Guru Wendy Gillespie with FC Tucker

Rick Ripma: 0:00

Welcome to Indy's Real Estate Gurus. I'm Rick Ripma, your hard working mortgage guy and I've been in real estate and mortgages for over 34 years I've helped over5300 folks finance their homes,my team and I believe in custom tailored loans, not a one size fits all approach. We believe there is the right mortgage for you, and we believe we are the team to deliver it.

Ian Arnold: 0:18

And I'm Ian Arnold part of Rick's hard working mortgage team. I've been in the financial industry for over 15years helping customers get better credit, just get the best interest rates out there. I also have a passion to help you secure your overall real estate dreams. And if you're anything like me pay your home off even faster,

Rick Ripma: 0:34

and likes to pay as home off quick. And if you have any real estate questions or mortgage questions, please go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. You can look up our information there or you can give us a call at 317-672-1938. That's317-672-1938. And today, we have another phenomenal guru real estate agent Wendy Gillespie.Yes, right. It's the ending is so easy to because it's pie, but it's not. You know,

Wendy Gillespie: 1:05

it is not it's Gillespie like Dizzy Gillespie.Yes. Unfortunately, a lot of younger people don't.

Rick Ripma: 1:11

Yeah, I guess not.And that's your dad.

Wendy Gillespie: 1:13

Yeah, not quite well, Boy, I wish no challenge here.

Rick Ripma: 1:19

And you're with se Tucker I am, which is a small real estate company we have here in Indiana, largest

Wendy Gillespie: 1:25

one in the state. And so we are a great company. And I've enjoyed Ben with him from the beginning. And when I got into real estate decided to get in real estate.I'd been in marketing for 13years. So I just drove around and saw who had the most signs.Oh, really? That's how you did?That's how I decided on FC Tucker.

Rick Ripma: 1:43

Okay, so you're in marketing. But let's talk about more about before real estate,like where did you grow up? You know, what did you do? Where do you go to school, just kind of your story before real estate?

Wendy Gillespie: 1:54

Well, I get teased at all the things that I've done in my past. So we moved a lot when I was growing up. So I've lived in seven states Wow. Did most was born in Iowa. And then did most of my growing up in Southern California. Then we did a year in Boise, Idaho, three years in Flagstaff, Arizona. And then my folks decided they wanted to move back home to rural Iowa,which was a huge culture shock for me. But it was it was great.A lot of fun. So lived in Iowa farmed for 10 years. So that was an experience. It was a hog farmer had my hog farmer had my own fair to finish hog operation. And then unfortunately, when I was single, again, didn't want snow anymore. So my children and I moved to Arkansas, loved Arkansas, and had very dear friends who then introduced me to her brother in law, who happened to live in Indiana. So then I came to Indiana. And while I was in Arkansas, I was also I was a legal secretary,and so did that. Came to Indiana and had initially gotten some job offers at from law firms in Indianapolis and then saw I forget, you know, I don't think we had LinkedIn bad back then.But saw an advertising for somebody in for a medical device company in right in Noblesville.And a time I lived in Noblesville. And so I got on with them. And it was family owned, it was a great company.And then they sold still stayed there. And then they sold again.And they had the company that bought them already had a sales and marketing department in Baltimore. And my kids were here, I moved my parents here from Iowa. I wasn't going to Baltimore. And so it was like,Okay, time to find a new job.And my husband said, Well,you're all we're all done paying for college. So just do what you want to do, which was terrifying. I have a degree in psychology with an emphasis in counseling. But in Indiana, you have to have your masters. So my first thought was, well, I'll go get my masters. And then I thought, Do I really want to do that. And having bought a lot of homes and sold homes in my adult life, I always enjoyed real estate, thought about doing it one time when I was a single parent and all commission as a single parents not a real good idea. So didn't do it then and decided I would jump in and that's how I got into real estate 10 years ago, actually this month,

Rick Ripma: 4:29

what it sounds like your education is absolutely perfect for being a real estate agent as a not

Wendy Gillespie: 4:33

Yes. Psychology and the counseling has worked immensely.

Rick Ripma: 4:37

I would think counseling would be huge.Because we're not You're not really I don't think real estate agents. I don't think of them as salespeople today as much as really counseling and making you know, people can look up all the information you just really have to really help them get to the right

Wendy Gillespie: 5:00

right through this through the process, we're,we're, I always look at myself as their biggest advocate.That's why I always think and I tell folks, even if I have somebody that decides they're going to do a for sale by owner,I think I can do this by myself.It's great, I always say there shouldn't actually be one regulatory involved in the transaction. And remember, if they're working with somebody else, they're not, they're not advocating for you. So it's,it's great that everybody has their own, because that's really what we do help you through the process, help you kind of do the pros and cons, a lot of times,if you're a seller, and you get multiple offers, which in the past three years, happens all the time. And still, even in this market, you get multiple offers a lot of people they got the highest price, there's so much more to an offer than just the price. And so you have to you know, what kind of financing? And what are the terms? And are you getting any post closing possession and lots of things that come into it? So we help kind of navigate through that process?

Rick Ripma: 5:58

Yeah, you brought up for sale by owner. And I think,I just think that it's so important for somebody to work with a real estate agent,because first of all, I don't believe it cost any money,because that agent is going to help you guide you through it.And generally, if you're the seller, you're going to get more money because of it. Yes. And,and sometimes significantly, as a buyer, you need that person helping you through and then and then you know how much harder is it to negotiate directly with somebody on the inspection responses. And it's just so valuable to have that real estate agent statistically,

Wendy Gillespie: 6:38

for a seller.Statistics show that you actually get a higher price in a shorter amount of time. And again, that has to do with it too. Because the longer that you have the home on the market, the more you're not moving to where you want to move, because most of the time you're selling in order to buy somewhere else,either out of state or, you know, a move up or move down.And, and so you, the longer that you're on, the harder it is to find that next place. And then again, there's inspection responses, which this year have come back into play, we kind of went away with that for a while.I've had some dealt with some new agents in the past six months that, you know, started in 2020, and had actually never written spectrum response ever.So they've never negotiated that. So having somebody that helps you with that. And one of to me, one of the big things a realtor does is that we remove the emotion out of the transaction. And sometimes we have to remind our buyers and our sellers, if if a seller gets a really low offer, you know I'm there don't take offense to it any offers a good offer. I always say that that's a, you know, an offer is the beginning of a conversation. Some people just like to talk longer than other people do. So we just remove the emotion from the transaction and remind everybody that this really is a business transaction and should be handled that way.

Rick Ripma: 8:02

It's one of the most important things that agent does, in my opinion is there that there that party who takes the emotion out? If the agent is putting emotion in there's a problem? Because if everything blows up,

Wendy Gillespie: 8:13

yeah, it is not good for the transaction. And usually you it takes a lot longer and it's a lot more difficult. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 8:20

It'd be like if you're driving your car, and you get mad, and then the person in the passenger seat also is screaming and yelling and mad.Now you're going to have road rage,

Wendy Gillespie: 8:31

right? It the emotion just escalates. Yeah,yeah. Can

Rick Ripma: 8:34

you imagine a driver's ed teacher

Wendy Gillespie: 8:39

make for some interesting classes.

Rick Ripma: 8:41

That's the way my guy was.

Ian Arnold: 8:45

So, did you start with Tucker? Or how did you come around to be at Tucker?

Wendy Gillespie: 8:50

I did. And like I said, when I decided to get into real estate, I just drove around and saw who had the most signs. And there was this big tea. I'm not from here. So Tucker wasn't a household name for me that, you know, everybody talked to Tucker. But I saw these teas. And I was like,Okay, well, I think that's where I want to be. I happen to know,a trucker agent. So I went to her and said, Hey, this is what I'm thinking. And she was like,Oh my gosh, you'd be really good. If I took that as a compliment. I'm hoping she was right. So it's been it's been very good. So and then just kind of worked towards it. I started really didn't have they always talked about your sphere of influence. I really didn't have that. I'm an extrovert, but my husband's an introvert. So when we moved here, I didn't know anybody. My kids were older. So I didn't meet people at baseball games or anything like that. So the only sphere I had were people that I used to work with.And so and when I was done at that company, I jumped both feet and arms into real estate. I didn't have another income that was As I just jumped in. And so I just kept making connections with people that I worked with.And, and they have been wonderful. In fact, actually,I've been in real estate and away from that job for 10 years.And last Thursday, I had four meetings with clients, showed a house, did an inspection, did a listing presentation, trying to think what the fourth one was,and all of them, I thought it was funny. We're connected to my previous job two years ago. Wow.Yeah. So, you know, I just have continued to market that and,and I've been blessed with great clients that continue to refer me to other people. And so it's been great.

Ian Arnold: 10:41

So we want to help you out a little bit. So I don't want you just to worry about that job is trying to get people in there. So if somebody's listening right now, and they want to contact you about buying or selling a home, how would they get ahold of you?

Wendy Gillespie: 10:52

So the easiest way is text or call me at317-698-0229. I've always got my phone with me, you can ask my my adult children, my grandchildren and my husband, or email me at Wendy G at talk to tucker.com.And that's t a l k totucker.com.

Rick Ripma: 11:14

Perfect. And that number again, is 31796980229. So31769802 to nine, phone, Genie,not a couple of times, because the first time I messed it up.That's why people want me I blame it on my dyslexia. And if to get a hold of Vienna, I go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.comm Or you can call 317-672-1938.That's 317-672-1938. And thank you for listening to India's real estate gurus, the gurus we interview, share valuable insights. They share their strengths, reveal their strengths, their personalities and how they'll work for you.Well, we hardworking mortgage guys, secure your best mortgage,real estate gurus work hard to,they avoid problems the amateurs don't see. They listen and 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 India's real estate gurus.

Ian Arnold: 12:20

Alright, so let's take a little break about talking about you and your business. What's not gonna like this. Let's find out a little bit more about you. So if I got to take away your phone, you cannot work your kids cannot contact you. Now just fine. They can still contact you, but But what do you do for fun?

Wendy Gillespie: 12:40

So, for fun, I love to travel. And if I can go somewhere, I'm going to I'm going to go. And my grandkids are usually with me. So I enjoy it. My kids are great, although they say they get ignored now that they have children. But I started a thing when my oldest grandchildren turn 13. And for their 13th birthday, they get to pick anywhere they want to go in the continental United States, I had to put those parameters on it. Because somebody wanted to go to Paris and it was like,yeah, that's not going to work.And so they get to pick anywhere they want to go. And so then we go on a trip just the two of us.And first one was San Francisco and Yosemite. Then I had one pick New York City had the other one pick. New Orleans. I just did last year, number four picked the universal parks. So we did five days of universal and Disney. Nana was exhausted,but it was probably it's

Rick Ripma: 13:45

expensive.

Wendy Gillespie: 13:47

Thank goodness for real estate. And then the next one turns 13 in September and so he has chosen Southern California. So we're gonna go do Universal Studios, tour Warner Brothers Studios, do the walk of fame. Go to the beach, go to Santa Monica Pier. We haven't figured everything we're doing.But and then after that, I'll have one more. So then after the13th Birthday Trip, then it's kind of like okay, where else do you want to go? So I've done trips to Savannah, Georgia with them. Last year, I took the oldest three, we did Arizona and then drove up into Utah. Did Bryce Canyon, all the national parks have their Grand Canyon Sedona? So I love to travel. I travel with friends. I'll travel with whoever wants to go somewhere. Now is your husband

Rick Ripma: 14:37

a traveler? He is not so getting the feeling that that was the case because you never said him.

Wendy Gillespie: 14:43

So we used to travel a lot. He's had some medical issues, so he doesn't travel anymore. So but but it's always like, so where are you going next? Sometimes I think he wants to just get me out of the house, but I think he just knows how much I enjoyed.

Ian Arnold: 14:58

So where's your face? favorite place to go?What?

Wendy Gillespie: 15:03

That's really hard since I've lived so many places, and and we traveled a lot in the United States, I really don't have a favorite place. There's a lot of places I like to go. There's a lot of places I'd like to go again. But I really don't every, every place has its own whether it's a city or, or, you know, a little bit more remote. When we when I took the oldest three to Arizona and Utah last year, we spent three nights in a covered wagon.Oh, wow, that was fun, probably bigger covered wagon, it's pretty big. It had like two sets of bunk beds really close. And then a king sized bed. The best part was that the only way that they could get internet was to go walk about a quarter of a mile to the owners cabin and sit out on the front porch. And so,so that was pretty fun having teenagers that didn't have access.

Rick Ripma: 15:52

It wasn't about you know, access to the internet. So

Wendy Gillespie: 15:55

I make sure that I have very good coverage whenever I leave, actually, this year, another agent and I just formed Gillespie and Caldwell Realty Group. So Liana Caldwell and I worked really good together and treat our clients the same. And we just have the same ethics. And so we joined together. And so Leanne is always there to help me out and I'm there to help her out when one of us is leaving,

Rick Ripma: 16:22

I think that's vital when you're a real estate agent,it really because you you need your time away,

Wendy Gillespie: 16:27

you do but you have to there is we don't have a downtime. I was you know, last night at 3am, I was still working on a on an offer. And so to really go okay, if you're if you're a sole agent, and you don't have the support of other agents, which is one of the reasons why it helps to be with a great brokerage. Because you'll have even if you're not on, if you don't have a team,you still have other great agents around you. But you know,when you when you leave, it is good to get away. But you got to make sure you're covered.Because you never all of a sudden, I think there's a there's a little saying that if you want to grow your business,just plan a vacation. Because that's when it's gonna be all of a sudden everybody wants to buy a house then yeah, so.

Ian Arnold: 17:11

So let me ask this.I know you got into real estate a little later. So do any of your kids have the itch?

Wendy Gillespie: 17:18

So not really,although I took a granddaughter out to dinner last night for her birthday, and we were talking and she's going to be a senior and she's doing the college tours. And she hasn't one her siblings kind of know what they want to do. She hasn't quite decided on that. And then she said, you know, and maybe real estate, not like so and I say well, there's you know, a lot of people that start early and have fantastic. And so I'm going to actually get her to speak with a couple other agents that started at an earlier age than I did.And that have stayed in and enjoyed and and

Rick Ripma: 17:57

we had an agent on her and her husband, both agents, they both came on. She started in real estate at 18.And he started at 21. I've we've had people on who who started in real estate when they were in college. Yeah, you know. So it's, it's definitely possible.And there's the age of the average real estate agent is pretty high. So there's a lot of available. There's a lot of opportunity, in my opinion.

Wendy Gillespie: 18:25

And it has changed, you know, before years and years and years ago, it was always, you know, kind of the middle aged woman, you know,some people, it wasn't a real job. And they kind of they like to see houses. And so that was kind of, and there wasn't even a lot of men that were in it, it was looked at as more of a female career. And then that has changed a lot. And I think that people first of all realize the importance of it, that the home is usually a person's largest investment until they buy their next one that's more. And so we've actually put more, it's not just you know, it's kind of cute kitchen, or it's that it is an investment and so you have to look at it that way it is more of a business transaction.You've got to fall in love with the home I always tell my clients that you'll know it when you walk in and you've got to feel like this is home. Because every day you're out there fighting the good fight. And you need a place that when you close that door you feel like this is your place and you can be yourself and nobody can bother you and so that's what you need to you need to feel it on a house and I've had clients that have looked at homes for two years, little over two years.And every I hate to bother you.I hate that No, no, we'll find the right one. It'll come along and sure enough, it it comes along.

Rick Ripma: 19:43

We had an agent on and I thought it was a brilliant thing and you may do it the same thing but she said she will avoid putting an offer in until that person sells her on why they want to be in that home.

Wendy Gillespie: 19:57

I usually just I didn't take and feel it. I had one that was in this was several years ago. And it was a couple and, and we'd been looking at houses and they were coming from out of town. And, and you know,at first they wanted a large lot. And then they were looking at townhouses and they were kind of all over the place. And I found one that was a for sale by owner. And so we set up a time we were looking at like three houses that day, they'd come into town. And so we go to look at this one. And I, I knew walking in, this was their house. I just, I just knew it walked in, and we opened the door. And it was like, Oh, my gosh, we're here. And I'm really good at reading people could not read him at all. He just had this very stellar face. And I could not read him at all I'm thinking and very cordial. And yeah, very nice, very nice. And I could read her I could tell she was feeling it, but couldn't. And I thought, maybe I've got this wrong. I thought it was so good at this. But I've completely called this wrong. We thank them. We left we drove to the separate cars, we drove to the next property. I'm feeling kind of down because I thought that was it. And I just gotten out of the car, I look in my rearview mirror, and he's getting out but she's not. And so I'm thinking now Okay, so I get out and he goes, we don't even need to see this one was go write the offer. It was like,okay, it did feel it. So I don't know, I can just kind of feel and then I have other ones where I can tell that they're kind of trying to talk themselves into it has everything. It checks off all the boxes. And I'll be like,No, this, isn't it? Well, but it has everything I said, Yeah,you're not feeling it. You gotta feel it. Right. So my husband kind of jokes that sometimes I talk more people out of houses than I do that I do. talk him into it.

Ian Arnold: 21:40

It is shocking when you actually go Oh, no, this is not the right one. They look at you strangely for five seconds.They're like, yeah, what do you mean? And then you'll you'll usually list a few points. And this is the reasons and then they'll be like, Oh, no, I think you're right.

Wendy Gillespie: 21:56

Yeah. Yeah. But it is funny. I get a lot of looks on like, you know, why,but I think this is it. No, it's not. No, it's not.

Rick Ripma: 22:04

We've learned one of your superpowers that's reading people. But what are your other superpowers?

Wendy Gillespie: 22:12

I'm a great negotiator. So probably with having the children that I have in heaven, great grandkids, I've learned to negotiator really,really well, everything so and that was probably in the, in the past three years that I kind of missed the most, with the way that the market was is that there was no negotiating. I mean, you somebody you know, you put in an offer, and there was already 18 offers. So you put in your highest and your best. When you did a home inspection, I always told my folks, you have to do a home inspection. Even if you're not going to ask for anything you have to do. You've got to know what you're going into. And but there was no negotiating on that you either were doing an as is or you were going in, and you're not going to ask for any single item under$6,000 something but there was just no negotiating. And so I've I've enjoyed it now that we're getting back into negotiating again.

Rick Ripma: 23:06

I think it's a lot better. Maybe not for the seller, but it certainly is a lot better for the buyer.

Wendy Gillespie: 23:11

It is it is

Rick Ripma: 23:13

a home inspection. I don't think I could have bought a home during that time. Because there are a lot of things that made it hard being in the industry for so long. Yeah. But that would that would probably be the one for me, that would just stop me from being able to do it. I guess the 6000 You know, I'd be okay with that. But not having an inspection to what I would not be okay with

Wendy Gillespie: 23:33

i i have I would have told clients I don't know, we'll just forego it. And I said, if you forego the inspection, you're going to probably have to get another realtor because I just cannot in good conscience. Have you buy this house without even knowing anything. And so many times there's not much or there's just minor things. But that one time I had done a transaction before the craziness. And there was we did the fireplace inspection.And there was like $12,000 You couldn't tell? You couldn't, it looked fine. In fact, I think the reason that we had it was because the general home inspector saw up on the roof,the chimney there was something with a brick so he said you should probably have somebody come take a look. I said okay,from now on. Every time I have a have a wood burning fireplace,we get a fireplace inspection,and they got in there, they even like put the yellow tape up, do not use this fireplace, it's dangerous. The transaction went through the seller still wanting to sell the house the buyers still wanting to buy the house,they split the cost. So finding something large in an inspection doesn't necessarily mean that the deal is going down. Right?So you can work through it. But you work through that with you know, with a you know what's going on and you know what's going to come whether you're going to fix it later. Or or the seller is going to fix it or it's like okay, you know, it's not the code but I'm fine with it. And also so yeah, but at least you take out that element of surprise.

Rick Ripma: 25:00

I spent 11 years with a new home builder, and even a new home you should have inspected because there are, I don't care I and my builder, the builder I worked with was considered a very good builder.Yes, yes, there were things that were missed at times,

Wendy Gillespie: 25:13

I always tell my folks that do new construction, you still have to have an independent home inspector come look through that. And And there'll be a new house, they shouldn't find anything. Yeah, they probably will, especially in the past four years where they're building homes so fast. And it's not because and I say if you find something, that doesn't mean that the builder is a bad builder, right? It's kind of how does the builder deal with it.And every single time we've done that, we have found things and the builders that I've been blessed to work with have, you know, two weeks later,everything's fixed.

Ian Arnold: 25:42

I mean, it's look at a normal job. So say, if you go to the office or whatnot, you do that same job every single day,every single month. So you're you make mistakes, because you're not thinking of something right now, these guys are building homes, they do the same exact thing. They can make mistakes to just maybe they just had a bad day wasn't thinking life's going crazy. On one end,they get to work, they forget whatever. And guess what, now that falls on you as a homeowner?

Wendy Gillespie: 26:08

Yes, yeah, we had I had one and it was new construction. We went in and there was a wall that was like visibly at an angle. In fact,the tile down on below it at one point there was like, you know,a half an inch tile and towards the other one, there was like a quarter inch. Wow. Yeah. So it was visible. How did that happen? You know what the framers came in? They were working fast. This was in end of2020. And, and they were working fast. They get it framed. It was cooking. drywaller goes in? He doesn't he probably doing it so fast. He didn't Tyler goes in.By now they are so far down.That, you know, like he's everybody else past it. Yeah,you can tell I'm cutting these tiles differently. But you know,it was okay with everybody else,because we've gone through all those checks. And the builder fixed it. Yeah. So, you know,the house is still a great house. And the builder is still a good builder,

Rick Ripma: 26:58

those things, those things happen. I one of the builders, the builder I was with, you know, they, they the people move into the house. They started to smell. The sewer lateral never got hooked up. It was all going into the crawl. Oh my gosh, yeah. No, it happened.Something that happens now. You know, we put them up in a hotel,they dug everything out. They fixed it all. But it's still, if an inspection effector had been there and that had been inspected, that would have never happened. And sometimes it's minor stuff. Sometimes it's this little thing in the fireplace they forgot. Yeah. But it's worth having. I think in any case, it's worth having. Yeah,

Wendy Gillespie: 27:34

it's never it's never it's never money wasted.You either you either have a good feeling great, this house is wonderful. And some people got home, we found it. You know,even if the deal doesn't go through, then I wasted that inspection money. No, you didn't that was good money for you had to walk over if you did walk away from a transaction, because of an inspection. That was probably the best money you've ever spent. So

Ian Arnold: 27:58

see, the craziest thing is Rick and I both came from the car industry is people would take us car don't get to go get inspected. You're spending what 1520, maybe more depends on the price of the car.Okay, now you're going to buy a home for 200 to 400 to whatever,and you're not going to spend money getting an inspection,you're crazy.

Wendy Gillespie: 28:22

You have to you have to whether or not you're going to ask for anything or not. You've got to know where you're going. And you've got to have your eyes wide open.Because and another thing, it's kind of like with radon, you get people that'll go, I don't believe in radon. Okay. However,if you're a buyer and you get a radon test, and we find that the levels are four or above 99% of the time the seller is going to make that repair because if they don't, they have to redo their sellers disclosure to now disclose that there is radon. If you are a buyer, and you don't test for radon, which cost you know, a couple $100 Then when you go to sell it nine times out of 10, your buyer is going to test for it and now you're going to spend 18 to $2,400 to mitigate that radon. So that's one of the things it's like,even if you don't believe in it,now's a good time to test for it.

Ian Arnold: 29:15

And if somebody's wanting to get with you about buying or selling a home and with all the knowledge that you have in the passion you have in protecting your clients, how would they get ahold of you?

Wendy Gillespie: 29:25

easiest one is to give me a call or text me at317-698-0229 or shoot me an email at Wendy G at talk to tucker.com That's W E N D YG at talk to tucker.com TALKTOTUC ke are.com

Rick Ripma: 29:46

And to get a hold of Ian or I go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call us at 317-672-1938.That's 317-672-1938

Ian Arnold: 29:57

And now we'll get into the question of the week and the question that Get sponsored, right? Hey, Rick and I the hard working mortgage guys, where we believe in helping and supporting you and your realtor by sending constant updates to the loan process. We don't like living in a black hole so we do not allow it for you. Alright, so here's a tough question. What was your first car?

Wendy Gillespie: 30:16

So my first car was, I'm old, so it's it's been a while. Trying to think of Earl was my first car or my favorite car. I think he was my first car, a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 He was light blue. It was the best car. It had a bench seat. I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona, and we would ride five in we didn't have didn't have to wear seat belts back then. But we would ride five in the front seat. And one evening, I got pulled over by a police officer. Because I didn't have my lights on and it was dark, but I had really good night vision. And so I see that the lights come on. And I said,Somebody get in the backseat.Well, all four of my friends jumped in the back. So by the time he pulls me over, I am sitting in the front seat by myself with three friends in the back. And he came up and I didn't get a ticket. However, he did look in the back and say,ladies, why don't we just like limit it to three in the front?So yeah, so five in the front seat, but his name was Earl 63Ford Galaxie 500 and I am constantly on the lookout for another one.

Rick Ripma: 31:29

I was gonna say that's a great car.

Wendy Gillespie: 31:30

Oh my gosh, it was an awesome. Can

Rick Ripma: 31:31

you love Do you remember what size motor it had?I

Wendy Gillespie: 31:35

know what color was it? It was light blue, light blue. So sometimes the gas gauge didn't work. And so we would like there was a lot of gas stations in Flagstaff, Arizona.So then we'd run out of gas, and then we coast into into a gas station. And I don't know if all of the cars at the time were like this or not. But I had a friend who thought it was really funny that you could take the key out as the car, you could turn it off and pull the key out as the car was driving down the road. And she thought that was funny. So she would do that a couple of times. But, but he's lots of good memories in in that car.

Rick Ripma: 32:09

Yeah, that's that's a great car.

Wendy Gillespie: 32:11

It was awesome.I watched him find what Meachum auction all the time, looking for a 63 Ford Galaxie. 500

Rick Ripma: 32:18

I'm surprised you haven't found one because there's quite a few.

Wendy Gillespie: 32:22

I'm pretty particular. Okay, so and it has to be an account. Remember,there was like something else on the when I see it. It's like,oh, my gosh, there it is. We did see one one time, but it was like, I don't know. 25 $30,000.I want one but not that bad.

Rick Ripma: 32:36

Okay. Okay. Because car I don't know if you've been watching lately, but cars have gone way up in value way up,especially the old cars. Yeah,

Wendy Gillespie: 32:43

yeah. And it's older I get like the more of a classic that gets. So then the price keeps going up. Less and

Ian Arnold: 32:49

less them and become out there. Yes. Yes.

Rick Ripma: 32:52

You know, the problem. I have the same issue.I I'm in the lower end of the baby boomers. Okay. So all of the baby boomers ahead of me have already bought everything and they've raised the price.Ridiculous, or I should have done this 1015 years ago before they all got into it. But they're the ones with all the money.

Ian Arnold: 33:12

Yeah, they just wait a little while they're all dying off and then then our generation won't care and then the price will plummet.

Wendy Gillespie: 33:21

That's because yeah, the next generation is kind of like, underneath the old stuff.

Rick Ripma: 33:25

That is my worry,although I do a lot of the beacom auctions, and they have a lot of young people there. Yeah.The two things I've noticed and I've been doing them for years,is that there's a lot more young people and there's a lot more women there than there used to be used to be almost entire Old Men. Yeah.

Wendy Gillespie: 33:43

Well, now it's so I mean, cars, I always I tell my kids and my grandkids is you know, it used to be like, when guys wouldn't be working on their pickups, then we would all like sit there and you'd be sitting the hood it'd be up and you'd be sitting on you have your like feet inside the engine well, and now it's like all sealed up it I don't even know nobody can like change your own oil. Nobody can you got to take it in, they put it up to the computer thing where it used to be everybody did their own and,and sit there and

Rick Ripma: 34:11

used to run a shop so he knows but I when I bought I had a BMW, and I was having brake noise, right? So I thought, you know, may or you know, maybe maybe I need to check my brake fluid all that I couldn't even find that reservoir. Because it's not where it always was

Wendy Gillespie: 34:30

no longer mechanical. No, no, I had to call I actually just recently got an all electric vehicle. And I had to actually call and say Do I like have to schedule an oil change at some point and they were like, No, and I was

Rick Ripma: 34:46

nor do you have to put gas and I've seen people I've seen videos that people tried to put gas in an electric car you don't have

Wendy Gillespie: 34:51

a car I had before was a was a Chevy Volt.So I plugged it in and I put gas in it and when I was busy one day after I had this car for about Two weeks ago, I ran a Sam's Club, and I did some shopping. And my usual brain of thought is after I get done,then check my gas gauge if I need gas, and I go get gas. And so I sat there and I looked at it, and I could see how many miles how many electric miles I had left, which I used to be able to see in my volt. But I couldn't see how many and I was looking all over and I was getting frustrated. I hate new cars, you don't know where anything is. I can't see how many gas miles and where's my gas gauge. And then it hit me that I don't have a gas gauge.Luckily, I had not pulled up I was just in the regular parking lot. So it would be embarrassing. I did not pull up and so I guess I shouldn't have told you that story.

Ian Arnold: 35:37

It is a funniest thing is people buying newer cars. A lot of them especially the higher end cars don't have dipsticks. The only way to measure it is by a computer by the front screen where your radio is

Wendy Gillespie: 35:50

gonna have dipsticks.

Ian Arnold: 35:51

So you'll get it you'll get an old old guy coming in or older, coming out their daughter or something and they'll be looking. Yep, I am. I tell it like it is. So but then we look there'll be helping their daughter or son or whatnot. But let me do an inspection really quick before you buy this car and they'll look at in the where's the dipstick. Sir, this car doesn't have a dipstick, what do you mean does have a dipstick. They don't make dipsticks for these cars anymore.

Wendy Gillespie: 36:19

We had a similar problem in 2020 2021,we're going into 2022. Because we would have I would be working with like a first time homebuyer who, again, we were in the market where there was a multiple offer offer situation,you had to go in with your highest and your best usually included an appraisal gap protection, either as is or some wording regarding the inspection. And in the beginning, we would have parents come that would be like, Wow, if you want to get it for 300, you need to put in an offer at about two ad. And it would be like,that's not going to work. In fact, if it's listed at 300,we're probably going to go in at310 320. And, and it was it was it was difficult at the time or inspection you know how there's a broken seal on that window.Which you know, for three years,a broken seal was nothing and and a few months ago, when I'd gotten an inspection report and all sudden, oh, that broken seal, they needed that window fix that was like a couple years ago, that was fine. And now it's not anymore. So

Ian Arnold: 37:19

I mean, it'd be the same thing here later, when you go. When I put your house on the market, it might take two or three months for it to sell. And they really like what you talking about. It only takes two or three days, I had

Wendy Gillespie: 37:30

to remind myself, I'd had one and it had been on for about a week and a half just recently. And we hadn't gotten an offer. And inside, I was just torn up. I was just like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, just very calm. But inside I was just and then I had to remind myself that really, we're good. And like two weeks we had an offer. But

Rick Ripma: 37:51

what's coming? Yeah,the market is getting hotter and hotter, there's less and less homes. I mean, you look at all the numbers, we that we are going our market is not slowing

Wendy Gillespie: 38:01

down, we are still in a housing shortage. So I, I thought I kind of looked at the interest rates, I thought2023 was going to be pretty slow. We had remodeled the house. And so I had joked until my husband, we're not spending anything in 2023, because the market is going to slow 2024,we're probably going to get back to a 2018 2019 market. And January and February, we're kind of on spot, it was pretty slow,kind of and march just hit and I know I'm not the only one we've just been running it in the market is just an even with the interest rates. And of course,one of the things with with clients is that you have to remember that, you know,interest rates may be high. Now,if they go higher, then you kind of pat yourself on the back that you you know, you got a mortgage and seven and a half percent. If it goes down, you wait until it goes down. I think they say like at least a percent. But then you can refinance, there's a cost to that. But when you look at the you know, spread over the time,then that usually works out so so I don't think that the interest rate has changed it as much as it has, we'll see today,the government's looking at raising it again, possibly another half a percent. Which is like, it's kind of bad, you gotta you gotta hope that the,you know, everything slows down,but you don't want your business to slow down. Right. So we're kind of in a

Rick Ripma: 39:22

yeah, there's a couple of things here, though.The, one of them is is that you don't actually need dependent on how much how big your loan is and how much you need the interest rate to drop. And then how much the cost are so a full percent. When they used to say that all the time it was when houses were 50 $60,000 loan or small. That's true. Now you get a you get an $800,000 loan$700,000 loan, a quarter percent can save enough money to make it worthwhile. You just have to look at it. That's part of what you have to do. And then the other thing I you know the feds are expected to raise it quarter, quarter percent is probably what they'll do. They may do a half but there we're expecting it. But that's a federal fund rate. And that'll probably, you know, junk things up for the next week or two.Yeah, right. Maybe not that long. And then we should see. I keep saying this Sunday, I'm going to be right. Right. Right.Eventually, I'll be right.Rates, I still believe we're gonna go down. The inflation numbers are still there. The lack of you know, so I think that's going to be a big thing.I think it's why it's such a great time to buy a house right now. There's not as many people in my opinion is going to be in the market. And four or five,six months, when rates do come down?

Wendy Gillespie: 40:35

Yes.Everybody's jumping on it. And yes, I bought my first house in1978, with at 10%. And, of course, when people were getting mortgages that, you know, 2.83%people are like, No, you still bought a house. I was like,Yeah, because that's what the interest rate was, right? We bought our first house. And then, you know, two years later,or it was 18 19%, for mortgage,so that it was like, a good thing. We bought it at 10%. And so it's still, you know, I tell folks that hopefully, we'll never get up to hopefully that was historic, hopefully, we'll never see an 18 19% mortgage again. But I said, you also have to remember that probably that2.8 is probably historic, too.And so kind of like the 100 year flood, you know, don't if you're waiting to buy a house until you're gonna get it at 2.83%.All that money that you're spending on rent is going into somebody else's pocket. And what's the what's the interest rate you're paying on when you're running? Oh my gosh. 100person? Yeah. Well, and especially around here, when you look in if nothing else,Hamilton County, I just saw one,somebody on Facebook put out a house for rent. And it was a one bedroom, one bath. I don't remember how many square feet but it was $1,200 a month. Wow.And it was one bedroom, one bathroom? I

Rick Ripma: 41:50

tell my wife, we're gonna run our house. Yeah,

Wendy Gillespie: 41:52

I mean. So now all of a sudden that you know,paying the higher interest is kind of like, Wait a minute. And again, if the interest rate goes down, you can always refinance that and do that so and if you're a first time homebuyer,now's the perfect time to buy a house. I agree, there's just there's not a bad time. And you just got to kind of jump in and and then when it if it goes up,you just kind of pat yourself on the back and go, weren't you smart? And if it goes down, then you can look into refinancing.

Ian Arnold: 42:21

Alright, so I'm gonna ask my favorite question.And what do you think your most memorable deal was?

Wendy Gillespie: 42:31

Probably the most recent one. And, and I'm very big on confidentiality. So I don't like I don't ever share too much of anything. But I had folks that were looking for a very particular type of property. And we had been looking, they actually got a,they did not have their house on the market. But we had a realtor contact us and say, Hey, your house has, you know, pretty much everything that my folks are looking for. Are you interested in selling? I told my folks, you know, that would be pretty good.They were kind of downsizing,not kind of they were downsizing. And so they found temporary housing, and was one of their kids. So we made that sale. And we were still looking for this kind of unicorn property. And I had somebody call up and say, Hey, a client of mine said, Hey, I'm thinking about maybe selling because somebody stopped by and said they might be interested. And I said, Okay, great. You know,when are they interested in buying? Well, they have to sell their property. I said, okay,and she described this property,which was exactly what my folks were looking for in the exact area. And that thing, just there were so many, again, when it's the right when the right one comes along the right one comes along. And so they've been in it for a couple of weeks now. And just it's awesome. That's awesome. That's gonna be my Yeah, that's now my top, my top so I can see why. Yeah, it's everybody's smiling.

Rick Ripma: 44:00

Weird how things just happen that way. They just work out. The

Wendy Gillespie: 44:04

right one always comes on. It may be a week. I had one client one time and this was pretty much in my early years, and we walked through one house, they were like, Okay, I want to put an offer on. Of course, this was back before you had to make a decision in 10 minutes. And so I was like, Well, I agree with you, but we still need to look at other houses. And they're like, No, I don't think so. I was like, I quick looked up. I took them to two other houses because I was just like, No, we really need to look at something else. Because just to make sure they were first time homebuyers.I didn't want it to be. I always used to say that somebody should look at a house three times before they put an offer in it first, you have to remove the past three years, but because when you go in it's kind of like young love. You have those rose colored glasses on especially first time homebuyers. I was like oh my gosh, this is perfect. This is perfect. You go back the second time also now you see the cosmetic things and I'm gonna want to paint that and I'm gonna want to switch this out. And so then you're now you're really because this is is a big investment. This is the biggest investment you've probably made so far. And then the third time was like, Okay now and how much are my monthly payments are going to be? And what's the payoff and things like that. So, but at least two times you should and I'm glad that we're kind of getting back into that a tad bit. Although,you know, we're getting back into multiple offers again. And it's common. Oh, yeah, we're it's common rush to win a housing shortage, especially the, I would say, the more economical homes because the builders, you know, aren't building $300,000 houses anymore. No. So all of those buyers, or all of those homeowners that have those 350or below homes, those are going to hold their prices, no matter what the interest rates gonna do, because builders aren't building those around anymore.

Ian Arnold: 45:44

I do like that you told people to go see your house multiple times, not just for the same reasons, but my realtor did the same thing. And I'm glad she did. Because we go check out a couple weeks, because you will get during the day, mostly everybody's at we're we went out there at night, one time and cars all over the roads. I mean,like parked next to not in driveways. And I'm like, I don't want to live in a house where I have to dodge people's cars in your driveway. Yep. And you're,you're worried about some kid just popping out or something like that. I'm like, I don't want to deal with that every day.

Wendy Gillespie: 46:15

I like to tell my folks that when you when you find houses when I do a search,and now you drive through those neighborhoods. So back when I was first buying houses, I would talk to them, they didn't have the internet search. And so you'd go in and I'd say okay,here's what I want. Give me a list of the houses. Okay, and then I'll drive around, and then I'll tell you which ones I want to go see. And I had a couple of dealers are like, Oh, no, no,no, here, I'll take you like,there's no need, because I'm going to know if I want to live on that street, or I want to live in that neighborhood. You know, just because I don't know,there's like four pink houses.And I don't want to live where there's pink houses. Or like you said all sudden, there's a lot of cars on it. Or, you know,when I had young kids, if all of a sudden it looks like everybody's at five, that's not what I want to you know, or something's a long ways away from a school and I really want to be close to one. And so that's I always encourage that too. It's like, don't just don't just look online, that you need to go and drive through is that the community that you want to live in, because every neighborhood or community has their own feel to it. And pictures online are great. And I'm one where I never, I'll never have a listing go live without pictures. Because it's true. People make their initial decision that way. But you really still have to have the feel of the neighborhood. You could love a house. But then all of a sudden you go to the neighborhood and it's not, it's not for you

Rick Ripma: 47:35

and pictures. I got a lot of car auctions, okay, and you can stand, you walk up to a car, you're 2530 feet away, and you look at you go man, that is a beautiful car, and you walk up onto it up to it you go. This isn't such a great car. This car is a piece of junk. Yeah. Yeah.And, and, and you look at the pictures beforehand, pictures show you the basics, they do not show you the detail of a house,right? Or you know, so it's really important to have great pictures.

Wendy Gillespie: 48:03

And that's when I the photographer that I use I love because he takes very realistic photographs. So nothing is I love it when you think that that family room must be about a 60 by 60 room, and you get in and it's more like a10 by 10. When you walk in, I was like, wait a minute, what?What is

Rick Ripma: 48:20

it? So just Yeah,but doesn't help. So

Wendy Gillespie: 48:23

yeah, and that's the probably the good and the bad is initially you've got to have those pictures online.Because if everybody's first thought if there's no pictures,oh, what's wrong with that house. And a lot of agents it'll be pictures are coming. But you know, the next day when somebody's flipping through all they remember that they didn't like 123 Apple street. They don't remember that. It was like, oh, yeah, pictures aren't going to be posted until today.And so that's why I always say we're not going live until we've got pictures and my photographer gets hit by a bus. And we were supposed to go live tomorrow,we're probably not going live tomorrow, I gotta find another photographer.

Ian Arnold: 49:00

So if somebody's looking to buy, sell, or even just talk about real estate, or go on one of these nice trips,you always like to go on, how would they get in contact with you?

Wendy Gillespie: 49:09

So the best way is just give me a call at31769802 to nine. That's always the best one call me send me a text. I've always got my phone or send me an email at Wendy G at talk to tucker.com W E and dyg@talktotucker.com

Rick Ripma: 49:31

Perfect and to get a hold of inner I got a HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can give us a call at317-672-1938. That's317-672-1938 and please follow us for more indies real estate gurus

Ian Arnold: 49:46

and reminder if you have any friends, family,coworkers looking to buy sell refinance, let us know we'd be more than happy to help you.Wendy, thank you for joining us today. Pleasure having you on.

Wendy Gillespie: 49:55

It was a great experience. Thanks so much.Thanks,

Rick Ripma: 49:58

Brent. NMLS number33041. NMLS number 664589 You know Arnold NMLS number is1895469 equal housing opportunity some restrictions apply