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Welcome to Financially Fluent with Ray Godleski from Southeast Wealth Partners, LLC. Whether you're already retired or planning for the future, navigating financial advice can be overwhelming. This podcast cuts through the noise, bringing real insights from experts who specialize in every aspect of a successful financial plan—including how to adapt when things don’t go as expected. Join us as Ray Godleski answers audience questions and shares actionable strategies—not just empty clichés.
Welcome to Financially Fluent with Ray Godleski of Southeast Wealth Partners. Our goal is to equip you with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate your financial journey with greater ease and efficiency.
Ray Godleski:Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the next episode of Financially Fluent. Today, I am really excited to have Domonne Reeves here with us. Her and I have known each other for a long time, stemming back into the real estate days. So, Dominai, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about your real estate background.
Dominai Reeves:Of course. Thank you, Ray. Nice to be here. Let's see. I got licensed in February.
Dominai Reeves:So been through several different markets. I am currently an associate broker with Keller Williams Atlanta Partners. I also lead the market center Keller Williams Sugarloaf with over five thirty agents. I'm an operating principal out of our Keller Williams Northeast, Loganville, Snellville and Monroe locations. And I also oversee our operations department for Keller Williams Atlanta Partners.
Dominai Reeves:We have over 4,000 agents, over 16 offices in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina.
Ray Godleski:Yeah, that's a little bit about us. It sounds like you might be a little busy.
Dominai Reeves:Just a little.
Ray Godleski:Well, we appreciate your time here today.
Dominai Reeves:Thank you.
Ray Godleski:We're going to talk a little bit about the intersection of real estate and financial planning. Of course, people are always interested in trends in both of those industries, but there is quite the intersection. So we'll definitely talk a little bit about that. Before we do that, typically, I like to ask guests to do a little trivia
Dominai Reeves:Oh my goodness.
Ray Godleski:And I like to give maybe two topics to choose from. So for you today, Dominai, your choices are going to be music trivia or sports trivia.
Dominai Reeves:Definitely. Music, not sports. Music.
Ray Godleski:I've got to find somebody that will take me on with some sports trivia.
Dominai Reeves:I will spend maybe, but not me.
Ray Godleski:Yeah. We'll get Chad on. Okay. So let me pull it up on my screen here. Hopefully you can get this, but you just never know.
Ray Godleski:You never know. Okay, here we go. In 1991, there was a hit song by Nirvana, helped the grunge music into the mainstream.
Dominai Reeves:Love
Ray Godleski:it. Now, they had a lot of hits. Yeah. But let's see if you can guess the title of that song.
Dominai Reeves:Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Ray Godleski:Awesome. Yes, you got it. Correct. And just for a little fun bonus, can you name any A lot of people can That's the only song they can name for Bite Nirvana. There any other Novanta
Dominai Reeves:song Hopefully, it'd be the only one I could name. Yeah. All
Ray Godleski:right. Sounds good. Well, that was fun. Thanks for Of course. And you did good.
Ray Godleski:So now let's get into a little bit about real estate. And so one of the things I was thinking of is just market trends. That always is exciting. Like, what are you seeing in real estate that's trending right now, whether you're a buyer, seller or investor?
Dominai Reeves:Yep, that's a great question. So in Atlanta right now, we're seeing a blend of movement for sure. People are buying and selling, yet they're being more intentional than ever. Many buyers who were waiting on the sidelines in 2023 and didn't really like the interest rates in 2024 have accepted the fact that rates may not dramatically drop anytime soon. So they're moving forward with purchases, especially if they have strong financial reasons like job relocations or growing families.
Dominai Reeves:So at the same time, though, downsizing has picked up. Many empty nesters and retirees are cashing in on the equity that they have built, especially over the past five years. They're choosing simpler lifestyles. Also is a growing trend of people investing in smaller properties or buying second homes now that remote work has become normalized. So just a different trend big house or the big growing family.
Dominai Reeves:We're starting to see more downsizing, keeping it simpler. But make no mistake, buyers and sellers today are extremely strategic. They're looking carefully at timing, value, long term opportunity, not rushing into decisions like they may have done over the past few years, which it was kind of a frenzied market. So it's definitely an adjustment.
Ray Godleski:When it comes to interest rates, obviously someone that's never bought a home, they don't have an existing mortgage. They may still think maybe it's higher than it was a few years ago. But what about the people that are kind of sitting in their homes, they have mortgage rates in the twos and threes? I mean, when are those people moving? And what are you saying to those folks that, you know, might have an interest rate that's double what they already have?
Dominai Reeves:The homeowners that are sitting on the sidelines are those with the lower rates. They're hesitant to let go of those amazing terms. So, you know, that is still an issue. But for those who are still choosing to sell, you know, we still have to have constant conversations around strategic pricing, understanding how the inventory levels impact their position in the market. It's all about setting realistic expectations, helping the clients make a smart decision.
Dominai Reeves:So what we are seeing is a longer time on market, the interest rates. People still have to buy and sell houses. Life events still happen. And those people, a lot of people still have to make moves. So the rates are where they are, and now they have accepted that the twos and threes may not ever happen again in their lifetime, and they still need to make strong financial decisions.
Dominai Reeves:And if you find the right house, the right terms, and it still makes financial sense for you to make a move, they are making a move.
Ray Godleski:From a financial planning standpoint, I'm always trying to use my real estate background to help people. I'm not talking about new home buyers. I give advice there, but really the ones that are moving up or they're downsizing, you know, how much should be putting down? And what about a fifteen year? What about a thirty year mortgage?
Dominai Reeves:Well, how do you
Ray Godleski:I'm just curious from the real estate perspective, let's kind of break that down. You got your new home buyers. I'm assuming they're going with the lowest down they can. They Or maybe that's not how it's going. Do you guys get involved as a realtor about how much money to put down?
Ray Godleski:Or you kind of leave that up to either the planner or the mortgage person?
Dominai Reeves:Yeah, that's a great question. No, we definitely get involved. You definitely need to have a strong financial conversation, but that is where the financial planner comes involved. When somebody tells me they have a financial planner and that's helping part of the process, I'm very grateful for that because now I have another professional that is coming together and giving them strong advice, because they need to seek advice before they make those decisions. Sometimes asking the lender which is best for them.
Dominai Reeves:It may be what's most inexpensive, but it might not be best for them long term. Ray, as a financial planner, how do you help your clients figure out what they can truly afford when they're buying a house?
Ray Godleski:Yeah, it really gets into cash flow. You know, what kind of debts do they have? You know, in my opinion, this is my opinion, what you can afford or excuse me, what you can get approved for from a loan perspective is very generous, at least in my opinion. And so I might instruct someone on being just a little bit more conservative than going up to the absolute limits of what loan they can get. Now, I think we're all kind of paying attention to the student loan situation because, you know, for a while they weren't counting that, and now they are.
Ray Godleski:And I kind of, you know, I'm empathetic for folks that have student loans because, you know, one day you hear you're going to get $10,000 wiped off and then you don't. And then there's the people that already paid their loans off and are like, well, why don't I get can I get my money back? So it's not an easy situation. But we kind of just walked through some numbers and we used some software to kind of give them a sense of, look, this is your payment. How does that feel for your other parts of your plan?
Ray Godleski:Know, because if you've got a house, let's just take an example where someone, maybe they're going on lots of great vacations or they're spending a lot of money for other things in their plan, but then maybe the house allows them, maybe it's a new house and maybe now they're working from home, they're not paying, you know, for office lease space. They may have that. Or maybe they got a pool in the back. They're able to enjoy that or they got a gym in it. There's ways you can get that house and maybe save on other aspects of what you would spend money on.
Ray Godleski:But, you know, on the flip side, you know, if it's more or less the roof over your head and you still got plenty of other things to do, you just want to kind of be aware of and conscious that don't make it to where you just don't have any room to do fun stuff either. You know I Yes.
Dominai Reeves:And we are seeing a lot of our younger buyers, they are all about the experiences. So, what we used to look for in a home may not be as important to them. They are looking for lower maintenance homes. They're looking for homes closer to places that they can walk and go to restaurants and shopping. And it's all about the experience.
Dominai Reeves:So, if it means a smaller house or a townhome, they're okay with that. Low maintenance, It's all about the experience for the younger generation.
Ray Godleski:Yeah. Yeah. You know, the other thing is people have to remember is, you know, your property taxes, they might be going up, you And so you got to factor that in. On the flip side, if you're older, you know, you wanna think about what counties are you going in because it may be your property tax bill goes down.
Dominai Reeves:They do. Yeah, tax credit starts Depending
Ray Godleski:on what county you're in.
Dominai Reeves:Yes, that's for sure. So, you know, how do you think a home typically fits into a client's long term financial plan or within their retirement strategy?
Ray Godleski:Yeah, so I love being a homeowner personally and for a lot of clients. It doesn't mean that everybody should buy a home instead of renting, right? Sometimes the markets change on us, right? The rental market changes, house market changes. Obviously, someone that has a family with kids and loves the school district they're in, that's probably a good prospect of someone that should probably buy a home and enjoy the benefits of doing whatever you want to the On the flip side, what if you're someone that's a little unsure about job situation, family situation?
Ray Godleski:You've got some uncertainty there. Renting might make more sense. But for the folks that are buying a home, you always try to kind of, I guess, tell them too or share with them the tax benefits, right? It used to be the mortgage interest reduction was a big deal. There was a tax cut in 2017 that made the standard deduction go way up.
Ray Godleski:So less of a big deal for as many people, but it's still important for certain people, the second homes or in certain states. But you know, from a wealth building standpoint, I love it because now when you sell that home, hopefully the housing market is appreciated, which of course we've seen in dramatic fashion over the last decade or so. But in addition to that, if you're paying a fixed mortgage, every payment you're putting in there, right, a greater amount goes towards the principal. So there's a good chance you got some equity. And then when you sell it, you don't have to worry about capital gains tax up to certain points.
Ray Godleski:Sure. So I love that for, you know, let's just say someone is single. They can take $250,000 of profit on their primary home without paying capital gains tax. And they don't even have to put in the next house if they don't want to. Some people still think that, but that's not the case.
Ray Godleski:And then for the married file joint folks, if they can get $500,000 of capital gains tax free, that is a really nice tax benefit there. So, you know, and to be a little bit I'm going go off on a tangent here. If someone's going through separation and divorce, unfortunately, they just might want to remember that aspect, you know, if that helps. Let's say someone's got, you know, dollars 480,000 of capital gains, you know, and then they sell it when they're single versus married. It's just, you got to factor that in.
Ray Godleski:Oh, you're going be paying some capital gains tax. But yeah, I love folks being able to buy a home. And if you can stay in it a while, you can make a good profit. And obviously, that could help towards your down payment on the next home.
Dominai Reeves:For sure. It's a great way to grow wealth and to use that to invest in another property, for sure.
Ray Godleski:Well, Dominai, let me ask you a question. Do you or any agents at your office have experience doing ten thirty one property exchanges?
Dominai Reeves:Yes, we do. And we always recommend a financial planner and a tax accountant immediately. But yes. So tell me a little bit about the ten thirty one exchange. You mentioned that you don't need to use all your equity.
Dominai Reeves:What is like a common mis conception that you hear? How do you talk to them about that?
Ray Godleski:Right. So the thing about the 10:31 exchange, you know, in the real estate market, the most important thing is to follow the steps that's laid out there. And so I share the PDFs with people that kind of gets real specific around having a qualified intermediary. That is one of the most important things you need at the closing table so that that money is going there and you have an opportunity to do it because you still gotta, you know, identify the properties, still gotta close it in the proper time. So, and that's like the like properties.
Ray Godleski:There's a lot of other nuances to it. But one of the trends that I've seen for what we do is something called a ten thirty one DST or Delaware Statutory Trust. And so I always say, check with your accountant, make sure they're okay with any of these ideas, and make sure you're following the right guidelines so you're getting what you're trying to accomplish, which is, I don't wanna pay a tax on this sale right now. I would like to defer or delay the tax to the future. And so when you do these strategies, that can be done.
Ray Godleski:And who knows, maybe in the future, you're in a lower tax environment and you don't mind realizing a capital gains tax. Or even in today's code, which has been this way for a while, it doesn't mean it couldn't change. But right now, what I love about real estate is you can inherit real estate properties from parents or other people and get what's called a step up in basis. So, maybe somebody bought a property for a couple hundred grand, and over time their cost basis is down and now the value is way up higher. They can actually get a When someone passes away and it goes whoever adheres that property, they now get a new cost basis.
Ray Godleski:They don't have to pay so much in tax. So, those are some of the other things that I like. And so get back to the ten thirty one DST that's kind of a, I would say it's trending up, is maybe somebody can't find the right property they want. So they may be able to utilize a ten thirty one DST structure, which just means they're able to take that profit and they put it into a property that's more of a fractional ownership in commercial property. Could be assisted living, could be a storage place, something that may be more recessionary proof.
Ray Godleski:And so now they're able to still get income every month, not pay that tax, and they're deferring the tax to the later. And what I like about those is they could then maybe it's into the future, five years, ten years down the road, and they're like, You know what? I kind of do want an individual property right now. Can I do a $10.31 exchange with that? And the answer would be yes.
Ray Godleski:So Yeah. That's smart. Yeah, I like those.
Dominai Reeves:Yeah, that's smart.
Ray Godleski:Well, let's see. I was going to ask you some more questions. Let me take a look here. When it comes to investments on a property, do you get into the weeds there on what's a good investment property? Like what are some things that realtors at your office do to help people understand how this is a good investment or maybe they need to pass on that one.
Narrator:And now a quick message from today's sponsor. If you're looking for advice specific to your situation, then take a look at this episode sponsor, Southeast Wealth Partners. To learn more about their team and approach, go to southeastwealthpartners.com. Southeast Wealth Partners is a great next step to be financially fluent.
Dominai Reeves:Like, you know, that's a great question. We do help our clients evaluate an investment property. And first, we do start with the numbers. I mean, we do have spreadsheets and pro formas to help ensure that they're going to have the cash flow if they're going to hold it and what they're looking for, like what their expenses are, what their cap rate will be, and what the appreciation could be from this property as well. So it's not just the numbers, but it's also the future appreciation because again, it is an investment and you want to make sure you're buying in an area that's going to appreciate because you want to hold it.
Dominai Reeves:But beyond math, we look at location trends, neighborhood stability, future development plans, tenant demand. Those are all factors that play into whether or not it could be a good investment. Like in the beginning, you might not see a lot of cash flow. I had somebody just buy a property just a little bit ago and it wasn't a lot of cash flow in the beginning, but the opportunity around it for it to continue to grow, now three years later, it's cash flowing at a much higher rate and the area is developing. So that was a good investment because they planned on keeping the property for ten years or more.
Dominai Reeves:That also plays into that as a factor. But it's not just about today's return, it's about long term value, minimizing risk. We work through questions like, is it an area growing in value? Will this be easy to rent or resell if needed? Are there hidden costs that I'm not thinking about or things that are going to eat into my profits later on?
Dominai Reeves:So a good investment is a smart balance between financial opportunity and future flexibility.
Ray Godleski:So if someone had a choice between buying an investment property near a Chick fil A or a Walmart, which one should they be?
Dominai Reeves:Yeah, I'd go for the Chick fil A. Go for the Chick fil A all day.
Ray Godleski:Just wondering.
Dominai Reeves:Especially if you can walk to the Chick fil A, that would be amazing.
Ray Godleski:Yeah.
Dominai Reeves:Yes.
Ray Godleski:Well, I mean, when you think about rental income, is that Do you have an example of what kind of numbers somebody might expect?
Dominai Reeves:Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, and people have buy boxes, right? I have a lot of investors that I work with, and they're like, This is my buy box. I want to be between under 300,000. I want a three bedroom, two bath.
Dominai Reeves:I want a two car garage, no HOA. I don't want any double lines in front of it. Like, my investors that I work with, they have certain buy boxes, and they repeatedly buy the same type of property over and over because they've developed a model and plan that works. But the first thing I tell anybody that's considering buying a rental property is this is a business. It's not a hobby.
Dominai Reeves:You have to treat it like a business. So before you jump in, you need to be realistic about the responsibilities, tenant management, maintenance, legal compliance, budgeting for unexpected repairs, like how much of reserves are you going to have. We need to make sure that you have cash reserves. And because even the best tenants eventually move out and you're going to need to do repairs. So we recommend also, are you gonna self manage it?
Dominai Reeves:Are you gonna hire a professional property manager? These are all things that we will talk through and figure in the costs to make sure that you are having the right cash flow. Some tenants or some investors are good with 200 to $500 a month. Some are not. Some are willing to put more into a property.
Dominai Reeves:Like, they're not going to go out of their buy box. But in today's market, maybe they're having to invest a little bit more than they normally would have to do the repairs on the property. But if they're still getting it at their same buy box, some of them are okay to do that. So, it's just talking to them and really understanding, is this truly your buy box? Are you going to stick in that?
Dominai Reeves:Because if this model works for you, then let's make this the parameters to buy the property.
Ray Godleski:I'm curious too, are you seeing people get real estate license and using it as a second job, side hustle? What are you seeing? Who's kind of making it out there when it comes to either whether it's a second career or it's just additional income? And also curious about how they I'm just curious how they handle their finances as well. But us a little bit about folks that are getting into real estate.
Dominai Reeves:Yeah. So it's been crazy. It was a frenzy from 2020 till now. We saw COVID and the market just take appreciating here in Atlanta for 20% a year. It was crazy when we normally appreciate between 35% a year.
Dominai Reeves:So we saw many agents getting into the market and wanting to have a piece of that pie. What we are seeing now that we're going back to more of a normalized market where houses are, it takes maybe three months. Average days on market right now in our area, North Metro Atlanta, it's around three months. So, what we're seeing things start to normalize, we are seeing that the agents who maybe got into the market over the past five years when it was a frenzy, and it was more of a speed based market, they're struggling and having some challenges for sure, because it is a skills based market. And they never unfortunately learned the skills because it was such a speed based market.
Dominai Reeves:But the top, we say that 20% of the agents do 80% of the work. And those agents that are fully committed, full time, you know, real estate is not forty hours a week. It could be sixty hours a week, minimum. So those agents that take it seriously and treat it like a business, just like investing in real estate is a business, if you treat it like a business, you will get back. But what we are seeing is the efforts that you have to do right now, you may have to do two or three times more of the effort to get a little bit less of the pie.
Dominai Reeves:But at the end of the day, those that are skilled and are top performers, they are still outperforming the market.
Ray Godleski:Yeah, yeah. That's good. That's good. Now, when people are getting up there in age, our industry has an opinion about reverse mortgages, but I'm kind of curious, know, where does the real estate industry fall in at? Because I know the majority, I don't know what the numbers are, it's got to be at least, I don't know, 89% of mortgages, probably more than that, are forward mortgages or your traditional mortgages.
Dominai Reeves:Where
Ray Godleski:is it? Do you sit and where does the industry sit as far as just their thoughts around reverse mortgages?
Dominai Reeves:And I've been hearing that come back a while. For years, we used to hear about it before, but now during this 2020s, past five years, we didn't hear about reverse mortgages. But it is a thing because there are so many homeowners that have equity in their house and paid their homes off, but they don't have any other equity. That might've been the only asset they truly ever developed. So I'm definitely a big proponent of reverse mortgages.
Dominai Reeves:I think if you can get your equity out and take care of yourself and take care of your family, I'm a big proponent of it. What are your thoughts?
Ray Godleski:Yeah. It's interesting. The industry a few years back really started looking at it, the financial services industry, right? And let's not poo poo this. Let's really look at it.
Ray Godleski:So a couple of pretty smart people in the industry, you know, like Doctor. Wade Pfau and a few others, you know, said, Hey, you know, this isn't, on its face, a bad thing. This might be actually a good thing. And so as far as how I look at it, it's, you know, look at it as, okay, is somebody in their home? And is that the home they want to remain in?
Ray Godleski:Because most people do want to remain in their home unless they're maybe they got a master upstairs, you know, and they just, you know, don't want to fool with an elevator or, you know, going up the railing. But, you know, the folks that have the master on the maids, you know, maybe even if they have someone coming into the home, you know, they like that. And so very few, but there are people that have maybe some kind of insurance policy that helps pay for that. Sure. You know, and of course, those people are happy they have it, but then there's plenty of people that don't.
Ray Godleski:And so sometimes that home equity can be something they can use and then they just gotta evaluate, do they wanna do it as a line of credit on the home where they have a payment or do they wanna do it as a reverse mortgage and not have a payment? So I can see it in a plan for an existing home. Now, if somebody's going to go buy a home, you know, that's a situation where oftentimes if somebody's in their 60s or so, they want to pay cash for the home. Yeah. And that's a great spot to be in.
Ray Godleski:Sometimes what happens is maybe the home they want is a couple of thousand dollars more than they got cash to put onto it. And so for those folks, you know, they could use a reverse mortgage to buy the home. Again, this is not a recommendation to use it. It's just an example of how it works. And so in that scenario, my main kind of 2¢ is, are you gonna stay in that home a while?
Ray Godleski:Because if you're gonna stay in that home a long time, you know, it may be a great thing to think about, right? Because you're just gonna stay in the home and not have a payment anymore. But if you're a little unsure and you might move pretty soon afterwards, they do cost a lot, right, upfront. Long term, maybe not. But in the short run, if you're going to then move in five years, that loan is going to cost more than a traditional loan.
Ray Godleski:So that's kind of how I look at it.
Dominai Reeves:Well, what are some things- I mean, it's definitely a buzzword for sure. And we're seeing it's just a big surge in the 55 and older buyer as well and seller. People are thinking long term. They're looking for main level living, like you said. They're looking for different things.
Dominai Reeves:And the boomers are a huge part of the market right now. 55 and older is a big segment we're seeing here. And people building homes for that, because they're building are looking for Buyers today are not looking for five years like they were in the past ten years. Now they're looking for long term. What do I need that's gonna last me twenty years or more?
Dominai Reeves:And that's a Reverse mortgage is a big, huge keyword, and it's something that we need to talk about to all our seniors that are starting to sell their properties. Some are moving in with family members being taken care of or assisted living facilities. So there are some that just want to take their equity out. So I feel like it's a big need today. Yeah.
Dominai Reeves:Yeah. Ray, what do we need to do as real estate agents? What are some ways that a financial planner can help us with our own personal financials?
Ray Godleski:Yes. So, I think because of my real estate background, I really enjoy working with some realtors in the area, some mortgage folks, whatnot. But as a realtor, it's really important to have a financial plan, whether you're an established rock star or you're new to it, whether you're coming from another industry or not, but you really should probably be getting some advice on how to get set up. I know your office and plenty of real estate offices do a good job of how do you just handle your cash flow from a standpoint of you got your business expenses, and this is how much commission and the activity level. So, you know, I of I just expect the real estate office is going to help folks on the operational side.
Ray Godleski:But what I like to do is get in, and I'm always thinking whether somebody's a realtor or not is how can we be tax smart, tax efficient? I don't do tax returns, right? But we do tax planning. So, as a matter of fact, I met someone recently that has wrote most of their stuff off and then also adding money to a SEP IRA to reduce their tax bill.
Dominai Reeves:Love that.
Ray Godleski:And so, you know, I mentioned to the person and said, Hey, you know, you could have been putting money into a Roth IRA and getting that money to grow and take that money out later tax free. So it really does take the sitting down and coming up with a plan, thinking about a couple of things. One's tax efficiency. The other thing's just risk return. So if somebody, you know, that's more of a conversation around, you know, how long do they expect to grow that asset, right?
Ray Godleski:So if somebody's gonna get, you know, they see money and account value goes down one month or one quarter, if that person, if that freaks somebody out, then we need to make sure they're invested in something that's not gonna freak them out. But I can tell you that from a trend standpoint, solo 401ks, SEP IRAs, those two are pretty popular with realtors. The solo four zero one ks is something you can't really do if you have W-two employees working for you, or at least if they've been working for you for a while. There are some rules around, Hey, I just hired somebody. Can I wait a little bit?
Ray Godleski:And so, you can set up those type of accounts so that if you have somebody new to the business, it's not going to mess you up.
Dominai Reeves:For
Ray Godleski:sure. The solo four zero one, what's nice about those is someone could, maybe both spouses are in it, and they could both max them out. They could both have loan privileges, or one only makes $31,000 of income, and they could put about almost that much into a plan. You can't do that with a setup IRA. You can't do that with a traditional IRA.
Ray Godleski:And then for those mega teams that are out there, the ones that are really large, is there, you know, they maybe have a million dollars, 2 million of profit. Is there a way they can reduce their taxable income by $400,000 That's exciting without, you know, writing off a Tesla truck or something like that. This is like money that's in your account that you can have for yourself at retirement. So yeah, there's a lot of things out there. Like I said, I would just say definitely meet with an advisor about that.
Ray Godleski:And I highly recommend having a CPA do your taxes.
Dominai Reeves:Oh my gosh. You know, it's so needed. It's so needed because many real estate professionals, and for years I was guilty of this too, we spend our careers serving others and helping others grow their wealth. And sometimes it takes us a little bit longer to look at our own, right? So, I'm glad that you have ideas for people and that you continue to talk to real estate agents, because we come across great investments every day, and we need to consider growing our own wealth and taking care of our future as well.
Dominai Reeves:And I love the opportunities to also invest in some of these programs so then you can also purchase homes from those programs as well.
Ray Godleski:So, I know we're getting close to our time here. So, let me ask you a question for the audience here as far as actionable tips. Like, what would be something, whether they're buying a home or getting ready to sell a home, what would be like a good tip on something they need to be thinking about, whether they're going to buy a home or sell a home?
Dominai Reeves:Yes, definitely. You you want see your reserves, make sure you have some cash reserves in the bank. Six months reserves for all your bills, all your finances, all your expenses. Definitely have your credit checked. And I wouldn't say like going online because those credit scores aren't accurate.
Dominai Reeves:You definitely wanna have somebody review your credit report, make sure that it's accurate. So many times I see people out there with things on their credit report that they didn't And if they were to have pulled up their credit report or had it looked at beforehand, it would have made a difference in the interest rate that they receive because the credit report is directly linked to your interest rate that you receive. So, I'd say start getting your ducks in a row, making sure that you have reserves, and you reach out to top professionals. Reach out to a financial planner. Do you have options to purchase the home?
Dominai Reeves:Do you have some of these IRAs? Do you have some of these solo 401s in place that you could also draw upon to purchase a property? Definitely reach out to your tax accountant and see what that's going to look like, a lender and a real estate professional. Surround yourself with professionals that are going to be giving you advice so you can make a well informed decision. What I see many people do about something that happened is they start looking at properties and then they get emotionally involved first.
Dominai Reeves:And that's always a slippery slope. You want to make sure that you have things in your financial world and logically set up so that when you start looking at homes, can make an informed decision instead of going out and finding homes and falling in love with something and then starting to make decisions that way. That makes sense.
Ray Godleski:Yes. Know, that got me kind of curious. So let's say someone really wants to move, and let's say financially, they can qualify to buy another home without selling their home. And so in that scenario, they can go get the home they really want. Sure.
Ray Godleski:And maybe not even make it contingent, even though in the back of their mind, they may want to sell it prior to the sale. Do you see much of this? And what's some of the things that come up in discussion when somebody wants to do it that way?
Dominai Reeves:Those scenarios, and we saw that a lot in the market that we just came out of. We saw many people buying a house first before they ever even sold their house because homes weren't being considered with contingency offers. We are seeing contingency offers now. You don't have the negotiation power when you have a home that is contingent upon selling. However, if you have that financial ability to do that, let's sit down and talk about it.
Dominai Reeves:What does that look like? What could this cost you? And where is the market going? Because if you're buying a house in this market, I want to show you the trends of where you're buying and what does that look like if you decide to buy now and then you don't sell your house for another three to six months? What could that potentially look like?
Dominai Reeves:Because at the end of the day, it's all about making sure, one, that you get the house that you want. But two, is it a smart financial decision? Like buying this second home now, should your house sell here, are you okay? But should your house sell at a different number, are you still okay? And if it doesn't sell maybe in a month and if it takes three months or six months, are you still okay?
Dominai Reeves:So, need to plan. We need to really look at everything. You want to look at things logically and emotionally, but at the end of the day, start logically first.
Ray Godleski:All right. Very good. Good. We got any final thoughts before we sign off today?
Dominai Reeves:No, I just love that I'm a big proponent of when realtors and financial advisors work together because the client wins every time. When you choose professionals, you get your money's worth and you get what you're paid for because real estate is a major part of somebody's financial portfolio. And when we collaborate together as professionals, it helps clients see the full picture of the home buying and selling process. It helps their investments make a bigger impact, and everybody reaches their financial goals.
Ray Godleski:You know, the other thing that I like about having a realtor that you can count on in your market is they always have the, not always, but most of them have connections on, Hey, I need a flooring person. I need a countertop person. I need this. I need that. And on the contracting side, I feel like they're always well connected and I really appreciate Yes.
Dominai Reeves:And people that do a lot of work for us, they do a great job for our clients because we continually refer them. And then it's a vetted contractor and it just keeps the process moving faster and you know that you're getting quality work and they're anxious to please because they want to continue having the referrals.
Ray Godleski:Well, Dominique, like I said, we've known each other a while. This has been great doing this podcast together. When you get in your car later, be sure and put on a little Nirvana music. For sure.
Dominai Reeves:I was in college back then, so I'm not
Ray Godleski:going do that.
Dominai Reeves:But this is fun. This is good. Thank you so much. I learned a lot today, Take
Ray Godleski:care. I'll see you later. And for our listeners, we'd love for you to subscribe, follow and share the financially fluent podcast. For more tools and resources on financial planning, go to the website, southeastwealthpartners.com. And we hope you go out and have a awesome day.
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