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Show Summary
In this conversation, Luisa Nye, a real estate agent from Northern California, shares her journey into the real estate industry, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. She discusses the explosive growth in the market, her strategies for building a successful business, and the differences between working with investors and homebuyers. Luisa also highlights the rising trend of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in California and how they are becoming a popular option for homeowners.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Luisa Nye (00:00)
My interest started many years ago as we were renting this cute little home in the Bay Area and the we were renting it from our our friends and they said before you leave can we can you sell it for us and so somebody put it on the market and within one weekend it sold for eight hundred thousand dollars over asking price and so that I caught the bug then don’t laugh it happened andAnd after having many transactions and seeing some of the customer service or lack thereof, COVID made me pivot because I wasn’t doing that before COVID and I took the license and here I am.
Dylan Silver (02:09)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest is a real estate agent in Northern California and she as well as her husband are involved in so many different ⁓ transactions and deals in the real estate space helping clients ⁓ herself in Northern California. Please welcome Luisa Nye. Luisa welcome to the show.Luisa Nye (02:31)
Thank you. Thank you, Dylan.Dylan Silver (02:33)
It’s great to have you on here and you know, I always like to start off at the top by asking guests how they got into the real estate space.Luisa Nye (02:40)
My interest started many years ago as we were renting this cute little home in the Bay Area and the we were renting it from our our friends and they said before you leave can we can you sell it for us and so somebody put it on the market and within one weekend it sold for eight hundred thousand dollars over asking price and so that I caught the bug then don’t laugh it happened andAnd after having many transactions and seeing some of the customer service or lack thereof, COVID made me pivot because I wasn’t doing that before COVID and I took the license and here I am.
Dylan Silver (03:17)
want to ask you about ⁓ that time period of your life getting into real estate. You mentioned COVID. I got in just after COVID. Funny enough, I was in San Antonio, Texas at the time, which is how COVID got to the United States. I want to say they had a cruise ship and they brought those people who were on the cruise ship to a San Antonio military base or something like this. It broke out out of San Antonio and then went everywhere else. I got in in 2023. It was an interesting time for me to be getting in.Luisa Nye (03:32)
ThankDylan Silver (03:47)
When you were getting in, were you aware that, there’s some really unusual conditions happening, COVID, that this might be a challenging time? What was your thought process getting into the business at that point?Luisa Nye (03:57)
⁓Well, are… ⁓ Gosh, I did not foresee what was going to happen. I know that COVID gave me the time to study, take the test. ⁓ But right afterwards, I don’t know if it happened in your market. Things just exploded. Homes were going over $200,000 over desk and price just because people in the Bay Area had… I’m from Northern California.
Dylan Silver (05:07)
Yeah.Luisa Nye (05:13)
⁓ closer to Sacramento. People from the Bay Area had the money, were able to work remotely, and so they came towards our area and just flooded the market with their cash. ⁓ And my learning curve was still pretty steep, and so I kind of just sat in the sidelines watching as everything was just going crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, but I did not foresee that coming.Dylan Silver (05:39)
I’ve seen ⁓ the same trend happen across the United States. Homes go, we’re talking like ⁓ 2020, 2021, 2022, homes going for overmarket, investors buying properties on the MLS, bidding wars, homes flying off. You think you have the home secured and then someone comes and offers you more and then you’re thinking, well, what do do now? And… ⁓Luisa Nye (05:52)
Yes.you
Dylan Silver (06:00)
This was an interesting time, right? Because you still had really low, historically low rates as well. So getting into the business at that time, I wish I had gotten in in that time. Were you aware that, hey, this is kind of ⁓ a once in a lifetime circumstances here? Or were you thinking, okay, well, this is kind of the new normal. This is how I’m entering the business.Luisa Nye (06:22)
You know, I hadn’t really paid attention that much to interest rates. And they had been so low for so long. And I thought that was the new normal. And then when he started inching up, I thought, oh, maybe this is not. And I’ve since researched, my parents bought their home when it was eight and nine percent. And shortly afterwards, it was 13 percent.So by now it’s lower than 13.
Dylan Silver (06:47)
That’s right. mean,look, the home you’re in, you’re in California, right? So we were talking before hopping onto the show here about home prices in different areas of the country. Homes in California are incredible investments for that reason. You know, they appreciate precipitously. I do want to ask you about ⁓ coming out of that, that COVID frenzy where there was, you know, homes well over asking and that there were multiple offers and it was like a rush to get an offer in to where we are today. Things are creepy.
Luisa Nye (06:51)
Yes, I have.Yes.
Dylan Silver (07:17)
back up but it’s been a totally different market the last two years I want to say in particular. How did your business adapt during that time period?Luisa Nye (07:26)
⁓I was in a learning curve, so I kind of ⁓ went with it. And that was my learning curve. know, just the business. Yes, exactly. And fortunately, I had a really good mentor that ⁓ has taught me how to deal with it.
Dylan Silver (07:39)
thrown into the fire.I want to ask you about scaling a business in real estate. People talk strategically about how they’ve been able to get their first 20 homes sold their first year in the business. You know, I’ve heard people talk about a hot 100 list, literally a hundred names, hundred people you call these people. I’ve heard people talk about, you know, folks like yourself who may have an experience as an investor taking their clients from, you know, them buying their first single family home for themselves to them second home. Hey, let’s look at an investment.
property and then kind of networks of networks and referrals. What’s been your approach to building a business as a realtor?
Luisa Nye (08:27)
I have kind of ⁓ concentrated on piggybacking with my husband’s business. My husband’s a contractor local here. mean, he does remodels of kitchens and baths. But piggybacking on his and using his sphere of influence and my sphere of influence and working those,two.
Dylan Silver (09:20)
I want toask you about
intersection there. So I have a background working in distressed real estate and before I was licensed I was a wholesaler. I would connect investors with distressed sellers.
And you know one of the things that I would see is there’s a lot of synergy between these two markets right the the investors and the people that are doing flips and remodels but that it’s entirely different it’s a totally different ballgame than folks who are doing you know remodels for themselves. This is their forever home and they’re remodeling the home. Do you have experience in both of those sides working with the investors and residential and then also what’s your perspective on those two different
Luisa Nye (09:53)
Yeah.⁓
Dylan Silver (10:01)
know, avatar of buyer.Luisa Nye (10:05)
They are completely, I mean, one is entirely about bottom line dollar signs and the other one is how can I get in? How can I get in? How can I make this livable enough in this distressed property livable enough so that I can reside here and slowly?Dylan Silver (10:15)
Yeah.Luisa Nye (10:27)
work on the home and make it my own forever home. would gosh, several years ago, I did an open house for a home and I’m not a squirmy person, but it was so nasty. I just want to say it was and cute little couples were coming in. This could be our forever home. And, of course investors were coming in. So I saw the two and, I had to hope that somebody, you know, I hope that somebody wasDylan Silver (10:40)
Yeah.Luisa Nye (10:54)
the right person was getting it. But I had to use so much hand sanitizer because where I looked.Dylan Silver (11:00)
Let me tell you, Luisa, I’ve been through those homes too. I’ve been through a lot of those homes. And honestly, it was one thing for me, if the fix and flip market had been…and guests have disputed this. So I don’t want to say this is carte blanche true, but if the fix and flip market had continued to be super strong and bullish, kind of where it was 2020, 2021, 2021, 2022, if it was that strong today, I might still be doing that. But I saw fix and flip became harder and harder. You really had to buy the deal right. You had to understand the exact scope of rehab. If it’s going to be light rehab, it’s got to be light. You can’t just, you know, throw a hope and a prayer and say, well, we bought this
deal here. Yeah, the rehab was more than expected, but we’re going to get so many offers over asking that it’ll cover it. That’s just not ⁓ the case for where it is today. And I have had those ⁓ situations where you have so many different types of people coming through a property and then you’re sitting there looking at this and you’re saying, wow, this is pretty distressed property. So I hope that they see some gold in this.
Luisa Nye (11:47)
Yes. No.Right and sometimes you see the gold in the lot size where they can place an ADU. Sometimes I see the gold in it because it’s close to university or whatever it might be. Sometimes I’d like to say that sometimes there are flips and occasionally there are some flops. So we’re in the flip-flop market.
Dylan Silver (12:23)
There are some flops andhopefully it’s not your first one, but I’ve heard investors tell me this, that that first flip is as much an education as it is an investment. And what did you pay for your education? And I do want to pivot here though, Luis, and I want to ask you about granular, if we can get a little granular here, maybe give away some of the gold, but not all of the gold. Don’t give away the secret sauce. You mentioned ⁓ really having a niche, working a lot with the network that your husband is involved in.
Luisa Nye (12:46)
Uh-huh.Dylan Silver (12:52)
in with the remodels and this is an interesting niche because I think a lot of people would love to have this type of connection but also too how do you work those ⁓ customers and when folks are you know considering remodeling their home I imagine in the back of their head somewhere they’re thinking well I could remodel it or I could buy a new home is that the somewhat of the thought process there?Luisa Nye (13:16)
No, well, yes ⁓ the market where my husband works ⁓ It’s pretty high and with the interest rates people have either paid it off or they’re really low interest rates because they’ve refinanced and so they don’t want to flip I mean, they don’t want to switch to a higher interest rate. So they’d rather remodel but some of them are remodeling in preparation for sale and In our area and I don’t know how it is in your area ⁓Homes do not sell unless they’re move-in ready. People used to be able to buy a home with a bucket of paint in their hand and a paint brush, ready to go. But now that breed of buyer is no longer there, if I might say that.
Dylan Silver (13:47)
Yeah, modern.Let me ask you.
I want to ask you about a hypothetical situation. I’m a seller. I’m in Sacramento. You know, I’m coming to you, Luisa, and I’m saying, look, here’s my home. I know that it’s not exactly in the condition that needs to be to sell right now. You know, what can we do? Are you coming to me and saying, you know, Hey, well, this is where it really needs to be. It needs to be this level condition. These are the cops. This is what sold your homes here. And I can actually help you with this. You know, my husband is involved in remodels so we can really do everything under the same roof for
video.
Luisa Nye (15:13)
And I did that. I’ve done that a couple of times. Yes. One client could not afford a light update. So I said, OK, let’s put it on the market. So we put it the market. ⁓ There were all low, low ball bids. And so we took it off the market. We did a light touch up on the bathrooms and the kitchen and finished the painting because they had done some painting update. And then it’s old. ⁓Dylan Silver (15:27)
Yeah.There you go.
Luisa Nye (15:39)
I never once said, I told you so.Dylan Silver (15:43)
I’ll say it for you. I told you so.Luisa Nye (15:45)
Okay. Thank you, thank you, thank ⁓you.
Dylan Silver (15:48)
Ican imagine that being tricky and I have a similar experience, not necessarily a comma baby agent here, my first year in business. I don’t have that experience as a listing agent, but I do have that experience seeing what new builds are going for and the condition versus what is sitting on market. So I’m thinking in my head, like if I’m a buyer and I can buy a brand new home, super modern in Texas for, you in many cases, not very much more.
sometimes even the same as a pre-owned home. It’s a no-brainer for me. And then in California too, where prices are higher, people are thinking, well I’m already paying X amount for the home. I might as well get the brand new home. So that’s all of what goes into it, I can imagine. I do want to ask you about… ⁓
some of the, I would say, alternative types of real estate that we’re seeing in California. We were talking before the show, Luisa, about ADUs specifically in NorCal and SoCal. It seems to be taking over really everywhere. ⁓ What’s your perspective on this trend? Is there as many ADUs as it feels like that people are putting up in California and backyards and so on and so forth?
Luisa Nye (17:01)
Well, a lot of it is depending on the size of the lot because there has to be a certain size difference from the fences, from the neighbors. And yeah, they are going up. If people are even like refinancing their home to be able to cash out to put in a lot. The reality is the aging generation, grandparents need to be in the backyard orDylan Silver (17:23)
Yeah.Luisa Nye (17:26)
you know, or an extra income. So it is becoming popular. They’re not popping up right and left because people sometimes are still thinking, I want my backyard to myself. Right.Dylan Silver (17:37)
I’mabout to hit up some people I know in California and say, hey, let’s put an ADU. I’m thinking about my buddy Eric in California. saying, hey, is this happening? And it really does seem to be. My hat goes off to everybody in California who’s taking… ⁓
really this opportunity and putting a second dwelling unit out there. We are coming up on time here though, Luisa Where can folks go if they’re interested in reaching out to you? Maybe they have a home that ⁓ they would like to remodel and sell, or maybe they have some questions and they’re along the real estate journey as well in NorCal and would like to reach out to you.
Luisa Nye (18:13)
My email address is luisa nye realestate at gmail.com. And that’s L-U-I-S-A-N-Y-E. Yeah, I would love to answer questions or be able to partner with them.Dylan Silver (18:25)
Luisa, thank you so much for coming on the show here today.Luisa Nye (18:28)
You’re welcome. Thank you, Dylan. Take care.
