Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, real estate broker with a signature real estate companies in the great state of Florida. And with me, the co-host of the I’D start over <laugh>. Was it, did I say Matthew Mania before? I don’t know. I was about to say Matthew Mania. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then I’m like, did I say it before and then I froze. All right.
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew ler, real estate broker with the signature Real Estate Companies, and with me, the co-host of the Real Estate Find podcast, Stacy Garcia. Hi, Stacy. How are you? I’m good. Stacy and I both went to the University of Maryland and, uh, Stacy, you’re wearing a University of Maryland shirt. Yep. And it was, it was weird and my brain couldn’t register it cuz it was green. I’ve never, I don’t think St. Patrick’s Day Green St. Patrick’s Day Green. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a University of Maryland shirt in green. Average Betty knows University of Maryland is red and white. Um, so I have red and Maryland shirts are white Maryland shirts, and he came in with the green and Okay. You know, fear of the turtle, we Right. Could be green. We have a, we have a beautiful mascot is our terrapin, the Maryland Terrapins.
Um, but, you know, besides red and white, we have black and gold in Maryland. Um, but I’ve never seen green. So then I realized it’s, uh, it’s tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day. We are, um, it’s, that means it’s March. Yep. March Madness. I, uh, sometimes I lose track of the season seasons in here in Florida, but yeah, it is March. I I know that from Boton Wrestling. We just had our march madhouse show. How was it? Uh, it was amazing. It was in Meisner Park for those of you who, uh, who uh, who, who went out there. Thank you very much for coming out and supporting us. But, um, and then also, um, but the more important thing I said, you know, I said, you know, tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day. It’s not, uh, tomorrow it, it is going to be what is it’s Friday. And, um, you know, the one thing about the podcast is, you know, people can come back and listen to this mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
You know, maybe there’s some people who are listening in real time. Right. In which case, Friday, the St. Patrick’s Day. But there may be someone who’s listening to this months later, even years later, in which case it may or may not be, or maybe decades later, decades later may or may not be March Madness or St. Patrick’s Day. But for those of you who are listening in real time, I want to talk about tomorrow. Tomorrow is March 16th, and we are doing the Signature Top Producers, uh, real estate panel. And obviously I am included, I am one of the panelists. I don’t Awesome. Remember the last time I was a panelist, <laugh>. Uh, but, uh, yeah, the top producers at Signature, there’s gonna be six of us, uh, doing a panel if anybody wants to come. And it’ll be live at the Embassy Suites on, uh, Yamato Road Thursday, March 16th, 2023. Right. And if you’re listening to this in 2027, sorry. Um, and it’s not gonna be recorded or on Zoom? I I pushed for it to be recorded on Zoom or on Zoom. Um, you know, we’re a statewide company. I have agents in Orlando and Naples and Jacksonville, and I’m trying to grow. And then
Staci Garcia:
For some, why, why isn’t it being recorded?
Matthew Maschler:
I don’t know. Oh, I, but I would think, I think the idea is we want to get our agents together and see each other. Oh, gotcha. Um, but for those of agents who are, who are out of town, my, my West coast, Florida, when we talk about West Coast in, in Boca, we could be talking about the west side of Boca Raton. Right. Western Palm Beach County. Right. Western West Coast is the west coast of Florida. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> not always talking about the West Coast of the United States. Definitely. So, um, yeah, out Wests is West Boca, but West Coast is Naples and Fort Myers area. Um, so yeah, we have our top producers panel. Uh, all of the agents seem to be, uh, east Coast agents and apparently none of our West coast or Central Florida or North Florida, um, agents are included. Uh, here in, uh, on the panel it’s gonna be me, uh, David Munt, Marcy Gvo, uh, Nancy Geffen, and Kathy Green. And Deborah Schumann. Awesome. So, yeah. So, uh, uh, two-thirds women mm-hmm. <affirmative> on the top producers panel moderated by,
Staci Garcia:
Did they say that’s what your sales are?
Matthew Maschler:
Does they say what my sales are? Yeah. I don’t keep track.
Staci Garcia:
No, I know. But doesn’t say,
Matthew Maschler:
It doesn’t say what everybody’s sales are. It doesn’t, it doesn’t define define top, you know, and, and that’s interesting, right. What is a top producer, right. The most sales mm-hmm. <affirmative> in dollar or the most sales transactions. Right. For years. Um, you know, my friend Bob, Bob Solomon, uh, was a top producer. He sold the most transactions in Century Village. Right. Um, and he was, I mean, he must have sold in a bad year, 300 houses, 300 deals. He did five, 600. I mean, that means closing every day listing. That’s
Staci Garcia:
My question
Matthew Maschler:
Every day.
Staci Garcia:
How does that even happen?
Matthew Maschler:
You have, we have to get Bob on the, on
Staci Garcia:
The app. How does it even happen? Because if I have one closing, um,
Matthew Maschler:
It takes everything out of you.
Staci Garcia:
I have two in one week, which, you know, I’ve tried to keep them together. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I, it makes it easier to think about for me. So I don’t have dates that are off. You know, I try to keep my dates together. Doing two in one week is fine the week before though, I’m freaking out. Yeah. So how do you do one every single day? Cause then I’d be in a constant state of freaking out.
Matthew Maschler:
Uh, I don’t know how Bob does it. Um, or I don’t think he’s at that level anymore. I think he’s just doing
Staci Garcia:
Even 300.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. No, I think he’s doing about a hundred closings a year nowadays still. Cause he’s slowed down. That’s two
Staci Garcia:
A week.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Two listings a week and two closings a week. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. It is. Yeah. He’s always listing and always closing. I I am in awe of him. And to me, he’s a top producer. Right. Right. You, you know, I sell 20 million a year. Right. Marcy on the top producers panel. That’s a house. Yeah. She sells a 9 million house. Right, right, right. That’s a third of my year. So, um, so yeah. You know, a top producer who sells five houses a year Right. Versus a someone who sells 300 a year. That’s
Staci Garcia:
Pretty
Matthew Maschler:
Insane. And Marcy’s, but Marcy’s dollars are far exceed Right. Pop’s dollars. But yeah, I think Bob should be on the top. People
Staci Garcia:
Do say that in the, that in along with that thought, people say, I know you sell really expensive houses. Do you do rentals too? Yeah. And I’m like, yeah, sure, why not? And they’re like, cuz it’s like very little money. And I said, oh, it’s, that’ll lead to a eventually another deal and another deal. You know,
Matthew Maschler:
You know, it’s only realtors where, where our customers are just constantly counting our money. Right. Nobody <laugh>. That’s so true. Nobody else, nobody else says, how much are you making on this deal? Give me a discount. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And also you’re not, I didn’t, you’re not making enough on this deal. Right. The rentals, our customers think we’re not making enough on the sales. Our customers are thinking too much and they’re constantly, constantly thinking about it. I service my customers. Right. I, I’ve had, I remember one year where I had a $30,000 listing. 300. No, it was, it was a $200,000 listing. $2 million listing, right?
Staci Garcia:
No, my mom’s place was 800, $800 rental. It went down to an $800 rental.
Matthew Maschler:
No, I’m, I’m, I’m trying to remember it right. It was a, it was a, it was, I had three, two bedroom apartments. Right. Almost 20,000, almost 200,000. Almost 2 million <laugh>. And tho tho tho those were my three listings. Right. I had three listings and every one of ’em, I said the same thing about my buyer. My buyer is gonna move to Florida and have his dream house. 20,000 was in a country club community when it was difficult to sell in the country club communities. Now, now those, those days are gone. But it was a two bedroom and a wonderful country club with four golf courses, a hundred tennis courts, swimming pools, restaurants, absolute paradise. The $200,000 condo was on a one a and a very nice, um, condo community. It was older. It was built in the, you know, late sixties, um, condo association. And then $2 million condo was over at, uh, 1000 Ocean by the Boca Resort.
Right. But every one of ’em was the guy was, somebody was gonna move to Florida and have their Florida dream. So, um, yeah. I don’t know. So anyway, PE people always say, Matt, you’re, you’re too high end or just no, I i I deal with people. The the, the money will come. I’m not worried. I’m not worried about the money I sell houses. Um, and then that being said, you know, when people think I’m making too much, they, they say they want, they want, they want the discount. So I have to fight all of this. Yes. No
Staci Garcia:
Money is, there’s no money that sounds right to a customer.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Right, right, right. Like you
Staci Garcia:
Worked, I know that my client said to me one time, you don’t deserve $50,000. You didn’t make 50, you didn’t do $50,000 worth of work. Right. And I’m like, okay, well, but the other agent’s gonna get paid that much. Right. Right. And they’re gonna get paid the 25, if I get 25 for listing it and 25 for selling it, the other agent that’s coming in didn’t do anything at all except Right. And say, oh, let’s look at this house. And then their clients wanted to buy it. So why does she deserve the 25,000 more than me?
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Right. They’re looking at the whole mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you gotta, you’re splitting with the other agent. Um, you’re also, we pay for our, we pay for the photography. We pay, there’s
Staci Garcia:
A hundred gazillion hours of stress and time.
Matthew Maschler:
So many things. And then they call you up all hours of the day night, you put your heart and soul into it and, and at, at, at their becking call and <laugh>. And then you didn’t earn this money.
Staci Garcia:
Mm-hmm. I know that yesterday, Scott wrenching yesterday I worked 12 straight hours. Yeah. And that was just, uh, on one transaction. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> trying to make sure it, it went through inspection period. And I didn’t get one second of I’m just sitting, I’m gonna go out and lay out at the pool. Uhhuh <affirmative>. There wasn’t one second where I wasn’t trying to negotiate two parties to meet at one spot. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> happily. And both, both of them move on in the transaction to, to go forward to closing.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So yeah, we’re gonna have to get Bob in here and find out how, how he does that. Because, you know, he’s selling Century Village. I’m sure he doesn’t have the most, you know, it’s the same personalities, right? Yeah. Right. Someone wants, someone wants this, someone wants that. And just, just tell, tell ’em no, <laugh>
Staci Garcia:
No. I, I have another job by,
Matthew Maschler:
You know, it’s, it’s interesting, you know, one of the deals you were working on and one of the deals I was working on, you know, the same thing was happening. You know, you have sellers who are saying, okay, I’ll agree to that price, but I won’t agree to any repairs. Right. And, uh, and then the buyers who get their inspection and then ask for repairs and, you know, there’s a huge misunderstanding between buyers and sellers. Sellers because the contract is called as is. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they think they’re selling the property as is that they don’t have to do anything. Um, and buyers, because they got an inspection report, if they didn’t get an inspection report, they’d be very happy. But now because they have an inspection report, they think somehow they’re entitled to have everything on that inspection report, uh, fixed. Yeah. And, and you know, the inspector has to include everything because they don’t wanna, you know, someone to come back later and say, Hey, you didn’t catch this.
Right. But the inspection report for the buyer is that the buyer’s aware of the condition. And if there’s cosmetic problems, if there’s problems if with, with, with, uh, with a sink or problems with a floor, you know, cosmetic or, or livable. Right. If there’s livable problems, it’s livable problems. It’s mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s just something that, you know, the buyer has to ask themselves, now that I have this information, did anything change? Is any of this information so different than what I thought that I no longer want to buy the house? That’s the question the buyer has to ask themselves. Do I still want to buy this house? If there’s something and, and the seller has to say, is there something here that’s really unfair for the buyer to have to live with? Right. Have the expense of, and yes, there’s a negoti there’s always gonna be a negotiation to meet in the middle, but it’s, we’re not an absolute, the seller can’t say, well, I’m selling it as is. He knew it was as is. That’s not the point of the as is contract. The point of the as is contract is not that the seller gets to say it’s as is. It’s that the buyer has the right to cancel.
Staci Garcia:
Right. So what if, uh, you wrote into the, off into the contr, into the, sorry, into the mls as is with Right. To inspect, no credits will be issued at closing. And something to the effect of during the negoti, during the, um, inspection period, we will not renegotiate.
Matthew Maschler:
You can put it in the MLS all you want. Now the buyer’s gonna get an inspection. Yep. And the buyer is going to ask,
Staci Garcia:
Or because they
Matthew Maschler:
Always do. Because they always do. Because what happens is this list of items on the on became, it suddenly became real. Right. I like to say, did the buyer know? Right. Did the buyer know about any of these issues?
Staci Garcia:
I’ll give you one one. Like, um, there wasn’t as much insulation as they wanted
Matthew Maschler:
As the inspector thought. The inspector thought there should be more insulation.
Staci Garcia:
Right. Apparently. I mean, okay, well, there’s one layer of insulation, but this inspector in particular wrote of all things that could be made better. Right. On the whole inspection. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
So, Mr. Byer, do you still wanna buy the house? Right. Right. Mr. Byer, you can buy the house, you can live with it. It has as, it’s fine. You can put it more ins, more insulation. It’s probably a good idea. Right. But it’s not, there’s no warranty. It’s not like a, you bought a brand new car and you say, Hey, fix these 10 things. It’s,
Staci Garcia:
It’s a new house to them, though. Do they think it’s new?
Matthew Maschler:
But even if it was a brand new house, if it didn’t have as much insulation as a particular person wanted. Right. Right. If it didn’t have, I mean, you could say the inspector, cause if the inspector would’ve said, there are no window treatments. Right. That’s not a defect. Right.
Staci Garcia:
That’s true.
Matthew Maschler:
There’s no surprise. But maybe the, maybe the buyer said, you know what? You’re right. I do. Hey, seller, I want a credit. There are no window treatments the buyer can ask. Right. The seller can agree, but the only power either party has is the buyer can cancel Mr. Buyer, do you still wanna buy the house? Now, if something is discovered that’s really a problem that the buyer had, the buyer known this. Right. He would not made his offer. That’s, had the buyer known this, he wouldn’t have offered as much. That’s what we’re talking about. That’s what a buyer can reasonably ask for and a seller should reasonably respond to. Right. Um, everything else is just a negotiation. So the, the, the deal I was working on, the, the li the listening agent was just, they, they weren’t interested in even entertaining what the buyer was saying. Like, they, they just didn’t care. They
Staci Garcia:
Just, that’s how I was yesterday. That was my demeanor as a listing agent.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Did you, um, what did the buyer ask for?
Staci Garcia:
The buyer asked for five things and a credit.
Matthew Maschler:
He asked, he asked to actually fix five things. Yep. And he asked for a monetary credit. Yeah. What did you say about fixing the five things? I
Staci Garcia:
Said we would fix five small things. You
Matthew Maschler:
Agreed to fixing the things. Yeah.
Staci Garcia:
There were other things that we Oh, the buyer asked for other things.
Matthew Maschler:
The buyer asked for a list of things. Right. You agreed to fix five of them. Yep. Okay. And on the credit,
Staci Garcia:
We issued a credit just to basically
Matthew Maschler:
It’s nuisance value.
Staci Garcia:
Wait. Yeah. Get out. Shut up, let’s move
Matthew Maschler:
On. How much did you, how much did they ask for?
Staci Garcia:
They didn’t give a monetary amount.
Matthew Maschler:
They didn’t, they said, at first they said, we want a credit. At
Staci Garcia:
First, Uhhuh <affirmative>, it was, do you, will you blow more insulation into the <laugh> into the attic? That was one option. Uhhuh <affirmative>. Will you issue, um, a credit for the insulation to be blown into the attic? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is, they were guessing right around 1500. Uhhuh <affirmative> and or will you, um, there was a pool heater. The, uh, inspector couldn’t get it to work. I never said that the pool was heated. Uhhuh <affirmative>, they said they saw a pool heater, Uhhuh <affirmative>. And um, they were like, it’s gonna be $5,000 or something like that to replace a pool heater if it doesn’t work. And I said, well, that wasn’t on the mls. We didn’t practice. Right. We didn’t offer a pool heater. It wasn’t, they said, well, we saw it, so we want it. And so that became an issue.
Matthew Maschler:
And, and would they have canceled the contract and not bought the house? You
Staci Garcia:
Know, I don’t think so. That they had a deposit, uh, yesterday for $165,000. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And my seller said, why, why would they make the deposit if they even remotely thought they were gonna get out of it?
Matthew Maschler:
Right.
Staci Garcia:
So the timing was a little against them. Uhhuh <affirmative>. Right. They made the deposit, then they had to argue the inspector.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Right.
Staci Garcia:
But whatever.
Matthew Maschler:
So now, now was it always set up in the timeline that Yep. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So the, so it’s always interesting cuz you know, the buyer acts first. Right. The buyer always writes the offer. Not always, but most of the time. Right. The buyer writes the offer. So the buyer, the, the, the 1 65 was the first deposit, or the second deposit? Second
Staci Garcia:
Deposit.
Matthew Maschler:
So the buyer had made a first deposit probably within three days. Yep. And then the second deposit was after, do you remember how many days?
Staci Garcia:
Yeah,
Matthew Maschler:
Seven after seven days. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But the inspection period was how long?
Staci Garcia:
Well, buyer, no, it was eighth day. It was, it was, they were both seven
Matthew Maschler:
Days. So the buyer made a seven day inspection period and a seven day, seven days for the second deposit. Yeah. And so, and it was on the seventh day. Yep. On the seventh day. It was the deadline for the, for the deposit. So they made the deposit Yep. And at the same time try to cancel the contract. Yeah.
Staci Garcia:
<laugh>, I mean, I know that they didn’t wanna cancel Uhhuh <affirmative>, it was more of, um, it was kind of like a, a cowboy standoff. Sure. So both parties weren’t gonna move the needle at all. Right. And so the other agent and I were going back and forth, like we were playing tennis, and it got to be extremely exhausting.
Matthew Maschler:
I the next, so like a pool, we we’re talking about a house, whether it’s a new house. Right. A pool heater to me, is not an essential part of a house. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. Arguably if you were putting in a pool, actually no, because you, you know, sometimes, sometimes people choose not to even put in the pool theater.
Staci Garcia:
Well, that’s the thing. Prior to this house mm-hmm. <affirmative>, none of the houses that, um, I had this in this transaction with the same client mm-hmm. <affirmative> not this transaction, but in the prior transactions with the same client, none of the houses had a pool
Matthew Maschler:
Heater. You even had, because you could have a pool without a pool heater.
Staci Garcia:
Right. So, and they don’t swim. And then it didn’t matter.
Matthew Maschler:
So it’s almost like a, you know, it’s, to me, it’s closer to asking for a pool float.
Staci Garcia:
Right. It’s a luxury
Matthew Maschler:
Than an actual heating system for the house or air conditioning system for the house. It’s, it’s, it’s right. When you buy a house, it doesn’t come with dishes. Right. Right. I, next time I put an offer in to buy a house myself,
Staci Garcia:
You’re gonna ask for dishes.
Matthew Maschler:
No. In the inspection. <laugh> in the inspection, I’m gonna do an inspection letter. Yeah. Dear Mr. Seller, we had an inspection reveal the following. Uh, there is no, uh, pool floats, uh, chase lounge. Okay. There are no, uh, window treatments,
Staci Garcia:
All
Matthew Maschler:
The extras. Right. I’m gonna ask for all kinds of ridiculous things. Right. We would like a $250 pizza, hot gift card, <laugh>. Um, because on the day that we move in, it becomes late and very difficult to make dinner. And when we, when we, when we move in, we would like to order pizza. Yep. Um, I, I wanna make a, a list of ridiculous, ridiculous things to ask for mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and then ask for credit and for this item. Yeah. So it’s, it’s, you know, total amount of all these items is $3,000. Uh, you know, and, and draft an addendum. Right. Um, I wanna draft addendum, include all these things. Let’s do it. Let’s
Staci Garcia:
Do it. You know, Idra, I’ll write it.
Matthew Maschler:
Minutes seller, you know, you know, to actually find an addendum, um, uh, for the following deficiencies in the house.
Staci Garcia:
<laugh>. Yeah. You know what I wanted green a’s there was no green.
Matthew Maschler:
$3,000 for window treatments, pool furniture, uh, re and restaurant gift cards. Um, and otherwise we’re gonna cancel the
Staci Garcia:
Contract. <laugh>. What would they say? They would be like, this guy’s off the charts crazy.
Matthew Maschler:
The problem is, when I negotiate the inspection, I don’t even care about what the things are. You don’t, it doesn’t matter. I actually don’t send the report. I say we had an, we had an inspection. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we would like a credit of $5,000.
Staci Garcia:
Right.
Matthew Maschler:
Then the other side, very often we’ll just negotiate the number. Sometimes they want to see the report.
Staci Garcia:
Well that’s because if you back out and they have the report, it’s good. I think
Matthew Maschler:
Also then the listing agent’s obligated to disclose. I don’t send the report without the listing agent asking, oh, you want the report here? Now you got it. Now you’re obligated. Now you know what’s in it. So I don’t send it unless people ask for it. I don’t, certainly, I don’t want it as the listing agent.
Staci Garcia:
I would want it. Yeah. Only because I have a client that would fix stuff.
Matthew Maschler:
Ray, I’m not asking for fixing <laugh>, I meant Right. Don’t, don’t go in and put in the blinds.
Staci Garcia:
<laugh>. Right. But I have a, I have a client that would fix mm-hmm. <affirmative> the things, the little things are whatever they are, Uhhuh, <affirmative> would to the, for the next buyer. If the next buyer was gonna come and do an inspection, which has happened to me, and then I, you know, I already saw an inspection. I would already know what they were coming at me with mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I could remedy some of them and then say, okay, the inspection’s clean.
Matthew Maschler:
I, um, have you ever used the standard contract?
Staci Garcia:
No.
Matthew Maschler:
I, um, I haven’t used it in the last time I used the standard contract was when I sold, um, either Mahogany, it was definitely Boca West. Right. I don’t remember if it was Mahogany Bend or the, or the house on the island. Um, and the standard contract, I actually liked better. Um, the standard contract, the buyer has the right to inspect, and if there are deficiencies in the contract, the seller is obligated to fix them, um, up to a certain price point. Right. And if it’s higher than that price point, either party may, can, may cancel the contract. Oh. So if the house is cleaned, and this is probably something that you, you and I should talk about offline, right? With, with, with one of our attorneys. Um, it may be a better contract. Now, again, you would say in the, um, MLS that you require the standard contract and then you’ll confuse the shit out of all the realtors who don’t know how to use it. Right. Um, but you could, you could either say in the MLS that you require the standard of contract, or when someone submits an offer, you respond with, um, you know, we’re only accepting offers on the standard of contract. I think that’s actually a better way to say that we’re not fixing anything because you’re, because with this particular, um, investor, um, there’s never deficiencies, there’s never real problems with the house. No.
Staci Garcia:
They’re in almost brand
Matthew Maschler:
New condition. Um, and that’s a way to kind of enforce the, we won’t handle the inspections. Right. Um, does, does he listen to these podcasts?
Staci Garcia:
Yeah, we have to take out his name. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh> do we?
Staci Garcia:
<laugh>? Yeah. Um, but
Matthew Maschler:
I was, I was thinking now we actually have to really do the work.
Staci Garcia:
<laugh> No, I mean, we can look into it. Definitely. Because I asked you a question yesterday. That was a good question. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, if he wanted to end the inspector period at six o’clock, because he doesn’t wanna keep it going all the way until 1159.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. You’re gonna need an ad. You either have to put that in the contract. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Now. So what I was saying to you yesterday about that was, um, and, and we agreed to talk about it on the show. Right. The buyer’s writing the offer. That’s why what I responded to you with the buyer goes first. Right. You, you, you wanted to say, can we require that.
