The Reality of Real Estate with Chris and Bri
Brianna Lehman, the Realtor, and Christopher Lynch, the Lender, give a real take on making home ownership attainable. They break down real-life scenarios, trends in the market and give their personal tools to make homeownership not just your dream but your reality.
The Reality of Real Estate with Chris and Bri
Guiding You Through the Real Estate Maze to Your Dream Home
Embark on a transformative journey through the complex and exciting world of real estate with us, your devoted guides, Christopher Lynch and Brianna Lehmann. Imagine taking the leap from aspiring homeowner to holding the keys to your own place, all while navigating the twists and turns with confidence. That's exactly what we're here to help you achieve in our latest episode, where we delve deep into the nooks and crannies of the home buying process, from earnest money to appraisals, and highlight how a buyer consultation can significantly tailor the experience to your personal needs.
You're not just a listener; you're the hero of your own property saga, and we're right there with you, every step of the way. Through our personal anecdotes and discussions on the importance of clear communication, we illuminate how you can craft a clear path through the real estate market's unpredictable waves. Even if terms like 'mortgage lending' or 'out-of-pocket expenses' sound daunting, fear not. We break down these concepts, making them digestible and less intimidating, ensuring you're not only well-informed but also ready to act when the right opportunity presents itself.
As we bid you farewell in this episode, we don't just leave you with advice; we leave you with a renewed sense of purpose towards achieving homeownership. It's more than acquiring a space; it's about cementing your legacy, demonstrating your resilience, and advancing towards your life's objectives. Should you wish to continue this enlightening conversation, join us on Instagram at the reality of real estate podcast. Share your questions, share your stories; we're here to keep the dialogue going. Remember, every stride you take is a stride toward something grander, a step toward the empire you're destined to build.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LucasLiveMedia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realityofrealestatepodcast/
Email: Brianna Lehman- blehmanrealtor@gmail.com
Email: Christopher Lynch- Christopher.Lynch@ccm.com
Hey everyone, what's going on? Welcome to the Reality of Real Estate podcast. I am one of your hosts, Christopher Lynch, and welcome my co-host.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, my name is Brianna Lehmann.
Speaker 1:We give you a real take on making home ownership attainable.
Speaker 2:We will be breaking down real life scenarios, trends in the current market and giving you our personal tools to make home ownership not just your dream, but your reality.
Speaker 1:Get ready to be inspired, motivated and ready to take action towards building your own empire.
Speaker 2:Because when you invest in real estate, you aren't just purchasing a home, you're investing in your future. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Reality of Real Estate podcast. I am Bri.
Speaker 1:I am Chris.
Speaker 2:And we are excited to be back again to talk to you guys about our favorite thing, which is real estate and lending, yes, and how they can blend together and make your life way easier than what you probably think it can be.
Speaker 1:Why would you even?
Speaker 2:Should we just keep going?
Speaker 1:Yes, we should just keep going.
Speaker 2:So if you did not tune into our very first episode, I just want to touch base on who I am again. I don't know if you want people to know who you are, but I am Brianna Levin. I work with Keller Williams Legacy Group Realty and I work on Jose Medina's team as a buyer specialist.
Speaker 1:And I am Christopher Lynch and I work for Cross Country Mortgage with the Christopher Lynch team and I am licensed in Ohio and in Florida and I'm essentially an originating branch manager.
Speaker 2:I always forget that you are licensed in Florida. Yeah, do you do a lot of business in Florida?
Speaker 1:It's enough, but enough, it's just it's different, so I'm not like, oh, let me just jump on in there. It's just, it's not the same.
Speaker 2:So because it's just that's good to know because I do have buyers to especially like they want to buy their second home or whatever in Florida, all the entire state, or do you?
Speaker 1:know just, you know. Well, just for some. Yeah, I'm just you know, licensed in Florida for Fort Lauderdale only.
Speaker 2:Hey, maybe that's where your office is. I don't know. That's why I'm asking, because they'll ask the same thing, no, it's all Florida Well. I'm licensed in Ohio, but I don't service every city in Ohio. Yeah, you know you could. I have people who do like if I don't service Toledo. I can get you in touch with an agent who does so that's nice, but no, for like mortgage Mortgage related. I just defended myself already. We're in three minutes.
Speaker 1:But mortgage wise, yes, Like if it's the state I can just do the whole state so but so for right now Ohio and Florida.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, good for you for that. I'll work on my second state. I don't know where I'd go, but all right. So today's discussion, moving right along, maybe a two part discussion, depending on how in depth you know we get today. But what we really want to touch base on is Chris calls it a journey, I call it a roadmap, whatever fits best for your lifestyle on the home buying process, and we could go a lot of different directions with this.
Speaker 1:So we'll see where we get today and we'll start like right at the beginning what does your first interaction with a buyer look like and like what is that called? Walk us through that.
Speaker 2:So it depends on where the buyer got in contact with me, you know, whether it is a referral from a past client or whether it is a team lead, which could look like many things usually a call in lead or an inquiry on our website. It just depends. So let's just say a buyer called in on one of our properties and I answered the phone that day. Typically it's gonna look like this hello, I'm Brianna with Jose's team. I, you know how can I help you. What property are you calling in on? They're gonna tell me they're gonna have some very distinct questions in that moment and they're gonna wanna go see that property. We're probably gonna go see that property right away. Get that contact.
Speaker 2:But so much is missed already by just making that appointment with those clients. That is very vital to the buying process and you know, especially with our team, like we really push to get buyer's consultations because the market is changing every single day and whether they are fifth time buyers or first time buyers. Having that face to face conversation with here's all the tools. This is the process. This is what it looks like now and how it could look like for you is definitely the first step for me that I tried to get them in and sometimes I will, and so we talk about this. A lot is like kind of becoming a chameleon to the people you're talking, to learning those personalities in 30 seconds on the phone, where, all right, this is somebody who just wants information now, or someone who is, like, they are very detailed oriented, they are very. Those are the people that we can usually or I can usually say like okay, let's meet first and then we'll go see the property.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's the first step. For me is typically like let's get into a buyer's consultation, which is about 30 to 45 minutes, sometimes an hour, depending on how many questions they have and how detailed they want to get into the contract. I always have a contract present with me and giving them an idea of this is what the overview looks like and as we go through we'll kind of close out lens, the wide camera lens, down to what we're specifically looking at in our contract.
Speaker 1:I like that. I actually that's really that you said like it can go from. Like you know, it ranges from 30 to 45 minutes or sometimes in an hour, because like that's how my initial consultation call can go.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And it just really depends on where and how I've received the lead. So like, if it is a referral, like from a friend or family member, or like a referral partner or someone who just happened to like you know Google mortgage lenders near me, and regardless, if they don't know me, you have to have take the time to basically get to know them. And so, like, I am going to have some people who require automatically, right off the rip, a Harvard customer service voice. And then there's some people who just automatically are just like hey, no, like I have no idea what I'm doing, like I need to know X, y and Z, and just like, what pace are we going, you know here? And so you have to meet people wherever they're at. So I can't tell you like, right, you know today in our first call that, okay, like here goes your application, do X, y and Z, and you're just like I don't even know what a mortgage is.
Speaker 2:And then and that's not even a joke, because I've had when I've talked to buyer and I'll say so. Are you paying cash or are you pre-approved? What does that mean?
Speaker 2:Like I'm not paying cash, but what is pre-approved, like what is what's a lender? I've literally had the question what's a lender? And that's not like anything to them. There is for us, who deal with this terminology every day we work in the real estate world. When someone says Lunder, I'm like yeah, that's second language to me. So, like with you, like the importance of these consultations and these like we really need to see where you are at.
Speaker 2:Like let me meet you where you are at, and what you know or what you don't know, or what you don't know, you don't know.
Speaker 1:Right, because there's just no point in that conversation to automatically make the assumptions, and so, like I always like to ask people and say what is it that you want to know or accomplish in this phone conversation? And or like if you're in my office, same questions, except for like we're here live in the moment, because if I just start rattling things off to you, I've never taken a chance to actually get to know who you are and. I never took the chance to ask you what it is that you are actually looking for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's your goal? Yeah, and so like it's.
Speaker 1:What are your goals? What do you know, what don't you care to know about, just like those things to where, at that point, you're building healthy, good rapport with them.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And you get to know them and you basically go into step two from there of, okay, now it is time for you to complete an application. You complete the application and then now we're gonna review your credit, go over that, we're gonna discuss different loan types, we're gonna discuss all the things that kind of go along with, basically what fits your needs best. And if they weren't referred to me by an agent? Now we need to have the conversation do you have an agent and what does that look like for you? And if they say no, I don't have one, now I basically need to go through my referral partners and I'll be honest, I pick people based upon personalities. So like I'm just like, who do you wanna vibe with?
Speaker 2:It's key because if I have a client that I know is not gonna mesh with your personality, why would I ever send them to you? It's not gonna benefit them, you or me, because they're gonna be like crazy lady, like you just sent me to someone that does not, like we don't mesh at all. So it's very key, and that's another reason why getting in front of your clients, getting to know them what is their goal, what is their personality? How can I help you? And not even like what is your personality, but what do you expect from me? Like, what are your needs? Like, how am I going to benefit you Like? Are you more statistical? Do you want the stats? Do you want the numbers? Are you just someone that's like, stop talking to me, get me the contract, get me into the inspection, get me into the house. That is it, and I'm always so confused, like by like someone who's just like.
Speaker 1:No, I found a house. I like it. I don't care about the payment, I don't care about this, I just love the house and it's like.
Speaker 2:Isn't it like? What is the catch here?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like Like secret shopper. Yeah, when I used to work at Smoothie King, we'd have secret shoppers.
Speaker 2:And when you get those buyers that are like already found the house, I want to write an offer. I met you two seconds ago. I'm like.
Speaker 1:Like. Do you want?
Speaker 2:This is suspicious. This is suspect. But it's like it's sometimes like I love you, but this is weird.
Speaker 1:It's how it happens, like with leads, it's like we don't really actually get to know each other until they're under contract and then, depending on, like, the urgency that is actually. You know, time is of the essence all the time in real estate. But if you send me a lead this morning, offers are due by nine tonight and I need to talk to them. They need to apply, but they've already seen the house, they love it and they're just like this is what I want to do. But someone told me I had to call you and it's just like okay, well, let's make it work. So then at that point I don't even know anything about you until you apply and I say, yeah, this makes perfect sense. Or I'm just like hey, bree, like, did you like?
Speaker 2:did they have a pre-approval?
Speaker 1:Or like what's happening here, and then we kind of just, you know, go from there, but then, in addition to that, like you go under contract. How long is that contract? So we're like building solid rapport because at the end of the day, no matter the client, I want to be your lender for life. So I'm going to take the time, whether it's you just got like you know, we met today or we've been talking together for months, regardless we're going to get to know each other.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and that's a point like for me and it doesn't work out like that every single time. I would love for it to, and that is definitely where I'm pushing my businesses to always do a buyer's consultation first. We can have the 10 minute phone call and we can talk, but really sitting down and getting to know somebody and showing them what is your goal. So here's our end goal. These are all the steps to get there and this is what it looks like. So when we hit this bump in the road or we hit this milestone, you will have already heard it, you will already be anticipating it and it will not be as like what is this.
Speaker 1:It won't be a shock and it won't feel like you know, like something foreign to you when you we've already discussed it and so, like you know, you have your consultation, you start looking for homes and then you find a home, then what does that even look like? So when, like, you find a house and we've already gotten them pre-approved, so at that point, like, are we regrouping and are we talking numbers, or are you confident in the numbers that we set from the beginning, even if it is a lower like price point? But you're still confident and you feel like I don't have any additional questions, get that offer submitted, we're talking. And then what?
Speaker 2:Right and the numbers could fluctuate, because a lot of times when I'm meeting with my buyers, it's not a two week process. We have our buyer's consultation, they get, they talk to their lender, they get pre-approved and then we start looking and then we're a couple months out and maybe the numbers that they talked about three months ago with their lender, well, rates are different today or now you're looking in a different area, so taxes are different. There's just so many components that go into it. So again, having this, I call it a roadmap, you call it a journey.
Speaker 1:It's a journey, Is it like you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you need a roadmap for your journey. You know like you gotta know where you're going.
Speaker 1:That's why, on a journey just like, but you never know where you're going all the time in real estate.
Speaker 2:That's true, because every transaction is very different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so it's a journey, man, so at least they have like a kind of a map.
Speaker 2:You know how to get there.
Speaker 1:Bye.
Speaker 2:But okay, so on my roadmap, your journey, whatever you know, we do talk about the different scenarios and there one thing I do say in my buyer's consultation is like it's such an overused phrase in real estate, but we don't have a crystal ball. There may be things that come up in this transaction in the inspection Well, this is what we're gonna do. Or in the appraisal, this could happen. So out of pocket expenses, something that buyers a lot of buyer I won't say all buyers and even seasoned buyers who have purchased several times, are like hey, remind me again. Like what is earnest money? What is that term? Or how much are inspections now? Or who pays for the appraisal. These are questions that let's talk about them now and you can ask me them again 15 times throughout the process, but at least You've established a foundation.
Speaker 2:And you've heard this term before, you don't have to remember it when we walked out of our consultation. But here's some information. Ask me again, you know.
Speaker 1:I always look at it this way, especially like when it comes to like what are all the costs and like where's all this money going? I always like to ask my clients from the very beginning once I feel like we have, like when we're trying to talk numbers and like you get your pre-approval, or even once I know you've applied to establish where you can be pre-approved at is that, how much would you like your total out-of-pocket like to be allocated towards this transaction? What do you want that number to be? What does it need to stay around? Because there's some people who say $500. Well, automatically we need down payment assistance. Or we know that we're looking at, like if you are a veteran and you qualify to do a VA loan, we know we're going that route. Or we're looking at, if you're looking at a rural area, usda, those sorts of things. Or if it's just like hey, like I have 100 grand to go towards this, then at that point in time I'm saying is that 100 grand, including so down payment and closing costs? And like your inspections, those sorts of things? Because what you don't want to happen is when they go under contract, sure, numbers can always fluctuate just because rates change and those sorts of things.
Speaker 1:But what happens if, like, they had to replace something in their car or whatever, and then, like that, taps into their cash to close amount, or someone who's selling a house, and we say, hey, your expected net profit is going to be 130 grand. Well, now it's sat on the market. You accepted an offer at 100 grand less. You know like, basically now your net profit is 100 grand and then we thought it was 130. So now we have to stay in communication, but we also have to know-.
Speaker 2:So that's for you're saying like a seller that's selling, that has to sell to buy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:And so it's like we need to know what numbers we're working with, because I don't want to just throw a number and say, hey, like, this is what you need to do.
Speaker 1:And there are some situations where it's just like, hey, this is the only way it works, but ideally, like I want for them to feel comfortable and confident in the decision making, so you get to tell me this is how much money I have, this is how much of it I want to allocate towards this transaction, and then I know what I have to work with. And if it works with, like what they're set on, perfect. If it doesn't, I can come back to you and say, hey, like you're trying to buy a 700,000 hour house or this, you know 150,000 hour house, and this is how much money you want to allocate, but in reality, this is what we need. And so, truthfully, the reality of this is that it's either this number is go up or we have to explore a different option, but now I've made you a part of the process and you can be comfortable and confident to make that decision.
Speaker 2:Right. And then a lot of times too, that's like you'll tag your agent back in and say and again another very important piece of like getting that initial like relationship built is because now I'm going to know who your lender is and I'm going to be able to advocate for you. On my end, working directly with the lender to make this transition and make this transaction, I mean, much more smooth and beneficial to you as the buyer.
Speaker 1:That's why it's so important to like pick your team wisely, and because you will have some lenders who won't talk to the agent and you will have some agents who won't talk to the lender.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is crazy. I have had lenders never return my phone call the entire transaction. And now I will say they were never. It was never a local lender that has done that. It's been the bigger lenders that. But Online.
Speaker 1:We'll just say online.
Speaker 2:Online lenders and I have never physically spoke to a lender and that is terrifying to me because the lending if you need lending to purchase a home, that is the biggest component of the transaction. Typically, I mean, they can't buy it without it, so it is the biggest transaction or component of the transaction Without that team. How it leaves me speechless. It really does where. I'm just like.
Speaker 1:What are you supposed to do? And like that's just where it's, just it's helpful. And then, but also you'll notice that if so, let's just say here, if we never had worked together before, but then this is like our first transaction that we're working on together, like we can then compliment each other and say like hey, like you know, like you're working with Chris, or you know you're working with Bree, and like you know, like her communication is great, like I sent this over to her, she already got it back to me.
Speaker 2:You know and vice versa.
Speaker 1:So like but we can share that information with our client, and so like, they know that we have communicated, and instead of you don't know. And then it's just like oh, the appraisal came back, I've communicated that with you, the, you know, the client, the other agent, and everyone is on the same page. Everyone knows, instead of like only updating the client. The client is the one who calls you and say hey, I got my appraisal back. And you're just like wait, you did. And like communication is key. And so like there's just so much of the process that it has to be communicated, well, and but also to all parties involved, Because if not, something is going to fall in between the cracks and then and setting expectations again it's like.
Speaker 2:We are not attorneys and I'm not comparing myself to one, but would you hire an attorney?
Speaker 1:I want to be a lawyer so bad.
Speaker 2:I know you do Back to school. I don't want to tell you about that, but would you hire a lawyer without ever sitting down with them and saying this is how I want you to represent me. Same with an agent? Like a part of the consultation process for me is am I a good fit for you? Do you feel like what you need from me I'm going to be able to give you? And here's all my tools and this is how I work and this is how I operate. I don't want to work with somebody who feels like I'm not representing them the way that they need either.
Speaker 1:You could never be a public defender, I know.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:I'm just kidding, I've all that's why I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2:You can go ahead to that career path, but I'm going to say where I am.
Speaker 1:I'm not leaving that, but that is real.
Speaker 2:In setting up the expectation. If I just met you at a house one day because I picked up the phone and I show you the house and that's great, but we don't build that relationship I could go through the transaction thinking I'm doing everything, great, because I'm doing my job and I'm following step by step.
Speaker 1:Because you follow the standards but in reality, you never gave them or they didn't like. Vice versa, for them to know, like and trust you.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so, because there was never, the expectation wasn't there from either side, it was just like hey, nice meeting you today and you know, realistically, this is the easiest transaction ever. Don't have to talk to you besides like when it's necessary and but like who wants to do business that way.
Speaker 2:Right, it doesn't feel like we get through it and you're like, yeah, I really didn't build a relationship through that and that's what. That's why I do this. That's a huge part of why I'm a buyer specialist and I work with buyers is because I get to build that relationship. I get to build that bond with these people and go through one of the biggest milestones of their life or their next part of their life. You know whether it's their first time, their fifth time, I get to be a part of that memory with them.
Speaker 2:So it does matter to me, you know it should, though, but like are.
Speaker 1:Neither business could survive without relationships, relationships, absolutely. And so if you don't have like sound like strong relationships on either side of this and that's with clients, referral partners, whatever, you won't survive.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so when you do happen to run into a transaction like that, by all means it's never intentional, it's just that.
Speaker 2:And you will have those. Yeah, it's just like this is what happened.
Speaker 1:This is how it happened and but, like when it's over with, you're just like dang. I really didn't even get to know those people like the way that I want it to Right.
Speaker 2:And some. There may be some agents who don't care about that.
Speaker 1:That are like I care, but I care about that Like I want to get to know you.
Speaker 2:I want you to know, like, who I am and why I do this. And again, read the room. So if they don't want that, you know I'm certainly not going to give them my autobiography about who I am, but I want to get to know you. We're going through this together and setting those expectations, like go back a little bit where we're working as a team. There's going to be times in our transaction where I kind of hand it over to you or whoever their lender is, where it's like okay, this part of the transaction is the appraisal. They want everything you've ever done financially. You're going to talk to them a little bit more than me during this part of the transaction. I am still here. Call me with your questions. I had a buyer this week and call me. They're like hey, I texted the lender. I couldn't get ahold of them, wasn't you? Don't worry.
Speaker 1:I was going to set that out there. It wasn't me yeah.
Speaker 2:But do you know what this is Like? What is the? It was actually for PMI. They're like, what is this mortgage insurance? And I was like, yeah, I can actually help you with that. Like I know what this is. So having that expectation too, so that they never feel like abandoned. And now, with the lender, you're talking to them the whole time.
Speaker 1:But you know so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that this is a topic that we should dive deeper into, like we just.
Speaker 1:I talked a lot about having a consultation, but but like yeah, like we need to go in a little bit more in depth, and so like we will basically carry over into a part two of this, because we do need you to like we can talk about. Like you know, out of pocket costs more we can talk about what happens at an inspection. We can talk about what happens with an appraisal.
Speaker 2:And how they're different.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:We get that question a lot is well. I thought the bank has my inspection Two different things home inspection and appraisal so we should definitely talk about that.
Speaker 1:And then talk about, like, what the title company does, cause they play a big role into this as well. And then when you get the appraisal back and what that looks like, and same way with an inspection when that comes back and our inspections necessary? Yes, yes, they are. That was a gentle whisper. And then, but also then like, finally, what does it look like when you're getting emails and says, like you know, like your file is now unprocessing? Now it's in underwriting.
Speaker 2:Or it's conditionally approved.
Speaker 1:I get that question all the time. What?
Speaker 2:are we approved? Are we approved?
Speaker 1:And it's like nope, we have conditions and we gotta check a few more boxes off and then we'll get to the closing table. And then the final. You know, the finish line is the closing table, and so we'll walk you guys through those other steps and then, but yeah, I mean, I feel like for today, I liked part one, we talked a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we always talk a lot, but there's a lot of details in there and I think, like on part two, let's simplify some of this too, cause I know I can over complicate things sometimes when I'm talking like, and jumble it all together. But yeah, definitely let's do a part two of this and dive into it a little bit more.
Speaker 1:I like it and if anyone wants to email us and we can actually email you. Basically like a simplified version, like breakdown as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:It won't. It'll just be like a simplified version to just say, hey, this is step one through step X, and then we just kind of go through there. But like we still want to get to know you, so you still want to walk you through the process step by step and be there with you, and so like I would say like yes, we can do that, but if you do email me, my email is Christopher dot Lynch at CCMcom.
Speaker 2:And mine is be layman realtor at gmailcom and follow us on Instagram at the reality of real estate podcast, so that you can stay up to date and see what we are doing.
Speaker 1:Once you guys to know that we are still trying to work out a proper ending to our show.
Speaker 2:And exit cause all we got is toodles.
Speaker 1:So for a while you might just hear a quick old, old toodles and just know that. It's not that we don't care, we're just trying to figure it out, because we could keep talking for hours and so, instead of keeping you here until the next episode, like it's just like a hey, we're not trying to give you a dry by, but it's just like a quick like see you later, until next episode.
Speaker 2:Sound like you said drive by.
Speaker 1:No dry by.
Speaker 2:Dry goodbye is what it's like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, like a burnt piece of toast, it's just dry. Like I'm not trying to do you like that. I just want to say bye.
Speaker 2:Okay, bye Toodles, we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:Toodles. Bye, guys. All right, friends, as we close things out today, remember home ownership is more than just a roof over your head. It's a symbol of your strength, resilience and determination.
Speaker 2:Take action, embrace growth and never be discouraged about where you are in your journey.
Speaker 1:And remember to follow us on Instagram at reality of real estate podcast.
Speaker 2:Our emails are linked in the description below. You can reach us at Christopherlynch at CCMcom. And my email is belaymanrealtor at gmailcom. All right Toodles.
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