Ladies Kickin' Ass

#147 - Selling Dreams & Kickin' Ass with Yvonne McGee

‱ Tanya Wilson ‱ Season 1 ‱ Episode 147

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đŸŽ™ïž Ladies Kickin’ Ass Podcast – Episode #147
Title: Selling Dreams & Kickin’ Ass with Yvonne McGee

đŸ’„ INTRO TIME!
What do you get when you mix financial savvy, real estate fire, and unapologetic authenticity? You get today’s guest – and trust us, you’re going to LOVE her. In this episode, we're joined by a true badass in the Arizona real estate scene who’s not just selling homes – she's selling dreams. Whether you're in the trades, service-based biz, or navigating your first home purchase, this conversation brings major value and laughs!

🙌 MEET OUR GUEST
Meet Yvonne McGee, a former CFO turned real estate powerhouse! With a deep love for helping first-time homebuyers and a strong commitment to honesty, Yvonne brings heart, hustle, and humor to every transaction. She’s the kind of realtor who knows her numbers, keeps it real, and builds genuine relationships that go far beyond closing day.

đŸ”„ WHY THIS EPISODE KICKS ASS.....
đŸ”„ Yvonne’s transition from 30 years as a CFO into full-time real estate and how she’s redefining success
đŸ”„ The power of building a brand based on authenticity and connection
đŸ”„ Why first-time homebuyers have her heart – and how she serves them differently
đŸ”„ Real talk on working in male-dominated industries and growing calluses (in the best way)
đŸ”„ How home service providers can build strong partnerships with real estate agents
đŸ”„ What to look for (and avoid) when building your network in the real estate world
đŸ”„ Hilarious stories from inside homes—including artful nudes and mold inspections gone wild!

🔗 Resources & Links:
Want to connect with Yvonne? Find her on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/YvonneMcGeeRealtor

Learn more about how to partner with real estate pros through WeSERV: https://weserv.realtor

Are you a service-based biz ready to connect with a community of badass women? Join us inside the Badass Inner Circle!

💬 Kickass Affirmation from this Episode:
“Either we will be magnetic with each other, or we won’t. That’s the beauty of being authentic.”

🎧 Until next time, own the hell out of your dreams and keep kickin’ ass.

Learn more about ASCEND - Applications being accepted through June 25th!

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Tanya:

Welcome to Ladies Kickin' Ass, the no BS podcast for fierce, unstoppable women in the service industry. We're here to talk bold moves, big wins and real talk on what it takes to build the life and the business you love. Let's get fired up. Welcome back, badasses. Thank you for tuning back in to another episode of Ladies Kickin' Ass.

Tanya:

Today's going to be a fun one, because I have an amazing partner in crime with me again today. Her name is Yvonne McGee and she is a local real estate agent and just overall badass. So today we're going to have conversations about what it looks like to work in the area where she does, which is real estate, which is different than what we've had on the podcast before, but that's a home service as well. So we're going to talk shop about what it feels like to be a woman in real estate different things that we go up against with that. What it feels like to build a brand in real estate. What it feels like to be working. There's a lot of dudes in this industry still and a lot of like really power hungry ones. So I want to talk all the shit with her and I know she will. So, yvonne, go ahead and introduce what you do and what you, why you love to do what you do in real estate.

Yvonne:

Well, thank you, it has taken me a little bit to get here, I'm sorry.

Tanya:

Yeah, two years two years, but this is going to be the best podcast you got me.

Yvonne:

She finally just held me down and said do it now. Yep, so what I do? I sell the American dream. Oh, I like that. That's what I'm told. But yeah, I love to help people find the homes that they are dreaming of. My most favorite client is the first time home buyer. Seeing the smiles on their faces when they get to have that home, whether they are in their 40s, 50s, 20s, 30s it's just amazing. It makes me feel so good and full inside that they finally got to have that one big dream that we all want.

Tanya:

Yeah, that's a big one.

Yvonne:

It is big.

Tanya:

I've never bought a house yet Never. But you will, I will, and your phone's a big one. It is big. I've never bought a house yet never. But you will, I will, and your phone's gonna help you get there. I keep buying pump trucks instead of houses, so I just keep stacking up houses. I want to buy a house big enough we can just put the shop in the back and then you know you have all that together. That'd be awesome. Let's start now. Yeah, we gotta find some land. You gotta find some. We can do it, which is let's start now. Yeah, we've got to find some land.

Yvonne:

We've got to find some land, we can do it.

Tanya:

Which is super fun in the Phoenix market to try to find that doesn't cost $17 million.

Yvonne:

We have a lot of land.

Tanya:

Yeah.

Yvonne:

We do have a lot of land, but how far do you want to live?

Tanya:

Yeah, my kids will probably kill me if I'm like I want to live in Buckeye. We're not taking you to Buckeye.

Yvonne:

I love Buckeye, by the way, but I want you over here with me.

Tanya:

Yeah, east side, not so far away. Not so far away, correct? So when let's talk about how you got into real estate to even begin with, so you say you sell the American dream to people, I love that. What makes you want to serve in the real estate profession, because this is not an easy industry to be?

Yvonne:

in. It is not. I kind of came into that naturally by my past career. I was actually a CFO of a credit union for 30 years so it was just a natural thing to go into for a financial institution professional to move into that type of career where you're helping somebody financially move into something that they want and dream. So for me it just felt like a natural progression to go to real estate. But for me it is dominantly male, but so was the career I was in before as well. Sure, for me. I have to stop. Can't remember your question.

Tanya:

You're a tough girl from Wyoming. You can take working with a bunch of dudes, you know. You have obviously been around a bunch of them.

Yvonne:

Oh yeah, Absolutely In previous positions that you've had.

Tanya:

What was it that made you want to leave your CFO career to become real estate? Was it like time freedom? Was it just like to give yourself a new challenge? What is it that you wanted to accomplish by doing that?

Yvonne:

Time and freedom, time and freedom. I'm a grandparent now, so it gives me that freedom to go back and see my grandchildren, as well as my children back in Wyoming. Yeah, but I'll be honest with you. Um, I enjoyed my previous career and thankfully that I've had it and it brought me to where I am today. Um, but honestly, I think that being in the male dominant field, as it was, and as well as in real estate, it makes you a pretty tough woman. It does Makes you grow those calluses because you need to have them to deal with that. Yeah for sure.

Tanya:

So, with your background as a CFO, how do you feel like that helps you be a better real estate professional?

Yvonne:

you be a better real estate professional. I think just the confidence that you know what you know and you deliver what you do know. But you also know when you need to defer to the other experts of different questions that you can't answer.

Tanya:

Sure.

Yvonne:

And I think, being honest with those people your clients letting them know that you know I just don't know that answer, with those people your clients letting them know that you know I just don't know that answer and I will get it for you. I think is is probably the biggest thing that I took from my previous career into this one?

Tanya:

Sure, yeah. So you can't know it all? No, you can't. And anybody that says that they know all of it is full of shit in the first place, totally full of it. So I would love to ask you, because a lot of the women that listen to this podcast are obviously probably vendors of real estate professionals, meaning they provide services to real estate professionals In my area of septic real estate professionals is the gift that keeps on giving? Absolutely, they're nice to bring you excellent, you know repeat clients because you've got home after home after home that needs a septic inspection, right. Absolutely. So we love to work with great real estate agents that actually understand or willing to be educated on what it is that we do and like, help them be even better when they're selling a home that's on a septic system, so that they sound like they know what the hell they're talking about.

Yvonne:

Cause, most of them don't. I don't want to know what goes on in a septic system, so I would certainly love to have a partner to do that for me.

Tanya:

Like hey, I have a partner, her name's Tanya. She will talk you through this entire thing. She's going to take great care of you. They'll let you know, because my job as an inspector is to let the new buyer that you're out there, you know, trying to find the American dream for know what is going on with the shit tank outside, because it's underground and people think if the toilet flushes then the septic must be good and there's a lot of inspectors that will do those. Drive by, pick up an extra 400 bucks bullshit.

Tanya:

But we actually want to work with people that truly are interested in making sure that their clients aren't buying a you know ship bomb that's ready to go off because there's been one guy living there. The septic's working fine, but they're moving a family of six into this house and don't work so well no more because it's old. So if women that are listening to this podcast want to become favored vendors, if you will, of real estate professionals, what's the best way for someone to contact a real estate professional to get their attention, to offer their services?

Yvonne:

So for me, you know it's interesting you say that Even as realtors we're wanting those partners. Yeah right, so for us, for me personally, I like to go to networking events to find those people. But if they can't go to any of those or they're not sure that's the way for them, you can call the brokerage and say, hey, I'd like to come into your brokerage and see if I can do like a 30 minute spiel to all your, your realtors here, all your agents, and see, you know, tell them what my services are so that they can share all of that with us, and then, more than likely, someone will probably need it. Whatever it may be, you know, everybody does have those partners. You have your roofers, you have your home inspections inspectors, you have your plumbers and your electricians. But there are times that you need more than just one. Yeah, right, for sure.

Yvonne:

Obviously this is a big valley, yeah, and we all like to kind of try to stay in our little hub. But you can't all the time Like right now I'm dealing with a client that wants to be on the west side, right, and I'm not really primarily on the west side, but I'm going to go to the West side. But sometimes you need a real estate partner on the West side to maybe help you as well, or a roofer or a septic person possibly, or whomever. So again, networking events, and I try to do networking events all over the Valley. I was just down the West side about three weeks ago at a networking event and met all kinds of agents from that side, as well as a new home inspector, so I might be using them in Goodyear yeah, that's incredible.

Tanya:

I think that it's great to also, if you are a home service provider and this is something that you're looking for is making sure that when you go to these networking events, there's always real estate agents there, always, always. I don't think I've ever been to one that doesn't have one. But don't get so isolated from that. Make sure that you're talking to the roofers, the electricians and people like that, because those are huge referral sources for you to be able to get more business with stuff.

Yvonne:

And I can tell you everyone has a probably a real estate agent in their family. Yeah, but sometimes people don't want to use their family. So don't back away just because you know you may have that in your family as well as the services. Sometimes you want to have a roofer outside of family.

Tanya:

Yes, I highly recommend that actually. As an example From previous experience. Look to have some options. Look to have some options, Options are good. So I would love to talk to you about, like, how you are really differentiating yourself in this. There's like how many tens of thousands of real estate agents in Arizona A lot, A lot how are you approaching, bringing value and really building an authentic brand for yourself in such a crazy saturated market of like there's I don't know like 28,000 real estate agents or something like that?

Yvonne:

Yeah. So for me, I feel I'm just a little bit unique in the fact that I use my sphere, which is from a different state, and I pull on that sphere a lot. But from that sphere, I also have found out that they know a lot of people down here in the valley that have I have been able to build that rapport with people, yeah. However, the majority of my clients haven't come from there, so that's kind of crazy. Not yet, not yet, but we're building that and I'll be honest with you. My brand is just to be myself, yeah, honestly. Well, it should be, and I do feel that me being authentic. Either we will be magnetic with each other or we won't. And I think it's important to have that relationship with your real estate agent, your realtor, um, because you are making a big decision and if you don't have that faith in them, or whatever it may be, that rapport, um, then you probably don't want to work with them.

Tanya:

Right.

Yvonne:

So I just try to be who I am and hopefully it works out and for the most part it has and so my brand is just who I am me.

Tanya:

That's the most, that's the best one that you can possibly build.

Yvonne:

It is Cause it's the easiest. Yeah, it's who I am and it's crazy. I just had a gal the other day. I was on the phone with her for another reason, not real estate and she just told me how much she loved me because I assumed and you're going to love this, I assumed in our conversation that her boss was a female, without knowing. And she said I just love you, I don't even know you, but you are such a rock star because you think my boss is female. And I go oh, I didn't even notice that, I said that, but I did assume that. And she goes, even though he really is a male. But I just think it's awesome, cause you thought she was, he was female, cause you just went straight to the fact that you think my boss is female. Yeah, of course I do. We're all rock stars.

Tanya:

We're all the boss. That's awesome. That's awesome so well. I think you have an incredible ability to just build rapport with people quickly. I know when I first met you and we just started having obviously we're both from Wyoming which was like the starter conversation of everything, but there's just a relatability to people when you show up authentically as yourself. It's not exhausting. It's now the gift that we'll keep on giving, because people that feel authentically connected with each other will shout your name from the rooftops in a room you're not even in. That's awesome, which makes thank you. Is it super awesome? It's really gotcha that we have to celebrate with women because they don't do it a lot. I agree with that.

Tanya:

Yeah, I was just having a conversation with my friend Nicole that we were just talking about the same thing. Like you're not going to be everybody's cup of tea, no, and it's very interesting. I work with a lot of real estate agents a lot and we have a handful of them that we've really really connected with because we have had, and I know, a lot of home service providers that deal with this like they feel like they're so much better than the septic guy that shows up. We had a guy yesterday that did the same thing, wrote this nasty ass review, started cussing at my guy over the phone because he couldn't find the septic tank, which ended up being under the freaking house, but the records that we had said it was 10 foot off the foundation. It wasn't it wasn't.

Tanya:

So ended up finding all this stuff he calls, talks to the guy and the guy just like starts lighting him up, telling him how fucking stupid he is, and just like, on and on and on, and then proceeded to call my office and tell him that he was going to file a police report because justin had been yelling at him oh my, the funny is is that my lines are recorded, so we just kind of kiboshed there.

Yvonne:

You know, like his big. Thing was.

Tanya:

I'm on a recorded line. I'm like funny, are you? I had my service manager reach out. I'm like still livid about this.

Yvonne:

I can tell.

Tanya:

You're very passionate about it. Oh, that's like telling me one of my kids are. Ugly is when you start attacking one of my service technicians.

Yvonne:

And that's like telling me one of my kids are ugly is when you start attacking one of my service technicians, and that's awesome because you do feel that way.

Tanya:

Yeah, I do like I don't hire just anybody that can drive a truck or do something like to me. They're trained. You're going out to your mama's house and I wouldn't send some crazy ex-felon that's you know scary dude out there to somebody's house.

Tanya:

You know, like I just know you should not and when people leave nasty reviews accusing people of stuff, I'm like I responded to his review like instantly and I was like you know, you're really screwing with some young man's ability to provide a livelihood for his family by accusing him as well as yours that he didn't do because he had like listed his name through the whole entire review and I was like you cannot do this to people just because it didn't end up the way that you felt like it should correct.

Tanya:

In my business, like we're 4.9, like almost 500 reviews awesome it's always been like real estate professionals that are mad that we won't pass the septic system because they're just trying to sell the house. You know it's one of those things and so I know for a lot of I bring this up not because you're that person, you're the polar opposite of that but there becomes a big stigma with home service companies working with real estate agents. I hear a lot of times they're like I won't work with real estate agents because all they want is a free bid or they want something like that. What is something that home service professionals should look for in with real estate agents or people to network with or brokerages to network with? That would get them some good results of good people. Like is it you do research on the people that you want to work with? Is it just kind of case by case or do you have any inside secrets?

Yvonne:

for that. For me personally and you already pointed that out I probably am honest to a fault or loyal to a fault. Right, and upbringing, yeah, it is, and I'll be honest with you. I have actually probably upset some clients of mine because I have been honest about some things within a home as far as a negative blemish, but I want them to be in something that they should be in. Sure, right, I am not there. Sure, I'm making money. Yeah, we all want to make money. Sure, but I am there actually to make them happy and that is my driver and, like I said, first time home buyers have they have my heart, like I love opening that door up for them the first time. And it's just, it's a site you can't even describe. Yeah, because they're so excited they they're owning something of their own for the first time. Yeah, but back to your question, you know I think it's for me it's just that connection, like you said, the authenticity with those people.

Yvonne:

I have a home inspector I have had from day one coming into the business and it's just because I trust him and he has had some things in the report, I'm like, oh boy, I'm not sure this house is going to go and some haven't and some have. But I also want that honesty. But that's me, um, even though I may not get that sell. Yeah, I don't want to go lay down at night thinking, man, they just got in that home and that pool or the roof's gonna collapse and I just made what I made off of them. I don't want to be that person. I'm not that person. I'm not. So I would rather them not get that home and sleep well at night.

Tanya:

And you'll attract those kinds of people that appreciate that.

Yvonne:

So for me, it's being again authentic and just networking with the people that want to be with me, and I think that for your home service people, I think it is um go in and see who you trust. Yeah, I think it's a business. You have to trust people and there aren't all those people on both sides that you can trust yeah, for sure.

Tanya:

I think you got to get in front of people, just like you suggested too, calling the brokerage where you do all the broad of that, like go in.

Yvonne:

I'm like how much time do you have? I have presentations of five minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes.

Tanya:

You suggested to calling the brokerage, where you do all the broad of that. Like go in, I'm like how much time do you have? I have presentations of five minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes. You want an hour of septic education? We can give you whatever you want, but just getting in front of them I think you attract the people that are like, oh, they know their shit, you know like I want to work with them. They seem like trustworthy people. You've got to go in and build some rapport with people in there.

Yvonne:

You do.

Tanya:

Because I think, on a whole you guys, it's like being the devil's advocate from real estate professionals. You've probably been burned by a bunch of shitty providers too.

Yvonne:

Absolutely Both ways right yeah.

Yvonne:

As you have from real estate agents. Yeah, another one I was thinking of, tanya, when you were talking was. It was just at WeServe, which is our association for realtors here in the West and East Valley, and we have. They just had their spring conference where they had classes all day long for two days and they had vendors there. We got to get into that, yes, you do, and so they presented themselves prior to each class as well as they had a booth all day Nice, so they were able to talk to every agent if they chose. And if the agents came, you know they gave away whatever they give away. Sure, they could do with some of those, but WeServe had one just now in the spring. They may have a fall one, but they have Zoom classes. They'll have the vendors right before the Zoom classes. We've had movers in there, builders or not builders, but roofers, you know all the different things Pool people, turf poop, scoopers that pick up dog poop. It's crazy.

Tanya:

That's a service, it's a big service. I see there's a couple of them in Gilbert that I see driving around sometimes and I'm like what is?

Yvonne:

that Well, think of the elderly people.

Tanya:

They don't want to get out and pick up their dog. No, in Mesa, oh my gosh. Yeah, I don't think anybody wants to.

Yvonne:

If I have boys, I'd hire that service in a heartbeat. Yeah, so that's a way. Yeah, that's definitely a way it's, you know, finding out.

Tanya:

Like I don't sit down with you and have just conversations what do you have coming up? What are some places, where are some places that we could go? You know, you can actually leverage and figure out with each other like, how can I help support your business? What do you have going on that can help support my business? One of the things that we always do when we work with real estate professionals too and we have good experiences with them is that we go on as a business and we leave a review for them. We ask them where's a great place that we can leave a review for you? Because I think it's really cool to be able, from a service providers perspective, be like these are great people that we work with.

Tanya:

We have a longtime real estate professional. Her name's Dereese Tiffany and she's the nicest lady ever. I used to be part of Coldwell Bankers like vendor concierge program, yes, so we would go to events when they would have their continuing education stuff Same thing that you were just talking about with WeServe and she's just the nicest, nicest lady and she's just. Every time she's got one, she just calls up and gives us the address and, you know, just lets us handle stuff because she knows we're going to take care of her. And she sells like those big like equestrian places like in scottsdale and cave creek luxury homes, so yeah, like super expensive ones which usually have shitty septic systems.

Tanya:

But she never skips a beat. She knows it's coming. You know, sometimes you're out there hunting and pecking from like stall the barn to something. They just threw shit in the ground like they have no idea what's going on, but she's one for sure that we've been like, hey, can you suggest us to some other real estate agents that we can talk to? And she's hooked us up with her partner and some other people that are in her office. But every time we do a service for her, somebody leaves her a review because it's just so nice to let other vendors know like this is a great agent to work with so that they can continue to build a great portfolio of service vendors to use.

Yvonne:

I'll be honest, I've been pretty lucky. That's awesome. You know I've been in the Valley since 2019 and an agent since 2020. And I've been pretty lucky with the agents I've worked with.

Tanya:

I'll be honest with you. Well, you attract people like you. You realize that right.

Yvonne:

Well, but my clients are picking the homes right. Sure, Not the agents, but I actually have been pretty lucky. That's awesome. I really have.

Tanya:

I mean, I've come across a couple of tough ones, but I got through it and I don't want to paint the picture.

Tanya:

That's why I said devil's advocate the other way, because obviously it's. It can be negative things on both sides and I don't want to talk about that, because the positive side of that is that you can get in front of a room of people and just like wow them with what you know, and especially if you're in a specialty trade that people don't know a lot about, absolutely Like yours, like septic, like, for sure People always will be like, um, um, I have this question or I have this question, you know, um, we can, we can definitely help them out with that stuff. Like I mean, even like turf people like you were talking about, like people don't know how that turf is laid down. I know that I struggle with that because we'll go out and we're like septic tanks under the turf. They're like we'll just pull it back and then put it back. I'm like, no, have you seen the stakes in this shit? Like you need a special tool to put this back down and the different types of turf are out there.

Yvonne:

Yeah, did you know that? No, oh, yeah, well, I know that the different things look different which, of course, I've had to learn about. It's like the things you have to learn about to be a realtor. We could have another podcast.

Tanya:

It's not just about selling the house.

Yvonne:

It's actually about, like, learning about septic systems, learning about roofing different types of windows and doors and you're like, oh my gosh, yeah.

Tanya:

I'm sure every transaction you're learning something new from that that is one thing that is a lesson I've learned.

Yvonne:

It's almost like raising children. How? So? Well, every client's not the same. True, your children aren't the same, but you want to raise them the same, right? Yeah, the fundamentals of raising a child is the same for both, or all, but you have to do some things different because they're individuals, sure, and you try to do that with clients too, right? Fundamentally, you have to do the same things with them, but then you have to do a lot of things different because they're all not the same. Sure and boy, every transaction is different and every transaction is a challenge. Yeah, in a way, different, different, different way.

Yvonne:

Sure, this last one, I had to do a mold inspection. Never, ever, have done a mold inspection, but those seem to be on the rise. Why, I don't know. All of a sudden they're on the rise Because I've talked to several other agents when I was trying to get one and they're like rise. Because I've talked to several other agents when I was trying to get one and they're like oh yeah, I just did one too, for the first time. I'm like what, how did that happen? Weird. But mold inspections, I don't know, all of a sudden they're on a rise, that's. I learned a lot about mold, lots of things I've never kind is bad, well, we knew that.

Yvonne:

That's how much I know about mold and the different kinds of levels, and wow, that's interesting.

Tanya:

What are some other like just weird things that have happened during real estate transactions or funny things that have happened Funny things, I'm sure there's like memorable shit that you're like I will never forget this the things we see in a house, oh, sure, yeah, like one time we sucked a dead bird out of a septic tank.

Tanya:

Like how the hell did that get in there? Like somebody, literally somebody had to have like flushed it in there. Like we just kept thinking we're like, did it fall through like the pipe, jack on the house because? And get pushed all the way through to a septic tank? I don't know. Very random, weird stuff. I don't know what's. What's some weird stories or something.

Yvonne:

I'll tell you this last one that really I wanted to laugh.

Yvonne:

I was with a young family and they had two 13 year old twin girls Obviously they're two good twins and a five-year-old boy, and we were going through the home and we were in the bathroom the primary bathroom and above the tub which was one of those new tubs that they're kind of free form tub, not attached, that everyone's putting in, and pictures of the homeowner above the bathtub was pretty much nude photos of the owner and I was like hiding them, holding my hands up like don't look. They didn't think about that before they gave tours and that, oh. I even went back to the listing. They're in the listing nobody caught this.

Tanya:

It's art Yvonne.

Yvonne:

It's art I know, but when you have clients it feels awkward, Very, that's funny. It made me laugh. But then I got conscious about it because I had them, kids and the father. I mean it was a family. Like yes, I'm a woman and I wonder if I was showing a man, only a man, and me this home.

Tanya:

Yeah, awkward, awkward, super awkward, but funny You're like. So the owner decided to leave their art.

Yvonne:

I have to tell you I did go home and tell my husband, like okay, here's a first, here's another one.

Tanya:

There's always. I'm sure he thought that was plenty funny. He's like what?

Yvonne:

I think it was odd that is odd.

Tanya:

It's very odd. The funny thing is is that somebody went and took photos and no one was like hey, you know, maybe you know it's like when people go take photos of houses and it's like a literal shit show in there. Still, like you couldn't clean the counters off before you took pictures in the kitchen. Like it's hard for people to imagine living in a house that's like, or like some of those older homes that, like grandma has like every square inch of the wall has a plate or something decorative on it you're like what the hell does the wall even?

Yvonne:

look like, we don't know, in the heyday of 2020, 2021. Yeah, oh, my People didn't even bother. They were just, they just snapped pictures Snapped pictures. We're walking in literally on top of clothes and oh yeah.

Tanya:

Oh yes. It was crazy time Speaking of that what does the real estate market look like now? We've had crazy interest rates. Then everybody was like, ooh, who's the president going to be? Is he going to save us and we're all going to be able to own a house again? Like what is the climate? What's the banter right now in the health of the real estate market?

Yvonne:

I think we're all holding our breath. To be honest with you, A lot of talk about the tariffs, right, Like that's a big talk right now and I I really don't want to get into a whole lot of that stuff, but, um, you know, that can affect us with the lumber right Coming from Canada and such for home builders. But I I don't want to say that Phoenix is protected, but protected we have a lot going on here right.

Yvonne:

At the chip company coming in, all those other things, Buckeyes growing like a crazy, crazy, crazy. It's like the fourth or sixth fastest growing city in the nation. Wow.

Tanya:

Wasn't that, gilbert like not too long ago.

Yvonne:

It was Gilbert. They're running out of room, and then it was Queen Creek.

Tanya:

Yeah, I saw that there was like a study thing that said that I was reading. It was like on Apple News or something that was talking about the most expensive cities, like really like what's the most expensive or most for homeowners, highest median income or something like that that you need to live in, like be considered middle class right. Okay, it was like over two hundred thousand dollars in gilbert arizona, like it was higher than it is in scottsdale.

Tanya:

no, I was like I believe it that's so crazy, because I think everybody thinks Gilbert is like little farm town stuff. Still in Scottsdale is like Ooh the flesh.

Yvonne:

I think it used to be, yeah, but I don't think it is any. Well, I know it isn't any longer. But again, just kind of back to that. There's a lot going on here. I just don't think that the growth is going to slow down. It might, but there's too much growth happening that people are moving here. Sure, if you've been up and down the Ironwood at all, you've got Radiance going up. That's a big master plan community. I mean they have what five, six entrances that they already have? They're big, it's crazy. Monuments up and I mean I think that's going to be six to 10 years before it's fully up. And then you've got Blossom Rock, across the street, across the road there, and there's just so much happening out there.

Tanya:

And then everywhere they're bringing tons of big manufacturing places out there and I don't see that it's going to slow down.

Yvonne:

I do know that a lot of those builders are giving a lot of incentives. They're getting a lot of incentives and a lot of buy downs on some of those rates, and so are some sellers. Now we're seeing those in the listings. Yeah Well, they're teaming up with, you know their lender, yeah and um, help trying to help those buyers with some buy downs on interest rates.

Tanya:

I've heard that like two to three year buy downs. Yeah, one of my technicians was talking about some of those off of ironwood and like the percentage rates they were getting with stuff, which is very interesting. So if there's a new home buyer that's like I want to buy a house, I'm asking this selfishly I want to buy a house. What is? What would you tell them to do as they're preparing to do that? Say they've got six months to buy a house.

Yvonne:

What should they be doing to prepare to purchase that house? First time home buyers. First time home buyers. So I'm going to stay in my lane. Okay, like I said, I like to stay in my lane and have the experts speak, so I'm not going to speak too much.

Yvonne:

When it comes to a mortgage loan, right, but from a first-time home buyer, from a realtor, I would say you do need to make sure you've got a good down payment, but we also have programs out there. Again, you'll have to speak to a lender on those programs, yeah, but what do you need to get prepared? And that's probably one of the main things. Right, it's money, money, money. And figure out where you want to be yeah, and then determine what size you want to be. Yeah, and then determine what size you want and how much you're going to be willing to pay. Sure, but I don't see rates going up. I really don't. That's my opinion, just from my experience. Sure, I also don't see a crash coming, because the crash was completely different than what we're doing right now. Right, it really is. These buy downs scare me a little bit, just because of my experience in my past. Yeah, but because I don't want to put people in homes that they shouldn't be in. That's what happened.

Tanya:

Yeah, yes, that's exactly what happened, yeah.

Yvonne:

So let's not do that again. So let's not do that. But for someone like you, tanya, I think it's important that, um, yeah, you've got to build that equity up in your own home as far as money to put down. So that's what they're going to look for. Yeah, that's what they're going to look for.

Tanya:

Very important. So thank you so much. This has been such a great conversation. This has been fun. I love, love it. I want to ask you, though, what do you find in value in having a circle of women doing business, like you are in your life? What is it about? Like we have a great friendship, like I'm sure you have other friendships with other women that are building businesses and doing things like that. Why is it important for you to have those relationships?

Yvonne:

in your life. Well, it's very important because I think women, we love community and we can have that community when other women are doing the same things we're doing. And if we don't have that community, then we do feel like an outsider right, because, no matter what we're always going to be in a man's world, it feels like right. So I think it's important because then we can relate to each other, we can help each other. We're always each other's fans and I think we need to be each other's fans, to be supportive, and I love watching other women be successful and just rock it and kick ass. Yes, Like you.

Yvonne:

I've watched you grow from the time we got here and I'm just like wow, this girl's kicking some ass and I love where you've taken your business.

Tanya:

Thank you, I appreciate that so awesome for you. Sometimes I feel like I'm fucking crazy, but you know you're not you're doing what you're supposed to do.

Tanya:

You know what I feel like if you don't think that you're a little bit crazy, then you might not be pushing yourself enough. So I think that that's really awesome and thank you for that. That means a lot to me. I really truly believe and just know, with the friendship that we have with stuff. We go to concerts together, we can drink a beer together, we can do whatever you know and just sit around and shoot the shit and have that kind of relationship with each other. But we can sit here and talk shop about things too, and it's really, really important that I have the women in my life that I can do life and business with. So thank you for that.

Yvonne:

I really do appreciate that Everything else.

Tanya:

Yeah, and talk kids, and you know all that good stuff.

Yvonne:

She's not there yet.

Tanya:

Oh well, in final and in closing, I always ask everybody that's on the podcast this question, because it's very, very important to me and it's the relatability of this podcast. Everybody might not be a real estate agent, everybody might not be a coach or a plumber or a septic person, but the theme of this podcast seems to be encompassing of all service businesses. So when you hear the phrase ladies, kick an ass, what does that mean to you in your life?

Yvonne:

is so when you hear the phrase ladies kicking ass, what does that mean to you in your life?

Tanya:

That means we are strong, successful and fun loving women. So good, so good. Thank you so much for being here and until next time, keep kicking ass. That's a wrap. Ladies. Now go out there, own the hell out of your dreams and keep kicking ass. Want to keep this fire going? Connect with us on social. All the links are in the show notes and if you're ready for a sisterhood that levels up life and business, be sure to check out Badass Inner Circle. Stay bold, stay fierce and be unapologetically you. I'll catch you on the next episode. Let's do this.

People on this episode

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Tanya Wilson

Host
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Yvonne McGee

Guest