Lab Coat Agents Podcast

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Kathrin Rein, CEO of Beautiful Miami and a successful real estate agent. Kathrin Rein talks about how she has gone from stand-up comedy and acting in her earlier days to becoming the top solo real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty in the state of Florida for the last two years. Episode Highlights:  Kathrin Rein is from Germany and is based in Miami. Financial freedom has been her goal since she transitioned from stand-up comedy to real estate.  Kathrin Rein sells about 70-100 houses a year.  Her dad passed away when she was 22.   Many comedians are actually in a dark place.  What caused Kathrin Rein to get involved in real estate?  People underestimate the power of knowledge.  Just because you don’t know anyone doesn’t mean you can’t become a real estate agent of choice.  With real estate, there is no ‘right way'.’ There is just your way.   Kathrin Rein has been in real estate since 2011. She is normally on the buying end of the real estate market and she is strong on SOI.   Follow 3-5 people on social media that you are inspired by and emulate them and make it your own.  Perfection is overrated. Take action and be different.  Kathrin has a full-time marketing manager.  Be yourself and identify your personal advantage.   Kathrin Rein owns five houses in Miami and three in the mountains of Georgia.   Kathrin discusses the metrics that she used for vacation rental properties. Kathrin Rein pays her property managers between $350-$500 per month or 10%.   Buy areas that are diamonds in the rough where it is family-friendly, where people would want to spend time, and that you would want to vacation in.  She could retire now if she wanted to live in the mountains of Georgia.  If she stays in Miami, she could retire in 3 years.  You pay the highest taxes on your income, less taxes on your rental income, and even less on your capital gains.  If you make no money on paper for taxes, then you will have trouble getting mortgages.   Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  3 Key Points: Just because you are good looking, that by itself is not an achievement.  Leverage your past life of friends and build deep relationships with people.   Kathrin Rein’s real estate strategy includes relationships with people outside of her industry, her sphere of influence, agent referrals, not being salesy, and being a giver without expecting anything in return.   Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents  | Website | Facebook | Facebook Group | Twitter | Instagram | Kathrin Rein  | Website | Linkedin | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Meet with Kathrin | Street Text (sponsor) Follow up Boss (sponsor)

What’s new with FB, Twitter, IG and Clubhouse? Tristan Ahumada and Jeff Pfitzer discuss what’s new with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Clubhouse. They point out how it can potentially impact your social media strategy and ultimately your business.  Be aware of trends and stay ahead of the changes so you can maximize the opportunities. Episode Highlights:  Today we are going to discuss the latest news from Twitter, Clubhouse, FB, and IG. Twitter is testing an edit or undo button. DRock with Gary V uses twitter to find freelancers.  Twitter today is #4 with monthly visitors. Clubhouse launched a creator accelerator program.  Clubhouse is looking to curate creators so they can have a bigger audience.  Clubhouse will soon add Android users and that could be significant.  Facebook is looking to create a similar product to Clubhouse.  Facebook is going all in on AR & VR.  Facebook is creating websites and landing pages.  NFT’s are Non-Fungible Tokens and you can create something unique to you that can not be replicated. Take a look at how they are using it with art. Instagram wants to capitalize on reels. Instagram recognizes the number of posts, stories, and IG TV’s on your account. Jeff commits to 4 to 5 posts per week in his feed post and 5 to 7 stories per day. Make social media what you want it to be. Resources Mentioned:  Lab Coat Agents | Website | Facebook |Facebook Group| Twitter | Instagram  Drunk on Social | Drunk On Social Facebook Page Tristan Ahumada | Facebook | YouTube Jeff Pfizer | Instagram | TikTok

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Chris Craddock. He is an expert in lead generation, working with investors specifically. Chris has grown his business from $80 Million to $160 Million over the last few years in the Northern Virginia DC area. Founder CEO of Redux group. He has a Platform of REI REVIVE, and he is a co-host of the podcast Uncommon Real-estate. Episode Highlights: It is a challenge for real estate agents to develop and build relations with investors in the pandemic. It is a critical component to keeping your business very high or taking it to the next level.  Chris took the unconventional path to real estate. He went to some of the bigger investor groups and enquired what they do with the dead leads. For Chris, persistence was the key to get his first break.  Chris points out that real estate agents and investors should work together in tandem, but they rarely do so.  Investors are more open to fixed costs than variable costs where on the other hand, real estate agents are more open to variable costs than fixed costs. With agent vs. investor mentality, you have to identify what the seller or homeowner wants. The script should be more about questions, and then you give solutions. Normal conversations for the script: How do you differentiate? What are the common mistakes that agents make? 3 Key Points: Chris answers the questions: Where do you find investors?, Where are the investors getting the leads from?, and What is it that may have caused you to succeed whereas others may have not? It is highly crucial how you approach a lead; Instead of approaching them as standard agents, it is best to approach them as problem-solvers. Chris answers the question: Do you think most agents go in with a standard presumptuous mindset? Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents  |Website| Facebook | | Facebook Group | Twitter | Instagram | Chris Craddock | Website | | Facebook Group | Instagram    https://www.chriscraddock.com/reirevive   https://www.facebook.com/groups/uncommonrealestate https://www.landvoice.com/pre-foreclosure https://www.propstream.com/ https://www.coleinformation.com/ https://dmv.thereduxgroup.com/

General Social Media Strategies That Work  Drunk On Social, The Symposium. Co-Host, Tristan Ahumada and Jeff Pfitzer go deep into general social media strategies for growing a social media audience. Jeff and Tristan also take the time to share the actual successful strategies they use daily to grow their social media audience which ultimately helped build their brands and grow their business.  Episode Highlights:  We are going deep on these 10 platforms: FB, IG, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin, SnapChat, Club House, YouTube and Reddit.  Today’s episode will focus on general social media strategies.  It’s about connecting with people on a deeper level and then showing them what you do for a living.  We are going to share simple principles about how to stay hip to what is happening and/or improve your social media presence.  Identify what your message is to the people you want to target.  You are the Brand.  Early adopters don’t know if it will work but they go all in so they can learn something from the process and apply it to other social media platforms.  This is Tristan’s strategy for his social media, personal brand and business: STAY = Sell, Teach, Advise and You.  Go all in on 1 social media platform first, before trying to use multiple platforms. Use what you love and attract as many people as you can.  The purple dress and glasses mindset.  Be yourself and don’t worry about what people think.  Jeff’s strategy is to do 4-5 feed post every single week and at least 5-7 stories per day.  With everything that happens over the course of your day, you need to answer the ?, Is this shareable?  Closely follow 5-10 people who inspire or entertain you and then take bits and pieces from them to grow your brand.  We are going to bring in experts and go deep on every single platform. We will keep you aware of what is next with each platform so you can identify how best to use it. Resources Mentioned:  Lab Coat Agents | Website| Facebook |Facebook Group| Twitter | Instagram | Drunk on Social | Drunk On Social

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Avery Carl, who bought her first vacation property at the age of twenty-six on just a $37k per year salary. Now, she’s a millionaire in her early thirties by taking her first-class ticket into the real estate market provided by her knowledge as an agent! Episode Highlights:  Avery grew up wanting to be a rockstar and worked in the marketing side of the music industry for a few years after school. It didn’t take long for Avery to figure out that she was a terrible employee and bought a rental property in Tennessee to start a side business. In the Smoky Mountains, Avery discovered a decades-old vacation rental property gold mine. With a husband that mirrored a terrible client, Avery got her real estate license and began building her empire. In less than six years, Avery went from one rental property to a portfolio worth multiple millions. When it comes to short-term rentals, focus on areas that are weekend spots just outside of your metro area. Every town has something to offer as far as great real estate investments, you just have to find it. True-vacation markets run the risk of not being able to convert short-term rentals into long-term in case of emergency. Many agents make the mistake of automatically referring out vacation markets that are more than an hour away. Agents who do not have the time to drive three hours to a property can hire showing agents. Online data is available for all agents, though Avery found her ideal locations via in-person experience. Depending on asset class and the distance an agent is willing, agents can choose the best investing locations for them. In vacation areas, during times of distress, you will see people sell off their investment properties and vacation homes before things get to their primary home. Mature vacation rental markets have normalized renting privately-owned properties over hotels. Avery recommends a mix of Airbnb and VRBO as platforms to market short-term rentals for investors. Financing options include putting 20% down with a normal loan, 10% down vacation-home loan, and Host Financial specialty loans. Host Financial lends on the potential income of short-term rental properties for both individuals and LLCs. Managers for short-term rentals charge about 25% of gross income which is much higher than long-term rentals. Most people that Avery knows in the short-term rental space self manage in order to build a solid portfolio. Fixing mishaps in your property is the same whether you are two miles away or two thousand miles away. Expectations for repairs are ASAP for emergencies and whenever help can get out for other problems. Expressing the income as a percentage of the purchase price is the deciding metric that Avery uses to evaluate a property. Utilize the Enemy Method and look on rental platforms to see what other properties charge in the same neighborhood. Get as many data points as you possibly can in order to make the best property evaluation possible. Management companies are willing to share data and metrics about properties in their area because they want you to hire them. Many agents live commission to commission, making it important to set up a source of secondary income. 3 Key Points: Investing in real estate is almost like insider trading for agents because they can build a passive stream of income with the knowledge that they’ve acquired through their work. In mature markets, it’s a norm that people rent private properties rather than hotels, as compared to a young market that does not accommodate short-term rentals. In order to self-manage, investors will have to communicate via their platform of choice and will not get as many late-night calls as is commonly assumed. Avery suggests establishing relationships with local repair services. Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents | Website| Facebook |Facebook Group| Twitter | Instagram | Avery Carl  | Website| Facebook | The Short Term FB Group | Host Financial Chime (sponsor) LinkU (sponsor) LCA Marketing Center (sponsor)

Lab Coat Agents, Welcome to our first episode of Drunk On Social, The Symposium. Co-Host, Tristan Ahumada and Jeff Pfitzer introduce us to what we can expect from the Symposium, which will be 100% focused on social media and how to best use the platforms to take your business to new levels! Episode Highlights:  Drunk on social will help you elevate your social media game, improve your social media presence, and help you grow your brand. The Symposium is going to go deep on all things social media. Our focus and passion has shifted to be out ahead in the social media world. Tristan is focused on FB and pivoting over to YouTube. Jeff focuses on 5 platforms: FB, IG, TikTok, YouTube and Linkedin, primarily focusing on short term content and building an organic audience. Go deep on 1 platform first and then grow and build your audience from there. Tristan is shifting things to Re-Stream, Streamyard, and ecamm live where you can take the same piece of content and break it down into smaller pieces of content for other platforms. We are going to pivot every time something changes in social media and introduce you to all new platforms.. We want engagement from our audience and input on how you are using social media to stay out in front of the platform changes. We are going to introduce you to experts in particular social media outlets, so you can hear how they are leveraging that platform to grow their business. Go all in on Google, Google reviews, SEO and purchase Google and Youtube ads. Social Media value is usually based on MAU’s (Monthly active users). How is Social Media relevant to your business? We are going to talk to people who are actually building their audience organically and are specialists in a specific social media platform. As a business person, you need to understand the things you have available at your fingertips to stay ahead of social media changes and understand how to use them to grow your business. Check out our private FB group: Drunk on Social! Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents | Website | Facebook |Facebook Group| Twitter | Instagram | Drunk on Social | Drunk On Social Visual Capitalist Restream: Multistream to 30+ Platforms Simultaneously StreamYard ecamm

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Zachary Foust, owner of Loft Realty in Delaware. In only three and a half years, Zach has built a social media following in the millions and established himself as the real estate authority in Delaware! Episode Highlights:  Zach opened Loft Realty in Delaware almost a year ago, but has been a realtor for four years now. Creating content ignites creativity in Zach’s brain because it presents him with an opportunity to solve a puzzle. Before real estate, Zach was raised by two military parents and worked full-time in the Army National Guard, a surround sound company, and as a correctional officer. Zach has been fired and demoted in multiple positions throughout his life because he was not able to focus his attention on those jobs. Jeff is in the mortgage game which tends to be very boring but he has been able to find his passion with the social media side of things. Zach entered his real estate industry as a blank slate and decided to change the person who he was. Through the use of video and live streams, Zach was able to build his foundation as an authority in the real estate game. Though some people might think that Zach’s personality is too loud to break bread with, his exposure makes him the best person to sell their house. Zach has never lost a single agent from his team from being fired because he does not view them as numbers. Though he doesn’t make a salary from his team, Zach is still able to earn as an agent and marketing consultant. An abundance mindset has taken Zach from getting his license to owning a brokerage in less than four years. Agents have a tendency to try to sell themselves over social media which actually has the opposite effect. When you decide to stop going after the sale and start going after the brand, consistency will come to define your success. With a stutter and a squeaky voice, Zach used to hate speaking in front of other people, but consistent training has helped him overcome that fear. By being completely authentic with all of his social media postings over multiple years, 94% of Zach’s sales were non-competitive this year. Know where you are and are not good, where you can provide value, and be authentic to that in your social media content. Make it a focus to get criticized because that means that you are doing something right. Depending on what kind of market you are going after, Zach suggests you start with either Facebook or LinkedIn. TikTok provides a great platform to create content but has proven difficult to get referrals for Zach. There is power in having a strong brand and an audience regardless of what industry you are in at the moment. Tailor your content to the average audience of the platform that you are using and start at ground zero. Being open-minded and having a growth mindset means you believe that you are one connection away from changing your life. Take opportunities to surround yourself with people who have achieved the success that you want to succeed. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they stay with the same group of people their entire lives. 3 Key Points: By not editing his videos and leaving in the bloopers, Zach was able to humanize himself and connect with his audience at a more authentic level. Zach has forced himself to put retention and recruiting at the forefront of his business by vowing to take no salary until his brokerage hits eighty agents. Don’t judge based upon what other people have accomplished or are posting on social media. Be authentic to yourself or failure is imminent. Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents (website), (Facebook), (Facebook Group), (Twitter), (Instagram) Zachary Foust | Linktree | LinkedIn | Facebook| YouTube | TikTok |  Instagram LinkU (sponsor) RedX (sponsor) LCA Marketing Center (sponsor)

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Kris Reid all the way from Vietnam. Kris has a background in building online computer games and figured out how to use SEO to bring visitors to his site at an elevated level. Now, Kris helps people understand the power of SEO and how it makes life easy! Episode Highlights:  Now more than ever, it’s incredibly important to have a digital presence and an effective website. It’s important to keep a cup-half-full mentality in the wake of the global pandemic. Originally from Brisbon, Australia, Kris has a background in software engineering. After the financial crisis of 2008, Kris decided to build an online game which forced him to learn the ins and outs of SEO. Most businesses and entrepreneurs fail for the simple fact that they don’t bring in enough revenue. Many of the realtors that Kris speaks to leave themselves defenseless by spending their entire marketing budget on Zillow. Eventually, you can use SEO to hone your website down to your specific niche in the market. Through keyword research, Kris and his team help their clients find what people are looking for in their area. In general, content is important, but studies show that over 90% of content on Google gets zero traffic. Realtors can only handle so many leads without hiring more staff, so you must know what success looks like to you every year. Digital marketing kicks the hell out of TV advertising and the best part is that it’s easy to track the numbers. Many times, Kris gets blank stares from the clients that he explains SEO to because they aren’t very technical. Kris and his team help their clients figure out the avatar of their ideal customer and get in the heads of those people. When Kris begins working with a client, he has to be able to explain SEO to a certain point in order to build trust. Cost-per-click posts are the ads on top of a Google search which costs the owner to put there, though they get less than 7% of the clicks. The difference between the 1st-ranked site on Google and the 10th-ranked site is 10x the amount of traffic. Really long key phrases are usually linked to people who know more about what they are looking for. The more specific you can be with your keywords, the smaller the search volume will become, but the higher the percentage of converted leads. People are forced to trust what everyone else is saying about you on Google, so domain authority plays a massive role in your ranking. Establishing a solid domain authority, the amount of backlinks that lead to your page comes down to keyword research. Everyone wants this sexy, aesthetic website, but bringing in traffic is the most important aspect. Your page needs to punch people in the face and tell the visitor exactly what you do on the landing page. Don’t kill a lead by trying to sell on the first connection, provide value and show people that you can help them. The biggest mistake that people make on social media is that they treat it like a website. Make it clear to Google what pages are linked to what keyword so that the pages don’t cannibalize each other. Go to Kris’s website below and Kris will evaluate your website for free! Kris has worked very closely with his team leaders to establish the company goals and what they need to achieve them. 3 Key Points: The power of SEO lies in the fact that it is compounding. Rather than blow your entire marketing budget on Zillow, put half into your website and your leads will eventually skyrocket. Studies show that over 90% of content that can be found on Google gets zero traffic. While content is important, leading people to that content trumps all. The longer the key phrase, the smaller the volume of leads that will come in. At the same time, those leads know more about what they are looking for, so a higher percentage will be converted to sales. Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents Website |Facebook| |Facebook Group| |Twitter| |Instagram| Kris Reid Website | Facebook | Twitter | Media Factory| SEO toolset | Search Traffic Study blog 7 Habits of Highly Successful People The Vision Driven Leader Clockwork  mobwarrior.com RedX (sponsor) StreetText (sponsor)

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Tyler Kemp, a digital marketing entrepreneur, a social media expert, and the creator of the platform LeadRoll. With so many social media gurus out there today, it’s hard to know who to trust, but Tyler’s FIRE formula will help you know what’s real! Episode Highlights:  There’s so much opportunity out there that gets muddied up with the sheer amount of information that is available. Tyler actually started out wearing a bunch of hats in the real estate digital marketing sector. In the mortgage loan business, Tyler and his partner were doing over $120M a year in volume. After helping multiple businesses grow substantially, Tyler launched LeadRoll where he works with hundreds of different types of businesses. Real estate tends to be pretty far ahead of other industries when it comes to digital marketing techniques. You have to learn how to own attention through sales and marketing so that you can own the market. When people tell you that you are doing things wrong, power through with the knowledge that what you are doing is good for long-term success. Tyler thinks that the biggest land mine in the real estate industry in the last year is all-in-one solutions for marketing. Advertising for marketing and lead-generation tools constantly promise results but seldom deliver. Real estate agents should build their businesses like a startup or a marketing agency to establish the pillars of a sustainable company. Know where you’re going to get your next deal and build a machine around converting those leads. Tyler suggests that you start by being a serious skeptic and questioning your own marketing strategy. There exists a large gap in knowledge between marketing experts and sales experts. Tyler does not think that putting out social media content is the real problem that anyone has, rather they need to bring in leads. Whereas the sales game is all about chasing, marketing is more of an attraction-based strategy. Knowing as much information as possible about the lead that you are chasing makes you that much more likely to convert it. Though Tyler used to be all about automation, now he believes that the best thing you can be is human. Intimacy can be scaled by working with professionals or building out your own team, but there is no easy way. It’s incredibly difficult to scale your outbound efforts in an intimate way without working with professionals who have done it. Jeff knows first-hand that a lack of authenticity in your social media content will lead to a disconnect with your audience. You have to believe that your social media posts are working in order to keep doing it over the long-term. Be careful about putting your own self-worth into any of the content that you put out there. Know where all of your marketing activities fit in the bigger picture for your business; don’t waste money or time. When building his successful personal brand on social media, Jeff has not been able to automate anything. Everyone chases the immediate answer and when they don’t get it, they give up and that will never bring success. Those who are willing to follow Tyler’s advice will reach that ultimate goal of building a sustainable business. Frequency, intimacy, relevancy, and efficiency make up LeadRoll’s FIRE formula that separates them from their competition. Tyler is looking to take his clients to the next level, as in way into the 7-figure revenue level. 3 Key Points: It’s only getting harder and harder to be successful in the real estate industry, and that’s why it’s vital to be revolutionary in the space of digital marketing compared to other industries. Regardless of the onslaught of marketing and lead-generation tool advertising, there is no perfect solution for $100 a month. Tyler has an entire staff that hand writes custom first lines for all of their emails in an attempt to scale intimacy on a large level. Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents (website), (Facebook), (Facebook Group), (Twitter), (Instagram) Tyler Kemp LeadRoll | RollSocial | LinkedIn Chime (sponsor) StreetText (sponsor) LCA Marketing Center (sponsor)

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, guest host Tristan Ahumada speaks with David Greene, a very successful real estate agent, real estate investor and author of the book SOLD: Every Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Building a Profitable Business. David has amassed a career’s worth of experience in the real estate industry and uses that knowledge to help others get their careers off the ground! Episode Highlights:  As a police officer, David had no intention of getting into real estate when he bought his first rental property. David was able to learn everything about real estate by owning it himself and left the force to become an agent. After a couple of years of building his business and failing, David is on pace to hit about $90M in 2021. There exists a big gap in mentorship and knowledge in the real estate industry, something that David hopes to battle with his book. Through his books and podcast, David exchanges his personal knowledge and expertise for leads. By providing information on a specific topic to a specific sphere of people, you become the expert to those people. David is attempting to disrupt the downward spiral in the real estate industry by educating agents on how to close deals. Back when he was buying rentals, David would listen to the Bigger Pockets podcast for affirmation. After meeting Hal Elrod and getting introduced to the Bigger Podcast guys, David had to learn how to write for the Bigger Pockets Blog. People that find the right mentor are so much more successful than those who try to do it on their own. David found the top producer in his office and offered to do what they hated in order to learn from them. It’s not just about what you say to your clients, but about how you say it that can make the biggest difference. In his book Sold, David teaches agents how to systematically have conversations with people as well as the technical aspects of the job.   Sold is just part 1 of a 3-part book series that will have something for agents with all levels of experience.   People kept coming to David with questions about application and how to get things off the ground, thus inspiring him to write his new book series. You should not get into the real estate conversation with someone until they inquire about your life. The time to be planting conversational seeds is when someone is studying for their real estate test. Even if you’re first starting out as an agent, you already have a database, you just have to bring it together. David teaches that it is best to start with the people that are already in their sphere before they start door knocking. Agents that produce the most know how to consistently follow up. It’s important to play to your own strengths because what works for some agents may not work for others. The work that you put in today will manifest itself in the business that you do in 6 to 9 months. Once you are comfortable with what works for you, the leads will come easier and faster as you go. CRMs, spreadsheets, and the whiteboard system are 3 strategies that David emphasizes when building relationships. David wants agents to understand that not all leads are the same and each one needs to be approached differently based on that person’s circumstances. Listing presentations and buyers presentations are tools that turn leads into clients. Psychology and knowledge allow agents to get a client to sign a contract and close deals. You have to be able to determine a lead’s motivation before you can know if they are going to be a client. By going to the pain point of the seller, agents can find their motivation, but it’s important to remember that you can’t create that motivation. David takes every opportunity to brand himself as the real estate person to his sphere. When joining a team, assess the exchange of value and where you work best based on your personality. 3 Key Points: Throughout life, the more willing you are to help others, the more willing they will be to help you. You have to earn your way into somebody helping you. It’s important to remember that being an agent is not a W-2 job. Your presence in the office will not result in you getting paid. Make sure your actions actually lead to money. Many agents make the mistake of focusing solely on lead generation and not enough on lead follow-up. Top producers know how to systematically follow up until the buyer or seller is ready to move. Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents (website), (Facebook), (Facebook Group), (Twitter), (Instagram) David Greene Website | Books | Podcast  MCBackup Chime (sponsor) StreetText (sponsor)