Nick Aufenkamp and Dave Miller | The Tartan Team

Disclosures with Nick & Dave

Business EN ↓ 5 episodes

Disclosures is a real estate podcast from Nick Aufenkamp and Dave Miller of The Tartan Team in Southwest Washington. Nick is a broker and longtime consumer advocate; Dave came up in the trades — cabinet making, finish carpentry, his own electrical company — and has renovated and house-hacked his way through real estate himself. Between them they get into what's actually going on in a transaction and inside a house: what's worth paying for, what isn't, where the industry earns its keep, and where it quietly doesn't. No hype, no script — just two friends who take homes seriously and don't mind s...

Author

Nick Aufenkamp and Dave Miller | The Tartan Team

Episodes

Renting Is Cheaper Right Now. Here's When Buying Still Wins. 07.07.2026 46:32

Renting a home in most major metros right now is about 37% cheaper per month than owning the same home. We're realtors, and we're telling you that anyway. This week on Disclosures, we dig into whether homeownership is still the American dream — or whether the dream itself needs redefining. We get into the dispute over the average first-time buyer's age (NAR says 40; the Mortgage Bankers Associatio...

Why We Charge Flat-Fee to Buy — but Percentage to Sell 30.06.2026 38:07

Last week we made the case for flat-fee, retainer-based buyer agency — so why does the listing side go back to a percentage? Because when you're selling, a percentage points in the same direction you do: you both want a higher number. Flat-fee listing rewards closing fast, not selling well. Nick and Dave break down how the Tartan Team represents sellers across three tiers — full service, limited s...

Why We Charge a Retainer to Help You Buy a House 23.06.2026 44:03

Every other buyer's agent in Clark County will work with you for free up front and only get paid when you close. So why do we ask for a retainer before we start? Because "free until closing" isn't actually free — it just hides the cost, and worse, it quietly works against you. When an agent only gets paid if you buy, every month that passes without a deal turns into pressure: pressure to overlook...

Real Estate Commissions After the Lawsuit: What Actually Changed 16.06.2026 1:08:02

The 2024 NAR settlement was supposed to bring real estate commissions down. Two years later, buyer-agent commissions have barely moved — by some measures they've crept up . So what actually changed, and why does the day-to-day still feel the same? In episode 2 of Disclosures, Nick and Dave walk through the history that got us here: how buyer agency was invented in the first place, why buyers histo...

From Minnesota to Washington - Dave Miller Joins The Tartan Team 08.06.2026 1:03:07

Meet Dave Miller — cabinet-maker, finish carpenter, electrician, and the newest co-founder of The Tartan Team — who recently traded Minnesota for Southwest Washington. First episodes are mostly introductions, and this one's no exception: Nick sits down with Dave to get into how he came up in the trades (general construction with his father and uncles, cabinet-making school, his own electrical comp...