Real Estate, Relationships, and the Future of Buying | Nicolas Petrucci '10

In this episode of Slightly Less Scripted, we welcome Nicolas Petrucci ’10, Catholic Central alumnus, community partner, and successful real estate professional, for an insightful conversation about the evolving housing market and the human side of sales.

Nick shares his perspective on today's real estate landscape, from shifting buyer expectations and the growing demand for turnkey homes to the challenges facing first-time buyers in an increasingly competitive market. He explains why understanding a home's infrastructure matters more than flashy renovations and how helping clients make informed decisions has become a cornerstone of his business.

The conversation also explores the psychology of sales, the power of relationships in a referral-driven industry, and how social media has transformed the way professionals connect with clients. Nick offers a practical look at how AI is streamlining real estate operations while reinforcing why trust, communication, and personal connection remain irreplaceable.

Whether you're interested in real estate, entrepreneurship, or building a career centered on service, this episode delivers valuable lessons on adaptability, authenticity, and creating lasting relationships in a rapidly changing world.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:21

All right, let's take it away. Welcome back to Slightly Less Scripted. We're here with Nick Petrucci. Nick is a graduate of CC from the class of 2010. He's also a corporate partner of ours and a real estate agent.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm uh very excited to be here and uh always glad to find a reason to come back.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Well, welcome to the show. And obviously, you've been doing some really great things in real estate. How is the real estate uh market looking right now?

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Yeah, you know, the market it's been um it's been a little different this year in comparison to the last five or six. Uh leveled out a bit more, um, similarly to where we were at pre-COVID. Um, still very competitive in a lot of departments and others maybe um not as much. You know, the the inventory has been um you know consistently older and you know, buyers are becoming more picky. So it's been uh more fun to navigate. But as where before it was like the wild, wild west, just get your hands on something.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

So it was like volatile. Very has it kind of steadied, steadied since COVID?

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Yeah, it's it's steadied over the last year or two. Um, you know, right after COVID, it was pretty crazy. Uh obviously interest rates were uh half of what they are now, so that played a big impact. And um, yeah, but with where I mean, probably about mid-sixes right now with where they're at, it's been um, you know, kind of stabilizing things. So I would say overall pretty healthy.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

More supply than demand right now, or more demand than supply?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Uh I would still say it's definitely more demand than there is supply. Um, I've just found that buyers over the last year or two, in comparison to the last five or six, have not been uh as willing to compromise on certain variables just to get their hands on something. They seem to be, you know, waiting and more patient until the right thing comes up, something that ideally would need less work. You know, 2026 seems to um, you know, the type of buyer seems to want more turnkey or move-in-ready product, as where um, you know, just around COVID, post-COVID, uh, it was a lot different. It was not as much like that.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

A lot of uh instant gratification. Instant gratification.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yeah. HGTV really uh kicked the real estate uh world into a perception of it being buying being the cool thing to do for a while. And then it kind of cooled off. And now I think people are um you know making more conscious decisions.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Did you always know that you want to do real estate? Is that something you knew since high school or not really?

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Uh honestly, no, not really. You know, my my father um and my godfather were partners in a home development uh company in the area over the last maybe 35 or so years. Um I had actually worked with them throughout high school on site doing uh labor work and uh would actually, I'd say it was right after high school, I would sit in model homes, hand out brochures, and had a couple of different ideas of what I wanted to do in college that were not real estate related. But probably about midway through college, I started teaching tennis. Uh, somebody whose children I taught was uh in real estate at the old firm I used to be at. And it's kind of like, hey, what do you what do you think you're gonna do after college? And I'm like, I don't really know. And she's like, well, I think you should you should give real estate a try. You'd be good at it. And I was like, okay, well, my dad built houses and it's a little bit of psychology, a little bit of legal, which were the two other um fields I was thinking about going into. So why not? You know, give it a shot, and here we are.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

It's funny you brought up the psychology part. So one of my questions is gonna be in terms of uh being a real estate agent, how much of it when you're, you know, selling, I'll say, is it psychology or is it more relationship building or is the mix somewhere in between?

SPEAKER_02 4:00

It it is definitely a mixture. Um, you know, I'm very fortunate and proud to say that 100% of my business is built off of relationships. Um, all the people I work with are generally somebody I know or through word of mouth, through somebody I know. Um the psychology component comes in with just conversations and and I think the right way to deliver things. And then also um just being able to kind of talk through the the different avenues that can be taken beyond that and and strategize from there. Um but that's that's really more so where it comes in. You know, every everybody who is in the process, whether they've done it before or not, if you're not doing it regularly like a professional, uh, it can become quite overwhelming. It can become stressful. There can be um, you know, erratic thoughts based on a lot of different things. So just kind of being able to stay the course and navigate those conversations is where that will come into play.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yeah. Is there anything from your time at CC that helps you navigate the real estate industry now?

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Yeah, I I mean absolutely. I can uh I can attribute a lot of um things that I had I I can give credit to Catholic Central for for um you know just shaping me into the the type of person and professional that I am. I mean, you know, number one, uh just charisma, um competitive edge, work ethic, um, you know, learning how to collaborate with others. Um, you know, as we know, you walk up and down these hallways and you know, you got you gotta kind of be on your toes. You know, you you do you do one thing well, everybody recognizes it, you do one thing off, and you know, your brothers are gonna kind of get on you for it too, right? So it's uh, you know, really just kind of keeps you honest, keeps keeps you motivated, and um, that's really reflected well in the real estate industry, which can be very up and down, uh, again, even beyond just clients, but other agents and you know, other proponents of the industry can can be very emotionally driven. And, you know, the the highs are high and the lows are low, but um just the toughness that was built through my time at CC and growing into adulthood um you know makes it a lot easier to to help get through that and navigate those those times.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Is that something that you like that it's not always the same thing every day?

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Absolutely. Yeah, I think um, you know, if you talk to any of the I know there's a lot of teachers that are still here that I had, if you if you talk to any of them, they'll probably tell you that I wasn't the best student uh on paper, but um coming in, doing the same thing, sitting in a desk, all that, it's you know, it has its place, but it is nice that you know it's not exactly what I'm doing all day, every day. And you know, you can kind of get out and have some versatility. It it keeps um for me personally, it keeps me engaged and you know, um really just kind of sharp at the front of mind.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yeah. What do you do um to kind of like take your mind off of work or like because obviously, you know, you working for yourself, you're probably putting in a lot of time and effort. What do you do to kind of get your mind maybe off of that to you know stay level?

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yeah, yeah, great question. I um well, I I was um captain of the tennis team in 2009. I still play uh tennis very regularly. Um that has transitioned into other racket sports as well, so it's a nice way for you know me to kind of get my mind off of it, also get some some exercise. Obviously, that's good for physical and mental health, um, and then build relationships as well. Uh I actually, before I came here, was on the squash court this morning with uh a nice crew. Actually, uh, you know, I don't know if I should say this on the podcast. There was a couple, a couple brother Rice grads that were out there this morning, but we took the W as always. So it was uh it's a good way to start the day.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah, you can kind of bond through the sport. Have you ever actually found yourself doing that, meeting someone somewhere not related to work or maybe like at a sporting event or something like that, or playing, and then you guys end up doing a business deal because of it or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah, yeah, quite often. Um you know, one thing that for myself and and a lot of other professionals in today's um day of the industry, uh I think we really benefit from is social media. Um you know, back really, I mean, when we were here at Catholic Central as students, not that we didn't have social media, but it wasn't to where agents were utilizing that um really heavily to kind of market themselves. So, you know, most people that I interact with, they'll kind of see just through social media or other online platforms, you know, what I do. And of course, um I I use it primarily for work, and I'm not posting all my thoughts, but uh, but you know, but people seeing that, they'll be generally the ones to bring it up to me just because we'll be around and you know, it's just kind of that front of mind because they've seen it online. And, you know, I think again, 2026, people are, you know, you even if you don't want to do it as much, you're you just find yourself scrolling, right? So if you say, Oh, yeah, no, I saw you, you know, you sold this house or you had an open house here, you know, how's real estate? How's the market? And um, that I think is something that a lot of people take for granted because it it helps open those conversations up with other people bringing it to us versus, you know, back in the day, I mean, realtors I think had a little bit of a different you know, rep as maybe a little bit more um blunt, straightforward, you know, sometimes people would say pushy, you know, but yeah, we had to do it, uh, you know, and that was the way to kind of get at front of people's mind, right? You had to kind of bring it up, you know, hey, you know, by the way, I'm a realtor, give me referrals, or here's my card. And I think a lot of times people get kind of turned off by that because nobody really likes to be sold when they're they're not in the in the store, right? Yeah. So um, so that's really helpful. You know, people just kind of bring it up and we can talk about it from there and um has consummated a lot of business relationships from that.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

So you found that social media kind of allows I don't want to say that I don't want to use the word passive because I don't think there's anything passive about being a real estate agent. Yeah, definitely. But would you say that, you know, that being able to post something out there allows people to basically come to you instead of the other way around where you're like forcing someone's hand, I would say?

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Absolutely. Yeah, it does help. Um, you know, people reach out, whether it's about that specific, you know, house or product or um, you know, even just from seeing it and again staying up front of mind, you know, when they have questions or uh need help with something, you know, kind of establishes that go-to um you know, type of person that that they'll kind of think for that. Yeah. Um so yeah, it definitely helps with that.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

And you're more on like the, I would say the luxury side of properties, right? Where kind of where's your area that you're mainly based out of?

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Yeah, I you know, I again, you know, my very fortunate that my business for the last 10, 11 years has really been all through, you know, my network referrals, um, you know, a lot, a lot of Catholic Central grads and friends and uh and alumni. Um it and it goes up and down the pricing ladder. It's it's I am in the luxury markets pretty frequently, but you know, I'm it's not all I um I'm not exclusive to all. It's not all I do. Yeah, you know, I for me the way that I look at it and I try to promote my business is, you know, anybody that you know wants my help, I'm happy to help. And if I can't help them, I'll find them the right help. And you know, I typically don't limit myself to price point or any specific qualification. Um just try to help out as many people as I can. But yeah, doing uh a lot of that really across southeast Michigan. Um Northville Novi. I mean, I grew up in in the area, so uh a lot of my businesses out here um have a listing at 8 and Beck right now that we're working through. Um just finished up at development. Line in Novi, and then um a lot of Woodward Corridor and uh even going out east to like Gross Point Rochester areas too, and some downtown Detroit.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Eight and Beck. That's right by uh by my house.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Oh yeah?

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Yeah, pretty close. Nice. Where are you at? Pheasant Pheasant Hills.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Oh, okay, yeah. Um Northville Estates is the neighborhood on Chigwiton uh is the one I'm working on right now, but Pheasant Hills is a great community.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

I've probably seen the I've probably seen the sign out there. Probably drove by it. Possibly, yeah. Yeah, great area. I was gonna take you back to something you said earlier about um buyers that you were talking about and what they're looking for in the market in 2026. What do buyers tend to care about most when they're making you know that life decision, purchasing a property or purchasing a home for their family or for themselves? What are the things like the key things that you always have to be on the lookout? Like what do they want?

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Yeah, no, a great question. Um I'd say, of course, small asterisk, it does vary, but uh, if we're talking on a general scale um location aside, I would say in a home right now, 2026. I mean, you know, generally buyers who are, you know, whether or not you're married, I mean, if you are, it's it's a or have a partner, it's two income, two full-time working individuals that you know, life life is very busy for um, you know, even a single buyer, you know, most of the time people who are buying are are very consumed by their jobs in their day-to-day lives. So um the majority of buyers and really all price points, I would say gravitate towards more of a turnkey, move and ready type of house. Um you know, cosmetically so on the inside. Of course, you know, there are other components that are very important to people, mechanicals, infrastructure, roof windows. You know, those are from my perspective actually more important than a lot of the cosmetic variables because um you can always change things, right? You can always do floors or pain or redo a kitchen or but windows, roof, those are the more expensive items on the list. Exactly. The big ticket items that aren't the the flashy magazine cover pottery barn type of things are you know, where I try to educate people and say, look, you know, if if you if you're buying, you know, grandma and grandpa's house, but it looks like nobody's and it's everything's 40 years old, but the the major components, the infrastructure things are updated, and the inside looks like nobody's lived there, you know, that's actually, I think, you know, kind of the sweet spot. Um, you know, a lot of times right now, uh a product that's totally turnkey inside and out, you know, we'll go for quite a premium still, you know, even in today's market. And um, you know, I just think there's a good way of getting balance if you're willing to do uh a little bit of work or slowly do things over time to build better equity. Um I almost look at it right now with the way that the pricing's been like like buying a brand new car, right? If you buy a brand new car five minutes after you drive it off the lot, it just depreciated 20%. Yeah. And nobody has a crystal ball, you know, so you can't really say that if you buy a totally updated house for a premium, that you will lose money. I mean, I I certainly don't, you know, I'm not trying to say that, but I I do think that there's a strategic way to get into something really nice. And if you, you know, and sometimes you have to kind of guide people and say, you know, it's it's it's not all about having the fancy quartz counters and the brand new wolf appliances and things like that, right? There's other things that are more important than that.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Yeah. Could that be challenging sometimes when you're like, hey, listen, I I this house maybe isn't furnished inside nicely, but the skeleton, the bones of this house, you know, it's a solid house, it's got a new roof, it's got new windows, yeah, that type of thing. But you know, maybe people can't have a struggle kind of looking forward into like, you know, how could I furnish it kind of thing? Versus you go into a maybe a home that needs a new roof, new windows, but the furnishing inside looks really, really nice, and they just renovated it or something.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Totally. Yeah, I mean, all the time. And a lot of times too, you know, when you get into, you know, again, going back to something else that I had said was um, you know, we live in an age where, you know, new construction, like when we were all at Catholic Central, you know, you could buy a brand new house and it was not that much more or a very similar price to an existing home that you can move right into. So, you know, that product did really well. Um, you know, now new construction pricing is a lot higher. So um, when you turn to the existing inventory that's out there, I mean, if we even just talk about our immediate area, you're looking at mostly 80s, 90s, early or 2000s. And then even if you go further east, you know, you're talking mid-1900s. And um, so you know, we've seen a lot of uh flippers, our investors get their hands on that product. They'll come in, they'll do the kitchen, the bathroom, they'll do a cheaper flooring that looks nice and paint it up. And you know, you get into that, and I'll have people send it to me or we'll go look at it, and I can look at it right right from my phone and say, okay, I already kind of know what happened, you know, what's going on here. And and not to say that it's a always a bad thing, but you know, we do have to really try to put that into perspective of like, hey, don't don't always take the bait because it's you know, it might look really, really good at the surface, but you know, if you're looking at still dumping tens of thousands of dollars into it over the next couple years for things that aren't gonna make you money, the things that people would expect are in good standing, uh-huh, that's just where you need to be careful, right? If if you can get something at a little bit of a you know lower price where all the those bigger ticket infrastructure items are already um already good standing, uh, you know, then you can go ahead and make those improvements on the inside. And someday when you go to sell it, if it's nicely kept, you know, in any market, I think anyone will still, you know, pay a good good penny for it.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah. That's probably where you know price per square footage comes in and stuff like that, or you're like, did these guys basically take something that uh looked kind of mediocre and they put a little bit of money into it and now they're charging, you know, a 3x premium for the maybe the 1x work that they did.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

Yep, the finishes, the the surface level stuff. I think that's where a realtor is like invaluable in that whole purchase process. Where you know, for a first-time buyer, people who aren't in the market all the time, you know, they do see the flashy stuff first. But they don't see, oh, the 25-year-old furnace that hasn't been updated, the roof which might be leaky over there, hasn't been inspected yet. Yeah, they see the courts countertops, they see the appliances and they're like, oh, this is the spot. But that's where a realtor can really come in and be like, hey, let's take a second look at this. Yeah. Yeah. Do you ever find yourself having to bite your tongue with clients though?

SPEAKER_02 17:59

I I do, but I often I I often don't. I often will always just say, you know, um, because because of course I'm that's my job, right? Is to to be there to help them. And you know, again, you do have to get um it kind of goes back to the psychology component, you know, do you have to kind of be careful about the delivery um and and maybe how you say certain things or the way that your your words are shaped. But um, but yeah, I mean some instances, yeah. Uh I'd say most of the time, no. It's certainly now after a decade being in the business, you know, I you know, I'm not as shy as I once was. There were certain times where it'd be like, oh gosh, you know, I'm not really sure if I should say that, but then you learn through those experiences that that's not helping anybody, it's not helping them, it's not helping you, it's not helping the the overall process.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

So yeah. That's I mean, it's good advice. I was gonna switch over and kind of do our final segment here, which is usually we try to, you know, get some more advice from you, maybe for the high school students or whatnot. But what makes somebody good at um what you do uh in terms of like what makes someone a good seller of something? Like how do you actually close a deal? How do you get to that point?

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Yeah, yeah. Um I mean, there's a lot of things I would say, you know, number one is by being a a clear, transparent, and um quick and efficient communicator. Um, you know, one of the things that amazes me the the most uh with a lot of agents in the industry, and you know, I'm not saying I'm the biggest and best to have ever done it, but I I will say that the barrier of entry is actually quite low. And um one thing that really surprises me is you know, a lot of people don't answer their phone or they're short with their communication. This is agents, right? Um and you know, you know, people a lot of times will say, well, gosh, you know, how did you how did you start with X price and then ended up higher at this price? It's like, well, because the 45 calls that came in between Saturday and Sunday, I took every single one of them. I took as much time as was needed, you know, to be on the phone and you know, answer that agent's question, make that agent feel confident in the product and believe in, you know, the price, or believe in advising their clients to offer higher because of certain things, right? And um, you know, that that would I say be I would say would be number one. Number two would be, of course, product knowledge, um, and not even just the the area itself, but you know, knowing what has been done or what hasn't been done, and then having a very firm idea for what that range of cost might be. Um, you know, and even if somebody's gonna buy something and put X amount of money uh into a product, you know, knowing what that'll look like on the turnaround, both from you know, market value approach perspective and also an appraised value approach perspective and being able to uh diversify the two and and line them up. But um, that and then just having a system like any any other industry, right? And and any other profession, you gotta have a really good system and um support to be able to, you know, kind of delegate a lot of the back-end tedious, time-consuming things to allow yourself as a professional to do what you're supposed to be doing, and that's to be communicating and um and selling, right? Yeah. So so it takes time to do all that and and learn that and build that model and put it together. But um, you know, like anything, if you stick to it and you're diligent and dedicated, it you know, you can you can do it well.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah. Do you have any advice for high school students that maybe are thinking even now in high school, like, oh, I could see myself doing that. I really like homes, I really like being around real estate. Do you have any advice to like how would they get started in something like that?

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Absolutely. Yeah. I my number one thing I can think of as far as that goes would be um don't wait till you're out of college. Um, start taking, you know, if you're a college student, um, you know, I think a lot of times people will will just kind of be in the mindset, or at least I was coming out of high school, is okay, I go to college, I do my time. You know, I again I wasn't a great student, so it's like, I'll do that, and then once I get out of college, I'll figure it out. But, you know, you don't really, I mean, I know a lot of agents who, you know, actually got or younger agents right now. I'm thinking of a couple in particular who got licensed during college or even. Right out of high school.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Can you get licensed in high school?

SPEAKER_02 22:04

I think you have to be at least 18. Or is it 18? I think you have to be at least 18. And you know, again, take it with a little bit of a grain of salt, because it is hard, you know, if you're 18, 19 years old, to have somebody, you know, look at you and say, okay, you know, I trust that you know what you're doing. But I I think that if you can be a college student and get your license and start educating yourself, taking courses, doing continuing education, um, hanging your license with a broker, and even just from time to time doing open houses or filling in if, you know, like, you know, if I'm here right now and I have a client that wants to see a property, um, you know, even though the client generally wants to work with you, in certain instances, you know, I maybe I could tell them, hey, you know, I can't make it at this time, but I have a um an associate or an assistant that will fill in for me, you know, just little onesie-twosies here and there, um, just to get their feet wet, you know, get into the industry a little bit, start to hear conversations, learn how things are. I mean, that can start right when you're 18. So I would tell them to start young. And um, I think I started when I was, I got my license, I was maybe 22 or 23. And one thing, I mean, you know, I have worked very hard, but I think one thing that really has worked in my favor for establishing myself in the profession was that at that age, you know, I I was considered very young. And out of my personal network, I was maybe one of the first ones out of my age group to get their license, start, you know, building their business, building their brand. And that I can see has reflected pretty well, you know, in other people I know who are still very successful. You know, maybe I'm getting some business over them because to the consumer, oh, Nick's been in it longer, he's got more tenure, he's got more experience, right? So if you're you know in college or just out of college and you know, you have some experience, whether or not you continue in that field, you know, you already have those roots planted and you've been watering that seed to kind of grow that. Um so really just to get yourself a head start from a uh name recognition and a branding perspective, that that's the number one advice that I have.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Yeah, don't wait to get started.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

I see a lot of students right now starting small businesses, relying heavily pretty on uh AI and talking about things. Is there any leverage or ways that you are leveraging AI in your business, or is there any way that you could see that kind of breaking into the real estate world?

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Yeah, absolutely. So um I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but um the company that I'm at, uh at properties, Christie's International Real Estate franchise in the area um from Chicago about five years ago. Uh broker owner uh Eric Wallstrom, uh co-broker owner, uh shout out Eric. He's a 2005 Catholic Central graduate, um, has done a phenomenal job of you know, him and Alex both have been the first ones to implement and innovate really anything from a technological perspective that any brokerage could be doing. And, you know, the not even just the previous brokerage I was at, but a lot of the brokerages are such old school models and you know, maybe we're a little bit slower to start to get on top of that kind of thing. And um, you know, Eric and Alex, they've been um and our staff, wonderful staff, have been implementing AI more so for the back-end um work. And, you know, if we're, you know, we have our CRM or our um, you know, database with all of our deals and you know, clients, things like that. They've implemented AI to help simplify a lot of that for us. So we've actually still been kind of tweaking it and getting used to it, but it's really taken a lot of time off of you know, my assistance plate, off of agents plates, um, you know, even you know, a new system that we actually we call it Tina. It's supposed to kind of combine the platform where we will write offers or write documents and then also send them and it'll in conjunction work through DocuSign, but it kind of created this new product that kind of combines all of that. And uh we're actually working on perfecting, even being able to just like talk into your phone, like, hey Tina, you know, write an offer for this MLS number, you know, give it four or five bullet points, and then it'll it'll put it right out there and send it to whoever that client is uh via email. As were before, you know, I'd have to log into one thing, fill out all the forms, download the forms, go into DocuZign, upload those documents, put them into DocuZign, put all the signatures where they need to be, right? So just things like that. Right. Um, you know, a lot of people I I know in the industry will or have started to use Chat GPT or other uh AI platforms to maybe help with some of the marketing descriptions or listing descriptions. I don't personally do that. I I have a certain way that I shape things just to kind of add my touch to it. And and not to say that, you know, using AI is bad for that kind of thing, but every I it's got so many different uses and things you can do with it. Um, so it's really, really helped out in that regard. That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

I could see that helping definitely on the back end, the monotonous repetitive work. And it's nice to hear that it's not really like taking the place of that personal aspect. Yeah. Because there's that personal touch between a client and realtor, I think is it's really important. That's where all the trust comes in, right? And if and if a customer sees something and they're like, oh, he didn't even take the time to respond to me, he used AI for this, that's where I could see it being detrimental.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

A hundred percent, Sean. Yeah, I mean, you're you know, we're in a service-based business, and you know, again, it's um the everyday consumer is is really relying on that professional just to I mean, not only offer guidance and advice, but also give them comfort, right? And so if you're talking to a, you know, not a human, um, that that takes that out of it. I remember when I was uh just starting in the business, I think it was 2016 at the time, when uh the the VR headsets came came came about. And uh there were so many agents, like people that have been in the business for 20 years, they were really worried, they're like, oh my gosh, this is gonna take our jobs and people can walk through houses without actually walking through the house. And one thing I learned very quickly is you can't smell with VR. So it's like you can't, you know, like you know, there's certain so many certain things that you know that that won't um fulfill, right? And and obviously never, never. I mean, we did have uh some instances where you'd be able to do that, and it's cool from a marketing perspective, but aside from maybe a short period of time during COVID, not many people want to go into a house and or don't want to not go into a house and still end up having to buy it, right? I mean, people want to go in and feel it, see it, experience it uh live in person, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:34

So yeah, especially because it's such a big uh big decision. Uh what would you say right now? This is just like a more uh I guess anecdotal answer, maybe, but like from your perspective, uh what's like the age frame for like first time home buyers that you're seeing right now? Are you seeing people in their 30s buying homes, or is it really more like pushing 40 now?

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Well, no, and I I'm glad that you asked that and and in the way that you did, because it is um, I think most people would be surprised by this answer. I mean, it it is primarily 30s and even actually pushing 40s. I mean, you know, don't get me wrong, there's still uh a good amount of first-time buyers that I work with that are in their 20s, maybe later 20s. Um I think the youngest buyer that I ever had buying their first property was maybe 21, and that was, I don't know, a handful of years ago.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

But um And are we talking home condo?

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Uh both. Okay. Yeah, starter home condo, um, you know, things like that. But um, but yeah, I I would say 30s, you know, probably late 20s, early 30s is uh the majority, but there is definitely a lot of first-time buyers that are also in their late 30s or even 40s.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Um Yeah, I j I just saw a stat, I think, on Instagram. I was like, I think the I could be wrong, but I think the median age is like pushing 38 or something.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

And I was just kind of surprised by it. So I was wondering if like, you know, you've kind of seen the same thing actually working.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

I d I definitely am. Yeah. It is uh it is a surprising set, isn't it? And you know, I think that it I a lot of sources are probably gonna go off of um, you know, just just general national data.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

And um, you know, one thing that we're very fortunate about here in Michigan is, you know, thankfully, for I would say if you're comparing Michigan to Southeast Michigan particularly, I should say, or the Tri-County area, if you're comparing it to a lot of the, you know, the rest of the nation, um, you know, you're looking at home pricing and then also I I guess just how fluid the metropolitan area is and jobs, income levels, and opportunity levels, uh, we're still quite affordable in comparison to so many other states, right? And that's where I think um, you know, if you look at that stat, like late 30s, 40s wouldn't surprise me. Here in Michigan, we're probably just a touch under that, but I think that also has to do with that pricing gap. Sure. Very, very much so, because you know, you have buyers out on the East Coast and West Coast. I mean, some people never buy, right? They're always renting because it's just you know, the affordability is tough. And you know, impossible. Yeah, exactly. Right. So so that's where um that's where I see some of that coming to play.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

You you brought up um which I know a little bit about because I've watched some shows before, but maybe students or other people don't. What's the difference between a brokerage and a real estate agent within that brokerage? What's the difference between those licenses?

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Yeah, so um a real estate agent or or real estate salesperson license is the license to practice selling real estate. Um if you get a broker's license, uh a lot of people will get it um just to have it.

unknown 31:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Um there are certain benefits like being able to start an S-corp for tax purposes and things like that, to where um I see a lot of people go and um secure that, but obtaining a broker's license will also allow you to start a brokerage um if that's what you desire to do. And whether that's a you know a franchise off like you know what my guys did and um you know, of a bigger name company or somebody maybe wants to operate independently and start a smaller app or yeah, yeah. That that's what the that ability gives you. And um, you know, a lot of people do it. I I've taken the classes, I actually have not uh I've not taken the test to get my broker's license. I've you know, I'll shamefully admit, you know, I took it, I was gonna do it, and then the market and my business got so you know, thankfully very busy. So I just I didn't complete it. But um, you know, I don't personally have um any aspirations right now to start a brokerage. I mean, we'll see, you know, you never know where life takes you, and uh um definitely not in the near future, so we'll we'll keep it kind of where it's at now. We got a good thing going.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, you don't want to change up anything like that. Yeah. What what's the most uh exciting thing about your job?

SPEAKER_02 32:48

I love the versatility in the day-to-day. Um and I love working with people. Um it can be very like I said, the highs are high and the lows are low, and and that has several different meanings for that. Um but it's never boring. And and that's probably the most exciting part about it. You know, they can be very stressful. They're you know, you could deal with a lot of you know, people doing wrongful things, or maybe um things just totally going sideways, and then you know, the it's so rewarding, you know, on the other side of that when you know you're helping somebody and and when somebody really appreciates that. Um like I just had a client give me a, you know, I I always give gifts at closing for clients. I had a client give me a gift uh as well. And I they were just like the, you know, so nice and gracious about it, just like very thankful for, you know, just step by step how the process was handled. And um you can tell they're just very, very happy and and relieved because um you know, it it is, I I think from a start to finish standpoint, it's not that difficult to understand the process, but there's so many little things or big things that can happen during that where it's like, oh shoot, you know, what do we what do we do about this? How do we handle this, right? That you would never even be able to draw up or think of, right? And that's why guys like me have a job. So helping people get through that and and just kind of you know successfully getting to the finish line is uh is very rewarding in that respect.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

Yeah, uh it sounds like a it sounds like a fun job. Uh what's the most memorable property that you've ever I'll say even just walked through? Do you have a property where you're like, holy smokes, that was like that was sick?

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

There's um just try to describe it a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yeah, no, you know, I I could I could say there's a few of them that I could um there's a few of them that I could bring up, but you know, there's one that I'm thinking about right now, and this might not even be a conventional answer, but it it's just what came to mind. But um I had a listing what was it? Almost probably about two and a half years ago now. Um it was in Franklin Village, um, and it was a a well-known for several years, well-known estate. Um I think it was only two owners. And uh I got the listing. I won't even go into how, but it was a very I would have never thought I would have gotten it. It just was a very interesting way of getting connected. Uh-huh. Ten acres um had a massive ranch on it. The ranch was in the process of actually getting renovated. Uh, those owners got relocated um back to Australia. Um, but this property itself, not even as much as the house, but the property itself was was really what was breathtaking. Um, half of it was wooded, there were trails carved out, the other half was it had a pool, it had tennis court, guest house, immaculately landscaped. The house was like half torn up, and the guy who ended up buying it tore the house down and he's rebuilding on it. But um, you know, to find that much acreage in a higher density area where you know you're lucky to even get one acre, yeah. Um it was just super cool because it was tucked away. I I mean I nobody, you know, you'd have to be told where to go to even find it. To find it. Yeah. And so um, you know, just just from a natural beauteous standpoint, that that was that was one of them.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Do you know anything about I'm gonna bring it up? I think we've mentioned it. I might have mentioned it to you before, Sean. I think it was called like the Bishop, the Bishop Manor, the Bishop Manager. Oh, Bishop, yeah, the Bishop Manor. You know what I'm talking about in DJ in Detroit? Yeah, calling it. So I just saw it for like I saw it for like a million dollars, but it looks like it's worth a lot more than a million dollars. So I was interested behind the story behind that. If you know anything.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Yeah, well, I mean, um there there are actually a few in that pocket of Palmer Woods. A colleague of mine had that listed actually. Um and yeah, I mean, it's you know, those areas, those older historic homes, especially the massive ones. I mean, so much history there. Um, you know, there's even uh others that maybe weren't as um publicly advertised, you know, through the news or news articles, things like that, that you know, I could say are very even comparable. I mean, you're talking anywhere from five, six to fifteen, you know, twenty thousand square feet. I mean, back in the day, these were the you know, the the richest of the rich people that lived in these communities. And um, you know, the the areas in Detroit, I mean, all areas of Detroit, as we know, they've seen their ups and downs. And um, you know, Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest, Boston Edison, Indian Village, those have always still kind of held a you know good value and um maybe a little bit more secure and and have um always kind of been been more kept. But even through those times, there have been rougher times. And, you know, I think the thing with those houses in those historic districts that becomes challenging for people is, and this is why something like with that type of square footage is selling at such a low price per square foot, because you can't duplicate it, right? You can't, you know, if you want or if it needs to have certain renovations done, whether it's infrastructure components or cosmetic, you know, you can't get a lot of those materials. The trades now have to be very specific. Uh, and there might only be even one guy or two guys that might do a certain thing, plaster, certain type of plaster work or whatever, um, that you absolutely have to hire at whatever price it is, because that's what the historic drip district might still mandate. So that's where you know, if you you know fast forward that to 2026 and the type of buyer that generally is out there, a lot of people, you know, it's harder for them to get into. You got to really love and want that and and want to be willing to take that on at whatever cost it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Right. So the price point might be a million to get the property, but you might put 10 million trying to fix it up or something.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

It could be, yes. It could be a crazy number like that, you know, several million or hundreds of thousands or or whatever to do it. And then, you know, for a lot of people, it it, you know, it's not worth that hassle. Well, definitely. Yeah, not worth the hassle. And, you know, even if you have the money to do it, that's that's where the that's where the tickets are.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

You need some passion for it, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:40

You need some passion and you need a lot of time. And, you know, most of the consumers that are out there, like even a lot of the the build to suit ground up new construction I did, um, you know, most of the consumers that are out there are looking for something in the nearer future versus having to wait a year or two or to get it finished. Exactly. Or they're working full-time and don't have a you know time to it's almost a full-time job putting together the property. Even if you have a general contractor you're working with, you know, your time is um required to, you know, go to selection meetings, go to contractor meetings, go to the house, let people in, exactly. Yeah, so that's where that becomes uh challenging for most.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

I think this has been a a really great conversation. I learned a lot. Um, I have one more question for you that we've been we end all of them with when they're alumni podcasts, and we usually ask the alumnus to uh basically tell us about a bazillion memory that they had. You know, the bazillions have you know, we've we have you and me probably went to school with a bunch of them, but nowadays there's less of them, so we're trying to just create that memory. So if you have a really good bazillion memory about one in particular or about the group of them that you want to share.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Absolutely. Um I need to think about one that would be podcast appropriate.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

Yeah, for sure. That's the usual answer, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 39:58

Yeah, I was gonna say, I know, you know, maybe maybe it wouldn't fly as much nowadays, but um let's start, let's start with just who were some of the memorable bazillions that you can think of that um uh you know, Father O'Neill, Father Ward, Father Thompson, Father Kaufman, um, obviously Father Annaletti.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

Yep. You speak in my language. Yeah, I mean, all yeah, obviously we were there, you know, very close to the same time one year apart. And uh yeah, I mean, all those guys I have great stories about all of them. I mean, I think uh I think you know, I actually wasn't I'll tell you one story, and I I is Father Thompson still here, is Father?

SPEAKER_00 40:36

Father Thompson's not still here. He's obviously still a bazillion. Okay, Father. He's in he's in their central office in Toronto, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

Okay, all right, yeah. And I don't, you know, if this isn't podcast appropriate, you can you can cut it up. We'll scrap it.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

That's fine. But it's probably good. It's probably good.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

It's it's not that bad. No, I and I wasn't even I wasn't even here for this, but I'll never forget when they had CC had it was like a Christmas party or something for maybe like the parents, or it's like Mother's Club or Father's Club or something like that. And um I just remember, like I wasn't there, but my parents come home, and I just remember my dad being like, Who's that younger priest with the glasses and you know, whatever? Like, oh like Father Thompson's like, yeah, that guy was in the middle of the dance board and he had all the moms dancing around him, like you know, just like partying and this and that.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

And it was just like, oh my god, Father Thompson, like you know, he just like just like drinking, you know, having the best time. I was like, man, like that's not what he's like in the classroom.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

Yeah, it was no surprise that he ended up becoming president here because he was so good at um relationships with the parents, yeah, you know, and uh you know, sometimes it's easy to we always talk about it like putting up like you see, there's like there's like people and then there's priests, and sometimes there's like this wall of like, I don't know if I can, you know, say that open or honest say that in front of them where he kind of broke that barrier down and like we're we're we're human just like you are, you know, we can have real conversations, we can laugh, we can joke, you know, we can be serious, you know. He taught a lot of great stuff in in French classes while I was here. Um, but you could uh you really saw that like that human side.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Absolutely, yeah. And that's very well said, Sean. Yeah, I mean, and all the priests had the Brazilians had a lot of great qualities, but I would say if that that is really what stood out about him. Um, and I know he definitely opened a lot of people up, a lot of students up. You know, I can recall several memories where um, you know, again, he just had that he had that way about him. You know, it was a lot lot different than uh the other Brazilians.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

Awesome. Well, Nick, thank you for your time. Also, thank you for support of the school as being a corporate partner. Um, it's always, you know, great to have you back on campus and thank you for all the support and and the time.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

Uh thank you guys. I really appreciate you having me. And uh this is a lot of fun. Anything I can do to support the school, I'm I'm always here to do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Last thing, give a shout out to you know, all your stuff on what you're doing, maybe social media handles, website, and that stuff. Where can we find you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

Thank you. Yeah. Um, so my last name, Realty, R-E-A-L-T-Y.com. So Petrucci Realty.com. Um, Instagram, Nicholas with no H underscore Petrucci, P-E-T-R-U-C-C-I. Um, I have Facebook business page, LinkedIn, um, through my company platform and at properties, Christy's International Real Estate as well, have page on there. And uh phone numbers 248-787-3240.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

And tell them C C sent you.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Definitely uh C C C is VIP, as always. Awesome. Thanks, Nick. Thank you, guys. I appreciate you so much.