Baez Real Estate Podcast

Episode 35 A First-Time Buyer Walks Through Negotiation, Financing, And Full Renovation

• Alex Baez / Hidey Baez

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What does it really take to buy your first property at 23—and then rip it down to the studs without losing your mind or your budget? We walk through the entire arc: prospecting to find a motivated seller, negotiating below market based on real condition, wrangling a 1099 mortgage file, and keeping the deal tight through appraisal, clean title, and insurance. No gloss, no fluff—just the practical steps and honest math that got the keys.

Chris breaks down how transparency with the seller set the tone for a fair price, why the appraisal mattered more than opinions, and how a clean title kept the path clear. Then we get into the renovation: day-one demolition, the shock of trash and hauling costs, the pileup of materials from Home Depot, and the quiet budget killers hiding in fixtures, hardware, and labor hours. We compare contractor bids, explain how to weigh price against proven quality, and share the checks that prevent scope creep and change-order chaos.

Along the way, we talk financing strategy for independent contractors, the tradeoffs of using debit versus stacking credit card rewards, and the importance of building a realistic renovation budget before making an offer. The theme is simple: the first deal hurts the most, but it also teaches the most. By the end, you’ll know how to de-risk your search, negotiate with facts, protect yourself with title and inspections, and move fast when opportunity aligns. If you’re mapping your first purchase—or your first flip—this story gives you a workable blueprint and the mindset to repeat it.

If this helped you take the next step toward ownership, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review so more first-time buyers can find it.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome everyone to the Buys Real Estate Podcast. We actually changed the name from Swit Up with bias to the Buy's Real Estate podcast because some people were getting confused where to find this, Ray, and what the name was. So we have by popular demand, we changed it to just the buyers real estate podcast. What do you think about that, Chris?

SPEAKER_01:

It's actually better.

SPEAKER_00:

Make it more simpler. Yeah. Also, back in the podcast. That's right. Oh my god, Chris. A lot has happened since last time, man. I don't know. Where was the last time I was in the podcast? I'm not too sure. I honestly am not too sure. I think we might have been talking about baseball or something.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, it's probably the posties here. Yankees. They're the worst, but that's for another day.

SPEAKER_00:

That's for another day. This whole podcast is going to be dedicated to you, and you know why. Oh, yes. I just bought my first property. Dude, congratulations, man. And how old are you? I'm 23. 23. 22. Yeah, that's right. Correction from last time's podcast. Chris is not 21 or 22, he's 23. So still incredibly young. Incredibly young. I gotta say, man, you don't see a lot of 23-year-olds buying their first home. Oh no. Yeah. LeBron Jeans number 23. There you go, man. Yeah, I mean, wow, look at that, man. Ah, man. The amount of respect I have for you, man. So young. Just bought your first condo. And look at you, man. Look at you. My first question was gonna be how did you find this home?

SPEAKER_01:

It was a long journey, I'll say. Usually we do prospecting, right? But that's not for personal uh prospect. It's usually for maybe a client's looking for something, or just prospecting the area just to gain more business, or telling other people that you're a real estate agent. Eventually we did reach to a person that were interested in selling, right? And from there we spoke to the sellers, and then once we scheduled for a meeting, from there we saw the conditions of the place and it needed a lot of work. Yeah. Oh yes. How how how much work? It needed the kitchen needs to be brand new, the bathroom needs to be brand new, as well as the floor. Basically, the entire condo needed brand new.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, okay. So like a complete gut renovation of everything, absolutely everything. Wow. And the owner knew about this? Like, she did. And what was she? Was she asking market price or at first?

SPEAKER_01:

She was asking for marketplace, market price. The thing is, she wasn't living there, she was living in another state. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00:

And what state is that? Florida? Florida. Of course, Florida. You ever get a vacancy in New York of a home, right? There are 80% chance they're gonna be still in New York or in Florida.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Florida. It's because the weather is it's hot.

SPEAKER_00:

Everyone loves Florida. I feel like for every transaction we get here in New York, there's like 10 transactions in Florida. Who wants to be in New York in the cold? Oh, yeah. Look at you, man. You have your hat on. I'm feeling a little sick. Yeah, it's the worst. You won't see it in this podcast, but Chris is constantly coughing. But we're gonna be editing that out because it's just been so cold. It's very bad. Yeah, it's so bad. And hit a like if you're also feeling incredibly cold. Oh yes, please support the podcast like that if you can relate. But yeah, man, wow. So you were doing general prospecting and you found this buyer. She wanted market value for a beat up property, but then basically you saw how much it needed in work and you started negotiating with her.

SPEAKER_01:

That's yeah. So once I saw it from there, we did disclose that it's for my purposes to purchase the condo because you have to disclose if you're buying the property for yourself. So before we even negotiate, I did and Alex, we did tell her that we're buying this for ourselves, which she completely understands. It did take a while to negotiate just because she wanted market value on her place. But once we show her the comms, the conditions, everything, then she came to realize, like, okay, I won't get market value for my place.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And I mean, she just has it laying around, not really doing anything.

SPEAKER_01:

So no, no, and that's the reason she was interested in selling, because she's not living there no more. She's living in Florida. Gotcha. She wasn't even renting it out, like not at all.

SPEAKER_00:

It was just sitting there, as just collecting dust, dust, getting worse and worse condition and stuff. So yeah, you had a motivated seller there saying, Yeah, if I could just get rid of this for a good price, and that's it. And how long did it take to negotiate the price?

SPEAKER_01:

It took one to two weeks, I'll say, to negotiate.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And then from there we signed contracts. Awesome, man. So con wow, you guys did that pretty fast.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, it was pretty fast. She was motivated to sell, and also we show her the the facts.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, exactly. You always gotta go in with facts and kind of like say, like, this is how I ride to this number. Like, come on, let's make it happen. Yeah, we both want this, you know. And from there, you started the loan process. Oh, yes. Loan process.

SPEAKER_01:

Don't be scared of those documents you're sending.

SPEAKER_00:

What documents did you have to send?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, we had to send her basic uh the uh bank statements as well as your 1090 1099 form.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's because you're an independent contractor?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, that's why you got your credit score and then some other copper documents you have to send her.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you had to send even more documents because you're not W 2. No, yeah. So for W 2, it's more like it's more stable. Like you know exactly what you're getting in and out every month. For an independent contractor like yourself, it varies, right? Like one year you can be making 15,000, the next year you can be making like a hundred thousand.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm sure Heidi and her team have like a way of averaging those to kind of like see how much you qualify for. But um, yeah, I know that they probably asked you for a lot more documents and stuff than a W-2. And how was that process of the loan? Like, once you got the offer accepted, you you um accept those contracts?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so once we sign the contracts, we order the appraisal. Basically, the appraisal it gives their their own opinion, what is worth of the place, yeah. And as well, we order title to see if a title is clean, which it was clean, and also the uh appraisal came in very well. They actual conditions, and basically uh what we submitted is what it went, you know, went through with the deal.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, absolutely the appraisal came back good, so there was no having to negotiate further in price and stuff because sometimes when there's a gap and it's like it comes at a lower price, then it gets it gets a little heavy because then the seller's gonna think, oh, you're ripping me off.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, this and that you're getting a good deal.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, exactly. But it's like what the bank values the property at it's not the thing that you can control, yeah. So I get you, and then you have to get insurance, home insurance, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

You definitely gotta see what's included in the the plans, that's what who gives you the best uh rates, yeah. On an insurance, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like you said, you have to go over that with your attorney, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

Mostly it goes to Heidi.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it goes to Heidi. Because I know a lot of the time when we're doing transactions and stuff, they'll be the ones who recommend like home insurance, like either them or the attorney.

SPEAKER_01:

But um the attorney does the the check the title.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, checks the title, makes sure it's everything is clean, and that's why your agent usually sends in like clear one of the conditions being clear title. I mean, yeah, clean title. And if any violations and stuff pop up, you're obligated, you can step away if you know there's uh violations and stuff that are not taken care of.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you never buy a house that has violations, yeah. Unless it's a good deal, and uh you're open to to clear those violations and go ahead. But if it's your first time buying a house, never ever buy a house.

SPEAKER_00:

Unless you're very confident in in closing out those things at your own risk, you know? Because it could still be a good deal, right? It's just like the headache of going with departments and some stuff, because sometimes depending on the depending on the county that you're in, right? It can be a hit or miss with the department of buildings and all of that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Oh yes. Right. It could be a long journey, long headache as well. You're gonna spend a lot of money.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah. Oh yes. You gotta make sure everything is up to code, and if it's not, then they gotta do a reinspection. You gotta waste more money on fixing things, and hopefully, when they come back the next time, they come back at a reasonable time and not delay it for god knows how long. Uh so you really want to make sure that honestly, it comes out with a clean title, so you don't have to worry about that. But yeah, once you once you went to the closing table, you have to sign a lot of documents. There was a lot of documents you have to sign.

SPEAKER_01:

Mostly it was with the loan. You had to uh do your signature. There's a lot of signature that my hands did get uh it was a little uh hurt, tired. Yeah, but yeah, you were signing fatigue. A lot of a lot of signatures you have to write down. Well, also it was uh it was feeling great that day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, man. I mean uh a homeowner, dude. I did everyone look at you kind of like wait, this is the uh this is the homeowner? One person that or two people, yeah, that was living the late. Who were they? What were the uh were was it the other attorney, the soul is attorney?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, and who else? And I think it's the uh probably, I don't remember. It's been a while, yeah. It's been a while, but yeah, it was it was one of them two that saw me like, are you buying the house? I was like, Oh yes, yes, ma'am my first my first condo, and hopefully uh more come, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

That's inspirational. Yeah, so this is not gonna be your only one, you're gonna keep going.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the go.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but you're gonna keep this one, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I'm keeping this forever.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, you're keeping this forever? Well, you say that now, but then once you have your wife, your kids, and all that, you know, you might want to get a little bit more something more bigger, yeah. But yeah, you can always rent this out later on.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yes, that is that is also true. Um because I want to do uh you know real estate, my entire yeah, it's your passion. That's why I want to buy properties to do flips, flips as well to rent as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Long-term rentals. Yeah, no, I mean that's the dream, right? You get into real estate, there's so many opportunities that you want to take advantage of it, especially since you're learning the ins and outs. And you're like, you know what? This is just a beginning. Buying this condo is just like the beginning, stepping stones. Now that I have a place that you know I don't have to worry about rent going crazy and stuff like that. Now I can start focusing on putting my money to work for me and other assets on other real estate projects and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, man, proud of you. Can't wait for those days as well. Yeah, they what they say, they say the first one is always the hardest, the hardest was to get.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. Because you don't you just don't know, right? But once you get in there, now you have an idea of how things work. Now you're a homeowner, and now for future people that you're kind of working with, you're like, I know how this works. Because I'm a homeowner. It's one thing to kind of like learn about it and stuff, like through books and through others, but it's a different, it's different, different type of knowledge once you start being a homeowner. Yeah. But yeah, man, after you closed on the on the deal, right? I know that you said it needed a gut renovation.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yes, it needed uh a lot, I'll say. So once we closed the next day, I think the first two or three days, we had to demolish almost everything. The doors, the cabinets, the tiles of the bathroom, the toilet we had to remove, the tub, the entire basically everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Everything. Everything. Oh my goodness, and my goodness. I know you were talking about coats and stuff. You and Alex were talking about coats, like one of them was double the price of the other ones, and then one was in the middle, but then you guys chose the one at the bottom because he looked like he was humble and he looked like he was gonna do a good job. And from what I saw in the pictures, he did an amazing job.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he did a great job. We posting a little story, yeah. As well, I'm gonna do uh a TikTok video.

SPEAKER_00:

You're gonna do a TikTok video? The whole journey. Yeah, you should have him in there, y'all. Say, there's the guy right here. Oh no, yeah, yeah, that'll do all the props to that person. Oh my god, they saved you so much money. And you were telling me that um, you know, all the little costs had up.

unknown:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't see that until I did all the numbers on the renovations, and I saw, oh, one bill is this, or another bill's that. Oh, it just keeps going. So right, it's like a long paper. You're like, oh my god, it's still going. It's still going. I didn't even realize there was that that much until I did the numbers today. And you're still like adding up more costs and costs. Oh, yeah. I'm not we almost halfway done. So uh it's probably gonna be another double or say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and what what comes in the into the cost? It's it's the materials and then the labor. Yeah, those two materials and labor.

SPEAKER_01:

Materials is where is is it's more expensive.

SPEAKER_00:

Or Home Depot. Depending on the materials. Like sometimes you want high-end stuff like marble or you get quartz and stuff like that. Yeah, depends on it. Yeah. Also, you're going to Home Depot for materials.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, the standard.

SPEAKER_01:

So, yeah, once we done the mission, our next step was to go to Home Depot to buy the materials. So it could take uh basically it was a whole week of job that we just bought in Home Depot. And that it was pricey, I say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you had to use uh U-Haul, no?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we had to run out of U-Haul to take out the the trash, and then the next day, I think day three, that's when we went to Home Depot to buy the materials.

SPEAKER_00:

I heard that taking out the trash was a lot of money. Yes, yes, it is. How much was it?

SPEAKER_01:

So I think we had two trucks or three trucks, and they were averaging like 250 to$500. And that's just trash. Has that included the U-Haul, you know, the renting of U-Haul? Yeah. As well as labor. Gotcha. Wow, look at that. Yeah, every little thing, right? Every little thing. We'll add up. So you say okay, it's two two two hundred dollars found trick, but we're not including the you-haul and as well as the the labor. Wait, did you drive those U-Haules or what's no no no? I didn't drive it.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I was somewhere else. Gotcha. But let's say if you drove it, you would have saved the hundred dollars. Would you would you have done that?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh no, I'm not I'm not a physical guy. Um I'm a little weak. I'll say that.

SPEAKER_00:

No, dude, you're strong. But man, yeah. Every little thing, every little thing you can think of is just bum.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah. I was I was praying that it didn't get declined. Yeah. And I was in Hope Depot because I never made a purchase that high. What card did you use for that one? Uh Chase. Chase. My debit card. So you use your debit card, not your credit card. No, no, no. My credit card, no. I don't uh my limit's not that high. I don't I don't put my credit card limit that high.

SPEAKER_00:

I wasn't gonna say just open up a new credit card and get the bonus rewards. You know how they say you spend$5,000 and you get$300 back within three months? You could uh you could uh make it try that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's it's already too late. I already bought the materials, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Damn, missed opportunity. But yeah, you could have maxed out all those credit cards and started getting like 300, 200 and all that. And that's yeah, yeah. You were already you were already gonna pay this. Regardless, so it's it's just like a way to like, you know, but it's neither here nor there. But yeah, man, that's the importance of like taking into account how much you're gonna spend in renovations before you submit the offer, too. Because I think you talked to contractors prior to making the offer too, right? And making this to see was the average cost in the ballpark for doing a good job, yeah. And man, they gave you some crazy numbers. But um, one that one did came in clutch with with the lowest price and great quality service. I saw the pictures, man. I saw those pictures, and man, they did a good, good job. You guys, you guys are gonna see what's done. I'm gonna edit it, I'm gonna post it on TikTok. Oh, yeah, absolutely, man. Absolutely. That's amazing. And like you said, this is the beginning. You're gonna start getting more and more properties in the future, hopefully, right? That's the goal. That's the goal. That's the goal. And now, when is this gonna be done? The the renovations? So our aim to go is end of this year, end of this year. Hopefully, and when did you start? We started two weeks ago, three weeks ago, I say. So the total time frame is a month and a half, a month and a couple days, I suppose. Yeah, got you. Wow, that's gonna be amazing, man. They're they're working pretty fast, yeah. Yeah, they're working pretty fast, my goodness. And yeah, once you finish the renovations, maybe you'll hop on another podcast and basically let us know how the renovations went too.

SPEAKER_01:

I'd tell you a whole bunch of stories. What's going on?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, man. Well, Chris, thank you so much, man, for being on the podcast. Now, do you have anything you want to tell the viewers before we end it? Oh, yes. If you see the opportunity and it's meant for you, go for it.

SPEAKER_01:

Don't, don't, don't, don't hesitate.

SPEAKER_00:

100% agree, man. Well, thank you so much, man. And thank you all for listening to this week's episode of the Bias Real Estate Podcast. Bye, guys.