Bri Brenkus this year’s 30 under 30 laureate describes why she chose a career in real estate and how she got involved. Bri discusses the importance of believing in yourself. Bri talks about what her team do to keep in touch with their previous clients. Next, Bri discusses how her team is managing the changes happening in the market at the moment and how they dealt with appraisal gap.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Bri Brenkus can be reached at 702-456-5959.
This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and FollowUpBoss.
D.J. Paris 0:00
On today’s show, we talk to a 26 year old broker who’d closed $44 million in production last year. It that is 107 listings. Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and now on to our show
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents. And for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris I am your guide and host through the show and in just a moment. We’re going to be speaking with Bri blankets but before we get to Bri just a couple of quick reminders number one please leave us a review. If you’re listening to this on Apple podcast, formerly iTunes or maybe Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora, anywhere you’re listening to podcasts, you can usually leave us a review we read every single one. It helps us improve and lets us know what you think of the show. And then also please tell just one friend about this podcast. Think of one other real estate agent that could benefit from hearing from top producers like Bri and send them a link to our website keeping it real.com Alright enough for me. Let’s get on to Nar 30 under 30 winter and 26 year old superstars super agent Bree bronchus.
Today on the show we have Bri brings us with the breakast team in Las Vegas. Let me tell you more about Bri now rubrik is only 26 years old and is a listing agent for the brink is Realty network which is a Keller Williams in the marketplace of Las Vegas. And real estate is is Brees passion actually now this is incredible. Everyone you got you really really listen to this in 2021. Remember, she’s 26 Bri closed $44 million in volume. Personally listing 107 of the 370 properties the team closed, she did 107 listings out of the almost 400 listings herself. She was awarded one of 2020 twos honorees for the Nash from the National Association of REALTORS 30 under 30. No, no surprise there. Also this year already in 2022 Bree has received Las Vegas Realtors young professionals networks, who’s who under 40 award. Congratulations. Bri is also driven by making a difference in the lives of others. Annually she teaches a young adults class which is called Quantum Leap, and participates with adopting a struggling family with a seriously ill child. Bree is an inspiration and has only really begun her real estate career although it’s amazing how much she’s accomplished in such a short amount of time. So we are super thrilled to invite her and have her on the show before we get to Bri very quickly. Please check out the Brees website, which is the bronchus team.com And that’s th e and then b r e n k U S team.com. The Broncos team and also follow them on social media on Facebook and Instagram which is at the brink his team again br e n k US team on Facebook and social media and by the way you can get to all of our social stuff right from the breakfast team website. Bree, thank you so much. Welcome to the show.
Bri Brenkus 4:36
Thank you so much for having me, DJ.
D.J. Paris 4:38
This is this is a huge honor. We love talking to the 30 under 30 award winners first of all, congratulations that is beyond impressive. And but let’s let’s go all the way so it’s so funny because oftentimes I have on people who do you know the level of production you’re at and they’re 15, sometimes 20 years in the biz Listen, you obviously haven’t been doing it that long. But let’s start still start at the beginning. So why real estate? How did you get into it? Tell us that story.
Bri Brenkus 5:10
Yeah, so I actually grew up in a real estate family. My parents founded the bank, his team, way back in the day had been doing it for 30 plus years, never really had real estate on my radar, went to college. And I studied accounting wasn’t my passion. I was very depressed, I hated what I was doing. I was good at it. Don’t get me wrong. I and I just couldn’t see myself sitting behind a desk all day. So I was in my second to last semester trying to decide what I’m going to do, should I switch majors? And I’m sitting in my auditing class. And I’m thinking, Oh, my gosh, my parents owned a real estate company, why would I not take advantage of that, right? So I ended up graduating, and in my last semester, went to real estate school, got licensed, and I didn’t want to start practicing until I was out of school and graduated. So I graduated at the end of 2018, officially became a realtor beginning of 2019.
D.J. Paris 6:16
Wow. So you’ve only been doing this for this is your third year, I guess fourth year technically, that is really, really amazing. So you grew up in a real estate family? So I know a lot of our audience will immediately go, Oh, I see. So so everything was handed to free, which I am sure is not the case. But how did you get started? So you’re joining join the family team, the Keller Williams brand is an amazing one. And but you’re still a young person trying to get listings. So how, how does that work as a as somebody as young as yourself? How did you? How did you start? How did you find clients? You know, tell us all about that process?
Bri Brenkus 6:59
Yeah, so my parents created kind of a rigorous training process when you join the team. And if you’re going to become a listing specialist, or buyer specialist, you have to either get five for sale by owner listings on your own or five buyer brokerage agreements signed.
D.J. Paris 7:18
Wow. So you have to prove your way in I love that. Right. Exactly. Okay, well, let’s talk about let’s talk about the for sale by owners, because just only because this is like, you know, it’s such a it’s such an explosive sort of term because people have a very strong reaction to for sale by owners. For those of us who maybe are listening who don’t exactly know what that means, or why Realtors would call them. These are typically unrepresented buyers, or sorry, unrepresented sellers, who are attempting to maybe list their home on the MLS, but they’re not really using a realtor for anything other than getting it on the MLS. That’s what’s known as flat fee MLS. Or it’s somebody who’s literally just putting it up for sale sign in their yard and putting it on a few websites, not using a realtor at all. Either way, there’s lots of companies that will, you know, but these these are, these are sellers, who oftentimes don’t end up selling their property, because since they’re not using a realtor, maybe they’re just using Zillow to figure out the what what their home might be worth, or other tools, they tend to overvalue their property they listed for higher than it probably should be, and oftentimes it never sells. So these are actually great opportunities for realtors to come in and say, hey, I can help you actually sell your property. The downside is that these these leads will call them companies aggregate these leads, and they sell them to anyone that wants them. So typically, if you’re calling a for sale by owner, you’re probably the 25th person that’s called that for sale by owner. And those can be very, they’re they’re I call them the probably the world’s most hard, most difficult cold call. So I would love to hear how did you I don’t know if you did for sale by owners or if you got the buyer broker or buyer listings on your own. But can you tell us a little bit about how that went for you?
Bri Brenkus 9:06
Yeah, so I chose the listing path, because I love a challenge.
D.J. Paris 9:10
That is a challenge.
Bri Brenkus 9:13
And I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. And because of my parents daughter, they don’t want anything handed to me. And yes, you kind of have to prove your way into it because they’ve worked for 30 plus years building their brand building their names. They don’t want, you know, just anyone coming in and kind of interrupting that if you would. So because of my parents daughter, they upped it to 10 For Sale By Owner listings.
D.J. Paris 9:37
Thanks Mom and Dad. Yeah.
Bri Brenkus 9:39
Because they didn’t want anybody on the team saying Oh, because she’s your daughter, you know, you did X, Y and Z for whatever. So it was really, really difficult. And going through again, I had to prospect them on my own cold call them on my own versus the team giving them all On set up appointments for me, right? So I was calling them, I was going through these people’s homes and 20 For Sale By Owner homes, I got kicked out of their homes.
D.J. Paris 10:11
So So were you going door to door? Or how were you? Were you calling them first tell us the process. Because lots of people, it’s so funny people have such a specific reaction to for sale by owners where it’s like, oh, that doesn’t work. And then other people like, no, it totally works. Everyone’s different. But how did you do it?
Bri Brenkus 10:27
Yeah, so I was just cold calling them and would schedule an appointment with them and would go in, and literally,
D.J. Paris 10:33
they boot you out.
Bri Brenkus 10:35
I got kicked out. I was just too intense for them. And I was talking my parents and my sales manager, I and my coach, I just don’t understand I’m trying to help them, right. They just won’t listen to me. Why are you selling it on your own, we can net you so much more. So after getting kicked out of literally 20 homes, I told my coach, my manager at the time, bawling my eyes out, pulled over into a parking lot just started crying to her, I can’t do this real estate is not for me, I should go back to accounting, right? And I’m just on the phone with her for whatever, 2030 minutes. And all of a sudden I get a notification on my phone for my last appointment of the day. If you leave now, you know, you’ll get there in time, right? The time sensitive notification. Sure. So I said I’m on the other side of town, this is my last appointment of the day today. Why not? I’m just gonna go on, I have nothing to lose, right. And if I don’t get this listing, I’m out of real estate, I’m going back to accounting. So I was so close to giving up. And I could have easily just said, You know what, I’m not going to go on this appointment at all. So, finally pull up to the for sale by owners home. And I’m walking up to the front door. And I said, You know what, I’m not going to be attached to the outcome. I just had a mindset shift. And I by doing that I actually got the listing. So what why do you think that is? Yeah, so I just changed my mindset. And I thought, rather than being so focused on getting the listing and being attached to that, I just told myself, I’m not a salesperson, I’m an educator, let me come from a place of service.
D.J. Paris 12:20
So you went, you went into the home and was more about, hey, let me talk to you or give you some advice or some opinion about what’s going on with your home, as opposed to hey, you need to list with us because we can get you more. And maybe you still say that too. But you lead from a place of I want to just provide a ton of value, instead of being the salesperson so to speak. Right?
Bri Brenkus 12:42
Exactly, just being curious about their situation, because every seller situation is different, their motivation, why they’re selling, right, and just kind of sitting down and talking to them, educating them on the benefits of listing with a realtor. And by doing that it actually created trust and was easier to get a listing.
D.J. Paris 13:03
Yeah, I have had that same experience. I’m always drawn in a sales situation where maybe I’m somebody’s trying to sell me, I’m always most drawn to those people who, who seem to not need the sale. Because it definitely feels more comfortable. I don’t feel as much pressure. And I feel like there’s a level of respect that I appreciate when somebody’s not like, here’s all the reasons why you should go with me. For XY and Z. It’s like I can make my own decision. I just want to know what you do and what you’re all about and, and all of that. So it sounds like that works. So, so you were you were crying in a car just an hour before you made it to this
Bri Brenkus 13:41
listing, feeling defeated and unsure of myself, I didn’t know what to do, I almost gave up. And I called my sales manager after I got the listing of my first listing, I was so excited. And, you know, happy tears now at this point, not not crying, upset tears. And she told me God wants you to be a realtor. So that was probably one of the greatest days today.
D.J. Paris 14:07
And here you are now and not just you know, surviving that first listing in the first year in the second year. But now you’re you’re one of one of the most successful young people in this in this industry in the United States. National Association of REALTORS has awarded you the 30 under 30, which is an amazing accomplishment I’ve yet to be and I’ve yet to not be impressed by anyone in that group. And I’ve talked to a lot of those people over the years. So congratulations. I’m so glad that last listing worked out for you that last appointment, because the odds were not in your favor and it’s still for whatever reason you did something really well and you changed your direction. Let’s talk about let’s talk about failure because I know this is a big thing for you. And I also find this with the hundreds of people that I’ve had on the show in the past. Failure is something thing that comes up a lot. And it’s really funny because I know sometimes we have these these huge producers on the show like yourself and, and people who are even doing hundreds of millions of dollars in production a year. And you’ll see, you’ll think like, well, that person never fails. And the reality of it is they’re like, Oh, I fail all the time. So I would love to hear a little bit more about, you know, what we’ll actually before we get to that, let’s, let’s go. So you got your first listing, you stayed in the business? And then did you continue from there doing more for sale by owners? Are you like I am done? Or no, because you still had to do nine more, I guess, right? Yeah,
Bri Brenkus 15:36
I did. So yeah. So my biggest challenge became my biggest breakthrough. And just advice to anybody out there. Just don’t give up. Just believe in yourself. have mentors have coaches that can be there to support and motivate you. It’s it helps tremendously.
D.J. Paris 15:52
What do you what do you say on the phone? I want to ask about for sale by owner. Just one more question because nobody ever talks about this. So which I love. I love the fact that you in fact, you’re talking about what do you say? Because these are these are people as you know, these leads have been sold to lots of other realtors who also want that listing. And these are also people that maybe they worked with a realtor in the past, and they didn’t have a good experience or they don’t want to work with a realtor for whatever reason. So these are not easy phone calls. What do you do to get the appointment? What do you say? Is there anything sort of unique or special about the way that that you’re communicating that you think is different? Or you know, what, why do you think you were I mean, even to get 20 appointments, unfortunately, those didn’t close, but even to get 20 in house appointments is not easy to do.
Bri Brenkus 16:37
Yeah, and everything happens for a reason. And I don’t really think I say anything special or different. I just kind of say, Hey, I’m on a large team here in Southern Nevada. I see you’re trying to sell your home, right? Yeah, I am trying to sell my home. It’s for sale by owner. I’m not working with an agent. Well, right, whatever. Okay, well, would it be okay, if one of our buyers bought your home? Yeah, that’d be great. I’m not paying any commission or I’m only offering X percent right? Okay, great. When’s a good time for me to come by and take a look? Later today? Good. Or is tomorrow better?
D.J. Paris 17:07
Got it. So you don’t even you don’t even you just are like, hey, that’s whatever they’re saying. You know that most of those people are ultimately probably going to use a realtor at some point anyway, so you don’t worry about the fact that they’re like, Yeah, I don’t want to work with with any realtors. You’re like, yeah, no problem. No problem. And then oh, that’s so smart. I love that. What a great what a great suggestion.
Bri Brenkus 17:29
Actually, statistically over 95 98% of all for sale by owners end up listing with an agent. So you know, they’re gonna list why have it? Not the US?
D.J. Paris 17:38
Yeah, and they don’t know it at that maybe at that moment. And you know it Yeah, right. They don’t know it yet. And so that’s why you don’t have to argue with them because they’re going to use somebody anyway. Ah, that’s so smart. That’s a really really great subtle but important distinction in you’re not overcoming an objection you’re accepting where they’re at and say no problem. I’d still love to come by and say hi, and then you can start to have a better conversation face to face and it’s a lot harder to you know, slam the door on somebody once they’re there. Although I guess that happened I’m sure to you as well. But but eventually it did and also imagine somebody in their early 20s is coming over you know, that is also not it makes it much harder, right like that does not work in your favor right so that’s that’s tricky. I mean now you’re you’re you’re well known and people in the area you know they don’t look at you probably the same way when you first started but that is that is an incredibly challenging I really applaud your your your your team for putting you through that because it probably built a lot of calluses and probably built a lot of like oh yeah, I can’t be I can’t be hurt Did you did you get yelled at a lot on the phone when you call these
Bri Brenkus 18:50
it’s not even on the phone? I mean getting kicked out of people’s homes cuss words you for sale by owners. It sounds really good how DJ and I are talking about it right now. And you got to have thick skin let me tell you because people can be really really mean.
D.J. Paris 19:04
Yeah, yeah. Well I’m so glad you you you made it through that and that is a trial by fire for sure. And it’s it’s almost guaranteed failure the gift failure is built in to the working with for sale by owners because just the vast majority of them are going to be like hey, stop calling me you’re the 20th person to call me so understandably they just get annoyed and the fact that that but but eventually you get one and you got one at the very last possible moment before you would have you know started become you know, gone to the corporate world maybe and done accounting and that’s a certainly a very safe career and a very good career. And but here you are now so let’s so let’s talk a
Bri Brenkus 19:45
quick story on that. Because you asked a question before we were talking about what I say to for sale by owners. So got my first one. I have nine listings LEFT,
D.J. Paris 19:55
RIGHT more to go. Yeah, so
Bri Brenkus 19:57
my mom was on the coaching call with Our manager and said, Hey, how’s Bree doing? You know, I know she’s been doing it for several months, is she now getting incoming leads? And my manager goes, Oh, my goodness, she’s doing so well. We forgot to give her incoming leads. I got over whatever 15 For Sale By Owner listings on my own. And I finally got an incoming lead, right? So I go over there. And I’m kind of educating them on the benefits of using an agent and our team and everything. And they’re like, Bree, we know we called you here, we want to hire you. It was just really funny. Yeah.
D.J. Paris 20:36
That’s, it’s amazing. But But again, this idea of failure as being one step closer to success each time and the only way to success is through failure. As far as I can tell, unless you just get really lucky, it’s sometimes that happens. Sometimes, you know, you’re lucky somebody walks into an office and says, I have a $2 million property I’d like to put for sale, it rarely happens. But it happens once in a blue moon. And people hold on to those like, white elephant stories as like, Oh man, this one guy and look at how lucky he is this $2 million. But the real work and the real success comes from just tremendous discipline. So you, obviously your parents were smart enough to put you through that discipline. Because now I imagine if if you were to let’s say, we were to drop you off in a different city, or different state, get you went and got your license, you didn’t know anybody, I suspect you would be like, I could figure this out. Which, by the way, is a really impressive peace of mind to have. Because if it all goes away tomorrow, and I’m sure it won’t, but if it ever did, or let’s just say you know, you ended up finding a partner, and you get married at some point, and maybe they live in another, you know, part of the country or the world. And you’re like, well, now I have to leave and go, you could probably you probably feel confident that you could do that. And start over as a real estate agent, maybe in another market altogether. Which, because you already started with literally, though, like, everything should have been handed to you in theory because of of your situation, and none of it was. So I just think that is truly amazing. And cheers to your parents for that. That is an incredible, incredible thing. Well, let’s talk about
Bri Brenkus 22:20
very grateful for them. So
D.J. Paris 22:23
a lot of a lot of our guests who are a lot of our listeners, rather who when I when I interview people who make the national association Realtors 30, under 30, they think, Oh, they’re doing it all through social media that you know, I want to learn about how to do more on social. Is social a big part of how you get clients, or is it not really a big part of your business?
Bri Brenkus 22:45
Surprisingly, it’s not really a big part of our business. We’re very active, proactive. prospecting, right, we actually have a team of what they’re called inside sales agents, who are licensed agents sitting in our office right now. My brother’s actually one of them. He’s the head of that department. And they actively prospect all day, they never put a buyer in their car, they never meet with sellers. So it’s pretty awesome. And I’m a listing agent and I also do prospect if I don’t have appointments, if the inside sales agents haven’t given me appointments, so yeah, aren’t really too big on social media, we might get leads here and there. But we we kind of are proactive.
D.J. Paris 23:27
Yeah, that’s, that’s great talk, talk a little bit about how you what you guys do. And I will say, Guys, of course, I’ve been your entire team, what you do to maintain good relationships after a sale? Because I always think that I always find that to be really interesting. A question to ask, it’s like, okay, we know about getting deals and closing deals. But what are you guys doing to stay in touch? So I’d love to hear how you guys do that?
Bri Brenkus 23:57
Yeah, absolutely great question and we contact them often we actually do for client appreciation events every year. And so maintaining that way we do random giveaways as well. Kind of every other month and again our inside sales agents agents in our team buyer agents listing agents are calling them rigorously. So
D.J. Paris 24:20
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Bri Brenkus 26:10
Yeah, so we have our pool party coming up. That’s our next one on August 5. And it’s really fun. I think it’s our 13th annual something crazy like that I could be wrong could be 1511 something in that ballpark. And we rent out the multigene center. And it’s really fun. We have a snow cone machine music, fun stuff like that. For Halloween, we have our Halloween party, we, when COVID happened, we turned it into a trunk or treat just to kind of maintain distancing and have things outside. And it actually was one of our greatest largest Halloween events ever. The news ended up coming. So it was really fun. And we decided that we’re just going to do that moving forward, everyone dresses up, and it’s really fun for the kids. And then for Thanksgiving, we do our pie giveaway. And when they come to pick up their pie, if they give us a referral, then we throw in a free can of whipped cream.
D.J. Paris 27:13
That’s awesome. So So basically, so you guys buy or somehow acquire a lot of pies. You bring them to the office, and then you call your client say, hey, we have a pie here for you.
Bri Brenkus 27:25
Correct? Well, we call them and we ask, Hey, we’re doing a pie giveaway on this date from this time to this time, we have Apple or pumpkin would you like to participate? If so which one would you like,
D.J. Paris 27:37
I love it, I love it. And then it’s such a great, it’s just a great reason to see somebody’s face to face to which you know, once they’re in their home, it’s phone calls, emails, text, you know, it’s it’s the transactions done. So this is, in addition to the client appreciation events are I guess this is the client appreciation about this is an opportunity to see somebody eyeball to eyeball and just be like, hey, you know, and then you can reminisce about, you know, the particular their particular transaction or just check in on them. And it’s such a great, great idea. I really encourage all of our listeners to figure out ways that you can do that. And you can do it inexpensively. It could you could do it expensively. It just depends on budgeting. But every everyone likes to get together socially, right? Not everyone but but often a lot of a lot of your clients do, right. And I think this is a social business. So it’s a great opportunity. And it’s fun. And like I know, for me, I love it too, when I have an event planned. Like if somebody creates an event and invites me to it. What I love about that is it makes me feel like I’m doing something social. And it actually takes some stress off of me for planning something that week. So I always try to do a number of social events. And so I always actually love it when I find out also and so invited us to something, even if it’s something where like, maybe in my mind, I might be like I don’t really like that seems fun, but not that big of a deal. But I love it because then I’m like, I don’t have to think about Friday night or Thursday night or whatever. So. So I think you’re doing I think you’re doing a lot of things. Well, I want to talk about leverage because you have a team and it sounds like your team has lots of there’s there’s there’s different members with different positions. He talked about how you guys use leverage to get more business.
Bri Brenkus 29:20
Absolutely. And leverage is very important. No one succeeds alone, right. And by leveraging, we have really good system setup, so I’ll just kind of break it down from my side. So I’m a listing specialist. I go out and meet with sellers, discuss our marketing plan, talk about the market and then we come up with a price after they’re listed there kind of main point of communication is our listing manager Rachel, she’s been with us over seven years. So she sits in the office every day. She’s the one that writes of counteroffers for our sellers, ensuring they get that top price. So she just has a skill I don’t have right that’s all She’s doing all day. So she’s really, really good at that. After the sellers accept an offer, then it goes to our listing, or not listing escrow specialists, Lisa, who’s been with us over 14 years. And she handles everything after that point. So appraisal inspection, things like that.
D.J. Paris 30:19
That’s amazing. So if you have to, I always love I think teams have become so much more important in the last five years, as teams have figured out like yours have, how to leverage and how to combined resources and experience, because we think about the, you know, Bree now is, you know, she’s 24 years old, she’s in somebody’s home, who doesn’t really want her in the home. And she’s like, Hey, here’s why you should hire me, because you get access to all of us. And now she says, Hey, I’m just one person on the team. There’s this entire team here, here’s how we take care of people. And that that’s leverage, right?
Bri Brenkus 30:59
Absolutely. And I kind of like to use the analogy, if you were to go to a restaurant, right, and you go to check in, you would probably be really concerned if the chef was checking you in as the receptionist. And then the one that also walk you to your table, and then you sit down at your table, he has to go back and flip burgers. Now you’re thirsty, and you need to order water drink, you’d probably be concerned if the chef was coming out and doing all of those things. So everyone has their own unique niche and skill. And we hone in and focus on that one skill and get really, really good at it.
D.J. Paris 31:32
Yeah, it’s that expression, jack of all trades, master of none, right. And it’s like, you can’t be good at everything, you can be good at a couple of things. Most people are, we’re good at like three to five things. And that’s about it. And, and so it’s probably a good idea to delegate the rest of those things, or join forces and get someone else who can help you with that. And so it’s nice to because then you can just focus on what you’re best at. So we’ll fast forward to to last year, which is 2021. You now listed 100. And I mean, this is such such incredible number 107 listings personally, tell us how you did that? Because that’s what one every three days. That’s yeah, insane. So tell us insane and so impressive. And like you should there should be a statue of you. In the in the Realtors Association headquarters, because really, no, this is a big number. So tell us a little bit about how you did that. And how you manage that? Well, I guess having a team helps. But let’s talk about how you how you did that.
Bri Brenkus 32:40
Yeah, and I can always do more, I can always be better. So yes, thank you, thank you for that. Do you appreciate that, um, I am a very hard worker, I work every day. So it’s, um, I didn’t really take a lot of vacations, especially with the world being shut down in 2020. So that helped, kind of moving forward as well. And I just love what I do. I am kind of weird, I would rather be working then going on vacation. And if I do have time off, I’m sitting there, anticipating getting back to work and meeting with sellers and helping them put the most amount of money in their pocket, changing their lives, their families lives. And it just brings me so much joy.
D.J. Paris 33:27
So you know your why. And I think that’s an important thing. You basically just said it in that last sentence, you want to help people change their lives in a positive way. And that motivates you to work hard, because you feel like you’re serving a higher purpose other than the Commission, or you know, the sale itself. It’s like, oh, I’m actually doing a good thing for these people. That’s a really important mindset. I imagine because I suspect when it’s a difficult day, and we all have difficult days that probably helps get you through the day, or am I wrong?
Bri Brenkus 34:03
You’re exactly right. Yes. And you asked how can I manage? Over 100? Yeah, and listings? Yes, through leverage, and we all have the same goal. We’re all on the same team. We all want the same thing. So it’s a win win environment. And everybody can achieve more when we all work together.
D.J. Paris 34:25
Question about sort of the current market climate so it’s now we’re in the middle of July this episode probably won’t go out until August but I imagine not much will have changed. We have interest rates have gone up we know are now around hovering between five and a half six. I think they just went up today. So I think they’re closer to 6% again, so for the 30 year fixed as as an average and maybe a little bit less than that, but somewhere around that and we have you know not as much inventory of course so we have less inventory buyers. You know their their purchasing power has has dropped from one It was during COVID. It’s it’s it’s not the easiest time out there. So I’m curious how you guys have pivoted what what you’re doing to accommodate for not that many listings and buyers who now are going, oh, man, the rates in the fives or the sixes, that stinks. You know, how are you guys accommodating for that? Yeah, so
Bri Brenkus 35:20
it’s pricing, helping sellers price ahead of the market. Because we don’t want to be chasing the market. So we’re not in the market, we just came out of where we listed a property comps didn’t really matter, everything selling right. And it was really crazy, listed this for sale by owners home. And he was asking 685, and the same model match was in escrow for 660. Oh, right at the time, and we listed it for 785. And it sold within a week at that price. So we’re not seeing that market anymore. beginning of this year inventory here in Vegas for single family homes, was about 17 1800. Today, we’re a little over 6000. So yeah, so inventory is definitely increasing. There’s not as many buyers out there, because the interest rates going up, the demand isn’t as hot as it was pretty much all of last year and beginning of the year. So it’s just pricing ahead of the market. We’re in a shifting market now. And we don’t want to be chasing the market. So we need to be priced very, very competitively, if not even kind of under comps. So it’s just helping sellers understand that.
D.J. Paris 36:38
I think too, like I was thinking about this yesterday, I was talking to a lender, and I was saying you don’t want to be really neat. And I’m sure this tool already exists. So if it does, in any of our listeners know of it, send it over to me, I would love to see a a little calculator that could say okay, yeah, maybe you could have locked in a rate at 2.9% 2.99%. But you probably would have overpaid by X amount. And now Yeah, our rates are, you know, 6%. But the pricing has come down, I would be very curious to see what the intersection intersection there is. Because it might not actually be that different now, right? Like it actually might be better, even though the rates obviously significantly higher, because pricing has come down. Have you seen that where pricing has started to pull back? From the listing side?
Bri Brenkus 37:23
Absolutely. Yeah, within the last seven days. Sorry about that. I don’t know how to make that sound stone. That’s okay. Okay, there we go. Sorry about that. Sorry, what was the question again?
D.J. Paris 37:41
So So, as far as pricing, we’ve seen pricing come down? Or has pricing come down? That was the question is, is as inventory has gone up? Pricing, I imagine is probably gone down as well.
Bri Brenkus 37:53
Yeah, a lot of supply and demand, right? When inventory goes up, pricing comes down. And we have seen that within the past seven days, there’s been about 1700 price reductions in the MLS Wow. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 38:04
that’s it’s probably great, too. Did you did you deal during the, during the last couple of years with dealing with appraisal gaps and dealing with like, oh, gosh, you know, this person is buying. And it’s so much higher than than what the actual appraisal comes back at where it was, that was problematic to for realtors, it, it was kind of a fun time to be a listing agent. But it was also problematic time to can you talk a little bit about how you guys dealt with that? Because it had to come up all the time for you?
Bri Brenkus 38:34
Yes, it did. And we do three very specific things to prevent appraisals from coming in low, even in a bad market when interest rates are high. And the interest rates being low really helped us actually in a way because these buyers could afford more and can essentially either waive the appraisal or pay X amount above, which is what happened in that home that I sold for $125,000 more than this same model match. And it actually had an extra bedroom, which is just crazy. So we’re definitely going to start to see the market shift now that interest rates are going up.
D.J. Paris 39:11
Yeah. And are you finding buyers? I know I’m sort of getting stuck on where we are today. But I just think it’s so important to talk about because it’s what agents are dealing with in the present. Right. So when you talk to buyers, and I know you’re on the listing side, but you do work with buyers as well, occasionally or really only on the list usually when
Bri Brenkus 39:31
I was first starting out, okay, you’re not not too much here in there. So, yeah.
D.J. Paris 39:38
So mostly on the listing side, so Are are you having to have conversations then with sellers about okay, the buyers market has shifted, here’s what’s going on. We were you know, we’re not in, you know, you might have talked to neighbors who listed a home a year ago and didn’t even, you know, within 24 hours they had 40 lists 40 contracts or 40 offers rather than How do you have to have that conversation now so that these listing these, these, these sellers aren’t going Hey, where’s Where’s these crazy amazing offers?
Bri Brenkus 40:09
Right? And the market started shifting here in Vegas at least kind of around end of April May ish. So when we listed a property sellers would be calling us after a couple of days, why hasn’t my home sold. And again, it’s just really helping them understand we’re not in the market, we just came out of interest rates are going up, the buyers demand isn’t there. Another thing that’s going up is inventory. So you have more competition versus last year, beginning of the year, you know, you might have two, three, even four of the same model match or whatever, same square footage that are available, we need to price it competitively with with them.
D.J. Paris 40:49
I love that. And then let’s talk about the 30 under 30 award, because I think this is this is an amazing thing. How did you think to do it? Did someone bring that to your attention? Were you always wanting ever since you got on? Were you aware of it? Were you like, boy, I’d love to earn that award someday? Or how did that come about?
Bri Brenkus 41:09
I was not aware of it. My mother was the one that suggested it to me. And I did not think I would win?
D.J. Paris 41:19
Well, if you did, and that’s really, really, really impressive and amazing. And we are so excited to continue to watch your growth as you continue to crush it. So are you scheduling more free time for yourself this year now that things are slowing down? Not just a little bit, I guess, in a good way. So you have some more personal time? What have you learned in the last year that you maybe wish? or what have you learned more recently that you wish you would have known when he started?
Bri Brenkus 41:55
That’s a great question. And probably what happened on my 21st listing appointment is not being attached to the outcome. And again, just coming from a place of service.
D.J. Paris 42:08
You know, it’s it’s funny, it’s like, yeah, and but like, that’s really it, isn’t it? It’s like, people want to hear more that there’s some other secret sort of formula to it. But there is something very powerful about being able to say, or to be able to come across as I don’t need the business. I’m happy to take the business, but I don’t need it. I’m here out of service. And it just makes everything more relaxed. And do you still go into that to each listing presentation with that mindset?
Bri Brenkus 42:40
Definitely.
D.J. Paris 42:41
Yeah. And your close ratio is, I’m assuming has gone up ever since that mindset shift? Yes. Yeah, it’s, it’s really, it’s really amazing. Well, Bree, I am going to let you get back to your busy day because you have more listings, I’m sure to to close today. And so we want to let you get on with your amazing a career. But I really will Oh, and by the way, we should mention that Bree does not work alone, right? She works on this team, the brink is steam. They are in Las Vegas, they cover the entire Las Vegas metro area and all the surrounding areas. And you’re one of the biggest teams in that area. And as a result, you know, we do have a lot of listeners, and we have a lot of Las Vegas, realtors who are listening, if they are thinking, Gosh, I want to join a team like this or want to learn more about what your team offers, what’s the best way that another agent should reach out to you?
Bri Brenkus 43:34
Yeah, you can call us Our office number is 702-456-5959. We’re always hiring, we’d love to have you on the team and help you learn. And yeah, looking forward to
D.J. Paris 43:48
it. And also to you know, a lot of people retire to Las Vegas, which I never realized up until about five years ago that that was a big retirement community. And it is. So there’s a lot of people from all over the country who have clients that may end up, you know, retiring down there or buying a second property or so down there. So that’s another great reason to reach out to Bri and develop a relationship. Maybe there could be some, some client sharing, because Bri has clients that have other properties and other places as well. Just out of curiosity, Bri Do you find that that happens a lot where you have somebody who’s you know, feels like you know, people move to Las Vegas at some point. You know, it’s it’s it’s not as much of a born and raised kind of place. I mean, obviously, that’s where you’re from, but a lot of people move to there. And so do you end up dealing with a lot of referrals where you have clients who have other properties elsewhere as well?
Bri Brenkus 44:41
Yes, lots of referrals. Lots of our sellers are moving out of state, we’re having lots of people move in state. So we’d love to partner up with you guys, wherever you may be. We actually got a referral from France. So if you’re outside of the US, we were worldwide.
D.J. Paris 44:56
That’s amazing. Well everyone who is listening check out Bri and her team’s website, the bronchus group. Sorry, let me pull up. I’m saying that wrong. That is the brigus team.com. And that’s th e and then b r e n. So it looks like brand kiss, but it’s pronounced bronchus, the bronchus and K us team.com. And then follow them on social. By the way, both of these links, all the social links, and this website will be in the show notes. You can find it there, but follow them on Facebook and Instagram, at the bronchus team or just go to their website and it’s all there as well. Bree, congratulations on all the success 30 under 30 award winner, your superstar Are you heading to do you know if you’ll be going to the National Association of Realtors Conference this year, which I believe is in Orlando, just out of curiosity, I don’t know if you’ll be
Bri Brenkus 45:43
will be there super, super grateful my mother had me apply again. I did not think I would be one of the 2022 honorees. So I’m super excited to meet everybody down there all the other class of 22 honorees. And yeah, grateful for my team, I would not have been able to have all of these successes without them. And they’re amazing. Definitely, definitely, definitely leverage and get get help from others.
D.J. Paris 46:10
Awesome. Well, and if anyone’s listening and you’re thinking about going to the National Association, Realtors Conference, the annual conference, it is awesome. I went to my first one last year and it was so much fun at a lot a lot of the people I’ve interviewed on the show are there as well. So if you’re there Brees going to be there. I’m going to be there definitely considered going to Orlando I think it’s in November. So anyway, take a look online but everyone follow Bree go to her go to their website, the brink esteemed Brink his team.com follow them on social media and if you’re a realtor in the Las Vegas area, reach out to them Keller Williams is amazing. We love Keller Williams and Brees and her family’s team is incredible there. So thanks Bree for being on the show. Thank
Bri Brenkus 46:50
the conferences in August, by the way not shows you what I know. Yes, it’s looking forward to it. I’ll see you there DJ.
D.J. Paris 47:00
Well, maybe not. I apparently. Apparently I’m going there in November. So I will be there all by myself. So if you want to know I’m teasing. Boy that shows you how to bid I am huh. Yeah, August. Okay. Well,
Bri Brenkus 47:12
a different one. I don’t know. I’m not sure. No, no, no,
D.J. Paris 47:13
that’s that’s the right one. Anyway, Bri, thank you so much for being on the show. It was such a pleasure. And thanks to everyone. And on behalf of our audience, we think Bree for her time and on behalf of Bree and myself, we think everyone who is listening, please tell a friend about this episode. Just think of one other agent that could benefit that really could use a little boost. And you know, could hear the great words from Bree and send them a link to our website or any podcast app they might be using. But our website is keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve ever done is streamed there as well. So anyway, Bree, thank you so much. And we will see everybody on the next episode.
Bri Brenkus 47:52
Thank you
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