John Armstrong: The ChatGPT Prompt That Got Bloomington Buyers Their $5,000 Back

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Now let's get into today's conversation.
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Hey there and welcome back to another episode of Undercontract.
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Today's guest is John Armstrong.
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He is the designated managing broker and owner of Remax Rising in Bloomington, Illinois, and leader of the Armstrong Burns home selling team.
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So John has been in real estate since 1996.
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He has twice served as president of the Mid-Illinois Realtor Association and has been recognized as both Realtor of the Year and a Hall of Fame.
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Remember, we've got Hall of Famer with us today.
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He's also spent years behind a microphone as the host of On the House, his weekly Bloomington normal real estate radio show.
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So John has had a front row seat to nearly 30 years of change in this business as an agent, team leader, broker owner, and someone whose job is literally to explain the market to consumers every week.
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So I think this one is going to be wildly valuable for us.
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So John, thank you and welcome to under contract.
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That's quite a quite an introduction.
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I was I was waiting for you to trip something up and say, but I think you got it, you got it right.
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Now listen.
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Yeah, you have before before we hopped on uh to this call, we established that you know you even have people that'll help you plug in your laptop for you.
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I've got pretty good I I've got a pretty good research team.
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So uh so they did they did a good job.
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I love it.
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So uh I like it.
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So take me back 1996, we're literally 30 years at this point.
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How did you get in real estate?
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Did you have any idea this would become such a long career?
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So if you if you want me to take you back to 96, let's go back even further.
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Okay, let's go.
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Let's go back to 1966.
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Oh, I don't even know anything about that.
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That was when I was born.
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And uh my mom attended pre-licensing class with me and a baby and a baby carrier.
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So when I went through my licensing in 1996, I'm like, I've already been through this once.
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This all seems familiar to me.
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But but I've heard this before, yeah.
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Yeah, I was a second generation, I was a realtor's kid, and which really, when you think about the changes that I've seen in my career, I I've seen changes going back to the beginning of my mom's career, you know, driving around getting keys for houses when you need a show.
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And when you wanted to, when you really had an interested buyer, drive slow back to the office to give the key because we don't want another buyer coming in and putting an offer in.
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Oh wow.
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Yeah, the games that were played, and uh before cell phones, and they had payphones and realtors' cars would be lined up at certain payphones in town.
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And if if you had an offer and you saw that car behind you, maybe waiting to show the house, you might take a little longer on that payphone because you were afraid they were delivering the same offer you were.
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Yeah, that's amazing.
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What by the way, what a perspective.
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Because you know, you hear agents complain about life.
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Can you imagine?
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I mean, I can't even imagine that that was the game that was played, but it makes sense, you know.
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That's where we were at, we're at as a society.
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So um, yeah, okay.
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So we're you're starting in 66, really.
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That's kind of when uh 60 years ago.
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60 years ago, which by the way, you look great for 60.
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Uh so um, yeah, so let's fast forward, okay.
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Fast forward to 96, yeah.
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So 30 years, yeah.
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So we we I was I was pre-Zillow, pre, you know, all the online stuff.
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We were doing books, and realtors had all the control.
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We had all the information.
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We were the keepers of the information.
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And if someone wanted to see, you know, if they wanted to see if the inside of that house had white cabinets, you had to go to it.
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So we had a lot more showings early in my career.
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They were, I mean, I I remember giving feedback to people to to my clients that, well, at least they were looking for a house like this, because so many times people came in and they're like, oh no, this isn't what we're looking for.
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Now online you can see a hundred pictures of the house sometimes, and you see the floor plan, and and when you go into the house, the only thing you don't know is how it smells and you know how it feels.
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So you got a lot more serious buyers that have kind of if you think about the funnel, the buyers today are kind of here at the bottom of the funnel.
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Yeah, they're not that they're not at the top of the funnel like they were early in my career.
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Yeah, that makes sense.
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I think that's the biggest change.
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Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense for sure.
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Um, so what's um I'm curious if we think about your journey or the last 30 years of market cycles, right?
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What's something that you maybe used to work extremely well that doesn't really work anymore?
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Well, I mean, we've we've switched throughout my career.
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I mean, in in the 2007 through, I don't know, 2012 market, you know, it was extreme, it was extreme sellers.
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So all of our strategies were to try to attract buyers.
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We're in a buyer's market, you want buyers.
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And and then fast forward to COVID, and you want sellers because it's a seller's market.
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So that I don't want to say necessarily that things that work that don't work anymore.
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I think it's your strategies kind of flip-flop.
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So we even like today, when when I'm training my agents, I'm not training them to go do an open house to find another buyer.
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They've got a million buyers.
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I'm training them to do an open house to find a seller because most of the people that are going to walk through that door have a house to sell.
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So let's drill down and find out, you know, find out who is walking in that door at the open house before we start laying on the pitch on has anybody showed you property?
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You know, let's let's start thinking about the next step, which is which is really should be the first step, is what do they have to sell?
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I love that distinction.
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You you mentioned the team.
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So do you mind real quick telling us uh what's the team size?
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Have you share maybe production numbers?
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I'd love to hear what we got going on over there.
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So my team is very different, probably, 10 than any other team that you've you've talked to.
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Okay.
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Um I take new people that are getting their license, new licensees, and we put them on our team for a period.
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We kind of treat it like it's a school, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior.
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Sure.
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And I'm the owner of the brokerage too.
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So it's kind of what master am I serving?
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And what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to build my brokerage.
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So I don't want to put newbies, just throw them into the, you know, use a prison term.
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I don't want to throw them into the general population.
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Yeah.
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I want them to be matured a little bit, to have some past clients under their belt.
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So they're on my team for a period of time that is determined by their success.
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Uh, I have one new agent that uh we're on her ninth month and she has closed 24 properties already.
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Wow.
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We're ready, she's ready to graduate from the team.
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Now she's having some reluctancy because a lot of her businesses came from leads that she's been able to convert.
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Sure.
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But for for me, my mindset is now she's got all these past clients.
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They're no longer leads anymore, they're past clients because the way we work them after sale, they become, you know, it it they become sources of business.
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So um, and I've had people who have been with me for years and years and years and probably won't develop any further because they're at the place where they're they're happy.
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You know, that's one of the things I've learned as a team leader is I can't want things for somebody that they don't want.
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Yeah.
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So it might my team really fluctuates between 15 and 25 people.
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Um, and our our production, what's amazing with the turnover we have, we've had some years where we've had 10 people come off and 10 people come on, you know, 10 people that kind of escalated themselves in the business, and then we got two 10 new people that are coming in behind them.
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And we don't really miss much of a beat ever.
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Our sales are typically 55 to 75 million dollars.
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Um, we do have uh a Jody, who is a top producing realtor, she's one of the top.
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Well, we're in a market that has only 500 realtors.
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And and Jody's a top 10 in production, but Jody was at a different brokerage, and I just loved the way she did business.
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And I'm like, I need her to be rubbing off on my new agents.
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So made her an offer she couldn't refuse.
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She's with her, and she's a little moffie offer.
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Yep.
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There you go.
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And uh and she's she's our person rubbing off on our newbies.
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I I do wear a lot of hats, um, and I'm I'm involved in a lot of things with my team, but more at a higher level.
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I'm not I'm not necessarily in the trenches with them as much as Jody is, although I still do go on listing appointments with my newbies.
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I don't I don't want to I don't want to throw a newbie in a competitive listing appointment that they've got no experience with.
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I've got 30 years of being in the trenches, so I'm probably gonna have a better chance to win that listing over than they are.
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And I we kind of treat that as a training moment.
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And I I typically go with my new agents on like five appointments, five listing appointments each.
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And every time it's like I want to give, I'm gonna give you a little bit bigger role in this appointment.
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You know, maybe the first time, the first appointment, I'm gonna tell them your only job is to try to connect with these people.
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You know, my job will be to talk business, talk price, talk marketing, talk strategy.
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Um, and and the next time it's gonna be I want you to explain how we use psychology to attract uh an offer from a buyer.
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So it one of the kind of core things I teach, Tim, is being a purple cow.
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I don't know if you've ever read the read the book, yeah.
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Set the code.
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Yep.
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Yep, yep.
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So for those who hasn't read the book, just kind of think of you're driving down the road and all you see is brown cows and black cows.
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You see a purple cow, you stop your car, you take a selfie with it, you know, you circle it and you send it to your friends.
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Um, we want to be purple cows because we know that if they're talking to other agents, they're probably hearing the same thing about open houses, about marketing.
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Uh so what we do is we try to be purple.
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We try to we try to go in with something that they haven't heard already, which is what's going to be the emotion that's gonna attract a buyer to write an offer on you, on your house, instead of just sitting around and and thinking about it and waiting and fear of loss.
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So, what are things we can do to put fear of loss in?
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And I give that little piece to my my newbie to, you know, maybe on meeting number two, they get that, and then meeting number three, and then by the time we're on meeting number five, they say, Hey, John's only here because we have a radio show that we do every week, and he talks about all our company's new listings.
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So they they like make me a value ad that okay, this is gonna be a cherry on top to your marketing, is we're gonna talk about it on the radio.
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So um, yeah, it just uh so to answer, give to wrap up your question.
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My team size is 15 to 25.
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That's great.
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I have a question for you guys.
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I don't know why this question came up when you were just talking about that, but um, it's something that uh is an interesting conversation I've had with other agents and and brokers or whatever.
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Uh is this idea, because you were talking about you know preparing uh sellers, you know, to attract buyers, in a market like this, where if I've been, you know, if I bought a house uh not too long ago, and I, you know, my mortgage is 2500, uh, but now I'm going to sell my house, and the person that's gonna buy the house is probably gonna have a mortgage like 4,500 or whatever the numbers are.
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You know, that's an interesting mentality because like I was talking to an agent in Washington State, and she was saying that was one of the challenges was the person that's selling has a mindset, oh, this person's gonna come in and they're gonna pay$2,500.
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Because she was talking about putting some money in to kind of spruce up the home.
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And she was like, No, no, no, you know, they're gonna be spending closer to five grand a month on this same house, so you have to make it feel that.
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Do you do you find that to be a bit of a challenge with with sellers to for them to understand the buyer side now, I guess?
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So I mean, not necessarily exactly what you're describing.
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What we're seeing more is hey, interest rates are seven and a quarter, I've got three and a quarter.
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Yes, I have five kids and we're living in a two-bedroom house, but I've got a great interest rate.
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Yes, and they're they're not necessarily looking at the best interest of their family, they're looking at the best interest of their finances.
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Sure.
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Um, which I you can argue.
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You I mean, I understand you can make an argument that maybe that is the most prudent thing to do.
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But uh you recently, uh my my wife, who's a realtor, was working with a client who has three high school kids, they're all in high school, and they had a two-bedroom house, and and we're talking about boys and girls.
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Oh wow, and they had one bathroom, but man, do they have a great interest rate?
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And yeah, yeah, the the I don't know where we draw the line there, but yeah, yeah, I guess that's definitely a prudent move financially, but uh I have questions though, yes.
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Uh they made the move, and and the kids are uh different kids now.
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I mean, they're they're really, really happy.
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They would mope around the house, and and you know, I'm not positive the husband and wife were on the same page.
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I know the husband was because I he's cheap.
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I know that, but you know, I I don't think everybody else in the family was on that page.
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And and uh we've seen a lot of that, and evidence of that is we used to see people early in my career, people moved about every six or seven years.
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And then it somehow moved to 10.
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And and now I have not seen the latest study, but if I were betting, I'm gonna say it's probably somewhere in the 12 to 15 year range, people are staying in homes.
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And it's it's a lot of it's because these interest rates that they've got back, and those people who were probably scheduled to move said, now we'll just refinance and we're gonna stay in this house for a long time.
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Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense.
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Now, um, let's talk about agents for a moment.
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What in your opinion, what separates an agent who becomes a consistent producer from one who always seems to kind of struggle for the next transaction?
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Honestly, Tim, it's inner it's inner drive.
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It's it's it's what they have.
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Um, you know, when I'm talking to potential realtors about becoming becoming an agent, the doctors' wives that you know that they're they're looking for something socially to do to occupy their time, and their husband is a million-dollar earner.
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I I found those are not typically my best potential agents.
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I want I don't mind the people who say, you know, I'm sleeping in a car right now, and uh, you know, I I want to have a family, I want to have a kid, and I'll I'll move to your uh into the office if you if you hire me.
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You know, I like those people.
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I like those people because they've got a they've got inner drive.
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Um, and when I'm interviewing agents, I I don't want to say, hey, do you have inner drive?
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So I'm looking for lose.
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Because everybody's like, yeah, I'm driven.
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I want to be the best.
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And they say those words.
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But the question that I always ask that I I love is tell me about tell me about your life.
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Tell me about the first time that you made money.
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And they're always like, oh, my first job after college.
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No, no, no.
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What was the first time you made money?
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And some people will say, you know, I delivered pizzas in college because my mom said I had to get a job.
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And some people say, I got a paper route when I was seven years old.
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And or they say that I started a lawnmowing business when I was eight.
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Yep.
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You didn't start that business because your parents said, Hey, go get a job.
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You started that business because you have this internal, you have the drive inside.
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For sure.
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And those are the people I don't have to light up every week and say, you know, are you making your calls?
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Because they are.
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That was go, that's gold.
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I um that idea, because the way you I was thinking, I wonder what question he's gonna ask to uh figure out if they have the inner drive, which so makes total sense.
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Give you an example.
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This is not me bragging, but when I was six years old, I asked my parents for my birthday for stock.
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Like I was always, I was just always thinking, let's make money, baby.
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Yeah, so like you either have it or you don't, in some regards to that.
00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:53.759
Yeah, I mean that that's even that's even next level because that's really an entrepreneur's brain.
00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:00.640
An entrepreneur's brain is let me start something that I'm not having to do all the work to make the money because that's a job.
00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.000
Yeah, somebody who's asking for stock, that's an entrepreneur brain.
00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:10.559
Well, I had I had an older brother that read the Wall Street Journal every morning, and I was like, he he started getting me into it, and it was it was fun.
00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:15.279
But it is funny how just sometimes you're wired that way, and like I've never been the same.
00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:17.200
Yeah, I was I definitely am too.
00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:22.160
I was selling uh Nintendo tips when I was uh six years old.
00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.240
So um, I think that's probably about when I started trying to make money, it was about six.
00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:39.599
Um I had I had a friend who uh um who got into real estate uh uh 20 years ago, but um we I was talking to him about getting into real estate, and and uh I didn't know what his internal drive was.
00:18:39.680 --> 00:19:01.039
I'm like, so tell me about how I mean I've been asking this question for a long time, and I said, tell me, you know, why tell me about your background, and he's from the Philippines, and he said, I was the number one Filipino uh seller of karaoke and karaoke machines, and I went door to door, and I said, Really, how old were you?
00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:02.160
He goes, nine.
00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.200
I'm like, Yeah, you need to sign up here.
00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:10.720
Yeah, yeah, because yeah, I mean, you you can teach them real estate, right?
00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:15.920
You uh but it's hard to teach selling karaoke machines at nine years old.
00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:16.480
I love that.
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:28.000
Yeah, so switching gears here for a second, what's what's happening in the uh your market right now, the Bloomington market, that somebody following only national real estate headlines might miss?
00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:32.319
Like what's going on in the market versus what we might be hearing nationally?
00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:38.160
Yeah, we we um of course real estate's local, and I know a lot of markets have transitioned.
00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:57.200
I mean, there's some markets that are that are buyers markets out there, and we we recently did a uh seminar, one of our agents did a seminar with an agent from Florida uh over Zoom with clients in Illinois that were sell your house in Bloomington in a seller's market and buy in Naples in a buyer's market.
00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:01.039
So we kind of did that little strategy that you you give the best of both worlds.
00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:04.319
You're selling at at peak price and you're buying at the bottom.
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:08.880
But yeah, we are we are in a buyer's market, or I'm sorry, we're in a seller's market.
00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:19.359
Um as we're doing this interview, we're early October, so we've really kind of transitioned into the fall market in the Midwest.
00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.839
You know, we have four seasons, and nobody wants to move when there's snow on the ground.
00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:36.079
So our market really, really, I don't want to say closes down, but it it it goes to about 50% of the peak of the market in December, January, and early February.
00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:39.759
So right now we're trying to play that clean up your listings.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:41.119
Let's get let's get everything.
00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:45.680
If you're not sold right now, you probably need to do a price improvement.
00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:50.960
Um, we're we're trying to wrap up this season, I guess you can say.
00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:53.359
Um, but we are still in a seller's market.
00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:03.440
It's not as extreme as it was in May, but I I believe that when we get to spring, we're probably going to have a little bit of inventory buildup.
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:08.240
Um I think that at the interest rates obviously are gonna slow some things down.
00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:13.680
I mean, when we're in the sevens, there's gonna be, although I've been this long enough to know seven is not bad.
00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:15.680
Seven doesn't scare that is true, yeah.
00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:17.519
Yeah, seven doesn't scare me.
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:23.039
I'm not afraid of seven, but there's a lot of buyers out there, and there's a lot of new agents that are scared to death of seven.
00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:25.039
And a lot of times it's just perception.
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:36.480
But we are we are in a seller's market, and um uh it probably when we're at the height of it, probably like very few in the country.
00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:42.400
I mean, at one piece of our 2026 market, we were averaging five days on market.
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:43.440
Wow.
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:45.279
That's that's extreme.
00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:46.640
That's that's intense.
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:47.440
I love it.
00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.240
Okay, so let's talk about the the radio show for just a second.
00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:58.799
What has hosting on the house taught you about you know marketing, building trust, and maybe communicating with consumers?
00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.359
Yeah.
00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:02.559
Um You know, I did it.
00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:05.119
Uh I originally signed up.
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.839
The radio station had been trying to get a hold of me.
00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:18.319
My background, I did stand-up comedy like my late my college years, and for a couple years, and I loved talking to people.
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:22.160
And uh it's a couple people at the radio station knew that about me.
00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:26.720
And they're like, we think you'd be the perfect person to do uh a radio show.
00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:40.960
And they they started out by saying it's gonna be a half an hour, and really a half an hour, you know, it doesn't start until five after because we're doing national news and there's four minutes of commercial, so we're you know, we're only talking about like 18 minutes and a half an hour.
00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:46.160
I'm like, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to talk real estate 18 minutes every week.
00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:54.400
We did that for about three weeks, and they're like, we have had so much demand that we would like you to do the show for an hour.
00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:57.599
Oh, and I and I said, What do you mean by demand?
00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:02.000
They said, We have advertisers that want to advertise on your show.
00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:13.039
And it was the lenders, I mean, that just the people who don't want to generally advertise on a radio station, but they wanted to specifically advertise on my show because it was about real estate.
00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:21.839
So lenders, home inspectors, insurance, uh we have a window company, we have a remodeling company.
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.920
We have about eight sponsors.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:35.680
And so the radio station, um, you know, they they every week being on there and and interviewing the sponsors, I'm I've built a network.
00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:46.880
Um, I think people the the people who are our sponsors that are on the show that I interview are also locally recognized major companies that are well known and well-trusted.
00:23:47.519 --> 00:24:04.079
So I think that affiliation maybe kind of a little bit gives me a little bit of credibility because I'm I'm talking with the you know Clemens Insurance and and the big names in town, Luminate Mortgage and the big names in Bloomy to Normal.
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:06.000
So that's helped me a lot.
00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:11.759
And I the goal for the show for me was I wanted to be the source of real estate news locally.
00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:24.480
And I the feedback I've gotten after 15 years is yeah, whenever I want to hear what's going on in real estate, if we're ever thinking about selling one of our rental properties or our house or making a move, we always got to listen to know what's going on.
00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:38.000
And and uh so one of the things I have to be careful because it if I have a lit, if I have one of my clients listening to the show and I'm talking about how great the market is, and their house has been sitting there for 30 days, yeah.
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:43.920
I I do need to be a little bit careful what I say because I know that a lot of times my clients are listeners.
00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:47.759
So um Yeah, it's that's an interesting kind of tightrope to walk over.
00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:49.119
It is, it is.
00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:50.960
Yeah, that's that's interesting.
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:56.000
Um, so let's talk about um where the business is coming from these days.
00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:00.480
So when you look across your team today, where does most of the business originate?
00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:04.799
Is it new leads, past clients, referrals, database, or maybe something else?
00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:07.359
So it depends on who who you're talking about.
00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:09.279
Our new agents.
00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:17.519
So this is the thing I tell new agents is early on in your career, let's back up and talk early on in my career.
00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:29.200
Early on in my career, I made a list of everybody I thought that was gonna buy a home for me in the next 12 months, and I wrote 17 names on that piece of paper.
00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:42.559
And at the end of the year, I sold 17 homes, but it wasn't to any of the people on my list because the people on my list knew I was new, I that I was gonna be their guinea pig.
00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:43.440
Exactly.
00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:47.440
So I needed to cut my teeth on strangers, yeah.
00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:58.000
And uh eventually those 17 people on the list today, you know, they all bought houses from me, but over the next two to five years, they were buying houses from me.
00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:09.519
Um so early on in your career, it's yes, we need to focus on the people that you know, but our focus needs to be on showing them that they're not gonna be a guinea pig.
00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:15.039
So you need to have you need to meet with you need to have transactions with strangers.
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:19.839
Um, so we do a lot of leads, and I know that's your background, Tim.
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:25.119
Yeah, um, we work with a lot of leads on our newer people on our team.
00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:29.440
On the people who've been on our team for a while, it's more working your past clients.
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:29.839
Sure.
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:31.519
Just kind of transitions.
00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:32.880
That's easier business.
00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:36.319
I mean, the hardest business you're gonna get is at the beginning of your career.
00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:37.839
Of course, yes.
00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:53.839
And so is that is that part of uh you being uh a team that is is providing leads for someone new because that's that's sort of the gas on the fire that needs to get the thing going because it's you gotta have leads to uh start to fly away a little bit.
00:26:54.079 --> 00:27:02.640
I feel like my my program is going to provide six to eight leads in their first year and second year for a new realtor.
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:06.960
Now, six to eight transactions, I mean not six to eight leads, six to eight transactions.
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:07.359
Sure.
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:10.000
Obviously, we know the funnel, you gotta start bigger, yeah.
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:18.160
Yeah, yeah, but it's gonna lead to six to eight transactions and then their own efforts, you know, six to eight transactions.
00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:27.440
And when you got 15 transactions in your first year, that gets you coming back for your second year, which your worst year is your first year, and and you get that momentum.
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:36.640
You're I I believe it's your first five years, you're gonna just naturally uh pick up if you're doing the right things based on the fact that now you have past clients.
00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:38.960
Yeah, that makes total sense.
00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:59.359
So you're you're as far as the more experienced agents, are you you're probably not really generating leads for them because they don't really need because they've got the occasionally to the more you're gonna be around real estate agents, the more you're going to hear real estate agents complain.
00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:09.359
And you can have the top realtor in the country, and if their phone hasn't rang in 15 minutes, they're saying, I need leads, I need something's going wrong, I need, I need something.
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:13.920
And uh, so do we provide leads for our veteran agent?
00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:16.720
Yes, but it's not really what we're about.
00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:22.240
That those leads are meant to, I don't, I don't, you know, some of them watch this podcast.
00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:26.960
I better be careful what I say, but it's it's meant to just kind of keep them from panicking.
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:29.119
Yeah, I get it.
00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:30.079
No, that makes sense.
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:31.039
Yeah, it's interesting.
00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:44.799
I was I was interviewing a uh uh a guy from uh Charlotte a few um weeks ago, and he you know he does over a hundred deals a year, and he said he still gets anxiety.
00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:52.400
He still gets anxiety about in-between deals.
00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:53.599
Um I'm doing the math.
00:28:53.680 --> 00:29:03.200
I'm thinking, you're doing two deals a week, like what but he's like there's still down times, you know, because it's probably some weeks he does four, and then sometimes he does zero, right?
00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:11.359
I thought, wow, this this this must be like a a thing agents deal with uh on a uh on a regular basis here.
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:17.759
So let me the the early on in my career, I 100 transactions was always my goal.
00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:39.920
Um honestly, right now, if if I were a new agent, 100 really, at least in my market, isn't really possible because now you work with a buyer that when I was doing 100 transactions, I work with a buyer, we look at five houses, we find one we like, we write an offer, it gets accepted.
00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:40.559
Yep.
00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:52.400
Now you show three houses, you write offers on two of them, you're in multiple offers, you got to go back out and keep showing these people houses, and you don't have time to bring in that next client.
00:29:52.480 --> 00:30:00.160
So my top agents right now are topping out around 60, 70 transactions, where before it used to be 100, 105.
00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:05.920
But when you are an agent who's doing 100 transactions, that is your compass.
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:09.119
That is your uh that's your motivator.
00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:14.720
And when you're doing 100 transactions, you don't have the ability to have too much downtime.
00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:18.160
You have to have, you always have to be doing something.
00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:25.359
And I know when I was doing 100, if I went to the bathroom and I didn't have a message on my phone, I'm like, should I get out of the business?
00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:26.799
Do I need to do something else?
00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:28.960
Yeah, that's too funny.
00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:29.599
I love that.
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:30.960
No, that makes a lot of sense, though.
00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:40.079
It certainly seems that there's there's more energy output uh when dealing with a buyer than than would have been in the past, just because to your point.
00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:43.039
Yes, you're gonna make some offers, you're gonna lose us.
00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:54.079
And it seems also just say if they're they're buyers that are earlier on in their and maybe this is their first time or or maybe the second time, there's so much hesitation, like about small, it's like you just lose.
00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:56.799
Uh, you know, you're talking about four or five days on market.
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:07.279
It's like you gotta decide now, or and you gotta make a really compelling offer because they probably have multiple offers, and you know, I imagine that creates a lot more work.
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:13.440
So I could see that definitely cutting down your ability to to hit that hundred um hundred deal mark.
00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:14.559
Well, it's interesting.
00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:35.920
And and to to expand on that, you got you got buyers that are buying right now, a lot of our first-time home buyers that are coming out and they're making they're they're new to the market, they're making those offers, and early on, they're they're drawing from their experiences that they've had, their offers, their real estate knowledge is based on experiences that they had.
00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:54.160
And a lot of these people that are buying right now were living with their parents 18 years ago, and they watched their parents' equity go down, and it's not the same generation of buyers that had always watched their parents and their grandparents make money on the housing market.
00:31:54.480 --> 00:32:03.759
This group actually saw their parents lose money in 2007, 2008, and and there is a little bit of a one eye open on the real estate market.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:14.960
So um when we tell them that since COVID, we've experienced about an 80% growth in prices, they're still skeptical because when's the shoe gonna fall?
00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:16.799
Yeah, which is fair.
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:17.680
That's interesting.
00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:24.720
Now, when you look at the growing the business from where it is today, where do you think the biggest opportunity is?
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:31.200
Is it bringing in more new business or is it generating more out of the opportunities you already have or something different?
00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:43.119
I mean, it's I don't know, Tim, you're you're about uh about generating new leads, and and this probably won't be popular with you, but I I think it's converting the business that you already have, the people that you know.
00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:49.039
The easiest business is going to come from the people that you already know, but how do you know them?
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:51.039
Maybe they started as a lead.
00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:51.440
Yeah.
00:32:51.599 --> 00:33:01.039
And and you get you've and I think that's really something that agents every year I I do uh uh review with every agent in my company.
00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:14.319
We have a hundred agents, and I do a review and I ask them where their business came from, and and um it's always uh it's always they they forget the root of it.
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:19.599
They're like, Well, this is somebody I've I've known, and they were a past client of mine from four years ago.
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.640
I'm like, well, how did you get them four years ago?
00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:25.680
They're like, Well, they came in as a lead.
00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:36.880
Okay, well, let's we gotta really drill back to to your successes, and I think a lot of times agents, when they're tracking their business, they're not necessarily honest with themselves.
00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:43.200
Where you've got to really be honest, where how did this you know, how did this vegetable grow?
00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:44.640
I mean, it started at a seed.
00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:46.079
Where did how did you get the seed?
00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:47.519
Was it an open house?
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:50.720
And that's that's another aspect I see.
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:55.599
People they drill down and they're like, oh yeah, I met him at an open house five years ago.
00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:58.079
Well, we need to chalk this up to open house.
00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:10.559
Now, maybe, maybe they you continue to nurture this past client and you're getting leads, you're getting leads from them now, but really it started as an open house.
00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:15.039
So let's be honest with the root of it, and I think a lot of people they just forget.
00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:16.719
Yeah, no, I love that.
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:31.519
And and by the way, I uh I I am definitely a lead gen guy, but the best lead generation strategy is to be really good at follow-up uh and make money with the leads you have, and then you could afford to get more leads.
00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:37.199
Uh so uh, but it's yeah, you gotta you you have to be good at that that follow-up process.
00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:40.719
So um all right, so let me let me ask you this.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:46.639
You obviously been in this game for well, arguably maybe 60 years, but let's just argue 60.
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:51.679
Uh 30 will it's paid the last 30 have paid better than the first 30.
00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:54.079
Imagine, that's good.
00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:55.760
You've learned a thing or two, I imagine.
00:34:55.920 --> 00:35:12.239
Uh so what's you know what's something you believe about building a successful real estate business that you may have not thought of or maybe uh thought differently about, you know, a couple decades ago.
00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:23.119
Like I'm curious what your overarching mindset is when it comes to to building a successful real estate that's maybe uh progressed uh or evolved over the years.
00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:25.360
Yeah, this is a pretty simple one.
00:35:25.599 --> 00:35:32.880
Um I early on in my team building, uh culture was so important to me.
00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:42.079
And I thought that culture needed to be, I had a bunch of people that were like me, and we all we see things the same way.
00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:48.320
And I found that building a great culture is having a wide variety of people.
00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:52.480
Um people that spheres don't overlap.
00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:56.800
Like if I early on in my career, I I just thought it was so important.
00:35:56.880 --> 00:36:00.800
I had this this one girl that grew up in my town.
00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:07.519
My dad and her grandpa were best friends, and I just I thought that kumbaya, she needs to be on my team.
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:10.480
Problem is we already know all the same people.
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:12.800
It it's great.
00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:21.199
I mean, she and she's one of them who she's been on my team for 19 years, and I say that my team has a lot of turnover.
00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:28.400
She's one that probably will never leave, um, just because of the comfort and knowing knowing what she has with me.
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:35.039
And um, but you don't want to get all people that you're gonna have overlap.
00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:44.159
I I love that currently my team sits at 18 people, and I don't think any of those 18 people knew each other before they got into the business.
00:36:44.239 --> 00:36:50.400
I don't think any of them had a connection before they got in the business, and that's what that's what I like.
00:36:50.559 --> 00:37:07.360
I like and then bringing them all into a central philosophy on how we do real estate, and uh and I you know, I'm one of those people that I mean, I'm sure everybody that you interview says these things, but I I truly I can give you examples of it.
00:37:07.599 --> 00:37:09.039
We do the right thing.
00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:12.639
And there are some people, I call it commission breath.
00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:18.239
There's some people who are after just that sale and they have commission breath, and you can smell it.
00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:30.400
You know, we we had one the other day, a buyer's agent called us to tell us that our listening didn't appraise, and then she told us all the steps she took to make that appraiser change his mind.
00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:32.400
I'm like, thank you for doing our job.
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:35.119
You're we work for the seller and you're getting the price up.
00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:38.159
Thank you for not trying to get the price down and representing your buyer.
00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:41.039
And we do things the right way.
00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:45.920
Even if it means we're gonna lose a deal, we remember who we were working for.
00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:53.840
And even if it's not in our best interest, that's the path we take because we're fiduciaries, and that's how every person in this company is trained.
00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:56.960
Now, can I say we have a hundred people that are doing it all the same way?
00:37:57.039 --> 00:37:59.679
No, but I can say a big majority of them are.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:01.519
Yeah, I love that.
00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:08.480
Now, this next question is gonna be particularly interesting, uh for me asking you, and I'll explain why.
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:29.519
As a as a person that uh witnessed um your mom uh doing real estate, you know, let's say the 70s, you were talking about some of the strategies that agents implemented, you know, you know, uh not giving the keys back in a timely manner and all that hilarious, by the way.
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:30.000
I love that.
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:30.719
Yes.
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:35.599
So 2026, I'm gonna ask you, what's your relationship with AI?
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:47.599
Um I'd I'd love to know is it something you're implementing in your business at all, or is it just something where it's like, I'm gonna keep doing what has worked for for you know 30 plus years.
00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:52.800
So I'd love to know uh if you have a relationship and if so, what do you use it for?
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:58.719
Uh it it's it's very, very funny um that you would ask me that question.
00:38:58.880 --> 00:39:10.559
Um, my staff says that I spend more time talking to ChatGBT than I do to anybody else, and they are a hundred percent right.
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:27.280
Um Chat GBT knows every person in my company, it knows my thoughts on them, it knows my staff, it knows their first names, their last names, their job, their strengths, their weaknesses.
00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:36.400
I'll say this week I want to have a training on the best way to do uh uh the best way to do an open house.
00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:40.559
Who are three people I should have from my organization as panelists?
00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:45.920
And it'll say, well, April's background, she sold 30 houses one year from open houses.
00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:47.119
You definitely want to get her.
00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:57.599
Yeah, you know, Rindy is doing this, and and Sean does this, and um it uh other things, I look at what are my opportunities with my company?
00:39:57.760 --> 00:40:03.760
Um, so where are where are places that I have a strength that we could monetize more?
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:04.880
And I'll give you a great example.
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:06.800
I'll I'll lay out my playbook right now.
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:19.519
We have we have a good marketing department, we have a very good marketing department, and up until now, we've had one person doing our company's marketing and one person doing our agents' marketing for fee.
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:21.760
And they're doing a fantastic job.
00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:25.199
I mean, you can look on social media and postcards that sent out.
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:28.159
You know, we're we're doing exceptional in our market.
00:40:28.480 --> 00:40:36.400
So ChatGBT said you have a real opportunity to take your marketing outside of your company and do outside businesses.
00:40:36.719 --> 00:40:39.039
So we just signed our third outside business.
00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:41.280
We've been doing this since September 1st.
00:40:41.519 --> 00:40:41.840
Wow.
00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:44.079
And we just signed our third outside business.
00:40:44.159 --> 00:41:02.559
We're we're doing social media now for uh uh a company that does you bring painting in and you can do and you can paint, uh, you know, bring it's called Merlot and a masterpiece, and we're doing marketing for a container company, shipping containers, and showing the possibilities of what you can do with them.
00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:09.119
And uh the third company we're doing, oh, is it a fund center that like arcade type thing?
00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:14.639
Um, but we're we're doing the it chat GBT said let's go out and explore that.
00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:29.119
Um, another use of Chat GBT had a uh this is a little bit longer story, had it had a uh an agent who had a buyer under contract, and we had a really bad rain about six weeks ago.
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:37.440
And our agent felt like they probably got water in the basement of this house that's pending, it hasn't closed yet.
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:43.039
Seller won't let us back into the house to take a look, which makes them more suspicious.
00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:49.199
And as every hour goes on after this storm, the the suspicion is getting higher and higher.
00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:53.840
Now the buyers are sitting outside of the house just stalking it.
00:41:54.000 --> 00:42:01.119
They notice a van pull in and pull out a shop vac and then another shop vac.
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:05.039
And they're in the house for six hours.
00:42:05.679 --> 00:42:10.079
Our buyers are sitting across the street just watching this, texting their agent.
00:42:10.320 --> 00:42:15.280
Our agents talking to the listing agent and saying, no, no, there's no water, they never got water.
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:29.360
And uh we got pictures of these of the shop vacs, and we've so what our agent did um was our buyer did not want to buy this house anymore.
00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:34.639
Our concern was the seller had not admitted that they got water.
00:42:35.119 --> 00:42:40.320
So if we try to back out of this deal, they're gonna say you don't have costs, you're not getting your escrow back.
00:42:40.400 --> 00:42:41.519
And it was$5,000.
00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:46.800
So the first thing we needed to do was to get them to admit they had water.
00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:56.159
So what we did was we put in the all the text conversations with the agent into Chat GBT.
00:42:56.800 --> 00:43:08.400
We took all the evidence we had and we put it into Chat GBT and said, please develop a timeline that lays out how everything happened.
00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:20.719
We don't want to be accusatory, but the question that ChatGBT started with was should we be expecting supplemental disclosures?
00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:31.920
So what that means is if the seller we're laying out all this, should we be accept expecting supplemental disclosures because of all this timeline that we laid out?
00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:47.679
And our agent sent that to the listing agent and to the listing agent's attorney, who the listing agent's attorney basically the email without pointing fingers directly says all these lies the listing agent was telling us the whole time.
00:43:47.840 --> 00:43:53.360
And the attorney says, Yeah, it looks like we will be changing our disclosures.
00:43:53.679 --> 00:43:55.840
So they change their disclosure.
00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:58.159
Our people says, We do not accept these disclosures.
00:43:58.239 --> 00:43:59.760
We went out of the deal, give us our$5,000.
00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:02.159
Back and they were dead to rights.
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:03.039
They had no options.
00:44:03.119 --> 00:44:04.960
They had to give us the 5,000 back.
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:08.079
Chat GBT to the rescue.
00:44:08.400 --> 00:44:10.719
Yeah, it's it's it's pretty impressive.
00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:13.599
And I you know, I like it at Chat GBT.
00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:15.039
I'm the same way, by the way.
00:44:15.199 --> 00:44:17.360
It's definitely a best friend of mine.
00:44:18.320 --> 00:44:18.880
And it's so nice.
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:22.960
Yeah, well, well, yes, for sure.
00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:24.719
I have to sometimes push back on that a little bit.
00:44:24.800 --> 00:44:26.639
I'm like, don't tell me what I want to hear.
00:44:26.800 --> 00:44:38.719
Um, but uh, but you know, I I look at it as like a second brain, you know, it's like uh and that what you just talked about, that idea that it can make connections, right?
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:47.039
Because if it knows all of your people on your team and their strengths and their weaknesses, um, like for instance, I'll give you a perfect example.
00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:49.280
I don't know what I actually revealed this on an episode.
00:44:49.440 --> 00:45:05.440
One of the things I like to really try to do with these uh interviews, I try to try to connect really, like maybe you say, Hey, you know, I'm really struggling with recruiting on my uh my team, and I interviewed some guy three weeks ago that has a solution.
00:45:05.599 --> 00:45:08.400
Like, I'll feed the the transcript and check it to you.
00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:11.039
I say, is there anybody I should introduce John to?
00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:13.280
Just as a value add.
00:45:13.440 --> 00:45:17.119
And they're like, oh yeah, you know, Bob said this, uh, whatever.
00:45:17.199 --> 00:45:18.480
Uh, and I'm like, oh yeah.
00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:20.079
See, I I would never remember that.
00:45:20.159 --> 00:45:22.480
I've lived life the last few weeks.
00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:33.760
Uh along along those lines, um, one of the things that I've been training my agents is everybody has on your smartphone, everybody has their notes app.
00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:40.960
And if you go to your note notes app, there's a paper clip and you can say record audio.
00:45:41.199 --> 00:45:41.599
Yep.
00:45:41.840 --> 00:45:52.559
And so what I've been training my agents is when you go to an appointment, a buyer consultation, a listing appointment, ask them if you have their permission to record the conversation.
00:45:52.719 --> 00:46:01.599
And what you're gonna do is you're gonna transcribe it when you're done and put it into Chat GBT and say, give me the three best ways I can serve these clients.
00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:12.960
And an example that we had was one of our uh on a uh, I don't remember if it was a buyer appointment or a sell appointment, but they were talking about a bad past experience that they had.
00:46:13.679 --> 00:46:32.320
And and Chat GBT, when it when it broke it down, said, one of the things that you're gonna necessarily you're gonna want to make sure you do is you're gonna want to make sure your communications with them are on Monday mornings because they get very frustrated after a weekend of not hearing anything.
00:46:33.519 --> 00:46:36.320
So just the strategy of when to communicate.
00:46:36.639 --> 00:46:36.960
Yeah.
00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:40.159
Yep, that's a beautiful pattern uh recognition.
00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:41.360
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:46:41.440 --> 00:46:43.280
It's it's it's gonna be a fun ride here.
00:46:43.360 --> 00:46:44.320
Uh it is.
00:46:44.639 --> 00:46:52.639
I've got I've got a friend who uh uh shout out to to Tyler Morton in uh Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.
00:46:52.719 --> 00:46:54.800
He owns uh Remax offices there.
00:46:55.039 --> 00:47:00.480
He's uh uh an AI wizard, and he's created this app, Tori.
00:47:01.199 --> 00:47:06.320
And uh Tory will take you through and solve any company problem.
00:47:06.559 --> 00:47:08.960
It's it's like an assistant for every person in the company.
00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:10.800
And we we're using it.
00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:13.199
Actually, I'm right now in the process of building it.
00:47:13.280 --> 00:47:25.760
Uh, so putting all putting in all the information and teaching it, so putting in all our local forms, and when I say, hey, pull up a sales contract, it knows which sales contract to pull up.
00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:39.119
And then the next step of that is tagging all the of all the uh spaces in there so that you can write an offer just by using your voice and you can talk to it and fill out your offer.
00:47:39.199 --> 00:47:41.760
And but there's a lot of teaching that is involved.
00:47:41.840 --> 00:47:46.960
And you know, I just whenever there's technology out there, I want to be the first, I want to be the first to the table.
00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:48.239
I love it, John.
00:47:48.639 --> 00:47:54.559
You you are an impressive uh agent, uh broker, man in general.
00:47:54.800 --> 00:47:58.320
Now, I want to end with this uh before we wrap up.
00:47:58.559 --> 00:48:01.679
Is there anything I didn't ask you that you think I should should have?
00:48:01.760 --> 00:48:07.440
Maybe something important about your business, your journey, or something you've learned along the way that we haven't touched on.
00:48:08.719 --> 00:48:14.480
Um you know, I I I do I'm a big believer in karma.
00:48:15.199 --> 00:48:24.559
And I believe that I I've seen a lot of agents that probably shouldn't have good karma rise to the top.
00:48:25.039 --> 00:48:35.199
I can also see tell you that I've seen a lot of those people with that don't have good karma, I've seen them fall to the bottom when they got to the top.
00:48:35.440 --> 00:48:44.159
The good guys in the industry, the professionals, the ones that are communicating with others, the ones a good example.
00:48:44.480 --> 00:48:53.280
If if I give you an offer and you notice something in my offer is probably not the way I intended to do it.
00:48:53.440 --> 00:48:58.320
I'm a human being and I have fat thumbs, and sometimes I might do something wrong.
00:48:58.639 --> 00:49:04.639
A professional agent is gonna call you before they talk to their clients, and they're gonna say, Hey, hold on, I'm getting ready to talk to my client.
00:49:04.880 --> 00:49:06.639
Is this what you meant to do?
00:49:08.239 --> 00:49:12.239
A sleaze ball is gonna be the one that says, Oh, he screwed up.
00:49:12.320 --> 00:49:14.000
Let's try to stick him to this.
00:49:14.159 --> 00:49:16.400
And you're putting cancer in a transaction.
00:49:16.559 --> 00:49:20.239
We got a goal to get a deal together and get to the finish line.
00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:22.719
We're not starting it out on the right terms.
00:49:23.599 --> 00:49:26.000
We need to play well in the sandbox together.
00:49:26.159 --> 00:49:32.400
And the people who play well in the sandbox together, at least in my market, it's small enough where we recognize it.
00:49:32.480 --> 00:49:35.280
And when you're a professional, I I've gotten business.
00:49:35.519 --> 00:49:50.079
In fact, I have an appointment to uh go on next week from an agent who got out of the business 15 years ago, and her grandkid is looking at selling his house, and she told him he should talk to me.
00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:53.599
I never worked in the same office as his grandma.
00:49:54.320 --> 00:49:59.360
I didn't really know his grandma, other than we had several transactions together.
00:49:59.599 --> 00:50:02.480
Yeah, she liked the way I do did business.
00:50:02.880 --> 00:50:14.639
I mean, there there's there's benefits that not just to being able to sleep at night, but but be a good agent that our our industry is trampled enough.
00:50:14.880 --> 00:50:20.800
There's a lot of there there are, I mean, there's bad sides of our industry, but there's an awful lot of good sides of it.
00:50:20.960 --> 00:50:23.199
Be be one of the good parts of it.
00:50:25.039 --> 00:50:25.840
I love that.
00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:26.480
I love that.
00:50:26.639 --> 00:50:29.440
I think that's a great distinction, a great place to end.
00:50:29.599 --> 00:50:30.880
Now, let me ask this, John.
00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:34.079
People who are listening to you, they're gonna want to follow you.
00:50:34.239 --> 00:50:36.480
Uh where can we find you?
00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:40.000
My my socials, my best place is Facebook.
00:50:40.239 --> 00:50:42.719
I'm hey, I told you, 60 years old.
00:50:42.880 --> 00:50:51.119
Um, and and really, I'm not I'm at a place, you know, I run a brokerage, I have 100, I have uh I have a team right now with 19.
00:50:51.199 --> 00:50:53.679
Um, I'm not really in production like I used to be.
00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:58.880
I mean now I'm selling a handful of houses a year if I have to.
00:50:59.039 --> 00:51:01.280
You know, I don't I don't even try to do that.
00:51:01.360 --> 00:51:06.800
So I'm not actually going after business, but I am uh I am a good follower.
00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:14.559
I do a lot of shares with my I have really good agents on social media, and I do a lot of sharing of their posts.
00:51:14.719 --> 00:51:17.199
Um, I you know, it's another part of my culture.
00:51:17.360 --> 00:51:21.599
If you're gonna put some effort and you're gonna do something good, I'm gonna reward you by helping you.
00:51:21.679 --> 00:51:23.360
And I'm gonna put it out to my group.
00:51:23.519 --> 00:51:30.559
But my best place is uh is just John Armstrong on Facebook, but on TikTok, Remax Rising.
00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:38.719
And uh, we do a lot of fun stuff that uh they they make me look like an idiot sometimes, and I I'm I'm okay with that.
00:51:38.880 --> 00:51:45.920
Um, but yeah, it it's uh uh you could get a good feel for our culture if you if you follow us on TikTok, Remax Rising on TikTok.
00:51:46.159 --> 00:51:46.559
I love it.
00:51:46.639 --> 00:51:51.280
Yeah, definitely check out John and the gang uh at on TikTok and on Facebook.
00:51:51.360 --> 00:51:52.480
I know I'll be doing the same.
00:51:52.639 --> 00:51:53.840
John, I appreciate the time.
00:51:53.920 --> 00:51:56.719
This was a lot of fun and yeah, dropped a lot of gold.
00:51:56.800 --> 00:52:04.719
And it's just such an interesting perspective to uh you know hear from someone who's arguably been in the business for 60 years, at least 30.
00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:06.880
So uh really appreciate your wisdom.
00:52:06.960 --> 00:52:07.679
This was great, John.
00:52:07.840 --> 00:52:08.159
Thank you.
00:52:08.320 --> 00:52:09.199
Thank you very much, Sam.
00:52:09.599 --> 00:52:11.280
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00:52:11.440 --> 00:52:16.000
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00:52:16.159 --> 00:52:24.880
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00:52:25.119 --> 00:52:29.360
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00:52:29.440 --> 00:52:31.599
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00:52:31.840 --> 00:52:33.760
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