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Angie Cole - Contact - Call: 919-538-6477

Show Transcription:

Note: This is an automated transcription. Please forgive the robots as they tend to make some (a lot of) mistakes...

Speaker 1: (00:02)
It's time for the savvy real tour podcast. I'm Walter Storholt alongside Angie Cole, the owner and broker in charge of AColeRealty serving you throughout the triangle, teaching you about the ins and outs when it comes to buying or selling a home. You can find the team online by going to eight Cole realty.com that's a C O L E realty.com or by calling nine one nine five seven eight three one two a that's (919) 578-3128 and now it's time for one of the top real tours in the triangle, Angie Cole and the savvy real tour podcast. So we've got lots of questions that come into us here on the show all the time, lots of texts and information and you can also go to école realty.com to submit a question to be featured on the show. I've got a couple of questions to feature here today, Angie. The first one of which comes to us from Mario and Mario is in Carey and it is a Corona virus related question. Mario says, could the Corona virus hire more people to tour homes? Virtually, we're virtual via virtual reality. Is this something that you embrace in your business? 

Speaker 2: (01:08)
So, you know, it's something that we weren't doing in the past, but we are definitely doing moving forward. And it depends on, you know, individual, I guess the individual seller as far as what's important to them. Every seller that I've met with thus far, you know, they haven't raised any concerns about other people coming into their homes. Um, so we haven't felt the need to take that next step to maybe do some more in detail video and whatnot. But that is definitely an option that we can talk through with our sellers. So I know that's been mentioned a lot. I feel like in the real estate market right now, and I think that everyone's just trying to get one step ahead of the game. Um, but that's really an individual basis, you know, as far as the sellers go, as far as if they want people in their home or if they don't, but if they don't, we can definitely talk through options to make it, you know, your home visible to the public. Um, of course we already have professional photos, we do a Zillow video walkthrough tour. We have many amazing things to really show off your home, but we can definitely go even more into detail and always do video walkthroughs in more depth, um, to make sure that buyers are understanding what your home, you know, truly portrays and all the advantages and positives of your home. 

Speaker 1: (02:19)
Yeah, I think it's a, a, it's a really interesting question, Mario. I mean, depending on how bad the lockdown you know, gets at some case. I mean Angie, I don't know, I mean this could be one of those moments that really changes the game on how we do many things in life, not just in the real estate world, but it could really, you know, as people sort of adopt, I mean in our business doing radio interviews and podcasts, we'd already been been becoming more and more remote, but now even more so like, you know, do we really need to have a physical space? It's kind of a safety blanket to have that central location for a company, but do you really need it? And this is kind of pushing us in that direction to say we don't really need it. So that may change our business in the longterm because it's opened our eyes up to pulling that bandaid off on making a change and other businesses are going to undergo that kind of thing as well. So it may not be virtual reality, but there may be some other things that like electronic signatures, maybe we can finally pull the bandaid off of truly not having to have people in person. 

Speaker 2: (03:18)
Uh, we were, we were already there. We're ahead of that. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, we uh, [inaudible] you know, but that's more for the convenience honestly, because with a real estate transaction, there's so much paperwork that you have to sign and throughout the process. And so if every other day where we, we say, Hey, we need to come by your home again, you know, to get another S, you know, simple document sign, that would only take one second. It's just easier, you know, for us just to shoot it over by email, you click a link and you East sign. I feel like as far as the real estate world goes though, people like that interaction, I really, you know, I don't think that the real estate world in general would ever go completely virtual. Otherwise. Why would you need an agent? I feel like, you know, I feel like an agent. 

Speaker 2: (04:03)
Is there a course to be your advocate to a buys, you didn't go see it on your behalf, take you through the process. But I think also just having someone to kind of, you know, handhold you through that process and you know, be there with you, um, real time. I think it's very important. I think it's definitely a different sense and feeling, having that person with you, you know, literally versus you know, everything done virtually. I think it goes up our way. So I don't think the real estate world's going to go that route. I could be wrong, but I could definitely see, for example, in radio, I mean there's no need for us to come into this station right to record. We can do it virtually and it saves everyone time. Overall it does, it does is less traveling on the road. Um, so it's, it's easier to knock out and you know, still, you know, our, our listeners are getting the same show whether we're, you know, you and I are meeting in person or we do it partially. Yup. 

Speaker 1: (04:56)
That's a great question, Mario. And, uh, will be something to watch as we adapt more and more to technologies that arise to help us make the process one more convenient. And you know, in this short term, you know, trying to figure out maybe ways to stay safer or uh, limit, you know, face to face interaction, those kinds of things. So it's a really good question. Thanks for submitting that one to us. If you've got any questions about that or you do want to still go through with buying or selling a home during this time, but you have concerns about how to make it happen or how to use technology to make it a safer process. You, that's something that Angie and her team have already been proactive about mitigating and finding solutions for. You can get in touch by calling or texting Angie at (919) 538-6477 Mario or anybody else who is in a similar situation, (919) 538-6477. Jake has our next question over in Clayton. Jake says, how long should I expect it to take for a mortgage person to get back to me? I'm trying to get qualified for a loan, but they must be really busy with these new low rates because no one will get back to me. It seems, 

Speaker 2: (06:02)
Oh gosh, the 0% interest rates. Again, it was so sad. I heard that there was some agents that were telling people that they could get 0% interest rates when the, yeah. Yeah. That's no, interest rates are wonderful, but they're not at 0% but, uh, Jake, I think it's time for you to move on and be connected with a wonderful lender. There is no reason why a mortgage person shouldn't be back in touch with you. I mean, at max, I would say 24 hours. I mean, I know our lenders are on top of it. As soon as you're reaching out or we're connecting you, I mean, within an hour or two, they're reaching back out to you. So I would love to connect you with our, we have two preferred lenders. We have Chris Murray with go prime. And we also have Jonathan Ellis with their way bank, both amazing lenders. I mean super responsive on top of things, you know, also just wonderful customer service, very competitive interest rates and they close on time. So you know, sorry Jake, that you're, you know, having some delays with trying to get qualified for a loan with a person that you're speaking with. But you know, if this is any inclination of how the process might go with that person, I think that's a red flag right now that you need to run and it's time to move on to someone new. 

Speaker 1: (07:15)
Yeah, that's a great point. And gee, I mean, they should be hungry for your business certainly at this point with the way rates are. But at the same time, yeah, a lot of people applied for a loan when they hit those all time lows about two weeks ago. And it was inundating the mortgage industry as even reading some articles. They Angie, that they kind of are artificially, and this could certainly change on a daily basis, but they were a few days where they artificially popped the rates back up to try and quell the demand a little bit. And then you might see some manipulation like that where they'll raise it and lower it just to manage how much flow is coming through. But what it really underscores to this, anybody who's thinking of refinancing or getting a mortgage soon, go ahead and get the application done now, because the people who had already put in their applications and gotten the process started, they were able to take advantage when the markets dipped and had that low mortgage rate. If you were just now lock in and you can't lock in if you're just submitting, 

Speaker 2: (08:16)
yes, you're, you're 100% correct, you know, but we, with our preferred lenders, they do move fast. I mean, we have a course online application, so again, it can all be done virtual. Uh, we can even send you those links, but online applications to fill out everything. I mean, they can, you know, real time really fast, get you prequalified. Um, and then from there can lock you in. But also with walking into a mortgage, of course you need to have a contract. You know, we didn't have a contract in place to get that lock. 

Speaker 1: (08:45)
Yeah, absolutely. That's another, uh, another great point. But, uh, you know, so whether it's reef, I don't know if you're refinancing Jake or um, you know, just talking about general mortgage person here. So whether it's refinancing or getting a mortgage, either way, go ahead and get an application in to get the process started. Even if you're, you know, a couple of days or weeks away from actually pulling the trigger on anything because you want to get the process underway. So if you want to get prequalified, there's a great way to do that from your smartphone right now. In fact, you can text the word lending to the number five, five, five, eight, eight, eight. Again, text the word lending to the number five, five, five, eight, eight, eight. We're going to text you right back, a link that you can click on. It'll help you download a mortgage app from one of Angie's partners and it's going to help walk you through that process of getting pre-qualified right now from your smartphone. 

Speaker 1: (09:34)
All you have to do is text the word lending to the number of five five five eight eight eight. That app also has all the latest mortgage rates and news and information that you need for that part of the process. So if you want to take advantage of that, don't hesitate. Text the word lending to the number five five five eight eight eight. All right, Tina has one more question for you here. Angie. Tina is over in Raleigh and says, what are some local areas that would be a great location for a first time buyer with a lower budget. I want to become a homeowner this year and I'm looking for some good starter neighborhoods to check out. 

Speaker 2: (10:07)
Yeah, that's a great question. T and I and you know we all start somewhere, right? So in Raleigh there's, I mean, first of all, Raleigh's a big city. I mean it's a big area just getting from, you know, far East, the far West, I mean that's not a quick drive. So there are so many great locations for more of a starter home. I would say a lot of our first time home buyers, they decide that they would like to go the townhome route just because of the maintenance frayed, you know, whenever it comes to you buying your first time, remember that you no longer have a maintenance guy who's going to come and change the light bulbs, who you know, can fix things when they break in your apartment. So maybe just kind of taking a small step into the real world of buying a home, um, is maybe the best option for you and a townhome can really meet those needs. 

Speaker 2: (10:54)
Because the great thing about a townhome is all the exterior maintenance and work is handled and taken care of by the HOA. So yes, you're still a homeowner. You know, you need to put on your big boy and big girl pants and you know, take care of the inside of your home. But you do get the assistance with the exterior of the home. Um, and there are so many great townhome neighborhoods throughout, you know, just Raleigh in general. I mean, I could start listing, but I mean there's hundreds, right? Um, but even you mentioned that a lower budget, um, what I tend to find in Raleigh, you know, the further you go away from the city, typically the more affordable a place will be. So kind of keep that in mind. So if you're still trying to stay in Raleigh, maybe going a little bit more North Raleigh or very South Raleigh, we tend to find that the prices of homes are definitely more affordable. 

Speaker 1: (11:45)
You've been listening to the savvy real tour podcast. I'm Walter store Holt alongside Angie Cole. She's the owner and broker in charge of Aiko here in the triangle. And if you have questions for Angie, we invite you to go online to a Cole realty.com. Listen to past podcast episodes on the website, read the blog and all the great information including the option to find a home right there on the website. That's a Cole realty.com. And you can also call Angie with your questions. (919) 578-3128