The Professor and Heather Anne
Although we don't have all the answers, we hope we can encourage and excite you.
We're here sharing our lives to inspire you to make the most of the second half of your life.
Join us each week, my friends, where you're sure to get a smile -- from lessons learned to mishaps, the adventures go on for miles...here on The Professor and Heather Anne.
The Professor and Heather Anne
The New American Compound: Multigenerational Living Without Losing Space Or Self
What if your next move wasn’t about more space or less, but about a home that actually fits your life? We share our pivot from a suburban favorite to rural land in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where a custom design and a small apartment will let us support a 90-year-old parent while keeping everyone’s independence. Along the way, veteran realtor and broker Marc Bullock joins us to unpack how right-sizing really works (emotionally, financially, and logistically) when you’re buying, selling or building.
We get honest about merging two full households after remarriage, why we pushed back on the open-concept default and how we’re designing for aging in place with zero-step entries, wider doors, and a curbless shower. Marc walks through the step-by-step strategy he uses to get multiple offers in any season: Start months early, build a resource roster, consider pre-inspections, lean on staging and neutral design, and use high-quality photos, video, and even 3D or drone views to help buyers visualize. We also talk timing, temporary housing and why the “good homes” still move regardless of interest rates when they’re prepared and priced with care.
The conversation widens to the rise of modern family “compounds,” where friends and relatives live nearby and share amenities to cut costs and boost connection. We dive into lending details too, like how asking better questions unlocked VA loan benefits for a client and shaved a full point off their rate. If you’re planning a move for work, caregiving, or a new season of life, this is a practical, empathetic roadmap to create a home that serves your future.
If this resonates, follow the show, share it with someone planning a move, and leave a quick review with your biggest right-sizing question, and we’ll tackle it on a future episode.
Every day is different. We enjoy that moment closer. They're moving closer to the family.
Heather Anne:We're seeing more and more of that.
Marc Bullock:We are seeing it in a minute. I don't. I'm gonna put it out here and make it a function.
Introduction:Your next favorite podcast pick starts now. Here's the Professor Heather Anne.
Heather Anne:Welcome to the Professor and Heather Anne. Although we don't have all the answers, we hope we can encourage and excite you. We're sharing our lives to inspire you to make the most of the second half of your life. So here we are.
Joe:Today we're gonna talk about real estate.
Heather Anne:And right-sizing your life when it comes to real estate. Something that we're right in the middle of doing as well. So two years ago, we bought our current house and we loved it, and we did some extra things to it, but a year ago our life literally just changed when we went to Virginia to look at some land to possibly build our forever home.
Joe:This is in a rural area, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and uh it's uh land that uh Heather's best friend and her husband have bought, and so we bought some we bought some land from them and have started the process. They're even as we speak, they are uh putting in a a garage, a shop, in which there'll be a little small apartment.
Heather Anne:So it just kind of came about, um, we'll be we'll blame my best friend, uh, because she's like, you should move here, and you were very excited and said, sure, let's move. So we went last year to check out the property, see if it was something that we really wanted to do. We drove all around the area, fell in love with it. And in May, we closed on the loan, and for the last month, they've been prepping the land. We've been working with an architect for several months, and we are moving forward. Um, we really love our house here, but it just seems like that just fits more of what we want to do with the rest of our lives.
Joe:We we love this house. Actually, this house also kind of came about in a what seemed like sort of serendipitous way. It just sort of uh wasn't some we we knew we we had to find someplace where we we could live. So I I was living in Stillwater, which is about an hour and 15 minutes from from here. Um, and uh Heather was really almost homeless.
Heather Anne:Thanks. Almost homeless. I was giving up my rental and trying to decide what to do next. So I was part-time here and also part-time in Stillwater because we were in the middle of our relationship and we were engaged, but that just was not working. It was going back and forth, it was too hard on my business. So um we actually fell up um into this house. We was we were shown it, we actually loved it. It wasn't 100% of what we were looking for, but it has lots of windows, it had a great yard that we knew we could really work with. But the challenging part was which a lot of people who are in second marriages is combining households.
Joe:Yes, so we had two houses worth of furniture and had to uh decide uh what to keep, what to what to give away, and then what and then and then we also bought a lot of new furniture.
Heather Anne:So I had to coordinate three moving trucks and a truck full of furniture because we decided to buy living room and and dining room furniture that was ours. It made it more our house. This was our furniture, we weren't just combining furniture, we kept some of our old stuff, but we really wanted to make sure it felt like our house.
Joe:And and there were some compromises involved, uh, as there always are in these kinds of situations. So uh I like your chair. The the uh the the yes, I uh of the furniture I bought when I so I I moved to Stillwater in uh summer 2022. I I had felt like up to that time I'd had very bad luck with real estate, almost like maybe I was cursed with respect to real estate. So my my first wife and I, we rented for a long time in Los Angeles, then we bought a condo. This is in 2006, so we basically bought it right at the peak, right before the prices crashed. Um and there were a whole lot of problems with the condo. I'm not gonna go into it, but we were very happy to get rid of it in 2016. Then we lived with a friend for a while, that's a whole other story. Um, and so I I had, you know, and people had told me, well, you know, maybe you just shouldn't buy real estate, it doesn't seem to work out for you. Uh but I moved to Stillwater and within a month or so of moving there, I bought a house. Um uh but and we met. But then we met. Uh, and uh so I I only own that house for one year. But I I'm sort of more partial to older houses that have character, and I don't really like the the open concept, which all all new construction now is this it's just this one big room, which is the kitchen and the living room and the dining room. I don't really like that, but uh you know I've I've gotten so okay. I I I can I can handle it.
Heather Anne:And I actually, I mean, I prefer new construction, but I don't like the openness either. I like the kitchen to be off-centered or in its own. And and my last house that I sold with my ex-husband, it there still was some separation. It was a great big room, but there still was some separation in the kitchen. And and I'm the same way. I like older houses, but it's a give or take when you do new construction or when you buy an older house. There's just a lot when choosing homes, but it's important, and I was very lucky that I brought you to this house and said, What do you think of this house? And we like the same things. That that is I've seen I've been fortunate enough to be in the mortgage business for almost 30 years. I have helped a lot of clients over the years, I helped them make their dreams come true through homeownership. But there are times when the couples do not agree on the house that sometimes that can cause some problems.
Joe:Oh bet.
Heather Anne:And um we were very fortunate that we liked the same things. We liked the way this house was set up, it worked for us. Um and then we did the ultimate thing and went and bought furniture after we went into contract, which I tell my clients, do not do. That is very bad. Do not do what we did. Uh, but we learned that we do like a lot of the similar tastes, which is important because our next step is building a custom home.
Joe:So so this. So this house, the one in the one we're building in Virginia, will be exactly the way we want it.
Heather Anne:And that's been interesting as well, working with an architect and and um coming having them go through many drafts and trying to design design the house that we want, which is unusual. It's not a house we had ever seen. We found some plans, modified them, and made them ours. Um, but there's a lot that goes into it. And there's been times we've looked at plans, and you've been honest and said, I don't know what I'm looking at.
Joe:So I don't I don't think I have the best uh spatial cognitive cognitive ability. So in thinking about like what the what the house is going to look like in three dimensions, what the the the elevation outside of it, I sometimes think, you know, I really I need a 3D model, or I need to see what this would look like from the drone's eye viewpoint. That's not really conveying much to me to look at it on in two-dimensional. But but we we discovered that we we share a lot of preferences with respect to house design too. There were there really weren't any points in in working with the architect designing the new house that we felt like we had you know completely different opinions.
Heather Anne:Correct. And one of the things that we actually agreed upon was when we closed on the uh land in May, we had decided that we want to be there during the building process. You have never built a house before. So we decided how we would start everything and how we would start um, how we would move there. We would build a shop with an apartment in it. We're going to move there, move all of our stuff, live in the apartment, and that was probably one of the best decisions that we made because the last few months things have changed once again for us.
Joe:So my mother, who just turned 90, lives alone. She lives in the house that she and my father bought in in 1967. This is in San Diego, where I grew up. And um, she's reaching the point where she can't live alone anymore. And uh there are some relatives who are nearby, but not close enough to be with her all the time. And so uh we, and speaking of the entire family, we've decided that that what's best is that my mother move in with us when when when we move to Virginia, so she'll be living in the apartment.
Heather Anne:Uh so we're we're starting on the build of the house a lot sooner than we anticipated, um, because we need to have the house completed by next fall. Um and we're trying to determine we need to get her moved as soon as possible. So we might be moving to Virginia, moving your mom directly into the apartment, and we may be living in a tent for all we know. We don't we don't know what we're doing on that part, whether we're renting a fifth wheel or living in an RV or whatever. But we know that this is the ultimate thing. When we made this decision, part of the decision of building the shop and the apartment was we just knew we wanted a separate space in case somebody needed it.
Joe:Um whether it's a family member, whether it was somebody that was just needing a helping hand, it was just very important for us to be able to accommodate someone who would without having to uh live under the same roof with them, but they would would live very nearby, and so and we got that idea from my best friend and her husband.
Heather Anne:They built a shop, built an apartment with inside of it, and because her parents had needed to move in with them as well. And so it just worked the whole setup. We were just very fortunate to have all of that unfold the way that it has. And now your mother is excited, she thinks it's go it sounds great. Um, the benefit is she'll have our own space, but we'll be there every day. We're literally steps away. She can come to our house and have dinner, we could go to her place and have dinner. But we're going to be able to check in with her every single day, take her on some small walks, take her on some adventures.
Joe:Exactly.
Heather Anne:Though your mom's not very adventurous, but um she'll become a little adventurous that day.
Joe:That's that's what we're hoping.
Heather Anne:And but just being able to have that interaction with somebody every day is really important.
Joe:But yeah, the the the situation she's in now where she spends a lot of time alone, she can't she can't read anymore, or she can only read large print, which I mean she doesn't read very much. Uh so she mostly just watches TV. It's not good. I think it it sort of uh it accelerates.
Heather Anne:There's been there's been studies that if you're not having interaction, if you're not uh giving your body the proper nutrition and stuff, then we know that that can help somebody who's older decline a lot faster. And so she's 90 years old, she's smart as a whip, and I like listening to her stories.
Joe:So um you haven't heard them uh each of them.
Heather Anne:I have not heard each of them, so many times. So she has lots of stories to be able to share with me. So I'm looking forward to it. And I've never had in-laws before, so um I've been learning about the in-laws, and I'm excited about your mother coming to live with us. I know it's gonna, we're making it sound like, oh, it's going to be easy and stuff, but we know that there'll be challenges. There'll be challenges, and that leads us into I've been, I've actually helped a lot of clients um with right sizing. We call it right sizing because one of the things that I've really seen a trend over the last probably five years is more and more families are multi-generations are moving into one house. Whether it's one house under one roof or like ours, where you have maybe multiple structures on one property. Um, we're finding that more families are starting to combine. And for us, we don't have any children living at home, so it makes sense for your mother to move with us. But there are, I've helped several clients over the last few years where they still have kids at home and they're still moving in their parents. And so that working with the right people to help them find the right property that's going to suit their needs, just not for now, but for aging, because that's one of the things that we're while building the house is we're building it to age into.
Joe:So we're ADA compliant.
Heather Anne:So, and adding some extra stuff and everything to make it easier. Plus, your mom's moving in with us, so we want to have certain things set up for her to come into the house, but also for her apartment. But our one thing that I'm very excited about is our very first guests on um our podcast. I have had the honor to work with Marc Bullock, who is um honestly one of the best realtors out there that I work with. Um we met several years ago before the pandemic. Since then, we've been able to help hundreds of families into new homes. Right size. In fact, one of our first um clients that we helped, they were downsizing tremendously from living in their house for like 40 years. Uh, but for but before we get to that, I want to tell you a little bit about Marc. So, Marc Bullock is a real estate expert, broker, realtor, residential and commercial broker at We Connect Oklahoma. Landing in real estate was a no-brainer for Marc Bullock. Having grown up in residential and commercial real estate construction and development family, his middle name became problem solver, and that is a very true statement. I have never seen anybody solve problems like Marc, which means he always delivers no matter the customer or the property. Marc crafts an A plus solutions by helping clients take emotions out of the real estate equations. Clients are attracted to Marc's energy, availability, and dedication. Marc knows real estate, he's licensed in multiple states, he speaks multiple languages, he holds an MBA, a BBA, and a BA. You might call him a double threat with both strategy and finance in his educational professional wheelhouse. Marc has been featured in national television publications for his expertise working with buyers in a hot market, as featured on CBS News out of New York City. Picture it, closing day. All that was left was the final walkthrough. The home had been vacant and a bird had taken up residence in a coach light. When the coach light was switched on, the nest inside flamed up. Emergency? Not a chance. Mark grabbed the closing gift of champagne from his car, doused the spark in a flash, and that was fast thinking. And that's just many of the things that he does at the last minute, and how he has uh definitely saved a lot of deals uh with his quick thinking. Marc loves nothing more than outpacing a client's expectation. Every transaction is unique, so considering all angles is paramount. He refuses to leave even the tiniest stone unturned when it comes to getting things done and getting them done right. Marc is all about the right deal, the right house, and the right way to serve clients each and every time. And thank you, Marc, for being here.
Marc Bullock:Thank you for having me.
Heather Anne:I'm very excited.
Marc Bullock:What a nice intro.
Heather Anne:Thank you. All of it's true.
Marc Bullock:All of it is true.
Heather Anne:We did not make up anything.
Marc Bullock:No. We can we can talk about the house that caught on fire during our final walkthrough. You know, but it uh we solved the problem at that time.
Heather Anne:So I have to say, I've worked with you for many years, and you are an amazing problem solver. So that's one of the things that I'm very grateful to be working with you is whenever I call with a problem or you call me with a problem, we've always been able to just put our heads together, come up with a solution, and really help our clients.
Marc Bullock:And I think that's what makes it fun. It's different. Every day is different. I I I cannot tell you what I'm doing tomorrow. I have a I have an outlined schedule. It it may or may not happen, but we get to enjoy that roller coaster, which I think makes it exciting and makes us energetic and passionate about what we do. Otherwise, um I don't think I'd do very well sitting, you know, on a in a cubicle doing the same thing over and over again. I know that I was I need to be able to scratch that itch and uh see what we can do for our clients, how we can help them. Every deal is unique, just like you said, that nothing is the same, nothing has ever been the same. Hundreds of deals under our belt, hundreds of millions of dollars under our belt. None of them are none of them are the same. And that sounds that sounds silly. You think it would be? You do this, you do this, you do this, close. Well, uh, each one has their own personality to it. And we get to play um therapists some days to try to help solve and make sure the clients but for both buying and selling, for both new construction, for even for leasing. Uh, you mentioned that a little bit ago. I was uh listening to your opening conversation, and I think it's interesting when you look back on it between the two of you, you've had seven seven different real estate transactions in the last four to five years.
Heather Anne:Yes.
Marc Bullock:Some some where those were combined and some of those were separate. And Heather mentioned living in a rental. Well, that was part of our right sizing. We had a plan of attack. We made sure that in the nicest way possible, I kicked her out of her house so we could get things ready, staged, repaired, sold, up and running. We sold the house for 10% over list, multiple offers, multiple, multiple offers, high to the market, which was nice, but it just showed sometimes when we follow those formulas to right size, we have to put our clients into uh temporary accommodations.
Heather Anne:And it actually worked out really well for us. And there was a whole connection even to the rental, and that was amazing as well.
Marc Bullock:Well, and it sounds like for your next build, you're also kind of doing the same. There's a baby step involved, and you're heading into that uh temporary accommodation until you're ready to finish the the bigger house.
Joe:So it seems like home has so much more emotional power than any of anyone else, any of the other possessions, any of our other stuff. So selling homes, helping people buy and sell homes is is just totally different from helping people even like buy and sell cars or anything else. Um so and so this is why you often have to be a therapist, right?
Marc Bullock:You have to you have to look at uh what is the connection for the client, uh not just buyers, but also sellers, and how does that uh translate to being successful, but also being um uh available and being up front. Sometimes things are emotional, sometimes they are right sizing for a reason they may not have thought was going to occur. We've had we've had that possibly occur. Um, someone you know loses a loved one. Well, okay, all of a sudden, how do we uh rally the troops and get things put together so that home life still can maintain, but also financially it makes sense too.
Heather Anne:And that was one of our first deals is we had a couple that had lived in their house for I think it was 40 years. And they were downsizing tremendously, like half, I think, is what we wound up. But they also had a child with them that still needed to live with them, they needed care, and you had to find them the right house that would suit both of those needs. But it was a very emotional move for them from the very beginning.
Marc Bullock:And it was a and it was a process that was not just because we were taking time to look for the home. We spent eight, nine months in total just from starting the conversation until finally being finished with with one home purchase, one home sale, and making modifications appropriately so that their adult uh child could live with them as well and make sense. And that was, yeah, it it was a it was a it was a process.
Heather Anne:That was one of our first problem solving. And that's one thing that we work really well together is problem solving. And it was decided that we needed to move them into the new house first because it's it's a very emotional thing to be in a house that you've lived in for so long, you thought this was going to be their house, and it just didn't work for them. It was a two-story house, they needed a one-story now. So being able to walk our clients through that whole process and help them process it, and some days we're good, and some days we're not. Um, I think they even went back and forth. Should we be doing this? But helping them get into the house first, which we closed relatively quickly, gave them time to take their time to process letting go of the current house.
Marc Bullock:And in tons of um positive family emotions from the the house they'd been in for 40 years. You know, all of the kids had graduated to high school from there, there was there was a lot of Christmases spent there. That was that was where the memories were. But similar to what you guys are talking about about combining furniture, they had the opportunity to say, what were those pieces that really meant something to us and we wanted to take to the new place? And they what are those things because it was it was a downsize by 50% roughly of square footage. So 50% of your things aren't coming with you, and not everybody wants to buy a new house, and then also rent 10 storage units. Correct. That's that's that's in no one's thought process. It happens, but that's not something that people are wanting to do or thinking about. So uh it was able to pick them up, get everything moved, see how it fit, see how it worked for them. And then we worked on getting the house ready to sell repair-wise. Uh, we try to uh make things a little bit more neutral, light and bright, when we want to show off houses in the best way possible, take out you know, family decor, things like that. And then also we stage our homes as well. So that really adds to a lot of um uh bonus look and feel when we have new buyers coming through who are wanting to make it their new family home.
Heather Anne:And still personalize it and giving people a visualization when they come and look at the house. Because a lot of people do need I personally prefer a blank house because I can then visualize my things in it, but I know a lot of people actually need that extra just a little bit here and there.
Marc Bullock:Well, and I think Joe even mentioned on having a 3D or a drone or a bird's eye view to be able to kind of see those things, is and I think a lot of people do uh connect with that and can really make uh a better informed decision when they can see what that's going to look like rather than just on a piece of paper.
Heather Anne:And so what do you see the trend? So we've been able to help a lot of families. Um sometimes it does not always work out that you can move into the new house and then sell the old house. So it does come down to timing, uh, even before you can put the current house on the market and then can go and look at other houses. There's still we've had to work with several families where it took several months to get to that step because they had to slowly declutter, declutter.
Marc Bullock:I think what's the the the trend that m people are realizing, you know, even talking about you too with having so many transactions within so many few years. You need a team. You need an expert, you need a professional, you probably have most people probably have someone who does their taxes, you have an accountant, you most people have a uh primary care physician, they've got a doctor, most people have a mechanic, most people have possibly a lawyer. You need a you need a realtor on your side, you need to be having and engaging those conversations months in advance, if not more, of what you're looking to accomplish so that you're on the same page. I think most clients are realizing they need their resource roster, they need to have a stable of professionals that can work for them, advise them, help them kind of come up with a path that allows them to make sense over those months or weeks or whatever that looks like. We're feeling less and less like you get a phone call and someone hands you keys and says, list my house tomorrow. That's that's the almost prefer not to have it that way. We need to be talking about on the front end what does that look like? How can we strategize? What are we we go room by room and say what needs to happen in this room to make this pop? What needs to happen from the structural component? What repairs do we need to possibly do ahead of time? Are we getting a pre-inspection before you list? Do we want to have the house appraised before we list? We're doing so many things on the front end, even before we get to photography, videography, drone, all the fun marketing collateral. We're spending a good amount of time with a with a plan that I think that trend is becoming more realistic and people realize they need that professional.
Heather Anne:And we had lived, I had lived with my ex in our previous home for over 10 years, and we even did that. I called you up and it's like, I think I want to sell, but I'm not sure. So it that conversation started a couple of months prior to even, okay, we're going to sell. And then you needed to do some things to the house, new flooring, just some simple little updates before it even went on the market. Sure. So it took probably a good three or four months before even putting my own house on the market.
Marc Bullock:And I think that the other trend that we're seeing is that people do realize properties sell all 12 months of the year. Yes, spring market's hot. And yes, we can do more uh sales in a certain time of the year, maybe less around the holiday season, but houses do sell all 12 months of the year. So we talk about the market, we talk about the rates, we talk about what we're seeing in inventory, but realistically, if we prepare the home correctly, we will not have an issue with it. We are still seeing At the end of 2025, in the last quarter, we are still seeing multiple offers on properties today in our area.
Heather Anne:So there is a misconception with the market that you can only sell it during these times. And those are across all price points.
Marc Bullock:And I think the the the comment or the phrase that we use quite often is the good stuff still goes. Doesn't matter what the interest rate is, it doesn't matter how much how many other homes on your street are available, if it's one of the good ones, it's going to sell. It's gonna go. And so that's what we try to make sure that we have a good one when it's time. And that takes preparation.
Heather Anne:And it takes long conversations. Because people buy and sell all the time because life changes. Sure. When we bought this house two years ago, we did not think we would be moving in the time frame that we are. Because our life is shifting, things are shifting in our lives. And it worked out perfect. We had no indication at the time that Jo's mother was going to come and live with us. She can, it would not work in this house at all. It this would not accommodate her. We would have to make too many modifications to be able to accommodate her. So that's that's the one thing I definitely want to get out there is that people buy and sell homes all the time because throughout the whole correct, because circumstances change. People have get jobs and they have to move out of state. They're getting jobs and they're moving into state. They're moving closer to family.
Marc Bullock:We're seeing more and more of that. We are seeing a significant amount. And I don't, and I'm gonna put it out there and make it a buzzword, and it's it has it should have a positive connotation. I think we will see over the next three to four years the word compound being used in a positive connotation. In a positive way. You guys are working on your compound. Yes, mom's gonna have her separate space, you're gonna have your separate space. We're next, we're walking distance to friends, not necessarily reach out the window and and hand them the cup of sugar.
Heather Anne:600 yards of me, like 600 yards between our front doors.
Joe:And their and and uh their sons.
Heather Anne:Their sons will be moving to uh across from ours. Already has two two acres. So and we're seeing more of that. Or in some circumstances, I know some people they're moving right next door to each other.
Marc Bullock:Sure. And I think that's where that compoundness is uh attracting people today. They want to be with their friends and family, they want to know who their neighbors are, and they're willing to uh build or willing to remodel or whatever that looks like. And uh, we talk about right sizing in this episode, and that's what we currently have an existing client that is doing that. Um, she's right sizing literally across the street from her kids, and that's and that's the move. And we helped her it get located into that property, and then at the same time getting her current place ready to to list and sell.
Heather Anne:So I I think we need to probably have you on more because we do need to talk more um about that, just more about what the trends are in the market. I've been fortunate, and you have been fortunate to be in this business for a very long period of time. So we've seen a lot happen in the last 20 to 30 years. But no matter what, I feel like it always comes around. So you know, it used to be 30 years ago, people were wanting to buy land and move out, they wanted to get out of the suburbs, more people are moving back into the suburbs, um, or they're getting land and moving their families onto the land so that everybody's closer together. I think that's one of the things that happened when they built the suburbs years and years ago was I just feel like people are missing that connection and being close to family, and that we seem to be going back to that now.
Marc Bullock:I think probably uh looking back at our pandemic time frame, that attraction of wanting to be closer to people that you care about is really sparking that interest. And as things are becoming more expensive, as they probably historically have always become more expensive, but we've really felt that over the last few years in construction is that they're trying to do a little bit more with less. So we we build the compound or we build the apartment, maybe someone's adding uh a greenhouse or a pool or a hot tub or whatever that that other additional feature might be, and everyone can use it. Yes. So we're only by we're only building one pool, not three pools, you know, and so it it kind of brings that um also more with less concept and economies of scale that you might have from a construction perspective.
Heather Anne:And that's even what we're doing. We plan on gardening, but we have we plan on having a community garden so that we all can work on uh the garden together. We're we don't each individually we'll have some of our own gardens, but the main garden will be where we're all working together. Because then one person isn't worried about, well, maybe I didn't grow my food correctly. For some reason, uh like we did this year. Um, you know, the tomatoes did not come in this year. So being able to have that with other people just seems to be more calming. That you're not as stressed, that you have to worry about this is, you know, we have to do everything. And I think that is something that is helping more families decide that we want to live closer together.
Joe:Yeah, I some people feel in the suburbs that they have a good sense of belonging, that uh they can count on their neighbors, but uh but it's a sort of hit or miss thing. And uh we we have not uh we have not been happy with we're happy with this house, but we're not happy with uh with the neighborhood. Um it feels very atomized.
Heather Anne:But I think also that's because this is a great family neighborhood. And we're just older and our kids are grown and we don't have kids at home, but you see a lot of kids at the neighborhood pool, and and and more people are looking for that as well.
Marc Bullock:You're close to shopping, you're close to the elementary school, you're close to you know, dining establishments. So I think those are some positives, and maybe it's just that season that you're thinking about, and now thinking about Joe's mom coming into the fold. Now you're even maybe more yes, love the house, great location, good school district, but then wouldn't fit with mom. Correct. So maybe you're kind of feeling that a little bit more as well.
Heather Anne:Yeah, I I definitely agree with that. So I wanted to talk a little bit more about um we're both kind of therapists sometimes, sure, especially when we are helping families right size. Whether that's up, that's down, we're moving to a compound. Um it can be a very emotional thing. And again, the one that sticks to my heart the most, we've been very fortunate to help a lot of families, is our very first deal, partly because it was our very first deal, and it was like we had to come up with all these different solutions to help to help them.
Marc Bullock:It took strategies and it took time and it took uh patience.
Heather Anne:But one of the things is um being able to work with clients on their level of where they are at that time. Because whether they're downsizing because they lost lost a loved one, whether they're downsizing because they can no longer afford the house, whether they are combining families, one of the things that our clients put in our hands is being able to help navigate. So one of the things I do as a lender, it does not matter who they are, and we've been fortunate to happen to help clients in all spectrums. Sure. That what are their next plans? And that's one of the things that I like you working with you is that we don't it's not just getting them into the house, it's getting them to where they need to be.
Marc Bullock:We've taken an approach of client-based transactions rather than transaction-based transactions. Yeah. And if you focus on the client, you'll find that they uh one appreciate that so much more, but they will continue to circle back to you when ready because you're having these conversations, sometimes months, if not years in advance, of like this is our next step, but we know we won't be in this home more than XYZ. Okay, so now we're already thinking strategically about what is that plan. Three years from now, I know that this family needs this. Well, guess what? Two years from now, I'm gonna be thinking about that family so we can prepare them for when their time frame is ready to move. And that could sometimes be an easy example of that is uh school change. We're finished with we're finished with the elementary school, we're finished with the high school, whatever that that uh process is. You can set a timeline. There's a there's a definitive date in the future in which this finishes. Uh work employment. People come on assignments, they're here for two years. We have a doctor rotation for 36 months. There are things that you can kind of plan for, and that's where you need a professional in your court, but you've got to be able to share those details with that professional if you want the biggest impact so that they know how to help, what they're looking for, what you're looking for, and when that time comes, you're already thinking about them, you're mentally preparing of what is that next best step. And then we also have to make sure that those clients follow up and ask questions. They need to be given homework, and from the professorial standpoint, it holds them accountable, but also gives them a checklist and knowledge. And today is this assignment or this lesson or whatever we need to share with them to get things done, it really does help because there's a lot of moving parts lending, purchasing, title work, inspections, whatever the process might look like. If they have it in front of them and they have a checklist and there's something that they can communicate and say, Yes, I accomplished that today, it really does make things work a little bit better. A lot of clients are afraid to ask questions.
Heather Anne:But I I personally ask a lot of questions myself. So when I speak with our clients, I always am asking them additional questions. And I get a lot of times, well, nobody's ever asked me that before.
Marc Bullock:Sure.
Heather Anne:And it's like, well, we need to know these answers because we want to make sure we're putting in the right loan, we're putting you in the right program, so that you five years from now you're able to move forward and accomplish what you would like to accomplish.
Marc Bullock:Um we worked with a retired vet veteran just recently, about a month ago, in which they didn't realize that they still had eligibility in order to use a VA loan program. That saved them one entire percentage point of interest on their loan. Still a 30-year fixed. Holy moly. And what what a difference a day can make by just asking the questions.
Heather Anne:Speaking of veterans, um, I just recently referred a veteran to you. Um because we're a we help a lot of veterans, a lot of first responders. Um, but one of the things I learned early on in my business is a client may not necessarily remember the transaction, but they're gonna remember how you made them feel during the transaction. And talk about clients that come back and forth to us. One of the clients is I helped them 10 years ago. And he had never been able to use his VA eligibility, nobody could figure it out for him. I promised I was going to help him use it, and um we were I was able to accomplish that. He could not believe that um we were able to use his VA eligibility, but he's coming back now. They have reached out and we're right-sizing with them. Right sizing with them.
Marc Bullock:It's time for them to um their lives have changed, and it's time for them to move into people at home, single story, things that going into that next uh chapter of their life they're really looking forward to, and we're starting to to work through that process. And uh they remembered you, which is what was important because not so much that you and I would always recall every single address, and I've been known to uh reintroduce myself to clients because I forget their first names sometimes, but I certainly know what subdivision they live in.
Heather Anne:But you know you remember them by their houses for sure.
Marc Bullock:That's right. So uh that's uh been a uh fun time with them getting this veteran into their next right size house, and it's been um exciting so far through the process, looking to get that closed soon.
Heather Anne:And I'm very thankful for you coming on today and talking about right sizing. I'm very thankful of being able to do business um all these years. We will be continuing doing business when, even when um I moved to Virginia. As we continue to right size our life, um what else do you think that you need to share with our audience?
Marc Bullock:And I think we I think we've hit a lot of good components, but I would just want to encourage everybody, regardless of the location that they're in, they need to have a team, they need to have a resource roster, you need to reach out, you need to start interviewing not just realtors, but the other people that you're gonna be working with in your life. You want to talk to your title company, you want to talk to movers. We've you know, I've got I tell my clients all the time no, we don't pay anything up front, and yes, we always get everything in writing. Yes, and that's more associated with the repairs and getting their homes ready, or if we are doing an addition or something new once we close on the property. But doing that homework and having those people and having that stable is so important today, and that's really where you need to make sure you are finding those people or finding that right realtor who can connect you with those people.
Heather Anne:Correct, because there is so much that's involved. I know with us combining households, I used um what are the calls? A lot of our vendors, a lot of our movers that helped me organize things so that we didn't have two of everything in the kitchen, all of that, all of a sudden my mind goes blank, I forget what they're called.
Marc Bullock:You ended up with two crock pots.
Heather Anne:Yes. So uh I don't know if that's true or not.
Marc Bullock:I just assume that's what you were trying to say. Something like that.
Heather Anne:Correct, right? Something like that. We wanted to make sure we didn't have four sets of dishes and all of that stuff. So being able to have the right team to help get you where you need to be. That's going to make that move as smooth as possible, even the move in as soon as possible.
Marc Bullock:Early.
Heather Anne:Yes. Don't wait till the last minute.
Marc Bullock:That's my sage advice.
Heather Anne:So um thank you.
Marc Bullock:Thank you, Marc. Thank you both. This has been fun.
Heather Anne:Uh again, I'd like to thank Marc Bullock for joining us today. He uh is with We Connect Oklahoma. He's licensed in multiple states. We'll have his information um out there so that you can reach out to him if you have any questions for him or um thinking that you need a realtor, I highly recommend Mark, um not just from a business standpoint, but from personal. He made my last transition very smooth, and he's going to be helping us with this transition as well. So, again, Marc, thank you very much for joining us. Um on this episode, we talked about right sizing in real estate.
Joe:About about our own circumstances and about general advice from an expert.
Heather Anne:From an expert. So join us each week, my friend, where you're sure to get a smile from lessons learned to mishaps. The adventures go on for miles here on the Professor and Heather Anne.
