We are excited this morning to have a,
fellow veteran real estate agent on our show,
Gerald Hill up here in the Nashville market.
so it's about time we got off the east Coast.
It's time to move in a little bit,
you know,so we're jumping into Nashville this morning to
Gerald's a veteran, and experienced agent broker.
so we're glad to have him on the show.
Good morning to you,Gerald.
great to have you.And,
you know,I always start out with,
just kind of tell us a little bit about,
your time in the military and what in the world made you want to come into real estate.So,I was an aircraft mechanic in the air force,
in the nineties for a very short period of time.
And then,they had shorter contracts back then with,
Clinton.
And,then I,joined the National Guard after 9 11
and I ended up in 2004,deployed to,
to Iraq and that was an 18 month deployment
and then I also deployed in 2010 to Iraq in 2011 in
Afghanistan.
just kind of trying to figure out life going
to college,taking that,eight year route to get a four year degree kind of thing.
you know,
going to college for a little bit then going and doing military stuff for a little bit.
and then,I was finishing up my degree,
I had finished my degree in aerospace and I was working on a master's in aviation safety and
security.
And,one of my fraternity brothers,
his family is in real estate and he got,
he got me involved and got me into,
got,helped me get my license and got me,
to,his brother's brokerage and,
I really enjoyed it but then I also,
I started looking at the future,
you know,I'm married,I've got kids,
got a family to support,
I got things going on and,
when I,I was looking at,when I finished my master's,
I was gonna be making 40 to $50,000 a year and it,
which is not terrible money but,I was making that in real estate and not having,
you know,and I could work from home or,
you know,I could be more involved in my family stuff and,
Ultimately.
I saw where my life was gonna go in that other route.
And I liked this route better.
That,makes sense,you know?
and having worked with a lot of agents that are also veterans,
veterans do well in this business because they bring a work ethic.
they tend to get very focused and they get the job done and most of them are pretty good with people as well.
so across the board,you know,20 plus years in the real estate space agents that are veterans are some of the best in the
industry.
So we're glad to have you on board and we're glad you,
you made that choice,
we asked the National Guard of the Reserves to do an awful lot these days and it sounds like you've definitely done your share.
I'm done with the hurricane duty and riot duty and
deployments and Yeah.
I been there.
It takes a toll on you and it takes a toll on your family as well,
but we appreciate all the stuff that you have done and there's some youngster coming up behind you ready to jump and start over.
So that's always good.
But,you know,so how long you've been in the real estate space now?
I finally got my,license in February of 2016,I was kind of hanging around the, office and,and learning for a few months before that.
well,you know what,what they say is if you survive the first three years,
you're probably a pretty good agent.
So,you've gone well beyond that.So you're,doing well.
So talk to us a little bit about what's kind of going on in the Nashville market.
I mean,you're a,broker in the Nashville market,
you've kind of been involved with running some firms in the area.
tell us kind of what's,kind of going on there.
I mean,are sellers a little bit more motivated right now to sell their house?
What's,kind of the inventory look like?
Those,I mean,obviously it's not,it's not the market that we saw over the last couple of years.
you know, the interest rates being where they are,
that definitely limits the buyer pool,
but we still have really low inventory.
One of the things about the Nashville area is we have a lot of jobs,
and we're getting more and more jobs every day they're bringing in technology jobs,
lot of stuff in the space and health care.
Nashville is really big,
you know,in health care with uh Sara Canon Cancer Center and Vanderbilt.
You know,there's just a lot going on there.
And so Amazon bringing in a bunch of jobs 5000 jobs last
year.
So the inventory has stayed uh low.
I don't know what's happening in a lot of markets,
but we're still creeping up on price,not as fast,
but our median price right now last month,
our median price was $415,000.
And that was up,that was up 1% month,over month,
and our days on market is going down,
it's down to 25 days on market.
So if you look at days on market going down and price going up,
that'll kind of give you, give you a little hint of where we're at.
it's a good point.I mean,
nationally the days on markets run in the high forties,low fifties.
So you're half that,part of that I think is indicative of the Nashville market.I mean,Nashville is a fast growing,you know,
city suburbs around that are all growing really,
really fast.
I mean,if you look at it on the charts,
it's doing really well and you mentioned some of that on the jobs um,
but we never anticipated being this,this popular. No,
it's grown a lot and,you know,it's got a good mix of climate.
There's a whole lot of other things that make that a great state.
So,you know,it's all good for you. so you're a veteran and I'm sure you've worked with veterans here.
You're part of the veterans real estate benefits , (VREB)
program and agent network. so I know you work with veterans as well.
I mean,what are some of the challenges that,
that veteran space when you take them out there and show them how,
I mean,or you're submitting it all?
So, I think it's over over 90% of my clients have been
veterans that's buyers and sellers. since 2015 90 percent have been veterans.
you know,it's been a lot of them and what I have seen across the board
education is,a thing,you know,they're not,
a lot of veterans aren't completely educated on how the
va loan works,how beneficial it is.And a lot of listing agents don't necessarily don't understand how,how reliable it is.
One of,you know,when you tell somebody that the VA loan has a higher closing rate than a 20% down conventional they just don't believe,
when you tell them that it's got a lower foreclosure rate.
But it,one of those things that,you know,
it's a benefit that if you have a lender that understands it
can close just about anything.and so I guess finding homes that,
that meet that criteria and that's one of the things that,
you know,you'll see in the MLS,you'll see listing agents,
put things like uh cash and conventional only,right?
And I still am gonna click through those pictures if I think it because I look through the pictures and if I think that it'll pass,
then I'm gonna call that agent and I'm gonna have a conversation with him,ask him,why don't you think it'll pass,you know,what is it?
and it may even be a candidate for,you know,
a va reconstruction loan or something like that,
right?You know,so there's just the,the biggest challenge is education.
No,I think those are all good points and for the listeners that are watching this,you know,Joe brings up a good point and
that is,you got to work with an agent that,
understands va loans and understands that process.
I mean,you're a veteran,you're using your va loan,you've worked to earn that benefit and now you're buying a house and you walk in your agent.
and,if your agent isn't like Gerard or like the agents we have in our network that are veteran certified agents,they don't understand the va loan and they're not gonna do exactly like you just said,which is go through the MLS,look through the pictures,
because some listing agent says it's only good for cash.
Conventional doesn't mean that you can't get a va loan for it.
you know,but it takes an agent that understands the loan process to be able to drill down and call that agent out and go.
No,I'm submitting the VA offer and this is why and,
that's exactly what you need to look for in your agent.
And so when you find an agent that's a veteran on top of that,
then,you're getting twice as good,you're getting the work ethic but,
you're getting the passion,but you're also getting someone that understands veterans.
so I think they're,all great points,you know,one of the things that we keep,you know,messaging out there to the world is now is not a bad time to buy,which is kind of counterintuitive for some people,
you know.
but if you think about it,if you're a veteran,
you're using a VA loan now is a good time to buy because you're not as competing with as many buyers.
Yeah,you're not,competing with many buyers,and so you're,
not doing the multiple offers in most cases.
and sometimes there are,but even,even at the height of the pandemic,
I could show you client after client,after client of mine that,
you know,when nobody else was getting closed,
we were closing them with a va loan and they were getting,
they were getting a check back at closing.
they were getting the earnest money back at closing.
because of the way, I negotiated or finding these homes that
there's a lot of little tricks.
You find one that's been overpriced,
right?You've got an appraisal contingency.
There's,you know,no danger,you know,
find one that's overpriced and you pay the appraised price.
But right now is a,it's kind of that sweet spot where because prices are still on the rise so you can get in and you can refinance later,
but you can get in. Now when sellers kind of understand that they might need to help out with,a rate by them,
they might need to type out with closing costs,
right. I think those are all key points.we keep sending it out to the world as part of our messaging is don't let a little bit higher rates slow you down right now.
You can always refinance,I mean,the va or the interest rate reduction is super easy to do.No qualifying,very little fees and boom,
you can bring that rate down.
so now now is a great time to do that.
But,you know,Gerald has only been with us.
six months or so. He joined qs q VREB Veteran Certified agent
last year and didn't get a lot done through Vreb last year.
The work that you have done, we've gotten great,
VREB Google Reviews.
I'm sure if you check out his website now,
what's the best way to reach you?
I mean, is that your website? if you just Google Me,
there'll be a million ways to get a hold of me.
you know,or, you know, you got my,
my phone number 6154058772.
Facebook.
Just no matter which way you do it,
if it's phone or email,
Facebook,
whatever it all comes to myself.
Great, of course you can always reach out to,
veterans real estate benefits (VREB) ,
program our website is www.VREBnetwork.com
and you can reach out to us as well.
Clearly, if you're looking in the Nashville market,
you need to reach out to Gerald and you'll get in touch with them.
If you're looking for a house outside the Nashville area, anywhere in the USA you know, we'll be glad to help you.
We've got 1000s Veteran Certified Agents across the country,
but Gerald's a go to guy in Nashville.
We appreciate you having me on the show.
We appreciate everything that you you've done and all the hurricanes you've been part of and all the riots you've been trying to take care of and all the work that you've done.
so we appreciate that and, we look forward to doing some work with you here in the years to come
