Real Estate Insights: Things to Keep in Mind When Buying or Selling a Home

Are you considering buying or selling a home? In this episode, real estate expert Jason Andersen shares valuable tips and stories to guide you through the process. From navigating real estate transactions to understanding the importance of home warranties and tax benefits, Jason covers it all.  Discover how to make informed decisions about your housing needs, regardless of your age or financial situation.

Tips:

1. Choose the Right Agent: Selecting a real estate agent who is dedicated to your needs and has a long-term relationship approach can make a significant difference in the selling process. Look for an agent who provides ongoing support, advice, and resources even after the sale is complete.
2. Consider Future Needs: When purchasing a home, think about your future needs, especially as you age. Consider factors like health, accessibility, and maintenance requirements that may become more important as you grow older.
3. Financial Planning: If you're on a fixed income and considering buying a home, it's essential to assess your financial situation carefully. Consult with a CPA and look into potential tax benefits, trust options, and programs like the circuit breaker for property tax relief to ensure you can comfortably afford the home in the long run.
4. Home Maintenance: Prioritize home maintenance and repairs before listing your property. Ensuring that your home is in good condition can increase its appeal to potential buyers and help you secure a better deal.
5. Consider Home Warranties: Evaluate the benefits of home warranties, especially if you're buying an older home with potential maintenance issues.

Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, looking to downsize, or considering a move, this episode has something for everyone. Jason's expertise and genuine passion for helping people find their dream homes shine through in every conversation.

Transcript

John: 0:00

Whether you're looking to buy your dream retirement home, sell your family house, downsize for convenience or tap into the equity you've built over the years, we've got you covered. Join us as we sit down with a seasoned real estate agent with a wealth of knowledge and a passion for helping you navigate the complexities of real estate Hi, I'm John.

Erin: 0:29

And I'm Erin. You're listening to connect and power the podcast that proves age is no barrier to growth and enlightenment.

John: 0:37

Tune in each week as we break down complex subjects into bite sized, enjoyable episodes that will leave you feeling informed, entertained, and ready to conquer the world.

Erin: 0:50

Meet Jason Andersen, your go to guy for all things real estate in Boise, Idaho. Imagine your friendliest neighbor. Who's always got your back. That's Jason. He's not just your typical realtor. He's got a story that'll grab your attention. All the way from Tokyo, Japan. Jason found his way to Boise in 2005 and quickly fell in love with the place. After wrapping up his degree at Boise state university in 2015, he jumped into the thrilling world of explosive manufacturing. Yep. You heard that His journey through starting his own growing his own business. Taught him a ton about negotiation, managing finances, and getting things from point A to point B without a hitch. Once the business was up and running smoothly, thanks to his wife, Sadie Lynn, taking the reins alongside him, Jason found himself itching for a new challenge. And with a little nudge from his family and friends, he dove headfirst into real estate. And guess what? He's a natural. Jason is married to Sadie Lynn, and they have two beautiful children that bring them both so much joy and love. He is the fifth of seven siblings, and if you ask him, he will tell you his sister is his favorite. Growing up in the big family means he knows all about the give and take. The chaos and the love that turns a house into a home. That's exactly the vibe he brings into helping folks find their perfect spot in Boise. He's got the easygoing neighborly way about him. That makes the whole process feel like you're just hanging out, making big decisions with a trusted friend. He's not just in it to close a deal. He's here to make sure you land exactly where you're meant to be. Let's warmly welcome our guests. Jason Andersen.

John: 2:38

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Jason: 2:40

Thank you. Thank you for that introduction.

John: 2:42

So Jason, gosh, explosives, real estate, family, all of this, I don't want to scare our or clients away by talking about explosives, but we'd love if you just share your story. there's so many cool things,

Jason: 2:57

starting from the beginning, I was going to say, definitely my sister is my favorite sibling. That's no surprise in the family, but that's what happens when you have five boys and one girl, right? And it's, I am more of a talker in my family, and I think I connect with my sister on that level. on that too,

John: 3:12

too,

Erin: 3:12

for our listeners, a. k. a. That's me.

Jason: 3:15

Yeah, Erin is my big sister, and is my influence and guide in life in a lot of things. On, on the explosives, I was just graduating college from Boise State and I remember talking to my dad and just being like, Hey, I'm going to join the service. One of my brothers was a recruiter in Utah. That's the family thing. and he just said, Hey, just be the one son. please just don't do it. do something different, go make some money. the service isn't what it used to be. And I, and I thought about that for a while and I was like, what do I do? And my wife's family, who are all entrepreneurs, they were just like, Hey, just start your own business. And they said it just so casually, Hey, just go start your own business. And it's something that had never even crossed my mind. It's okay, I'll just start my own business. And I was like, doing what? And my father in law was like, what do you enjoy doing? And I was like, I don't know. Like he, he had actually bought me a gun, my very first firearm ever. When, my wife and I got married and I said, I like shooting this stuff that explodes. And he said, there you go. Great. Get into that. And, one thing led to another. And a couple of years later we had started an exploding target business and, learned a lot of lessons real fast about just how life works. So that they don't teach you in school and they don't teach you. My parents didn't teach me cause they just didn't know. Right. Um, anyways, fast forward a couple of years and it was, it was pretty independent on its own. Of course, my wife stepped in after college and she continued to run it and there just wasn't room for two people. It was a really small mom and pop business. And, we had talked about me getting into real estate for years. I'd been on the road doing gun shows, going to different states and doing that. And I just wanted to be home again. so I got into, I called a buddy who had just gotten into real estate and he said, you got to do it. It's awesome. the next day I was actually in the real estate class and graduated a 30 days later, finished the class, took the test, had my license. And then after that, 30 days after I had my license, that was an early June, I had put my first deal under contract before the beginning of July. So overall it was like, I was, I was very fortunate to get into it quickly. And, Make money quickly. And that's really what you need to survive in real estate is you start making money and you reinvest money into the business and you can start getting in front of more people, right? and I think that's what kills a lot of people in the beginning is, is it's just a very expensive industry, especially if you don't know what you're doing in the beginning.

Erin: 5:27

I would agree with that.

Jason: 5:28

yeah, just, I think that's like any business, right? it's just where is your target market audience? How do you connect with people? And in real estate, it's just. So hard to connect with people so because everybody, you know knows ten real estate agents already it's one of the most oversaturated markets that barrier to entry is so low that literally everybody Goes on a whim like I did and says I'll just get my real estate license, right? Thankfully the business background had prepared me for Google AdWords, like setting up accounts, being able to attract clients, re engage those clients. So many times in real estate, people just reaching out one time. And if the sale doesn't come immediately, they just drop the ball and that's it. And so I think with ironclad, our exploding target business, what I was able to learn is you've got to touch people 10, 15, 20 times before a lot of them will even respond. And that's when we're doing a 50 to a hundred dollars sale, right? So this is a much bigger deal than that.

Erin: 6:20

Yeah, There's a lot to sales. That's for sure. And I think all three of us definitely know that

Jason: 6:26

Yes. Absolutely.

Erin: 6:28

in the work for sure.

John: 6:30

And I think the, I think the bigger the sale, the bigger product that you're selling or the more value you're trying to give, the harder it is to do success in real estate isn't, isn't achieved by everyone and neither is it in healthcare and a lot of other things. so we're excited to have you talk to our listeners more about the real estate world and how we navigate that as we age. I would say before we dive into all the fun little Nitty gritty questions. Really if you could walk us, the listeners through the process of buying a home, because some people don't know it, simply like me, I, I never bought a home until I had bought a home myself, right? I didn't know the process. So if you wouldn't mind sharing that.

Jason: 7:12

Of course. Yeah. So there's, there's two different ways to go about buying a house the way that most commonly ends up happening in today's day and age is oftentimes people are on Zillow or realtor or Trulia, and then they find a home. Somehow they click a button and end up either that or even Google AdWords end up getting connected with whoever the agent was that was advertising there. And typically you meet those people at a house for the first time. And then decide if you guys like each other and want to work together. If I know people personally, I like to have that appointment at our office and just go over the timeline is what I call it. So there's basically, I have 10 steps to purchasing real estate here in Idaho. So the first is you meet each other and decide if you're going to like each other. Because it's not just about, for me personally at this point in my career, if it like, I'm not going to grab every deal that I can grab because there's some clients out there who you meet with and you, you know, that there's going to be more headaches than it's worth. And likewise, on the buying side, if you meet an agent and you're not comfortable with them, if your personalities don't connect. you, you probably shouldn't empower them to continue the transaction. you should probably move on to somebody else and find a different agent who you connect better with. once you guys, decide you're going to work together. Then we need to talk about financing. Okay. So how are we purchasing this property? are you guys getting a loan? Are you paying cash? Is there going to be money involved from family members? Those are the questions you go through. And then in real estate, I help direct them to a lender if they don't have one already. And this is not a service that I am compensated anything for what I have is a bank of lenders who I know are good with certain people. For example, if you're a 1099 self employed person and you've been employed for a short period of time, your P and L's are a mess. I might send you to one person, right? But if you, if you're a W2 employee, been in the same place for 10 years, got a sizable down payment, stellar credit, I might send you another place, right? At the end of the day, it's the consumer's choice to choose whoever they want, but oftentimes I'm good at matching personalities and loan types with how I think it's going to go. So then you get with the lender if you need a loan. If not, it's, and it's all cash, that's fine. then step three is we go out and we find the property. So it really just depends on where you're at in life, but what I see predominantly and I don't even want to say 55 up community because there's such a difference between 50, 55 year olds and 80 year olds, like in what they're looking for. 55 year old might not care if there's an upper bonus room. In fact, they might want one because where are they at in their life? They're starting to have their first grand babies. Their kids are getting off to college, right? Maybe they have a kid or two left in the house. So they're going to want stuff that like, if the kids come over, they can send them upstairs, have that play space away. But then when we start talking about ironically enough, like 55 up communities, typically those have a median, a mean age of 75 to 80. So those people are going to want quieter green spaces, less commotion outside of their homes, like truly single level homes, no upper bonus rooms, right? Then you start getting into the question a little bit of sometimes if they think they're going to need like a zero threshold barriers to get into their shower, right? What does this house look like if I have to be ADA compliant for my wheelchair as I get older? Like those kinds of things do come up. For sure. but when we talk about going through the process with older people, depending on their age depends on where I'm going to suggest that they look, because if I have a 55 year old come to me and say I want a 55 up community, I'm going to say happy to show them to you, but you probably really don't want that, right? It'd pick a very specific type of person to want that at 55 years old. because I think the lifestyle is just not conducive to the energy that you have. 55 is still young in my, in my view, right? I don't know about you guys, but it's still young. So anyways, after we find the house, you go in, you make the offer. Typically in Idaho, we have a 30 day escrow period. You can shorten that up with cash. I, I've had deals close as fast as five days with cash, four days, normally people still want a title commitment to make sure there's clean title on the property at a bare minimum, right? but, two weeks to a month to move into the home, close on it. And then there's just a million more small things that go into it from there, but that's the overall general process.

John: 11:25

think that, it's so awesome that, that you have the ability and the knowledge to be able to take all types of buyers out, whether they're in their twenties, all the way up to the later stages of life. And you're definitely well qualified and have enough knowledge to have the best understanding on what fits them the best, because you're right. taking all those. Those into thought, when you're looking to purchase a home, like what type of space do you have for the grandkids or are the halls wide enough for wheelchair? So those are all really, really important things that people sometimes don't think about during that buying process. that's one of the things I know about you That I think is just so awesome is you do the work like a lot of people. They're just about making a sale, right? When it comes to selling a house. And I think that you really develop this connection with whoever you're trying to represent, whether they're buying or selling and make it appropriate.

Erin: 12:22

And that's important too. People feel like, I'm just going to pick a real estate agent and do it. And to Jason's point, no, you need to find someone that actually is going to work for you and find what works for you. Not just try to sell you something, right?

John: 12:32

Oh, for sure.

Jason: 12:33

Yep. Yeah. And on that, on that point too, Erin, when people are vetting real estate agents, what I've found is a lot of the times, like people will pick up the phone, call the first agent who appears at the top of the list, and then they'll go with that person. Honestly, it would do you some good to get on Google, look at their reviews, get on Zillow, look at their reviews, right? Because if you're, if you're judging someone in every other facet of life, before we go to a restaurant, before we go buy a car, we're looking at reviews for everything, right? When you buy a house, it should be no different. You should go on and see what have other people's experiences been like for this person? And are they recent? do we have stuff that's not two or three years old? So sometimes, you get on and you look at someone and they haven't had a review in two years. were they not selling homes for two years? Do they, did they just stop posting because they thought they had enough, enough relevance on, on Google, right? And it's you want people who are going to stay on top of it. the other thing too that John hit on was knowing the right kind of, of house. One thing I thought about there was, A lot of people think older folks just have these bundles of cash laying around. And actually, one of the things I run into the most is they, a lot of them do have cash in their current homes that they can use as equity, but a lot of people don't understand how to tap that leverage. And that is something that. I think stops a lot of them from going out and making a move is because they know their house is worth more, but in their mind, they can only access that if they sell their home. And so then it's that just sounds like too many moving parts, right?

Erin: 14:01

You're right.

John: 14:02

Yeah. So Jay, another, another thing that I'd like to talk, we've talked a lot about buying homes, right? But you can represent both sides of it. You can also represent sellers. And I think that, With a lot of the people that we're working with, and we're trying to help find resources, I think a big part of it is selling, right? Maybe, maybe their health condition has changed a bit or they're lonely or they need to think about transitioning in a different type of place. And so you can help them navigate that as well, right? Finding out the best options about, selling their house and, and guiding

Erin: 14:39

them Or if they're downsizing, right? Because kids have left or, they've lost a spouse, it's only them.

John: 14:45

or they have an upstairs that they no longer need. That is just extra square footage that they're having to maintain on a fixed income, so if you can just explain, your thought process in representing sellers that, that maybe you're thinking about it, a transition.

Jason: 15:02

It's interesting that you bring that up. so far this year, I've actually had two, older couples above 50 who have come back to me and have both bought houses in the last couple of years. And one of them is, wants to downsize for exactly what you just said. So they actually, they have an upstairs. It's half of the square footage of their house. And they're like, we just don't need it anymore. So their thing is just about having open space in the backyard to feel like they can breathe. And see some mountains, see some clouds, right? we're actually under contract on a nice townhouse right now out in KUNA that, has a protected green space behind it. So they're going to have a view forever, right? And the exterior is maintained by the townhome HOA, basically. it's not quite a 55 up community, but it's a really good fit for them because they're still not, they're still not honestly getting too old where they can't take care of themselves. They're in that part of life where like they really don't need That extra help, but they want a community that kind of is going to help take care of some of the stuff. They just don't want to deal with anymore. there's folks like that. And then there's another another couple that I'm helping. We're going to be listing their house in March. And, they just bought, a nice small house out in Caldwell a couple years back, in 2017, 2018, and, the wife is hey, look, I'm 80 now, and, there's, everyone in this neighborhood is young, I don't have friends, there's no activities, and for her, it's I, I want to go to, a retirement, Kind of community, but I don't want it to be too expensive. And also, the ones that are less expensive, she's noticed, she's like, Hey, you know, we've talked about those are on lot rents. So it's I'm on a fixed income. So like we need to find a happy median. So when they come back, we're going to list her house for sale and it will be contingent upon them finding an acceptable place to go. So a lot of the times like buyers will do contingent offers. And in this instance, we actually. Are going to do a contingency on the selling side where essentially they can go under contract, but we're not going to close on the deal until they are under contract on something that works for them because what they're looking for is that is very specific, right? it might take us some time to find.

Erin: 17:00

Can I ask, what is a lot rent?

Jason: 17:03

Yeah, so a lot of 55 up communities understand that, people are on social security or disability and the income is fixed. if you go to a Brighton subdivision, like a cadence, you're buying the house, you're buying the lot, you're buying into the community. Those homes are like 600, 000, right? maybe they're a little less, maybe they're a little bit more expensive, but 600, 000 home. A 600, 000 home I think in most instances is not what people are thinking of when in the Boise area when they're thinking of like a retirement. So you have a bunch of different communities. There's one out in Nampa where like all of the streets are basically, in a gated area and all the streets are called Burnett and essentially they just have numbers because the community actually owns all of the lots. And so like they're only paying for the house. So you can go find houses out there right now for 275, 300, 340, but like a fraction of the cost of the Brighton Cadence neighborhoods. Because technically the community owns your lot. because they own your lot, everyone gets nervous and says, what if they take my lot away? And it's they can't. When you buy a property from them, you sign a 99 year lease. And on a 55 year lease, a 99 year lease would make you 154 years old. the odds of you having them that running the course of that lease is zero, right? what happens though is they can raise the lot rent, but a lot of the time they are limited or fixed to whatever the increase is going to be in social security checks. So you sign onto that knowing that if the inflation rate and social security goes up 2 percent next year, your lot rent might go up 2%, right? But they are mindful that their entire community. Is is elderly folks on fixed incomes, right? So the lot rent is probably on average anywhere from 6 to 900 bucks a month. And that's going to help for all the green spaces because typically there's no lawn maintenance included normally they're mowing all the lawns. They've got a clubhouse. They've got a pool. They're putting together a list of activities that you can go do during the week. Like, hey, we've got a bus that's going to go take you guys and do this activity at the YMCA or you're going to drive to the mall and, and, have yoga and then go to this restaurant. So you're paying for stuff like that. And that does come with a cost, right?

John: 19:17

Are those similar to like association dues

Jason: 19:21

Exactly. They are essentially there. That is the association dues is the lot rent for that, that plot. So that's a good point. in a normal HOA, you're going to be paying anywhere from, you Like 400 bucks a year upwards. And I think the highest I've seen around here is maybe 2, 000 a year, 3, 000 a year. So in essence, yeah, that's exactly what you're paying for. It's just an expensive HOA fee if you will, but you get so much more than you ever would in just a normal neighborhood.

John: 19:49

Now, one thing I'd like to, also tell listeners is when they're looking to select a real estate professional like yourself, time is really good because relationships are built during that time, not only with the experience of selling houses, but you have relationships with movers and you have relationships with, with electricians and people that can come in. and do modifications in the home if needed. And since you have years in the industry, you can help support that, correct?

Jason: 20:22

Exactly. So when I step in and I come in to help you guys buy or sell a home, essentially, it's, it can be as white glove as you want. So if you guys want me to, call, I can either send you my movers information, Tim with delicate touch movers. I can either text that to you or I can call Tim and say, Hey, Tim, look, my people need to be moved. They need to be moved next week. So some people are more budget conscious and want to take their hands off. there's not like an extra fee that I charge to do all that for people. That's all included with whatever we've negotiated beforehand. but it's certainly not an add on. It's just one of those things. if you want me to take care of it, I will take care of it. If you're more A type and you need to be in charge and take care of it, I'm happy to give you the information and let you go figure it out.

Erin: 21:03

that is another great question to ask your agent. Once I move into the house, how do we stay connected or what other services do you have? cause some are like, peace out. I got my paycheck.

John: 21:13

I'm out. I'm out. I'm

Erin: 21:14

out.

Jason: 21:15

Exactly. It's, that's interesting. You say that. I tell a lot of people and they're always a fair chunk of my buyers and sellers are surprised that when I'm, when I say, Hey, when this transaction is done, like this is just the start of our relationship because where I make my money, yet you're, you're one cell or your buy and your sell. It's appreciated. Absolutely. But that's not where I make my money, where my money comes from is I'm sending you handwritten cards every 90 days. I'm checking in with you with a phone call every 30 days for the first little bit after you moved in. You're getting a monthly mailer from me. I'm also reaching out to you every six months to let you know what this, what the cost of your home is doing or the price of your home and where interest rates are. Should you refinance if you have a loan on the property? Are there other ways to go about utilizing your equity that could be beneficial to you? So it's not, it's, you're absolutely right. It doesn't just stop with the one check. And the problem is, is the expectation with most people is that agent helps me buy the home, agent goes away, right? If your agent is going away after the transaction, that's honestly that they're doing a disservice to the client. you should be engaged with that person the entire time, especially if they're here in Idaho. I do have a harder time keeping up with people when they move out of state for, for better or worse. Most people when they move typically aren't planning on coming back, but I still do keep them on an email list unless they don't want me to, right?

John: 22:30

Yeah.

Erin: 22:31

you've talked about it a couple of times now and I'm going to jump ahead just a little but you talked about equity and some people don't understand how that works, where it comes from, how do I know what it is? It's a scary thing. So if you wouldn't mind explaining.

Jason: 22:42

Yeah. So when you buy a home, obviously markets appreciate or depreciate and in most big metropolitan areas over a 10 year period, they always go up, right? You're going to have your up and downs, but by and large, just like the stock market, they go up. So most people are living in their homes on average, seven years. And I find that when people start getting into the seventies and eighties, they're typically in their homes even longer than that. So most people are going to have hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity that they can tap into on their homes. There is a whole bunch of different ways to tap into equity. the list is so long. It's all just situationally dependent because what are we tapping into it for? Are we tapping into it to move to a new place? Are we tapping into it to renovate your home? Are we tapping into it to give your grandkids a loan so they can buy their first house? at each of those spots, I would say talk to your financial advisors, the disclaimer, but also you can run it by me if you're thinking about buying or selling your home, and I can point you in the right direction and help you get started on that. Because, If you are moving, for example, like my folks who are moving to KUNA, we were actually able to find them an assumable VA loan. right now our interest rates are in the 5's, 6's, right? It just depends on the day. they're actually purchasing a home where the interest rate is going to be 2. 12%, right? Yeah. So initially when we were looking at the 6 percent interest rate and we were talking with the lender, they were actually going to have to sell their home in order to go purchase a new home. So when, when we found this particular house in KUNA and we went back to the lender, the lender's Hey, you guys actually make enough money in retirement just barely, but you make enough to purchase that home with that rate. And then you can go back and sell your home after the fact. So they actually have the best of both worlds right now because. They, they don't even need to worry about touching the equity on their home. And the thing is, is the assumable loans are becoming more and more frequent, but you have to know where to look for those. And a lot of people don't realize where to go for that.

Erin: 24:35

Can you share with them where they should go? Maybe go back to their lender and ask, do they ask their mortgage company?

Jason: 24:43

So when you're talking about searching for assumable loans in general, that's when you want to get a real estate agent involved because a lender might know where their own office is assumable loans are. But in the, in the MLS, we actually have a line where we can put if the loan is assumable or not. And we can do a keyword search if it's assumable or not. So I can go in and type in there and pull up the list of anyone who's marketed the home as assumable. And not just that. Once you find an assumable loan, it's, it's a very different animal than just going through a normal real estate transaction. You're going to want to have someone who understands how that process works, right? Because it is two to three times longer than a normal transaction. And there is paperwork that needs to be filled out in advance. And if your agent doesn't know what they're doing, a lot of the times, like the first time I did one, we were, we took probably two or three weeks longer. Because I didn't realize that there was paper we needed to fill out and nobody tells you. they don't tell you until, until it's too late and everyone's angry, right?

John: 25:41

Interesting. it's funny as we've been talking about all this. I used to get in discussions to people about the forever home. I want to purr. I want to purchase my forever home. But what a lot of people don't think about. Is in the moment they're thinking about their forever home, it's based on their health at that moment, right? It's based on their family's size and needs. There's it's based on their jobs. There's so many times. I would say a huge percentage and maybe, this off the top of your head, a huge percentage of people move multiple times during their lifetime that there isn't any forever home anymore because. We have to consider all of the factors. And so if you could touch base on that a little bit, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that that's the case.

Jason: 26:29

You're right. You would not believe the amount of people actually you would, from what you're saying, the amount of people that come to me and say, okay, this is the last home I'm ever going to buy. If I had 100 for every time I heard that, I'd probably have 2, 000 because there's plenty of people who they buy a home and then five years later, life changes, right? Your circumstance changes. and there's just so many things that can be, Health, it can be, marriage, death, divorce, children, grandchildren, moving back in, job changes. maybe like an inheritance you weren't expecting. the list goes on and on and on and, and I can't tell you how many times people have called me back and been like, Hey, I know we said three years ago we weren't moving, but we wanna move now. And, and that happens. That happens all the time. I think if someone tells you, this is the home I'm gonna die in. 9. 9 out of 10 times, that is not going to be the home they're going to die in. unless they're like on hospice and they know, which is morbid, but, yeah.

John: 27:25

when it comes to, when you're looking at. purchasing a home and stuff, and you're at a certain age and we were, we've, I'm sorry if I'm beating a horse here, but, there are different factors like health is one thing, especially with a lot of our clientele with our company that we have, a lot of times people, they get enamored by the beauty of a house or they get enamored by the views or whatever, but maybe that location isn't conducive to their health. So if you could just say in, in your real estate career. And advising people, I think it's, it's smart to factor those things in, correct? Yeah.

Erin: 28:02

Yeah.

Jason: 28:03

Yeah, I think definitely it is. A lot of people are always concerned about resell, are we going to be able to resell this house? And it's hey, you're thinking about buying it right now. So why is it crazy to think that in 10 years, someone else is not going to want to buy your home, right? So all homes will sell. That's my first, my first thing I'll say. The second thing is when you're talking about health and things to consider, Sure. That's another reason why you bring someone along who looks at homes all day long, 24 7, because if you're 50 years old, and we're buying a house, you may not care that your driveway is facing north, right? But if you tell me you want to say that for 20 years, I'm going to say, Hey, listen, it's really not that big of a deal right now. But North Facing Driveways, it's commonly known here, you're going to get ice build up in the driveway. It will never go away during the winter. what do most people end up going to the hospital for when they get older? Falls. A lot of them fall. They break arms, they get blood clots, right? It kills a lot of people. it's essentially what I'm telling you is, is, do you want this driveway in 20 years to be one of the things that could potentially kill you, right? That's pretty extreme, but at the same time, it's something to consider, right? The other thing too is like, When we're looking at homes, it's Hey, are you the kind of guy who's going to want to put up their Christmas lights every year? So let's look at the pitch of the roof then, right? if we're sitting at a pitch versus a hip gabled roof, right? It's maybe that makes a difference to you. so to answer your question shortly, there's a lot of things to consider. And if you're telling someone that I want, I'm 50 years old, but I want to stay there till I'm 70, 80. Even though you may not stay there, it's good to have these discussions about hey. I've noticed the master bedrooms upstairs, right? You may not care that it's upstairs right now, but in 15 years, in 10 years, you might call me and say, Hey, I had, I have to have a knee replacement. We just realized we don't have a bedroom downstairs at all. So this house isn't going to work for me anymore.

Erin: 29:45

Yeah. and I think that's how you know a difference of a good agent versus someone that's just an agent, a full time agent that knows clients that's dealt with clients from all ages and different experiences versus if I were to hop in the market right now as a brand new agent, I might not know to ask those questions, right?

Jason: 30:02

Yep. Yep. And you need to get a feeling that the person that you're talking with and dealing with cares about you. because we do talk a lot. I hear about a lot in the industry, like agents are so focused on commissions and, and I, I would bet you that the onesie Tuesday agents who are in and out in six months. Yeah, that's going to be their main focus. But for those of us who have. A revolving door of business and like my finances are secure, whether or not I do business this month or not, it's I'm gonna care about you as the person because again, the long-term client interaction relationship is what I care about the most, right? So they need to be talking to you. They need to be bringing up these things. If you walk through homes and they're not bringing up things for you to think about and consider, maybe it's time to ask yourself if you're, if you're working with the right person, right?

Erin: 30:45

Do you have Tips on how to keep their house up, right? Because eventually, like we say, they're going to sell their home down the road. It's not going to be there forever. So it's important to keep things up, right?

Jason: 30:56

Yep. So every six months at the start of spring and at the beginning of fall, I'll send out an email or I have a different, a couple of different ways. I like I syndicated out to people. So I'll start with a social media post and then I will transform that into an email for people who I know are not using Instagram or Facebook and I'll send that to them and it will be like a reminder. Hey. It's time to open your vents or close your vents, make sure that you've gotten your sprinkler system blown out. Make sure that you fixed any damage that looks like this, and and I'll walk them through. Another thing is make sure you're covering your AC unit during the during the fall. So many people don't cover their AC units here. Like when you drive through a neighborhood, almost everybody's AC units are uncovered this time of year. And Yeah. and, and the thing is, is if you're only going to live there for a year or two, I guess it will be someone's problem later. But like you go to a house in five years after it was built and you look at AC units and you'll notice like all the paint is peeling off. It's rusting. It looks awful. And for 20 bucks at Walmart, you could have bought a little cover and covered it. You just need to make sure you shut off the kill switch right next to the circuit breaker next to the AC. So in spring, someone doesn't accidentally turn it on and try and suck that into the AC. My point is, is I will send you these reminders, make sure you cover it, make sure you're doing this, make sure you're doing that, because there, there are a ton of little things you can do that require, I think the saying is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right? Or, or a pound of remediation or something like that. And that's so true. Like just a little bit of effort on your part. If you follow my steps every six months is going to save you a lot of money and headache in the future.

Erin: 32:28

that's what I thought with the inspector that we had come to my house is he, we got an inspection where he would do it twice within that one year. And so when he came out that second time, it was really nice. He's like, you know. When these reports come out, they're not just to tell you the goods, the bads and everything. It tells you how to upkeep your house too, which was very interesting.

Jason: 32:49

You know that there's a couple of inspection companies I like here and all of them, they will send you their contractors lists. They will have their hints and tips on how to maintain your home. And then also your real estate agent should have a list as well. So it's and they should have their own list of things you should be doing at certain times of the year. So if you're using the right people in the transaction, you should be getting hit. Multiple times on multiple fronts with that information, because another thing, I forget this one myself is like air filters in your house. Like, how I know it's time to change my air filters is when it starts whistling when I walk by and I can hear it going. When you've gotten to that point, honestly, you've waited too far. And so there's several services out there that every quarter, every month, however often you like, we'll, we'll drop ship you filters. And that's your reminder to change the filter at that point in time. that is a good service to, to partake in. If, if you, if you don't mind paying for it, I'm cheap with the filters and I don't want to pay the extra five bucks a filter. So I just wait till I hear whistling and then I know

Erin: 33:44

Or you just put it on your calendar.

Jason: 33:47

I, the thing is, is I put it on my calendar and then I walk over and I look up through the grates and I'm like, looks fine, right? It'll last. And then I forget about it. but yes, you're right. That would be a good thing to do.

John: 33:57

Jason, if you could touch base a little bit for our listeners to one of the things that I know is when we're younger and we're generating a healthier income, we're not on a fixed income, we can afford to pay for repairs on certain things. However, there are companies that sell home insurance policies There's other companies that will change out your filter, come out and service your furnace. But, those home insurance

Erin: 34:22

Are you talking about the Home warranties.

John: 34:23

Home warranties. Thank you. Home warranty. And so if you could touch base, really, again, when we're on a fixed income and we're older, the importance of having one of those plans in places Or when to get one or when to get one. Yeah. If you could just touch base on that.

Jason: 34:38

The home warranty is, it can be a good option if you are buying an old home that has a lot of deferred maintenance. or if you're a first time home buyer that's, that doesn't have a lot of extra income. And I guess in this instance, if you are a senior and you don't have a lot of extra income, the, my only concern with the home warranties is yes, they can be, they can serve a purpose and be good. But a lot of the times, It is an extra layer of pulling teeth because a home warranties, the way they like to operate is to repair, repair, repair. They really, really like to, to not replace stuff, as much as they can, because obviously that cuts into what their profits are. while I do think they can be a good idea for some people. If you were an older person and you had access to five or ten grand, I would probably say save your money because they do run five, 600 bucks a year on those, those home warranties. And a lot of the times if you're buying a home, that's been well maintained, especially by an older couple or like a 55 up community. Like you think about it, those people are retired and they live at home. Like most of the time I walk into those homes and they are sparkling. All these people do is go, Oh, I bet I could, I could fix that. And then they fix it. So I don't know. Every situation is different. I don't know if it would be the right option for most people who are retired because typically You're going to have a little nest egg and you're going to be able to fix that problem and that might be different than a younger person who really just put all their money down on the house and has no money to fix a broken AC unit a month after close. but can they be an a good option? Absolutely. They can. and I used to feel very strongly about them. I think in the last two or three years, my, my view has changed a little bit just because I have watched clients really have a difficult time getting expensive repairs. actually replaced, instead of just like band aided, band aided, band aided, band aided, right? So I used to be a huge proponent of them though. When there was another company, there's a company here called Ibex who I really liked, but they stopped operating on our market. And after they left, I just haven't found a good replacement that makes repairs easy or replacements

John: 36:40

And, and, it could be the area too, because I know my parents, they have a ranch, And I know that companies have come out to repair things. And then my dad has usually been somebody that stepped up to the plate after like the second repair and said, Hey, no, no, this is the second time we're, we're repairing it the same way for the same reason. It's time to, to To replace it. And I think that as long as we're advocating for ourselves and pushing for that replacement, it can be beneficial because they've, they've actually had most of the, appliances in their home changed out. Yeah, replace. so I think it depends on the location too. So

Jason: 37:17

Yep, location, personality and, and your own comfort with your finances. if you've got like my dad or your dad, someone who's not afraid to push someone around and say, Hey, this isn't right. But if you've got 92 year old Janice. Who can barely answer her own door, right? those are the kind of people I worry about are just going to get taken advantage of if there's a problem. but again, like you said, if you have someone advocating, like an agent who's there and going to help you, there's some clients who I know need extra help and I will follow back with them a lot more regularly. But, but you bring up a good point, John. I think the location could make a big difference.

Erin: 37:53

another thing I was asking, about taxes when picking a home, when moving state to state, are there different benefits as I'm aging that I should look for maybe state to state?

Jason: 38:05

So the initial feedback on there for me is like talk to your CPA, right? Like I'm not a financial advisor or an accountant. However, I will say that if you're moving and you're older and you have a nice nest egg, it may be time to look into potentially putting that money in a trust when you buy your next property. Because like when you die, is your will set up? To avoid probate and a lot of people don't have that in place. And so if you die and there's no will, everything you own goes to the state and the state basically gets to determine who becomes in charge of it and how it gets split up. And by the way, you're going to pay money on it, right? there definitely can be tax benefits if you're going to buy and sell a home anyways, and you're going to have a chunk of cash, it could be worth considering looking into potentially putting things in a trust. And also looking at an Idaho like what county you're going to live in, because, in Canyon County taxes are more expensive for single family homes than they are in Ada County, which for anyone who lives here that never makes sense. But it's, it's just how it goes right and I'm not sure why that is it's just how the cities have chosen to do things. The other thing too is. You do get that first, 125, 000, primary property exemption on your property here in Idaho. you want to make sure you're filling that out. And then also, if you're over 65, 62, 65, I'm not, I need to go back and look at the exact age. No, we have a program called the circuit breaker. So if you're on a fixed income and you're under certain income thresholds and you're over certain ages, you can actually qualify to actually even pay less property taxes or no property taxes depending on how much you make.

John: 39:30

Wow.

Jason: 39:30

of people, yeah. So that can be huge too.

John: 39:33

and that's called the circuit breaker for the listeners out there that, didn't catch that. Please, yeah, please in Idaho research that and to see if you qualify because that can be a huge benefit.

Jason: 39:44

Absolutely. Yep. And a lot of people don't know about it. Because the government's not going to advertise to you. Hey, pay less taxes.

Erin: 39:50

Yeah.

John: 39:51

for sure.

Erin: 39:52

Again, why you need an experience. agent. Yeah.

John: 39:55

No, I agree. I agree.

Erin: 39:57

that, information for sure.

John: 39:59

Now, I was going to ask, when it comes to going back to purchasing homes, right? I know that you sell homes at all ages. However, is there an age number, and I know this all depends, right? There's sometimes people, they go through transition life, whether it's divorce, whether it's job loss, whatever, and they're, they're starting to get older. And we think about. The average alone for a home, it could be 20, it could be 30 years. So is there a, a certain age that is I don't know, symbolic of the cutoff point. And if you don't have a huge down payment, you're going to be really limited to be able to get the financial loan to be

Erin: 40:38

able to

John: 40:39

to

Erin: 40:40

a home. Is there an age limit of where you shouldn't buy

John: 40:43

so like for instance, if, if I was. 65 70 years old, right? And I didn't have a home and I'd gone through a divorce and I had enough money for a down payment. but maybe I wasn't working a steady job or making a really good income. I was more on a fixed income. do I still have the ability to purchase a home or does that really limit my options?

Jason: 41:07

I don't think it limits it by any stretch of the imagination because lenders are not allowed to discriminate for age or health status. So you could find out that you have terminal cancer and you're going to die in six months and you could say, I want to go buy a house, tell your lender, I'm going to die in six months. They're still not allowed to say, okay, then we won't cut you this loan. Same thing. Same thing for being old. It's like you could be 98 years old and say, I want to take out a 30 year mortgage. Common sense would dictate there's a fairly high chance that they're not going to be there by the end of that mortgage. Still not allowed to discriminate. so the biggest, the biggest factor for, what would the limiting factor for that person is going to be their monthly income. We call it the DTI, their debt to income ratio because that. It's not like a discriminatory thing, but it is for older people, because if you don't, if you're not making money every month, then there, then how can they qualify you for what you're going to spend every month? So to just throw a number at you to keep things simple. The, the average DTI is, that they allow is 45 to 50 percent on the high side. So what that means is if you have a yearly income of 100, 000, the government is only going to allow you to take out all alone as long as all of your fixed income monthly expenses are. Less than 000 a year, right? that includes credit cards, car payments, any other loan payments that are reported to credit, and your mortgage payment. So now we start talking about someone who's on a fixed income social security. What would you make on average on social security? Do you guys, do you have an idea? Because I

John: 42:40

Probably, high anywhere from 18 to 22, I'm

Jason: 42:45

year?

John: 42:46

A month.

Jason: 42:47

Oh, okay, so 2, 200 per month. And, and that's, that's typically what you make on like fixed income. So if, if we just say 2, 200 a month, the government is going to say that like on, on the high side, you can spend 1, 100 a month on all of your fixed payments. So that's where we're going to run into problems. is you're either going to need a large down payment to supplement it, or you're going to have to have absolutely no debt and find the least expensive home on the market. And in this market, 1100 still wouldn't be enough, right? So that's going to be your limiting factor.

John: 43:20

Interesting. Great. It's crazy, huh?

Erin: 43:23

Good Yeah. I've

John: 43:24

so much.

Jason: 43:26

Thank you.

Erin: 43:27

How about energy efficient homes? Are they beneficial? is it great to have solar on my house, a greenhouse, where it's efficient?

Jason: 43:38

So I, I think that, when you look at the age of the home, if a home was built anytime after 2010, 2015, almost by default, they should be some sort of green energy certified, or at least be more energy efficient than older homes. It's just a common sense thing. A lot of people don't realize this. Your insulation does age out. It has a period of effectiveness and that, and that efficiency actually drops over the years. So if you're in a home that has 20 year old insulation and it's still 16 inches tall because nobody has crawled in your attic in those 20 years. And you have a brand new home that has brand new insulation, also 16 inches tall, that home that has the new insulation is going to be more energy efficient, right? when we talk about, when we start getting into things that are like green certified, energy star certified, that's, that's a different ballgame. And you can request to see papers, but you're not going to see that in older homes. Typically, that's newer homes. of course, it can help to have homes that are Energy Star certified or more energy efficient because you're just going to pay less in utilities, right? And looking for a newer home can help you with that for sure. that being said, getting into something like solar. Do I think solar is a good option in the state of Idaho? I think if you put on solar longer than two or three years ago, I think it could be a great option. But the way the legislation is written right now is there was a cutoff date and I don't remember the exact year. I think it was like 2020 or 2021 where they said anybody that put on solar before this day is grandfathered into this kilowatt hour buyback for the entirety of their solar life. That's huge because right now, the thing that they're talking about, I just put solar in my house a year or two ago, they are in the process of trying to pay us less per kilowatt hour and already I've done my calculations and I'm essentially breaking even with my solar payment compared to what it was without my solar payment. So I feel good knowing that, I'm using less energy from the grid. And that's, that's basically like my justification for it. I was hoping it was a little bit higher offset, but for me personally, it hasn't been as big of a gain as I've wanted it to be. That being said though, my home is 2000 built. It's not as energy efficient as it should be. The windows are not as efficient. is it fair for me to say that's, that's going to be the case for everybody? I don't think so. Cause if you bought a brand new Brighton home in one of their cadence neighborhoods. And it's 1800 square feet, and it's a patio style home, and it's got neighbors on both sides, neighbors in the front, neighbors in the back, so it has like protection more from the elements, and it's single level, and it's really energy efficient. There's probably a scenario in which the solar could make sense. but that being said, my last house that I built in 2019 that was single level, my average like energy bills, utility bills in general, like 100, 120 bucks a month. So really look into the numbers as to what you're spending before you make that jump because the big unknown factor, even if you think it's a break even, it's a net zero break even for you is, is it, what if they change the rates? And then the other thing that I found out is you have to have a battery on your house for it to matter if there's like a blackout. So anytime they would shut off the power in our house because they were widening the roads, even though I had solar, I had no energy in my house because my house didn't have batteries. And the bat, the reason I didn't have batteries is because my solar guy said, you don't need to put them on because they're just as expensive as the solar panels essentially. And they only last 10 years, right? So there's a lot of information when it comes to something like solar. My brother in California is doing it and his numbers make way more sense just because his energy bill on a 1400 square foot house is like 400 a month down there. it's insane what he pays for power. So in that instance, what makes way more sense, but in Idaho really do your research when you start adding stuff like that.

John: 47:13

Yeah, it's awesome. when it comes to, think there's there's scams and stuff happening. There's a lot of fraud that's starting to happen more and more as the economy, struggles, things become more expensive. People seem to come out of the woodwork to try to take advantage of people. How does that affect, The real estate world. And what have you seen as some, challenges

Erin: 47:37

and especially after you buy a home too, you get all kinds of mail. So if you can talk about both of those,

Jason: 47:45

Yeah. when we think of scams in a traditional sense, a lot of the times it's someone, taking a ton of money out of your bank account. So when we think of large scale scams, especially targeting homebuyers, I think of wire fraud. That's immediately where I go. That is the biggest problem in our industry. And I've probably known three or four personal people who have been affected from wire fraud. Thankfully, none of my clients, but I know agents who have clients who have lost money. Because they are very good about getting into like title companies, emails, and like changing routing and addresses, routing and account numbers. The problem with that is once the money's gone, once you've wired it, it's essentially gone. There's almost no way they can get it back, right? So just be very aware of wiring money. Don't ever send money to someone unless you call and talk to somebody on the phone. And even then they have, AI is getting so clever, they even have ways that they are verifying beyond that. Not to freak you out, but just, just be smart. And if you're worried about it, don't wire anything. Just bring cashier's checks to the title company. You can avoid the entire wire fraud problem altogether, right? So that's, that's step one. the other type of scams that we see out there that target to errands point people after they buy a home. Those are like smaller scale stuff that I think is, It's I don't know that it's illegal, but a lot of them are just very scammy by their nature I'll give you a couple examples. One is like you'll get Emails or you'll get mail from like the water company water and sewage from your city and they'll say hey you need to add on this 20 a month blockage Blockage protection to your sewer pipes because if your sewer pipe but breaks under your your driveway or your property You're liable and it can cost 8, 000 to 10, 000. we'd like you to sign up for this extra coverage, it's 20 a month and then you're protected. Such a waste of money. If your sewer line breaks under your property line, you're gonna call your homeowner's insurance and you're gonna get them involved and say, Why the crap did this happen? this should not have happened to me. Get out here, this is what I pay you for and fix this. You don't need to pay for some extra coverage. But unfortunately, I think a lot of people don't know any better and are like, 20 a month, we can afford that and we'll sign up for it, right? Another scam that I see a lot is right after people close, people will send you these things and say, Hey, for 25, we'll send you a copy of your title so that you have it. And, we'll just mail it to you. You'll pay him 25 bucks. They'll mail you a copy of your title. Your title is a public document. It's a public document that anybody can access at any point in time. If you want a copy of your title, call your escrow company. They'll literally email you one. They'll print one off where you can go pick it up and it's free. But a lot of people will just be like, okay, yeah, I want one. I'll pay 20 bucks and I'm going to copy my title. Odds are it was probably in their closing documents anyways. And it's they already have it. but again, people don't know any better. And the last one that I see all the time on TV, this one's my favorite. Life lock, they, they sell title lock. And I think they, they, I don't want to use the word pray, but I think they pray on older people where they're like, hi, my name is Susie. And my house was stolen from me. Somebody cash, said they were the owner and sold my house out from underneath me. I don't know what state Susie lives in that that's possible, but here in the state of Idaho, like for somebody to remove you from title and then sell your home. You have to go in in person with your driver's license. It's notarized by the escrow officer that John and Erin are in fact John and Erin and they stood before me to sell the home. So unless the scammer on the other line is making like a, like a, a latex print of your faces and ripping off your driver's licenses and showing up. that whole thing just seems like a scam to me. hey, pay us 20 bucks a month. And we'll ensure that no one sells your home out from underneath you like what, what a racket.

John: 51:26

Yeah, so that, that being said, people that you represent going back to you as a representation, both on the buying and selling side. Sometimes if they have questions where they might get something like that, you can help them navigate that. And they could maybe contact you and just say, Hey, Jason, I just got this from the lender. Is this something that's accurate? And you can help guide them through that process.

Jason: 51:49

Yep, the discussion we have is anytime someone asks you to pay for something or wants money transaction's done Just call me send me a screenshot of it. Send me a text. Give me a call I can tell you in five seconds whether that's nonsense or if that's legitimate, right?

John: 52:02

Perfect.

Erin: 52:03

your agent doesn't leave you as soon as you close the deal. Remember that, you guys.

John: 52:07

at least this agent, at least

Jason: 52:09

Yep.

Erin: 52:10

Yeah.

John: 52:11

Yeah,

Jason: 52:11

Depending on who you talk to.

Erin: 52:13

I have another question before we get to one of my favorite questions and we haven't touched on it really. We've mentioned it, is home insurance.

Jason: 52:19

Yep.

Erin: 52:19

How do you pick a home insurance?

Jason: 52:22

homeowners insurance. It's that's another one of those things where

Erin: 52:26

Do you help us?

Jason: 52:27

Yeah, of course, I have people I direct you to. Erin's bringing this up because there was a company I used here locally for years. All state. I loved all state. I had a sales rep there. He was like number 2 in charge. All state was a really good company and I had that local connection and they would they would. Give my clients really good quotes, right? that I'll say agency basically sold overnight, didn't tell anyone, sold a new ownership. And the guy that I dealt with went and opened a new agency, in Texas. And I was really disappointed cause I really liked that guy. And, I, I have bounced around and I found another company that I like for the moment, but I still don't have a personal connection, personally. But hopefully your agent does have that and can put you in touch with those people because really like when you get the best services, when you have personal relationships with people and you deal with them face to face, and a lot of the times you can go kick their door in and you're sending business back and forth to each other and you trust each other. And what I liked about that is I could send someone to Jeremy at Allstate. And I just knew he was going to take care of him. I knew he wasn't going to oversell them on insurance. They didn't need, I knew their policies were going to have enough coverage if something happened, without taking advantage and adding on the supplemental this, that, whatever. So yeah, your agent should have someone they work with right now. I do have a company I work with right now where I really like they are based out of Utah. I am not thrilled that I can't let go, go into their office and say hi to them, but it doesn't really matter right now.

Erin: 53:47

of trust.

Jason: 53:49

Totally.

John: 53:49

Yeah. Yeah. Jason, I know you pretty well, gotten to know you over the years. And, I know there's a question that Erin's dying to ask you. So I'm going to take the

Erin: 53:58

Whoa, no, no, no.

John: 54:00

no. no. this.

Erin: 54:01

is my question. If you want to ask your questions, you should come up with your questions.

John: 54:05

See, I think that our listeners need to see how we structure these podcasts and how she's very domineering sometimes. But I'm, I'm going to take the initiative.

Erin: 54:14

why he took over. I

John: 54:17

ask this. Anyway, I know of some trips you've been on in your life and, we all love adventures. We all love discovery and, and learning about places and things. And

Erin: 54:26

what is your favorite place to travel to?

John: 54:28

know, you Okay. I guess I will support her in that, that, questioning there. Cause that's what I was going to ask.

Jason: 54:40

So my, my favorite place that I've been by far, when my oldest brother turned 40, he said, I'm going to go to Dubai if you guys want to join. And I thought my wife and I really haven't traveled too far out of the country, like a little bit of Mexico. I've never been to Canada, been to Hawaii once. And, so I thought Dubai, like that's in the middle of nowhere and it's probably hot. It's probably dangerous and, but we, we jumped in and said, all right, we'll go. Cause he had gone there before and said it was great. So we went out there and, honestly, it's probably one of the coolest places I've been. It's what I've wanted Vegas to be for so many years. Like it's clean, like there's not like smut in your face there. The customer service blows everything we have in the United States out of the water. And it's just, it's, there's so much to see and do people think what are you going to do there? And it's like literally anything you want. They have a ski hill in the middle of the desert. If you want to go skiing, you can go skiing. if you want to drive boats, if you want to drive exotic cars, if you want to go hiking, if you want to go, if you want to go ziplining, they have everything that you can possibly imagine. And, And it was a really cool place to visit. The people were super opening. When we think of the Middle East, we think everybody hates Americans. A lot of the times, at least I do. When I traveled there, what I realized is most people have never met Americans, and they're actually like very excited to meet Americans. They're like, Oh, you're from America. We don't get too many people like that here. So tell me about this, about your country. And they start asking questions. I think when you travel to other countries, especially, like the European countries and like Mexico, they see Americans all the time. They already have these, these preconceived ideas as to what you're going to be. But what I thought was the coolest thing about Dubai is like, it's their first time meeting an American. You get to set the standard for what it is to be an American. And I think what was cool is I was able to change a lot of people's preconceived notions that like Americans are just going to be like these pompous douchebags basically, right? Is how a lot of them thought we were going to be. And they're like, you're very friendly. Are you from Canada? It's no, from America. And they're like, what? This isn't how Americans act, and it's are you getting your news from, XYZ, right? we're actually pretty cool people, and I will tell you the Emiratis and the people who live in Dubai are very cool people. So go check it out.

John: 56:46

Yeah, sounds awesome. thank you for answering our question.

Jason: 56:52

are you guys wanting to travel to

John: 56:53

Oh, we have a big list. We have a really big list. I

Erin: 56:57

I think. Machu Picchu.

John: 56:58

New Zealand is,

Erin: 57:00

The Maldives. The

Jason: 57:01

you can only pick one.

Erin: 57:02

Portugal.

Jason: 57:03

You're going one place this year. Where are you guys going?

Erin: 57:05

got the best discount?

Jason: 57:06

money is no

Erin: 57:07

much this year.

John: 57:08

Yeah, we're not.

Jason: 57:09

is no object.

John: 57:10

Money is no object. Then, really,

Erin: 57:12

if money was no object and we could get to the moon, I would be,

John: 57:16

yeah, I'm not, I the moon. I'm not as interested. I don't love the landscape or the dust.

Erin: 57:21

Earth from a

John: 57:22

different

Erin: 57:22

perspective would be

John: 57:23

really cool. I'm okay with looking at that through pictures.

Jason: 57:28

I second John on this

John: 57:29

yeah, I'd really like to, I'd really like to go to New Zealand. I think the Kiwis are, it's a pretty cool place. So yeah, I'd like to go explore New Zealand. for, for a month, I think a month would be enough time for me to get a little taste of

Jason: 57:41

I do love how adventurous you guys are, so I'm definitely a homebody,

John: 57:45

yeah,

Erin: 57:46

Well, we have plenty of time for that later.

John: 57:47

thank you Jason for being on our podcast today

Erin: 57:52

Yeah, it was great. All the information we had to share with everybody. I can't wait for them to hear and listen and learn some new things that we didn't even know. So that's pretty cool. So thank you for being here and your time.

Jason: 58:04

Appreciate it.

John: 58:06

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Connect Empower. We want to express our gratitude to you for being part of our community, and we hope today's episode has provided you with valuable insights and inspiration to enhance your life and that of a loved one.

Erin: 58:21

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John: 58:42

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Erin: 58:57

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John: 59:17

I'm John.

Erin: 59:18

I'm Erin. Until next Wednesday.