They discuss his vast range of experiences in real estate from selling, managing and running an entire company.

Get insights into how Jim accomplished his goals of making others successful and how he surrounded himself around the right people from so many different backgrounds and walks of life.

They discuss real estate's transition into technological solutions and what it means for the business at large.

Other topics include what makes salespeople great, the commonalities and the ultimate success in the business.

Johnny and Linsey talk about all things agent including engagement, marketing, and the program she helped develop at BHG.

Welcome to episode one in the latest season of Brokerage Insider Podcast, with new host Johnny Pfeiffer and our first guest: President of the Corcoran Affiliate Network, Stephanie Anton.

They go over Stephanie's rise through the industry that includes topics like growing a career in real estate, its limitless opportunities, and how to set yourself up for success. They also touch on female leadership within the industry and advice for navigating the landscape plus the people within it.

They also give some insight into Corcoran and its importance to Stephanie and the industry at large. And also where the industry is moving to and what to expect for the future.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and check us out at TRIBUS.com

TRIBUS CEO Eric Stegemann discusses the brand new season of Brokerage Insider. Meet the new host of the show, Director of Coaching, Johnny Pfeiffer and see who he has on tap to interview over the coming weeks.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, everybody. Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann. I'm the CEO of TRIBUS, one of the largest independent prop tech companies in the real estate space and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages in the United States, Canada, and even around the world.

Now, in addition, I'm also the managing partner, TRIBUS capital, a private equity fund, focused on the prop tech. On today's episode, we have art Carter. Now art is the CEO of CRMLS. It's one of the largest MLSs in the country, and I'm really excited to dig in with him on a slew of topics today. Art, thanks for joining.

Thank you for having me, Eric. Now I ask all my guests, you know, tell us a little bit about how you got to where you're at now. First of all, how did you get into real estate to begin with? So I've been working a couple of private and publicly held companies really on, you know, the technology and, and accounting actually fronts and had done some consultants.

Especially on the technology side for a smaller mid-sized companies. And it was really looking for a, a new challenge and found a, a position with a local association in 1997, I believe it was. And from there kind of transitioned to where I'm at right now which is CRMLS which was at the time that I started in 2005 was MLSMLS. And we have grown from an organization servicing about 20,000 brokers, agents, appraisers to about 110,000 today. So a lot of growth, a lot of expansion, a lot of changes. And my job today is vastly different than it was when I first started. And I'm the type of person who loves a challenge. So it is kind of right up my right up my alley and.

Well, so obviously being, being in charge of a, a, of an MLS has all sorts of of great pieces, but also probably some, some frustrating things that you deal with on a daily basis. So what's the, what's the the big kind of things are the things you're seeing right now, or that the MLS is dealing with that are maybe challenges that you're working.

Well, in all honesty, the, the legal environment that we're facing some of the the legal environment and the, the restrictions that some of the things that are going on legally are, are placing on us as, as multiple listing services. That is a challenge. I think that, you know, we're really trying to.

To accomplish moving in, in real time with the marketplace and providing brokers and agents with real value. And it's always difficult, especially when it comes to a policy standpoint and a rule standpoint, I think a lot of times, not so much necessarily at the brokerage level, but at the agent level, there is not a lot of education that is being done as to what the multiple listing service.

What it does, what some of its requirements are, why those requirements are there. So that's always a difficulty that we face is that educational piece and throw COVID into that and our inability to get in front of people, you know, as effectively. Zoom's great. But. I'm a firm believer. Real estate is about relationships and most of those relationships are built face-to-face and, you know, sometimes one-on-one even, and COVID really, really put a Kirk in our ability to do some of the things that I really think that we needed to do to keep, you know, our brokerages and our agents kind of in the same ballpark as what it is that that is going on in the industry.

Our difficulty always lies in the fact that there's such a high turnover amongst our members. And when I go out and speak, it's not all that surprising when I ask people, how, how many of you have been are newer into the business and have been in the business for less than seven years to have 50% of the...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, everybody. Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann. I'm the CEO of TRIBUS, one of the largest independent prop tech companies in the real estate space and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages in the United States, Canada, and even around the world.

Now, in addition, I'm also the managing partner, TRIBUS capital, a private equity fund, focused on the prop tech. On today's episode, we have art Carter. Now art is the CEO of CRMLS. It's one of the largest MLSs in the country, and I'm really excited to dig in with him on a slew of topics today. Art, thanks for joining.

Thank you for having me, Eric. Now I ask all my guests, you know, tell us a little bit about how you got to where you're at now. First of all, how did you get into real estate to begin with? So I've been working a couple of private and publicly held companies really on, you know, the technology and, and accounting actually fronts and had done some consultants.

Especially on the technology side for a smaller mid-sized companies. And it was really looking for a, a new challenge and found a, a position with a local association in 1997, I believe it was. And from there kind of transitioned to where I'm at right now which is CRMLS which was at the time that I started in 2005 was MLSMLS. And we have grown from an organization servicing about 20,000 brokers, agents, appraisers to about 110,000 today. So a lot of growth, a lot of expansion, a lot of changes. And my job today is vastly different than it was when I first started. And I'm the type of person who loves a challenge. So it is kind of right up my right up my alley and.

Well, so obviously being, being in charge of a, a, of an MLS has all sorts of of great pieces, but also probably some, some frustrating things that you deal with on a daily basis. So what's the, what's the the big kind of things are the things you're seeing right now, or that the MLS is dealing with that are maybe challenges that you're working.

Well, in all honesty, the, the legal environment that we're facing some of the the legal environment and the, the restrictions that some of the things that are going on legally are, are placing on us as, as multiple listing services. That is a challenge. I think that, you know, we're really trying to.

To accomplish moving in, in real time with the marketplace and providing brokers and agents with real value. And it's always difficult, especially when it comes to a policy standpoint and a rule standpoint, I think a lot of times, not so much necessarily at the brokerage level, but at the agent level, there is not a lot of education that is being done as to what the multiple listing service.

What it does, what some of its requirements are, why those requirements are there. So that's always a difficulty that we face is that educational piece and throw COVID into that and our inability to get in front of people, you know, as effectively. Zoom's great. But. I'm a firm believer. Real estate is about relationships and most of those relationships are built face-to-face and, you know, sometimes one-on-one even, and COVID really, really put a Kirk in our ability to do some of the things that I really think that we needed to do to keep, you know, our brokerages and our agents kind of in the same ballpark as what it is that that is going on in the industry.

Our difficulty always lies in the fact that there's such a high turnover amongst our members. And when I go out and speak, it's not all that surprising when I ask people, how, how many of you have been are newer into the business and have been in the business for less than seven years to have 50% of the crowds crowd raised their hands?

75% of our agents probably don't even remember life before Zillow. And so there's always that difficulty in educating people in early, putting that value proposition forward for the MLS. Well, let's talk about that for a second because you know, I've been in this industry for 22 years now. And even from my 22 years ago when I jumped into it, the concept of ward and MLS is, has changed significantly.

And even I was kind of right on that precipice of where. The concept of an online MLS existed. Cause they, my office, when I first started selling real estate real estate, we still have the cards and the the CD ROMs that were available for, for folks. Right. And so the concept of an MLS definitely seems to have changed.

From, you know, the original idea being more or less, just an offer of compensation amongst participating brokers to something a lot more than that. So how, you know, how did we get from point a to point B and where do you think we go from here? Yeah. I don't know that I would, I would agree that it has changed that much.

I've been, I've been preaching for, you know, 17 years now that I run a broker cooperative and it's more than just, you know, it's more than just compensation. It's about the cooperative. This marketplace, that is the multiple listing service is so important to the brokerage community. So important to the appraisal community.

So important to that, to the baking industry that provides loan products and, you know, valuation services out to, out to the, to the consumers, this ecosystem, you know, Even though the technology has changed, even though, you know, we've gone from books to tear sheets, to, to online systems whether, you know, resident on somebody's desktop or delivered, you know, via the internet, you know, the, the basic underpinnings of the multiple listing service.

Really should have been the same across the board. And that's this cooperative that, you know, these offers of compensation, you know, have flowed in between members and the, the, the benefits of that. So the ecosystem within the real estate industry are so, so important. And, you know, I think even more so as we've moved into this electronic you know, this electronic age, I feel like I'm dating myself by saying that, but, you know, I agree with you.

I was around before, you know, there were really these, these large databases, but that all being said, You know, there's such value to that cooperation. It's not the compensation that necessarily runs the whole entire value proposition of, of an MLS. It's it's really that cooperation and the action. Too close to a, a full marketplace, as you can get as far as information, that's really what the value is that we bring in, you know, what we try to preach here.

You know, we, we, it's your MLS, you know, kind of transitioned in 2008. Talking more about taking on more data and providing more data to our brokers and our agents. And that is so Keely important for people going forward. Consumers don't have consumers, don't have borders in. And this this new world, they have access in all honesty to a greater breadth of information than most real estate professionals have in their own MLS.

And it's been a key part of what it is that we're trying to do. And that whole cooperative cooperative piece is, is, you know, I, I hope long-term that, you know, it doesn't get that the baby doesn't get thrown out with the bath water and that the brokerage community does understand that. So, you know, yes, I agree with everything.

You said that at the core, it's all about cooperation, but, but obviously the level of services that a, an MLS provides these days definitely seems different from where I was in back in 20 21, 22 years ago, where. It was you logged in, you could see what properties were for sale and what the commission rate was, which that's, that's a whole other topic of, of knowing what the commission rates are.

Right. But but you know, that's, that's pretty much what you could do and, and they wouldn't have dreamed. And in fact, my MLS. You know, more or less, poo-pooed the idea of offering other technology. But now it seems like every MLS, you know, you've got tax systems like realists and, and all of these other systems like that, that are out there.

You've got MLS says that offer CRM tools, even beyond just the regular. Save search alerts and things like that, that traditional MLS is have, you've got email marketing tools. You've got mobile apps that they offer. It seems like pretty much everything under the sun when it comes to technology, you know, at least some MLS out there has done a deal to license many tools for, for their members usage.

And, and obviously that's shifted where. Tried to, I think, kind of compete in that world. And now it seems like a lot of MLS are stepping in and I know our clients are always concerned about MLS is stepping into that tech space and offering tools beyond. You know, the, the normal, the original concept of broker competence working together, brokers working together.

So, you know, obviously a CMS is as a organization that does offer a lot of tools. What would you say to the brokers that are out there that think, you know, like, Hey, I'm, I'm a broker I'm trying to compete on tech and here's this MLS, that's trying to do the exact same thing and, and pulling people away from my value proposition.

Yeah. You know, I don't know that that's ever the intent of any MLS, but one of the things you've got to recognize Eric, is that you and I both been around long enough to know that there's been ups and downs in this industry. Yeah. We have 24,000 people licensed brokers within our system. And I always kind of chuckle when somebody talks about this is what the brokerage community wants because those 24,000 people it's your most probably have 36,000 opinions about what they want and, and how to provide it.

And that's the difficulty at a, at an MLS level is really. You know, do we only service the large brokerages then, because that, you know, has a completely different value proposition than serving the mid-size brokerages than serving, you know, the small mom and pops and the vast majority of the brokers within the CRMLS system fall into that small mom and pop arena.

So it is a very difficult road. One of the things that. Know, I know that you will see some of the larger MLSs start to do and really our first foray into this was kind of the. This API for showing systems. And, you know, the, the goal is to really kind of cement that cooperation from amongst the brokerage community.

The MLS is in a unique position, probably the only one in the industry to provide this platform for brokers, to cooperate with each other. And you're going to see, especially at CMLs a level that we're moving more and more and more away from these all-inclusive site license tool sets. And the more of an arena where we're providing this connectivity and between, you know, whether it's offer systems or showing systems or lockboxes, you know, there really needs to be, you know, some of that broker choice.

And I, I, that's where I would agree with, with the brokers and that, you know, we have stepped up because there's been. You know, some reasons and I've gone through market terms in all honesty where. You know, between 2005 and 2008, the broker's opinion of what technology offerings that we pushed out there, you know, vary pretty drastically because you know, the market turned at that point.

So, you know, but at this point, you know, we've, we've grown, we've reached the spot. And with the capabilities of, of being a little bit more technology agnostic and providing those connectivity tools where brokers have that level of choice, they have that ability to differentiate themselves. But what we want out of the brokerage community is to cooperate with each other and share information across showing systems, to share information across, you know, offer platforms, to share information, you know, those areas in which it makes.

To have one tool in the tool set, and we should have one tool in the tool set. But where it doesn't then, then we should offer, you know, multiple offerings and, and price it. And I mean so much to dig in there. So obviously as a, as a vendor who, who only works with, you know, usually medium and large sized brokerages, for the most part our, our brokers customers are always concerned, but what you just said is, is what I think all of them dream their MLS.

It is, it's a, you know, essentially a data middleware layer. That's very good at what it does that helps brokers work better, brokerages work better together. And that's what they want. Easy access to the data. So for all of you, MLS is out there. I would encourage you to definitely talk to your brokerage members because I think what art's saying here, right?

I think you'll pretty ubiquitously here. That's what they're looking for. Even the smaller members. They just want the ability to choose the tools that are, that are best for them. So let's dig in on the showings piece here for a minute. Cause here at TRIBUS, you know, we've been for over a year now really kind of pushing this concept of the idea that showing should be open that there should be a way of getting that showing date.

Between the brokerages, the showing broker and the listing broker, they should be able to get access to that data. And, you know, obviously this year with all sorts of changes in the showing industry, for example Zillow buying, showing time obviously there has been more attention to that space, and I know you guys have been right there with us kind of pushing this concept and you guys held this hackathon about pushing the showing data.

So where do you think. Showings we'll be in let's say a year from now. Yeah. I, I, I would hope. And, and there's a lot of things that, that your has had, you know, cooking for a long period of time that for various reasons, the vendor community hasn't really fully embraced. And, you know, I, I would hope that, you know, we could partner with the brokerage community to put pressure, you know, on some of these vendors face.

To be more participant to, especially on the showing information page. You know, this is the, just the new world we live in. You know, I've talked to enough of the venture capitalists out there and it astounds me of the amount of money that is being poured into the PropTech tech space. And we're increasingly going to be faced with situations where.

You know, brokers may have very vastly differing opinions of their comfortability with ownership, structures of the technology that they use. And as such as I said, the MLS is. Uniquely placed to, to be able to ensure that cooperation amongst our brokerages and to share that information. I think the worst thing that could happen for the consumer is this fracturing of the technology.

And I think that's one of the arguments that MLS has, will give you is that that fracturing of the technology does harm the consumer. But fracturing of that cooperation, I'm on brokerages in order to deliver that data, you know, is cumi important. And we need a partnership with the MLS is across the country, need a partnership with the brokerage community to make this occur.

Because you know, there is no brokerage, that's an island. There is no MLS, that's an island and we're all dependent upon each other. And this next level of cooperation is really where we need to go. Technology dictates it, it demands. And it would be a very sad day that we had 10 dominant showing platforms out in the country with none of them talking to each other because that's not what the consumer wants.

And at the end of the day you know, we've got to deliver at the MLS level you know, Through our brokerages, you know, that, that consumer experience to where showings are ubiquitous and, and even on the offer side, things are ubiquitous. And even, you know, the things that we've got brewing with some of our brokerages, allowing our own brokerages to do their own front ends, if they so choose is, is a direction that we all need to go through.

And the MLS really shouldn't. Concerned about, you know, cooperative data sharing and making sure that the data that is shared is as accurate as possible to a common rule. So it, you know, it's funny, you're talking about all these things, because some of it is blog posts from seven, eight years ago that that we wrote.

And some of it is things that we've been talking about for awhile. In fact, TRIBUS actually rolled out a product called Flow three years ago. And the whole idea was it was an add edit tool for adding listings or managing listings. We, we actually worked with a brokerage and what they recognize is that it took.

Almost 10 hours of employee time because they managed all of the entry and, and ongoing management at the listing 10 hours employee time just to manage it in the MLS is cause they had to put it in more than one MLS to properly market the listing based upon where they were at. And so they managing the same data going into the same, you know, the same system.

And they're spending all this time managing it, plus they couldn't kick off appropriately workflows. So for example, if the agent signs the listing and gets everything set up, you don't want to necessarily put it in the MLS and have it live until you have photos until you have, you know, all the things to appropriately market a listing and, and cheers to MLS.

For sure for requiring our most MLS has now require photos to have it go public because, you know, I'm sure you remember back in the day, you'd go online and you'd see all these listings. And none of them had photos on them. And, and so who knows what it was like, but giving brokers the ability to add and edit their listings in a tool that is part of their daily workflow, I think makes so much sense.

Just. Having a tool that manages showings. But if you think about it, I mean, look at showings. As an example, we, we are we're in an environment where there was essentially a monopolistic player in that space. And even they had acquired many of their competitors and even the ones, the other competitors that were out there were kind of also rans, you know, single digit percentage of the markets are smaller.

And they kind of had access to all of that data. More importantly, I happen to know from experience, if you have a broker customer that wanted to go get access to that data, they would have to have huge increases in charges of what they were paying that vendor. To go get access to their own data.

And this brings up a whole other conversation about MITx that we could talk for an hour about too, but being able to get access to that on their own data you know, just for their own listings was one thing and that didn't even account all of their buyers or their, their buyer's agents data.

And, and it seems like to me, and you know, something we're keenly focused on at TRIBUS is on the data side of things, of helping. Brokers better compete using their own data. And without access to that without a good middleware layer, like a MLS is you really can't do much because you have all of these data silos and vendors telling you, you can't get things in and you can't get things out.

Yeah. And, you know, to those, to those ends you know, we at the serum a less level. And as much as we're always going to have a UI that we have to provide because there's, there's always going to be that, that group of our membership that is not going to want to provide their own user interface experience or are not going to have the capabilities of doing it.

But their, their data and their inclusion into the database is just as important as anybody...]]>223fedf3-c21c-412f-a7c2-4651c256e849Mon, 29 Nov 2021 09:28:00 -070048:16nofull245TRIBUSRed Oak Realty CEO Vanessa Bergmark Discusses Conferences, Brokerage Content, and In-House VideoEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everyone. And welcome to another episode of brokerage insider. This is the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and real estate technology. My name is Britt Chester, and I'm the host of today's episode. I'm also the director of client success here at Tribus. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to small, medium, and large brokerages all over.

And today on the show, we're going to be talking with red Oak Realty, CEO and owner, Vanessa Bergmark. But that's a thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. That's I'm really excited to jump right into this. I know you and I have worked a little bit together in the. Today, we actually get to kind of talk about where we are in the industry where red Oak is positioned in a lot of other exciting things.

I think the first thing I kind of want to talk about is Inman connect, where you and I also just kind of met in person for the first time. I love to hear kind of your thoughts on the conference and as we're returning to conferences, kind of what that's like. So if you wouldn't mind let's, let's start with the panels you were on, what you talked about and kind of your thoughts around.

Well, I think it's funny that we've worked with each other probably for about two years. And I spoke to you quite often in your former position and had never met with you in person. And I think that's the great part about it. And then connect is the, the meeting people in real life, right? So we know them in the social and digital media world.

We've known them, you know, you were in Colorado and we were working on projects and PR together, but I never really met you in person. The relationship is it goes up a notch and the network goes up a notch when you actually have that human interaction. So that's something that I've always gotten from connect.

I've been there going there for probably, oh God, I think it's gotta be at least 12 years and at least 10 years of, of doing panels and, and, you know, being on stage and being in those conferences and, and, and engaging with the audience and coming up with content. So do I think it's going to stay the same?

Well, interestingly enough, I thought the format I've been to a couple of conferences since. I guess the pandemics are technically over, but since we, you know, got out of lockdown and I think what's interesting is they feel very much the same. You know, we're wearing masks, we've got some social distancing and some weird plexiglass and things like that.

But on a whole, I don't think the content has changed too much. And I don't think. The, the values that you're taking away from the conferences has really changed. So I have, I was actually surprised to see that it was very much the same as it had been pre pandemic. I think the bigger question is how will they change moving forward?

To me, the content at, at all of these events has been somewhat secondary to the relationships that are formed. You know, after the content has been shared and spread and, you know, th th the dinners or the grabbing drinks, or the meeting up in the hallway, all those things are really aware of the. Is built.

And I think that in my own career and within my own brokerage, I can say so many of my very strong relationships have come from the halls of those conferences in connecting. How do you think the content could change? One of the things, and one of the things I really had as a takeaway was we kind of have an opportunity to maybe explore new ground within the content.

And so you know, in the past, you know, everything has been focused on real estate and it's been focused in marketing. And I think the keynote speakers are all. That's...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everyone. And welcome to another episode of brokerage insider. This is the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and real estate technology. My name is Britt Chester, and I'm the host of today's episode. I'm also the director of client success here at Tribus. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to small, medium, and large brokerages all over.

And today on the show, we're going to be talking with red Oak Realty, CEO and owner, Vanessa Bergmark. But that's a thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. That's I'm really excited to jump right into this. I know you and I have worked a little bit together in the. Today, we actually get to kind of talk about where we are in the industry where red Oak is positioned in a lot of other exciting things.

I think the first thing I kind of want to talk about is Inman connect, where you and I also just kind of met in person for the first time. I love to hear kind of your thoughts on the conference and as we're returning to conferences, kind of what that's like. So if you wouldn't mind let's, let's start with the panels you were on, what you talked about and kind of your thoughts around.

Well, I think it's funny that we've worked with each other probably for about two years. And I spoke to you quite often in your former position and had never met with you in person. And I think that's the great part about it. And then connect is the, the meeting people in real life, right? So we know them in the social and digital media world.

We've known them, you know, you were in Colorado and we were working on projects and PR together, but I never really met you in person. The relationship is it goes up a notch and the network goes up a notch when you actually have that human interaction. So that's something that I've always gotten from connect.

I've been there going there for probably, oh God, I think it's gotta be at least 12 years and at least 10 years of, of doing panels and, and, you know, being on stage and being in those conferences and, and, and engaging with the audience and coming up with content. So do I think it's going to stay the same?

Well, interestingly enough, I thought the format I've been to a couple of conferences since. I guess the pandemics are technically over, but since we, you know, got out of lockdown and I think what's interesting is they feel very much the same. You know, we're wearing masks, we've got some social distancing and some weird plexiglass and things like that.

But on a whole, I don't think the content has changed too much. And I don't think. The, the values that you're taking away from the conferences has really changed. So I have, I was actually surprised to see that it was very much the same as it had been pre pandemic. I think the bigger question is how will they change moving forward?

To me, the content at, at all of these events has been somewhat secondary to the relationships that are formed. You know, after the content has been shared and spread and, you know, th th the dinners or the grabbing drinks, or the meeting up in the hallway, all those things are really aware of the. Is built.

And I think that in my own career and within my own brokerage, I can say so many of my very strong relationships have come from the halls of those conferences in connecting. How do you think the content could change? One of the things, and one of the things I really had as a takeaway was we kind of have an opportunity to maybe explore new ground within the content.

And so you know, in the past, you know, everything has been focused on real estate and it's been focused in marketing. And I think the keynote speakers are all. That's sometimes Inman does a really good job of like pulling in these keynote speakers that are either residual or kind of ancillary to the industry, but can speak to real estate.

And so I wonder how we can start to integrate like new content ideas where you kind of bouncing around any ideas. Did anything kind of, what did you think about in, in how we can change that content? And I'm not just speaking just to him and I'm thinking just to, to events moving forward how we could change that and maybe how it can make it more engaging and make it a more exciting for attending.

Well, you know, I've always felt that the w there's not a deep enough dive, so you can very, like, surfacely touch on some concepts, but then they never really get to go where it's almost like an episode of Schitt's Creek, right? Like you've got 20 minutes and then you're like, ah, it's over. And I feel like that a lot of times with these conference, they try to pack a lot in, so I think that they're hitting.

All these paradigms of conversation and to attract more people to come, but they don't, in my opinion, really, they don't go deep enough. So I don't feel like I've sometimes walk away with this like brand new idea or got involved in a really good debate. Kind of, you know, got that innovation spring and had those, had the thread of that content pull out into the night.

And I think I would love to see that moving forward. I also think those, you know, those big stages and these huge auditoriums there's that personal connection is only. Is lacking as it is on zoom. And I would love to see content frankly, the way, you know, Matt Beall did it years ago. I don't know if he ever went to Hawaii life's conferences, but they were very intimate.

They were small, they were breakout groups and they went deeper and they brought outside concepts in that were not just real estate related, but they were infused into a real estate industry talk. So, you know, I don't know if that's concrete enough, but I think. I think going really, really deep, doing more workshops at conferences would be something that I think people would really get more out of.

And then folks that are there getting and sharing would, would get more giving out. But again, I've never ran a conference and I don't know how, how that all works to make that happen. So there might be something in the P and L that makes that super inefficient and some logistics there. I remember a few years ago at Inman, they had this data scientists, scientists, a guy named Ben Wellington, and he ran a blog called I quantum New York.

And I remember him talking about open data in New York and the ability to download these troves of data sets that were, you know, from. The cost that parking meters make for a city to where it's like illegal to park in front of garage is like all this random datasets. And it had nothing to do with real estate, but he did this presentation on, you know, what it does, Starbucks and the proximity to a Starbucks.

Affect real estate value. And like I just thought that was this really abstract idea. And I thought that was one of the more valuable takeaways I've ever had from an intimate event, because it was so outside of the box, it had nothing to do with median sale price or list price or, or marketing. It was really just about taking data that is seemingly unrelated to real estate and applying it to that.

And I thought that was a really creative way to connect two seemingly in connectable ideas. And see that's I, that right there is a perfect example of taking that and not making it a 20 minute talk, but then having a breakout session or then taking those, just taking that person and then maybe the next.

You know, the next panelist or the next person that's speaking, put them with that and put these people on debating with each other and just pulling away threads of ideas that you can bring back to your own, your own networks or your own brokerage or your own teams is, is kinda huge. So I would love to see it get I would love to see these become more intimate, even if the price was high.

Then having more people, a lower price and less takeaways, I'd rather be deeper, you know, way deeper dive, probably more expensive and a lot more intimate. And I think you'll take, take, take more from it. In my opinion, it could also just be the stage I'm at in my career where you're like, you know, you want, you want that golden nugget.

Yeah, I mean, and you want to be wild and, and I think, you know, I don't know, you know, I'm not going to speak for everybody. I certainly can't. But I would say like, you know, coming back to conferences now and coming back to events, there is that sense of excitement where it's like, I'm so happy to be seeing people.

I'm seeing some people that I've never met in person. I'm seeing people that I've only talked to on zoom. I've seen people that haven't seen in a couple of years, and that is a lot like that is, you know, You know, almost an overstimulation of, of human contact that I've been yearning for. But now I also want it from those sessions as well.

Like I want the, the knowledge, I want the information that's not being shared with me via video. And that. Yeah. Well, I think one of the things that connect does do that I've never seen at any conference nail at the way they do is really build that community. I mean, they have one, it feels like summer camp every, every summer, when you go back every, you know you know, January in New York, it feels like you are reconnecting.

With, you know, some of the industry's best. So I think there's a real opportunity because the people in the players are there. It's just, how do you weave out that really, really, really there's really good stories that changes the way the industry works when they go home from those events. If you were going to give anyone a tip, right.

Going to a conference and we'll, we're using him in as an example, but I think it's kind of any conference right now, or any event, what would be your, your kind of tips and insights as to how to build those relationships, how to even start those conversations with people that perhaps you've never even met before, or you've only read about them?

Cause I think there might be even a little bit of an intimidation factor in, you know, That person is constantly being interviewed or, you know, they're in the press. I follow them on LinkedIn. I mean, how do you even just create that conversation? Is it a matter of walking up and saying, hi, should you, should you reach out beforehand and try and touch base?

What would you kind of advise, you know, kind of newbies to. Yeah. I mean, I guess I would, I would S you know, research and if you're, if you're reading and following things and you, and you'd like what that person has to say. Yeah. I think if you know, they're going to be at that conference, it really behooves you to reach out and try to make some time to see them, or to spend any amount of time with that person, if they're speaking there.

And I think, you know, in the past, if that's ever happened where someone said, Hey, Kevin, can I meet up with you? The best thing to say is. Y you want to meet up with them something specific because otherwise it's just a, Hey, do you want to grab coffee? And I don't, I don't necessarily know if that's going to propel a person that may be getting several invitations or is on a tight schedule or is going there for their own connections and their own, you know, meetups to To take you up on that coffee or that glass of wine.

So it's really like, here's, here's what I've been doing. Here's what I'm thinking. I've been reading your stuff, referenced that stuff, and then here's why I would like to talk with you. And then you give that person that kind of the benefit of the doubt if they're not up for it, but you have a much better chance of converting them.

If you give them a specific, like I'd like to meet with you, because this is what I like to take away from a meeting with you. And a lot of people want, we know they want to be able to provide. Resources, these people that are getting up on stage or an up there, just because they don't have anything to say or give, they, they're usually people that want to give back and.

And get a lot from sharing information and sharing what they've learned with others, and then seeing others take their, take those ideas and innovate with them. So most people would be open to it, but I think this being as specific as possible for those meetups, and then of course, trying to grab them and book it ahead of time, as opposed to grabbing their arm and saying, are you free right now?

Because 9, 9, 7 of those folks are booked up solid when they go to these conferences. Yeah. And I think they got there also. You know, they were networking. They were once the person at the event trying to meet people and then they kind of worked their way up and now everyone wants to meet them. So w whereas I would love to sit here and talk about the conferences all day, too, though.

I want to kind of bring it back to red out. And one of the things, you know, I think I just read that press release. We were kind of talking about it before. Talking about this in-house video production, and I'm a little bit familiar with this with Mika Dustin's work. But talk to me a little bit about how red Oak and maybe this was an insight you got from a conference years ago.

Like, you know, maybe it was an idea that you had gotten, but talk to me about this in-house video production and how red Oaks really kind of like changing media and marketing materials, both for the agents and the consumers. Yeah, we, well, first of all, say I give all my video influence to my friend, Raj Casar with the boutique down in Southern California.

He was getting on me for video probably 10 years before I started doing video. So he was. So far ahead of his time, when he's talking about video, it's like, what do you mean this internet thing? So he got to do video and he hired these huge production teams. I brought in Mika, who I'd known for years.

We'd worked together about 22 years ago. And I brought him in, he had done beautiful work. He was an incredible cinematographer. It wasn't like your typical. Real estate video, you know, kind of grown and just kind of going in. And he, what he was, was a storyteller and he infused story into everything he did.

And, and when we brought him on, we were, we brought him on for several reasons. But part of it was because of his ability to tell a story through the lens of his camera. And and it was, you know, it was, I think it was a risky thing for a real estate company to be like, yeah, we're going to bring it.

Frankly, not a videographer, but like almost like a cinematographer director into our staff. You know, it's super artsy and, and really like a totally different approach. We lucked out because I hired him literally. Six weeks before we got locked up in the pandemic role, totally pivoted into, we got him, you know, once we became essential, he was able to get into the homes and create these stories for the listings that we couldn't really get people in without it being super complex.

We won't go into that. Everyone knows how difficult it was. Those first six months, I was able to just go out there and shoot stories of all of our listings. And we were a brokerage that really spun on its heels. And we just made that available for, for everything to our agents. And at that time we did it all free of charge.

It was just like, get our product out, get our consumers, get our sellers. Homes in front of buyers. And and then we got really good at it. You know, we just, we had a lot of fun with it. It was, it was, it was at a time where everything was so forgiving that we were able to take risks that probably wouldn't have taken, have we not been smack in the middle of the pandemic, but we were like, whatever, what are we going to lose?

We're going to be dead next week. Go big on the video. So yeah, we just had. He came in and did that. And now it's evolved into, you know, how do we share the brand with, you know, potential recruits? How do we share the brand with other businesses? How do we share the brand with consumers? How do we, how do we introduce our agents?

Not just our listings to consumers and it just, you know, we have a, I mean, the guy. Booked solid. He also does a lot of us, like for culture. We have our company kickoff and every year he does a really incredible company culture video. That's always a surprise. We just came up with the concept the other night and and we we'll share that here.

I'm not sharing it. Won't look an idea, but but you know, he's, he's just super creative and there's things that he can do. Like, it's kind of like having Quentin Tarantino on your staff and I he's just he's. And he comes up with great ideas and and he was like, I can't do it. I can't do it. And then he pushes himself and he comes out with this great product.

But what's interesting about even what he does is for our kickoff is it really kind of brings the tribe of right out together. It reminded infuses humor in infusing. Legacy stories and futuristic stories and brings all the characters and individuality of our agents out. And I kind of reminds you of like, why you, why you're with this team and why you, what your values are as a company and it's, and it's so not corporate because honestly, I think we'd all get fired if this company, so we have a lot of fun with it.

That's a, that's a fun thing about directing him as the CEO and owner. I don't have anyone to report up to about violations in our videos, but it's been a great thing. I mean, what I would say in all seriousness is video is you got to think way bigger than just listings. Video is our agent. It's it's our staff team.

It's our, it's our listings. It's our buyers. It's teaching people. What goes on behind the deal it's culture. I mean, the great part is now two years into it. We are infusing it into almost every single one of our platforms. We train with it. We do our new agent training through it. We're actually rolling out our next office and we are building out a whole high-tech green room just to get more.

In-depth. You touched on something interesting there. And you just kind of, I don't know if you breezed over it, but you said like recruiting and using it as part of that, maybe recruiting model. So that kind of brings me to a question of like, how has that, I mean, how has the brokerage kind of shifted?

Cause that's you have video baked into it now, correct. Like video. I mean, that is something that is not like you're, that's not a suggestion to agents. That's something that says when your listings you should use, use, use our in-house guy use Mika because. Just as much a part of this transaction now, as you know, someone 10 years ago was saying like, you have to use your phone or, you know, shoot your own photos.

So how has that, I mean, how has that brokerage model, or I guess, how has your business kind of changing and adapting, you know, after last year, like you said, you spun on your heels. You were, you were very agile, your, your ability to be nimble I think is very helpful. So how has that kind of like changing this business?

Well, I also had a little bit of luck. I mean, the fact that I'd hired him right before was just serendipitous. I think what it is is you have to be willing to challenge yourself and your agents and your team to try something totally different. Especially one, like video was very uncomfortable for a lot of people.

They were like, I am not getting on film. I'm just not doing it. So what we were able to do then is just do voiceovers or snips, but everyone started]]>73662d58-e5a0-4bf0-9ee4-096c49bca243Mon, 22 Nov 2021 06:00:00 -070037:57nofull244TRIBUSMastering Digital Door Knocking To Get Listings with DropOffer CEO Greg BurnsEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann. I'm the CEO of Travis. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada, and around the world.

In addition, I'm the managing partner for Travis capital. We're a private equity fund focused on the PropTech and. On today's episode, we have Greg burns. Greg is the co-founder and CEO of drop offer a company that if you were at the inbound conference recently, you probably saw all over the place. It's an app that helps dial you into off-market listings.

And we'll learn more about how that happens, cause I'm sure our listeners will be intrigued by that lead in on top of being the CEO of drop-off or Griggs, a licensed realtor with compass and previously had his license with Sotheby's and elite Pacific property. Great. Thanks so much for joining us.

Eric is so great to be here with you and your listeners. Well, let's dive in. And, and first of all, I'd like to know, and I always ask people that have been in the industry for awhile, and it definitely seemed like you've been in the real estate brokerage industry for awhile. What got you into real estate?

Yeah, I've always loved architecture. I remember when I was a young child just drawing floor plans and kind of building my dream house and that actually evolved into. A bit of a career in construction. I was a project manager for an ultra high end builder, and I really got to know what it took to build these homes.

And granted, I was pushing the pencil. I wasn't necessarily, you know, swinging and hammer, but I understood the value of each nail. I understood the finished detail that goes into all these homes. And you would slave, you know, you would, let's put it this way. You would spend months and months and months building these homes.

And at the end of the day, I just will never forget where a real estate agent would come in. Spend about 30 days, you know, marketing it and ultimately selling it and making like three times as much money as I did for this, these efforts that we were doing to build these homes. So I quickly realized like, oh, maybe I'm at the wrong part of this transaction.

And I quickly went and got my real estate license and leveraged my, my knowledge about these homes, especially in the high end world to, you know, jump kind of feet first into the. Ultra high end real estate world. Quickly kind of rise to the top because I was able to explain this the golden thread, right?

What, what into some of these really special homes. And it was, it was really a great it was an added tool for me when I'm going to listing presentations to be able to start firing off all these finishes and the details that went into these homes before the homeowner would even go and you know, start exceeding.

Explaining some of these, these finishes that went into these homes and that really allowed me to pick up listings quickly and start selling some of these really beautiful, beautiful homes. And it it quickly led to this ability to. Established myself as an agent and then move on. And we started establishing ourselves as brokerages.

And that was first as a small company, small company called elite Pacific, and then ultimately led and led to the ability to bring compass Hawaii over here, which has been, been nothing short of fantasy. And, and so obviously you're an agent with compass which, you know, I, I will say we have probably about half of our listeners are, are intrigued and would like to, to dig into that more than we probably will today.

And other half of our...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann. I'm the CEO of Travis. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada, and around the world.

In addition, I'm the managing partner for Travis capital. We're a private equity fund focused on the PropTech and. On today's episode, we have Greg burns. Greg is the co-founder and CEO of drop offer a company that if you were at the inbound conference recently, you probably saw all over the place. It's an app that helps dial you into off-market listings.

And we'll learn more about how that happens, cause I'm sure our listeners will be intrigued by that lead in on top of being the CEO of drop-off or Griggs, a licensed realtor with compass and previously had his license with Sotheby's and elite Pacific property. Great. Thanks so much for joining us.

Eric is so great to be here with you and your listeners. Well, let's dive in. And, and first of all, I'd like to know, and I always ask people that have been in the industry for awhile, and it definitely seemed like you've been in the real estate brokerage industry for awhile. What got you into real estate?

Yeah, I've always loved architecture. I remember when I was a young child just drawing floor plans and kind of building my dream house and that actually evolved into. A bit of a career in construction. I was a project manager for an ultra high end builder, and I really got to know what it took to build these homes.

And granted, I was pushing the pencil. I wasn't necessarily, you know, swinging and hammer, but I understood the value of each nail. I understood the finished detail that goes into all these homes. And you would slave, you know, you would, let's put it this way. You would spend months and months and months building these homes.

And at the end of the day, I just will never forget where a real estate agent would come in. Spend about 30 days, you know, marketing it and ultimately selling it and making like three times as much money as I did for this, these efforts that we were doing to build these homes. So I quickly realized like, oh, maybe I'm at the wrong part of this transaction.

And I quickly went and got my real estate license and leveraged my, my knowledge about these homes, especially in the high end world to, you know, jump kind of feet first into the. Ultra high end real estate world. Quickly kind of rise to the top because I was able to explain this the golden thread, right?

What, what into some of these really special homes. And it was, it was really a great it was an added tool for me when I'm going to listing presentations to be able to start firing off all these finishes and the details that went into these homes before the homeowner would even go and you know, start exceeding.

Explaining some of these, these finishes that went into these homes and that really allowed me to pick up listings quickly and start selling some of these really beautiful, beautiful homes. And it it quickly led to this ability to. Established myself as an agent and then move on. And we started establishing ourselves as brokerages.

And that was first as a small company, small company called elite Pacific, and then ultimately led and led to the ability to bring compass Hawaii over here, which has been, been nothing short of fantasy. And, and so obviously you're an agent with compass which, you know, I, I will say we have probably about half of our listeners are, are intrigued and would like to, to dig into that more than we probably will today.

And other half of our listeners are like, gosh, darn it. Compass that are out there. So what, you know, I have to ask the question of, of what was it that drew you to compass and said, Hey, let's, let's launch it here in wine. There were a couple of reasons. Let's just start at the top. Like we were interviewing other companies to come over here because we had, I had a team that was prepared to make a big move.

And at the end of the day, you know, after meeting Robert Rapkin and just seeing now from again, from the top down, what a genuine individual, he was, how hard working of a man, he was to get the company to where it is today, you know, meant a lot. And then to obviously see the impact that they were doing on the main.

It was very obvious to us here in the islands. One thing that we also realized too, is we're probably the number one sought after referral market for compass. So there was an opportunity that existed there for us to get that referral pipeline moving rather quickly. So it was, it was with all those combined with the fact that Hawaii real estate and the way we market here is like going back in.

And I always used to, you know, take the advantage of, or you utilized the fact of jumping on the airplane and going to events like in men, I would be able to bring back knowledge here that people really thought it was all my kind of inception, but it is in fact, you know, just myself traveling to the mainland and learning more about it.

But that being said, Compass was able to do was bring a lot of this technology that was more common on the mainland, but quite revolutionary over here to really impress a lot of the client or sorry, the agents here to understand that technology really is here to help you be more efficient and more successful.

And so compass was a great platform for that because the tech tools do exist, especially for, like I said, for agents here in Hawaii. It was a, there was an extreme advantage with some of the tech that was being provided. Yeah, it seems like a Hawaii like a few places around it's it's know, always a little slow to adopt everything.

It seems like it takes an extra few years to, to cross the ocean and get down to you guys. Right. Exactly. It that's exactly it, but you can, you can take advantage of that. Right. And that was something that really helped me out as an agent is I realized that quickly. So I would go over. And I'll never forget, you know, going to invent events and I'd wear like a Hawaiian men's leg and people would immediately ask about it.

And I get to immediately talk about Hawaii by the end of the event, I'd be, you know, Mr. Hawaii and that's you're replaceable when it comes to, you know, referrals. For sure. And, and it sounds like that was a huge opportunity for you to bring bring compass over there. Cause I'm sure they wanted a compass, a division to be able to send people over to.

So it sounded like that was a huge win and definitely part of it. And, and I've got to ask too about the pandemic. It seems like you guys were locked down, but then it kind of opened up and it seemed like the flood gates opened with people wanting to buy. Properties in Hawaii. Is that, is that accurate?

Oh, you're absolutely on point with that, you know, it's, it was really an interesting time in real estate over here in Hawaii. We, when the, when the pandemic first too, we were terrified, frankly, you know, we thought that nobody was going anywhere and everybody was just going to stay put we, we quickly realized what happened was.

Yes. People had to stay home and work from home, but where home was became more irrelevant. And what we saw was this, this massive shift of west coast markets, mostly let's call it like Denver west, realize that, Hey, you know what? I can write. And live in Hawaii and there will be no issue with that from my employer or no, from, from peers or whatever it might be.

They realize that it's it's possible now. And with, you know, even if a young children, they, they had some great schools here that could be considered as options that were actually stayed open. So many of our private schools didn't close. So an example would be like, The school that my children go to started about a year and a half.

Well, sorry. About a year and a half ago had about 150 kids total pre or post pandemic. We're now over 300 kids. So it's doubled in its size because we had this. Really a mass movement of families that are willing to live here in Hawaii and work here from Hawaii and raise a family here in Hawaii.

Now that might not be there forever plan, but for the next several years they realize it's doable and you know, they're, they're really their families are excelling over here. It's a great lifestyle for, for their, for everybody in the family. Yeah, it certainly seems. And, and frankly, I did the same thing.

I bought a place in, at a beach when the pandemic hit, because I said, Hey, look, this isn't going to be two weeks. Like everybody wants to initially talking about you know, where do I want to spend the next year of my life at? And I said, you know, let's, let's go to the beach because at least on the beach, you can walk and do whatever, you know, whatever you want to outside as opposed to, you know, in a big city where everything was locked down and fact.

And in two of the cities where Travis has offices, Chicago, and Denver things, even restaurants were closed down until into 2021 where all you could do was delivery. And I think I would have gone stir crazy. And if I had had to done that for, for a year, Where I couldn't get out of the house, couldn't do anything et cetera.

And it seems like Hawaii offered that, that great opportunity. And certainly it looks like real estate was was a big winner, a good choice for people to make during the pandemic. Right? No question. And you've got to keep in mind too, with the focus being Denver over as our main driver of the market this last year and a half.

Like a lot of, a lot of those buyers were looking at Hawaii real estate and looking at it as actually an inexpensive. W now, granted, we can't say that for the whole country, but a lot of these Californians, you know Washingtonians let's say British Columbia, they were able to buy property here at what they would consider like a discount.

So they did, they did just that they came over. A lot of our property here that were, that was property that loud, like elbow room. It wasn't necessarily like vacation rental property or condos. It was the property that gave them some acreage, you know, gave him the ability to kind of wander their own property and not bump into anybody.

So that, that is the product that did exceptionally well. We, we experienced a little bit of a, kind of a a. Oh, a slower rollout back to normality. And in the regard that Canada, which is one of our largest buying markets over here, Just was allowed to come back to Hawaii within the last couple of weeks.

To me, that's the next rush that we're going to see in real estate here in Hawaii, likely to be that Canadian market, looking at the cation rental properties, these condos ones that actually can generate revenue. I think that's where we're going to see kind of this next push in our real estate market.

Yeah. And, and where I'm at in Florida kind of sounds pretty similar in that too, in that, you know, there's plenty of people that's snowbird down here and the Canadians, the opening, the border up you know, certainly is coming at a time where you know, Canadians can come down. And spend time at th at their places.

Many of them had places already in Florida and they couldn't even access it. And we're stuck with this asset and now they at least get to enjoy it. And who knows you know, they bring, bring tourism dollars and everything like that to Florida. And, and of course, to a hotel. As well, very similar, very similar stories.

In that regard, you get a lot from Asia too, though. Don't you do? Depending on the island though. So Oahu tends to have really the most of the Asian market appeal. A lot of that is because Oahu, which is where Waikiki is. Market to them and make it much easier for them to enjoy their time there. And what I mean by that is the Japanese.

As an example, many of them don't have driver's licenses. So renting cars over here is practically impossible for them to do so. A lot of the outer islands don't cater to that. Whereas on a wahoo, they have the actual Japanese board of tourism has have their own buses that travel. And so it makes their experience their much more enjoyable.

So we certainly see the, the, the, I would say most of the Asian market still gravitate towards a wahoo where Maui is very much a when it comes to international buyers. Very strong with the Canadian buyers. And then, you know, some of the other islands like Hawaii and the big island, those do very well with like high net worth mainland us.

That's where Larry Ellison and mark Zuckerberg are fighting over they're massive multi hundred million dollar properties. Right. It's interesting. Yeah. So Ellison bought the island about 97% of the island of Lanai which sits just outside you, you look at it when you're. And he's turned, what was, you know, kind of a little sleepy retreat resort for locals into you know, ultra exclusive getaway for, for the high net worth individuals.

Well, okay. I could sit here and talk about Hawaii real estate and I probably could sit there and talk. Why real estate all day and be very interested in it, but call Greg, if you have a referral, I'm sure he'd appreciate. You're happy to help. Happy to help, but let's talk about your new startup. So drop offer, drop offer was founded earlier this year.

If I, if I remember correctly. Yes, you're actually the prior. Your prior. Okay. So 2020. So here, here you are in Hawaii and I'm sure, even in 2020, and even 2021, the big problem that every agent had was there was no inventory, right? So Greg and a co-founder get the idea to go. And I think the language you use is unlock the off-market inventory, right?

Turn the off market on it's kind of. Yeah. So, so tell me, give, give me the give me, let's start with the 50,000 foot view of what drop offer does, and then let's, let's start with. Yeah. So, you know, again, so drop off or does just that we turn the off market on. We allow agents and their clients to submit offers directly to off-market homeowners through multiple delivery methods, one being smart postcard, also offering targeted web ads as well as emails.

So what we're doing is we're opening up inventory know thick to really. Take it back to where it began from, was myself walking down the streets and door knocking on behalf of my clients. I had buyers that were willing to spend top dollar, if I could just find them inventory. And this frankly was pre pandemic, right.

This has always been an issue for the most part. And so I was. I was literally going, knocking on doors, seeing if there was any interest by these homeowners. And although I wouldn't certainly wasn't batting a thousand. I was definitely having success in doing so, but the amount of time Eric, that it took was like exhausting.

I would spend all day and gets to just get a response. And so I knew that there just had to be a better way. Like I said, Hey, I knew it was a success. The successful. To generate sales. I just knew it took a lot of time to do. So with Keck and understanding the process cause I was doing it so often, I was introduced to my co-founder Kemani Clark and together with his background in intellectual property, as well as computer science, you know, we devise a system that what used to take me like really days to do is now can be done in a matter of.

And it still has this impact on that homeowner to really stop, make them think about, yeah. You know what I have been thinking about selling my house and here's a quick private way to do it, I'm listening. And so it's really taking those pain points that I had as an. Realizing that there was, I'm not the only one with these pain points and developing technology around it that allowed the agent to be much more efficient with his time.

And at the end of the day, make more dollars per hour. But that's not the only thing that's important. One of the, think the big things for agents now is, and I've mentioned this before, but it's to be that trusted advisor and there's no better way to be a trusted advisor than if you're educating your clients.

And so to be able to provide inventory that they did not know of, you are becoming that educator again, which as an agent and in the last 15 years, we really lost a lot of that power of education. And so to be able to bring that back. Have your clients really appreciate what you're doing for them. You should get back into that role of trusted advisor.

And that is that's probably the most powerful position for an agent. For sure. So, so obviously based upon kind of what you're saying, though, it begs the question of how is the door-knocking creates that connection door knocking creates the, you know, it's hard to, to It's it's her to disengage from somebody once you've opened the door, right?

Like I get people that come to my door every day, not every day, but once a week, at least trying to sell me solar for my house. And you know, it's, it's tough. To say, get off my lawn, you know? So you, you engage with them for 20 or 30 seconds. And if there's any interest there, you know, if they're good at what they do, they'll, they'll, you know, try to pull it out of you and extend a 32nd connection into you know, maybe half an hour connection.

Right, right. When you send postcards or mail or ads or anything like that, you can't quite get that level of connection. And in fact, you know what I see frequently and this happens all the time in the. In the, in a space that it's, it's just a little it's I've never seen any agent be able to do this without feeling scummy is the death market.

You know what I'm saying? Like when somebody dies trying to connect with their with their loved ones to do that when my mom passed away last year And I still got from a KW agent up until about two months ago, every week or two, I would get a letter asking to buy the house, even though I had sold it to a family friend long ago.

Right. But yeah, but how do you make that connection where it's not just, you know, thrown away or not paid attention to what is it about drop offer? Narrows it down or connects with the potential seller and gets them to be more interested than just these random letters and broadcasting that's done traditionally in the way of getting.

One of the things that we've done, because we understood the same thing. You lose that connection, that face-to-face connection. When you bring tech into this process, but what we're able to do is we kind of bring back or we pause that, that homeowner. Process of like throwing the postcard into the trash or not clicking on any of our ads is we're actually utilizing the image of your home and it causes pause and, you know, it brings intrigued.

And so with that and proper messaging, you know, we're, we're confident that our, our delivery systems will have a high impact on these homeowners. And th th the great thing is, is, you know, we're not putting them. Kind of that odd position that you had mentioned before, you know, it gives them the opportunity to really consider that, Hey, here's a way I can sell privately and oftentimes, you know, for more money or certainly saving money, but it is it is a way for that homeowner to distill to how should I put this to still be able to sell a property?

With, but however, without having to have the, the stress and the time of actually listing on market, so that...]]>6f8de8f3-5705-43db-99d8-9548ffd67a3eMon, 15 Nov 2021 07:15:00 -070038:20nofull243TRIBUSBreaking down the exploding rental market with RentSpree CEO and co-founder Michael LucarelliEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of Travis. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada, and even around the world.

In addition, I'm the managing partner of Travis' capital, a private equity fund focused on the prop tech industry. On today's episode, we have Michael Lucarelli. Now Michael is the co-founder and CEO of rent spree at leasing management tool that has been focused on the MLS industry recently. And I'll, we'll be sure to dive a little more into that, Michael.

Thanks so much for joining us today and thank you so much, Eric. Really glad to be here and excited to chat with you today. Yeah, so let's dive in. So, you know, the first question that I pretty much ask all of our guests is how did you get into real estate and real estate tech? Yeah. So going back a couple of years ago is when I first actually moved.

So I'm from the east coast and I moved to California. It was about 2014 or so. And so a lot of what I experienced was first originating as a renter. And so I had done it quite a bit of moving around up until that point and just saw how there's really a massive number of people that are renting. And the U S again, kind of looking at it from the renter lens and that it was just a completely fragmented process where when you're a renter, you're kind of thrown through these loops where you have to submit your application to many different properties if to pay fees over and over again, you don't really hear back.

There's a question of information security with your sensitive information. So I saw all that on the renter side and then kind of combining that a little bit. I actually ended up getting my real estate license and hung it at a local Remax. And so I really put both pieces together where on one hand I was renting and saw that.

And then I was working in the Remax office and I saw actually a ton of agents that were working with rentals or at least trying to, and at this office. Considering how many people were working with rentals on a regular basis? I was surprised that there was no tools. There was no resources, even like the broker didn't really have any feedback or advice to give to agents on how to handle these types of rental transactions when agents were working with lease listings and representing renters.

And so I just saw a huge gap in an opportunity and given how large renting is in the us. Just like saw big chance for me to kind of come in and create a standardization that can streamline these processes for renters. But of course, also now a lot of what we do is focusing on agents, brokerages landlords, property managers, MLS.

So from a high level, you know, just to, so that everybody is listening. And can you give us a high level understanding of exactly what rents Bree does for either the broker or the consumer? Yeah. W what rent-free does, is it really looks at You know, like these rental transactions, and this is not necessarily something designed for property managers.

Although we do have property management companies that use rent-free it's really for agents that are mainly focusing on selling and buying, but they may have from time to time the opportunity to work on a rental, whether they have a lease listing and they're representing a landlord, or they might represent a renter.

And so Given how many people, how many people are kind of working on those types of transactions and spree really seeks to streamline that process as much as possible, because we know that typically. Agents and...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of Travis. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada, and even around the world.

In addition, I'm the managing partner of Travis' capital, a private equity fund focused on the prop tech industry. On today's episode, we have Michael Lucarelli. Now Michael is the co-founder and CEO of rent spree at leasing management tool that has been focused on the MLS industry recently. And I'll, we'll be sure to dive a little more into that, Michael.

Thanks so much for joining us today and thank you so much, Eric. Really glad to be here and excited to chat with you today. Yeah, so let's dive in. So, you know, the first question that I pretty much ask all of our guests is how did you get into real estate and real estate tech? Yeah. So going back a couple of years ago is when I first actually moved.

So I'm from the east coast and I moved to California. It was about 2014 or so. And so a lot of what I experienced was first originating as a renter. And so I had done it quite a bit of moving around up until that point and just saw how there's really a massive number of people that are renting. And the U S again, kind of looking at it from the renter lens and that it was just a completely fragmented process where when you're a renter, you're kind of thrown through these loops where you have to submit your application to many different properties if to pay fees over and over again, you don't really hear back.

There's a question of information security with your sensitive information. So I saw all that on the renter side and then kind of combining that a little bit. I actually ended up getting my real estate license and hung it at a local Remax. And so I really put both pieces together where on one hand I was renting and saw that.

And then I was working in the Remax office and I saw actually a ton of agents that were working with rentals or at least trying to, and at this office. Considering how many people were working with rentals on a regular basis? I was surprised that there was no tools. There was no resources, even like the broker didn't really have any feedback or advice to give to agents on how to handle these types of rental transactions when agents were working with lease listings and representing renters.

And so I just saw a huge gap in an opportunity and given how large renting is in the us. Just like saw big chance for me to kind of come in and create a standardization that can streamline these processes for renters. But of course, also now a lot of what we do is focusing on agents, brokerages landlords, property managers, MLS.

So from a high level, you know, just to, so that everybody is listening. And can you give us a high level understanding of exactly what rents Bree does for either the broker or the consumer? Yeah. W what rent-free does, is it really looks at You know, like these rental transactions, and this is not necessarily something designed for property managers.

Although we do have property management companies that use rent-free it's really for agents that are mainly focusing on selling and buying, but they may have from time to time the opportunity to work on a rental, whether they have a lease listing and they're representing a landlord, or they might represent a renter.

And so Given how many people, how many people are kind of working on those types of transactions and spree really seeks to streamline that process as much as possible, because we know that typically. Agents and brokers don't tend to earn as much on rental commission. And so when you have these situations where agents and brokers are possibly spending a little bit of too much time on these types of transactions and not earning a whole lot, it doesn't really make financial sense in certain cases.

And so rent-free aims to streamline these rental transactions as much as possible so that it becomes kind of worthwhile. Maybe if you're not spending a whole lot of time on a rental, you can get it done within a couple hours instead of a couple of days or a couple of weeks. Then some of those smaller commission checks make a lot of sense.

And so the way that rents actually works is it handles really the entire process that an agent needs to go through in order to close a lease listing. So everything from bedding, the tenants. So we do online applications that are automatically set up. So renters can apply online using in some cases like our standard rental applications.

Or even Association forms. We also provide instant access to screening reports through TransUnion. So I'm talking about credit checks, background checks, eviction reports. They also verify income. Check references all that kind of stuff. So basically gathering all the information that's needed to vet a tenant, and then beyond that as well.

We give a great way that these agents that are vetting these tenants, they can basically make a decision and then send a lease out for signature. So really like from listing to lease is kinda what I like to say in terms of what rent-free handles for these rental transactions. And like I said, the main thing is just to streamline and create some efficiency there so that it makes it a lot more worthwhile for agents that work on rentals.

I and I, from a personal experience and you're, you're out in California. Correct. So from a personal experience, when I first moved out we were getting, Travis started up back in 2009. I moved out to California and was in a hotel looking for a place to rent in the Newport beach area. And I'm out looking around and I probably call 15.

Folks and I focused on ones that were listed in the MLS and you know, a few that were on Craigslist because I wasn't seeing a whole lot of animals and got out there, made a, made a bunch of phone calls. And I will say I probably got two out of 15 people to call me back. And I always tell this story at events about the most important app on your phone is the phone app to agents.

And I had an agent call me back eight months later, literally and said, I heard you're interested in 1, 2, 3, any street. You know, are, are are you still looking, would you like to go see it? I said, I signed a lease two months ago and I said, well, you know, is there a reason you're just getting to this now?

And, oh, what's a lease listing. I, I, I just don't care about it. Right. And so he, you know, that's, that's the somewhat of the problem in the space. And so obviously it looks like you guys are, are, are trying to make it easier for agents. Now that begs the question is, you know, there's other mega organizations out there, like for example, Yardi is a big one, Y a R D I, for those listening, if you haven't heard of it, they're kind of one of the big players in this space.

And they, they do all sorts of things. But like, for example, you know, you're, it seems like your client and their. Are two different things, right? Yeah. Yeah. They're definitely different. And I would say for Yardi in particular, they would cater more towards let's say like institutional property management firms like large multi-million dollar managers even like re and so those kind of targets that Yardi and others, like it a provide tools for they account for about 50% of the rental market in the U S.

The other 50% tends to be more like your mom and pop landlords, mama pop landlord, small property managers. And this is actually the half of the market that they're not really given any kind of standardized tools and they're most likely to need assistance and kind of working with their rentals. And so that's where like, those people are very likely to maybe ask an agent for help either, either because they don't know how to handle the rental process or screening.

Or maybe, perhaps they don't have time and they need help from an agent or a broker to kind of get those services done. And so rents for free really does focus a little bit differently on that segment of the market. And because we focus on that segment segment of the market, which is more like the mom and pop side, We cater very well to them because we don't hate our tool is free.

So we don't charge landlords or agents or managers, anything to use it. You can set up and start using our tool within 60 seconds, which if you compare to those like Yardi, Yardi is 10 thousands, or maybe tens of thousands of dollars. With months to set up the software. So it's really something that is very quick and convenient for agents and smaller landlords, to be able to just get up and running and really get their transactions completed without.

So, you know, the, the, the numbers that you're giving there of what percentage of the spaces under served from, from what you're saying is there's, there's a lot because, you know, I think right before we were talking right before we started recording this, this episode, you were telling me that roughly a third of all.

Homes or households in the United States are currently renting. Is that accurate? Yeah, that's correct. So roughly one third of the housing units in the U S are rental housing. And so it's a big market. It's very much underserved. And like I said, you know, even within that, looking at the long tail. So for example, on the institutional side, there may be, let's say hundreds or thousands of different property management companies out there.

Or kind of serving and then maybe using Yardi's out there, but there's millions of landlords. And so these are the people that they don't have any kinds of tools available for them. And so it is a large market and it's growing. And so you can look back dating to about even like the seventies. When renting really kind of started growing in popularity at that time.

And it's been really on a sustained upward swing ever since that time. And there are certain events that happen in the economy that accelerate the adoption of renting such as the financial crisis of 2000. Just changing habits, people liking a little bit more mobility, a little bit of flexibility, moving around jobs a little bit more.

And so all these factors really kind of contribute to a change in what we're seeing with our real estate landscape in the U S where it's not so much where people are necessarily looking to, or able to purchase a home. Anytime they like people are often choosing to rent. I mean, Because they want to, or because they need to.

And so it's a, it's a good opportunity to really you know, cater to this type of market and really look at how the trends in the U S are changing and how agents and brokers can embrace that change. So, you know, just some quick napkin fear, not even napkin math, but what you're, what you're saying is that there's an opportunity for, for something like one sixth of all households in the United States to be connected up with an agent we're, you know, they're not served by a mega organization that you already might use.

And, and it seems like from what you're saying, that there's a population to be served there by realtors and maybe some easy commissions. If they can use a tool like yours to get them from, from, you know, to that, to that lease kind of position. But that they're being underserved right now, or that realtors are under serving them.

And so, you know, it seems like there's a huge opportunity. And in that percentage, that one, six of households, percentage that not only could you get them for that, but maybe migrate them to a commission down the road. Yes. Yes. Yes. So you're going to definitely get that maybe small rental commission where, Hey, it could be, you know, a couple of hundred to a couple thousand dollars at most for that.

And that's certainly great. And there's definitely value, especially, like I said, it kind of goes back to maybe you're not making a lot, but if you can spend. A lot less time on it then, Hey, maybe you take it. Maybe if you're a newer agent getting started or maybe if there's some gaps in income if you can work with a quick rental, it closes a lot faster than a for sale property.

So, Hey, that can be a nice little quick win. So it kind of keeps on going or sustain a new agent, but then like you said we know. In the future. It's not that people are necessarily like, like I said, choosing to rent and not purchase a home. They may be renting in the interim while they save up and then they're going to be renting for on average, a longer time period than ever was done in the past.

And so just kind of a misconception out there that people are no longer buying and that they're renting instead. But really the truth is, is that people are tending to actually purchase a home. About seven years later than they normally would have in the past. And like I said, there's a variety of factors that kind of contribute to that.

But the question that agents and brokers should be asking themselves is how can we position ourselves to those renters so that when the time comes, when they're ready to purchase a home, that renter can kind of come back and tap into the agent that might've helped them with. With their rental transaction.

So it's a great opportunity to keep those relationships. Is anything in rent spree help them with that? Like, is there a list of all my past transactions, if I'm an agent and I sign up with you or if I'm a broker and sign up for all of my agents and account with you guys, is there some way to go back and see everybody that I've helped?

You can see everyone that goes back there that kind of goes into the system. And so it'll help you kind of keep track of everything in there. And we're making some really kind of cool enhancements that can. Further streamline that process. So we'll be making some changes that will let's say, allow you to kinda message renters a little bit, see when they might be likely to maybe make a housing change so you can make sure that you're kind of there and knowing when to follow up with renters and the whole thing with rent.

Is that when you work with a rental, you're not necessarily only just getting into contact with the two renters who may end up actually renting the property. He may have come into contact with dozens of prospective tenants as well, who maybe have shown interest in this rental or maybe have applied, but they didn't get the place.

And so these are all also very important interactions that if you're on top of things, you can kind of tap into these individuals as well. Encompassed them all as part of your network. So I think that's a great benefit. And if you're smart, you're definitely gonna be thinking about those types of. But then beyond that as well, we, we, we know that one of the reasons why you know, a renter might come back to an agent when it's time to purchase a home, it really comes down to the service that that renter receives and they associate that service with their agent.

And so if you're an agent and you do a great job servicing or renter, making that transaction super easy and smooth, then you're going to make a strong impression. And that's, what's going to lead to that recurring business later on down the road. And so that's also where, Hey, you have a professional process in place.

You have this tool that streamlines everything. It makes it super easy and painless for the renter. While that renter's going to be more likely to come back and associate a positive experience with the agent who helped them out. Gotcha. And I, I agree with that. Totally. In fact, one of the things that I've, we've long pushed on the tribal side of things is you know, to connect with those folks because renters are usually going to buy something at some point, especially if you educate them.

But the problem that I see a lot of times, Agent's face is this the forgetfulness to follow up with past clients? Everybody wants to work the new lead that came in the door yesterday, but nobody ever works the past clients. So it sounded like, it sounds like you're working on some tools to help them maybe automate some of that.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's, I think the key point really that you get that you brought up that, Hey, everyone knows that they should keep in contact with past clients, but it's. You know, it takes time to do that. You have to really invest in a tool or invest your time to track those people and put some kind of infrastructure in place.

And so we're going to try to make it as easy as possible that at least on the renter rental side of things, that's for the renters that you kind of work with as an agent we'll try to make it really easy for you to kind of keep in contact with those individuals through our platform. So that's something that we're going to be launching pretty soon, and we're really excited to be able to offer.

Because those are the types of things that really make a difference to agents and can really streamline their overall process and Hey, and the end of the day, bring them a lot more. Yeah, for for sure. Especially when there's, you know, we're talking a huge percentage of, of housing out there that is, is underserved.

In, especially in this space, that's there, it seems like. So now let's, let's talk a little bit about your growth because holy cow I'll be real honest as of last year. I probably don't think if you said rent spree to me, I would have said. I'm going to assume it's something to do with Reynolds, but I've never heard of it before.

And now it seems like this year, all I hear is just press release after press release. After press release of, of mostly MLS is integrating with you guys. What, what shook loose this year? Yeah. You know when we had launched, we had also you know, we, we provide services mainly and we will work with larger real estate organizations.

So we've been working with some really large organizations adding back for a couple of years now. So we've been working with Sierra molests, which is the California regional multiple listing service the largest MLS in the country since about 2017 or so. And we just launched with a couple other large MLS.

So we we're now up to. 30 different multiple listing services that we partner with. And so we actually have a really interesting integration into the MLS. So, like I said, it's really comes down to this idea of streamlining these processes as much as possible for agents. And so I think what's really attributed to our growth has been partnering with these large, you know, some of the multiple listing services, large brokers, and we can actually embed.

This rental process into the tools and softwares that agents and brokers are already using. And so by doing things like that, that's where Hey, like you can really compress down the transaction time to get these things done. And so we've been working with, like I said, 30 MLS is that are launched and most of those have been launched in the past year, just because we hit on something we know at work.

And we've been building a lot of momentum and getting a lot of positive user feedback and it's been great to kind of see that. So it's really exciting time for us. Yeah. For for sure. So, so it seems like MLS is, are just seeing more value in getting into that space, or do you think that they've been missing this space for, for a long time and they're finally waking up to the, the, the...]]>93b32235-caa5-4196-aca6-20248c07f096Tue, 09 Nov 2021 09:00:00 -070033:48nofull242TRIBUSDigital Marketing and how Real Estate Agents Can Generate More Leads to Earn More Deals with Nick MarkmanEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everyone. And welcome to another episode of brokerage insider. This is the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and real estate technology. My name is Britt Chester. I'm the host of today's episode. I'm also the director of client success here at TRIBUS.

We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to small, medium, and large brokerages all over the world today on the show, we're going to be talking about marketing and specifically digital marketing, and we're joined by Nick Markman.

Principal product strategists at vocalize. Nick, welcome to the show. Hey, Britt. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. I think digital marketing is a really exciting topic right now, as we enter this kind of like, I don't want to say post COVID, but this, this next phase. But before we get into it, Nick, tell us a little bit about a vocalize as well as a little bit about your.

Yeah, absolutely. So a vocalize we're collaborative marketing platform. So we basically enable local, small and medium businesses to easily execute sophisticated digital marketing. And we do that by partnering with their, either their national brand, like their. Where we partner with technology platforms, you know, like try this or other CRM website providers.

And through that collaboration of partnering with the what we call the sponsoring partner and the data that they have and, you know, getting a marketing platform, that's integrated with the tools that those agents and brokers are using. We're able to accomplish marketing outcomes on behalf of the, those users that they wouldn't be able to achieve with.

That collaboration and also saved them a lot of time. You know, we'll talk about this, you know, I think throughout the conversation, but the reality is that, you know, local and small businesses some of them may be great marketers, certainly. But to be an expert in, in digital marketing, certainly requires a lot of time and resources to truly be an expert at.

And a lot of those businesses that they just don't have that, right? If you're an agent or a broker, you're going to be spending most of your time selling houses and managing your relationships. So our ideas that we want to be that digital marketing easy button that allows them to still get all the performance that they want from digital marketing leads, revenue.

But by spending a lot less time doing so. And doing so in a, in a really seamless way where they don't really need to set anything not bright. So by doing that, we've seen, for example, in real estate agents and brokers go from spending nine hours a week, marketing their business to nine minutes. And we've seen dramatic performance results as well, seeing 400% stronger performance than when they're doing it on.

Yeah. I mean, I, I know real estate agents are there's, there's so much of an ask on a real estate agent today, right? Like there's so much expectation as to the service that they're, that they're meant to provide. And, and whenever I'm, you know, working one-on-one with either agents or brokerages, it's always a matter of looking at, you know, how much time do we have in the week and how.

Can we really allocate to not just learning and understanding digital marketing, but also deploying that and seeing a solid return there. So I think, you know, tools, you know, I know at Tribus we've, we've partnered with a vocalize and I think that this partnership has been, you know, just in its infancy right now.

One of our, one of our more exciting ones, just because it provides new opportunities for us. To, to put their face out there to put their name out there, to put their properties out there....]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everyone. And welcome to another episode of brokerage insider. This is the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and real estate technology. My name is Britt Chester. I'm the host of today's episode. I'm also the director of client success here at TRIBUS.

We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to small, medium, and large brokerages all over the world today on the show, we're going to be talking about marketing and specifically digital marketing, and we're joined by Nick Markman.

Principal product strategists at vocalize. Nick, welcome to the show. Hey, Britt. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. I think digital marketing is a really exciting topic right now, as we enter this kind of like, I don't want to say post COVID, but this, this next phase. But before we get into it, Nick, tell us a little bit about a vocalize as well as a little bit about your.

Yeah, absolutely. So a vocalize we're collaborative marketing platform. So we basically enable local, small and medium businesses to easily execute sophisticated digital marketing. And we do that by partnering with their, either their national brand, like their. Where we partner with technology platforms, you know, like try this or other CRM website providers.

And through that collaboration of partnering with the what we call the sponsoring partner and the data that they have and, you know, getting a marketing platform, that's integrated with the tools that those agents and brokers are using. We're able to accomplish marketing outcomes on behalf of the, those users that they wouldn't be able to achieve with.

That collaboration and also saved them a lot of time. You know, we'll talk about this, you know, I think throughout the conversation, but the reality is that, you know, local and small businesses some of them may be great marketers, certainly. But to be an expert in, in digital marketing, certainly requires a lot of time and resources to truly be an expert at.

And a lot of those businesses that they just don't have that, right? If you're an agent or a broker, you're going to be spending most of your time selling houses and managing your relationships. So our ideas that we want to be that digital marketing easy button that allows them to still get all the performance that they want from digital marketing leads, revenue.

But by spending a lot less time doing so. And doing so in a, in a really seamless way where they don't really need to set anything not bright. So by doing that, we've seen, for example, in real estate agents and brokers go from spending nine hours a week, marketing their business to nine minutes. And we've seen dramatic performance results as well, seeing 400% stronger performance than when they're doing it on.

Yeah. I mean, I, I know real estate agents are there's, there's so much of an ask on a real estate agent today, right? Like there's so much expectation as to the service that they're, that they're meant to provide. And, and whenever I'm, you know, working one-on-one with either agents or brokerages, it's always a matter of looking at, you know, how much time do we have in the week and how.

Can we really allocate to not just learning and understanding digital marketing, but also deploying that and seeing a solid return there. So I think, you know, tools, you know, I know at Tribus we've, we've partnered with a vocalize and I think that this partnership has been, you know, just in its infancy right now.

One of our, one of our more exciting ones, just because it provides new opportunities for us. To, to put their face out there to put their name out there, to put their properties out there. So we'll, let's, we'll get into that here in a little bit. But before we do, I'd love to kind of jump back to the, the the, the benchmark, right?

Like the mile marker in all of history right now that everyone talks about and looking at the trends pre. Right. Like what did digital marketing, what did that landscape kind of look like inside of real estate before? You know, the, the, the great, the great flattener. So Nick, from your view, and then from that of a vocalize, what were some of the trends that y'all were seeing and that y'all were kind of focusing on prior to this, this big change.

Yeah, absolutely. I'd say, you know, there's certainly a thread there that is the same when you compare pre and post. And I totally hear you. It's safe to say we're post COVID. It's not, not accurate right beforehand. I think there was a lot less variety of. Marketing touch points, ways of communication. Honestly, I, you know, as I think about certainly real estate, that landscape pre COVID, it's really commoditize, you know, a lot of listing ads, which we still see, that's what, you know, bread and butter stuff, very important in the listing ads.

But COVID, and you know, the shift from high. In-person touch points to primarily digital or online ways of communication really was a, I think, a forcing function and innovation in terms of how agents and how the industry was using digital marketing and just digital channels in general. So I, I think you, I think that was one big change is that, that lack of variety.

Whereas now you see a lot more seller leads, home valuation you know, video ads, 3d tours. It was a little more stagnated is probably too severe, but it is a little more standardized, I think. So, so there was some good, certainly that, that, that came out just in terms of. But innovation of using some of these tools and services.

Another thing that I, I would add there, you know, in this as both a kind of COVID theme, as well as just what we have seen in the. Real estate market. You, you know, when you take a look at things like the low inventory levels, that was starting to happen, certainly pre COVID, but was not where it is at certainly now.

So it was a lot stronger focus. I think, you know, pre COVID on, on that buyer lead generation, we saw more of that. Whereas now it's a lot more blended or even a heavier focus or interest in seller leads. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember I was sitting I was at an IMiD connect event in January of. 2020. And I was interviewing all these agents and you know, marketing executives and admins, and I was attending all these you know, these sessions and listening to everybody make their predictions for 2020.

And you know, I, I go back and I look at some of that footage and I look at some of those interviews and I think about those sessions and it was like, wow, we were all entirely blindsided. Right. I think like a real obvious comparison, like you said, that that humans touchpoint, right? Open houses you know, before we're a staple and now they're, they're almost like a, and I don't want to, I would never call an open house, like a novelty, but it's like, we've got a virtual tour, a port, a drone video.

Everything had to get migrated very quickly to the internet, right? Like suddenly like everyone, is there, all of your, your internet traffic started spiking. I mean, I think we saw. So much just traffic there. So, so I guess kind of that, that leads perfectly into the next question. Like, you know, what did, what did COVID do to real estate marketing and like digital branding and how are we like, kind of like shifting with that because it's changing every single day.

Right. And, and I, I love the innovation in this industry and I love the opportunities for interview innovation as well, but I guess, how are we kind of like shifting with that, with the agent marketing like that one-to-one. You know, what does, what does that transition kind of look like from, from your standard?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think overall certainly from the marketing perspective whether it's digital or other channels, you know, COVID and some of the changes that came out of that I think were, were largely positive. I'll caveat that by saying this has been an incredibly tough time. So as I talk about that the upside or the positive that we results, we're saying by no means, are we saying it's been easy for agents right on the ground.

Obviously this has been hard for everyone, but, but truly in terms of the innovation of ways to communicate with your customers that we've already talked about, and I'll go in a little deeper, but also just on the performance side it was unprecedented times in, in a positive way. I actually think as we reflect on the past, What year and a half to two years.

So I'm just doubling down on, on again, what we mentioned, you know, it was real estate and especially agent interactions with clients has been such a heavy in-person form of communication. So that was immediately stripped away. So we saw these digital channels, especially things, you know, like Facebook, Instagram, Which are so visual and can be great channels for assets like videos via adoption and usage of those platforms really increased in innovative way.

So we've already talked about, you know, 3d tools obviously was huge and you see that both from the platform side and the Zillows and the realtor dot coms of the world, and that reports all making a heavier focus on that kind of content. But we saw the best performing agents also. Pulling that through to how they market, even if it's just them recording a video of themselves, walking through a house, and then sending that out over email, posting that on, on Facebook, running a video ad or even doing, you know, market updates in that format.

You know, we think of a lot of these channels that you can still have. Personal touch in terms of how your broadcasting you're communicating your brand, but also who you can target. Right. I can get in front of my customers pretty easily. I can target my local area with this message or this, this listing.

So again, that, that forcing function of, of being innovative in how agents and brokers, they're talking to their customers. As one thing. And then on the performance side, you know from a vocalizes perspective we're, we're in a, you know, a lot of industries, real estate is, is, is certainly a key one for us.

And so as soon as you know, COVID really started rewinding back to March, 2020, We wanted to start really looking at the data. Right. We have an interesting purview where we have, you know, millions of ads we can analyze and, and a lot of spend behind that. And so starting in March, we did monthly and quarterly updates, just looking at the performance going on in the industry and just some interesting things that, that all share that came out of that.

I think the overall theme, as I mentioned, right. It was an unprecedented time in terms of strong performance in these channels. So just a few things, things that I'll share real quick here. So one thing that we noticed when you looked at 2019 to 2020 CPMs which that means cost per a thousand impressions, basically a metric of how much your need to pay for your Media.

You can almost think of it as like a gasp. Or some degree for your food for your ads gets used so often. So thank you Pedics for that explanation. Yeah. Yeah, totally. It's definitely one of those, you know, maybe lesser known metrics, but basically just the call, you know, how expensive are your ads basically that decrease every 20% year over year 2019 to 2020.

So just the ability for agents brokers to. In front of people, more affordably, get more eyes on their ads and their messages for, you know, fewer dollars. We saw a dramatic change there but then also on the intent and performance side, when we look at things like lead generation I think the most shocking thing that we saw and we saw this just to continue to increase month over month throughout COVID, but lead conversion rates.

So if you think of someone that clicks on your. And then someone that submits a lead, what percentage of the people that click on your ad actually go to submit a lead that's the lead conversion rate that increased 658% from March, 2020 to March, 2021. So people that were interacting with these ads and digital formats.

More than we'd ever seen in any of our data. We're submitting leads at an increasingly higher rate. So just was a sign of really strong consumer intent in terms of not just seeing an ad and clicking on it. But I actually, you know, I'm interested in this. I want to submit my information. I want to start this conversation.

I'm in a relationship with. Yeah. And I think that's definitely reflected across the industry as well. Right? I mean, I think people who might've been shopping for homes you know, one year in advance in March, April and may of last year, they bought in June and July. And I think that's a direct result.

Of of those ads and have that, like, you know, that, that increase in marketing and, and agents and brokerages kind of, you know, realizing like how quickly we have to shift. And we have to adapt this model. If we're not able to get in front of our agents face to face, we have to meet them where they are. And so I think that that was like, that's a very that's a pretty exciting metric because it, you know, it speaks exactly to what we're talking about, right?

Like the, the value of marketing is to get in front of where your audiences and. That that is reflected in the stats. So it's the lead conversion rate increase 600, I think he said 658%. No, I think we can look at last year's sales. And you know, I think everyone was a little scared in March and April, but we saw a spike in real estate.

You know, we saw more listings, home values increased across the country and, you know, everyone was selling it more people were buying. And so I think that's, you know a direct reflection of that. It also kind of makes me think about like, what is, and when we, when we, I say post COVID and I hate to say that because.

It's more just like COVID acceptance at this point. And like, you know, like from there and then moving forward, but I wonder what is going to be like, what, what is the backside of this look like if we were at the top of that curve you know, what is the backside look like in the sense of like the next 3, 6, 9 months?

Right. And, and how can we. And how can agents and how can brokerages really start to kind of prepare for, for what that's going to be? Because there are people that might've been in their pipeline that were looking one and two years down the road that bought last year, and now they're no longer in that pipeline.

And so how can we or how can agents really start. You know, prepare for that. And what should their marketing plans kind of look like? Because, you know, we're seeing, I'm getting a lot of questions about, you know, SEO and you know, I want more, more traffic on the site and, you know, we, we could talk all day about SEO and SEO strategies.

Really, I want to know, like, what can we do? You know, how can we prepare for this and how can we kind of get that strong foundation? Both with marketing, with our, and with our digital presence. So I guess, you know, Nick, from your view, and then from that of a vocalize, what, what are your kind of like best practices that we can kind of start to implement now?

And what tools do we start using? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that the word, you know, foundation that you just threw out is, is super appropriate because we've been talking a lot about marketing and the marketing aspect of agent or real estate business successful agents and successful tools have that company.

Deeply integrated with everything else that the agent or business is using to run their day to day. It's not on, on an island, right? So having your marketing and advertising, that's integrated with your CRM, that's connected to your website. That's set up in a way that you have that foundation, that infrastructure for driving your business so that marketing can actually.

Help drive real business results in a way that is valuable to you, but also in a way that you're not spending tons of time, you know, downloading leads from Facebook or Google and manually uploading those to your CRM. You don't want to worry about that. Hassle as agents, we're already doing this, the best tools do this today.

And that's what gets us so excited about. You know, our partnership with Tribus and the engage platform in particular is it does exactly that, right? Try this engage is integrated with, with your core products, there's CRM, is there, it has all your listings. It's easy to, to, to pop in there. And run your listing, automate your ads, have everything updated in real time, in a way that you know, saves you a ton of time and hassle, and you don't have to set up Facebook ad accounts and Google accounts and worry about that.

Everything is, is deeply, deeply integrated. And we see that trajectory in the industry is increasing there's. There's already tools that do it today, but agents are going to start demanding that if they aren't. You know, no one likes meeting to use five different log-ins, you know, multiple different tools just to run their day to day.

They want a one-stop shop. How can I manage my leads, manage my listings, advertise and promote my business. And, and we think of Tribus as being an awesome example of a tool that can. Yeah. I mean, and I think you, again, kind of jumping back to that word foundation and I liked what you said about like being deeply integrated.

Because I, something I run into sometimes is that, you know, like you know, agents will be talking about marketing and we'll think like, You buy an ad and we're done, like, I washed my hands. I I've put the ad out there, but it's important that all of those things are working together. And so it's almost like, you know, the ad is, is a component of not just your, you know, not just your, your marketing or, or, you know, if we're pushing a past sale or if we're trying to find buyers, whatever the ad, whatever our goal of that ad is.

But it has to be working with your CRM, with your website and all of that messaging kind of has to be cohesive. That's something that I, that I always encourage them. I'm a big proponent, you know, my background's in journalism. So I'm a big proponent for content creation whether it's blogging or social media organic and paid, you know, all of those things because to me those are, those are that's killing 2, 3, 4 birds with one stone.

If you, if you write a blog or if you're, you know doing that content and you are putting it out organically and you're buying an ad like that, that just pays dividends so much down the road because. You can use it, your, your, your lift is the content creation, and then you're deploying it across your entire network.

So you're sending it out to your CRM, you know, via email marketing. You're sending it out to your social networks organically you're paying and, and targeting audiences with those ads. And that kind of, you know, again brings us to that next point about like the value of, of an importance of those audiences.

I think. A lot of, a lot of times we run into like, you know, we're, we're boosting these and promoting these on Facebook, but there's a difference between a boosting and promoting an ads. Can you kind of talk about, you know, what the difference is there? The value of like making...]]>6bb9e953-23c4-41bd-a384-0c056edd5240Mon, 11 Oct 2021 16:03:00 -070039:10nofull241TRIBUSTalking "Time Limited Events" and Creating an Uneven Playing Field with RealtyHive CEO Wade T. MicoleyEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester director of client success at Travis. And today we have veteran agent and broker Wade . McColey Wade. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Wait, where are you? Where are you joining us from? Where are you based? We are located in green bay, Wisconsin. And how was the weather in green bay right now? Rainy. It's been very nice, but it is raining now, but we, we appreciate even the warm, rainy days after a few months of I can definitely imagine that wait, you've got quite the resume, you know, when we were just kind of talking a little bit, we'd got, got Realty high, you got cash certified.

Tell me a little bit about your history getting into real estate and just kind of give our listeners and audience, you know, a little bit of your back. Sure. Well, I Fell in love with real estate pretty early on in my, in my, in my life. And one of the things that intrigued me so much about real estate is formerly before that I was in a rock band and Doing a little bit of small touring and realize that boy, this is a tough way to make a living.

Cause we weren't, you're going to become the rolling stones by any means. And had a brother-in-law that was in real estate and kind of watched it and thought, okay, this looks interesting. And he approached me and I got into real estate fairly young when I was about 2021. And just absolutely fell in love with it and maybe a little bit for the wrong reason, but I thought houses were cool and really, really enjoy the fact when it, when the light bell went off for me light bulb went off for me.

It was really about the fact that I didn't know anywhere where I could make. The kind of money that I wanted to make. And what I mean by that is in real estate, there's really no ceiling. I mean, you, you set your own ceiling and real estate, you can make as much or as little as you want by just, you know, getting really efficient, working hard, having good systems.

So that's what launched me into it. I was, I started a couple of different real estate companies sold those was number three for close transactions for a major franchise. And just, that led me to all kinds of really cool opportunities. And that's another thing that I always loved about real estate was the opportunities that it can lead you into if you become really good and known as being really good.

So that led me into. The banking industry, which I helped co-found Nikolay national bank and it's now publicly traded a $7 billion company. That's done extremely well, a lot of talent around that, that wasn't just me by any means. But then when the crash came in 2009, 2010, I saw really quickly that community banks and banks needed a system to help promote their properties in a new way globally.

So fast forward through that, we worked with banks in 38 states. I'm always hiring local agents as our reps. We still do that work today. Then got a opportunity to work for the federal, with the federal government selling assets for the federal government and that morphed into. Realty I've been cash defied today.

Yeah. And I was able to look around on Realty hive. I think, you know, one of the things, and we had mentioned this before you're licensed in nearly all 50 states. And, you know, again, that, that thing that stands out is, is that continuing ed continuing education and, and what all that takes. But can I talk about, you know, why, why you're licensed in so many places and then how that kind of speaks to Realty hive and, and the business.

Yeah,...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester director of client success at Travis. And today we have veteran agent and broker Wade . McColey Wade. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Wait, where are you? Where are you joining us from? Where are you based? We are located in green bay, Wisconsin. And how was the weather in green bay right now? Rainy. It's been very nice, but it is raining now, but we, we appreciate even the warm, rainy days after a few months of I can definitely imagine that wait, you've got quite the resume, you know, when we were just kind of talking a little bit, we'd got, got Realty high, you got cash certified.

Tell me a little bit about your history getting into real estate and just kind of give our listeners and audience, you know, a little bit of your back. Sure. Well, I Fell in love with real estate pretty early on in my, in my, in my life. And one of the things that intrigued me so much about real estate is formerly before that I was in a rock band and Doing a little bit of small touring and realize that boy, this is a tough way to make a living.

Cause we weren't, you're going to become the rolling stones by any means. And had a brother-in-law that was in real estate and kind of watched it and thought, okay, this looks interesting. And he approached me and I got into real estate fairly young when I was about 2021. And just absolutely fell in love with it and maybe a little bit for the wrong reason, but I thought houses were cool and really, really enjoy the fact when it, when the light bell went off for me light bulb went off for me.

It was really about the fact that I didn't know anywhere where I could make. The kind of money that I wanted to make. And what I mean by that is in real estate, there's really no ceiling. I mean, you, you set your own ceiling and real estate, you can make as much or as little as you want by just, you know, getting really efficient, working hard, having good systems.

So that's what launched me into it. I was, I started a couple of different real estate companies sold those was number three for close transactions for a major franchise. And just, that led me to all kinds of really cool opportunities. And that's another thing that I always loved about real estate was the opportunities that it can lead you into if you become really good and known as being really good.

So that led me into. The banking industry, which I helped co-found Nikolay national bank and it's now publicly traded a $7 billion company. That's done extremely well, a lot of talent around that, that wasn't just me by any means. But then when the crash came in 2009, 2010, I saw really quickly that community banks and banks needed a system to help promote their properties in a new way globally.

So fast forward through that, we worked with banks in 38 states. I'm always hiring local agents as our reps. We still do that work today. Then got a opportunity to work for the federal, with the federal government selling assets for the federal government and that morphed into. Realty I've been cash defied today.

Yeah. And I was able to look around on Realty hive. I think, you know, one of the things, and we had mentioned this before you're licensed in nearly all 50 states. And, you know, again, that, that thing that stands out is, is that continuing ed continuing education and, and what all that takes. But can I talk about, you know, why, why you're licensed in so many places and then how that kind of speaks to Realty hive and, and the business.

Yeah, what happens is it's, it's kind of a two-way street in this sense. Consumers come to us because they want utilization of our platform. In fact, When we have a consumer comes to us or an agent brings a property to us to help them with, we have an over 85% adoption rate. So what we have people really like and want.

So it's a two-way street in that same. Meaning that agents will bring properties to us. And we will also bring properties to agents that still holds true in the banking industry. We do work with a number of banks all across the United States and we'll get a one-off property in Utah. The reason for the licensing is just from.

A standpoint of making sure that we have all the basis covered. But if a call came in to us from Utah, we're licensed in Utah as an example we can answer a couple of quick questions for that particular buyer, but then that buyer. Quickly spun over to that local agent that we've hired to work on that asset for us.

So it's just a protection thing more than anything we're using local agents everywhere that we work. Now, talk to me a little bit about the, the Realty hive platform. You say people come because they want that access to that platform. Can you kind of walk me through what the, what the model of Realty hive is?

And really what the value is, both for agents coming to you as well as institutes. Yeah, the, and we have as an example entire companies that we partner with I'm thinking about office in beliefs that we just brought on and they have about 325 properties listed currently. And we're pretty, we can pretty much customize.

How we work with a particular agent, but most, most usually a company and they need outreach into the United States and Canada. And we, we do that every day. So we provide that to them to find them more buyers on their properties, but what the real the real. DNA of Realty hive is, is back when we were doing a lot of work for the federal government and the banks, what we very quickly found out is an auction format is very successful in creating bias.

There's, there's a couple things that are really bad about it. And, and I've seen him in full effect with doing some of the ballroom events we did for the FDAC, but most importantly, there's some really good parts. So when we create a Realty hive, what we did is created this high bred model to create the most activity.

Keep the seller and the agent in control of the final sales price and not have to work towards a certain specific date. So by marketing the properties, marketing them in a very unique and specific way and putting them within this. Platform of a hybrid. We call it a time limited event, not an auction.

What it does is just creates a lot more activity on properties and we have all kinds of samples of that properties that have been on the market seven, 800 days that we've come in, assisted an agent. And that agent got an accepted offer in a hundred days. Now being the new third agent in that transaction, there's multiple wins there for those.

Particular people that utilize our platform. So as an example, and I'll just give you this specific case. This agency, young agent works for a great company. They, that great company has all kinds of tools, but the question got asked of the third agent, you know, fairly, fairly new to the business. Tell me what you're going to do that the last two agents didn't do well, that's a pretty tough question because.

As agents, we can talk around that. And but you know, what I really like to do is dive into the details. And if, if I dive into those details, there's very little difference. And I don't mean to offend anybody when I say that, but there's very little difference of what they're doing from the standpoint of marketing and signage and MLS and et cetera.

There's differences. There's no doubt. But in this case, this young agent said, Hey, I've got this affiliation with this global marketing platform. They do time limited events. Would you like to hear about it? And this particular seller said, yeah, let me, let me jump on the phone. So the agent gets one of our business development reps on the phone.

We present to the city. Remember 85% plus adoption rate. The guy in the house says, I love it. I've never seen anything like this. I want to do it. Now. What happened there is really multifaceted. Okay. And what I mean by that is yes. The property came in. Yes. We marketed. We put it in a timeline of that property sold.

Wonderful. But what really happened was that agent got a. That's what really happened because he had to show a differential. So agents are using us as a listing tool, so to speak, they will use us to extend a listing. So, you know, the hardest two conversations you got to have in real estate. We need to reduce your price and we need to extend your listing, the hard conversations, right?

And in what we've developed with Realty hive is this way to work that into both of those conversations. So that either way the agent wins, right. If they're trying to get a price reduction, they can say, well, we typically would do a price reduction at this term and listing with this amount of activity, I would suggest we reduce the price to add.

Or I want to give you another option, which is this time limited. So either way the agent wins, right. I just want to, sorry to interrupt time-limited event. Is that, is that different than calling it an auction? And is there a reason? I mean, because to me those, the two sound very, they sound the same, but I mean it's time limited event.

Just kind of like change it in in its compliance or, or what is the kind of, what is the, the mindset there? Really good in-depth question. We have tested this four years running the same property under two different languages. They both get almost identical reaction. The difference is that when an agent has to go to a seller and bring up the word auction, it's usually a negative situation.

So every seller is willing to say, you know what, for the certain amount of time I'm willing to, in a sense, kind of look at the marketplace and look at all of the offers available within the certain timeframe. Thai I E time limited. So when we switched from doing what I call old school auction formats and switched it to this new retail version, the acceptance rate from the everyday retail seller is off the charts.

So buyers love auction. Sellers necessarily don't love auctions. The, the other part that came up with that is there were a lot of auctions back in the downturn that were done for financial institutions and secondary underwriter providers of, of mortgages. And there was a lot of negative connotation to that auction companies were cutting the agents out every chance they got.

Approach the banking industry back then from the standpoint of why do we want to do that? A you're typically don't want to fire sell your product and B we want to be all inclusive. So the idea from day one was that we were not going to do this in a way that was against the real estate agents. We were welcoming the real estate agent.

And it's proved very well for us. I mean, I, you know, auction in my experience, you know, which has been, you know, heavily focused. In residential real estate. You know, my exposure to auctions has been definitely more in the luxury sector, right. And, and the, you know, I think of a company like concierge auctions, they come to mind.

And that's, you know, really where, where my kind of knowledge stops in these, in these time limited sales and in this auction kind of format, are you seeing that same kind of adoption at the. Kind of residential, you know, middle market level or is that a little bit more unique? And, and I asked just, you know, again, kind of going on the site, I see we've got a lot of international properties.

There are some residential listings and kind of residential lands spots, but what's the, what's the adoption like, you know, just from the you know, from that, that residential, single family home level. Well, it's it's most of what we do. There are again, this is the best way to think about it as it's like a retail version of it.

So a it's very inexpensive compared to some of the companies you spoke about. I'm a seller and there's a major difference in philosophy. And that philosophy is what's winning out with what we're doing with the consumers and the brokers. And what I mean by that is. If you take a high end property of $5 million and you tell a seller, they have to commit to taking $2 million or they have to commit to an absolute Ark.

I'm assuming. And I'm going to assume that they don't have shell bitters in the audience, making sure that it doesn't, that it gets up to a certain point, but they. Then pay the agent 6%, 5%, whatever that may be. And then the auction company might take five or 10% now it's buyer's premium, but the problem is the sellers really still paying it in the price.

So to, to have a an event that costs a seller 10 to 15%, let's just say is a big number and the ability. That most sellers can't agree to that that kind of strike price. Most people don't want to do that. Some can do it obviously. So when we did it, we wanted it to be very much all inclusive. So in our events, there is the seller has control over the price at all moments.

And that's a very important aspect because. If on an on event day, you get X. If we sit for two more days, we might get a bigger number for that seller. So the sellers always in control of calling, when they're going to say that's, it let's take it. The other thing is we're charging only when the property sells and it's as low as 1%.

For us to run the platform. So if you think about it, what we're doing is we're creating this art open architecture platform that agents and brokerages can come in and use when they want, when they see fit. So it's almost like they own their own time-limited event or auction company. It's not white paper because the recognition of our traffic is greater than me calling it.

You know, Travis XYZ. So in that respect, that is that is proven out really well. And because of all those things it's been designed for that typical seller that's, you know, if you go in and list the house right now, and this is a really cool statistic, by the way. So we have the ability to pull in 90% of the MLS is and analyze the data.

When we do that, we found that 18% of the properties that are residential only in the U S that are listed, have been on the market over double the average days on the model. So, what is that is telling you in the hottest real estate market ever, there is still stuff that is taking too long, and that could be just because of price.

That could be because of marketing. That could be of exp exposure in that marketing, but by taking it and wrapping it into a new package, so to speak and promoting it in a different way, then you get really cool and different, exciting reasons. So it was, was Realty and I've launched. When was, when, when did you start Realty dive?

Well, the premise of it, we started back in 2010 when we were working with the banks and after that a little bit, the federal government on a bunch of jobs and about two years ago, probably two and a half years ago now is when we, we kind of took it out of my name, so to speak and made it into a more branded, a generic name called Realty hive.

So process has been going on for you know, 10, 11 years, but yeah. New or the launch of the company itself has been just for the last, let's just say two and a half to three. Okay. And then what kind of, you know, you're saying y'all have access to, you know, 90% of the MLS is, and then there's the, the, the, the thing that comes to mind for me right now is how hot this market is, right?

Like days on market in I'm in Denver, Colorado, our days on market has pretty much halved. Our median home price has gone up a hundred thousand dollars, you know, year over year. So, you know, I'm immediately, you know, not skeptical. You know, I'm wondering like how that, that, that time limited format kind of fits into, into this market.

And maybe it just, it doesn't right now, or maybe it does, like, how do you, how are you breaking into those markets that, you know, can't keep inventory on the shelf? Or is it kind of like using, like you said that as data back decisions to say, yes, there are, there are properties that are moving very quickly, but there are also properties that are not moving quickly and we provide that solution.

Yeah, it's a little bit of both. And then what you have to do then is step back and look at it on a global scale. Right? So the U S is hot right now. There are lots of areas in the world that are. You know, as an example beliefs, the average days on the market and beliefs is over a year. We're very close with a particular major company in assisting them in Europe.

And we're in conversations of that right now. And when you look at Europe, there are certain segments of Italy that are extremely hot, and there are certain segments that are certainly not in the same, and there's different markets that you can go into easier than others. And there's some language barriers and so forth.

But even if you were to take Denver, I would challenge this. First of all, as a real estate agent we tend to. You know, gravitate towards what's happening and, and rightfully so, what I call that is buttering your bread, right? If you go out and you're looking at a medium price range, about $500,000 property, guess what?

All the competition's there from the standpoint of a listing agent, this is coming from the, the aspect of looking at it as a real estate agent, all the competition there, there's probably downward pressure on commissions because of the competition. But there are other segments that I challenge anyone.

If they take Denver and they run a report on the MLS in Denver, they include all the different types of real estate, commercial, vacant land, et cetera. They're going to find their properties that are on the market way longer than the average days on the market. So going back from the agent standpoint, where we fit in with this is on the first step is.

If you want to go after that stuff, you need to have a tool where the tool, if you want to expand your business into different areas for sale by owners, expired listings, whatever that may be, you have to have a different conversation. Otherwise, the conversation typically becomes about commodity pricing commissions.

That's why you see so many of these companies popping up right. We'll do it for 1%, 2%, whatever it may be. You have to have a tool that really makes you stand out. And then the other part. And so first of all is how does Denver is there are properties that are not moving in that market. And, and that's where you help.

On the other side of that coin, we do have agents. We just had an agent come to us in Florida and it's like outside Disneyland. Immensely hot. The question that she proposed to us was let's put this property on your site. We think it's 300, I'm going from memory. So these numbers are rough. 300. But what we want to do is we want to put a list price on it of 3 25 and we'll have an opening of 300.

So they thought it was worth 300, but put 3 25 on it. As our list price, we did...]]>17fc5608-d512-423c-af5f-d06cc97b48deMon, 12 Jul 2021 04:00:00 -070047:15nofull40TRIBUSMaking the leap to real estate during a pandemic, and making real estate your own with MODUS broker associate Samantha HeyerEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

It's always exciting to learn how and why people choose to enter the real estate industry. For Samantha Heyer, a broker associate with MODUS Real Estate in Denver, Colorado, the decision came last year during one of the most transitional periods in history. Heyer entered real estate following a successful career in the communications and PR industry primarily focused in healthcare. This experience - managing brand exposure, media relations, public relations - gave Heyer the tools and network needed to hit the ground running in Denver's hot real estate market.

On this episode of Brokerage Insider, Heyer talks about her decision to enter the real estate industry during the pandemic, and what it's like to navigate one of the most coveted markets right now.

TRANSCRIPT:

📍 Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester. And I'm the director of client success here at Travis. We're one of the largest independent PropTech companies in real estate and providers of technology to real estate companies around the world.

Today, we're joined by Samantha, hire a realtor with modus real estate here in Denver and actually right down the street from where I live. Samantha, how are you doing today? Great. How are you excited to be here? I'm doing great. Thanks so much for joining us on brokerage insider. You know, I think one of the first things we just kind of like to start with is why don't you let our audience know you know, what you do at modus and give us a little bit of background, how you got into Realty.

Yep. So I'm a broker associate at modus real estate. We're based in the Sunnyside neighborhood. So Northwest Denver I've been with modus about eight months. When I made a career change into real estate, I previously for 10 years worked for a PR agency based out of New York city, but we also had offices in other places.

And so when my husband and I moved to Denver about six years ago, Kept that job and was working out of Denver remotely and supporting clients and teams sort of all over the country. So I had a lot of project management experience communications navigating, you know, crisis and issues and things of that nature.

It was all based in the healthcare industry. So did a lot of more. Consumer health or science work. But the crux of it was really client service and I was ready for a change and I wanted to feel a part of. Our new home in Denver and Colorado, and really sort of, you know, in gross myself in the community here.

And my twin sister, Catherine happens to be a realtor in New York city. And she's been doing that now about two years. And so we talk almost every day and you know, when the pandemic hit, I was, you know, spending a lot of time at home and it really got me thinking, okay, I'm ready for a change. And what could it be?

And I decided that real estate would be a really exciting change and would definitely throw me into the community and make me feel a part of Denver. So she sort of gave me the extra push I needed to do it. And then her and I also partnered on sort of a related, but separate business, helping other entrepreneurs who want to start a business, then we help them start a business specifically in real estate and travel.

Very cool. Well, that was definitely a lot. Let's kind of talk about, you know, what was your first kind of thoughts when you were approaching, you know, real estate as a possible career change? You know, I think there's a, there's a lot to take in there because everyone has a different experience and exposure to real estate.

So. You know, when you, when you first started investigating it and...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

It's always exciting to learn how and why people choose to enter the real estate industry. For Samantha Heyer, a broker associate with MODUS Real Estate in Denver, Colorado, the decision came last year during one of the most transitional periods in history. Heyer entered real estate following a successful career in the communications and PR industry primarily focused in healthcare. This experience - managing brand exposure, media relations, public relations - gave Heyer the tools and network needed to hit the ground running in Denver's hot real estate market.

On this episode of Brokerage Insider, Heyer talks about her decision to enter the real estate industry during the pandemic, and what it's like to navigate one of the most coveted markets right now.

TRANSCRIPT:

📍 Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester. And I'm the director of client success here at Travis. We're one of the largest independent PropTech companies in real estate and providers of technology to real estate companies around the world.

Today, we're joined by Samantha, hire a realtor with modus real estate here in Denver and actually right down the street from where I live. Samantha, how are you doing today? Great. How are you excited to be here? I'm doing great. Thanks so much for joining us on brokerage insider. You know, I think one of the first things we just kind of like to start with is why don't you let our audience know you know, what you do at modus and give us a little bit of background, how you got into Realty.

Yep. So I'm a broker associate at modus real estate. We're based in the Sunnyside neighborhood. So Northwest Denver I've been with modus about eight months. When I made a career change into real estate, I previously for 10 years worked for a PR agency based out of New York city, but we also had offices in other places.

And so when my husband and I moved to Denver about six years ago, Kept that job and was working out of Denver remotely and supporting clients and teams sort of all over the country. So I had a lot of project management experience communications navigating, you know, crisis and issues and things of that nature.

It was all based in the healthcare industry. So did a lot of more. Consumer health or science work. But the crux of it was really client service and I was ready for a change and I wanted to feel a part of. Our new home in Denver and Colorado, and really sort of, you know, in gross myself in the community here.

And my twin sister, Catherine happens to be a realtor in New York city. And she's been doing that now about two years. And so we talk almost every day and you know, when the pandemic hit, I was, you know, spending a lot of time at home and it really got me thinking, okay, I'm ready for a change. And what could it be?

And I decided that real estate would be a really exciting change and would definitely throw me into the community and make me feel a part of Denver. So she sort of gave me the extra push I needed to do it. And then her and I also partnered on sort of a related, but separate business, helping other entrepreneurs who want to start a business, then we help them start a business specifically in real estate and travel.

Very cool. Well, that was definitely a lot. Let's kind of talk about, you know, what was your first kind of thoughts when you were approaching, you know, real estate as a possible career change? You know, I think there's a, there's a lot to take in there because everyone has a different experience and exposure to real estate.

So. You know, when you, when you first started investigating it and researching it I imagine, you know, coming from a communications and PR background, your research process is probably pretty extensive. What were some of your, your first kind of impressions? And, and what were you kind of looking at first?

Yeah, I think I was, you know, even before I thought of it as a career, I always just enjoyed real estate or, or renovations or, you know, home improvement. And and when we started looking at homes two years ago in Denver was when it sort of piqued my interest. You know, Denver is such a popular place to move.

There's a lot of people moving from the east coast and the west coast. And so it's creating a lot of change which is really exciting. And so when we started looking at homes, I started even doing a little, you know, research then into the real estate market. And. Since then when I was actually, you know, diving into real estate school and starting to think about it as a career, I definitely, you know, was reading about the market in Denver, but just in general, sort of like how someone gets started.

And I feel like, you know, a lot of what you read is sort of a little daunting. And I talked to you know friends of mine who are realtors. Our friends, realtors, who they used. I spoke to the realtor we use when we bought her home and everyone just sort of says like, listen, like be prepared to make no money for six months.

Like you ready to get up every morning and, you know, pound your network and make sure you are putting yourself out there. And all of that hard work definitely pays off, but it's, you know, people will also throw stats at you about, you know, the number of realtors there are in Denver. The number of them who are successful and what it takes to be successful, which none of that really deterred me or freaked me out.

Because I've been putting in a lot of challenging situations in my previous career whether there was a challenging client or, you know a crisis situation or something that we had to act on quickly, and I've been able to overcome challenges like that and problem solve. So. I was confident that, you know, I was ready for change and this was going to be something that I could really dig into, I could make my own.

And you can sort of work as hard as you want, or as little as you want. I, my personality is to sort of dig in and be a hard worker. So I just make sure that I start every day with a list of things I need to do or and sort of have goals for that month so that I can keep myself. Accountable.

Definitely. I mean, I think it's always really important to understand too. And this is something that I really love talking about, but how real estate agents are. It, you know, you are an independent contractor and therefore you are the CEO of a small business. Right. Like, you've got to be marketing. You are, you know, client care, client support.

I mean, there's just so much that goes into it. So I'm always curious to know, like, how are you bringing and you, and you did to just touch on this, but how are you bringing some of that past experience into real estate? How are you kind of adapting those tools and those skills that you build up in that communications industry to real estate and to your clients?

Yes. So I, you know, I was, I worked for the same PR agency for my entire career. So. A lot of their work styles sort of what's ingrained in me. And I was surrounded by a lot of super smart and great people. And I had great mentors and I feel like, you know, organization and time management were key and knowing when like you need help.

Well then who are the people who can help? The only change now with real estate is I don't have help. It's just me. Which is fine. It's been a refreshing change to not have to keep track of necessarily like other people's to do lists or people I was managing. But now it's, you know, figuring out what do I need to tackle today and what can wait for another day.

And I have become ingrained in using CRM. Those, which that was new to me. I did not use them in PR and PR everything was like based around my emails and just flagging emails and keeping a detailed to-do list. So now I just take a similar approach, but I'm keeping a database of clients and connections and setting reminders for myself so that I don't lose track of something.

Six months out from buying a home while I'm focused on the people who are looking right now. But a big part of it for me is making sure that I'm responsive and I make every person feel like they're the most important person. And in that moment because you know, you could be juggling multiple clients in the same weekend.

And so I just try to. Ahead of booking showings and giving people my availability and sort of working around schedules. I think the biggest thing for my PR career that I remember is you never wanna leave a client hanging and have, you know, a whole day go by and you're not responding to a simple email.

So I really. Try to keep up with my emails, whether it's, you know, responding to things first thing in the morning, and then checking again later in the day to catch anything from while I was out at showing so that people feel like they can count on me and get ahold of me. And, you know, so it's just different, not being in front of a computer all day and sort of adding in the, on the go environment that real estate brings.

What were some of the biggest and I'll say obstacles, but oh yeah. So, you know, replace that with challenges. So what were some of the challenges that you've encountered you know, entering this new career that you didn't really expect? What were some of the things I don't know, I don't, and I don't want to say curve balls.

I'm thinking you're entering the industry to is an incredible time right now. You know, I I'll, I'll be excited. Maybe we can connect in a few years. And talk about how you came into real estate at the craziest time possible. What are some of the, you know, kind of the, the unknown challenges that you've experienced and how you worked through them and, and kind of grown and grow.

Yeah. So I think, you know, when I first started my mentor at modus who supports me in a sort of like my right hand as I get up to speed you know, he suggested that I start to put together a list of everyone. I know doesn't necessarily just have to keep people I know in Denver, but people who I know who would be supportive of me in this change and would be able to think of me, refer people to me.

Et cetera. So when I started pulling that together, became a little daunting that like, yes, I do know a lot of people, but like, how am I going to reach out to these people appropriately? Some of them were people I haven't spoken to in a long time. And you, and I don't want to know come off too salesy and make them feel like I'm only reaching out to them because I want to, you know, work with them and eventually get a paycheck from.

And so navigating that was harder than I thought, but then, you know, twofold, you know, Also expect to a certain degree that your friends will give you a chance. And I don't expect that, you know, all of my friends are going to work with me just because now I'm in real estate, but I expect that they would give me the chance to like, have the coffee meetings, sit me down, ask me how I would handle it, what I would do for them and give me a shot to compete against someone else who maybe they're talking to, who has more years experience or they feel like is a better fit.

So I think overcoming that or the expectation. You know, people I know who already know me would give me that shot. And I think now I just, you know, focus on what I can bring to the table and share the successes I have had as a way to sort of navigate those conversations. And then, you know, In addition to that, I think it's just always constantly finding people to meet and talk to, and it doesn't necessarily have to be because they're looking for a home, but I'm trying to create a community here for myself and sort of join meetups or clubs or things for activities that I enjoy I'm involved in as a way to widen my network because previously I wasn't working with anyone in Denver, so I haven't been exposed to.

The community and in this way, yeah. Definitely. And, and I think that that networking part is incredibly important in real estate. And that's why, you know, I kind of looked back getting your, or getting into the industry, you know, eight months ago or even last year, it's like networking was primarily virtual last year.

So so I think, you know, again, you you've entered it in a strange way. What's your, you know, kind of take, you know, within your first year of doing this, what's your take on the Denver market? You know, I think we've seen in, like you, you mentioned so many people are moving here, so we're seeing this massive influx of people we're seeing home prices increase at it at alarming rates.

But what's your kind of take on the market right now. And then what's, you know, what kind of conversations are you having with your. Yeah. So when I started at the end of last year, things were definitely crazy, but I think when we hit 20, 21, it even got crazier and people who I had been talking to have worked in the industry, you know, eight, 15 years, 10 years, whatever it is, you know, have said that they've never been.

Seen it this crazy, and they've never been writing contracts and the way they have to write them in order to win and even the best, you know, written contract or the most competitive contracts they've written are not winning there's someone who is stronger. And so it's definitely been challenging. I think when I was writing contracts for people in January, February, March, At least for the price point.

And the areas that I was looking with people was more wild or there were more offers on the table then than there are when I'm writing offers now. And so I think since the Memorial day holiday, I've noticed a, like a little dip. And so I won't say it's drastic, but like a slight change, like definitely a drop in the number of showings, which will lead to less offers.

So. Is a little bit less competition for buyers, but it's still is keeping the prices, you know, high or going above list in most cases for the seller side. But you know, the inventory is historically low at around 2000 homes, I think right now. And so it would need to at least triple to even right.

And, you know, there isn't a sign yet that that's happening. I think it's like softening slightly, but we haven't seen like such an uptick in listings that would lead you to believe that I could start telling clients that, you know, if you wait a month, there might be more inventory for you to look at and things will even out because I, I don't think that that's, it's going to happen that quickly.

In terms of, you know, when people keep talking about the bubble and are we in a bubble, I just, I think the market's going to stay pretty hot through the rest of this year. I don't like to necessarily predict or talk longer term than that. And you know, with rates still being pretty low, I mean, they'll probably go up, but in the grand scheme of things, they're still low.

And so for people who. Hovering or thinking about it. Or they have a lease coming up in the next three or six months. Like I would encourage them to look and at least give it a try. Like you never know until you try or at least have a conversation with a mortgage lender and sort of understand at least where you would be at.

The education is definitely key because I think people are hearing on the news or through friends that, you know, the inventory's low and the market's crazy. And so it keeps people sort of out of the game. I've been successful with, you know, several first-time home buyers who sort of got their feet wet, understood what they had to do.

And they did it. And after a few tries, you know, we were able to go under contract. So I always sort of encouraged people to try to see the other side of thing or find the, find the positive. Like you could be spending, you know, a certain amount on rent every month. And you could spend that same amount on a home depending on what you're looking for in a way.

And so sometimes when people look at it like that, they're like, okay, well maybe we should. Actually make the investments that, of just spending rent. Yeah, definitely. I mean, there's so much out there when, when, you know, if you're a prospective home buyer if you just go Google the process, I loved what, what you said.

It just seems so daunting. One, because you're bombarded with so much information and too, you know, the possibility, you know, You know, a year ago, if you were looking in the 400 to $500,000 range and I'm speaking, you know, to Denver, well, those houses are in the 600 to $700,000 range and getting more simple cash offers with escalation clauses.

And it just seems. That, you know, when you look at it and take it at face value, it seems like it's just not really a possibility, but again, like, like what you said, and I, and I love emphasizing this. It's like just meet with an agent, meet with a realtor and start that conversation. So you can begin to see that.

Even though things are a little bit daunting. It's, it's not out of the realm of possibility. It might not be what you want it, you know, one year ago or two years ago or what was available, but that doesn't change the possibilities of it. And I think that's a really important tool. Exactly. And I think, you know, a lot of what's being put out right now from DMR and in the, all the stats is, you know, every month, the home that you could have afforded for $500,000 in the Denver Metro.

Becomes not attainable the next month because of the new comps and the appreciation and all of the new homes that are closing. And so sometimes I try to show people those stats or information to show them that, you know, if they really do have enough money saved to do it now, but they're just sort of scared or unsure.

That, you know, whatever you whatever's on your wishlist might not be affordable in six months if this keeps up. And so sometimes looking at it like that helps too, because, you know, no one expected a pandemic was going to come. And I think a lot of people who are in apartments and want to be in apartments anymore.

And so mom knows we're not as popular. And people fled like the key downtown neighborhoods cause they wanted outdoor space. Now that's starting to. Sort of turnaround and I think there's more competition again on, you know, condos. So for people who are renting an apartment and, you know, really want to buy a house, cause they don't want to, I spend $400,000 on the condo or whatever it is, you know, I try to tell them like, maybe it's more worth buying the condo right now having the investment and worrying about the house later.

I think. First time home buyers are very hung up on a certain picture where we want our forever home or whatever it is, but really your first home is just an investment. It's a starting point. And because the Denver market is so nuts right now in a good way. And the appreciation that you can have in just a couple of years, you could be out of the condo.

So just trying to help people. Weigh options. I think a lot of people who are in...]]>fa43062c-2a0e-43b5-9fcb-d68e6dce4651Mon, 05 Jul 2021 06:00:00 -070036:19nofull39TRIBUSCan Blimp Homes help you and your clients centralize the real estate process? CEO Matt Shaw explainsEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

📍 Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of Travis. We're one of the largest independent property technology companies in real estate and provider accustom, brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages in the United States, Canada.

And now even around the world. In addition, I'm the managing partner, Travis capital, a private equity fund focused on the property technology. On today's episode, we have Matt Shaw, the mats, the CEO of a property technology company called blimp homes. Blimp is a mobile only real estate tech company that helps agents connect their clients and other parties in the transaction.

So, Matt, thanks for joining us today. Thanks very much. Great. Well, I'm excited to dig in and learn a little bit more about your company to be honest you know, until we, we chatted here about you coming on the show, I hadn't heard of you guys before, so I'm really interested in learning more about what you guys do.

I did get a chance to play with your app. And so for all those folks listening, you know, feel free to jump into the app store either Google or Apple app stores. You're on both and you can go download the blimp homes app and play with it. But first let's talk a little bit about your history and how you got into real estate, because that's something I'm always very interested in.

Now, when I, when I took a quick peak, it looks like you come from a history in the banking world, the the FinTech world. And then recently you kind of got into the blockchain world. So what, what caused you to have a jump into. Yes. Thanks very much. Well, my background, as you, as you rightly say, is a bit varied.

And I, I started my career in investment banking. I was the best bank for over 20 years, but I was always very much involved on I would say the cutting edge side, you know, the innovation side. So I was very deeply involved for instance, in building the capital markets in the central and Eastern Europe.

And that led me to, to, to, to down various avenues eventually into investing in real estate personally. Really that was probably my first foray into the real estate space. I mean, I guess growing up in London you know, everybody is slightly obsessed with property and you know, certainly, you know, my, my experience was trying to get on the property ladder at a young age.

Going through a bit of a boom and bust and then, and then eventually sort of investing in other properties abroad you know, partly because of my banking background, I traveled around quite a bit. So I've lived in several countries and ended up, you know, buying properties and obviously UK, but also France, Cyprus, Switzerland, Canada, and, and also the U S and I think.

My experience in the U S was one of the reasons where she really piqued my interest to, to get into this. Well, you know, obviously if you've, if you've done that level of investing in ownership of properties, I can see where, where you'd be interested. But do you, do you or anybody around you have any formal brokerage side of the business?

Cause it, the reason I asked the question is that I, a lot of times, you know, people that start in this world, you usually have come from, they were an agent before a broker before a family member was an agent or a broker for before accepting. But from what you just said, it didn't sound like that was the case.

So you were an investor and, and owned property and then decided to jump in and help solve a problem. Is that what I'm understanding? Yeah. So that's my personal experience, but...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

TRANSCRIPT:

📍 Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of Travis. We're one of the largest independent property technology companies in real estate and provider accustom, brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages in the United States, Canada.

And now even around the world. In addition, I'm the managing partner, Travis capital, a private equity fund focused on the property technology. On today's episode, we have Matt Shaw, the mats, the CEO of a property technology company called blimp homes. Blimp is a mobile only real estate tech company that helps agents connect their clients and other parties in the transaction.

So, Matt, thanks for joining us today. Thanks very much. Great. Well, I'm excited to dig in and learn a little bit more about your company to be honest you know, until we, we chatted here about you coming on the show, I hadn't heard of you guys before, so I'm really interested in learning more about what you guys do.

I did get a chance to play with your app. And so for all those folks listening, you know, feel free to jump into the app store either Google or Apple app stores. You're on both and you can go download the blimp homes app and play with it. But first let's talk a little bit about your history and how you got into real estate, because that's something I'm always very interested in.

Now, when I, when I took a quick peak, it looks like you come from a history in the banking world, the the FinTech world. And then recently you kind of got into the blockchain world. So what, what caused you to have a jump into. Yes. Thanks very much. Well, my background, as you, as you rightly say, is a bit varied.

And I, I started my career in investment banking. I was the best bank for over 20 years, but I was always very much involved on I would say the cutting edge side, you know, the innovation side. So I was very deeply involved for instance, in building the capital markets in the central and Eastern Europe.

And that led me to, to, to, to down various avenues eventually into investing in real estate personally. Really that was probably my first foray into the real estate space. I mean, I guess growing up in London you know, everybody is slightly obsessed with property and you know, certainly, you know, my, my experience was trying to get on the property ladder at a young age.

Going through a bit of a boom and bust and then, and then eventually sort of investing in other properties abroad you know, partly because of my banking background, I traveled around quite a bit. So I've lived in several countries and ended up, you know, buying properties and obviously UK, but also France, Cyprus, Switzerland, Canada, and, and also the U S and I think.

My experience in the U S was one of the reasons where she really piqued my interest to, to get into this. Well, you know, obviously if you've, if you've done that level of investing in ownership of properties, I can see where, where you'd be interested. But do you, do you or anybody around you have any formal brokerage side of the business?

Cause it, the reason I asked the question is that I, a lot of times, you know, people that start in this world, you usually have come from, they were an agent before a broker before a family member was an agent or a broker for before accepting. But from what you just said, it didn't sound like that was the case.

So you were an investor and, and owned property and then decided to jump in and help solve a problem. Is that what I'm understanding? Yeah. So that's my personal experience, but of course other people in the team have got deep experience in this space. One of our co-founders Ben Clark was I think a member of the founding team very early on at Zillow, for instance, and has a long experience in the real estate data space.

And some of our advisors have had the illustrious careers in real estate as well, but you're right. My main experience really is I suppose, really an interest in systems and, and problem solving. And then also as a consumer. And I think, you know, my, again, my experience in the U S was quite quite significant from, from, you know, its impact on me.

I mean, I think that every country. Has its own quirks. I mean, the UK, for instance, you're buying a home in, in, in, in England is quite strange in some ways quite quirky. And you know, every country has its own nuances. And I think that what really got me interested in, in real estate on the technical tech technology side was was when I started buying a couple of homes in India.

Gotcha. Well, you know, let's jump in and talk a little bit about blimp then. And how and what the problem is that you're solving, because it does seem to solve somewhat of a, of an issue in the industry, from what I saw. So tell us a little bit about blimp. Tell us about maybe how you got started on the specifics of solving the problem and w where you saw the problem and then a, about the company.

Yeah. So so as I say, I initially bought a property in the U S and I was really surprised about the, you know, how much friction there is in buying real estate in the U S I guess my, my key takeaway was you know, being saved by an amazing realtor, you know, so a realtor really quarterback, quarterback the whole transaction.

At the time I really was, you know, finding my feet and, you know, I, I, this is probably many people who have a similar experience, you know, you really rely on a great realtor, but I also noticed that some of the communication channels. Well you know, very legacy and you know, old fashioned. So I had an amazing realtor who went above and beyond, you know, any sort of call of duty to the point where I left him some keys and he coordinated, you know, some repairs and, you know, things which, you know, we shouldn't really ask a realtor to do, but but equally he communicated with me.

Many different channels. So he would send me a bunch of links, which I would look at. And then I would then try to remember which of those links I liked. So I ended up clicking twice and then making handwritten notes. We would speak by phone. He would send me texts and so forth. So it was, it was quite a disparate communication channel.

And I think that I, I sort of realized that maybe there is a, a way where the consumer could be guided through a transaction in a more logical fashion where they can understand, you know, all of the tasks in front of you, all the core services, which you need to engage and above all, perhaps finding all these core services in one place.

I think there's some reasons why. Some of the legacy systems have a lot of friction for consumers is because, you know, you have different channels, you know, different core services competing for consumer attention, essentially. And so in some ways, you know, the consumer is getting dragged from one, you, you know you know, sales funnel to another in, you know, which doesn't enhance the consumer experience.

So I think. What really struck me from my experience and what the problem, one of the key problems we're trying to solve is really helping the guide the consumer. It's truly the prime prime buying process in a way, which is, you know, logical. There are no surprises. So again, I'm a, I'm a, you know, a Brit living in Canada and I bought a home in, in the U S and I'll be really honest.

I didn't actually know what title insurance was at that point. So that was, I sort of surprised at the end, but again, it was all smoothly navigated thanks to my thanks to my age. But I think the idea really is that the consumers can navigate this process in a more seamless way. It feels like one end to end transaction, not a series of, you know, sort of disparate transactions.

You know, I need my mortgage now. I need my insurance. Now they might talk to the insurance and so forth. So it seems like a seamless end to end transaction. And equally for the, for the professionals, you have the consumer in one place where they're basically saying, well, I understand that this is at this point in the process, I really realize I do need to put in place insurance.

So I do need to find an insurance solution as an example, so that you know, in this example, the, the consumer is a willing participant in, in actively seeking those services. So I think it really, the idea really is to solve those. Those friction points for the consumer, but equally solve some problems for the professionals in terms of how do you reach those reach those consumers.

And then I think also overlaid onto this. There is an incentive and reward system to incentivize both professionals and Well, I think we'll get to that part and talking about the crypto side which is certainly an interesting part of what you're doing. And just a little bit, I have a number of questions for you about that, that portion of it.

But I want to step back for a second because, you know, you said something kind of interesting. And, and if for frequent listeners of the show you'll know that we, we had a series of shows that we did about international real estate and how different it was to the United States and even in Canada As somebody who's not from the United States and is used to how things are done in other countries.

What do you think are the biggest differences that are there between, you know, maybe purchasing a home in the United States versus in London? I know you mentioned the title insurance thing. Certainly we can start there, but, but what else have you seen? That's different. That's probably, yeah. You put your finger probably on one of the biggest differences, you know, in England, for instance, This is probably an example of, I think in the U S does it much better, but in, in, in England, you know, if you, if you find a house you'd like to buy and you, you basically reached an agreement with the seller.

And by the way, the, in, in, typically in England, the, an agent only represents the seller. It's actually quite unusual to have an agent representing a buyer that's normally just sort of you know, pop styles or something like this, or people who are extremely busy hire an agent to help them find a home.

So typically you just have an agent representing one side of the transaction, and let's just say you found a home, which you arranged to buy. And let's for the sake of argument, say it's a million pound home in London. Quite a small house, to be honest in London these days. And all parties are agreed.

You then go through a process where the, the lawyers check back through the, the land registry to make sure they're in those sorts of strange aspects which could impact the title. And since a lot of these houses have very, very old, you know, I remember I bought a house in England, I think was built in 1850 or, and it had a previous condition on the land that you weren't allowed to graze sheep on the land as an example.

So it goes really, really way, way back some of these items and, and other strange things about how, you know, you can't use the house for certain activities and things like this. But the key thing that takes typically takes about three weeks for the lawyer to check all these old covenants and rights of way to make sure that no one can walk across your land and things like this.

And during that three week period somebody else could come along and just outbid you. So the there's a word in England in a new school cause something which just means that, you know, somebody just comes along in that three week closing period that says, well, 1.1 million and you've lost the you've lost the house.

And in a, in a weak market buyers do the, do the opposite. You know, they, they, they, they reduce that bit at the last minute and, you know, quite often the person has no alternative, but to accept that low bid. So I think, you know, the title side is handled quite differently. You clear all the title You know, deficiency, deficiencies and do all the analysis during the closing process, but you haven't actually bought the home.

So of course that's very, very different from the U S and I have to say, I think the U S is a much more satisfactory system, you know? So, you know obviously when, when somebody goes under contract here, you know, that does seem to be better. I I'm very glad in the United States and Canada, for that matter, we don't have dumping.

And that's going to be a, maybe a new, a new word in my vernacular here of making sure you don't. Because dumped. But that, you know, that is a PR that does seem like a problem where you have almost no security in, in the deal. Because I know, you know, when, when I've purchased homes for example, I purchased a home last year and two weeks later I purchased it right at the beginning of the pandemic on purpose because I recognize the data that showed the real estate was going.

Rebound very quickly. And I got a crazy deal and I definitely would've gotten gazumped because somebody else would have definitely come along. Had it been a different rule and seeing that the property was for sale made a higher bid because of the seller, you know, wanting to sell quickly worried about the pandemic.

So definitely seems like a better model there also, you know, that what you said about buyer's agent. It's still shocking to me. I have a friend in Georgia, not the state, the country and he is has been actively going around to different countries, trying to essentially push the concept of the value of a buyer's agent in representing the buyer and making sure that they had, you know, somebody fighting for their behalf on their behalf.

And it seems like that's not the way it is on a lot of places. So. You know, let's, let's you know, talk a little bit about the the, the, the app and what we're doing here, because in playing with it, it seems like the idea, the main idea is, is we're connecting up a number of, of Hardy stakeholders in the system.

Right? So being the idea is I can go in. As an agent set up a transaction and then invite multiple people in. So, you know, it kind of begs the question of You know, is it, is the idea that there's this one place for all of communication, because I think today a lot of this is just done over text messages.

You know, the agent goes in there, I messages app on their phone and texts the lender and said, Hey, what's the status? And then they click and text the, the buyer or the seller and just kind of give them an update on what's going on. So is the idea here to have more of a centralized location for that?

Or, or what's the long-term goal? Maybe, maybe you've got something that you're working on. That's adding on to that that will provide more functional. Yeah, I think I mean, I think the idea of communicating through text, it, it, it definitely works to a certain, certain, a certain point, but here's an example.

My daughters were looking for a house to rent actually in, in California you know, a year or two ago. And they were sharing, you know, properties with us, you know, do we think this is a good run or not? And they were, they were obviously sharing it with the other, the other. Students who are looking to live in the same house.

So, you know, there's multiple people on this and literally people were saying, sending texts around, you know you know, and people are, people are pulling in listings from, you know, different, different you know, Zillow listings and so forth. And then people would say, well, What did you think of the one which I marked with an exclamation point or what do you think about the one I put a heart next to?

So once you get into sort of multiple parties looking to look at properties and share their share their thoughts on the property, it actually gets complicated quite, quite quickly. And email doesn't solve it very well either. As I say, you know, if you get a series of links you know, somehow the human brain.

Well, maybe it's just my brain, but if somebody sends me 10 links and open them all, and it's four houses, I'd quite like to see for some reason, I'm I sort of have to go back and remember which, which, what, which those were. So I think one of the, one of the. Key advantages of our, of our app is that people, even before they select a realtor, for instance, to help them, consumers could just simply share listings and exchange views.

You can pull in listings from different sources and basically just chat about them. So it's a little bit, you know, a little bit like slack for real estate, if you like. And I think this is, this is, you know, a superior experience to. So texting, and then, then they can then invite the consumer can invite you know, the various professionals.

They need to help them probably very likely guided by, you know, their realtor. So for instance, you know, they can then bring in you know, somebody on the mortgage side, somebody on the insurance insurance side and so forth, and then they can have, you know, multiple chance of course. Some of the communication is, is just in private chats.

You know, what, what is discussed between the mortgage broker and the consumer would not be for instance, necessarily shown to the realtor. Although some, sometimes that's a very, very key sort of you know, communication channel with those three parties very often they're very cool to it, but there's some information which shouldn't be shared.

So for instance, uploading documents or just sharing, sharing, more confidential things So it really puts the power back in the hands of the consumer in terms of they understand the transaction. They can look at lots of different puppet properties, share properties, discuss them. I mean, a very typical flow would be.

You know, they would, they would have shared, you know, three or four properties among themselves. For instance, you know, if there's more than one party buying, then they bring a realtor into the, into the mix and say, look, these are the homes. This is the type of home I've been looking at. And and you know, probably these days let's say, and every time we looked at it, it's already gone, but this could you now help us.

And then, and then the realtor would then say, well, here's 10 others, which we think you should take a look at. And then you start this you know, rich communication, which is, you know, very, very good for all parties. And I think on the task side, there's a task management side. Again, you know, I was the stupid Bret from Canada who didn't really understand, fully understand the process in the U S but if I'd had that tool, which basically said that at these stages, in the transaction, you're going to need these professionals to support you that have been very, very helpful.

And you know, would, it would have led to less surprises on my side. So I think it's, it's really, it's very much trying to work with, with the industry, working with professionals sending that a good agent is really...]]>84a75159-b669-4efb-b3cc-841bb53e987bMon, 28 Jun 2021 05:30:00 -070040:17nofull38TRIBUSNavigating New York Real Estate Through the Good Times and the Not-So-Good Times with Amy Herman SchechterEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

The real estate industry is effectively made up of hundreds of thousands of individual agents who are all, in a sense, their own small business managers. It takes tenacity, grit, marketing prowess and flexibility to make it in this industry, and that's especially true when you're talking about red hot, super competitive New York City.

Amy Herman Schechter of SERHANT knows first-hand what it takes. She's built quite a name for herself, whether through navigating New York co-ops, or helping forever-New Yorkers land a brilliant investment property in the Hamptons -- she's done it all. You may have even seen her on an episode of Million Dollar Listing New York, which, coincidentally, is how she came to work with Ryan Serhant and the rest of the agents and brokers at his prestigious brokerage.

On this episode of Brokerage Insider, Amy Herman Schechter talks about what it was like starting in real estate in a post-9/11 New York, and what she's bringing to the table now with 20 years under her belt and a wealth of industry insider knowledge.

TRANSCRIPT:

📍 Hi, everyone. Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester, and I'm the director of client success here at Travis. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and providers of custom real estate technology to real estate companies around the world.

Today, we're joined by Amy Herman. Schechter one of team sear, haunts leading Manhattan realtors. And one has been named one of New York. City's top 100 real estate agents by the wall street journal. Amy. Thanks for doing my pleasure. Thank you for having me. I think to start, why don't you give our listeners a little bit of an introduction to yourself as well as how you got into real estate?

You know, a little who, what, when, where and why. So I actually started in real estate back in 2002, which is now just about two decades ago. I came from a celebrity and tourism PR background. So I was working with celebrity clients as well as hotels restaurants. Sports heroes and I got into real estate when I was 24.

And so now, you know, my age and at the time I was fascinated by the way, people, especially new Yorkers lived. I'm sure most people can remember. It was back in the days of gossip girl meets. Sex and the city life. And I was one of those girls running around town, checking out the latest restaurants dating, and I loved seeing how people live.

And my father and actually the guy I was dating his father at the time said, you know, why don't you go into sales? You really should like get into sales. You're so persuasive. We feel like you could sell ice to Eskimos and maybe that would suit you in something like real estate. Cause they know I didn't really care to push a product.

It wasn't really, that's not my jam. So The rest is kind of history. I took the exam. It was actually half as difficult in terms of the hours at the time. So you only needed 40 hours. I studied, I took the state exam and then I started in the business and I was like, how am I going to do this? How am I going to get clients?

How am I even going to sell my first home? And it did take me a good 18 months to figure it all out. I started in the rental market and I realized rentals are not for me. I definitely was. You know, I think what happened was, is that rentals were, are a quick fix and you, you know, short, a quick job and you get paid quickly, but I actually really.

Found that I thrived on figuring out where are people going to be for the long-term. How do you navigate this process? How do you get a mortgage who's agreed attorney to come with us along...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

The real estate industry is effectively made up of hundreds of thousands of individual agents who are all, in a sense, their own small business managers. It takes tenacity, grit, marketing prowess and flexibility to make it in this industry, and that's especially true when you're talking about red hot, super competitive New York City.

Amy Herman Schechter of SERHANT knows first-hand what it takes. She's built quite a name for herself, whether through navigating New York co-ops, or helping forever-New Yorkers land a brilliant investment property in the Hamptons -- she's done it all. You may have even seen her on an episode of Million Dollar Listing New York, which, coincidentally, is how she came to work with Ryan Serhant and the rest of the agents and brokers at his prestigious brokerage.

On this episode of Brokerage Insider, Amy Herman Schechter talks about what it was like starting in real estate in a post-9/11 New York, and what she's bringing to the table now with 20 years under her belt and a wealth of industry insider knowledge.

TRANSCRIPT:

📍 Hi, everyone. Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester, and I'm the director of client success here at Travis. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and providers of custom real estate technology to real estate companies around the world.

Today, we're joined by Amy Herman. Schechter one of team sear, haunts leading Manhattan realtors. And one has been named one of New York. City's top 100 real estate agents by the wall street journal. Amy. Thanks for doing my pleasure. Thank you for having me. I think to start, why don't you give our listeners a little bit of an introduction to yourself as well as how you got into real estate?

You know, a little who, what, when, where and why. So I actually started in real estate back in 2002, which is now just about two decades ago. I came from a celebrity and tourism PR background. So I was working with celebrity clients as well as hotels restaurants. Sports heroes and I got into real estate when I was 24.

And so now, you know, my age and at the time I was fascinated by the way, people, especially new Yorkers lived. I'm sure most people can remember. It was back in the days of gossip girl meets. Sex and the city life. And I was one of those girls running around town, checking out the latest restaurants dating, and I loved seeing how people live.

And my father and actually the guy I was dating his father at the time said, you know, why don't you go into sales? You really should like get into sales. You're so persuasive. We feel like you could sell ice to Eskimos and maybe that would suit you in something like real estate. Cause they know I didn't really care to push a product.

It wasn't really, that's not my jam. So The rest is kind of history. I took the exam. It was actually half as difficult in terms of the hours at the time. So you only needed 40 hours. I studied, I took the state exam and then I started in the business and I was like, how am I going to do this? How am I going to get clients?

How am I even going to sell my first home? And it did take me a good 18 months to figure it all out. I started in the rental market and I realized rentals are not for me. I definitely was. You know, I think what happened was, is that rentals were, are a quick fix and you, you know, short, a quick job and you get paid quickly, but I actually really.

Found that I thrived on figuring out where are people going to be for the long-term. How do you navigate this process? How do you get a mortgage who's agreed attorney to come with us along the way, design team to renovate. And I love all those aspects. And I started just really, as a buyer's agent.

By the time I was 26 I moved offices to work underneath a person who actually specialized in purchasing and helping brokers thrive in like a buying environment, as opposed to the rental coach that I had had for the start of my career. And it was in the same company. I stayed there for 13 years.

And then at some point in my career, I met a little guy named Ryan, sir hat, and we met on a huge transaction downtown and I represented the buyer. He represented the seller. We reenacted it for million dollar listing, New York, and the rest is kind of history. I'm with Ryan Everson. I think that speaks to a really good point.

Number one, I think the state has changed a lot, probably in the last 20 years that you could probably provide a lot of insights there, air, but, but also how moving from rentals to really helping buyers and sellers navigate that process and building that relationship. I think that speaks to just how much real estate is still and always will be a relationship focused business.

It it's, there's so much that goes into this transaction, but there's also. The part where, you know, you are helping them navigate a major, major purchase. New York being kind of a unique market in that. Some of them are going to be second home. Some are third but summer, you know, these, these, these people's forever homes.

And so kind of talk about if you can, you know, if we're going to look back to 2002, maybe the 2008 know you've seen the rise of relationships, you know, Building those organically as well as building those online. And you know, I think the last 20 years has been a big part there. Can you just kind of talk about what that journey's been like, you know, what, what's it like, there's going to look back into that, that post 2000 post Y2K era to now, how has real estate really kind of like changed?

And, and what, what keeps you in it? So that's actually a great question. We I've seen the ebb and flow. So right when I got into the business that was post nine 11, right. In 2001. And that was the crisis, obviously that New York was having at the time. And then we come upon 2007 and 2008, which was the financial crisis.

And so I lived through these times where people were before Corona virus, where people were terrified. What's happening next with my job. Where am I with my assets? Do I need to sell and buy? Did I just make a mistake purchasing and do I need to resell this thing? I, I closed on on a Friday that following Monday, are they taking my job away?

When they're merging these two companies? I had all of that in my. You know, 20 years experience. And some of it was very frightening because I mean, watching people, their quality of life shift, you know, in a moment with no notice kind of, I mean, there was obviously rumbling. Especially during the financial crisis, but, you know, especially starting with nine 11, when I actually lost my tourism clients and the hotels and the destinations were all bleeding.

And the airline that I worked with, everyone said, oh my gosh, we're not traveling or we're not, you know, we're only doing business travel. And when that happens and I got jumped right into real estate, there were some great opportunities. Yes for people. And, but you need it to have the right real estate broker to navigate around and understand what the marketplace was doing.

And there was really only a short it was a very abbreviated opportunity, right? Between like 2001 and 2003. And I was in there, but I was doing rentals. So it was like, I wasn't in that sort of, I'm able to coach this buyer or teach them this, you know, figure out how to navigate. Then when I, when I, the navigation of then to sales marketplace, between, like you said, 2003 and 2008 was all about the new development.

All the new condos were coming into the marketplace. This city used to be 60, 70% co-op apartments, and now everything was changing. And you needed to know the developer that was creating the newest building you needed to walk through. You needed to sell people opportunities from a floor plan and make them believe this was the best opportunity they could ever have and tomorrow is going to be gone.

And that was your job at the time. It wasn't walking through places. It wasn't even, you know, there, there were, there were a lot of times where you just needed to know, okay. This is the newest building, where this is happening, where the D you need it to actually even talk to the rep of the developer and have that inside track.

And so I was really good at conjuring. People's inner sort of weaknesses of saying, okay, this is top secret information, but you can have it, but just don't give it to anyone else. Suffer, maybe a buyer. And, you know, obviously everyone's playing with everyone's sort of highs and lows, but the quality of life that people were having when they were feeling like they invest in this new building and then they turned it around and sold and created this empire for their, you know, a little child, it was an amazing thing you would buy for one to sell for one seven, that was the market.

And then everything changed in 2007 and eight. And Lehman brothers. Of course, my brother actually worked for them at the time. So I was very familiar in the mortgage backed securities group. So I knew everything was happening as it was happening from his perspective, from the news perspective, from my client's perspective.

And we had to change. That was a very scary time where we, as brokers were afraid, we were like, okay, Are we selling these people's assets? Is this like a mutual fund gone bad? Like, what are we doing? How are we anticipating the person's next move? How were we there as a partner and a friend? Because we want to be their lifelong realtor, as opposed to saying, sell, lose money, get out of Dodge.

You, you lost your job or are we helping them through coaching them to get another job in this very difficult marketplace? So I became sort of like a Jack of all trades. I had to be a fixer. And that was one of those moments where you have to have your toolbox open with all your bag of tricks and be like, okay, this is for this.

This is for that. And this is how we're going to make this work. And I actually had to figure out that I needed all people who were not getting mortgages to buy my client's properties that had just closed because the mortgage is the appraiser would go in and they would say it's worth X, Y, or Z. And I didn't really want that to be happening.

If someone just was closing for one five, and they were trying to sell for one, five or one six to kind of try to break even I, and we were in a down-market. Viral. So I had to start figuring out how to do, okay. This can only be a cash purchase or, okay. This has to be remarketed as maybe a two bedroom. We have to put a wall up even though it's 1100 square feet.

So it was all about the challenges and creating an excitement around something that was very, very challenging. So that was how sort of that ran. And I had a lot of bankers who entrusted their work with me, and that was a huge blessing. It was like one after another, after another. And that's actually how I kind of launched my larger part of my sales career was during that time coming to the rescue of a lot of these guys, I love that you kind of, you kind of talk about that getting that inside track with developers, and like you said, everyone's kind of, everyone's kind of playing that game with each other, but that goes back.

It sounds like to your, to your PR days, right? Absolutely. This is secret information. We'll have this as you should make sure it works. And then of course, it's to their advantage that they gave you the information they're selling. It it's, it's all a sale, but it really is. Figuring out. What's what I'm figuring out.

What's actually good information as your secret information. You know, and going from there, I worked in PR last year with real estate companies, like for a PR company and it was it was great, but it's also about like, you've got this, this valuable information. That's. Yeah, you have to know how to make it valuable.

Right. You have to create that value. And you do that by contacting the right people and kind of like giving that, that information, a journey in a sense, but something else you talked about that I, maybe there's a little bit of a comparison there, like where the market that we're seeing maybe even outside of New York now you've dealt.

I think you have some experience in both Miami as well as the Hamptons, is that correct? Yes. How did you expand out of New York into those markets? Those are, I think Miami in New York might have some comparisons. Hampton's obviously having a great connection there, but how did you kind of expand out and, and what, what kind of brought that up?

Well, I have a great partner that once I saw people were navigating toward Florida, I basically picked up two or three contacts that I had as great contacts. Long-term life contacts when a great friend of my husband's and one, a friend of mine. Since growing up who have their Florida licenses. And I said, let's partner because I have a lot of people who are going to be coming your way to avoid the state tax and also to grab some sunshine, because especially in the time of COVID, a lot of people were wanting to have that outdoor lifestyle throughout and have.

The freedom and flexibility of being able to still socialize and be with people when everything was kind of shutting down in various other colds, or, you know, more closed off cities where the, there was higher population density. So Miami Palm beach, all of those areas became sledded with my clients wanting second homes.

And or relocating. So I said, I have to ride with the times, this is not like a moment to be like, oh, I don't have anybody in Miami or Palm beach to help me. Who's located there. It was more like, okay, who is the savvy person who can close everybody and let's work together and make this happen. Let's figure out where people want to be.

Community-wise. And I had a couple of people that I had already moved down there, pre COVID and they were really happy. You know, whether it was in Boba or Northern Miami Aventura. And we, I understand the neighborhoods because I've been traveling myself to Miami often, since I'm a kid, it was the very first place I ever visited.

The very first place we took my daughter. We spent, you know, four weeks in Miami when she was little, we used to go for a length of time. And I really, we stayed at the founds in blue. So I really love it out there. And I think, you know, I can survive there all year long, but I love the snowbirds and I love everybody wants a second home.

And if you're relocating there, I want to be your person that you come to asking me for help. So that is how that happened. The Hamptons is actually even more, I guess, interesting because I grew up in long islands and I said, I'll never go back to Lynn islands. I won't even have anything to do with lung islands.

I am done with long island. Since I was 18. However, I really love the beach and I love swimming and I have a little girl who's seven. And at this point in her life and our lives, we really wanted some extra space. It's hard sometimes in the city to, you know, get your contains. Everyone's sort of in their boxes.

And if you're not in a box, You do have to have like 20 million and up, you know, net worth. So that said, we said, why don't we grab a little investment property? I'm very into investments and investment properties. We also own our place on the upper east side. And I said, let me put my money where my mouth is.

And then just as a result of that, People started calling me actually crazy amount of phone calls and interest and incredible resources that I have working with Ryan. We said, let me start taking on all of these Hampton's clients. I'm licensed to New York, which obviously we're discussing right now.

And yeah. Hamptons is New York. So why don't I work these deals? And that's when I started actually really building out my whole team and saying, okay, well, if I'm in the Hamptons, I need someone in New York. If I'm in New York, I need someone in the Hamptons. And it was, it's just been incredible. It's been an incredible 12 months that the last 12 months I thought we would have made lemonade out of lemons.

And that's, that's what I was a great lead into the next question. Cause you mentioned like what it's like building those, those lifelong relationships with your clients. Right. And, and so it makes me wonder, like, how are you coaching them last year? You know, if they, were they coming to you and saying, you know, we want to sell or get out, or were you kind of looking at it?

Like we want to, you want to hold this property for right now, this will pass. You know, it's obviously COVID was unprecedented, but but you know tragedy and catastrophe is not unprecedented. Historically. We, we we've been through it. It's it's we see it's going to be cyclical. If it goes down now we'll always come back up.

How are you kind of coaching your clients last year? In, in their best interests, because I think everyone's interests are going to be different. Are you looking to, to really relocate full-time and not come back? Do you just want to take, to keep your properties here in New York and then, you know, look outside and you're.

Maybe move to Florida for a little bit over six months and, you know, take advantage of the tax benefits there. What was some of the coaching tactics that you employed last year? So we had a lot of coaching that we were sharing as myself Ryan, my team members. We were really figuring out what people wanted.

And a lot of people, this is the problem with last year. A lot of people didn't actually know what they wanted. They were confused. And a lot of their financial advisors were even saying, can you just wait please until 2021? So take any action because we need to sort of see where things. You know, fall. And I was definitely interested in the people who were leaving the city to basically help them sell their homes and do everything I could to get them resettled that I, every single one of them.

And they will tell you this. I said, are we really losing you? And I actually gave them like my spiel of why they should stay in New York. And I said, are you really going to, like, not being able to walk outside to your nearest little bodega or to grab your favorite coffee, whether it's at Ralph's or via Cadrona or, or some rose.

And you, you just want to like, have to get in your car and drive to like a local store. Starbucks, are you sure this is the lifestyle you're looking for and why are you thinking about this? And they'd be like, well, we're just like a free to go outside our apartment. We're this we're that we just don't have enough space.

We're trapped in what we feel is a box. There's no way outside. We're leaving our home once a week. And I did look and see that my friends in Newport beach in Miami, everyone seems to be having a great time. Everyone's still living life. And we were like, it was. An unbelievably sad moment in New York where people]]>54f65769-efbd-409b-9a79-ac922cb3ebceMon, 14 Jun 2021 14:37:00 -070036:18nofull37TRIBUSNew Record # of Realtors - What Does It Mean? Plus LeadingRE Holds In Person EventThis week, CEO Eric Stegemann and Director of Client Success Britt Chester discuss the news of the week in real estate, including:

• The National Association of Realtors sets a new membership record
• Leading Real Estate Companies of the World holds a large in-person event post COVID - are events back?
• iBuyer Data Junky, Mike DelPrete joins cash backed offer company Homeward

• Returning your agents and staff to the office effectively
• Building culture back with your agents and staff
• Low inventory and what you can do about it
• Getting builders to build faster

When it launched more than 5 years ago, Opendoor seemed like another rehash of HomeVestors of America - the Ug buys ugly houses company. With offers that were far off value, it was easy for Realtors to dismiss the company.

However, over 5 years, Opendoor has dramatically increased their data and made their offers very competitive. In some markets, Opendoor is offering at or above market value and charging fees as low as 3% total.

Does this mean doom and gloom? Not according to Tyler Hixson, Head of Growth and Strategy at Opendoor Brokerage. Tyler presents numerous ways that traditional brokerages can work directly with Opendoor to not only help their clients, but to get paid for doing it!

How do you go about starting a team?

What does it take to become a Manhattan mega agent?

What are teams looking for in selecting a brokerage?

Bravo's newest Million Dollar Listing New York cast member, Kirsten Jordan, joined the Brokerage Insider podcast to discuss how she went from being an expat, licensing graphics in Italy to becoming a mega agent in Manhattan real estate.

Kirsten started her career as a team member at Douglas Elliman, then moved to Compass to be a partner on a team, and now has come back to Douglas Elliman, to start her own team while appearing on Million Dollar Listing New York.

Listen in as she provides advice to other agents on how she rose through the ranks and what she would tell herself 13 years ago when she started in real estate.

The real estate industry has helped create some of the most successful business people in the world, but that's not the case for every agent and broker. Financial planning is important for everyone, but especially for the volatile nature of real estate professionals and the ebbs and flows of the business.

Tami Bonnell, CEO of EXIT Realty, breaks down the importance of long term planning in real estate and how thinking about tomorrow will help you make the right decisions today.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada, and even around the world.

Now on this week's episode, we have Tammy Bucknell. Tammy is the CEO of EXIT Realty Corp International. Tammy started. With EXIT as a regional owner, then moved over into running things at EXIT as a VP, then president. And now she's been CEO since 2012. So Tammy, thanks for joining us today. I'm really happy to be here.

So I'm really excited to chat because there's a few topics here that I know that are important to you. That I'd love to get your take on. But I want to step back for just a second, because one of the things that I've found in, in interviewing all of our guests for the show is they always have a really good story of how they got to where they got to.

So why don't you tell me how you got to start in residential real estate and then how you went through those paths that I just mentioned, and now being the CEO of EXIT. Okay. Probably not that exciting of a story, but you know, I. Actually started my first business when I was 11 and I started cleaning houses.

And I cleaned site for builders because I could be dropped off in a subdivision and go from house to house. And you know, work ethic was a real strong thing in our family. So every Saturday and Sunday, that's what I did. And I actually was scraping windows, sitting inside a window, scraping the windows from the paint and a realtor and a builder were in the house.

With the buyers that were relocating and they were doing the final walkthrough and the wall between the kitchen and the dining room was actually supposed to be more of an open concept. And it wasn't. And so the buyers came in all upset that it was yelling and screaming. I'm sitting in the windows thing, please make me invisible.

And But when they slammed their way out of the door, the builder put his fist through the wall. And I jumped through the window and said I think you broke your hand. And he said, drive me to the hospital. I had lied about my age and I drove him to the hospital and he did break his hand and he had a cast put on.

And then when I was driving him back in, my dad was pulling back up to pick me up and I ended up grounded for driving and On the way back, he was just complaining about how realtors were never getting it right with new construction. And I was, how hard is it? You want White, you want off White, you paint a picture for somebody, you know, something pretty similar to that.

And he said, you think you can sell houses? And I said, absolutely. And he said, good start Saturday. So I got $500 a house starting at 13 years old. And I looked older than my age. So I think that's what happened, but I thought real estate was really disorganized. And so I never really thought that I would be in it for a living and I focused on finance and I went to work for a company.

In the South Merrill Lynch and it turned out to be those, both the timeframe that they were acquiring real estate companies. And I...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

The real estate industry has helped create some of the most successful business people in the world, but that's not the case for every agent and broker. Financial planning is important for everyone, but especially for the volatile nature of real estate professionals and the ebbs and flows of the business.

Tami Bonnell, CEO of EXIT Realty, breaks down the importance of long term planning in real estate and how thinking about tomorrow will help you make the right decisions today.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada, and even around the world.

Now on this week's episode, we have Tammy Bucknell. Tammy is the CEO of EXIT Realty Corp International. Tammy started. With EXIT as a regional owner, then moved over into running things at EXIT as a VP, then president. And now she's been CEO since 2012. So Tammy, thanks for joining us today. I'm really happy to be here.

So I'm really excited to chat because there's a few topics here that I know that are important to you. That I'd love to get your take on. But I want to step back for just a second, because one of the things that I've found in, in interviewing all of our guests for the show is they always have a really good story of how they got to where they got to.

So why don't you tell me how you got to start in residential real estate and then how you went through those paths that I just mentioned, and now being the CEO of EXIT. Okay. Probably not that exciting of a story, but you know, I. Actually started my first business when I was 11 and I started cleaning houses.

And I cleaned site for builders because I could be dropped off in a subdivision and go from house to house. And you know, work ethic was a real strong thing in our family. So every Saturday and Sunday, that's what I did. And I actually was scraping windows, sitting inside a window, scraping the windows from the paint and a realtor and a builder were in the house.

With the buyers that were relocating and they were doing the final walkthrough and the wall between the kitchen and the dining room was actually supposed to be more of an open concept. And it wasn't. And so the buyers came in all upset that it was yelling and screaming. I'm sitting in the windows thing, please make me invisible.

And But when they slammed their way out of the door, the builder put his fist through the wall. And I jumped through the window and said I think you broke your hand. And he said, drive me to the hospital. I had lied about my age and I drove him to the hospital and he did break his hand and he had a cast put on.

And then when I was driving him back in, my dad was pulling back up to pick me up and I ended up grounded for driving and On the way back, he was just complaining about how realtors were never getting it right with new construction. And I was, how hard is it? You want White, you want off White, you paint a picture for somebody, you know, something pretty similar to that.

And he said, you think you can sell houses? And I said, absolutely. And he said, good start Saturday. So I got $500 a house starting at 13 years old. And I looked older than my age. So I think that's what happened, but I thought real estate was really disorganized. And so I never really thought that I would be in it for a living and I focused on finance and I went to work for a company.

In the South Merrill Lynch and it turned out to be those, both the timeframe that they were acquiring real estate companies. And I hated being locked up in a cubicle and turned out I had a knack for doing acquisitions and that's how I started. And then I was prior to coming to EXIT. I was instrumental in building three major brands.

I taught. Mergers and acquisitions. I acquired real estate companies for them and I sold franchises for them. So really the majority of my career has been in the backroom or at least 30 plus years has been in the backroom focused on doing mergers and acquisitions, selling franchises, and helping those companies to grow.

Well, that's a, I personally think that's a very interesting story of how you got started in the space, because what I find is that everybody has some sort of person personal connection. You know, we, we interviewed Joan doctor that the president of Fox & Roach realtors a few weeks back, and she had a really bad experience with the transaction and her buying her first house.

And. And we ha we've had other people that have just had these exact same sorts of situations that have, would have got them into the industry. So I always love hearing, you know, a little about where you started and what was that first first kind of moment that said that you're there, because what I find is that, you know, true leaders in the space, they're kind of all what I refer to as real estate lifers.

Right. So, so, you know, you have decades of experience in the space and now you're running EXIT. So, you know, let's talk about EXIT for just a second. Okay. What, you know, what's what is the brand or what does EXIT stand for? Well, you know, we were actually there's a very unique differentiator in our company in the fact that we have, we provide residual income.

So kind of the Sam Walton theory that he rewarded people for the percentage of the company, they helped build. That is our theory. Sam created more millionaires than anyone in the history of businesses. From doing that. And we thought Sam was right, but in real estate, we don't sell lawnmowers and coffee pots.

Right. We sell real estate. So the assets of a real estate company are their agents. And so if we treat the agents incredibly well, we'll do really well. This entire company was built on human potential, but the residual component is that unfair, competitive advantage of having the opportunity to every person that gets introduced into the company.

They have to be it's by invitation only. So if I introduce an agent into this organization, I received the equivalent of 10% of the gross commission up to $10,000 a year, every year, for as long as that person is with the company, as good as that is when I retire benefits like real people with real jobs, I make 7% of that income, even in retirement.

The other 3% goes to the broker because we want the broker to have a balanced and they even took it a step further and thought about my family. And when I die, my beneficiary. Half of that makes 5%. Even after I'm gone, the balance goes to the brokerage. So we've had opportunities now where people have gone into retirement for getting going on maternity leave and they've had steady, consistent income they've had.

So they've been able to stay home longer. They've had hips replaced. They've been able to be with parents while they transitioned. It's convertible. So once they were through whatever they were going through, they can come back in. Once their seventh transactions passes up to eight, they can come back into the 10%.

So it's convertible, it's portable. I relocate my significant other, gets a new job somewhere else. And I relocate with them. I go into an EXIT office there and my benefits follow me like real people with real jobs. So it gives people cash between paychecks. It gives them a vested interest in the company and that makes them feel like they have.

Ownership. You know, if you and I went to a really nice restaurant for dinner tonight, and the waiter that waited on us had a vested interest in the restaurant, how much better does that serve us for sure. Much better. Right, right. And so that's really what ends up happening in the offices is we create this culture where everybody works better together as a team.

It's now in my best interest, if I'm making $150,000 a year, it's in my best interest to teach you how to do better, because as you do better, I do better. And who learns more the teacher or the student. So I actually get better at my job by helping you. And we found that that's created an unbelievable family culture.

But it's gone a lot further than that on human potential because people growing in an environment where they feel safe, where they feel trust. And so that has made them. Really grow within the boundaries of the office. And we have all the other things that, you know, other franchises and brands have.

Number one, they want leadership. So we have boots on the ground, regional owners in each individual, state and province. And we're very selective about introducing brokerages into the company. Number two, they want education. So. We provide education from every single angle. Now I just got my license.

What do I do all the way to the consummate professional, making millions of dollars, dollars webinars tech and I's live interactive, total immersion, so they can learn the best way that they learn. They want help with technology. So we actually have a technology specialist. My statement is always from Tony Robbins information without implementation equals poverty.

Right. And that's the biggest problem in technology is user error. So. We have single entry and we have a technology specialist. She speaks English, Spanish and technology, and she teaches the brokers and the agents, not only how to utilize EXITs tools and how to monetize so that they can grow their business.

But she always remembers that it's the human behind the transaction. It's the human behind the device. So. She teaches them how to utilize it, to maximize their business. Number four, they want help with the details. And that's why we have single entry, very user-friendly so that they can get that help, that they need.

Number five, they want a marketing program they can track. So our technology is very intuitive. Number six, they want a good image. So are focused on image is that opportunity to. Really be the smartest company and having that image of everybody working in this together, right. That vested interest mentality and number seven, they want skin in the game.

We interviewed people making $250,000 a year or better from all faiths. What do you like? What don't you like and what would you like to see? And that was the top seven things they wanted. And obviously that skin in the game of having a vested interest, it's kind of like that agent has their shoulder on the rock.

Just like the broker so that they're working. It's not one in charge. They're working together as a team more than anything else. And that's worked very well for us as a. The foundation for our company. Yeah. It sure seems like it. And I think the technology person that you're referring to, I'm assuming that is that a net.

And that Anthony, I love it. I've known her now for 10 plus years, I think. And, and she's just a phenomenal resource that you guys have over there and such a good connector and, and, and helping train and educate people. And so, you know, out of, out of all of those points that you just went over, obviously I think, you know, that one of the things that really.

Is that, there's the point that I feel like EXIT has pushed for 20 years. And, and you know, I've, I've seen EXITs ads starting in a realtor magazine when I first started selling real estate 20 something years ago about these residuals. And so I guess that begs the follow up question is it as if you do the math in it, it seems like.

The total payout that EXIT might have to make on a single transaction could potentially get over a hundred percent. Am I understanding that correctly? Or am I maybe missing something? No. The agent has the ability to earn more than a hundred percent by introducing people into the company because with whatever their, their split is.

Right. If they're receiving the equivalent of 10% off the top, And they, you know, we teach them and have them focus on introducing three people a year into the company. There's some that do, you know, don't introduce anybody. They just want to listen to themselves. And there's some that introduced several people into the company.

So it gives them the ability to earn more than a hundred percent. But it comes off the top that 10%, and it doesn't come out of the agent's portion and it gets sent up to EXIT International and then we pay it back. Down to the individual that introduced that person into the company. I mean, it seems like there's some people that EXIT that their sole focus is on recruiting.

So inter do you guys ever have that problem? And I know I've heard this around exp a lot over the last two years is do you guys ever have that problem where people feel a little pushy, as far as the recruiting side of things go and you have to back them off because of how good your, your residuals are.

You know what? We created this culture that it's people that really love helping other people, it's really a, a unique foundation. It's much more empathy oriented than ego driven. So I don't find very many of our people that are pushy. We teach them that it's about building a relationship. It's not hunting people down.

Right. It's truly about building a relationship in the ordinary course of business. We're doing a transaction together and I love the way you work. And I think that you'll do better in our company because our broker has the uncanny knack of. Helping get more and better out of you. And it's really that kind of simple introduction.

It's not hunting people down. We do have people that work solely as recruiters that work in individual real estate, state offices. But that would be the same in any company, right. That they have a manager or they have a recruiter. There are people that do that, and that helps them build on a faster pace.

But most often it's. In the ordinary course of doing a transaction that they got along really well. You know, maybe the other agent mentioned that they're not satisfied where they are, or they're not getting any education where they are or something that. Gave them an opening to have a conversation, but I always tell them, it's just a conversation you want to make sure it's people that you really want to work with because that's a representation of who you are, right.

If the people that are within your office but sure from time to time, there's a conversation that you should have with someone. If they get to that point, cause that's not really how this was built. It was built to build a relationship, just like the real estate industry as a whole, right. Is a relationship.

Driven business. And the more you get to know that person for me personally, I've broken some world records in sales, and I can tell you that it's the number one reason is because I did more homework on the person than I even did on the product. Right. And. Giving somebody what they really want. And so I always say, I'm not even going out and selling anything today.

I'm going and having a conversation. I'm going to go add value to people's lives. And if we find a common ground and our business philosophies match, then they'll end up being coming part of the company. But that doesn't happen every day. Right. It happens when those things match, but if I do enough homework, so I find out what's really important to you.

I'm probably going to be in front of the right people more often than not. Yeah, that's, that's definitely the case. And, and, you know, I've to be very clear, I've never seen anybody complain about EXIT, getting too pushy with, with presenting the opportunity to join. And I know there's some places where exp agents, I, I feel like I get intimidated because I'm listed in the real estate industry.

I still get. Probably, I don't know, in an average month, 10 or 15 people that are just randomly reaching out to me, based upon my licensing, based upon my LinkedIn profile that says I'm in real estate that say, Oh, you should come join us. And it, it can get a little overwhelming at times. And I I've told Glen their CEO that it, you know, at some point that you gotta be careful on this because it can present a negative connotation to the brand.

If somebody gets a little too pushy and I don't feel like I've ever had that. At EXIT, although I have had people at EXIT reach out and suggest that I you know, that I, that I would put my license with them. And I still don't, I don't have it still to this day, but I did for a long time up until a couple of years ago.

And, and. You know, I want to go back to something else you said that I think is so vital there, which is you're talking about. When you talk to the other agent that will, you'd be considered a recruiting you're, you're sitting there and asking them about what they're not getting at their brokerage.

And one of the things you said there, and if you notice Tammy, didn't say a lot about the necessarily the commission. She talked about support and training and everything like that. And I tried this, we did a study two or three years ago now. And we found out the number one, two, and three things that an agent left a brokerage for, none of them were commissioned.

In fact, number one was training and support. Number two is technology, which we'll get into in a second. But, but certainly training and support. So, you know, I know you're big on personal development and that's a big thing, and I'm going to, I definitely want to dive into that a little bit more with you.

So what are some ways specifically that EXIT helps their agents get the best training and support? Well, we have trainers that are specific to EXITs. We have and they're called mindset trainers for a reason. And so it's everything from mindset, literally the power of your subconscious mind controlling what you think all the way to focusing on good health during the pandemic.

We actually had people teaching accurate. Totally. You know, when we first launched accurate, totally teaching yoga ways for stress relief, but we have everything from. Truly with our trainers. I just got my license now, what do I do all the way to the content, but professional teaching them how to be more effective business people, right?

Because they're, they get to a certain level. So we have International trainers that are part of our system. We actually have a partnership with the Fenian company so that they, we have a tremendous amount of our people that have been trained by the FINI, but our specific trainers that are. EXIT mindset trainers.

A lot of them also coach and some of them coach specifically to agents and some of them coach specifically to brokers. And it really kind of depends on where their levels at. And we try and match up with where they're at, right? I've got to meet you where you are. And so that's why we have such a variety of mindset trainers that are specific to our company because we want to meet them where they are, whether that's.

You know, just get me into the right habits. I just got my license or somebody that's, we just need to make them more effective with their time and more effective with their money and more effective with their marketing, more effective with their technology so that they are growing because people.

Really loves the opportunity to grow and when they get stagnant, that's when they get that's when they get frustrated. So we put a tremendous amount of emphasis on training. We have webinars every single month for our broker owners, our agents,...]]>50c3aa9e-2d8d-462a-a419-3f2ee5f0e4e3Mon, 19 Apr 2021 08:00:00 -070045:25nofull132TRIBUSEncouraging Future Real Estate Brokerage Leaders with John L Scott VP Howard ChungEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

All too often, leadership in real estate brokerage, means family members, friends, or agents that weren't successful. Worse is that most brokerages do not provide any leadership training for agents.

Howard Chung, the VP Of Franchise Development for John L Scott Real Estate, in the Northwest, joins Brokerage Insider to discuss what brokerages can do to encourage diversity and growth in their leadership.

With more than 40 years of experience in residential real estate, mostly at Sotheby's International Realty, Philip White has steered the company through major changes in the industry and expanded the brand to 75 countries and 1000 offices around the world. Through this process, Philip has led a company that holds the highest brand standards. Because of this, the organization is Realogy's most profitable organization. Listen in as he describes how Sotheby's has thrived.

TRANSCRIPTION

📍 Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokers technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada.

And even around the world today, I am very pleased to say that we have Philip White Phillips, the president and CEO of Sotheby's International Realty. Now you probably heard of Sotheby's International Realty before, but just in case you don't know much about them, they span nearly the entire globe. And they're focused obviously on luxury real estate, just like the auction house of their namesake.

The company recently announced that it had did over $150 billion of sales in 2020, which was a 32% increase over 2019. In addition, the network has grown during that time and is now over a thousand offices in 75 different countries. Philip, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, Eric. It's great to be here.

Now Philip obviously we always do lots of research on everybody that we're going to be interviewing for this podcast ahead of time. And I found this kind of consistent thing with people that we've interviewed recently, I had Joan doctor who's the. President of Fox & Roach realtors and like you she also is a real estate lifer or what I call a real estate lifer.

You have 40 years of experience in this industry. So let's start with what got you started in becoming a residential real estate agent.

Okay. Thanks Eric. So just, the short form, answer to that actually out of college I I went to the university of Virginia and I have a degree in finance.

And so I was hired by a bank in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where I'm from SunTrust bank, because they've now changed their name. And it's in a, it's a great bank is a great bank today. But I had actually studied a bit in London. And I got to know the Sotheby's auction house through a friend of mine, a friend of mine's sister worked there and their French impressionist department.

So I had a real fascination actually with Sotheby's the auction house. And then I moved back, went to work at the bank. And then later on I noticed that Sotheby's had started a real estate company. And so I was in New York on some business. I ended up kind of cold calling on the chief operating officer there.

And us was in his office for about two hours actually. And he introduced me to the chairman and the president of the real estate company. And one thing led to another and they hired me and I moved to New York and got licensed there. And. We had a little bit different business model than we have today, but we worked with independent real estate companies and I actually handled New Jersey and Fairfield County, which is Southern Connecticut.

We listed and sold luxury properties in the region. Then I moved to Palm beach and worked in our Palm beach office which was fascinating. And then, my career moved on from there. But that's how I ended up in real estate. It was a combination of, the Sotheby's brand and, I really saw a great opportunity that.

That Sotheby's could bring to the real estate market. So that's how I ended up in the business...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

With more than 40 years of experience in residential real estate, mostly at Sotheby's International Realty, Philip White has steered the company through major changes in the industry and expanded the brand to 75 countries and 1000 offices around the world. Through this process, Philip has led a company that holds the highest brand standards. Because of this, the organization is Realogy's most profitable organization. Listen in as he describes how Sotheby's has thrived.

TRANSCRIPTION

📍 Hi everybody. And welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokers technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States, Canada.

And even around the world today, I am very pleased to say that we have Philip White Phillips, the president and CEO of Sotheby's International Realty. Now you probably heard of Sotheby's International Realty before, but just in case you don't know much about them, they span nearly the entire globe. And they're focused obviously on luxury real estate, just like the auction house of their namesake.

The company recently announced that it had did over $150 billion of sales in 2020, which was a 32% increase over 2019. In addition, the network has grown during that time and is now over a thousand offices in 75 different countries. Philip, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, Eric. It's great to be here.

Now Philip obviously we always do lots of research on everybody that we're going to be interviewing for this podcast ahead of time. And I found this kind of consistent thing with people that we've interviewed recently, I had Joan doctor who's the. President of Fox & Roach realtors and like you she also is a real estate lifer or what I call a real estate lifer.

You have 40 years of experience in this industry. So let's start with what got you started in becoming a residential real estate agent.

Okay. Thanks Eric. So just, the short form, answer to that actually out of college I I went to the university of Virginia and I have a degree in finance.

And so I was hired by a bank in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where I'm from SunTrust bank, because they've now changed their name. And it's in a, it's a great bank is a great bank today. But I had actually studied a bit in London. And I got to know the Sotheby's auction house through a friend of mine, a friend of mine's sister worked there and their French impressionist department.

So I had a real fascination actually with Sotheby's the auction house. And then I moved back, went to work at the bank. And then later on I noticed that Sotheby's had started a real estate company. And so I was in New York on some business. I ended up kind of cold calling on the chief operating officer there.

And us was in his office for about two hours actually. And he introduced me to the chairman and the president of the real estate company. And one thing led to another and they hired me and I moved to New York and got licensed there. And. We had a little bit different business model than we have today, but we worked with independent real estate companies and I actually handled New Jersey and Fairfield County, which is Southern Connecticut.

We listed and sold luxury properties in the region. Then I moved to Palm beach and worked in our Palm beach office which was fascinating. And then, my career moved on from there. But that's how I ended up in real estate. It was a combination of, the Sotheby's brand and, I really saw a great opportunity that.

That Sotheby's could bring to the real estate market. So that's how I ended up in the business area.

And here you are, years later and still enjoying it it seems like which is great. It certainly helps them personally. I think you lead one of the most iconic brands in.

Residential real estate and frankly from the auction house as well. And when I travel back when we could travel, but back when I traveled. We see agents all over the place where the brokerage brand has been entirely wiped away by the agent's own marketing, their teams, et cetera. And I use the example, a lot of KW, where if you look at KW agents, you almost have to play where's Waldo to try to find the KW logo on some of their marketing, but Sotheby's, isn't like that at all.

And if you pay attention to Sotheby's agent branding, It's always focused on Sotheby's. And it seems like there's just inherent value in mentioning the brand name of Sotheby's. And so how have you been able to engender that value over your tenure at Sotheby's and hold firm to having agents be focused on the brand where other companies like KW have had to shy away from it?

Eric does an excellent question. And. I think when we, we entered into a license agreement with Sotheby's auction house, what 17 years ago, 2004. And that's when I rejoined the, the, the, when we were starting it up. And so I always thought we had this, great responsibility.

To obviously grow the business, any business you've got to grow it. But I was really felt like we had to grow it. In a qualitative way. And the worst thing we could do would be to dilute this 270 year old brand name. And so I had, I had a lot, I felt a big deep responsibility.

And I shared that with our team, as we hired people, to protect the brand standards. Because over the years I heard Sotheby's is really just an, is a function of the brand name and really the people that work there. That's was always in my mind. And so when we started it, we create identity standards.

Any franchise system has that. But the important thing is is you have to, make sure that people comply with those standards. So I'm the first to say to people, Hey, Sotheby's International Realty may not be right for you. We're, we're not necessarily all things to all people.

I think. Part of that is, is that, I wanted the consumer and this is a pretty big point here, Eric. We'd we, when we decided, when we started this, we decided that our client. Was going to be the consumer. Obviously the real estate agent is in the center of the transaction. Certainly not minimizing that but we wanted the client, the buyer or the seller of the house.

We wanted them to be our client. We wanted to resonate with them. We wanted our marketing to reach them. And the reason that we made that decision and I felt very strongly about it. Is that to the extent that we could I wanted to deliver to our agents and brokers, somewhat of a pre-sold brand. Now I'm not minimizing the competition out there, which is fierce, but if I could give our agents, and this is what I kept in mind, if I could give them, an edge, where that.

Where they go in, make a competitive presentation and that client is somewhat predisposed to do business with Sotheby's International Realty and try to make their job a little bit easier. So I think that, coupled with, our diligence on making sure that the brand had consistency, the other thing we thought about.

Is really that again, that tying it back to the buyer, the seller, and in my mind, I, I just visualized that we wanted them to have this same experience, whether they were buying a house in Sydney, Australia, or Auckland, New Zealand or Taiwan or Paris or London, or destined Florida or Orlando or Palm beach, we wanted them to.

The see the same real estate sign, the same yard. We wanted them to see the same business card, the same format. So that's hard to do, when you have a business that, for us now with over 20,000 sales associates, many of them are independent contractors, certainly in the United States, that's the case.

I think that. To whatever extent we've been successful. I think a lot of it is that consistency with the brand. And, I meet with the auction house. The, see I was with the CEO recently and, they're very complimentary of the business that we've developed and the brand standards.

And so that gives me great pride that they have respect for what we've done.

And you should and at the risk of being very effusive about the Sotheby's brand, I've always been very impressed. How Sotheby's International Realty has held firm on that. I use the example in a presentation that I do.

It's called agents run a muck and I use examples of headshots and bad advertising that agents have done. And I have an example from many of the franchise brands that are out there. In fact, one of them the agent uses the phone number four, one six, punch me as their phone number.

And I always cringe every time I see that yet. I've never cringed at that. Anything that I've ever seen from any Sotheby's agent because of those brand standards that I feel like you guys have set. But I think there was something else that you alluded to there that's really important. I'd like to dig in on I bought a house last year from a Scenic Sotheby's agent and her name was Sarah Timmons.

Mentioned to me after we started working together that how rigid the recruiting is at Scenic Sotheby's, you don't pick up the phone and say, Hey, I want to be a Scenic Sotheby's agent. They have to call you and talk to you. And then there's many meetings that happen. Is it the brand.

And the specifics that go along with that, that allows a brokerage like Scenic Sotheby's to be selective in who they pick or is there more to it?

I think there's more to it, Eric. It's, and I talk about that because w was, back to the consumer, as I mentioned, the buyer or the seller and the notion that, It, at least in my mind, I've tried to, develop that, where the brand is.

Pre-sold a certain level of clientele. And then therefore that whole process requires exceptional service. And that's. And I say that because the, that's what, people expect from Sotheby's International Realty, a client, they have an expectation that they're going to get exceptional service that holds true with the auction house as well.

And that's, that's a big responsibility. And I talked to the companies before they join us, in my, my affiliate, my franchise business. And, it's one of the first things that I talked to them about. And I'll say to them, are there times where you actually may have to.

Re you know, I'm not suggesting rebuilding your company, but you do have to really think about it because this is not just some franchise you're joining. This is something much different. And there may be some agents in your company. That might not understand it. And frankly may never understand it.

And there may be times where you just have to part ways, so Eric, I could go through many companies that have joined us and they did have to disassociate some agents. And because we do have the requirements that you're talking about and not just the brand standards, the service and many of our companies are very focused on productivity, so per agent productivity.

And I think, you can agree with. With me that, the agents that the industry suffers a little bit with, a lot of agents actually not doing, much business. That is a drain on our real estate company. So I think many of our companies really are very focused on.

Not only having productive agents but hiring agents, like the one you just mentioned in Destin, I think Sarah Timmons is newer to the business. They want to invest their time and Sarah's time into making her as productive as she possibly can. I think it is part of our DNA.

It's part of our culture. And so I, I do think it's intentional to your question.

And that I think is part of it, I think. Yeah. All too often in any brokerage and franchise networks that are out there, the brand is almost just there as a thing. But it's more about the agents than it is about the overall network and the brands.

Yeah. Cheers to you for holding firm and not only the Britt and standards, but the agent standards and the standards of. Practice and what's provided to the individual consumer cause I've never heard anything other than the best about Sotheby's,

you know what's interesting about my job, Eric, along these lines is, and it's really quite surprising is that, from time to time, obviously I'm going to get a letter.

Complaining about something. But I get more letters of appreciation about agents than I do complaints, which I think is probably quite unusual.

Yeah, that's a, and that is definitely the case of listening, caring, getting back to them. But it's certainly seems that it's rare. I think anytime you run a business, you're going to have some percentage of people that are unhappy, no matter what or how hard you tried work. And certainly we've experienced that at TRIBUS.

Sometimes it's. It's just doesn't work out for whatever reason, but some people you

just can't please is what

juicy. Exactly. Exactly. Okay, so let's talk about the International side of Sotheby's International Realty. As I mentioned before, You guys have a presence around the globe, you're in 75 countries.

And frankly you sell some of the most expensive real estate in the world. If you name a country, it seems like there's always a Sotheby's that's there. And frankly, like many Sotheby's agents I've actually taken my picture in front of a few Sotheby's offices around the world, including.

The one in Monaco. I took my picture in front of back when you could travel a couple of years ago. I know you recently opened up in Oman as well now, obviously 2020 was a difficult year for lots of folks, but in real estate it was obviously a standout. How has it done around the world? Outside of just the United?

Yeah.

Eric, I talk about our international business, it's really been a labor of love for us. Just because, we, our first deal I don't. I think it was the, I think it was probably Western Canada is neck and neck, either France or Western Canada. And so our business model is we sell the rights.

We have a long-term agreement. We sell the rights to either a country, part of a country or a province or territory. And we started that early on. We always. We built Sotheby's International Realty to be from the very beginning to be an international company. So it was not an afterthought.

Everything we did, we thought about how it would resonate internationally. And there were a lot, there was a lot of extremely heavy lifting in the beginning particularly when we built our web, our global website and the taxonomy involved, which is location orientation. And, we had to go through so many different things, language translation.

And so forth. That's why I say it was a labor of love because it was, it's very complex because real estate is practiced differently in all these different countries. And it's practiced differently even in different parts of the same country. We had to go through a bit of a learning curve ourselves.

But in the same time we built this really strong global referral system. And I'm very proud of what we've accomplished. But in some ways what's interesting is we're just getting started with it. Because now we have this great opportunity to help our local companies, wherever they may be.

We're now in a point where we can help them grow. Many of them are very, significant already. And then we've never had as strong of an International, we call servicing teams. So we've broken the world into three regions Europe, middle East, Africa, and India. Calla, which is the Caribbean, Latin America, Caribbean Bahamas, Bermuda.

And then we have, Asia, the Pacific rim APAC as we call it. And we have a team dedicated to those. Affiliated companies in each of the three regions. So in country, if you will, and we have a designated marketing director, a head of region and an additional support people for each of the three regions.

So that keeps us very close to the two. There are companies there, I think the other difference, Eric, and this is. Probably not something everybody realizes, but most other real estate companies operate what they call a sub frame. The companies are free to sell offices to, to whomever they choose.

So back to your. Standards question. We actually don't allow that it's a, what we call direct franchise models. So we actually vet every owner of every office that's in our system. And I even, I meet I've met every, everybody. I was one asterisk. There's some people I haven't met in person because of COVID last year.

But prior to that, I'd met every owner of every company internationally. I think that. You know that business and our referral business globally was up 42% year over year in 2020. And that's a function of having a thousand offices, literally in the best locations around the world you happen to have been in Monaco.

And that's obviously, a very unique real estate environment as well. That's certainly a landmark office for us right there.

And obviously let's talk about COVID for just a second. You mentioned that you hadn't had a chance to meet some folks that came into the network because of that.

Obviously markets like Italy, Spain, France these were. Markets where you have operations in and were hurt extensively and have not recovered in the real estate market nearly as well at, or as fast as what the United States has. Do you think that when we get back to traveling again, do you think that we'll see recovery in those markets, particularly in the luxury, second, third, fourth home buyer market.

Yeah. Eric, I, like we did do I'm not sure if it was a record or not, but we did our company in France did a 2020, did do a billion dollars and and euros. So that's about 1.2 billion in sales volume. Out of their 54 offices in 2020 1.2 billion USD. And Italy, given the wonderful markets that they're in there was a similar situation where people were, buying different properties, with space and the amenities that we were looking for.

It's, it was not across the board. Slower to bounce back than the U S because we did have certainly some markets that, outperformed and even in Sydney we did a billion dollars in Australia, Australian dollars there in 2020 with some very high price point.

Houses, I do X, I know your question here is what the expectation is. Going forward with, post vaccine, travel, coming back to some degree of normalcy. And I think we're already starting to see it with the year starting off strong even International Sierra International numbers are up pretty significantly through February year, over year.

I do see it and I do expect that international travel back to the U S will be a positive, certainly in the real estate market as well. I think cities like New York will, I expect that they'll be, continued activity and speaking of New York, it's.

Even though yet last year was a pretty tough year. I started seeing the market healing PO when the vaccine was introduced. And then the last eight weeks in a row, they've been 30 deals or more over $4 million in New York city. So that's coming back. And I think you'll start to see more international buyers coming back into the city as well.

That was actually a,]]>d1d4b8a8-f5f0-4363-b1b1-0d079fe3d924Sun, 04 Apr 2021 10:15:00 -070045:39nofull130With more than 40 years of experience in residential real estate, mostly at Sotheby's International Realty, Philip White has steered the company through major changes in the industry and expanded the brand to 75 countries and 1000 offices around the world. Through this process, Philip has led a company that holds the highest brand standards. Because of this, the organization is Realogy's most profitable organization. Listen in as he describes how Sotheby's has thrived.TRIBUSNew York Real Estate with HGAR CEO and OneKey MLS PresidentEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors CEO Richard Haggerty knows New York real estate. He's been working with HGAR for over 30 years, bur has never seen a year like 2020. While the news narrative may hyped up the rental exodus, Richard testifies to the skills of NYC Realtors to adjust and refocus efforts on the suburb markets, which are growing and thriving. Listen as he explains how the NY state of mind helped real estate agents prosper, and how the need for a unified MLS will help everyone, but most importantly, the consumer.

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology.

I'm your host Britt Chester Director of Marketing Success at TRIBUS one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages today on the show we are joined by Richard Haggerty. Richard is the CEO, the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, Inc, and president and chief strategic growth officer of One Key MLS.

Richard, thanks for joining us today.

It is my pleasure, Britt. You know, Richard, we spoke last year at Inman connect, New York and well, a lot has changed. Can you sort of take me through, let's start if we can even start at January of last year w you know, where we were a little bit more optimistic, things kind of changed after that and kind of give me your 30,000 foot view from the, from your members view, as well as the consumers in your area and the opportunities they were confronted with during this incredibly tumultuous year in real estate.

Wow. You know, I've been in this business for 35 years. I have not ever seen anything like 20, 20 quite frankly. I hope I don't see anything like it again, it was, it was a tale of two years in one year. You had actually, you could make an argument with like three stages of the year. We were very optimistic in the first quarter of 2020.

The sales were looking really, really strong. The market and our entire geography was looking really, really strong, and we've got a very diverse geography. We cover Manhattan. We actually merged with the Bronx in the middle of the pandemic in July all the way up to that, to the Valley.

So four counties in the Hudson Valley, Westchester, Rockland, peppermint, orange, and all, all of that geography was just looking really strong. But then March happened and it was actually the middle of the third week of March, where literally within a week, everything shut down. I had to close my office.

Fortunately, we kind of seen the writing on the wall and we were able to transition all of our staff to working from home seamlessly. But real estate for all intents and purposes was shut down. Agents could not show up visibly show properties. And it was scary. I mean, I live in the upper East side of Manhattan.

And that became a ghost town very, very quickly. So yeah, I think everybody come that the end of that first quarter the end of March in the, for the most part, all of April, we were just really pretty much scared. Europe was really the epicenter. Our infection numbers were extremely high, the highest in the country early on in the pandemic.

And everybody was just, you know, shut up in their homes. And a lot of folks, if they had a second homes, they headed to wherever the second homes were, whether it was out in the Hamptons, up in the Poconos they got out of town. You know, and I think part of that narrative we were seeing from the outside, looking in, in New York was this, this mass Exodus kind of like, you're talking about people where we're going]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors CEO Richard Haggerty knows New York real estate. He's been working with HGAR for over 30 years, bur has never seen a year like 2020. While the news narrative may hyped up the rental exodus, Richard testifies to the skills of NYC Realtors to adjust and refocus efforts on the suburb markets, which are growing and thriving. Listen as he explains how the NY state of mind helped real estate agents prosper, and how the need for a unified MLS will help everyone, but most importantly, the consumer.

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology.

I'm your host Britt Chester Director of Marketing Success at TRIBUS one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages today on the show we are joined by Richard Haggerty. Richard is the CEO, the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, Inc, and president and chief strategic growth officer of One Key MLS.

Richard, thanks for joining us today.

It is my pleasure, Britt. You know, Richard, we spoke last year at Inman connect, New York and well, a lot has changed. Can you sort of take me through, let's start if we can even start at January of last year w you know, where we were a little bit more optimistic, things kind of changed after that and kind of give me your 30,000 foot view from the, from your members view, as well as the consumers in your area and the opportunities they were confronted with during this incredibly tumultuous year in real estate.

Wow. You know, I've been in this business for 35 years. I have not ever seen anything like 20, 20 quite frankly. I hope I don't see anything like it again, it was, it was a tale of two years in one year. You had actually, you could make an argument with like three stages of the year. We were very optimistic in the first quarter of 2020.

The sales were looking really, really strong. The market and our entire geography was looking really, really strong, and we've got a very diverse geography. We cover Manhattan. We actually merged with the Bronx in the middle of the pandemic in July all the way up to that, to the Valley.

So four counties in the Hudson Valley, Westchester, Rockland, peppermint, orange, and all, all of that geography was just looking really strong. But then March happened and it was actually the middle of the third week of March, where literally within a week, everything shut down. I had to close my office.

Fortunately, we kind of seen the writing on the wall and we were able to transition all of our staff to working from home seamlessly. But real estate for all intents and purposes was shut down. Agents could not show up visibly show properties. And it was scary. I mean, I live in the upper East side of Manhattan.

And that became a ghost town very, very quickly. So yeah, I think everybody come that the end of that first quarter the end of March in the, for the most part, all of April, we were just really pretty much scared. Europe was really the epicenter. Our infection numbers were extremely high, the highest in the country early on in the pandemic.

And everybody was just, you know, shut up in their homes. And a lot of folks, if they had a second homes, they headed to wherever the second homes were, whether it was out in the Hamptons, up in the Poconos they got out of town. You know, and I think part of that narrative we were seeing from the outside, looking in, in New York was this, this mass Exodus kind of like, you're talking about people where we're going to the second homes, but I think there was also a lot of people who didn't have second homes.

And so they started to look to where they came from it and move out. And so that, you know, again, that, that narrative kind of painted by the news was this, this empty city, what was it like. Living there. And what were your members you know, part of the association, what were they going through and what were their thoughts and what were the concerns that they were bringing you to you and to your executive team there?

Hudson gateway association of Realtors. Well, first off, I think everybody was in a state of shock initially because it happened so quickly. And especially in New York, it was a bit of an avalanche. So I think everybody was scared. Everybody was a little bit shell shocked and nobody really wanted to go show properties.

We didn't have buyers who were comfortable going to view properties for the most part early on in the pandemic. So really I'm talking about April come may. I think that started to change with the spring, people were starting to get a little bit ancy We've got a better handle on what was going on with the COVID-19.

How has, and it was handled pretty aggressively in New York, I think in the early days. And what we really had to do with some sensation was keep our members informed. What could they do? What couldn't they do so they could show homes virtually. And a lot of folks were already set up to be able to show them virtually.

And that did happen to some degree. Closing started to take place because we had virtual notary memorization approved in the state. So those properties were in contract prior to the pandemic slowly but surely we're able to be closed, but for all intents and purposes, you know, that second quarter was wiped out.

So. April through the middle of June was really, there was no business going on because of the activity curtailed by the governor's executive orders in New York which prohibited in-person showings. But that did change come the middle of June. I believe it was the second week of June where showings were allowed to happen again with safety protocols in place.

And as I said, it was really the, the tail of. Two years, because all of a sudden, what was a non-existent work, it just took off. And that was actually in large part due to the fact that a lot of folks from the city were now buying in the suburbs and it was the Connecticut suburbs. It was the New York suburbs both Westchester County and long Island.

And it was just a tremendous surge of buyer interest that occurred in that when then for the balance of 2020. And how did you navigate that? Cause again, you know, the seams, you know, I've said this a lot, it's this anomaly year of real estate you know, unprecedented on one hand, but also a completely unplanned.

And I don't think anyone really knew how to handle that. How are you all kind of navigating that those opportunities and directing, you know, consumers and kind of guiding your clients in that way. From my expected what the association role on that was really, again, just being a conduit of accurate information and getting that information out as quickly as possible which we continue to do now.

We're actually doing it with the eligibility for vaccines. It just went from 65 to 60 yesterday. So we've got that notice out to our members ASAP. So we still are fulfilling that role. But I think a big part of it had to do the resiliency of our members Realtors really bounced back in a very strong way.

They did what they needed to do during that second quarter, when everybody basically had to hunker down and stay safe, keep their family safe and your consumer saying, okay. But then when we opened back up, they were there using safety protocols. To help the consumers, that they have relationships with find additional home.

And, you know, sometimes it wasn't even folks selling in Manhattan and buying in the Hudson Valley or Wyland a lot of times it's just quite frankly, folks buying a second home. And so they have those options going forward. I think that it was the whole Exodus from New York city was a little bit overplayed.

I do think that some folks who are. Starting families who were thinking about moving to the suburbs for whatever reason, because they wanted you know, green grass and schools in the suburbs, those folks have that decision making process feed it up because of the pandemic. So I don't think that necessarily led to an Exodus that you know, is going to continue.

I think it just speeded up the process and folks who are already thinking of moving out to the suburbs, they've made that decision more quickly. And again, you know, when, when you and I spoke in June where you'd kind of teased One Key MLS, you know, it was, it was on the horizon at the time. And I think, you know, you all chose to do something pretty unique and you know, really, really present that wow factor with, with launching one MLS, I think, like you said, at the height of the pandemic, talk to me about kind of the decision, the decision to do that, and, you know, continue moving forward with that decision.

And some of the unknown barriers that you might've encountered, you know, as with that launch and rollout. So to be honest, the reasons why we created One Key and One Key is a regional MLS it's owned by the Hudson gateway association of Realtors in the long Island board of Realtors was to really take advantage of the power of our geography for the benefit of our Realtor members.

You have a lot of regional on the lessons, much larger than ours. You know, we've got a large one, we've got over 42,000 subscribers. We've got about 4,400 brokerage offices. But we hit, you know, their, their larger MLS is around the country and, you know, California you've got bright MLS on the East coast.

But those are not really specific to geography per se, where we really wanted to. Focus on the New York city geography in the tri-state area, in terms of anywhere buses and trains go in and out of you know, New York city, we felt that there should be a regional MLS that takes advantage of that geography that I think is even more starkly obvious today than it was pre COVID-19.

Because we truly have become a region. Especially with folks who are now working remotely, they're able to do so in counties where you can't even easily commute, it would be a multi hour commute. But now if you have a second home in Sullivan County and your business is in Manhattan, you can still effectively do business.

So the power of region and the power of geography, I think has become even more apparent during this pandemic period. And we were positioned to take advantage of that. Did you, you know, New York I think is always in a international real estate Mecca, you know, with, with, with, with foreign buyers and foreign investors, did you see any kind of changes with that, with that sort of like traffic to the site or, or did you see any sort of changes with that sort of money kind of coming into the market?

It's interesting. We launched Winky MLS in March of 2020. We launched our consumer facing MLS website onekeymls.com in the middle of June. And the traffic was high right off the bat, without question, because again, there was just a lot of interest in the geography that we cover. It's interesting because New York definitely took a much.

A deeper dive in terms of just the, basically the bottom fell out in terms of sales in New York city. It is bounced back more quickly than I anticipated especially in the luxury market there's been, you're really now looking at the same kind of numbers this year, as we were looking prior to the pandemic last year.

Part of that though, is there are. I think deals to be had. And I think especially with a new development developers are actually making deals that they might not have made pre pandemic. So there are a lot of opportunities. The rental market really took a hit and the rental market is still struggling.

And that may take some time to come back, but I quite frankly, Libyan Manhattan. I, you know what I see in the streets today versus what I saw in the streets back in March and April of last year is night and day. I think that there really is a renewed interest in Manhattan because the perception of, you know, that there are deals to be had as well as in Brooklyn and as well as some of the other boroughs, I think the challenge quite frankly, is going to be the commercial market.

The commercial market is going to take a little bit longer to find its feet. I think, you know, you've, you've heard a lot in the press that there probably is going to be some type of hybrid going forward, where some companies will say come into the office, you know, three days a week and work from home two days a week.

I think especially in the next year or two, that probably will be the norm. But I do think the commercial market will get its feet within the next three to five years. That residential quite frankly, is coming back very strong, more quickly than I anticipated in New York city. You see any sort of kind of speaking to that hybrid model, something that came across the news here in Denver somebody was calling this place, a new developer.

They called it a condo tale and it's it's, they're they're condos that I believe. And I, you know, I'm, I might be butchering this, but I believe there's zoned for like short term. And so people are, are, I guess, how they're marketing. These are two, two investors to do, like long-term and short-term Airbnbs.

And it's just got me curious to know what. Maybe what you're thinking about that, that hybrid model in the commercial market, because there is so much real estate in New York that is, you know, I would say right for disruption right now. What do you kind of think about what that hybrid model looks like?

Or, you know, do you have any, any thoughts on what that could look like? The only thing I can really predict with any clarity as people are going to have to be very creative, you know what we're going to end up with? I don't think we should be. No guessing too much. I think we just have to kind of get creative.

And I think in terms of the hotels and that kind of creativity would match up well with what you just described. I've also heard a lot of folks saying, well, let's convert commercial buildings to affordable housing or residential housing. I think that's where problemat, you know, commercial buildings are just not designed nor plumbed that way.

And I don't know, it just really makes a lot of sense. That you could convert commercial space, especially commercial space. That's older to residential housing, but I do think we've got to get creative and I do think we're still in the early days. I mean, New York, you know, the vaccines are definitely coming in now, the Jacob Javits center is this huge vaccine distribution center and the number of people who are getting vaccinated today.

It's pretty staggering, at least in the urban areas of New York. And I think by may and June, that's really going to make a difference. And I think by the fall that's, especially hopefully by the fall, we'll have, you know, the theaters back open. We'll have all of the arts that have just continued to be shut down, which is such a drain on the New York economy.

And the New York city economy will start to recover. That's what I think people will really start to use that creativity to figure out well, what's life gonna look like for this market and for this area going forward.

We're coming up on the, I would say the one year anniversary. What would you say, you know, looking at, you're looking at your members and looking at, you know, even just kind of New York as a whole, from your view, like you said, you've, you've been with you've been in real estate here for over 35 years.

What have you seen as. Being one of the most valuable kind of pivot points for agents. Cause I think, you know, the industry yeah. Had to shift and I think everybody's models have had to, whether that's through marketing plans just kind of their entire approach to real estate. Again, what have you seen as some of the really valuable pivots that agents have done and that you and the team have done it?

HGA are. No, it's interesting. I've seen so much growth in this industry. In my tenure, when I first came to work for the association, I was 24 years old. I had been looking for a job in publishing and was offered a job to work. Then Westchester County board of Realtors. We had 1,400 members now, or over 12,000 members.

You know, we've merged with several associations since then to create synergies that really, again, go along geographic lines. But I think the more things change, we forget that the more things stay the same and yes, technology has had a huge impact on us in this. It's going to continue to have a big impact on this industry, but it, from my perspective, that's still about the age.

And it's still about the agents relationships with consumers at the end of the day, that was what it was 35 years ago. That's what it is today. I don't see that changing. You just have agents who are able to utilize technology in effective ways. So for example, during the pandemic, I think for very good reason, the whole concept of virtual tours really went up a notch.

And I think that's going to continue to really improve that technology. But that's not going to replace agents all this discussion about, you know, agents are going to go away. I never bought it and I still don't buy it. So I still think at the end of the day, how do we provide better tools for agents?

And as an association, we've got to be careful because we also don't want to step on the toes of the brokers. We don't want to interfere with their value proposition and what they offer to their agents. But there are basic building blocks like education, and certainly we offer a lot more tech education focused on technology than we used to, but we've got to offer those building blocks for agents to succeed in their communities and in their business that has not changed.

That's not going to change. I agree. And, you know, TRIBUS, last year we launched design studio, which was a, kind of like a, a one-stop shop to be able to connect, you know, agents with their clients, through, you know, kind of new flyers and, and creating an easier process there. And I've seen. You know, I think you see more investment in email marketing and you see more investment in you know, digital, digital marketing, whether yeah.

It's in social media or, or Google in ways like that. How have you at One Key MLS sort of like pivoted your marketing efforts both to, to engage your, your Realtors and help them like empower them to reach their consumers and clients. Social media, you know, that that has had a huge impact on our industry.

It's going to continue to have an impact on already has a huge impact on our lives. Let's be honest. And that's a space where I think when can you, that it's been effective, but we've got to give them the better as well as the association. And that's the one area where I think we've got to help our members step up their game.

Social media is going to continue to be a huge conduit communication with consumers. And it's also going to be a conduit of communication between our members. We used to rely on email though. It's interesting. One of the things that we launched very early on in the...]]>a54aaa71-390c-45f2-9b6b-dc6062a866faSun, 21 Mar 2021 08:00:00 -070040:16nofull129TRIBUSHow COVID Changed Open Houses and Real Estate Marketing with HomeSpotter CEOEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

At the nexus of brokerage mobile apps, real estate marketing, and open houses sits HomeSpotter's CEO. The company offers branded apps for brokerages and agents, automated listing marketing, and the number one open house registration app, Spacio.

Aaron had a front row seat to what would go from the shut down of the real estate industry, to it's holding up the rest of the economy. We ask him about this and he provides some tricks that brokerages can use for their apps and marketing.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States and Canada.

Today on the show, I'm looking to have my friend Aaron Kardell. Aaron is the founder and CEO of HomeSpotter. HomeSpotter started out. As the premier provider of branded apps for brokerages and agents, but the company has recently branched out over the past few years into other options as well. And we'll dive into some of those when we talk to Aaron today.

So Aaron, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Eric. Great to be here. Good to talk to you. In fact, right before we started recording here, we were talking about how it's the, as we're recording this today on March the ninth, 2021, I think it's the oneumyear anniversary of the last time we all saw each other at the leading area conference in Las Vegas, right?

It's a, it's been quite a year. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And, and, with what you guys do, it'll be interesting to hear some of the data, that you have of what you've seen over the past year. Cause you're kind of a leading edge. in some regards for, for that data. So I'm excited to dig in. but before we do that, I just want to understand a little bit about your background.

let's start out by, you know, you're obviously a technical founder, so what got you started to doing software development and then later starting your own company. Yeah, thanks, Eric. well, real simply, I grew up in a rural community in Nebraska. and this was, back in the days when, computers were still.

Lunchables as they called them at the time they were briefcases. and, my parents were entrepreneurs and my mom, happened to be an accountant at the firm that they had founded. And so she would. Drag this, briefcase home, with her each evening. And, at a very young age, I picked up a book about, basic, programming and, learned, programming at a very early age that way.

And just, you know, I think was really excited by the concept of. you know, you put in a program and, minutes later, what, what you wrote is, is working and, you know, over time, There was kind of that personal joy in, in learning programming, but having parents who were entrepreneurs as well, led me down a path where, you know, as soon I started exploring, what does it look like to combine these two things to, potentially start a business, that, that was also within the, the rental of software.

And so by, Time. I was in high school. I, started my first, mini little software company that was selling, what, was referred to it at. The time has shareware, over the internet. it was a windows program. And, you know, as I say, sometimes it was, you know, not a ton of money as far as, tech startups go nowadays.

But, compared to, working at the local dairy queen. It was a pretty good, pretty good living for a, high school kid. No, I have not heard the term shareware in a very long time, but it brought lots of memories back of the software of the month club discs that I used to get. Yeah, I have to ask you, what was...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

At the nexus of brokerage mobile apps, real estate marketing, and open houses sits HomeSpotter's CEO. The company offers branded apps for brokerages and agents, automated listing marketing, and the number one open house registration app, Spacio.

Aaron had a front row seat to what would go from the shut down of the real estate industry, to it's holding up the rest of the economy. We ask him about this and he provides some tricks that brokerages can use for their apps and marketing.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages in the United States and Canada.

Today on the show, I'm looking to have my friend Aaron Kardell. Aaron is the founder and CEO of HomeSpotter. HomeSpotter started out. As the premier provider of branded apps for brokerages and agents, but the company has recently branched out over the past few years into other options as well. And we'll dive into some of those when we talk to Aaron today.

So Aaron, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Eric. Great to be here. Good to talk to you. In fact, right before we started recording here, we were talking about how it's the, as we're recording this today on March the ninth, 2021, I think it's the oneumyear anniversary of the last time we all saw each other at the leading area conference in Las Vegas, right?

It's a, it's been quite a year. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And, and, with what you guys do, it'll be interesting to hear some of the data, that you have of what you've seen over the past year. Cause you're kind of a leading edge. in some regards for, for that data. So I'm excited to dig in. but before we do that, I just want to understand a little bit about your background.

let's start out by, you know, you're obviously a technical founder, so what got you started to doing software development and then later starting your own company. Yeah, thanks, Eric. well, real simply, I grew up in a rural community in Nebraska. and this was, back in the days when, computers were still.

Lunchables as they called them at the time they were briefcases. and, my parents were entrepreneurs and my mom, happened to be an accountant at the firm that they had founded. And so she would. Drag this, briefcase home, with her each evening. And, at a very young age, I picked up a book about, basic, programming and, learned, programming at a very early age that way.

And just, you know, I think was really excited by the concept of. you know, you put in a program and, minutes later, what, what you wrote is, is working and, you know, over time, There was kind of that personal joy in, in learning programming, but having parents who were entrepreneurs as well, led me down a path where, you know, as soon I started exploring, what does it look like to combine these two things to, potentially start a business, that, that was also within the, the rental of software.

And so by, Time. I was in high school. I, started my first, mini little software company that was selling, what, was referred to it at. The time has shareware, over the internet. it was a windows program. And, you know, as I say, sometimes it was, you know, not a ton of money as far as, tech startups go nowadays.

But, compared to, working at the local dairy queen. It was a pretty good, pretty good living for a, high school kid. No, I have not heard the term shareware in a very long time, but it brought lots of memories back of the software of the month club discs that I used to get. Yeah, I have to ask you, what was the, what was the shareware app that you built?

It's so random. I got to tell you, the name of the, windows app was called easy zip self extractor pro. and there was only a pro edition of course, but, you know, the idea was, and this sounds, almost insane in retrospect is a lot of people didn't know how to open a zip file, back in the day.

And so. These, programs like the one I created allowed you to convert a zip file into a exe file, you know, something you'd run. And so people could transform their zip file into a program that they could send to somebody else. And at the time people would just, Trust that and run what they were sent.

but, yeah, so it was a, it was a good little business in, a certain niche. So WinZip was your big competitor then, right? They were, yeah, WinZip was a, you know, more kind of the full suite of, being able to manage those zip files. And they, they did have their own little, self extractor program.

but yeah, they were, they were our big competitors. That's so funny. I think some people listening into this, that's gonna, it's going to bring back a lot of memories thinking about both shareware and WinZip, and, and the old ways of zipping files where it wasn't just a right click. Like it is today.

There was a lot more complicated, 20 something years ago, folks. so, but that begs the question. How do we go from zipping files, to real estate software development. Yeah, well, between that and, founding, what's now HomeSpotter, I had a few, other startups along the way, spent a fair amount of time in Kum12 education.

had, Company that had a student information system that was sold to a Pearson education. And I worked there for awhile. and, it was a lot, a lot of great time. and, then, you know, right around 2009 after I had left Pearson, I had just gotten into iPhone development personally and, was something I was personally excited with.

And I had an experience where my wife and I were looking for the next house, where we wanted to live. And driving around on the weekends, just felt like a very empty experience on an iPhone at the time. couldn't figure out, you know, why can't I see what open houses are open right now. and you know, I certainly had the experience on some brokerage websites prior to that of a good experience on the desktop.

but there just wasn't. A good moral equivalent of that on, on the phone and yeah, and even in 2009, at least when this idea really got started, this was before, realtor.com or Zillow or others like it, even had an iPhone app yet. And so really just, you know, out of a personal experience, a need, that's what led to starting what was at the time, mobile Realty apps and is now rebranded HomeSpotter.

And I. Real quick. very, very quickly learned that, kind of the way into the industry was through, IDs rules, which I learned about and partnering with brokerage firms. And that's what led us down a path of a white labeled app business for, brokerage firms, that they could basically have a mobile app to compliment their, their website.

Well, yeah. And, it's now. I think the number one provider of those, after, another company that was out there got acquired a couple of years ago. You're you're the, you're the big dog now, right? Yeah, we, we are now in the market leading position in, in that, space. Yes, that's great. but the, you know, obviously there's the concern that, that brokers have.

And, and I take calls like this from concerned brokers, saying, you know, Oh, well just everybody uses Redfin or everybody uses Zillow. Why do I need. an app they might say, or, or in the calls that I take it's why do I need IDX on my website? you know, everybody just goes to Redfin. Anyways, what would you say to, to brokers that, that are having those thoughts?

You know, I think the big thing I would say Eric is, there can be different tools for different stages of the transaction. And, one of the, one of the biggest things that we found is that, our apps have been a great way for agents to really, nurture many of the relationships that they have and, convert maybe some of the ones that are only.

passively looking into more of an actively buying mode. And we do find a number of scenarios even where agents might be, buying leads from the likes of Zillow, where ultimately they get, one of our apps in there. now client's hands. It, it's a great means for, collaboration, during the transaction.

And it's also a kind of a great way to stay in touch even in those times where. that a potential buyer isn't yet in an actively buying mode. we've also found that, brokerages that have a lot of traffic on their IDX websites, are. Really in the best position, if they want to use our apps as a primary means of lead generation, not just for that nurturing that they can, use their, mobile web traffic, which they've already got a great presence with, to, to push downloads of the app as well.

And that makes a lot of sense. It's, it's almost like the, the positioning, isn't the discovery, it's the connection side of it with, with the, with the agent. Right. so you know, something that I've been really interested in and paying a lot more attention to recently is, is push notifications. And, you know, for the brokers out there that are listening, if you're not aware of what TCPA is.

You should probably look into the telephone consumer protection act because there's all sorts of rules around your agents and your responsibilities with regard to sending text messages to folks, particularly when it comes to marketing text messages, if they haven't opted in, but, but push notifications are kind of the wild West.

there's no restrictions behind the, because it's a sheer data connection. It's not going over the telephone network. how important have you seen. Those push notifications be to create a engagement with your apps. Yeah, I can, I can say that it's an area we've done a lot more in over the last, year or so and building in, prompts to, deliver push notifications around things like, listing alerts, say when you've saved a property, if the price changes or, if you've got to save search, letting the consumer know that there are matching properties.

or, you know, another way we've used push notifications for a long time is really with this built in messaging and collaboration component to, foster communication. And when somebody sends someone else a message to, send a push notification to get them back into the app. And it's a, it's a huge driver.

we've seen, Over the last year, really a 25% year over year increase in, something that we track called the Dow Mau ratio and Damo is a daily active users to, monthly active users. And, you know, we've seen a 25% lift over the last year in that down mal ratio. too. Very high levels.

And a lot of that is really driven by these push notifications. That's phenomenal. I mean, in the app world, Dow and Mao is, is, is everything. it's out. If you're a mobile app developer, it's how your entire app gets valued is based upon daily active users and monthly active users. And, obviously from a brokerage perspective, being able to push those numbers up to their apps, with little things like this that may not even have costs associated with them from the broker standpoint.

it, it seems like it's everything. It's, what's going to connect them with their agent versus going over and using that Redfin app, that they don't have a personalized connection with. Right. Indeed indeed to yeah. Great way to continue that engagement over time. Yeah, for sure. For sure. You constantly stay on their phone.

I mean, I mean, I know a broker who has an app and they're not only pushing out through push notifications, you know, updates to their, to the listings that somebody may be subscribed to, but also general information about, buying a home, selling a home, almost using it like a, Like a, a drip message.

That's in a push notification and they're seeing great engagement with that. also their mortgage division is using the app to push out notifications saying, Hey, now, you know, you, you bought a home from us last year. and your rate was 3.125. We can now refi you and do a courtesy refi because you're a client of.

Of this brokerage for 2.75, you know, we act now before rates go up and that inumhouse mortgage operation is, is printing money, from being able to leverage those text messages. Right? Absolutely. And that's a, that's a great point, Eric. We've seen, you know, that's another way we've, we've seen, I'm sure you see it across the board too, is, Those those brokerages that have those, affiliated or inumhouse, mortgage businesses, the, the opportunities, whether it's with the apps that we power or otherwise for coumbranding and really driving opportunities across the business is, pretty, pretty deep and pretty important.

For sure. For sure. so let's, you know, let's dig into the general app space inside of real estate a little bit more. Obviously we talked about Redfin and Zillow being the two kind of primary apps and maybe realtor.com is right there. with them considering how much money they spend on trying to get people to download their app, too.

But in the brokerage app space, there's been, you know, some things that have changed with it over the past few years. And obviously, like you said, you're the dominant player, but before then, you know, 10 years ago, everybody kind of knew of this other company, smarter agent, who I'm going to guess you consider to be your closest competitor for a long time.

And that company was bought by KW. And just shut down. you know, if you, if you don't, if you're not a KW person, you can't use, the, the smarter agent app anymore. And I know there was franchises and, and relegate had much of their entire app strategy built around smarter agent. So what have you seen brands, brokerages franchises.

Do have they been moving over to you? Have they been abandoning app strategies? What's what's the look going forward now that KW is shutting us all down. You know, it's, it's really a mixed bag. Eric, and, also I just gotta say, you know, Brad and, and Eric at smarter agent were absolutely, pioneers in the space.

And so it was, glad to see that they had a good outcome at a Keller Williams. but in terms of what brands and brokerages are doing and in light of, the decision to, stop offering the service to other brokerages. we we've seen, parties take, a few different paths. you know, some, are, taking this as an opportunity to revisit their strategy and determine, do we want to keep, and app, moving forward?

others are, you know, the particularly. Big brokerages. I think there are, or especially at the franchise level, those are, some parties that are looking to bring some of those efforts in house. although I gotta say, having done this for 10 years, it's, certainly a lot of work in a big lift.

we do see a few parties doing that. And, you know, you mentioned, Realty is one example. They, have a firm that they partnered with, that, you know, helps them out in that capacity. But, you know, we are seeing a number of brokerages that, are choosing to, move to companies like ours and also in, in, so doing, maybe revisiting their app strategy and seeing, do we want to take this from maybe more of a, Hey, we're checking the box that we've got a mobile app.

And we can tell our agents, we have an app, but we're really not going to think about it a whole lot to one where they, they really want to have it as an integral part of their business. And, those are a number of the conversations that we're having right now. And they're, they're exciting. We've, I think over the last quarter, signed a more, more new, brokerage app deals than we have in, in some time.

And it's, good to see the, Continued excitement and the space. That's great. Cause it's, you know, I, I'm a, I, I hate that concept. The brokers, have sneaking around in their brain right now that they've lost the, the search or, to Zillow, Redfin, realtor, comics, cetera. You know, I, I think that having those types of apps or having an IDX, website, having that capability there, you know, w while it may not be the number one item on Google, when somebody does a search for their website or, or, you know, they may not be their broker jet may not be the number one thing when somebody searches real estate inside of the app store.

but it's there and it serves a major purpose. And so it's good to hear that. that you're not seeing them abandon it, regardless of whether they build it inumhouse or not. It's probably good for HomeSpotter that people are still seeing a reason to invest in this space. Right. Definitely definitely.

And, and, three quick tips, I'll give you, regardless of whether you work with us, build your own work with somebody else. you know, the best ways to drive app downloads really are threefold. you want to make sure that you've got a banner or similar on your website that, pushes, your, your mobile traffic and then encourages, that mobile traffic to, download the app.

really want to make sure you train your agents well, and that, the app that you adopt has a. Agent branding component to it so that when agents, give out their app agents, you know, have some certitude that they're giving out their version of the app and that weeds are going to come back to them.

we see that some of the more successful brokerages, have really engaged their agents really well at, distributing the app. and then the third thing is while it's, it's certainly hard to compete. On a national level, on search, if, if you buy ads in the, search ads interface for Apple, for example, you can still buy, keywords and do it only limited to specific, geography.

So, You can, certainly advertise and promote, your, your real estate app as kind of the primary app that people will see when they search in the app store and just limit that to the, MSA or, or the state or, area that you're in. And he can drive a lot of success that way as well. I had no idea that you could advertise in the app store to, or to a particular, locality.

I thought it was just country specific. So you're saying if you're in Minneapolis, like you are, you, you can run an ad for your app downloads just in Minneapolis. Absolutely. Oh, that's great. I had, I had no idea. , let's talk about your ad program now for a second. in 2018, Homespotter, we launched, a division called boost, and that's an easy way to automate listing advertising.

And there's been, it seems like just a, a, an avalanche, of push in this space recently. but 2018 was probably on their early tail, of that. So what, what made you go in that direction back in 2018? Yeah. You know, it was, kind of a confluence of factors, Eric. You know, first, first things first, you know, we had had a tremendous growth in our first, five years at, what was then, um HomeSpotter but, but we also knew that, You know, if, if we really wanted to continue to grow as a business, we were going to need to give some serious thought to, is there a, a second, product, that we want to bring to market?

And so, as we, went through that exercise, we really looked at, where did we see the current gaps, within residential real estate tech. And, in interviewing different customers, were there opportunities where we could match up, gaps in the industry to actual customer needs? And so in the, fall of 2016, I believe it was, we, started to, You know, really do a lot of these customer interviews, which led to, early pilot programs.

And, we, we did test out a number of different, potential approaches in the ad space. but the, you know, some of the concepts that really, came to the forefront as part of those, tests was while there certainly were others in the industry...]]>5793d51f-d3a3-40b4-aef0-ac62338d1a9fMon, 15 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -070045:44nofull128TRIBUSHow to Market Your Niche and Be the Real Estate Expert in Your Market with Stephanie KrollEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

There are riches in the niches - particularly when it comes to real estate sales. By finding and more importantly focusing on her niche, Realtor Stephanie Kroll has built a following for her speciality MidCentury Modern Homes in Denver.

Transcription:

Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester Director of Marketing Success at TRIBUS, one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages today on the show we have Stephanie Kroll, a broker associate with Mile High Modern Denver's definitive resource for modern architectural property. New developments in classical collection homes, Stephanie's expertise and Denver's real estate market is remarkable.

I'm excited for this discussion, Stephanie, how are you doing today? I'm great. How are you doing well? Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us on brokerage insider. Oh, of course. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me. I, I think I was able to provide a little bit of an introduction, but, uh, if you would, for our listeners, just kind of talk about, uh, talk about who you are and where you're at and what your kind of specialty is right now.

Yeah. So I am a real estate broker with Mile High Modern. I started in the real estate business a few years ago after a very tumultuous first-time home buying experience of my own on a personal level. and I'm also a Denver native. My family has owned properties in the Denver area since the 1970s. And. we've, you know, everybody is here in different pockets of the Denver Metro.

You know, and we've been here for multiple generations now. So I like to think that I'm an expert in the Denver Metro area, because we've lived here for so long , but yeah, I, I really focus on most of my energy on properties of architectural merit, specifically mid century modern homes. I've found a lot of success in.

Niching out within that particular architecture type. especially because our market just has a lot of them. but also because I have a passion for the design itself and yeah. Does that answer your question? That's perfect. Let's talk about how you got into real estate and kind of what you were doing before and your journey into this as a career choice.

I know a little bit of it, but I'd love to hear it from you. Yeah. So, okay. Well, I mean, I did a bunch of different things. you know, within my entire professional career, but I, my background is in marketing. I got a business marketing degree from CU Boulder and my first like big time job was out in LA.

I worked for Hulu for a few years, in marketing and an ad operations. And, my experience in Los Angeles was great, but I was like, I could only handle it for so long and I really miss Denver. So I ended up coming back about two years later. And when I did that, I was kind of like getting my hands into some other marketing jobs.

And I specifically took on a job working for, a string of different event venues and marketing or sorry, music. Sorry. Wow. Music venues in the golden triangle. And, just, I was the marketing director for them was pretty much tasked with really revamping the entire marketing department there because what I had walked into, I didn't have a whole lot to work with and they really didn't have a lot of like preexisting systems or anything like that.

And so I kind of had to build a team to support all of their venues. And in doing that, I was, not only exposed to a lot of the different partners on the golden triangle board of directors, like the Denver art muse and sort of Cerner Conservancy, but then also, one of the venues that...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

There are riches in the niches - particularly when it comes to real estate sales. By finding and more importantly focusing on her niche, Realtor Stephanie Kroll has built a following for her speciality MidCentury Modern Homes in Denver.

Transcription:

Welcome to brokerage insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host Britt Chester Director of Marketing Success at TRIBUS, one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and provider of custom brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages today on the show we have Stephanie Kroll, a broker associate with Mile High Modern Denver's definitive resource for modern architectural property. New developments in classical collection homes, Stephanie's expertise and Denver's real estate market is remarkable.

I'm excited for this discussion, Stephanie, how are you doing today? I'm great. How are you doing well? Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us on brokerage insider. Oh, of course. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me. I, I think I was able to provide a little bit of an introduction, but, uh, if you would, for our listeners, just kind of talk about, uh, talk about who you are and where you're at and what your kind of specialty is right now.

Yeah. So I am a real estate broker with Mile High Modern. I started in the real estate business a few years ago after a very tumultuous first-time home buying experience of my own on a personal level. and I'm also a Denver native. My family has owned properties in the Denver area since the 1970s. And. we've, you know, everybody is here in different pockets of the Denver Metro.

You know, and we've been here for multiple generations now. So I like to think that I'm an expert in the Denver Metro area, because we've lived here for so long , but yeah, I, I really focus on most of my energy on properties of architectural merit, specifically mid century modern homes. I've found a lot of success in.

Niching out within that particular architecture type. especially because our market just has a lot of them. but also because I have a passion for the design itself and yeah. Does that answer your question? That's perfect. Let's talk about how you got into real estate and kind of what you were doing before and your journey into this as a career choice.

I know a little bit of it, but I'd love to hear it from you. Yeah. So, okay. Well, I mean, I did a bunch of different things. you know, within my entire professional career, but I, my background is in marketing. I got a business marketing degree from CU Boulder and my first like big time job was out in LA.

I worked for Hulu for a few years, in marketing and an ad operations. And, my experience in Los Angeles was great, but I was like, I could only handle it for so long and I really miss Denver. So I ended up coming back about two years later. And when I did that, I was kind of like getting my hands into some other marketing jobs.

And I specifically took on a job working for, a string of different event venues and marketing or sorry, music. Sorry. Wow. Music venues in the golden triangle. And, just, I was the marketing director for them was pretty much tasked with really revamping the entire marketing department there because what I had walked into, I didn't have a whole lot to work with and they really didn't have a lot of like preexisting systems or anything like that.

And so I kind of had to build a team to support all of their venues. And in doing that, I was, not only exposed to a lot of the different partners on the golden triangle board of directors, like the Denver art muse and sort of Cerner Conservancy, but then also, one of the venues that we worked with was the church.

And I just was like, so fascinated by, as I was doing all this historic research on the building. I mean, it's this amazing, incredible church, on the corner. Of things like 12th and chairman or 12th and Lincoln, that has just like stood the test of time. It's been converted into a music venue, but it was just a really special space to me.

And as I was doing more research, I like learning about what you had to do to preserve the building. And there was just a lot that came like. With the documentation of that building. And as I was doing more research on it for basically just like marketing material. So I became like infatuated with like the concept of preserving historic buildings.

And that really translated. I mean, that was kind of a piece of it. Right. But the mid-century thing also stemmed from. My time living in Los Angeles, it was very much a big deal. They're very much a part of the culture. There's like amazing vintage stores all over central Los Angeles. And of course it's like the Mecca of mid century modern architecture.

And then when I was working with SoCo, I also bought my first home in Harvey park, which is also like a Mecca of mid-century the modern designer architecture. and it's like, I was just like blown away. Like the cliff may homes where I was obsessed with them. I like, and even like the Carrie holiday homes, like all of them were just so cool to me.

And I was like, I don't know. I was just hooked. Like I would, I was already pretty into it, but I was like, just seeing how much architecture we have here and how many homes we had to work with here that were of that design. really like blew my mind. And as I started doing more. For historical research, it was just like incredible to see what presence we have here and how many, we got really lucky with some incredible, architects that were, you know, they traveled here after world war two and they were in Boulder and the Denver Metro, and they just designed some incredibly unique properties.

And so. I just became fascinated by that and I feel sick visits around, which is crazy. Let's talk, let's talk about that. You had mentioned that first time home buying experience. not, not being, I wouldn't want to say ideal, uh, first off, when did you buy it? So I bought my house in 2018. I've actually synced sold it actually too, because some homes are lessons they're not meant to be enjoyed, but, I had it for probably about a year and a half.

I. So, I mean, and I think that this story will resonate with a lot of people who are purchasing now, because I think that the market conditions are similar, if not more intense, right. Especially on the buy side. So I think that's like why I'm actually really, I mean, I'm good on both sides of the business, but I w I think I've been a particularly strong buyer's agent for my clients and finding the deal and making sure they get what they need because of my own experience and like, Just making sure that they're guided properly.

Right. Because I don't know that I necessarily was. there's so the tricky part about my situation was that my dad was my real estate broker. It's just like hardworking and family and real estate in general. It doesn't really matter how that works, whether you're like your family's a client or whatever.

Like it's always tricky. Right? Like the whole dynamic was tricky and I looked at homes for over a year and a half. pretty consistently actually, and I looked at over 150 properties, which was a lot. Wow. Yeah. All over Denver or, I mean, how are you, how did you kind of, what was your first time buying process?

Like, did you have a list of wants and, and list of needs or what was that kind of like. I mean, it wasn't really guided to do that. I do that now with my clients, I have them come up with a top three wants, needs and deal breakers list. Every single time I have like an initial conversation, but, I didn't have that.

So I was just kind of like, at that point, I just was like, I just want a house. Right. And I was like, ended up in some random things and I'm like, so glad that didn't work out. I fell in love with this amazing home in like a different neighborhood where again, I wouldn't have like, had the path that I. I'm on now had I like ended up in some of these different neighborhoods, but there was an incredible deal and I missed out on it.

And now the house is worth like literally three times what it is. I was looking at it. Right. Or like, just like random neighborhoods. Like I almost wonder to contract a house in like Lowery, which is so like now I'm like, I'm never on the East side would have been like terrible for my lifestyle. Like, I'm so glad that none of these things worked out because my criteria was just like, I just think I was like, so desperate to get into a house that they didn't really have.

Like, this is like awful to say, but I just was like wanting to get in the game. Like, I didn't really have like high standards. I was like, okay, well, if it looks okay, I'm in, like, I'll just write an offer. I kind of like it. And truthfully, a lot of the stuff that I was seeing was just like, so rough, like major structural problems, you know, like.

It was a bit scary. Like this is a really rough neighborhood or like, I saw so many homes and it became basically like a part-time job for me. Over such a long period of time. And I was like, I could totally do this as a business, you know? so then when I found, I mean, I looked at so many houses I put in over 25 offers and I was, I was just tired.

It's back in 2018 too, which is nothing like even the market is now, but it was still pretty hot, you know, three years ago, wires are still submitting some times in this market, like 10 offers. And I mean, like, I'm sure people feel similarly, right? Like don't you just have to like. Keep playing the game until you get into the house.

Right. So I was kind of in a similar position and I kind of found this house, that in that market, I mean, still things were going like wildfire. And I found this place that had like, it was off market, had been under contract, like once or twice and then got back on. And I was like, well, maybe there's just, I just needed like an opportunity, like someone who was going to like hear out my case and just be like, all right, Sweet.

Like, because I just like lost out so many times. and like, you know, again, I think I can attribute some of that to just like the team I had around me for, I mean, it was really important on the buy-side side to have like a really strong lender or a really strong broker, a really strong inspector and like across the board, like, I really didn't feel like I had any of them.

Well, I had a great, I had to fire my first lender and get another lender like across the board. I really ha I, when I started the process, I did not have. Any of those things, you know, and it's important to have like an ATM all the time. So again, that's another thing I like to bring into my buy-side process.

But so when I found this house, it seems like a major opportunity to me. So I was like, all right, we're just going to go for it. Like, whatever. Right. So I write an offer, they counter me and I like negotiate it down in like a crazy market. So.

And even the counter was like below asking. And so I was like, sweet. I got an office, an awesome opportunity here. And so we went under contracts and I thought it was really weird because they didn't change the status and MLS for like four or five days. I was like, Oh, okay. Like we're under contract. Right.

Like I don't really know. And they kept it on the market through the weekend, basically. Technically they did. Cause they didn't change the status. So. They need to feel more offers maybe. Yeah, I think that was the point, but they, I mean, it was totally like sketch, like the whole thing was not everything about this whole situation with sketch from the beginning.

I should have seen it as a RIS, but anyway, so, we go into contract, they, they must've gotten a ton of backup offers above asking cause. All of a sudden on Monday, they're like we have to submit earnest money and like the tune kind of changes a little bit. Right. And so they're like, Oh, Hey, just so you know, there's a lien on the title and we didn't pay a contractor because the house had been like flipping before I bought it.

Well, we'll put it that way. Yeah, for sure. And they were like, yeah, like there's a lien on the title. You can't actually buy this house. And so. I was like kind of calling a bluff. I was like, I don't believe you because you've been under contract twice. You almost close twice. People would have seen this before.

I don't know why this would've come up right now. And like, it just seems like a ploy to kind of get me to terminate and. I was like, well, I'm just going to wait for the title work to come through and just see what's on the title work. And I had all of this writing. I mean, technically I probably had some sort of grounds to like legally go after the seller at this point.

But like, because what happened was the title where it came back clean. Right. So I was right called their bluff. And at the time also my inspection deadline for like very fast. And the advice that was given to me was don't pay for an inspection. If the title work isn't going to come back clean anyways.

So I don't get an inspection in time and I missed my inspection. Objection, deadline. And it doesn't get moved out. I'm a first time home buyer. I have no idea what this is about. Like, I, I I'm like, I don't think this is the right thing to do, but like, Okay. I trust you. You're my dad. Right? basically the tower comes back clean and so I'm like, well, I need to get in spectral on his house.

Right. And I do, and it's really, really, really rough, right? Like pretty bad. Like it was everything that had been done to the house was all cosmetic. It needed a new roof. It needed. There were like a bunch of extra furnaces, just like old furnaces and the crawlspace that needed to be like cut into little pieces and taken out.

My inspector also missed a ton of stuff. There were like galvanized steel pipes, corroded water. That was a raccoon living in the fireplace. There was like, it was like, seriously, like your worst nightmare, but inspection. It was like my inspection, like nature system, like needed to be replaced. But at this point I'd missed my inspection, termination deadline.

So you can't terminate. Cause like, then you're not acting in good faith and you lose your earnest money. Right. Right. So I'm like, okay, well I guess I have to like move forward with buying this house. I don't really have much of a choice. Right. Sounds like an absolute nightmare scenario, but a great starting point.

Right? It's only, it only can go get, get better from here. It was just crazy. Like the whole thing was crazy. Anyways, I buy the house. The first week is a total trip. It was like so hard to live in that place. They put all this money into it right away to just start fixing all these issues. Cause it was like just so rough.

And then my neighbor even like committed suicide a week into me living in the house. Sorry to hear that it was crazy, like crazy things happened in that house. And I'm just glad. Yeah. So were you, were you working, were you still working with those, the venues? while you're kind of going through this process, I get the whole process and I was like, no buyer should go through this process.

And have to experience the things that I experienced. Like it should never be this bad. The seller was rough. The listing agent was rough. The buyer's agent didn't like properly represent me. And I was like, this was a train wreck. And I had just seen so many agents like do bad things in my process that I was like, There.

I know there's other good ones out there. And I've seen that now, of course. Right. But at the time I was like, this sucks. Like there needs to be better representation for people out there. And I truly believe that I'm the person to do it. And at this time I'm also like trying to figure it out. I want to do a career change.

I'm like, maybe I'll be a therapist. I love psychology and like h an behavior. And of course, I mean, What is basically more like therapy than real estate. It's like, you see every single person's personality. Right. And like, you really see their true colors come out in the middle of the most stressful transaction of their lives.

Right. Or like, not even stressful, just expensive. So, yeah. Yeah. So I felt truly called to be like a leader. Sure. And like do this differently and do right by the people who were my clients. And, I mean, I think sometimes from pain comes a lot of like joy, right? Like you have to go through some really hard things too.

I ended up in a really good place sometimes. And that just so happened to be my situation. But, yeah, it's kind of what, like filled me to get into the business, but I just was like, I just like hit the ground running from there. I was so excited and I loved the whole industry and I had so much passion behind it.

And like the design for me was just like all of the creativity that goes into like interiors and. Especially the mid-century thing. I just think it's so cool. Like I'm like fascinated by modernism. And so it just really like fueled me in so many different ways to like want to help other people, you know?

So when did you get, when did you get your license? I technically got my license in 2019. So, I mean, I'm still like relatively newer to the business kind of, but like, I don't really feel that way. Like I feel like you've been through so many transactions at this point. You know what I mean? I've done everything from like dealing with mountain property that has like Wells and like septic tanks, which is like a whole different type of offer.

Right. To like, I mean, I've, I've truly did everything like new construction condos, like you name it. Like I've, it's, it's interesting, right? Because I niche out in mid century modern and a lot of people will come. Through the mid-March door, be like really interested in that. Right. And then it's very fascinating to see how people sometimes pivot.

It's like, we'll be starting to look at mid-century modern. And sometimes they just only care about good designs. Then we're looking at like tutors in park Hill. Like it's a totally people sometimes pivot and that's fine. And I want them to know that like, I will work with them regardless of what they end up in.

Like, I don't really care. I just like. I do think that I have an eye for good design. And so if a client wants to work with me, Typically, I like to think that I can usually find them the most beautiful home regardless of the style, but there are a lot of people too, who work with me who like want to be in specific neighborhoods.

And I do everything I can to get them into that neighborhood. Even if there's no inventory, I'm pretty connected in the mid century, modern neighborhoods at this point. And I have eyes and ears on the ground from Littleton to Arapahoe acres in Inglewood to Harvey park, see Virginia village, like you name it.

I like kind of have people in all sorts of different pockets. And they'll tell me about. Stuff going on in their neighborhood and what they're seeing. And so it's really great. Cause I have, I have a lot of Intel that I think a lot of other people don't have access to. Yeah. Insider knowledge. Yeah. I felt really grateful for that.

And I think I attribute that to the fact that like when you meet people, it's really important to me and to develop like an authentic and real relationship with them, if they're like a client]]>ca3a74ac-4a93-45d0-b6fe-ec1bba3fd741Mon, 08 Mar 2021 15:18:00 -070053:52nofull127TRIBUSThe Politics of Running A Realtor Association with Denver Realtor CEO Nobu HataEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Nobu Hata is a real estate lifer. He's sold, his wife runs a large team in Chicago, he's helped create YPN chapters of Realtor Associations, worked for NAR, and now runs the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR). Listen to what Nobu has to say about the politics of running an association. What he's doing to help Denver Realtors and the Denver housing shortage.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everybody. Welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate. And we're providers of custom real estate brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages in the United States.

And even throughout the world today on the show. We have Nobu Hata and Nobu is the CEO of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. I've actually known Nobu for over 10 years now. And you know what Nobu liked me as a real estate lifer. He actually started in the real estate industry more than 20 years ago as an agent in Alaska, and then moved to sell real estate in Minneapolis, where he helped found the YPN chapter there.

After his time selling, Nobu moved to Chicago and he accepted a role at the National Association of Realtors. He was most recently the director of industry outreach and engagement strategy there at the same time, while in Chicago, Nobu's wife, Shea became a Realtor and built an incredibly successful team where she still sells Nobu has traveled all around the U S and even around the world to various speaking engagements.

And so we're very lucky to have him on the show today. So Nate Nobu thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Eric. I'm excited to dig in a, as a friend of mine and be in your new role as the CEO of of DMR. And so I want to kick it off and ask you a little bit about your past. So what originally got you into real estate?

I, you know, I think it, I think it's just like most people yeah. We'll get into real estate, like get, get into it by accident. I started out working for my father who was a former Xerox guy owned a, like a Kinko's before it was a Kinko's right. And one day I had gotten into a fight with my brothers.

And my my, my dad went to me and said, you need to use your powers for some good. Why don't you go work for this brokerage there, everything's starting to go online. And I think you can at least make some money this summer doing it. And man, everything just kind of rolled from there. I did a lot of design work and then I got into the sales end of things and it was just, the rest is history.

So, you know, you said the rest is history. What what's kept you in the business this long? What is it about real estate that just keeps drawing you back into it? Oh man. You know, I think other than the fact that it's like the mob, once you're in you're you can never really leave. I think the big thing is I've never.

I've never been a part of, of a business where the more good you do for people, the more profitable you're going to be. And, and, and when you think about, especially now with the way businesses in general there really isn't the case, right? But here in real estate, man, you, you, you, you serve people.

Well, you differentiate. You make them happy and you, and you make relationships. God, you know, it, it, it just keeps snowballing from there. So it's, you know, try to get out once it didn't really work. That's how I got back into mint into real estate Minneapolis, but man, it was, it's one of those things where I think it's just, it's it feel good thing.

And I don't think I'm unemployable outside of real estate anyways. That's you know, Rob Hahn our, our...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Nobu Hata is a real estate lifer. He's sold, his wife runs a large team in Chicago, he's helped create YPN chapters of Realtor Associations, worked for NAR, and now runs the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR). Listen to what Nobu has to say about the politics of running an association. What he's doing to help Denver Realtors and the Denver housing shortage.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everybody. Welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann and I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate. And we're providers of custom real estate brokerage technology to medium and large brokerages in the United States.

And even throughout the world today on the show. We have Nobu Hata and Nobu is the CEO of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. I've actually known Nobu for over 10 years now. And you know what Nobu liked me as a real estate lifer. He actually started in the real estate industry more than 20 years ago as an agent in Alaska, and then moved to sell real estate in Minneapolis, where he helped found the YPN chapter there.

After his time selling, Nobu moved to Chicago and he accepted a role at the National Association of Realtors. He was most recently the director of industry outreach and engagement strategy there at the same time, while in Chicago, Nobu's wife, Shea became a Realtor and built an incredibly successful team where she still sells Nobu has traveled all around the U S and even around the world to various speaking engagements.

And so we're very lucky to have him on the show today. So Nate Nobu thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Eric. I'm excited to dig in a, as a friend of mine and be in your new role as the CEO of of DMR. And so I want to kick it off and ask you a little bit about your past. So what originally got you into real estate?

I, you know, I think it, I think it's just like most people yeah. We'll get into real estate, like get, get into it by accident. I started out working for my father who was a former Xerox guy owned a, like a Kinko's before it was a Kinko's right. And one day I had gotten into a fight with my brothers.

And my my, my dad went to me and said, you need to use your powers for some good. Why don't you go work for this brokerage there, everything's starting to go online. And I think you can at least make some money this summer doing it. And man, everything just kind of rolled from there. I did a lot of design work and then I got into the sales end of things and it was just, the rest is history.

So, you know, you said the rest is history. What what's kept you in the business this long? What is it about real estate that just keeps drawing you back into it? Oh man. You know, I think other than the fact that it's like the mob, once you're in you're you can never really leave. I think the big thing is I've never.

I've never been a part of, of a business where the more good you do for people, the more profitable you're going to be. And, and, and when you think about, especially now with the way businesses in general there really isn't the case, right? But here in real estate, man, you, you, you, you serve people.

Well, you differentiate. You make them happy and you, and you make relationships. God, you know, it, it, it just keeps snowballing from there. So it's, you know, try to get out once it didn't really work. That's how I got back into mint into real estate Minneapolis, but man, it was, it's one of those things where I think it's just, it's it feel good thing.

And I don't think I'm unemployable outside of real estate anyways. That's you know, Rob Hahn our, our friend, Rob once once said the concept that we're part of this unemployables group and you know, we only work in real estate and, and can only do certain functions. But that's what we're best at.

It's our highest and best use. Right. Totally. Totally agree with Rob. So now here's the thing. If I want to trace back your history just a little bit. So currently Denver, previously, Chicago. Yep. Previously Minneapolis. Yup. Previously Alaska. Yeah, up and down the West coast. So yeah, it was, you know, when you're 20 something going up and down the West coast doing real estate thing during kind of the height of the post economic downturn thing, we're pre economic downturn thing.

Yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun. Just kind of seeing real estate from all over the country from that angle. But, but it seems like it's always cold weather environments. Tell me about it. So, so why the move to Denver and sticking with the cold weather, a process here? Yeah, it is I to NAR and it, it, I had a couple choices for jobs, you know, and it w it was, it was a nice position to be in.

I think it was just time anyways, to, to. To leave any are I've got that seven year itch. What I love about this market, not only the quality of life, which is fantastic, I got to get back into skiing and all the other outdoor sports stuff. And you know, I've got the family thing and, you know, Shane Oliver, but what I love about this market is that it's kind of at the nexus of all the change that is happening in the industry, right?

So you've got Realtors, you got licensees, you've got, you got technology companies, buying houses. And, and you've got the socioeconomic issues, right? One in one in four Denverites, only one in four Denverites can afford one in four renters in Denver can own can't afford to buy a home, which is a staggering number.

And it was, it was kind of like that challenge that interested me the most in spite of the weather, it's it's been great here and the challenges have been fantastic to deal with. So let's dig into that one a little bit. I actually have a number of questions for you in that in that same, same part of the conversation here and that, you know, like at Travis, we obviously have a big base in Denver, in fact too, it's actually where the majority of our employees are based at.

And you know, in talking to them, we have employees that, that are there that are. Making great money. I'm talking software developers and leaders of teams and, and you know, directors and VP roles that are in Denver. And I'm starting to hear from them that they don't see themselves being able to buy a house, even though they're making great money there.

And they're seeing. They kind of were San Francisco was 10 years ago. What do you think Denver can do to encourage more maybe development or, or more ability for those people? Like what you're talking about to be able to be homeowners? Yeah. And that's one of the things that I am really looking forward to doing here.

And I'm in Denver is teaming up with and reaching out to developers here. Cause the one thing, you know, coming from Chicago where you can't develop, unless you want to drive an hour, hour and a half outside of the city coming here where you can drive 15 minutes and go to develop a land. It is one of the great challenges to be able to talk to those folks and talk about what is actually needed right now and get some of these developers to think more think beyond kind of the, the that bang for your buck.

Because they can build these six, seven, $800,000 houses and get really good returns on that investment, but teaming up with them on what smart development looks like. Both out in the burbs in here closer to the city is a fantastic challenge. It's one of those things where I'm very cognizant of, I fully agree with your staff or is it, you know, Denver is looking like what San Francisco, you know, Eric, when we first met at an inbound conference even 10, 15 years ago was fairly affordable then, but it's skyrocket out of control.

Although, it's gotten a very interesting the Bay area here. I just want to be part of that, of that solution for people like your staff so that they don't leave. Right. And they don't go to places that are that are a little more affordable. And then they stay here. We don't have that brain drain.

That that is definitely happening right now. Kind of these major Metro areas. Yeah. And obviously from our end, we, we want to have sustainable workforce that doesn't need to move all the time. In fact, the reason we opened an office in Denver was five years ago. We saw it as the, the place to be where developers wanted to go to, to get away from the high prices of San Francisco.

And you know, we were having a hard time just like you in Chicago for that hiring a hard time, getting developers to come to Chicago or want to move to Chicago. They weren't already there. So the developer pool was small, but at Denver it seemed like every single person that was moving here or excuse me, every person that was applying for a job, I was looking to move here.

So, you know, you're, you're talking about developers building and like you said, if you don't know the developer, the Denver market. You can drive 15 minutes to the, to the East and essentially be in wide open land. You know, particularly from where both of our offices are at, you don't have to get very far and be in wide open land over there.

What are things, what are specific things that DMR that either you're doing or that you thought about doing that would convince somebody like Lindar to build three, four or $500,000 houses, as opposed to the eight, $9 million houses? Yeah, where I've already enlisted my government affairs directors too.

So DMR is, is the only local association here in the Denver Metro or in Colorado. That's got a full-time government affairs director. And that guy has relationships with with local regulators and legislators. It's amazing. And, and, and it's, it's bringing those worlds together that we're working on right now.

And, and breaking down a lot of the regulatory issues. To build, which is, which is the, that's going to be the first issue that many developers were cited as a reason for building up and, and more expensive homes rather than the more affordable ones along with bringing in kind of smart. Again, like I mentioned earlier, the smart idea, smart development, which is.

Integral for building within the city. Now, no one wants to have, you know, strip malls and, and ugliness kind of going throughout especially the urban areas of, of the Denver Metro area. With so many areas have got so much character is it's, it's teaming up with not only the regulators and the builders, but also the locals.

And the community where you know, you know, Brits on this, maybe he can echo this, but I've never seen a more siloed neighborhood ideal, right? Where you've got people who will worry about their four by four square block block radius, and only that four by a floor for a block square radius, but bringing in smart development with these folks who are fiercely, fiercely protective of.

Of of their communities and what the community will be and teaming up with those guys in a very smart way. The, the beginning of this is the politics and you know, it was one of the things that I, as a former non Realtor, going into the Realtor world, I was, I was a convert too. But that world is one of those worlds of right now is, is, is evolving.

Getting a lot more human. And if I can bring a little more of the Realtor and real estate flavor to that so that we can team up better, better on better developments. We will have not only a short-term, but a midterm and a long-term road to to home ownership for folks like your staff, no matter where they want to live.

Now, I don't want to sit there and say, Hey, to move to Aurora. I moved to Parker. There, there there's opportunity everywhere. As long as we partner up correctly and we're setting the the ground rules for that right now. And I think, you know, if you, you can go to Aurora and you can go to Parker of what's there, but in, in the environment.

And I think our employees would be happy to do that, but the, the environment that we're in, it's kind of being two different things. Number one is those houses that come up for sale in an error and our Parker. The numbers we're starting to see, and I still own, I own property in, in Colorado and actually in Parker.

And, you know, I've got an offer. For 10% more than the same offer I received in November of last year. So I just recently pulled an offer here in February and that same offer was 10% more. So the first, the first issue with development or a first issue with affordable housing, it certainly seems like, you know, the demand is so high beyond what's there.

That in the immediate future, there's no good way to solve it tomorrow. And am I wrong in seeing that? And that's why that these are 10% increases or do you, do you see something else? No, I've been watching the stats as well. They are alarming. What's been interesting is seeing, you know, as you know, my wife sells in Chicago, you know, getting a hundred thousand dollars over list over list price.

Multiple offer situation is not uncommon even in Chicago right now for million dollar properties. But when I hear a story about that happening with that, Five or $600,000 property. That's when it's like, wow. You know, I don't know how I don't know how first time home buyers are doing it right. First time home buyers, frankly, who are in that price point now, right?

Who are competing heavily with folks who are not only coming into the Denver Metro area, but that folks who are from what I've been hearing from my mortgage entitled people here they're land rich folks who are locals, who are selling off their land and making a lot of money and then turning around and buying homes where they, they.

But never considered before. Right. As either the, their primary residence or even an investment property. So it is it, is it, is there a sign of it? Waning off? I don't see it right now. I think we'll take it year by year. I think this next year is just going to be more of the same with less inventory.

What, what I'm watching are things like Google stats, I'm watching things like you know, search queries. I'm watching things like a census census numbers. When those things come out to see if there's any, any end in sight so that I can help prepare my members and their clients for for what will be an even more competitive market.

But we'll hopefully a little more limited. Yeah, for sure. And that really yields to the second. The second part of the problem is. You know, what Nobu Nobu was, was alluding to in terms of building and, and the politics and everything like that. There's more than just even politics of getting approval. Like what you're talking about in Colorado, there's this problem of the water rights and you know, building a single lot.

Can mean a $25,000 tap fee to, to connect up initially to get water rights. So $25,000 of a builder's cost of building the home can be involved in, in the price that they pay to connect up to city water that's there. And so it seems like there's something has to be done about that. And I don't know how sustainable that is over time because of the water problems that Denver has.

Right. Yeah. And what happens is, is that you know, shit, cause we are in actually in touch with, with those, with the various waterboards around the Metro area, which been, that's been a very interesting conversation if that's a new one to me and it's been super cool to actually have. But any movement with those guys creates problems in another regulatory areas, including taxes, right?

So you know, we're, we're watching all of that to, to help guide not only policy for today, but policy for tomorrow as this. Metro area evolves and grow. So we can, as we can all be part of what this community is going to look like in five years, for sure. And you know, getting in just for a second more on this hyper Denver specific topic obviously I'm interested in it.

You know, the, the numbers that you're seeing of people move there. I know. The last number I saw was that Denver essentially doubled in population over a 10, 10 year period. But is that, are you still seeing that's happening and particularly with the pandemic, are you still seeing, or getting anecdotes of those numbers holding up or even moving higher than the word before?

Oh yeah, I it's. They're going to, they're going to more affordable areas too. You mentioned Parker that that area is one of the fastest growing zip codes in the country. Right. So, yeah, I mean, it, I think people are realizing the Denver Metro area is massive. It's almost like St. Chicago land. Right.

Except for, you know, we've got an airport to the East instead of a big old freaking Lake. But here, you know, yeah. You're seeing, you're seeing folks migrate out to areas. They probably wouldn't even considered now that they know that, that you know, You've got you got Parker, which is what, five minutes away, 15 minutes away from the DTC.

And I was in castle rock today. Same exact thing. Right? So it's, it's filling in that areas between castle rock, rocket Parker with the the Denver Metro area that we'll be watching closely. But man, is it a crazy time here or what. For sure, for sure. It's a good time to be an owner. It's a very tough time to be a current renter or somebody who wants to purchase at one point.

And it's something I'm very concerned about in terms of my employees, because I want them to have somewhere sustainable that they want to be at and build a family and have that American dream. That's the same reason you and I got into this business. You know, you, you talked about starting about bringing happiness and, and, and putting that into people's lives and helping them achieve these dreams.

And. You know, something I'm always worried about is my people that I consider, like family to me you know, worrying about them, building wealth over time with the idea of home ownership for the industry that we're in, we're in. And I hear them make these statements to me. And it obviously makes me very nervous and, and I w I'm always interested in what can be done about these things.

So it's great to hear somebody like you. That's in charge of the association, there is thinking about it, working on it, and I can't wait to see 'em. More specifics, come out over time of things that you guys are, are able to work on, both from the political side and from the building side to get them to do that.

So moving on, let's talk about let's talk about running an association because that involves politics. So, you know, how much of your daily life in being the CEO of DMR? How much of that is. Maybe about politics and dealing with brokers and dealing with agents and, and their process. Or maybe even talking about from dealing with literally politicians as we traditionally think about them versus a day-to-day running of an organization that, that a CEO typically does.

What is the D what does a day in Nobu life look like? You know a lot of it is, it's almost like what, you're, what you're talking about. Right. And I, I'm trying to run a business here and that's the way I think about it. And that being said, politics is rampant everywhere. What's different about this.

This market is how fiercely protective people are. And, and as you mentioned earlier, I've been to. All 50 States, you know, and I grew up in Alaska, one of the, the most fiercely independent markets out there, period. But here I've never experienced people who are like, I don't go East of East of , you know, I don't go out and...]]>347dd47c-b4c4-44d4-b2cf-104297ea468cSat, 27 Feb 2021 12:30:00 -070047:59nofull126TRIBUSCoStar, Zillow, and Teams - What Fox & Roach President Joan Docktor ThinksEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Joan Docktor, the well known president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox and Roach Realtors, sits down with TRIBUS CEO Eric Stegemann to discuss the changes in the real estate industry. CoStar bought HomeSnap and now is nearing an acquisition of CoStar to consolidate into the largest owner of real estate data in the world. Zillow bought ShowingTime and now has the available data for over 1/3 of all showings in the entire United States. Compass is getting ready to go public.

What should large brokerages be thinking about right now?

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everybody. Welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegman. And I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and providers of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages all throughout the United States, Canada, Canada, and even around the world.

Now today on the show, I have the most sincere pleasure of having as my guests. Joan. Now Joan is the president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Fox and Roach Realtors. It's a division of HomeServices of America and one of the largest brokerages on its own in the entire country. On top of being part of home services, the largest brokerage in the entire country.

Fox & Roach has more than 5,500 sales professionals in 75 offices in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Joan was recently named to the RIS Media Newsmakers Hall of Fame, along with other very prestigious folks like Sherry, Chris Allen Dalton, and the enforcement. Joan, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy, busy schedule to join us here today.

Thank you so much, Eric. I really I'm pleased to be with you today and look forward to our conversation. Me too. Me too. So, you know, first I want to start with your background. You buck the trend of the average agent today, and that is you started your real estate career at Fox and Roach, right?

Yes, I did. I did. And I've never, ever left. We've just changed names many times and I've gone along for the ride that, yeah, for sure. Amazing. And if, if without going into specific numbers, you've been at Fox and Roach now for over 30 years, correct? Correct. Yes. And I could have gone anywhere. Sure.

Yeah. For sure. With your, with your pedigree now, now when you. Okay. Now I was going to say most agents have many choices and that that's, that's that's a great thing about real estate. We have so many choices and, and I remember when I joined, I was told, you know, if real estate, wasn't my thing, we had mortgage title insurance.

I could try out one of those businesses. For sure. I I've actually long joked about the the real estate industry. And one of my favorite things about it is that you could sell the same home three times and it would be different each time, right? Yes. Yes, it would. So it's, I, I listened to a different podcast and I could hear your passion for the business still after 30 something years in the industry, I could still feel your passion as I was listening to you on this other podcast.

And one of my favorite things about this business too, is that every person that enters this business, it seems like they're so positive. And more importantly, it seems like they're willing to bet their paycheck on the fact that they can wake up tomorrow and make a sale. What was it specifically that made you decide to go get your real estate license and starting the business?

Well, like many other agents we all buy and buy houses eventually, and we either have a great experience or we might not have such a good experience. And depending on where we are in our lives. And I was at]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Joan Docktor, the well known president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox and Roach Realtors, sits down with TRIBUS CEO Eric Stegemann to discuss the changes in the real estate industry. CoStar bought HomeSnap and now is nearing an acquisition of CoStar to consolidate into the largest owner of real estate data in the world. Zillow bought ShowingTime and now has the available data for over 1/3 of all showings in the entire United States. Compass is getting ready to go public.

What should large brokerages be thinking about right now?

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everybody. Welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegman. And I'm the CEO of TRIBUS. We're one of the largest independent prop tech companies in real estate and providers of custom brokerage technology to medium and large sized brokerages all throughout the United States, Canada, Canada, and even around the world.

Now today on the show, I have the most sincere pleasure of having as my guests. Joan. Now Joan is the president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Fox and Roach Realtors. It's a division of HomeServices of America and one of the largest brokerages on its own in the entire country. On top of being part of home services, the largest brokerage in the entire country.

Fox & Roach has more than 5,500 sales professionals in 75 offices in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Joan was recently named to the RIS Media Newsmakers Hall of Fame, along with other very prestigious folks like Sherry, Chris Allen Dalton, and the enforcement. Joan, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy, busy schedule to join us here today.

Thank you so much, Eric. I really I'm pleased to be with you today and look forward to our conversation. Me too. Me too. So, you know, first I want to start with your background. You buck the trend of the average agent today, and that is you started your real estate career at Fox and Roach, right?

Yes, I did. I did. And I've never, ever left. We've just changed names many times and I've gone along for the ride that, yeah, for sure. Amazing. And if, if without going into specific numbers, you've been at Fox and Roach now for over 30 years, correct? Correct. Yes. And I could have gone anywhere. Sure.

Yeah. For sure. With your, with your pedigree now, now when you. Okay. Now I was going to say most agents have many choices and that that's, that's that's a great thing about real estate. We have so many choices and, and I remember when I joined, I was told, you know, if real estate, wasn't my thing, we had mortgage title insurance.

I could try out one of those businesses. For sure. I I've actually long joked about the the real estate industry. And one of my favorite things about it is that you could sell the same home three times and it would be different each time, right? Yes. Yes, it would. So it's, I, I listened to a different podcast and I could hear your passion for the business still after 30 something years in the industry, I could still feel your passion as I was listening to you on this other podcast.

And one of my favorite things about this business too, is that every person that enters this business, it seems like they're so positive. And more importantly, it seems like they're willing to bet their paycheck on the fact that they can wake up tomorrow and make a sale. What was it specifically that made you decide to go get your real estate license and starting the business?

Well, like many other agents we all buy and buy houses eventually, and we either have a great experience or we might not have such a good experience. And depending on where we are in our lives. And I was at a place in my life where I was not so happy with my current career bought a house. I had a pretty bad experience.

And I envisioned myself in the place of that realtor thinking that I could do much, much better for people. So that's kind of what started me off if that makes sense to you. And, and I, I had been a teacher, which many people know that about me and which I did enjoy. And I was a special education teacher and I taught emotionally disturbed boys.

So, what I really liked about that was the way I could help them in their personal lives, as well as educating them. However at the time that I decided to get into real estate, I was at a really a point of frustration in that these, these guys, these kids, they were 16 to 19 years old. Would learn a lot in class and, and we, we do group sessions and they would seem to move along emotionally, but they went home and they went home to really upsetting environments environments that caused them to be somewhat the way they were.

And I started to become frustrated that every day. I was, we were backtracking and not moving forward and I always liked to see progress. So I became frustrated. And at that very same time, you know, happened to buy a home and think, Hmm, maybe, maybe I could do this. Well, it sure seems like you did it. You know, and so.

How did you have that issue when you started selling real estate that so many agents do where it's, it's tough to get your first sale or did you start out and just, you know, it just came to you naturally and maybe within your first month or so you got your first closing. No, like most agents, you, you really have to work at this.

It doesn't just come to you. It's something you work at now. I got into the market in a very good, there were lots of buyers similar to market today, not many sellers, lots of buyers. And so I had and I had a sphere of influence. My kids. Friend's parents and various people who would come, came to me over the first few months that they were, you know, they had a plan that maybe they'd like to move.

And I had marketed myself. I had sent out announcements. I did what I needed to do. But it took a while. I worked open houses. I, I sat floor time at the time. I did everything that you can do to try to find buyers which. Which I did in the first year and obviously finding sellers and representing sellers is a little bit more difficult because you need to have a track record, but when you're representing a buyer, you know, you've, you really can move forward without a whole lot of experience and use your company experience as your experience.

So I worked buyers and actually I never had my first settlement for six months. And I was really frustrated by that. I think I sold a house within four months, but there was a two months, 60 day closing and then I sold another. So I had two settlements after six months. However the next six months per progress beautifully.

And I ended up being the rookie of the year, that year. So I think I did 3 million and in those days I wasn't selling a $500,000 houses. They were, you know, in the mid one hundreds or 200,000. So it was a lot of houses. And I knew from the very beginning, how much I really had passion for what I was doing, because for the first time, in a long time, I was working with people who actually wanted to be with me.

And I felt that finally I had, I, I came into my own and I found a career where that I appreciated as much as I was appreciated, which meant a lot. Yeah, for sure, for sure. And that is that warm and fuzzy feeling. I always felt like when you have a good client and when they think you did a great job, a plus when they see that first house or that, you know, whatever a number of house it was that they saw and they walk in and they just love it.

And you're the person that opened up. That, that figurative and literal door for them. There's just something magical that happens in that moment. And I, one of the things, one of the things that I found, because there was such a scarcity of inventory, I would stay up hours and hours and we had to have MLS books at the time.

We didn't have a computer and I would, I would search for a needle in a haystack. Because I knew right then from, from my experience in the past, in my other career, that just because somebody was asking you for something, you might be able to help them with something slightly different and you could deliver something a little bit different, maybe a little bit outside of the area.

They requested maybe a house with another bedroom or one less bedroom, and that you could satisfy that buyer. With and be a little bit creative when doing so. Yeah, that's funny that you say that I actually used to train all of my agents and, and in my brokerage, I called it the 85% principle. And I said, if you can find 85% of what a client looks for that last 15% is always flexible.

You just got to hit all of the needs. And most of the wants and if you can get 85% of the way there, sometimes you can find people, things that they really weren't thinking of or in different neighborhoods or, or new construction that they weren't thinking about. Absolutely. It's that, that last 15% is where it's all at in this business.

I think looked at it. I hadn't looked at it that way. So you know, now we, here you are. 30 something years later and, and you're running the largest Berkshire Hathaway and, and you have 5,500 sales associates across the entire company in multiple States and in large region. But one of the things that I happen to know about you is you're very big on staying current.

Nick did with agents and your staff and everything like that. And they. Love it because you, it seems like you really care about them. Now I know one of the ways you do that is you reach out to some of them or maybe all of them on their birthdays, on their anniversaries of joining the company. How do you stay on top of that with 5,500 folks?

Well, let me say this. One of the ways that I stay in touch is I decided to do this actually during the pandemic. But I decided that that video has become so important and people seeing you and during the pandemic, we aren't able to be together. So I started to do a Monday morning video that I do every Monday morning.

No matter what, and it's just a short message, maybe a three minute video where they can see that I'm there during the pandemic. You know, I was. Giving some mental health advice advice at times, talk about our training, talk about the convention coming up, whatever. Maybe, you know, just some things that I hear from agents where they might say, you know, Joan, I'm really frustrated my best friend bought from another realtor.

How could they have done this to me? So we, we talk about how those things might happen and what to do about it and how to move on. And. Pick yourself up and brush yourself off and keep going. So we do that right at this point, as far as birthdays, as far as anniversaries, you have to have systems. So I have I have notifications in my phone that come up.

I and I also have some, some automatic systems. To be honest because with 5,500 people, if you didn't, it wouldn't get done. So I use technology to my advantage. In some of those cases, I make sure that I attend as many events as I possibly can to be in front of agents. I mean, to me, The agents give me my inspiration.

They make me want to wake up in the morning I admire. So what they do, I've done it. I know how hard it is. I know how passionate they are. And one of the things that I was a little bit apprehensive of when I went from being an agent to going into management was would I lose that passion? How would I recreate that passion?

And what I found very quickly was that. Being a sales office leader is similar to being an agent in that it's a relationship business. And so I was able to find that passion in my agents that I had found in my clients to help them. So now I could help many, many more people buy a home. Working through my agents and help my agents to have a better life, which I'm very passionate about.

So staying in front of them is, is kind of the fuel for my fire and whatever way I can do it. That's, that's what I do. That's great. So in, in. You know, 30 years of this, obviously there's been changes. You talked about just having systems in place. And, and obviously 30 years ago there wasn't systems.

Like we consider them today in terms of being able to track things, there was a Rolodex and, and post-it notes and, and by the way, too many agents still use post-it notes as their systems today, they're a system. If they were that's true works. If you can keep track of it, then that's great.

But. You know, in your experience over that period of time, what do you think the biggest change that's happened in the industry has been, Oh my goodness. There's been so many first off, you know, the internet came to be when I was in the business. And when before, I guess when I first managed there was no internet, so we right.

We were the gatekeeper. And how that has changed. We are, you know, we, we stopped being the gatekeeper in 2000 and the consumer had the information. So we always needed to be the trusted advisor for the consumer, but more than ever after the customer had the information, we certainly had to do that. And we had to create our value and our value and our expertise.

Was what was going to attract people to us, not the information. So that was, that's been a huge, huge change after that, you know, it it's, it's just been one change after another, you know, with these, the social media, and I'm sure I'm skipping a lot of years getting from the internet, Ben to social media, but certainly the way that people can You know, in the way that people can be with other people without having to leave their home, even before the pandemic really changed our business, the use of social media and letting people know that you, you know, that you, their kids want a soccer game and you applaud them or whatever, you don't have to be out and about as much to be as social as you might want to be.

So that's a big change. And I think over time you know, it used to be a market for brokers. When I got into the business, the broker was King. Then, then the agent was King. Then the consumer was King. The consumer is still King, but the agents are right up there behind them and they have so many choices and it's hard to decipher you know, which, which brokers best for them.

And oftentimes they're told things that don't come to be. And so I think it's harder for an agent today. As far as the consumer, there's so much information, so much on the internet and they really need the best agent they can find to decipher, you know, what their needs are and, and what will be best for them.

So, Lots of changes for sure. For sure. And one of the things you mentioned, you know, there was a sociologist, Robin Dunbar, have you ever heard of Dunbar's number before? Hmm, I think maybe, but I'm not familiar essentially. He came up with the concept that that the average person can only keep track of 150 relationships in their head and and have real meaningful relationships with them.

And of course, social media brought us to a position where. You know, you, you can still have a, a semi at least semi meaningful relationship with a whole lot more than 150 folks by just doing that applaud or, or, or staying connected in those ways, or, or certainly now in terms of using systems to keep track like a CRM of all of your clients and keeping track and, and touching base with them on a regular basis that has empowered us to grow.

And that's how you get to these. I think these mega teams and, and agents that are doing so much business. Not only are they great agents hopefully for the most part, but they're, they're also just very good at these systems and being able to grow that sphere of people that they can communicate with or stay in touch with on a regular basis.

So you, you bring up a good point because back when I started, there were no such thing as teams, right. That was a small broker in his office that, you know, we, we, as a company have have promoted teams since 2000. Incident that's, co-ed coincidentally with the beginning of the internet. Right. But we have really embraced teams from the beginning and we feel like they're a business within a business, but they have been able to grow in ways that are amazing since then.

And it used to be that a sales office leader sales office manager would have had enough experience to lead people. And maybe they did, you know, 7 million, 10 million, whatever. And now you have teams doing a hundred million and they look at their sales office manager, not necessarily as the, the content expert, because they never did as much business as this team is doing.

So that's a whole nother change in our industry. And, and so being a good coach is so important for our managers because You can, you can be a great coach without having actually done the same amount of business, for sure. And actually, if you don't mind, I'd love to dig into the teams concept with you for just a second.

Rob Hahn was on our podcast not too long ago. And Rob said that the biggest single threat. To the brokerage business is not, I buyers, it's not compass. It's not exp it's actually teams. First of all, do you agree or disagree with that? I don't agree. I think they're not a threat. That, I guess it depends on the way you look at it.

However, I think that a broker that doesn't embrace teams is threatened. Because teams are they work well for the consumer and they work well for the agents on the team and the team. So I think as a company, you've got to embrace teams and help them be a better team. So for instance, a lot of the team leaders are great sales agents, but they don't have that management experience and they need the help.

Have a great manager, a great company to help them and counsel them and coach them to be a manager, to a certain extent, to lead their people, to retain their people. So in my mind, as, as our job, as a brokerage is to help these teams and consult with these teams to help them to grow and to retain their best people.

And then you become an invaluable to them because you're helping them also with just not just the recruiting side and the retention side, but also the operation side. And that, that's actually something that I dug into with Rob of saying, you know, Hey, a lot of teams don't want to deal with this. But then his counter.

Point to me on that more or less was. Yeah, but even if they're paying 7% or, or some very low commission split percentage to the broker, that's still ends up to be a lot of money when you're selling $200 million a year, a real estate. So do you, do you think that the systems and the tools that can be provided by a brokerage?

Maybe not today, but let's say in five years from now, do you think the systems and the tools and the, the coaching, like you're talking about. And the recruiting and the retention capabilities for keeping people on teams. Do you think that's enough in five years from now to keep a mega team at a big broker?

Well, here's what I think about that. I don't think the systems and the tools are necessarily what will keep a team at a brokerage. I do think the relationship and the The counseling and the coaching is very important. They, the team are usually entrepreneurial and they want to differentiate themselves and they may not want to use any of the systems that you have because they don't want to look like another team or an, or another agent in your company.

They want to look very, very different. Now they may use...]]>d2240819-9f8b-4499-bbe3-8194e7f1f000Sun, 21 Feb 2021 06:00:00 -070001:00:00nofull125TRIBUSFocusing On Your Real Estate Brokerage's Agents with Erinn Nobel of RealTRANSCRIPT

Katie Ragusa: Welcome to Brokerage Insider, the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host. Katie Ragusa, the VP of product at TRIBUS, is a brokerage software vendor. Today I'm joined by Erinn Noble, the chief culture officer at Real, which, as you learn from today's podcast, is an extremely innovative brokerage company Erinn. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm super happy to be here.

Erinn Noble: I'm super happy to be here. Katie, thank you for having me.

Katie Ragusa: So as I was thinking back, I think the last time we actually chatted, we were on stage at Inman. And looking back on that now, so much has changed since we were doing events in person.

Erinn Noble: Yes. Fond memories of that. Absolutely. We got in those days.

Katie Ragusa: Me too. So can you start by just tell me a little bit about real.

Erinn Noble: Oh, absolutely, yeah, Real is a national brokerage model founded in twenty fourteen by that time, your colleague that is in New York City in fact, and we are currently open in twenty three states and just over fourteen hundred agents. And we're looking to grow and align with other agents like really align with our business model.

Katie Ragusa: Lots of growth very quickly. So 2014 you said is when you started, right.

Erinn Noble Yeah.

Katie Ragusa:  The company. So I think I might have read this from LinkedIn, but you called it and I want to get this right. So I'm looking at a quote, a simple, lean and brilliant real estate model. And I don't hear the word brilliant thrown around very often. So what was it specifically about the company that aligned with you?

Erinn Noble: First and foremost, it was the people, the leadership team at the top that that has been here, boots on ground with some amazing, brilliant visions around how to kind of reinvent the traditional business as we know it, where we're incorporating a lot more of what the consumer needs, the end user, the buyer and seller, the people that are actually conducting the transactions with the state agents. People understand exactly. Yeah. And streamlining that business and really addressing a lot of the pain points in the industry where we as agents, brokers, brokerages, kind of seem to fall short.

Katie Ragusa: What do you think is missing or in other brokerages or where are they really falling short or getting it wrong?

Erinn Noble: I think ultimately we know the consumer is a you know, that is the biggest component of what we're doing. Right. That's why we're in the business. It's we're here to serve our consumers. We're here to help people buy and sell houses and hopefully do it elegantly with some creative skill. For the most part, it's such a fractured industry. You know, we've got title escrow in some states. We've got attorney states. We've got the lender involved, we've got the inspector involved. And there's not one cohesive platform that involves everybody. So it's it's really that understanding of where am I? Where's the menu tracker? You order something and you want to see it. It's almost like a flight tracker. Are we you know, are we getting ready to land? Are we getting ready to take off in escrow?

And even the terminology can be foreign to buyers and sellers. What does that mean? What does title do? What does an inspector do? Think the most common, common things that I had working with especially new buyers, they thought an inspection and an appraisal was the same thing. So it's really getting down to the root of the basic understanding of what these systems are, what we're doing in place to create a...]]>TRANSCRIPT

Katie Ragusa: Welcome to Brokerage Insider, the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. I'm your host. Katie Ragusa, the VP of product at TRIBUS, is a brokerage software vendor. Today I'm joined by Erinn Noble, the chief culture officer at Real, which, as you learn from today's podcast, is an extremely innovative brokerage company Erinn. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm super happy to be here.

Erinn Noble: I'm super happy to be here. Katie, thank you for having me.

Katie Ragusa: So as I was thinking back, I think the last time we actually chatted, we were on stage at Inman. And looking back on that now, so much has changed since we were doing events in person.

Erinn Noble: Yes. Fond memories of that. Absolutely. We got in those days.

Katie Ragusa: Me too. So can you start by just tell me a little bit about real.

Erinn Noble: Oh, absolutely, yeah, Real is a national brokerage model founded in twenty fourteen by that time, your colleague that is in New York City in fact, and we are currently open in twenty three states and just over fourteen hundred agents. And we're looking to grow and align with other agents like really align with our business model.

Katie Ragusa: Lots of growth very quickly. So 2014 you said is when you started, right.

Erinn Noble Yeah.

Katie Ragusa:  The company. So I think I might have read this from LinkedIn, but you called it and I want to get this right. So I'm looking at a quote, a simple, lean and brilliant real estate model. And I don't hear the word brilliant thrown around very often. So what was it specifically about the company that aligned with you?

Erinn Noble: First and foremost, it was the people, the leadership team at the top that that has been here, boots on ground with some amazing, brilliant visions around how to kind of reinvent the traditional business as we know it, where we're incorporating a lot more of what the consumer needs, the end user, the buyer and seller, the people that are actually conducting the transactions with the state agents. People understand exactly. Yeah. And streamlining that business and really addressing a lot of the pain points in the industry where we as agents, brokers, brokerages, kind of seem to fall short.

Katie Ragusa: What do you think is missing or in other brokerages or where are they really falling short or getting it wrong?

Erinn Noble: I think ultimately we know the consumer is a you know, that is the biggest component of what we're doing. Right. That's why we're in the business. It's we're here to serve our consumers. We're here to help people buy and sell houses and hopefully do it elegantly with some creative skill. For the most part, it's such a fractured industry. You know, we've got title escrow in some states. We've got attorney states. We've got the lender involved, we've got the inspector involved. And there's not one cohesive platform that involves everybody. So it's it's really that understanding of where am I? Where's the menu tracker? You order something and you want to see it. It's almost like a flight tracker. Are we you know, are we getting ready to land? Are we getting ready to take off in escrow?

And even the terminology can be foreign to buyers and sellers. What does that mean? What does title do? What does an inspector do? Think the most common, common things that I had working with especially new buyers, they thought an inspection and an appraisal was the same thing. So it's really getting down to the root of the basic understanding of what these systems are, what we're doing in place to create a really cohesive and elegant experience for the buying and selling process and the leading alleviating a lot of those pain points.

Katie Ragusa: I love even the words you use like an elegant process. And just so full transparency. I was on the other side of the transaction earlier this year. I bought a home and I know the business. I had a lovely Realtor, a wonderful lender, and it's still confusing because I was actually buying in a new state. So as a consumer, you're still wondering, should I be paying for this extra inspection insurance?

What's the right choice of those optional items and someone just to think through things for you that you didn't miss anything because this is a major move. So when you're providing that transparency to the consumer, you're in twenty three states. I think it was that you sent twenty three. So is it region or location dependent to on top of that, or do you have the same model that works for everybody? Practically speaking, how do you guys actually deliver?

(05:00)

Erinn Noble: Sure. No, really great question. Powerful question. Now we are a national real estate platform right now, us based. We've got visions on a lot of growth, potentially global growth. It is a platform that's designed. It is sort of one size fits all. And we can deliver that because of our technology. But we also understand hyper localism. We understand that things look right here.

And for instance, Bellingham, Washington, don't really resound with people in Manhattan.

In New York City, we've got different practices, different rules and regulations around things. And that's where having our local brokers or compliance brokers in charge of things, they're teaching local courses, they're teaching best practices, teaching about form. All of those against the hyper local best practices on how to best do business in your area. That's where things really come in to the specifics as you drill down on that specific market area that.

Katie Ragusa: you a Realtor, be that expert locally.

Erinn Noble: Absolutely. Absolutely, 100 percent.

Katie Ragusa: So let's talk about the agents a little bit more then, because they're the the other side of all of this. And I think the vision behind real I'm not sure if this is like the main tag line, but I when I was reading up on them, make agents lives better, really stand out in that statement. So what does that mean to you at real what are you doing to differentiate yourselves to to fulfill that statement?

Erinn Noble: Yes, sure. That was the statement that it's kind of a fun story. Some of it back up a little bit when we were exploring opportunities, but real. We flew out to the office for small office in New York City in the Chelsea district last February, right before the whole pandemic started. You know, exactly when we could fly and we could meet with people in the subways and all that stuff. But for us, we wanted to the sniff test and meet with the team. But that was one of the first things that my eyeballs landed on. So we're talking about a small office with about maybe eight or 10 desks and their total. And the purpose statement was written on the wall, which was making agents like that better. Gosh, this is really fantastic. This is a true purpose, value written on the wall for everybody to see, everybody to live on a daily basis.

And that had been the company's purpose for multiple years. They had been doing that through support, through leadership, through training. And they've done a really fantastic job as a very clean team of about 11 people on staff supporting right around a thousand agents.

So it's just an incredible task to take on. And that's a lot of agents, a lot of different agent counts within, you know, ranges of needs as well and different expectations. But it was remarkable. Since then, I've taken the company through a different culture workshop to really define what is our purpose and how can we embrace our clients twofold. So we understand that really we have to subsequence. We have our agents clients and we have our consumer clients.

So how do we embrace that together and how do we redefine what our purposes? And then kind of twofold. So what we came up with as a company and this is an entire company collaboration from our agents and our leadership team and all of our brokers is building your future together. And it just folds in what we want to do. We want to build a future together. We want to create success for everyone.

Katie Ragusa: You guys have had so much experience building, growing, you were obviously recruited somewhat recently to come to real on the corporate side, the staff side.

So let's talk for a minute about how you guys have approach agents for recruiting, because obviously you've grown in a tremendous way since you started. So how is your recruiting strategy different? There's a few financial things that stick out to me.

Erinn Noble: Sure, we do it a lot differently for us. First and foremost, we are a real estate brokerage. We are going to be in the real estate business. We don't have any other direction other than being in the real estate business. And we approached our agents very simply, it's through relationships and I said we want to attract agents that we know, like and trust and we want to share a better model with them, just a better, simpler, leaner, cleaner model and a better way of doing real estate. And that's that's it. It's all through relationships.

(10: 00)

Katie Ragusa: And I think you offer agents an opportunity to gain equity in the company, too, right?

Erinn Noble: We do. We did. We actually became a publicly traded company for traded on the Otis's, as are the experts. We were listed on the ATC June eight. So this is a new thing for us. We're super excited about it and really excited to be able to share some opportunities and equity sharing within the company for our agents that we do.

Katie Ragusa: I'm glad you mentioned that not not every brokerage company has that experience. So I think beyond the equity, there's also a rev share model there, too. Right. So lots of different financial strategies. So how is your model different than companies like Keller Williams are?

Erinn Noble: That sets you apart to Gary Keller, the brilliant strategist with us, and he created the profit share model, which works great, a different market sectors, brilliant system, great way to help agents build another strategy for income, especially when we're all commission based. And sometimes we have those commission gaps or a sale fails and something doesn't close in them. Oh, boy, how are you going to pay your mortgage? So I think Gary really was brilliant and forward thinking and visionary and creating that profit sharing model. Glenn came along and kind of redefined the way of how to do it, of profit, share out some of the revenue from the company and just keep it all revenue based. And we came along and it's a very similar model. We adapted the revenue share model that we streamlined it and kind of dumped it down a bit.

So it's very, very simple for agents to be rewarded for attracting agents, that they have relationships with agents that real are rewarded on their front level at the very top tier, five percent for agents that they know, like and trust and feel that would benefit from being aligned with the company. And then, of course, when we're talking about revenue, you can't forget commissions in a real estate, right? So I don't think this would be a real estate podcast without asking a market related question.

So you guys have such a wide spread coverage with those twenty three states that you're represented in. And this is a very strange year. And in prior years, I think a lot of markets had experienced really slow to to nothing going on throughout the winter months. So what are you guys experiencing right now?

Hypergrowth, in fact, with my conversations with agents across the nation. They've had their best year ever, but they've also been able to kind of take a pause, take some time, re-evaluate who they're in business with, re-evaluate what they're paying for with their overhead is especially right now. I mean, we're back in lock down in Washington state, some brokerages can only allow up to twenty five percent of their agents into the brokerage right now.

So pretty much everybody still working virtually. So it's given agents a breather to really re-evaluate their way of doing business. And this has been quite a niche market for us.

Katie Ragusa: It is such a crazy winter market, I'm seeing that everywhere to everybody that I'm talking to, it's so refreshing to hear that, you know, not everything's bad, the time to reset good, the time to see family. A lot of brokers have taken to their technology. And you mentioned that a couple times, and especially in Peter's background with the the spinal cord, I think you called it. So how has the impact of technology in a brokerage grown and evolved over the years? So not just this year of change, but you've been in this industry for since, what did you say, the late 90s, 1999? OK, so what have you seen, especially being so close to it?

Erinn Noble: It's funny that you ask because I just moved offices over the weekend and I heard some archaic relic from the old days. And we actually do rent space in the richest office because we live out in the county on 15 acres and we've got three kids at home and the class meetings every day. And we just don't quite have the bandwidth to get out of the house because there is no room for exactly. That's exactly it. So we have a little breather by renting some space and the regional office. But I found some of my old lockboxes that are the kind of look like a bike lock and my old M.O.s book from nineteen ninety nine. But it's very similar to a real estate book and a telephone book. But it's just so funny to look back things like this right here in Bellingham. We used to just drive around looking for listings, looking for new signs that went up and we would read to our MLS books that were published twice a year or twice or twice a month. And we would show these MLS books with our different clients, but we'd have to kind of break up the MLS book price range and then hand them out to our different clients. Of course, we weren't allowed to do that technically, but there was no other way to share new listings coming on the market because it wasn't such a thing. Nevertheless. Or a sort of old shogi player, sort of like nothing, I mean, we would go out and take our own pictures and we have to send the pictures to print for wait a week to pick them up and post them manually. So we hardly even use cell phones back then.

(15: 00)

And this is just 1999. So to look back and think, OK, wow. So then come the two thousand and tons of new technology and we go through the downturn, two thousand seven, eight, nine. Then I think after that is when things really picked up focus for agents because we had out of town ires clients calling in, not calling the brokerage per say, not calling for specific agent, but just calling and inquiring about listing. And we try to figure out where they are getting this information. Are they finding it online now through websites to search areas? And they didn't care who the agent was or for the brokerage. They just want information about the listing.

So that's where technology for me really turned my head and I thought, wow, I need to be part of the scam or I'm going to be quickly, quickly left behind. So I started looking at different technology systems, CRM. That was a new thing for me as well. Online lead generation. What was that? To learn all about that and educate myself. But that's when I started seeing a brokerage that offered more technology to me. And that's why I left my previous profession and joined EXP that that all of that to the agents. What we're doing now is basically streamlining that experience and making it simpler and cleaner and leaner for both the consumer and the agent to communicate, search, find listings and just have collaboration around the entire buying and selling lifecycle of real estate.

Katie Ragusa: So I think looking back, just seeing that evolution happen, and it's great to actually find those relics of when they still look books and how we used to do business, I found my old super cute cleaning out a house.

It is just a blast from the past and you realize how you used to do your business the day to day and how that changed, I think really sticks with at least me looking back. So do you think taking things that used to be a manual process and being out in the field, taking photos yourself, all of that stuff like the agents very involved to the evolution of technology and where we are today, is their job easier? Is it harder? Because now they have to learn all this new tech. What do you think? That means to an agent who maybe hasn't seen how things were in ninety nine.

 Erinn Noble: Ultimately, it depends on the technology and this is where I. An agent who maybe hasn't seen how things were in ninety nine and ultimately it depends on the technology and this is where I have a very present voice with the company because I'm very passionate about how technology should feel to an agent. I don't want it to be overly cumbersome. We don't need we've got so much technology. Push this every day and I'm a total squirrel. I will definitely chase that shiny object, the hundred percent. I'm always looking for the next best thing, but sometimes the next best thing isn't the best solution. It's about empowering agents with just very clean. And again, I love saying elegant, but that's truly who we are, a clean and elegant and simple solution. It's all about kind of just. Taking a pause, stepping back, really looking at the core of what matters here, what do agents truly need? They need support.

(20:00) They need to be in compliance, and they need some tools that really empower them to do their business more efficiently.

So for us, it's being able to do that through our real app. Everything is accessed via mobile phone. You can be in your car and it can be totally Tomago up chained to a desktop. You don't need to go into an office. In fact, you don't even need a laptop to operate every single aspect of your business. And all of that can be done on your phone these days and a lot of what you mentioned that agents need, you mentioned compliance.

Katie Ragusa: That's a great one. And a lot of what they need isn't necessarily what they know to ask for. And I think that's where a lot of innovation it really stands, apart from run of the mill technology that you can tell is just checking a box of what we need a CRM and we need this. So and you're really looking at user experience, not just in a software way, but it's the peace of mind of the consumer, knowing how the transactions, transactions going, you know, are we going to close? And just that stress relief of having that in an app or a website so real has built proprietary tack. Right? Is it correct? And not many brokerages that at...]]>f0657e54-6aad-437c-9676-740062aa5233Mon, 01 Feb 2021 17:00:00 -070040:53nofull124TRIBUSHow Do You Average 24 Transactions Per Agent With 1000 Agents?What does it take to average 24 transactions per agent? How about being up by double digits during the pandemic? How do you create a culture of success in your real estate brokerage? How important is your real estate brokerage CRM?

Listen in as Brenda Tushaus joins our VP of Product to discuss these questions and more!

TRANSCRIPT

Katie Ragusa: Welcome. Hi, Brenda. So for the whole group, just a little bit of background on Brenda and what we're going to be talking about today, she is the CEO of Minnesota based Re/max Results. They have 42 offices and over 1200 throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. She became the CEO of the company in twenty eighteen and has been in real estate for twenty four years. So she's got a huge background based on the 2020 Real Trends, 500 report, Re/max results of the country's largest Re/max franchise and the 13th largest brokerage for total transactions. So lots of big stats there. Hopefully I got everything right, Brenda. Anything I missed. All right. OK. Quite a profile. So you represent a major company. So what we're going to talk about today is getting into growing a company, recruiting good people and not just bringing them on, but keeping them around. So thanks for being with us today and sharing what you know now.

Brenda Tushaus: Thanks for having me!

Katie Ragusa: So let's kind of go backwards in time a little bit. And you guys are forty two offices. Yeah, we just we just grew to about forty two and we'll talk more about that from forty one to forty two. But so when you started with the company it was three offices I think. So looking back, what are the foundational pieces that makes Re/max results who you are that have stayed the course through all of those years.

Brenda Tushaus: So we yeah. When I started I've been at the company now 19 years. We had one hundred and fifty agents or so and three offices. And I've obviously held a variety of roles through the years. And I was just looking at our stats just recently and in the last 19 years we've done 15 acquisitions. So that's been a part, a major part of our growth. Obviously recruiting is just as important, but the acquisitions, that chunky growth, that that helps as well.

So as far as I will tell you, one thing that I discovered when I was looking at some of this recently is most of the acquisitions we had one big one when I was about two or three years into the role that doubled the size of the brokerage. It brought on about three hundred associates. But since then, our acquisitions have been really small, chunky growth. They've been anywhere from 20 to 50 associates that we that we add each time. So very small, small acquisitions and is not more intentional.

Katie Ragusa: Like what would your advice be to those who want to get big, fast and double in size? Triple in size, really?

Brenda Tushaus: Well, it depends on what you can afford. So it just depends on what, what you're looking to acquire and how much you can pay. And so the small the smaller ones through the years have worked for us. We did have a year. It was I think it was twenty seventeen where we added we did about six or seven acquisitions that year and those were a bunch of small ones than we did one in twenty, eighteen, twenty nineteen.

We had to just kind of catch our breath and now we're back in twenty in full on growth mode again. Right. So yet another broker and market that's booming in these times. So that's really great to see. 

Katie Ragusa: And inspiring. So you just had the 15th acquisition literally just it earlier this week or last week of that. What was that like?...]]>What does it take to average 24 transactions per agent? How about being up by double digits during the pandemic? How do you create a culture of success in your real estate brokerage? How important is your real estate brokerage CRM?

Listen in as Brenda Tushaus joins our VP of Product to discuss these questions and more!

TRANSCRIPT

Katie Ragusa: Welcome. Hi, Brenda. So for the whole group, just a little bit of background on Brenda and what we're going to be talking about today, she is the CEO of Minnesota based Re/max Results. They have 42 offices and over 1200 throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. She became the CEO of the company in twenty eighteen and has been in real estate for twenty four years. So she's got a huge background based on the 2020 Real Trends, 500 report, Re/max results of the country's largest Re/max franchise and the 13th largest brokerage for total transactions. So lots of big stats there. Hopefully I got everything right, Brenda. Anything I missed. All right. OK. Quite a profile. So you represent a major company. So what we're going to talk about today is getting into growing a company, recruiting good people and not just bringing them on, but keeping them around. So thanks for being with us today and sharing what you know now.

Brenda Tushaus: Thanks for having me!

Katie Ragusa: So let's kind of go backwards in time a little bit. And you guys are forty two offices. Yeah, we just we just grew to about forty two and we'll talk more about that from forty one to forty two. But so when you started with the company it was three offices I think. So looking back, what are the foundational pieces that makes Re/max results who you are that have stayed the course through all of those years.

Brenda Tushaus: So we yeah. When I started I've been at the company now 19 years. We had one hundred and fifty agents or so and three offices. And I've obviously held a variety of roles through the years. And I was just looking at our stats just recently and in the last 19 years we've done 15 acquisitions. So that's been a part, a major part of our growth. Obviously recruiting is just as important, but the acquisitions, that chunky growth, that that helps as well.

So as far as I will tell you, one thing that I discovered when I was looking at some of this recently is most of the acquisitions we had one big one when I was about two or three years into the role that doubled the size of the brokerage. It brought on about three hundred associates. But since then, our acquisitions have been really small, chunky growth. They've been anywhere from 20 to 50 associates that we that we add each time. So very small, small acquisitions and is not more intentional.

Katie Ragusa: Like what would your advice be to those who want to get big, fast and double in size? Triple in size, really?

Brenda Tushaus: Well, it depends on what you can afford. So it just depends on what, what you're looking to acquire and how much you can pay. And so the small the smaller ones through the years have worked for us. We did have a year. It was I think it was twenty seventeen where we added we did about six or seven acquisitions that year and those were a bunch of small ones than we did one in twenty, eighteen, twenty nineteen.

We had to just kind of catch our breath and now we're back in twenty in full on growth mode again. Right. So yet another broker and market that's booming in these times. So that's really great to see. 

Katie Ragusa: And inspiring. So you just had the 15th acquisition literally just it earlier this week or last week of that. What was that like? Can you tell us more about that process?

 Brenda Tushaus: Yeah. So that we acquired another Re/max franchise was Re/max first choice in the La Crosse, Wisconsin market. They have three offices and thirty two associates that we acquired with that recent transaction. And and I'll tell you one thing, and we announced this when we did the all company meeting and we did the the acquisition on Tuesday is we told everyone in the room they are the highest per agent productivity acquisition we've ever done. They average about thirty five sides per agent. So I was small but very, very productive company. And, you know, our history and that productivity number is really important to us. So that just helps make us, you know, I mean, we're we're we're known for that now. We just added an acquisition that that improved upon that. So it went well. The meeting, it's always a surprise to everyone in the room. And but we've done this, the dog and pony show, I guess you could call it so many times that were those of us on my team are pretty comfortable with it.

And nobody got up and walked out of the room in tears and and there were some applause. And they were happy that they know us. And they knew that their former broker owners were looking to retire in coming years. And so everyone it was we were really welcomed in. And I'll tell you the other thing is we kept on the staff. We kept on the broker owners. And that's really important in every acquisition is that we we don't change a lot.

We don't change economics. We don't change traditions or office culture or whatever is important. And we always try to keep on those those former broker owners and some sort of a capacity in this case, one up them staying on as a managing broker for us.

Katie Ragusa: So they've built trust with that company and you're not going to shake everything up. And RACT recruited them or acquired them for a reason. That's something good going. So everybody left that. Thirty five sides for Agent Sinkin. So that brings me to the question of you can't do that part time. So tell me about on whether it's an acquisition or recruiting a specific person and sales executive. What kind of time are they putting into their real estate career for you to even consider?

Brenda Tushaus: Well, definitely full time. You know, we always say we don't we don't hire part time. We don't hire part time sales executives. Now, I will have a few Re/max results associates that come to me and say I only work X number of hours a week. Yet somehow they're still killing it in real estate sales. But we don't when you come to work at Re/max results, you don't have another job full time or part time job.

You come to work at our company and you are a full time real estate agent. That's really important. And we do have minimum expectations as far as our sales executives performance. Do people fall below those minimum expectations? Of course they do. Do we fire them if they fall below those? Not typically. We work with them and get them into coaching or accountability groups. We're never going to say, hey, it's time for you to move on.

If we don't see them trying, we don't see them working to get their production up.

Katie Ragusa: So I would imagine that those metrics aren't secret, that you're just standing by and watching them like they're recruited for a reason. They were in a player, top producer. They know what they're expected to come in and do it, right?

Brenda Tushaus: Yeah. And it's it's funny, you know, we have several people at the company that do our recruiting. And sometimes they do encounter conversations when they're talking to sales executives at other brokerages. There's that perception like, well, am I good enough to join Re/max result? I secretly I love that. But I also don't want people to think like, well, I could never go work there because I don't sell enough real estate. Really, it's we have to prove to them, like, no, you can't work for Re/max results and you will sell more real estate and we'll show you how so and just that environment of being around other people with the same philosophy.

Katie Ragusa: It's not like you're carrying the brokerage for sales volume and all the rankings that you get. Everybody is contributing towards that goal. So, I mean, as an agent, I can only imagine what that's like to work in that environment. So you've got a lot of acquisitions under your belt on, a lot of recruiting going on. You guys are a large brokerage. So how do you manage this? Who on your staff handles recruiting? Who handles and sources acquisitions? can you describe those different pieces and who's managing what?

Brenda Tushaus: So our executive team at Re/max Results is it's myself. I have a CEO, a CFO and a general manager. That's the four of us. And then the general manager oversees a team of six regional managers or managing brokers. And the regional managers are managing brokers then are the ones that oversee three to four offices in their wing, depending on how many agents are in those offices. And it's the managing brokers slash regional managers. We have two different titles that are the ones that are responsible for well, all of us are responsible for retention, but recruiting and retention and of course, sales while transactional support.

 So a typical regional manager would say they have three or four offices as their territory. They might have three or four offices and anywhere from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty agents. And 80 percent of their time is expected to be spent on recruiting and retention, kind of split 50/50. So 40 percent of their time recruiting, 40 percent retention relationships, customer service. So that 80 percent on that and then 20 percent on just general support, sales support, answering questions, helping with transactions, coaching, training.

Katie Ragusa: You've got a great team that you trust and everybody knows their role. So a lot of this, you said 40 percent or so out of 80 percent of their time, about 40, 40, half and half recruiting retention is it is one harder than the other?

Brenda Tushaus: About recruiting is really hard. It's really hard. And I used to be I don't know how many years ago, but I was once director of recruiting at Re/max Results and in and a really good year for me. I recruited about forty, forty five agents. That's really hard. We like to see our regional managers recruit about twenty four or more. That's kind of a goal. We say if you can recruit two people a month, sometimes it's more than that, sometimes it's less. But recruiting is hard and it's getting harder.

It's getting harder, I would say within the last oh probably within the last three years. Just there's just always new competition, new business models and retention is just as hard.

Katie Ragusa: So you have to it's difficult to invest the time both places. It sounds like that number twenty four to a month might be like your sweet spot, your number, because I think that's also where your typical agent follows in transactions, right? Yep.

Look, easy metrics or so, and that's where you guys keep these rankings is everybody has those metrics in mind. You're hitting those monthly, you know, are you behind are you on track or are you ahead? So you mentioned you're not going to fire somebody if they're a little bit behind, you're going to coach them up and intervene. So when do you intervene? Like, what is that time? Is it after the year closes and you're looking back on their previous year? Is it midway through?

Brenda Tushaus: We you know, I wish I would I wish honestly, I could say that we had like this end of quarter review. We try to do these quarterly reviews of production. It doesn't happen calendar quarter. It's not an exact science. But we do pull reports for we do the we meaning executive team and people in our sales accounting department pull reports and produce those for the regional managers. We actually don't make the regional managers do that, although most regional managers already have a pulse in their offices is might be struggling, but we pull those reports and we say, hey, you've got a couple of people here that it looks like their performance is down in the last 12 months or in the last X amount of time. So work with them, reach out to them, see what you can do to help them. And so, yeah, and again, it's there's so many factors that go into it. There's so many, you know, twenty, twenty alone. It's just been a crazy year, you know. So, you know, that was, that's one thing. But, you know, you never know what's going on in someone's life. So they're sensitive when Approach and sometimes we offer to put them into a coaching program. We're pretty coach neutral. We like all coaching programs and we'll do that on our dime. We'll even offer to pay for because let's say we have someone that's worked for us for 10, 15 years and they've been a solid producer for years, but they're just having an off year for whatever reason. We just we reinvest in them. So we do that. So I don't know.

Does that answer the question?

Katie Ragusa: Yeah, for sure. I'm just hearing firsthand how you're managing all of this and keeping everybody on top. I know you personally have face time or maybe some time these days, not with many of your recruits and agents and office visits and you're all over the place. So with twelve hundred people and growing, how do you manage that time and keep everybody feeling connected?

Brenda Tushaus: Well, I do I'm coming to you from my desk in Eden Prairie, that's our headquarters, and I'm lucky if I'm here once a week. I'm everywhere. I work from all of our offices as far as our outer markets. So we've got three offices in the Duluth Superior Market and we've got two down in Rochester Market. Now we've got the cross market, St. Cloud and so besides all the offices that are here in the Minneapolis St Paul in the Twin Cities area, I try to get to the other markets once a month and I'm pretty good at it. So I whether I have appointments with sales executives or whether I just go and I spend a couple of days and the Duluth superior market and I just make my way through the three offices, I'll camp out in a conference room, I'll walk around the offices.

I talk to everyone. I know them all. When someone new joins the company, I reach out with a private with just a personal BombBomb, welcoming them, introducing myself. It's not prerecorded. I do a custom video sometimes I'm doing a lot of videos and just say, hey, welcome aboard.

I circle in with their regional manager before I reach out to them and I ask some questions like if there's anything I need to know about them. And I might mention that on a video just to say, hey, I heard you joined this team or, you know, I heard something unique about you. And so I try to connect with them in that video and I generally get responses. And so I'm creating connections that way. But I I used to say I mean, years ago, I would say I, I knew 90 percent of our agents, but that's because I was I was once director of I.T. and then I was director of recruiting.

I've held so many roles that I've worked so closely with sort of all of our agents. I know it's kind of a weird combination. And now that I'm in the CEO role, as I have been for a couple of years, it's a little bit harder to connect and I feel like fewer reach out to me because they are scared of being the CEO.

Yeah, I'm super approachable, but I feel like I'm you know, when I give out my cell phone number at a company meeting, they're like, what are you nuts? But people don't abuse that. They respect your time. So got it.

Katie Ragusa: Yeah. And I think that culture or that precedent figure setting a baseline and personalization and setting up on the person, get to know them, send them a custom bomb message that probably shines through to your agents and their communication with their customers because they're getting it straight from the top, right?

Brenda Tushaus: Yeah.

Katie Ragusa: So what about you have a lot of long term sales executives that have been with your company and you have a lot of staff that's been around for a while, too, including yourself.

So how do you keep good people once you find them?

Brenda Tushaus: Well, as far as staff goes, that's one of the things at this recent acquisition, for example, we have a lot of our key employees that will travel down and we'll all attend the this all company meeting where we announce the acquisition and we go around the room and we introduce ourselves and we say what we do and how long we've been at the company. And everyone is.

We introduce ourselves and we say what we do and how long we've been at the company and everyone is always like, wow, 11 years, 17 years, twenty two years. So we just you know, we I think we hire. Right. First of all, we hire happy people. We hire team players. We look for that kind of that, if that makes sense, that customer service mentality. Have you ever been in a restaurant and you get a waiter or waitress that's just like amazing and you want to take away employee? My life is with Chick fil A. Yes, yes. Yes. So we hire people that just get it. You know the difference. You know, when there's someone who's negative that just doesn't get that customer service mentality.

So I'm here to collect a paycheck rather than care about you. And so those people are generally also just happier people. You know, all we also run. We allow our employees have just autonomy in their roles, they know what their job duty is, but they have just freedom to just do their job and we leave them alone. We don't micromanage.

Katie Ragusa: So not a lot of approvals needed. You trust their judgment because you picked them for a reason? Yeah. Taking away that barrier and allowing people to just shine can really help. And for the customer or the agent on the other side of that who's waiting for that approval, it makes a big difference to them to you know, we've had staff and sales executives who have left the company and a large majority of them return.

Brenda Tushaus: So, you know, when it comes to sales executives, if a sales executive leaves, we make it as as peaceful as an exit as we possibly can. Of course, we don't want them to leave, but we never want to burn any bridges because a lot of times I'm talking within six to 12 months they come back. And sometimes it isn't always greener, so you need to realize that, you know, on their own.

Katie Ragusa: so and that is a less comfortable part to talk about. Running a business is people leaving. So how do you keep that relationship from souring? Do you hand them their data? Like, what is it about you guys that makes that easy?

Brenda Tushaus: Or pay for your pain. How do we make a painless if they leave? Yeah, well, we don't. We don't. If someone's leaving, we don't hold. We don't hold on to their listings. We let them technically, the listings belong to the broker, but we don't think they have those those files because those customers want to work with them. And so we don't we allow them to cancel listings and take listings with them, that sort of thing. That's always been a policy of ours. If they had any pending...]]>879fc16b-f23e-47a0-8d5c-df929e52c7abTue, 19 Jan 2021 08:00:00 -070035:05nofull123TRIBUSZillow Becomes A Real Estate Brokerage What Does Rob Hahn Think?Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Rob Hahn is the prognosticator of the real estate industry. A few weeks back on Brokerage Insider, he discussed how teams are the biggest threat to the brokerage industry. This week Rob discussed the big news that Zillow decided to become a real estate brokerage AND that they will stop accepting feeds and instead just get IDX data from MLSs. Listen to what Rob thinks.

TRANSCRIPTION

Or in the explode virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular schedule program soon, but until then, enjoy this session. In this episode, I interview Rob Hahn, managing partner of 7DS and Associates and prognosticator of the real estate industry.

Eric Stegemann: And so, you know, Rob, I actually wrote up a whole bunch of questions before yesterday morning to talk to you about. Sure. And I kind of threw them in the trash can and started after the Zellers news. Yeah, after the big announcement. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, and I mentioned this morning when we talked to David Gulper, and I'll just reiterate it for anybody that was not in the track this morning, but to announce that they are starting a brokerage officially, even though they had real estate licenses for a while, their official start markets are in Tucson, Phoenix and Atlanta. And so they're going to start up a brokerage, but particularly two things of note. Number one is they're going to focus their brokerage on just their home buying process. And number two is they're moving away from fees where they accept fees and going straight to index data directly from all of your analysis. So let's talk about Zillow homes for just a second. They are going to have salary based agents. Right. And, you know, on a scale of one to 10, considering last time one of our big topics when we talked on the last show of Brokerage Insider, so we talked about it and you said Zillow is not the biggest threat to brokerages. Let me first ask you, do you think that's changed at all? Like if you had to give a scale of one to 10, where did you think they were before yesterday and where do you think they are now? I'd say probably before yesterday.

Rob Hahn: They're probably three. And today there are three. I don't I don't think anything has changed, you know, and I think I made this point in my latest post about this, you know, that I just put up yesterday as a reaction. People are like Zillow is a competitor and yadda, yadda. I'm like, look, unless you've got a couple billion dollars of investor money and they don't care about losing it for 10 years, you're not a competitor. Like, that's not you know, that's not what their business is. And I guess the way I look at it is I mean, for because this is a brokerage group like do you think open doors, a competitor. Because this is the same thing, right? They have billions of dollars, they're going to go in and pay cash for a house they're using, they're in house employee agents to do it. So if you don't think they're open doors a competitor, then you probably shouldn't think that those competitors, if you did think they're open those competitors, I guess I'd like to know how, like, do you have billions of dollars? And again, their brokers who have started Ibai are at odds. Right. And I'm like, look, that's great. But do those investors expect a return for their money? If the answer is yes, you're not a competitor because neither Zillow nor Open...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Rob Hahn is the prognosticator of the real estate industry. A few weeks back on Brokerage Insider, he discussed how teams are the biggest threat to the brokerage industry. This week Rob discussed the big news that Zillow decided to become a real estate brokerage AND that they will stop accepting feeds and instead just get IDX data from MLSs. Listen to what Rob thinks.

TRANSCRIPTION

Or in the explode virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular schedule program soon, but until then, enjoy this session. In this episode, I interview Rob Hahn, managing partner of 7DS and Associates and prognosticator of the real estate industry.

Eric Stegemann: And so, you know, Rob, I actually wrote up a whole bunch of questions before yesterday morning to talk to you about. Sure. And I kind of threw them in the trash can and started after the Zellers news. Yeah, after the big announcement. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, and I mentioned this morning when we talked to David Gulper, and I'll just reiterate it for anybody that was not in the track this morning, but to announce that they are starting a brokerage officially, even though they had real estate licenses for a while, their official start markets are in Tucson, Phoenix and Atlanta. And so they're going to start up a brokerage, but particularly two things of note. Number one is they're going to focus their brokerage on just their home buying process. And number two is they're moving away from fees where they accept fees and going straight to index data directly from all of your analysis. So let's talk about Zillow homes for just a second. They are going to have salary based agents. Right. And, you know, on a scale of one to 10, considering last time one of our big topics when we talked on the last show of Brokerage Insider, so we talked about it and you said Zillow is not the biggest threat to brokerages. Let me first ask you, do you think that's changed at all? Like if you had to give a scale of one to 10, where did you think they were before yesterday and where do you think they are now? I'd say probably before yesterday.

Rob Hahn: They're probably three. And today there are three. I don't I don't think anything has changed, you know, and I think I made this point in my latest post about this, you know, that I just put up yesterday as a reaction. People are like Zillow is a competitor and yadda, yadda. I'm like, look, unless you've got a couple billion dollars of investor money and they don't care about losing it for 10 years, you're not a competitor. Like, that's not you know, that's not what their business is. And I guess the way I look at it is I mean, for because this is a brokerage group like do you think open doors, a competitor. Because this is the same thing, right? They have billions of dollars, they're going to go in and pay cash for a house they're using, they're in house employee agents to do it. So if you don't think they're open doors a competitor, then you probably shouldn't think that those competitors, if you did think they're open those competitors, I guess I'd like to know how, like, do you have billions of dollars? And again, their brokers who have started Ibai are at odds. Right. And I'm like, look, that's great. But do those investors expect a return for their money? If the answer is yes, you're not a competitor because neither Zillow nor Open Door their investors aren't expecting a return. They're expecting to lose money for a good long time. And they have real deep pockets and they don't care because they're all about kind of changing the world and, you know, that sort of thing.

So that's how I'm looking at it. I understand there's probably a different perspective on that, but I just want to hear the reasoning. Like I'm not saying I'm right and everyone's wrong, but I just this how I think about it. I'm curious what other people think about it, too.

Eric Stegemann: So, I mean, I think, you know, we talked about this over the last time, too. I think that I buyers like open door. I definitely change the dynamics. And it could be and it's yet to be seen. And I think it goes back to does it increase the number of transactions in the market? Right. So open doors, big push and statement has been we're not negative towards brokers because we will increase liquidity. And when you any time in the history of time that you've increased liquidity in a capital market like real estate, you've seen all boats rise more.

And so from that perspective, if that's really the case, if they're increasing the number of total transactions and I texted Rob this earlier this week, that we're actually on pace, that it's six million transactions. That's right near the top of any recorded year, maybe not the top or near the top of any recorded year that there's been, then I think that could be the case. But, you know, if it isn't, then it doesn't. It seem like they're taking transactions out, transaction sites out of the mix in terms of at least listings.

Rob Hahn: I suppose, you know, I suppose and I guess the secondary follow up question, though, is, are brokers really making is that really what a brokerage business is today? You know, and that's what you and I talked about on the podcast. Right. Because if the idea is that brokerages are actually in the business of buying and selling homes, then yeah, but I don't think brokerages are. I think brokerage today are in the business of recruiting and retaining agents.

Agents might be in the business of buying and selling homes, but then we get a whole other discussion, right? So from that standpoint, I'm not sure. And again, I would actually love to hear from brokers themselves, like how they see it, like, am I completely misinterpreting this? But so to your point, it's like if they take out some of the transactions, that's possible. So out of the, you know, 10 to 11 million or to your point, if it's six million a year, it's 12 million sides, you know, OpenDoor and Zillow going to take some percentage of it off the market, I guess.

I guess, you know, but to me, that's sort of like that's the world changing, you know.

Eric Stegemann: Like, so does that make them a threat? I suppose that's one way to look at it, but this is a world changing and it's just a matter of, OK, so how are we going to deal with it that consumer behavior is changing? You know, how do we deal with that? But do you think that the step that Zillow has made that already encroached upon something they said they would never do? Sure. Do you think that that's a slippery slope? Do you I mean, in your post, you kind of say no, unless brokers force it right and or the world forces. Yeah, yeah. I think at so everybody should totally read. Rob's most recent post called Don't Forcillo into a Corner. Yeah, but do you think that's really the case or do you think somebody at Zillow is sitting there thinking, hey, this is our first step into making everybody feel comfortable and it's like putting the frog into the pot where you are growing up slowly instead of real fast.

Rob Hahn: Sure. And that's obviously kind of been the the interpretation of the industry. And I saw it coming from I mean, when I first heard about this, like, really, you guys what that long ago when, like, Spencer was on stage swearing up and down that this would never happen. The problem is like. You know, it's like if the world changes, the world changes, right? So what do you what are you supposed to do with that? The world has changed. Consumers want something else. Are you supposed to then say, screw that, hell with what the consumer wants? I'm not changing. Like, that's idiotic. Like, nobody does that. Brokerage wouldn't do that. So I just record a podcast with Greg Robertson this morning about it.

And the thing I pointed out was, you know, brokers are and MLS is and the whole industry is swearing up and down. You know, we are all about cooperation and compensation and that's the pillar and so on. Well, here's the thing. There's a lawsuit going on right now to make that difficult or impossible to do away with commission sharing. If five years from now that lawsuit wins and the Supreme Court says you are no longer allowed to share commission or we going to say we don't give a crap, we're not going to change, of course we're going to change.

The world has changed. We have to change. So that's one part. The second part I'm saying, listen, the thing that I'm more concerned about is that we as an industry would do something just irrational and stupid, which then forces those guys into doing something that's not good for anybody. It's not making anybody any money. And yet we're going to do it because they have to. Right. So maybe the way to think about it is this and this.

Just my interpretation of how to understand Zillow pivot. I actually think it really has to do with the fact that I'm saying we're a market maker now, but we're still you think of Zillow as an advertising vehicle and they sell leads to agents and that's their business to me. When I look at what this pivot means, is that really kind of saying we're no longer that we're a market maker and I buy this. Our business going forward is buying homes for three hundred thousand and selling it for three hundred and three.

And in order to do that, they actually need to cut as much cost out of it as possible, and they have to make that process, that transaction experience better. And I think what they're finding is open door had the lead on that. They had the edge because open door use their own in-house agents. So if I'm a seller, I say, hey, give me an offer. It's one point of contact with Zillow. And this is what I said, right? It's like, OK, I talk to somebody on Zillow and then I get handed off to some local agent and then that local agent maybe hands me off to people on their team. And it was very disjointed. So I think what they're saying, OK, if our business is buying and selling homes, we need to improve that. We need to bring this in-house. The second part that follows, if we bring this in-house, we know that the Indians are going to cut off the data feed to us.

We know that for a fact. How do we get around that? Let's join the MLS. Right. So it's not I don't know. I have trouble seeing it as like this evil conspiracy plan and all of that and slowly boiling the frog inside because, again, these guys are worth.

We know that for a fact, how do we get around that, let's join the MLS, right. So it's not I don't know, I have trouble seeing it as like this evil conspiracy plan and all of that and slowly boiling the frog inside, because, again, these guys are worth twenty two billion. They have two billion in cash. Their stock is worth like ninety eight dollars a share, whatever. I mean, if these guys wanted to become brokers, if they wanted to, you know, really screw with the industry, then it's not that hard for them.

Eric Stegemann: Right. That's. It's really easy, actually, and I think that's what most brokers are sitting there worried and nervous about, is I think most of them recognize that Zillow has more or less won the consumers zero moment of truth to when they're starting to search. At least Zillow owns the space of starting the home, the place where people start their search. Right. And they have they out a two hundred million unique views.

And all of this stuff that they have, and I think that's where brokers are most nervous, is to say, look, if if if Zillow wanted to tomorrow, they could certainly get into the agent's space. And if they discover, hey, I can go higher salaried based agents and I can go just hire one hundred agents and and kill it in the market and then have team members and assistants and things like that to process the transaction, I'm going to execute on their vision, which is to make the consumer process. That's that's what they care about right there. Consumer prices better, simpler. And what I think that makes brokers most nervous is less expensive. Right. So sure, you go use a Zillow agent to list your home and they could say, well, we'll represent you to buy a home for free or something along those lines. You know, that's that's cutting out a chunk of commission out of that transaction would have happened that might have otherwise gone to a to a broker.

So I think the the bridge is not too far. The leap is quite small between point A and B. Whether they want to do it or not is a different question. But it would be very easy because they own the consumer in so many cases.

Rob Hahn: Sure, sure. But, you know, I think the way I look at that is, again, so I'm a I'm a strategy consultant for living my day job. So let's just imagine that a broker is a client of mine. The first question I would be asking the broker is, how do you make your money? How do you make your money, because I know brokers at one hundred shops, so way they make their money is a monthly membership fee and a transaction fee. Right. So for those clients, one of the things I've said to them is we should not care about what the price of the home is because you don't get paid on the on the value of the home. Right. You get paid on the transaction. So whether the agent is doing a hundred thousand dollars sale or a million dollar sale, you're getting paid for ninety five. If that's your business, then it changes everything that you should care about.

Right, if, on the other hand, you're a, you know, 70, 30 split, then it's a different thing. So the first question I think is as a brokerage, how do you make your money? And here's what I do know. And we talked about this in a podcast. Most brokerages in North America are really struggling with profitability, right? Three percent right. On average, which means that half of them are below that. So then you could say, OK, where where you actually really making your profits? And it's like, well, title, escarole, mortgage, et cetera. Well well, if that's the case, then we've got to think about in those terms. Right. Why do you care about Zillow? Is this, that and the other thing? And, you know, if that's your business, then you should do things to support your business, getting involved with all this stuff about home prices. And Commissioner Masek, why does it matter if you're not making any money from it?

Eric Stegemann: This I think. Oh, doesn't the money flow? What I mean by that is if you're collecting four hundred dollars per transaction. Right. And there's companies like Fathom Realty that are now free to companies that do exactly that. Yeah. And so when they have that, they still need the transaction to happen to begin with. Correct. But correct.

Rob Hahn: But they don't need the commission amount to be whatever. Right. In other words, if the commission amount drops to one percent on average, but we still have 11 million transactions or 12 million transactions, that will be fine. They don't care what the commission amount is. They just care about are their transactions happening and will my agents pay me? So that's what I'm talking about. So it's it's hard to just kind of broadly say brokers should be paranoid about this. Brokers should be paid. I'm just saying. Well, tell me what your business is. Right. Because here's the other thing. Red fin is a brokerage, right. But as you and I have talked about, I don't actually look at Red fin as a brokerage. I look at them as a really big giant agent team. If you're an agent team, then maybe you care more about it, because now your business is actually, you know, helping a consumer buy and sell homes and you're taking a big chunk of the commission and then you're actually splitting it out or you have W2 employees, so you have your expenses. That's a different business model. And if that's the case, I would think about things very differently, you know? So that's the first point.

 The second point, I think it's like I said, having said all of that, it does seem clear to me that most brokerages in the industry today are in the recruiting and retention business. And if that's true, then I think the question is Zillow now says they're going to bring in buying and house. They are now going to join the MLS. My question is, how does that affect your recruiting and retention business? And as yet, I haven't gotten a clear answer to that, so maybe you have a thought. I mean, how does that affect recruiting and retention, having buyers or.

Eric Stegemann: Yeah, OK is now in the MLS.

Rob Hahn:  How does that affect the ability of Re/max results to recruit in Asia? Well, I will.

Eric Stegemann: We're having Brendan on shortly, actually, and also in about 30 minutes. So you can you can ask her that question. Yeah, but I think, you know, I think I won't speak for Brenda particularly, but when I will speak from is I think it is about recruiting retention. And if a broker can go to Zillow and have, you know, an even Redfin and salary plus commissions. Right. But if there's a dwindling number of transactions that happen, even if you're averaging a high number of transactions and Brenda's company averages twenty three transactions per agent, per agent, and they have over 12 hundred agents. Right. And so, you know, from the the the proofing of your business, the Zillow proofing of your business, I think that's about as strong as you could possibly get that's out there. But I think at the same point, if I was sitting there and and I was the CEO of one of those types of companies, I would certainly look at it like there is likely to be a dwindling number of transactions. And every time my agents make less money, that means I can charge them less, whether that's in a desk fee, a transaction fee, a month or whatever it happens to be. Also, any model that's reliant on volume in terms of agents, you know, if you're an XP realty and you're, you know, getting everybody out there into the network and getting the transactions that go through, I think you're going to dwindle over time if there's more players in the market and there's not more transactions because of that.

Rob Hahn:  Right. Sure. Yeah, I mean, I see that I see kids so close up, it's like if you're a software company, a big software company I'm not talking about.

Or Apple, you're also in the recruiting and retention business. I think if you ask a lot like Google, what they do now, it's their product is pretty stable. It's more like we just need good talent to keep building upon what we're building on. And I think their big problem or their big concern that they have every day is making sure they're getting the best talent possible to come work for them. But there's more people drawing from that talent. There's less to come to Google.

And if there's more people drawing from the Minnesota Minneapolis real estate market of the top tier talent and Zillow says, hey, top agent, I'll pay you five hundred grand a year salary to come work for me. And that way in a bad year, you're even like you're still going to make 500...]]>5ed3a296-d25b-416c-9b31-ee564a5b3090Mon, 11 Jan 2021 05:45:00 -070032:15nofull122TRIBUSThe Importance Of Real Estate Brokerage Photography with VirtuanceEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

There are lots of ways to help sell a home faster, but there is no more sure fire way to make sure to do your clients the best service possible than using professional real estate photography.

Even if your brokerage's average sales price is not $1 million or more, you can use professional listing photography to stand out and keep brand consistency. Listen in as Jeff Corn, the CEO and founder of Virtuance, discusses the importance of this consistency.

TRANSCRIPT

Eric Stegemann: Hi, everybody, and welcome to Brokerage Insider, the podcast where we interview the leaders in brokerage and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann, the CEO of TRIBUS. Today on the show, we have Jeff Corn. Now, Jeff is the CEO and co-founder of Virtuance. It's a leading photography vendor to the real estate industry. Thanks so much for being on today, Jeff.

Jeff Corn: Thanks for having me, Eric. Excited to be here. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Eric Stegemann: So tell us a little bit about Virtuance?

Jeff Corn: Virtuance is a photography and visual marketing partner to the real estate industry. What that means is that anything related to listing marketing across the nation, that's that is what we focus on. It's all that we do. And we're very fortunate to partner with tens of thousands of real estate agents and brokerages in across the entire country. And we've been doing it for four, ten years. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year.

Eric Stegemann: Congrats. That's awesome. That's we're very, very close to you. We're just one year past year at TRIBUS at eleven years now. So, you know, we all started around that that same time. And I find that a lot of the companies that started in that ballpark where you were kind of competing up are fighting against what was going on after the downturn. I find you're more resilient and tend to stick around longer. Right. So tell me what was asked me.

Jeff Corn: Why did you start the company like first period of time ever? Right. And my answer is, is probably similar to yours would be that, you know, at that point in time, there's only one way to go. It's up. Right.

Eric Stegemann: So darn right. Darn right. Yeah, that's the way I was looking at it back then, too, was that, you know, that in the real estate industry, we fortunately with my brokerage that I previously had things were going pretty well because we actually had contracts for doing foreclosures and things like that. But in the tech space, I felt like there was going to be a reinvigoration for it. And it sounds like you did, too, around the same time. So what got you into the photography side of the business? 

Jeff Corn: Yeah, good question. So prior to the founding Virtuance, I was in the commercial real estate space. I was I had come out of graduate school and want and thought I was going to be a real estate developer, worked for a commercial rete in acquisitions and then worked for most recently prior to starting, Virtuance worked for a small real estate development shop in Denver. And part of my role there was to market all of the properties that we would build and bring to the market. And one of the things that I would do in that role is to hire a photographer. As soon as we finished up a building and we were getting ready to lease or sell it, we the first thing that we did is made a phone call to a photographer and had that photographer scheduled to come out to market the property. And...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

There are lots of ways to help sell a home faster, but there is no more sure fire way to make sure to do your clients the best service possible than using professional real estate photography.

Even if your brokerage's average sales price is not $1 million or more, you can use professional listing photography to stand out and keep brand consistency. Listen in as Jeff Corn, the CEO and founder of Virtuance, discusses the importance of this consistency.

TRANSCRIPT

Eric Stegemann: Hi, everybody, and welcome to Brokerage Insider, the podcast where we interview the leaders in brokerage and technology. I'm your host, Eric Stegemann, the CEO of TRIBUS. Today on the show, we have Jeff Corn. Now, Jeff is the CEO and co-founder of Virtuance. It's a leading photography vendor to the real estate industry. Thanks so much for being on today, Jeff.

Jeff Corn: Thanks for having me, Eric. Excited to be here. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Eric Stegemann: So tell us a little bit about Virtuance?

Jeff Corn: Virtuance is a photography and visual marketing partner to the real estate industry. What that means is that anything related to listing marketing across the nation, that's that is what we focus on. It's all that we do. And we're very fortunate to partner with tens of thousands of real estate agents and brokerages in across the entire country. And we've been doing it for four, ten years. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year.

Eric Stegemann: Congrats. That's awesome. That's we're very, very close to you. We're just one year past year at TRIBUS at eleven years now. So, you know, we all started around that that same time. And I find that a lot of the companies that started in that ballpark where you were kind of competing up are fighting against what was going on after the downturn. I find you're more resilient and tend to stick around longer. Right. So tell me what was asked me.

Jeff Corn: Why did you start the company like first period of time ever? Right. And my answer is, is probably similar to yours would be that, you know, at that point in time, there's only one way to go. It's up. Right.

Eric Stegemann: So darn right. Darn right. Yeah, that's the way I was looking at it back then, too, was that, you know, that in the real estate industry, we fortunately with my brokerage that I previously had things were going pretty well because we actually had contracts for doing foreclosures and things like that. But in the tech space, I felt like there was going to be a reinvigoration for it. And it sounds like you did, too, around the same time. So what got you into the photography side of the business? 

Jeff Corn: Yeah, good question. So prior to the founding Virtuance, I was in the commercial real estate space. I was I had come out of graduate school and want and thought I was going to be a real estate developer, worked for a commercial rete in acquisitions and then worked for most recently prior to starting, Virtuance worked for a small real estate development shop in Denver. And part of my role there was to market all of the properties that we would build and bring to the market. And one of the things that I would do in that role is to hire a photographer. As soon as we finished up a building and we were getting ready to lease or sell it, we the first thing that we did is made a phone call to a photographer and had that photographer scheduled to come out to market the property. And when I found out in that process, after doing it five or six times was that one, it was very expensive. I could not believe how much money we were spending on photography, too. It was incredibly time consuming. What would happen is I would I would make a phone call a week or two or three later, I'd have somebody come out and they would spend, in many cases an entire day or multiple days on site shooting photos. They would bring a whole light set up with them and sometimes have an assistant. And then after that, it would be crickets for about a week or two or sometimes three before I would hear back when they would provide us the final images.

And so and the images were fantastic, but it took the entire process, took three weeks and was incredibly expensive. And I would end up having, you know, 10 or 15 images of that property. They were incredibly impactful for what we did. But I had to start scratching my head after doing that four or five times and spending a lot of money to say what is going on in this process that is actually creating making it one take so long and to making it cost so much.

And so in that in that way is kind of a classic, I guess, entrepreneurial challenge of thinking, gosh, there's got to be a better way. And so that that led me on a journey where I started getting much more interested over many months in photography and understanding what was happening in that process to see if there was a way to do a better. And about six months later, I guess you could say the rest is history. I partnered up with a good.

Friend of mine to co-found Virtuance, and we identified at the time that the biggest bottleneck to value priced photography that was awesome and had huge impact was all about the image processing. And so our focus was all about from the beginning, building an image processing system that was artificially intelligent, that would allow us to automate the majority of that process so that we could produce an incredible result that we knew was going to get results for agents and also not take a ton of time nor cost a lot of money.

Eric Stegemann: So that's thirty thousand foot. You know, that's that's very insightful and obviously you're looking to solve a lot of problems that that agents have. You know, there's so much to unpack there. Let's start out with where you started with commercial, because I'd love to understand a little bit more about what you saw in the differences, because I know that when it comes to commercial, when it comes to buildings and rental units and things like that, a lot of those folks, you know, professional photography is a requirement of them.

And so 10 years ago, you were doing the photography 10 years ago. Did you see many agents, many residential real estate agents doing professional photography, or do you think that's more of a newer, almost mandatory requirement these days? 

Jeff Corn: So I think that what's clear is that it's becoming more and more of a requirement and that it is driven by the consumer, it's driven by what the consumer wants and needs, and it's driven by who the consumer is. So if we if we rewind 10 years, I could tell you that. And there's a there's dozens of studies that we could quote and talk about, and they're all going to tell you something a little bit different. But at the end of the day, 10 years ago, I would argue that somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty five to 30 percent of all residential real estate listings had professional photography. Today, that number is over 50 percent. And obviously it varies greatly depending on the market. We see a lot more professional photography in urban areas than we do in rural areas. We see a lot more professional photography generally and higher price point markets than lower price point markets. But at the end of the day, it's really about who the consumers and the consumer today is, not the consumer of 10 years ago or 20 years ago. The consumer today is a consumer who grew up in a digital world, who is used to seeing everything visually. And the consumer today is somebody who is generally tech savvy, meaning that they expect a lot from their advisers. They expect to be provided information and then allowed to make their own decision as opposed to in the past. A lot of times I think that a lot of real estate agents felt that their role and at the time, perhaps it was more appropriate, was about making the decisions on behalf of the buyers or the sellers, educating them, but then helping them make the decision. Today, the buyers really want to see things for themselves and they want to know that they have a trusted advisor behind them. So at the end of the day, that that all speaks to a vast increase in the percentage of properties that have professional photography and professional media. And it's only going to continue if I if I have to put any money on it.

Eric Stegemann: Well, do you think this is just something that popped in my head? Do you think that it also coincides with not only the tech savvy ness and the fact that most consumers start their search online today? Do you think also that the the rise of sites like like Instagram and those types of sites where photography and you see people really spend time framing a shot versus, you know, the Facebook of two thousand six? When I joined Facebook in 2006, it was a, you know, a photo on a BlackBerry that nobody possibly would ever say was a good for a photo that I shot on my BlackBerry. But I uploaded it to Facebook through the phone. Would you say that the the rise in quality of those sites that are not real estate agents, not professionals, have driven part of it? Or do you think it's really just the fact of that the average consumer is expecting more from the professionals that they work with? 

Jeff Corn: It's a great question. I think it's actually both, I think that like we like we mentioned, yes, clearly the consumer is expecting more and they're expecting to to interact with real estate in the same way they interact with other things in their lives. Which gets to your point right where we have. It's not a coincidence that if you look at. the most heavily trafficked websites on the Internet, one of them is Amazon. Another is Instagram. And we could go on and on. And what is the key component of those sites? Right. Whether it's Facebook, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, you name it, it's imagery. It's that that they that these companies have identified that showing images is the most impactful way to impact and influence consumer behavior. And it's not an accident. Right. So so it's kind of chicken or the egg. You could say, well, is Instagram the most popular site online because of the fact that the consumers like images, or is it because of the fact that Instagram kind of new, this new the psychology of buyers and then built a business around that? And you could you could go either way? Right. But the point is that there is a ton of research. This is not about people's beliefs. This is about a lot of studies and research that indicate that consumer behavior has actually shifted. It has completely changed from 10 years ago. And the reason is because of the Internet. It's because of the fact that we've got we've got five senses. Right. And the sense when you're on the online, which is where most people spend most of their time throughout a workday, there are only there's really only one sense that that can be activated.

And that is your visual sense. So until someone invents a smell of vision. Right. Or you'll feel a computer or whatever you want to call it, when we're online, we're looking we're seeing things with our eyes. And the brain can process so much more information visually than through text or from seeing or I mean from feeling or smelling. The visual cues are so much more impactful. So what's happened is that's why Instagram is as popular as it is. People like looking at pictures, period. They are drawn to pictures, period. The picture is always going to be so much more impactful than the paragraph of text that you have below it. And so all of that work is really to say the same old adage, right, that everyone would have told you 20 years ago that a picture is worth a thousand words. Right? It's so cliche, but there's a lot behind that. It's very true. And it drives consumer behavior today. And so I guess for listeners who are interested in that topic, there are a ton of awesome, really fascinating research studies. If you Google consumer behavior and the Internet right, you'll actually identify and be able to understand how the Internet has completely changed, how people choose to buy things.

And a lot of it is about the visuals.

Eric Stegemann: I think that's I think that's a really important aspect because without thinking about it too much. One of the things we know at Tribus from our brokerage websites is the number one thing people go to on a listing page is the photography. Right. And the number two thing is if it's there is a virtual tour and then everything else falls down, the list like number three is actually the mortgage calculator. It's not the the write up about it. And people think that, you know, the write up is so important. And I think what we've had happen over the last 15 years is the write up became less and less and less important because people just go straight to the photos. And frankly, I think consumers have gotten to a point where they know that the marketing remarks on a listing is is realtor speak, where there's the jokes about using the word. What does cozy mean? Cozy means really, really, really small. Right. And those sorts of things So instead of reading these marketing remarks that are on there, they just go straight to the photos to visualize what it would be like living there. I think that's so, so important. Now, you know, you talked about getting to 50 percent of things that are using it and obviously from going up from far less than that before, 10 years before. But from what you're saying, it seems to me like every single listing should have professional photography. So how do you convince an agent in St. Louis where I have my license and I own a brokerage, how do you convince somebody there where they're selling a two hundred thousand dollar house that they need to do professional photography on the listing? 

Jeff Corn: Absolutely. I'll be I'll be frank with you that that we often at Virtuance talk about there being two types of agents, and it's no disrespect to any anybody in the business, but the two types of agents that we see are, frankly, those who get it and those who don't get it. And when we talk about getting it, what we really mean is that that those agents who understand that in order to sell something, you have to market it. And I think that oftentimes we get so caught up in the industry, in the macro trends of, oh, it's a buyer's market or it's a seller's market or things are flying off the shelf. So I don't actually need to even do anything to sell it. And I think that what we've seen over the 10 years we've been in business is that the agents who have that mentality are generally, all due respect, short lived in that it's a short term mentality. They're thinking much shorter term than those who recognize that that investing in marketing your listings is a twofold proposition. One, it is about selling the listing. All the statistics that anybody can ever share with you show definitively the impact, the significant financial impact to an agent in having professional photography. But even more than that, regardless of the market that an agent finds themselves in, it is about marketing the listing in order to market yourself, because the reality is that whether the property is two hundred thousand dollars or two million dollars, the first thing that a potential seller is going to do either right before the listing appointment or right after the listing appointment, is they're going to Google your name almost every time and they are going to Google your name.

And the first thing that's going to come up is or your listings, either your past or your current listings. And they are looking for how that listing is presented and how it compares to other things they see in the market. And it only takes three clicks. Right. And if I could show you, if we were sitting in front of a computer together, those three clicks. Right. In order to see all of the current or past listings of any agent. So your work, it's all about the reputation that you are trying to create, that you're working hard to create so that you can then sell yourself to your next potential seller as a listing agent, so that that's the first piece. And then and then getting back to sort of the more basics of it. Our job at Virtuance is to drive traffic to your listing. The reason that we want to drive traffic to your listing is, is because it's a pure supply and demand equation.

The more traffic we drive, the higher the price is that you're going to achieve and the faster you're going to sell the property. And so even if at a two hundred thousand dollars price point, we are able to help sell that property five days sooner or achieve an extra 10 showings, the impact of that could be as much as 10 percent, 20 percent from a sales price standpoint. And what if we do the math? We're talking about an extra ten thousand dollars.

Right. So so there's that value that even in a two hundred thousand dollar listing, if we're able to get five percent more because we drove more buyers and created a created some competition for that listing, if we get a couple thousand dollars more, that's a big win, not only for the agent, but also maybe more importantly for the seller, because then there's that much better chance of getting a referral from that. So it's really the full lifecycle of the real estate agents business that we're trying to impact. It's not just about that one listing.

Eric Stegemann: I think that's important. And so what I think you're overall saying is, yeah, it's an investment in the two hundred thousand our listing and you hope you get lots more two hundred thousand listings because of it, or you at least get some four hundred thousand on our listings because what you're doing is is better than what probably the average competitor in your space is doing. Right.

Jeff Corn: It's definitely all about a competitive advantage. There is no question I'll use all these.

I'll use the Colorado market as an example. We were founded in Denver. We still have our headquarters in Denver. We operate now in thirty two cities around the country. But the reason I mentioned Denver is because when we began in Denver, like I said, less than 30 percent of all properties had a professional media on the listing to market it. And at the time, believe it or not, the average price point in Denver wasn't that much higher than two hundred thousand dollars.

And so what we what we saw, though, is that the competitive advantage and edge that our clients were afforded by working with us quickly created a norm in the in the market. And so today, more than sixty five percent of listings in the Denver market have professional photography, where we're very grateful that we have the opportunity to work on the vast majority of those. And it really sets a bar right. To in order to create a competitive advantage and make sure that that you are able to walk into a listing appointment confidently knowing that you are going to compete really well because you're using the best you're doing the best thing you can to market that property.

Eric Stegemann: So from that perspective, and I know you said that there are lots of metrics and studies and things...]]>9bcffaae-e4dd-4d74-af31-2b4defe3ff0aTue, 22 Dec 2020 08:00:00 -070036:37nofull121TRIBUSMarketing and Managing A Fast Growing Brokerage with Corcoran Global LivingEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Melody Foster, The Chief Experience Officer of fastest growing brokerage in the US, Corcoran Global Living, joins this episode of Brokerage Insider to discuss managing their growth over the past year. The company went from 400 agents to over 1000 in just 11 months - during COVID no less!

Listen in as she also discusses tech and marketing for luxury brokerages.

TRANSCRIPTION

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider, this week's episode was recorded live during the Explode Virtual Conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular schedule program soon, but until then, enjoy this session. In this episode, our VP of product, Katie Ragusa, interviews Melody Foster, the chief experience officer in charge of marketing and technology for Corcoran Global Living in the California and Nevada area.

Melody Foster: I'll give it a nice to see you, Brenda. It's like I'm like, oh, I get to follow Brenda.

Katie Ragusa: That's a tough act to follow. But nice to see you, Yes, we are. We've got some powerful women here talking this afternoon. So a little background on Melody if you're not familiar with who she is. So far, she is the chief experience officer at Corcoran Global Living, which is actually the first ever Corcoran franchisee and chief experience officer. So as CXO you handle, let me see if I can get this mouthful. Branding, marketing, advertising, Lead, nurturing, PR communication, web development, all things tech. So pretty much every manifestation of the brand and marketing it in any medium. So that's a lot and you've got a ton of experience. So what brought you here and how did you become the lead on all things experience at Corcoran Global Living?

Melody Foster: So you know, my background prior to Corcoran GL or CGL, as we call it, because it's a mouthful to say. Right. Right. But prior to that, I mean, Katie and I go back several years at this point.

Now, I was with Zephyr Real Estate, which was the number one indie {brokerage} in San Francisco.

And even prior to that, I was at Paragon Real Estate, which was also a boutique firm in San Francisco and then at Pacific Union, also based at San Francisco, which became California wide prior to becoming part of another larger company we all know about. But most of my background was in marketing. And at this point, I don't think there anyone can truly say that there is a real dividing line between marketing and technology.

We leapt over that hurdle a long time ago, and I think there was just the understanding that there's a difference between technology as far as where the cable. Go into the wall, which is the technology that users use on the day to day basis. And so we do still, of course, have people that manage all those sort of systems, but really need to have someone that is looking at it from the marketing, the brand perspective, the usability, what our agents are actually using and the platforms that we're developing. And when you start going down that road, it becomes clear that you can't look at the marketing and the technology without also looking at the operational aspects and how it impacts the day to day. And that's when Zephyr actually decided to let's blend this all together. And rather than just making this so marketing specific, we decided to do the whole CSO role. And when critical, what happened when we launched that in February, Michael Mahon, who is our CEO, agreed. He definitely is vision forward with that and sees that as critically important to have that level of integration so that we are presenting the right tools in the consistency to our...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Melody Foster, The Chief Experience Officer of fastest growing brokerage in the US, Corcoran Global Living, joins this episode of Brokerage Insider to discuss managing their growth over the past year. The company went from 400 agents to over 1000 in just 11 months - during COVID no less!

Listen in as she also discusses tech and marketing for luxury brokerages.

TRANSCRIPTION

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider, this week's episode was recorded live during the Explode Virtual Conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular schedule program soon, but until then, enjoy this session. In this episode, our VP of product, Katie Ragusa, interviews Melody Foster, the chief experience officer in charge of marketing and technology for Corcoran Global Living in the California and Nevada area.

Melody Foster: I'll give it a nice to see you, Brenda. It's like I'm like, oh, I get to follow Brenda.

Katie Ragusa: That's a tough act to follow. But nice to see you, Yes, we are. We've got some powerful women here talking this afternoon. So a little background on Melody if you're not familiar with who she is. So far, she is the chief experience officer at Corcoran Global Living, which is actually the first ever Corcoran franchisee and chief experience officer. So as CXO you handle, let me see if I can get this mouthful. Branding, marketing, advertising, Lead, nurturing, PR communication, web development, all things tech. So pretty much every manifestation of the brand and marketing it in any medium. So that's a lot and you've got a ton of experience. So what brought you here and how did you become the lead on all things experience at Corcoran Global Living?

Melody Foster: So you know, my background prior to Corcoran GL or CGL, as we call it, because it's a mouthful to say. Right. Right. But prior to that, I mean, Katie and I go back several years at this point.

Now, I was with Zephyr Real Estate, which was the number one indie {brokerage} in San Francisco.

And even prior to that, I was at Paragon Real Estate, which was also a boutique firm in San Francisco and then at Pacific Union, also based at San Francisco, which became California wide prior to becoming part of another larger company we all know about. But most of my background was in marketing. And at this point, I don't think there anyone can truly say that there is a real dividing line between marketing and technology.

We leapt over that hurdle a long time ago, and I think there was just the understanding that there's a difference between technology as far as where the cable. Go into the wall, which is the technology that users use on the day to day basis. And so we do still, of course, have people that manage all those sort of systems, but really need to have someone that is looking at it from the marketing, the brand perspective, the usability, what our agents are actually using and the platforms that we're developing. And when you start going down that road, it becomes clear that you can't look at the marketing and the technology without also looking at the operational aspects and how it impacts the day to day. And that's when Zephyr actually decided to let's blend this all together. And rather than just making this so marketing specific, we decided to do the whole CSO role. And when critical, what happened when we launched that in February, Michael Mahon, who is our CEO, agreed. He definitely is vision forward with that and sees that as critically important to have that level of integration so that we are presenting the right tools in the consistency to our growing base that we have.

Katie Ragusa: And with that history and experience, you see the times we're in and the growth you've had and the changes you've had, you offer such a unique perspective then a broker owner who's selling day to day from that technology and marketing and brand story side. So we're actually going to talk to Melody about that change in brand and the growth that's come after that. So a lot of stories today about markets booming and business is growing and recruiting at all time highs even right now. So I love that spin that we get to give it. I don't want to say the word on press anymore, but it's a good positive on that. So let's talk. Before you were caught in global, you were Zephyr real estate, multi decade history Company. I mean, strong roots in the Bay Area, good, strong following group of agents that just had a really good rapport, clients that were loyal. When you changed to Corcoran Global Living, how do you let those people know that they should stick around? You're the same company, the same people that they trust. New name. How do you present that to them?

Melody Foster: You know, that was probably the part that we spent more time on than anything prior to the changeover. I mean, there's all the stuff that's related to the practicality of a change like that. We have to update materials and signage and all that stuff. But we spent more time heavily looking at making sure that the change that was happening, the brand that we chose was going to be one that still aligned with our agents are and how they see themselves that it would feel like either. Similar enough style wise or an improvement. So it couldn't be a brand that felt like it was going to be a step down or it was going to be diluted or it was going to be something that was a mismatch and that was really, really important. But even more than that, we need to make sure we needed to make sure that they are agents. Understood that fundamentally who we are and the support that we're offering and the team that's behind them was going to be consistent through the process. And so we have some really great leadership. We continue to have really great leadership. That was a part of the whole transition from day one is that we weren't going to have that turnover of leadership, that it was really important for everyone to still have a vested interest, to still be a part of it, still be in those leadership positions and connecting with agents because they have spent a lot of time developing rapport and trust and are really relying upon.

And so I think more than anything else was just, well, it was two parts, right? It was letting them know that and talking about that. But he was also walking the walk. Right. We actually had to hold true to that and not just say, oh, everything's great, it's going to be fine. And then 30 days after, everyone's like, I can't find my people anymore, what's going on? And instead it was like, oh, yeah, I love the new materials. I love some of the new platforms. I love what we're doing. This is great. And I still have all the people that I've known and liked and trusted over the years.

Katie Ragusa: Everything I will still here and there that you've introduced. And it's not exactly great. So you did move their cheese a little bit, but into a better. We did. We did, but we didn't steal it. So there you go. So now that you're affiliated with Corcoran, you're a franchisee of Corcoran, what have you been able to benefit from or leverage that brand?

Melody Foster: I mean, first, it's a beautiful brand, I mean, there's just there's no denying that know, that's one that even well before we were Corcoran any time I'd be at any kind of conference, I was always checking out their ads, their materials, you know, staying up to date with them online, all of that stuff. So it is a beautiful and established brand, having access to the very talented team of people that we do have a behind all of that brand. The materials that are furnished, the advertising that's out there, just it's that amplification, right? It's helping that recognition spread and grow by having so much that's already furnished and available to you. Zephyr was hugely successful within that small market that we're in within. Our founder started the company in nineteen seventy eight like him, and three buddies started it. And then by the time we did the transition in February, I think we were at thirty three to 50 people somewhere in that range. So we'd been like slow but steady growth over the years and really well known and respected in the community. And that's important. But getting to a broader audience, which we've done with the growth, we wanted to have a brand that was recognized outside of San Francisco. And because of both and a clear disclaimer, Barbara Corcoran is no longer associated with the corporate brands. Everybody by name is recognized. And Barbara Starr.

Right, right. But the people, the real estate industry, even if consumers or clients are not as familiar with the brand, realtors are familiar with the brand. And that's our client first and foremost. Right that's who you have to be looking at every single day is something that your agents can get behind because they're your customer. Their clients are consumers that are out there. But our clients are always going to be our agents of furnishing them with what their best tools are and getting that in front of them. So being able to leverage something that our agents already recognized had familiarity with, had followed for years, felt comfortable with and we're excited to be behind that brand was a huge part of the success that we could actually make this happen.

Katie Ragusa: What is it like transitioning from an indie to the other side?

Melody Foster: We do have a mixed bag. It's a mixed bag. I'll be honest. To the other side it's a mixed bag. There's a mixed bag. I'll be honest there it is a problem. Not supposed to say that, but it's true. It's great in so many ways because we are furnished with just, you know, we had a box of 16 grams and now we have the giant Crayola box. One hundred twenty eight. Right. We have the whole tatty. We've got all of that, which is awesome. But you do relinquish some level of control, right? Because before. When it was Zephyr, I think it was twenty thirteen, I actually did a rebrand for Zephyr, which was a terrific, although lots of sleepless nights process to go through when you're initiating a whole rebrand of a company and rewriting the style guide and redoing materials, everything from the letterhead to website and everything in between, there is not that level of control at this point. So on the one hand, that's like, oh, I want to be able to make the changes I want. And on the other hand, it frees up a lot of time because you already furnished with a lot of great stuff and you're not having to start from scratch and starting from scratch, especially if you are a boutique firm or even just a regional one. These are really expensive and taxing process to go through. And it does make it hard to be competitive when there are significantly larger organizations that are able to churn through innovation at a faster pace because they have deeper pockets. So being able to sort of leverage that behind you and lean on that definitely has been a bit freeing in that way, because it's one that we can trust in and it already has so much good assets for us.

Katie Ragusa: Right. And you chose the brand for a reason that resonated with you and you get to step out of the shadows, whether it's the best decision or a really good decision, you get to move on and do the other things that you're best not on.

Melody Foster: Exactly.

Katie Ragusa: So you I think you alluded to growth, but let's talk a little bit more specifically about the size of the cake. There are a number you are three hundred something agents that feels like a lifetime ago. But it was actually not that long ago, seven months ago, you had extreme growth. Are there any numbers that you can share with us of that versus now?

Melody Foster: Yeah, you know, Zephyr on its own, we ranged around two billion in sales volume per year, sometimes slightly under, sometimes a bit over on that one. And like I said, somewhere between the three twenty five to three, 350 fifty agent range we are now, I think a four point five billion dollar company. So more than doubled as far as sales volume and our agent count, is it something like seven fifty I want to say. Yeah. So yeah. And that's not even counting our referral agents. So it's it has been fast growth for seven months for sure. And beyond that, and I think this is an area where it doesn't get factored in a lot of times because you look at things like sales volume or GCI or agent count. But there is a whole extra nuance when you're talking about going into different market areas as well. So we used to be San Francisco Bay Area only. We now have presence in Southern California and both San Diego and Riverside counties and then we also do in the Reno Lake Tahoe area. So we're also growing geographically in addition to just office an agent count. So that's been a lot. And as you know, some insights in some more in the weeks and months ahead. So we're not done.

Katie Ragusa: I'll let you mention whatever you want to do about that. But you just kind of glossed over new markets. And I think coming from the industry, we all kind of take what's been a little bit more time about what it's actually like entering a new market. So we all know probably there's data involved you got to normalize to work with and approvals there in the data side of it. But there are also the people of this strong group from the Bay Area, and you've got agents in Reno, Tahoe and Southern California and all over the place. How do you make them feel welcome and introduce them and embed them in your group?

Melody Foster: I mean, part of it is really. I think Brenda touched on this, you have got to have the best people on your team. I mean, just nothing replaces that. Great. There's no other South that you can do for it. There's no technology that can solve that solution. You have to have great people and then you have to trust those great people. And a lot of what we've been doing, it's not just about pitching the brand and getting people to agents or out to the public. It's also about bringing staff in and the support people that are behind it so that they're a part of it and not just part of it, like there's a new sheriff in town. Here's what you have to do now, but really bring them in so they understand the culture. They're part of the team. They understand how important collaboration is, which is everything. I mean, I have a new guy in San Diego that became part of the team two and a half weeks ago with that launch. And every time we have a roll in and this is a funny thing and it seems so basic, but the people in that office, I actually set up my Gmail so that every email that comes from the principal people in that new region gets a red star on it, because I know that they absolutely, absolutely have to have responses quickly.

Katie Ragusa: And there are people waiting to hear what.

Melody Foster: Yeah, they're getting questions. It's new for them. They're going to they're trying to wing it as best they can. They're trying to be supportive. And nothing makes them feel like they're better supported. Then having those quick responses, nothing is leaving them out on a limb and then they're able to continue being that front line and helping their agents so those agents are reassured. So that's a huge part of it, quite honestly, and that goes for everything. I mean, it's from that moment on our team who makes himself a resource for the sales managers that are out there in the different regions. It's really collaborative in that way. It starts prior to launch. But it's that first 30 days after we've gone into a new market area, it's it can't be a siloed effect. It is all about collaboration and ongoing communication for sure. And then we also and this started because of Covid, actually, we've started doing town halls twice a month. We call them once a month. It's a agent panelist's discussion where we have agents from our different market areas talking about some particular aspect of the market. And then once a month, it's guest speaker, which can be on a variety of topics. Sometimes it's, you know, technology oriented, sometimes it's legal stuff, different things. But that's a companywide event.

We keep them brief, we keep them timely, and it actually gets everybody participating at one thing, not regionally specific, but because the whole thing. So you're seeing benefits. People are coming together. They're participating. They're asking good questions. They're realizing that they're part of this growing thing, which is exciting. And I think that's also been helpful as well.

Katie Ragusa: So just going back, you mentioned the word Roland, so just to make sure everybody's on the same page, I'm sorry, is adding a whole office that formerly was a different brand entirely and folding it into the Corcoran Global Living Brand. Right. You didn't just have one giant one of these. You've had lots in the past. I don't know. I can't remember how many months since February. Yeah. You've got, like a well oiled machine going now and all say that I know nothing's perfect. And internally, I don't know how you feel. The process has improved, but watching it from the outside, I mean, to repeat that process, sometimes you do multiple in a day to it a week. I mean, you guys are killing it with those. So what has gotten you to this just process that you have in place to be able to just execute.

Melody Foster: Well and I'm going to give a shout out to you and Eric at this point.

So TRIBUS is our partner for website. But it's true. But you do to have great money. But no money changed hands now. But you do have to have great vendor partners that you can rely on for this stuff, because sometimes we have months of planning and sometimes things happen far more quickly. So you do have to have those workflows figured out. You have to know who your go to people are. Everyone has to be well equipped with they have to know how much authority they have so they can act on decisions quickly so that you're not getting things bottlenecked. I think that's an important part of it, having good vendors you can rely on and bringing them into the fold as well. So you're not treating them like an outside vendor. You're treating them like a partner so that they actually can be a partner for you to make these things successful. I think that's a really important part of it.

And then the other part, and this was this was a request that was initiated by our VP of Tech, Hud Bixler, and was. Brilliant, which was after our first one, because we kind of had a pause of some of these when it first happens or first one after we kind of decided, OK, let's keep pressing forward, which was back in June. We did a post-mortem on it. Let's get together. Where do we need to fine tune this? What was it that could have been better? What should we have started sooner? That was the biggest one. Which part of the process needs to be started earlier?

Because anything that we have control over. Right, like if it's something where it's a matter of making an update to someone's bio on a website, I can jump in at ten o'clock on a Friday night and do]]>c9143841-2cfb-42ca-ab66-eb2ba9f3c44aMon, 30 Nov 2020 06:00:00 -070054:54nofull120TRIBUSLuxury Second Home Brokerage Marketing with Scenic Sothebys Adam PfaffEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

After COVID hit, the demand for second homes dramatically increased. Those living in big cities flocked to drivable second home communities like near lakes, The Hamptons, and around Florida - including communities like Destin, FL and the surrounding 30A region.

As the Director of Marketing & PR of Scenic Sotheby's International Realty, Adam Pfaff has seen firsthand the explosion in demand for second homes in and around the Destin area.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the explore virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then, enjoy this session

Starting things off here, let me first introduce you, Adam Pfaff is the director of marketing and public relations at Scenic Sotheby's International Realty in beautiful, gorgeous Destin, Florida, the Destin, Florida area. I should say most people will know it there, but I think, you know, you have, you have offices along 30A, which technically aren't in Dustin and along 98, which Santa Rosa beach, I think is where your other offices, right?

Adam Pfaff

Correct. Yeah. So we have we have an office in each of the major markets that we serve. So we have one essentially located here on the Eastern side of Dustin right on 98. We then have one in the heart of 30A and blue mountain beach. And then we have a, another office on the Eastern side of Santa Rosa beach, which is technically an inlet beach. So that office definitely is able to serve our micro markets over in Rosemary beach, Panama city, beach spaces like that.

Eric Stegemann (01:14):

So that's great. So I guess w where I should have kicked off and kind of mentioned is one of the things that I wanted to have Adam on today particularly about is is about marketing, but, but also specifically on second home marketing and again, the rental market marketing, because in the area that is the big pole. It is a second home community, a rental community. And so I think, you know, even if you're not, if you're a broker that's listening into this right now, even if you're not in one of those markets, I think it's important to know what's going on in these types of markets, because you can know how to leverage it or leverage relationships as people change their environments because of COVID. And we're going to get into a little bit of that. So first of all, let's kick off the softball question here. How's the market been?

Adam Pfaff

Man, the market's been, it's been crazy. And I know that's kind of like the standard real estate answer. Everyone just says, it's crazy, but there's really not a better adjective to use because you know, our agents are they're out there hustling, they're working as hard as they possibly can. I know my staff and all of our operations teams are busier than we've been, you know, even on the uptick in the market that we've seen for the last few years, just the amount of volume of transactions that we're doing is so great. The you know, we're definitely feeling an inventory pinch right now. Our inventory is down to under two months. So just under 1.8 months of inventory currently on the market, whereas pre pandemic, we were, you know, in a most of our markets were an...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

After COVID hit, the demand for second homes dramatically increased. Those living in big cities flocked to drivable second home communities like near lakes, The Hamptons, and around Florida - including communities like Destin, FL and the surrounding 30A region.

As the Director of Marketing & PR of Scenic Sotheby's International Realty, Adam Pfaff has seen firsthand the explosion in demand for second homes in and around the Destin area.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the explore virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then, enjoy this session

Starting things off here, let me first introduce you, Adam Pfaff is the director of marketing and public relations at Scenic Sotheby's International Realty in beautiful, gorgeous Destin, Florida, the Destin, Florida area. I should say most people will know it there, but I think, you know, you have, you have offices along 30A, which technically aren't in Dustin and along 98, which Santa Rosa beach, I think is where your other offices, right?

Adam Pfaff

Correct. Yeah. So we have we have an office in each of the major markets that we serve. So we have one essentially located here on the Eastern side of Dustin right on 98. We then have one in the heart of 30A and blue mountain beach. And then we have a, another office on the Eastern side of Santa Rosa beach, which is technically an inlet beach. So that office definitely is able to serve our micro markets over in Rosemary beach, Panama city, beach spaces like that.

Eric Stegemann (01:14):

So that's great. So I guess w where I should have kicked off and kind of mentioned is one of the things that I wanted to have Adam on today particularly about is is about marketing, but, but also specifically on second home marketing and again, the rental market marketing, because in the area that is the big pole. It is a second home community, a rental community. And so I think, you know, even if you're not, if you're a broker that's listening into this right now, even if you're not in one of those markets, I think it's important to know what's going on in these types of markets, because you can know how to leverage it or leverage relationships as people change their environments because of COVID. And we're going to get into a little bit of that. So first of all, let's kick off the softball question here. How's the market been?

Adam Pfaff

Man, the market's been, it's been crazy. And I know that's kind of like the standard real estate answer. Everyone just says, it's crazy, but there's really not a better adjective to use because you know, our agents are they're out there hustling, they're working as hard as they possibly can. I know my staff and all of our operations teams are busier than we've been, you know, even on the uptick in the market that we've seen for the last few years, just the amount of volume of transactions that we're doing is so great. The you know, we're definitely feeling an inventory pinch right now. Our inventory is down to under two months. So just under 1.8 months of inventory currently on the market, whereas pre pandemic, we were, you know, in a most of our markets were an upper end luxury market. So eight months of inventory in certain wasn't

Uncommon, but we're not seeing any of that now. It's it's definitely a fight to get people really what they want but we're doing it. So yeah, it's a, it's definitely a hustling market and we're not only are we seeing inventory down values, just keep rising and rising. That demand is not slowing. So

 Eric Stegemann (03:21):

So Talk about that, you know, as I understand it in the market and I should mention in full disclosure I purchased a home from Adam's brokerage in the not distant past here. So I somewhat know some of the questions that I'm asking, but, you know, talk to me about multiple offers because everything I've heard with the area is every home that goes in the market is pretty much getting, not, not just scooped up in the first week, but multiple offers over asking price in the first few weeks.

Adam Pfaff (03:53):

Yep. Yeah. So, you know, number one thing, if, if you're a broker or an agent listening in and you know, the most important marketing strategy is a pricing strategy, number one. And so in order to create that frenzy, your property has to be priced correctly. Luckily we're having so many transactions right now that it's hard not to price correctly. We'd still do have aspirational owners that want to see what they can get. But even in those cases, we're still finding backup offers being placed sometimes three or four. We're having gold front listings that are going under contract which really are the cream of the crop of our higher end market. And even they're getting three or four backup offers, and it's exceptionally important that agents are familiarized with the process of a backup offer because in a lot of cases, you might have buyers representation that is familiar with how they work in a listing agent that might be a little bit newer, that doesn't necessarily know how to navigate those waters. And, and that can ruin a deal and really put a bad taste in people's mouth. So, you know, our brokers we're lucky that we have a strong leadership team. We're doing constant training on how to manage both sides of that multiple offers scenario. And it's deemed really helpful. We've, we've had properties that, you know, people put stuff on our contract site on scene with viewing contingencies. And so, you know, and that might be a week out. Yeah,

Eric Stegemann (05:21):

We did that. That's why I'm laughing at it.

Adam Pfaff (05:23):

And so, you know, it's important that the agents are handling those backup offers correctly and really keeping them in the running cause we have plenty of people that come down and think they love something. And then by the time they get down a week later, something might be better, better available to fit their needs and being able to handle those second and third place contracts with ease is good. And, you know, the most important, especially here in Florida is really how to handle that earnest money deposit, that EMD money that's being traded and really training your buyers who might be in a second, third, or even fourth position seat with the contract to be ready, to be able to make those deposits down and be willing to make larger deposits than they would a few years ago in order to stay competitive.

Eric Stegemann (06:07):

Yeah. I mean, I know when we bought our house the earnest money deposit that was requested in st. Louis where I was a broker the earnest money deposit was almost considered a joke. It was more nominal than anything else. I mean, it was a hundred dollars, $500, maybe a thousand dollars at most that I ever saw was probably $2,500 for anything that wasn't a commercial building and down here, you know, it, it was much more than that. Let's put it that way was the expectation to show that you were serious and you had the money to be able to put down, to buy a house. Right. So you know, is there, is there a big tip for those that are listening, if you're a broker listening in, is there one particular big tip you could give to a broker owner or a staff person that's listening right now on something that they should either look into from a multiple offer situation or any, any training that you've seen online, that's good on providing for multiple offer situations?

Adam Pfaff (07:10):

Yeah, I think the number one thing that we've seen success with is role playing with with other agents in the office. And really it's just figuring out from both sides, both the listing and the buy side, figuring out what questions are gonna come up during that whole process. And really being able to kind of put your emotions aside, not rush any deals, which means when we rush, we miss the details which make or break those deals for their clients. So really getting comfortable with that whole process, asking those hard questions, being persistent without, you know, maybe ruining our reputation, our reputation in the market. But then number one thing is familiarize yourself with the form. So there are, you know, acknowledgement of backup contracts that, you know, the seller selling a client needs to see, you know, they need to acknowledge those.

Adam Pfaff (08:01):

And so the listing agents especially need to know how to handle those documents, know how to really read them, know the fine print, see how second, third, and fourth position seats will work and understand escalation clauses or best and final offers. So there's differences in the two and you really have to understand, you know, Hey, this client, when you're weighing those additional offers, Hey, this client has the best and final that looks great, but this one started lower, but has an escalation clause, you know, really understanding how to read those and feel comfortable explaining them to your client in a way they're gonna understand. We're lucky that most of the homeowners down here, these are not their first properties and a lot of times use their, their 20th property that they purchased. And so they're used to some of this stuff, they're there, they're savvy with the market. But a lot of times, especially if we're a listing agent that hasn't done a ton of had to do a ton of backup contracts really being able to explain the details of those things like escalation clauses is really important in being able to, to, to make it understandable to those people that might not work in finance.

Eric Stegemann (09:11):

Yeah. so for those that aren't, or that are listening, that maybe haven't heard of an escalation clause before, because I actually mentioned this to some brokers in the not distant past, and they didn't know what this was. Why don't you explain how an escalation clause works?

Adam Pfaff (09:29):

Yeah. So I'm full disclosure. I'm not a practicing realtor here in this market. So, you know,

Eric Stegemann (09:35):

Do you want a license though, right? You are.

Adam Pfaff (09:37):

I am licensed. Yeah. I'm not an, I'm not an active realtor. So so my explanation is not going to be as deep as, you know, a super experienced broker, but essentially an escalation clause allows you, as, you know, as you represent, as you are representing a client, it gives you the ability to negotiate up to a certain amount over an asking price or over where a current contract is. So essentially your client will allow you to go up to a certain point based on a best and final that another client might've given or a list price, depending on how that clause is written. So it's not a carp lodge to make as many offers as you want on your client's behalf. But what it can mean is it can mean that there's not a hesitation between the selling and the buying agent when you're negotiating price. Because if there's an escalation clause present, you can pretty much say, Hey, these people are going to go, you know, 1% over the highest, best and final on this property, 5% over list and know what that deal is going to be. So you can really expedite things without having to go back and forth and back and forth. And, you know, it eliminates emotions which, and this market is exceptionally important.

Eric Stegemann (10:52):

Very, very sound a thing to do. If you're in a broker, if you're in a market where there are multiple offers going on the next thing, you know, in the, in the vein of second home markets that I would ask you about is obviously when the virus did people that had a vacation rental houses, Airbnbs, you know verbose those types of things. I think they were, they got hit pretty hard. Cause the expectation was the summer revenue was probably just getting ready to pick up for you. How has it been or what have you seen are, are they coming around and everything is okay now or are they still being hit pretty hard.

Adam Pfaff (11:31):

Yeah. So when the pandemic hit Florida specifically, we did close short term rentals. So I believe it was, they closed our beaches and then for public beaches and they they pretty much closed down short term rentals. So it was illegal for a rental management company. And BRBO even if you were independently managing your property to do short term rentals to an out of state person and they closed those down for, I believe about six weeks. And then when it happened, when it opened though the companies that had been able to maintain staffs were able to keep their websites as clean and easy to utilize as possible. They saw immediate returns with guests coming in because you know, certain areas did limit how many people could kind of be in certain places at a time. But overall we saw a lot of people coming in, especially large houses.

Adam Pfaff (12:29):

So with us being in a market that is sprinkled with both large homes, as well as condos, we definitely saw the immediate reaction was people gravitating towards those homes people that hadn't seen their family out of town, they could all get together, gather one location, feel like they were quarantined to the outside world, enjoy the beauty that we had in our national surroundings with the beach and the Bay is, and the state parks and the trails and still feel a sense of safety. And we've continued to see that we, my wife and I laughed, we, we ran to the grocery store. One of the things about living on an Island is you kind of have to take a track to, to go towards some, some normal conveniences. So we made the track to go to the grocery and we said, man, this was last weekend.

Adam Pfaff (13:16):

You know, three days after a hurricane and said the traffic is like, it is during the summer. We just, you know, may touch base with the Ronald management companies. And they said, yeah, they're not slowing down. They're you know, we normally would see the last weekend in July be the last busy weekend. And then it pick up for labor day, but we've seen little depths, but the consistent traffic and that it can consistent bookings they've maintained, which has been great for those people buying secondary homes. Usually right now is the time that a owner would take their property, block it out, do repairs, and then ready it for the sales market. But we're still seeing agents having to juggle turn days, which pretty much means certain people leave. It has a certain amount of time to get cleaned. The next group comes in and the agents have to show all the cleaners are up at the house in most cases. And even here at the end of September, getting into October, we're still having to juggle those. So the rentals have been

Eric Stegemann (14:16):

Strong. That's a, that's great to hear. Cause I, you know, I think there was a lot of worry if you listen to CNBC business news there was a lot of worry about the real estate market falling apart in, in second home communities, right. When this happened. In fact, I think the CEO redsin came out and said they're toast. I mean, literally I think that's the quote that he gave and from our data analysis that we've seen Travis, is there anything but toast? And I think Adam's conversation here is proven not to be the case now, Adam, you know, I want to ask you a little bit about marketing since that's your specialty. How, how is as somebody who's been a, an agent before, but has a specialty in the marketing side of the business how has marketing in a second home community different from maybe somebody who's selling primary homes in a city like Atlanta?

Adam Pfaff (15:09):

Yeah, so, you know, I came from a practicing realtor in a majority primary market. We had a secondary market within 30...]]>e2f8d163-f7ae-43fe-be5c-a963f2f44a52Mon, 16 Nov 2020 07:00:00 -070037:14nofull119TRIBUSBuilding The Largest Independent Brokerage in Miami with Jorge GuerraEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Jorge Guerra built one of the most successful brokerages in Miami and the South Florida real estate market. RESF, Real Estate Sales Force, has over 450 agents and has grown to one of the largest independent brokerages in the Miami market by focusing on what agents need.

TRANSCRIPTION

 (00:00):

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the explore virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then enjoy this session in this episode, our VP of product, Katie Ragusa interviews, Jorge Guerra, the founder of RESF, the Real Estate Sales Force with 450 agents in the South Florida area. He's also the 2020 chairman of the Miami association of Realtors.

Katie Ragusa (00:34):

So I just wanted to tell everybody a little bit about who they're going to be hearing from. So Eric mentioned some of your credentials just leading into your session, but in addition to that, George launches, brokerage firm, real estate Sales force, or our ESF 15 years ago. And he's since grown it into four offices and nearly 500 agents. So they cover the South Florida market. And most recently he was named 2020 chairman of the Miami association of Realtors, the largest real estate association in the nation and the 2021 global liaison for the national association of Realtors. So lots of credentials there, you run a brokerage, you hold, you wear many hats. So I think today we want to focus on operating on and keeping your brokerage running in a post COVID environment and just lessons that hopefully we won't be here forever in these circumstances. So lessons really that we can apply to any major shift in the industry. So I remember I got my license back in 2008 during the downturn. So there, there just seems like, no matter what, if you're in the business long enough, you're going to hit some crisis or, or something is gonna rock your world or our industry. So I really want to talk about lessons that we can apply longer term. So George, I think you're muted there. So hopefully we can hear from you,

Jorge Guerra (01:59):

You know what? I was talking to my executive assistant in between class and asking him for a water. So

Katie Ragusa (02:06):

Man of water so George, what makes your brokerage res special and unique as a company?

Jorge Guerra (02:15):

Ooh, I don't think we have enough time for that Katie to be, but you know what, I'm going to be honest with you. I think what makes us special honesty is number one, we're, we're an independent company. So, so we have a great pulse on what's going on in the market and, and being an independent company means I only have one boss and it's my wife. Besides that I'm able to move and shift at the speed of now and get as creative...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Jorge Guerra built one of the most successful brokerages in Miami and the South Florida real estate market. RESF, Real Estate Sales Force, has over 450 agents and has grown to one of the largest independent brokerages in the Miami market by focusing on what agents need.

TRANSCRIPTION

 (00:00):

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the explore virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then enjoy this session in this episode, our VP of product, Katie Ragusa interviews, Jorge Guerra, the founder of RESF, the Real Estate Sales Force with 450 agents in the South Florida area. He's also the 2020 chairman of the Miami association of Realtors.

Katie Ragusa (00:34):

So I just wanted to tell everybody a little bit about who they're going to be hearing from. So Eric mentioned some of your credentials just leading into your session, but in addition to that, George launches, brokerage firm, real estate Sales force, or our ESF 15 years ago. And he's since grown it into four offices and nearly 500 agents. So they cover the South Florida market. And most recently he was named 2020 chairman of the Miami association of Realtors, the largest real estate association in the nation and the 2021 global liaison for the national association of Realtors. So lots of credentials there, you run a brokerage, you hold, you wear many hats. So I think today we want to focus on operating on and keeping your brokerage running in a post COVID environment and just lessons that hopefully we won't be here forever in these circumstances. So lessons really that we can apply to any major shift in the industry. So I remember I got my license back in 2008 during the downturn. So there, there just seems like, no matter what, if you're in the business long enough, you're going to hit some crisis or, or something is gonna rock your world or our industry. So I really want to talk about lessons that we can apply longer term. So George, I think you're muted there. So hopefully we can hear from you,

Jorge Guerra (01:59):

You know what? I was talking to my executive assistant in between class and asking him for a water. So

Katie Ragusa (02:06):

Man of water so George, what makes your brokerage res special and unique as a company?

Jorge Guerra (02:15):

Ooh, I don't think we have enough time for that Katie to be, but you know what, I'm going to be honest with you. I think what makes us special honesty is number one, we're, we're an independent company. So, so we have a great pulse on what's going on in the market and, and being an independent company means I only have one boss and it's my wife. Besides that I'm able to move and shift at the speed of now and get as creative as I want to. And for me, that flexibility and that ability to pivot and market at, at the speed of now works best for me personally, you know, luckily real estate, there's so many ways to do business, so many different models that you can operate. It's really what, what fits your and what makes you move. But what, what makes us special in my opinion is really a commitment that I made almost 15 years ago.

Jorge Guerra (03:08):

And now it was a simple one and that was that we were going to videotape every single one of our listings, whether it was an efficiency or whether it was a mega mansion. You know, we wanted to treat everybody the same. And you know, the lessons that I've learned is that my, my apartment tenant 10 years from now was a multimillionaire. And I want to make sure that throughout the whole entire experience, that they've always felt that they were my number one client. So I think the best way to, to explain what makes us special was really that, you know, when the internet boomed, you know, I was 27 years old in a market where the average broker was 57 years old. I'm sorry, the average agent was 57 years old. And the average broker was 63 years old. And the internet boomed and being 27, being a tech native first-generation with a computer going into college, you know, I sort of had an aha moment, you know, and my aha moment was that when the internet comes, you know, the internet is really going to change the way that we play on many levels, you know, not only from a marketing perspective, but from a reputation perspective.

Jorge Guerra (04:10):

So, so, so think that what makes us special was that we recognize that very early on. And when we shifted our business model as time went on, everybody sort of adapted to what we were doing. And I think that we were able to build a strong reputation first, and we've been able to carry that reputation really because of our consistency. So I think what makes us special besides all that is the fact that we've been consistent and consistently also innovating as we'll go through. And we'll talk about some of the things that we've been going through. COVID, you'll see how we've been able to shift and move. And I think everybody will get great value from it.

Katie Ragusa (04:45):

Definitely. And you mentioned you were young entering the business in a world that just the dynamic and the norms were different. And sometimes I think it takes that fresh take fresh set of eyes to really turn things upside down. And not just as a broker, but sometimes even staff or a marketing team that can be really helpful, not just age, but just that fresh take sometimes from a different industry entirely. So I think what you mentioned about being able to pivot is really key. And that, I mean, if it happens all the time, we're just being nimble is necessary. So we're going to get into that more, but before we get super operational running a brokerage, can you tell me how the market in South Florida? So your Miami area specifically, right. How is it handling COVID,

Jorge Guerra (05:30):

You know what great question. And you'd be surprised the resiliency of us Realtors and how we're able to operate and shift faster than you can ever imagine for a three or a 6% commission. It's amazing, but our market is high, you know, luckily for us, when it comes to quarantining at home, home being the key word home is now an essential part of, of our lives. And very lucky for us very early on our governor realized how our industry was and kept it essential and which allowed us to number one, help the first responders that were coming down, moving down help, you know, the foreign nationals that were also here as well. As COVID started unraveling, what we noticed was a strong demand for the suburbs for single family homes, for people moving away from that condo. Hence a lot of people from the North East New York started coming down.

Jorge Guerra (06:24):

So, so to be quite honest with you, we are on fire. You know, we, we have, we have more injuries than we had inventory. And we're getting offers over asking price and I'm seeing this, which I haven't seen ever I'm even getting Realtors, offering their commission as part of the deal in order to get their, their deals in which talks to me about the level of demand and how desperate people are to get a home in this once in a lifetime interest rate opportunity that, that, that I'd make is really fueling a lot of the market as well.

Katie Ragusa (06:56):

Totally. Yeah, that absolutely helps. So sometimes when we're in the throws of this crisis, it's hard to see beyond it, either direction, Cree posts, but tell us a little bit about like, let's take a step back before we get really into it. And where was your business and what was your main focus as a broker owner premium?

Jorge Guerra (07:15):

So great question. And you know what I think like most people, we entered 2020, you know, from a strong 2019 and all indicators were pointing to us that the market was going to continue going to continue at that pace. So, you know what, we started the year with full speed ahead shooting on all cylinders, you know practicing real estate, as hard as we could trying to take advantage of the market that was coming ahead. So, so think that we didn't see COVID in our rear view mirror at all. We were full speed ahead and you know, business was booming. Stock market was booming, the economy was booming. You know, I don't think anything that anybody did in any sector can do any wrong at that point.

Katie Ragusa (07:57):

And it hasn't stopped pooing for you guys. So we'll talk about that more too. But what about the day when it hit you that this pandemic was real? Tell me about that day for you as a business owner and what was the first thing you did? So great question. And you know, what the, the, the first thing I did was honestly, I retreated into my office and I started the bank. And what, what I thought about what was really w what all brokers probably thought during the beginning of COVID is, you know, what, I have a fixed overhead that isn't going to go away and all business has stopped to a halt. And I wasn't worried too much about my office rent as much as I was worried about the employees that I was maintaining you know, before COVID, and I knew I know how important they need it, or how much they needed me after COVID more than ever. So for me, it was really analyzing, looking at my savings, looking at my reserves, asking myself, you know, I

Speaker 4 (08:56):

Need to hold some people, how am I going to hold them? How long can I hold them? And really planning and thinking for worst case scenario, really at that beginning hour, you know, short-term and a long-term plan, you know, how am I going to be able to figure this out? And remember that I've been in the business 22 years, I've been a broker for 15, but I was born in the boom. And I was raised in the crash. And, you know, what being, you know, in a terrible market was something that, you know, I sort of grew up in. So I was thinking back of how we operated back then and what were we going to do? What should were different this times. And again, just, you know, no way to really predict the future, but really to try to prepare myself for what worst case can come.

Speaker 4 (09:35):

So that was what happened right off the bat. The second thing that happened right off the bat was as a real estate broker, I have almost 500 agents that look up to me for leadership and direction. So as the leader, I needed to come out fast, I needed to go with some direction and say, Hey guys, you know, we're alive. I, you know, we're working on a plan, you know, w w we're gonna figure this out. I've been in this terrible situations before, you know, we're going to get through with this. And, and my, my first initial message was that we're here, you know, we're going to open up new lines of communication, you know, and, and, and before we came from, let's meet in my office, or give me a quick call to obviously the explosion of innovation that was there before, like zoom. And I'll all of a sudden, you know, I went from having meetings that were 20 to 30 people to all of a sudden getting a zoom room with 350 agents, you know, looking to see what is going on, how we're going to operate. And again, where are you starting to shift a little bit of honestly, how I was going to operate and moving forward, even, you know, after COVID has gone.

Katie Ragusa (10:39):

Yeah. So take that time to retreat, make some quick decisions to make your team feel comfortable. Your agents feel secure. Like there is a plan and then plan for the longterm, that worst case scenario, like you were saying. You talked about shifting business. We talked about pivoting a little bit. Obviously technology has become more important than ever these days. Social distancing, having meetings online, giant zoom conferences, like you were talking about with hundreds of people like we also have today. So did you already have a lot of that in place before, and what have you had to do to shift or add or change to sustain this?

Jorge Guerra (11:19):

So, so you, you know what I think tools like zoom we've had before, but we really didn't use it. I can tell you this, that I was probably the, the last generation that isn't comfortable getting in front of a camera and talking, I think the younger generation with Snapchat and all these other tools, you know, are very comfortable, but I wasn't. And I think from, from a, from a meeting perspective and from a team perspective, I liked the face to face and I was used to the conference call. Okay, keep in mind that like Realtors, us brokers we're face to face. We're no syndromes with our agents, especially the good ones. And we, we get fuel from the agents coming into the office. High-Fiving, you know, you know, you know, congratulations on your commission or strategizing on a deal. And, and COVID took that away.

Speaker 4 (12:02):

You know, we were compressed to behind a screen. So I had to sort of think, you know, and, and strategize, how are we going to continue to build culture? How are we going to continue to do, you know, the traditions that we've had in person and maybe magnify them, because guess what, we're home alone. You know, we're going through our mental stresses, you know, we're, we're, we're stuck with our family members all the time, you know, how can I make being a real estate agent still enjoyable and exciting and fun. And, and that was really my challenge, you know? And I'll share with you some of the things that we've done that, that I think for me has really moved the needle. And I think if you guys bring this into your brokerage, I think you guys can have some fun with it. So every Monday on zoom, I do, what's called coffee with George.

Speaker 4 (12:47):

And I get a big, you know, cup of Cuban coffee. And and I start the week nine o'clock zoom. You can do it from your car. You can do it from your office. And I limited it to 15 minutes, okay. This is not an hour meeting. This is a 15 minute hurrah, you know, get you pumped up and get you to attack the week. And what I do is I start off with the truth, you know, I miss you guys, you know, I can't wait to see you guys in person. You know, I talked to him about the state of the market, you know, and recently, you know, the state of the market was, you know, simple unrest. You know, we had

Jorge Guerra (13:16):

A COVID pandemic going on

Speaker 4 (13:19):

And we had, you know, great interest rates in a booming real estate market. You know, the, the second thing we were talking about is marketing. What is our message today? And our message was, you know, how we operate in a post COVID environment, you know, from a marketing perspective, you know, traditional things don't work. You know, we need to show them, Hey, we show properties with a mask, you spray our hands. We use gloves. You know, we need to sort of educate our audience that, Hey, our business is still continuing.

Jorge Guerra (13:44):

So again, if we were to harp on that, I would have my lenders

Speaker 4 (13:46):

Talk about the interest rates. Hey guys, what interest rates should we be talking about? I would have my attorney and my contract manager talk about what's going on from a contract perspective, Hey, extensions, aren't being, you know, extended people are looking for, you know, faster sales,...]]>49186b2f-793e-494f-8873-b333ea79afb7Mon, 26 Oct 2020 11:00:00 -070030:06nofull118TRIBUSHow To Succeed In A Tough and Competitive Real Estate Brokerage Market with Michael NourmandMost brokerages never make a generational transition, and according to RealTrends, more than 50% of all brokerages are currently for sale due to this. However, Michael Nournmand, and the Nournmand family, have successfully upended these statistics by running a multi-generational real estate brokerage in Los Angeles - one of the most competitive markets in the US.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:02):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology today, I'm very fortunate to be joined by Michael Nourmand. He's the president of Knorr modern associates, an independent real estate brokerage in the LA area. Michael, thanks so much for joining us.

Michael Nourmand (00:22):

Thanks Eric. It's a pleasure to be on a, on the podcast.

Eric Stegemann (00:25):

Great. Well, I'm excited to ask you some questions about the market and how things are going, but first, before we do that, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and I know your family history in the, in the real estate business. And tell us a little bit about that and how Norman and associates got started.

Michael Nourmand (00:43):

So I was born and raised in Los Angeles, went to local schools, graduated from USC. I was an undergrad business major, and I always liked being around people. I would say that the people, part of the business, the social aspect was what initially caught my interest. My parents would talk real estate at the table. My siblings thought it was boring. I thought it was interesting. I wanted to kind of know how the deals were going to come together. Even kind of for my apartments, but when I turned 13, the theme of the party was monopoly. So it was definitely something that, yeah, we still like something that, that peaked my interest. And then when I was finishing at USC, I had already gotten my real estate license and had closed a couple of deals. And once I got my first taste, I was hooked and the rest was history.

Eric Stegemann (01:35):

So you started selling real estate to him while you were in college?

Michael Nourmand (01:39):

Yeah, I closed my first deal. I think I was either 20 or 21, but I pretty sure I was 20 when it, when it closed.

Eric Stegemann (Most brokerages never make a generational transition, and according to RealTrends, more than 50% of all brokerages are currently for sale due to this. However, Michael Nournmand, and the Nournmand family, have successfully upended these statistics by running a multi-generational real estate brokerage in Los Angeles - one of the most competitive markets in the US.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:02):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology today, I'm very fortunate to be joined by Michael Nourmand. He's the president of Knorr modern associates, an independent real estate brokerage in the LA area. Michael, thanks so much for joining us.

Michael Nourmand (00:22):

Thanks Eric. It's a pleasure to be on a, on the podcast.

Eric Stegemann (00:25):

Great. Well, I'm excited to ask you some questions about the market and how things are going, but first, before we do that, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and I know your family history in the, in the real estate business. And tell us a little bit about that and how Norman and associates got started.

Michael Nourmand (00:43):

So I was born and raised in Los Angeles, went to local schools, graduated from USC. I was an undergrad business major, and I always liked being around people. I would say that the people, part of the business, the social aspect was what initially caught my interest. My parents would talk real estate at the table. My siblings thought it was boring. I thought it was interesting. I wanted to kind of know how the deals were going to come together. Even kind of for my apartments, but when I turned 13, the theme of the party was monopoly. So it was definitely something that, yeah, we still like something that, that peaked my interest. And then when I was finishing at USC, I had already gotten my real estate license and had closed a couple of deals. And once I got my first taste, I was hooked and the rest was history.

Eric Stegemann (01:35):

So you started selling real estate to him while you were in college?

Michael Nourmand (01:39):

Yeah, I closed my first deal. I think I was either 20 or 21, but I pretty sure I was 20 when it, when it closed.

Eric Stegemann (01:47):

That's funny. Our histories are almost the identical when it comes to that. I actually started selling real estate in college too, and ended up changing my entire life trajectory to get into the real estate industry. And here I am 20 something years later because I fell in love with the industry after selling it to pay, to go to college. So funny, we have a, a similar start there around the exact same time in our lives. Tell me, tell me a little bit about the company, cause I know it, you know, it's obviously a family business, but tell me a little bit about how many agents you have and we're specifically you're you're located in the LA area.

Michael Nourmand (02:24):

So my dad started the company in 1976. It was one office, probably a little bit bigger than a modern walking closet. And then over the years my mom got in the business in the late eighties and my mom did really, really well. So they grew the, they grew the company to have a second office in Brentwood. So Brentwood is right next to Santa Monica. That's probably the easiest way. It's just East of Santa Monica, city of Santa Monica. And then we opened our third office in Hollywood in 2000 and beginning of 2008. And we've had three offices, about 175 agents on a good year. We'll do we did just, just really close to a billion dollars in sales volume. And you're talking anywhere from maybe 500 to 600 give or take sales transactions a year. So it's a, it it's a family business.

Michael Nourmand (03:28):

It's a boutique. We do a fair amount of high end, but we do a very diverse range of price points and product types. The culture is very warm. It's a very flat environment. I respond to all of my agents, emails, texts. My top agents will get back to other agents at the company, even if they're newer, it's a, it's a really nice place to work and it's a special place. And it's been really nice serving, you know, serving the agents staff and management team. I've been running the day to day since the beginning of 2008.

Eric Stegemann (04:08):

Wow. You took over in an interesting time there to jump in in 2008. So w what was that like to, to jump in and take over and be in the middle of a, of a recession? Like we were back then? Rough, honest answer folks.

Michael Nourmand (04:27):

Yeah, rough. So there was a title rep and he kind of looked at me and he's like, I don't know. I don't you know, I'm not jealous. I'm trying to think of the right way of saying it, but basically he's like, I don't envy your job today. So it was rough, you know, it was rough. The market was, was, was bad, especially kind of the fourth quarter of 2008. And the first quarter of 2009, it was it was really, it was bad. But I did still enjoy the job. It allowed me to gain really valuable experience because up until that point, I had only been in good markets. So now I got to cut my teeth on running the brokerage in a bad market. And as you know, and some of the listeners may know it's a thin margin business. So the difference of doing 10% of business could mean making hundreds of thousands of dollars or losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Michael Nourmand (05:26):

It's a very, very, it's a very small thing. So I think that sometimes people don't really look at all of the expenses that go into running a successful well run and competitive brokerage in today's world. So I had a lot of cost cutting to do, and there was a point where I kept adding agents and cutting costs and the losses kept getting worse. But then like everything, you know, we were, we had the financial wherewithal and the commitment, and there were no new companies coming into the market. I mean, it wasn't like, you know, for like 2012 until let's say 2017, 18, there was a new company every year coming into the market with a different, I call it a new company with a new promise, right? Every year there was a new, there was a new company telling you why the model was broken and what they were going to do to sort of solve that issue conveniently.

Michael Nourmand (06:26):

So I got through that and did a lot of cost cutting. And we went, we went over the budget and we went line item by line item. We went from the top to the bottom and we cut every single thing that we thought would not be an issue for our agents to make a living. So things that we could cut that we thought, okay, this isn't going to prevent my agent from doing business. They're still going to run their business more or less the way it is. And things that I thought would affect their, you know, their business, whether, you know, cutting too much staff or cutting too much marketing. We stayed away from, and then by the time 2010 rolls around by the end of 2010, I think we were slightly in the black. So I had 2008 and 2009, my first two years were, were, were losers. And then after that you know, 2010, I got back in the black, and then it kind of all the work that I put in, you know, during the downmarket started to pay off,

Eric Stegemann (07:29):

I, I believe that a wholehearted, the, the, if you look at a lot of tech companies that are out today many of them started in, in bad times and it made them lean and mean as opposed to you know, fat with expenses and use to the, those times when things are so great. And I think, you know, being an, either starting a brokerage, I've said this many times the past, starting a brokerage, or, you know, in your case, taking over a brokerage right in the middle of this there's no better business school. There's no, no class in business school that can do a better job of teaching you how to best run a company than jumping in where you did. So you know, obviously you jump in, you've got this company, you, but you've been selling real estate before that. So, you know, what are the big things you've seen change in that LA market particularly in the markets that you guys specialize in, what are the biggest changes that you've seen in the 20 years that you've been in the business and certainly in the last 12 that you've been running the company?

Michael Nourmand (08:33):

Well, I think you kind of had more of a mom and pop community you know, company, the person who ran the business, their name on the door. And then, and some of this is me just, you know, listening to other people talk. And then you kind of had like the nineties, which was sort of like larger companies, corporate, you know, companies rolling up other companies, companies going out of business, that whole thing. Some of the stuff that's happened in the last let's call it six or seven years has been very positive. So I think that the competition has gotten better. So most agents are more knowledgeable they're they're, they're better than they were. So, you know, if you look at the average agent, you know, five or six years ago, versus the average agent today, I think that the bar has been raised.

Michael Nourmand (09:27):

So I think that that's positive. If you look at the marketing materials, the marketing materials look a lot better across the board. You see social media campaigns, some digital stuff, really elegant print marketing. So that's another positive thing that I think is really, really good. I think that probably the most recent changes that I've seen, one of them has been management. And I think that as the margins have gotten tighter and thinner, you've seen a lot of companies go cheap on management. I think that that's a mistake. You see one manager handling two offices or three offices or one manager handling an office of, you know, 200 plus people. I think that it's a mistake. I think that good management is invaluable. I think that for retention, for recruiting, for staying away from legal issues for keeping your costs down for watching your quote unquote store closely. So I don't subscribe to that. There's a lot of that, you know, I have a competitor, they have, you know, a manager, I don't know what, I don't know what the situation is today, but they had one manager who was managing an office in Malibu and an office in Beverly Hills. There was another competitor where there's a manager, who's managing an office in Brentwood. And I think too in like orange County somewhere. And like, I don't know if it was Irvine or somewhere like an hour's drive away.

Eric Stegemann (11:04):

Yeah. I was just going to say some context for those that don't know, or haven't driven in LA traffic before what he's describing. I mean, this particularly the LA and the orange County ones, it's probably an hour on the four Oh five with zero traffic at 2:00 AM. And it could be because I did the drive from orange County up to Brentwood two or three days a week for quite some time. And that could take two and three hours to, to do that drive during traffic time. So these are, these are not close areas, at least in terms of drive time that that he's mentioned in here folks.

Michael Nourmand (11:40):

So I kind of look at it that they are cutting on some of the services management being one of the, one of the key services in exchange for offering more attractive deals to agents. But I actually look at it that the agent is better off having a less lucrative deal and having more services, because at the end of the day, the expertise that you get from the manager, from having a good transaction person from having good marketing from having somebody who's at the top who runs the organization well, whether that's, you know, bailing you out of a legal issue or helping you secure a listing, all of those things to me are more valuable. I think what has happened is that some of the, you know, new entrance to the business have tried to commoditize things. So their view is, Oh, if you're a successful agent, you're going to be successful wherever you go.

Michael Nourmand (12:36):

So you're just going to run your business. So if we take less money from you, you're better off. But I think that's shortsighted because I think like anything, whether you have a good real estate, whether you have a good, you know, a basketball coach in the NBA, or, you know, you have bill Bellicheck coaching you in football, or you have a really good mentor. I think that most things in this world are so competitive. And there's a very, very thin line between making a dealer losing a deal that looking at the pennies instead of the dollars is a, is, is foolish. So, so I think that those are some of the changes definitely changes that are coming print marketing. There was a reduction in print marketing. I think there's going to be a much more drastic for the reduction in print marketing, moving forward office space.

Michael Nourmand (13:31):

I don't think that this work from home thing is going to be forever, but I do think that the size of office space is going to shrink when you have office space, let's say in Beverly Hills, that starts in the $5 plus a square foot. And, you know, pre COVID was a lot of people were trying to get into six plus dollars, a square foot, you know, 2000 square feet is, you know, 10 grand, 12 grand a month, that's real money. So I do think that you're going to see a contraction of, of office space. There are several real estate companies that are very, very heavy on square footage, even before Kobe, they were very heavy on it. So I wouldn't be surprised if lots of companies, whether they shed, you know, 20 to 30% of office space, maybe even 40%, 50%. I do think there's going to be a big consolidation in office space.

Michael Nourmand (14:27):

Yes. Especially you also have some companies yeah. Were acquired other companies. You have, you know, redundancy and areas and it doesn't make any it doesn't make any funny, natural sense. A wall street will demand it investors, particularly if there's an IPO will demand it. The challenge, as you know, is you don't ever want to pack up your, when you're moving office space, it's a very, very easy time to reevaluate things. So if you're cutting a small amount of office space, you probably don't make the move. But if there's a, you know, if there's a chunk or maybe you need a new build-out or there's a better location or some reason then I think it makes sense to do it.

Eric Stegemann (b0b685b9-64db-45ff-93e2-41e0e8b015b8Mon, 19 Oct 2020 13:23:00 -070055:12nofull117TRIBUSUsing Local Data To Market Your Brokerage's Listings with Local Logic's Vince HodderEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Buyers are doing more research than ever, before even stepping foot into a house or contacting a Realtor. Your real estate brokerage website needs to provide not only data, but insights into that location data. Listen in as Local Logic's Vince Hodder discusses the importance of local data.

TRANSCRIPT

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Vince Hodder. Now, Vince is the CEO and co founder of a company called Local Logic. It's a spatial data company that quantifies cities to match people to the places that they should live. Now we've done a deal at Tribus with Local Logic. And we're excited to talk a little bit more about that in a few minutes, but first of all, Vince, thanks for joining us here today.

Vince Hodder

Thanks for having me. It's awesome to be here.

Eric Stegemann

Great. Well, tell us a little bit beyond being just the cofounder of Local Logic. I know you have a little more real estate in your background. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Vince Hodder (00:45):

Yeah, well, I mean, so my family has been a real estate for a very long time. So from a young age, I've kind of been really, really interested in, in the industry all aspects of it from development to you know, the brokerage business as well. And, and actually, so one of my current cofounder and I actually founded a real estate consulting firm prior to Local Logic, where we were essentially trying to use data to help urban planners, but also real estate developers kind of make more informed decisions as to their investments and their thesis around there. So since then kind of evolved into more of a tech startup, but had been working in the industry for a little while now.

Eric Stegemann (01:26):

Yeah, that's, that's great. So, so a family history in the real estate business, I were, were they in the brokerage business or developers or what, what did, what is your family done previously?

Vince Hodder (01:36):

So my grandfather was, was a, an investor. So he was, he was a lawyer based in Canada and he was working a lot on expiration deals. And through that, he was, he was investing in real estate in Europe, in the U S and in Canada. So was doing a ton of different types of deals. At one point, he was, he was buying up hotels in Florida and in the Caribbean, and then doing a lot of work on land acquisition and investment, mostly through, through plants in the Atlanta region. So I grew up kind of hearing about these crazy deals and, and, and...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Buyers are doing more research than ever, before even stepping foot into a house or contacting a Realtor. Your real estate brokerage website needs to provide not only data, but insights into that location data. Listen in as Local Logic's Vince Hodder discusses the importance of local data.

TRANSCRIPT

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interviewed the leaders in real estate and technology today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Vince Hodder. Now, Vince is the CEO and co founder of a company called Local Logic. It's a spatial data company that quantifies cities to match people to the places that they should live. Now we've done a deal at Tribus with Local Logic. And we're excited to talk a little bit more about that in a few minutes, but first of all, Vince, thanks for joining us here today.

Vince Hodder

Thanks for having me. It's awesome to be here.

Eric Stegemann

Great. Well, tell us a little bit beyond being just the cofounder of Local Logic. I know you have a little more real estate in your background. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Vince Hodder (00:45):

Yeah, well, I mean, so my family has been a real estate for a very long time. So from a young age, I've kind of been really, really interested in, in the industry all aspects of it from development to you know, the brokerage business as well. And, and actually, so one of my current cofounder and I actually founded a real estate consulting firm prior to Local Logic, where we were essentially trying to use data to help urban planners, but also real estate developers kind of make more informed decisions as to their investments and their thesis around there. So since then kind of evolved into more of a tech startup, but had been working in the industry for a little while now.

Eric Stegemann (01:26):

Yeah, that's, that's great. So, so a family history in the real estate business, I were, were they in the brokerage business or developers or what, what did, what is your family done previously?

Vince Hodder (01:36):

So my grandfather was, was a, an investor. So he was, he was a lawyer based in Canada and he was working a lot on expiration deals. And through that, he was, he was investing in real estate in Europe, in the U S and in Canada. So was doing a ton of different types of deals. At one point, he was, he was buying up hotels in Florida and in the Caribbean, and then doing a lot of work on land acquisition and investment, mostly through, through plants in the Atlanta region. So I grew up kind of hearing about these crazy deals and, and, and was super interested in learning more into this kind of, you know, from pretty young, I remember wanting to be a real estate developer and I didn't really know what that meant, but I really wanted to do it. And so kind of, you know, went in finance and studied in finance thinking I was going to go into real estate and then kind of quickly realizing that, you know, finance, the traditional finance world just really didn't have that much to do with the real estate world. And so pivot of out of that, but it was always really, really excited by the opportunity that real estate enabled and kind of the ability of shaping the physical world through the power of the real estate industry.

Eric Stegemann (02:52):

Well, that's, I mean, that's great. I'm actually pretty jealous of the experience you had growing up and getting to see all of that. My, my family owned a business and my experience with real estate was obviously our house, but my, my parents did, did a construction project on building a building for their business. Right. And I think that's what Chicago, my first foray into it, but it sounds like man, your family has a lot of a lot of experience in it is, is that kind of what, you know, obviously got you going into real estate, but then what specifically, if anything that your family had, or maybe something you found was what got you into the spatial data industry?

Vince Hodder (03:27):

Yeah, so, so the full story is that, although my grandfather was a lawyer and investor and working in the real estate industry, my father was actually an urban planner. And so when I was, I did a bachelor's and finance at a CFN and worked as an analyst for a little while. And, and then I realized, well, if I'm going to go into real estate, I need to have a different ad. Jenny, I have a different perspective on the real estate industry. And so my dad being a planner, kind of encouraged me to look at that discipline and seeing maybe there's, there could be some interesting synergies there. And so I went in and ended up doing a master's degree in urban planning at McGill university here in Montreal. And it's it's a pretty small program. And one of the, one of the interesting aspects of it is that they designed their cohorts with people that have totally different backgrounds.

Vince Hodder (04:15):

So we had people that had worked at the UN prior to coming and doing the masters with people in statistics or in in, in, in other types of sciences. And then I had this kind of a background in finance and what urban planning did was essentially it gives me a lens on the impact, not policies around cities and the built form at large actually created these really interesting leavers to driving value in real estate. And so through not program, not only that I understand how the physical space actually impacted real estate I also was exposed to this whole new aspect of geospatial information systems, which essentially is technology that enables us to use geospatial data sets to try to represent what's physically there in our world. And so we realized that there's a tremendous amount of data on cities that really wasn't being leveraged by the real estate industry, really wasn't being used to its full capacity.

Vince Hodder (05:24):

And that's where myself and my two other founders of co founders at least saw an opportunity to leverage that type of geospatial data and bring it into the real estate industry to create more transparencies to what's around the property and why that matters to the person that's gonna end up living there. And that's, that's something that I think was what was interesting for me because it really emerged kind of my interest real estate. And then my new found interest and passion for urban planning and data science. So when I was a kid, going back to that story, I was always convinced I was going to work in real estate because it was a physical asset. You can kind of walk the land, you could see the building. And now a few years later, I ended up in the data data world where there's basically nothing tangible that you could kind of hold the receipt, which is, which is a weird reversal situation.

Eric Stegemann (06:13):

Well, I think it makes a, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense because from a high level you know, you, you're kind of the puppet master a little bit of the data, right. And in terms of city planning and things like that, and urban planning of what you were going into when you have the data you can almost help people make you can, I don't, I didn't mean to just say almost you, you can absolutely help people make better decisions. Right. Right,

Vince Hodder (06:39):

Right. And so, yeah. So I mean, you know, one of the first things that you realized as an urban planner or studying planning is that there's really two major stakeholders and actually decide how our cities are built. It's not the planner, it's the private, real estate sector. So the developers are the investors that actually building new properties, building those physical assets. And then it's the consumer, it's the, the, the citizens of that specific city, right. And where you live, where you choose to live in a city with respect to where your kids go to school, where you end up spending a lot time, what gym you go to, or what shops and services you use, or the big one where you work have such a huge implication on the types of cities that are developed around the citizens. And so as planners and as people passionate about building sustainable and cities not work for the people that, that, that live within them, you know, we really realized the impact we could have of providing that highly contextualized location formation to inform citizens that are looking to move or looking for a new house, exactly the type of lifestyle that, that property, but more specifically, that location would enable them to have.

Vince Hodder (07:54):

And so by showing that information, we're helping people make better, more informed decisions that are more in lined with you know, the, the types of experience they want to live. And, you know, the analogy I often use is if you compare if you go to any kind of website or traditional website and look at traditional real estate data, and then you compare house downtown of a city with a similar house in the suburb, the only differentiating factor based on data is price. And that differential is huge, but then you will look at square footage, we'll look at number of bedrooms, bathrooms, we'll look at those pictures and they'll be like, okay, this is not the same value, right. Location makes up that difference. So if we're able to explain to people, contextualize the value associated with location, suddenly that price point makes more sense. And for some individuals, maybe the quality of the coffee shops, the quality of the school was actually matters a ton when comparing those two alternatives. And that's what we wanted to create is through data. And the first step in doing that, like you said, was getting access to that data and building out that digital representation of cities, that digital representation of that intuitive gut feeling you get when you stand outside of a house. Right. Or when, when you're, when you're on a specific street corner in a city.

Eric Stegemann (09:13):

Yeah. I, I think that's so I mean, it's, if you're a real estate agent, what you just said is kind of somewhat obvious. But at the same point, it's less obvious in the fact that very few real estate agents that are out there are out there helping quantify. W you know, should you live closer? I know when I had my brokerage before there was anything like Local Logic that was out there we were trying to help first time home buyers specifically identify how much money they should spend on their houses, but particularly how much more they would spend on consumables getting to and from work. So, you know, it would be like, okay, yeah, if you, if you you could buy a more expensive house closer to your job, and you're going to save $40 a week, how much more does $40 a week or $80 a week, or between two, you know, spouse one and spouse, two $80 a week buy you more in house. And then that's a, an appreciating asset instead of a consumer.

Vince Hodder (10:12):

Right. But there's, there's all these externalities. And that was the calculation that like, we got really, we nerved out on for a long time of like, you know, yes. Okay. So there's the cost of transportation, but then there's also, you know, the cost of your time. Like if you're commuting for two hours a day, well, how much is your time worth for those two hours, then there's a cost on, you know, health, like there's, there's huge health, health ramifications around commuting, right. And depending on the mode of transit that you choose, but if you factor all of these, what we call externalities and you associate a dollar value, it's sometimes the, the, the more expensive property in the city center could make financial sense. Right. I think that's the, it's how you explain that? How do you quantify that to somebody that might not be aware of all those nuances?

Eric Stegemann (10:59):

I think it's very astute. I tell people all the time we do advisory for startups and take investment stakes in small startup companies in a lot of cases that are in the prop tech space. And one of the things that I often identify that to them, that nobody ever seems to think about is what's the value of your time, right? Nobody seems to recognize that everybody has a limited amount of time and that their time is valuable and that they should be doing X instead of Y because X actually makes them money. Why is something they could get a $12, an hour person to go do? And you don't need, I just had this conversation with a handyman, you know, not even somebody we advise, but a handyman was sitting there saying, yeah, I've I sent in a 30 to 40 hours a month.

Eric Stegemann (11:48):

So a full week of an employee's time doing nothing, but just driving to go pick up parts that he needed. I said, well, man, you could hire somebody to do that and, and, or just have an Uber or something. Right, right. So yeah. Excellent, excellent points. Let's talk a little, let's dive into the data industry a little bit more because this is something that, you know, we've been an outsider to the data space and yet every data company that's in the real estate industry and there's a number of them, but everyone has wanted to sell data to try this for umpteen years, 11 years, since we started, right. Everyone reaches out and says, Hey, we can do parcels or, Hey, we can do geocoding or, Hey, we can do you know, spatial data or whatever. And it seems as, as an outsider to that space, it seems like this kind of old school industry where there's a few players and the insiders all know that CoreLogic has this data set and black Knight has this data set, and this other company has this data set. You know, Pitney Bowes was out there and having address data sets that were out there, right? Like there's a lot of these companies that just go resell all of their data without telling you where they got it from. So as a, you know, a fairly new entrant into the space, you know, what have you seen in, how are you kind of counteracting that old school mentality?

Vince Hodder (13:10):

Yeah. Well, I think there's, there's two important points here. I totally agree with your analysis of the space where, you know, when we first came in, we realized that cable, everyone everyone's just reselling other people's data. Right. And there's, there's few real data providers that are bringing new types of data sets to the market. But so I think there's, there's, there's two categories of data providers right now. There's what I call it, traditional real estate data vendors. And then there is what the industry calls alternative data vendors that be, would very much fall into that second category. And so I think there's, we're starting to see a shift where we're starting to bring in new types of insights from you perspectives on the, on the market or around cities, in our case into the real estate data space, which is really opening up the possibilities of what we can do with the, my biggest issue with the traditional real estate data space is that they're selling you data and we don't need more data.

Vince Hodder (14:08):

We need more insights. We need more actionable insights in this industry. And so what we've done differently, but we're actively trying to do more of is not so raw data, but rather sell information. So information that you can actually take action on. And so we...]]>15b6175d-05a9-4b67-97f0-f98c63803c2eMon, 12 Oct 2020 13:10:00 -070042:44nofull116TRIBUSStarting a Brokerage With Climb Real Estate Co-Founder Mark ChoeyEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

When creating a real estate brokerage, there are many decisions that must be made

• Selecting CoFounders
• Finding staff to help with the things you don't do best
• Selecting your marketing and target markets

In this episode, Katie Ragusa, VP of Product at TRIBUS, interviews Mark Choey, founder of Climb Real Estate in San Francisco and founder of HighNote Labs on starting and building a brokerage.

TRANSCRIPT

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the Xplode virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then enjoy this session in this episode, our VP of product, Katie Ragusa interviews, Mark Choey, the co-founder of Climb real estate and the founder of High Note labs.

Katie Ragusa (00:27):

All right. So a quick introduction as we get back into things for this session Mark is the co-founder of Climb real estate and he is the founder of high note, which is his latest tech venture. So we'll talk about both of those, and we're really going to go through his experience in starting creating, building a brokerage company and also a real estate tech company. So tons of experience in this world. Thank you for joining us, Mark.

Mark Choey (00:56):

Thank you for having me very excited. How's everyone doing

Katie Ragusa (01:00):

Good? We've got an active group in chats. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see what people are saying. If they want to ask questions, contribute to the conversation on if you're dropping any tips for brokerage websites. If you could maybe even put that into the chat, cause I know people are loving to look up things like that that get recommended. So first off Mark, I gave you an intro that's real estate specific, but actually prior to that, you have finance background. So what brought you from the world of finance to loving the world of real estate and sticking with this?

Mark Choey (01:34):

Oh my God. Even before that I was an engineer, so electrical engineering and then computer engineering and, you know, my, my foray into finance was really through a tech. We were building neural networks to learn how to trade stocks on the stock market. So although I did work for city group...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

When creating a real estate brokerage, there are many decisions that must be made

• Selecting CoFounders
• Finding staff to help with the things you don't do best
• Selecting your marketing and target markets

In this episode, Katie Ragusa, VP of Product at TRIBUS, interviews Mark Choey, founder of Climb Real Estate in San Francisco and founder of HighNote Labs on starting and building a brokerage.

TRANSCRIPT

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the Xplode virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then enjoy this session in this episode, our VP of product, Katie Ragusa interviews, Mark Choey, the co-founder of Climb real estate and the founder of High Note labs.

Katie Ragusa (00:27):

All right. So a quick introduction as we get back into things for this session Mark is the co-founder of Climb real estate and he is the founder of high note, which is his latest tech venture. So we'll talk about both of those, and we're really going to go through his experience in starting creating, building a brokerage company and also a real estate tech company. So tons of experience in this world. Thank you for joining us, Mark.

Mark Choey (00:56):

Thank you for having me very excited. How's everyone doing

Katie Ragusa (01:00):

Good? We've got an active group in chats. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see what people are saying. If they want to ask questions, contribute to the conversation on if you're dropping any tips for brokerage websites. If you could maybe even put that into the chat, cause I know people are loving to look up things like that that get recommended. So first off Mark, I gave you an intro that's real estate specific, but actually prior to that, you have finance background. So what brought you from the world of finance to loving the world of real estate and sticking with this?

Mark Choey (01:34):

Oh my God. Even before that I was an engineer, so electrical engineering and then computer engineering and, you know, my, my foray into finance was really through a tech. We were building neural networks to learn how to trade stocks on the stock market. So although I did work for city group and I was building stock trading systems for Siemens next door at Germany. I was just working for these financial companies, but I'm really a techie at heart. And you know, I I'm really just interested in using technology to solve hard problems. Right. And that was, that was the general theme of my life. And I think you know, building a stock-picking algorithm to profitably trade stocks is one of those and I saw a big opportunity to real estate. So we moved to it in in, in 2005 timeframe.

Katie Ragusa (02:36):

Got it. So easy, easy problem solving is not your thing.

Mark Choey (02:40):

Yeah. You know, we, we like the big, big ugly problems, the self.

Katie Ragusa (02:44):

Great. so you talked about intro to real estate, so you made that transition. You have this, I can only picture an idea for climate, the beginning word. It's just starting to develop in your brain. So what made it impossible to ignore? You've had to start this company

Mark Choey (03:04):

Climb real estate started in San Francisco and it 10 years ago, or actually 2005 that's 15 years ago. You know, tech had already gone through a mini boom, but we all, everyone kind of knew that tech was just getting started and there was this part of San Francisco that was undeveloped. And it's still partly undeveloped, but you know, there is a section of San Francisco where there was a this big movement to put high rise condos in and high rise towers because they, San Francisco media to build up and tech was coming in and they were coming in fast and furious. And what I mean by tech, I mean the tech companies, they were relocating their offices in San Francisco to tap into the talent pool, to attract employees who track workers and all the venture capital money was in the Valley, which is a, you know, half an hour, 45 minute drive to the South.

Mark Choey (04:00):

So the city was putting in a lot of effort and infrastructure and development into this area of San Francisco. And, you know, as I was getting into real estate and trying to understand the opportunities, I was like, huh, this is an interesting place to maybe set up shop because if we set up shop and we're able to capture some of the market share in this district which is called Soma South beach, South of market, South beach then we could grow with the city as the city grows. And, and that's why that's exactly what happened. You know, 2005, I was an individual agent. I met my partner my business partner, and then we decided to form a team and we grew a team. We use the Keller Williams the great Keller Williams book. I think it's called millionaire real estate T or million millionaire real estate agent.

I think it is or million dollar real estate agent can't remember. But it's all about systems and processes on how to build a team. And that's a great book if you have never read it it is just brilliant book it's way ahead of its time, but it's also common sense. It's how do you build a very efficient and operational team to grow? And we, we modeled our business around that and we grew a sales group and then we eventually launched the brokerage in 2010 right during the ends, kind of like the financial crisis during the financial crisis. You know, which happened at 29 2009 or, or, or so we came out when it was really bottoming out in 2010.

Katie Ragusa (05:37):

So let's go back. You mentioned you had a partner in this venture, so I don't know if there's any brand new brokers or even agents in this room who were thinking about starting their own brokerage. How do you decide if having a partner and taking that on versus doing it solo is the right decision for you. You know, I think you always

Mark Choey (05:58):

Need a partner, you know, you, you in life in general, and it depends on what you're trying to do obviously, but the larger or more difficult of a task, you need someone else. You could only be good at certain things. And, and, and what you notice is that you need a compliment, right? You need someone that's going to you know, if you're, if I was a tech, finance business guy, I'm very into efficiency and operations and, and technology and how to use it better. I needed a marketing guy. I needed a sales guy on the other side and someone that could that new branding, that was a you know, a fantastic sales leader, somebody that could understand brokerage marketing and drive those campaigns, you know and the message, and that is critical because if you, you have the best system and you have the best operations and the best tech, but if nobody knows about it, you know does it exist?

It's sort of like if a tree falls in the forest and no, one's there to hear it, you know, did it fall? You know, so w you know, the big lesson that I learned is you just need to find someone that's going to help, and they're going to be, they have to be different to have to have another type of brain. It needs to be able to have different skill sets to compliment yours. And there's pros and cons of that. I mean, you're going to fight, and you're going to argue, but if you have the same goal and the same timeframe for that goal you know, those things will all come to pass because you know, I just feel you need to cross pollinate ideas and they're going to approach it a different way than you are. And that's the only way you're going to succeed on a, on a larger scale.

Katie Ragusa (07:41):

And sometimes those disagreements make you better. It makes you consider something you never had before. So since you're not taking these super human approach of, I have to be great at everything and you are working with a partner, what are some of those early meetings like where you're making those decisions of what Climb will be okay.

Mark Choey (08:00):

You know, it, it was it was crazy. It was, it was, we, we thought it was funny. We, we, we thought very big picture. You know, I thought big picture from a technology business operations point of view strategy. And he thought big picture from a marketing and sales branding perspective. And we discovered early on that we needed someone that was going to be the broker, someone that was going to watch the details dot all the I's and cross all the T's for us, and really run a tight ship. In San Francisco, in California, it's a very litigious state and real estate is not cheap. So you know, people usually fight over things in real estate. And one of those big items is nondisclosure. Another big item is square footage, discrepancies. And these are the two big items and, you know, it's tenants rights, there's all kinds of rent control laws. And, and so you needed someone who was going to mitigate risk. You need someone that was going to be a great broker of record someone that was going to be someone watching the money and being, and watching all the details and making sure those things were in place. And we weren't getting ourselves into risky positions. So the early meetings were discovering that we needed that kind of help. And we brought in a third partner to do that. And I think it's really special.

Katie Ragusa (09:30):

What's that people first process second. Right.

Mark Choey

You know, it's I mean, you could only go so far as process with process and eventually you just need talent. You need people you know, you also need focus. I think when you first start out something you want to, the great thing about being a real estate as an agent and in a burger joint, I mean, the world's your oyster, you can, you can work as hard as you want, or as much as you want earn. And, and what you earn is generally commensurate with the effort that you put in. So it's the ultimate entrepreneurial model, right? If you work half time, you're going to get half the results, or sometimes less, if you work, full-time, you're going to get great results. If you're going to work more than full time, you're going to get even better results. So it's, it's commensurate right with your efforts.

So but you need, you need great people and you need people to drive it. You need to think big and you really need to overcome those obstacles and find help. And so that, that those early conversations were about what are our dreams? What, where do we want to go? You know, in the beginning also there was, I, I would be lying to say that we didn't, we wanted to go national. We, but, you know, we say Climb. The brand was this new urban, millennial techie younger brand that really resonated with a lot of people. And you know, a lot of the consumers, a lot of agents and a whole generation of, of, of a whole generation of, of people and

Katie Ragusa (11:11):

Brand, or, yeah, I think that's where you guys really, really excelled in establishing that company. You weren't just another real estate firm Climb was a brand, and I'm not one to love the word culture. I hate that question when I'm interviewing tech talent, because it can be such a vague thing to so many people and mean different things. But when you're in the presence of Climb, you feel it like it was real what you were. So how did you build that in and become them?

Mark Choey (11:44):

You know, it, it's, it's, it's really funny. It's also a very, it's a very poignant life lesson. It's sort of like, you can't be everything to you cannot please everybody. And if you're going to try to please everybody, you're going to please nobody. So what you end up having to do is you need to decide who you are going to be, what you're going to be and own it. Right. And, and, you know, we, we were not comfortable selling to you know, selling traditional Victorians in Pacific Heights. That was it, our people that, wasn't what we did. We were much more comfortable in the urban markets graffiti, yeah, graffiti on the walls you know, really experimental art stuff that was outside the box, things done differently, but, you know, in a way such that, wow, you come in here and you realize there is some other vision, there is some other movement.

There's some other thing that you could tell there's confidence behind it. And, you know, if we had just put up graffiti on the walls and then done with it or, or, you know, done this sort of logo or this kind of branding, or had this kind of picture of a person, I mean, people can tell if you're faking it right. And we all know the brands that are trying to be something that they're really not, and you just can't, you know, it's transparent. People will know. So it's very much like the analogy I would make is, is, is when social media first started coming out and Facebook and things like that. And there was a big debate, whether you should try to have one account, one Facebook account or a professional and a personal one. And, well, I don't want, you know, my clients to see that, Oh, I'm on vacation here.

Mark Choey (13:49):

Or I have kids, or I live here, I go to do these things. And and it just sort of became like, well, that's the problem, right? It's like, you need to be who you're going to be and own it. There is no hiding anymore in this world. And some people are going to like you and some people are not. And, you know, but if you, if you project confidence and you decide, this is the way you're going to be, you like me, great. If you don't, that's good too. You know, usually things have worked out right. And so we did that and we did that. You know, we took that model and we just said, this is the way we are. And we know it's great. We know it's great and resonates with certain types of people and that, and that's what we're going to do. And we, we attracted a following and attracted you know, a bunch of loyal agents and consumers. And then it started getting picked up nationally. We started winning awards and, and different media outlets. And eventually we were acquired by really G to be their urban brands. So anyway,

Katie Ragusa (14:52):

The dream ending to some stories. So the early days of deciding on a brand committing to that direction, sticking with it and weaving it through at your office day for your marketing materials, your tack, your website, all of it, what tool, that same story. So you said that attracted a following. So did you have to recruit, or did people just come to you?

Mark Choey (15:15):

It's, it's funny. It's you'll find that when you take a stand on something those people that agree or resonate with your stand will come to you, right? And you just need to provide leadership. You need to say, this is where I'm going to be, and this is where I'm going, and people will follow those that don't you know, if they're at the edge, you need to recruit them, right. You need to convince them who you]]>ad087aec-d52c-4506-bd4a-7b2eddf11eb3Mon, 05 Oct 2020 12:23:00 -070029:59nofull115TRIBUSImportance of Data For Real Estate Brokerages with David GumpperEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

With the large money pouring into the real estate brokerage business, it's more important than ever for brokerages to get their data in order. David Gumpper, CEO of the Gumpper Group, technology consultant for the WAV Group, and former CTO of Michael Saunders and Associates discusses data and business intelligence tools for brokerages.

This episode was recorded live during the Xplode Virtual Conference.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the explode virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then enjoy this session. In this episode, we interview David Gumpper, founder of the Gumpper Group, tech consultant with the WAV Group and the former CTO of Michael Saunders real estate in Tampa, Florida. Thanks everybody for joining us. We've got a great room going so far. I'm really excited. David, we were doing the brokerage track here and, and I think like a third or, or a little bit right at a third of the people that were in the opening session have chosen to come join us. So I'm, I'm pretty stowed. I thought we'd have people jumping into the team track and the agent track, and here we are. People actually want to pay attention to what we're going to say today. This is great.

David Gumpper

That's awesome. That's awesome.

Eric Stegemann

Everybody, I am so excited if you, if you do not know David you should David Gumpper, he's first of all, the founder of Gumpper Group which is a consultancy, a tech consultancy, but specializes in the real estate industry. And that's because David has a whole mess of, of experience in this industry. So he used to be the CTO of a one of, if not the largest independent brokerages in the state of Florida Michael Saunders and Company. And he's just an all-around great guy and a data nerd like me. So the first session that we're going to talk about today is brokers and using their data. And I got to tell you, David, I had some questions lined up for us to talk about, and I literally scratched through all of them and started over yesterday because of what happened. So with, with the Zillow news. So I'm excited to talk about that part. But first of all, David, why don't you tell me a little bit, you know, I gave everybody that, that ten second run down, but why don't you give us the, you know, the, the minute or two minute run down of, of your experience?

David Gumpper

Yeah, thanks, Eric. And it's my pleasure to be here and be able to speak at this at this conference. It's, it's really awesome. This is great. Great to see everybody's face and, and put those videos on why not? It's always fun, but a little bit about myself. I've been in technology for, geez. I had 25, 26 years, started out as somebody as a little bit of a with a CAD background, computer aid drafting back in the days for architectural mechanical civil architectural and kind of got into computers because cause of the CAD, I worked for small companies and did not have the resources to be able to get their computers fixed. And for some reason I became the guy that fixed them and kind of went down that road, ended up spending a lot of time getting my different certifications worked in the pharmaceutical field for four or five years before I joined into the real estate world 17 years ago.

So I spent the...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

With the large money pouring into the real estate brokerage business, it's more important than ever for brokerages to get their data in order. David Gumpper, CEO of the Gumpper Group, technology consultant for the WAV Group, and former CTO of Michael Saunders and Associates discusses data and business intelligence tools for brokerages.

This episode was recorded live during the Xplode Virtual Conference.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann

Thanks for listening to Brokerage Insider. This week's episode was recorded live during the explode virtual conference on Thursday, September 24th. We look forward to returning to our regular scheduled program soon, but until then enjoy this session. In this episode, we interview David Gumpper, founder of the Gumpper Group, tech consultant with the WAV Group and the former CTO of Michael Saunders real estate in Tampa, Florida. Thanks everybody for joining us. We've got a great room going so far. I'm really excited. David, we were doing the brokerage track here and, and I think like a third or, or a little bit right at a third of the people that were in the opening session have chosen to come join us. So I'm, I'm pretty stowed. I thought we'd have people jumping into the team track and the agent track, and here we are. People actually want to pay attention to what we're going to say today. This is great.

David Gumpper

That's awesome. That's awesome.

Eric Stegemann

Everybody, I am so excited if you, if you do not know David you should David Gumpper, he's first of all, the founder of Gumpper Group which is a consultancy, a tech consultancy, but specializes in the real estate industry. And that's because David has a whole mess of, of experience in this industry. So he used to be the CTO of a one of, if not the largest independent brokerages in the state of Florida Michael Saunders and Company. And he's just an all-around great guy and a data nerd like me. So the first session that we're going to talk about today is brokers and using their data. And I got to tell you, David, I had some questions lined up for us to talk about, and I literally scratched through all of them and started over yesterday because of what happened. So with, with the Zillow news. So I'm excited to talk about that part. But first of all, David, why don't you tell me a little bit, you know, I gave everybody that, that ten second run down, but why don't you give us the, you know, the, the minute or two minute run down of, of your experience?

David Gumpper

Yeah, thanks, Eric. And it's my pleasure to be here and be able to speak at this at this conference. It's, it's really awesome. This is great. Great to see everybody's face and, and put those videos on why not? It's always fun, but a little bit about myself. I've been in technology for, geez. I had 25, 26 years, started out as somebody as a little bit of a with a CAD background, computer aid drafting back in the days for architectural mechanical civil architectural and kind of got into computers because cause of the CAD, I worked for small companies and did not have the resources to be able to get their computers fixed. And for some reason I became the guy that fixed them and kind of went down that road, ended up spending a lot of time getting my different certifications worked in the pharmaceutical field for four or five years before I joined into the real estate world 17 years ago.

So I spent the last 17 years while 14 and a half of it as CTO for Michael Saunders and company in Sarasota, Florida was a member of participated in leading R E or Leading Real Estate Companies of the World on their marketing technology advisory council for many years, as well as chaired it been a part of RESO the real estate standards organization on their board of directors. And now recently over the last two years as chairperson for the broker advisory group. And if I, if I can pitch that right now, I would. So we, we need brokers out there because the whole purpose of the broker advisory work group within the RESO organization is to get feedback is to understand the pain points that brokers are going through today. And being able to see how a standards organization can help minify them, right.

And or, or mitigate them or how standards could make your lives better our lives better, I should say. So there's a shout out to the RESO group and, and the broker advisory group. We do have our conference coming up in at the end of October where we're going to discuss a lot of things and we're discussing a lot about data and streamlining the ability to obtain MLS data. So if you're a brokerage and want to go out into a new market, or you have a new technology partner that's coming in, that's offering a specific product or service into your market, we need to make that whole process more streamlined and more efficient. And we're working on that with the broker advisory group.

Eric Stegemann

And I'm also a member of that broker advisory group with David; I cannot possibly encourage people more to be involved, frankly, folks, if you're a broker in this room, that group helps set the standards for how data works in real estate. And if, if you want to have any control over how your vendors connect up and get data from MLS or share data back and forth between each other this is the venue to do that. And it is not terribly expensive to join RESO the real estate standards organization become a member and attend their events. So I highly encourage you to be part of the conversation because otherwise it's, it's mostly just MLS folks talking back and forth, and it departments, a lot of times they don't have that experience to know, you know, they haven't been a day in life of the shoes of a, of a brokerage. They don't have the

David Gumpper

Right, that's what this group is for, is to give them the insight

Eric Stegemann

If they want it, they are looking for advice that they don't always get. So, so please come and join that new Craig. I just saw your chat about that. We'll make sure we post in the chat. It's RESO, RESo.org is the , is the website. If you want to go become a member of RESO and then they have a monthly meeting, the broker advisory group meets, I think, monthly, and then they have their, their big sessions twice a year. So but without further ado David let's, let's jump into the, the nitty gritty here. So, you know, obviously I'm going to talk to you about broker data. And so, you know, yesterday was Zillow had their announcement. And I think from the text messages I got yesterday and, and the Facebook messages and that, and the, you know, every single one of our clients that try TRIBUS, I'm pretty sure most of the brokerages that drivers reached out to me and sent me some sort of message saying either what do I do?

Or Zillow's the devil or you know, it's to be determined yet. And I think, you know, from that perspective, the Mo the, the single unifying thing that I heard yesterday was brokers yesterday was the rallying cry. The wakeup call to brokers needs to do things with their own data. Everybody, it seemed like I spoke with yesterday, said, you know, I know you ha you know, TRIBUS, we have this data warehouse product and they know that it's there, but, but brokers in general, I think they understood, Hey, it's time to make sure I have all my own data. So, you know, we're for a broker that's sitting here listening to this, whether they're two people, 200 people, or 2000 people, David, where do you, where do you think they should start in terms of saying, I don't know, but I know I need to make sure I have my own data. Where do they start?

David Gumpper

The first place you got to start is to look at where the data is, take a look at the different systems that you have and understand what the relationships are to those systems. So you really need to kind of do a data audit at the end of the day, to see where the data is, what the domain of the data, in other words, what does it mean to you and to your business, and then kind of and then at that point, decide how and what you're going to do with the data come up with your own use cases. But it's really important to even just from a privacy standpoint, because even with the California consumer privacy act and the GDPR, one of the things that you're responsible for and, and a lot of us are probably, unless you're a very large brokerage are not really confined to having to, to comply to those privacy laws. But at the end of the day, it's just a real good thing to do and, and to practice. So you really need to know where your data is and then how's it being used, who's using it. So essentially you have really got it. The first step for me is to take a T is to do a data audit, just go around through your systems and start auditing and documenting what the, what data you do have.

Eric Stegemann

Can you provide just a couple of examples of things that brokers may not be thinking about? So I think when brokers, when I've had these conversations with them, I think most of them know, Hey, I need to make sure that I have my, my client data and my transactional data, but is there anything else that they should be worried about collecting?

David Gumpper

Yeah. I mean, it's your lead data, right? Where leads coming from how many leads do you have? Who's getting those leads. It's your CRM data. So it's customer and client information interactions with the data. You, how many of you are using email platforms like MailChimp and constant contact and so forth. You have a lot of data in there that can be taken out. So as you can see it in any kind of SAS pro product that you are using in your business is really a source for that data. And then there's external data that, that brokerages should also get, and that's probably a separate topic in itself, but you know, I mean you know, social media is a, is a channel where there is some data that, that can be gleaned and, and, and stored and used from a broker standpoint. But but yeah, definitely any kind of sass product has data in it. So I don't care what it is, even your spreadsheets. I mean, I, we work with a data that's in CSV files that are sitting in, in your, your file system, in your was Microsoft one drive or Google drive or Dropbox, or box.net or any in those storage's. So that's all, that's all data that you have, and that's where, and it's from any kind of different source.

Eric Stegemann

And David, we got a question from the chat room that I just saw and, you know, you and I are our data let's step back for just a second SAS, by the way you know, that is software as a service. So if you're a broker you know, you probably have various tools like a brokerage website, a CRM, an email marketing platform, a transaction management system and accounting system. That's always a big one. Those types of tools, you probably use third parties for all of those tools. And so what David is talking about here is making sure you go to all of these vendors that you have reduced software as a service have vendors and communicate with them and say, Hey, I need to get my data. And I think David, I don't want to put too many words in your mouth, but, but, you know, and I'm biased on this, but, you know, I think it collects everything and then go from there is kind of what

David Gumpper

Exactly it's, you need to do the data audit so that you know, what data you have before, you can even start to think about what you're going to do with it. And, and, and the easiest way to

Find out where that data is, is to take a look at your expense reports, take a, you know, a year snapshot of your expenses and just go down, gee, this is software I use. This is software I use is a software. That's your first step. And, and, and on a note on that, that's another way to go take a look at what are you using versus what you're not using on a expense report and start to mitigate some of those expenses out of your bottom line.

Eric Stegemann

Well, there's another thing that I talk about all the time is, you know, looking at tools and just figuring out adoption rates and something, you know, try this we're we have a 44% adoption rate on average. That means eat every agent logs into our system, at least one time a week, 44% of all of our agents log in at least one time a week. And when we've looked at these audits with some of our broker customers, what we've realized is that the average adoption of most broker provided tools, depending on the tool, but most broker provide tools hovers in the sub 10% range. And so then as a broker, you know, you need to make these decisions. Do I do I need to teach you need to keep paying for this, or is this something that I should I should be worrying about or not.

And in fact, right after David's session here, I'm going to be talking about some of those metrics and adoption rates and you, how you can use tech as a recruiting tool, but the mistakes that a lot of brokers make. So I'm going to have that session right before break. So, you know, we talked about getting the data we talked about, you know, making sure that you just figure out all the data that you have, let's start talking about what to do with the data once you've collected it. So obviously first that, you know, figure out what's their second step what do we do with the data? So let let's David, let's say we've got all of our client data, we've got our transaction data. We've even got our agent and production data. We've got all of that now in these CSV files, where do we go next?

David Gumpper

Yeah. there's a lot of different tools out there that you can go next, but from a Brokerage standpoint, it's to once you have it all when you have all that data, that from a Brokerage perspective, it's really to look at what your objectives are at the end of the day. What's, what's going to be important for your business because just having the data isn't going to do anything, you really have to outline what your use cases are. And what a use case is, is, is really what an objective is. What, what do you want to do with, what do you want to do as part of your business? Then we can go in and say, okay, how can the technology, or how can the data help you accomplish that? If it's retention, if it's recruiting, if it's production, which I considered the three pillars of most brokerages, when you evaluate, you know, the success of, of, of different projects or even initiatives within a Brokerage you want to have those objectives really outlined, very clear.

So because it's really about, it's not take, it's not doing it the other way. I've seen people try to say, Oh, let me go have though this data, now let's go see what we can do with it. No, let's sit down and have a heart to heart, talk and discussion on what is it that you want your business to do? Where, where do you see the deficiencies? Where are the gaps? Where do you need to be better at where, what are you, what are you the best at? Because that's important to know, because then we want to take a look at the data. That's helping you being the best at that. And then we find out what those objectives are. And then we map that data to look at the data and see how that data can help provide success in that, in those objects.

Eric Stegemann

And I think all too often, most brokerages, unless you're a fairly large sized organization. A lot of times I see they don't have those objectives in place. You know, I hear that the objective is I want more real estate. Right. And we'll obviously, okay, well, that's the obvious one. We want to make more money. Otherwise, why are we doing this? Right, exactly. But, but at the end of the day, you have to have the individual objective to say, what can you tackle? I mean, there's that old saying that, which is measured, is improved, right. And if you don't know what you're measuring you don't know how to tackle it. I think you get into Lala land and then you're putting offices everywhere. This is something we saw back in Oh six and Oh seven is we put an office anywhere and recruit and, you know, have a a hundred, 200, $300,000 of expenses a year for that office. And, and have it not net paid off, but put it there just to put it there and have a presence. Right?

David Gumpper

Correct. Yep.

Eric Stegemann

Go ahead. Go ahead, David.

David Gumpper

Yeah, I was just going to just iterate on that again, is that it's, it's really important to sit down and have a heart to heart talk. And it's not that I want to increase my business, but it's, how do you want to increase your business? Where can you increase your business? What can increase your business? So you really got to go down deep into what, and it also understands what, what is, what has made your business successful as well? Cause you, you can't build objectives around something that's already been successful, but maybe it can be better. But the idea is to find out this is how you became successful. Where are your gaps? What are you missing? What do you need to really look at? And it's a, it's a deep discussion. It's a heart to heart talk. And sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it takes it's a little bit over time, but you also have to have that discussion.

Not only, you know, you should have it with your leadership of your brokerage as well, too. And sometimes it's great to have a third party in there to have that conversation. Cause they'll hear things and listen to things and come up with a different viewpoint or different perspective. I can't tell you how many times, you know, yesterday I sat in a, a brokerage listening to six people in a brokerage talk about training. And at the end of the day it was, I heard one thing about training and I said, why are, why are we not looking at this opportunity to do it this way? And all of a sudden, everybody just, they all, like, I don't know, it sounds good. Let's, let's try it. What can we do? How do we do it? And then we went from there and created a process and, and as a strategic plan to move forward on that with tweaks naturally you know, cause nobody's a hundred percent perfect. It's, it's the collaboration of, of everyone that really helps make the objectives and strategic initiatives.

Eric Stegemann

Yeah. I mean, it's, you don't know what you don't know if you haven't collected the data and that's why the first step, and then you can start working...]]>12aa53ad-15ef-4d8d-b793-e4b11ddcee5bWed, 30 Sep 2020 14:22:00 -070052:25nofull114TRIBUSGetting Leads On Your Real Estate Listings with Realtor.ca / CREAEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

We sit down with Patrick Pichette, VP with Realtor.ca about the offerings that CREA (the Canadian Real Estate Association) offers it's members for free. This includes hundreds of thousands of free leads on their own listings with the #1 real estate website in Canada.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:02):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider, the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. And today I am so pleased to be joined by Patrick Pichette. He's the vice president Realtor.ca focusing on strategic business and innovation. So Patrick, thanks so much for joining me here from up North today.

Patrick Pichette (00:25):

Hey Eric, my pleasure, nice to reconnect.

Eric Stegemann (00:28):

Yes, for sure. For sure, Now I've known Patrick a while from in being involved in the real estate standards organization and it Realtor.ca and the team up there in Canada, they've been big backers of RESO. And so I met him through that and I got to know a little bit how they do things differently up in Canada. And if you're a regular listener of this podcast, you'll know that we've tried to interview a lot of international folks and understand what they're doing differently and what's working in other countries versus what we're doing here in the United States, particularly when it comes to during the time of the virus. So, you know, Patrick, why don't we just start and talk a little bit about Realtor.ca and how it came about and how CREA, the Canadian real estate association kind of set out to build this national website for Canada. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that?

Patrick Pichette (01:25):

Yeah, thanks. That's a great place to start Eric. And actually the whole thing started before my time. So I joined CREA in 2012 and the site was launched back in, I believe, 1995 under the URL mls.ca. And it was later rebranded Realtor.ca in 2008. And the thought back then from the leadership at the local level through the, the local boards and at the national level you know, they, they made the wise decision to launch a national website where consumers could access listing information from I'm a less systems across the country. So regardless of which broker is represented the listing or which franchisor was doing a promotion, Canadians got a single source to see everything that was available on the market. So today Realtor.ca is still owned and operated by CREA, the Canadian real estate association.

Patrick Pichette (Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

We sit down with Patrick Pichette, VP with Realtor.ca about the offerings that CREA (the Canadian Real Estate Association) offers it's members for free. This includes hundreds of thousands of free leads on their own listings with the #1 real estate website in Canada.

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:02):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider, the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. And today I am so pleased to be joined by Patrick Pichette. He's the vice president Realtor.ca focusing on strategic business and innovation. So Patrick, thanks so much for joining me here from up North today.

Patrick Pichette (00:25):

Hey Eric, my pleasure, nice to reconnect.

Eric Stegemann (00:28):

Yes, for sure. For sure, Now I've known Patrick a while from in being involved in the real estate standards organization and it Realtor.ca and the team up there in Canada, they've been big backers of RESO. And so I met him through that and I got to know a little bit how they do things differently up in Canada. And if you're a regular listener of this podcast, you'll know that we've tried to interview a lot of international folks and understand what they're doing differently and what's working in other countries versus what we're doing here in the United States, particularly when it comes to during the time of the virus. So, you know, Patrick, why don't we just start and talk a little bit about Realtor.ca and how it came about and how CREA, the Canadian real estate association kind of set out to build this national website for Canada. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that?

Patrick Pichette (01:25):

Yeah, thanks. That's a great place to start Eric. And actually the whole thing started before my time. So I joined CREA in 2012 and the site was launched back in, I believe, 1995 under the URL mls.ca. And it was later rebranded Realtor.ca in 2008. And the thought back then from the leadership at the local level through the, the local boards and at the national level you know, they, they made the wise decision to launch a national website where consumers could access listing information from I'm a less systems across the country. So regardless of which broker is represented the listing or which franchisor was doing a promotion, Canadians got a single source to see everything that was available on the market. So today Realtor.ca is still owned and operated by CREA, the Canadian real estate association.

Patrick Pichette (02:30):

And it's done in collaboration with the 80 different local real estate boards across the country. So in other words, every single MLS system in Canada publishes their active listings to Realtor.ca and just you know, a couple of notable things. First of all, the site is completely funded through member do so there are no additional fees. Members pay CREA $310 a year and that includes a Realtor.ca as a member benefit as well as all the leads they get from that. And in terms of the website, there's no advertisement which consumers really love. Over the years, we've been able to build up very strong recognition and trust across the country. Just recently we did a a study that looks at the perception of Realtors and Realtor.ca in, in Canada. And 92% of Canadians are aware of Realtor.ca and 85% of those that have used the site in the past would use it again. So these are, are very strong figures and Realtors in Canada are really proud of their Realtor.ca

Eric Stegemann (03:53):

That sure sounds like it based on those numbers. So, you know, and, and to be clear CREA or the Canadian real estate association, that's kind of a, a version or an offshoot of the national association of Realtors like we have in the United States. That's the Canadian version of that organization, correct?

Patrick Pichette (04:12):

Yeah, that's correct. Essentially we are the equivalent of the NAR up in Canada. So we have 130,000 members and it's very similar to the U S right. I think the NAR has about 1.3 million members and Canada is about 10% of your population. So the math works out you know, in terms of the size and scope of our association

Eric Stegemann (04:43):

And that's yeah, I was, that was going to be my next question about, because I was going to say, is this, do we have the same number of agents of Realtors in Canada compared to the population? It sounds like there is where it's about one in every one in United States about one every 30 people are going to be 300 people. One in every 300 people in the United States is a Realtor. And so it sounds like it's about the same there. So let's step back for a second and talk a little bit about Realtor.ca because obviously the Canadian CREA, I took a different stance than NAR did, right? Because the national association Realtors here in the States they kind of abdicated building out a website and both the first version of it that was in the mid to late nineties around the same time you guys got started. And version of that were both kind of licensed the term Realtor.com to other companies. And now of course it's owned by new News Corp. That's operating that website. So, you know, I, you know, I know you weren't there, but do you know the history of kind of what made the, the CREA team decide, Hey, we want to do this, build it in house, operated in house and take on that technical investment.

Patrick Pichette (06:04):

Yeah, I, I don't know yeah, that, that was a long time before my arrival, but I think it's just the philosophy is different. You know, the fact that the national association in Canada owns and operates Realtor.ca and the fact that we don't answer to shareholders is, you know, we're seeing it today. It's a great thing for our members. You know, thinking about the US I know, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in the US the consumer over the years has been programmed to go to various different sources to find out what's available in the market. Right. where in Canada was felt, it was really important to have this one source, this one trusted source that provided a complete view of everything that was available in, in all the MLS systems across the country.

Patrick Pichette (07:04):

And, you know, that might stem from the fact that, you know, something else that's notable. We talked about CREA membership versus NAR membership in Canada, the large majority of practitioners that have a license. I think it's well over 95% are Realtors and are members of a local real estate board and, and CREA where forgive me if I'm wrong. But I think in the US it's maybe about 50%, right. So you've got a much more fragmented marketplace where in Canada, it's been a lot easier over the years to take a collaborative approach right. In, in building out a national portal.

Eric Stegemann (07:52):

Yeah. it definitely seems either way. It seems, you know, from, from an outsider's view it certainly seems like CREA made a great decision and is yielding the benefits of that being that Canadians definitely know that that Realtor.ca is a place where they can get all the listings. And there isn't as much bifurcation of traffic as there is in the United States where you've got multiple players. So I want to go back to a couple of things regarding that. Number one is, you know, you mentioned that Realtors in Canada, if they're getting, they're getting leads, it sounds like they're getting these leads for free from Realtor.ca and every lead on their listing goes to them. Is that correct?

Patrick Pichette (08:36):

Yeah, that's correct. Again, Realtor.ca is a member benefit. There's no, there's no funny stuff. The listing agent gets full credit. It's their face that appears on, on the listing and they get 100% of their leads at, at no additional

Eric Stegemann (08:57):

D does the Realtor have the ability to see what the person is looking at after they've come to them? Or is it more of a delivery where a lead comes in and says, I want more information on one, two, three, any street, and it's just delivered to the agent and they take it from there. Is there any backend tools inside of Realtor.ca?

Patrick Pichette (09:17):

Yeah, There is. They can manage their email lead through a web interface. And just last year we actually launched a Realtor.ca mobile app just for Realtors. And it allows them to do several things. They get notifications when leads come in they can manage those leads, they can manage the back and forth communication with those consumers. Also, they can get a stat reports on each one of their listings. They're able to text message or email those reports out to clients. So I wouldn't say we have like a full brokerage CRM system, but there are definitely some tools that we're providing to members as part of the Realtor.ca suite. And again, it's completely built into their membership dues.

Eric Stegemann (10:09):

Yeah. And speaking of that, as I understand it, Realtor.ca and being a CREAn member, not only do you get these free leads from Realtor.ca, but as I understand it, there's also other tools, various other tools, not just the app that you were talking about, but for example, from what I read when I was doing some research before, before we talked here today is that for example, you guys provide free forms, software to all CREA members, is that correct?

Patrick Pichette (10:38):

Yeah, that's correct. We do provide a service called web forms which is essentially it's a white labeled version of lone Wolf transaction desk. And the system has about 2000 different forms. So we've got every single form across all 10 Canadian provinces, so that that's available. And that's you know, another service where we collaborate with all the local boards and associations to deliver to members. Another notable service is called the Realtor.ca DDF, which is our data distribution facility. And there's a, there's a few components to this, but you know, the two significant ones are first of all, there's a national shared pool. So the way this works if you have listings and you contribute your listings to the pool, you can also pull other listings from the national shared pool for your, your personal website.

Patrick Pichette (11:47):

And then secondly, you know, beyond Realtor.ca agents can publish their listings on other websites using the DDF, which is a listing syndication tool. And, and so our members you know, in a consistent fashion are able to send their listings to about 20 other real estate advertisement websites, but also some key partnerships that we have, like TD bank, for example who will publish Realtor.ca listings after a, a consumer on their site will use their mortgage affordability calculator tool. So, so again another tool that we're providing to members as part of this.

Eric Stegemann (12:30):

So I want to dig into that and kind of two, two pieces of the DDF piece of the conversation, because, you know, it sounds like, and this is certainly the way I understood it is that's almost like a national IDX feed of almost all listings in Canada. Is that correct?

Patrick Pichette (12:53):

It is, that's a good way to explain it. The only caveat is that brokers have to opt in. So you know, we get a fee from every single MLS system of, of all the listings. But then we don't just sort of turn around and, and open up a feed for all the listings, like the brokers have to opt into that. So you know, I mentioned TD bank, or I mentioned sites like a Kijiji or home finder. You know, we don't just turn around and send them 100% of the listings. A broker actually has to opt into that service, but the opt in is, is fairly high. 65% of brokers have opted in, and, and that's something that we believe in, right, that brokers and their agents should have control over their listing data and where that that's being shared.

Eric Stegemann (13:46):

And is it granular in that system where we're a broker could say, I want it to go to the TD bank website, but not to go to this other vendor.

Patrick Pichette (13:58):

Exactly. That that's how it works

Eric Stegemann (14:00):

And could a company like TRIBUS that goes out and builds real estate brokerage websites. Could they get that feed from you, or is it really only for publishers of sites like TD or, you know, other syndication websites that might have all the listings on them?

Patrick Pichette (14:17):

Yeah, no that, that is a part of the service. So I think there's about five or 600 different you know, we call them technology providers, but companies that build websites for, for Realtors. So we do provide we do work with those companies and we provide a feed. So if a Realtor wants to use a service to build and launch a website, we'll work with them to make sure that their feed works properly. And if they're using the national shared pool, they're able to you, if they want to launch a website, that's all about cottages in Ontario. You know, as long as they're part of the pool, they can do that

Eric Stegemann (14:58):

That's a great how you guys have handled it, I think is a great middle ground to what we have here in the States. Whereas, you know, there's 625 roughly as of today, MLS is in the, in the States and, you know,...]]>f82b22c6-4499-40fc-82d8-868a1f91adacSun, 20 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -070036:13nofull113TRIBUSRecruiting Top Producing Agents With ReMax Results CEO Brenda TushausEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Brenda Tushaus, the CEO of the most productive large brokerage in the US, joins us in this episode to discuss the market. Additionally, we discuss the importance of recruiting and keeping A player agents (and how they help you recruit more A players).

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. And today I have the pleasure of interviewing Brenda Tushaus. Brenda's the CEO of Re/Max Results, which is not only one of the largest Re/Max franchises in the world. It's not only one of the largest Brokerages in the United States in terms of both transactions and dollars sold, but it's actually also the most productive, large Brokerage in the entire country. Brenda is a friend of mine and her company is also a client of ours at Tribus. So full disclosure before we get started on that today. But I think we're going to have a really fun conversation and hopefully everybody listening, that's a brokerage owner or staff person can glean something from this most productive brokerage in the country. So first of all, Brenda, thank you so much for joining us.

Brenda Tushaus (00:51):

Hi, Eric. Thanks. I'm happy to be here.

 Eric Stegemann (00:54):

Great. Well first, why don't you tell us a little bit about Re/Max Results and kind of your role at the country?

 Brenda Tushaus (01:02):

Re/Max Results. We are located in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. We have just over 40 offices and just shy of 1200 agents. And I've been at the company for going on. I lose track. It's like 18 or 19 years. And I've been CEO for the last two years. We are, we're just a growth minded. We're always looking to expand, you know, when I say we're in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin eventually, into other territories as well. What do you want to know?

 Eric Stegemann (01:50):

Well, one of the stories that I love about your working at the company is you started out as a IT person more or less. And if I remember correctly, you were pretty much the low woman for, from an it perspective, just doing updates on computers around the offices, right?

 Brenda Tushaus...]]>Enjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

Brenda Tushaus, the CEO of the most productive large brokerage in the US, joins us in this episode to discuss the market. Additionally, we discuss the importance of recruiting and keeping A player agents (and how they help you recruit more A players).

TRANSCRIPTION

Eric Stegemann (00:00):

Hi everybody. And welcome to Brokerage Insider the podcast where we interview the leaders in real estate and technology. And today I have the pleasure of interviewing Brenda Tushaus. Brenda's the CEO of Re/Max Results, which is not only one of the largest Re/Max franchises in the world. It's not only one of the largest Brokerages in the United States in terms of both transactions and dollars sold, but it's actually also the most productive, large Brokerage in the entire country. Brenda is a friend of mine and her company is also a client of ours at Tribus. So full disclosure before we get started on that today. But I think we're going to have a really fun conversation and hopefully everybody listening, that's a brokerage owner or staff person can glean something from this most productive brokerage in the country. So first of all, Brenda, thank you so much for joining us.

Brenda Tushaus (00:51):

Hi, Eric. Thanks. I'm happy to be here.

 Eric Stegemann (00:54):

Great. Well first, why don't you tell us a little bit about Re/Max Results and kind of your role at the country?

 Brenda Tushaus (01:02):

Re/Max Results. We are located in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. We have just over 40 offices and just shy of 1200 agents. And I've been at the company for going on. I lose track. It's like 18 or 19 years. And I've been CEO for the last two years. We are, we're just a growth minded. We're always looking to expand, you know, when I say we're in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin eventually, into other territories as well. What do you want to know?

 Eric Stegemann (01:50):

Well, one of the stories that I love about your working at the company is you started out as a IT person more or less. And if I remember correctly, you were pretty much the low woman for, from an it perspective, just doing updates on computers around the offices, right?

 Brenda Tushaus (02:11):

So my history at the company, when I started, I was hired as the technology manager and you know, I was literally crawling around under desks and hooking up computers and, you know, back then we had MLS books. And then I remember when we moved from books to diskettes and I was installing, you know, the MLS program on all of our resource room computers and, you know, just really supporting and managing, the tech infrastructure in three offices at the time. So obviously we've grown from three offices, 40 offices, and through the years I've grown in a variety of different roles, but I've maintained that, that, that kind of technology interests, there came a point where I knew that, this, this wasn't for me, and there are better individuals out there to kind of manage that area. So I hired a gentleman who's been with me at least 15 years, probably longer who oversees our technology. We now have department. It's not just one, one person like it was when I first started. And, yep. I've held roles, I've done training, business development, marketing kind of director of operations. I was director of recruiting for a couple of years. I really enjoyed that. And then eventually grew into a chief operating officer and then CEO.

 Eric Stegemann (03:40):

Yeah. And by the way, if you want to hear more of Brenda's story, Brenda actually has her own podcast where she interviews some of the top agents at Re/Max Results that everybody should subscribe to. It's called the Results Driven Podcast. Remember correctly, right? Brenda

Brenda Tushaus (03:57):

Q Eric. Yes. I just launched it a couple months ago and it's results driven podcasts. It's, it's essentially, I'm, I'm the host and I'm just featuring Re/Max Results, sales executive. So it's an inside glimpse into the associates that work at our company and then their secrets to success and yeah, and we're loving it.

 Eric Stegemann (04:21):

Well, speaking of that and the company and the success that your agents have. So, you know, I mentioned to everybody that you're one of the most productive, excuse me, you are the most productive, large brokerage in the country. So how many about how many transactions and how did you do last year and how many agents do you have in the company?

Brenda Tushaus (04:42):

Looking over at a marketing piece that I have been to my wall, I should know this number. I think I know I'm drawing a blank. It was over 23,000 sides. Well, you know, in 2019 we did, we took a little dip in closed transactions. I think a lot of people did. I think in 2018 we did closer to 24,000 sides. Our average per agent production fluctuates over the years, anywhere from 21 to 24 sides per agent, I think last year it was just over 22 sides per agent was our average. When, when, when looking at, you know, the top 20 brokerages on some of the national trend reports that come out we, we tend to rank right at the top.

 Eric Stegemann 05:38):

And so that yields the question. You have a thousand plus associates at the company, they're all averaging 20 plus transactions, let's call it. And it's something I tout all the time to people on our sales team of saying we have the most productive, broke, large brokerage in the country where the average person's doing 20 transactions. How do you get and retain these a players? Because obviously if you were a traditional brokerage where, many brokerages out there that might even be listening to this, they have, and I hear this story all the time. 80% of my agents sell two or less transactions a year, right. If you had 80% of that, your numbers wouldn't be that good. So how do you get and retain these A-players?

Brenda Tushaus (06:25):

Well, I, I say retaining them has been pretty easy. It's the getting part that's difficult. Everyone would agree that recruiting when you're running a brokerage is it's, it's the number one, you know, it's what it's about when you're running a real estate broker, just recruiting. So, especially in, in our markets, it's, it's very, very competitive, but, I think it, it, it goes, there's a couple things, you know, there's the, you know, you surround yourself with the people that, you want, you know, if you want to be successful, you surround yourself with more success. So we naturally have just attracted higher level. We never used to, years ago, we never used to hire newly licensed individuals. We do now. We started hiring newly licensed agents and we started offering training programs for newly licensed.

Brenda Tushaus (07:25):

When it, teens really became a thing and teams started growing probably eight or nine years ago, I think in our marketplace. And, you know, it's the teams that wanted to bring on the newly licensed sales executives and train them the way they wanted, you know, so we, we had to change our model to adjust to that, but, we have some, some rules. When you come to work for Re/Max Results, you have to be full time. You can't be a part time agent. Now there's always a couple of exceptions to that rule. So, you know, you get people that are transitioning into a real estate career and they're leaving maybe a corporate job. We work with them and we get that commitment from them. Like, you know, six months from now, you're going to be in this full time.

Brenda Tushaus (08:12):

So we do work with people in transitioning, but the goal is to get them to full time rural her status. We have, we do have - like we are separate independent contractor agreements for our, for our sales executives. We have a team member agreement and then a independent agent agreement and the team member agreements, because it's the teams that are typically bringing in the newly licensed individuals do mention desired standards as far as sales performance. So, you know, in their first 12 months with Re/Max Results, you know, it is our, that they are doing a minimum of eight to 10 transactions in their first year. So the other thing about the importance of maintaining these, these standards and maintaining that full time status as a realtor with us is, are our sales executives, the seasoned agents that have been with us for many years. They love that. They love knowing that the, you know, the agent on the other side of the transaction, if it's another Re/Max result's agent, they know they're dealing with someone who's full time who knows what they're doing a full time professional. So that is, that helps as well. Just, just having that, that good reputation in, in our communities, but also just amongst our, our sales executives.

 Eric Stegemann (09:48):

And by the way, I mean, I know your big competitor of yours has maybe almost as much as two times as many agents as you do, but does less transactions if I remember correctly. So, you know, is that where people go, if they don't hit the numbers and what do you do if somebody doesn't get the numbers?

Brenda Tushaus (10:11):

Well, okay. So we can ask that question, you know, sometimes people interview with us, you know, and, and they'll leave an that question. Like, what if I have an off year, or, or what if I can't sell enough real estate? Like, am I not results material like that? And then, you know, or, you know, someone that's been with us for years, they're just having an off year. We're not going to, you know, as, as, as the founder, John Collopy would say, career, adjust people. If they're not making those minimums you know what we need to see if we have sales executives and we've got seven regional managers with several offices in there and they're under their wing. And if they have an individual who might be having a lower year production wise, they consult with them and they, you know, ask to review their business plan with them.

They encourage them to sign up for an accountability or coaching class. You know, and, and if we see that person trying, we leave them alone. You know what I mean? We're not going to, we're not going to say you can't hold your license here because you're not selling enough real estate. Everybody has different situations. And sometimes, I mean, even obviously this year with all the craziness of 20, 20, there's some fluctuations in some people's business. So we are, you know, we're not like cutthroat, you can't work here, you don't meet results standards anymore. We, if we see that they're trying, and we see that they're there in the, and that sort of thing. You know, we, that's good. That's all we need to see,

 Eric Stegemann (11:58):

But to be clear, if they're not, you're sending their license back to the state, right.

Brenda Tushaus (12:04):

We are having some difficult conversations with them, you know? Yeah. You know, I, I, you know, you know, if we, yeah. You know, we're, we're not, we're never going to just send someone's license back to the state without talking to them and saying, you know, what's going on in your world? What are your plans? You know, how are you, how are you going to get your business back up? What can we do to help you? We're going to help, help, help. We're going to try and help them as best as we can. And then if they are not interested in that help, we might suggest that they take a temporary leave and maybe hold their license with one of our sister brokerage where some of our licensed assistants, or hold their license.

Brenda Tushaus (12:55):

And we, you know, we suggest something like that. So fortunately, we're not having a lot of those conversations. That's difficult, you know, difficult, but, but getting and retaining those high producing agents, that's what it's all about. It's, it's getting harder. Recruiting is getting harder, not just in our marketplace, I think just everywhere. And we don't write the big checks that, you know, other companies are doing because, you know, in my opinion, if that's your only value proposition, a big, big check, then, then that person is joining your company for the wrong reason.

 Eric Stegemann (13:36):

I said, literally, and for those listeners that don't know, I used to own a Brokerage. And I told all of my office managers always to remember one rule of recruiting, which is you recruit on commission, lose on commission. And I think the same thing goes with writing these checks. If you recruit on writing a check, someone will always be there to write a bigger check. Right? Yup. Yup. And the other problem with that is you end up with no culture, your culture is people that came there because they got a check, not because they liked the team and, and something that I think I can't stress enough from what Brenda is saying here is that she's, she's curated a team of these, a players and a players only want to be around a players. Right. And so would you find that in recruiting that recruiting is easier of getting the top tier talent because of that? Or do you think each team or each person that isn't a player comes to you independently for different reasons?

Brenda Tushaus (14:44):

I'd say it's kind of a hybrid of the two. Because I've seen situations where, you know, we, we get the, a player, they're so happy and they're just like, why didn't I make this decision, you know, a year ago or two years ago. And then these top producers, they know all the other top producers in town and it's not competitive necessarily. They say, you know, you need to get this person over here to let me help you. They actually want to help. You know what I mean? So, it's, I've seen that time and time again. And it's usually a top producer from the company that they left because it's a, it's, it's someone that, you know, they enjoyed working with. And, yeah, so it's our own associates that are, that help us. You know, we don't expect them to, we don't ask them, we don't want our agents recruiting. We want our agents selling real estate.

 Eric Stegemann (208b7ba5-afcb-402c-ab3f-bc217f99c5a3Sat, 05 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -070038:26nofull112TRIBUSClear Cooperation Rule and MLS Standards For Brokerages With RESOEnjoying Brokerage Insider? Please Subscribe Using Your Favorite Podcast Player.

The standards for how real estate data is transferred from MLSs to data vendors has been updated. Has your real estate brokerage platform vendor updated their platform to use the data dictionary and the RESO WebAPI? Sam DeBord, the CEO of RESO, joins Eric Stegemann to discuss how RESO helps brokers and why they should pay attention to these standards.

We cover

• What is RESO and why brokers should join
• MLS Clear Cooperation (Rule 8)
• myDX (brokers getting their own data)