Buying a house is funny.

You walk through the front door and immediately start imagining your life there.

You love the kitchen.

Megan loves the backyard.

You're already figuring out where the furniture goes.

And then the home inspector says...

‘Can I show you something?’

Those may be the five scariest words in real estate.

Because virtually every house has problems.

The question isn't whether the house is perfect.

The question is:

Which problems should you accept?

Which ones should you use to negotiate?

And which ones should make you grab your checkbook, get back in the car and say:

NOPE.

So I've got Aaron and Dwight here today, and I'm putting them on the spot.

I've got ten houses.

Each has a problem.

And they only get three choices:

BUY IT.

NEGOTIATE.

WALK AWAY.

Gentlemen...

Let's buy some houses.

I want everybody listening today to answer what sounds like an incredibly simple question:

Who owns your house?

You're probably thinking:

‘Jon, that's easy. I do.’

Okay.

Pull out your deed.

Because I'm not asking who lives there.

I'm not asking who's making the mortgage payment.

I'm asking:

How is title actually held?

Joint tenants?

Community property?

Community property with right of survivorship?

Your individual name?

Your revocable living trust?

Maybe you're sitting there thinking:

‘I have absolutely no idea.’

And that's exactly why we're talking about it today.

Because those few words on your deed can have consequences when somebody dies, when somebody becomes incapacitated, when the property is sold, and when your family ultimately tries to settle your estate.

So today we're going to talk about something incredibly boring...

**that could potentially be incredibly expensive.

I've got the August Reno-Sparks real-estate numbers sitting in front of me today, and I'm going to warn you:

They're weird.

If you've been waiting for the Northern Nevada housing market to collapse so you can finally pick up that $800,000 house for $500,000...

I've got some bad news.

The median sales price in August was $625,000.

That's actually 6.8% HIGHER than a year ago.

But here's where it gets interesting.

Closed sales were down 6.7%.

New listings were down 7.4%.

And active inventory was down almost 24% from a year ago.

So fewer homes are selling...

Fewer homeowners are putting their houses on the market...

There are substantially fewer homes available...

And prices went UP.

So today I've got Cory and Dwight here, and we're going to figure out what the heck is going on.

Because if you're thinking about buying or selling a house in Northern Nevada, the headline number doesn't tell you nearly enough about this market.”

There's a type of retirement risk we don't talk about very often.

It's not a stock-market crash.

It's not inflation.

It's not running out of money.

It's divorce.

More specifically—divorce later in life.

There's even a name for it now: gray divorce, generally referring to couples divorcing after age 50.

And financially, divorcing at 55, 60 or 65 is very different from divorcing at 30.

At 30, you may have another three decades to rebuild.

At 60?

Retirement might be five years away.

Or you may already be retired.

Suddenly, one household becomes two.

One retirement portfolio becomes two.

One house may have to support two future housing needs.

Healthcare changes.

Social Security matters.

Taxes matter.

Beneficiaries matter.

And perhaps the biggest mistake somebody can make is beginning the legal process before they truly understand their financial position.

So today we're going to walk through seven financial steps to consider before filing for a gray divorce.

And whether you're contemplating divorce, already going through one, or simply know somebody who is—this is one show where getting the financial decisions right can affect the rest of your life.”

Most retirement advice focuses on getting you to retirement.

Save enough.

Max out the 401(k).

Pay down debt.

Decide when to take Social Security.

Build an income plan.

All important.

But then one day something happens that we've spent almost no time preparing you for:

You actually retire.

Monday morning comes.

There's no alarm.

Nobody needs you at the office.

No meetings.

No commute.

No deadlines.

And for the first couple of weeks you think:

THIS IS AWESOME!

Then it's Tuesday morning three months later.

You've already cleaned the garage twice.

You've watched every show on Netflix.

Your spouse is wondering why you're following them around the house.

And you start thinking...

Is this retirement?

Normally when Aaron Clark joins me, we talk about buying houses, selling houses, interest rates, home values and the Northern Nevada real-estate market.

Today is going to be different.

This weekend, the Hawk Fire exploded outside Reno. Tens of thousands of our neighbors were affected by evacuation orders and warnings, homes were destroyed, and entire communities suddenly faced something most of us never expect to experience.

And Aaron wasn't watching this unfold on television.

He was one of the people who had to evacuate.

Think about that for a moment.

You're sitting in the home you've worked for, filled with everything you've accumulated over your lifetime, and suddenly you're faced with one instruction:

Get out.

What do you take?

What do you leave?

Where do you go?

And what goes through your mind when you close that door not knowing what you'll find when you come back?

So today we're going to talk about houses—but we're going to talk about them from a completely different perspective.

We're going to hear Aaron's story, and then we're going to ask:

If this happened to you tonight, would you be ready?”

“Here's a question for every parent listening today:

Do your children know what's in your estate plan?

Not whether you have a trust.

Do they know who you've put in charge?

Do they know what happens when you're gone?

Do they know where your documents are?

Do they know who to call?

And here's the uncomfortable one:

Do they know what they're going to inherit?

Some of you are probably thinking, ‘Absolutely. My kids know everything.’

Others are thinking:

‘None of their darn business. It's my money.’

And you know what?

There are reasonable arguments on both sides.”

That's today's show.

How much should your children know about your estate plan before you're gone?

“Jon, I've got one rental property. It's doing well. I'd like to buy another one—but where do I get the money?”

I get some version of that question all the time.

And I think people sometimes assume that investors who own 10 or 20 properties started with millions of dollars.

Many didn't.

They started with one.

One property generated rent.

The tenant helped pay down debt.

The property potentially appreciated.

The investor accumulated additional savings.

And eventually that first property helped create an opportunity for the second.

Then the second helped create the third.

That's what Cory and I are going to unpack today: how do you go from owning a rental property to actually building a real estate portfolio?”

Does your retirement plan have a Plan B?

Most retirement plans are built around assumptions.

You're going to retire at 65. The market is going to provide a reasonable return. Social Security will start at a certain age. You're going to spend a certain amount every month. Your health will remain relatively good. Your spouse will be there alongside you.

And hopefully, that's exactly what happens.

But after doing this for as long as I have, I can tell you something: life rarely follows the spreadsheet perfectly.

Markets fall. Inflation happens. People get sick. Spouses die. Kids run into trouble. Houses need repairs. People retire earlier than expected—and sometimes they end up living a lot longer than they ever imagined.

None of that necessarily destroys a good retirement plan.

What can create a problem is having a retirement plan that's so rigid that it only works if everything goes exactly as expected.

So today I want to talk about building flexibility into retirement.

Not because we're expecting something bad to happen.

But because if you've spent 30 or 40 years building your retirement, your financial future shouldn't depend upon everything going

Imagine you've been married for 30 years.

You've raised the kids. Built careers. Paid the mortgage. Saved in your 401(k)s.

And for decades you've both said the same thing:

‘Someday we'll retire.’

Great.

But here's my question:

Have you ever actually asked each other what retirement means?”

“Maybe his retirement is a 40-foot motorhome and six months traveling around the country.

Her retirement is grandchildren, gardening and never sleeping anywhere that doesn't have room service.

He thinks they're moving to Florida.

She's already told the kids they'll have to carry her out of the current house.

She wants three international trips a year.

He's excited that he'll finally have enough time to reorganize the garage.

Financially, they're completely prepared for retirement.

There's just one problem:

They've prepared for two completely different retirements.”