Valarie Tucker shares her story of how she found a career in real estate after a divorce despite being a highly successful hairstylist. She talks about juggling two jobs and choosing to move full-time into her real estate career. As a multi-million dollar producer for the last five years, Valarie works with people buying first homes or those with experience in the residential home market.

We discuss the importance of having a plan before purchasing a property and how emotional attachments can affect a seller's perceptions of a home's value. The episode also addresses the hidden costs of home repairs and the importance of creating a comfortable budget instead of relying solely on what the lender says you can afford.

In addition, Valarie shares time and stress-saving information on:

·   Hidden Costs in Buying a House - There are often hidden, expensive repairs needed in houses that are not cosmetic and can eat up a budget quickly.

·    Why it's essential to get a home inspection before purchasing any type of home to find out what repairs are necessary

·    How to budget for a new home purchase - people tend to focus on the top number when buying a house, but it is important to consider all expenses involved and if they fit within your current financial picture.

About the Guest:

I have been a Texas licensed real estate agent for almost 6 years working for the top selling company in Northeast Texas Mayben Realty. I have been a multi-million dollar producer for the past 5 years. I divorced 12 years ago and bought my first house as a single mom 7 years ago. I have created a new LLC just over a year ago flipping houses (buying, renovating, and selling houses) with my partner.

To connect with Valarie:

Email: valarie@maybenrealty.com

Website: maybenrealty.com/mls/valarie-tucker/

Facebook: Valarie Tucker, Mayben Realty Realtor

About the Host:

Mardi Winder-Adams is an ICF and BCC Executive and Leadership Coach, Certified Divorce Transition Coach, and a Credentialed Distinguished Mediator in Texas. She has worked with women in executive, entrepreneur, and leadership roles navigating personal, life, and professional transitions. She is the founder of Positive Communication Systems, LLC.

To find out more about divorce coaching: www.divorcecoach4women.com

Are you interested in learning more about your divorce priorities? Take the quiz "Find Out Your #1 Priority to Cut Through the Fog of Divorce".

Connect with Mardi on Social Media:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Divorcecoach4women

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mardiwinderadams/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divorcecoach4women/

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Welcome to the D shift podcast, where we provide inspiration, motivation and education to help you transition from the challenges of divorce to discover the freedom and ability to live life on your own terms. Are you ready? Let's get the shift started. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the day shift. And today, I am really thrilled to be able to talk to somebody who's going to help a whole lot of us out there, she has already helped me, I'm going to let you know, she was my real estate agent and did a phenomenal job for me in selling some property. So I'd like to introduce you to Valarie Tucker. And she is a Texas licensed real estate agent. And she has been a multi million dollar producer for the last five years. And that's a pretty damn good record as far as I'm concerned. So, Valarie, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us today.

Thank you for having me, I'm so excited to be here and be able to be on your show, I've been listening, and it's just amazing what you're doing, I think you're really making an impact. I think it's, it's an awesome show that you have. So I'm super excited that I was able to be asked to be on this show. I'm very,

I'm happy to have you because I think real estate, honestly, is one of those areas that a lot of people don't have experience in. And it can be really intimidating. You know, even for me, I mean, I was selling a piece of real estate, just a small little tiny acreage. And it was kind of overwhelming. And Valerie was so kind I mean, she took the time and walked me through step by step, compared to the property she sold. It was like a little peanut sized piece of property. But she, you know, you really put the time and the effort and the support, and I felt totally confident in selling the property, I didn't have any questions or concerns. And that made it so much different, like the whole experience was so positive. So, um, before we get into that, let's talk a little bit about about you and how you got into becoming a real estate agent.

Okay, and it really just kind of all, it's not even something that I ever thought about doing. I was a hairdresser for 21 years. And I went through divorce, I bought my first home all by myself. And then I guess a couple years after that I just was watching flip house shows, you know, they had gotten real popular, those flipping shows. And I thought that's kind of a fun side job, maybe something I'd want to do. And one of my friends from high schools was married, is married to a broker. And so I had reached out to him and just said, Hey, I'm kind of tossing this idea around, what do you think? And he thought he said that he thought I would make a great agent. And I thought, Well, why not give it a shot. I mean, I still had my hair career and was was doing great with that and love doing that. And I honestly I never even thought I would ever give up doing hair. I just loved bonding with my clients. And so I took the online courses and thought I would just dabble in it and really just do it to flip houses. And I got my license and it just took off. It just was meant to be you know, I prayed about it a lot and, and the Lord has blessed me tremendously with a fantastic business. And in fact, about three years in I was doing both hair and real estate trying to juggle both as a single mom and I thought my daughter was about to be a senior in high school and I thought I I'm gonna have to give up something right and and I ended up retiring from doing hair because I was just so busy with real estate and I absolutely love it and I haven't looked back so it's been great.

Well that's I mean that's super inspirational. I mean you went through divorce you were single mom, you're doing a full time job you're taking just taking training and then you turn into this multimillion dollar producer like literally overnight it seems like

yes yes it's it's been amazing

yeah, so let's if you don't mind and and that's why I didn't even know all that stuff about you. So Cindy I learned so know when you said you bought your first home as a single as a single mom after the divorce go What do you think is the biggest challenge? Or how can women prepare? Or what should people be doing? Whether it's men or women? What should they be doing? If they're thinking about investing in their first home?

I think that the first thing you need to do is set a goal. You know, figure out, you really need to sit down and figure out what does what does next five years of your life or 10 years of your life? What do you want that to look like? Do you want to stay in the area that you're gonna be? So really just, you know, look at look at what you're wanting your future to look like, both short term and long term. You know, and I guess, if you've just with this podcast being focusing on people who are going through or just recently divorced, and also depends on what your paper say, do, you have to stay in a certain location. And some, some people have restrictions as far as where they can or cannot move to, if there are children involved. So So you have to look at all of those aspects. But the main thing is figure out where you want to be, you know, you don't, you don't want to jump into buying the house, if you think you're gonna move somewhere else the following year, but it's somewhere that you say, you know, I, I plan to be here for 234 years, then, buying probably is a good idea, because I think, real estate's always a good investment, I feel like, but if you're, if you're not sure, if you're still in that uncertain period, then you might not be ready to buy a house yet, maybe renting is a better option. Yeah. But once you decide once you want to say, Okay, this is where I want to be, this is where I want to live this, this town, from there, start looking at neighborhoods, maybe even, you know, kind of narrow it down and really get a good idea of where you want to plant some roots. And, of course, with real estate, you're not tied to it forever. You, if you two years down the road, your life suddenly changes, you can sell it, it's not, you're not tied to it, you're not stuck there ever. And it's always a good investment. So but you definitely you, the longer you stay there, the more equity you're going to build being there. So I think that I think the location is probably the first thing to figure out. Next, Next, you're gonna want to speak with a lender, figure out where you are, figure out what you can and can't afford. You don't want to start going looking for houses without a number in mind of where you would be comfortable. And even when you talk to your lender, make sure you ask, you know, what do my monthly payments, what are they going to look like? Yeah, because just because you could be approved for a $300,000 house or whatever. That doesn't mean you want to spend that you want to spend where you're going to be financially comfortable. You don't, you don't want to pour all your money into a mortgage and then not be able to afford to live. Right. And you want to

I was gonna say there's so many other expenses, there's insurance and there's, you know, there's all these other things that come in once you start owning a home, there's repairs, there's upkeep, there's maintenance, yeah. All that kind of stuff, right?

Yes, absolutely. And so I think a lot of people just look at that top number and they say, Oh, well, you know, I can I can get this great house. But at what expense? You know, if it's above your monthly budget, is it worth it? You know, you really want to, you really want to sit down, put the pen to the paper and look at a budget, figure out what number makes you feel comfortable. Not necessarily what number the lender says you can afford right now. So that that's, that's a big, big tip I would give to anybody. You know, taxes go up every year, interest rates go up, everything changes. So you don't want to be at the very top of your budget. And then something changed and suddenly, this great experience turns into your worst nightmare.

Right? Right. And I want to ask you something because I know you do the flipping the house flipping stuff, and and you know, homes. What What's the biggest thing mistake you see people do when they like, they assume that buying a fixer upper is a cheap way to get a house, is that always the case? Or is that not necessarily the case.

Not always the case, not always the case, it getting in and getting repairs, it can get very expensive very quickly. And a lot of times the most costly expenses on houses are the ones you can't see. So a lot of times your budget gets eaten up with a sea Foundation, roof. You know, plumbing stuff that's not necessarily cosmetic. And then, you know, when you fix it up, you're above your budget, and you don't have the look that you're wanting to get, because you spent it all on other stuff that need it that was necessary, but not visual, so. So it's not always the best option. You definitely want to get a really good home inspection done prior to purchasing any home whether it's a flip house, whether it's an investment fixer upper, or whether it's your forever home, you I always highly recommend getting a home inspection to find out what is going on with the house.

And who normally pays for that home inspection. Is it the buyer or the seller?

The buyers responsible for paying for a home inspection. But like I tell my buyers, you know, it may be five or $600 for that home inspection, but it could save you five to 10,000 in the long run, right, right. You know, if you if you buy it, and there's foundation going on some foundation issues that that can get costly really quick. And that's something that an inspector can usually find out during the inspection. So yeah,

absolutely. So thanks for that. Because I've had so many people say, buy a house and fix it up. And I'm like, oh, gosh, I don't know if you really want to go down that road if you've never done it before.

Yeah, no, it's an N each house is a learning experience. I think it doesn't matter how many years you're in it. It's, there's always something new to pop that pops up. There's always something that you're like, dang, I didn't think about that. So it's definitely a learning experience. But it can be it can be a really good experience as well. But like I said, just get a home inspection first so that you know, you know if it has good, it makes sure it has nothing to costly that you can't afford to fix it up the way you want it.

Yeah. Valerie, I'd love to if you don't mind to, could you maybe share some of the value that having a real estate agent on your side as a buyer, or a seller? Like the advantages of that rather than trying to do it yourself kind of buying and selling a property?

Absolutely. I think that the whole process is very overwhelming. I when I bought my first home, I made sure to get a realtor. I wasn't a realtor at the time. And I don't know that I could have done it without or people do people do. But I feel like having an agent on your side, that's you, your person. It just gives you the confidence it gives you the backbone, it gives you somebody to go that's going to fight for you. You know, I think it's important to have somebody that can say hey, this is you know, each step of the way kind of walk you through and say this is what we're going to do. And this is this is the next step. Even from from the very beginning of showing houses, a lot of times it's helpful your Realtor can schedule appointments to go see homes and find you what you're looking for. So you're not just going down the rabbit hole of looking at all of these properties and trying to figure out how do I go see it? Or how do I do anything, you know? If you want to contact your realtor, you can basically give them a list of your wants and He needs kind of your checklist. And we can create a whole spreadsheet for you to where it automatically will send you any listings that match your criteria. And so as soon as something hits the market, or if the price changes on it, it'll email you right away and say, Hey, this house, and it kind of gives you like, a little bit of an advantage, you know, because if you don't have access to the MLS, then it's harder to find properties that are listed.

Right. And I was going to say, even, you know, as a seller, when when you and I first spoke, you said you you had people that you thought would be interested, and you could contact them before the listing even necessarily went went live online. So that's a real asset, even for a seller to have something like that. So, yeah.

Yeah. And as the buyer, if you have a realtor on your side, that knows what you're wanting a lot of us agents, you know, we say, Hey, I think I have this coming up, or I think I'm about to get I'm about to list this property. Well, if I'm your agent, then I'm able to say, Hey, I think I have a buyer that's looking for something just like that. Can I show them you know, and and it kind of gets you in the door a little bit sooner than waiting? Till you stumble across it on Zillow or realtor or whatever. Right? Right, whatever site you're using. Yeah, and even

things like how do you price a property? Like, I think it's like selling a car, you always think it's worth a lot more than it really is. Because you have all this love and care and time you spent on the home. And nobody else sees that value necessarily.

Right, a lot of times, emotions can play into a property's value to the seller, you know, and, and they are in love with their house, they've seen their kids grow up in that house, or they brought their baby home to that house or, you know, so many memories and and buyers don't see your memories in that house, all they see is the house and and what memories they might be able to make there. But so a realtor helps to kind of put it into perspective and is able to run comps for similar houses in the area what they've sold for recently. And kind of a general idea of what this price per square foot house is going for and is able to kind of give you a better idea price that appropriately. Yeah,

and obviously pricing it right. It means less days on the market means you get paid faster. And you can go on with whatever you wherever you want to move to. So

yes, well, and I'm and it could go the opposite way. Also I've had, I've had several sellers that say Oh, I just want to be able I if I can get this amount, I'd be happy. And I think to myself, oh my goodness, you could get so much more than that. And so, you know, I ended up making them a whole lot more money than they initially anticipated. Because they didn't realize the market was the way it was or the demand for houses or, or whatever the situation may be. So I've actually had more questions where people got more for their house by listing with me than they would have. Had they not.

Yeah, and I know that because I've actually talked to somebody who had that experience who listed you so I can I can vouch for that. I won't say anybody's name here, but I can vouch for that. But and one other thing I want to throw in there, I've had other people talk to me about this, the appraised value of the property in the divorce is not necessarily what it's going to sell for. Right. So you can't use that as sort of the takeaway.

Correct? Correct. I don't really know where they get that number from. The best way I would say if you're going to be selling because you know if you're having to sell your house due to a divorce, and I would say it would be best to hire a licensed appraiser to come out and give you the value or even you could rely on getting a broker's opinion of having a realtor come out and and value the house that what they think they could sell it for. Right even still. You Want to keep your expectations? negotiable?

I was because I was gonna say, typically what I see is when the property is evaluated for the divorce through through an appraiser, it's lower than what a broker would say, or a real estate agent would say, we can sell this for because it's a different different kind of appraisal, different kind of pricing range. So

yeah, right. So validating like that tax.

Go ahead, go ahead. You're doing good. Yeah,

I was just gonna say, let the tax appraisal you know, which, of course, you want that number to be lower, you want your tax appraisal value of your home to be lower, so you're not paying as much in property tax. But typically, the home sells for a lot more than what's listed on that tax appraisal value. So that's another

good point. Thank you for sharing that. So we've covered a whole bunch of information. And believe it or not, we're at the end of our time already. Valerie, what's one, what's one big thing you want women or men who have who are selling or buying a property to think about, during that, during that critical time, when they're looking at properties, what's the most important thing you think they should focus in on?

I think a plan, having a plan, having a plan for, where they see themselves going what they can afford, where they want to be. You know, I think it's very important not to just jump into something especially right after a divorce, because you're emotional, and you've got so many things going on. And whether you're emotionally happy or emotionally sad, or whatever it is, you've got a lot of change happening as it is. A lot of people feel that urgency to, to do something, and end up making a mistake. So I think, I think the best is just to kind of relax, be logical. And sit down and write down exactly what it is you're wanting, what's your focus, what your goal is, for life and for a house.

Love that what that's great for life and a house, I love that. Valerie if people want to, or if they're in the Northeast Texas area, and they want to work with you, or if they just want to maybe learn a little bit more about what you do what's the best way or to see your listings get in touch with you about real estate that's for sale, or to help with as a buyer, what's the best way to reach you.

So they can go to Maven realty.com. And they ybenrealty.com. From our homepage there, they can scroll down, find my picture, find my name and click on it. All of my listings get posted, we have an amazing marketing team who does a great job keeping all of that together for us. But there's, you know, you can email me directly from there, you can get my phone number directly from there, I want to add they don't have to be from Northeast Texas. I am our our our company, actually Maven realty is an elite member of leading our E which is unique. I say universal we can if somebody's moving from China or to China or anywhere in the world, we're global. And we can refer we can refer clients that are buying or selling to people across the world that are at the same caliber of real estate company that we are there's a certain criteria you have to meet to become a member of this, the leading RA and we've we've gotten to be a part of that. Because we have high standards at our company and are able to meet the criteria. And so we can we can set somebody up no matter where they're from or where they're going. We can we can assist them with with connecting with.