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This podcast is designed all real estate professionals that are looking grow themselvs to grow their business. This will talk about Mindset, growth, productivity, with a tech slant!
Episodes
Friday Feb 14, 2025
Friday Feb 14, 2025
Podcast Summary: 5 Proven Strategies to Generate Leads This February
In this episode, Justin shares five actionable strategies for real estate agents to generate leads in February, making the most of the month despite its shorter duration.
1. Leverage Valentine's Day for Client Engagement
- Send heartfelt messages via email campaigns or postcards.
- Host a Valentine's Day giveaway (e.g., coffee shop gift cards or dinner experiences).
- Utilize social media by posting themed content, showcasing homes, and celebrating new homeowners.
2. Reconnect with Your Sphere
- Reach out to past clients and warm leads with a simple check-in call.
- Example script: “Hey, Bob. Just checking in! With the market picking up, I’d love to answer any questions and share insights for 2024.”
- The goal is to provide value and stay top of mind, not just to sell.
3. Host a Webinar or Local Event
- Establish yourself as the market expert by hosting an educational event.
- Topic ideas:
- Preparing homes for the spring market.
- Recap of real estate trends in 2024 and predictions for 2025.
- Use platforms like Zoom or Eventbrite to require registration and capture leads.
4. Run a 14-Day Social Media Challenge
- Engage your audience with a Valentine's Day-themed challenge.
- Ideas include daily tips, Q&A sessions, or a giveaway.
- Example question: "What’s one feature you’d love in your next home?"—Encourage responses and continue the conversation.
5. Hyper-Local Targeting
- Focus on specific neighborhoods using geo-targeted ads and local prospecting tools like Remine and Realist.
- Go old-school with door-knocking—it remains an effective way to build a local presence.
- The more you show up in a neighborhood, the more trust and leads you generate.
Conclusion
Justin encourages listeners to try these strategies and comment on which one they’ll implement. He teases the next episode, which will provide even more insights to help realtors dominate their market.
👉 Call to Action: Subscribe for next week's episode and start implementing these lead-generation strategies today!
Monday Jul 05, 2021
Monday Jul 05, 2021
this is part 2 of my interview with Jayson Bates. WE talk about the importance of building of community
Monday Jun 28, 2021
Monday Jun 28, 2021
lets talk about the power of community for your brand for your business for your success. we are in an overcommunicated world. we want to help you find your voice and your confidence to make this work for you!
Monday May 24, 2021
Monday May 24, 2021
Justin Letheby 0:00
Welcome, everybody to this episode of the professor of real estate. This week, we are talking about how to handle the overwhelmed feeling of being a real estate agent. We are many times being thrown into the deep end getting told to master several products. And really, I'm going to teach you to worry about mastering one thing, and then moving on to the next hope you enjoy.
Welcome to the professor of real estate podcast. My name is Justin Letheby. And I'm a realtor trainer and coach, my sole purpose here is to take my many years in real estate, as well as my even many more years as a trainer and get you to your goals and beyond. I'm going to do this by talking about business growth, development, branding, marketing, you know, basically all successful things that entrepreneurs are doing today. And hey, since I'm your tech guy, there's going to be text on in here as well. So let's go.
Welcome everybody. Again, this is Justin Letheby, e professor of real estate. And really right now today what we want to talk about just doing a brief discussion on how to deal with overwhelm, how to deal with the environment on how to move past whether it's all the technology, you got to learn to get your real estate business up running, or any business really, or just how to get your business running, right, we will all go through a ton of training, we will all go through so much stuff, right I can remember when I first started real estate in 2006. When I did this, it was it was overwhelming, it was really very, very tough. And even today, there are times where I will admit I feel overwhelmed. But there are a few things that I have put in place to just kind of manage this. And there's things that I I teach these are the things that I teach other new professionals, young professionals on kind of how to deal with this and, and kind of get their grasp. And they're they essentially sanity around doing what they need to do on a consistent basis. And it's really kind of interesting to to manage from that regards. If you're listening and you have any questions, please write them in the chat box. I appreciate that. Thanks for everybody being live in the system. But the thing that I wanted to kind of hit point today is really the mantra that I talked about is really simple. And it's master one thing move on to the next. And I teach this to a lot of people and I teach us a lot from a technology perspective. Because the one thing that I find so many people doing is trying to do 567 different things at one time trying to get them all into place trying to make them all work and be proficient in their environment. And it's just really, really tough to do right it is it's an extremely challenging thing to do. So I will just give some personal, not personal examples, some examples I have in my in the own environments in here. But the The first thing I'll tell you is is really simple is I watch a lot of new agents come into the business and I watched them really simply get stressed out way too fast in this business. And it is because they are trying to be all things to all people. So that's really the first thing I want to tell you be who you are. Do what you can offer offer what you can offer when you can't leverage right master one thing move on to the next does not mean that eventually you can't be the master of a topic. Right? You can't be that so let's break it down. What I mean by leverage is really simply this when I first started real estate, real estate in 2006 and when I started real estate in 2006 I was it was an easy market kinda in all due candor folks, kind of like it is right now. As far as selling goes I'm not saying it's easy market agents are driving all over the place. It's still not easy, but when you're a listing agent, you know you plan on a sign you sold the house It wasn't that challenging. biocides are tough right now there's no doubt about it. multiple offers going all over the place, but when I started another six It was really pretty easy. You planted a sign you sold the home It didn't take much my average market time was five days. But the one thing that became really quite interesting with this and really quite fascinating was this is when 2007 2008 came when the shift in the market came the recession, the short sale, the reo market, distressed market became irrelevant pyrite market, I had to expand my reach a little bit. And, you know, I would be driving all over the place, and I would take listings, quote, unquote, anywhere. And we all knows, hopefully at this point, and that's not always the wisest idea you need to be you need to be knowledgeable, you need to be able to learn about your markets. But I, I took listings in areas that I shouldn't have, because I said, Okay, I know the area, kind of, so I'll do it. And I didn't write and those transactions were done successfully, the clients felt good, but my stress levels were beyond belief. At that point in time, it was really, really challenging. What I got from that was really simple leverage, right? Build My agent data pool, to be broader than what it is, I come out there now. And I have a referral database that's large, I can refer people out there other place, I just had someone reached out to me to have, they want to go into another state and buy a home, I had agents there, I can do that. Build that referral base, attend networking events, do those things. Remember, Master one thing move on to the next.
So that's the one thing leverage. Now leverage is really, really huge. Because it's not only leverage yourself, it could be leveraging others, it could be leveraging by a product, it could be leveraging through a system. There's a lot of ways you can leverage in your environment. And I want you to think about that, right? I want you to think about how that leverage will work for you,
Unknown Speaker 6:50
too.
Justin Letheby 6:53
Don't try to use tools, unless they're going to help you. Right? It's the common vernacular that I call tool versus crutch. And we're going to spend some time on that here real quick, because this is really wrong into the Master Master then move on to the next. I see a lot of agents out here, when they're doing this stuff they get they get a phone call from a company, hey, I can get you a lead to lead three leads for leads every month, all you got to do is buy my product and it will make money for you. No worries, hey, you can do this you'll do you can make money, hey, use social media, we'll make money, hey, go door knock, it'll make you money, hey, go do this, it'll make you money, hey, go do this. It'll make you money. And those are all true. everything I just said is true. I believe every single person that is doing things for that and coming and soliciting us are doing it and they are gonna make you money. There's no doubt about it. But next thing you know, you have now bought technology, you have now started door knocking, you have now started making phone calls, you have now started working your sphere, you have now done this, and you're reaching yourself out in all these paths, and you have literally stretched yourself beyond capacity. So when you're doing this, make sure when you're learning something new, or you're jumping and something, ask yourself a question, Is this solving a weakness in my business? Or am I using it as a crutch? And I really want you to ask yourself that question. Now I'm going to bring that into a little tighter example. I gave you lots of examples technology non technology based. But the reason I come off the tool versus crutch scenario and the tool versus crutch conversation is is basic. I get a lot of questions. I get a lot of questions on what CRM I should use what what social media platform should I be? What, XYZ and they get these questions, I get these questions because there was somebody that said you need to do this. It's gonna be amazing for your business. And again, they're right, there's absolutely no I don't believe anybody's telling anybody untruth. But like, if you take a class for me, I'm gonna teach you how to use Facebook, I'm going to teach you how to use Twitter, I'm going to teach you how to use LinkedIn, or whatever other tool is podcasting right now is one of my biggest favorite things to teach you. And I believe full heartedly it can make your money. And that's how I tell you that I said it will make you money, it's going to do this for you. It's going to build us the extra it's going to do XYZ, it's going to do that. And if you come to my class, I'm gonna motivate you to do it. And I want you to come take my class. And other people want you to take their classes because not only do they want you to be in their class, but they're think they're adding value to you just like I think I'm adding value to you. But the problem is and the challenge that comes with this is I don't know your environment. When you come to a group training session. I don't know what you came from. I don't know where you come from. I don't know what's going on in your life, if you just already bought a social media training program, or very just bought a social media package to do that stuff. Master one thing move on to the next. Now what I'm talking about Master Master means you understand you fully implemented the tool and you understand the pros and cons for your business in that implementation. It doesn't mean that it's a tool for life for you. It doesn't have to mean it doesn't mean you're stuck by this, it doesn't mean you are in that environment, it just really simply means you have understood that functionality, that tool. So now you know where your strengths or weaknesses or it isn't, or isn't for is or isn't for you. Again, I'll give you an example. There was a tool I bought, I thought it was a tool, it turned out to be a crutch. Very early in my career, it was an email package, it was powerful, I'm not gonna name the name, because there's nothing wrong with the package itself. And I'll be honest, I forgotten the name of it currently in my head. But I bought that tool. And, you know, I think it was 100 and 150 bucks, something like that in my business portfolio. And I use it all the five times. That was a crutch, I did not master it. I do not know if it would or would not work for me, I was very happy with it, because it gave me the luxury to get rid of things I didn't know.
And I didn't have in my business. Right. And it came to a realization. And that's why I call this tool versus crutch. And I'm going to tell you this as more of a embarrassment on my part versus something to brag about is I liked the tool I was very happy to I did use it a little bit. And I had some success with it. But then I went to a real estate conference. And they were there. And I was talking to him. And someone's asked me and I said I love this tool. And the guy goes, Oh, my closings Have you had and I went silent. I went silent. Because while I was using it, I wasn't using effective I had not mastered the package yet. I had no closings on it yet I had leads but I had no closings on it yet. And that wasn't the packages fault. That was my fault. Right? It wasn't anything on them, I had not mastered that tool. Now the last part of tool versus crutch and getting into the master your master and then move on to the next right. So we talked about leveraging. We talked about tool versus crutch in the last we're gonna talk about and we're gonna be done. This is going to be a quicker one in here. And this is more tips and tricks in here. I'll probably expand on these a little bit later down the road. But I'm really working on trying to get back to that weekly training session. So this one isn't going to be as long but I really want to be helpful and really more to the point. This the last one in here is know your weaknesses, right? The tools, the products that you are going, I want you to master your strength. And going back to the last one, leveraging your weaknesses, right, they all do tie together a little bit in here. So master one thing we want to next master one thing we want to x again does not mean you have to do at all. It doesn't even mean you have to when you're all finished with knowing that product means you're actually think it's right for you. Whatever you're going to do, Master move on to the next. Now. Step back here real quick. Know your strengths. Know your weaknesses. There are several ways to do that, you know, kind of take a self assessment, go ask your friends and family what those are. If you are a fan and in the show notes and other things afterwards, I will actually have a place where you can ask and request for a disc assessment disc is a behavioral profile. It will tell you where some of your strengths and weaknesses are right. It's based on four characteristics is really really powerful tool it will tell you, you know who you are, what drives you and motivates you what chases you away from certain things, it's going to show you that stuff. JOHN Maxwell tells us we have a better chance of building our strengths than improving our weaknesses. And there's a lot of studies and research that goes into that a lot of other Arthur's have written the same thing. So learn that take disc do a self evaluation strength I don't really care which personality profile or what just you know assessment tool you like to use. There are a ton out there. I like this, I'm certified in this. But you do have these here where you can actually come out there and create those for your business and know your strength weakness and then also know where you're at know where your strengths and where your weaknesses are, you know, do a pro and con type of list out there to make that work for you. Get those in place. Now when you do this, chase those strengths. leverage those weaknesses. I am not saying don't work to improve those weaknesses. But you are going to grow farther your strengths and you can your weakness And make sure when you're doing this, you're going after intentionally, right. And if, if a system or a hire is what's needed for the leverage on your weaknesses, do that, if it's a tool, then make sure it's a tool and implement those things in here, right? Put those in place. So again, just to repeat this, and we're just gonna be about done. So this was a quick 1012 minute little polls, we're gonna I'm trying to read things to see what works in the podcast a little bit. So let me know if you like this or don't like this one, leverage
Unknown Speaker 15:39
to
Justin Letheby 15:42
master yourself, knowing if to what you are mastering is a tool or a
Unknown Speaker 15:47
crutch.
Justin Letheby 15:50
And then three, know your strengths and weaknesses. Those are the three things I want you to think about today, this weekend, however you want to work on this, make sure you have those out in place. This is something that you can do every day, ask yourself, really three questions. Where am I struggling? How can I improve it? And are there systems that can help me improve those processes? Right. So those are really the three kind of questions you can ask yourself with that, ask yourself those questions every morning, every week, every month, and try to move forward on those tools. With that, folks, I hope you enjoyed this shorter session. We will see you at the next one, and we will talk soon. Thanks.
Thanks, everybody, for listening. Please LIKE subscribe and watch this in all the platforms you can or want to watch it then this does go live on youtube, which means you do have to subscribe to the channel to get that so you know when it's live. I'll have that stuff in the recordings. But also, you know, watch it on Apple, Google, Spotify, Pandora, whatever it is you like to watch and also please do me a favor. Share this with folks that you think will get something from value from this. Can't wait to grow this audience and see where it goes. Thanks very much.
Monday May 10, 2021
Monday May 10, 2021
Justin Letheby 0:00
Okay, everybody, welcome back to the professor of real estate. This week we get to talk with Sean Morrissey. He is an investing real estate agent and managing broker. He does it all. He's also has a podcast this week, we get to talk to him about how he got started in investing, why he got started in investing, as well, as, you know, kind of the things to think about if you wanted to jump into the investing side of real estate. I really hope you enjoy this episode, there was a ton to learn from it. And we'll chat after that.
Welcome to the professor of real estate podcast. My name is Justin Letheby. And I'm a realtor trainer and coach. My sole purpose here is to take my many years in real estate, as well as my even many more years as a trainer and get you to your goals and beyond. I'm going to do this by talking about business growth, development, branding, marketing, you know, basically all successful things that entrepreneurs are doing today. And hey, since I'm your tech guy, there's going to be tech thrown in here as well. So let's go
Okay, everybody, welcome. This is Justin this E Professor real estate and today I've got the one and only Sean Morrissey. And he's a real estate agent, broker, landlord property manager, maybe a property manager, property manager, he does those things. He's also a guy I have known for, what, 10 years now. I mean, since I've seen you come through the office, I think it's longer than that. Oh, seven, so 14. Okay, this man. Yeah, I like tennis. Sounds younger is better. Um, so yeah, 14 years. Um, so the reason I brought Shawn on today is I believe in all my heart that if we're doing real estate, we're doing it so we can help other agents. But we also believe we want to invest, right, we got to have a retirement program or something of some sort. And that's actually one of the things that Shawn has actually wrote in his goals for this year is that he wants to have financial freedom by the end of this year. So we'll get into that question here in a little bit. But that's what I wanted to bring him on for Shawn. Anything I missed?
SEan MOrrissey 2:44
I mean, yeah, I can give the listeners a little bit of a background on myself. I mean, I ultimately got into real estate back in 2000, to purchase my first rental property in 2003. I actually got my real estate license in late 2006, because I thought it'd make me a better investor. And right around the time I met Justin at Keller Williams, in 2007. Ultimately, the market bottomed out, right, that's when things kind of fell apart. It was awesome. Yeah, timing was, it was it was something. So having said all that, you know, back in those days, I tend to I what I did is I targeted a lot of folks that couldn't sell their property didn't necessarily want to go through the short sale or foreclosure process and still would have like a positive cash flow and renting their home. And I would rent out the home in 2010, that evolved into property management in 2011. That evolved into me opening my own brokerage, Chicagoland Realty Group partners here in the western suburbs of the Chicagoland area. And then we managed up to 200 properties at one point, ultimately, assign that portfolio to a competing brokerage in early 2018. All along the way, kind of focusing on my real estate investment, ultimately just buy and hold stuff for the most part in being a landlord and using my property management system to help scale over time. And, you know, really, from 2018 on the focus has been more of becoming more of the landlord because becoming more of the passive investor to some degree, although still very, very hands on with the self management, and then if you know, done less brokering over the years, ultimately me I've sold homes put more or less energy into that and more into finding local folks that ultimately would love to sell their property. And and have it make sense for both our our buy and hold model and or, you know, flip model is what we're looking into now. So, yeah, that's that's kind of a 1718 year summary in about two minutes.
Justin Letheby 4:50
Well, that's awesome. And you know, you're leading me I think fairly well on to some of the first more natural questions. And I think you've already answered a little bit right with the introduction, but I do want to ask why Did you go the route you did? Was that the intention from the setup? And were you would you did you go to real estate saying, You know what, I want to be that investor? You know, maybe discoveries happened along the way as I get that, but Is that me? Was that one of the reasons why you did this?
SEan MOrrissey 5:13
Yeah, I mean, what's funny is discoveries do certainly happen along the way. But when I, when I initially got started back in 2000, to 2003, I mean, it all, it all came from a book that my dad gave me, which was really about using real estate investment as a tax shelter. And back in those days, I was I don't even know what a tax shelter meant. Um, so that was the intent. Um, you know, as dumb luck would have it, ultimately, I'd get involved in different real estate investment clubs here, you know, locally in the Chicagoland area from 2003, to 2006. And into 2010, really, that just kind of left me in a good position, market bottomed out in a way that I could help folks in renting their home, because I had already had that experience and evicted folks and had, you know, ultimately, put together a system so that I knew how to rent to quality people. And that's what a lot of people were learning now. No, come 2010 2011 I mean, my thought wasn't necessarily that I wanted to become more of an investor than an agent. My thought was really, I wanted to become more of an agent, property manager than an investor, because I could see some scalability there over time. But, you know, I think what ultimately evolves is a as I grew as, as an agent, as a property manager, and as an investor, I came to learn that, you know, as an agent, especially, you always got to hustle for the next deal, right? You've got always got to have referrals in the pipeline, or other agents you're working with, or a system in place for lead generation, because that's, that's always that's always key. And then after that transaction is completed, well, you're, you're back out there hustling again. And there's certainly advantages to potentially like the time per hour you spent on not only trying to find new leads, but processing the transaction. But what I came to find over time is when you own an asset that can produce, you know, not only positive rental cash flows, but you know, ideally appreciates over time, you're paying down the principal of that mortgage balance, and you're getting tax benefits, the net effect in regards to adding one's net worth tends to compound as opposed to the the agency or brokering business, or the the property manager, which I probably even say the property management business is great, because of the fact that you have one year contracts and a reoccurring revenue stream and once a month basis, as an agent, you don't necessarily have that. So you got to have the, the relationships in place to make up for that. And, you know, for that reason, there's there's very successful agents that probably say, Why invest in real estate or why even consider property management as a model. On the opposite end of the spectrum, like myself, that's a well the investment model works great. Because by management systems are already in place. And I know where I got it, what I got to do on a day to day basis to maintain that reoccurring revenue stream. So hopefully that all makes sense. But that's, you know, in a nutshell, kind of where my mind had been over, over surely years.
Justin Letheby 8:21
Well, and you know, I think you raise a very huge point, you know, I you know, especially right now, right? I think you you probably asked the best question realtors are going, why would I want to invest right now I plan a sign and I sell it in two days. I get 15 offers all above asking, this is a beautiful day. But as you also said, me and you I mean, I started I think one year before you. It may be three months. I don't know I was there before you got there in the office. but not by much right. And the world came crashing down on us. And I tell you I left side tangent I keep telling a lot of people I don't know about you, but what me and you started in feels eerily similar to what's going on right now. Everybody's loving Hi, they're loving good. They're not questioning anything, right? They're not doing any of that. You know that wonderment right? Which is what it felt like when I walked in I planted a sign I sold the home it was easy. It was it was the hardest one Well, yeah, finding the business but once you found the business, everything else was easy.
Unknown Speaker 9:23
So
Justin Letheby 9:25
long tangent short, the question I got for this is this real simple. Would you because I know you kind of started off lease my recollection a little bit as a property manager, right? Is that a natural progression to do what you did because I know the reason I think it's good because you mentioned it already is there is continuous income right there when that when things do go drive that still is producing for you. At least yearly if not better than yearly.
SEan MOrrissey 9:54
Absolutely. So back in the good old days of you know, 2009 dead really 2000 And 13 I mean, that's what paid the bills on a month to month basis, that reoccurring revenue stream. Um, and it's something that, you know, I suppose all agents should consider. But at the same time, I think what's changed a lot since 2010 to today is that Tech has really stepped in and said, Hey, property managers, or Hey, landlords, frankly, we can solve all these problems for you. So that ultimately, you don't need to pay that property manager 10% that that individual person or that company doesn't host as much value as they wanted once did, because tech is figured out how to, you know, figure out, ultimately how to process work orders faster, using their own maintenance crews, or, you know, collecting rent on line via credit card or checking and savings account. I mean, that wasn't available back in 2010. So there's, it might be possible for an agent to say, hey, I want to I want to start in property management tomorrow and build a model. But man, there's, there's way more competition than they used to be. Compared to 2010. There's less demand, because everybody's home selling a day right now. So it's, it's very, it's not particularly driving for most folks to say, why would I rent when I can sell for top dollar? And, um, and then yeah, tech is kind of changed things to where ultimately, um, you know, as a landlord, you can find, you know, software like nest egg that, to me is, is really figured out kind of a lot of the issues that prop that landlords were having that property managers would self but to do it for a cheaper price. So it's a it's an ever changing world, right? I mean, we've got to continuously change and adjust as the times change. And that's, you know, I guess that's what I see. Now.
Justin Letheby 11:41
So let's take this to another way. Let's take it to another conversation. Just a side tangent, let's let me play the devil's advocate. Technology has made life so easy. Why do I need a property manager?
SEan MOrrissey 11:53
Oh, so yeah, I mean, I would say that some of the things they haven't figured out via tech, in my opinion, and based on my experience, is leasing, it's there's there are self showing options when it comes to leasing. But at the end of the day, you're counting on that individual to stop it and not only be able to get in without an issue, and see the place, but to turn off all lights, make sure the doors are locked, and you know, frankly, not be a squatter, so I'm having a local property manager that will show your property and then an efficient basis, there's, there's, for sure, or or real estate broker for that matter. Um, but the rent collection piece of it, it's, it's pretty well solved, in my opinion, if you if you dig deep enough into the tech solutions available, e lease signing, I mean, that's basically solved Point A to Point B lease signing, there's no big deal, they're requesting repairs, a lot of that's been figured out. But I will say there's still a lot of loopholes, when it comes to getting the vendor in touch with the tenant. And then getting the vendor in the door to make that repair. There. There's a company out there called property meld I've, I've had some relations with that tries to solve that. But it all it all comes at a price. So if the price isn't justified to make that solution affordable, then that's not a justifiable solution. So there's that and you know that that's figured out a lot of it when it comes to work orders. And then the last piece, in my opinion, which we haven't really figured out, is performing inspections to that property on a regular basis. So you may want to see your property manager get in there once a year, twice a year, maybe four times a year, depending on the tenants level of cooperation and the class of property. But to do that, you really need somebody that's boots on the ground, right? That's local. So with that in mind, you know, it's tough for tech to figure that stuff out. So there's still some reasons out there in my opinion as to why leasing agents, real estate brokering with rental listings still exists when it comes to the leasing side of things. But really, it's that inspection piece that I suppose is the one that's probably the most inept to having technology solve yet. And you know, and then till that happens, there's there's still demand out there. And there's still landlords that don't know the solutions that are available to them when it comes to tech. So they may pick up the phone and call the property manager whenever he talks to him first they go with so it's a you know, it's a ever changing world once again.
Justin Letheby 14:26
Well, yeah, and it sounds like to me, you know, it's
Unknown Speaker 14:28
you know, it's
Justin Letheby 14:29
from an agent's perspective, it's a fairly logical flow, because we're we succeed in this business from a property manager is where we succeed as a real estate business, right? It's the relationships. It's not the, it's not the processes, right? Because if we can, if we can set up a process, they can be duplicated through technology, right? Those are the things that can be mimicked and duplicated, but our processes are not our processes, our relationships in which I keep trying to teach people so often, it's the relationship business run. It's the it's the service providers that we know it's the vendors that we Know, it's the wealth of database of clientele that I have access to that I'm going to give you results from, which is where I think most of this comes from in here. Because I always think and maybe you're wrong, if I'm wrong, let me know from a property management perspective. But I think one of these always we fail on is we always try to say, we're faster, cheaper, slow on lower, right? Well, if those are your three items that you're selling on, someone's going to build a better mousetrap. And now you're, you're fighting a losing battle.
SEan MOrrissey 15:32
Yeah, and that goes with all industries, right? I mean, Chapter fees, faster, cheaper, better, is kind of the the name of the game and you know, the kind of the American model, I suppose. But your points a great one, that if there's one thing that can't take away from us, if there's one thing that competing agents can't take away from us, it's the relationships we have with those, those those people out there in your community and what you're doing. And I feel like if you, you know, nourish those, that ultimately you'll be, you'll be sustainable over time. And we stay, that would be my my thought. But again, I think, you know, we kind of go back to the idea of, you know, what makes real estate buy and hold the real estate investment so attractive to me versus the agency model. And it's that you own a hard asset that has rental cash flows every month that, you know, pay down the principal appreciation over time, and some tax benefits. And the agency model doesn't necessarily have that. But again, it goes back to what we were talking just five minutes, if you focus on those relationships, there's probably ways in which your GCI exceeds what you would anticipate to obtain on rental cash flows, which would justify you building that agency model rather than a real estate investment model. So, you know, to each their own, I suppose? Well, yeah,
Justin Letheby 16:55
I would agree with that. I also think it goes to our skill sets, right? I mean, you know, some of our skill sets are going to be we just want to be out doing those things. We want to look at homes every day, you know, there are certain people you know, I hear from agents, I just want to get home, I just want to go home with clients. I think that's fun. Okay, great. Well, in the maybe investing isn't going to be your thing, because you don't want to go look at your property that someone else just beat the heck out of right. That's not something you're gonna want to do. Yeah. But I do think that if you are trying to price point, your hourly wage agency versus investing, I think there's an there's an obvious difference there. Right. I
SEan MOrrissey 17:33
mean, there is definitely especially getting started, right? I mean, it takes time to build a portfolio. So the agency side of things is going to make much more sense in the short term. But you know, in my case along with it, yeah, then in the long term, the the the buy and hold side is gonna make a little more sense. But you're right, it's, it's all going to come down to your skill set, and where you want to focus your energy. And you know, where I find the most enjoyment is to go out there and find the deal, frankly. So that's, that's where I focus my energy.
Unknown Speaker 18:04
So this,
Justin Letheby 18:06
yeah, this leverage as well, right to the next question. So you moved from property manager. And again, I know I'm simplifying the conversation, but just for the points purposes, you move from property manager to being a little bit more on the investment side, where you're, you're at this point in time. How Where did you go, did you do buy and hold? Did you do flip? Now, again, we're gonna take this for perspective, because we knew started real estate in the downturn. So some of these were not a decision you can make. They're just realities that you had to be in, right? I mean, sometimes it was just a buy and hold market. That's the only thing you're gonna have for an option. Some remember flips, cuz that's the only options we had. But so, let me ask you I know right now, I think you're mostly buying hold, right? Yeah. But you and we'll talk about flipping a little bit. So let's talk about that. So when you're looking, why are you looking? Why were you looking last couple years, three, four, or five, whatever, pick your number. Why are you looking at a buy and hold versus a flip strategy? Last,
SEan MOrrissey 19:00
I really came down to knowing that rents were ever increasing as as home prices are increasing on the sales side, I suppose. And, you know, ultimately, the strategy that three uses in their in their toolboxes, you're looking for some kind of value add, right, so you're looking for that rundown house in a beautiful neighborhood that you can improve and either flip or rent out or you know, some might consider it you know, wholesaling so that's that's kind of the the target market now I tend to float more towards the small multifamily these days, and instead of continuously, chips are looking into real estate syndications. Try to keep everything in house. But yeah, at the end of the day, that's really what I was looking for now, given where we're at in the market now with with prices being so great and the drop in interest rates over the last years. It's a great time to unload kind of the low hanging fruit on your portfolio to say all right this how requires a lot of repairs, or it's not in a neighborhood that attracts great tenants, or the associations not maintaining the property the way I feel it should be. And I think, you know, it makes sense to unload those properties. Now. Other than that, I, you know, I tend to be kind of a buy until you die type attitude, because of the the capital gains reset, which is actually on the table right now in Washington. But having said all that, um, you know, I guess that's just the general philosophy, I mean, based on where we're at in the market, right now unload the the bad stuff, hold on to the good stuff, and continue to ride the wave. You know, we'll see where we're at in three, four years. But, you know, I can't ever see our federal government or the state government letting the bottom fall out of real estate, like it didn't wait. And my, I believe there's already some some markers in place to prevent that. So it's, yeah, well, I mean, it's, it's still a great asset class.
Justin Letheby 20:57
And, and and you're absolutely right on that. Right. I mean, which is, I think it's challenging for investors, right, because I don't think there's going to be the same investing opportunity we had six years ago. Um, you know, there was a windfall going in the area. And the thing that I worry about, or I watch with this, because I do think I think we're gonna see a shift in the market, I think we're gonna see prices plateau out, I think we might even see a dip in pricing, not like we did, you know, in 2007 2008, through 2013, we're not going to see that. But for most of what you just said, right, I think the government's already has tools and keys in place to, to stop that hemorrhage before it starts. But with that being said, we still have to be aware it's going on, because I use remind a lot reminders for people that aren't that are listening from across the country that aren't used to it remind is a prospecting tool that's out there tax database tool that will show you business opportunities. And if you actually look at the pre foreclosures for the last six months, they've actually increased. Now, they're not going short, right, and they're not getting foreclosed the pre foreclosure. So the list pendants are being filed. They're just not. They're not coming out right there. They're not even hidden inventory, right. They're not even that the hidden inventory that people like to talk about, this is just not going up there, because the government or the banks are working with them ahead of the game. So with that, if you're looking for properties, what would you recommend today? How are you going to find those properties? Because I don't think we're going to see the same opportunity we did six, seven years ago, we're gonna see I'm not nearly the same way.
SEan MOrrissey 22:28
No, you're right. And I mean, ultimately, we're not going to see the same opportunities as six, seven years ago, and it's tough to be an investor in 2021, open the MLS and be like, Oh, I'm gonna, you know, potentially overpay for a property or, you know, ultimately purchase a property that's going to have limited rental cash flow, because of what I'm buying it for? And to answer your question, you just got to dig deeper, right? I mean, ultimately, you've got to find the deals, and no one else is finding, and as the marketplace is become more competitive, you know, as an investor, that's only become more difficult. So you've got to be able to find information that no one else can find. So if you're going and you're looking in, in remind, as an investor, you know, you can pretty much bank that the majority of agents that are investors are probably doing the same thing as well. So it's, it's very difficult to find that deal. So then the next question is, you know, should you just hold on to the cash and wait till these lists pendens get processed? And now there's going to be this flood of foreclosures? I mean, is that possible? I mean, it is, but from what I've read, it sounds like there's gonna be some government intervention there and ultimately limit the amount of foreclosures that hits the market at any time. So we may see a price dip, but we're not going to see a collapse. And in my opinion, and with that in mind, you know, those are folks that have been holding on to cash since 2017. that have been like, here it comes. I mean, here we are four years later, and we're like, Where's the recession? Right? You know, we're in we're getting to a point where we may be limiting any, any form of recession moving forward, just with the the amount of money that's been printed. So it's a, it may be more of an inflationary game moving forward than it is a, you know, wait for prices to fall, because any kind of deflation at this point is, I think it's gonna be hard pressed to see.
Justin Letheby 24:16
Well, and you make a good point, right? There's actually I talked to a mortgage person out in Arizona quite a bit. And he's had the same conversation I used to have, like, we're gonna see something, right. I mean, again, it feels too early, like when me and you started just like something's got to happen.
SEan MOrrissey 24:30
But it's like a war on affordability. I mean, that's the thing when you when I think of what's going to happen over the next 10 years, there's gonna be government intervention when it comes to affordable housing, because I mean, you've seen it, Justin, I mean, look at the cost of lumber right now. Like, what's the point of building anything new, we got to wait for supply systems to get back on track, wait for prices to fall before that even makes sense. And even then, you know, unless we start printing 3d houses or, you know, mobile home parks. Become zoning eligible. I don't know how we quite solve that affordability issue. And yeah, unless the market drops to some crazy capacity, that's going to be kind of the ongoing issue. And you know, and I've seen it here in the state of Illinois, where I feel like there is a war against landlords right now. I mean, rent control has been on the books two times in the last couple of years and hasn't quite gone through yet. But, you know, it's eventually right. Eventually, it will. Yeah. And, you know, then we got the eviction moratorium, right, which creates a whole other slew issues, which we kind of talked about, you know, prior to this call. And it's, it's one of those things, we're really if you're, if you're a government official, it's a war on affordable housing, how do we build housing cheaper for the slew of Americans to make their lives better, and yet that penalize the general public in doing so? So that's, to me, that's the, that's the battle for the next 10 years.
Justin Letheby 26:01
Interesting. Well, okay, so let's talk about this real quick, then we're going to move to a different conversation. But I think this is fascinating. This is how I talk what we do. If you guys listen to me on the podcast, folks, you know, this, I like going with the flow naturally. But you mentioned something, how much do you think for the next two years? forbearance are going to play on you as an investor agent?
SEan MOrrissey 26:25
forbearance, meaning like, no, so not
Justin Letheby 26:27
you going into forbearance, but other people going into forbearance that can not because remember, well, so for this short story, long story short, right? when this started happening in April of last year, when all this stuff, you know, our world got turned upside down. I brought in for mortgage people I said, let's talk about forbearance. So we can educate the public. And I'll be honest with you, they they kind of Whammy me because they go stop doing the forbearance, they're not good for you. X, Y and Z. I'll do this for you instead, right? It was, it was amazing conversation, I learned a ton. But the thing I really learned from it that I didn't actually recognize at that point in time was there's really a couple different versions of forbearance out there, one that's going to get tied to the back of the loan whenever the forbearance is over. And the other one that says do when the forbearance is over, right, so we got some that have had 12 months of no payments, and they're going to be due at that point. Well, even if they can afford to sell their home, they can't afford to pay that forbearance.
SEan MOrrissey 27:30
Yeah, their equity is basically getting chewed up by those payments. Right. Right. You know, I'm assuming there's no later penalty fees. But if there are, I mean, good luck.
Justin Letheby 27:40
So my guess so I'm so you as an investor, I know me as a real estate agent, trainer coach for ages trying to feel how to get ready for the next pending market, which is what I think the next pending market is going to be. I would think from you, as an investor, you're looking at this as potential opportunity, whether it shows that way or not. I guess that's why I'm looking at it. Am I wrong? Are you looking at it that way?
SEan MOrrissey 28:03
Oh, you're right. I mean, there's a lot of folks out there that are that are, you know, lip licking their chops, right, that say, Hey, you know, I've had cash on the sidelines, I'm going to wait for these wait for this COVID situation to play out. And you know, the sales will be at a discount all over. But again, I question if that's going to be the case, I think there's going to be government intervention there because they don't want to see 2008 happen again. And it's going to be much more limited. And going back to your point of, you know, the two types of forbearance that you tend to see, I mean, I'm not educated on that. But assuming you were the unlucky one that ultimately has 12 months of payments due or beyond that, at the end of COVID. You know, whatever that means, at the end of the day, I'd like to think there's going to be intervention there too, because we just, it just tends to be the it just tends to be the the juice that's been poured lately. Um, so yeah, I'm not expecting any great deals. But I would anticipate given the amount that's been added to the US money supply, that anybody who holds hard assets, like real estate, is ultimately going to see the prices inflate, doesn't necessarily mean there's been more like added to the gross domestic product for that matter. It's just that the US dollar will be worth less. I mean, that's what I'm anticipating but I it sounds like you know, Biden's gonna try to counter that with increased taxes and, you know, talk about 1031 exchange termination and stuff, which I don't necessarily think is gonna happen, but at the end of the day, I just, I can't see us, and I can't see is getting around inflation at this point. And, you know, and again, we're going off on some tangents here. But there's another reason I think Bitcoin is so intriguing to poised folks, as well, because there's a fixed money supply that's tied. to something and ultimately, we're not just creating money out of thin air. So
Justin Letheby 30:03
there's three of you, I want to bring on to that conversation at some point. I'm a real estate agent.
SEan MOrrissey 30:09
Yes. And I'm qualified to really speak to Bitcoin. But it's it's certainly something that fascinated me. And in the process of COVID, in our solutions as a country in regards to stimulus, and what we've done to the money supply, so, again, it's one of those things where it's like, you may look at the the market out there and say, it's a great time to sell, and you're right. Um, but if you're just to hold, I would, man, I'd be likely to think that ultimately, natural inflationary pressures are going to increase the value of your real estate over the next 510 years, as this money hits the system more and, you know, unless our, our federal government can limit that unless the Federal Reserve can limit that to some degree. Just, you know, it's a good time to be an asset holder, I
Justin Letheby 30:58
suppose, just with used cars, right. I mean, with the with the last recession, and that current presidential group and senators and that we they bought essentially all the used cars out. And now what you're seeing, what's that?
SEan MOrrissey 31:14
That's an interesting way to look at it. And in regards to, yeah, bailouts.
Justin Letheby 31:19
It's what we're seeing, right? I mean, I don't know about you, but I know in my car isn't even desirable. They're still calling me saying do you do you want to trade your car in because it's, there's such a huge pent up demand for us cars, that that can't be satisfied. Because we did it right. And so that's what I worry about some of these things, right. I mean, you know, inflation is gonna happen, as you just said, which again, you know, if you're, again, the reason we're talking about this, from an investor perspective, that's why this point matters. Because if you want to buy, still, I think today is a great buy and hold scenario, you may not get through by the 50% off home. But that inflation is going to make it 50% off hopefully, in the next few years. Because that that pent up demand, no one's building homes, all this other stuffs going in place could be a very interesting play out there. Now, you don't ever want to gamble investing, and I think Shawn would agree with that you don't ever want to gamble on these risks. But these are the factors we got to pay attention to.
SEan MOrrissey 32:14
Well, and just to elaborate a little bit more, you know, in going really back to the topic, because then I'm getting a little off base here. But at the end of the day, I always think it's effective as, as an agent or broker to have tried to create multiple streams of income, right, so you've got, you know, your your sale piece, maybe your listing piece, you got your your buyer agent team, perhaps you've got a few rental properties, you know, you've got your stock portfolio, you've got your property management portfolio, I mean, at the end of the day, Now, given where we're at, and we tracked where real estate has been. And really common sense tells us like this is no longer like affordable for the general consensus of America, in my opinion. Create your systems now. So that if things you know, do have a tumble down effect, and those mortgage forbearances lead to a flood or foreclosures that you're there, and you're ready, and prepared to have income in place, so that ultimately, you're not going to be one of the ones that are that are bitten by the bug here. So, um, yeah, it's, you know, develop your plan for multiple streams of income based on your skill set. And if you don't have a skill set, then work on developing that range of skills so that ultimately you can you can be there to benefit from it, or survive through it, whatever happens over the next Well,
Justin Letheby 33:35
I think that's interesting. And that brings up a very good question that follows the flow what we started on, you said build systems, right? And I mentioned that we all have our own skill set. Well, maybe my skill set isn't the one to go hunt and find the deal but my skill set is the one to build the relationships or find a property and someone else established a deal prayer for you know, paradigm on it. Did Did you or do you even recommend building that team? I know you talked about syndication and I'm not talking about that really at this point in time. But I mean, you I know investors, you know, the real estate investor book right The Millionaire real estate investor book, you go to real estate groups, it's one of the biggest most common topics you hear build that team around you. Is it something that you encourage you know, to build the you know, the financier to build your your bird dog so to speak, and you know, those kinds of steps?
SEan MOrrissey 34:29
Yeah, I mean, if you can do it and do it right, absolutely. Have I done it and done it right Nin I really, I mean, you know, when I went to open my own brokerage and you know, and a handful of agents working for me know what I came to realize pretty quick was that ultimately I didn't have the systems in place to manage those people. And ultimately, I'm I was really relying on skill set to bring revenue into the office rather than train others, right and a lot of that comes from an owner operator. mentality. And I and I learned that at that time now, my opinion these days is I tried to scale, you know, via tech via improvement of systems through technology, rather than bring another person on board to the team. So that's that's kind of what I focus on these at this moment in time. But I mean, I can tell you all sorts of folks that I have seen since 2010, since the downturn that ultimately knew how to know how to work with people know how to develop systems with people, and they were able to leverage that. And now they're leaps and bounds ahead of wherever I thought I could be. So understanding how to manage people is is absolutely critical in this world. And I wish I had the silver bullet to figure out but I simply don't. So I, you know, I kind of went the other direction and said, Alright, well, I'm going to find different tech tools that help make my time more efficient so that I can do more with less. And that's, I guess that's, that's really, you know, what I continue to do moving forward.
Unknown Speaker 36:03
So, oh,
Justin Letheby 36:06
I don't want to kill our time. We've been doing this for a few minutes. I got two more questions. I got Wally, one more question. What do those systems look like for an agent? So if you were to tell a newbie agent me, right, I'm not a newbie agent. But let's say I'm the newbie agent says, Shawn, you know what? I want to be an investor? I have no cash. I am literally starting out there. I have people I know. But I have no cash. What would you tell me? How would you tell me to get started? And what systems? Do I What are those systems? Maybe you don't want to give me the whole secret sauce, I totally get that. But what are those from
SEan MOrrissey 36:40
time, I'm happy to give you whatever I got. So assuming we've got a licensed agent, right, somebody that is licensed to sell real estate, ironically enough, I probably tell them go that route first, because that's the point of least resistance in order to obtain the most income quickly. So with that in mind, you know, and part of the reason I went to Keller Williams, frankly, was because the the training systems were so good in terms of you know, being in the classroom and learning what you need to learn to survive on a day to day basis via marketing, or how to fill a contract or whatever the case might be. But at the end of the day, sitting in a desk in a room for a few hours a day, can only get you so far, it makes you you know, book smart, but not necessarily street smart. So really, you want to work with an agent that already has that establish lead generation system and work under their tutelage. Right. So ultimately, they're mentoring you, which is kind of the premise of what a team really should be is that you learn what you need to learn from that team leader, in my opinion. And then once you learn that, and you've feel comfortable in generating your own lead cycle, then ultimately, you go out on your own, and you do it yourself. And after you do it on yourself, then I'd recommend you open up your own brokerage too. Because, you know, again, it depends on the state. But it's, it's not the most difficult thing in the world. And now you've got, you know, no commission split, in essence, depending on how you structure things. So all that comes into play to develop first, once you've developed that, and you've got some funds on the side, and you've got some relationships built through your agency stream, then I'd say, buy that first rental property buy that, that first opportunity, and that may just come through happenstance from your relationship building with people out there in the general public, which is the best way to do it. Because you know, as I'm sure all sorts of agency this day and age, you know, finding a deal on the MLS is it's impossible, it's very difficult. Although ironically, I found one in December that's turning in. That is like an anomaly, man, it's it really is. So having said all that, that's, that's the way I would go, um, focus on your agents game, build your relationships, but at the same time, attend those weekly meetups or this day and age and you do them all through resume, in terms of real estate investment clubs local to you. And, you know, once you kind of get the agency thing figured out, your property management systems can be relatively plug and play this day and age, you buy your first property, you, you know, the burn models talked about all the time these days, but you buy your rehab, you refinance, and you repeat, and that's, that's all you need to know. So you've got your net worth being built in the form of real estate and pretties that you you buy and hold all while you're, you know, churning away your agency system. And if you got those two working side by side, and then you've got like a third property management arm that happens to sprout over time because you're managing your own properties. And you can also help your clients in the process of doing so then more power to you. Now, you know, that's, that's basically who I am. It's those three arms and they play off each other and they work well together. And I've tried to expand that into like, you know, cleaning businesses or carpet cleaning businesses or handyman services and natural progresses all that right. You would you would think so more difficult. And are much more, much more in the face of the public. So it's, it's, you know, I don't want to push the envelope that far, but I've seen other property managers do that where they've, they've made that work and it's an even more profitable stream of income than the property management is. So it's, it's, uh, you know, there's, there's different ways to skin that cat, there's just, you just got to take it all in time and really look for the big picture in regards to where you want to be in 510 years, and then what that translates into into income, and then work it backwards in regards to what it's going to take to get you there, I suppose. I like
Justin Letheby 40:39
that. And again, I pretty much what I watched you do those three things that you naturally grew into. So I love that setup. And again, I don't think it needs to be complicated, it feels complicated. And trust me, it feels stressful. But I don't think it doesn't have to be either one of them. If you if you step systematize your process and you move through it in a natural flow. Perfect. Last question. And then you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about how you know, whatever thing you want to promote any, any has any, like, wow, that was an interesting discovery through your journey that you want to make sure people realize that, like not that you want them not to go through, but you want them to either be prepared for or learn how to avoid before they get there.
SEan MOrrissey 41:21
Yeah, it's a good question. I think the first thing that comes to mind is you gotta you gotta respect that you're, you're part of larger systems in play here, right? So we could happen in 2008. And we can't control what's happening now with COVID, right? Like I am, I am probably losing here daily over this eviction moratorium and the fact that, you know, we're now on 16, going on 17 months. Um, you know, I've used the analogy of imagine your employer telling you that they're not going to pay you for 17 months, and you can't go to court and do anything about it, but you're expected to go to work every day and work just as hard. That's, that's what landlords are going through right now. And I I'd love to see the general public step off in back the the mom and pop landlord, especially because of the fact that they're the backbone to affordable housing, in this country for folks that aren't ready to buy. And, you know, I can't help but I'll get off my soapbox,
Justin Letheby 42:19
though, because it's risky if people were not ready for and that's
SEan MOrrissey 42:22
why he came out of left field, right? I mean, those are the swans that we have to keep in the back of our mind are going to happen in life. And when they do happen in life, you want to be liquid enough to get through it. So you know, always make sure you got at least six months in reserves, because like this, or, you know, what happened into and out of those things usually comes opportunity. At least that's the way I look at it. So, yeah, I mean, always, you know, you probably heard all the time growing up, but always prepare for the worst. And if you can do that, and you certainly keep enough liquidity on hand, you know, you'll be able to get through, get through anything. So, you know, that's relatively simple answer, I suppose. But it's it's one that kind of hits home with me right now, when it comes to the eviction moratorium and the fact that, you know, we're really going to have to get through the end of June before we can start to look past COVID
Justin Letheby 43:17
Well, and I laughed because I'm telling people on the real estate side, not even investor side to start saving an extra 10% not because I think the market is going to shift that fast. But my thought is right now we don't know what's going to happen. something's gonna happen. It could skyrocket or it could fall my prediction is it's going to fall not huge. I agree with you. I think government's going to protect
SEan MOrrissey 43:36
to some degree. Yeah, there'll be some intervention Yeah, but
Justin Letheby 43:40
I would rather people right now save that extra 10% and then go on a great vacation because they no longer needed to worry about it. Then realize what we discovered. I mean, I watched huge teams fall apart as soon as the recession hit in 2007 Yep. And I just again I feel so eerily to me the similar that I really would like I just want people to save a little bit more money and the same thing you're saying right just save that little extra as nest egg so you can withstand the uncontrollable right and yeah,
SEan MOrrissey 44:15
I mean, I think of 2018 I mean, there are a whole offices that would just like dry up overnight. And you know, they were they were over leveraged frankly so it's just being sensitive to that over the over leveraging that so easy to do. You know, in our culture, I suppose.
Justin Letheby 44:31
Well, awesome.
Unknown Speaker 44:31
Well shot I do
Justin Letheby 44:32
appreciate your time. I don't want to kill all your time. I know you're an extremely busy person. But um, you know, this is your time to promote whatever you want to promote. tell anybody that you want to go to like, for instance, I was horrible, and I forgot to talk about you have your own podcast and investing podcast.
SEan MOrrissey 44:48
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually you know, I just realized that the other day, but yeah, I've got a podcast called landlording for life kind of defines who I am. To some degree landlord for life, but yeah, we were just pushing 100 episodes. And we'll cover all sorts of different topics when it comes to landlord stuff that's really just on a nationwide level nothing really specific locally. And you know, so yeah, pushing 100 episodes, if you go to landlording for life.com, you'll find all the previous episodes there. And I've got some show notes and stuff that, you know, you can dig into a little bit. But yeah, we're at roughly a little over 38,000 downloads. So that's, that's kind of exciting. And, you know, we'd love to educate more agents in regards to using buy and hold real estate is, is an alternative to they're not even an alternative as a supplement to their retirement plan. So something everybody everybody should be looking into, especially if you're an agent already. I mean, that's what your specialty is. So do it.
Justin Letheby 45:52
Yeah, no, I agree. I think landlording for life is great, because I think having that retirement programs in place, right, where our average age actually went up, or 54 as an agent, and I think part of it is we don't have that. We never had that in place when we were starting to set that up as a real estate agent. So I think it's huge. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks, Shawn. I appreciate your time. Hopefully, we'll get you back on talking about cryptocurrency, Steve.
SEan MOrrissey 46:17
Yeah, not sure if I'm qualified, but it's certainly intriguing. Well, let
Justin Letheby 46:20
Steve talk about it all. Awesome. Thank you, sir.
Monday Apr 26, 2021
Monday Apr 26, 2021
Do you struggle with fear, do you feel stuck.
I got the special opportunity to interview Larry Bettag he is an attorney, VP of a mortgage company and an author. His book is No Rewind. this book goes through real stories of adversity and how they got handled.
This interview was amazing his candidness and Straight forward conversation is great for getting around the struggles we all have in life and in business. Please sit back and enjoy a great conversation and hopefully you get a couple take aways from it!
_______________________________________________________________________
Larry Bettag is a talented transactional attorney who focuses his practice on residential and commercial real estate transactions. In addition to practicing law, Larry has been involved in banking services since 1994, is a critically acclaimed author of the book, No Rewind, and speaks nationally on topics related to business and entrepreneurship.
Monday Apr 12, 2021
Monday Apr 12, 2021
Justin Letheby 0:00
Hey, welcome back to the professor of real estate. My name is Justin in case you're not aware, and this time I got to interview three very powerful National Speakers, we're all talking tech, you're going to get to learn about social media about bad creation, about where the trends we see that we need to pay attention to in 2021. So the three people we have speaking today is Jeremiah j, Mammon arrow, national speaker out of the New York area, but he speaks nationally speaks to a lot of amazing audience audiences, and helps us grow our business. Virtually really, we have Marquis lemons, another fabulous national speaker, she is a very powerhouse in her nature. And you'll see that in this event. And then we have Carrie little also, again, a national speaker, strong speaker knows her stuff very much into the tech as well as the data, combine those three together and put them in the room at one time. And you're going to see it was not only extremely informative, but it was just extremely entertaining. So please sit back, watch and listen to this scenario. And we will talk to you after the podcast.
Welcome to the professor real estate podcast. My name is Justin Letheby. And I'm a realtor trainer and coach. My sole purpose here is to take my many years in real estate, as well as my even many more years as a trainer and get you to your goals and beyond. I'm going to do this by talking about business growth, development, branding, marketing, you know, basically all successful things that entrepreneurs are doing today. Hey, since I'm your tech guy, there's gonna be tech thrown in here as well. So let's go.
All right, so welcome, everybody. This is just like being a professor of real estate and holy cow, it took us five minutes just to get ourselves ready to go. I'm so kidding. They were ready to fire up before I even started. So we are here today to kind of give you all the back and perspective of really how we think as real estate agents, as tech people as speakers, what we're doing on a daily basis to see where things are heading and how things are going. And that's what we're doing today. I just wanted to give you a back end. And really it might be scary, to be honest, the folks kind of how we think inside our heads on how tech is going and those conversations that we have, not only with ourselves, but with the folks around us. So with that. Let me ask you, where are you guys seeing the tech today? I'll start with Marquis cuz I know we were talking about it early on. So Marquis, where are you seeing real estate needs specifically about the tech ns what we need to be aware of, from an agent perspective.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 3:23
What's going on? We're glad to be here this afternoon. And I want y'all to know we stay ready according to Jay, man. So since we stay ready.
Oh, no. No, no.
Oh, thank you. No. So what do I think? Well, one, I think we're still very heavy on video content and repurpose in that content. When you start thinking about tools like restream, that Carrie uses quite a bit. But here's what I'm realizing were able, especially those who were earlier adapters of social media and technology, we come up with ideas and implement in 24 to 48 hours, because we've become familiar with the tech. So I think that we're gonna see a lot of new tools emerging. But the one thing that I would encourage all real estate professionals to do, stop stepping over dollars to pick up pennies, some of these tools are not relevant, they don't go back to your core business plan. It doesn't go back to who you're trying to connect with. So I encourage people to look at that before they dive into any new tools and I still need realtors to embrace video. It isn't going anywhere and those who have implemented have seen substantially more market share. They're increasing market share the rate at which they increase that market share. They're seeing substantial growth. So concentrate on videos, concentrate on repurposing the content, but then don't just buy any and everything. always come back to your broker. See what
They're already providing you with. And then also think about your local Association, state association and National Association of Realtors. But everything should follow your business plan. So if you don't have a business plan, you're starting off on the wrong foot.
Justin Letheby 5:16
Yeah, I would agree any weather carry j man any ad libs or add add addition to that.
carrie little 5:25
I'm gonna say this, I'm an agreement with Marquis take advantage of the tools that you use every single day. So a lot of times, this is what I was telling agents, especially new agents, I just saw I was having a conversation with one of the local associations because I'm in a, in the Goldman Sachs 10,000k, businesses small business business program. And part of my growth project is research. So I added I'm doing research to figure out how many new real estate agents are coming into the marketplace. And we, in one of our local associations, it's 225 a month. And whenever I speak to real estate agents, I say to them, if you don't know where the inventory comes from, it's like owning your own Nordstrom and not knowing where they buy their clothes from. So if you haven't figured out how to master your multiple listing service, how to master your tech, your tax tools, how to master the tools from the local, the state, and the National Association of real tours, you are spending money You don't need to spend. And I'm telling you, because some today, someone was eat, people are emailing me constantly texting me, Carrie, do you need to lead? Do you need to lead? I'll tell you a lead. I'm like, No, I don't need to leave and just said, you know, what I really want to send the back is Nope, my MLS gives it to me. But you know, I'll pay them. And I'm like, so what? What are you going to sell me my zip code? Okay, great. Now, how many leads Have you? Have you scrubbed them because I have data tools that tell me as of today, in Chicago, single family residential off the markets detached. There was so many in Chicago, with a high self score, I couldn't get the data. But when I dug a little bit deeper, there are 1569 properties in the city of Chicago with a high self score and no mortgage, and they're not listed. And if I go a little bit further, 15 plus years in the home, there's 418. So when somebody says, Carrie, do you need to lead I'm like, give me a minute, because I'm just gonna create my own marketing piece and I'm just gonna go to my own subdivision.
Jman 7:38
Yeah, here's Okay, I'm next. I can't wait. You know, I see carry, like, you start talking about video. I'm like this, I'm like, put me in coach who can carry carry her data. And she was like, hold up, I got the stacks of data right over here, stacks on stacks on stacks make me sad, you know what I'm saying? And so I'm all I'm all with it. I think the future is the past the present and the future will be video video is only going to be a bigger percentage of everything that we do. If you got kids that are under the age of 15. They're on YouTube, all the time that's going to become mainstream is going to be how we consume all of our information in the future. And then data using data and predictive analytics to be smarter about how you're prospecting rather than going after the whole world. Why the hell would I do that? When I got data, when it hit carry up and go, what's that high sell store girl, she's gonna go talk to people. Oh, we got them. Awesome. And then hold up those secret sauce comments from the J man over here. Messenger bot marketing on on demand resources that the consumer wants, right today's modern consumer wants you to predict what they're going to ask and have it ready for them on a platter. That's the messenger bots do. Right? What Oh, I was gonna ask about how I can buy a home and low down payment or this or that or, or Marquis son Skyler at a program working with people on how to pay off their student debt. What? I will drop this
carrie little 9:12
where the houses reside. Say what I wanted to say.
Listen, listen straight up. Just stay positive.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 9:25
Just stay positive. That was the best you could stay positive. Oh, no. Oh, wait, carry lift that back up. Look, we got some fabulous people learned how to pivot. In today's marketplace that's straight up out of our private membership group member. Actually, she's not even in real estate. That's the look. That's the beauty of what we teach. She is in the promotional products industry but joined a Real Estate Group because we're always talking about technology and how to pivot with small to medium companies. What I've realized is that as a real estate professional, our mindset in our industry mimics other industries that they can learn a lot about their businesses. As I tell people, we use real estate case studies, but what we teach applies to any industry. Let's go back to the data, Justin, that you and Carrie teach, right? A lot of that is spec statistics, right? What I thought was the dumbest class in the world in my early 20s. But when you're 50, and you live on the south side of the city of Chicago, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of zero temperature, right, you want to know the probability that if I get up, if I wash my face and brush my teeth, if I put on my long johns and I go out and I warm my car up, oh, better yet? Did my car out to warm my car up? What is the likelihood of this person closing on a real estate transaction? Because guess what, we got options? I don't have to brush my teeth. I don't have to do my car out. I don't have to sit in the cold. Or some people have remote started, right?
carrie little 11:05
Please put on a good bra.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 11:09
Good bra. Ready? Okay. Ready? I just need. Let me just show you what I'm working with. Okay, stay good bra ready. I understand some people, bra sales are down substantially. Some of y'all need to go back on in there put on us a good brazier, as my grandmother would have said, baby. We're not gonna do that. That's why no parts of it. It's gonna hit you
Unknown Speaker 11:36
no joke.
carrie little 11:38
It was Brian Buffini.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 11:41
Blaming O'Brien.
Jman 11:43
I feel like Justin right now feels like a zookeeper that let the animals out. Like, oh, shoot. How do I get back in the cage?
Justin Letheby 11:53
I'm taking notes. So you can
Marki Lemons Ryhal 11:56
real estate data Gone Wild?
Justin Letheby 12:00
It's but you know, what if I tell you what, I think it's a good point, though, right? Because this is how we're all sitting. Right? We're talking everybody else is feeling we are right now in that moment in life, where we're all ready to bust out the doors, right? We have been stuck inside way too long. So I get this, I think this energy is perfect. Because that's what we're all feeling Anyways, we're like, let's just go, let's go do something. Let's go get it out. Let's go hit that. Let's go do something. But going back to what Marquis and Carrie and Jay man have been saying, We've got to be tactical, right. We've got to be able to know what we're doing. And we've got to be systematic. One of the things that I feel is really important to things that I teach most people when I'm talking about this stuff is I am tired of people telling me that we need to be the person when they're ready to buy that we're thinking of them IRA say that's too late. We need to be ahead of the game we have to be before they're thinking about real estate, we need to be their thoughts because of real estate, right? That's what we need to be. So how are we as a group? How are you guys doing it today? How are you being that that go to resource before they even know they need to be that person?
carrie little 13:10
Who wants to take that? You know, because Martin, listen, I'm gonna go first because when Mark he goes is over. As Mark Marcie, when she gets her ideas, I'm the one that gets a phone call on a Sunday morning at 6am. Okay, Carrie, I'm like, do I need to get Evernote out? No, no, no, no, she gets I'm like, Yes, I need to get Evernote out.
Justin Letheby 13:30
So they gotta start recording the conversations. Or I could I could but
carrie little 13:35
yeah, actually, you know what, you're probably right. Yeah. Okay. Just let me write that down. Record conversation with marketing in the morning. So I digress. So how do we stay top of mind? I'll tell you, it just goes back to what Jay man said. Video and for me it's been clubhouse. So when club so I was asked to be on clubhouse, and some people were like, what is clubhouse? clubhouse is the new app that allows you to have a swipe your own broadcast, and it's only audio and I was asked to join clubhouse and I was like, not another thing. What do you What are you looking for me to buy? I got all these text messages. I'm like, I can't do another thing. And so eventually I talked to one of the agents in the office and Shane was like here you got to get on because there's all these people, they're in rooms they're collaborating, they're you get to actually talk to people you would have never been able to talk to. And so what it's done for me, it has put me in the forefront to the point where now marquee I'm getting emails for people to interview me on clubhouse. So it's kind of cool. So I am now I have agents that have connected with me all over the United States. And now they're they're they're finding me on Instagram. Carrie, I found you on clubhouse and I'm now following you on Instagram.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 14:51
I have a question. It's typically
carrie little 14:52
someone from like Virginia. It's been New Jersey, all because of one new south. A media platform. And the cool thing is, is you really don't have to get up, get dressed and brush your teeth because no one can see. I have grown my Instagram account by 1000 new followers because of clubhouse and yes, you do need an iPhone or an iPad to join clubhouse. But here's some good news because the founders on Sunday said in about two months droid, here we come. Finally,
Unknown Speaker 15:27
two months. That's a long time
carrie little 15:29
it is they're working on it. But now they're there. And now they have a creative platform. They're launching some new opportunities. So So for those of us that have a show, Good morning real estate, we can now have our own show on clubhouse and they'll push it if it's a good show.
Unknown Speaker 15:47
Holler
Justin Letheby 15:51
shows right now,
carrie little 15:52
right there you go. We got the Justin show, the professor show. We've got the six and 12 show. We got the box show. We've got the coffee with Kerry shell and we've got good morning real estate.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 16:04
And the other day, Carrie and I tested four people on Instagram Live where they stated now you can leverage it to record your podcast.
Unknown Speaker 16:15
Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. That's weird because I'm going to call I'm going to call my cell phone provider and ask them why that call didn't come in. I swear I even asked
Marki Lemons Ryhal 16:31
you we need let me say this. We must have sent it to the wrong person in New York right because we did have a New Yorker on I just need you to know that and then Karis twin joined in. We didn't No
Unknown Speaker 16:44
no, no. No, no, I
Marki Lemons Ryhal 16:49
Jay, we're gonna once you finish your event today, we're gonna come and meet you. We're gonna come and meet you because clearly, I need to talk to your cell phone provider because something must not be working right?
Unknown Speaker 16:59
Something something's not right. Something is not right. So we need
Marki Lemons Ryhal 17:03
to think about that. Oh, Jay man didn't have his chance to speak cuz I rudely interrupted. I've got excited. I'm sorry.
Unknown Speaker 17:13
Alright, so staying top of mind. I'm gonna get on clubhouse. Eventually. I might be on a on a four peat over here with with the ladies. You know, they picked another New York. I thought he only knew one person in New York. Oh, good. No, no, no, it's okay. It's okay. I understand. So good. But anyways, you know, staying Top of Mind, it's it's trying to predict what the trends are. And I think that's what's one thing when you look at us, all of us together is like, We're not afraid to go out on a ledge and try something new, right? where it's like, Damn this, this might be something, I don't know, let's go. We're literally like walking the plank and like, well, I'm about to jump, I'm gonna figure out how to fly on the way down. We talked about that all the time, when rails came out, clubhouse came out all these different, different things. pandemic hit, I'm like, oh, man, we're gonna have to do a lot of virtual stuff, right and seeing how I can do this. And now, just today, I had the AI conference, I was teaching all of the 80s throughout the land, how to hold better virtual events, when, prior to the pandemic, I had been on a zoom two times in my entire life. Wow. So it's like, I took it upon myself to learn new things. And if you're gonna learn something new, don't do it to be average, do it to be the very best that you like, if I'm gonna do something virtual, I'm gonna be the best damn virtual presenter that ever walked the land. That's the goal when you do something. Not just Oh, you know what, I think I might do some virtual stuff. I'm going to shoot to be subpar. today. Maybe average?
Unknown Speaker 18:50
What the hell, man?
Marki Lemons Ryhal 18:52
Clearly, J man's parents fed him a lot of affirmations and mindset as a kid going up because baby there is no shortage of self esteem. And that young man right there control j man controls, right?
Unknown Speaker 19:06
Well, no. And here's the thing. My dad always told me, I could do anything I want in life, there was a lot of affirmations. But he said, if you want to be, you know, if you want to sell hot dogs, because we've talked about that in the past, you know, if whatever you're going to do be the very best at it. Because there's millionaires in every single industry in the planet, right? There's, there's somebody who does tooling and machining, which is what I actually went to school for tooling and machining and they want it right. And I said, Man, if I do this, I'm gonna have to own the place because this sucks being guy on the floor. That's what I said to myself. I'm like, how can I Okay, okay, buy this machine and figure it out. Just predict the trends. Don't be afraid to do new things. Because if we're doing it here in the United States, usually somebody in the UK or somewhere else has some YouTube tutorials already done for us on how we can be better at it.
Justin Letheby 19:54
Jay, man, you just made an interesting point because I teach a certain thing and I've wondered when we hit that threshold. I will I've been teaching video for four years do video, do video do video we've been teaching that for ever. And I have told people that right now, although I'm wavering on this lately, that it's okay to fail in video, right? It's, you know, learn and take those steps forward. But I always tell them, there's a threshold where you can no longer fail, right? There's going to be a point in time where they expect the J man backgrounds on the scene, they're going to expect the quality stuff that exists out there. Are we there yet? I mean, I think so. I keep I'm stammered on saying that you, you know, I don't feel to be scared off from doing video. But just to do it. Okay, as Jay man just said, is probably not good enough anymore.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 20:44
Well, he is now. So here's what I think you have to have, you have to be consistent. And you have to have content, I definitely know that I get away with not having the greatest visual, you know, like the highest camera. But I'm consistent. And here's the thing, most people do not know how to be consistent. I know that sounds real simplistic. But this is not a one hit wonder. And I was looking at someone's video the other day out of DC. He had 100,000 views on a reels most people want to get with get that 100,000 views. And that's it. Because they believe that this is a one hit wonder, we get great engagement. And once we get that great engagement, the question is how do we improve? Right? How do we do this better? What do we need to we need to pivot the camera. So we're coming back for consistency. And to me in the world of video, nothing tops, consistency and content. Or think about this one thing you can't buy and what you can't teach the ability to be vulnerable. Like we're all vulnerable, right? You can't teach that, like, you really got to have a heart, you really Who are you got to develop, I don't give a damn attitude, they'll be quite honest with you to be vulnerable, right? We've all had failures, we embrace our failures, okay, um, and they won't be consistent. They think it's all about them all about them, and they won't be vulnerable. And that's nothing you can teach in a class like you could try to teach that concept. that mindset back to Jay man. right mindset, those affirmations it's about consistency, because I know that I've put out some video that the quality was not great, but the results were freaking phenomenal. And you always
carrie little 22:34
say if they can't hear you, then
Marki Lemons Ryhal 22:36
they're out. Oh, audio is everything. But look at how many ways we can repurpose the audio. Right? The podcast how many platforms Can you be on the audio Graham's the Alexa flash briefings, the audio to text transcription. So now we got emails, we also have emails, we have blog posts, we have captions for all of our posts. So regardless to how you look, if you capture great audio, and I'm I'm all about the better audio, because I need to be able to repurpose that content into multiple forms of content. And I'm gonna say one more thing. Everybody also thinks that one hit wonder that everyone has solved that one post, no more than 10% of your audience ever sees any one post, because of the algorithm, we need to start thinking about every time we create one piece of content, how to repurpose or reshare that content, a minimum of 10 different ways so that they can hit people won, and their preferred or learned learning style, whether that's audio visual, or reading, and then on the platform that they desire to hang out on.
carrie little 23:41
And you made a good point, Mark. And I'll go back to Justin's statement about having great video, I'm gonna say this, I started editing television back in the 90s. So I had a leg up on the editing part. But if you're if we're telling you to do video, you need to try and if it does come out awful. The cool thing is you can archive it, you can hide it, but you got to start somewhere. And Mark is right. So I've been doing reels all day to day. So I did three reels today talk about that same data, because now I've got Rochester New York on here, by the way.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 24:17
Um
carrie little 24:20
Yes, J man, I'm coming to your neighborhood. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 24:23
wait, you know, somebody in Rochester, New York.
carrie little 24:25
I might, I might. And I might know all where all the high self score properties are. I'm just saying. My point in all of this is I took that same video, and I put it on the Twitter story. I put it I went to LinkedIn but they only want to 20 seconds. So LinkedIn last, I put it on my Facebook story. I put it on Facebook groups. I put it on a Facebook page story. I put it in the feed on a Facebook group. And I actually the cool thing is is because it was my own voice. I uploaded it directly to tik tok.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 25:03
multiple platforms all highly visual, right? with a different audience almost on every last one of those platforms and I
carrie little 25:10
have not known on tik tok, but after my Goldman Sachs cohort and an attorney saying she did it twice, once or twice, and her company made over $265,000 Let me say that again. $265,000 because she tried tik tok, and it wasn't from the platform. It was people were calling her. And if you looked at her feed, you go No way. Cuz every post every She still hasn't figured it out. Every text shut, Her face is covered. But who cares? her staff was pissed at her. She said they never swear. But they were they cussed her out, basically, because they couldn't take a lunch for a few days. All because they tried something.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 25:59
I interviewed a young lady today by the name of Candace spears. And it was all about mindset and entrepreneurship. And she wrote a book on top talking about bringing your crayons to work, right? We often come into the world of real estate, and it's to duplicate something that we've seen somebody else do. We have to become originators, right? Have in order to be a thought leader in the shortest period of time. You need to think like blue ocean strategy, and you need to come up with something new, like j man, think about meeting J. Man, how many years ago? Do we meet him carry at rapid? And what was the PowerPoint presentation skill that you told us? It wasn't PowerPoint? What's your prefer? Prezi Prezi. Okay, so we sent in this Prezi class, my mind is hurting, right? But Jay man has always had the ability to do something different, something that the people who have been around longer are not going to be willing to take the chance, which is how he's been successful in pivoting his business. In the past 12 months there, people we have not seen in real estate education since before March the 13th 2020. Think about that, because of their inability to do something different. My competition has narrowed. I don't have to me I don't have new competition, the competition, it fewer people because of their inability to try some of these things new. And the more you tried, right, the the stronger your foundation is to build other new items upon.
carrie little 27:37
There's a, there's truth to if you were to take that concept to the new Michael Jordan, Jim shoe coming out, or the new iPhone or the new droid phone, there are some people that will stand in line to get the next new shiny thing. They're the ones they get it first, and then they're the ones in this case, they resell it, or they get to test it first. That's the same thing in our industry. If we're the people that Wait, you get left behind. And I'll tell you back in 2006, or seven, the Office Admin at the company I was with, she was like, Carrie, you need to try Facebook. And I was like, I don't need to try Facebook. I'm already on my space, because my kid is on my space. And I just need to be there to make sure he doesn't condemn himself and get in and I get a phone call from the high school. She was like, No, no, no, no. Let me tell you why. And I'm so glad that I listened to this 20 year old because of it, I was able to grow with Facebook. And there are some people come into the industry. And they're trying to figure out how to figure it out. Now, can it be done? Yes, it can be done. But you still have to start even if you don't have a lot of followers, we have an agent in our office that has figured out the the algorithm for reals to the point where she's grown 1000 followers in days, because she figured it out. Sometimes you just got to you got to test you got to try. And the one cool thing about what Marquis said was that
Unknown Speaker 29:09
we were
Justin Letheby 29:09
coming to him
carrie little 29:12
he was he was like I'm out she's just sick over. See, now I lost my train of thought.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 29:17
Don't lose your train of thought we normally do. And
carrie little 29:23
I'll tell you, you have to get out here you have to try you have to text we will mess up and I'll talk about so another agent in our office. She came back to the business from the 90s not tech savvy and she's like, oh, Carrie, okay, Carrie, I'm gonna do the videos. And she already knows the business. And the hardest thing for us to do is to get what's here. And to put it into content. And then to put it out there to the masses. You just have to do it.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 29:50
Yeah. And we say this I have. I'm stuck between two different age groups. I have some senior professionals and I mean And they are singers. And they're singers, professionals, right seasoned singer professionals who are embracing Instagram reels and tick tock, but then I'm also I have five new agents all under the age of 25. Okay. And when I tell you they get my mind going, because I was joking with Jay man, but my son called him for his back. And Skyler kind of regurgitated, I said, I think I might have mentioned that to you. But he, he needed to say it the way he wanted to say it, right. So I see how he's going to be able to merge being born and raised. And essentially, in the world of real estate. He wasn't born in this industry. He was three years old when I came into this industry. But he's been here for over 20 years, right. And so I can see how his mind is spinning right on what he wants to implement, implement. And I'm noticing that 25 year old and younger group, Oh, I love them. Like, I love them because they haven't been tainted. This is really their first career. And they're taking a hold of things substantially faster without second guessing themselves. I also see how if they had just a little bit of coaching, they can dominate market share.
carrie little 31:18
Hey, this is what I heard. I heard the bionic man. They'll be better, stronger, and faster.
Justin Letheby 31:28
Guys are right. I mean, here's the thing I think is interesting. Marquis and carriers that does want to come to J man here in a second is I think one of the things that's very interesting, you guys, all both of you are saying is, I am listening to the people that are challenging status quo, right? You when you are you are listening to people saying no, no, no, no. Let's try something different. You're not going No, No, that can't work, which have the industry or more saying to you every day. No, that won't work. No, that won't work. No, that won't work. You're going, huh. Okay, they're challenging that. What's to that? Why are they doing I mean, you're asking those questions. You have open ears. So going to you know, you know, again, we showed us the very beginning, Marquis and Mark Hughes kid and Jamie were talking earlier about bots. And you know, I think that's interesting conversation because bots have gotten so much stronger lately. Right? Can I know early on and I still feel like I'm pretty smart. I can pick out a bot one. I'm getting one but I'm going to tell you it's not the first statement. It's usually about halfway through. I'm
Unknown Speaker 32:27
going okay,
Justin Letheby 32:27
I just got bought it. Right. It's getting much better. So j man you know going along with their saying about how our listeners go to school I don't know you as your you're a fan of Basilisk I'm pretty sure you are are you implementing those and how are you going after them and why are you seeing value in them?
Unknown Speaker 32:45
So yeah, I have a product it's called sir bought a lot. Kick them nasty box. Jamie got bots. Sir bought a lot. And we have real estate bots that are built out for realtors, we actually have a board bot, which is what I introduced the ease of the conference today. And then I also have a mortgage bot that we've created, because all about is is it's a predicted conversation with a personal touch. Right? If I told you right now a seller is going to call you you say how long you've been in the house? How much is that mortgage? What's the credit line? What improvements have you made? My bot does all that already. And then until they're all done and they go with they want their home equity estimate, right? I should trademark that Home Equity estimate on that house. It's what they want. We're giving the people what they want. Especially the today's modern consumer doesn't want to hop on the phone doesn't want to walk into an office I can remember when I first started in real estate in 2005 we had opportunity time, right which makes keep harassing the office and wait for somebody to walk through the front door. That is gonna happen anymore, especially with you know COVID and post COVID. But bots, it you know, it predicts that conversation it helps build rapport for you. Because we know the statistics if we ask Carrie would tell you that today's modern consumers looking to 224 months, they're doing their research prior to ever selecting a realtor to work with. And if we can be found and that's called the zero moment of truth, if we can be found during that zero moment of truth and that information gathering stage, then they're just going to pick us as their realtors not a closing process. It's just man this guy's given me value after value after value. That's what the bots do they go Okay, here's something you want to know about first time homebuyers. Here's how you get ready your home ready for sale and every time so here you go and I walk away so to take away clothes right I walk away go here's something else that you value and I walk away well wait, wait, wait, wait, I know you need something to let me know and I walk away. Right think about every every girl or guy you ever chased after and your whole life was to one try to walk away from you.
carrie little 34:54
I chase somebody Wait a minute, listen. Don't even let
Marki Lemons Ryhal 34:59
God change Yeah. Luck 50 and still getting chased. Okay, I got secrets on this thing. So
Justin Letheby 35:14
that's awesome. Yeah. So
Unknown Speaker 35:17
in closing, I'll just say this. I try to pick something when I ask other people to go, Damn, that's hard or Yeah, I tried that. But it was. That's what I do. That's why I picked Prezi. That's why I use e cam live for my virtual stuff that all these things had a learning curve that was like this bots the same way. Because now if I can master it, people want to work with people who are an expert at something. And if it's hard for other people to figure out, don't get frustrated, just okay, this is the thing, I'm going to do this better than anybody else. Now, now they have to pick you because nobody else is good at it.
Justin Letheby 35:51
Well, and that's huge, right? I mean, again, we're talking tech, but I think there's a huge word that you just said there become the expert in something.
Unknown Speaker 36:01
Something
Unknown Speaker 36:01
because that,
carrie little 36:03
pick it pick one thing, and if you're like, if it's gonna be Facebook, if it's gonna be LinkedIn, you got to go figure out when they hang out on LinkedIn, or Facebook. And, and Mark, he said, Be consistent, we are not consistent. And sometimes I watch, and I see agents, they disappear. Because you know what I mean, now that I'm coming, My office is kind of at home one day, I'm gonna have my monitor on the screen. So I can watch Hootsuite all day to figure out what people are doing. Because I'm I mean, I'm looking at Instagram, and I'm like, Yeah, they disappeared, or I no longer see their posts, because they're not consistent because the algorithm says they're not engaging. And so you disappear. So if we're mark, you can relate maybe Jay man, maybe Justin but there used to be the thing that we used to say call holding up the wall would go to a party, and the people that will be standing on the wall, they didn't they never danced with someone, they never got a phone number. Maybe back then they never got the home phone numbers because they didn't engage. So if you go if you go Hey, how y'all know what I'm talking about? If you hang out, if you hang out on social media, and you're just the watcher, right, you're holding up the walls, everything we hold up the Facebook wall. You aren't gonna get you won't build relationships, you won't get engagement and you won't generate new leads. And if you don't build the bot because now I got I have to watch I need JV man to build then go sell them. If you're not engaging and you're not doing any of this, you're holding up the wall.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 37:31
Hmm. When we do need a man to build a bot. Okay, that'd be first and foremost. I
carrie little 37:37
got three now that you said that.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 37:39
Here's the next thing. Clearly, I was not the person holding up the wall ever in Facebook or in real life. Cuz look, me and Jake, man. We have Tick Tock videos right. And a whole nother city in Vegas. Right at a conference getting it in. What?
Oh,
Unknown Speaker 38:01
is it always is always a risk if you want to do some kind of dance stuff related with Marky because then her girlfriends hop on? Yeah, that was all right. But he wasn't ready. Like I'll share the fact is that you're talking about that I wasn't ready. So I'm good. I'm good to go. That was funny.
carrie little 38:21
Yeah. Five dances that we all need to practice. So we're all in the same city. We could break out a
Justin Letheby 38:30
lot if you need to under practice I'm all for but man I am the whitest of white men. I have no
carrie little 38:39
find some easy ones. Don't worry because I was trying to teach mark one
Justin Letheby 38:42
Carlton Carlton is not the only one I got man.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 38:46
You got to crawl to mastic Oh my god.
Justin Letheby 38:50
I gotta have a couple. I got a couple encouraging drinks ahead of time but I can get that one out.
Unknown Speaker 38:55
Oh.
Justin Letheby 38:58
I need that little that little muscle relaxer.
Unknown Speaker 39:02
San Diego ner 2021.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 39:06
Oh, who's planning on going? I'm going I don't care. Don't nobody else go. I have to get out of the house. Am I the only one going to President circle? No. You Sarah were the kiya Pipi on McGriff. They're all they all meet you down. They're
carrie little 39:22
not on market. You didn't sneak here?
Marki Lemons Ryhal 39:24
Nope, I'm not sneaking in. You guys will see me back on the circuit starting in June. I need it. You know, I'm a vet. I am a COVID survivor. So as my husband I needed that vaccine to gonna kick in so that I feel more comfortable hitting the road but yeah, come June. I'm back out here.
Unknown Speaker 39:43
We'll do some karaoke. I got I got the mic and then we'll just figure out what the group dance is going to be. To the hip hip hop. You Don't Stop The Rock.
Justin Letheby 39:56
I'll just be the background dancer. I'm good to go. Exactly, I'll do that.
carrie little 40:03
I'm good. Oh my god, oh
Unknown Speaker 40:04
my god. Take
Justin Letheby 40:08
the jumpsuit on right now to match. So I'm ready to go.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 40:10
I was looking forward to hanging out with you guys this afternoon. Today was kind of a rough day, I got a thank you card back that I actually wrote to someone, one to 2002. And just to see the growth over time, well, one, the fact that the person saved the note, right, they sent it back to me at an appropriate time to just let me know who I was today, right? And the growth and sometimes growth You don't even know you growing. You know, I'm saying like, it's the intention, you want to be better. But when someone acknowledges that and set you back a copy, and they didn't send it back, they actually had my uncle drop it off to me. So here's the note. And it is from January of 2002. So I'm just so grateful, because the day has been emotional, just saying all that has transpired in that almost 20 years. Man, awesome. That's what Forgive me. And guess what? realize I've been writing handwritten notes for a long time.
Justin Letheby 41:14
I Well, you know what, and that. I'll tell you what, so let me ask you this. I haven't done a lot of people this year, which I think is a great point. Tech trends are huge. And there's no doubt about it. Right? We all talked about how the power of being in an attack and doing that stuff. And all three, all four of us in this room. We're obviously tech savvy tech strong, right? We are that. But as anybody else seeing a back to basics, boom. Oh,
Marki Lemons Ryhal 41:41
yeah. But we're going to be comfortable for a hot second here. Do I see a back to basics bones? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 41:49
they're gonna bust out some signage.
Unknown Speaker 41:53
Sorry, David,
Justin Letheby 41:54
I sent them off. I did.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 41:57
These are the cards that I've received so far. Just this year, right. This is last year's cards that people sent me, I take them and I put them in a Christian planner. Look, look out this thing is jam packed with people who took the time to write a note sign it say something and send it to me. And that goes to say a lot Carrie was great. Pull out her direct mail. So Carrie showing her direct mail.
carrie little 42:23
I showed it to you this morning. I mean, but earlier and I this is I am all for you see mark is already got her stuff. I have I have a kid that needs to do mine. But what I've What I know is based on Pew Research, we don't we don't hide where we get the data from we just go get it. Based on Pew Research. anyone under the age of now will the internet is now 31 years old. Yeah, if you are over the age of 50, you are on social media, but you're not using it the way the next generation is. So we still need a shift and and what I realized because of COVID people like the handwritten notes, they're actually they're getting you get out of the house and go to the mailbox and get my mail. And we're opening it we're taking time to read it. So if you really want to build a business, getting back to the basics, but adding the QR code I'm sure Jay man has when he could pop up on the screen. Getting back to bringing in the the new tech with traditional marketing is a game changer because I can now if someone calls me and says hey Ken, I want to buy a house. I can send it right there you go. I can send them the link to my YouTube channel that says here's the steps to buying a house. If you're a new real estate agent, I can send you the link so you got so you got your license. Now what but I can take I can actually get more views there. And then by the time you get to new you already know me
Marki Lemons Ryhal 43:52
what's funny because Katie Lance pictures here. This is something that Katie Lance sent me in the mail. Right. So Katie Lance, high tech is sending out direct mail pieces. Barbara bet. Two of the best customized cards I got last year from Barbara bet, right? sent them in the mail. Now this is from Matt definers past president Illinois realtors. Now it was a fact he said the car. Do you see this penmanship like this is a real freaking handwritten note. So when you get Mac the font is barbette Katie Lance, people who are high tech, and they're sending out direct mail pieces that should not even direct mail, handwritten note, that should tell you something about its power. I have people who tagged me because I mail out books. Not only do I mail out books, right? I mail out my own custom stickers. But everything that I mailed to people, I want them to use it without my name being all over it, right something that they could just use in their business. For people to have conversation with them, so I send everybody the world's greatest real estate marketer. It don't say Marquis lemons only so that people will think that they are the world's greatest marketer. So, yep, I mail um, cuz I was social before social media.
Unknown Speaker 45:18
Oh,
carrie little 45:19
yes because I was selling marquee this weekend I did a photo shoot and we were outside and in when we were, we were walking so my husband and the photographer had me walking into a knee. Oh gosh, I feel bad. What was the challenge the walk challenge. And I was telling Marquis how I was so embarrassed.
Unknown Speaker 45:39
Yeah, Mark, he
Marki Lemons Ryhal 45:40
was like, I would have just ate that up.
Justin Letheby 45:44
No, go for it.
carrie little 45:47
Look, I am muzzled. mutter? No. I
Justin Letheby 45:50
mean, we started this conversation by doing bots. Now we're back to letters. I mean, how how does that work for you? Are you actually are you reaching out? I mean, I know you are. But how are you reaching out other than the tech side of the world?
Unknown Speaker 46:01
I would like to say that I write a lot of personal notes, but that answer would be incorrect. In my in my mind, I would like to, but here's where my my online goes offline. When we can be in person again. I am one of the best in person networkers that you will see. Because I take the social media connections that I have. And I'm strategic about, man, I was super busy. I think that was the REMAX conference where Marquis was, but I sought her out because she's my people. And I'm like Marcie Hill. I know you're busy too. You got to do presentations. Let's just get quick. 10 minutes. Let's hop outside and do a tick tock. And you know, whenever people help, so like, I make sure I'm not the guy that says when you come to town, look me up. And then not answer my phone. Right? Carrie came to Rochester I took her around Rod servicii she's got about marks the bouncer in the back there. What's up, homie? Mark?
Marki Lemons Ryhal 47:00
Oh, I got you here. I got you. You got to come out to Chicago and get it make a ride soon as you finish up.
Unknown Speaker 47:05
No, yeah, strap up the ride. I mean, just to could you mail it to me overnight.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 47:10
No, no, no, no, we're gonna have to meet somewhere safe.
Unknown Speaker 47:15
Mark needs to take me on one of those rides and one of those cars that you keep putting out
carrie little 47:19
right at Bentley that this guy that I'm sure is hidden. We'll talk about that another day. Go ahead, Jamie. So
Unknown Speaker 47:25
that's it. I'm done.
Justin Letheby 47:27
You know, I think the thing that everyone said here and Jay man started saying it right off the bat here, right? It's zero moment of truth. And that's what everyone is doing. And we're doing it so many different ways. And that's the thing to realize is that when we're doing this stuff, we're doing it intentionally unintentionally. To be front of mind, Top of Mind right? Everything that we have done is going to keep everybody there and those conversations you're not going to forget Matt defend this for sending that card. But you're going to completely remember him for the essay he wrote in the card, right? It's it's gonna be one of those things and and those are the small things I think people forget and they can be done so many different ways. Through the videos through the bots through those conversations through all these tools to pick that out there. I know you're getting close j man to be in time to go right?
Unknown Speaker 48:17
Yeah, I got I'm just a virtual emcee for about 300 people.
Justin Letheby 48:21
Yeah, no big deal.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 48:23
No big deal.
Unknown Speaker 48:24
No big deal with the last example I'll give is one marquee was that celebration. She came into the speaker ready room. And I'm telling you like, you know, when you're when you speak somewhere, you're like, we're on and then when you go to Speaker ready room, you'd like melt into a pile of notes. And then mark came in like Jay you want to do a video? Let's go Oh, it's like you just flip the switch because that's
Marki Lemons Ryhal 48:49
cuz we had an event to do up in Minnesota the gambit. Right. And so then I didn't realize when we get to Minnesota, there's two different terminals, right. So so Oh, wait, this is camaraderie. Right? So my boy David knock sends a car for me to come recording his studio. I kidnap j man, we go to david Knox's studio. We record I've been kidnapped again. And we go hang out at a whole different franchise affiliations office and get some little snacks. And then we go to our hotel room. And I know I felt sorry for Jay man. I know he like is this what you do Really?
Unknown Speaker 49:26
every trip was a difference that's like this offline social networking, where like, you can see that we are consistent. And we're authentic, because we're the same people online as we are offline. 1,000% there's some people that you see him online and then you see him in person. You're like, Oh, that's a persona. That's not really you. You know, and that's it's almost like when you see behind the curtain of the wizard, like all damn ruins it.
carrie little 49:54
That's marking? Well,
Justin Letheby 49:57
yeah, it's authentic. Right. I mean, that's who he does good when you're Getting Hired. And when you're being seen, and when people want to use you, they want to use you not the as j man said the persona, right? They're not what they're looking for, and you're going to lose trust almost as fast. And the worst thing about it is, and we saw this early on in social media, when people were hiring to be something and they didn't divulge that it lost credibility in waves, it was a rocket throughout the social media world that was killed. So you still need to be careful about it. So with this being done, we're already talked forever. And it's awesome. And we could do this again, probably have to do it again, probably four or five more times, just to catch all the material on
Unknown Speaker 50:31
purpose. A lot of content here.
Justin Letheby 50:33
Yeah, a lot of stuff. So let me ask this for each one of you. Let's do it this way. We've got a few things. I'll start with Jamie, on this one. Let's, let's sit there and say what is the top tool people should be paying attention to today?
Unknown Speaker 50:50
messenger bots. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 50:51
I would agree. I would agree.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 50:53
I'm gonna go Facebook creator. Whoo, I
Justin Letheby 50:56
like that. I like that a lot. Gary, the pressures on
carrie little 51:03
is on I'm gonna say up house and Matt and and redirect to their social media channel where you need growth.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 51:14
That was good advice. Good advice.
Justin Letheby 51:19
I'm gonna tell people, the real simple thing, start looking to hire a virtual assistant, a real estate virtual assistant. The honest answer is, folks, I'm telling you that right now, I don't know if I just gave a secret because I saw some smiles going out into it. I don't know. But I'm telling you right now, there's a lot of virtual assistants out there that don't know real estate. And we as realtors need to be able to focus on what we need to focus on and not doing everything that we literally just got telling you done to worry about. And it's a problem for us. That was
Marki Lemons Ryhal 51:50
what me and carries I believe my last two hires. Yeah, I just hired a virtual assistant. I think Kerry just hired a virtual assistant and so those were the last two hires
carrie little 52:00
and a real person that's here helping me right now so
Unknown Speaker 52:04
my life my livestream two weeks ago SEO experts anything was how to hire a virtual assistant. You can find it on youtube.com slash a man speaks. holler at your boy.
Justin Letheby 52:12
perfect setup.
Unknown Speaker 52:13
Time.
Justin Letheby 52:16
Perfect time so let's plug away folks let's plug away so Jay man cuz I know you're the time crunch of all time crunch plug away, say how people need to find you what they need to know about you. Besides that, you are just amazing. So
Jman 52:29
solo dot t o slash j man speaks.
carrie little 52:33
I'm gonna say join me every Friday on Instagram for coffee with Kerry live. And if you go to my Instagram and you go to my link tree, I have a free download for you today. And I'll let Marquis talk about the more exciting one.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 52:51
Well, that could they they can reach us at operation. I've got houses for sale. Well, we're changing mindset. And realize that there is no shortage of inventory there is a shortage of listed property. So I want to change your mind on how to go get you some properties to sale. But you can find me on Marquis lemons.com. If you spell my name correctly, you will find me all over the internet. Ma rk i l e m o n s.
Justin Letheby 53:18
Well, thanks, everybody for being there. I appreciate your time. We actually this was a lot of fun, a lot of energy. I feel like I should go run about a mile now. So thanks for everybody for doing this. And we are out.
Marki Lemons Ryhal 53:32
Last sale houses.
Justin Letheby 53:43
Thanks, everybody for being online and listen to this. As always, please help me get this out. Get the word out what we're doing here. It is on Facebook. It's on YouTube. And if you want to see these interviews live, that's the best place to go is on YouTube Live. That is the best place for this. Find my channel. Justin Letheby. Also, please, if you are listening to this, after the fact like and subscribe to all your favorite podcasting platforms, apple, YouTube, Google whatever platform you're listening to like, subscribe and share it with your others get the word out, let them know we're doing and we'll see you on the next round.
Monday Mar 08, 2021
Monday Mar 08, 2021
online lead generation is important and needs to be a part of all our businesses. and it starts by understanding what websites need to be used for today. If it is not lead generating it is not doing its job. Internal pages should all be lead generating. Listen to Michael discuss how to get this started!
- 1-3-5
- narrow the focus
- how am i going to implement that
- start marketing!
you may decide this is too much and you just want to sell, that is a great discovey. look to hire someone like Micheal tritthart
Monday Feb 22, 2021
Monday Feb 22, 2021
it is conference season, and this year it will be unique, we will do them virtually. use these 6 easy steps to get the most out of any conference you attend.
- have goals- if you know me you know everything needs to be around your goals it is no different when you attend a conference. here are some goals to think about having
- have a goal to hit a specific skill or topic of need
- now many people do you want to meet
- how many speakers do you want to hear
- which exhibitors do you want to hear
- learn about the event
- have a digital business card
- pick your network opportunities
- take notes
- have a follow up plan
In your event you have control of the event. go there with an agenda and be intentional with your time.
Treat virtual conferences like you were going there in person!
Monday Feb 01, 2021
Monday Feb 01, 2021
We are talking with Carrie Little and we chat today about how to treat our business as a business. As Entrepreneurs we need to think as a leader not an employee!.
- Go to the office everyday!
- Have a Growth plan(what training will you be taking)
- Let People know your in business(don't be the hidden agent)
- Identify your clients(your 3 buckets of business)
- Lead generation
- mailing
- emailing
- Target in social media
- SOI
"Dont assume your relationship you have with the people around you will use you"
"Pick your lead generation and consistently go after" - networking events
- Think of organic groups
- Video
- next thing to master is video
- social media
- don't master all social media, pick one master the rest
- pick your one audience
- what does success in real estate look like today
- different for everyone
- Know your journey
Carrie Little is a national Speaker and trainer. Find her below