The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Pursuit of Home: A Real Estate Guide to Achieving the American Dream by Scott Harris

Starting point is 00:00:00 You wanted the best... You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready, get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Because you're about to go on a moment. monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hey, folks, is Voss here from thechrisvoss Show.com. The latest know, and the shrill lady sings those notes that bring you the ear, brain, the lead that we talk about at the beginning of the show. That's when you know the show started. Go to Goodrease.com, Fortress, Chris Foss,

Starting point is 00:00:51 for your family show, friends and relatives of the show, Facebook.com, Fortress, Chris Foss, YouTube.com, Fortress, Chris Foss. Chris Foss, won the TikToky, and Jesus, Jesus, we're everywhere. I mean, it's the Chris Vos show. What do you want from us after 16 years? Today, we had an amazing young man on the show. We're going to be talking about his hot new book. It's just coming off the presses, and you can enjoy it as well. Today, we're going to be talking with Scott Harris. He wrote the book called Pursuit of Home, a real estate guide to achieving the American Dream coming out October 14th, 2025. So now you can pick up the book,

Starting point is 00:01:25 wherever fine books are sold. It's also a USA Today bestseller. That's the reason to buy the book alone right there. So we're getting into it with him. We're going to find out more about him and how you can pursue your own home. If you already have one, you can get a second one. I think that's the deal. I think it's how it works. Scott Harris is a successful real estate agent working in residential

Starting point is 00:01:45 and an entrepreneur who is marketed and sold nearly $2 billion worth of New York City properties. Is it like one building? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just doing jokes here. $2 million of New York properties in career spanning more than two decades. He has been recognized as a top 25 agent in New York City and among the top 200 in the nation by sales volume. By the Wall Street Journal, Real Trends Verified Top 1,000 lists. He's really among the 0.02% of realtors nationwide with a client roster that includes the leading lights of every industry.

Starting point is 00:02:21 He's got good friends. And now he's a nationally best-selling author. Welcome to the show. How are you, Scott? I'm great, Chris. Thanks for having me, man. $2 billion. dollars of New York City. I was kind of doing a joke there about how expensive New York

Starting point is 00:02:33 real estate is. Yeah. No, it's definitely expensive. You can sell one building these days can't cover that. That might just be an apartment now, one of those six by six six sixers there in New York City. So Scott, give us a give us your dot coms. Where can people find you on the interwebs? People can find information about the book at pursue your home.com. They can also learn everything they want about New York City real estate by finding me at my firms. website, which is MagneticR-E.com. And in terms of socials, they want to follow me on LinkedIn. I talk all about New York City real estate.

Starting point is 00:03:09 They can follow me at Harris Residential. They can find me on Instagram running and posting videos and me running and talking all about New York City real estate as well. It's Scotty Harris, S-C-O-T-I-E-Harris. That's fun. I have a lot of fun there. And it goes on and on. So give us a overview of what's inside your book.

Starting point is 00:03:30 all right chris after 20 years and as you mentioned two billion dollars of sales and probably four billion or six billion of deals that i lost i had a lot of wisdom that i wanted to share about new york city real estate wasn't exactly sure how to do it and then i had this epiphany about really what the home buying experience is all these stories that i've collected over two decades and what I would say, for anybody who's in real estate, anyone who's bought a home, they realize that it's not just a transaction. It's an emotional journey. It's really a transition that people go through.

Starting point is 00:04:10 And I wanted to bring that to light because right now, over 50% of people who buy homes have reported a lot of buyer's remorse. Something is broken with the system. It's because reality TV doesn't reflect what's going on when you go to buy home. Social media isn't reflecting. what's going on when you buy home. What's actually happening is this emotional journey. There's this emotional world that is underneath the transaction.

Starting point is 00:04:36 And I wrote a book to guide people through the emotional journey, all the different points that people are actually going to go through and how to do it and have a better outcome, find that dream home they're looking for, have more fun in the process, and really use that home to be a launch pad for the life that they want to create. So do you find that people are maybe making the reason they're, they're dissatisfied maybe with their choices is maybe they're pulling the trigger maybe too soon or they don't understand why they're making these emotional decisions and then when they if they get a home they don't there's buyers remorse maybe is that is that kind of the play through people can

Starting point is 00:05:16 have buyers remorse for a number of reasons you know of course the top line could be that they just overpaid just paid just paid too much and they feel like they didn't get the value they expected And they certainly, that's a tough pill to swallow or maybe the market dropped a little bit after they bought, you know, some very practical reasons. But I think also you touched on it. There's a lack of communication that happens not only between buyers and a real estate agent, which causes tons of friction and ultimately may lead to a worse outcome. But what about the communication within a relationship? Over 70% of people are buying with a partner. and if they're not on the same page,

Starting point is 00:05:56 one of them can be very unhappy with the outcome. I mean, there are so many different reasons why people end up not being happy with their home. I want to solve as many of those as I can with the boat. I don't know. I was a real stage of for a while. It seemed like the way to always be happy with the home is just make sure the wife is happy.

Starting point is 00:06:13 She likes the kitchen, the bathrooms, and if she's happy, everything's going to be fine. Is that not how it works out? You know, I interviewed an NFL player. who told me that he got divorced, and the reason he got divorced was because he actually didn't want to live in a townhouse. He wanted to live in a standalone home, and it caused so much unhappiness that he felt like it just built up this resentment and ultimately led to a divorce. I hear you, happy wife, happy life. I love my wife, and she's incredible. But when it comes

Starting point is 00:06:48 to buying a home, the communication has to be a little more two-way. Yeah. I mean, I can see from an investment point of view that might make sense to get like a single family home and i suppose it depends on where you're at i mean clearly in new york you're probably going to have townhomes and townhouses and you know the the walkups i think they call them because that's kind of how that old real estate is that they're it's a little hard to get a single family resident standalone in new york city isn't it i mean in the they're very few freestanding homes there's one very close to where i live all of the gilded age mansions They used to be built.

Starting point is 00:07:24 Most of them are torn down. Really? Or they become museums along Fifth Avenue. There's one near my home that's, it's this stunning white marble building that was built by a cotton merchant in the late 80s and it's one of the few houses that stood the test of time. I walked through before they did probably a $15 million renovation. The real estate here is extraordinary. I feel very blessed that I get to get to work here. It's a great place.

Starting point is 00:07:53 So you walk people, you help people with the emotional journey in the book. What are some of the other aspects of the book do you help people through? The way I would describe it, Chris, is that people begin this journey with a lot of misconceptions about how it works. And they want to dive right in. The first part, I mean, for anybody out there who's made a New Year's resolution and not kept it, real estate really is that people start very excited they're talking to their spouse let's do it they see everything on zillow and then they lose their motivation i mean from the very start it's it's one of these things you need something you don't need a real estate agent all the time what you actually need is

Starting point is 00:08:45 a coach a cheerleader maybe a marriage counselor there's a lot of things that you need so it's not The emotional journey is it's really that whole, that whole process from start to finish. And it has this like little thin layer of transaction. But what you find is that you need to wear that transaction hat as a real estate agent about 5% of the time. And of course, your real estate agent needs to be really, really knowledgeable about the market that you're in. But the most important thing to start is that you get to know yourself and your own

Starting point is 00:09:21 communication style. A lot of people don't stop to think, wait a minute, the way I do the rest of my life is the way I'm going to do my search. And so get to know yourself. Then how do you choose a real estate agent that speaks your language? And not only that, but speaks the language of your spouse because often the two of you have very different communication styles. And then I lay out in the book what I call the magnetic method, which has four pillars that's really about each step of the process, making sure that you build a vision, then you really work towards aligning everyone to that vision, and then you just keep amplifying that vision. Ultimately, you're attracting the home that you want. It's a very different way of approaching this, that it starts with vision.

Starting point is 00:10:05 It starts with that inspiring vision rather than how many bedrooms do you want, how many, you know, what's your budget? You know, all of that stuff is really like the, it's like the death of your search. You need to be inspired. You need to paint that big inspiring vision and then have someone guide you through. You're the hero of your story, Chris. You're the hero. And the guides, the Obi-1 Kenobis of your journey are your real estate agents. My girlfriend keeps telling me I'm the villain. The Darth Vader. You may be the Darth Vader. Explains my first nine marriages or divorces. But no, I love that. You're the hero of your story. One of the things you're talking about the book is your buyer personality, including your pre-existing real estate baggage.

Starting point is 00:10:52 It sounds like a relationship issue, going into relationships with your relationship baggage. What is that about? Tell us about what is your real estate baggage and you need to clean up and what is your buyer personality? It's easier to explain in a story. I had a couple who were looking to buy an apartment. Actually, they were looking to buy a townhouse. So you were just talking about how people buy, you know, full buildings in New York.

Starting point is 00:11:15 And they were in their early. 40s and had just gotten married, wanted to have a child. If you can imagine your early 40s, you're in a little bit of a rush to have that kid because, you know, the clock is ticking. And they were so excited. And then we found, we looked at 20 houses and they found something like, they bit on it. And then as soon as they had the accepted offer, that's when the real estate baggage. That's when that emotional baggage kicked in.

Starting point is 00:11:42 He was incredibly missed. he was incredibly like a negotiator he had to you know just every single penny and she was she was very mistrustful so between the two of them she thought that everybody was out to get her she was she was a trust fund kid okay he was just worried about negotiating the best deal well let me just cut to the chase they ended up negotiating themselves out of a deal the deal died and somebody else bought it for a million dollars more wow they would have paid and so what happens is it's like a rabbi rabbit, you know, that mechanical rabbit that the Greyhound chases at the track. It's when the Greyhound catches the rabbit, they don't even know what to do.

Starting point is 00:12:25 It's like short circuits your brain. And then all those emotions, if you have money issues, if you have trust issues, they all come out to play, Chris. Okay? So that's the real estate baggage that you're carrying around with you. And so what I try to do is point out all the different kinds of things that can come out and try to sabotage. I call them your real estate guests. You know, they're coming, they're showing up to your house, and they're, they're really causing mayhem.

Starting point is 00:12:52 And it's actually like a self-sabotage, you know, and it happens all the time. You know, real estate agents are shaking their heads. Yes, it happens all the time. And so how do we go about making sure that you don't sabotage your own deals? Yeah. I say, I've always seen that a lot in the purchasing business of just sales and working with buyers. And there are certain people that they, they know how to sabotage the F out of themselves. And they think they're being savvy, but it's almost like they're, they're the people who you'll hear later got the biggest screw jobs put on them.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Because they have such a high bar for what they think is bullshit and lies when people are just trying to help them that they raise their bar so high. The only people who can get over it are the real grifter scammer. silver tongue dudes. I see the same thing in dating too, ironically. But, you know, we, with our mortgage company, we would have people, you know, have bad credit. We'd offer them, we'd offer them, like, really good credit. Or we'd offer them, you know, a little bit higher interest rate because the credit was bad. They didn't pay their bills on time. But we'd find a lender and we're like, hey, you know, these guys are pretty solid. They always pay their mortgage on time, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, we'd sell it. You're probably familiar with how that works. And we get somebody to give them a low rate.

Starting point is 00:14:11 And instead of getting, just, for example, from the 90s, 77%, we give them like 10 or 11. And they would be like, you're screwing me and I know when I'm being taken. And, you know, that's sort of attitude that's kind of like your guy there. And then they would, you know, I'm leaving someplace else. Okay, well, fine. You don't be happy. And then later they would come to you and they'd be like, yeah, I got a really good deal from somebody. And you're like, what did you get?

Starting point is 00:14:36 I got 18%. And I paid $20,000 in closing costs. And I'm just like, you're an idiot. You think you're really smart. And it's kind of interesting. It's always those same people. But those guys just ripped themselves off because it sounds like they got a deal for that home that was worth a million more. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:57 I mean, what I was saying, you're not going to notice by your face. Sorry to interrupt you. It's crazy. You really hit the nail on the head that some people don't start. They start with mistrust and you have to gain their trust. And I really do encourage people, you have to start with trust. If you believe that people are going to show up with their best selves, you'd be amazed at how many people do.

Starting point is 00:15:20 I mean, until we stay in New York for over two decades, and I can count on two fingers the amount of times I've had to pursue someone for going behind my back or doing something shady because I just start with trust. I'm like, going to expect people to behave themselves. And when I have clients, like you said, that are not trustful, it really, really it challenges you to still bring your best self because you know that somebody's expecting you to do something. When people expect you to bring their worst, guess what happens? Just like you said, I think it really does bring out the worst in you too. Yeah. I mean, it really does. In your book,

Starting point is 00:15:56 you talk about, so do people, do people need to sit, buy your book and sit down and read it so they understand how to get rid of real estate baggage? They need to see a therapist at all, or maybe maybe you guys need to have some real realtor therapist maybe real real estate i'm just real estate therapy i'm just yeah you need a couch where people sit and they have to talk to you for a couple hours before you take them out to see houses i mean that's for sure right again i think it's when you sit down with someone when i sit down with someone the question that i want to ask is what does home mean to you what i found is i haven't found another question that cuts through the noise more you know the most the most jaded person you know somebody who's

Starting point is 00:16:42 focused only on the dollars and cents all of a sudden it like short-circuits their brain they have to go wait a second you know what is home it's not about a great deal you know it comes about what does this actually mean to me yeah and you find that you can i i really do think that good agents have to be provocative enough to cut through and get to the truth of the matter, it's often like a neck down answer than a neck up answer. I really, you know, one of the things I recommend to people, and this doesn't, you can't necessarily do it just like this in every market, but I encourage people to make more offers than they think they need to make because the only true way to know whether you like something

Starting point is 00:17:24 or not is to really put yourself to the test. And the only way to really do that is either have a thought exercise where you're like, okay, if you won this property, how are you going to feel? Or if you lost this property, how are you going to feel? That's a question that a lot of real estate agents ask. But if you make an actual offer and the seller accepts it and you feel nothing, there's your answer. Oh, if you're just starting it like a money deal, you know, you're right.

Starting point is 00:17:51 You're going to live in this. You're going to raise your children. Your children are going to play in it. It's going to be a home of memories where, you know, this is going to be something the kids will remember where they're growing. growing up and, you know, mom and dad, and, you know, and you have to be comfortable when you're home. I mean, if you're not comfortable in your home, I mean, how are you going to walk around

Starting point is 00:18:08 your underwear all day? No, I'm just kidding. So, but, yeah, these are aspects to talk about, you know, no one talks about this, at least from I've ever seen in the real estate business. No one talks about these emotional and empirical sort of trying to find what really fits. One of the things you talk about is finding an agent who best suits your communication style. Why is that important?

Starting point is 00:18:30 We've all had that feeling when you feel like you're being sold. And part of that feeling is that the agent isn't really listening to you. They're trying to tell you how much they know. They're trying to sell you a house. Let's just get you a house. But sometimes when you feel that way, it's because they're speaking in a certain style that doesn't suit you. And what I go in to in the book, and you can actually, you don't have to buy the book to, you can do some free resources from the website. But you take a little assessment, takes five minutes max, and you get to know your own communication style.

Starting point is 00:19:13 Are you more, most people are very data driven, like 40% of people are really focused on getting the data, making sure that they don't make a mistake. You know, and that person, it's so common, they take a longer time to buy a home. If you're a real estate agent and you're like, oh, it's a great house, it's a great deal. you're not speaking with enough detail, that buyer is going to get turned off because he or she needs more numbers, more data. And if you're like a CEO type, that's just give it to me in, you know, in bullet points, you know, to make sure I know that you're, you know what you're talking about and then give it to me in bullet points.

Starting point is 00:19:50 And is it a good value? Does my spouse like it? That kind of thing. And you start giving them two pages of data. You're not listening to them either. The agent that works best for you is going to give you the information and support you in a way that you feel seen and heard and understood. And it's the most important thing, Chris, there are agents that have been doing this for five minutes and who care and you have a team behind them that really knows things and they're good listeners. And there are people doing this for 25 years who are bad listeners who are just, you know, they're just get the dream done.

Starting point is 00:20:29 And I think ultimately, if you slow down and become a better listener and you really exhibit more emotional intelligence, that is how you as a real estate agent are going to be more successful. You're going to help people find more homes because it actually, by slowing down, you're actually hearing what people are saying and not saying, and it accelerates your ability. It's the intuition to think of homes that, oh, I think this would work for you. I mean, can I tell a little story about this? Please, too. I had a client who wanted to buy a condo in Columbus Circle, which is right on the southwest corner of Central Park. By the way, if anybody freaks out about these, the numbers I throw around,

Starting point is 00:21:13 you can just take away a zero. But he wanted to spend like a million and a half dollars for a one-bedroom apartment. Yeah. And we went and looked around. And I, believe it or not, it wasn't like the greatest budget for this, what he was looking for. and we saw about five places and, you know, let's take a pit stop for coffee. We sat down and it was clear he hated everything.

Starting point is 00:21:33 I was like, okay, what are you actually looking for? I want to be like in a place where there's an, I get a feeling of the bustle in the city and I can go do the things I want to do. I'm like, so it's not really that you want to be in this area. And are you going to use it for investment? No. So the condo is not as important. In New York, we have this thing called co-ops that are like kind of like little country clubs

Starting point is 00:21:53 in buildings. I have an idea. All of a sudden, this idea came to me for this apartment that I knew about on the other side of the park that was even bigger and it was like 40% less expensive than what he wanted to spend. And sure enough, it was perfect. It was exactly what he wanted. And I think that happened because I was willing to just listen to what he had to say. Tell me more. Tell me more.

Starting point is 00:22:18 What are you about? People are so busy looking at a checklist, Chris, that they forget that there's a person in front of them. Yeah. That's the mistake I think a lot of agents make. And, you know, that's the long way around to saying that a good agent really, really, really puts the person first and is just actually listening and not just waiting to respond. Yeah. Yeah. With what they think the person should have.

Starting point is 00:22:46 You know, I totally agree with you. In sales, I learned a long time ago to train people when they first call the clients or the prospects, ask them. What are you trying to accomplish and shut the fuck up and listen? And it's so amazing because when you ask people, what are you trying to accomplish? You know, because we, most of our sales at the time, we had multiple companies, but our biggest one was a mortgage. And, you know, you're dealing with kind of the same thing you've talked about in real estate where people kind of look at how many bedroom, you know, they look at the, what would you

Starting point is 00:23:18 call it? They look at the structural sort of nature of it instead of the emotional structure of it. So, you know, they're like, I want a 15-year mortgage and I want a good rate and has my credit, y'all, but really, you know, asking people, what are you trying to accomplish? Oh, I need a mortgage because I've got to pay off $30,000 with a credit card dad, sending my kid to college, I'm trying to get my rate lowered, and so I can save more money every month. And, you know, and listening for those things, you understand what their motivation is. And then, you know, you can suggest, you know, oh, you're trying to pay for mortgage quicker.

Starting point is 00:23:50 You know, people would be like, hey, I want to pay, I want a 15 years. so I can pay off my mortgage quicker. And that's not going to work with your debt to income. Here's what you can do. You can do a 20-year mortgage or you can do a 30-year mortgage. And if you just make an extra payment or an extra $100 or $200 in top of that, you will turn it into, I think it's a 15-year mortgage you'll turn it into, depend upon how much you put on it.

Starting point is 00:24:10 But you know, you can listen and help people. And that's really important. And so maybe I guess the lesson from your book is for buyers, try and find that type of agent, right? The biggest thing I would recommend, Chris, is for people to spend just a little bit of time preparing for what this is. This is a huge – people spend – first people – 70 percent of – 71 percent of people hire the first real estate agent they meet. Do they really? Something is very wrong with that.

Starting point is 00:24:43 I'll tell you, you know, for many, many reasons. But one of them is that fully one in every six real estate agents out there, has only been in this business for less than two years. You're hiring the first person who may not know what they're doing, and is there any surprise if the outcome is bad. So what I suggest is take a little bit more time planning this out, who you're going to interview a couple of agents, get some recommendations, get to know your own communication style.

Starting point is 00:25:12 I promise you that you're going to have a better outcome. Don't be that person who spends more time planning their weekend vacation than they do hiring the person that's going to make the most important decision, help you make the most important decision of your life. That makes sense? They'll spend more time trying to figure out what to watch on Netflix. That is an even more heavy, you know, kind of ridiculous and also appropriate thing to say. Yeah, I mean, they're like, didn't you prepare for the house buying?

Starting point is 00:25:39 I was busy watching The Bachelor and the Kardashians. So don't do that, folks. Anyway, what are, we've kind of plumbed some of the advice. what do you see maybe give us a forecast if you would I don't want to put you on the spot or put you in a box about what's home prices are going to do but what do you let me start with this what do you there's a lot of people that don't think they can afford a home and I see a lot of weird shit right now because I mean home prices have atrophied incredibly high and there's less inventory than we really need I don't know why we solve this problem after 9-11 in 2008 but I kind of know but but there's a lot of young people that say we can't afford homes but when i talked to them they're going through two to three day orders of door dash and there are car payments for $1,500 because they have to have the latest fucking i don't know ultima or something and you're just like that's that $1,500 used to be a car payment or a house payment and you know and i mean i've

Starting point is 00:26:43 done dooredish once during a day and 40 bucks to deliver a $10 Big Mac to me? I mean, stop it. So what's the reality out there you see? Do people really need to maybe focus on getting that investment property? It used to be the key to the American dream was getting a house and then it's an appreciation. Yeah. First, I mean, I'm not the one to scold anyone and into saying stop buying your Starbucks and all that kind of stuff. I mean, I'll leave that to the budget experts to the Susie Ormond's of the world, okay? But one in, but the truth is one in five people, you know, that are in Gen Z or millennials like are saying that they feel like they'll never be able to afford a home. So my heart goes out to them. It's really heartbreaking to hear

Starting point is 00:27:25 people say, you know, to believe that they're not going to be able to do it. So first and foremost, like I would say that an agent's like superpower is believing that it is possible for you, right? We're going to make it happen, like certainty. And then let that person, that buyer, borrow my belief in them until that. they believe in it themselves. So it starts with belief. It starts with believing until you see it. Most people say seeing is believing.

Starting point is 00:27:55 In the book, I say, believing is seeing that you have to manifest this. And I know it like gets a little woo-woo for people. Like you create, you paint a picture of what you're looking to do. And then you make that picture clearer and clear and you really do learn what you love. You'd be shocked.

Starting point is 00:28:11 And I've talked to dozens and dozens of real estate agents who have the same story. The person's like looking, looking, looking, looking, about to give up, and the agent's like, please keep believing in this. It's going to happen. And then the next day or the next week, they find a home that they would love. It happened again and again. You know, the buyer found some random house that it turns out to be perfect for them. Or their friend calls to say, hey, I drove by this house and it was perfect for me. So I just want to end, like, with a story. There was an agent in Westchester,

Starting point is 00:28:39 which is a bedroom community area near New York City. She was working with his executive. And They were looking for houses, and she was getting frustrated. She couldn't find a house for this guy. He was getting frustrated. He couldn't find a house. And she saw something come on the market. And she kind of dismissed it because it backed up to train tracks. And she gets a call later that day from the buyer said, I found this perfect house for me.

Starting point is 00:29:06 It turns out the most important piece of information that he didn't share is that his son has autism and is obsessed with trains. And so this was the perfect house. for them. And it was one of those things. Like they had a good relationship. They had built trust and it worked out. But you know, you need to have that kind of trust and faith in relationship so that it eventually happens. And I think that, you know, that's really important to people to know, you think it can't happen. You know, what's the saying that Henry Ford, whether you can or you can, you know, whatever you think you can, you're right. So I think it's important for people to really think about the mindset that they come in. Yes, rates are high. Yes, inventory.

Starting point is 00:29:46 low, I think ultimately there are opportunities in every market. You've got to surround yourself with a team that is solution-oriented, not problem-oriented. I think it works out just fine. What do you think about the future of the market? Is homes going to keep appreciating? Is there a drop in home prices that are going to happen? What do we see the future is? Every market's a little bit different. There's a lot of volatility out there. That is for sure. But there's some magic number out there, Chris, where if the mortgage rates hit a certain, just a little bit lower than they are, I think that sort of stimulates the market enough and will start to bring markets around the country back to a level of health where sellers feel they can move and find something

Starting point is 00:30:31 that's appropriate for them, that rates are low enough, they can trade into something smaller. And I think ultimately, you know, you see a lot of investor class, you know, the sort of corporate investors, maybe not as active as they were on single family homes. my hope is that there's a little bit more inventory, that rates come down a little bit, and it just becomes a little healthier and, like, more active. You know, I'm optimistic that we end up with a better functioning market across the country in every, every different market. Yeah, I think the Fed's going to have to definitely lower rates because we're seeing incredible

Starting point is 00:31:05 inflation, and that helps, you know, home sales and stuff. There's kind of this stuckness that's going on right now in the market where people are stuck. They don't want to sell because they've got, you know, incredible rates from, a few years ago, I think. They've got incredible appreciation, but they don't, you know, if they move, you know, my mom has this problem. If she moves, you know,

Starting point is 00:31:26 she's going to end up paying more for her house than she paid 20 or 30 years ago. She has a credible equity in her house now, but, you know, she moves. She actually kind of screws herself with the new home prices that are out there and her affordability. And so even though she has a lot of

Starting point is 00:31:42 equity, there's not enough to make that jump. And a lot of people like that I was reading, I can't remember what, I don't know if it was an economist or the Atlantic or something, but there's a lot of people stuck right now. It's kind of interesting, it's kind of an interesting thing where there's not a lot of trade going on. You know, I think that, again, I think the job of a real estate agent is to get you off the couch, you know, to inspire you to take some action. You know, there's this, this whole idea that, you know, real estate websites had become like

Starting point is 00:32:09 the new porn. There was a Saturday Night Live skit about it. What's really? Yeah, you know, people like, it's like, they call it Zillow. They also call it Zillow Therapy, or they just go on and look at real estate and they sort of, you know, dream. But I think that, you know, you have to get out, see some property, you get inspired. And for all, you know, you may find a house that's the right price and you may be able to find a rate that's the right rate. I just think action is such a, is kind of the antidote to all this paralysis.

Starting point is 00:32:38 I know it sounds obvious, but it's take little steps, surround yourself with people who really believe in you. and maybe you know maybe you maybe there's that friend out there that kind of secretly you know doesn't really want you to succeed it doesn't want you to do you know to maybe you just got a bonus and that person's oh you know this person got a bonus my friend got a bonus you really have to surround yourself with people you know in your life who the people are to support you and you know the people aren't and i think we make the mistake of surrounding ourselves with people who aren't going to help us on this very stressful journey this is one of the most stressful things that people put themselves through. And since 65% of Americans do it, you know, we all, we all, many people have

Starting point is 00:33:19 already been through this journey. And those people that can support you and say, okay, I understand. It's stressful. I remember that. I sort of vaguely remember it. But you've got to surround yourself with people who really care about you that are going to cheerlead you. And one of those people is also your real estate agent. I surround myself with people who hate me. And that kind of drives me. Knowing my enemies are out to get me keeps me moving. Yeah. And there's that one with the knife that I'm always trying to outrun in my dreams, nightmares. Love it.

Starting point is 00:33:49 So that are my first nightmares. Anyway, so I think it's, yeah, I think you have some great points. And I'm glad you're giving people this depth to the book because you can't win the game, as you've been saying, unless you're playing on the field. That's right. So if you're just sitting on the sidelines, it's hard to win. And when deals come up, you've got to be able to hit them and grab them. It's probably still a tight market that way. Yeah. You have to be opportunistic. And the only way I can't tell you this is a great deal. I mean, I can till I'm blue in the face, but you're not going to believe me unless you've done enough of the work yourself to be educated, to feel confident. So I mean, all the work is so that you're ready when that right thing comes along. When that thing gets attracted to you, you're ready. Your vision is clear. You're aligned with your partner. You're activated and ready to go. And then you attract that property and boom.

Starting point is 00:34:41 it happens. You tracked a property. That's what the magnetic method's about, Chris. It's kind of how it's, and that's a, that's a portion of, I believe that's the title of your company or a website or tells about that a little bit. Let's get a plug in for that. Yeah. So I wrote the book while I was considering launching my firm. I have a boutique company that I launched about a year ago. And as I thought of the magnetic method, which is really the sort of counterintuitive way that I help people, and I've helped people buy a lot of property, that method that I talk about in the book informed how I wanted to call my company Magnetic and it's really about attracting what matters most to you

Starting point is 00:35:21 and so we go through these four steps of the magnetic method and it's worked out great you know I feel really honored to get to help some really special people in New York City and really I wrote this book so I could help people across the country but if people want to learn more about New York City real estate they can certainly go to MagneticR.com, learn about what's on offer in the New York City real estate market. But I really did write this book because I wanted to make an impact and change the conversation around the country about what's possible when you find home that you love and how to make it possible.

Starting point is 00:35:55 Yeah, I love it. I love it. I was a real estate agent for six years and you're right. A lot of people don't talk about this stuff. You know, it's all about the semantics of how many bedrooms of bath you want and what type of kitchen. and what do you want in it and how many car garage you know and there's no emotional i mean it's it's like there's no feeling to that aspect of it and you know talking to people about what they want to emotionally do and helping them be more prepared with your book i think's really important

Starting point is 00:36:23 because you know you only have so much time as real estate agent to really train and work with people you know you can't sit down and read them your book maybe page by page and but i think it's dispense of what you've done. Is the book good for maybe other real estate agents out down the market? When I wrote the book, it really was geared. I actually wrote it with my brother in mind. I have a brother is 36, 35. And he hadn't bought a house yet. And I was like, what is my brother? You know, what would I tell my brother? How would I distill everything that I wanted to do to tell him how to buy a home? You know, how to surround himself with the right people so he can, you know, really, and what are the roadblocks? So he's really ready for when that opportunity comes by.

Starting point is 00:37:06 And then I realized, over time, it's wait a minute, you know, I've laid out how to get to know, get into the minds of homebuyers, what do they really go through? And so I realized this is really a book that agents want their clients to buy and read. And it's a book that buyers want their agents to read. You know, if somebody, if agents really are able to up their emotional intelligence, everybody wins. Yeah. So it's, it's, I've gotten great feedback from real estate agents to, the country. I've started to do some speaking, real estate companies about what it, what's possible when you really put the client first. And, you know, I start to sound like Jerry

Starting point is 00:37:50 McGuire, you know, fewer clients, less money, that kind of thing, you know. But the truth is, I actually think that it's the opposite. It's like, you know, you just work on your clients. You listen to them and then you actually do better. I mean, that's, that's how I found it's when you, when you really focus on creating this, like, incredible level of customer service, your business explodes. And there you go. Wonderful. Because you're good. And then you're helping other people and like better that you help them than some agent who doesn't know what they're doing. Yeah. And then they're happy. They'll give you referrals. They'll come back in the future.

Starting point is 00:38:22 I mean, happy customers are everything when it comes down to it. So give us your final pitch out on people to order up the book and what dot coms to look at to get to know you better. Sure. People want to get all the free resources from the book. There's a a bunch that they can find at Pursue Your Home.com, and they go there, and there's a button that says free resources. They can check that out. If they like what they can sign up so that they can get all the nitty-gritty information for me. And if they want to buy the book, there's link there so they can, you know, wherever they want to buy books, but there's links right there on the website where they can purchase it. And yeah, they can be in touch with me. We can start talking about,

Starting point is 00:38:59 you know, maybe helping them find a great agent in their market, those kinds of things as well. thank you very much scott for coming on the show we really appreciate it oh it's great to be here chris thanks for having me thank you and thanks for us for tuning in order up his book wherever fine books are sold out october 14th 2025 it's called the pursuit of home a real estate guide to achieving the american dream by scott harris thanks am honest for tuning in go to goodrease dot com fortress chris foschrist chris fos one on the ticotkiddy all that's crazy place in it be good to each other stay safe we'll see you next time And I should have us out.

The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Pursuit of Home: A Real Estate Guide to Achieving the American Dream by Scott Harris

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