Real Estate Explained

Homeowners Insurance, Market Trends & Wealth-Building Strategies with James Buckley

• Nick Bush

Share episode

Send us a text

In this episode of Real Estate Explained, host Nick Bush sits down with  with James Buckley, owner of Canopy Real Estate as we explore his journey from investing in hotels to building success in the real estate industry. James shares how his early experiences shaped his understanding of wealth, homeownership, and financial independence.

We dive into the evolving landscape of homeowners insurance and how shifting policies impact both buyers and sellers. James offers expert insights on navigating these challenges, educating clients, and building trust in an ever-changing market. Beyond transactions, he emphasizes the importance of networking with lenders, contractors, and insurance agents to create a seamless experience for clients.

Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, an investor, or a real estate professional, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you make informed decisions, overcome obstacles, and take a long-term approach to financial growth. 

Tune in and discover how real estate can be a powerful tool for building wealth and transforming lives!

Podcast Intro 

Follow us

Nick Bush:

I always knew I'm going to get rich. Like you know, I'm not rich yet, but I'm going to get rich, like that's the way to live. I grew up Section 8. And so I just knew it wasn't the wave. Right, I was like this is not the wave, like this is not the wave. You know, like spaghetti, like again like this is not the wave.

Nick Bush:

But when I was at the Ritz, you know just business people that can afford $500 a night room and they're just regular people, right, yeah, and they're just regular people, like Horatio Alger comes there and like that organization. But then other people, like where the Ritz is situated in DC, it's on 22nd and M and there's a gym that's in Equinox now but it used to be LA Sports. It used to be called LA Sports Club or Sports Club LA, and so you're just like, you're just seeing, like you know bennelies and you know cars, jewelry, people to have, and and I realized I was like, oh, I'm, I'm just on the wrong side of this transaction. You know, and uh, I have a friend named damon um. He worked at the hotel he has. Now he has his own hotel group, um called homage hotels. How much hospitality or how much hotels.

Nick Bush:

Um, his name is damon lawrence and he was like, yeah, I'm about to get into real estate and I was like what was that all about? And uh, it inspired me to like do the research and I saw how, like the, the, the entry point wasn't that high. I was like I can do that and, uh, I got in. It took me like two years to actually like do it, to like, just, you know, take the leap. And I got in when I was 25, 26 and I built my career off, you know. So that's how I got in. And then first time homebuyers and now I'm like heavy listing side, cool. So yeah, so yeah I love it.

Nick Bush:

Man, I'm glad I found it. I knew I knew I needed a job where I knew I wanted to do something where, um, I could just like go like where the sky wasn't the limit, like I'm not a good employee, right, like I was never gonna make the corporate climb. You know, just, I don't have the endurance for it, like I don't you know to. You know if I, if I decided, hey, I want to go sell three million dollar houses tomorrow, I would figure out how to do that and then I would go, you know, get three million dollar listing appointments and in the corporate world you have to like, do the job which makes sense. Honestly, you have to do the job before you get it.

Nick Bush:

But then you're on limbo and you have to do all the right things yeah and uh, I remember I started to do the climb and uh, I remember, um, my manager was like you know what the problem is, nick is like when you're here like engage, you crush it. But sometimes you just come like half-assed. And I remember being like, how excited do you think I am every day checking people in and telling them where the restaurant is? And like asking them like I already know how long the flight is from japan. Right, like, how excited am I gonna be having the same conversation every day?

Nick Bush:

And uh, so then I got into real estate. I actually did the uh two and a half week. So I decided I'm going to do it and I just like I had vacation days and I just did like Monday, wednesday and Friday for two and a half weeks and so I was like from class to like at KW. It was like six weeks. I was awesome, but you were done. Yeah, I knew exactly what I wanted to be, so that's good. So, um, all right, james, I got james buckley on the show. Um, it's a cool. This is like a cool fit. You look like this is great. I like the sunglasses on the polo, yeah, um, so tell the people who you are. Who's james buckley?

James Buckley:

uh, james buckley, realtor father, father first. Um, I've got two awesome kids and amazing wife. Um, I grew up in a real estate family. Um, you know, went to open houses with my dad and um checked out properties with my dad and really learned how to sell real estate from him Just kind of second nature. Growing up, I didn't think I'd be a real estate agent. Um, I, you know, left college wanting to do real estate development. Um, did that for a little bit, but, you know, the world kind of pushed me to be a real estate agent and I'm so glad it did. I avoided being a real estate agent. I didn't think I'd be very good at selling. I didn't think I'd be good at finding clients, but I don't know. As time went on, I realized that I just have to help people the way I've always helped people, um, which is to listen to them, um, and do the best job. I could.

Nick Bush:

I was just telling pedro on the last um podcast when we just ended. It was uh, I said we're more in um service and education than we are in sales. Right for sure, and obviously once you get a listing and you know you're in sales and then we're in marketing then too. But a lot of it is just like what you said, like understanding what people need and want you listen to tim harris's podcast sometimes yeah one of the things that I like the most about what he has said close to you, how's that?

James Buckley:

is that better? That should be good cool. One of the things that I really liked about what Tim has said in the past is that everyone that is going to impact the world is in sales. And he talked about this heart doctor that he ran into years and years ago. And the heart doctor said hey, tim, you know you don't realize this, but you and I are in the same business. We're in sales and my sales job is to convince my patients that they need this life-changing operation. Um, because some of them choose no two. Yeah, um, and you know, the best way to approach sales is going into it, knowing that you're helping people, that you're serving them yeah and that is critically important there's this.

Nick Bush:

There's a book called like to sell as human. I think I haven't read it, but I, I uh, during this political season, the you know that we just had, uh, I remember, you know, kind of telling my mother-in-law like, you know, like the republicans are better at sales and like this is sales and the dems are like failing in sales right now and that's why they're getting washed. You know, she didn't like to, she, she didn't like to think about it, right, like that. She's like I don't, you know, like that content. I was like this is sales and like martin, they're just better at it, you know. And so I agree that every, every, you know that's that's interesting, that you know everybody that's going to impact the world is in sales, but also, I think, everything is sales and once you understand that you can, you can win. So are you from this area.

James Buckley:

Did you go to the dmv? So I was born in Spain. Yeah, born in Spain in 89. I'm sorry, 86. We moved here in 89. My mom grew up here so we came back here. My dad's British, my mom's American. Oh, dope, yeah. So I've been here ever since, except for four years in college. Okay, and where'd you go to school? Miami University in Ohio.

Nick Bush:

I saw, actually I saw that on your profile somewhere.

James Buckley:

How was that experience? It was really different man. It was different. You'd think it's just like ohio and but uh, no, it's different. Dc is different from many, many parts of the us yeah not better or worse, but it's made. It's different yeah um, and I don't know. I I grew up, I went to the washington international school okay right where differences are celebrated. Um, and that was really formative and I don't know, going going to ohio college in ohio. Oh, you went to miami ohio.

Nick Bush:

Yeah, okay, I thought you were at the? U you know, okay, no oh man okay, so that's a hard school to get into uh yeah, yeah, okay. So yeah, tell me about that experience, that now my whole, what I'm thinking about this yeah, no beaches, no beaches in oxford, ohio.

James Buckley:

Um, no it, um, culturally it was just really different. Uh, people love their, like ohio state football games, um, and uh, you know, people didn't celebrate different people. Yeah, people didn. There wasn't like there wasn't like a curiosity about people. Yeah, which was a shock for me.

Nick Bush:

No, I'm from Annandale and I looked this up recently because I was having a conversation with someone. But when I was in high school they did a study on, like how you know, international and diverse Annandale was, and it was like 89 like international, and then the rest was like black and white, just like regular american and and you don't realize in the moment like how impactful that is or how impactful that will be. Yeah, but it's, it's in the little things, like when I see, when I hear someone like they can't pronounce a name, that's like foreign, I'm just like just sounded out like regular, like it's not that intimidating, you know, and if you get it wrong, you'll get corrected.

Nick Bush:

Yeah, life moves on right yeah, and this area is so diverse and and it's, it's like it's just like it's a lot like how new york is diverse, you know, and but I would say we probably I don't know if we have more cultures than new york, but everyone's like really close together here, um, and so I think that's like the best thing and I couldn't. When I went to college, I went to farum um, which is like 45 minutes south of roanoke, so I was in southwest virginia and it was only black and white and I was like where is everyone else? Like I was culture shocked, you know, and I was having that experience by myself too, so I can relate to that um I studied abroad my junior year and it was awesome.

James Buckley:

It was the best time of my life yeah uh, at least up until that point. And then I came back and it was, um, it was january in ohio and it was gray and it was cold and uh, everyone was just watching t, watching like football on tv, yeah and uh, and that wasn't for me. The midwest life is different, yeah it's different.

Nick Bush:

Um, so when I, when I uh reached out this morning to be like, or maybe last night, like, what do you want to talk about? I think you, I think you mentioned something that's super relevant we just had fires in, um, california, so for sure you know, uh, you know, shout out and prayers up to all the people that were affected by that. But, um, you mentioned insurance and, yeah, that's changing, and what people don't realize is that's actually been happening for a few years and now we've just seen, you know, the disaster happen is why insurance people go back. So what are your thoughts on that?

James Buckley:

You know it's a rapid change when you look at the history of the homeowners insurance industry, but you know it's over the last like three years two, three years it's really changed like so, so much. And it's not just California that's affected, it's not just Florida or the Gulf States, but it's everywhere. And I can't remember the name of the insurance company. But they're not doing any new policies, so they're like out of the game, and not just in Florida, not just in California, everywhere still in it. Um, they're doing things that they didn't used to do. Uh, they're asking how old is the roof? Um, they're asking, um, things like you know what, what's going on in the basement that's going to protect from a flood? Um, they're looking I mean, they always looked at the claims but uh, they're being harder on people that are applying for insurance and saying like, hey, even for like a buyer.

James Buckley:

You know a buyer comes and tries to get insurance If you're a seller. And here's my story. So I was selling a home and the seller had been there for only like two years. The previous owner had several claims and so when that new owner was going to sell that home, even though they didn't have any claims, all the insurance companies were looking back, even before they were there, and looking at the claims, and a lot of them were saying, no, we're not interested. Oh wow, and so that affected the seller, because buyers were having a hard time. And so what we started doing was we started working with an insurance agent to vet the buyer's ability to get insurance before we went under contract with them. And so and that's not just like a fluke, that's not a one-off, that's like all properties they look back and see what's going on with the claims and it could be a real problem. It's crazy.

Nick Bush:

I would never think that that would happen until you hear a story like that, right, and so you don't know. It's kind of like you don't know and and tell you know, um, but I think you know, from like an insurance company standpoint, that kind of makes a like, makes sense, right, like how do you feel about that? Because when this, when the fires in california were happening, and, um, you know it, it was the company. It was like, oh, they don't do claims anymore. I remember saying, like it was, you know, it was the State Farm CEO, right, like who cares? It was the State Farm CEO. I think he made like $25 million.

Nick Bush:

And people were like, well, this guy made $25 million and he's not insuring the people. And I was like, well, first of all, who cares? Well, who cares? He's like wealthy, like who cares, like let's not be mad at the rich, right. And then I'm like, but from a business owner standpoint, why would I insure something that um is almost guaranteed to like like flood or catch on fire? Like what do you? What do you think about that? Do you feel like they're like morally, like they like we should have, everyone should have insurance, or do you feel like yeah, I think it like.

James Buckley:

Yeah, I think it's dangerous to think about the world in terms of morals. Everyone should have morals, everyone should treat everyone with respect, but I don't know. The world is what you can do and how you can protect yourself from others, and businesses exist to make money yeah um, and you know, if people get mad enough because of morals, you know that'll affect the business.

James Buckley:

But, um, but like, I, like, I don't think insurance companies should do something because they should. I think they should because there's a need and there's people that are willing to, uh, to pay for it. You know what I mean. And CEO pay is like a whole different can of worms, right, um, but when it comes to whether they they should or not, like an insurance company, just no one. No one's going to do it. No one's going to be an insurance company if they're not making money.

James Buckley:

There's like just no reason to to work incredibly hard, um, and take all that risk with your time and your money if you're an insurance company, if you're not going to make money doing it, I think.

Nick Bush:

I think when there's a tragedy, you know, you always think like best case scenario for the people that are going through that. Yeah, but insurance is you know, this works the same way.

James Buckley:

If you are 350 pounds and you have to go to your life insurance, you're going to pay a premium for that and here's the problem If the insurance companies don't pull back and respond to market conditions, the environment, whatever business conditions, then that's not giving the feedback to the people that are doing risky things, Right? So, like you know, living in Florida is risky, Right, and people didn't used to live there, but they've been living there and then more and more hurricanes are like washing out communities and maybe, you know, maybe people shouldn't have homes, or expensive homes, or maybe they should have different types of homes that are more resilient, yeah, and so you know the insurance companies are responding and they're putting it back on us, the homeowners, and you know the insurance companies are responding and they're putting it back on us, the homeowners, and you know we've got to change.

Nick Bush:

I would love nothing more. If you're listening to this, if you live in San Diego and your insurance premium increase, move out please in Exodus so the real estate prices can go down and so I can buy a house there. I love San Diego, that's like, and it was beautiful. It's not that it hasn't been that affected and I'm like, I hope that that's like my wife and i's happy place. San diego. Um, that's interesting, man.

Nick Bush:

I, I think that, um, I don't mind the response from insurance companies in regards to this. I think it's tough for the home buyer because, um, and the home seller in that regard, right, because your seller was infected by, affected by what the buyers couldn't do based on insurance. And I think it's tough for the home buyer because already homes are so quote unquote affordable, prices are going up and so it pushes more people out of the market. But I think that insurance companies have to protect themselves as well and I don't know if government regulation is necessary, but obviously, like a premium, you know it's like do those areas of the country just become for the wealthy who can afford to either pay that, pay that premium or put their home back together, because I know there's, there's that uh neighborhood in, uh, the community in california I think it was altunia or or like that where I guess it's a more lower income, but, um, the Pacific Palisades in Mahalapuram these people can rebuild, you know, yeah, so it's like who's being affected, you know For sure?

James Buckley:

Um, and, you know, as a real estate agent, it makes it important not just to, you know, have a good lending partner, et cetera, um, but also to have a really good insurance person that will pick up the phone, that will do things like like mine did, where they're, like you're, you're connecting them with, with the buyers that you don't have a relationship with and they're responding to, like you know, text message intros with like six or seven different buyers that are putting in an offer.

Nick Bush:

So from a real estate agent standpoint. Like what do you think is for your clients? Like what's your team? Like, what do you consider your team is is hey, I'm, I'm your realtor. You're going to buy or sell a house with me. These are all of the resources that I need to have for you. What does that look like in your business?

James Buckley:

Well, I mean, there's my, there's my teammates, um, so licensed realtors, right, Um, and they can support in a lot of different ways, um, but outside of that there's a lender, obviously, you know, for a long time has been critically important my transaction coordinator, my insurance agent and title. And then you know, in addition to that, home improvement contractors, you know a buyer wants to buy this but it's not quite right for them. I need to show them. Hey, you know you can change this. If the layout works for you and the location works for you, there are things we can change and it'll cost this much.

James Buckley:

And to have a contractor partner or a couple partners that are responsive, that's invaluable. And then probably even more so when you're working on the buyer side and there are, or on the seller side, when there are things that come up in the inspection. You know there's a lot of emotion for buyers, yeah, and it's easy for buyers to feel overwhelmed. But when you put it into dollars and cents and like action steps, it's not so scary. And you know they might still say I don't want to do this, but at least they have the information. And to have a contractor partner that's super responsive, that can go get eyes on it and say this is what it'll cost to get over this issue. And you know, maybe the seller pays for it, maybe the buyer, maybe they split it. But just having that partner to bring that clarity, it's the same with the contractor finance insurance. Once buyers and sellers have that clarity, it's just logistics and it's just an equation.

Nick Bush:

Yeah, I tell my buyers at the like during the buyer consult. I say, hey, look, this is. You know, we get to this step and then we do the home inspection and I say this is the natural pain point. Right, we're going to go, we're going to I call it product knowledge day. We're going to go, we're going to discover everything that's wrong with your house. Right, the house that you're buying and the purpose.

Nick Bush:

And there's always something wrong and there's always going to be something right. And, unlike renting, where you move in, they give the paper and they're just like go inspect your house and tell us what's wrong, we'll come back and fix. I'm like, more than likely, there are going to be some things left over that you have to do, right, like you're not buying a new construction, new build, I'm like, but unless there's, you know, foundation issues or you know something major right that you feel like is a little bit out of budget, everything is doable. And then, of course, we get to negotiate for those things to get fixed. So you do have to prep those people and having that in, you know, I've never actually thought about it in my business, you know, even though I have those contractors and maybe I didn't need to, which is why is being like, hey, this is the call, this is the real cost of this, because you have, you know, roof, hvac, water heater, which everyone knows is expensive.

Nick Bush:

But then you just have the checklist that you have to hit over time, you know, and, uh, those are called, we call them paycheck projects, right, like you can hit those, you know, one by one over time, and some of some things you don't even need to hit um, the home inspector's just pointing them out and I'm like, hey look, my home inspector's gonna tell you he feels like the doorknob is loose, but that's not something you really need to do unless it becomes a major inconvenience. Yeah, so yeah, that's important. Do you have a niche in the business, like, do you made a lot of money?

James Buckley:

But you know people say part of the reason the dinosaurs went extinct is because they were so. Each of them were so specialized for their niche and then, when the environment changed, they were so specialized they couldn't adapt. And so Is this what they say about dinosaurs. This is what someone said and it stuck in my mind. That's great, yeah, and like one of the reasons humans have, homo sapiens have, uh, flourished across the globe.

James Buckley:

right is, we're adaptable yeah and so I like to be knowledgeable about a lot of different things. You know, condos, uh, single family detached uh, northern virginia, dc maryland, all of it yeah, um, new construction but also resales, because you know, I'm going to find people and I'm going to talk to people that need help and I don't know what they're going to need help with, but I can help them with anything that they need that's real estate related. And you know, just from like a business sustainability standpoint, the market is going to change. The real estate industry is going to change and you know I'm pretty knowledgeable about a lot of different stuff, but I don't want to shut off what I'm learning about, like all the different things, because I want to be able to help people when I'm connected with them.

Nick Bush:

you need to be well versed, for sure, in every aspect. Yeah, I have a, an agent friend, who's learning commercial real estate right now and I'm like what are you? You know, I was like you want to go commercial. He's like no, I'm not going to do any. He's like I don't plan on doing commercial, he's like, but I sell real estate. So I need to know about this part too, and I think that anytime we can offer, you know, like our job, offer information and help somebody understand the process of whatever they're trying to buy, sell, invest in.

James Buckley:

Because, let's say, an expert is like 99% knowledgeable about their field. Right, and if you have a broad knowledge base but you're not an expert, you're still at 50% because you're in real estate and you at least see it from a somewhat close distance. But then you talk to people and they have like a 10 knowledge on that and so when you're at 50 and they're at 10, you can at least say don't do that, that's going to get you into trouble. Yeah, let me connect you with my contact, my friend etc.

Nick Bush:

To uh to help you it's almost how I feel that every agent is about, or every every agent should be about lending, right for sure. I'm like I know all the programs, I understand, um, what your debts income ratio should be, what your credit score should be. This is fha, this is conventional right. But like you should actually have a lender, look at your finances, right. But I can have that conversation. I always say no one's ever walked up to me and said, hey, tell me more about the home inspection contingency, or tell me more about the appraisal contingency. It's all about loans and if I didn't know loans, I wouldn't be able to, I wouldn't have that many buyers. At least the way my business was set up. When I came into the business I was 25. So it was all well, I was 26. It was all. Hey, I don't think I can buy because I don't have an 800 credit score, don't have to put 20% down. I have student loans. There's so many options now yeah.

Nick Bush:

And it's like no, you can do this. You know, I don't think that. So how do you think growing up in a real estate family has like been a benefit for your business? Like, do you just have things just like, just like nuanced things that we, that the regular agent doesn't have?

James Buckley:

Like, do that the regular agent doesn't have? Like, do you have just like, a deeper understanding? It was your, it was your dad a real estate agent. Yeah, okay, um, my dad's awesome, um, he's still a real estate agent. Yeah, um, and uh. But you know, just uh, like growing up with terms like ratification like no other, like 13 year old, that's what ratification is right, and so for me, for me, I was never scared about the uh logistics of real estate. I always knew, like, that's, I got that Um, what I had to feel comfortable with becoming a real estate agent was the sales Um, and I saw my dad do that too, and I saw you know the, the things that every real estate agent should do, um, but, uh, and that's a lot of mindset and not logistics.

Nick Bush:

Yeah.

James Buckley:

And I feel like mindset is one of those things that you can know it, but not really fully know it and understand it until you do it, yeah and so, yeah, logistics and how to sell a home, no problem, head it down. Got my real estate license when I was like 20.

Nick Bush:

Did you get it just like I should just have this. Was it kind of like one of those, or did you have intention?

James Buckley:

You know, I knew that, having a real estate license, I could do things like earn referral fees, right, and I could refer people to my dad, help him, help myself, and so that was part of it. Um, I knew I wanted to work in real estate and I knew that, um, it would allow me to do more and to be more valuable to whoever I was working with.

Nick Bush:

Yeah.

James Buckley:

Um, yeah.

Nick Bush:

Okay, cool. And where'd you start in real estate? Where was your first company? Who were you with In 2020 when you got back into the business Keller Williams, kw? Yeah, I always say KW is the best new agent brokerage. I feel like everyone is actually running the KW model and just they tweak it a little bit, but I feel like Gary Keller kind of created the model. That's just like my opinion, though. Um, I also started at kw, so maybe that's why I feel like that. And the mra book is gold, right? Um, and now you're we're both at exp. Yeah, when did you go to? When did you get to exp?

James Buckley:

so uh, we talked about, you know, the real estate development stuff I was doing and how that shifted me into residential real estate. And so in 2020, I was with KW, I was with a team and the team was great, but I just felt like what I was giving them and what they were giving me it wasn't working for me and I knew that you know I could go out and find clients. You know I didn't need them. I, you know, like, uh, Redfin, the agents get their their leads from Redfin. No, but they, they rely on Redfin.

James Buckley:

Uh, and I just knew that wasn't me. Like, I'm not going to rely on someone. I'm James Buckley and I'm going to go out and I'm going to build my business and I'm not going to rely on a gatekeeper, and a gatekeeper is not going to hold me back. Um, and that's how I felt about that team after I had been there for eight months, Um, and so, you know, I I thought, okay, I can go join another brokerage, I can join my dad, um, or I can start a real estate brokerage. And so I left and started a real estate brokerage.

Nick Bush:

Oh, okay.

James Buckley:

It was exciting. Canopy real estate, uh did that for three years Um and uh, and then Dan Lesniak reached out to me.

Nick Bush:

Yeah.

James Buckley:

Yeah, and um and I. I didn't recognize his name, but you know I knew the Kerry Scholl name name, but didn't know dan, last year, shout the day, yeah, um did he give you the?

Nick Bush:

uh, you know like hey, would you be down for like a 30 minute?

James Buckley:

call or something like that. You know, it's actually someone that called for him.

James Buckley:

I tell people that he called, but really it was someone that called for him and yeah and I didn't recognize his name when that person called me and so I was like, no, no, it's all right, not interested. And uh, to this caller's credit, uh, he said you sure it's all right, not interested. And uh, to this caller's credit, uh, he said you sure it's just like five minutes. It was like all right, sure, no problem, um, but so what I, what I thought was just like can be like a couple minute call, ended up being like an hour and 15 minute call. Yeah, um and uh, you know, dan showed me that eXp Realty is awesome.

James Buckley:

Um you know, dan showed me that eXp Realty is awesome, um, and I so like I went from broker owner not paying a split to anyone, you know, in control of my life, right, and and all that stuff to realizing, oh wow. Like you know, I have success here, but I can have even more success. I can still have like brand autonomy, um and uh, and also have like all the collaboration we wouldn't have met if it weren't for eXp Realty, and there's so many examples of that, so I love it.

Nick Bush:

So what do you think? That and you know, I know I was like Clive say whatever you want, right, whatever makes sense. What do you think is the benefit, um, of being at exp realty from like an agent perspective, right, and from like a client perspective?

James Buckley:

I mean agent perspective. I could go on for hours, um, but basically um. For what you're paying, you get the most collaboration tools, opportunities to expand, without all the red tape and the turf wars and all that nonsense. So that's where. That's where I'll stop for the Asian Cause. I you know, if I don't stop now I'll just go on forever.

James Buckley:

You know, for the client, the brokerage really matters and I don't mean that like how cool is their branding? I mean, if you're working with an agent and they have an inefficient brokerage model, that means that that agent is paying too much to their brokerage and not getting enough in return, so that agent has to sell more homes to make the same amount of money and that means that that agent can spend or has to spend less time per client to make the money that they need to make to make ends meet or hit financial goals, and that sucks for the client. That's not fair to the client. Yeah, you know, cutting off like 25% of the extra care you can give to a client just because your brokerage is stuck, like 30 years ago, on their brokerage model, so almost so almost.

Nick Bush:

We feel that the agent has to do more business, to kind of eat, and that can just lead to less like care and service and effectiveness and your and your real estate deal as you're, as you're working with them.

James Buckley:

Absolutely. And you know a lot of agents don't realize it because they're stuck in this idea that what I'm doing is working but they don't realize it could be better and they don't realize that they could actually be serving their clients better. You know what's interesting about you saying.

Nick Bush:

That is that when I got here, I was chatting with Bronson and I said the two times the times in my business where I feel I'm the most effective to my clients is when I feel like my business bank account is just like full and like I don't need this transaction to close. Obviously, we need all the money we make and we want it, but where I'm just like, oh, my business bank account is cool, like if this deal voids, like it's okay, I'm the most effective in that space, which is what you're talking about right now. And then I'm also the most effective when I have no business, which doesn't happen often that much, but when I have, like you know, so you have that last deal that ratified and the next client is that closed and next client isn't ratified yet and I'm like, oh, client isn't ratified yet and I'm like, oh, I need to eat Right. And then, like the hustle just comes, comes like full, full body, and I'm I crush it in that space too.

Nick Bush:

I'm gonna get you out of here on this question. Um, so what advice do you have for buyers, sellers or investors, or just like the people you're working with in real estate? What do you let me ask that question better. What advice do you have for buyers and sellers in the real estate market today?

James Buckley:

do you have for buyers and sellers in the real estate market today? I mean, everything seems scary when you're doing it at first. You know interest rates are high, prices are high, but when you look back on it, it's going to be. You're going to laugh at it. You're just going to laugh at it and like it's hard now, it's scary now, but everyone's income grows over their life. Everyone's property value increases, you know, not always in a straight line, right, but it's going to increase.

James Buckley:

And, like you know, my buddy's parents bought their home in mclean for seventy thousand dollars, uh, in you know, decades ago, right, do they still have it? No, I mean, they sold it, I don't know, like 10 years ago, okay, so they still made a million, probably multiples, you know, um, and for them that was a lot of money and they stretched to get that mortgage. Um, and, like you know, you got to do your. I don't want anyone to overextend themselves and be in a bind, but in the context of history, when we look back in a decade or two or three, this is just going to be small potatoes. Yeah, and so work with a good agent. That's going to help you stay focused on that and get a place that's right for you and your family and do the things in the contract that protect you while still making you competitive. But yeah, like I don't know, who cares about the interest rates, it's only what 6%, 7%, it used to be 13, 18%. Yeah, just make it happen. Make it happen for you and your family. Love it.

Nick Bush:

Love it. That's great advice. Where can people find you? How can they connect with you?

James Buckley:

Hopefully everywhere. I try to be everywhere, um but instagram at james buckley official. Um. You can hit me up at 202-410-0672, um, and canopy-recom is my website and james is doing reels.

Nick Bush:

He's doing reels all the time he's sending, sending me reels all the time looking at whether you like it or not, I'm saying he's pushing him out, so you're gonna get them Real quick before I let you go. What is this Canopy thing all about?

James Buckley:

Yeah, so I mean, that's the name of the brokerage. I had to come up with the name and the idea was you know, the world is a jungle. The real estate market is a jungle right and at the Canopy you're at the top right and you can see for miles. And so Canopy Real Estate Canopy Property Group. See it clearly from the top, see it clearly with James Buckley.

Nick Bush:

That's right. Thanks for joining me, man. This was great. Thanks for having me.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Nick Bush

Host