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 Nick Dirsch, a new home consultant with Visionary Homes right here in Logan, Utah. Nic Duersch: Okay. Caleb: Nick brings a different angle than most of my guests. He's on the new construction side, with one of the most recognized builders in the region, Nick, welcome to the show. Did I miss anything? Nic Duersch: No, no you didn't. That was a perfect introduction. I appreciate you having me, Caleb. Honored to be here. Caleb: Yeah, of course. to get started, could you tell us a little bit about how you got into real estate in general and then how you got into new construction? Nic Duersch: Absolutely, absolutely. Well and and I'm gonna say it one more time just because I am so thankful. Thanks for having me on. I'm really excited to be here. I got into real estate like most people, because my family got into real estate. My mom was into interior design and she actually worked for Visionary back at the very inception of the company. So I've been one of those people that maybe could be viewed as a Nepo baby and I'll take it. Caleb: Course. Ha ha. Nic Duersch: I'll take it if that's the route we're gonna go. But my Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember I remember sitting at model homes at seven, eight years old watching SpongeBob in the basement while my mom manned the parade of homes upstairs. So it's just it's what I've done for a long time. and seeing the connections that my mom made over the time here in real estate just really pushed me to say, yeah, this is this is what I wanna do. So definitely family oriented. Caleb: It's in your blood. You're just you're good at real estate. That is so cool. That's awesome. Well and you gotta see both sides of it. So you knew what you were getting into. you'd seen the full picture. Nic Duersch: Y I yeah, and some people say I'm crazy, but you know, you can relate to it as well. The hours are are can be grueling, but when it's something you're passionate about, it doesn't feel like it. A ten hour work day can quit pretty easily feel like a three to four hour workday when you're passionate about something. So Caleb: Yeah, very true. So what were you doing before real estate and what kind of I guess pushed you over to make the jump all in? Nic Duersch: Yeah, good question. So I I got into sales pretty quick. when I was sixteen I started working at Coldstone. shout out Coldstone Cramery. That taught me a lot of my work ethic to this day. I became one of their catering managers, so I'd go to venues and pitch our services to brides for br at bridal fairs, and that was my first experience into the sales world. shortly after I got into summer sales, which We've talked about that briefly before, what that life looks like. it was not for me, Caleb. I I I thoroughly hated it. So when I when I came back I Caleb: I d I think it's more rare the people that love it. you you kinda wonder, yeah. Nic Duersch: yeah, you wonder if everything's right with the people that love it. But I I came back from summer sales and I was kind of trying to find my footing and they had what was called an online sales position open up at Visionary Homes. This was back in twenty sixteen, so it was kind of one of the first of its kind for local builders, basically having somebody man the phones to handle incoming leads and then hand them out to the actual sales agents. So I did that for nine and a half years, a long time. over into this role starting in January. I'm relatively new to the physical side of real estate, and it's been fun. Caleb: Yeah, that's so cool. But I mean, even since January I've seen you've done quite a bit. So you're you're off to a great start. Nic Duersch: Yeah, it's i I owe a lot of that to great partners. in new construction you rely a lot on existing real estate agents and their passion to provide for you and Cash Valley just has such a plethora of wonderful agents that have really fed into me, so Caleb: Yeah, that's so true. Well, let's dive in to talk a little bit about the market itself. How does buying new construction compare to buying existing homes? Can you speak to that a little bit? Nic Duersch: Yeah. absolutely. in a lot of ways it's similar and in a lot of ways it's it's kind of different. and some of the ways that it's different is when you're working with new construction, especially construction from the ground up, it's a lot of managing expectations for timelines, for deadlines, for giving good expectations And something I didn't even know until I was a couple months into new construction, our our contract is quite a bit different than the standard Utah Rep C is. So that's something I have to educate a lot of existing agents on. Is there are little tweaks here and there that you kind of have to be aware of that make this process a little different than existing real estate. Caleb: Yeah, understanding how this can take a little bit longer than just walking through the house and moving in in thirty days. Nic Duersch: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. And then and then you've got the you got the the people who want to go a little rogue too. You know, we've had people where we walk into the house and you look up and a homeowner's cutting drywall out of their house to add an extra vent for HVAC. So I mean there's there's those expectations that you're managing as well that no, we are not a custom home builder and we don't allow sweat equity. So it's i it's a fine line on a lot of fronts. Caleb: Don't bring the saw or drill. just bring the pen to sign. That's it. in in what you've been seeing so far, what makes the difference between someone deciding to go with visionary new construction over an older home that's on the market? Nic Duersch: yeah. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I mean and this is this kind of ebbs and flows as the years go on, you know, and and what the market looks like. In this current market, new construction truly is essentially the same cost as existing real estate. So I have multiple people that come into my office and they say, Wow, you were my last stop and everything else on this price point are homes from eighty years ago that need a significant amount of work. And you've got something that's brand new that's basically the same cost. So a lot of it is just a lot of it sells itself because the value is there inherently because the cost is so similar to existing real estate. I would say as well that compared to existing real estate, builders are a lot more willing to open doors to get creative if they need to get creative. even like the deal that we did together, you know, being willing to adjust concessions, being willing to discount things, throw things in. Builders have that flexibility flexibility that a lot of time existing real estate you just don't have. So I'd say inherently that's just kind of a leg up that new construction has off of exil existing real estate right off the bat. Caleb: Yeah, you bring up a great point. And I I think anyone that's in the real estate game sees those crazy builder incentives being thrown out. is there is there anything, you know, notable, any incentives visionary is doing right now? Nic Duersch: Yeah. So Visionary, Visionary right now, we aren't doing anything super crazy, but a lot of that has to do with a lot of the inventory that we've moved. Something that a lot of people don't realize about builders is their incentives will kind of ebb and flow based on how much product they are moving. When product is moving at a healthy pace, builders feel less incentivized to have to be aggressive. so ask me again in three months, Caleb. Let's put it at that. Ask me again in three months and and we'll see what our incentive is. Caleb: Supply and demand, Nic Duersch: Right there. Exactly. Caleb: right? Nic Duersch: Exactly. I mean, when Visionaries flooded the market with a lot, or any builder has flooded the market with a lot of inventory that they have to move, naturally you're gonna see builders that are a little more aggressive. Now, being totally transparent, I've never seen Visionary be as aggressive as some of these builders on the national scale. You know, you drive down to Utah County and you see on the billboards three point nine nine percent permanent interest rate, you know. That visionary's not diving into that realm yet, but I've seen us get pretty creative, so Caleb: Yeah, likewise on on the financing side. well and like you said, supply and demand, right? Like if they're selling, they're selling for a reason. Good homes, good communities. so yeah, that makes sense. Are there any exciting communities or projects that are out there or coming up? Nic Duersch: Exactly. Caleb, this is my favorite question. And I always love an opportunity to put a plug in there for my own community, but as as a new construction real estate agent, I have my own area that I man, my own area that I claim as mine, and that's Ridgeline Park over in Nibbley. So Ridgeline Park in Nibley is unique because Nibley City's putting a huge park within the community. Caleb: Yeah, let's hear it. Nic Duersch: And it's not just a normal park, you know, you've got nine square. I don't even know what nine square is, Caleb, but in the in the park plans, they've got nine square, a bouldering area for rock climbing, they've got a bike path, a pump track. So it's just it's a community where it feels like somebody you're excited to live. It's not somebody that it's not somewhere that you're going and you're like, this is this is my house, it's within a townhome community. In this area, people are truly excited to say, hey, this community's my home, and these are the reasons why. So Ridgelane Park is a special community within Cash Valley, and I'm always going to use that as my plug, especially because there are lots that are facing that park, which you just can't beat it. You can't beat Yeah. You can't beat not having a neighbor out in front of you. Everybody loves being away from people, so. Caleb: How cool is that? Yeah. And is Ridgeline Park is this mostly single family homes or town homes or a mix? Nic Duersch: Yeah, it's a PUD, so it's a planned unit development, so we're gonna have a mix of everything. We've got condos, townhomes, and single family, which I don't know about you, Caleb, but I love having something that works for everybody. It feels good to me when you have a community that supports first time homebuyers, second time home buyers, and also supports people that are looking for their final home. I think having a community that blends all three of those, it's like a melting pot of new construction, which I just I love I love the concept of that and I'm glad that Visionary went with that direction for this community. Caleb: Yeah, I love that too. You get some variety in there. do you see one type of home product, like whether it's single family or condos that's selling faster than others? Nic Duersch: yeah, yeah. Right now I mean we we visionary sold. let me do the math here, Caleb. Visionary sold through six buildings of townhomes this year alone. a mix of six plexes, four plexes, a good amount of townhome inventory is moved this year. So that's what I mentioned before, or the levers that visionary is willing to pull. So that that is a massive component. Now we're starting to see some single family, especially in this new phase across from the park. where people are coming in and they're scooping up these things quickly because it's a good opportunity. but I'd say for sure townhomes are the product that is moving really, really well right now. Caleb: Wow. Even over condos. Nic Duersch: Yeah, you know, it's it's weird. Condos for a long time, it was like my gosh, it was like that that book that that you read when you were younger with the stinky cheese, where everybody's got the stinky cheese, you don't want to get touched by the stinky cheese. That's almost what condos felt like for a minute, which is which was a disappointment to me because I genuinely do think condos are a product that work really, really well for some homeowners. And especially when it's an intentionally thought of condo. that has a good living room space, a nice master space, and good soundproofing in between the floors. I I just I think that's a product that more people should get behind. And those those did move. We're actually sold out of those now. But it just took a little longer to get people there. Caleb: Yeah. for those listening that may not fully understand the difference between a condo or a townhome, do you mind explaining the difference there? Nic Duersch: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So a townhome is gonna be a vertical building that's side by side attached. You'll have one wall on an end unit that's attached, or on an inside unit you'll have two walls that are attached side by side. A condo is more like an apartment layout, where you have units that are on a ground floor, a second floor, and a third floor. So they're gonna be single level, but you'll have stairs up to the units depending on the floor that you're on. So A little bit different there, as far as the structure of those. Caleb: Okay. Awesome. Yeah, well appreciate having the options there. I want to talk about how you help clients win. where do you find clients to work with? You mentioned initially a lot of real estate agents will bring stuff your way, but what have you seen so far? Nic Duersch: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, mean you get a good amount of real estate agents, especially when you have good connections. And I'm gonna throw a plug in here as well. Caleb's wife is an incredible real estate agent and I've had the privilege to work with her a couple of times. so I finding good connections with real estate agents that you realize you're a good fit and you communicate well together and build that trust has been key for me to get business brought my way. But I'd also say just being passionate about the product that you have. If I run into somebody at the grocery store and you know I'm having a conversation in the middle of the line, this happened last week. I'm getting ice cream with my kids, I'm talking to somebody in the line, we get talking about their day, what they're doing, they ask me what I do for work. I'm always, always, always gonna bring up my community that I'm passionate about. And that's provided me a couple opportunities to be able to show people what I have and find something that works for them. So I'd say The most important thing for me in this career and for most people in any career is being passionate about what you have. When you're passionate about your product and you have enthusiasm behind what you do, people will naturally feed off of that in any setting that you're in, even if you're getting ice cream in the grocery store. so I'd say that's the second thing. And then the third thing that I've done is just go and have events. Don't be afraid to put myself out there. Open houses, home tours. Raffles, anything along those lines that I can get my name out there and build some excitement. I I really, really want to make sure that I'm doing that because again I just believe thoroughly it'll provide me opportunity down the road. Caleb: You're awesome. I can tell you're passionate about it. You're making me want to go buy a house in this community. Nic Duersch: Yeah c well, Caleb, my my door's always open. So you you come by anytime. Caleb: Yeah. If we go too long on this, you know, I might become a neighbor, if that's what I'm seeing here. I guess from the client perspective, what what experience do you hope they have with you? Nic Duersch: If I have given them an experience where after the transaction is done, they can think back and not have anything that was left undone, I've done my job. I've done my job when we've completed the transaction and they feel like every concern that they had was addressed and every need that they have was met. I've done my job in that transaction. So I do that through two ways. I pride myself on my communication. in real estate, communication is everything. And again, people are gonna think that you've sponsored me. I promise you this is not sponsored. But I had a transaction with Caleb where we closed a home loan in less than two weeks. He updated me every few days, which is rare in this industry. It is, it just is rare. And that it is. It is. So I I just I think that the first most important thing that you need to prov provide to your clients to Caleb: It's unfortunate that it's that rare b because of how important communication is. Nic Duersch: To win, like you asked, is to deliver an exceptional experience with communication. If my buyers ask me a question and I don't know what it is, hell or high water, I'm gonna find out what the answer is and I'm gonna deliver it to them. If I have a real estate agent that has concerns that they need addressed before a certain time, it doesn't matter what I'm doing in that moment. I'm addressing that and I'm making sure that I make a mental note of that to take care of it. So communication is Far and away the most important thing in this industry, and particularly in new construction. And then just allowing people to be themselves and make an emotional connection with them. We've got to remember, Caleb, we are we aren't just selling houses. We're selling the memories within those houses. And so when you're having a transaction with somebody, you don't want it to feel like a transaction. I want to get done with that transaction and have my buyer be like, not only did he sell me a home, he's my friend. And that's really what I strive for at the end of the day. Caleb: A hundred percent. And it's nice to hear it's a fresh take to hear, we're not focused just on the transaction. We want you to have a good experience. We're gonna communicate. And yeah, we hope if we see you in the store after this we can still say hi and be friends. Nic Duersch: Yeah. I've seen I've seen a couple agents, Caleb, where they see homeowners and they're like, man, get me out of here. Dive over to that door, you know what I mean? And I and even if I have tough circumstances with my buyers, I want to be able to look at them and say, Yep, I gave it everything that I could and and be able to face them at a grocery store. Caleb: That's valid. say I'm looking at some single family homes, on the used market, but I wanna look at more new builds, how do I get how do I get started with you guys? Should I just drive by the community, see a model home, or how do we get get going? Nic Duersch: Mm-hmm. So Visionary has a multitude we we have we have many different agents across our communities in the valley. Every single one of them is exceptional. I would love to sit up here and say I'm the only one that's good, but the reality is that's not true. We have a wonderful team, and so you drive by any community, Visionary is very married to our model homes, love it or hate it. This is where we live, and you'll find a visionary agent. either that or you know reaching out directly. Visionary still has our online sales team, which I which I was initially a part of, and they're superb to get people in the door to be able to come and visit our stuff. The last thing I'll say on that though, Caleb, is Visionary has a very low-stakes sales office. And what I mean by that is if you want to come in and poke around the community and look at our homes and not be hounded by somebody, I genuinely believe Visionary Homes is a place to come and do that. Caleb: I love that. I know realtors will get a little antsy of like their client going to see new construction without the realtor present. What are your thoughts on that? Is that a valid concern or how do you guys handle that? Nic Duersch: yeah. yeah. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna answer that in two ways. I is it a valid concern with visionary? No. If if an agent calls me after their buyer showed up and said, Hey, that's my buyer, I'm never gonna cut an agent out of a deal. It is important to me because I've seen the existing side of real estate. You can work with a buyer for 18 months, show them all these different houses, and then one day have them walk into a model home and you're cut out of that deal after working with these people for years. That's that's not fair and it's not right. So with Visionary, I would say no. Now I have heard I talked to an agent last week who brought me a buyer, and then they went down to Utah County with another builder that will not will remain nameless, but they were not able to go with their buyer to that appointment, and they ended up signing that home down in Utah County, and the builder would not compensate the agent. They said, Nope, you weren't at that first appointment, it's not gonna happen. So My advice would always be to be there if possible, but just know with a visionary, especially in Cache Valley, we we know where our roots are. We know how important agents are to us and so I would say that's not as much of a concern. Caleb: Yeah, sounds like visionary is a little bit easier to work with in that sense. Obviously the realtor hopes they can be there with them, but in the event they can't be, it sounds like they're in good hands regardless. I appreciate everything you've got on here. One last question for you before we wrap up. what do you see people get wrong about buying a home? What common mistake do you see that they make? Nic Duersch: yeah, yeah. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ooh. A lot of common mistakes that I say PC people make is not being willing to explore all their options. If you're not willing to explore, and again it goes it goes back to you as well, Caleb. You know, when Justina brought you up, it's I'm looking at a lender that I'm not familiar with. And it always, even with me, it creates a little bit of hesitancy. So my advice to everybody is to be willing to explore your options. Don't be afraid to open doors that you didn't think were possible before. And and finally, I I would say the other the other most common mistake that I see people make is not being educated on their options. If you if you are getting bad advice, which I can't tell you how often it'll happen, because there are programs, they're not for everybody, which I'm sure you can attest to this, there are programs that allow people to be able to come in with nothing down. And the amount of times that people come in and they say, I'm not ready. I don't have my five percent down, and I and I spend all this time educating people, I just be receptive to that education and look into opportunities that will allow you to be able to find a home because I promise you, I just promise you that there are options out there that could work. And and final Caleb: Yeah, why why do you think that is? Why do you think people don't want to explore options? Nic Duersch: Yeah. Well when I when I bought my first house, Caleb, I I'll never forget my dad. My dad came to me and he said, Son, you're buying a thirty two hundred square foot house for this is gonna make you choke, but for three forty. Like that in Providence. That is just you can't like y there are all these programs that like you you this is not the path that you wanna go down. And I'll never forget my dad dying on that hill. This is a bad time to buy. And I pat myself on the back every single day that I did not listen to him. There are people that are gonna give you advice that they think is good advice and it's coming from a good place, but do your research and make sure you're well educated. I I'm gonna use you as a resource often in the future, Caleb, because I know I know that if I send somebody to you that has a misconception, it'll be able to be cleared up pretty quickly. So just do your research. Don't listen to your uncle uncle Joe. who says you have to have twenty percent down and there's no opportunities. Y you know, just make sure you're open and receptive to people who are are trying to provide you with education. Caleb: Ha ha ha. Yeah. man, I love that example you gave with your dad. I think that is so accurate. You know, on the financing side we see that so often where yeah, people come in with these misconceptions of how things operate or how the world works. And I love being able to be like, Hey, there's an easier way or there's a better way. And usually one of the things I get is yet people will think about it in terms of comparing rent today versus the mortgage. Nic Duersch: Yeah. Caleb: You know, well, I'm only gonna save X amount or or it might be a little bit more expensive to have a mortgage. But like you, your example, three hundred and forty thousand, man, when you put it into perspective, five, ten, twenty years down the road, holy cow. Ten years from now you're gonna be even more grateful that you got started when you did. Nic Duersch: Yeah, yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. Well, and that's a that was twenty twenty one, Caleb. I bought that house in twenty twenty one and I yeah, yeah, it's it's just it's it's crazy. And so I I just I genuinely do believe that you you have to be able to be receptive to advice. And and the other thing with new construction, you wouldn't believe how many times people come in and they're like, Yeah, I just don't have I don't have eighteen months to wait for a house to be built and I'm like, I can build you a house in five to six months. Caleb: Five years ago. Nic Duersch: I can I can I we can go through that entire process from start to finish in five to six months. And there's just yeah, a lot of misconceptions out there. So make sure you're educated. Caleb: Yeah. Well, this has been super great having you on. I feel like I could keep asking questions, just 'cause you're so great to talk to. And Ditto, communication from you was just, you know, it takes one to know one. for anyone that wants to work with you, connect with you, what's the best way for them to get in contact? Nic Duersch: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, my a g a shameless plug to myself. I'm tied to my phone twenty four seven. my cell phone's four three five eight nine zero six nine one eight. So I I am willing and able to help with any new construction in Cache Valley area. So give me a call. Caleb: Awesome. Shoot Nick a text or give him a call. He's great to work with. I've loved working with him. And yeah, thanks, Nick, for being on. Nic Duersch: I appreciate you, Caleb. Thanks again. 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.