The Hidden Real Estate Seller Market Most Investors Are Overlooking

Verdell Osborne (00:00)
I know what causes stalled decisions. And if you can get decisions made at the seat at the pause table, properties move and conversations get easier. I really don’t generate leads. I create readiness. Many times people are stuck.

caregivers are stuck. just they’re so overwhelmed. They just don’t know what to do. They know, you know, they may be living in a house that needs repair, that needs work. However, if they don’t talk about it, and they don’t have that time to breathe and really think about, you know, where they need to go from there, that decision, those properties just sit.

Michelle Kesil (02:12)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil, and today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Verdell Osborne, who has created Pause and Power, helping burned out caregivers and leaders find solutions with housing and their burned out state. So excited to have you here today, Verdell.

Verdell Osborne (02:38)
Thank you, Michelle. It’s good to be here.

Michelle Kesil (02:41)
Great, let’s dive in. So first off, for those not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what your main focus is?

Verdell Osborne (02:49)
Absolutely. I am a leader. I’ve been in the health insurance industry for over 20 years in sales and training. And recently, about a year ago, I happened to be in a situation where I was a burned out caregiver and leader. So I started my own business called Pause and Power to help burned out caregivers who may be faced with

housing instability as well as just being overwhelmed, understand the importance of taking a pause, taking that opportunity to find out, because many times caregivers are so overwhelmed, it causes stalled decisions. They may even realize that they need to sell their house or need to make a move, but because they’re so overwhelmed, just

kind of get stalled. So I created a seat at the pause table, which is an exclusive event. I created a sanctuary in my backyard and you can probably see a little bit behind me. have a pool and a she shed and I invited caregivers to come and just take a breather. You know, I also invited investors.

to be able to come and have a different kind of conversation to build trust with caregivers to help them as they start to make that decision to sell their home.

Michelle Kesil (04:15)
In which market do you operate in?

Verdell Osborne (04:17)
The DFW. So I am in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and have been there for about 30 years.

Michelle Kesil (04:23)
Yeah. And why specifically caregivers and what is the like your version or definition of caregiver?

Verdell Osborne (05:20)
Absolutely. So caregivers is a growing population and actually represents 43 million caregivers in the world today. And these caregivers are normally people that are sandwiched in between caring for aging parents as well as even children.

So as parents age, you know, many times people have a home, but because of financial obligations and medical responsibilities with caring for both, you know, being sandwiched in between, you find yourself not being able to afford the same house or, you know, the home that you’re currently in. you know, it’s a group.

Most of the time it’s a great property you’ve put in work and there’s equity, but you need to walk away from that property and you don’t want to walk away just leaving everything on the table, but you want to find a solution to kind of help you through that circumstance and really kind of talk to what maybe, you know, a vision that you may have as a caregiver because, you know, the tiny home community,

is something that people are looking for, just a lot of different solutions that will help caregivers transition out of that stress and being overwhelmed.

Michelle Kesil (06:40)
Yeah, and how does this tie in to real estate?

Verdell Osborne (06:45)
Absolutely. It ties into real estate because I did something different. I created something called a seat at the pause table to invite potential investors as well as I even had a realtor come in. We sat down with many caregivers. You know I don’t know how familiar you are with.

you know, the support groups for caregivers, but there are millions of caregivers, you know, on those support groups just overwhelmed, not sure what they need to do with their current housing situation. They own homes. They may have even inherited a home. So this is a potential area for opportunity for investors.

if they look at it differently. You know, many times these caregivers have the property and they want to release the property, but they just don’t know how. So I created this seat at the pause table to sit down, have a dinner. I even had a massage therapist there because many times caregivers are so overwhelmed. They never get the chance to pause. They never get a chance to just take a breather.

to step away from caregiving. And because they don’t have an opportunity to step away, this decision stays. They really don’t move forward because it’s stalled or they don’t know who to trust. But it’s about having conversations and being a bridge for caregivers and investors to be able to help create a win-win for both sides.

Michelle Kesil (08:23)
Yeah, absolutely. And so what do you feel have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to be able to run successfully?

Verdell Osborne (08:33)
One of the key areas is to first of all acknowledge what happens when someone burns out. You know, I. Experiences firsthand, not only was I a homeowner, but I was a caregiver. I was a leader, a senior manager at a large organization. I was also a student and I had a lot of responsibilities in.

Because of that, I experienced this firsthand. So I know now what caregivers go through.

I know what causes stalled decisions. And if you can get decisions made at the seat at the pause table, properties move and conversations get easier. I really don’t generate leads. I create readiness. Many times people are stuck.

caregivers are stuck. just they’re so overwhelmed. They just don’t know what to do. They know, you know, they may be living in a house that needs repair, that needs work. However, if they don’t talk about it, and they don’t have that time to breathe and really think about, you know, where they need to go from there, that decision, those properties just sit.

you know foreclosures are up so this is a hidden market and this is an opportunity for investors to listen pay attention to the signs and find out how you know they can help you know this particular market move forward.

Michelle Kesil (10:39)
Yeah, and what are your goals or opportunities that you see in how this can continue to progress and evolve?

Verdell Osborne (10:51)
Absolutely. ⁓ My goal, to be very honest with you, I would love to have an opportunity to have, you know, my seat at the pause table includes eight people. It’s a small, intimate setting. I would love to be able to have investors come and sit at the pause table and really come up with solutions. I mean, I’ll give you a dream of mine. Having

this business that I created, I want to be able to create opportunities for many caregivers and not just myself. I want to be able to create, you know, transitional opportunities because many times people are stuck because they have nowhere to go. So if you are an investor and you have a property that’s been sitting and you have a rental property,

and that caregiver has a property for sale, why not ⁓ figure out a solution for it to be a win-win? It may even be if an investor, you know, will put a down payment on a tiny home for a person that no longer, you know, has a, they have a five-bedroom house and no longer, they need a five, they don’t need a five-bedroom house, but they want a tiny home. Why not make that dream come?

true for that caregiver. Do think they’ll sign on the dotted line? Yes, because they can see the light at the end of the tunnel and they’re not stuck. So a seat at the pause table actually allows people to talk about it, you know, and ask the right questions because many times people have in the back of their mind what they want to do, but no one is really listening. So having those conversations to say, you know, where do you see yourself?

a year from now, how do you think selling this home will get you there? What are some, know, getting people to talk? And I think a seat at the pause table brings those conversations to light. There, you know, are other people there where they’re not feeling like they’re threatened or scared or, you know, there’s a lot of emotion that goes with being burned out.

And many times people don’t realize when a person is burned out and they’re thinking about all of the other things that they have going on, they may be there, but they’re not really present. So if you can get a person to breathe, to be in a relaxed environment and really begin to open up and talk and having those conversations, you can move properties.

Michelle Kesil (13:23)
Yeah, and what type of investors are you looking to connect with?

Verdell Osborne (14:11)
I’m looking to connect with investors who understand the importance of relationships. know, having been in the sales insurance industry for a long time, I realized that relationships are so important. And what I mean by that is many times investors think, I just want to move this property or I just want to see the bottom line.

I really want investors that will think outside the box to think creatively, to really be in a position to listen and find out, you know, how can I as an investor? I mean, I’ll give you a prime example. I’ll just pause there. have an investor that’s looking at my property right now and

I told him exactly what I was interested in from the very beginning. And this particular investor just does not hear me. He keeps calling. However, I’m not going to move on that property because I’m on my property because I’m looking for someone who will listen and really think about what I’m saying and help me with solutions, brainstorm, you know, and be a little bit different.

than your average investor, meaning they’re just there to move the property. We realize that that’s the ultimate goal, however, but if you will think about the person that you’re talking to and finding out what they need out of the deal, you’d get a lot further ahead with that particular transaction.

Michelle Kesil (15:45)
So are you looking to connect with both caregivers and investors and kind of bridge that gap?

Verdell Osborne (15:54)
Yes, absolutely. Yes. You know, my next seat at the pause table is May 23rd. And what I really want to do is I want to bring not only investors, but caregivers. I’m also connected with Deterrent County Society of Aging. And what that is is it’s

basically for caregivers who are dealing with patients or family members that have dementia and Alzheimer’s. And that is a burned out situation or situation that causes a caregiver to get burned out because you’re always on. And with that said, that’s a whole group of caregivers

that need to think about where do I go from here because that aging parent may go into a facility or they may need to go into memory care and that caregiver is stuck trying to figure out what are they going to do with the property that they’re in. Well, having said that, at the seat at the pause table, I also want to bring someone who specializes in senior solutions.

So not only are you bringing an investor, you’re bringing in the caregiver and you’re bringing in solutions that this person may be able to come out of their home, but also transition into somewhere else, another property that will or another apartment or something that fits their situation. So what’s so unique about this is if an investor will

think outside of just that one transaction and think about what put themselves in the other side of the table and really begin to help that person negotiate out of that property. You’re going to get, you know, a great property or that opportunity, but it just takes conversation, time and patience.

Michelle Kesil (17:51)
Absolutely. And where do you see this business heading? Like how do you want it to scale?

Verdell Osborne (17:58)
I wanted to scale, you know, it starts with just the seat at the pause table, but it also encompasses opportunities for caregivers to take an online course on how to manage their stress and how to pause if you can’t get to a seat at the pause table. I also wanted to scale where I’m doing something called pause boxes.

Meaning, if a caregiver is overwhelmed, think about this, the caregiver’s overwhelmed, they can’t make a decision, or you have a family member that is overwhelmed, you can send a pause box, which is a box that has things in it to remind them to take a breath. You know, the things that people can, when you finally sit down as a caregiver, it is a

moment that you treasure. mean, sometimes I have caregivers that respond to me at three in the morning because that is the only time that they’re able to be off is when their family member is asleep. So you find those moments to breathe. You find those moments to just take a pause. So I see myself being able to offer those pause boxes. So

Not only because my background is in training and development, I want to be able to offer those courses. I want people to be able to order the things that they need online to be able to help them create their own experience at home, as well as being able to attend a PAWS session.

Michelle Kesil (19:35)
Thank you for sharing.

Verdell Osborne (19:36)
Absolutely.

Michelle Kesil (19:37)
Well, before we wrap up here, someone wants to reach out, connect and learn more. Where can people find you?

Verdell Osborne (19:44)
They can find me on LinkedIn. My name is Verdell V-E-R-D-E-L-L Osborne, O-S-B-O-R-N-E. And you will see me in a pink suit, ⁓ Pause and Power Institute. That’s exactly where you’ll find me. You can reach out to me there. And I’m looking forward to partnering with investors that really want to help caregivers and also move their next deal.

Michelle Kesil (20:09)
Perfect, well appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Verdell Osborne (20:12)
Absolutely and thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Michelle Kesil (20:15)
Of course, and for those tuning in, you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Verdell who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on our next episode.