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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, Kristen Knapp interviews Beau Ramirez, a realtor specializing in first-time home buyers and property management. Beau shares his journey into real estate, the challenges he faced as a young agent, and how he transitioned to property management with Ten Star’s Property Management. He discusses his approach to working with first-time home buyers, common misconceptions about the home buying process, and the importance of setting expectations. Beau also provides insights into the current real estate market and offers advice for landlords looking to acquire properties. The conversation emphasizes the importance of education, communication, and building trust in the real estate industry.
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Beau Ramirez (00:00)
For me, it was doing a lot of in-person stuff. ⁓ Over the phone, I was not very good, but I excelled at open houses. Once somebody sees my presentation, they say, OK, he’s a younger person, but ⁓ he presents well. He knows what he’s talking about. He does his due diligence. Then it became a lot easier. Then people got over the whole, ⁓ this is his age thing, and it became more of a, what does he know? How can he help me thing? And that was what ultimately allowed me to grow. So definitely.knowing your stuff on hand, being that hyperlocal expert, knowing every single city, what subcategory of every city has to offer, when the train rolls by, how often they blare their horn, will you hear it being a mile away, stuff like that.
Kristen Knapp (02:14)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Beau Ramirez, who does sales at Ten Star’s Property Management. He’s a realtor and he works with lot of first time home buyers and he has a very specific niche within this real estate industry. So I’m excited to get into it. Thank you for being here, Beau. Amazing. So let’s go to the beginning. When did you fall in love with real estate? How did you get into it?Beau Ramirez (02:29)
Yeah, thank you for having me.Man, I probably fell in love with real estate the same way everybody else did. I watched a couple episodes of HGTV and I was sold. But I will say it ⁓ was not long in the business where I realized, wow, this is not like TV. It’s not easy. This is actually a lot more difficult. It’s not what it seems. ⁓ I guess the drive to beat that and still win was always in me. So I got past that phase.
Kristen Knapp (02:45)
That’s all it took.Beau Ramirez (03:05)
eventually just started as a single agent doing really well, having a couple partnerships and mentors and later falling into doing real estate for 10 stars.Kristen Knapp (03:14)
That’s amazing. And what did that look like in the beginning? You you see stuff on TV, you’re expecting it to go a certain way, and then maybe it doesn’t go as planned. How did you handle that and keep with it?Beau Ramirez (03:25)
So the first realization is why would somebody at the age of 19, why would I trust somebody at the age of 19 to sell my $2.3 million home, right? I had no real direction. My family doesn’t come from a real estate sales background. So it was learning from the mentors, going to the broker of ⁓ the brokers that I worked at at the time, trying to overcome major ⁓ objections and ⁓ just persevere past, this guy’s a kid. Why would I trust him versus…somebody who’s a lot older, but I eventually found what worked for me and just dialed in and kept focusing and excelling at that one thing and it allowed me to be pretty successful as a single agent.
Kristen Knapp (04:04)
How did you kind of overcome that? Because I feel like that is a big obstacle to overcome. ⁓Beau Ramirez (04:09)
For me, it was doing a lot of in-person stuff. ⁓ Over the phone, I was not very good, but I excelled at open houses. Once somebody sees my presentation, they say, OK, he’s a younger person, but ⁓ he presents well. He knows what he’s talking about. He does his due diligence. Then it became a lot easier. Then people got over the whole, ⁓ this is his age thing, and it became more of a, what does he know? How can he help me thing? And that was what ultimately allowed me to grow. So definitely.knowing your stuff on hand, being that hyperlocal expert, knowing every single city, what subcategory of every city has to offer, when the train rolls by, how often they blare their horn, will you hear it being a mile away, stuff like that.
Kristen Knapp (04:51)
Yeah, yeah, being the micro expert, I really like that. I think that’s really important,And, you know, as you kind of started with Ten Star’s property management, what did that look like? How did you end up working with them?
Beau Ramirez (05:52)
Yeah, so I came to Ten Stars actually to become a property manager, right? I was like, hey, I’m not really sure I want to do real estate anymore, but I like the idea of property management, nine to five, when the job is done, I get to go home and not worry about anything. And when I met with the CEO and the head of business development, we ran through a bunch of numbers. We had three different meetings over the course of about four hours. ⁓ And then it was like, hey, here’s what we do. Here’s what we lose monthly in sales between landlords and tenants.I looked at the number and said, where do I sign? You know, it was kind of like a no brainer, especially with having the 10 stars credibility of, hey, this is an already great service. Now the real estate side of things and the sales side of things is just an extension of that great service. It allows me to help people, like truly help people without that initial friction.
Kristen Knapp (06:38)
Yeah, I mean that’s really interesting. I didn’t know that that could be like a subset of the property management company. So that kind of like reinvigorated your love for being a realtor, I’m sure. Yeah, so…Beau Ramirez (06:49)
Absolutely, absolutely. I ⁓would just say the culture is great as well. I don’t want to be anywhere and work anywhere where I’m not happy. Everybody in the office, CEO down to the maintenance guy, just all good personalities, great. Everyone has time to answer questions. We’re all here to just help each other out and do the right thing for the landlords, for the tenants, and with each other. So it’s really nice.
Kristen Knapp (07:14)
Amazing, so kind of walk through how you work with landlords and tenants and how you work with first time home buyers.Beau Ramirez (07:21)
Absolutely, so I’m always in I’m always marketing to the tenants will have a once a month email go out just saying hey This is a market update. Here’s an example of where you might be able to benefit Here’s a piece of knowledge piece of information and I’m doing first time homebuyer webinars for the tenants and then I have Facebook ads running so Tenant will say hey my lease is coming up or we offer a zero cancellation fee as long as we represent you in the transaction so if thesix months through their one-year lease they can cancel at no fee and I will represent them in getting them a first time being first time homebuyers so it’s usually a pretty smooth process once again it’s front loading the education and expectations so that on the back side they’re well prepared for whatever situation happens because nothing’s really the same you know every transaction is a little bit different every situation is a little bit different so setting the expectation for the tenants and then
Kristen Knapp (08:11)
Right.Beau Ramirez (08:16)
When landlords are saying, what does the market look like? I don’t know if I want this property anymore. Can I offload it? Can I do a 1031? That’s where I would step in and say, yeah, here’s what we can do. Here are the foreseeable problems. Here’s what we can probably fix now. We’ll get the home sold in estimated these amount of days. And then we have all the resources between 1031 companies, title companies, inspectors, whatever. We just have all the resources pretty much in-house. Most of it will be in-house.So if somebody wants to do a 1031, we’ll sell the house, do the 1031, help them buy the next one. And that’s pretty much all me. I’ll be the gopher. Go find this, go find that.
Kristen Knapp (08:53)
That’s a really interesting model. mean, it makes so much sense. It’s very seamless for the tenant as well. Cause I feel like that’s really nice that they have that built in support that they don’t have to seek out.Beau Ramirez (09:07)
Absolutely, and I’m always available. I’ve had people say, hey, I’m not looking to buy for the next three to five years, but I have questions about this one property in my neighborhood or if I could buy the property that I’m currently residing in. And it’s pretty rare, but every so often we’ll get somebody that wants to buy the house that they’re renting from. And once both parties are on board with it, it’s very smooth, lease to own or just outright purchase.It saves everybody time. It’s one shot deal. I’m in communication with everyone at all times and the sale gets done. No problems at all.
Kristen Knapp (09:37)
Wow, I mean a win-win-win across the board. Everybody is banking from that.Beau Ramirez (09:41)
Exactly.That’s the goal.
Kristen Knapp (10:19)
And you probably work with people over the course of a long time. People are probably, as you said, they’re just thinking about buying a home and maybe they’re just wanting more information and they’re not ready to break their lease yet. you foster a pretty safe environment where people feel comfortable in their lease and they don’t feel the need probably to rush. ⁓ That must be rewarding too, really help people through that process.Beau Ramirez (10:45)
Absolutely. I would say that when people get into real estate and they say, ⁓ I’m doing this to help people. Yes. But you really only reap that benefit of helping them at the end of the transaction. After you’ve gone through the initial friction, after you’ve gained their trust throughout the transaction. But at 10 stars, you know, once again, we’re already a great service. This is now just an extension of that already great service. So people come to me, they’re honest, they’re not gatekeeping. They’re not, you know,shady, it’s full transparency to have every right to tell me, I still want to move forward with this. Hey, I want to back out. Hey, I’m not interested anymore. And it’s never a, man, I’m going to lose the commission. have to sell them and get them back on board. It’s great. Let me know when you’re ready and I’m here for you. So it’s a lot ⁓ less friction for them, a lot less friction for me. at the end of the day, throughout the transaction, they’re very happy because they get certain benefits, certain perks, especially.
Kristen Knapp (11:26)
Right.Yeah.
Beau Ramirez (11:41)
If they partner with our in-house partnerships, we just perks on perks on perks. So it’s good for them. It’s definitely good for them.Kristen Knapp (11:48)
Yeah, so it’s areally great model. It really is. And what are some things that you see with first-time home buyers? What are maybe some misconceptions that a lot of people you’re seeing repeated over and over?
Beau Ramirez (12:00)
I would say the biggest two are going to be down payment, right? Oh, I need that 20 % down payment or my credit score is a little low and I can’t get a loan. I always say talk to the lender. You know, it’s very simple. Talk to the lender. know, FHA, you 3.5 % down. I’ve seen some conventional loans where they say if you put 1 % down, the lending company will match 2 % to give you a 3 % down payment.Each lender has their own program. So what I do is I have a network of lenders. We have some in-house people too with creative financing options like lease to own where the bank will actually purchase the home. And instead of it going to the owner, it’d be a normal transaction. Now you’re just renting from the bank. Eventually we’ll purchase the home from the bank. ⁓ So each lender has their own special niche, their own special program that they have. And then whatever the tenant needs, whatever the first time homebuyer situation looks like.
I won’t tell them to go there, but I’ll suggest, hey, here are probably the top people who could help you out. Call them, talk to them about X, Y, and Z, and they will be able to guide you in the best direction. Because I’m not a mortgage professional. I’m the realtor. But I know that these people are vetted. They are good at what they do. They have moved mountains for me in the past. And they’re the people I want to work with. They’re easy to work with. They’re fun.
They make things seamless, they’re knowledgeable, and they can pull us out of a rut if push comes to shove, you know, two days before closing, so.
Kristen Knapp (13:25)
Yeah, I mean, I think that’s a good point. think a lot of people let misconceptions about finance get in the way of them purchasing a home. I think that’s very, very common. Yeah. And so, you know, as you help people through these first purchases, what are some other things you see? Like, what do you want more people who are buying a home to know? Like, through the process, what makes it easier?Beau Ramirez (13:36)
Absolutely. Absolutely.⁓ So one of the things that I’ll do to set the expectation ahead of time is that not every transaction is super smooth and that every transaction has its own unique road bumps. It’s never a problem unless it’s too late, right? If some major problem happens and we’re one week into ⁓ under contract and they have a problem with the loan, it’s not a problem. As long as the lender communicates that to me, as long as I communicate that to the…
the first time home buyers, as long as we’re able to find a solution before it’s too late. And even if it is too late, maybe in that situation, we can write an extension to the contract. Let’s have enough time. There’s always a solution for things and it’s never really a problem. But for somebody who’s not experienced in this, they might see one little thing and freak out. And it’s not something to freak out about. It’s more of something that allow me to handle it, we’ll be in communication and I’ll solve that problem as it is. And if there’s no solution,
absolutely no solution, even after I’ve reached out to multiple resources and multiple other people who can help with that problem. If there’s absolutely no solution, then let’s do the right thing here. Let’s stop the bleeding as it is and move on to the next one or move on in another direction.
Kristen Knapp (15:04)
Right.Right? think you’re bringing up something really important because I think that there’s, especially with first time home buying, there’s so many obstacles that people just take as like, I’m not going to do it. Like it’s a dead end when it’s not a dead end. There’s a lot of creative solutions and partnering with someone like you, I’m sure you can guide them through the process very well.
I think another roadblock that really prevents people from entering the market right now is the market itself. And people are very unclear about where we’re headed. I would love for you to talk about kind
your perspective on the market and is it a good time to buy?
Beau Ramirez (16:16)
ThankYeah, so for first time home buyers, ChatGPT will only go so far in what it tells you and how accurate the data is and everything like that. ⁓ ChatGPT is a great resource, but it’s not everything for first time home buyers, although I know a lot of them will look towards that app ⁓ to supplement them with the proper knowledge. But as far as the real estate market goes, mean, we can only look at what the big dogs are doing, right? If the Fed’s saying, hey, we’re going to lower interest rates come September 16th or 17th.
Kristen Knapp (16:25)
youBeau Ramirez (16:48)
We’re gonna try to lower them over the course of all of 2026, all 2027, get interest rates back down to 3%. Then we could look at that and say, okay, there’s a foreseeable future, but what are the prices of homes look like? What does the everyday person, the everyday homeowner say to that? Is it great? Will it fire the market back up? It may. Will it actually not move at all because home prices are still too high? It may.At the end of the day, we don’t have that crystal ball to be able to tell the future of saying, it’s going to be successful in one year. If you’re not happy with the offers you’re getting today, take it off market. We’ll try again next year. It’ll be way better. You know, that’s ⁓ over promising. And if the market doesn’t perform the way you expect it to perform, then it looks really bad for you. So I always just say we can look at it today and make our judgment based off today because even in a year.
If you’re asking me questions about today, I’m going to give you the today answer.
Kristen Knapp (17:43)
Yeah, of course. And I mean, I feel like the more you wait, the more you second guess it, and there’s never a perfect time to enter the market.Beau Ramirez (17:51)
Yeah, you can’t time the market. And if you could, there’d be well more billionaires in the world, well more millionaires.Kristen Knapp (17:56)
Right, exactly.Yeah, I think that owning property is always, for the most part, a good investment. So yeah, I think that’s great. And then how do you work with these landlords and tenants? How do you work on the other side of acquiring properties?
Beau Ramirez (18:13)
Acquiring properties for landlords? Well, very, it’s, yeah, I mean, it’s very simple, right? What category or what criteria do you have for your style of investing? I’ve worked with some people where they say, ⁓ I like to own condos, right? So we’ll go out and find them a really cheap condo. They say, I want a turnkey. May not be that cheap, you know, setting the expectations once again. I just did a transaction where this guy sold hisKristen Knapp (18:16)
Yeah, or for 10.Beau Ramirez (18:42)
condo and he purchased a duplex. This is the first time he’s ever getting into multifamily. So what does that mean? know, starting with that process, explaining it to him, it’s not as scary as you think. You know, we will manage everything for you. You know, the asset will be managed exceptionally, but getting him the deal is really it. So if somebody is comfortable with walking away from a deal at the price and give an offer and then they’re willing to walk away from that, if it’s not accepted, they are in the best position as a landlord becauseKristen Knapp (18:51)
Yeah.Yeah.
Beau Ramirez (19:11)
At that point, you’re not living in the home. The numbers just need to make sense. So if I find you three properties where it makes sense, you’re willing to walk away from all of them, but we put in the right price, right offer for that property, break them down, break down the seller and the listing agent over the course of two weeks to eight weeks, ⁓ there’s a good chance we could get you that property. So ⁓ don’t fall in love with the deal, fall in love with the idea of making money on the deal.Kristen Knapp (19:31)
Yeah.Yeah, definitely two different muscles working with a first time home buyer where it’s so emotional and then maybe somebody where it’s more about numbers.
Beau Ramirez (19:48)
Imean, to be honest with you, I would even say it’s more emotional ⁓ at the landlord side because this is their income, you know, this is their money versus somebody who’s living there, you full time as a retail buyer. ⁓ So sometimes it can be a little bit more emotional on the landlord side, but it’s definitely unique if you’ve never heard that.
Kristen Knapp (19:55)
day out.Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, you’ve given so much great advice to first time home buyers. And I think that, you know, again, the model that you’re working in, it’s really interesting to kind of wrap it all up. What would be a piece of advice that you wish you learned earlier in your career that you can share with us?
Beau Ramirez (20:25)
a piece of advice just as a whole or for…Kristen Knapp (20:28)
Yeah, like,yeah, with like, as you’ve been building your career in the real estate industry, what’s, you know, something you wish you learned a little earlier?
Beau Ramirez (20:35)
I would say there’s always a solution to everything as long as you’re properly prepared, right? I think it was Abraham Lincoln said, if you give me three hours to cut down a tree, the first two hours I’m gonna use to sharpen the axe. And I mean, that is the most valid point I’ve ever heard. If you have the proper resources, if you do your due diligence on the front side, the backside is gonna be super easy.Kristen Knapp (20:38)
Yeah.Yeah, no I think that’s great advice. It’s definitely an industry where a lot of stuff can go wrong. It’s probably different every single time. Yeah. Well, tell everyone where to find you.
Beau Ramirez (21:11)
Yeah, so you can find me here in Tampa, Florida. We’re in Pinellas Park. You can reach me at area code 813-450-9229 or catch me on Instagram or Facebook at Beau.NoseHomes and you’ll see every so often I’m trying to get better at posting that content, but we’re doing it every day trying to get a little bit better.Kristen Knapp (21:29)
Amazing! Well, thank you so much for being here, Beau.Beau Ramirez (21:33)
Absolutely, yeah. Thank you for having me. This was awesome.Kristen Knapp (21:35)
Yes, and thank you everybody for listening. I hope you learned a lot and we will see you back next time. Bye.
