"What Does Your Tuesday Look Like?" — The Question That Changes Everything: Ep 340 Bailey Martin

REE #340 Transcript

[00:00:00] Bailey Martin: I love real estate because, oh gosh, it certainly keeps me on my toes. I love a good challenge.

I love meeting people. I love the relationships. I love helping people. And, yeah, it's fun.

[00:00:37] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Five years ago, our guest sat in this seat for one of our very first episodes, episode three. Since then she's built a reputation in St Augustine for straight talk and real results, and she's left the big brokerage world behind to open her own doors at Sunrise Realty; St Augustine Sunrise Realty. Real estate should—

[00:01:00] feel human. That's the whole idea.

She's lived what she sells, Anastasia Island, World Golf Village, downtown, and she's back today to tell us what's really happening in this market of northeast Florida. Let's welcome Bailey Martin to the show.

[00:01:14] Bailey Martin: Thank you so much—

[00:01:14] Tracy Hayes: Welcome back ...

[00:01:15] Bailey Martin: for having me on. Thank you.

[00:01:15] Tracy Hayes: Yes, I'm glad to get you back. I'm excited to hear about you branching out because I think a lot of real estate agents, at some time, maybe think about doing their own thing and, you know, or building a team or whatever it is, so it's always good to get that story of what's going on.

Obviously, I'm sure there's been some trials and tribulations, maybe some tears. I don't know. You have to share that with us. But, let's advance really to that 'cause basically at the beginning of the year you left your past brokerage and now you're—started your own. What brought you to that? How long did you plan for that? Tell us, just give us the background.

[00:01:48] Bailey Martin: Yeah, starting my own brokerage is something that's kind of been building in me for a long time, something I've been thinking about.

I've had my real estate license for about a decade now. I was with my previous—

[00:02:00] brokerage for seven years and learned a whole lot there, had some really great mentors, and really just felt like it was the time.

I w- actually just moved from the World Golf Village area out of Heritage Landing down to Anastasia Island just for a little bit of a lifestyle change as my kids got older, and that relocation from really from one side of St. Augustine to the other side of St. Augustine prompted the, “Okay, now it's time. Let's jump in and do this.”

[00:02:28] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. You said ki- kids get older, changing schools?

[00:02:32] Bailey Martin: I did, yeah.

[00:02:33] Tracy Hayes: 'Cause I know you don't ... Yours is not out. I know you, you've got kind of a mixed level of, of kids there, right?

[00:02:36] Bailey Martin: I do. Yes. So I have a 19, 17, and 15—

[00:02:40] Tracy Hayes: Oh ...

[00:02:40] Bailey Martin: and five.

[00:02:41] Tracy Hayes: Okay. So,

[00:02:42] Bailey Martin: yeah.

[00:02:43] Tracy Hayes: All right. Yeah, a little gap. Okay. New school, guess starting at elementary school or kindergarten, first grade or whatever, and the other high school change.

[00:02:52] Bailey Martin: Yes. And my high schools were, l- girls were a little bit nervous about it.

[00:02:56] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:57] Bailey Martin: They love living on the island now. They're so cute driving around—

[00:03:00] in their little Jeep with their surfboard hanging out the back and—

[00:03:02] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:03:02] Bailey Martin: It was a big change going from Tocoi High School, which was brand new, beautiful high school, over to St. Augustine High School, which has been open for 70 years.

[00:03:12] Tracy Hayes: Hm. Mm-mm.

[00:03:13] Bailey Martin: And all of their rules are called traditions. And so, it was a big change, but, especially in the beginning, but everybody's so happy to be down there and, and living the island lifestyle.

[00:03:23] Tracy Hayes: So they're, they're willing trade the high school f- for the island—

[00:03:27] Bailey Martin: for the ocean.

[00:03:27] Tracy Hayes: the island life. For the ocean.

[00:03:29] Bailey Martin: Yeah. Yes.

[00:03:30] Tracy Hayes: Because it really is, I mean imagine, a lot of, you know, just flip-flops walking down the street, a lot of sand. That's, uh, visualizing Anastasia Island and, you know—th- when being out there, and it is, you know, the ... what do they say? When you go to the island, you don't leave the island, I think. Isn't there some saying like that?

[00:03:43] Bailey Martin: Well, I mean, I think a lotta people have those bumper stickers that say, “Don't make me cross the bridge.”

[00:03:47] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:03:48] Tracy Hayes: So—

[00:03:49] Bailey Martin: I'm still crossing the bridge quite often because—

[00:03:53] Tracy Hayes: Mm ...

[00:03:53] Bailey Martin: I'm doing a lot of business, you know, in my old neighborhoo- hood of Heritage Landing and TrailMark and Silverleaf and all of that—

[00:03:58] Tracy Hayes: Yep.

[00:03:58] Bailey Martin: over there. That's the area that I've worked for the—

[00:04:00] past, you know, eight, nine years, and so I know it really well, and I'm still having to cross the bridge, but it's great. We love Down- Downtown St. Augustine and, and—

[00:04:10] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:04:10] Bailey Martin: the island life. It's really still just like a small town beach vibe, so—

[00:04:15] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:04:15] Bailey Martin: we love it. You can ride your bike all around the island. We all have e-bikes, and you can walk to the ice cream store with, you know ... And even this morning—

[00:04:24] Tracy Hayes: The restaurants are all right—

[00:04:25] Bailey Martin: Really great restaurants—

[00:04:26] Tracy Hayes: right there.

[00:04:26] Bailey Martin: Yeah, but even this morning we went down and watched the sun rise on the ocean before, you know, taking my daughter to school. So it's just, it's really great.

[00:04:37] Tracy Hayes: That's cool.

[00:04:37] Bailey Martin: We're so happy to be down there. And we loved living in Heritage Landing for so long too. I mean, that master planned community with all great schools and just a ton of kids, and we loved that, and that was great for everybody while, while they were growing up as well. We were just kind of ready for a little bit of a change.

[00:04:49] Tracy Hayes: You know, Heritage Landing and of course King and Bear were built at a time where, like, they were on the edge of the universe.

[00:04:55] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:04:56] Tracy Hayes: Uh, to our liability.

[00:04:56] Bailey Martin: But when we moved in there in 2017 it, it did feel like the edge—

[00:05:00] of the universe.

[00:05:01] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[00:05:01] Bailey Martin: It was before Silverleaf even started development, which now it's blowing up. There's thousands—

[00:05:08] Tracy Hayes: Right ...

[00:05:08] Bailey Martin: of homes already occupied in there. But when we moved there, that road into World Golf Village wasn't even open yet. And so, in the eight years that we lived there we saw so much development, including the new high school, the new roads, the new Walmart's being built. The, you know, two Publix right there in World Golf Village—

[00:05:25] Tracy Hayes: Right across—

[00:05:26] Bailey Martin: the street from each other, and then of course they just built the biggest—

[00:05:28] Tracy Hayes: There's more Pu—

[00:05:28] Bailey Martin: Publix ever.

[00:05:28] Tracy Hayes: r- I think there's probably at least four Publix within a two mile radius of my house.

[00:05:31] Bailey Martin: It's crazy. They, they really have a monopoly on the area. And—

[00:05:35] Tracy Hayes: And it really is—

[00:05:36] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[00:05:36] Tracy Hayes: a pleasure shopping there, you know?

[00:05:38] Bailey Martin: Yeah, yeah.

[00:05:38] Tracy Hayes: I mean, the prices are a little higher but it is clean, everybody's nice. You know, it's, it—

[00:05:41] Bailey Martin: is very nice. They're well staffed. They got the ba—

[00:05:45] Tracy Hayes: People are bagging your stuff and it does—

[00:05:47] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:05:47] Tracy Hayes: there, there is a pl- A, Heritage Landing, to me is probably, would you say one of the still great values for St. John's County?

[00:05:53] Bailey Martin: Definitely. You can get a, a big home there for one of the cheapest prices. So—

[00:05:58] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:05:58] Bailey Martin: although it's about a—

[00:06:00] 20-year-old neighborhood, it has amazing amenities, a big— There's two pools, one with a twisting water slide. They have a lot of amenity athletics there, so your kid can ride their bike to the soccer game and to practice and stuff.

[00:06:14] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:14] Bailey Martin: And so that's really cool. But price wise compared to everything around it, it is a little bit lower.

[00:06:17] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:06:17] Bailey Martin: Because it's also surrounded by new construction. I mean, TrailMark is a huge neighborhood. Silverleaf is a huge neighborhood, and they're right in Heritage Landing's back door.

[00:06:25] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Well, Rivertown's just up the road, too.

[00:06:27] Bailey Martin: Not too far from there either. Yeah. So another new, beautiful new construction community.

[00:06:31] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.

All right. So, when does the— The, well I guess let's talk about the just initial thought. Did you always think about going off on your own at one time even when you were just getting started in real estate? Or when, when did the itch come there?

[00:06:47] Bailey Martin: I've always been a bit of an entrepreneur so I knew that I would always wanna keep growing and, start having my own business, and my own brokerage was really scary. There's a lot that goes—

[00:07:00] into that, and as I've figured out over the last—

[00:07:04] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

[00:07:04] Bailey Martin: eight or nine months in starting my own brokerage, there was even more that I didn't know that I needed to know.

[00:07:08] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:07:09] Bailey Martin: But yeah, it was just something that I'm always gonna grow. I'm gonna keep taking the next step, so it st- it did feel like the next natural step for me, and I love being a business owner.

[00:07:19] Tracy Hayes: Right. Now, it's just a small group of you and a couple other agents, if I ... looking in your website there right now.

[00:07:24] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:07:24] Tracy Hayes: Do you really have a vision of being large or just kind of more of a—

[00:07:29] Bailey Martin: No.

[00:07:29] Tracy Hayes: just a more of a glorified brokerage team.

[00:07:30] Bailey Martin: In a way, I guess. I don't have any dreams of being, you know, any, having a bunch of agents. That seems like a lot to manage, first of all. But I like having just a few. Right now I have two agents. My ideal number of agents would be five to 10. I don't know if I could handle more than that.

[00:07:46] Tracy Hayes: Hmm.

[00:07:46] Bailey Martin: Because they do need a lot. Right now I would love to bring somebody on who is like me, somebody who's already in production, somebody who wants to collaborate and grow together. That's what I'm—

[00:08:00] really looking for. Yeah. I'm not necessarily looking for a bunch of new agents who need a, a lot of mentoring.

You know, I started at Keller Williams. They have an amazing mentoring program. They put a lot of their resources into grooming new agents. That's not really what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something a little bit more close-knit, family people who want that real close touch. Probably some other—

[00:08:22] Tracy Hayes: Islanders. You probably find some other agents on—

[00:08:24] Bailey Martin: I would love to have some other islanders. One of my agents actually is an Islander. So, yeah.

[00:08:27] Tracy Hayes: Right.

Just imagine you, you, you have a list of benefits, but what was one of y- what did you see for you was the benefit of having your own brokerage?

[00:08:40] Bailey Martin: Well, I get to have my own branding, which represents me and my personality—

[00:08:45] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

[00:08:46] Bailey Martin: and the location. Like it c-... It is exactly where I wanted to be. I really wanted to create a presence in the downtown St. Augustine area, where I just moved to.

It's hard. Even moving from one area of St. Augustine to the other—

[00:09:00] was surprising in the way that it's a lot of different neighborhoods. It's really, it's a completely different market.

[00:09:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, it is.

[00:09:06] Bailey Martin: And so it's different agents who are doing business, and it's a bunch of older homes, whereas, you know, where I was working in Julington Creek down to World Golf Village and everything in between, you're working with mostly newer homes, you know, 20 years or n- newer, where down in downtown St. Augustine, there's literally, you know, hundred year old homes that I'm helping people with. And so—

[00:09:26] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:09:26] Bailey Martin: it's a completely different market, and it's completely different agents. And so I just, when I came in, I wanted to come in strong with a, a big presence. And so starting my own brokerage was, was part of that.

[00:09:38] Tracy Hayes: The island, the beach.

[00:09:40] Bailey Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:09:40] Tracy Hayes: You got houses on the beach or close to the beach is much different than the middle of Julington Creek Plantation.

[00:09:46] Bailey Martin: Absolutely.

[00:09:47] Tracy Hayes: Obviously it's, there's ... I don't— I imagine there might be some little HOAs on the island. There befri- are most of the houses on Anastasia Island in a non-HOA?

[00:09:56] Bailey Martin: I mean, the home that I bought is just a couple blocks from the beach—

[00:10:00] and awesomely it's in flood zone X, which was the same flood zone I had in Heritage Landing.

[00:10:06] Tracy Hayes: Hmm.

[00:10:06] Bailey Martin: So you can be two blocks from the beach and still not be in a flood zone. But what was it?

[00:10:09] Tracy Hayes: Well, the just the, the most of the homes on Anastasia Island—

[00:10:13] Bailey Martin: Older and—

[00:10:13] Tracy Hayes: in a non, non, because they're, one, they're older—

[00:10:14] Bailey Martin: Yeah. So my home is a 40-year-old home, and it was built really before HOAs were a thing.

[00:10:18] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:10:18] Bailey Martin: So a lot of the neighborhoods down on the island that are in HOAs are the big condo communities and stuff like that.

[00:10:25] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:10:25] Bailey Martin: Yeah. But yeah, there's a ton of little pockets, communities with, with no HOA.

[00:10:28] Tracy Hayes: But you do have the island itself has its own governance as far, you know, obviously i- you know, the big thing is like Air- like short term—

[00:10:37] Bailey Martin: Just for our short term rentals ...

[00:10:38] Tracy Hayes: like Air- like Airbnb.

[00:10:40] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:10:40] Tracy Hayes: You can only have so many, but I would imagine there, even though you're technically not in an— I guess what is the lo- It's definitely— What is the most, what is the most local b-—

[00:10:48] Bailey Martin: Yeah ... There, it's a planning and zoning ...

[00:10:50] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ... it s- has its own planning and zoning—

[00:10:52] Bailey Martin: Yes.

[00:10:52] Tracy Hayes: versus all the St Augustine o- old town.

[00:10:54] Bailey Martin: Yes. St Augustine Beach has their own.

[00:10:55] Tracy Hayes: Okay. So there, you know, there's, there are some rules you need to know.

[00:10:59] Bailey Martin: Definitely.

[00:11:00] Tracy Hayes: Obviously where you are talking about the Airbnb. You don't just go and buy and say, “I wanna do an Airbnb,” and buy a house out there because you may not be able to do that.

[00:11:07] Bailey Martin: Right.

[00:11:07] Tracy Hayes: You need, so there are some things that you probably had to—

[00:11:12] Bailey Martin: Oh gosh.

[00:11:13] Tracy Hayes: educate yourself over the last six or eight months like, “Oh, I didn't know that,” 'cause you're now working with buyers more regularly on the island.

[00:11:18] Bailey Martin: It's true. I mean, I feel like I could almost draw an exact map of every neighborhood between, you know, World Golf Village—

[00:11:25] Tracy Hayes: ...

[00:11:25] Bailey Martin: and Julington Creek because I worked that area so much and ... just know the ... And so moving down to the island, I've been there for over a year now, and I've really got a better grasp on it, but it was a huge learning curve.

[00:11:37] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:11:37] Bailey Martin: Just learning the different neighborhoods, the different zoning, and what you can and can't do.

[00:11:42] Tracy Hayes: Well, and then, and I, you know, having talked to agents that obviously work Ponte Vedra Beach and so forth, you know, if we get a good storm and your house gets wiped out or whatever, you may not be able to rebuild it. There's things you need to know of those, what those laws and how you can and—

[00:12:00] cannot do. And even if you can get insurance in some of those places if you're right on the beach.

[00:12:06] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:12:06] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:12:06] Bailey Martin: It's true. Yeah. It's crazy.

[00:12:07] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. S- there was one story, trying to remember who it was. It's been a while, but I, it was beach access, and everyone thought that they were one block— They were on the other side of the road from the beach, and they all thought they had access, 'cause it's like, well, that's where everyone accesses the beach. Well, they didn't realize it was because some—

[00:12:26] Bailey Martin: Private landowner ...

[00:12:27] Tracy Hayes: someone owned that—

[00:12:28] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[00:12:28] Tracy Hayes: and was giving them access. That person sells that, you may not have access anymore.

[00:12:33] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:12:33] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah. So y- those are things you need to know, 'cause obviously someone would be very upset—

[00:12:37] Bailey Martin: Absolutely ...

[00:12:37] Tracy Hayes: right ... all a sudden realize that a year after you're living there, like, “Oh.” Well, and if—

[00:12:37] Bailey Martin: your beach access changes, your value might also change.

[00:12:43] Tracy Hayes: 100%.

[00:12:44] Bailey Martin: So now your home is worth a lot less than you, you know, when you bought it, so.

[00:12:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

You have a finance background. You've been doing this now eight years. How does that help you when working with clients, just in conversation, helping you foreshadow the process? But how does that degree—

[00:13:00] help you and your experience there?

[00:13:01] Bailey Martin: Well, I think anybody who gets a finance degree is pretty good at analytical thinking, and able to process a bunch of information and a bunch of numbers, and then be able to clearly communicate in a simple way. Because we understand it so well, we're able to communicate it in a simple way to our clients and help them really understand the numbers.

[00:13:24] Tracy Hayes: Actually sometimes wh- there's just sometimes we, we almost, too simple.

It's like Yeah ...it's like- Yeah why do you think that way? That's just, That's right.

But you know what I found lately is, writing emails, if I go into Chat or Claude, 'because I use both, and I tell it everything, and I say, "Okay, tell," give me an email in a high school person's, level of writing that has never bought a home before, that they have these Here are their two or three options that they have. you know, buy the rate down, don't buy the rate down, or whatever, whatever, And boom, boo- and that, and it does a pretty good job of actually breaking that out in very

[00:14:00] simple form.

Better than I, 'cause I, was not an English major. I was an education major, but I've been in finances for over 20 years, so I, I could pretty much say I have a degree in it, but, it just makes it so much simpler communicating.

[00:14:10] Bailey Martin: AI does make everything simpler. Yeah. It really does. It's a it's a fantastic tool.

[00:14:14] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. if you're using it, using it properly. I think it'll th- People, uh ...every day I think I've learned something new it can do.

Mm. My big thing now is the Chrome extension. I can attach it to pretty much anything and have it doing something on the side while I'm doing something else. That's what's so amazing.

[00:14:30] Bailey Martin: And this is just the beginning.

[00:14:31] Tracy Hayes: Oh, yeah. Yeah. y- well, since we're, we're talking about it, I'm gonna drop my buddy Jim at Reed Tomato prepared these questions for us. He gonna prepare these great blogs for Bailey after the show. Reedtomato.com, R-E-E-D tomato.com. Jim has a hot take engine where he takes the content from the show and his, and his real estate customers, and actually produces blogs and content for them every month, making their website AI hot. It really is.

So when you're searching whatever it may be,

[00:15:00] it's the keywords that's picking up. It's someone like Bailey having a conversation, putting blogs out there and that's finding you, 'cause it wants hyper local, hyper current information. Okay. Eh. Swallow my tongue there. All right.

Give us a situation recently, that you've had with a client that, has kind of stuck with you the first- Or currently. Yeah. Yeah, the first thing. Well,

[00:15:20] Bailey Martin: I definitely have some that I'm working on right now.

[00:15:23] Tracy Hayes: Is it seems like every deal right now, there's, like, extra squirrels to-- There's, a little extra twist to everything and then negotiations- Oh my gosh ... or I've heard s- how for some reason right now it's very popular, hearing a lot of stories, like people, like o- like the day before closing wanting to cancel or did cancel.

[00:15:40] Bailey Martin: People are nervous right now. Yeah. There is a lot of uncertainty. Mm. and people watch the news and the doom and the gloom, and people are scared, especially with prices high And, rates high- Yeah ... they feel like they're not getting a good deal, and the seller also feels like they're not getting a good deal either because they have an inflated opinion of what they think their home is worth.

But then the

[00:16:00] market lets them know what it is, and so kind of both sides of the deal are not feeling amazing.

[00:16:06] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:16:07] Bailey Martin: You know

[00:16:07] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:16:08] Bailey Martin: So.

[00:16:09] Tracy Hayes: Well, tell us about this situation you had.

[00:16:10] Bailey Martin: Oh. Yeah. Yeah. The first thing that came to my mind was, the first deal I did at my brokerage.

[00:16:15] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:15] Bailey Martin: So, I opened up in January and, it was a good time 'cause I was kind of in between deals, so everything was done and I was just f- opened up my new brokerage and was ready to go.

And I had a family member who was buying a home on the island. They were coming from Colorado, and I was like, "Oh, this is great. My first deal. It's gonna be my family." And they were all excited to be my first deal as well.

And then, I got a call. I am the board president at my church, and so I'm very involved up there, because it's important as a realtor to be involved. Mm-hmm. But somebody called me from up there and they said, "Hey, you know, I just met this lady and she needs a house, and she needs a house right now."

[00:16:51] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:51] Bailey Martin: And so I, reached out to her, and she was a cash buyer. We went and looked at homes, and it was, like, the first home that she saw. She was like, "This is

[00:17:00] it.”

And, you know, people do know I feel like whenever they walk into that home, they can feel it. They're like, "This is it. This is the one." I don't know. "I feel like I've been here before," or whatever- Yeah ... it was. But, you know, her and I walked into this home she was like, "This is it."

And so we made an offer and we were negotiating with the seller and the seller saw that it was a cash offer and we had chosen 30, 45 days. out and he said no. you know this is a cash offer y'all are asking us to come down on the price. We'll do this if you can close-- I think it was, like 12 days.

And the buyer was like, "That's fine. I need somewhere to live. I'll close in 10 days or 12 days if that's what the title company can do."

And so I ended up calling You know, my family members were like, "We're so excited about being the first one." And I was like, "Actually, I just met this other person who's gonna close ahead of y'all, So I'm sorry, you're not going to be the first one at my new brokerage."

And they're like, "That's BS," you know? And so they ended up doing everything they could possibly do, and they moved their closing up a week so that they could be the first

[00:18:00] one.

So it's kind of a fun fun cool story.

And, the other one, who was the cash buyer closed and is happy and- and she kinda had a cool story too. w- she's not a cool story She's actually been through so much lately. just her husband passed away and then from cancer, and then she got cancer right after he passed away, and she was gonna move to Indiana to be close to her children, and then something blew up over there.

And so she was literally like, "I'm in St. Augustine and I'm homeless and I need a house now."

So that doesn't happen that often where you get somebody and you meet them and they end up closing on a house two weeks later.

[00:18:32] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:18:33] Bailey Martin: but I was so glad that I was able to get her in somewhere, and we still talk all the time. She's so happy to be in her house and she's actually-- she's in her seventies and she's getting her real estate license right now, and she wants to join the brokerage too.

Oh. That's

[00:18:45] Tracy Hayes: good. That's good. So kind of a

[00:18:46] Bailey Martin: full deal. It's a fun story. Had a heavy ending.

[00:18:49] Tracy Hayes: You- made me think of something 'there because you were telling some- some really, personal stories.

Obviously, you build relationships with your clients. That's why you're successful.

That, many people don't

[00:19:00] realize that they bring- they do bring their, their baggage with them, right? Mm-hmm. We all have baggage of some level or another. Definitely. Some more than others. Some have more dirty clothes than others have.

And, that a real estate agent actually is there, oh, and, they might not even be thinking about it, but when-- if you're someone, you're listening to the show right now and listening to what Billy's talking about, y- you are, you know, a counselor. Yeah.

and you when, when someone comes and pours their, life into you, which a lot of, when you build a relationship, you build a friendship, and all of a sudden they start telling you things. And there's certain things you need to know too to help structure a deal and so forth.

But you're taking part of that in. You're taking part of that rotten part of the apple into your life as well, and I, I think that's where a lot of agents to me are underestimated. the longer they've been in the business, the more, you know, stories.

It's almost like a police officer, the more traffic accidents they've seen- Yeah ...where people got hurt or something, you know? you, you, absorb that into you.

[00:19:57] Bailey Martin: Yeah, and especially if you really care, and you

[00:20:00] really do wanna help them.

And I appreciate them opening up to me and Bringing that closeness in, it's gonna help me figure out exactly the best way to help them out too.

[00:20:08] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Well, y- yeah, I mean, th- how fast they can close, what's their situation, you know? you know, although that might not sound very important to most people, but the, you know, that could be the wow factor.

If you're trying to run a great real estate business you need to kinda dig a little bit and find some of these things because they don't often always tell you what the ultimate hot point is. Would you agree?

[00:20:30] Bailey Martin: I definitely agree, and if you can dig in and get to know them and get to understand their real reason for moving, then you're gonna have a easier transaction 'cause you're gonna be able to help deliver what it is that they're looking for- Yeah ... rather than trying to guess.

Because if you really know what they're looking for, it will help you structure your deal differently.

[00:20:49] Tracy Hayes: do you find yourself, when working with a client from anywhere, whether even a family member from Colorado, obviously you're not hanging out with them all the time 'cause they're from Colorado, so- Right ... so there's certain things that you don't know about what's their

[00:21:00] daily life, you know, or what's the lifestyle ultimately they have pictured.

They're coming from Colorado to Florida, and literally going to the island, and it's like that's like a, i- such a huge extreme.

What is it they have envisioned? And you can't just assume. You, You, kind of have to dig it out a little. And wha- what is their expectations?

[00:21:18] Bailey Martin: E- exactly, and, and, I start with the lifestyle question, you know? what do you want, you know, a typical Tuesday to look like?

And when people tell me stuff like that, it helps me decide where They wanna be.

Do they wanna be in the master planned community, or do they wanna ride their bike- They

[00:21:31] Tracy Hayes: wanna play pickleball Get around more. Yeah .... or they wanna walk out on the beach?

Or maybe both, cause you could do both on the island, right?

[00:21:36] Bailey Martin: Absolutely. Yep.

[00:21:38] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Um-

[00:21:39] Bailey Martin: I played pickleball this morning. Y- Every Y- Every Friday is my thing. I play pickleball Friday.

[00:21:44] Tracy Hayes: Yeah? do they have a s- where, the worst courts on the island. They have, in k- Ron

[00:21:48] Bailey Martin: Parker. so it's a big St. Johns County public park. There's a big playground there, basketball court, there's a dog park, and there are six pickleball courts. And we dominate every Friday. It's such a great group of people

[00:22:00] and and they play every day It's a great way to meet more people too, ...which is what I'm always trying to do-

[00:22:04] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:22:04] Bailey Martin: in the business, you know?

[00:22:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

have you ever met, Taylor Johnson? she's with Berkshire Hathaway, but she lives on the island.

Okay. she travels a lot. She kind of has-- she's a little

Keep my eyes out for her, yeah ... she's a little young, y- just a little bit younger. She's still She went to Flagler. She travels.

you might have to tell her about your yurts. I remember from the church. Did I pronounce that right? Yurt? Yeah. Yeah. yeah.

Yeah. She's that kind of person.

Okay. but she plays pickleball. That's what made me think about it. Oh, okay.

And we were talking about somehow the conversation led later to, you know, what kind of, you know, tchotchkes obviously, you know, pens, with the you know, company name on it.

Get pickleballs- Mm ...with your, with your, logo branded on them.

[00:22:39] Bailey Martin: I love that idea. Yeah.

Because I have built some really great relationships. I'm actually working with somebody right now who their brother I play pickleball with, and her brother is moving here. And so we're gonna go look at some 55 and up communities here in two weeks.

Mm-hmm. But yeah, no, I'm meeting people at pickleball. I that's a great idea. I think maybe I should get some branded gear.

[00:22:59] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, hand

[00:23:00] out your... Yes. Maybe I will do that. It's like handing out your

[00:23:01] Bailey Martin: business card. Because I have made some great... I mean, we're over there high-fiving, and, I just love the game, you know? I've always been an athlete. And so now that I'm over 40, I feel like it's the best thing for me to play.

[00:23:13] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:23:13] Bailey Martin: I love it.

[00:23:14] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, everyone's gonna enjoy, going, """Oh, here's a, here, here's a pickleball." I'll give one away. be like, "Oh, no, no, take it home. It'll have-" Yeah your name on it and phone number," Phone number. There you go ... you could. Yeah. A

[00:23:23] Bailey Martin: A QR code.

[00:23:24] Tracy Hayes: what have you learned from actually living on Anastasia Island that you could not have picked up just from selling there?

[00:23:30] Bailey Martin: It's just the lifestyle. You don't know what it's like to live on an island until you live on an island, and it's just so much more amazing than I really even imagined that it would be.

[00:23:41] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

There's... well, I think ago, yo, that phrases that, ...

You go ...you move to the island, you don't leave the island.

Right. There's a lot of people who have been there a long time.

Oh my

[00:23:49] Bailey Martin: gosh, yes.

[00:23:50] Tracy Hayes: and I like you said, there, there is ... l- ... It's a different lifestyle than living in Julington Creek.

[00:23:54] Bailey Martin: 100%.

[00:23:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

and what you're looking for.

So speaking of that, have you had

[00:24:00] anyone who, Well, I mean, you know, of the clients since you've been there, m- people asking directly for it? Or have you had someone like, "Well, we're looking at St. Johns County. Maybe we're looking at World Golf Village," but they really described the island life?

[00:24:13] Bailey Martin: Yeah. I mean, I'm always asking the lifestyle question. It's one of my favorite ones, "What is a typical Tuesday?"

Especially people coming from out of town, and I've been focusing on my Instagram a lot, about relocation, and so people who are relocating to the area, and so I'll ask them that question.

And a lot of people are looking for A-rated schools, and the island has those as well.

So, yeah, I just start asking them what they're looking for. And I didn't know as much about the island before I moved there, and I probably wouldn't have steered anybody there because I just didn't know about it as much.

And so now I have a wide breadth of knowledge of the island downtown and uptown area, as well as all of the northwest St. Johns County corridor where all the new construction is and all the boom.

[00:24:57] Tracy Hayes: someone outside the area s- asked you about the island as far

[00:25:00] as, we know Florida... I know my brothe- my parents originally lived in Naples when they originally moved to Florida...

They live now here in not too far from Harrods Landing and King and Bear there.

[00:25:09] Bailey Martin: neighborhood, yeah.

[00:25:10] Tracy Hayes: And, but my brother always teased like, "You know, it was a bunch of just old people in Naples. But the island am I, is really a mixture of age groups. Am I right?

[00:25:19] Bailey Martin: I feel like it's changing. I do think that a lot of older retirees, dreamers have dominated living there as well as like, people who are snowbirds who are coming down. There's so many condos and stuff down there.

Mm-hmm. but I do feel like it's changing.

There is an amazing, elementary school there, RB Hunt Elementary School. It's also been open for 70 years- ... which I think is really cool.

[00:25:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:25:42] Bailey Martin: but it's the top rated Elementary School. in St. Johns County, and so of course I have my banner up there, and of course I'm the room mom for my kindergartner- Mm-hmm because you gotta get out there and meet people- You ... if you're in real estate. It's your job. Which I kind of love that it's my job to- Yeah ... be that and to meet more people.

But just

[00:26:00] being at RB Hunt and seeing all of these families and you have to live on the island to go to RB Hunt, so there's a ... I mean, the school is full.

It's nowhere near as full as it was in World Golf Village- Right ... where they're just building so many homes, and there's portables, and it's just so overcrowded with children.

it's not quite like that, but there's a ton of families, and they're all really cool, and they ride their e-bikes to school with their kid on there.

And I "think that more and more people are like, "You know, maybe we can go live on the island," or, "Why not?" You know?

Yeah. Why would we not go live there?" Especially if we work remotely or, you know, there's different lifestyle changes now that are happening for people, especially in the workforce, that are like, "Hey, let's go live on the island."

[00:26:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah.

all right, we're gonna switch gears a little bit. You've mentioned it, World Golf village, which is in pretty-- I call it the heart of St. Johns County, when you think about It Lot of things going on there. Target's going in. That's the- Oh, yeah. It's the

[00:26:58] Bailey Martin: big news. That's the- It just got announced

[00:26:58] Tracy Hayes: Tarjay is moving

[00:27:00] into-

[00:27:00] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[00:27:00] Tracy Hayes: the middle of St. Johns County. Man,

[00:27:01] Bailey Martin: we done wanted that forever. of course, as soon as I move they build it

[00:27:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Costco's been the hottest thing, in the center of the, county

[00:27:09] Bailey Martin: Yeah I just wish they...

[00:27:10] Tracy Hayes: That I With Target in there now, I... They've got if that intersection

[00:27:13] Bailey Martin: It's going crazy ....and then Home Depot just got put there. another Walmart. Yeah.

[00:27:16] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:27:17] Bailey Martin: I mean, traffic's already a huge topic of conversation there but-

[00:27:19] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, You don't wanna be anywhere near International Golf Parkway-

[00:27:23] Bailey Martin: And 16-

[00:27:23] Tracy Hayes: At that time-

[00:27:24] Bailey Martin: yeah ...

[00:27:24] Tracy Hayes: with Toccoa High School- .....getting out-

[00:27:26] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[00:27:26] Tracy Hayes: at that time in the afternoon. I can And imagine the mornings are just as bad

[00:27:29] Bailey Martin: Well, even my, my kids 'cause my son went to Toccoa for all four years. He was actually the first year that they opened, He was a freshman there so he was the first class to go all through,

But it would take him 30 to 45 minutes to get to school from our house on Heritage Landing. It should be like a 10 minute drive- ....

[00:27:44] Tracy Hayes: Right .......

[00:27:44] Bailey Martin: but Because of traffic-

[00:27:45] Tracy Hayes: the traffic ....

[00:27:45] Bailey Martin: it was just, it was crazy

[00:27:46] Tracy Hayes: Oh, yeah. that's-

[00:27:47] Bailey Martin: But they are working on it.

[00:27:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah

[00:27:49] Bailey Martin: So you know, that's kind of how they do the infrastructure, FDOT and St. Johns County doing the roads, but it's like they put all the homes there first, and then the commercial comes, and then the roads come.

[00:27:58] Tracy Hayes: Yeah

[00:27:58] Bailey Martin: So you just kinda have to live through it

[00:28:00] until it's being built, but there are so many plans to fix all of that.

[00:28:03] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.

[00:28:04] Bailey Martin: And what's great too is the developers have to put in some roads too. I just went to a Silverleaf meeting where one of the Hudson family members, Kody Hudson, he's one of the sons, I think, of the-

[00:28:14] Tracy Hayes: main-

[00:28:14] Bailey Martin: Yes ...

[00:28:14] Tracy Hayes: Hudson family

[00:28:15] Bailey Martin: who are, is the ones that developed all of Silverleaf, and he was saying that they had to pay for putting some new roads in just out of their pocket which I think they're okay to do.

Sh-

[00:28:26] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:28:26] Bailey Martin: But it's nice to see that the county's making the developers put in the roads as well because man, building a road is not cheap.

[00:28:32] Tracy Hayes: Well, I mean, oh, and that's a, I mean, that's a challenging part of, well, St. Johns County. sort of Nassau County's having the same issue right now

[00:28:39] Bailey Martin: It's rapid

[00:28:39] Tracy Hayes: growth. Um, the rapid growth. you know, they, they allow the d- builders to come in, developers come in so now they've gotta... You know, it's a budge- you know, can, who's paying for this? Who's paying for that

There was the big fiasco in front o- at, on 210, between

[00:28:52] Bailey Martin: Shearwater ...

[00:28:53] Tracy Hayes: Shearwa-

[00:28:53] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[00:28:54] Tracy Hayes: not Well, between, um, Shearwater. That finally got finished thank God widening that road.

[00:28:59] Bailey Martin: Yes.

[00:28:59] Tracy Hayes: But also the choke neck

[00:29:00] between the, 95 and, you know, going to Beachwalk in, um-

[00:29:04] Bailey Martin: Mm.

[00:29:05] Tracy Hayes: They opened

[00:29:05] Bailey Martin: all that up

[00:29:06] Tracy Hayes: too. yeah, i- yeah, that finally has gotten wide enough now where the traffic is flowing, but it, there was a challenge again, a situation between a developer and the county. You know, whatever the story behind that. You can look that up.

what does eight years of living in World Golf Village Quarter teach you about helping a buyer choose between Heritage Landing, TrailMark, SilverLeaf, and we'll even add RiverTown in there 'cause I'm sure you had customers

[00:29:29] Bailey Martin: Yeah, it just all depends on what you're looking for.

Like you said, Heritage Landing is definitely gonna be your biggest bang for your buck. And it's crazy how the homes in there will sell, same floor plan will sell literally $100,000 apart because maybe one they haven't done any upgrades and the other one they've done a ton of upgrades. So there's a lot of opportunity in there, and if your budget is lower, you can get a really well-priced home there maybe that needs some work and you're willing to put some elbow grease in.

[00:29:58] Tracy Hayes: Right. 'Cause

[00:30:00] most of those homes are 20 to, 2025? It was developed in

[00:30:02] Bailey Martin: '25,

[00:30:03] Tracy Hayes: 26. Yeah. or 2005 to-

[00:30:05] Bailey Martin: Yep ...

[00:30:05] Tracy Hayes: '2006. Yeah. because the opportunity there from a, especially a first-time home buyer like you said to go in there and find something, maybe they have to put some elbow grease and there's renovation loans that they can get in there Because th- the value of being in St. Johns County is still there.

[00:30:21] Bailey Martin: 100%, yeah. Yeah. So but what their biggest competition is, is all the other neighborhoods, like you said, Silverleaf, TrailMark, and Rivertown. The home prices are going to be a little bit higher there, but the builders are offering just the most amazing incentives. And so-

[00:30:39] Tracy Hayes: Mm ...

[00:30:39] Bailey Martin: it's really hard to compete, especially when the buyers are walking through the model homes in TrailMark. and so really then they've got all the bells and whistles and, you know, they're just absolutely gorgeous, and, then they go walk a cheaper home in Heritage Landing maybe that doesn't have a bunch of updates, and they're like, "Oh, man," like -

[00:30:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Right I

[00:30:55] Bailey Martin: really liked the,

[00:30:56] Tracy Hayes: the

[00:30:56] Bailey Martin: look ...of that model home. and then you have the builder

[00:31:00] saying, ""Hey, you know, we'll pay all your closing costs, and we'll buy down your rate."

And they just keep hanging those really great carrots out, and buyers are, are grabbing them, so it makes it hard for Heritage Landing resale.

[00:31:12] Tracy Hayes: I'm sure you've had plenty of situations, 'cause anyone who's selling any amount of homes in St. Johns County, that situation where you've had that buyer b- only bought the house a year or two ago.

Oh, gosh. they're still building in the neighborhood just down the street. It's

[00:31:24] Bailey Martin: almost impossible to sell.

[00:31:26] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:31:27] Bailey Martin: I mean, it's so hard.

[00:31:28] Tracy Hayes: What, or, but even, like you said, in Heritage Landing, you're still, y- the value's 'there cause you might be able to actually get a little bit larger home, but obviously it's n- you know, these are brand new homes versus a 20-year-old home.

And, and so for-

[00:31:39] Bailey Martin: Insurance and all that,

[00:31:41] Tracy Hayes: yeah. When you're working with a seller how do you w-... how do you have that conversation? 'Cause you and I, 'like, that's common sense for you and I. You, We've been doing this long enough, and I mean, we go, we look at that and say, "Yeah, that, that makes total sense." But it's, it doesn't always make common sense to the typical seller.

[00:31:56] Bailey Martin: Yeah. I mean, I have been reached out to several

[00:32:00] times by sellers recently who are looking to sell who bought after 2022, and I'm seeing pretty much everybody who bought in, at the end of 2022, '23, '24, and '25 who are trying to sell, and they're losing money. They're having to bring cash to the table.

[00:32:19] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:32:19] Bailey Martin: Especially in neighborhoods where they're competing against the builder.

[00:32:23] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:32:23] Bailey Martin: and they're, I mean, And they're A lot of them are like, you know what, by the time I give them their CMA and we go through the numbers and I say, "Look, man, this is what these houses are selling for right now." And he's like, "I can't even believe this," you know, We can't afford to sell."

So they end up having to stay for a few more years, get some equity, wait until the builder's out of that area or whatever it is.

So I'm You know, if you're gonna buy in a new construction community, you better plan on being there for five plus years- because trying to resell and compete against the builders is gonna cost you big time.

[00:32:52] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Know, know where they're at in the, in the construction. Are they'd only gonna be there maybe another year or two? But they're five or six years out and you

[00:33:00] might get transferred again, you're serving in the military, you might get new orders, and you can't rent that house,

[00:33:06] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:33:06] Tracy Hayes: and you, and especially uh, someone do- using a VA loan not putting any money down-

[00:33:11] Bailey Martin: Right

[00:33:11] Tracy Hayes: and then a year later trying to sell and sell against a builder, yeah.

[00:33:14] Bailey Martin: You know? And that's why maybe Heritage Landing would be better for somebody who's not necessarily sure what they wanna do in the next five years.

[00:33:22] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:22] Bailey Martin: So their .........the values are holding strong. The neighborhood is complete. It's a mature neighborhood, so you can feel better about resale value than if you were in Silverleaf or Trail Mark? or Oak

[00:33:31] Tracy Hayes: Town.

Touch on a, touch on a, little bit of, w-what is it? What about Trail Mark? W-when you're talking to some of your maybe out-of-state buyers who don't know anything about the area, they're telling you where they want to live. Why would you recommend Trail Mark? what are some things-

[00:33:45] Bailey Martin: Yeah

[00:33:45] Tracy Hayes: that you think are, are hot points there?

[00:33:45] Bailey Martin: I love Trail Mark. I think it's a wonderful neighborhood. They have amazing amenities. They just built another pool. And one of the things that really sticks out about Trail Mark is they have all of these trails throughout the woods in the neighborhoods.

So it's not just walking on a sidewalk next to the road. They actually have a

[00:34:00] bunch of trails all through the woods and they even have a kayak launch, which looks a little scary. I mean- ... there are alligators out there.

I've actually gone on that kayak launch, and it's a pretty narrow creek, and it leads all the way out to the St. John's River.

[00:34:16] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:34:16] Bailey Martin: And, I wanna say it's, it's, several miles, but it, there's mile markers along the way too, so it's And it's been kind of cleared, I think, by the developers of Trail Mark.

[00:34:23] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:34:24] Bailey Martin: but I was out there one time actually, on my paddle board, and I was paddling along. I was by myself. It was just an afternoon I had off, and I love paddle boarding.

And so I was looking up ahead, and I saw something moving in the water- ...and my heart just, I mean, it just started pounding.

And then as I got a little closer, it was little river otters swimming around. It was the cutest thing. And I'm like, "Oh, thank God," you know?

but Trail Mark has a lot of really cool stuff like that. And one thing that I really like about Trail Mark too is they have a lifestyle coordinator. It's like a full-time job that somebody has where they actually plan fun

[00:35:00] events for the community.

So even when we lived in Heritage Landing, we would go over to Trail Mark and, go to some of their events. One of my favorite ones was called The Groove in the Grove, and they would have a big setup for a stage for a, a pretty good-sized band and all of the Trailmark residents could set up booths and sell their homemade soap or whatever.

They had beer you could get and, they just had a lot of fun stuff- ...like that. Yeah. I've done the 5K in that neighborhood seven years in a row with my daughter, so we've done that a bunch of times. They just have a bunch of fun events.

Yeah. Even the St Augustine Astronomy Society was out there one time, and we went out there and, you know, looked through the telescopes and saw all the You know, I love science. So

[00:35:38] Tracy Hayes: So

[00:35:39] Bailey Martin: I'm kind of a nerd in that way. But yeah, they just have a bunch of fun stuff.

[00:35:42] Tracy Hayes: Well, y- you know, w- all these communities are CDD communities and where, it wa-... so Silverleaf is not as much,

[00:35:50] Bailey Martin: No CDD, no ...

[00:35:51] Tracy Hayes: Se- He- Heritage Landing is, TrailMark is. but part of the CDD, part of that is they have that coordinator that's-

[00:35:55] Bailey Martin: Yeah

[00:35:56] Tracy Hayes: doing the community events, which I I think a lot of people see

[00:36:00] that as the lifestyle, you know, especially someone moving from up north where you in today's world, you're not meeting your neighbor as much.

But these are opportunities to go out and meet your neighbors that are around in the neighborhood. May not be right next to you, but on the other side of the neighborhood or whatever.

And you- 'cause at these community events, and of course, your kids are, are doing things together and extracurricular stuff. And they go to

[00:36:18] Bailey Martin: school together. Yeah.

And yeah, I love it. they are creating community and trying to bring people together. It's really wonderful.

[00:36:23] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. S- Silverleaf. Talk about Silverleaf. It, it has a l- Silverleaf has a lot of... because it's so, it's very large area, so it actually has a little bit for almost everybody there, don't it

[00:36:33] Bailey Martin: Yes, it does. I mean, there's different pockets of neighborhoods and different builders with different price points, So, it's been rocking and rolling for a while. I think it is a great neighborhood.

One of the good perks is that there is no CDD fee in there, and they still have really great amenities. they have townhomes.

I was just over there looking at, they opened up phase two of Hidden Creek, and I was walking the models over there for ICI ICI and Mastercraft.

And I was just like, wow, these, homes are

[00:37:00] amazing. So there is a big push over there for, I would say 1.2 and above.

[00:37:04] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:37:05] Bailey Martin: 1.2 million and above homes over there that they're building in that Hidden Creek phase two. So I think it's kind of moving more that way.

Once Dream Finders sells out of Brooke Forest, and Lennar has some single family homes in the 400s and 500s, then it's gonna be more focused on the townhomes and then the over 1.2, $1.3 million homes.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which I feel like is a little bit of a miss. I'm like, where is the new development for that middle income?" Where like anywhere- Yeah ... from like six, seven, eight, you know? People are looking in that price range a lot too.

And right now there is some. D- Toll Brothers has some really great ones in Newbrooke over there, but they're almost gonna be done.

I have a buyer right now who's coming in town, on Sunday actually from Massachusetts. They found me on Instagram as well.

[00:37:48] Tracy Hayes: Hmm.

[00:37:48] Bailey Martin: And they wanna buy ideally in the summer of 2028. I'm like, Okay guys, you're a little early-" but let's go. Come on, Let's go."

So I've been really researching who's going to be building in two years and

[00:38:00] who's gonna be s- sold out, and it's a little hard to tell, but it seems like in Silverleaf, they're kinda getting close to the end as far as that middle bracket of homes.

[00:38:09] Tracy Hayes: What would you recommend? w-... You have a client like that to say, "You know what? Right now might actually be the ti- 'Cause i- in 2028-

[00:38:16] Bailey Martin: Well, Who knows? Yeah

[00:38:16] Tracy Hayes: you know, one, "You know w- If rates drop, prices of homes in, some of these more desirable areas are definitely gonna go up. because your buying power's there. They're- you're going to push the envelope there.

I mean, to buy now and, you know, rent it out while you're there. Of course, some people have "obviously, Oh, a renter might wreck it." But dude, it's a physical thing. It is as well. You can, you can fix it. Okay? You could replace the kitchen-

[00:38:40] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[00:38:40] Tracy Hayes: or whatever. Like, you ... know, if you're, Or, or even just buying right now and then selling and buying something new. But honestly, like two years out, man, they're just trying to get the lay of the land? I mean-

[00:38:51] Bailey Martin: They are just trying to get the lay of the land, and I appreciate them reaching out to me that early.

[00:38:55] Tracy Hayes: Do they have kids-

[00:38:56] Bailey Martin: I'm okay with that actually ...

[00:38:56] Tracy Hayes: or just actually retiring?

[00:38:56] Bailey Martin: Is it- They have one child who's, yeah, same age as my daughter, so six

[00:39:00] years old or almost six years old.

[00:39:01] Tracy Hayes: Okay. So they're going to be, So I mean, young person. Okay. So-

[00:39:03] Bailey Martin: Yep, and, that's okay. And they are like, "We just want to discover the area."

So I have, I really talked to them about their lifestyle, what they're looking for, their price range, "and, and then called around and "said, "Hey, are you guys still gonna be in here in two years?" "Or do you think you'll be done by then?"

And so we have a really good game plan. Actually, we're gonna start at The Landing with Pulte. They have a huge community going out there. They said, "We'll definitely be here in two years."

And then we're gonna go, check out phase two at Hidden Creek and Silverleaf, and then we're gonna go down to, Middlebourne. ICI has some really great ones, and that's right in the 32259 Millington Creek area. Mm-hmm. It's a great location.

And then we're gonna end at Madeira with Mastercraft, and they have some really great homes down there too. Well,

[00:39:46] Tracy Hayes: couple things there. I th- I think, you know, an agent listening right now says, Oh, Bailey, you're "crazy wasting your time."

You know, sounds like, 'Cause it sounds obviously you've done your due diligence on this. n- first of all, you never know When all of a sudden tomorrow

[00:40:00] you might get the phone call from them "saying, Hey, we wanna move down there by the first of the year 'now," for, cause you don't know

[00:40:05] Bailey Martin: what could happen. And that's true too, and you know, I'm okay doing the research for these people because it's helpful for me too.

I just learned a lot of stuff, so now I'm getting to revisit. There's so many communities and I can only know so many at a time, but each time I'm working with a certain buyer-

[00:40:22] Tracy Hayes: Mm ......

[00:40:22] Bailey Martin: I learn a lot more about that one community.

So with these guys, they may or may not end up working with me in two years. I'm gonna meet them, I'm gonna establish a relationship with them, and probably pretty good chance they're gonna continue to work with me over the next two years.

Hmm. And I just am doing research, which is my job, so the more I know about all the different neighborhoods, the better agent I'm gonna be, not only for them eventually-

[00:40:44] Tracy Hayes: Right

[00:40:44] Bailey Martin: but for anybody who might be looking now.

[00:40:46] Tracy Hayes: No, very, very professional, and that's why you're successful. Th- knowledge is out there. Someone calls you, you, immediately, y- you know what's going on. That has a CDD, that has an HOA, or that doesn't have anything.

[00:41:00] There's townhouses over there in that price point. They may come back in two years and actually go, "Well, that was new construction two years ago, but we really like that neighborhood and that layout. Is there any houses over there right now that are for sale?"

Yeah they're-

[00:41:14] Bailey Martin: Exactly

[00:41:14] Tracy Hayes: type of thing.

And having th- having that knowledge and, and sharing with it, But I I would bet that assuming you, this relationship continues for two years, you're gon- they're probably going to actually refer you one or two people

[00:41:26] Bailey Martin: during that time. I was thinking that too.

Yeah. Yeah. So also their neighbor or their parent or their brother or whoever. You never know.

Yeah, you take really good care of them now, and that's just how I've built my entire business. You take care of people and then everything takes care of you.

[00:41:40] Tracy Hayes: Well, the fact that you're educating them and now they're, you know, as anyone, they're having conversations 'cause they're telling people, "Yeah, we're planning to move to Florida in a couple "years," "Oh, where are you gonna move to in Florida?"

That's gonna be an initial question. "Oh, we're looking to go to St. Augustine."

Oh, and then all of a sudden discussion starts and they're like, "Wow, we oughta check out St. Augustine the next..." You know?

[00:41:56] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:41:56] Tracy Hayes: "Well, you need to call Bailey 'cause Bailey's sending us all this information."

Yeah, she's great. She's got it cold.

You never know what

[00:42:00] rock you've overturned, unter-

[00:42:01] Bailey Martin: 100% ...

[00:42:01] Tracy Hayes: yeah, or, turned over there.

insurance has been an issue. It's gotten a little bit better, but to me, it's still not where it needs to be.

I do know deals now versus five years ago when we originally spoke. It was like You know, hey it's a week, 10 days before closing, "Oh okay everything is wrapping up let's go get insurance and-and close it."

Now I'm getting insurance quotes as soon as I have that contract.

[00:42:21] Bailey Martin: 100%.

[00:42:22] Tracy Hayes: Have you had any situations where it has caused a little bit of challenge maybe where you also find out the roof or the water heater and insurance is gonna, you know gotta get that fixed y-

[00:42:30] Bailey Martin: well- well- I feel like I've been doing this long enough that I can kind of get ahead of that so-

[00:42:37] Tracy Hayes: Mm

[00:42:37] Bailey Martin: I'm not waiting until we're at the closing table to say, "Ew your water heater is 20 years old." No when we originally walk the home the very first time I am noting that and pointing that out to you.

So I'm trying to get ahead of those and say: "Hey listen there's going be maybe one carrier citizens who will be able -

[00:42:51] Tracy Hayes: ...

[00:42:51] Bailey Martin: to cover you with that?" You know because you really want the most amount of carriers so you can get the best deal.

So the age if the roof, the age of the hot water heater,

[00:43:00] the location of the hot water heater, I am definitely keeping my eyes on those because I know what a big deal insurance is here and how it's hard to get

[00:43:08] Tracy Hayes: Yeah

[00:43:08] Bailey Martin: when ....

[00:43:09] Tracy Hayes: you have an older roof or an older-

[00:43:10] Tracy Hayes: don't think people realize-- We realize it 'cause again we're in the business we do this every day.

The amount of data that insurance companies collect so that they can obviously do the best premium and, you know, low r- you know, minimize their risk.

And they do know when those hot water heaters are n- 'all this stuff is public record, especially here in Florida. You could pull anyone's,

[00:43:29] Bailey Martin: Permits ...

[00:43:29] Tracy Hayes: Permits that they've got. You can go online, and if you know where it's at, they have all this data.

It, has come out, I was told not too long ago that there's these, venture capitalist companies that are actually buying up home inspection companies because of the data they have on your home, 'cause they're going in and charting, you had a hot water heater this old, this is this old.

You know, they g- they're charting all that. So they, they, could sell that data to companies who know your dishwasher is now 10, 12 years. I don't know how long a I've had a dishwasher- ...

yeah, s-

[00:44:00] 18 years now in our house. We bought it, knock on wood.

Might be

[00:44:02] Bailey Martin: time for a new one.

[00:44:02] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

yo, and, but they know this data.

So when it comes to insurance, getting that information, ca- calling the insurer upfront, they c- actually might point out something that you may have overlooked.

"Like, Hey, did you know the hot water heater in there is 12, 13 years old? You may wanna negotiate that to be replaced before you get o- or get a credit," something.

[00:44:21] Bailey Martin: Yeah, and then the seller "saying, That hot water w- heater works great."

[00:44:24] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:44:24] Bailey Martin: You know, It's kinda crazy too.

[00:44:26] Tracy Hayes: Until it doesn't.

[00:44:27] Bailey Martin: Well, it's like, man, it's, it's older, but it is working great, and same thing with the roof. A lot of companies, if it's over 10 years old, won't touch it, you know? And they're-- And then if it's over 15, you have even less.

I think there's only one, again-

[00:44:38] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:44:38] Bailey Martin: who will touch that.

[00:44:39] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:44:39] Bailey Martin: So, but the roof could be in great shape. It could have at least five more years of useful life, but the insurance is saying no, and so it's crazy because

[00:44:47] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:44:47] Bailey Martin: they're having ...to get a new roof, and those aren't cheap.

[00:44:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. That, that part, that part, is getting crazy.

I heard there's talk on that-

[00:44:54] Bailey Martin: It's stupid .....................

[00:44:54] Tracy Hayes: that legislators are g- are coming back on the insurance company. 10 years is ridiculous.

[00:44:59] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:44:59] Tracy Hayes: You're talking, you know, most of these homes that we're t- you and I are

[00:45:00] talking about, it's 20 to $30,000 to replace the roof.

[00:45:02] Bailey Martin: Well, and they're 30-year shingles.

[00:45:04] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:45:04] Bailey Martin: I mean, give it at least 15, you know, half the life.

[00:45:07] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:45:07] Bailey Martin: I understand that Florida's hot, and it's humid, and the roof isn't going to last 30 years likely, but 10 is, is, too far.

[00:45:14] Tracy Hayes: If it's not, leaking that's, you know-

[00:45:16] Bailey Martin: And I have seen some insurance carriers will accept, you know, a wind mitigation report-

[00:45:21] Tracy Hayes: Mm

[00:45:21] Bailey Martin: or even something from a roofing company that says, ""Hey, y-" we came, we're a professional roofing company, Here's our letterhead saying this roof has at least five years left.

[00:45:31] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:45:32] Bailey Martin: And so they'll say, Okay, we'll cover you.”

[00:45:33] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:45:34] Bailey Martin: But, you know, they'll bond you on that too, and insurance companies have 90 days to come back and reinspect.

And I have had this happen to me before in the past where they came back and they said, "Yeah, we bonded you for the purposes of closing-" "...because you have to have insurance to get a loan to close.

But then during that 90-day inspection period after closing, they sent somebody out, and they said, "No, we're, we see lifting on your shingles. It's, you-"

[00:45:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:45:55] Bailey Martin: "you-" need- to replace your roof."

And of course, who is

[00:46:00] the buyer calling? You know, me. Like-

[00:46:03] Tracy Hayes: Yes "Hey, what's going on here?"

[00:46:04] Bailey Martin: Our insurance company said they're gonna drop us if we don't change our roof out."

And, you know-

[00:46:08] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ... it, it becomes situation in most of the, In, most of the, country, I th- I think I wanna say it's a Florida thing.

Having, you know, my original career with Quicken Loans/Rocket now and have done loans all over the country, yeah, if someone s- the roof looks a little worn, you just got, letter "saying, Hey, we ..." I think it's actually three years If they got three years. of life in the roof, we're good.

Move on. They're gonna insure it, and we're gonna give them the loan.

Florida, because of our, you know, obviously the weather- Hurricanes, but the heat does eat up the roofs. There's no doubt about it, and the shingles aren't made as good as they, uh, obviously used to be.

And, Like everything.

Yeah. Yeah.

so there, it's a little bit different. So if you're moving into Florida, you listen to this. you're moving into Florida, insurance is a little different here than-

[00:46:50] Bailey Martin: Absolutely ......it is in other places. It's more strict here.

[00:46:51] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

what is the lifestyle question you ask every relocating buyer that almost nobody has thought about before they

[00:47:00] call

[00:47:00] Bailey Martin: The, I mean, the first thing that popped is my favorite question, is just what do you wanna do on a Tuesday?

What does your life look like on a Tuesday? Are you going to the community pool? Is your kid riding their bike up and down the street? Are you you know, or are you walking to the burger joint at the corner of the taco shop, you know? and hanging out there with some surfers so-

it's just w- that you wanna do on a regular basis?

[00:47:24] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:47:25] Bailey Martin: Do you want to go watch the sunrise on the 'beach every morning? Is that important to you?

Kinda got a place for you.

[00:47:33] Tracy Hayes: be- 'cause would you agree, I mean, in your eight years of, in real estate, most people, especially moving from out of state, really have, some sort of vision or expectation of some sort of lifestyle, maybe it's just having a house with a pool but it's something that they're doing something different here that they weren't necessarily doing where they were.

[00:47:52] Bailey Martin: Yeah, they're tired of being cooped up for eight months out of the year. I have another couple coming from Minnesota, and they're a year out, but we went ahead and

[00:48:00] we did the whole tour, and I showed them all around, and That's a huge part of it. They said they just feel like they're stuck inside all the time, and they just wanna be outside and be active.

And so really, I mean being on the island or being in any of these really awesome master planned communities that are throughout St. Johns County, you can't go wrong.

I mean, there's so much to do outside, especially when the community has full-time, you know, coordinators who are coming up with stuff for you to do.

[00:48:26] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah. I do miss, the occasional snow day.

[00:48:31] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[00:48:31] Tracy Hayes: you know, just that one day-

[00:48:33] Bailey Martin: We have hurricane days instead ...

[00:48:34] Tracy Hayes: no, no, one can do anything because there's this, "Hey, there's gonna be a foot of snow, and everyone just stay at home and sit in front of the fireplace."

Yeah. I do miss that short period of time.

[00:48:43] Bailey Martin: Yeah, and I have had people tell me the reason why they're kind of honing in on the St. Augustine, the St Johns County, Northeast Florida corridors, because it's one of the only areas in Florida that does have the four seasons.

Yeah. and I mean by four seasons, we're definitely not-- I mean, I don't know, there has been snow here

[00:49:00] before

[00:49:00] Tracy Hayes: we were rated recently very high. and I don't- I think... I don't know, they said Jacksonville, but when we are the Jacksonville market, you know, as far as northeast Florida is what I often refer to more than Jacksonville, but northeast Florida, as one of the top places for first time home buyers.

Walk me through a recent first time home buyer you worked with in St. Johns County where they were assuming about what they needed to get started, and how did their actual path to closing look different from what they expected?

[00:49:28] Bailey Martin: Yeah. I'm, actually working with a couple of first time home buyers right now, which I love working with first time home buyers. I don't know, I feel like, I just love helping people get into the game because I think it's so important, you know?

Especially for young people. You get in there young and you start paying your mortgage, and you just start building equity for 10 years, and that's how you become a wealthy adult. You know, it's just crazy to see.

But, what I'm seeing right now for these younger first time home buyers is they need a lot of support. They don't know anything about the process, so we're really going through everything.

[00:50:00] And then, I'm hooking them up with, some really great local lenders who can help them out too because a lot of them don't have the, down payment assistance.

So, there's one that I'm working with right now. She qualified for the Hometown Heroes program. She just graduated college. She's a school teacher. We made an offer. We got the offer accepted. The seller's covering all the closing costs, and the Hometown Heroes program is covering her down payment.

and so she's buying a townhome in Bridgewater. It's, a newer D.R. Horton community that is now just doing resale. And, she's getting into the home with no money out of pocket. I mean- she has

[00:50:40] Tracy Hayes: Okay .........

[00:50:40] Bailey Martin: to put down her binder deposit, but she's getting that back at closing.

[00:50:45] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:50:45] Bailey Martin: So it's, I'm seeing a lot of that, a lot of these down payment home, you know, Hometown Heroes and other down payment assistance programs helping people get in.

Because I think a lot of people whenever I start talking to them, they're like, "We don't know how we're ever going to save 20%." Or, I think a lot of people understand now maybe I don't need 20%, but I do need at least 10, 20. You know, I know I need some

[00:51:00] thousands.

[00:51:01] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:51:01] Bailey Martin: And they're not wrong, but it's just so hard to save for a down payment whenever rent prices are so high as well.

[00:51:08] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.

[00:51:09] Bailey Martin: You know, they're getting hammered there too, so they're like, "I,

[00:51:11] Tracy Hayes: what do I do?" You know?

Or, or something, something in life happens too. They also, There's, you're "like, Oh, we're almost there. If come w- couple more months we'll have enough." Or their

[00:51:22] Bailey Martin: Car breaks out.

[00:51:23] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, yeah, Something like that happens, someone gets hurt, whatever it might be, and there's an expense.

but there are some great programs out there. We actually have a program here where we'll, for those who... 'cause the, hometown heroes are 640, is where they want you. 37. We'll actually, as long as they get approved for the FHA loan, we'll, they can get three- anywhere from three and a half to 5%.

Three and a half gives a little bit better interest rate. 'Cause you could always have the seller negotiate the closing cost there, and get people into the homes with little to no money outta their pocket. And

[00:51:46] Bailey Martin: then that gets them in the game.

[00:51:48] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:51:48] Bailey Martin: When they get in there and they like I said, start building equity, and then-

[00:51:54] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm

[00:51:54] Bailey Martin: they're able to buy their step-up home? because now they have all this equity 10 years down the road.

[00:51:56] Tracy Hayes: what does a buyer need to investigate before purchasing a St Augustine

[00:52:00] property as a vacation rental or a second home?

[00:52:02] Bailey Martin: It definitely rental rates and how much they're gonna make off of it, and it's a lot tighter than a m- you know, a lotta people think so some... I mean, and if you're buying a home cash, then that all the money you make from that is gonna be your income, but a lotta people who are looking to do this look for a second home. They wanna maybe vacation in it part of the year and then rent it out the rest of the year, and so we'll start really drilling down on the numbers, and how much do we think this is gonna make?

And then we have to make sure we're accounting for vacancy times because it's not gonna be rented out every single day. So there is a lot of work to be done to figure that out, and it's really important for your budget.

But, it's usually a lot tighter than people think.

[00:52:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. So- Have you worked with a lot of Airbnb? Do you have a lot of Airbnb clients?

I don't think... To me, you have to really, like you said, do your due diligence on, for someone who's never run their own Airbnb, of what it actually takes, and then the competition that's out there.

[00:52:57] Bailey Martin: The competition is huge. I think

[00:53:00] after, COVID, the market got flooded with Airbnbs.

[00:53:04] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:53:05] Bailey Martin: And so i- it, there's still so many that it's, you know, when there's a, a surplus of supply and not as much demand, then that's what's really pushing down those Airbnb costs, what their ma- the Airbnb income, so-

[00:53:17] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm

[00:53:17] Bailey Martin: th- what's making it not make more sense for people. So no, I don't have a whole bunch of buyers that I'm seeing coming in looking for that right now.

[00:53:24] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:53:25] Bailey Martin: Because it's not a super profitable business because it's so flooded. There's so many of them.

[00:53:29] Tracy Hayes: Right. well, the cost to clean. It's "like, "Oh, I'll just rent it. I'll rent it out for a weekend, make a..." Yeah, you can make good money renting it out for the weekend, but then you, Are, you cleaning it, or is someone else "cleaning it? Is it-

[00:53:40] Bailey Martin: And are you going to make as much as it I- ...costs for the mortgage payment also?

[00:53:43] Tracy Hayes: right. right.

[00:53:44] Bailey Martin: Unless you put down a ton of money on it.

[00:53:45] Tracy Hayes: Well, yeah, p-... I do.... We get a lot of calls obviously from the lending side.

Uh, Oh, yeah, we, we we want to put you know, "Can we put 10% down?" It's like,

[00:53:52] Bailey Martin: Not on

[00:53:52] Tracy Hayes: an investment or a second home, mm-mm ....

um, you, you really need at least 20 to kinda enter the game, and but you're still gonna get hammered. 30%, now we're talking,

[00:54:00] and you know, obviously there's great loans out there, like these DSCR loans, this debt service things. I'm seeing

[00:54:04] Bailey Martin: a lot of those. Those are popular right now.

[00:54:06] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, but to really get great rates with them, you wanna be putting 30 or 40% down.

[00:54:12] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:54:12] Tracy Hayes: You know, can you do it with 20? Yeah, you can get away with it, but your rate's not gonna be very good. the more... ''Cause they are totally, I think, I have to explain sometimes for those who don't know what a DSCR okay, you got a credit score, great.

You have the money to put down, they're gonna check that. They're not checking your income. They're just checking you got the money and you have a credit score. Now, they're looking at the home and saying, "Okay, you got 20, 30, 40% down on that home. what's the going rate for rent in that area?" They're gonna get that from the appraiser's gonna give them, and, you know, so they're gonna make it's a totally, we call equity based lending.

[00:54:43] Bailey Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:54:43] Tracy Hayes: And that's why more money down is going to get you a better interest rate because it's less risk for them because it's their equity lending.

You know?

[00:54:51] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:54:51] Tracy Hayes: So more you're borrowing, the less equity you have, you know? So, not always the answer, but you gotta do your you gotta do your math.

[00:54:58] Bailey Martin: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I'm even working with a

[00:55:00] buyer right now. He-- I've helped him buy a couple little investment properties, but he said he's got up to a million dollars, and he was like, "What could I get on the island where I would make $10,000 a month back?" And I was Like "Man, nothing."

[00:55:12] Tracy Hayes: Like it's, you, you- Um, yeah, cause a million dollars is not gonna buy too many 'beach houses, Cause some of them went out for that kind of dough,

[00:55:18] Bailey Martin: but- I've drilled down on it. I've looked. We've looked, and looked, and looked, and I mean, the best I could get him was around 8,000 a month, you know, and that's taking some account into--

But it's still $2,000 a month less than when. And so he's kinda holding off for now.

[00:55:31] Tracy Hayes: Maybe buy a couple-

[00:55:31] Bailey Martin: It's like maybe for 1.5 you could get, 10,000 back a month, but I'm not

[00:55:35] Tracy Hayes: could he pay cash for two or three smaller properties?

[00:55:38] Bailey Martin: And so we started looking at quads ... in Jacksonville-

[00:55:41] Tracy Hayes: Hmm .....................

[00:55:41] Bailey Martin: and stuff like that.

[00:55:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:55:42] Bailey Martin: He's like, "Maybe this isn't the

[00:55:43] Tracy Hayes: best."

Those are I wish they need, in my opinion, they need to, in certain areas, make that, you know, duplexes, triplexes, a quadpl- you know, th Cause we, we, don't really, a lot of times in our HOAs, it's restricted to have the auxiliary

[00:56:00] dwelling unit.

[00:56:01] Bailey Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:56:01] Tracy Hayes: As you may, li- you know, being up north, that was very popular to have the garage over- or the apartment over the garage type of thing.

[00:56:10] Bailey Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:56:10] Tracy Hayes: Here, it's not so friendly to do that, and I s- I really think we're, to get some more affordable housing, we've gotta build some communities that offer, you know, duplex or triplex situation. Just my opinion, there. Comment?

[00:56:21] Bailey Martin: Do you agree? Um, I, I, we definitely have some affordability issues here. I don't know if duplexes and triplexes are the answer. tangled web- .....we weave.

[00:56:29] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:56:29] Bailey Martin: Yeah. It's a

[00:56:29] Tracy Hayes: complicated one. Well, if you go to some of the older, older place like Green Cove Springs or Placa, you might find some of those in the older parts of town that, that, uh-

[00:56:35] Bailey Martin: Yeah ......are, are treasures. Even my mother-in-law, she lives in a patio home in Jacksonville, and it was built in 'the 80s, and so they're...

A patio home is basically a one story, and they're all connected. So it's like town homes, but it's all one story, and they're all connected, and-

[00:56:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ....

[00:56:49] Bailey Martin: lower lower price points on those.

[00:56:54] Tracy Hayes: Challenge of the homeowner with cause we don't really have-- When the rates were 3%, we had people

[00:57:00] moving from community to community. I imagine you did a lot of just, Hey, we're m- we're gonna move from here to Nocatee," "or, Moving out of Nocatey. We're going t- Trailmark," or whatever it was.

Now obviously we've got, people with low interest rates, but some of them are in situations where they have to move. there's a divorce, there's deaths, all, all, those type of situations.

When a St Augustine homeowner is frozen by the idea of trading their low rate for something literally double the interest rate, what is the real conversation you are having with him, and what questions do you ask that gets underneath the rate objection to what actually is holding them back?

[00:57:32] Bailey Martin: Well, I think that's just it. It's like how bad do you wanna move? I know when we were thinking about moving from World Golf Village into- onto the island, that we had a four,

[00:57:44] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:44] Bailey Martin: we had a 4% rate- ...

and we had bought our house, you know, eight years previously, so we had, got it for a much cheaper price than what we could sell it for, so we had a very low mortgage payment.

[00:57:53] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:53] Bailey Martin: but ultimately we really just looked at our life and our lifestyle and we realized that yes, we're gonna be paying more,

[00:58:00] but are we gonna stay in this home forever because it's cheap, or are we gonna go live our life and be where we want to be?

Because, you know, You only get one chance at this, and I wanna be happy on a daily basis. I don't wanna just stay somewhere because it's cheaper.

And if your priority is just keeping money in the bank account, then you probably should stay where you are. But if your priority is, living life to the fullest- ... and following your heart and not being scared to do that, then make the leap.

And I can tell you from experience, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

[00:58:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:58:36] Bailey Martin: I'm glad I didn't just stay in my house 'Cause it was cheaper.

[00:58:38] Tracy Hayes: I think people, people undervalue that feeling

[00:58:41] Bailey Martin: Hmm

[00:58:41] Tracy Hayes: that- that you just described right there.

[00:58:42] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:58:42] Tracy Hayes: Would you agree?

[00:58:43] Bailey Martin: I I agree 100%. It's crazy. They put that on the back burner when it's really, to me, one of the most important things.

[00:58:50] Tracy Hayes: Right. and because now you've done it and you can look back and you can share that experience, a lot of people o- you know, the And it is, what's funny is, I mean, I we all have had that

[00:59:00] person, you know, 'cause we've seen their--

Well, from my side, I've seen their bank statements and so forth, I've seen their bank statements and so forth, so I know they've got the money.

And then they'll, they'll get down to like, "Oh yeah, we'd love to sell." "Oh, no, we're gonna walk away for $5,000." It's like, okay, hold on a second.

[00:59:14] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[00:59:14] Tracy Hayes: How

[00:59:15] Bailey Martin: do- It's crazy. They're not that motivated.

[00:59:16] Tracy Hayes: Y- yeah,

[00:59:17] Bailey Martin: Well, and one thing that I think is really important too, and played out in my situation as well, so if you have a really low interest rate, there's a good chance that your house when you bought it was much cheaper than it is today.

[00:59:30] Tracy Hayes: I apologize. I-

[00:59:31] Bailey Martin: That's okay. So if you have a really low interest rate, you probably bought your home when home prices were a lot cheaper.

[00:59:39] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:59:39] Bailey Martin: Meaning, when you sell, you're gonna get a bunch of equity because low rates and low prices happen at the same time.

So you could take all that equity and buy your rate down. If you really want a low rate, you probably have a ton of equity. Buy your rate down. But I always caution people-

[00:59:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:59:55] Bailey Martin: about buying your rate down too, because you better be in that house for at least five to seven years to get that back. You're gonna pay $10,000 to have a lower rate-

[00:59:59] Tracy Hayes: Right

[01:00:00] Bailey Martin: ...and save 50 bucks a month. Well, it's gonna take you 10 years to get that 10,000 back, So,

[01:00:03] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Exactly.

[01:00:04] Bailey Martin: So, you know-

[01:00:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ....

[01:00:05] Bailey Martin: maybe you don't wanna buy down the rate, but also, you know, you probably have a lot of equity, so you can put a big down payment, which is gonna make your monthly payment lower.

So many people are focused on rates and purchase prices, when really they need to be looking at the monthly payment.

[01:00:18] Tracy Hayes: Well, and the, the monthly payment, and then like I said, when y- you're the one who has to pull in that driveway every night.

[01:00:24] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[01:00:24] Tracy Hayes: You know? You know, and what d-

[01:00:26] Bailey Martin: Take your kids to school

[01:00:26] Tracy Hayes: You take your kids to the school or whatever, and I I just feel when it comes down to it and people start, I call it stepping over a quarter to pick up a nickel, because they're, often what the value is, the peace of mind, h- their happiness and, you know, obviously we know people live different happiness lives, live longer, you know less stress. Whatever that is

[01:00:44] Bailey Martin: It's true yeah

[01:00:44] Tracy Hayes: that takes that stress away- You know we don't know what, you know, whatever it is look going out on the beach and seeing the sunrise, you know, what does that, what does that do

[01:00:55] Bailey Martin: for your life? For I can tell you it does a lot. Yeah. It's me I can tell you it does a lot. Yeah. It's definitely a really great way to start the day.

It's just-

[01:01:00] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

[01:01:00] Bailey Martin: it's a calming way to go, and yeah, stress is a big, it's a killer you know, And they even say if you live near the ocean, something about the ions and the y- you know, from the, Oh, the salt

[01:01:08] Tracy Hayes: air and you hear the--

[01:01:09] Bailey Martin: Yeah. like it does make you live longer.

[01:01:10] Tracy Hayes: It sounds like, It sounds like, there's I grew up on Cape Cod, and we, li- we lived half a mile up from the beach.

And, you know obviously at low tide or re- or if there was a good ... one I mean, you could hear the waves, right?

[01:01:23] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[01:01:23] Tracy Hayes: You could j- well so it's just this lo-

[01:01:25] Bailey Martin: Yes,

[01:01:25] Tracy Hayes: the calming effect it's just this low kind of roar- ............that goes on,

[01:01:31] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[01:01:31] Tracy Hayes: and you just, it, it's there, you know.

s- s-sounds like train or road I guess, if, you if you wanna kinda describe, you know, if you live near a highway it just doesn't stop.

there's no honking of the horns but this is ......off in the distance there's this whoosh.

[01:01:43] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[01:01:44] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. And there, there, is a piece of mind. What does that do for you? does that motivate- To me,

[01:01:46] Bailey Martin: it's really important.

[01:01:47] Tracy Hayes: That might motivate you in the morning and put a smile on your face in the morning that you're making an extra sale or two a year, and makes up the difference for what you paid for the house right?

Yeah.

what does strategic listing marketing actually

[01:02:00] look like for a seller working with you versus most agents?

[01:02:04] Bailey Martin: Well, I think one thing is really important is most what do they say? 95% of people who are starting their home search are doing it online.

So having an amazing online presence is key, and finding the right photographer has been really difficult for me over the years. I've worked with a bunch of different ones.

I feel like I have a really great guy right now. He's awesome. He, he's got a, a team, and they are just amazing with their photos.

So for one, vetting and having the most amazing photographers so that way you are looking so good online. And don't cheapen anything.

If the home needs to be staged. let's get it staged. We're in a market where there's a lot of, you know, competition and a lot of homes, and we just wanna make sure ours is standing out and looking the best or a buyer's gonna choose a different one.

So really strong online presence. Make sure you're doing your Zillow 3D tour and your floor plan and, you know, really blasting it, and then also putting it on social media and

[01:03:00] making-- just getting as many eyes as you possibly can on the home.

[01:03:03] Tracy Hayes: Staging has been brought up. many of the guests that come on r- recently w- we've talked about it, staging is staging probably one of those w-... It's like one of those things that people...

The statistics are there that the value's there, that you're gonna get so much more or sell it that much faster, right?

There's... You save money by selling it faster, assuming you have some place to go, 'cause you're no longer making the 'payment or paying the taxes on the house, right? And you're off to your new house.

Some people, well obviously, that's a desirability. But you feel staging is, is, underestimated by a lot of sellers

[01:03:32] Bailey Martin: I think most sellers are willing to do it. I mean, a lot of sellers are still in the home, so there's t- kind of two types of staging you can do.

[01:03:41] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[01:03:41] Bailey Martin: You can bring in a staging consultant who tells you, "You know, take down your personal photos, declutter, move your couch over here-

[01:03:50] Tracy Hayes: Hm ...

[01:03:50] Bailey Martin: it "really opens it up and makes it look better."

And those are pretty cheap. I mean, usually you can get, an interior designer who specializes in that in there for 200 bucks or less. So the ROI on that I feel like is huge.

[01:03:59] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:04:00] Bailey Martin: Especially if they do all the things that the stager asks.

Now, m- the other side of the coin is a vacant home where you're having the stager bring a moving truck full of stuff, carry, you know, hire movers to carry these couches in and set everything up and make it So that can be much more expensive, and it's not, necessarily make sense on maybe a $200,000 price property because a lot of these stagers are charging thousands of dollars-

[01:04:27] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[01:04:27] Bailey Martin: for that service.

[01:04:28] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. So it's-

[01:04:29] Tracy Hayes: Do you do any virtual?

Y-

[01:04:31] Bailey Martin: I always do virtual if there's a vacant home. I'll do virtual, and I've done a lot of staging too.

I work with some really great local stagers as well.

[01:04:39] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:04:39] Bailey Martin: So it just kinda depends on the situation.

[01:04:39] Tracy Hayes: How does, how does that come across to someone looking, seeing online or social media whatever, they see this or social media whatever, they see this virtually staged house, which most people would look at they wouldn't like even pick up that it's virtually staged-

[01:04:50] Bailey Martin: Right.

[01:04:51] Tracy Hayes: but then show up and there's nothing there.

[01:04:51] Bailey Martin: Yeah. Exactly. Cause

[01:04:52] Tracy Hayes: c- people are weird about what's there even though it's not even their furniture,

[01:04:56] Bailey Martin: Yeah.

[01:04:56] Tracy Hayes: or going to be-

[01:04:57] Bailey Martin: ...their furniture. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I think a lotta times when

[01:05:00] people go into a home and it's empty, they f- start feeling a little more comfortable than if it was full of somebody else's stuff. They're like, "Oh, this house is move-in ready."

[01:05:09] Tracy Hayes: There's a happy medium point. Yeah. Yeah,

[01:05:11] Bailey Martin: there definitely is.

[01:05:12] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah.

when you say the relationship matters more than the transaction, what does that actually look like when a client is about to make a decision you believe is the wrong one for them?

[01:05:24] Bailey Martin: I lay out... You know, it's, it's ultimately my client's decision. I can't make the decision for them, but I can show them all the data, I can explain to them what would happen if they made this decision versus that decision But I, you know, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it, so- buyers and sellers are gonna make their own decision, and my job is to make sure that it's a well informed decision

[01:05:47] Tracy Hayes: Anything you'd like to add?

We talked about a lot of really great, great, stuff. I mean, there's a lot of, lot of stuff in there about the neighborhoods and, and so forth and what you're doing.

Tell, in your words because I think everyone y- you know, y- You

[01:06:00] probably evaluate yourself, occasionally. I mean, sure, and after every deal of good, bad or indifferent: what did I do good? What'd I do bad? You have to kinda... You go through that, hopefully on every client but on a regular basis.

Definitely. What, what are some of the, the Express to us, tell the audience, what are some of the things that you found, that is important to you, important but it's not always important to every other agent, but what you found is im- important that you deliver and you or at least you strive to l- deliver on a regular basis to every one of your, c- your clients in their experience through th- through the buying or selling process.

[01:06:34] Bailey Martin: Yeah. I want all of my clients to be left with, "Bailey really cared. Bailey did everything she could do to help us out. Bailey got us what we wanted and what we needed. She followed through, and was very communicative."

I'm, I'm on point with my communication, and I'm really direct and honest with people. So I want them left with like, "She did an amazing job." She-" Yeah. was there for me."

"Bailey has your back, is kind of my slogan.

[01:07:00] Tracy Hayes: Bailey has your

[01:07:01] Bailey Martin: back.

[01:07:02] Tracy Hayes: Bailey's

[01:07:02] Bailey Martin: got your back. Bailey's got your And as a good person-

[01:07:04] Tracy Hayes: That's g- ... to have oop- on your side.

Well, because so many deals I think there's a lot more, seems to be a lot more, um, intricate negotiations right now-

[01:07:12] Bailey Martin: I understand ...

[01:07:12] Tracy Hayes: in different situations.

[01:07:13] Bailey Martin: Yes. Which I ... love

[01:07:14] Tracy Hayes: and-

[01:07:14] Bailey Martin: That's my ... favorite part of the deal ...

[01:07:16] Tracy Hayes: and, s- you want the client know that you're, obviously cause you, a lot of these, these negotiations are going on and they're not necessarily right there.

you're having, you're going back and forth with the other realtor then you're dropping the phone and calling them and, and going back and forth, that you are looking after their best interest.

hear the rain?

[01:07:32] Bailey Martin: Yeah. I do.

[01:07:33] Tracy Hayes: Great. so, but one of the complaints I regularly hear from the top agents that come into the show is the agent on the other side whether they're new or it's their personality, but it seems there sometimes an ego can get involved, Their agent's ego-

[01:07:51] Bailey Martin: Yeah ...

[01:07:51] Tracy Hayes: into the negotiation. It sounds like you've had this-

[01:07:53] Bailey Martin: It's a huge detriment-

[01:07:55] Tracy Hayes: Yep ...

[01:07:55] Bailey Martin: to the client too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and now I have agents that I'm mentoring, and I

[01:08:00] can hear conversations going on, and I just had this recently and I was like, "Listen, the other side is gonna negotiate with you so much more if they like you. if the other side doesn't like you, they're gonna stick it to you and there's a much bigger chance of the deal falling through."

It is our job as, our fiduciary responsibility to our client to get them the best deal. and so to get them the best deal, we've gotta be in good graces with the other side.

So do whatever it Swallow your ego.

[01:08:29] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:08:29] Bailey Martin: We're negotiating a lot here for our clients. Let's be friendly, let's be professional, let's be kind, and let's make a deal.

[01:08:40] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Well, I mean some of these negotia- I mean I, Because I hear my wife talking, some of this stuff is over, like, I mean we're talking about five, $600, $700 thousand houses, and they're negotiating over a, you know, a couple thousand dollar something so silly.

And it's like, okay, hold on a second. That means somebody

[01:09:00] is not actually being real with their, buyer or seller and saying, "Hey, y- you're selling a $600,000 house. You're worried about a $300," which that's what the inspection report says. It was pr- really probably a $30 fix. and you're, you know, i- and d- d- Well,

[01:09:13] Bailey Martin: it's probably not about that.

[01:09:15] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:09:15] Bailey Martin: You know? it's it's an emotional transaction, and when I see a seller getting upset about a $300 credit, I'm like, "Listen, what's really going 'on?" 'Cause it's not that.

[01:09:24] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:09:25] Bailey Martin: Are you having second, like thoughts about selling your home? You guys have been here, you raised your family here. This is really hard. And so I really dig into and lean into what's really going on here, ''cause it's not a $300 credit.

[01:09:36] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. well, and c- 'cause you gotta get real, and then you get it out of them, and then you- you- can make it better now you can make the win-win situation and, and everybody bonds together.

But it's because you get real with them a little bit.

And

[01:09:48] Bailey Martin: then, and-

[01:09:48] Tracy Hayes: and- you've earned that ...

[01:09:49] Bailey Martin: Give them patience. give them grace. Give them time. listen and understand where they're coming from. It's, it's an emotional deal. It's only the most expensive, you know?

[01:10:00] transaction of where you live and where you're raising your family.

[01:10:02] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, 100%. What could

[01:10:03] Bailey Martin: possibly go wrong,

[01:10:06] Tracy Hayes: you know? Exactly. All right, right into the camera here, tell us why you love real estate.

[01:10:10] Bailey Martin: I love real estate because, oh gosh, it certainly keeps me on my toes. I love a good challenge. I love meeting people. I love the relationships. I love helping people.

And, yeah, it's fun.

[01:10:23] Tracy Hayes: Appreciate you coming up today.

[01:10:25] Bailey Martin: It's been a pleasure. Thank

[01:10:26] Tracy Hayes: you so

[01:10:26] Bailey Martin: much.

[01:10:26] Tracy Hayes: Thank you. Unfortunately, you got to ride home in this rain.

[01:10:29] Bailey Martin: That's okay.

[01:10:30] Tracy Hayes: Well, it's that time of year. We need a good wash down here in Florida.

[01:10:33] Bailey Martin: Yep.

[01:10:33] Tracy Hayes: Bailey, appreciate ya.

[01:10:34] Bailey Martin: Thank you so

[01:10:35] Tracy Hayes: much.

[01:10:35] Bailey Martin: Thank you. Bye.