Episode 20: Discover Your Dream Home in Southlake, Texas with Melissa Hardy

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:16
Nate Carver
Hey, you've reached Nate Carver, your favorite mortgage guy, on between two doors. And today we're going to be talking to a wonderful real estate agent, Melissa Hardy. She, works out of the Southlake, Texas area near Fort Worth. If you're looking to buy or sell a home and want great real estate advice, I would love to introduce you to Melissa.

00:00:22:16 - 00:00:42:17
Nate Carver
Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome to Between Two Doors.

00:00:42:22 - 00:00:44:21
Nate Carver
Hi, Melissa. How are you doing?

00:00:44:23 - 00:00:49:01
Melissa Hardy
I'm doing well. Nathan, how are you? I heard you were buried in snow.

00:00:49:03 - 00:01:13:04
Nate Carver
I am, I am buried in snow. I left Texas for a month to get away from winter. I wanted to skip winter this year, and, so I decided I'd go to Florida and work remotely, and winter followed me. And we have record snow for Florida is, like 9.5in of snow. And, and and I didn't bring enough winter gear.

00:01:13:06 - 00:01:29:00
Nate Carver
So, yeah, we're, we're we're staying bundled for sure. So, so tell me, Melissa, when when did you get into real estate? Tell me a little bit about your journey in real estate and what brought you to it.

00:01:29:02 - 00:01:52:18
Melissa Hardy
Okay, well, I started in 2020, studying for my license. I had finished getting my kids. I was a home educator, and I had gotten them all out of the nest, and they were off in college, and I was bored out of my mind. And my. I have a twin sister who's in real estate, and, they decided to launch their own brokerage.

00:01:52:18 - 00:02:20:00
Melissa Hardy
And she says, why don't you come join us? And so I took 2020 since we had nothing else to do, and study for my license and got license in November of 2020. And so, my sister's brokerage is in San Antonio, and, well, she's not the broker. Her husband is my brother in law, Bobby Middleton. And, they, reach out, a lot to, veterans, which our dad is a veteran.

00:02:20:00 - 00:02:30:19
Melissa Hardy
My husband is a veteran. And so servicing veterans with their real estate needs was, something I could get behind. And that's how I got started.

00:02:30:21 - 00:02:43:07
Nate Carver
I love it. Hey, are you seeing any trends with VA, with veterans purchasing homes that, that you'd like to point out or caution or at least make aware to veterans?

00:02:43:09 - 00:03:10:03
Melissa Hardy
I do know that, the VA loan process is different than other loan processes that you need to have an agent that knows the VA loan process. And not only that, then also, which I'm excited about you if you're working with, with a VA loan, some lenders have overlays on top of the VA. Requirement that you should also be aware of.

00:03:10:03 - 00:03:12:24
Melissa Hardy
But I love that you don't have any overlays so that.

00:03:12:24 - 00:03:13:22
Nate Carver
Yeah, we don't add a.

00:03:13:22 - 00:03:14:24
Melissa Hardy
Whole lot of extras.

00:03:14:24 - 00:03:39:13
Nate Carver
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well the saying is don't FHA my VA. Yeah. And yeah, that's the thing. It's remarkable how many, veterans will get denied the purchase of a home because a lender will look at that VA loan and treat it like an FHA loan product, and they are not the same there. No. Or they're nowhere close to the same.

00:03:39:13 - 00:03:45:17
Nate Carver
I would argue that a VA loan is easier, to get qualified.

00:03:45:19 - 00:04:02:06
Melissa Hardy
And especially even, one of the things people don't know, but I do because I'm a VA specialist, I can buy a mobile home that's been moved with the VA loan, and you can't do that with FHA or even can. Right?

00:04:02:08 - 00:04:17:21
Nate Carver
You're right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's, Yeah. It's remarkable how many I've seen that we get to that, like we call them Save the loans. Which is exactly what we do. We save that loan. You know, the borrower's got a lot at stake.

00:04:17:23 - 00:04:18:13
Melissa Hardy
And they want a.

00:04:18:13 - 00:04:38:12
Nate Carver
Home. Yeah, they want a home. And, it's unfortunate that that's out there. But. Good point. Good point. All I say get, you know, when you're billing, when you're looking to buy a home, you want to tip you definitely one on your team is a great real estate agent and a great lender. If you got the case.

00:04:38:14 - 00:04:40:23
Melissa Hardy
Where the team where the team to make it happen.

00:04:40:23 - 00:05:12:17
Nate Carver
Yeah, yeah. You're the advocates for the homeowner or the person looking to buy a home. And it ends up saving them thousands and ends up getting them, actually getting them into the home. Good. I love that. So. So you got in in 2020? You're you're killing it in the market. You're in the top 1% in, in Texas in certainly in North Texas, in the smaller the group gets the the heart.

00:05:12:19 - 00:05:36:19
Nate Carver
I mean, you're, you're you're doing fantastic things. I was looking at your closed numbers for the past year. Just wanted to celebrate your success there. In in what you're doing in your community and helping people with homeownership and selling their homes. I wanted to celebrate that with you. I don't know what is. What is your secret?

00:05:36:19 - 00:05:49:17
Nate Carver
Like, what do you what are you doing with real with borrowers, or let's say homeowners that are needing to sell their homes. We'll start there. What are some of the things that you're doing with people that need to sell their home?

00:05:49:19 - 00:06:17:01
Melissa Hardy
Well, I think, because a lot of people ask me, what are you doing? And, and, and it's hard to sometimes put words and put it into words, but I'll try. I work hard, I really do. And I care about my clients, and I feel like my clients know that. And then so a lot of my business that I've earned, it comes from referrals from previous clients that want to work with me again or say, hey, you really need to work with Melissa.

00:06:17:03 - 00:06:42:19
Melissa Hardy
And so as far as like for listings, my job is to sell the house, so I'm not going to nickel and dime you with fees. So what I do is I have a photographer, and and it's nepotism at its best. It's my son. He's degree in photography from UNT, and, we are we're a great duo. But he does not just photos, but video tours, floorplans, drone images if they're allowed.

00:06:42:19 - 00:07:01:04
Melissa Hardy
Because we have a lot of airports around the metroplex, I'm going to do the full package, but I'm not going to charge you the full price, for that package, because what my job is to sell the house, if I so like the video where I feel like the trend is going, people want to see videos, then that's what I'm going to do.

00:07:01:10 - 00:07:16:08
Melissa Hardy
And I'm not going to nickel and dime my clients for that. They know that I'm I'm going to do my job and I'm going to do it well. And I really, appreciate that. The trust that they give me and, but last year, I'll have to tell you, the market was really hard. It was a very difficult market.

00:07:16:08 - 00:07:34:16
Melissa Hardy
And I actually didn't know what to do because I had my first expired listing, which that's never happened to me before. I've always sold the house. And so, but my clients loved me so much that they're just coming back and saying, hey, let's wait for the market to settle down and let's try again. I want to stick with you because I really loved what you did.

00:07:34:18 - 00:07:42:09
Melissa Hardy
And so that's it. Yeah. And I appreciate that as a huge compliment. Because I get another chance to try to sell that house.

00:07:42:09 - 00:07:51:11
Nate Carver
So I love it. Hey, let's talk about a piece of software that you're using to help owners sell their home.

00:07:51:12 - 00:07:52:12
Melissa Hardy
Excited? Yeah.

00:07:52:17 - 00:07:54:08
Nate Carver
This is fantastic.

00:07:54:08 - 00:08:13:10
Melissa Hardy
So I get I do, often when I go to listing appointments. I am not the only agent, and I love that other folks are interviewing other agents, but I have to tell you what sets me apart. And I can see it in my in the client that sitting across the table for me is I can say we're all going to do the exact same thing for you all of us are.

00:08:13:10 - 00:08:43:18
Melissa Hardy
We're all syndicated to the same website. We're we're going to put you in the MLS. We're really, you know, apples and apples. But can I tell you there's I partner with a lender and his name is Nate Nathan. And he gives me something called move two. And many folks haven't heard about it. So I love spreading the good news about move to It is an app on a Roku television that does a video tour of your home, and I can give you that, and I can guarantee you a lot of other folks don't know about it.

00:08:43:18 - 00:08:59:00
Melissa Hardy
It's like the best kept secret in real estate. And when I tell people that, then they I can tell that they're going to move to that. That opens up their eyes. Like this girl knows what she's doing, and she's going to get me on more platforms. And more often than not, they do end up picking me to be their listing agent.

00:08:59:00 - 00:09:04:00
Melissa Hardy
And I love the program, and I love that you introduce me to it. So thank you so much.

00:09:04:02 - 00:09:29:05
Nate Carver
Oh, absolutely. That thing. So it's not just on Roku, it's it's across every streaming platform TV. Yeah. Now. And they, they are constantly expanding. And obviously it's on all the social media stuff too. Yeah. It's the list with me. I'll get your home on TV. I love that. Yeah. I've canvased neighborhoods that I've done open houses with and I'm.

00:09:29:05 - 00:09:53:03
Nate Carver
And I just give them a flier that's branded to you. The real estate agent. And and I gave you everything about selling your home. This real estate agent can get you a national exposure. In a in a commercial. And they're like, what? And it's wild. And people, they're sitting at home on their couch or in their bed on their big flat screen looking at real estate.

00:09:53:05 - 00:10:15:15
Nate Carver
And it's all branded to you, the real estate agent. And it's just, you know, it's just one of these ways of engaging in the modern era. And your son's videos can be uploaded to that as well. So they get to see the movie, the commercial. The narration. It's beautiful. It's a it's a beautiful it's a wonderful tool.

00:10:15:15 - 00:10:18:16
Melissa Hardy
And it's actually probably one of my favorite listening tools.

00:10:18:18 - 00:10:24:02
Nate Carver
Yeah. And and you said it. You're when you tell them about it, they just they light up.

00:10:24:04 - 00:10:24:19
Melissa Hardy
They do?

00:10:25:00 - 00:10:25:09
Nate Carver
Yeah.

00:10:25:10 - 00:10:29:24
Melissa Hardy
I go up my head, start nodding and I feel like I just got to with that and I know I.

00:10:30:00 - 00:10:47:06
Nate Carver
Yeah, that's that's fantastic. Yeah. All right, let's shift gears over to, on the on the homeowner or the person that's looking to become a homeowner. You do a lot on the on the purchase side as well.

00:10:47:08 - 00:11:06:07
Melissa Hardy
I, I really do, I do have my luxury listing designation, and I've done a handful of those, but I would have to say my sweet spot is first time homebuyers again, because I was an educator before I became a real estate agent. I love educating folks on how to buy a house and what to look for.

00:11:06:09 - 00:11:23:24
Melissa Hardy
And, my clients still, they can't even go to open houses now. They're like, we know exactly what to look for and look, you know, and they'll share with me what they found out about a house. And to look at it with my eyes instead of like, you can't fall in love with the decor. The decor doesn't stay right.

00:11:24:01 - 00:11:38:20
Melissa Hardy
You have to look at the footprint of the home and see if that's what you want, and if your furniture will fit in there, or if we need to buy new furniture. But I just really want you guys to look at this home without the decor. It's I think it's hard for the for some folks to do that.

00:11:38:22 - 00:11:58:21
Melissa Hardy
So I have to remind them of that, but I, I also know structurally, especially with like a VA loan, what we're looking for, which is different from an FHA loan. But I apply all of those scenarios even to a conventional loan, which is a little bit more lenient on on certain aspects of a home and just pointing out there's only partial gutters or we have some peeling paint.

00:11:58:21 - 00:12:17:06
Melissa Hardy
Looks like we might need some maintenance here. Could be a drainage issue, and I'm just opening their eyes up to the beautiful joys of homeownership, including how to maintain a home and how to do it well. And, so I'm excited about that. A lot of folks don't look up, so I'll look up and I'll point to the to the ceiling where the air return is.

00:12:17:08 - 00:12:40:19
Melissa Hardy
And I'll say, this house looks spotless, but I can tell that they're not truly on top of it, because look how filthy that filter is right there. So that tells me they may not be maintaining it as well as you think they are. If I go outside and I see the rust stains from the AC overflow valve, I can say they weren't regularly maintaining their Hvac system like they should.

00:12:40:21 - 00:12:59:13
Melissa Hardy
Because by that time when that happens, it's been pretty far gone. So, so it's just little things like that, to, to know how to educate buyers. So they're walking into a transaction with their eyes wide open. And so a lot of these first time home buyers, not all of them, some for my age, which I'm older, are younger.

00:12:59:13 - 00:13:10:07
Melissa Hardy
And so I tell them to think of me as their, like, real estate man. So I promise you, I won't let you buy a house. I wouldn't let my own kids buy. Or if you still want to move forward, that you know what all the issues are.

00:13:10:09 - 00:13:43:13
Nate Carver
Yeah. Nice. Yeah. And with those, some that, you know, we could get renegotiated in the purchase of the price, some concessions from the seller to. Yeah, and definitely a home warranty. Nice. Okay. So what would have you seen any changes in, I guess, your goals as a real estate agent and in your success that changes for you or your why from when you first started to now?

00:13:43:15 - 00:14:01:13
Melissa Hardy
I think my why is pretty much the same. I just want to help people. And sometimes I get frustrated by that process. In the sense that the changes in real estate really are almost there is just a there wasn't enough wine and chocolate for real estate last year. I have to say it was really hard last year.

00:14:01:15 - 00:14:40:12
Melissa Hardy
Yeah. And I have a lot of, colleagues that I know that dropped out of the business and it's too hard to make a living in it. Last year, and I don't know the changes. Like, even, for instance, VA buyers were forbidden by the law to pay a buyer's agent, and that benefit, which I thought was a benefit, was taken away last year, due to the real estate, legal settlement that we had putting a VA buyer a disadvantage because now sellers felt like they didn't have to pay buyer's agents, and then buyer's agents were not allowed to be paid by VA buyers.

00:14:40:12 - 00:15:01:06
Melissa Hardy
So now we have VA buyers not being able to really buy a home with buyer's agents. And buyer's agents bring a lot to the table as far as knowledge and assistance, and guiding them through a process. And we didn't want VA buyers not represented. So there's just a lot going on last year. So my why is changed a little bit in the sense that I still want to help.

00:15:01:08 - 00:15:26:18
Melissa Hardy
And I still I'm in business for myself, but I just always want my VA buyers to know that I got their back, even if it means I don't get paid. Because I just feel I feel strongly that they get represented in a transaction. And I'm still able to negotiate with sellers. I haven't actually, none of my VA buyers have paid me a dime.

00:15:26:20 - 00:15:35:24
Melissa Hardy
Since I took that benefit away, I still negotiate with the seller because I'm bringing them a qualified buyer, and most sellers realize the value of that, and they will still compensate me.

00:15:36:01 - 00:15:37:00
Nate Carver
Nice.

00:15:37:02 - 00:15:38:15
Melissa Hardy
Yeah.

00:15:38:17 - 00:15:58:04
Nate Carver
Nice. Tell me any any crazy or memorable fun stories that you've experienced in the real estate world. Because always I always think, you know, we're dealing with people's personal finances and we're dealing with real estate. And, both of them are unique.

00:15:58:06 - 00:16:21:22
Melissa Hardy
And so there are and I don't know if I could think of a particular buyer, loan kind of scenario. That's funny, but, as a as the experienced agent in Dallas Fort Worth for, for our brokerage, I'm in charge of training other agents. And one of the agents that I trained was a former marine that decided he wanted to try real estate.

00:16:21:24 - 00:16:38:09
Melissa Hardy
And he was a young man. I'm actually helping him, buy a house right now. And so I'm excited about that. But, we were touring homes with some, some clients of ours, and I was training them on how to do a VA, you know, walk with clients and what to point out what we need to make notes about.

00:16:38:09 - 00:17:01:18
Melissa Hardy
We know what to ask for on our contracts. And, we were like, we had done 5 or 6 homes. And then he he puts his hand in his pocket, he pulls out a key and he goes, his eyes got real big. He's like, I don't know which house this key goes to. We had to backtrack to six houses to find which way with the key out of the lock lockbox.

00:17:01:20 - 00:17:16:10
Melissa Hardy
And, the, in our office. If you make a silly mistake like that, you get a rubber chicken that you have to hold until someone else makes a silly mistake, and then we get to pass it off. So he. He earned the rubber chicken. If you guys.

00:17:16:12 - 00:17:39:10
Nate Carver
Oh, gosh. Well, I that's great. Well, okay, let's let's shift gears a little bit. We talked about your. Why let's talk about what do you love? What what do you love doing outside of real estate? What are you passionate about? Let's see what's there.

00:17:39:12 - 00:18:08:09
Melissa Hardy
Well, I, I do love Jesus. Chocolate and coffee. But I have to tell you, if I had my druthers and I was not doing real estate 24 seven like I currently am, I would be reading a Brandon Sanderson book. I am huge sci fi nerd and fantasy nerd and I he is my by far my favorite author. And currently I'm studying for my broker's exam, so I forbidden myself from starting his last novel, which is this fic till I finish my courses.

00:18:08:11 - 00:18:30:01
Melissa Hardy
Because once I get sucked into a book, my husband will ask me what's for dinner, and I'll say, there's cereal in the pantry. Knock yourself out. It's going to be in his book, and I'll get up at 3 a.m. and I'll read so people won't interrupt me. So I'm an avid reader. I also love British, detective shows.

00:18:30:06 - 00:18:32:10
Melissa Hardy
I love those, right? Yeah.

00:18:32:12 - 00:18:35:15
Nate Carver
The, I guess the latest Sherlock Holmes. It's been a while, but.

00:18:35:17 - 00:18:54:19
Melissa Hardy
It's been a while writing about my husband. Yeah, we just finished one called Scarlet Miss Scarlet. It used to be a miss Scarlet in the dark, but he left the show. So now they just call it Miss Scarlet. But we've watched a variety of of of those kinds of shows. I really like them a lot. Shetland's another one.

00:18:54:21 - 00:18:56:14
Melissa Hardy
So. Yeah, just.

00:18:56:16 - 00:19:05:12
Nate Carver
All right, I'm gonna put you on the spot, I promise. I wouldn't do this, but you brought it up. Sci fi. Okay. Star Wars or Star Trek?

00:19:05:14 - 00:19:06:20
Melissa Hardy
Trek.

00:19:06:22 - 00:19:08:06
Nate Carver
All right.

00:19:08:08 - 00:19:09:13
Melissa Hardy
I'm a Trekkie.

00:19:09:15 - 00:19:13:04
Nate Carver
Yeah. Wrath of Khan.

00:19:13:06 - 00:19:15:10
Melissa Hardy
I'm actually a Jean-Luc Picard Trekkie.

00:19:15:11 - 00:19:17:08
Nate Carver
Oh, okay. There you go. I'm.

00:19:17:08 - 00:19:29:18
Melissa Hardy
I'm not. No, no offense to Spock in William Shatner, but I really, fell in love with Star Trek, with Next Generation, with Jean-Luc Picard and data, and dirty liquids. Yeah. Others.

00:19:29:20 - 00:19:31:02
Nate Carver
I've seen them all.

00:19:31:04 - 00:19:35:18
Melissa Hardy
Yeah, I've done Deep Space Nine. I know, it's crazy.

00:19:35:20 - 00:19:42:13
Nate Carver
You just see my Christmas tree. It has Star Trek ornaments go all over, and,

00:19:42:15 - 00:20:04:21
Melissa Hardy
So be me. It's kind of. Yeah, I liked, Firefly was another TV show that I really liked. Right. And I've read, there's another one sitting on my shelf. What's the newest one? Oh my goodness, I read. I hate that I'm older and I can't recall things like I used to. There's a book series out.

00:20:04:21 - 00:20:10:01
Melissa Hardy
I've read the books, and then they made a TV show. And the TV show is okay. But, you know, I really like the books better.

00:20:10:03 - 00:20:11:12
Nate Carver
Expanse.

00:20:11:14 - 00:20:14:03
Melissa Hardy
Yes. Thank you. Expanse.

00:20:14:05 - 00:20:15:13
Nate Carver
That was so good.

00:20:15:19 - 00:20:21:03
Melissa Hardy
It is good. And then, like I said, the TV show is good, but the books are better.

00:20:21:05 - 00:20:22:00
Nate Carver
Because of that.

00:20:22:00 - 00:20:24:02
Melissa Hardy
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20:24:04 - 00:20:42:13
Nate Carver
All right. Okay. We had a nerd out a little bit. Carly. I can't tell when. When I saw expanse, I was telling everybody about it. I it was so good. The the plots, the, the science, if you will, was reasonable. And you're like, oh, this is pretty clever. So good for you.

00:20:42:14 - 00:20:59:11
Melissa Hardy
That is, it is very clever. And I think, I think the author of experience is actually two people and it's both their names together and on the books. So it's like the first name and the last name is similar version of both their first name, but it's two different authors. Oh, okay. If I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong.

00:20:59:12 - 00:21:05:24
Melissa Hardy
I could be confusing my sci fi, but I think that's what I remember about that one. Which is cool.

00:21:06:01 - 00:21:13:13
Nate Carver
Forgivable. So, did you see the last Picard or the Picard series?

00:21:13:13 - 00:21:23:04
Melissa Hardy
I have it because they put it on where you had to pay for it. So was on pay TV. I don't, I just know enough to not want to pay for things like that, you know?

00:21:23:08 - 00:21:43:15
Nate Carver
Yeah. Well, when you get to it, eventually, maybe they'll make it free, I don't know, first season was great, and each season got progressively better. And and, the final season was a total fan. They loved that series. They you could tell they love their fans, right?

00:21:43:17 - 00:21:44:07
Melissa Hardy
Yeah, yeah.

00:21:44:09 - 00:22:04:17
Nate Carver
So if you grew up watching Star Trek Generations, they totally. There's a real estate podcast. Here we are. So they totally, they totally did an homage to the fan base, which I thought was wonderful because a lot of people, a lot of newer stuff, they don't really seem to care about the fan base.

00:22:04:23 - 00:22:07:11
Melissa Hardy
I love Easter eggs like that when they put them in the shows.

00:22:07:12 - 00:22:09:10
Nate Carver
Oh, full of Easter eggs.

00:22:09:10 - 00:22:11:18
Melissa Hardy
So anyway. Exactly. Yeah, it was worth the.

00:22:11:20 - 00:22:35:02
Nate Carver
So anyway, all right, so if you're sci fi nerd or not, looking to buy or sell a home or get some solid real estate advice in South Lake, Texas, North Texas, reach out to Melissa. Melissa, what is the best way for somebody to get, get in contact with you?

00:22:35:04 - 00:22:52:02
Melissa Hardy
Well, my cell phone number is (817) 939-4312. My email is Melissa. Me Lee SSA at Middleton Middle lepton Group. It's group without the vowels.com.

00:22:52:04 - 00:23:02:00
Nate Carver
Perfect. All right. Well there you have it everybody. That's another episode of Between Two Doors. It's a wrap. And Melissa thank you for being.

00:23:02:00 - 00:23:09:08
Melissa Hardy
Thank you Nathan I appreciate you asking me. And I had fun. I had no idea you were a nerd with me.

00:23:09:10 - 00:23:14:11
Nate Carver
See, thi this is what it's about. You get to get to know your real estate agent a little bit better.

00:23:14:13 - 00:23:18:12
Melissa Hardy
Yeah. Thank you so much. Stay warm.

00:23:27:16 - 00:23:35:18
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