Texas Real Estate Bible Podcast

This past week, Karen was down for the count with a stomach bug.  As a result, Kevin pulled double duty with the kids so Karen could just be sick.  For this reason, we had completed zero preparation for the show, but we are committed to (not just interested in) releasing something every week, so we hit record and went with it. Our conversation took a few twists and turns, but we ended up having what we thought was an important and meaningful discussion about an autoimmune disorder that our family is about to start dealing with.  Yes, this podcast has "real estate" in the title, but not every episode has to be about real estate.  This podcast is also about the people behind the microphones and our real, actual lives. We hope you enjoy and can connect with us as we share our challenges with you.  Don't worry, it's not all heady content, we also discuss our upcoming plans to return to the Houston Roller Derby and our kid's participation in her swim team.

Get ready for a wild one!  Karen blows off some steam in this episode.  After spending a lot of time and effort with a client, she was dismissed by the client with no explanation.  Obviously it's the client's decision as to who represents them, but it's basic common courtesy to explain your thinking to someone who has invested a lot of time and money into helping you find the perfect home for you, and who now will not be paid for it. Real estate agents are people with families too!  Consider this: Most people go look at houses after normal business hours and/or on weekends.  That's time people normally spend with their families.  Every hour an agent spends with you is an hour they choose to spend away from their family.  So yes, it's the right thing to do to offer an explanation so to why you're terminating your representation agreement. You might say, "Well, that's the lifestyle the agent chooses by their choice of profession."  True.  It's also true that wasted time is just a part of the cost of doing busin

While this podcast is primarily focused on real estate, we do take time to tell stories about our lives from time to time.  In this episode, we share the struggles we have had this year with our kindergartener dealing with a bully at school.  We thought it would be helpful to share this story if for no other reason than to give other parents the benefit of our experiences, and some things to look for with your own kids. We also chatted a bit about Karen's new fitness regimen, which she's having great success with, and we take a moment to celebrate Kevin's latest flag football adventures in his work league.  

Most people are familiar with the idea of crowd funding.  Sites like Gofundme.com and kickstarter.com have helped some really great ideas get off the ground and brought in to reality. This week, Nathan Roach, the CEO of MassVenture.com explains to us how the laws in Texas have recently been changed to enable a crowd funding spin to be applied to real estate investing.  Through the platform, individual investors can invest as little as $500 in the projects they have curated for their members.

This week we sit down with Don Leonard.  Don has been in the real estate industry for 34 years, giving him a wealth of knowledge and expertise in real estate.  Don has hosted two radio shows in Houston about real estate, currently teaches at the Champion's School of Real Estate, and has had his own broker's license for 18 years. Don sits down with us this week to swap war stories and offer some advice on some specific questions Karen has about a deal she's currently working.  Don also shares with us some of the details of a coaching program he is hosting entitled the Nature of Real Estate.  If you're an agent looking for a different way to do business than cold calling, door knocking, and publicly begging for business, then you're listening to the right podcast, and you should consider this coaching program.

Just imagine it:  You wire your money to the title company as instructed the day before you buy your dream home.  You show up to closing, and they ask you, "Where's your down payment?"  You think this must be some kind of silly joke, so you say, "You mean the massive wire I sent you yesterday wasn't enough?" "Wire?  I checked a few minutes ago, and we didn't receive a wire from you, but I'll go double check."  The serious look on the escrow agent's face tells you this isn't a joke. "Yes," you say, "I sent it to the updated account you asked me to use via email yesterday." "... I didn't send you any updated wire instructions yesterday." After a few eternal minutes of double checking both on your end and on the title company's end, it's clear that you did indeed send the down payment, but you did not send it to the title company.  Instead, you sent it to an overseas thief who has now disappeared with your money.  How could this happen? This has been a growing problem in the real estate industry that was highlig

If you want to know what Phil Dunphy, roller derby, and dental work have in common, listen to the show this week. Customer service seems to be a dying art in our increasingly digitally connected, yet personally disconnected world.  Kevin and Karen talk about some recent customer service experiences they've had to illustrate why excellent customer service is one of the single most important ingredients to a successful real estate transaction.

Credit repair.  It's a frequent question that many real estate agents hear from their clients: "I'd like to buy a house, but I have some problems with my credit.  It really is an honest mistake but I don't know how to go about getting it cleaned up."  Having bad credit can prevent you from qualifying for a loan.  If it doesn't flat out prevent you from getting a loan, it will cost you many thousands of dollars in additional interest payments whether you're buying a home to live in or as an investment. In today's episode, we welcome back our first ever repeat guest on the podcast, Dave Cole.  Dave was previously a guest on the show for Episode 32, when we covered Solo 401(k) plans.  Today, Dave returns to the show to talk about the state of the credit repair industry.  Listen in as he gives a (very) brief history of the credit repair industry and points out how the business model that most of these services have doesn't work any more, and their customers are simply wasting their money.  Dave shares a much bett

Tinja Anderson Shiery has spent her entire professional life until recently as a consultant teaching professionals how to craft their messages for success. One of the many classes she teaches is entitled "Winnings Words", and Kevin was a student of hers in his role in the Oil & Gas industry, and the class changed the trajectory of his career.  Listen in as Tinja compresses this 3 day class into a one hour crash course for Karen.  If you take nothing else away from this episode, wrap your mind around the art of the sincere and honest acknowledgement. Tinja has recently started her own business and works every day now to adapt the model she learned from her parents to fit her new role. You can find Tinja's jewelry business here: www.candibytinja.com You can also find her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/tinjashiery

Have you ever wondered what would happen to your property if you didn't pay your taxes?  Most people envision the police eventually knocking at the door and throwing you out.  The reality in Texas at least is that the knock will eventually come, but it will be an investor knocking, an investor like today's guest, Arnie Abramson. Arnie has been investing in Texas tax auctions since the early 1990s.  With a very long track record of success, he leads the Texas Tax Sales Resource Group, which is comprised of individual investors that have been investing in income producing real estate in Texas for many years.  The Group helps members find, bid on, purchase, and own properties that go to public auction in all 254 counties in Texas. The law in Texas is very favorable to investors in these properties.  The winning bidder at the auction is immediately awarded ownership and possession of the property.  The ONLY right the previous owner retains is the right to "redeem" the property, a process by which the investor is

Effective writing is important.  This is why this, the 10th and final Agent Commandment, is about writing. We have seen far too many examples of horrific writing on the part of real estate agents.  You don't need to read very many MLS listing descriptions before they'll start popping out at you.  Poor spelling, bad grammar, lack of punctuation.  They all jump right off the page and detract from the professional message you're trying to communicate on behalf of your client. For this reason, we've enlisted the help of Laura Peterson, Author, Teacher, Entrepreneur, Podcaster, and Digital Nomad.  On her podcast, Copy that Pops, you'll find a wealth of information on how to write effectively for your newsletter, ads, and blog posts to drive traffic to your destinations. Listen in as we have a wide ranging discussion with Laura about the impact of effective writing, vomit comets, living in Europe, and International Dog of Mystery, Tuck.  

The topic of inspectors has come up in past episodes, so we thought we'd delve a little deeper into the topic with this episode by sharing the top 10 issues that come up during inspections. After hearing this episode, you will understand the great benefit an inspector brings to the table.

Decrepit cars, interest rates, closing disclosures, and mortgages, how do they all relate? In this episode, we welcome Patrick Morales back to the podcast for a wide ranging discussion about mortgages. When preparing to buy a new home so many consumers don't realize they might have to choose between the new car or the new home. Learn about how mortgages work, hidden fees, and what's happening in the market. Find out what pro-rations are, general closing costs and fees and get into the nitty-gritty of mortgage closing costs. So many people shop on the interest rates alone, but that's not always the best strategy!  You should calculate the total cost of the loan before you sign on the dotted line. Know before you buy! 

Listen in as we discuss the difference between being interested and being committed.  It's a huge distinction!  Our stand is that agents should be committed to their chosen profession of being a real estate agent! You want to know what that cryptic message means? You have to listen to the podcast to find out.  Perhaps the Spartan King Leonidas will clarify what it means to be committed to your profession.  Maybe NFL Coach Herm Edwards can point out how being interested versus being committed has an immeasurable impact on the performance of the team. Your realtor is a member of your home buying or selling team, and like any major event in your life you want a professional and a committed team member watching your back. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and give us a review on whatever platform you use to listen to the show! podcast@texasrealestatebible.com

Lately, we have been getting a lot of requests to do some episodes aimed at real estate investors.  While we are technically real estate investors by virtue of the fact that are landlords,  we don't feel like we've had enough experience to speak authoritatively on the subject, so we decided to do some research and find guests for the show who know far more about real estate investment than we do. In this episode, we welcome David Cole to the show who shares with us an amazing tool that isn't very well known yet, but is an incredibly powerful tool for real estate investors and/or people who want to be real estate investors. The single participant 401(k), commonly known as the "Solo 401(k)" plan gives you as an investor unprecedented access to and flexibility to personally invest the retirement funds you have been building up throughout your life.  Do you have a 401(k) from a previous employer?  Do you have a traditional individual retirement account that you self-funded?  All of these funds can be rolled in to

In today's episode we interview Mike Michalowicz, author of 4 different business books.  We had no intention of turning our conversation into a Commandment, but Mike shared so many great insights that we had to do it.  Mike is the author of Surge, Profit First, The Pumpkin Plan and the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.  He is also a popular keynote speaker and successful podcaster. Mike built and sold two multi-million dollar companies by his 35th birthday.  Confident that he'd discovered the secrets to success, he became an angel investor... and proceeded to lose his entire fortune.  Now building his third multi-million dollar company based on the thesis of Profit First, Mike shares his insights with us on the program.  Although Mike shared a lot of insights and fascinating stories in and about his books, we thought his advice from The Pumpkin Plan was spot on for real estate agents.  In order to get noticed, you have to be different!  You shouldn't expect to gain the attention from the marketplace by being exa

Come spend some time with us while we heckle a close friend and new build buyer, Scott Sniderwin. Scott recently purchased a new build home here in the Houston area.  Although Scott is now a regular listener to the show, we hadn't started the podcast at the time he was buying, so he wasn't plugged in to the commandments, and his real estate story turned into a horror story. Luckily for Scott, he is persistent, and as he put it “a real pain”, so he kept fighting to get things done properly on his new build home.  He walks us through his story of building a new home from contract to final closing to his warranty period. Listen to the podcast to hear all of the details and how he got things fixed, and what he could have done to protect himself from the get-go.

Recently, we received a listener mail that had a great question: "How will rising interest rates impact the real estate market?" Since we aren't financial experts, we decided to call in reinforcements in the form of Patrick Morales.  Before becoming a Loan Originator, Patrick was a Financial Planner, so we thought he would be a great person to answer this question. During the discussion, Patrick shares with us what you as a buyer can do to prepare for higher interest rates to take the best advantage of the situation. He also shares some very useful information for anyone who currently owns a home who had a loan modification done in the last 5 years.  If this is you, don't miss this episode! You can reach Patrick at 832-639-3350 or by email at pmorales@cenderafunding.com.  

This is a special episode!  We recorded it in front of a live audience at the University of Houston with special guest host, Hank Moore.  Hank has been shaping our culture for a generation, and is a living legend in many spheres, including the Non-Profit sphere.  Listen to this episode as we discuss how important it is for agents to be committed to giving back to the communities they serve. Real estate agents, more than any other profession, are intimately linked to the communities in which they do business.  It is therefore imperative that we make our businesses about more than just making money for ourselves.  A portion of our profits should go back to the community in the form of philanthropy.  It's good for the community and it's good for your business.  If your agent can't name at least one charity that they personally support through their work, you should start looking for another agent!

Outdoor living spaces are a huge attraction, especially in areas like Houston where the weather makes them useful nearly year round.  In this episode, we interview Deedra Chavez from Bello Domani Outdoor Designs. Deedra has been in the industry for many years and has a great eye for design.  She designed the outdoor living space in Karen and Kevin's backyard and we have been referring business to her ever since. Deedra shares with us some of the most popular features and upgrades available on the market today, like high efficiency pumps that allow you to greatly reduce the energy cost of running your pool (roughly $15 per month).  She also gives us detail on our favorite pool upgrade, the in-floor cleaning system.  While we absolutely love this upgrade, there is one... let's call it "unexpected feature" that the system brings to the pool experience.  You'll have to listen to the episode to find out the hilarious truth! We also hear about some of the creative things people are doing by mixing fire and water fe