CMS 2027 Final Rule: Medicare Changes Every Beneficiary and Agent Must Know

0:01 This program is designed to provide general information with regards to the subject matters covered. This information is given with the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services. Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas. Attention individuals, families and caregivers. It's Medicare Hour and More with Peter right here on k FORHD Radio. This is the podcast for all types of insurance solutions while specializing in Medicare because we Medicare. Here's your host, Peter R. Joseph.

0:51 Hey, good morning, good morning, Good morning man. It's been a long time since I've been back on the show. A lot has happened, but I am glad to be back. We are on season two. Since we've been on the hiatus for a while, just let you guys know, I went on an RV trip and when I got back, broke out in some kind of weird rash. Unfortunately, got exposed to some viral thing and I was dealing with that. For a few weeks. So that's why we were off the air for a while, but we are back and excited to be back. We've got a great show for you guys today. I got a couple of great guests, Craig Goosen and Johnny Alana, a realtor who's been on our show before. But before we get into that, I do have a couple of quick things I want to go over because I'm a big sports guy. In the news right now is Yes, the Dodgers got Tarik's Google.

1:48 It happened. Everyone's pissed at the Dodgers, but you know what, any honestly, and you could argue with me all you want, any owner out there, could have gotten him. And if you're gonna blame the lockout coming out on the Dodgers, so be it. Dodgers had the resources, they went after them, and you know, you want to go to a team that wants to win and wants to pay their players and owners need to understand that and hopefully they will learn that lesson a hard way through this next collective bargaining agreement. But yeah, even. Though you know Dodgers got them, they're on a big losing streak. Unfortunately, hopefully they get their offense cracking then together, and my studio engineer just told me football season is just around the corner. This year has just gone by way too fast. I'm a big Rams fan, so I'm rooting for them. You know, Super Bowls in LA this year.

2:43 So I'm hoping, hoping, hoping. You know, we got Garrett, a great defensive end, and we got Stafford again our MVP. So we'll see what happens. But yeah, that Hall of Fame game is next week. So I'm looking forward to football season and hopefully the weather turns it gets cooler. It's been super super hot out here. It's been crazy, crazy hot. Well, let's see if Craig is ready to come on. He's our first guest. He's a president of California Agents and Health Insurance Professionals out here in southern California. He's down in San Diego. Are we ready for Craig? All right, welcome to our show. Craig. I appreciate you making the time this morning. How are you doing.

3:25 I'm doing good. You I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Hang yeah you too. I know you're you're gearing up for the Senior Summit coming up. When has that taking place? And where's it at. Chmber on September third, Riverside Convention Center. We have actually khip pass five different medicure events going on across the state from Fresno to Sacramento to Oakland to La So no matter where you live in California, there is going to be a medicure event going on between August twentieth and September. I'll be flying all over. That state between those dates attending all the meetings, and it will be great for anybody who wants to learn the latest and greatest on what's going on with Medicare, especially with as you know Peter, with CMS and the changes going on in the forty eight hour rule.

4:17 And prescriptions and all this stuff. It's so important that we Medicare agents know exactly what's gonna happen and how we can you know, how we can help our clients and what do people do. So it's gonna be a fun It's gonna be a fun aep. You know, I'm looking forward to it, but there's always gonna be a lot of work. But again, you know there's Medicare, but also a lot of Medicare agents do ifp do a group, there's a big change coming across possibly with COVID California, and there's a question of can you get a subsidy if you have green court and there's some issues in it that we're trying to figure out.

5:04 So there's a lot going on. Wow, Wow, there's a lot. Let's uh, let's unpack some of that stuff. So let's let's first look at I mean, obviously, you know CMS put that final rule for twenty twenty seven. You know those things won't take place until October first. But what kind of things do you see positive happening with CMS rules for agents and beneficiaries this this season? Well, I think the biggest is the forty eight hourable you don't have to you know, client call you and says can I com buy today and see you? And you go, no, I can see you in two days. Now you can you know you can see them. They you know, they scope appointment for him, You give it to them, you sign it away. You go, that's a big deal.

5:46 Coe codings reduced from ten years to six years. That's a big deal. You still got to keep three codings, but leads you not to keep it, you know longer. Pitscription you know, Yeah, what's happening with that are they are there's a new set being negotiated. That's year right there is. You know, again a lot of this stuff I just I'm still waiting because you know, things have possibly changed. So again, it's such a great reason if you live. In California and why to you know, wherever you live, see when they're having a medicure meeting and they're gonna give you the greatest and latest of what's going on.

6:30 And I although I'm going to have people there talking about every aspect of it. And you know, that's one of the things that you know, I'm so proud of in our association is how they're stepping up and really helping the medicure agents. You know we're doing in California, uh, National Association of Insurance and Benefit Professionals. Are doing it nationwide just to make sure the medicure agent is protected. And now you know that's the thing that I love. So for agents that are listening in and what what's a good way to support these chapters? I mean, how can we get involved? Well, the biggest thing I can tell you to become a member. Most medicare agents don't know, but about fifteen years ago, CMS decided they were only going to pay agents for.

7:13 Five years and that was it because they had no idea what we did. So our people went to CMS. They explained the age of the will, you know, the will of the agent where they meet with the client, they see them every year, they help them doing the year and because of that, agents now will continue to get you know, paid forever and the fmos that help us, we're going to get paid now they do. So it's a very inexpensive way to protect your your business. You know, I look at it as you know, insurance to cover your job. Because you know, the National Association Maturance and Benefit Professionals NAVY is working with CMS all the time.

8:01 They've been talking about the. Forty eight hours, getting rid of that, you know, reducing the recording time, doing more and more to help the agent to make it easier. Because when I'm in Sacramento, Washing DC and I'm talking to the cheapest staff, they're twenty four year old. They have no idea what medicure is. I spend the first ten to fifteen minutes spending what is medicare The answer to me is, oh, yeah, my. Parents, my grandparents had it. But I walk them through it, and I explain it to them because they have no idea that we're spending what three hundred and sixty five days a year helping our medicare clients when we're in the hospital going you know, I don't get it, I can't find my card.

8:43 I need some help. We're going to help them, and that's. The role of the agent and why it's so important now more than ever that we're their form. You know, people talk about, oh, my goodness, AI is going to take it over. Know they're not because I can only do so much. It can help us, but they still need someone to talk to on the phone, reassure them. Hey, we're coming up to AEP. Let's make sure your prescription plan is still the best one for you. What prescriptions are you taking? You know, again, a lot of prescription companies aren't using agents, so we're still helping them, and you know, we're doing it for free.

9:25 Yeah. The joke I always say is I stopped working for free when I moved out of my parents' house. But I'm continuing to help our clients saying, look, we're going to take care of you. I don't really care what we get paid. It would be nice to get paid, but I'm not going to leave my eighty nine year old client trying to figure out what Medicare plan or what medicure prescription is best for them. Also, be aware if you're taking a very expensive prescription. I had Medicare client email me yesterday. They're taking Eloquist. He said it's going to cost me one thousand dollars a quarter. And I said, I work with the company. It cost you fifty dollars a month. Nice melod order to it. It's Canadian Pharma c M.

10:08 Yeah, yeah, I am aware. Yeah, yeah, they do a great job. And I've been used them for twenty years. I actually used them for my mother in law. That's how I found out about it years ago. So again, if you're listening to this and you take a very expensive prescription, there's options. If you're an agent and your clients are calling you up, going, I got this. Very expensive prescription. You know, good ox. There's so many Dolins out there, understand it, and this is what you know k HIP or NAVIB, you know, the two associations are always talking about here's options available to. You to lower the cost. So those are the kind of things that we're talking about I'm talking about as a Medicare agent. I'm also talking about the president you know of khip and just making to the people I understand that look medicare. You know you were talking about baseball, right, yeah. Yeah. In the old day's Peter, what the pitcher would come in, pitch eight, not eight innings? We leave a commanding a cloth.

11:09 Today they pitched five, five and a half innings. The middle relief comes in, maybe another relief within the closer. Well, health insurance is the same way. You need an expert, a Medicare agent who just got done probably doing a certification, and to help you figure out which plan is going to be best. You know what. Happened in San Diego one of the major hospitals stopped taking Medicare advantage plans. And we had thirty two thousand people saying, oh my goodness, what am I going to do? And it was literally every day I had people call me up. Eighty ninety years old ago and I was paying nothing, and you want me to pay four or five hundred a month?

11:52 What are my options? And we have these conversations and want and talk to them about all the available to them and what's the best thing to do. So that's the value of using an agent. You know, in California, it's against a lot of charge to you know, to help somebody, right, So just know in California it costs nothing to use an agent. What are you here to help? You would like the doctors in the hospital. We get paid by the insurance companies and a lot of times they'll cost to pretty much fix. We have no controlable what it is, and they pass and everybody's thank you. And that's the thing that I love about it. And that's why I'm such a big believer in working with a medicure agent or a health insurance agent if you need covered California or group health insurance, because we're there to help.

12:40 You, yeah, for sure. And Craig Craig does a lot of great work for us. These chapters do a lot of work. They fight for us in Sacramento as well as in Washington, DC. They meet with cms and. They are they help not only beneficiaries but also agents. So I appreciate all the work that you guys are. Doing for us. Thank you so much for that. And you just heard it here. If you want to support these chapters, you just become a member and it's it's very inexpensive. Let your voice be heard. That's that's a great way to do that. So yeah, and I. Tell everybody, if you your first medical advantage policy that you write, got to pay for your dues and everything else for the year and the rest of the year, you can make money. And you've got a team behind you supporting you. And that's the thing that I look at, is you have no idea. I'll give you an example.

13:36 Single payer every couple of years comes up. We had we had a bill in Sacramento. It hap be my personal legislator who wanted to make Medicare something plans opening a moment every year, and you did that in new way to like double a triple what we pay in California. So you got to be very careful. You know, it always sounds pre health insurns what a great deal, be right, right, Yeah, realizing you know the cost of what it really is. You know, the owner business owners, you know increased their cost, They increased you know, taxes and everything else to pay for it. So you know you'd want to be aware of that. And that's what our association does. We're meeting with legislators and Sacramento, in Washington, d C. We're telling us stories. You know, the ACA the perfect example. It would have been a lot worse than what it is if it wasn't for US meeting with Congress and explaining you know, that sounds good on paper, but it really doesn't help.

14:39 The consumer, just you know, getting rid of the subsidies. I understand why they did it, but it really hurts so many people. And that's the thing that now we're gonna, you know, coming up pretty soon November. First, we're going to talk to people about here's your options. We're seeing in California the averduate increases about ten percent. San Diego is probably three or four percent. If you look at some other options, it's really simple. We talk to you agent, say okay, here's what's going on. Help me. It can be medicure advantage plan, it can be ACA, it can be group health insurance. Just know that we're here to support you. And again, it costs nothing in California to use the health insrans agent. So that's always what I tell people every day. Pe do and I thank you so much for let them come on it. It's great to see you, I know, every once in a while, we want into each other.

15:30 So yeah, yeah, and I'm glad you're going to come on one more time. It's it's immensely helpful to our audience to hear what you're talking about, and so we appreciate you, Craig so much. You know, let's kind of switch over to health insurance under sixty five. Okay. Now, obviously those deductibles are going up and up and up. California is like the Wild West. Unfortunately, we can't do anything to help mitigate those costs in terms of hospital indemnity. Right, It's it's not allowed out here. So I mean, what are we looking at for this next year? Is it going to get worse than this last year? Coup of California said nine point nine percent with the average, and I know in San Diego it was like thirteen.

16:15 But again, if you look at some other. Plans, you know, if you go, hey, I like doctor Jones, you go, okay, fine, let me see what network doctor joneses in. And I had a client last year we did that and who ages to go up at all because we went from one plan to another and kept this price the same. And that's one of the things that we look at for our client. So yes, I'm hearing right increases ten, fifteen, twenty percent due to inflation, medical costs going up, the cost of COVID, and having more things needed to be done. Work with your health insurance agent. They know what's going on.

16:55 You know, we've all been looking and reading about and going to meetings and figuring out what's going to be available to us. Every insurance company is having meetings going here's some options to consider. And again, think about your situation. Maybe he had served your last year and had a really rich plan. You don't maybe need that rich plan issue, So let's know where your coverage get what you really need. You know, if I meet somebody who's going to have a baby, you know, yes, I want to get her to get a better plan so she pays less money out of pocket. And again, if we're talking group health insurance, then you're paying for your health insurance to pre tax dollars to pay pre tax dollars to have a baby.

17:37 I decline who had twins and a cost of three thousand dollars for a platinum plan to have the kids. Ye to nick you, but she was paying with pre tax dollars. Her premiums. So work with an agent. You're here to help you cost nothing k here for California agents and health insurance professionals. These people spend all year educating them and I'm a big fan of it and why I've been a member for like twenty five years because they do so much for me to help me to be better as an agent. And you know, when they asked me to step up and be president, how could. I say no? Because yeah, for sure, it's an. Organization I love and we just want to be there for the consumer. And that's the organization. Our phosophy is that in mind is I want everybody in a Mirrorkay to have health endurance and figure out a way to make it affordable.

18:28 So that's really. What you and I will be doing, Peter for the next right three four months. And I really appreciate the time you've given me today. And glad you're back and glad you're feeling good. Thank you, thank you. So we got we got a few minutes left. I know you know you can't, you can't share a lot, but you know we had talked about if let's go back to medicare for those listening in who are about to turn sixty five, you know what, what are the easy steps they can take to get onto medicare if they're about to retire or they're getting off their health insurance with your employer. The first thing to do is if you go if you go to if you're in California, even if you go to National and look at association maternits and benefit Professionals, you're going to find a link that's to find an agent.

19:19 You click on it, you put in your zip code, it'll give you a bunch of agents in your area. Reach out to them, talk to them. Find when you're comfortable with it's like, you know, it's like getting a doctor. Talk to them about what you're trying to accomplish, and they're going to help you do it. So if you're sixty four, you're going to want to start looking at your plans. You want to medicure Advantage plan, which is like an HMO limited network of who eat and go to. So if you like a certain hospital and they take it, it might be a great plan and the price is going to be very small at nothing. If you like to travel, because maybe your kids live out of. State, you're going to be visiting them a lot, gonna start traveling because retired, then you want a Medicure supplement plan where it's like a PPO where you can go to any doctor who takes Medicare in the country and you have that option, and it isn't really expensive.

20:12 You're probably talking a couple hundred dollars a month. It gives you, it'll give you the best coverage you've ever. Had in your life. You know, I love Plan. G because it pretty much covers everything but your yearly deductible, which is I. Think it's like to eighty eighty this year. Yeah, yeah, it could be. A little bit higher in twenty twenty seven, but that's the most you can pay out of pocket except for prescriptions. And it's great to have. And again, once you pick a Medicare advantage plan, after twelve months, you can't change your medicure supplement unless you go through underwriting, but you can.

20:54 But again, you. Can pick a medicure supplement and maybe when you're eighty eighty two eighty three say, Okay, I'm not traveling as much. I'm gonna go to a Medicare advantage plan which is gonna cost me. Plans I look at, is any of them zero to twenty thirty forty fifty bucks a month. So that's what need is. Again, work with an agent that sells Medicare if they belong to the California Association of Health Underwriting, which is the California I'm sorry, that's oh, that's the old name association, a bit a bit of Health Insurance Professionals, and then the National Association of Insurance and Benefit Professionals, which is the National Association. We changed our name about four or five years ago, and then a couple of years later NAVID changed their name over so we do a little bit different name, but again we're all part of the same family. It's just a little bit. It's like when when your daughter gets married and now if you changes the name, if you still she's still have Joseph for the rest of your life, right right. Yeah, we have the organizations. They support us, you around, educating us and showing us what's out there for the for the consumer.

22:04 And that's why I'm. Such a big believer in them, because we need organizations that are going to help us and protect us and be there for us in Sacramento and in Washingt DC, or in any state you're in, right every state has different things going on, and we need to be aware of it and make sure because everything we look at is what's best at the consumer. You and I see things at times and going that makes no sense. Why would you do that? And the reason is because some legislator's friend came to them and said, you won't believe what happened to me, and they start talking about it. Oh, that shouldn't happen, but they don't realize the cause and effect.

22:45 And those are the kind of things that we try and educate people about. You know, people ask me every day what do I do? I go. My job is educating consumers. I educate you, Peter, You're gonna make the best decision for you. It has nothing to do with me I need because my needs and your needs are different exactly. So think about what's best for you. If you're talking to an agent and he or she you want to do something that doesn't make sense, you have the wrong agent. Find somebody else then get what you want and going to help you find the best plan for your needs. It's all about your needs, not mine. For sure. Well, Craig, if people want to ask you questions or reach out to you, I know you're on LinkedIn. Is there a good email address that we could reach out to?

23:34 I can, but to make it easy, you see my name up there, My personal one is Craig dot gust In at gmail, so you can always you can always use that too, and again I'm more than happy to help you. If you live in Northern California, you want to talk to somebody up there, I would tell you for medicare Northern California and Southern California. Medicure issues are totally different. And a lot of times I would recommend to somebody that can get you an agent up in northern California who know the ins in and. Out, because it's it's it's different at night and day. It is, it is. What is here to help you? Anything I can do to help you. My phone numbers up there, Craig gots in the Gmail and we'll always hear you and Peter good to see you, and probably my friends. Thank you all right, thank you so much, Thank you taking care, bye bye bye bye.

24:27 All right. I appreciate Craig coming on. He's a great friend of ours. I've known him for years and years, run into him in a lot of conferences and whatnot. So excited to have his information shared with all of you, some pertinent information obviously, just kind of summarize, you know, what a scope of appointment does. It gives us permission to talk to you beneficiaries about Medicare plans. It used to be a forty eight hour role, which. Means we had to have you sign a paper saying that we allow us to talk to you, and then we could have talked to you about those benefits for forty eight hours. It was just kind of absurd. I'm really glad they got rid of that role, so now we can talk to you right away. We can also, as agents, conduct both educational events and marketing events at the same well not at the same time, but one after the other. We don't have to split them up into two different days. So you'll might see some events coming up in the fall where you're doing an educational event and then they announce the next session will be a sales event where we can actually get you guys submitted for specific Medicare advantage plans or supplement plans. So that's a nice caveat that's changing. Prescription drug prices are going down for a lot of the big.

25:48 Names out there. But obviously there's a couple of things that we could do to mitigate those costs. Craig mentioned the Canadian pharmacy. We have resources to connect you without. The other thing is get our X. Sometimes it's better to go through good our X for a discount versus going through your insurance company. So I usually do you know, tell my clients that good OURX is free to use. It's an app that you can get on your smartphone. You just show it to the pharmacist and you get that discount on the prescription. So definitely get with an agent like myself who can walk you through all those scenarios, get you the best plan, it gets you the best coverage and help mitigate your costs.

26:30 That's what we're here for. And again we're not paid by you. We don't charge you. We're not allowed to for Medicare, so we actually get paid directly by the carriers and it's the same amount, so we don't have a bias towards any carrier. So just keep that in mind as you're shopping around agents. So that is it on that. I know Johnny's about to come on in a couple of minutes. He's our second guest, I don't know if he's on or not. If he's not, I will continue talking because I can do that. Oh, there we go, Hey, Shohnny, I. Was watching you guys man your industry. It seems very complicated, man, like it is in your consumer's position and having to manage and go through all that stuff. I just I'm like, I was listening to you guys for a good minute.

27:22 I mean that it's crazy how complicated that. It is, and it sucks. It's the regulations change every year and we have to keep on top of it, and our consumers get confused, like heck, I mean that's like everything changes every year, right, and so they're just like what is going on? So that's kind of what we're here for. But obviously we get overwhelmed by all those two so sure. Yeah, Well, you guys are probably the best ones to, you know, talk to you, right, You're still on all the news stuff coming down the pipeline. A guy like me has no idea, you know. All right, man, Well, hey, I'm so glad you're this is a second time you've come on. Let me, I'm gonna pull up your information here, give me one second, but give the audience a little snippet of who you are if they haven't seen you before.

28:10 Yeah. Yeah, So my name is John Alanya. I am a realtor here in southern California. I primarily service Riverside County and surrounding areas. Been in the industry for eight years. I'm actually in the process of renewing my license for another four years, so I'm definitely doing this for another four years. Nice. Nice, I'm glad you're not going anywhere. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, So that's the basic gist, you know. I thank you again for having me on the show again. The first time was a lot of fun and excited to do this with you today. So yeah, we're hoping. We're kind of doing some new things with our show. We're creating viral clips and showing it off our socials like TikTok and whatnot, so hopefully we get that information out to you. If you guys don't know, Johnny helped us buy our first home out here in Chino, So he's the man. He is a wonderful person inside it out, really cares about the client and does wonders to get to you the right place.

29:10 He's not pushy, he's patient, and so I loved that about you, man, But you did you said said that some questions to ask you. I know, the market changes constantly. Interest rates seem to be still kind of inching up right on the mortgage. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, it's been it's been a sticky thing. I mean I think even last time we spoke, it might have been around when the Iran War might have started. Yeah. Yeah, so that kind of threw a wrench and everything because the rates were starting to trend down and now they've actually they're at a pretty high level now again. And you know, yesterday there was a conference going on and basically the economist was saying, like, this market is the market, like there's there's not really an outlook where things get all that much better than what it is now.

29:59 And it's been like this for about three years. You know, it's been about the same market for three years, high interest rate arena, and you know, yeah, it's just people are like, oh, I'm gonna wait for the crash. Well, people have been waiting for the crash. Honestly since I started in twenty eighteen. People were like, oh, there's going to be a crash in two years. We'll wait to buy then and it just never came, you know, And I don't think timing the market is really the right thing. It's more so of like what your specific situation is, on how your finance are and if you need to buy a house. So yeah, so yeah, the market that are kicking around. Let me ask you this, are there because obviously prices are so high, especially in California, right, are there programs right now that people can kind of access?

30:46 I mean yes and no. I mean everybody always talks about the first time home buyer programs and you know, getting like down payment assistance, but those things come with caveats. You know, they usually come with higher interest. So that's one thing, and that obviously affects your mortgage payment. And I think everybody that's buying a house, it's not so much the price of the house, it's how much you're paying per month, because that's part of your budget. Right. So the way that I've been seeing it being managed in the recent times is generally buyers are getting closing costs right now. I mean I feel like that's almost every situation that's happening, and those closing costs can be used to buy your rate down if it makes sense.

31:31 Some people are opting to do like a two to one by down where your interest rates lower for the first two years and then it ramps up to what it should be, you know, from the initial like the actual loan amount or the interest amount. But yeah, that you know, there's tricks on trying to get it better to get into a house. But the reality is like, yeah, the payments are high. I mean, I would say generally, on average, I'm seeing first time home buyers paying forty seven hundred to over five thousand. And these are like people you know, and now he's like just got married, and to me, that's crazy, but but it is what the norm is right now. Unfortunately is I mean, that's one of that's us right yeah, yeah, I mean and we got we got in right when I mean our interest rates five point two five, which is unheard of now.

32:16 Oh yeah, see, like you're you're sitting on an asset right now. Yeah, exactly. Oh man, Well okay, so are there certain places like new home builds that are better. Yeah. Yeah, So I'm seeing people going through new construction and that's well, okay, it's it's a double edged sword. You get the good, you get a good. Interest rate by going with their lender, right, so you might you might actually get like a three point nine to nine, which is happening, like some people are offering that. But then most new construction is going to have high tax rates, so you're getting cut off by the high tax rates. So it's it's almost kind of even in a way. Uh, if you find a house that's you know, just a resale home that's regular tax rate, like what your house is right right, you know, yeah, you're offset by that lower tax rate, so it kind of cancels it out. To be honest with you, I think that's why new construction is doing that. But it could work for some people. You know, it just depends on the situation.

33:17 Well, it seems like hoas are pretty high in those areas and that too. It's hard to find a new construction without an HA. They exist, but it's far and few between. Yeah yeah, yeah. Well the what's the biggest wins you've seen for your clients this year? Okay, So I wanted to share this because I was so excited about this. I just closed with the buyer less than a month ago, and we it was a multiple offer situation. But to make the long story short, we ended up getting them eighteen thousand enclosing cost credits. Wow, and the appraisal came in thirty thousand over what they. Offered for the house. Oh my gosh. So like, I mean, they scored dude. And I'll be honest, I haven't seen that in a long time. Like the last time I think I saw a huge gap, and the appraisal was probably five years ago.

34:09 Thirty grand is a lot, dude. Yeah, that's crazy man. Yeah, And it's like, of course we don't tell the seller that because we're we actually negotiated more of that closing costs after we already had that number and it was just because of repairs that we were wanting to get for the house. So yeah, eighteen k and thirty k over appraisal. Like I was like, dude, that's a win. Bro. I had to share that, dude. I was like, that's awesome. That's awesome. Not a common things. Those owners must be ecstatic. Right they're stud Yeah hundred percent. Yeah, wow, Wow, that doesn't hurt. But anyways, I guess to kind of carry on with that is I think a lot of buyers are getting closing costs right now, so there's opportunity in this crazy market where people are like I don't want to jump in, but it's like, dude, there's opportunities out there right now.

34:54 Okay, okay, well that's good to know. I mean, because it just seems like, you know, you hear the reports is everyone seems pessimistic and I'm. Like, the houses are still being bought. I mean, you know, stuff that's being done. That's what sells though, right Like, if you put this podcast out and said, like, you know, Medicare's falling apart or whatever, like people are gonna be like, oh, I need to watch this, like what's happening? You know. So I think the scary stuff, like the scary news, the headlines, that's what grabs the attention. But that's a marketing employee, man, I really do I feel like people are going for the views, you know. I still feel very confident that pricing is going to stay pretty steady. You know.

35:34 I'm not seeing a super low drop and I'm not seeing like a super like high increase in pricing. I think it's going to be very steady because of the market. It's just it's a slow moving market right now. The volumes down, so without volume you can't see a huge jump one way or the other. Okay, So where where do you see the market going short term? Long term, short short term? I've always said this, dude, there's opportunit unity in the winter time, man Like if someone if someone is like, if there's someone out there that's like, oh, I'm waiting for the market to crash every winter, Like, start looking for a house in October, because once Thanksgiving and Christmas comes around, a lot of people don't jump into the market.

36:15 They're busy with family, they're busy managing the holidays. And I've always seen the best deals for my clients in December, December to January, best time in fact, personally, me and my family are in the market for a home, and I'm basically waiting till then to start looking like we're always looking, we're always looking, but that's the time for me, I'm jumping in around that time. That's that's when we're going to start really heavily looking because I know that that's when the deals happen. Well, so I know, I know you guys are looking for a bigger place, so that. Yeah, we are, absolutely, dude, absolutely, And then long term, you know, it's I think it's going to be a very steady market long term. So the thing is, like, we actually did put an offering on a house earlier this year, but then we just decided, I had too many projects going on because we're going to keep our house here. I had a project going on outside that I was dumping money into, and then the new house that we were looking at needed a bunch of work, and I was like, man, I don't know if I could manage two large projects at once. We just decided for our family, it was like, Okay, are we adding stress to our lives or is this going to make us happy? And we we chose happiness, dude, and that was not going forward with the house, you know. And so I don't I share that story because even for me, like I am literally in the market with my buyers and my sellers, and even for us, like I was like, you know, it's okay to wait because I really don't think pricing is going to go up so much next

37:45 year that I'm like, you know, trying to buy the market now because price is going to go up, Like I'm okay waiting until next year. I really am. So that's my mentality, and I passed that along to any you know, future buyer that's thinking about doing something like Waiting's okay, Like if you need to know. That, I mean, that's good to know because we're I mean, we were looking at doing construction here. We're thinking of doing like a small addition, but the costs are so expense. I'm like, it might be better just to buy a home. It is. And you know, the thing that people don't think about is you do an addition to your home, and like, I'm locked in on a really good property tax rate, right because I you know, it's locked in at what your price that you pay for your house, and it only goes up a certain amount per year. And the second that we do anything here where we add square footage there, it could potentially retrigger another reevaluation of our property taxes and I just lose out on that. So, yeah, forgets something to think about that, you know. I mean, I don't think most people do think about that. But it's an added cost, right, and that's going to be something forever, you know.

38:48 That's right, That's right. I don't even think about that. Yeah. Yeah, see, well I might I. Might be hitting you up next year. We'll see how things. Yeah, this is going really well and it's good. We need a space as well, so yeah, yeah, all right, all right, Well, so long term, do you think you think these interest rates are here to stay? You think I personally don't think we're ever going to see like three percent rates for a while. If ever, I don't know, dude, I'll be honest with you, like I'm okay with saying I don't know, because the fact of the matter is, like even the NBA Mortgage Bankers Association, those guys are the pinnacle of like economists when it comes to interest rates, and even them, like they made so many predictions in the last three four years that were completely wrong.

39:38 So I mean, I don't think anybody knows. I think it's just one of those things where it's like you got to just kind of roll with the punches. But for interest rates, yeah, I don't see them going super low. I mean, I think they're at where they're at, and maybe we'll touch in the fives. If we got in the fours, i'd be surprised, and that would be like, but here's the thing. Rates go down, home prices go up, So it's like, you know what I mean, it's use your poison. That's gonna be one or the other. So so what kind of things like, I know you've probably touched on this already, but what kind of things do buyers and you look into specifically if they want to enter the market right now? I would say it's never too early to explore your options with a lender, and that's really the first stop.

40:20 Like I get phone calls all the time. They're like, hey, we're looking to buy a house, and you know you're our first stop. But the reality is I'm not the first stop. I might be the first stop to direct you where to go, but the reality is a lender is the first person. Because I don't care what you say, dude. Everybody's decision making is based on the budget, and you don't know your budget until you talk to a lender. So talking to a lender is free, there's no cost. You're not committing to buying anything. You know, we're not gonna bug you like you harped on, Like you know, I'm not pushy. I've ran my business like that forever. You know. It's like I hate going into a store and like right away like, oh, how can. I help you? I don't want help right away. I just want to Yeah, so I kind of run my business the same way.

41:02 It's like, I'm here to help, but I'm not going to be pushing on you. But yeah, with a lender, like, there's no obligation to move forward, it's free. You talk to them, they run the numbers with you. Maybe it makes sense at the time, maybe it doesn't, and if it doesn't, then cool. They'll give you a game plan like, hey, you got to increase your income or you've got to pay off some debts. But either way, you're gonna have a route to take to get to the point of being able to buy a house. And that that That's what I would say for any buyers. Just see what you can do. It's free. It takes a few minutes and that's it. And then you get side there. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of pivot a little bit and ask you a question about just real estate in general. You know, I've got some friends who are looking for a job and they always ask me, you know, how to become a medical broker. Obviously, the conversation also goes to real estate. You know, it's it's tricky. I know, it's just like our market, it's up and down. You know, some months are really good and some months are not.

42:03 How do you navigate that? What would you tell. Someone who you might be grinning to become a real estate agent things to look for? Oh boy, I. Would say that that's a great question. I think it's it's more about mindset. And I think we even touched on this last time, Like real estate is not an easy industry. Like I'm a mentor within my brokerage, so I have mentees, new people in the in the arena that surround me, and I see the struggles that they go through, you know, and you know, like, thank God I got into the industry when I did. I mean I still say to this day, like my success has been a true blessing from God on how it's the trajectory, how I've been able to maintain relationships with my clients. Like if I didn't get that base and then get all these referrals, I probably wouldn't be in business.

42:57 I mean, that's the true right. So if for anybody new getting into the industry, I would say, you have to have fixed skin. You don't fail unless you give up, right, So if you keep pushing, you eventually will get to a successful point in your career. The time that you fail is when you give up. And that's the only thing I could say, because I think a lot of people get into the industry thinking like, oh, I'm going to join a brokerage and I'm an employee, like I'm just going to get leads handed to me. That's not how the industry works. Like, you're literally starting a business, so you know, you need to go into it with a business mindset that you're growing your business from zero to something more.

43:39 Now, are there any certain companies they should be looking at? I mean, and you're obviously you're a little bit. Yeah, when well, no, you know what, when I first got into real estate, I did. I started with a brokerage that gave me zero guidance and that lasted for like three months, and then luckily I met somebody that introduced me to one of the first brokerages I was at, and the first thing they did was they stuck me in like a four week training program, which I don't even know if you could really find that anywhere. I'll be honest with you anymore, but that the if anybody's looking to get into a brokerage. It needs to be one that is going to hold your hand and show you how to do the business. And yeah, I mean, yeah, sure, I'll be biased like the brokerage I'm with exp Realty.

44:28 You know, they set you up with a mentor when you start, so as long as you get a good mentor, you'll be taken care of, you know. And every mentor is going to be different, right, because I think everybody runs their business in a different fashion. Like there's so many ways to run a real estate business. It just depends on the type of person you are. But yeah, I would say picking a brokerage based on the instruction and based on the. Education is probably the best choice. Not you're split, not much how much money you're going to keep after you a. Deal like that to me is secondary. You need to learn the business first and then you can worry about maximizing your profit as a business owner.

45:09 Okay, oh well that makes sense. Yeah. Well, hey, Johnny Man, I appreciate your time today. I mean, it's it's been awesome to have you back. Johnny's a good friend of mine. So any questions that you have about becoming a real estate agent or you're looking to enter the market. You've got the information there scrolling his phone numbers right there, nine to nine, A, two one, two, seven eighty one. Is that the best email address for your homes? That John, Yeah, it is. Yep, that's my best email. And if you want to find me online, if you search John Alan, your reeltor I pop up. Awesome, awesome. Yeah, Well, thanks my friend. I appreciate your time. Appreciate you too, dude. All right, you have a great morning and we'll we'll talk again soon.

45:50 Right, all right, man, take care boyebye. Right, all right, that was our good friend Johnny Alaiyya. He's been in this industry for quite a bit of time and it's got some great things. To share with you. So if you need to reach out you're looking to enter the market, like you said, I mean, this market is pretty steady now. It's not going to really go up our down as much as people think. Unfortunately, these interest rates are going to stick around for quite a while. So if you're looking to enter, then definitely reach out to him. If you're out here in southern California. I'm going to share one last thing before we close out. Hopefully I can do this really fast.

46:30 If not. Then we will see if I can do this next time. Okay, let's see here. Oh this is easier than I thought. Okay, so I'm going to try to perfect all right. So this is our website, Josephinsurancebroker dot com. We just got a new article published on us. You can go to our homepage and read that article. It's from Voyage La. So I'm just going to. Click this.

47:11 And if you look, this is an awesome article about us. We are out there, we're making an impact in our community. I love the fact that our story is being shared everywhere, so I highly recommend you read this article. Just kind of a couple of tidbits. It talks about our radio show here, our podcast that we do weekly, so we're trying to get the word out. We do medicare one of ones all over the place, so if you always go to our website, there'll be information on what we're sharing. So I just want to share that little story with you guys. So hopefully you guys all saw that. If you're on a podcast and here in the audio, just go to Josephinsurancebroker dot com.

47:55 We thank you so much for listening in. We thank you for our supporters, our sponsors. At the end of our show, now you can see a list of our sponsors that have been on our show, our guests, and we appreciate. All of you. We wouldn't be here without them, and. So I appreciate all the support we've gotten from our past guests. If you want to be a sponsor, just reach out to me through Facebook. We are on Facebook Live. We're on our YouTube channel, Medicare Minute with Peter. That's our YouTube channel, so check us out. Thank you so much, and we do this because we medicare. Thanks for listening. Tune into Medicare Hour and More with Peter every Tuesday at nine am Pacific time right here on k FORHD Radio at KFOURHD dot com for more real life stories from experts being to medicare about you and protecting your health, your finances, and your future. See you next week.