From Bus Company to Building Homes: Carolyn’s Journey in Real Estate

Erika (01:31)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Carolyn DeYoung, who’s been making waves in the real estate industry, and she’s a part of Signature Real Estate. Carolyn, it’s so awesome to have you on the show today. ⁓ I’m doing great. How are you?

Carolyn (01:48)
How are you?

I’m good, doing good. Just got done at the gym and ⁓ rushed to get on the podcast so I wouldn’t be late and here we are.

Erika (02:01)
So Carolyn, let’s dive in. For those who may not know your story, can you give us the rundown? How did you get started in real estate?

Carolyn (02:12)
So I got started in real estate. I decided in like 98 I was gonna buy a house and I went to a real estate company that I heard good things about a buyer’s agency, right? And she had people down the street I mean I’m literally down the hall and she was answering phones and she was in there by herself and I looked at her and I said Do you need help? And she said yeah, she pointed at me. She said go go home change because I had on jeans and come back

And so that’s how I got into real estate. And it was kind of neat because they had a bunch of properties. They did property management. at one time, I probably, because I started as a transaction coordinator, at one time I probably ran like 60 files. And, you know, long story short, they were in Anchorage and the valley, which I went in to buy a house and I found a house I wanted to buy, was like 40 miles away, right? An hour or so away. And…

They wanted me to get my license because obviously here in Alaska, if you’re not licensed, you can only do so many things. You can’t really talk to people. You can’t ⁓ help people. You you’re just kind of a coordinator, you know, in the files. So I got my license. And then after I did that, I said, hey, I live in the Valley. I want to sell real estate in the Valley. And they wanted me to sign a non-compete. And I’m like, why? You don’t even sell in the Valley. And so that caused, you know, angst.

And I ended up going to a company called Gallery Homes. I was there for eight years. I loved it. If they hadn’t sold, I’d probably still be there, but ⁓ they specialized in new construction. And so I left ⁓ number one buyer’s agency where I did a lot of property management and things and went over to Gallery Homes where they did a lot of new construction. So that’s where I got really good at new construction. ⁓ She actually had a builder that

probably did 30 homes a year. It was pretty neat. so we, I got, that’s where I learned to do that. And it was really, really busy. I went through 2005 where, know, same thing we kind of went through with COVID. You wrote an offer before you even looked at the property. So that was insane. And then got really good, had lots of clients and lots of referrals. That’s how I got through the crash, the real crash, because I don’t think we’re going to have a

You know, that was the banks that blew everything up. And ⁓ that’s how I got through that and followed the broker that I have now, a signature to a couple places. And here we are. It’s been what, 23 years, I think.

Erika (05:42)
That’s fascinating. What was the spark in this journey that made you say, is it? This is my path in real estate. I’m going to keep continuing the pursuit.

Carolyn (05:51)
I guess,

well, so I’ve had people, lots of people. Believe it or not, I owned a bus company for 25 years. had, I did, I did plane tickets. I had a travel agency, but I mostly did, senior citizens to like Disney, to Biloxi, to all these places and, you know, briefly tinkered in the travel agency business. But everyone always said, you’re so good at sales. You’re so good at sales. You know, and someone said,

You could sell ice to an Eskimo and just stuff like that. And so when I went into the office and learned and started, know, in real

because I get bored sometimes, it’s never the same. Every day is different. And, you know, you have the gift of gab and I don’t know. just took to it immediately and just, this is what I want to do. that’s got rid of the bus company.

I don’t know what I was thinking in I think 2003 or 2004, I thought I needed a flower shop. And so I was doing real estate and I had a flower shop too. And that was my one and only. If someone said, what was your biggest mistake in life? That would have been my biggest mistake. I mean, I enjoyed the flower shop for about six months and said, no, I don’t like this anymore. But I like real estate, I really do. I think things have changed a little bit. I think it’s harder now. ⁓

People are angry. You know, it’s just funny that it’s like, wow, this used to be fun. It’s not so fun anymore. Like it used to be. You always felt like you were doing, you know, this great service and, you know, you enjoyed it. You were happy. Still am, but it’s just changed a little bit. It’s changed. But I still like doing it because I’m like, what, 63 now and I had a gal.

She goes, what are you going to retire? And I said, I don’t know, when I feel like it.

Erika (07:52)
Well with all the experience that you’ve had, what are you doing now? What markets are you mainly working in?

Carolyn (08:02)
new construction and property management.

Erika (08:05)
and then you’re operating in Alaska, right? And that’s I have as challenges.

Carolyn (08:08)
Yes. And I have found, yeah, it has

its own challenges, but I have found with the climate change and the way things are going that ⁓ I actually was a buyer’s agent for a long time. And then I worked briefly for a company ⁓ that he mainly did listings. And I learned like how to do sellers with him and then having builders. I like sellers and there’s a lot of people that don’t, but I kind of.

I kind of like sellers, ⁓ especially now. ⁓

I still like to do buyers. just put a doctor into a condo and ⁓ she’s very, very happy. And it was like a, ⁓ I like foreclosures and I like flips. And she moved into a condo where she had to do like painting, flooring, know, things like that. She went conventional and I mean, I still like doing things like that, but it’s always, it’s not just your cut and dry. A buyer called and you know, they were gonna go look at houses and.

Looking at houses is like the least of our job. People think, I want to go show houses all day. Well, that’s not really what we do. I mean, we do in the beginning, but it’s not really what we do. my focus is probably new construction and property manager.

Erika (10:05)
So going back to the logistics and everything in Alaska, do you find that there’s any hurdles because of your location or do you find it to be pretty smooth?

Carolyn (10:24)
think it’s pretty smooth and maybe it’s because I’ve lived here since 98 and it doesn’t seem like a big deal. ⁓ I know in cities you can show 10 or 15 houses to a buyer a day. out here you could probably, because it’s the driving, know, things are far apart. In Anchorage you still can do that because, you know, it’s a city. But out here, I mean, you could go from…

Well, I’ll say the Butte, I’ll say Palmer, all the way to Willow, and you’re talking a stretch of, I don’t know, probably 70 miles. So you could probably show maybe six homes max just in the drive time. But the challenge that we’re having now is we don’t have a big inventory. So there’s that. And we still up here are having multiple offers on

houses under 400,000 because we just don’t have that many of them and we do have buyers out there that you know want to buy something they don’t want to rent and There’s nothing to sell them So unless they want to build which I’m happy to do that

Erika (11:35)
And you do new construction. So ⁓ what kind of advice would you give to people who ⁓ are looking to do new construction, whether it’s a first time home buyer or an investor wanting to get into new construction?

Carolyn (11:37)
Yes.

Well…

Be patient. ⁓

Now the time frame is probably six months. you can’t, you can’t like, it’s not, it’s not going to get done early. That’s for sure. That very rarely happens, but it’s kind of fun, but you have to plan. should have, so, you know, there’s times when you can get a seller to pay closing costs. You can get a seller to, um, help, help with the down payment, especially if you go VA, but the new construction, you need to have some money. Um, you need to have.

what is called notice for seed funds, which gets the ball rolling and you have standard features and you have allowances and I don’t know very many buyers that stay within their allowance. So you need to have just a little bit of money. It’s not like we wouldn’t override it. let’s just say there’s a house for 400 and you know, we know it’s going to appraise for 420 or whatever and they want certain things and we write it for 420.

that we can do those kinds of things. But ⁓ I think you need to have some money in your pocket if you’re going to do new construction. Otherwise, it’s stressful because then they’re like, my god, my flooring allowance is only this and I can’t do this or what can we do? And new thing that never happened before, you used to get a pre-appraisal and then of course you always get a final when you’re done. ⁓

Sometimes it would appraise for more. Well, it’s weird because they’re not right now and it’s like so if we wrote the contract for 465 and They needed $5,000 covered by the builder or whatever. We would just do an amendment. We’d make it 470 Well, sometimes appraisers aren’t going for that And I don’t know why because that you know the house appraises for that so I don’t know I think you need to have some money in your pocket

Erika (13:50)
Carolyn, is there a new construction project that comes to mind that you’re really, really proud of?

Carolyn (13:59)
So I have a builder. He’s, ⁓ I think he’s 28 or nine. And he makes me want to pull my hair out, but we do residential. And so, yeah, there’s some houses that have just come out stunning. I finally got him to join the Home Builders Association and we’re going to put a house in the Parade of Homes in September.

And that one’s coming along nicely. I mean, I think, I think, I mean, not every house is my favorite. And sometimes buyers, I’m like, what were they thinking? You know what I mean? If that’s ugly or, or God, you know, look at the countertops and you just, you know, you have to, but I mean, I’m pretty proud of all his houses, honestly.

Erika (15:29)
That’s great. With 23 years of experience, I think you said 23 years? Yeah. You probably have ⁓ seen a property or two, you know, like a deal that was just really rough or you had to pivot fast. Can you share a story like that?

Carolyn (15:35)
Something like that, yeah. I didn’t do the math.

So just this year, normally I can pivot fast and usually it was with flips or new ⁓ flips where you had to pivot quickly because it wasn’t going to finance or they needed more cash to come to the table. And I really never had a problem with that. I had one this year where the buyer just couldn’t get it together. And it was my first DFT ever. And I was so sad. And where he lost his earnest money.

You know what I mean? Because normally I can pivot and put them into something else, but this just was ⁓ not fun. And what he did it to himself, but of course it was my fault. And, you know, I lost him as a client, but that’s, that’s, that’s how it goes. But it was like the first time that it was really like, my gosh, he bought a car. That’s what happened. And so then his income to debt ratio changed, but you know, somehow that’s my fault. ⁓ And, and so I think that that happens sometimes.

Erika (16:41)
Mmm.

Carolyn (16:51)
⁓ I think he thought I could save his earnest money and I just couldn’t in this situation. The other side had called and said, well, what happened? And the lender wasn’t going to lie for him, I guess, or whatever. And he just said, well, he bought a car and so we’re having issues. And her seller didn’t want to extend. I mean, it probably would have worked out had she wanted to extend, but she didn’t want to extend. So there’s that.

And because he bought a car, he did it to himself. so it’s the first time I’ve ever had a buyer lose their honest money. Usually we’re pretty good about saving it. Couldn’t save it this time.

Erika (17:29)
Yeah. How how does that experience shape the way that you approach deals now?

Carolyn (17:35)
But we’ve always had the joke, ⁓ you know, don’t buy a car, don’t buy furniture, don’t breathe until you close. So I’m pretty good about telling people not to do that, but now I’m extra careful and it’s a good story to tell new realtors, you know, because I just heard someone the other day, they were getting ready to close on their house and they were going to go buy furniture. And I just happened to overhear it and I’m like, don’t you do that. Don’t do it until you record because you never know when the bank is going to pull.

like their final, you know, and look at what you’ve done. And if you put it on a credit card, you could just screw yourself right out of a house. I’ll never forget, and this was early on, it was like 10 years ago, ⁓ we had a buyer who went out and bought a Hummer and he came in and he was so proud of it. And I just looked at him and, cause he was tight. And I said, I am so sorry. I hope you enjoy. And it wasn’t this mean, but I said, I hope you enjoy living in your Hummer.

Erika (18:12)
Yeah.

Carolyn (18:33)
You’re not going to be able to buy that house now.” And he’s like, what do you mean? So, I mean, we’ve had things like that happen. And so we try, I mean, I’m sure you is, you’re a realtor, right?

Erika (18:44)
You know, I am not. I’m a podcast host, but I talk to realtors all day long.

Carolyn (18:48)
⁓ I

mean we can I mean I can tell you story after story I mean there’s just all kinds of crazy that that has happened over the years is happening now ⁓ I Don’t know have you talked to realtors I think we briefly talked to this talked about this in the warm-up where you have a house right and it’s Six hundred thousand dollars and you know, it’s rough because you can only do condition

location and price. And if you have a seller that can’t do anything about the condition, you can’t do anything about the location, but you can do something about the price. They don’t want to drop the price, but it’s not priced. It needs like $20,000 worth of work. And she’s like, well, someone could just make an offer. And I said, but you don’t understand people aren’t doing that right now. They’re just like not looking at the house or they’re thinking, the seller’s not going to ⁓ accept a lower offer. I don’t know what’s going on. Have you heard that from other realtors around the country?

Erika (19:46)
I mean, I know some stuff’s been really weird right now. I will say that, that people aren’t behaving how you would expect.

Carolyn (19:54)
They’re not. ⁓ I I still have the mindset that if I went and looked at a house with a buyer and I thought it needed $20,000 worth of work and I thought it might be a little overpriced, I would make an

Erika (19:55)
you

Carolyn (20:08)
But I don’t know what’s happening because that is not happening. I’m like, they’re not. has to be priced. It’s like buyers are conditioned somehow. And I don’t know how that happened in what, two or three years. it’s like, well, if it isn’t priced,

what they want it to be, they’re not gonna make an offer and they move on. And I’m just like, guys, what happened to the art of negotiation? What happened? You know, you’ll even call other realtors and you’ll say, well, make an offer. Well, they don’t want to. Okay.

Erika (20:28)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Carolyn (20:42)
I just had a, on a listing, I just had, you know how you get the comment? And the comment was they didn’t like the fixtures. And I’m like, that is the least, guys, that is the least thing. If you walk into a house and cosmetically it’s the fixtures, that’s the cheapest thing you can fix. That is the cheapest thing you can fix. So when I got that, I’m like, this realtor is crazy. They don’t even know, because they really liked the house. You didn’t like the fixtures?

Erika (21:02)
Right.

Carolyn (21:12)
You know, even in new construction, your lighting allowance is only like $2,000 for a ⁓ 1500 square foot house. Lighting is not that expensive. Ask for it. Or, or I don’t know, but I just thought that was odd. That was the oddest comment I’ve had in a really long time.

Erika (21:30)
Yeah, yeah, that is interesting. Carolyn, we have a lot of listeners who are new to real estate. Do you have any advice when it comes to networking? Like for you, what’s been the biggest difference maker when it comes to building relationships and growing your network?

Carolyn (21:48)
Answering your phone. 100%. Newer realtors, they love to text. And I like to text too. There are times when I don’t want to pick up my phone. I don’t want to talk to you either. But never deliver good news or bad news via text. Pick up the phone. Pick up the phone and make a phone call. I had a newer realtor in my office for a while that

was helping me with property management and she was, you she’s 30, she’s, you know, and at the time she was like 25. But anyway, she always texted, text, text, text, text, and then she would sit in here, I guess, and listen every once in a while. And she said, you know, she says, I learned something interesting from you. And I said, what’s that? She says, I have to answer my phone more often. And I’m like, bullduh. So.

Pick up the ⁓

Go to classes and learn and understand your market. I think that there’s people running around. I think there was people that got into real estate during COVID where you just were writing offers and things were crazy. ⁓ I think you need to learn how to ⁓ write an offer properly. I some things are like, what is this? And I’m still nice enough to help them. But there are realtors out there that will take advantage.

And so I think you need to understand your contract. And I think there’s a lot of realtors that don’t. So I heard in Texas, because we can write in, like we have a specific contract that we follow, but we can write in things, like heating inspection or whatever. Seller to pay. In Texas, I hear you can’t do any of that. You can’t touch the contract. So I would think that that would be really important to understand what’s going on.

Erika (23:19)
Yeah.

Carolyn (23:43)
because I don’t think a lot of people understand it. I don’t think people are reading the contract. And I think with DocuSign and with this new age, I think that you have a lot of buyers that are signing things and they haven’t read them and they don’t know what they’re doing. And that can be frustrating because that’s our job. That’s our value. And so if we’re not

buyers and like even other realtors, then that’s a huge disservice.

That’s my advice. But answer your phone. That’s number one. I hear that complaint more than anything. And I’m guilty of it too. I am guilty of it too, but I try. I try to every once a while.

Erika (24:26)
Carolyn, what do you see next on the horizon with Signature Realty? Are you thinking new areas, new types of projects, or something else?

Carolyn (24:38)
For my horizon, probably, ⁓

I know. I’m kind of just hanging out and doing what I’m doing. I mean, like I said, if I had something on the horizon, I don’t know if I’d necessarily want to be a coach, but I would, think teaching would be good. think ⁓ there’s a lot of things that go on in property management that other realtors don’t understand. ⁓ a stop will be in one of them. I don’t know if that’s a familiar term to you, but when you’re selling like a multi

Like a fourplex or even a duplex. There’s leases involved and there’s things that you need to know And every state’s different. I’m sure every landlord tenant act is different, but I think that there’s a lot of things ⁓ In property management that can be taught to realtors that Don’t know what they’re doing or don’t don’t understand how or how a multi

a fourplex or something like that a sale works? I don’t know. I don’t really know. That’s a good question. ⁓ I think that we need to get some of these new realtors over the hump of, my God, the interest rate’s so high. No, it’s kind of normal for, you average it out over 30 years or whatever. It’s a little bit high right now. I wish it would go to like five and then that would be fine. ⁓ But I don’t know what’s…

what’s in store. don’t, I can’t say. I’m kind of like everyone else going, okay, what’s going to happen next? Because it’s kind of interesting, really.

Erika (26:25)
Carolyn, before we wrap up, if someone wants to reach out, connect with you, learn more about Signature Real Estate, what’s the best way to get in touch?

Carolyn (26:36)
Probably a text or an email. ⁓ Like I said, I try to pick up the phone. I don’t always pick up the phone. I can see that I’ve had several calls. Like, well, we’re engaging. And so I would say the fastest way to get to me would be to text me.

Erika (26:54)
Awesome. Carolyn, thank you so much for sharing your journey and your insights. We’re just ⁓ really happy to have you here. It was awesome, Carolyn.

Carolyn (27:04)
Thank

Erika (27:06)
For those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you’re

We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators like Carolyn who are out there partnering with incredible real estate agents. We’ll see you on the next episode.