In this episode, hosts Joe and Makayla introduce themselves and their backgrounds in the real estate business. They discuss how they got into the industry and share some of their craziest experiences as real estate brokers.
Highlights:
About Makayla: 0:00
About Joe: 2:27
How Joe Got Into The Real Estate Business: 3:40
How Makayla Got Into The Real Estate Business:
Craziest Real Estate Experience: 9:20
Future Podcasts: 16:42
Bonus
In this podcast episode, we shared a jaw-dropping story about a unique experience during a listing appointment. We mentioned a house with a massive collection of Cabbage Patch Kids that left us speechless. Well, as promised, we have some photos to share with you!
When we walked into the house, we were greeted by a sight we had never seen before. A pile of Cabbage Patch Kids that stood about 10 feet tall! The dolls covered a significant portion of the downstairs area, including the drop-down living room, fireplace, and family room. The sheer volume and height of the collection were overwhelming, and we couldn't help but be amazed.
We were able to capture some pictures of the incredible Cabbage Patch Kids collection, and you won't believe your eyes! The photos showcase the enormity of the collection, with dolls stacked almost two stories high in some areas. It was truly a sight to behold, and the pictures speak for themselves.
We were impressed by how dedicated the homeowners were to their collection, with an entire moving van dedicated solely to transporting the Cabbage Patch Kids to their new home. Despite the initial shock, the house eventually sold successfully, and the homeowners did well with their unique collection.
Links
www.livportland.com/off-the-record/introduction
Thanks for tuning in to Off The Record Talking Real Estate with Joe and Makayla! We're thrilled to have you join us for this episode, and we're confident you'll be hooked on our insider stories from the wild world of real estate in Portland Metro. If you want to stay in the loop and get exclusive access to even more valuable industry insights, make sure to hit that subscribe button on your preferred podcast platform. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for additional real estate tips and tricks.
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00;00;08;18 - 00;00;14;30
Joe
Welcome to Off the Record Talking real estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Oregon real estate. Market and want unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen.
00;00;14;30 - 00;00;50;03
Joe
All right. Today, we are going to be introducing Makayla and myself to you, the listener, and let you know a little bit about what we're going to be bringing with this podcast. Give you a little bit about who we are, how we got in the business, what we like about real estate, all sorts of different stuff.
Just to give you a little bit of insight into who you're listening to and why, this is a podcast that's worth spending a few minutes every other week or so. So to start, I think what we should do is maybe put you on the spot, Makayla and ask you a little bit about yourself.
00;00;50;04 - 00;01;07;07
Makayla
Hello. Thank you for listening. My name is Makayla as you have heard so far. I work in the Portland Metro real estate market alongside Jo or on the live Portland team. We both live on the west side of town, so we primarily focus on that. But we work all over the Portland metro and.
00;01;07;07 - 00;01;13;20
Joe
Northeast Southeast Clackamas, our offices in Lake Oswego, but west side. East side.
00;01;14;08 - 00;01;45;02
Makayla
Yeah, yeah. Kind of our sweet spot. My fiancee and I bought and renovated a house in Beaverton about a year and a half ago. So most of my life still feels like it's consumed with house projects. Also planning my wedding. So that's very exciting. Thank you. And yeah, I like to explore Portland, even though I've lived here my whole life.I like to still get down and explore new restaurants and areas, get up and ski as much as we can and just spend time with family and friends.
00;01;45;10 - 00;01;48;17
Joe
Nice. Nice. Very nice. And you have two Hound dogs.
00;01;48;17 - 00;01;49;22
Makayla
I do have two hound dogs.
00;01;49;27 - 00;01;51;14
Joe
Why don’t you introduce them.
00;01;51;24 - 00;01;58;12
Makayla
Finn is my little pit bull. And then I have a puppy, Frank, who's a French bulldog. They keep us busy.
00;01;58;12 - 00;01;59;03
Joe
Right? Frank the Tank
00;01;59;04 - 00;02;01;14
Makayla
Frank The tank. He's a character.
00;02;01;15 - 00;03;40;29
Joe
Yeah. My name is Joe Reitzug. And I have been in the business for about 28 years now, and I'm not originally from Portland, but I've been here for almost 30 years now. And my wife, Stephanie, who's also a licensed broker, her family is from Hillsboro, and that's where we landed when we got engaged. And we've been married 27 years now, I think it is.
And we have three boys, two at the University of Oregon right now and one who is in high school. So I love my boys, love hanging out with my boys. We golf together. We do all sorts of stuff together, just a happy family. We do a lot of the same things that you do travel. We really enjoy exploring Oregon, Southwest, Washington, California, and just taking adventures. You know, there's so many beautiful things here in Oregon, especially. I grew up in the Midwest where it's flat, a lot of farmland, humidity, that whole thing. And I still get asked when I go back there, you know, are you thinking about moving back? Are you bringing the family back? Do you think, at all? And I have to open my phone and show them the mountains and the oceans and the rivers and the just amazing beauty here and the conversation then turns to, well, that is beautiful. You know, they they then understand why would you move back? So it's a beautiful place we have here. And that's why we have so many people that are moving into the state.
Our inbound relocation is always top five, top eight in the United States, which is great for real estate. It's really increased the prices quite a bit. But, you know, that can be an issue as well with inventory and those type of things. But we'll talk about that in another episode.
00;03;40;29 - 00;03;48;21
Makayla
Okay. So now we want to talk a little bit about how we got into the business, the journey. I'm going to put you on the spot and have you tell us a little bit about that.
00;03;48;21 - 00;06;13;28
Joe
Sure. So I went to the University of Oregon, was lucky enough to play in athletics there. I was on a football scholarship to Oregon, and afterwards I thought I wanted to get into teaching and coaching high school football. So I was trying to get my accreditations and get started with that. And I had the opportunity for a college football job.
And so I took that because it paid and that was a good thing back then coming out of college and one thing led to another, got a couple of different jobs and ended up coaching at the University of Oregon 9394. And that is a extremely difficult job. Yeah, coaching. Oh man. Coaching at any level is very, very difficult.
But at the college level, Division one, it's just nonstop. And I saw how difficult it was for those guys to have relationships with their families and with their spouses. And, you know, I really wanted to have a relationship with my kids and with my wife, and I felt like I wanted something different. So a friend of mine was actually the best man at my wedding.
Don was in the business, and so I shadowed him for about three or four days and I thought, you know, this is just looks easy. I could do this. And wow, he's making good money and he's having fun and yeah, let's do this. So I got into the business and immediately it was way more difficult than I thought it was going to be.
But that was, you know, 28 years ago. And I got the hang of it and was a top producer within two or three years starting my own company. That was just as much time, twice as much risk for just about the same amount of money. So I ended up selling that company and they asked me to get into management and I did that for a few years.
Ended up being a vice president for a company called John L Scott for about eight years, moved over to Sotheby's and helped Sotheby's get their franchise off the ground, got back into sales about seven or eight years ago and really, really enjoyed it. But it's been a good ride. It's one of those things that you get to help people with such an incredible experience and you get to do it on, you know, within a business that you've built.
And it's really challenging. But at the same time it's really rewarding because you get to see the, you know, the benefit and you get to see people so happy with either, you know, buying their home or selling their home and trying to make that a good experience for them as is what got me into the business and what keeps me here.
So what about you?
00;06;15;07 - 00;07;20;28
Makayla
How can I go after that?
It’s quite impressive.
That's true. I get to use you as a mentor to guide me along the way. But I got into the business almost three years ago. Which is it seems crazy to say, when I was finishing up college at Portland State, I was still working for my family's small business. I was managing their office and finishing up my credits and I didn't know what the heck I wanted to do after that.
At the same time, I got really into real estate investing and thinking about saving for my own house. And when that conversation came up with my dad, he pointed me to the person that he trusted most in the business to chat to, and I got the opportunity to sit down with you. And going into that Zoom call, I did not know that I was going to come out wanting to be a real estate broker, but you sure convinced me pretty quickly.
00;07;21;05 - 00;07;33;12
Joe
Well, just in talking to you in the first 5 minutes, I could tell that you had, you know, all the skill sets and everything needed to to be super successful in this. And and you've certainly done that and then some. So congratulations.
00;07;33;12 - 00;07;38;27
Makayla
Thank you. Thanks for letting me tag along. It's been a fun few years. We've gotten a lot done.
00;07;38;29 - 00;07;52;06
Joe
We have gotten a lot done and we've helped a lot of people and really built a lot of really cool relationships. Let me ask you a question. So now you're a seasoned veteran, right? What do you like best about the real estate industry in your profession?
00;07;52;15 - 00;08;33;03
Makayla
I think similar to what you said, the connection piece, I love getting to help people throughout the whole process. It's really exciting to see people get those butterflies and get so excited about their future home and, you know, sometimes we see 15 to 30 homes with people and they, you know, no, no expression whatsoever, not excited about anything.
But getting to be there. And they finally find the one is really exciting and knowing that I've learned enough and made enough connections to know that I can help them along the way, have a smooth process has been comforting and yeah, rewarding to know that I can help.
00;08;33;13 - 00;08;56;07
Joe
Yeah, it's you really get to know people, don't you? You do really get to know people and understand their dynamic and what they're looking for. And it's the thing that I love about the business is there is no two same days. Every single day is different. You will never, ever load up your computer or head to the office or go out on appointments and have the same day twice.
00;08;56;08 - 00;08;56;29
Makayla
That's true.
00;08;56;29 - 00;08;58;02
Joe
Always something different.
00;09;01;18 - 00;09;19;12
Joe
I could be in the car for 8 hours or. you know, or in the office on the phone for 8 hours or, you know, working on all sorts of different things, different paperwork or marketing. So yeah, it's that's super cool. And for me, I need variety and there is always variety in our business, isn't there?
00;09;19;16 - 00;09;20;15
Makayla
Yeah, absolutely.
00;09;20;29 - 00;09;32;15
Joe
Yeah. So real estate is diverse. There's always different things going on, but it is also one of the craziest professions you can be a part of and you see some stuff you do.
00;09;33;03 - 00;09;42;01
Makayla
I love telling my friends about it. That's something that we always end up talking about is the crazy things that I see. Yeah, I think we should talk about it on here.
00;09;42;05 - 00;09;47;23
Joe
I think for sure we should definitely talk about it. We could fill up multiple podcasts with just talking about that.
00;09;47;23 - 00;09;48;23
Makayla
We definitely could.
00;09;48;29 - 00;09;56;07
Joe
Okay, so I want you to lead off with what your craziest experience has been at one of our houses.
00;09;56;08 - 00;10;21;18
Makayla
Well, it was right when I started and I was going with you to a listing appointment, which is when we go to our home and let people know the approximate value before they sell. And we hadn't seen this one before, we haven't met these people before. So we pull up and Bull Mountain, beautiful house, beautiful views, you know, expecting a 3000 square foot house or expecting.
00;10;21;21 - 00;10;22;18
Joe
A nice neighborhood.
00;10;23;04 - 00;10;35;28
Makayla
Yeah, it's going to be a nicer home. And without having any idea, when we walked into the house, there was probably what, like 15, like a ten foot pile of Cabbage Patch kids.
00;10;36;01 - 00;11;11;18
Joe
It was something because when you walk in the front door, it was an older seventies home that had the drop down living room with the fireplace and it was large. It was probably 3500 square feet, wasn't it? Yeah, it was a big house, so big, huge drop down living room area, fireplace, newly remodeled kitchen that was absolutely beautiful.Family room around there and at least half of the downstairs area. So it was probably, you know, 2000 square feet, at least half a thousand square feet of it was not only just covered and Beanie Babies, but like waist high.
00;11;11;23 - 00;11;12;21
Makayla
It was insane.
00;11;13;09 - 00;11;14;01
Joe
It was jarring.
00;11;14;14 - 00;11;21;00
Makayla
It was remember, I couldn't you can even tell what floor like what type of flowers on the ground. And I'm trying to be polite.
00;11;21;08 - 00;11;29;07
Joe
Makayla is like three months into the business and I walk in there and I'm talking to the owner and nice guy, Nice guy. And I acted like.
00;11;29;27 - 00;11;31;03
Makayla
You see that every day.
00;11;31;07 - 00;11;44;22
Joe
Okay. Like it was some you know, they move kids clothes out or something like that. And that's the thing is, you know, it was okay to them. And he said he was going to take care of it. So, yeah, no big deal that I remember. We were walking and I turn around, looked at you and the look on your face.
00;11;44;25 - 00;11;45;24
Joe
We were wearing masks.
00;11;45;28 - 0;12;02;18
Makayla
During the Pandemic. The way my jaw dropped under my mask was like a reaction I've never had before. Like, I can always control my expressions, but that day, if it weren't for that mask like this, it was scary.
00;12;02;18 - 00;12;08;08
Joe
That was. Yeah. Yeah. I could tell just from your eyes you were like, What is going on here?
00;12;08;16 - 00;12;12;02
Makayla
The nicest people wonderful to work with. Yeah.
00;12;12;08 - 00;12;19;04
Joe
Yeah. And it was, you know, it was a lot. And it wasn't just downstairs. It was upstairs to.
00;12;20;25 - 00;12;30;13
Makayla
Like, the. What do you call it? Like not the loft, but the, like, walkway. Yeah. Over here you look down and it looked like the pile was almost two storeys high.
00;12;30;18 - 00;13;33;14
Joe
Yeah, it was. It was a lot. And just as a teaser for you guys, we have pictures. Oh, yeah, we have pictures. So if you go to LivPortland.com/Introduction backslash introduction. This is our introduction episode if you got LivPortland.com/Introduction we will have some pictures of us and some different things on there. But we will also have the Beanie Baby pictures for you.
You got to check it out. It is something else. Yeah, but you know, the bottom line is they moved out, they moved down to Arizona, they had moving vans. I think they had one moving van just for the Beanie Babies. They had to they had to move. And, you know, by the time we got our hands on the house, it was vacant and, you know, it was beautiful.
And the place sold. I don't remember whether we had multiple offers or not, but it sold and they did really well with it. So, you know, there's things that can't be overcome, but most things can. Yeah, right.
00;13;34;11 - 00;13;35;16
Makayla
Even thousands.
00;13;35;16 - 00;14;33;16
Joe
Of. I think the craziest thing one of the craziest things and I'm not going to go you went straight to probably the Mount Rushmore of crazy. Yeah yeah that's on the top five. That's top five, I think I've got just a run of the mill, kind of a, you know, thing. And you guys probably listener probably knows that we see a lot of stuff and you can probably imagine, but I had a sweet, sweet older lady who is referred to me by by her daughter, who I knew and she asked me what I help her mom and the family out selling the mom's house.
And I said, Of course. And so we set up a time for me to go over there and take a look at it so I could give a recommendation on pricing and maybe give some tips on getting the home ready. And she opens the door. Sweet, sweet lady. But as soon as she opens the door, I see behind her that there are stacks stacked.
I mean, we're talking hoarder. I mean, yeah.
00;14;33;27 - 00;14;36;10
Makayla
Like TLC hoarder?
00;14;36;10 - 00;15;26;25
Joe
I've never watched that show, but I can imagine. I know. Yeah. Okay. I'm traumatized from this. That was like 1999. Oh, yeah. Long, long time ago. But it was. It was a single level home, three bedroom, two bath over in Northeast Portland and it was up to the ceiling. And she had like path to get to the living room where she had a couch.
Couch was spotless. There wasn't like stuff all over the house. I mean, the couch. I could sit down on the couch, but everything was up to the ceiling and there was like a TV. But then there was stuff or I mean, it was, you know, like World War One trenches deep and you're just going trenching around the house, had some great sales and estate sales and different things like that.
And she actually had a lot of really, really cool stuff there. I mean.
00;15;27;04 - 00;15;27;28
Makayla
I bet, yeah.
00;15;27;28 - 00;15;48;03
Joe
I mean, but she also had a lot of stuff that like newspapers from the seventies. So anyways, with the family's help, we got that place in shape and it did end up selling. They ended up doing really, really well with it, but it took a solid, super hard every day working on it for 90 days to get it ready. Yeah.
00;15;48;19 - 00;15;57;19
Makayla
So being newer into the business at that time, were you over there a lot, giving pointers, connecting them with people or did you just kind of sit back?
00;15;57;27 - 00;16;38;18
Joe
Okay, job one, got to get all this stuff out of here. Yeah, right after that, after you could actually walk around the house, you know, with all that stuff, some of that stuff. Having sat there 15, 20 years, the floors needed to be redone. They needed a paint. But it was an amazing thing. You would have never recognized it from point A to point B, and that was back in the day before cell phone cameras, right?
So like with the Beanie Baby house, we just snapped a few pictures there. Can I get a picture of that? Sure. With her place, the only pictures ever got was after it was all done. You know, I wish I had pictures that. But just a sweet, sweet lady.
00;16;42;17 - 00;17;46;18
Joe
Yeah. So that's what you can expect from this podcast is a whole lot of real estate information. And we're going to have current market updates, local, regional, national information and how that pertains to you. So I'm a I'm a big believer that information without any tie back to you individually or us here locally. What we even talk to talk about it, right.
So we're going to look at the the national stats, the regional stats, the local stats, trends, all those type of things and bring them back to why it has value to you, what it means to you if you're looking at buying or selling, or even if you're just a homeowner and you want to keep pace of what's going on in the local real estate industry.
So we'll have that for you. I think it was important that we told you a little bit about ourselves. So you know who you're who you're getting this information with, again, who you're dealing with. We've got a lot of great connections with people that are very knowledgeable in the industry, so we'll be bringing them on. You can catch this podcast at all the places that you.
00;17;46;21 - 00;17;47;26
Makayla
Can listen to podcasts.
00;17;47;26 - 00;17;53;14
Joe
Can listen to podcasts and you can watch that on YouTube, the LivPortland YouTube channel.
00;17;55;00 - 00;18;07;25
Makayla
And then also refer back to our website for graphics and photos that we reference. We promise to bring you all of our fun stories, and now I feel like I'll be looking for even more stories. So stay tuned for sure.
00;18;08;04 - 00;18;28;28
Joe
Good content, Good content, Yeah. So our website is LivPortland.com and then we'll do back like this is /introduction. So everything we've talked about here you can find on that page right there and each new episode will have its own page where you can go and find anything that we've referenced, maybe a little bio on some of our guests that we're talking to those type of things.
00;18;29;09 - 00;18;53;06
Joe
But we we really hope that this is a helpful short period of time that you can get good quality real estate information and really find some clarity about what's going on in the marketplace and really what it means to you and see it through a couple of different perspectives. You know, an old guy like me and then a young, fresh, mentally all their person like I think.
00;18;53;21 - 00;19;07;24
Makayla
Yeah, yeah. I think we we have to try and keep it light and short. We know that a lot of people feels like everyone in their mom's mailman has a podcast now, but thank you for tuning into us, taking the time. We really appreciate it.
00;19;07;24 - 00;19;11;00
Joe
Yeah, really appreciate it. As you can probably tell, this is not scripted.
00;19;12;08 - 00;19;13;09
Makayla
Unfortunately. No.
00;19;15;04 - 00;19;38;16
Joe
But we will keep to the point every week and make sure that you get the best information if you have any topics that you'd like to hear from us, any questions or any suggestions, you can reach us at Customer service. Oh no. Customercare@livportland.com.
00;19;38;16 - 00;19;52;19
Makayla
Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Joe, myself or the live sports team, you can go to LivPortland.com. Thanks for giving us a listen and see you next time on the Off The Record podcast.
