Real Estate Explained

Competing as a Buyer, Standing Out as a Seller, & Navigating Today’s Market with Shane Byrne

• Nick Bush

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In this week’s episode of Real Estate Explained, host Nick Bush sits down with Northern Virginia Realtor Shane Byrne to unpack what it really takes to succeed as a buyer or seller in today’s market. From turning open house conversations into loyal clients to navigating a market where the best homes fly off the shelf while others sit untouched, Shane shares the strategies that are helping his clients win.

Together, they dive into:

  • Why preparation, follow‑up, and creating value are game‑changers for buyers and sellers alike
  • What today’s market conditions mean for you (and why some homes still spark bidding wars)
  • How buyers can stay competitive without losing their minds
  • Why sellers need an agent who can clearly demonstrate value — not just cut commission
  • Shane’s own journey from near‑bankruptcy in his early 20s to closing millions in real estate sales

If you’re ready for a candid look at how to make smart moves in Northern Virginia real estate — whether you’re buying, selling, or just curious about the current landscape — you won’t want to miss this conversation.

Podcast Intro 

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Speaker 1:

All right, we in here with Shane Byrne, Gang, gang. What up, Shane? We start cold like Joe Rogan, and I said that because you know I'm going to still have you introduce yourself, but I didn't want to have some like intro, like I'm Nick Push, the Real Estate Explained pod. I didn't want to do that every episode, yeah. And so we start cold like Joe Rogan and I have a prerecorded intro. But now I say that almost every time and so I hope one day Joe Rogan hears this and is appreciative that I'm inspired by him, yeah, and brings me on the pod. So then I can, you know, be like Bronson, I'm buying the podcast space.

Speaker 2:

Shout out, joe.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, shout out, joe Rogan, bro, you know. So I'm here with Shane Byrne.

Speaker 2:

Yes, sir.

Speaker 1:

Introduce yourself to the people.

Speaker 2:

I'm Shane. I'm a real estate agent in Northern Virginia, born and raised in Ashburn. Twenty-six Single.

Speaker 1:

I cannot get away from Western Prince William County and Loudoun County. You guys are all just like I think it's y'all's time right now, you know, out in Western Prince William, loudoun County. You know, I feel like I grew up in Annandale, okay, and so when I was growing up, I'm 35. I graduated high school 2008. Okay, you graduated high school 2017. 2017. Yeah, crazy, I had a seven-year-old by 2017. Damn, but I had a kid early, so that was you know, and uh, fairfax County was like what, like it was the place you know. And so I feel like everyone, like all the millennials, like my age, we're all from Fairfax County and I feel like everyone in their twenties. It's like Loudoun County Prince William County because, you know, prince William's a newer thing, but like Loudoun County because it got pop in like 2008, like six, seven, it started building up. So that's good man. So did you go to?

Speaker 2:

college? Yeah, I went to Virginia Tech.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I graduated 21. Tech. Yeah, I went to Ferrum. Ferrum's like 45 minutes south of Roanoke, okay, so I was. You know, tech was our Really, is that?

Speaker 2:

in between Tech and Radford.

Speaker 1:

Nah, so Tech and Radford are right next to each other.

Speaker 2:

If you continue going down, 81, you have to go all the way down 81 to Roanoke and then you get on 220.

Speaker 1:

And then Ferrum is like 20 minutes, 30 minutes from like Danville, Martinsville, like there. So I'm like way down like super Southwest. But I had a lot of fun at tech. Uh, I had a friend that was like a dj. He was like a dj at the time so I had we had all the party spots, yeah, basically, and then uh and I have a lot of quad fest memories. Um, but did they shut down quad fest when you were in college?

Speaker 2:

yeah, well, when I was in college, that was when covid hit, so it was a funky time yeah, I mean, it was crazy.

Speaker 2:

Everyone went remote. Half of my college experience was from home. That sucks, dude. Yeah, I turned 21 and on my 21st birthday was March 30th, and that was when the governor shut down Virginia. So they had cops outside because we'd all gone back home. So I was at my parents' place in a cul-de-sac and there was cops just like patrolling the area, and that was when everything was super strict. I mean, the only time you could be outside your house was to go to the grocery. Yeah, so, like my friends were around the little semi-circle and they had like mad dogs and little ices. We were standing six feet apart and there was a cop at the end of the street. And at noon on my birthday, 21st birthday that was when the effect went into order and uh, yeah, everyone, everyone just had to be, it.

Speaker 2:

They watched me drink it. And then I went home and we FaceTimed and that was it. At least your guys celebrated with you. They found a way to celebrate with you. That's tough, but it's just weird times.

Speaker 1:

Looking back at it, Like how much has changed? And at that time it was like you're going to die, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, it was kind.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We're all going to die.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, we're here today. Exactly so you graduated. What'd you study at Tech?

Speaker 2:

So I was pre-law, so like criminology stuff, and then I got out I thought I wanted to go to law school Worked at a law firm hated it and then started a little business venture Sold Tech to the attorneys that I was working with. That did not work, practically bankrupted myself, got into real estate and then that's how I'm here.

Speaker 1:

Bankrupted myself in my early 20s.

Speaker 2:

Pretty much. I mean, I say that but I didn't have any money and it was an amazing experience because I came into real estate with literally nothing to lose. So it kind of gave me a hunger and an edge and this mentality that I don't really care, I already lost, what else do I have to?

Speaker 2:

lose so why choose real estate? I don't really care, like I already lost, like what else do I have to lose? So why choose real estate? Multitude of things. One of the investors for the company was a real estate guy. So he pretty much saw what happened and was like just get into real estate, it's easier, yeah. And honestly, when he said that he could have said go sell tires, and I would have been like thank the Lord, like that's an answer, and then I got into real estate and just took off from there.

Speaker 1:

And you're a year and a half in Yep and how's it going so far?

Speaker 2:

Good. So last year I ended around $8 million in sales and this year I'm on track to. I mean I'm hoping to do around $12.

Speaker 1:

That's good man, yeah. So what is? You're way past, you know, needing to dress up for any appointment. You know you got the juice and so you got it. So a lot of people get into the business and they get on a team or they start solo.

Speaker 1:

I had a conversation with someone who's planning to become a real estate agent and she was like she was like, hey, you know, should I join a team or stay solo? And I say, if I could go back in time, I would have joined a team. But when I first got into real estate I didn't even know what that meant. I wouldn't have had the information to know what team to join. Right Now I know like, okay, that team is a good team, right. But when I got into real estate I was 26, and I was like the math doesn't make sense to be on a team. Why am I going to give up 50%? I'm going to figure it out. I don't have a problem talking to people and creating relationships. So you never joined a team, right? And so what was your mindset around that?

Speaker 2:

It's the same way I mean. For me it was. I can figure this out and I want to build a brand. I want to build a brand. I want to build a brand around my name. There's definitely a little ego in that as well, and I joined real estate to make a business, make a name out of myself, and I could join a team, but at the same time I could do favors for other agents and I could have them advise me and get their advice, instead of having to pay 50% out to get that advice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he wants to keep all his bags. Yeah, that's the right way to do it.

Speaker 2:

Do lots of favors for agents, especially high-producing agents, and they'll always have your back and they can advise you without having to pay out everything.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so how did you build your business Like they want a real estate? Shane's out here. What is he doing?

Speaker 2:

Open houses, plain and I got in. I tried a bunch of different things Cold call for a while. I didn't like it. I didn't like it because it wasn't face-to-face and I like being face-to-face with people. And then I got into door knocking and I hated door knocking because there was no rhyme or reason. The amount of times I would knock on a door and someone's like, oh, I just bought, like two months ago, it's like this is a waste of time. Half the time they don't answer the door. For me it just seemed like a waste of time. I know people that are crazy successful at both. Um, I landed in open houses and originally I hated it. But then I shadowed someone who kills it with opens and the whole, my whole mentality changed. It went from you know someone walking into the door to how can I create value from a conversation and then leverage that value to set a meeting?

Speaker 1:

so? So, what's the? What do you do? What's your sauce? If you don't mind sharing, is it secret?

Speaker 2:

sauce. No, no, I mean I've taught. So I actually it's funny because back in January I taught a class at the brokerage on how I do opens, because I had a good first year, so very open with it. I mean it depends on the situation, it depends on your price point. You have to know what's going on, you have to know, you know other listings. You kind of have to just be a master of everything.

Speaker 2:

But what it comes down to is, I think a lot of people are focused on the wrong thing. Like if you come in and I say, do you have an agent, you don't know how to answer that question. Like your boy that you went to high school with is a real estate agent. Yes, I, yes, I have a real estate agent. Well, no, you haven't talked with them in 15 years, right? So it's all about being able to say and sit down with them and be like has anyone taken the time to walk you through this process? Like these are a couple listings that I have coming up. Maybe these would be good fits for you and just really creating value through conversation and then using that value to set meetings.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, my wife and I my wife. It's interesting, my wife has her doctorate in criminology. Yep, it's like criminology, law and society, so that's like her thing. And we love California. I was just in LA a couple of weeks ago, but we love San Diego primarily, but I was in LA, I love San Diego too, and we had drove up to LA one of the times we were in San Diego, but this time, when I was in LA, we stayed there and I'm like the type of person I'm like yo, let's drive through Beverly Hills, like let's, you know, drive to Malibu. I do all that. And, bro, it was like Porsches, like Hondas, g-wagons everywhere, rolls Royce trucks everywhere. I was like they get the money. So I came back.

Speaker 1:

I was like my wife's name is Lauren, like I need, I need to be around the bag, you know, I need to motivate, right, like San Diego. You're just like everyone's quiet, chilling LA. You could tell like they're still hustling, you know, um. But I tell her I'm like look. And so she's always like well, all your business is here though. So like, what are you going to do out there? And I was like, oh, I, just six months. I do open houses, I'll have a network. I was like I just do um, I do four weekend, like if we really. I was like I do um 11 to 1, 2 to 4, right, and I just do that every weekend for six months and I'd meet a bunch of buyers and I just do buy side deals and I'd I'd blow up the business quickly, right, yeah I mean, all it takes is six months of consistency and then you have a pipeline.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um, but it's funny, you know, right now I have a buyer under contract, met him at an open and we haven't even closed the deal yet. She gives me a call on Friday and she's like, hey, my grandma needs to sell. That was great Boom. And it's like just going through. Being consistent leads to more opportunity and as long as the service is there and the value you're providing backs it up, then you get referrals and that's how you build.

Speaker 1:

So then question so there's, if you're talking to a seller, do I say this to sellers or buyers? But anyways, like you say this to clients, sometimes You're just like oh, maybe you say it to your buyers, right, where you're like, oh, you can go to an open house without me, right, let them know I'm your agent. By the way, that agent like where they're like, do you think my buyers are going to come to the open house? I was like, probably not and I'm not doing the open house necessarily, like a newer agent will, because they want to get the leads right, right, and so I guess I'm setting up my clients and maybe some other agents are setting up the marketplace to feel like agents that are hosting open houses, especially if they're not the listing agents don't actually have the value, they're just there to get leads. So how are you displaying that value and convincing people of that, even after the open house?

Speaker 2:

So nine times out of ten, when someone walks into an open house, they think I'm the listing agent. I know it inside and out. I do my homework and you would be amazed at how many people don't do their homework.

Speaker 1:

It's as simple as that.

Speaker 2:

They don't know beds, baths, but I also know square footage. I mean you have to know price, you have to know price adjustments, you need to know what's going on in the area. I mean I will go as far as even looking at for off-market properties. I'll figure out. Well, why are the sellers moving? Why did the sellers do this? Why did they renov the story? And then, next thing, you know, they walk in and you are the experts.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

All it takes is an hour of homework.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And that's how you figure it out. I mean, it's talking through the listing agents, um, and that's it, yeah.

Speaker 1:

That's true, bro. You do have to like. When somebody walks into an open house, it's like how's the HVAC, how's the roof? Yeah, when do they update the kitchen? And if you're not doing any homages, you're like I don't know, I'm just like hosting. You can't.

Speaker 2:

Exactly so, like I will know major systems of the house like roof, hvac, windows, hot water heater. So I've been. One time I went to an open house with a client. You schedule a showing and you don't even see there's an open house. You walk in open house and we walk in there and I'm talking with the agent there. I'm like it's like the sixth showing of the day. I'm like what's the price on this one? Is this $830? Is this $850?

Speaker 2:

And they're like oh, I'm just holding the open. I'm like time. Like you, put nothing into this, you don't even know the price of the house, yeah, so I think that if you do put the time into it, the results do come so are you more um so okay.

Speaker 1:

So for people that are going to open houses, do you find they're usually first-time homebuyers, second-time buyers like where they are?

Speaker 2:

depends on the price okay um, a lot of the time I I do think that it depends on the price. I think that if you're 800 or under, probably first-time homebuyer, but then again if you're like 1.2 or under in a condo or a small townhouse in Arlington, you're a first-time homebuyer, yeah. So it kind of depends on price and location, yeah, but it doesn't matter. I mean, I'll tell you most of my buyers that I work with I'm 26. Most of them are in their 40s and I'm not their first agent.

Speaker 1:

So from being around here, you're from around here. Why not tap back into your network when you grew up like high school and people that are still around here? 100% do.

Speaker 2:

I do, they're just 26. They're not ready to buy. Yet it's funny, I reach out to them I'm like hey, you know, friendly reminder Looking to buy or sell, and a lot of them I'm super informal with. I'm like yo, let's buy a house.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Like stop messing around, yeah, and half the time they're like we don't even have money to go out this weekend and whether that's financially or mentally, it's like dude, why don't you come out with this this weekend?

Speaker 1:

That's just not the focus. It doesn't make sense for you to focus there in your business right now. Exactly when I first got into the business, I was also 26 and I was like I should have done more open houses. But I think I was at a brokerage where. So if I could go back in time and what I tell agents, I'm like if you want to join a team when you get into the business, join a listing heavy team, so then the team just has a bunch of listings and you can do a ton of open houses right and then if you're not doing your open houses right, like you said then you kind of you kind of burn out.

Speaker 1:

You're just like okay, and I also tell people I'm like do open houses, but you have to follow up with that person seven times, right, you know, it's not like a follow-up on monday, you guys, you have to be committed to the follow-up, right, um. But uh, I was 26 and I like dumped all my. I was like yo sphere, like I know everybody, I'm cool and I did a lot of first-time home buying seminars, um, and things like that. I think I would have. I think I would have done that differently, though yeah if I can go back in time too.

Speaker 1:

So do you think that? So for sellers and I'll get off the open house topic soon but like for sellers, do you feel like open houses are valuable? Like, should a seller host an open house? Yes, why?

Speaker 2:

Access.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

So a lot of agents are really really busy and they will just send their clients, so, like, if you have 10 active buyers right now and they are all needing to look on a Saturday, you're not going to be able to go out. Yeah, so it's really really valuable in that way because it gives access to them without an agent necessarily having to be there to represent them. Number one, but number two, I mean. So last year I did right around 120 opens in total, wow, yeah. And then of those 120, there was one where someone came into the house. They loved it. We ended up writing an offer on it, we won and then turned around and got the deal done. Yeah, so it does work, but it's just not at this high level percentage that people think it works at.

Speaker 1:

Bro, I remember I was doing an open house in Capitol Hill, just like three years ago. I was doing an open house in Capitol Hill, yeah, I did the 11 to 1. And then the agent remember I was doing an open house in Capitol Hill, just like three years ago. I was doing an open house in Capitol Hill, yeah, I did the 11 to 1. And then the agent who I was cool with his name was Nick. Also he did the 2 to 4 and a buyer walked in and was like I don't have an agent. I want to buy this house, can you help me? And he had it ratified in like four days and he knew the listing agent.

Speaker 2:

It days and he knew the listing agent. It was the second week on and the house was listed at 850 and I was like, dang, I picked the wrong time. Yeah, so the one that I did last year. Um, so we ended up. It was house was listed at 875 um first weekend on market, lots of traffic. We ratified 875, closed at 875 and I turned around and I sold their townhouse right afterwards. It was like 560 or 585, I think, dang nice little 30-ish thousand dollar come up.

Speaker 1:

That's good. Good for you, bro. So what's your? I mean you do open houses, so I'm imagining you're more buyer heavy than seller heavy.

Speaker 2:

Correct, but I have had quite a few listings that just randomly pop up. I'm definitely more buyer focused, but I help a lot of agents out with their listings, whether that's prepping, like prepping in for staging and stuff. So I feel like I'm super comfortable, and I've also shadowed a ton of agents on their listing appointments. I mean, my first listing appointment I had an agent shadow or come with me and made sure that I got the listing, which I did, but before that I'd probably been on 30 listing appointments with different agents too.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that seems. You know. I've never seen anyone else do a list.

Speaker 2:

I've never been on a list appointment with another agent. It's so crazy because everyone does them completely different. Yeah, and it was really helpful for me to do that, because what I realized is no one knows what they're doing and they kind of just make it up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I always come like prepared. I have like a listing presentation. It's not, it's a book, though it's not a, it's not a PowerPoint. I have it all in a book and I and I know like, okay, if I, if I, you know, have to do this listing presentation, I'm prepared for it. I have the data and I've run the comps.

Speaker 2:

But like I'm mostly going in the house and I'm like I'm going to feel it out and see if I should bring out the book. Yeah, cause you, I mean you feel it out, right, like some people won't come in and they don't want to dig into the details.

Speaker 1:

They're just like okay, tell me how much you will sell here. Yeah, just like. Here's the story.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I got. I got 10 minutes, just tell me yeah and other people. They sit down and they're like what exactly? Like what value you're gonna bring?

Speaker 1:

yeah. So what's your style like? What did you pick up? Like, what are the little nuances you picked up? What's your overall style like? What do you lean towards? Are you data? Are you? You seem like a guy that's like let's just sit down at the kitchen table and chat it up.

Speaker 2:

Casual, yeah, a hundred percent, because so when people are selling their house, there's some sort of pain associated with that, most of the time, like they're moving for some reason, and as if you can clearly articulate to them and say, like you know best person to alleviate that pain, you win it every time.

Speaker 1:

Bro, my listening presentation so bomb. I'm like definitely running circles around all the agents in my listening presentation, I think, because my approach is a little different. I'm like talking, I'm like here's how we're going to find the buyer, like here's how it's very marketing focused, it's like marketing focused and it's like actionable and I think it's like I think it's really good. But I've only had to do it like three or four times, yeah, you know. So I think I think it's fire, you know, but if somebody, if there was another agent like on that appointment with me, I'd be like, I'd be like bro, I don't know, this is a little uncomfortable now, you know.

Speaker 2:

So heavy are you still showing all all your homes are utilizing showing assistance at all depends. I mean, sometimes I get like a really busy and I have to bring on showing assistance, but most of the time I like to show my own homes. Um, because right now it's all about for me, it's building really, really good relationships. So I want as much face time as possible with those buyers because I want referrals yeah I want to build a referral based business.

Speaker 2:

Um, I've never taken an online lead, don't really plan on it. Yeah, and I just want to be in front of my people all the time, like I literally tell them after we close I'm like, yeah, it's cute, like you bought a house, but like I'm not going anywhere I'll like call them sometimes. I'll be like hey, I'm stopping by, I'm taking you guys out to dinner. Yeah, um, what are we doing tonight? That's great bro.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I was buyer heavy for a long time and like two years ago I was still very buyer heavy and I started to like hate showing homes. Like now I have a sphere-based business and I have like a lot of repeat clients. Like one of my clients about this year is like the seventh transaction we've done, right, so I'm showing those guys homes, but also I don't have to. I didn't show them all the homes because of availability, but I like pick and choose, right, but I hate showing houses. At this point I'm just like, ah, because I don't know if I'm actually valuable in the house. Right, I can help kind of articulate what's happening in the house, what they felt. Hey, you told me you needed this. Is this here? Do you like this color of the floors, those things?

Speaker 1:

But, you're never like selling anybody a house, and I feel like most people know if they want to buy a house, like at the door Right, and so I'm like, well, they could just like reach out to. That's like true. Though if, like, I'm not actually valuable in the house, do you feel like you're doing something that's valuable?

Speaker 2:

So I think that a lot of people forget. So you do this every day, yeah, and you are just very, very casual with the fact that how good of an expert that you are in real estate, right, and then people will do this once every six years or something like that. Maybe not your guy that's bought seven houses with you.

Speaker 1:

Shouts to Ryan and.

Speaker 2:

Christina. But yeah, most people only do this like once every six years and it's a huge, huge step for them. So, even though to you it might seem casual, what I've realized is because when I got in, I didn't know anything about real estate and people just talked to me so casually and I was like, oh, I didn't know that, I didn't know that, I didn't know that. And as you talk more with real estate agents, it becomes so much more casual and they forget like you forget the value that you bring because you do this every day. Yeah, and a lot of these people it's like once a six years and they need recaps, they need refreshers and stuff. But I mean, for the most part, I do think that there's certain value. I think when you have like eight showings for the day, like that's the worst because it's almost impossible to, like you know, call the listing agent beforehand, figure out, do you have offers for every single one? Like what's the deets behind?

Speaker 1:

the house You're going in, like when you're showing houses, yeah, 100% Like I'm trying to bring as much value.

Speaker 2:

I'm trying to shock these people because a lot of these people, like my people, are open house people.

Speaker 1:

So I'm competing for business and it's not like we have it, like it's. We just met and I feel like I could get fired because they're going. They're going into houses all the time, they're shopping open houses, so they're just I mean I'm yeah.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I mean I'm typically competing against like three or four agents. That's interesting, yeah yeah, that's interesting.

Speaker 1:

I never thought about it like that, like you are kind of still in that interview and tell so you have to have all of that information, and I think that's what open house people want to know. Um, they're just like what's going on with this house?

Speaker 2:

You know, it's just kind of like I will you say we're only looking at X amount of houses.

Speaker 1:

No, I don't cap them, but I do set the expectations. So in my buyer's presentation I'm like, hey look, and it's the truth. I'm like most of my clients find the house that they want to buy either the first time we go out, like 90% of the time the first time we go out, and the other 10% of the time maybe it's like the second or third time. And so I'm like implying that like we're going to go out and we're going to find this house, right. But the reason that happens is because I mean, if it's July and you want to buy, if you want to buy next week, then like we're out, we're like shopping for stuff, right. But a lot of my buyers are like, okay, you reached out in the second quarter, you might be buying the third quarter or the fourth quarter, so like a quarter or two away. And so you got the auto search. You got like the stalking period when you're looking at what they like and you're sending houses back and forth. So by that time we've already figured out what you're looking for, right. And so the handful of houses, the three or four houses that we're going to go see, we know that these are real options and so for me. It's not necessarily like we're going to cap you at a certain house, but if you told me you want to live like, ryan and Christina did this, right, they just bought a house in Vienna.

Speaker 1:

So they were like in McLean, vienna, they go to Congressional, so it was important to be close to there. But they live in Shirlington, right? Well, they lived in Shirlington, they sold their townhouse and so so my guy Ryan, he sends me a house in Arlington. He's like, because we weren't finding anything in Vienna. And he sends me a house in Arlington and he's like let's go see this. I was like, but it's in Arlington. And he's like, okay, you're right, we don't want to live there, right, and so I will guide. You know, I think that there are agents that are just like door openers. But it's like, if I was like, yeah, let's go see the house in Arlington, they might have been like why is he even letting me do this after the fact? So do you cap or are you?

Speaker 2:

I cap, you cap. Yeah, what's the cap? So it depends on how early they are on the process, price point and also the inventory Hold on you cap that day or you cap in general.

Speaker 1:

Per day Okay, okay, per day.

Speaker 2:

Okay, okay per day, yeah, so I mean, I won't let my buyers go see 10 houses, like if they send me 10 houses, I'm like we're not looking at all time. Yeah, yeah, um, and I'm like, pick your top four. And typically it's pretty easy for them to pick the top four. Yeah, and then I'll go through the other six and I'm like, did you actually want to see these?

Speaker 2:

and they're like, well, not really, and it's like, okay, then we're only going to look at these four so I will chisel them down because I'm not going to waste my time looking at houses that they don't actually want.

Speaker 1:

Exactly yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and if they do want to go look at those houses, then there's open houses.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, same yeah. You have to do, you have to be the expert, you know, and you have to be like yo, like you don't even want that house for real, like you remember when you told me this and you have to let people and I think that people get stressed. When you're like, let's see these 10 houses, you're definitely just like, you're just like window shopping, or maybe you're stressed, right, and you're just throwing them out, and I think that people do that subconsciously. They're just like. Shane will help me narrow this down, right, so what do you think is happening in the market locally right now?

Speaker 2:

How are you articulating the buyers and sellers? So I think that it's a funky market. I think there's a lot of inventory and I think there's a lot of crappy inventory and I think that that's kind of throwing everything off because, yeah, inventory is up. But I mean, I was talking to an agent the other day and they listed 300. Excuse me, they wrote an offer of $300,000 over ask.

Speaker 1:

They lost $300,000 over.

Speaker 2:

They lost. Where's the house rustin? Okay, they lost. And it's like, yeah, if you have a crappy house, it's not during the covet era, like you can't just put on the market now, yeah, so it's even more value proposition to listing agents. Uh, you know, you can't just list a house like you're gonna have to prep it, yeah, um, but if you have something that looks good presents, well, it's priced right, it flies. Yeah, and it's funny because I've got a referral right now down in North Carolina area and the markets are just so different. I mean, everywhere you go the markets are drastically different. They're like, yeah, we have buyer concessions, I might be able to get you rent back. Yeah, and it's up here. I mean, if the house is priced right, there's buyers that will easily give you know, 45, 60 day rent backs and it's like, yeah, no problem, and it's just right now, if it's priced right, if it looks good, if it presents well, it sells.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I agree, I tell my sellers all the time. I'm like, look, this is. You know, this is a different market, right, we can't just throw it on. I had a listing appointment yesterday. Um, well, I, I kind of I have the listing already, but she's, she's clearing out, she's downsizing, right, and uh, she has the red paint. Um, she has red paint on the walls and like red and yellow paint on the walls, right. And I told her. I said, look, I had to learn this hard way with um, a past seller that was selling, she was downsizing also and she had painters coming over to get the house ready and she had, um, she had in the basement, she had her walls were red, right, and this was like it wasn't.

Speaker 1:

It was like right before COVID, but this is like in Springfield. I'm like, oh, this is very attractive, you know neighborhood, it's not going to be a big deal, buyers will be down to do that project. And buyers were not down to do that project. And all of my feedback came about like people were like turned off by the basement, right, they're like this basement is a project. And I was like, oh, paint is a project for people. And so I was telling my seller yesterday. I was like look, everyone is going to get feedback about this paint Like you should paint this, you know, and they're not going to paint.

Speaker 1:

But I was like you should definitely paint this. We're going to like, because one like this is an immediate project, right, and buyers just want to be able to move their stuff in and not have to paint until they want to paint, and so you need this to be one color, right. And then her husband was like yeah, but if they're talking about the paint, that means they're interested in the house. And I'm like, yeah, but they're going to talk theirself out of the house because they have to paint, right. And I know I was like this is not connecting the way, like they just didn't want, they just don't want to do that project. And I'm like all right, like we'll see, you know, but you do have to have your house has to look like solid on the market right now. And I tell my sellers I'm like, and buyers I'm like look, they're like is it a buyer's market or seller's market? I'm like the reality is the cream of the crop is selling in one weekend, potentially $300,000 over list price right.

Speaker 1:

Maybe not that, and they're crushing and the crappy houses are sitting, you know, and so I'm like sorry. So, yeah, I think you totally have to get your house ready. But real quick, bronson just reset the cameras. He has the Movement Mortgage merch. I think Movement Mortgage has great merch and I've asked all my Movement Mortgage guys for merch and they never give me merch. But I haven't done a lot of deals with Javier either, so maybe I need to do some deals. I need to do some deals.

Speaker 2:

Just go do some opens and get some more buyers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Sound and movement.

Speaker 1:

I do actually need some buyers. I have listings right now. I'm like man, I need some buyers. So my database is all they're moving up. So I have move up buyers, so they're selling, they're buying. But I was like man I probably have a two-year window where I'm going to eat off of this and then it's going to be everyone's in there forever home and people will always make moves, right. But I'm like man, I need a pipeline of buyers right now so that they can be ready to sell in like three to four years. And I was talking to my lender on the way down here. He's like yo, let's do some home buying seminars, which is like you know, he has like some marketing, like we're going to drive a bunch of traffic. And I'm like, yeah, let's fill up the pipeline with buyers.

Speaker 1:

But I don't dedicated showing agent, but there's the relationship aspect too. So I like first-time homebuyers. They're like low-hanging fruit I guess I don't like that term, I don't want to call them that. They're just like in the market, right. But there will be a lot of, there will always be first-time homebuyers. You know what I mean. And so I'm like you need to do it, you need to do it, you need to do first time homebuyers. But, um, you know, I'm 35, always, you know, I think to myself I'm like yo when I'm like 40, if I'm like 42, like I can't be like rolling around with like some 26 year old, like being like yo. Let me help you buy your first house. This is like how I think about it. So I'm like list side, list side only, you know. No, I feel that.

Speaker 2:

I feel that well, it's funny, so I got uh, since you hate showing houses, I got invited down. I know, by the way, like if you want to buy a house. I will show you the house.

Speaker 1:

It is just the only. It is one of the things I delegate. I like to delegate.

Speaker 2:

I got invited down to Miami a couple months ago to check out the real estate market down there. Yeah, and I've got a friend down there that's selling pre-construction and if you're in real estate I would 100% check out different markets because it's insane, just the difference in what real estate looks like down there versus up here, I mean. So they sell renderings they don't show. It's all renderings and half of it's over Zoom Buy side down there.

Speaker 1:

7%, 7% on the buy side oh, that's sweet. I'd show houses for 7%. 7% on the buy side oh, that's sweet. I'd show houses for 7%. I'd be like let's do it. Whenever I'm in a different area, whenever I travel, I always go to open houses. Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm like, let's check. My wife is like, what are we doing? I'm like let's go see the houses, and then she's usually we're. So I'm like, let's see, this house is dope, let's go check it out. And she's usually into it, but she's definitely humoring me most of the time. So it sounds like you have a little network around the country, right? Yeah, I'm trying to grow it. And how did you? Is that intentional? Oh, 100%, how are you doing that?

Speaker 2:

So if I've. A lot of times it's funny. I had a guy last year he was like, yeah, I'm looking to buy an Arlington. Budget was like mid fives and it's like all right, and he wanted to be in a townhouse and it's just like the two over two condos, that's what we were looking at and those are hard Like it is just super competitive to stay under like the 550 mark. And then he hits me up and he's like, yeah, I'm moving down to Florida.

Speaker 1:

I'm like up with an agent, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then. So it's like situations like that where that happened. I had the guy that I'm helping move up from North Carolina right now. His son walked into an open house in Burke, okay, and I followed up with his son for eight months without him responding Wow, without him responding. Without him responding Because we had a great conversation and I'll do funny shit where I just humor myself, yeah, and I shit, where I just like humor myself and I'm like I'll send them hammering cards where I'm like just fyi, I'm not gonna stop following up with you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, dash, shane, merry christmas, that's great, bro, um, because it's fun and it's funny and they actually get responses. And he responded to my christmas card and goes, lol, you're like persistent as shit, yeah. And then he goes, uh, two months later, like of course, no response. I was like, oh yeah, like let me know when you're ready to buy. No response. And then a couple months later he reaches out to me. He's like, hey, like probably not looking to buy anytime soon, but my dad's moving up. I'm like, all right, cool, sign me up, and it's. You know, just weird situations like that where that's happening. I've helped A couple of people moved down in Florida, sent them up our referrals. One guy in Arizona. And yeah, right now I'm also trying to kind of branch out because I know a lot of agents that get a lot of business from referrals. So, like we're in this area right now, we're in Northern Virginia, but they'll reach out to other areas like New York and they'll be like hey you got a referral partner for the DC area.

Speaker 2:

No, okay, I want to be your guy. And. And they'll be like hey, you got a referral partner for the DC area. No, okay, I want to be your guy, and then they'll reach out to other places.

Speaker 1:

And they just built this global network and half their deals are referrals. I know a DC agent who, like he's like like Roger Taylor, is an amazing agent, but he's like, so tech savvy, he's like almost a robot, Like as far as like understanding how all the tech works. His brain is like how can I automate?

Speaker 2:

this yeah.

Speaker 1:

And every time you talk to him you're just like why did you think about that, you know? And he set up a Facebook. He like figured out where people are like relocating to, right. So if you live in DC, where are you moving to, like what are the top three like cities? And then where are you moving to, what are the top three cities, and then where are people moving from? And he's just created a referral network that way.

Speaker 2:

No, that's dope stuff.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so what do you think homebuyers need to know in the market right now?

Speaker 2:

What do homebuyers need to know in the market right now that inventory is sitting, there's opportunity that exists. But if you find a house that you like, there's probably going to be competition. If you like what, everything else is what everyone else likes. I know a lot of homebuyers right now where they're going out and they're looking at inventory on the market and they're like oh my gosh, this is amazing. Like let's go 10k under ass, like let's get concessions, and it's like well, this house just went on the market. It is by far the best in this price range. Um, I talked with the agent. There's three other offers. Yeah, so like yes, it is a buyer's market, but when inventory is priced right, it looks good. Good, there is going to be competition, so you have to be prepped for that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and what about for sellers? Hire a good agent. What does a good agent look like?

Speaker 2:

So I think that they need to be able to clearly articulate their value, and I think that most people aren't dumb and I think that they would be able to be a good judge of that and if they can't articulate the value and the way of articulating the value is dropping price, yeah and they say, well, I don't know, I'll just do it for 1%. Oh, I mean, I don't think that's really clearly articulating value. I think that's compensating for value. I'm stealing that bar, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I think that you just need to be able to, as a consumer, recognize where value exists and don't overpay Boom.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining me, my guy. Yeah, bro, I can't talk today. I feel like I'm a little like if the pod listeners. Because I have so many listeners, I feel like I can't talk. You carried the podcast today. I appreciate you, bro. Oh, of course. So where can the people find you If you're not in an open house? Where can people find you online?

Speaker 2:

Hit me up on Instagram at Shane Byrne. I think there's a couple of underscores before Shane Byrne, but Byrne is B-Y-R-N-E and, oh, I got a hot take for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we're going.

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Nick Bush

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