The pandemic sped up the demand for online real estate closings, but are they really safe and credible? 

Electronic Notarization and Notary Enforcement Director at the NC Department of the Secretary of State, Ozie Stallworth, and Real Estate Attorney, Justin Ckezepis unpack the questions around real estate fraud prevention, pandemic closings, and e-closing changes!

On Today’s Real Talk, hosted by Justin Ckezepis, we go over hot topics in today’s real estate market, but we don’t just talk about the problems – we also introduce solutions.

Are there really any affordable health care plans outside of Obama Care in 2021?

This is one question nearly all individuals and businesses, ranging from real estate brokers to seasoned entrepreneurs, ask today.

In Episode Four of Today's Real Talk, Justin goes over this important healthcare and wealth planning topic with The Retirement Wealth Coach® Steven Crawford.

This can make securing health insurance incredibly expensive for individuals and business owners alike.

You can learn more about these solutions at http://www.figwealthadvisors.com.

With everyone at home and online more than ever, we discuss the increasingly important topic of cybersecurity and what you can do to protect your personal and business information. ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍ Learn how to:

1. Protect your home against hackers 
2. How to protect your financial accounts 
3. What social media platforms to avoid to protect your privacy

Our special guest on this episode is John Stengel of JSCM Group, a company that offers security management and testing services designed to help people protect their sensitive information. ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍

Back in 2005, when the housing market started to decline through the main crash in 2008/2009, people started getting loans for properties when they shouldn’t have. Combine that with a slowed job market, and many of these people had to default on their loans. A decade later, while the market has grown significantly, we’re still not in a normal situation, since market inventory is low and there’s a high demand for homes, especially in the $100,000 to $250,000 range. Even ready, willing, and able buyers have to offer more for homes than they’re worth, which makes finding affordable housing a difficult process.

We brought up one solution to this problem by bringing Kelvin Young of KEYO Tiny House onto our show. He builds beautiful, stick-built tiny homes and is driven to do this to bring affordable housing to the marketplace. These homes feature high-end appliances, tankless water heaters, granite surfaces, 16-foot ceilings, and a host of other incredible amenities.

In the second part of Today’s Real Talk Episode 1 podcast, we continue to cover the affordable housing crisis in relation to relaxed land use and zoning rules. We bring back Kevin Young from KEYO Tiny House, as well as Levi Santos from MVB Bank. Levi runs a program that was originally designed for people building custom homes, but today is used for those building a KEYO Tiny House.

Through this program, buyers with a minimum score of 660 can qualify for a mortgage to build a KEYO Tiny House. With this opportunity, they also have the flexibility to build on property where they normally wouldn’t be able to afford to live, like right off of Lake Norman.

We enjoyed talking about what’s going on in the market in terms of affordable housing right now and hope you go ahead and listen to this two episodes in their entirety. Catch us next time on Today’s Real Talk!

Resource Links:

KEYO Tiny House: https://www.keyotinyhouse.com/

Levi Santos with MVB Mortgage: https://lsantos.mvbmortgage.com/

Charlotte Regional REALTOR® Association April 2018 Market Report: https://apps.carolinarealtors.com/files/Local%20Market%20Update%20April%202018.pdf

National Association of REALTORS® Stats: https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/documents/ehs-04-2018-summary-2018-05-24.pdf

Forbes Article Discussing Affordable Housing Solutions: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrenceyun/2018/05/02/what-to-do-to-relieve-housing-inventory-crunch/#10ead25e3e0e

Husqvarna AutoMower Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE7O3dK07nQ

Looking for a Real Estate School to take your Continuing Education courses? Look no further! https://www.superiorschoolnc.com/instructors/bill-gallagher/