Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapid Support, probably brought to you by Crack Inceptic.
For this July 8th, 2025, have your host James here.
We're joined by our good friend David Farmbro for Reality Radio.
David joins us once a month to talk good real estate and different topics involving the
real estate industry.
And David, thank you so much for joining us today.
Got a good one with us.
Yeah, it's wonderful to be with you again, James.
It's nice to be here in the warm weather.
It's definitely good weather for house hunting.
Yes, I would think so, especially, and you know, this is something that I've always been
curious about when it comes to putting a focus on the strategies of home buyers and finding
the right home, the right person, some of that.
This is an interesting topic to me and I'm looking forward to diving into this with you.
Why is it important to get your realtor involved early, David?
Why is that such a key part of this?
Well, a lot of stuff you can do online and you can do yourself.
And that is really helpful.
It means that we do have more informed consumers than we used to, so that's really good.
But sometimes getting involved with your realtor a little earlier can give you some knowledge
that can help you save a lot of heartache because, for example, they might help you get
things done in the right order.
So one of the things people sometimes miss is that you should get your loan pre-approval
first.
And if you don't have that, then you can be looking for homes that are out of your price
range or you might actually find out you can borrow more than you thought and you could
be looking at a little more money and maybe a little more house or one that's in the area
you really want to live in.
So that's one reason.
So your realtor can help guide you through the process.
A lot of the time people will speak to an experienced older relative who says, well, you know,
Uncle John, so they're talking to their uncle, oh, Uncle John, you bought a couple of
houses.
You're very experienced.
Uncle John says, yep, I bought my house in 1976 and then I bought another one in 1992.
Well, really everything has changed since Uncle John bought his house.
And so you do need someone who keeps up to date, who is hands on and also preferably who
is a local expert.
That is very, very crucial.
Real estate is all about the local and, you know, we find that when we read the news articles
about the property market slumping in Texas and then we say, what is it slumping here?
Actually, no.
House prices are going up, the number of house sales are going up and we still have
more home buyers than we have sellers.
So it's really important to talk to your realtor sooner rather than later.
The other thing that realtors are quite good at is finding homes that may not appear on
your searches that you do online.
And the reason for that is that sometimes houses are not listed as being in the area that
they're actually in.
And this is a technical thing.
It's because, for example, there's a house in Wisconsin Rapids and it's listed by an agent
that is not in our MLS area.
Say they're an agent from Milwaukee, maybe it's the brother of the homeowner and they've
listed with an out of town realtor.
Well, that's fine.
They can use who they want.
But that out of town realtor doesn't have the option when they create that listing to
state that it's in the Wisconsin Rapids area.
They can put the municipality down, but not the area.
They're just going to fill that field in with other.
So when you're online and you're doing your search on whichever platform it is, it
could be redfinzillarealtor.com.
That house might not come up in your search for a Wisconsin Rapids house.
And that can be the same if you're searching in Stevens Point, Port Edwards, Beer and
Rome, Marshfield, if it's an out of town realtor, they may not be able to list it in a way
that it shows up on searches.
The other thing that agents can sometimes do is to help you find a house that maybe is
under photographed.
Sometimes you find a home where the photography isn't best, obviously none of my listings.
No, none of yours.
But you find a house where maybe it's a little dark and it looks big, gloomy.
Maybe the pictures were obviously taken on a flip phone and you can't really get a sense
of the house and it doesn't really allow you to build up any enthusiasm.
But I might have taken a buyer on a tour of that house last week and I might know actually
that house is a lot nicer than the photographs appear.
So really that's another very good argument for talking to your realtor early rather than
just sending a realtor all the things you found online and saying can we go and see
them.
And I didn't get to do a deep, too deep of a dive on this but in the time that we've
been talking and just a little bit of homework I was able to do, I tried to approach this
from both sides and I couldn't see any downside to reaching out to a realtor early.
There was no negative to this or anything.
It just seemed to be such a plus to do something like this and so many of the things you
touched on there, along with the unknown, whatever that might be, that gray area that that
might be.
You're right.
And I think people sometimes think, well, realtor is a salespeople and to an extent we
are and they're, you know, they're always going to be phoning me and pressuring me.
I make a point of not putting any pressure on my own clients, you know, so I might be
a little harder when it comes to negotiating with my client sellers or their realtor's but
I'm not going to put any pressure on my clients.
So if they call me and then they want to take a pause for a couple of months before they
start up their search, then I'm not going to be on the phone with them or spamming their
email.
We are officially licensed real estate salespeople, that's our designation.
But I always make a point when I'm representing a buyer, I'm not trying to sell them a house.
I am trying to help them find the home that matches what their needs are.
So yes, it is a sales job, but don't worry, don't be reticent about contacting me because
you think I'm going to be nagging you, I'm not.
I'm here to help you when you need help.
And as you and I have touched on many times, every industry is like this, but maybe no
more than other than the real estate industry as a reputation one and the realtor's are
going to treat you well, but this is about their job.
This is about their future jobs and everything.
So coming at this from any other angle other than trying to help you, that tells you right
away where a realtor stands and what kind of person you're working with, I think that
that and certainly familiarity with them, hearing them maybe on a radio talk show or something
like that.
That's right.
I think that helps.
What I find again, it's the same thing about matching the person with home.
You have to match the person with the realtor.
So I might show you a house and you might think, oh, I didn't like him.
I thought he was too small, me by half, I'm not going to work with him again.
Well, fair enough, you then call another realtor, but some people do click with me and they
like my humor.
We enjoy going on house hunts together and we become friends even.
That's really good to hear.
Talking about that, David, and something else you touched on before, a kind of about
your approach and the approach that you can take that, just like you are going to see
things from a different angle and you mentioned something in your notes about pattern breaker
and thinking like a pattern breaker.
Can you talk to us about that a little bit?
Yes.
There are trends that homes go through and you see these a lot, especially, it's especially
obvious when you go through a home that was revamped 10 years ago and you can see that
the person's followed everything that was on Pinterest 10 years ago and maybe now it
looks a little bit dated and then sometimes you go into a home that was, you can see it
was the 90s because all the fittings are shiny, faux brass and bright, right.
So you do see those things more clearly when we're looking back on the past, but often
people who are presenting homes for sale nowadays will present them in the current trends.
And that means often we have gray o-floors, you know, we have that that laminate, which
is often looks really nice and then you have gray painted walls or you have a ship lap
or barn boards everywhere and you have the sliding barn doors and then you look up to the
light fittings and they all look like they were made by Tesla in 1901.
So you do see these things and you can sort of see that's been really tailored for today's
market and generally that is actually a very good thing to do if you're a seller because
those listings will often attract the most attention, they're contemporary, they often
feel open and bright and people will gravitate towards them.
Now if you see a listing as a buyer that's presented like that then it may well be that
there are a lot of other buyers who are attracted to it, you may find yourself competing with
other people and having to pay a little bit more than you wanted to.
If you find something that was maybe like what we talked about before that was revamped
10 years ago, it might be a beautiful home and of course you can go in and do what you
want with it, you know sometimes it's just a question of buying some paint to paint over
the purple and dark red accent walls that they thought were a very good idea in 2005.
But you might find something that is a gem if you just try and break the pattern, obviously
important things are the structure of the home, you know the roof, the foundations, the windows,
the siding, all those things are important, plumbing and electric, all those things you know
really trump seeing modern trends reflected in the house, but if you do see a home that's maybe
a little bit dated, it could be something that enables you to get a advantageous price and then
really what you have to do to update it and to make it yours isn't going to cost that much
and it actually may not be as much as the premium that you'll pay for competing with other buyers.
We're speaking with David Farmer on Reality Radio right now and David, one of the things that I
just said somebody from a scene TV movies, TV and movies and things about when it comes to buying a
home, one of the more common consistent storylines is, you know, oh, bye, bye, you know the finally
found the house, we got to get it, we got to get it, we got to act quickly. Sometimes they get it
right, you know, I mean sometimes it is accurate and this is one of those things that we do,
you know, you do need to be ready to pounce on something, you need to be ready to act quickly,
but you want to do it smart, you can do both, you can do these things at the same time, you can
not overpay necessarily, but at quickly when you do find a home that you want and having a good
realtor can, you know, be the difference maker in that. Yeah, that's absolutely right and you
need to be able to go and see a house straight away often, you know, not every home sells quickly,
but if you're looking at something that's in the say, 100 to 200,000 price range in our area,
if it's presented well, especially if it meets those modern trends, then you will often find
that you're going to get multiple offers coming in and as a canny buyer, if you can go in and
make an offer that is too good to be turned down, then you may get there before all the other
offers come in. This can be a way that you can get the advantage. I had a client once who emailed
me, oh sorry, they texted me at two in the morning and they wanted to see a house at 8am and because
I woke up at 3am, I was able to organize it, got them into the house at 8am, we saw it before
anyone else and we got them and accepted offer before the sellers were, before they were
able to have their open house the next day. So we managed to get what they wanted
because we acted quickly, but you're right, you have to act smart. So if you're buying the house,
you have to think, well, is this really the only one for me? Is it the best one, the ideal one?
Is it something I want so much that I'm prepared to pay more than my realtor advises me to?
And that's always the buyer's prerogative. If they want to pay more than I advise, that's fine,
as long as they know they're doing them. I don't make the decisions for them, I give them the
advice and then they might say, well, you know, this home is worth a bit more to me because I've
got that fenced in yard I really wanted and we're so close to the dog park and the river and the
schools and actually my mother lives next door or maybe my mother lives as far away as possible,
depending on the individual. But yeah, so sometimes you can, you might want to pay a premium
over and above the market value, but other times you just have to be careful and you might think,
well, this is something I really like, but will another similar home be available to me within
the next two to three weeks, depending on what your time scale is of course, that we would
be equally happy with and that we may be able to get at a better price.
As we're focusing with you, David, on different strategies for home buyers and the advantages to
some of these, you know, kind of piggybacking on what we're talking about right here. I think another
important part of this is the the the different set of eyes and what they can see and what they can
bring to the table that you know, you just can't or maybe you're too close to or something like
that as a home buyer or what you're looking for and sometimes we we get stuck and we can't see the
forest through the trees or we see something and we're like, well, this is it, this is the finished
product, but you're able to remind people and able to help people see that well, you know, once
you own this place, this is yours, you can make it your own, you can imagine more renovations to it
and some of those things that sometimes as a buyer, we're not seeing right away. That's absolutely
right and it has to be a collaborative process. So, you know, I can go in and I can tell a buyer,
well actually this house is really good value and it's very solid and you won't be sorry you bought
it, but if the buyer doesn't feel like this can be home, it's not it's not going to be their home
and they have to bring their instincts as well as, you know, their own experiences which are
probably different from mine again and when we bring my experiences and expertise and the buyers
experiences and expertise, we can help the buyer make those informed decisions.
It's another another advantage of going with the local realtor as well that they're able to do
those things while also incorporating community members or, oh, I know somebody over here they
can help you with that or something too, the connections that, you know, somebody like David already
has going into the conversation. That's interesting too. All right, nice part of it too.
That's absolutely right and I work as a team. I actually have a couple of people assisting me
in my home marketing at the moment who actually work as subcontractors for rapid homes, but I also
have people who I bring in for various other tasks and they are, you know, people like
handymen, glaziers, roofers, electricians, plumbers and most of these people, my clients have used
before and so they know that they are good and respectful and don't charge a huge amount
and I've also used them on my own house and, you know, know that they're good, you know, good local
contractors who'll do an honest job for you and I think again that's one of the advantages of
being local. So sometimes I do struggle if I have people who say to me, well, I'd like to buy a
house in Sparta and, you know, I want to know who the contractors are over there and all I can say
is, well, I know someone in Wisconsin Rapids, but I don't know if he'll be prepared to drive over there.
So yeah, locality is a big advantage. And this all comes back to communication and being clear
with your realtor about the priorities, about the things that you want. The more clear and quite
honestly blunt you are about these things, the more that David is able to go out there and find
that perfect home for you and really even I would imagine being able to even save time in some
ways of, well, this home, this is not this hits on these things that they definitely don't want. So
I don't have to waste any time showing them this one, but this one in particular, some of those
different variables. Yes, that's correct. And I think it goes back to the idea that I'm not trying
to sell in the house. I'm trying to match them to the house that they want. So I won't be offended
if you tell me that you really don't like homes of a certain age. And I've had both things. I've
had people say to me, I don't like really old houses. I've had people say I don't like really new
houses. Now, I've got my tastes. I know which I prefer, but that's not relevant. What a buyer wants
is really important. Now, I can take that information and I can help them. But sometimes you see
something that actually can be slightly contrary to what a buyer has specified. But you just think
maybe they're like, you know, it's got seven out of the six things they want. And sorry, it's got six
out of the seven things they want. And maybe they'll be able to put aside the fact that it was built
in 1980 and not in the 1960s or before because everything else is so good about it. So that's where,
you know, there's a lot of talk about using computers and computer searches. That's where the human
factor can come in because it enables us to be just a bit more flexible. Yes, we listen, we listen
carefully and we try and get the buyer exactly what they want. But sometimes you have to be a little
bit flexible and come back to them with something that's maybe a close fit and see whether they want
to take that further. Going back to where we started, David, this is part of the read. This is
something that AI computers can't do. They're not patient. They talk out things with you. They don't
hear you out. They don't, they're not able to do that. And not only is that helpful no matter what
time in the home buying process you're going into this and but going back again to the beginning and
taking your time with something like this, it's all the more important to when you want to be,
when you're finally talking to a realtor, being clear about these things, having an agenda,
having an idea of what you want. This may sound silly to some people out there, but I know at least
two different situations of a home buyer going into it and they were just so excited. They just
wanted to own a home. They never owned a home before. They were just excited about that and they
didn't really think about, well, what do I want out of a home? What do I need out of a home? And
if they did think about it, they didn't really think about it in depth. Just, oh, you know what,
I want two bathrooms. And then they go in and they're just looking for a house with two bathrooms.
Like there's probably some more specifics there you're going to be looking for wanting that,
you know, David can help you with it. And another set of eyes can help you find.
Yeah, and everybody's different. Some people are very easily pleased. And I put myself into that
category when I bought my first house way back in the 1980s. I think I bought the first house I
saw. And I just thought it's a house. I can afford it. I'm going to buy it. That's how I would
have been. And I didn't really care. You know, I didn't care what the wallpaper was like or anything.
But some people come to me. I've got a client I'm working with at the moment who is extremely
knowledgeable about houses. He's worked as a contractor and as a home designer. And he is very,
very specific about what he wants. And I know that when I go through the listings for him,
I can see immediately if something is going to be a no from him or if it's something that he might
consider. So everybody's different. We have the whole spectrum between don't care, just want to
house. And I want all these things on my list. David, one last thing that I wanted to go over with
you when it comes to the home buying strategies for home buyers, the fact that your ability to be
able to watch the market for price drops, mispriced homes, specifically the mispriced homes part.
What do you mean necessarily by that? Well, sometimes you find that the house pricing process
is again, it's a collaborative process between the agent and the seller. So it's a mistake to think
that a seller has mispriced their home or their realtors mispriced it because we just don't know
what the process has been. I've even known sellers and these weren't my sellers. I was representing
the buyer in this particular circumstance who said that they had to pay off a certain amount of
debt. You know, they owed 190,000 and they they could sell the house for no less than 200,000
because once they paid the agent's fees, et cetera, they needed to have enough to pay off the house.
Well, it's all very well pricing a house according to your indebtedness, but if a buyer is not
willing to pay 200,000, then you're not going to sell it. No matter how much debt you need to pay off.
So the process is collaborative and I think if I was working with that seller, I might have had
a discussion about whether they could talk to their lender and see whether they were willing
to accept a short sale, which means you're selling for an amount that doesn't fully pay off
their loan. But it is collaborative and sometimes a seller will want to sell at a lower price.
They'll want to list at a lower price and they may want to do that if they particularly,
if their personal circumstances mean they want to sell quickly, it might be because they've already
bought their other house and they don't want to be paying to home loans or it might be because
they've relocated. So there are all sorts of reasons that someone might price a house
a little lower than market value and they're also, as I just mentioned, reasons for it to be priced
higher. Working with a realtor who can advise you on that will help you pitch your offer at a price
that will get you the result that you want. David, can I thank you enough for the information
the time? It's always fun to talk with you and hang out in our audience, always learn something.
If people have follow-up questions that'd like to know more reach out to you, how can they do that?
The best way, by far, is by text because I usually get back to my text within a couple of minutes.
I can be on the phone, I can text someone back or I can be maybe not doing a radio show.
It's so easy. Like I said, people text me 24 hours and I encourage that because I don't have to
answer if I'm asleep or not available or driving. So text is 715-323-8594. That's also my phone number
and I will call people back usually pretty soon after they've left a message if I don't answer
the phone straight away. And they can also find me on Facebook. David Farnborough realtor, pretty easy
to find. And I love connecting with people so just reach out and say hello and say you heard
me on the radio show and that you'd like to connect in case you maybe want to buy a house in the
future. We appreciate you, David. We'll talk again next month. You have a good one. Take care.
And appreciate all of you out there for joining us for another edition of WFHRs.
Rapids Report probably brought to you by Crocodceptic here at WFHR.com.
