Episode 27: Enjoy Family-Friendly Homes in Rural Fort Worth, Texas with Anita Ice

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:16:06
Nate Carver
Hey, you've reached Nate Carver, your favorite mortgage guy. And today we are talking to Anita Ice out of Aledo, Texas. The Parker County area. She's fantastic real estate agent. She's been in the business for 12 plus years.

00:00:16:06 - 00:00:36:07
Nate Carver
Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome to Between Two Doors.

00:00:36:07 - 00:00:40:13
Nate Carver
And, Anita, it's great to meet you. How you doing?

00:00:40:15 - 00:00:42:20
Anita Ice
I'm doing great. How are you?

00:00:42:22 - 00:01:01:22
Nate Carver
Doing good. So let's let's learn a little bit about you. So about 12 years ago, you got in, you became. You picked up your real estate agent license. Can you tell me, what what why you did that and what was driving you initially whenever you decided to become a real estate agent?

00:01:01:24 - 00:01:26:03
Anita Ice
Well, I wanted to be a real estate agent for 20 plus years. But you listen to all the negative feedback about how it's too expensive, the fees or this for education that you need a traditional job, you know, it's inconsistent income. So I'll let my, mainstay focus go back to this is what I've always wanted to do.

00:01:26:03 - 00:01:53:08
Anita Ice
I'm passionate about working with people. I think it's absolutely thrilling to tell someone that they've been approved for their home, or give them their keys, you know, to work with them and know that this is either going to be there forever home or a stepping stone. Whether the family grows or they're having to downsize at the end of raising their kids, and everybody's gone to college and they're getting to do something fun.

00:01:53:10 - 00:02:04:19
Anita Ice
So I because I like the customer service aspect of talking to people and understanding their needs and trying to meet that.

00:02:04:21 - 00:02:22:02
Nate Carver
So over that time span, have you you've helped people buy their first home or their second home, maybe their forever home. And then you've you've also you've seen their lives transition and you've helped them either downsize or buy investment properties.

00:02:22:04 - 00:02:39:09
Anita Ice
Yes. Downsizing investment properties. Unfortunately. Trust properties, probate properties you know, divorce situations. There's I've worked with all aspects of everybody.

00:02:39:11 - 00:03:02:07
Nate Carver
Right. Always they get a great real estate agent to be in your in your on your team as a homeowner because you one they know the market. They know your area. Tell me about the Alito area. What what are some things you love about it that are that you see trending or drawing home new homeowners into your area?

00:03:02:09 - 00:03:28:22
Anita Ice
It's outside the city limits. It's more of a country feel. You still have open ranches and horses and cattle all around. It's the small town feeling. It's the Parker County Peach Festival. Every July it's, Christmas on the square. It's the Sheriff posse grounds and the rodeos that go on, you know, anywhere from high school to professional rodeos.

00:03:28:24 - 00:03:36:14
Anita Ice
You know, a lot of colleges. It's. It's just that small town feel. I've been here since 1980.

00:03:36:16 - 00:04:00:23
Nate Carver
Nice. I've been to that peach festival, and you can walk away from there. You can drop some money you can walk away with from there with crates and crates of peaches and all kinds, all kinds. You know, you might be lucky to see two types in a grocery store, but there there's just hundreds. It seems like there's hundreds of different types of peaches, and everyone's got a different flavor.

00:04:00:23 - 00:04:02:15
Nate Carver
Anyway, I love that place.

00:04:02:17 - 00:04:07:03
Anita Ice
Got to peach ice cream in the peach pies and the peach pop and everything else.

00:04:07:03 - 00:04:10:24
Nate Carver
Yeah, it's peach, that's all.

00:04:11:01 - 00:04:13:00
Anita Ice
The peaches.

00:04:13:02 - 00:04:42:14
Nate Carver
That's right. Well, I could, if I lived there, so. Yeah. So if you moved there, you you you better love peaches. Tell me. So you're working on a project now? Some of your listings. It's. I, I think I understand this right. It's you. You're the the listing agent for, large tract of raw land that's been subdivided.

00:04:42:16 - 00:04:48:15
Nate Carver
And they're you're they're the new builds on that as well.

00:04:48:17 - 00:04:50:13
Anita Ice
Yes. Yep.

00:04:50:15 - 00:04:52:03
Nate Carver
Okay, so tell me.

00:04:52:03 - 00:04:55:03
Anita Ice
I have one in Tolar, the one in Weatherford.

00:04:55:05 - 00:05:13:22
Nate Carver
Okay. Oh, wow. So there's two different locations. What? What's unique about this as a real estate agent, what are you seeing that you would find helpful for, a home buyer? Well, in this case, they're building, that you would find that would be helpful for them.

00:05:13:24 - 00:05:44:08
Anita Ice
The first time home buyers. I think if you want to be in Tolar, which is just about ten miles west of Granbury, before you get to Stephenville, Bluffdale, all of that area, it's a very small town. It's still one high school, one middle school, one elementary school. You know, it's a subdivision of 98 lots. I think I have 45 left and only ten of them are under contract.

00:05:44:10 - 00:06:13:00
Anita Ice
So those price points are those houses are starting and the low to hundreds and you can get to 1000 square foot, five and six bedroom house for a little over 300,000 brand new build, you know, great location curves, underground utilities, the beautiful white concrete streets. They're not there's nothing that looks bad about that neighborhood that's got the natural trees.

00:06:13:00 - 00:06:17:06
Anita Ice
It's surrounded by farmland. It's very pretty.

00:06:17:08 - 00:06:35:12
Nate Carver
How long of a timeline are you telling homeowners to to expect from whenever they go under contract to on a new build? We're talking of new construction to to that project that that home being completed for them to move in. How long are you seeing that take?

00:06:35:14 - 00:06:36:19
Anita Ice
Six months.

00:06:36:21 - 00:07:03:03
Nate Carver
Six months. So plan on six months if you're looking at building. Wow, those price points are fantastic. Yeah, that's that's fantastic. The ceiling do to help get that word out for you. Okay. Six months and then brand new communities in, in, in, in towns and that have like one of everything as far as schools and utilities.

00:07:03:04 - 00:07:04:19
Anita Ice
And one resident.

00:07:04:21 - 00:07:05:21
Nate Carver
Wants that.

00:07:05:23 - 00:07:07:18
Anita Ice
Asset and one red light.

00:07:07:20 - 00:07:34:16
Nate Carver
And one red light. Well, perfect. Well, if you're tired of the commute and you're tired of dealing with multiple stop signs and lights, go. Go that go to toll or go to teller, Texas. So in the years that you've been a real estate agent, what are some things, some advice that you would give someone that's looking to buy a home?

00:07:34:18 - 00:07:52:05
Nate Carver
Whether they've been this may be their second or third purchase or their first, what what are things that you see if they knew on the front end that would save them a lot of time and remove some of the chaos, going towards closing and moving in.

00:07:52:07 - 00:08:14:01
Anita Ice
I would tell them to be prepared. You know, there's life happenings, you know, it's almost like the beat you see of the heartbeat. You know, where you've got to climb that mountain, you're in a peak, you're in a valley and then you're climbing up and life changes has to happen. And people think, oh, I want to buy a house.

00:08:14:01 - 00:08:36:19
Anita Ice
And I think I'm house ready today, only to find out that their credit report isn't where it's supposed to be, or their income is not where it's supposed to be, or they wrote too much stuff off on their taxes in the previous years, or they're self-employed and they have to prove up two years of employment to get into a home.

00:08:37:00 - 00:09:10:11
Anita Ice
And they find all these things to be discouraging. They think that they're not qualified. They don't want to start the process until they're absolutely they have to move now, only to find out that it's going to take, you know, with you, you know, 3 or 4 months or five months or whatever it's going to take to get them house ready that, you know, they've got to pay down their yeah, they've got to get things accomplished in their life to be able to move forward and get that bigger house or that first house.

00:09:10:13 - 00:09:37:13
Anita Ice
And I think that a lot of people that are in rental situations are getting caught up in the rental loop where they think that they want to purchase, but they they overspend, you know, and you're looking at their credit report, you're looking at their checking account statements. They find all those things to be invasive, but they have to do the steps and the process to get where they're going.

00:09:37:15 - 00:10:03:18
Anita Ice
And I think the fear of the unknown is what stops a lot of people, rather than staying in front of it. I think that people that are selling their homes and purchasing larger homes, I've been in instances where they didn't know that those three late pays over the last five years was going to affect them moving into their new home.

00:10:03:18 - 00:10:25:09
Anita Ice
So it's getting, you know, getting them house ready again. And, you know, not discouraging them from the process, but not encouraging them that we need to go out and look tomorrow. Get your house listed today. Your house is going to sell like that. And this market, we've seen it be so hot that you have 50 offers in one day.

00:10:25:11 - 00:10:49:23
Anita Ice
And over the last I would say about 15 months, it's slowed down to where, you know, their builders are offering incentives again. And with all the changes in the industry and now it's like an Easter egg hunt to know what your commission's going to be when you're on the buyer side, you know, you're opening an Easter egg. Are you getting the good candy or you getting $100 bill?

00:10:49:23 - 00:11:18:13
Anita Ice
Or you get nothing? And that's that's discouraging a lot of new agents from wanting to work with builders. I don't think that it should be a discouragement. I think it's a great learning tool. It's a great way of negotiating. Taking the certified negotiations classes through track is something that I think that all new agents should do, so that they don't get offended so easily when they get an offer.

00:11:18:13 - 00:11:39:23
Anita Ice
They simply thank someone for that offer. I think that people that are selling their house and downsizing a go and look at home, and then they're like, well, all of my furniture is not going to fit in this house. Well, sugar, you're downsizing. So that was the whole point, is that it's time to have a big garage sale.

00:11:40:00 - 00:12:09:04
Anita Ice
But I like my clients from getting in touch with you going through the loan process. You know, they ask me a loan question. I'm like, nope, not adding anything up for you. Not a job. Staying in my lane that you call night and get him to answer your questions. And I greet her on the same page and, you know, not everybody out there wants to to put everything in the open.

00:12:09:04 - 00:12:41:23
Anita Ice
And so, you know, in the industry, you learn that. I hate to say, you know, sometimes buyers are lying because they they don't want to admit that they've got late pace or they're over their DTI and they tell us as agents that they're ready to buy a house and they've been pre-qualified. Well, they went online to Rocket Mortgage and did a pre-qualification with no paperwork to prove a situation.

00:12:42:04 - 00:13:13:20
Anita Ice
And then we get them to someone like you that you're like, whoa, hold up and wait a minute. You know, they're they're uncovers. There's something going on here. There's you know, they're not they need to pay this down. They don't have the money to put their down payment down. You know, they don't qualify because if they're they're, credit score to do effort to do conventional or do it's, you know, USDA or you know so.

00:13:13:20 - 00:13:14:12
Anita Ice
Right.

00:13:14:14 - 00:13:40:21
Nate Carver
Yeah. When I'm talking to, clients, first time home buyers, anybody looking to get up needing a mortgage, and doing a consultation with them, always talk about you know, any question they asked me is a good question. However, there's only two people that it needs to go to. Either it's the realtor. So it could be a great question for the realtor like yourself, or it's a great question for a lender.

00:13:40:23 - 00:14:16:23
Nate Carver
And they I know they're not the experts in, you know, they have a need. And I always tell them that you've got you got a great real estate agent with Anita, you've got a great lender and myself, we're on your team. And sometimes they see me as, on the front end of the. When we first get to know them, they see me as an adversary until they realize in our conversation the light comes on and they realize that I'm an advocate, and, I'm on their side just as you are.

00:14:17:02 - 00:14:54:05
Nate Carver
But we both bring two very critical skill sets, to helping them get a home, saving money, lower down payments, closing costs, negotiating the deal with the sellers and the buyers. You know, those are very distinct skill sets that you and I separately have. And the two never cross it. So although I do give you ammunition in, in, in stance negotiating pricing and, what the seller could possibly do, that kind of thing, depending on the different type of loan.

00:14:54:07 - 00:15:35:00
Nate Carver
You mentioned something on certifications and that I don't know that, you know, a layperson either needing to buy a home or sell a home may not know, but as a real estate agent, you can specialize in there are, continuing education courses and certifications for specific niches in the market. Can you talk a little bit about that, maybe identify some of the certifications or all of them that you have and what briefly, what those help a homeowner achieve?

00:15:35:02 - 00:16:03:16
Anita Ice
I have my short sale and foreclosure certification to help people that have lost their job or, you know, especially like during Covid, if people were unable to go to work and a lot of people were furloughed or laid off and put their homes and forbearance, or they tried to keep up with their homes or just realized that I'm working from home now and I don't.

00:16:03:18 - 00:16:57:05
Anita Ice
I can't afford what I could afford. And so understanding the short sale process, understanding everything that you can do leading up to that short sale to keep yourself from being in that foreclosure situation, the class is phenomenal. The information that's given during the class is information that's just I wish that everybody would know that, you know, you you're one paycheck away from the poor house if you lose your job, if you're overextended and you know there's basic education to get through that whole process, but if you don't know it again, you just keep ignoring those notices, which gives you the opportunity to put it on the market traditionally and try to get it sold.

00:16:57:07 - 00:17:24:23
Anita Ice
And before it goes to short sell, before you miss those first three payments and then talking to the banks, having that open dialog with the bank instead of ignoring things, you know, staying ahead of it, staying in front of it. If they're scared to ask the questions, then they can sign an authorization to release information to me, and I can help them and explain that it's not giving me the opportunity to make decisions for them.

00:17:25:00 - 00:17:59:11
Anita Ice
It's given me the opportunity to speak with the lender to get them informed answers to their questions, instead of just blatantly ignoring it. And then the real estate negotiations, the certified real estate negotiations. I think that that's a class that any person in any workplace could have, because it gives you a better way of understanding, not being defensive, not looking at us like we're just out to make our money.

00:17:59:16 - 00:18:16:08
Anita Ice
You know, we're just out to get that sale done and disappear. That's not me. I still send Christmas cards to everybody, and I talk to everybody that I've worked with for years. I've built relationships that are that are basis of a lifelong friendship.

00:18:16:10 - 00:18:21:17
Nate Carver
And I think that's what's made you so successful as real estate agent. That right there.

00:18:21:19 - 00:18:27:20
Anita Ice
I don't sugarcoat anything. So people either like me or they don't.

00:18:27:22 - 00:18:30:00
Nate Carver
But they hinder.

00:18:30:02 - 00:18:53:16
Anita Ice
In the long run that I'm not going to do something that's going to jeopardize my license. I'm not going to do something that's going to jeopardize their future. And the money that they make, right, you know, or the home that they're able to pay for or, you know, they don't need a 5000 square foot house for $3 million when they don't qualify for that.

00:18:53:18 - 00:19:21:03
Anita Ice
You know, you give me your budget, you tell me the ten things that you want and tell me what you like about your current home and what you would change, and write those things down. And I'm going to stay under budget. I'm going to stay under their house payment. I'm not the agent that says it's just $10 more a month, or it's just $50 more a month, or you know, you want to be at 2600 a month.

00:19:21:05 - 00:19:51:04
Anita Ice
I'm going to try to find that home that has all of those things. Plus one bonus thing that you weren't expecting a third car garage, a pool in the backyard, you know, on a cul de sac in a golf course area, wherever it is, whatever that one special thing is that you're looking for, I will go out and preview properties, walk through them, do a video, you know, and inform my client this is something you do need to see, or we can skip this one.

00:19:51:06 - 00:20:21:01
Anita Ice
You know I'm not. I won't push somebody into a situation that they can't get themselves out of. And I think going through the real estate negotiations teaches you those things so that you not only dealing with an offer from another agent or submitting an offer to an agent, you know, a lot of minor listings. So I feel that going through that class has helped me talk to other people.

00:20:21:03 - 00:20:40:03
Anita Ice
You know, if they're not qualified for 600 and you're offering 500, why were you showing them a $600,000 house? It still fits back into the I'm not overextending somebody or going backwards into something for my own benefit.

00:20:40:05 - 00:21:02:17
Nate Carver
Right. So I'm going to shift gears, get two other things I want to ask you. So number one, what do you love doing or what's your currently what where are you going in your real estate business, your goals there? And then what do you love doing outside of real estate? Your passions outside of real estate?

00:21:02:19 - 00:21:26:06
Anita Ice
My real estate goals. For the last three years, I've told myself that I was going to take the broker's courses and I always get so busy that I just put it in the rearview mirror. And this year I am going to become a broker. In 2025, I've started my courses. I'm going to stay with the same company and be an associate broker with Michael.

00:21:26:08 - 00:21:47:18
Anita Ice
I've worked with Michael for 11 of the 12 years that I've been licensed. I have left a couple of times and realized that that's not the correct path, and I've always gone right back. But we have a great relationship. We work together. He's not a broker that you can't ask questions to or cut up and joke around with.

00:21:47:20 - 00:22:11:19
Anita Ice
And he's also one that will set you straight if you're, you know, not doing something that that is imperative to get done. And he listed me as a supervisor, I believe, last year or a year before last. And being able to work with the other agents and talk with them has given me like the compliance side of it.

00:22:11:21 - 00:22:39:22
Anita Ice
It's helping with the process of becoming a broker. Right. And in part two, I have four boys and one grandson. So everything I do is based around my family, around going to church, around God, you know, taking care of others, being considerate. I love kayaking, camping. I'm going camping in March with my sister and her husband. We were supposed to be doing A5K and.

00:22:39:23 - 00:22:40:10
Nate Carver
Okay.

00:22:40:15 - 00:22:41:17
Anita Ice
They lost in a.

00:22:41:19 - 00:22:44:05
Nate Carver
Tent or RV.

00:22:44:07 - 00:22:47:01
Anita Ice
Neither one. It's a screen shelter in a tent.

00:22:47:01 - 00:22:47:16
Nate Carver
So yes.

00:22:47:16 - 00:22:58:11
Anita Ice
Okay, we're we're tent camping and we kind and I hike. You're, like, doing five KS. I like, I like just being outdoors.

00:22:58:13 - 00:23:16:03
Nate Carver
Oh, nice. Yeah. There's a place in the I know in the smoky, in the Smoky Mountains where you can go now. You got to you got to hit your distance for the day because they had these rough campsites and basically it's lean tos. If you make it, you have a place to sleep and shelter. Right? Sort of.

00:23:16:03 - 00:23:25:16
Nate Carver
I mean, it's not like it's not air conditioned or anything like that. It's it's a lean to. And, if you don't make it against, you're sleeping under the stars.

00:23:25:18 - 00:23:49:03
Anita Ice
Well, I've slept under the stars with it snowing and I've slept under the stars. The 111 degrees still at 10:00 at night here in Texas. And then there's those other times that you're, you know, set your tent up and don't realize it's on a downhill slope until there's a bad rainstorm come in, and then your whole tents flooded with water.

00:23:49:05 - 00:23:49:15
Nate Carver
Now.

00:23:49:21 - 00:23:50:15
Anita Ice
Fun.

00:23:50:17 - 00:24:10:02
Nate Carver
Yeah. Than that scouting. Yes. Boy Scouts. We used to go camping every week or not. Every week. Every month we'd do one weekend camp out in, rain or snow. He did not matter. We were doing it, and I've. I've set the tent wrong too. And it just fill up with water.

00:24:10:02 - 00:24:16:10
Anita Ice
So then it's going and finding a laundromat the next morning and trying to dry everything.

00:24:16:12 - 00:24:23:16
Nate Carver
Yeah. You wake up middle of night, you see your ice just float across your backpack. You're like, what's going on.

00:24:23:18 - 00:24:43:12
Anita Ice
When you wake up? And there's raccoons that have fingers, like with opposable thumbs, and they can open your cooler. And I set locks on the top of it, thinking that they wouldn't be able to get into my cooler. And the eggs state the hot dogs they likes. And I was like, well, I'm glad you all had a great breakfast.

00:24:43:14 - 00:24:44:05
Anita Ice
Wow.

00:24:44:08 - 00:24:50:24
Nate Carver
Yeah, yeah, we're Vinnie anywhere with bears?

00:24:51:01 - 00:25:09:22
Anita Ice
Probably. But I didn't try to focus on those things. I was in North Carolina, Grandfather Mountain and North Carolina, and I'm sure that there there are some some black bears up that way. I started hiking in.

00:25:09:24 - 00:25:11:12
Nate Carver
Go ahead.

00:25:11:14 - 00:25:25:01
Anita Ice
Like, oh, I was going to say, I've been hiking and the Mount Rainier and the Olympics in the Cascades up in Washington state, and I'm sure there's bears up there, too. My biggest fear is the little snakes here in Texas.

00:25:25:03 - 00:25:50:13
Nate Carver
Yeah. Yeah, that's there's more of those. Yeah. We did a trip up in Canada, and every night we would take our food supplies that all of our food supplies, put them in a backpack, take them way outside of the campsite, and then on a on a rope sling. We would put them lay up in a tree and that's where we kept all our food.

00:25:50:13 - 00:26:22:17
Nate Carver
So we never I never had any problem with bear that. That's probably why I can imagine it's like a candy bar or something in your in your tent for a late night snack. You might might get another visitor besides a raccoon. So. Okay, so we got a special treat, for everybody that you and I are going to do, we're going to do from start to finish, loan application to contract to close and purchasing a home.

00:26:22:19 - 00:26:53:08
Nate Carver
And you and I are going to, capture the entire process. And so weekly, we're going to come back and we'll do an update where we're at in the process. You as a real estate agent and the buyer. So you get to represent those two parts of the transaction. And then as your lender, I'm going to we're going to have a candid, open conversation about the whole purchasing process.

00:26:53:08 - 00:27:13:02
Nate Carver
So if you're a first time homebuyer or you want to take a look at how this is going to how purchasing a home can play out, this is it. I don't know. I don't have any. We might do FHA, we might do conventional. My jumbo. There's we're at the very beginning of this that we're going to work with you, Anita.

00:27:13:02 - 00:27:29:05
Nate Carver
And this is going to be a lot of fun. This is going to be exciting. I had no idea where this is going to go, other than to say that at the end of the day, you're going to get a home, you're going to be closing on a new home, hopefully in 30 days. We'll see, you know, because you as the buyer and the realtor, you've got to find the home.

00:27:29:05 - 00:28:09:04
Nate Carver
So we're going to do that. That's going to be some follow on, podcast. And we'll start that today. So I'm looking forward to doing that. And I've never been on the, I've never this will be a first. So this will be exciting. We'll see where this goes. So having said that, if there's anyone looking to move to the Parker County, Aledo area, Tolar area, looking to move there or buy a home there or sell a home there, what is the best way that they can get Ahold of you?

00:28:09:06 - 00:28:39:21
Anita Ice
Call me. My phone number is (817) 627-5378. You can text me if you're a more comfortable person with texting, then I'm fine with that. I prefer a phone conversation so we can really dive into what it is that you're looking for. You're welcome to email me at Anita Dot ice realtor at gmail.com and we can get the process started.

00:28:39:23 - 00:28:55:02
Anita Ice
I have another subdivision that's north of Weatherford Lake, but there are two acre lots and they're all custom built, so those are a bigger step process. But they're it's a gorgeous place as well.

00:28:55:04 - 00:29:04:16
Nate Carver
I love it. All right. Well thank you Anita This was a pleasure. Love learning a little bit more about what you're doing. And, I'm looking forward to working with you on our project.

00:29:04:18 - 00:29:07:19
Anita Ice
We do see you soon.

00:29:15:22 - 00:29:23:24
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