Real Estate Show Interview with Ryan Johnson

Full Video Transcript Below

[00:00:00] Alice Lema: Well, good morning, Southern Oregon. And welcome back to the real estate show. I'm Alice Lema. I'm a broker here at John L. Scott real estate in beautiful Southern Oregon. I'm your host of the real estate show. And before we get on with the show, let's take a quick minute and talk about what happened in our local market this week.

[00:00:17] So long-term, we're thinking we're going to have more listings and the prices will stabilize. The buyers will have more choices. It'll be a more normal market, at least normal by what we've had the last couple of years ,now with that said, some weeks are a little lower in inventory than others. Things are going in fits and starts.

[00:00:38] But overall, we still are predicting that we're going to have a more stabilizing market. Additionally, we do have the investors kind of jumping in and this would be because they're trying to hedge inflation. So if we had not had this extreme inflation, those folks might not be jumping in right now. But you combine that with the threat of, not threat of rising interest rates they did go up and they're due to go up a couple more times this year.

[00:01:04] So we're still experiencing a little bit of shortage on the inventory side, but again, it's week by week in fits and starts. So one of the things we want to recommend is if you're selling you really got to pay attention to where the market is. If we're in the process of transitioning to a more normal market, you don't want to go back to last summer's prices because that might not be appropriate for your home, your neighborhood, your area right now. So we do see some properties coming on the market this week, and they were spot on, clean, ready to rock and roll that had their inspection.

[00:01:42] They were easy to show. And they were priced right. And we do still get multiple offers. We just don't have them happen very often like they used to now. We also saw several properties come on the market this week and they were priced way too high. And it really looked like they were trying to go back and capture something from the summer. So just a note to sellers to be careful because you know, it's not the same market it was.

[00:02:10] So let's get on with our interview today. We've got Ryan Johnson. He's a newer agent at John Lscott. He's got a great story. He's here through Paradise. He's a Paradise fire survivor, and he's got a lot to bring to the table for real property and investments.

[00:02:27] So we're super happy to have Ryan Johnson on the show today. He's a broker at John L. Scott in the Medford office. And he's got some great tips and some great information to pass on to all of us. So one of our rising stars at John L. Scott, we're super happy to have Ryan on the show today. We're going to take a quick break say thank you to our sponsors and we'll be right back. So don't touch that dial.

[00:02:54] Well, welcome back to the radio. The state show folks. I'm Alice Lema, broker John L. Scott here in beautiful Southern Oregon. And today we're so excited to be interviewing Ryan Johnson of John L. Scott. Ryan is one of our newer superstars and he's got a fabulous story to tell. So thank you for being on the show today, right?

[00:03:16] Ryan Johnson: Yeah, thanks Alice, it's good to be here. I appreciate the invite.

[00:03:19] Alice Lema: Well, I just think you know, when we have new agents and they're doing well and they have a great story, we just want to, you know, that's part of what the radio show is for. And then also just to talk about how real estate has been in your life. So why don't you take a minute, introduce yourself and tell a little bit about your background.

[00:03:38] Ryan Johnson: Yeah, there's a lot of places to start here. You know, I'll go through some career history. I've done all kinds of fun and wacky jobs from outdoor educator and science and math teacher to - I sold Christmas trees in Harlem years ago. Yeah, so all kinds of stuff. I worked as a farmer and had some herds of goats. I grew up on a small cattle ranch in Northern California and moved around there a lot. And in the process I saw my dad would buy a couple of properties and he held them for a long time as rentals. And I saw how, you know, 10 years later when he sold them, that paid off for him.

[00:04:14] And I just kinda got to see just a taste of how it works. I didn't go in depth or anything. But that was just helpful in, in igniting my curiosity around real estate. And I started as an agent about a year and a half ago. I was a science and math teacher. I moved to Oregon after my town burned down.

[00:04:33] I lived in Paradise, California. I'm sure will impact some of this too. Yeah. And, you know, I feel, I feel for all the people who didn't come out on top. There's a lot of people who are still struggling and, you know, that continued every day for a lot of people. And I'm fortunate that in some ways that that tragedy kind of propelled us and got us into Oregon here, which has been good to us.

[00:04:57] So once I came up here, I was, I was stay at home dad for a year with my oldest. He was about two at the time. So we got to hike every day and hunt mushrooms and do all kinds of fun stuff outside. And I got a job in grants pass here where I live. As a, as a math teacher and I was all excited and then COVID hit and the funding for my position dried up.

[00:05:21] So I had to go to plan B. Yeah. Teachers were essential service people. Well, here's the thing I got. Grant from the state, I guess it was a, it was like a new tax on larger businesses in the state to provide money for more teachers. So I got hired on as a new teacher and then they shifted that money before the school year started to to take care of whatever COVID needs there were, whatever changes were caused. So dried up my position before it started. Oh, wow. Yeah. So that was, you know, it was another, another example of lemons. And I, I like to think I try and turn them into lemonade when I, when I can. And I'm really thankful in hindsight that, That I thought of the opportunity or had the opportunity to work in real estate because it's just been so awesome. It's been so good for me and for my family. We have a lot of opportunities now as a result.

[00:06:12] Alice Lema: Well, and I didn't realize you came from a real estate family.

[00:06:16] Ryan Johnson: I don't know if I would go as far to label it a Real Estate family, but there was a couple of, there was a couple of properties that happened in there. And my dad built a house that I grew up in on top of this hill on 10 acres. And there was the old house from the 1800's at the bottom of the hill I lived in when I was little. And you know, when he sold it, I got to, I got to hear, oh, we bought it at this. And yes, we built the house, but the difference in price was a game changer. So I thought that's interesting. Is that something I could pull off?

[00:06:43] I don't see why not.

[00:06:44] Alice Lema: Wow. Yeah, well, it made an impression. It's interesting. Cause a lot of younger people go through that same life experience and they do not clue in to the investment opportunity to the stability and wealth building opportunity of real estate. So I just sitting here smiling, you know, you're a math teacher, so you must have done the numbers when you were and gone, ah, yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:07:09] Ryan Johnson: You know, I wasn't even trying to be a math teacher. I have a science credential and I work at this tiny little rural school in the middle of nowhere and they said, well, you're actually the science department and the math department, what they do to teachers. Right. So anyway, then the more I taught the math, I, the more I realized, you know what, this is actually really fun.

[00:07:25] And there's few things in the world that are so concrete. You know, I find I can, I can name on one hand the things I can think of that are black and white and math is just one of those things.

[00:07:34] Alice Lema: And real estate is not.

[00:07:36] Ryan Johnson: And real estate is not in any way, but I really appreciate that, you know, the, the math challenges, cause I can come up with the right answer and that's fun to do.

[00:07:44] And in the investing world, which I'm trying to dip my toe in these days that has been, you know, I use those math skills on such a regular basis when just, you know, I set goals for myself of like, let's crunch a number on a certain prop on X number of properties every day. Usually like one or two, I just pick a couple of houses I find on the MLS and say, what kind of numbers would you get in returns for a short-term rental? Or what can I expect if I, if I own this place and I was renting it what would be the difference between my mortgage and the rent you could expect. And it's not that I can buy that many properties, but it's a really good exercise.

[00:08:19] And when I work with investors, it's good to have that experience and to be fresh on those calculations because I can do a lot of them or estimates in my head because I've done it a thousand times now, you know.

[00:08:29] Alice Lema: Well, and that's what it takes. You know, you have to hone your craft and real estate agents have to do, not enough agents do spend the time, you know, especially in the investor world. So good for you. And speaking of a investor world, you are an investor, is that correct?

[00:08:43] Ryan Johnson: Recently, so yeah, we just, we just closed on our first short-term rental property. Vacation rental. Yeah. Thank you. It was it was, it's been kind of my dream for a long time to have like, you know, the idealic little cabin in the woods. That's what I really wanted. And there's a little community near us called Rocky point. And I said, I love Rocky point. It's so good. It's like this hidden gem. No one knows the blue collar lake of the woods. And it's near the yeah, right by the zip line, right so you know, I just, I said, what do I have to do?

[00:09:15] I started reading tons of books on business and and real estate. I'm sure you're familiar with rich dad, poor dad, that one. And, you know, I thought I want to buy an asset. I'm not rich, but this is an area that you know, The, the cost of housing over there is relatively inexpensive and it feels achievable. Maybe I could do it. So I wrote a letter to like every homeowner in Rocky point and just send them another letter and send them another letter. And I got a handful of calls and hung out with some really awesome people on the lake. I couldn't find a place that I could afford, or that would work for me.

[00:09:51] And then the more I learned, the more I read it. What about partnering? That's something that is possible again, partnering with the longtime friends of mine. And so it's two couples, me and my wife and two of my friends. And so we went in together and we had a lot more ability to, to land something that would work. And I think we came with a really awesome solution. We just went live last week and had our first guests.

[00:10:17] It takes so much work to get it to get it off the ground and to get it all furnished and get the hot tub in and yada yada, yada, it was, it was a ton of work. And I think it's going to be, there's going be a ton of rewards for that. So we'll, we'll have guest. We haven't gotten a review yet. So we're waiting that five stars.

[00:10:38] Alice Lema: Yeah. Well, good for you. I mean, being an investor is something a lot of people think about and dream about, but to actually take the concrete steps. You know, courage, it takes some ingenuity and it takes a little bit, a little bit of money.

[00:10:53] Ryan Johnson: Yeah, that's true. I mean, you know, I don't want to say anyone can go out and do it right away because it, it takes some know-how and it takes some funds. But I definitely set concrete goals. I knew what I wanted and. The more, I just watched YouTube videos, you know, there's some, some people I really like, and I'd just watch all of their videos and learn everything. Even if they didn't apply to me, I listened to a bigger pockets podcast. I don't know if you're familiar that one of my favorites.

[00:11:16] So anytime I'm driving to you know, show a house or go to an inspection or whatever, I just have bigger pockets on it and I'm just listening. I'm a sponge for knowledge. So I'm just hearing everyone. Questions and testimonials and stories and trying to soak it all up. And so I kind of picked a strategy that I wanted to do and I set a goal and it didn't pan out the way I originally planned. But, you know, I learned so much in the meantime that I think I came up with better solutions in the end.

[00:11:43] Alice Lema: Yeah. Well, good for you. Good for you. And then how did you find John L. Scott.

[00:11:49] Ryan Johnson: I guess that's a good story to cut me off if I'm talking too much. No, this is, this is about you and real estate and the market and yeah. Well the short version, I guess, or the medium length version of the story is I decided I was going to do real estate. I put my mind to it and I jammed through that 250 hours of schooling. I think it was, and I got my license passed my test and I called everyone I could think of who had ever been involved in real estate.

[00:12:17] Anyone who was ever an agent. I have a cousin in Southern California, Huntington beach. Who's been an agent forever. And I have, you know, random people who are distant relatives, who I don't, I haven't talked to in decades. Got their phone number and I called him and I said, what's the deal? What do I need to succeed?

[00:12:32] How do I do this? I did homework? Yeah. I went heavy on the homework and research and I think it really panned out. And one of the people I called a friend of mine had just bought a house in Phoenix, Oregon here. And she said, oh, you know, I loved my agent. She I found her online.

[00:12:48] She's with John L. Scott, and you should give her a call and just see what she said. So I called her and she, Jesse Veronelli and I called her and I said, Hey, you know, can you give me tips? What do I need to know? And she was great. She laid out like, these are the programs you're going to use for your bookkeeping.

[00:13:05] Here's how you keep track of your mileage. You need all these things. One of the biggest things that she said, you know, you need to, to you need Jim Renwick with, with E real estate coach, wherever you land, wherever, whatever brokerage you pick. And so I got in touch with Jim. And the first thing you do is you have a zoom interview.

[00:13:24] And before I did, I went and I I created a little graph of all of the brokerages that I was considering in the area, and I rated them on their internet their internet ratings, as far as Google. Google ads or Google business goestheir, Yelp ads and then their internet presence in general. And just how often they came up in my searches, you know?

[00:13:47] And so I kind of charted them in which order I'd want to work. And John L. Scott, I didn't know anything about these places, but John L. Scott kept coming up to the top. Well, they're super digital. I mean, that's true. And it wasn't just the digital ratings. I mean, I looked at a lot of different aspects and it's been a couple of years, so I don't quite remember what they all were, but how all these categories laid out in a rating for everything.

[00:14:07] So Jim interviewed me and he said you know, I'd love to teach you as your real estate coach, but I can't because you don't work for our office. And if you're a local agent, we have a non-compete clause so he said, I'm sorry, we can't make it happen. That we just chatted for a little bit. I said, Hey, look, I, I got this chart and it just keeps coming back.

[00:14:29] You tell me what I got to do. And he said, you know, I'll give you a hard maybe. And so he sent me over to our office manager, Tiffany, and we had a super fun, little, little meeting and, and I was a shoe in. And so I feel like I really scored on that one. Cause I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I had a couple other interviews that were, that were great too, but I'm sure happy that I landed in John L Scott.

[00:14:52] Alice Lema: And we're so glad you're here. And I appreciate you being on the show today. We're going to have to take a quick break with our sponsors. We're speaking with Ryan Johnson, one of our newer agents. Who's just killing it out there in real estate land here at John L. Scott. So we'll be back. A few minutes. We've got messages from John L. Scott, Ashland and Medford, Guy Giles mutual of Omaha mortgage and our localRoguevalley association realtors do not touch that dial.

[00:15:24] Well. Hi folks. Welcome back to the real estate show. I'm Alice Lema your host here. The real estate show in Southern Oregon. I'm a broker with John L. Scott real estate. And we have a very exciting conversation today with Ryan Johnson. Who's also with John L. Scott and he's one of our newer agents. He's also a Paradise fire survivor, a recent investor, and he is a former teacher.

[00:15:52] That's quite a, that's quite a pedigree with your math background. And also as an investor, let's talk a little bit about the market because it's very, it's very weird out there right now, you know? You know, we have the housing shortage. We've had a shortage of listings for a long time, but that seems to be changing. We seem to have more people putting their homes on the market. What's it like in your business? What are you experiencing?

[00:16:19] Ryan Johnson: Yeah, I mean, the shortage of housing has been definitely problematic. I've been working primarily with buyers. So you know, that's the most challenging angle to be in right now is, is how do I find someone a home, especially a first time home buyer, you know, can be really hard to get your foot in the door with with higher prices and now the interest rates are rising. It's going to make it even tougher. So, you know, I'm a big believer in and listening to experts and, you know, across the board, it sounds like that the expectations are the interest rates are going to continue rising and they've been rising more steeply than the predictions.

[00:16:53] Alice Lema: That's kind of surprising. Huh?

[00:16:56] Ryan Johnson: I mean, it's taken some pretty big jumps. So you know, I'm just trying to educate people and, and that's my background too, is education as a teacher. So, you know, I try not to be preachy, but as much information as I can provide to just frame and Hey, this is how things are, this is what it normally looks like when those are the conditions and this is how we succeed.

[00:17:17] And you know, even though it's a challenging position to be a buyer's agent, not that I'm strictly a buyer's agent. When I'm working in that position have been pretty successful with landing offers and that feels good, you know, to be able to have a winning strategy, that's not just bidding way high over.

[00:17:32] And you know, one thing I was taught was when you're, when you're about to submit an offer, you always call the listing agent and you say, Hey, is there any other than the bottom line, anything that's, non-monetary that's a value to that could make my offer look better. And oftentimes you get these great little gems.

[00:17:48] You know, I read a negotiation book awhile ago called never split the difference by Chris. That's a great book. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. That he would call it like the black Swan moment. And maybe that's a dramatic way to put this specific thing, but really helpful to say, Hey, you know what? My when you hear my, my sellers just really need to sell the place.

[00:18:09] Outside of this time window, they're going to be on vacation for these two weeks. So we can, if we can just work around these dates and if I'm the only agent who asked that and helped them succeed in their goals and it helps my clients succeed in, in our, yeah. It's really interesting how human real estate is.

[00:18:25] Alice Lema: And I remember during the height of the frenzy, during the shutdown, when everybody was buying everything. I had buyers that were young and they ended up winning over seven other people, because they were willing to clean the yard.

[00:18:38] No, just like the buyers, it was a rural property. They had been there for two generations and it was like an old farmish kind of place. And it was that same thing. It's like asking what else you can do. And they won the bid because they were willing to let the seller leave all two generations of stuff and they, and they cleaned it out later. It was really surprising how human and it, and it didn't really cost them anything.

[00:19:08] Ryan Johnson: My various careers have taught me that it prepared me for real estate. You know, I worked in mental health for awhile and that's where I met my wife. She's a therapist. She wasn't my therapist for the record. No. I worked at a series of group homes and I had like a great recreation coordinating jobs. So I got the super fun stuff, rafting and backpacking. But she that just lose track. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, my, the skills I got from, from working in mental health, you know, there's these two things that are so common when you're working in mental health, especially, and just learning empathy is reflect and validate.

[00:19:40] Whenever someone's talking to you and they're being heartfelt, you know, you can, you can help that person feel heard and you can empathize with them if you just reflect what they say.And you say something along the line, something validating along the lines of, I totally understand how that could, how that could happen or why you feel that way.

[00:19:57] And just doing that and taking time to hear people's feelings and thoughts about something is so powerful in making connections and in making deals and having other people feel heard. I think it's a skill we should all be better at.

[00:20:09] Alice Lema: Yeah. And I think the more successful agents have that ability because it's so emotional.

[00:20:15] And then you have the kind of the kind of buying and selling climate we deal with right now and then the world events. And it's very scary and stressful now this week in particular, I think we have a lot of families from, you know, overseas and and now it's affecting their real estate decisions or some of them are actually moving because of what's going on overseas. And that ability to empathize and and help them get some clarity is super, super important.

[00:20:44] Ryan Johnson: Yeah. That's a foundational life skill. I just think everyone should, including myself. We should all just be better at empathizing. It just does so much good in the world.

[00:20:54] Alice Lema: Well, and if you're an, a parent, it gives you one more tool just to have. Yeah. So when you were talking about buyers how, how do you help your buyers get ready for maybe a competitive situation? What, what kind of stuff do you like to do to get them to a good place situation? You know, Communication is the other skill. That's so important in this business and in life too.

[00:21:23] Ryan Johnson: And I just try and be as transparent as I can with all the information. And I try and ask as many questions as I can. If I can gather a bunch of information from the listing agent and say, How many offers do you have on the table? That really just that one question helps me frame it, how much competition there is and whatever the answer I get, whether it's zero or 10, the first thing I'm going to do is talk to my sellers and say, Hey, look, our offer is very much going to depend on the competition that's happening on this place. Or the competition I predict will happen before the time that they're going to review offers.

[00:21:58] You know, sometimes you don't get that information or you get a, we don't have any yet, but the deadline is on Monday or Tuesday, you know, three or four days from now. And you just have to do your best to to figure out where the rest of the long time to wait, that happens frequently and it's hard. And you know, you have some power to work within that too. Why can't you call the day before and say, Hey, how many offers do we have before the deadline? And so just, just forwarding that communication and asking the right questions, you know, the longer I'm in real estate, the more I read. The asking the right questions is important and you get better at it as you go along too.

[00:22:36] Alice Lema: So how do your buyers weather like those, those many days of waiting, you know, to find out if they win the bid?

[00:22:43] Ryan Johnson: Oh yeah. You know, I'm a big fan of the, the short turnaround. I like to put a little bit of pressure on the, on the seller sometimes and just say, Hey look, we got 24 hours . We're looking at a lot of stuff. This isn't the only house we want to bid on. So. You know, you can take it or leave it. You can make a counter offer, but we we'd like to know sooner. And sometimes that works and sometimes that doesn't, but definitely the hardest part emotionally in buying a house is that time.

[00:23:08] It's a real nail biter, especially when you're a first home, first time homeowner. You're like, am I going to have a house in a couple of days? Or am I still going to be searching? It's such a big such a big thing that can affect your life events.

[00:23:19] Alice Lema: Oh, and it's so much work to be a buyer. When, when you know, and the first time people are always so shocked at how intrusive the financial exploration is, and you know that 75 cent penny jar, you just put in your account. Now we have to write a letter.

[00:23:41] Ryan Johnson: There's so many people that work on a real estate transaction. You're talking to title companies and lenders and agents. And then I remember putting a bid in, on my, on my house here. And you know, is this real HailMary for us? We we lived in California, the fire burned the town down. So you couldn't, paradise was no longer an option. And the surrounding towns were either places we didn't really want to live, where there was little job opportunity or everyone moved to the neighboring town.

[00:24:11] It got blown out right away. And you know, it was just really challenging place to be and figuring out what we were going to do. So we, it was my spring break as a teacher. It was the only time I had off. I picked this place on the map, grants pass seemed like it had all these mashed, all these things that are criteria that sounded like it could be perfect half hour from a bigger town.

[00:24:28] It's not too big itself. It's a little more affordable than when we were at, you know, job opportunities were more abundant here. So we, threw this Hail Mary, we drove, it was my wife and I, and our five at that, at that point, probably seven month old son thousand mile road trip in two days, two, three days.

[00:24:48] Drove up to, I guess. I guess that big road trip was a little longer, but we we did go to Bend and we visited some friends there. They said, Hey, look, we're moving across the country. Will you buy our entire household furniture? And we had nothing. The couple of things you could fit in the car because the fire, because the flight, so we were starting from scratch and we said, please, you know, and they give us a great deal.

[00:25:13] So we bought you know, all their appliances and for most of their furniture and all that, and putting the storage into there. And then the next day we drove here to Grants Pass. We had an agent all lined up and it was just this crazy Hail Mary, where we looked at a bunch of places. I only had one shot to pull this off.

[00:25:28] And there's only one house that we wanted that we saw. The stakes were high it's not like I could come back and keep looking. And, you know, somehow my wife also had a job interview the next day after we put an offer in and she got it the day after that, all the parts fell into place, to enable us to pull it off and it felt,it was a nail biter and the stakes were high and we landed that.

[00:25:52] Alice Lema: And that wasn't that long ago. When did you, when did you have your purchase?

[00:25:55] Ryan Johnson: That was about three years ago.

[00:25:57] Alice Lema: Okay. So, so, and I think that is again, a point of empathy that can be helpful to the clients that you're serving, because you remember what it was like.

[00:26:09] Ryan Johnson: Totally. Yeah. And, and there is, there's a lot of emotions and to just be present with people when they're having them and tell them that they're not wrong, it's it can be scary. And it's a nail biter and you know, it's hard to wait and the anticipation is the hardest part.

[00:26:24] Alice Lema: And the annoyance of the lender asking for that same piece ofpaper, the sixth time.

[00:26:29] Ryan Johnson: I always tell them, Hey, just so you know, You're going to be all checked off on paperwork and feel real good. And then like literally the day before closing the lenders call you or the underwriter, and they'll be like, cool, we need these 10 things today. And yeah. And at the end, it's really hard because people like packed up their electronics and stuff.

[00:26:48] Alice Lema: So I had the cutest older lady, you know what she did at the very end, she printed everything off, shut down all her stuff. And she put it in a tube sock and she had every piece of paper she'd ever given the lender. It wrapped up like in a scroll. So I get, if they asked for some of the, oh, she pulled it out and went to Kinko's and that's kind of extreme, but and we'd make jokes about it, but that's kind of how it is.

[00:27:12] Ryan Johnson: Yeah. That's one way to do it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:15] Alice Lema: How funny. So that house that you bought at Grants Pass did you have multiple offers? Did you have to fight.

[00:27:21] Ryan Johnson: Yeah. And the interesting part about that is the sister of the person who who sold the house to us walked by one day she lives in the neighborhood and she said, Hey, I'm so glad you got this house. This was back when you could do love letters, they call them right. Then, you know, I remember they, they chose your offer specifically of your story and they want to help someone out from Paradise. So that was on it too. Cause you don't always get feedback.

[00:27:46] Alice Lema: We got to take a quick break. We'll be right back with a quick word from our sponsors. We're talking to Ryan Johnson of John L. Scott. Don't go.

[00:27:54] Well, here we are again, folks back at the real estate show. I'm Alice Lema, broker John L. Scott with Ryan Johnson, also broker with John L. Scott. And we want to say thank you again to our sponsors. We have John L.Scott,Ashland and Medford, Guy, Giles mutual Omaha mortgage, and the local RogueValley association realtors. We really appreciate you making it possible for us to have this show every week.

[00:28:17] So Ryan, one of the things I wanted to circle back with you about is the short-term rental, because that is a huge market and there's a lot of people that want to get into it. Let's talk more about that.

[00:28:30] Ryan Johnson: Yeah. You know, I have, I have really strong feelings on both sides as far as short, short terminals go. You know, I mentioned that I, I just bought a short-term rental, my first place, and I'm really excited about it. It's a, it's a big focus in my life, kind of a second job, you know, for the last couple months, getting this place and setting it up. And I'm working with some partners who are old friends to just figure out the business and see what's going to work the best and try and do, try and do an A-plus job on it.

[00:28:58] You know, our goal is to be in the top 10% in the area. So I've been working with other investors to. To help them pull off places that are cool. And I have an idea of, of trying to scale my business up in a way after a couple of years that it can, you know, I can have a few more of those. And I really liked the model for a couple of reasons, but I also feel like it's worth acknowledging that you know, there's a housing shortage and when you're buying homes in a place that already has a bit of a housing crunch, this is something that can put pressure on it.

[00:29:26] So if you're going to be buying short term rentals, I think it's really worthwhile to at least have an honest discussion about how it impacts local people and finding markets that have less of an impact or can have more positive impacts.

[00:29:40] Alice Lema: That's an interesting philosophical conversation people have to have with themselves and their partners. And interestingly enough, you know, the city of Medford is giving discounts on their development fees and permits, right? Yeah. I don't know if you're aware, but it's, it's part of their way of giving back to the community while we have such a shortage and also the fire situation. But but they have a 10 year deed restriction that you will not Air B&B, if you accept the discounted permits and the assisted development fees.

[00:30:17] And so not a lot of people know that, but it's also, it points again to the philosophy of the impact that short-term rentals have. You know, possibly removing those units out of the, you know, general tenant population.

[00:30:31] Ryan Johnson: You know, I'm okay with that in, in general. Restrictions can can affect investments in in positive ways. And, you know, it's kind of counter-intuitive as an investor to say, Hey, I want to buy in a market that is as well-regulated, or has lots of restrictions. You know, most people would want to go the opposite direction. But in fact, especially with short-term rentals, if you can if you can tap into a market that has some established rules, then you kind of know how to work within those rules.

[00:30:56] Or if you already own a place and then establish some rules that are reasonable. You know, that it makes your place more valuable because in some ways it's eliminating some competition. So it's also less risky because it's been set up in some ways it's less risky. That's a good thing. If it does protect people who want to buy their first home or, or, you know, tenants who need a place to rent, I think that's important to keep in mind.

[00:31:20] Alice Lema: Yeah, that's an interesting twist on it. Cause it really is how you look at it long-term and I think that's what happened with the cannabis business. You know, there was so many early adopters and then the regulations came and then the business exploded nationwide. And now here we are with all these farms, you know, with tier two licenses and they're having trouble selling them.

[00:31:44] Totally. Yeah. So you do rural property. Do you run into any of the cannabis farms? The people that are trying to get out of that cannabis?

[00:31:52] Ryan Johnson: You know, I'm really curious in the coming months and years here to see how that affects rural properties. Yeah. I've I grew up, you know, rurally and so I feel pretty comfortable selling places with Wells and septics, and I liked being out in the woods and in the country.

[00:32:06] So I like selling those properties. It definitely can complicate things when cannabis business involved or nearby. So honestly at this point I kind of try and avoid it. You know, some people might specialize in that and that's okay. But yeah, I think if we can free up some of those properties, they don't just have hoop houses every in every direction, you know, I think that's going to mostly be a good thing. Less nitrogen in the water means less algae blooms and less people pumping out of Wells.

[00:32:33] Alice Lema: So the water usage for that crop quote unquote was huge.

[00:32:39] Ryan Johnson: Yeah. So, you know, those are real concerns and, you know, as far as having a sustainable economy and, and a sustainable aquifer, I think those are real concerns. And that puts a lot of pressure on those things. So yeah. You know, I, I just tend to try and avoid those things it can be touchy.

[00:32:56] Alice Lema: Well and now, you know, the sheriff Jackson county, sheriff, I think Josephine county sheriff may have also sent out letters to all the land landowners, warning them that if they were not on top of the regulations with their leases, if they had people on their land, that they could be held responsible directly.

[00:33:15] And it really came down to an interesting thing of the water, that they were illegally using water and electrical permits. You know, it kinda came down to that and it's like, well, does that mean there's going to be an opportunity now, if there's going to be a glut on the market with those kinds of properties, you know, as agents, should we maybe be looking into that as a possible opportunity for our clients to get a good deal on a piece of land, but that has all these problems. I mean, what do you think about that?

[00:33:48] Ryan Johnson: Yeah. You know, like I said, I tend to try and avoid the cannabis properties or the former cannabis properties, because just altogether. Yeah. You know, it's a lot, like it's a lot like dogs and dog owners. The other day we were, we were trying to figure out, should we allow dogs? Should we not allow dogs in this short-term rental. It's this big debate we have going on with them. And, you know, there's a great case we made that if you bring dogs, you're going to have, you're going to make more money or in cannabis, this case going to have more tax money, theoretically. And You know, that's good in a lot of ways.

[00:34:16] And it can bring people who have dogs like us. We both have myself and my partners, we own dogs and we'd like to bring them to our place. So we get that. And on the other hand there's a lot of people out there who are bad dog owners, who aren't going to take care of a place as well as I would, who would not follow the rules, who would let their dog on the couch, who let their dog chew something.

[00:34:33] And the same is true with people growing cannabis. There's a lot of people out there who are great and are eco-conscious and take care of the land, are stewards for it. And there's a lot of people who are not. And a lot of times I encounter, you know, what's left of a place when it's been abandoned and it's not cool and no one's going to defend that, you know?

[00:34:52] So that's always unfortunate when that happens. And I can say a lot more about that, but you know, there's chemicals that can be leftover. And so I just try and avoid it if I can and give as much information when I can't avoid it.

[00:35:05] Alice Lema: There's plenty of other properties to choose from. I know a lot of people feel like there's a shortage, but in the upper price ranges, it's really more of a buyer's market.

[00:35:13] Ryan Johnson: Hopefully there will be a lot more rural properties that were formerly cannabis properties that now, you know, can't be monetized in that way.

[00:35:21] Alice Lema: Maybe they'll go back to growing hay and pears and wine. I'd love to see more pears. Yeah. So well, Ryan, it's been a delight to get to interview you welcome to the John L. Scott family, even though you've been here, what a year and a half, two years.

[00:35:39] Ryan Johnson: About a year and a half out a year and a half.

[00:35:41] Alice Lema: Well, that's still, we we call that new. So how do people get ahold of you? They want to reach you.

[00:35:45] Ryan Johnson: Know, I have a pretty active Facebook page. I put messages on there. I'm trying to figure out Instagram and maybe Tik TOK coming up here. My phone number is 541-719-8624 and Ryan Johnson Realty at Gmail is my email.

[00:36:01] Alice Lema: And that's his handle. Well, thank you again, Ryan. We'll definitely have to check in with you again and see how things are going. I'm Alice Lema saying thank you. And this episode will be broadcast again tomorrow, Sunday at 6:00 PM. Go and make it a beautiful Southern Oregon weekend. We'll see you next time. Bye now.

[00:36:21] Ryan Johnson: Thanks for having me.

[00:36:24] Alice Lema: That was killer. That was killer. Good job.