Episode 49: Serving Those Who Serve: Carissa Duran on Real Estate around Fort Hood

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:23:04
Nate Carver
If you've ever are moving to or live in Central Texas near Fort Hood, Killeen, Temple, Belton area. I've got a fantastic real estate agent that I would love to introduce shall to. Hello everybody. I'm Nate Carver, your favorite mortgage guy, and today we're talking to Carissa Duran, a real estate agent in Central Texas.

00:00:23:04 - 00:00:44:08
Nate Carver
Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome to Between Two Doors.

00:00:44:08 - 00:00:45:22
Nate Carver
Hi, Carissa. How are you?

00:00:45:24 - 00:00:48:14
Carissa Duran
Hi. Good. Thank you so much for having me.

00:00:48:16 - 00:00:57:20
Nate Carver
Yeah, absolutely. I'm super excited to to have this conversation with you. I've looked at some numbers. You have been doing fantastic.

00:00:57:20 - 00:01:12:09
Nate Carver
In a, in a challenging market post-Covid. And, you are killing it and you with your experience in the real estate, I, in the real estate at large, I just want to get you on here and introduce the world to you.

00:01:12:14 - 00:01:13:21
Nate Carver
Because I think they need to know you.

00:01:13:21 - 00:01:24:03
Nate Carver
tell us all about, your background? Where are you started? And, maybe some unique, cool, cool facts about about your journey.

00:01:24:05 - 00:01:45:11
Carissa Duran
Yeah, sure. So, I am married to an active duty soldier. We came to Texas because of the army, and we just decided to stay because we liked the area. So coming here as a military spouse, and reservist at the time, when I got here, I needed something that was kind of, you know, transient and versatile as far as career choice.

00:01:45:13 - 00:01:52:01
Carissa Duran
So I went with real estate, and I've been doing that for over ten years now since we've been in this area of Texas.

00:01:52:01 - 00:02:02:13
Nate Carver
ten years in real estate, about 15 years or so that you've been living. Did you was it always in central, the central part of Texas, or did y'all get moved around, military.

00:02:02:15 - 00:02:11:21
Carissa Duran
Here in El Paso first, and then we came here. You know, he did a few rotations, and then we just decided to stay. So we've been here for almost 15 years.

00:02:11:23 - 00:02:22:17
Nate Carver
Nice. So, Fort Hood, Fort bliss, Fort Korvosa. I don't know what the names are now. Yeah, I know they're changing things, so it's all good.

00:02:22:19 - 00:02:34:02
Carissa Duran
They did a shake up. Fort bliss is still Fort Bliss, but, Fort Hood, you know, it started as Camp Hood, and then they changed it to Fort Hood. And then it went to Fort Cavazos. But it's back at Fort Hood now where it's Fort Hood.

00:02:34:04 - 00:02:56:11
Nate Carver
Okay, there you go. We were out with both, and I'm sure we've all run the same miles, same routes. All of this being in the military and, we've we've come close to. Maybe not an exact same time line, but definitely the same places where we've, we've enjoyed the, all the exciting things of all of those locations.

00:02:56:11 - 00:03:13:11
Nate Carver
So anyway, let's say, let's see, serving greater, the great greater Fort Hood area. What what major, what specifically about that area that y'all were really keen on that. Like, we want to stay here. This is going to be home.

00:03:13:13 - 00:03:34:19
Carissa Duran
The affordability factor was big for us when we first got here. He was an E4. So obviously our income was limited, you know, and I had just started in real estate and then almost as soon as we got here, we started having children. So we decided that, you know, all of those things kind of mixed together were the perfect storm for us.

00:03:34:19 - 00:03:44:00
Carissa Duran
Just planting roots here and exploring what real estate had for us and exploring how to create stability for the kids and and our family as a whole.

00:03:44:02 - 00:04:12:13
Nate Carver
Yeah, it's fantastic. And it's relatively, you know, state of Texas, right? So everything is huge. But that area is really, you know, close to a lot of big venues. And cities, you know, West. I mean, it's you you're three, three hours, four hours max to the, to, Galveston or Corpus Christi, probably. Right. Yeah. Austin's just down the road.

00:04:12:13 - 00:04:39:00
Nate Carver
San Antonio's is just down the road. Waco is just north of y'all. So. And then you got the hill country, which you're in, right? The. I'm thinking in, like, New Braunfels, the rivers and floaters. There's a lot of stuff to do in y'all's area. So gift for y'all. Good for y'all. So. Okay, so the draw to plant roots in central Texas.

00:04:39:02 - 00:04:50:13
Nate Carver
Let's go back in time a little bit because you've got some pretty unique history that I don't I've never heard of until I've met you. And tell us a little bit about about The Roots.

00:04:50:15 - 00:05:12:08
Carissa Duran
Yeah. So I, recently found out I'm actually fifth generation Nevadan. My family was in Nevada before it became a state. We were in the lake Mead basin before it was a lake. So there's a lot of history there. You don't meet a lot of, I guess, fellow natives from Nevada. Especially the Las Vegas area.

00:05:12:08 - 00:05:29:00
Carissa Duran
That's kind of where they centralized, my and and then, you know, being in Texas for more than ten years, they say that you're an honorary Texan. So I'm a Nevada native, but I'm an honorary Texan, so came from Nevada. But we're staying here in Texas.

00:05:29:02 - 00:05:54:18
Nate Carver
All right. There you go. That is, you know, five generations. Wow. All right, so let's talk let's talk about your military experience and how that, applies to you as a real estate agent. You know, being a former reservist and then your husband being on active duty, you know, military moves or like, and some of the complexities there.

00:05:54:18 - 00:06:03:24
Nate Carver
Can you speak a little bit about how you, as a realtor, are helping active duty, soldiers, make that move?

00:06:04:01 - 00:06:26:04
Carissa Duran
Yeah. So having been, you know, I'm kind of on both sides of the coin, so to speak, wearing the uniform myself and, being a spouse all of this time. I can help. Really? Because I've. I've been in their shoes. I've been. You know, in the position of having to move and uproot and drop everything. When the army tells you it's time to drop it and go somewhere else.

00:06:26:06 - 00:06:47:01
Carissa Duran
One of the one of the things I love to do for incoming families is to do 360 walkthroughs. So if we're, you know, 60, 45 days out from their arrival, I will go and do as many videos as they want. Inside the properties that, you know, they qualify for. And it's, it's kind of like a GoPro sort of a rig.

00:06:47:03 - 00:07:10:11
Carissa Duran
And anywhere I'm standing in the home, they can see full through 60 year round. So, you know, if they can't take leave, it gives them a little bit more than just like a FaceTime call, because they can actually save that video and send it to family, and use those videos to kind of compare properties. Go back and review what they liked, what they didn't like, and then help them narrow down their choices for what they'd like to move forward with.

00:07:10:11 - 00:07:20:11
Carissa Duran
So, I love doing 360 videos for Rank Week families, and it just gives a little bit more perspective on the properties they're considering.

00:07:20:13 - 00:07:39:03
Nate Carver
Would you, looking at, the homes you've helped buy or help people sell? Would you roughly know what percentage of that are veteran VA loans versus FHA or conventional?

00:07:39:05 - 00:07:58:22
Carissa Duran
My businesses, 98% VA. So whether that's five hours, I, I deal with conventional maybe once, once or twice a year. Not very often. It's going to be a VA buyer or someone who used their VA to, to buy and now they're selling. So VA a seller. So it's 90% of my business.

00:07:58:24 - 00:08:19:08
Nate Carver
Right? Do you, do you see with your veterans or your active duty that they're getting reassigned? What are they doing with their homes if they already own a home or are they trying to sell it with you, or are they trying to help you or help them get it listed as an investment property and a tenant? What do you do?

00:08:19:10 - 00:08:42:23
Carissa Duran
It really? Each situation, because obviously if they bought it recently, they might not have the equity to sell. And I don't want them trying to bring a bunch of cash to closing just to sell it. You know, and you know this because you're a lender. A lot of people don't know that you can use your VA loan while you still have entitlement in another property entitlement remaining.

00:08:42:23 - 00:08:59:00
Carissa Duran
So sometimes they freak out because they don't know that. And they're like, well, I can't buy another house if I don't sell well, that's not true. If you have enough entitlement, you can. So, you know, case by case, I'll talk to them, see what their equity looks like, see what their their balance and their mortgage looks like.

00:08:59:00 - 00:09:11:16
Carissa Duran
And if it even makes sense for them to sell. And if not, I'll, I'll connect them with a good property management company so that they can at least get it rented and move forward. And use, you know, the remainder of their title and at their next duty station.

00:09:11:18 - 00:09:36:01
Nate Carver
Nice. Yeah, I write, I do a lot of blogs on, on the, ins and outs of, of the entitlement, the VA loan entitlement and, and how veterans can use and active duty can actually, use that entitlement to their advantage in a major, massive way and wealth accumulation for real estate. So, that's that is awesome.

00:09:36:01 - 00:09:57:14
Nate Carver
There's a lot of bad information out there. Right. And and it's not even. Well, there is bad information, but, you know, active do they got plenty on their plate. I don't I don't expect it to be real estate expert. I don't expect to be a lender expert. And that's what you and I are here for. So, yeah, if you're opening them up to those opportunities is pretty.

00:09:57:16 - 00:10:21:09
Nate Carver
It's actually it's really exciting. Good. Good. What kind of trends are you seeing? I guess with, active duty moving to, to Fort Hood area. Are you seeing anything there that that you are prepared for as a realtor to help them?

00:10:21:11 - 00:10:42:09
Carissa Duran
I mean, as far as trends, you know, we're we're the biggest or the biggest base, American owned base. And so, I mean, there's always a movement and influx and, and outlooks. It just kind of depends, even if we're NPC's or not. But as far as trends, I mean, it really just based it's based on the rotations and what they're doing.

00:10:42:11 - 00:11:02:06
Carissa Duran
We had a big influx from Poland a few months back. And that was a rotation that was coming in. And, you know, of course, that that really changed our numbers. But as of right now, I mean, we're we're heading into the slower, typically slower market. Right now, you know, into fall and the holidays and everything's things start to slow down a little.

00:11:02:06 - 00:11:09:23
Carissa Duran
So you'll get to. But I mean, it's it's all just based on the rotations, as you know.

00:11:10:00 - 00:11:25:00
Nate Carver
Right. All right. I'm going to I'm going to shift gears. I want to I want to come back to Nevada because, I mean, I know we talked about this before, but I wanted to ask, before we hit the record button, what is the birth date of Nevada statehood?

00:11:25:02 - 00:11:28:02
Carissa Duran
1864, I believe.

00:11:28:04 - 00:11:30:20
Nate Carver
Yeah. What? And the month and day.

00:11:30:22 - 00:11:32:11
Carissa Duran
October 31st.

00:11:32:13 - 00:11:53:18
Nate Carver
There you go. There you go. So if you live in the state of Nevada, everybody else, we don't get this holiday. It's a holiday. It's a state holiday. And so I thought that was I was great. So, anyway, all right, so let's let's talk a little bit about the community, that you serve in Central Texas.

00:11:53:24 - 00:12:27:23
Nate Carver
Killeen, Fort Hood belt in temple. Liam passes. There's quite a few little pocket communities around there to, What what are you seeing? Obviously, you know, active duty there. They're going to Fort Hood because they have orders to go to Fort Hood. But tell them maybe the 10,000ft overview of things that people moving into that community, those communities, what their to look, what they have to look forward to because there's there's a lot of really great things in that area.

00:12:28:00 - 00:12:58:11
Carissa Duran
There are there's a lot of great things. You know, something that I mentioned earlier is the affordability factor. We're one of the lowest, property taxes in the state of Texas in our county. Bell County has a very low tax rate compared to bigger, more urban areas. So there's that there's affordability tax factor. I think right now gas is like 235 average for our area, which is pretty low compared to, you know, even west like in the bottom.

00:12:58:13 - 00:13:22:02
Carissa Duran
But recently and it was like $5 a gallon. So there's the affordability factor. There's the commute, the ease of commute. We're right by I-35, which will take you north to Waco, to Dallas, you know, and then up further north, Oklahoma and all of that. And then south, where we're about an hour from Austin, two and a half from San Antonio.

00:13:22:02 - 00:13:41:20
Carissa Duran
And then if you want to go to Houston, that's about three. And then the beach, what we call the beach in Texas. Galveston is about 4.5 hours. So, you know, the the affordability factor and the convenience of going, if you, you know, you like being outdoors. We're we're a great area. We've got lakes, we've got a lot of rivers.

00:13:41:22 - 00:14:02:07
Carissa Duran
Here in Salado, there's the creek which you can go there's families out there all the time, every weekend. So I mean, there's plenty to do. It just kind of depends on how far you want to drive. But we're we're just just an hour away from from a lot, really. So affordability, it's is is really big here for sure.

00:14:02:09 - 00:14:08:20
Nate Carver
Nice. What an ensalada. What is there's a historic restaurant right there on on 35 each.

00:14:08:20 - 00:14:10:18
Carissa Duran
Coach. Yes.

00:14:10:20 - 00:14:19:18
Nate Carver
Stagecoach. Yep. Yeah. That's it. Houston ate there. Slept there. Yeah yeah yeah, that's pretty neat there.

00:14:19:19 - 00:14:26:06
Carissa Duran
I have not seen it myself, but, you know, he may or may not still be frequenting his room.

00:14:26:08 - 00:14:58:01
Nate Carver
Oh, wow. No. Wow. I haven't seen the ghost yet either. Yeah. That's a that's a really great restaurant. And, right there on that little on the river there too. So there's. That's beautiful. It's a beautiful area. Okay. Very cool. So. And you're actually located in Salado. That's where your office out of. Of course, you know, all the, the as far as you like to go in every direction is, is, is quite accessible to you.

00:14:58:06 - 00:15:21:03
Nate Carver
Right. What let's see, tell me. So 15 years in Texas, ten years as a real estate agent. Let's talk a little bit about values and things that you love and, and, you know, you know, not necessarily real estate related, but, I guess what's driving you and your why.

00:15:21:05 - 00:15:42:09
Carissa Duran
My why is definitely my family. You know, we always talk about having financial freedom, and that's a big reason why people invest in real estate. I think that applies for us as those in the industry as well. We're we're approaching our own financial freedom, you know, at some point, so helping other families in the end helps my family as well.

00:15:42:09 - 00:16:04:24
Carissa Duran
So that is a big part of my why and what motivates me. If I'm successful at helping them, I, I'm successful at helping my own family. I love to travel, so I, I love being able to help other families so that, you know, I do have the freedom to travel when I'm not, you know, super busy during the summer or or the hot months and things like that.

00:16:04:24 - 00:16:08:14
Carissa Duran
So travel is a big part of I'm doing this. So I can do that.

00:16:08:16 - 00:16:17:24
Nate Carver
So nice. So tell me, leaning into the future a little bit, what's, what's next on the plate for you?

00:16:18:01 - 00:16:36:13
Carissa Duran
Well, I mean, hopefully the the rates will be going down at some point and we'll have a flood of people coming back to the market. I think right now, a lot of people are just sitting on the sidelines knowing that at some point they are going to drop because, you know, our industry is cyclical and that's how it works.

00:16:36:15 - 00:16:53:14
Carissa Duran
So I think everyone's kind of waiting to pull the trigger until the rates drop some. But when that happens, I mean, I'll be here to help them. And I'm hoping that, you know, when we do get that influx, our market's going to, you know, vastly improve, especially in our area with the military movement and all of that.

00:16:53:16 - 00:17:10:23
Nate Carver
Yeah, I, I, I can see that. And so tell me how if someone is looking to list a home in your area or is looking at moving to the Fort Hood area and needs to buy a home, one of the best ways that they can get Ahold of you?

00:17:11:00 - 00:17:24:09
Carissa Duran
I mean, they can contact me directly on my on my cell. My phone number is on my website. It's pretty much on all of my socials, but my website's good. My Instagram is good. My phone number is probably going to be the best way to reach me directly.

00:17:24:11 - 00:17:35:05
Nate Carver
Okay, I will I will put those links down below, wherever y'all are watching or listening to the, this podcast. Chris, did I, did I miss anything that I should have asked?

00:17:35:05 - 00:17:40:10
Carissa Duran
You know, I think we we had a good amount of of of,

00:17:40:12 - 00:17:40:21
Nate Carver
You know.

00:17:41:01 - 00:17:43:00
Carissa Duran
Topics to discuss for sure.

00:17:43:02 - 00:18:06:05
Nate Carver
Good, good. Well, this was this is great. I just want everybody to get to get to know a little bit about you, and we'll come back and do this again, in the future and, and see what we can do to help people find you. And, everybody, this is Chris. If you are looking to move or buy a home in the Fort Hood area, central Texas, please reach out to her.

00:18:06:07 - 00:18:25:13
Nate Carver
She would love to help, guide you in that process. As a real estate agent. And if you're also looking to buy or you need to sell or do a refinance, I'm here as well as, your favorite mortgage guy. Everybody that's it for this recording of between two doors. Till next time. Thank you.

00:18:25:15 - 00:18:26:09
Carissa Duran
Thank you.

00:18:35:13 - 00:18:43:15
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