In this episode Ryan McKane from Redfin begins by telling us how he started in real estate (before becoming a top producer). He credits his success as an residential agent to previous experience in mortgage, property management and commercial real estate. Ryan also discusses agent perception around Redfin and why he decided it was the best fit for his career. He also emphasizes the importance for agents to invest in their education of the evolving market and public trends. Last, Ryan focuses on writing out your goals and determining daily actions to lead to their completion.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Ryan McKane can be reached at (312) 313-2689.
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 top producer Ryan McCain. Before we get to Ryan, a couple of quick announcements first, as always, we say thank you everyone who is listening to these words, we really appreciate it. You’re the reason why we continue to do this and we are happy to serve you. Now one way that you can help serve us if you feel so inclined, is really very simple. Just tell a friend, think of one other real estate professional that could benefit from hearing from top producers all over the country with the exact strategies they use to grow their business and send them a link to our show. You know, tell any Realtors you know to pull up a podcast app or do a search for keeping it real, you should find us if they can’t, they can always go directly to our website, keeping it real pod.com where not only do we have links to the podcast to subscribe via the app, but you can also listen to every single episode we’ve made right on the site. So again, follow us at keeping it real pod.com and tell a friend and then last please follow us on Facebook we post so much great content there every single day we find an article that’s written by someone who is specifically trying to help real estate agents grow their business. And we of course we also post all the episodes we do as well. So find us on Facebook facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod and now on to our interview with the great Ryan McCain.
Today on the show we have Ryan McCain from Redfin. Now Ryan got his start in the real estate industry in 2003, as both a realtor and a mortgage broker working for his stepmothers real estate brokerage here in Chicago. Since then, he’s worked as a leasing agent with Chicago apartment finders. He also spent a few years in property management and commercial real estate before getting back into residential real estate about five years ago, where he is now a top 1% producer in the Chicagoland market. Ryan, welcome to the show. We’re super excited to have you.
Ryan McKane 3:08
Hey, CJ, like I said before, longtime listener first time caller.
D.J. Paris 3:14
Well, we love having our listeners on the show, we’d love the fact that we have listeners were so so like, honored and grateful that anybody listens in the fact that people find value from listening to people like yourselves, top producers is really what we’re all about. And, and we’re so glad to connect with some people that have been longtime listeners, we’ve had that happen a bunch of times on the show where people say, hey, you know, would you consider interviewing me, I’m a big fan. And, and so, you know, I don’t think that I think we reached out to you specifically this time. But we did get that as well, which is a lot of fun. But we’re excited.
Ryan McKane 3:48
I would think reaching out to a podcast, they asked you to interview and it’s like inviting yourself to a party.
D.J. Paris 3:54
It’s like, you know, maybe it is but I tell you, it makes the art makes our booking go a lot easier. So we love it when people say because what we do is we were able to look up to see if they would be a good fit anyway. But we get probably about 10 email requests a day. So we’re constantly having to evaluate, you know, would this be a good guest. And thankfully, in the, in the, when we first started, we had to reach out to everybody and we had to reach out to 20 people, you know, and say, Would you please be on the show? And thankfully now, people reach out to us. But um, well I would love for our listeners to learn more about you. And I know you’ve you’ve been in in about the real estate business, you know, really since the early 2000s. But can you tell us a little bit about how you got started talking about your trajectory, because you’ve had you’ve worn a lot of different hats before landing on you know, traditional real estate broker. So let’s let’s start at the beginning. Sure,
Ryan McKane 4:48
depending on if you want the long version or the short version of my biography. So as you mentioned, I started working for my my step mom’s They’ll say company out in Orland Park back in 2003, which I actually got started with Ray marandi who shout out to Ray he was just named on title agents, Chicago agent magazines. People you should know in 22 he’s killing it out there still he has his own brokerage. So I actually got started working for my stepmom and prior to that I was actually working at a steel plating factory in Joliet. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it was. And I’ll never forget. I, I came home from work one day, and I had gotten covered almost head to toe. If you I don’t imagine anybody knows anything about steel plating, because I would do but I got covered head to toe in acid because you use acid to clean the steel onshore. And I got covered because one of the vats like splashed all over me. And literally, I was sitting, sitting at home, like getting ready to get in the shower. And I was like, What am I doing? I think at the time I was 2223 really have much going on. And I decided that I just needed a career and my stepmom, my stepmom actually at the time she had just a small brokerage. It was just her her secretary and maybe a few other brokers. But at one point, she had one of the largest century 21 brokerages in the southwest suburbs, and got sick of kind of all the headaches of managing that and be sure babysitting brokers, so I decided to get rid of it, downsize and she was just kind of like a one woman show. And I will never forget, I was just like, sitting at home just getting ready to like, get in the shower. And I because that time, I wasn’t living in home anymore. But I called her up and said, Hey, can I can we talk? Can I come work for you? And she said, Yeah, I need I need help. I need, you know, people that work for me. And so basically, I was kind of like, you know, her junior agent slash Secretary slash gopher. And at that time, this was yeah, 2003 At that time, you didn’t need to be licensed to be a mortgage broker at that point, believe it or not interesting. Yeah, it was just like, you have a face, you have a name, you can originate mortgages. So I was actually not I was actually in the first kind of like wave of people that actually had to get licensed. I’ll never forget, you had to get fingerprints background of that stuff. But basically, so I got started working for my stepmom. And she she was brutal. She was telling,
ah, she was definitely a big believer like if you are going to do something you need to know everything you like everything. If you’re going to be a CEO of a company, you’ve got to learn how to sweep the floors. So that’s her kind of mindset. So I had to when I was doing mortgages, I had to originate my own mortgages. I had to process them I had to do every single step of the way. And then but when it came to selling real estate, I had to know everything. Sure answer we had a secretary but she was she wouldn’t let she couldn’t let the Secretary or Secretary do any work for me. Like I had to answer all of my listings into the MLS and back then back then I mean the MLS was online but like barely barely Yeah, remember like the blue like the blue screen like when you would share and alas and back then now that I’m thinking about it. Back then the MLS came in like discs like it came the floppy disks, you had to install it on your computer and then I think like the following year, they finally had like an online version but in order to in order to answer your your listings to the MLS, it was like a blue screen like a basic dos screen credit. And but she just drilled absolutely drilled the fundamentals and to me, I mean I remember even like faxing, I had to fax offers and contracts back and forth and by the time you got done negotiating the thing looks like a Rorschach cast that was just like, lots and just, you know, you couldn’t even it wasn’t even legible. But she was tough. She was brutal. But I mean, still a lot of the things that she taught me I still use to this day. Sure.
D.J. Paris 10:17
But what? Yeah, so So after leaving from your stepmom, you know, business, where did you end? Where did you end up going after that?
Ryan McKane 10:27
So after that, I knew I wanted to be in the city. And I didn’t know the city, you know very well, I mean, I come down for cubs games and to hang out, but I didn’t know the market very well. So I thought the best way to do that would be to do apartment leasing, because it’s high. It’s quick
D.J. Paris 10:44
turnover. Great way to learn the neighborhoods.
Ryan McKane 10:47
Exactly, exactly. You’re going to do a lot more, you’re going to do a lot more business. And you’re going to do a lot more transactions. And there’s just more a lot more. There’s a lot more activity, so you can learn the city and the neighborhoods a lot better. A lot faster, I should say. So I worked for Chicago apartment finders for about two. After that, I was actually out visiting my dad and stepmom who had since moved to Orange County. I was out there visiting them in September of 2008. And I’ll never forget while I was out there visiting on the news, they have not just announced like Lehman Brothers folded. You know, what was going on in the world. And my brother and I had always wanted to move to California. And I just said to him, hey, look, he was actually my brother’s out there with me. He left he came back to Chicago early. And while I was out there, I text him and said, Hey, I really have no reason to come back to Chicago. Why don’t we just move to California and he basically brought all my stuff with him when he came out. And when I was working out there, I was very fortunate that I got a job with a small real estate mortgage and staging company, because obviously jobs in real estate were almost non existent then. But very fortunate, very lucky that I got a job with this company and my boss, Ken Schussler, who’s still really good friend of mine to this day, was a great Mac’s are a great person to learn from. But they were not only were they were they thriving in that market, but they were actually growing, their company was getting bigger because they had a lot of unique relationships with lenders in the area that had that were offering decent programs for people. The Ninja loans, the no income, no job, no asset loans were obviously gone at that point. But they were still able to, they were still offering some unique programs that not everybody had. And then I was also doing foreclosures and Oreos, and all of that. And that was again, that was early on when the banks just did not know how to handle that volume of foreclosures. So I’ll never forget, again, having to fax the hardship package over to excuse me over to the banks. And each page of the hardship package, which could be 80 to 100 pages, add to have the loan number and the borrower’s name on each page, or else the asset manager will look at it and be like now we’re going to do we’re just gonna pass it over to sure you’re we’re going to put you down at the bottom of the pile. And then I did that for a few years that I worked for property management company actually one of the largest in actually the largest in Orange County. It was the Irvine company, who at that time they owned an eighth of all the landmass in Orange County. Yeah, yeah, they’re a huge company. And it’s funny while I was working for them, the first building that they bought outside the state of California was was 70 I think it was 77 Wacker here in Chicago.
D.J. Paris 14:15
Oh, sure. Yeah,
Ryan McKane 14:16
yeah. But worked for them for about a year and a half got home sick, moved back to Chicago. I was working in. I worked for CBRE in the Riveter. We on the commercial side. Yep. And the commercial side in working mostly in the investment and retail leasing division. And then it was like kind of got to a crossroads where I had to either decide if I wanted to stay in that or go back into residential and residential since I’ve been in it for so long. That kind of always had my you know, always had my heart and I knew I wanted to get back into it and And lo and behold, I decided to reach out to I actually reached out to somebody at a another podcast Don’t hate me for that thing about red fin. Sure. And somebody from I actually tweeted to them and somebody from red fins HR department saw my tweet and reached out to me and I’ve been with them ever since?
D.J. Paris 15:25
Well, I think we’ve had we’ve had at least one or probably two other red fin people on the show over the years, but it’s been a long time. And I know that red fin has such a has such a generate such a strong response from other realtors as well. Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative response. I just think it’s a very people have an opinion about it. And I think that, you know, I’ve always think that it’s a good idea to sort of understand, you know, who Redfin is as a company. Because, you know, to us the way I see it, so I work at a real estate brokerage. We have 700 brokers here. I see I don’t see any other firm as competition to our firm. And I don’t think that’s because I’m magnanimous or I have this zen like approach. I just think there’s enough business for everybody. And I think that Redfin was really smart because when they started it’s the I come from the tech world. I was an IT guy. I mean that that was marketing IT guy for years and years and years, not a real estate guy. So when I saw disruptors like Zillow, Redfin come in the market, I was like, That’s brilliant, because they’re really lead companies. And then, you know, this is years and years ago when when that’s all they were. And now we see Zillow has started to, you know, take steps forward to not necessarily become a traditional brokerage but you know, they’ve expanded it now have realtors to help with certain things. Redfin did the same thing. Originally, they were just, you know, a tad it firm, who then figured out oh my gosh, we have cornered like the SEO market, and we’re showing up at the top of searches, and then, you know, really brilliant strategy. And then now they have now they’re a full service brokerage firm. And, and I think they serve a very specific role. Clearly, they serve a very specific need, but I always think it’s important for agents to really sort of demystify so we have Zillow come on the show once a month they demystify Zillow. But I always like to hear hear about brokers who work at Redfin, because, without exception, the brokers I know, over the years who have either been on the show that work at Redfin, or just people I know, personally, they absolutely love it. And so I’m very curious to get your opinion on on why you chose Redfin, you know, and how you think they fit into the overall brokerage business.
Ryan McKane 17:34
Sure. And it’s a it’s a lot to unpack there. But I think, you know, I’m not like a red fin like apologist. I will say, you know, there’s some things that we do as a company that I don’t, you know, I don’t really like, sure, but I would say, and I don’t necessarily agree with but overall, I would say, I mean, it’s a great company to work for. And I think you kind of you kind of hit the nail on the head I when I talk to brokers, when I talk to brokers, and they have like a negative opinion of Redfin. A few things. One, I mean, I’m sure everybody, especially now right now with the state of the world, everybody’s heard the phrase confirmation bias. Sure. Well, I think a lot of what people when people have a negative experience with a Redfin agent, I think a lot of it is just really based on confirmation bias. So if you kind of go into the transaction and you hear, you know certain things about Redfin agents, and then something happens, you’re like, oh my god, typical Redfin agent, you know, they’re not they’re not answering phone calls my text or they’re, they’re lazy, whatever. I’ve heard it all at this point. But I I feel like for me, I almost have like an outside perspective because I was away from residential Sure, act into it. And it was pretty funny because I’ll never forget I was at a I was at a I G Reina Palooza, which I don’t know if you’ve ever gone to one of those. So
D.J. Paris 19:17
yeah, so for everyone listening guaranteed rate is a large lender. They’re nationwide but they’re headquartered in Chicago. They’re the biggest lender here in the city. So he says G Ray, we all call it g Ray, buts guaranteed, right. But yeah, they have a giant party every year. I’ve not been but I have always been not able to go but
Ryan McKane 19:35
that’s fine. But I was at one my first year back in residential. And like I was kind of I was almost like insulated to the stigma or to the to the negative comments about Redfin, and it didn’t take long to be back in the business. I was like, oh, okay, I see there’s, there’s a we have kind of a negative reputation. And I was added to You ready to palooza? And I was talking to this agent and I won’t say what company she worked for. But we were talking and she goes, Well, what company you work for? I’m like, I work for Redfin. And she said something and I said, Well, we basically, you know, we do the same thing. She goes, we do not do the same thing. And so I said, Well, unless you’re, unless you’re curing cancer on the side, we do the same thing. Like unless you’re like, I don’t know what you’re doing that I you feel that. But I find that when I when I talk to agents about about Redfin, you know, I, it’s, it’s really, it’s really a confirmation bias that they that they have, that they heard certain things about us. And then if they have one misstep or one issue in action, and it just confirms that, you know, that they tend to throw out the baby with the bathwater and think every Redfin agents like that, that’s, well,
D.J. Paris 21:02
it’s, it’s the same thing if an agent buys leads from from Zillow, and they get, you know, they, you know, you’re only going to close probably 5% of your leads, if you’re amazing. At you know, live transfer Phone Leads 5% 10% of your total superstar. So nine out of 10 times, it’s not going to, you’re not going to end a result with a transaction. And so I think, you know, anything like that it when people purchase leads, and they try it once, and it doesn’t work out for the first month. It’s like, well, it’s not supposed to really work out the first month. And you know, it’s funny, I am I don’t, what I don’t hear is, from our listeners or from agents. I mean, we have hundreds and hundreds of agents in our firm. I never hear anything negative about Redfin agents ever. I really don’t I mean, maybe it exists, but I don’t hear that. But I hear agents annoyed at like the Redfin pricing model. And I always think, you know, you know, I don’t really see that as any sort of issue for other realtors, I think it’s a great service, it makes sense, the pricing makes sense. And they serve as a very specific type of buyer or seller. And I just think it’s a brilliant strategy and evidence, not just by my opinion, now you guys are like the second or third largest real estate company in Chicago. So it’s clearly working, which I think is great. And I think there’s also probably just some inherent, maybe a little bit of jealousy around.
Ryan McKane 22:28
Sure. And you know, what, anytime it’s just kind of like, you know, it’s kind of like how people hate the Dallas Cowboys, because they brought that on themselves by trying to brand themselves America’s team. Sure. We position ourselves in the market as a disrupter. And if you position yourself, you’re gonna get inherent inherently because of that, but the way I look at it, and the way I look, I’ve always looked at this business is and you hit the nail on the head earlier. Some of those brokers just have like a scarcity mindset where they, there’s only a finite amount of business. And if somebody is taking a certain amount, then that it leaves less for me. Whereas I look at it like, there’s, you’re not getting a piece of the pie, you can grow the pie, you can grow the pie as big as you want. And much like there is a place in the market for Walmart, or target. There’s still Nordstroms there’s still other so people can really, you know, consumers can pick what level of service that they want. There’s enough business for everybody. And I really do think it’s kind of funny, because I’ll talk to an agent and they will on one hand talk about how bad Redfin agents are. But in the same breath, they’ll say, We’re disrupter and we’re taking away business. And I’ll say, Well, if we’re so bad, how are we taking away business from you? If we’re that bad, then you should be able to easily overcome any objection. You know that if we’re going into the same listing appointment, you should be able to overcome that if I’m that bad, but also, I just no matter what company you work for, if it’s ACA is Coldwell Banker rightfit I truly believe in this business like anything else, you have got to invest in yourself, you’ve got to educate yourself, you’ve got to stay on top of the market. You’ve got to know what’s going on. And I think that’s really what’s gonna what’s going to help you you know, separate you from from your competitors is how well you’re educated how well you know the market, you know, the neighborhoods if you if you know, if you know all of that and you’re investing in yourself and you are taking the time to learn. You make yourself I’m disrupt biddable, if that’s
D.J. Paris 24:53
the deal you’re right, you’re right and you’re right and and ultimately the proof is in the client. and choices, right? So if if clients are choosing one realtor over another or one company over another, it’s because they see value in that product or service. And Redfin is not a fly by night organization, you guys have been around a long time. And I mean, for, you know, a tech company to now, which is a full service brokerage. You know, it’s been around a long time, it’s a proven model that clearly works. And and I think you’re right, I don’t think it takes away just just as any top producer doesn’t take away from a lower producer, no matter what firm they’re at, you know, you’re attracting people who want to work with you. And, and maybe you’ll lose some deals here and there as well. Because, you know, your, your sphere of influence maybe goes with someone else instead of instead of you. But that’s, that’s just normal. I think, you know, at least here in the Chicagoland market, there’s, you know, it’s almost an infinite amount of business really, you know, I guess maybe that argument could be would be stronger in a more rural environment where there’s a lot less activity, and there’s only a certain amount of transactions that people are sort of divvying up. But in bigger markets, it’s just, there’s room for everyone. I mean, I’m at a firm that pays almost 100% in in their Commission’s Back to realtors. There’s a lot of realtors that think bats have has a lot of negative feelings about that. And but yet, we don’t really take away from any of the other traditional firms. And Redfin doesn’t, I don’t think either. I think you guys are great, I love technology, because it really gets everyone to up their game. And some of the old traditional models are going to, you know, possibly suffer in the future if they don’t adapt. And so I love the disruptors because they come in and they say, Alright, time to up everyone’s game. And, and it works. But
Ryan McKane 26:45
not to not to interrupt you, but you’re to that point. So, you know, I got in the business 17 years ago, which is insane to think about. But, you know, by and large, the brokerage model hasn’t really changed much. And, in my opinion, it needed to be disrupted, because, you know, and I’ll touch back on this too. But you really, you get these companies that I mean, we have a low let’s face it, we have a low barrier of entry to our industry share or get your license, you hang it you can literally for under $1,000 you can essentially start a company there’s a company with limitless income potential which what other industry can you find? Because of that, you also you get, you get a wide variety of people, you get your people who may not be honest or what have you. But really, the traditional brokerage model kind of works like this, you know, you get your license, you go hang out, you hang out with with a company who who will hire literally anybody Sure. And they don’t train you and they don’t provide you really any kind of support of any kind yet, they still take 50 or 70% of everything you bring in and it’s literally here’s a phone or not sometimes not even that it’s like here’s the desk, you know, start start bringing in money. And really that’s a that’s a bad that’s a poor business model. I mean, I think you when you look at the different companies out there right now, Keller Williams at properties, D APR. I’m a huge fan of Ryan V April’s Yeah, you know, his interviews and so good. They’re very they’re very coaching focus, which is what you mean it’s it’s really it’s a it’s a when you think about it fundamentally, the brokerage model as it sits today is really a kind of a bad business model, especially because, because the internet in information is so pervasive and is everywhere. A lot of times you will talk to a home buyer or home seller, they’ll know more than most of the realtors, they really will share. And all they do is they sit and they look at you know, Redfin Zillow and they study the market. Well, that that’s got to change. And it’s got to change to benefit consumers. And really, I hope I’m not going on too long of a tangent here. But really, when you think about it, the role of the real estate agent has really changed dramatically in the 20 years that I’ve been in the business. And in fact, when I was when I was debating on staying commercial or going back into residential, it’s pretty funny because Hindsight is of course 2020 But I was really reluctant to go back into residential because I saw how pervasive technology was becoming and I thought Like, why would people even need a real estate agent in a few years when you know, there’s so much technology there’s so many things that could disrupt that industry to get rid of the agent altogether? Sure, it would make more sense just to stay in commercial however, the longer I’m in residential real estate the more I realize our job security is not threatened because first of all, because there’s so much information you get, I find that consumers get analysis by paralysis there’s so much out there that you really need somebody who can interpret that and distill that down for them and say, here’s what’s really going on. But also people i You could have the most either type a well put together client who on the surface seems like they have it all together, when it comes to their selling or buying a home they are emotional, nervous wrecks, and they need somebody there to hold their hand they need somebody there to walk them through the process. So I think when this when this business when it when I when I first got in it, you really needed more IQ. I feel like now you need more EQ, yeah, all intelligence you need. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 31:18
the disruptors have really taken the, the objective parts of it and the empirical parts of it, the parts that used to be behind lock and key access to information data, and have you know, open that door. And and agents probably initially are very threatened by that. Now, I think they’re starting to realize, oh, that frees up their time to focus on that emotional side of it, which is ultimately what really drives the bus anyway, the information has always been there, but the emotional guidance, when Ryan and I were talking just before we started, I’m buying a property. And I haven’t done it in some time. And I’m like, completely overwhelmed by the whole thing. And even though I’m in this industry, and I shouldn’t be even I am overwhelmed by it. And so thankfully, my boss is helping me with a lot of it because I I need somebody to like what they say like a doctor who who treat or a lawyer who represents themselves has a fool for a client now, he’s you know, I’m just like, please help me with this because I just get too emotional about it.
Ryan McKane 32:18
I just yesterday, I saw a I saw an article on ABC seven on their website that said, Chicago is just the headline Chicago real estate market is is is hot, or something along those lines. I email that to some of my fellow listing agents and I put the subject in the in the email, fake news. And I just waiting for one of my clients to you know, that’s wondering why their home isn’t selling and they see this. Yeah, when you drill down to it, I looked at the agent that you quoted and nothing against the agent at all because it’s him, but where he’s selling and and really, if you read what he said he was really talking mostly about the suburbs, and certain parts of the of the city like Brownsville, Brownsville is still a very hot market. But by and large, I mean, the city markets pretty you know, we’re in the fall doldrums right now. Sure. But yeah, it’s just it’s having that, that market knowledge and that expertise to say, you know, okay, that that articles, you know, if you drill down to it, here’s why it’s incorrect. Here’s, here’s, here’s what’s really going on in the market. And that’s where, you know, that’s when your clients rely on your expertise.
D.J. Paris 33:34
Yeah, and I’d love to get your thoughts on where do you think everything’s headed? So you know, we have, we’re closing up 2020 Here, the next few months, 2020 ones just around the corner. Not that anyone’s got a crystal ball. That’s 100% accurate. None of us are like the oracle at Delphi, but but if you had to make any sort of guesses about where we’re headed, what do you think’s around the corner?
Ryan McKane 34:00
You know, I personally I want to be this could probably the this recording could probably age horribly, but I’m gonna I’m gonna do it anyway.
D.J. Paris 34:09
Everyone, I’ve every time I’ve ever talked it’s age horribly on my end. So I say stupid. I say things that are that I found out later, were inaccurate or untrue or didn’t come to fruition. So don’t even worry. I happens to be all the time. It’s funny.
Ryan McKane 34:22
Cuz back in, back in February, I’ll never forget. I mean, I had probably two weeks straight were almost every single day I had a client calling me Hey, what’s going on with this? COVID Do you think it’s going to do in our market? And I remember, now it’s like the flow will be fun. Because at that time, I know we all thought that Yeah, we all thought that and this spring market was so hot like this was one of the hottest free markets I’d seen since like 2017 as like, I’ll never forget talking with my, one of my managers, Stephanie Brito, and I was saying If I need more inventory, I’m like everything I’m putting on the market is selling either first weekend or first two weeks. You know, I need more inventory. And you know, I sure enough, I got it. And then, you know, the market, the market started to, you know, once Shelter in Place took effect. Sure. But I personally, I’m going to be cautiously optimistic. I feel like, despite who wins the election, our country is so divided that I think half of the people half of the population is going to be happy with who the other half is not. But I feel like, you know, there’s enough people, there’s 7 billion people on this planet, someone’s got to come up with a vaccine soon. I feel that, you know, if big if if there’s a vaccine, and depending on who gets elected, I feel like the spring market, I think the first quarter and I think spring market is going to be hot. I think we’ll we’ll still see. We’ll see some renewed optimism and a lot of demand. And I think, you know, I think it’s probably especially in the city, it’s probably going to continue to favour buyers as it is right now. And I think that, you know, people, people have what I lovingly refer to as goldfish memory, which is not very long and feel like people will still continue to, to buy and sell in the city. I just think what they buy and sell might change every almost every single family homeless thing I’ve had in the city this year. That was priced I would say under 800,000. has sold first weekend with multiple offers. I think the suburbs are going to continue to be red hot. I, I put a family member’s home on the market out in Mount Prospect last week. And on Tuesday, by Friday, we had we had 20 offers that’s incredible, insane. And I was And it’s funny, because I was telling them I was like, well, the city markets really slow right now. I said, you know, I know the suburbs are hot. And I looked at the market stats. I was like, it’s it’s a hot market where you’re at, I think we’re gonna get a lot of activity on your home. I didn’t think it was gonna be 2020 offers. So yeah, that’s I mean, interest rates aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon. I think the big question marks like everybody has is, you know, you know, what’s going to happen with, you know, employment in and, you know, a vaccine and opening backup completely. But I think if we get the I feel like when this first happened, everybody was so taken aback by it and just kind of adjusting to this new normal. But you saw after about a after about three weeks of shelter in place, people were out looking again. And, you know, April was actually I think, April, I’d have to look back. April was I think still my best month of the year, I put some put nine under contract. So but I think I think if we see a vaccine, we have some renewed sense of optimism, I think we’re gonna see a strong spring market.
D.J. Paris 38:31
Yeah, that’s interesting. And then do you feel that the agents role has shifted since COVID? Or is it you talked about, you know, being the guide through the the emotional side of a transaction, which of course, will will likely not change because AI, maybe AI one day can figure out how to do that, as of right now, real estate has are still the best way to guide someone through the ups and downs of a transaction. Do you feel Do you see any part of the realtors role shifting at all?
Ryan McKane 39:04
You know, I think, you know, just being able to, you know, I think being able to leverage the technology, technology that’s available, like, you know, virtual tours, that sort of thing. But I think I think we’re probably going to I think I really think that our role might actually increase in terms of just emotional support and, and just being able to to guide people through it. I know for me, because I would say probably about 98 or 99% of my business is working with sellers. So whenever I am working with a buyer, I’m always looking at the resale like what’s the potential resale? I never, I never ever tell people Well, I think this is gonna Appreciate x I never say that sure do tell them is because I see it. So often I say these are things to look for when you do go to, to resell, like things like, you know, not having dual vanity in the master bedroom ensuite, and that sort of thing. But I do think that, it’s almost like, you have to be a little bit of a, of a of a psychic and sell them, hey, when he when you do go to sell, you need to probably keep these things in mind, people are going to want to have a home office, people are now probably going to have to have an at home, you know, in home classroom for their kids. Yeah, it’s it’s keeping those things in mind. But also, I feel like and this, this really hasn’t changed too much. But I think it might again, it might increase is just being able to advise them on on certain things to, you know, to upgrade their homes, like, you know, putting in, you know, a nice air felt like a more expensive air filter, air filtration system or any kind of, like anti bacterial or Yeah, like that. So I think that’s really, really is because I yeah, I haven’t personally seen my role change drastically in terms of, you know, how I go about my day to day with my clients, but I think just on what I’m advising them on, and just being a lot more of emotional, a lot more emotional support. Before I think that’s, that’s really what I’m seeing changing the most right now.
D.J. Paris 41:40
I was the I was meeting for the condo that I’m purchasing the meeting with the designers telling Ryan about this offline, but it really this particular part of it kind of speaks to what you just mentioned. And I was feeling a tremendous amount of pressure as the buyer forget that I’m an agent, because I don’t I don’t practice real estate myself. So I’m not really an agent, even though I technically have the license. But so I’m just a moron buyer who doesn’t really know what he’s doing. And so I’m going through and I’m just feeling so much pressure, because I’m not going to live in this condo forever. I mean, I you know, we’re not moving anyone until probably January. But I’m not going to be there the rest of my life. So I have this tremendous felt this tremendous pressure in purchase, you know, figuring out what, you know, what finishes I wanted, what colors for everything, what the cabinet should look like, you know, there’s a lot of different options. And I thought, well, I have to always think about resale. And I wanted to pick everything that I thought with my you know, crystal ball would be still attractive five years from now 10 years from now whenever we end up moving from there, and think and I just it was a so much pressure. And finally my girlfriend who is now a realtor, she wasn’t at the time. But But what is now and also the designer just said, Don’t worry, everything ages terribly. Everything is going to look bad in 10 years, if they’re going to people are going to walk through and go, what were they thinking? How did why would they have chosen that and we went with like super neutral, simple, basic things. She and I thought that was the same thing, same thing she was in 10 years, people are gonna be like, That was dumb. Why didn’t anybody do. And I have to be honest, like that really helped me as a buyer go, Okay, I don’t have to worry that much. It’s all going to be looking at as goofy in 10 years, which is a little depressing, but also make sense. Because, you know, we were looking at condos that were built, you know, 15 years ago, which is I had a condo 15 years ago as well. And and the choices I made back then I think are still reasonable today. But they were really cool back then. And now they’re kind of and we looked at a lot of places who were built, you know, 15 years ago, and it just doesn’t age well. And so the good news is nothing changed as well. That’s also the bad news. But it takes some of the pressure off to, at least for me, and I felt better about it. I mean, maybe I just feel more defeated. But but the reality of it is, is I was like, Okay, I needed somebody to tell me that. And I suspect buyers, you know, who are working with agents. I’m representing myself, of course, so so I didn’t have the luxury of somebody guiding me through that. But well, to Ryan’s point, these are the kinds of things that agents can provide a tremendous amount of value. I cannot tell you how stressed I was about it really tried to make the right decision. And it turns out there is no right decision really. So I was like, Okay, now I feel better.
Ryan McKane 44:25
I tell I tell. I have a couple of new newbie agents that they don’t work for Redfin, but they they reach out to me for help and you know if they have questions on something, and believe it or not, I used to play offensive line for football. When I was I wasn’t very good. It turns out if you’re short, fat and slow, you’re a sports boy. I played offensive line and our offensive line coach used to say used to say this when you’re black Okay, don’t don’t try to push people where you want them to go. You push them where they’re already going. And you’re moving on. So I find a lot of times with clients, you’re really yeah, you’re are advising them if they’re, if they’re trying to make a decision, and it’s, it’s something that could harm them or Sure, the bad down the road, but a lot of times what people are looking for is just for,
D.J. Paris 45:25
for confirmation that they’re not that they’re making the right decision. Yeah, right. Right. Right. It’s, it’s,
Ryan McKane 45:31
it’s interesting, but also to touch on that, again, I sound like an old man, but when I first got in the business, I feel like interior design trends used to last like 10 years now with Instagram, TV, everything, you know, now I feel like trends last three to five years. So try to chase the trends are planned that far ahead, your your, your, your broker instructed you in the right way, you know, do something neutral, do what you like, and right, that when you cross that bridge later.
D.J. Paris 46:08
So curious, if you had, you know, you’ve been in the business and in and around the business for 17 years now. Any advice for our listeners who are you know, and you’ve given a lot of advice already, but maybe for people who aren’t as busy, you know, who are even though there is a lot of activity going on. But you may not be seeing a lot of it yourself personally. For those people, you know, what would you suggest? Or what would you recommend for them to, you know, really set themselves up for success, you know, in the next few months.
Ryan McKane 46:42
Really, I think, again, I don’t think educating yourself, you know, can be you, I can’t state that enough, just knowing what’s going on in the market, investing in yourself, reading books, listening to podcasts, such as this learning everything that you can about real estate. But when it comes to the actual like acquiring of clients, you would be surprised at, you know, how many people that might be in your sphere, don’t actually know that you sell real estate. So just just reaching out to people and being consistent, I think that’s what really makes this business so hard is you you, you have to work consistently, and you have to work diligently for a long time, and you don’t see any results in trading. And that’s what kind of separate you that’s why I don’t know what the statistic is. But the average real estate agent, I think, only stays in the business like two years or less. But I think letting your sphere know, because you would be surprised at how many people in your sphere, especially depending on what age you are, if you’re just out of college, you know, you’d be surprised at how many people you know, might be looking to buy or sell a home. But also, you know, you might have that you might have that feeling like, you know, you don’t have any experience. So how are you going to get a listing or how you can get a buyer, you can always partner with an agent who’s been doing it longer, and they can help you out, just don’t be afraid to reach out to people. But the other thing that I actually like doing is, is for sale by owners. Because you’re well, these are people that are already have their hand raise and say that they want to sell and the problem is they don’t they think they know the market, they probably don’t, they probably don’t know, the little things that they shouldn’t be doing to sell their home, just knock on the door. And if anything, just offer value to them and say hey, here’s what’s going on the market don’t don’t go in it with like maybe even with the feeling of, of getting their listing, but at least offering some sort of helping you never know it might it might turn into it might turn into something but I feel like as long as you’re delivering some some value or some knowledge and even if you let’s just say that you you’ve been in the business only for a few months. Chances are you’ve probably know more than the average person if you’ve been spending time to invest in yourself and listen and educate yourself. But just being able to help people out and deliver value and reach out to you know, your sphere, your friends, your family. And that’s it it’s kind of it’s a little bit more difficult to do now that with that, you know with everything being so weird in everybody hair, face masks, but I I used to when I first got in the business, I would just go and work at a Starbucks with a laptop and I had a sticker on there. My step mom’s company’s name was winning properties. But we had a I had a waiting property sticker on my laptop and just a little label that said, if you have real estate questions asked me on the back of the laptop and I would get people that would come up To me and started asking me things and start asking me questions. And even now, um, last summer, Joel knows, I always, I used to always work from the Starbucks by that’s attached to the Cubs corporate office, sure, ever Redfin sticker on there. And I’d have people come up to me and ask me questions all the time there and, but even just, you know, just offering some sort of a, you know, some value to people, letting them know what’s going on in the market. But really, I feel like if you have no if you have no clients of your own, at this time, reaching out to your sphere, doing open houses for people, for other brokers in your office, just really doing anything, doing some sort of activity, just a to get your your name out there and get yourself out there is going to be beneficial.
D.J. Paris 50:51
And also, you said this very quickly, but I just want to reiterate this point about calling for sale by owners or expired listings, which, for our listeners, you can purchase these leads, there are many, many tech companies that will provide this data to you for a very reasonable price. These are not expensive marketing decisions, and they’ll send you you know, a daily list of all the expireds or the fizz bows in your area. And I would be very curious. I don’t know if there’s any statistics that are rapid or reliable, but I’m curious to know how many for sale by owners end up listing with a realtor, I would be very cautious because the the challenge, of course, is that, you know, most homeowners want to overvalue I am guilty of it as well. When I when I sold a condo five or six years ago, I I absolutely overpriced it. And I knew that I was overpricing it. And I couldn’t stop myself. Because Because I you know, I wasn’t I shouldn’t I should have I should have gotten some more opinions. And as soon as I lowered the price, it’s all. But the point is, is that, you know, this is a natural inclination of anyone, anyone who is selling a home. And so if somebody’s thinks they’re doing it themselves, the yes, you might call them out on a cold call, or you might go knock on the door. And they might say, I don’t want to work with a realtor. That’s why I’m doing this myself. I totally understand Mr. or Mrs. Seller. And then but you could say, but I did have an idea for you or I did I was thinking about you and I wanted to give this to you, instead of just well list with me because they’re gonna likely say I don’t want to list with you, I’m doing it myself. But providing value, as Ryan said, is really the key. And a lot of them end up listing with a realtor. So
Ryan McKane 52:27
yeah, I don’t know what the stat is either. Because I don’t know if there’s a way to really quantify it. I can say this again, you know, not to sound like Adam Sandler and waterboy. But my stepmom, you tell me, you know, when I first got in the business, you know, fizz bows are the easiest, you know, client to get, in a sense, because they already have their hand raised, they’re already telling people they want to sell. And I used to do stupid things, like I think it was I learned it from the Tom Hopkins tapes that are how old these things were, is actually on tape. But I would make flyers for the seller for their home and drop them off. Like they’d be color printed. And, you know, they look great. And I would just drop them off and say, hey, you know, obviously you’re trying to sell I don’t know if you have any fliers or marketing material. But here’s something I came up with. And, you know, I think I actually got a few fizz bows early on, in my mid in my early on in my career, just doing that. Just creating little things like that you can even without, you know, without having to go in the home, if they are on a website or anything like that you can create, you know, you can create flyers, you can create all kinds of marketing materials for them. And you know, you never know it could it could turn into something. So
D.J. Paris 53:59
in the last few minutes that we have, I would really love to chat, this could be a much longer conversation. So I’ll ask just for a shortened conversation around it. And I’m apologize for for running low on time. But we’d love to hear about mindset because I just think ultimately, that is what really gets you through the day it what’s it’s what gets you started and ends the day and being really really careful and guarded almost about what’s going in, what what you’re ruminating on, and how to set yourself up just for the highest level of energy and success. Because it is we all know everyone listening or watching knows this is a difficult business. It’s not impossible, but it is not easy. And it’s actually quite challenging, but it’s ultra ultra rewarding to but I’m curious if you have any thoughts about mindset and just sort of what you do to stay motivated and stay positive and productive.
Ryan McKane 54:57
Sure. And I again, I could probably go on all day. About this, but anybody, I think it really it all, you know, your next day starts the night before you know figuring out what you’re going to do the next day and putting out a task list. Anybody who follows me on on social media knows that I get up really early, I’m usually up about quarter five. And I first thing I do is I go for a walk, I walked through the lake, I always like to see the sun coming up, I jokingly say, I made a bet with the sun that every single day I was going to be waking up. And so but actually, I should say the first thing I do every morning and I posted it I posted at the end of the year. Very first thing I do when I get out of bed is I write out my goals. Three times I there’s nothing magical about that. It’s just, it’s just I like
D.J. Paris 55:51
to but there isn’t a way something slightly magical about it. Because for some reason, it actually works in a weird way something happens, especially if you’re able to put pen to paper. I don’t know why that that matters. And if you do it digitally, that’s fine. But there is something about writing out your goals that does something and it’s almost an invisible unmeasurable thing. But there’s something that does actually get activated by doing that.
Ryan McKane 56:19
Yeah. And I think to your point, there is something about actually writing it and I forget what the term is. Somebody said that writing by hand is I want to, I want to say it’s autonomic. I don’t that’s probably not even a word. But they said basically, like when you have to write something versus typing it, it forces your brain to think more, think more about it and focus more on it. So I write out my goals three times a day, I go for a walk, I go to the lake, I watch the sun come up. I’m a huge, huge fan of audiobooks and obviously podcasts but I, I really I listen to a lot of music, but I mostly I try to listen to as many audiobooks as I can. And what I’ll do is I’ll pick up books for a month and listen to that book as many times through for a month straight. And just really kind of saturate my mind with it. But a really good one that I highly recommend, which was perfect timing was when the when the last dance documentary came out. There’s a book called relentless by Tim Grover, which is Tim Grover is Michael Jordan and LeBron and Kobe Bryant’s trainer, and I was already listening. I had already listened to that book about seven times already before the documentary came out. It was just interesting to me to see what he was talking about in that book be played out in like, come to fruition on that documentary. It was very interesting to me. But this sounds really lame and cheesy, but it’s how I how I approach things. You know, I I’ve long given up my dreams of becoming an athlete unless the bears need a 39 year old back who can’t throw which we are. But I treat I treat my life and I treat my business kind of like an athlete. And if you if you train like an athlete, you’re constantly, you know, like Kobe, Jordan. LeBron, they were constantly studying game film, but that’s looking at market stats that’s look at the market seeing what’s going on. That’s like my studying game film. listening to books on on negotiating or any anything I can do to get that competitive edge. Is is the way I look at it and it kind of it kind of reinvigorates my excitement about the about the business especially this time of the year. I’ve it’s not a brag it’s just kind of how I approach things. I don’t take any days off from January to August. Well, this year, I haven’t taken any days off from January till today. I don’t take any days off. I probably need to my last day where I did not have to look at my phone and have it near me was Christmas. But it really it really does help kind of reinvigorate you and helps keep you focused if you if you approach it in that way that hey, much like I often compare the Chicago real estate season to a baseball season because it’s long. It’s you know, nine to 10 months until we get into the fall and winter. And you say you’re going to stay focused and stay excited about it. You’ve got to find out those little things that keep you engaged. that keep you checked in. And I think that’s really important is just, you know, feeding your mind with with positive have positive information I work out, I go to the gym every single day. And while I’m at the gym, I’m listening audiobooks I’m listening to, yes, I very rarely, if ever listen to music while I’m working out. And I just think, you know, it’s, you know, the whole adage, the old adage, garbage in, garbage out, if you’re constantly feeding your mind with with good information with positivity, you’re gonna, you know, you’re you’re gonna, it’s just gonna, you’re kind of gonna just mold it, and it’s gonna come out in your life. That’s really how I how I look at it. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 1:00:32
I think that was really perfectly said and a great place to wrap up. For Brian, before we do, I want to make sure that that all of our listeners know because not everyone who listens or watches this, this show is an agent, some are buyers, sellers, renters investors, who are looking for top agents, we hear this every, which was completely unexpected for me when I started the show. I never thought non eight real estate agents would would be interested in the show. And then I realized, Oh, they’re listening because they want to work with top agents, because we’re a show of interviewing top agents. So it actually does sometimes generate business for agents, which is not the reason why Ryan’s here on the show. But I do. But I do want to make sure that anyone who’s listening who wants to work with Ryan here in the Chicagoland area knows how to get in touch. Ryan, what’s the best way somebody who is looking to work with you a top 1% producer here in the area? How should they reach out to you?
Ryan McKane 1:01:28
First of all, I didn’t even know I was a type one. You are? No, I had no idea. I’m probably my cell phone. So I just get my number. Sure. It’s 708-668-6613 Also follow me on Instagram. I’m RPM Chicago and not like the restaurants or I should say I’m not the restaurant, but it is like the restaurant. And funny enough. Bill ransack actually grew up not too far from where I grew up, just you know, less than a half a mile away. We both went to the same high school. Oh, that’s funny. Of course. He’s one of the owners of
D.J. Paris 1:02:08
RPM of rpm. Yeah. Well, Ryan, thank you so much for being on the show, really appreciate it. Appreciate all the kind words you said about about our show, but also all the information you provided. It was really, really valuable. And I appreciate. And on behalf of the listeners, we want to thank you for your time, you know, and I know how busy you are because you don’t take days off. And and so I appreciate you taking a little a little bit of time to do this to help to give back to to the community and the real estate industry at large. So thank you. And on behalf of Ryan and myself to everyone who is listening or watching, we also say thank you for continuing to support our show, we ask you just to do two quick things before you go or maybe the next as soon as you turn this off, you can do it. But number one is tell a friend think of another agent that could benefit from having heard this interview with Ryan and send them a link or maybe it’s a buyer or a seller in the Chicagoland area that’s looking for a top producer, right send it to send it to them. But tell a friend and then the second thing is to follow us on Facebook please follow up find us@facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod. This is where we post all of our episodes we every single day we find an articles written by someone online designed to help agents grow their business, we post that there we don’t post anything else only good information to help you grow. So anyway, please find us again on Facebook. Ryan, thank you so much. It was a real pleasure. Excited to continue to watch your your growth in this market in this area. And thanks again.
Ryan McKane 1:03:41
Likewise. Thank you and again like yeah, if there’s a new agent, listen to this. I mean, this podcast is I’m not just saying it because I’m on it, but it’s an invaluable resource. And I wish I wish I had something like this rather than a than a stepmom beating me and
D.J. Paris 1:04:02
beating you beating you up clearly worked. So we honor her as well. We we honored your stepmom because she she got she helped you and I liked the fact that she didn’t coddle you and there wasn’t really any nepotism. Yeah, I was like you’re doing it all yourself. I love that.
Ryan McKane 1:04:17
She definitely did not do that. Well, I
D.J. Paris 1:04:20
on behalf of of Ryan and myself again, thank you to everyone watching and listening. And well. A little shout out to Ryan’s my stepmom as well for helping get them on the right path in real estate. So, Ryan, thanks again. It was a real pleasure. Likewise, DJ Thank you
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