Caleb: Welcome to Real Estate Insights, where I sit down with standout real estate pros across Utah and Idaho to talk about the market, how they work, and how they help their clients win. I'm your host, Caleb Adams. Let's get into it. My guest today is Nathan Moser, a realtor with prime real estate experts in Utah County. now Nathan's relatively new to the business. He got licensed September of last year, but I wanted him on this show specifically because of how he's attacked it. In a matter of just a couple months, he's built an audience of over 1,300 followers on his Instagram, and he's done it by putting out genuinely helpful educational content. The kind that actually teaches people about buying and selling, not just random listing info. And what I love is his why. on his bio he talks about how he's most fulfilled helping people solve their problems and his goal is to bless as many lives as possible. That hustle and heart are why I wanted him on this podcast today. Nathan, welcome to the show. did I miss anything? would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Nathan Moser: Man, thanks, Caleb. I've never had such a glowing review. I I really appreciate that. No. I think that sums a lot of it up. I view my main role as an as an educator. Like I think the biggest reason some people have a hard time trusting real estate agents is because they are salespeople and they're trying to sell you on the house. And fundamentally, I just really believe that like my buyers are smart enough to know when they when they see a good deal. It's my job just to be the educator help them not miss any opportunities. because nobody wants to buy a house and then, you know, have like buyers' remorse or feel like they missed out on something potentially better.

Caleb: Yeah, I love that. I It feels like learning a new language when you're buying a house. And so it's good to have someone who who treats it like a guide. well before we get into the local market and how you specifically help clients, how did you get into real estate?

Nathan Moser: It's crazy. Yeah, I got into real estate. I became a fan of real estate back in twenty twenty one. That's when I bought a house. I have seven years of door-to-door sales experience, which is like one of the worst jobs out there, but also very fulfilling because you get to you get a lot of like direct client interaction, I used some of that sales money in 2021 to buy a triplex in Utah County. I did that because I had some friends who were also in sales that told me, like, hey man, you don't want all this money just sitting in your bank. You want to be putting it towards something that will give you a r a return for the rest of your life. So not really knowing anything about real estate, I had one of my friends who was an agent at the time help me buy a house. He got me an excellent deal, but you know, he did a lot of the work for me and At the end of the transaction, I didn't really know what happened. All I knew is that I was cash flowing a couple hundred bucks every month while I was living in this triplex. And I was like, wow, this is a this is a pretty cool deal. over the last couple over the last couple years I've also been updating it. So we've been redoing floors and you know, every part of the house is is new now. I've also gotten married, so my situation's changed a little bit. I don't have any roommates except for my wife and we have a kid on the way. But we still live in this in this triplex. it's a nice big unit and we've got a a backyard and it's been a great investment for me. my last year of doing sales was 2024, and I was talking to my wife and I was like, man, I really don't wanna do this again. Not because it wasn't paying the bills, like it was a really great job, but it just felt like I'd kind of reached my my potential, maybe. Like I didn't really I wasn't really interested in going any further. And exactly.

Caleb: Mm. Yeah, what else is out there?

Nathan Moser: we both felt like the job that had been calling me for years was real estate. It's something that I had been interested in in for so long. I love working directly with people. So I got my license in twenty twenty five and then yeah, I've just been doing this full time since then. Jumped right in.

Caleb: Man, that's awesome. Well, it's no surprise why you're good at it then, 'cause you've done it for yourself. you can understand what it feels like to go through it and not know what's happening.

Nathan Moser: Yeah. Exactly. That's what I was gonna say. Like my I had a really good experience and my my real estate agent was was amazing. but by the time I was done, I was like, I have no idea what just happened. It was just like a flurry of just money and forms and inspections and all this all these different things. so now when I'm working with clients I like to educate them on the way to let them know like hey here's what's happening because you know the more educated a client is like the better decisions they're able to make.

Caleb: Let's dive into talking about the local market. So you're primarily in Utah County. That's where you live, that's where you operate. can you tell us a little bit about Utah County? Is it a buyer's market or sellers market right now? What are you seeing?

Nathan Moser: Yeah, sure. So yeah, whenever people ask me, how the market is, I always ask, are you a buyer, are you a seller, are you an investor? Because the what the market is doing is a little bit different for for each of those people. I think if anything, right now it's definitely more of a buyer's market. and we know that just from looking at the raw data. Like year over year there are more listings currently active. On the market. So there's like more inventory than there has been in past years. But the number of new listings being entered into the database like this month is less than it was the last two years, I think. Meaning, yeah, right now there are more like homes being sold than there are buyers to actually purchase those homes. but that gap is starting to narrow a little bit because less homes are being entered into the MLS. There are still great opportunities out there. there are opportunities in in any market, really. but you know, if it's gonna favor either sellers or buyers right now, it's gonna favor buyers a little bit more. all the homes that I've helped buyers purchase the last couple months, they have gotten concessions or price reductions relatively easy. And it's been a very low competition environment as well. When I bought my house in twenty twenty one. There were several offers on this property. And my offer was a backup offer. And I basically got lucky because the original offer, their financing didn't work out. And so I just kind of took their place. So I got really lucky. Right now, you don't have to be as lucky to buy a home. you know, most of the homes I'm showing were one of the only buyers to to come through, and sellers, especially if their home's been on the market for a few months.

Caleb: Amazing.

Nathan Moser: They're starting to feel a little bit more desperate. I don't know if that's the right word, but you know, they're starting to feel some more urgency, like, hey, we need to do what we need to do to sell this house. And usually that means that the buyer will be favored. It just depends on like you just really need to understand that part of the market in order to actually make that happen. If you don't know that that's what the market is doing, you might go into a transaction and make a full price offer. Which the sellers will be super excited about, when in reality they might have accepted a well below asking offer.

Caleb: Yeah, I love that. When you were talking about it being a buyer's market, whenever there's a situation like that, it reminds me of the old analogy, if you pick up one end of the stick, you have to pick up the other end too. It's like, if you want low prices and low rates, you also get, lots of competing offers. I remember when we bought a couple of years ago too, and it was that low rate environment and yeah, crazy. Offering over asking, no appraisals, wild time.

Nathan Moser: Yeah, cash yields. Yeah. I mean You really do. Like I have some people right now that I'm that I'm working with who they just want to wait because they want rates to to come down. but when we talk about it, I'm not sure if they really know why they want rates to come down, other than the fact that like a lower number on a mortgage rate looks better and it feels better emotionally. But really you should always analyze the market by like, okay, what am I pre-approved for?

Caleb: You kinda have to pick your poison.

Nathan Moser: What would those numbers look like if I was actually buying like this specific property? And does that align with my goals? And if it aligns with your goals, like you should buy that property, you know, like you should you should make an offer on it. because in any market, like there are there are deals to be had. You shouldn't wait for the market to dictate to you whether you should buy right now or not. Because the opportunities out there are all gonna be so different. You know, at the end of the day, you're buying one house, you're not buying the market, and so That's really where I find a lot of fulfillment is like helping people locate and identify those specific opportunities.

Caleb: Totally, And one house that might sit on the market for several months, could be another person's dream house. so yeah, beauty's in the eye of the beholder. what types of homes are you seeing more opportunity with or are you seeing buyers interested the most in?

Nathan Moser: Yeah. when we talk about the opportunities, it really depends on the micro market. So instead of looking at Utah County on a whole, maybe we just focus in on like a neighborhood in Provo or a neighborhood in Oram I think the best opportunities right now, if you're a first-time home buyer, for example, is probably going to be finding a home with a rentable space. In Utah County, it is an excellent opportunity. it doesn't have to be a duplex or a triplex or a fourplex like like what I've done. but I've had success you know a few months ago we worked on a on a deal where I helped a young couple buy their first home. We got it under contract for under the asking price. We were also able to negotiate some concessions in there to help buy down the rate. And then they lived in the basement and they rent out the the upstairs. So even though it's a big home, I think it's over three thousand square feet, it has a nice big yard in the back, and it's in a it's in a really nice part of Lehigh, like in a very central part of a high demand area. you know, they got a great deal to where their portion of their mortgage payment is sixteen hundred bucks a month for, you know, that that big house. And for most people For the same amount of space, they would be paying more than that in rent. So for them it made a lot of sense. yeah, yeah, 100%. So yeah, I've had good luck in in helping first-time buyers house hack. I still think that that is the best opportunity. Like if you're serious about buying a home and you want to just cut your mortgage payment in half, like seriously consider house hacking, which again is just buying a home.

Caleb: absolutely.

Nathan Moser: renting out the basement or living in the basement, renting out the upstairs. that's one thing that I've been able to help people do.

Caleb: Yeah, that's awesome. one of the common concerns I hear on the financing side is people don't want to be landlords. So what would you say to a first time buyer who, they like the payment of an accessory unit, we're renting out part of the house, but maybe they don't want to be a landlord

Nathan Moser: Yeah. Yeah. in my experience, being a landlord is way better than being a tenant. And I think if that's the dichotomy, if you are either gonna be a tenant or a landlord, I would much rather be a landlord. with that said though, it does come with some responsibilities, but as long as you set up a process to where you can screen tenants and you can get the right people in there and you all are on the same page and have the same expectations, it can be a very low stress. thing. I don't want to oversell it. Like if you do it incorrectly and you go into house hacking without knowing anything about like how to get the right tenants in there or you know zero about Utah tenant law and you know you're just kind of going in blind. Yeah, you can make some mistakes that that would bite you in the bum. And so my second job as a real estate agent besides just helping you you know not miss out and avoid overpaying is to help you start that process. You know, whether that's helping you like, hey, here's here's how to like draft a c like a lease for for your first tenants and here's what I do to screen my tenants. That's also what I'm helping my my clients do.

Caleb: That's awesome. So it sounds like you go even beyond the transaction, helping people know how to be a landlord.

Nathan Moser: I do and and again like this Yeah, and and it's not like yeah, I mean it my my full time job is still a real estate agent, but I wanna help people have the best experience possible and I I don't want them to get overwhelmed right away and then feel like they made a mistake. Being a landlord is a great thing. it's a great thing for you and it's a great thing for your tenants. You know, you're providing something of value for people who who need it. but as long as you fulfill your end of the those responsibilities. It can be a great thing for you. I just I just don't want people to be like so scared of of being a a landlord that they they just miss out on that opportunity entirely because it's really not as hard as it as it seems. Once you get a process in place, it just kind of runs itself and then every couple months you might get a a maintenance request or you might need to do some type of inspection to make sure they're replacing the air filters, but it's not like it's not gonna be forty hours. per week which I think some people they get scared it's gonna take over

Caleb: I agree. I think sometimes the unknown is scary, especially when it is tied to the biggest decision of your life or one of the bigger decisions that you've made or will make.

Nathan Moser: if I had to make a little sacrifice by being a landlord, like yeah, I'm gonna pay my own mortgage. I'd much rather do that than pay somebody else's. So

Caleb: Yeah. It reminded me of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, when he talks about how people get so concerned about fixing a broken toilet that they miss the generational wealth that real estate can build. and you can hire those things out too, truthfully. If you don't want to do you can hire out.

Nathan Moser: Yep, you definitely can. And I have friends that hire everything out. You know, they own multiple properties and that's what works well for them. For me, I only have two other units I need to manage. And so I'll hire out the big stuff if something needs to be replaced and it's just out of my scope. But I have chosen to do most things myself and it's worked out great for me.

Caleb: It's awesome. what's a common mistake that you see buyers or sellers making right now?

Nathan Moser: Yeah, I mean I hate to be so cliche, but I think the biggest mistake that you can make as a buyer is to be fully qualified and to really want to buy a home, but then to decide to wait, even if the numbers make more sense to buy. Because I'm somebody that makes decisions based on logic and then you know everybody, regardless of how you make decisions, you'll always end up emotionally justifying it. Later. But if you can look at the numbers and it just makes more sense financially to buy a home and you're in a good position for it, then it just doesn't make sense to try to time the market. Because I'm sure you could talk about this too, Caleb. But like there is a cost to waiting. And that's like the biggest thing that people don't think about is the opportunity cost of like not buying a home. Because prices might change for the worse, interest rates could go up. And you still have the cost of living, like you're still gonna be paying rent every month, which is a hundred percent interest, like you're never gonna get any of that money back. I think that is the number one mistake that people make.

Caleb: I think you hit it on the head. a spreadsheet's good for all the financials of opportunity cost, but truth be told, you think about this sounds maybe cliche as well, but playing catch with your kid in the backyard, maybe where your renting doesn't have a backyard. There's the opportunity cost of the memories. the the psychological feel-good of being an owner. You know, how might that confidence spread to your job?

Nathan Moser: Yeah. Yes.

Caleb: Yeah, you know, make you feel carry yourself a little higher. so yeah, I I totally agree. Waiting to wait is not a strategy.

Nathan Moser: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you know what? Sorry to s sorry to cut you off. But I do feel like that's the other biggest mistake that buyers make is, you know, they decide they want to buy a home, but they're not really sure why. Because what I c what I can't do as a as a real estate agent is I can't like I can't convince anybody that it's worth it to to buy a home. Like I can try, but ultimately that is your decision. And it will come down to a lot of times it'll come down to more than just the numbers if they work. J like you said.

Caleb: No, please.

Nathan Moser: It'll come down to, you know, what is your goal? Maybe you just want to have a backyard. Maybe you want to cement yourself in a community and like really get involved. Which, by the way, people who own homes, like they are proven to just have a way more positive outlook on their community, they're more involved. you know, they expect better outcomes because they are literally invested in that community. Like there are a lot of intangibles that come with buying a home. So big mistake that buyers make. Is they go into buying a house but they don't really have like a a criteria set up for why they want to buy.

Caleb: absolutely. And maybe it's because we have the Fourth of July coming soon. you know, we're filming here at the end of June. But that's the American dream. I think we get so caught up in the numbers of it that it's like, you know, financially buying a home is a good decision. Yes, I can agree. for most cases it's it's a win But also, yeah, the American dream of having ownership. And how you wanna operate your family, how you wanna paint the walls, all freedom. Comes down to freedom. when we have consultations on our end, I I love to hear about the reasons of why people wanna buy. and it doesn't really matter the age, you know, could be young could be later in life, but it all seems to center around control and freedom.

Nathan Moser: Yeah. A hundred percent. That's like not a small factor either. Cause when I bought this triplex, you know, I kind of thought y you know, my main criteria was, you know, I wanted to make sense financially. But the other reason I bought this is I really just wanted something that I could make my own and I wanted a garden in my backyard. Like as silly as that sounds, I wanted a big garden and I couldn't do that at like a little apartment that I was renting in Provo. And so I was like, I'm gonna buy this house, it's got a nice big backyard. And even though it's a shared backyard between me and my tenants, I've built this this garden back there and we split the produce between the different units. Like we'll we'll give some tomatoes and peppers to one of my tenants and she'll make salsa and give it back to us. And it's been like a fun little thing, but that was something I could only do by owning. And same thing with all the renovations we've made. Like even though this will someday be a rental and we'll just keep this in our portfolio forever and you know, we'll we'll move on and we'll buy a new house

Caleb: It's so awesome.

Nathan Moser: You know, we we want this to be like a good place for people to live and so we've made updates everywhere to make it just more comfortable and you know, just a better a better place to rent.

Caleb: Yeah, you're making you're making people's dreams come true by helping them buy a house, is what I'm hearing. So that's awesome.

Nathan Moser: Yeah. Yeah, it was fun. With one of my clients that we that we closed a couple months ago, I texted him, I was like, Hey, I noticed you had those garden boxes in the back. Do you want any peppers and tomatoes? 'Cause I had all these extra plants. And he was like, yeah, definitely. So I've hooked him up and now he has his own garden. It's like so fun to see him you know, do things the kind of the way that I've done them and yeah, it's like super, super gratifying for me to see. Not to say that you have to have a garden to make homeownership worth it. Like you might have your own reasons, but For me that was like a big reason. I wanted to have my own yard and a and a garden.

Caleb: Yeah, I've heard some people who really want a dog or a cat or a pet and they can't. Their landlord won't let well yeah, I really appreciate all your insight today. It's it's been fun to hear about you. It sounds like if you're looking to buy a home for your first time affordably, maybe with some creative options, and yeah, help reach some of your dreams or goals, Nathan's your guy to help you get there. Nathan, for anyone watching

Nathan Moser: Yeah, super valid.

Caleb: Who want to work with you, how would they get in contact with you?

Nathan Moser: there's a few different ways. If you're on Instagram, just follow me on Instagram, shoot me a DM. It's Utahrealestate dot nate. you can follow me there. you can also just text me. If you want to text me, my phone number is two zero eight nine zero three two eight seven. And I'm happy to you know, if you wanna call me or text me, I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Caleb: Thanks, Nathan. Appreciate having you on today.

Nathan Moser: Yeah, thanks, Kaylin. It was fun.

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.