The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Keith Smith, Yonna Smith & Jerry Miller Were Live On “Real Talk With Keith Smith!"

Episode Date: July 5, 2024

Keith Smith, Yonna Smith and Jerry Miller were live on “Real Talk With Keith Smith” powered by YES Realty Partners and Yonna Smith! “Real Talk” airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Real Talk With Keith Smith” is presented by Charlottesville Settlement Company, LLC, El Mariachi Mexican Bar & Grill, Fincham & Associates, Inc., Free Enterprise Forum, Intrastate Service Co and YES Realty Partners.

Good Friday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on Real Talk with Keith Smith. It's great to be with you on the 5th of July, fresh off of Independence Day. We hope you enjoyed it with friends and family, and we hope you appreciate and appreciated the significance of the holiday. This show, very excited for, Yonah Smith is in the house. She's been monikered the better 7-8s by the star of our show, very excited for, Yonah Smith is in the house. She's been monikered the better seven-eighths by the star of our show, Keith Smith. She is the principal broker, the managing broker of Yes Realty Partners. Supervising broker.

Supervising broker of Yes Realty Partners. She keeps everyone in line and she does it in a classy way. And she is always welcome at this network. Judah Wickauer, my friend, if you can go to the studio camera and welcome Keith and Jonas Smith on the 5th of July. My friends, good Friday morning. Good Friday morning to you as well. It's so good to be back.

It's been a while. It's great to have you. It's been a while. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for letting me come and chat. We have to talk to the executive producer to see if he can do a better job of coming on. That's a calendar schedule, right?

It's a timing schedule, so no worries. That was Keith, by the way, the executive producer. Yep. So, I mean, this is one of my favorite shows. I love it when we do this at or around the 4th of July. You know, we talk a lot about real estate life and all this kind of great stuff but yesterday we went to as we've been doing we've determined about 12 years in a row right it is 12 years

in a row yes that we've gone so we go to the nationalization naturalization ceremony at Monticello. And for those who have never attended that, you should. It's an awesome experience. We figure about 2,000 folks there. And one of the awesome things, and I'll let Yona jump in after this from her perspective at the end once it's all done the judge asks whoever of the 74 new citizens to get up and talk and tell their story and if you don't come to tears during that process you know it's pretty heartwarming and inspirational. It was an absolutely amazing ceremony again.

And for us, it's always a, I guess, a good opportunity to be reminded how good of a country we really live in. You know, you may want to say a lot going on and this, that, and the other thing, but... We're the best country in the world. We're the best country in the world. We really truly are.

And just the passion, the enthusiasm, the commitment that all of these folks have put forth in order to go ahead and do that journey, which is not an easy journey, mind you. You've been through this, so talk about that. It's always kind of gratifying. It's always saying, yeah, you did the right thing. It was not an easy journey for me as well.

However, I would say it was probably an easier journey for me than it was for some of the other folks, specifically some of these countries that have obviously political unrest and people needed to flee the country. And there's three or four countries or three or four citizens that came from countries where they literally had to grab their bag, flee, and hopefully be a refugee and be welcomed by this nation, which is the United States,

and with good support of friends and folks that are really caring about that they brought them to become US citizens and it's an amazing thing to see and I think if there's anything I can learn from that is how lucky we are to be where we are and we can

do what we can do so 74 new citizens were naturalized yesterday, 35 different nations. It was an amazing experience just to see folks from former communist countries speak, folks from African nations that have gone through quite a lot of changes, military coups and stuff like that.

So it was just very interesting. At the same time, the whole atmosphere, even though it was rather hot, everybody stayed until the very end, and the ceremony took about two hours. I mean, the court was in session for about an hour and a half, and we had really very good interaction, and it's also good to see everybody come out and welcome them. Logan Wells-Claylow, thank you for watching the program. Thank you. Thank you, Logan. Logan,

we appreciate your support here. Did you find it rejuvenating? I mean, you touched on this briefly, and we don't talk about politics all in the program. No, I did not. At a time when it's a little crazy out there, did you find the experience rejuvenating? Absolutely. I mean, the thing is that one of the chief justices actually spoke about that we as a nation have always gone through some sort

of growing pain, and that hasn't changed. So I think it's probably more polarizing these days just because of the way it's being communicated and so forth. But the bottom line is that if we're open and able to not only communicate but be tolerant with each other to hear somebody else's opinion, it's a growing journey.

You know, at least we have the opportunity that we have free speech, you know at least we have the opportunity that we have free speech you know at least we have the opportunity we can make a difference that we can vote and you know Keith knows my soapbox is you have the right to vote the privilege to vote if you want to change something you should vote

or get involved yeah so I think that's a responsibility that we all should have or at least I feel very strongly about you have as a citizen and the privilege that you've been given to go ahead and be part of this

journey but it's rejuvenating every time Kevin Yancey in Waynesboro agrees with you he says too many take it for granted never having been denied basic rights. We're lucky to be here. He also has a little conversation or a little insight on the carrot

cake conversation. He says, if there's flour, eggs, and it's baked, that's a cake. There you go. Thank you, brother. I agree. He says, that's a cake. I got a ton of pushback from Mike. We did. I mean, we also found out that Yvonne doesn't like carrot cake. I had no idea.

After 30 years. After 30 years, I had no idea. So now we know. I thought I was doing a good thing. So it was interesting. So there was somebody that became a U.S. citizen from Bulgaria. Yep. And a little bit about our story.

We lived in Bulgaria first half of the 80s when it was communist during the Cold War. And this one particular woman got up to speak. And just to put it in a little perspective, each citizen in Bulgaria during communism was only allowed to have one liter of milk. And it was a day. A day. And what her role was before she went to school, because the state-run grocery store opened up at 7 o'clock, her and her grandmother would get in line at 5.30, 5 o'clock in the morning to get her one liter of milk so she could bring her one liter of milk home.

And so they were, just think about this, right? If you, you know, we all freak out when there's a hurricane coming or snow or something like this and everybody makes a run on milk. The government said you only could have one liter of milk. And, you know, so, you know, you would have to wait online with hundreds or tons of people. And we experienced this. We lived through this. So if you needed milk, that's what you did.

You got online with the local folks to go ahead and get your one liter of milk. Now, we had diplomatic passports, something as simple as if your wife needed to get milk for the family, she had to stand in line at 5 o'clock. Oh, by the way, you could stand in line until 7, and when they were out of milk for that day, you were out of luck, right? Strawberries was a big thing. Do you remember the whisper? There was a whisper.

That's right. There's a daily whisper in the morning between 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning that, well, somebody has seen somewhere in the neighborhood, somewhere in the outskirts that there are strawberries or bananas. So everybody went there, obviously. But there again, these are sort of experiences I guess you need to really live them. And I think coming back to your question, need to really live them yeah and I think coming back to your question so these are sort of the things that you're being reminded of

when you hear these folks tell their stories and they're passionate I mean just thinking about it gives me chills we were crying yesterday yeah people were

I mean people were crying just because of the fact that the endurance the courage the grit to somebody say, hey, I'm packing up all my stuff. I mean, just imagine packing all my stuff and I'm just leaving this country. And this lady said at the very end, she says, I'm not going back to this country. I'm staying here.

This is my new home. Remember that? I'm trying to remember which country. She was from Ghana. Ghana? Ghana, yeah. That's beautiful. By the way, Ghana and Guatemala are sister cities of Charlottesville.

Huh? Yeah, so I found that out yesterday, too. I did not know Guatemala. Yeah, Guatemala, and they used to be also Pleven in Bulgaria. Plaviv. No, it was Pleven. Pleven in Bulgaria, but they, for whatever reason,

they haven't connected recently. But I've never really, I'm going to say this publicly. I know I probably have told you this over the years, but just think about this. Yona was on the track and she's going to be humble

and not say this, but she was on the track to become, you know, she was on the ambassador's track, right? She was on the Austrian State Department. She was on the track to do that. You were second in charge. Shh, just seek. And she's funny. You've got to keep some self-sufficiency. But she ended up falling in love with me, marrying me.

I had no money, no job, no nothing. We were moving out of it. She left our whole country, left everything that she had to come live with some jarhead, some marine. And 39 years later, we're celebrating 39 years together. That's amazing. If I can give that back, what I've experienced, I call this my rhapsody in blue journey. You know the story, right?

Absolutely. This is my rhapsody in blue journey. You know, colors aside. So it wasn't a marine uniform? It was. Truly, it was. Absolutely. But it's just, for instance,

so the new CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation also spoke, so they had a change about a year ago or so. And his father, at the age of 91, was naturalized at Monticello some probably 30, 40 years ago and he was in the audience. I mean so just tying this in you know last year Jim Ryan spoke and

shared his story about being adopted and you know kind of have to I didn't know Jim Ryan was adopted yes and he did not know until

just recently the last couple of years he did not know about that and he actually had the opportunity look at that you come to these things

you learn all kinds of stuff I didn't know that at all had the opportunity I mean there was not a dry eye in the audience after he told that story

but just he was adopted by immigrants he was adopted by immigrants and did not not a dry eye in the audience after you told that story. But just... Well, he was adopted by immigrants. He was adopted by immigrants and did not meet his natural mother. Mm-hmm. Until about his biological mother. Five or six years ago. And maybe misquoting some timelines, yeah.

It was recent. But there again, so that's an opportunity, right? Absolutely. Isn't that something? Woody Fincham says the lovely Yona Smith. Oh, so good to see you. Woody, watching the program right now. Woody Fincham, we love when you watch the show.

Thank you, absolutely, thank you. A number of your colleagues watching the show. Nate Kibler, welcome to the broadcast. Thank you, Nate. We love what you're doing here on this network. Ricardo Cruz-Joran, watching the program. Kyle Irvin from the Communications Office here at Charlottesville Police Department. Thank you kindly for watching the show. Thank you. Liza Borges, hello. Thank you.

A lot we want to cover on the program, but we want to reflect on the time that is the 4th of July, its significance, and what you guys do with this show every year I find inspiring. I find myself in need of inspiring when it comes to patriotism from time to time for obvious reasons. It's hard. But the 4th of July always brings me back, always seems to center me. This show always centers me, inspires me. So I want to say thank you to you guys. Thank you. No, I do feel that if we are able to communicate that, there was one statement in one of the speeches, I think the Chief Justice said this, right?

Don't give up on this country. Love this country. And it's just, it's when you love somebody, it's not easy, right? So you have to go through the ups and downs and the challenges and the whatnots. Not in our marriage.

I know it's been a bliss. It's a bliss all day long. But just take it for really what it is and try to go ahead and put it in perspective. And I have to tell you, I do try to live my day like that. So what difference can I make? What part of the community can I go ahead and be more powerful? Not powerful, that's probably not the right word,

but be kind and tolerant. How about that? Because I think that's what it boils down to. Very well said. Right? Very well said. Yeah. The interesting thing about attending this every year is you look around the audience, right?

There's 2,000 people there at 90-something degrees. It was hotter than Hades. Hades there, right? It was warm. All different races, ethnicities, socioeconomic. You could just look around the space and tell out there, and everybody was there to celebrate 74 new Americans and listen to their stories

and listen to where they came from. And I say this this year, this is our sixth year in a row we've done this show, this Fourth of July show. You know, if you need a shot in the arm, what it is to be an American,, what it is to be an American, truly what it means to be an American, next year, hop on a bus at PBC.

It's free. Go up there. Listen to these stories. Listen to these people. If you don't walk away from there inspired, then we've got a little bit more work to do. It's inspiring to listen to these stories. Kevin Higgins in Greenwood says, I think people are made in that line for hours

waiting to get milk. He appreciated your story. It's so hard, but if you step back, you see the strength of people. It's absolutely incredible. I appreciate that comment from Mr. Higgins, and I appreciate his support. He says this from Mr. Yancey, Six Degrees of Separation. My wife's co-worker's husband was an immigrant doing it the right way to 10 years and $70,000 to lawyers just to be able to become a U.S. citizen. Yeah, oh, yeah. It took, you know, 20 years. 20 years.

You should tell, I love this, tell that story. I have to tell you, so I'm trying to paraphrase it in a short version. I mean, it was not up until 2003, 2004 that we really made the decision to go ahead, or I made the decision to really go ahead and apply for the U.S. citizenship for many reasons. But I think one of the reasons truly was is we went through, and I could not have done this without Keith, I mean, getting your green card is about as difficult as becoming a U.S. citizen. And obviously a lot has changed since 2001 as far as security and so forth is concerned. So I was really hesitant in really jumping into the arena because they wanted to know everything and anything and everywhere

and whatnot. But the long story short was we applied 2003 for the first time coming out of September 11th. We did anticipate that this is going to be really, really, really difficult. I mean, you talk paperwork, lots of paperwork. Anyway, so we submitted that and we didn't hear from them about three to six months and they basically lost my application. What? Yes. Nowhere to be found. Never acknowledged the fact that it was there. So needless to say, so set back and then I said to Keith, okay, we're going to do this differently. I have no idea exactly

what we're going to do, but we're going to have to hire an attorney. Very good, very renowned attorney here in Charlottesville. Specializes in that. Specializes in that immigration law, and I told Keith right at the beginning, I said, this man charges $550 an hour. Do not

speak. I said, please do charges $550 an hour. Do not speak. I said, please do not speak. He talks. Right on a talk show. He's great in every aspect of his life. I was not allowed to say anything. But anyway, it took him eight months. Get out. Eight months.

What's the cost? Can I ask that? We spent, what, $7,000? $7,000. And we're blessed to go do this. Part of the problem is Yona was born in Beirut. Yeah. Doesn't have her original birth certificate

because she was born in an American hospital and got bombed. So she doesn't have her thing. And she lived behind the Iron Curtain for a bunch of time. I was suspicious. She was suspicious. She was the communist terrorist. You look very suspicious to me. Your daughter's

watching. Your daughter's listening while running with Ray right now. Oh, she needs to run off that carrot cake that she ate last night. I think that's a cake. They bust my chops about that. Guess who ate the damn thing? right now. Oh, she needs to run off that carrot cake that she ate last night. By the way, they busted my... They busted my chops about that, but guess who ate the damn thing? Houston? No.

Well, you said your daughter didn't like the carrot cake, so it wasn't her. She ate it, but I was admonished, let's say, for bringing a carrot cake. We're going to ask you. Then I said, I could have brought a cheesecake, and then I got pushback for that.

Cheesecake is delicious. Well, the whole New Yorker in me went, yeah, that's never going to happen. So we're going to get cheesecake. But anyway, so I finally got the approval, and it just literally, I mean, how fate has it and life has it. I was supposed to be actually naturalized at Monticello that particular year in 2005. However, my father fell really, really ill. And so I had to go ahead and we had to make that change really fast because what happens...

And we were worried about waiting because... Yeah, because I have no passport, right? So I can leave the country, but I can't come back, right? So we sped it up, and I was naturalized on February 13, 2005 at the third happiest day in your life? Fourth happiest? I want to mention the birth of your daughters, the wedding to Keith. Don't put me on the spot.

I have so many beautiful blessings. You do have beautiful blessings. Andre, Xavier, hello. Thank you for watching the show. It was a great compliment, honey. I think we know that. We know that, Keith. We know that.

You mean it wasn't original? Oh, I love this show so much. Do you guys want to talk some market trends? We've got a slide for you. How about this comment's come in. Before he got the final approval, the last step was he had to go back to his home country, Honduras, 30 days in his home country to make sure he wasn't a wanted person.

He had to basically hide for 30 days because if they found him, they would have held him for ransom. They know how much it costs, so they have to have money. That's to get back to the U.S. as a citizen. Unbelievable. 100%. And, again, when you listen to these stories. I did not know that.

When you listen to these stories, you just think how blessed you are. A hundred percent. And again, I can't say this enough. It's a great afternoon other than put on some suntan lotion and bring a hat or something. But getting to listening to those stories is what it's all about. I think if there's anything else to say about that, it's also we are a fabric of immigrants. Oh.

Right? We're all immigrants. So just the fact that there's 45 million immigrants, and I'm part of these 45 million, right, in this country, out of 350. So think about that. What we are able, A,

not only to bring and share. That's current immigrants. That's current immigrants in status. My mother's parents came from overseas, are immigrants, right? So we're all talking about six degrees of separation. It's not even that deep in that we all have some sort of immigrants. Your parents are Cuban, right?

My mom is. Your mom is Cuban, right? And she came from Cuba, right? She did, third grade. So you're first generation on your mother's side. 100%. On that.

My brother and I. Yeah, which is, you know, just think about that. Yeah. It's amazing. Pretty awesome. But anyway, I think I can talk about this

all day long, so what do you guys want to talk about? Well, he's got a slide for us. You got a slide, right? I'm still on this carrot cake thing, but apparently I got to move on. The market is strong.

It's busy. Yes, really. Partners are humming. We're busy. We're very fortunate. Seeing really this interesting shift from I would say a combination of folks who are just

basically saying, you know, I do need to move, I want to move. I don't care what the interest rate is. I need to stay in the market. I need to go ahead and be intentional about it and make it happen. We do see the seller reluctances and the seller's expectations. It's getting better. Let me put it this way. So we are able to...

Seller expectations, put that in perspective. What do you mean it's getting better. Let me put it this way. So we are able to... Seller expectations, put that in perspective. What do you mean it's getting better? I think more being more in tune with the market. Okay. I think that is becoming a little bit more realistic that even though we are in a low inventory market, we still need to consider the fact that it costs more money. And I think what we are seeing is that the level of frustration for some of these first-time homebuyers,

I really do feel for them. We worked with them, quite many of them. I think it comes back down to the teamwork that I've been speaking about for many, many years, that we are part of this team and we're going to try to see this process through the best we can. Market prediction is really hard to predict anything at the moment, perfectly honest with you. We have, at this particular moment, I can tell you, we've been the busiest this summer than we've been since 2021 I want to say

busy busy busy I mean the phones have been ringing off the hook regardless of if it has 100 degrees outside or not so that's a good sign a little concerned about affordability but I think this is probably something more that Keith wants to speak to but

there's going to be some folks who just probably not going to be able to buy it's frustrating it is frustrating you know and for people who want to help people yeah it is very difficult right yeah it's challenging and you you need to really bring skills and compassion and empathy to the table. But just to talk about the slide real quick, Judith, if you don't mind putting up the slide I put together this morning. And I did this on purpose because what I wanted to look at was first half of the year, what our sales volume was. This is the full car footprint, so Kevin, it's not the other side of the hill. It's just the six jurisdictions that are part of the Charlottesville Association of Realtors. Don, I did it right? Yes.

Nice job. Chris Dowell, welcome to the show. So we are literally at, and we've been talking about this, Jerry and I, for quite some time. We are literally at the same sales volume as 2016. That's what it feels like. That's exactly right. So as far as volume goes, so that is, we're nine years into this, right? If you count 2016 as the first half of the year all the way up to the completion of this year, we're totaled nine years.

So we are literally back to what the sales volume was for nine years. That being said, the median sales price is 70% up in nine years. So back in 2000. That's unbelievable. That is amazing. So the frustration is we've got 2016 sales volume, right? And then we're dealing with a 70% increase, which is great when you bought in 2016. I just wanted to say it gives you a good equity position

depending on how you bought it. But today, right? And I haven't had a chance to take a look at what the interest rates were in 2016. My suspicion is it's probably somewhere between 4 to 5 percent. I think it was in the high fives, but I'm maybe wrong on that. So what do you make of that, Jona?

I think this is truly what we're experiencing on a daily basis, seriously. I mean, I did not know that the numbers were that closed. I do know that just from the fact what buyers are looking for and buyers were hoping to achieve, I can see where that problem is lying, that just they're pushed out of the market. Some folks say the most unaffordable time in American history right now to buy a house.

This past October was officially the most unaffordable time, and the metrics are quite similar to October. I can tell you September, if I remember correctly, September was, wasn't that the month with the interest rates were the highest? October. October was the

month. October 2023. I mean, it was a standstill. It was an absolute standstill. So our high point, no big surprise, was 2021. Yeah, naturally. That was 2,500. A turkey can fly in a hurricane. A turkey can fly in a hurricane.

It's 2,524. We're now at 1,736. And in my handy dandy percentage difference calculator. Oh, boy, we have now. Because I was corrected on some of my percentages. It's like got to reverse on that. 773 is a 31.259999 decrease over 2,524. So that's for my percentage calculator. So we are up from 16 to now.

We're up 70%, but we're down in volume from a peak of 25, 24, and 21, 2021, by roughly 31, 32%. But that also includes new construction, right? That's everything. New construction, townhomes, homes condos this is just a big picture on that and and you know this is why um and i've been saying it all along this is when the pros show up right and and there's a ton of pros that are watching and listening to the to the show that are in our industry and and you know we we are like like the guide that's going to guide you through this particular process.

I always say it, and I think you heard me say this often, right? It truly is a teamwork effort. And how many touches do we need? There's 24 people on an average involved in a transaction. And that's grown, right? It never used to be right? And that has grown quite a bit, obviously, between appraisers and title insurance companies and home inspectors and all this good stuff. So 24 people are part of this journey that you're on. That in itself

is just something that I don't know if too many people know about. Folks can appreciate it. Or understand. Yeah, right? So I don't know if too many people know about that. Folks can appreciate it or understand it. Yeah, right? So I'm always surprised when somebody says, hmm, you know, I'd like to do this by myself. And obviously we want to try to go ahead and see how we can be of assistance.

However, I said, well, let me know how this works out for you. Because it's easier said than done especially in the market that we're in right now right at the same time though I think we as professionals that's one of the things

that I'm hoping that I can communicate is we as professionals also have a responsibility that we do anything and everything in our power to make sure that that client is served up to whatever they need. So. In order to appreciate the value that we bring to the table. That you provide. That we provide. And at the same time, we are the advocate. It's like a marriage in a sense, right? It's a short-term marriage, you bring to the table. That you provide. That we provide. And at the same time, we are the advocate. It's like a marriage in a sense, right?

It's a short-term marriage, you want to call it. But there's a lot of trust that needs to be, you know, kind of established and honed. Somebody said to me the other day, I went to a listing presentation, and he's a really, he's a funny guy. He has a good sense of humor. His business is all about pumping septic systems and all this good stuff. So I used the analogy.

I said, look, how would you think or how would you feel if I was to go ahead and show up at your doorstep one day and say, well, I'm going to pump out your septic tank. How would you feel about that? And he laughed and said, well, I'm going to pump out your septic tank. How would you feel about that? And he laughed and said, well, same analogy here. No, it's probably a little bit less stinky, but at the same time, it's the same here. It's a professional, right? And more than ever, I think, especially in the market that we're in right now, I think it is absolutely important for us to really communicate that, to make sure that people are taken care

of and they feel that they're taken care of. So we're at 2016. Oh, okay. Go back to that. No, no. We're at 2016. Units sold at this point. Units sold.

We are, I can't do the math. We're like 20 units 15 units. 23 units different. Look at that. 23 units different. Same six months. What do you think the second six months is going to look like? And

do you think when we have this show next year and we add 2025 to that is it going to get better? Is it going to stay? Because back to your comment about we're trying to help people, we look at ourselves as therapists more than salespeople. So what are we going to tell people?

I'll jump in. How was the remainder of 2016 from an inventory sold standpoint, the back half of 2016? Do you have those numbers? No, but while Yonah and you talk, I will get them for you. I'm curious if the back half of 2016 was the same amount of units. Was it less units? Did we have an election year in 2016? We did not.

That I can't believe. No, wait a minute. 2020, 2016. we did every four years so again I really don't buy into this that was Trump's first election right yeah so

that's an interesting twist by the way again I'm not politicizing any of this so but I think the affordability curve, I think, will larger depend on, I don't care who gets elected. You're talking about rates now. Yes. Will larger depend on, didn't we read something this morning about the GDP?

The economy added 206,000 jobs in June. Unemployment rose to 4.1%. They're talking literally on the CNBC television that we have on in the studio here, potentially September, October for a rate cut. Yeah. We've heard this since last year. It's just a talking point for everybody, yeah. To be honest with you, I don't even buy into this. I was having this conversation yesterday on the 4th of July. Even if rates get cut, I'm not sure that's going to do anything to affordability.

And I would agree with you on that. It's just going to create more buyers, greater demand, and we could have more competition for the limited inventory that's out there. Absolutely. And I would agree with that statement. So I think more and more it is our job to go ahead and make sure that the expectations are set up correctly and at the same time also encourage some of these seller folks to put their home on the market, especially with the ones that have equity positions. Yeah. I mean, really.

Go ahead. The second half of, we're looking at 16, right? 2016. The second half of 16 was 1,877 sales. 1,877. So it was stronger the second half of 2016 than the first half. Correct. Correct. Correct.

I would be curious to see what the, just out of curiosity, hold on a second, will do 23. I don't think the second half of, just one man's opinion here, I don't think the second half of 2024 is going to be stronger than the first half of 2024. I would agree to a certain extent with you. So the second half of 23... Of 2023? Yeah, was 1781. 1781, so you had a dip? We had a dip.

I think it's going to be humming along just like that. I really don't think it's going to be... We're not going to set the world on fire. We were talking about this this morning on our walk. I'm of the opinion the only way we're going to go ahead and kind of increase inventory is to increase new construction, to increase new product. And I didn't do the numbers, but I could do that for a future show. The proof in the pudding

is looking at attached product in Albemarle County, it's actually stabilized a little bit more in the last couple of years on price points. It's increasing, but not at the higher rates than the detached because there's more being built. You see more coming out of the ground, absolutely. So, I mean, how are we going to get ourselves out of this? Or do we? Get out of what?

Some would say this is a healthy market. Some would say, Keith, from 2016, the median average for a home sold was $275,000 in the car footprint. In 2024, the median average is $465,000. That's a massive appreciation. That shows a strong economy. That shows a strong housing ecosystem. Which, by the way, is reflective of the nation, right? Yeah.

On a national level, we're saying the same thing. 100%, right. So I think it's a matter of the expectation. So what we're saying... How you look at the piece of art is what we're talking about. Everyone looks at it differently. Yeah. So what we're saying is, unless you can afford $465,000 as a median sales price at the moment, that number is just going to go up. 100%. Then you can't buy in this market. Well, there was an article in the Daily Progress last week, maybe early this week, that the pressure in Stanton, Augusta, and Waynesboro, downward pressure, is starting to mount. So define downward pressure for me.

What we're seeing here is folks priced out of the car footprint because of this number, $465,000. And as they're priced out right, they're going to Augusta, Waynesboro, and Stanton. And the folks that are going to Augusta, Waynesboro, and Stanton are going with Charlottesville salaries to Augusta, Waynesboro, and Stanton. And they are now driving that housing ecosystem northward price-wise. And then the buyer of Augusta, Waynesboro, and Stanton is now having to compete. So this gentrification, this momentum is carrying over across the mountain. And it's been doing that for a while. So I do also believe, though, what we have seen here in Charlottesville and I

do agree with you to a certain extent and I disagree with you to a certain extent. So the agreeing is yes if somebody especially a first-time homebuyer is looking to make that jump into homeownership yeah depending on their financial situation and depending on what their goals are yes obviously they would probably consider with a salary, inshallah, to go across the mountain. However, what we have seen, I would say over the past six to nine months, is more and more of this kind of multi-generational coming together, mom and dad, sold their home, have a ton of equity, are willing to go ahead and put that amount into a home that can actually serve multi-families.

That's what multi-generations. So that's what I'm seeing more and more. And honest with you, that's probably the, how I look at it, is probably one of the better options for somebody to really still be in the shawls of footprint enjoy what they what they have and at the same time grow with it right so they can then also take advantage of the appreciation that is going on in shawls some call that a house hack i've seen that as well well we're doing it. We're personally doing it. I don't like the word house hack. That sounds a little harsh. About a house strategy or solution? I think

a solution is probably a little bit changeover. 14 to 15% of all sales of last year, according to NAR, National Association of Realtors, were multi-generational purchases. We're in the middle of doing this ourselves. We're working on putting an attached auxiliary dwelling unit to our home. We're blessed enough to do this.

For your parents? For my parents, yeah. Hopefully, yeah. When could that crack round? Sorry? When could that crack round? We probably got fallish or so. We got a couple months of planning, design work. That's so. We got a couple months of planning, design work,

and budgeting. That's exciting. Yeah. And we're blessed to do this. The reality of it is, out in Fulvana County, and I don't want to give too much of my family's

personal information out, but to make a very long story short, I'm going to push back on all this stuff. So here's a couple that's been living in Fulvana County since 88, 89,

right? Yeah. Around 88, 89. About the same time. 89 on that stuff. They're retirees. They can't afford to sell the home that they're in and buy something that meets their needs and stay in Fulvana County. Period. End of story. Doesn't exist.

And if it does exist, it's at a price point that mid-80s folks can't afford. We're blessed so they can come live with us. But where is that person going to go, right? Where is that that they don't have a Keith and Yona? And we deal with this every day, right? It's one of the reasons we're late today. We're helping a woman that had to go to a nursing home, husband died, couldn't take care of their house, right? And we're trying to manage it so that we can get this woman as much money as she could possibly get out of that so she can live the rest of her life out in whatever comfort that she can live. There are at least a half a dozen folks who are in that process right now.

If in Fulvana County, and I'm just going to say this, and I've said this to my dear, actually he wasn't on the board at the time, my dear friend Chris Fairchild, if they would have approved a... Is this the over 50 project? Exactly right. If they would have approved a... Is this the over 50 project? Exactly right. If they would have approved across from the main gate an apartment building that was over 55 that would have been 60% AMI on it

put on by the Methodist Church. The Methodist Church was building this on it. It got shot down, didn't get rezoned. We would have had an option to say, assume it was availability, saying, okay, mom and dad, let's sell your house. We'll cash out. This is what you can have.

And this is a great opportunity. You can move in here. It's an elevated building. It has services. So there is zero ability in the county of Flavana for that. And if you take a look at it, and this is a reality for us, right? Mrs. West, another client all these

homes that we built over these decades hundreds and hundreds of homes these people are now getting into this age of life yeah but they have to make a decision transition they're transitioning into their life and where they want to go and we're trying to help them and we don't have a lot of options to help them so that's my soapbox i appreciate that 90 plus of revenue for the fluvana budget comes from 97 taxes on homes 97 of fluvana's budget 96 95 taxes on homes yeah don't get me started yeah you know me i'm trying to be pretty neutral in that sense, but it is frustrating and it's aggravating to a certain extent. So back to the other side of the hill,

median sales price year to date is $304. We should start tracking that. We should start tracking that. So it's $304. I try to emphasize this on the show. We still have, depending on who you ask, 800 to 1,200 jobs coming to the area tied to the Amazon, $11 billion in Louisa.

We haven't seen the UVA Data Science School at full clip. We haven't seen Northrop Grumman's new $300 million facility at full clip. Who was that article you sent me from? Where is that from this morning? Haven't seen the biotech impact? Paul Manning's Institute? The Guardian. The Guardian.

I mean, we're probably looking at somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 new people coming to the area. I know I'm going to get myself in trouble when I say that. So just prefacing that. Politico, it was. Louisa County did an amazing job at staying ahead of it. I mean, seriously. Yeah, but they're capped out.

Not necessarily. Spring Creek? 600-some lots in Spring Creek. I got that. But the volume of people that you're talking about, there's just no ways to go. I think the people that I'm talking about, I think you just use a roundabout number, 6,000 to 8,000 people come to the area. Those 6,000 to 8,000 people come to the area are easily deep six-figure people come to the area. They're going to move to central Virginia.

They're going to move to Albemarle and Charlottesville. They're just going to push 6,000 to 8,000 other people and families out of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. And these are the service folks. The service, it's a... And it's... Yeah. Go ahead and answer. Say what's on your mind, babe.

I think the... When you drive to Richmond, you see how much closer Richmond and Charlottesville actually are becoming now. And I think that's also probably going to be an avenue where folks are going to have to go. Because Richmond has inventory. They do have inventory.

More affordable inventory than here. I don't know about that. It depends on where you're at in Richmond. It depends on where you are in Richmond. Certainly not the West End. No, definitely not. But I can tell you, even some areas in Greene County are not that reasonable anymore. I mean, you kind of have to be prepared.

Well, Greene County, I believe, is at four. I can look at it as over four. Well, wait until the Rivanna Futures, the land that Alamaro County purchased from Wendell Wood on the Alamaro County and Greene County line, wait until that project gets developed. You're going to start seeing an influx of people to Greene. Rob Neal has this on what Keith was saying,

and Rob is in the real estate private equity space, missed opportunity for the Fluvanna County to house residents and not tax the schools and even not tax the roads much. We'll encumber first responder service or needs, but retirees are great for the bottom line of the locality. So I'll add a little bit to that. Lake Monticello Fire Department was gifted two acres on that same road, and they're working on building a firehouse on that side of Lake Monticello. So if that was the case, the proximity is actually pretty close.

There's a human resource thing. I mean, getting a hold of volunteers to go ahead and volunteer is always difficult on that. But the political article Yona sent me this morning to read about this very topic was about what we've been talking about. They're basically talking this inventory crunch is a minimal of a decade before we even start seeing the other side of it. But it's going to put a ton of pressure on it. I'm going to take a look at what the median sales price in 2023 was on the other side of the hill. Well, they're also trying to infuse some of the economy with some additional, I would say, options as far as funding and loan programs and stuff like that. They have committed to what, $300 million

over the next 10 years? As far as infusion into federal money. That's at the federal level. And believe me, as somebody who sits on multiple boards, getting that federal money to get down to the ground is freaking super difficult to make happen. If you're counting on federal money to make this work, it's not going to work.

Same period last year, other side of the hill, this is Augusta, Waynesboro and Stanton, this is everything. This is new construction, town homes, detaches, not a lot of condos, but I put that in anywhere, is $300,000. So it jumped about $4,000 or $5,000 over a year, which I haven't done the percentage with, which is stabilized. And why is that?

Because when I break that down, you're starting to see a ton of new construction, which is stabilizing the prices. And that's where I'm starting to look to. I talked about Albemarle County because Albemarle County has 80 or 90 percent of all the attached product being built new construction attached product right being

built very few of that's being built outside of Albemarle County in the car footprint and they it's stabilized the prices are stabilized so but to your point, Jerry, they're just going to drive to the qualifier. What did we say? Fly to the qualifier at this particular point? It's just, when does it stop? When does it stop? Student body UVA enrollment is increasing. 6,000 to 8,000 additional people come into the area. The opportunity to work hybrid or remote. Bloomberg called the Charlottesville area a top 20 in the nation community to work hybrid or remote. Bloomberg called the Charlottesville area a top 20 in the nation community to work hybrid or remote.

I mean, there's pressures from every side. But from a real estate standpoint, this isn't a real estate show, from a realtor standpoint, could you be doing more revenue for less deals as the price goes up? Yes and no. One, two, three, four, luck is mine. I can let you answer that. No, you'll let me answer.

Yeah, that could be the case, but the pressure on how we get paid and how much our percentages that we get paid is more now than it was back then. But in theory, the higher the deal, the more money you make, that kind of thing. It's also a little bit more work to go through it. But that's true.

Remember, 24 touches, and it doesn't change if it's $200,000 or $10 million. Would you say it's more difficult today to do a deal than it was in 2016? Oh, my God. Yeah. Yona, put that in perspective. I have to tell you, honestly,

the journey that we are on is, first of all, a relearning journey, right? But it's always changing. It's always changing in a sense that you learn something new every day. So that's how something new every day. So that's how I look at that. 2016, I think the opportunities as far as what we can potentially offer our buyers was definitely a far better position. Take it into historical context, right? We were not that far out of the time of great unpleasantness, right?

That is, yeah, well, 2009, seven years. In 2016, the memory of 2008, 9, 10, you know, 11, and 12, right, we were still eating through foreclosures and eating through some unpleasant

stuff in 2016. In that sense, it was probably a little bit different of a market. However, I guess the need for somebody to purchase a home or the desire for first-time homeownership was still as high as it is today. I think it's just different today. Other side of the hill in 2016, the medium sales price, again, same three jurisdictions, new construction everything right was 173 i rounded it up it was it's now like 304 800 or something so let's call it 305

we are a 76 increase so it's increased 76 on the other side of the hill versus 70 on this side of the hill that being said the other side hill is more affordable 70 on this side of the hill. That being said, the other side of the hill is more affordable, right? We're still at this $300,000 plus or minus. We're over here, we're $165,000 more. We're around $465,000 on that end of it. Viewers and listeners, this is a master class on real estate. What's the advice you give to your colleagues watching the program for the back half of the year just keep on going

patience professionalism learn as much as you can about your clients learn as much as you can on how you can get engaged involved learn to communicate

so I I'm very, to be honest with you. Obviously the firestorm, there's a lot of firestorm going on in our industry as we speak. However, this is also a good opportunity for us to kind of reestablish and rejuvenate our values and our profession and really, really try to be what we are saying we are. We are advocates for our clients, and we are going to be helping them make the biggest financial decision of their lifetime or even the second time or third time,

but be involved and be truly what we're being hired to do to help them on their journey to homeownership. So I tell everybody, I said, if there was no challenges, there were no opportunities, right? This is an opportunity. Jump into it. There's four Gs as far as your level of commitment is concerned. I heard this the other day from Guy Kawasaki. He's the CEO of Canva.

Yep, former chief evangelist of Apple. Apple. He talked about Steve Jobs and gave the interview, gave sort of the behind the scenes. Everybody had the impression Steve Jobs went on stage and spoke and charismatic and all that stuff but what nobody really didn't see was the behind the scene and how long

he prepared for this painstakingly prepared for that so we need to do the same thing we need to be prepared for that growth mindset grit grace and gratitude and that's truly truly what you

if you can live by these four principles and gratitude. And that's truly, yeah, it's really, truly what you, if you can live by these four principles, you're good to go. So back to the question about what advice we can give some new agents. So I just, as you guys were chatting, I just did some quick numbers, just strictly talking about volume. The jump from 2020 to 2021 was 30 percent

and volume of sales if you don't mind putting slide one back up again jude i'd appreciate it we went from 1940 to 25 24. if you take a look at that slide it's this huge jump right and then from 2021 to now it's this been this gentle it's been this steady slide down. We flattened out a little bit between 23 and 24, which may be a great sign. But here's the deal. If you got into the business somewhere between 2020 and 2022, look for somebody who's been in the business since 2016 and before. Somebody generally with a little bit of gray hair. I think that's a very good advice. How was it done there? Because when you, back to your turkey, can fly in the wind. Turkey can fly in a hurricane.

In a hurricane, thank you. Back in 2021, transactions are difficult, transactions are hard, but it wasn't that hard. It was like falling off of a log. It's not that hard to do, right? But now it's difficult, and you have to take time to communicate with your client and talk to your client

and make sure you understand what their needs are. And you have to ask the hard questions. And some people don't like asking tough questions, but you've got to ask the tough questions. And some people don't like asking tough questions, but you've got to ask the tough questions. And each tough question is different, right, based on what your seller's goals and objectives are and your buyer's goals and objectives are. But you've got to be able to have that. Plus an education. I mean, you have to really be prepared to educate, right, Because there's so much misinformation out there here at the moment

that you really need to educate more than inform because there's a lot of misinformation out there. And calm the storm by really trying to focus on, so what are you trying to go ahead and achieve? What is your goal? How can we help to get there? But this is a very good analogy to go ahead and lean into

the experience of what seven years eight years if you count the full six months it's nine six month blocks but I just looked at it it's 1120 fantastic show master class Yoni you gotta come back love it I can talk about patriotism

anytime you want me to. We love having you on the show. Thank you. But you did awfully good on the real estate stuff. Great on everything. People really like to hear what you say. It's kind of like E.F. Hutton. When Yonah speaks, people listen.

Yonah Smith. At least I do. Oh, my God. Supervising broker of Yes Realty Partners. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Enjoy the weekend. Keith Smith, executive producer of Real Talk with Keith Smith. Both of them are trusted advisors in the game we

call real estate and folks that you should certainly reach out to to help you buy and sell a house, guys. Thank you. Don't give up on this country. That's all I'm saying, guys. Love this country as much as you can. You can give it. That's all. Yes. I'm sorry. It's okay, Mrs. Smith. Next Friday, Greg Slater and Dave Norris. Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah. They're going to join us. They're going to want to talk a little bit about the Charlottesville Association and Realtors Foundation, but don't tell them we're going to pivot to real estate.

Dave Norris and Greg Slater. That's a big show. Real Talk with Keith Smith, Archive, wherever you guys get your podcasting and social media content. Judah Wittkower behind the camera. We appreciate you watching and listening to the show. Ladies and gentlemen, stay cool out there. Yes. Steve will show up at

12.30 p.m. So long, everybody. Have a good day. Take care. Thanks, Shaxi. I love you. I'm still off.