Luxury Real Estate

Angie Cullen [0:00] So what I would say is really work, I mean, it's gonna be a cream rise to the top situation for buyer's agency, right? It's either gonna be totally discounted, and you don't want to be in that. I hope you don't want to be in that realm, or it's gonna be a value proposition that's worth paying for.

Speaker 2 [0:19] We'd like to take a moment to thank one of this month's sponsors, Sabrina West. Sabrina West, a local mortgage expert with guaranteed rate, will provide you and your clients with real talk in real time. Sabrina is a mentor, investor, and money mortgage expert who provides customized individual consultations with a behavior finance approach and education to help build wealth through real estate. She believes in clients for life, so reach out today, Sabrina.west at rate.com, or give a follow on Instagram at Sabrina G. rate.

Speaker 3 [0:50] All right, so a quick agenda. What going on here? We're gonna take about 5 minutes just to do welcoming and housekeeping. We're gonna have some forced fun. We're gonna get you a chance to get up and meet some people. Then we're gonna do a 15 minute Ruiz Report where we break down the market, what's been happening lately. From there, we're gonna give you guys three table questions. So, choose wisely where you sit. It's gonna be how interesting the night is. Moving from then, it'll be the luxury real estate panel, and then we're gonna leave as much time as possible for our audience, Q&A. All right, so welcome, everybody.

Rodrigo Afanador [1:23] As you all know, if you've been here before, our goal is to bring together the movers and Shakers of the actual real estate scene, the world, where we have one quick announcement right off the top, and a big, thank you, we've got three sponsors tonight. We got Sabrina West, with guaranteed rate. We've got Zen contracting, as well, in the back, and Grant Laughter with jewelry. So if you have an opportunity to talk to him, please do so. All of their links will also be on our emails and websites afterwards. So we'll keep moving forward, though. All right, so my name is Rodrigo. Zach, here, we both started this about what, almost 24 months ago now, right? Just about.

And so, yeah, big thanks for y'all to be here. I always like to say, if you have a house or a deal that's not moving or you're looking to sell, would love the opportunity to talk to you about buying it. Um, and then Zach has a dad thing going on, I'll let him talk about that himself.

Speaker 3 [2:16] So I am kind of known as the keeper of the datas around here, as you'll see, I do the marker report, but also did analytics, just all the data stuff for real estate. And, uh, AVLmeetup is about what we call the net profit philosophy, right? And that stands for networking, education, and transactions because focusing on your gross is just gross.

Rodrigo Afanador [2:34] So for the first part of networking, yeah, so networking, we already did that part. So thanks for everybody showing up. We always like to say, is that you never know when you're one conversation away from having a new connection, or the opportunity to do business, or pick up a new deal, or find money. And so always invite your friends. If we put in good people in the room, then good things will continue to happen.

Speaker 3 [2:58] And then for this month's topic, how many people in the room are realtors? All right, so, kind of to be expected. The community is strong in that respect. And if you could tag us and just put pictures and everything, it'll keep it easier for everybody to kind of network with each other and find each other after the event. Um, moving. Education? So, look, this is our 22nd meetup in total, and these are all the topics that we've covered. This is basically the gamut of real estate. whether you're looking to buy, sell, rehab, flip, get money. We even interviewed agents under 30 that are doing stuff. We had the mayor of Canton come in.

This one is luxury real estate, and next month will be the state of our economy. So we did that last year. It was probably our most fun one. It was a wild success. And if you're involved in business at all, not even real estate specific. That is definitely a meetup that you're gonna want to go to.

Rodrigo Afanador [3:49] And on that note, we're bringing back the same speaker. So there's gonna be a little bit of continuity, and we can compare and contrast from what they said a year ago to what they're gonna applying to next year. It'll be a good time.

Speaker 3 [4:00] After tonight, if you go to the website, this was probably going to be updated. But so we've done over 2,800 hours of networking and education since starting. So we're very, very serious about that, and we're glad that you've joined us tonight to keep going in that respect. And that is our Hall of Fame. We've had over 59 speakers this time. Unfortunately, we're gonna get a cartoon head that we've forgotten there. But we've had over 59 speakers, and everyone on the boards is in some version of the top, in the local market of their respective field.

So we definitely try to bring the movers and shakers together to cut the line and make sure you get the most accessible information that wouldn't be accessible. otherwise. And on that note, if you want to be involved in this organization, we have Ray Ray at the back in the white jacket there. Just send an email to volunteers at AVLmeetup.com. We will get you hooked up.

Rodrigo Afanador [4:46] All right, so the next piece of it is the transactions. And so, I think you've all heard us talk about and trying to brainstorm on how we're gonna be able to facilitate more transactions within the group. So tonight, if you checked in, you might have noticed that there's a little new feature, but tonight we're gonna roll that out a little bit and kind of double tap on it so you get to play around with it and understand it.

Unknown [5:08] Oh, that's me? Okay.

Rodrigo Afanador [5:10] Well, what if you could be connected to the perfect person to sell source fund or mentor you on the next deal? Right.

Speaker 3 [5:17] So as Rodrigo likes to say, is that, basically, if you do networking and education in a meaningful way, then the end result of that will be transactions. And so we've been trying to figure out how to facilitate that for you guys. So basically, what we've done, right, is we've made something called the AVLmeetup Matchmaker service. So if you signed in today and took the poll, and if you're a member, at the top right, you're gonna see that there's the ABL matchmaker. You just click the little picture at the top, right? And you're gonna see that if you wanted to buy, there'll be a list of members that want to sell, if you want to sell by, borrow lens, so on and so forth.

We're connecting you with the other side of that deal. So basically, that is why we've been having you fill out these profiles. It's to help people find you in person and to reach out to you. Everyone has access to the member directory. It's totally free. And if you put the information there, people will help you find. So what we're gonna do, one is ask you to fill out your profiles. So people can find you more easily, but second, we're just gonna give 10 minutes to let you talk to the people in the room. If you have that feature and signed in, I encourage you to find someone that's on the other side of that list, so you can hopefully do a transaction or get one going today.

So we're just gonna start the clock and give you 10 minutes to get to know each other.

Rodrigo Afanador [6:22] If you have any questions, just come up, talk to us during this 10 minutes, we'll help make sure you get logged in and whatnot. See you in 10.

Speaker 3 [6:33] Three, two, one, boom.

Rodrigo Afanador [6:38] All right. So, who found that helpful? Anybody find that helpful? Is that a good way to get some conversation started? All right, 3 people found it helpful. We'll try to get that to 6 for the next one. of the coolest people found it helping. I know that earlier, I was able to talk to somebody and get a lead on something to, you know, maybe buy down the road, so that was exciting for me, and hopefully everybody else was able to take a step in the right direction, as far as whatever you're looking to buy, sell, lend. What's the last one? Buy, sell, lend, invest. Borrow lend. Borrow lend. Um, yeah, so without further ado, we're gonna do the Ruiz Report, cover the market.

we can get the clicker to work. Oh man.

Unknown [7:20] Hold on now.

Speaker 3 [7:23] Oh, can we turn the lights back on please? And we may need an assist on the clicker. Or we can go to the next slide. All right. Oh, wow, community wins. So, turns out, Rodrigo had more to say. Oh, wow. So now both of our clickers are down. Thanks for playing. Oh, did this? So, we got, we got a guy. We're gonna call him Support At, right? If you can think of anything that you would need help for, that you would send an email to support at, that's our guy. Scott McGee, if you could raise your hand at the back. Scott has an OG's been coming. Yeah, thank you, thank you. So the team has grown. Scott's been coming for quite some time, and thankfully a believer. He's the perfect avatar.

We need more Scots. So, say hi, say congrats. This does nothing. Sorry, it's a habit. Does this do something? Hey, Blanche is having a baby, guys. Uh, Blanche Schwartz, like, Sam? Yeah? Thank you, thank you. If you guys saw the, uh, the meet up with co living spaces, that's their team. And then anyone else, does anyone else want to share a win, some success in their life right now. We have one outspoken young lady in the back. Thank you, thank you, yes. That is... Wow. You know, to be young again. Oh, we got one. Coruna, right? So one of the fun memes of realtors, right, is I don't sell homes, I change lives. And every now and then you get to do it. So thanks for sharing with that, Karina.

Oh, so send us your wins, please. This does nothing. Um, we'd love to, we'd love to share and grow the community. So, with that, we're gonna move into the Ruiz Report. So this is report number 44. We've been doing this for some time now. And if you are paying attention to the markets, A lot of weird things are going on right now. So we're gonna kind of talk about that, and it's gonna focus around basically supply and demand, pricing and, you know, the interest rates in the background of that. So... All right, so the mission of the Ruiz Report is twofold. One is to equip realtors investors, everybody, right?

With data driven market insights, using this 10 slide report, we're only going to go over six of them tonight. The next thing is to empower them with industry leading trading to become their client's local economists of choice, and that's what this is all about. We're gonna give some training, we're gonna break it down, and kind of explain it, and what it means along the way. starting with graphs. Everyone's favorite. You all came tonight to, like, learn and do some nerd stuff, right? So pretty shapes and colors if you didn't. That's all we're looking at. How to read the graphs. So, first, we're gonna go over how the graphs work, essentially.

On the right, at the bottom, you'll see there's a green bar or a green box. And that's the report month. We're talking about October, right? We got a little bit of a halo, some buzz going on. But then you're going to see a red box around the same month last year. So that's year over year. And then, you'll see, we add two extra months, so that's 15 months total, so that gives you some seasonality. So last October, coming into this time of the year, what was happening? So we have some context to see if there's any patterns that we can kind of decipher. And every graph follows this same pattern, right? So, starting with market volume and activity.

All we're looking at here is the height of the bar. What's happening? How much real estate is happening? The height of that bar tells us that fact. The green is the homes that sold, right? And a home that sold in October probably went under contract in a previous month, and then homes that went under contract in that month. And then the red bar is the total active listings. That's a metric that we track that you can't get anywhere else. We check the MLS every single day. And every day that a listing is active, we put a little check next to it. So, the height of all the homes that were for sale at any point in time during the month is that bar. Now we're going to focus on this graph for a bit.

All right, so this is listings and pendings. This is a very, very, very important slide. In fact, this is my favorite slide. I even have a pro tip, right? And if we were to just read that pro tip, it says keeping an eye on the difference between homes added to the market, which are new listings, that's our red bar, that's that, right? And those taken off, and homes are taken off the market by going under contract, is the best way to gauge supply and demand. What do I mean? All right, so this lie tells the story of supply and demand. And this is what I'm talking about. When the red bar is above the green line, that means we're adding more, then we're taking off.

That gap there that I have in yellow, that's how many are being added above, so we're replenishing supply. If we go to the next slide, when it's below, we're not replenishing it. We're taking off more, then we're adding on. That has been the story of every market for the past 2 plus years. If we get to the next slide, you'll notice that's changing. We are now consistently adding more homes to the market than we are taking off. But if you notice the magnitude, putting it all into perspective. It's like 92 homes. That is not enough. Right? So if we switch slides. Right? We have been consistently adding supply lately, yet. It's not enough, right? So how do I know?

Why am I so confident in saying that? Well, for one, supply and demand directly affects pricing. So let's look at home prices. Remember, we have our year over year, October to October with those boxes. and then two months coming in. Now, the pro tip here to keep in mind is that monthly price fluctuations are less indicative. They're not as good. You want year over year, you want longer terms to sign to see what's happening in prices. Right? But if we go to the next slide, the trend line is still up until the right. Now, it's not a hockey stick, like you may have seen, but it's still increasing year over year, basically period over period, still, to this day. Right?

Another indicator is months of inventory. So what is months of inventory? Months of inventory, which is defined there, is basically it says, Hey, if we were to stop adding homes, we didn't add any other homes. And homes continued selling at the rate they've been selling, how long would it take for there to be no inventory? Right? So six, we call it a neutral market, anything above six, we call it a buyer, anything below six, we call it a seller's market. So look, the green means seller. Every price range, except 2 million plus, which we're going to hear about tonight, is a very strong seller's market. So you have to put things into perspective. So who holds all the leverage right now?

It's still the sellers. If we go to the next slide, So you'll see month of inventory. This is an at a glance slide, it's kind of an executive summary that we won't cover tonight, but you'll see there's a 46% increase year over year. That's not nothing. 46% increasing in anything is, you know, technically bad, right? But that went from, it's, like, 1.2 months to one point or 2.6, right? Putting it into perspective, even though it's a drastic increase, it's still an extremely strong seller's market. So if we go to the next slide, one last indicator, days on market. All right, so, if we look at the spike around February, you see November to February.

What was happening then to a conversation earlier is that rates were rising drastically, and people didn't really know what was going on. And then they basically accepted that as the new normal. And what does that mean? That means even though the sticker price of your home is one number, how everyone that's not a cash buyer buys your home is with their debt to income ratio. And if that payment is increasing, then it is harder for them to buy that home. So people are having to adjust accordingly. Now, remember back to our other slide. The prices are still going up into the right, but you may hear a lot of conversations about price reductions.

A list price is a price absolutely nobody agreed to. Right? So a list price being reduced just means they didn't price it right. Because the closed prices, what happened at the closing table are still increasing at this point. So, they would sell, it would take a lot longer to sell them if the pricing was that wrong. So how does this apply in real time? The other service I run is RMC. It's a real estate mission control. So that's rmc.co. So, as you can see here, we have residential properties in Buncombe County between 550 and 650, so that's plus or minus 50 grand, basically, of our, basically, our average price was 624, right? Which is something I overlooked. That crazy.

The average price of a home in Buncombe County was 624. The median, I believe, was $490. This is not an inexpensive place to live. Well, what that says is the median is 47 days. So if you go to the other slide, what the median means, right? That's the middle number. 50% of active homes have been listed for at least 47 days. Another way to say that is 50% of homes that haven't sold yet have been listed for at least 47 days. Right? So is the market tanking? Is it over, right? Is that the end? Well, let's look at those that are under contract. Under contract means, we don't know where it's going to close, but they came to an agreement, right? They're not for sale anymore actively.

They are under contract. And 50% of those homes, if we click the next line, did so in 18 days or less. So what that's telling you is that if you are past either the average and the median, you know, you can get into it, but basically, something's happening, right? Um, can we go back? Oh, there you go. All right, one more back. All right, so look, all these little boxes here? 45% of the homes that are under contract. Oh, I do still have this. It's at the bottom left there. They've all had price reductions. The average price reduction in this price range, so $550 to $650, is almost $53,000. These people are taking serious haircuts, right? They price incorrectly.

And the median, so 50% of them have had about $34,000 of a price cut. Right? So if you're lagging behind these metrics, you're not priced correctly, because the market is still very, very much moving. All right. So there we go. Moving along. Right, so this is a data point for both buyers and sellers. If you're selling a home, then, hey, I gotta adjust, right? Like, I have to lower my price, the market is talking to me, right? But if I'm a buyer, I'm gonna go back one. If I'm a buyer and I'm looking at a home, and that home is still on the market. And I noticed that it hasn't had a price reduction.

And I notice that it's past the moving averages, then I have, I should be trying to place a below ask offer and justifying it as such. Hey, in your price range, all your friends already sold. You're the last one hanging out. You're act like, you know, the market has spoken. would love to offer you this. And it looks like, on average, there's a 4% haircut, you go by the price ranges, but that's how this metric is useful for both sides. Now we're going to move to the next one. This one's largely out of your control. This is contract to close. So once you're under contract on a home, how long does it take on average, across all price ranges?

And it looks like, from the moment you go under contract, the moment you close is 56 days. The projector does not like that metric. And then if we go to the next slide. We're going to see contract to cash. And what does that mean? So that means, from the moment the yard, the sign goes into your yard, to the moment you're at the closing table, how long from the contract to the cash, right? And so on average, across all price ranges in Buncombe County, that was 84 days, but people who come into this event, they are not average, are they? Right? The median is 56 days or less.

So, if you're in a good relationship with your realtor, if you're listening to the market, if you're doing data driven price adjustments and everything, from the moment you sell your house, or list it for sale, excuse me, to the moment you're closing, should be around 56 days or less. Right? So, if that was fast, if all that was great, look, you can go to Ruseport.com and enjoy all training videos for free. Going next, we have a training video on every slide that explains all these metrics in depth and everything like that. We have quizzes every month. Right? And so, this is an open book quiz. It's designed, so you learn the report and actually learn where things are going, and bonus points.

When you get it wrong, if we go to the next slide. We tell you when that metric was right. All the wrong answers are from previous months, so you can still learn the market as you go. And next, we tell you where to find it on the report for next time. So if you're a realtor and you're an investor and you're doing this with clients, then this helps you fly through their port and know where everything is. So, to recap, more people are deciding to sell. right? That's what's happening. Supply and demand continues to prop houses up, because obviously it's not the rates rising, right? Like, that's not making them more expensive. All signs point to price reductions except, importantly, prices.

Right? So, that's where we're at. So, uh, this is gonna be our first table question. We're gonna do the lights again. Thanks for coming back quickly. When will home prices start to be affected by interest rates in our market? Right? So you got five minutes to discuss amongst yourselves.

Rodrigo Afanador [19:52] Hey, guys, Rodrigo here. Just wanted to do a quick shout out and introduce you all to one of our sponsors this month, and that's Zen contracting. They were also one of our sponsors at the netprofit summit. So just big thank you to them for sponsoring this month and for being one of our sponsors at the Netprofit Summit. They are amazing to work with. I've worked with them for over 4 years now. And anything from doing fix and flips to using them to renovate bird projects that we were going to turn into rental. So if you need a contractor, we encourage you to look for them at Zencontractor.net. So, one thing we did last month, be interesting to see on this one. As you guys talked at your tables.

Can we do the thumbs up if the interest rates are gonna affect home prices in the next six months and thumbs down if it's not? So thumbs up, it is gonna affect prices the next six months. Thumbs down if it's not going to affect prices? Wow. So, one thumb down. Interesting. All right. One man with two thumbs down, actually. Guess that's true. Two thumbs down. All right, so question number two. Everybody's probably seen the news, right? So, has the is the Nara lawsuit going to change the way you approach real estate? All right, five minutes. Go. Five more minutes. All right, guys. We're gonna bring up our panels. So if everybody can do a big round of applause. We bring up our panel for tonight.

That'd be great.

Speaker 3 [21:38] So we have a fun meme here, kind of what we were talking about earlier, right? Like, inflation, all the stuff happening, and so we have husband, who's on his 1,200 stimulus check. Uh, the wife on her 1,200 stimulus check, and their budget's, uh, 3.7 million. So, here we go. Maybe the luxury agents have to deal with some tomfoolery. We'll find out shortly. If we can... So here we go. If we'd like quickly introduce, we just did our great round of applause. We have Alec Cantley from Premier Sotheby's, and Angie Cullen from Nest Realty in Asheville. Oh, look at that. Thank you, thank you.

Rodrigo Afanador [22:15] Thank you guys for being here. We thought that a good place to start this conversation was on defining the luxury market, but then after a little bit of deliberation, we decided as more important, the defining the luxury market, people probably had more interest on how to get started in the luxury market, regardless of how you define it. So, this is an audience question, is, if you're coaching somebody, uh, in the business and how to get into the luxury market or how to get started, what would your coaching tips be? And ladies first, if you don't mind, if you want to start that with a quick introduction. That'd be great.

Angie Cullen [22:48] Did you say ladies first? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Um, So don't post the double wides and the single wides that you're selling, starting out, because we all did it. Definitely, you're gonna go through the ranks in this business, and you're gonna take anything and everything, and you're gonna hustle harder than you ever imagined, and that's totally okay, but if selling luxury at real estate is your goal. I think from the very beginning, present yourself in that light. So be the expert in luxury design architecture, and building, and make those contacts and relationships with high end luxury, especially builders, but also vendors.

Start building up your education about all things that make a luxury home, and experience, and put that out into the world, whether you're selling them yet or not.

Rodrigo Afanador [23:54] So, sorry, Alec, to interrupt. And do you mind giving us a quick 30 second intro on who you are?

Angie Cullen [24:01] Hi, I'm Angie Cohen. I'm the owner of Nest Realty, and Asheville, and we have about 65 agents, and we definitely pride ourselves on a very high level of client care, and we think that luxury is an experience, and not a price point. So, um, we're gonna meet everyone that comes across or through our door with that luxury experience, regardless of price point. Cool.

Rodrigo Afanador [24:32] All right. Do you mind starting with the introduction? A little background, and then...

Speaker 5 [24:35] Sure. Sure. So Alec Cantley with premiere Sotheby's. I've been in real estate for 13 or 14 years now, and have had a very unique path into the business. Um, I guess, to jump into your, into the question, and to piggyback on what Angie was saying. I think the biggest thing you can do is find other agents, whether it's at your firm or people that, um, are at other firms. I think the good agents want to help pour into new agents. And so that was very instrumental for me, is surrounding myself with successful agents to learn the business and understand the luxury side of things. And then on top of that, it's really just getting a good understanding for the market.

Whether you have buyers or not, if you want to be in the luxury space, go to the broker open houses, learn inventory, understand the market. And then, as Angie said, you just hustle hard with the deals you have, and let those slowly build into luxury clients. I don't think there's any just, like, magic to, oh, I just became a luxury agent. It's just years and years of hard work, compounding referrals. Yeah.

Speaker 3 [25:52] Awesome. Thank you. So, for our next question, which probably would have been a great, first question, you may have noticed us smiling, there's, so, in a market where right now the average price is $625,000, basically. How do you define luxury? Is it a number? Is it a $10000 home? Because then that's only, you know, 40% more than our average price right now? I heard experience was one answer? So how would you define luxury?

Angie Cullen [26:15] I define it as a top 10% of our MLS.

Speaker 5 [26:20] Done. Yeah. I think that's a good way. As you said earlier, I've always looked at it as, like, luxury is all about the experience, right? So there have been incredible homes that I've sold, that have been smaller bungalows that have just been really masterfully renovated, and that has a luxurious experience to it. I mean, certainly, I think most people will say, Oh, it's a million, 5 plus, 2 million plus, which you can definitely say that's the case. But there's also plenty of properties out there that aren't gonna be... I could take you to a $2 million old beat up farm. That's not gonna feel luxury.

So it's really more of the feeling of the space than it is, any given property, in my opinion.

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You can find them in South Asheville between the Ramble and Biltmore Park.

Rodrigo Afanador [27:42] On that note, you know, kind of, it seems like it's not a price point so much as specific things. Are you able to maybe expand on what are the amenities? If you're looking at taking on a new listing or if a buyer is looking for that type of luxury, you know, product, What are the amenities that you're looking for that you kind of feel are non-negotiables?

Angie Cullen [28:06] Sure. In our market, I think a lot of people looking for luxury are looking for privacy. They're looking for quiet. They're looking for very beautiful curated outdoor spaces here in the mountains. They're looking for that view, and maybe I should have said that first, but pretty much always hear the view, and you all know that that view can literally appraise for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. So in our market, those are the things that really stick out to me.

Speaker 5 [28:47] Yeah, I think if you paint with broad strokes, right? There's a lot you could get really specific with a lot of different amenities. I always am focused on my client's specific lifestyle, because what they're into, is gonna translate to what's important to them in a house, right? So what's really become big for a lot of clients now is wellness, so we're seeing a lot of home gyms and wellness, setups, A lot of the second home buyers are really into pools all of a sudden, which we don't have a ton of, so that becomes a bit challenging to find. And then I think the smart home, technology, automate home automation, that's always something, especially on the very high end.

People expect very fine finishes, and the latest and greatest in tech, so...

Angie Cullen [29:36] And I would say quality, definitely over space.

Speaker 3 [29:39] Perfect. That actually dovetails perfectly into our next question. So, kind of wellness and whatnot. Right? So what do you think are some underrated features that can really help a property appreciate? Is it a sauna? So, when we were joking around earlier, so I'm from Miami Beach. You have a tennis court, you're a luxury home, right? Like, that's a thing, but it's probably not exactly around here. So, what do you think are some underrated features of a home that'll help appreciate its value.

Speaker 5 [30:01] Yeah, as of late, a lot of my clients on the upper end have really been focused on storage, um, and creative uses of storage, one that's really come to the forefront is a great, like, butler's pantry, where they have that expanded kitchen. Most of these people love to entertain, and so they wanna, you know, have the open floor playing concept, but also have that space where they can have additional storage, and do prep for parties, and that sort of thing.

Angie Cullen [30:29] Yeah, and in terms of underrated, I find myself, usually, the home is very well appointed, beautiful kitchen, all of those things that you usually see, but when you talk about underrated, like, the stonework, the retaining walls, those outdoor spaces, the outdoor fireplaces, those were probably $500,000 plus easily. And so not to underrate the value that those things add, especially in this area. I think they go a long way with the value of the home.

Rodrigo Afanador [31:06] So back to another audience question. Thank you for submitting the questions, guys. Obviously, it's been an incredible four years for real estate here in the area. Are you seeing any hesitation from people buying, or do you guys feel like the ceiling's far away, and we're just, you know, kind of moving along, you know, business as normal for the next few years or next few months?

Speaker 5 [31:31] It's obviously an odd time, right? I think with what's going on with interest rates. Everybody's got some question marks. The thing I'm very bullish on, though, is Western North Carolina. I think we're all very fortunate to live in such an incredible place, and for a lot of different reasons, I'm very bullish on this market because of the amount of clients that are coming here for reasons way different than we're used to, where it used to be like, Oh, I'm a big mountain biker, or I love craft beer. Now it's 1,000 degrees in Texas in the summer, and I need a place to get out of the heat.

Last week, I had two conversations with clients that have major concerns about the future insurability of their properties in Florida and Louisiana, respectively. So, there's a lot of climate issues kind of building in, and I just think we're just getting started here. I mean, that's not to say we won't go through our peaks and valleys, but I think it's gonna be a lot a lot less than a lot of other markets around the country.

Angie Cullen [32:40] Yeah, I just, I wrote down almost the same thing that, um, when I was thinking through this question, that this area has always had a place for a luxury retreat, since its inception, that's why people came up from Charleston, it's why the Vanderbilts came here. It's a part of the fabric of our community and our culture. It's not going anywhere, and if anything, places in the country that could offer that, like Florida and Texas, can no longer offer it, honestly. So those are the places every one of us that are realtors in the room need to be looking to in our market, to capture those sales from those areas that they are just ready to get out. I mean, I've moved a lot of people from Houston.

It's... really hot there, apparently.

Speaker 3 [33:35] Kind of like. So kind of a follow up just to that, not one of the normal questions that we had, but it was basically, how many of the luxury market clients that you're dealing with are out of state versus people trading up, you know, from success here?

Speaker 5 [33:49] On the buy side, I would say it's 85, 90% of my clients are out of state.

Unknown [33:57] Yeah.

Angie Cullen [33:58] I would say, though, on the buy. I mean, obviously on the buy side. Trading up is harder here, but easier than the moving somewhere else, maybe, if they want to maintain this lifestyle, but it's interesting too, because someone who maybe had bought a home with me, like, you know, 850,000, four, five years ago, suddenly isn't that really high end luxury market, just because they had another child. They need more space. So there's a lot of our buyers in our market that are being pushed into what you would consider that luxury price point.

Speaker 3 [34:37] So as you were saying that, I was thinking, Well, I guess it has to be the buyers, right? But on the listing side, how many of these homes that are being listed are someone's primary residents that live here versus a second home or an investment property that they may have? In the luxury market?

Speaker 5 [34:52] On the luxury side, I would say it's, for me, personally, it's probably 50/50 when we're over, when you're talking over $2 million. A lot of its second homes, I mean, we have a few primary residents, and again, going back to what I was saying about climate. I think that's gonna change. We're seeing more and more people come here, but right now, it's probably a 50-50 split.

Angie Cullen [35:14] I would agree with that.

Speaker 3 [35:16] So basically, more than 50% of the luxury market is from out of town.

Unknown [35:20] Yeah.

Rodrigo Afanador [35:22] Interesting. Yeah. Well, kind of on that. Are you feeling that buyers and sellers are matching on value right now? Or is there a disconnect between people who are selling and people who are coming or is there an easy consensus?

Speaker 5 [35:35] It's all property specific. Um, I mean, I've seen I've seen some of these deals, you know, three to call it $8 million, where they're trading way off of what they're listed out. I mean, in some cases, 15 to 20% below asking price they're selling for. And then I've seen deals that, you know, I had one recently that, you know, we just waited for the right buyer. We weren't in a hurry because we knew we were priced correctly, and all of a sudden, in one weekend, we had multiple offers and sold above asking, and that was at a $3 million price point.

So you just really, it's all dependent on the property, I still think, regardless of the price point, believe it or not, there's still a quality issue on the luxury side. And so if you've got a house that's dialed in and has all the fixtures and features that people want, I think it's selling close to, as long as you're not pie in the sky. But then there's, you know, some of these other monsters that the flip side is, those have been the best deals I've gotten my buyers, if they were willing to come in and put the work in and put sweat equity in, they're able to get an exceptional value on something with a lot of upside.

Angie Cullen [36:46] I definitely have some sellers who are living in a year ago, a year and a half ago. And I feel for them, because... it was an environment where we've never seen anything like this in our market, and I haven't seen, and, you know, 14, 15 years of that luxury price point was, I think, sometimes going faster than a $200,000. I mean, it was insane. You could not sell them fast enough. And a lot of these sellers are, you know, still living in their minds, that that might have been a possibility, and it's just taking a minute. I do think buyers are being a little more cautious. They're being a little more careful.

It may be two or three days until you hear back from them or their realtor about their interests. Whereas before it would be like, right now. People are pumping the brakes a little bit and making very, um, deliberate decisions on their investments.

Speaker 3 [37:53] Right So, kind of on that, actually. So not all price ranges are the same. And the story I end up telling more often than not is kind of what we talked about previously, right? Whereas if you're moving, if you're on the wrong side of a moving average, you should probably do something about that. And generally, it's not better pictures. It's better pricing, right? How applicable would you say that is to the luxury and ultra luxury market, where it really is a unique thing, and you are really only looking for a handful of buyers. How long do you have your client's weight or weight it out versus recommending a price reduction in that market?

Speaker 5 [38:22] Yeah, it's super specific to the client, obviously, but just talking in broad strokes. I mean, to your point, a lot of these properties you're representing are super unique, and you have a very small pool of buyers. And so it's not one of those things where you can pester that client every two, three weeks trying to get them to make a big price reduction. I personally will not take a listing that I think is drastically overpriced. I mean, I've run across those sellers before, where it's been, where it's, Hey, I'd love to have this $3 or $4 million listing, but if it's worth two, I'm not gonna spend my time marketing that and trying to make that happen.

And so, um, yeah, I don't know where I was going.

Angie Cullen [39:10] Um, I get those people that you don't take. It's an expensive lesson. It is. No, I'm just kidding. I think both of us know how to price a property pretty well, and the market does shift, but we know what's selling, where it's selling, what our hot areas are, what amenities sell for more, what people are really looking for, and we can dial it in pretty close. So you know when a seller is just way...

Rodrigo Afanador [39:44] Yeah. Well, on the pricing note... Yeah. I'm reading between the lines, it seems like there's a lot of, like, gut feel and experience that comes into how you price something, and just having an idea of, like, Hey, like, I know a buyer's gonna pay this because of these, like, unique features. How do you price something? How much of it is art, how much of it is science, and do you have a, what side of that equation do you typically fall on?

Speaker 5 [40:07] I am a big gut feel guy. I am not nearly as statistical as that. I like to use some data to kind of get a general sense of where activity may be, what our general comps are, but a lot of times if you're dealing with a property that is a, you know, unicorn, and there's not going to be a comp for that, right? And so you really have to have that conversation with the seller, talk through the pros and cons and have the foresight to see what buyers are gonna like and also not like, and then just price it appropriately from there. And more often than not it works out.

Angie Cullen [40:45] I mean, I would agree with that. I think it's probably, for me, a little more statistically driven, although I do think that the artistry of presenting a home, I mean, you can present a $300,000 home, like, it's a palace. And it can be a palace because of how you've presented it, so you can be more confident in your pricing when you do have that really artistic approach to how you're portraying the value of it. With that said, recently, I actually had a high end builder. I gave them the specs of the house. The house was built early 2000s. Here are the materials, here, the systems, here, are the finishes, gave them the rundown. What would it cost to build this house today?

Price per square foot? And if you have a relationship with two or three of these builders, and you definitely should, and you've sent them clients, and you've worked with them a lot, they're gonna be more than willing to do that for you. It's not gonna be, like, a line item budget for build, but it's gonna be a pretty darn close estimate of what that price per square foot should be. Apply it to the amount of square footage. Then the land is a different story, but it depends on if it's a view or the side of a mountain, that kind of thing, and where it is in town. But I think you can use both of those approaches for pricing, and then come back to the Ruiz Report.

And no kidding, because, honestly, when you can say, 84 homes sold in this range, in this price range, but if we went down one dollar to this range, 150 homes sold, right? You're gonna price, and that one that, you know, there's 150 buyers versus 84. And having that real time data from Zach is literally priceless when pricing these homes.

Speaker 3 [42:59] One, I appreciate that. And two, if you go to our podcast, we'll try to get that in the show notes. Some version of that talk, which is basically, you know, $1 marketing, could sell your house for a lot more. So hitting that other price range is definitely in a previous episode. So to go with price and the interest rate environments. How has the interest rate environment changed your perspective and kind of strategy in the luxury market? So what I often talk about is, you know, there's two prices. There's a sticker price, and the price someone has to pay, pay the man, right? The loan. How often are you dealing with that in this market, in the luxury market? Is it mostly cash?

Is it partially cash and financing the rest? How does it work?

Speaker 5 [43:36] Primarily cash. I mean, I'm the, I'm fortunate in the sense that a lot of my clients, being in that cash position, It hasn't really changed my business model at all. I mean, there's certainly, there's certainly avenues where we have to get creative and do some different things to try and make a deal happen. I'm one of those guys who work any price point, too. It's not, I mean, when I started in this business, I'd sell anything, and it had that compounding effect. And so I'm still that way today. It's not all, you know, million dollar listing Asheville up here, but, um... We asked the wrong person.

But I think, um, I think for the cash buyers, it's really just not, the only people I have right now that are getting financing, are there most of them, the banks that they bank with, are like, we'll give you a screaming deal, 'cause we want to keep your cash in our bank.

Rodrigo Afanador [44:30] So, do you have anything you want to add to that, Angie?

Angie Cullen [44:34] No, I would just reiterate that it is mostly cash, and there are different reasons a cash buyer might not be willing to pull a trigger right now, but it's not, you know, whatever everything else going on, those other 14 things besides the interest rate.

Speaker 3 [44:50] Yeah. So I'm going to cut in line and steal a question from Rodrigo. At what point do you think the cash market starts? Like, in the luxury market, would you say once you hit one. 2, 800, where does the cash people?

Speaker 5 [45:03] As far as where you're seeing the cash buyers? That's been the craziest thing to me as almost, I'm sure everyone in this room has experienced over the last really since COVID started, the cash is at every price point. I mean, there have been plenty of deals where I've been, you know, working something in the 4 to $500,000, and we just lose out to cash, and you're like, what? I mean, so it's, I think it's all price points, honestly, I don't know what's driving it. I don't know where all the cash is coming from, but it seems to be even in some of these deals today that are still multiple offers and competitive. There's still a lot of cash there. So I don't know that I'd put a number on it.

Angie Cullen [45:40] There's a lot of baby boomers out there. A lot of them are coming from markets where their mortgage is just now getting paid off or was paid off five or ten years ago, and those are the folks with the cash on hand when they're selling, either in this market or in another market. And it's not crazy to think that they bought their house, you know, in the 1980s, or '70s, or whenever it was, they raised their families somewhere, and they had that amount of money. It's like, How can they have that amount of money? Well, they just sold in Hoboken, New Jersey, for $2 million, and they're gonna spend half of that in our market. So... it runs a gamut.

It's not just, you know, your tech gal from California with the cash. It's people cashing in at all income levels to buying this market.

Rodrigo Afanador [46:35] Are you seeing any other trends? It sounds like this is a relatively new phenomenon that you've been seeing in the last two to three years. Is that a fair statement, as far as the cash just kind of being across all price points?

Speaker 5 [46:46] And... more so than it was before. And, I mean, again, if you have to look at it, obviously, with the way a lot of the COVID financing went down, you know, people got pretty flush and decided they wanted a second home in the mountains. I mean, I think we're a very cash heavy market. We always have been, and so that will continue, but there's definitely more. Now, I believe, or at least in the last couple of years. It's starting to slow down a little bit, but...

Rodrigo Afanador [47:16] Does that feel the same to you, Angie, as far as...

Angie Cullen [47:18] Well, I mean, when interest rates were 2, 3%, cash buyers were getting loans because they could keep their money somewhere else and be making 7, 10% on it, so they weren't pulling out cash at that point. They were working with their bank to say, hey, financial person, personal banker. Can I get a loan for 2% instead of getting into my portfolio? or the, again, money that we sold our house? We're gonna put that somewhere else. That's flipped, because now it doesn't make sense to get a loan.

Rodrigo Afanador [47:53] Well, and that knows, or maybe kind of expanding on that. Are you seeing any other trends or have there been any changes in the last few years that in the luxury market that you feel like you've had to adjust to outside of pricing? Or is it kind of just been the same type of people with just, you know, adjusting to the pricing and kind of moving forward there as far as people come in from out of state or a different trend that you're seeing?

Speaker 5 [48:16] I don't know that I've seen any crazy, crazy trends. I mean, our feeder markets have definitely expanded. I think the big thing is, as everybody in this room's experienced, Asheville has been building momentum for years, and COVID, really pushed a lot of people to the mountains, and then now, with all these other things going on, People are continuing to come to the mountains. So I think that's been the biggest trend for me is trying to figure out what these new feeder markets are. It's not South Florida anymore. It's Texas, it's California. It's Hawaii. People are coming from everywhere.

And so, figuring out on my end, how to market to those people, um, both listings, and, I mean, ultimately, listings are a huge source of buyers for me. And so, I really try to get my listings out in front of those, so I can at least engage in conversations and hopefully convert somebody to a buyer prospect.

Angie Cullen [49:17] What's the question again? I'm sorry.

Rodrigo Afanador [49:20] Emerging trends. Yeah, just have you noticed any trends that have change that you're adjusting to or trying to stay in front of?

Unknown [49:25] Um...

Angie Cullen [49:27] I mean, the feeder market one is a good one. I would say... Yeah, I mean, I think that that, I think that just about does it. Okay.

Unknown [49:46] Awesome, thank you.

Speaker 3 [49:46] All right, so if you've been coming, you know, we are committed to getting you guys home on time. So we're gonna end with an audience question about irrelevant topics. I'm just gonna read word for word here, all right? So the federal jury ruling Tuesday against the NAR, which, if you're unfamiliar, long story short, is about commissions, right? With almost $1.8 billion in damages has long term potential for substantial changes to commissions and structure currently used. The question, do you plan to make any changes now while the case is in appeal?

Unknown [50:16] No. No.

Rodrigo Afanador [50:22] Fair enough. Awesome. Hey, so, audience questions. We're gonna repeat...

Angie Cullen [50:27] I mean, I can add a little advice. Yeah, yeah, please.

Rodrigo Afanador [50:30] That was that the question was for, you know.

Angie Cullen [50:31] So what I would say is really work. I mean, it's gonna be a cream rise to the top situation for buyer's agency, right? It's either gonna be totally discounted, and you don't want to be in that. I hope you don't want to be in that realm, or it's gonna be a value proposition that's worth paying for, and you want to be on that side of the equation, I promise. So, we are one of only 13 states that has a buyer's agency agreement already. Read it. They already say they're gonna pay you.

It's being paid by the seller's side, um, but it does say that if there is a gap, that it will be paid by the buyer, so start to have those conversations more, we have a letter now that we're having signed by our buyers, that says, These are the things that we offer you as a buyer's agent. These are all the things that are why you need a buyer's agent and a transaction and why you don't want to be unrepresented. And this is our value proposition to you. We would like to reiterate section four of the buyer's agency agreement, about compensation, that we will be compensated accordingly. and start having those conversations now.

Because it's gonna make it a heck of a lot easier than having them later.

Speaker 3 [51:57] Awesome. So with that, we'll just say that I think we spoke about this earlier, right? There's probably gonna be a flight to quality. And so we hope that you guys have all enjoyed picking their brains here tonight, as we hopefully level you up if you're trying to pursue down that right, as well. And I think from here, we'll just do audience questions.

Rodrigo Afanador [52:14] So if you have a question, raise your hand. We gonna repeat the question, then let Alec or Angie answer it, or both of them answer, depending on the question, who wants to go first? All right, this is awesome. There we go. All right, so kind of going back to the 1st question is, like, any specific piece of advice you would give to a new agent who's wanting to break into the luxury market?

Speaker 5 [52:42] Yeah, I... Okay, so just getting started, period.

Rodrigo Afanador [52:47] Okay.

Speaker 5 [52:47] What's the double side? I mean, I'll just kind of give a quick back, like my background, which I was so fortunate to start in this business. I started off as an administrative assistant, and spent two and a half years learning the business, and working with one of the top brokers in town, who was incredibly gracious, and, you know, also, not only was I working for him, was giving me leads, and that, if you surround yourself, this is ultimately a business of people believing in you, whether it's your clients, your friends, your family, it's people supporting you, and so, just surround yourself with the best possible people in your agency, whether they're there or not.

I think, if you find your crew, and people are gonna support you. I think that's big, and then another huge thing for me is just mindset. I mean, a lot of people think that's silly, but if you have goals, and you truly put yourself out there and go after it, and, you know, focus on the areas you want to focus on, whether it's luxury, and, again, there's so many different avenues. It could be new construction. It can be buyers, it can be sellers, just really dive into it, and fully commit to it. to learn your craft and continue to compound on, on, uh, that. Don't give up.

Because ultimately, your client that you sold a $400,000 house to 12 years ago, that calls you, and it's now a million, four. Hey, now you're a luxury agent. So that's a lot of how this works. There's no magic sauce. You just have to put the work in and really go for it. Stay in the game.

Angie Cullen [54:23] Yeah, for sure. I just don't give up, first of all, put the work in, get up in every day, and put the work in. It's not going to come to you. It's just, it's literally not going to come to you. You're gonna have to go and meet people and talk to people. And I, 1,000%, agree that the mentors that I had early on, and that I was very purposeful about meeting, and asking questions, and asking for help, and them being willing to help, you know, this girl out of city planning, and, um, you know, with a lot of gumption, but she was gonna make it by God. So, um, learn too.

And if it's luxury you're talking about, build your vendor list, you need to know, you need to be able to say, I know who could fix that slate roof. Like, there's, like, one, two people in this town that do it, and you don't need to have wide eyes when you're asked that question. Start to really understand what it takes to renovate, what it takes to maintain this type of home, what kind of resources they're gonna need, and be their person.

And that's where I don't worry about buyer's agency, especially if you can get your price point up, because that's when you're really, really, your vendor list is everything, your resources are everything, at every price point, but starting to really make sure those are dialed in, it's gonna help you across the market.

Speaker 3 [56:00] Incredible answers, they both involve work. horrible. Horrible. All right, next question. All right, sorry, so to repeat the question. Help me out here if I didn't get it right. What if you believe in a home and you see what it could be, right? But it's not there yet. How do you market that home in its current state to kind of show its, put its best foot forward?

Speaker 5 [56:23] Yeah, it's tricky because a lot of times, you know, if I get a listing, regardless of price point, I'm really gonna rely on the seller to pitch in, right? Where I can give some advice and say, hey, let's spruce this up. Let's put some fresh pain in, do some cosmetics. If they're absolutely not willing to do any of that. It becomes very difficult. Um, I think at that point, pricing becomes paramount, you can obviously really start to sell the value of it. As I mentioned earlier, I think a lot of clients love the fact that they can get really strong built in equity, if they find the right opportunity, but it becomes a bit of a needle in a haystack type deal.

Ultimately, if your client's not willing to invest in it, I don't know that I'm gonna invest overly in it, especially if it sounds like this particular property may be a big time project where it's like, where do you even begin? But yeah, that's a great question, and that would be a tough one. Maybe one you walk away from. I don't know.

Angie Cullen [57:26] Um, I think my my, uh, agents are probably know exactly what I'm gonna say. Um, so I have a leaf blower in my car. I have paint brushes. I have window cleaner, you know, and I didn't start out with a budget. You know, just, well, we won't go there, but I did not start out with a budget. And none of us really do. It takes a lot to get going in this business, and it's a pay to play business. So you're already behind before you even get started. So don't be afraid to put in the sweat equity into a home like that.

Clean up the yard yourself, take your freaking mower if you have to, clean the windows, make it, like, deep clean the house, make it sparkle, hire the best photographer and videographer, you can, and that's where you should spend your money, because, like, put it on a credit card. I mean it, because if you don't, if you're, like, Oh, shit, I really can only afford... iPhoto or whatever, you're just not gonna do, I mean, obviously, but, so spend that on a hire... The one thing you can do is hire the architectural, best photographer for that listing, I would say that's your best investment, but then just, make it really clean and make sure it has curb appeal. Curb appeal can go a long way.

Make sure it's, you know, go... I mean, how many of you raise your hand, have drug furniture out of your own house? I mean, I've taken my own welcome mat to listings, um, you know, my husband's like, Well, where are we gonna sit, because all of our outdoor furniture is gone. Um, you know, you start building it up, and then eventually, hopefully, you can pay for stagers or pay for a deep cleaner, that sort of thing, but the more you invest into your listings. And I'm telling you two right now, when a neighbor sees you out with your blower, or your mower, and your realtor's doing that. I mean, they're gonna hire you in a second. So, it goes a long way. Don't be afraid to jump in.

Speaker 5 [59:39] And one other thing I'll add is, be present for the showings, because it's completely up to you to sell what the vision can be. I have had those listings before, where my sellers are not doing anything, and I tried to be at every showing I could be at, to sell the vision and sell what the potential could be. So I think that's another thing that is highly undervalued in our profession.

Angie Cullen [1:00:03] And people are looking for those houses too. So don't be afraid to take them, because that's where someone can renovate and really have a great house. Awesome.

Rodrigo Afanador [1:00:13] Thank you, guys. All right, yes, the back. So you could use gun contracting? Hey, all right. So, did you have a question? Just comment. Go go. Do you have a? I think I saw, yes.

Speaker 5 [1:00:31] That is true. My man over here, L.B. Brown, faded train media. He is he is the legend. So yeah, shout out to... Well, you guys are, we've been boys forever. And we actually did wedding videos back in the day together. See, you gotta start somewhere. Ive done everything.

Speaker 3 [1:00:48] You guys are gonna post and tag us, right? Yeah, absolutely. There you go.

Angie Cullen [1:00:52] Yeah, absolutely. So everyone, everyone knows how smooth Alec looks on his videos. Like, it looks like he's made for this, and it's so effortless. So... I had a listing that just it needed this guy, right? I mean, it totally did. I had never, actually, I had never had a client ask that I had to speak or talk about the property, and 'cause it was something I was going to avoid my entire career, and I was confident and secure in that. And this client was like, Yeah, no, I need you to narrate the video. I would need you to be in it. And I was like, Oh, God. And so this guy makes it super easy. And he was like, No, Alec has 15 takes, too. Don't worry. Just be yourself. It's very true.

Behind the scenes. And I've had, like, lots of profanities. And I was like, This house is beautiful. And I love it. And he was like, If you don't throw down those notes, I'm gonna actually kill you. Um, just be yourself, but he's brilliant, and again, back to that, if that's where you're gonna, um, spend your money, do it with the ripe professionals behind you.

Rodrigo Afanador [1:02:07] So, hiring the right people, all right, last question, so we're gonna go on the way back, Dave.

Unknown [1:02:14] All right.

Speaker 3 [1:02:16] All right, so the question is, was there a moment in your career where you were presented with, you know, clients home or something? you were like, man, this is a luxurious lifestyle.

Angie Cullen [1:02:24] Wait, when you're percentage with what?

Speaker 3 [1:02:27] So if you walk into, you know, a $10 million listing and you're just like, wow. So, I'm not living right. This is wrong.

Angie Cullen [1:02:34] Yeah.

Speaker 3 [1:02:37] Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 [1:02:40] I mean, there's definitely some of these houses you go in nowadays are just absolutely ridiculous, and it's like, my, I always love having the conversations. I was recently, I had a client who had no budget and just told me to show her what was on the market, but those clients are always, they understand that their biggest asset is time, and they don't want you to waste any of it. So we narrowed it down to three properties. And I always love having to have those conversations, like, I can relate to their life and their Lear Jet and their whatever else, and you're like, What world are you living in? I can't... But you gotta... Hey, it's like, fake it till you make it.

In terms of an actual house, I would say, uh, last, was it last year, we went to South Carolina, we went to, um, the Circle Creek Farms property, um, that a broker down there with Ivester Jackson had listed for 22 million. That house had a kangaroo. So that's an interesting flex. And then, you know, somebody having their own tennis court, and walking trails, and infinity pool, and wellness. That set a big estate here in town. That was a pretty mind blowing experience as well. So...

Rodrigo Afanador [1:04:02] Angie? Do you have a house with a kangaroo? I was gonna say, can you tiger? Can you get the kangaroo?

Angie Cullen [1:04:07] I think that's just that what I really love is just a truly crafted space and you walk in it and you just are like, This is luxury. This is it. But there have been some really fun clients, too, along the time. You're just like, what? You're looking in Western North Carolina. Um, I had one recently that was the founder of the cards against humanity game. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Um But, yeah, I mean, when you start going to listings, like, all of a sudden, you've, you know, you've hustled through all the single wides, and you're starting to build repeat business, and building a reputation, and you're, you know, going into the Biltmore Forest, or the, you know, home that has everything you could just ever imagine. It's crazy. Yeah.

Rodrigo Afanador [1:05:04] All right, guys, well, 730. So, as always, we're gonna end it right on time. Big round of applause to our parents. Thank you guys so much. Really appreciate y'all being here.

Speaker 3 [1:05:15] Yeah, if we could get the next slide. So quickly, next month is going to be the state of our economy, right? So what's going on? On the right, there's a QR code for feedback. We believe feedback is a gift. If you think we can do something better. We want to know about it. And on the left, if you want RSVP for next month. That's all you gotta do. Thank you. I'll see you next month. Thank you.

Rodrigo Afanador [1:05:35] Hey, guys, Rodrigo here. Wanted to say thank you for taking the time to listen into this month's panel conversation. We hope that you join us in person at next month's meeting. You can find out more at AVLmeetup.com. We primarily meet on the 1st Tuesday of every month, but be sure to check out our website, AVLMetup.com. You can also watch this conversation on YouTube at AVLmeetup. Also, I have a quick announcement. We started a property management company called Vesta Property management. So if you're looking for 3rd party management for long-term rental, we'd love the opportunity to talk to you. Our goal at Vesta is to turn houses into homes and investments into returns.

If you're looking to work with a third-party management company, that will allow you to have peace of mind and experience freedom around rentals. Reach out to us. can help make that happen for you.

Speaker 2 [1:06:28] That's the PM.com. What's going on, everyone? Zach here to close it out before you sign off for the day. If you liked the data driven portion of today's meetup, then I'd love to take a moment to tell you about the Ruiz Report and REMC.co. If you're a real estate professional, then you know that you should become the local economist of choice, but you're probably unsure of how to learn the skills required. That's where the Ruiz Report comes in. We offer customized marker reports to promote your business, training videos so you learn how to interpret the market data, and monthly quizzes to keep you sharp.

Learn more at resreport.com and sign up for a free account to watch all of our training videos at no cost. If you're more interested in the live data and some data and analytics dashboards, then I highly suggest you check out ramc.co. REMC.co is the 1st of its kind data and analytics dashboards for the real estate industry. Now you have to be an active participating member of the MLS in order to sign up, but it is unparalleled data on every market participant, whether that's an office, a listing, or one of the realtors. Again, you can find out more about REMC.co at REMC.co. As always, thanks for listening, and we hope to see you at one of our next meetups.

If you can't make it and you still want to be part of the movers and Shakers, then sign up for a free account at AVLMetup.com and get yourself into our member directory. Thanks again. See you next month.