Episode 47: The Value Of A CAPS Certification For Real Estate Professionals

Gian Hasbrock, MIRM, CAPS, MCSP, CGP, CRS educator for the NAHB, real estate professional, talks about the vital role the real estate professional plays in educating the baby boomer client in today's housing market. Gian has extensive experience in the housing sector and has seen how the market waxes and wanes over time, as well as the effect the economy and interest rates have on the housing segment.

Gian is a Real Estate Consultant for Jon Parker Real Estate in Durham, NC. Gian is an NAHB Instructor Licensee and member of the faculty of the Institute of Residential Marketing. He was 2011 NAHB Sales & Marketing Instructor of the Year and won the IRM's Trina Ripley Excellence in Education Award in 2003. He received the Triangle Sales & Marketing Council's MAME Award for Best Salesperson of the Year in 2015 and again in 2017. Gian is author of Built to Sell, Multicultural Sales, and co-author of Effective Marketing on a Shoestring Budget, IRM 1: Understanding Housing Markets & Consumers, and CSP (Certified New Home Sales Professional). Gian is the 2018 President of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties and was HBADOC's Builder of the Year in 2019.

CAPS for Realtors Statistics

Transcript

Janet: 0:44

Hello everyone, and thank you for being with us today. Our guest is Gian Hasbrook. He is a CAPS instructor for the National Association of Home Builders. He is also the president of wowism and I will let him. Tell us what that means, and we are very lucky to have him today and we're are going to get insider information on how the CAPS courses specifically benefit realtors. Gian, thank you for being with

Gian: 1:18

us today. Thank you, Janet. I appreciate the opportunity.

Janet: 1:22

Yes. So tell us about wowism and you hold so many different certifications. One is CAPS one is M I R M, which stands for Masters in Residential Marketing, and you have a few others. And I will let you describe them because you are the expert.

Gian: 1:43

Oh, thank you Janet. I just capped off a 30 year career as an onsite residential sales and marketing expert working over my career with. Both local, regional, and public and private national builders. And over the course of my tenure as an onsite agent, I amassed these designations primarily from the National Association of Home Builders, but also from the National Association of Realtors. I'm also. A c r s certified Residential Specialist. Over my career, I've sold around a quarter of a billion dollars worth of new homes, and after a few years of great success, which I accredited to the course materials I was taking, I decided to give something back to the industry that had been so good to me. And Aspired to be an educator teaching those very courses that were so instrumental in my success. So back in 2000, I got credentialed as a, an instructor for the Institute of Residential Marketing, the I R M. And over the years I've taught hundreds and hundreds. of aspiring professionals in residential sales and marketing. I've also had the opportunity to write some of the courses that were part of the Institute of Residential Marketing Curriculum. And it's been a great run. WOWism was my educational arm as I was working for these different builders on my off days, I would instruct the various courses. In which I was credentialed. And WOWism sta as an acronym. It stands for Walk on Water Inspired Sales and Marketing. And now that I've retired and hung up my business card, so to speak, for working on site, I'm devoting my time to education and WOWism is one of just a handful. There's just eight of us. Instructor licensees. Permitted and licensed to deliver N A H B education courses. So I deliver sales and marketing track courses and also the certified aging in place specialist course program, as well as marketing and sales for building professionals.

Janet: 4:07

So, specifically I wanted to ask you about how a realtor would benefit from taking the Certified Aging in Place courses the N A H B.

Gian: 4:21

The CAPS program is really unique. It is among the N H B courses. The one that has the broadest audience of all it's geared to appeal to builders and remodelers naturally, but also occupational therapists physical therapists, healthcare management professionals, subcontractors even equipment specialists as well as academia. And one of the constituents of the audience is real estate professionals it's really wide open. This broad-based audience sometimes swallows up the value that's in it. For realtors to achieve this designation. So in addition to helping distinguish remodelers, builders, architects, interior designers, OTs, PTs even mortgage lenders, and there's a great untapped value in this designation for real estate professionals, especially due to where we are now in the real estate market. And the current demographics, whether the agent is specializing in working with buyers, sellers, or investors, a realtor. CAPS has a lot to offer their clients. Now, some agents have steered clear of this market specialty because they've failed to recognize how broad it is. Perhaps they narrowly think that the size of market is limited to only those who've experienced traumatic. or those with progressive disease, not many realize that 30% of those over 65 have a disability and a whopping 50% of those over 75 have a disability that necessitates changes in their home situation. In fact, when you think about it, every one of us is aging in place in the broadest sense. Now, although some people who are aging in place are procrastinators. And are in denial. A significant portion are planners and these folks who plan ahead will appreciate the insight of a CAPS real estate professional in guiding them in their purchase of a livable forever home. Janet, the demographics are really convincing. There are still 72 million baby boomers today, about 22% of the total. Population boomers can be defined as those 58 to 80 years old. They control 70% of all wealth. Their Homer ownership rate is above 75%. Their kids, generation X are a smaller generation, comprising about 50 million. They're often known as the sandwich generation. they're most often the family caregiver when their parents have to choose between assisted living or a nursing facility and continuing to live at home. And Gen X's millennial kids, between 18 and 34 are likely to return home after school. The percentage of those 18 to 34 living at home at 25% is the second highest percentage in a hundred. Yeah, it reached 27% in 1940 way back then. Boomers overwhelmingly prefer to live at home. Assisted living can easily run eight to$10,000 per month, and the age of the housing stock today is over 40 years. That's the highest in decades. The demographics are convincing. There is a need for realtors who can identify livable homes, where their clients can age in.

Janet: 8:03

Yes, I couldn't agree with you more. And before we go into discussing all of the important points that you just made, I wanted to ask you, do you have a statistic currently that tells us the number of real estate professionals that are certified as CAPS

Gian: 8:26

profess? I don't have that number handy. I wish I did. But it is because the designation is offered through the National Association of Home Builders, the natural track for educational achievements for realtors is through the National Association of Realtors. And these two large and influential organizations don't cross pollinate as much as I would like to say they should.

Janet: 8:50

I think it'd be great to have. Reciprocity with the National Association of Realtors, just as we do with the association of Occupational Therapists, and we're trying to achieve that with the interior designers association. Is that something that the mm-hmm. Yes. Is that something that the N A H B is working on?

Gian: 9:19

I'm not aware of that cross pollination taking place in my 20 year career in helping administer education for N A H B, I've found a lot of the Not in my Backyard syndrome.

Janet: 9:35

I think that's something that we should bring up to the N A H B Education Committee because I'm sure that it would attract many more realtors to take the CAPS designation if they could receive C E U credits. easily the way that occupational therapists can

Gian: 9:52

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Courses offered by the Realtor Association are only accredited at 30 minutes per hour, whereas courses offered by home builders associations are accredited at 60 minutes per hour. So it just shows an inherent prejudice that really is a waste of energy in my opinion. And I would, definitely agree. We need, to have more sharing of at uppermost levels for these two important organizations. Yes. That being said, though, there are some realtors who are ahead of the game. Who have achieved the various designations offered by N Na R and found that there's a vacuum where certified aging in place specialist is concerned. And so that's e exactly what I'm speaking to today. To that audience of realtors who are really trailblazers and pioneer. In educational achievements, encouraging them by my comments of the value of the CAPS designation for realtors.

Janet: 11:00

So that's a perfect lead in to my next question, which is, in your opinion, what is the value of the CAPS designation to a realtor?

Gian: 11:12

Of course the designation value is ultimately to the realtors clients, right? And so with mortgage rates now over 7% at 20 year highs, the real estate market is a visual casualty of the federal reserves inflation fighting efforts. Home builders are slowing housing starts to match the slower sales pace. and we're experiencing a housing shortage dating back to the Great recession. Now 15 years old. Builders are using some but not all universal design principles in new homes. And depending on the price range, it's not unusual to see improved task lighting in the kitchen and pullout drawers in the cabinets. And the predominant trend of open design makes living space more accessible and many builders are now using a downstairs. bedroom with a full bath option with walk-in shower in lieu of the outmoded formal living room. But there is a long way to go in terms of home design coming from new construction. Bathroom doors are typically too small for a wheelchair or a walker. Walls are not reinforced for grab bars and step entries into the home. Even with slab, foundations are. in the existing home market. Inventory is up from pandemic lows, but not by much. And even with new construction. Slowing new construction is now 34% of total real estate sales. A record high back in 2019 just one in 12 real estate sales was new construction. 42% of homes don't have a mortgage. 10% of all real estate transactions were all cash. So the majority of existing homes with a mortgage have a rate below 4%. What that means is that today's homeowners are loathed to move. if it'll mean doubling their interest rate. This is called the lock in effect. The sales slowdown has not been reflected in decreased home improvement activity, however, usually slower real estate sales mean a decrease in remodeling, but not today. This is only partly due to the lock in effect. The other principle reason is a record increase in home equity during the pandemic with appreciation in most metropolitan areas between mid 2020 and mid 2022. Approach. A record breaking 50%. So the average homeowner sits on a 348,000 cushion of home equity an all time high and a hundred thousand higher than the previous peak reached. Back in oh six, just before the great Recession, even a decline in home values, a decline we've only seen in a handful of markets won't have the same negative effect on remodeling as in the past, since most homeowners will remain very wealthy. So both market and demographic forces make this a great opportunity to be an expert in how to accommodate the aging and place. A real estate professional needs to understand whether an existing home can be reasonably modified to accommodate a prospect who thinks they need to make a move, but may be better suited to remodeling, or when a potential listing client has some repairs to do. Being able to incorporate modifications that'll appealed to the aging in place client may make the home much easier to sell and to be able to capture the remodeling expense. as a buyer's agent, being able to determine what modifications might be needed to make a home accessible or livable to the older client will be invaluable as time unfolds. And finally, working with lenders who understand how to generate a Fannie Mae Homestyle loan. This is a purchase money loan that incorporates future repairs as well as working with. Aging in place professionals will be invaluable to the aging in place client. So my message is realtors should start building their network today.

Janet: 15:04

Yes, I agree.

Gian: 15:06

and because of their network, the real estate professional is ideally situated to become the kind of the conductor of the orchestra of the aging in place professionals. All those fellow caps, whether they be OTs or healthcare professionals or remodelers is the, realtors can bring the network. To bear and just as the conductor of the orchestra doesn't, actually play an instrument, but they are instrumental in making sure that the orchestra comes in on time according to que the intelligent entrepreneurial real estate professional will jump on getting credentialed in this designation and build a career in what promises to be the next billion dollar.

Janet: 15:54

Yes, I agree with you. I like how you said that the realtor is the director of the orchestra. I never thought about it that way. I can see your point because there are many different professionals that all have input in how to create an accessible functional space. I think that you're right about the realtor bringing all of those different disciplines together and being a mediator between the client and the respected professionals. So tell me, what do you think is the best strategy to. Get the word out to realtors in the United States and really in other parts of the world because this is a phenomenon that is happening in Canada, in Europe, in Japan.

Gian: 16:44

I think it's up to our fellow caps to contact. To create ambassadors of entrepreneurial and forward thinking realtors and encourage them to get the designation. And if there are realtors out there who have the designation encourage them to promote it among their offices and among their peers. It only takes one per office to be an example for the rest of their office. someone who's listening to this broadcast who wants to know more, can go to any nahb.org and click on education and go to the education calendar.

Janet: 17:21

Okay, that's great to know. And I will put a link to the N A H B website on my show notes, so people that are interested in taking the CAPS courses know where to get the information. And thank you so much, Gian. I really appreciate your time. I appreciate your expertise. and I really appreciate all of the statistics that you offered. If you could share those with me, I can also include those in the

Gian: 17:51

show notes. I'll send them to you, definitely Janet. And for anybody who'd like more information, my website is WOWism nc.com and my email is wowismnc@gmail.com do,

Janet: 18:06

Okay, perfect. So I will also include that. Thank

Gian: 18:09

thanks for this opportunity. I really appreciate it. You

Janet: 18:12

are welcome, and thank you for being on my

Gian: 18:15

show.