hotel and whatever it could be. Something like, Hey, I can’t get the fi to work, and like, you just aren’t putting in the password. Right? But guess what? I just paid a tech guy to come out there that charges me 70 bucks an hour to Jack with the wi fi.
Chris: [00:24:46] Got it.
James: [00:24:47] So that’s an example, right? And if you don’t respond, what’s going to happen? You’re going to get a about.
Chris: [00:24:52] Exactly. And reviews just like in our business, reviews are everything.
James: [00:24:54] Live and die by reviews.
Chris: [00:24:55] Absolutely.
James: [00:24:56] You live and die by reviews. So the goal is to reach super host on Airbnb’s platform and there’s several others. But it’s been, I don’t know, annoying man, if I’m honest.
Chris: [00:25:08] I know it’s been annoying. Absolutely.
James: [00:25:10] Well, and then the other thing, the flip side of what’s not on a landlord’s side, if you’re in the short term space of the inflationary world is.
Chris: [00:25:19] Utilities, right?
James: [00:25:21] You can’t get on social media or wherever without someone complaining about it right now. I know here in locally in San Antonio, New Braunfels, most people’s utilities have doubled.
Chris: [00:25:29] Correct record bills. We unfortunately have an $800 power and water bill this month. 800. You guys beat.
James: [00:25:36] Me in vacationing.
Chris: [00:25:37] Beat me? Yes, absolutely. It. Can I win at any. No, but there’s some there’s some context here. We got a pool. We got a partial pool refill in there and some stuff. So but still they’re double. Right.
James: [00:25:47] You can’t go good at my about my $671 though.
Chris: [00:25:50] We are. Yeah. It’s a lot of competition I want to be in, but.
James: [00:25:54] You can win that all day.
Chris: [00:25:54] We know and the market is putting crazy pressures on everything and we have similar experience in the short term space. Right. So we we own this property barely a year in Orlando, we did the same thing right. And maybe we maybe got in at the wrong time. But we just found that by the time that, you know, you had a mortgage, right? You had insurance and things like that. And there’s some extra costs in the Orlando market than there are here with like homeowner’s insurance, for example, is like $3,000 a year because of hurricanes. And. That’s right. And exactly. And flood. And so by the time that we were paying the mortgage, all the utilities, there was a pool on that property that had to be heated. Right. All of these things, the management fees and things like that, you know, we weren’t really making anything right. Yes. There was the appreciation. Yes, we were getting equity, which we were able to cash out on. So any real estate investment is a good one. But it just came down on one of those things where it was I was with the right. It just became a thing where it was like, man, you know, at some point, depending on where you’re at, it seems easier to set it and forget it, right? We could have put a long term tenant in there, a couple grand or a couple hundred dollars over the mortgage and just collected that cash flow and just held that long term.
Chris: [00:26:59] But you know, I think that for Airbnbs and VRBO is like I think that they work, but you’ve got to be in markets like like port. It’s a small island. There’s only so many homes, right? A lot of people that want to go there, more people moving to Texas, want to go down there. Availability is tight. So you’re renting these two and three bedroom homes five, $600 a night, which we’re just not there in San Antonio yet. You know, we’re not pulling in six, seven, $800 a night for your three bedroom home. That’s not even on the water in port a you know. Right. So I think that short term does work. And obviously a lot of people might hear this and say, oh, you guys just don’t know what you’re doing. We’re no, we get it right. Short term works for people, but I think it’s very market dependent and also depends on the person and kind of what type of a return and hands on this they’re wanting to have, you know, so interesting.
James: [00:27:48] Yeah. No. And I would add so in Orlando, what was the hot tax they had?
Chris: [00:27:52] So they so they. You had to. Of course they did. I don’t remember what the percentage was, but I know that it was actually kind of crazy. You had to be registered with the county as an official business, right? So like you were registered with Osceola County. I hope that’s how you say it down there. And and you were like a business, right? So like our home was on Santa Drive and we had official little certificate thing that said that we were basically hotel and then we were being charged hotel tax every night on the reservation. So, you know, the the portals were taking they’re 6 to 15%, depending on whatever it was, you know, off the. Op and then the county was taxing the hotel tax, whatever that was. And the reason I don’t know is because the property manager ran it all right. They paid it. They paid it. But it’s just it’s wild, right? Like you were just getting nickel and dimed everywhere along the way. So what does that look like here?
James: [00:28:41] You know, in San Antonio, it is 10%. And you know, that obviously that comes across your bottom line. And so short term management companies charge different amounts. The one that I was using was charging 20.
Chris: [00:28:56] Oh, gosh.
James: [00:28:57] That’s a hit, man. So that’s almost like having a partner.
Chris: [00:29:00] So so 30% off the top was going between hotel tax and management before you’ve even gotten to utilities or mortgage.
James: [00:29:06] So management fee, hot tax, monthly toiletries and all the stuff that you, K-Cups and all the stuff you got to put in there. Right. You’re in your hotel. Yep. Internet utilities. It’s just like. Expense, expense. Expense. So, yes, there’s the potential.
Chris: [00:29:24] To.
James: [00:29:24] Yield more, but there’s also more risk.
Chris: [00:29:26] Got it. I, I.
James: [00:29:27] Would encourage anyone who’s interested. There’s a good book that I was reading. I can’t remember the name of the author, but short term rental, long term wealth. Another resource shout out to Big Pockets. Great resource. They have a great podcast, great website. But anybody who’s mildly interested in that space, to someone who’s feels like they got it figured out, I think anybody could probably get something out of their content.
Chris: [00:29:55] That makes sense.
James: [00:29:56] But yeah, I mean, and you know, again, the R word is around the corner, right? Recession. So people are going to travel less. That’s obviously a risk. You start getting to a point where it’s like, okay, potential revenue was up here for short term rental because of inflation and because we’re going to have an oversaturation of people, there’s going to be an unaffordability crisis coming.
Chris: [00:30:18] We know that. We know that.
James: [00:30:20] And so those people aren’t going to have a choice. They’re going to need to rent. I think the statistic now is it’s 30% more expensive to rent or to buy than to rent.
Chris: [00:30:29] Absolutely.
James: [00:30:30] So, I mean, that’s that’s heavy, right? Because we’ve been spoiled. We’ve had low prices and low interest rates for so long. It was the conversion rate from renters to buyers was is pretty high.
Chris: [00:30:40] Was it was it was it was a healthy flow, right? Yeah. People rented they got any decent job any 40 hour week salaried position. You were buying something, right? You know, maybe not necessarily a parity level, but KB, LGI, you know, these are Hortons, these first time homebuyers. And that’s interesting that you talk about that. So, you know, moving to that, right, you know, coming off of investments, there’s the thing that I’ve seen that’s super sad. Right. And you mentioned about how you kind of got there by owning your first home. There’s a lot of people that are always like, I’m going to wait. Right. And it’s sad because you were able to do a lot of the things that you’ve been able to do and kind of grow your wealth and your financial portfolio by just taking that first step and owning everything. A lot of people wait for like the perfect situation. I’m going to get a better job, I’m going to do this. And by the time that they come back around, right, things have gone up so much prices, inflation, they’re worse off than when they started. Right? Like they’re actually not even able to afford what they wanted to buy the first time. So I just I see a lot of that. And you know, now with that being said, we saw stat the other day the Texas is one of the leading states. 27% of all new construction escrows last month canceled. So that means that almost one in three. People that were under contract. Building a new construction home, buying an inventory home they canceled in the last last month. Right. And that’s just what we talked about this at lunch. You know, that’s just what’s known. Right. How many cancels are salespeople sitting on?
James: [00:32:09] And salespeople never.
Chris: [00:32:10] Lie. Salespeople never lie. Very honest.
James: [00:32:12] Yeah. No, that’s true. It’s like, how many deals are shaky? How many deals? Do you know.
Chris: [00:32:19] About?
James: [00:32:20] Do you feel like you’re going to bust or cancel that you haven’t exactly told your boss yet.
Chris: [00:32:25] Right.
James: [00:32:25] So, yeah, that 27% we know is low. That’s just what was reported.
Chris: [00:32:29] Absolutely.
James: [00:32:30] And so there were several builders that reported a negative.
Chris: [00:32:35] Number in last.
James: [00:32:36] Month. We had a positive number. It was small, but at least we were in the positive. But we’re going to see more of that. You know that CPI numbers were over 9% less yesterday.
Chris: [00:32:46] 9.1 highest in 40 years.
James: [00:32:47] Which is like what? So, I mean, everybody’s banking on, you know, 100 basis points increase and then another one went in September.
Chris: [00:32:56] Absolutely.
Speaker3: [00:32:58] Can you explain what that is in layman’s terms, the CPI?
Chris: [00:33:01] Yeah, absolutely. Go ahead.
James: [00:33:02] Yeah. Consumer Price Index, it’s the cost to buy goods. And, you know, this same time last year, it was 9% less. And so with wages not increasing and fuel being at an all time high and everything costing more, the middle class and below are getting crushed right now. Absolutely crushed. And so you’re right, man, as we play the waiting game, because that’s the safe way out. It’s I’ll wait. I love hearing I’ll wait for the crash.
Chris: [00:33:34] Right? Absolutely.
James: [00:33:36] So the people who waited for prices to go down, which prices.
Chris: [00:33:39] Are going down, this and we will get.
James: [00:33:41] Rates are going the other.
Chris: [00:33:42] Way. Absolutely.
James: [00:33:43] And what a lot of people don’t realize, I have never bought a home is it’s the opposite of what you want, because what’s more impactful is the.
Chris: [00:33:51] Rate.
James: [00:33:51] Correct. And so we’ve discussed this. But, you know, I have people coming into my model with, I mean, an immense amount of equity more than I’ve ever heard in the six years I’ve been in this space.
Chris: [00:34:01] Right.
James: [00:34:02] And they are confident they’re coming in with their chest out. Right. Like, man, I’ve got 203 hundred put down. Here’s what I want. Well, those people also refinanced during the pandemic, correct? They locked in that sweet two and a half, 3% interest rate. They’re spoiled with their mortgage they have now. And they think what they roll over that equity, I’m going to get the same or less.
Chris: [00:34:22] Right? Still thousands more or hundreds more.
James: [00:34:26] So much more. You know, we’re in the what six is now the heading to the sevens like that’s what’s more impactful the larger the rate regardless. Well not regardless but it’s just not it just affects you more.
Chris: [00:34:40] And if you look at any chart, if you look at anything, even the inflation chart, right, with the CPI like we were talking about, there was years back in the eighties, right, when everyone had those 16% interest rates that people were like, Oh, well, homes were cheaper back then. Inflation was at like 14. It peaked at like 14.1%, I think, on the last 40 years. Right. So it was really, really high as far as like how unaffordable things were in regards to like the rate and the pricing. And so what I think is interesting right now is that we’re still not there yet, right? We’re still not at the 14. So we’ve got a ways to go. But what’s interesting is that right now is a really unique opportunity to buy that I don’t think people are capitalizing on. And so I kind of want to dive in and talk about that a little bit about what I’m seeing on regards to real estate. And I think at Year Builder two, you guys are probably seeing this as well. So what that is right, is you have multiple freight trains that were running at the same time that are now like derailing and crashing into each other, for lack of a better word. Right. So you had crazy demand, right? You and new home sales a year and a half ago had a line of people to your door. Sell me anything, I’ll pay anything. Get me something. Right. Right. Crazy.
James: [00:35:48] We’re straight up taking orders.
Chris: [00:35:49] Taking orders? So what did every builder do? Sell everything. Build everything. Every start. Every lot. Permit it, build it. Let’s go. Right. And unfortunately, in the construction space as well, you all had unprecedented delays, supply shortages, things that prevented these homes from finishing in a timely manner. But you started them. And so now we throw out numbers like 27%. New construction cancels last month, right? One in three every three deals gone. But the freight train that was still going was this builder backlog of all these homes that people started. Right. I know, Perry. It’s not too bad. It’s definitely there’s definitely a lot of unsold homes on the ground. I know that. But, you know, for some of these production guys, these numbers are in the thousands. In San Antonio alone, you know, over 1000, 2000 homes that are started in unsold that will finish this year. And so now you have this freight train of of the backlog of builder homes under construction. Now you’ve got the inflation train, right, like rising at unprecedented rates, like we talked about CPI, 9.1 highest rate in 40 years. Now we’ve got the just normal like just price increases due to material shortages still right there. Still closures. Covid has a new strain. Right. A lot of factories and stuff. Shanghai shut down and all of this stuff is colliding. Right. And what it’s creating is, I think, a very unique opportunity for somebody to buy that maybe waited last couple of months or years. And what that is and I want to hear what Perry’s doing on this.
Chris: [00:37:12] But what I’m seeing on my end is the agent is that builders, if you didn’t know. Builders have trade lines, basically, right? So for a builder to build a house, a lot of them are using credit that they’ve established to pay the trades to do that. And there’s what’s called a holding cost, right? So every month that the home doesn’t close and doesn’t finish, the builder is paying interest on the money that they’ve borrowed to build the house. So especially these small to medium guys right now, your big dogs, they can’t hold these homes. They have to close them. And so now what you’re seeing is this glut of inventory finishing and you’re seeing builders that are just like, I have to sell it. I don’t care what it is. I don’t care what I’m making on it. I don’t care what the margin is. I’ve got to sell it. And so now you’re seeing people closing before the people that are building behind them that are paying 30, 40 and $50,000 less than people already in contract. So I think it’s a really unique time and a good opportunity to take advantage of a situation. Yes, your rate’s going to be 6%, but what never changes. And that’s the price that you paid, right? Rates can go down. Rates can get refinanced. Right. They can also go up. So what are you guys seeing from kind of what that on regards to Perry and how’s the backlog of inventory? What’s that situation?
James: [00:38:22] Yeah. So I you know, when you get hired at Perry, one thing that you’ll hear amongst the people who’ve been there a long time is they’re just a well-oiled machine that just doesn’t stop. And it’s so true, man, because when I sell an inventory home, typically within 24 hours, we’re panel releasing ones, meaning we’ve got a pipeline set up. We know which plan we’re going to build on this lot and we’re going to that button is automatically going to get hit when I report this sale. So there’s that and then there’s also the financial wherewithal. So Perry does not operate on credit.
Chris: [00:38:59] Got it.
James: [00:38:59] Their cash in, cash out, that has allowed them to be around for over 55 years. So they probably have been through, what, at least probably four recessions there. And let’s let’s also keep in mind for everyone who’s listening and stuff like. There’s people who get wealthy during recessions.
Chris: [00:39:19] Right.
James: [00:39:19] There’s there’s good that comes out of recession.
Chris: [00:39:22] A lot of people take market share in a down market.
James: [00:39:24] But you have to be able and ready, right?
Chris: [00:39:26] Right.
James: [00:39:28] What’s the Warren Buffett quote? You know, be fearful when people are greedy. Be greedy when people are fearful. So I think we’re coming up on that greedy time. There’s going to be opportunities. I don’t know exactly where we always brainstorm with that. But yeah, I’m with the right builder. I know I am. I’m in the right community. We will survive this storm because we survive 2008 and everything else.
Chris: [00:39:52] Absolutely.
James: [00:39:53] For people who are on the fence and they’re like, man, do I play the waiting game again? I don’t think there’s anybody out there right now that would say rates are going down.
Chris: [00:40:03] Yeah, no.
James: [00:40:04] So if I know I can lock in pricing, even if six months from now the same home I’m going to get is a little cheaper.
Chris: [00:40:11] Right?
James: [00:40:12] If I can get in now, get my cranleigh in now. Lock the rate refinance later. I don’t think it’s a bad decision.
Chris: [00:40:19] No, not at all. And right now, especially even in Perry, like there’s some good opportunities on some stuff that you all have kind of coming down the pipeline, a couple of unsold homes where there you can actually get some good incentives. I think we were talking that you actually between the credits that you all are giving as a as a builder, y’all are able to help people by buying the rate down or closing costs make it more affordable.
James: [00:40:41] Yeah, we’re going to as realtors and sales professionals do a lot of outside the box thinking. So I had shared with you an example of someone who had a number. We all have that number, right, of what we want to spend monthly on our mortgage. And in this person’s case, in order to get there, we needed $37,000 in closing costs. A lot of that came from the builder. A lot of that came from the realtor. Yep. Came together. We were able to make those numbers work so that person was able to get a 4.3% interest rate.
Chris: [00:41:14] And if you don’t know, even today with just the rate that I got, I get a daily rate. Update rates right now for conventional loans are about 6%. It’s like 5.99 PA. So this person’s, you know, 1.675 below right market. So that’s incredible. I mean that’s just something that’s.
James: [00:41:31] And that’s where I think majority of the money is going to be applied. Right. Because that’s what’s most impactful is we just discussed. Yeah, but it’s so interesting, man, because literally 60 days ago we were we were dealing with a sales freeze. And for those of you who haven’t heard the certain builders that hit the brakes because they want to control backlog and we obviously want to keep a certain timeline on how long it takes to build homes. We went from literally no incentives. Yes, sales freeze to full blown sell everything. What do you need? What is it going to take to.
Chris: [00:42:04] Get a deal.
James: [00:42:04] Done? You know, so if I’m a buyer and I’m on the fence again and I’m hearing this, I’m thinking, okay, I’m going to see what’s out there, because from what I’m hearing, there’s incentives. There’s opportunity.
Chris: [00:42:14] There is opportunity.
James: [00:42:16] So that’s good.
Chris: [00:42:17] Absolutely. And I think that, you know, kind of going back to like the you buying your first home when you did. Right and the people that opt away. I think that people need to remember as well. You know, when you talk about like, oh, the home prices are going down, the crash and the recession. Right. All these families, these people that bought homes three, four years ago, they have like $200,000 of equity. So even if our market goes down 30, 40% doomsday, right. You know, the end of the world, they’re not upside down. You know, like they’re not they’re not losing anything. And so I think that, like, sure, prices are going to go down. But I don’t I don’t think we’re going to see a thing where we have double digit foreclosure rates, we’ve got all these short sales. And I just don’t think we’re going to see that. Right. Yes, there’s going to be some hard times, people that just bought and just closed. Like he said, it’s kind of the peak of the market job loss, you know, things like that. Absolutely. But I just think that a lot of people are I think the market in general is very padded and protected this time.
James: [00:43:17] I couldn’t agree more.
Chris: [00:43:17] Yeah, absolutely.
James: [00:43:18] The greedy investor in me is like ready for opportunity, but I don’t know where it’s going to come from. Right. Because right now the average credit score of people who have mortgages is over 700. We run averages, which.
Chris: [00:43:30] Is not something that’s happened. Yes, record high.
James: [00:43:33] The delinquency rate is below 2%.
Chris: [00:43:36] Right.
James: [00:43:36] So people are making their payments now. We’ll see what happens in the future.
Chris: [00:43:40] With Job and our work, right? Yeah.
James: [00:43:42] But, you know, I don’t know I don’t know where that opportunity is going to come from from an investors standpoint. Because you’re right, if I’m somebody who I do get behind on my mortgage and the bank starts calling me and my spouse was laid off or whatever, that person in the past might have said, Hey, I’m going to let this house go.
Chris: [00:44:01] Right?
James: [00:44:02] You’re not going to let six figures go?
Chris: [00:44:04] No, you’re not. And and that’s that’s what’s crazy about this and why I just I highly recommend to anyone, regardless of any age or place in life, is like start in real estate is real estate. What real estate has done has built the. Ultimate emergency fund for all of these people. Right? Because you’re right, payments start piling up, car payments are getting mass, student loans start getting missed. You hire an agent, you list your home, you sell your home, you’re netting 60, 70, 80,000. I see this almost every day with our clients that are closing or more. You’re moving wherever you have to write, whether it’s with family, an apartment, whatever you’ve got to do for a minute. But you’re moving in debt free. All of your delinquent debt is being caught up, right? You’re paying all your bills. People are trading in cars. Same thing, right? Like a lot of people are trading in cars and getting more on car trades than what they paid for.
James: [00:44:50] So it’s interesting that you brought up vehicles because I think the first wave to hit is going to be auto stuff.
Chris: [00:44:58] I could see.
James: [00:44:59] That. You know, absolutely. I’m I’m the reading and stuff that I’ve been doing looking into this. Repossessions are on the rise like really high. And if you really think about it, so you go back to COVID and the stimulus money and just that whole two years.
Chris: [00:45:14] Right? Right.
James: [00:45:17] It’s interesting because in our space, we know what financing looks like.
Chris: [00:45:20] For a home. Right?
James: [00:45:22] Like people think that because of the amount of homes that are being sold, like underwriting has loosened up and overlays and restrictions and stuff. It hasn’t.
Chris: [00:45:30] Absolutely. It’s gotten tighter. Right.
James: [00:45:32] So I can go buy a vehicle that cost six figures. Right. And just put down my Social Security number, credit check and say whatever I make.
Chris: [00:45:42] Right.
James: [00:45:42] There’s zero income verification at all. I could drive. You know, how many of these Corvettes and stuff are we seeing now? Right. They’re everywhere. And you’re right, vehicles are so high priced. Now, someone told me the Escalade right now is 160,000.
Chris: [00:45:55] And for people that have Broncos, I’m hearing that like people are getting offered 20, 30,000 more than they paid brand new for their Bronco just to get one. Now, you know, it’s wild.
James: [00:46:05] I would tell anybody.
Chris: [00:46:06] Who’s.
James: [00:46:07] Who has that vehicle equity which normally doesn’t exist cash in.
Chris: [00:46:11] Now now I agree.
James: [00:46:12] Because once the chips start hitting and once these foreclosures starting or repossessions start increasing, I think we are going to have a lot of inventory in the auto space. Absolutely. I think it’s about a flip. But you’re right, we’ve overpaid for everything, whether it’s a vehicle, whether it’s stuff for your house. Yeah. I mean, this we knew this was coming.
Chris: [00:46:35] We knew this is coming and this is the fallout. And so, you know, I think kind of like, you know, in closing, like for what I want to get the message out there, like in regards to like inflation and real estate and how it can protect you and kind of why I wanted to go through your your points. Real estate is something that’s very protective, right? I always watch where the money is going. Right. The stock market’s not doing well. Right. A lot of people are you know, a lot of stocks are going down. Right. Like a lot of people are losing money reading the stock market. But these big hedge funds are still buying. Right. You know, the big dogs are still buying real estate. And why is that? Well, if the markets go down and stock markets go down, real estate historically goes up. It’s very safe. Right. So, you know, I think that in my opinion, what I want people to kind of that are watching this to kind of gather is like, hey, there’s opportunity to make money in real estate, especially in a recession. Right. Not just all the time, but as things start to get hard, this is where the money is made.
Chris: [00:47:30] And so I think that if it’s me, I’m looking to acquire as many things as I can as soon as I can and get aggressive with it, because it’s when the dollar inflates, right? If inflation legitimately spirals out of control and a dollar becomes, you know, a dollar 25, right. You know, with the cost of goods and things like that, you’re locked into your mortgage, right? These people that bought three or four years ago and they owe 150 on their home, you know, McDonald’s is paying $15 an hour. Right. So now you’re able to get any job and pay that type of a note. Right. I think the people that are going to be the losers are going to be the people that just waited. Right. The people that were just like, I’m going to wait for it to get better. I’m going to wait for the season. I’m going to wait for it to change. And I feel like they’re going to take a big L versus just buying now.
James: [00:48:17] So I agree.
Chris: [00:48:18] That’s fine.
James: [00:48:19] You know, the one thing we haven’t mentioned, too, is I agree with all the points you made, by the way, own hard assets during times like this. Yes, for.
Chris: [00:48:28] Sure.
James: [00:48:29] You can borrow against your your mortgage.
Chris: [00:48:32] Yes.
James: [00:48:33] A lock loan, a home equity line of credit. So not recommended if you don’t need to this, you know, as we think of emergency funds and safety nets and things like that, and you’re trying to oh, my God, I never thought I would be even talking about buying a half a million dollar home. I’m scared. This mortgage payment. This freaks me out. I would tell anyone. Know your market? Yep. Do a little bit of homework. You can read enough articles right now and stuff that will tell you the top inflated markets. San Antonio is not on that list.
Chris: [00:49:07] No, not.
James: [00:49:07] Remotely. You know, you’re Boise, Idaho, San Francisco, Phoenix, Arizona. And I can go on and on. Those are ones you really want to be careful with.
Chris: [00:49:15] Absolutely.
James: [00:49:17] Texas in general is good. Austin You know, a lot of people feel like it is inflated just because of the pricing and stuff like that. But the point is know your market and just understand that you can tap into equity if you need to.
Chris: [00:49:31] Absolutely. In real estate is something that, like you said, like as these these banks and these credit unions and anyone that would lend or, you know, do a he like real estate’s a safe asset for them right when they’re looking to what’s your collateral, right? You know, cars like you said. No, you know like nobody cares about that. But but physically like dirt. Right. Homes, these are things that banks will comfortably lend you to you on, right? Especially if you have and they create good history. So, you know, I think that I think that as we go through the season, more important than ever, it’s going to be, like you said, know your market. You have to work with the right professional, right. Choose the right person that knows what’s going on. This is not the season to use in anything, right? Lending builder sales reps, you know, realtors is not the season to use somebody, you know, that you went to school with that’s been licensed for 5 seconds. This is not that time at all.
James: [00:50:25] Not at all. You know, one thing we say in the builder space, or at least something that I say is not all builders are created equal.
Chris: [00:50:32] Right?
James: [00:50:32] Like my product, I’m in the luxury space. There’s a reason we we cost more price per square foot. So I think most people believe you get what you pay for.
Chris: [00:50:40] Absolutely.
James: [00:50:40] So that transitions into professionals, too. So I will say not all realtors are created equal. Yeah, absolutely. The reason here in San Antonio, we have beginning of the year had 16,000 realtors. Now we’re below 9000.
Chris: [00:50:53] Absolutely over 40% reduction.
James: [00:50:55] Why is that? Well, there’s a lot of people that jumped on and they wanted to ride the wave and, you know, whatever they wanted a part time hustle during COVID, who knows? But we will see in the next few years who standing.
Chris: [00:51:09] Absolutely.
James: [00:51:09] I think you’re going to see a lot of mergers. Yep. You’re going to see a lot of companies go under. We’re already seeing buyouts.
Chris: [00:51:18] I know. I’ve seen that as.
James: [00:51:19] More bought out. Rialto got bought out and you know in the smaller mom and pops are going to they’re not going to they’re going to hemorrhage money like you said. They absolutely the carrying costs and all those things are just going to squeeze them. But yeah. Anyway, in this space 100%, man. I couldn’t agree more.
Chris: [00:51:35] No good. An expert.
James: [00:51:37] Hire a true professional read reviews. Yeah. Don’t we all want to help out our aunt that just is doing the side hustle thing in real estate? That’s cool. I get it. But you know, this is a big decision. We don’t buy homes every day now.
Chris: [00:51:53] The biggest decision that most people will ever make in their life. And so, you know, ultimately, I hope that we provided some good information with James. He’s at CALLISON Ranch, west side of San Antonio. If you w ere looking at all with any Perry home, please make this man the first call. We’ll make sure that his info is here on the video and as well as below in the comment section. This is the guy to give an opportunity to. And James, obviously thank you for coming out today and being our our first guest. So thank you so much for being on the Marti Party as always. My name’s Chris Mardi with the Mardi Party here owner rebate house and if you’re looking for an expert to buy, sell or make an expert move in real estate where your team so my.
James: [00:52:32] Podcast by the way is going to be called the pool party.
Chris: [00:52:34] So maybe don’t have any problems. I started that. Thank you so much, James. We appreciate you.
James: [00:52:40] It was fun.
Chris: [00:52:40] All right. Thank you. All right.