In our January episode of Monday Market Minute, Carrie McCormick from atproperties emphasizes that this is the year of off-market deal. Carrie shares tips on how to make the best of the year of off-market deals and discuss these ideas with D.J. Next, D.J. shares his marketing tips of the month. Last, Carrie talks about her Instagram account and how it helps build relationships with her followers/clients.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.
Please follow Carrie on Instagram by clicking here.
This episode is brought to you by RealGeeks.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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Hello, and welcome to 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 today on the show is our monthly market minute with Carrie McCormick from the Carrie McCormick Real Estate Group with at properties here in Chicago. Carrie is a top 1% producer with over 20 years of experience helping buyers sellers and investors. She’s a true superstar and an expert in everything from first time homebuyers, veteran investors, and luxury properties. She also works with a lot of developers and is often chosen to represent their high end developments, please visit Carrie at her website, which is Carrie McCormick, r e.com. We have that listed in our show notes and also follow her on Instagram, which is at Carey McCormick real estate and McCormick is to see so Carrie McCormick real estate on Instagram. Carrie, welcome once again to the show.
Carrie McCormick 2:16
Thank you, I love your introduction, I always love hearing it. So thank you. Thank you.
D.J. Paris 2:21
Happy 2022
Carrie McCormick 2:23
You got it. So I just want to kick off this call this podcast and just say that this year 2022 is going to be the year of the off market deal. So we are definitely still seeing a shortage of inventory. So what does that mean? It means there’s buyers on the sidelines, there’s buyers that want to buy, and we just don’t have inventory for people who are listening or watching from all over the United States. Everyone’s experiencing it. So I wanted to share a few things I was privileged to be asked to be on the Inman Connect, which hopefully if you guys saw it, you saw a little bit of our, our, our segment on it. And we also talk there about the 2020 off market deals. So just again, want to give you a little bit of tips about it. So number one, circle prospecting. This is something that’s new. So what does that mean? So let’s say you have a buyer that put an offer in on a home, and they were outbid multiple offer situation, what you do as a buyer representative is you send a letter to all the homes around that particular listing, or if it’s a condo in that condo building, you write a nice letter to the homeowner saying my client just made an offer on your neighbor’s unit or home, we lost out and multiple offer situation they love the neighborhood. If you or anyone you know is looking to sell, here’s my contact information, give me a call. So a new term for me it was called circle prospecting. I thought it was brilliant. And I loved that idea.
D.J. Paris 4:00
It’s such a great idea because it does a couple of things. One, it of course, possibly gets them a future, you know sale, or home to purchase. And it gives the person that’s receiving the letter, you know, a little ego boost, like ooh, somebody’s might be interested in buying my property, which especially if they’re not looking to sell prior to getting that letter now they have that sort of conversation piece with if they have a family, maybe a partner or spouse to go, Hey, you’re not going to believe we just got this should be should we call should we find out? I think it just creates a lot of excitement. And also, it also helps the real estate agents sort of get their name out there and let them know that you sort of play in the space where they live.
Carrie McCormick 4:43
Of course now there’s a lot of benefits to it. But of course our goal is to you know, find a home for our buyer. So it was such a great idea. The next one that we talked about was unsolicited CMAs so what that means is you know I’ve got a database of calls clients that I’ve sold to, or just clients in general, you know that our prospects have sold to is give them a CMA on their home, you know, this is what the value of your home is currently today, hey, I know you’re not looking to sell right now. But in the event, something changes, here’s where your your home is appreciated, and it might make them think twice, and it might make them want to sell. So I thought that was a great way also to find some new inventory. Third idea, which is something I do a lot is work your own network. So you got to think outside the box a little bit, think about, like the attorneys that you work with the accountants that you know, the wealth managers that, you know, you know, they are trusted advisors to their clients as well. So talk to them, see if they have any clients that are in need of buying or selling as well. So again, it’s kind of a little bit more old school method of, you know, picking up the phone and calling people but it’s definitely, definitely a great way to find new business.
D.J. Paris 6:01
I think to like with financial advisors, in particular, if you’re an agent, if and if someone’s listening, who’s an agent who specializes in cash flow type of real estate investing investments, where, you know, maybe it’s a house hacking opportunity, where a client would maybe buy a three flat live on one of the floors rent the other two, or it just has a bunch of cash sitting around, and they want a more regular stream of income coming to them. That’s a great opportunity. If you if you can develop that specialty in real estate, you can then take that to financial advisors and say, Hey, I don’t I’m sure you come across clients who are cash savvy, who are looking for a more reasonable return that’s maybe a little bit more secure. You know, I would love to partner with you went and start talking about that. I you know, I think that’s a huge, huge, great a great thing.
Carrie McCormick 6:53
Yeah, I agree. And then the last tip that I have for prospecting in that is again, going back to old school is finding or pulling a list of homeowners that have been in their home, let’s just say five, 710 years, right? So just let’s use seven as the average. That’s kind of the time when we start seeing people make changes in their life, whether it’s kids getting married, whatever it is outgrowing their space, we find that seven year itch, I guess that happens. So pull a list of homeowners that have been in their home, let’s just say again, seven years plus, they might be thinking about moving so send a nice targeted, you know, email or targeted postcard to those people might be a great way to pick up some new business.
D.J. Paris 7:39
You know, I love all that. Those are all really great marketing ideas as a as a guy who does marketing this is right up,
Carrie McCormick 7:45
right write it down.
D.J. Paris 7:47
i Yeah, write it down. Let’s I’m gonna go back over those. And I want to specifically talk about the unexpected CMA or I’m not sure the actual language you use, but but basically the CMA that you’re doing for somebody that you don’t know yet. So this actually, I, I’ve witnessed this before, I was in a relationship many years ago with a woman who received a packet in the mail from somebody she didn’t know it was a realtor that I guess had sold a property in that neighborhood. And he had done exactly that, or he and he had a he had good news to share, because he said, I see that you purchased it for approximately this, my best estimate shows us that we’re probably at around x, and it was about an $80,000 appreciation over three years or something just really impressive. And she didn’t really know that because, you know, she it was her first property. And just, you know, she just wasn’t checking Zillow, looking at the Zestimate every day, and didn’t really know and she already had a good relationship with a realtor. So in that case, you know, it wasn’t, I would say, didn’t translate into her reaching out to this particular agent. But it was a it was a single letter, and it had like a little packet behind it of like the actual brokers information and, you know, a little brochure kind of thing. But the letter was really good. And I was like, That is brilliant. Because it tells people what they want to know, but don’t always think to look up which is and most agents from sorry, most consumed most of homeowners, really the only place they would have any sort of awareness of what their home might be worth is if their next door neighbor sells their home and they tell them or they know or they’re going to Zillow. And so obviously we know that Zillow estimates sometimes are accurate, sometimes not. So this is a huge opportunity to to also so I was going to use it’s funny you mentioned that because I was going to do a very similar suggestion in in my marketing minute which has to do very similar to what to what Carrie was mentioning with with this sort of prospecting which is you know, once you close on a property once or sorry, once you sell someone’s home or somebody buys something in an area, this is a huge opportunity for You’d have to reach out to those neighbors. And I don’t know, during COVID You know what the best way to do that is? Certainly, I know, people who have who go who door knock. I know, I know, top 1% agents that do that. And they just go, you know, if it’s like a neighborhood, they feel comfortable, they’ll just kind of politely knock on the door and say, Oh, just want to introduce myself. That’s a very direct approach. I don’t know how well that would work these days. But certainly, you could write a handwritten note or you could, you know, I see, I think, too, you could do it when you list the property. So I’ve always thought what kind of a fun way to meet the neighbors, when you have a home that’s listed is to maybe then it’s a good time to sort of knock on a few of the neighbor’s doors, not to prospect or to say, hey, you should use me, I’m selling your, you know, this next door neighbor’s home, but to say to them, Hey, just so you know, I’m going to be kind of in and out of the neighborhood a lot. I’m going to be showing the property. If you ever see anything that looks strange or weird, you know, please let me know. But I just wanted you to know who I was. So if you see me coming and going, you know, and you could even also make a joke I didn’t want you think I was gonna rob the place, you know, but I’m, you know, you could be cute about it. And, and I think that was a really disarming, and is a really nice way. But But again, it’s this idea of whether it’s, you know, while it’s listed or right after the sale, you have this huge opportunity because everybody so this is funny Carrie, you’ll know this person for those of you who are in Chicagoland area this this name will be familiar. But if you’re not, you won’t, but I’ll explain what this person does Nikko apostle from Coldwell Banker, who is one of just the nicest, kindest, very nice love, sweet sweetheart of a guy. He did this. Whenever he gets an open house. And he’s first started. He’s a Coldwell Banker, I don’t know where he is now, I think is his own thing. Now I forget where he is. But he was at Coldwell Banker for a long time. And he, when he first started, he was in his early 20s. And he didn’t have any listings, because you know, you didn’t have any friends buying or selling anything. And and he, he would ask the agents in his office for Open House opportunities Can I can I go for your showing and do an open house. And then he would text all of his friends and say, Please come to my open house. And he said nobody would ever come because they’re all early 20s people who you know, don’t have to aren’t buying property. And he said, So where he goes, then what I would do this is me speaking as him, he said I would go to the door all of the the like within a block, I would knock on all the doors about an hour or two before the actual open house. And I would say hey, I’m you know, so and so I’m Nico. And I’m going to be doing an open house. And hey, if you just want to come by and check it out, like, just feel free. And I started when he explaining that to me, I said, but would anybody ever come by? And he goes all the time? And I said, Well, I said
why? And he goes because everybody wants to know what their neighbors homes look like? Absolutely. I was like, That is brilliant. I never thought of that. That’s the number one
Carrie McCormick 12:55
reason a lot of sellers don’t want open houses is they’re like, I don’t want my neighbors coming into my house. No, but no, I love his main ambition. And it does work. And believe it or not, I’ve had that too, where a neighbor walks in and, you know, not a direct neighbor, but maybe you know, down the street, and they’re like, You know what my friends looking I’d love for my friend have lived by me, you know. So kudos to him. It’s a great idea. Love, it
D.J. Paris 13:20
will circle prospecting. I am just now starting to get familiar with that as well over the last year, I’ve become more understanding of what that is. I’m so glad you’re talking about it, because I haven’t thought about it in a while. But this idea of hey, you know, we missed out on this. We my client put a bid on this property. It didn’t work out, you know, long shot out long shot, but hey, are you thinking of selling because we’d like to look at your property, that sort of it maybe not that direct, but however it’s phrased boy, I’m thinking of myself as a homeowner actually care, the place I purchased was actually what would have carries developments. And I would I would take that phone call, even though I just moved in a year ago, and I’m certainly not looking to move. But if somebody gets your attention, right gets my attention and it’s flattering. So Oh god, I love that it takes a little bit. So So Where Where would somebody go to get? I know there’s lots of places online but where would they go to purchase a list of like the addresses nearby? I mean, there’s I guess you just Google it.
Carrie McCormick 14:22
I don’t know I mean our systems even like we use the EM read system, the Multiple Listing Service there’s there’s different tools in there. I’m without properties here in Chicago. So we’ve got our own tool that we use as well. So I think within each brokerage there’s probably resources and there’s a ton of third party companies to pull data. It’s just you know, not all of its accurate but you know, it’s you can definitely do a data poll online.
D.J. Paris 14:48
And I love that like five to seven year thing as well like, like getting data for people that have have moved in and you know, maybe seven years as Carrie as Carrie said And and I think I was thinking from a marketing perspective, like what I say in there? Hey, according to my, my stuff you’ve been there, you know what, I wouldn’t even mention that I know they’d been there seven years because you might be wrong, or it might just it maybe they, you know, whatever have a different sort of situation. But I would absolutely send an email or a message saying, Hey, are you thinking of selling? I love that. I think that is that is so, so smart. So I think we just crammed a lot of stuff into a short episode. And I think that’s perfect. By the way, we should mention also that, please follow Carrie on Instagram, I said that earlier. But it really is a, it’s a great model for other realtors to get a sense of how to do it in a fun way, but also an elegant way. And to just have fun with your social media. And what I like about you is you really enjoy doing that you do it yourself. You You do all the graphic design. And, and I’m curious to know, how often does business and I know you’ve been in this business a long time, so you get a lot of referrals? But does business ever come directly from somebody who goes you know, I started following you on Instagram? Maybe?
Carrie McCormick 16:09
There you go. Absolutely. Yeah, it’s but it’s also you know, about engagement, because I do a lot of work have spent quite a bit of time on it, you know, someone wants to, you know, message me or have questions or talk to me over social media. So I think it’s not just posting things and you know, being out there, but it’s, it’s really that engagement with clients to and seeing you know, they they know that I respond to them. So, you know, they like that. But absolutely, to answer your question. It’s, it’s definitely a good form of advertising.
D.J. Paris 16:41
And also, for every we have, I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this with you, Carrie, but we’ve had over 100. And at our best guess and it’s not a perfect science, we know we’ve had at least 150,000 unique users. So individuals download at least one of our episodes, we don’t know if they ever listened. But we know that at least 150,000 unique people have done that. So we get people from all over the country and even in other countries who are you know, listen and subscribe to our show. And so if you have if you’re listening, and you have clients that are moving to Chicago, this is a great opportunity to make a an inroad with with one of the top Realtors here in Chicago. So definitely keep Kerry and her group in mind, you know, they’ll certainly be able to assist and if not, they’ll be able to even, you know, tell you who else would would be a better fit. But what’s the and by the way, for those that are listening that might not be real estate professionals but are interested in, you know, buying or selling or investing renting here in Chicago. And they do want to work with a top agent like you what’s the best way they should reach out,
Carrie McCormick 17:46
I always pick up my phone, so call me at 312-961-4612 You can text me, you can find me on Instagram, you’ll see I’ll respond there you can email me, Kerry, CA RR ie at@properties.com. Anytime you reach out to me, you know you’re gonna get a call back or I’ll answer my phone.
D.J. Paris 18:08
Yeah. And that’s, it’s, it’s something that seems so commonplace. But in this industry, not everyone operates like that. So it’s nice to know that you know that you you take such good care of your clients. And I know because I was on the other side of what are your deals, so I know just how high touch you are. And he really carries her reputation is beyond beyond reproach. So yeah, you’re welcome. Well, we will we are excited to you know, do another year here. This podcast was is Gosh, you and I have been together since the very beginning. And we are grateful for that as well. And on behalf of the audience, we thank Carrie for coming on. Gosh, I don’t know it’s probably four years now, three or four years at least. And coming on tirelessly, month after month, even though she’s she’s busy. In fact, to get on this she had to race home is how I don’t know how many inches of snow outside of snow outside, lot of snow. And she jumped on and I’m sure she’s going to have to jump right to something else. So we’re grateful for her and her time also great grateful to our audience really, really thankful for everyone. We are coming up on a major milestone, I won’t reveal exactly what that is. But we should hit a major milestone, we will reveal it when we had it in the next couple of weeks. And that is because of you guys listening. And I say guys, of course men and women and however you may identify, and we’re grateful to have you as a listener. So Interviewer So please help us continue to grow by just telling a friend think of one other realtor that could benefit from hearing this great conversation with Carrie which by the way, she just gave like four or five great marketing ideas. So go ahead and send this over to somebody else in your office or tell your whole office about it. That would really help us continue to reach more agents and listeners and also please leave us a review. This is really important for us. It really really helps us, let us know or go on to iTunes or Wherever you’re listening to this podcast and let us know what you think of the show, you know, radar show, tell us what you like what you don’t like. That really helps us continue to improve as well. So anyway, Carrie, thank you once again. We will see everybody Yeah, we’ll see everybody on the next episode. Bye guys.
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