# Career Change: #1 ranked real estate advises first-time and seasoned home buyers about selling and buying a home.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 5 Oct 2025, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/4c54a689-1c63-4f45-907a-b40901373b9c/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Todd Kroupa A former firefighter turned top-producing real estate agent in Georgia. Todd explains his journey from a physically demanding fire department career to becoming a highly successful real estate broker, team leader, and luxury/equestrian property specialist. The conversation walks through: • His transition from the fire service to real estate • Opening and managing a 400‑agent office in Florida • Relocating to Georgia and re-establishing his business • How he advises both first-time homebuyers and experienced sellers • Emotional decision-making in buying and selling • Inspections, deal-breakers, and buyer/seller behavior • Multi-generational housing trends post‑COVID • Why real estate remains a wealth-building tool • Advice for navigating neighborhoods, schools, and due diligence • His eventual ranking as #1 single agent for Berkshire Hathaway in Georgia (2024–2025) Todd emphasizes integrity, long-term relationships, and guiding clients toward the right house — not just closing a deal. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of Todd Kroupa’s appearance is to: • Share a motivational career-change story — moving from firefighter to top real estate agent. • Educate listeners on the real estate process — including buying, selling, inspections, and market strategy. • Give practical tips for first-time homebuyers, families, and multi-generational households. • Promote best practices for choosing neighborhoods, navigating emotion in home buying, and avoiding pitfalls. • Highlight Todd’s success and position him as a trusted resource for Georgia real estate clients. Key Takeaways 1. Career Transition & Motivation • Todd became a firefighter in 1992, retired in 2014, and began real estate in 2002. • Real estate appealed to him because it allowed him to continue helping people without the physical strain. • He built and managed a 400-agent office before returning to working directly with clients — his true passion. 2. Balancing Firefighting and Real Estate • He often worked both jobs full-time, with limited days off. • Eventually, maintaining both became impossible: “I can’t do this anymore,” he told his wife. 3. Buyer Advice • Buyers make decisions emotionally first, then logically. • Within the first 3–5 minutes in a home, buyers often know if they like it. • Lighting, paint color, home condition, and layout heavily influence emotional response. • First-time buyers need extra guidance — like “teaching someone to drive for the first time.” 4. Seller Advice • Selling isn’t just about market timing — presentation matters. • Neutral paint colors and bright white lighting help increase buyer appeal. • Every showing is won or lost in the first few minutes. 5. Inspections Matter — and Are Deal Breakers Top inspection walk‑aways: • Mold • Foundation issues • Roof problems Todd stresses that if a buyer is uncomfortable before closing, “you won’t be comfortable after you close.” 6. Emotion vs. Logic • Many buyers get emotionally attached and ignore red flags. • Todd’s rule: commissions should never drive decisions. 7. Multi-Generational Living Is Rising • Driven by COVID, high child-care costs, rising home prices. • Families are choosing: • ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) • “In-law suites” • Larger family compounds 8. Real Estate as a Wealth Builder • Unlike stock investments, real estate allows you to: • Control,…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
[0:02] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
[0:06] Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start planning your own.
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[0:12] Speaker 1: a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
[0:14] Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass.
[0:16] Speaker 2: It's free.
[0:17] Speaker 1: You can follow me on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[0:21] Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making
[0:24] Speaker 1: Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
[0:28] Speaker 1: on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
[0:30] Speaker 1: can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
[0:34] Speaker 1: advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
[0:38] Speaker 1: get this podcast started. My guess is a former firefighter
[0:42] Speaker 1: who has since become one of the nationest top real
[0:44] Speaker 1: estate agents. In twenty twenty four, he ranked in the
[0:47] Speaker 1: top twenty among more than sixteen thousand realtors and the
[0:51] Speaker 1: Atlantic Relators Association with nearly one billion dollars in lifetime sales.
[0:56] Speaker 1: He is a trusted expert and residential luxury and the
[1:00] Speaker 1: Questrian properties. He's only show to discuss his career change
[1:03] Speaker 1: as I say the earlier firefighter Timson went to sell
[1:06] Speaker 1: your home and most importantly, how to close the right
[1:09] Speaker 1: idea for you when buying a home. Please welcome the
[1:12] Speaker 1: money making conversation mastic Land, Todd Cooper.
[1:15] Speaker 2: How are you doing to Sean? Thank you for having
[1:17] Speaker 2: me on. There's a lot, there's a lot. That's a lot.
[1:19] Speaker 2: That's a lot.
[1:20] Speaker 1: A billion dollars in home sales. Sir Okay tell us
[1:24] Speaker 1: about the first home.
[1:25] Speaker 2: The first home, so first home originally from West pomp
[1:28] Speaker 2: Viach area I started. I moved up here to Atlanta
[1:30] Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen. So I started my fire department career
[1:33] Speaker 2: down in Brower County and I transitioned to the fire
[1:37] Speaker 2: department about halfway through the fire department. Loved the fire department,
[1:41] Speaker 2: but I knew very early on that was a young
[1:42] Speaker 2: man's business, right and after a while, it does take
[1:45] Speaker 2: a toll on your body. It takes a toll not
[1:47] Speaker 2: just your body, but your family and things like that.
[1:49] Speaker 2: So early in my career I decided I needed to
[1:52] Speaker 2: figure out what was my next step in right right
[1:55] Speaker 2: love helping people. That's why I became a fireman. So
[1:58] Speaker 2: real estate I was drawing because it was another way
[2:01] Speaker 2: to still be helping people, right, but in a different sense.
[2:05] Speaker 2: You know, I wasn't running through their house, running to
[2:07] Speaker 2: their house, you know, putting on a fire or taking
[2:09] Speaker 2: some of the ambulance. I was basically helping that family
[2:12] Speaker 2: move to some other transitional life, whether it was a
[2:15] Speaker 2: new baby, right, whether it was the empty the family,
[2:18] Speaker 2: the parents, empty nesters moving on to the smaller home,
[2:21] Speaker 2: or just whatever it made.
[2:22] Speaker 1: So it was a part time, yes, full time. Was
[2:25] Speaker 1: a firefighter kind of like a weekend run.
[2:28] Speaker 2: Now. I started off, it started off a couple of
[2:31] Speaker 2: days a week, and then what happened was at the
[2:33] Speaker 2: time I wasn't married, so I had a lot of
[2:36] Speaker 2: time on my hands, right, So I was really doing
[2:38] Speaker 2: the fire department and the real estate together full time.
[2:42] Speaker 2: So you balanced it balanced it which was tough, which
[2:45] Speaker 2: is very tough. So I got my So I became
[2:47] Speaker 2: a firement back in nineteen ninety two, retired in twenty fourteen.
[2:52] Speaker 2: I got my real estate license in two thousand and two,
[2:55] Speaker 2: so it was about ten years after it. Became a farmer.
[2:58] Speaker 2: So Colm was like right in the middle of my career,
[3:01] Speaker 2: did that for a while, became very was very successful
[3:04] Speaker 2: down in West Palm Beach area doing real estate, and
[3:06] Speaker 2: then I decided I want to become a broker. What's
[3:09] Speaker 2: the difference. So a broker is the one who is
[3:12] Speaker 2: in charge of the office. They basically they oversee the realtors.
[3:16] Speaker 2: Ok so you have real Basically, it's kind of like
[3:18] Speaker 2: a nurse and a doctor. Right in real estate would
[3:21] Speaker 2: be real estate agents would be the nurses, right, and
[3:24] Speaker 2: then the doctor would be the brokers. The broker oversees
[3:27] Speaker 2: the agents and manages them. So I had a broker
[3:30] Speaker 2: that I worked for that at the time I felt
[3:33] Speaker 2: didn't really did a good job. And I was at
[3:35] Speaker 2: that young age where I was like, you know, I
[3:36] Speaker 2: think I could do this better. So I was married
[3:40] Speaker 2: to Abbey, who's my wife now, and I said, honey,
[3:41] Speaker 2: what do you think let me get my broker's license, right,
[3:44] Speaker 2: Because so.
[3:44] Speaker 1: There's a difference between a real estate license and broker's
[3:48] Speaker 1: correct the test.
[3:49] Speaker 2: There's different tests and there's different levels of education. Okay,
[3:53] Speaker 2: so let's just say a broker's license is say sixty
[3:56] Speaker 2: five hours right to get to be able to sit
[3:58] Speaker 2: and take the test. Broker's licenses would be double that,
[4:01] Speaker 2: So double the education.
[4:03] Speaker 1: Okay, age sixty five, brokeus about one hundred and thirty
[4:06] Speaker 1: five one hundred and thirty give or take, and then rarely.
[4:08] Speaker 2: What it is is you go from learning the industry
[4:11] Speaker 2: to learning how to manage people. Okay, So I took
[4:14] Speaker 2: that on with my wife's blessing, and I got my
[4:16] Speaker 2: broker's license at twenty thirteen in West Palm Beach and
[4:20] Speaker 2: opened up an office in a city called Wellington, which
[4:23] Speaker 2: is basically just west of downtown West Pump. And we
[4:27] Speaker 2: open up an office Matdbey and I. I actually approached
[4:29] Speaker 2: the company I worked for. They knew me because I
[4:32] Speaker 2: was pretty good in sales. Like any good manager, they
[4:35] Speaker 2: know that they're a good salesperson, someone who is self sufficient,
[4:41] Speaker 2: someone who doesn't get themselves in trouble. R represents the
[4:44] Speaker 2: brand and looks out for their clients.
[4:46] Speaker 1: You used to word trouble, get themselves in trouble because
[4:49] Speaker 1: they are people listening, yes, and they get realtors know
[4:52] Speaker 1: how you get a house? Absolutely, Okay, the word trouble.
[4:55] Speaker 1: What should they look at when you said the word trouble?
[4:57] Speaker 2: So, and what it I pretendency to do is, you know,
[5:01] Speaker 2: we're real estate agents. We're not attorneys, right, We're not
[5:05] Speaker 2: we're not financial advisors, right. So you gotta be careful
[5:10] Speaker 2: on what kind of advice you give your seller. Right.
[5:12] Speaker 2: You want to stay in your scope or practice. You
[5:14] Speaker 2: want to educate them in real estate and guide them. Now,
[5:18] Speaker 2: do you consult them on a base level, Yes, you do,
[5:21] Speaker 2: but you gotta be very very careful on how far
[5:23] Speaker 2: you go right right.
[5:25] Speaker 1: Tell them they can afford this home, right, asking them
[5:28] Speaker 1: what they make annually? Right, really getting too personal about
[5:31] Speaker 1: their finances. You're there to sell a.
[5:33] Speaker 2: Home, right exactly, And when you know, when it comes
[5:35] Speaker 2: to like legal questions, if it's out of your scope
[5:38] Speaker 2: of practice, what you really should be doing is saying,
[5:40] Speaker 2: you know what, that's really not my scope of practice,
[5:42] Speaker 2: but I have an attorney, a closing attorney, that let's
[5:45] Speaker 2: give them a call and let's get that question answered
[5:47] Speaker 2: for you. Okay, okay, continue. So anyway, so I open
[5:51] Speaker 2: up the eye. So I approached the company I was
[5:54] Speaker 2: working for at the time, and I said, listen, I said,
[5:57] Speaker 2: I got my broker's license. I would love and not
[6:00] Speaker 2: opportunity because I knew Wellington where we lived, needed needed
[6:03] Speaker 2: another branch. I said, like an opportunity to open up
[6:07] Speaker 2: a branch office. I'll do it on my own dime.
[6:10] Speaker 2: I'll pay for everything. I just want the brand name
[6:13] Speaker 2: and I want the logistical sport support. So they gave
[6:17] Speaker 2: me the blessing, and Abby and I opened up our
[6:19] Speaker 2: office and welling. It was just me and her at
[6:22] Speaker 2: the time. At that point, I went from you know,
[6:25] Speaker 2: working with clients every day out in the field to
[6:28] Speaker 2: basically now it is becoming a manager. You can't you
[6:30] Speaker 2: can't serve clients in the field and manage a bunch
[6:33] Speaker 2: of realtors. It's it's just just too difficult. So I
[6:36] Speaker 2: kind of took a step back from dealing with your
[6:39] Speaker 2: working with clients and went into the management rule. We
[6:42] Speaker 2: did that for about four years. I grew the office
[6:45] Speaker 2: to about four hundred agents to four hundred four hundred agents.
[6:51] Speaker 2: It was a great office. We were at the cop
[6:53] Speaker 2: at seventeen. Officers were always ranked in the top five
[6:55] Speaker 2: every every year in sales. And then one day I
[6:58] Speaker 2: came home until my wife I said, you know, honey,
[7:01] Speaker 2: I said, I'm ready to move. As I said, you
[7:03] Speaker 2: want to do what I said, I'm ready to move
[7:06] Speaker 2: at the time, So we opened the office I decided
[7:08] Speaker 2: also too at the time, you know, doing working with
[7:12] Speaker 2: some clients in my days off and running a business.
[7:14] Speaker 2: As I realized there's two different things, right, because you've
[7:18] Speaker 2: got a lot of people that need you after hours,
[7:21] Speaker 2: not just an occasional phone call. Net. So what I
[7:23] Speaker 2: did in twenty fourteen is I told her one day,
[7:26] Speaker 2: I said I can't, I can't do this anymore. She's like,
[7:27] Speaker 2: what do you mean you can't do this anymore? She thought,
[7:30] Speaker 2: she thought relationship wise, no, no no, no, no no no, no,
[7:33] Speaker 2: baby or everything to me back, but I can't do
[7:35] Speaker 2: the fire department and I can't run this office. Finally,
[7:39] Speaker 2: the ballance. You've gotten too much? Yes, you know that.
[7:42] Speaker 2: You said, a lot of people questioned you. Well, you
[7:45] Speaker 2: made this decision, and.
[7:46] Speaker 1: I talk about that my introsa to your friends, co workers.
[7:50] Speaker 1: People will love you because this is your final decision.
[7:52] Speaker 1: Talk about walking.
[7:53] Speaker 2: Through the steps. You had your wife, but then you
[7:56] Speaker 2: had that outside noise. Yeah, so the outside noise was
[8:00] Speaker 2: being with the fire department is a very good career.
[8:02] Speaker 2: I encourage anybody who wants to get into it. Right
[8:05] Speaker 2: it's it's going to be a steady income study career.
[8:08] Speaker 2: You can advance throughout the levels. I moved from a
[8:11] Speaker 2: very stable career to what can be sometimes an unstable career. Yes,
[8:16] Speaker 2: you know, real estate's very up and down right. You know,
[8:18] Speaker 2: when it's a great When the real estate's great, everybody
[8:21] Speaker 2: wants to be a relitary. When it's not great, everybody
[8:24] Speaker 2: jumps out of it. And I walked away from a
[8:27] Speaker 2: career that I started when I was twenty one years old.
[8:30] Speaker 2: At forty four years old, I called it quits. I'm
[8:34] Speaker 2: really unannounced it was. It was a quick decision. In fact,
[8:38] Speaker 2: I avoided a lot of phone calls from you know,
[8:41] Speaker 2: people in the department because I did not want anybody
[8:44] Speaker 2: to persuade my decision. I knew real estate was where
[8:46] Speaker 2: I was going to be, you know, a long term.
[8:49] Speaker 2: I love what I did. I wasn't quite sure I
[8:52] Speaker 2: wanted to manage long term because I did miss the
[8:55] Speaker 2: you know, the clients. I love the individual one on
[8:59] Speaker 2: one thing. That's really where that that's where I really shine.
[9:03] Speaker 2: That's really where I feel most needed and most wanted,
[9:07] Speaker 2: and where I enjoy the most. So I retired from
[9:09] Speaker 2: the fire department, and very shortly after that the office
[9:12] Speaker 2: was doing great, but I just something felt missing. And
[9:15] Speaker 2: what it was was, even though I was even though
[9:18] Speaker 2: I was good at managing the office and growing the brand,
[9:21] Speaker 2: I didn't it's not where my heart was. My heart
[9:23] Speaker 2: was with with clients. You know, some of my best friends,
[9:27] Speaker 2: some of my best connections I've been in past clients.
[9:31] Speaker 2: You know. In fact, I think a lot of my
[9:32] Speaker 2: friends now are all past clients, yourself included. Right, So,
[9:36] Speaker 2: so what we did. So I came home one day
[9:38] Speaker 2: and I said, I said, let's let's move. And She's like, what, So, yeah,
[9:43] Speaker 2: I said, it's time we have to. You know, we
[9:45] Speaker 2: were starting to grow our family. We had summer at
[9:47] Speaker 2: the time. I think Anna was on her way. And
[9:51] Speaker 2: I grew up in South Florida, and I see the change,
[9:54] Speaker 2: you know, things, you know, wasn't you know, not like Atlanta.
[9:56] Speaker 2: I love Atlanta. You know, we have great culture here,
[9:59] Speaker 2: great families, great schools, great everything. And I said, well,
[10:04] Speaker 2: I said, obviously, when I moved to Atlanta in twenty seventeen,
[10:08] Speaker 2: you know, I had to re establish myself right right,
[10:10] Speaker 2: So initially what I was doing is we moved to
[10:13] Speaker 2: Cherokee County, which is pretty close to five thirty five.
[10:16] Speaker 2: So I needed that commute, so I was doing when
[10:18] Speaker 2: we moved to Atlanta, I was doing commutes from I
[10:22] Speaker 2: would get up in the morning at five o'clock, I'd
[10:24] Speaker 2: drive to airport, the airport, Lanta airport. How long was
[10:28] Speaker 2: they drive time? Bye hour, bine hour. I get on,
[10:30] Speaker 2: I get I can leave good by five, Get to
[10:32] Speaker 2: the airport by six, because you know, you want to
[10:34] Speaker 2: make sure you get there early enough. Get on the plane.
[10:37] Speaker 2: I'd land in West Palm about eight thirty five. Get
[10:40] Speaker 2: to the office. I'd work all day, you know, make
[10:42] Speaker 2: sure things were organized, make things through going, make sure
[10:44] Speaker 2: my managers were doing what they were doing. And then
[10:46] Speaker 2: I'd get back on back to the airport by seven
[10:48] Speaker 2: thirty and night, get back on the plane by nine,
[10:50] Speaker 2: and I'm back in Atlanta and drive home. I'd be
[10:52] Speaker 2: home by one o'clock in the morning.
[10:54] Speaker 1: Okay, your first time home buyer, what what do they
[10:56] Speaker 1: expect from you?
[10:57] Speaker 2: And what do you have to deliver to a first
[10:59] Speaker 2: time home buy So first time home buyer is kind
[11:02] Speaker 2: of like, you know, it's almost like taking your son
[11:05] Speaker 2: out or your daughter out to drive their car for
[11:07] Speaker 2: the first time. They know absolutely nothing right and you
[11:11] Speaker 2: have to hold their hand and walk them through and
[11:13] Speaker 2: show them the things you go, show them the things
[11:16] Speaker 2: that they need to look for when they're buying a home.
[11:18] Speaker 2: You know, when you put what I pull up to
[11:19] Speaker 2: a house with a buyer, whether it's a first time
[11:22] Speaker 2: home buyer or someone who's been buying homes your whole life,
[11:25] Speaker 2: I look for certain things that they may not look
[11:28] Speaker 2: for when they're looking for a home. You know, there's
[11:30] Speaker 2: certain things that can devalue home. There's certain things that
[11:32] Speaker 2: could take away from a home, right. So I look
[11:35] Speaker 2: for those things, and I'll point those things out to
[11:37] Speaker 2: new home buyer. I'll even point them out to a
[11:40] Speaker 2: buyer whose experience because a lot of times people get
[11:42] Speaker 2: tunnel vision right. My job as a realtor is consulting right,
[11:47] Speaker 2: making sure I help them in every avenue I can.
[11:50] Speaker 2: If it's something I don't know, I put them in
[11:52] Speaker 2: with contact with someone who does know, right. But when
[11:55] Speaker 2: it comes to looking at homes, my job is to
[11:57] Speaker 2: look for the pink elephant in the realm.
[12:00] Speaker 1: It's really important that you say that because of the
[12:02] Speaker 1: fact that you know, when you're stelling a home, that's
[12:06] Speaker 1: a night's commission, and so you can look at that
[12:08] Speaker 1: person that the buyer or as a commission and I
[12:13] Speaker 1: want to close the deal. But you winning right now
[12:16] Speaker 1: because of word of mouth and people recommending in you
[12:20] Speaker 1: for because of how you treated them and got them
[12:22] Speaker 1: into the house. Because I think one of the keys
[12:24] Speaker 1: is when you buy a home also being able to
[12:27] Speaker 1: sell that home.
[12:28] Speaker 2: Correct. Correct, So it should never be about the commissions. Right,
[12:32] Speaker 2: commissions will come if you treat the people properly. I
[12:36] Speaker 2: have never I never focused on commissions. It's it's if
[12:39] Speaker 2: you're focused on commissions, you need to pick a different industry. Right.
[12:43] Speaker 2: It should be about it should be helped about helping
[12:45] Speaker 2: that person out, get them into the right house. You know,
[12:48] Speaker 2: make sure you know you don't leave no stone unturned
[12:52] Speaker 2: because really this business is about it's about referrals, it's
[12:55] Speaker 2: about connections, it's about you know, about meeting people. It's
[12:58] Speaker 2: not about commissions.
[12:59] Speaker 1: So home family, families who want to buy homes, what's
[13:02] Speaker 1: approach on that.
[13:03] Speaker 2: So whether whether it's a family buying a home, new
[13:06] Speaker 2: home buyer or empty nesters, there's certain things that you
[13:09] Speaker 2: should look for when you buy a home. Okay, right,
[13:11] Speaker 2: talk to it. So, first of all, when buyers don't
[13:13] Speaker 2: walk into a home, they think they're and there. They
[13:16] Speaker 2: think when they walk the door, they're looking at the
[13:18] Speaker 2: home logically, they're actually looking at the home emotionally first.
[13:21] Speaker 2: Logic comes second. So when someone walks home, the first
[13:24] Speaker 2: thing there, you know, within the first three to five minutes,
[13:26] Speaker 2: they've already decided whether you're like that home or not. Right.
[13:29] Speaker 2: That's why a house can have two different buyers go
[13:32] Speaker 2: into and get two different feelings and two different outcomes, right,
[13:35] Speaker 2: because everybody looks at something different. When a buyer goes
[13:38] Speaker 2: into a home, what you know, what they're thinking usually
[13:40] Speaker 2: is they're thinking, does this house feel right? Does anything
[13:45] Speaker 2: turn me off? And can I see myself living here? Right?
[13:48] Speaker 2: That is the emotional side right. In fact, I'll give
[13:52] Speaker 2: you a scenario. I just close a deal on a
[13:54] Speaker 2: house in Alpharetta and we went down the basement. There
[13:58] Speaker 2: was a sign on the basement wall for it is
[14:01] Speaker 2: like a suburb of Atland. Yes, we are kind of
[14:03] Speaker 2: like upper middle class correct, Yeah, And we went down
[14:05] Speaker 2: to the terrace level to the basement and there was
[14:07] Speaker 2: a sign of the wall that they had exactly same
[14:10] Speaker 2: sign in their house. And that was the connect, That
[14:13] Speaker 2: was the emotional connection. Look like she's like, honey, look,
[14:17] Speaker 2: that's the same exact sign we had. So that was
[14:19] Speaker 2: that commotional connection, right. The people make the commotional connection first.
[14:24] Speaker 2: And what what changes that with a buyer is when
[14:28] Speaker 2: they walk into a home. You know, how does it
[14:30] Speaker 2: feel when they first walk in? Is the dark home?
[14:32] Speaker 2: Does it feel bright? Right? Like light bulbs. Your choice
[14:35] Speaker 2: of light bulbs can really make make how a house feels.
[14:39] Speaker 2: You know, like you have what's called software. Everybody loves
[14:42] Speaker 2: to live and look soft way because it kind of
[14:44] Speaker 2: gives it like a little bit relaxing feeling, romantic feeling,
[14:48] Speaker 2: but it's not the best life for selling. Bright white
[14:50] Speaker 2: is the best way. You want the rooms to be bright.
[14:52] Speaker 2: You know, you want you know your furniture the way
[14:55] Speaker 2: you live. Where we placed our furniture is a big things.
[14:58] Speaker 2: So that's kind of like because you do there are
[15:00] Speaker 2: two people. You deal with buyers and you deal with seller. Right,
[15:03] Speaker 2: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
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[15:15] Speaker 3: free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
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[15:23] Speaker 3: me that favor, follow a subscribe Money Making Conversations. Welcome
[15:31] Speaker 3: back to Money Making Conversations master Class with me Rashaun McDonald.
[15:34] Speaker 1: Now we just talked about buyers right now, the seller's approach,
[15:38] Speaker 1: you kind of getting into that soft line and how
[15:41] Speaker 1: you sell a home.
[15:41] Speaker 2: Talk about that right. So when yeah, so when I
[15:44] Speaker 2: when I take take on a new listing and I
[15:46] Speaker 2: meet a seller for the first time, you know, they
[15:48] Speaker 2: always ask me when's the best time, you know to
[15:50] Speaker 2: sell a home, and really that's not the right strategy.
[15:53] Speaker 2: There's a couple of things that go into selling home.
[15:56] Speaker 2: It's not only about you know, the market being and
[15:59] Speaker 2: you know market be in a good condition as far
[16:01] Speaker 2: as you know, you know, inventory and things like that.
[16:03] Speaker 2: But it's also the way the house looks, the way
[16:06] Speaker 2: the house presents itself, right, because when that buyer comes
[16:09] Speaker 2: to that front door within the first three or five minutes,
[16:12] Speaker 2: that's you know, you're either going to have them locked
[16:14] Speaker 2: in or not locked in. So things like you know,
[16:17] Speaker 2: color color schemes, paint colors, right, you know, everybody loves
[16:21] Speaker 2: to express themselves in their homes. When it comes to selling,
[16:24] Speaker 2: neutral is always better. I'm talking to Toppop or to
[16:27] Speaker 2: the top. It was a the Top.
[16:29] Speaker 1: I'm giving you a title like you deserve because you
[16:31] Speaker 1: recently got in the ward correct yes sir, yes, yes,
[16:35] Speaker 1: so twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five on the
[16:38] Speaker 1: number one single agent in the state of Georgia for
[16:41] Speaker 1: sales and listings.
[16:43] Speaker 2: Number one, number one. So I'm talking to the band
[16:45] Speaker 2: with Berkshire halfway. Yes, and I'm talking to the.
[16:47] Speaker 1: Bets goodness yes, no, no, I'm talking to the bit
[16:51] Speaker 1: Yes you are, thank you very much.
[16:52] Speaker 2: How do we get in touch with you Top? You
[16:54] Speaker 2: can reach you it by myself which is seven seven
[16:56] Speaker 2: zero nine one zero forty eight sixty or by website
[17:00] Speaker 2: which is a group of team dot com and k
[17:04] Speaker 2: R O U p A and then Team t e A, m.
[17:07] Speaker 1: Okay dot com dot com. And let's talk about you
[17:10] Speaker 1: talked about buyer sellers. We talk about emotion, but the
[17:14] Speaker 1: inspection is the truth teller. Yes, now I want to
[17:18] Speaker 1: talk about the inspection. Then I want to talk about
[17:20] Speaker 1: people who kind of ignore the inspection because they still
[17:23] Speaker 1: emotionally tied to the property.
[17:25] Speaker 2: You've had those people absolutely, Okay, talk about the importance
[17:28] Speaker 2: of an inspection. Okay. So yeah, So when you go
[17:31] Speaker 2: on a contract with a house, you have what's called
[17:33] Speaker 2: the due diligence period, and that's really what's called the
[17:35] Speaker 2: inspection period. And during that time, you know, Atlanta or
[17:39] Speaker 2: Georgia is a due diligence state. So as a buyer,
[17:43] Speaker 2: your your job is to do your due diligence, and
[17:45] Speaker 2: part of your due diligenes is basically to do inspections
[17:48] Speaker 2: of the property. Some inspections I highly recommend you should
[17:51] Speaker 2: do a radon test, which is a gas that comes
[17:55] Speaker 2: to the soil does cause cancer ordor liss smellet, but
[17:59] Speaker 2: it's very treatable. So you do a radar test. Sometimes
[18:02] Speaker 2: you do air quality tests, and you do a full
[18:04] Speaker 2: inspection test. You have a pool, you do a pool test,
[18:07] Speaker 2: and really what you're doing is you're looking for issues
[18:11] Speaker 2: that will come up in an inspection that maybe you
[18:15] Speaker 2: needed to be either be corrected by the seller or
[18:19] Speaker 2: discounting the price when you get to you know, fix
[18:23] Speaker 2: it yourself, right because a lot of times, you know,
[18:25] Speaker 2: when you know houses, all houses have problems, right, they're
[18:29] Speaker 2: made by human hands, they fall apart, they need to
[18:31] Speaker 2: be taken care of, and depending on the level of
[18:35] Speaker 2: care will depend on what comes up in an inspection.
[18:38] Speaker 2: A lot of times the inspection Atlanta, sorry, Georgia is
[18:41] Speaker 2: a as uh as this contract. We use what's called
[18:45] Speaker 2: as this contract, so you have a right to inspect,
[18:47] Speaker 2: but no parties have to agree on inspections. Okay, So
[18:51] Speaker 2: by by doing an inspection, that gives you an opportunity
[18:54] Speaker 2: to go back to the seller and say, listen, we
[18:56] Speaker 2: found some major issues, whether it's you know, foundation issues,
[19:00] Speaker 2: whether it's mold issues, whether it's a roof issue, and
[19:03] Speaker 2: that's your opportunity to negotiate that price or step away
[19:06] Speaker 2: from the deal if you feel it's not working.
[19:08] Speaker 1: What are the I was just gonna put another mode.
[19:10] Speaker 1: Let's say top three walk aways. If you were the
[19:14] Speaker 1: client and you see something in an inspection. Some things
[19:19] Speaker 1: you might notice right away, but you didn't see it,
[19:23] Speaker 1: and the inspection kind of goes underneath what we visually
[19:25] Speaker 1: can't see right correct.
[19:27] Speaker 2: Top three walk away, Top three walk aways mold foundation issues,
[19:33] Speaker 2: and the other big one is going to be roof
[19:35] Speaker 2: issues issues. Yeah, because roofs can be very expensive. Probably
[19:39] Speaker 2: one of the most expensive things to replace, and a
[19:43] Speaker 2: lot of times, you know, if the roof is old enough,
[19:46] Speaker 2: it's hard to even get insurance on it. So you
[19:48] Speaker 2: have an issue when you if you accept the roof
[19:51] Speaker 2: in the condition it is and it's passed its life expectancy,
[19:54] Speaker 2: a lot of times insurance companies don't want to share
[19:57] Speaker 2: that property and you can't even get to the closing table. Right. So, Toad,
[20:00] Speaker 2: when you talk about.
[20:04] Speaker 1: Emotion, because that's important, because that's you know, you said,
[20:08] Speaker 1: if you're a buyer, you send out options to them
[20:11] Speaker 1: and they look at all the features, they see the
[20:13] Speaker 1: yard because nowadays you can go online and see forty
[20:16] Speaker 1: to fifty pictures of the potential home that you want
[20:18] Speaker 1: to go see before you physically go see it.
[20:22] Speaker 2: Get the emotion past the inspection.
[20:24] Speaker 1: Talk about that and how do you navigate because they
[20:28] Speaker 1: in the end, they're going to.
[20:29] Speaker 2: Seek advice from you.
[20:30] Speaker 1: Yes, but and that's what you say, Richard, commission is
[20:35] Speaker 1: not my number one goal. Giving them the right long
[20:38] Speaker 1: term relationship where they want to live is the key.
[20:41] Speaker 2: Talk about navigating that area.
[20:44] Speaker 1: When you have somebody, are some people who are adamant
[20:48] Speaker 1: about going into the space you may not be comfortable selling.
[20:51] Speaker 2: Them to So when we get to that part of
[20:54] Speaker 2: the inspection and things come up and there's issues, when
[20:59] Speaker 2: I tell them if you if you're not comfortable with
[21:01] Speaker 2: the property now, you're not going to be comfortable with
[21:03] Speaker 2: it after you're close, right, So sometimes you have to
[21:06] Speaker 2: walk away. You know, every house is going to have issues,
[21:10] Speaker 2: like we discussed, but the level issue is all you know,
[21:14] Speaker 2: all different levels and the way some people look at
[21:16] Speaker 2: things the way other people look at things are totally different.
[21:18] Speaker 2: So I give you example, if a inspection comes back
[21:23] Speaker 2: and we have some electrical issues, are we talking rewiring
[21:26] Speaker 2: in the house? Are we talking outlets? You know, we
[21:29] Speaker 2: have to look at what those issues are because some
[21:31] Speaker 2: of those issues are easy fix, some of them aren't.
[21:34] Speaker 2: But don't be afraid to walk away from home. You
[21:36] Speaker 2: know that, you know, and usually if a deal is
[21:38] Speaker 2: not going to work out, it usually falls through during
[21:41] Speaker 2: the inspection time. I asked you to send me a
[21:43] Speaker 2: couple of questions.
[21:44] Speaker 1: I want to make sure I can get on me
[21:45] Speaker 1: and you know, uh, why more families are choosing multi
[21:48] Speaker 1: generational living?
[21:50] Speaker 2: So that's a great question. So well, first of all,
[21:52] Speaker 2: I think COVID really changed that force. Right, We'll be
[21:56] Speaker 2: there's about seven million people on that how many how
[21:59] Speaker 2: many fans families didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones.
[22:03] Speaker 2: Big thing too is, you know, the cost of living
[22:06] Speaker 2: has gotten more expensive, right. You know I tell my
[22:09] Speaker 2: wife all the time, I said, honey, we might have
[22:11] Speaker 2: to just leave our home to our goods because it's
[22:13] Speaker 2: getting so expensive. So you add the cost of living,
[22:17] Speaker 2: you know, care, you know, like daycare has gotten very expensive, right.
[22:21] Speaker 2: So what I'm seeing is I've seen a lot of
[22:22] Speaker 2: families that one don't ever have to go through that again,
[22:25] Speaker 2: where they can't say goodbye to grandma and grandpa because
[22:28] Speaker 2: you know, obviously when during COVID we weren't able to
[22:30] Speaker 2: reach those people. Daycare is very expensive, right, even even
[22:35] Speaker 2: with two incomes, it's almost it's hard. And then you know,
[22:38] Speaker 2: cost of living has gone up, real estate has gone up.
[22:41] Speaker 2: So what I'm seeing is I'm seeing families pulled together
[22:44] Speaker 2: and do want to do you know, family compounds, right,
[22:49] Speaker 2: which is basically you know, large apiece of parcel of
[22:52] Speaker 2: land where they can build either multiple homes or they
[22:55] Speaker 2: can do it in law suite. Doing in law suite
[22:58] Speaker 2: is basically it's part of the main house, right, so
[23:00] Speaker 2: you have the main house and it's connected by a breezeway,
[23:02] Speaker 2: or it's actually connected to the thousand right, or they
[23:04] Speaker 2: want they want to do what's called it a du
[23:07] Speaker 2: which is an accessory dwelling unit, which is basically a
[23:09] Speaker 2: separate unit. So that's become very popular all because of
[23:12] Speaker 2: those situations. Why is real estate one of the most
[23:16] Speaker 2: reliable wealth building tools. Well, let's compare real estate with
[23:20] Speaker 2: a stock right. Most of the wealthy people are in
[23:24] Speaker 2: both right to some degree as a balance as a
[23:26] Speaker 2: balance right, but this is the true difference between the two.
[23:29] Speaker 2: So with a stock right, you can't control it right,
[23:34] Speaker 2: you can't alter it right, you can't improve it, and
[23:38] Speaker 2: you can't limit it right. All those four things you
[23:41] Speaker 2: can do with a home. Not to mention, you get
[23:43] Speaker 2: tax advantage, right, whether you're doing a ten thirty one
[23:47] Speaker 2: and you're rolling over your you know, your taxification to
[23:50] Speaker 2: another to another time frame right investment property, or you're
[23:54] Speaker 2: taking the tax reduction in your mortgage and your taxes
[23:57] Speaker 2: in the year right, or you're renting the property out.
[24:00] Speaker 2: Can't run stock out. So there's so many advantages for
[24:03] Speaker 2: for for a homeowner to own a home now, I
[24:06] Speaker 2: recommend doing both if you can, if you know as
[24:09] Speaker 2: a you know, more level portfolio. But real estate by
[24:13] Speaker 2: far to me is superior to real estate.
[24:16] Speaker 1: I've always run into people they always say they always
[24:18] Speaker 1: say that I want to be at the biggest house.
[24:20] Speaker 1: I want to the most expensive house. But you have
[24:23] Speaker 1: a statement to day. Buying the highest price isn't always
[24:27] Speaker 1: the smart price.
[24:28] Speaker 2: Absolutely, so you don't want to be the most expensive
[24:32] Speaker 2: house in the neighborhood where is that well, houses will help.
[24:36] Speaker 2: So houses in your neighborhood, in your area will cap
[24:39] Speaker 2: what your house can eventually exceed as far as value
[24:44] Speaker 2: goes right right right, because you do comes right correct,
[24:47] Speaker 2: so when you compared. So when you're looking, so if
[24:50] Speaker 2: you're going to sell your house and you're trying to
[24:52] Speaker 2: figure out the value of your house, you know, you
[24:54] Speaker 2: look at a couple of things. You look at you know,
[24:57] Speaker 2: what's the market doing, like what's the inventory out there?
[25:00] Speaker 2: Interest rates? You know, interest rates will have impact on that.
[25:03] Speaker 2: Inventoria has an impact on that. But houses will cap
[25:06] Speaker 2: in an area. So if you buy a house, say
[25:10] Speaker 2: like your say your house is sitting a million dollars,
[25:13] Speaker 2: but everything around you. It supports a value of eight
[25:16] Speaker 2: hundred thousand. Right, you're gonna you're gonna put yourself in
[25:19] Speaker 2: a position of maybe not be able to either increase
[25:21] Speaker 2: that value long term or you're gonna to wait for
[25:24] Speaker 2: everybody else to catch up to.
[25:25] Speaker 1: You, you know, because that's what it's all about. And
[25:28] Speaker 1: in closing, Todd, you know, one more time, tell us
[25:32] Speaker 1: how they get in touch with you.
[25:33] Speaker 2: They're riching you by by byself, which is seven seven
[25:35] Speaker 2: zero nine one zero forty eight sixty I respond to
[25:38] Speaker 2: text calls twenty four to seven.
[25:41] Speaker 1: Okay, now first half home multiple talking about multi generational limit.
[25:46] Speaker 1: We talked about family buyers. Which they want to know about,
[25:49] Speaker 1: the schools they want to know by ore the other
[25:52] Speaker 1: kids in their neighborhood. Let's talk about one thing. You
[25:56] Speaker 1: sometimes you can't pick your neighbors.
[25:58] Speaker 2: Yes, so you can. How does that work? You know?
[26:03] Speaker 1: What kind of research can a buyer look at if
[26:07] Speaker 1: they look at in the community, do they drive a
[26:09] Speaker 1: different odd time, different routes to and from work? Talk
[26:13] Speaker 1: about that process before our recommendation to anybody listening before
[26:17] Speaker 1: you close that deal, what are some of the tips
[26:20] Speaker 1: they should do if they're interested in buying the home.
[26:22] Speaker 2: Well, first of all, as a relative, we have to
[26:24] Speaker 2: be very careful. We don't discriminate, right, Okay, we have
[26:26] Speaker 2: what's called Fairhousing Act, so there's your protected classes. And
[26:30] Speaker 2: as a relator, we want to be as neutral as possible.
[26:33] Speaker 2: Our job is to help them make the right investment
[26:37] Speaker 2: of the house. Okay, it's really this. There's really the
[26:39] Speaker 2: buyer's job to do their due and look at the neighborhood.
[26:43] Speaker 2: So I tell buyers all the time, come back, come
[26:46] Speaker 2: back tonight, and come back over the weekend. Drive the neighborhood,
[26:49] Speaker 2: you know, stop and talk to a couple of neighbors.
[26:52] Speaker 2: You know, because I do what I do tell people
[26:54] Speaker 2: all the time is you know, focus on the house,
[26:56] Speaker 2: but also look at the neighborhood because you can't change
[27:00] Speaker 2: neighbors and you don't move the house. Right, But but
[27:03] Speaker 2: you have to go out there and talk to people,
[27:05] Speaker 2: you know, you know, what are you looking for? You know,
[27:08] Speaker 2: there's websites you can pull up online. Every county has
[27:11] Speaker 2: it where you can look the school ratings. You go
[27:13] Speaker 2: with the schools. Unfortunately, relatoris you're really sustained to commenting
[27:17] Speaker 2: on those kinds of things. But you just you know
[27:19] Speaker 2: you want to give them, give them the resources. There's
[27:22] Speaker 2: plenty of information out there online to help that buyer
[27:25] Speaker 2: and make a decision. Our jobs are relators is to
[27:27] Speaker 2: make sure they pick the right properly in the right investment. Cool.
[27:30] Speaker 1: Hey DoD, thank you for coming on my show because
[27:34] Speaker 1: you know the information you're given, but also.
[27:36] Speaker 2: Sharing your personal story because you were challenged.
[27:39] Speaker 1: Yes, and somebody told you when you moved to Georgia
[27:42] Speaker 1: you were not going to make it, and you the
[27:44] Speaker 1: number one salesperson in Georgia.
[27:46] Speaker 2: Yes, sir, congratulations about Frank you come. No Money Making
[27:49] Speaker 2: Conversation master Class.
[27:51] Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you for listening to this episode.
[27:54] Speaker 3: No need for you to do me a favor right
[27:56] Speaker 3: now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's
[28:00] Speaker 3: free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
[28:04] Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
[28:08] Speaker 3: me that favor, follow or subscribe Money Making Conversations.
[28:13] Speaker 2: Keep winning

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