Real Estate Way Back When

[00:00:00] Speaker A: You. [00:00:01] Speaker B: Well, welcome back to the real estate and more show. So appreciative that you're here with us today. And thank you for listening. We have a fun time ahead. Speaking with remax Accord ten office owner Jerry Stadler, who recalls with me how it was back in the day. He is older than I am, by the way, the golden days of real estate. As some of you know, my mom was an agent many decades ago, and I, for one, find it interesting to compare way back when with now in the California real estate arena. We may tell some stories. Welcome to the show. Mr. JERRY STADLER thank you, Michael. [00:00:42] Speaker A: Good to be back. I appreciate your invitation. [00:00:45] Speaker B: Oh, it's always good to see you. Always make me smile. You know, that's what I like to do. Yeah, and you're good at it. Hey, Jerry, let's talk about real estate the way it was, say, 50, 60 years ago, what it was like way back when. Do you recall how, as an example, the California real estate purchase contract was nothing more than one page legal, and it was called something like deposit receipt. Deposit receipt. You got a good bell on that one, my friend. [00:01:20] Speaker A: One major piece of paper, and that handled everything that did. [00:01:24] Speaker B: One page. Now we're looking at a California real estate residential purchase agreement of being 16 pages. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Just the contract itself? Yes. [00:01:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, when you say just the contract itself, what does that mean? [00:01:40] Speaker A: That means that's the directive of what we're doing here. And there's a lot of boxes and information that needs to be read that will bring in associated documents, that will grow that 16 page file up to 50 if you're not careful. And we are careful. We want to do a good job. But that's what our legal status is right now, is that we have to cover every base there's possible could happen. [00:02:09] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, back in the day, how they got it done on one legal page and called it a deposit receipt is beyond me. But they actually bought or sold homes on that one page document. Now, we mentioned the RPA or the residential purchase agreement is 16 pages. And then it has associated documents, and there's usually four different types of documents. The contract itself, which is the RPA, and it has disclosures that means somebody is telling somebody else something and people are having to sign it to just say that, okay, I've received it. Advisories and the last type of acknowledgments. So once you have all of those going, and then it's all coupled into that 16 page agreement, it becomes quite cumbersome. [00:03:02] Speaker A: Right? [00:03:03] Speaker B: Quite cumbersome. [00:03:03] Speaker A: The 16 pager is a directive to lead you to associate documents. The extension of that thought process is the fact that in our area here where we work, we deal in multiple towns, so there's different associated documents for each town. So one of them may require a sewer, lateral inspection, the other town might not. So you have to be aware of all of them and how they operate. Not an easy task sometimes because they're creating new ones as we speak. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Do you remember how it was back in the day that there were no Internet and the clients really were precluded from learning anything about the area, the neighborhoods, the towns, and knowing a lot about what was going on as far as homes available for sale? So people would actually come into a real estate office and they would rely heavily on the real estate professional at the time. And the first thing that I remember in going into my mother's office is that she had a twelve ring binder, it seemed like, and it had all of these little listings with one picture that would talk about the specifics of a home, its age, its bedrooms and one little picture or something. And she would have to have seen that home in order to be able to explain it to the potential client. And it was a different time, whereas now the multiple listing service is quite a bit different, don't you think? Don't you think? [00:04:48] Speaker A: Just like night and day. Can I give you a quick scenario how it used to be? [00:04:54] Speaker B: Yes, please. [00:04:54] Speaker A: So what we had in those days was an update. They called them updates every day. They would deliver in a black box in front of our office, the updates. And that was an aggregate sum of everything that went on the day before. New listings, properties that had sold yada, price changes, you name it. And we lived by that. I mean, you came into work, that's the first thing you looked for. Now you reflected on that little index. Yeah. There was an up desk in every office. That was because we had walk in. So we had to have one person designated all during business hours to handle that call with a backup if needed. [00:05:36] Speaker B: Floor time? [00:05:37] Speaker A: Floor time, exactly right. And that agent was supposed to be pretty knowledgeable about being able to discuss properties. And so you would get your updates and go through them and on and on. Then the introduction of a dot matrix computer, beginnings and where you typed in what you were looking for and it would run off 30ft of heatsink paper. And I swear I'm going to be the confession here. When I first saw that, I said, oh my God, that will never work, not going to happen. Get that thing out of here. It's not going to happen. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. Correct. We actually bought a machine. I was just thinking about that, and I still own that machine. It's in my garage. It was so slow that we would get up in the morning. We would set it to what we wanted to do, and that was to give us all the updates on the computer now, because we were transitioning from the update in a book to a computer. But the computers were so slow, we would start the process going, then we'd all take our showers, get cleaned up, and an hour and a half later, if you were lucky, it had printed out everything you wanted to see. [00:07:02] Speaker B: Wow. [00:07:03] Speaker A: Yeah, it was pretty amazing. I still have that machine. [00:07:07] Speaker B: So are you saying that the realtor's job and the responsibilities that were really important back then are different today? Just different. [00:07:22] Speaker A: It's different, but it's the same. The move now is obviously the AI, and I think the computers are wonderful. All the software that they put out there, I treat it as for one reason, that's just to allow us to get the message or the information back to us out quickly and as fast as possible. That never stopped or changed from the face to face meetings that we used to do. The knowledge of the private market that you worked in and to be able to quote it, because the computers are impossible, at least today, to pick up every little nuance of a neighborhood, a school, a price point, bad neighborhood, good neighborhood, history, churches, you name it. A lot of that was all in the agent's name, and it still should be. But then, without the computers, it was totally in the agent's head. [00:08:22] Speaker B: So I think that the job of a realtor, I mean, Realtor has changed considerably from back in those days. It just seems like that Realtor has to be able to navigate the 600, 800 pages of legalese in order to make the transaction happen and then help people that have derived information from the Internet today. A lot of difference back then versus now. [00:08:52] Speaker A: That's absolutely true. We were the resource, totally. With the advent of the computers, the customer that walks through our doors now, even from out of the state, another state knows a lot. They know a thousand times more than the agents back in the. They really, really needed our expertise at large, but they still need that professional local knowledge because there's no way that the computer can do that yet, I say yet I don't know if they can or not in the future. But what's happening today is that the legal minds have basically made us basically attorneys to some degree. We're held almost to that type of level. Yes, level. And it's really scary sometimes because you think you're doing everything correct. [00:10:00] Speaker B: We're going to take a quick break. [00:10:02] Speaker C: We'll be right back. Michael Hatfield remax team with low housing. [00:10:07] Speaker D: Inventory and constantly changing mortgage rates, buying or selling home is challenging. Choose an experienced team. Who cares? [00:10:13] Speaker C: Here's Michael Hatfield in a quiet cul de sac near the quaint town of Clayton. Revel in the wonderfully tall ceilings and open and spacious elegance of this immaculate 3320, 1 bedroom, three bath masterpiece. 22 Wordsworth court in Concord boasts outdoor living at its best, with sparkling pool and newly built gazebo. Plenty of room for an rv or a possible adu. Highly ranked schools in a warm, sensitive neighborhood. Here. Don't miss this dream home. [00:10:45] Speaker D: Get help with buying or selling a home by calling the Michael Hatfield remax team at 925-32-2775 that's 925-32-2775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com. That's michaelhatfieldhomes.com, wigglehatfield real estate and more. [00:11:05] Speaker B: Now, welcome back to our show. [00:11:08] Speaker A: And an example was that we were having an argument over somebody was notified of something and we proved that. We were notified. We notified them. We sent them an email and the person making the decision looked at us and said to us, can you prove that they got it? I said, oh my God. Well, the email didn't bounce back. That's not enough proof. They needed to respond or sign something or acknowledge. So it's got that technical. And that's just one little small facet of the things that we're up against. Yeah, so we're salesmen is what we are. We don't make the product, we don't design it. We just have knowledge about it. And what we do is take our skills of negotiations and pricing and advice and throw that all into one big little pile that we deliver to the client saying, this is what we think. And it's grassroots, it's right on the ground running. It's not something. You were living in Miami and pulled something up in California and said, I think this is the bible right here. This tells me everything. There's a lot of burden on the real estate agent. There really is. I think all agents accept that. It's a changing. It's forever changing. [00:12:33] Speaker B: It's very important to have an experienced agent, in my view. [00:12:36] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. [00:12:37] Speaker B: Especially on the other side. If you want a really good contract for the buyer on the other side or the seller on the other side, having someone that has experience and that has credibility. Absolutely. Not everybody, like in all professions, has credibility. So you look for that. One thing you alluded to a little bit earlier was that you sit around and actually talk to people in the old office. People would come in, they would sit down opposite you, they would talk about what their needs were, whether or not it was selling or buying. So much today is done by email and text. And people think that they know more because they read it on the Internet. And the Internet is always right, which you and I both know it's not correct. And then, just as an aside, a great example is the people go onto the websites, the one that starts with an r, the one that starts with a z, the one that starts with whatever, and they think that that information is accurate. That is not the source of accuracy. The source of accuracy, the greatest source of accuracy is the multiple listing service that each realtor uses in order to provide information to his client, wouldn't you say? [00:13:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, we're held to a standard. I don't think the Internet is. Anybody can get on there and say whatever they want. [00:13:59] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:13:59] Speaker A: And you can believe it or not believe it. And that's the sadness of what's going on today, is the credibility of the communication at large is totally suspect anymore. Newscast and news, whatever are totally suspect. I don't know who to believe. And everybody wants you to pay a fee now to get their information, and you don't even know if it's valuable. So it's weird. So, yeah, you're right. The customer would come in, but they didn't know. They would walk in and say, we're looking for a three bedroom, two bath, 1300 square foot home. And then we asked the questions. Okay. And one of my favorite questions always was, tell me about the house you're living in right now. Yeah, tell me about that. In schools. And we have all that knowledge in our brains, and if we don't, we have all the access right in front of us to look it up and tell them. Exactly. This is not guesswork, folks. This is it. [00:14:57] Speaker B: Yeah. One of the greatest things that my mother always commented about. She says, I like to go down there and I like to just meet with the other agents so I know who they are. And when a client gets in front of me, then I can tell, is that client really a good person to work for, and do I really want to really work hard for that person? But I think the camaraderie from the old days was a bit greater than what we see today. The real estate office today, and you operate ten of them. I don't know how you do it. It would be, to me, like herding kittens, but the office of then is a little bit different than today. And that, I think that the tribal effect is very important. Wouldn't you say, jerry? [00:15:46] Speaker A: Absolutely. A correction for you. They're not kittens, they're cats. They move fast, and they do require herding. But nonetheless, yeah. Your summary of that is absolutely correct. I've always said, listen to your client. You got two ears and one mouth. Use them appropriately. Listen to the client. You have to make sure that you can help them, that you want to help them, that they want to work with you, too. That makes it a great relationship between a client and a realtor. Most of them become friends for life, and they refer their children to it. That's a perfect world for us. [00:16:29] Speaker B: Clients used to really listen. I mean, they did. I remember just being a toddler and being in my mom's office, and people would come in and she would listen, and they would say, well, we're interested in that four bedroom a little more than the other, and we like a home in this particular neighborhood. And she would really listen. But then, in turn, when she talked, the other people that were clients, the valued clients, would listen back. They really, really listened to one another back in the day. Today, I'm not too sure when you talk, if anybody listens. I just don't know if it's the same. [00:17:11] Speaker A: Well, I agree with you. I've always had this saying, not the saying, but thought process. I love conversations with people. I can small talk, I can technical talk. I can do a lot of things. It all interests me. But I am interested in another person, but without that person being interested in me, then the conversation is really lopsided. So I'll talk to somebody and I'll ask them questions, because I'm genuinely interested. But if I'm talking to somebody for 15 minutes and there's not one question he has for me, time for me to move on. [00:17:47] Speaker B: Yeah, you have skills. You really do have skills. And I'm not just saying that because we're talking to 30,000 people out there at the moment, but you have skills with people, and that is a reason that so many agents like to be at Remax accord, and that's a true statement. You listen, you care, you're part of it. And so it's important for the other side to come back and say, you know what? I need that four bedroom, two bath. I like it in this particular neighborhood community and the reason I do. And then you help them. So that's that interchange. That interchange has slowly crept away from us. And in my business, my wife and our business, we like to bring that back. We like to make friends with our clients after we've performed for them and we realize what kind of individuals that they are. So I kind of miss that office of yesteryear as opposed to now, because I don't think it delivers the camaraderie between the client and the real estate professional like it did then. [00:18:59] Speaker A: Yeah, and then obviously what we're talking about is what wedged in there was the computer. Yeah, basically that's it. [00:19:07] Speaker B: Well, you know what a computer is? It's an autopilot. It is set up to do necessary but mundane tasks so that you can save the real quality of pilot for that approach in landing when things are critical, when things are critical today at a different time than they were critical back 50 years ago. And I mentioned autopilot. Once you get the airplane up and it's rolling right along and you're going to sit there because you're going to cross the Atlantic, you're sitting there for 910 hours and you want that straight and level flight or turns to follow a nav system to be automated. But you're going to have to watch it when it comes to descent and approach into landings, especially down into weather. You want to use your ability and save yourself to really perform at that time for the passengers as well as we do with our clients. We want to really perform when it's really needed. Don't you see that, too? [00:20:12] Speaker A: That's a great analogy, really. I mean, we're after a goal of making people happy, finding them what they want, what they need, what's best for them, because we have the knowledge to make that happen with their permission. And when it all ends up well, the landing of the plane, if you will, it all ends up well. Everybody's happy and we're happy to jump back on that plane and go somewhere else again. If I don't have a friend after I close a transaction forever, then I feel like I was defeated. I don't feel like I won. That bothers me a lot. That really does. And I spend time on that. I'm a firm believer. You learn from your mistakes. That's where the greatest lessons come from. And you are going to make them, but you have to learn from them and you have to make sure that you don't do it again and make. [00:21:05] Speaker B: Them right if you can, yes. [00:21:07] Speaker A: And write them correct. [00:21:09] Speaker B: Funny story. I recall back in the day when pizza was becoming the thing, I accompanied mom to an open house. Interestingly, there was this family who lingered around the home, but for the longest time, they didn't seem interested at all in the actual home. And then the doorbell rang, and it was a pizza guy. He had showed up, bringing a pizza to these people, and they took. And they finished off their pizza, and away they went. That was one of the funniest things, I think, that I ever had happen in real estate. And things do happen of an odd nature. [00:21:44] Speaker A: Do you have a story like that, man? Let's see. That's a great story. I've never heard that one before. [00:21:51] Speaker B: Yeah, they left the box, too. I remember that my mother would. Standing there. I remember her. And she had that pencil behind her ear, through her hair, and she'd just kind of shake her head and put a big smile. She had an ability to be warm with people, no matter what, and take them as they are. And to do that in real estate, I think, is a really positive, positive thing. But there's some real interesting times. [00:22:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't have a story off the top of my head right now. That's a great one. I mean, we've done some strange things to put deals together. I remember my wife is my partner. For those who aren't aware of that, she's been. My entire career has been. My wife. Stephanie and myself, we're partners in life, we're partners in business, and she's a dynamite agent. We no longer pretty much sell. Right now we're obviously managing cats, herding kittens. [00:22:51] Speaker B: Okay. [00:22:52] Speaker A: But I remember one time she had a sale, and it was a tight deal. There wasn't enough money to go around, so she ended up taking, I think it was six koi fish as part of her commission. Wow. So we're flexible. Never forget that. We're very flexible on how we do business. And my goal is, if it makes everybody happy, why not? [00:23:18] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, an interesting thing, Jerry, that's happened over the last 40 years is how people decide to move. A recent study came out and said the movement of residents from one home to another in the United States has been progressively slowing for 40 years. Four decades back in 1986, 20% of Americans moved annually. 12% of that was low relocations within their immediate county. The percentage of homeowners who move annually now is all the way down to 8.5%. Movement from one home to another has declined progressively in percentage, from 20% all the way down to 8.5%. Over the last 40 years. So that's like we've talked in meetings that the number of transactions have been declining year over year over year. And that means that people are just not moving the way that they used to. And you can take a look at the traits of the sellers back 40 years ago. Those may have been people like military people. They may have been people that using the FHA guaranteed loans to make deals. Nowadays, there's much more standard bank, mortgage, bank activity and the transactions, but yet the transactions are not nearly as great as what they used to be back in the day. What do you say? [00:24:50] Speaker A: I have been in my own home now for 40 years. Okay, so I'm a realtor's nightmare, really. This was our forever house when I bought it in the old days. I say the old days in the dream was to stay there, pay it off, and retire. [00:25:13] Speaker B: As it's been in the real estate realm over the last 60 years, our future in real estate moving forward will be just as it has been. Very interesting, to say the least. I hope you've enjoyed our show today on real estate way back when. A special thank you to Mr. Jerry Stadler, owner of Remax Accord, for his valuable participation. And by the way, if you're an agent, you might want to think about working for Remax Accord. If this is you, give Jerry Stadler a phone call at 925838 4100. But now if you need to buy or sell real estate, call us. But anyway, thank you for being on the show, Jerry. [00:25:55] Speaker A: Thank you. It's a real pleasure. [00:25:58] Speaker B: We'll do it again. [00:25:59] Speaker A: One of my favorite shows, one of my favorite people. So I appreciate the opportunity of telling what little bit I might have gleaned over these years. [00:26:07] Speaker B: You're a gentleman, sir. I appreciate you so much. You've been listening to the real estate and more show. I have been your host, Michael Hatfield, and it's been my honor to have been here with you. Important topics of the day regarding barrier real estate and interesting people like Mr. Jerry Stadler listen to archived real estate and more [email protected]. Slash radio and the real estate and more show is podcast on demand, on Spotify, Amazon, and most major podcast platforms as well. I hope you tune in next week, but in the meantime, have a blessed week. [00:26:45] Speaker E: The views and opinions expressed are based on current economic and market conditions and are subject to change. Information on the show provided for illustrator purposes only and does not constitute professional or legal advice. Information from sources deemed reliable, but accuracy and completeness not guaranteed. Michael Hatfield and the Michael Hatfield remax team have no liability. For information discussed on the show, consult with qualified professionals prior to taking action. [00:27:14] Speaker D: We at the Michael Hatfield Remax team enjoy representing our valued clients. If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling and wishes to schedule a complimentary appointment with the Michael Hatfield remax team, call us at 925-32-2775 that's 925-32-2775 or go to our website, michaelhatfieldhomes.com. [00:27:38] Speaker C: I'm Michael Hatfield. Thank you for listening today. Join us next Saturday for the next real estate and more when we again sharpen our focus on house the market. [00:27:48] Speaker D: Join us next Saturday and have a wonderful week. Best wishes and blessings to you. CRE 14937.