Category: Podcast Episodes

Happy 100th episode to us! 🙂

Luis Ortiz is not only a top 1% producer at RE/MAX (as well as a RE/MAX Hall of Fame member); many of his team members are also top 1% producers. While nearly all of his team’s business comes from referrals, Luis built his business educating renters on the advantages of home ownership. In this episode he goes through step-by-step how he started in real estate and why love, service and care are his “why.” Luis believes that once you have your “why” the “how” follows.

Luis Ortiz can be reached at 708.484.2300 and luisortizsells@gmail.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:14
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real. The only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers where the top 1% of Realtors share the secrets of their success. My name is DJ Parris. I am your host, and this is our 100th episode. We are so excited and grateful that you have listened to the podcast, some of you since the very beginning. Others of you are new to the show what we do here if you happen to be new, if you didn’t catch it from the tagline I just said, we talked to the top 1% of Realtors here in Chicago and ask them how they built their business. And generously they share all of their secrets. Because as I’ve learned over 100 episodes, there are no secrets. And the people at the very top tend to be very generous with giving away everything they do, because they believe in the law of abundance, and that as enough business for everyone. So today on the show, we have Luis Ortiz, and from Remax so we’re gonna get to him in just a moment. But I just want to reflect a little bit on the last 100 episodes and say a couple of things to the audience. First of all, thank you for listening, really appreciate it. Thank you for telling a friend. Our numbers have continued to grow ever since our first episode. Hopefully that never stops. And we’re really honored because we have people reaching out to us to do advertising spots now, which we never thought would be a thing. So that’s pretty exciting. We might have some advertising opportunities here shortly, if you’re listening and want to sponsor an episode, let’s say, so be on the lookout for that. Also, if you’re not already a member of our Facebook group, please go do that just do a search for keeping it real podcast, you’ll find us and we post a daily link to a story that we found online that real estate brokers can use to grow their business. And also we post links to all of our episodes, as well as links to the guests that we have in case you want to reach them directly. So we do that there. You can also visit our website keeping it real pod.com where we have every episode, you can stream it right from the website. Obviously we are also on iTunes, Google Play any podcast directory. So just pull up a podcast app on your phone. Do a search for keeping it real podcast subscribe there. Oh, and lastly, if you visit our website, keeping it real pod.com You can subscribe to our email newsletter. All we do is send out an email every time we have an episode. So if that’s the way you’d like to be notified, please do that. Alright, that’s enough of me. You’re here to listen to Luis and we’ve got him coming up right now.

Today on the show, we have Luis Ortiz. Actually, sorry, let me start that over my apologies. Today on the show, we have Luis Ortiz from Remax partners in Berlin. With 15 years in the real estate industry, Luis Ortiz continues to flourish as one of the top agents in the Illinois market. His dedication and determination to succeed exudes in his customer service and evergrowing track record with a team of 10 by his side, his knowledge base continues to flourish while making a difference in the community. Clients are seen as family and not just transactions. Luis is also in the REMAX Hall of Fame and is ranked number 12 in the top 100 teams in all of REMAX which is huge. He’s also a top 1% producer, of course with Chicago Association of Realtors year after year. Now on just a couple of years ago, July 27 of 2017. Luis fulfilled a lifetime goal of owning his own REMAX office, which is in Berlin and making a difference in the community is his top priority. And his clients truly feel that he loves serves and cares about them. And Luis will have to you have to correct me if I’m wrong because I just looked at some stats just in the past 12 months alone and this may be low, I might be undercutting this number. So you have to correct me. Here Luis is Lisa has done 42 million in production which is 218 sales transactions. That is truly remarkable. So anyway, welcome. And we’re so excited to have you on the show. Welcome.

Luis Ortiz 4:34
Hey, thank you for having me. Appreciate it. I couldn’t have done all of it without the support of my teammates. So a big shout out to them that they deserve every everything as well. I don’t just they’re pushing them they push me so without them I’m nobody as well. So yeah,

D.J. Paris 4:57
I was I’m I’m not a producing broker. However, I feel the same way about the people that work at our firm. And all most of the people we’ve interviewed who have big groups like you do feel the same way. So we I want to make sure we acknowledge all the team members, for sure. So tell us a little bit about I know you’ve been in the business now 15 years, which is incredible. Tell us about how Why did you get in the business? How did you start?

Luis Ortiz 5:26
Well, I started off like 15 year old liberal, 15 years ago, a friend that had a an office, and a real estate office said, Hey, I see you’re selling. I used to sell vitamins, part time job, and then construction. So keep myself busy. And he said, Hey, I see that you’re, you’re not afraid to talk to people. So want to join the real estate world. And I saw that he was doing great in his, you know, everyone sees Oh, you driving a nice car. That’s the man the first thing, right? Oh, this guy has a nice car. Like what he’s doing and what can I do? That’s how I I joined became a broker about 15 years ago.

D.J. Paris 6:17
Wow. Well, you know, so a lot of the feedback we get from our listeners is, if they’re newer to the business, the one of the questions they often ask is DJ, please ask these top one percenters? What did they do when they first started when they had no clients? You know, they probably had a contact list of friends and family. But what did you do? Or what advice do you have for brokers who are just starting out really trying to get going?

Luis Ortiz 6:46
Yeah, the main thing is your sphere of influence your friends, your family, co workers, or anyone that doesn’t know that you have a broker’s license, just you have to get out there and let them know that you’re a real estate professional. And you you’re here to help him out. But concentrate on that. You just starting off, you don’t even have money. But if you do have money, then start arming start. Yeah, the biggest thing is farming and promote yourself. But if you don’t, that’s how I started with my sphere of influence. And from one client, I got two clients. And from those two, I got more so that kept growing, the quality and the service that we give them, instead of like you said, we’re not viewing our client as a transaction or a number, we view them as a client that is going to be in our family and invite them to every event. And we want to see them every time. So I would have advice to strongly your sphere of influence will be your number one.

D.J. Paris 8:03
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more, it seems that the vast majority of consumers buyers, sellers end up working if they’ve not worked with a realtor before, if they have worked with a realtor before. And they had a good experience. The stats say they go back to that person time and time again. But if they haven’t yet had a real estate broker to work with, maybe it’s their first time purchasing or maybe they inherited a house and they’re selling it for and it’s their first experience with brokers, the studies, National Association Realtors does this every year to where they do these kinds of studies. So like, where did you find your realtor? And overwhelmingly, even now we’re, you know, so so far into the digital age and the social connecting age online, is the vast majority still go with someone they already knew. And so, you know, for new brokers, just like we said, so, so perfectly like, yeah, you know, they’re going to choose somebody, likely somebody they know, might as well be you. But you know, when you’re new, they probably don’t remember your realtor, right? Unless you’re consistently reminding them in a polite and non pushy way, say, Oh, by the way, you know, I have now a realtor. So I think I think that’s really great advice, just consistently reminding people and, you know, expanding that sphere of influence whenever possible. Yeah, absolutely. So let’s talk about I want to talk about running an office because this oftentimes is another question are, we have a lot of listeners who are doing well, and they’re like, ooh, gosh, maybe I should, you know, start to build a team or in your case, build a team and run an office which are to two very big, big tasks. I mean, the production that your team has, has put on the books and the numbers they’ve put up. And again, I know you don’t look at people as transactions, but if we just look at the numbers, it is absolutely incredible. You know, somebody from your team is is closing a deal almost every day of the year. A sales transaction that is that is just remarkable. So you guys do so much volume. And again and I imagine a vast majority of it is referral based. Tell us a little bit by that seems like a lot to manage. Can you talk a little bit about how you guys organized all of that?

Luis Ortiz 10:10
Yeah, well, that’s why we have the team, because in order for us to do that volume, we have a system that once we get the lead, where we get the referral, then you talk to the referral, we advise them what to do sit down with them to get approved, and we send them to our preferred lender, and then that’s it. But from once they go into the lending side, they get pre approved, they come back, then we assign them either to myself, or to one of my team members that are licensed and their buyer specialist, they go out there, they, they go and show you homes, and get you the right home, also. And after that they go under contract, we negotiate the deal. I’m part of every single deal of it, I touch it every morning, and then we also have a meeting on on the pipeline, at least once that’s at least once a week, that’s a mandatory meeting. So once it goes on the country, it goes to the transaction coordinators, and they’re the ones that take it to the closing. So the inspections, the attorneys, the appraisals, any issues, they take care of it, were involved as well. And to the closing table. So it’s, it’s so it’s a little process, but it’s it’s a once you have a process going it’s it’s like a machine, it’s just keeps going.

D.J. Paris 11:54
Yeah, and I know you your team works a lot with buyers, are a lot of those first time homebuyers or you know, what’s it? Or are they a lot of them? That’s their second purchase? Or?

Luis Ortiz 12:05
Yeah, the I would say, I don’t have a precise number, but I have like close to 80 80% first time homebuyers The rest will be second and investors we deal a lot with investors. Sure.

D.J. Paris 12:18
And so just out of curiosity, do how do you find those first time homebuyers, obviously referrals? But are you doing you know, some brokers do web seminars or webinars sort of the rent? I know renting versus buying is a real passion for you. So can you talk a little bit about that?

Luis Ortiz 12:38
Yeah, yeah, the, we get them through, like I said, the referrals, those are big, and do seminars. With renting versus buying, we team up with our lender, and the lender gives us a we give them the client, the renting versus buying because if you’re over time, you’re spending, you just throwing money away. And what we’re doing is gonna get you to a home that has some equity. And has equity and you’re not just throwing the money, wait, you’re actually investing money into it. And later on, you could sell it and, and, and make money get your money back. Because it’s it’s really throwing out if you see the charts, you will be surprised if you’re renting for 15 $1,500. And then eight years, 10 years, 15 years, we’re talking about 88,000, even close to 150,000. If we do more years, just going to wait because we do have clients that have been renting for 15 years, some of them are 20 years, and they don’t see that they’ve been throwing away $150,000 In the past 10 to 15 years. So that’s when they realize like, wow, we just throw that money.

D.J. Paris 14:07
Yeah, I think it’s funny. I remember when I bought my boat, I bought a condo a long, long time ago. And I really didn’t understand other than I felt like I should buy a place. I didn’t really understand all of the financial benefits. And I just remember my taxes that particular year going, oh my gosh, you can deduct the interest. And I just didn’t know that I went oh, that’s a huge, huge deal. And, you know, so I think you know, you must you must be talking about that in these seminars. And I think that everyone who’s listening needs to remember that, you know, first time buyers are largely most of the time they’re not that sophisticated or knowledgeable about the buying versus renting sort of conversation. And so if you’re listening like Luis was saying that they do these events, they partner up with a lender And you know, so if you’re a broker and you’re new and you know most of your friends are renting, this is an opportunity to start educating them. And if you want to get some support from these ancillary providers, like lenders, attorneys, title companies, places like that, they often will partner. They love doing these types of seminars. And so they will help sometimes shoulder the cost, they can sometimes even find the location and even promote it to their own clients. So the education I think, couldn’t be more important. And I’m imagine that’s a huge part of your business, too.

Luis Ortiz 15:37
Yeah, no, absolutely. We love teaming up with them. They love teaming up with us. Because it’s it’s crazy when when you see numbers that are just anyone that’s listening. If you’re renting for 1200, and you’ve been renting for five years, you’re just about $72,000 out the door.

D.J. Paris 16:00
Yeah. Yeah, you’re in even if the place doesn’t appreciate and it stays exactly the same cost. You know, the are the value stays the same the day you buy it, the day you sell it, even if it never goes up a petty boy, all those tax benefits you got along the way are make it a no brainer. And oftentimes, the mortgage is about the same cost, if not less than depends how you structure it, but can be exactly the same. And so it is in again, we we I think as real estate professionals assume everyone knows and gets that. I assure you they don’t I know I didn’t understand or get that. And the and I really could have purchased yours before I did. I didn’t know I could. So assume that, you know, people just they they don’t know. And huge opportunity there.

Luis Ortiz 16:47
Yeah, absolutely.

D.J. Paris 16:50
So are you are you originally from Berlin? Are you from that area? Are you from somewhere else? Or?

Luis Ortiz 16:55
No, I’m originally from the north side of Chicago, then graduated in the north side. And my parents moved out. We moved out to Glendale heights. Sure. And then that’s why I did High School for for two years for Gene junior and senior years. And we’re there for about 10 years. Then I moved back to Chicago and and in Berwyn. I’ve been doing for number one. I’ve been doing business for 10 years. I really liked the market here since I started. And the people and the businesses around. So in Berwyn, I’ve been doing 1010 years now.

D.J. Paris 17:42
And how important it I know it’s important for you, but I’d be curious to hear your advice for our listeners, how important is it to have a geographic specialty? You know, I know you obviously don’t only do business in Berlin of course business help happens all over the place. But do you feel it’s important to say hey, you know, like, I can help you anywhere. But here’s here’s really my wheelhouse or at least knowing that internally is that been helpful for you?

Luis Ortiz 18:10
Oh, yeah, it’s it’s the area that he areas that you would dominate in you, you know it like back of your hand that a house anything that comes up on the market, you know, that that’s that property? You seen it? You drove by it you been in there or? It does make a big, big difference? Yeah, I

D.J. Paris 18:37
agree. And a lot of times brokers, especially new brokers starting out, they don’t really know and I always say just pick your favorite neighborhood for now. And study the MLS 2030 minutes a day, go to the broker open houses if they you know if they’re happening at learn the inventory. And just over like six months, if you did just 2030 minutes of looking to see every home every that’s on the market, knowing the price points, knowing apartments, if you’re doing rentals, and even commercial space, if you’re interested in that. You six months to a year you will be such an expert. I imagine nobody knows Berwyn, better than Luis and his team, because that is their primary focus. And, you know, if you’re looking for a home there, think about the brand that Luis and his team have built in Berlin. There’s nobody else I mean, he his team, is it and they are going to win every deal because of that, that hyperfocus around that specialty. So I’m so glad you shared that.

Luis Ortiz 19:36
Yeah, no, thank you for that. And it’s true. People don’t see that. Having a name out there that we deal with a lot of brokers and colleagues that they know that we do a great job. They do want to work with us and Odetta helps out with the negotiations and if there’s multiple offers as well, too.

D.J. Paris 19:57
Yeah, I would like to switch gears to talk Talk about the evolution of, of, of your of technology in your business. Because I know you, you hit the ground running and you’ve been running this really successful practice and now the successful office and successful team, and you’re literally one of the top REMAX teams in the country, which is, Luis is very humble. But this is a big deal. I mean, ReMax I think is still the largest real estate firm in the world, or if they are not their number two, but I think they’re number one. And he’s we’re still still number one. Yeah. And, and he’s one of the top people in one of the top firms in the top firm. So let’s let’s talk about that. Because I know you had a funny, or system that’s evolved. We’re used to have sticky notes all over your car. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Luis Ortiz 20:42
Oh, yeah, that’s that was my, my, my calendar, that was my reminders. That was my, my things to do with my sticky notes, write everything down a client called me this, this and that I go put it on a sticky note, put it on the dashboard. So yeah, it was funny, because when some of the clients would say, Oh, well, can you drive us? Sure come in, and they will be like, Oh, this, it looks a little funny. Because it’s, it’s like covered in sticky notes everywhere. And yeah, it was. I don’t know how I kept it up. But I’m pretty sure that if a sticky note fell off, we’d be screwed because I didn’t know about my appointment. So yeah, the calendar, the phone, the smartphone, when it came out. It was a game changer. You can see your your appointments there, because 10 years ago, yeah, I think it was 10 years ago, I still have flip flops or still have five years ago. So yeah, the sticky notes were I wouldn’t go back to them. So whoever is using them, stop it. Just do your calendar and your your Things To Do list in front of you. I have a thing to do list in front of me every day. Yeah. And, and that’s where I write down everything.

D.J. Paris 22:14
Well, if you have to, and you probably have a great CI of the world’s worst memory, you probably have a great memory, but you’re still doing 200 Plus transactions a year. So you know, there’s there’s just no way to keep it all in your head, even if you have the world’s best memory. So yeah, systems are important. But I love the fact that that you that you still had a system even though maybe it wasn’t the most elegant system back then. But you you look you had a portable printer? And did that go with you in the car as well.

Luis Ortiz 22:42
Oh, yeah, that portable printer will be in the car to meet clients and and print out the contracts, print copies for them. Print out listings, it will be a printer that portable charger. And I will meet them at Starbucks anywhere. I would do it literally anywhere in the parking lot. Sure. And that’s how I managed to do it when I was by myself. Oh, yeah. It’s funny that that you mentioned that, but I still have a little printer.

D.J. Paris 23:19
Well, look, I mean, I think the point is you came prepared. And you know, as as a broker, who’s most brokers are working remote these days or from their car, at least a good chunk of the business is done, you know, remotely. And if you’re, you know, if you work in an office, that’s great, too. But you already have everything at the office, but you know, your car is your office for a lot of a lot of brokers. And so make sure you have you know, maybe we maybe we don’t need portable printers as much anymore. But just being prepared, I think is important is having, you know, if you’re showing the buyers a house have a have a whole kit in your trunk, in case you know, they need, you know, 40s to not scuff up the floor or you know, have that stuff and you can there’s lots of resources online that say okay, here’s the 25 things you need in your trunk if you’re a realtor, and you know imagine Luis is one of those people that has all that stuff.

Luis Ortiz 24:12
And it’s that’s, that’s, that’s very important. A screwdriver, a knife, a pocket knife, all that is it was still in my car. So

D.J. Paris 24:24
I want to talk about client appreciation because you you work with a lot of first time homebuyers. So they are the first real estate professional experience they have is with you or your team. And then I know you stay in touch with them after the sale and I know that that’s a huge component. Of course making sure people don’t forget about you. How do you guys do that? What what I know you mentioned you do events, right?

Luis Ortiz 24:48
Yeah, we have events. We have events for happy hours for clients that want to get the unwind and we haven’t once a month Wow. And then yeah, we have that once a month. And we have, throughout the year we have if it’s like, Thanksgiving, we, they come in, we give them the pies and we give them a lot of stuff that we have here. Christmas also pictures with Santa pictured with money. That’s a lot. And in the biggest one that we have is the the summer event that we have in the back of the office, it’s we block out, it’s like two blocks, by when blacks enough for us. And we have performers, music, food waterslides chumpies. What’s it called? The tank, the tank. All kinds of events. Sure stuff for the kids and grownups. And, and that’s, that’s one of the biggest ones and, and that’s how they will continue to see them face to face.

D.J. Paris 26:06
Yeah, we live in such a, a digitally connected but interpersonally disconnected kind of environment these days where we know what’s going on with our friends from 20 years ago, if they’re posting on Facebook, but when’s the last time we saw them in person. And this? You know, I think the most successful brokers I’ve I’ve met with are very, very much like what Luis mentioned, although Luis goes so far above and beyond even what most of the people we interview on the show have done for you know, doing a once a month, happy hour. By the way, another opportunity if you’re a broker who maybe your budget for those types of events is small, or maybe your budget is zero. Again, you can partner with lenders and attorneys and and you can find build those relationships, and they can help subsidize some of the costs there. But just think he’s doing like 14 events a year minimum, including one that’s a giant festival in right right there at you know, near his office, along with, you know, a lot of holiday events, and then the happy hours. And you know, it’s God, boy, that is such a great idea, and also a great way to give back to the people that support your business. And obviously, that’s why you do it. Yeah. And I suspect most brokers don’t do those things, or at least, maybe they could do more of them. So if everyone’s listening, plan your next event, even if it’s just for the people that you know you’ve worked with, and you just want to say thanks, because that’s a that’s what I’ll keep on coming back, of course.

Luis Ortiz 27:45
Absolutely, yes, that’s correct. And I

D.J. Paris 27:47
also I also just wanted to hear you told us before we started the podcast, but I want to hear the story from you. You had a really unusual experience, where you had a somebody was looking for a multi unit complex, you know, to purchase, I’m guessing, and it turned out the client really wasn’t qualified. Do you mind sharing that? You know, the story I’m referencing?

Luis Ortiz 28:09
Well, there was a couple of them. Is that the one that well, we weren’t. We worked with so many.

D.J. Paris 28:19
That’s true. That’s true. You have hundreds of clients. Well, this was where the client turned out to to not have a home themselves. Where they were Oh, okay. Can you tell that story?

Luis Ortiz 28:32
Yeah, they bought I mean, wow, we’re, we’re shopping around and they gave me a pre approval letter, but that’s That was way back then. I didn’t even call them the lender and see if they were approved. Usually do right now. We absolutely don’t call the lender and CA This person approved. But they gave me a letter, but we showed him a lot of multi family homes and and at the end of the day, they weren’t qualified. They just want it to go look at houses and they lied about the pre approval and and actually did this kinda at the end became a good friend of mine and it turned out that later on, but several properties for me in and he’s a good referral source.

D.J. Paris 29:35
Wow, that’s yeah, that’s That’s it, that’s how it works. Right? It’s it always, you know, and, and they always say What’s that expression, the it’s never crowded along the extra mile or, or something to that effect where as as a broker, you know, if you go be above and beyond and really, you know, stay with your clients and meet them where they’re at in the process what you find because they don’t forget that and a lot of brokers don’t go the extra mile quite frankly, Luis of course knows that more than anyone he does go the extra mile. And that’s why his he’s been so successful. Let you know. So you have this really great REMAX office this this, this, this team that’s just crushing it. Are you in the process of looking to expand the team?

Luis Ortiz 30:24
Yeah, absolutely. We’re, we’re always looking to expand the team and the office as well. So when people think that, that if then I’m not hiring, I am hiring as as long as you fit the team criteria, because also I let the team have a say so on the on the hiring part, too, because we don’t want to have a culture. That’s a bad charter. So I give them the BOK have a green light or red light. But it’s there has to be a good reason why we’re not hiring. But yeah, we’re hiring and and if you want to be close to us, but not as part of the team, obviously the office is hiring as well. And learn from top producers, not just me. Other agents, colleagues here that are also tough. Yeah, that’s

D.J. Paris 31:21
true. I wanted to make sure we mentioned that it’s not just Luis, who’s who’s successful, his whole team is successful individually. They’re crushing it as a team, they’re crushing it. And you know, Luis is is the one who’s guiding the guiding the ship and at the at the helm. And you know, I know if I was out there producing and I wanted to really learn from from one of the best brokers I could, you know, I would certainly consider working at your firm as well. So, the name of his firm, by the way, is REMAX partners, they’re in Berlin, and we will post a link directly to both your Facebook page although you can find it if you just go on Facebook and search for REMAX partners and then Berwyn you’ll, it’ll pop up because there’s there’s a REMAX partners out in California. Obviously, that’s not Luis, but the one here locally. And then also we’ll post a link to your Instagram, but you can actually even schedule appointments right from there, you guys made it really easy to get in touch via your social media, which is really cool. So I will post a link so people can check it out. For sure. And then also at least it’s not just brokers who listen, we have buyers, sellers, renters investors, who listened to the show and the reason we know this is because after the episode it’s not uncommon for us to hear back from someone we interview going, Hey, I got a couple of clients that was they heard my podcast so if there is anyone out there who says gosh, you know, I didn’t, you know, I’m looking for a good broker. And you know, Luis or someone on his team might be a good fit. What’s the best way they should reach out?

Luis Ortiz 32:58
Reach out to the at our Facebook, people are into social media. The loser T’s team or does 708-715-2150 That’s the cell phone 708-715-2150

D.J. Paris 33:19
Yeah, that’s great. We will and we will post the links to that also in the notes so if you’re listening in your car don’t worry about writing that down just go to the notes for the podcast episode you’ll see how to get in touch you can actually just tap on it right right from your phone thank goodness and email call and also visit them on social media so we’ll post those links for you. And one one last thing before we before we end up I’d love to ask Luis if he had just one piece of advice for anyone looking to increase production sort of what you see as and we’ve gone through a lot so you know even if we just go over something we’ve already covered one piece of advice for anyone listening that’s just looking to go that extra mile who’s a broker? Any suggestions there?

Luis Ortiz 34:07
Yeah, yeah. If you want the depending on what you want, first you have to find out what you really want what is your why is why are you doing this? If you if you know those things, then you can set up your your your map, that’s that’s what I recommend first knowing your why it might be your kids it might be yourself or it just might be a challenge but know your why it might be money too because obviously you need money to buy a nice car you need money to to feed your kids and pay the mortgage right? So I would strongly just go deep in and see your why. Because a lot of people are in this biz And during this business just to just to spend some time and really don’t know, but once they find that why it’s like opening up opening up a something that you that you won’t even, I can’t even tell you how it feels, but it feels really good. And it just, it makes you fire up even more it makes you like, if you’re tired, you’re going out there and wanting another 10 miles. That’s how it feels.

D.J. Paris 35:35
Yeah, boy, you know, I’m so glad you said that. That is I asked that question a lot of the show. And I think you may be the first or and we’ve done now about 100 episodes. So I think one other person may have said the similar thing. And I think it’s really important. A lot of times people say well, here’s a tactic to get more business and Luis is is taking a step back and going, what’s the reason you do this, and I think he’s so right, because attitude is everything. Passion is everything. And the only way you’re going to be passionate or have the right attitude is knowing exactly why you got in this business and, and what you’re you’re looking for out of it. And like Billy says that’s, that’s what keeps you going when it’s late at night or early in the morning. And you don’t, you don’t want to really get up there and do it. Because, you know, we all would rather sit in bed, you know, and not not work early or late. But you’re so right. So everyone out there, you know, know your why. And then everything else pretty much follows, right?

Luis Ortiz 36:35
Yeah, it really does. Because that will give you like a vision and tunnel vision that you’ll be surprised how it comes to you naturally. And then once you’re because you could be listening to 1000s and reading 1000 books and listening to me. Because I’ve been, I could tell 100 people what to do. And if you don’t know, like your why you won’t do it. I can tell you people say oh, what’s your secret? Well, this is my secret. There’s no secret. This is what I do. This is the ABC process. Oh, I’m gonna do it. Okay, you do it. And I give them the tools. I give them everything. And right, you don’t do it?

D.J. Paris 37:19
That’s right. Yeah, they don’t know. They’re why I remember we interviewed somebody out. And then we’ll just end with this. And I can’t remember who it was at the moment. So I apologize. But this is such a great story that is so perfectly married to what to what Luis just said, where somebody whose son was coming into the business. And he the dad, the father had been a broker for years and years. And the son came in and said, Here’s how many, here’s how many deals I want to close next year. And it was a certain number. And the father said, Okay, I want you to turn around and walk out of the office. And then I want you to come back and say this is how many people I want to help in the next in the next year. And he said it’s a small it’s a small shift. It’s still ultimately the same goal. But if you come at it from a My why is not to close the transaction Luis’s and why is not closing the transaction. He’s there to help. And I think that shows in his success, and also his team’s success. And really, that does it for our 100th episode. So on behalf of Luis and myself, we thank you. First, we think Luis for spending time to be on our podcast and share everything he knows about building a successful brokerage and team and we thank all of you for listening. I had the idea to do this several years ago, and finally got off my rear ended and did something about it. And I’m really grateful that it’s resonated with so many listeners and we will keep making more episodes. Assume you keep listening. I mean, if you stop listening, I’m gonna stop. So keep listening. Thanks again and we’ll see you on the next episode.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Julie Dorger and Sara McCarthy of the Dorger McCarthy Group met at a previous career in event planning and decided to pivot to real estate. In the past 15 years they’ve grown to one of the top producing teams in Chicago. They believe that meeting the client where they’re at in the home buying or selling process is paramount to their practice. In addition, Julie and Sara host Boots For Babes, a charitable organization that provides clothing to children in need.

Julie Dorger can be reached at 773.294.7776 and julie@dorgermccarthy.com.

Sara McCarthy can be reached at 312.961.4872 and sara@dorgermccarthy.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:15
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers for real estate brokers. And we’re grateful for all our new listeners, we have listeners. Now all over the country, we’re getting feedback, emails, and messages and social media, where people are finding the show or being passed. The show from people that listen and our listenership is keeps increasing. And so we’re so thankful for that we’re happy that people are finding it useful. We’re getting so much fan mail, it’s wonderful. And I’m glad that it’s being that people are finding value in it. Because we’re coming up on our 100th episode, this is actually episode 99. So thank you for everyone who has stuck with us throughout this past 100 episodes or so. And we’re gonna keep going and just keep doing them. We’re getting a lot of great feedback from you. And we’re going to keep providing these interviews that we know you love. Today is no exception. We have the dog and McCarthy group from Keller Williams in Lakeview. And Sarah and Julie are gonna come on in just a minute and tell their story and you’re gonna learn a lot from them. I’m going to ask the audience though, since I’ve got you for the next few seconds before we pass it over. I want to ask you to do just a couple quick things to help us how can you help us by the way, really just three ways is all I can think of one is obviously keep listening. But also to is make sure to tell a friend if you know other realtors who you know are interested in learning from top producers like Julian Sarah, certainly feel free to pass their this podcast over to them. And third is to like us on Facebook. This way you’ll get notified in real time, whenever an episode goes live or that we’re recording an episode. We also try to post content daily about an article that we find online that we think would be helpful for you growing your business so you can find us on Facebook facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod, we’re just do a search for keeping it real podcast you should find us pretty easy. Also you Lastly, you can visit us on our website, which is keeping it real pod.com You can stream every episode we’ve ever done right from our website. And there’s links to install it in whatever podcast app you’re using on your Android or Apple device. So without further ado, let’s turn it over to Julie and Sarah.

Today on the show we have Julie daughter and Sarah McCarthy from the daughter McCarthy Group at Keller Williams at the new office in Lakeview. The Durga McCarthy group first and foremost listens. And this has been paramount to their success in real estate. Since starting in real estate two in 2004. They have sold over 250 million in volume and successfully participated in over 650 sales transactions. They are included of course as as our our guests are in the Chicago Association of Realtors top 1% producers, Julie and Sarah actually worked together prior to their career in real estate in onsite logistics, and the knowledge they gained in relation to branding and marketing has allowed their team to thrive for the past 15 years. In real estate. Julian Sarah also host boots for babes, which is a holiday drive for children in need. And welcome to the show, Julie and Sarah.

Sara McCarthy 3:48
Thank you so much. Thank you glad to be here.

D.J. Paris 3:50
Let’s first identify who is who.

Sara McCarthy 3:53
I’m Sarah, and thanks for the nice introduction, DJ.

Julie Dorger 3:58
And I’m Julie.

D.J. Paris 3:59
Awesome. Well, you’re You’re very welcome. And really the the pleasure is ours, you have been recommended by several people, too, over quite ever since we started. And so I’m glad we were able to accommodate you and also get on your schedule because I know you guys are super busy, obviously with the all the success that you’ve had. So what I would love the listeners to know right off the bat is, first of all, how did you guys both get into real estate? And let’s I want to hear the story of how you met and then decided to switch careers. So whoever wants to go first and can tell us that story.

Julie Dorger 4:33
Great.

So Sara and I met while working previously so we’ve been in the real estate business for 15 years. And prior to getting into real estate, we worked in the travel industry, as you had mentioned in onsite logistics. And we operated Corporate Incentive business trips, product launches, that sort of thing. So we were on on the road a lot traveled probably 20 to 22 days a month. Have a great experience little bit of a grind, but, you know, work together in some intense situations and really got along well and, you know, enjoy that experience. But I think I would say after a while just got a little bit hard to travel and but for ourselves, what industry could we segue to? Or what job could we segue to that? You know, would, I guess, work off of what we had done in the travel business, and my family comes from a real estate background. My dad was a home builder,

D.J. Paris 5:35
right? from Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. Yep.

Julie Dorger 5:39
Right. And my mom was in the business for many years, you know, in a sales capacity, as well as a managing broker. And I now have a brother in Cincinnati, who took over her business, and he’s got a coin in his family, too. So it’s kind of in our blood. And I think, you know, Sarah could speak to this too. But just owning houses and that sort of thing. We just thought it would be a great fit for us. And we got our real estate license and jumped in. And here we are.

D.J. Paris 6:05
It’s incredible. And Julie is also a Miami University grad, which I and my sister are as well.

Julie Dorger 6:11
Yeah, you know what I went, I actually went to Miami University, but graduated from the University of Cincinnati.

D.J. Paris 6:17
Ah, gotcha. Cool. Well, let’s talk a little bit about your how you guys have grown your business. So, you know, I would love to, because we have so many brokers who listen to the show, who are either new to the business, or maybe they’re part time thinking of going full time. And really, they’re, they’re still new ish, and they want to figure out how to what do I do? You know, when I’m, when I’m new? Could you talk a little bit about what you guys did back in 2004, when you when you made the switch to real estate?

Sara McCarthy 6:48
Absolutely. I always say to people, if we can do it, you can do it. When we moved to Chicago, and we’ve been here, you know, we we were here maybe 17 years now. And then decided to go into real estate. We knew five people, and we were related to three of them. So, and obviously delish when there was I’m originally from South Bend, and still have a family here in Chicago. But I share that because I think people who are starting off and they don’t have that sphere of influence, they don’t have, you know, people to go to immediately, I think we’re proof that you can build your business over time. And it’s just, it’s really the service factor, I think that we’re most passionate about. But ultimately, we started off doing four, four open houses, every weekend, each of us did, and we were very immune about following up. And just really, I think it’s just caring for people the way you know, meeting people where they’re at, I think is a really important factor for everybody. But I am a big believer that if you have the passion for the business, and you’d love it, the rest will come.

D.J. Paris 8:04
Yeah, boy, I couldn’t agree more. I it’s it’s amazing that, you know, every, almost every person we’ve ever interviewed on the show, talks about doing open houses. And yet, you know, I don’t know that every broker who’s new or who maybe isn’t super slammed with sales at the moment is really doing that. And they should be. And you know, that you should be reaching out to other brokers in your office, if there are other brokers and saying, Hey, can I host an open house for you? And is that where you guys got a lot of your leads? Initially?

Sara McCarthy 8:38
Absolutely, absolutely. And it was interesting, I was telling this to a new agent in our office the other day, I said, you know, we would not let the day end. Before we would to make sure we reached out to every single person that we met that day. And it was really like, Hey, what did you think of the house? And what, you know, how can we help? And is there anything that we could have done differently to the house and, you know, it’s just starting a conversation. And I really, I really believe this is a context for it. And I think if you come to people with genuine and authenticity, with service in mind, I think, you know, people are attracted to that and will respond. And we felt very blessed. You know, we it’s, it’s follow up, and it’s very basic, right? And it’s, it’s not easy, right? You get a lot of nose before you get the Yes, but you just continue to pump forward and you you know, you’re grateful when you do get the Yes,

Julie Dorger 9:35
go ahead. Just to kind of add on to that too. I also think that in this business, you have to find your voice and you have to find your spiel in the way that you present yourself and the way you present different properties and you know, open houses are such a great you know, not practice but you know, you come upon so many different people and questions and you know, pace of people coming through and it’s really a right way to kind of hone your craft? I think so I think it really helped us kind of find our voice quickly.

D.J. Paris 10:06
Yeah, it’s seems to be a way to start having conversations about real estate, where you can start honing your, you know, conversational skill, and being able to hold your own when somebody walks in the door. So

Sara McCarthy 10:22
absolutely, absolutely. And you know, what, it’s, it’s a relationship business. And I have to say to, you know, we feel so grateful, because those people that we met the first year, you just continue to love on them. I mean, that’s really what it is, and taking care of them and being a resource and offering them value to to this industry and helping them you know, I mean, obviously, homeownership is such a personal transaction. And I just you feel really, like it’s a privilege and an honor to be chosen to work with them. And I think, you know, hopefully that comes through.

D.J. Paris 11:02
Right, and that I know that you guys have built your business based on this cornerstone of paying attention listening and really trying to give the client what it is they need beyond obviously, just the transaction. And I think you’re right that by, you know, it sounds so basic, I mean, most things in life, I think are pretty basic, as far as keys to success seems to be a lot of there’s that old expression. What is it before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water after enlightenment, chop wood carry water? Right? Like, just keep keep keep the path? And do do the heavy lifting. Right. And I think that’s, you know, it’s funny, I had we had a broker come in, I’d love to get your guys’s opinion on this sort of broker who came in just to my office earlier today. And he’s, I think he’s newer. And he said, Hey, what should I do and social media? And I here’s what how do I promote myself? I said, don’t think about that. Because there’s first of all, there’s a million different strategies, some work, some don’t, it all depends on you. And by said, you know, at the end of the day, think about how can I add value to the people that follow me online? So if you’re talking about Facebook, you know, if all you’re doing is posting, hey, I got this new cool listing, check it out, well, okay, fine. But is that really providing a lot of value to the people follow you? Maybe, maybe not, I said, or you could do a video once a week for 60 seconds, saying, here’s what you need to know about the market this week? Or did you did you know, rates are at a 13 month low. And if you have a home and you haven’t thought of refinancing, it might be a good time to call your your loan officer. So that’s, you know, you guys are all about value. So I want to like talk a little bit about, obviously, that being a huge differentiator for your team, and then maybe other brokers who haven’t yet figured out how to add value. Can you talk a little bit about how you what separates you from maybe other brokers that you’ve seen over the last 15 years?

Julie Dorger 12:53
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think, and this is something we encourage with our team, you know, as well as we focus on the service piece of this business. And if you do that, and you do it, well, the sales piece follows. And you don’t even have to watch it, you know, kind of, and I think if you approach every person, whether it’s someone you meet at an open house, or a referral from a past client, or a past client themselves, if you know, you provide that same level of service all along the way to everyone in the same manner, you know, that you’ve provided, you know, not only an excellent, excellent level of service, but there’s that consistency that you know, that you’ve done your job. And, you know, we’ve just, I think, you know, made that, you know, kind of, as you said, a cornerstone of what we do, you know, we just try to provide excellent service. And, you know, we have found that our growth has come, you know, as a result of that.

Sara McCarthy 13:54
And I think to just to jump onto that, too, I think the key thing is, is also it’s really it’s communicating, right. I mean, I think that’s a very basic, but it’s communicating and a delivery, that you would want to be communicated to right, meeting people where they’re at. But also, I think it’s so important, and I can’t stress this enough, knowing that this is a real estate, atmosphere, you know, colleagues, the importance of being collaborators with each other, you know, we all are advocates for our own clients, but there’s an approach that we can all take that is always trying to be like, better, the better person right and just always trying to take the higher road but at the same time keeping in mind that we’ve got somebody on the other side that we’re we’re all trying to get to the same end game. And, you know, I can’t stress enough how important that is, in our industry that we’re we’re here to collaborate with each other and work with each other.

D.J. Paris 14:53
And it is called a cooperative commission. Right? So you people sometimes forget that but that is Really important. It’s named that for a reason? Yes, absolutely.

Let’s talk a little, I want to go back, and I’m sorry, I’m jumping all over the place. So I apologize. But I did want to get back to, because you had such great success over the last 15 years. What if you were to meet a new broker? Aside from open houses? Which is such a great suggestion? And maybe it’s the best suggestion there is? For people who are newer, what other suggestions? Is there anything else that comes to mind that you think, Boy, if I was starting today, this is what I would do.

Sara McCarthy 15:34
So I, it’s funny when we moved here, you know, knowing five people, right. And I was really looking for ways to make friends, you know, and because I’m a very communal person, and, and I think I was like, I love to volunteer. And that was one of the things that I missed about being on the road, like we did in the travel industry, that I missed opportunities just to be a volunteer in the community, you know, and getting to know our neighbors. And I think, you know, volunteering to me, a, it just brings you such satisfaction that you’re helping others. But you never know when that opportunity arises. And I had no idea to be honest with you, I don’t think of business as being the reason why volunteer, but it’s finding things that you’d love to do, and become a part of it. You know, I was talking to a new agent who is is a prospect, you know, does CrossFit. I’m like, That is such a great community. Oh, yeah. Well know, that you you’ve started a new career, and that hopefully, through, you know, just the relationship that you’ve had with your CrossFit, you know, organization, that there’s trust. And ultimately, I think people work with you because they trust you. And, you know, there’s a good chemistry, right, and obviously, that you’re a negotiator and you have, you know, good skill sets. But trust is a real big one, I think for all of us, right?

D.J. Paris 16:59
Yes, absolutely. And we should mention that both of you. Giving back as both is really important to both you I know, Sarah, you’re affiliated with the Chicago Jesuit Academy. And, and, Julie, I know, You’ve done a lot with the with old St. Pat’s, and, and probably other organizations too. And it is, it is one of those things that a lot of us go, oh, I should do more and give back. But you know, it’s almost you’ve been universal for the people we’ve interviewed. And we’re coming up on 100 episodes now, or almost all of them are pretty active in some sort of charity. And they all say, Hey, that’s not I don’t do it to get business. But what ends up happening, because I’m so passionate about it, that business just naturally happens, even without having to ask for it, of course. So I would encourage all the listeners to find something you’re passionate about and, and give give some of your time and energy for actually speaking of since we’re on this topic. Can you guys talk about boots for babes and what it does, and I know it’s not coming up for several months, but let’s let’s talk about it and get the word out.

Sara McCarthy 18:08
We would love to thank you for doing a shout out for the boots for babes. So I actually I went to Boston College and had been involved with the alumni association there and we started this beat de cares which has now we start off doing kind of like this like a coat drive type scenario and then and it’s really flourished into something that we as adorable Karthik grew up have completely embraced and it’s so McCutcheon Elementary, which is shout out to them they’re an appt Sure.

D.J. Paris 18:38
I used to live about two blocks from that from the school. So yeah, the

Sara McCarthy 18:42
little school ever. I love it. And it CPS school, two thirds of their children are bused in from homeless shelters. And it’s such a great community. The teachers have all been there for many years and just really special they have a super big care factor. So we have to they identify in October for us, what are the needs for these children. And we used to do coats, but another donor found out about what we were doing. And so their organization donates the coats automatically. So now we’ve identified that the kids need boots. So are the schools identified? So they give us the sizes and we set this up? We do have another client of ours. And it’s really cool because we have it has morphed into this little movement of that we do you face painting, we do arts and crafts, and someone came up with Reiki and oh my gosh, let’s do this. Let’s do Santa Claus. And then we’ll do gifts for the guardians and it is become this beautiful celebration of holiday because many of these children, this is their only holiday experience. So it is literally the best day of the year. So we highly recommend if anybody wants to do it, give us a shout out and let us know.

D.J. Paris 19:55
Yeah, and by the way, everyone should go and visit the doctor McCarthy one website because there is information about boots for babes right on the site, along with, of course, all the information real estate related, which is Durga mccarthy.com. And I’ll put a link to that in the notes for this episode, as well. And yeah, and also, please remind me, so that I can get the word out closer to the end of the year on our Facebook page to let all of our listeners to know that how they can participate if, if there’s an opportunity for them to do that, too.

Sara McCarthy 20:28
Thank you, thank you. And honestly, I just we don’t do it alone. And, you know, our hashtag in our offices better together. And honestly, it takes a village and it’s a shout out, you know, we may be just to catalyst to help further it, but it is, we have the same clients and volunteers and lenders and people who have become involved with it over the years. And they’re like, what’s the date? And they sometimes reach out to me in August? I’m like, we’re gonna get there.

D.J. Paris 20:54
Well, that’s, that’s wonderful. And yeah, and let us let you know, we’ll have to make sure the listeners are aware of it this this fall this fall and winter, and they can hopefully participate. And, you know, you guys were just just shifting gears completely back into real estate. You both were just in the news for a pretty important landmark has or Historic Landmark Home in Ravenswood. That just finally sold. Let’s talk about the Abbot, man, is it man or mansion I always forget. But yeah,

Julie Dorger 21:22
the abbot mansion. Let’s talk about that. Yeah, and we’re Ravenswood you know, a listing that we had, you know, six bedrooms, six baths, 7000 square feet on five, city, Chicago lots, just a huge piece of property with a beautiful coachhouse, you know, on the lot itself, and just a very unique space that was Dr. Abbott’s original home in the late 1800s, where he had his first lab in the basement of it. But you know, I think over the course of 100 years was owned by

maybe five people, five amides different families

or owners. But anyway, a very unique space, but finally sold after, you know, a couple years and, you know, the silver lining, I think you know, of that story is, you know, one it did finally sell and went through a wonderful family. But just, you know, from our standpoint, from a business standpoint, you know, that our sellers, you know, believed in us and hung in there with us and knew that we would get it done and just a small audience of people, I think that would probably not qualify for the house for be interested in the house. But, you know, our goal was to find it. And we did and, you know, passed on one one more time to a new owner.

D.J. Paris 22:44
Well, and you know, it’s funny, too, because I suspect a lot of brokers listening go God, I would love that listing. And I think oftentimes, broker it is a great listing. But I suspect a lot of brokers don’t realize just how long and how much work it takes when there’s really unique properties at a high price point. There’s, it can take time. And it clearly did in this case, because it is such a unique property, and such a cool space. And so congratulations. That’s amazing.

Sara McCarthy 23:12
Thank you. Thank you. It’s, you know, I think the the end result of you know, I guess that what would you say? I guess ultimately, we felt like persistence pays off when you believe in a home? You know, it was? Yeah, so it was it was a pleasure. And we’re really thrilled for our sellers, and we’re happy for the new buyers.

Julie Dorger 23:34
And you know, it just kind of goes back to just what we talked about in the beginning here, just the service piece of you know, who we are and what our value proposition is. And it’s just, you know, their listings that you that you sell to the first person that walks in, there’s sell in a couple of weeks, and then there’s some that take longer, and this was one of them. But it’s just, it was never about the transaction itself. It was definitely about, you know, getting for our sellers, what they get asked us to do to begin with and showing up and showing it to whoever wanted to see it and pass that information along and find that right person. And we did that. So, you know, I think just the whole service piece of that. That’s what felt good in the end.

D.J. Paris 24:16
And that boy, that is such a common. And I don’t want to say it’s such a common answer for people that we’ve interviewed on the show, when we highlight some of their big successes or their more notable successes. They always sort of say, Yeah, well, it’s not really about the transaction, you know, but in they just talk about how much value they’re providing and what what they were doing for their buyer or seller. And that boy that was echoed so well just now. So thank you for that. And let the let’s talk about about that. Why do you think and we’ve touched on this a bit, but I’d love to hear it in both your words. Why do you think clients do choose you and I know listening is huge and meeting your clients where they’re at educating them, etc. Can you talk more about that?

Julie Dorger 25:04
Yeah, I think just, you know, this is my premium, my perspective, Sara can kind of jump in on this too. But, you know, I would say our business is probably 95% referral based, you know, we work with past clients a lot that come back, you know, to use us again, which is, you know, such, you know, feels so good to us and won’t pass their name on, you know, but I think at the end of the day, we are care factors huge, and we try to put ourselves into the shoes of either the buyer that we’re taking out, or the seller that we’re representing, and kind of treat it as if it’s our own, and, you know, try to understand where they’re coming from, you know, as Sarah said, Before, you have to meet people where they’re at, but, you know, what is their end game? And how can we deliver a smooth transaction, you know, to them, and, you know, keep that, keep that relationship strong, and, you know, bring value to the whole thing.

Sara McCarthy 26:03
I also think to this process is not about the Durga McCarthy group, this process is about them. And I get that it’s not about us getting a commission, it’s not about it’s the relationship and how can we help them get achieve their mission of what they’re trying to. And I think, I always say self awareness is probably one of the most underrated qualities, because being healthy aware, and understanding what they’re really communicating with their body language with, with with their conversation. And I think that that’s a super important element. So we really sit down with our sellers together. And, and I think meeting at their home, everybody has a different way of doing it, but we made it their home. That’s kind of our approach. And with buyers, it’s really sitting down with them, and it’s giving them tools on paper, or electronically, but it’s really, it’s just, it’s really sitting down and getting down to understanding what their needs are. Yeah,

D.J. Paris 27:10
it really is in Gone are the days where people don’t have access for properties, right. Like, that’s not the main value of a broker anymore. It used to be because people did Zillow didn’t exist, and people didn’t really know what was on the market. But now anyone can find anything. And the real the value of the realtor now becomes an every other part of the transaction and understanding needs and an education and tools. And all of the you know, you’re not just of course, door openers, of course you guys are not. But it is really important that everyone listening understands how can I add value? And obviously, that’s a huge focus as as you both just very elegantly said. I wanted to ask you, by the way, tell us tell me because I don’t know this, I just have a note to ask you about the babysitter story. But I don’t know the story.

Sara McCarthy 28:01
Oh, my gosh, this is so funny. So I was referred by another client, this particular buyer, and we set up a place to you know, meet for coffee and just kind of go through our buyers book and just talk through what her needs were and stuff. So she’s talking and she’s like, Oh, you have a little bit of an accent. I’m like, Oh, I do. Yeah, I kind of grew up in, in Texas, after you know, moving from South Bend. And, and so we’re talking, talking, and then we’re talking neighborhoods within the community that we both grew up in. And then we’re talking about really specific streets. And all of a sudden she realized that I was one of her people know that. And wow, neither one of us recognize each other because obviously very, you know, further along and in years, but I come from a very large family. And she’s like yep, I your brothers and sisters were my babysitter’s too. So it was a very, I mean, it was just comical. We you know how to, here we are in Chicago, Illinois. And

D.J. Paris 29:02
that’s amazing. The world is small, it is small, it is really small. And that’s also why it’s so important to be super kind and compassionate and empathic to everyone as much as you can. Because of course you never know when somebody’s gonna say hey, by the way, 20 years ago, you were really mean as a babysitter. I am not working with you.

Julie Dorger 29:27
I know. Well, and that’s so true. Just I think with clients as it is with April. You just never know when you’re gonna come upon someone again and you know, you want to have a great relationship and you know, you know when that time comes so you know, I think if anything in this business, it’s treat people the way you want to be treated all the time. Yeah, I

D.J. Paris 29:48
think that I think that’s pretty much pretty much dead on and I wanted to ask you because you have been both has been in business for such a long period of time and had been had so much success. Let’s say, you know, there was somebody 14 years 15 years ago that you sold the home to, how do you stay? How have you stayed in touch? What are you doing to stay in touch? Because a lot of times, that’s a big question we get on the podcast is DJ, make sure to ask these, how do you actually stay in touch with people after the sale? Do you have any suggestions for the listeners on about that?

Sara McCarthy 30:19
Know, it’s so important, and it’s just caring about them. Right. Um, so every year, after they close, we, we have actually incorporated a happy anniversary or happy house anniversary. Note, and honestly, I, we believe and pick up the phone and calling them too. And that’s something like, even if we’re driving by the first time they bought and that was now their three homes later, you know, it’s just be like, you know, what, I just remember that day, and we, you know, just driving by. So it’s, it can be a little organic, intentional, and that you just you’re staying in touch and just wanting to you know, you’re coming from like, a care, you know, like, is there we can do be doing for you? Or is there any anything you you know, what’s going on your life, and it’s just really calling up and touching base. And I feel like we, Julie and I in our team, we are a boutique experience. And I think that’s a really big part of who we are. Because I don’t want our clients to feel like we’re not their number, right? And that’s just not how we’ve ever wanted to build our business because we love it. That’s what we like the relationship. So we do do we try to be creative, I guess you would say and sending out little mailers, we’re big on

D.J. Paris 31:41
personal notes are so important. So everyone’s listening. Pay attention right now to personal notes.

Sara McCarthy 31:48
Yeah, well, it’s just everybody gets bills, right flyers, right? Let’s be honest, and you get it personal handwritten note, is just, it’s, that’s another being self aware and personal note, like the qualities that I think we all need to lift,

Julie Dorger 32:05
just having an interest, I think in other people’s lives, and I think, you know, social media has made it easier to, you know, see what people have going on. I mean, we probably all have the opportunity to know our clients better now than what we five or 10 years ago. And so, you know, if you can kind of watch out there, you know, there’s plenty of reasons to reach out to people and I think it’s just, you know, important to find the time to do it and you know, setting time aside each day to reach out to you know, people and you know, be involved

D.J. Paris 32:38
Well, perfectly said I couldn’t I couldn’t agree more. Well, look, I think we’ve set it all this this is this has been really, really helpful. I know the listeners are going to love it at but we also not everyone who listens is a broker we do have reported back to us by many of the people we interview that oh my gosh, you know a lot of my clients because sometimes people promote it to their there’s their sphere of influence their contact list. If there’s anyone listening that is looking to work with you for any real estate needs they have what is the best way that they should reach out and introduce themselves and talk to you guys?

Julie Dorger 33:14
Yeah, yeah, you, you can do it through our website, Dr. mccarthy.com. Or you can reach out to us via email, Julie at Durga mccarthy.com, or Sara SAR a, no h at Durga mccarthy.com.

D.J. Paris 33:29
And that and also if you go to their website, which is a Durga mccarthy.com, we’ll have a link in the description there’s also a link to all of their social media including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc YouTube, and really everyone should go if you want to be inspired go to their website if nothing else, just to look at the boots for babes video they did for their last year event, which I watched it was very sweet and also a good a good reminder that we should all be doing just a little bit more if we can to give back and so if anyone’s listening and says hey, I want to work with with Julian Sarah or by the way, if there’s I don’t know if your team is in the process of expanding. But if you are in the process of expanding, obviously they have a team and you can reach out to them as well through their website or reaching out via email. So thank you guys so much for being on on the show. And by the way, we should mention that Sarah came in and she had she was running from a she had just finished a closing and she was out of breath running to the show so we appreciate because the point being is both Julie and Sarah little too busy to be doing this and yet they’re still doing it. So that’s well it’s it’s the truth. It is just the truth. And this is this is what I when people ask, What have you learned from interviewing, you know, almost 100 Top 1% producers now and I said they all make time to do this which is really just a way for them another way for them to give back. And that may be the most common quality of all top producers is they give back. And so obviously you two are no, no difference. And so super appreciated by the audience. On behalf of the audience, I want to thank you for your time on a Friday at four o’clock, which is not ideal, I’m sure for you. But you made time for us to share with our audience and also on behalf of the audience. All the information you gave was was so amazing. So anyway,

Julie Dorger 35:33
we’re such a pleasure

Sara McCarthy 35:33
as well. Yeah,

thank you. We’re very honored to be a part of this. And thank you for your kind words.

D.J. Paris 35:39
You’re welcome. So on behalf of the Durga McCarthy group, and myself, thank you for listening to another episode. Please share this with other brokers in your office, if you feel that they could benefit from listening to superstars like Julian Sarah. And also stay tuned, we’re this this actually may, in fact, become our 100th episode. So I’m not sure if it might be 99 or one on one, but right around 100. And the only reason we’ve done so many as people have responded really well. So we’re super grateful for everyone listening. We’re super grateful to Dr. McCarthy group. And on behalf of the darker McCarthy group and myself. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see everyone on the next episode. So thanks. Thanks, Julie and Sarah.

Julie Dorger 36:19
Thank you have a great weekend.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Stefanie Ridolfo, founder of Liv Real Estate Partners at Keller Williams, started her real estate career shortly after delivering twins. To fund her business she sold her home and moved the family in with her parents. Two years later she became a top 1% producer, and ever since has become one of the top brokers in Chicago. In her four years in real estate, Stefanie has built up a successful team and teaches other brokers how to duplicate her success. Learn how she grew so quickly and why going “all in” made all the difference.

Stephanie Ridolfo can be reached at 630.200.2120 and stefanie@livrealestatepartners.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:15
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers for brokers all over the country. That’s our new tagline as we have listeners beyond the Chicagoland market. What we do here, if you’re new is we feature top 1% producers in the Chicagoland area and ask them how they became successful as we are coming up now on our 100th episode, we’ve Gosh been featured on lists that say we’re one of the best real estate podcasts in the in the country. I’m not sure if that’s true, but we certainly do our best and our listeners seem to really find a ton of value in listening to these top heavy hitters in Chicago. Today is no exception. We have Stephanie Rodolfo, coming up in just a few moments. But I also wanted to mention a couple quick things. First, please continue to share this podcast with other brokers that you think could benefit from hearing from top producers, also our Facebook page, we are now starting to add more content. So you can find us on facebook@facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod, we are almost trying to produce one post a day of something very helpful, just like our interviews that brokers could use. For example, today, I found a great thread on Reddit about the importance of doing open houses to find clients. And it’s an awesome thread that someone sent into us. So we wanted to pass that along to everyone as well. So if you’re not already a follower of our Facebook page, please do. Also remember you can find us on Facebook, I just I just mentioned Facebook, but on our website, you can stream every episode we’ve ever produced, which is keeping it real pod.com. So find us on Facebook, find us online, send us your suggestions, we are a sadly we are very behind. So everyone that’s submitted a suggestion. If you haven’t heard back from our production team, we apologize we have, I think we’re over 100 people have been suggested to be on the show. So quite a backlog, but we appreciate it. We appreciate all the fan mail, and all the great suggestions. And if you ever have questions that you’d like me to ask, Are these top producers, please send them in because I’m always looking to increase value for you. You This is for you, not for me. So anyway, thank you for listening as we approach episode 100 Keep listening, keep telling us how to improve and we’ll keep making these episodes. So now on to Stephanie Rudolfo.

Okay, today on the show, we have Stephanie Rodolfo of the of live partners, which is you can find her. I’m sorry, let me start that over my apologies. I can’t read my own notes. Today on the show we have Stephanie Rodolfo of live partners, Keller Williams. Stephanie is a mother of three wife and also an entrepreneur. She got into real estate because she didn’t want to leave her babies for a career she wasn’t passionate about. She started her career in real estate 44 years ago, right immediately after her twins were born, and quickly realized that real estate wasn’t just about helping somebody buy or sell a home. She believes real estate is about the people and their life stories and the events that trigger a real estate transaction. Her goal is to become the number one real estate team in Illinois, also creating a space that allows everyone on our team to thrive in their specific roles. And lastly, to provide endless opportunities for her people to follow their dreams and live out massive lives. So thank you, Stephanie, welcome to the show.

Stefanie Ridolfo 3:52
Thank you.

D.J. Paris 3:54
So tell us and by the way, you have an amazing reputation. We’re so honored that you’re taking the time to spend here with us and tell us but how did you get into real estate?

Stefanie Ridolfo 4:05
Yeah, so like you had mentioned, you know, I got into real estate four years ago. So how it came about was I got pregnant and found that I was having twins, which was very exciting and scary at the same time, as you can imagine. And so I you know, was looking back and just kind of reflecting on, you know, my life and where I wanted to go and you know, now becoming a mother of twins. And I just I couldn’t find it in my heart to go back to my corporate job. Because I would have to leave my you know, newborn babies, and that just really didn’t sit well with me. And so I kept thinking, Okay, well, what could I do that I would actually be passionate about and it would drive me enough to actually want to leave my children. You know, obviously no one wants to Leave them. But you also have to put, you know, foosball tables. So I just knew I couldn’t go back to the corporate world because I wasn’t passionate about it, it felt like I was going to a job every day. And that’s not I felt like there was a void, there was something missing. So I started just like soul searching, and, you know, figuring out what I wanted to do. So I started talking to my friends and family. And I started thinking about, you know, opportunities. And my brother actually said, Well, what about real estate? I go, Oh, I was like, Yeah, I was like, that sounds really awesome. And I had no idea what without even meant, or what, you know, real estate agent did at the time, I had bought one house. And so but I didn’t even have a realtor, because it was new construction, which we know is a big no, no, in this business. I know that now. But at the time, I did it. And so I was like, Yeah, that sounds like something I could definitely see myself doing. So then I started just, you know, talking to some people that were religious, and in the business already, and really liked what I was hearing about the, you know, potential opportunities, flexibility. So I decided to, you know, get my license. So studied, took the test passed on my first time, which I was really proud of, because that test was, in my opinion. And so, and I knew that when I got into the business, that it was going to be, you know, a career for me, it was going to be for the rest of my life. And it was a, you know, a big deal for me, because I wanted to make sure that people could trust me off the bat. And so that was always something I was worried about was that, you know, hey, I’m brand new in this business, how are people going to trust me, you know, so I, you know, hired on a mentor to really get me started and walk me through, you know, my first million in sales, which was really helpful, because I’m a very hands on learner. And that would, was really gave me the confidence I needed to really jumpstart my business. And so I think the biggest thing too, is that, you know, when I decided to get into real estate, I wanted to find something where it didn’t feel like work to me. And I wanted to love what I did every day. And that was really the reasoning behind it, and why I got into real estate. And literally, ever since I made that decision, I don’t feel like I’ve ever worked a day in my life, because I truly love what I do every single day. Obviously, it’s very hard work, but it doesn’t feel like work. You know what I mean? Yes. And so

D.J. Paris 7:43
that’s a very, I’m sorry to interrupt that that’s a very common sentiment that all of the top almost all the top producers we’ve ever had on the show really seem to have in common that obviously they love what they do, they love being helpful and of service. But also, they’re incredibly hard workers. Because but they love what they do.

Stefanie Ridolfo 8:01
Yeah, exactly. And so if you love what you do, it’s, it’s a natural byproduct that you’re gonna work your butt off to make you know, your dreams come true and accomplish all your goals and helping others do the same along the way. And that that’s really what you know, motivates me every day, that I’m able to impact people’s lives in such a positive way, whether it be with real estate, or growing them on my team. But um, when I, I want to mention this too, though, because this was a big factor to me getting into real estate, was that, you know, me and my husband, both were working at the time. And I knew that if I was going to go full speed ahead with real estate, you know, I had to quit my full time job, which meant that income was not going to be coming in. And so a lot of people think that they can get into this business and do it part time. And to me, that was not an option. Because I felt in order to give people the service that they needed, they needed my full attention. And so a lot of people getting in the business think, Oh, I could just do it on the side and do it part time. And in my opinion, you’re not ready to get into the real estate course yet, because you need to build that nest egg before you jump into real estate, because it’s not, it’s not the right service that you’re gonna be providing to your clients by trying to do you know, give 100% to two things. So what we did, what I did is that I sold my house because actually my house was the first house I ever sold. So I had my twins, got my license, and then I knew that in order to not feel the pressure of like having a mortgage payment and paying all the bills in order, you know, to just focus on real estate and not worrying about am I going to get a paycheck this month and having that stress because I never wanted to go back to the corporate world. We sold our house First home I ever saw was my own so sure, and then moved in with my parents. And then

D.J. Paris 10:07
I love that. I really do love that. Yeah.

Stefanie Ridolfo 10:10
And so that’s, you know, the kind of sacrifices that I think people need to know that these sacrifices happen along the way. And it’s not, it’s not easy to make those decisions. But if you really want something in your life, then you’re going to have to sacrifice something. And so in this case, it was sacrificing our, you know, our house, and then we were going to my parents, so that we could, I couldn’t, I didn’t have to worry about having the pressure of if I was going to sell something. And so that, that lasted about six months. So my first, you know, way of really building this business was all through Facebook. Yeah,

D.J. Paris 10:54
how did you how did you do that? If you don’t mind me asking.

Stefanie Ridolfo 10:56
Yeah, so I just, I was a very private person on Facebook before getting into real estate, I didn’t really post a lot. So the whole Facebook space was very intimidating to me. And I’m a perfectionist. And so I wanted every time I posted something for it to be perfect. And so because it’s a brand, you know, I’m branding myself and anything I’m putting out into the world, people are going to see it. And I was very cautious of that. But I knew I had to do it. So I had to go out of my comfort zone and start putting, you know, my life on Facebook, which was very uncomfortable for me. But I knew I had to do it because I had a lot of people that were watching. And so I slowly started overcoming, you know, that fear of mine and put stuff on Facebook, when I was out doing an open house if I was out showing clients. And then every time I had, you know, sold a property to help someone buy something I would put out, you know, hey, just, you know, a picture with me and my clients and, you know, close this home or help someone buy this house. And so I just kept creating this story on Facebook. So people saw what I was doing, and I was staying in front of them in an organic way. And so that’s really what jump started my career because people started you know, my sphere of influence, started seeing everything I was posting about. So I started getting, you know, people reaching out to me saying, Hey, I saw that you’re, you know, you’re in real estate, I’ve got a house I gotta sell or I’ve got a house I’ve got to buy. And so that’s how I started building my business initially.

D.J. Paris 12:42
That’s what you just said so much. I want to touch on a couple of those points that you mentioned. Number one, I love the story of going all in, right? You’re like I am willing to sacrifice my own residence and do something that’s in the short term uncomfortable, I’m assuming somewhat uncomfortable to move back home. But yeah, you’re starting a business. That’s what entrepreneurs do. They go all in. Yeah. And and by the way, this is not a 20 year journey. This is a four year journey. So far. And you are already I mean to to really to tell the listeners, what Stephanie has accomplished in four years is truly remarkable. It’s not just because she’s on the call. I’m mentioning this, like if you actually look at her numbers, incredible. Nobody does this in four years. Nobody builds a team that quickly. Well, you’re the one who’s done it. So congrats to you. But yes, I’m glad to acknowledge it, because it’s such a big deal. But how many people are willing to go to that, that extreme that that length to build a business? And that’s I think a good point about part time versus full time is technically Can you sort of dip your toe in both waters? Yeah, I guess so. And you can do a handful of deals a year maybe. But at some point, you have to make a decision of what do you want to do you want to make this a career or not? And, and I think that’s really, I’ve never seen anyone really successfully do it. Who also had another career, it just seems to be too difficult.

Stefanie Ridolfo 14:03
Yeah, I agree. 100%.

D.J. Paris 14:06
And, you know, also people you talked about having a mentor when you first started, I think that’s really helpful because everyone’s fear and we have a lot of brokers who listen who are new to the business, their fear is very warranted. It’s like what happens when I don’t know the answer to something that my clients ask, it’s like, that’s gonna happen all the time. That’s normal. So you better have a support system in place where a mentor somebody where you can say, Hang on, let me double check on that and get right back to you or if somebody even come with you, if possible. Yeah, and, but and also, like Stephanie was saying she was her own first client. Another really good idea because we’re gonna screw up you might as well screw up your own deal. Oh, I

Stefanie Ridolfo 14:44
learned a lot. I learned how to deal with the difficult seller which was my husband who wanted to price our listing and I was like, What are you thinking? Like, no, we can’t price it here. It’s like, well, let’s just see and see, you know, what we get and of course, you know, then we had to do an adjustment to the price. And so that was it was actually a really good learning experience because I learned how to handle right away. Sellers that wanted to overpriced your listing and, and what what happens when you do that? So it was a great learning experience for me.

D.J. Paris 15:14
Yeah. And just because we get this question a lot, you know, how do you handle that where somebody says, Hey, I understand I’m gonna list it up more than what, you know, even somebody who’s rational and reasonable goes, let’s just try it for x amount above. How do you do? What’s your sort of philosophy on what to do in that scenario?

Stefanie Ridolfo 15:34
Yeah, so I think the biggest thing is just always to remember to become very prepared and know your market and know the traps. Because if that person sitting across from you is an analytical person, and you can show them the data that proves otherwise, I always look to the numbers, because numbers always tell a story. And so I do try very, very hard to help them understand why it’s important to list at market value, and what happens in the event that they don’t. And so, you know, like anyone else in this business, I’m sure you’re always going to have those clients are like, No, I want to test it at this price. So if they are very adamant about testing at a certain price, I say, okay, that’s fine. We’ll test it at your price for two weeks, we’re going to monitor the activity. And we’re looking for five to seven showings a week to indicate to us that it’s a successful launch. And so at that point, now, every week we’re having conversations with them saying, are we hitting our benchmarks of five to seven showings a week? Now, in some cases, if it’s overpriced, we will hit those five to seven showings a week. But at the end of two weeks, let’s say we’ve had 12 showings, we hit the benchmarks, but no offers are coming in. That’s an indication that the markets rejecting our price because we’ve gotten this, we’ve gotten the showings, we needed the activity but the offers aren’t there. And so now we’re having that conversation of adjusting to the price that you know, we recommended initially.

D.J. Paris 17:04
I love that I love all of that. And in for the listeners, just in case anyone listening doesn’t know this as an option. You can actually via M read, you can see how many eyeballs have looked at the property on the MLS, right? You can’t see what Zillow those numbers, but you can see how many brokers have shown either shown the listing to their clients buy an email, or it was on a search and it came up. So if you’re getting hundreds and hundreds of people that can that see the property, you know, online on via em read and nobody’s scheduling appointments. Obviously, that’s an indicator as well. So a lot of brokers probably don’t know you can see that number, right.

Stefanie Ridolfo 17:41
There’s prospecting. Yep. Well, oh, by the way, the actual activity, like the physical showings that a listing is getting, because views to me don’t mean anything. It’s all about what is the actual right action that’s happening. It’s all about the actions.

D.J. Paris 17:58
Absolutely. And that’s the thing is, if you’re getting 1000s of views, and no one’s coming to see it, there’s a there’s an issue, which, again, that’s data. So you can actually go back and say, Hey, here’s the here’s the reality. And you know, so that’s awesome, and awesome. And again, you have a whole process. In fact, I want to before we continue, because I forgot to mention this at the beginning, I want to talk about you have a really cool website, by the way, which is live with live without the E live real estate partners.com. It’s one of the better real estate websites I’ve seen, which by the way, everybody should have a cool real estate website or business have a website. And but I want to talk about your team because you guys, as you’re always expanding, you are also looking to add on more team members. So can you tell us sort of what that looks like?

Stefanie Ridolfo 18:44
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So just to kind of get back into where I left off, because it’s like, you know, go to how I started building the team. So my first two years in real estate, and again, this is just for all those listeners that are new in the business. It is a lot of hard work. I mean, I worked seven days a week, a lot of days, like eight till 10pm at night for almost two years straight. And so that was really hard because I was a new mom, I had twins and then I also got pregnant again. And so I was pregnant. With my third child, I had, you know, 13 month old twins and I was working, I would say eight hours plus a week. And so, you know, that’s when I got to the burnout phase. When I was getting my business was building, which was so exciting and loved every minute of it. But I just there was no more time for my family and my family then started to become what I was sacrificing. And I at the time understood that you know, because I wanted to be build such a massive business, I knew that I was going to have to sacrifice time away from my family. And so I would say, you know, if you’re, whether you’re the husband or the family, the wife or the family, or just your own self, just know that you’re going to have to sacrifice time away from people that you love and you care about, in order to build the business that you want, just to know that you’re doing it. Because five years from now, my goal was always that I wasn’t going to have to work nights and weekends anymore. So that was kind of like my driving factor was like I’m putting in the work now. So that we can build this team so that don’t have to work nights and weekends for the rest of my life. So I really got to that burnout phase, at about two years into the business, I was doing about 10 million in sales by myself. And that’s when I knew I could no longer continue at that pace, and continue to grow the business because I didn’t want the customer service to Slack, right. And that was really important to me, it was always putting my clients at the forefront of everything. And so if I ever felt like I couldn’t give them the service I needed they deserved, then that was the that was where I was starting to get to that point. And I knew I had to start building out a team to gain leverage. And I will tell you, I did not build my team the right way from the beginning. And that was one of my big failing forward. You know, lessons that I learned and I wouldn’t take it back. Because I learned really valuable lessons. And I’m still learning every single day about, you know, building this business, but I didn’t hire properly. The first I hired was not an administrative person. And so that was my biggest mistake. And I did end up hiring administration. But it was a part time. And it was also a shared admin. Sure. which I also was a big learning that, yes, it got some things off my plate. But the big picture was that I wanted this person, you know, the admin to be also a branch of me, and they didn’t have client facing. And so that was then put back on me so that yeah, they could do some of the paperwork, which is great. But it wasn’t really the ideal situation.

D.J. Paris 22:29
That’s still not giving you back your nights and weekends. Correct.

Stefanie Ridolfo 22:32
Exactly. Yeah. So So then, I really decided at that time, like I need to know how to do this the right way. And so Keller Williams, you know, I knew was a company that was number one for training and leadership. And I knew that they had already created. They had the systems, the tools, the processes to build out a team, that’s what they’re known for. Right. And so I decided to move my business to Keller Williams because I was like, why am I trying to reinvent a wheel that’s already been created? Right, you know, so that’s what I decided to move my business to Keller Williams. And, you know, the first day I went to Keller Williams, I saw Lance Logan. He is a big, mega agent, and Keller Williams out of Houston. And I saw him on a panel and my life changed that day, I heard him speak and my mind was expanded. And once your mind gets expanded, it never returned back to its original form. So shout out to Lance, because you know, Lance, and Karina, they’re, they’re amazing. And so he talked about building a team and how it was the hardest thing he ever did in his life. And at the time, I was just like, Oh, it doesn’t sound that hard, right?

D.J. Paris 23:53
You just hire somebody to help out? It should be easy, right?

Stefanie Ridolfo 23:57
Yeah. And at the time, I think they were doing like 300 million in sales. And so at that point, I saw a light bulb switch. And I realized that real estate, you know, was so much bigger than just you know, helping people buy and sell homes. It’s about building business, a business big enough so that you can hire amazing talent and help other people accomplish, you know, their goals and their dreams. And so like that, at that point, I was like, Oh my gosh, like, I am so grateful to be here and hear this. And from that point on I started following the Keller Williams systems and models for hiring a team. I read the mrea book, which is the million Millionaire Real Estate, by the way.

D.J. Paris 24:43
Well, let’s pause for a second. Everybody should read Gary Keller’s millionaire effect. I think it was recently updated in the last year to it and he also has another book called The one that he’s a few other books but the one thing that really great I mean everything Gary Keller’s written you everyone should read.

Stefanie Ridolfo 24:57
Yeah, I mean the Red Book Um, the MRE a book is by far the number one book every single real estate agent should read, because it lays the foundation of how to run a successful business. And I think that, um, a lot of people don’t understand the difference of being a realtor versus running a business. And so if you’re sitting there right now thinking, Oh, I’m, I’m just a realtor, it’s like, no, you’re running a business. And if you’re not running it, like a business, then you’re doing it wrong. Right. Agree. So. So that was my big, you know, kind of like Pivotal, pivotal point in my career, was starting to build the team,

D.J. Paris 25:40
right? It’s sometimes to building a team also is sacrificial, right? You, you might sacrifice some income initially, you might sacrifice some control. It’s a scary, difficult thing in you know, sometimes you hire the wrong people, like you were saying, happens. It happens to everybody who builds a team, but also realize that’s another point of sacrifice, at least for a short term.

Stefanie Ridolfo 26:02
Totally. Yep. And I think the biggest thing for me is I’m always a believer, like, if you build it, they will come Yes. And so but, you know, at the time, my husband was not in the real estate world with me, you know, he was working a full time job staying home with the kids on the nights and weekends. And then I go to him, and I say, hey, I want to hire an assistant that’s gonna cost me, you know, 30 $40,000 a year. And he was like, Whoa, right. You know, so it was a lot of, you know, just believing in the process. And I think people sometimes they’re very fearful of that, of making those decisions that it’s going to change their business, because they’re like, Well, you know, if I spend all this money, that means I’m gonna have to sell more houses, and how many summer houses and so it seems like, you know, they just keep postponing it, and they don’t ever get the chance to actually peel back the onion. And hire out that leverage to let to give them the ability to grow. And that’s something that was really, really changed my business when I hired the right, you know, person to help me it with all the administrative work. Yeah, absolutely.

D.J. Paris 27:18
I the interview that is being posted today that just before yours will drop next week. Gentleman, his name is Nick vellum, and he had the almost the exact same experience. He’s like, I want to reclaim my nights and weekends. And he said, he realized the only way to do that is to build a team. And to make all of them so incredibly successful, that he was able to reclaim more time for him. And he has three kids as well. So his his family. So it’s, it’s a concept, but you have to be willing to take the leap and just trust the process. And I guess, you know, you’re you’re accustomed to, to, to taking a pretty scary leap. And the good news too, is if everybody for example, they just read Gary Keller’s Millionaire Real Estate Agent, that is pretty much if you only had to read one book about how to be successful in this business, that that’s the one and just do everything in that book and be willing to just trust the process. And you’ll probably be fine.

Stefanie Ridolfo 28:12
Yes, exactly. If you build it, they will come. So but it’s scary to do that. It’s really scary. And a lot of people don’t do it, because they’re there. They’re fearful of it. So I would just say, you know, this business is all about taking risks and stepping outside your comfort zone. Because if you know, if you’re comfortable with your, with what you’re doing everyday, that means you’re not growing. And if you’re not growing, you’re not building a business.

D.J. Paris 28:39
Yeah. And you’re supposed to be scared. Fear is completely in fact, if you’re not scared, I’m worried. Because fear is a good thing. It’s a totally good thing. And to find the courage to sort of live and coexist with that fear and trust, that it’s all gonna work out because you’re doing the right things. I want to actually transition that into something that I think you do. That’s super cool. And I suspect to you, you probably don’t even see this as all that, you know, different from what other realtors do, or maybe you do. But I love that you have a process for everything. So tell us about the process. You were talking to me before about how you work with home sellers because I just think even having a process like this is sadly sort of unique and also elevates you among all the other brokers maybe so you talk a little bit about that.

Stefanie Ridolfo 29:29
Yeah, I would love to see so. So while you know on this journey of of, you know, working with sellers so in the Red Book, Emery book, they talk about, you know, leads listings leverage and so one of the biggest things that I realized that if I was gonna, you know, have leverage that I need to bring in more business and so, you know, sphere and referrals were about 80% of my business last year and then fizz bows and expireds started becoming the 20%. Prior to that, it was all sphere and referrals. So last year, my husband actually joined the business, got his real estate license. And he’s he started with me, and he started as an ISA, which means inside sales. And so that was really also key to the growth of our business because he came from sales and quickly learn the scripts, how to call fizz bows how to call expireds. And so his role on our team is to call these homeowners and set me up with listing appointments. And so because we want, you know, to lead with listings, that’s the way you grow business. And so he started doing that. And, you know, when you meet with your sphere, or your referrals a lot easier, I wouldn’t say easier, but it’s, you know, they’re not going to be interviewing as many agents or they’re not going to be, you know, beating you down with commission as much. And so when I started going on the fizz bows and expired appointments, I quickly realized, like, I need to really differentiate myself and bring value and show them why they want to hire me, and why they want to hire me for, you know, 5% or 6%. And when they’re, you know, used to paying, you know, three and a half percent with a discount broker and nothing when they’re a Fizbo.

D.J. Paris 31:34
Yeah, and let’s pause for a second because for people who are listening brokers who are listening, these are the toughest phone calls and toughest in person appointments you could possibly have. These are people that have already decided, if they’re Fizbo, for example, they do not want to work with a realtor, they don’t want to pay those fees, and is a massive mountain to climb. But those are people that probably need your help the most, because they likely aren’t having success on their own clearly. So

Stefanie Ridolfo 32:01
and raising their hand saying, I’m trying to sell my house. Yeah. And I’ll never forget the first Fizbo appointment I went on. I went to the appointment, and I, you know, they signed with me on the spot, my first ever and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is like free money, like, free money, like, Bring it on. And so it really was exciting. So for anyone that’s brand new in the business, I would definitely recommend like, if you don’t have you know, your sphere, big sphere of business right now the easiest, the again, easiest, you know where it’s hard work. But the the number one thing you should be doing is contacting those fizz bows and expireds. Because those are people that are raising their hand, it’s a low hanging fruit, it is a challenge. They are going to be your toughest clients, but it’s going to be a great learning experience. So

D.J. Paris 32:59
Oh, yeah, just just for the sake of learning how to call strangers and ask something that likely is not going to be received well, by a majority of them. That is a great experience, too, because it teaches you how to have conversations with people that aren’t as your sphere of influence who probably wants to work with you, because they know unlike you, these are people that don’t know you, maybe will like you, maybe they won’t. And it’s just and by the way you can purchase expireds and fizz bows for almost nothing. They’re really affordable.

Stefanie Ridolfo 33:33
Yeah, yeah, we use Vulcan seven, is about welcome. Seven. That’s the best system that we found with the most accurate numbers. So yeah, so just to kind of sew back to that. So when I again, when I first started the business, I would I did have a referral. That was a cancelled listing. And I you know, I was trying to figure out like, why didn’t they sell the first time? What happened? What What was the reasoning? And I walked into the home and I you know, have an I guess you could say that for design and for you know, I can I have a vision for each home, I walk into a what it can look like. And so I’m sure everyone has seen those photos online where you know, the house looks like a mess. And the photos aren’t done properly. There’s, you know, things everywhere and the house looks outdated. So that was what I noticed with this house. And I was like, you know, I was like, if you guys can do me a favor. Let’s walk through every room and let’s talk about what items we can remove from the home so that way, you know it looks different, it looks fresher. And we’re just gonna move things around so that the space feels larger. And so I did that with the sphere. But then once I started meeting with the fizz bows and expired I realized that that was the value I needed to bring. I needed to bring something different that other Realtors weren’t bringing. So I developed the three step process. And so I also noticed that when I was going into a lot of these homes, I was like, Oh my gosh, if this red wall was just gray, or if you know, the trim was painted white versus oak, or the white, or the OIC, outdated cabinets were painted white, that this house would literally like transform. And so I started slowly by testing the waters. And I would talk to sellers about, you know, a budget, did they have a budget that they would be willing to invest in their home, in order to prepare it for resale that they would be comfortable with? And if I could guarantee them a return on that investment? You know, how would they feel about that. And I found that about 50% of the time people were willing to invest in their home. Because again, you’re dealing with people that want to get top dollar, they want to get that unrealistic price. So to get them that price, then I would say to them, well, we have to do XYZ to your home in order to give it that same look, that the other comps are showing a demand in this price. So so that’s it kind of like slowly started evolving. And so then I would, you know, started walking in these houses at these listing appointments. And I’d say Okay, I think we need to paint your home Gray, I think we need, you know, your cabinets painted white, we need to replace your carpeting. And people started, you know, doing what I was telling them to do. And then I would go through the home, and then I would declutter, I would walk through room by room and say, okay, remove this piece of artwork, remove all these family photos, remove this, you know, let’s rearrange the couches like that. And so they started doing it. And then I was able to elicit the price they wanted and get them, you know, the value that they wanted, because they listened to my recommendations. And so that was really cool to see that all happening. And so then the third step in the process. And the final one that we’ve just really started building on about a year ago was was staging the homes ourselves. And so that now what we do is we have a staging division. So we have a warehouse with inventory. And now we’ve been have movers that we hired to stage our homes. And so the goal is, is to really build out our staging division, even from where it is just today.

D.J. Paris 37:38
That’s incredible. So how often do you find you you end up staging homes is it every time,

Stefanie Ridolfo 37:44
time. So there’s two different kinds of staging. So again, so the three step process is number one, I come in for the listing appointment, I go over, you know, all the updates that the home needs, I get a budget from the client, and then we prioritize based on their budget, which items need to be done to the home. And so typically, I like to look for like a three to $5,000 budget, sometimes homeowners, you know, it’s a $10,000 budget, sometimes it’s 15, depending on, you know, where we want to price it, right. And so that’s step one, is the updates. And then step two is to redesign the declutter removing everything from the home that needs to be removed. And then step three is the staging and bringing in those personal items. And so that is our process every single time.

D.J. Paris 38:32
Wow. And I just love that you have that process. I don’t think we’ve interviewed anyone yet on the show, who had that specific of a process and that comprehensive. So that’s incredible. And, and I love that you’re able to go in and say it’s almost more like a consultant than it is anything else. Right? You’re going in saying, this is I know how to do this, you have to trust my process here. And, and that

Stefanie Ridolfo 38:57
I mean, not every seller, is the right fit for us. Sure, no, because there are people that say like, Oh, I’m not investing $1 I want to listen at this price. And you know, it’s just totally unrealistic. And so, you know, not everyone’s a good fit for us. And that’s okay, because we want to work with the people that understand the value that we bring to the table because every single time that someone follows our process, we’re able to get them top dollar and sell it in 11 days or less. And that’s the average days on market.

D.J. Paris 39:31
Wow, incredible. Well, I know you are looking for team members to continue to grow tell because we have 1000s of listeners, almost all of which of course are brokers. Tell us what you’re looking for in a team member and how they should reach out if they’re interested.

Stefanie Ridolfo 39:45
Yeah, absolutely. So we’re always looking for top talent. For people that are very hardworking, that are driven, self motivated. They want to win In, and they care about people. Because when somebody enable it has the qualities of a go getter and wants to win, but they don’t care about the people, it’s not going to work in our culture, because that is all have everyone on our team right now. They embody that. But the number one thing is, is that we always want to do what’s best for our client that comes number one. And so in order to, to have that kind of soul, right, you have to love people, right? You have to care about people, and you have to put their needs a lot of time before your own. And so we’re looking for those people that you know, want to grow, have big dreams want to have, you know, accomplished the world with us. And give them a space where they feel like, they can have a voice and help make decisions and really just are a part of a family because that’s really what we are. We’re like a little family, you know, and we want people that can come into our family, and, and help us grow and take us to the next level. And while they do that, they’re doing that for themselves.

D.J. Paris 41:16
What and what’s the best way for a listener? Who says that’s me? That’s where I want to belong to a team like that. How should they reach out?

Stefanie Ridolfo 41:24
So yeah, I mean, just contact me directly, or email me. So my cell phone number is 630-200-2120. And then my email address is Stephanie with an F. I will say I’m an ephah. As she s a n, ie at live li ve real estate partners, one word.com.

D.J. Paris 41:51
We should also want to mention your website. Again, everyone should get to see what a cool real estate website looks like. And when that’s useful and helpful. Go to live real estate partners, again, live without the E live real estate partners.com. Also, I want to make sure we mentioned Stephanie’s Facebook page, which is live partners. Just type it into you’ll find it also there’s a link to it from her website, and Instagram. And that’s Stephanie. Is it separate auto or it’s stuff for Adolfo? Yeah. So

Stefanie Ridolfo 42:21
I’ve got my personal one that I do a lot of like, you know, the process of what we do for listings on and its staff STF, Adolfo God, that realtor

D.J. Paris 42:32
Perfect. Well, this has been so helpful. And I know and by the way, again, I just want to congratulate you on behalf of the listeners of all the success and the sacrifice that you’ve made. We so rarely, and it was a good reminder to me to talk about sacrifice a lot, because of course, that’s a huge part of it. And obviously, you’re a great living example of how to have success through sacrifice. And the success you have had in a short very short period of time is nothing short of astonishing. So we appreciate by the way, Stephanie’s too busy to do this. To do that. She’s that busy. But she took the time out of her day just to help our listeners. So we we thank you on behalf of them.

Stefanie Ridolfo 43:16
It’s my pleasure. Thanks for having me. And I hope that you know, I helped at least one person out there today. So that’s that’s always a win. Right?

D.J. Paris 43:25
Definitely did and it was more like 1000s of people who listened. So thank you. Thank you, Stephanie. And we’ll see everybody on the next episode.

Stefanie Ridolfo 43:34
All right, thank you go get them guys.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Nick Rendleman of the Nicholas Ryan Team at Exit Realty believes that his job is to uplift lives through service. We talk about his previous career in ministry and why he believes that the same objectives and skills apply in real estate. His top 1% team evaluates their performance on client reviews and he encourages brokers to ask, “If I were only receiving compensation if the client gave me a glowing review, how would I act today?” This is an interview not to miss!

Nick Rendleman can be reached at 630.631.8600 and nick@nicholasryanrealestate.com

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
Today’s keeping it real episode is brought to you by not standard a premium luxury custom menswear experience in Chicago with the highest quality fabric source from the top mills in the world and more than 7000 customizable details each not standard product is as unique as you are booking an appointment with trusted stylist Lauren Lipton at not standard.com That’s kn o Te standard.com forward slash Lauren, L A u r e n, and mentioned in DJ Paris, me to enjoy a complimentary shirt and 15% off your first purchase.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast that features the top 1% of Chicago realtors in the industry. And I’ve just changed the tagline there on the fly. Because we used to say it’s made for Chicago real estate brokers by Chicago real estate brokers, which is true, but we have listeners now from all over. So it’s not specifically just for Chicago realtors, although that’s what we focus on the show today, we have Nick Randleman from exit, who is going to be talking about how he built his business. It’s it was a great conversation coming up in just a few moments. I want to encourage everyone who’s listening as we near our 100th episode, which we’re so honored to be able to say we’ve done as people seem to continue to listen and our view or listenership continues to grow. So thank you for everyone who listens. And also thank you to everyone who is telling a friend anyone you know, who’s a realtor who wants to learn what these top one percenters are doing, how they grew their business, what they’re doing today, what mistakes they’ve made, send them a link to our show. And they can of course, you can find us on iTunes, Google Play Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts are served, just search for keeping it real podcast. Look for the one with DJ, that’s me. There’s a few others named keeping it real as well, but only one with my name. So you’ll find me pretty easily. And also, you can visit our website, you can stream every episode we’ve ever done, which is keeping it real pod.com. Also, please like us on Facebook, we are@facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod. And as we post links to all of our episodes, and also links to all of our guests, their websites, their social media, etc. You can check out to see what they’re doing. But as I reflect back on these 100 or so almost 100 episodes, I want to encourage everyone to go back and listen, if you have time. And you’re so interested to go back and listen all the way from the beginning. Because the advice and information provided here by our guests is really is timeless. Very rarely do we ever talk about current conditions in the market. Of course, we have Kerry McCormick on every month. And she does do that, outside of that every other episode we do is really extremely timeless. And we’ll talk exclusively about how these how these top producers built and manage their business. And I promise you will learn and if you go back through, you will have so much great advice that you can achieve what they have achieved as well. A whole idea of doing this was not so much to even create a timely podcast where every week we’re talking about what’s going on today was really to create a library, you know, I know that there’s look, there’s 41,000 realtors in Chicago. And I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to go to a library and pick out the top 410 of those producers, were they, in their own words tell you what they did to grow their business. So obviously, that’s what we’ve done. That’s what we’re continuing to do. Thank you, by the way for all of the suggestions. And we get suggestions every single day from brokers saying you need to interview so and so and we haven’t yet got to even maybe one 100 of them, but we’re working on it. So keep sending those in. Also send us your questions. If you’re on our Facebook page, you’ll note that I announce Hey, I’m going to be speaking with a particular producer and you can obviously submit questions there as well. So okay, enough of me talking. Let’s get on with the show. We have Nick Randleman from exit coming up next.

Today on the show, we have Nick Randleman of the Nikolas Ryan team at Exit Realty Nick is the team leader of the Nicholas Ryan Real Estate Group. At exit he believes in creating the best client experience through utilizing a synergistic team model and procuring the most hardworking, honest and gifted people in the industry. Besides building his own team. He has also helped many transition into a successful career. are in real estate, Nick’s integrity is foundational to his success. Nick resides in the lake. Sorry Lakewood Balmoral neighbor Balmoral neighborhood on the north side with his wife, Emma, their baby girls, Penelope and Scarlett, and their Bulldog Oslo. Nick is a top 1% producer, you can visit him at Nicholas Ryan realestate.com, which, by the way, is one of the best looking real estate websites I’ve seen. And we should also mention that Nick’s exit office, which is located in Wicker Park is ranked number one in Illinois, which is a very, very big deal. So welcome, Nick to the show. Hey, thank

Nick Rendleman 5:35
you, DJ, glad to be a part of the show today.

D.J. Paris 5:37
Well, we’re really excited to have you and I know we were talking offline. And what I’d like to do is just to start out to give the audience a sense of who you are, although a lot of our listeners will already know you. Tell us, you know how you got into real estate?

Nick Rendleman 5:53
Yeah, that’s a good question. I don’t really know. I just kind of woke up one day and found myself selling homes. But it was it was not planned. I didn’t go to school to be a realtor, shark, even a businessman or, you know, an entrepreneur, and actually studied theology, and did my undergrad at Moody here in Chicago, and was actually in vocational ministry prior to getting involved into real estate. Wow. And through some Scituate on unforeseen situation or circumstances with, you know, being married my first year and trying to work through how to be a good husband and juggling a thriving ministry at the time. You know, my wife, and I just decided to take a step back. And we didn’t leave the church or anything, but we just decided we would reevaluate some things. Sure. And, you know, I didn’t really know where to go at that point. Because, like I said, I didn’t, you know, my, my degree was very specific to just with basically ministry and that sort of thing. Sure. So I thought I, you know, take a shot at real estate, got licensed, you know, I got licensed in about 30 days. And I’m like, Great, I’m licensed, you know, go go sell homes now. And, and that was basically how I got started first six months. It was it was a beast, man. Sure. If you wanna know how much money I made, I would love to know. Yes. All right. I’ll tell you, goose egg. Nada, not a penny, not a cent, not $1. And I had a lot of people basically saying, Hey, man, are you sure you heard God correctly? About? Like, you’re supposed to be a minister? Why are you trying to sell homes? This isn’t gonna work. And it made me think and kind of doubt a little bit, too. But sure. I think deep down, I just had this conviction that I was in the right place doing the right thing. And so after six months, I got my first deal, which was about 23,000. Nice. Nope, not commission. Oh, that was the

D.J. Paris 7:55
sales price.

Nick Rendleman 7:56
Yeah, I set you up for that. But that was the sales price. So the commission was about 800 bucks, I think. Sure. So it was a slow start for

D.J. Paris 8:05
me, DJ, but you were on the board. At that point. You’re in I was on the board.

Nick Rendleman 8:08
And since then, I don’t believe there’s ever been a month in the last five and a half years where we haven’t, you know, made money in closed deals. But, but that was kind of the start. And that’s sort of how I got into the industry.

D.J. Paris 8:24
You know, it’s it’s such a not uncommon story, right? So we only feature top one percenters on the show, and almost everybody has that same first year story. And I think with the exception of maybe one person who said, Oh, yeah, close to deal and like the third week, which is super unusual, and it was probably their best friend or something who you know, is already ready to buy something cash. Everyone else, even the owner of the company, I work out who’s also named Nick, who ended up being this is like 2003, he was he wasn’t the Rookie of the Year with car, but he was like the runner up Rookie of the Year, he didn’t close the sale till month seven, either. That’s super common. And for everyone listening, it is certainly common. And also, understandably, not a fun way to start. But it’s, you know, this is what every almost every top producer, you know, that’s the that’s the path. So I

Nick Rendleman 9:17
and I really think DJ, that’s probably why there’s such a high percentage of people who drop out of real estate first year. Yeah, because at some point, it’s just like, you know, if you don’t have the savings, if you’re not prepared, if you don’t have the mentality, to really persevere through that, you know, basically just the whole startup of real estate, then, you know, you you get discouraged and you leave the industry. So, yeah, I relate to it. I was there.

D.J. Paris 9:44
I know, I would really love to find out, you know, and I’m assuming there’s natural similarities between your previous path of ministry and service and being a realtor. It’s got to be so synergistic, I would think.

Nick Rendleman 9:59
Yeah, It really is. You know, I think for me, what I’m really passionate about is, is helping people. And I just have that innate in me since, you know, I started following Jesus about 20 years ago this year. Yeah. So, so I, I really believe in helping people helping them holistically, helping them spiritually helping them, you know, in any way I can. And so, real estate is really a platform for that, because you’re basically dealing with number one, it’s a need that all of us have shelter. Number two, it’s most people’s largest purchase of their entire lives, right? And so, when you’re dealing with that kind of fiduciary responsibility, a lot of other things open up to you. And if you’re, if you’re listening, if you’re dialed into the person, not just the transaction, but you’re really dialed into the person, I think you really find how much is going on in someone’s life and they open up and they let you know, kind of the deeper things of their heart. And so yes, there’s a lot of there’s a huge Nexus when when I think of real estate, I think of ministry in fact, now, I really don’t see them as is different. I think your ministry is all of life whereas before I thought of it as maybe a career or something that I was paid to do. Whereas now it’s like every conversation I have with any person is actually an opportunity for ministry ministry is just basically serving someone it’s meeting their needs. And yeah, real estate opens up that door all day long.

D.J. Paris 11:37
Wow. I don’t know that I could have been better said I think that’s really important. And it’s also seems to be in study after study whether National Association of REALTORS does it or other groups where they survey buyers and sellers and say, What are you looking for in your realtor? Number one is always somebody that listens and understands me, for sure. And, and it is something that I think, probably a lot of realtors struggle with because they have the knowledge. And it’s probably easy to forget, especially if somebody’s purchasing their first home. Just how clueless we all were unless we were in the business when we purchased our first home. I know I relied upon my realtor when I bought my condo many, many years ago. And I didn’t I had no idea what was going on. And and it was scary too. Because of course it is like you said a huge purchase. It was the largest purchase I had ever made at that point. So yeah, so I think that’s, that’s really important. So in your Sony, your first year, you struggled like everyone does the first six months and months seven, you got your first sale, then how did it sort of proceed from there was were you working mostly by referral at that point? Were you still hustling to to meet people? Tell? Can you if you don’t mind sharing a little bit of that process?

Nick Rendleman 12:51
Yeah. So subsequent to year one, which was I wouldn’t say a disaster, but it was kind of a rude awakening that, you know, this wasn’t going to be a cakewalk for me. And sure. You know, several years ago now going back about, I don’t know, 10 years, I was actually in the restaurant industry for a stint of about a decade. And in the restaurant and the restaurant industry. You could kind of call it sales in a sense, because, you know, I would, I would so whatever I sell food, I sold nice bottles of wine or whatever. So I had like, I had sales enemy. But when I actually started to try to translate that to real estate, the thing I didn’t realize is that you need marketing. So marketing was was a missing link to to my success. And so one of the first things I did because at the time, I didn’t really have the savoir faire and knowledge of how to do that myself as I just basically turn that over to third parties like Zillow. And at the time, Zillow was a goldmine. Zillow was very affordable. And Zillow did a great job getting me leads. And so I began to work the Zillow leads, and you know, again, just kind of come at it with this mindset that I’m going to I’m going to help these people I’m going to serve them as though, you know, they were a family member or a very close friend or whatever, I’m going to really do my best job. And that began to you know, I began to get some traction with that I began to get some referrals and close deals. And then once we started to have a steady book of business, I leveraged my administrative stuff with my wonderful, lovely, devoted wife, Emma. And she actually quit her job or she went from full time to part time and she was part time my assistant and then she quit her job and became a full time assistant and leverage the administration side so I could focus more on the client, which was great. So then I was able to do even more. I think our business doubled that first year that she started helping me so and I had more leads than I could handle and began recruiting my friends from other jobs and other industries. And just basically said, Hey, man, look, this is an awesome opportunity. To be able to have a ton of freedom in life. And you know, people are so afraid about being paid with by commission or whatever. But sure, I’m paid every month. It’s as dependable as any nine to five job. And it’s, it’s making me a better living than I’ve found anything else would you be interested in meeting with me and so I met with a lot of people a lot of friends this way, and just kind of pulled them into the industry, and basically showed them what I was doing, they copied and pasted, they found success, and then I kind of kicked them out of the nest, and they launched their own book of business. That’s how we got going doing this thing. So I quickly implemented the team mentality. You know, it’s, it’s interesting how you look through at other industries, and who really operates any successful organization without a team. I mean, everybody operates by a team, that’s just, that’s just the preferred method of doing business. And yet, so many people in real estate operate solo. Now, I’m not knocking that I’m not saying there’s definitely a lot of different ways to be successful in this industry. But something that was very important to me early on DJ was, I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to work seven days a week, 24/7, I didn’t want to constantly be doing the real estate grind, I didn’t constantly want to be having to deal with deals, dream about real estate, wake up in the morning and make calls and never have a break, right. And so I just began to leverage and build a team. And in doing that, it allowed me to still be successful, but not have to work around the clock. So in the last few years, that’s kind of been the evolution, I started out solo, just trying to get some deals, I got some deals, I leveraged it with an administrative assistant, who was my wife got more deals more than I could handle began to leverage it with building the team and having other oshs outside sales agents, take the overflow of the business, and just have continued to leverage until the present.

D.J. Paris 16:46
That’s amazing. And we should talk about exit because it’s such an interesting company with their the way they got their structure. Talk a little bit about that, because some of our listeners probably aren’t as familiar with exit.

Nick Rendleman 16:59
Yeah, hands down exit is the best company for rewarding you in recruitment and training of other brokers.

D.J. Paris 17:06
Right. Absolutely. That’s

Nick Rendleman 17:07
my opinion is, you

D.J. Paris 17:08
know, your, I believe I have the same opinion.

Nick Rendleman 17:11
Yeah, because they give you basically 10% of the agents production, up to $10,000 a year. So if you just recruit a few, you know, promising agents and train them, you know, in my expectation for anybody, and everybody that I bring on my team, or I recruit to exit is that they would at least gross $100,000, which is extremely attainable. In real estate. I mean, most of the people that you interview on this show DJ have probably already hit that by now. So to make $100,000 in real estate a year is extremely attainable. So as long as the recruits are doing that, and they really should do that, that’s $10,000 to recruit. And so, you know, look, it’s not about that, but it’s a nice incentive. I love seeing people succeed, I’m so passionate about people reaching the apex of their potential. That is just why I wake up in the morning. But to be rewarded in financial ways, is just icing on the cake. And then they know if they recruit people, and they are able to, you know, basically have the recruits gross 100,000, they’re also making $10,000 a year. And so that’s just been a nice sort of residual income for, for me and for many others that exit

D.J. Paris 18:27
well at that. And a coupled with the fact that you at you know, and I don’t know if you still have an overflow of leads, but you’d mentioned that was part of the reason why you brought on team members. So you were able to show someone not only here’s the path, but also here’s a little help along the way, which helps keep them engaged and motivated. So I think that’s awesome.

Nick Rendleman 18:46
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it’s yes, we still have an overflow DJ in the craziest thing. This is very crazy. But I will tell you, sometimes I pull back on my lead generation out of fear that I won’t have enough manpower to service the leads. I remember, I don’t know how long ago it was, it’s probably months ago now. We had a, like a $1.5 million buyer who needed to, we needed to meet with him on a Saturday and there was nobody to do it for my team. I mean, everybody was booked, what an amazing problem. Right? It was, it was a crazy problem. Yeah, amazing problem. And it’s still

D.J. Paris 19:22
a problem, still a problem. And so

Nick Rendleman 19:25
sometimes I actually pull back on my lead generation, because for us, getting leads is not the issue we can do. We just have a couple of things we do here and there’s some Facebook ads, whatever and blow the thing up and have an abundance of leads. But it’s just always that challenge of having the skilled people to receive those leads, and everybody at some point has a capacity level. And so our team right now, we’re I’d say, you know, capacity is we’re pretty full, for the most part. So we’re looking for more qualified people to join our team to help with The overflow, train them, equip them, you know, raise them up, just help them be successful. That’s what we’ve been doing the last few years. And I won’t

D.J. Paris 20:07
do why we should mention too, because it’s an obviously you guys are successful, you obviously are doing a great job for your clients. But we should also mention that this is a big deal. And Nick didn’t send this to me, I just noticed it on his website where he links to his Zillow profile, they have 100 190 reviews, average rating, five stars, in other words, they have 195 star reviews, that goes to show you just how well they treat their clients, and how and from, you know, Nick’s direction, I’m sure. So, you know, if there are brokers out there that are looking for, you know, of those kinds of opportunities, where you’re on a team that clearly does a good job, you know, Nick would, you know, be honored to speak with you. So we should definitely make sure that the listeners know that you are expanding, and that’s a good thing.

Nick Rendleman 20:57
And DJ, let me just say something about Zillow reviews, so 190 isn’t bad. But we’d love to see a lot more. But, you know, I’ll tell you that, you know, a five star review is all about an exceptional experience, you can get a transaction done, you can sell a home over list price, you can you can hustle really hard and find a client a dream home. But But the funny thing is, that won’t necessarily automatically equate to exceptional experience. And so we really try hard to find ways to sort of like if you will marry the hospitality, approach our hospitality industry with the real estate industry, the approach that you would find in the hospitality industry really rolling out the red carpet, little things, noticing client’s needs really learning the person, we try to incorporate some of that mentality into real estate, you know, and it’s not an easy thing to do. And we’re still learning more and more, but like a simple thing, do they prefer sparkling water and then throwing that in the car? But um, yeah, we just really try to focus on that exceptional experience. And what I tell my team is, look, if you are only compensated for five star rewrites, repeat business and referrals, how would you conduct your book of business? Like if the money wasn’t a thing? Like, okay, great, you close the transaction, but you were paid on five star reviews, referrals and repeat business? How would you treat the client? What would you be doing differently? So that’s really our mentality. In the Nicklaus Ryan team, our mission is to elevate lives to real estate, to create raving fans who repeat business, right, five star reviews, and refers to others. And so that’s really how we measure our success. It’s not so much by weather, we’re the top 1%. Producer, which is great. I’m glad that’s got us some airtime with you guys. And this awesome show that you’re doing this awesome podcast, but like for us really, the the measuring tool we’re using is is the reviews is the referrals is the, you know, repeat business,

D.J. Paris 23:00
as well. Yeah. Boy, again, so well said and so important. And isn’t it cool? I think this industry, and I’m not a producing broker, but I’ve interviewed enough of them to know that, generally speaking, top producers have a very similar mantra, right? It’s, we I want to help, I want to go the extra mile. And then the business typically, and the income follows. And I think, isn’t that cool that those two things are positively correlated, the more you care, the harder you work for your client, almost always the more you’re rewarded financially. And, you know, it’s it’s funny, you had said something earlier, I just want to touch on and I’m going to reference another interview I did with a gentleman named Craig Falco. He’s a dream town broker out of Park Ridge, I believe anyway, he’s been in the business like 30 years, nicest guy on the planet is all about helping people his son had come in to the to his office, I think his second year in the business and said, Dad, I want to I want to close 100 sales this year. And as Greg said, he said, I told my son to turn around, go back to his desk and figure out how to help 100 People next year, you’re not going to close, you’re literally going to figure out how to help 100 people. And if you go from that mentality, you will get to 100 Yes, so good. And it’s a simple switch. But I’m going to tell you about an amazing customer service experience. I apologize for making this about me. But I wanted to share this because you were just talking about this. And I will give you a really simple example that has never happened to anyone who’s listened. And it just happened to me. So I ordered a bed that’s being made of like reclaimed wood, the company that’s making it they’re like a real relatively they’re small business, but they have a good presence online for making these reclaimed pieces of furniture. And anyway, so I ordered it, and they said it’s going to be here in four weeks, which is really fast for furniture. And then four weeks came and went and then I said, Well, I’ll just check in with them see what’s happening because I hadn’t heard anything, since they had already initially contacted me. And I said, Hey, just out of curiosity, you need an idea when you know, and they said, Oh my gosh, we had a family emergency. I guess it’s a family business. And we’re so sorry. It’s gonna take another two Thanks. Just you know, thanks for being patient. I said, No, no problem. It’s fine. So then two weeks came and went, and then I went, Oh, I guess I’ll check in with them one more time. So I checked in with them a few days ago. And I said, Hey, I’m not trying to be a pest. Just curious if you have an ETA. And they said, Oh, my gosh, we’re so sorry. It will be there. April 1. We are so we never miss deadlines. And and this was on a chat chat thing they have. And they said, we feel so terrible about this. Can we treat you and a guest to lunch? No, by the way, this is there in Arizona, but they said, Can we treat you and a guest to lunch? It would make us feel better about it? And and I thought in and of course, I said, No, you do not need to do I don’t even know how that would happen. But I said no, no, no, thank you. But I just thought, How amazing. I mean, every furniture order I’ve ever placed is come late, that’s normal. And to have somebody say, we feel so bad about this, that we want to like, you know, send you a gift card for lunch. And I just thought, wow, going that little extra step was so huge for me. And it made me feel like these people cared. So silly example, but it was absolutely yeah,

Nick Rendleman 26:04
that’s really good. No, that’s really good. That’s really good. Because I think, you know, many times, it’s, it’s not our fright when things go wrong. Many times it’s a circumstantial thing. You know, someone if there’s a emergency in a family, you know, in real estate, I there’s just sure number of circumstances that can work against you or whatever. But at the end of the day, the clients looking to solve the issue. And it may not have been your you may not have been the impetus for the issue, you may not have been the one who caused the problem. But if you can, you know, this, your story is just so great. If you can find a way of helping, even if you can’t make it go away, just helping things to feel a little bit better introduced some kind of an exceptional experience within that, you know, treat them to lunch, treat them to dinner, send them a gift card, whatever, like you’re talking about going extra mile and doing something special, I think it really goes a long way. And it helps the client to sort of palate, the situation that may be a little bit unpleasant. And we’ve done we’ve done similar things. And I find it has a really good just has a really good result.

D.J. Paris 27:12
Well, in even back to the Stillwater versus sparkling example, it Damn, it’s a big deal, even though it sounds like a small little nothing thing. And it ultimately is easy to do. Anyone could do it, but just to care enough to go, Hey, I’m gonna see you tomorrow. And whether you drive somebody around or you just meet them at the property, hey, what do you prefer still or sparkling? You find that out? And then actually show up with that? I mean, almost nobody even does that. Yeah, that’s huge. It’s huge. Absolutely.

Nick Rendleman 27:37
Absolutely.

D.J. Paris 27:39
I would also like to hear about your guaranteed sales program, I know this is a huge differentiator for you. So do you mind sharing that with you? Yeah, that’s something

Nick Rendleman 27:46
that we just started doing. And it just makes a lot of sense to us. Because there’s a catch 22 In real estate, when people go to, you know, buy a home, they have a home to sell. And so we just basically, you know, tell the seller, look, we have a guaranteed sales program, it’s going to give you peace of mind, if for some reason, we can’t sell your home, and you move up and purchase one of our homes, and we can put a guarantee on your home. And it sort of eliminates the catch 22 So, you know, we’ve been doing business long enough, we have, you know, line of credit, whatever. So we can we can handle this, but it’s just a real nice way of us to eliminate the catch 22 in real estate.

D.J. Paris 28:29
Wow, that’s really smart. I, I’ve I’ve feel like I’ve maybe seen one other broker do this. This is very, very uncommon, but it’s certainly a wonderful idea and just provides a lot of peace of mind. Yep,

Nick Rendleman 28:42
absolutely does. And that’s and that’s really why we do it, you know, and we’re, we’re just very confident with our listings, we, we don’t take listings that we don’t you know, we wouldn’t take an out of out of town listing in some suburb that we don’t sell in we wouldn’t even do it in a neighborhood in Chicago that we’re not familiar with. So when we take a listing, we take it with a lot of confidence we know the market, we know what we need to do to sell it and we know that it’s going to sell and so it really is just a way for us to communicate to the seller our confidence and provide them a program so that they know at the end of the day no matter what happens you know their house is gonna get sold one way or another

D.J. Paris 29:23
well and I’m sure it also enables the you guys like you were saying to walk away from deals that aren’t you no realistic and also like you said where you’re not an expert in every neighborhood in every suburb isn’t there’s nobody could be so the confidence in Hey, this is what we know it also probably helps you dealing with with with the owners or the buyers to really instill the confidence in them that you guys know what you’re doing

Nick Rendleman 29:50
it just it just gives us a little bit more skin in the game. I think yeah, owners feel like we’re we’re owning this with them and we’re not just you know, salesperson, but we’re really taking on all the risk and removing the risk from them. And people love that they don’t, you know, selling your home is a scary thing sometimes, and people don’t have the best home to sell. And sometimes it’s the wrong market to sell it or whatever. There’s really no wrong market to sell, but you get you get my drift, like kids sure virus or whatever. So they can be upside down, etc. So, yeah, like I said, it’s just all about the client, it’s just about easing their mind, so that they know, everything’s gonna get, everything’s gonna get taken care of, and we’re gonna get their home sold one way or another.

D.J. Paris 30:36
Makes perfect sense. I always forget to actually bring these up while doing these interview interviews. And the feedback we always get is, you know, don’t you ask people for like their funniest experience. So we always do. And I always forget to ask, so you have a particularly great one. So I definitely want to hear about the time you almost bought the wrong house. Oh,

Nick Rendleman 30:55
yeah. It’s very embarrassing, actually. But I just, I just, I just made this colossal mistake. And I don’t to this day, I don’t really I don’t even know how it happened. But when we this was like, probably in the first year of me doing real estate, we were working with a client showed him a home, he liked the home, we put an offer on the home. And I don’t know if we actually went under contract or not. So it was either during the inspection, or perhaps we were just getting ready to sign the contract. And he just wanted a second look. So we went back to the house again. And again, this is just like, I don’t know how to explain this to you other than this is what happened. When we went into the home. The second time was a condo, it was a totally different condo. It’s amazing. Yeah. And I don’t know how to explain it. Because we look back on our scheduling. We looked at the unit number we looked at the agent, we couldn’t we still can’t piece together what happened. The only thing I can really think of is the first time we probably saw the condo, I have a feeling that it wasn’t another condo that was being sold. It was a rental in the building. And somebody was probably there waiting for another agent and thought we were that group. And they showed us their unit. And of course my clients had loved it put an offer on it. But really it was the wrong condo. It wasn’t the condo that was for sale. But it was it was in the same building. Yes, it was it was in the same building. Yeah. So that is that’s incredible. Yeah, yeah, it really was. I mean, what are the chances of that that’s never happened since? And we’ve taken some measures to make sure that wouldn’t happen again.

D.J. Paris 32:42
Well, I mean, I don’t even know if you have to take measures because that will never happen.

Nick Rendleman 32:47
Struck by Lightning or something, but it’s amazing. We’re looking at each other like, what just happened like what we just did somewhere else like this is this is the same this is the same kind of like this is not the same condo. So anyway, even in a bind it he canceled his contract. And we moved on, but that was probably the most I don’t know if it’s funny or not. It wasn’t really funny at the time at all. No, I’m

D.J. Paris 33:11
sure it wasn’t but experience. Well, well, I love it. Oh, did he end up buying the one that was for sale? No, no, that’s

Nick Rendleman 33:19
the thing. He didn’t actually want that one. Oh, that’s funny. Yeah, it was an inferior condo. So the one he wanted apparently was already rented, or? Yeah, who knows? Oh, my gosh, that’s great. played a prank on us maybe.

D.J. Paris 33:33
And I know you also had an experience when you were working with a convicted felon, which is not a funny experience, necessarily.

Nick Rendleman 33:39
But I’ll show I’ll just I’ll just I’ll just tell you and then you can decide if you want to keep it in are sure Sure. I will go into many details here. But it was bizarre to because we had some clients that were purchasing a home with us and they had to sublet their place. So we got them a sublet, right. And my buddy noticed. You know, he kind of like Googled this, this sublet a little bit and shot some concerning stuff online. And I was like, What on earth is this, you know, something about, you know, like, conviction and yeah, kind of a big scam under the guise of con artists. Oh, wow. We we hadn’t even run his credit or taking the application yet. So this is this again, this was the guy who’s going to sublet so right, it’s gonna be attendant and we were acting on behalf of the buyer and out on behalf of landlord. But anyways, long story short, we did run the credit and a bunch of crazy stuff came up. And so we you know, of course, we told the landlord like here’s the crazy stuff, and we kind of figured it out and they were willing to take the risk and have this guy come it was just a debacle and a nightmare, but I don’t know, probably two or three, three weeks after that the FBI called me. No, yeah, yeah. As the Have you ever called you before? No, I wonder how many listeners ever gotten a phone call by the FBI? You know, they’re like,

D.J. Paris 35:06
just you that’s like it? No, it’s gotta be terrified, terrified, terrifying, terrifying,

Nick Rendleman 35:12
you know. So, of course, I, they were just wanting to ascertain information about this particular individual. Because he was literally weeks away from being sentenced. And I guess they were ascertaining information to find out if, you know, he was on his best behavior. And the fact of the matter was, he he actually wasn’t he actually tried to play all of us. And so it was just, it was really a bizarre, unusual real estate experience that I hope to never have again. Because, you know, we were careful, we check credit, but the guy was very polished at his craft at the shore. And it ended up with this guy, you know, going to jail and, and us getting a call by the FBI to get more information. And, and that was, that was unreal man, I didn’t expect to be talking to the FBI over real estate transaction,

D.J. Paris 36:13
I have a I have a friend who’s a federal prosecutor for the state of Illinois. And he’s an attorney. And it’s a very coveted position. It’s like about as a anyway, it’s a very big deal to be a federal prosecutor. And so he works for the feds, but he works in Illinois. And he had to, of course, do his own FBI background check. But they also then interviewed a lot of his friends. And I was on the list, but the FBI just never contacted me. But a lot of my friends got contacted to answer questions about his character and history. And, and so I was I sort of wanted the call just to like, be able to say I talked to the FBI never got it, though. So you got to talk to the FBI for obviously,

Nick Rendleman 36:53
they were surprisingly calm and cool. And like, I felt like, you know, they might have been, you know, just buddies. Sure. But I was like, you know, I just kept telling myself, just tell them the truth. Meaning I’m telling the truth.

D.J. Paris 37:10
Oh, that’s funny. Well, I think that’s, that’s a great place to pause it. And let’s I also want to mention it in let’s recap here, you know, Nick is it has his office, Wicker Park for exit, he is looking to expand his team, Nick, if there are brokers, listening, who would love to work with someone like you, and get mentored and coached and join your team? What’s the best way they should reach out?

Nick Rendleman 37:34
They should just call me 630631 8600. And you know that you can you can text me, you can call me that, just call me directly. And we’ll send you a personality test and have you fill out a resume a couple things in interview. And, you know, I think the main thing on my team DJ, just as just as you know, wrap this insurance, I’m just looking for people that are ready to grow, and they’re teachable. I used to kind of go after the giftedness thing and try to find the most, you know, try to go after rockstars. And now I just, I’m more so I’m concerned about people’s mentality and their teachability and their heart. And because we can train on the rest.

D.J. Paris 38:14
Yeah, I mean, attitude is everything, right? Like, I’ve noticed that too. And our company when we hire for certain positions, you know, management or admin, its attitude always trumps everything as if somebody is just going, Yeah, I’ll do it. I know, oh, okay, I’ll do that. We’re like, Oh, thank God, because everything else can be learned. But well, that’s great. And also, by the way, we should also mention that we don’t just have brokers that listen, we have buyers and sellers. And if you’re looking to work with Nick, or someone on his team, that Nicolas Ryan team, contacting the exact same way, you can also visit their website, again, Nicholas, Ryan realestate.com. And you can learn all about their team and what they’re all about as you as we’ve also heard on the show. So on behalf of Nick, we also want to thank Nick, as we do all of our guests, because these are people that are too busy to do the show or, and we know that because of how much production they do, and they still find the time to give back to the industry. We’re super grateful for that. So thank you, Nick, on behalf of the listeners, and also before thank you to the listeners for listening and we’re coming up on our 100th episode, which is crazy, but it’s a good that Yeah, it’s fun people like it and we’re grateful for that. So keep sending us your suggestions. If you are a listener and aren’t yet subscribed, you can find us on iTunes Google Play Anywhere podcasts are served just search for keeping it real. Also our web a website keeping it real pod.com and also find us on Facebook just search for keeping it real podcast you’ll you’ll see us and subscribe please. So on behalf of Nick and myself thank you for listening. Thanks Nick again and I know Nick by the way is is leaving here to go cook at a previous client turn friend home for them. So what a cool another act What service you’re doing, I guess. So that’s awesome. Thanks, TJ. All right, but

Nick Rendleman 40:04
you’re on the show. Yeah.

D.J. Paris 40:05
Thank you so much.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify