The sky is falling! The real estate sky is falling! A bit dramatic? We agree! This episode covers lots of interesting new technology and potential changes to the way we buy and sell real estate. We dive into the topic we hear about within the industry so frequently, DISRUPTION. We aren’t afraid and we don’t want you to be either, but we do want you to be prepared! Come learn ways to stay relevant in the ever changing real estate transaction. Find out how you can confidently speak to consumers about the NEW stuff out there in the real estate world.

The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.

0:00
Do you want to just read it since you’re up to date with her

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on I mean, I’m making this up as I go. Oh, it’s recording. You know me, guys making it up as I go.

0:12
Hi y’all welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market. We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop

0:27
comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hi, all it’s episode 29.

0:33
Almost 30 We’re always there. It’s a

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big milestone.

0:38
It is a big milestone. They all are. Usually you have a big 30th birthday party. Oh, okay. I did. You did?

0:45
What did you do?

0:46
I had everybody over at our house and we had a strawberry daiquiri machine love and we had a jumpy thing. Yeah, it was really fun.

0:56
You were gonna die. For my 30th birthday. Only adults were present. Yes. Also had a Jambi. Oh my gosh, what the big slide and my parents got on and everything. It was so great.

1:07
So we’re that’s where we are right now in podcast life. We’re almost 30

1:13
I guess. Yeah, you’re right. Is that like dog years or something?

1:16
Yeah, I don’t know. I have to push the button. set our timer, please. Okay, well, your timing. Okay. I know you’re very passionate about today’s topic. So why don’t you introduce that I am

1:27
so excited. You didn’t name the episode. And I love the name and it is called the power of people. But really what we’re going to talk about, I mean, that’s what we’re going to talk about is disruption, the D word and Zillow, and all things tech buyer seller related that people are shaking in their boots over

1:51
realtors are going to disappear.

1:53
Realtors are gonna go. The podcast is over at episode 29. There are no more realtors, we’ve all fallen off the face of the earth and been replaced by a robot.

2:04
Yes, there are. There’s one company that does that

2:08
will talk about it. And in doing our research for this episode, we did learn lots of interesting tech things that are going on in the real estate world. And if you are not living under a rock, and you are a realtor, someone has told you or you have read or seen something that told you, you were going to be replaced by a robot or a computer or a website named Zillow.

2:32
And I know that when we were talking, we said this is really goes back again to mindset. This is a mindset problem that’s going throughout the industry where people are living in fear about the future and what’s going to happen. It’s that poverty mindset going on,

2:48
for sure. And I will tell you, every year I watch Brian, the Finis bold predictions have already brought it up once before, if you want to go comes out in December every year, if you want to go and watch this video, they are so great to put you in the right mindset. And in this particular one, he covers this in great detail. And he puts up on the board. And I wrote it down for y’all. The definition of disruption. Okay, are you ready? Yeah. To change the traditional way that an industry operates, especially in a new and effective way.

3:24
So it’s positive? Yeah.

3:26
I mean, you know, what, Uber, that’s like a disruption and they get Netflix is a disruption, like these things can be, you know, industries are being disrupted by technology, but it’s making it easier for the consumer, right. So I think and he, you know, he went into great detail, and he’s so eloquent. And he really talked it through. And if you have a minute, or 45 go with this, go and watch the bold predictions that he did at the end of 2019. They were very good. But the point is, we’re just, it’s a scare tactic that other I don’t even know why other realtors do it to each other. They’re afraid that they’re going to be replaced by Zillow and the eye buyer and that someone’s going to come along and buy their house online. You know, no realtors will be necessary. And I cannot even begin to list the number of questions that I answer for my clients, buyers and sellers every day that a computer system cannot answer. Right? It’s just impossible. So I have no fear.

4:26
Yeah, I mean, I read an article that said realtors are not under threat, but they must adapt.

4:32
i That’s great. And I made a note that I don’t think that we should be resistant to change your progress. But we also don’t need to live in fear of change or progress. Like we need to embrace what’s happening. Find a way to use it. Make sure that you are constantly evaluating what your value proposition is. Right? And that’s one of those fancy things they tell you to think of when you’re taking a class about your business. But why are You better than a computer? Why are you better than Zillow? What to Expect able to use words to explain that because consumers don’t understand if you don’t explain it to them,

5:10
right. Do you want to talk about Zillow first? Yeah,

5:14
cuz we’re sort of going to beat up on them. Yeah. And Lee Brown talks about Zillow in front of the Zillow rep at the last realtor thing we had in Baton Rouge. And she came and spoke, and it cracked me up because she’s like, I mean, you know, I got the Zillow guy over here, she’s not gonna like this. The truth is, Zillow is a business and a very good one who is adapting and changing with the market. And realtors are always complaining and moaning about other realtors giving up our data to Zillow, right, and that they gave away the power and then they paid Zillow to have their own leads. And we’ve created this monster. And while I do agree that we gave them the money, so we did build that business, I mean that

5:56
and are continuing by paying for leads that could surely ours for sure.

6:01
But I think what I wrote down, and what I feel is that controlling the data isn’t where our power and leverage is, as good agents, the knowledge that we have, and our ability to provide advice is where our power and leverages

6:17
even if you have the data, the public doesn’t know how to properly interpret, oh, they have no clue how

6:23
to create a market report, how to understand days on the market, how to understand list price, the sold price, how to understand the nuance between one listing to another, they don’t even understand why small houses in the same neighborhood with big houses have a higher price per square foot. It’s too it’s too complicated. There is education required in being a good real estate professional, me you have to learn you have to be able to talk to these things. And I know that we have a lot of newer agent listeners who probably are a little fearful and not as confident in their knowledge. But that’s something you can grow every day, literally today, you can go where you’re listening. Yeah, that’s step one. You can go and learn something about market reports or CMAs. Or, you know, data that you can interpret for your clients and then you will have the confidence to say Zillow can’t help you and I looked up before the show. Zillow memes are my favorite. Yeah, me so hilarious. And the best. I mean, there’s so many good ones, but one of the best ones was and you can just Google Zillow means and there’s like a bajillion. But you remember the dosa keys guy? Yeah, he’s got, I don’t always need to know the value of my home at the top. And underneath it says, but when I do, I consult with a walking, talking warm blooded real estate professional in my area, instead of a computer algorithm, which cannot possibly identify and isolate all the unique variables of my home for comparative purposes.

7:55
Very thorough explanation, but Hello, Altru. Yeah, and I don’t really even hate. I don’t hate

8:02
bill. I don’t hate Zillow either.

8:05
Like, it’s just another thing. And there’s so many other websites, if it wasn’t Zillow, and it was something that would be something and there are others. I mean, the data is the data. And it’s the facts. And it’s like, you still need someone I mean, I have sellers that send me comps on their home, right. And at the listing appointment, I may have to explain why we can’t use that comp, or what the difference was or why an appraiser won’t use that car. So there’s just a lot of things that that we cannot be cut out. But I think it’s important not to be naive by and that in some of this stuff, can actually make our job easier for sure.

8:46
If we eliminate the search part of the process, and if buyers and buyers are so savvy now, they’re gonna get on every website. Now I do have to tell my buyer sometimes because they think they’re going to find different houses on different websites. Right, right. And I’m like, no, no, pretty much all the states all the same. There’s either little houses that are listed, or there’s for sale by owner houses, right? There are no other secret places, right? They either have an agent they’re like, or they don’t where do you find the foreclosures? I’m like, they’re listed on the MLS. They’re all they’re all there. So every website that pulls MLS feed is going to have them. So I think that it’s nice that buyers can do that research because guess what, maybe they’re going to do the drive bys. Maybe they’re gonna start to see I’d rather buy or come to me with a list of 10 houses they’ve actually already thought about sure then made a try to figure out what they need. Yeah, the hard part of this is going to see the house and trying to figure out what would you offer? What What should I be worried about? What are the red flags in person in this house that you couldn’t possibly see in a photo or No, as a buyer, right? I mean, you would I have a transaction right now, where my buyers were like, what? Why do I need to get the trees check them like friends? These are very old, very large trees. I think it best while we’re in the inspection, you just haven’t checked out. Maybe these trees are fun. But that whole department that started all this Yep, it was huge you got to do that’s important. It’s important. So you are able to do that part? Well, kind of

10:21
talking about how you said buyers are like, Well, where do we look? How do we find the secret listings? There are some companies that are buying houses, right? And then selling them right as their own? Well, because they own them. Right. So one example would be open door, right? So open door buys houses, okay. They make you an offer, it says that they make you a competitive offer?

10:42
I bet you’re using the term competitive pretty loosely.

10:46
I would agree with that. And then they list them. And open door, they’re not listed in MLS, I don’t believe Okay, and so if a buyer wants to see them, they just go up to the door, scan their driver’s license, they get a code or something, and they get access to the home. And there’s other I’m sure there’s other things, they’ll opt in that thing in any of these houses? I don’t think so. So you’re not going to get

11:15
you’re not going to use this method as a seller.

11:18
I have heard that builders are liking this. I can see why. You know, it’s I mean, it’s still to me, it’s a risk for like theft, and yeah, and things like that. But, for example, open door may have listings on their website that is not on for sale by owner or Zillow or anywhere else. It’s only on them because they only advertise their houses. Yeah. But they’re also the houses that they bought, because the seller couldn’t sell them. Right. What are the odds of you wanting it? Or that

11:45
they? Right, right, right. And they don’t buy them for market value, my understanding of this, they buy them for drastically under market value. So if you approach if you go to a listing appointment, and the seller asks you, well, I heard about this I buy or maybe I’m just gonna go that route. What Brian said to to do was say, oh, okay, great. Would you mind if I bought your house? And they’ll say, no. Why? Well, I’d be happy to match the offer of the eye buyer. Because they’re 20 to 30%. Typically, under market value. Well as a as a realtor, I know that I can turn around and sell your home for more than that. So I would love the opportunity to buy your home. And then immediately it’s like light bulbs, right? Because we wait, I didn’t think about it. Right. So I of course, if you list it for that price to the public, it would sell right? Well, it’s so do you want to just give away your equity and or I mean, and that’s fine. If you are in some sort of duress, or you don’t want to get your house ready for sale. But I still think why wouldn’t you try?

12:46
Yeah. And I think that’s kind of who these people might be targeted, I know is are the ones that are in distress. They don’t have funds to make repairs needed. This is a way out. They’ll take a loss and call it a day.

12:57
I mean, you have to think about all the people that get foreclosed on. Sometimes you come across a foreclosure and you think why why didn’t they just try to sell this house? Like it is perplexing, but you know what? Typically, those are, they’re in financial trouble for some reason. It’s embarrassing. Maybe they don’t know their options, and they just say forget it and like leave and then they houses you know, foreclosed on. Yeah. So

13:22
well, there’s a couple other things that I found on the National Association of REALTORS website. I’m going to cover them real quick. Uh huh. So Rex real estate is actually replacing Realtors with robots. Like rolling robots rolling robot, I’ve seen the thing that’s so funny. So the robot

13:43
has like a screen for a face I think okay, kind of like having a FaceTime. Okay, like there might be someone or something out in the cloud. They’re helping you but the robots rolling through the house

13:55
and wonder what if you’re seeing five houses does it drive does it have to get in your car?

13:58
I you know, I didn’t research it that I don’t think it gets in your car. What a crack up that if you had to take the robot around town with you. I think it’s it probably would happen in like a new construction or Yeah, but the robot is in that house. Right? Like they’re not leaving. It’s just you’re selling the house with the robot. Okay, my just your house.

14:19
And then Amazon is getting into the real estate market a little bit before

14:23
you get into it while like literally 30 minutes ago while we were preparing. This is the text message I received. Amazon real estate brokerage takeover in 2020. What’s the future of real estate agents and brokerages in your county? Local agents fight back now. And then there’s a website to click on. As to stop. Wow, I want to I why that’s funny, but tell us what Amazon is doing. Well, they’re

14:50
doing a couple things. First, you can buy a house on Amazon now love it. You have to assemble it though. But they range anywhere from $4,000 up to six Oh wow. 1000 So if you wanted a she shed in your backyard, yeah, like a manufactured style home. But uh, yeah, but they look cute. They look like little cottages. Some of them are very modern, they have some modern with sleek lines and stuff on. And then they are also building smart houses equipped with all of the Alexa technology in the house in the house. So they’re doing a little bit of building their own, or you could buy one and build it and stuff like that. But it mentioned that they might do some mortgage lending and insurance at some point. Why would they have it? Why not? They haven’t come up with it yet, though. Okay, so it’s out there. It’s a possibility. Yep. And then there was one called ribbon that which is more of a disruptor, maybe, possibly in the lending industry, but not really, because you still have to get a traditional mortgage. But basically, it’s for competitive markets where you’re constantly being beat out by cash offers. Yeah, so what happens is, you borrow the money from ribbon, okay, and they charge 1.95% of the purchase price, okay? Is their fee, and then you buy the house with cash, okay. And then after you buy the house, you basically get a loan. So it’s kind of like a traditional short term loan to short term loan to help you pay cash for house and

16:15
when very interesting, did they say what markets that was coming in or not. And that’s very interesting. But there’s

16:21
just one more, um, let’s see, oh, up nest, Nest is puts agents against agents. So you go in and you enter, like, I want someone that is experienced in this or that this is important to me. And then they give you like, three, and it lists their percentages and stuff next to them, which I’m not sure how that works. But anyway,

16:43
like basically like their commission percentage, yeah.

16:47
Oh, my God, I don’t understand really pay. But then you just, it’s basically making the agents compete for you. So the consumers like I want to be fought for and I want people to slash their fees and stuff like that. So those are the those are the major ones that we don’t really see any of any of this really going on in our market here in Baton Rouge yet, but I know what’s going on in other places like my sister lives in Texas and open door there. They have listings in Texas, she came across them. Yeah. Okay. So what’s happening out there? It’s you have to be aware. And you know, it just means it’s coming. Wherever you are. Yeah, out there. Now it’s coming for you. Yeah. But it’s not doom and gloom? No, it’s not just gonna figure it out. The end will survive. The strong will survive in the end. Right. So that’s

17:30
what we talked about before we got on. And the truth is, the top agents will stay. Yes, the middle to bottom could likely get pushed out if these things continue. So it is important to hone your craft and have knowledge and have value and provide consistent customer experiences. Because a computer or whatever technology or robot isn’t going to replace your specific, like, client experience.

18:03
There are just some things that robots and technology cannot do. Oh,

18:07
Zillow has never been inside of your house. That is my other favorite meme. When the seller says oh, well, my Zestimate said, you know, a million dollars, but they’re in a $300,000 house. Well, Zillow hasn’t been in your house, right? The other meme, the Zillow meme I loved Have you seen some of these Desperate Housewives with the cat? Yes. Like it’s the Desperate Housewives. And then it’s like the cat either side. This one is. Zillow said My house is worth 400,000. And then the cat says 150. Just so funny, but it’s true. And I think that it’s important as agents that we have talking points when our clients because they’re gonna mention this, Do not bury your head in the sand and pretend like it’s not happening, right? Be educated on what an eye buyer is be educated on what you know. Zestimates and that someone might mention that and what are you going to say when they say well, as estimate said, 30,000 more than what you’re telling me? You better have some data to back that up why you picked that number,

19:08
right? And they were saying in 2018 40% of all home sales were millennials. Wow. 40%. Holy, they were saying that because of that, that’s what’s bringing on this, I want it now. Okay, they want everything to not only be quick, but they want it to be automated, right? They want systems in place. They want to be guided through the process. So this is kind of a place to as a realtor, if you don’t have like templates going out to your customers explaining the process along the way, right? If you’re waiting on them to come to you and ask you all the questions because they haven’t been guided. Like you really have to say where’s my value in this transaction and my guiding them Am I explaining how this works? What’s going on? Yeah, so it’s really just evaluating what what what am I Doing that impresses the consumer and shows my value. All

20:03
right. And I think as I’ve gotten each with each passing year, I’m more and more know my value and I’m less than less afraid of Zillow or any type of disruption. Yeah, because I know what I’m providing to each of my clients cannot be duplicated by technology or machine. I know that the knowledge I’ve built over 14 years in a specific market cannot be duplicated by an algorithm because I understand the nuance between having a cell tower in your backyard versus the house across the street that’s on the lake less. It’s not, it’s not something that a computer can understand. Because every single house is different. And even, and there are plenty of things that I can’t explain to sellers, but I have a way better chance at it than a computer does.

20:49
Well, I think it’s important that you’re prepared, like you said, to answer those questions. Yeah. When not when you’re at your kids soccer game, and someone is like, what do you think about the Zillow stuff? Or have you heard of open door? To just be able to confidently say, right, yeah, I think that’s very interesting. You know, I don’t think that it’s totally accurate. And I, you know, I don’t think it will replace the human that would actually come look at your home, but I find it interesting, right? I was Oh, no fear show.

21:15
Nope, exactly.

21:16
You don’t have to show scared not show fear. Yeah,

21:19
I mean, well, right. And I think it’s very, most people that are homeowners are going to have questions for you about real estate. And they are going to then when they say something like that also say, you know, I want to be able to, I wouldn’t even dare to tell you the value of your home before I saw it. Right, right. I

21:34
won’t. I won’t either. Sometimes even at the listen when I’m in their house, and they’re like, so what would you listen for? I tell them. I did preliminary data research. Yep. I had not seen your house before I came here. I like to leave here, go back to that research, send you a market analysis? Because I can’t just come here and stick a number on it. Yeah.

21:55
I mean, I typically will do something similar. I do the pre I hate when people want to know all the numbers before I go on. And I try never to do that, right. But in some cases, they can decide that they want to sell it all. And so then it’s almost like you kind of have to give a little but I typically do my market report. And I’ll just have, what I have to do is get really specific on the CMA and write in this house had new floors, this house had a new kitchen, whatever, when I go and then I see there’s one particular incident, I went to that they had a nice couple call me off of a postcard I sent to their neighborhood. They said they you know, had a house, it was their parents house the parents had passed on and they wanted to sell the house. And could I come and meet with them and the brothers, you know, to see what it would be worth and I’m like, Sure, no problem. Well, I did all of the like market report and preliminary numbers. And let’s just say it would have been 300 to 325. Well, I got to the house. And it was like frozen in time. Oh my gosh, like the carpet and there was a living room and the carpet. Carpet in the living room first of all, and it was green. Oh, no. And then there was like, you know, the wallpaper border and the black and white linoleum tile in the kitchen. And this house, I think was built in the 90s. But I mean, man, yeah, it was just everything was exactly as it was. And it wasn’t in bad condition. But it wasn’t in good. And it was just and as soon as I saw it, I was like, Oh, man. Yeah, like these numbers are not. No houses in this neighborhood have sold looking like this. No. And so I had to tell them, Look, if you have the means, it’s probably not going to take you more than $25,000 to make this house market ready at 350. But if you don’t have the means you’re probably going to have to sell it for 275. Right. So it was like if you got money, you got to fix this thing. Right? Right. Well, that was a really funny situation because they said okay, great. We have the money in the in you know the state. We’ll just fix it up how you tell us to wow. And then we’ll sell it. Well, after they fixed it up. One of the three kids decided they wanted it. Oh, wow. It looks so much better. Yeah. Is this a great house? It was a great house. So they bought the house. They did not even cut me out though. And they totally cut

24:14
up. I was like, wow, you know what I think is funny, and I see this a lot. realtors will share their listing from Zillow. So instead of their personal website or their company website, they share the Zillow link. Right. So you click on it and it says For Sale 300,000 Zestimate 280. Yeah, and it’s like don’t put that out there that don’t share that link. Which

24:35
did you do on your own list? Yeah.

24:37
So now you’re like advertising that you’re asking 300,000 But Zillow thinks you’re overpriced by 20. Right?

24:44
I think we have to assume most buyers go there, but don’t point them there.

24:48
Yeah, Anna just makes your listing look bad. The Zestimate is I agree

24:52
and it’s very hard. And look, I’ve even had to have that conversation with sellers before like, Hey, I know that your house is worth 300 You know, your house is worth three times under this estimate says 280 just want you to be mindful, the buyers are gonna see that right? I can’t control that number. I can’t change it, I can’t. But we need to you need to know that might be why people make the offers that they make. And then you just, you know, send back your calendar with your comps and maybe they come to their senses, right? But you have to just you have to you can’t pretend like it doesn’t exist. That’s the other like, you just you have to talk to sellers about it. You have to talk to buyers about it. I suite buyers, and they go to Zillow, and they’re like, oh, Katie, but I found this house that I haven’t seen anywhere else I’m like, do to do to do on the MLS? Yes, ma’am. It sold three months ago, or do you do to do it was withdrawn two weeks ago? You know, it was expired. Zillow has data is not

25:45
perfect. Yeah, it’s very hard to orgeous house and it would only pull pictures from when the house was not gorgeous, like six years ago. So how did you we could not get it? Correct. It’s we eventually did, but it took like a week. Yeah, I mean, to get it all fixed. There were things that I, you know, I couldn’t figure out but I ended up getting it. You know, thank goodness to the realtors out there. I did learn this.

26:16
Hello, hustle humbly friends. Hi, guys, we have an exciting announcement. It’s very exciting. We are going to officially be selling our email template. Yes. And here’s the

26:26
good news. It’s going to be in the form of a course. So if you want to tackle making your own template, or if you want to see how we’ve done ours and use them, there’ll be some additional information beyond just the template itself. So basically, you’ll have all

26:41
of our templates that we use throughout the transactions that go to buyer sellers, lenders, everything that you need. Yeah. And then you will be able to edit it to fit your marketplace.

26:51
Correct. And it’ll be life changing. You might even fire your assistant, maybe so who knows? Okay, so tell them how they can get on the waitlist for these templates.

27:02
You need to go to hustle humbly? podcast.com. That’s easy. We have a lot of people on this waitlist.

27:09
I know they’ve been asking. Yes, it’s we’re working on it. We’re coming very soon. Yes, hopefully March. Stay tuned.

27:17
Thanks, goodbye. There’s a very small button on the listings that you can click, if you are the homeowner, okay. They respond much quicker, because what I was trying to fix my own listing, and it was taking forever, because I’m not a premier agent, because I don’t pay you’re like dirt. So I wasn’t getting priority, right? Well, my seller could go say she was the homeowner and it was fixed immediately. Ah, so it’s like they’re catering to the public. So now I have an error on one of my listings. I log out of all my stuff. And and then you lose my house. And this is wrong. And it’s fixed almost immediately. So there’s a good little hack. Great tip and check your new construction listings, because they are not right on the map. Oh, they’re not right on the map.

28:08
Yeah, I guess that’s a good point. Make sure that your listings are being input with all the correct data. Yeah,

28:13
even if it’s not like we don’t input on Zillow, but maybe when they pull it, it’s not right. So you need to be sure that you’re checking your data everywhere. Yeah, I have to laugh on the on our MLS, when it pulls tax record, like you can click the tax autofill and it’ll pull over all the information. Well, it just says everything is an acre. Right. But everything is not gonna be nice. You need to be able to correct that stuff. Well, one of the other trends that was coming up was like, real estate offices being in the cloud, the offices are going away, people are getting rid of your traditional brick and mortar. And we’re seeing that certainly here in Baton Rouge. Yeah, what do you think?

28:54
Um, I, the I have thoughts. And I think that I’m trying to see if it comes before I think so we recorded the you know what to do before you get your license and how to interview a broker. So brokers are hot on my mind. Sure. I don’t know how you work with a broker in the cloud. Logistically, okay. Like if you had questions, or if you were being sued, God forbid, or if you were having to go to the board for a mediation or arbitration, who shows up for that,

29:22
like, wow, like, and I guess they have someone But how well do you know that person? Do you feel comfortable with them fighting? Yeah,

29:30
if you’re in a sticky situation, but you’re not yet in a complaint? Like it hasn’t gotten that far. Like how do you it would be nice to have some humans and an office? Yeah. Where you could go and get well

29:41
because there’s no office. A lot of them don’t hold any deposit checks. Oh, that’s right. And I feel like that’s kind of a disservice to the seller. Well, okay. I know the purchase agreement reads you still have a right to pursue legal action and stuff, but at least the deposit is some skin in the game even There are deposits are kind of a joke.

30:01
Well, that’s the problem. First, I think the tosses are a joke. They’re a joke if you’re not yet $1,000 minimum.

30:08
So that’s that. So for those of you not in Louisiana, we are in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the standard deposit is $1,000. It doesn’t matter what the price of the home is, I get deposits for 250 200. I just got one for 100 bucks. And I wanted to be like, that’s not even worth putting one here.

30:24
No, I don’t want to collect it. And I’ll tell you why it’s not worth it in case you’re in another market. If there is a dispute, our broker cannot dispute if I’m the listing agent, my broker cannot disperse the deposit. If there’s a dispute between the parties, they have to turn it into the court, and the court determines it. And that has court fees associated. So if you’re under $500, and under, you might be fighting over 50 bucks, right? Like you might be fighting over $100. If there isn’t even $1,000 deposit, the buyer who walked away did wrongly doesn’t get it back either. No. Well, I

30:58
know. So in a way, it still gives a little bit of skin in the game, I guess. It might be like 1000 I think

31:03
I like a deposit. If it’s 1000 or more. Yeah, I do want to feel like the buyer is serious enough to write that check whether or not I know they’re gonna get back for pretty much everything. And I tell the seller that make sure you guys are telling your seller that up front, because they will be confused and think the buyer, you know, got worked up in the inspection and cancelled for what the seller considers to be no reason and they think they get the $1,000. Right. That’s not how it works. So I but but the fact that they don’t have a broker that can even hold a deposit is an interesting situation. So even if that agent felt like a deposit, what if you’re in a multiple offer situation? Let’s take it there. Yeah. So there’s multiple offers from different offices, not all in the cloud, some in the cloud, and someone’s offering a $2,000 deposit all other terms the same and someone’s offering no deposit because their broker can’t deal with it, then I mean, like, wouldn’t that make a difference? Right? But I guess if you’re listing it, there, they won’t take a

32:04
deposit. No. You try to offer a good deposit. And they’re like, No, we don’t hold deposits. We can’t do it. It seems like if you had an attorney seller, they would be like, Oh, why is the deposit blank? Like I want a deposit? Yeah, I want the buyer to put up something just feels like you’re not serious. I know. I just don’t know. I wish deposits as a whole were taken more seriously. But I think not having them at all just makes it like yeah,

32:27
and in other markets is totally different with escrow and the way that the transaction is done. It’s just, yeah,

32:34
I have I have always been heavily recruited, because of the companies that are such a strong proponent of revenue sharing, and recruiting. And here’s my thoughts on it. I want to sell real estate, right? I don’t want a side hustle. Like, I don’t want to be like to me, that’s a whole other job. And some of these Yeah, these have training on recruiting, they’re training you to recruit they’re like trained to sell real estate. Yeah, right. Instead of having a lunch and learn on making money off of other people just go make your own money and buy rental property or so why doesn’t

33:13
why doesn’t a broker want one agent that sells 30 houses instead of 30 agents that sell one house?

33:20
I know, I don’t have a lot to keep track of. But my thing is because I had someone very strongly tried to sell me on it. And I’m like, I know you just want me under you don’t get the number. You just want my numbers. You want me to fund your retirement nothing? Because that’s the dream they’re selling they’re selling? Yeah, look, you know, real estate doesn’t have a lot of benefits. So what you do is you recruit, and by the time you’re 60, you have all these people under you, and then you can retire. But let me tell you this, I am not basing my retirement on the production of other people. Right, my retirement is going to be in my own hands based off of the rental properties that I bought selling real estate. Yeah. And I’m not going to be sad if if Susie quit real estate, and now my retirement check is going to be a little bit smaller, because seven of the 10 people that I recruited didn’t make it right. And I spent all that time recruiting and launching and copying and you know, and then I, and it’s one of those things to where they do promise the big numbers. Yep. But if you actually do the math, you have to have a lot of people under you to travel the world and not work anymore retire. So I personally don’t like it because it makes me feel icky. When somebody tries to recruit me under that model, because it lets me know you’re just trying to get my numbers under you so that you can one day not work and travel the world, right? Take all this effort and go sell real estate and make money and do it. Do it. Control it yourself instead of using other money made it feels like it makes people like a commodity. Yeah. Oh, I’m

34:57
just they’re moving bodies around.

34:59
And I Be honest, I’m passionate about it because I am. I’m I went through a phase where I was borderline harassed. It can be harassing one day, this was like three years ago. In one hour, I got three or four Facebook messages. They were in a class. And they they were. And they all kind of said the same thing. It said, like, hey, Alyssa, how are you? Oh, that your dog is so cute. You know, so all the fluff that they tell you, and then they go in for the punch line. And they’re like, Oh, I’d love to meet you for coffee and tell you about, you know, ABC and what you should have done. What you should have told all of them. Yes, sent them all at the same place. Oh, my God, they can meet each other? Well, I did respond to all of them. And I said very polite. I said, Well, this is interesting. I just got three of almost the same message within one hour, y’all must be in some kind of training. And I respond to that to all three of them. And they respond. Yes. Well, one of them was someone I actually like, knew pretty well, like she used to be with my company. And now she’s not anymore. And she’s with the other company, right? And she said, Yeah, I’m just gonna be honest with you. He used you as an example. Oh, my word, your numbers on the board. Oh, my God, whoever recruits her will make X amount of money a year the dollar figure assigned to you is Oh, that’s so he made me just feel like So in no way any news and used and I was just like, Oh, you don’t want coffee, you want money, and you’re not gonna get my money ever? Oh, my word just I’m like, when other realtors want to recruit other realtors. I’m like, listen, find a broker that just wants you to sell real estate.

36:52
Because you know why? They will help you and cheer for you and want you to do that. Yeah. And they’ll be splitting their focus on to you. Well, yeah, so So real estate, but also go recruit some people then

37:02
you don’t feel pressured? Because I’ll tell you like, anytime you get involved in something like that you do feel like, Man, I should be recruiting I should be doing that I should be because that’s what’s being preached in that culture. So if that’s not the culture for you, it’s not the culture for me and I have been a victim of that culture.

37:19
I mean, I haven’t in a long time. Maybe they just you know why? Because I’ve been in the same office for 14 years. Yeah, maybe they know, like, just just back.

37:28
It comes in spurts. I feel like whenever the companies are doing like a special recruiting, conference, I know, whatever, then it kind of starts back up again. And then I just shoot it down so fast. Now I know. But I don’t know. I just feel like if you want to, if you want residual income, go buy rental property, go do something else to make money and don’t put because what if you finally after years of trying get me and then I quit? Right? die or something? Like, you know, just then you will be so glad that you’re

38:00
you’re already tired all the time? Try? I don’t like any of it. No, I don’t either. This is a way tangent from technology. But it is the power of people in the wrong direction.

38:10
I think the reason it came up is because when I was researching the way that the real estate industry is changing. They said realtors are focusing less on selling real estate and more on side hustles that produce residual income and in some cases usually other Oh, wow, that is a good point. Yeah. So that’s the disruption part is action part. Yeah. Well, that’s

38:35
very interesting. Yeah, I don’t like that.

38:39
Another thing I’m not sure about is like, we have some really successful teams Yeah, in the cloud. And we may have to interview them to pick our brain and understand because I’m curious. But like, if you are such a successful team, and you have your own office, and you pay for your own building in your own space, and your you are you don’t really need them, what do you need them for? Like what’s keeping you from just going? Or your own company?

39:03
That’s a very interesting point, like, what

39:05
is the Cloud offer that you couldn’t just do better as, as your own on your own? Yeah, if you if you have a team of 50 as you are still paying your own

39:14
will, right. Companies are still paying some amount of money. You are to work there. No. Yeah. Okay. That’s interesting.

39:20
That’s something I kind of want to find out. Because I’d be curious if you’re on a team out there. Yeah, that’s in the cloud that’s in the cloud with a broker that’s in the cloud. Why and you’re operating like your own individual company company. Why not just be your own individual?

39:35
I think that’s a great thing we should find out I’m very curious. Yeah, because I do want to like disclaimer, I know they probably turned us off already. If you’re feeling like victimized by this episode. It we’re not. Everybody’s different. Everybody’s got their own JM. Yeah, we just want to make sure these are questions that we have had our listeners. Yeah. And you hear them a lot and you’ve heard them a lot on your coffee dates, especially we get team members First, and you know, this is what’s working for us. This is how we feel about it. I am passionate about people’s mindset around disruption. I think that it is crazy that people are just like, so upset about it. I mean, it’s like me being upset that they created electricity, like the like, things are gonna advance. i We can’t just sit in our little. And it’s interesting too, because you also catch those, you know, when I started real estate, just like you I was on the way young end of the average age of a realtor. I mean, I was in my later 20s, like, 27 you were way young. But the average age was what 55 At the fellas, and, you know, bless them. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. But sometimes they’re a little resistant to change. The older you get, the more set in your ways you are. And these changes are gonna come like and

40:45
they’re coming quickly. I

40:46
think that’s the thing, too. Yeah, they set which they’re coming. I think they’re coming quick, maybe economy is good. Yeah. So they can try Zillow can try everything they want to try. They’ve got a zillion dollars, right. So the other thing while we were on kind of the team model, and the you know, different cloud brokers in the actual real estate company, one of the things I’m curious about with disruption, when I think I’ve heard a little about and I kind of agree with is the personal branding part of this. Yeah. Like you will see teams with all different companies that brand, the team, or agents that brand themselves, which I think is the right thing to do. But again, it’s like, there’s almost no affiliation with that company that is the broker Sure, know, you. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out. And I know, in our Louisiana law, there’s all these rules and regulations about how you advertise and the broker has to be obvious. There are tons of violations against that, because it’s sometimes very difficult for even me as a realtor to figure out what company people work for. I’m like, I just know you and your name and your little team’s logo or whatever you got going on. I don’t have a clue who the broker who your broker is right. And I think that traditional brokerages at some point will probably go away, I think, I think that personal branding is important. And if you think about it, you and how you serve as your client is is all in your hands and is branded to you. And that is an experience that only you will give. Now, I’m not saying you couldn’t train 10 more people to do that, but it’s never gonna be the same. Never be you. And if you are and I mean, I can’t understand either, that some of these large brokerages and franchises are encouraging their, their agents to personally brand themselves and I almost feel like they’re removing themselves. Yeah, they’re telling them go be pick a logo, pick a name, pick, you know, Go brand yourself, well, then why do I need you? Right? Why wouldn’t I at some point? I guess it’s because I’m

42:53
invest. And that’s why I think we’re seeing the evolution to the cloud. Yeah, to things like that. Yeah, I think so too. Interesting. It’s very

43:00
interesting. I also wanted to talk about using technology to your advantage. I like it, okay. You know, use what you got. If you’re going on a listing appointment, or a buyer appointment. Go google the people. Go stalk them on Facebook, like, go send your client, if you meet someone at an open house, who mentions their first name and what street they live on. Go check the tax records, and send those people a handwritten note. Yeah, I mean, you have access to so much information as a result of technology.

43:33
Yeah, it’s just there waiting for you use it or not. You don’t even have to dig that hard right? There. I cannot

43:37
tell you how many clients I have gotten over the years by doing something that simple or bringing the tax report with me to a showing. And I had a buyer who was like, Oh, wow, you’re very knowledgeable. I’m like, yeah, all this stuff was on the internet. But you’re right. I knew where to find it. And I knew it was important. And I brought it along. So I think and for safety purposes to Google those clients, yeah, Facebook, don’t you need to know, right? So I think you can use technology to your advantage and in so many other ways. You don’t have to be a Zillow premier agent to get your clients to put a review on Zillow. No and I have gotten business off of reviews on Zillow and I am not a premier agent. Sure. So people are going to be out in the world looking for information if they happen to be people that like Zillow well at least you better have your sales on there Yeah, do you know that your sales are not automatically on there might have been starting to sometimes they will not all of them sometimes they won’t so I usually at the end of the year at some point you know twice go and check them and add them in I have also had some important about other other agents play mine. Wow. And then you have to request them to give it back Yeah, why not know that that much but I think in some markets that’s like a that’s like a thing. Yeah, like people will just say your sales are theirs. Who cares, right? Like it’s just so crazy, but But use it if you know all the buyers are on Zillow, then you better have a pretty picture on Zillow of your face. And you like Don’t be the agent with no profile photo. And I mean, not just on Zillow on the MLS Yeah, on your company’s website on realtor.com, wherever it is that you need to upload a photo as an agent and set up an account, not a paid one, just your profile, you got to do that. Yeah, that’s a must complete, if a buyer goes through the internet and type your name and sees a consistent photo of you, then that is branding. And that is professionalism. That is important. I mean, I like that my that my clients are online first looking at the listings, I like that I can provide a service to a seller by having professional photos. Like I think you gotta use what you know is going to happen. There’s a lot of good tools. So many, we hardly use any of them. Because we’re so simple. I know. But I mean, Trello is, this is technology. Right? There’s tons of good technology. So I think it even the lock box. Can you imagine what it was like? We’ve talked about this before, back in the day having to go get all the keys. Oh, not lose the keys. Yeah, you couldn’t have done more than really five? Five showings? No. Otherwise, I can’t even imagine, right. Yeah, bring the keys bad. Make sure the key like, what on earth? I would have taken forever. We are so lucky to practice real estate. We’re

46:26
probably so excited to get the super keys. Oh my gosh, like what I don’t have to go to these offices anymore.

46:31
And I don’t even imagine at all. It’s so great. So I think that we’re just very lucky. Yeah. And look, the showing feet, showing time is going to send out an email and ask people for feedback. The Holloway.

46:43
Yeah, automation is awesome. And there’s so much of it that we can use to our advantage. I agree.

46:49
So I think that you’ve got to just keep learning and building your knowledge of your market too. Right? Be a market expert.

46:56
You will always be the computer always, always got to be scared.

47:00
I’m not scared me there, right. We don’t want y’all to be scared either.

47:06
If you’re doing it the right way. Yeah. And you’re operating like you should be you’re You’re safe. You’re safe, and not bringing any value. You know, you might

47:16
I think not only are you safe, you will thrive. Oh yeah, you will thrive as it ships. You will thrive in the face of this disruption. I agree. I think that’s awesome. I’m totally positive about it. Me too. Okay. No worries. What else you got? That’s it.

47:32
That’s it?

47:34
I think so. I mean, yep. I’m happy. I’ve said my piece I’ve got on my soapbox. I like it. I think I’m good. Okay. I’m not worried about disruption.

47:45
Me either. Nothing good. Are

47:47
you done? You’re good. I’m done. Okay, today we’re gonna toast to Meghan Adams. Okay. Meghan is in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Oh, we have lots of friends in Wisconsin. I like that. I love that. She has always tagged us in her posts. She’s a good supporter of the podcast. She sent in a question when we needed questions for appraisers. And we’re just so thankful for her and that she participates and we just wanted to toast to her and say cheers to Megan. She is always doing good. All kinds of good content. She’s

48:20
Yeah, right now her Instagrams

48:21
really good. Yeah, her Instagram is great. So, um, homegirl mags. I even like her Instagram. Oh, I like y’all go follow him girl bags and we’ll Cheers. Thanks,

48:29
Meg. Thanks. Cheers to you. Cheers. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Let us know who we should toast to for the next episode. Be sure to follow

48:39
us on Facebook and Instagram at hustle humbly podcast. If you have an episode, topic or question please email us at hustle humbly podcast@gmail.com Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. See you next week. Bye. This is the good lie.