We were grateful to have Steven Harney, Founder and Chief Content Creator at Keeping Current Matters on our Physician Financial Success podcast. Here is a short bit with Steve talking about how to get a good agent and what to look for when moving to a new location.
Josh Mettle: With this season approaching, what advice do you give these relocating docs that are moving to an area that they’re potentially very unfamiliar with, you know, “I went to med school in Wisconsin and I got a job in Tucson, Arizona.” What advice would you give them to research and to find out local information about where they’re moving?
Steve Harney: Well, they’re going to handle it in two different pieces, Josh. (1) I think you gave plenty of advice on the Google part that they can Google the live stats, and they can even Google their stats from a state level and they can bring it down from that in some cases. But I also want everyone on this program to understand that Josh is a member, does subscribe to our service. Josh, I’m letting you know that the quarterly magazines we put out on things to consider when buying a house and things to consider when selling a house, you have both of those reports that we, again we put out on a quarterly basis. It has a lot of the information we’re discussing now and a lot of people information.
So if you can get in touch with Josh, I’m sure he can put you on some sort of email list where you can get those magazines out to you on a quarterly basis so you don’t actually have to do the research. You can worry about what you do as a doctor, a dentist, medical professional and he can get that information to you. I don’t mean to inundate you with emails, Josh, but you have that at your fingertips and that’s even better than trying to Google it themselves.
But now getting back to your question, the second part of the piece in that question is number 1 they should look at, they should be prepared for sticker shock one way or the other. If they’re moving from Toledo, Ohio, to San Francisco, they better understand what the prices, the difference in prices are right from the beginning. Probably the best source from a statewide point is CoreLogic does a great job of projecting where prices will be a year from now. As a matter of fact, we put one of those in in those quarterly magazines we do, so if they do get your quarterly magazine, they’ll have that on a quarterly basis once they look at the update.
But right now, they’re projecting price increases in all 50 states. There is no question about that, but let’s assume that you just graduated from a place, for argument’s sake, Tennessee, which projected prices are going to go up 2.7 percent over the next year and you’re moving to California where prices are projected to go up 10 percent. You should know that.
Josh Mettle: Right.
Steve Harney: You should also know what values are. So you should get a feel for it in a general way. Now when you’re looking more local like the example your moving into Tucson, you want to find a realtor in Tucson that can do four things. This is the way you judge a realtor. (1) When you’re talking to them, do they know what’s happening in the market? Do they know why it’s happening in the market? Do they understand what that means to a consumer? The way you can judge that, do they know what’s happening in the market, why it’s happening, and whether or not they understand the impact it has on the consumer is the last thing. Can they simply and effectively, when they sit down with you, explain to you exactly what’s taking place in the marketplace and why it’s a good idea or not for you to buy a particular property or a particular type of property, or what the timing is on that property.
If they sit down and they get what I call the peacock syndrome, where they’re bragging about themselves and they’re bragging about their company, that’s not the realtor you want. You don’t want a realtor that came from the place of being a salesman. You want a realtor that’s come from the place of being a teacher. You want a realtor that, again understands what’s happening, why it’s happening, and understands impact on the consumer. The way to judge that, when they sit down with you, can they simply and effectively explain to you what’s happening in the current market, explain to you how that differs from the national market, how that differs from the market you came from.
If they’re sitting there, not trying to sell you something but trying to give you the best advice so you and your family can make the best decision on the move, that’s the realtor you want to lock into. There’s nobody better than a great local real estate professional to make sure you make the best decision for you and your family when you move into a market. But again, the way to judge that person is not necessarily in the number of houses they’ve sold it’s whether or not they can sit down at a table with you and your spouse, you and your family, or you alone and really go through this is what’s taking place, this is what you have to be a little bit concerned about, this is what you don’t have to be concerned about, this is what he national market is, this is what’s happening here in Tucson. All right, if you find that realtor, don’t let them go.
Josh Mettle: That is perfect. I love it – the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman. That is well said, well said.
Please call Josh Mettle at (855) 260-9932 or write us at [email] to get Credit and Income approved so that you are prepared when you find a home you want. We can also recommend excellent physician focused realtors in UT.
