Caleb: Welcome to Real Estate Insights, where I sit down with real estate pros across Utah and Idaho. I'm Caleb Adams. My guest today is Andrew Garrett, a realtor with Keller Williams Westfield. Andrew's got a background that most agents don't, some years in B2B marketing, content, lead gen for tech companies. I'm excited to have him here. in five years, he's already reached his office's Moore Club, the top tier of agents. Andrew, welcome to the show. Andrew Garrett: Yeah, thanks Caleb for having me on. that introduction sounded spot on. one thing I would add is I am Utah born and raised, I love living in Utah it's a great state, great place to raise a family. happy to to be here and to talk more about real estate with you. Caleb: Awesome. Well yeah, I appreciate it. can you tell me how you got started, what drove you to be interested in the real estate industry? Andrew Garrett: Absolutely, yeah. I was actually inspired by my realtor that that I worked with when I bought my first home. his name is Stan Larimer. He is another realtor in my same office at Keller Williams, Westfield. Caleb: very cool. Andrew Garrett: he helped me navigate the home buying process for the first time when I was, a young, newlywed, trying to achieve that dream of homeownership. And he actually helped me through my first two transactions. my first home and then when we moved up to our second home a few years later, he was my agent again. So after working with him a couple of times, I was just inspired by the way that he worked. his personality was very infectious, very friendly, and I kind of was inspired to follow his same path and I decided to get my realtor license in twenty twenty one and now we work together. So I now work alongside Caleb: There you go. Andrew Garrett: my mentor. Yeah. Caleb: Little did he know as he helped you buy your houses, he was recruiting you to the team. Andrew Garrett: Exactly. you know, and he's even mentioned that before. he's brought it up as we've been in group settings, group conversations with other agents. he'll often say, you know, I've worked with a lot of clients who say, this is really cool what you do a as a realtor. I'd love to get my real estate license someday too. And, a lot of people say that and then don't always follow through with it, But Stan always tells people, Andrew is a guy who actually followed through. He went and got his license. So Yeah, Caleb: He said it and he did it. Andrew Garrett: so here I am. Caleb: That's awesome. So all five years since twenty twenty one at Keller Williams Westfield, which is Utah County area. how's that been? over the years, I know that you've been working in the B to B marketing space. has that been good doing both at the same time? Do you plan to go full time in real estate or how does that look? Andrew Garrett: Yeah, the plan eventually would be to go full time into real estate. I am balancing two jobs right now where I'm doing my marketing job during the day and then I'm doing my real estate by night. I've been growing my real estate business, ramping it up, and the ultimate goal is to cut the cord and go full time real estate in the future. So That's that's the goal I'm working towards. Caleb: not enough people talk about that transition from getting licensed to full time. Andrew Garrett: Yeah. yeah, one interesting stat that I always remember is in the real estate industry, there's actually a high turnover of agents every year. I think almost it's almost equal. like fifty fifty. There's almost as many realtors leaving the industry as there are new agents coming in. and a lot of that is because it is a hard industry to get started, but once you build things up, it can be a great place to be. They call it America's favorite industry. that's kind of the nickname for the real estate industry. Caleb: I love that. Yeah. And I would agree. Everybody has to have some dealing with real estate in their lives. part of the American dream, right? Owning a house. Andrew Garrett: Absolutely. Caleb: Yeah, that's awesome. Was there anything that surprised you about the transition from wanting to do real estate to actually doing real estate? Andrew Garrett: that's a good question. I think for me, what surprised me was how many real estate agents there are. in the state of Utah there are more agents than there are homes on the market. So it's a very dog eat dog world, I guess you could say. very competitive. because It seems like everybody knows somebody like I have a cousin who's an agent. I have a a neighbor who's an agent. so what I try to do in my line of work is just go the extra mile for people and and really stand out, set myself apart. that's something that Stan did for me when I mentioned he helped me buy my first home. I remember Stan, made me feel like he has my best interests at heart. He really wants me to get this home that we're hoping for. and he's not just concerned with making a big chunk of a commission, so Stan, my mentor, he set that example for me. Like, hey, this is not all about the commission I'm here to help you. I'm here to be your fiduciary. that's the word that we hear a lot as realtors. We we are fiduciaries, meaning our clients' interests come before our own. So that is something that I have always tried to keep in mind. Whatever my clients need, I wanna put those needs first and then everything else will fall into place after that. Caleb: I love that. Stan sounds like he is a good example. Andrew Garrett: He is. He's one of the top agents in Utah, so there's a good chance that some of your listeners know who he is. Caleb: That's awesome. We'll have to get Stan on here sometime. Andrew Garrett: Yeah. Caleb: I like that you mentioned yeah, he wasn't out there just to make a check and he was out there to help you. I don't think the word fiduciary gets used enough in our world. You hear it a lot with financing terms but putting your client's interest before your own I think goes a long way. What do you feel like is your client base right now? What type of clients do work with? Andrew Garrett: Yeah, so I myself am a dad of young kids. I'm a family man, I guess you could say. And so I find myself working with a lot of people in my same situation. I think people gravitate towards working with people like themselves, so Whether they're buyers that are wanting to get into their first home, or whether it's that family that have added some young kids to the family. Now they need that second home with a little more space. that is my experience up to this point. I will say I have had a little bit of experience with an older clientele as well. mainly because my parents live in Provo and they have a good community, good circle of friends that they have lived around for a long time. and so I think through that connection and and through the neighborhood where I grew up I've been able to work with that demographic as well. So it's all about who you know. and that's what I've been leveraging is my connections, that's how I find most of my clients, I would say. Caleb: that's awesome. Yeah, I've heard it said that instead of trying to start your own parade, just try and get in front of someone else's like your parents, you know, their existing network and neighborhood and I think that's a that's great tip on growing the business. do you feel like I mean you've been doing this for five years now, are you working more with sellers, or buyers or is it equal? How does that look right now? Andrew Garrett: Yeah, it's tricky right now. I think we're at a tipping point. I think I've been working with a mix of both buyers and sellers. but the reason why I think we're at a tipping point is because and this is another stat that's coming to my mind that I read recently. Just within the last couple of months, we actually, as a nation, America as a whole, surpassed the number of people that have a six percent industry or higher. That is now greater than the number of people who have a three percent industry or lower. So that's a recent trend. you used to hear all the time, and you still hear it now, people say, I would like to move, into a bigger home, I just don't think I can give up my two point eight percent interest rate that I got back in twenty twenty-one, twenty twenty-two. but that trend is starting to flip now if you imagine this graph of like two lines intersecting, there are now more people in the country that have six percent or greater. so the people with those lower interest rates are starting to come out of hiding a a little bit more, I think. Caleb: Ha ha ha. Andrew Garrett: so I think more buyers start to emerge. but it depends on everybody's unique situations. And some people get to the point, which was actually the case for me, I got to the point where our family had grown where we now had three kids and we said, We need more space, and yes, we'll have to give up our glorious, sub three percent interest rate, but the space Is worth it more to me, and that's not the case for everybody. Some people say I'm gonna keep riding this out a little longer, and we will stay in our space that we have and we'll hold on to this rate. but I think I'm starting to see more and more buyers coming out from hiding, and you know what? It it can be done. I will say to any buyers that are thinking, how can I do this? I will tell you right now, it is becoming a buyer's market for sure. Meaning, homes are sitting for longer. They're days on market is longer than it was last year by over a week on average. at least in Utah County. and so we are seeing sellers start to make more concessions with what they're willing to do. And so if you're on the fence, I think for buyers right now, it is a good time to buy. And I know that's what you would expect a realtor to say, but I will just add this if that day comes that we're all hoping for when the rates do eventually come down and maybe they drop below you know five percent or or whatever. prices will go up at that point. the prices aren't gonna come down along with the interest rates. and you can always refinance your rate, but you can't refinance your purchase price. Caleb: Yeah. well said. So many things to unpack their there's so many people that are rate locked or they have the handcuffs of like a two percent or three Andrew Garrett: Yeah. Caleb: percent rate. but like you said, as your family grows or circumstances changes or maybe a great job offer comes along, life ultimately overrides the need for a low rate Andrew Garrett: Yeah, i it did for me. I got to the point where I said in my next house, now that I have little kids, I really want a basement. I want to have that space where my kids can go and run around and go crazy. sometimes that's all it takes for somebody to make that decision. they have that thing in the back of their mind, whether it's having a basement, whether it's having a yard. I know a lot of people some of my my past clients that I've worked with, if they're coming from a town home and then they get to a house that has their own private yard, that's a big deal for people and that's part of the American Caleb: Absolutely. Andrew Garrett: dream. Caleb: that's a great point. Yeah, I think sometimes people try to make all the decisions before ever owning a home. And what's cool about your story is it's like, you buy your first house, as your circumstances change, you figure out what matters most to you. Hey, I really value a backyard. I really value a basement. And and then you move on. Not to mention all the equity you built in that house that can then be used on a future purchase or just the financial options. So what would you say to a first time buyer who is nervous about purchasing a home, Andrew Garrett: Well, you know, my dad, I mentioned Stan as a mentor of my dad has also been a mentor of mine. he's been a real estate investor himself. and I remember he told me from a young age, the three most important rules of real estate. And the three rules are location, location, location. And those are the three most important rules. so to people that are Hesitant or maybe they're a little nervous or they're thinking, I don't know if I want to go out and buy right now because prices are high, What I would say to those people is if you want make a safe decision or a safe purchase, buy in a desirable location because Those are gonna be the properties that have the least amount of fluctuation. If there's a market downturn and prices do drop significantly, it's gonna be the areas on the outskirts that are far away that have long commutes into work and amenities. Those are the areas that will be hit the hardest. but there are pockets within Utah that will always be in high demand. Utah County, for example, because of the two universities that we have, within five miles of each other, real estate around those areas will always be in high demand. and so that is what I would say to buyers that are nervous about buying when prices seem high, I would say find a location that is in high demand because some of these outskirts areas where the homes are a little cheaper, they're a little more affordable. I would just be nervous because you never know if there is a correction where prices are coming it's those areas that are out on the outskirts that will be the most vulnerable to, price corrections. Yeah. Caleb: Yeah, that is such a good and valid point. it's very similar to the interest rate and price for homes paradox where it's like you want rates to come down, but if they do, prices might go up. Very similar here, it's like, buying a good location But those homes might be more expensive today. It might be a little bit harder to buy into that area, but what you're getting is a solid location and a little bit of some assurance for future risk. Andrew Garrett: Yeah, exactly. And we always hear about this housing shortage in Utah right now. It's been going on for for many years now. There's just not enough homes to go around. But I think something that Utah has started doing better is communities that provide more amenities. I'm talking about a park, a school, grocery stores, Things you need close by. So those are areas I would look at where it's not just solid residential with no amenities, but if you can find a home that is surrounded by amenities that you need in your daily life, that's a good area to invest in. Caleb: That's awesome. Yeah, looking at the factors outside of just the price and the rate. that speaks to the huge value of working with real estate agents. You know, on the financing side I see some people, try to do it on their own, but yeah, someone who can come in with some experience about the area and say like, Hey, here's some amenities or maybe here's some amenities that will be coming, and you can buy in that area before they show up, that would be kind of a sweet spot. Andrew Garrett: Yeah, exactly. And in my real estate certification class, what as I was preparing to take the real estate exam, I remember in one of our training classes, the instructor was talking about In Utah, we have a unique situation where there is, a building from a certain predominant religion that when it is announced, the property values around that area will often go up. so you know, I think those of us that have lived in Utah for a while now, we've all experienced that. But hey, you know what? there's something to be said for if you want to invest in property that is going to go up in value, look for areas where and not just, religious buildings, but any area where they've announced we're gonna invest in this area as a community and build it up and build up the infrastructure, that's always where you should look to buy a home because the the property values of those areas will go up over time. Caleb: Yeah. you make a great point. And I think for our listeners who might be considering moving to Utah On a macro scale, there's a reason that Utah homes on average are, more expensive. there's high demand. People wanna be here. We've got good economic basis. like you mentioned, religion investing in the area, universities, and so it's one of those funny things where it's like, the higher price actually is an indicator of a good thing that we have a desirable area to live in. Andrew Garrett: Yeah, it's it's a very highly desirable area. another stat that I saw recently was that Utah as a state has the ninth highest median sale price for homes And the eight states before Utah was all the usual suspects, California, New York, Hawaii, the the places you would expect. And then you see Utah at nine, which when you think of the country geographically, it is a little surprising because you don't see our neighboring states on that list. You don't see Wyoming or Idaho or Nevada or Montana may have actually been on there, but I think Utah is this interesting island, where it's a very desirable area. A lot of people want to live here. and for good reason, I think Utah has come a long way. I think the perception of Utah in the past was that there was not a lot of diversity here. it's a state that is run by the church and i if you're not a part of that church, it's not a good place to live. and I would actually disagree with that. I think nowadays, the twenty twenty six version of Utah is very different than the nineteen ninety six version of Utah. I think the last thirty years there's been a lot of development, a lot of growth. Salt Lake as a metro area has developed a lot. I think there's a good chance in the next year or two we'll hear about an ML B team being announced in Salt Lake, which I would be very excited about. So Utah's got a lot going on. and obviously a great tech scene as well, as most people know. Olympics twenty thirty four, Caleb: Not to mention the here in handful of years. Andrew Garrett: there's a lot going on. And on the Olympics if you're an investor, if you're somebody that is like my dad who likes to buy up investment properties, buying something in downtown Salt Lake now and holding onto it through the Olympics I think that's a phenomenal idea. that's another good recommendation. If you're looking somewhere to invest, go buy a condo in downtown Salt Lake City and hold on to it for ten years. Caleb: There we go. Yeah, it's gonna have some high demand when the world shows up. Well, awesome. I wanna transition into talking a little bit more specific about the clientele and how you help them win. we talked a little bit about it with putting the client needs first and some of your experiences with your own agent. But what experience do you want every client that works with you to walk away with? Andrew Garrett: I just want them to feel like that was worth it. That was worth it to work with an agent. I used to joke that in Utah the the second most used form of currency is the coupon. And, you know, that's just who we are. it's in our nature to look for a deal. And I think because of that, people get scared of pairing up with an agent because they think, well, then I have to pay an agent. Commission and I have to pay, two and a half, three percent of my proceeds to this agent, and he didn't even do anything, right? so the feeling I want people to have after working with me is the same feeling that I had when I worked with Stan, a decade ago when I bought my first home. I want them to feel like I couldn't have done that without my agent. He did so much for me. It was well worth it. And honestly, in the the real estate frenzy that was 2021, 2022, yeah, you did have realtors that maybe weren't doing a lot, you know, that maybe they weren't doing a lot of work. They would just they would list a home for sale and the offers would come flooding in, right? But if you're going to list your home in today's market, I think it does take a realtor who is going to work hard and who is gonna be very intentional about staging your home, about the photography of it. I think when you have an agent that is going to really put in a lot of effort into making your home stand out. that's what is needed right now in this market because like I said, it is a buyer's market right now. There are homes that are sitting for a long time right now. And then if you've been following Zillow and tracking the sale prices of homes, you've probably seen a lot of those notifications on the listings where it says price reduction, minus fifteen thousand, price reduction minus thirty thousand, like their homes are sitting and then they're having to just lower that price and sometimes they take it back off the market. I have seen personal experiences around where I live of people where they list their home for sale, it doesn't end up selling, and then they say, Well, I guess we'll just continue to live here. Or if they have to move, and they're moving out of state, they say, Well, we couldn't sell it, so we're just gonna rent it. And now you're having to manage a rental from, another state. And so Caleb: Even Andrew Garrett: hiring a relator right now at least for me, I can't speak for every realtor, but those that work with me, I really want you to leave feeling like that wasn't me having to pay a realtor to do nothing. That was me investing something into this realtor who ended up getting my house sold quickly, at a higher price than I ever could have thought possible. It sold higher than some of my neighbors, you know, homes that have sold in in the past few months. so I really want it to feel like a worthwhile investment. Caleb: Yeah, absolutely. I love that. And as you were talking about Zillow and the price drops, it made me think there are some people who are on the fence about using an agent or just listing it themselves or buying themselves. And I think about the opportunity cost that doesn't get talked about enough of having to hold onto a property for six extra months because you didn't know what you were doing and it took you six months to figure it out. Andrew Garrett: Yeah. And if you're living in it, you're having to Caleb: yeah. Andrew Garrett: keep it clean that entire time. It's a hassle. And also on the buy side, I still find that a lot of people don't know that if you're going to buy a home and you are using an agent to help you with that transaction, you actually don't pay anything out of your pocket to your buyer's agent. It comes from the the sellers who are selling the home. they are the ones that pay the buyer's agent commission out of that seller's transaction that happens. So that's something that a lot of first time homebuyers don't know. and I've explained that to a lot of people So That's something I just like to remind people or sometimes people just didn't know about that yet. Caleb: Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. And I think people get confused about that. Like why would the seller pay for a buyer's agent? And the analogy I think of is like if you walk into a grocery store, it makes sense the the grocery store is paying the sales agent there to sell you on something. it's all to the seller's benefit, obviously. If they sell the house, then they're more than happy to pay the buyer's agent. So it really is a win win. and I think the people need to ask more often, you know, instead of, man, what am I gonna lose out or what's the cost of working with this agent? What's happens if I don't? like the time spent. Andrew Garrett: Yeah, exactly. I don't want people to ever feel like I can't afford to use a real estate agent. I want people to think I can't afford not to. and I think in this market, especially where it is a very heavily leaning buyers market right now, I think realtors who work hard, who do a good job with the marketing and the staging, like I was saying, I think they really can earn their commission. And you know, with the real estate legislation that passed recently in the last couple of years, the commissions are much more negotiable than they used to be. it used to be that a a listing agent would put a house up for sale, they would list what the commission was as a part of that listing. but that has changed now, where if I'm a buyer's agent and I'm submitting an offer, I will actually write into my offer what is the commission that I would hope to receive along with this offer. And if you as the seller don't agree with that, you can counter that. You can negotiate that. So I think the legislation from the last couple of years has given more power into the hands of the sellers, where it's not just a flat rate, three percent commission that is paid out no matter what. but actually let's let's talk about it, let's negotiate it and let's land on something that we think is fair. Caleb: Yeah. Yeah, that was a big change a couple of years ago and seems like it's kinda died down in the news outlets, but it's definitely still a reality of where we're at. well I appreciate your time today and I can tell you're a great agent to work with. How do people get in contact with you? Andrew Garrett: thanks, Caleb. Well, Andrew Garrett is my name. my email address is Andrew Ghomes at KW dot com. so you can send me an email, reach out to me there. you can also reach out to my brokerage if you'd like, which is KW Westfield, based out of Oram, Utah. And one point that I wanted to mention, I should have Caleb: Sure. Andrew Garrett: mentioned this in the intro, But KW Westfield actually does the most real estate transactions out of any brokerage in the state of Utah. So yeah, we are Caleb: Wow, I didn't know that. Andrew Garrett: based in Utah County, but it is the largest brokerage in terms of volume for the entire state of Utah. Caleb: So anywhere in the state you guys are transacting in practically? Andrew Garrett: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think in your intro you mentioned that I've been at Keller Williams for the entire five years. I actually had a brief stint where I left and and I joined a smaller brokerage. and I actually ended up coming back to Keller Williams, to the office I'm at now, KW Westfield. because I just feel so supported at this office and like I mentioned most transactions in the entire state of Utah so the team around me, really know what they're doing. We have so much great support. And yeah, it's just a a great team to work with. So I'm happy to be where I'm at. Caleb: Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I really appreciate your time today. And for those listening, Andrew is awesome and he's gonna put your needs before his. He sounds like he'll take really good care of you. So please reach out to him and Andrew, thanks so much for being on. Andrew Garrett: Yeah, thanks, Caleb. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on the podcast today and and allowing me to speak with you. It's been great. 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.