Marisol Jusino with Coldwell Banker Realty shares her life experience as a victim of domestic violence and how she changed paths into real estate. Marisol discusses the difficulties she faced learning the real estate business and selling part and she emphasizes how important it is to stay loyal to people especially to clients. Marisol also explains the importance of learning new languages and how this helps you stay connected and gain the trust of your clients.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Marisol Jusino can be reached at (321) 202-3776.
This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
Would you like to attract more Hispanic, Latino or Latin X clients to your real estate business? Today we’re going to show you how to 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. There 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 Marisol just so you know before we get to Marisol, just a few reminders please the best way you could always help our show two ways. Tell a friend think of one other realtor that needs to hear what Marisol is about to show you. And to tell you, which is how to increase the number of Hispanic clients that you have. And let them know that this podcast exists, send them a link to our website, keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve done can be streamed right from a browser. You don’t even need a podcast app. And then the second thing is please support our sponsors. We love our sponsors. They’re the reason we can pay our bills, pay our team and just with our team alone, we’re doing like an extra 100 episodes a year just because of our sponsors. So please, please please check out our sponsors don’t fast forward through we keep the promos short and trust me they’re great products and services that you can use in your business. Okay guys, you’ve heard enough for me. Let’s get to the main event my conversation with Marisol Justina
Marisol just from Coldwell Banker she services Central Florida. Let me tell you more about Marisol. Now Marisol is Latina. She is a single mom. She is a domestic violence survivor and a realtor for the last 19 years actually 20 years. By 2010. She realized as much as she loved serving people Marisol did not have proper sales training, so she went on to timeshares for its training and in January 2013 returned to real estate once back in real estate while facing life continuous life’s continuous challenges, which at time has made it extremely difficult to work. Marisol realized that business kept on moving without doing much at the time, her phone was ringing and transactions were closing. And that’s when she realized she had learned to tap into a forgotten community within the industry, the Latino community, the largest growing minority in the United States. Marisol has been able to grow her agency and her confidence in ways she never thought possible. She is a top Realtor in Florida. Learn more about Marisol by visiting her website which is g 12. So the letter g 12. Professional group.com g 12. Professional group.com By the way, we will have a link to that in the show notes so you don’t have to type it in and please please please follow her on Instagram. That’s M Justino j u s t i n Oh, sorry. JUSINOMJUSIN Oh, the number one at Instagram again link to that as well in the show notes. So when I make a mistake, you don’t have to worry because you just click on it in the show notes. Marisol. We are excited to have you welcome to the show.
Marisol Jusino 4:28
Thank you. I’m excited to be here.
D.J. Paris 4:31
I am so excited to talk with you and talk about how you have grown your business and what our audience can gather from from you and it is a holiday weekend while we’re recording this so we are going to try to make this as light and breezy as possible so that if anyone is watching us as we record it live they can enjoy right into the holiday weekend. Marisol love to learn more about how you got into real estate. Tell me tell me that The process there, how and why?
Marisol Jusino 5:02
Well, they why was that I needed I needed to do something. I was in a domestic violence situation. And I knew I needed to get out of there. I didn’t know how. And as crazy as it sounds, years before I used to live in Ohio, I had a friend and she said, you know, she took me to a meeting with her friend. And her friend was a broker. And her friend said, well, let’s just recruit her. And my friend says, Well, no, she has little kids, you have no idea what you will do to her for that state in my mind. Then just before I move to Florida, you know, and I’m talking to a good friend. And at this point, I know that life is hard. And I have no idea what the future health. And I say, but I don’t even know what to do over there. Because back in Ohio, I used to work for NASA over there. And, and I, but I didn’t want that nine to five on that street yet out schedule. Plus, I was going to be leaving a bit of a distance from NASA. So she said, why don’t you just become a realtor. And some like that’s two voices. So I kept that in the back of my mind. So then when life began changing, I’m like, You know what, let’s do this. So I will I call a friend, which was the neighborhood my neighborhood expert. She was a realtor. She lived to house two houses down from me. She said, You need to go for it. I’ve not always known. You’re supposed to be a realtor. I’m like, how everybody knows. But I don’t know, you know? So she counseled me, I went and I took the license, you know, the classes. The weekend before I took my estate exam. I did a 10 a 10 mile race. And I broke my left because my leg? Oh, no. So I am like, I’m thinking this is it. And I said, Okay, God, when I am in that test, if I don’t pass, I’m done. But I guess I was supposed to be here. I did pass it. So that’s kind of my story. Well, I always
D.J. Paris 7:12
love the expression. And this is I’m not promoting or denying any anyone’s religious beliefs. But I always love the expression, whatever whatever anyone’s spiritual beliefs are that God never gives you more than you can handle. Yep, in a given moment, although it does get tested. And breaking your leg a day before a somewhat challenging exam is not not the easiest or most fun weekend before the weekend before the weekend before? Yeah. Well, it is it is interesting, too, that there are people that seem to show up in our lives. Again, whatever your anyone’s belief is about the universe or higher power or whatever. There are things that happen where sometimes people just know things about you that you don’t know. And if you just listen. You know, sometimes it’s like, oh, and a couple people are telling me to do this, maybe I should do it. And obviously it worked out really, really well for you. So tell us what it was like a getting into really an industry that you didn’t have experience in before. Was that challenging? You know, how did you grow your business
Marisol Jusino 8:17
II was having because first you don’t know much of your sleep, because we learned a lot. And everybody tells you when you take the real estate class, you know, you’re just thought how to pass an exam, not to have to sell real estate. I did have a lot of support. You know, there’s always good agents that try to help you on so forth. As crazy as it sounds, my very first listing, it was my son. And he was just seven, seven years old, seven, eight years old. And he goes to his again, you know, everybody believes what they believe. But he goes to his Sunday school teacher. And he says, By the way, do you happen to know anybody than you gotta
D.J. Paris 9:02
be? Hold on? I’m stopping this story because there’s no way this story is true. What do you first said, I want to just back up in case anyone missed that. So Marisol said something that at first I thought I clearly heard this wrong. And I’m not going to interrupt her. And then when she got out, I go, No, I heard it. Right. And I’m only pausing you, because this is the cutest story I’ve ever heard. Yeah. So this, she said her first listing was from her son who was seven years old, and he goes into school and go ahead. I’m so sorry.
Marisol Jusino 9:29
Yeah. He asked him, you know, do you happen to know anyone that needs to buy yourself at home? And he looks at him and he says, As a matter of fact, I do. I am thinking about selling. I said, Well, you need to use my mom because she just got her license. And that was my first listing.
D.J. Paris 9:49
That is that is the most adorable. It’s the it’s I’ve done 500 episodes. That’s without exception, the cutest and most adorable story that could ever be first Someone’s first listening. Cheers. Cheers to your son. That is yeah, that is really. Oh boy. That is that’s about that’s about having a good family team right there. So yeah. Oh my gosh, how cute is that? Well, what an adorable story and what a great son. Yeah, that’s so cute. So okay, so aside from, from that to everything sort of snow, like continue to grow from that will
Marisol Jusino 10:23
just be gone. It just it was just happening. I mean doing what the basic things that we do, yes, you know, because stuff does happen. But nevertheless, at the same time on my personal life, I was going through a divorce and all the craziness. So life was crazy. Life was crazy. But somehow, things always worked out. I mean, don’t ask me how this always did work out. But by 2020 10, that’s when I was because a lot of agents left the market in 2008 times get crushed. And the funny thing is that they say they usually say if you last five years, you’re gonna stay on the market. And I’m like, Well, you know what, I even if I sell one listing a year, I’m staying, you know, it’s like, I need to be that mark. But honestly, by 2010, I was worn out. And I had no idea what to do overwhelm in every sense. And that’s when I left and went into timeshares because I needed training. I needed to I mean,
D.J. Paris 11:32
there is there’s so many people that left in that time because it for those of us that weren’t in real estate at during that time. This of course is when the crash happened. This was a lot of the the the loans that that were done with, you know, they were very generous with loans Florida and particular was very hard, because they had much easier restrictions there. And so And like every third or fourth person in Florida had a real estate license at that time, it was some crazy statistics. So everybody had a license, people were making money hand over fist and they were just selling and reselling properties. And and then of course, the collapse happened. And it was devastating for many, many people. So I love the fact that you at that point, said, You know, I really could use more training and you know, the timeshare world, despite what anyone might think about that type of business that the sales man ship that is taught in those in those those rooms for those companies is beyond impressive, because it works.
Marisol Jusino 12:34
Yes, it does their training. i When young people come to me and asked me, you know, what should I do? I’m thinking about joining real estate and I my advice is always please do it. Get the license, go sell timeshares for a few months. Yeah. You’d be awesome.
D.J. Paris 12:54
Well, and those are those are particularly tough, because and I know like my parents used to do this when, when they were younger, when they maybe didn’t have as much money. But they would have you know, somehow they would be on lists where they would get flown to like Las Vegas. And they would go for, you know, get free free room and maybe a free hotel, or sorry, free airline, I’m not sure. And you’d have to sit through a presentation. But you know, you know, most of the people in that room are doing the same sort of thing they don’t really want to buy a timeshare. So it’s a very difficult sale, because you know, if the person is ready to buy, it’s great. But the vast majority of people just want the freebie. And so it does make it a challenge. And there’s a lot of objections to overcome and you’re asking for a lot of someone’s money. And it’s it’s it’s a very, very difficult sale. So I think you’re right, there’s the sales training, there’s got to be just amazing. He rates. Yeah, okay, so you were in timeshares. You got the sales training, and then you decided eventually to return it to the traditional brokerage world. Yet,
Marisol Jusino 13:56
well after I left time chairs, and I am like because I had said to myself, I don’t know if I can do this. And I’m thinking what do I do with my life? And I received a call from a former client. And he says, Listen, I don’t know why your nerves are making this call, but I need to talk to you. And I’m like what you tell me. And he says, Call me crazy, but you need to go back to real estate. This is you were born for that you need to go back. And I just smiled because at that point, I was actually coming from meeting with a broker. Just because I had also a friend that called in from the Miami area. And she said listen, I don’t know if you’re still in real estate. But I want to buy a condo you know, in the Orlando area. We have 400,000 cash. Can you help us? Heck yes. Yes and yes. So that’s that was my way back in. That was lucky And then at that point is just, you know, it was relearning. Because yes, I had learned the real the selling part. But now it’s like, burn patient ship part of the business. How and plus the technicalities, because there’s so much technology that everything changes, everything changes. So it was time to do that. But I was going through life, I still because unfortunately my case, you know, I, I was in an abusive relationship. As I mentioned, I divorced in 2005. But it wasn’t until literally early last month, that finally everything finally ended, because there was an injunction. So it’s been really a drain. So he’s just at sometimes you wonder, and that’s, but that’s when I noticed, is like, hold it. I mean, I’m still making it things are happening. Even in the worst days, there’s always the the ball is still rolling. And that’s when I’m like, but what is it and I began looking at my book of business, and it’s referrals of referrals of referrals. You know, I mean, two years ago, I close my first buyer, I closed them all over again, you know, so he’s like that referral book, when you stay in touch with them. And when you do what you’re supposed to do, yeah, they stay loyal.
D.J. Paris 16:29
They do. And first, I also want to honor you for sharing about your, your, you know, the challenges you faced and the, you know, victimization that’s happened that happened to you, and the fact that you were dealing with that, not only while it was happening, but for for about 17 years, or 18 years, after 18 years, I mean, you know, that is a heavy, heavy bag to carry around. And it is not an easy thing. So I honor you for carrying that bag for as long as you did, I know that that can’t possibly be easy. And also a good reminder, I think to anyone out there that that knows of maybe somebody that’s that’s in a similar situation that is currently in a similar situation, and maybe the people are afraid the person is afraid to leave, because maybe they don’t think about how they don’t understand how they could support themselves. If they were to leave a relationship. And maybe they think, well, it’s better to be in even an abusive one than non abusive one, because at least I least I can pay the bills in this abusive one, which, of course, you know, is is not not a great place to be. And to, you know, sometimes it’s just a couple of people to say, Hey, I think you can do this. And so it’s a great, great reminder to encourage people who are trapped, or who feel trapped in those in those sadly abusive relationships to maybe see a pathway out. And so I honor you for sharing that we I mean, we have 1000s and 1000s of listeners, I guarantee that that story is going to touch somebody, and maybe even inspire somebody who might be in that situation or know someone in that situation to maybe see a different path. And so I honor you for the courage to talk about that. Thank you. And, and I also want to talk about the Hispanic market, because I know that here in Chicago, which is where I’m located, we have a large Hispanic population. And there is a tendency, because we have about 800 agents here at our own company. So I just talked to a lot of agents. And I’m always recruiting agents for our firms. I’m always talking to agents. And whenever somebody brings up the Hispanic sort of demographic for finding buyers and sellers, a lot of times what what agents will say is, oh, well, I don’t know that I don’t know that market. I don’t know what those what that group of people is looking for. I don’t know how to communicate with them, I don’t really know how to infiltrate or penetrate that market to really get in. And so I would love any just information or advice you might have, because you’re right, it is the largest minority non minority group growing at the fastest rate in our country. So it’s important to certainly not ignore that group, but learn maybe how to better communicate with that group and understand what what what their needs and desires are. So I’d love to hear more about that.
Marisol Jusino 19:19
Well, in summary, because there’s so much that you can do, but the the question, the big question is, and most people said, Well, what do I do, just like you express is like this, and everything that is so known, we, we kind of tend to stay away from it. But it’s not that hard, because to begin with, you know, about 70% of the Hispanic population speaks English, you know, so that’s one thing, you know, yes. Will it help to speak Spanish? Well, of course, you know, of course it will. But if you don’t speak Spanish chances are Are your buyer or seller will speak English is there’s a big chance. Most of the buyers right now the Hispanic buyers are 30 and below 30 years old and below me, which means they have been born and raised in this country. So they are, you know, they know the language says the first thing, but that’s about English. That’s how we’re talking about English or Spanish, but knowing that Hispanic or the Latino language, it really is more than is an English or Spanish is how do we communicate what’s going on in there? You know, it will help, of course, to know a little bit of maybe the basics. Because you gain trust, when you speak about the basics. You know, when you say a few words in Spanish, like most people will say, you know, well, I took Spanish when I was in high school, that’s really, really sweet. But I have forgotten all about it. But what about if we are, but I hope that you can teach me how to, you know, that kind of, you can help me remember those little nuggets, you know, that will help that will really help. And it’s also the respect, you know, because when you when you are honest, because honesty will be the best policy you have to be honest. If you are not if they if they we don’t perceive the European honest, you will be treated nicely, but that there’s going to be a wall and the feet have you and if so happens that you do a transaction with that person. That’s the end of it. That’s the beginning and the end. Sometimes, as crazy as it sounds, it may be even better not to the transaction. But keeping the relationship.
D.J. Paris 21:52
Yeah, yeah, maybe even referring it for referring it to an agent who really is immersed into that, that community.
Marisol Jusino 22:00
Because is, is that it’s that transparency and explain the processes from A to Z, what I usually tell my buyers and my sellers, What You See Is What You Get you I’m going to tell you the good, the bad, the primary and the ugly, you’re going to know it all. And there’s a lot of time spent on that orientation, whether it’s the buyers orientation, or the listing presentation, a listing presentation with a Hispanic is not going to last you 20 minutes, I’m sorry to tell you that yellow is usually not going to, because they want to get to know you and we are not going to tell us our stuff until we know that you can be trusted.
D.J. Paris 22:44
Ah, that’s, that’s really interesting. So I was while you were talking about that I was thinking, I know here in Chicago, there are a tremendous number of Hispanic cultural events, there are cultural, they’re places where they were Hispanic people gather, there’s, you know, certain events and and, you know, experiences that they tend to have. And if I wanted to immerse myself in that culture to get more business, I would be going to a lot of those events, I’d be I’d be in the background for a while learning about that culture, learning about how they communicate what’s important to them. And then eventually, you know, sort of working my way into opening having them see me as a trusted adviser, but you’re right, it just, it isn’t going to happen overnight.
Marisol Jusino 23:33
Is not that that’s a good step to begin with to get to that person personal knowledge. So you’ll get that personal knowledge, you can go to events in which there you’re going to meet people one on one, although I really believe I mean, with so many Hispanics in the US right now, everybody knows at least one. I mean, everybody does is like build that relationship. Because from that relationship, you’re going to be selling to everybody. And when I mean everybody is literally if they love you and trust you, you call them or you said Listen, I need help on these, they will but again, you have to reimburse that. I mean when they call you and they will call you for little things, you know sometimes, you know their computer broke as crazy as it sounds, you know, can you help me? Well, I have learned a lot about computers by helping them you know, because it is Hispanic style your family and culture.
D.J. Paris 24:31
Absolutely. And and and family and culture are yes, I would have if you were to say what what would my guests be about what I know about Hispanic community, I would say family and culture as well. So that is that that rings true with my experience. I am I have a Hispanic name. I am not really Hispanic myself. My first name is Delphin and my middle name is Joaquin. So I have a Spanish from Spain, a Spain Spanish name but but anyway, but but the point is, is I was not I didn’t was not raised in that culture and, and so as a result, I but I do know we have gosh, probably a few 100 of our agents are Hispanic here at kale. So but yeah, you’re right it’s it’s it’s about earning trust because I think what what sometimes people forget about people who come to this country or who are in a minority group that are that are here is that they’re oftentimes and I mean, we should just be honest about it these are, you know, Hispanic people are often treated less than non Hispanics and other minorities get treated this way too. And we have to remember, especially if we’re not a minority, to remember that not everyone’s treated the same. And so some, some groups are going to naturally be a little bit more defensive or or it’s going to take more time to earn their trust, because of the way they’re treated on a regular basis. And so, you know, this idea that, you know, I, it would be great if everyone was treated the same. Sadly, it’s not exactly the way it is yet. So, you know, earning that trust is not an automatic.
Marisol Jusino 26:09
No, he’s not. But the reality is, and that’s just a little nod at the reality is that most, which is really interesting. I was, as I was looking at numbers, most Hispanics right now. I mean, they are they have been American board. So that means yes, they’re Hispanics. And when you get one, you get the family. But the culture is changing, in the sense that there’s more communication. You know, we’re beginning to see beyond, you know, your D, so your dad, because most of them the growth, the Hispanic population, since 2010. is due to Hispanics being born in America. Not other not not immigration, not immigration.
D.J. Paris 26:57
Yeah, that makes sense. And that opens up the that that a lot of times, like you were saying sort of resolves the the language barrier that could exist, because the ones the second generation, or the people that were born here, obviously are speaking English, maybe, maybe not. It might not be their first language, but they certainly grew up in our our school systems and learned English as well. Yeah, that makes sense.
Marisol Jusino 27:21
But I’m sorry, not what I was going to say. But you eat it does help to learn to communicate, because once you get to them, you’re going to be going home and mom and dad chances are they speak Spanish.
D.J. Paris 27:34
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it’s it’s never been an eat? Well, I don’t, it’s never easy to learn anyone else’s language. But it’s never been easier because we have these devices in our pocket that we carry around 24/7. Like, there’s Duolingo, there’s a number of, of the, of the learning language apps. And, you know, maybe you won’t speak perfectly within a year of studying, but you’ll know enough to be able to at least show the community that you’re putting effort into learning their culture, their language, their traditions. And and, of course, Hispanic people have been traditions, it’s important to honor these traditions to be part of them to learn about them so that you can participate.
Marisol Jusino 28:17
Yes, anybody can be learned. I mean, it was. And I say that because I moved into this country. I’m originally from Puerto Rico. And I moved in 89. And when I moved from Puerto Rico, and I Lee ended up in the Cleveland, Ohio area. I didn’t know the language. Sure. I couldn’t speak the language. And I understand the frustration when you’re learning a second language. But if I tell people if I did it, anybody can do it.
D.J. Paris 28:51
And there couldn’t have been or I don’t know, Cleveland, all that well. But there couldn’t have been a large Puerto Rican community in Cleveland, right? That had to be very, very small.
Marisol Jusino 29:02
No, no way I was. And I didn’t, obviously, I didn’t know anybody. But they finally this is just a funny story. The funny story is that I’m like, Okay. I mean, I need to learn the language. So I turn on the TV because most people tell you turn on the TV. And that’s how you learn. Well, guess what? When I turned that TV on, what came up was the Beverly Hillbillies. And now I’m laughing about it, but I cried, I cried because it was like, I’ll never be able to, I’ll never be able to.
D.J. Paris 29:33
Yeah, it’s it is an interesting thing. If anyone ever has not had that experience of watching a foreign film or or watching a talent, a television show that was a shot and you know, in a different language, it is incredibly difficult to try to understand what’s going on if you don’t know the language at all, but you can learn it over time, of course, but it is that’s a hard way to do it for sure. So, so I would love to To know about the ways in which you stay in touch with your sphere of influence in between transactions, right? So while you’re working with a client, I assume you’re speaking with them all the time, you’re constantly servicing them, obviously, you’re doing a great job. But what happens? So the buyer sell the home, it closes. And then like, you know, maybe they don’t need you for the next seven years or so, until they’re ready to make another transaction. What do you do to keep that relationship strong during those those times? What if he’s
Marisol Jusino 30:33
the first the first time I’ve done a transaction with that person? You know, I let him know, throughout the process? Listen, this is coming to a close, but I’m not going anywhere. You need me, you call me? It doesn’t matter what I said, don’t call me at two in the morning. Yeah, but if you do, it’s okay. But my phone would be on silence. By but just to set that standard, that this is what you can expect. And then every now one that is more, more that the phone call of anything else? Because yes, you know, we’re thought to put everything in the CRM and send these and send that. And you know, what, most people will not look at it, it will end up in the spam folder, or they will unsubscribe is especially with the Hispanic client. And funnily enough, I am the same way. So this is how I realize how it was going on. Because in my case, it’s kind of the opposite when I was getting into the American culture. So it was that’s when I realized, but hold on, this is how I felt, this is what I was going through. And there’s a quote that says, show me how much you care. And then we can talk and it’s literally the same thing, it literally is the same thing is be there, yes, you’ll be invited to the birthdays, you will be invited, you know, to everything, you know, something is going on, sometimes to be decisions, sometimes big decisions are being made. And you’re called, you know, listen, what do you think about this? You know, and, and it is unknown or is it can be scary? It can be scary, but I always tell people, I will never tell anyone what to do. But what does your heart tell you, but you will be as they because they will see you as that contact at that person. And your phone will ring there. There were times in my worst times in which is like, Okay, what’s going to happen in here, because I didn’t have the mind to do anything, I’m overwhelmed, and so forth. And the phone rings. And they you talk and check it I haven’t heard from you in a while. So it’s really funny because it works the opposite way. If it’s been a while and you haven’t made contact, you will be cold, because they want to know, why haven’t you cold? So yeah, it’s really sweet. It’s really sweet.
D.J. Paris 33:08
I love that. And I want to make sure that you made a very important point that I believe he made a very important point, I just want to underline it, which was, you know, sending out email newsletters, which is very common, and I’m not here to tell you not to do that. Because I think, you know, there’s a reason to do that. I think there’s a there’s a good reason to do that. But is that necessarily going to demonstrate to a client that you care about them? No, it’s just gonna demonstrate that they’re on your email list, and you’re still in the business. And that’s okay, if that’s the intention, if the intention is like, Oh, this is all I need to do to stay in contact with somebody send them a newsletter? No, that’s probably not going to demonstrate to anybody that you care about them. It’s just gonna demonstrate that you’re still in business. So like, you were saying, I love that you said, hey, the transactions completed, but I’m not going anywhere. And in fact, when you need anything, anything related to your home or anything at all, you reach out to me and I, if I can’t do it, I’ll get you to the right person that can, that’s how you demonstrate care. And that’s what people that’s what everybody really wants. We don’t really want another email newsletter, but it’s not it’s okay to do it. Just don’t make that the only thing you do. And don’t think that that demonstrates care, it doesn’t. It just demonstrates that you’re a decent marketer, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that that you’re helping anyone.
Marisol Jusino 34:30
And then the best that that is basically set it set them up and forget him. You know, that’s that’s the way I see it. And that’s the way
D.J. Paris 34:38
and that’s the way everybody feels when they get those emails. You don’t feel special for getting an email.
Marisol Jusino 34:44
Yeah, happy birthday. Even if you especially
D.J. Paris 34:47
if it’s a happy birthday email that is automated. It’s like pick up the phone, call the person they’re probably not going to answer anyway. You’ll get their voicemail and leave them a happy birthday message or sing them happy birthday or do something that It actually demonstrates that you care. And that goes a million miles further than even a text is better than an email, but a phone call, we still all love to hear somebody who now we don’t always maybe like to talk on the phone. But we love it when people reach out and say, Hey, I’m thinking about your happy birthday. Yeah, that’s correct. Yeah, it’s so much about demonstrating care, isn’t it to the client.
Marisol Jusino 35:24
And that’s, that’s the bottom line, which is, it works in reality, it works with any transaction, it really works with any client. But the, the other reality is that they with the Hispanic client is going to, if you’re resilient, if you’re really, if you really want that client, you’re going to have to work for it, it’s not going to come easy. But once once you have established that relationship is yours, but never take it for granted either.
D.J. Paris 35:56
I wanted to ask you about the Hispanic community, specifically about first time homebuyers, because I see a huge opportunity to educate certain renters in the Hispanic community who maybe had never even pursued homeownership, maybe they didn’t know how to do it, or what was what the process was. Maybe they were embarrassed to ask, I know that I was embarrassed to ask when I before I bought my first place. I didn’t want to ask anyone, like, what’s a mortgage? How does it work? I was too embarrassed because I was in the financial services world, not not in real estate. But I was like, I should know this. And I don’t and I feel silly asking. And now you can just Google everything, obviously and learn about it. But not everybody does that. And sometimes people just their blinders are on. No one’s taught educated them. So I’m curious on the, you know, hey, moving from renting to homeownership, doing those kinds of seminars, you know, bringing in, you know, inviting people in those communities that are really underserved, and teaching people about the pathway to homeownership. Was that something that you’ve been involved with? Or do you have any suggestions about how someone may consider doing that?
Marisol Jusino 37:12
I have been in the past. And there’s one really one thing to make clear, right? Now, as of last year, 7.9 million Latinos, were homeownership ready, financially. So the reality, but again, and they will come to those things, because like, like, in here, like we have, there’s so many first time buyers assistance programs available, because there are so many of them. And when they go through that program, you know, from A to C, they’re good, explain the process. But again, they weren’t really, when you approach them the first time is like, get rid of the idea that I gotta get 10 leads, and I’m gonna close in six months, I’m going to close these 10 people, no, no, because the same process you’re starting, you just got a heads up a head start. But you’re going to start that process of developing that relationship. And you can explain the process from A to C, but if you did not build that trust, they’re going to go find someone that they will trust.
D.J. Paris 38:23
Yeah, that just makes makes perfect, perfect sense. And, you know, that this idea of, of earning trust is the way the way that I think is, is of course, by being of service. And the I’ve always thought felt that the Hispanic community because they put so much emphasis on family, and there’s so and again, they they are historically have not been treated well by by people who, you know, especially first generation have a bit of a, you know, a language barrier, obviously, cultural barrier, and just being seen as maybe even a threat to our country. Some people see as many people as a threat, which is, which is unfortunate, but it is a reality that Hispanic people still sometimes have to deal with. And so this is really important to understand that history for anyone that really wants to serve that community, because to understand their history means you can empathize or sympathize and really get a better sense of the challenges that community faces so that you can be of better service that you can feel for the struggles that they they’ve had.
Marisol Jusino 39:30
And and the reality the another thing to view is, you know what I have learned and I’m sure everybody that’s watching right now has learned as well is you know, the issue is never the issue. Plain and simple. The issue is never the issue. So if something is happening if if I get upset, you know, it’s not the client is me. So I better go and find out what got triggered Me. So don’t personalize just professionalize and keep it up.
D.J. Paris 40:05
You know, you’re reminding me I’m going a little bit off off of off script for a moment, not that we’re on a script. But just off off the conversation, you just reminded me of a very smart thing that I’ve heard it spoken about in the 12 step rooms, which is, so if anyone’s familiar with with 12 Step programs, one of the one of the lessons that is learned in that room was people get sober, or they stop doing these problematic behaviors and find a supportive community to help them through whatever addictions they might have, is they learn that when something is activated within me, it’s not the event that’s active, it’s something like you just said, that’s within me that’s being triggered being adjusted. And it doesn’t mean that whatever’s happening externally doesn’t matter. No, it does matter. But it’s important to know that I am reacting a certain way and I can learn emotional regulation, I can learn how to how to control my response, so that I can be more supportive. While this chaos is happening to my client, as opposed because the client is going to be in chaos, the client is good, especially when something goes wrong, you know that, of course, our listeners know this, something always goes wrong with every transaction, there’s always a bump in the road. And during that bump, the client is probably freaking out, because that’s what happens. It’s a large financial purchase or sale. And you can be the adult in the room and say, Look, I know this feels a certain way. I know what this is, I know how to handle this, I am here to make sure you feel okay. And being that guide through the emotional ups and downs.
Marisol Jusino 41:40
That is correct. Plus, at the same time, if every time you meet with that client, especially if they’re buying, if every time if you’re building that relationship, if you are talking I like to tell them, like I always like I mentioned at the beginning, The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly, you know, and third party stories, just tell them stories. Listen, this, this may happen because I tell them, please throw walk on me. I don’t want you to go to bed with questions. Because by the time you wake up is going to be a nightmare. Yes. Please, please, please, I want to know you have any questions? Tell me I want to know what’s going on in your mind? And if I don’t know the answer, which by now I just laugh and I said I doubt that I want but if I don’t, I will find out I will find out if something goes wrong. And I tell them if there’s something that you think may go wrong, there’s something that you’re not telling me. So listen, this is a divorce course is going to court is going to come out is going to come out. So just tell me so we we can deal with it, we can find the solution, because everything has a solution. So let’s just talk about it and get to the bottom of it.
D.J. Paris 42:56
And I think you know, it reminded me of of when I bought my condo, not my first purchase, by the way a couple years ago. And I by the way I’ve been I’m not a practicing realtor, but I’m in with realtors every day all day. It’s, this is my job. And I talk to realtors, I teach realtors, even how to grow his business. And yet the day but the night before I was closing on my condo, all of a sudden, I had one of those freak outs where I was actually ice skating with my girlfriend and I couldn’t even hardly get on the ice. I go, I think I’ve ruined my life. I think this is a terrible decision. I don’t know what I’m doing. By the way, I’m in the industry, I have a license, and I’m sitting there and I’m like, I can’t get out of this. I think I just ruined my entire life. Anyway, everything turned out fine. But the point is, is I suffered silently. I really I mean I told my girlfriend but she didn’t really know what to do. Other than say it’s gonna be okay. But what I really needed at that moment was was another professional. I needed to share that with another professional and and they needed to say, Everybody feels like that. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal. You’re going to be okay, I’m taking care of this. And and so it’s a good reminder that even people who you think, Oh, they seem fine. You need to check in with them and allow them like you said, Please throw up on me. Because if you’re just throwing up like I was freaking out and I was like wait a minute if I’m freaking out it must be a real thing because I’m in the industry. Well no, it wasn’t it was all in my head. But I didn’t have anyone there to throw up on and so as a result I suffered and it turned out okay of course but you’re so absolutely right. And we forget this as Realtors sometimes because we always think it’s going to work out we’ll figure this out. The person might not always feel the same way.
Marisol Jusino 44:41
Well not lost. We need to find out where are they coming from? Yeah, where are they? And if we know them well enough. We know whether this is the first transaction we know whether they went to foreclosure in the past. Right you know they love their home, or you know they get denied it or they got taken by another agent, which unfortunately, it’s happened. So the more we know, when they say these, or even before they say it, because if we know, we know, we can walk a step ahead and say, Listen, this is the way you might be feeling now, and I usually turn specially to the buyers after they sign the contract is like, listen, after we signed this, this is the process. But this is the process that we have in writing, these are the steps that are going to happen, doesn’t matter what but now, let’s talk about the process that you are going to go through emotionally. Because I see what’s going on.
D.J. Paris 45:44
That is a brilliant way of saying it and also really, really calming. Because it it what you’re doing is, of course is is you’re basically validating someone’s feelings. And instead of just like, oh, it’s gonna work out, don’t worry, I got it. It’s like, I understand how you’re feeling a lot of people feel this way. You know, I’m here to guide you through. I’m, you know, I’ve got you and and being able to empathize with them and say, that must be a hard feeling. I get it. I hear you. I’m here to help help you through it is, is really what, and most people aren’t willing to share that without you asking because it’s embarrassing. It can be it can be embarrassing to somebody, it can be just painful to talk about. I mean, no one wants to talk about fear. But it’s there. And so what I loved about what you said is you asked How are you feeling about this? And if they were like, oh my god, I’m totally freaking out. I don’t think you’d be like, Well, you shouldn’t freak out. You should be like, no, no, I get it. Don’t worry, I’m here with you. I’m not I’m going to be the rock that you can hold on to as your freakout. And we’re gonna get you through.
Marisol Jusino 46:51
That’s it, just walk a step ahead of them. And just that, that I know what you need to know what’s going on. And tell him this is this is okay. It is okay. Or if they put a little bit of distance because people do that tells you there’s something there is something is going on that they’re scared to share. And at that point, you’ll see just evaluate the relationship they agent client relationship from A to C, evaluate all those conversations, because people always tell us how they feel. Yeah, they always do. So and if you know, we know, you know, and you will not be able to take offense if even if they scream at you or whatever. Because you know what’s going on? Yeah, I mean, it’s not you. It’s just, oh,
D.J. Paris 47:46
I was yelling at my girlfriend the night before. She had nothing to do with the transaction. She just was in the room. So I’m like, I’m yelling. I mean, I’m not really, I’m not blaming her, but I’m yelling, oh my god, I freaked on it. And she was just like, it’s gonna be okay. And I was like, you don’t know you’re not in the business. I’m in the business. I’m freaking out. Right? So what happens in your right being there to really be there during those emotional moments, and making sure the person feels comfortable to share those emotional moments? Boy, boy, you are, you know, they’re going to tell everybody about you. If if you help them during those during those tough emotional moments, and that they feel comfortable enough to share, they’re going to tell everybody oh my gosh, my realtor is the greatest. Yeah.
Marisol Jusino 48:27
Let’s remind them early on. That the reality is when you’re going to do something new, everybody’s an expert around them. Because I tell them now you’re going to go you’re gonna tell someone that you’re going to buy a house, everybody’s going to be an expert. And I said and people are willing tension, people are formed from a good heart. But the reality and I tell him, like, for example, and I use the pimple story, for example, if you get a pimple, you know, everybody’s telling you how to get rid of it. Everybody is, well, the one you have to go to the dermatologist, go to the expert, you know, because you can end up burning your face. So it’s okay. But if someone tells you something that puts you on ease and makes you scare, tell me tell me and I can explain what’s going on. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 49:19
or just correct the information. Sometimes it’s just like you said sometimes just bad information. You know, putting toothpaste on the pimple, maybe that maybe that really hurts the skin. Even though it sounds like a cool little hack to fix it. Maybe that actually would make things worse. I I had a similar experience at a dermatologist. Many years ago, where I was reading online, people were saying, oh, you should wash your hair less. It’s actually bad for the scalp to wash your hair every day. And I was like, Okay, I read enough articles that said it. I just assumed it was true. Waiting to go see my dermatologist who had been practicing for like 40 years. And I go it’s okay if I don’t wash my hair every day. Right? And he goes, No, you should wash your hair every day and I go no, no, I’m reading this stuff. He goes That’s wrong. don’t know, I’m not gonna maybe it’s different for women and for men, I’m not here to tell you what to do anybody what to do. But he was like, nope, well, I have I have a skin condition. So for my particular skin condition, so maybe I don’t know what the average person should do. But he said, with your skin condition, you need to wash every single day he goes, it’s actually going to make it worse. If you only wash your hair, like two or three times a week, it’s actually bad for you. And I was like, Oh, he goes, Yeah, don’t read. If you’re gonna read stuff online, run it by me. I’ll tell you the truth. And I was like, oh, yeah, of course. So you’re absolutely right. You know that making somebody because who knows what people read online, they can be persuaded they can read things that that you know, are in their best interest. And they don’t know it. And so that’s why you as a professional are so important. So Marisol, I think this is a great, perfect place to wrap up. I do want to mention for everyone listening, that Marisol works in Florida and guess where a lot of people retire to Florida, we all know that. So so at least everyone from Illinois goes down there. I know my parents are down there as well. So if anyone out there has clients moving to Florida, whether they’re, you know, maybe a second home, maybe retirement, you know, maybe they’re moving to the villages or one of those kinds of places, wherever they are, you know, especially if they’re in Central Florida. Reach out to Marisol she would love the opportunity to connect with other realtors. And by the way, she has clients that move other places too. So maybe you can work out a nice little referral network. And by the way, too, you know and I don’t know Marisol, if you’re looking to expand your group your team, but of course if you are people can reach out to you if they think they’d be a good fit on your team. But if you have clients, if anyone has clients that are moving to Central Florida, have them reach out to Marisol because obviously she is one of the top agents in that area. So and I want everybody to follow Marisol. First go to her website, which is g 12. Professional group.com link to that in the show notes and follow her on Instagram. M Just see no one at on Instagram. So m just seen one link to that as well, in the show notes, Marisol. It was such a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you so much. This is actually we had a technical issue the first time we record we were trying to record so Marisol was nice enough to reschedule. Come back and do it all over again. So we are so grateful to you. And we on behalf of our audience, we want to thank you for coming in and spending an hour with us. And then also on behalf of Marisol and myself, we want to thank the audience for continuing to listen and support our show. Please tell a friend that’s all that we really ever asked if you tell one other realtor about the show. Let them know, especially somebody that maybe wants to break into the Hispanic market or learn how to serve that community. Even more effectively. Send them a link to this episode, you can send them to our website, keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve ever done, you can stream it right from that website or pull up a podcast app, tell your friend pull up their podcast app search for keeping it real and hit that subscribe button. We would appreciate it Marisol, thank you so much. I will see we will see everyone on the next episode. And yeah, I have. Well this is Memorial Day weekend. By the time this is released. It’ll be past that. But I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day. And for everyone watching us live have a happy holiday so Marisol, thank you so much.
Marisol Jusino 53:18
Thank you so much. She was a true pleasure. Take care
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