In this episode best-selling author and top producer Paula Pagano from Corcoran Global Living in San Francisco talks about how she started her career in real estate. Paula emphasizes how participating in sales training helped her become the top producer in her office many years in a row. Paula provides tips on how to talk to a client when the relationship is not working. She also emphasizes how important it is for agents to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and adjusting to those qualities. Last, Paula discusses how to establish a strong emotional bond with the client.
Buy Paula’s book Getting the Property Soul’d here.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Paula Pagano can be reached at (415) 860-4209 and PaulaPaganoRealtor@gmail.com.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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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 Paula pagano from Corcoran global living in San Francisco. Before we get to Paula, just a couple of quick announcements first, please remember, if you want to help us grow, just tell a friend think of one other real estate professional that you know that could benefit from this podcast and send them a link easiest way to send them over to our website, which is keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve ever done is you can stream right there. And or if they are a podcast person, just have them pull up their podcast app on their phone or mobile device and have them do a search for keeping it real. And hit the subscribe button. And then second thing is to please follow us on Facebook, we find an article that’s written every single day online and post it specifically about how to help agents grow their business. And we also post all of our episodes as we’re recording them. So you can actually watch live as we’re doing them. So that’s facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod again facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pot as always thank you thank you thank you for continuing to be a part of the show every listener is so important to us. We’re so grateful to have you and now on to our interview with Paula Pagano.
Today on the show our guest is Paula pagano from Corcoran global living in San Francisco Bay Area. Let me tell you a little bit about Paulette originally from New York. Paula began to move to San Francisco in 1980 and became the top sales agent in our office her very first year which is an incredible accomplishment in and of itself, and she has remained a consistent top sales producer for over 40 years, Paula has marketed and sold many unique properties including historic landmarks, large apartment complexes, and celebrity homes. In addition, Paula is a best selling author on Amazon with over 40 rave reviews for her two books, secrets of a top salesperson how emotions make or break the sale and getting the property sold, which is s o u l, apostrophe D. Her books have been endorsed by Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank and the legendary sales trainer and author Tom Hopkins. To learn more about Paula, please go to her website, Paula pagano.com. And I’m going to spell that p a ulapagano.com. And also, for the two books I mentioned. If you look in the show notes of this podcast, we will have links directly to her books, which we encourage you to go pick up Paulo, welcome to the show.
Paula Pagano 3:46
Hello, everyone.
D.J. Paris 3:49
Paul and I were having a great time chatting just before we started. And then I said okay, we got to start our show because we were having a fun time. And I always love talking to agents in San Francisco because everybody in this country looks to agents in San Francisco. How do you do that, buddy? But tell us about how you got into real estate. We’d love to hear about how you started.
Paula Pagano 4:11
Well, you know, most people in life beyond that they go to high school college and then they have a plan. But oftentimes the plans don’t turn out like you started. So my plan was I was in pre med in college. Wow. Yes. And I was a medical researcher after college. But the thing was, the reason I got into medicine and biology is I love science and I love animals. Well I had to experiment and kill animals. It’s tough. And it just got to I just couldn’t do it. And so actually it here’s a little detour. I wanted to go to California. Mamas and Papas song, California, dreamin and I was in upstate New York and those cold wintry winters it was hard. So I went to California. And I first stopped in Laguna Beach for about a year. I got my license there. I wasn’t very successful. So one tip I’d like to give to real estate agents, who are newbies, be persistent. Keep, you know knocking on doors, handing out your card, networking, whatever you’re doing. And, and if you have a transactions that fall apart, keep on working wake up every day. It’s a new day. You know that song? It’s a new day. I do. Just remember that song. So anyway, I I lived in Laguna Beach, it was beautiful. But then I went on a week vacation to San Francisco. And I fell in love with the city, very cosmopolitan. The architecture was beautiful with the Victorians, Edwardians, and the Marina style, the big mansions it had a little bit of everything. And it’s a very diverse culture. So I felt more at home there because I had traveled a lot in Europe. So I moved up knowing nobody. And I said, You know what, I wasn’t that successful that first year in Laguna. But here, I’m going to take sales training. And that’s what I did. And so I became the top agent in my office the first year, and then I was a consistent top producer for many, many years. And, you know, that’s how I got into real estate. And by the way, why, why real estate? My landlord, and Laguna said knew I was unhappy, and I didn’t want to go back into the medical research field. And she said, I have bought I’m a widower twice, and are widowed twice, and I bought property. And that’s I raised three sons on my own. And that’s how I did it, get into real estate. And that’s what I did. And I have no regrets.
D.J. Paris 7:44
So when you move to San Francisco, that’s incredible story. By the way, when you moved to San Francisco, you had, I’m assuming a very small if not a non existent sphere of influence. So how did how did you start building your business, we’d love to hear that.
Paula Pagano 8:01
So I, I was in the office a lot. And I learned by listening to what other more senior agents were doing, when they needed help. I was right there. So I’d help them whenever I could, I’d have an open house. I was hard working. And I believed in myself, I believed I could do this. And really, I didn’t. Some agents will want to stop at start at the very top top multimillion dollar properties because there’s so much money in it. I didn’t do that. I wasn’t, I’m more an academic person than I am a socialite. And so I just worked hard and studied hard. And that’s how I did it. And people saw that in the office, and some were senior agents, they couldn’t handle all their clients. So I’m getting referrals back and forth from the agents in my office. That’s how I started and then a call would come in, I’d be working late at night, and I’d be the one grabbing the call because no one else was there. So this was obviously before social media and the like, and I advertised the best I could so I put money and I believed in education. So I was taking sales training all the time to learn a little of this a little though that
D.J. Paris 9:34
I’m curious being that you are a pre med student, which is one of the more challenging ways to get through undergraduate. You know, gee at undergraduate degree, at least I was pre med when I started in college. And I made it a year and then I was like, What am I doing? I am not suited for for medicine. And it just wasn’t wasn’t you know, I hadn’t really thought enough about it. Then I switched to something else. And that was a much better fit. But the amount of discipline it takes to to pursue that, you know, that that sort of degree is quite intense. And so I’m curious if, if that helped you, because you mentioned being an academic, which makes sense, if that helped you sort of study the market and really understand, you know, the, the knowledge side of things that maybe a lot of realtors wouldn’t dive as deep into?
Paula Pagano 10:26
Yes. And I’m going to answer that, yes. And no. So this is how I’m going to answer is I am very disciplined. So if people have come up to me, because they know I made good money, and I have a very nice lifestyle. And they said, I want to be a real estate agent, I’m personable. But they don’t have your the real work ethic that you need to have of being a good agent, except there. Like I said, there are people who are so well connected. And again, I was not, that they can have, you know, go to cocktail parties and do transactions and meet all these, you know, and just sell two or three properties a year, and be making tons of money. That wasn’t me. And that’s not the average real estate agent. Okay, those are the exceptions. If you’re in real estate, you got to follow through, you got to work hard, you got to be creative. So that’s something else. I think that distinguishes me from other agents, I like to problem solve. So if buyer and the seller meet head on, and they’re having problems, communicating or coming to an agreement, it is my job to go in. Again, here’s the emotions, soften everything and make it work. Now, it doesn’t work all the time. And if it doesn’t work all the time, then you need to know when to, to cut loose, and move on. And that’s also another important quality for those new agents out there is when do you move on, because some people just are too difficult. And they take up too much. One of my friends says, brain damage. And so it’s just not worth that. And you just have to say bye bye.
D.J. Paris 12:41
Yeah, it’s it’s okay to and I don’t like the word fire, but it’s okay to fire a client, there’s probably a softer word for that. But to to end the relationship and introduce them to another agent, maybe that is a better fit, and maybe even earn a referral commission, I suspect. But yes, the idea of being able to say, hey, you know, I’m not best suited. In fact, let’s talk let’s, we weren’t going to talk about this. But I’m very interested. How do you have the conversation with a client that you’re realizing this is not working? for them? It’s not working for me? Do you have any suggestions about how to terminate that relationship?
Paula Pagano 13:19
Yes. So you, you turn it back? To them. It’s about them. It’s not about you, even though it may be about you. Right? So I am going to give an example. So a red flag happens when clients have fired another realtor, and then they want to see you. Okay, they want to work with you. So that’s automatic, you should be cautious. Sure, why did they not like the other agent? And then ask them why? Meet with them, give them a chance, because some there there are lousy real estate agents out there. So you know that that does happen. But then, you know, dig deeper and find out what their motivation is. Why are they selling so I had this one couple who had the property, their property on the market for a while that got an offer, they didn’t like it. They said our property is worth more. So I went and I met with them. And I knew that they were going to be very difficult. I knew and I thought you know, I just don’t have it in me to fight with people. Yeah, but there was an H and in my office. Oh, I get along without fine. You know, I like her but from a distance. I mean, she’s really really tough. You know? So I thought, Huh? Oh, I bet I don’t want to mention her name. So um, so I bet could do this though. So I called them up. And I said, you know, I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. And I realize you want a really high price. And I don’t think I’m the agent for you, because I know a younger agent tooth more aggressive than myself. And I think she could get you your price that you want. And I think that’s a better fit. He was thrilled that I was so honest. He said, Paul, I’m gonna take you out for a drink. That’s so nice. You’re so straightforward. And she did sell them. She did sell the property. And you know, she had to kick in a little commission, because otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. And I got a real good referral, a by the way, I got $10,000 run. And if I had done it, I’m a bit. I can be tough on the outside, but I’m really sensitive. And I think, I don’t think I would have lasted, he was just too difficult for me, for me, not for her, she did it.
D.J. Paris 16:14
I love what you said earlier, as you said, I am a problem solver. And this is another example of you identifying a problem that you and this, this this seller, we’re not maybe the perfect match, you recognize that you recognize that their problem too is they wanted to get a certain price point that you didn’t feel was was in line with reality or what you were willing to do. And you solve the problem for them. And you still, obviously, people just want really honest, good advice. And you did that. And yeah, I imagine that client probably thinks wasn’t your client anymore, but still probably think super highly of you. And I know I would assume probably would still send referrals to you as well being of how honest you are, and it’s so refreshing. It’s so thank you for that that is such a great suggestion for our audience about how to assess a relationship with a client. And if it if it isn’t going well, you know, you can have those conversations. And if he’s long as you solve the problem, say, Hey, I have somebody else that I think would be a better match. Boy, I be I’d be thrilled if I was a seller. And some and my realtor told me that said I don’t think I can do this, but I’m somebody that can, I’d be thrilled to hear that.
Paula Pagano 17:35
So go ahead. Oh, so I want to give another example, because this is a different example. I think it’s important for agents to know who they are, and their own, what their strengths are, and also what their weaknesses are. And that’s what I talk about a lot in the book. Both books, actually. And the because I sometimes struggled with real estate is not an easy business. It’s a very interesting business. It’s a very rewarding business when you’re successful. But I wouldn’t call it an easy job. It it can be I have a love hate relationship, when sometimes it’s just, you know, you get all clients at once or you get nothing. And you don’t have a commission for six months. And you know, the few people you’ve worked with, they’re not loyal, they went to somebody else, you you’re in a recession, nobody’s wants to buy anything, it just goes on. So anyway, it’s important to know who you are and what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. So I know I’m a dominant personality. So I, I actually really enjoy working with first time buyers because they need a lot of guidance, and they need a lot of patience. And I get a lot of joy out of it. So and right now I’m also working with the senior person who’s very demanding I told my husband today you know what, I just know I’m gonna go to heaven. I listen to her, go on and on. She goes off on tangents and she expects so much reads every line of the contract goes on. She wants to meet with me. I have I have to pick her up from her doctor’s appointments. I mean, it’s amazing. But I’m she has some health problems and I’m making a difference in her life. Yeah, and I think that’s something else. When when people say I want to get into real estate, well why well I want to do it for the money. That’s not enough. That’s not enough, I don’t think, I don’t know, maybe they’re not for me. But remember, I wrote a book Getting the property sold, s, o, u, l, apostrophe, D. Sol Sol has to come into my job for me, it has to prove other people, maybe it’s just money. You know, and if that’s who you are, then I that can work, you know, everyone’s different. And I just wanted to say, another type of personality that I don’t do well with, is when people can’t make up their minds, like the very amiable type people, they smile and smile, but they can’t make decisions. Yeah. And eventually, you got to make a decision. And I finally said to some client, listen, you’ve looked at 50 properties, now’s the time, there’s not, you know, you can, you know, buy now and then wait and watch a property accumulate, or you can wait to buy and never buy, because the prices get too high. And I, if people won’t, you know, sign on the dotted line. I’ll give them a couple months. But if they won’t, then again, it’s time to just let them go. And sometimes it’s not even. It’s just, it’s just a gradual letting go. Or, you know, or sometimes, I might be honest, I don’t think you’re motivated enough to say, I know, you’re lovely person, you know, I’m not don’t mean to hurt your feelings. But I just, I don’t think you’re ready, come back when maybe you’re more ready.
D.J. Paris 21:44
And that also is a very honest conversation to have, and probably goes pretty well, because it’s still respectful of the fact that the buyer is maybe on the fence or, but you’re saying, you know, I’m not sure you’re ready right now. And you can come back when you are. And I think that way, that’s a really elegant and delicate way, I think to to have that conversation with someone that could be perceived as rejecting, but it but it’s not the way that you mentioned it.
Paula Pagano 22:19
So go ahead. I’m sorry. Yeah. Oh, I, if you have another question, I’d love to talk about how I’m Talion Irish, okay, and I have a little, I’m from upstate New York and have a little Mohawk Indian in me to have it tough and a warrior, with the Italian usually takes over. So I’m emotional. And a lot of times that works in my favor, because I’m enthusiastic about a property. I like to connect to people and so forth. Then again, sometimes it gets in my way, I get frustrated, if things don’t go as planned. Like I said, I’m a dominant driver. So I’m always looking for the end goal. Dominant drivers do that. Let’s get to the end goal. So and I mentioned the amiable so I sometimes have a problem with, they’re great to be around. But to do business with them, it can be tough for me. So it’s good, I’m gonna go back to saying, be self aware of your strength, and your limitations, and build up your strengths and try to just tone down your limiting.
D.J. Paris 23:39
And I have a suggestion for our audience. Curious to get Paula’s take on this if you’re maybe not as aware of what your strengths and weaknesses are, if you’re not as self aware, obviously, there’s lots of online resources where you can take tests to determine some of the strengths and weaknesses. And you can also ask your friends and family to give you an honest assessment. And what you could do is if you want to really make sure people feel comfortable doing that, set up an anonymous survey and send it to your to your friends and family and say I really need to know, what are my strengths and weaknesses, you know, what am I good at? Where do I struggle? And what advice do you have for me, it may be as a realtor, or just in life in general and you will be shocked at some of the the answers you get, you will learn a lot about yourself from from the words of others. And again, you’re going to want to send this to people who know and care about you and who were you know, are going to do it in a way that that is, is respectful, but but I think that is such a great thing to learn about your so you boy, you said a lot of good things because I imagine once you have a good sense of your own sort of makeup, your psychological makeup, your drivers, you know how you sort of operate in the world, then you have a better sense of what kind of client is a good fit for you?
Paula Pagano 24:56
Right? And and you know how to communicate Get with others feel that they say, you know, know, know yourself, you’ll know others better, you’ll be able to see them better. And one thing about and why I wrote this book is I wanted to get to know myself better. So, you know, writing is a great way to do that. And also stories and then I could reflect Hmm. Well, and by the way, the book has a lot of raw raw honesty. So sometimes you think, Oh, wow, Paula, you’re the greatest. Gee, what did your
D.J. Paris 25:41
well, but that’s the that’s the truth is we all have wins and losses, we all screw up. We all have victories. And I think, you know, we live especially with social media. Now, it’s so easy to think everyone else. Other realtors, I’m watching on Instagram or Facebook, they’re also perfect. They do everything perfect. Yeah, their food is perfect. Their clothing is perfect. Everything’s easy. And they have just as many challenges as as any other agent walking around any other human being. But it’s sometimes easy to forget, people don’t usually post their failures on social media. So it’s easy to forget that that we’re all we all struggle, but sort of that being having that self awareness of where you struggle is probably so critical. It just helps alleviate some of the suffering. I think, as you grow as you grow your business, let’s talk about the book because I am so impressed with with your book. And we do want to also just mention the the title again, which is called getting the property sold. S o uld. But let’s talk about that. So tell us about the book and I know you mentioned, you know, well I’ll sort of preface this by saying I just purchased a primary residence myself wasn’t my first, but I hadn’t done it in quite a while. And I had forgotten as and I’m in the industry. I’m not a traditional realtor, I don’t practice but I work in an office we have about 800 realtors that our company but I’d forgotten even though I work and live in this how stressful it is to buy a property even when I’m in the industry. And I thought oh my gosh, I had a new really profound respect for realtors dealing with buyers whether they’re first time or I wasn’t a first time and just how stressful it was for me and I have all the resources possible at my disposal. Most P buyers and sellers don’t have these kinds of resources that I have access to. And I’m curious about I just was thinking boy a realtor is is is a good part of their job for people like me as being a stress reliever telling me everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry, but really having that sort of emotional maturity to be able to call me when I’m freaking out.
Paula Pagano 27:56
Yes. So you know it’s back why why is buying a home so stressful? Well, I think there’s a few are emotional and I think there’s a few reasons. One is it’s probably the biggest investment you’re ever going to make. Another is a lot of people really identify with their houses. So the home set bias extension of themselves. So if a seller selling a lot of times they’re having trouble letting go and then buyers who go in and they get very very attached and and then maybe there’s another buyer out there too who bids higher and you don’t get it it’s an emotional roller coaster. Yeah, and then once you just say okay, The offer has been accepted. And then they think oh, we’re done. No, no, oh, you’re not the roller coasters going around the corner is gonna go down fast and something’s gonna come up. So in a real estate transaction where something doesn’t come up, and usually unforeseen so like one time I was we were about to close and all of a sudden something came up on the title we couldn’t close another time let a lender ran out of money, he couldn’t fun. There was nothing we could do. Another time recently a seller we had an offer accepted and then we went for the inspections the night before the agent called me and said you’re not allowed in. I had like three inspectors scheduled it for nine o’clock the following morning. Yeah, and and the seller had decided she didn’t want to sell gradually over Over a period of a few weeks, I found somebody who knew the agent, because the agent wasn’t communicating to me what was happening. So I was able to, through this other person who was in real estate, find out what was really happening when back to the agent. And somehow we sweeten the deal just a little bit and did a few little things. Oh, she didn’t want to let go. And it was a house with four cottages. So we told her because one of the cottages was vacant, that she could come back anytime and visit. Stay at minimum, you know, maximum two weeks. But if she gave a month notice she could come back that clinched the deal.
D.J. Paris 30:48
Isn’t that something? But that’s a really creative strategy. And I imagine by speaking to the other agent, you probably did you come up with that solution yourself? Or did you know that
Paula Pagano 31:02
my buyers and I did because my buyers really wanted it? So we can’t I don’t know exactly who it was. But and that’s the other thing with real estate, when you have clients, you get an emotion comes into it, how do you connect strongly so that you’re acting as one in a team. And I also tell clients, listen, if you’re unhappy with me, speak up. Or if you think I’m missing something, speak up, so I can rectify it, and do what you want me to do. Then on the other hand, on the other hand, sometimes I’ll say to a buyer, you know, that’s not realistic, we really, you know, that is, that’s not going to go well, with the seller, that’s not going to go well with the buyer, we really can’t do that, you know, we want to keep this do you want to keep what’s your goal, you want to keep this transaction together. And so we communication, the emotional connection, very important.
D.J. Paris 32:02
Let’s talk about how to establish a strong emotional bond with the clients. I imagine. I will you’ve written about this, you have to do best selling books about it. But um, any strategies and tips for once a, an agent has a new client, whether it’s a buyer or seller, ways in which they can deepen those, those connections with with their clients so that they’re able to have more honest conversations and be able to take that sort of feedback.
Paula Pagano 32:33
Okay, so this is, you know, we can talk you know it with people. Okay, we’re very diverse. We have diverse backgrounds. We have different stratas we went to different schools, we might not have gone to college, we might be in the trades, we might be a doctor, we might be a lawyer. So what you do is you look for common ground. Now that could be maybe they have a pet and you have a pet connect on that. You’re going through their their property, a seller’s property or sometimes you meet at a buyers home. You see, they have tennis rackets. Ah, well, maybe you don’t play tennis. I don’t. But my husband does. My husband loves tennis. So let’s start talking about that. They they travel, you see some you see some books in their library. Oh, I read that book. What did you think? Or you know, what do you what are you watching right now? You know, on TV? Do you have any good series, ask and ask open ended questions. That’s another another? Why are you moving? You know, what do you like best about your house? Whether you’re renting it right now and you want to move or you’re selling it and open into questions, they’re the best and have them talk and talk and you know, and you can just get off so easily and different tangents and find a connection. Like I said, this one singer, Lady and I Well, it turns out, she confessed to me, she has some back problems. And I said, you know, I have in the past two and she said, Well, I was thinking of getting a back brace and I said well, I did get one for a while and it really helped me. Well, so now she’s got an appointment and I’m taking her to get fitted for a back brace. I mean, you never know what your good is. You know what’s going to happen? And then we we travel a lot and I told her I was Italian and she said oh well you know the color I painted my house this blue. That was when I went to Italy and I loved the houses that were planted this color blue. You know you never know what you’re going to get Look at you’re gonna find out about people. It’s, it’s really and you think you have nothing in common. But yeah. And this particular woman’s Asian, and she’s, you know, and she’s talked about it, if you listen, you know, she talks about all the trouble she’s having with COVID. And, you know, people, you know, she can’t go to the grocery store because she’s afraid she’s being attacked. You know,
D.J. Paris 35:25
I interviewed recently, and sorry to interrupt, I was gonna say I interviewed recently, the AAPI realtor, I believe the the association is Aria, which is for Asian American realtors, and she’s in San Francisco as well. And she was telling me in San Francisco, in particular, the Asian community, the realtor community, as is, as you said, they’re afraid because of all of the violence. So I’m sorry to interrupt, but that was just reminded me that, that, that if you listen and pay attention your clients, you get to learn about what’s going on in their lives.
Paula Pagano 36:00
Yes, yes. So that’s a lot of it connect, connecting. I also taught a few real estate classes. And sometimes things are pretty simple. I said, you have two ears and one mouth. So you should be listening twice as much as you’re talking.
D.J. Paris 36:20
So a lot of basically, it’s like, get curious, get curious. Yes, clients.
Paula Pagano 36:25
That’s a wonderful, and she and I were just talking about that. And we set curiosity. That’s like I said, that is such a understated virtue of people curiosity, boy, because that’s, it’s a neutral. It’s a neutral word doesn’t turn anybody off. But boy, that is, that is true.
D.J. Paris 36:51
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that most of us are a little, especially in the last year and a half, were a little starved for connection. And now is a really good time to, to reconnect with, you know, your sphere of influence, learn what’s going on in their lives, if you didn’t stay in touch with them, during the hardest times of the pandemic, you know, now’s the time to find out how that was for that. And, and, you know, I didn’t get I mean, outside of my friends and family. I didn’t get a lot of the professional service people that I employ, in my life, calling me asking how I was doing. And realtors have a really interesting bond with their clients, where they can actually ask those questions. You know, it would be a little strange for my accountant. My Account just wouldn’t do that. I love love my accountant, but I don’t think she’s gonna call me and say, How are you doing with the pandemic? Now, I would have appreciated the call, I don’t expect it. But a realtor can really step into that role. And and and ask those non business questions about someone’s life. And I think it’s a really unique industry where most industries doesn’t really lend itself as easily to having those conversations. But real estate does, because it’s such a personal industry.
Paula Pagano 38:09
Yes, it’s very personal. Yes. And I did reach out to my clients, I actually sent them a little small gift, just thinking, especially when the pandemic first hit, because everybody, you know, what are you going to do with your time, and it was just, we didn’t know I was, you know, washing my hands, washing all my food, I was washing all the counters. I was like, I wouldn’t pick up my newspaper. I’d leave it outside for a day. So maybe they weren’t on every single
D.J. Paris 38:40
social. Yeah.
Paula Pagano 38:42
So I sent them a little gift. And you know, it pays off. And people call me who I hadn’t heard from in a long time. And we just talked.
D.J. Paris 38:53
Well, I’d be remiss if I didn’t, didn’t ask about urine. San Francisco is certainly notoriously one of the most challenging real estate markets in the United States, New York and San Francisco kind of battle back and forth for, you know, most most challenging. But right now, I imagine there’s, you know, still probably inventory shortage in your area, you have low interest rates. So there’s lots of buyers out there, people can afford more than they could, you know, when interest rates were higher, but low inventory. So I’m curious on how your, because you work with first time homebuyers. You know, how you’re keeping how you’re navigating that with them and explaining to them that there really is a lot of urgency when you find a property these days and what those conversations sort of sound like?
Paula Pagano 39:44
Yeah. So I’ll talk about this one couple who looked about six months before the pandemic hit. And she had a year old. Well, then she got pregnant again. So now there They’re really they’re in a small apartment now they’re really pushed. Yeah. So we had looked in San Francisco, a little bit in the peninsula. And we said, you know, we got to spread out, you know, San Francisco, you’re not gonna afford just not going to happen. She was a stay at home mom, and he makes good money, but it’s just one income. So we went out to the East Bay, and we looked in the East Bay. And we kept going farther and farther out because it was more affordable. Sure. So we did miss out on one house. And it was an unfortunate thing. So here’s the up and down roller coaster. I just want to talk about this again. Sure, because what happens? So both offers came in close, but one offer came in a little two offers came in one was ours. One was a little higher, and they, but they were so close, and they really liked my buyers. And they liked me. So they called me up and they said, Will you go up to you know, another 20,000? I think it was, or 30,000. And so I called I said, Wait a minute, I call my buyers. So I called my buyers, they thought about it. Then I got that. And they finally said yes. It was about an hour. It took them a while kept pressure, you know? Yeah. And then we went back to the other people, and they said, Oh, we didn’t hear from you. So we took the other offer. Oh, wow. That was you know, and not to give us a chance to sit, you know, and that was heartbreaking for my people. So it’s just to have a lot of compassion. So stuff does happen. I mean, even when you’re, you know, do your best. So we moved out farther that was in Berkeley. So then they found a house in Lafayette. And I said, probably want to see the house. And I said okay, and I went online, you know, the MLS listings and I looked at other available houses. So I took them on a tour and showed them five, the house that they liked was beautiful. Everything was done. Just gorgeous. So they looked at that. And then they looked at another one, about the same price. But the the sellers were living there with three kids, and they had two big dogs and you stepped in their yard, and you have to bypass all the dog poop. It was It wasn’t staged to choke terribly. But the potential was there. So they said to me, Well, what do you think? And I said, well, the property that you call Don, they will get probably 10 offers. It was really underpriced. And so I said, but this other property, you know, if you liked it enough, and they said, you know, we’d like the floorplan better this other property and we can fix it up. And so I said, Well, we should go for that. And so they did, and they got it. Wow. So they didn’t waste their time with the other one with 10 offers that we didn’t think we’d be able to get. So one thing I think I do do and the academic part of me is I study the market. Yeah. And you had asked me before, you know, does that help? Yes, I studied the market, but I don’t study it reading the newspaper and all you know, everything’s going to Yeah, you know, hell no, that’s good. I don’t I don’t listen to bad news. Okay, because that gets negative. But I will look at statistics and I will kind of study it. And then I also have because I’ve been selling and I’m also the sold part. I’m very intuitive. I usually come up with a price in my head. And that usually is what it goes for. And I yeah, I I have had such good luck, even a multiple offer situation. I had one winning streak where nine buyers.
I got into contract nine in a row, just and didn’t have because sometimes you have to prepare your buyers, you know, it may take four or five times. You know, one buyer I worked with it took us eight times before we got into something so you never know. But just to study the statistic. And I’m not saying news. I wouldn’t read too much about news. You know, our politics are divisive, it’s just again Know the you know it’s not a time to sell there’s no properties on the market don’t listen to this we’ll work with what we have. And we we find a property that may be is not a set up my it probably won’t be I say to first time buyers, it probably won’t be your end doll house. This is the stepping stone. So you will eventually get into a house. But if you don’t move now you’re just going to be renting, renting and renting.
D.J. Paris 45:32
Yeah. Wow. Wow, you just said so much. I will encourage once again, everyone listening or watching right now head over to Amazon pick up both of Paula’s books, which is. The first one is secrets of a top salesperson, I certainly would like to know how somebody has been a top salesperson is at top sales woman in a very difficult city to be a real estate agent for 40 plus years. So secrets of a top salesperson is available as well as her newest book, which is getting the property sold. And then again, that’s s o u l, apostrophe D. And also please everyone file, go check out Paul’s website as well, which is Paula pagano.com. And if there is anyone in the Bay Area, whether they’re in the city or somewhere outside, and they are looking to work with a top realtor for four decades, which is an incredible career in this industry, who has the knowledge and the compassion to help you through all of your transaction needs. Reach out to Paul and Paul, what’s the best way someone should reach out to you if they want to work with you?
Paula Pagano 46:44
By my email, which is easy, Paul pagano realtor@gmail.com. Or go to my website.
D.J. Paris 46:55
Yeah, go to the website, Paula pagano.com, or email her at her Gmail account, we will also have those in the show notes. Should you want to reach out to Paul, Paul, I could speak to you for many, many other hours. Because this is such a wonderful conversation. And the amount of value that you provide to our audience is is really insurmountable. So I’m going to encourage all of our listeners and viewers once again to pick up her books. She’s a fantastic realtor. And she really talks about, I think one of the most challenging parts of the business, which is the emotional connection and why that ultimately, you know, wins wins the sale. So please pick up her two books. And on behalf of our audience, Polly want to thank you for your time we know how busy you are, especially now with the market the way it is that you were able to take time out of your busy schedule to come on our show and provide some value to our audience. And on behalf of Paul and myself. We want to thank our listeners and our viewers for continuing to support our show and we ask before you sign off on this episode to do just one thing is tell a friend think of one other real estate professional that could benefit from hearing this great interview from Paula and send them a link to our show. Easiest way to do that. If they’re not a podcast person, just send them to our website, which is keeping it real pod.com They can stream every episode we’ve ever done including this one right from their browser. If they are a podcast person haven’t pull up a podcast app on their phone search for keeping it real and hit the subscribe button. Thank you to everyone for continuing to support our show. Thank you once again to Paula. This was fantastic and I hope to have you on again. But Paula, thank you so much.
Paula Pagano 48:40
You are so welcome. It really was fun. Thank you
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