Category: Podcast Episodes

Superstar Rachel Hausman and The Hausman Team close over 100 million in gross production every year. In our conversation Rachel talks about how she built her business from the ground up – in the first year she closed 18 transactions. Now, she closes 150 deals a year! Her mom, Andee, was the inspiration for starting in the business, and she learned the importance of going the extra mile for her clients, which has resulted in repeat clients and rave reviews. On average she sells a home every three days!

Contact Rachel at 847-217-3019 and rachel@thehausmanteam.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:15
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast made by real estate brokers for real estate brokers. My name is DJ Paris. I am your host through the show and we have some really great interview today with Rachael Houseman. Before we get to that I wanted to give you guys some news. First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing to support the show the way that you can do that. The way that you have been doing that is by passing this, this podcast on to other realtors that you think could benefit from this information. We are only six days into November and we are already on our on a run rate to cross over 5000 listeners last month, we finished it just over 3000 listeners the month for that 2000 etc. So we’ve only been here about 21 episodes, and we’re already going to hit 5000 of you. So we really, really strongly appreciate it. Also, thanks to all the suggestions of people we should be interviewing. I think we’re all booked up now for till the new year. So please continue to pass this along. And also we have sponsorship opportunities. So if you’d like to get in front of between three and 5000 realtors, you can sponsor an episode and that would include me mentioning you at the beginning of the episode and also reading a live commercial about your service. So we’ve been getting a lot of requests from lenders and and attorneys and just various ancillary products to the real estate practice. So if you’re interested reach out to us you can also of course contact us directly through Facebook at keeping it real pod and also our website keeping it real pod.com Okay, thank you so much for continuing to support us and on to our interview with Rachel.

Okay, today on the show, we have Rachel Houseman, Rachel is a full time real estate professional dedicated to outstanding client service. She loves working with people helping guide them through the buying and selling process. Rachel grew up with her three sisters in the Buffalo Grove area, with her mother leading the top selling team in Northern Illinois. Her knowledge on the construction Neighborhoods and Schools gives her amazing insight and guidance for each of her clients. She’s raising her own family in the area and her husband teaches in the local school system. Her goal is to provide a great experience by consistent communication and a hands on involvement through the entire transaction Rachel learned from the best her mother Andy and cannot wait to help you with your next purchase and sale it also when Rachel is not on HGTV or out with clients, you can find her on the trail with her family making guacamole canning fresh jam and most likely on the phone with her mom. Andy. Welcome, Rachel.

Rachel Hausman 3:02
Hi. Nice to be here. Thanks for having me.

D.J. Paris 3:06
I just had a just an argument with my girlfriend just this last weekend about the pronunciation of guacamole. I was saying guacamole, which is technically I think correct. But she says she’s like never say that in public. That’s really embarrassing. Nobody’s saying that. I almost just said it in the way I’ve always said it. And then I corrected myself and said it

in the so it’s like Whack a Mole but blockable

it’s technically like Wakka moly. But anyway, I sound ridiculous when I say Yeah, right. Right. Well, anyway, welcome to the show. And let’s talk about Yeah, we are really thrilled to have you talk about how you got into real estate. Tell us your story.

Rachel Hausman 3:49
So um, I always worked at the front desk of a REMAX office through high school and college. I went to school in University of Colorado Boulder and I worked at REMAX of Boulder which was a wonderful office while I was in college there. My mom has been REMAX born and bred for the last 30 something years. And ever since REMAX came about she was all about REMAX. So naturally I always worked in a REMAX office. And then when I graduated, I wanted a big girl job. So I decided to talk to some of our friends at REMAX headquarters and I and I got a job working at the administrative desk there. And it was a cool job I would like people would walk in to our international headquarters and I would give them tours of the building and you know, set up their meetings with some of the higher ups and you know, there’d be people from all over the country and all over the world coming in and they would see my name on the desk and they’d be like, you know, what are you doing here? You know, why aren’t you working with your mom? And so finally Like, the third person said it, who was coincidentally one of my sellers this year. And he and I came home and, and I’ve been working with her since 2009. So, yeah.

D.J. Paris 5:13
And you know, we should talk about just because the amount of production, you know, you and your mom do is truly incredible. I know, you probably you are not somebody that likes to brag, but please do share what what production you guys are doing, because it’s truly impressive.

Rachel Hausman 5:29
So when I first started, I won the Rising Star Award at REMAX Northern Illinois for doing I think was like 18 transactions in a year. And that was like a big, you know, big deal for your first year in the business is that money?

D.J. Paris 5:48
That’s a huge deal. Yeah,

Rachel Hausman 5:50
yeah. And so I don’t know, I talked to my mom the other day, like, you know, did you ever think I would do this with you and be successful with you. And you know, when you’re, when you’re raising your own kid, you think about who they’re going to be when they’re older? And she was like, No, I really didn’t, it never crossed my mind that it was something that would turn into that it was just kind of her job that she, you know, needed to do to raise four kids on her own. So we do about 150 transactions a year, between my mom and I, and my stepdad, Jay, he, you know, he contributes a little bit as well. And then we do over 100 million and gross production. So we’ve been doing that for the last, you know, over a decade. And my goal now with my mom is, you know, I need to get her numbers up, because I think she has like so much potential to keep growing. You know, I’m not satisfied.

D.J. Paris 6:49
That’s a that is I started to laugh because I assumed you were joking, because you guys are obviously doing swell. But I think that is so indicative of a top producers they go, there’s there’s way way more efficient and effective production we could be doing so. Yeah, it’s it lets you know, I’m going to talk about the first year because just for a moment, because there’s a lot of people that listen who are in their first year who would love to do 18 transactions. I know our own the owner of the company that I worked for, he was the car, he was either the rookie of the year, or maybe the runner up, back when he started, which I think was 2003. And, and he was telling me that in his first year, and he ended up being one of the top producers for rookie producers that year in the whole city. And he he didn’t close a deal for us for six months. But then in month seven, I think he closed like six or seven sales, but it is you know, to do 18 In the first year is truly remarkable. How did you do that? How did you grow that?

Rachel Hausman 7:51
Um, to me, it’s all follow up. You know, every every viable breath on the phone is a lead, you know, and you have to treat it that way if you don’t keep asking questions, or if you don’t keep relationships, you know, it’s not the business for you. I mean, I remember my husband now, but he was my boyfriend at the time. He wanted, he needed a job. So he got his license. And it was really hard for him. You know, he was like, I said, Did you follow up your leads today? And he was like, Yeah, I’m sure. Okay, well, then you’re done. You’re out. Like, the UK. You know, now he’s, you know, he’s a teacher now. So, you know, he needs structure. I think people in this business. You know, some people want to have their own schedule. They like the I hate that word flexibility. Like, there’s nothing flexible about this job other than you bend over backwards every single day.

D.J. Paris 8:45
Probably, it’s probably the least free job. There is quite

Rachel Hausman 8:48
flexible job. I mean, yeah, I can have lunch with my daughter on occasion. But then I’m giving up prospecting time. And that’s how I think about it. So right, right. Um, I think success is built on your motivation and your follow up. And I get calls all the time from people that want to join a team. And they want to know, well, what am I going to get? What what’s my split gonna be? What am I going to get? And I’m like, that’s not the question you should be asking. You know, that’s not those aren’t the questions the second year that I’m like, I don’t want to work with you. You know, it’s about how do I help people? How do I build my you know, how do I help build your business? You know, how can I learn and learning and listening is really important. I learned listening to my mom in the car. You know, we didn’t listen to music in the car other than Barbra Streisand. We listened to Howard Britain, you know, motivational speakers, so that’s, you know, you have to listen. And when you first get your license, you know, my stepdad always does Brian Buffini with people. You have to look at your database and if you aren’t involved in something in your or community or in your life, if you don’t have a club or a hobby, you have to have one, you know, you have to be involved in something, because that’s how you build your referrals and your peer database.

D.J. Paris 10:13
Yeah, 100%. And one of the things I love speaking to Brian Buffini is, he’ll, you know, his, one of his big tenants of success is to, for, in particular, for new brokers, but, you know, pretty much anyone broker should and can do it is, you know, right, create your contact list right up every relationship, you know, and he’s very, very specific to say, your contact list is not necessarily your prospect list, it’s a series of relationships, and some of these people will become your advocates, and they’re not necessarily your prospects, because whether or not that you knows, but they are the ones who will go out and, and, and advocate on your behalf. And so he talks a lot about, you know, hey, you need to know who your advocates are, you need to know who your prospects are, you need to know, and then how to deepen deepen those relationships. And, and because a lot of times new brokers will say, Well, I don’t really want to prospect my friends and family. And I say, Well, I understand that, except, well, at least me ask those people to be your advocates, you know?

Rachel Hausman 11:09
Well, yeah, like, the other thing is, is when you first get your license, if you don’t know the area, or construction, or what you’re actually selling, then you don’t have a business doing that as a job. Right, I had a listing last night I got from an open house, which we never did open houses, like it’s never been part of our marketing strategy. And I think they’re coming back, you know, in a different way. And this guy told me, he goes, I met you at the open house. And you know, you knew so much about what you were talking about, and about the market and about real estate that we felt just so in, you know, involved with you and trot we trust you to tell us like it is because that’s how you carry yourself. And we’ve we knew that we wanted to hire you as our agent. They didn’t ask me what my marketing was, they didn’t ask me what my brochures looked like, they knew that I knew what I was doing, and that they wanted to hear the truth. And you have to know that you have to know the area, and you have to know what you’re selling. And my grandfather built houses and my mom grew up with that, you know, you have to know your, your, you have to know what you’re doing. You know, you can’t sell suits if you don’t know anything about a suit. So, you know, these people that just get in it, because they’re like, I love showing houses, it’s like, but what do you like showing about the house? You know, do you know what you’re talking about?

D.J. Paris 12:36
So the good news too, is if you spent an hour every day studying the MLS in a particular area that you’re passionate about, you know, geographic area, suburb or a neighborhood. And you know, within six months, maybe less, you’ll know so much about what’s available in that area, you’ll actually become pretty quickly very proficient and actually not more knowledgeable and very valuable to people wanting to move in and out of those areas. So it’s, it’s totally, and it is like I know when I bought my condo, which was back in like 2006 and I just wasn’t doing marketing in a different totally different industry. My the owner of a company who was my broker, because he was my friend of course, he he’s basic Williams really from Wilmette, but he lives in Lincoln Park at the time. And I wanted to move to Uptown because I really couldn’t afford Linkin Park. And so he he and looking uptown is only two miles from Linkin Park. It’s not that far. And he said, he said, Look, and he was already successful. But he said, I need about a week on this because I don’t know uptown, he goes give me a week because I have to study it. I don’t want to just start showing you homes without really knowing what I’m doing. And and I said, Well, that seems reasonable. And then he came in I wonder, I wonder how many brokers would have said that, you know, and, and I know what it is? Yeah, not many. Right. And I thought I just love that radical honesty. And I know you’re also known for your honesty.

Rachel Hausman 14:01
I mean, yeah, I mean, there’s a scene of me on House Hunters where I said they they edited it so maliciously against me. And and the husband was so funny, I got hate mail, he got hate mail, and it was like, because I was like, you know, this one’s really cheap. Well, you’re gonna like this. And he’s like, one of my best clients now and, and it was like, it was a joke because we me and his wife always joke about how he’s so cheap. He’s so cheap. And they edit it to to that and someone emailed me and they’re like, if you don’t like showing houses then get a new job. And I was like, It’s not that I don’t like showing houses but I like people, they have the right expectation and that’s educating your buyer. You know, I don’t mind showing 30 houses if it’s 30 houses I know there that they would be happy with. You know?

D.J. Paris 14:53
Yeah, well, that’s that’s the problem of of reality television, right. You’re edited to a particular type. have character because it makes for good television not necessarily don’t let the truth get in the good as in the way of a good story. Right? Right. That is, I have a friend who’s a producer. And she’s worked on I think over 30 or 40 reality shows over the past 15 years. And she’s like, she was just she just laughs at the idea that they’re called Reality. She’s like, we set up every scene and every show. It’s not real.

Rachel Hausman 15:25
Yeah, seriously. I think a big a lot of people think, you know, being a top producer, especially when you’re 22 years old at the time. It’s intimidating. And, you know, I got a reputation for being intimidating. And, and it’s, it’s not I didn’t think I was intimidating. I just think I’m honest. You know, you know, don’t. And that’s kind of it’s, you know, you have to be honest, and, you know, there’s no time for, for not being honest, and

D.J. Paris 15:59
I think I don’t think that’s that could even be a larger conversation about gender, right? I think women have it much harder in that capacity. My girlfriend’s a consultant and deals with large enterprise clients and goes in and has to tell them sometimes very difficult things about their business, and she’s very proficient at what she does. And she’s definitely, you know, you could argue may be treated a bit differently than male counterparts simply but you know, so I think women have it, women have a tough in that capacity. But you have some, just to completely switch gears because I don’t want to gloss over, you have some really funny stories. So I want to go through go through about your couch, that one of your clients will tell us the client couch story of you know, the one I’m referencing,

Rachel Hausman 16:50
see, oh, God, this was like, a month ago, I was. This is just one of those moments, you’re like, Oh, this is Saturday morning at 9am. You know, I go to get a listing sign, and I sit on the couch. And immediately, you know, my clients are a little bit older. And immediately after sitting on the couch, I realized I was sitting in urine because my seller had, you know, an accident. And you know, it’s like, I love I love helping, you know, seniors, like make that transition because it is it’s so it’s so hard for people to let go their, their independence, and my dad was an assisted living. So I you know, I totally understand. And so I sit on the couch, and my pants are like soaking wet. And, and I just didn’t say anything. And then I got in my car, and I called my husband, I was like, I’m just across the street, I need to come home, and pee. And like, it wasn’t like, you know, I’ve had stories where you walk in the house and the dog pees on you, or you walk in the house, and, you know, you step in dog pee, and you’re like, This is how you’re showing your house today. You know, those are some of the stories my mom told me one the other day, that was hilarious. She said back in the day, they didn’t have the internet. So you know, you would you would show houses based on these, you know, MLS books that were like 20 pounds. And one time our client drove in, and they, they wanted to see this house. So we picked up the courtesy key and the courtesy key. They went in and they’re they love the house, they want to write an offer. So they’re writing the offer. And my mom’s like, well, you know, they have to get all their stuff out. So, you know, we agreed on this offer and whatever. And so then the people are like, Well, what do you mean? Like? Like, who’s going to take the canary because, you know, nothing was there except the canary. And my mom’s like, they don’t have a canary and they’re like, Yeah, we saw canary in there. And it turns out, they wrote an offer on the wrong unit. Oh, that’s funny. They had thought that they were buying something else the whole entire time. They were at the closing and they’re like, oh, so

D.J. Paris 19:05
like, so wait, so what? So what’s the end of that story? What did obviously the deal didn’t go through? Or?

Rachel Hausman 19:11
No, it was like the same model but on a different floor. So they were okay with it. But it was just hilarious. She’s like, there is no Kinnari I don’t know what you’re talking about. My first my first experience ever though, was my mom told, you know, I was like her errand runner and she was like, Hey, go drop off brochures at Patty’s house. It’s our new listing and, and I was like, okay, sure, I’ll go drop them off. Well, she didn’t tell me that Patty was schizophrenic.

D.J. Paris 19:42
And that’s a critical piece of information for Yeah,

Rachel Hausman 19:46
very critical considering I was alone by myself, and had no idea that I was about to walk into this house and the woman was covered head to toe and white paint. Oh my gosh, she had this really short hair cut and her bangs were cut like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber. Right. And she was very interesting. And she said, You know, I don’t know who painted my house, but I don’t know what I’m going to do. And I was like, I’m just here to deliver the brochures. And she had literally painted white paint all over her floors all over the hardwood all over the walls all over everything. And so just like, Mom, what is?

D.J. Paris 20:32
Right. Yeah, that’s like this heartbreaking. It’s funny. And also, it’s like, it’s so incredibly sad. Yeah, yeah, that would be a difficult client, I imagine. Especially because what she’s when she’s, she clearly painted the house and, and she’s, like, somebody painted my house. And only told me about the, tell me about the yoga lady. The one that

Rachel Hausman 20:56
oh, so we had this lady and she, you know, we went on the listing and, you know, everything. Like, I used to teach yoga. And so I, you know, she, she really liked that. And she, she thought, you know, she thought we had really good pure spirits and everything, which was, you know, really nice. I think my mom and I do have really nice spirits. And, and then she said, You know, I need you to visualize the sail. And, and I need you to have this positive energy all the time, you know. And so we were like, well, you know, we have positive energy, but, you know, the house hasn’t been touched in 30 years, and your dog was her dog was literally emaciated and like dying on the floor. And we’re like, um, you know, you really need to be at this price. And she was like, no, no, no, like, you need to have this vision. You know, do you have this vision? And so it’s like, yeah, I guess we have this vision, but you know, you’re not being realistic. So anyway, she went through like five other realtors after us and it finally sold for the price that we told her and it was just,

D.J. Paris 22:03
of course, what she’s, she’s a manifester. You just see it in your mind’s eye, and then it manifests into reality. I guess you just didn’t see it clearly enough.

Rachel Hausman 22:12
And exactly. It wasn’t clear enough that

D.J. Paris 22:15
there was, you know, it’s funny. There was a period of many years in this in this country where that was, you know, that was sort of the new agey, cool thing to sort of talk about it. It didn’t seem to work. Yeah, the secret. It didn’t seem to work for anybody. But it’s it was very cool to talk about

Rachel Hausman 22:33
it. Yeah. It was like, that’s funny, because I called my office the other day was like, guys, like, what are some funny stories? And my mom was like, I just don’t know if they’re funny anymore. Crazy. Crazy. You know, I

D.J. Paris 22:48
think they’re funny. But let’s, oh, let’s talk you I want to talk about and again, to shift shift once more, a pivot into a more serious topic where you were telling me before we started, about some thoughts you had about maybe a shift that you’re anticipating or that you’re seeing in the market. Can you talk more about that?

Rachel Hausman 23:09
Yeah, so I mean, I know like, there are some areas that are really hot. So you know, I think the city markets, you know, I don’t know what it’s like, really down there. It seems like it’s pretty stable. But out here. I mean, I’m seeing a shift for sure. And I know, it’s that time of year, it’s fall, although, and I’m sure

D.J. Paris 23:27
Rachel, let me interrupt you Where is out there. Let’s get some kids. I don’t think we mentioned that to the

Rachel Hausman 23:33
show. So like I’m in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. So like Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights, Lake Zurich, long Grove, Lincoln Shire. And that and, you know, it seems like there’s there’s inventory, you know, there there is some inventory. A lot of the inventory is not in my opinion show ready. And then the stuff that is fixed up isn’t moving. And I’ve seen so many vacant Staged homes, which to me is like alarming how many vacant stage shops there are and people are really pushing the whole staging thing again. And I mean, when 2012 hit and it didn’t matter what your house looked like everything was selling. Now it’s 2017 it’s we’re on the I really think we’re on the brink of another recession and and I last election time so like last year, October, the market really sank down a little and then you know, March April was really busy and then July started to get slow again. You know, we still did a great had a great year but I mean some of my inventory. It’s beautiful. We updated on we we got them already. They’re priced really well like extremely well. And they’re still not good. thing. And to me that’s indicative of, there’s fewer buyers out there. And I think part of that reason is there, a lot of the people that would be moving out to the suburbs or staying in the city longer, you know, they’re not ready to leave the city. The second issue I think, is, you know, the, the Trump’s ban on the h1 visas has really lessened a lot of the immigration population turbine. And those people that would be buying investment property, because a lot of my buyers who bought before with with the visa, they can’t buy investment property, and that’s really hurting them. And then I think, the other thing is, is that people just aren’t maintaining their homes, so they they need to be, and putting them up the way they should. And the population because of the internet, and HGTV and everything else, you know, it teaches you to like a certain style, and nobody wants to put a single drop of work into a house they buy anymore, they want move in ready. I mean, that’s all they all the money, they have a third down payment.

D.J. Paris 26:13
Right? So do you have to? Does that mean you have to have more sort of comprehensive conversations with your buyers and, and also sellers about?

Rachel Hausman 26:22
Yeah, um, we have to hear we have to we give the sellers, I mean, my mom and I come with a whole list of contractors that have, you know, remodel their own homes, they’re reliable, they answer the phone, they’ll send you an estimate in a timely fashion. And we’ve really narrowed down the list and we bring this list and we give everybody homework. And the people that don’t list with us don’t want to do the homework and they don’t sell. And the people that listen and get their homes ready. You know, it shows when you show your home that you took pride in your home, and people feel that, you know positive energy, and then they you know, they want to raise their family there, they don’t want to buy some, you know, house that they can’t even be bothered to replace the carpet or take care of the mold in the attic. I mean, we inspect every attic before we list a home to prevent, you know, income from coming back on the market again, we do things like that, because, you know, it’s a really stressful process, and you have to make it as stressless as possible.

D.J. Paris 27:24
Yeah, no, that’s, that’s I 100% agree. And I also just like the fact that obviously, your mom has been in the business quite a while as well. But just the amount of information that you have, maybe versus other realtors who aren’t is involved in the business, you know. And I think that, you know, obviously, must really resonate with your clients because of your success speaks for itself. What advice would you have for brokers that are? Well, whether they’re new or just looking to increase their business? Because you even were telling me like, we could increase our business? What are some advice, advice you have for brokers who are maybe just getting started?

Rachel Hausman 28:10
Um, I think you have to decide what kind of Realtor you want to be. Do you want to be? Do you want to have your own ego? Or do you want to invest in someone else’s business and grow it? I mean, I had, everyone says, Oh, you got spared a silver spoon and blah, blah, blah. Like, you know, my mom had a database, you know, but she never told me what to do with it. You know, it’s, you have to see, like, I think what a lot of people get their licenses are like, oh, I want to brand myself I want to brand myself I want to brand my company, you know, like at properties is so huge, but I don’t think at properties is really letting people brand themselves. It’s more of the company you’re in, you have to decide, well, what kind of agent do you want to be? Do you want to do want to go with someone else’s branding? Or, or do you want to brand yourself, and if you’re going to brand yourself, you have to know that that’s a huge investment, like huge, my mom’s invested my think over $10 million in branding herself. And otherwise, if it were me, and if I had, you know, a couple of my friends wanted to get into the business, I would say, go find an agent who’s been in the business 20 years, 30 years, who has a database that you can work, you know, maybe it’s not organized, maybe you can help them organize it and start working with them. You know, maybe you’re on a 5050 split, who cares? You’re getting a huge, huge bump up against everybody else. You can work their database. They can teach you how to negotiate like a human, how to learn about, you know the business, how to He’s successful, how are they successful, and take their experience mixed with today’s ways of communication and be successful. You know, that’s the way to do it. And that’s what no one’s talking about.

D.J. Paris 30:15
You’re You’re so right. I interviewed Brady Miller, who works here in Lincoln Park. And he, it with a time when he got he was a music school. He went to music school as a pianist, and then he, you know, graduated and then didn’t want to try to survive as a musician. So he said, his friend said, oh, you should go into real estate. He said, I know nothing about real estate. And so his friend said, Well, I own a firm, and it’s really just me. So why don’t you come on board with me? And so I was talking to him. And I said, What was your training? Like? And he goes training?

Rachel Hausman 30:50
He’s like, I don’t have any training. Yeah, right.

D.J. Paris 30:53
He goes, my like egos I guess is, because I just asked my buddy a lot of questions, because he had already been successful. He was my mentor. He’s my partner. And I just did what he told me. And he goes, here I am, you know, 300 sales later in a few years, or whatever it was, but but it was, he just sort of laughed at the end. He didn’t, he wasn’t saying people shouldn’t go to training. He just goes, that just wasn’t even an option. But what was great was I got to go to work with somebody every day, who knew what they were doing. And I just just, you know, figured it out by watching them. So I think that’s really powerful advice. And, and it is funny, it is funny, too, because I’m sure people, anytime there’s, you know, multigenerational real estate families, they’re like, Oh, I see that person. They just got handed. And it’s like, that’s never how it works. Like it is never, never how it works. Because obviously, I

Rachel Hausman 31:44
think you have to like you like my mom’s always been in a mastermind group. And you have to surround yourself with people with ideas. And you have to surround yourself with people that always want to be learning and growing. And like, even at our next meeting, I’m going to tell all of them, look, you’re 10 years late, you know, you should have found someone 10 years ago, to grow your business, right? Because just sustaining something is isn’t doing anything. No, it takes a lot of effort. I mean, 150 transaction takes a lot of effort, but I’m I feel like it’s that’s not growing. You know?

D.J. Paris 32:24
Yeah, I mean, you it’s funny, we need to hear you say that cuz you guys are at a closing every like four days. So it’s

Rachel Hausman 32:33
a four on Tuesday. Today to today.

D.J. Paris 32:36
My math isn’t very good. But it was probably close. It’s close. Yeah, well, it’s, it’s, again, indicative of all how hard you work, I think more specifically, just how well you treat your clients based on you knowing a lot of stuff. And I think that’s one of the parts of being a realtor that many Realtors don’t take the time to do is really hyper focus and specialize in a particular type of of like you said, what kind of realtor do I want to be? Is there a certain area where you want to be the Arlington Heights person, and it’s like, I’m going to know more about Arlington Heights than anyone else. And it’s going to take a few years, and I’m going to go to every open house and Bob, you know, study the market every day. And if you do that, and you get involved in the whatever the Chamber of Commerce’s and get involved in, you know, make yourself known it takes it all takes time. And, and you honestly, you and your mom and your team have done that and continue to do it. But it is the real

Rachel Hausman 33:28
question is is where is it gonna go in 10 years? Like, what is this going to be like? And no one’s really, none of these companies, all these big companies are really thinking about where the consumers are really going to be like it is it is such a personal transaction that I do think I did a research paper in college about real estate and technology, like, it is such a personal transaction that I think will still be here, but in a different way. And it’s about how are you going to reach those people?

D.J. Paris 33:59
Yeah, well, and you’re right, too, because people are getting married later, which is you didn’t specifically say that, but you were talking about people moving out to the suburbs, later in life, which is probably a lot to do with that as well. I know. I know, my girlfriend, she lives in River North, I’m in Linkin Park. And she has told me she’s like, I will never move to the suburbs, you know? And I was like, okay, and but, you know, who knows what’ll happen? Well, that’s what she says, you know, so I just say okay, and then you know, things change, but, but it is it is. It’s interesting. And you’re right. Nobody really does talk much about where things are headed. But I think that’s the sort of brilliance of what you and your mom and your team do is you guys have those thoughts and those you have opinions about it. I think that makes you very valuable. Whether you know whether all of those opinions come to fruition or not. I think it’s just having that that awareness is really powerful for your clients. Speaking, if somebody if a client does want to work with you, what is the The best way that they can get in touch with you.

Rachel Hausman 35:03
The best way to get in touch with me is to call my cell 847-217-3019 or send me an email and it’s Rachel Ra, ch, EO at the Houseman team, and it’s ha us, man. And our new website is launching in the next week or so, the Houseman team.com And it’s going to be very community focused. I really think that’s, you know, you have to really know why you’re doing, you know, the job that you do. And our our biggest focus is going to be our community moving forward, and just really bringing people together with what’s going on and trying to promote other people’s local businesses and, and everything like that. So

D.J. Paris 35:52
wonderful. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for your time today. And yeah, thank you. Alright, well take care. Thanks. Talk to you later. Bye.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Top producer Erin Mandel considers herself a “vessel of communication” for her clients. Aside from being a top producer at the largest real estate firm in Chicago, she has served on many boards including YPN, CAR, IAR, and WCR. Listen to our conversation and learn why almost 100% of Erin’s business is repeat clients, and why developers choose her exclusively to sell their highest priced properties.

Erin can be reached at 312.399.0848 and erin@atproperties.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:15
Hello, and welcome to the 20th episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast made by Chicago real estate agents for Chicago real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your host through the show. And this is our 20th episode. And we’re really excited. So allow me to brag for just a quick moment not really brag, but just sort of give you an idea of of what’s been happening. So when I started this only a few months ago, really, the idea was to highlight top producers in hopes that other brokers in the industry who aspire to be top producers could learn from some of these agents who are really just killing it out there. And we were sort of not even sure that brokers will want to talk and be featured. And thankfully, it’s we have, gosh, we have so many podcasts, interviews lined up at this point, we’re kind of booked, probably through about the end of the year. Seems like we’ve gotten such a positive response. And when we started out, I think the first episode, which is a very good episode, you should go back and listen, if you haven’t heard with Jodie Adelberg. I think maybe 50 People listened right away. And we thought, oh, gosh, maybe people aren’t that interested? Well, as of yesterday, or 19th episode, we had over 2000 subscribers. And we’re on pace now to do over 3000 in the next couple of weeks, so it’s growing. So it must be resonating out there with people who listen, and we’re very grateful that you are listening, the best way you can support us is you can leave a review on iTunes or Google Play. Certainly tell a friend about the show anyone who’s a broker who is looking to, you know, increase their business or want to learn from people who are already doing it. Well. This is a great place to do that. And also, we’re also going to be having sponsorship opportunities. So stay tuned for that if you’re a business you want to get in front of, you know 2000 Plus Realtors every week, we can you can sponsor an episode, and I want to just give a couple of quick thank yous to people who helped make the show work. First of all, my boss, Nick Patterson, who is allowing me to do this on on company time, we really appreciate that Nick, also our producer, Jen, Jen is amazing. And she sets up all the interviews does a lot of the post production and the pre production and she is invaluable. So thank you, Jen, and also my monthly co host Carrie McCormack who we do our Monday market minute and she is fantastic. And we’ve been getting such great feedback on her episodes as well. So just wanted to say thank you to everyone, especially the listeners. Please keep listening. If you have any suggestions or people that we should be interviewing or questions that you want me to ask of these top producers or carry send those send that into us. You can also follow us on Facebook keeping it real pod Twitter same and our website keeping it real pod.com. So thank you and onto our interview with the fantastic Aaron Mandel.

Right today on the show, we have Aaron Mandel, Aaron was born into a family of developers from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she has grown up in the real estate business that real estate’s more than a career choice, but rather a true passion for Erin she joined at properties in 2010 After a successful six year career with the Belgravia group. While at the Belgravia group, Mandel sold over 85 million totaling over 85 million with 280 Personal real estate transactions. Aaron was also the Rookie of the Year in 2006, and has been a top 1% per broker with all Chicago Realtors for many, many years. At that properties. Aaron Duggan is a top producer and dedicated real estate broker. She has nearly tripled her transaction size since 2012 and is on pace to have another record year 2017. She takes a strong leadership role in managing client expectations and truly believes in dedicated service during and after the sale. As a result, Erin’s business is heavily maintained by referral and repeat clientele with minimal market time and a business plan tailored to each individual mental prize herself on completing every transaction to the exact liking of her client maintains a professional yet personal appeal when representing both buyers and sellers through education, creative financing and adaptation to the rapidly changing market conditions. Aaron is committed to providing the highest level of client service with not only the use of cutting edge technology but also making sure to personally communicate all parties involved with each transaction. And and I want to point out some of your accolades Aaron has served as the director as a director for Chicago agent sorry, it’s Cago Association of Realtors from 2014 to 2017 She was Chair for the YPN which is the Young Professionals Network with Chicago Association of Realtors 2012 to 2013. She also has an active role in the National Association of REALTORS car we just mentioned, Illinois Association of Realtors and the Women’s Council of realtors. 2012, the Women’s Council of Realtors awarded Aaron Entrepreneur of the Year. She’s also an art pack major investor, and Aaron contributes to the children’s special charities and Special Olympics of Chicago Marwin Children’s Hospital, the great Chicago Food Depository Ronald McDonald House and step up Chicago, which is near and dear to my girlfriend’s heart. So welcome to the show.

Erin Mandel 5:45
Thank you so much for having me. That was quite I don’t, I don’t very.

D.J. Paris 5:50
Yeah, no, it’s impressive. And I don’t think anyone has, I don’t think we’ve interviewed anyone with who have served on as on as many boards with this many accolades. So we’re really grateful that you spend a few minutes with us. So thank you.

Erin Mandel 6:02
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

D.J. Paris 6:05
You’re welcome. Well, tell us a little bit about how you got started in the industry.

Erin Mandel 6:09
So I grew up in real estate. So to be honest, I tried to get as far away from real estate as possible. My family encouraged me to get a business degree and go to law school and become a developer. And I said, Hey, you know, my passion is in music, I’m going to get a journalism degree. And I moved to LA in Paris, they worked for Universal Records, I translated French interviews with artists. And what I started to realize is that, although my passion the business part of it wasn’t exactly my favorite piece, I decided to leave the artist on the stage and ultimately decide to help them in ways in which of producing albums as they do now, or scanning for festivals and that I would get back to something I really understood around the kitchen table and join Belgravia as efforts in real estate in Chicago.

D.J. Paris 7:02
Wow, you went from really a huge shift, we interviewed a broker not that long ago, who was a piano player and went to, you know, went to music school, and then with zero experience in real estate went on to become a top producer. And he said that for him. The discipline of practicing with respect to learning the craft of being a pianist, you know, obviously helped him in real estate. Talk about like, your first few years and as shifting from working in the music industry over into real estate, you know, what, what was that? Like?

Erin Mandel 7:36
No, I can, you know, I echo his sentiment and everything that he said, I mean, I ultimately feel as though musicians constantly have to reinvent their sound, right? Like you have your passion, your core, the way in which you beat to your record, or the way in which you, you know, put yourself out into the universe. And I think as a real estate agent, ultimately, I am just like a vessel of communication. I am the person who communicates information between seller and buyer developments in developer land and acquisition. And it’s important for me to be able to kind of bob and weave through ways in which people articulate and communicate. So I think that the first couple of years for me was really understanding the intricacies of new construction, acquiring buildings, converting rental to condominiums, and then being able to facilitate the best way in which to sell the building and what was a very booming 2005 2006 market.

D.J. Paris 8:41
Yeah, and then, and then the crash happened, and how did that affect your business?

Erin Mandel 8:46
So I did such a great job and my first Development at 2300. Commonwealth they sold 72 units, it was about a $22 million sell out, and they awarded me an opportunity to be the lead at 565. West Quincy, which was 241 units for about 80 million and I couldn’t have been more excited to start on this huge development. We pre sold half the building. And the news happened the market had major dislocation, and I ended up selling and reselling that building 13 times over believable. So I was if you can imagine I went from collecting contracts in 2005 2006 on Sunday afternoons not knowing that much about earnest money and attorney review periods and just how you know Belgrave You did such a great job of handling the back end of the business that was really just the front face to really understanding or getting what you would call your MBA and how to really conquer every objection you could possibly imagine we lost financing. We had to stop construction One time period 50% of the building had to be owner occupied and had to be sold before we could close, we had a $30 million construction loan we had investors to satisfy so it was a real education and how to get things done.

D.J. Paris 10:15
I can imagine. And I Yeah, I bet and I don’t want to gloss over the amount of success you’ve had even you know, since then, because if I heard you correctly, we’re talking before we started recording that you you’ve worked with over 1500 buyers and sellers, is that correct?

Erin Mandel 10:35
I think that’s about the number. You know, I tend not to report too much of my sales. I do a lot of business with people who like to be quiet. And I’m you know what I’m super cool with that. I think I what I really like to do and what pushes the needle for me ultimately is trying to help people make good decisions. So I think if you talk to the, you know, the first time homebuyers all the people that walked into the sales centers of all of these Belgravia developments, you know, I taught them about earnest money, I taught them about back end debt ratios, I taught them about lenders and attorneys and made sure that they were protected. And oftentimes, they weren’t represented by a buyer’s agent. And so when they went out to their second home, or transitioned into another place in their life, they really look to someone to help guide them. And I’ve really been that force. And that brings a lot of pride and joy to me. So much so that I’ve really been able to grow a business whereby I have two full time people helping helping me with my brokerage business.

D.J. Paris 11:31
That no, that is truly, truly incredible. And, you know, I also want to talk about the boards that you’ve served on, you’ve served on YPN, you’ve served at Carr. Also, it sounds like with IAR, and national. And I specifically I want to mention the Women’s Council of Realtors, because I feel that there are a tremendous number of and I know men can join as well, but certainly it is called the Women’s Council of realtors. And I think there’s a lot of women that just do not know about this organization, you know, and they should, because I actually did attend an event of theirs years ago, and I was so impressed by how supportive the members seem to be towards each other. And so I know you you have worked with them for some time as well.

Erin Mandel 12:14
So all of these Association, I will tell you this. I received a phone call in like late 2009. And a gal from Women’s Council said, Aaron, we think it’d be a great fit for YPN. We’re just starting this chapter in Chicago, would you come in for a first meeting, and I sat around a boardroom with five people who are now all top producing agents in Chicago. And as the market has shifted, and multiple offers have become something that’s the norm. We have 6am calls, 8am calls, 3pm calls, where we all kind of check in with each other to see, you know, how everyone is best handling our practice, because we just really, it’s a it’s a it’s a band of people who really care about, you know, our ethical ground in this community.

D.J. Paris 13:12
Yeah, and so if if you’re a if you’re a realtor, and you’re not a member of the YPN and don’t worry, you don’t have to be young to join. Or you should definitely

Erin Mandel 13:23
know why. The young the young is it’s a young at heart DJ young at heart.

D.J. Paris 13:28
Yes, I go to YPN events and I am certainly not young. But they are they are wonderful and great opportunities to meet people in the industry and to learn a lot. Also, Women’s Council of Realtors I couldn’t be a bigger fan of I think if you notice, we men are not smart enough to put a men’s Council of Realtors together only women think to do this. And even if you are a man, you can join the Women’s Council but it is such so wonderful. I couldn’t I can’t say enough nice things about about any of the organizations like that. So let’s talk more about you. So I do want to make sure we talk about the new development you’re working on in Lincoln Park on Arlington. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Erin Mandel 14:13
Sure. So what a full circle opportunity. I got my start at Commonwealth and Belden and I am you know 12 years later circling back just a few blocks down the road on a beautiful one way. tree lined street, Booth Hanson and boutique properties along with contemporary concepts and LG has put together this incredible eight unit masterpiece quite frankly. It is 3030 foot wide plus interiors, eight homes, elevator building garage parking. There’s a single family home at 439 Arlington that’s also being remastered it’s just it’s it’s been such a gift in such an opera Tuna need to be able to represent something so magnificent?

D.J. Paris 15:03
Yeah, you know, let’s talk a little bit more about development because there are a lot of realtors, who who are just familiar with how to start getting involved. Are there specific tips that you would have you would recommend to somebody who’s looking to go down that path?

Erin Mandel 15:20
No, I think development is one of those pieces where, you know, there’s a lot of like upfront work, right? Like you really have to understand a developer, the notion of pre sale, the notion of making sure that you can relay the message of a home from paper to and floor plan to conceptualizing what it will look like. You know, when you when you get into the ground, I think my best advice would just be to really speak to people who have some history or some past in the new and pre construction arena. And there are the best in the business. Belgravia is one of the best in the business, they have an in house development firm, and they strictly do pre a new construction. And you have great firms in the suburbs as well. I mean, polti puts their new salespeople through a great program, people really learn how to sell, you know, from paper to model to new construction to walking homes to closing.

D.J. Paris 16:24
That’s, that’s Yeah, it’s so interesting. Development is really so foreign to so many, many realtors. So I appreciate you giving us some insight. We got an email this morning. And I have never read an email on the show yet. But I wanted to Well, I won’t read it. I’ll just paraphrase. But a one of our listeners who is newer to the industry, and I don’t have his name in front of me, but anyway, he said I am brand new to the industry. And I don’t know what firm he works at either. But I’m sure hopefully he works at a firm that has good training. But he said what would what would you recommend I do first? So I’m gonna post that oppose that to you, what would you recommend a brand new realtor would do first to start growing this case his business?

Erin Mandel 17:07
So I think you know, we’re in an interesting time. I mean, this is a we have about I think we have about 18 more months at this very fast pace market. In spring, anything I’ve put in on the market at under half a million when in multiple offers with at least five offers on the same day. So for any new agent, I would recommend a training be close to as many open houses as possible to learn the tenor of the pace of the business and to understand how fast it moves. And I think another piece or two would be to enjoy as much of the association as possible. I have to tell you that, you know, there are people that the matt Larry Scott Newman, Tommy Choi, people who own their own firms, who are, you know, some of my dearest colleagues and when I look at the MLS, and I see that this person is or could potentially be my cooperative broker on a transaction, it’s just such a peace of mind to know that they’re so well versed, they’re involved with the Association, they understand the ethical and moral code that we adhere to, and that they really like taking the time to start their own company. And we all kind of came up together. So I guess my best piece of advice would say to, you know, surround yourself with people who really enjoy best practices and just choose to carry each other forward. There’s always enough business for everybody.

D.J. Paris 18:28
Great advice, and I’m gonna piggyback you mentioned Tommy Choi, I’m good. I have a quick little Tommy Choi anecdote to, to add to that. So I just recently we interviewed his partner, Josh for the show. And I asked Josh, I think this made it onto the episode, but if it didn’t, I’ll repeat it. Or I’ll give it to you now. I asked Josh, what do you what are your goals for the year? And because I’m always interested, and I don’t ask that of everyone. But Josh is a very goal driven type of person. So he he he said, Well, we don’t really have sales goals. And I said, Oh, that’s what kind of goals do you have? Because Josh is very much about giving and giving back and, and being philanthropic. Obviously, you are as well with all the boards and the various charities you support. But anyway, he’s he goes, Man, we don’t really have a lot of goals. He said, But he goes, we actually do have what he goes Tommy’s goal, and this is they’ve been in the business, I think, more than 10 years at this point. He goes Tommy’s goals to meet 365 new people over the next year. And and I thought, What a great message. You know, here’s a very successful team, who likely works almost exclusively by referral, just like yourself. They but they’re going back to the fundamentals and he said he goes DJ, if Tommy can meet 365 new people in the next year, one a day, he goes we will have more business than we’ll know what to do with and so I just love hearing those fundamentals that even after tremendous success, still going back and doing doing the basics, you know, which

Erin Mandel 19:55
I will agree and I’ll tell you this, so Tommy is my work husband i We are always invited to the same event and we always go together. And I will tell you that Josh Weinberg was the first person to walk through one of my Belgravia open houses when he was working to Pulte Homes. So I go way back with both of them. And when I travel around the world, and I’m in the pool, and somebody comes up to me and says, Are you from Chicago? And I say yes. And they say, What do you do? I said, I sell real estate, and they say, Do you know, and it’s either Josh Weinberg or Tammy Joy anywhere, I will tell you that best practices is always making sure that you know that nothing is below or above you, yes, I am the person who will meet great take care of whatever needs to happen, you know, immediate, nothing is nothing should be above or below the the fundamentals of this business are, are really concrete. And I think so long as you continue on that you are really, you know, setting yourself up for continued success.

D.J. Paris 21:14
I 100 100% agree. And I want to ask you about your record collection. This is completely off topic. But it’s so fascinating to me, because you were in the the music industry, you have 4000 What do they call them pieces of vinyl, or we just call them records, but either way, you have 4000 records?

Erin Mandel 21:31
All right about about it, I cannot wait to listen to those jams, DJ.

D.J. Paris 21:41
You know, I I know people say that I’ve been playing. I’m I have a little silly band. And, and I’ve been playing guitar for almost 30 years now. But I just can’t quite, you know, pull the trigger on a turntable just yet. But. But I know people say that they say that the sound, the analog sound is just a bit different. So maybe you

Erin Mandel 22:02
recently started dating somebody about two months ago, I’m getting a little personal here. And he said to me, please don’t move this too quickly. Because if you move it too quickly, we’re gonna get bored, and it’s not going to be good. You know, we’re in our 30s now. And when you get to that age, you know exactly what you want. And you move the needle too quickly. It’s just becomes maybe boring. So towards the end of our third or fourth date, I think he said something to me, like, you know, would you just come home with me and listen to one of my records? I said, I think you’re trying to close the deal here. You said I think I am. And so we went back to his apartment. And he and I said, Are you going to turn on some romance? And he said yes. And it was, it was pretty

D.J. Paris 22:49
funny. Well, well, you will you know, my girlfriend, Liz. And it actually Aaron did in the oddest of coincidences. This was not setup necessarily through my girlfriend. But you are coming to our Halloween party in a few days. But But Liz has never seen stop making sense by the talking heads, which is like the greatest concert movie of all time. If you haven’t seen it, you absolutely have to. But anyway, so I’m going to force Liz to sit down and watch all of stop making sense. I would be more than happy to join you for that. Let’s, yeah, I also want to just just because we always like to ask a few sort of funny experiences. Just tell us about the tellers, the marker incident where with the flooring, this is a pretty great one.

Erin Mandel 23:35
So um, I took on a listing about four months ago, and I told the sellers, I pulled comps and I said to the sellers, look, there have been no single family home sales in your market and a quarter mile radius. In the last two years that has sold at this price point, it might take me about a year to sell it, I just want to give you a proper expectation. sure that okay, so we put it on the market, we aggressively priced it somewhere around 1.85, just to make sure that we are drawing the proper amount of people in eight days I received multiple offers. We select one particular buyer, they’re strong and they’re financing. They’re working with a great group of people. They’re set to close in just a few hours and I go through for the final walkthrough and I realized there’s a bunch of scratches on the floor. You can imagine at this price point that the buyer and the seller are particular as they should be, it’s a lofty dollar amount. And so my associate Emily goes to grab on some of those wood floor markers. Sure, kind of like bridge the gap and this is in full disclosure, the buyers or the sellers aware we just want to make everything as presentable as possible. So I started to take that as spresso pen and I’m writing you know, kind of coloring, if you will. And as the color as the as the color, you know, kind of bleeds into the, the floor, it’s black and it looks like I legit took a Sharpie pen before and I’m thinking to myself, this new buyer is gonna walk in and they’re gonna think who is this dumb real estate agent? And why did she sharp before my would and so I took a run around the block literally a run around the block is to catch my breath or maybe exhaust myself right and I came back in and it looked absolutely perfect it just literally like a fine wine. You did some some room to breathe.

D.J. Paris 25:47
No, that’s good that that that the marker color fell your way because I’ve had those, those would markers are odd, and they always dry differently to what you expect them to dry. And so I’m glad yours dried, fell the way that you wanted it to. That’s that would be ball, could you imagine $1.8 million, somebody sees sharp, you know, essentially what looks like a Sharpie all over the floor. That’s wonderful. And I

Erin Mandel 26:13
was, you know, I was prepared to say, you know, I’m gonna have to pay to refinish the floor and a small section of the home regardless. But you know, when you’re used to really trying to deliver a perfect product and a perfect service and you really hold yourself accountable to a really high level of just all the way around on your transaction. I was just more disappointed in myself than anything for really doing that.

D.J. Paris 26:39
But when all worked out, I guess

Erin Mandel 26:41
fine. It was an hour and a half of that of sweating from head to toe.

D.J. Paris 26:48
You know, let’s, I think you’ve said it all. What is the best way if anyone’s listening who is a buyer or seller would be interested in working with Aaron on any real estate transaction she does it all and has done it all extraordinarily well for a long time. What’s the best way they should reach you?

Erin Mandel 27:07
Not Twitter. I think the best the best way to get a hold of me is just that straight up thing called his cell phone. My phone number is 312-399-0848

D.J. Paris 27:20
And what’s the best email to reach him

Erin Mandel 27:21
I’ll email is also pretty simple. It’s Aaron era n at att properties.com.

D.J. Paris 27:28
So yes, any other errands that have come after her do not have that email address that

Erin Mandel 27:35
the original gangster era and adapt properties.

D.J. Paris 27:38
I’m so grateful for your time on the show. And I am so excited to meet you in person in a few days. I’m assuming you’re wearing a costume because this is a Halloween party. Or we will expect you to at least put something on to or

Erin Mandel 27:51
maybe I will dress as a civilian you know I’m going to try and break these 80 hour work weeks and you know maybe just like come as like just me Aaron the person. No, I’m just kidding. DJ have a great customer.

D.J. Paris 28:02
Oh, you did? Well, no, I don’t care if you don’t have a costume, but I am going to be in my girlfriend Liz who you know, we’re going to be in the most ridiculous costume that I’ve ever done. And I usually I do do myself this is absolutely the best. So I will by the time this episode airs, the odds are that we will have a picture together and I will put it in the episode so people can see it in the description. And you it’ll be pretty pretty ridiculous.

Erin Mandel 28:28
So I mean, this sounds like an epic way to really kind of rule me out here. I’m just keeping it real. I mean what’s keeping it real more than you know us in a in a Halloween costume? I better bring my A game.

D.J. Paris 28:38
Yeah. Well you did today. So thank you so much for being on the show. And we appreciate your time and everyone. If you’re interested in working with Aaron her informations in the notes here and she just gave you and thanks for being on the show. Thank you so much DJ

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Do you stay in touch with your real estate clients after the sale? Kate Waddell does! Kate is not only in the top 1% of all Chicago brokers, she’s in the top .01% of all of Sotheby’s International Realty! In our discussion Kate talks about the value of relationships and how specifically she continues to reach out to her clients. This is part of the reason Real Estate Executive Magazine named her one of the the 100 Most Influential Agents in Chicago!

Kate Waddell can be reached at 773.517.2666 and kate@kateproperty.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:16
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast made by real estate agents for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your host. And we have a great show today with an interview with Kate Waddell. And by the way, have you ever listened to one of our episodes and thought, I wish TJ would have asked the guest about X, Y or Z? Well, here’s your opportunity to for me to ask those questions. So once a month, Carrie McCormack and I host an episode where she gives her state of the union what’s going on in real estate she she goes through the numbers about what’s actually happening in Chicago real estate, but also answers your question so she is a top top producer. So here’s how you send us your questions you can go to our website keeping it real pod.com all of our episodes are there there’s also a contact form you can submit your questions Carrie will answer them on the show or go to our Facebook page which is keeping it real pod and lastly, please keep telling other brokers about this show are growing at a fantastic rate thanks to you passing this along to other people in your office or at other firms brokers you know that you feel could benefit. Also if you have somebody you want us to interview you can drop us a line and let us know who that is and we will reach out all right on to our interview with Kate Waddell.

Today on the show, we have Kate Waddell, Kate has consistently been a top producer since her real estate career began in 2006. And I don’t want to gloss over these numbers. These are super, super impressive. She has been named a top 1% broker by Chicago Association of Realtors every year since 2009. She’s a senior vice president of sales for Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty and always in the top, not 1% but point zero 1% of all brokers in the company. In the summer of 2016, Kate was named as one of the 100 most influential agents in Chicago by real estate Executive Magazine K was a member of CRF marketing, which was the number one sales team in the city from 2006 until their transition to Jamison in 2008. She has also sold high end luxury and new construction condos for resident residential developer at the start of her career at Kate has been interviewed as an industry expert for the Chicago Tribune and Chicago agent magazine. She has appeared a number of times on television venues including NBC five with Marian Brooks and the talk purse. Oh, and so Kate is a Chicago neighborhood expert focusing in all of the major neighborhoods here in the city, as well as also the North Shore and western suburbs. Kate specializes in transitioning her clients into an out of the city. Her thirst for knowledge has made her extremely well versed in Chicagoland market. personal referrals continue to be Kate’s main source of business, and she takes her commitment to our clients seriously with a proven record for negotiation, and a drive to succeed. Kate has consistently sold her listings in under average market time netting her clients highest possible price. Kate listens to her buyers needs and wants and then finds them their dream home. All the while making the process straightforward and also fun. Kate is conscientious a team player and works aggressively on behalf of her clients always in the spirit of win win. Kate graduated with a master’s from University of Illinois. She began her career in elementary education teaching for five years. Kate is actively involved in supporting Lakeview Food Pantry as well as edge Alliance. Those are charities she is passionate about. Thank you, Kate, for being on the show.

Kate Waddell 3:50
I am thrilled to be here. Thank you so much for having me, DJ, I love what you guys are doing.

D.J. Paris 3:55
And you also had a radio show too in your past? Yes, yeah,

Kate Waddell 3:58
I was I was part of a radio show for five or six years. And we had a lot of fun. It was on Saturdays, we would just kind of jump on the air and talk about kind of what was going on in the market at the time. And that kind of went on through like 2009 through you know, 2015 or so. And, you know, we saw kind of the the lows lows of the market and as the market started to rebound, so it was very interesting. It was a good time.

D.J. Paris 4:28
That’s awesome. And you’ll have to rate me on my elocution and diction. But let’s turn off. Well, thank you. I’m not doing awesome, but I appreciate the feedback. No, thank you so much. And let’s talk about how you made a pretty radical shift from I’m guessing you’re a teacher and then have moved into real estate. Can you tell us about Yeah,

Kate Waddell 4:50
yeah, exactly. So I upon graduating from school, I was an elementary school teacher out in the western suburbs. For a few years, and I really enjoyed it, you know, my entire family has a background in education. And it’s such a great, great profession. But I always had this kind of nagging, nagging pole coming from the sales world. And I think that’s in part due to my father, he’s in sales. And I just always wanted to try it out. And so I had an opportunity to jump into a career in real estate. And I took it and, you know, can’t believe it’s been 10 years, but it has, and here I am, 10 years later, and I couldn’t be happier with that decision. It’s a perfect, perfect career for me. And I’m thrilled to be able to help help people kind of move in and out of homes.

D.J. Paris 5:45
Yeah, let’s talk about when you first started, those first few years are tend to be difficult for everybody, even top producers, or at least more difficult than the now and and so you came in and a few years in you, obviously, the the market really changed it collapsed. And and here you are still. So can you talk about how you sort of survived those times and even thrived into

Kate Waddell 6:09
apps? Absolutely. I appreciate that. Yeah, I came into real estate in 2006, still kind of teaching part, you know, doing real estate part time. So really, I started full time in real estate in 2007. And I was fortunate enough to have a contact who connected me with Chris sphere, who was at the time, the number one real estate broker in the city of Chicago, and I was fortunate enough to go work for him. And so from 2007, you know, for a couple of years, I worked for Chris fear. And I truly learned everything I know, through his team and through his coaching and I really kind of had to start from the bottom because, you know, came in in oh seven, and then the market crashed in oh eight. And I so I just never really knew a great market. I kind of came in right when things were going down. And so you always you always had to work extra hard. You had to think outside the box, you had to get creative guerilla marketing the whole thing. And, you know, it really has served me well. Because here I sit 10 years later, and people say to me, you know, Hey, Kate, what’s your secret? What, you know, what are you? What do you got going on? And I say, you know, there’s really no secret. It’s just hard work. You have to work hard, you have to do right by your client, you have to do what you say you’ll do. And all those things. Really, I learned through probably the worst market crash that Chicago has seen certainly or the country has seen, you know, in those, oh, 70809 years. So it worked out for the for the better truly.

D.J. Paris 7:44
Yeah, I guess if you can survive through the toughest downturn in the market, and in recent history, it’s everything else is is certainly easier to an extent. And I think, you know, you I know you put a huge focus on the relationships you build with your clients. And can you talk a little bit about maybe how you see that as an AI, oftentimes, brokers aren’t always able to sort of specifically say what they do differently than other brokers, because I know you’re, you’re hyper focused in your business. But can you talk a little bit about your process when you work with with clients?

Kate Waddell 8:21
Yeah, absolutely. You know, my, my philosophy has has always been that, you know, this is about the relationship for me. And so when I’m meeting with people, I’m talking about, you know, the fact that in a few years, I don’t want you to say, oh, yeah, we hired some gal to sell our condo on Southport, and we really haven’t talked to her since, you know, she did a great job. But you know, we haven’t talked to her since that’s just not how I operate. Right? So it’s, it’s crucial to me to develop a relationship with my clients, that that turns into a lifelong, you know, mutually beneficial relationship. So, you know, it’s just, it’s so important, you know, when someone is selling a home, when, when I’m, when I’m taking a listing, and somebody is selling a home, it’s an emotional situation for them, because often attached to that home, our you know, a lot of memories and, you know, home is where we’re, everyone’s lives are centered. And, you know, it’s where people, you know, spend most of their time and spend most of their time with their families. And so, you know, making sure that this isn’t about a sale, you know, it’s just not how I roll at all. So, you know, it’s about the relationship with the client, making sure they’re thrilled, making sure they’re very, very happy throughout the process. And so, you know, in five years, they say, oh, yeah, Kate, oh, we hung out with her. We had a, you know, a drink with her a couple of weeks ago, you know, that that’s more more my style. And, you know, it’s it’s mutually beneficial. Like I said, you know, I met some wonderful, wonderful Pete Pull through doing my business this way, it’s not, you know, just a transaction for me,

D.J. Paris 10:05
ya know, all of all of that is so important. And one of I’d like to drill down just a little bit in at the after the sale experience, because you’re obviously doing a great job with them, the transactions completed. And ultimately, you would like to continue that relationship for, you know, certain number of years down the road when they’re ready for another transaction. What do you do in the interim, you mentioned just, hey, I might go have a drink with my clients, are there other things you’re doing to stay in touch? Because I think it’s so easy to to go? Well, I sold them home two years ago, I’m not totally sure how to stay in touch, like, what can you talk about what you do?

Kate Waddell 10:41
Yeah, for sure. I think, you know, a lot of people will say, Oh, you know, I sold my clients into a home two years ago. So I should probably touch base with them in like, two more years, because people in Chicago move every three to five. And that, you know, to me, that’s kind of the opposite of of how it should, how it should go. I you know, I’m in touch with my clients all the time. You know, if if it’s their birthday, they’re getting a birthday card for me, wedding anniversary, you know, baby gifts, wedding gifts, you know, just important events in their lives, they’re going to hear from me. Because that’s how it should be when when you have something great going on in your life or something not so great, you know, that has gone on, you know, I want to reach out because I care about these people I’ve grown to know these people intimately through working with them. So closely being in a purchase or a sale. And so I want to, you know, just naturally want to reach out to them and say congratulations, or say, Hey, I’m sorry to hear you’re going through a tough time or whatever it may be. And so it’s not a, you know, it’s not a just, hey, you disappear, you know, a couple years later, and then you hear from me a couple years late, you know, it’s just, it’s constant contact and reaching out to people I do three or four times a year, I’ll invite people to come come to a workout with me at different workout venues throughout the city that’s really exciting and fun, and kind of just something different, you know, that we can do that if a broker in the Chicago community, Nick library was doing and I thought that was a great idea. So yeah, you know, just anything I can do to, to stay in front of my clients and make sure they know, I’m available. And I’m thinking about them because I am.

D.J. Paris 12:27
Yeah, no. And you can hear the passion in your, in your voice about how you know why that’s so important to you. And it was it’s really good timing. We’re talking about this because I just put another episode live today. And I gave a Marketing Tip of the Week, which which was writing handwritten notes. And we all know how important or how personal that can be. And I had offered a challenge to other brokers who might be listening to say, hey, take your top 100 clients or friends or whoever people closest to you. And try to write them a handwritten note every month for the next year, which is not easy to do. That’s a lot of work. And then I started thinking, well, what would stop somebody from doing that as aside from the time and the energy it takes is, what do I write each month? And in your case, you know, a lot of information about each of your clients, you’re able to say, Okay, well, that’s so and so’s birthday, or here’s somebody who might be struggling, maybe they’re going through a life transition, that’s hard. Or maybe their kids are now off to school for the first time and are coming home from school or graduation or, you know, some major milestone event in their life. I think if you’re doing a really good job for your clients, and clearly you are you have that information, and it gives you an opportunity to reach out. And also, instead of just saying oh, by the way, if you need to, you know, help buying or selling a home, I’m always here, you now have a real personalized reason. And the good news too, I think, for brokers that decide to put that sort of time and to really get to know their clients is it’s not a crowded field. There are not a ton of other brokers who are willing to put in that kind of work. And it’s, you know, it’s truly remarkable and, and you know, you are you really have done so incredibly well in your career. And you talk You’re welcome. I mean it’s it’s really impressive. Can you talk about you know, other other ways you think maybe you differentiate, you clearly see? Yes, come and go. What do you think you’re doing? Definitely.

Kate Waddell 14:20
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it’s always so exciting. When there’s new brokers that are joining real estate, a gal by the name of Carissa wolfman joined my group about a year ago, she actually was a former teacher, she taught in Chicago Public Schools, upon her graduation from college and then decided that she wanted to jump into sales. So it’s so exciting to see people like that. And I’m always happy to meet with people and I do it often. Just to offer, you know, any amount of tips or advice or hey, here’s what’s working for me or, Hey, I’ve tried that and that necessarily hasn’t worked, etc. Um, So I, you know, I love to do that, and I love to see new people succeed. But you’re right in that, you know, there are people that kind of come in and out of this business. And I think, you know, part of that, I mean, I don’t, I don’t know everything, of course, but part of that might be, you know, this business is hard work, you know, it’s, it requires a lot of a lot of work and a lot of willingness to put yourself out there and really go above, above and beyond for your clients. So, you know, if you’re willing to do that, I think you can be very, very successful. One, one way in which I’ve, I’ve kind of done that is through a lot of self development. So, you know, my managing broker is a guy by the name of Jim Miller. And he also is a really good friend of mine. And he is incredible. I mean, he does the most amazing training through this other BS office in Chicago. And, and beyond. I mean, he goes, he goes all over. But the training that he offers to this other these agents, I have just taken so much advantage of, because it’s awesome. So, you know, taking taking as much self development as I possibly can, I think that’s definitely helped me up my game a little bit. You know, I’m constantly looking for ways to improve. I’m looking for feedback from my sellers, from my buyers. Hey, what, what did you love about our experience? What didn’t you love? What can I do better than next time? And really, I think, you know, a big a big piece that Jim Miller has taught me is, you know, the five people that you spend the most time with the five people you surround yourself with the most. That’s kind of the sum of who you technically be calm, right? Sure. So, you know, looking around and kind of deciding, who can I spend time with and who can I learn from, I’m always looking to learn, I mean, just being a former educator, I’m, I love to learn. It’s kind of innate in my body. And I, you know, I’m always looking for ways to improve. So who can I you know, who’s doing better than me? Who in the home in the market is crushing it? And what can I learn from it? I saw you interview Josh Weinberg, you know, a couple weeks ago, he’s one of my favorite people in Chicago. He’s incredible. He’s talented. What him and Tommy are doing, starting their new office. It’s just awesome. Right? So being able to learn from people. It’s huge. You know, I think I think it’s worthwhile.

D.J. Paris 17:35
Yeah, one of the speaking of Josh, one of the things that I really thought was a great idea was he starts every morning with his team, and they go around in a circle. And they have to say one thing they’re really grateful for in their lives could be any unbelievable. It’s such a simple, great idea. And I can’t imagine what that does to someone’s mindset, it’s a great way. And at the end of the day, they have a similar ritual where they sort of do that again. And then they’re also able to say, Okay, well, we’re gonna donate X amount per day, to charity. So they have genius, genius.

Kate Waddell 18:08
Leaders, they’re innovators, they’re doing, they’re doing huge things. And you’re right, it creates a mindset of how to go about your day. And that transcends to your client, right? Before, you know, before I meet with a client, I sit for a second and say, okay, you know, take a second, you know, whatever I’ve got going on, you know, whatever outside noise is going on, just put it to the side, because right now, the person I’m about to sit down with is the most important thing, right? So and you carry that mindset into that next meeting. So it’s huge, so especially when we’ve got all this stuff going on, you know, between Puerto Rico and Mexico, and Vegas, and Texas and Florida, I mean, there’s just so much devastation, so trying to keep a positive mindset, and focus on your clients happiness, kind of keeping that at the forefront of my mind is, is important.

D.J. Paris 18:59
100% agree, if there was one tip, you would give a brand new broker who just got their license, and is, you know, eager to get started, what would be your sort of number one tip on what to actually do day one?

Kate Waddell 19:13
You know, I think, you know, again, I’m gonna pull from my thought leader, Jim Miller, but creating a database. So you’ve got to create a database and you’ve got to start working that database from day one. So think of everybody you know, that you know, is important in your life or that could potentially be making a move, be it you know, when you’re starting out, you might do some rentals here and there. So be it be it wanting to rent or or eventually buy or sell at some point, but getting them into a database and working that database and that’s, you know, the birthday cards in the in the touch points in the inviting the, you know, workout with you or whatever, you know, whatever it may be just letting them know you’re thinking of them at all times and that it has to be authentic, right. It can’t be It can’t be nonsense. But creating a database, I think is, is really, really important.

D.J. Paris 20:07
Yeah, and a lot of times for new brokers that that is so, so true. And a lot of times people say, Well, what do I do with my database? And my thought is you if you can write everyone a handwritten note, because I’m a big fan of this, but it’s some somehow communicate to every person, every person that you just got your license, and you’re excited to either work with them or anyone they know. Brian Buffini, who I’m sure you’re familiar with the Oh, yes, yeah, he’s kind of great expression that because a lot of times people get their license, they build their contact list, and they go, I don’t, I don’t really want to, you know, pitch my friends and family. And in what he says is, your contact list is not your client list necessarily. These oftentimes, and when you’re first start, you don’t have a client list anyway. But these contacts, these are the people most wanting you to succeed. So maybe they become, they become your advocates, right? So these are the people that you say, hey, look, if you ever need help, I’m here to help you. But tell everybody, you know, and they’re the ones most likely to do that. And so I think that’s great, as I’m shocking how many people? And again, I don’t blame them, I think it’s they’re not taught this in any of you know, their licensing courses, for sure. Right. Right. They’re not taught Oh, my gosh, for the first few years, there’s a lot of just outreach that I have to do and putting

Kate Waddell 21:18
yourself out there and yeah, you know, not hiding that you’re a real estate broker, you know, you have to tell like, sing it from the rooftops? Absolutely. Yeah. It’s, it’s daunting, you know, it can be intimidating, because you think I have no experience, how am I supposed to, you know, so I think it for somebody brand new, it’s important to align yourself with an expert in your office that absolutely kind of mentor you. And, you know, I have a mentor to this day, no question. I have so much to learn.

D.J. Paris 21:43
Let’s, let’s not let’s let me just read, I don’t want to gloss over that. So you are a top 1% broker in Chicago, in the industry. And in your own company, you’re at a top zero, you know, one on a 100th of 1%. You are literally at the top of the top. And today you have a mentor, I think that’s so important.

Kate Waddell 22:02
Yeah. Because I’m never, you know, I don’t want to stop learning. And I think I have a lot to learn, you know, and I have a lot I can improve on. And that’s why, you know, I asked for feedback on every single deal I do about probably 7075 deals a year. And on every deal. I asked my client, just tell me how it went, tell me, you know, did you did you have a good experience, be it in person, you know, at the closing or on an email follow up later. But it’s important to improve? Right? And there’s no question I can get better at this. There’s no question that I can keep improving. So I you know, I definitely have a mentor. And that person is very, very important to me, and so helpful. In upping my game, as I say,

D.J. Paris 22:48
Well, I think you have said it all. And that is a great a great place to, to, to exit out here. Because I think that that you what you’ve said is so valuable to new brokers and even not people who are not necessarily even new, but you know, like yourself, you still you still have a mentor, you’re still getting feedback. And even if brokers just added a feedback loop into their process is that you would learn so much from the stuff you’re afraid to hear. It would help you immensely. There’s so much that we don’t know that we do that oftentimes our clients can clue us in and say well, maybe you know there’s something you can work on. And it really just makes us a better so but I also want to make sure people know if there’s any buyers or sellers out there that are interested in working with Kate how they find you. By the way, Kate’s website is Kate which is with a K Kate property.com. And Kate

Kate Waddell 23:41
Yeah, and you can reach me anytime on my cell phone which is 773-517-2666 or email is Kate at Kate property.com

D.J. Paris 23:53
Awesome. Well, thank you, Kate, so much for your time. You are incredibly busy. We appreciate you taking a few moments to speak to the listeners.

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One way to know what your clients think of you is to read the online reviews. Matt Liss, broker and owner of Mark Allen Realty, has the most 5-star reviews of any broker in Chicago on Yelp (out of 35k brokers). Clearly, his clients love his service! We talked with Matt about what he does differently than other agents, how he grows his business, and why if you’re not having success with open houses, you’re doing it wrong!

Matt Liss can be reached at 773-415-4744 and mattl@markallenrealty.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:15
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast made by real estate agents for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your host through the show and we’re really excited and thrilled to have interviewed Matt LIS today. And his interview is coming up in just a couple of few couple quick announcements before we get started. First of all, the we have doubled our readership or listenership rather yet again in the last month. So thank you, for everyone who’s listening and sharing this with a friend. So if you have other brokers in your office, that or other brokers, you know, in the industry that you think could benefit in particular, we’re getting a lot of good feedback from newer brokers who are looking to find out what the top producers are doing, which of course, is exactly what we do here on the show. So feel free to share it with anyone and everyone you think could benefit. And secondly, we are also starting to take sponsorships. So I have a number of you that I need to get back to. So if you have a service that you would like to get in front of the ears of several 1000 realtors, every single episode, let me know and you can sponsor a podcast easiest way to reach us is keeping it real pod.com There’s a contact form there or on Facebook. And last, we have started getting questions from you as well, which is great because Carrie McCormack hosts, a co host an episode every month with me where she answers your questions. So keep them coming. You can email us directly through or rather you can email us but also send it right through our website, which is likely easier. So please do Oh, and unfortunately the audio that you’re about to hear in this great, really awesome interview with Matt is not great. His here’s the good news. His audio is perfect. He comes through absolutely crystal clear. It’s me. Somehow I screwed up. And my audio is unclear. But here’s the good news. You don’t care about my audio because we’re here to interview, Matt. So even if some of my questions are a little a little quieter than I’d like them to be, don’t worry, you’ll be able to figure out exactly what Matt is talking about because he is the star of this episode anyway. So I apologize to Matt, not knowing that our audio was so choppy. And also his audio is great. So don’t worry, it sounds fine. But I apologize to the listeners. So please listen through it. It’s so good. Matt has such a great interview. So thanks so much guys. And on to our interview with Matt let’s

today on the show, we have Matt Eilis who is the broker owner of Mark Allen Realty and Matt has been in the real estate and development business for over 10 years. During that time, he has bought and sold countless properties and develop both single family homes and condo conversions. Matt has successfully closed over 500 real estate transactions earning him recognition from the Chicago Association of Realtors as one of the city’s top producers and that’s he’s earned that award from 2005 through today 2017. Furthermore, he has earned the Chicago five star real estate agent award from 2011. Also through 2017, which was given is given to less than 2% of all realtors and based solely on the recommendations and feedback of their clients. Matt was born in Australia but spent most of his life in the northern suburbs of Chicago after spending 10 years in a vintage two flat Logan Square. Matt now resides in the west loop, and he loves to spend time with his wife Amy, his son Kayden and his daughter, Talia, will tell us because you’ve done so many different parts of real estate tell us a little bit more about how you got started.

Matt Liss 3:59
It’s an interesting story so raised by a single mother, my brother and I lived in Skokie with our grandmother until we were about 13. And I had a that’s my maternal grandmother that had a really good relationship with my father’s grandparents who lived in Rogers Park. They lived on the top floor of a two flat and on the first floor was Rosen ape, amazing people. He was a Holocaust survivor and just a really hard worker and was in the real estate business and had always kind of chatted with him about his endeavors and did a lot of stuff on the south side and was just a genuinely good guy. I was in corporate America for quite a while in the internet space for quite a while and then that whole thing fizzled in 2000. And I was looking for something to do got a great severance package in 2000 and was trying to figure out my next path. My uncle and I had a good relationship and he was in the landscape business. We decided to start buying houses fixing and flipping them. That’s where a first floor guy in my grandparents building came into play. And he helped us kind of get started and it just kind of grew legs from there. Are we might include I probably bought 10 or so homes on the south side, did a decent amount of work ourselves, hired some guys that you know for electrical, plumbing and things like that. But we were both pretty handy and did a lot of work and it was profitable and we enjoyed it a lot of flexibility and started realizing how frustrating it was to work with some real estate brokers. So, at that time, the Chicago Association of Realtors was offering what was called then education exempt. So I have a finance degree from University of Illinois at Chicago. And I just sat and took the test and had my license and was able to sell my own real estate. From there, Mark, my business partner, Mark Oscar who he and I own Mark Allen Realty together. He was also education exempt took the test, and we just started this brokerage and that also grew legs, I had a good sphere of influence, I had a lot of friends that were starting to buy places, and I was a trustworthy person had decent knowledge of the Chicago market. And we just started this brokerage and it just again, grew legs from there.

D.J. Paris 6:08
Yeah, it’s it’s so interesting. There are at our firm for my DJ, a lot of brokers and a good chunk of them. A good chunk of them are investors who, you know, through some sort of frustration, decided, hey, I can do this, or I’m I’m already doing most of the work, I might as well get my license, and then decided to either continue doing their own investments or also working with the public, which sounds like basically what you Well, yeah,

Matt Liss 6:39
it was both right, I started working with the public more, and doing a little less development, picked up a couple different business partners, my uncle moved to Arizona, and then I started working with this guy, Andrew, who was great. We did some condo conversions, we did some ground up stuff. And the market fell apart in oh eight and we got stuck with a building, we wound out of it. And it wasn’t too damaging, but you know, we licked our wounds. And then the market kind of picked back up. And the brokerage business was always there for me. And it was I’ve been very fortunate.

D.J. Paris 7:13
You’ve been in real estate for such a long time. You’ve been friends for the future, whether it’s brokers really feel to be aware of,

Matt Liss 7:24
you know, one of the things and I’ve really enjoyed mentoring some of the younger brokers and some of the associates in my office. And one of the things I was taught by a guy who I really respect in this business, I realize owl he’s at Gold tree Realty, he’s family ish. It’s my brother’s wife’s father. He’s big in the foreclosure business. And he helped me buy my first place when I was 24. Just a really genuine guy. He said to me, stay focused. Don’t put 10 eggs in the real estate back basket, like focus on something that you really want to be good at and run with that. Don’t try and do everything in this business because you won’t be successful. And he stay true to his game because he’s a huge REO guy. And that market gets hot and cold too. But he stays focused. So I try and teach my guys to you know, when they come in in the market slow, they’re like, Hey, should we do foreclosures? Hey, should we focus on short sales? Hey, should we you know, there’s so many different ways to make money in this business. If you’re going to be a real estate broker and focus on that,

D.J. Paris 8:28
I 100% agree. It’s a little expression. Totally. And it’s, it’s so absolutely true. The most facets of life, it’s certainly true real estate, as I see it a lot on forums, in particular for investors, and not necessarily even brokers, people who go on bigger pockets who really want to learn in the investment world, which is awesome. And they’re just overwhelmed and not quite sure. Like they’ll just hyper focus on one type of investment. And you know, within a period of time it becomes it becomes incredibly skilled and valuable. But in particular, being a broker is the same way you focus in in a particular geographic area or a certain type of client, is there a certain specialty that you really are passionate about with knowledge?

Matt Liss 9:17
I wouldn’t say by design I do. But our business, our offices in Bucktown, we’ve been here for 12 years, same space. And, you know, our business is on the north shore right now the north side of the city. We focus here in Bucktown, Logan Square Wicker Park, Lakeview Roscoe village, things like that places we’re comfortable. We often get calls and people are, you know, looking at neighborhoods where we’re not comfortable. And we were candid about that. We’re saying listen, we’re probably not a good fit, where this is where we focus our business and I’m sorry, but you know, we try and get them a referral. So I guess yeah, we’re just really this door shore Northside Neighborhood focused brokerage and we are a boutique shop and we’re gonna stay that way. We’ve never really wanted to get the 20 3050 agents in here. To push value, and we really focus on customer service getting in some really strong, educated passionate brokers that have a really strong moral compass. Also, that’s really something that I’ve focused on taking care of the clients and understanding that this is a customer service business more so than anything. I think it’s been really humbling to help so many people, you know, buy their home, and this is their largest purchase and the fact that they’re coming to me, and then referring me to their friends and family. It’s pretty awesome.

D.J. Paris 10:32
No, so I think I think that’s so incredibly powerful. What you said earlier about sort of walking away from business that isn’t your core competency. And we were talking just before the interview about investments, reports to have done, and you said, you’re starting to get back into but you’re like, it’s really not a core competency. And I think that the, what particular clients are always looking for in their brokers, there is authenticity and the ability for you to say, hey, that’s, you know, I can help you. But it’s not really what I specialty as in this particular area, or this type.

Matt Liss 11:08
So DJ, I’ll tell you, we, I don’t know if you know this, but we’ve gained our biggest popularity, we are the highest rated realtors in the entire city of Chicago on Yelp. That’s where we have just shined. If you read some of my reviews, they’re actually they all kind of say the same thing. It’s like Matt is just so incredibly blunt and so honest, it suggests it and that’s what I continue to hear and almost to a fault, right? Like I’ve talked people out of buying places, and you’ll read that in a lot of my reviews. And it’s pretty amazing how and I don’t do it intentionally. It’s just who I am, right? I’m very honest person, and it freaks some people out. But at the end of the day, they’re like, Wow, this was a pretty amazing experience considering this person, I can actually trust this person who I’ve never met.

D.J. Paris 11:50
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, review sites like Yelp, Zillow, and any Google and Facebook as well. They are the true equalizer. They are the acid test what your clients think

Matt Liss 12:02
about you, and the fact Oh, my God, it’s so easy for someone to lambaste you. Oh, for sure. And

D.J. Paris 12:07
that’s it, you know, it’s good and bad. And ultimately, you know, once once the dust settles, you know, usually, the truth sort of, sort of generally rises. And so for to be popular, you know, Yelp is isn’t particularly difficult system to use for anyone who’s a business owner or broker and the fact that you are so highly rated on Yelp, in particular, is probably the least friendly to the business owner.

Matt Liss 12:36
It is the largest double edged sword out there.

D.J. Paris 12:39
The true testament, you must be doing with your private. Let’s talk about that a little bit. You know, aside from from being bluntly honest, which I believe is maybe the most important part of being a successful realtor, or certainly up there. Why else do you think? What do you think it is? You know, aside from telling people, you know, what you’ve done what you think they should do, whilst you think you’re so highly regarded from your clients?

Matt Liss 13:06
I’ve thought about that. And sometimes, you know, every year January comes around, and you’re at zero, right? You have done zero business, you’re looking at your leads, you’re like, Can I do this again? Like, you know, we’ve been so fortunate, I just, the numbers have been amazing. The past shoot, I mean, I remember my first year in real estate, I was awarded the Chicago Association of Realtors top producer award, I didn’t even know that award existed, right? I mean, and I look at it, and I see all these people’s faces, like top producers was like, I don’t think I want my picture on there one day, like, that’s cool. Like, who are all these people. And every year, every year since I’ve been in business, I’ve been a top producer. And I constantly see these names. And now my face is on page one of these top producer things. It’s amazing. I don’t know, DJ, I really don’t know what sets me apart. But I do know that on every listing appointment, I go on, I either ask or there, the sellers are candid about telling me and they’re like, Matt, we’re interviewing for brokers. I was like, okay, you know, and now I’m used to that. And I pretty consistently get the business. I don’t know why, but I’m honest. And they see that I mean, people are intuitive, and they understand someone that’s genuine. I don’t go in there with a giant dog and pony show and, you know, iPads flying and projectors and handouts. It’s just me. It’s me my information. You know, and they see that.

D.J. Paris 14:28
Yeah, no, I think that that’s obviously very clear. And, you know, so interesting to me, because I interview a lot of top producers and they oftentimes more often than not, it’s to be infrequent and uncommon for somebody to say like, I know exactly why I’m more successful than maybe most other brokers and it’s not even an ego thing. They’re just, they just go I just do what I do. You know, so I think there’s a set of values there that that you’re clearly diamonds reading to your client and it’s up to you. It’s like, that’s just what I do. I would be, you know, strange to even even sort of think about as you were saying, you’re not quite sure why, why you’re so successful, but you clearly are. And I think there’s a lot to be gained from. From that, even though it’s hard to verbalize. We have to say, I do recruiting. So whenever people ask about our, well, I built the website for our firm. And I looked around at a lot of the other interior, the big firms that do recruiting, and they don’t tell you much information, because a lot of you know, they don’t tell you that information, and then I can make up my own mind, what what firm I wanted. And so I just did that. And then, you know, that’s one of the things that’s distinguish us is this reseller and what you do is just as radical honesty, it’s like, here’s, here’s what it is, here’s how it works. And, you know, people tend to, obviously your claims, that incredibly well, do you prefer working with buyers or sellers, you talked earlier about buying, so wasn’t sure if one was more obviously worked with both, I’m sure but is one preferable to

Matt Liss 16:07
you know, neither are more preferable I not by design, but by for almost 5050 buyers and sellers at the end of the year, I just look at some numbers. And that’s just the way it shakes out. And both are great. Honestly, there’s some great I mean, we have a good time on the street with buyers, you spend a little bit more time with them becomes a little more intimate, you’re in your car with them, sharing stories, you know, making fun of people on the site to get stuff, but it’s, I have a really good time with buyers, the sellers, it’s more of like a transaction, right? I mean, there’s a lot of email communication, there’s a couple phone calls, but you’re not interacting with them personally, because you’re not out touring home. So it becomes a little less personal. Fortunately, a lot of the sellers do become buyers, because they’re clearly moving somewhere. And they love me. So we just kind of build the relationship on that end. But both are great.

D.J. Paris 16:52
Yeah. You know, you talked about mentoring some of the brokers in your own office, and you guys have many, what advice do you give to new broker people getting into the industry? Now? What are some, you know, thoughts you have about things should you maybe even think they should?

Matt Liss 17:08
Sure, our model here is a little different. We don’t have a bunch of brokers, there’s just a small core of us that do the majority of the business. And we don’t hire new agents, let’s just start there. So we often get emails that say, hey, we’d love to come work with you. Because they look at our reviews. They just kind of know our presence. And I say, here’s a great idea for you go talk to the Big Five and get into a training program. And then once you’ve done 10 deals, come talk to me. I, for whatever reason, have a really keen sense for a person’s worth. And I understand who’s good and who’s bad. And I have a pretty fun interview process. And I have found some great people. You know, I have Holly in my office who I just love. He’s amazing top producer Cheryl Rhymer longtime runner for North clapboard group. She’s with us now. She’s beyond amazing. And then we have a couple of junior associates, Michael Bishop and Elise Martinez who are just going to be superstars one day there, but they’re kind of running and helping us out doing showings and taking buyers out. But that’s our core group. And then Mark, he does some business here too. And it’s fun. I mean, we have a really fun office.

D.J. Paris 18:14
Yeah, no, it sounds like, definitely do. And I also love the radical honesty, and we take on new brokers that it’s not come to you, you know, that might be painful, it is painful. And but at the same point, you know, it’s, I just I just love it good willingness to sort of say that up and see this is, you know, once once you’ve got your belt, we

Matt Liss 18:37
don’t have a training program. But what I do tell the agents that come work with me is saying it’s the old saying, like, you want to sit next to the smartest kid in the class, like you want to learn this business come in this office and learn usually, we have open concept office, lofted walls, everyone’s able to hear everybody. So if I’m on a call, if you want to shut up and listen to me, you’re gonna learn some things. And that’s how he’s done. And I learned from how he and we’re all learning from each other’s phone calls and relationships and business experiences. And it’s just there is zero competition, like, I am sure that that the big firms broke. Same brokers are going in competing for the same business. We don’t have that were more of a support group, we all help each other. And it’s, it’s really cool. It’s, it’s fun, I give everybody their own identity. So what how he was starting off, and he was helping me out, I said, how every deal you get is under your name. This isn’t a number that’s going under the mat list group. Like that’s crap, like, I don’t do that. Like I want you to build your business, build your identity and step off on your own and be an amazing broker. And that’s what’s happened.

D.J. Paris 19:38
Yeah, what advice would you have for new brokers or somebody getting in them in the in the business today outside, you know, maybe joining a firm that that has, specifically what would you say to somebody who has to work?

Matt Liss 19:51
I often tell people when they come and go and find some top producing groups that are doing teams and just start getting showings under your belt because there’s, I’m a big fan, I am not a huge education person. As far as learning and classroom, I was always a hands on learner. So my thing is just get out and do the job and you’re going to learn on the street, start showing property, start taking buyers out. And the only way to do that when you’re new is get on a team and just help. And if you can do that, I think it’s a really good way to build your confidence. Start seeing the other listing broker and buyer’s broker on the other side of how they present themselves during showings. So just absorb, absorb, absorb, and, you know, figure out what your style is going to be. And everyone’s different, right. I mean, there are some brokers that are hilarious during showings, and just like, This is the bathroom. I’m like, Really, that’s the bathroom. Amazing. Thank you for telling me. Like, you know, just take some highlights to tell the home to tell the consumer about the home. And don’t just helicopter and just cruise through every room telling us what’s going on because a lot of it’s very intuitive.

D.J. Paris 20:55
That’s true. You’re right, though, it’s like just it’s abrupt under your belt, right? Like it, it took reps. You know, I’ve always suggested to newer brokers, you know, if you’re on a team, or if you work at a firm where there’s other brokers offer to do shopper to do open houses for them just to get you know, if the rate is higher? Probably not maybe, but at the very least it does what it might Yeah. It’s funny. It’s funny, because I talked to a lot of broke, many of which are like, Oh, open houses, you know, they don’t like them. They don’t work. And then you meet somebody who goes, no, they’re totally wrong. They absolutely work. And they’re wrong.

Matt Liss 21:34
They are right, I’m going to tell you right now they’re wrong. If you go into it with a crappy attitude, and you’re just kind of sitting back and your lunches on the table, and you’re just kicking it and people come in and you’re like, Hey, have a look. Now you want to show them your personality, you want to show them who you are just like on a listing presentation, these buyers are typically unwrapped or out just cruising around, and if you can wow them and build a rapport. Nobody’s loyal in this business. If you if they find someone better, if they find someone better, more entertaining, more more edge educated, they’re gonna want to work with you. And I’ve I myself, don’t do a ton of open houses. But I do a fair share. And I have personally picked up several buyers, several new listings from open houses. And I know my agents have as well. So if you don’t think you can, you are wrong.

D.J. Paris 22:22
I love that. And I think I think it’s funny because I love when people say things like that, where they’re just like, No, they don’t work and I Okay, you know, if I know that they do work for other people. It’s kind of like the same thing with buying internet leads. Some people do some people don’t necessarily find whether it’s someone does or doesn’t. But I love when people say buying leads from Zillow or Trulia doesn’t work. And I’m like, Why No, it actually does work because I know people who work for is it what you’re good at or what you want to do. And that’s fine. So the same thing with open up. Some people are like, it doesn’t work. And it’s like, I know it works for other people. So

Matt Liss 23:00
when you’re doing an open house when you’re a new broker and you’re doing an open house create an experience and I’m not saying have a circus there with like a magician, but you know, we have I’ve told my brokers bring a little speaker don’t have a completely silent silent, play a little music, bring a little something you could bring coffee, you could you know, just it’s $15 to bring, you know, a box of coffee and some cops and it just breaks the ice. Yeah, speaking

D.J. Paris 23:23
of breaking the ice, I want to just talk to a few of the things you had told us before. Before we got on the air. You were talking a listing appointment I

Matt Liss 23:36
I was hilarious as last year. So I of course remember exactly where I was I was in like this little townhome community over by diversity and the lakefront and really nice woman found me online didn’t know her from Adam. And she invites me in. And often when you get to someone’s house, you’re I always asked, Should I take my shoes off, because it’s just polite. And she was like, yeah, so fine. And then I always do a quick tour of the house just so I can get a feeling and just for new brokers, since this is kind of the topic of this. So when you’re going on a listing presentation, one of my tips is always when tour the house first before you start talking. And the old kind of thing is find something that’s familiar to you or that you can relate to that they maybe do maybe you see like a snowboard somewhere and you’re a snowboarder or maybe you see some mountain bike pictures or you see you know, they’re in academia and just bring it up during the listing presentation. So you could find a common ground. People eat that up and then you’re just trying to build this friendship or relationship with this person that’s beyond you. Just as a broker, you’re have a similar interest and it works often. So little trick. So I’m at this listing presentation and we’ve done the tour we’re sitting down and we’re talking and this dogs just cornering me and I’d love dogs. I don’t trust anyone else’s dogs but I love dogs. So we’re sitting there and all of a sudden this dog under the table bites my foot like legit bit my foot. I did not take my sock off at the presentation but afterwards I did and it was full I bleeding. So that my foot the document life, and I told the lady, I’m like, Oh, my I jumped up. She’s like, what happened? I’m like your baby. And she was like, oh my god, I’m so sorry. And she said, she actually bites my mom a lot. So maybe this is a good sign. I was like, I was like, okay, and she would not put the dog away. Like, I was like, can you just, you know, without destroying this, I actually got the listing appointment, or I got the listing. But she the dog was just cornering growling at me. I was like, God, this is horrible.

D.J. Paris 25:32
I think you’d have to get the listing at that point.

Matt Liss 25:34
So you do it to help I help pay for the stitches.

D.J. Paris 25:38
Yeah, guilt is a powerful motivator. That is really funny. Probably not the first time a broker has been fit. And I’m always amazed. But again, to be the most interesting of that story, not so much that you got it. It’s that the homeowner who has seen her dog bite other people occur to the homeowner to maybe put the dog in the other in the other room.

Matt Liss 26:03
But seriously, no, it’s Yeah, I was amazed. But yeah, it happened.

D.J. Paris 26:07
Yeah, that’s, that’s plenty. And I mean, I’m totally guilty of the same thing. My dog doesn’t doesn’t bite people. But I bring her to the office. And what happens when somebody leaves our office and I have like an internal office space here, the door, but I leave it open when people leave our physical building, oftentimes, seven out of 12, which is tiny, but she will run rates after that. Fight with them as they’re leaving. Yeah, it’s probably not funny to somebody who doesn’t know that. And, and I’ve been for seven years like this letting go. And I probably it’s a good reminder that

seven pound two hours can be ferocious.

Well, they are they are they’re just, you know, they are absolutely one of the most aggressive breed, they can’t do much damage. Physical pretty scared up. And then I just wanted to real quickly also talk about a funny experience you had where you’re you had with your daughter’s best friend’s mother, can you tell us that

Matt Liss 27:05
was funny. So Anthony was a client of mine previously, and he calls me out of the blue like everyone does, like, Hey, man, I’m looking to buy a house. I’m getting engaged, blah, blah, blah. My first is amazing. Good for you. Awesome. So I’m like, Alright, let’s, you know, get a tour set up when he when he look at that we get the whole thing done via telephone, just getting like his parameters set up and starting to see things. So we meet at the first property and give Anthony a hug. I haven’t seen him. And then his fiancee pulls up. And she looks remotely familiar. I hadn’t. You know what, I didn’t pay much attention. And she’s like, Matt, and I’m like, yep. And I didn’t know who she I just thought he introduced you know, he told her about me. And she’s like, You don’t know who I am. I’m like, now she’s like, our daughters are best friends. Like, and this was your like, daughter just got into first grade at Skinner. And it was like a new relationship, blah, blah. She’s like this, and she had my daughter her house several times, clearly not super involved with my kids. I’m joking. I totally am. My wife had dropped her off a couple times for playdates. And she shows me a picture of my daughter’s it was just really small world stuff. So they’ve since become really good friends of ours, my daughter, still best friends with her daughter, Sienna, and they’re just a good family. But yeah, it’s hilarious.

D.J. Paris 28:20
And also you meet people for a living. So it’s easy to not always remember every face. You know, if you worked in an office where you just had the same five co workers all day, and that’s all it was, it would probably be much easier to oh, that my daughter, you know,

Matt Liss 28:35
prime is so my kids think it’s hilarious. Everywhere I go. People are like mad mad. I’m like, Oh my goodness. And so on autism. I don’t remember. Oh, we were on a cruise. We were on a cruise a couple years ago and someone screaming from like two decks below my name. And I’m looking up on my cards. My client Jeremy. Great.

D.J. Paris 28:50
Hilarious. Well, you know, man, I think you said it all. And I I want to talk about how if anyone’s listening to interested buying and selling or investing renting, Matt would would be honored to speak with you on what’s the best way someone could reach out to you.

Matt Liss 29:09
Emails, great love it just easy to respond and set up a time to meet and talk. Matt L at Mark Allen realty.com. And it’s ma r k l l e n realty.com. Or just go to Yelp and type in realtor and we’ll just come up top of the list because that’s just where we’re at.

D.J. Paris 29:25
And again, I can’t say enough about what a huge, massive accomplishment that is. Thanks. I appreciate it really? Well, I mean, congratulate well, well earned and deserved. So Matt, thank you so much for being on the show. And I apologize. I have to I have to tell everyone. I have never been late to separate today. 18 minutes late Madison. So no, I’m

Matt Liss 29:45
back charging you DJ I told you

D.J. Paris 29:49
that the check will be well, you know, it’s actually not going. I will. If I ever see out I will give you a food or

a beer. You know where it goes. Good talking with you guys.

Thank you so much and I’m thinking

Matt Liss 30:04
alright, thanks for hosting, appreciate it and good luck to all those new agents out there. Our business for sure

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This week we spoke with top 1% producer Scott Curcio who believes that professionalism is critical to a broker’s success. We discussed the importance of ethics, knowing the market, and fair housing considerations that brokers often miss. At Baird and Warner Scott is part of the Founder’s Club (Top 1%) has been the #1 producer in Avondale for many years.

Scott can be reached at 773.697.5585 and scott@scottcurcio.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:14
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real podcast the only podcast made by real estate agents for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your host, and we have a fantastic interview with top producer Scott Curzio. Coming in just a few wanted to first of all say thank you to everyone listening. So once again, we have over last month increased our listenership by almost 100%, which is just amazing, which means you must be out there telling friends about this. So thanks for doing that. And also, please continue to pass this podcast along to any other real estate professionals you think could benefit from listening. And also thank you for all the suggestions for people to interview. We are now completely slammed with interviews for the next month. So again, thank you for that. We’ve also been getting some questions, specifically around how do I make sure I don’t miss an episode. So a couple of ways to do that. Obviously, if you’re using a podcast app, you’ll be notified whenever we publish a new episode, but also you can get notified via Facebook. So if you go to Facebook and do a search for keeping it real pod, again keeping it real pod, you can like our page and then we post course every time we publish a new episode there. And also you can get notified via email on our website, which is keeping it real pod.com There’s a spot to subscribe to our email newsletter. We only email you when we have a new episode, so feel free to go ahead and subscribe both those places. And lastly, we are taking sponsorships for podcast episodes. So if you have a service that is related to real estate that you think could be benefited by listening to 1000s of Realtors in Chicago, let us know and we’ll tell you how it works to sponsor an episode. Okay, on to our interview with Scott tercio.

All right, today on the show we have Scott Curzio who Scott is among the top 1% of Realtors in Chicago. Scott is now with Baird and Warner real estate and is among the top ranks of his former brokerage, earning international president’s elite designation as the top 2% of brokers worldwide also has been recognized as among the top 500 brokers within NRT out of 47,000 agents. He leads a team of five and has been recognized as a top producer by the Chicago Association of Realtors since 2009. Scott has also been the number one agent for units and volume in Avondale last year and currently lives in Edgewater at Scott is a graduate of Northwestern University. We are thrilled to have him on the show today. Scott, thank you so much. Hey, thanks

Scott Curcio 3:04
so much. It’s exciting to be here and talk a little shop with you guys.

D.J. Paris 3:08
Great, well tell us a little bit about how you got started in real estate.

Scott Curcio 3:12
Ah, you know, I think my story is probably not not uncommon is for a lot of us that are in this business. It’s usually a second or third career. I started out my my professional life in events and marketing and was at kind of a crossroads where I was in a position that I was not having luck getting out of, and a friend of mine had gone, gotten her real estate license and encouraged me to do the same. I had been a homeowner for about two years at that point. And you know it to me it was it was kind of like well, okay, here’s something I can do that I can control some Destiny. But just as I was getting my license, I actually also did finally get out, got a new full time position in corporate marketing, Regional Marketing for Whole Foods. And so I actually wound up starting my careers kind of at the same time. So for me for a long time, it was it was my secondary career, and it was my fallback if I ever needed it and fast forward to you know, September 2008, and the housing crisis and a lot of layoffs, including Whole Foods and that was when I was kind of forced to to jump out of the plane and see if I could land without a parachute. And I didn’t know actually so so here we are.

D.J. Paris 4:21
Well what a time I mean it’s so interesting because you were it mean what a time to really get full time in the market is right when it crashed that is truly remarkable. I just interviewed someone who the episode that will be before you as the person came in at the exact same time and her thought was boy if I could survive and weather this storm, it’ll all be should be all uphill

Scott Curcio 4:45
going forward. I think every every broker should start there and to me it was I wasn’t starting my career but I was starting right full time and I was lucky enough that I had a good referral base from the start and I was able to you know I would do a couple million dollars in sales a year on the side. And that beat a lot of agents in my small office at the time, you know, absolutely. But I think starting in a downturn is one of the best ways to grow your business. Because if you have to be scrappy, and you have to be focused on doing the tasks that are going to help your clients and get home sold, and you really do become, you really do become I think, very in touch with the market. And for me, especially right now, you know, we are due sometime in the next probably one to three years for a market correction. And so I’m much more attuned to that, because of my experience in 2009 10 and 11. And looking for the signs that are going to show me when we’re when we’re fully into that. And I think that serves clients, both buyers and sellers. Well,

D.J. Paris 5:42
yeah, you do something that I think is so important. And so few brokers, I think consciously make this decision, which is to hyper focus in a particular neighborhood or a series of neighborhoods in particular, I know you are incredibly active in Avondale. Can you talk about sort of, did you did you consciously choose to work? You know, as Avondale being your true north? Or was it just sort of happen that way? I mean, obviously, I know you work other areas. Yeah,

Scott Curcio 6:12
I lived there at the time. And I lived there for 10 years, I owned my I owned property there up until last spring. What veterans eventually want to get back into owning, you know, some investments over there. But for me, it made a lot of sense. I was living there. And I and I was in and out of every property probably more than anybody else. And that’s a big reason of how I’ve, I’ve built my, my network over there. You know, a lot of people talk about farming. And and I think the challenge point, you know, I know we’re speaking mostly to a lot of real estate brokers today is, you know, farming has to be consistent has to be long term. And you have to be willing to spend a couple of years doing it before you see any, any results from it. I started my direct mail campaign in the neighborhood very haphazardly. And I distinctly remember going into my manor and one of my assistant manager at the time, who was very big on farming had done a lot of that in liquid Balmoral where he lived and been very successful at it. And I really wanted to do more in Avondale because they lived there. And I knew that I knew the inventory. I knew I knew it better than anybody else. But I wasn’t telling that story. And I went into him. And I had made a list of like, all these reasons why I wasn’t doing it. And the biggest concern for me at the time, because I remember this is 2009, right? It’s my first year full time as a broker. I am I am not making much money. I am very, I am living very lean, being very cautious with Every Dollar. And so I went and I said one of the main reason I wasn’t doing it was money. And so and he gave me one of the best pearls of wisdom, and I use it almost every day still today is he said, Well, if you do nothing, nothing will happen. If you do something, something might happen. And it’s God, it’s so easy, right? It’s such a very, like, Duh, you know, there’s such a little like eye opening moment. And so whenever I am questioning something, I kind of always go back to that where it’s like, well, if I’m going to sit back and wait for something to happen, then it’s not but if I take action, then something may may actually mean something may still not, you know, but for me I am so when I first started farming the neighborhood my list in my in my my geography was very, very small. It was right around Brandes park where I lived. And my my little monthly fliers were made at Kinkos. And caught on colored paper, and they were hand delivered. I paid somebody that’s awesome, like hand deliver them. And then a couple months in, we I started mailing them. And again, it was like uncolored, it was like on neon cardstock. But our marketing together, we cut them at Kinkos we put the stamp on them and out they went. And then you know, in a year I got I got fancy and we went to white cardstock where they were for color. And that was a big deal. Then I think another year or so later, we started to I started to do them as you know, express docs mailed out postcards, glossy and overtime. And when we started off, I think we started off at like 200 homes, maybe 150 200 homes, and we’re over 1000 homes now in the community. So it’s a build, and you have to you know, and for me, it’s I always tell agents, you have to start small like and start what you can manage. If you can manage one block, do one block, and then build it to two, and two, three, and four and five into 10 and 2030. Whatever. You have to build it in a way that’s manageable, because I see most realtors, they have an idea and then they can’t break it down. And so there’s I will, you know, here’s my end goal, I want to be the number one broker in this neighborhood. Okay, well, what can you do to start getting there? You know, you’re not going to get there overnight. It’s going to take 5678 years maybe?

D.J. Paris 9:38
Absolutely. And I think you know, in particular if you’re doing mailings and it’s in a small enough area where you can spend the time to hand deliver those in a sort of polite fashion, you know, that’s going to help as well. I think there’s a lot of people that just aren’t willing to physically get out there and and meet people as much They can in these neighborhoods in particular, like you’ve done, you have to make your presence really well known, and it is a long term commitment. For sure. That is, that’s an awesome story of, of how you know how anyone can grow. And you know, the other thing too is, I always think, you know, new brokers should spend, you know, they should choose an area, whether it’s a suburb or a neighborhood, choose one and spend 30 minutes to an hour a day studying the MLS look at every single listing, go to the open houses, if you can, but at least look on the MLS so that you know, every single property for sale, what’s the average home, you know, single family home? What’s the average condo, how many units are on the market, and over time, within a year or two, you become incredibly knowledgeable? Well, well, well above what most other brokers would probably be able to claim.

Scott Curcio 10:50
I agree, I think you have to really study and know the market and be and also pay attention to the changes, you know, is there a certain time of year when a certain type of property in a certain neighborhood is not going to sell as well, or actually will Buck other trends and sell okay, you know, and if you’re competing for listings, that is the market experience in the market knowledge that a seller really wants. And you know, I mean, as part of, of course, a lot of other components. But if you can come in and and say, well, somebody else told me this, I get that a lot. And I’ll come back a lot of times and say, I don’t agree with that. And here’s why. Because here’s been my experience with this sale with that sale with this property. This is what we’ve seen in or traditionally, this is how this tends to go, you know, don’t expect a lot of traffic on your property, Mr. Mrs. Seller, because for what you have, we don’t tend to see a lot of a lot of activity, but we see very serious buyers, so you’re not going to get 10 showings the first week, if we get one you’re lucky. And you that comes from, I think from studying the market also comes from working in the market, and being able to, to relay those stories. And I think you know, every client, you know, you should, you should, as your career builds, you should share stories, and in some ways, you know, educational tales, cautionary tales, with a client, you know, when when they’re making their moves, so that they can see how maybe somebody else’s same actions impacted them either, for better or for worse.

D.J. Paris 12:20
Well said, I know that professionalism, and you’re, you’re really speaking about professionalism, and also just experience knowledge. But professional in particular is a real passion of yours. And, and I know you, you know, we wanted to talk about some of the ways in which you think brokers could be more professional or, and so, you know, go ahead with with some of your thoughts about that, because I think it’s really important to have that conversation. Yeah,

Scott Curcio 12:45
you know, and by all means, we’re not my team. And we’re not perfect by any means. But we’re we always try and get back to people with feedback and good feedback. For whatever reason, this year has been an interesting one, and maybe it’s the rise that we have a lot more newer agents in the business. But feedback from agents has been very paltry this year. You know, if someone’s asking you for feedback, you know, I’m sometimes the worst, where it might take me two weeks to get back to you. But I always will get back to you on the on that feedback. And because I want to get back on something that’s usable, here’s what I thought, here’s what didn’t work, you know, there was a funky smell, or the buyer didn’t really like how this right out? Or it’s actually a better unit and person, then it shows online, I don’t think the photos do it justice. I mean, whatever it’s, you know, I think you have we have to pay it forward in our feedback, because you’re gonna want that sometime. I had an interesting experience recently, last week, where, you know, one of the questions we like to ask in follow up either after showing or or, you know, or after is, when we’re in when we’re representing a seller is, you know, what other communities, what other areas are your clients looking at? And, you know, are they living in the area already, and I got pushback for the first time in my career from an agent saying that I was asking for personal information, which was was a little, which was a little odd to me, because we were not asking for personal information. I don’t care what your clients name is, I don’t need to know that. But I would like to know where else they’re looking, and how we relate to other properties. And I would imagine that you when you’re the sellers, realtor would would like to know, the same. So I think sometimes it’s very easy for us as realtors to shoot something down. And it’s like, well, maybe we have to consider that we’re going to be on the other side of that down the line. And, you know, and, you know, and respond accordingly.

D.J. Paris 14:26
Well, and I always like to, to say it is called a cooperative commission, right? So the even if the client isn’t going to purchase or make an offer on the property, that feedback is still you know, is still incredibly valuable. And like you said, it’s a bit of a pay it forward. Because at some point you’re gonna want that information. Gosh, why is this why am I getting showings and not any? Any offers? Right? So of course, that’s that’s a very good point. I what percentage of the time do you actually enlisting? Do you actually get that feedback back?

Scott Curcio 14:56
Um, you know, we average we track everything through Lee He, for all of our showings and our feedback on our in our reports for our sellers, you know, our low point of the year was about 39%. But the back half of the year now we’re averaging for the year about 48 to 52%. But we have to work at that very Oh, we have to work, we have to trail after a lot of people. And there’s you know, emails and phone calls, and sometimes texts to get, you know, to get more information, you know, out of people. And, you know, to me, those are great. If you know, you don’t have time to reply back an email, call, call us when you’re in the car, you got 10 minutes, all you’re doing is listen to your music. You know, most Realtors I’ve seen are probably not on the phone in the car, they’re probably just tooling around. So you’ve got 10 minutes, pick up that phone and give somebody good feedback. Because one day, you’re gonna get that from them, and it’s gonna make the whole world a difference, you know?

D.J. Paris 15:46
Absolutely. That’s, that’s a great point. And let’s talk a little bit more about, you know, code of ethics, fair housing. Tell us a little bit more about, you know, what you’re seeing out there and some thoughts that you have,

Scott Curcio 16:00
um, you know, what’s really funny is, my favorite situation is always when, when I’m the listing agent, and a and a buyers, and buyers, they were their agent. And, and you know, and this happens more often than not, which tells me that agents are not having a fair housing conversation with their clients, upfront, which is a whole other, that’s a whole other discussion that we can have for various is when they ask a question of like, who lives in the building, and watching the buyers brokers faces? It is it always makes me chuckle inside a little bit. Because everybody looks like a deer in the headlights? Sure, I happily pick that up, because I can see they’re uncomfortable. You know, and I have kind of a standard response. It’s like, you know, I wish we could share that information. But you know, unfortunately, discussing any, any information that is a protected class is actually not allowed. So I can’t tell you, the average age of the building is this or this is the nationality of somebody that lives there. And I would say just about every time I’ve ever said that, they’re like, Oh, I didn’t know that. So which is interesting, as an industry, I think we have to get that out there more. And we have to talk through it. I mean, when we have a buyer’s consultation, every one that’s part of our initial sit down with buyers is to go over fair housing, and why we can’t talk about any of the protected classes what they are. And we also do the same with our sellers like this, these are things are non negotiables, we can’t talk about these things, and we won’t discuss them with you. And it could jeopardize our relationship, if you decide to do that, you know, and we’d have to walk away. And one of the ways I always see it is in listings, when and I don’t think brokers know they’re doing it, but I look at it as I tend to be very letter of the law with fair housing. And you know, if a master suite has two closets, I routinely see it saying his and hers. And as a general rule, we don’t say that we always say dual closets, you know, when somebody could say, well, that’s a minor detail, but I kind of see them, it might be the other way. Same thing. If you say, easy walk to somewhere, you know, disability is a protected class, and you’re assuming that someone can walk. So it’s, you know, we have to be careful with our words. And we have to be careful in what we say, as brokers, because we are held to some pretty high standards, and you wouldn’t want you know, you don’t know, you know, even taking out, you know, I hear a lot of agents be afraid that, oh, I think I got a tester, I mean, it shouldn’t be about the test, or it should be about wanting to live or a fair experience to everyone that comes through. You know, on that same topic was always funny, me too, is we do we do a lot of rentals. And we have some rentals in neighborhoods where we tend to see for whatever reason, you know, we tend to see more requests for Section eight. And when always makes me and we just had a request come in yesterday, you know, from a broker saying is the is the property? Is your owner open to Section eight?

D.J. Paris 18:47
That’s a great one.

Scott Curcio 18:49
My standard response is, Well, every real every owner has to be open to Section Eight, because that’s fair housing, and it’s the law. Now, we do have a credit and background check for every applicant, you know, so why don’t you scheduled to see the property and see if it’s a fit for your client? You know, and we’ll go from there. But and I, you know, and in that situation, we can tell someone, the owner is not had a section eight tenant, so it isn’t already approved. But obviously, we’re open to that, why don’t you bring them through? And, and a lot of a lot of the applicants themselves, when they call will say, Well, do you take section eight? And it’s like, well, that’s not the right question. Right, you know, but they’re the applicant, they don’t necessarily know, it’s, of course, we’re open to that, why don’t you come see, but we do have a credit and a background check. Just want you to be aware. And we schedule those types of appointments all the time, but it’s funny how many people don’t, you know, don’t know a lot about that. And I think it goes back to what we were saying before, of really, you know, learning the market and becoming a steward of the market and just being a sponge whether you’re not even so much when you’re new. I’m gonna see a lot of experience brokers that could probably do well to have, you know, some intense, some intense education and shall we say,

D.J. Paris 19:55
ya know, the section eight or you’re right, the section eight one is particularly a common I mean, we The we get random calls from renters in our office that asked that same question. Hey, do you does? Do you guys accept section eight? That’s usually the question, you know, whether we might be representing landlords or working with other listings? And if that’s how you know how misunderstood it is even to the tenant, that that that question is routinely asked. And the very first time that question from them should be asked anyone who has a real estate license, that should be just hey, this is just so you know, you never have to ask that question. But here’s what you can ask around, you know, the requirements for getting into that property or getting approved for that property. The section eight one is never, that should not question shouldn’t, you never have to ask that because you know, the law. But you’re right, everybody asks that that’s such a great point that in I guarantee, and many, many brokers are not correcting that, when, and you know, making sure they’re, even when they’re calling unnecessarily, they might not know what to say and what not to say. So let’s, let’s go back, because you talked, at the beginning, you talked a lot about what you did when you first started it, what advice would you have for somebody who’s newer in the business who’s, you know, going full time and isn’t quite sure where to start? What would you tell them to do?

Scott Curcio 21:18
I think the most important thing, or one of the most important things is to be in the office. As much as I would love to say that you can be productive at home. If you’re new, you don’t know how to be productive at home. Good point. And I have seen a lot of agents. I don’t know if I want to fail, no fails the right word. Sure, just because they’re not there. You I think when you’re new, you have to be just a sponge and learn from people find the top producers in your agent, take them to lunch, take them to coffee, ask them for 20 minutes of their time, you know, ask them the question of what are three things. You know, three things that that you did your first year in the business that were that made you the most successful. And I think also start putting together a plan. I mean, I did well, just doing the kind of the basics for years in terms of client outreach and staying in touch. And when my business really supercharged, and we got over that $30 million a year mark in sales, it really came from drilling down on the business and working with a coach and really focusing every activity based on, you know, a framework to know, you know that I know how many conversations I have to have to get every sale. So I know, you know, on a weekly and a daily basis where I’m standing and how much more I need to do. And I can hold myself accountable. Now, I didn’t know that when I was first starting out. And you know that level of of info might be a little that might probably be a little bit much when you’re when you’re new to the business. I also think most realtors have to understand that even if you’ve come from another industry, and you’ve had 20 years experience in whatever industry you came from, you’re starting from ground zero, and you don’t have any experience in real estate. And so don’t expect to be treated take out take get out of your head that you have all this experience. Because from where I sit, you have zero experience. And I’ve encountered that with agents that we’ve interviewed for the team, where they come in and say well I want to hire splitter I’ll then I’m like you’re you’re at Ground Zero, my friend. So this, this is how this program works. And it’s okay if it doesn’t work for you, this is what we’re looking for. And if it works great, let’s let’s let’s bring you on board. But if it’s not the right fit, we’re not going to do that. And I do think that a lot of people get really stuck on their resume. And they have to understand that your resume doesn’t, is worthless when you’re starting over. You know, and I hate to say that, you know, I mean there’s there’s value to what you’ve learned, but not when it comes to real estate. And I think a lot of people get stuck on that and you have to treat it like you’re 22 years old right out of college from the way I the way I see it when you’re brand new, and you should act like it and behave like it and you should ask everyone and start kind of okay getting you know, getting some good advice altogether, because you will hear from the most successful people, you will hear the same stuff. Absolutely. And I also think the best thing you can do is find the brokers that are producing and ask them their opinion. Don’t ask the person that sits in the office all day and sells five houses a year. Because they’re not going to teach you anything that’s that’s that’s right. I hate to say it that way but it’s true. Find the people that are successful. Those are the people you should be trying to mirror or meant or or seek mentorship from and and when you’re interviewing for, you know at different brokerages. It is not all about the split. You know when I started everybody when you were brand new, you were at a 5050 split. Sure that was the norm times have changed. It’s not like that as much. I mean, it’s different if you’re on a team because we start people there actually a little bit below there. But you know that you know, don’t go somewhere just for a split go somewhere where you’re going to live Are you know, I’ve been at brokerages where they’re where they’re big. And I’ve now gone to a smaller shop where you know Baird and Warner, our manager is completely engaged and will sit with anyone, no matter how big you are, how small you are in production, to help you formulate a plan and an intelligent plan to get you where you want to go. You know, I mean, everybody can tell you the basics all day long of like, oh, yeah, you know, you need to form a database, you need to mail to them, but you want to be somewhere where they’re going to say, Okay, let’s go through this. Let’s work with your database. Let’s timeout what your how many times you’re going to touch them, let’s map out your year. And that’s what you need to be looking for. You know, I mean, you could have 100%, split 100% A zero is still zero. So I think for newcomers interview around, and find where you’re comfortable. But, and I do think it’s hard when you’re a new broker, because you don’t know what you don’t know. And everybody’s trying to win you over and they’re telling you everything you want to hear and everybody’s a shiny penny. I think you’d be you’re wise to talk to some brokers that are in there, you know, do if you’ve, you know, uh, you you can find a lot through googling that, you know, find her to the top brokers are asking, What do you think, what do you like, what do you not like about this brokerage? You know, what do you like, what do you not like about the manager? And most brokers will probably be pretty honest with you, you know?

D.J. Paris 26:16
Yeah, I 100% agree. I’ve also I’ve always said to, and you can, you can figure this out through the MLS, just do some, some searching. But if you’re considering moving to a firm, you know, find some of their their higher producers or the people that you certainly want to emulate, and just call them randomly, you know, don’t always listen just to what the recruiter tells you that they offer. You know, recruiters say all sorts of, I’m a recruiter, and I think familia hopefully don’t have a reputation of doing that. But I know other recruiters certainly do. And I’ve always said, you know, don’t ask me for a list of people to call to ask how much they love it here. Because of course, I would give you people who love it here. But if you called, you know, some of our top producers randomly without me even knowing what you absolutely can do and say What’s it really like over that firm? You know, hey, DJ is telling me I’m going to get xy and z does that actually happen and, and how much you know, training and support, all of that is so important. And also, again, if you’re not thinking of moving, and you just want to get more information at your own firm, reach out to like Scott saying, reach out to the top producers, they are not bothered as much as you think by other brokers, they probably, you know, as much as we’d like to think all people must be bothering them all day, it’s generally not the case. And there is this whole podcast is based around us talking to top producers. I don’t I didn’t know Scott, prior to him coming on. He’s gracious enough. We’re thrilled he’s here. But we literally sent him an email request asking him because we wanted to speak to him. And he was nice enough to do this. So these people are very accessible. You know, and if you ask a few of them, you will get it. And the other thing too about this this podcast talking, of course to Scott, people like yourself is you’re right. It’s a lot of the same behaviors, a lot of the same habits. It’s so funny, you mentioned having a mentor, because almost everyone I’ve interviewed who’s these are all top producers like yourself, they all have mentors, almost everyone. It’s like,

Scott Curcio 28:09
of course, I mean, yes, not just gonna have one, you know, and I mean, some I could point to several, you know, people, some that have been on the show that our data, our mentors to me, that are my peers, you know, it doesn’t have to be, you know, it doesn’t have to be this big thing. You know, I mean, there could just be in your office that you kind of gravitate towards, you know, I think though I think the one thing to just be cognizant of it, I mean, so many people will always give of their time. It’s really remarkable and not just just here locally, I mean, like, you know, I mean, if you go to conferences and you meet people, the number of people that you see, you know, I’m going to call you next week, I want to pick your brain for 10 minutes. Most are very gracious, you know, sometimes depending on who they are and myself included, you know, you’re going to have him I’m having a hard time you know, just, you know, if somebody can’t talk to you, if you’re a newer broker, and you’ve reached out to somebody and they haven’t reached back out guess what, reach out again. It’s like a lead right? Like you don’t reach out to a lead once you need to reach them 12 to 18 times for them to get back to you. So if you’re going to quit after one phone call or one email, I mean I get 300 emails a day there’s a great if you’re busy. If you email me I missed it. I mean because I’m scanning for the things that are most important and maybe I saw me only I’ll get back to the person and maybe I forgot so reach out again you know call text you know don’t I hate when people text me because they tend to not identify themselves and then you’re like exactly but email call again or or and the best thing to do is when is there a good time for me to call you that’s a very that’s a lesson that I have learned and I’ve used a lot with with clients you know or someone that I’m that I’m interviewing with you know, when should I follow up with you next what time of day is good? Would you prefer I call you would you prefer I text you would you prefer I email you and people will be very specific about those you know, and If you make an appointment with someone, and they miss it, I had one guide six months ago, I’m not proud of it. But we had made some changes to my schedule. And I had an appointment with someone that was newer to the business that came to my office to meet with me. And I had completely forgotten to tell him that I had changed my day. And I needed to reschedule and I felt horrible. And I reached out a couple times. And he never and I never heard back from him. I was like, Well, you know what, I get it. I came across as the you know, what in that and it was sure honest mistake. But, you know, for when when you’re doing the volume of business that you know, myself and some of my colleagues do. And you know, there’s plenty of people that are way ahead of me in terms of sales volume. There are, you know, things things like that are going to happen. And it’s not a personal affront. So just stay on it. You know, if the person has agreed, they will give you some time, they will give you that time. But you have to work on their schedule a little bit. And for me, I, I like to do those kinds of meetings. I’m an early bird. So if somebody came to me and said, Can I speak with you at 730 on Thursday? I would say yes, because I don’t want to take time out of my prospecting windows, and I don’t want to take time out of the rest of my day, where I’m, I’m lead generating to have that conversation with you. So ask them that question and be willing to go out, you know, don’t say to somebody that’s too early for me. Okay, well, that’s the best time for me, and you ask the question. So I’m giving you the answer. If you don’t have the answer, then we don’t have to do and I just see this a lot. So it’s like if someone’s willing to give you that time, and I’m not saying way to I mean, I’ve had conversations with people that are on different coasts at different you know, I’ve been up at six in the morning to talk to somebody you know, on on another coast or another, another country, if I’m gonna if there’s something that I can learn from them, so I think just be willing to do that. And that’s where it starts.

D.J. Paris 31:45
Well, I think you have said it all and I mean, clearly, you know, your your success and has is really indicative of how well not only you treat other brokers which we were just talking about, but obviously what you’re doing with your clients. So we definitely if there are buyers or sellers out there that are interested in working with Scott, Scott, what is the best way they can reach you?

Scott Curcio 32:08
So a couple different ways our office line and I’ll repeat it twice is 773-697-5585. Again, that’s 773-697-5585. You can also reach me via email Scott at Scott Kersey oh.com And the last name is CURC I O. And again, it’s Scott at Scott crucio.com.

D.J. Paris 32:36
And also your website is Scott Kersey of course dot Scottsdale. seo.com not Scott Garcia of course.com. So visit Scott either website that Scott crucio of course that’s a that’s there’s your new slogan, of course. Well, Scott, thank you so much for your time. I know it’s valuable and I know you’re busy and I know our listeners are going to love this. This podcast episode so thank you so much and best of luck. I won’t say best of luck because you don’t need it. But we wish you continued success and thanks again.

Scott Curcio 33:09
Oh my gosh. Yeah, it was great chatting with you guys and hope to hear from some of you out there.

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Today we spoke with top producer Kaylin Goldstein of The Goldstein Group. Kaylin started her real estate career directly out of college and has grown it to over 100 million in sales. She’s also built a successful team along the way. In our conversation she talks about how she grew her business as a relatively young broker, and how she’s mentored her teammates to become equally successful!

Kaylin can be reached at 312.909.1682 and kaylin@atproperties.com.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:13
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real podcast the only podcast made by real estate agents for real estate agents. My name is DJ, I am your host, at through the show a couple of quick announcements before we get on with our really fantastic interview with Kailyn Goldstein. Number one, this is episode 15. And as of this point, over 2000 of you have downloaded an episode of this podcast. So thank you for telling a friend. Thank you for sharing this with other brokers that you know that you think could benefit from listening to these interviews. Also, we have every month Carrie McCormack and I also do a Monday market minute, and she is taking your questions. So if you have questions or top producer, you can submit those through our website speaking of our website, which is keeping it real pod.com. Also, we’re on Facebook too. But on our website, you can find all of the episodes that we’ve ever done, as well as if you subscribed via iTunes or Google Play. There’ll be listed in your podcast app as well. And lastly, we are taking sponsorship opportunities per episode. So if you have a service that you think could benefit from getting into the ears of about 2000 brokers, you can reach out to us via our website, keeping it real pod.com or Facebook or Twitter any of the other ways you can reach us and say hey, I want to sponsor an episode. We’re going to be starting doing that here in the next week or two. So Thanks in advance and now on to the reason you are listening, our awesome interview with Kailyn Goldstein.

Hi, today on the show, we have Caitlin Goldstein. Caitlyn is a top 100 agent at properties and a top producer recognized by the Chicago Association of Realtors and at property since 2013. She’s a strong negotiator and has a vast knowledge of the Chicagoland market. Kailyn is from Peoria, as am I and I grew up around her family’s business and learned upon about entrepreneurship from a young age. She attended University of Iowa and received a BA in marketing. Upon graduation, she was recruited by a boutique real estate brokerage, and in 2010, she transitioned over to add properties, and now oversees her own team called the Goldstein group, and they have eight agents and over 100 million in sales. She enjoys helping new agents train and develop into future successful realtors. She has been featured in Chicago agent magazine and who’s who. And Kailyn resides in River North with her husband Garrett and their two golden doodles, Lolly and Lewis is that lab?

Kaylin Goldstein 3:05
That is a golden doodle. I have a regular and a mini

D.J. Paris 3:10
Awesome. Well, welcome to the show.

Kaylin Goldstein 3:12
Thank you so much. Very happy to be here.

D.J. Paris 3:15
You’re my very first Peoria person and I I could not be more excited because I so rarely get to talk to people from pure idea that I didn’t like go to high school with so and so. Do you go back for your reunions? That’s the first thing I have to ask.

Kaylin Goldstein 3:31
It’s a good question. So I was bad. And I missed the last one. I had an out of town client in. But I try and go back for Thanksgiving and the holidays and go to all my favorite restaurants. So usually a couple times a year, but um, I’ll try and make the next reunion.

D.J. Paris 3:47
Well, let’s let’s talk about your your business because you started, you know, you went you went to school in Iowa and then right out of school, it sounds like you went straight into real estate. So tell me a little bit about sort of why you did that. And how, how that how that, you know, was trying to build a business as a really young person.

Kaylin Goldstein 4:06
Yes. So very unique. You know, I started definitely at a young age. I had been interviewing with multiple companies, you know, they came to the campus and we met with all different sorts of companies. I mainly was interested in something in sales or marketing, which was kind of my background and college. Pharmacy sales was really big at the time, I interviewed to sell printers, kind of everything across the board. And then I met with a company called home Scout Realty and had a few interviews and I decided, you know, it’s something that sounded really interesting. I liked that, you know, it had that entrepreneurial background kind of make your own hours you’re responsible for your business. It kind of reminded me of growing up around my family’s company and that sort of thing. So, anyways, so I got the offer and I decided to take it and my parents were super supportive, they thought it would be a great field to get into. At that time I had started, I think it was summer of oh eight, and the market had kind of started to transition, you know, we were going downward market. So, you know, we did a lot of rentals, it was very focused on rentals, condo rentals, manage building rentals, and that sort of thing. Most of our leads came from Craigslist, so I was meeting people, you know, I had never met before. So, you know, it’s really interesting, I worked those leads, and it all went well. And then through the years, you know, those people started coming back to me, whether it was looking for another lease or looking to Now eventually by and referring their friends. So really kind of interesting how that all started. And then I decided to transition over to app properties in 2010, one of my other colleagues had just come over, and I really had always thought their marketing was so neat. So I came over in 2010. And I started working as an assistant for two top producers. So I had their business to, you know, to attend to, and then I was still working my own. So it was quite a bit.

D.J. Paris 6:20
Yeah, no, that’s so interesting. And also, you know, sort of, I guess, in 2008, the rental market was definitely for, at least for a new person entering the market, certainly, you know, the, probably the most lucrative area or the most active area of real estate, you know, because of the crash, and then also your age, everyone, you know, is renting anyway. So it sort of seems like, you know, ultimately, it was really sort of fortunate, because, as you said, as you, you know, build these relationships with renters, over time, they transit, some of them transitioned into purchasing. And I think that’s something brokers, oftentimes, new brokers in particular, oftentimes, sort of maybe forget, or easily overlooked is like, every buyer was probably a renter at one point. And it seems like that would be in particular, if you just don’t have, you know, 50 friends that are looking to buy and sell homes, the day you get your license, which of course nobody ever has, it’s a good opportunity just to sort of keep the ball rolling, while you’re building up, maybe those future opportunities. It sounds like that’s sort of how it worked for you.

Kaylin Goldstein 7:23
That’s correct. Yes. And I think that’s really well said, you know, I see it every day, I think one of the biggest things for these new agents is just building their business and having people you know, get to know that there are real turnout, whether they came, you know, straight from school, or most who came from a different career. And I think, you know, some people get discouraged, because it does take a while it takes a while to get going and to really work those leads. But, you know, I’m just so thankful how I started and building the rental business that I did, because it really transitioned well into people buying and now selling. So I always tell new agents, you know, on my team, or when we talk, it’s, it’s something to really consider, you know, rentals aren’t for everyone. I know, there’s some agents who just don’t want to do them. But I find you know, it’s, it’s a great way to meet people. And, you know, it’s it’s good income. So,

D.J. Paris 8:18
yeah, I agree. And certainly, in particular, if you’re a younger person, like you are entering the business, it just seems like that’s the, you know, sort of most obvious thing to do, because at least people you know, are likely doing it anyway. And, and the good news to about, you know, in other cities, it’s not quite this way. I know, in New York, oftentimes, the renter pays the Commission. In here in Chicago, of course, the the landlord does, or the management company, or certainly not the renter. And so it makes it you know, a really nice way to slide into real estate, where you’re able to work with with renters. You know, in the interim, while you’re building up your sales business, I think it’s very, very smart. And so talk about when you went in, because now you have your own team. And I find that so interesting, because you’re relatively young, for having this, you have a large team, or at least to me, it’s large. Talk about sort of that transition of how you went from just you to now having, you know, a bunch of people working with you.

Kaylin Goldstein 9:14
Yeah, so, um, you know, I stayed on for an assistant for probably a couple years, and then, you know, it got to be a lot working everyone’s business and helping out that sort of thing. I didn’t want to lose focus of my clients, you know, who are starting to look more to buy and then sell that sort of thing. So I decided to kind of take a step back, and I partnered with another app properties agent who’s terrific, and we kind of, you know, worked together for a while and had a smaller division. And then I decided to kind of we parted ways do our own thing, and I rebranded and so now I have terrific team members, my sister in law’s on my team, which is super fun, and she met a real Nice guy in real estate class, and then we have a few newbies who just started. So it’s just really neat. It’s nice to have the camaraderie to go to events together. And I just think it’s so helpful for new agents out there who, you know, you go to real estate class, you learn all these things. And then it’s kind of like college, you get out to the real world, and you have to find out what applies and learn the day to day things, from contracts, to inspections, to getting the deal to close. So I think it’s really been nice in that regard to kind of watch these new agents grow and see their business grow as well. Yeah,

D.J. Paris 10:37
no, I yeah, I can imagine that it is super rewarding. And you seems like you put a lot of time in with, with your team members, in particular, the newer ones? What are some of the suggestions you have for people who just, you know, have gotten their license? As far as how to go about marketing themselves? Or getting, making sure people know what they do? You know, what are some of the suggestions that you would say to somebody brand new?

Kaylin Goldstein 11:04
Yeah, so I think, you know, social media in this day, and age is so important. And I think it’s a great free way just to really, you know, create a presence and let people know that you transitioned. So I really stressed that, you know, just start, you know, working your social media. And also, we have something without properties where we can send out a blast. So sending that to, you know, all your emails of friends and family. starting to do some mailers, you know, that’s always great, I have one girl and I said, just take your wedding list and right, they’ll be there’s your clients right there to start with. So I think it’s just a matter of, you know, doing things that aren’t necessarily super expensive, right off the bat, like I if it were me, I wouldn’t go by a billboard right away. That sort of thing. And then I think, you know, also, I’ve had a lot of success of sending open houses, I’ve met some of my best clients that way over the years, so you know, something to see if that works. And, you know, see what works for you classes are great, especially just learning the different systems, there’s so many classes through the MLS now, just really getting the groundwork in place. So you can be as knowledgeable as possible and apply those things while you’re growing your business.

D.J. Paris 12:24
Ya know, I love I love all of that. It’s so interesting with open houses, because over the years, and at the firm I met, we have lots of brokers. And for years and years, everyone I talked to said a huge waste of time open houses. And then once in a while, I’d meet a broker who had joined our firm, and I would ask them, oh, how do you grow your business? Just, you know, I’d be asked a lot of those types of questions. I was curious. And once in a while, somebody would say open houses, and I’d say how are you? The only person have like, everyone else claims their huge waste of time. And yet there are people like yourself, who have had tremendous success with them. And I obviously not every open house is created equal, there certainly are ones that maybe you know, are going to produce better results. But I’ve always said to new brokers, if it was me, and I had no clients or I was not that busy, I would probably send out an email to certain other brokers at that firm. Hey, if anyone you know, here’s the area I kind of specialize in, and if anyone’s interested, you know, to, if anyone would like me to do an open house for their property, you know, give, you know, give me a call. And it is not it does not happen that often. And I’m always surprised. Because I think, you know, it can actually be helpful. Do you? Do you think there’s something you did differently to have more success with those?

Kaylin Goldstein 13:41
Yeah, you know, I think it’s just a matter of reading people. You know, as they come through, you’ll have some people who come through and they don’t want to be bothered at all. So I would say, you know, let those people go through follow up, if nothing comes from it, I wouldn’t get too down on yourself. But there’s other people who are really receptive. I work a lot with, you know, pocket listings and stuff coming on. So often what I’ll do is follow up and just say, hey, you know, if you’re not working with an agent, I’d be happy to set up a search for you. And I have access to off market properties as well. So I think just kind of leaving them with a little bit of intrigue helps us report and then you know, they’re, they don’t think you’re out to get them and sell them something right away. Because, you know, obviously, the leads you have are the warmer leads, such as your friends and family know that you’re out for their best interests. But people you meet on the street don’t necessarily have that same perception. So I think that’s definitely really important. And then you know, just building a relationship with those people I think if you’re able to find something different for them or be creative and not just do the same old thing every day by setting up a basic search, though value that and you know, those people become loyal. It goes back to to some of my rental clients when I first started, they just you know, they come back to when when they need to move, or they can refer a friend.

D.J. Paris 15:08
Yeah, no, that is so well said, and I have always thought, or recently in the last few years, I’ve thought this and tried to communicate it. And I think I’m right. And it’s might sound a little harsh, but I think it’s actually a good thing for, for brokers to hear is that I don’t think the public needs you to just set up an MLS search, they can find those properties, and oftentimes, they’re going to do it, and they are going to find those properties with or without your help. And in fact, even if you’re helping them, they’ve already found probably them anyway, because there’s a million ways to get to not necessarily get access to the properties, but certainly to see what’s available. So I think that in the past, it wasn’t as accessible years and years ago, where people really did need brokers to to find these properties. So I think what’s great about that is it takes a lot of the pressure off of the broker to only just be setting up, you know, these the searches is to be able to, like you said, be more creative. It’s like, Hey, by the way, I have some access to listings that you probably wouldn’t have access to. And I, you know, based on what you’re looking for, I’m going to do some deeper dives and get more creative. So you’re not just showing them the same things they’ve already seen on Zillow. I think that’s really, really smart. And I don’t know if you if you agree with that, that thought but that, you know, the access to sort of the information isn’t isn’t as locked, as it used to be, you know, people can can see properties, and then they are doing those searches, I think, but the broker gets to do everything else. And I think, and also, of course, finding properties. But I think there’s so much of the process that frees up time, I think for brokers to really get creative. I don’t know if you if you’ve had that experience or not. But

Kaylin Goldstein 16:52
yeah, definitely. I mean, it’s, it’s just amazing, you know, I think just doing things, you know, as differently as possible, but offering some value, you know, anyone can go click an agent online and find them. But I think just getting to know these people and offering something different. Whether it be you know, something, you know, about a particular building or a location, you know, for example, I always tell my clients, you know, if the property’s on the L That’s up to you. But you know, for resale, it’s definitely something to consider. And they go Oh, yeah, that’s a good point. So just, you know, putting the different pieces together and helping them make the best decision for the long term.

D.J. Paris 17:34
Yeah, definitely. And let’s talk about some of the sort of you do a lot of team building exercises, which I think are also probably really helpful in not just building up sort of team camaraderie, but also sort of the skill sets of the team. So you talked about, you have a sort of a program you run called fall in love with your neighborhood. Tell us a little bit about that.

Kaylin Goldstein 17:56
Yeah, so we just started that super fun, I thought it would be a great way to really jump into foul market here and do something different. So how we’re doing it is, every week, every other week, each team member on the team gets to pick a neighborhood, we’re kind of targeting the ones they live in. And then some of them are in the suburbs. So we’re filling in with you know, some of their favorite spots. And they get to choose, you know, something really neat about the neighborhood, something new, you know, something they wanted to try. So, for example, the first one, we went to a really cool restaurant in River North called barrio, and we all had some really good Mexican food. So that was really fun. And then this week coming up, we’re going to do cycle class in the west loop, which some of us aren’t the most athletic, including myself. So hopefully we make it through. But it’s really fun, you know, we we go we’ll do the classes or what have you, and then do lunch, and then we’ll post about it on Facebook. So it’s just another nice way, you know, to show our clients and our friends something else that we’re doing and experiencing in the city versus like just listed just sold the same old property stuff that they see on Facebook all the time.

D.J. Paris 19:13
Right, right. I think that’s I think that’s very true. And it also it it also tells a narrative of here’s here’s kind of instead of only Hey, we just listed and sold this property. Now Hey, look at here’s what here’s what we do. Here’s our personalities coming through and social media and I think one of the you know, one of the mistakes maybe brokers make is only saying just listed this property, check it out, you know, just sold this property. And those there’s nothing wrong with those posts. That’s great. But if you’re only doing that, I think it just it just the average person who’s your Facebook friend probably just glosses over it. If it’s not necessarily if they’re not in the market to buy or sell a home they might not really respond to that but they’ll respond to hey, we just went to an escape room with you know, this other members of my team and here’s some funny pictures and I think that’s that’s Actually, really. And also, it’s fun too. But I think from a social media perspective, it probably got gets more interesting engagement from from, you know, your prospects and clients, I would I would think,

Kaylin Goldstein 20:11
currently Yeah. And I think, you know, it’s fun for the team members, you know, we have two newer agents who are recently starting, and it’s a good way to get to know the personalities on the team. And I think that helps. And a lot of new agents, you know, they’re nervous, they’re, you know, either leaving careers or, you know, depending all different avenues where they’re coming from. So, I think it’s really a nice way just to kind of do something different from the thought of how am I going to get my next lead? And, you know, like, we spoke about, I think, on Facebook, you know, clients really like to see about our lives as agents and stuff like that. It’s, it’s fun to be able to relate and do things. And, you know, I It’s kind of like those shows Million Dollar Listing, I mean, I have more fun watching it and seeing what they’re doing on day to day versus sometimes, you know, the actual real estate stuff of it.

D.J. Paris 20:59
Yeah, and absolutely, one thing I did also want to mention is because you are currently rehabbing a house, with your husband, and talk about that experience, because I think that’s a really important experience. If if brokers ultimately are, you know, it gives them additional dimension and skill set, you’ll be able to, you know, share that information with future clients as well. And maybe you start working more more so with investors and developers, because you, you now have this experience. But taco, can you talk a little bit about that experience? And what that’s been like for you?

Kaylin Goldstein 21:35
Yes, so most importantly, we’re still married. No, it’s been good, we, we bought it not too long ago, and we’re rehabbing. So we’re redoing the BAS, the kitchen we tore out, we’re putting a new one in, and then we’re finishing off the basement. So it’s been really fun, you know, I love to pick finishes, I could have been an interior designer in my second life. But um, you know, it’s, it’s been really great to see what’s on trend and try and put that in there. We have plans to Airbnb, that property. You know, so we did a single family home and that way, you know, the neighbors won’t mind too much. So we’re really excited to oversee it. And I just think it’s a nice extension, you know, of what I do day to day. But with that said, you know, rehabbing or buying or selling I just think it’s it adds a lot of value to have gone through it. You know, buying is, is pretty straightforward. Obviously, there’s some ins and outs, but as a realtor, you know, you know, what you’re doing selling is is kind of an emotional process we did, we decided to sell one of our properties in the South Loop. And you know, I had put every fixture in there and picked out wallpaper paint everything and it was it was a little emotional. So you know, I think it’s really important as realtors to know what our clients go through. And it’s, it’s just a really stressful process, it can be not always, you know, you have your investors who aren’t as attached to their properties, but families who have, you know, had properties in their, in their family forever, it can be really stressful. So, I think that kind of helps and just to have a diverse pocket to offer to everyone.

D.J. Paris 23:23
Yeah, for sure. And I can ripple on that. Because we I had a condo that I sold, I’d done the same thing, put all the fixtures, that and all the finishes and, and everything over the years. And then when I went to sell it, and I knew I was pricing it more than it ought to event. And I did the classic mistake where I was just too emotionally attached to it, even though I knew there’s you know, and it wasn’t outrageously overpriced, it was just slightly overpriced. And I said, Oh, what we’ll see, you know, and I ran the comps and I still priced it above what I should have. And as a result, nothing happened for a few weeks. And I went okay, and it was like I knew better than to do that. And then ultimately ended up dropping the price and it sold, but it was like wow, if that if it can even affect me and I know better than now I know you know so much more about what the average seller goes through, you know, the emotional part of wanting to sell it for a certain price or because you have an emotional attachment or because you bought it at a certain price and you want you know there to be a certain amount of profit or, or whatever, but boy, I can certainly relate to, you know, to that experience. So much more now because, you know, I was sort of doing it to myself even

Kaylin Goldstein 24:36
definitely, and I think there’s just there’s more compassion that goes that goes into it not just there never was before but you know, I care about my clients so much but I think you know, just to help them understand where things need to be priced at and just understanding the process in general is is so important. And you know, even on the buyer side when when we go in and some of these properties needs to be redone. Some are overwhelmed And at the thought of what the price could be of redoing a bathroom or a kitchen, and others are just, you know, oh my gosh, how much time this is going to take. So I think that really adds value to be able to give not necessarily estimates, but a rough idea of how much money out of pocket and how long it could take just to kind of ease their concerns and see if they really can see themselves living in the property. Yeah, I

D.J. Paris 25:24
think that information is so valuable to consumers, buyers and sellers to be able to know or to ask their their broker, hey, you know, I was thinking about this, do you have any information about, you know, good, like, should I redo this kitchen? Should I not? And certainly, you can’t always tell them what they should or shouldn’t do. But you just being that knowledge source is so critical. Like, for example, I did not know that I could buy a property until at least a year after I could have bought a property because I didn’t have anyone that sat me down and told me I was renting this as a long time ago. And finally, somebody said, you should buy a property and I went, and I think I’m a relatively intelligent person. I went, Oh, I can’t do that. And they go, No, you probably can. And I go, No, no, no, no. I mean, I really didn’t understand how a mortgage worked. I mean, this was, you know, I was probably 30 At the time, and I really didn’t totally understand. And so I always think like, you know, there’s so much opportunity for brokers to educate their clients and, and somebody like me, I would have been way too embarrassed to ask like, how does the mortgage work? Thankfully, one of my friends who’s who’s a realtor said, you know, you can do this, and I was like, you’d have, you’ll have to explain that to me. And he did. And I went, Oh, my gosh, I literally had no idea. So I think you’re, you’re so right, about being able to, you know, provide that information to your clients. And this is also back to the rental thing, too. I mean, that’s a really specific example. But you know, if your clients are, if you have clients that are renters that are spending two grand a month, you know, on an apartment, they probably should be purchasing, or at least should know about what you know what it would take to do that. Obviously, you already know that, but let’s talk about I wanted to get to finish with this story that you had. This is so interesting. I’m not even totally sure I understand all of it. So I want to find out. So you, you were you were talking about or you’re you’re writing us about a Lincoln Square bungalow, that you had a couple purchase. And then there was some, as explained, like what happened at the walk through at the

Kaylin Goldstein 27:19
end? Yeah, so it’s super sweet couple. And we found this property had multiple offers, and we got it. And so it was so exciting at the walkthrough so crazy, you know, usually they leave the basic stuff, right, like the keys and the appliance manuals, that sort of thing. And they also we had found it was like a little cigarette canteen thing. And inside it had a treasure map. And it you know, you had your x and your little dots to go find the gold or the treasure or what have you. And I followed up with them. And I don’t think there was a treasure in the long run. But it’s just so funny that you know, you just find all these interesting things, what you see day to day on the showing, but you just never know what’s what’s you’re going to find. And these vintage properties are so cool. It was a vintage rehab to think you know, they’ve been around for 100 Some years and all the different families, you know, that have lived in them over this time. It’s pretty cool.

D.J. Paris 28:19
Ya know, super cool. So did the seller leave that cigarette? tid or it just showed up?

Kaylin Goldstein 28:25
You know, I think it was last this was a while ago now. So my memory is not the best, but I believe they left it and it was something that was there when they had bought as well. So it’s kind of one of those things that comes with the property.

D.J. Paris 28:39
Isn’t that wild? That is really, really funny. And so there was but there was no they were not. You were nobody was able to find a treasure.

Kaylin Goldstein 28:46
There was no treasure and I told him I said I think we should split this treasure if you find it but treasure lo and behold

D.J. Paris 28:54
that is a that is really that’s really funny. Well, let’s talk where if if any buyers and sellers or renters want to work with you? What’s the best way they should reach out to you?

Kaylin Goldstein 29:05
Yes, so I am always by myself. My cell is great 312-909-1682 and email caitlin@properties.com. And that’s

D.J. Paris 29:17
ka y li n and then also you can visit her on her website, which is Kailen goldstein.com, which, which has all your contact information as well. So thank you Kailyn it was such a pleasure speaking with you. I really appreciate your time and it’s some great suggestions for brokers who are looking to, you know, maybe who are newer in the business and definitely want to get ahead. But thank you so much.

Kaylin Goldstein 29:43
Thank you it was a wonderful time. Appreciate it.

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Top producer Sohail Salahuddin starts his day at 2:30am. That is NOT a typo. Extreme discipline has been at the core of Sohail’s real estate practice and part of the reason he’s been a top producer for many years. Sohail is also a master at pivoting his business to meet current market conditions. If you feel like you need better habits to grow your business, this episode is just the kick in the rear you need!

Contact Sohail Salahuddin at 312-437-7799 and sohail@sohailrealestate.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 agents for Chicago real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your host through the show and today we have a fantastic, amazing interview with Sohail. salehoo. Dean, before we get to him, I wanted to do a few quick announcements. First of all, thank you so much. We just crossed over the 1000 subscriber mark. And we’re so thrilled. I know a lot of you have been telling other brokers in your offices to listen to the show. And if you’re this is your first time listening, what is the show all about what we do is interview top Chicago real estate agents and ask them how they became successful in the hopes that that could be information that you could use in your own practice to, you know, increase your business, right. So the best way you could always help us is to share it with a friend. So if you have other brokers that you’re aware of that you think could benefit from the show, please pass this along. We really appreciate it. Also, if there’s any brokers that you think we should be interviewing that we should be talking to, you can, you can let us know that as well. So there’s obviously a number of ways to listen to the show or on all the various podcast directories. Also, you can stream all the episodes directly from our website, which is keeping it real pod.com. That’s the same place you can also go to submit recommendations of brokers that we should be communicating with and interviewing. And by the way you can nominate yourself Lastly, we are starting to take sponsorships per episode, so we’ll be starting that probably in a few episodes. As soon as things the dust settles a little bit. We’re pretty busy. But um, we have sponsors lined up for future episodes. So if you’re a sponsor that would like to get in front of 1000 plus brokers who are listening to the show, you can reach out and become one of our sponsors. You can do that on our website keeping it real pod.com Okay, thanks for listening to all of that and on with our interview with Sohail. All right, today on the show we have Sohail salah, who Deen started in the real estate industry as an investor when he was just 20 years old, making his first purchase on a single family home. As through that he became bit by the real estate bug and started buying multi unit buildings within a year. From there, Sohail has owned and operated a successful mortgage company. While he transitioned ultimately to residential real estate sales. He became involved in web development as built houses bought and sold many properties and worked on large condo conversions. So he’ll recent really had a passion for helping others achieve their goals as he had so he turned his focus to brokerage services and opened up his own firm. So Hale founded the Sohail Real Estate Group in 2012. He has a clear vision to help people achieve their goals providing white glove service to his clients that are above and beyond other real estate brokerages. Suhail has earned awards in Chicago Association of Realtors year after year for outstanding achievements as well as award a top producer of his industry. So he’ll thank you and welcome to the podcast. Thanks, DJ. Thanks for having me. The pleasure is definitely all to all ours. Can you talk a little bit about you have such an interesting history of getting involved in real estate really, as a young age? Can you talk walk us through that journey of how you got to where you are now?

Sohail Salahuddin 3:42
Yeah, um, I’ve been through many ups and downs. But um, so as at a young age, I started just with my, with my first property I was renting previously, I started renting at a young age too. So I was on my own pretty young. And my landlord was doing mortgages and she was an investor. And so when I was renting from her, she said, Why don’t you buy a house? There’s a lot of money, the real estate markets good. And I said, I don’t how do I do that? Sure. Right. I don’t know if I can. And so she helped me. She she was a real estate broker. She was a mortgage broker. And she helped me get my first property. From that point on, I just kind of got bit about a three unit building in Jefferson Park was my first like, bigger investment and then went on from there. I was I would say that throughout the process as an investor there and real estate also in general it’s like a roller coaster ride but the process is really the process all the challenges that’s that’s kind of where all the magic happens. Sure. Yeah. And then I from when I was buying I got into mortgages first before I got into brokerage And the reason I got into mortgages because when I was buying a property, the mortgage broker was a young guy. And, and I saw his check. Right? Right. And I said, Well, I said, That’s how much money you made. And he said, Yeah. And I said, God, how’d you get into this business? And he said, Well, I just, you know, just just went and started working for this guy at this company. And I said, you have a finance degree. Turns out he didn’t I don’t think he even had a high school degree. So, sir, yeah, so then I started doing some research and and I kind of got into it from from that point on, in the mortgage side.

D.J. Paris 5:36
Sure. What years were you? Were you involved in mortgages? Was this for the?

Sohail Salahuddin 5:41
No, it was during the Yeah, before the crash? 2005 is kind of really when I got into it.

D.J. Paris 5:48
Sure. Saw some good some good years, I imagine in mortgage some very

Sohail Salahuddin 5:53
good years. Yeah. I mean, extremely, extremely good. It was, I think one of the one of the really good years, I had a partner for a while, I opened up a mortgage company, I had a partner. And, and then when we got into condo conversions, development, it was a really good year, that was right before the crash. And there were big developments. So like 500 Plus units. Wow. And so we’d get a little piece of the profit from the units. Majority of the time we’re listing them, we’re also representing the buyer side, and then we’re also financing them. So

D.J. Paris 6:26
that is, that is truly impressive.

Sohail Salahuddin 6:27
Yeah, that was a good. That was a good year, for sure. And that was in 2006 2007.

D.J. Paris 6:37
Gotcha. And then, so as the crash happened, how did you shift your business?

Sohail Salahuddin 6:43
So as the crash happened, so the kind of conversions a lot of the people that purchased were investors, because in elements, you have to have a minimum of 30 day first right of refusal for the tenants, when you convert an apartment building to condos, right. And when that would happen, it attracted a lot of investors. So because I represented the investors when they purchase, they wanted the tenants to stay. And anytime a tenant moved out, they would come back to me, and asked me to find new tenant. And for a while I was doing it for free, just because I didn’t know any better. And I felt kind of obligated. Sure, and then an attorney that I was working with sad, you know, there’s companies that charge for that. And I said, really? He goes, Yeah, I was just green. I didn’t really know too much about the rental industry. As far as a service goes. And he said to me, yeah, they charge one month’s rent. And he’s right. I said, Why sold it to these people. He’s like, Yeah, but that’s your obligations over. So the next time someone asked me if I could find a tenant, I said, Sure, you know, have to charge your month’s rent. And they said, Yeah, of course, I don’t just find me a tenant. So they write the money. They just wanted a tenant. And I made, I made probably at least 10,000 just renting apartments on the side. Yeah. And then the person that that gave me the idea, I thanked him for it. And then a light bulb went off in his head. And the next day call me he said, Hey, let’s meet for lunch. I have an idea. And then we kind of got into the rental business, which, you know, I have to say it was very fortunate because this is when the markets that are crashing. Right. It was a nice transition from doing doing sales and mortgages to focusing on rentals.

D.J. Paris 8:28
Yep, for sure. And then also, you’re you’re setting yourself up for future. I mean, you obviously already know this. But hopefully you’re setting yourself up for future sales when these renters get to that point down the road.

Sohail Salahuddin 8:39
Yeah, I mean, kind of, you know, I didn’t I didn’t really think about it that way. I was just in the moment. Sure. Right. Sure. On my end, I was mostly managing so I wasn’t focused too much on doing some one on one with clients. But now like I’m doing now, so I was managing I was still doing production, production myself. But I really think I didn’t think too far ahead into the future.

D.J. Paris 9:03
Right? Yeah. You were you were you were a developer, really? And so yeah, it wasn’t as much focus. I wasn’t really thinking

Sohail Salahuddin 9:09
about you know, I wasn’t thinking about okay, these people that are renting now, they’re going to be buying the future. I just sure the market was so bad. It would, right. Yeah. I don’t know when that was good, but a lot of Yeah. But you know, a lot of people did come back to me and funny enough, because four or five years later, they would come back and they said that, you know, they were they remembered me and I would did such a great job that they wanted to work with me again.

D.J. Paris 9:37
Yeah, for sure. I mean, it’s it’s amazing to me and probably this you know, it’s often lost on the people that are this way because to them, they’re just this way but this seems like you have this really impressive ability to just pivot and adapt. And you know, your your career has gone through multiple incarnations and you know, when when the markets bad great, we pick Get into rentals and, you know, flourished in that area, which I would think Most brokers probably did you know, and I know you weren’t necessarily a traditional broker at that point. But most people just didn’t do that at all. And so I find that they just kind of weather the storm. And I find that very, you know, sort of entrepreneurial, and also just intelligent to sort of think about, well, let’s pivot over to rentals. And then and so Okay, so you got, you know, you were doing rentals in addition to, you know, other things. And then how did that and then, then what happened after, as you started

Sohail Salahuddin 10:32
doing more of that, you know, that we had a good successful run with the company until about 2000 2011. A lot of there were some personal personal relationship issues that were involved, which impeded the company’s future, future progress, but at the same time, I think it worked out well, because there are so many right, you know, when we first did it, there was only probably two major competitors with us. Sure. By the time we were at a, at the end of the business, there was a rent a leasing office and every single corner literally throughout. That’s right, there are and for every person that wanted to rent a property or every landlord that wanted to have their property rented there about at least 10 plus different people that they could work with. So there are more people in the business, and there are people probably, as far as a client base looking. It’s a good, yeah. So if it was, it became more difficult. And I had to shift again, I shifted back to eventually I went with a group of people we had went to Southern B’s, Jamison southern views. Sure, and, and so we’re working, not like a, like a close knit functional team, it was kind of more like a small brokerage under under the Sotheby’s umbrella. And then eventually, from there, I, I went into started learning, right, because I’m always trying to learn and figure out how to improve my business. And so I learned how to how to really pull together a team and you don’t need a lot of people, you just need really effective people.

D.J. Paris 12:06
It’s okay, yeah, that’s very true. And so how have you built that team? As far as what you know, what are some of the qualities you’ve looked for and team members?

Sohail Salahuddin 12:19
Got? It’s a it’s a constant struggle? I’ll be honest, it’s hard to find. Sure, of course, but yeah, luckily, I’ve had, I have some really good people, my team who had been with me for, you know, five to eight years. And then I have some great staff. Now the staff is, I think, the most important one of the most important elements is, is to have your back in office setup really smooth saw the systems in place, so it’s streamlined. And for me, I’m best when I focus just on I’m producing. So I’d be the Rainmaker. Sure. I think it’s, I think that’s my biggest downfall at the same time is hard, it’s hard to find good people to put on a team, you know?

D.J. Paris 13:03
Yes, I can definitely, definitely appreciate that. And in the nurse standard, I wanted to give you a big compliment, because I was visiting your website and you know, you know, real estate websites are certainly a dime a dozen. And lots of brokers have them, and some of them are good, and some aren’t yours, I believe a good one. But what I what I loved in particular, or what I thought was really what I liked rather about it, and I imagine people who visit the site like this, as well, is on your homepage, you have a short video, and it’s only it’s like less than a couple of two minutes. But it specifically is like, Hey, you’re here at this website, because you know, one of a few reasons, you know, you need help buying or selling or renting. And here’s what we do we have a pot, you know, we have a we have what we call the sale selling strategy. And here are the five things I do that other other brokers probably don’t or maybe they don’t do as well, and you list them out. And again, I don’t know, how how much how like sort of rare, I suspect that is for someone even to have some sort of presentation like that. I suspect there’s a lot of brokers who go into a listing presentation or by buyers presentation, and they just kind of go there with a maybe a blank sheet of paper and is like Alright, tell me what you’re looking for, which I guess is fine. But I love the idea of you’re like okay, here’s, here’s why people hire me, here are the five things I do for them. And I thought it was really just simple. And but but like, you know, well laid out. And then at the end, it’s like, Hey, give me an opportunity to show you what we do. And I just thought that was really, really smart. Right.

Sohail Salahuddin 14:37
So that yeah, that website you’re looking at it’s a little outdated. But I it’s kind of the same theory. I think that when you’re selling when you’re selling a property when you’re listing it, it really comes down to just a few, a few major factors, right. Those are the macro factors. And of course, there’s the micro steps that my team does to make sure that we have an effective and efficient sale for the clients. Sure. but those are kind of the the macro factors that I put into there. But yeah, video, I think video is huge to be able to, instead of people are more visual, and that’s why they watch movies. So instead of having to read through a bunch of paragraphs on what you do for your business and the service you provide, it’s better just to have a quick video of myself, give me a, you know, a quick two, three minute introduction.

D.J. Paris 15:27
Yeah, and in addition to that, I just love that you have a strategy, right? So there’s so many brokers that probably don’t, in fact, I know there’s Most brokers probably don’t. And so I love the idea that you’ve thought this through, and it comes across in again, and this isn’t an industry where you could walk into a presentation with a blank sheet of paper, or you can go in there with a whole selling strategy. And to me, if it was me, I’d want to go in with the selling strategy personally, and other people do it different ways and have different levels of success. But I just, I just think that is was was really smart. And also, it’s very, you know, hey, it also gives somebody something tangible to sort of think about before potentially hiring you.

Sohail Salahuddin 16:11
You know, which it’s funny, you say that I think the magic actually happens, all the important information, I try to get to the client before I even meet with them. So when I meet with them, my goal is to be in and out of there within 15 to 30 minutes just have a very concise, effective conversation. questions based? Right. Sure. And it’s usually it’s almost the same thing as, as my business, it’s pretty step by step on how I walk people through the necessary steps that we take to get their property sold.

D.J. Paris 16:47
Yeah, I mean, you have you have a system. And it’s, you know, it’s even on your website, there’s a system, there’s, you know, here’s what we do. And ultimately, not only is it professional, I think they have a system, but it also enables you to be really efficient, right? It’s like, I can come in, I can get in and out in 1520 minutes, because we’ve done a bunch of legwork already. And now we just have a few key things we need to tighten up and then and I think that’s the it’s the I think that’s probably the the better way would be the way I would do it. If it was me. So anyway, I just noticed that and I thought that was something that other people could learn from, it’s like, so many brokers probably don’t have a presentation, they don’t have a process to that extent. And I think it’s it’s really smart to do that.

Sohail Salahuddin 17:28
You’re right, I think you’re a DJ.

D.J. Paris 17:32
Well, this is always a question that nobody has a great answer for. So I understand that every day is different as a realtor, but what does your typical day look like? Or if you could plan sort of a perfect day? What would that entail?

Sohail Salahuddin 17:45
It’s pretty military. Like, I love that. So I, it’s gonna sound crazy, but it’s not to me just because I designed my life to it fits my lifestyle. But I wake up at 2:30am Wow, I wake up at 230 I usually do some, a little bit of a spiritual, but a half an hour, something spiritual. And then I do a lot of mindset. I guess, things to just make my mindset really strong for the day, right? Get myself in a good mood stay positive. I usually read in the morning too, for about, it just depends, I taught myself how to speed me so I could read pretty fast. So I read a few chapters of a book, it takes me about 10 minutes to go through, you know, a pretty good part of the book I can get through in 10 minutes. Sure, and then I’ll I’ll hit my emails a lot through the emails, it’s responding to emails that came through. A lot of times I gotta send CMAs to people or, or an email presentation. And, and then it’s my delegation to my team. So I’ll do that in the morning as well. And then at four o’clock, wake up my wife when we go to the gym.

D.J. Paris 19:06
I love that. That’s not that the gym is like the seventh thing you’ve done by the time you

Sohail Salahuddin 19:14
she comes with me we’re usually at the gym about 434 15 or 430. And I just have a really good powerful workout and then and then my, the rest of my day starts so I get my kids ready for school. By seven I get myself ready by 730 actually 715 to 7:30am role playing with other people from across the country. Just our scripts and dialogues and get ourselves ready for the day.

D.J. Paris 19:40
Yeah, let me pause on that because that I don’t want to gloss gloss over that. I think that is so so interesting. So what maybe other people may call a mastermind group of sorts, or just some sort of peer group these are these are other real estate brokers who

are other real estate brokers.

Awesome and you guys are supporting each other or training each other or that sort of

Sohail Salahuddin 20:03
Yeah, exactly. It’s interesting to do because a few years ago, in the past, I don’t think I’d, I’d really network with real estate brokers just because I was more focused on clients and I didn’t see a value. And then I guess I opened up my mind a little bit to meeting with one person. And then that one meeting went into an expansion of, of now there’s a group of us that, that spend time together, we’re all on the same path, we lift each other up, we support each other. Many of them are here in Chicagoland. In fact, on Saturday, we just had a little dinner out with a group of people who are brokers here in Chicago, which is it’s a, it’s a fantastic feeling to know that you have friends that are doing the same thing that you are that you can talk about the same thing. And, and you’re helping each other, everybody’s has their ups and downs, everybody has good months, bad months. And at the same time, if you run into a problem, you have that support system in place where they can kind of help you if you need it to get through it.

D.J. Paris 21:06
That is that is so amazing. And you’re doing that daily. It sounds like Yeah,

Sohail Salahuddin 21:10
yeah. So daily, I’m always on the phones every morning with somebody in the industry. And then from 8am until about until about noon. You know, I start hunting for business.

D.J. Paris 21:27
And, and that’s, that’s interesting, too, like, so you’re you’re I mean, you are the king of time blocking it sounds like you. You just like okay, between eight and 12. I hunt. Awesome. And then. And then I got to keep going with this guy. I love all of this. What happens after 12? What do you do

on the clock at 12? I, I’m following up with my past clients at one o’clock and following up with my current clients. At two o’clock, I do an hour of I have to do I have to spend an hour of something either I gotta practice my skill set. I might watch some videos or something to keep my motivation high. Sure, practicing my presentation. It could be anything like that. But I try to get at least an hour in a day, from three to five or my listing presentations, or at least I try to keep them between three and five. Sure. from five to 7am hunting again. And then 730 is usually dinner with the family.

Wow, that is how, if you don’t mind me asking, were you always somebody that didn’t need a tremendous amount of sleep? Are you able to train yourself to do that?

Sohail Salahuddin 22:42
And go to bed at nine. So I still get what is that nine to five and a half hours. So I’m still getting, you know, five and a half to six hours of sleep. And it doesn’t sound like it’s not that much. But if you think about a lot of people will go to bed at midnight and wake up at six. Yeah, no, that’s true. So it’s still I still get plenty of sleep. But yeah, I did have to, I did have to slowly work back from waking up at five to 430 to four to 330 to three.

D.J. Paris 23:12
Sure. That is That is unbelievable. I that is military precision with with your day. And I imagine it makes you incredibly efficient. And I imagine also, you know, like, there’s a lot of different research out there that and again, for brokers, it’s easier said than done. But this idea of like, okay, between eight and 12 I’m hunting, I’m not you know, if there’s an emergency, I’ll answer an email or a phone call. But hey, that’s the door is closed and I’m hunting. I imagine you probably have some of those boundaries, too. It’s like, this is what I do. And I’ll get back to you after 12 If I need to. But

Sohail Salahuddin 23:49
it’s almost like when someone’s when someone knocks on my door I have to say Sheesh. amante buffalo right?

D.J. Paris 23:57
That is? Yeah, that is unbelievable. So let me ask you this with with with all the experience you’ve had. And with some of this, you’re a systems guy clearly like you have systems to manage your day you have systems with your clients we’ve talked about. And also you just have a tremendous amount of experience in the industry and in different areas of the industry. For somebody who was brand new who just is getting their license. What advice would you give to them? What would you say

Sohail Salahuddin 24:23
100%. I see most of the brokerages don’t offer like really good training there’s there’s a couple right that’s that’s the but the reality is if they knew what it was really like, I think a lot of people would run and brokerages don’t want people to run because they want them to write that’s how they grow the brokerage they want to have a lot of sure and continue to grow it. But I would say before you get into business or if you’re just getting into the business, you have to understand that it’s it’s it’s a lot of hard work. It’s not all while I’m in real estate so I can have flexibility and Have my own schedule. I mean, you could have those things, but you’d have to pay the price before you can get to that point, you know. So you have to work your ass off for about the first three to five years, it’s gonna be a lot of retention apps, the whole time, you’re gonna be outside your comfort zone, because that’s the only way you’re gonna grow. And, but if you do everything right for this three to five years, then you can start to build a team, which I would say is like a second phase. Once you start building a team, you can delegate out as much as you can depend on the people you have. And I would say the last phase is when you build it perfectly, then you can kind of that’s when you get to have flexibility to do whatever you want, right? To a certain extent. Sure.

No, I love all of that. And now I but just

to answer your question, anybody who’s new in the business, definitely get a mentor. Seek out mentorship, find somebody who’s, who’s reached a certain level of success within their business. And just ask them how they did it. You know, don’t ask them what it’s like now, but ask them all the struggles have been through because that, again, is where the magic happens.

D.J. Paris 26:09
Yeah, I think that’s right. I, it’s TierPoint I don’t think any of the schools that teach the licensing classes you know, just so you know, you’re going to be, you know, meeting new people every day for the next two years. And then maybe you’ll start getting, you know, a relatively decent client base but and longer even. And also, you’re going to be you know, answering questions you don’t know the answers to and then having to figure that out for the first few years. But I that is that is awesome. I think we really can can end on that because you’ve said so much. For a lot of people we have hundreds and hundreds of listeners who are brokers and I think they’re gonna get a lot just from from you know, even you talking about how you structure your day in so what I want to make sure I do is is mentioned so Hills website, which I think does give you a good understanding of, of some of how he operates, you know, you can feel his presence by even watching the videos or just kind of reading through his bio and, and what his team offers, but it’s so Hale, which is s o HAIL realestate.com. So if there are any buyers, sellers, even renters that would like to speak to you or your team, what would be the best way that they should reach out to you.

Sohail Salahuddin 27:22
So email is, is always good because I can respond quicker. And it’s my first name, so hail, which is S O hail at Sohail realestate.com. I have another website to DJ which is it’s this Sohail real estate team.com, which is a little more updated, and also kind of speaks to everybody. And then of course, anybody can reach me, I’m always available to clients directly, which I think is something that’s different from a lot of people. But they can call me directly at 312-437-7799.

D.J. Paris 28:02
Well, Sohail I, we’re so grateful for your time, because I know how precious time is to you and you take it very seriously. And for you to take a few moments out of your day, more than a few moments is appreciated. So thank you so much, and keep up all the amazing work and I will do my best to start waking up a little bit earlier. I don’t know that I I’m pretty sure I can’t get to 230. But even if I just got to five,

Sohail Salahuddin 28:26
then that would be you just start one step at a time. Right.

D.J. Paris 28:30
That’s true. All right. Well, thank you so much.

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Brady Miller transformed from superstar jazz drummer to superstar real estate broker. (He’s still a good drummer) Listen to his story of an unlikely shift to real estate, why mentorship has been critical to his success, and how he built his business to over 300 clients in just 5 years.

Brady Miller can be reached at bmiller@chicagorea.com and 773.977.8553.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:16
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the only podcast for real estate agents made by real estate agents. My name is DJ, I am your host through the show and today we have a great interview with Brady Miller coming up in just a few moments wanted to share with you a couple of things before we bring Brady on. First of all, thank you. The podcast has been growing in subscribers after just gosh, I think this is episode 11 or 12. We already have we’re coming up on almost 600 subscribers. So thank you for sharing this podcast with other realtors who you think might find it interesting. What we do here, if this is your first episode listening, is we talk to top producers Top Real Estate Agents Brokers in Chicago and say how did you build your business? What are you doing differently and interview them and let them share their stories. And if you’re somebody who’s looking to build your real estate practice beyond where it currently is, hopefully this will give you some great ideas and save you some time with trial and error and might as well learn from the people already doing it right. Second, we have a new segment coming up, it’s actually going to be broadcast, the ferry for it’s a regular segment, the first Monday of every month with my new co host, Carrie McCormick, who is a 20 year veteran in real estate. She’s unbelievable. She’s super knowledgeable and a lot of fun. And she’s going to be doing this monthly show with me where she talks about here’s what’s going on in the market. And and here’s what she saw the last month, here’s what’s coming on next month. And even my favorite part of what she’s going to be doing is answering your questions. So if you’ve ever wanted to ask a top producer questions like I do every week on the show, you can now do the same thing. So you can actually send in questions that you want Kerry to answer directly through our website, which is keeping it real pod.com on there, as well as all has our Twitter and Facebook and email link. So send us your questions. And lastly, if you are a business that would like to reach 600 brokers every single week through this podcast, you can advertise on the show we’re going to start taking on sponsors on a per episode basis. So if that’s something that’s of interest to you and your services, send us a message and our team will get in touch with you. All right, right after the break here Brady Miller.

Today on the show, we have Brady Miller of the Chicago real estate artists. I’m gonna start that over in one second. It’s not the one sec. Today on the show. We have Brady Miller of Chicago real estate artists. Brady specializes in Chicago’s north side, also far north side and downtown neighborhoods. He strives to consistently get his clients in front of the best opportunities on the market. Since his rookie season in 2012. Brady has helped over 300 clients purchase, sell and rent their homes. I’m gonna repeat that again because it’s so impressive since his rookie season 2012 He’s helped over 300 clients buy sell and rent, generating more than 70 million in revenue. He reached the Chicago Association of Realtors top producer status in his in just his second year and is currently in the top 1% of all realtors in the city in terms of revenue and sales volume. Brady loves what he does and works tirelessly around the clock to ensure each and every one of his clients has the best possible customer service experience. He is it also he’s equally at home assisting buyers and sellers. So whether you’re a first time homebuyer or a seasoned investor, or somebody who’s doing maybe they’re not their first real estate transaction, he can assess so welcome to the show. Ready.

Brady Miller 3:59
Thank you. Did you appreciate it?

D.J. Paris 4:01
Yeah, no, we’re super grateful to have you and I again, just the numbers you’ve put up in five or six years is truly truly impressive. But let’s you know, I also know that you’re not a Chicago native. So can you tell us a little bit about how you got here and how you got involved in real estate?

Brady Miller 4:18
Yeah, I wasn’t planning on it at all. Before this, I grew up in Vermont, went to school in New York, lived in New York City for a long time. My wife, she is a pianist, and she teaches piano her first gig out of college was Professor job in North Dakota. So actually was, I’m a musician as well. So my past is in music and I was when she moved to North Dakota. I was going back and forth between North Dakota and New York City, which is kind of kind of fun, very different places. And then we kind of got a little antsy in North Dakota and she got got a really good job opportunity here in Chicago tenure track professor job. So we were very happy to move to Chicago, I kind of always thought that I’d end up here in Chicago for some reason, because I’ve been, oddly a lifelong White Sox fan, even in Vermont. So some somehow I thought I’d end up here and be close to the White Sox. So that’s been nice. But yeah, that’s how we ended up here. And becoming a real estate agent I hadn’t planned the better. I hadn’t planned on it at all. But somebody I went to school with Michael relink. He, he helped me find he helped us find our first place here in Chicago, and we were a huge pain in the ass clients for him. I think he’s probably saw over 75 places. Oh, my gosh, I’ve tried to I try to look back and think about what I would have thought if I were his client. Or if, you know, I was my clients like what I would have done? Sure. Because we were when we were first looking, I had our puppy with us. And like, we were traveling around with my puppy. Because she was fairly new at that point. So like in his car and stuff, and it’s really hard. She’d be like, freaking out in the car. So he was very patient with me. But yeah, we we took a long time, it was a lot of fun looking for a place. And at some point during the process, he said, you just said, Have you ever thought of becoming a realtor? And I had never thought about it in any way, whatsoever. But I really enjoyed the process of looking for a place. And for some reason, it seemed like a natural, a natural thing to do coming from music. I’m not sure it seemed very smooth. Just I was like, oh, maybe I’ll try it and see what happens. Because Susan has a pretty solid job, my wife. And it seemed like I would have some time to get my feet under me and learn more about the business and grow into it. So that’s kind of what happened.

D.J. Paris 6:58
Yeah, no, that’s I have a couple of things to mention, which is totally off topic. But one of which is off topic. The rest, rest will be more on topic. But I just recently got rid of my piano and not because I wanted to just I moved and it wasn’t really going to fit and your wife can probably relate to this. But getting rid of a piano is not the easiest thing in the world. It was shockingly difficult.

Brady Miller 7:20
I mean, trying to sell it or just No,

D.J. Paris 7:23
no, I was no I was I was even trying to donate it because there’s a charity called I think keys for kids. And it was going to cost me because I was on the fourth floor, we I would have had to spend about $1,000 Just to be able to donate it. And I

Brady Miller 7:39
think that they would come and pay for getting you you would

D.J. Paris 7:43
think but but it just it would cost them you know, the same amount. So it was one of those things where I eventually we ended up giving it to somebody,

Brady Miller 7:50
but it’s not legal to do a bonfire in Chicago. Right.

D.J. Paris 7:54
But, but but also, you know, I wanted to also talk about, you know, you mentioned, Michael, who is the owner of real estate artists by five that correct is that, yes, yeah. And what’s interesting is, you know, you talked about, hey, I put him, you know, went and saw 75 places or, you know, whatever number it really was, you know, you could always argue like, he probably lost money working with you, except now you work with him. And there’s only a handful of brokers, you guys are incredibly successful. So it really was probably the best hire, you know, as far as a return on an investment. Now you guys are work together. And I always think, you know, for those clients who, you know, in particular, sometimes buying clients can take longer to make decisions. And I hear from the brokers here at our office, you know, a lot of them go, Oh, my client just can’t make a decision. It’s like you never know where it’s going to lead. And it’s even spawned a whole career for you, which I think is is so interesting. And let’s talk about, you know, your success. And and I know that’s makes a lot of people uncomfortable. But let’s just talk about how you started your business, being new to Chicago, starting again, you had the experience of Michael, and then you went on board with him. But how did you get started? Being that I’m assuming your your network of your sphere of influence, let’s say was probably pretty small.

Brady Miller 9:12
Yeah. It’s interesting. Michael, he was an amazing mentor. And early on, I was helping with a lot of his clients, because he was always pretty busy. So when he started, he started the company. I was basically his only agent for I think, maybe two years. So it’s just the two of us for a long time. And It aspires especially early on, I was helping him with his clients, doing a lot of showings and just kind of scrambling for a few leads here and there. And pretty pretty early on I’ve managed to somehow I don’t even really recall how I did it. But somehow I was able to nail down some leads on my own through like Zillow and Trulia. Sure like that. They worked out really well that the first sales were it was good Exciting. And then Michael would refer some people to me here and there as well. So it was working with some of his clients. And thing, you know, once once the first sale, I think I had like two sales that kind of came together at the same time and closed, like within a day each day of each other. I remember having one failed sale before before that, with some clients that I learned very early on. I don’t know if I should say this, but like working with, like Chase Bank and stuff is not always the most wonderful thing. Sure. But I think every agent, whenever you see the chase pre approval you’re like,

D.J. Paris 10:42
so yeah, well, it’s, you know, some of those larger lenders are just less flexible. They’re the big behemoth institutions, they don’t have a lot of the even some of the personal sort of touches that can help get a deal close more quickly. And a lot of them it’s it’s just, you’re just not that important to the overall bottom line, I guess. And yeah. Yeah.

Brady Miller 11:03
Like promised the world by this by the whatever, the the lender, and then like, at the very, you know, toward the end, it just fell apart because they haven’t done their homework. My clients Good bye. No, that was one of the very first experiences which I imagined, I did so much work for the for these people, when that deal failed. It was pretty frustrating, but not devastating in any way. I don’t think I because I think I come from a background in music, where I went to music school and throughout music school, often was practicing eight or nine hours a day. And certainly, if you’re if you’re going to music school, you’re not necessarily thinking about a career and you know, making money, like a solid job or anything, I don’t know, you’re kind of always really focused working hard on things. There’s a lot of failure involved in that, for some reason I kind of just going through this whole process of working really hard with these folks. And then having it having the deal fail it, it felt, instead of feeling really frustrating, it felt like a really good learning experience the entire time. So I kind of, I kind of think back on every deal. And like, what what did I learn from this deal that I can take to the next deal?

D.J. Paris 12:15
That’s, it’s very true. What type What instruments do you or What instrument do you play?

Brady Miller 12:19
I grew up playing drums, pretty much primarily drums, like jazz and pop and all this, you know, pretty much everything but classical. So that’s kind of that’s kind of what I was doing up until this was mostly just playing music. And in New York, I was doing a lot of touring and playing gigs every night. So yeah, very, very different lifestyle than I have now.

D.J. Paris 12:43
Yeah. So I suspect it is to a degree. I mean, there’s the interesting thing about jazz. Not that I need to tell you the interesting thing about jazz, but what I find interesting about jazz as a discipline is the ability to be creative, within a very disciplined sort of structure, you know, and the idea to sort of, okay, here’s where we’re starting. And here’s sort of where we want to end up. And in the middle, there’s, if depending on the type of jazzy play, there’s obviously room for improvisation. And, you know, and I just think in some ways, jazz musicians tend to be a very interesting mix of, you know, incredibly disciplined players who are able to also, you know, sort of on the fly exude their creativity. So I think I wonder if the discipline associated with just, you know, learning the skill that you know, that you’ve been doing for so long, if that really helped you build your real estate practice at all.

Brady Miller 13:36
i Yeah, maybe intangibly, I’d probably I for some reason, the transition from music to this feels incredibly natural. And also, Michael actually went to music school as well. We went to the same school, to he comes from that background, also, hence, the name real estate artists. So we probably see I think we that’s probably why I’m such a natural fit, I think because we both operate very similarly. Whether we know it or not, I think it just seems to work out that way. So I don’t know that the transition just for me felt very smooth. From going to music to this, like, there wasn’t really, there wasn’t really much of a hitch. There’s definitely a big learning curve for sure. But especially in terms of, like having to deal with frustration and of learning of learning on the job and I don’t know that never really happened. It always it was it was fun from the very beginning and it’s you know, it’s still super fun. I don’t know it’s you were

D.J. Paris 14:35
bait you were basically the kid in whiplash up until you moved to Chicago.

Brady Miller 14:40
Not a very realistic movie, but

D.J. Paris 14:43
your fingers never bled and you didn’t

Brady Miller 14:46
you’re playing the drums wrong if your fingers start bleeding

D.J. Paris 14:52
great movie though, but, but anyway, back to you know, back to those and I also wanted to talk about buying leads just for a brief moment because it’s a very interesting thing you talked about, hey, when I started, I purchased some leads, Zillow, Trulia, etc. And, you know, it’s funny, there are a lot of sort of purists out there that will say, Oh, you know, you shouldn’t have to do that. And I always think, why should you know it look a lead as a lead. And so, you know, those leads are definitely much different than referrals and people you meet, you know, and you have to work them a bit differently. But I think that, you know, any opportunity to get in front of people who are interested in buying or selling a home is certainly worth pursuing, you know, whether or not, you know, the other thing I also find is that, because a lot of times those leads, you’re not the only person that might be getting that lead, right, there might be a couple other brokers who you are sort of in competition with, depending on how that lead is sort of circulated. And I find that most brokers really aren’t very good at working those types of leads. Did you? Did you think you did anything special or different from other brokers, when you were working those initial internet leads,

Brady Miller 15:59
maybe, maybe just being in it’s really, really hard to do, but maybe just being as responsive as possible, because sure, because the vast majority of them are not good leads. Sure, and don’t mean anything. But sometimes you can be really surprised by the ones that do work, like, you’ll think one’s terrible, and then you’ll get a response back, and it’ll be somebody you know, wonderful, really eager to work with you. So you never quite know. So as much as I possibly can, and I can’t always win, sometimes when you get a flood of leads, a lot of them dropped through the whatever, save whatever. But yeah. But again, responding quickly, I think is super important. And then responding honestly, and, you know, maybe with some sort of valuable info, you know, right away is always helpful.

D.J. Paris 16:50
Totally. And yeah, there’s a lot of statistics that say, if you let a lead, sit an internet lead, for example, sit for more than like a minute, it goes down. And it’s, you know, your ability to close by a tremendous percentage, it’s like, really, really quick. And then there’s a lot of also those leads, sometimes you have to call them seven times over, over a certain period of

Brady Miller 17:09
time. But I’m really terrible about about don’t respond right away. I’m really terrible about following up. So I have to learn the systems better for myself, but

D.J. Paris 17:18
well, you’re clearly doing just fine. So, you know, I let’s talk about, you know, imagine at this point, a good percentage of your business is probably referral based, I would assume. And can you talk a little bit about sort of what you think and again, it’s so it’s always such a difficult question. When I say, Well, what do you think you do differently? Because every successful broker just kind of shrug is going, I don’t know. Like, they don’t understand that they’re in any way unique. You know, they just go I do what I do. I try to do a good job, I answer the phone when people call and but is there anything specifically that you that you that you can really, if you don’t have anything specific, that’s fine. But anything that you think you do, that maybe other brokers don’t do, or maybe aren’t as responsive with?

Brady Miller 18:03
Again, I don’t really know, I’m not sure. But one thing I’ve kind of always thought about, and I see just in general, a lot of people, clients, other brokers, I tried to write emails and texts, as if I’m speaking. So I try to, I try to, I try to make everything I write reflects how I would talk to somebody, or at least approximate it, without all the hitches in my pocket. But sometimes I feel like you kind of have to reflect your personality, in every, in every communication you make, which I think helps kind of keep things flowing. I’m not sure I’m not sure if it helps or not. But sometimes, sometimes, like, I’ll get a text from an agent or an email from an agent. And I’ve spoken to the agent and I know them well. And then sometimes you don’t know the text, the way they communicate via email or text. seems much different. And I always wonder if that sometimes comes across to some, some people?

D.J. Paris 19:09
No, I think that’s a really important point. So I’m, that’s very interesting, because what I do, and I do mostly recruiting, I recruit brokers, and one of the things that I do and I don’t know how this is received, I assume it’s received well is I get really excited when someone is interested in like joining our firm. So when I’m emailing, if they’re emailing me and we’re communicating in that way, I tend to put a lot of exclamation points not at not an obnoxious amount and not in a, in a way to sort of fake some sort of excited, you know, you know, message that isn’t really sincere because I am legitimately excited when somebody wants to join our firm. And if they talk to me on the phone, they’ll hear the same thing and the way I speak and so I actually put that into my communication and I assume it’s well received, but I imagine it’s it’s pretty different because sometimes People will call us or call me and say, Well, I’m interested, tell me more. And then, but I know they probably call three other firms too, which makes sense. And they’ll say you’re the only one that seems genuinely excited to talk to me. And I don’t think that makes me special. It’s just who I am. But I try to I’m the same way I try to reflect that in the marketing that we do as well as the my communication because it’s it is actually how I feel. I think that’s I think that’s actually a really important subtle point. So thanks for that. But let’s, let’s actually talk about a few of your experiences that you had at least you wanted, you’d mentioned you had a key incident at Malibu east and I was wonder if you could tell us sort of what that

Brady Miller 20:42
what happened there. Yeah, I I’m really terrible at telling stories. And I was thinking today. Like, I could probably tell a million stories, but I don’t know how to tell stories. Which is, which is kind of funny, but But I did think of this one, which happened pretty early on with some clients. It was like a guy and he brought a bunch of friends with him to the showing. And it was really fun. And we were we did this showing in Malibu East it was like near the top floor. I don’t know if you know that building. 60s 6033, North Sheridan. They were being out on the balcony. And I fumbled with the keys. And then like trying trying to catch the keys, like stopping them with my foot. I literally dropped kick them over the balcony. Oh, no. Because I was just I’m a clumsy person. And like, all the way down to the bottom where the pool is and everything. So

D.J. Paris 21:35
I was like, that’s, that’s it? Did they go into the pool or just

Brady Miller 21:39
going in the pool, but I didn’t know where they went. So these? Yeah, my client and his friends were like, super nice. And like after the show, and we went down there and like, did a search party for the keys. And it took like, 10 minutes to find that. But I thought that was funny. Because that, I don’t know, I should have been super embarrassed. But they were like, I think they probably knew that I was fairly new in the business. Yeah, and, you know, I worked with them for a while and they bought something and they repeat clients and everything. So

D.J. Paris 22:06
that was good. Well, well, and it’s, I mean, it’s also a super funny story. And it’s also a very human experience. I mean, we all have clumsy moments, I would think you’d have less clumsy moments than the average person being a drummer, you’re pretty precise with your hands. But but with you know, it is funny because, you know, this sort of idea of always being perfect, is so interesting. And probably not something that’s very relatable anyway, to your clients, you know, clients, you know, we all trip over things and drop things and, and break things. And so to see your realtor have that moment of like actual humanity or, you know, they’re just a regular person to I think in some way probably endears them to you. You know, unless they’re expecting you to be perfect, which, you know, is a different type of client, I guess. But I imagine when you’re like, Okay, guys, I need your help finding the keys. I imagine they all probably just like, yeah, no problem. We’ll help you out. It was probably was more funny to them than anything.

Brady Miller 23:02
Yeah, they totally offered. I wasn’t I wasn’t gonna ask them to help. But I think they probably thought it was kind of funny.

D.J. Paris 23:07
Well, it is funny. And then also, you said your most unusual real estate experience was you also Rogers Park? Experience a short sale? Can you tell us about that?

Brady Miller 23:18
Yeah, this was uh, this one was probably the scariest one I’ve had. It was like a short sale that is supposed to be vacant. And I went inside, my client was looking in one room and I had, there’s stuff on the counters, like food on the counters, and things like that. So we thought that was a little odd. But maybe the owner was here occasionally. But yeah, we were told it was vacant. And we’re like knocking on one of the bedroom door because the bedroom door was closed. And it swung open. And there was somebody pointing a gun at me. Whoa, on the other side of the door. And she was a police officer, actually. So it was very interesting. So I don’t know if it was like a friend who was crashing there. But the listing agent didn’t know anything about it. But thank goodness that it was a police officer. And like a junkie or something with a gun.

D.J. Paris 24:11
So wait, wait, wait, the police officer was in the closet? Yeah,

Brady Miller 24:15
no, not the closet. And in one of the bedrooms. I’m sorry. In one of the bedrooms. She was just like a friend of the owner or somebody who had

D.J. Paris 24:22
a key or something that was Gotcha. She thought you were breaking in or wasn’t sure Yeah, cuz I think she was

Brady Miller 24:27
sleeping. And I probably will woke her up and knocked at the door and she kind of freaked out and you know, put the gun in. Yeah, so that was like, that was the weirdest experience I’ve ever had. Because I don’t even think I’d ever seen a real gun before. Yeah, that’s amazing. So and then, yeah, that’s That’s the weirdest experience I’ve ever had. I’ve had a lot of weird ones.

D.J. Paris 24:48
That’s that’s pretty weird. And also traumatic. I

imagined at least a little bit. Yeah, no, of course. I might have skipped a beat for that. Oh, yeah.

Brady Miller 24:59
Oh, nobody’s supposed to be They’re I’ve no clue what that was. Sure. There was a police officer to like, you know, crashing in an empty room. So, yeah, did she broke down or anything? So somebody must have known she was there or occasionally was there? I’m not sure. But

D.J. Paris 25:14
yeah, that’s why that is interesting. You know what? So you, you’ve done so well. And you know, you’re at a relatively small firm with big numbers. So I don’t want to make it seem as if you guys are this little boutique firm, because you put up big huge numbers. But for somebody who’s newer to the business, or just looking to grow, and I again, whatever comes to mind is is would be helpful is like, what do you think somebody who’s new should be doing? Or where should they be focusing their energy on how to get better and get more clients? Anything? Any advice you have?

Brady Miller 25:50
I don’t know, my, my experience was pretty unique. And I definitely had a lot of help early on from from my broker. I imagine if you’re in a place where you have like family and friends living there, maybe we’re, you know, nicely working your friends and family for any sort of potential referrals and just getting your name out there might help. That’s probably pretty common advice. But I know we have some family here and, and some friends from back in college who have become clients. And then you know, those friends that refer to other friends who have become clients, etc. So it definitely the sphere of influence helps. So maybe early on, but that’s a big deal. Maybe if you have the ability to to buy some leads on Zillow or Trulia or an Android, I guess it’s one thing now might might be helpful early on just to see if you get a few leads here. And there. You can, you know, work those leads really, really hard. And, you know, try to provide the best possible service for those people and see what happens that can always help. I also became a Redfin partner agent pretty early on. Gotcha. So I were like, especially in 2013. I had, you know, a good number of clients who are Redfin, who came came to me through Redfin. And that was really great for me, because red red fin leads are generally pretty warm. Lot of first time buyers who were my age, like, I, I really love working with buyers. By the way, that’s my favorite part of the job. I know a lot of people push listings, like, you have to have a lot of listings for the business, but, and I’m getting a lot more listings now. But I really, really liked working with buyers so much. Yeah, but uh, but that was pretty helpful early on. Being a Redfin partner agent, gave me a lot of experience was with buyers, and a lot of those buyers referred a lot of people and, and have become repeat clients as well. So that was helpful early on to starting in 2013. That I and right now, I don’t do much with them at all. Most of my clients now are like referrals and repeat business. But But yeah, but that definitely helped. I’m not sure how easy it is now to be a Redfin partner agent, so that I’m not sure what the situation is there. But

D.J. Paris 28:23
I just interviewed this, actually, it’ll be two episodes ago from from when this one is published, but I just interviewed one of the top red fin brokers, because I was interested myself and how it works. But I wanted to make a point to, to solicitors, because oftentimes, especially for newer brokers, and I don’t know, if you’d be, if you would, how you feel about this, what I’m about to say, but a lot of times, new brokers in particular feel that, you know, they’re going to join one of the larger franchise firms, which I like all those firms, I think they’re excellent, they have amazing training, great support, great tools, everything. And, you know, a lot of times people will join for those training programs and or, you know, the the support, and I think that’s there’s nothing inherently there, that’s a really good idea. But then I also meet brokers, someone like yourself, who had, you know, works at a smaller firm with, I’m assuming, you know, a different type of training program. And in your case, you know, you had one of your good friends was really your mentor, and also your partner through through the first you know, however many transactions and deals and you probably still, you know, work together today, and how successful people can be where they go to firms where, you know, they’re not going to have that three week intensive training program, and they just learn on the job because they pick a good partner, a good mentor. And I’ve always thought like, to me those those people are so interesting, because, you know, the prevailing thought for a lot of new brokers is I better go somewhere that really has all of the resources I’m going to need, which would be a large franchise firm and you didn’t do that and I just was curious on, you know how important that relationship you had with and half with Michael like was to you growing your business?

Brady Miller 30:08
Oh, sure, yeah. Cuz he started that company and we were both pretty much learning on the go in different ways. So my pretty much my training was like jumping into it and asking him a lot of questions and making a lot of mistakes early on. And I, you know that that helped me move things pretty quickly, I think. You know, obviously, I learned I learned a lot of stuff just from getting the license, you know, a lot of the legal stuff, so I knew stay away from but I didn’t, I didn’t really do much in the way of training at all.

D.J. Paris 30:48
Well, and that’s, that is not uncommon. I mean, we, we have lots of brokers at our firm, we have almost 600 now. And a good percentage of them came over from other firms and a certain percentage of the ones that came over from other firms versus like brand new brokers just passed their test, the people that transfer over, at least half of them came from firms where they were just smaller firms who didn’t have, you know, the training resources that, you know, one of the big franchise firms, of course, is going to have, and I’ll say, like, Oh, how did you train in there? Like, I didn’t really have a formal training, I just, I just guess, got to it. And then I had a support system in place when I had questions. And, and it seems like some of those brokers in some ways, I think, in some ways, or you could argue or may be better equipped, because they just had to make it work. And, you know, they were just sort of trial by fire. So you’re certainly seemed like a product of that sort of situation? And it’s, it’s really impressive.

Brady Miller 31:47
Thank you. Yeah, no, it’s been really fun. I part of it is probably the most important things really are just listening to buyers and, and being empathetic with every single client that you have, is important, because everybody’s completely different. But obviously, they everybody shares something with you. So. So that’s just helpful, a lot, a lot of listening and making sure you understand what they’re saying, and what they’re asking for. And even even sometimes, if they don’t really know what they’re asking for, you can usually pick it up pretty quickly. And help out that way. But yeah, never, never tell a client what they want, necessarily, you should always learn what they want, and listen to them all the time. And then you you know, you can figure it out, but always always be empathetic to everything. I guess it was very helpful.

D.J. Paris 32:38
Well, yeah, it’s I agree. And it’s such an emotional, whether they’re buying, selling, or even renting at such an emotional decision, that there is a tremendous amount of empathy that, you know, if something doesn’t quite go, right, they’re certainly feeling a certain way about it. And I think so, so many of us in those types of transactions, where we’re the consumer, we rely upon the real estate professional to really guide our hand through it, but also understand what we’re feeling. So I think that empathy is really, really important. Like, we just had a broker from another firm call in to our support line, they had scheduled an appointment with one of our brokers listings. And the reason this broker from another firm called was, she said, Oh, I’m at the listing. And the lockbox, there’s no key in the lockbox and, and, you know, the act, the actual answer that we could give her was, oh, you know, you’ll have to contact that broker of ours and ask them, you know, because we, you just have to, here’s their phone number. But but so that was the, ultimately the information we gave her. But I happened to pick up the phone and I said, Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry. Because I can just imagine she’s there with her client. She’s there looking to you know, and, and I’m sure those things happen, you know, who knows why that happened. But I said I am. I’m so sorry. That’s happening to you. I wish I could fix it, you know, and it was I sincerely could feel that, that that she was like really bummed out, which who wouldn’t be, and again, it happens, but it’s something you wouldn’t expect to happen when you’re working with a buyer. So I’m sure you’ve dealt with at a time or two, but it was like, you know, just the fact that, you know, she was probably not super happy. And and I was like, legitimately bummer for her, even though I don’t know who she is. And she was really appreciative. Even though I ultimately said, Oh, I’m sorry, there’s really nothing I can do. But here’s, here’s the brokers phone number, give them a call, I’ll reach out. So I think you’re right. Empathy is really, really important, just in general in life, probably when communicating with other humans. But, but that’s, that’s a great piece of advice. Well, I think we have said it all, and I really appreciate your time, but I want to also give your contact information in the event that you know, any buddies listening out there wants to work with you. So I know the real estate the website that real estate artists have is Chicago R e a.com. Again, Chicago rei.com. But Brady, how could someone get directly in contact with you? What’s the best way for them

Brady Miller 35:06
to reach you? Sure, I can be easily reached via phone and text via 773-977-8553. And my email address is B. Miller. So B M I L L E R, at Chicago, R e a.com.

D.J. Paris 35:26
Well, Brady, thank you so much for your time. I know you’re busy. And also congratulations on all the success and best luck in the continued success with you and the firm.

Brady Miller 35:37
Thank you. Did you wait yeah, what you’re doing here is awesome. So so keep it up. Keep listening. I’m looking forward to hearing more

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