Guru John Stewart with FC Tucker

Rick Ripma: 0:00

Welcome to Indy's Real Estate Gurus. We're recording today from the beautiful advisors Mortgage Group studio right here in downtown Carmel. And I'm recruit me your hard work and mortgage guy. I've been in mortgages and real estate for over 34 years.

Ian Arnold: 0:13

And now I'm Ian Arnold part of Rick's hard work and mortgage team. I've been in financial industry for 15 years, helping customers improve their credit so they can get the best interest rates possible, and also helping you secure your future through real estate. I have a passion in helping you pay off your home early and also in get generation wealth,

Rick Ripma: 0:34

or the most up to date information on Indy's real estate market or mortgages, please go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. Or you can call ESRI at 317-672-1938. That's 317-672-1938. And today, we have a huge guru here. It's amazing. John, you've been in the business and it's John Stewart without C. Tucker. He's been in the business since 1975. Correct? Yep. So you've been and I met John, I'm guessing somewhere around 9192 is probably when I did when I got into real estate with the Asterix companies. Probably Yep. At least, if I met you, but I certainly heard your name. Probably immediately when I got in there. First several agents you heard hear about you continue to hear about you're one of those.

John Stewart: 1:26

Just because I'm old Rick

Rick Ripma: 1:29

joined the party. Thanks for joining us. We do appreciate it very

John Stewart: 1:33

much. Thank you.

Rick Ripma: 1:34

And if somebody had any real estate needs any questions, what would be the best way for them to get a hold of you?

John Stewart: 1:41

My cell phones the best way? 317-496-4033?

Rick Ripma: 1:47

Perfect. So 317-496-4033? That's correct. All right. Perfect. And so I know as a while back, but before real estate, what did you do? And then how did you transition into real estate?

John Stewart: 2:00

It's kind of interesting. My, my mom and dad moved, believe it or not 26 Times in 35 years. I recently moved three of those. Dad was in the Navy and then worked for Pittman Moore, Dow Chemical and j&j. So I experienced three of those moves, one from Dallas, where I was born to Indianapolis, and then one from Indianapolis to Midland, Michigan, and then back to Indy. But I've been basically an indie since I was five years old. I majored in real estate at IU, and graduated in 75. And went right to work for Tucker out of school. Wow.

Rick Ripma: 2:35

I didn't know there was a real estate degree

John Stewart: 2:37

out of the Kelley School of Business as an ideal. There is yes. Okay. Awesome.

Rick Ripma: 2:41

And so you just went right in? How did you get going? What was your cause? It's not easy to get going in real estate and 1975 interest rates were at

John Stewart: 2:51

probably close to where they are today, around six to 7%. And then right after that. I well, so it's interesting, the first seven months that I worked for Tucker, I did not sell a house. And I got very tired of people saying, Have you sold one yet? And it was very discouraging, but because of my youth, you know, even my contemporary friends, they weren't buying they were renting, right. And I remember, some friends, my mom and dad were all excited that I was getting in the business. And I was really bummed when they listed their house with somebody else. And later, they called me to both sell their existing condo and find them another condo. And while I was driving around, I said, guys, you know, you were so excited. I got in the business and 75 Why didn't you? Why didn't you reach out to me then? And they said, Well, John, you weren't proven then. And we didn't want to put the most expensive asset of our lifetime in the hands of someone who wasn't experienced. And I said, Okay, I get it. But it was very frustrating to learn that.

Rick Ripma: 3:58

Yes. And you know, it's, it's, I understand why people do have it's kind of unfair, as long as the person is in it, like at a Tucker or someplace where you have mentors and people who will guide you through. Because it's not just about you. It's about your team around you, the people around you that are helping you get to know what you're doing. Right, exactly.

John Stewart: 4:19

And that's why I think today, Rick, a lot of people do join teams to get started in the business. And then once they get the hang of it, they break off and go on their own.

Rick Ripma: 4:28

Yeah, that's been a big change, at least what I've seen, that's a huge change in the business. The way that people get into teams, and these teams have stepped in a write up, they have systems, they have processes, they have mentors, and they really do help a new agent get going and Tucker has phenomenal training everybody tells tells us that it's phenomenal. It's

John Stewart: 4:50

excellent. And I have a small team. So Shannon McNulty Everly started with me 26 years ago, and is still with me and I think maybe except from for some married couples that are in the real estate business in the local market, we may be, we may have been together longer than any team that exist out there.

Rick Ripma: 5:11

That's incredible. Well, 26 years. Yeah. I mean, and how many is your yours? I 4848.

John Stewart: 5:18

So she's put up with me, you know about half life?

Rick Ripma: 5:20

Yes. So next year, you'll you'll have somebody five years.

Ian Arnold: 5:26

Exactly. That's a lot. That's not enough years, get a few more, and

Rick Ripma: 5:30

we're getting the hang of it. Yeah. You got your practice done. Now you're ready to really try it out? Exactly.

Ian Arnold: 5:35

So what would you say the biggest difference between when you first started and like selling houses now?

John Stewart: 5:42

Probably technology in. I mean, back in 75, we had these huge MLS books, I still have my first one. And you couldn't wait for the new books to arrive on the truck. And you scan through those and look for new listings. And then if you saw something that maybe rescheduling houses for people, you go the copy machine, and you put Asterix by the ones that you wanted to cut out. And it was a little bit archaic. Certainly compared today, where you look at the computer and find anything you want to find and put in search parameters in there. But there's been a lot of changes, we didn't use lock boxes back then. My wife thought that on the way to, to be when I was going to be buried, she thought I would, you know, lean up out of the coffin and say, Could we turn left here, I've got some keys to reach out. I always had a bunch of keys on the front console that I was returning, or I had to go pick up keys and and that that's not done anymore. We all use lock boxes.

Rick Ripma: 6:44

That's a huge change. Because Because you could have I remember people would be showing a house in Carmel, but the person who had it listed was in Greenwood. And you'd have to go down and get the keys and you have to bring them up here open, then you have to take them down. Yeah, it was a lot. There was a

John Stewart: 7:02

lot of time.

Rick Ripma: 7:03

Is there anything that you wish was still being done the same way it was back then?

John Stewart: 7:09

The only thing I miss Rick is that sometimes because of the technology. You walk into a closing in you don't know. Who's the buyer, who's the realtor. You've never met the other agent. You've talked to them on the phone. But in many cases you walk in and you're gonna you're introducing yourself because you've never met these folks. Before when you'd go to pick up the key deliver an offer deliver a counteroffer? It was all done in person. Yeah, that's gone away. I missed that. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 7:38

I can see that. I've never thought of that.

Ian Arnold: 7:40

I mean, it does keep out some of the hostility. What do you mean, you offered this? Leave my office?

Rick Ripma: 7:49

I don't know John doesn't seem like a real hothead.

Ian Arnold: 7:53

You've never had him negotiate a great price for your house.

Rick Ripma: 7:58

Yeah, but he did it without getting mad. So they're. So it's just so interesting. Because you've, you've lived so much. So in the real estate industry. So you have this team, and it's you and your and what's her name is Shannon and Shannon. And she's got 26 years, you have 38 years, 4848 48 years. And so you've seen all these changes. You've seen all that. What do you think though today that some of the benefits of the technology and those things that we do have available that you didn't have back then?

John Stewart: 8:34

Well, it certainly streamline things when you need to present an offer, you can send it via DocuSign or dot loop. And in people can execute offers and counteroffers listing contracts without you physically having to get in the car and drive across town. So it's a real time saver. Now that's assuming that you've got people that are fairly tech savvy, if you get someone in their 80s or 90s. Guess what? You're still driving to their house because they don't understand how to operate all that. But it's been a great time time saver. Yeah. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 9:08

It's a technologist saved a lot of time. And sometimes, as you said, your older customers it tends to be but there are some young people are not very tech savvy, but for the most part, it's older people like us like most of my friends. Their kids laugh because I'm very tech savvy, and their dad and mom are not very tech savvy normally. So they they're I'm an oddball, you probably are too because you have to do it all the time.

John Stewart: 9:31

Well, not as tech savvy as Shannon my partner but she's a lot younger than you exactly.

Ian Arnold: 9:41

So What's kept you going? I know some people get tired of their job after 510 years and want to switch and I think what you've been doing for so long what what keeps you motivated? Debt

Rick Ripma: 9:56

it's always a good motivator, isn't it?

John Stewart: 9:58

No. And I've really enjoyed the business I enjoy interacting with people I, I would tell you that two of my favorite groups of people to work with on the buy side are first time homebuyers. I love educating them, you feel like you're kind of a teacher to them. And I love people coming in from out of town that have never seen Central Indiana. You know, in 75, when I drove downtown, it was kind of like a ghost town. After five o'clock, everybody went home to the suburbs. So it wasn't as much fun then as it is today, to be able to take people downtown over to the speedway to see our art museum to see the Colts facility that pacers facility and it's just a vibrant downtown. And there are a lot of people that are not familiar with Indianapolis or central Indiana and they get here and they're like, just shocked at how nice it is. And so I enjoy introducing the communities to people coming in from out of state and in seeing how surprised and pleasantly surprised they are about what we have to offer.

Ian Arnold: 11:01

It was a little less cornfields though to now

John Stewart: 11:02

that's true.

Rick Ripma: 11:04

Not that many really.

Ian Arnold: 11:06

I've seen what Carmel has become,

Rick Ripma: 11:09

in certain areas like like Marion county doesn't have a lot of corn. But back then it had quite a few cornfields I used to

John Stewart: 11:15

have a welcomed Indianapolis letter that we put with our welcome kits. And there was a list of attributes that I had in there. And one of them was that we didn't have any congestion. I can't say that anymore. There is traffic congestion out there.

Rick Ripma: 11:29

Yes, but you know, I have I have friends. Well, my son lives in Chicago, and we have friends who are from Chicago, and I would they moved here for a while. And I would say something about the traffic. And there we go. You guys have traffic is, you know, when they give, they said when we give directions, or we tell somebody, okay, you're going over here and you're gonna go to Menards. Okay, it's going to take you about 45 minutes. They don't say it's three miles, is 45 minutes. So but we do we get tired of it because we're not used to it. I had a

John Stewart: 12:06

buyer years ago. And a couple and they wanted this much space and this much yard and I kept taking them further and further north. And at the end of the week, we finally ended up in North Harbor. And he said in they fell in love with this house on the golf course up there. And he turned to me and he said, John, why don't you bring us here the first day. And I said, Well, guys, it's about 45 minutes to your, to your work from here. He worked at grey bar electric downtown, okay. And he laughed, and I said, you find that funny? And he goes, you haven't asked me how long it takes me to get to work today. And I said, Okay, how long and he said, Well, I live in New Jersey, I work in New York, I get up at five, I drive to the train station, I grab a bagel and a cup of coffee, I get on the train, I'm on the train for over an hour, then I catch a bus. And then I get on the bus for about 15 minutes. And then I walked to my office and I'm lucky if I'm there by 730. And he goes, you're telling me I can have a cup of coffee in my car and drive and be there in 45 minutes. That's easy. And definitely respect exactly. You just don't know. You got to understand what people are coming from. I thought 45 minutes was a long commute, that he thought it was easy.

Ian Arnold: 13:20

All right, John, if somebody was getting in touch with you about buying or selling home, how would they do that?

John Stewart: 13:25

The best way is to call myself 317-496-4033 That's 317-496-4033

Rick Ripma: 13:34

They should go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com

Ian Arnold: 13:34

And Rick how are they get ahold of Ian or I? That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call 317-672-1938. That's 317-672-1938. All right. And thanks for listening to indys real estate gurus. The guru's we interview share valuable insights. They reveal their strengths, personalities and how they'll work for you. While the hard working mortgage guys secure your best mortgage. Real estate gurus work hard to they avoid problems the amateurs just don't see they listen they find unrealized opportunities. If you're buying or selling a home, a real estate guru is a valuable asset. If you're even thinking of buying or selling a home, keep listening, and definitely call one of Indy's real estate gurus. All right, John. So let's do a sidetrack really quick. Okay, were to take away your phone say you cannot work for a full day. What will we find you doing?

John Stewart: 14:36

you'd likely find me on a golf course where I enjoy kind of getting away and turning off the phone for a little bit. I'm not a great golfer, but I enjoy getting out to play golf and getting out in the in the nice weather.

Ian Arnold: 14:49

Where's your what's your favorite course around here? Ooh,

John Stewart: 14:52

that's a tough one. I love Prairie View. Plum Creek. If I'm lucky enough to play in one The country clubs, Meridian Hills would be one of my favorite. There are a lot of them. That's awesome.

Rick Ripma: 15:06

Yeah. Now, what about I know it's hard to pick a golf course. But winds are where they're gonna get better?

John Stewart: 15:15

You know, great question. I was actually I had a tee time to play a couple of weeks ago. And I think the forecast as we went into the weekend was a high of 54 and rain and I, I called my two boys and my nephew that I was playing with. And I said, guys, I have a new rule. And they said, What's that? And I said, I don't really play golf, and it's my age or higher.

Rick Ripma: 15:41

Yeah, I agree with that. I don't play golf. But I have a bike, I ride my bike a lot. I've yet to be able to get out this year, because it's either been too cold or raining. Right? When I was available to ride. So yeah, I agree. It's, it's just, it's just not good. So as you look at, let's say, you take a somebody's looking to get into the business. What would you recommend to them? What should they do obviously get their license. But beyond that, how should they pick where they're going? You know, what, what is? What is it like to be a real estate agent?

John Stewart: 16:14

Well, the one thing that is great, Rick, is that you're an independent contractor. And so you're your own boss, you make your own hours, you can the sky's the limit on income. So those are all the wonderful things. Personally, I like larger companies. I think in today's world, you've either got to be a one man band, or you've got to be affiliated with a large company, the medium sized companies have gone away. And if I were starting over today, and I was 2526 years old, I might consider joining a team and look to someone who I would aspire to be one day, and maybe learn from them for a couple years, three years until I got the hang of things and then break off on my own. I've loved my relationship with the Tucker company. I've been recruited by many other companies over the years. And there's a bunch of fine ones out there. But it's been just a great group of people that I've been associated with from Bob Tucker, back in the day to Fred to Jim Litton. And today Pat Perdue and Donna Crips. The management team is wonderful. I had a little issue over this last weekend. In the Zionsville. Office, I was trying to use a computer and was having problems with it. I called my manager, she picked up the phone and walked me through it right there on the spot. It's great to have support like that.

Rick Ripma: 17:42

That's awesome. Now, do you obviously being able to call people that's unbelievable. And it's it's very helpful when they can tell you over the phone. But part of that problem is this new system, right? It's all new. That's why you're having problems or that

John Stewart: 17:59

that wasn't the problem Saturday, but you're talking about the new BLC Kinect is that getting better, it's getting much better. But it was a very difficult transition. I've seen a lot of transitions in my day. And it was just there were still a lot of kinks in the system. And had it worked a little bit better, it would have been nice to have matrix, the old system and the new system, working together for maybe three or four months instead of three or four weeks. It was a huge learning curve for new people, veterans like myself, it was a huge change. And it was hard to try and understand some of the kinks in the system. Most of them have been resolved not all. But it's it was a very difficult transition.

Rick Ripma: 18:47

But it's gotten better. That's good. Much better. So what would you say your superpower superpowers are?

John Stewart: 18:53

I I don't know that Jon Stewart has any superpowers. But I, I would tell you this if I was competing for a listing in today's world, and I knew I was competing, I would say to the clients, you know, I think if you'd pick up the phone and call an experienced agent, someone who's been in the business for 510 years or longer, and you would in not one that you're interviewing, and you would say to them, I've got a choice of one, two or three realtors. Which one would you select? If you were me, I think my name would surface to the top many times. And the reason for that, Rick is that while I think there are some people in our business that maybe my would prefer would be a little more professional. I've made it a practice to be as nice to everyone out there in the marketplace as I can. And if you don't get along with your other realtors in the system, then they're not going to show your listings. They're not going to want to do business with you. But if you create friendships with everybody I think they're gonna say nice things about you. And, and so I think that that has helped me obtain some business.

Rick Ripma: 20:06

And you've worked with quite a few of those people, I'm guessing because you do a huge volume and you've been in the business for 48 years. Yes, I have. So that's that that should go a long way. How important is it have those relationships? I know you talked about a little bit, but those relationships, like let's say, in the market we just came out of, and I believe we're going right back in, when there's when there's multiple offers, and they see your name on that offer? What does that mean? I think

John Stewart: 20:33

it could help to the extent that one, if I tell them something on the phone, they know I'm not bluffing them, I'm telling them exactly what the truth is. And they know that we're going to do our best meaning myself and Shannon, to get that transaction to the closing table. You know, we've had them pre approved with a reputable lender, we've made sure that the client understands the process before they get involved in anything. And we've written what I would consider good terms in today's market. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 21:08

I would guess, and I, and here's the thing, you know, a lot of people who haven't been in the business a long time, have not seen the different markets. How many I mean, you've seen all these markets, you know, what every market you've lived through.

John Stewart: 21:23

But Rick, I've never seen a market like we had last year, and we're repeating again this year, I've never seen it, don't like it, quite frankly. And here's why. So you get a buyer. And I told you before we came on the air now I had one buyer last year that had to write eight offers, and they got very discouraged. Number six, she broke down crying, see, should we just forget doing this. And it's very frustrating to people like that. And I've never seen a market where you'd had had to write 5678 offers. And it gets exhausting not only for the agent, but for the consumer, right? On the other end, you list something and you receive multiple offers. And the seller is all excited. However, let's say you have 10 offers the first day on the market, there's going to be nine buyers, nine groups of buyers that are going to be upset and nine agents that aren't going to sell a house, and they're not going to be real happy. And so it creates a lot of, I guess, negative feelings in the market. And I just don't like it. I'm ready to return. And it's not going to happen anytime soon. But I'm ready to return to what I consider a more normal market.

Ian Arnold: 22:33

And just your expertise. Why would it not change for a little

John Stewart: 22:38

while? What are the biggest one in is because of lack of inventory if there just aren't enough homes on the market?

Ian Arnold: 22:47

Yeah, because we were Rick and I were talking about this, that builders for the last decade had been decreasing their bills and everything. And then with everything that happened with the lower interest rates, it just, it was just a big explosion,

John Stewart: 22:59

we didn't have a little bit of supply chain problems. So the builders can't get, they can't get labor number one, and then they can't get some of the supplies that they need to build the houses. And in sometimes they can get it but maybe not get it in the timeframe that they want to get it. And so back in 2008 to 2010. You had the subcontractors, the framers, the painters that didn't have any work. And so guess what they did, they went to work for Amazon, they went work in other industries. And now that the business is going back the other direction, the builders in particular have reached out saying, Hey, can you come do this for me? And they're like, No, we're very happy where we are. Thank you. And so that has shifted a lot of their, their, you know, ability to provide product to our industry for us to sell.

Rick Ripma: 23:54

Yeah. And it's been it's, it's a big problem because you have a huge increase in the amount of households over the last 10 years, 15 years. And the limit and the amount of builds went down, right. And now that all of a sudden these people you know, we have the biggest group of first time homebuyers hitting the normal first time homebuyer was 33. Now it's like 36 or something but it's it's going up but there's a huge there was a huge birth increase back 30 something years ago and it ran for quite some time. So we have all these first time homebuyers coming in which first time homebuyers by definition don't have a house to also put on the market. Right right. So it's not like he's I don't see it getting any better for quite some time as far as inventory I agree. It could get better other ways but right now I don't see it rates. I believe rates are coming down and inventory is going to be tight and we're going to be right back into the market we were which is multiple offers and overview list and those that market again,

John Stewart: 25:00

we had one situation last year. And it was a commercial real estate agent. So someone that you would think is pretty familiar with what's going on. And our suggestion was to list the house at $600,000. And was a fairly young couple. And he looked at me and said, There's no way. And I said, Yes, there is. And he said, John, there's never been a sale in our neighborhood, anywhere close to that. And I said, Well, I'm here to inform you, I think you'll get more than that. And he goes, we'll never appraise. And I said, you're right, it won't. And he goes, Well, excuse me, how do we get to the closing table? And I said, People either pay cash, or they'll pay an appraisal gap. And he said, what's an appraisal gap? I don't understand that language. So I explained it to him, I said, the lenders are going to loan him maybe 80% of the sales price. And if it doesn't appraise for that, then they have to come up with a difference in cash. And many buyers are putting that in their offers today. And he goes, Well, okay, you must know what you're doing. You've been around for a while. We put it on the market for 600. And within two days, we had, I want to say upwards of 20 offers. The highest one was 685 with a $40,000 appraisal gap. And I called him they were down in Florida. He was in shock. I scanned all these offers to him. And I said, so look at the first one 685 with a $40,000 appraisal gap. And he goes, Yeah, and I said, Well, let's assume your house appraised for 600,000. And he goes, Well, I don't think it will. And I said, Well, I do. So let's just, let's use that as our benchmark. And he said, Fine, I said, you're looking at a 640 offer. He goes, Okay, and I said, Let's go the next highest one, it was 675. With a $100,000 appraisal gap. I said there's your buyer. Yeah. Because it only had to appraise for 575. Right. And he even felt comfortable with that number. Yeah. And guess what, that's what we sold it for. That's awesome.

Rick Ripma: 26:59

And it's great for them, but it's how many how many people didn't get the 1919 people didn't get the house.

John Stewart: 27:05

So 19 Unhappy agents, 19 Unhappy buyers, and a very, very happy seller.

Rick Ripma: 27:14

And one really happy,

John Stewart: 27:16

happy, happy real estate agent.

Ian Arnold: 27:18

Alright, John, if somebody just heard that story, and wants to list a house with you, how would they get ahold of you?

John Stewart: 27:23

Oh, the best way is 31749640333174964033.

Ian Arnold: 27:32

And in John's defense, he cannot always dictate that that's going to happen to you too, but he will try his best

Rick Ripma: 27:40

is that isn't like what they say when I'm you know, in stocks, you know, it's past performance is not an indication or a guarantee of future performance. And to get a hold of me Ian or I, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call 317-672-1938 31767 to 1938.

Ian Arnold: 28:02

All right, so now people will get into the question of the week and the question of the week is sponsored brother. Hey, Rick and I the hard work in mortgage guys, where we believe in helping and supporting you and your realtor through the whole process of buying a home by sending constant updates. Nobody likes to live in a black hole, so we do not allow it here. Alright, so the question we have for you, John, is what was your first car?

John Stewart: 28:24

Ooh, that's a good one. A 1962 Tempest convertible.

Rick Ripma: 28:29

Wow. How old were you when you got that?

John Stewart: 28:32

I was in high school. So I was probably 17

Rick Ripma: 28:37

Oh, he was one of the cool kids. Yeah, he had a cool car ready to go to high school

John Stewart: 28:41

North Central High School. All three of us there you go. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 28:45

see that? You know that's a good school. Unfortunately, I had to drive a a gremlin. People go Oh, those are nice. No, they aren't. But that's okay. My dad upgraded to a pacer. There you go.

John Stewart: 29:07

So what kind of motor did that car have four cylinder did it it did but it was convertible. It was a convertible, nav blue with a light blue into here.

Rick Ripma: 29:16

Do you wish you had it back? Yes, I

John Stewart: 29:18

do. Yeah. So you love that car? Yeah. Paid $400 for it.

Rick Ripma: 29:21

Did you reel it in? Wow. I wonder what it's worth today. I had no idea that's a good question guarantee and more than 400 I guarantee you that I know. Because I there's nothing I like better than going to the auctions that meet them and those great and what and it just it's amazing what cars go go for today.

John Stewart: 29:39

Well, the older cars that are convertibles are the ones that are you know the keepers.

Rick Ripma: 29:43

Yep. When the top goes down the price goes up as exactly what you hear that is right now. i One of the things that you were talking about before is you had 20 offers on this house. How does somebody keep track I mean, that's part of the issue to me is how do you keep track of all the offers?

John Stewart: 30:04

Rick, it's very hard. I mean, in that one, that's probably the most unusual one that I had in the last few years. But we started with price and stacked him up from highest to lowest. But then you also have to look at the terms and see, are there appraisal gap language is in there? Are the dates going to be something that the seller can live with? How much money are they putting down? Do they have a pre approval letter from a reputable lender, all those things, you have to integrate into the, to the decision. But you start with price.

Rick Ripma: 30:37

And having a pre approval letter is vitally important, crucial, and it has to be from somebody that people at least know of and feel comfortable that they know what they're doing,

John Stewart: 30:46

I'm guessing Exactly. At least that's what we tell everybody. Well, and you want to submit those with the offer when you're presenting it to the listing agent, right? I mean, you're just, you're putting your buyers at a disadvantage without having them.

Rick Ripma: 30:59

Right. So if you get 20 offers, and four of them come in with no pre approval letter, and they're not paying cash that those law offers even get looked at, I'm gonna get looked at, but do they even make any anything other than this? Ready? They get shoved to the side? I'll guarantee you, right. Yeah, that's what I would think. And there's probably other things that did. And I'm guessing in that situation, if there were cash offers, those would also go to the top they would if you have them rather than somebody getting a mortgage along with proof of funds. Yes. Along with proof of funds. Yeah. Because a cash offer with no proof of funds is not a cash offer. That's correct. Yep. That doesn't really help you too much. So what do you think the most common reason people fail in real estate?

John Stewart: 31:40

You know, it's interesting. So I managed an office for Tucker for 10 years. And I told many, many agents, if they came around the corner, and they had a buyer or a seller and they had a problem, I could help them solve that problem. But if they came around the corner, and they had no business, no income, and they weren't working, I couldn't help them. And so it was simply, you know, not working enough, and then running out of cash. And those people would eventually have to go find another job. But if they were hard working, and they had a buyer or seller, and they had an issue with inspections, or financing or surveys. I'll help them all day long. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 32:24

because you can help them absolutely. You can't help the person who isn't doing anything, right. I learned that long ago. If they don't want it more than I want it for him. There's nothing I can do for him. Exactly. You can only do so much. But it can be difficult to get started in this business. You know, he's he laughs like he agrees.

John Stewart: 32:46

I'm laughing because you're alluding to the fact that I told you before we came on air that I went seven months before I sold my first house. You did. And those weren't fun, fun days. I was very tired of people saying if you sold one yet, have you sold one yet? And believe you me my, the buyers that I sold 7205 Marla drive by the way, the buyers that I sold were so excited. It was their first house and little did they know I was more excited than they were because it was my first sale. And you remember? I do. That's how you're the price? I think it was in the high 60s. Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 33:23

So how many backflips did you do as soon as you walked out?

John Stewart: 33:26

I didn't stop smiling for the day.

Rick Ripma: 33:31

Neither did his creditors.

Ian Arnold: 33:35

So besides that, what would you consider one of your most memorable deals? Ooh.

John Stewart: 33:39

So I do something very interesting. And I've only done this for about 10 or 10 or 15 years, I got my auctioneers license only to sell real estate. And I've had some really interesting properties that we've auctioned. The most expensive one was in the middle of Williams Creek, in Washington Township. And we recommended a minimum reserve to the seller there of $2 million. And I remember going back and visiting with one of the heirs to the estate. And he wanted to take me for a walk around the property. And I said, that's fine. And he said, I've been doing some checking on you. And I said, well, well, you should. This is an expensive venture. And he said, I know some people that you and I both know and they've told me some things about you. And I said, Well, I hope they're good. And he said, Yes. He said, they've told me that you're very truthful. And I said well, maybe to a fault. And he said, Well, I'm gonna ask you a question. I want you to be very truthful. And I said, Okay, what's the question? And he goes, I've had two people approached me to sell this house. If you were me, wouldn't you just go ahead and sell to him and not pay your fee? I said Not in a million years. He said why not? And I said, Terry name a price. I've told you the minimum should be 2 million. And I hope to get a lot more than that. He goes, Well, I just tell them 5 million. I said, Who? I said, I think you're gonna shoot yourself in the foot. And he said, What do you mean? And I said, I think no one's gonna pay that for this property. And in the circles of friends, they're gonna tell everybody this weekend, that's your expectation. And no one's going to want to look at this place because of your expectation. He goes, maybe nice to know, probably in the eye. So let's go the other way. And he goes, what way? And I said, let's tell him $2 million, and they go done deal. How do you know they wouldn't pay two, one or two, three or two? Four? You don't know. And I don't know, you already have two people that want to buy it. You already have a good auction, let's go. So he agreed with me. We had 100 People at the auction, we only had five bidders. We sold it for 3.8. And he was one very happy seller.

Rick Ripma: 35:50

But you know, he already gave you the best knowledge that you needed, which is, I have two people who want to buy it. Because the one thing I can tell you from being in a multiple, many, many car auctions, right is what you need is two people who want it back. You don't need more than that's right you need and two with money. And then you never know where the price is going. Because it becomes more than about the house becomes winning. Exactly.

Ian Arnold: 36:15

So why would somebody want to auction their home instead of just regular sell? There are

John Stewart: 36:21

various reasons in the most common one is when you have divisible pieces of property. So if you take farmers, for example, they love going to the auction route, whether it's listing or buying. So if I asked you all today, let's say I have 1000 acre farm, how many people do you know that might be interested in buying it? Now? Probably the list is not that long. But if I said to you, how many people do you know that might be interested in 100 acre farm, the likelihood of you knowing someone is much more likely. So in the auction world, you divide it up into 10 100 acre parcels. And then you sell parcel one, parcel two, parcel three, until you get done with the 10, then you stop and you go, Wait a minute, we're not done, we're now going to open it up for what we call combination bids. So you can do parcel one and two, you can do both the ends, you can do the whole thing, you can do half of it all up to the buyer. But if parcel one and two sell for $50,000. Each, that's a total of 100. And then if you want to combine those, you've got to offer 105 or 110. As soon as you do that, we go back to the little fish and go, you're out you want back in, you're gonna have to up your 50 to 60. And then you'll total 120, big fishes out your back end. And we play that until we've exhausted the whole process. So the multiple parcels situation is one of the huge reasons. Other reasons you're just, you're tired and want to be done with it. I had a developer one, one year that was retired in Florida, and he'd been working his whole life. And he had a bunch of lots in Zionsville. And he said, John, just reduce the price to 25,000 each and let them go. And I said, Whoa, don't do that. Let's auction them. And we did and we got them a lot more money really quickly. And so there's another reason, a lot of people think this is the only way to go. The only reason to go to auction, which is you're desperate, you know, you're under financial stress. And we do have a few of those. But you can also go the other way. Which is there's so much demand for it. You have no idea how high the price could go. And so all various reasons, but those are some of the most common ones.

Rick Ripma: 38:50

Well, hasn't our market lately, kind of been like

John Stewart: 38:53

an auction? It has been and in for that very reason. I haven't done very many. Because in reality, we're going to auction almost every day when you put something on the market, right?

Rick Ripma: 39:05

In fact, real estate is kind of like a silent auction. It is I never thought of that until then. But it is Yeah, cuz you don't know what anybody else is bidding. So if there's multiple I mean, that's how it is right? It's at that Wow.

Ian Arnold: 39:20

Okay, so if the market does turn here's what you need to get all the buyers on on a zoom call and then you just start auctioning it off out here that Tom just rolling.

Rick Ripma: 39:31

I mean, I see it as a really good alternative. If you know if you want to sell your if you want to sell your house if you can get if you can get people there to bet on my house. I think I'd rather do it that way. Then have it open after clean it every time. You know, that kind of thing. There's a lot there's a lot less and I would think you're gonna get the same price or more with an open auction. You could

John Stewart: 39:58

you know, there's sometimes There's egos they get get to people. And they're like, Well, I know that guy, and I've got more money than he does. And so I'm gonna bid at higher, just just to show him. So you have a some of that that exist out in the marketplace. And that's why, quite frankly, and an oral open auction might do better than a silent auction. Yeah. But in today's marketplace, you know, the realtors are like cash, we're going to get multiple offers anyway, how do they know whether it's going to be 10,000? Over my asking price? Or 50? Over? You don't know,

Rick Ripma: 40:34

right? Yep, that'd be entered. I don't know. It'd be interesting. If you could, you can't experiment with it. But you, you know, have it and people come in, they see it. And then you have rather than we accept all offers, it's such as such as Okay, we're gonna have the auction, three o'clock on Sunday, or you can see the house now you can make the bids, but I don't know. All right. So

Ian Arnold: 40:53

we were talking before all this. And when we originally talked, and we're talking about how a lot of news organizations, and even so many realtors that don't understand the market think we're in a bubble. And you and I were talking that there's not even close that we're in a bubble here, especially in Indiana, which we have to always say we are totally different market than, especially if you look at the coasts, places,

John Stewart: 41:17

but in I've talked to realtors all over the country. And most of them are experiencing what we're experiencing right now. No inventory, crazy numbers of offers being written and prices going through the roof, different rates of appreciation and real estate prices. And I've had a ton of people say, you know, do you think four or 510 years from today, some of these people are going to say, oops, I paid way too much. And I don't think so I don't I think there's a very good chance when we get back to what I call the more normal market, you're going to see prices starting to level off and maybe go back to that two to 5% annual appreciation versus 10%. But there are so many people that are one paying cash to or putting huge amounts of money down. They're paying those appraisal gaps. Now where they're getting all that money, you know, sometimes it's from family members. Sometimes they're robbing their retirement funds. Maybe that's not such a great idea. But I don't see these prices plummeting in the next decade, I just don't see it happening.

Rick Ripma: 42:29

I don't I don't see how there's too much lack of inventory, right. And there's too many people wanting to buy houses, which created a lack of inventory and we don't have the houses. And the builders aren't building the houses because of you know, the supply chain issue.

John Stewart: 42:42

Right. All the above? Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 42:44

So it's something so in real estate, what, what would you say, you know, how you how you have been able, how do you overcome roadblocks? What's your strategy for overcoming roadblocks?

John Stewart: 42:55

Jimmy a roadblock? Right?

Rick Ripma: 42:57

The the inspection comes back and there's there's issues on the inspection. You're the listing agent, you have to go over it with the with the seller.

John Stewart: 43:05

So I'm really lucky because when Shannon and I stablished our team. I said we got to divide and conquer a little bit. And I said, I need help showing homes and she goes, I love showing homes. And I said great. And I said there's one thing about our business that I don't love. And she goes, What's that? And I said I don't like negotiating inspections. And she goes, I'll do that. And I said, Great. So

Rick Ripma: 43:25

that's your strategy. Yes. All right, well, let's call her, she knows it. But actually, what he's telling you is you get somebody if you have a team, find somebody who's really good at that.

John Stewart: 43:38

And Shan Shan is excellent at it. And you know, her first thing is, one, she wants to get rid of all the nitpicky things, or you know, these major defects, are they maintenance items, that's number one. And then number two, before you get all emotional, Mr. And Mrs. Seller, let's let's break this down to dollars and cents, right? So let's go get some firm estimates from reputable contractors that she's got great relationships with. And then let's see, are we looking at $200 or $2,000? And she does a very good job at accomplishing that. And then you make a decision, are we going to do the work? Or are we going to give it a credit to the buyer? And let them do the work? Yeah. She had one recently, it was over $25,000 worth of issues. And you know, it was hard, but she worked her way through it and we're getting ready to go to closing.

Rick Ripma: 44:29

Yeah, it's awesome. And that's the thing you work your way through it. You figure it out. Because everybody wants the same thing. Ultimately, they want to close on the house. Correct? Right. seller wants to close buyer wants to close

John Stewart: 44:39

agents want to close? Lenders want

Rick Ripma: 44:41

to close? Yeah, I just find it funny if there's an issue. It's like, you know, sometimes people act like the lender didn't want to close on the loan. We always want to close we will do anything we can within our power to close. You know, it's it's and you got to do what you got to do to make it close. Zach kinda thing.

Ian Arnold: 45:00

I know one thing that's really probably benefit and you may not see it as much now, as you did, back in the day, when you guys first started is working with Tucker, there's so many agents and stuff that probably been through that same situation that they're able to help you out, Hey, this is how I would do it.

John Stewart: 45:16

There's very few things that come up in our business in that either Shannon I haven't experienced or he can't walk across the hall and talk to, you know, a big Ford or a map McLaughlin and say, hey, guys helped me with this. What do you think? And so those are all great resources when you have those people as part of your team.

Ian Arnold: 45:34

I don't know. Biff has not sold very many houses. I don't think

Rick Ripma: 45:40

he hit you know, him. Those are the hitters. Those Those are, those are the people that are what do you call it? Everybody in the industry knows

Ian Arnold: 45:53

cream of the crop? Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 45:56

They're the ones. I mean, if you talk about John, or Bev, everybody knows who they are. Like, when I got in the business, I knew who you were, even though I had just gotten in the business because every and this is this is back in 2000. And no and 91. Right. Okay, but everybody knew who you were. Everybody knew who Biff was. There were certain there were certain other people, some many of them aren't even here anymore, but they were known in the industry. And you guys were known for positively not negative. Some people were known negatively, but you were known for positive you were phenomenal. And and you've had the staying power you've done phenomenal. You've you've improved the industry. So it's it's amazing what you've done. I just think it's and to be in the industry, as long as you have is phenomenal.

John Stewart: 46:43

Well, and the same to you all. I mean, you've been in the real estate business for how long? 34 years. There you go.

Rick Ripma: 46:49

Yeah, yeah, no, but I'm trying to catch you.

John Stewart: 46:53

It's gonna be hard.

Rick Ripma: 46:54

I know. You're gonna retire. Neither am I. So we got to race but I'm way back.

Ian Arnold: 47:02

I'll catch up with both y'all. What? No,

Rick Ripma: 47:05

not a chance. No, probably not. Not anytime soon. Anyway. So if somebody wanted to get a hold of you have any any real estate questions? Way? Yes. Best Way number one cell

John Stewart: 47:16

phone 317-496-4033

Rick Ripma: 47:21

And it's John Stewart with FC Tucker, what does that number again

John Stewart: 47:24

317-496-4033

Rick Ripma: 47:27

And to get a hold of the inner eye, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call us at 317-672-1938 That's 317-672-1938.

Ian Arnold: 47:39

A reminder if you know any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy sell or refinance, contact Rekha. I will be more than happy to help you

Rick Ripma: 47:46

and follow us for more indies real estate gurus.

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