Real Estate Right Now

Ever notice how a house can feel bigger the day after you clean out a closet?

That isn’t your imagination. Clutter doesn’t just take up space in your home; it takes up space in your head. And when it’s time to sell, move, or downsize, all that “stuff” can turn an exciting new chapter into an overwhelming one.

In this episode I’m sitting down with Deborah Zechini, Professional Organizer and owner of Owner in the House, on Real Estate Right Now. Deb doesn’t just tidy up rooms. She works hands-on with people to figure out how they actually live and builds an organizing system that fits them, not a magazine picture. She’s also a certified Organizer Coach and has a real heart for adults with ADHD, which means she understands that getting organized is as much about how your mind works as where your things go.

We’re going to talk about what really happens when you try to list a home that’s full of decisions you haven’t made yet: the garage, the attic, the paper piles, the “I’ll deal with it later” boxes. Deb will share how to start when you don’t know where to start, how to let go without guilt, and how to unpack in your new home so you don’t recreate the same chaos you just left behind.

Whether you’re thinking about selling, just bought, or simply want to walk into your kitchen and breathe a little easier, this is a conversation you need.

Linda Craft Team, REALTORS, for more than 40 years the choice of thousands of buyers and sellers when it comes to real estate.

And regardless of where you live, you can meet with them…even virtually!

They have been on the bleeding edge of technology and AI, and yet their focus is taking a human approach to helping people around the world find the very best professionals to help sell or buy a new home.

And if you live in the Greater Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina you can get the one-on-one, face-to-face service that has made Linda Craft Team Legendary!

Their clients call Linda Craft Team customer service “legendary”.  Find out why by going to www.LindaCraft.com

Finding the right property is one of life’s greatest milestones—a vibrant chapter filled with dreams, anticipation, and the thrill of building a future. True pride of ownership goes beyond falling in love with an open kitchen or a sunlit backyard; it comes from knowing, with absolute certainty, that your sanctuary rests on a solid foundation. Real confidence transforms the buying experience from a stressful leap of faith into an empowering celebration, giving you the clarity to invest your heart and resources with complete peace of mind.

That clarity is exactly what Jarret Vogler delivers. As the founder of Legacy Home Inspections and an elite Certified Master Inspector® (CMI®), Jarret brings the dedication and precision of his U.S. Coast Guard background to every property he evaluates. Armed with advanced diagnostic tools like thermal imaging and aerial technology, Jarret approaches every home not as an obstacle, but as a trusted guide and educator. He champions buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals by translating complex building systems into clear, actionable understanding—turning curiosity into unshakeable confidence.

In this uplifting episode of Real Estate Right Now, Jarret reveals how a master-level inspection serves as your greatest asset on the journey to homeownership. We explore how understanding the heartbeat of a house empowers you to make wise, forward-thinking decisions, appreciate the craftsmanship behind the walls, and unlock hidden value for years of lasting equity. You’ll discover how the right insights take the guesswork out of the transaction, helping you celebrate your home’s unique strengths and plan your future with optimism and vision.

Step into your next real estate adventure with knowledge, enthusiasm, and total clarity. Tune in live tomorrow, September 24th, at 12:30 PM to join the conversation and ask Jarret your questions in real time. If you cannot join the live stream, be sure to catch the replay on the Real Estate Right Now podcast—and discover just how inspiring, seamless, and joyful the path to your dream home can truly be.

Linda Craft Team, Realtors no matter where you live in the world, The Linda Craft team can help you find the best professional in your area to help you sell or buy your next home.

While most real estate professionals belong to a nationally affiliated company where they are obligated to use the people in their company’s network.

The Linda Craft team are privately and independently owned and operated.

That means they can find the absolute best professional from ANY company to ensure you get the best agent objectively for your house buying or selling needs.

Located in the Raleigh Research Triangle Park of North Carolina…they can help you anywhere you live.  Learn more  by going to Linda Craft Team, Realtors  www.LindaCraft.com

Today on Real Estate Right Now, we’re tackling the number everyone’s talking about — and nobody’s happy to see. Mortgage rates just crossed 7% for the first time in over a year, capping four straight weeks of increases. My guest is Paul Fitts, senior lending officer at Advantage Lending, and he’s here because he’s been in this business long enough to know that headlines and opportunity are two very different things. If your gut reaction to “7%” is to freeze, this episode is for you — because we’re flipping the script on what this number actually means for you as a buyer.

Let’s be straight about the facts first. The 30-year fixed rate is sitting at its highest level since 2025, and yes, that changes your monthly payment math. But here’s what the panic headlines leave out: a rate spike like this cools demand fast. Fewer buyers can stomach the higher payment, which means the bidding wars, the ten-offers-in-a-weekend chaos, and the waived-inspection desperation of the last few years start to fade. Paul sees this from the inside — loan officers watch buyer traffic in real time, and right now it’s thinning out. That’s not bad news if you’re the one still standing in the room.

That’s the real opportunity: less competition means more leverage. Sellers who priced their homes expecting a bidding war are now negotiating on price, covering closing costs, and offering rate buydowns just to keep a deal alive. Paul’s going to walk us through exactly how buyers are using that leverage right now — things like 2-1 buydowns, seller credits, and ARM structures that soften the entry point. And here’s the mindset shift I want you to sit with: you marry the house, you date the rate. Rates move. They always have. If you wait for the “perfect” rate, you’re betting against history — because a refinance is a phone call away when rates drop, but the house you love and the equity you start building today don’t wait for anybody.

So tune in as Paul and I break down what a 7% market really means, why it might be the window serious buyers have been waiting for, and how to walk into this market with confidence instead of fear. This isn’t about ignoring reality — it’s about seeing the opportunity everyone else is too scared to look for. That’s what we do here on Real Estate Right Now.

To Reach Paul to discuss your individual situation, email him at: [email protected]

Linda Craft Team, REALTORS® when you are looking to sell your home or buy a new home for more than 40 years Linda Craft Team, REALTORS® is there to help you!

Their thousands of clients call them “The Legends of Customer Service”.  They will also tell you that the relationship is their first priority.

Whether you are in the Greater Raleigh Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina or anywhere in the world, they can help you with your home dreams.  Contact our friends at the Linda Craft Team at www.LindaCraft.com

Everyone’s got an opinion on the Triangle real estate market right now. Tony Fink doesn’t do opinions — he does data.

In this episode of Real Estate Right Now, I’m sitting down with Tony Fink, Listing & Buyers Expert with the Linda Craft Team, REALTORS®, to break down his August “Fink’s Facts” — and the numbers tell a story you need to hear before you make your next move.

A few that jumped off the page:

$1.341 BILLION in closed volume — 2,576 homes sold

So what does that actually mean if you’re thinking about buying or selling in the next 90 days? That’s exactly what Tony and I are unpacking live.

Whether you’re a buyer wondering if you’ve missed your window, a seller trying to time your listing, or just someone who likes knowing what’s really happening in the market (not what you saw on the news) — this is the episode for you.

Don’t miss it — bring your questions for Tony.  Just go to [email protected]

Linda Craft Team, REALTORS –www.LindaCraft.com

Linda Craft Team Facebook Page – Click Here

For 40 years helping people all over the world make a transition in life.  They take the stress out of the home selling and home buying process.

When you are looking for consistent, top of their game, professional real estate service with a track record of successfully helping 1000’s, check out Linda Craft Team, REALTORS.

Everyone keeps saying “the market has changed.” Fine — but changed for whom? Because “the market” isn’t one thing. It’s a negotiation happening in real time between buyers who suddenly have leverage and sellers who aren’t used to sharing it. Today on Real Estate Right Now, we’re putting that question on the table: Real Estate Has Changed — Who Has the Advantage Now? And we’re not guessing at the answer. We’re getting it from someone who’s in the trenches of Raleigh real estate every single day.

My guest is Kim Crump, Listing and Buyer’s Specialist with the Linda Craft Team, REALTORS®. Kim doesn’t do theory — she does transactions. She’s the person buyers and sellers call when they need a straight answer instead of a headline, and that’s exactly the energy I want for this conversation. You can contact Kim by emailing her [email protected]

Here’s what we’re getting into: what actually surprises people who haven’t watched this market closely in a couple years, whether “prices are dropping” is even the right way to frame it, what buyers are successfully negotiating beyond just the price tag, and the biggest mistake sellers are making right now without realizing it. We’re also going myth-busting — one thing buyers believe that isn’t true, one thing sellers believe that isn’t true — and I’m asking Kim point-blank what she’d say to the buyer who’s “waiting for rates to come down.” Her answer might not be what you expect.

If you’re buying, selling, or just trying to make sense of where the Triangle is headed, this is the episode to catch live so you can drop your questions in real time. See you there.

Linda Craft Team, Realtors for more than 40 years their customers call their customer service “legendary”.

Linda and her team built their business on building relationships and understanding your home is full of memories that are important to you! It is about the relationship, not the transaction.

So if you have a question, want a free market analysis of your home just click on over to www.LindaCraft.com and Check out their Facebook Page

What if the difference between listing your house as-is and walking away with real money came down to knowing exactly where to put $10,000 — and exactly where not to?

That’s the question I dug into on this episode of Real Estate Right Now with Steve Kruger, Senior Listing and Sales Expert with Linda Craft Team, REALTORS. Steve’s team built a Fix & Flip program that lets sellers renovate before they list and pay at closing — but here’s what most people miss: the real value isn’t the financing. It’s Steve walking through a home and telling you, room by room, which fixes actually move the sale price and which ones are just money out the window.

We spent real time on this, because it’s the heart of the episode — how Steve decides whether spending $10,000, $25,000, or $50,000 leaves a seller ahead at the closing table, or just leaves them poorer with a shinier house. And we didn’t stop at theory. Steve walked us through an actual before-and-after: the condition the home was in, what he recommended, what it cost, and what it sold for. That one example alone is worth the listen.

If you’ve got a home that needs some love before you sell — or you’ve been told “just list it as-is” and aren’t sure that’s the right call — catch the full conversation, “Fix It, List It, Profit: The Smart Way to Sell for More.” Link in the comments. Then tell me: what’s the one improvement you’d never skip before selling?

Linda Craft Team, REALTORS no matter where you live in the world, Linda Craft and her team can help you find the best professional in your area to help you sell or buy your next home.

While most real estate professionals belong to a nationally affiliated company where they are obligated to use the people in their company’s network.

Linda Craft Team are privately owned and operated.  That means they can find the absolute best professional from ANY company to ensure you get the best service.

Located in the Raleigh Research Triangle Park of North Carolina…they are indeed legendary when it comes to service.  Learn more  by going to Linda Craft & Team, REALTORS  www.LindaCraft.com

Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do!

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

What if the biggest risk to your next closing isn’t a low appraisal, a shaky buyer, or rising rates — but the laptop sitting open on your desk right now?

Wire fraud, phishing emails disguised as title company updates, and data breaches are quietly costing real estate professionals and their clients real money, and most of us have no idea how exposed we actually are.

That’s exactly why I’m sitting down with Bayne Schulstad, Owner of Triangle CompuDocs, on this week’s episode of Real Estate Right Now. Bayne has spent years in the trenches fixing what breaks, patching what’s vulnerable, and explaining tech in plain English to people who just want their computer — and their business — to work. If there’s a gremlin hiding in your systems, he’s the guy who finds it.

We’re going to dig into the cybersecurity blind spots that put agents, buyers, and sellers at risk during a transaction, the simple habits that stop most attacks before they start, and why “I’ll deal with it later” is the most expensive sentence in real estate. No jargon, no scare tactics — just straight talk you can actually use.

Join us and don’t skip this one. Your next deal might depend on it.

Would you like to have a free conversation with Bayne and talk about what you have going on in your home, or concerns about cyber security.  Just click on www.bookbayne.com

Linda Craft Team Realtors. So what can you say about a real estate company that has spent more than 40 years at the top of their game?

Well the first thing is you have to admit that their customers and clients continue to drive their business…but why?

That’s because the Linda Craft Team continue to believe that every person and every relationship is important, not just now, but even in the future.

It is why she is devoted to continually adding value to her clients and community by serving them in ways that matter…it is also why their clients say, “The Linda Craft Team have legendary customer service!”

When it comes to real estate start with the legends start with Linda Craft & Team, Realtors – www.LindaCraft.com

Are you holding off on buying a home because you think you need 20% down, or that interest rates have priced you out of the market entirely? You might be leaving real money on the table. On this episode of Real Estate Right Now, Jay sits down with Dwayne Reece, Listing Expert with Linda Craft Team Realtors, to reveal a major resource for North Carolina renters: the NC 1st Home Advantage Down Payment Program, which offers up to $15,000 in assistance for qualified buyers across all 100 counties.

Dwayne breaks down the most persistent real estate myths keeping renters stuck paying someone else’s mortgage. From waiting for price drops to assuming you lack the savings to qualify, discover why so many prospective buyers eliminate themselves before ever speaking to a professional. Learn the core eligibility guidelines for down payment assistance, how equity builds long-term wealth, and how to accurately weigh renting against buying in today’s market.

Stop letting assumptions stand between you and property ownership. Tune in to learn why a simple 15-minute conversation with an expert Realtor and lender could completely change your strategy—and find out if you are much closer to owning a home than you think.

Would you like to start having the conversation and get your first home?

You can talk to Dwayne personally:  [email protected] or call 919-623-3731

Linda Craft Team, Realtors when you are looking to sell your home or buy a new home start with what their clients refer to as “the legends of customer service”.

Whether you are in the Greater Raleigh Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina or any where in the world they can help you with your home dreams.

Contact our friends Linda Craft Team at www.LindaCraft.com

The housing market just pulled off something it hasn’t done in decades — and if you’re a buyer, renter, or anyone thinking about making a move in 2026, you need to hear this before the weekend. Mortgage rates jumped back to 6.22% this week after teasing a dip, new home sales dropped sharply, and yet somehow the data is quietly stacking up in the consumer’s favor. How is that possible?

That’s exactly what we’re unpacking live tomorrow. Join me and Paul Fitts, Senior Loan Officer of Advantage Lending on Real Estate Right Now. Paul works in the trenches every day helping buyers navigate the rate environment, and together we’re breaking down the Top 10 residential real estate headlines that matter most to consumers right now — from the historic flip where resale homes now cost more than new construction, to renters securing concessions at a 10-year high, to the slow thawing of the lock-in effect that has frozen so many homeowners in place. We’re not here to give you hype or a national average that means nothing for your zip code.

Markets like New York, Chicago, and Cleveland are climbing while Miami, Tampa, and Austin are falling — sometimes by more than 5% year-over-year. The data is real, it’s conflicting, and it deserves a real conversation. That’s what this show is built for, and Paul brings the lending lens that ties it all together for buyers who are close to pulling the trigger.

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to get serious about buying, selling, or renegotiating your lease — this is the episode. Touring activity is up 23% since January 1st, inventory is rising, and for the first time since 2022, buyers may be spending less than 30% of their income on housing. The window is opening. Come find out exactly how wide.

Linda Craft Team, Realtors they have been helping people with their home selling and buying needs and wants for more than 40 years.

Their clients call their customer service “legendary”.

That’s because Linda and her team recognize that your home is more than a purchase, it is the place that some of your most significant memories will be made.

When you are looking for the best expert when it comes to real estate in your area start with the “legends of customer service” start with Linda Craft Team.  Head on over to www.LindaCraft.com

The Architect of the Market: How Jim Allen Builds the Future…

Most people see a “For Sale” sign and think the story starts there. The truth? The real money and the biggest moves happen years before a foundation is even poured. Today on Real Estate Right Now, we are sitting down with the man who sees the finish line before the race even begins. Jim Allen isn’t just a top-tier name at Coldwell Banker; he is a visionary in land development who understands the DNA of a successful community. If you want to know where the market is going, you have to talk to the person building it.

We’re stripping away the fluff to talk about the high-stakes reality of new construction. Jim will be breaking down the “hidden” side of real estate: identifying raw land with untapped potential, navigating the red tape that stops most builders in their tracks, and the precise science of timing the market. In a world where inventory is tight and “resale” feels like a compromise, Jim explains why new builds are the ultimate solution for today’s savvy investors and homeowners.

This interview is a rare opportunity to get inside the mind of a developer who has seen every cycle the market can throw at him. We’ll discuss the “New Home Advantage”—why certain areas explode in value while others stall, and how Jim’s team manages to stay steps ahead of the competition. Whether you’re looking to break into development or you just want to understand the forces driving property values in our region, this conversation will change the way you look at a plot of dirt forever.

Don’t settle for the headlines; get the ground-truth from a legend. Join us as we dive deep into the strategies, the risks, and the massive rewards of the development world. Jim Allen is ready to share the blueprint—all you have to do is listen.

Linda Craft Team, REALTORS, their clients say that their customer service is “legendary” and the reason for that is because for more than 40 years they build and maintain personal relationships with their clients.

Why?  Because buying and selling of a house is a great deal more than a business transaction, it is a life altering experience.

That’s because we don’t just live in a home, some of our most significant memories will be made in that home.

The Linda Craft Team are dedicated to taking care of your memory maker as if it were their own.  Whether you are about to purchase a new home, or sell your current home, start with the relationship legends.

Start with Linda Craft  Team, Realtors – www.LindaCraft.com