EP 06 TRANSCRIPT

...just in case you wanna read

Cara: 00:00 You're listening to the makespace podcast. Episode number six.

Intro: 00:23 Welcome to make space a home design show made to inspire you to create spaces you truly feel at home in Cara Newhart sits down with amazingly brilliant guests for conversations that dive deeper than pin worthy rooms. To tease out the essentials of creating spaces that feed your soul and inspire your creativity from home design strategies to decor, advice to interior design, tips and tricks. These conversations help you dream up a beautifully lived in home. Cara is the designer and chief creative enthusiasts behind never skip brunch. Her work has been featured in print publications like people style watch and Denver Style magazine as an influencer. Cara has collaborated with brands like Amazon, h and m, Twitter and Thrillist. Here's your host, Kara Newhart.

Cara: 01:20 Hello, hello and welcome to episode numbers six we are back from a two week break. I went to the haven conference, which is a conference for DIY and home bloggers, which was so much fun and then spent a little time in Texas. So I got a little summer break, but we are back with the weekly episodes. So this week, um, we are talking all about houses. So I'm sitting down with one of my realtor friends named Chelsea and we're going to be talking about some tips for first time home buyers and also some insight for homeowners in terms of how to increase the value of your house. I think this conversation is really valuable because I only think of working with a realtor in terms of what I'm ready to buy or sell. Um, but Chelsea gives some good advice for, you know, if you're looking to buy a home, you probably want to start maybe a year in advance planning that.

Cara: 02:16 And then when you're not planning to sell your house, if you're just a homeowner, there's still stuff you can be doing to increase the house in value if you want to sell in a few years. So she gives us really an insight into that. And also insight into like how realtors can help you beyond what you normally think their role is. So it's really, it was helpful for me because we have only bought one house, we bought it from a builder, we didn't use a realtor. And so now in this process as we're moving again, we are using a realtor and learning so, so, so much. So I just wanted to sit down with her because she's totally killing it and she has a lot of good advice, especially some Denver specific things if you're in Denver. So Chelsea is

Cara: 03:00 originally from the east coast but she found her way to Colorado through her husband who grew up here. Um, she's a realtor here in Denver, the Denver Metro working up and down the front range and when she isn't selling houses, she is with her three dogs or doing something outdoors. So let's dive into this interview with Chelsea.

Chelsea: 03:25 Hello.

Cara: 03:26 Hello. Welcome.

Chelsea: 03:27 Hi. I'm so excited for this.

Cara: 03:30 This is going to be so good. I'm excited too.

Chelsea: 03:32 Thanks for having me.

Cara: 03:33 Of course. So for this episode, I kind of want to focus on like maybe people that are first time home buyers, some like questions they'd have. Um, cause I know like we're homeowners, but we built our house so we'd never really worked with a realtor. So you know, doing that would be like totally new. And then maybe some insight for homeowners in terms of like how to increase the value of their home. And then, yeah, like if they're interested in selling, maybe what that would look like. So in a pick your brain, get all your tips. Yay. I'm excited. So first can you tell us just a little bit about you and kind of what you focus on as a realtor? Maybe how you got into it.

Chelsea: 04:13 So my name is Chelsea, for those of you who don't know. And I'm originally from the east coast. Um, I met my husband in South Carolina while he was stationed in the Marine Corps. Um, once he finished up the Marine Corps, we moved back here to Colorado. That's where he's from. You know, after a few different jobs, I went to college and then I had, I worked in a bank, I worked at a bar, I didn't do the jobs, I did everything. There really is, um, his mom is actually a realtor. So my husband's been saying since day one that it was like what I was meant to do, but I too, I didn't want to believe him. And then his mom just basically said, hey, do you want to try this out? And I said, fine. Okay. Like let's do it. So I got my license and jumped head in first and it's actually been four years, uh, earlier this month.

Chelsea: 05:07 So, Yay. Yeah, it's, and it's worked out because my husband was right. It was my calling. Uh Huh. So it's funny because I actually initially met you I think on Instagram, like not even on purpose. I don't even know how I found you. But then, yeah, every time, every post I was like, man, if anyone is made to be a realtor, it as this girl. Cause he always just looked like you're killing it and having so much fun. Whereas other realtors, I feel like have like a stuffy vibe. You're like working hard, but like it seems like you love it. So I just always got that vibe. I do love it. I, I, I really wanted to have a career where I could be myself. So the biggest thing is when I worked at a big corporate bank, everyone said, um, that I wasn't professional or I talk too much or I was too weird, um, the story my life.

Chelsea: 05:58 And I was like, I'm literally not doing anything different than everyone else. I, I just, it was, it was my personality that they didn't like, um, you know, I didn't want to be a realtor because I always viewed them as used car salesman. So I didn't want to be that stuffy person. Like, I mean, you're more likely to catch me in yoga pants than you are a suit ever, right? I mean, I, I'm really good at what I do and you know, all this silly rules. So I worked at a bank where the colors were blue and black. The first day I decided to wear red shoes and I thought, I'm a teller. You came and see my feet so it shouldn't matter. And the everyone lost their minds. I was like, this is, that's when I knew it wasn't for me. If I can't have a little fun, you know?

Cara: 06:47 Yeah, no, that's hilarious. I worked in oil and gas and I thought that was stuffy, but I had at least could wear crazy colors.

Chelsea: 06:54 I had to literally wear blue and black from head to toe. And um, at one point I had broken my wrist and I couldn't do, which I recently did that again.

Cara: 07:04 yeah, no kidding.

New Speaker: 07:06 I broke my wrist and I couldn't do my own hair and my boss would make me come in like an hour early just to do my hair because she refused to let me sit there. And like, I'm like, the standards that were put on me were so ridiculous and had nothing to do with how well I did my job.

Cara: 07:23 Yes

New Speaker: 07:23 So now I'm glad that I can really just be myself and I'm really great at my job. So, yeah.

Cara: 07:30 So what is also cool about what you do is like the fit, I feel like matters a lot. Like obviously there's a lot of things, you know like analyzing the markets and setting prices and all of that. But in terms of like finding someone that you can really work with, I think that's like really maybe more important in a realtor is finding like a really good fit that like understands you and you're on the same page. So what kinds of things should people ask their realtor when they're like scoping it out or trying to figure it out? Like if they're a fit, if it's going to work?

Chelsea: 08:03 That's a great question. Well I feel like sitting down with them is super important. Just having that initial meeting. Um, I can tell really quickly if me and my clients are going to vibe, um, if you're like an 80 year old man, I'm definitely probably not, not the Realtor you want and that's okay. .

Chelsea: 08:26 So I feel like sitting down is a great start. When they sit down, they should definitely be answering all your questions. I have a presentation that I bring. So most people, if you're first time home buyers, they don't even really know what to ask. So rave, I have a whole presentation that will go over the entire process and what I do for you as a realtor. Um, so I make sure that you understand the process and then I answer any questions you may have because they'll come up and there's so much information so the questions will come up as we're talking or after. But I try to make sure that you leave understanding what the whole process is going to take and what working with me would be like. So I think just some initial sit down and making sure you have someone who is competent and prepared and knows what they're doing.

Chelsea: 09:18 You'll know real quick if they know what they're doing

Cara: 09:21 just having the presentation already is so much more policy versus like let's just get coffee and like talk about what you want. That seems like enough. Which is where I would start like as a home buyer because I haven't really, how to realtor before, like we built our house. So I'd just be like, yeah, let's just talk. I don't know. I don't know what to ask kind of thing.

Chelsea: 09:43 Like a new build with like a builder construction company or like a custom home?

Cara: 09:48 Yeah. It was like a construction company. So everything was pretty set. It was like, I mean everything was an upgrade. So it's like, do you want to add a garage door opener? Like yeah, no, I'm not gonna like wheel that thing up by myself. But it was like very like limited choices. Like they had like a design studio and you go pick this stuff out. It's not like, do you want hot pink tile? Right.

Chelsea: 10:09 Totally. Well, just for future reference, um, realtors can help you with the new builds as well. And I would only say as a buyer, you don't pay for a realtor. The builder will pay them their fees. And when you buy a regular resale home, the seller pays the a buyer's agent. So the plus about having a realtor when you're doing a new construction is that you have someone really looking out for you because you still have to go through title work. And the title work is like a bunch of Legal Mumbo jumbo that if you have no idea what you're reading, it's a little overwhelming. Um, and then there's just some, sometimes you can negotiate. And then the biggest thing is that final walkthrough.

Chelsea: 10:53 Um, I've seen a million homes you've seen, you know, you've seen lots of homes but not in the same perspective. Yeah. So that's the biggest, I would say the biggest plus of having a realtor, even if you're doing new construction because there's someone looking out for you and builders are great, but obviously at the end of the day they are looking out for themselves.

Cara: 11:14 Um, so, and there's just a lot of boxes to check. Like I feel like even if they mean well there's so much that can slip through the cracks. Like I remember coming to look at our house cause we came like every weekend and there was like a bathtub downstairs and we're like, that was supposed to be a shower .

Chelsea: 11:31 Any detail. And you know, I've had that happen too with builders where we've deviated from their original plan and they, they didn't, they didn't double check before they started.

Chelsea: 11:40 So like I just did a pre drywall walkthrough yesterday in the springs for a client and we didn't deviate from the plan but just to make sure that everything was on track and what it was supposed to be. We went and did that walkthrough and then once it's all done we'll go through again when it's done and make sure everything was perfect. And as far as like all the paperwork, I mean my clients a first time home buyer, he has no idea what he's reading. He has no idea what he's agreeing to. So I think it's a plus as well. Even for new construction, just to have someone who's looking out for you.

Cara: 12:14 Yeah, no I can totally see how that would have been super helpful. Like we navigated it but not elegantly. I'll say that. Right. Okay. I feel like one of the most well known things that a realtor does besides like obviously showing houses is like market analysis. Like, that's when I knew nothing about realtors. I knew they like assessed the market for home prices. Um, so what all goes into home value? Like what all do you look at when trying to figure out like how much your home is worth?

Chelsea: 12:42 That's a great question. So I mean there's a lot, but yeah, I mean if you've seen the HGTV, you see how they kind of prays out houses, it's very like they do it simple. Um, so essentially the process is, is I'll look at your home, I'll look at how many beds, baths, square feet, the kind of home you have, any upgrades you have done. And then I will take that information and I'll look at recently sold that are comparable to your home. So I try to stay within, I don't go too many miles away. Like I'll stay in your neighborhood and I'll start there and I'll work my way out.

Chelsea: 13:17 And I look at all these different comparable homes where, you know, they're the same, same square foot, they don't need to be the same bed and bath, but as long as it's the same footprint, that's usually enough. Also age of home was a huge thing. Um, I won't compare your 1980s home to a 2019 home. That doesn't make any sense. They're so different. So, so basically, um, we use a system called the MLS. It's a huge database. It's where the listings are pulled from when you look at Zillow and Trulia and all of those websites. So it's realor, it's human entered. So I make sure I double check along with public records because there is always a chance for human error. So when I'm, when I'm pulling your houses, it's me really digging in to the mark to the past, um, to make sure I find a good price and I'll usually, I'll present that to you and I'll, uh, ladle out before I tell you what we're enlisted for.

Chelsea: 14:12 I'll say, here's what this sold for, here's what it, how it compares to your home. And usually I leave it up to the sellers. I always have a number in my head, but I'll say, hey, what do you think we should sell it for? Based off what I told you, I'm, the only thing I would say is we have our, our market is, is pretty interesting and that we have seasonal shifts all the time. So it's, it's crazy in the summer and then around now July, August is when we have a seasonal, I'm average price decrease, so I've tried to make sure I'm also paying attention to the market and how it's changed throughout the years so that I'm not pricing your house for the top of the summer when it's the end of the summer and things are slowing down because if I have to reduce your price, chances are you'll even get a lower offer and you won't make as much money.

Cara: 15:01 Right. It's so interesting. Like I knew there were shifts, but I guess Denver is like a big enough place where there's like really big, really big shifts.

Chelsea: 15:11 So every year around, right after independence day is when we see the average sales price goes down. It's not a ton, but it always goes down July, August and some into September. And that's usually when I tell first time home buyers who are like in a very limited price range. That's probably when you should start looking. And um, because Colorado is crazy. The other best time to buy a house is when the Broncos are playing. Have you ever been to the grocery store or the gym during a Broncos game?

Cara: 15:44 The grocery store? Yeah.

Chelsea: 15:45 If it's not half time, it's literally dead. You could, you could do anything you want in the state of Colorado during a Broncos game and no one will be there.

Cara: 15:55 Yeah, it's a ghost town. It's so funny because like, we're not really into to professional football or like college football fan. So it's weird seeing things like shut down and crazy.

Chelsea: 16:05 So I, I mean my clients hate it, but I always say, let's go during the Broncos game. Let's write the offer right then and there because no one's looking. And it's a great time, especially in the winter. Um, the only thing is no one wants to move in the snow. So, so the winter also a good time. If you don't have, uh, a lot of room in your budget or you can't be super competitive, but, but we usually see the price decrease happen right after independence day.

Chelsea: 16:32 If you look at like the trends over the last 12 years, every year after independence day is when we see the prices go down. Yeah, we had 11% appreciation this year, so it just kind of like corrects itself. It'll average out to like three and a half to 4% after we have that little price decrease. So we're still seeing a huge amount of appreciation even with that lower dip that happens at the end of the summer. So it's relative. I mean, our market's still crazy. It's still, it's still a sellers market. It's not a balanced market. If it was balanced, there would be, um, six houses per each buyer that they could choose without competition. And we are nowhere near that.

Cara: 17:14 Oh yeah, no. I have friends buying houses and they're like, they offered like a regular offer and they're like, yeah, they had three other offers all cash over asking. And they're like, how do we even compete with that? I don't know.

Chelsea: 17:26 Um, I mean if they have a great realtor, there's ways to compete without, without having all cash offers. So I just got a house in her contract. It was a, it was a town home, so it was listed one 90 and we offered 200 and I did a few other things to make the offer competitive. Um, I can't tell all my secrets, but, uh, thing and the off the highest offer was two 30 and they chose our offer at 200. That's so cool. So it's, it's doable. Um, I market's definitely crazy and it's definitely harder than that 300 and under price range, especially when someone's sitting down with their agent for the first time. I think seeing if they have any ways to be competitive without just using everyone's cash. I mean, first time home buyers are limited on their budget. So there's ways to negotiate without having all the money in the world.

Cara: 18:18 Yeah. And you gotta get creative. I feel like that's where your creative side comes in over boring.

Chelsea: 18:24 Yeah. I mean there's ways to be creative and write a strong offer for sure.

Cara: 18:29 So for people that like own a house, um, and maybe they're staying in it for a while. What, or maybe they're like getting ready to move. What are some like easy or inexpensive things they can do to increase the value of their house?

Chelsea: 18:44 That's a good question. So I feel like the number one thing, if we're doing an inexpensive stuff, flooring is probably the best bet. Um, but also curb appeal, that's the first thing you see. So a lot of buyers will drive by before they actually schedule a showing just to make sure they liked the neighborhood and make sure the house is, you know, the first impression is everything.

Chelsea: 19:06 So they'll drive by. And so I'm doing some landscaping. I mean, it's not that expensive and there's so many companies, you know, if you have grass, try to make sure it's not totally dead. Throw some flowers in the front yard. Um, so just sure. Your front yards nice inside the flooring is, I would say a big thing. Um, and lighting, if you have terrible lighting, you can't really change where your house is. So natural light, there's not much you can do, but you can always add more lights in your house. And I, I love the natural light light light bulbs. Like the white ones, not the yellow.

Cara: 19:43 Yeah, same.

Chelsea: 19:44 Um, so I feel like that's a huge, those are just the easiest things you could do. Um, if you had a little more on your budget, they say that your kitchen and your bathroom is where your money's going to go go the furthest.

Cara: 19:56 Yeah, that makes sense. Cause no one really likes an outdated bathroom or kitchen like there just kinda gross.

Chelsea: 20:03 Right. And you spend a lot of time there and so it's kind of socially the kitchen. It's important. Um, if you could change things, I would say if you'd knock down walls and make it an open floor plan even a little bit, that would also not do nothing down a wall. I was like 10 grand. So it's a little more than that.

Cara: 20:21 Depending on the wall

Chelsea: 20:21 Right, right. So I mean it's not the cheapest option, but people are looking for that open floor plan with updated kitchens and natural light. That's what people want.

Cara: 20:31 Makes sense — It's gorgeous. Like natural light is really, it can change a whole space. So my whole last episode was on lighting and I am like fully convinced that it's way better than a paint job. If you just light your house a little better, like it can totally change the game.

Chelsea: 20:46 I agree. But also when it comes to paint, I think cool colors are everything. Yeah, I see. Like houses, I don't know why there must be a discount. Sherman Williams, I see like warm peach in every house and that was what our house was. We moved in and I painted it a cool gray and it looked 10 times bigger along with like updating the yellow lights to white lights. It just changes everything. It just brightens it like all the way. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I would say that's another thing. If you guys like have a lime green wall in your house, maybe paint that. It's so distracting. Um, I went to one house, I called it the Easter egg house. It was literally every pastel color you could imagine on every wall.

Cara: 21:29 Oh my gosh. So distracting.

Chelsea: 21:31 So, as far as paint goes, just like a normal, neutral goes a long way.

Cara: 21:37 Yeah. I feel like it is a hard visual for people to overcome. Like even though they know like I can paint it and it's not going to be that expensive. It's hard to like visually see it being better.

Chelsea: 21:49 Right, right. Yeah. And I mean depending on the clients, the minute they see a pink wall, they're going to turn around. Yeah.

Cara: 21:56 Like nevermind. Right. Okay. So markets, let's go back to this again. I guess. Um, housing markets like grow and decline, obviously depending on where you are. Denver is growing still. Maybe? I don't know, but can you give us some insight into what that means for either buying a home or selling yours? Like how do you know what cycle the markets in? Maybe you just know cause everything's expensive.

Chelsea: 22:24 So, um, I would say if you're concerned, contact your realtor or contact me and I will tell you, you know, I can give you an idea of what your prices, the price of your home was worth. But, um, so that's something, seeing what your home is worth. You'll see that it's our market is appreciating. Um, we do have that seasonal shift that we always have. So if you want to sell your house for top dollar, which we'll wait till next summer, wait til it's early spring, when we have that frenzy that happens, that's usually when you'll get top dollar. Not to say you won't get top dollar later, but if you're that concerned, spring is always the best option. As far as our market. It's definitely healthy. We don't have a bubble. We're seeing the same shifts every, every year. Um, the same seasonal shifts happen every single year. So, um, we have a healthy market.

Chelsea: 23:17 It's good. I would say, um, if we were looking for some signs that it was going bad, we would be seeing houses, I would say sit longer than a month. Um, and all price ranges at this time of the year. We, the longest houses are on the market are 30 days. So anything more than 30 days, I would say that would probably be definitely something to look at. But I don't, I don't foresee it happening. And you know, I, I watch a lot of videos and talk to a lot of people who just do stats for a living. There's a, her name is Megan Alor and she works at first American title. She does weekly videos and she'll go over everything that's happened last week and then she, she'll uh, use the previous year stats to show you how, how much had changed. And for the most part her weekly videos for the last couple of weeks have been like, we have some change but it's not anything that's like enough to worry about.

Cara: 24:14 Yeah, that is so cool. Like, I mean, I know like, cause that my background is in finance. Like I, I have some general knowledge about markets and like how complicated they can be. But it is like you just forget because it's your house and how shopping, you know, I feel like we get the HGTV version, which is like, here's your three options. Like which do you want to pick? And there's so much that goes into it. Like so, so many complicated things in the market where I'm just like, you're crazy if you're trying to do this by yourself. Like I am an avid DIY are through and through, except when it comes to like he's not fun sort of things, which I'm more than willing to outsource. Um, buying and selling a home is definitely one of those things for me. But what do you think the scoop is on DIY and your home buy or sale? Like what are some challenges or things you're definitely gonna miss out on if you try to like do it yourself?

Chelsea: 25:07 So buying your house? Um, I would say that sounds super terrifying. Um, so I mean, my job as your agent is to make sure I'm looking out for you. So I like when we're looking at houses, I'll see things that you won't see. Um, I'll tell you what time to walk away and I'll tell you when it's time to, you know, where it's not a big deal. I feel like you may not know that you should get in section and section is, you know, it's up to you to do it and it's at your cost. Finding instructor is also important. Finding a good one. Um, Colorado's requirements for being an inspector. You basically have to go to school and you have to have, you don't have to have a background and any house stuff, which is a little terrifying to me. So your agent's going to know a good inspector who like the guy I use, he, uh, he used to build houses so he understands them fully and that's very important.

Chelsea: 25:59 So I feel like having an agent who's going to help you see what's the house for really what it is. Cause it's an emotional process. Everyone's very emotional. Um, so you want someone who's a third party to really say, Hey, there's actually a huge foundation crack and it's kind of a big deal. Or say, Hey, these are not that big of a deal. This is something that's totally fixable or it's, or it is what it is. It's not a big deal. So buying your house, um, going through the loan process, finding a great lender, your realtor can help you with all of that and they can guide you through the whole process. Um, it's just, even if you have the best realtor in the world, you're a ball of nerves, so you at least want someone who can reassure you when you need it. And then as far as your house paying a realtor sucks.

Chelsea: 26:45 And if really, if it's that big of a deal, I'm sure your agent will negotiate a commission with you. Um, but to be fair, we work really hard. Um, I feel like HDTV makes our job look way simpler than it is. Oh yeah, for sure. So, so I feel like we are what we're paid, but the biggest reason people don't want to hire a realtor when they're selling is because they don't want to pay the money. Well, you're more likely to leave money on the table when you don't even really know how to price your home when you don't have someone helping you negotiate through the inspection process. Or let's say the appraisal came back low. There's ways to negotiate on behalf of a seller and there's ways to negotiate on behalf of a buyer. So making sure you have someone who is experienced in that, who's, who just does that for a living.

Chelsea: 27:31 Um, I would say that's the biggest pros of it. You know, I see a lot of these discount realty companies saying, don't give away, you know, so much of your equity to a realtor when you could do it for this much. Um, I can usually, I'll usually price the houses out and they're so underpriced that it's unfortunate that you paid $500 to lose all that equity. Um, I mean, at the end of the day, those people who want to pay $500, they, you know, they're just probably not the clients we want anyway. Right. But like, this is my full time career. My priority is you as a client, I'm at the end of the day, I'm a small business. Making Commission at the end of the day isn't my priority because if I don't do a good job, you're never going to refer me. Whereas these, these big companies, they do mass closings, they do a mass amount of business.

Chelsea: 28:20 They don't really care about you as a client. Um, their business model is quantity over quality. Where I feel as a lot of the small brokerages, that's not where we're about. So I mean if you are skeptical, I would sit down, you can try one of those discount realty companies that'll do it for, you know, 1% or 500 bucks and then sit down with a small business. A small realtor like me. Um, if we're doing a by itself, there's chances are that we can negotiate this commission. I'm fine with, you know, I want to be as competitive as everyone else, but I also want to show you what it's like to actually have someone who's fighting for you, to making sure that you're getting what is yours at the end of the transaction and handling all the little nuances that a realtor knows about, but you probably wouldn't know about as a just a regular homeowner, you know?

Cara: 29:11 Yeah, no, that's so true. I feel like, I mean not, I feel like there is a ton of behind the scenes stuff, um, that realtors do. Like we just in that, when you're looking at it you're like, oh, they do open houses and then they do a sign in the yard and they like handles some scheduling, like a photographer inspections. But there is so much like little stuff that you wouldn't even know is a problem because they're just handling it for you.

Chelsea: 29:36 There is a lot. Um, and I feel like someone with the experience is, is really going to make sure that at the end of the day you walk away with, with what is fair and you have a good taste in your mouth. So for those who are skeptical, maybe just stop talking to just count realtors and you'll be good to go. But yeah, maybe that's the reason you're skeptical is because maybe they're a little sketch or they're just not giving you the full service.

Cara: 30:05 Like you don't know what you're missing kind of thing. Yeah. So how do realtors market a home besides like the obvious stuff that we see, like open houses and showings? Is there anything that you do to like get it out there besides like a sign in the front yard and putting it online?

Chelsea: 30:22 I guess I honestly feel like science are so irrelevant that we don't have to do it because I feel like it's like a, hey look, we're selling your house. It could possibly be vacant. Um, so I have signs, I of course have signs, but I hate signs. Um, but that's just me personally. So online I feel like is everything. So most people aren't driving around any more looking for houses. So I don't do flyers. A lot of older agents will do the signs in the yard with a flyer. Um, very rarely is anyone driving around and if they do see a house, they just look it up on Zillow.

Cara: 31:01 Oh yeah, that's totally us for sure.

Chelsea: 31:04 And there's another great app, it's called homesnap. Um, so you can take a picture of any house, whether or not it's on the market and it will give you all the information about it, whether it's whatever, if it's for sale, what the information is currently. And if it's not for sale, when it last sold for and all the stats on the house, which is very cool.

Cara: 31:22 Thats so cool. You just like take a pic and it like searches it.

Chelsea: 31:26 Yeah. So I, I'm just, I don't know. I do it everywhere I go. So like, um, I have family in New York cause that's where I'm originally from. So every time I go I just take pictures of basically every house and I'm like, what's this house worth? What's this house worth?

Cara: 31:40 That would be me just for fun, just creeping on people's houses. Like, huh, I wonder how much that costs.

Chelsea: 31:45 Yeah. Yeah. So it's a great app. It's called homesnap, but essentially, um, so most agents, they'll put the sign in the yard in the age of the, it's always in the MLS, so it's sent out to all the other realtors right away. But in our age, it's the Internet. So most agents just, we have a way to send it to every website.

Cara: 32:05 There is. How long does it to put it on, like Redfin and all of it?

Chelsea: 32:09 So when I entered into the mls, um, there's a way for me to syndicate it. So I just say syndicate it to all the sites, like click the ones I want and there's like, I mean there's so many websites so it goes over to like 10,000 websites. So once I hit submit on my listing, it's usually up within 10 minutes.

Cara: 32:26 That is so cool.

Chelsea: 32:27 Yeah.

Cara: 32:28 Yeah. I mean I knew there was like a bunch of different apps and listing things, but one click is all you could ask for.

Chelsea: 32:35 Yeah. So I would say only extra thing that I do that I see a lot of people doing, which is unfortunate is I use social media to sell my houses.

Cara: 32:44 Yeah. Oh my gosh. Of course. So wait, what? Of course you do.

Chelsea: 32:49 So I feel like for a lot of millennials, real estate, it feels unapproachable. Realtors feel unapproachable. I basically, I'm just your friend that sells houses. So if you like want to buy a house, you want to hang out, call me. But that's kind of how I just do online. Like here's this house, you know, maybe you're too scared to call a realtor to go see it. So just go follow me on Instagram and I'm usually doing a tour of the houses I'm selling or ones I'm showing.

Chelsea: 33:19 I'm showing you what's available in every price range. Um, and what it looks like. I don't, I don't go too far into like as far as negotiations and like that behind the scenes, but we show you everything that I'm seeing in the market. So I'm probably seeing like 50 to a hundred houses a week. So I don't post everything I see. But I post the good ones I find and if I'm selling a house, I'll, I'll definitely market it and I'll just stop by and I'll just go through the house a few times throughout the week. And I was just posting online that way. If you were nervous to call a realtor for whatever reason, then you don't have to go. You can just, you can just message me on Instagram. So, so that's like the extra thing I do and I've, I've honestly found a lot of success that way.

Cara: 34:05 Yeah, no, it's literally so genius. Like back when we were looking at houses, I like, there'd be stuff that I was interested in but I didn't want to contact the realtor because I didn't want an endless flood of them. Like calling my phone, emailing me 27 times. Cause it totally happens. Like the seller's realtor is like all over you. Like when you want to come see it, like what are you doing? And it's just like, I don't, I don't, I'm not ready to be there with you yet where you're like invited onto my phone. But Instagram is such a good like middle ground where people do get like full insight to the whole process. Even seeing like you show off the house but they don't have to be like bombarded with you. I mean, not that you would do that, but like, yeah, it's just so outside of the traditional way of do any things I feel like so, but it totally works for our generation.

Chelsea: 34:53 Well you're right though. I mean I feel like a lot of people don't even go to open houses because they know, you know when you go they're going to make you sign in and you actually put, give me your social security number. So I usually tell my clients, just put down my info and if you're interested I'll let them know. I feel like that's another thing with, I see a lot with agents. I mean there's a way to connect with someone without spamming them. So I feel like that's like another bad like representation of how realtors are. They just, they'll call you nonstop until you talk to them. I mean I'll give you a call and I'll say, I'll shoot you a text if you're not interested. I'm pretty sure I'll figure that I'll real quickly

Cara: 35:31 like might followup once and like I get the persistence is important, but there's a difference between like professionally and just like bombarding and like invasively.

Chelsea: 35:41 Right. And that's, that's kind of like why I think I find success on Instagram is someone will say, Hey, I definitely want to buy a house in a year. I'm like, great, if you want to sit down. Um, I do, I have a free credit program with my lenders, so I usually try to get people to sit down like a year out so I can get them ready to buy a house and we can talk about all the things you'll need to buy. Uh, but as far as like me calling you every week, there's no reason for it. I have you on Instagram, you have me, you can check in when you want, if you, if you're ready to go, I'm ready whenever you are. There's just no thing for me to call you nonstop.

Cara: 36:14 And like you don't have time for that. You got stuff to do. You can't be like calling the same price and 20 times a day. I mean, unless it's your client then I'm sure you would.

Chelsea: 36:23 Yeah. if you were like actively looking. We're talking all the time. But you know, honestly social media is where I live and yeah. And it's really, I feel like clients enjoy that because they can, they can see what's going on without having all that extra pressure. [inaudible]

Cara: 36:40 okay. So true. Well this was so good. Like so good. There's so many things I didn't even know to ask and I feel like we filled in a lot of blanks cause you just, you have so much good insight.

Chelsea: 36:51 Thank you. I had fun.

Cara: 36:53 Yeah, me too. Thanks for coming on.

Chelsea: 36:55 Definitely. Well thank you so much. And um, yeah, if anyone has extra questions, um, I'm sure you list my information at the bottom so they can just give me a call or reach out to me on social media whenever it works for them.

Cara: 37:07 Yeah, I'll put your Instagram in the show notes and like all your info, but I guess we could just tell them your username for those of us that are lazy and don't want to go read the show notes. Where can they find you?

Chelsea: 37:19 So on Instagram I am Chelsea, Arielle, 18 Chelsea and an Arielle is A. R. I. E. L. L. E.

Cara: 37:27 Yeah. Fun. Perfect. Thanks so much.

Chelsea: 37:29 Thank you.

Cara: 37:30 Of course. Talk soon. All right. Bye Bye.

WAIT WHAT?!: 37:38 Wait, what ?.

Cara: 37:43 We are moving to Houston, to the woodlands, Texas, which is just north of Houston. Um, if you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw me announced this last week. But yeah, this is big news. We've been in Denver for four years. I love Denver. So did not plan on ever leaving, but my husband's job is taking us down south. Um, I finally come around to the idea. I'm excited because first of all, house prices are way lower in Houston. So what we can get for the same amount as the house we have here is very encouraging. And second of all, a pool that we can use almost year round is within the realm of possibilities. So I'm really excited for warm weather. Um, I actually interned in Houston College, so I've lived there before for like three summers, so almost a year between all that and the humidity's really great on my skin.

Cara: 38:38 So everyone's always like, oh, you better be expecting humidity. Like no, I know and I think it's going to be good for my wrinkles. So yeah, huge news. But I'm excited because that means there's a lot of fun content to be created around like our house hunting and moving process. So if you have any like moving specific questions or like questions about selling your house or buying a house, um, that you'd like me to discuss in an episode or a blog post, be sure to leave those in the listener feedback form because I want to hear from you guys and I want to use this life change as a way to also help you guys out if you're experiencing something similar. So huge news. If you're in Denver, I will miss you. But if you're in Houston, Yay for new friends, I would love to meet you. Um, we'll be down there probably in October. So that is the wait, what for this week is we're moving to Houston, Texas

#OBSESSED: 39:36 hashtag obsessed

Cara: 39:41 so what I am obsessed with this week is a little bit housing related. Um, but it is red fin, so red fin. I feel like rich, it's like his hobby was to like get on Redfin and like see what we could buy if we lived other places compared to Denver because Denver is so expensive. Um, I wasn't really into like how shopping if I wasn't really shopping. Like I'd rather be on Pinterest looking at like Inspo and decor ideas. But what I really like about Redfin through like the moving process and like looking for houses is you can actually book showings right on the app, which is something I didn't know you can like select a time and you have like an assigned person that will help you depending on the area you're looking in and you can schedule them all without making a phone call.

Cara: 40:32 Which for me is something that I love because I'm a little bit of an introvert. I don't love having to talk to people and like schedule things logistically. So that was really cool. And then the other good thing is the realtors that are meeting you to show you the houses are all on salary, which for us was really good because we were booking showings before we officially had a realtor for the area. We just wanted to kind of see what was out there and just kind of see, um, some of the homes we were interested in on Redfin, so we felt kind of bad, like having a realtor show us houses and then not end up using them. But with Redfin, the realtors are getting paid regardless of whether you use them to buy a house, they don't have to like earn their commission or their salary off of you making a purchase.

Cara: 41:21 So that was really encouraging because we can use them. Like if we connected with someone and we liked them, we could have totally used them as our realtor. But otherwise if we just to look at houses, it kind of eliminated that pressure because they're still getting paid to show us houses regardless of whether we use them. So that's something that I really enjoyed. And then for actual realtor, we had a close family friend down in the woodlands so we're working with her. But it totally would have been an easy way to find a realtor. Like if you hook up with someone on Redfin to go see all these houses and then like you vibe really well with them and it seems to work, then you could totally like use them as your realtor. So Yeah, booking showings through Redfin is something I didn't know they offered and they totally do and it's really cool. So if you're house shopping, I would definitely check it out. Oh,

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