Real Estate Explained

Behind the Scenes with a Title Rep: What Buyers & Sellers Should Know with Claire Banta

• Nick Bush

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In this episode of Real Estate Explained, host Nick Bush sits down with Claire Banta of Universal Title to break down the unsexy but absolutely essential part of every real estate transaction: title.

From clearing liens to holding escrow, Claire shares what really happens after a contract is ratified—and why skipping title insurance could cost you big. We also talk about her unexpected journey into the industry (spoiler: it started with a cold call), how our paths crossed at March Madness, and why she's now the go-to title rep on my biggest deal to date.

Oh—and yes, we cover wings, pickleball, and why two-tone houses might be on the way out.

🎯 Topics We Cover:

What title companies actually do
Why title insurance matters more than you think
The risks of unclear title or unreleased liens
How relationships and vibe matter in business
Real talk about housing affordability, equity, and lifestyle shifts

If you're a buyer, seller, agent, or just trying to understand what the heck “title” even is… this episode is your crash course.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Real Estate Explained, the podcast that gives you a backstage pass to the ever-evolving world of real estate. I'm your host, nick Bush, a realtor with over a decade of experience helping clients buy, sell and invest with confidence. Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, a seasoned investor or just curious about the market, this show is for you. Each week, we'll dive into trending topics, break down the latest real estate news and bring you expert interviews with the pros so you're prepared for every step of the journey, ready to turn your real estate goals into reality. Keep watching. Lauren and I are, so I'm like, look, I need to drop 20 because I'm like working out, but I'm eating horrible so you drop 20.

Speaker 2:

You want to. You want to transfer some of the maybe not muscly parts to muscle like, so this like has to go, like completely right okay.

Speaker 1:

Okay and uh, it's like, it's like ridiculous and so, but like, I think, I'm just like I'm going to drop 20. Lauren wants to get in better shape. She's in great shape, but she wants to get in better shape. So I'm like, okay, let's drop 20 together, let figure out what the vibe is, and we're going to lock in for 12 weeks.

Speaker 2:

Are you guys just going to focus on eating healthy, or are you going to count your macros?

Speaker 1:

So not macros necessarily, but calories just in general, not so deep into the macros but the calories, and then try to eliminate the processed foods. So really be picky about the ingredients, because I believe in it more than she does.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, if you're already in like fairly good shape like Lauren is right, Like you're in, but like you're like yeah, Um, but since when we first met, I've lost 10 pounds. I started doing counting my macros and my calories.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

So like proteins, fats and carbs.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I dropped like eight pounds in like three weeks. And then it's been like a slow ride since then.

Speaker 1:

Are you higher protein or?

Speaker 2:

I try for higher protein, lower carbs, and the carbs are complex versus simple. Okay, but basically I'm like logging what I'm eating, which is helping me make.

Speaker 1:

Am I a fitness pal?

Speaker 2:

No, I'm using Calorie Counter. It's an Apple app, it's a one-time payment versus subscription. But I also went to Costco and bought this like vital collagen protein which I'm putting in with yogurt and like. So the yogurt is like seven grams and then a protein, and then this vital collagen is 18. So I'm like getting 23 grams of like.

Speaker 1:

Why don't you get like just Greek yogurt that has 20 grams?

Speaker 2:

Because I don't want the entire 130 calories. I can do like I can cut the calories in half by adding the collagen in like a third cup of greek yogurt. So it's like 23 calories, or 23 grams of protein, and like only 120 grams uh, only 120 calories.

Speaker 1:

I feel like the life of a millennial. At this stage in life is just like what are you eating? You know?

Speaker 2:

having kids and a family and then, like you want to go out and sell, like when you do Get those date nights You're running around With, like older kids.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. You're just picking Up what's convenient. Picking up what's convenient.

Speaker 2:

And you're not Thinking about it.

Speaker 1:

So we got Claire Banto on the pod.

Speaker 2:

Is it Banto?

Speaker 1:

or Bonto.

Speaker 2:

Banto. It's like Santa, but with a B.

Speaker 1:

So we got Claire Banta on the pod. Intro yourself really quick, Claire, so that people know who you are.

Speaker 2:

Let me tell you my full resume. All 30-second elevator pitch. No, claire Banta, I work with Universal Title. I'm out of the DC office, been there since August of 21, and it's been a ride and really amazing.

Speaker 1:

And I've known Claire for what? Two months, now three months, when did March Madness start? March Madness, uh yeah, march Madness time, I think like end of February, yeah, and Claire called me um randomly cold, called me because who I did it?

Speaker 2:

I ratified a contract and no, you had a podcast, um that was playing on social. My boss messaged me and was like you should reach out to me. He does business where you overlap, basically. And I was like yeah, sounds good.

Speaker 1:

Claire called me. We found out we had a mutual friend. She put me on to like a taco spot with great margaritas in Annandale, where I'm actually from, and had no idea. She brought all of the guests to my March Madness party and she took me to play pickleball. For the first time she's on the podcast now. And, um, there was one other thing I was going to say oh, and you have the contract for my biggest deal that I've done in my career. Let's go. And so that is how impressive Claire Banta is.

Speaker 2:

That is generous.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, and uh, now you're on the pod. Welcome, welcome on.

Speaker 2:

Thanks, the first podcast.

Speaker 1:

First podcast Claire doesn't sell real estate.

Speaker 2:

Do not sell real estate, but she does title. Do title Biz.

Speaker 1:

Dev. So in a non-boring way, explain to people like how title is involved, how the title company is involved in the real estate transaction.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, super, not sexy, but really important. Uh, so we are the last third of the process. So, once a contract is ratified, so your client and the lender and you have decided this is the property they want uh, you send the contract to a title company. We either hold escrow, meaning their earnest money, deposit or funds. Uh, so that's part of our job. Um, the other part of our job is to make sure that the title is clean and clear, meaning that your buyer is actually eligible to transfer the deed from the sellers over to them, and to make sure that the property is insurable. So we are one part. I can see you're glazed over already. No, no, no, I'm listening. I was thinking of something to say Glazed over already. But basically there's another piece underneath us and they're the national underwriters. They're the people that are insuring the properties. So we have to make sure that we are able to meet certain requirements for those people. Like you will never meet them. They're not like the lender where you might see them at lunch.

Speaker 2:

These are people that are national companies that are insuring on a national level, the lender's policy and then as well as the owner's title policy, and if there are things on the property that you know there's an unreleased deed of trust or there's a mechanics lien or things like that, we are responsible for clearing those to make sure that the property is transferable.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and if they can't be cleared, like you just can't close right, like this has to happen, I mean, yeah, you can't lien's attached to properties, not people.

Speaker 2:

So you know you can close on certain transactions where there are still maybe like a cloud on title, but it's something that the seller's indemnifying themselves or the title insurance is still being able. The title company is still being able, is still able, to issue an owner's title policy which, basically, is omitting the future owner of any responsibility when they go to sell.

Speaker 1:

And so title insurance costs. Is it a percentage of the transaction or it's?

Speaker 2:

based off the sale price of the property. So it's a percentage of that. And then there's enhanced and basic. So you know, basic goes up to a certain amount enhanced appreciates with the value of your property. Um, so if you go to sell and you've owned the property for, like you know, 15 years and you have I heard you talking about it earlier like you own for four years and you have X amount equity, but really it's only a certain amount but it's not that much.

Speaker 2:

Um, if you go to sell the property in like 15 years and you've appreciated, but you only have the basic policy and something pulls on title, you might be responsible for a portion of it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that would suck. So do you suggest the enhanced policy? I would imagine.

Speaker 2:

It's a one-time payment. I mean title. I always say get title insurance, it's the one-time payment.

Speaker 2:

It's peace of mind. We often see it get used, mostly when you go to sell your property. But title is not necessarily new age right Like people are still pulling land records manually and so the people on the back end. I mean it's human error. It can be human error so we could close and not see something on title. You can be issued a title insurance policy or not. Because you refuse, you choose not to purchase it. You go to sell your property and maybe another title company is processing and they're like no, there's a bankruptcy on here or somebody else is.

Speaker 1:

yeah, I get those questions every once in a while. People are like, oh, I don't want to pay for title insurance. I'm just like you need to do that. Like I just kind of like I don't even, I don't even entertain it. I'm like you need to do that. I don't care if you think that you shouldn't do it or nothing's going to happen Like you absolutely need to do that. Um, so what percentage?

Speaker 2:

of people are just like nah, I'm not doing that and they don't do it. What do you think? I don't think that's such a on this, but it's more demographic of people.

Speaker 1:

I was thinking that too, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Certain types of professions. Yeah, and I. And it's interesting, though, because there also is a certain price point that I, anything over like 3 million people, are like. I'm happy to buy it, cause, like what's? An extra 16,000 on top of the you know their whatever for the peace of mind, there's probably between seven, 700 to like one, five new money. You might call it Um. I feel like they're above it, or they don't need it, or we've done a good enough job, um, and it's totally the consumer's right to purchase or not purchase it, um, but it is just for peace of mind.

Speaker 1:

It's like often, oftentimes like the upper middle class doesn't have a clue and they just make the wrong decisions, you know my parents sold their house in the fort hunt area, bought another one.

Speaker 2:

They left. That was 20 july of 21 or 22 july of 21, so I wasn't quite in this job yet. Yeah, and I remember maybe I was in this job just started, but I remember they had, they bought title insurance, but they called, they were like bitching at me about it, basically being like I feel like I got bamboozled on it and I'm like you guys just wait.

Speaker 1:

Dang, you were in trouble, I was like, thanks for buying it. I, um, I was, you know, it was interesting. You mentioned the 400 area I was in and they were like what do you know about Richmond Highway? I was like nah, I was like I don't need to know anything about Richmond Highway. You know like Richmond Highway is not dope, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it depends where you are, it depends on where. But then I.

Speaker 1:

But then I also told him I said you know, mount Vernon is actually like a cool area. Um, I think that, like Mount Vernon is a cool area. It's kind of expensive. You can live on of mid-century modern communities out there. But uh, just like, every time I'm on that, my grandma now lives on richmond highway and uh, every time I'm down there I'm just like, just like, looks like it looks very uh, pg county ish richmond highway or mount vernon richmond highway yeah and I associate mount vernon with the whole I think that's fair.

Speaker 2:

What part of richmond highway does your grandmother live on?

Speaker 1:

so she lives. You know where the buffalo wild wings is that shop is so Beacon Hill.

Speaker 2:

Beacon Hill is what it's called Highblood Valley. She's down in the valley, Highblood Valley. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

She's over there. She's like a 55 and up apartment building.

Speaker 2:

Frequent set B-dubs.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't know if she goes to B-dubs Actually. So my wife and I love chicken wings good. It's all good, and my middle son loves them too. He hates chicken tenders. He's offended when it's like chicken tenders and nuggets, but he loves chicken wings.

Speaker 2:

I'm boneless, but that's fair.

Speaker 1:

And uh, okay, so I was eating boneless wings before I started um dating my wife 10 years ago and she like judged me completely. She's like, what are you doing? Like don't do that and so now I'm I'm boning and we went to B-dubs all the time because we lived in Boston and B-dubs was right there, right. And now there's a B-dubs next to our house and I'm like we should go in there and just check it out one day.

Speaker 2:

But we have better spots and she's like, it's like I really want to do it for nostalgia and she's like those wings are probably terrible, like we, just you know they're not great, but the happy hours you know, you go for the, I guess, vibes of B-dubs but, if you're headed back towards your house on Richmond highway before you get on 95, there used to be a wild wings over, uh, further down on route one kind of where it gets a little bit nicer. There's like a huge shopping center. It turned into a. I think it's called chalkboard and they have supposedly phenomenal wings.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, that's good to know. So, um, so, what were we planning? What were we planning to talk about on here today?

Speaker 2:

I don't know. Just I thought we were going to just run it back. Um I I was actually more curious how you curate your your sphere and how you get business.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so it was very interesting. Um so, when I first got into so before I got into real estate, I was in the hospitality industry and I was working at. I worked at a you know a few different hotels, but most notably I worked at the Ritz Carlton and uh, that's kind of where I like learned life, cause I was a dormant bellman at the Ritz and then I eventually I was like front desk and concierge and DC oh, OK, cool.

Speaker 1:

And so I met like I met like almost every celebrity and like the like I met Stevie Wonder, like Diana Ross. I always like those guys are like legends, legends. But I met like Lil Bow Wow too, you know, and the USA Olympic team stayed there in 2012. So I met like Kobe and LeBron and all those guys.

Speaker 2:

Awesome.

Speaker 1:

But then you also meet like a lot of CEOs and presidents of companies and you're like talking to these people and I kind of and like I would be a Bellman tomorrow, probably like a doorman, more so than a Bellman at this big old age, but like I would be, I would do that tomorrow.

Speaker 2:

I like, absolutely love it, okay, so dream job.

Speaker 1:

Dream, like dream job and like, like, literally like, you get to just like hang out in the driveway and, just like you know, uh, chew the fat. This is what they're saying. You have to chew the fat, which means shoot the shit, um, like for eight hours and then, like, in between that, you're just, like you know, dealing with luggage, right, yeah. So it's like super easy. You make a couple hundred dollars a day in tips and you're just like hanging out all day with the fellas, right, and they in the management lets you self-govern. But while I was there, um, I always knew like I was like trying to do like bigger things in my life and so you're also like checking in these people all day. And you're like you know, parking the bentley and the roseroyce and the ferrari. You just get to drive around a little loop and you park them. And I was like, oh, I'm, I'm already like where I need to be. I'm still on the wrong side of the interaction, right, yeah. And so my guy Damon, who's front desk at the Ritz, he was, um, he was, he was like he, he, he has his own hotel company now, called uh, homage, homage hotels, and he was like I'm going to get into real estate. So I started doing research. Boom, boom, I was like 23 and so I figured out how to get in. I did like two more years in the hospitality because my brother convinced me that real estate was volatile and hard and you don't get a 401k and like being a GM at a hotel is way cooler. And so I really committed for like a year at the Fairmont Hotel and then once I realized like I don't have the corporate endurance, I was like, yeah, I'm gonna go into real estate. And so when I corporate endurance, I was like, yeah, I'm going to go into real estate.

Speaker 1:

And so when I first got in, I was 25. And I say 25 or 26. I don't know which one, I think I was 25. And I was like, okay, I'm a real estate agent.

Speaker 1:

I don't come like there's one now I own my home, but like there was like one homeowner in my family, like I grew up like Section 8. So like, even if I had a conversation with my mom about buying a house, she was like it would like turn into an argument, you know. And uh, so I come from like a generational, like like renters, like everyone's renters, right. And then like, because of that, like your sphere is kind of renters. Luckily for me, I was always like popular and like played sports, and then senior year I changed my group of friends and then I learned senior year like how to go to college and like what renvers, oh man, and like what a career was. So I like had this like knowledge already and but like when I first got into real estate, someone had to be like this is the HVAC and this is the water heater, like this is what these do, because I had no clue.

Speaker 2:

Also, when you own, it's your responsibility, yeah exactly.

Speaker 1:

And so I'm at KW and I'm like, all right, how do I get business? And so, you know, the first thing you do is like you reach out to like family friends mostly friends for me and I'm like, uh, you know what's your name, phone number, email address, birthday, home address and you build the database. And so I was calling people like hey, you should buy a house. And they're like Nick, like first of all, everyone was like in their first career, right, so it wasn't like call in the middle of the day, everyone's in their first career making like 60,000, 70,000. They don't even know.

Speaker 1:

Like at that time, like we all thought we needed 20% down. Um, you know the thought I had to have like amazing credit. You know all of the normal objections. And so I the foundation of my business is built on like home buying seminars. And then the home buying seminars turned into like the videos and now I'm doing a podcast. And so I think like the way I've gotten clients and the way I've like serviced my sphere of people is just by like intentionally educating them and informing them and, you know, explaining all of like the nuances of around like home buying and selling and just being like the resource for them.

Speaker 2:

But I think that's something that's interesting, that you said that's different, because we get requests all the time to participate in home. You know first time home buyer seminars and things like that, but you were doing those where it made sense because your sphere were actually first time home buyers. You were at the age, even if you already owned a home, that appeared that you were a first time home buyer. And I see a lot of times people want to do those events and they're targeting people that are not their ideal client and so it's hard to ask somebody that you're not socializing with or frequenting the same spots to come participate in something that you want to put on. But for you, like, that's a very smart way to get started and I do think that's still probably a very large misconception. When I bought my first townhouse, I was like, do I have to have 20%? And they were like no.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they're like no three.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's going to be fine.

Speaker 1:

I think it's very interesting because I was. I was thinking about this yesterday randomly, um, and I talked to my wife about this all's like came in here just like in business mode. He's crushing, but, like all of my friends, like my entire network is like wife and kids, like house, single family, chilling, like that's who it is, and I don't have a lot of friends that are, you know, like everyone's kind of at the same level or like doing like. You know we're all kind of like in range of each other, but we're all kind of at the same point in life, right, and so I think it would be a little strange for me to be 40. I don't want to be strange. I don't want to like talk about the 40 year old realtor that's doing first time homebuyer seminars, but it did make sense. And right now a lot of my database and sphere they're all just like move up buyers, so now I'm like servicing that, that part of my business.

Speaker 2:

And I think, being okay with moving to the next phase and letting go and okay, the first time homebuyer is done.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm now at this phase. These are my people. I need to cater to what they need and kind of like relinquish the control of really like I was really great at this and now I'm going to be doing this, but that's a smart way to play it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think first-time homebuyers like there's always going to be first-time homebuyers in the market and so it's just like a really attractive like niche to go after because, like you know, like low hanging fruit I guess. But if I have first-time homebuyers they're different. So when I first got into the business, I was basically telling people like you can do this with no money down and your credit doesn't have to be perfect. So it's kind of like what you sell is like what you, the clients you get. So I was basically selling like VHDA and like 620 credit score. So I just had a lot of first time homebuyers like that. And now my average first time homebuyer is, like you know, probably doing like 80 to 90,000 minimum and has like a 720. And they just like haven't gotten around to it yet.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so yeah. Um, I'm sure you were a title company's dream when you first started.

Speaker 1:

Probably yeah, yeah, yeah, and not even realizing it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah exactly, um, having all those people. But I do like, going back to that, like how you're shifting, I feel the same way Like I, obviously, if somebody comes to me and they're 24 and they're, you know, single and have no responsibilities, and they like want to go to happy hours and things like that, like I might commit to doing one of those. But, really like. I would love to do business similarly to how you want to do business with people that are in the same phase of life or trying to achieve something higher.

Speaker 1:

So the values and morals and yeah, but how does that work for you?

Speaker 2:

Because it's better for you to work with someone who's like 25, maybe all like loaded up with first time homebuyers versus someone who's like yeah, I'm not matching that person's vibe and I can't keep up with them because they want to do events all the time and they want to do happy hours all the time and I just can't do it Like I have a baby. I have a like I have things after hours. Yeah, I'm probably not their ideal client either.

Speaker 1:

That makes sense yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, which is fine, and it all comes back around. Like those, those people will eventually and it all comes back around Like those. Those people will eventually grow up. I mean life happens right, I'm not going anywhere, this is, this is the career.

Speaker 1:

So okay, so you own a townhouse in Alexandria, so what's your home buying journey?

Speaker 2:

So we have unloaded both our properties and we have one down in Stratford on the Potomac, so close to Mount Vernon. Um, but my first time home buying journey, which I think I'm a unicorn I was working in corporate. Yeah, nothing to do with real estate.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

My mom, good old memes, was on Zillow. You know how Zillow buys and sells leads, so she probably wrote something out. A real estate agent met us at a townhouse over in Farlington.

Speaker 1:

Oh, Farlington's a great neighborhood yeah.

Speaker 2:

We didn't. I didn't end up buying over there, but walked us around in like a really great condo condo in Farlington. Um, he was super smart. He um was like you know what, let's, let's just get you qualified, like. So he met me. I wasn't pre-qualified yet, I wasn't anything. He set me up with a lender. I got pre-qualified. I don't think we he didn't like really bug me. About a month later I did. I walked through a townhouse in the Bellevue condos that area. And I was like, I think this is it?

Speaker 1:

I have a client that lives in Bellevue?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I was one of those townhouses, like 20 of them, um, and I called him and I was like, yeah, you got me pre-qualified, I want to write an offer.

Speaker 1:

And he's like I didn't think you were ever going to call me yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then that was it.

Speaker 1:

That's great. And then your husband. What's his name? John, John.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he ended up buying a single family in that same neighborhood in that like it's new Alexandria. Yeah, um, off market. The house next door was selling. We knew the agents well and then, he was just like how are they moving? And they were, they were.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

They just did it off market.

Speaker 1:

And then you guys sold and bought.

Speaker 2:

We rented the townhouse for a little bit, I moved into the blue house it's what we call it, little blue. And then, yeah, we got pregnant and needed more space. And now we're down in Stratford.

Speaker 1:

So why not keep those houses as investment property?

Speaker 2:

So I was. I was a little underwater on the townhouse, okay, so it just didn't make sense. And unless we did major renovations to that blue house, it was a small Cape Cod. It's in a flood zone, yeah, you would not fit upstairs, okay. And it also like, was the foundation. The foundation was a little um, so longterm it just we would have had to sink a lot of money into both of those to have made it made sense longterm. I do regret selling the townhouse, though, if I just say that to anybody listening that does have a property that they think they can make work, that's lower. I was like you know, both interest rates were itty bitty.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So now you guys, and so why did you choose as some? Okay, so like you basically started a family and we're like, all right, we're gonna go buy our single family house, so you could. You know, fairfax county is huge, yeah, and obviously you're from like this, the area like mount vernon. Right is john from, where's john from john's?

Speaker 2:

from the strafford Waynewood, so 400. Yeah, you guys grew up in the same neighborhood, low key. I remember you.

Speaker 1:

We didn't know each other, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very romantic actually, and so did you guys. Were you just like this is home, like we're going to be here?

Speaker 2:

You know what attracted you to the area? Yeah, John's. I've really felt like I've built a good business here as well. I like the people I mean. If he turned to me tomorrow and was like, let's move to South Carolina, I'd be like, let's go, but for right now this makes sense.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean, why are you guys? I mean, you guys are now further down.

Speaker 1:

In Fredericksburg, yeah, in Fredericksburg. What made you?

Speaker 2:

decide to leave the Northern Virginia DC area yeah area.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so we were living in Arlington. Lauren, when I met Lauren she was living in Arlington. I was living in Kingstown and then we moved in together to Boston and we left Boston for a year to go back to Alexandria and then we came back to Arlington. We lived there for like three years and right on Columbia Pike, and so we were living there and I always just wanted to live in the city. I was like I want to live in. I never thought I would be in the suburbs. I was like I'm going to live in the city, it's better. Like if I moved to Illinois I'd move to Chicago. Like if I was in Michigan I'd move to Detroit. Like I just feel like the city is like the place to be. And so we bought our house in the city. It was great, it Um, and so when we were moving out, like my in-laws were like we were like kind of like growing out of the house.

Speaker 1:

And then we did like our uh kids, our kid, like we did a, we had a, we did a kitchen renovation and the contractors were terrible.

Speaker 1:

And it kind of like, you know, ruined our experience in the house, I would say. And so we were planning to sell the house and we, you know, we're getting it ready for the market. So my, so my in-laws were like you guys can move in with us while you get the house sold Down in Fredericksburg yeah, down in Fredericksburg, because they were already there. And um, and then, uh, they were like you know, once you sell, we'll use that money towards the down payment. I didn't really want to sell the house, so I'm glad it's rented out now, um, even though I did market it to sell it. But I knew it was like more of an emotional decision to sell than like and it felt like we needed to do that at the time.

Speaker 1:

But we got out to Fredericksburg and, like my best friend, really like my brother I've known him for 30 years.

Speaker 1:

He he's lived in Fredericksburg for 10 years and he's been telling me, like you got to move to Fredericksburg and I'm like I would never, like I don't even want to come to Fredericksburg. And we got out there and we figured out like school and my five-year-old plays soccer out there and so it's like school sports, we have our like restaurants out there. And then I figured out the E-ZPass and the commute and it just got like real easy. And then, really, the other deciding factor was we were going to buy like probably like one, two, one, three, something like that, maybe up to one, four, and uh, and like that made a lot of sense when rates were 3% and the mortgage payment would have been like $5,000, you know. But I remember we were out there and I was like I had clients that bought at one, two, five, one, two, five in January and like they had been looking since like November, though, and their mortgage is like 8,600, you know, and they're putting also 20% down, so they're also bringing $300,000 down.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a totally different.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing I was like, okay, well, if I put three, if, like there's so many ways to like invest this $300,000 that would just like make us $8,000 a month, right, like I could just like we could just buy investment that make us $8,000 a month and then we go buy a house. So it was first I was like should we rent? And then like use this cash to like buy something else. And then I was just like, like I was like lie, I call my wife. I was like, even if we feel comfortable at $8,000 a month mortgage, why are we going to do that? Why?

Speaker 2:

Well, I feel the same way.

Speaker 1:

It's like $100,000 a year.

Speaker 2:

No for sure, and it's also one of those things where I'm like, if I'm spending $8,000 a month, I want to be living on the beach waterfront.

Speaker 1:

I'm in San Diego, but 100%.

Speaker 2:

That's not the reality now, yeah, but I mean it was the reality, and during like peak covet, I guess. But those people are stuck, stuck now because they can't afford to leave or go to handcuffs, like eric said.

Speaker 1:

Yeah um.

Speaker 2:

So my folks live in holland hills.

Speaker 1:

Oh, they do can I can, I like come hang out there. I bet your mom like that Mid-century modern neighborhood.

Speaker 2:

You can they call it a double wide. It's one of those single stories, but it's great and it's great for them. They left a bigger house in Fort Hunt. Their neighbors knocked on the door. It was like a true COVID story, like we don't want to leave, and they were like we are happy to sell. People are just wild west in Virginia, just hustlers out here, just hustling.

Speaker 1:

But we took a big walk yesterday. Okay, and Because you and your mom do that.

Speaker 2:

Because me and my mom do that with the dogs we go on walks Memes is my girl but the amount of construction and additions that were happening in the Holland Hills home specifically, you couldn't go down any street without two and I don't mean like somebody's putting on like a deck, these were like massive renovations and it because I knew I was obviously coming here. It dawned on me. I was like holy, holy. I don't know if we can curse on here, but like holy shit, like people have purchased these homes in 2020 that are similar like a million dollar homes, and they're tiny. My parents' house is 1,700 square feet for two people yeah.

Speaker 2:

They downsized from like 36,000, 4,000. But if people bought those houses because it's a desirable neighborhood, but if we had a kid in that size and then another kid, oh yeah It'd be tough. But I couldn't afford to sell my million dollar home because I don't have enough equity to buy another million dollar home for an $8,000 mortgage.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So, It'd be tough. You want to debunk anything, should we debunk it's recording also.

Speaker 2:

What is? What is that called? Oh, I was trying to think of what that Instagram trend mode is like, but I guess it's the judgment one. But I couldn't remember.

Speaker 1:

What is it? What are you?

Speaker 2:

talking about.

Speaker 1:

The Instagram trend was like, um, we don't judge. But and then you say something like pretty fucked up, no, I think. Um, no, I think we're doing a good job, so yeah, Anyway. So, like to cap that story, we are like we can't. We're going to get. We didn't buy yet, we're probably going to buy at the end of this year or the top of next year because I have to finish my taxes. Um, we are like we're going to get like 4,000 square feet for like 700,000. Amazing. And it's going to be like amazing.

Speaker 2:

Big backyard, huge, like, probably like 0.3.

Speaker 1:

There's a neighborhood we're eyeing. That's like we really like. It's called like Bloomsbury.

Speaker 2:

Very, very sophisticated yeah.

Speaker 1:

So we're out there. You know we're out there.

Speaker 2:

Is it a new development?

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

Okay, no, Okay. So like Good Bones, older houses in Fredericksburg.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I guess there's a historic Fredericksburg.

Speaker 1:

So there's like downtown Fredericksburg, where everything is like it looks like you know, it's like you know, historic, and it kind of looks like old town, you know. And then there's a bunch of new development, just like Ryan Holmes has like been running through there for 10 years. Yep and Convenient Homes is out there now too. But we don't love, we like hate Colonials.

Speaker 2:

Okay, split foyers or out. Well split foyers and a Colonial so I'm thinking about the houses down in Fort Hunt that are Colonial, that are like all split foyers and or you walk in and it's like so I could do a split level.

Speaker 1:

When you walk in and it splits, those are cool. Split foyers are definitely out, but like, just like Colonials, when you walk in, you walk into Colonial, there's stairs, right in front you have the living room no one sits in, then the dining room and then the kitchen and then the living room you do sit in and then maybe an office. Yeah, we're just like cool, Colonial, nice, boring house we were either in a room or a hallway.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and so we really like mid-century moderns, yeah, and we like, uh, ranches love that so we could. But like, basically we're just trying to figure out what late. Like, we just want like a cool layout, you know, and this neighborhood has like unique style homes.

Speaker 2:

So that's awesome. Yeah, I just feel like it's.

Speaker 1:

When you have so much character to move into a house, that's standard and boring just kind of feels like blah yeah so are you as a title rep, are you in real estate conversations with your network, like, do you have to like, kind of like, sell houses on the side with your network? Are you, you know, are they asking you those type of questions?

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I wish that that was a better answer for you, but like unfortunately, we are not often thought of, yeah. Like I will have friends being like oh my God, we just we want to use you for title, like we're so excited, we just closed on a house. And then you're like, great, well, you can send me the contract. And then, like 10 minutes later they'll be like oh, my agent said like so-and-so is holding escrow. I'm like that's then your title company.

Speaker 1:

So, as someone who's not like selling houses right, but you're in the game, you're like in real estate.

Speaker 2:

Basically, what's your opinion on the market and like what's happening, like are more contracts coming in, less contracts coming in, so it's funny I pulled the numbers from basically spring of last year through spring to date now and we're down. Like universal title as a whole is outpacing the market, like in terms of our competitors. But we are I mean in all honesty down not a lot but a little bit from last last year.

Speaker 2:

We're also um seeing a lot more cash and actually right now we're closing deals in about 29 days and last year this time it was like 38. Oh really, it was slower to get to the table. I thought time it was like 38. Oh, really, it was slower last year. Yeah, it was slower to get to the table. I thought it would be slower now. No, for whatever reason, we're seeing a lot of like.

Speaker 1:

And do you have like an opinion on that? Like, do you like are you, do you look at the data and you're just like this is why this is happening, you know.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I think it would just feed into like the franticness of everybody right now with what's going on with our, you know, in the DC area with jobs and things like that. I think there's and part of that is true Like we are getting a lot more distressed sellers because they're either lost their job or they have to move or things are happening, whereas I think last year it was like it's an ideal for people because it's basically the same now, like interest rates are the same for the most part, but I think they felt like they had more of a decision and control on when and why they wanted to move, whereas now I think that's just a small part of it.

Speaker 2:

But I think, now we're seeing a lot more people that are, um, really just stressed out about why they have to sell, and I would say that, just like the typical, very easy seventh home buyer that's coming in, it's just smaller that pool is so much smaller.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's interesting because I don't know why more people are buying cash. Maybe investors are in the market, but do you have an opinion? Do you have?

Speaker 2:

I think that it is a little bit volatile right now. I mean, everybody's always like the market's volatile, but like there's not a lot of inventory. Still, when something pops up, people are like I'm just going to toss cash at it and hope to God and if it's not cash, the offers we see that are winning are high EMD and quick to close.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I had a listing that townhouse in Arlington like it sold like seven, 80 cash and the first day I was like why? Like it was like interesting that someone was like I'm going to put $700,000 down like cash on on this, um, but you know, I don't know. Do you have what? Was I going to ask you? Do you think your house is? I'm going to ask this question every time now. I think it's a very important question. I am beefing with this. Grant Cardone, robert Kiyosaki, your house is not an asset thing. I think it's the most ridiculous thing and I know people say it all the time and it's in the book and I understand why you can make an argument for that and I understand why your financial planner might say that. But I just can't understand why something like something that grows in value, that's essentially guaranteed to grow in value even if it crashes, it's coming back Like how is this not an asset? You?

Speaker 2:

know it is. I agree with you.

Speaker 1:

And so do you feel like your house is an asset, and why?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think my house is. I think anything that you purchase that has value is an asset, I mean yes but yes, the home is an asset. I mean it is something that you can pass down to generations. It could be generational wealth for somebody. It is something that you can take and leverage at another point in time to get equity somewhere else. You can pull cash out of your house. I mean it is kind of like a living, breathing investment that you can play with you can see it, it's tangible.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a living, breathing investment that you can play with.

Speaker 2:

You can see it, it's tangible.

Speaker 1:

Like, yeah, that might not be the answer you're looking for, but no, that's, that's, that's true. I mean, grant Cardinal is like he's like you got the maintenance and then and I'm like, so what bro?

Speaker 2:

So you do have it, but like if I got a new roof, guess what I?

Speaker 1:

get to do If.

Speaker 2:

I go to sell the house. That's a new roof.

Speaker 1:

You know I should have asked you all consumer facing. I should have gotten like the consumer's opinion on here today, but we did it. This is a good podcast. So shooting stuff, but yeah you're entitled, so you still have to answer this question. Okay, what actionable advice do you have for home buyers and home sellers right now?

Speaker 2:

What actionable advice. Well, probably has nothing to do with title. Um, it's gotta have nothing to do with title. No, it won't. It's got to have nothing to do with title. But I would say that it's no. If you were curious about if you own a property, I would connect with your consultants, your agent, your lender and just understand what equity you have in it and how you could leverage that asset if you wanted to do something else. And if you don't own a property but you're curious about it, don't wait to plant the tree in six months Plant it today and figure out what you can actually do where you're at, and then make the plan for where you want to be.

Speaker 1:

I think that's really good advice for people that already own homes. You should always know what your equity position is, and if you don't know exactly, you should know the range so you can make plays if you need to. Yeah, yeah, that's really good.

Speaker 2:

look at you, you should sell real estate actually. Uh, I like where I sit. Title is actually fun.

Speaker 2:

I get to do all the fun things yeah we get to play pickleball, we got to get sushi and I will say so, nick, when we went for our like to grab coffee, I walk in and it's. I was like not the Starbucks, it is the smallest Starbucks. I fit perfectly. Nick is quite tall. I walked in and he's like huddled in this like little corner. I'm like can we go to like this? Can we go get tacos and Mars?

Speaker 1:

I was like do.

Speaker 2:

I have to sit here with you.

Speaker 1:

Since I've met Claire, she's had way all the best ideas, like I'm like decide something and she's like we should do this and it's like always the better idea, and so hit up Claire Banter, she's just like a life asset. All right, I'll take that so where can people find you if they want to? If you want to direct all your title business to Claire, how do people get in touch with you?

Speaker 2:

Instagram. I guess it's just Claire Banter.

Speaker 1:

Claire Banter. Claire Bananta like Santa.

Speaker 2:

Santa, maybe I'll change it to Claire Santa.

Speaker 1:

I don't think so.

Speaker 2:

I will say, when I coached lacrosse in Chicago, I had this team of eighth graders and this is like I didn't even have an Instagram. I got Instagram when I got this job. They created an Instagram account for me.

Speaker 1:

I have honestly no idea where it's gone or what it is, but they called it Banta Claus and I thought it was adorable.

Speaker 2:

I wish I could take it and use it. So follow Claire.

Speaker 1:

Banta on Instagram and follow Banta Claus Cause who knows where that Instagram vibes are happening.

Speaker 2:

That's somewhere in the Midwest.

Speaker 1:

All right, thanks for joining me.

Speaker 2:

Cool. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:

Great pod.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

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Nick Bush

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