Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In this episode of 'Hot Takes,' host Jim Baker is joined by longtime friend and successful real estate agent Laurie Meyer. They reminisce about their college days, discuss Lori's journey from growing up on Long Island to becoming a prominent real estate agent in Greenwich, Connecticut, and share insights on modern real estate trends. Lori opens up about personal challenges like raising children, going through a divorce, and coping with the loss of a child. She also offers valuable advice for first-time homebuyers, young mothers, and reflects on the importance of embracing life's small joys. Don't miss this heartfelt and informative conversation.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
01:29 Childhood Memories and Growing Up
04:27 College Years and Career Beginnings
09:47 Life in Manhattan and Career Shifts
12:48 Raising a Family and Personal Challenges
15:39 Transition to Real Estate
23:41 Real Estate Career Insights
30:58 Real Estate Market Trends
34:25 Challenges for First-Time Home Buyers
37:48 New Construction and Commission Negotiations
40:41 Family Updates and Personal Stories
43:33 Coping with Loss
47:36 Future Plans and Hobbies
49:31 Hot Takes on Real Estate Inspections
55:05 Five Pieces of Life Advice
Creators and Guests
What is Hot Takes: 50Cups?
United We Sip – Dive into the fascinating world of American culture with "Hot Takes: 50Cups." Join founder Jim Baker as he shares his hot takes on everything from day to day life, business trends and societal shifts, uncovering how we are all more united than we think.
At 50Cups, we believe in the power of community and the shared goal of living a healthy, fulfilled life. Our mission is to inspire you through organic, great-tasting teas, education, and awareness, uniting us all in our quest for better living.
Each episode of "Hot Takes: 50Cups" features Jim's candid and insightful commentary on the challenges, triumphs, and everyday experiences that shape our collective journey. From entrepreneurial wisdom, cultural observations, to health topics and nutrition this podcast offers a fresh perspective that will leave you inspired and enlightened.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a business leader, or simply curious about the threads that bind us, this podcast is your gateway to understanding and connection.
Subscribe now and join the conversation!
27 Hot Takes - Laurie Meyer
===
[00:00:28] Jim: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Hot Takes. I'm Jim Baker and today. I'm honored to have a lifelong friend of Wow, 40 years. Lori Meyer, who resides in Stanford, Connecticut, but works in Greenwich, Connecticut, and she's a successful real estate agent. And I'm excited to talk to you today.
How are you?
[00:00:49] Laurie Meyer: I'm good. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
[00:00:53] Jim: So, first quick question. Do you drink tea?
[00:00:57] Laurie Meyer: I do drink tea. Yes,
absolutely. Every day I drink tea,
[00:01:01] Jim: Well, today I'm having 50 cups English breakfast tea, and if you need to order, just go to 50 cups tea.com and you can order away and we'll ship it to you.
[00:01:12] Laurie Meyer: I love that idea. Sounds perfect.
[00:01:16] Jim: So thanks for joining us today. Um,
tell us a little bit about yourself and, um. Where you grew up, you know, high school, college, obviously that's where we met. And um, we'll go from there.
[00:01:28] Laurie Meyer: sure. So I grew up on Long Island. I am the youngest of six kids. Which meant that I was pretty much left to my own devices. I had to figure a lot of things out for myself because my oldest brother is 18 years older than me, so when I was born, he was already in college, also a Villanova grad, and so my parents were very involved in going to his lacrosse games. Um, he got married very young. I became an aunt when I was only seven years old, so there was a lot of focus on that part of the family. And I was kind of left to ride my bicycle all over town, as we did in those days. You never got driven anywhere. You rode your bike and if it meant you were riding 10 miles to get somewhere, that was just what you did and you knew you just had to be home in time for dinner. And that was pretty much how we did things. And we also learned a lot about problem solving because we didn't have cell phones to call anybody. Um, and parents were just sort of not that involved in what we were doing. We
had a lot of freedom.
[00:02:37] Jim: What town in Long Island?
[00:02:38] Laurie Meyer: Garden City.
[00:02:39] Jim: Okay.
[00:02:40] Laurie Meyer: Yeah. It was a great little town. I went to Garden City High School.
One of the. Special things about that town is they have a town pool, um, and they really frown upon people having pools in their backyard. So summers meant you went to the town pool pretty much on an everyday basis, and that was where you met up with all your friends and it opened at 9:00 AM and was open until 10:00 PM so you could go home for dinner and then go back and meet friends after dinner.
[00:03:11] Jim: Yeah, I always thought that was cool 'cause I grew up, up and down the east coast and spent some of my years in New Jersey, um, I think fourth grade through sixth grade. And we'd had the town pool then. And you rode your bike down there and you basically stayed there all day long. And then we obviously moving before that and then after that, lost that privilege.
But that was a pretty cool thing.
[00:03:30] Laurie Meyer: It was, it was very special. And Monday was the day the pool was closed. So that was the day you went to the beach.
[00:03:37] Jim: Well, you, you're fortunate enough to be close to the beach. I wasn't in New Jersey, so, um, but I don't think they ever closed during the summertime, so that's interesting. So six kids obviously, but who's the, the closest to you? Is it your, the fifth kid in the family?
[00:03:53] Laurie Meyer: Correct. Yes. So my sister, so there's four boys, four in a row, and then two girls. And my sister is closest in age. She is five and a half years older than me. Um, and she lives in Pennsylvania. And, um, she has five children of her own. Um, so I probably am closest, not only age-wise, but also just um, in terms of friendship because she's.
My only sister, so we share and we text each other every single day. And talk on the phone whenever we can.
[00:04:27] Jim: And then, um, as you're graduating Garden City, and obviously you applied to Villanova and got in, were, were you, was that the school you just were gonna go to because
you brought to it or did you look at other places and
[00:04:40] Laurie Meyer: I looked at a lot of places and actually I did not get into Villanova when I was in high school. I, um, I really wanted to go to Boston College, the other Villanova, and I did not get into Boston College and I was gonna go to a small school in Boston and at the 11th hour, I really did not want to go, so I stayed home for one year.
I went to Adelphi, which is also in Garden City. Um, really good college, but it wasn't where I wanted to be. And from there I transferred to Villanova. Um, so it felt like I was at Villanova the whole time 'cause I was there sophomore year and um, and I loved it. I mean, it was a special place. We were lucky we got to go there.
[00:05:22] Jim: No, it was it was interesting 'cause I, that was a reach school for me and it seemed like I was in public school also in Connecticut and it seemed like there's probably about four or five kids every year that went there. And I took a tour down there. 'cause we had some friends that lived in Westchester I think at the time.
And, um, we had the Columbus Day weekend off and went down there and toured it and saw one of the. High school kids. That was two years ahead of me that was there. And he gave us the personal tour and I fell in love with the place. And um, and back then you did an interview with admissions. So I went down there and interviewed and, um, I was borderline at best.
And my now wife, who was also my high school, um, classmate at the time, just the classmate by the way, and. We her brother, her brother had gone there and he was really smart. And I got in and it was the day Reagan got shot. I remember getting the
acceptance letter and I got in and um, the next day I went to school and told my now wife, Hey Colleen, I got into Villanova.
And she goes, how the heck did you get into that school? And subsequently, two days later, I got a letter from the admissions. Guy, his name was Tom Klich, and he said, Hey, just wanna let you know, congratulations on getting into Villanova. You impressed me with the interview, which I was stunned at 'cause I didn't think I did a that great of a job.
And he goes basically, he basically said, um, I took a big chance on you and therefore if you need any help while when you get here, don't hesitate to reach out. Because basically if I fail out, he doesn't wanna be held responsible.
[00:07:02] Laurie Meyer: Oh my gosh. Wow. That's really touching though, that he went ahead and sent you something so personal.
[00:07:08] Jim: It was, it was. And he, I think by the time I finished my, our, my freshman year, he was, he left to go to a different school.
Um, so he wasn't there anymore. But, um, to make matters worse for me, I didn't get to go to school like a traditional freshman where you go through orientation and everything else.
'cause I got mono. About three days before I was supposed to go. So I had to start three weeks later in September and then I couldn't drink for the first semester and drinking age was 18 back then and everybody thought I had some disease 'cause I'm walking around with a cup of water all night long.
So it was tough to socialize, you know, in that first semester.
[00:07:46] Laurie Meyer: I think you ended up okay. You figured it out.
[00:07:50] Jim: it might have been better for me to go to Adelphi in the first year than
[00:07:53] Laurie Meyer: You, you jumped through some, some of those
hurdles though. I think you ended up okay.
[00:07:58] Jim: So you're at Villanova and then what do you major in and what'd you learn there and all that good stuff.
[00:08:05] Laurie Meyer: I majored in economics and I when you transferred to Villanova, and I'm not sure if this is still the case, but when you transferred to Villanova at the time, you were not allowed to transfer into the business school. So the only way I could still study something in the finance world or business, um, was to take economics through arts and sciences.
So my economics degree is not from the business school, it's from arts and sciences. Um, but that also required me to take a lot of other classes. Which gave me a more well-rounded education 'cause I was required to take a language. So I ended up taking Italian, which I took in high school, and then, um, was able to progress with that, which was a lot of fun.
I had to take science classes, I had to take a lot of literature classes and then electives. I ended up taking, um, some theater classes, which were really fun. I had to take philosophy. Um, so just sort of a different course load than probably what I would've taken if I had gone through the business school, which is what you did.
Correct.
[00:09:07] Jim: No. So that's how you and I met, because I followed the same path that you did.
[00:09:11] Laurie Meyer: Okay.
[00:09:12] Jim: I didn't know what I wanted to be and I barely got in anyhow, so, you know, I was slotted to go into liberal arts, not the business school because I was pretty competitive. Um, so like you, I declared after sophomore year and needed some type of business.
So that's why I took economics as
[00:09:26] Laurie Meyer: Okay. Got it. Got it. But was that was your major, wasn't it?
Okay. 'cause I know we were in quite a few classes together, especially by senior year. I think we were in a lot of the same classes.
[00:09:36] Jim: exactly.
[00:09:37] Laurie Meyer: Yeah.
[00:09:38] Jim: So then, um, we kind of lost track of each other after graduation. Um, so you graduate, you start work. What are you doing?
[00:09:47] Laurie Meyer: I graduated, I immediately moved into Manhattan. I, um. The first job I had was with an insurance company who actually insured municipal bonds. Um, so it was sort of a, a roundabout way to get down to Wall Street. The office was located right next to the South Street Seaport, so it was a great location. Um, it was, um, an introduction to the workforce.
Um, wasn't really a job that I wanted and then I, um, but I did meet a man that I dated for quite a few years. And he had some friends that were working on trading desks. Um, and when I listened to what they were doing, that was what I really wanted to do. So, um, through them I kind of got some insight as to what would be needed to do that. And then one of my brothers, um, he gave me a list of all the phone numbers and every trading desk in New York. And I just cold called all the desks. And when I got to the last one he said, well, you know, we could use an assistant here. Why don't you come in? And I did and I got the job. So I was working on the government desk at Alex Brown, um, which isn't one of the most prestigious companies in that Wall Street world 'cause they're based outta Baltimore.
But the location was right on Wall Street, literally down the block from the stock market. And very good friend of mine, who you also know, Ann. Ann France was working at the stock market, so it ended up being the perfect solution and a great way for me to learn a lot and get into the business world.
Um, I worked there. She was down the street. We were able to go out at night. It was just a lot of fun. Unlike a lot of the people that I knew at the time, I was actually living in the city. Um, most of the people in our age group were still living and commuting from home. I didn't have that luxury 'cause my mother was out in Pennsylvania and my father had already passed away, so I just sort of had to find a place to live and figure that out, which meant my, my funds were very, very limited and I learned very quickly how to make a penny go really far. And the office that I worked in, they always had coffee, they always had tea, they always had cup of soup. And that was basically what I would eat for lunch, was whatever I could get in the office. Was what I would eat. I never bought coffee. Um, maybe I would buy a bagel for 25 cents, but I was very, very frugal and careful with how I spent my money because I had to be. Um, and then that desk ended up getting closed, and then I was in between jobs for a while and I went to Smith Barney. And I was on the government desk and the mortgage backed desk. I kind of moved around all over the place there. But it was such a great experience. I really enjoyed it. Um, and I did that until I started having children.
And then once I started having children, I was very fortunate that I was able to stay home and raise my children. So I was home for 20 years raising children before I went back to work.
[00:12:59] Jim: Are you raising 'em in the city at that point, or did you do
[00:13:01] Laurie Meyer: No, no, at that point we were living in Princeton, New Jersey. Um, my ex-husband was actually living there when I met him, so that's where we were. And that was actually a really nice location because I was only about an hour from my mother. And my sister and two of my brothers lived in Pennsylvania, so I was close to a lot of my family. Um, but the commute was pretty rough. So then we ended up moving to Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and that's where we lived. Um, I lived there until about three years ago,
[00:13:35] Jim: Okay.
And then, um,
[00:13:37] Laurie Meyer: town.
[00:13:38] Jim: and I, you know, there's, I think it's, my wife also stayed home and I think that's, you know, admirable, right? I think it's it helps you know, the family and. Et cetera, et cetera. I know that's, you know, not exactly, um, rewarded today, you know, like it was, you know, back in the old days. Um, so was it tough to making that transition from, you know, full-time, you know, employee, so to speak, to now you're staying at home and you're raising all these kids?
[00:14:08] Laurie Meyer: No, it was, um, it was very challenging in terms of testing my patients at times.
Um, but I would never trade that. Um, I found it to be the most gratifying. It is a very. Special experience to be able to be right there with your child and hear the first words and watch them take the first steps and just be part of every milestone. Um, I do wish that maybe I had my hands in business to some degree because it would've been a lot easier to figure out. Post raising children, what my next move would be. So that, that was actually, I think one of the next questions you were leading to was a significant turning point in my life or something where I learned, um, so getting divorced was challenging because I was now had to figure out how to work and make money after being home and dependent on somebody for 20 years. So that was pretty challenging. Um, and I was scared. I actually went to a life coach to kind of help me figure out a plan. Um, and I found that incredibly helpful. I learned a lot about myself and I, a lot of journaling. I did. It's funny if I take Today, and so that was, um, about 13 years ago. If I go back and look at those journals, how much I've grown from then to now is, um, crazy to see the difference in myself. But I knew if I went into real estate, I would still have a little bit of flexibility in terms of, you know, being able to take off in the middle of the day if I needed to be home with someone that was sick or pick up someone from school or go to one of their games or events. So it just made the most sense and I was doing it full-time.
I was not just a part-time. You know, person just doing it for fun. It wasn't a hobby, it was
my career. And that's what I'm still doing today.
[00:16:09] Jim: So how many kids did you have?
[00:16:11] Laurie Meyer: This is always a hard question, but I, I have four children. Um, and that was also one of the, a huge turning point for me. Um, one of my children passed away when she was 21. Suddenly she was away for at college and she had a heart condition that we never knew about. So, um, that turned my world and of course, the entire family's world upside down. Um, and I, I kind of, I was still working, but just not, my head wasn't really in it. So for about a year and a half I was really just kind of on the sidelines doing the minimum that I could do just to. Stay in business, but, um, I just was in so much shock, I just didn't even know what was what or where I was going.
So that was incredibly challenging. Um, so that was a huge, huge turning point in my life.
[00:17:05] Jim: Sure, and we will, if you want to, we could talk about that a little later on, but as. Going back, you're raising kids and whether it's a divorce or it's a, you lose your spouse or spouse loses a job. Um, if you're gonna give any advice to, you know, young mothers today that took your path, um, to just to not, you're not preparing for the negative, but you always want to be, have a backup plan, so to speak.
What, what kind of advice would you give them?
[00:17:37] Laurie Meyer: I would say, you know, hold on to. Your hobbies and your interests. Don't lose any of that. I, I definitely felt that I was somewhat lost and I, I wouldn't say that was because I was raising children. I think it was more from just being in a, not a very good marriage. Um, and I pretty much lost sight of who I was for a while. Um, 'cause I was spending a lot of times walking on eggshells and that's no way to live. Um, and that was one of the things that gave me the strength and prompted me, I think, when. My kids were in their teen years. I just wanted them to realize that that was not a normal way to live, and I didn't want them to think that the stress that was in our household was normal. Um. So I think advice I would give you is just hold on to who you are. And even if that means you are getting up a little bit earlier, or when your child is napping, take some time for yourself to read or play the piano or whatever it is that you truly enjoy. Because I do think that's really important. And probably one of the best things I've ever done is I've, I've worked out. Ever since I was home with my kids, I always, always, always found time to exercise, always. And to this day, that's a ritual for me. I wake up and I go to the gym first thing in the morning. Um, and I think that kept my head on straight because it clears your head and it's just an outlet.
[00:19:04] Jim: It's interesting 'cause what I respected and liked about you in college is you were wide open. You always, if I did something dumb, you'd tell me, um, you weren't the walk on the eggshell type of person. Um, so
[00:19:17] Laurie Meyer: interesting that you
remember that. That's really funny. Yeah, as I said, I was pretty much lost. It was, um, it was a bad situation. So
I,
[00:19:25] Jim: Oh, just go ahead. Sorry.
[00:19:26] Laurie Meyer: feel like I'm much more of myself today.
[00:19:29] Jim: So from an economic standpoint though, um, you know, any advice for moms today on that?
[00:19:36] Laurie Meyer: Um, make sure you know where the money's going. Um, be a part of that. I was the bill payer, so I, I had a pretty good grasp on that. And also because of our financial backgrounds, I understood where money was and what it was doing. Um, in terms of, you know, I actually would give advice to my ex-husband, like, you know what? Everybody's buying Apple products. I think we should buy Apple. Because those work, I think we should invest in at and t because they're gonna be the only carrier that has the Apple phone when that comes out. So just listening to tidbits in the news, um, and whatever it is that. You can do to kind of keep your own eyes on it.
'cause I think it's very easy if you're a stay at home mom to just let the husband take care of all that. But I think you really need to be on top of it and know where the money's going. Um, and then my ex-husband was out of work for a while and that was when he decided, okay, I'm gonna start paying the bills and takeover. Um, so I still sort of had a grip, but I, I definitely wasn't as. In tune to it because he decided he wanted to be in charge of it. Um, and I think that led to maybe some reckless spending, which wasn't good. 'cause I've always been pretty frugal and, you know, sound about where my money goes. Yes.
[00:20:59] Jim: And then as you're going through the divorce piece of it is the life coach. Did that help you not walk on eggshells anymore and beco and get back to what your core was?
[00:21:09] Laurie Meyer: Absolutely. Absolutely. It was, um, I wanna say it was probably one or two years of just work on myself. Um, kind of listening to my gut and trusting myself and, um, believing in who I was and just sort of remembering things from my childhood that made me happy. You know, I love to listen to music and sing out loud. And I don't care if it sounds good or not, it makes me happy. I love to just go to the beach and look at the sunrise or the sunset, just all the things that matter to me. I love listening to my kids laugh and when they're goofy. Um, and all of those things were getting smothered when I was married because it was just not a happy situation. So I, I kind of got back to my core of who I was.
[00:21:59] Jim: And do you think during that time too, as your kids are getting older, obviously kids always are way smarter than we think they are, and. Are they giving you advice, um, indirectly or directly, and are you taking it at that point in time?
[00:22:12] Laurie Meyer: Um, I think there were times maybe where I overheard them say something sort of, um, intuitive to my ex-husband. Um. Why'd you have, why'd you have all these kids if you know, and I don't wanna start going airing during laundry and
getting into nitty
gritty details. But, um, I think there were times where I would overhear things they said to him and I was like, wow. They, they pick up on a lot more than we realize. Even if you think maybe you're, you're hiding something from your kids, like, oh, they won't pick up on this. They know what's going on. They, they get it. They can feel it, they feel the stress if there's stress in the house. Um, and all of them will agree that pretty much the minute he walked out the door, we could all breathe. And that was just huge. And if it meant, you know, having to be much more careful with money and, and moving and figuring things out, it was worth it to just have our own peace.
[00:23:13] Jim: Yeah. And I think too, it's anything regarding leadership, especially parental leadership, is more about what you do and not what you say. And you know, your kids are, they're, they're like spies. I mean, they're watching you 24 7, right? They. I know when you come home, you know when you leave
and you know, they, they just know stuff.
And so it's, it's all, all about what you're actually doing, I think is probably the thing that sometimes we lose sight of.
[00:23:38] Laurie Meyer: Yes, very much agreed. For sure.
[00:23:41] Jim: So now you're the real estate agent, and what's the. Real estate climate, like at that point in time. And how do you, do you start out just getting your license and then trying to go get houses? Or are you, you know, the admin in the real estate office and then you slowly, you know, go get the license and then start your own thing?
[00:24:01] Laurie Meyer: No, I just, um, immediately went and took all the courses you have to take in order to get your license. So it's, it's actually quite a bit of education. Um. And it took, I think it's a, it was maybe eight or 10 weeks of education. So I had to go to all these classes and then you have to pass the test and there's two tests.
'cause there's one that's basically national law and then Connecticut, so you're local. Um, and then from once you pass that test, which I remember pushing the button and it said, you passed. And I kept pushing it, like really? Because I didn't believe it. Um, 'cause I remember I was very nervous going into it. Um, but I did pass the first time, so I was happy about that. And one of my neighbors, she had always had her own boutique real estate company. Um, and at the time it had just been taken over by Halstead. Halstead is now Brown Harris Stevens. So I had reached out to her and she's like, well, come work with me. So it was a, a very warm and fuzzy atmosphere. It was very small. To this day, she handpicks who is allowed to work in her office because she, she wants integrity. She wants very much a, um. A kind of a cheerleading atmosphere where we all help each other and support each other. In some offices, there can be a little bit more of backstabbing and trying to steal business from each other, and that doesn't happen in my office.
And that's one of the reasons why I think it's worked for me was because I felt like I had a lot of support. Um. And I learned a lot from watching mentors. And to this day, if I am in a situation and every deal is different, um, and you've been in business, so you understand that every client. Has something different they need. There's a lot of listening that you have to do. Sometimes they're going through a divorce, sometimes maybe they've lost a job. Sometimes maybe a spouse has died and you know, although I deal with a lot of first time home buyers and helping them get into a house and they start to have children is so gratifying. But there's the other side, sometimes it's not a happy move. Um, so being there just to empathize and listen and, um. Sometimes just be a shoulder to cry on is really part of the whole job. And I really enjoy the whole sort of therapy of it. I like helping people.
[00:26:36] Jim: What, what do you think your sweet spot is as a, an agent?
[00:26:40] Laurie Meyer: I really do. I really do love first time home buyers. That is my most favorite client to deal with. Um, they. Don't really know a lot about the whole process, so I'm typically teaching them a lot about the buying process. I put them in touch with lenders, with attorneys. Inspectors. Um, and I'm there handholding from beginning to end, and that is really, really enjoyable. Um, I also do enjoy working with my peers if they're selling a house and retiring and downsizing. Um. Unfortunately, we're not seeing much of that in the last few years because no one wants to give up their two and a half percent mortgage rate.
So we've, we've had, you know, at least in this part of the country, we're probably one of the few areas where there's still bidding wars on a regular basis and really low inventory. Um, but I, I, just to get back to how I started, because I think you, your question was more about how did I actually start in the business? Um. It was a lot of self-promotion, which was really uncomfortable for me, and now I'm okay with it, but I would just felt very uncomfortable putting myself out on social media, telling everybody what I do. Um, I started by writing a lot of articles just so my name would get out there. I would write blogs about the joys of living in Old Greenwich, um, all the things that I loved about it, um, and. I just was constantly reaching out and following up, always following up, and that that led to getting a few really good clients.
I remember any business that came into the office that no one wanted. If there was an opportunity, I would jump on it. Um, and actually one of my, sort of the funniest things, a girl in my office somehow got this listing for $200,000, which in our. Environment is very low. Um, it was a condo, kind of a crappy condo. And she said, do you want this listing? And I said, of course I do. And I did an open house there and this gentleman walked in and he said that he was looking for investment property. And I told him he couldn't buy in that building because they wouldn't allow him to rent it out, so it wasn't the right fit. So I started asking him a few questions. And I called him the next day to talk to him more about what he was looking for. That client ended up buying two houses in Greenwich. Um, they were both about two and a half million. Um, they rented out on a regular basis, so I was the one who was renting them out for him. One of the houses, he rented it out. I was on both sides of the deal. The person who rented it ended up buying a seven and a half million dollar house. And then, um, his children have used me. His children have sent their friends to me. So you just never know where the business is gonna come from. And I think you just have to always be professional and listen and follow through because you just never know. And I mean, so that one. Encounter at this stupid $200,000 listing that no one else wanted to take, led to a lot of business for me, and I consider that person my best client.
[00:30:03] Jim: Yeah, that's great.
[00:30:04] Laurie Meyer: Yeah,
[00:30:05] Jim: Did you sell the $200,000 property,
[00:30:07] Laurie Meyer: I did.
[00:30:10] Jim: which is now worth probably a million? Right.
[00:30:12] Laurie Meyer: I, I don't think it's worth that much, but it's, it's definitely increased in value. Yes.
Here's a hot take on some 50 cups tea. A few benefits of Earl Gray Tea is that it aids in digestion and weight loss. Um, in addition to this, it also contains polyphenol antioxidants, which removes the plaque in your heart, um, improving overall heart health and the health of arteries. And not only does it improve heart health, but its low amounts of caffeine give you the energy you need without spiking overall blood sugar.
Visit 50 cups tea.com to find out more.
[00:30:58] Jim: So in your opinion, what's going on with real estate today? Obviously the interest rates are higher than what they were before. So you have people staying in their low mortgage houses. You hear all these, this talk about private equity buying up tons of houses, um, which has inflated the price everywhere as well.
Um, what do you say to all that?
[00:31:18] Laurie Meyer: Well, definitely the interest rates are playing a big role in it, right? Because we've got, you know, people in our age group who wouldn't. Typically be ready to sell the family house if they've lived in it for 30 years. Um, and maybe they don't wanna deal with the maintenance and the upkeep and, you know, maybe it's just simply too big and too much to take care of. The only ones that I'm seeing that are in that category that are willing to sell are the ones that have a vacation house that they can go to, um, or just wanna leave the area altogether if they're, you know, moving to Florida or relocating completely. Um. Yeah, otherwise they're just like, well, I don't know where I would go. So, um, I, I don't, that's why I'm not selling and you know, I own this for such a low mortgage rate. It just doesn't make sense to then trade into something smaller but potentially be paying the same or even more on a monthly basis. And that's really created the gridlock and we've seen since. 2020. And it wasn't just COVID that started this sort of frenzy, the interest rates in 2020, that was when January, 2020 was sort of the rock bottom of interest rates.
That's when people were at 2%. And that created this hysteria of people wanting to buy and then COVID pushed it over the edge. So everybody's been leaving the city and I'm still. Most of the first time buyers are coming from New York, they're all leaving the city. Um, and it's not to say everyone's abandoning the city, although that's sort of the rumor right now, but I don't, I don't think it's any different than it was a month or two ago. Um, and a lot of them are either they wanna buy and they can't buy, so they're renting. So I've got lots of people in rentals and they just keep missing on bidding wars and they get to a point where they. Miss on maybe four or five homes, and they finally say, okay, what is it gonna take? And then they really say, okay, fine, I'll go this high.
Because often I'm telling them, well, this is the number you're gonna have to go to. This is what you're gonna need to do. You gotta drop all these contingencies. And it's, it kind of, it's very scary to put yourself in that position. Um, so it's not until they've missed a few or. They're desperate. Like, you know, their lease is ending, they're having baby, and they just need to settle somewhere. And that's often when, what it takes to get them to that finish line. Um, so despite the news that in other parts of the country they're seeing a softening, we're not seeing that here. It's still ultra competitive. And another interesting point is a lot of the new inventory that's coming on in Greenwich is over $10 million. And they're selling. So I've never seen so many $20 million houses sell in one time period as I've witnessed in the last two years. It's unbelievable.
[00:34:14] Jim: And are people mortgaging those homes or are they just paying cash
for 'em?
[00:34:17] Laurie Meyer: cash.
Isn't that incredible?
[00:34:20] Jim: Different world. Yeah.
[00:34:21] Laurie Meyer: It is a very different world. I don't live in that world.
[00:34:25] Jim: So from advice to new home buyers first time home buyers just to keep the mortgage rates down, are you telling them to come in instead of doing the traditional 20% down? Because it got to the point where the interest rates were two and a half percent, everybody was putting 10% down or almost nothing.
Are you telling them, Hey, come in with 30 to 40 now. Um, or like, what's, just to
[00:34:49] Laurie Meyer: Not necessarily. I would say, um, the traditional pattern I see is 20% down, 80% finance. I do sometimes encounter people that are like, Hey, you know, I've got some cash. I want my mortgage to be lower. I'll put down 40%, or those aren't that common. The biggest issue is when you're making your offer. Is to not have the mortgage contingency. So a lot of them still go and get their financing, but it's not part of the contract. It's not a contingency. So the risk with that is if it doesn't appraise, then your loan may not be as big as you need it to be. So you may end up having to put out more money. So, um, I always tell them they have to speak with their lender.
To really decipher if they are capable of doing that, because I don't want them to be in a position where they've let that go and now they really can't afford it 'cause it didn't appraise, which actually has only happened to me twice where someone's property didn't appraise for what they're buying it for. Um, but you know, the other risk is what if you lose your job and you don't have this contingency. Now if that happens. I think most people are gonna let you out of the contract because you simply just can't buy the house. Right. But, um, you would risk losing your deposit, but I've, I've never seen that happen, but it could happen.
So
[00:36:10] Jim: Sure.
[00:36:10] Laurie Meyer: that you have to keep in mind
[00:36:12] Jim: And when you say don't make the mortgage contingent on the offer, is that just getting a pre-approved all
[00:36:19] Laurie Meyer: and.
[00:36:19] Jim: lender, or is that
[00:36:20] Laurie Meyer: Yeah, you've gotta, well, someone has to be pre-approved before even looking at a house. They should be pre-approved
because they, they need to know what they can afford. Um, but when they're going to make an offer, and let's say there's gonna be seven offers on the house, and one is cash, one is being financed, the seller's always gonna look at all those terms.
So whoever's paying cash is always up here. Um, even if. Their number's a little bit lower than someone who's paying a mor getting a mortgage. They're probably gonna go with the one that's cash. And if they're showing proof of funds that they've got more than enough money to actually pay cash for that house, they're usually gonna be the ones that get the house. Um, so when I'm talking about the mortgage contingency, I can present the offer as if it's cash 'cause there's no contingency, but the buyer is still gonna go and get their loan. So that's all coming from their lender is gonna tell them what they're capable of buying and what price point they can look at. Um, and if they're looking at something that's below their budget, it's a lot easier to say, Hey, I don't need the mortgage contingency. But because things have gotten so competitive and prices have continued to go up, everyone who was at million and a half is now being pushed into 2 million just because you can't find anything that might be suitable.
[00:37:47] Jim: And there's no, yeah. Neighborhoods being built in your area that are, let's say, 800 to $1.5 million as opposed to these 10 to $20 million houses.
[00:37:57] Laurie Meyer: The only sort of new construction I'm seeing are condominiums and townhouses. Um, we've had a plethora of those going up, especially in Stanford. There's a, a area down by the water where they've built a lot of high-rise condos, and those are all rental buildings you can't even buy in those. And then there's a, a handful of new townhouse developments. Not so much in Greenwich because land is a little hard, harder to come by. Um, there's a few of them and maybe they'll have four townhouses, whereas in some of the other towns where property might be a little easier to get, they might be building 20 to 40 townhouses. Um, but I don't really see it in Greenwich just because you, you don't have that opportunity with the land.
[00:38:43] Jim: Last question on real estate. Um, they changed that law a few years ago where you can negotiate commission and I guess. You're gonna tell me, you could have always negotiated, but the buyers didn't know that and or the sellers. Um, has that affected your commission levels at all?
[00:38:59] Laurie Meyer: A little bit, I would say throughout Greenwich, for the most part, no, because I think. Um, the sellers there are pretty savvy and they value what we do, and they wanna make sure that their house is marketed the right way and they are willing to pay for it. Um, when I've left Greenwich and done business in Stanford or other towns, it's been a little bit trickier. In Stanford, you're more likely to see someone using a discount broker where basically they're not paying any commission. And then what happens is. I can't work for free, and it's not like I take someone out once and they buy a house. I'm often working with people for two years before they find a house.
So that's a lot of time that's gone into that. So I will tell my buyers, Hey, on this particular house. They're not paying any commission. I'm going to ask you to pay my commission. And then they'll say, we don't wanna look at that house. 'cause the buyer's already putting out so much money to buy a house. So I think for the people that think they can play with that and not pay it, I think it's gonna end up hurting them. And what you'll see is they end up, the listing expires, and then they end up remarketing it with a professional real estate agent that's gonna do all of the steps that. The marketing and actually be there.
I'm always there for all the showings. In some places they don't do that, but I, if I have a listing, I go to every showing and I'm showing the house for you. Um, but I have seen commission, maybe waiver by a half a percent. But for the most part we're still getting paid. Um, and it hasn't been a huge issue.
[00:40:41] Jim: Cool. So tell us about your kids. What are they doing? Where are they located?
[00:40:44] Laurie Meyer: Yep. So my oldest daughter, Nicole, just got married.
[00:40:49] Jim: Congratulations.
[00:40:50] Laurie Meyer: Thank you. And
same, same. Yep. And same as your anniversary. It was a lot of fun, although I barely remember it. I did not eat a thing at the wedding. At one point I turned around, I said, God, I'm really hungry. And all the tables were clear off and I said, wait a second. Did, did you serve dinner? Where I never got to eat anything, so I went to bed starving. Um. But it was really fun. So her and her husband live in Greenwich. They just rent a little two bedroom apartment. Um, and they've been there for a while 'cause they were living together before they got married. So they've been there for a while.
Um, my daughter Cassidy, still lives at home. She is a horse trainer, so she leaves the house every day bright and early to go work with horses. She is outside. All day long on her feet in the cold or the hot, she takes our dog with her. Um, so she's got a pretty active life, just physical hard labor. She can ride any horse you tell her to ride. So she'll often she'll go to horse shows, um, and show other people's horses. If someone's afraid to get on the horse or go in the ring, she'll do it for them. She kind of is the horse whisperer and whips the horses into shape. Um, my son Glenn, is the youngest. He is up in Boston now and he works for Brown Brothers Harriman and he is in their trust department, so he's got kind of an interesting job.
So he's sort of the gatekeeper for the trust. So if it's a family trust and there's adult children living off of this money. They'll send him a request and say, Hey, I need a hundred thousand dollars. And they'll say, well, what is it for? They'll say, well, I wanna buy a Maserati. And then I'll be like, pretty sure you already have two Maseratis.
And they'll be like, yes, but I don't have a red one. Like the, it's, it's just a level of ridiculous, that's amusing.
So that's his, his job. And he also does, he calls himself the captain. Espresso martini and he has this Instagram thing where he samples espresso martinis in different bars, and that has become a big thing for him on Instagram.
And so now it's getting very silly where he wears a captain's hat and, you know, he pretends he's on a boat and, um, it's very entertaining. So it's something, something to look for if you bored one day and you're looking for something silly to watch, it's entertaining.
[00:43:23] Jim: Oh, who knows? Maybe you can monetize that someday and not
[00:43:25] Laurie Meyer: I, I'm sure that's what he's thinking because he's, you know, he's a money minded kid, so
[00:43:33] Jim: That's good. Um, one, going back to just to your daughter's passing, how did you and your kids cope and get over it?
[00:43:44] Laurie Meyer: well. We're not over. It would be the the best answer. I don't think you can ever get over that. It's still very much a part of my everyday life. I, I don't think I go an hour without thinking about her. Um, I know that there's been. Little signs that tell me she's with us. Um, and we, we hold onto each other and we talk about it a lot.
Um, we always mention her name when we're together. Um, we'll remember something silly that she was part of. Um, and even at Nicole's wedding Nicole, her dress actually had pockets in it. So in one pocket she had one of Audrey's necklaces. So she was holding that. Um, I almost always have something of hers on, this is actually her necklace.
I gave it to her when she turned 21. So I, I just try to keep a little piece of her with me and as I'm sitting here, I have a picture of her and I together. Um, I have a little poem that was in her dorm room that I keep over here on the side of my desk. Um, so. I would say the first year or two I was just in shock and didn't really quite understand what was happening. Probably what I, what I learned or what I found amazing was just the network of friends that I have around me has been incredible. They all supported me. People came out of the woodwork. People that I didn't really think I was that close to. We're all present and showed up, um, by cooking meals and just making sure I got outta the house to go for a walk.
Um, just coming and being helpful and being present, and I was really blown away by the support that I got. And those people today, I still hold very dear in my life and my family's been very supportive too.
[00:45:42] Jim: I think, um, what I love about you, when we saw each other after 30 so odd years at the reunion. After we said hi for a few minutes, you told me about Audrey and we talked about it, um, which most people wouldn't. And I think because you're willing to talk about it, that obviously makes other people comfortable, I think, around you and supporting you and everything else.
And it's great that you keep her alive, you know, in your, in your everyday life and with your kids and everything else. And I think it'll sometimes, you know, you're told, Hey, just get over it and forget about it and move on. And, um, but you know. I don't, I agree with you. I think that's, that's not the right thing to do.
[00:46:22] Laurie Meyer: You, you'll never, I mean, losing a child is the biggest loss. I mean, I've lost a sibling, I've lost my parents as you have too. Um, and those are all big losses. But losing a child, there's just nothing that can compare to that. Um. And for my children. 'cause they were still, you know, my youngest was still in high school when this happened.
So, um, it's a, it was a huge loss. Um, and you know, we just, I think you have to talk about it and I, I, I do have another friend who lost a child and she. Rarely talks about it, she'll talk to me about it just because we've both been there. But she almost acts as if, I think some people, their inclination is to act like it didn't happen. Um, and that's why when you ask how many kids I have, I al I'll always say four, even though three are surviving. Sometimes people will figure it out when I account for three, and I'm not mentioning the fourth, um, because I don't necessarily want to go into all the details with a stranger. Um, but such a simple question can really kind of. Put a dagger in you sometimes. Um, but yeah, I think it's important to talk about it and share because I think we're all, we're all here to hold onto each other and help each other.
[00:47:35] Jim: Excellent. Um, so where do you see yourself five years from now? You retired, still gonna be working. Grandma, like what are you doing?
[00:47:46] Laurie Meyer: I hope I'm a grandma. I, I don't wanna put any pressure on anyone, but I hope I'm a grandma Within five years, um, I will probably still be working. 'cause I think even one of the nice things about the job that I have is I, I'm at a point in my career where I can say yes and no to. Certain business. Um, and if if referring it to someone else is the right person, right thing to do for the client, then I'm happy to do that.
At this point, um, I, I still need to make money. I'm not ready to retire. I still love what I do, so I don't see myself retiring yet. Um, but I don't know, somewhere down the road I'll probably ease out, you know, maybe not work quite as hard. Um. I don't know. That's such a loaded question. I don't know. Where are you gonna be in five years?
I have no idea.
Still walking, still working out. Hopefully
[00:48:40] Jim: Yeah. Hopefully having a pulse. Right, right. You did mention you work out a lot, so what's your favorite thing to do?
[00:48:48] Laurie Meyer: Pilates is probably what I do the most. Um, it's just really good core workout. I have a bad back and that just, it's a gentle exercise and I get the core strength workout that I need. Um, I also like spin classes. I play pickleball in the summer. I paddleboard and I kayak, I walk, so I'm just always active.
[00:49:10] Jim: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:49:10] Laurie Meyer: keep moving.
[00:49:12] Jim: I agree with you, you do it first thing in the morning. Um, it's therapeutic and it's your routine and I've always, I could never stop doing it. Um, 'cause
[00:49:22] Laurie Meyer: It sets Sets the tone for the day. Right? Exactly. If you stop, you might not start again. That's a bad thing.
[00:49:29] Jim: Exactly. Exactly. So a couple hot takes I have, um, in real estate is the inspector. Um.
[00:49:38] Laurie Meyer: Hmm.
[00:49:40] Jim: I think they're, they don't inspect as thoroughly as they should inspect. Um.
[00:49:47] Laurie Meyer: I have seen huge variances with inspectors. Um, when I've been on the listing side. I'll never forget this one listing. I had an inspector came in and ripped apart. Just really mundane things like, well, there's a screw loose on the doorknob. Um, just some things that are ridiculous. You know, keep in mind an inspection should be meant for the huge things.
If there's radon, if the furnace doesn't turn on, if there's a leak in the roof, it's not meant for nitty gritty, stupid little things that are, you know, home maintenance items that you're probably gonna end up taking care of if you own the house anyway. Um, and I have seen some. Inspectors who go through a house barely acknowledging anything. So there's definitely a, a, a huge variation. And some people respect the process and some people don't, don't put a lot of weight on it.
[00:50:46] Jim: Yeah. And I think you as a buyer, you have to, you have to read the report and, and you gotta find that little line where he says there's decay in a deck, um, as opposed to it beings. You know, highlighted, so to speak. Um, but once you close and then the deck falls apart, the real estate agent, they're gone.
They're not coming back and giving money back or chasing
down the inspector.
[00:51:09] Laurie Meyer: mean, we have nothing to do with,
[00:51:12] Jim: No, I know.
I'm not,
[00:51:13] Laurie Meyer: inspector.
[00:51:14] Jim: I'm not trying to debate with you. I'm just saying it's just it seems like it's a check the box kind of thing that, um, but as a buyer, I think you just have to really be on your toes with that or
[00:51:24] Laurie Meyer: You do, and you know what, I really try to find inspectors that are going to hold the buyer's hand, especially a first time home buyer, and explain, okay, this is the furnace. Like even I have a, a funky furnace and I didn't understand how it worked. So just show me how it works. How do I change the air filter?
What pipe is going here and where is it going from there? And tell me what it does. Um, I think most buyers are pretty good about standing next to the inspector and listening to what he's explaining, and you have to read through that. Inspection that you get back and you have to look at all the highlighted things, um, you may not get money back for them, especially in the environment that I'm in right now where it's still competitive.
There's people waving inspections.
I don't advise buyers to do that because I think you need to know what you're buying. It's what you do with the inspection after you get it.
Now, if you've, if you're in a competitive situation and then you go back and start nitpicking over a doorknob or a window, then that person, the seller's not gonna want to sell to you because they can go to someone else.
Um, in a normal market, they're gonna be willing to negotiate, but probably not for little things, but for big things, you know, um. The underground oil tank, that's sort of a, a sticking point for some, um, you know, it used to be you would fill it with what they call that petro fill and just leave it underground. Most people. And today you wouldn't leave it underground, you would remove it. I've done deals where it was still in the ground and my buyer, it was coming from a bank. So the bank wasn't willing to do anything, but they ended up removing it themselves. But I just had them test the soil. Around the tank to make sure that there wasn't any leakage,
[00:53:12] Jim: Yeah.
[00:53:13] Laurie Meyer: um, and there wasn't, so they felt comfortable moving ahead with it.
[00:53:18] Jim: So we have a property in Colorado that we we're putting on. We put on the market
and the agent said, you don't need to do anything with it. It's perfect. You know, here's the price it's gonna sell in 30 to 45 days. Well, it's like day 60 and we haven't gotten anything yet. And she comes back and says, maybe you should change the bedding, you know, in the bedrooms.
And I'm like. That's not gonna sell the house. And you say,
[00:53:46] Laurie Meyer: Price,
[00:53:49] Jim: that's what I thought. Um, so my hot take is,
[00:53:52] Laurie Meyer: but, but, but I do think bedding can make a difference. Now if you've got like some floral bedding from the seventies
that
could,
[00:53:59] Jim: have that?
Come on.
[00:54:00] Laurie Meyer: I don't, but I'm just saying, I've been in homes where they do.
[00:54:04] Jim: I know, um, my, my hot take really is when we've told her, whatever you think we need to do, let us know. And she goes around, has all her agents with the open house go around, says everything's fine. And now two months later we're gonna talk about betting. I get a little frustrated. So that's one of my hot takes.
[00:54:22] Laurie Meyer: Yeah, it's, um, you know what, if you're priced right, you should get an offer.
[00:54:27] Jim: I think I am, but we'll see what happens. Um, it's a second home market. That's, that's probably the, the bigger issue. Um, but maybe not. Um, all right. So any other hot takes on your end?
[00:54:42] Laurie Meyer: Um, well, I think you wanted my five pieces of advice, didn't
[00:54:46] Jim: I do. We're gonna, that we're getting to that we're gonna
[00:54:48] Laurie Meyer: We're getting that.
[00:54:49] Jim: If you're done with your hot takes, if you don't have anything else to
[00:54:51] Laurie Meyer: Yeah. I don't really have anymore. No.
[00:54:53] Jim: Alright, so let's, let's,
go with,
[00:54:55] Laurie Meyer: is here now. He's gonna start interrupting just so you
[00:54:58] Jim: yeah, we heard 'em already. Um, so let, let's, let's go with the advice then. What do you
[00:55:05] Laurie Meyer: Okay, so five pieces of advice. Um, don't give up. View your challenges as life lessons and opportunities to grow. I would say embrace all the small joys and little things in life because I really believe that happiness is about the little things, which is for me, sitting at dinner with my kids and listening to them talk and laugh, um, and make fun of each other, or going to the beach and watching the sunrise or sitting here with my cat. Um, just, you know, cooking all the little things. I realize it's not, it's not the big things. It's not, not about a huge house, it's not about all the fancy trip, it's just, it's all the simple day-to-day, Joyce. Um, so embrace that. Listen to your gut because it's always right. And I've, I've learned that, um, probably the hard way, but I think, I think a lot of us don't do that.
I think, you know, we kinda. Want things to be a certain way. And so we sometimes ignore our gut, but I, I know as I've gotten older, listening to my gut has always served me well. Um, let it go. Don't hold grudges. Always let it go. And then we can only control ourselves. Can't control anything else around you.
So gotta just don't get upset over little things.
[00:56:31] Jim: Great stuff. Well, if you're looking for a house and you're in the old Greenwich, Southern Connecticut area, Fairfield County, look up Lori Meyer. Laurie was great speaking with you today and you know, appreciate your time. Thank you.
[00:56:46] Laurie Meyer: My pleasure. This was really fun. Thank you, Jim.