Speaker 1 (00:00:00):
What did you have to quit in order to commit to your real estate career? Was there a pivotal moment? What do you love to see in an agent on the other side of a transaction? Which video and social media strategies are working for you right now? And how are you communicating with sellers step-by-step in today's market? Welcome to the sixth and final episode of the Summit series here on Real Estate Team os with Bree Tucker of Poit Group, Tony Larissa of Weimer Group Realty and Solo Agents with Realty, Nick Nelson and Matt Anderson. You'll get answers to all these questions. Plus tips for agents to find the right fit team and more right now as the summit series concludes here on Real Estate Team os,

Speaker 2 (00:00:42):
No matter where your business is today or where you want to take it, you'll get there faster and more profitably with an operating system. Welcome to Team os, your guide to starting, growing and optimizing real estate team. Here's your host, Ethan Butte.

Speaker 1 (00:00:57):
Where I want to jump in. It's something we got on a little bit earlier, which is social blended with brand. Where I want to kick it off is how you think about your own brand versus the team versus the brokerage. It's Bree, but it's also ic, but it's also kw and I forget the name of your office in particular in that layering. How do you think about that? I mean obviously Brie is the most important and I'm not just driving it to, it's open to everybody, but that's the most important. I think that's what people really connect to and relate to, but how do you think about that and how does the team think about that?

Speaker 3 (00:01:30):
Yeah, that's a great question and we've spent a lot of time refining this. I want to show up as B Brie first, but I also want people to know that I'm Bree with the EC group. KW comes in there naturally, so I wouldn't say we have to focus on that as much. Of course there are umbrella brokerage, but on social media, what we've slowed down with our team to say is you really want to have three pillars. You don't want to be all real estate. You don't want to be all personal. And so for me, I show up as a real estate agent, I show up as a mom and then I really like health and fitness. I play tennis, so that kind of works it in there for me. It gives me something else to talk about by sharing those three things. People can go to my Instagram, they know right away that I sell real estate. They know right away that I'm a top producing agent with the Poit group, but then they can get to know a little bit more about me and give something to relate with.

Speaker 4 (00:02:12):
And

Speaker 3 (00:02:12):
It seems like more and more clients and sellers are actually looking us up on Instagram now, at least what we've seen on our team. And so right away they don't have to wonder if I'm a ghost secret agent or if I'm all agent and have nothing else to relate to people on. So it's been a really good balance and it's helped me a lot more not having to worry so much about content. And I would say the most important place that I show up is on my stories. That's been the easiest way to connect with people and just be able to talk face to face so they can hear me organically rather than on a script or a content piece that would be on my grid.

Speaker 1 (00:02:45):
How are you struck to say, I need to do a story or is it on a clock, I need to do a story, so what's top of mind or is it this would be a good thing to share in a story?

Speaker 3 (00:02:54):
I would not consider myself a content creator because our team is creating the right, so we're really there to be an extension of the brand and have our personal brand that leverages the content that's been created, but also shares just like the day to day. So I don't have a content schedule, but people like to see what's going on throughout our day. I guess real estate agents are interesting because our days are always a little bit different. So just when something is fun or that I want to talk about, I'll just put that on my story and then I try to keep that 33% blend of the three different things. So I'm not asking them to buy or sell. I'm probably telling a story about one of my clients or a huge win that we had. And then I'm sharing about being at my team meeting and then I'm with my kids. So it's really organic. It takes me 30 seconds every time. We're usually on Instagram anyways, and so I just throw that on there and then that's helped keep me engaged with my sphere, my past clients, and I follow every single person that I'm working with on social media.

Speaker 1 (00:03:49):
So you'll actively go out and find them?

Speaker 3 (00:03:51):
Yes, as soon as I know that we're working together or soon connected. Especially now, it seems like at least in my experience, sellers are interviewing multiple agents rather than just going to their one direct person that they got that referral from initially. So I'll go find them and follow them and I feel like the content I'm putting out there will give them something to relate with. Then they feel like I'm more of a person rather than someone that's just following up with them to try to get their business.

Speaker 1 (00:04:16):
Yeah, I promise we'll move this around, I promise. But have you found some clients really prefer to stay in Instagram dms and you're like, oh, I guess this is where we're doing a lot of this communication, or do you move them off into

Speaker 3 (00:04:30):
I'll move them off and I don't typically have an issue with that. Some of it starts there. Someone actually said something really interesting to me, which I thought was great, is that dms are like a form of prospecting, right? It's a big privilege for someone to want to allow us into their life because Instagram or social media does feel so personal and so interacting with them in little ways now by telling them That's really cool. I love that. Congrats. They're going to start to think of me. And then that will eventually turn into them sliding into my dms with a real estate conversation. I'm sure you guys have all been the same. And then it's like, okay, awesome. Yeah, let's schedule a call and then we can take that more the professional route than just on social media. What about you guys?

Speaker 5 (00:05:08):
I find Instagram stories to be very engaging.

Speaker 3 (00:05:11):
Engaging and

Speaker 5 (00:05:12):
A way for people to comment on what you're doing to start a natural conversation. That's been a good lead generating source. I feel like I have agents that ask about your Instagram profile and do I make a new business one? And I'm like, no, I completely agree. It has to be a blend of both, and you have to tie yourself into the profile just as much as real estate because if you literally just have a profile of just sold, pending, just sold, pending, well,

Speaker 3 (00:05:42):
That used to be the thing to do. And for a while it worked, and then it was, he

Speaker 6 (00:05:46):
Just gets tired of it.

Speaker 3 (00:05:48):
It's hard to manage a personal page and a business page. We've seen success of just blend them and people can even relate more to that. And then it's less work

Speaker 5 (00:05:56):
For us. And when someone's working with an agent, they're wanting to work with the agent, you as the human being. So I feel like just posting all of your accolades and just listed and just solds doesn't really capture people's attention really.

Speaker 1 (00:06:13):
Do you have a commitment to a schedule or pillars or any structure? Are you just kind of like,

Speaker 5 (00:06:17):
No, I'm not a schedule, but I do try to incorporate Instagram stories a few days a week. I don't like to bash people over the head every single day with real estate. I feel like I post almost every day about something and then you just kind of sprinkle in the real estate stuff here and there and people,

Speaker 1 (00:06:38):
It's passive.

Speaker 5 (00:06:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:06:40):
And I feel like just the way that you're approaching, just kind of tying to part of what you communicated about yourself in the first half is a little bit more spontaneity.

Speaker 5 (00:06:48):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (00:06:48):
Your own curation of what happens in the course of a day that you think is fun or interesting or curious enough to share is a reflection of you.

Speaker 5 (00:06:56):
Totally. I got an email last week or two weeks ago from a KH sales rep and they were offering a hundred thousand dollars of flex cash. So I immediately got my phone and I was just like, this is an insane, I've never seen flex cash at a hundred thousand dollars. And so you talk about the real estate, and I had people reach out and they were like, where is this community? You peak people's interest and get them to respond. And that's where the organic conversation just kind of starts.

Speaker 7 (00:07:25):
I need to follow you. I didn't hear that.

Speaker 5 (00:07:27):
Yeah,

Speaker 3 (00:07:29):
Osprey Ranch.

Speaker 5 (00:07:30):
Osprey Ranch, yeah. They had a hundred thousand dollars of flex cash on. That's crazy. A few different home sites. Yeah,

Speaker 6 (00:07:37):
For me, my stories are super spontaneous. I'll post whatever my dogs 90% of the time, I'll just post random stuff. The biggest change that I did this year was just really trying to level up social media more. So I did hire a social media team that just optimizes my content. And then I have a personal videographer now, so we're posting at least six reels a month, and that's going across all platforms, whether it be like TikTok, Facebook

Speaker 3 (00:08:05):
All. Is it just your listings or is it a mix?

Speaker 6 (00:08:07):
No, it's both. So I wanted it to be not just listings, but also lifestyle. But at the beginning of this year, I've been so listing heavy, so we're trying to incorporate the listings into lifestyle at the same time, but I always try to be as out of the box as possible because the whole follow me into this house, it's like we get it. Can we not do that 10 times over again? So my one listing, I was doing a water aerobics video in the pool, another video, one of my most recent ones. Oh, the eggs there, there's been the egg shortage. So I filled my cellar's refrigerator up with empty egg cartons and just trying to find different out of the box ways that I can relate to people as a person. That's my schedule. So it's Mondays and Fridays are always going to be reels being posted, incorporating a market update and then also incorporating a listing depending on what listings I have coming or just went live. It's been huge for me because I can focus on prospecting and my people and all I have to do is show up. I have everything that we want to be talking about done by my videographer. And just in the past two months I was getting before a couple hundred views whatever, and the past couple videos we've been seeing like 12,000, 8,000, 7,000 views. And for me that's a lot. Jumping from a couple hundred to that. Yeah, that's great. So yeah, that's been huge.

Speaker 1 (00:09:29):
I don't want to get too much in the weeds, but I want to go to that egg carton video. So it's topical. Just give me a little bit of the logistics there. So the idea occurs to you. Wouldn't it be funny if I assume how it started, wouldn't it be funny if, or I need a hook for this house, there's nothing super obvious, I'll do this egg thing. Where do you get empty egg cartons? How does it go from This would be funny to, I'm actually going to do this. Just walk the logistics a little bit. I want to make it approachable for people because this is your freedom to do your job, job or whatever the way you want to do it.

Speaker 6 (00:10:05):
I'm me and it's like love me or hate me. That's not going to change. It's going to translate to my business. So the first thing, I have my social media person that optimizes all my content and then I have my videographer for all my socials and then videographer for my listings because their niche is two different things. So I first went to my videographer and my social media person and I said, Hey, do you think I'm going to get a lot of pushback for this? Am I going to come across as insensitive? And they gave me kind of mixed reviews and I was like, screw it. I'm doing it

Speaker 1 (00:10:38):
Because you thought it was going to be funny,

Speaker 6 (00:10:39):
Right? And I just wanted to bring traction to the listing. So I started googling. I was like, I'm not going to buy 50 dozen eggs. That's expensive. So naturally I went on Amazon and I saw that I could buy a 50 pack of egg cartons and I told my seller, I said, Hey, can you just make sure your fridge is a little light for the next five days? And they were like, what are you going to do? He follows all my social and he's like, I don't have a pool for you to jump into. And I said, I know we're going to use your refrigerator, don't worry about it. So I got the egg cartons, got 'em delivered from Amazon, and then I literally just emptied his fridge, put them all in there, shot my content and then dropped it off at Staples and returned it. So I was like, that's hilarious. Done. So yeah, that was the logistics of it.

Speaker 7 (00:11:22):
Yeah. Good.

Speaker 6 (00:11:24):
You're last.

Speaker 7 (00:11:25):
Yeah, so this is your guys' field, but as much as I don't necessarily post and I'll have a schedule of posting those type of things, one of the good things, our brokerage does do it, our team does do it. So they are very systematic, they're very on purpose about it, and they do a blend just like you're talking about the 33%. So I tend to just tag onto that as much as I can so I don't promote myself. Yesterday I posted one of our listings only because my seller was very adamant they wanted something that they could be tagged onto as well. So I did that,

Speaker 5 (00:11:54):
But

Speaker 7 (00:11:55):
It is very rare you'll see me posting my numbers from last year or my vista from last

Speaker 4 (00:11:59):
Year.

Speaker 7 (00:12:00):
I'm actually big about, I'd rather just brag about others, brag about my teammates or brag about my kids or my family, things like that. But I'm not that much on it. So it's a very different approach. I mean, you guys, you're blowing my mind away with the amount of just how systematic, and you have four different photographers or three different photographers. I have my iPhone,

Speaker 1 (00:12:20):
Which is where everyone starts, that's where Ken started and that's where I'm

Speaker 5 (00:12:23):
At. Yeah, he's really invested heavily into all of that, and it's very specific niche to him and it's working

Speaker 7 (00:12:31):
For him, but it worked, and I won't lie, it does work. And again, so the fact that the brokerage does actually have those things, and again, they tag on everything, whether it be business related or personal related or event related. We're big about promoting community businesses. We love to do things like that. But me, myself personally, I mean if I jump on a random video, it's because I saw something silly and that's about it.

Speaker 5 (00:12:53):
I'm just curious. I feel like social media can be a big lead generator if social media isn't necessarily what you focus on. What are your big lead generating tools that you use?

Speaker 7 (00:13:06):
I'm an old school demographic and geographic farmer, so I'm always in the community. I'm everywhere. So if you're not catch me at the baseball field, I'm at the local event or I'm at this.

Speaker 7 (00:13:18):
So I just love to get to know people. I love to be a part of the community as much as I possibly can. I've also, I'm a big talk to people on the phone type of guy. So one thing I do believe about social media is I am not interesting at all when it comes to that kind of stuff. I don't post anything that's that interesting. But I do believe social media is built to be interested. So that is one thing I do a lot. So if I see somebody's having a baby or something, we utilize that to send a gift, congratulations on the baby, or somebody just moved and I wasn't a part of it, it's okay, but I still congratulate them, things like that.

Speaker 1 (00:13:52):
Well, there's the bridge back to our earlier conversation about CRM and people in my phone or people in my social networks. It's a little both.

Speaker 7 (00:13:59):
Now I do have agents that work for me that are younger and they are in that generation. Your generation, they kill it. I mean they kill it. I'm kind of getting it from osmosis, I guess I'm getting it there. But yeah, it's just never been my biggest strong point. But I am a very traditional foundational type of real estate agent.

Speaker 1 (00:14:17):
For anyone that's watching or listening, whether it's a solo agent or it's a small team or even it's a large team that isn't committed to video yet, how did you source your videographers and how did you distinguish between their strengths and what is your relationship to them as needed? Project work, how I'm going to get you for an afternoon or obviously by listing is a thing. And I think probably a lot of people are structured that way. But on the other side, how did you source them and what is your agreement with them?

Speaker 6 (00:14:46):
Everyone that I've sourced has been either word of mouth. Yeah, it's all been word of mouth. And anytime I can support a small business or a local business, I'm going to do that jar photography, love them. I love her and support her who's a mom and doing her thing and she makes great content. So that was all word of mouth. And then I value the relationships with the agent across the table on all of my deals as much as my clients, obviously you're not always going to jive with them, but a majority of the time I do. So I've actually found videographer from my listings from another KW agent. His name's Brian Diaz. He's awesome. And he referred me to her and I've been working with her since. And then from a different team, I found my social media people. So that's how I source them.

Speaker 6 (00:15:31):
And then when it came to agreements is again, going back to local business, I want to try to prop them up as much as possible because I think me being able to sustain longevity in real estate and also grow bigger is also bringing up other people that you're working with too. So when I have those conversations with them, it's like I'm going to try to get you and work to get you as much business as possible because I want people that I can literally go to bat for at all times. So a lot of the things that I've constructed with my social media team is based on me having an expectation of getting them referrals and also obviously setting a dollar amount. But it's hard because you don't have the backing of a team. You're an independent agent. And I had to watch my expenditures because I use follow-up boss, I use by lobo. I use texting, Betty, all of these platforms that obviously cost money and I don't want to overextend when you just leave. So I've been able to leverage my resources and my relationships and pour into my vendor partners, and that's allowed me to have that balance of what I'm spending and have the efficiency that I have.

Speaker 1 (00:16:37):
This is kind of not a well-formed question, but a topic zone I'm kind of interested in. I feel like there are types of agents, and I don't know how many there are, but whether it's you, what type of agent you are or what type of agent you really love to discover is on the other side of a transaction, is that a thing? When do you know, oh, this is going to go well, or Ooh, this is going to be rough, and what is it about that? Just the interpersonal dynamics of being on two sides

Speaker 3 (00:17:03):
Of this is going to be rough. You can't get 'em to answer the phone.

Speaker 5 (00:17:06):
Yeah, communication is the first thing

Speaker 3 (00:17:08):
That comes to my mind. I say communication is so big. I love someone that's a driver, but even more someone that's also a high eye. It's like if I can get someone that's like a di, I know right away we're going to work really well together just because I'm that way. If they're just to driver, I might take a little offense to that, realize that that's just how they work. But yeah, I think someone that can communicate, they answer the phone when you're trying to connect with them and then they're proactive and they actually advocate for you on the other side. It's so frustrating to get into a deal where you feel like you're against each other

Speaker 4 (00:17:36):
Because

Speaker 3 (00:17:36):
So many times I feel like I have to slow down and say, Hey, we're on the same side of the table here. We both are trying to help the same people. So when it feels like a team effort, I think that's really nice.

Speaker 6 (00:17:44):
Yeah, just to piggyback off that, it's just the willingness to get the deal to the closing table. Both of our goal at the end of the day, like you said. So everything that you mentioned, and I feel like I don't focus as much and maybe I should on those personality tests or what's the one where I think you were talking disc profile disc thing, and I'm just high eye, low eye. I am. I have no idea what the Your high eye. Yeah, you're high. So now say, I don't even have to do the test. Nope, you're done. You're done. But I just feel like I know from the moment I get on the phone with someone if we're going to jive or not, and it's like it should never, what do

Speaker 1 (00:18:24):
You think that is? Is it purely intuitive?

Speaker 6 (00:18:25):
Yeah, I would say I think my intuition's pretty good. If from the moment you get on the phone, they're like, well, my person's not doing this and they're not doing that. I'm like, come on.

Speaker 3 (00:18:33):
It's like when you accept an offer and they've made the decision for their seller, it's like, well, you're not going to convey this the right way. You can't take offense to an offer. This is all business. You need to pull the facts and then tell them I'm really great and that we're going to make it to the closing table

Speaker 6 (00:18:48):
Because the thing, and I had a really terrible deal that's going on right now, and it's the misinformation. It was causing arguments between a lender and a title company that wouldn't have existed if the right information was given out. So I think that's the most frustrating part. It's not directly what you're saying is necessarily going to your seller or buyer because it's still going through the representation. And sometimes I even forget that. I'm like, we not only have to make sure this information gets to the seller, but in the same way that it was meant to get translated to them. And we're relying on the other representation to do that.

Speaker 3 (00:19:21):
And thankfully there's a lot of good agents out there, a lot of really good agents in central Florida, but right away you're like, I want to work with them again. So then you come across them on the next deal and you're like, oh, this is a slam dunk.

Speaker 1 (00:19:33):
Are you looking for anything when you make that first connection?

Speaker 5 (00:19:35):
I'm not looking for anything. I think it is kind of intuitive. You can tell even before the offer's accepted, I feel like if there's been communication throughout the showing or whatnot and the communication leading up to actually going under contract, you can get a good gauge as to how the process is going to go if the offer is accepted. Mine's totally headshot.

Speaker 4 (00:19:58):
I'm

Speaker 5 (00:19:58):
Just

Speaker 7 (00:19:58):
Joking. I'm just joking. I judge. Judge you strictly on your headshot,

Speaker 1 (00:20:03):
Whether it's from the past decade or

Speaker 7 (00:20:04):
Not. Well, especially those, no, mine is those who lead with a servant heart. Those that I feel like those are the ones that always go really, really well. The ones that really care about their clients, that really care about this happening for them and they care about the process, that's a big deal. I really love detailed people, people that really just take the time to put together a good offer that's submit it the right way, things like that. But I think every single time it leads with being a servant heart. Now I've been in the industry a long time and I'm approaching a thousand transactions in my career, so I've dealt with a lot of different personalities. I got to a point where I was like, there's nobody I don't want to work with because there's always a chance to either help them out to teach them a little bit more,

Speaker 6 (00:20:44):
Learn something

Speaker 7 (00:20:45):
To get them to that point where they will see it. Let's not be lie about it and say that we've never been that person on the other end. We all have. It just takes that one little either person or something that happens in your life that's a shift that turns you into that great

Speaker 1 (00:21:00):
Agent. And it could be circumstantial. They just may not have ever faced this situation before.

Speaker 7 (00:21:04):
And some people say they hate working with newer agents, and I'm like, no, I love to because they're trying put themselves on the map. They're trying to get there and they're kind of like teenagers. They think they know it all until they don't realize they don't. Right. But it only takes that one person to influence them in a positive manner that didn't give 'em the chance before to turn 'em into somebody who they are today.

Speaker 1 (00:21:23):
When did you know that this was for you? You of course have told us in a couple of different ways that you made a major transition and that your wife brought you into it, but when did you know after you first committed, you also shared that a couple of years in you're like, should I be doing something else? When did you know that this was for you? When did it click in your own mind or in your heart or whatever? I'm just kind of trying this out to, I'm doing this.

Speaker 5 (00:21:47):
I had a big pivotal moment. So my previous career, I was a dancer of Beauty and the Beast and my background's in theater. And so when the pandemic hit, we all got furloughed. I had my real estate license since 2017, but never did anything with it. So when Covid happened, I was just twiddling my thumbs waiting for Disney to call me back. I was like, I've got this real estate license. Let me try to do this. And so I dived in and it was the call from the casting director at Beauty and the Beast calling us back to Disney being like, Hey, it's been, I think it was a year and a half at that point, we're going to start relearning the show. Are you going to come back? I had quite a few deals under contract, and I literally in that moment was like, I can't go back. This is the moment where this is going to be the full-time thing. Because for the first probably six to nine months, it was just kind of me doing it to make a way to make money in order to survive essentially, because Disney was still closed. It was that phone call with the casting director where I was like, Nope, this is what I'm going to be doing from here on out, and this is officially my new career.

Speaker 6 (00:23:04):
Yeah, I think for me it was my first year. I was only 10 deals, but I will freaking take it, especially in my first year of real estate. But I feel like I always, even to this day have imposter syndrome sometimes.

Speaker 6 (00:23:16):
But I think the moment switched for me because in that first year and a half I was contemplating because I was still serving. So I'm like, maybe I can still be a career server. It's fine. You can do that in Disney and Universal because you'll make decent money. So I always kept going back and forth because I wasn't sure, but I think the moment that switched for me, I was guess when people on our team, especially newer agents started asking me for advice and turning to me for some of those things, then I'm like, okay, then maybe I can do this. If other people think that I can do this as well, then I should have that same belief in myself.

Speaker 7 (00:23:49):
Obviously you bring value, so that's awesome.

Speaker 6 (00:23:52):
Yeah, I appreciate any, like you said earlier, whether you're a new agent, 20 years of experience, whatever, almost every conversation I feel like I take away something new that I wouldn't have thought

Speaker 7 (00:24:02):
About. Hands down. Yeah. My pivotal moment, believe it or not, was during my hardest time in real estate, which was the short sale period when we had to get the punch in the gut that we didn't have a closing for six months because the market, when I tell you the market was bad as that, but for six months we'd have a closing and I had to shift to a different market and have a different mindset. After closing a few of my short sales and realizing this is probably one of the hardest times in somebody's life. That's not what real estate is supposed to be. It's supposed to be the best time in somebody's life. This was the hardest time in somebody's life to know that they're losing their home, they can't pay their mortgage. There's so many just hardships and such to then get the feedback from those people that they were more grateful for me then than they were for me ever. And that to me was like, maybe I am doing the right thing. Maybe

Speaker 4 (00:24:46):
I'm in the right.

Speaker 7 (00:25:38):
Especially when you still have

Speaker 4 (00:25:39):
Those hard days and

Speaker 7 (00:25:40):
It makes it all worth it 100%. I'm always searching for that next opportunity to do that. Yeah,

Speaker 3 (00:25:44):
I feel like mine came in those first two years when I told you I had to have some tough conversations of is this going to be the career for me? And part of it was I was really working hard to make it happen. I had the support to get there, but I was kind of half in, half out. I was still pursuing a degree at UCF at the time. That was the expectation from the family is that you're going to go to school and you're going to graduate and get the degree. And Ken talked to me one day and he's like, Brie, I just need to know that you're all in. I'm all in. I'm all in. I

Speaker 7 (00:26:14):
Dunno how much more I can be.

Speaker 3 (00:26:16):
I'm all in. He wasn't insinuating anything specific, but he's like, this is really getting ready to grow big. I want to see you succeed. I was young, new mom just married, just had my baby. So all of these things were happening at the same time. And so I came home and talked to my husband. I said, I think I'm going to leave mid degree. I'm not going to finish school. And I went back the next day and told Ken that I left UCF. He's like, whoa, I wasn't really listening, wasn't expecting that. And he is like, well, wow, I got to really support you now we got to make sure that we're making opportunities happen. But that was the decision I made, and it was really hard at the time. I think it was frowned upon. It was also not what I had expected kind of the path to be. I thought I could easily do both then, but what I realized was I was giving myself the degree to fall back on and I didn't really have a plan for how I was going to use that degree. That was a pivotal point for me. I was all in at that point, had to make it happen, wanted to make it happen, and haven't looked back since then.

Speaker 1 (00:27:11):
As we are kind of working to the close of Q1 2025, I just want to timestamp this for the nature of the question. How are you all thinking about this market right now in Orlando and how have you maybe switched up, maybe your focus or some of your habits to adjust with the way the market feels right now?

Speaker 5 (00:27:32):
Inventory's up substantially and yeah, I have the most amount of listings I've ever had since I started. I knew that buyers were kind of going to be not as prevalent because of the interest rates. Yeah, I kind of shifted towards focusing on sellers and it ended up working and I've got a good amount of listings coming up

Speaker 1 (00:27:54):
Here. When you got a listing three years ago, it's a much different experience. What have you changed up around that, whether it's the way that you're talking with the person that's deciding to list with you or any of your behavior to try to create some activity around those listings?

Speaker 5 (00:28:11):
Well, I feel like setting expectations for sellers and letting them know about the conditions of the market and letting them know how many months of supply we have, how many homes we're going to be up against, and all of that is even more crucial now knowing that we've got eight months of supply in central Florida. Do you really? Yeah, 7.73 I think was it was January

Speaker 3 (00:28:34):
Last date of the market this week. Just took a blip though. It's really interesting. This Tuesday it was reporting just under five months of inventory across the board, and then 500,000 to a million, which is a big price bracket, was at three and a half months, four months. So we'll have to see how it reports next week on the Monday morning quarterback. But we were looking at that and then seeing that the average days on market is still averaging at 99 days. So it's a very interesting climate. But we did have so much stagnant inventory it seemed like coming out of, we were in an election year, it was the holidays and the messaging had to change not only to our sellers, but also to the buyers. So I think that they saw the opportunity. And then the other tough thing is, I don't know if you guys have been put in a bad situation by new construction heavy pocket markets, but that inventory level also doesn't include how much new construction we have unless it's on the MLS.

Speaker 4 (00:29:22):
And

Speaker 3 (00:29:22):
Apopka has been such a struggle with how many builders are over there.

Speaker 6 (00:29:27):
Harmony,

Speaker 3 (00:29:27):
Harmony's a big one,

Speaker 6 (00:29:30):
And

Speaker 3 (00:29:30):
Competing with those incentives and competing. It's hard to compete with the incentives, but we've still managed to get some of those done much longer timelines, no amazing statistics. I want to report to a seller, but just that we got it sold I think is the biggest shift. We've also gotten a bit more creative with our messaging. We offer a menu of services for our sellers, which has been really game changing for us in the different

Speaker 1 (00:29:50):
Market break down just a little bit.

Speaker 3 (00:29:51):
So there's different tiers. They get to choose how much marketing they want to invest in for their home, and it includes different things. There's a particular package that's the most popular that allows us to do video specifically for their home. So we've also pivoted to a lot more creative content that's real based. It's growing our socials, it's putting attention on their home, and that's also helped with the buildup for, yeah, it may take a little bit longer, but we're going to make sure we get the most eyes on your home and that we get it sold. And I think that's been a really great tool for us.

Speaker 6 (00:30:18):
There's so much stuff that I wanted to touch on with both of you setting expectations obviously, but also I've been just prospecting even heavier because I feel like that's where a lot of other people are kind of getting discouraged. So I'm just staying super consistent on prospecting, but also just educating, just continuing to educate specifically buyers, sellers when you're going to those appointments and saying, not only is this our average days on market, but in your let's hyper focus under your community where we're at with you, and by setting those expectations and also providing some things that we might not have needed to provide a year ago, extra video content, higher marketing spend staging. Before this past year, I didn't do a lot of staging at all.

Speaker 3 (00:31:01):
Me either. I just got into it and now I'm like, you need a stager. You need needs a stager. Yeah,

Speaker 6 (00:31:07):
That's been, I just do two different packages too, but it's just based off of the needs of the seller. But staging is a big component of that. The listings obviously that go under contract are going under contract a lot quicker with staging. And surprisingly, I'm seeing my sellers be a lot more accepting of maybe having that higher package because they want that staging, which I didn't expect,

Speaker 7 (00:31:30):
Right?

Speaker 7 (00:31:31):
So I don't behave any differently. I'm almost kind of built who I am and how I do things. And whether you're in a buyer's market, seller's market, I still stay consistent. Only thing I do differently is what I look at and what I'm really paying attention to. And so for instance, recently what I've been paying attention to is consumer debt. Obviously rate trends and buyer profiles as well, and kind of what they're doing and what's really driving sellers to want to sell and why they're not selling. Really just kind of paying attention to all that stuff on consistent basis. But it's funny you brought up the 500 to a million is three months, but it'll shock people to know that, and I'm sure you've seen it, that the one that's the highest in regards of months of inventory is two 50 to 300. And you're thinking, well, how is that a

Speaker 1 (00:32:10):
Thing?

Speaker 7 (00:32:11):
How is this the least expensive that you can buy? And you'd think that the buyer pool's massive there.

Speaker 1 (00:32:15):
And we've heard a lot about people being priced out of starter homes, and that would be that price range literally

Speaker 3 (00:32:21):
Is the price range. They also have the lowest original sales price to final sales

Speaker 7 (00:32:25):
Price, 92%

Speaker 3 (00:32:26):
Ratio. When you think about 8% off of a 250,000 home, that's really significant for that buyer.

Speaker 7 (00:32:31):
It really truly

Speaker 3 (00:32:32):
Is. And that's where the opportunity is. That's the messaging that I think we can bring to the table.

Speaker 7 (00:32:35):
And those are the sellers that really need it. Those are that really need the money in it, that's where they're hurting the most. But no, I don't take a different approach. We're really, we stay focused on the buy side. We stay focused on the list side at all times. That's why we have buyer's agents, and we just kind of do all that. If I see it coming, for instance, two Octobers ago, I said to my team and I sent this long email out saying, Hey, not here yet, but hold on tight. Start putting your money away. Spend a little bit less in regards to frivolous things and just live a little bit more frugal. This is what I see on the horizon. And obviously things are now kind of going in that direction a little bit where people are having to go into debt more and they're leaning on their homes as their piggy banks to a point where they're almost forced to have to sell to get the equity out of it. But what are they using the equity for potentially to pay off debt? And who wants to do that? Just noticing the trends and keeping a really strong eye on that, knowing what's coming

Speaker 7 (00:33:25):
Potentially is I think your biggest value. And then again, the way you present it to any sellers or buyers I think is consistent in regards to you're always being honest, right? I'm not here. I'd rather turn you down now than let you down later type of mindset. I

Speaker 6 (00:33:38):
Think it's the authenticity.

Speaker 7 (00:33:39):
Yeah, right, exactly right. So I just had a conversation, I think you heard this story at our meeting the other day where the seller wanted to list it for $60,000 more than what I thought we can list it for. And he was adamant about it. And I said, I'm fortunately at this point I'd rather turn you down now than let you down later. I can't do that job for you. And he turned right back around and said, well, wait a minute. And he was more accepting when I was honest with him to figure out a way to work with me than not. But don't take your eye off the ball with the buy side. I think that's a big opportunity to be able to take advantage of because this is what happened before, and people who took the off the ball didn't build their business. Truly, they were just transactional. I

Speaker 6 (00:34:13):
Wanted just to touch on that real quick. It's funny. I feel like we hear it all the time. When it's a seller's market, you want to be the listing agent. You're like, I need to be a super heavy listing agent. But then when it flips to the buyer, the buyer's market, you're like, I need to be a buyer's agent. I'm like, guys, why can't you 50 50, 50? You're just a real estate agent.

Speaker 3 (00:34:30):
No, I love what you said because I feel like more often than not now we are actually talking people out of selling based on what the data is saying. I mean, it's of course very pocket market specific or letting them know

Speaker 1 (00:34:41):
Just because they have false expectations about how it's going to go.

Speaker 3 (00:34:45):
It could be

Speaker 1 (00:34:46):
What are the circumstances where you talk your goal to talk out of it, but the honesty is

Speaker 3 (00:34:50):
What leads them there. Yeah. What I mean by that is you're coming with the data and you're giving it to them to help make an informed decision. Now, I want to be a partner in that decision, but I'm not persuading them one way or the other. We're just being very factual. $60,000 over would be a good reason to say this isn't the right market for that. If your reason for moving is only influenced by your equity and you are okay on your debt, then you should sit tight and wait for the market to meet you there if you actually do want to sell. And it's because you got to go out of state for a job relocation. This is what that looks like and are you open to that? But I would say we're not as eager to take listings that are going to sit there. So at least not in this market, we're just trying to be very upfront with them. And then I do agree that actually they trust you more because of that, because you were the only agent to say it where we have other agents that are great, but they're walking in and maybe promising something that would be underdelivered on.

Speaker 1 (00:35:43):
Yeah. I feel like we're constantly looking for reasons to trust or not trust in the minute someone gives you something that you haven't heard before but feels very honest, not just because of you and the way you presented it, but I haven't heard this before. There's a reason I haven't heard it before. I think it's because she's being honest with

Speaker 4 (00:36:00):
Me

Speaker 1 (00:36:01):
And the other people weren't instant. And so whether that deal doesn't happen now, it'll happen at some point and you'll be the call the person who gets the call,

Speaker 6 (00:36:09):
Especially within that first meeting too, hearing something different or even thinking about that objection or something that might not seem right. I feel like people are definitely on edge a little bit more for that first consultation.

Speaker 7 (00:36:22):
By the way, that seller, that $60,000 one, it was a condo, so it wasn't like I was a million dollar one. I was like 60 grand. Now I'm not taking it. It's not that it was a condo and this I was going to be his third agent. So it's like he's been told the same story over and over again, listed 60,000 too high, told the same story, and his immediate reaction was they're not doing what it takes. So when he heard from me that actually was him, not me, but here's another reality,

Speaker 1 (00:36:46):
They don't know magic.

Speaker 7 (00:36:48):
I hope

Speaker 1 (00:36:48):
You know magic

Speaker 7 (00:36:49):
You have exactly. But the reality is 90 plus percent, I'm not a hundred percent on this, but 90 plus percent of people want to sell a home that are in a situation like that because they need to sell it. They need something out of it. Either there's a death in the family or there's debt or they're getting married or they're having a baby, or there's something, right? There's something that's driving that. But what I'm finding now right now is people need the money and when they need the money, they are stuck with this unrealistic idea that what the market used to be or what they think it is currently is their market, right? Right. So that's a very hard thing to overcome.

Speaker 4 (00:37:22):
So

Speaker 7 (00:37:23):
Flooding in with data, even if you take it a little bit high, we've used pricing pacers before. Things like

Speaker 3 (00:37:28):
That, of course, set the expectations

Speaker 7 (00:37:29):
You set, see? Exactly. Right. So there's nothing better than a weekly consistent message and being honest with them every single week to build that trust and keep that trust.

Speaker 3 (00:37:39):
And I thought of another good example because I think the other piece of it is that you're not necessarily talking of listing, it's just maybe you're talking about a listing right now. There's a community in Winter Garden that's actually Lake County, and when you look, it's one neighborhood with a few hundred homes and it has 32 active listings.

Speaker 3 (00:37:58):
So when you look at that, it's like if you need to sell, it's going to take this, which is a severe price cut, you bringing money to the table to close. And we actually had someone that chose to do that because they needed to get up to Jersey with their family. But for other people, it's like, let's revisit this every month and see is this inventory getting absorbed? We could go on the market and we could sit it out, but for what you need to sell it for, that may not make the most financial sense. Not everyone can bring that money to the table. So I think sometimes it's just situational, right? It's like we will help you, but the timing today is not right for you based on your neighborhood or your pocket market. Pop is another great one because there's so many builders around, it can still be done. It's just going to take a different strategy.

Speaker 1 (00:38:39):
Or if they don't take it in terms of price that you're maybe asking them to front the cash to make these three things look way better so that if someone goes door to door to door to door across those 32 listings, who might want to live in that neighborhood that you have something to stand

Speaker 3 (00:38:51):
Out or maybe it's incentives, maybe it's buyer broker compensation. There's so many things that you could do. So I think that's a big one. And then the weekly update, we do it every single week on the same day. Every Tuesday it's a marketing and feedback update, and then it's sent, followed up by a phone call, but they have it all right there. They can look at it every seven days. What's changed from the

Speaker 1 (00:39:12):
Money, what information is in that, because you don't want to overwhelm them, but you want them to have a realistic picture so that when it comes time to maybe have a price reduction conversation or a listing extension conversation, you have this track record of,

Speaker 3 (00:39:23):
Well, the beautiful thing is we don't have to have the conversations, they just say it, they

Speaker 1 (00:39:27):
Self discover. But what is included in that so that it's not too much or not too little?

Speaker 3 (00:39:32):
So I just break it down by three categories, market marketing feedback. The market updates might include the Monday morning quarterback. Now that can be overwhelming for some people to look at. So we

Speaker 1 (00:39:40):
Have Does that come from your NLS?

Speaker 3 (00:39:42):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (00:39:42):
Okay, good. I feel like you all use

Speaker 3 (00:39:44):
The same language. It's a thing. It reports all the data for our main four county area.

Speaker 7 (00:39:49):
It's from Aura, but

Speaker 3 (00:39:50):
Yeah. Yeah, from Aura, sorry. So we'll highlight their price bracket and we keep referring to those numbers, but they understand what they mean by that point because we've broken it down our first consultation. And then it's more community specific. Like, Hey, over the last seven days, two more homes were listed in your community. This is how they're similar to your home. This is how they're different marketing. We let them know exactly what we did in terms of our newsletter, how many views we got on the reel, how we're performing on Zillow, and then what we did for reverse prospecting. And the feedback would be from any open houses or showings and they have the three bullet points. Oftentimes people will say, okay, yeah, I think we should go ahead and reduce the price by X amount, or we are going to need a little bit more time. And then if they're not giving us that initially, we would like to follow that up with three options. So they still feel like they're choosing number one, we can sit here and keep doing what we're doing. We feel confident in our strategy. Two, we can make a small improvement, see how the market responds, or three, we can avoid the back and forth dance. I would make a professional recommendation on this number, and we can expect a turnaround time within X days. And then usually, thankfully they'll go for three and we'll get it done.

Speaker 1 (00:40:50):
So I already know your strategy, so I feel like I'm hearing in yours, you would rather do significant price reductions when they happen rather than let's take it down five more,

Speaker 3 (00:41:00):
Take it down five more. It's totally situational. That's not everyone. Our goal is to not go in and then only ask them for a price reduction and drive it down. The pricing pacers are going to be different for every single home, and it's going to be the expectations of that seller. We're going to do other things, of course, but at the end of the day, we just have to listen to the market. It's the market that's making those decisions, not us. And we like to tell them that we're about 30% of the equation. So I can market this as much as possible, but it's still going to be pricing condition and location. And if the buyers aren't responding to the price, that's something we have to pay attention to. For all four of us, we could say, our sellers trust us, they want that information. I think it's worse to sit there and be a few months later, oh, well maybe now we should test the price.

Speaker 1 (00:41:44):
Yeah, I like that three piece weekly communication. How do you do that?

Speaker 7 (00:41:47):
Very similar. And again, you saw it firsthand. We break down that same email with the understanding, I already have it scheduled. This is leading into our 1230 phone call. Please take a look at it and we'll talk about it. We rely on, so

Speaker 1 (00:42:00):
You do it as a call and you send it as kind of like a scene setter for that phone call?

Speaker 7 (00:42:05):
100%. Yeah. I always want to set the stage first, and then when we talk, they're a little bit more educated. If feel more comfortable, they kind of know what's coming, but they've also gotten it for the last four weeks or however long it is. So it's consistent, but similar to breakdown. So we use hit counters from MLSA lot. Yep, that's good one. And you just kind of keep an eye on the hit counters and we track those hit counters. So remember you can't go back and look at historical hit counters. So track 'em and you watch for trends and you watch for things like that. And you kind of give them your advice based off of that. And then after that, we do break down the feedback. We break down the showings, how things are trending, if we're increasing our showings, decreasing our showings, especially if we've had any price corrections or anything.

Speaker 7 (00:42:39):
And then after that we do talk about their specific markets. And one thing I do truly love to highlight is how many of sellers have had price reductions and what percentage of price reductions have they had? And that tends to recently stand out a lot. And we do it every week. So it's the past seven days, not just overall. We also utilize sellers submitted net sheets every single time that we send that update because if we do have a price correction we to recommend, we have a range and we send them in a new net sheet. Sometimes they see the big number, oh, I need to drop at 10 grand, but what does that really mean to their bottom line? Where does that really affect them? So we send that along with a pricing benchmark report from the showing from ShowingTime. Oh, and then the comps of course.

Speaker 7 (00:43:22):
But again, the power is in the consistency. And then also when you're having that conversation, you said something a minute ago, and I tell my agents this all the time, don't be afraid of having that phone call because they're actually wanting to talk to you. They want to hear it. They want to do it. It's the worst thing in the world when you call them or they call you and like, Hey, I think it's time to make a press reduction. You're like, yeah, and I think it's time for me to get out of the industry. I should have known that, right? So don't be ever be afraid to make that phone call,

Speaker 4 (00:43:47):
But

Speaker 7 (00:43:48):
That's exactly what we do. Oh, one more thing. We don't, small incremental price drop. It does not make sense. If I go in saying, I'm going to list it at this and we're going to give it a shot seven days later, which in my opinion, that is the enough time to get enough data

Speaker 1 (00:44:02):
To know whether or not you're about in the right zone. If you're seeing enough activity, you're like, okay, we did it. And if you're not seeing the activity, seven days is your window to say, we've seen or not seen enough activity to know whether we're

Speaker 7 (00:44:13):
In zone. Most important time on market is your first seven to 10 days, you get the most amount of data, most amount of I know where we're positioned, we need to adjust or we're on the right path. Those are the two conversations in those first seven, 10 days. If you're not on the right path, we have an expectation and agreement with the seller that we need to then jump to that next bracket. What's going to get us another pool of buyers,

Speaker 4 (00:44:32):
Not

Speaker 7 (00:44:33):
Just what's going to make a show back up in their feet again.

Speaker 1 (00:44:35):
Right? Yeah.

Speaker 7 (00:44:36):
A thousand dollars is a waste of time.

Speaker 1 (00:44:38):
I've seen that play a number of times. You're on the third photo, you're like, I've seen this place. It's listing as new. How usually Zillow to do, it's like new. And you're like, you look at it, you're like, no, it's not. They just dropped a thousand dollars or they pulled it for two weeks and put it right back on.

Speaker 7 (00:44:55):
You ever try the idea about switching the front photo to a different view? So our photographer takes a straight on up, down to the left, up down, and then every time we do a press correction, we change the front photo just so they're like, oh, I didn't see this one before. And they give it another chance. That's actually kind of been working.

Speaker 1 (00:45:12):
Any thoughts on price reductions or listing extensions?

Speaker 5 (00:45:14):
Renee Funk, she had a conversation with me a while back about having them on Tuesdays. We go through and you see everything in the community and the changes from active depending, and the changes from pending to sold, and you basically just analyze that information. You have the conversation with the seller as to what they want to do, knowing that information, because clearly something's happening for those particular listings that are actually changing the status and moving forward, the

Speaker 7 (00:45:44):
Market's moving on without you,

Speaker 5 (00:45:46):
Right? And then you just adjust accordingly and it's really good. It's been really

Speaker 6 (00:45:50):
Good. Yeah, I do something similar. A lot of mine's just phone call based and we kind of go over a combination of everything that's been said. I typically go live on a Thursday and then we do a lot of door knocking and marketing on Friday, and then that kind of kicks off our marketing campaign and then Saturday, Sunday is open house, so if we're not getting traction by that following open house, whether it be an offer, et cetera, then it's like that seven to 10 day window where it's like, okay, we need to make an adjustment and I agree this a thousand dollars, $1,500, it's just makes no sense to me. So I kind of preset those expectations of where our next drop would kind of look, which is subject to change based on where we're seeing the market in the last seven to 14 days anyway, so they anticipate that coming if we're not getting what we need in that first go.

Speaker 1 (00:46:36):
Yeah, I'll tell you on the consumer side, if there aren't five digits in the price change, it's just really not compelling at

Speaker 4 (00:46:42):
All.

Speaker 1 (00:46:43):
Quick drive by on this one, my understanding is that Florida had never had any requirements with regard to buyer broker agreements. How did last year's lead up in the changes related to the NR settlement? Did that change anything for you all? Now that we have several months to look back on that window, certainly there was, depending on who you were following and what you were connected to, there's a lot of anxiety and buildup and this is going to change everything. But in general, what I've heard in talking with people across the United States is that it really didn't change anything except maybe a little bit of the process.

Speaker 5 (00:47:18):
I haven't seen a huge change. The biggest thing that I have found are people that don't personally know me are a lot more hesitant and I've had to really figure out how to have the conversations to sign the BBA. I had a woman reach out to me about a house that she wanted to see. I had never talked to her before and I had told her everything about all of the changes and everything we sent over the BBA. She reviewed it and just texted me back and said, my husband and I aren't comfortable signing the BBA. But again, that was someone that I had never met personally. I feel like that was more of the hurdle. Everyone else that I've worked with has never had a problem with it. I feel like it isn't as much of an issue as I feel like we thought it was going to be leading up to August.

Speaker 6 (00:48:11):
Yeah, I think it's been great. I love the fact that we have BBAs now. I'm averaging probably 0.25 higher on the buyer side now, and I love that the other side, the listing agent can't go and say what my value is.

Speaker 6 (00:48:26):
So I think that's fantastic. I also think that we're having a little bit more increased transparency with who we're representing. We're showing that we're professionals and it's not just a given that we're getting this dollar amount. And then when it comes to handling objections, I'm fortunate that I had people I didn't know all the time and I've got hung up on, cursed out, and so nothing really phases me anymore, but when it comes to the BBAs, I just make sure I like that we have our own BA. That is a little bit, I feel like it's a little bit more clear than the national one, like the realtors one where it kind of really explains things on a base level. I explained that to them, but I also show them our contract and show them the agenda where we will check this box to have the buyer worker compensation included. This goes with every offer and basically going through all of that, disarms a little bit of that hesitation because they know that this can't be signed and executed without this also executed. So that's been good to be able to have those conversations.

Speaker 7 (00:49:30):
So we've known it's coming, we were hearing it and we knew the lawsuit was out there, so we kind of knew it was coming, so we planned as early as we possibly could to be prepared for it. So it wasn't as big of a hit as what most people thought it was going to be. I think it was more of a mindset and shift, and you got to remember they did real estate like this years not when I was in it though, but years and years ago. So it is a thing. I mean, it's actually doable to go towards something you talked about. We do utilize showing agreements, individual property showing agreements, and also EBAs way I coach my agents is if they don't feel like the EBBA is going to be something that they're going to be open to, my biggest thing is it doesn't matter.

Speaker 7 (00:50:10):
And here's the reality, we're always interviewing to earn somebody's trust. So I'm a big believer that the way you earn their trust is you show up and you see it get 'em in person, and you get 'em face to face. So if you have to do a one time showing agreement for that one property or you even have to do you one free type of thing, I'm a big believer in that because the conversion rate jumps up dramatically when you get face-to-face. It's the same reason why somebody who only wants A-C-M-A-I deliver it to them in

Speaker 4 (00:50:38):
Person.

Speaker 7 (00:50:39):
Even if they don't want to list their property, that's fine. I'm just going to deliver it to you just in case you have any questions that can answer it to you. I want to meet them face to face. And then that conversion is completely different. I mean more on list side. I think it's actually been a big plus for sellers versus not. It's definitely been more in their favor. I think it is more transparent and more clear, it's more negotiable. So it hasn't necessarily been an issue at all.

Speaker 3 (00:51:02):
We also started it early. We started in April since we knew it was coming and just got everyone really excited about it on the team. We had a little competition per se, just to try to get everyone over that hump and make it fun. And I think that helped a lot. We've also increased our buyer's agent compensation from the new format, and it's been pretty seamless. I would say we break it down for buyers, but let them know that it's part of our onboarding process to formalize our partnership, and as long as we've done the work on the front end, it seems to be conveying over well. And I also like knowing the exact buyers that I'm working with. No longer do you have to wonder through your follow-up game if they're committed to you or not. They're just committed and I think that's helped a lot. And also knowing what business you have on the books for the year.

Speaker 1 (00:51:44):
With just a few minutes left, I'd love for you to share any advice or questions you would ask to kind of walk through the opportunity for a relatively new agent who's thinking about how do I find the right team or find the right brokerage? How do you guide that conversation or how have you guided that conversation in the past? How do you help them decide where they're going to find a good home?

Speaker 3 (00:52:07):
I think it's trying to find a place where you can align with culture. Again, that's quite literally the number one and only thing that the Poit group hires to. So whether you're going to be a single agent and work at a brokerage that offers culture or you're going to find a team that has that culture, I think I would look for that. Again, number one, that's what resonated with me about Ken in the first place and then making sure that they have the growth path for you. It depends on what your personal goal is, but those would be my two things.

Speaker 1 (00:52:30):
Just give me a little bit more on culture. Do people just get a feeling when they're in that conversation and then maybe they go to a team meeting and they're like, oh, this does feel like a place for me or

Speaker 3 (00:52:40):
Question. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (00:52:41):
It's not like these are our five core values. I mean, it is that, but it's also, it

Speaker 3 (00:52:45):
Can't

Speaker 1 (00:52:46):
Be just that.

Speaker 3 (00:52:46):
Yeah, we have some core values, but you're right. It's not just that, and I think it actually comes from the discovery questions in the first interview with that agent. Why are they in this business? What is their goal? Are they here to help people? Or a very quick one is they're here to make money and get leads. And so I think it's their motivation, their why, and letting them give that to you, not you giving it to them. Our team also has no ego. We're not competing against each other in any way. It's all very, very collaborative. So we want someone that we feel like is going to come in to be a partner and contribute to conversations and be a part of those team meetings and bring ideas. And I think you can learn that about a person within those first couple rounds of interviews. And if not, they're still wonderful and they'll succeed. They just may not have a home there and they should go find someone that aligns with what they're hoping to do.

Speaker 7 (00:53:33):
Yeah, my biggest advice today is go find a team to partner with. I mean, it's my opinion just because of the structure of how the leads are being, where people are getting leads from and such, unless you are actually similar to you where it's a very sphere base. And I've met a lot of people who have worked at Disney in places like that that absolutely kill it with their sphere because it's a huge source of them. But a brand new agent, I feel like you need to attach yourself to somebody who's very strong. The way that I onboard my agents is they're literally in my hip pocket the entire time. I want them to learn from what I say, what I do, what I do wrong, where I'm going. There's nothing better than doing it with somebody who's doing it. So that's my best way of onboarding anybody. Now, do we have structures in place, learning the systems, learning the tools, all that stuff? Absolutely. But I love hiring young, have no bad tendencies that don't know much about it because teaching real estate is easy teaching personality. So that's

Speaker 1 (00:54:31):
Not easy. And think of that in the language of skill and will the skill stuff, we can just do that every Tuesday for two hours. We're going to, but the will piece is I feel like that's, it's not exclusively you have it or you don't, but it starts that. A lot of it is there.

Speaker 7 (00:54:48):
My unicorn, I call her my unicorn, who I found her name is Sarah and Ucci, and she didn't come from any type of real estate background at all, but she was one of the most genuine, hardworking people that I've ever met. And I said, you know what? This is exactly what I was looking for. And the skill came to her very easily after that. But you can't touch her personality. You can't touch her empathy. You can't touch any of that. I mean, she has one of the best with it. So when she first started with me, she started loving real estate so much that she decided that she was going to break up with her boyfriend so she could focus more on working. And I was like, oh my God, you're all in all in. This is phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (00:55:22):
This is like I quit school yesterday.

Speaker 7 (00:55:25):
Exactly when you said that story, I was like, oh my God, I had somebody like that. So we're weer group real and we ourselves. She was

Speaker 1 (00:55:31):
Just looking for a reason. Anyway, she was right.

Speaker 7 (00:55:33):
It was a great guy. I don't know what she's talking about, but we are Wimmer Group Realty, so we call each other we mates, and we do that for a purpose, right? We right. It's us. So I think the culture's a huge piece, but yeah.

Speaker 6 (00:55:44):
Yeah. Again, I think it's a combination of what you guys said, but also interview a lot of teams because then it comes back to that culture piece and where you think you're a good fit. I also completely agree. I think anyone coming in the industry, unless you're kind of like a unicorn like Nick and you have that sphere already built in a network like that, even Nick joined a team, but a hundred percent I think you need a team irrespective of these splits and cuts and all of that stuff. It's instrumental to be able to keep you in the business and learn from someone who's already done and made those mistakes. And not only from the team leader itself, but everyone else that's also there because it's almost like fast tracking you to being able to learn things that you would've screwed up probably over your first year anyway. So I think it's vital to explore a bunch of teams and definitely get on one that aligns with what you're looking for.

Speaker 1 (00:56:33):
I had Carly Van Dyke with Whistle Realty on an episode of the show. She spent six months interviewing almost every team in brokerage in San Diego. That was like, by the way, cross promotion. Now. She came with red flags and things that she heard where she knew that this wasn't it, but it turned out to be intuitive. She had interviewed with Whistle and obviously a ton of other ones, but ended up following an invite to go to a meeting and was like, she just knew at that point, but this idea of what is out there, go find out. Everyone wants to talk to you. Anyway,

Speaker 6 (00:57:07):
I met a random person at a bar. She was managing a restaurant and she was like, oh, we ended up talking about real estate. She was like, oh, I want to get my license. So she's getting her license now and onboarding DX exp. But I said, you need to talk to all of these teams. And I said, I don't think you should be independent at all. Of course I'll be a resource for you, but I can't provide what some of these other teams provide. And I think it's a necessity for them to do that,

Speaker 1 (00:57:30):
And it's going to need to be provided, so you're going to have to provide it for yourself, or you're going to have to go get it somewhere else.

Speaker 6 (00:57:35):
And it's also knowing what do the fees even look like getting into real estate. So I have a doc for anyone that's looking to get into real estate of what the pre-licensing fees even look like, the fees just with exp of joining, because I don't think you can fully immerse yourself into real estate unless you have some sort of stable income that's paying your bills. And of course you can take that leap of faith and have a savings, but that stressor on the backend of knowing these funds could run out. That's why I take on so many people that are serving because at least that income part is stable. But yeah, just the title and it's teams a hundred percent. And just knowing what you're getting yourself into financially.

Speaker 5 (00:58:14):
Yeah, I mean, even despite having a sphere of influence, joining a team in the beginning was the best thing I could have done. A brand new agent, especially for the first few years at least, a team is perfect for them. You need to learn the ropes. I also feel like you should figure out though what you want. Is culture important to you? Are leads important to you? Do you need transaction coordinators? All of that, and figure out which teams provide what you're wanting because not all teams are created equal. And yeah, doing your own due diligence in figuring out what everyone has to offer and how it's going to align with your needs.

Speaker 1 (00:58:56):
Really good. I appreciate you all so much. We've spent a ton of time together. We covered a lot of ground I feel like, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you so much for doing this.

Speaker 1 (00:59:07):
I hope you've enjoyed both of our panel style Summit series episodes with Nick, Matt, Brie, and Tony, as well as both conversations with our four real estate team leaders and both of our conversations with two operations leaders. If you missed any of those episodes, they're all linked up right down below. Go to the description, you'll find them all right there. I promise they're worth your time. What did you think of the summit series overall? I would love your feedback. Leave a comment right here on this episode or go to the contact form at the very top of realestate team os.com or better yet, go to realestate team os.com/subscribe and sign up. It's totally free, and once you do, you get instant access to eight subscriber only episodes, plus you get email exclusive insights in your inbox every single week, and every one of those emails comes directly from me so you can reply to those. And again, I would love your feedback on the Summit series or any other episode here on Real Estate Team os I welcome your comments, questions, feedback, or anything else. Thank you again so much for checking this one out. I hope you found it valuable and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Thanks for checking out this episode of Team Os. Get quick insights all the time by checking out real estate team Os on Instagram and on TikTok.