The Ramsey Show - App - How Figure Out a Fair Price When Selling a Business (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 9, 2018

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Open phones this hour at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour in Casper, Wyoming, is Shell. Hi, Shell. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you, sir.

It's a pleasure and honor to talk to you. You too, sir. How can I help? Well, long story short, I just recently woke up one morning divorced, and I had a piece of property in another state in Idaho that was jointly owned by us that I got in the divorce, and I sold it. Again, trying to follow your program and get out of debt, I owed about $300,000 on it, and I dumped it, and I made about $38,000 on it.

But when I spoke to my accountant about it, he told me that with my wage and the way everything worked out, that I'm going to probably owe somewhere around $50,000 to $55,000 in taxes next year. So I'm wondering if you have any ideas on how to minimize that damage. No. I don't understand how you made $38,000 and you have taxes of $55,000. That must not all be related to that property. No, it was called a stupid tax before I started listening to you.

It was a home equity line of credit on the thing. And the last time we lived in it was in 2008. So I couldn't just roll that, according to my account, I couldn't just roll that over and reinvest it, that I have to pay taxes on it. That's true, but you made a profit that caused taxes of $55,000 on this one property? Combined with my, what he did was he ran it against my my uh taxes from last year and okay okay wait a minute stop you have an extra fifty five thousand dollar tax bill due only to the sale of this property is that what you're saying no no what i'm saying is i made an extra thirty five thousand dollars last year and that bumps me up into another tax bracket that now i have to pay fifty five thousand

dollars what is your income um i make writer just just shy of 100k okay this is the these numbers don't work okay that's absolutely absurd okay so here's the thing there is no 55 tax bracket where you make 100 grand or on 38 000 that would have been long-term capital gains if your profit on that property was000, your taxes on that would be more like $6,000, not $55,000. And your taxes on $100,000 income are not anywhere near $55,000. They'd be more like $15,000 or $20,000. Okay. So your tax bill on $100,000 personal income and $38,000 gain on a piece of property should be more like half of what you're saying it is. Okay.

I mean, I don't even do taxes, and I know that. So this guy's, I mean, this doesn't, the numbers are giving me completely illogical. What did the house sell for? $350,000. Okay. And what did you pay for it originally? $109,000, probably $50,000, $60,000, something like that. I bought it a long time ago, so I don't quite remember.

Okay. And how long had it been rented? About three years. Okay. Okay, so you had a $150,000 gain on that property then. If you sold it for $350,000. But you had borrowed some of it out in advance, and that's why you only put $38,000 in your pocket. Now that's starting to make a little more sense.

Yeah, I had a $150,000 home equity line of credit on that thing. Yeah, that you put in your pocket at some point in the past. Yeah, a long time ago. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So your taxes on that are not – I thought you had a $38,000 gain. You had $38,000 in your pocket, but it looks like you've got more like a $150,000 gain, $350,000 minus $200,000. Are you following me? Yeah, yeah.

That's your gain. Taxes on that would be more like $25,000, and then your other taxes could be. So now that's starting to make a little bit more sense. Okay. So now you owe $55,000, but you've already got taxes being withheld, do you not, on your $100,000 income? Oh, yeah, of course. Okay. Yeah, of course.

And so you're not going to owe, in addition to what's being withheld, $55,000. You're going to owe $25,000 in addition to what's being withheld. And you got $38,000 in your PAN, didn't you? Yes, I did. Do you still have that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I took that and um it's sitting in a bank account right now good you're gonna need it for taxes you're gonna need it for taxes most of that is going to go to your tax bill because you're going to need about 25 of that for taxes and 20

or 30 and 25 or 30 is going to be withheld on your $100,000 income, and so that should cover you. But you're not going to need $55,000 out of pocket in taxes. You should have $25,000 or $30,000 withheld on you. Yeah, right. So you've got the money to pay your taxes out of this. So what you need to do is come up with a calculation with your tax guy. Now that I'm back on the page with him, I was getting ready to fire him a minute ago, but now that I caught back up with where he's getting there, sit down with him and go,

okay, based on what I've withheld, how much do I need to prepare to pay extra above my withholding when I file my taxes on April 15th. He gives you that number. That number carves out of your $38,000. The difference is all you've got to work with towards your baby steps then. So you're not in trouble. You've got the money to pay your taxes. That's the good news. The bad news is you've just gone through a a mess and i'm sorry that that all happened but you already spent your profits out of this house when you took the home equity loan

years ago most of them and that's why you're getting tax bill almost as high as you got a check from the closing which usually would not be the case but you spent your profits you borrowed the equity out of the house earlier and that back when you took that home equity loan out. And that's why the math calculation was going bonkers in my brain a minute ago. So good question, man. Thank you for joining us. Open phones this hour as we talk about your life and your money. It is a free call at 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. If you do have tax problems or tax questions, we have endorsed local providers, ELP, people that we endorse that are local in your area, and they can provide you with help. One of the kinds of help that we provide or that we recommend that they provide is getting your taxes done right. So you can get a tax ELP in your area by clicking on taxELP at DaveRamsey.com. And it's a person that we have vetted and feel good about endorsing for you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know, statistically, when it comes to life insurance and protecting your family, that women are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than men? This doesn't make any sense.

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Hi there, Dave. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, just so you know, we are debt-free, and I am currently a coordinator for FPU. But my husband and I are in the process of selling our business and would like some advice on the best way to sell it. We've just signed non-disclosure forms, and we've given them our financials. And we're just not, we're scared to death.

We really are. We've had this business all of our married life, and we want to retire and spend time with the grandkids. Like you, I'm very aware of how much you like your grandkids. We want to spend more time with our family. Good. So how much is it selling for? Is it priced?

Well, it's been verbally priced. Verbally agreed to? No, not agreed to. He kind of gave us a ballpark figure. Oh, he gave you an offer? Okay. Yeah. What was the offer?

It's a national company. How much is the offer? Approximately $2.5 million. Phenomenal. Way to go. Thank you. I love it. I sure hope this closes.

So what's your question? Well, how do we know that that's a fair price? What is your net profit? Of course, my husband took all the paperwork from me today. I've been trying for several days to call, but I believe it was last year was, oh, probably close to a million dollars. Okay. If you want to make 20, if your net profit after paying the manager and paying not the owner, but paying the manager,

and you guys are working in this, so you would reduce the million by the amount that you pay yourself, okay? Okay. If I wanted to own it as an absentee owner, what would be my net profit after I paid people to do the work you're doing? You follow me? Then it might be like $750, okay? Okay. I'm just going to make up a number let's say we paid paid had to pay somebody a hundred and a quarter each and it took two people to replace you two as an example okay okay so let's just use that so if i want to make if i'm

an investor and i want to make 20 on my money it would be five times that number if i want to make 25 on my money before times that number it sounds like this guy has capped it at 25% if he's at two and a half. Okay? Okay. As an absentee owner. Now, somewhere around four to five times your net profit after all managers and people doing the work you used to do are paid. Okay. That net net profit real net profit

okay after i pay wages for everybody to do all the work if i'm an absentee owner i live in nashville the businesses in san francisco somebody's got to run it right that kind of thing okay so four to number is about what it's worth unless you own goods services equipment something in the business that is worth more than that that's called book value so let's just throw a number out let's say you owned equipment that was worth three million dollars we don't we don't it's It's all my husband. I mean, he does everything. I mean, it's all in his head. It's a service we actually provide. I got it. Okay, cool. Is he going to be obligated to continue to work? They said that he could choose. And he knows that he doesn't want to work probably more than three months, but we suggested maybe a case-by-case.

Okay, all right. Just work it out to where they hire us back. To where, well, to make the transition smooth. That's good. Yes. Okay, good. Yeah. All right, yeah.

But the other thing is we have stock, and we were told by somebody, somebody had suggested that we make them or suggest to them to buy the stock from us. Well, that's the only way the transaction will work. Because the company... They prefer not to buy our stock. What do they buy? They want to just give us cash. What do they buy?

Well, they can buy your stock with cash. Because the company is owned by stockholders, and you have to transfer the stock in order for them to become the owner of the company. Okay, so they have to buy it. I don't know of another way to do it, because the company, all the stuff and the services are owned by this company name. That's a corporation. Right.

Okay? And the corporation's stock is owned by you. Okay. And so if they want all the stuff of the company, they have to get the corporation. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah. And the only way to get that is to take the stock.

Because they made it sound like they didn't have to. Well, if they want to just buy some of your services or your rights or something like that, they can do that. That may create a bigger tax problem for you. Okay. In other words, if the corporation sold off all of its stuff to these people, and then the corporation has all this money, then you close the corporation down and put the money in your pocket because you're the owner of the corporation.

That's another way to do it. But then the taxes are... The taxes may be higher a lot higher especially in california yeah you got it you need to get tax detailed in-depth tax advice on the way that transaction goes down and that would affect what you're willing to accept should we hire an attorney also it won't hurt but not to do the negotiation just to help you understand what you're doing. Don't get an attorney between you and a small business buyer. You won't get the deal done. You guys make the deal.

It's not a small business buyer. It's a huge national company. Their legal firm is going to look over everything. Your legal firm looks over everything. But you can't hand this off to somebody else to do. You can bring in, in the multitude of counsel, there's safety. So you get tax advice, you get legal advice, and you make the decision. Okay.

You understand the tax advice, you understand the legal advice, and based on all of that, you make your decision. That's what lawyers are for. Is there a way to eliminate some of the taxes by opening up a foundation uh it's not what you want my husband and i want to do it's not what you want to do now as he goes on mission trips it's not what you want to do now no the only the only thing you can do with the foundation is if you make it a 501c you can can make donations to the foundation that are tax deductible. But you could do that later. Okay.

You know, it's not that big a deal. It doesn't have to be part of this whole process. If you want to do it, if you want to set one up, but I wouldn't recommend you throw all of this money into a foundation right now. I think you guys need to get settled and let the dust settle on your life first and then do your foundation work and your charitable giving later as your life is unpacked

and you know what you're going to do. Because $2.5 million could go away very quickly if you're not real careful on how you handle it. Well, that's why I wanted to run this by you because we just wanted to be able to take this, you know, the cash the best way. Now, they're offering you. With the least amount of taxation. As far as you know, they're offering you cash, period.

Cash, yes. Okay. Not stock and not a finance deal. Nope. Uh-uh. Okay. That's valuable. The cash on the barrel head is valuable because it's a clean break for you.

You're not tied back into them, and then they go screw up stuff, and you end up with a stock that goes down in value or something like that okay so that's that's a very nice offer to have a cash solid liquid offer on this thing way to go congratulations you work your whole life building up your little business and sell it for two and a half million that's a nice lick. Well done. So proud of you guys. Yeah, get a lawyer, a business lawyer, and get you a tax person in your corner to advise you in the multitude of counsel their safety. And then they teach you what all the implications are of each type of offer, kinds of offer that you get. And then based on that, you can decide whether or not you want to do this deal. But this sounds like it's very attractive on the surface, very exciting for you,

very proud for you. Congratulations. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Gina follows me on Facebook. My advisor recommended annually renewable term life insurance. What do you think? I think you need a new advisor. Annual renewable term life insurance. What do you think? I think you need a new advisor. Annual renewable term life insurance is the most expensive way to buy term insurance. The least expensive way would be 15 to 20 year level term, assuming you need it for 15 to 20 year level term.

The only way you would buy annual renewable term is if you only have a one year need for life insurance. But otherwise, it's too expensive. You're much better off to go another direction. And just check ZanderInsurance.com. You'll see what I'm talking about. You can get a quick, easy quote there. That's who we recommend. This is the Dave budget each month. Pure Talk USA offers smarter wireless with unlimited plans starting as low as $20 per month. You never pay data overage fees and we never turn off your data. No contracts, no hidden fees.

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Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Crested Butte, Colorado. Oh, rough life. Oh, what a beautiful place. Yeah, we like it. Yeah, we ski out there most every winter. We love it. Very nice. Cool. Well, what a beautiful place. Yeah, we like it. Yeah, we ski out there most every winter. We love it. Very nice. Cool. Welcome to Nashville and all the way over from the

other side of the Continental Divide to do your debt-free scream. Yes, sir. Love it. How much have you paid off? $80,000. Yay. How long did that take? About two years. Good for you. The last year and a half was the intense part. Gotcha. And what was the range of income during that two years? Started out just a little under $80,000, and then with extra jobs and some promotions, about $100,000. Cool. What do you all do for a living?

I'm general manager of a restaurant in town. And I'm a dental assistant. Cool. Which restaurant? Bones Tequila Bar and Grill. Yeah. Been there. Awesome. Been there. Very cool. Neat place. Yeah. Got a cool vibe. I love it. All right. Fun. Well, I'll check on you next time I'm there then. Yes, sir. All right. So $80,000 paid off. What kind of debt was that? It was my truck loan and our mortgage. Cool. Very cool.

Truck and a mortgage. You paid off your house? Yes, sir. You paid off your house? How old are you two? I'm 29. Yep, I'm 36. I'm looking at weird people.

You have a paid for house. That's freaky. Yeah. You know how freaky that is, right? It feels so good. I bet it does. I bet it does. Way to go, you guys wow impressive your

house and your truck very good so what happened tell me the story on this two-year journey what was going on sure yeah so we've lived in the mountains for about six years and we were very normal happy ski bums living paycheck to paycheck and money coming in, money going out. And then three years ago, we had our son, Bo. And before we decided to get our act together, we realized or thought that we needed to get a bigger house and buy a brand new truck and all these other things. And then about two years ago, we started crunching the numbers and realized it wasn't going to work. And if we were going to stay in the mountains, we needed to make some changes. And it was going okay. We thought we had a plan and we just weren't making

the progress that we thought. And then about a year and a half ago, Katie came home and told me about this Financial Peace University class that was going on in town. And I said, let's do it. Yeah, our town's of 1,000 people, and having a few classes there was amazing. Yeah, very cool. Life-changing for sure. So local church did it or what? Very cool.

Which church? The Union Congregational downtown. Very nice. Fun. So you guys just jump into the class. Yeah. We would bring Bo and bring snacks for him, and he would just play every Tuesday night. Cool.

Very cool. So what was the big thing that going to the class, what was your big takeaway that caused you to be able to pay off your house and your truck in two years? Just understanding that we had to be on the same page. You know, Katie had some ideas and thoughts about how to get out of debt, and I had some, and realizing it wasn't going to work unless we had a written budget, like you said, and being on the exact same page

and being able to have goals and look towards the future instead of to the weekend. Yeah, and just being honest with each other, like not hiding what I bought that day at the grocery store, just having it all written out. And it helped our marriage. It made us so much stronger, for sure. There's a cleanliness, an emotional cleanliness to that, isn't there?

Yeah. That everything's on the table. And it does draw you closer because it's a different level of honesty. Yeah, intimacy. Very well done, you two. Thanks. Very cool. So what do you tell people when they say, how'd you do that, man?

Y'all aren't old enough to have a paid-for house. What do you mean you got a paid-for house? How'd you do that? What do you tell them the key to getting out of debt is? I think, yeah, getting started today and working together and laying it all out on the table and being honest, like Katie said, and going forward, but going forward together. Katie? Yeah, and I just think a lot of people just buy into the things that they want and just show off and be flashy about. And it's so, it feels so good just to tell people, like, you don't need those things to be happy in life.

And it just connects us so much better. And we're so excited about our future and retirement now. And we have a plan. And I don't know, it's just, it's awesome. Yeah. Changes everything for Bo. Yeah. Yeah.

Very cool. Well done, you two. Very well done. How does it feel to have no payments in the world? It's weird. Yeah. Yeah. This trip just kind of came out of nowhere.

Katie said, hey, what do you think about going to Nashville? And my parents happened to be in town on that weekend. And I said, okay, let's do it, and just knowing that, like, you know, it's in the budget. We paid cash to get here. Yeah. And not have to worry about. So your mom and dad are here.

Yes, sir. All right. So were they cheering you on along the way, or were they just looking at you like you lost your mind? No, they were very supportive. Cool. Cool. Do you have more cheerleaders in your life or more detractors while you were doing this?

Yeah, definitely more cheerleaders as far as our friends. But living in the mountains with a lot of the younger, the ski bum crowd that we're friends with, a lot of them didn't necessarily get it at first, but it's a lot of fun to show them how we still have fun and work towards the future at the same time. Yeah. Well, I mean, you don't have any payments. You can do whatever you want. Right.

I mean, you can do anything now. I mean, you're sitting here looking at an $80,000, $100,000 income and no payments. Oh, my gosh. That's amazing. Well, very well done, you two. Very proud of you. Thank you. Thank you.

Great job. Great job. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired, the number one bestseller. Thank you. That's your next chapter now in your story, and that's become millionaires. And outrageously generous along the way. You have changed your family tree. Yes, sir.

If you play through and don't revert back, yeah. You really have changed your family tree. Very well done. Good for you. Very well done. All right, so Bo is how old? He's three and a half. He'll be four in February.

Oh, that's a perfect age for debt-free screaming. I love it. Very good. All right. Well, it's Scott, Katie, and Bo from Crested Butte, Colorado. $80,000 paid off in one and a half to two years. Well, most of it in one and a half, making 80 to 100. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Love it! Love it, love it, love it. You know that we post all of these debt-free screams on YouTube, right? And so you can go to the Dave Ramsey Show YouTube channel and just watch debt-free screams for hours. Because they're on there.

And you'll start to see some recurring themes, won't you? But there's one that's just under the surface, and if you don't look for it, you might miss it. Here's a recurring theme that's always under the surface. When you hear their story, when I ask them, what happened two years ago? What happened 34 months ago? What happened 24 months ago? What happened 37 months ago?

When you started this journey, what happened? If you'll listen as you watch a debt-free scream on YouTube or you listen to them here on the air live when we're doing them, you'll always hear this moment occurred. Something happened that caused them to say, enough. Enough. I've had it. We're not living like this anymore. Enough.

I've had it. We're not living like this anymore. Now, they don't always use exactly those words, but you always hear there's this apex of frustration. They always get to, we always get to, when we are going to change our lives, we always get to a point of disgust, frustration, angst, stress, anger. Something happens, and it peaks, and at the moment it peaks, a person that's going to change their life makes a decision. They decide.

They decide. I don't decide. The government doesn't decide. A program doesn't decide. They decide. I'm changing. I've had it. That's the beginning of somebody changing their life right there.

And you get to decide that today. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. Leisha is with us in Chicago, Illinois. Hi, Leisha. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm fine. Thank you very much. Sure. What's up? My question is, okay, I'm a retired military. And when I retired in 2015, I made the mistake of purchasing an acre of land in Texas, in the Hill Country. I paid $85,000 for an acre of land, and now I find that I don't really want to live there. So I'm trying to figure out what I should do with the land.

Have you got it for sale? I've tried to have it for sale, but the most I could probably get for it is maybe $60,000. Why? Why has it gone down in value? Because that's what the real estate agents are telling me the market will bear. Is it paid for? Almost, yes. I think I owe them about maybe $20,000.

Okay. All right. Well, I would probably double-check that information. Apparently, you bought it at the wrong time or you paid too much for it, right? Well, that's what the going rate was. I mean, even now they're still selling land for that amount. It's in like a subdivision. Okay, that doesn't make sense.

You just told me the going rate was $60,000, then you told me the going rate is $85,000. Which is it? No, if I were to buy that acre of land from the developer, I would have to pay $85,000 for it. But if I want to sell the land, they said that the most I could probably get for it is about $60,000. Because you're competing with the developer? Yes.

Hmm. So there's a lot of land there. Yes. And I didn't realize that when I purchased the land. I finally retired, and I just wanted to buy something. It's kind of a resort area? Yes. It's in the hill country.

Yeah. Well, I mean, there's stuff in the hill country that is resort and stuff that isn't. Yeah. But this is a resort-type community is what you're you've bought into it sounds like yes um sounds like you lost money sell it for 60 okay or whatever i mean if you can i'm going to double check with some other real estate agents i mean if you want to get in touch with one of our endorsed local providers for real estate, ELP at DaveRamsey.com. They're in that market.

They can tell you what they think. And check with one of them before you make this decision to sell it for that price. But what you're describing to me does not seem illogical. I think it's possible. Sounds a little cheap. I mean, it might be $70 instead of $85 instead of $60 instead of $85 in order to attract someone to your lot versus all the marketing dollars that the developer is spending to sell his lots. You've got to get somebody's attention is what it amounts to, and that may involve finding a real estate agent that actually works that market, knows that market, has a client base for that market, if there's such a thing.

Some of these resort things are so overbuilt and overprogrammed that it's very difficult to make money on them. But if at the end of the day, when you've checked it with an endorsed local provider, you still find that the property is only worth $60, that's all you can put it on the market for, all you can expect to sell it for, I'd sell it. Because it sounds like it's going to be years before it's worth $85,000. Years and years and years. I'd get my money out of there and put it in something else if I were in that situation. I'd take my lumps.

Thank you for calling in. We appreciate you joining us. You know, here's what's interesting about the real estate market today. Not that lot, but most houses in most cities. The real estate market is hot. I mean, it's hot in most cities. Some areas, it's just white hot.

I mean, prices are going up. House sales real fast now, right? And you know the problem with that when things are going really really good like that it can put a mask over stupid you can do some stupid stuff and a hot market will help you overcome it now that's not the case in her situation her situation she just is where she is but i'm talking about if you got a house you're thinking about selling, you could put that house up for sale. It'd sell really fast, and you'd think, oh, I saved a commission.

Oh, I saved a commission. Oh, look at that. I saved a commission. You know, a monkey can sell a house right now. Hoo-hoo. Here's the kitchen. Hoo-hoo. That's the bathroom.

A monkey can sell a house right now. There's some monkeys out there with real estate licenses right now. There's a few of them. There are people that have sold one house two house they never got they only get in the business when when it's easy to do it's easy to do right now here's the problem though you're dealing with a two hundred thousand three hundred thousand dollar transaction you know $300,000 transaction. You know, if you make a 5% mistake on $200,000, that's $10,000. A monkey could make that mistake. I mean, any idiot can sell a house right now. An idiot can make that mistake.

You could sell it yourself, and you could be that idiot that made your mistake. You could sell it yourself and you could be that idiot that made your mistake. If you make a mistake in the transaction that's only 5%, that's a very slight mistake. That's $10,000. Put $10,000 in the middle of your kitchen table and sit there and look at it a minute. Go, hmm, look at that. People always ask, Dave, why do you endorse realtors? Why don't you save the commission? Because you don't save the commission, dube. Here's what the actual data tells us. I've been in the real estate business since I was 18 years old.

Here's what the data tells us. Number one, if you put a for sale sign in the yard yourself, we call that in the business a for sale by owner, a FSBO, F-S-B-O, you think you're going to save the 6% commission. But guess what? Johnny Buyer comes up, and instead of going to the house next door that's listed with a real estate agent, he comes to your house. You know why Johnny Buyer came to your house?

Because of your crappy little sign. He thought he was going to get the house cheaper since you are saving the commission. You put that crappy little sign out there because you thought you were going to save the commission. You know you both can't save the same commission. And what ends up happening is you negotiate away part of the commission. Or a real estate agent comes up, knocks on your door and says, Hey, I have a buyer. Would you pay me the seller's portion or the buyer's portion of the commission, 3% of the 6?

And you say, Sure. And you think you made the 3 back. Not on average. You have absolutely no representation and you don't know what the flip you're doing. But you sold a house because it's a hot market out there, and any idiot or monkey can sell a house. But you made a 5% error, a 7% error. It costs you $10,000. It costs you $20,000.

This is what the data tells us. The data tells us that if you list a home with a high-quality real estate agent, not an idiot, not a monkey, not somebody that just got in the business because anybody can sell a house, but somebody that knows what they're doing, when you list a house with a high-quality real estate agent, not an idiot, not a monkey, not somebody that just got in the business because anybody can sell a house, but somebody that knows what they're doing. When you list a house with a high-quality real estate agent, the house sells for more than enough to cover the commission, more than the FSBO would sell for. That's the data. In other words, the representation that you get and the commission that you pay is free

because the house will sell for that much more. And a super high-quality agent, like one of our endorsed local providers that we vet out. These are people who sell 50 houses a year, 100 houses a year, 300 houses a year, whatever. These are not idiots. These are not monkeys. These are the best of the best. This is the cream of the crop. They're going to get even more for the house because they know how to help you get it on the market right. And guess what?

It's going to sell really fast because they know exactly what they're doing. Oh, and in the negotiation, you're not going to negotiate away some little three words in the contract that cost you $3,000 because you didn't know what it meant. There's a reason that you pay for expertise. There's a reason you don't remove your own kidney at least most of you because you use a professional to do it because when you remove your own kidney you do all kinds of damage there's a reason you don't you know do your own whatever right you hire a professional

right and that's what you do in the real estate business. That's why I am very proud to continue to say real estate agents that really know their stuff are worth every dollar that you pay them. They make you that much more. It sells faster, has a higher likelihood of selling, period. It sells for more. And you don't make stupid mistakes negotiating the closing costs and the nuances of the deal because you don't know what the flip you're doing. And don't be an idiot or a monkey. And don't hire an idiot or a monkey.

Get a professional. See, that's why we have these endorsed local providers, ELPs for real estate. Check that at DaveRamsey.com if you're thinking about buying a house or selling a house. I really believe it's the right thing to do. I really, really believe it. I really, really believe it. Yes, I do. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, guys. It's Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's up, but you'll find more on our YouTube channel, where we have over 6 million YouTube views each month. You can find debt-free screens, millionaire hour clips, Dave rants, and so much more. Go check it out.