RE: Real Estate Podcast

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (00:14)
Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of RE Real Estate Podcast. I'm your co-host Ben Harang along with my co-host Clint Galliano. Good afternoon Clint. How are you doing today, man?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (00:29)
I'm doing wonderful, Ben. How you doing?

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (00:32)
I'm doing terrific. Supposed to be raining today. No rain yet. It was supposed to be raining all day and looks like I might get to cut some grass this evening maybe. So we'll see. Yeah, it is. It is. We'll see what happens between now and dark. ⁓ So.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (00:43)
That's a good thing.

Yeah, we got home

a little bit after midnight last night and it was lightning all over and there was some rain coming down just a bit. So.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (00:57)
Mm-hmm. You

might get a little culture last night.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (00:59)
Yes indeed.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (01:00)
Alright, so what are we going to talk about today Clint?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (01:05)
All right, so I was just so tickled by covering the topic of myth conceptions an episode or two ago that I figured I'd come up with some more because these are some that we didn't really cover. it's things we're seeing in the basically with clients that these are.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (01:13)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (01:24)
ideas clients have or things that clients think. And so we figure if we're running across people that have these ideas, we just assume to address them and try and get the correct information out there.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (01:37)
Yeah, talk about it before it happens to you.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (01:41)
correct. That way, if you're thinking like this, then this will hopefully mitigate that.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (01:47)
Yeah, if you think of it, are more people thinking it also. So that's why we decided to use these topics just to kind of bring everybody up to speed on how the system really works and what to expect, which is what we've been doing since we started this a while back. I don't even know how long we've been doing it, Clint.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (01:52)
That's right.

I think we started in October of 2024 and we're coming up on August so we're almost a year that we've been recording.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (02:15)
Mm-hmm.

And we've been talking about it for almost a year. I remember the conversation you and I first had when we talked about doing this. So you're going take the first one because I want the second.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (02:33)
Yep, for sure. All right, so

the first one to run across is the idea that the seller can list with whoever they want whenever they want which that statement in and of itself is correct but where you run into problems is when the seller

either thinks or tries to list with multiple agents simultaneously. So there are legal implications, at least in our market, because our standard listing agreement is an exclusive right to sell. That means that the agent that the agreement is signed with, they have the exclusive right to sell whatever property is listed.

to take the legalese out of it means that that agent is the only one that can list that property for sale. ⁓

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (03:26)
And you can choose

whoever you want to list it with until you sign the first listing agreement.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (03:32)
Exactly. Because if you have multiple agents with the same listing, it gets really confusing in the MLS and from the consumer facing portal looking at Zillow, you don't want to be looking at three or four different listings for the same property on the same site.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (03:55)
So at the end of the day, you ought to interview whoever you want to interview and then pick whoever you're to pick. that's the pony you're going to ride through the process. And hopefully you pick the right one because it does make a difference.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (04:11)
Yeah. Now it doesn't mean that you can't change, you know, but you need to change according to the terms of your listing agreement. That's the, I guess that's the, that's the big thing. If you don't like the way your agent's operating, whether that's me, whether that's Ben or any other agent, A, try and fix it, try and address it, address it with them.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (04:14)
Mm-hmm.

You

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (04:37)
If they're not responding, address it with their broker. If you don't feel that the broker is giving you satisfaction at that point, based on what your listing agreement says, you should be able to terminate. Again, that's subject to the terms of your listing agreement.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (04:56)
All right. And one thing that people, I don't think really understand is when they sign that listing agreement, they're signing it with the agent's brokerage and not the agent. So I tell people, you know, I'm representing you in the transaction. If you want to fire me, you can't, you can't fire my brokerage, but you can ask my brokerage to give you another agent. And my agent can decide.

They don't want me representing you on this deal and they can assign another agent. So that's just to highlight that the listing agreement is with the brokerage. In our case, Keller Williams Realty Bayou Partners and not with Ben or Clint individually. I've not been replaced in 31 years, but it can happen.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (05:39)
Yeah, that's a really good point.

Yeah, the listing agreement when you sign it, or at least ours, specifies the designated agent, but that's subject to the broker. And the broker can appoint a different designated agent for, you know, whether it's because the seller says, I don't like this guy, bring in another guy or gal or whatever. So.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (06:10)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (06:10)
The agreement is with the brokerage. We're just an agent of the brokerage. So, a field story. I had a gentleman call me up. He needed to sell his father's property. It had been damaged in Hurricane Ida, and he's been paying taxes on it and paying to get the grass cut, and he lived out of town. And so...

I said he wanted to know how much he could sell it for. And so I said, I'll tell you what, I can go out in about three days, go take measurements, take a look at it, and give you an idea of what I think it'll sell for on the market. And he says, OK, great. Awesome. I have no idea. I've never sold a house. I really don't know what to do. I said, no problem. I'll go take a look at it and I'll let you know.

Well, I go out three days later, show up at the house and there's another brokerage is another real estate agent sign in the yard. And so I call him up and he says, I, I can't do that? And I said, no. I said, do you most likely, I don't know what their listing agreement looks like, but you most likely signed an exclusive. Listing agreement with whoever, with that agent.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (07:13)
Surprise!

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (07:27)
and that brokerage to sell your home. And so that means that you can't deal with or talk to any other agents. If you're not satisfied, talk to the agent, talk to the brokerage, see if there's an exit clause in it if you want to get out of it. Otherwise, see you later. And I never heard from the guy again.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (07:46)
Yeah, call me when it expires.

Uh huh. Uh huh. Yeah. People do some, some, uh, what we view as silly things in their mind. They just want to sell the property. It's not that they're trying to do anything wrong. They just don't understand.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (07:51)
Yeah, and.

Yeah, it wasn't anything malicious. He just didn't know. He says, well, I thought any agent could sell. It's like, any agent can sell, but when you list it, only one agent can list it.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (08:07)
Mm-hmm.

I tell people.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (08:14)
So that was kind of

it.

That was kind of the, you know, I figure that's a good way to illustrate the point.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (08:16)
Go ahead.

Yeah,

I tell people interview agents find somebody that you comfortable working with and You can usually decide up front if it's a good fit You know take your time on that and when you when you do select a listing agent You basically go on a war with that listing agent. You want somebody that's going to be on your side Tell you the truth not what you want to hear There may be some uncomfortable conversations, but at the end of the day

your house will get sold and we'll walk you through the process. So pick one you're comfortable with and go get your house sold.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (08:52)
All right, Ben, why don't we move on to the next topic?

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (08:57)
All right, the next one. Let's see how I want to craft this one Clint I just put A $50,000 swimming pool in the house. So whatever price you come up with We're to just add $50,000 to

That's kind of the reaction Right. You just do it to me. That's good. That's good so we we tell people that Your cost in the property is irrelevant to the market value We have a saying in that in a real estate business if you want to if you want a swimming pool at your house Go buy a house with a swimming pool. You will get it a whole lot cheaper than if you pay somebody to put it in

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (09:11)
I'm sorry, I wouldn't do that to myself.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (09:38)
Now, that's not to say you shouldn't pay somebody to put it in. If you're looking just for the best deal, that's probably the best way to go. But just because you spent $50,000 on a swimming pool doesn't add $50,000 value to your house. You need to be careful how much money you put into a house, depending on how long you think you're going to be there. Because if you need to get out and you decide to sell the house,

What you have in it does not correlate to the market value. What it may do is make yours the next one to sell. You might get a bump in the price, somewhat of a bump in the price, but not to the tune of the $50,000 swimming pool. So the idea that people say, I just want to get out of it what I have in it.

That's not always the case. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. Tell people it's like taking money out of the bank just because you want $120 when you have $100 in the bank. You're not getting $120. You're going to get only what it's worth.

So just be cognizant of the idea that what you have in the property is not indicative necessarily of the market value. And we talk about adjusting expectations all the time. And if you adjust your expectation and write it off to it's the cost of living there, I wanted the pool while I had it. I understand I'm not gonna get all of my money back, but I got the utilization of the pool.

while I was living there and I'm okay with that. Something along those lines that will allow you to sell your house.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (11:16)
If

you want a better way of thinking about it, think about the cost of putting in a pool versus the cost of buying a membership at the YMCA or the local health club or fitness center that has a pool and the cost and the time to drive over there every day and see how that balances out for you. And that might make it a little bit easier to digest.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (11:31)
Mm-hmm.

And then the utilization, if you have your own, you can use it whenever you want. If you're to use a community pool or a membership pool, you're limited to when it's open and when you can go and how crowded it is, those kinds of things. So that's why some people go the membership route. Some people go the, I'm going put a pool in my backyard route. But just understand before you do it, it's not going to necessarily impact them.

Market value of the house tremendous.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (12:11)
Now the flip side to this discussion is on the buy side, if the buyer has visibility of what the seller paid for the property, and then they look at what it's listed for, and they say, well, they only paid $175,000 for it, and they're selling it for $400-something thousand dollars. And that doesn't matter.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (12:38)
Is he relevant?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (12:38)
It's like, well,

they didn't put that much into it. They didn't put that much materials or repairs into it. There's also a lot of time intervening, and there was a lot of appreciation during that time frame. And so that's kind of the flip side of this discussion.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (12:54)
One quick story and then we're to move on to the other topic is I was mentoring a new agent and he had clients trying to buy some properties to flip. And I think they were going flip them. And he kept, the agent was getting hung up on how much the people bought the property for versus how much they were asking for it. And I said, Mr. New Agent, get that out of your head.

What they paid for it is irrelevant. It's what it's worth on the market today. Just like from a, we were looking at it from the other side, but from the buyer side, you look at, might want to look at how much they paid for it, but it has no basis in reality. If they paid it yesterday or last week, that's one thing. If they bought it 20 years ago, completely different story. So just the market value of the market value, not.

the hard dollars you have in the property.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (13:52)
All right, we'll move on now to the next topic, which is scarily labeled. The buyer can just fix it later.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (14:02)
It's not a big deal, you can handle that. You fix that after you buy the house. Not in today's market.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (14:07)
Yeah, Mr. tough seller.

especially not today's market. So a lot of times sellers say, well, you know, and then again, this ties into the, want to list it as is. It's like, okay, yeah, I know what you mean. But the term as is, and we've covered this at least three or four times already in other episodes. But ultimately what they mean is they don't want to make any repairs.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (14:24)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (14:31)
And so we go through and we explain, okay, well, there's some repairs that if they're buying with financing that may be required. So depending on if they've got a government sponsored loan, so FHA, USDA, which is also known as rural development or a VA loan, they've got some appraisal requirements that are pretty strict.

If the home doesn't meet those requirements, they're going to appraise or the appraisal will come back this amount subject to these repairs being made. And what that means is that the bank isn't going to make the loan unless those repairs are made and verified by the appraiser.

going forward, if they want to complete the transaction with the buyer and the appraisal calls out things to be repaired, then the seller needs to repair them or they need to look for a buyer that's not using those types of loans. And especially in the case of FHA, then that appraisal is going to stick with that loan and they're not going to sell it with an FHA loan unless those repairs are made, at least within the next six months.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (15:43)
six months.

Right. It's not like one appraiser can say, hey, I'm peeling paint. The next guy can go find another appraiser and say, the paint's not peeling. It doesn't work like that. The first appraiser, good or bad, sticks with the house.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (15:46)
⁓

Yeah, so the...

The next thing is that, or the next point is that depending on the sophistication of the buyer and how well the buyer's agent is managing the situation and how well they've prepared the buyer, the buyer may just freak out and say, I'm...

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (16:19)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (16:21)
I'm not going to make all of those repairs. I can't make all of those repairs and I don't want to buy a house that I need to make repairs to and that will kill the transaction. So those are things to watch out for. And it may just be something, yeah, well, and it may be something small like, you know, changing out an outlet, you know, putting in a GFCI or, you know, just something minimal that's

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (16:32)
Some people are handy and some people are not.

in

Right.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (16:49)
It's not a hazard. It's not something that's going to be flagged in an appraisal. But the buyer, A, may not have the funds to get it done professionally. B, they may not have the skills to do it themselves. And so they feel that it's not worth the hassle of trying to figure out how they'll get that repaired.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (16:51)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (17:11)
and they don't want to have to deal with it. So they'd rather walk away from the purchase than accept it as is.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (17:21)
And it may be something as simple as a 15, 20, 25-dollar electrical GFCI outlet. So you're talking about something that for less than $100 can be fixed and some people will freak out and not buy the house. And the sellers are like, what's the big deal? Just change it after you buy it. Well, they need to come to a meeting of the minds on who's going to fix that.

before the deal can go forward. either, and I've told sellers, they say, well, that's not a big deal. Just fix it after. I said, if it's not a big deal, go ahead and fix it now. And we can move forward. And sometimes they say, for a hundred dollars, yeah, we'll fix it. Even though it's not in the, may or may not be in the contract, but if it didn't get fixed, the house isn't gonna sell to this buyer. So it's...

psychology sometimes.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (18:15)
It is. And then sometimes you get just outrageous buyers. had a listing one time where a buyer came in and wanted $12,000 in closing costs, which is at the time that was before people were writing $10,000 standard closing costs requests to be paid by the seller.

seller in this particular home, she was okay with doing that, but she also had the, they also came in below list price, so she had them come up to slightly above list price to kind of mitigate paying those closing costs. We went through everything. They requested that the house be rewired because the electrical system was old because the

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (18:54)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:06)
the inspector noted that the electrical system was old. And so the buyer demanded that the house be rewired and some other stuff. And the seller agreed to do some of it, said that they weren't going to rewire the house. The buyer accepted that, moved on. We got about two weeks from closing and they came back and said that they weren't going to close unless the house was rewired.

And it was just, we didn't understand it. We communicated with their agent and who was an out of town agent, but they did a decent job at representation. ⁓ But they said, well, he wants his deposit back. And it's like, he's not getting his deposit back. If he's not going to close, then.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (19:46)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:56)
he doesn't have a like to stand on for getting his deposit back because he agreed to the inspection terms. Now he's coming up with an additional

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (20:02)
Ended.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (20:07)
condition that he wants to be satisfied prior to closing and the seller is not willing to do that. And so he walked away and gave up his deposit.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (20:19)
And that was a cheap lesson because the seller could have told them, we've scheduled a close in two weeks, I'm going to be at the closing expecting to sell my house. If you're at the closing, you're going to hear from my attorney, which will then prevent you from buying another house.

So those are legally binding contracts you sign. It's not willy-nilly. It's not you can't keep negotiating or renegotiating until it's closed. You negotiate one time on the inspection and that's it. You live with what you agree to on both sides.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (20:36)
Yep.

on both sides. And you show up at the closing. so, and this is a good thing to remind both sides, you whether you're buying or selling, is that depending on who doesn't show up to the closing.

There can be a couple of different remedies. One can be to sue for performance, which will mean that the buyer or the seller, depending on who's not wanting to continue with the transaction, will be forced by the court to complete the purchase, complete the transaction. Or they'll be forced to pay damages in the amount of 10 % of the contract price.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (21:19)
I this.

which is agreed to in the purchase agreement that I don't think too many people understand. Yeah. So it has teeth in it. So don't just wake up one morning and change your mind. It may change your life if you do that. You're better off buying a house and then turn around and selling it. It would be a lot less expensive. So that's a downside. I don't like to talk about that.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (21:34)
Yep, that's part of the terms of the purchase agreement.

Yeah.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (21:59)
But normally when we have a conversation with a buyer or seller about that, most of the time they come around and say, you know, I think I'm gonna go ahead and buy the house now. Well, I think I'm gonna go ahead and sell the house. So people do change their mind.

Alright, what's next? Been pre-approved. I'm good to go. No you're not.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (22:11)
All right.

to go.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (22:18)
Well, a preapproval is not a bad first step. Okay. It's not a prequalification and a preapproval is not a bad first step. Some lenders will only issue a letter when they have loan approval. We get frustrated sometimes because one in particular I'm thinking about won't send a preapproval letter. And they said, well, we can only do it if we send you a letter.

They've been approved. All they need to do is find the property and give us the address so we can complete the file. With the loan has been approved subject to the appraisal and a buyer's inspections. That carries a lot more weight than a five minute pre-qualification letter from an online lender that you did through a check online. So there's different levels of pre-qualification, pre-approval.

loan approval, just because you got one doesn't mean it's the end. Because from a seller standpoint, if they get an offer from somebody with a pre-qualification, somebody with a pre-approval, and somebody with a loan approval, I guarantee you that agents can be focused on explaining the benefits of that loan approval that's already been approved.

that the lender can now legally back out of, cannot legally back out of. And if this house goes under contract, it's not going to fall apart due to the finance. It may fall apart because of the appraisal inspection, but the financing part is done. So if you have a prequalification and somebody has a loan approval level, you'll never buy the house.

So it's a pain in the neck to deal with the lender sometimes, but just suck it up and give them what they need and let them do their job and give you the best letter they can give you to give you the best chance to buy the house.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (24:14)
They're there to help you.

or in most cases.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (24:17)
And I know we're going, we're online with this thing. You are better off dealing with somebody that you can sit across the desk from. You go to their office, sit down and talk to them. If there's a problem, you can work it out. You get online lenders and if it goes south, they just stop answering your email and phone call. And that's the end of it. There's nothing you can do about it. So.

And ask me how I know that because it has happened.

And then when I'm thinking about we were able to convert it to a local bank in a matter of, I think, 10 days and actually closed on time. So it's always better to deal with somebody you can see and talk to and sit out in front of. And that's my last commercial for today, Clint.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (25:04)
at. All right, next one. I don't need a budget. The money's gonna work itself out. That's the equivalent of what I think they call it manifesting. I'm gonna say positive affirmations and everything's gonna come my way. I'm chuckling, know. Those things have a place in

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (25:11)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (25:29)
in protecting your psyche. But I don't know, it just doesn't work for me. But well, it doesn't work for me.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (25:35)
It doesn't work. Not unless you have an unknown

rich uncle that dies and leaves you all his money. But short of that.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (25:42)
Well, I mean, even that, I mean,

for affirmations, I think that the way it works is that it makes you more attuned to doing the right things to make those things happen, as opposed to just saying things and things magically happen. There's no magic to it. There's real stuff that needs to happen, and that's up to you. So.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (25:59)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (26:06)
Along those lines, your loan doesn't cover your closing costs unless there's some specific negotiations and milestones that get hit that work out perfectly. It doesn't cover repairs. It doesn't cover furniture. On top of that, there's, I'm not going to call them hidden costs.

but there's additional costs. We refer to them as prepaids, like your inspection, your insurance, your good faith deposit, things like that.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (26:38)
appraisal.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (26:39)
The appraisal, yeah, that's another one. I don't know why I forgot that.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (26:41)
In insurance,

if you don't understand it, you typically have to pay 15 months worth of the premium. You have to prepay the first year and then prepay 90 days for the second year. So you can start now. So in nine months from now, the lender has the money in escrow to pay an annual premium for your homeowner's policy or your flood policy or both.

So those costs can add up significantly and quickly. So we had a presentation about closing costs, what's closing costs and prepaids items and stuff. I'll still write it as seller agrees to pay X dollars in closing costs and our prepaids items.

And that seems to take care of the problem that we talked about yesterday. But it takes money to close. And at some point, we became very good at putting people in houses for little or no money if the seller is willing to pay the closing costs. You can get 100 % loan. Have the seller pay the closing costs if they agree to it. So you are paying the.

inspection and appraisal, which is typically less than a month's rent. And if you go rent an apartment or a house, you're to be paying the first and last month plus a damage deposit. So you might be able to get into a house for eight or nine hundred dollars and it takes thirty five hundred dollars to get into a rental. So that's a little tangent, Clint, but I thought it was a good point to make.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (28:13)
Yeah, well, we're getting back to, you know, still it's talking about budgets and stuff. The, you know, it's still hitting the point. You need a little bit financial literacy about the difference between mortgage payments and total cost of home ownership versus continuing to rent.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (28:26)
Right.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (28:33)
You know, so we've got a situation as kind of a mixture of the last three things we just covered. was a buyer who set up with an online lender. Everything was good until it wasn't. And it wasn't a no contact situation at that point. He was actively trying to find other lenders to take care of the client. But we reached out to a local lender.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (28:56)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (28:59)
But there were some hurdles because the buyer is 22 years old, did not have a bank account, used Cash App and Venmo, and had maybe a Chime Card that his payroll was deposited to. And so there was nothing that provided statements. The best he could do is screen captures from his phone on stuff without

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (29:23)
Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (29:24)
and he didn't have a computer also so it's not like he could log into a website and print stuff up.

And initially he didn't know that he says, well, I make this much a day.

but that was with his regular work and his overtime. And so he couldn't do the pre-approval or the automated qualifications for the loan because he had overtime in that amount. And so that kicked it to manual underwriting. And then that came back with conditions. And because of the lack of a bank account and explanations for this and that and the other.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (29:37)
Mm-hmm.

on the right.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (29:59)
It took us all total from start to finish, about four months from getting under contract until we closed. But the good thing is, is that it was a local lender that took everything over and he knew what to look for. And they actually got him set up where he got a bank account and he knew what back end lender.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (30:07)
in.

Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (30:26)
to go with once he knew he had to do the manual underwrite. they basically, once he had the bank account set up, they said, OK, yeah, just one month of records after he had had the account for a month or so is good. No need to go back further than that and deal with the screen captures and explanation letters for everything else. They just looked at everything for that one month and said, OK.

approved and I got a call on a at seven o'clock in the morning on Thursday and said hey we're closing at four o'clock this afternoon and it's like

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (30:53)
Good to go. Good to go.

I like those

phone calls.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (31:06)
So.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (31:06)
Yeah, you

obviously had a buyer that was willing to listen and do what he needed to do to make it happen. And a seller that was also understanding in extending the time to close. And a lender that was willing to work with the buyer to make it happen. So there's a perfect storm that has to happen when you run into a problem like that. But if you have the right representation, you can find people that can do things like that.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (31:23)
Exactly.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (31:35)
So you go try to find that on your own, you'll still be sleeping in the bed of your truck.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (31:38)
It's going to be tough. You

may get one, but you're not going to get all three.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (31:43)
Right. All right. All right.

Yeah, my cousin's a notary. We can save some money when we close on this house. Not so fast. We've talked in the past about, we got stories. We've talked in the past about the closing attorney of title company is paid for typically by the buyer. That's a closing cost and whether the buyer or seller pays for it.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (31:58)
We got stories.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (32:15)
It's a buyer's responsibility. But the attorney of title company works for the lender. Everything they do is to protect the lender. We see them, we're friends with them and all that stuff. We see them at the closing and pass you a bottle of water and want to see if you want a cup of coffee. But they're working for the lender. They're not working for you, the buyer. Without them working for the lender, we couldn't get to the closing. So they're not lying, cheating or stealing.

They just working for the lender protecting the lender's interest, not the buyer's interest. So it, and if you have somebody that's related to you, not that they can't close it, but the, the title attorney is going to have to give up his first born to that title company, promising not to represent you and that he'll represent the title company.

So that's just a good go to a professional title company or closing attorney that does it day in and day out and you'll be much better off. Take your cousin out to supper.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (33:23)
Yeah.

Yeah, because again, in the meeting we had yesterday, they were talking about secessions. And there's this thing in Louisiana called a small secession where if the estate has a total net worth of $125,000 or less, and it's executed in the proper form, a notary can do the secession if they know what they're doing and they do it correctly.

Otherwise, it gets all messed up and has to be redone. The problem is, well, I was going say the problem is that the notary, and especially if there's property involved, the notary doesn't do anything like title research. They don't do anything to protect the property or to verify anything.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (33:51)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and it was great to date on.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (34:18)
All they do is draw up a bill of sale, have everybody sign it. They may do a private mortgage note if it's seller finance deal. And that's all they're responsible for. That's all they know to do. Whereas a title company will ensure that the title is saleable, they will offer, so even if it's a cash deal and not a finance deal, they will offer you title insurance to ensure that

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (34:18)
Hmm?

video.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (34:45)
somebody doesn't come out the woodwork and say, is my property. And then you're kind of SOL with no kind of out or way to get your money back, no recourse. That's the word I was looking for. So an example of an attorney handling the sale of property and also ties in secession. When my grandparents' secession was done, my

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (34:56)
No recourse. Right.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (35:15)
two uncles and my mother were the only children. And the attorney handling the secession.

told my mother that, so my two uncles wanted to give their interest in the family home to my mother. The attorney told my mother that they couldn't do that, that they had to sell it to her and that she had to use some of the cash that she was inheriting to buy their interests.

what we kind of figured out later is that that attorney also represented some of my uncle's debtors. And so he was...

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (35:53)
then

I got the t-shirt for that.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (35:55)
he was collecting money to pay off some of their debtors. So.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (35:59)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (36:01)
five years down the line, she decides she wants to sell the property.

and it was to another family member. They go to the bank. The bank pulls up a title abstract and there are 37 liens on the property.

and

we go see the attorney and he says, I messed up.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (36:19)
Obviously.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (36:19)
You can

sue me, but the statute of limitations has passed, so you can't really sue me. But I'll pay you the, I'll pay the amount that your mother paid to purchase this property to another attorney to clear this up for you." And it was like, I don't know, $10,000 or so. And so we went to another attorney and he, and again, it wasn't a real estate attorney, but

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (36:39)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (36:49)
What he figured out is that about 30 % of the liens were for people with similar names to my uncles. And so he got those taken off because they weren't the right people. was just, they saw the name and filed a lien on the property. The rest of them were prescribed or what have you. So he got all of that cleared up. You know, and then eventually 10 years later, it was kind of like those online lenders.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (37:00)
All right.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (37:15)
He quit being able to reach him. And finally, I had to go to one of the local title attorneys because of an IRS lien that nobody could clear up. Well, it had been prescribed for 20 years. They never re-inscribed it. And so he was able to get that cleared up. And we were able to dispose of the property more or less after that. that just goes to show you, even if you've got a lawyer,

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (37:18)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (37:44)
taking care of things if they don't deal with real estate law and title law on a day in and day out basis, they don't know what they're doing.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (37:52)
Right.

Right. They went to law school. That's not the area of expertise.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (37:58)
Exactly. It's like going to a veterinarian and asking them to perform neurosurgery.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (38:00)
You know, I didn't.

Uh-huh, uh-huh. And I happened to be a notary public since the Stone Ages and all I, the only notary work I do is as a convenience to my...

I don't draft any documents. I don't do any legal work or quasi legal work. I don't tell them I could handle something for them. If they show up with a document, all I'm doing is notarizing their signature on that document. I learned a long time ago, you know. Well, I decided a long time ago. wasn't, I was given good advice when I first became a notary. Just notarize the signatures and don't try to practice law.

I said, yes, And that's kind of what I do it. It's just a convenience to my client. It's kind of a value added kind of thing. So I know what to stay away from. All right. I think we hit all the topics, know, buying a house is an emotional process. And as I said before, it's part of our job to keep the emotion out of it.

Kind of talk you off the ledge sometime. Have difficult conversations with you so you can make informed decisions. But at the end of the day, hopefully it's an enjoyable process whether you buy or not sell it. And you can accomplish your goal if you want to sell it. You sell it and move on. If you want to buy it, you buy it and you can start the next chapter of your life there.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (39:26)
we encourage you to work with professionals and you know make sure you have clarity before you commit and walk into it with realistic expectations and hopefully the professionals that you choose to work with will ensure that you do have realistic expectations going forward.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (39:33)
you

The expectation takes a lot of the emotion out of it. If you understand what to expect in the next step, you're much more likely to take the next step. So come in realistic and you'll probably end up buying or selling the house you want to buy or sell.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (40:01)
Yeah. So if you've got any, any other myth conceptions or things you're not sure of, Hey, give us a holler. You know, you can call us, you can go to re real estate podcast.com and ask a question. you can watch, go to YouTube and ask a question on any of our videos.

You can watch our videos. Go to rerealestatepodcast.com and click on the video link to go to our YouTube channel. Or you can listen to the podcast audio versions directly on the website. Or we've got links to pretty much every audio podcast platform from there. So let us know. And if you're not sure what to believe, that's what we're here for.

We'll be happy to give you a no-cost consult. Just get in touch with us.

Ben Harang, REALTOR® (40:48)
you

Absolutely

And like subscribe share and comment on the on the podcast to Is the best way to grow the podcast so other people can hear what we have to say and hopefully you get some benefit out of our discussions You know, we talked early on when we started talking about the podcast and we just two guys in South Louisiana Talking about real estate in black and white and trying to give you the benefit of our experience

in an informal, casual setting. Just because it's informal and casual doesn't mean it's not important. We're just kind of trying to give it to you just like we go to work every day. If we were sitting across the table from you talk. So hope everybody has a good day. Clint enjoyed it. Another one in the can. We'll see you next time.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (41:40)
Adios.