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Every fourth Sunday, Regana Kooman-Henry discusses various aspects of the home buying process and home ownership experience.
Announcer 0:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program.
Wesley Knight 0:04
The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 90-1.5 Jazz and more, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Regana Kooman Henry 0:32
Hello, hello, and good morning, Southern Nevada, and welcome to the Southern Nevada Real Estate Show. I'm your host Regana. For anyone listening for the first time, and like I always say, you will have one-stop shopping that includes anything you need to prepare you. You will be one-stop shopping. So again, good morning, everyone, and welcome. Welcome again, and welcome to another edition of our Southern Nevada Real Estate Show. And for more than 30 years, I've had the privilege of helping people buy and sell homes right here in beautiful Southern Nevada. And I've been living here since 1990. God, I'm giving my age away, and I've been licensed as a real estate professional since '91, and went all in full time in '95. So whether you're listening while enjoying your morning coffee this morning, heading to work, or simply relaxing at home, I want to thank you for spending part of your morning with me. Such an honor. And today's show isn't about convincing any of you guys to buy or sell a home. It's about something much more important. It's about helping people understand that they have options. Because lately, I've noticed something happening. You know what that is? People are waiting, waiting on the sidelines. They're waiting for interest rates. They're waiting for prices. They're waiting for the election. They're waiting for the economy. They're waiting for what we call the perfect time, and there's no such thing. The problem is while they're waiting or while you're waiting, life isn't waiting. Life keeps happening. Life will keep happening, waiting or not. You know. And here's a situation: families grow, children move away, people retire. There's job transfers. You know, your parents are getting older. Divorces unfortunately do happen. Loved ones pass away. People inherit those homes. People decide they want less maintenance. People want to travel more. People simply want a different chapter in their life. And if that's you listening this morning, I want you to hear this. You don't have to figure it out alone. One of the things I love most about being a realtor and being a real estate professional isn't just selling homes; it's solving problems. Every single person has a different story. Some people need to move quickly. Others need several months. Some are scared because they haven't bought a home in many years. Some of you may have inherited property and don't know where to begin. And I've transacted business on people that's inherited property. So my number is 70259612677025961267 Now some people have lived in the same home for many years, and simply just don't know, you know, what comes next. What comes next in the next chapter of their life? You know, some owe very little on the property. Some owe almost what their house is worth. Some are excited. Some are overwhelmed, and every one of those situations requires a different strategy. That's why experience matters. I often tell people, real estate isn't about opening doors anymore. It's about opening possibilities. It's about helping people make smart financial decisions. It's about protecting their equity, it's about negotiating. It's about knowing what to say, when to say it, and just as importantly, what not to say. And let's talk about today's market. If you've been watching the news, you probably heard people say it's a buyer's market, and it is compared to several years ago, it certainly is, but here's what many people misunderstand. They misunderstand quite a bit, actually. A buyer's market doesn't mean homes aren't selling. Homes are absolutely selling every day. The difference is today's market reward strategy. Now several. Years ago, a seller could put almost any home on the market, price it high, do very little preparation, receive multiple offers before you can blink, and sometimes receive offers over asking price. Now those days they're gone for the moment. Today's buyers are more selective. They're negotiating. They're comparing homes. They're asking for repairs. They're requesting closing costs as a credit from the seller, and that's exactly why strategy has become more important than ever. And so let's talk about strategy first, and let's talk about sellers. If you're thinking about selling, would you rather negotiate from a position of strength or from a position of surprise? That's one of the reasons I encourage many of my sellers to have a professional home inspection before we even start showing the home. And you ask why? Because knowledge gives you control.
Regana Kooman Henry 6:02
I actually had that discussion with one of my latest listings to do that, and they hesitated, but they did see the value in that. You know, it does give you more control as a seller, knowing what's going on with your house, instead of waiting for a buyer's inspection to review to reveal problems, you'll already know about the problems, and you can choose what to repair. You can decide what not to repair. You can price the home accordingly. You eliminate surprises. You reduce the chances of buyers canceling. You reduce opportunities for buyers to ask for large price reductions. Now that's what I mean by strategy. Knowledge is power, and the two largest things that buyers use an excuse to back out of a home purchase is number one, the home inspection, and number two, the appraisal if it doesn't come in at the value of what you and and the buyer agreed to in writing. Now another strategy regarding pricing. I know everyone wants the highest price possible. Of course they do. But here's the truth, guys. The market determines the value, not hope, not emotion, not what your neighbor says he bought or sold his home for recently. That doesn't count. Not what Zillow guesstimates. Zillow cannot walk in your home and evaluate your home. Today's buyers have, you know, a lot of choices. If a home is priced correctly, it attracts attention. It creates activity. You'll know in the first two weeks if you're priced right by the number of people walking through your home. It generates offers. If it's priced too high, buyers simply move on. They don't even bother to make an appointment to look at it, and the longer a home sits, the more buyers wonder what's wrong with the house. And sometimes pricing slightly under can cause urgency in the market too. It's called dangling the carrot. Now that's strategy. Now let's talk about buyers. If you've been sitting on the sidelines, you may actually have more negotiating power today than buyers have had in years. Think about that. Today, you may be able to negotiate better pricing. You may be able to negotiate closing costs, and if you're doing down payment assistance, and the seller pays for all your closing costs. You're moving in for practically no money into it. You know you may negotiate repairs, you may negotiate interest rate buydowns, you may negotiate appliances, sometimes even home warranties, and you know that wasn't happening at all a few years ago. Now buyers had almost no negotiating power a few years ago. Today, many of you buyers will have such a great opportunity. And here's something else. I hear people say, "I'm waiting for those interest rates to come down. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. Nobody knows. But here's what I do know: If interest rates eventually come down significantly, 1000s of buyers who are waiting today may jump back into the market. More buyers usually means more competition, bidding war. More competition means prices start moving higher, and today's buyer may have less competition than tomorrow's buyer. That's worth thinking about. You know what I always say: marry the house, date the rate. That's a real estate term we're using, and that. Later on, when the rates do come down, if and when you're able to refinance. Now, some of you might think, "I don't think I can buy a home, but after we sit down, review finances, discuss some loan programs, explore some possibilities, and I do have mortgage lenders. If you don't know of a mortgage lender, a lot of time what my clients discover is they actually can purchase and they just disqualified themselves before they even started. Sometimes people just simply need someone to explain their options, and like I said, I have lenders that will sit down with you and talk to you and virtually hold your hand from beginning of signing that loan application to the end. They'll even accompany you to your signing if you prefer of your when we're getting ready to close on your home. And the same thing has happened with sellers. They'll tell me, "I'd love to sell. Let's reach over to these sellers. I'd love to sell is what a lot of sellers are saying, but I don't know where I'd go. So, let's have the conversation, mr. mrs. Seller. We can explore possibilities. You know, maybe you want to downsize.
Regana Kooman Henry 11:20
Maybe a townhome, maybe a condo, maybe you're in a two-story home and you'd like to go to a one-story home. Maybe you'd like to move closer to, let's say, your grandchildren and your children. Maybe they're in another state. I just closed on a home where someone wanted to be closer to their family, their children, and watch their grandchildren grow up, and that was their motivation. Maybe you like to go from an older home to a new construction home. Sometimes the biggest obstacles isn't the market; it's simply not knowing what options exist and the situation and the scenarios in your in your head that could be stopping you from moving forward and and reaching out to professionals like myself to guide you through. And one thing I've learned after over 30 years in real estate: every problem has a solution. Maybe not the solution someone expected, but usually a solution. That's why conversations matter, not pressure conversations. And again, my number is 702-596-1267 That's 702-596-1267 Now, if you've inherited a home. I know some of you may have inherited a home. I have one of those up for sale too. I have a variety of different scenarios. I've gone through just about every type of real estate transaction there is in over 30 years. If you're getting divorced, unfortunately, you know Nevada is kind of high on the divorce ratios. Sad, but. but part of life. If you are going through a divorce and don't know where to turn, I am very empathetic and I don't take sides. I'm there to do my job to sell the house and get both of you the most money possible. So a lot of times the house is what's holding a divorcing couple together? The last thing and the most important thing is the house that they share. So I'm very good with people and not making anybody feeling better than someone else. At that point, I would stay neutral. So let's talk about retiring. If your children moved out, you may want to downsize. You know, you might want to go from a huge house to a small house. And again, my number 702-596-1267 Also, if you're relocating, I'm part of my company at Cowell Banker Premier Realty's corporate services department. I'm one of the relocation real estate professionals. There's so many of us that handle inbound and outbound relocation clients, and I'm very familiar with relocating corporate buyers. You know, moving for job transfers, military moves. If you're being PCS'd, you know, and let's say you're a first-time homebuyer. I've worked with plenty of those first-time homebuyers too. I will virtually guide you from beginning to the end. And also, my company and I, we have a written guarantee in writing. Not all companies have that that guarantees my service to you. It goes over, you know, if you're not happy, you can talk to my manager. I'd rather you talk to me first. It's very, very small ratio of anyone that's been unhappy with me over the 30 years. I mean, there's always somebody because you can't please. Everybody, but it's a very very small amount, and normally by talking things through, maybe there's something you don't understand, and I might think you understand. You have to let me know, and if it's your first time, can be overwhelm overwhelming. But I'm here for you as the first time buyer to guide you, because there's different a lot of different steps to purchasing a house, and you can't do one thing, one of those steps before another. And if you put in one before another, or you're taking shortcuts, transaction can go bad really fast. And I know what I'm doing as far as keeping everything solid as possible, so that you will have the smoothest real estate transaction possible, whether it's your first home, your last home, your final home, you know, sometimes a 30-minute conversation can change the entire outlook. And again, my number 702-596-1267 Now, here's another reason why strategy matters: negotiation. Now, negotiation isn't arguing, and I found that out over the years of practicing and and being a full time real estate professional, it's understanding people, understanding their motivation, understanding their timing, understanding leverage, knowing what battles matter and what battles don't matter, and that's something experience teaches. Every negotiation, every real estate transaction is unique.
Regana Kooman Henry 16:43
It's different because every one of you that are my clients or soon-to-be clients or past clients, every one of you is different, and every home is different. Not two homes are alike. And you know, one of the greatest compliments I receive from clients is, you know, like for example, Dave said Regana, that's me. You made the process so much easier than I expected, and that's always my goal as a real estate professional. I don't care if you're purchasing a $300,000 home or a $3 million home. I treat all my clients the same way because without you guys, there is no me with my real estate, my really wonderful real estate career that I really don't take for granted, and I don't take any of my customers for granted. You know, buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions most people will ever ever make, and it shouldn't feel so overwhelming. You deserve someone who explains every step, and I only work with mortgage people that will sit down and explain every step if you need the explanations, and someone that will return phone calls, and I'm very good at returning calls. And I hear through the grapevine that there are some of us in the real estate business that just don't return calls, or they'll return them like days later. So I do believe in communication. I do believe you have to communicate with your, with your clients, and you know, you have to go with someone like myself who's going to protect your interests, who's going to negotiate with you to get you the best fair deal possible, and someone who genuinely cares. And I can truly say I care about my clients. It's not a one and done. I want to know after the transaction how you're doing. How do you like your new home? You know, how do you like? How is your job transfer? Things like that. And I truly believe this: people don't hire realtors because they need someone to unlock a front door. They hire someone that they can trust, someone who listens, someone who understands, someone who puts their client's needs first, and that's exactly how I've built my business for more than 30 years. And you know, most of my business is through referrals, people that know people that know people that I've worked with before. You know, one family or one person that I've sold to telling another family or person. You know, one client recommending another client, and that's there's no greater compliment than that. So if you're wondering whether now is the right time to buy or sell, no pressure, no obligation, just valuable information. Maybe now is right. Maybe it's not. But it's worth sharing your story, so I know if you know it is the right. Time for you or not? Maybe you're ready in six months from now. You know, you might think you need six years. Maybe it's only a year, six months. You know, I'll I'll be honest with you, and the mortgage people that I use, they'll be honest with you, because my goal isn't simply to help you buy or sell one home, I want to be your real estate professional for life, and you know that's how I do business, and that's how I I live by. Now I guarantee you again, there isn't anything that is a silly question-it's only silly if you don't ask. And for all you people that are listening today, that are on the sidelines, having a no-obligation conversation is the key to know what your options are. You should always have options and not limit yourself with real estate or anything in life. And again, my number is 702-596-1267 That 702-596-1267 And I usually do the stats every month for the previous month, but I'm having a hard time getting it uploaded, and I get my stats from the Las Vegas Realtors Association, and they put a put a like a ticket in for me to figure out what's going on because I'm not able to download my my stats that I I usually do every month, you know, median price range for single family versus condos, versus townhouses, you know, median price available, price sold, all these things, and I look forward to always sharing that information with you guys.
Regana Kooman Henry 21:57
So next month, what I'll do is I'll pick up where I left off and I'll go through the stats for July because the July stats will be in. But you know I look forward to talking to you as a whole. Anyone out there that has has had thoughts about purchasing, selling, but they're just overwhelmed already in their mind, and that happens more times than not. People want to do it. You may want to do it, but it's exhausting to think about. I have three locations where I can meet you. I have an office where I, where my license hangs. My broker's license hangs. Broker broker sells personal license hangs at the one in Henderson off of Saint Rose Parkway. We have another branch that's off of West Sahara, not too far from Durango, and then we have that we call that the you know Summerland South office because it's touching that area, and then we also have a third office in Centennial Hills, in the northwest office Sky Point. I I do deal with quite a few military personnel over the years, and a lot of the military personnel likes to stay either city in North Vegas or Northwest because it's more convenient to Nellis Air Force Base, and then you have some that would like Summerlin or Henderson. Maybe they have children, and they heard some good things about Henderson schools or Summerlin schools, or they want to be in another area. But I work all areas of Southern Nevada, I work all of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Perump, Mesquite, and I've worked a few areas in between that. Here is not as spread out like let's say Southern California or Northern California, where a real estate professional automatically has to specialize in a particular area because it's just so darn spread out, you know. So that that part is handled. I have a key to all three of those offices, and if you need to meet after hours, that's no problem. I mean, within reason, I can meet you after 5o'clock 6o'clock maybe even 7o'clock after hours. And again, no such thing as a silly or a bad question. So, you know, if you like better answers than your own, if you like to figure out together if buying or selling a home is the right time for you, and I guarantee for many of you, it could very well be the right time. And if it's not, I'm really super honest. I'm very transparent because I don't want to set you up for failure. I'll let you know. I'm brutally honest. I'm, you know, I, I like to tell the. Truth, you know whether I get your business or not. That's just how I operate. And for now, I am going to say thank you all very much for listening to my show this morning. For everyone listening, I appreciate your loyalty. If you've listened, I'm on the third Sunday of each month at 8:30 a.m. and again, my number is 702-596-1267 And again, my name is Reganakuman Henry with Cold Wool Banker Premier Realty, your host for the Southern Nevada Real Estate Show that airs every third Sunday again of the month at 830 a.m. My number is 702-596-1267 That 702-596-1267 and my license number is BS 27880 And you guys, any question at all? I'm here for you. I'm a full-time resident, full-time real estate professional, all here in Southern Nevada for over 30 years. Look forward to hearing from you, and I hope everyone listening has a great Sunday and a great week.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai