Caleb: welcome back to Real Estate Insights where I sit down with top real estate pros across Utah and Idaho. I'm your host, Caleb Adams. My guest today is Katrina Girard, realtor with Bricks Real Estate here in Cache Valley. Katrina and I first connected about a year ago and I've seen firsthand how she operates. I know Katrina is someone who knows how to hustle. She and her husband actually crushed it back in the day with door-to-door sales. Katrina. Happy to have you here. Did I miss anything?

Katrina: Thank you. no, that's great.

Caleb: to kick things off, could you tell us a little bit about how you got into real estate? I mentioned you did door to door, how did you transition from door to door into where you're at now?

Katrina: Yeah, so that's how my husband and I met doing door to door cells in Kansas. I ended up doing it for three years. He ended up doing it for five. I stopped when I had my first child. But it was really good for us and now funny enough, my husband opened his own pest control business and he still does. Door to door. the five years that he did it previously was

Caleb: He couldn't get enough.

Katrina: for someone else, but now he does it for himself. So he tells me that I should do it with him, but I like real estate sells way better. but yeah, how I got into real estate. my husband and I built a spec home, which is basically a house that you build with the intention to sell. when we were getting ready to list it, I just thought, you know what? I should be the one to sell this. I got my license purely with the intent to sell our own houses that we would build. And it ended up just snowballing. I have six siblings and they all build houses as well. At the time when we were building spec homes, it wasn't this big. family affair, but it is now and has been for the past several years. they've all used me to buy lots and sell their houses that they've they've built.

Caleb: Wow, it's family business. That's great.

Katrina: Yeah. So it's become a really cool and fun career.

Caleb: And is that localized to northern Utah or are you helping with lots and builds across the state?

Katrina: it's mostly in northern Utah. I do have my license in Idaho as well. but I try not to go too far away.

Caleb: Well, cool. And how so how long have you been doing real estate then?

Katrina: it has been eight going on nine years now, which is kind of crazy. I know,

Caleb: Time flies when you're having fun. That's crazy. Yeah.

Katrina: it's actually crazy saying that out loud how long it's been,

Caleb: Well, that's a good sign. If time can fly by and it doesn't feel like it, that's a great sign. Do you find yourself working mostly with buyers or sellers? And do feel like it's more of a buyer or seller market right now?

Katrina: I work with both. I feel like I have moments when I like right now I have more buyers than I do sellers. But in general, I feel like I have more sellers. I think it just depends on who I'm working with at the time. and a lot of people are repeat people, so I help sell and then buy and you know, vice versa. Right now I feel like it's definitely more of a buyer's market, in my opinion. I feel like things have they're a little bit slower than normal. And I feel like sellers are very negotiable right now. at least with the new home builds, that's kind of what I specialize in, I feel like there's a lot of competition. And because things have been a little bit slower, people are willing to go above and beyond to get people to offer on their properties.

Caleb: Yeah, which that's always nice for the buyer when they're looking for some wiggle room on price or concessions. Do you feel like there's a property type right now that is more advantageous for buyers or maybe a price range that you're seeing that's slower?

Katrina: of course, the higher up you get in price range, you have a smaller buyer pool because not as many people can afford the higher up things. at least with the new homes, it's tricky when you get into the higher costs to sell your house. At least it takes longer. so most of the builders that I work with are building small starter homes because they're within the price range of more people. So you have a bigger buyer pool and they're just a little bit quicker and easier to sell.

Caleb: you have more potential eyes that, yeah, they actually have a budget for the house.

Katrina: Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And sometimes

Caleb: sense. Okay.

Katrina: to set yourself apart, like a lot a lot of what we'll do is like patio homes so that you're appealing to, you know, retired people, older people, but you can still appeal to people that are wanting starter homes that are still within a price range that's doable. So something like that, or you can set yourself apart by like adding a third car garage, but not necessarily adding on to a lot of your square footage, you know?

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. do you feel like there's any, mean, where you have kind of a pulse on building and, normal purchases, you feel like there's any exciting projects happening locally?

Katrina: I live in Mendon and one development that's going in close to where I live is Blueberry Springs. the first phase, they have a lot of you know, lots that have already sold, but they do have upcoming phases and it's a beautiful area. It's gorgeous. there's always developments and I feel like it's kind of tricky to like I feel like you have to be driving around because a lot of them don't even get listed. they go before they hit the market.

Caleb: Yeah, I haven't even heard of that one yet. So that that's awesome that that's out there. I'll have to take a look.

Katrina: Yeah, and those lots are bigger. They're like point eight acres. so it's not like your average small quarter acre lot, you know.

Caleb: yeah, that makes sense. And are you and your husband actively still building and selling spec homes

Katrina: Yeah, yeah, we are. We we have a couple in Brigham City right now that are on the market. so that's also a fun thing that we like to do.

Caleb: We should have had Cory on here as well to speak about the building side. Maybe next time we'll snag him.

Katrina: I know. Yeah. She's off stuff working. Yeah, I know.

Caleb: Well I'm curious Nobody has a crystal ball of the market but doing this for eight years where do you see northern Utah headed?

Katrina: I think it's only gonna continue to grow. I feel like over time it has grown and with as many people that are building and as many subdivisions that are popping up, I feel like it's definitely growing. the market in general, I'm hoping once this war situation comes to a close and we have some peace on that end. I'm hoping interest rates will drop and that the market will really pick up because I know that there's a lot of people on the sidelines.

Caleb: Yeah, what a ride with the Iran war stuff.

Katrina: Yeah.

Caleb: I've definitely seen the growth and excited to see where it heads. What experiences do you hope clients have when working with you?

Katrina: I just hope that they're they're happy. They I feel like a really good indicator of their satisfaction, is if they repeatedly use you. And I feel like I get that a lot. with past clients that they will come back and use me for other purchases or to sell or different things. And so I think that goes to show that they had a good experience.

Caleb: could. we touched a little bit on like your background door-to-door and building. What expertise do feel like you bring that sets you apart maybe from other real estate agents out there?

Katrina: I think one of the big ones is just that like there are so many real estate agents, like a ridiculous amount. And the majority of them do very little, a deal here, a deal there, and they're not in the market constantly doing transactions. I have a very consistent workload and workflow. And because I am doing a lot of work and transactions, I feel like I get a pretty good pulse on where things are at in the market and when buyers are trying to figure out what they should offer, or if sellers are trying to figure out what to counter or different things, I feel like I'm able and knowledgeable about how to best help them because I am so active currently with the real estate.

Caleb: Yeah, I think that's a big thing. Do feel like it changes quickly in the market,

Katrina: Yeah, yeah, I do. And not just like changes in the market, but just changes based on where you're buying or what kind of house you're buying or who you're dealing with, you know, different builders, which builders you're you're trying to buy a house from, what part of the state you're in

Caleb: So true.

Katrina: and and you know what I mean? Like there's just there's a lot of variables and when you're working in it and actively doing transactions in all these areas and situations, just being aware and being informed and seeing different scenarios, I just feel like helps your upcoming client.

Caleb: I totally agree. Man, what you said about different builders or different areas, it's crazy how going from one county to the next or from one builder to the next can be a completely different experience.

Katrina: Totally.

Caleb: That's a huge value add. Is there a client win or maybe a common mistake that you see clients make?

Katrina: yeah, I had some clients that were selling their house. And this was actually an American fork. So it was a little ways away. but they had an awesome location. Such a good location. And their house was very well maintained, really, really cute. And I knew immediately that they were gonna do really well on this house. And so we listed it and we got an offer and my clients were so anxious and so eager to accept the offer But because we were getting so much interest, I told them, I said, I really think you should just wait. Like just Like these people will be there. They're very excited. These buyers will be there in two weeks if you wait. Just a little longer, you know? And so they did. They ended up waiting.

Caleb: They're like, we got this money here, this offer.

Katrina: Yes. They did end up waiting though and they got multiple offers and their house sold for higher than appraised value in not the greatest market. Like it was but because of all the other because of all the other things about their property with the location and how nice it was, the people that bought it ended up putting their own money down above the appraised. amount and they got quite a bit more money than they would have had they just accepted the first offer to pop up, they have thanked me many times since that day for for convincing them

Caleb: of course. You just made them a lot more money.

Katrina: for convincing them to wait.

Caleb: Yeah, I feel like I hear all the time about the importance of moving fast and being quick and decisive, but rarely do you hear about someone say don't just take the first offer, let's wait. I like how you kind of gamed that to get them the best offer.

Katrina: Yeah. Yeah, it was cool.

Caleb: do you feel like with listings Do feel like they need to list a little bit of a lower price to stir up those conversations or bid wars? Or what do feel like is a good listing approach right now?

Katrina: they have a new status on the MLS that says coming soon. And it gives people like a heads up saying like, hey, this is about to hit the market. and I think that is a great approach, like listing it as a coming soon property before it's actually listed to give kind of a little bit of a gauge on if you get any calls or interest that comes in before you actually list it, right? but I always think you should list it what it's valued at, unless it's a particular situation. I think listing it high can sometimes bite you in the butt. And listing it low can do the same thing unless you have a specific situation.

Caleb: Well, this has been really great. I've enjoyed getting to know you a little bit better How can people reach you when they want to work with you?

Katrina: they can call me. My number

Caleb: What's a good number to reach at?

Katrina: my number is four three five two six five eight one six five. I also have social media that I that I interact with people on. Instagram, Katrina Girard Real Estate. You can see some of my past listings and different work on there too.

Caleb: Yeah, shout out to your Instagram. I've seen it. Great content. Some before and afters. New listings. It's pretty awesome. Well,

Katrina: thanks.

Caleb: great. Thanks so much, Katrina. It was great having you on.

Katrina: Okay, awesome, thank you.

Caleb: That's a wrap on this episode of Real Estate Insights. A huge thank you to my guest for sharing their time and playbook. If you're a top agent in Utah or Idaho and you'd like to be featured on the show, I'd love to have you. Reach out anytime. I'm Caleb Adams, mortgage broker here in Utah and Idaho, who loves connecting great agents with great people who need them. We'll see you next time.