Keeping It Real Podcast • Secrets Of Top 1% REALTORS ® • Interviews With Real Estate Brokers & Agents

D.J. Paris

Secrets of top 1% realtors and real estate agents!

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Sep 12, 2022 • 39min

Why Your Mental Health Needs To Be Part Of Your Business Plan • Angelica Ventrice

The podcast discusses the importance of mental and physical well-being for real estate professionals, covering topics such as fitness as a lifestyle, gut health, and finding a balance between career and health goals. The conversation highlights strategies for maintaining a healthy mindset, self-love, and the impact of gut health on overall well-being. It emphasizes the connection between physical health and career success, debunking carb myths and promoting holistic wellness approaches.

Aug 12, 2022 • 48min

From Almost Quitting To N.A.R.’s 30 Under 30 • Bri Brenkus

Bri Brenkus this year’s 30 under 30 laureate describes why she chose a career in real estate and how she got involved. Bri discusses the importance of believing in yourself. Bri talks about what her team do to keep in touch with their previous clients. Next, Bri discusses how her team is managing the changes happening in the market at the moment and how they dealt with appraisal gap. If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube! Bri Brenkus can be reached at 702-456-5959. This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and FollowUpBoss. D.J. Paris 0:00On today’s show, we talk to a 26 year old broker who’d closed $44 million in production last year. It that is 107 listings. Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and now on to our show Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents. And for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris I am your guide and host through the show and in just a moment. We’re going to be speaking with Bri blankets but before we get to Bri just a couple of quick reminders number one please leave us a review. If you’re listening to this on Apple podcast, formerly iTunes or maybe Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora, anywhere you’re listening to podcasts, you can usually leave us a review we read every single one. It helps us improve and lets us know what you think of the show. And then also please tell just one friend about this podcast. Think of one other real estate agent that could benefit from hearing from top producers like Bri and send them a link to our website keeping it real.com Alright enough for me. Let’s get on to Nar 30 under 30 winter and 26 year old superstars super agent Bree bronchus. Today on the show we have Bri brings us with the breakast team in Las Vegas. Let me tell you more about Bri now rubrik is only 26 years old and is a listing agent for the brink is Realty network which is a Keller Williams in the marketplace of Las Vegas. And real estate is is Brees passion actually now this is incredible. Everyone you got you really really listen to this in 2021. Remember, she’s 26 Bri closed $44 million in volume. Personally listing 107 of the 370 properties the team closed, she did 107 listings out of the almost 400 listings herself. She was awarded one of 2020 twos honorees for the Nash from the National Association of REALTORS 30 under 30. No, no surprise there. Also this year already in 2022 Bree has received Las Vegas Realtors young professionals networks, who’s who under 40 award. Congratulations. Bri is also driven by making a difference in the lives of others. Annually she teaches a young adults class which is called Quantum Leap, and participates with adopting a struggling family with a seriously ill child. Bree is an inspiration and has only really begun her real estate career although it’s amazing how much she’s accomplished in such a short amount of time. So we are super thrilled to invite her and have her on the show before we get to Bri very quickly. Please check out the Brees website, which is the bronchus team.com And that’s th e and then b r e n k U S team.com. The Broncos team and also follow them on social media on Facebook and Instagram which is at the brink his team again br e n k US team on Facebook and social media and by the way you can get to all of our social stuff right from the breakfast team website. Bree, thank you so much. Welcome to the show. Bri Brenkus 4:36Thank you so much for having me, DJ. D.J. Paris 4:38This is this is a huge honor. We love talking to the 30 under 30 award winners first of all, congratulations that is beyond impressive. And but let’s let’s go all the way so it’s so funny because oftentimes I have on people who do you know the level of production you’re at and they’re 15, sometimes 20 years in the biz Listen, you obviously haven’t been doing it that long. But let’s start still start at the beginning. So why real estate? How did you get into it? Tell us that story. Bri Brenkus 5:10Yeah, so I actually grew up in a real estate family. My parents founded the bank, his team, way back in the day had been doing it for 30 plus years, never really had real estate on my radar, went to college. And I studied accounting wasn’t my passion. I was very depressed, I hated what I was doing. I was good at it. Don’t get me wrong. I and I just couldn’t see myself sitting behind a desk all day. So I was in my second to last semester trying to decide what I’m going to do, should I switch majors? And I’m sitting in my auditing class. And I’m thinking, Oh, my gosh, my parents owned a real estate company, why would I not take advantage of that, right? So I ended up graduating, and in my last semester, went to real estate school, got licensed, and I didn’t want to start practicing until I was out of school and graduated. So I graduated at the end of 2018, officially became a realtor beginning of 2019. D.J. Paris 6:16Wow. So you’ve only been doing this for this is your third year, I guess fourth year technically, that is really, really amazing. So you grew up in a real estate family? So I know a lot of our audience will immediately go, Oh, I see. So so everything was handed to free, which I am sure is not the case. But how did you get started? So you’re joining join the family team, the Keller Williams brand is an amazing one. And but you’re still a young person trying to get listings. So how, how does that work as a as somebody as young as yourself? How did you? How did you start? How did you find clients? You know, tell us all about that process? Bri Brenkus 6:59Yeah, so my parents created kind of a rigorous training process when you join the team. And if you’re going to become a listing specialist, or buyer specialist, you have to either get five for sale by owner listings on your own or five buyer brokerage agreements signed. D.J. Paris 7:18Wow. So you have to prove your way in I love that. Right. Exactly. Okay, well, let’s talk about let’s talk about the for sale by owners, because just only because this is like, you know, it’s such a it’s such an explosive sort of term because people have a very strong reaction to for sale by owners. For those of us who maybe are listening who don’t exactly know what that means, or why Realtors would call them. These are typically unrepresented buyers, or sorry, unrepresented sellers, who are attempting to maybe list their home on the MLS, but they’re not really using a realtor for anything other than getting it on the MLS. That’s what’s known as flat fee MLS. Or it’s somebody who’s literally just putting it up for sale sign in their yard and putting it on a few websites, not using a realtor at all. Either way, there’s lots of companies that will, you know, but these these are, these are sellers, who oftentimes don’t end up selling their property, because since they’re not using a realtor, maybe they’re just using Zillow to figure out the what what their home might be worth, or other tools, they tend to overvalue their property they listed for higher than it probably should be, and oftentimes it never sells. So these are actually great opportunities for realtors to come in and say, hey, I can help you actually sell your property. The downside is that these these leads will call them companies aggregate these leads, and they sell them to anyone that wants them. So typically, if you’re calling a for sale by owner, you’re probably the 25th person that’s called that for sale by owner. And those can be very, they’re they’re I call them the probably the world’s most hard, most difficult cold call. So I would love to hear how did you I don’t know if you did for sale by owners or if you got the buyer broker or buyer listings on your own. But can you tell us a little bit about how that went for you? Bri Brenkus 9:06Yeah, so I chose the listing path, because I love a challenge. D.J. Paris 9:10That is a challenge. Bri Brenkus 9:13And I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. And because of my parents daughter, they don’t want anything handed to me. And yes, you kind of have to prove your way into it because they’ve worked for 30 plus years building their brand building their names. They don’t want, you know, just anyone coming in and kind of interrupting that if you would. So because of my parents daughter, they upped it to 10 For Sale By Owner listings. D.J. Paris 9:37Thanks Mom and Dad. Yeah. Bri Brenkus 9:39Because they didn’t want anybody on the team saying Oh, because she’s your daughter, you know, you did X, Y and Z for whatever. So it was really, really difficult. And going through again, I had to prospect them on my own cold call them on my own versus the team giving them all On set up appointments for me, right? So I was calling them, I was going through these people’s homes and 20 For Sale By Owner homes, I got kicked out of their homes. D.J. Paris 10:11So So were you going door to door? Or how were you? Were you calling them first tell us the process. Because lots of people, it’s so funny people have such a specific reaction to for sale by owners where it’s like, oh, that doesn’t work. And then other people like, no, it totally works. Everyone’s different. But how did you do it? Bri Brenkus 10:27Yeah, so I was just cold calling them and would schedule an appointment with them and would go in, and literally, D.J. Paris 10:33they boot you out. Bri Brenkus 10:35I got kicked out. I was just too intense for them. And I was talking my parents and my sales manager, I and my coach, I just don’t understand I’m trying to help them, right. They just won’t listen to me. Why are you selling it on your own, we can net you so much more. So after getting kicked out of literally 20 homes, I told my coach, my manager at the time, bawling my eyes out, pulled over into a parking lot just started crying to her, I can’t do this real estate is not for me, I should go back to accounting, right? And I’m just on the phone with her for whatever, 2030 minutes. And all of a sudden I get a notification on my phone for my last appointment of the day. If you leave now, you know, you’ll get there in time, right? The time sensitive notification. Sure. So I said I’m on the other side of town, this is my last appointment of the day today. Why not? I’m just gonna go on, I have nothing to lose, right. And if I don’t get this listing, I’m out of real estate, I’m going back to accounting. So I was so close to giving up. And I could have easily just said, You know what, I’m not going to go on this appointment at all. So, finally pull up to the for sale by owners home. And I’m walking up to the front door. And I said, You know what, I’m not going to be attached to the outcome. I just had a mindset shift. And I by doing that I actually got the listing. So what why do you think that is? Yeah, so I just changed my mindset. And I thought, rather than being so focused on getting the listing and being attached to that, I just told myself, I’m not a salesperson, I’m an educator, let me come from a place of service. D.J. Paris 12:20So you went, you went into the home and was more about, hey, let me talk to you or give you some advice or some opinion about what’s going on with your home, as opposed to hey, you need to list with us because we can get you more. And maybe you still say that too. But you lead from a place of I want to just provide a ton of value, instead of being the salesperson so to speak. Right? Bri Brenkus 12:42Exactly, just being curious about their situation, because every seller situation is different, their motivation, why they’re selling, right, and just kind of sitting down and talking to them, educating them on the benefits of listing with a realtor. And by doing that it actually created trust and was easier to get a listing. D.J. Paris 13:03Yeah, I have had that same experience. I’m always drawn in a sales situation where maybe I’m somebody’s trying to sell me, I’m always most drawn to those people who, who seem to not need the sale. Because it definitely feels more comfortable. I don’t feel as much pressure. And I feel like there’s a level of respect that I appreciate when somebody’s not like, here’s all the reasons why you should go with me. For XY and Z. It’s like I can make my own decision. I just want to know what you do and what you’re all about and, and all of that. So it sounds like that works. So, so you were you were crying in a car just an hour before you made it to this Bri Brenkus 13:41listing, feeling defeated and unsure of myself, I didn’t know what to do, I almost gave up. And I called my sales manager after I got the listing of my first listing, I was so excited. And, you know, happy tears now at this point, not not crying, upset tears. And she told me God wants you to be a realtor. So that was probably one of the greatest days today. D.J. Paris 14:07And here you are now and not just you know, surviving that first listing in the first year in the second year. But now you’re you’re one of one of the most successful young people in this in this industry in the United States. National Association of REALTORS has awarded you the 30 under 30, which is an amazing accomplishment I’ve yet to be and I’ve yet to not be impressed by anyone in that group. And I’ve talked to a lot of those people over the years. So congratulations. I’m so glad that last listing worked out for you that last appointment, because the odds were not in your favor and it’s still for whatever reason you did something really well and you changed your direction. Let’s talk about let’s talk about failure because I know this is a big thing for you. And I also find this with the hundreds of people that I’ve had on the show in the past. Failure is something thing that comes up a lot. And it’s really funny because I know sometimes we have these these huge producers on the show like yourself and, and people who are even doing hundreds of millions of dollars in production a year. And you’ll see, you’ll think like, well, that person never fails. And the reality of it is they’re like, Oh, I fail all the time. So I would love to hear a little bit more about, you know, what we’ll actually before we get to that, let’s, let’s go. So you got your first listing, you stayed in the business? And then did you continue from there doing more for sale by owners? Are you like I am done? Or no, because you still had to do nine more, I guess, right? Yeah, Bri Brenkus 15:36I did. So yeah. So my biggest challenge became my biggest breakthrough. And just advice to anybody out there. Just don’t give up. Just believe in yourself. have mentors have coaches that can be there to support and motivate you. It’s it helps tremendously. D.J. Paris 15:52What do you what do you say on the phone? I want to ask about for sale by owner. Just one more question because nobody ever talks about this. So which I love. I love the fact that you in fact, you’re talking about what do you say? Because these are these are people as you know, these leads have been sold to lots of other realtors who also want that listing. And these are also people that maybe they worked with a realtor in the past, and they didn’t have a good experience or they don’t want to work with a realtor for whatever reason. So these are not easy phone calls. What do you do to get the appointment? What do you say? Is there anything sort of unique or special about the way that that you’re communicating that you think is different? Or you know, what, why do you think you were I mean, even to get 20 appointments, unfortunately, those didn’t close, but even to get 20 in house appointments is not easy to do. Bri Brenkus 16:37Yeah, and everything happens for a reason. And I don’t really think I say anything special or different. I just kind of say, Hey, I’m on a large team here in Southern Nevada. I see you’re trying to sell your home, right? Yeah, I am trying to sell my home. It’s for sale by owner. I’m not working with an agent. Well, right, whatever. Okay, well, would it be okay, if one of our buyers bought your home? Yeah, that’d be great. I’m not paying any commission or I’m only offering X percent right? Okay, great. When’s a good time for me to come by and take a look? Later today? Good. Or is tomorrow better? D.J. Paris 17:07Got it. So you don’t even you don’t even you just are like, hey, that’s whatever they’re saying. You know that most of those people are ultimately probably going to use a realtor at some point anyway, so you don’t worry about the fact that they’re like, Yeah, I don’t want to work with with any realtors. You’re like, yeah, no problem. No problem. And then oh, that’s so smart. I love that. What a great what a great suggestion. Bri Brenkus 17:29Actually, statistically over 95 98% of all for sale by owners end up listing with an agent. So you know, they’re gonna list why have it? Not the US? D.J. Paris 17:38Yeah, and they don’t know it at that maybe at that moment. And you know it Yeah, right. They don’t know it yet. And so that’s why you don’t have to argue with them because they’re going to use somebody anyway. Ah, that’s so smart. That’s a really really great subtle but important distinction in you’re not overcoming an objection you’re accepting where they’re at and say no problem. I’d still love to come by and say hi, and then you can start to have a better conversation face to face and it’s a lot harder to you know, slam the door on somebody once they’re there. Although I guess that happened I’m sure to you as well. But but eventually it did and also imagine somebody in their early 20s is coming over you know, that is also not it makes it much harder, right like that does not work in your favor right so that’s that’s tricky. I mean now you’re you’re you’re well known and people in the area you know they don’t look at you probably the same way when you first started but that is that is an incredibly challenging I really applaud your your your your team for putting you through that because it probably built a lot of calluses and probably built a lot of like oh yeah, I can’t be I can’t be hurt Did you did you get yelled at a lot on the phone when you call these Bri Brenkus 18:50it’s not even on the phone? I mean getting kicked out of people’s homes cuss words you for sale by owners. It sounds really good how DJ and I are talking about it right now. And you got to have thick skin let me tell you because people can be really really mean. D.J. Paris 19:04Yeah, yeah. Well I’m so glad you you you made it through that and that is a trial by fire for sure. And it’s it’s almost guaranteed failure the gift failure is built in to the working with for sale by owners because just the vast majority of them are going to be like hey, stop calling me you’re the 20th person to call me so understandably they just get annoyed and the fact that that but but eventually you get one and you got one at the very last possible moment before you would have you know started become you know, gone to the corporate world maybe and done accounting and that’s a certainly a very safe career and a very good career. And but here you are now so let’s so let’s talk a Bri Brenkus 19:45quick story on that. Because you asked a question before we were talking about what I say to for sale by owners. So got my first one. I have nine listings LEFT, D.J. Paris 19:55RIGHT more to go. Yeah, so Bri Brenkus 19:57my mom was on the coaching call with Our manager and said, Hey, how’s Bree doing? You know, I know she’s been doing it for several months, is she now getting incoming leads? And my manager goes, Oh, my goodness, she’s doing so well. We forgot to give her incoming leads. I got over whatever 15 For Sale By Owner listings on my own. And I finally got an incoming lead, right? So I go over there. And I’m kind of educating them on the benefits of using an agent and our team and everything. And they’re like, Bree, we know we called you here, we want to hire you. It was just really funny. Yeah. D.J. Paris 20:36That’s, it’s amazing. But But again, this idea of failure as being one step closer to success each time and the only way to success is through failure. As far as I can tell, unless you just get really lucky, it’s sometimes that happens. Sometimes, you know, you’re lucky somebody walks into an office and says, I have a $2 million property I’d like to put for sale, it rarely happens. But it happens once in a blue moon. And people hold on to those like, white elephant stories as like, Oh man, this one guy and look at how lucky he is this $2 million. But the real work and the real success comes from just tremendous discipline. So you, obviously your parents were smart enough to put you through that discipline. Because now I imagine if if you were to let’s say, we were to drop you off in a different city, or different state, get you went and got your license, you didn’t know anybody, I suspect you would be like, I could figure this out. Which, by the way, is a really impressive peace of mind to have. Because if it all goes away tomorrow, and I’m sure it won’t, but if it ever did, or let’s just say you know, you ended up finding a partner, and you get married at some point, and maybe they live in another, you know, part of the country or the world. And you’re like, well, now I have to leave and go, you could probably you probably feel confident that you could do that. And start over as a real estate agent, maybe in another market altogether. Which, because you already started with literally, though, like, everything should have been handed to you in theory because of of your situation, and none of it was. So I just think that is truly amazing. And cheers to your parents for that. That is an incredible, incredible thing. Well, let’s talk about Bri Brenkus 22:20very grateful for them. So D.J. Paris 22:23a lot of a lot of our guests who are a lot of our listeners, rather who when I when I interview people who make the national association Realtors 30, under 30, they think, Oh, they’re doing it all through social media that you know, I want to learn about how to do more on social. Is social a big part of how you get clients, or is it not really a big part of your business? Bri Brenkus 22:45Surprisingly, it’s not really a big part of our business. We’re very active, proactive. prospecting, right, we actually have a team of what they’re called inside sales agents, who are licensed agents sitting in our office right now. My brother’s actually one of them. He’s the head of that department. And they actively prospect all day, they never put a buyer in their car, they never meet with sellers. So it’s pretty awesome. And I’m a listing agent and I also do prospect if I don’t have appointments, if the inside sales agents haven’t given me appointments, so yeah, aren’t really too big on social media, we might get leads here and there. But we we kind of are proactive. D.J. Paris 23:27Yeah, that’s, that’s great talk, talk a little bit about how you what you guys do. And I will say, Guys, of course, I’ve been your entire team, what you do to maintain good relationships after a sale? Because I always think that I always find that to be really interesting. A question to ask, it’s like, okay, we know about getting deals and closing deals. But what are you guys doing to stay in touch? So I’d love to hear how you guys do that? Bri Brenkus 23:57Yeah, absolutely great question and we contact them often we actually do for client appreciation events every year. And so maintaining that way we do random giveaways as well. Kind of every other month and again our inside sales agents agents in our team buyer agents listing agents are calling them rigorously. So D.J. Paris 24:20I want to pause for a moment to talk about our episode sponsor are one of my favorite companies out there follow up boss. Now after interviewing hundreds of top Realtors in the country for this podcast. Do you know which CRM is used by more than any other by our guests? Of course it is a follow up boss and let’s face it following up is the key to taking your business to the next level. Follow up boss will help you drive more leads in less time and with less effort. Do not take my word for it. Robert slack who runs the number one team in the US uses follow up boss and he has built a one and a half billion dollar business in just six years. Follow up boss integrates with over 250 systems so you can keep your current pools and lead sources. Also the best part they have seven day a week support. So you’ll get the help that you need when you need it and get this follow up boss is so sure that you’re going to love their CRM that for a limited time, they’re offering keeping it real listeners a 30 day free trial, which is twice as much time as they give everyone else. And oh yeah, no credit card required. So you can try it risk free. But only if you use this special link visit follow up boss.com forward slash real, that’s follow up boss.com forward slash real for your free 30 day trial. Follow up like a boss with follow up boss. And now back to our episode. Yeah, just always staying on top of it calling how’s everything going? What’s going on with you know, any updates, things like that. And client appreciation events? is such a great thing that a lot of agents don’t don’t do. Can you just share with us a couple of different I don’t know if you guys do the same type four times a year, or if it’s if it changes, but we’d love to hear because I know that word gets used a lot. But a lot of times people are like, Well, what what client appreciation event should I do? So I’m curious what what works for you guys. Bri Brenkus 26:10Yeah, so we have our pool party coming up. That’s our next one on August 5. And it’s really fun. I think it’s our 13th annual something crazy like that I could be wrong could be 1511 something in that ballpark. And we rent out the multigene center. And it’s really fun. We have a snow cone machine music, fun stuff like that. For Halloween, we have our Halloween party, we, when COVID happened, we turned it into a trunk or treat just to kind of maintain distancing and have things outside. And it actually was one of our greatest largest Halloween events ever. The news ended up coming. So it was really fun. And we decided that we’re just going to do that moving forward, everyone dresses up, and it’s really fun for the kids. And then for Thanksgiving, we do our pie giveaway. And when they come to pick up their pie, if they give us a referral, then we throw in a free can of whipped cream. D.J. Paris 27:13That’s awesome. So So basically, so you guys buy or somehow acquire a lot of pies. You bring them to the office, and then you call your client say, hey, we have a pie here for you. Bri Brenkus 27:25Correct? Well, we call them and we ask, Hey, we’re doing a pie giveaway on this date from this time to this time, we have Apple or pumpkin would you like to participate? If so which one would you like, D.J. Paris 27:37I love it, I love it. And then it’s such a great, it’s just a great reason to see somebody’s face to face to which you know, once they’re in their home, it’s phone calls, emails, text, you know, it’s it’s the transactions done. So this is, in addition to the client appreciation events are I guess this is the client appreciation about this is an opportunity to see somebody eyeball to eyeball and just be like, hey, you know, and then you can reminisce about, you know, the particular their particular transaction or just check in on them. And it’s such a great, great idea. I really encourage all of our listeners to figure out ways that you can do that. And you can do it inexpensively. It could you could do it expensively. It just depends on budgeting. But every everyone likes to get together socially, right? Not everyone but but often a lot of a lot of your clients do, right. And I think this is a social business. So it’s a great opportunity. And it’s fun. And like I know, for me, I love it too, when I have an event planned. Like if somebody creates an event and invites me to it. What I love about that is it makes me feel like I’m doing something social. And it actually takes some stress off of me for planning something that week. So I always try to do a number of social events. And so I always actually love it when I find out also and so invited us to something, even if it’s something where like, maybe in my mind, I might be like I don’t really like that seems fun, but not that big of a deal. But I love it because then I’m like, I don’t have to think about Friday night or Thursday night or whatever. So. So I think you’re doing I think you’re doing a lot of things. Well, I want to talk about leverage because you have a team and it sounds like your team has lots of there’s there’s there’s different members with different positions. He talked about how you guys use leverage to get more business. Bri Brenkus 29:20Absolutely. And leverage is very important. No one succeeds alone, right. And by leveraging, we have really good system setup, so I’ll just kind of break it down from my side. So I’m a listing specialist. I go out and meet with sellers, discuss our marketing plan, talk about the market and then we come up with a price after they’re listed there kind of main point of communication is our listing manager Rachel, she’s been with us over seven years. So she sits in the office every day. She’s the one that writes of counteroffers for our sellers, ensuring they get that top price. So she just has a skill I don’t have right that’s all She’s doing all day. So she’s really, really good at that. After the sellers accept an offer, then it goes to our listing, or not listing escrow specialists, Lisa, who’s been with us over 14 years. And she handles everything after that point. So appraisal inspection, things like that. D.J. Paris 30:19That’s amazing. So if you have to, I always love I think teams have become so much more important in the last five years, as teams have figured out like yours have, how to leverage and how to combined resources and experience, because we think about the, you know, Bree now is, you know, she’s 24 years old, she’s in somebody’s home, who doesn’t really want her in the home. And she’s like, Hey, here’s why you should hire me, because you get access to all of us. And now she says, Hey, I’m just one person on the team. There’s this entire team here, here’s how we take care of people. And that that’s leverage, right? Bri Brenkus 30:59Absolutely. And I kind of like to use the analogy, if you were to go to a restaurant, right, and you go to check in, you would probably be really concerned if the chef was checking you in as the receptionist. And then the one that also walk you to your table, and then you sit down at your table, he has to go back and flip burgers. Now you’re thirsty, and you need to order water drink, you’d probably be concerned if the chef was coming out and doing all of those things. So everyone has their own unique niche and skill. And we hone in and focus on that one skill and get really, really good at it. D.J. Paris 31:32Yeah, it’s that expression, jack of all trades, master of none, right. And it’s like, you can’t be good at everything, you can be good at a couple of things. Most people are, we’re good at like three to five things. And that’s about it. And, and so it’s probably a good idea to delegate the rest of those things, or join forces and get someone else who can help you with that. And so it’s nice to because then you can just focus on what you’re best at. So we’ll fast forward to to last year, which is 2021. You now listed 100. And I mean, this is such such incredible number 107 listings personally, tell us how you did that? Because that’s what one every three days. That’s yeah, insane. So tell us insane and so impressive. And like you should there should be a statue of you. In the in the Realtors Association headquarters, because really, no, this is a big number. So tell us a little bit about how you did that. And how you manage that? Well, I guess having a team helps. But let’s talk about how you how you did that. Bri Brenkus 32:40Yeah, and I can always do more, I can always be better. So yes, thank you, thank you for that. Do you appreciate that, um, I am a very hard worker, I work every day. So it’s, um, I didn’t really take a lot of vacations, especially with the world being shut down in 2020. So that helped, kind of moving forward as well. And I just love what I do. I am kind of weird, I would rather be working then going on vacation. And if I do have time off, I’m sitting there, anticipating getting back to work and meeting with sellers and helping them put the most amount of money in their pocket, changing their lives, their families lives. And it just brings me so much joy. D.J. Paris 33:27So you know your why. And I think that’s an important thing. You basically just said it in that last sentence, you want to help people change their lives in a positive way. And that motivates you to work hard, because you feel like you’re serving a higher purpose other than the Commission, or you know, the sale itself. It’s like, oh, I’m actually doing a good thing for these people. That’s a really important mindset. I imagine because I suspect when it’s a difficult day, and we all have difficult days that probably helps get you through the day, or am I wrong? Bri Brenkus 34:03You’re exactly right. Yes. And you asked how can I manage? Over 100? Yeah, and listings? Yes, through leverage, and we all have the same goal. We’re all on the same team. We all want the same thing. So it’s a win win environment. And everybody can achieve more when we all work together. D.J. Paris 34:25Question about sort of the current market climate so it’s now we’re in the middle of July this episode probably won’t go out until August but I imagine not much will have changed. We have interest rates have gone up we know are now around hovering between five and a half six. I think they just went up today. So I think they’re closer to 6% again, so for the 30 year fixed as as an average and maybe a little bit less than that, but somewhere around that and we have you know not as much inventory of course so we have less inventory buyers. You know their their purchasing power has has dropped from one It was during COVID. It’s it’s it’s not the easiest time out there. So I’m curious how you guys have pivoted what what you’re doing to accommodate for not that many listings and buyers who now are going, oh, man, the rates in the fives or the sixes, that stinks. You know, how are you guys accommodating for that? Yeah, so Bri Brenkus 35:20it’s pricing, helping sellers price ahead of the market. Because we don’t want to be chasing the market. So we’re not in the market, we just came out of where we listed a property comps didn’t really matter, everything selling right. And it was really crazy, listed this for sale by owners home. And he was asking 685, and the same model match was in escrow for 660. Oh, right at the time, and we listed it for 785. And it sold within a week at that price. So we’re not seeing that market anymore. beginning of this year inventory here in Vegas for single family homes, was about 17 1800. Today, we’re a little over 6000. So yeah, so inventory is definitely increasing. There’s not as many buyers out there, because the interest rates going up, the demand isn’t as hot as it was pretty much all of last year and beginning of the year. So it’s just pricing ahead of the market. We’re in a shifting market now. And we don’t want to be chasing the market. So we need to be priced very, very competitively, if not even kind of under comps. So it’s just helping sellers understand that. D.J. Paris 36:38I think too, like I was thinking about this yesterday, I was talking to a lender, and I was saying you don’t want to be really neat. And I’m sure this tool already exists. So if it does, in any of our listeners know of it, send it over to me, I would love to see a a little calculator that could say okay, yeah, maybe you could have locked in a rate at 2.9% 2.99%. But you probably would have overpaid by X amount. And now Yeah, our rates are, you know, 6%. But the pricing has come down, I would be very curious to see what the intersection intersection there is. Because it might not actually be that different now, right? Like it actually might be better, even though the rates obviously significantly higher, because pricing has come down. Have you seen that where pricing has started to pull back? From the listing side? Bri Brenkus 37:23Absolutely. Yeah, within the last seven days. Sorry about that. I don’t know how to make that sound stone. That’s okay. Okay, there we go. Sorry about that. Sorry, what was the question again? D.J. Paris 37:41So So, as far as pricing, we’ve seen pricing come down? Or has pricing come down? That was the question is, is as inventory has gone up? Pricing, I imagine is probably gone down as well. Bri Brenkus 37:53Yeah, a lot of supply and demand, right? When inventory goes up, pricing comes down. And we have seen that within the past seven days, there’s been about 1700 price reductions in the MLS Wow. Yeah, D.J. Paris 38:04that’s it’s probably great, too. Did you did you deal during the, during the last couple of years with dealing with appraisal gaps and dealing with like, oh, gosh, you know, this person is buying. And it’s so much higher than than what the actual appraisal comes back at where it was, that was problematic to for realtors, it, it was kind of a fun time to be a listing agent. But it was also problematic time to can you talk a little bit about how you guys dealt with that? Because it had to come up all the time for you? Bri Brenkus 38:34Yes, it did. And we do three very specific things to prevent appraisals from coming in low, even in a bad market when interest rates are high. And the interest rates being low really helped us actually in a way because these buyers could afford more and can essentially either waive the appraisal or pay X amount above, which is what happened in that home that I sold for $125,000 more than this same model match. And it actually had an extra bedroom, which is just crazy. So we’re definitely going to start to see the market shift now that interest rates are going up. D.J. Paris 39:11Yeah. And are you finding buyers? I know I’m sort of getting stuck on where we are today. But I just think it’s so important to talk about because it’s what agents are dealing with in the present. Right. So when you talk to buyers, and I know you’re on the listing side, but you do work with buyers as well, occasionally or really only on the list usually when Bri Brenkus 39:31I was first starting out, okay, you’re not not too much here in there. So, yeah. D.J. Paris 39:38So mostly on the listing side, so Are are you having to have conversations then with sellers about okay, the buyers market has shifted, here’s what’s going on. We were you know, we’re not in, you know, you might have talked to neighbors who listed a home a year ago and didn’t even, you know, within 24 hours they had 40 lists 40 contracts or 40 offers rather than How do you have to have that conversation now so that these listing these, these, these sellers aren’t going Hey, where’s Where’s these crazy amazing offers? Bri Brenkus 40:09Right? And the market started shifting here in Vegas at least kind of around end of April May ish. So when we listed a property sellers would be calling us after a couple of days, why hasn’t my home sold. And again, it’s just really helping them understand we’re not in the market, we just came out of interest rates are going up, the buyers demand isn’t there. Another thing that’s going up is inventory. So you have more competition versus last year, beginning of the year, you know, you might have two, three, even four of the same model match or whatever, same square footage that are available, we need to price it competitively with with them. D.J. Paris 40:49I love that. And then let’s talk about the 30 under 30 award, because I think this is this is an amazing thing. How did you think to do it? Did someone bring that to your attention? Were you always wanting ever since you got on? Were you aware of it? Were you like, boy, I’d love to earn that award someday? Or how did that come about? Bri Brenkus 41:09I was not aware of it. My mother was the one that suggested it to me. And I did not think I would win? D.J. Paris 41:19Well, if you did, and that’s really, really, really impressive and amazing. And we are so excited to continue to watch your growth as you continue to crush it. So are you scheduling more free time for yourself this year now that things are slowing down? Not just a little bit, I guess, in a good way. So you have some more personal time? What have you learned in the last year that you maybe wish? or what have you learned more recently that you wish you would have known when he started? Bri Brenkus 41:55That’s a great question. And probably what happened on my 21st listing appointment is not being attached to the outcome. And again, just coming from a place of service. D.J. Paris 42:08You know, it’s it’s funny, it’s like, yeah, and but like, that’s really it, isn’t it? It’s like, people want to hear more that there’s some other secret sort of formula to it. But there is something very powerful about being able to say, or to be able to come across as I don’t need the business. I’m happy to take the business, but I don’t need it. I’m here out of service. And it just makes everything more relaxed. And do you still go into that to each listing presentation with that mindset? Bri Brenkus 42:40Definitely. D.J. Paris 42:41Yeah. And your close ratio is, I’m assuming has gone up ever since that mindset shift? Yes. Yeah, it’s, it’s really, it’s really amazing. Well, Bree, I am going to let you get back to your busy day because you have more listings, I’m sure to to close today. And so we want to let you get on with your amazing a career. But I really will Oh, and by the way, we should mention that Bree does not work alone, right? She works on this team, the brink is steam. They are in Las Vegas, they cover the entire Las Vegas metro area and all the surrounding areas. And you’re one of the biggest teams in that area. And as a result, you know, we do have a lot of listeners, and we have a lot of Las Vegas, realtors who are listening, if they are thinking, Gosh, I want to join a team like this or want to learn more about what your team offers, what’s the best way that another agent should reach out to you? Bri Brenkus 43:34Yeah, you can call us Our office number is 702-456-5959. We’re always hiring, we’d love to have you on the team and help you learn. And yeah, looking forward to D.J. Paris 43:48it. And also to you know, a lot of people retire to Las Vegas, which I never realized up until about five years ago that that was a big retirement community. And it is. So there’s a lot of people from all over the country who have clients that may end up, you know, retiring down there or buying a second property or so down there. So that’s another great reason to reach out to Bri and develop a relationship. Maybe there could be some, some client sharing, because Bri has clients that have other properties and other places as well. Just out of curiosity, Bri Do you find that that happens a lot where you have somebody who’s you know, feels like you know, people move to Las Vegas at some point. You know, it’s it’s it’s not as much of a born and raised kind of place. I mean, obviously, that’s where you’re from, but a lot of people move to there. And so do you end up dealing with a lot of referrals where you have clients who have other properties elsewhere as well? Bri Brenkus 44:41Yes, lots of referrals. Lots of our sellers are moving out of state, we’re having lots of people move in state. So we’d love to partner up with you guys, wherever you may be. We actually got a referral from France. So if you’re outside of the US, we were worldwide. D.J. Paris 44:56That’s amazing. Well everyone who is listening check out Bri and her team’s website, the bronchus group. Sorry, let me pull up. I’m saying that wrong. That is the brigus team.com. And that’s th e and then b r e n. So it looks like brand kiss, but it’s pronounced bronchus, the bronchus and K us team.com. And then follow them on social. By the way, both of these links, all the social links, and this website will be in the show notes. You can find it there, but follow them on Facebook and Instagram, at the bronchus team or just go to their website and it’s all there as well. Bree, congratulations on all the success 30 under 30 award winner, your superstar Are you heading to do you know if you’ll be going to the National Association of Realtors Conference this year, which I believe is in Orlando, just out of curiosity, I don’t know if you’ll be Bri Brenkus 45:43will be there super, super grateful my mother had me apply again. I did not think I would be one of the 2022 honorees. So I’m super excited to meet everybody down there all the other class of 22 honorees. And yeah, grateful for my team, I would not have been able to have all of these successes without them. And they’re amazing. Definitely, definitely, definitely leverage and get get help from others. D.J. Paris 46:10Awesome. Well, and if anyone’s listening and you’re thinking about going to the National Association, Realtors Conference, the annual conference, it is awesome. I went to my first one last year and it was so much fun at a lot a lot of the people I’ve interviewed on the show are there as well. So if you’re there Brees going to be there. I’m going to be there definitely considered going to Orlando I think it’s in November. So anyway, take a look online but everyone follow Bree go to her go to their website, the brink esteemed Brink his team.com follow them on social media and if you’re a realtor in the Las Vegas area, reach out to them Keller Williams is amazing. We love Keller Williams and Brees and her family’s team is incredible there. So thanks Bree for being on the show. Thank Bri Brenkus 46:50the conferences in August, by the way not shows you what I know. Yes, it’s looking forward to it. I’ll see you there DJ. D.J. Paris 47:00Well, maybe not. I apparently. Apparently I’m going there in November. So I will be there all by myself. So if you want to know I’m teasing. Boy that shows you how to bid I am huh. Yeah, August. Okay. Well, Bri Brenkus 47:12a different one. I don’t know. I’m not sure. No, no, no, D.J. Paris 47:13that’s that’s the right one. Anyway, Bri, thank you so much for being on the show. It was such a pleasure. And thanks to everyone. And on behalf of our audience, we think Bree for her time and on behalf of Bree and myself, we think everyone who is listening, please tell a friend about this episode. Just think of one other agent that could benefit that really could use a little boost. And you know, could hear the great words from Bree and send them a link to our website or any podcast app they might be using. But our website is keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve ever done is streamed there as well. So anyway, Bree, thank you so much. And we will see everybody on the next episode. Bri Brenkus 47:52Thank you

Aug 11, 2022 • 27min

How To Talk To Clients About Inventory & Lending Rates • Learning With A Lender • Joel Schaub

Welcome to the July episode of Learn With A Lender with Joel Schaub of Guaranteed Rate! In this episode Joel discusses what’s going on in the market right now and shares advise to agents working during these touch times with low inventory while rates are going up. Joel also advises on how to take advantage of fluctuating rates right now. Once more, Joel emphasizes the importance of building relationships with lending officers in your area and building business together. Joel and D.J. discuss Joel’s weekly market update. Last, Joel reminds everyone that refinancing the mortgage is always a great opportunity for home-owners. If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube! Joel can be reached at joel@rate.com and 773.654.2049. This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks, Quality Builders and FollowUpBoss. Transcript D.J. Paris 0:00With the market shifting or already shifted to lower inventory and even higher interest rates, what should you be telling your clients? We’re going to discuss that today? Stay tuned. This episode is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? We’ll find out why agents across the country come to real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering their clients a real estate sales and marketing solution to generate more business real geeks is easy to use. Their websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for the end user. Real geeks is mobile friendly delivering an excellent user experience on the go. Real geeks includes an easy to use CRM. So once your leads sign up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up triggers. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase your brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod again, real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business. This episode is also brought to you by quality builders are you are one of your clients real estate investors who can’t seem to find a trustworthy general contractor. Are you tired of poor communication, excessive change orders and extensive schedule delays. We’ll look no further because quality builders is a Chicago general contractor focused on helping you the real estate investor grow your portfolio. Each and every product decision is based on quality builders core values of transparency, courage, integrity, and uniqueness which produce sustainable and predictable results that successful real estate investors are looking for. Quality builders uses innovative project management technology to keep you up to date on your projects by providing a client portal to view daily logs schedules and contract and change order updates. Schedule a free one on one consultation by visiting quality builders.com. That’s quality builders.com to see how they can partner with you to build your real estate portfolio. And now on to our show. Welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your guide and host through the show. And today once again is our monthly series learn with a lender with Joel shop from guaranteed rate. Now Joel is the vice president of lending at guaranteed rate. He’s been doing loans at a high level since 2003. And he’s got to that level because of what he does specifically for agents, which is he gives that part of his commission to the buyer on every transaction making you the agent look like a hero. Now last year alone, Joel gave back almost $300,000 in closing costs to buyers who worked with him. And that puts Joel’s volume in the top 1/10 of 1% of all lenders nationwide. And just to kind of make that making maybe a little bit more sense. There’s 400,000 loan officers in the United States. And Joel is currently ranked number 137. Last year, he closed over 619 transactions, his highest amount ever for $249 million. And already this year with the market you know changing. He’s already closed 215 transactions now. Yes, 215 transactions for $87,000,000.95 and 95.2% of that were purchases. So if you’re looking for a loan officer, we cannot more highly recommend Julie’s the very best we’ve ever worked with. Joel can be reached at his email address which is joel@rates.com very easy J OEL at r a t e.com. Or you can shoot him a text message or call him at 773-654-2049 Let’s say hello to the biggest Cubs fan. I know Joel Schaub Welcome once again, Joel Schaub 4:16thanks, DJ, appreciate you having me on again. And I love hearing those numbers. But none of the accolades really matter. It’s like every time we get together, it’s one of my favorite times because we’re giving, we’re sharing, and we’re really educating agents out there about what’s happening right now. D.J. Paris 4:33Yeah, and I think now it’s such a great time to have these particular episodes because the market has changed. Rates of course have gone up. We knew they were going up, but here here we are. And I think it’s it’s agents. You know, our it’s a tough time right now to be an agent, you know, there’s not a lot of inventory rates are up so, you know, buyers are maybe more constricted. So any advice that that that you know you can help our audience understand about how to proceed. And is always going to be great in times like these. And I don’t think it’s such a terrible time. But I know for agents, you know, we had some really great years, the last few years, and it’s obviously just changing a bit. So we’d love to hear about what’s going on in the market. Joel Schaub 5:20I’m excited about this time, if I’m an agent, I work with buyers, it’s actually easier right now that rates are up for buyers to go under contract to a property DJ, period, cut and dry. So remember, we’re always thinking of the bright side of things right now, if you’re an agent, and you’re working with buyers, they don’t have to compete against 15 other offers, where you went in full asking price, or even 20 or 50 grand over and still lost, okay? It wasn’t that many months ago, where that was what was going on. And so now, we’re sitting here saying, Oh, my gosh, this market is so hard. The last two years have been hard. Okay, they just been hard in a different way. Okay. So I have a lot of excitement right now. And things that are going to be happening this summer and fall for buyers are that just rates being up, gives me an opportunity to go in and actually buy the home at the right price, instead of these inflated prices that buyers were paying sight unseen for homes. EJ, yeah, and D.J. Paris 6:17I think your experience is really relevant here too, because you started in 2003, you’ve already seen a pretty dramatic couple of cycles of the market, with rates, of course, and just the economy. And you have zero control, like the rest of us listening over what happens to rates. So you’ve had to roll with the the good, and the bad, the peaks and the valleys. And I really appreciate you talking about the bright side of it. Because there is always a way to take advantage in a healthy way of a current situation. But it’s also easy to get discouraged. And I love the fact that you’re always looking for the positives and you’re not Pollyanna about it. It’s not like oh, there’s no weeds in my garden. There’s no weeds in my garden. I know there’s weeds, I’ll pick them out. But then I have a beautiful garden again. And so I think it’s maybe now more than ever, I think it’s really important for the agents to stay positive. So we’d love to hear about anything that I know you guys have a new product or new process, I guess I should say about how agents can lock in or sorry, how buyers can lock in rates. So can we talk about that? Yeah, right Joel Schaub 7:23now, it’s really important that we have seen a dip in rates, right? It wasn’t that long ago, where the headlines were rates of top 6% always backed way off from them. Okay. So when rates go up like that it was a knee jerk reaction to what the Federal Reserve was gonna have to do to combat inflation. And so it was the anticipation of what they did or will do is what drove rates up. And once they actually did it, rates came down. Okay, so now we’re sitting at rates anywhere in that five and a half above or below, when it wasn’t even three weeks ago, where we saw rates considerably higher. So how do we take advantage of that if we’re agents? And how do we take advantage of these lower rates of our buyers, if we still only have a house? Okay, a lot of banks right now, including ours are offering the lock and roll type of programs DJ where you could actually secure a rate lock for 60 or 90 days, even without a home. And so if you’re out there right now, as an agent, and you’re working with a mortgage broker, call them call now and ask about any of the lock and roll type of programs. Okay, they come in different names, of course. But the concept here is, could I lock a rate? Could my clients lock a rate with you, even if we have not identified a property, find out how long they can lock for and take advantage right now because when rates are lower, these banks will either allow you to float the rate down when rates go down if they’re under contract, or if rates go up to the clients been protected because they locked in a rate before they even found the home to great opportunity right now if I’m an agent, to partner with a mortgage person in your local area that can really help you work with buyers. D.J. Paris 9:04Yeah, and I think this is a great thing for agents to start getting more familiar with is as we know agents study the MLS and are constantly looking especially now with with lower inventory over the last several many years. Now we’ve had inventory shortages across the across the country. And of course, it’s more important now than ever to know when things come out in the market. It’s also more important now maybe then, in recent times, to know where rates are not that you have to be an expert because of course that’s Joel what Joel and his team and other lending loan officers will do for you. But it’s good for the agents No, because I think it creates an action step for agents you know, if they do see a dip or an increase I think like like Joe like you were saying great opportunity to reach out and say, Hey, I’ve noticed rates have come down a little bit. It might be a great time just to lock in a rate well, we don’t have a property, you usually not a problem. We can still get it locked in through you know through this particular process. So, because I haven’t calculated what the percentage changes from 6% are, I know it was even well over 6%. Now down to like, you were saying five and a half, you know, and a little bit, either on either direction of that. But that’s like a 30% shift or not a 30% shift, but like a 20% change. So that’s like significant, right. So I was thinking, that would be a good thing for agents not to obsess about and not to let ruin or make your day but just to know what’s going on. So that it might, I know that if I was a buyer, I would love to get a call. Or rather, if I was thinking about buying, and I was like, oh, rates are where they are, I would love to get a call from my agent going, Hey, did you know rates dipped a little bit, it might be a good time to lock something in. And I suspect most agents will never think to make that call. Joel Schaub 10:46Another great talking point, if I’m an agent right now, and you hear it from buyers that they’re really on the fence about buying because of rates being up high. But to put it into perspective, we’re just back to where rates have been. For years, these are still at lows, it just took a pandemic and it took two full years where the Federal Reserve had to cut rates to near zero to get mortgage rates down below 3%. And we knew it wasn’t sustainable. We can go back to many episodes where I was on this program talking about how this won’t last. So let’s get in well, the times are good. And now the times are still good. Okay, we can still go out and obtain properties. And we don’t have to overbid. So if I’m an agent, I’m reaching back out and saying, I know the headlines recently said that rates are above 6%. There are a lot of options to get rates in the fours and fives right now. Okay, so make sure that you’re making those types of phone calls and partnering with somebody, how many times have I been on the show DJ, where I’m explaining to agents the value of partnering with a mortgage professional, D.J. Paris 11:49all the time constantly. Joel Schaub 11:51What you want to do as mortgage professionals now more than ever should be willing to put their money where their mouth is and partner with you. So right now, when you’re getting these phone calls, from great mortgage professionals, ask them what they’re willing to contribute on marketing dollars. And I love saying this because I get so much hate mail from other lenders around the country saying why are you telling people that I will spend money on them? Because good loan officers will. So partner with these people that are really in your community that you know, like and trust and ask them not just for you to send them business, but what could they partner with you on? Okay, so I partner with my agents on so many different RESPA compliant marketing initiatives, spending 1000s and 1000s of dollars a month to help agents grow their business and mortgage professionals that are good. We’ll be more than willing to do this with you if you’re an agent. Okay? So lean on them make a friend now’s the time. Lenders aren’t as busy as they were the last two years. So make sure that you’re partnering with people that are really committed to helping you grow. D.J. Paris 12:53I have a question, Joe, do you happen to know you? And I don’t know the answer to this. And if not, we could just estimate how many low how many loan officers do you think are in the Chicagoland area, including the suburbs, just the you know, the entire Chicagoland, it’s got to be at least a few 1000 I’m guessing maybe not that many I don’t know. Joel Schaub 13:12In our state right now we have just north of 17,000 in the state of Illinois, and a big minority of them are in the metro market areas. So there are 1000s in what we consider the Greater Chicago area for sure. D.J. Paris 13:24So that’s what I figured I was thinking 5000 Or so I don’t know what the what we obviously don’t know what the full number is. But the reason I’m bringing this up, I was thinking because you were just talking about partnering with agents and I get an email from your team. From Maria on your team every single week. That’s it, I don’t practice real estate. So this sticks out a little bit to me. So I see it. And I always think oh, I don’t I I won’t participate. I can’t participate with this. But I love the fact that it said is every week I think on Wednesday or Thursday, she sends me an email saying hey, do you have any open houses this weekend? Because we want to help you with that. If you do, we can provide all sorts of you know, marketing material, etc. And every single week without fail, you send that and so and then I’m thinking okay, so I we have about 700 Plus agents in our company. Do you know how many other loan officers send me that email saying, hey, we want to work with you? Zero? literally zero, Joel Schaub 14:21not even one. Isn’t that? D.J. Paris 14:23I mean, isn’t that shocking that another? I mean, there’s there’s lots of great loan officers. And I don’t mean to belittle anyone else. And I’m just saying this is a I guess the takeaway is the road less traveled is not that busy. So if you’re willing to go the extra mile as an agent and call your your, your, your prospective buyers and say, hey, you know rates have come down. I really want to help you lock in a good rate. You’re probably not getting that call from somebody else, just like I’m not getting those emails from other loan officers saying hey, we want to work with your agents. So I think I think the The specific sort of ideas that you’re giving our audience are just absolutely gold, because I don’t really see a lot of other givers get mentality out there in the lending space or the ello space. And I love the fact that that is that has been the cornerstone of your businesses, give, give, give. And then of course, things just happen for you as well. I want to pause for a moment to talk about our episode sponsor are one of my favorite companies out there follow up boss. Now after interviewing hundreds of top Realtors in the country for this podcast, do you know which CRM is used by more than any other by our guests. Of course, it is a follow up boss. And let’s face it, following up is the key to taking your business to the next level follow up boss will help you drive more leads in less time and with less effort. Do not take my word for it. Robert slack, who runs the number one team in the US uses follow up boss and he has built a one and a half billion dollar business in just six years. Follow up boss integrates with over 250 systems, so you can keep your current tools and lead sources. Also, the best part they have seven day a week support. So you’ll get the help that you need when you need it and get this follow up boss is so sure that you’re going to love their CRM that for a limited time, they’re offering keeping it real listeners a 30 day free trial, which is twice as much time as they give everyone else. And oh yeah, no credit card required. So you can try it risk free. But only if you use this special link visit follow up boss.com forward slash real, that’s follow up boss.com forward slash real for your free 30 day trial. Follow up like a boss with follow up boss. And now back to our episode. Joel Schaub 16:41I’m happy to share those tidbits because it’s actually something that’s easy to read quickly and digestible for agents so that they can have good talking points on a weekly basis that’s timely, and something that they can share and some knowledgeable about something that they probably wouldn’t otherwise have a reason to talk to their buyers about. And so it’s our weekly update in the house, I’ve literally had hundreds of people from the keeping it real podcast, reach out and want to be involved in that just get on the list. And so they can, if you’re listening now you can absolutely just email joel@rate.com. And my team will put you right on the list. And so every single week, you’ll get in timely, fresh market update of just things that are going on that will help you. And that’s truly, that’s something that will actually make you sound smarter. And who doesn’t want that. I mean, I’m not the smartest guy in the room, I’ve just figured out ways that we can actually be educational and lead with value. D.J. Paris 17:35And by the way, to further my point about how going the extra mile is always the way to go. You know, market updates, you send this weekly market update, which is amazing, which you’re just referencing and everybody should get on this list because it gives agents specifically those exact talking points of here’s what’s gone on in the last week, here’s what you need to know. And again gives you a reason to pick up the phone and call call your clients. And I get zero other market updates from I’m realizing not only do I get zero open house, we want to help you with open houses I get zero market updates for and it’s not because I unsubscribe from everyone’s newsletters, literally nobody else sends them to me. And you know, I think there’s an opportunity there for agents to realize communication is the key and having a couple of talking points is all you need. And then when they ask a question about rates that you don’t quite know how to answer, great, let me connect you with my partner. And then you pass over Joel or whoever your your loan officers. But we weren’t we should mention that we’re in the Chicagoland area. But Joel, you and your team, and guaranteed rate is, you know, works in all 50 states. So even if you’re not here in the Chicagoland area, you know, please reach out to Joel and his team, they will they will guide you in the right direction. And what’s the so if they want to get on your list, they can email you joel@rate.com. And then what’s another way that that somebody should reach out to you if they want to partner with you or just ask questions or learn more about guaranteed rate? Joel Schaub 18:57I mean, we actually answer the phone. I mean, you can text me at 773-654-2049. And that number hasn’t changed in 17 years. And they’re always surprised that we actually answer the phone, I mean on two rings. And that’s what happens on Saturdays and Sundays that most banks are closed. So you need to have a mortgage partner that will actually pick up the phone and make sure that your buyers are taken care of. And in reference to the newsletter, I mean, it kind of started as like a private insider tip right? I was writing this on a weekly basis with my agents and I started hearing from other agents go, Hey, how do I get access to this? I just want to read this Can I Can I get in even I’m not sending you business. And so that’s what this list is you can literally just ask joel@rate.com and say add me to the list. And then you’ll get the market update on a weekly basis like an insider and have really great sharing and talking points for you to go back to buyers. And when you’re leading with education, these people will notice it because right now it’s going to make a difference between those that are selling and those that are held Buying, and sales people come and go. But if you’re actually there to provide value, listen to the needs, there’s an opportunity for buyers right now. And in the months ahead, as these rates stay inflated, buyers are gonna have an opportunity to finally come in and buy properties under market value, and under list price. And that’s what I’m really excited about. So if I’m an agent, keep the hope alive. All right, the sky isn’t falling. Most of the Federal Reserve increases that affect mortgage rates are pretty much baked in at this point. So yes, the feds will continue to raise rates DJ, but we from here, don’t anticipate seeing mortgage rates go to eight or 9%, there’s a really good likelihood that we see rates in the next couple of years, hit 4% before they hit 8%. Okay, so we’re in really good shape. And just know that as long as you’re out there helping buyers, the specific rate doesn’t matter, but know that they have come down and lead with value and call some of these people right now, and see if they need to get out of a renting situation and start buying. D.J. Paris 21:05Well, and you know, you mentioned this at the beginning. And I think it’s important to even just reiterate, which is of course pricing, home prices have come down. And so now Yes, rates have gone up, they’re still I think reasonable and you know, not compared to the last two years, but in our historical averages. Like, boy, our parents would have loved to have a five or 6% mortgage, depending on when they bought. And the fact is that home prices are down. So this might actually be more beneficial, even though rates are are slightly higher than they were before. So because there people aren’t paying as much for the same properties. And you know, I almost wonder in a couple of years for people that really, really paid well above asking price almost wonder if there’s going to be a little bit of buyer’s remorse there. So if you have buyer’s not buyer’s remorse, but just maybe some not so great feelings. And and I think if you thought, oh, boy, it was hard working with buyers last couple years, I think it’s actually better now. You know, rates are higher. So that’s a little bit of a hurdle, but prices are way down. So I think it’s I think it’s ultimately a good thing. Joel Schaub 22:12That’s what’s great in the United States DJ is that you always can refinance that mortgage, right? But once you buy into a property, you’ve paid 50, grand more, there isn’t a program where you can just wipe out 50 grand worth of debt. Okay? So what you can do in the United States is always refinance the mortgage. So I love this phrase, right? I love the idea that you marry the home, but date the rate, I’ll say it again, right, we gotta find the home that we want, right? We love it. We’re gonna marry the home. We’re not gonna marry the rate, we’re gonna date the rate. Okay, yeah, one of my friends says marry the home and to force the rate. All right, let’s get rid of the rate when, when the rates no longer working for us and rates are lower, let’s kick that man to the curb or woman to the curb, right? Whatever the phrase may be. Sure, point is, there is an opportunity right now. So remember, not if rates go down. But if and when rates go down, you can refinance that mortgage. And so you definitely can get out there and buy a home right now and have got the pick of the litter coming up, because there won’t be 25 other offers on the same place. So I’m very excited, as I’ve told you, even off air, this is the time where good agents continue to grow. And just by staying positive, it really, it’s about mindset, and it’s about education. And right now, it’s not as bad as it could be. So get out there, and let’s win some business this summer, okay. And D.J. Paris 23:31there’s a lot of things we just can’t control. We can’t control inventory, we can’t control rates, we can’t control the economy, or the political climate, or even the social climate in a lot of ways. So a lot of things are outside of our control. But what we always can control is our activity, and our willingness to want to provide. And so Joey is a perfect example of somebody who just constantly lives that, you know, despite whatever’s going on in the market, I’ve known Joel for for many years now, and he is not his personality, his his his activity is no different. When the rates are lower, the rates are higher, because he knows that that that is largely that’s more secondary to providing amazing service, you provide amazing service rates and costs and things oftentimes take a backseat. What’s most important is the relationship. And so this is a great opportunity to reevaluate your relationship with your loan officer. And if you don’t have somebody who’s really out there pulling for you and helping you, Joel is and his team would love to chat with you. So reach out to him get on his email list. joel@rate.com asked to be on the list. I’m telling you guys that will give you a reason to pick up the phone and call your clients and say hey, just you probably seen some things about rates. Here’s what you need to know. That’s a huge thing. You you started doing that for all your clients, they’re gonna be like, Well, nobody’s ever done that. For me. The loan officer that we worked with probably didn’t do it. The agents they’ve worked with in the past probably didn’t do that either. So it’s not that hard. And Joel do all the work for you. He’ll actually send me the email and you just have to read from it. Which is better, because I go to Morgan It’s news daily, every so often, which is a great website for learning about mortgages. I can’t make heads or tails of any of the articles in there. Because they are so industry specific. They’re really challenging for me to read. So I read go through that. And my mind starts spinning. And I love the email you send once a week that says, here’s what you need to know. Because there’s News Daily is a great website. But boy, it’s a little it’s over my head. But anyway, so what a great, great episode, stay positive, everyone things are not. So they’re not trying to filter out the noise that you’re hearing in your office from other agents. You know, good agents are excited about this time, it’s a little, it’s a little different. That’s all that it is. It’s a little different. But great opportunity to build your business. And we’re probably going to see a number of Realtors exiting the business as a result of this, which will only help the ones that are dedicated. So anyway, stay positive. Joel, thank you so much for being on our show. Once again, guys reach out to Joel he’s really that good. He’s an amazing human being. And his team is amazing. And he wants to work with you guys. And of course, guys, men and women, of course. And also, as always, please tell a friend about our show. Just think of one other agent that could benefit from hearing this episode from Joel, maybe somebody who’s maybe feeling a little down or depressed right now about what’s going on in the market. Send them this episode. This will probably change their attitudes a little bit, Matt, that would be great. So anyway, send them a link to our episode and then we will see everybody on the next show. So Joel, thanks so much, Joel Schaub 26:28TJ are the best. Thanks for having me on. Have a great day. Thanks.

Aug 5, 2022 • 1h 32min

From Homeless To Top Real Estate Producer • Darrin DeSilva

Darrin DeSilva this year’s 30 under 30 laureate goes back to the beginning of his career in real estate. Darrin discusses how his addiction lead him to homelessness but ultimately both experiences helped built his life back up and how that ultimately lead him into his career in real estate. Darrin and DJ discuss the importance of surrounding yourself with people who will inspire and lead you to success. Next, Darrin describes how he transitioned from car sales to his career in real estate. Last, Darrin discusses open houses. If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube! Please follow Darrin in Instagram here. Darrin DeSilva can be reached at (209) 346-5429 and darrin@desilvarealestate.com. This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and FollowUpBoss. Transcript D.J. Paris 0:00How does somebody go from homeless to top real estate producer in just a few short years? Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod. And now on to our show. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Parris. I’m your guide and host through the show. And in just a moment, we’re going to be speaking with top producer Darren de Silva. Before we get to Darren, just a couple of quick things to mention. Number one, please the best way you can help us grow telephone think of one other realtor that you know, that could benefit from hearing our episodes where we talk to top producers like Darren and ask them how they built their business. And they share all of their secrets, which is so we’re so grateful for all of our wonderful guests. So please tell other realtors about us. And second, leave us a review whatever podcast app you might be listening to us on. Let us know what you think of the show. We read every review and every comment. We’re always striving to do better for you. But enough about all that let’s get on to the main event, my conversation with Darren de Silva. Today on the show, we have Darren de Silva from Realty One in Tracy, California, and also Central Valley. Let me tell you a little bit more about Darren. Darren grew up in Pleasanton, California, and he moved around a lot. Throughout his childhood around Northern California, he ended up landing in Tracy, California. And then there he became homeless at 22 years old, and really thinking maybe his life was coming to an end. But from there, he was able, of course, to turn his life around with help. And he received his first opportunity to do sales with Kirby vacuums. From there, he moved up to car sales, and eventually into real estate, which is where he is today. And it was the best decision he ever made. And recently, in the last couple of months, Darren was just awarded the National Association of REALTORS 30, under 30 Class of 2022, which is an incredible accomplishment because like 1000s of people apply for it, and they only give it to 30 people every year. So huge, huge. Congratulations to Darren and please check out his website, which is DeSilva real estate and that’s d s iLv. A real estate.com DeSilva real estate.com Also, please follow him on Instagram, which is Darren which is d a r i n underscore de Silva. Both of those links will be in the show notes. So uh, Darren, welcome to the show. Darrin DeSilva 4:03Thanks for having me. Yeah, it’s it’s a real honor to even be asked to be on on the show, let alone have so many interested in my in my life and kind of the things that have led me up to this point. So it’s, I’m grateful and I appreciate you guys, you know, reaching out to me. D.J. Paris 4:20I, I have always thought that gratitude is one of those. Well, now it’s talked about a lot I feel it’s kind of more commonly discussed. But I love that that gratitude seems to be really present for you. I’ve noticed that just in our interactions even before we started, I think I think that’s I think humility goes a long way in this industry as well where there’s so many people who you know, kind of go the other way with, with entitlement and things like that. So I am absolutely absolutely excited to hear your story. Let’s, let’s start at the beginning. So tell me about sort of growing up, and then how you ended up we mentioned that, you know, at one point you were homeless in your early 20s. We’d love to sort of hear the circumstances there. And then how you how you got out of those, that situation because, of course, a lot of people don’t. So I would love to hear you know, what got you there? And then what got you out? Darrin DeSilva 5:21Yeah, so, you know, you kind of I appreciate, you know, you recognizing, the way I am and interacting with you now, being grateful and everything like that, you know, honestly, the, that’s not me at the core, right, if who I am those, those types of characteristics, were born, being into me with pain and suffering and things like that, that I’ve gone through in life, unfortunately, but fortunately, today, I can say that, that’s, that’s what has molded me into the person that I am today. And the person that I’m working on becoming, as I continue to go through life, just like all of us, you know. So for me, I lived in a in a household with a single mother, she did the best she could, she had a lot of outside issues, and things like that, you know, addictions and that sort of thing. And my father, same thing, he was an alcoholic, growing up, you know, he would be one way on one day, the best father and other day and you never know what you’re gonna get. Right. So that was kind of my upbringing is just real instability, real craziness, but that’s what I was used to, you know, that’s, that was my normal, it wasn’t like, oh, my gosh, I had these weird parents. It was. That’s just life, you know, at an early age. So fast forward, you know, my, my first, my first encounter with for me, I was rebellious teenager, I was never told no, by my mother, you know, never really forced to be given responsibility. And held accountable for my actions. I’ve always was able to kind of, manipulate and things like that. These are things that I learned from my parents, you know, I was able to do it as a small kid, this is a child doing these things, you know, 1112 13 So at an early age, I was actually sent to a wilderness camp. D.J. Paris 7:27One of these sort of, we’re gonna get you in line teach you skills that you’re not learning at home kind of thing. Darrin DeSilva 7:34Right? Exactly. It was like basically, you know, like, like, your Bear Grylls right in out in the middle of Bend, Oregon, which is where I was, D.J. Paris 7:45right. I feel like a lot of those those. Those organizations are out in Oregon. They’re like, send your kids out here. We’ll get we’ll fix them. Right, exactly. They basically they basically taught you survival skills, as well is working together with others. I’m guessing a lot of interpersonal skills as well. Darrin DeSilva 8:04Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And looking back, it was one of the best experiences I think I had. It was funny, the way that they got me is me and my friend. Were actually staying in my, at our place. We were in Pleasanton, California. I was living at the time in the East Bay Area. And we we were sleeping and we got woken up by four people in black suits. It was dead middle of the night. They came up to our room. They said get up. We’re going. And they both of us. Yeah. Our parents were in on it, by the way. D.J. Paris 8:40Yeah, they were in on it. They gotta like, why don’t you hang out with your buddy tonight? Darrin DeSilva 8:44That’s exactly what happened. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was funny because they were in on it. And, you know, we were like, what’s going on? We, you know, we walked away downstairs when we were transported to Bend, Oregon. From that point, we were given to this band of people that you could smell from mile away. And they threw us in a car blindfolded us. And we were taken out the middle of nowhere driven about two hours. They drove on dirt roads, driving in circles, so we couldn’t count the directions we were we were driving. And till eventually, we were in the desert of Oregon, which at that point, I didn’t know. You know, there was a desert in Oregon, you know, my interpretation of a desert was like Dry and sand, not knee deep snow and you know, Sage bush for hundreds of miles. So and then we were separated at that point. And then we were there for two months. Two months we were we were there and like you said we had to learn survival skills. I had to make fire from steaks using like a bow drill and you know, we would we’d have to ration our food. We would, you know, always slept under was was a sleeping bag and just a tarp that was just a square sheet. You know, that’s, that’s it. But it was really cool was like a Native American base program. And, you know, after after a certain period of time they give you like a name, you know, like a Native American game. So it was really cool is like a badge of honor, you know, and for me, it was cool. They did like this ceremony when I left that they had never done for anyone before. Because you, you, you also become kind of like a leader with the people underneath you to, you know, the kids coming in, after you and so that that was kind of, I feel like one of my first experiences having to kind of be some type of leader and it felt good to be able, I got a lot of fulfillment, you know, being having to try to help other people and, and guide them. And you know what I mean? So, looking back at that, I think that’s where that started for me is just finding that, what makes me feel fulfilled in life. Is that, D.J. Paris 11:10and then how and then Then where did you go from there? So you went to the you went to sort of the middle of nowhere, Oregon? I think I’ve actually interviewed I know, I’ve done at least one interview from from a top Realtor in Bend Oregon. But, but but not anyone who’s had that experience. So Darrin DeSilva 11:27they don’t do real estate in the desert out that way. D.J. Paris 11:30Maybe, maybe they do, but probably not. Oh, yeah. But so So you were there for two months, you learned not only sort of individual skills about how to be responsible and disciplined and, and all of that, but then it’s like, oh, by the way, now you’re in a leadership position of sorts, and now you can, you can help others, not just helping yourself. So you know, if you really think about not you, but if our audience really thinks about it, like what an amazing, you know, obviously a lot of pain associated with with getting to that place, but But what an amazing experience for somebody to have and cheers to, you know, to your family for making that happen. That is that is that is really remarkable that enough people loved you to to want to see you succeed. And so So you came back from that and then and then then then where did you go? Darrin DeSilva 12:22Then I didn’t have a plan. We didn’t have a plan. We didn’t have structure, but we pull up what we like to call a geographical. And we moved from Pleasanton, California to a little cow town in the central valley called Newman, which had about 10,000 people. So we went from the Bay Area, Bay, growing up going to San Francisco, right. And Bart, I mean, all that, you know, San Jose, go into this little cow town, in, in nowhere, it’s about I would say about an hour and a half from where I was. D.J. Paris 12:55So So what why, what was the thought process? If I want to go to the smaller community? What was the what was the reasoning? Darrin DeSilva 13:01Oh, my grandparents lived there at the time. So my mom yeah, that was the Ria. Yeah, it wasn’t just some random town, it was more because my grandparents had had been living there. And our my mother, my mother, you know, wanted to live closer to them, she felt like there was some support there. And I think that was your reasoning. But from there, you know, I again, I didn’t know anybody and just kind of jumped back to what I do best, and how I how I met people at the time, and that’s, you know, finding the not so good people, if you know, what I mean, you know, people that get into trouble people that, you know, have other issues, addictions, things like that. Sure. That’s kind of, you know, the story of my, my adolescent, but my adolescence, you D.J. Paris 13:49know, so you fell back into some older habits. You had more skills now. So that’s good. But again, it doesn’t Darrin DeSilva 13:56make a fire if they needed it. Right. Right. That’s all D.J. Paris 14:00also some leadership skills to which, which obviously exist beyond I mean, it’s funny, it’s like, look, you know, people have these major experiences like you did out in the the Pacific Northwest desert. And, and, you know, you had a lot of success there. But then you go back to the real world, and it’s not like, well, everything’s magically fixed, right? Like, like, life is still a lot of ups and downs. So so the journey doesn’t stop. And, and as somebody who is who’s had addiction in my, in my history as well, I can absolutely, you know, understand a lot of what you’re talking about. So So you fell back in with some people that maybe weren’t the best, most positive influences you maybe fell into some old habits, and then sort of what happened? Darrin DeSilva 14:45Yeah, so you know, I got plugged in with the wrong people. And we were in new and I want to say six or seven years. And through that time period, I definitely got worse and worse. For me personally, you know, I’ve faced addiction alcoholism. I was I was screwed from the moment I was born because I got it all in my family, right? Oh, totally. Yeah, you know, so I think D.J. Paris 15:12I’m only laughing because I could I thankfully my parents don’t have it. Thank goodness. And my sister doesn’t, but love many other people in my family too. So I’m with you. I was, I was born with it as well. Darrin DeSilva 15:26Exactly. Yeah. So you know, it isn’t genetic. And, and it is a disease, you know? And, and, you know, there’s a lot that can be said about that, you know, especially when you’re going through, you have more of an understanding, it’s something that it’s very hard to understand. If you don’t have it, like when I talk to my girlfriend about it, she’s like, Oh, what, you know, so it’s very, like, it just doesn’t process right. So and that’s okay. And that’s why we have, you know, people that do understand and that, you know, there’s resources for people to find others who get that, you know, and that’s yeah, I just D.J. Paris 16:01wanted to interject with my my most I think this is a such an interesting and funny thought that maybe for the rest of our audience who isn’t, you know, doesn’t have to deal with with family members with addiction or addiction themselves. The best way I can explain addiction in one sentence, and this is I’m sure I heard this somewhere, is it’s a, it’s a read, it’s a, it’s considered a medical disease. So it is not a psychological disease, it’s an actual medical disease, acknowledged by by the American Medical Association as an actual medical disease without a medical solution. Without a medical, there is no prescription, there is no medical solution to a medical problem. And that is incredibly unique. For this type of disease, it is actually a disease. So anyway, I just wanted to make that point. Because that makes it makes treatment incredibly difficult. So people with addiction, if you haven’t been through it, or if you have family members that have it, you certainly know how tough it can be. But I always think, you know, a lot of times people think it’s more of a willpower issue. And it’s almost never willpower, in my experience. But anyway, sorry, I didn’t mean to read you, but I just wanted to make No, I appreciate that. There’s no solution to what you and I have, and there’s no way out of it, other than learning how to cope with it, and learning how to exist coexist with with it. So I just wanted to make a big point, because everybody listening knows at least one person who’s struggling with addiction. So something to think about, but I apologize, go right ahead into your Darrin DeSilva 17:35Yeah, no, absolutely. And I’m glad you shared that. Because you know, it’s something you know that for me, it I can’t help but be passionate about, because what allowed me to have the life I have today is because I followed people who some, for some reason didn’t find the solution. Yeah. And all I did just like with real estate, just like with with the gym, doesn’t matter, right? You know, I have a coach for real estate, I have a trainer for the gym, I have a sponsor for, you know, recovery, things like that, right? Sure. So it’s just for me, it’s the same, it’s just finding people who have some have what you want, and doing what they’re doing, right. D.J. Paris 18:24And also surrendering your own your own sort of identity in a sense, and not in a bad way in a really positive way. surrendering your own need for control, to say, you know, there’s certain things I just don’t do well, or I don’t know how to do, but this person over here does it. And I’m going to figure out what they’re doing. And I’m going to hang with them. Whether it’s a personal trainer, a recovery coach, you know, AAA or what, or medical doctor, you know, whatever it is, you’re you, you know that you can’t always manage everything yourself. And I think that lesson is so important. And most people don’t ever get to a place where you were at where where things were really bad. And you sort of were like, Okay, I give up, I surrender help. I need help. I think I think that is it’s it’s very painful, but it’s also a real gift because it allows you then to say, Who can help me and then you found those people? Darrin DeSilva 19:19Absolutely. And the cool thing about all of this is I can apply this to my real estate, business and forth. And frankly, it’s I believe, in my opinion, why I have the life I do today and why I have the career I have is because I have learned the same principles that I can apply to my business. And it’s the same thing, and that’s why I think it’s so it’s been so easy for me to transition because it’s something that I’ve internalized. And it’s it’s powerful. You know, it’s it’s the things that are taught and it teaches you how to deal with the motions it teaches you how to deal with I mean, if I’m with a client and they say something that I don’t agree with or UPS or It upsets me. Sure, you know, emotions can get involved, especially with large transactions, you know, it has allowed me as a business person to check my emotions, check how I respond to things look in the mirror, pause, and, you know, do work accordingly, right? So D.J. Paris 20:21make and make a better decision right now, to where maybe things are more impulsive in the past. And, look, this is not just for people with addiction, right? Impulse control is a huge problem for a lot of people, including myself who I would consider myself to be in recovery. But that being said, I still struggle with that. So I think the the all of what you’ve gone through has really set you up. In a lot of ways. I think you’re right, those skills are perfect. But before we get to the real estate, I want to go back because you did something that that I think is really, really difficult, but also awesome. Which is, you know, you then we’re like, okay, you’re trying to pull yourself out of maybe some old habits and you know, some maybe people that that weren’t working with your best interest in mind. And then you started to work at Kirby right for Kirby vacuums. Darrin DeSilva 21:13Yeah, so So what led to that is basically, from Newman, you know, went downhill from there. And my mother sold the house that she had paid cash for. And at the time, you know, again, I was raised, I had things, you know, I had to learn responsibility. I don’t learn how to be an adult at a late age. And, and so I didn’t, you know, have a job. I didn’t, I didn’t, you know, the my mom basically took care of me right. After high school after I didn’t, I didn’t seek it because I didn’t need to frankly, right, it was all taken care of. And so, eventually, when when she sold the house, we we were supposed to buy another house with that money. And we just kind of went from hotel to hotel, we moved from from Sonora, California to Modesto to Turlock, we stayed at a truck stop. I mean, that was the life we live for about two years. Just the craziness, you know, it’s a very difficult life. It was until eventually we blew through the entire net profit of of what she got from the home. And you know, we were just kind of living on her SSI checks and till eventually, we were sleeping in the car at times and ended up in Tracy Tracy, California, and I had gotten a title loan against my car and obviously didn’t make the payments. And so we ended up saving up enough money to just go stay at Motel Six to get cleaned up and everything and we were able to purchase a couple of weeks. And then the first two days I heard in the morning I hear a car alarm going off flatwork so I can rent it out. And it’s my car on a tow truck yeah being taken off because I didn’t make the payments and I was on some red flag system and that’s how I ended up in Tracy California by the way as I My car got towed and I we got left in a Motel Six so but I’ve never left and call it home so you know somewhere I started and we’re having now it’s kind of funny but we stayed in Motel Six for a while till eventually we got kicked out of there couldn’t afford it and so we were both homeless and went and found a place behind a CVS store stayed there my after about two days my mom left and said she was going to be right back she had come back so you know I’m left you know on my own everything. Everything I own is on my back I’m sleeping in a cardboard box I found a big refrigerator box that fortunately I could fit in. I was also 260 pounds at the time which was a big you know big amount of about 180 now and you know I just thought I lost everything that I had to find only pay for I feel like existed in the world at the time. Fortunately it was close by and you know called everybody in my family that normally I could call and would get me out of it right sure that that’s that was a story my life is I could always figure a way to either manipulate a situation or get my way out. And this was the first time in my life where I the people I call my grandparents everybody said sorry. Go go to Salvation Army go So we’re not helping you anymore. You’ve burned all your bridges. And that was the starting point for me of what turned my life around. My mom didn’t want anything to do with me, she left, did her own thing. And I was I ended up finding a spot on the side of the freeway. And actually, like, as I’m looking at this right now, I have a picture of myself homeless, I keep it in front of me in my office every single day, just as a reminder, and I found a place on the side of the freeway. Stay there, it was like a little igloo. Fortunately, it was like rain proof because it was raining a lot and and I would go hold a sign, I found a sign that some other homeless guy left. And it was like pre written didn’t even really make sense what it said on it, but it got the point across Hey, I’m homeless, I’m hungry, help me. And I would go Hold on the corner. And people will give me food people will give me money. And you know, I would go just try to not figure out a way to numb not dealing with today, not dealing with where I’m at in life not dealing with what happened any any way that I can numb that and just survive. That’s what I did. And did that for a while, a couple months. And until eventually somebody pulled over and talked to me. And they just talked that’s it gave me their time. Even took a picture. I mean, that’s the picture I have up there today was the first time and and then he left and then a couple of days later after I held the sign that sign on the corner. I would head over to the you know, I was heading to the liquor store, go get some food, whatever, you know, I could do and then that way I could just go back and then the gentleman saw me and he pulled over he said hop anybody have something to eat? You know, where do you want to go? I’m like, I’m going to KFC. I love KFC man. Yeah, that was some good stuff. And he took me and he got me something to eat. And eventually he got me into a, he helped. He never gave me a dime. All he did was either pay for, you know, maybe food, maybe gotten a couple packs of cigarettes at the time when I smoked. And that was it. He just gave me his time. That’s it. He didn’t say hey, Darren, here’s $20 Good luck. Right? Which it’s very easy to do. Right. And we think we’re doing good by giving people money, but in my case that would have only been enabling me. Sure if he would have gave me money. D.J. Paris 27:40And also, he also gave you I’m sorry, I don’t want to put words your mouth. No, no, no, I imagine that life is incredibly lonely as well. So yeah, now have because, you know, you just said everyone in the family said, Hey, we got to we got to cut you loose right now because we can’t really help you. And then this stranger comes around and says, Hey, you’re I think you’re you’re just fine. You know, I want to be part of of your life, whether it’s in a law, you know, long term capacity or short term capacity. But just even somebody reaching out, was that hard for you to even trust somebody like that? Or was it were you able to sort of, you know, embrace because a lot of times I find that, you know, people who are on their own, you know, there’s obviously a lot of mistrust. There’s a lot of dangerous people out there. Darrin DeSilva 28:28Right? Yeah. And you know, and unfortunately, a lot of the people that I met out there, too. I think after a period of time, you get used to being out there, I think I was fortunate enough to only be out there for you know, a few months. But these people who aren’t as fortunate as I was it just becomes their new normal. So they’re like, they’re less likely to want to change because they’ve gotten used to that lifestyle. And, you know, I think where I was at is I was so lonely, so beaten down. They call it the gift of desperation. Yes. And, and that’s where I was at. And I think fortunately, God put somebody in my life at the perfect time when I was ready, when I was when I was willing. And when I was ready to like you mentioned earlier surrender, you know, and, and, and I did you know, I had an option that day when he pulled over to hop in the truck or to continue to the liquor store, you know, and fortunately I jumped in and that’s when my life changed just making that one decision. You know, that one decision and not that you know, is when my life changed D.J. Paris 29:46is that day and so so how did you get to only because I just find this so so inspiring. So so you’re you’re at a particularly low moment you you found the strength somehow to make the healthy decision. Jen of, hey, this person wants to help. I’m going to, I’m going to trust you No. And then how did you how did things start to turn around for you? I want to pause for a moment to talk about our episode sponsor are one of my favorite companies out there follow up boss. 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So you can try it risk free. But only if you use this special link visit follow up boss.com forward slash real, that’s follow up boss.com forward slash real for your free 30 day trial follow up like a boss with follow up boss. And now back to our episode. Darrin DeSilva 31:30Well, I instantly was put in a min zone. At that point, when when I it was shared that I was you know, willing and put somewhere, you know, I had helped for the first two months as far as you know, rent. And that was it. But they taught me structure. It’s all like I mentioned, you know, for me, I was not taught, you know, responsibility, or I wasn’t, I wasn’t there was no reason because everything was typically either, you know, handed to me, I didn’t have like, a whole lot in my childhood. But I had I had more than most. And, and my mother made sure that she did the best she could but she was more of a friend, then a parent. And that was what did me wrong and affected me later on in life. So that that’s kind of that’s kind of what happened. D.J. Paris 32:41Yeah. And then so you’re in the men’s home. And then they say hey, it’s you know, it’s like we’re gonna help you for a little while, but you need to find employment, you need to start working, contributing to society being a good citizen. And and you started was Kirby your first sort of, and by the way, we let’s tell everybody what Kirby is because I think most of our audience isn’t familiar. I have just nothing but respect for people who who attempt the Kirby job because I think especially in this day and age particularly difficult. So can you talk a little bit about what that what what, what Kirby vacuum salespeople or like or what to do? And then and then and again? Yeah, absolutely. I think this is it. You know, 40 years ago, we’d be like, oh, yeah, people would go door to door like not that big of a deal today. That is not common. So I would love to hear this because I think it’ll people will be like, Whoa, Darrin DeSilva 33:35yeah, so I owe a lot to Korea. In fact, I owe everything to Kirby because that’s what opened the door for me into sales. And, you know, I was on the internet, like you said, gotten to the place and they kind of were like, Alright, after 30 days, you need to start, you start getting a job. So I looked on Craigslist, and I saw this ad Hey, open interviews, you know, come on down, right, you know, they they try to rally up and, and so I’m like, Hey, perfect, you know, here’s an opportunity I was excited. You know, when you go from a place of where you’ve lost everything, like they call it a pink cloud you’re on and I just was so happy to just be free. You know, I had been I had been without any substance or anything like that for a while. So it’s like you’re it’s almost like you’re free of your chains and like anything’s possible. So I didn’t care that you know, there was no guaranteed pay. I didn’t care that you know, I just was like hey, it’s a job. There’s opportunity. Let’s go so what their interview you know, they they hired me, right? And what Kirby vacuums is is basically you go door to door, they only sell vacuums door to door if you buy something that’s not that’s from somewhere else. It’s it’s more likely to pre owned back here. Pre Owned but brand new out of the box. They only sell door to door D.J. Paris 35:04and and they’re not inexpensive. They’re these are these are nice, very high end vacuums and, and just going door to door. Tell me what that experience was like. Darrin DeSilva 35:16Yeah, so it’s it’s nerve wracking. I mean even today when I’m knocking on doors, I use the same Kirby script, you know that I do. Hey, don’t worry, I’m not here to change a religion guys like going like, you know, all these skills and things like that, that I’ve learned in Kirby from getting doors slammed in your face I still used today. And it is it’s nerve racking, they take you in a van, you know, polyene say, Hey, you too, you go canvass this neighborhood. You go out, you walk with the flyer, you try to set up appointments for people, you know, and you say, hey, we’d like to come in and do one area rug one room free of charge, you know, to show you this, how this vacuum works. And you go in? They say yes. And you go in and you you know, I was 260 pounds, by the way at this time. And I sold I sold in about four months, I sold about 12 vacuums. And D.J. Paris 36:11and is that a lot? Or is that not a lot? I don’t even know that’s Darrin DeSilva 36:14a lot. Yeah, that’s a lot. These are $3,500 vacuum? Yeah, they’re not. And they’re not cheap, but they do everything. I mean, you know, I was washing people’s windows with these things. You could you could do the carpets, hardwood floors, everything, just the vacuum itself is so powerful. I mean, you would vacuum a rug, and it almost looked like it was shampooed because it’s sucking so much dirt out from even underneath the carpet. You know, I mean, I can go the Kirby salesman starting to come out here. You know, we have a special code for our podcast listeners. Yeah, exactly, exactly. D.J. Paris 36:51Because it has to be door to door so you can’t We can’t have a code. And by the way, I want to make a point. For those of us that are familiar with Dog the Bounty Hunter. That’s where he, when he was he was in prison for for a murder charge. And he was released. And that’s how he got his life back and ultimately became well now he’s more of a celebrity but but when he was starting out, he became Kirby’s. I think I have this right. They’re basically one of their top salespeople in the country. So I don’t know if but but for anyone. But anyway, he’s got a particularly a very difficult past story as well. But anyway, so you started having success with Kirby which, by the way, not the easiest sales job, probably about the hardest sales job that exists. Yeah. And and so then Then what happened? Darrin DeSilva 37:40Yeah, so then it came down to, you know, a bad month where, you know, I don’t want to, I don’t want to say anything, you know, bad. But in my experience, let’s just say a meeting the manager or the owner of that curvy franchise just didn’t see eye to eye and some things there were some unfair things going on. And, and I couldn’t pay my rent is really what it comes down to came down to. So I had knocked on several doors, tried to get some appointments, to general managers of of cars, car dealerships, and, you know, sales managers, and about three or four different people told me dude, you should drop the vacuum thing and go get into car sales. And I after hearing that so many times, and then finally getting to where I could pay rent doing this thing where I’m like, You know what, I’m going to hit every car dealership, in Tracy until one of them hires me and I picked the day and I said I’m going to start at Tracy Ford at the corner I’m going to walk in and I’m going to go to Honda Volkswagen sure I’m walking in and one of these people is hiring me today. I’m going to start at the end and work my way back so I walked into Tracy Ford taught what to the manager and he hired me on the spot and and I was there for about five years for about four years Yeah, and you know worked my way up and that’s really what what really helped me you know, as I worked my way up in the car business I started seeing my effort pay off you know, I could I could you know my credit started getting better my all these little things that you know, I never really knew or took for granted you know, that mattered so much I was able to you know, get out of the bids place to get my own little spot and it was just it was it was really a blessing for me at the time you know, I moved up to like a manager role in the dealership and and from there you know, bought a brand new car and you know all these little things that they are the promises right and, and it’s just, you know, I they told me when I first kind of came in To make a list of everything you want in the next five years, and I made a list and they said, you, we, the reason we want you to do that is because if you do that, and you continue on the path you’re on, you’re going to short yourself. And I did that. And about a year and a half ago, I came across this list I made. Yeah. And I looked at it and everything was checked off, and more everything I made, that was like a dream list. Like, I’m like, There’s no way I’m gonna, it’s gonna take forever. And it’s so it was just so inspiring to see that, you know, because it really is the truth, you know, the sky’s the limit. And, and I went from the car business and, you know, working my ass off, making, I feel like as much as I could make without moving up to like a General Sales Manager position or finance. And, and I feel like that would have kind of made me just basically live at the dealership, because I already was working six days a week, practically, you know, 910 hours a day. So I was the only thing I could do to make more money at the time was given more time. And, and so that’s kind of what got me into real estate is I saw real estate as something that is the sky’s the limit. And whatever amount of effort you put into it, that’s what you’ll get in return. And it’s your own business. You know, it’s it’s something that you can be proud of, you’re not working for somebody else to make them successful. You know, it’s more risk, nothing’s guaranteed. But I felt that betting on myself was a great investment. Because I knew in my heart that I would work my ass off. And I believed I would make it work. I believed in my heart that no matter what, that’s the mindset I had going in to real estate, I feel like any new agent needs to have that mindset, especially if you’re leaving a full time job that pays you 100 grand a year. And going into this field, that you have no experience, and then there’s nothing guaranteed. You know, that took a lot for me, but I but I did it because I believed I could. And it was the best decision I ever made. One of the best decisions I should say. D.J. Paris 42:22Yeah, well, it certainly is incredible, that you know, so many people who start out on the path that that you were on based on, you know, hey, that’s what you knew growing up growing up. And of course, you know, you know what, you know, and, and to be able to, to, you know, to sort of get out of the cycle of that is, is tremendously difficult and also rare. Sadly, sadly rare. But obviously, the story has has a wonderful ending. And here you are today. And not only are you a practicing agent, a successful agent, you were just named one of National Association of Realtors. 30, under 30. Right in the nick of time, because you’re 30 Yeah. Or did you already turn 30 just recently turned 30. But yeah, Darrin DeSilva 43:14I recently turned 30. So the cut off is I want to save I think it’s June 1. And it’s weird how it works. It’s kind of like halfway, so anybody that has a birthday, even though there’s still 29 If they have a birthday before June 1, unfortunately, they their last opportunity was the year before to apply. So and my birthday is on the 15th of June. So I just I just made the cut off. Yeah, amazing. Yeah, so it was it was fortunate. Yeah, now I’m on the Big Three Oh, and, you know, I feel like, you know, my my life is, is it’s truly a blessing today. And I, I feel like if I’ve gotten this, this amount of fulfillment in this amount of this many blessings in this two to a little little less than two and a half years in real estate. I can just imagine, you know, where my life will be in my 30s. So I’m looking forward to it. That’s for sure. D.J. Paris 44:19I think this I’m curious because for any of for those of us that are versed in anything related to recovery or addiction, we know that surrender, you know, is is really the cornerstone, or the very first part of a recovery process. And the reason why is because our own efforts, we come to a place where we people who struggle with with addiction go, oh, I can’t actually do this. I’m not a I can’t actually live the life I want. I’m not in control, and most most people never have that experience. Right? Most people don’t get to a place where they’re out of control. Roll enough to where they have to surrender. And I’m curious because you have surrendered many times in your life in really extreme ways. How important that that sort of skill is in helping you be successful at real estate. Right, like the surrendering skill, I think I’m almost wondering if that’s maybe the most important part of who you are. Because it enables you to take your ego and your your your identity out of out of a problem, and just go, maybe there’s a solution here, and I just have to find somebody that died curious how important surrender is for you? Darrin DeSilva 45:40Absolutely. And I think, you know, just you bringing it up, you probably know how important that is. Because it’s like, it’s it, it’s instrumental to being successful, I think, you know, you have to detach from the outcome, you have to because then what happens is, if I’m attached to especially something as as, as, like money, right, if I’m doing this for money, like, yeah, we want to do it for money and grow. But there’s got to be something more than that, right? And if I go into a listing appointment, and I’m like, Oh, I gotta pay my bills, and I need this listing. And in this, they’re gonna sense that they’re gonna sense that I’m trying to solder desperation. And now I’m cutting my commission. Now I’m so you know, there’s no value there. Right? Like, I wouldn’t want a realtor like that. So, so for me, it’s just detaching from the outcome. Now, fortunately, I’ve had a lot, and I have lost everything more than once. Yeah. So so that’s why for me, like the pain and things that I’ve gone through, I think is it’s, I don’t say easier for me. But it’s just because I know that if I lost everything today, I would be fine. I can rebuild. And and start something new. Right. But I think you got D.J. Paris 47:02no, you know, what’s amazing, and I’m sorry to interject, but I think this is a good gut check for a lot of our audience, because I have, I’ve dealt with a few issues that that you have it but but a lot of issues you I have, you have experienced that I have not, and I am I am not confident that if I lost everything, it would be easy to rebuild, I’d have a lot of help. And I think people would help me. But as far as me on my own, I don’t know that I would, I could say I’m confident, but I’ve never had to do it. And I’ve never been in that position. And I think that that has obviously helped. Obviously, nobody wants to have to go through that. But boy to know that if it all went away tomorrow, if you know, for whatever reason, you had to start over again, to just know that I’d figure it out. And to be confident because you’ve actually done it more than once is, is really a tremendous skill that propels people who have you know, who might be at the bottom, who are really struggling to get to a much more elevated position. So I am really because I was thinking about that, as you were saying that I was like, oh, yeah, me too. And I went, No, would I really be okay, no, I probably wouldn’t. It would, I’d have to go through losing everything to really then develop certain skills. So I hope to god I don’t have to but but that gift of desperation is it. You know, that phrase you said earlier, the gift of desperation is a it is it’s a double edged, double edged sword gift, but, but it does actually provide freedom because you’re like, I can do this. It’s not easy, but I can do it. And knowing that I think a lot like, you talked about this with getting a job as in car sales. You’re like, I’m going to get a job, someone’s gonna hire me because I’m gonna go in there and say, you really should hire me, I’m really going. I did that really well, with Kurt with vacuums. I know how to do this, I can do this. Someone’s gonna give me a job. I never have thought that way about myself. And I think that is an incredible thing that you know, I’m going to figure this out. I can figure this out. And that is, that’s amazing. So I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take over there. But just No, no, Darrin DeSilva 49:23I appreciate that. One thing, you know, I do want to make very clear for for me, and everyone who’s listening is I do not believe that I could have done any of this on my own. Right. I know for a fact that the only reason that I have the life I have today is because I surrounded myself with individuals who were willing to help me and were willing to show me away. One person that told me this great analogy. It’s kind of like if you’re trying to climb Mount Everest. You know, if I were to climb Mount Everest by myself, I probably wouldn’t make it back. Yeah, why? D.J. Paris 50:00When you die, yeah, Darrin DeSilva 50:01I’d die. Yeah, I’d be frozen up there, you know, and but the chances of me making it back with a guide, somebody who has been to the top multiple times who has found a solution, who knows the path knows the way, my chances of surviving and getting to the top are a hell of a lot better. You know, and, and that for me, I, the only reason I feel like I would be able to come come out after losing everything is because I would find the right people to be around, I would seek those people out who who have also lost everything before and came back, you know, and just follow what they’ve done. You know, and I think the only thing that I do have is that belief that it’s possible, you know, like you mentioned with the car dealership, is I believed that it was possible, and I can do it, you know, I just needed help to figure out a way to do it. And, and I truly believe that me on my own, I’m nothing but me, as was somebody else. And with the unit and with the team and with people, we can achieve impossible things. And I truly believe that. D.J. Paris 51:18Yeah, it’s like that one plus one equals three kind of thing. It’s like, it really is. The sum is greater than then than the parts, right? It’s it really having i I’ve always thought like, not always I took me to I was in my 30s to realize, oh, I need to counsel with people in life, who will tell me the truth, right, actually be there to say, Hey, man, you’re going a little nutty about this thing, or we see you heading in this direction, which may be great. But also people that are like we believe in you. You’re you know, and we have skills that you know, and just having people around who, who and the good news is, there are tons of people who are willing to help. The hardest part is finding those people. I think, for me, it’s it’s about being willing to ask, because it is hard to ask whether you’re a real estate agent, and you’re brand new, and you’re like, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to get clients, I don’t like go talk to I mean, this whole podcast started because I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to like if we could get a list of, of all these stories of top producers and how they made it like I didn’t think, Oh, I’m going to be talking to top producers, I assume somebody else had already done this. And I was like, I’ll just find the podcast that already exists. And I’ll just give it to our agents because they want to, they want to hear from these top producers. And then I went, nobody’s done that. And I went, Oh, okay, well, we should accumulate these stories. But but it’s all because you know, it people who have risen above our, in our, in my experience, have are very willing to tell their story. And, and, and help others. And if you can find people that are willing to help you, that’s great. But you have to you have to go first you have to be willing to ask for help, right? And that’s probably not something you struggle with as much as maybe other people who haven’t been as desperate at times. So let’s talk about, you know, you’re you’re starting in real estate. How did you start your business? I mean, you don’t have the traditional background of like, well, I don’t know, actually, so So did you have a sphere of influence when you started? Or was it like, I’m starting a whole new thing, and I’m starting over from scratch. Darrin DeSilva 53:34I mean, a little bit of both. It the sphere I have, I’ve created from car sales and doing that, you know, I was kind of doing a lot of social media, with car sales as well. So I think that helped me because I would have people the same way they they reach out to me for houses. Um, there was the same thing with cars too. And so I would I would establish that branding, you know, as a car salesman, so that transition was really weird. But I think I made the transition very well because I went from being that car guy to real estate, you know, and I announced it ever I’d like to on your obviously I burned the boats today, D.J. Paris 54:20right? Yeah, so I cut off all other opera options. I burned the bridge behind me not burn bridges in a negative way. I just I burned the lifeboat. So this is all I got. I’m gonna exactly I Darrin DeSilva 54:33announced it to the world. I am leaving the car business. Thank you for all of that. So that way I have some sort of accountability. Yeah, when things get rough, so there’s no turning back. So again, that that just it’s gonna work mindset, you know, it’s gonna, I’m gonna make this happen. And that’s so powerful. Like I think back to that, that mindset, you know, it’s a lot sometimes Was it gonna be difficult to have that same mindset, especially having a little bit more time in the business and just continuing to have it? I don’t, I don’t really don’t know if that’s even sustainable, right, but I think you can get it in waves. But at time, at that time, I had that mindset. And, and that’s what I needed, especially breaking off in real estate. And I joined this little brokerage, you know, local brokerage, that there was like a referral to me and people that I trusted and, and I just went in there, and I had one guy, he fortunately took me under his wing. And he, he really helped me, you know, he, you know, do open houses with me, whenever I would have a question, I would reach out to him, and he would answer them for me. You know, I felt like I was pretty resourceful, fortunately. So I would try my best to not be needy for things. And if I could figure out a way to find it out myself. I would. That’s fortunately what the internet’s for. Right? And Google. And it just asking people to asking other people. So it took me, it took me two months to do my first deal. D.J. Paris 56:24Which, by the way, two months is pretty short timeframe for somebody’s first transaction is a real estate agent. That’s, that’s, that sounds like an eternity for those of us in, you know, but we can, everyone listening can remember, you know, doing a deal in your first couple months is not very common. So, so, but cheers to you for even getting that accomplished, you know, yeah, and that’s another Darrin DeSilva 56:46thing too, about mindset. Because if there’s any new agents that are listening, you’re going to be told that it may take six months to a year for your first home, you’re going to be told that. And I would hear people say that, and in my head, I would tell myself, you know, maybe for you, right, but not for me, I’m going to make this work, right. And I think if you just again, that belief system, if you have that belief system, and just continue to believe and stay consistent with your activities, just like prospecting, just like working every day, you know, treating it like a business. You know, real estate is one of those things where you put in the work today, and you get the results, a month or two, you know, at the at the soonest D.J. Paris 57:36I was gonna say could be a years. Yeah, could be a year. Yeah. And more than Darrin DeSilva 57:41likely, it’s gonna be that long, right? But you have to put in the effort to have the mindset that what you’re doing today is going to benefit you later on, right? It’s not going to be D.J. Paris 57:52quick. And that’s the thing too, and I hope, I’m glad you you sort of challenged me a little bit on that. I appreciate that. Because it is impressive to do a deal within your first two months, but it’s not unheard of. And it’s absolutely doable. It’s just not as common. But also most people don’t have as much desperation, to say, I gotta make some, I gotta pay my bills, I gotta make something work. It’s amazing, again, back to this gift of desperation. But what happens is by putting the blinders on and realizing, okay, most of my efforts today in real estate won’t manifest to actual income, maybe for a year, maybe six months, you know, a year, whatever, whatever the the, you know, the time sales cycle is in your particular market. But you also end up making some quick luck along the way, right? Like, exactly like it ends up like lucky things start to happen to people who are quite crazy discipline. So it’s not just like, I mean, look, we could say not a whole lot of luck fell your way. Or we could say you had a lot of luck fall your way at the right times. Either way, you have always been on your way up a very disciplined person. You’ve always sort of made your own luck. It sounds like like, going from car dealer to car dealer is no is not fun and beg, basically begging for a job. And I don’t mean begging in a bad way. But being like I gotta get a job. That is is in most people would never do that. Most people won’t go to 10 different dealerships now. You got you got lucky on the first one in a sense. Yeah. But you would have kept going until someone said yes. Anyway. So so the reality of it is you could say, oh, was lucky it was the first one well, yeah, but it might have been the third one or the fourth one or the 10th. One, you would have still got a job. Because well, or maybe you wouldn’t have it then you would have pivoted to something else. But the point is, is you were convinced that there was a way out, and all you had to do was put is put the blinders on and just go to work essentially. And someone’s always going to give somebody a chance. Who has that mentality like that is It’s really kind of a boss’s dream hire, somebody comes in and says, I have to work here, I need to work here, I want to work here. Like that attitude. And I imagine that’s probably endears you to your clients. Because as you show, or you didn’t show, but But you have that picture of, hey, here’s a time when I didn’t have anything much, or much of anything, or maybe really anything I have that picture from, I remember what it was like, and not that there’s anything wrong with with going through that experience. Of course, it’s brought you to where you are today. But it’s nice to sort of say to say, oh, at one point I that that’s that was my reality. Today, I have a different reality. And, and, and, you know, there’s been a lot of people helping me along the way. But it’s really been a lot of effort on your end. So so let’s talk about the future. So you started in real estate, you you had did your first deal, and within a couple of months, and then then how did things progress from there? Darrin DeSilva 1:01:00Um, so from there, I always had at least one pending, which was nice, amazing. Yeah, it was, it was nice. And a lot of my business has come from, from my sphere, you know, from referral partners from those sorts of relationships that I nurture, and have developed a system around that. And that’s really where all of my business came my first year. And, you know, it was a blessing I made, I made more my first year than I did at, at my, my car sales job where I was killed, I was selling 30 cars a month, which is pretty good in the industry. You know, and just just crushing it in, in here in real estate, working less, you know, in a sense, like, like, compared to how I was working in the car business, right, where you’re clocked in, you’re at the dealership, right. And that’s also one thing is, like, I just thought, like, if I was able to take that same mentality that I had in the car business, and apply it to, to real estate in my business, which let’s face it, I don’t think any real estate agent really does, you know, and but the ones that do, are super successful. And that’s what, that’s what I I tried to do and have a schedule, you know, just have a system and treat it like like a business, you know, just because I get to dictate my own schedule does not mean, I shouldn’t treat it like a business. And that’s what I’m starting to learn is just trying to have some structure and things like that, instead of treating it just like like a lot of agents treat it just as like a, Hey, I’m a realtor treating it more like this is my business. This is, you know, I need to have systems in place, I need to have a schedule. I add admins, transaction coordinators, you know, having team members just having that growth mindset. And that’s kind of where I am today is starting just starting that process with that. Trying to have the systems right, a guy that was living in a cardboard box, trying to develop systems for a real estate business, let me tell you is not easy. So I fail more than succeed, you know, but I learned and I learned new things every day and I invest in coaching, I invest a lot in real estate coaching, and other things because I know the value. I know the value in coaching is one of the things that I invested in right off the bat when I first started in, and if you have the funds to do it, I would 100% recommend any new agent. And quite frankly, anybody whether you’ve been in the business for 30 years to invest in coaching, because that it for me is is your game, you have to have a guide to climb Everest, you know? And yeah, and accountability as well. D.J. Paris 1:04:16Yeah, we all need we all need Sherpas to help us kind of lead the path guide the way Hold keep us on the path to and you know, they always say what it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to run a business. I mean, it just does. And boy, you know, aren’t you so are aren’t we so lucky that we live in a time now where we can get help globally from people that we wouldn’t have had access to 20 years ago, that just wasn’t wasn’t a thing. You couldn’t hire a virtual assistant 20 years ago they didn’t exist. Or if they did, I didn’t have access to them. And now we can get help from people all over the globe. And who can help us for, you know, reasonable cost. And you’re you’re helping them by providing them income, they’re helping you by helping run your business. I’m always shocked that individual practitioner agents, a lot of them, don’t think to employ somebody, even if it’s just somebody to help plan your day, or somebody to help structure. So you’re now building these systems. And you’re, you know, I’m curious now as the markets shifting, so I want to sort of talk about what’s going on currently in in the real estate industry, because you’re still relatively young, as an agent, also your age, you know, you’re a younger guy. Now, things are starting to shift, right, we’re seeing a slowdown, we’re seeing interest rates rise, we’re seeing, of course, inventories has been challenging for the last couple of years. And, you know, less buyers are now flooding the market, because rates have basically doubled, more than doubled some cases. So so how were How are you adjusting to that? Has that has that hit you yet? has had things changed for your business? Just curious on what you’re doing right now? Darrin DeSilva 1:06:10Yeah, so I am very happy the market shifting. I think we needed to slow down. Every buyer that I have right now, it’s like first offers accepted, which is nice. You can keep contingencies. We’re asking for closing credits, we’re negotiating price, like I’m like, wow, you know, you have new builders now like raising the Commission’s they’re buying, or they’re paying out to directors like you know, and sometimes, quite frankly, I’m like, Hey, if you guys, you know, D.J. Paris 1:06:43I used to deal with you a month ago. Where’s where’s that? For me? Yeah, Darrin DeSilva 1:06:48exactly. Yeah. And, you know, um, so I actually like it. And as far as the listing side goes, you know, I think it is who you who the sellers work with matters more than ever right now. And all the agents who stopped doing the marketing and the activities that that got results, when when you needed to market a house, you couldn’t just stick it in the MLS and put a for sale sign and say, I sold it for 300,000 over asking price, right? I’m the best realtor out there. I hate those posts. I absolutely hate them. Because it’s like, Dude, come on, like, what did you put a for sale sign one. And granted, you know, we all got to market ourselves. And I get that. But you know, as an agent, perspective, agent to agent perspective, it’s like, Come on, guys, you know, so the people I think that are getting hit and doing price reductions and all those things, I think are people that may need to look at what type of marketing and strategies they’re doing on their listings, you know, are they having, are they are they you know, going door to door like, I’ll give you an example. Right after this. I’m heading to Sacramento to do door knocking to invite everybody out to our open house this weekend. Right? D.J. Paris 1:08:16Okay, let’s pause real quick because this is a this is a really nice thing. door knocking for open houses. It’s so funny. You mentioned this I had done it did an interview four or five years ago with a guy named Nico apostle. So if anyone else would go back look, look for the just just search on our website for apostle just like apostle from the Bible, same spelling. And he did this and he’s the only other person and I actually just saw him a few days ago, cuz he’s a local guy here. And I was like, I still tell people about your door knocking Open House thing and I’ve yet so you’re like the first person in five, four or five years to talk about it. So let’s talk about what what this is telling me about the strategy for getting people to show up to open houses. Darrin DeSilva 1:08:58Yeah. So you know, you pick, you know, 50 I’d say 50. I used to do 100. But it was just too much. Because when you door knock, it takes a little bit more time. If you’re just dropping off flyers, that’s one thing, but I like to go up to the door. Because you you you have a conversation. And when you talk about like cold calling and making phone calls, the whole goal of all of that is to get face to face with the client. Right? That is the only goal. So imagine you have a listing, you actually have a reason to talk to somebody and you’re I’m not asking anything for you. I’m simply inviting you to check out your neighbor’s house, right, D.J. Paris 1:09:39which everybody wants to do just out of their own curiosity. Darrin DeSilva 1:09:43Exactly. So like what better way to leverage something when I’m not asking you to buy or sell anything, right? I’m inviting you to sing Hey, come on down. You know, we want to get your take on you know the house. Maybe if you can give us some feedback. We’d love for you to come over. We got some Wine, we got some, you know, work d’oeuvres, just come down, you know, in check it out. And hey, if you happen to know anybody that’s looking to move into this neighborhood, a family of friend, you know, we’d love to maybe get in touch with them, whatever you want to say to try to try to convert, right? But yeah, you go up to the door, you know, if it’s not specific neighborhood you knock they answer and you just simply, here you go. It’s Kirby one on one for me, right? He’s D.J. Paris 1:10:28gonna say this is Kirby. Yeah, you know, you have Darrin DeSilva 1:10:31your fliers in your hand. And the first thing you do when they open the door is you just stick your hand up, you hand them the flyer Hey, guy, and smile, you always smile, right? That’s the first impression big smile. Hey, guys, you know, and, um, just that and again, you know, back to the whole cold calling, and just doing phone calls. In general, you’re the whole point is to be face to face, I’ve literally all I’ve done is walk didn’t cost me $10,000 For lead, nothing, I literally walked over to this person’s house, who is a potential lead, and I and I gave them something of value. And I’m now creating a conversation with them. And if I if I track my numbers, I’ll know that if I talk to 10 people that I’ve knocked on their door, I’ll probably get, you know, two or three emails and phone numbers and one potential appointment to come back and talk about potentially selling their house. D.J. Paris 1:11:32Right. So is that are those numbers about right? So maybe knocking on 50 gets you about 10 conversations, which gets you two or three emails, which maybe nets you one customer and one opportunity, one opportunity? Yeah, so Darrin DeSilva 1:11:47So whether it’s by buying or selling, it’s it’s just an appointment lead generation, right. And that all that all was free, you know, so D.J. Paris 1:11:56it’s, it’s free, and it takes it’s free. And it just takes time. And it takes willingness. And it takes a little bit of getting over the lump in your throat to knock on a door of a stranger and, and I always I always have told tried to tell our agents. It’s not creepy if you’re not a creep. If you’re a nice, normal human, and again, women have a different and I’m not here to say it’s equal for men and women, obviously women have additional safety considerations. And maybe this wouldn’t necessarily be something a woman may want to do just for safety sake. But and I’m not here to to get into a gender conversation, but certainly, you know, think about safety. But you know, for doing that. I’m curious. Well, this is this is a question that I think will better answer this. How many how many other agents in your market? Are you aware of that door knock for open houses? Like you do, Darrin DeSilva 1:12:56I’m outside of my brokerage zero. I think the only reason I hear some of the people in my brokerage do is because we have you know meetings every week and people share what works for them so you hear it more often than none. Now doing it and being consistent with it, I think are two different things. You know, they do it for one open house and take a couple of Facebook photos and say hey, I did it. Which I’m totally guilty of too. I’m not any you know, consistency, that’s the hardest thing. But I find myself being able to be aware of that fortunately and and really trying to look in the mirror and seeing Okay, I need to be consistent with this. Otherwise it doesn’t it doesn’t work so there’s definitely I think if more people did it and did it consistently, they would see results no matter what you do. Right right. D.J. Paris 1:13:52So it doesn’t have to be door knocking I’m just saying yeah, but but but but I love I love that particular one because it’s it’s got that old school kind of like I don’t really want to do it. It’s it’s it’s way harder than picking up a phone. Phones are way harder than reaching out on social media. And not always not it’s not always that the hardest activity is the best activity but this particular activity I love because it’s it’s incredibly humbling it’s it’s not an ego based thing right? You can’t you’re not showing up like hey, look at how cool I am it’s a very humbling thing to have. Most people go I don’t really want somebody knocking on my door so you so you do have to go through a lot of of people baby poking through the looking through the windows. Yeah, who is that guy? What do you want? And and obviously you’re you’re a professional person so so you know you have you know how to dress and how to present yourself. But I think it is a wonderful experience. And by the way, for those of you who say open houses don’t work, do this. Well, so how do you do Would you go? Do you do it a couple of days before? Do you do it the morning of when do you do the door knocking for open houses? Yes. So Darrin DeSilva 1:15:05I typically do it a couple of days before, I know some people like to do it the weekend before. But I like to be fresh. Yeah, you know, fresh in people’s minds, because chances are that paper I hand them is gonna go straight from their hand to the trash can totally toe. So all I want them to see is my name in the bait. And your name should be the biggest thing on there other than, like open house. So that way, at least if they, D.J. Paris 1:15:32if on their way to the to the garbage, they see your name, Darrin DeSilva 1:15:35they see your name exactly. So you’re brand new yourself. And you know, and then just, you know, open house invite. So, D.J. Paris 1:15:44I know that and I didn’t mean to get to get stuck on this. But I think this tip alone is so important. And it doesn’t mean you have to go door to door for your open houses. But if you’re having if you’re going to all the effort to put an open house together, and I’m not saying Darren, I’m talking to our audience directly, you know, go the additional extra step and canvass the neighborhood. Really politely knock on the door, say, hey, just so you know, I’m listing a home down the street, thought you might be interested in checking it out, here’s a little bit more about the property if we’d love to have you over just to see come see the property, maybe give us some feedback. That would be awesome. It’s it’s, it will net you people showing up. So if you’re somebody who says open houses don’t work, I only want to hear open houses don’t work because I also knocked on 100 doors and still nobody, then you can tell me open houses don’t work. Right. Darren is here to tell you open houses work. But you have to probably put maybe more sometimes you have to put more effort in than just throwing it up on the MLS and saying Come Come check out the open house. Darrin DeSilva 1:16:49Right. And the only reason for me that I’m doing open house is because you with the listing, you can leverage you know, there’s there’s ways you can leverage buyers listings to but it’s more like direct mail and stuff like that. I don’t think it’s as effective. A listing you can really leverage in the only read the open house is not going to sell you. It’s not going to sell the house. Right? The whole point is you’re very lucky. Yeah, unless you’re very lucky you get you get somebody that walks in and sees it and you know, and that that happens from time to time. But regardless, if they really want to see it, they want to call their agent and have them show it to him. You know. So really all the open houses, it’s to generate you more business. That’s it, you’re leveraging one opportunity and making three more, you know, I can’t tell you how many buyers I had come in that are unrepresented and do an open house where not only did I get them in contract on the house I was selling but they had to sell house two to three deals. And one that happened that happened twice to me last year six deals just from one open house, right. And so you know, little things like that. And it doesn’t happen every time. Right. But again, it’s just it’s consistency. So that’s what I believe, again, belief, like I know, if I stay consistent, do I do I get deterred? And do I get down like Oh, this isn’t working man. Let me try something else. Yeah, 100% I get shiny object syndrome, right? D.J. Paris 1:18:22Oh, he too? Sure. No, we’re gonna fix everything. If I had that. That’s what I need. Yeah, Darrin DeSilva 1:18:28yeah, exactly. Let me listen to this guy and do this. And I’ll try this for two weeks, and I don’t get results. So now I’m gonna try this. If you can’t, you have to, you have to be consistent, no matter what you do. And then after doing it for, you know, six months, you know, three, four months, whatever it is, everything’s different. Then make your judgment. Maybe this isn’t for me, you know? Or maybe I need to try something different, or my approach is wrong. Or, you know, it’s for me, it’s like always looking within what can I do differently, not pointing the finger. You know, that’s the one thing like just for my personal life to once I stopped pointing at everybody else. And I started pointing the finger to me and seeing what I need to do better when I need to change what what I can do. Then I started letting everybody else or not letting everybody else control my destiny control. And I started taking responsibility in allowing me to control my life and need to control where I want to end up right because I can change my actions but I can’t change yours. I can’t change the brokerage. I can’t change anything so I can’t blame it on the brokerage. I can’t blame it on the current condition the market conditions. I can’t Well all I can do is adjust right. I think this market going kind of back to your your question about the market. I think this market is it’s going to show the trooper professionals and amateurs and people who do this as a side business or just don’t treat it how they should, you know, don’t take it seriously. Like we’re dealing with people’s largest assets. Like these, these are people’s lives. You know, I have clients crying to me sometimes because of how, how stressful the process can be. And and it’s like, I want to make it so smooth for them that I don’t have to hear one person ever tear up. That’s that’s where my in like, how can I make this escrow? Or this selling or buying? How can I make this process just so smooth for my clients? To where all they have to do is worry about packing. Right? D.J. Paris 1:20:43You know, it’s funny, I, I just I absolutely could not agree, I went through this process. A year ago, I bought a primary residence was not my first time buying a home. But it was my first time in a while buying a home. And I also work in real estate. And we have like, almost 800 agents here. So you would think that I would be like, pretty, I’m sort of in the industry, and I’m kind of like, shouldn’t be that emotional about it. And thank God, I had a people to help me through my own emotional storms of my own transaction, which was pretty normal. And there wasn’t even any major hiccups. And I thought, you know, I started no more than the average person who’s I’m not, you know, I’m not a product practicing agent. So I don’t know as much as you. But I know enough. We have enough agents here that I sort of feel like I have a general idea of how it all works. But it was so incredibly stressful. So I was like, Oh, I forgot how it feels. And you’re so right, that having the job of the realtor, at least for me, was keep DJ calm. And I and my boss was the guy who was keeping me calm. You know, he was he was he was the one where I went, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to do this, and so freaking me out. And then, you know, and I’m not somebody who doesn’t handle things? Well, I think. But even for somebody in the industry, it was crazy stressful. And it was a perfectly normal transaction. So I think you’re absolutely right. And then now think about, you know, of course, everyone else who isn’t in real estate doesn’t doesn’t remember what it was like to buy a home, because maybe they did it 10 years ago, or they haven’t ever done it. And now and now we’re in multiple offer situations, still even. So you have a lot of stress there. So I think you’re right, that you making things as stress free, of course, it’s still going to be stressful is really the main benefit of working with realtors having somebody say, Don’t worry, I will keep you up to date I’m on it. Do you find that that’s the most important part of your job is sort of managing, being on top of it so that your clients don’t you know that they’re able to, like you said, all they have to worry about is moving. Darrin DeSilva 1:23:04That’s it, it’s just communication to keeping people in the loop. If there’s, if there’s no update, send them a text saying hey, there’s no update, you know, don’t just not text them. Right? Like, like little things like that, that I’ve found people really appreciate. And not only that, but the service you give. Like to me it. I focus the reason I give high level service like that when I want to take care of people. But really, it’s because I want people to refer me to their friends, family and people that they know, because of how great of a job that I did, right? There’s all there’s always some, there’s a motive behind it, right? And then that’s the truth, you know, because that’s what I value, I want to be known as that guy that makes it smooth for people. So it’s in everybody’s best interest to focus on those things, too. So that way, you’re you can have a very lucrative referral business referral based business where you’re just getting referred clients left and right. You know, like, that’s the dream. You know? D.J. Paris 1:24:15Yeah. And it all has to do with service and discipline. Right. So So you have echoed that over and over and over again in the time we have and I think it’s a good place to sort of, sort of wrap up today because, wow, I feel like I’ve just been on this emotional journey with you. I appreciate your vulnerability, your honesty, your willingness to share some of some of your life sort of story and I think that is a takes tremendous courage and, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for that. So congratulations. And by the way also, not just me recognizing it. Clearly National Association of REALTORS thinks you’re poor. be special as well, awarding you the 30, under 30, which I know a few people, I know many people who have received that award. And they’re all they’re all amazing people. So you are now of course in that same same rarefied air, which is, I’m sure very humbling for you. But it is really impressive to the rest of us. So, by the way, we should also mention that Darren is now in a place where he’s like, I am now expanding, I’m building up this thing. And maybe he’s going to need some additional help and wants to build out his team. So if so, tell us, tell us who you’re looking for. Because we have lots of agents who listen from all over the country. Who are you looking for? Who would be a good fit for you and your team? Darrin DeSilva 1:25:42Yeah, so for me, I’m looking for somebody that’s coachable. That is, is willing to learn? I look for people that have more questions than answers, right. And that, for me is somebody who would fit into the team, I it’s not about you, selling a million houses, it’s not about it’s about your attitude and your work ethic. And you willing, if you’re putting in the work, and you’re showing up, that’s all I would ask for. And that’s, that’s, that’s the only requirement for me, is being coachable, being showing up. And getting into action doing what you say you’re going to do, you know, whatever your goals are, if you say you’re going to do something, and we then next week, we go over what you did the prior week to get there and you didn’t do them, those are things that I I don’t like to do, because here’s the thing, I, I have a coach, too, that I am accountable to who holds me accountable. So I expect the same thing from any of my agents, right. And that’s the kind of team I’m building. It’s something like that, and we grow together. And it’s a culture. And that’s, and that’s what I’m looking for. So I’d love for anybody that just wants to have a conversation or just talk about real estate, that’s, you know, in in Tracy area, San Joaquin County, Central Valley area to reach out to me, you can you can look me up online, and I would be more than happy to have a conversation with you guys and, and see if, you know, potentially working together would make sense. D.J. Paris 1:27:27And fun fact, my middle name is Joaquin. So I am a big fan of the Joaquin Valley. But for anyone out there who is in sort of central, or East Bay Area, Central Valley, and just you know, is is wanting to explore other options or wanting to work with somebody like Darren, who is really still at the beginning part of his career. And he’s already just on the right track to be crushing it, he’s already crushing it. But to go even beyond that, boy, I would join your team in a second. If I was a practicing agent, I don’t say that lightly. And I don’t say that, as as a platitude. It’s the absolute truth because I’m like, you have a track record of success. And you know what it takes. And so I encourage anyone out there who’s interested in looking at other options to consider the DeSilva real estate research real estate team and visit Darren at his website, which is DiSalvo, real estate.com. And that’s d s iLv. A real estate.com. Also, you can find him on Instagram at Deron, which is with an ID AR R I N underscore to Silva links will be in the show notes. Darren, this is probably the longest interview I’ve done in 400 episodes. Now, I hope I hope it was interesting for our audience as it was for me, I trust that it was I am so I don’t want to say I’m proud of you. Because that suggests that I’m in a different I see you as appear as an equal, for sure and somebody to look up to and admire. So I think you you are really somebody who has got amazing things ahead of him. But just the skills that you’ve developed, I think are are the truly truly incredible to to move from where you were to where you are now. And you can just tell that that you you seem to be at some level of peace and some level of of normalcy, which I’m so glad that you were able to find for yourself. And not only that, but be able to thrive and build something. It’s It’s It’s inspiring, and I hope our audience feels the same way I know they do. Please everyone follow Darren on Instagram. Check him out on his on his website, reach out to him. If you want to explore joining his team, he’d love to talk to you as well. And he’s just a good guy. So So reach out to him. Let him know that you appreciated him sharing on our episode. And before we go to we just ask everybody to do one quick thing to help oscaro, which is just a telephone, I think one other real estate professional that could benefit from hearing this really inspiring, impressive story with Darren is taking a selfie. So I am, I’m waving in the background here. But I want everyone just to tell one other person about this episode, send this to them, especially somebody who may be struggling right now in their business, or maybe with personal issues. And maybe they’re thinking of getting out of real estate. Or maybe they’re thinking that this just isn’t the right. The best path for them right now, maybe this would encourage them to get back on track. So shoot this over to him. And honestly, anyone really could could learn a lot from Darren, whether they’re a top producer or they’re struggling, so send a link out, send him over to our website, keeping it real pod.com. We appreciate it. All of our episodes are there or you can also find us anywhere podcasts are served. So please subscribe. And also last thing to please leave us a review whatever app you might be listening to this on. Let us know what you think of the show. Your comments, help us continue to improve as well. So Darren, you’ve given us a tremendous amount of time, and I know you got to race out of here to get to your next appointment. I hope I didn’t keep you too long. Really, really super proud of everything you’ve accomplished and also what you’re willing to share. You’re a great guy and we are a super excited to see your you continue to dominate the Central Valley market. So keep it up and stay in touch with us. We’re going to be checking in on you. And awesome, man. Well, hey, and congrats on the 30 under 30 thing. Huge, huge deal there. So I hope to hope hopefully you’ll come down to the Orlando NAR conference this fall. If you get out there, we’ll definitely have to meet up and say hi. So, congrats again. Thanks for being on our show. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. All right, Darren to solve everyone. Thanks for being on the show. On behalf of everyone. Thanks, Darren. And on behalf of Darren and myself. Thanks to the audience for sticking with us to the end. Tell a friend about our show and we’ll see everyone on the next episode. Thanks, Darren. Awesome. Thank you

Jul 29, 2022 • 50min

Why Professionalism Is Your Best Marketing Strategy • Francie Malina

Francie Malina the team-leader of Francie Malina Team with Compass in Westchester County NY talks about how she got into real estate and how the moment she entered the market helped her build her business. Francie discusses how her team is built and how it works. Francie also emphasizes the importance of leisure time and how that makes you a better professional. Last, Francie discusses how she behave if she would have to start her career over in another country. If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube! Francie Malina can be reached at (914) 261-0276 and francie.malina@compass.com. This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and FollowUpBoss. Transcript D.J. Paris 0:00As an agent, how do you take your professionalism to the next level? Well, we’re going to talk about that today. Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod. And now onto our show. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your guide and host through the show and in just a moment, we’re going to be speaking with top producer Francie Molina. Before we get to Francie wanted to give you a couple of quick announcements number one actually requests not even announcements, I need something but they’re pretty hopefully reasonable and simple request number one, tell a friend think of one other agent that could benefit from talk listening to an episode with a top producer like Francie and send them a link to either our podcast website, which is keeping it real pod.com Or just have them pull up a podcast app search for keeping it real, hit the subscribe button. And the second thing is to leave us a review whatever app you might be listening to the show in, whether it’s Apple podcasts or Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play Amazon, you know, wherever else, let us know what you think of the show. Leave us a review. We read every review and comment and it helps us improve. But enough about all that let’s get to the main event my conversation with Francie Molina. Today on the show we have Francie Molina from the Francie Molina team compass in Westchester, New York. Let me tell you more about Francie. Francie is the team leader of the 10 person, Francie Molina team and went Westchester County, which is just north of New York, New York City. Francie is more than an award winning top producing agent. She’s also a powerful force in the Westchester market and a highly sought after industry thought leader through her involvement as a women of Compass regional leader, and also co founder of the women of Compass clubhouse, and a founding member of realme Global which is a worldwide luxury real estate Think Tank. Francie keeps her finger on the pulse of issues affecting the market. In 2021, France’s team held the distinction of selling the most homes in the county, which is incredible because Westchester County is incredible. Please everyone visit Francie on her and her team on their website, which is Francie molina.com. Fr ANCIE Molina ma l i n a.com. There will be a link to that in our show notes. And also please follow her on Instagram or her team on Instagram at Francie Molina team also link in the show notes. Francie, welcome to the show. Francie Malina 4:08Thanks for having me. I’m super excited. D.J. Paris 4:11I feel that you know, when we just first started talking, I was like, I feel like I’ve known you for a long time. We just very comfortably started communicating. And I am really, really excited to have you on the show first for all of our in I’m sort of geographically challenged and my a bit embarrassed to ask but for anyone who isn’t that familiar with New York geography? Where is Westchester County? Francie Malina 4:39That’s a great question, actually. Because most people have no idea. So it’s directly north of New York City. So you’ve got Manhattan and then you have the Bronx and then you hit Yonkers and you’re in Westchester, so no bridge between the commute which is like New Jersey you have to cross the George Washington Bridge or Long Island you’re crossing either the Throgs Neck or the Whitestone. Westchester County is a suburban commute Double area to New York City without a bridge straight up parkways highway straight up. So it’s a highly sought after suburban marketplace for folks who are in their living in New York City or just want close proximity to New York City. And it also has a distinction of being carved out of a forest. So it’s really I mean, almost every area of Westchester is just, you know, mature trees and beautiful nature. And we have bears walking in our yard and Fox and coyote and Turkey. And, you know, we have the distinction of like being 15 miles from New York City, but still have D.J. Paris 5:33nature. Isn’t that incredible? That that have that that juxtaposition of, you know, the the busiest city in the country? And then 15 miles beyond it. It’s you know, there’s you’re you’re battling bears and nature. And how lovely, gosh, I’ve I’ve always heard of Westchester and I’ve really never spent time in Westchester County. So I’ve been to the oh, gosh, I’m so we’re West Point. I’ve been to West Point. Francie Malina 6:06So beautiful. That’s the bridge Cross River. So D.J. Paris 6:10that’s probably the closest I’ve been in. That was insane. And I was like, just so beautiful. But let’s, let’s learn more about you. Where do you come from? How did you get into real estate? Tell us your story. Francie Malina 6:22So my story is not that exciting. But I’m from originally from Connecticut. And then we ended up we lived in New York City, my husband and I when we were first married. And then you know, as soon as you started to think about our family, often folks that I would say 50% of the New York City population moves out for space in schools or 30%, depending on the year. So we did the same. So we moved up to Irvington on Hudson, which is on the Hudson River side of Westchester County. So it’s the west side of the county. And I’m been living there for 31 years. And I ended up in real estate because I was a formerly in banking, I was at the Federal Reserve Bank years before that. And when I decided to, you know, I had sort of the break in the action to kind of leave the kids and start a second career. My husband and I had some less than stellar real estate transactions in our history. And I always felt and we always felt we’re pretty tight Bay on steroids. And we always felt like our agent just showed up with a key. And that was really it. And the worst story was that we live on a private road and the house we’re in now. And it was a few days before closing before we even knew that. And we were responsible for maintaining the road. And it’s unclear who owns the road. But we own at least in front of it of our house. So we’re responsible for all those potholes. So I think subconsciously, I had it in my head that, you know, the bar was pretty low in real estate, and I love people. But more importantly, I love numbers and models and financial stuff. So that combination, so I decided to get my license on a whim, I’m telling you, this was not a thought out thing. I was at the gym, and I thought I was gonna take a real estate class, a friend said I’ll do it with you. And again, now 12 years later, I run a team of 10. And it’s been amazing. It combines all the things I love. D.J. Paris 8:08Yeah, but you don’t just run a team of 10, you’re on a team of 10 that sells the most amount of property in the county. And to do that within a decade, let’s let’s just be honest, is a really impressive achievement. And you’re too humble to sort of brag about it, but I’m going to brag about it. Because I think that’s an incredible achievement. I’ve been in this industry longer than that. And I’ve I’ve rarely rarely seen that anywhere in the country. So tell us sort of how did you so you talked about, you know, real estate kind of put together a lot of the different qualities that are you and that you love. Tell us how that work? What what did that journey look like? Francie Malina 8:47Well, so in the beginning, I came into the business around two in 2010, May of 2010. So obviously the market time. But in the in the end, it was the best of times, because I could sit in the office, listen to other agents, especially when you you know, if you want to be a millionaire, you surround yourself with millionaires, if you want to be a great agent, you surround yourself with a lot of top agents. So I would listen to how they did business. And because it was slow. You know, I wasn’t they weren’t running in and out all the time. And also there still was floor time. So you could sit there and if the phone rang, you might have the honor of getting a lead. So I spent a few years doing that. And that was really good for me because for me this was going to be a marathon not a sprint anyway, even though Westchester is big, all the communities are very small. And we live in work and then our kids go to school in them. And in my experience, most of my friends raising their kids would kind of cross the street to avoid their agent after buying the house. And that was not the kind of relationship based business I was going to build. So it had I you know, got into a hot market and got all this business thrown at me. I probably wasn’t prepared to do it very well. So I was glad that I had the time to learn the business before I was hitting the road running. So therefore A couple of years were slow. And, and then, you know, as I worked with lots and lots and lots of buyers from the city, and worked lots and lots and lots of weekends, they referred me their friends and their neighbors. And over time it builds, I always say, if you run a relationship based business and you stay in touch, you show up and follow up, you start with like a little bucket of clients, and that bucket becomes the storage container, and then it becomes a moving truck. And then it becomes a factory warehouse, which is the need for the team. And that’s how it worked out. You know, we really my team is a part of the fabric of the communities in which we live, we’re always giving back, we always show up and follow up in every way that we can. So even the newest agents on my team are still are building relationships and getting referrals from those relationships. So you know, the pot just keeps getting bigger. D.J. Paris 10:49Wow. So you really started out helping people transition from city living out to rural, more rural living, I grew up in a more rural environment as well. So I can I can appreciate that. But yeah, so So talk about so for the first couple of years, you come in the markets kind of at the bottom at this point, which, which I think you brought up a really good point that a lot of people exited the industry, the business, a lot of realtors left the industry. And a lot of realtors were avoiding clients because of of all the of all the challenges and and also you saw an opportunity yourself you said that maybe your own experiences with with realtors weren’t always super positive, and you’re like I can do this better? Or at least I can do this as well, if not better. You know, I’m curious on since you’ve seen people come and go, you’ve seen agents start and have success and not have success. What do you usually when you bring on a new team member who’s new to the industry? What do you usually have them do to sort of, you know, so understand that, yes, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but what are they doing day to day to kind of build that pipeline? Francie Malina 12:04Yeah, so all the agents on our team, we’re basically new when they join one maybe had some experience, a little experience, we just took on a seasoned agent, the first one ever, and I love new agents. Because if you join our team, you’re you’re you’re kind of following our credo we chase reviews, not commissions. So you’re going to learn the business before you’re out there doing, you know doing much so you’re shadowing you’re you’re coming to the office, you’re listening to us, we know our tax rates, and every community in Westchester has amongst the highest taxes in the county. So that’s really the most important thing you need to know when you’re showing houses. You’re understanding the different lifestyles, you’re learning all that and then you’re following us, you know, appraisals, inspections, inspections are big in the suburbs, right in the city. It’s an apartment building or a co op. And following us around learning the pricing. And we don’t really have a firm timeframe. Typically I hear other teams say oh, you can’t go out and show and sell for three months. We always that’s always the goal. But somehow an agent we just took on in September last year, we were gonna hold her out for three months. And by November she was out showing and selling and she’s like, we’ll close 10 deals already. Because she was like a sponge. There’s there’s, you know, nine others to tell you how to do things were very collaborative, we meet every Tuesday without fail. And then we also do team time blocking and other meetups. So there’s a lot of a lot of, you know, a lot of hands to help. D.J. Paris 13:34It’s It’s really impressive. And I’m you know how just to give our listeners some understanding of your volume, because I think it is something that that helps provide some context. Tell us what is this month look like for you guys? Francie Malina 13:48Yeah, so I always the stat that I was so proud of the team for last year was we sold 153 houses so every two and a half days we close to house. And I just thought there’s they’re just amazing. I mean, you know, lots of the team of young children have lots of personal things going on in their life, but they do these are full time jobs for them. They’re not agents by accident. They’re agents on purpose. They show up and follow up and it’s really amazing. My kids are grown it’s a little easier and they but they they get get there every day and and do it. So this month, I will probably in June we’ll probably close between 60 and 70 houses. But that’s typical because it’s a school district you know, this is a school district buyer. Yeah, because we have a lot going on I think so far this year, you know over 90 total. D.J. Paris 14:37Wow. Just just incredible. And you guys go go go and I love that. What what where do you find what’s the biggest challenge right now for your group? Because I we don’t ask that question enough. And I think oftentimes people learn the most from challenges so we’re what what do you see as the biggest challenge right now for your business? Francie Malina 14:58Yeah, our biggest thing challenges is the weekends. It’s you know, especially up until you know, end of May, a house came on, it was gone. If it lasted through the weekend, we were lucky if it had, you know, less than 20 offers, we were lucky. So you know, the, on a Friday night an agent puts a house on and by Sunday, if you can’t show it, because you have your fully booked or you have something else on your schedule, perhaps a wedding or a family event, you know, that client misses out on the, on the house, or obviously now there’s a team so we can help each other. But that that inability to schedule your life is so hard. And in COVID, we were busy throughout COVID. Because we were even though we were non essential in New York, we were showing I feel like I made it was March 20. By that we were out showing by April 15. Sitting outside while our clients went in, but people were calling us from all over to you know, to buy a house in the suburbs. So we were out and about. So for you know, last like two and a half years, we really haven’t had a break. So it feels like those weekend, the weekend. Is such a burden at this point. D.J. Paris 16:04Yeah. And have have rising rates affected your buyers much has that been a concern? Because I and the only reason I’m bringing it up and I know everyone’s got a different take on it. But I always think that this this is something that I want. It’s not that I always think I hear agents talking about rates, rates, rates, rates, rates. So I’m curious on how that how that affects your business and how you maybe talk to me, maybe pre approval letters might not really be as well, they need to be rerun right now maybe, right? Francie Malina 16:39They definitely do. And I mean, as you know, a 1% interest rate increase reduces their brain purchasing power by like 12%. So it definitely is affecting them. I will also, I would also like to add because I’m hearing this everywhere I go every mastermind group meeting, I mean, it’s like interest rates, interest rates, interest rates, interest rates, interest rates. It’s also this isn’t really the first summer where we feel free to go do things where families feel free to be on the sidelines of the baseball game, send their kids off to sleepaway camp kind of relatively easily, all go on vacation. So we also feel like it’s just a little bit of a there’s a buyer fatigue in the market after a really, really tough market. And people just want to live their summer, normally. So if you’re buying a house this summer, you’re on the phone with your attorney, and you’re dealing with inspections, and you have all this other stuff going on. So our slowdown is also somewhat driven by that they’ve been in the January to June or may market it was a nightmare. And now they’re just tired. Now they’re using interest rates as an excuse, or just the the normalizing of the market takes a while because the sellers don’t adjust their pricing that rapidly. They’re talking, they’re out on the lawn mowing their lawn, and their neighbor says I got X for the house. So now they want why. So it’s just a bit of a normalization process. And as we all know, change in real estate is slow. So we just have to wait for people to adjust to the new interest rates, you know, get their summer plans out of the way. And in our market, it’ll be fine. Most folks who moved to Westchester want proximity to New York City, once base schools, nature safety, whatever it is, there’s a whole litany of things you get from it. So it’ll pick back up. Again, D.J. Paris 18:18when you when you meet when you work with a buyer or a seller. What’s the most important part of that first interaction like what are you looking for? In order because you talked about at the beginning, hey, when you were working with with other realtors, sometimes it was like they were just opening doors and that was kind of it? What type of relationship are you looking for with your clients? Sure. Francie Malina 18:42I forgot to mention that when I got into the business. I had the benefit of coming into the business sort of with Zillow and with realtor.com and Redfin and all the transparency that was occurring in the market. It obviously it started a little earlier. But so to me, the industry, it was an industry that was rapidly changing. And I worked with agents who had been doing it a certain way for many, many years. And as we all know, pivoting is very tough and slow. So I’m coming into an industry that you know, everything’s on Zillow, thank God. I mean, I’m not, not because it’s on Zillow, but I do love the transparency of the information, especially in a county like ours where taxes are criminal. So in fact, Zillow is taxes are wrong for Westchester County, so maybe it’s not Zillow, but that they can go to the websites and find the real estate taxes, because that’s the most important thing that we can share with our clients is the cost of living in Westchester. It is actually cheaper to live in Westchester than in New York City, obviously real estate’s cheaper. And also you don’t pay New York City income taxes if you live in Westchester, even if you earn your income in New York. So that’s about a three or 4% reduction for a lot of people so it’s a big benefit, but the property taxes are crazy high and the property taxes on a $4 million brownstone in New York City is are like $2,000. So when we really need To make sure they understand the difference right away, because if they find their dream house, and then they’re finding out that the taxes on that dream house are, you know, 30,000 They haven’t been educated. So we’re always educating our clients as when when our when we start with a new client, they get a full buyer packet full of information about Westchester and access to our buyer resource website, which has more information than you can digest, where you know, we are trusted advisors on the West Chester marketplace, there’s almost nothing that we don’t know the answer to or can’t get the answer to. Yeah, I D.J. Paris 20:31think knowledge is it’s one of those hurry up and wait sort of situations where if you really want to be the person that your client picks up the phone to call, you really have to accumulate information, right, you have to accumulate knowledge. I’m curious. I was I was at a breakfast this morning. Actually, I was playing Francie. I was I was at a breakfast this morning with a bunch of other compass agents use a compensation. And we were talking about studying the market every day or and I was curious. You know, do you spend time every day looking at listings looking at the MLS? Curious if you have any habits for for agents, because, you know, there’s a lot of times agents wake up and they’re like, I don’t know what I should do today. So curious what you might suggest, Francie Malina 21:17oh, I have habits. So we are an MLS region, which is very helpful. So I look at the hot sheet more than once a day, the hot sheet is the new listings coming soon is what went into contract. You know, you’re just that’s how you keep your finger on the pulse of the market. Right? If, like, if you go on our hot sheet today, there’s like three pages of actives. If you went on our hot sheet, you know, two months ago, there’d be you know, one half page of actives, right, and the pendings would have taken up the other pages. So definitely do that we use market insights that compass provides to on the market. You know how many price I think the other day we checked market insights, there was like 1076 listings in Westchester active and 50% of them had a price improvement, that would not have been the case in March. Right. So just that that enables us to keep our finger on the pulse of things. From a statistics perspective, there’s also 10 of us, nine of us are producing agents. The other one is our team manager, he’s like God’s gift to the world, we’re like, so blessed to have him. He’s also good at keeping track of the insights and sharing them. But also just you put, you know, nine producing agents in a room who are out showing and selling all day, we really have our finger on the pulse of what we’re hearing from buyers and sellers all the time. And we’re always sharing. So of course, we have like the team slack. And it’s running all day, and people are talking about whatever. D.J. Paris 22:40So you guys have you guys have a Slack channel that you’re you’re communicating and firing off questions. And that’s actually really smart. I think that’s what’s really smart, because it’s a great way to for newer agents to get answers or to collaborate or to say, Hey, I’ve got this idea. And teams have really picked up the slack. I feel in the last five years or so I’ve started to see teams take on more of a training and support role than maybe were in the past. And I’m seeing the burden for agents getting trained coming off of the managing broker, the person running the office and pushing that more towards the teams, which I think works really well in a lot of cases. And obviously that’s that’s what you guys are doing. How important do you think teams are right now in real estate? Obviously, you have one. So you’re a big fan of teams. You know, for me, I I’ve always thought that, you know, hey, two is better than one. But tell me a little bit about your team and why you built it. Francie Malina 23:46Sure. So if there’s any solo agents out there listening or solo with an admin or team manager or Chief of Staff, whatever, I am so impressed with you. I don’t know how you do it. Because I do feel with the entire US population being locked down or most of it for a year or two people’s patients was you know, their nerves were shot and their expectations didn’t really meet the reality. You know, I want to see this house on Saturday at one and that’s the only time I can see it. And you know, you have five clients that want to do that. How do you pull that off? So I just we just when I started and after I started to have some business I just couldn’t be a solo agent anymore. I did I build a team out of necessity because I couldn’t be in 15 places at once. in Westchester buyers are accompanied by the agent, the buyer’s agent. A lot of listings are accompanied by the listing agent higher and luxury listings. But still the buyer’s agents still comes in New York City, the buyer’s agent doesn’t go with their buyer. So maybe that’s a different situation. But for us, we had to be in 50 places at once. So it was almost impossible the solo and carry a big deck of clients especially if you’re a seller’s agent to which we do 5050 So you’ve got your sellers calling you on a Saturday because someone leaves the door unlocked and you’re with buyers and So I became a team at necessity. And I always say this, I stole it from somebody, I don’t know who but if you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant. And that was really my first hire not because I’m brilliant, and not because I thought it through not because this was a straight perfect line, it was a very zigzag, bumpy line to where I am now. But but I just found myself coming home at six o’clock or seven o’clock at night and spending like hours doing the paperwork, or the emails or the keeping in touch. So the assistant was the first hire went through a few now I have God’s gift to the world. He’s our team manager. And he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. And then added agents. So, you know, when you have a team, you know, the team leader isn’t the only one doing trainings, you know, the other agents can help. My agents are amazing, they all take ownership to the team, they all feel a part of it. rising tide raises all ships, they’re in it for the long haul. We feel like we’ve each built each other’s careers for as long as we want to do this. And we all believe in the brand. So together, we’re rising. And I think that I love talking about teams and I can I emailed you this but you know, we’re just we’re all collaborate without ego team, we share everything out in the marketplace, we’re kind to almost everybody who reaches out and, and or some we just only communicate via text. But you know, we really want to help elevate this profession, because like I said, like my husband and I had less than stellar real estate transactions. Now we happen to be type A on steroids. So maybe our bar is too high. But I do feel that a lot of times, and I’m sure you feel this way, when you go meet with people. And you if you ask them, how are your prior real estate experiences, more than 50% say not so great. So I don’t want to feel like my industry is letting people down. And I’m sure you don’t. So our goal, as a team is to really serve our clients. And we do we show up, we follow up. We keep in touch we gift our clients twice a year religiously say say to us, some of them bought a house 10 years ago, they said when did we fall off the list? Never because you’re you’re a part of the Francie Molina teen brand. You’re part of our family. And we’re always doing things in the communities. We have volunteer fire departments and all that stuff in Westchester. So we’re always running events and doing things, we’re gonna run some events at the farmers markets this fall, we try to stay up, you know, right out in front in the communities. D.J. Paris 27:27Now you also founded and by the way, very well said, But you found your coach, you are co founder of the women of Compass clubhouse. Tell us about that, because that’s the first I’m hearing of it. But I think compass in so many ways is at the forefront of some, some some more progressive sort of ideas. And so I’m curious, tell us a little bit about that. Francie Malina 27:50Yeah, so Compass has, I mean, easily 40 affinity groups out at Compass, black at Compass, women of Compass, etc, you name it, they’ve got it. And if they don’t, you can dogs at Compass, and you and I are dog lovers. You know, if they don’t have it, somebody finds it and workplace people meet up and do things. So. So because 50% of the profession, I think a more than 50% of the profession is women. Women of compass was founded early on in urban compass days like that. It is a nationwide affinity group and it’s very, very active. I’m a regional leader for that. So I lead Connecticut, Westchester and New Jersey. And some of my colleagues decided to found a woman of Compass clubhouse that would meet every Thursday morning 8:30am on clubhouse and dragged me along. I wish I could take credit, but they really did it. I was the one who was going to fill the room. So so we have an agent from Philly, Stamford, Connecticut and Austin and me, and we invite agents, leaders, the employees, people from outside of the industry every 45 minutes. Every Thursday morning, we’re off for the summer now we’ll start back up in September and it is really it’s like a it’s a place you come you’re vulnerable. You’re honest. We talk about cancer, we talk about death. We talk about real estate, anything. Our CEOs wife, Denise Raskin, who is amazing and and his mother both have been on it and they’re both amazing in their own right. But they they had, you know, the audience in tears with both of their stories. So it’s really special. We took the summer off just because it was it’s harder especially because a lot of our guests are on different time zones to get people you know at 830 which sometimes is there 530 So we figured we’d give people a break. D.J. Paris 29:38I want to pause for a moment to talk about our episode sponsor are one of my favorite companies out there follow up boss. Now after interviewing hundreds of top Realtors in the country for this podcast. Do you know which CRM is used by more than any other by our guests? Of course it is a follow up boss and let’s face it, following up is the key to taking your business to the next level. Follow Boss will help you drive more leads in less time and with less effort, do not take my word for it. Robert slack, who runs the number one team in the US uses follow up boss and he has built a one and a half billion dollar business in just six years. Follow up boss integrates with over 250 systems, so you can keep your current tools and lead sources. Also, the best part they have seven day a week support. So you’ll get the help that you need when you need it and get this follow up boss is so sure that you’re going to love their CRM that for a limited time, they’re offering keeping it real listeners a 30 day free trial, which is twice as much time as they give everyone else. And oh yeah, no credit card required. So you can try it risk free. But only if you use this special link visit follow up boss.com forward slash real that’s follow up boss.com forward slash real for your free 30 day trial. Follow up like a boss with follow up boss. And now back to our episode. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s a great thing. And I just love that you have created this. This weekly sort of I mean, you’re doing a lot how? Well I’m sorry, I’m doubling up my work. How about time? Well, you know, because you’re you’re a big, you’re a big process person and a habit person. But tell me, Tom, tell us, our audience about your habits. Let’s hear some of your real estate habits that are important. Yeah. Francie Malina 31:24So and our team manager, Trevor is as a systems and processes guy, and thank God, because the end is what everything that we do in any deal, buy or sell is pretty robotic, you pretty much do all the same things every time. There’s nuances to every deal. But the truth is, if you look at your you know, your transactions, they’re all they all take very similar paths. So Trevor joined us over three years ago, thank God. And he put a system in place for literally everything we do. So there’s a template for Congratulations, you have an annual Mr. Seller, congratulations, you have an AR Mr. Buyer. You know, congratulations, you’re in contract, Mrs. seller, and it it links to whatever all of our resources, whatever their next steps are, obviously has checklists for every step of listing a by all the documents, etc. But through Trevor, and through six Amer’s at Compass, which is another affinity group that meets at 6am. I’ve developed some very regimented habits of just you know, waking up, you know, you say your gratitudes. I don’t know if everybody does, but you have three things you’re grateful for. And then, like I said, checking the hot sheet, I am the queen of the remarkable two. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it. But D.J. Paris 32:41tell us what the queen of the remarkable two are. The Francie Malina 32:43remarkable two is the thinnest tablet on the market. And it’s really just 1000 notebooks in one. And so, I and I, and I all my team has one now, too. So I met my week. So on Sunday night, I’ve mapped my week. So I know exactly what I’m doing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, three, Thursday, Friday, and it’s time blocked, right? So that I’m being efficient. And then on the night before I’m in my remarkable I’m doing my Monday or my Tuesday or Wednesday to do list and fine tuning it. So after I wake up and do my my gratitudes and go downstairs and get my iced coffee, I’m at my dogs out. Like I’m looking at that list. And I’m just assessing, what’s the first thing I have to do? And then you know, getting my head set on that and then possibly looking at the hot sheet on the MLS to see what’s going into contract overnight, or what’s come on, and that kind of thing. And then I kind of unfortunately, the phone drives my day, then, inevitably, I haven’t planned on the phone rings. But I’m almost you know, pretty. I’m pretty religious about getting all that stuff done before I hit the ground running. D.J. Paris 33:49Curious too, because you do so much volume, your team does so much volume. How do you really set boundaries in place for work life balance? I’m curious how you do that, or don’t you do that? Francie Malina 34:01Right? No, I was not great at that I would say up until two or three years ago. And it’s a combination of Trevor and the girls on the team. All of our producing agents are female. So coincidentally, but they’re taking on so much of the business that it’s really helped me have a work life balance. So most of the buyers, they’re handling, which is so amazing. And I’m sharing a lot of listings with them, or referring them to them so they can handle them so I can help run the team. You know, do the rainmaking do these kinds of things. And also like I’ll fly to Naples and do a woman of Compass luncheon with 16 agents to talk that you know about what they’re seeing in the market and you know, just to run events that bring agents together so we can collaborate and talk about how to make the industry better. So I love that stuff. So having the team helps me have more time to do that. And then of course, I’m a skier and I love the look eek. So I are on our team, we time block our leisure. So for years, I’ve been saying to the team on our Tuesday meetings, you know, you put in your whatever it is, you know, nephew’s birthday party and nothing changes it you go, right. I mean, if somebody on the team can’t cover you, then we lose the buyer, or the seller fires us like this is not I always say we’re not treating cancer because my father treated cancer for 60 years. So you know, we you time block your leisure, and you don’t let it go. D.J. Paris 35:32That’s a really smart thing. And do you? Do you ever? I always curious about how Realtors set boundaries around time. Because if you get a text in the evening, like, let’s say you’re it’s kid, it’s, you know, time with the family. What are you doing? Are you responding? Because texts, texts conversations never officially end, right? They don’t they start, but they don’t usually ever, officially. And so what’s your thought on on responding to texts? Because I know it’s we’re getting into the weeds. But I think it’s another way to get it. Yeah, good. Let’s tell me what you what your thoughts are about texting. Francie Malina 36:08Yeah, I have a Do Not Disturb on. So I almost won’t. By eight or nine. Now. I used to respond at 3am. And I used to get up at 5am and write to clients and be, you know, they’d be writing me back at 5am. I’d be like, Wow, I tried to get that out of the way. And now they’re, you know, I’m in a conversation with them. But in the over the last few years, as I focused more on work life balance, and most of my focus on it was also to help my team, because I’m modeling bad behavior when my hair’s on fire all the time, then their hair’s on fire, and then the poor little children are going to be raised in a family that’s, you know, on a treadmill all the time. So do not disturb. And, you know, I choose wonderful clients, a lot of my clients are doctors, and I just adore them, I’ll respond because they’re mostly reasonable. And they were in surgery probably all day. But for the most part, they they the client gets to do not disturb and it’s silenced. And they’ll hear from me in the morning. And I was telling the team and example the other day, on Father’s Day 7am, the client started on me with just like, really stuff that could be dealt with, during business hours in, they have the tendency to text like 50 texts. And I wrote it’s Father’s Day, I have a house full of people I’ll respond to during normal business hours. It was everything was fine. The next morning, I hit them at you know, 8am and nothing in the world and and so we’re really trying to help each other, remind each other that you know, we deserve respect, too. We work really hard. We work seven days a week, so evenings with the kids or Father’s Day or Easter or whatever it is, you know, leave us alone. D.J. Paris 37:41What would if you What What mistakes did you make the first started that you that you would love to go back? And and wish you didn’t do? Francie Malina 37:53Me every single solitary mistake you can possibly make. I’ve learned from most of them. But I would say hmm, what do I wish I didn’t do? Um, that’s a really tough one. I wish I mean, I wish I balanced it better. Before that I have to be honest, like I was in the Serengeti, with like elephants and lions right at my feet. And I took a call from a client back in the day, because and they knew they knew on D.J. Paris 38:27Safari, and you were taking the club. Francie Malina 38:31But you know, again, my kids are were older when I started in this business. So it’s not that I’ve been doing this with, you know, five year olds. So it didn’t feel as burdensome, but over time it does. It builds there’s so much noise in our head as real estate agents. And I do feel that when I tune out the noise and take a little time to whatever to go on the lake stand up paddleboarding, or kayaking. I come up with brilliant ideas for the future of our team. And we need to take time to do that, too. So I guess I wish I was better at that, or in the earlier stages. But you know, when you’re building phases, when you were building a business and showing the community that you were, you know, a show up follow up agent that really was I didn’t have the ability to do it, to be honest now that there’s 10 of us. We all have the ability to do it. D.J. Paris 39:18Yeah, I think I think that’s a great point. It reminds me of that, that old expression. It’s the space between the notes that makes music. So it’s the silence that actually allows for creativity to sort of flow through and, and this idea of getting quiet, sometimes is really is can be the birthplace birthplace of creativity. So absolutely. For those of us that are feeling because realtors have to wear so many different hats, and they just have so many responsibilities. It’s it’s easy to think busy is productive. And it may be or it may not be or it might be He, you know, you can judge the effectiveness of what you’re doing based on the results that you get. But it’s it’s easy to feel busy is is all that I need to be reality I found because I’m, I’m a pretty busy person I have found that I actually get more done when when I slow down just a little bit. Me too. And I liked what you said about in the intentional setting of leisure activities, I mean that it sounds like, again, it’s one of those things that’s easy to hear and go on. Yeah. But it actually is really important. Because I know for me, like the only reason I’m in any sort of shape right now is because for the last two years I’ve had on my calendar, my personal training sessions, right? Scheduled, if I didn’t have them scheduled, I wouldn’t be able to talk myself into going to the gym, because I’m just not that motivated to go to the what if it’s on my calendar, I tend to do again. And I think you can schedule your leisure. Well, obviously you guys do that. And and it’s also really important then because then you can give yourself fully to that to that event. Right? You can be present for that. And, and I think that’s that just creates a lot. It’s a good recharge and a refresh. Francie Malina 41:19When I tell I tell the girls, I say test it, we have your phone upstairs for an hour and go downstairs and play with your kids. Did the world end? It didn’t. Right? I mean it you can it’s not. Everything isn’t urgent? D.J. Paris 41:35And yeah, and most things that it and that’s the other thing too is there’s an urgency and importance scale. Right. I think Stephen Covey talked about that. Urgent is an important. And then there’s there’s a matrix there that that you can sort of evaluate, but, but sometimes things that are urgent seem important, because of course, that’s how our bodies are wired up to respond, you know, to and to reward us for doing things urgently, not necessarily always being important things. Do I have a question? If you were starting over today, knowing everything you know, now, if you had no real estate, you know, you have all your experience, but you’re starting over now as a new person, we drop you off in a new country where you don’t know anyone. But you have all your experience. What would you do to drum up business? I’m just curious. If we drop you off in a new place, we’ll assume you can speak the language. But you don’t know the the the area you don’t know the listings, you’re you’re not familiar with the what would you do to start your real estate practice? Francie Malina 42:37Okay, so I had an amateur who I call a banker who told me that if you just put me in a in a deli all day long, and then have somebody you know, and Jen, I talk and generate business all day, and then he’d have somebody run around and actually do like all the the back end of it. So if you put me in another country, I’d probably hang out in coffee shops, and meet people. And then at the same time, of course, probably spend it, you know, every day, previewing, listing, so I guess sense of the word of the market, yeah, to learn the market. And of course, if there’s you know, municipal stuff, like we have, and flood zones, and all the kinds of things that we deal with radon, we have radon gas, and we have asbestos and mold, I learn all that kind of stuff. But at the same time, I’d probably just go to the local haunts and, and get to know people, like I said, you know, we we take the this is a marathon, not a sprint. So we are our most of our business is relationship based. And because of that, we started out as trusted advisors. When I first got in the business, I would say to any client I ever had the pleasure, the pleasure of being in front of I’m going to eat whether I sell you a house or not, because I had I had that ability, and that I think that automatically, you know, relieves the stress. So I would jump into that country and become somebody, you know, a part of the fabric of that area and, you know, not chased on that Chase, we often get calls. In fact, in the last six months, we got more than I’d like to think about from buyers or buyers, friends or sellers and sellers, friends, who you know, whoever fill in the name of the agent that they were working with, and they weren’t happy with their service, and they wanted to work with us. So we always ask them, well, who’s the agent and 90% of the situations were like, you’re with a fantastic agent, we love that person. We love to collaborate with them in the sandbox. This is a terrible market. But what that tells me is, you know, they don’t feel that that person is a trusted adviser, regardless of the fact that in most cases, it was like, in some cases, it was our favorite agent. It just people were frustrated, but what can we do as an industry to like, help each other so that until we would say no, we’re not taking your business and no, you’re not switching, you know, call somebody else because you’re with the best and we can do better. But But I would go into that country and I would just befriend people and show that I’m not really out just Are the commission I’m out to, you know, help them I sell lifestyles, not houses, right? So I’d learned the lifestyle and I’d start living it and sell it. D.J. Paris 45:09But you just set it all. I don’t have anything to fall I think that is a perfect place to wrap up because what you really said is become a fabric of the area, you know, become immersed in the area, not become a citizen of your of your community, know everything about it, be part of the community, hang out in the community, meet people. And that is, it seems like a for all the years of doing the show, that seems to be a pretty consistent message that I hope our listeners take to heart is you get to and by the way, the all the business that you’re going to get from doing that is really a side effect from contributing, right you’re going to be attributing you’re going to be making people you know learning more about people you’ll be developing friendships and relationships and learning about small businesses and helping them and and really being part of the community and being part of the solutions to whatever issues that community might be facing. And as Realtors you have a lot of opportunity, I think to get involved. And you have gotten involved in a tremendous way. And here you are now with the number one selling team in the entire county of Westchester, New York so frenzy this is I could talk to you for hours and hours and hours and I would absolutely I need to have you back on the show. Because you just have so much to say and everything you say is so valuable. But we want to thank Francie because she has to get back to her because they’re closing a couple homes a day here. So she’s gotten hurt her team have to get back to it. So we are going to let Francie get back to her busy time. But for anyone out there by the way, if you are in if you’re a realtor, and you have clients that are moving to the Westchester area, please consider reaching out to Francie and her team. The Francie Molina team, they would love to talk to your clients or if you’re a realtor, and you’re like I’m not getting the the attention I need for my firm and you want to see what other options exist, reach out to Francie as well and see if their team might be a good fit for you. So whether you’re a buyer seller, renter investor or a realtor looking for maybe another place to hang your license, reach out to her she’s awesome. She’s super generous, of course, and incredibly, incredibly impressive and successful. We are such big fans of frantically to please everyone visit France’s website which is Francie molina.com FRANCIEML. Sorry, m a l i n a.com link in the show notes so you don’t have to type that in. Also, please follow her on Instagram at Francie Molina team. We’ll also have a link to that in the show notes. I’m such a big fan of yours. Thank you, Francie. So, so much, we I’m so excited. We have to have you back on the show. Francie Malina 47:56Anytime I love this podcast. D.J. Paris 48:00Thank you so much. Francie Malina 48:01That is one thing I didn’t say, if I were new in the business, and it didn’t exist when I got into business then but I listened to podcasts, you learned so many nuggets from your podcast. It’s like I feel like I’ve had coffee with everybody on it. Oh, D.J. Paris 48:15well, that’s very sweet. And we thank you for saying that. And thank you for being a listener and one of our guests. And on behalf of all of our guests, we thank you for your time. Also, we want to tell everybody before you sign off, please please tell a friend about this episode. Just tell one other realtor that you can think of about Francie, and she had so many great nuggets of information in this episode, send them a link to the episode, send them over to our website, which is keeping it real pod.com Or just have them pull up a podcast app search for keeping it real, hit the subscribe button. And last please leave us a review tell us let us know what you think of the show. Leave us a review whatever podcast app you might be listening to the show. Let us know what you think we take those comments to heart we want to always improve to meet your needs better but anyway, we are wrapping up so we will see everybody on the next episode. Francie, you are amazing and we are so grateful to have you and we will see everybody next time. Thanks, Lindsay. Francie Malina 49:12Thanks for having me.

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Keeping It Real Podcast • Secrets Of Top 1% REALTORS ® • Interviews With Real Estate Brokers & Agents

Episodes

Mentioned books

This Is The Time To Start (Or Join) A Team • Close-ing Time • Chris Linsell

How To Find Buyers & Sellers Through YouTube • Toby Fernie

How To Be Your Own Brand Ambassador • Monday Market Minute • Carrie McCormick

How Top Realtors Organize Their To-Dos • Mridu Parikh

Nurturing Strategies For Real Estate Agents • Close-ing Time • Chris Linsell

Why Your Mental Health Needs To Be Part Of Your Business Plan • Angelica Ventrice

From Almost Quitting To N.A.R.’s 30 Under 30 • Bri Brenkus

How To Talk To Clients About Inventory & Lending Rates • Learning With A Lender • Joel Schaub

From Homeless To Top Real Estate Producer • Darrin DeSilva

Why Professionalism Is Your Best Marketing Strategy • Francie Malina

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