WEBVTT
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Before we jump into today's episode, I interview dozens of top producing agents every month.
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And I know you probably don't have the time to listen to every single conversation.
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So we do the listening and note taking for you.
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That's undercontractnotes.com.
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Now let's get into today's conversation.
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Hey there and welcome to undercontract, where I sit down with some of the top real estate agents and team leaders in the country to talk about how they've built their businesses, what's working right now, and what they see the industry, where they see it going next.
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Today I'm joined by Patrick Moore from Topeka, Kansas.
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Patrick, thanks for coming on.
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I'm excited to have you.
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Thank you.
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I appreciate the opportunity.
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Love it.
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Let's jump right into it.
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So um, first question is you know, take me back to the beginning.
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How did you get into real estate?
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How long have you been in real estate?
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Yeah, so uh kind of interesting.
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My journey in real estate started uh nearly 11 years ago.
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October will be the month this year that I uh got licensed 11 years ago.
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And um so I served in the military.
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I joined the uh Kansas Air National Guard very early, right out of high school.
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And uh thank you for your service, by the way.
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Thank you, appreciate that.
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I had had certainly had no idea what the future held for me, and um ended up serving for 35 years.
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Uh oh wow.
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So I worked uh simultaneously as a civil service employee for the government and uh served in the military for 35 years, and then it came time for me to hang it all up.
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I was approaching the age of 60, which is retirement age for military members typically, and I was still pretty young, having joined right out of high school.
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What am I gonna do next?
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My wife and I um love each other dearly.
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We'll be married 44 years on tomorrow.
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Uh but congratulations.
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You know, yeah, thank you.
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But we needed to uh keep keep Patrick working somehow.
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I couldn't just hang out like you mentioned to me earlier about not being meant to not being meant to be fully retired.
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Um so I was trying to figure out what was next for me, and I explored two or three different things.
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Uh I explored home inspection uh business, maybe, and um that didn't seem like that was gonna work out.
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And then I looked into the possibility of becoming maybe um appraiser and found out that's quite difficult, at least in the state of Kansas.
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You have to really uh it's a process, it takes several years for you to become a licensed appraiser.
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And I thought, well, that's gonna be really difficult.
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So then I started looking into real estate and I thought, yeah, this seems like something that I could do.
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And I tell you, my my real desire was to, having served, you know, for 35 years and had the opportunity to do some, you know, I believe, meaningful things in in life and and you know, in my community and and for the country, I thought I gotta do something that I feel will be meaningful in the lives of other people.
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Uh, what can I do to serve people in some way in a civilian capacity that um I might find rewarding?
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And I I landed here in real estate and um I started getting six or seven, maybe even eight months before retirement, I started getting kind of ginned up, prepped up, learning, coming to the office, getting ready to test, get licensed, and really figure things out.
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And uh my goal was to kind of hit the hit the ground running on retirement day.
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And that's what I did.
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Um, nearly, like I said, 11 years ago.
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I jumped in with both feet and was a solo single agent in the beginning, and uh just tried to, you know, soak in as much knowledge and information from the people in the office that were, you know, in it for a you know period of time, were knowledgeable, were people that were being recognized at team meetings and you know locally on our in our uh MLS MLS board and and those kind of things.
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Who who are the smart people that know, you know, success in this business and who can I kind of hang out with and figure things out?
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And I and that's kind of what I did in the beginning, and and then just grew from there.
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I love it.
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Um yeah, one thing you touched on that I think is so true that I tell people that are not in the real estate space is that um you know you were you were saying you wanted to do something that was, you know, you had done something that was meaningful for decades and you wanted to continue to do something meaningful.
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And I think there's uh what a I think it's such an amazing role to help somebody find a home, like and really because it's such such an important decision in your life.
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And so I I think people don't always give themselves enough credit how important this job is.
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You know, you hear people uh it's just real estate, blah blah blah.
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It's like no, actually, it's uh it's it's quite important, and I think that agents need to remember that.
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So all right, 11 years, uh fast forward, what is what does the business look like today?
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Uh, do you have any help?
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Um yeah, what yeah, let us know what it looks like now.
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Yeah, so in the beginning, again, I was a solo agent trying to figure things out.
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My first year, I did fairly well.
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Um so I don't know if you're familiar with Keller Williams capping sort of system.
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Um you know, the goal is to get capped, so you're not sharing your commissions with the company anymore for for whatever period of the year you you know you happen to cap in.
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Um and I capped in my first year.
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It took me nine months, 10 months, I think, to cap, but I did it first year, which is kind of hard to do and not cool, I would say, with with most most agents.
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But um, so I found some success early on, but you know, I wasn't there yet.
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And my wife and I, she worked in uh the credit union business for her whole adult life, and her company was going through a merger, and she wasn't thrilled about the idea of that.
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And so we talked about bringing her into this business somehow, and I was thinking, you know, give me four or five years to really get you know my feet on the ground and really find some success.
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Then maybe she would come over.
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Well, this merger was happening, and she said, I'm not loving this idea, things are starting to get flaky.
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I think I want out.
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So we fast forwarded our plan.
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Uh, and it was only about six months after I got started that she came and joined me.
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Um, she started doing the administrative uh work in the background for me as an individual agent in the beginning.
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Um, and I tried to get her to get licensed, and she started to prepare for the test and figured out maybe it wasn't quite for her.
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And to this day, she's still not licensed.
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She does the admin uh back end work for our team.
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So today it's myself licensed, and then I have five agents that are on the team that are licensed agents.
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Um so we've you know gradually over the years um had good good success and certainly growth and uh lots of opportunities uh have come from that.
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So that's very exciting.
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And so I'm curious uh if you don't mind sharing, just because I there's newer agents and I love always to kind of inspire them.
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Over the last 11 years, you went obviously from zero to what type of production, if you don't mind sharing, uh, that that you're doing as a team today.
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Um, we're doing 80 somewhere between 80 and 100 transactions a year, which you know, for our market here, we're month over month, year over year, we perform in the top 10 of all of the agents in the MLS.
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So I you know, as a barometer to me, you know, that's kind of where I kind of rate how we're doing um month over month, year over year.
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And and so um we're doing you know, average probably in that 90 transactions, yeah.
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Uh 20 20 million a year or so.
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Okay, I love it.
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And and how um how involved are you personally in production today?
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Is it are you still pretty got your own thing going on?
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Yeah, yeah.
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So so everybody uh that's on the team operate pretty much part-time.
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Um, you know, we our team is unique in a lot of ways, at least for my knowledge and experience of people that operate teams in my market center and maybe even in the in the MLS.
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Um, I don't know how everybody operates, but I know we're different in our office for sure, because in good, bad, right, wrong, I don't know.
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I don't know, you know, there's always sort of this idea about what could what could it be if you did things differently versus what we do today?
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And you could take that that idea both directions.
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Could we if we weren't doing things the way we are, would we be worse?
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And if we did things differently, would we be better?
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And so back to kind of my philosophy having served in the military in a leadership role for many, many years in my career.
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Um, and I might also add that in that 35 years, my wife and I also owned a small business that we managed where we had employees, payroll, all the things that come with owning a small business.
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Um, I knew when I got into real estate that I did not want to manage people, I want to be successful, and I decided to you know start the you know process of building a team, but I didn't want to oversee people.
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So in that kind of philosophy, the people that have joined the team over the years, and we've had a number of people off and on.
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Some people, as you know, in real estate, some people don't find success, and they sure you know it's expensive to maintain a license and they go, This is not gonna work for me.
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So, you know, we've had people come and go off and on, but um, I have generally wanted to have people on the team who were um self-starters, self-motivated, eager, you know, people that would, you know, run with their businesses and not rely on me to hold their hand.
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And that's kind of the been the the model for us.
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And so that's again back to that good, bad, right, wrong.
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If I was more of a driver, you know, you know, need people to be in the office making calls for eight hours a day, kind of a leader, we probably would find more success, but it's not for everybody, and it's worked for us, you know.
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We're I'm approaching, I just turned uh 64, and I'm looking, you know, not too long from kind of my next thing, which is slowing down.
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Yep.
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And my goal is to have people that I can refer to.
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Um, so the people that are on our team are are you know, I'm doing probably 70% of our production, honestly, at the at the moment.
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Um, my son is about to get licensed, and I'm hoping he's gonna be the next more in more home team, and I can do a referral business through him.
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So that's the goal.
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Yeah, that would be okay.
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I love that goal.
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That's exciting.
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Okay, let's shift gears for just a second, a little thought experiment here.
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So if I took Patrick and I dropped him into a brand new market tomorrow where nobody knows him, um, but you had all the knowledge you have today, what would you do first to rebuild your business?
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Well, if I'm in a new community where I don't know anybody, um, I'm gonna have to change my strategy completely because um, you know, you really gotta start with the basics, I think.
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You know, in the beginning of this business, I have a um, you know, what I would call a pretty pretty large sphere over the years, serving uh with a lot of people, working same, you know, company, basically, you could say, um, with the organization I served in with the Air National Guard, got to know lots of people, you know, and we have family and friends, you know, lifelong Topekans.
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So we we have a big sphere.
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Um if you take that away, you got a lot of work to do to build that back.
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And in the beginning, even with the sphere that we worked pretty heavily, you know, I door knocked, I, you know, cold called, I did as many open houses as I could possibly get plugged into.
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Um anything that I could do to get me in front of anybody who was even considering buying or selling, and certainly people who had no idea what they were doing, you know, regarding real estate, you know, plant that seed for any future possibility of doing business with them.
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If I'm in a brand new, and I think about people who are new in our community and and deciding to join real estate, you know, it it's a bit of a task, I think, but people find success all the time being dropped into a brand new community where they don't know anybody, and it can be done.
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Um I am tenacious by nature, so I kind of have that winning spirit, I guess, and I'm gonna figure it out.
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And especially, you know, if if it's my livelihood and I need to make money to, you know, continue to live the lifestyle that I choose to live, I'm gonna figure out a way to bring business in.
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So I love that.
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No, on the topic of business, uh specifically client acquisition, how do you go about doing that now?
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Is it more you've built up a book of business and there's a lot of referrals and a lot of sphere?
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Uh, because you've done great business for over a decade and kind of your phone rings versus you necessarily having to ring the phone.
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Is it is that the reality of it today?
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Um yeah.
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Yeah, that that's that's kind of where we're at today.
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You know, um, we're just over 800 transactions in 10, 10-ish years, a little over 10 years, and we do now get referred to you know people and we get repeat business from people that you know kind of interestingly, um about three months ago, I was approached by our very first clients, and they called and they said, Hey, Patrick, we're we're interested in finding a house on some land, and we'd like for you to help us do that.
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So um this couple reached out and I thought it was really cool that our very first clients came back and said, Hey, we want you to help us.
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I mean, and it's 10 10 plus years ago.
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Yeah, that's a cool full circle moment.
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Yeah, I mean, we do events throughout the year and do, you know, try to stay in touch with our database and and you know, try to be that top-of-mind, you know, uh real estate uh provider in the area, and certainly works a lot, but sometimes it doesn't.
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You know, we find people that bought a house last week and we weren't their realtor again, so it it doesn't always work out, but I was really pleased to know that these folks called us and said, Hey, we're gonna do something.
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And we got them in a new house, sold their house we helped them buy 10 years ago, and so they're on to the next one.
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So yeah, yeah, um that's a cool moment for sure.
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Um lots of lots of repeat and refer referral uh business these days.
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Yeah.
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So do do you uh spend much on advertising, or is it uh more just kind of like uh local events type stuff, or or do you do any like online advertising, or what does that look like?
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We we do far less than we used to, I will tell you, in the beginning, um, and not even in the beginning, because you know, I had smart people around me, as I said earlier, that you know, would would advise don't spend more money than you're making.
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Don't don't put money into advertising until you're you have some, you know, some some business, you know, for the agent that comes into this brand new off the street and doesn't have any you know thing in their pipeline or maybe even any potential of that in the beginning, people might think, man, I gotta do all this advertising and I got to spend money because it's expensive.
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Um and you know, my counsel now that I'm you know in this long enough that people look to me for for advice is don't spend money on things until you you know you've established yourself in the in the market and and can you know find business without spending a lot of money to get it.
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Um so we over the years we we kind of built up um you know in our budget and amount of money that we would spend for advertising, and then we've we've kind of we've kind of slowed down on that because it seemed like um it became less necessary, and so much has changed in that world in terms of you know uh purchasing leads from all these.
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I get calls every day from these lead you know source providers that want your money, and we've tried some of those, and as I think a lot of people in our business know, most of them aren't going to produce for you, and your you know, your return is gonna be probably not probably probably nothing in a lot of cases.
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So bad bad choices can cost cost money, and and it's not such a bad thing if you're doing a good business and you have money to lose, basically.
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It's kind of a crapshoot.
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And but if you don't and you're thinking, man, I can't even pay my rent or my mortgage, shouldn't be shouldn't be spending money on things like that for sure.
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So I love it.
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Now um we we talked about customer acquisition just now, but I'd love to touch base real quick on on follow-up because um you know this is one of the challenges that a lot of agents have is you know finding that balance of what's the proper follow-up system for them.
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I I I hear all kinds of different schools of thought.
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So do you mind walking us through like uh if a lead came in, uh what the process would look like on your end, how quickly are you trying to touch them, how many times are you following up with them, and what does that look like from day one to maybe six months from now?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, when we get leads, you know, we're trying to call we're trying to call them right away.
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And it's certainly it's you know, if I get a if if I happen to miss a call and get a voice message and it's from somebody, you know, that I don't know that was referred to me, um, that's to me different than somebody that's you know provided by maybe an internet lead or something that I don't I don't know, or members of our team that get leads, because we we do have lead flow through our team through a round robin process.
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But the follow-up, you know, you got to call these people right away as soon as you possibly can.
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Um because if you don't, people um they don't really necessarily know that you're gonna be the best realtor for them.
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Uh if they've never met you, all they know is they they want to buy something or they maybe need to sell, and they want somebody to be um return a call if you miss a call, or if it's an internet lead, you know, that comes in, they want somebody to call them back as quickly as possible because if you don't, somebody else will.
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Um and so critically important to do that right off the bat, and we we try to do that as quickly as possible.
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Certainly there are times where you're in the middle of something and you can't call immediately.
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But um, and then beyond that, you know, if I don't get somebody on the phone, I will call them at least daily until I do.
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And, you know, I if I don't get somebody in a couple of weeks, typically I'll just consider it probably, you know, something we need to move on from.
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But once we've engaged with them, we're gonna try to get them in the office and have a consultation with them as quickly as we possibly can.
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If they're not in our area and we cover some areas outside of Topeka, you know, we'll go as far as Kansas City and you know, Manhattan to the west and you know, areas around Topeka.
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But if if we've got to meet with somebody that it's not convenient for them to come to the office, then we'll we'll go to them, try to try to meet with them as quickly as we can, because obviously, well, certainly obvious to me, um, you know, the sooner we can get face to face um with somebody and show them our you know our value and connect with them.
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This is a people business.
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So if you don't have a connection with people, probably not going to be good business partners and and maybe it won't turn out.
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But you know, that's the advantage too of having a team.
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You know, if you've got agents with sort of different capabilities and personalities, and maybe they mesh a little better potentially with somebody that um might be looking to do business, you know, sometimes you have to kind of go that route too.
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But um we're gonna we're gonna stay connected with people if they're you know looking to do something in the next you know, four, five, six months.
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We're gonna be talking to them at least probably every week, two weeks, maybe at the most, staying engaged.
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Um sometimes there are people that are a year out, and you just sure you're not they don't even know they're a year out sometimes.
00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:12.000
I meet with people who sat down in the office with me in the beginning, we think they're ready to go, and they said, Yeah, we just signed a year-long lease.
00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:25.119
Okay, well, it's okay to meet and be you know ahead of the game, but really, you know, unless you can figure out a way to get out of your lease, we're gonna need to re-engage maybe a few months down the road.
00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:27.279
But yeah, does that answer your question?
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:28.079
No, that does.
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:29.839
That's great, that's fantastic.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.480
Patrick, I want to uh shift gears for just a second.
00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:37.039
This is one of my favorite questions, uh, and this is really more about your business.
00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:47.279
Uh, and it's if I gave you a magic wand and you could instantly fix or change one thing in your business today, what would it be?
00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:53.920
Um that would have the biggest impact potentially on your business.
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:19.119
I guess my thought goes to having and this kind of may speak back to my example earlier about my kind of my my business philosoph philosophy related to you know how I work with my team members.
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:23.839
Like it, I'm not here to you know drive them every day.
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:32.319
Um, but I guess it would be having them be as motivated as I am, you know, um, as hungry, maybe.
00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:34.799
I guess that you could say that.
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:46.000
Um just and I I try to boil it down to for me, uh the motivation is knowing that I'm doing something again meaningful in the lives of other people.
00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:48.880
So and certainly there's rewards from that.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:56.319
It's not like I just want to be the greatest person that I can be, although I do want to be uh good to people.
00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:00.880
Um I I like to get rewarded in financially for it too.
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:17.920
So um, and I guess the other thing I might add to that is just um if it if you could if it were easier to get in front of people and earn their business, uh that would be magical, I think.
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:40.720
You know, just you know, if you just had somehow people just float in, you know, and and uh and you didn't have to work so hard to um you know to earn people's trust and and uh sure and and help them with their uh real estate goals.
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:41.599
I love it.
00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:43.680
Those are some good magic w wand requests.
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:48.400
I think the first one would definitely require a magic wand, changing people's desires.
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:49.519
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:49.680 --> 00:27:00.000
I think there are strategies out there that that for the second one that you know might it wouldn't be exactly like that, but could be could create a scenario that's a little bit more like that.
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.680
Okay, so let's talk for just a second.
00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:10.240
I want to make sure agents listening walk away from these conversations with something they can actually put into practice.
00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:22.240
So if you were coaching an agent who's maybe already doing some business, but really wants to significantly grow over the next 12 months, what's one specific thing you'd tell them to start doing this week?
00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:38.880
Um I guess I would start with basics and continue to be engaged with whatever their sphere is.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:52.480
You know, if it's large or small, we talked earlier about people being new in a community, you know, whatever that is to you, um, you got to get back to basics and you got to really work with the people that already know and trust you.
00:27:52.880 --> 00:28:05.200
Um and you know, if it's somebody you know but haven't talked to for a while, and maybe they don't even know you're in real estate, they need to know that, and they should have probably already known that.
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:15.680
But um even people that you're closest with or closest to, um you still have to earn their trust and confidence and their business.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:26.559
And I think just getting back to basics and and really making that you know a priority would be one thing that I would recommend.
00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:28.240
Love that.
00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.240
Now I'm gonna end with this question.
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:39.599
So, over the next three to five years, how do you think technology and AI change what a successful real estate agent looks like?
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:45.359
And what parts of this business do you think will always remain fundamentally human?
00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:47.599
Yeah, that's a good question.
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:59.119
And you know, I'm in that sort of uh phase of life of techn technologically challenged, you know, uh is kind of how I describe myself.
00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:03.759
I um and I resist change like people my age, I feel like.
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:27.599
Um I, you know, it's in my company, in my office, um it's a topic that somebody's talking about every day, and are opportunities to learn more about it, to get plugged in, um, almost in an at an overwhelming level for me, you know, for other people who can really embrace it.
00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:36.880
Um it's definitely I use you know, I'm using AI a little bit, um, yeah, but I would say minimally.
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:45.200
Um I I really don't know how it might change the real estate world.
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:55.920
Um I do know this, that I don't ever see humans not needing to be part of the process.
00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:08.640
I I would like to think, you know, this is something as we kind of talked about earlier, to me, monumentally important in the lives of people.
00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:17.839
You know, I I I I say uh, you know, being born, getting married, buying a or selling a home.
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:22.960
I kind of see these things um in that order.
00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:31.119
And um people don't like going to the grocery store and checking themselves out, sacking their own groceries.
00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:33.200
People are mad about that.
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:41.359
I can't imagine people are gonna be okay with buying or selling a house without somebody walking them through the process and advising them.
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:48.079
And and uh I'd be shocked if that ever happened with with or without AI.
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:57.119
I just feel like uh we're always gonna be needed and our uh our value will will always be there.
00:30:57.200 --> 00:30:59.200
I I believe that for sure.
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:00.319
I agree.
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:01.839
Patrick, you're awesome.
00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:02.720
You're a good man.
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:04.319
I like too.
00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:05.680
This was this was a lot of fun.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:10.640
Before we wrap up, where can people learn more about you and your team?
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:15.680
Uh, we have a website, Topeka areahomefinder.com.
00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:31.200
Uh that is the go-to place for uh anybody that's wanting to know more about our team and what we do here in the community and and uh properties that are available in the area.
00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:32.079
Love it.
00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.480
Patrick, thank you for joining me on this episode.
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:35.519
I really enjoyed it.
00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:36.400
Thank you, sir.
00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:40.319
I appreciate your time uh and uh opportunity to visit with you today.
00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:41.680
All right, take care.
00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:43.279
You two have a great day.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:45.200
Thanks for listening to Undercontract.
00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:49.920
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00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:58.799
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00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:03.200
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00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:05.519
That's undercontract notes.com.
00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:07.599
I'll see you on the next episode.
00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:09.119
Before we jump into today's episode, I interview dozens of top producing agents every month.
00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:12.960
And I know you probably don't have the time to listen to every single conversation.
00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:15.519
So we do the listening and note taking for you.
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:21.760
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00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:22.879
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00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:27.679
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00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.679
Now let's get into today's conversation.
00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:45.679
Hey there and welcome to undercontract, where I sit down with some of the top real estate agents and team leaders in the country to talk about how they've built their businesses, what's working right now, and what they see the industry, where they see it going next.
00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:49.600
Today I'm joined by Patrick Moore from Topeka, Kansas.
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.200
Patrick, thanks for coming on.
00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:52.320
I'm excited to have you.
00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:53.359
Thank you.
00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:54.960
I appreciate the opportunity.
00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:55.920
Love it.
00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:57.280
Let's jump right into it.
00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.880
So um, first question is you know, take me back to the beginning.
00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:02.960
How did you get into real estate?
00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:04.959
How long have you been in real estate?
00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:08.560
Yeah, so uh kind of interesting.
00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:12.719
My journey in real estate started uh nearly 11 years ago.
00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:19.280
October will be the month this year that I uh got licensed 11 years ago.
00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:22.400
And um so I served in the military.
00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:28.000
I joined the uh Kansas Air National Guard very early, right out of high school.
00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.959
And uh thank you for your service, by the way.
00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:32.319
Thank you, appreciate that.
00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:41.599
I had had certainly had no idea what the future held for me, and um ended up serving for 35 years.
00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:42.959
Uh oh wow.
00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:58.640
So I worked uh simultaneously as a civil service employee for the government and uh served in the military for 35 years, and then it came time for me to hang it all up.
00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:08.960
I was approaching the age of 60, which is retirement age for military members typically, and I was still pretty young, having joined right out of high school.
00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:10.240
What am I gonna do next?
00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:14.560
My wife and I um love each other dearly.
00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:17.360
We'll be married 44 years on tomorrow.
00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:19.360
Uh but congratulations.
00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:20.639
You know, yeah, thank you.
00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:24.960
But we needed to uh keep keep Patrick working somehow.
00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:34.240
I couldn't just hang out like you mentioned to me earlier about not being meant to not being meant to be fully retired.
00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:41.759
Um so I was trying to figure out what was next for me, and I explored two or three different things.
00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:52.240
Uh I explored home inspection uh business, maybe, and um that didn't seem like that was gonna work out.
00:02:52.319 --> 00:03:01.680
And then I looked into the possibility of becoming maybe um appraiser and found out that's quite difficult, at least in the state of Kansas.
00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:07.680
You have to really uh it's a process, it takes several years for you to become a licensed appraiser.
00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:10.240
And I thought, well, that's gonna be really difficult.
00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:17.199
So then I started looking into real estate and I thought, yeah, this seems like something that I could do.
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:42.240
And I tell you, my my real desire was to, having served, you know, for 35 years and had the opportunity to do some, you know, I believe, meaningful things in in life and and you know, in my community and and for the country, I thought I gotta do something that I feel will be meaningful in the lives of other people.
00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:50.479
Uh, what can I do to serve people in some way in a civilian capacity that um I might find rewarding?
00:03:50.639 --> 00:04:10.000
And I I landed here in real estate and um I started getting six or seven, maybe even eight months before retirement, I started getting kind of ginned up, prepped up, learning, coming to the office, getting ready to test, get licensed, and really figure things out.
00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:15.039
And uh my goal was to kind of hit the hit the ground running on retirement day.
00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:16.480
And that's what I did.
00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:19.439
Um, nearly, like I said, 11 years ago.
00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:48.480
I jumped in with both feet and was a solo single agent in the beginning, and uh just tried to, you know, soak in as much knowledge and information from the people in the office that were, you know, in it for a you know period of time, were knowledgeable, were people that were being recognized at team meetings and you know locally on our in our uh MLS MLS board and and those kind of things.
00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:55.839
Who who are the smart people that know, you know, success in this business and who can I kind of hang out with and figure things out?
00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:01.199
And I and that's kind of what I did in the beginning, and and then just grew from there.
00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:02.879
I love it.
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:19.519
Um yeah, one thing you touched on that I think is so true that I tell people that are not in the real estate space is that um you know you were you were saying you wanted to do something that was, you know, you had done something that was meaningful for decades and you wanted to continue to do something meaningful.
00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:30.319
And I think there's uh what a I think it's such an amazing role to help somebody find a home, like and really because it's such such an important decision in your life.
00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:36.639
And so I I think people don't always give themselves enough credit how important this job is.
00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:39.040
You know, you hear people uh it's just real estate, blah blah blah.
00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:44.879
It's like no, actually, it's uh it's it's quite important, and I think that agents need to remember that.
00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:50.319
So all right, 11 years, uh fast forward, what is what does the business look like today?
00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:52.240
Uh, do you have any help?
00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:56.399
Um yeah, what yeah, let us know what it looks like now.
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Yeah, so in the beginning, again, I was a solo agent trying to figure things out.
00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.720
My first year, I did fairly well.
00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:11.360
Um so I don't know if you're familiar with Keller Williams capping sort of system.
00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:22.480
Um you know, the goal is to get capped, so you're not sharing your commissions with the company anymore for for whatever period of the year you you know you happen to cap in.
00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:25.759
Um and I capped in my first year.
00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:35.920
It took me nine months, 10 months, I think, to cap, but I did it first year, which is kind of hard to do and not cool, I would say, with with most most agents.
00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:42.240
But um, so I found some success early on, but you know, I wasn't there yet.
00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:55.279
And my wife and I, she worked in uh the credit union business for her whole adult life, and her company was going through a merger, and she wasn't thrilled about the idea of that.
00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:10.240
And so we talked about bringing her into this business somehow, and I was thinking, you know, give me four or five years to really get you know my feet on the ground and really find some success.
00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:12.879
Then maybe she would come over.
00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:20.560
Well, this merger was happening, and she said, I'm not loving this idea, things are starting to get flaky.
00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.160
I think I want out.
00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:25.360
So we fast forwarded our plan.
00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:30.800
Uh, and it was only about six months after I got started that she came and joined me.
00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:41.120
Um, she started doing the administrative uh work in the background for me as an individual agent in the beginning.
00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:50.399
Um, and I tried to get her to get licensed, and she started to prepare for the test and figured out maybe it wasn't quite for her.
00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:52.800
And to this day, she's still not licensed.
00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:56.480
She does the admin uh back end work for our team.
00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:05.680
So today it's myself licensed, and then I have five agents that are on the team that are licensed agents.
00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:19.600
Um so we've you know gradually over the years um had good good success and certainly growth and uh lots of opportunities uh have come from that.
00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:21.920
So that's very exciting.
00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:31.279
And so I'm curious uh if you don't mind sharing, just because I there's newer agents and I love always to kind of inspire them.
00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:39.120
Over the last 11 years, you went obviously from zero to what type of production, if you don't mind sharing, uh, that that you're doing as a team today.
00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:56.639
Um, we're doing 80 somewhere between 80 and 100 transactions a year, which you know, for our market here, we're month over month, year over year, we perform in the top 10 of all of the agents in the MLS.
00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:06.320
So I you know, as a barometer to me, you know, that's kind of where I kind of rate how we're doing um month over month, year over year.
00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:16.960
And and so um we're doing you know, average probably in that 90 transactions, yeah.
00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:20.080
Uh 20 20 million a year or so.
00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:21.759
Okay, I love it.
00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:26.240
And and how um how involved are you personally in production today?
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:29.120
Is it are you still pretty got your own thing going on?
00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:30.240
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:39.440
So so everybody uh that's on the team operate pretty much part-time.
00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:54.559
Um, you know, we our team is unique in a lot of ways, at least for my knowledge and experience of people that operate teams in my market center and maybe even in the in the MLS.
00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:05.279
Um, I don't know how everybody operates, but I know we're different in our office for sure, because in good, bad, right, wrong, I don't know.
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:16.159
I don't know, you know, there's always sort of this idea about what could what could it be if you did things differently versus what we do today?
00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.480
And you could take that that idea both directions.
00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.240
Could we if we weren't doing things the way we are, would we be worse?
00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:27.759
And if we did things differently, would we be better?
00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:38.879
And so back to kind of my philosophy having served in the military in a leadership role for many, many years in my career.
00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:52.080
Um, and I might also add that in that 35 years, my wife and I also owned a small business that we managed where we had employees, payroll, all the things that come with owning a small business.
00:10:52.320 --> 00:11:07.840
Um, I knew when I got into real estate that I did not want to manage people, I want to be successful, and I decided to you know start the you know process of building a team, but I didn't want to oversee people.
00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:16.559
So in that kind of philosophy, the people that have joined the team over the years, and we've had a number of people off and on.
00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:25.840
Some people, as you know, in real estate, some people don't find success, and they sure you know it's expensive to maintain a license and they go, This is not gonna work for me.
00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:46.960
So, you know, we've had people come and go off and on, but um, I have generally wanted to have people on the team who were um self-starters, self-motivated, eager, you know, people that would, you know, run with their businesses and not rely on me to hold their hand.
00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:50.159
And that's kind of the been the the model for us.
00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:55.440
And so that's again back to that good, bad, right, wrong.
00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:13.759
If I was more of a driver, you know, you know, need people to be in the office making calls for eight hours a day, kind of a leader, we probably would find more success, but it's not for everybody, and it's worked for us, you know.
00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:25.279
We're I'm approaching, I just turned uh 64, and I'm looking, you know, not too long from kind of my next thing, which is slowing down.
00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:25.759
Yep.
00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:30.000
And my goal is to have people that I can refer to.
00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:39.759
Um, so the people that are on our team are are you know, I'm doing probably 70% of our production, honestly, at the at the moment.
00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:49.519
Um, my son is about to get licensed, and I'm hoping he's gonna be the next more in more home team, and I can do a referral business through him.
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:51.039
So that's the goal.
00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:52.159
Yeah, that would be okay.
00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:52.960
I love that goal.
00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:53.840
That's exciting.
00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:58.320
Okay, let's shift gears for just a second, a little thought experiment here.
00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:11.279
So if I took Patrick and I dropped him into a brand new market tomorrow where nobody knows him, um, but you had all the knowledge you have today, what would you do first to rebuild your business?
00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:25.039
Well, if I'm in a new community where I don't know anybody, um, I'm gonna have to change my strategy completely because um, you know, you really gotta start with the basics, I think.
00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:51.039
You know, in the beginning of this business, I have a um, you know, what I would call a pretty pretty large sphere over the years, serving uh with a lot of people, working same, you know, company, basically, you could say, um, with the organization I served in with the Air National Guard, got to know lots of people, you know, and we have family and friends, you know, lifelong Topekans.
00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:53.360
So we we have a big sphere.
00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:59.279
Um if you take that away, you got a lot of work to do to build that back.
00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:13.440
And in the beginning, even with the sphere that we worked pretty heavily, you know, I door knocked, I, you know, cold called, I did as many open houses as I could possibly get plugged into.
00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:31.759
Um anything that I could do to get me in front of anybody who was even considering buying or selling, and certainly people who had no idea what they were doing, you know, regarding real estate, you know, plant that seed for any future possibility of doing business with them.
00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:50.559
If I'm in a brand new, and I think about people who are new in our community and and deciding to join real estate, you know, it it's a bit of a task, I think, but people find success all the time being dropped into a brand new community where they don't know anybody, and it can be done.
00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:58.799
Um I am tenacious by nature, so I kind of have that winning spirit, I guess, and I'm gonna figure it out.
00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:12.879
And especially, you know, if if it's my livelihood and I need to make money to, you know, continue to live the lifestyle that I choose to live, I'm gonna figure out a way to bring business in.
00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:14.480
So I love that.
00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:24.639
No, on the topic of business, uh specifically client acquisition, how do you go about doing that now?
00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:29.840
Is it more you've built up a book of business and there's a lot of referrals and a lot of sphere?
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:37.200
Uh, because you've done great business for over a decade and kind of your phone rings versus you necessarily having to ring the phone.
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:39.519
Is it is that the reality of it today?
00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:41.120
Um yeah.
00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:44.240
Yeah, that that's that's kind of where we're at today.
00:15:44.320 --> 00:16:19.440
You know, um, we're just over 800 transactions in 10, 10-ish years, a little over 10 years, and we do now get referred to you know people and we get repeat business from people that you know kind of interestingly, um about three months ago, I was approached by our very first clients, and they called and they said, Hey, Patrick, we're we're interested in finding a house on some land, and we'd like for you to help us do that.
00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:29.600
So um this couple reached out and I thought it was really cool that our very first clients came back and said, Hey, we want you to help us.
00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:31.759
I mean, and it's 10 10 plus years ago.
00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.000
Yeah, that's a cool full circle moment.
00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:56.320
Yeah, I mean, we do events throughout the year and do, you know, try to stay in touch with our database and and you know, try to be that top-of-mind, you know, uh real estate uh provider in the area, and certainly works a lot, but sometimes it doesn't.
00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:10.960
You know, we find people that bought a house last week and we weren't their realtor again, so it it doesn't always work out, but I was really pleased to know that these folks called us and said, Hey, we're gonna do something.
00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:18.160
And we got them in a new house, sold their house we helped them buy 10 years ago, and so they're on to the next one.
00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.200
So yeah, yeah, um that's a cool moment for sure.
00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:26.880
Um lots of lots of repeat and refer referral uh business these days.
00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:27.599
Yeah.
00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:41.759
So do do you uh spend much on advertising, or is it uh more just kind of like uh local events type stuff, or or do you do any like online advertising, or what does that look like?
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:58.960
We we do far less than we used to, I will tell you, in the beginning, um, and not even in the beginning, because you know, I had smart people around me, as I said earlier, that you know, would would advise don't spend more money than you're making.
00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:26.400
Don't don't put money into advertising until you're you have some, you know, some some business, you know, for the agent that comes into this brand new off the street and doesn't have any you know thing in their pipeline or maybe even any potential of that in the beginning, people might think, man, I gotta do all this advertising and I got to spend money because it's expensive.
00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:47.519
Um and you know, my counsel now that I'm you know in this long enough that people look to me for for advice is don't spend money on things until you you know you've established yourself in the in the market and and can you know find business without spending a lot of money to get it.
00:18:47.680 --> 00:19:16.960
Um so we over the years we we kind of built up um you know in our budget and amount of money that we would spend for advertising, and then we've we've kind of we've kind of slowed down on that because it seemed like um it became less necessary, and so much has changed in that world in terms of you know uh purchasing leads from all these.
00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:42.000
I get calls every day from these lead you know source providers that want your money, and we've tried some of those, and as I think a lot of people in our business know, most of them aren't going to produce for you, and your you know, your return is gonna be probably not probably probably nothing in a lot of cases.
00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:54.880
So bad bad choices can cost cost money, and and it's not such a bad thing if you're doing a good business and you have money to lose, basically.
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.400
It's kind of a crapshoot.
00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:07.359
And but if you don't and you're thinking, man, I can't even pay my rent or my mortgage, shouldn't be shouldn't be spending money on things like that for sure.
00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:09.039
So I love it.
00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:27.759
Now um we we talked about customer acquisition just now, but I'd love to touch base real quick on on follow-up because um you know this is one of the challenges that a lot of agents have is you know finding that balance of what's the proper follow-up system for them.
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:30.240
I I I hear all kinds of different schools of thought.
00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:46.160
So do you mind walking us through like uh if a lead came in, uh what the process would look like on your end, how quickly are you trying to touch them, how many times are you following up with them, and what does that look like from day one to maybe six months from now?
00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:47.039
Yeah.
00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:53.920
Yeah, when we get leads, you know, we're trying to call we're trying to call them right away.
00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:20.240
And it's certainly it's you know, if I get a if if I happen to miss a call and get a voice message and it's from somebody, you know, that I don't know that was referred to me, um, that's to me different than somebody that's you know provided by maybe an internet lead or something that I don't I don't know, or members of our team that get leads, because we we do have lead flow through our team through a round robin process.
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:26.240
But the follow-up, you know, you got to call these people right away as soon as you possibly can.
00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:33.359
Um because if you don't, people um they don't really necessarily know that you're gonna be the best realtor for them.
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:52.960
Uh if they've never met you, all they know is they they want to buy something or they maybe need to sell, and they want somebody to be um return a call if you miss a call, or if it's an internet lead, you know, that comes in, they want somebody to call them back as quickly as possible because if you don't, somebody else will.
00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:59.839
Um and so critically important to do that right off the bat, and we we try to do that as quickly as possible.
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.480
Certainly there are times where you're in the middle of something and you can't call immediately.
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:13.119
But um, and then beyond that, you know, if I don't get somebody on the phone, I will call them at least daily until I do.
00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:22.559
And, you know, I if I don't get somebody in a couple of weeks, typically I'll just consider it probably, you know, something we need to move on from.
00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:31.599
But once we've engaged with them, we're gonna try to get them in the office and have a consultation with them as quickly as we possibly can.
00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:42.240
If they're not in our area and we cover some areas outside of Topeka, you know, we'll go as far as Kansas City and you know, Manhattan to the west and you know, areas around Topeka.
00:22:42.319 --> 00:23:07.440
But if if we've got to meet with somebody that it's not convenient for them to come to the office, then we'll we'll go to them, try to try to meet with them as quickly as we can, because obviously, well, certainly obvious to me, um, you know, the sooner we can get face to face um with somebody and show them our you know our value and connect with them.
00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:08.880
This is a people business.
00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:18.720
So if you don't have a connection with people, probably not going to be good business partners and and maybe it won't turn out.
00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:22.160
But you know, that's the advantage too of having a team.
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:36.480
You know, if you've got agents with sort of different capabilities and personalities, and maybe they mesh a little better potentially with somebody that um might be looking to do business, you know, sometimes you have to kind of go that route too.
00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:47.839
But um we're gonna we're gonna stay connected with people if they're you know looking to do something in the next you know, four, five, six months.
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:54.960
We're gonna be talking to them at least probably every week, two weeks, maybe at the most, staying engaged.
00:23:55.200 --> 00:24:03.519
Um sometimes there are people that are a year out, and you just sure you're not they don't even know they're a year out sometimes.
00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:12.000
I meet with people who sat down in the office with me in the beginning, we think they're ready to go, and they said, Yeah, we just signed a year-long lease.
00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:25.119
Okay, well, it's okay to meet and be you know ahead of the game, but really, you know, unless you can figure out a way to get out of your lease, we're gonna need to re-engage maybe a few months down the road.
00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:27.279
But yeah, does that answer your question?
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:28.079
No, that does.
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:29.839
That's great, that's fantastic.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.480
Patrick, I want to uh shift gears for just a second.
00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:37.039
This is one of my favorite questions, uh, and this is really more about your business.
00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:47.279
Uh, and it's if I gave you a magic wand and you could instantly fix or change one thing in your business today, what would it be?
00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:53.920
Um that would have the biggest impact potentially on your business.
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:19.119
I guess my thought goes to having and this kind of may speak back to my example earlier about my kind of my my business philosoph philosophy related to you know how I work with my team members.
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:23.839
Like it, I'm not here to you know drive them every day.
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:32.319
Um, but I guess it would be having them be as motivated as I am, you know, um, as hungry, maybe.
00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:34.799
I guess that you could say that.
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:46.000
Um just and I I try to boil it down to for me, uh the motivation is knowing that I'm doing something again meaningful in the lives of other people.
00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:48.880
So and certainly there's rewards from that.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:56.319
It's not like I just want to be the greatest person that I can be, although I do want to be uh good to people.
00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:00.880
Um I I like to get rewarded in financially for it too.
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:17.920
So um, and I guess the other thing I might add to that is just um if it if you could if it were easier to get in front of people and earn their business, uh that would be magical, I think.
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:40.720
You know, just you know, if you just had somehow people just float in, you know, and and uh and you didn't have to work so hard to um you know to earn people's trust and and uh sure and and help them with their uh real estate goals.
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:41.599
I love it.
00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:43.680
Those are some good magic w wand requests.
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:48.400
I think the first one would definitely require a magic wand, changing people's desires.
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:49.519
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:49.680 --> 00:27:00.000
I think there are strategies out there that that for the second one that you know might it wouldn't be exactly like that, but could be could create a scenario that's a little bit more like that.
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.680
Okay, so let's talk for just a second.
00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:10.240
I want to make sure agents listening walk away from these conversations with something they can actually put into practice.
00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:22.240
So if you were coaching an agent who's maybe already doing some business, but really wants to significantly grow over the next 12 months, what's one specific thing you'd tell them to start doing this week?
00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:38.880
Um I guess I would start with basics and continue to be engaged with whatever their sphere is.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:52.480
You know, if it's large or small, we talked earlier about people being new in a community, you know, whatever that is to you, um, you got to get back to basics and you got to really work with the people that already know and trust you.
00:27:52.880 --> 00:28:05.200
Um and you know, if it's somebody you know but haven't talked to for a while, and maybe they don't even know you're in real estate, they need to know that, and they should have probably already known that.
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:15.680
But um even people that you're closest with or closest to, um you still have to earn their trust and confidence and their business.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:26.559
And I think just getting back to basics and and really making that you know a priority would be one thing that I would recommend.
00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:28.240
Love that.
00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.240
Now I'm gonna end with this question.
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:39.599
So, over the next three to five years, how do you think technology and AI change what a successful real estate agent looks like?
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:45.359
And what parts of this business do you think will always remain fundamentally human?
00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:47.599
Yeah, that's a good question.
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:59.119
And you know, I'm in that sort of uh phase of life of techn technologically challenged, you know, uh is kind of how I describe myself.
00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:03.759
I um and I resist change like people my age, I feel like.
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:27.599
Um I, you know, it's in my company, in my office, um it's a topic that somebody's talking about every day, and are opportunities to learn more about it, to get plugged in, um, almost in an at an overwhelming level for me, you know, for other people who can really embrace it.
00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:36.880
Um it's definitely I use you know, I'm using AI a little bit, um, yeah, but I would say minimally.
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:45.200
Um I I really don't know how it might change the real estate world.
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:55.920
Um I do know this, that I don't ever see humans not needing to be part of the process.
00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:08.640
I I would like to think, you know, this is something as we kind of talked about earlier, to me, monumentally important in the lives of people.
00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:17.839
You know, I I I I say uh, you know, being born, getting married, buying a or selling a home.
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:22.960
I kind of see these things um in that order.
00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:31.119
And um people don't like going to the grocery store and checking themselves out, sacking their own groceries.
00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:33.200
People are mad about that.
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:41.359
I can't imagine people are gonna be okay with buying or selling a house without somebody walking them through the process and advising them.
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:48.079
And and uh I'd be shocked if that ever happened with with or without AI.
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:57.119
I just feel like uh we're always gonna be needed and our uh our value will will always be there.
00:30:57.200 --> 00:30:59.200
I I believe that for sure.
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:00.319
I agree.
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:01.839
Patrick, you're awesome.
00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:02.720
You're a good man.
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:04.319
I like too.
00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:05.680
This was this was a lot of fun.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:10.640
Before we wrap up, where can people learn more about you and your team?
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:15.680
Uh, we have a website, Topeka areahomefinder.com.
00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:31.200
Uh that is the go-to place for uh anybody that's wanting to know more about our team and what we do here in the community and and uh properties that are available in the area.
00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:32.079
Love it.
00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.480
Patrick, thank you for joining me on this episode.
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:35.519
I really enjoyed it.
00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:36.400
Thank you, sir.
00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:40.319
I appreciate your time uh and uh opportunity to visit with you today.
00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:41.680
All right, take care.
00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:43.279
You two have a great day.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:45.200
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00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:49.920
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00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:58.799
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00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:05.519
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00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:07.599
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