From Renters to Homeowners: Creative Solutions for Today’s Real Estate Challenges

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Empowered Voices, empowering the next generation of leaders through real estate, business, and life lessons. Now, here’s your host.

Olivia J. Price: Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. This is your host, Olivia J. Price on business radio with all things real estate. Now we are here with some fabulous, fabulous, fabulous industry leaders in the room that we’re going to be introducing. And also they’re going to be our co-host. Now, our biggest mission for all things real estate is that we want to touch on some really uncomfortable conversations, real conversations Stations and ways how we can make a difference within our community, and actually being able to make everyone’s lives more profitable. At the end of the day, right, considering that we are in real estate now, I am a Georgia realtor. I am a former board director for the Georgia Association of Realtors, the Northeast Atlanta metro Association of Realtors. I was the first vice president for the Women’s Council of Realtors of Gwinnett. I also served on my, um, city council on their development authority. So when it comes to community, I am very big on that. So having this opportunity to speak on a broader scale is going to be amazing. And I just want to go ahead and hand it off to you. Um, Johnathan Crego, would you be able to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your mission and why are we here?

Johnathan Crego: Absolutely. So I’m Jonathan Crego, and I’ve been in the business for about five years. Uh, I started in 2020. I’ve now also kind of run a flipping business as well. And, um, I’m also a Georgia Association director. I’ve been one for 3 or 4 years. Uh, I sit on the the NAMAR board. I’ve done that for about 3 or 4 years. Um, um, yeah, I’ve done a lot in a little time, but I really also I’ve always been very community focused. Um, ever since I was a police officer in DeKalb, I’ve always been very about the community. I’m a part of two different nonprofits, uh, directors for both. That’s just a big part of me. So, um. Yeah, I hope to bring a lot of that to the table as well as, like, the flipping world and all that. And also what we do, you know, when we work with buyers and sellers.

Olivia J. Price: And one thing too, I want to say, um, and I’m going to mention you as J.R.. Okay? Yes, please. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: I hate when I’m called Jonathan. Like, just call me J.R..

Olivia J. Price: Yes, J.R., um, I do want to touch on a few things, because that’s what made me reach out to you in terms of this opportunity. Because honestly, um, I believe everyone at this table were under 40, and we’re doing some really big things that I think that a lot of people within our age range aren’t doing or they’re emerging. So, um, when I think of us, I think of us as the future. I think of us as real estate moguls in the next 15, 20 years. So I’m excited. And to know that you literally came in, I came in in 2019 into real estate. So I was right.

Johnathan Crego: Behind you at 2020. And, uh, no, and I agree. And do you know, per Nar National Association of Realtors, the average age of an agent is 54.

Olivia J. Price: That’s. Well, well, to be honest with you, did you know that 71% of agents didn’t sell last year?

Johnathan Crego: I know.

Olivia J. Price: So when it comes to this industry right here, just knowing that we’re still here and in business and doing it at a high level, I can be nothing but grateful for that. So, um, and also to piggyback before we move to you, Jordan, Would you be able to tell me a little bit more about your background coming from the servant position and being in the force?

Johnathan Crego: Sure. Yeah. So I spent seven years as a DeKalb County police officer, um, in 2017. Well, let me back up. So I did started in 2014, uh, spent about eight months in training academy and whatnot, and got on the road from there. And in about a year’s time, I was asked to join the, uh, the fit team, which is kind of like a fugitive team that we go and basically look for murderers, armed robbers, things like that. So spent five years of my life doing that. In 2017, I was the officer of the year, and in 2018 I had two back to back really bad experience happen. Uh, I lost my my best friend, my mentor. He was on the team with me. We, uh, were in a fight with an armed robber, and basically it was a long fight. We got him in custody, and. And Miguel went home and passed away from an unknown heart condition. Right after that happened, I went to a horrible call involving kids. I don’t want to get too involved in it, but, uh, it really led me to, um, kind of understanding. I needed to change careers. Um, due to. I had kids coming on, you know, my own kids and just being involved so heavy into mental things. It really put me in a depression.

Johnathan Crego: And that’s where I really got involved with the community. I feel like when you give back to the community, it helps you as well. And and so I started the community policing Unit with DeKalb, and there’s about ten of us, and we basically work with homeless people, uh, victims of domestic violence, fires, things like that. We would hook them up with a nonprofit. So we were basically kind of like the middle people of between the people that need help and the nonprofits that are looking to help people. So we kind of became the boots on the ground for them, essentially. Um, and that was a wonderful time of my career. That’s how I got involved in some non-profits, but that’s why it’s always been. A big part of me is giving back to the community, nonprofit work, that type of thing. But I always knew, ever since that 2018 awful year of my life, I knew I wanted to do something else. And so eventually my my, um, broker, Nakia Brooks, he we had been friends before. He’s from the force as well. He sat me down at the Ted’s Montana Grill at the Mall of Georgia, and he basically said, what’s going on with you? I can tell something’s up with you. Like, I was very depressed.

Johnathan Crego: I, you know, it was bad. And I told him and he was like, what do you think about real estate? I’m like, I don’t know. I came from construction, but like, I don’t know. I’ve never thought like I would do real estate. And so I took it home to my wife. We talked about it and I was like, you know what? I feel a calling to just kind of try this out. And I didn’t get licensed until literally Covid was hitting when I got licensed and I was like, oh man, this is a terrible time, right? It was when it was when the market was weird. Like the market dropped a lot when Covid first hit. And then we all know what happened after after about two weeks of time, it just skyrocketed. Insane. And I went from making barely any money as a police officer to all of a sudden, hey, I can I can afford, you know, life now with this. And I love life and I, you know, can see my kids more. I’m not chasing murderers and working 16 hours a day and, you know, doing all this crazy stuff. I can come home. I know I can come home to them by doing this. At least I have a lot better chance.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’ll tell you this to to piggyback on that, um, because you really don’t see especially coming from where I come from. Okay. I didn’t come from the best neighborhood. So just knowing your story and hearing your compassion when it came to your job just makes me appreciate the force even more, you know, because you have to have compassion coming into real estate. Real estate isn’t an industry where you can just come in and do whatever, feel, whatever type of way and expect for your business to thrive, especially nowadays. Yes, especially nowadays. And we’re going to talk about that too. Right. What makes us different, especially when it comes to the sales floor? Um, but I do want to mention this when it comes to when Nakia, um, was speaking to you about, hey, like, what’s going on? And he was like, hey, what about real estate? I swear, situations like that, because my husband did that to me. I was selling insurance for State Farm at that time, and I was just like, oh, I’m just I wasn’t feeling it. Um, it just wasn’t the industry for me at that time. And he was like, hey, what about real estate? And it changed my life. So situations and conversations like that can just spark a huge, soon to be fire to ignite.

Johnathan Crego: Did you grow up ever thinking about doing real estate?

Olivia J. Price: No, never. My mom didn’t talk about it. My mom was in the medical field, so she’s like real estate. Yeah, it seems so impractical. It seems so, like, not, um, steady. And, you know.

Johnathan Crego: Did you know any agents growing up?

Olivia J. Price: No, I didn’t know any agents. People from my area didn’t do real estate. Yeah. So, I mean, I just feel like real estate could be endless, you know, especially once you start to get into it. Now, I want to pause on you. Um, JR. Because you were a whole book, and I want to touch on a lot of different things from you. I want to move on to Jordan, which is our other co-host. So I want to kind of give you a little introduction because, um, how we met was pretty amazing. Um, and I just think it’s the hustle, right? So when we first met, um, you were just getting into the lending world. I was just now getting into real estate.

Jordan Nutter: I remember. Like, a month apart from starting. Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: So, um, and then we met at the Chatelaine event, which is fabulous. I love that because I actually met some people there that I’m still friends with.

Jordan Nutter: Oh, wonderful.

Olivia J. Price: So, yeah. So I always tell people, um, the power of networking could change your life, right? Um, and meeting you has been that, um. I just seen your growth. I’m like, look at her. You know. I know you left. Came back, um, had children. And I know we didn’t talk about your babies, too. How many do you have?

Johnathan Crego: Two. A three and a five year old.

Olivia J. Price: Oh, yeah. You’re in the beginning, too. So we’re all new parents, which is amazing, too. So go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit of how was that experience coming into the industry? Traveling, coming back, having kids. And now Landon is here.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah, I mean I so yeah, I started in 2019 and I. Nobody would use me. Right. Like I was brand new. Nobody wanted to use this lender that was in her mid 20s that knew nothing about mortgages. And so I had to learn everything and anything I could about like credit, credit repair, first time homebuyers because that’s those are the clients that I was given, like the people that they couldn’t qualify through their like.

Johnathan Crego: The hard ones.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. Those hard ones. Yeah. But I learned so much and I grew so quickly. And then, as we all know, Covid hit. So that really forced me essentially to be at home and do nothing but learn and educate myself. And I’m so grateful for that time because without it, I wouldn’t have, like, pushed myself into the career that I have now. Um, and by doing that, I was able to help so many first time homebuyers, you know, with all these misconceptions of you need a 700 credit score, you need 20% down. And I love that. But I realized that I was just helping that one. Now there’s not like I love any person that I can help, but I was like, my voice can be used to help more people, like, how can I make that happen? And so that’s why I started doing social media, because I was like, if I can help this one person and they’re using this information, I can put it out there and hopefully help more individuals. Um, and thankfully I did that because now I’ve been able to to help thousands of people. From the videos that I’ve posted and continue to post, which has been very just life changing for my business, and I’m so grateful for the partners that I have and everyone I’ve been able to to help. Um, and yes, we we did. We went, um, my husband and I went back to California for a brief period of time. Um, and when we decided to come back to Georgia, we were like, you know what? We’ll we’ll get we’re going to get an RV.

Olivia J. Price: Let’s talk about it.

Jordan Nutter: We’re going to get an RV. And I don’t know why this came into my head. And I’m now that I look back at it and I’m out of the weeds, like, I’m glad that we did it. But in the thick of it, I’m like, what are we thinking right now? Like, who are we? Because we are. Our first child just turned one, and we were getting in an RV that looked like a tour bus. It was the craziest thing, like my face was on it. But I taught financial literacy across the country. So I’m.

Johnathan Crego: So you were living in the.

Jordan Nutter: I guess I was living.

Johnathan Crego: In the one year.

Jordan Nutter: Old with my one year old and my husband, and he was like.

Johnathan Crego: Wow.

Jordan Nutter: The bee’s knees. Like he was like the driver, the mechanic, the chef, the babysitter, the photographer, the videographer. Like he was like, doing everything. So I appreciate him more than he knows. But yeah, we we literally went from California down all through the southern states, down to Florida, up to New York, and then came through Ohio and back down. And, um, I’m an ambassador with first home IQ. So their mission is to give financial literacy to the next generation. Um, so high schoolers, community colleges, anywhere we, we can get in to help bring any sort of financial literacy to that next generation. Um, so that’s really what I did across the country and helped agents as well with their business and growing it. So that was really a big undertaking.

Olivia J. Price: Let’s talk about it.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: With a baby. One year is right. Oh, yeah, on a RV. Yeah. And I can imagine because my husband has so many hats. Listen, I drive this man insane. I know I do, but he he holds it down, though. He’s really good. But just knowing that support and being able to take a risk and not really knowing where is this risk going to take me? I know I want to go up, right. Because that’s why you probably made the decision like, hey, I think this could change my career or whatever the case may be. And then to do it and to be in it and you’re like, oh my gosh. Okay, so I know, I know, this is my calling, whatever the case may be, because I’ve been in situations where it’s just, I’m here and we got to get through it. But then looking back, it’s like, wow, I’ve never seen anyone do that.

Jordan Nutter: I think with.

Olivia J. Price: The.

Jordan Nutter: Way with. Well, it was when I brought it to like my company and they’re like, um. What? And I was like, just roll with it. Just trust me. Trust me.

Olivia J. Price: No, but you got to have that type of. Yes, yes.

Jordan Nutter: Um, but I think in our industry, like you for sure have to have a supportive partner or else, like 100%. You can’t like. Oh, I gotta go show this house at 7:00 on a Saturday. Like I have to do this open house. Like there’s all of these things that our schedules like. Yes, we have the flexibility. But then there’s also like midnight last night, I have my Texas buyer’s agent who’s like, we’re going to win this if we can get these numbers to go through. And I’m like, all right, hold on, give me a second. And I’m like, okay, you’re good. Just go ahead. Here you go. Here’s an updated letter. Like you have to have such a supportive partner in this or else it’s hard. It would be really hard.

Olivia J. Price: It’s it can be. And um, having kids too I think makes that addition. Um.

Jordan Nutter: Yep.

Olivia J. Price: You have to think about your next move, you know, because there’s so many times I’m just like, oh, if I can just leave the house right now and do whatever. But having those kids and managing your career, especially on the mom’s side, yeah.

Johnathan Crego: I think it gives you a bigger perspective in life too. Like, for me, like I was growing up, I was like, all right, I’m going to be a, you know, police officer chasing murderers for 30 years of my life. And then I’m done. And then all of a sudden you have kids and you’re like, I need to get a pension. And I need to, you know, save for the future. And, like, these guys are my future. They need me here. And I can’t be doing this crazy thing 16 hours a day. So it gave me a whole different perspective on life when I had them. And and I knew I had to switch switch careers at that point, so.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’ll tell you this, um, and one thing I took from both of you guys is stories, and your upbringing sort of is sacrifice. This industry you have to sacrifice. Like, I feel like the only reason I was able to actually do. This industry was because of the fact that I knew I would be willing to give up everything for it. Like, I’ll be willing to pawn my house if I could and say, hey, if it can get me to whatever level that I’m trying to get to, I will do it. And I think that you have to have that type of energy nowadays in this real estate market in order to be where we are now, like touring. Yeah. A tour bus with your kid and your husband. It’s hard. And preaching the gospel of real estate, I would say. Yeah, right. Because people need to hear these things and ways that they really can grow generational wealth. And, hey, you really can become a first time home buyer or whatever the case may be, you can actually do it and actually see it live in the flesh. That’s it.

Johnathan Crego: Now, are you going to high schools and.

Olivia J. Price: Like that’s amazing.

Johnathan Crego: Talking about financial literacy and things like that.

Olivia J. Price: On the go.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, I wish I would have had that. We never had anything like that.

Olivia J. Price: Mhm.

Jordan Nutter: And there’s like so I’m part of the um Buford Business Alliance. And we just did the job fair at the high school and she’s like yes we have. I’m so glad that like we incorporate financial literacy. And I’m like okay great. Because if not I was going to tell you like please let me come in or or introduce this. But yeah, they more schools are taking on the idea of we need to educate our next generation on financial literacy. Like, I don’t know about you guys because we’re all pretty similar in age here, but like, I don’t need to learn how to sew a pillow. Like, do you remember in, like, home EC we had so, so the pillows I’m like, how do you do a checkbook? Like, how do you even teach? I don’t know, I went to get a notary done at UPS and he was like, okay, I need you to sign here, but only if you know how to. And I was like, excuse me? What? What does that mean? And he goes, well, like, you know, I just write my name out. And I said, you don’t like what is your signature? He’s like.

Olivia J. Price: They don’t teach it.

Jordan Nutter: He’s like, no.

Olivia J. Price: They don’t get out of the curriculum.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. So he.

Olivia J. Price: Just years ago.

Jordan Nutter: No cursive.

Olivia J. Price: Oh, wow.

Jordan Nutter: I’m like, that’s your signature? And he said, yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So they had no idea.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. It’s the it was the craziest thing to me.

Olivia J. Price: So I can go on and on about the school system.

Johnathan Crego: No, honestly. You can.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: You can.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah. It goes hand in hand.

Jordan Nutter: Says the woman who homeschools her kids for that. That’s I, I can imagine. So my whole high school.

Olivia J. Price: Um, is a under-funded high school. Mhm. Um, and I wish that we had more people like you and me who would come into these school systems and teach things like that, because that’s how I developed my mentorship. And I only do girls, and I teach them about financial literacy, entrepreneurship and how to get into real estate. Right. Either it’s an appraisal side or it’s coming in as a home inspection. I mean, home inspector side, or it’s coming from the London side or the agent side. There’s just so many positions that you can take within this industry, that you can actually use it, grow it and do whatever you want. Um, when it comes to the kids, I’m just so big on that because, um, financial literacy, we only had the option of, hey, you know what? Instead of going through, like, because I did like calc three, I was in all types of classes, and I’m looking back, I’m like, dang, did I ever use like.

Johnathan Crego: A squared plus b squared equals C.

Olivia J. Price: Lesson? Come on. Come on.

Johnathan Crego: But I never once learned anything about taxes.

Speaker5: No no no. That’s such an important part of our life. Like you go to jail.

Johnathan Crego: If you don’t do it right. But I know how to do a squared plus b squared equals c squared.

Speaker5: Right?

Olivia J. Price: But can you use that in real estate though. I just want you to give us an example of yeah go ahead.

Speaker5: How do you use a squared plus if you buy that for me. Yeah I can’t, but I’m just.

Olivia J. Price: Saying like there’s skill sets that aren’t really practical in terms of how we really can make money. And I think nowadays children are on that. These kids on social media are just like, hey, you know what? I had girls that were like, Olivia, I know that I want to get into real estate. I’m like, really? Like, yeah, my cousin is a real real estate agent and da da da, whatever the case may be, I’m like, wow. Because growing up, real estate, back to what you were saying originally. Well, actually, I think you asked, like, did you know any realtors growing up?

Johnathan Crego: That’s exactly why I asked that.

Speaker5: Yeah, because I.

Johnathan Crego: I had a mentor, um, I grew up with who was a police officer, and I wanted to kind of be like him. He was a wonderful man. Um, but I see that a lot with people they just don’t know. Like, I never even knew any agents. So I was like, I don’t even know anything about it. Or like, a lender, I never I thought you just went to a bank. Yeah, I didn’t know. And so now, like, I see, you know, like Jordan and people like that, like where it’s like, wow. Like you can teach so many people. There is little girls that are gonna grow up and they will be agents because of you.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: You are changing their whole perspective on life and their careers. They now look up to someone like you.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’m going to stop you right here. Hear. Um, because just me personally, being a black woman in some of these schools, I’m like, the outcome is just so not good. It’s like either you’re going to do this or that, and I’m just like, oh, why these two? Because I have a lot of my friends who went down that path. Um, which now I look back on and I’m like, oh my gosh, I have to make a difference. I have to let these girls know that, hey, you know, I know that the world is kind of pushing us in this direction, but hey, how about this over here? You know, it might not be as shiny as some of the other stuff, you know, because sometimes we’re always looking for a quick thing. Some of us, we’re like, well, shoot, if I could do this, I could make it quick. Whatever. And it’s not always about the quick. No. It’s more so like, hey, let’s build, let’s create, and then let’s help.

Jordan Nutter: And it may not be tomorrow. Like, you got to put the time in. You got to put the work in.

Olivia J. Price: You had the vision first, right.

Speaker5: And I think.

Jordan Nutter: Like you have to have the drive and want to want more for your life and your future family and kids.

Olivia J. Price: And to see.

Speaker5: It.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah, I think ours is just more so seeing it like, oh, she came from somewhere like here and oh my goodness, she actually made something better for herself. So I think that’s so important for not only for you to hear it on TV, but actually see it. And that goes back to what I admire so much about you, Jordan. I was like, God dang, I got to go back to this tour bus, though, because I was like a tour bus.

Speaker5: Do you still have it?

Jordan Nutter: Um, we actually.

Speaker5: We.

Jordan Nutter: Actually. So it’s funny because it was just a traditional RV, right? But they were like, well, we need a we need to wrap it. And I’m like, wrap it.

Speaker5: Oh yeah.

Jordan Nutter: Like legit. Um, it was wrapped with my like, I looked like I was Lady Gaga on.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: Like it was so funny. It was so funny because I’d be sitting in the passenger seat and people would be like, just looking.

Speaker5: And I’m like, you get.

Olivia J. Price: A lot.

Speaker5: Of honk. Oh, yeah, I.

Olivia J. Price: Bet.

Speaker5: I bet, yeah.

Jordan Nutter: And, um, it was just it was something else. Or like, it’d be funny, like we, because we had our truck with us as well. So I would drive if we went somewhere short, I would drive the truck separate. So I’d like drive behind and like look at everybody looking at the bus. And I’m like, all right, this is cool. Like, I like this. This is really cool. So it was definitely an experience. Um, and then when we got back here, less my husband soul, bless his soul, I know he’s going to listen to this and he’s going to be like, yeah, babe, you you better love me. He that man. Because we got a quote for an absurd amount of money to take the wrap off and he’s like, no, we aren’t. No. So he was out there, waited till it was like the middle of Georgia summer so it would heat up. And that man spent a whole day unwrapping that RV.

Olivia J. Price: Oh wow.

Jordan Nutter: It was going to cost like $20,000 to unwrap it. I was like, unwrap it. We’re taking a sticker off, y’all. What? What is going on here? So yeah. That man.

Speaker5: Good for.

Johnathan Crego: Him.

Speaker5: That’s awesome.

Jordan Nutter: He was he’s a trooper.

Speaker5: He really is.

Olivia J. Price: I tell you this, um, and I want to touch bases since you’re already in leadership, you’re in leadership. I’ve been in leadership. Let’s talk about being a young entrepreneur within some of these rooms, especially when it comes to I can only imagine the conversation. It was when you went to your leadership team and said, hey, I have an idea. Okay, now don’t get me in that energy, you know, don’t give me any thoughts right now. Just listen.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: I think that we need to take this on the road. Like, who is is boldness like that? That when you look back on it, you’re like, wow. I feel like sometimes with the information that we have is being the younger generation is sometimes be. Um, alarming to other generations because they haven’t heard of heard of it or even seen it.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: So when you actually was like, okay, you know what?

Speaker5: Well, I.

Olivia J. Price: Made this happen.

Jordan Nutter: I’m grateful because the company I work for, we have the first division for content creators. So like all of our not the entire division, but a majority of our division creates content. So we help educate on social media. So we are the creator collective at Ncfm lending. And so we already have that like drive and innovation of like, what else can we do to help people and be a little bit different and what’s, what’s going to set us apart? Like what? How in what ways can we help? So it very much was outside of the realm of doing.

Olivia J. Price: And they implement that within the company. Is this like recent recent.

Jordan Nutter: The social media part? Yeah. So well, no, actually they’ve had the divisions been around since 2020, 2021. Um, and I came on in April of 22. So I just celebrated my third year at the company. Wow. And so whenever I’ve brought something to them, they’re like, okay, like it’s a little it’s either really out there like the the road trip or it’s not quite out there, but either which way, like we have this, they’re open to it. Like that’s what I love. Like okay, there’s obviously a reason Jordan wants to do this. Let’s figure out if we can make it possible and if so, like, how do we get there? Um, but generally I’m not just throwing out random ideas like, trust me, we won’t be doing another RV. Like, I’ll go. I’m happy to, like, drive anywhere in Georgia, maybe even Tennessee or Florida. But your girl is not going back.

Olivia J. Price: But to be honest, you probably don’t need to. I just think that some things that you do, you did it.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: And you were the first to do it. And maybe, hey, maybe you don’t want to do it again, but you did it and you completed it. I think that’s the biggest thing that I admire about people who said they were going to do it. They did it and they finished it. Yeah. It’s not just saying it right and even doing it because some people do it and they don’t complete. But completing it has just been, for me a a great marketing move because I’m all about marketing. For me, everything I do is marketing based from the events that I throw, and I love events. I love to have a good time. Okay, you can’t stop me from.

Speaker5: Having a good.

Olivia J. Price: I do, I do, um, I love to bring people together. Either it’s we’re learning about something or we’re really learning about something, because a lot of the events I do is going to be something that you’re going to take away from it either way, um, or another. But I do want to lead into you, J.R.. So how has it been within the different leadership positions you’ve had that, um, either very similar to Jordan’s, where, hey, we’re coming in as young entrepreneurs and as a situation where it’s embracing, or did she have to break some barriers to kind of get your, um, your insight in. Yeah. Like, what is that?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: So on your side.

Johnathan Crego: I am I’ve been the Neymar’s young Professionals Network, um, chair for a couple of years now. And that, um, I will say for the most part, I’ve been very welcomed. And we always we’ve had a lot of crazy ideas. For example, I actually led a, a shooting, um, I wanted to train especially, like female agents. Um, like, if you want to carry, it’s your right to here’s how to shoot a gun. And so I introduced this gun safety shooting event just to, to show you here’s how you can carry it safely if you need to use it. Here’s how you can use it. Um, there’s a very famous Beverly Carter situation from Arkansas. She was a a female realtor who was, um, purposely basically led by a buyer and murdered. And he when they caught him, they asked him why he did it, and he said it was because I knew she would be solo and we’d be in a vacant house. And so I don’t want that. If I’m in a leadership position, I don’t want that to happen ever again. If I can, if I can help that. And so my goal is to bring this, you know, here’s how to properly train. And so we did it. And for the most part people loved it. I did have some backlash from some people and uh, about that. But for the most part it was it was really accepted by other leadership and GA it wasn’t as accepted with, I would say, older people in the industry. And so at the end of the day, I had to realize I’m doing this so that Beverly Carter does not happen again. That’s my only goal.

Olivia J. Price: So can I stop you real quick? And I think that goes back to initially what I told you. You have passion, JR. You have some passion because sometimes in this industry we can become really cold and kind of like, uh, especially if we’ve been doing it for a long time. You just kind of become, uh, it’s a normal day, regular day, you know, no changes. But you need to have that change, right? Um, especially being a young professional, coming into this industry and having that passion because I actually wanted to come to your gun safety class, but I couldn’t make it. But because I don’t know how to shoot a gun. But I think that if I had a situation.

Johnathan Crego: Change, that.

Speaker5: Friend. Look.

Olivia J. Price: Well, hang.

Speaker5: On, wait a minute. Hold on. But don’t you.

Jordan Nutter: Worry, I think.

Speaker5: I could.

Olivia J. Price: I don’t know, I think I’ll learn quick.

Speaker5: You feel.

Olivia J. Price: Me? But when you’re faced with situations, it’s flight or fight, right?

Speaker5: Exactly.

Olivia J. Price: So I think I’m going to choose the fight part on that one.

Speaker5: Right? Right.

Olivia J. Price: But I do think that we need to learn more about that, especially on the women’s side, because I’ve been in some open houses with some really interesting people, okay. And I’m like, you know, I was at this time I was pregnant. I was by myself. My husband couldn’t come with me. Usually stays in the car. And I was there probably for like two hours. And this one guy, he stayed in there for like 30 minutes and I’m like, hey, the house is only but so big, right? And at that time I was a newer agent too, and I was pregnant. So I was kind of I didn’t really know how to tell him, like, hey, let’s wrap this up, you know? Any feedback? Leave your information and we’ll get back with you type of thing. So I just let them linger. And he was just really interesting. Right. But at that time at open houses, I would always stay near the door. I’m. I’m near the door. Right. I’m not in the kitchen. I’m not in the living room. I’m somewhere where I can easily get out. So I knew that aspect of being, you know, having realtor safety at the forefront. But honestly, learning, learning how to use a firearm is just so important.

Johnathan Crego: And hopefully you never have to use it. Yeah, that’s my goal is hopefully you don’t.

Speaker5: Hopefully not.

Johnathan Crego: But if you ever are in that situation, you’re prepared. Even here in in Cobb County area, there was two Keller Williams agents that were were armed, robbed and, uh, yeah.

Speaker5: I.

Olivia J. Price: Didn’t hear about that.

Johnathan Crego: They were unalive.

Speaker5: Uh, about.

Johnathan Crego: About a decade ago right here in Cobb.

Speaker5: County.

Johnathan Crego: And so it happens a lot, unfortunately. And so that was one of my goals, is to just try to prevent that. God forbid, if I had someone that it happened to, that I knew that could have learned that like you. And that’s why we’re going to go to a range.

Speaker5: Right after this. Listen, listen, listen.

Olivia J. Price: Like, hey, babe, I need to go ahead and learn how to use a firearm right now.

Speaker5: Yeah. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Um, but overall, I’ve really been accepted, I think after that, because that was a big success. We did have some great feedback from it. People were like, I’ve like you, I’ve never shot a gun before. I’ve always been afraid. Now I feel confident at least to carry one. And that was our goal. So, um, after that, I’ve done a lot of other kind of crazy ideas. Um, that for the most part, I would say leadership at, um, Neymar and Gaga have been great about it. Um.

Olivia J. Price: But I do think that coming in after the pandemic, like kind of we all did, companies are more receptive to know that, hey, social media is a huge part of branding and, um, Relaying information. So I do think that in terms of when we came into the industry, it was kind of cool because they were already shifting. So now we can just enhance that shift that’s already happening anyways, right? So I do think from both situations.

Speaker5: Social media.

Johnathan Crego: Is everything.

Speaker5: Oh yeah, social media is hundred percent.

Johnathan Crego: You have to have social media to be successful in this industry. I don’t see how you’re not unless you’re working maybe for like HUD or something, but where you’re given up leads like there’s no way if you’re working your sphere of influence, there’s no way you can’t.

Olivia J. Price: So let’s talk about it though. So with social media, how do you think that it changed your business personally when it comes to sales and even when it just comes to being innovative? Because I can go on and on about social media.

Speaker5: Oh yeah.

Olivia J. Price: And how it changed my career.

Johnathan Crego: I think you both can. You both are better at it than I am.

Olivia J. Price: So but to be honest with you, you still have a presence, J.R. it’s one thing to not have a presence and then kind of sort of post. Not having a presence is just for real estate in 2025. I don’t think that it’s going to be efficient.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: In the next half a decade, I would.

Speaker5: Say.

Jordan Nutter: 100%.

Olivia J. Price: So you need to have at least a page and some presence, right? I know you post a lot about your family and things like that, which I love. Um, but ultimately, can you tell me a little bit within the last, I would say last two years? How do you think that social media has affected you?

Jordan Nutter: Well, um, I mean, for me personally, I’ve now amassed a little over 300,000 followers, so that’s completely changed my business. And I am grateful that I work with a company that we cover essentially all of the US except for New York. So that has really also helped with my business. But the fact that I can reach a lot of first time home buyers and educate them. It’s it’s interesting because that’s everyone does social media a little bit different, but my content is geared towards primarily that that next generation home buyer. Um, and so when that happens and I have clients that come to me that have followed me for years, which I think is also crazy, that I’ve never met these people. And they’re like, I am only using you like I have watched you for three years and you are the only person I trust. Yet they’ve never met me and they live out in Texas.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: And I’m like, okay, great. Then they don’t have an agent because they know you have to get your finances in order first. And now I have an opportunity to turn the tables, because you all know that traditionally the agent finds.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: Now I get to turn the table and be like, how do I build these partnerships with agents, like, make it to where it’s a two way street? And so now I’m so grateful to be able to have built these partnerships all across the US with agents that, you know, I don’t get to sit in a room with every day. So I have to.

Speaker5: Find and touch.

Jordan Nutter: Right. But I have to find other ways that I can touch them and help build that relationship. So I would say from social media. About 70% of my business is from social media. And what it.

Speaker5: Has.

Jordan Nutter: Done and like given me opportunities. Um, and I always tell people, think of social media as your brand, like we are building a brand, right? So you think of Nike. It’s a white background with a black swoosh. Right. Like that is how Nike started off. Yes. Maybe like you go and buy a pair of socks and they’re pink or. But traditionally it’s a white background with a black swoosh. You know that because Nike made their brand that way. So when you were going out there and you’re making your social media pages, you need to build, you like, don’t just post these houses because the houses are not going to open the doors to these other.

Speaker5: It’s you.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’m gonna I’m gonna chime in on that because on the real estate side, we are infamous for posting these houses.

Speaker5: Yeah. And I’m like.

Jordan Nutter: Great, you post the house, but but it is you like Olivia is selling that. Olivia is the brand. J.r. is the brand. Jordan like we are the brand. We’re the person that they want to talk to and they want to hear from. And and if we are not authentic on social media and then we go and meet them and it’s complete opposite, they’re like, who is this person that I just asked to like, I just trusted to sell me a house or I trusted with my finances. Like, that is not who I thought they were. So building your brand on social media, you have to show your face. If you are real estate agent listening to this, you have to show your face. I know it’s really hard. Yeah, but you have to show your face.

Olivia J. Price: Also, it has to be in moderation too, because so much I’m going to be honest with you. I love to talk, I love to talk, I love to educate. And I think that’s one of the things that got me into the industry and set me apart. When I first came in, the only thing I was doing that I was focused on was open houses. That’s all I did. I killed open houses. I would do like 4 to 6 per weekend. I would set up my tripod. Camera. Yeah, I would set up my. And you can go on my Instagram and scroll all the way down and you’ll see. That’s all I did post in every open house I would get, I would do a run through of the neighborhood, and I would have like content for each day leading to my open house. So you’re talking about I had weeks I was posting every day.

Speaker5: I remember.

Olivia J. Price: Um, girl and I had my tripod, and I had my little spill about the house in the neighborhood. Then I go through the house and do my.

Speaker5: Little.

Jordan Nutter: Suit.

Speaker5: Jacket. Listen, I.

Jordan Nutter: Remember.

Speaker5: That red suit jacket.

Olivia J. Price: No one was at the open house. It was just me. And I’m like, hey, we had a great time.

Speaker5: We had. This was wonderful out the door line. Yeah, it was a line.

Olivia J. Price: Down the street. We had neighbors coming in and out.

Johnathan Crego: Everybody ate my.

Speaker5: Food.

Johnathan Crego: No one eats the food.

Speaker5: Listen. No one, no one, no one.

Olivia J. Price: And I had to learn, right? Because there’s levels to this thing, right? When you first come in, I had a charcuterie board.

Speaker5: Oh, yeah.

Olivia J. Price: No one touched.

Speaker5: It. Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: At the end of the day, um, when I, I would say I stopped doing open houses, like maybe going on two years ago. I just brought a little candy bags and some waters, and people took those candy bags all day. Right. I just think that it was just so much more efficient. But going back to the beginning, I feel as though between 2019 or maybe no 2020 to 2023, I was known as like the open House Queen. I met not only agents because agents started looking at my social media like, dang, I know she’s going to be in this area. And some people just stopped to say, hey! And also vendors. I have vendors that say, oh my God, I seen your sign. I seen you on social media. I’m coming back to your open house and just say, hey, you know. So that presence on social media for me has just been amazing. And I use it now as a platform to just speak my truth, to let people know, hey, this is what’s going on in real estate. This is how we can pivot. These are some ways as agents that we need to start really focusing on, you know, because real estate right now It’s not an industry that it used to be back in 2008, 2010, 2012.

Olivia J. Price: No, this is a real game. And now people are really starting to investigate you more. A lot of my business. A lot of them, they Google and they’re from Google. They go on my social media and I’m like, oh my goodness. I see the correlation because you can see the numbers like I’m like, okay, so from Google to Instagram it’s a direct and then a little bit on Facebook too. But a lot of people direct to my Instagram. And when I tell you I’m like your, your, your um, your page is like your portfolio now of like what you’ve done and you know, what are you doing and things like that. I think that people nowadays are going to start leaning more towards, hey, let me investigate these people before I just call it used to be back in the day, you just knew your neighborhood realtor. You’re like, hey Cathy, up the street is selling. I’m going to use Cathy. But now there’s so many other people.

Speaker5: In.

Olivia J. Price: The playing field.

Speaker5: Yeah, well, people.

Johnathan Crego: Use who they know, like and trust, and they build that from your social media. And so they’re gonna know you, they’re gonna like you, and they’re going to trust you off of that. So yeah, I think social media is everything.

Olivia J. Price: So this is my next thing here. Um, which is a hot topic. What are some ways how people can really be utilized in real estate if, um, home buying isn’t an option? Can we talk about some investments here? Because I think Atlanta is the hot spot for investments.

Johnathan Crego: And I would say it’s the number one right now.

Speaker5: Number one.

Olivia J. Price: Number one. And honestly, I think we are the new New York and the new LA.

Speaker5: I agree.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah this is it. I feel like Atlanta.

Johnathan Crego: Is it the last six houses I’ve sold minus one. So last five out of six houses I’ve sold has all been from people from California or New York.

Speaker5: I couldn’t.

Olivia J. Price: Believe it. I couldn’t believe it. They have the money, they have the capital.

Johnathan Crego: And that’s. Yeah.

Speaker5: Yeah, I mean, it.

Johnathan Crego: Is a big.

Speaker5: Thing. Yeah. That is a huge thing.

Johnathan Crego: They sell their one bedroom, 800 square foot condo for $8 million in LA, and they move here and they outbid us.

Speaker5: Georgia come on a lot.

Olivia J. Price: And I think a lot of my people, I have a house coming up on the market We’re we’re in a situation like that where I think they overpaid a little bit, you know what I mean? Now they’re trying to move very quickly and the equity just isn’t there quite yet. But I always tell people to in terms of when you’re selling, when it comes to the equity, you do have to be in your home for a little bit. Some people think, well, I’ve always owned the home for two years, I need I know it doesn’t work like that, you know, but, um, Georgia is that place for where you can come in as a no. One and come in as a millionaire, I swear you can. Can you tell me a little bit, JR, in terms of your investment journey, what made you want to get on the investment side coming from the sell side? How was that transition.

Johnathan Crego: So I’ll start with this. So my wife and I, we bought our house in Lawrenceville, Georgia in 2016, and we had no money left to our name like we had nothing. And we bought the worst house in a decent area. It’s at River colony off Duluth near Sugarloaf Mills.

Speaker5: Okay.

Johnathan Crego: And I come from construction. So we did a live in flip. This was Pre-kids. And so we did a live in flip.

Speaker5: I always wonder.

Olivia J. Price: How people go through that.

Speaker5: Too, especially with kids. Oh, man.

Johnathan Crego: Especially when you’re on the kitchen or like bathroom, you’re like, okay, I’m over this. You got microwave and everything. And yeah.

Jordan Nutter: In the.

Speaker5: Living room. Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: In the garage.

Speaker5: We’re like, where are the plates?

Johnathan Crego: Ramen for the.

Speaker5: Yeah, yeah.

Johnathan Crego: 10th week in a row.

Speaker5: Finish that thing.

Johnathan Crego: Come on. So, yeah, with kids, it’s a lot easier. So we did a live in flip and we bought in 2016. We sold in 2019.

Speaker5: Okay.

Johnathan Crego: And all of a sudden we sold it. And we made about $100,000 profit. And that was the most money I’d ever seen in my life. I never thought.

Speaker5: I would one time.

Johnathan Crego: Right. Probably ever. That was like.

Speaker5: But at one.

Olivia J. Price: Time that hits.

Speaker5: Yeah. You’re like, oh, I.

Johnathan Crego: Had, like, pennies in my name. Now I have a hundred thousand.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Oh my gosh. And real estate changed my life. And that’s a big reason why I got into real estate. Because it changed my family’s trajectory.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: And so then we bought another house, and we’re now in Buford. We bought another house, and it needed a lot of work. And now we have kids. And so we were gonna continue to do live in flips until we got to, like, something crazy mansion. But then we fixed this one up, and now we’re like, well, we’ve got kids, we like this house. We’re just gonna stay.

Speaker5: But I’ve.

Olivia J. Price: Seen investors do that.

Speaker5: Too.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah, I’m like, I could tell. I’m like, hey, I think he’s probably just settled on this house.

Speaker5: Yeah, that’s exactly what happened was. Yeah, yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Let’s.

Speaker5: Enjoy it.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. But I also got involved with Peachy Properties. Uh, they’re a flip company, and we focus primarily on, like, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Marietta, that kind of area, that north perimeter area and and also now on my own as well. I flip as well. And I would say the two hottest things I’m seeing right now as a flipping buyer’s agent is number one. House hacking, especially with veterans. And number two is seller finance. Um, that’s becoming a big thing or assuming a loan assumption loan.

Olivia J. Price: So last year, no, two years ago I started seeing loan assumptions back on the market. And, um, I had one of my clients almost get to the finish line. But when he looked at like the final turns, he was like, oh heck no. So can you give us a little information? And probably you guys can piggyback on that. Like, how does that look for assumptions?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: So I see it creeping back in our market.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. In fact I got one under contract. Now I’ve done several as well. And it’s a great opportunity for people that have the money.

Speaker5: Yes.

Johnathan Crego: Yes that’s the big thing. So yeah. Exactly. So let’s just use easy numbers. Let’s say Olivia.

Speaker5: You hold.

Olivia J. Price: On. Now we go back and what what.

Speaker5: Did you say a squared plus b squared c squared. All right. Let me get my pen and paper out.

Johnathan Crego: Squared.

Speaker5: Plus. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So you bought this house. Let’s say you bought a house in 2021 for 500 K. And you put 3% down and you’re on a 3% interest rate. And that’s that’s your biggest equity right there. Is that 3%. That is money to my ears. When you say you have a 3% equity or interest rate. So you’re on. We’re on 2025 now. Let’s just say you’ve got it paid down to 450,000. You still have that 3% interest rate, but you. So you’ve got $50,000 worth of equity. And then let’s say, hey, I need to move. I need to move to, I don’t know, New York, whatever. So you go ahead and put on the market, but it’s not selling and you don’t know why. It’s a great house. It’s just a tough market. Whatever. And so you go ahead and you confirm with your lender. That’s the biggest thing. Confirm with your lender. You can’t. Your loan can be an assumable loan.

Olivia J. Price: So quick question how often do we see that the loan could be assumable government loans.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Government loans.

Speaker5: Va.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah FHA, USDA, USDA.

Speaker5: Always.

Olivia J. Price: Going to be.

Jordan Nutter: I mean I’ve never not seen one same assumable like when we when when we’re doing our disclosures, it always will say Assumable. So I’ve never had one as a government loan.

Speaker5: Gotcha.

Jordan Nutter: Um, I’m trying to even think of like, my down payment assistant ones. I don’t, I, I don’t even think about that. But conventional is where.

Speaker5: You probably.

Johnathan Crego: Some conventional, but.

Speaker5: Not all.

Jordan Nutter: It’s hard.

Johnathan Crego: To.

Speaker5: Get.

Jordan Nutter: A conventional loan.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: So that’s the hard part because FHA you’re going to have mortgage insurance. Usda you have mortgage insurance VA you don’t. But but hey, I’ll take mortgage insurance all day because my house that I still have at a 2.6% rate, I will keep that mortgage insurance for the entire 30 years of my life on.

Speaker5: That interest.

Olivia J. Price: Rate. Man 100 when we bought in 2018, I was like, the average is 4.75. But looking at it now, I’m like, whoo.

Speaker5: That’s okay.

Jordan Nutter: But yeah, that’s the kicker.

Speaker5: Like, you have to.

Jordan Nutter: Get somebody who will allow you to assume the loan.

Johnathan Crego: So you got to confirm. Yeah, you got to confirm it’s Assumable loan. And then so you’re going to go ahead and realtors need to look more into this because we need to start marketing this more. I have buyers right now that want to. We just can’t find anything that either one, the realtor or whoever doesn’t know it exists. Number two, it is it is kind of hard. It’s a harder process than a normal life.

Speaker5: I went through it. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, it’s definitely harder. I did one up in Blairsville. It took six months. Um, but that was when it was first starting. And so it was with Pennymac. They have their own division of assuming loan department, but they were just it was so new to the game because no one was assuming loans in 2021, 2022. But then now they are. And so all right. So you owe or you have 50,000 equity. So that means basically I’m going to bring you a buyer. They’re going to pay that $50,000 difference up front at the closing table. And then they’re essentially going to walk in to your monthly mortgage payment that you owe $450,000 left at the 3%. And so that’s dropping their monthly payments. Just an absurd amount, because they’re now going from 6 or 7% whatever interest rates are today. It’s fluctuating like crazy right now. But they’re going from this, you know, whatever it is to a 2.6 or a three. And that payment is just amazing. And so we’re seeing that more and more. Not a lot of people seem to know about it. So I kind of want to get the word out about that. But also I’m seeing a lot of house hacking or a lot of people that.

Speaker5: Want to help.

Olivia J. Price: Or wanting.

Speaker5: To.

Johnathan Crego: Yep, yep, that’s a big thing, especially with VA veterans. I don’t know why. I see it all the time with veterans, and I think it’s a wonderful thing. Um, but yeah, that’s I’m seeing those two things a lot.

Olivia J. Price: I think that the way that our economy is going, people are becoming more creative again. And I.

Speaker5: Think that is it.

Olivia J. Price: Now. And for me, I always feel as though in economies like this, it is room for us to become a millionaire, to be honest with you. Right? Just like you said, when you came in, you were like $100,000 insane.

Speaker5: Like.

Olivia J. Price: Come on in the walk, you know? But, um, I just think that now, just like you said, being creative is giving us the opportunity to say, you know, hey, way. If I can get that 2.7, whatever interest rate, I think I’ll be willing to put the capital for people who do have the capital.

Johnathan Crego: And that’s the.

Speaker5: Kicker. That’s the kicker.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, it’s tough because some people might if they bought in 2021, they’ve got $200,000 worth of equity now in their thing. So not a lot of people can chalk that money up front. And and not a lot I’ve noticed, at least me not a lot will allow a second mortgage. I have one that is, but not. It’s 5050, it seems.

Speaker5: At least to me.

Jordan Nutter: Because there’s companies that are out there that let you that like let you look for the assumable mortgages in your area and they offer the second mortgage, but you have to find the company that you’re assuming the loan that will allow you to now carry the second mortgage, as opposed to you bringing the capital upfront.

Olivia J. Price: Okay, so Divvy Homes offered my client that divvy and.

Jordan Nutter: Uh romley. Is that the other one?

Speaker5: I don’t know, there’s.

Jordan Nutter: Another.

Speaker5: No. Rome.

Jordan Nutter: Rome.

Johnathan Crego: Rome. I think we might be wrong, but I think you’re right.

Speaker5: Well, I’ll.

Olivia J. Price: Tell you about divvy.

Speaker5: But.

Jordan Nutter: There’s. I know that there’s another one.

Speaker5: Divvy.

Olivia J. Price: I went through their program with my client. I was telling you about two years ago, and we were like, the first ones they did it on. So I was talking to, like, the execs at divvy. They were like, okay, Olivia, so we’re going to try this on your client. Um, but he ended up just buying himself because the numbers, he was just like, dang, if I’m going through that program, I might as well just buy.

Jordan Nutter: Because interest rate is quite high, is my understanding on the second mortgage. So even though.

Speaker5: It was.

Jordan Nutter: I mean, if you’re.

Speaker5: Very high.

Jordan Nutter: Let’s say $450,000.

Speaker5: For.

Jordan Nutter: The first one at two point, whatever percent. But then your second mortgage is at, let’s say, $200,000 at, I don’t know, I don’t let’s say they’re 8 or 9% like.

Speaker5: It’s kind of.

Jordan Nutter: Like your average right now, your average rate.

Speaker5: It’s like it makes sense.

Jordan Nutter: What does it look like?

Speaker5: Are you taking.

Olivia J. Price: It. It makes.

Speaker5: Sense. Right. Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: So I think every with any of we know this with real estate, it depends on the client. How long are they going to be there? What are their. What are they hoping for? What does it look like? So I mean, it’s worth exploring all of your options and having like an educated real estate agent, an educated lender that looks out for your best interest and makes sure that you understand the options that are available and what’s going to make the most sense for you because the shoe doesn’t fit everybody.

Speaker5: Very true.

Olivia J. Price: Very true, very true. And that’s one thing that my client was kind of exploring between the two. But I would say this because could you leave us with any tips or any type of things that people out here who are wanting to purchase can start doing to get themselves in position? Because I do, because I have a platform called birdie, and we focus on the community aspect of purchasing, because right now I think what the average sales price in Atlanta is, what, 375.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: 400,000. Right. And even 400,000 isn’t really 400,000, right? Because, you know, back in the day, probably when we were younger, like $1 million home was really like a $400,000 home. Probably. But that was $1 million home for us, right? It had the yard. It had the, you know, the driveway, the garages and all of that good stuff. Six bedrooms and whatnot. Now 400,000 is like, wow, you know, in certain areas, um, especially like in desirable areas, it’s not really getting us what we would hope so. Right. Um, I do feel as though right now we just need to really start pushing the pavement with people to make them understand that, hey, if you aren’t in a position to buy, let’s get you ready. Um, because we are, some of us are going to be, like, forever renters. And that’s a sad reality that I think a lot of us aren’t facing because I’m like, goodness gracious, you’re going to be in a position where some people like New York and LA where they could bought like 70s, 80s and now looking. You can’t even buy a one bedroom condo.

Speaker5: For.

Jordan Nutter: Less than a million, depending on where you’re.

Speaker5: At.

Olivia J. Price: Easy. So I feel like Atlanta is such a sweet state because there’s so much opportunity. But people, it’s going to pass a lot of people by and they could have been sitting on like my cousin, he has a property in, um, Brooklyn, his house. It’s like a it’s a little shit little shack, you know, little houses, you know. But the thing is like $7 million and I’m sitting here like, he’s not he’s a police officer, too. And, um, he refuses to sell.

Speaker5: I’m like, you have.

Johnathan Crego: A $7 million house.

Speaker5: Well, he had it for so long, though. No, he had it.

Olivia J. Price: For so long. He’s been in the family for so long.

Speaker5: Good for him. Right.

Olivia J. Price: But it’s a situation where it’s. We’re. It’s awesome to know that he’s just a regular Joe. Right? And he’s sitting on a gold mine that can change generations. Exactly right.

Speaker5: Eight.

Olivia J. Price: But people need to understand that, hey, if you have the opportunity, it needs to be like soon, right? Because it’s going to pass us by. I promise. I’m telling people now, like I can see now because my house in Loganville, I bought it for 200,000. Now it’s almost 500,000. And that’s without the renovations we’ve done and everything we’ve put into the home. And I’m like, goodness gracious. 500,000.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Coming into the industry, I mean, coming into home ownership, I don’t think I would have wanted to buy a $500,000 house as a first time home buyer. But looking at the house, I’m like, goodness gracious, this was my first time home buyer house. And just knowing that what you could have gotten then versus now, and what you’re going to get now versus later, it’s a no brainer for me. So what can you say about that in terms of educating people that, hey, this is the time is is dwindling here in Atlanta at least?

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. Um, sure. Yeah. So I will say that, man, I’m glad I didn’t listen to the naysayers when we bought in 2016. During that time, for some reason, everyone thought that the market was going to crash. I don’t remember.

Speaker5: Why.

Olivia J. Price: Well, they think so now.

Johnathan Crego: Even now and especially like 2019, 2020. And I am so glad we didn’t listen to the naysayers because if we had, I’d still be I’d still be renting. And you know what? If, God forbid, I pass away today, I’ve got a house in Beaufort I can leave to my kids, and that’s huge. And then 22 years, it’ll be paid off fully, and that’s going to be worth a lot more than it’s worth today. I promise that, Mark my words.

Olivia J. Price: And people are like, it’s going to go down. I’m like, yeah, but it goes up.

Speaker5: It goes up too. Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: The same houses in 2008.

Speaker5: Were.

Olivia J. Price: Dirt cheap. Now fast forward and we took some dips between then and now. And the house is three times the price that it was originally bought for.

Johnathan Crego: Even if you bought in 2006 at the height of that time. Yeah. And you’re looking at today and you just kept it throughout the whole thing. You’re you’re definitely still in the green, even if you bought at the absolute height at right before the biggest recession we’ve ever seen, you will definitely be in the green still today because those prices do not compare to these prices today. Plus, those interest rates were a lot more back then than they are now, even even when they’re high.

Speaker5: Now that.

Olivia J. Price: Interest rates, it is what.

Speaker5: It.

Olivia J. Price: Is. It’s just it is what it is. Just like we were saying, oh my God, two point days, four point that at that time we were complaining to we were like, well, dang, it’s four.

Speaker5: I had people.

Jordan Nutter: That.

Speaker5: Were like, you.

Jordan Nutter: Can’t get me in the.

Speaker5: One. Oh.

Jordan Nutter: And I’m.

Speaker5: Like.

Jordan Nutter: I’m sorry. What? You’re you’re at a five right now. I’m getting a.

Speaker5: Two and a half. This is a good thing.

Jordan Nutter: I’m cutting you in half and you still want more?

Speaker5: Like what? What? Yeah, but.

Olivia J. Price: I’m telling you, I think just people’s perspectives, I think, need to start changing. Like you said, you didn’t listen to the naysayers. You were like, this is a a a power move for my family. Exactly right. Even though at that time it may not have seen like a power move because you came in broke, you know, which I did to me and my husband. Man, we were so broke. We were so broke. We were like, goodness gracious, we paid everything into this house?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: And we did a lot of renovations, too. So my husband, um, is an entrepreneur. He is not a contractor. And he is not a handyman. When I tell you my husband was YouTube University.

Speaker5: Yeah. There you go.

Olivia J. Price: Listen. He was. Every night I would hear that man in the living room just listening. And that’s why I admire the hustle so much. Right. And just the home ownership journey. Like we did what we had to do.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: To be able to be in a position where if I wanted to take money out on my house, I could if I wanted to, you know, open up a business using the equity from my house, I could. Right. Or I could sell it and move to another state and have the funds, which I could.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: So also, could you piggyback on how some people are saying right now, like, um, I’ve had a couple of, um, big time people say, you know, I would never buy a house. I’m like, you would never buy a house, but you’re still going to be renting, though. So can you can you explain to me how do you feel about that when people say, like, you know, I couldn’t, I would never buy a.

Speaker5: House.

Johnathan Crego: Forever renter.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Like it’s a, it’s a I mean.

Johnathan Crego: I I’ll say this I, it depends on the person. Like if you don’t have kids, if you’re moving every two years, maybe you’re like military or something and you got to move every two years. Maybe it doesn’t make sense. I would say nine out of ten times, though, you’re going to want to buy because especially if you have kids, because now I have something to leave to them.

Olivia J. Price: Or just if you’re traveling to an area pretty frequently.

Speaker5: Sure.

Olivia J. Price: You know, um, like if you’re going to be in that area like six times out the year, eight times out the year, you might as well just buy. Yeah, for me, I feel as though then maybe rent it out for the days that you aren’t there. You can be creative nowadays.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: But temporary housing.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah I have I have two thoughts on that. So the first one is there was an article that I saw recently that said the average person will pay $330,000 in rent before they purchase their first home.

Olivia J. Price: I can see that.

Jordan Nutter: That’s insane.

Speaker5: I could see that.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. It’s insane.

Johnathan Crego: Um, and they have nothing to show for it.

Jordan Nutter: They have nothing to show for it.

Speaker5: Right?

Olivia J. Price: Those are. Those are the people like, hey, you know what? Wait a minute. Don’t buy it. That’s the worst decision. But I’m like, for people like me, I didn’t my I’m like, hold on, wait. Okay. For people like me, a lot of people I know they’re renting their parents rented, their grandparents rented. I’m like, okay. So for people like that, which is a lot of people, a lot of people are like, hey, no one really bought, you know, we’re just renting. They stayed in apartments, may stay in houses, you know, they rented. But purchasing a home, I mean, that just sets the pedestal for so much more.

Jordan Nutter: Well, you also have to consider, like J.R. was saying, like it may not work for everybody, but to to piggyback on that, I had a client who lived in LA. Her rent was $2,000 a month. She had been at this place for a long time. She wasn’t necessarily grandfathered in fully because it was a newer built, but she had been there long enough like and knew the people that she was somewhat grandfathered in. So for her to buy the same, to stay in the same type of living would would change her her monthly, um, housing expense by more than double. So in that situation, I understand. However, what I did tell her was, I said, why don’t we buy an investment property? Because you have the for how much you make compared to how much you pay per month. You’ve been saving so much up that you have the 20% down. So what we did instead was she bought an investment property in Northern California in, um, in more of a vacation. It was going to be a short term rental. And so that’s what we did instead. So instead of her buying her primary. So in this situation she, she bought where or sorry she, she rented where she wanted to live. Because I can understand as a younger individual, maybe you don’t want to live in the suburbs where it’s more affordable. So instead, she purchased an investment property. And then she got income from that every month. And so she’s growing that somebody else is paying for it. So yes, she is renting because she wants to live in that area and I understand it. Um, so in that situation I can understand.

Olivia J. Price: But there’s fine lines between all of.

Speaker5: That, right?

Jordan Nutter: 100%.

Olivia J. Price: Um, just like I will give, um, for example, here in Georgia, Gwinnett County have a lot of people who want to live in Gwinnett County but may not be able to really afford Gwinnett County. It can rent.

Speaker5: Right?

Olivia J. Price: Which is fine.

Speaker5: You can rent.

Jordan Nutter: Taxes.

Speaker5: Those taxes all county. Well, compared.

Olivia J. Price: To Warren County.

Speaker5: I mean, Barrow and Barrow.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah.

Speaker5: Yeah, it.

Olivia J. Price: Could be very, um, I would say, what’s the word I’m looking for? Um, discouraging for some people.

Jordan Nutter: 100%.

Speaker5: But I.

Olivia J. Price: For me, I just don’t like the narrative of like, yeah, you know, I would never buy. It’s like, well, you know, there’s.

Jordan Nutter: Never say never like, what can we.

Speaker5: You know?

Olivia J. Price: I just don’t like the way people put it out there. And now people are listening to that.

Speaker5: Like.

Olivia J. Price: It’s people that I’m like, no, homie, you need to buy.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Like, I don’t know any other situation where you’re going to be able to come up with money like that. Like, you know, it’s people that I know that they’re working their 9 to 5. They’ve been at their 9 to 5 for years. And I’m like, you’re not going to make any more than probably what you’re going to be making now, if not less. So for people like you, which is a lot of Americans, you probably need to go ahead and get a house. That’s the best thing that you could do to put yourself in a position that you can take, you know, that can grow with you. Right, right. Without having to do anything extracurricular. Right. Because you always need somewhere to stay.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: You always need a place to live. Always.

Olivia J. Price: So why not? So for me, I’m more of the practical side, like, okay, you got those people, younger ones who come in and just want to be in the area for work reasons or personal life reasons, whatever the case may be, which I, I expect that. But a lot of Americans, I’m like, wait a minute, now, you got two kids. You’re still which a lot of us do, or at least have one kid, you know. Um, and I would just say that. For me, and I’m still going to stand on that point, that buying is just it makes it makes sense.

Jordan Nutter: And there’s so many down payment assistance programs like there’s so many.

Olivia J. Price: Quick question do you see in the future with you being on the lending side, how long do you think we’ll still have down payment assistance? Do you think it will be here in the next half a decade or so? Do you think it will be a program that could be taken?

Jordan Nutter: I mean, I definitely there’s there’s been a lot recently that have been wiped out, unfortunately. But when you look at the state like Georgia Dream is still around because that’s through the state. That’s not, um, federal like through the government financed, um, or funded, I should say. Um, and then we have grants throughout. There’s like still the $15,000 grant in Georgia, the 1705, like, so there’s still grants. Um, Texas. I have a wonderful one that’s just amazing. So each state I still have all of my down payment assistance programs. It’s just whether or not it’s, you know, how long are the funds there for? Like my Florida one goes out pretty quickly at the beginning of the year. And so it’s just a matter of, like you said, everyone needs a place to live and they’re building homes. So to be able to afford them, somebody needs to help out somewhere, some way, shape or form. And if the state can come in and have those available funds for first time home buyers to utilize and be able to get them into a home and therefore pay property taxes, which goes back to the state like, you know, it all comes full circle at the end of the day. Um, so I don’t foresee it going away. I could see things changing, and maybe there’s not as as much, um, available funds. So they may be tighter throughout the year, but 100%, I don’t see that going away, um, at least anytime soon.

Johnathan Crego: And I will say that I work with a lot of first responders and military, and there’s a lot of.

Speaker5: Of course you do.

Johnathan Crego: There’s a lot of departments that actually offer monthly stipends. So like, for example, if you’re a Dunwoody police officer and you live within the city, you get, I believe, $600 a month. And so, yeah, and I think Duluth has it.

Olivia J. Price: I think I’m in the wrong field.

Speaker5: I think. No, no, you.

Jordan Nutter: Can’t change your mind now.

Speaker5: Check this.

Olivia J. Price: Out. I also thought about going to the military. I said, you know what, babe? I think I’m going to go to the military for a little bit because military benefits are just amazing.

Speaker5: It’s amazing.

Olivia J. Price: Amazing. Especially in economies like this. You’re like, Thank God I actually have something that can help. You know, but back to what you were saying.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. And on the military side, you know, like, if you’re 100% disabled, you get the tax benefits and things like that.

Speaker5: Yes.

Johnathan Crego: There is a lot of different opportunities for first responders and military. And that also affects EMTs, firefighters if you’re living in those areas. A lot of times nowadays, these jurisdictions are are giving you some type of benefit.

Speaker5: Or.

Johnathan Crego: Housing stipend. So.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I think that we’re going to conclude with this. You all. Um, and I want to say this is some great chemistry here. This is great. Um, I think people are going to want to hear more about.

Speaker5: This.

Olivia J. Price: Especially as we dive deeper into some real topics. Right? Um, next, I do want to talk about moving forward. Um, for our next episode, I do want to talk about crypto. I know, I’ll call you the crypto King. Right? Um, and I remember you did a crypto class.

Speaker5: Yes.

Olivia J. Price: What was that? It was the end of the year in 2023.

Johnathan Crego: I’ve done a couple, and I will say.

Speaker5: That was your first one.

Olivia J. Price: Though. I was gonna say that was your first one.

Johnathan Crego: The Buffalo’s cafe one.

Speaker5: I did 120, 23.

Johnathan Crego: I did one at in 2022. It was a brewery in Suwanee. Was it that one?

Olivia J. Price: 2022?

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, I did one at Buffalo’s Cafe in Beaufort.

Speaker5: It was your first one.

Johnathan Crego: The Hamilton Mill.

Speaker5: One.

Olivia J. Price: That was the one, because I remember we were talking about it when we were on Ypn. We were like, yeah, I’m gonna do this crypto.

Speaker5: You know.

Olivia J. Price: I’m gonna do this, and we’re going to educate and things like that. So I was in love with it.

Speaker5: Then you were just telling me for crypto as well.

Johnathan Crego: There’s a lot going on behind the scenes there.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So yeah.

Speaker5: We gotta talk about that.

Olivia J. Price: And also how you can use the currency to purchase real estate. Right.

Speaker5: Yes.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah.

Speaker5: We had to talk about that.

Olivia J. Price: Right. People want to hear the biggest thing I think that our listeners want to tune in is, first off, our beautiful voices. I think we sound great and we look even better. Um, and then next is just, um, seeing how can we put money into our listeners pockets with information that we’re giving? Because I made my clients money, which is purchasing real estate through through me. Right for you is more so on the real estate investment side. And how can we go ahead and start getting into these extracurricular things that can actually help us on the real estate realm? So crypto is a new wave there. There’s I still hear people kind of mixed feelings on it, but, you know, I still feel as though it’s kind of sort of still newer to the market. So some traditional people are kind of like.

Speaker5: So.

Johnathan Crego: What negative things you hear about.

Speaker5: It.

Olivia J. Price: Oh, we’re going to touch bases on it real quick. Well, I will say that I predominantly listen to a lot of traditional people and they’re like, well, you know, it’s not as safe as it is scam. Oh, okay.

Speaker5: Can you hear that? Let me ask you this.

Olivia J. Price: Can you? I didn’t hear about scam.

Johnathan Crego: Can you be scammed with US dollars?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Every day.

Speaker5: Yeah. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So we’ll get into that more later on.

Speaker5: We’ll talk about taking over the market.

Olivia J. Price: That that leaves us with some good stuff. Right? Um, so we’re wrapping up today all things real estate. You guys. We’re signing off with Olivia, J.R. and Jordan, and we’re missing our buddy. Um, Rodney, I just want to follow up on Rodney, though. He’s a superstar. And, um, unfortunately, he had some things to do with his wife, which. And, you know, when when you have dreams, you know, dedicated to each other, you’re like, look, Olivia, I rarely get these days, okay?

Speaker5: Yeah, he’s got a good excuse. Listen.

Olivia J. Price: And also, um, he does investments with his wife, so they do it together. He took her out of her nine. Well, he got it for his 9 to 5 to do real estate, and he got his wife out of her 9 to 5 to do investments. So he she runs his investment property, well, investment company for his properties. And he’s number one with Keller Williams. I’m 16th ranked 16th in the southeast region for Keller Williams. And he is killing it. Um, he is um, a burst of energy. And I think that, um, he has a lot of insight in terms of the things that he is doing, literally. I remember when Rodney was selling CDs, he used to rap. Yeah, I’m like looking at him.

Speaker5: So many people.

Olivia J. Price: Don’t know that. They’re like, yeah, you know.

Speaker5: Rodney.

Olivia J. Price: I’m like, yes. Rodney used to be a hustler. And just looking at how he started from here and how all of that comes into full circle. You being from the force coming into real estate now, going into investment, it comes in full circle. You and I forget what you did prior to, um, lending. What did you do prior to lending?

Jordan Nutter: I was selling curtain rods.

Speaker5: Oh.

Jordan Nutter: I had three jobs. I was selling curtain rods. I was an assistant. And I did like catering jobs on the side. I had three jobs, so.

Olivia J. Price: Do you think that having that type of hustle has.

Speaker5: Helped.

Olivia J. Price: You to be able to come up with ideas like touring the nation.

Speaker5: And having you rap an RV for your.

Johnathan Crego: Curtain rods?

Speaker5: No. Oh, see?

Olivia J. Price: Nah, that was the nah. That was the finale. Okay.

Speaker5: No.

Olivia J. Price: But just I feel like everyone in their past life coming into now, it says something about your character and what you’re willing to do and how you do it, which right now in our industry, I just said 71% of agents did not sell last year, right? So not only are we touching the consumers, we’re touching agents too, to learn to hey, we’re still in it. We’re doing our thing and we need all our agents to come together, especially in this time, right? So all things real estate, you guys. Until next time.

Speaker5: All right.

Johnathan Crego: Thank you for listening.