How A San Antonio Agent Built A Business On Honesty, Systems, And Grit

A wedding coordinator turned realtor who almost quit ends up selling 30+ homes her first year and doubling down on the one tactic most agents avoid: telling the truth. Meet Melissa Royale, a San Antonio agent who built a resilient business on systems, mentorship, and real conversations about budget, tradeoffs, and timing.

We dig into the inflection points that changed everything: splitting from family partners, leaving a bad fit, and finding a mentor who replaced guesswork with accountability. Melissa breaks down the exact toolkit that saved her sanity—Google Calendar time blocks, Tasks for daily execution, a CRM that keeps seven-month leads warm, and a live checklist that flags deadlines in red. The result is a calm brain and a steady pipeline, even with multiple pendings in a tight, incentive-heavy market.

If you’re wrestling with affordability, builder concessions, or the post-NAR settlement noise, this conversation offers spine and strategy. Melissa explains how to write offers that win, why she negotiates compensation inside the contract, and when she refuses listings that won’t sell. She sets expectations with buyers early—choose your compromise: location, size, age, or upgrades—and warns short-term owners about competing with builders on resale. For new agents, her advice is direct: know your personality, pick the right environment, and get organized fast. For buyers, it’s simple: start where you are, build equity, and let your next home fund itself.

Real estate doesn’t reward perfect conditions. It rewards clarity, consistency, and courage. Tap play to learn how Melissa turned hard lessons into a durable playbook you can use today. If this helped you think sharper about buying or selling, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we read every one.

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Melissa Royale, Realtor And Mom
• 3:20 From Wedding Business To Real Estate
• 8:40 Year One: Sink Or Swim Without A Team
• 16:20 Lessons From Family And Failed Fits
• 22:40 Mentorship, Accountability, And Sanity
• 28:10 Building Systems: Calendar, Tasks, CRM
• 36:00 Today’s Market: Incentives And Tradeoffs
• 43:30 Telling Clients The Truth, Even When Hard
• 51:00 Commission, NAR Settlement, And Value
• 58:20 Part-Time Myths And Lead Generation
• 1:06:20 Setting Expectations And Compromise

Transcript

SPEAKER_07: 0:45

And welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast Real Estate AF, where the AF stands for and finance. And I'm your host, Mark Jones, and we're powered by LoneBot, Smarter Mortgage Matching. And on the last couple of discussions, we talked about builder incentives, we talked about 50-year mortgages, we talked more importantly about new versus old way of doing business and the industry professionals that are jumping into our industry. And a name came up a few weeks back of someone that is just making head waves all over San Antonio. She walked into our office several years, well, what was maybe two years ago? And as she left the office, I told my loan officer, I said, she's gonna be pretty high maintenance, but you're gonna want to stick with this one. So without further ado, let me introduce Melissa Royale. Melissa, how are you?

SPEAKER_02: 1:39

I'm doing good.

SPEAKER_07: 1:40

Doing good?

SPEAKER_02: 1:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 1:41

Good. So typically on these discussions, I want to give the folks out there a little brief of who you are. But before we do that, I wanted to read something that we just looked up a moment ago. Ladies and gentlemen, the chat GPT machine knows who Melissa is. I typed in here, can you provide me with a brief bio about Melissa Royale, realtor in San Antonio with EXP? And as it was doing its searching, Melissa turned to me and said, What? It doesn't know who I am. And sure enough, it knows enough to say that Melissa is a dedicated realtor based in San Antonio, Texas, affiliated with EXP Realty, with a background rooted in both service and family. Melissa balances her professional drives with being a proud mom of three. She specializes in helping buyers and sellers navigate to San Antonio market, bringing a mix of tenacity and clients' first mindset. Relentless in negotiation, seamless in execution, committed to your success. Melissa works across a broad area of San Antonio region, including neighborhoods like the 78203 all the way to 78254 and outlying areas in the region. Her service covers first-time home buyers, experienced families, and investors with a strong emphasis on making the process smooth, positive, and stress-free. Would you think that that's pretty accurate? I'd say so, right? Now, before we go any further, I'd like to give you a moment to tell us who you are. Melissa, where did you come from? Where'd you grow up? All that good stuff. Because this episode, unlike a few of the past, this one's all about you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 3:31

I don't know. I grew up on the south side of San Antonio. Okay. Mom of three. I before I got into real estate, I came from the wedding business. I had a I had a wedding business. Yeah, I don't know much else to tell you.

SPEAKER_07: 3:45

I'm gonna dig deeper. So and if you don't talk about it, I'll pry it out of you. Okay. So in growing up in San Antonio, the south side, what you went to high school, then from there, what happened?

SPEAKER_01: 3:58

I was a stay-at-home mom for most of my adult life. Okay. I've been raising kids most of my adult life.

SPEAKER_07: 4:03

And that's the hardest job.

SPEAKER_01: 4:04

Yeah. Until I got into the wedding business. And then I still did it from staying home what with my kids. I opened a flower shop over there in like the Alamo Ranch area, would take my little brand new baby Jameson with me, do my weddings from there. And then eventually I got introduced to real estate, and here we are.

SPEAKER_07: 4:24

That's cool. Okay. So the the idea of being, let's call it entrepreneurial self-employed has kind of been a part of what you do from the time you started working after being or while being a mom, I should say.

SPEAKER_02: 4:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 4:39

It reminds me a lot about my mom. She was a stay-at-home mom, and then it was like, I've got to get out of here and do something, and she jumped in the real estate business. Same concept. But through your journey, what made you decide to be a realtor? Before you answer that, how long have you been in real estate?

SPEAKER_01: 5:00

I just I just did my two years like of my license, renewing my license just recently. I sold my first house January 15th of last year. I actually got introduced to real estate by my brother-in-law. We sp part ways, so you know, and I became on my own. But yeah, I from the very beginning I got into real estate. I've had to just figure it out on my own. Yeah. And good thing I'm, you know, like able to do that because I feel like those bumps caused me to be as successful as I am in one way or another. But yeah, just I I didn't know a thing about real estate when I got into not a not a thing. And now I would say I'm doing pretty good.

SPEAKER_07: 5:45

I I we're gonna dig we're gonna dig deeper into some of the things that you're doing and how you have become so successful so quickly. But I wanted to emphasize for the folks listening, because on the past several discussions I've had, the question has come up is it a good time to jump into our business as a realtor? And it was Casey Hampton that mentioned we all agree, yes, it is, but you need to go at it full throttle. You need to go two feet in, head first, that kind of stuff. And the reason being is a stat was pulled up. I think it's like something around the lines of 90% of realtors fail within their first year of doing it, which makes perfect sense. Yeah, but that's also not a reason for someone that is aspiring to do it to jump into the pool.

SPEAKER_03: 6:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 6:40

And reason being, you're proof of that.

SPEAKER_03: 6:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 6:43

Right?

SPEAKER_03: 6:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 6:45

So you never know if you are going to be the outlier or the one that, in my opinion, outworks everybody else, asks more questions than everybody else, is willing to go the extra mile and not make excuses, etc. Now, those are the things that in my mind I'm thinking what got you partially the way to where you are. But tell us about your experience thus far. When you got into real estate originally, did you have any mentors around you? No, nothing, huh? Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01: 7:17

Okay, so long story short, like I said.

SPEAKER_07: 7:19

No, make a long story long. We've got we got an hour.

SPEAKER_01: 7:22

I got into real estate. I was introduced by my brother-in-law. I wasn't, I didn't prepare to tell this story because I didn't think you were I didn't know you were gonna ask it, but it is what it is.

SPEAKER_02: 7:32

We're digging.

SPEAKER_01: 7:33

Got into it with my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law who were had their license long a little bit longer than me. We realized really quickly family don't work well together.

SPEAKER_04: 7:42

That's true.

SPEAKER_01: 7:43

So immediately within like the first few weeks, we part ways. I went on my own. I almost considered quitting. I literally said, okay, well, maybe, you know, I should just go back to doing what I'm doing. Maybe this is his thing, you know, whatever. I know, I know weddings. I'm great at weddings. I did over a thousand weddings over, you know, a few years. So I'm, I know I'm that's that's my thing. Maybe I'll just go back to that. And then I met another agent in real estate. And then I thought, like, oh, I'll go over there and try that. And then I went over there with them. Didn't work out. Not even, not at all. So that lasted about a month again. So mind you, at this point, I'm like two months in, three months in, maybe to having my license. So then from that point, you know, I was on my own. I I rented an office over there by the airport. I had one girl who shared the office with me. She was just as new as I was. And we were kind of like the blind leading the blind. Yeah. Literally. If I had questions, I'd call a broker and just ask the broker. Honestly, a lot of the time I would ask the listing agent. If I I mean, I don't recommend that. I don't, you know.

SPEAKER_07: 8:47

No, but you used whatever resources you had at your disposal. Yeah. And that was convenient for you. If the listing agent didn't give you advice, then I'm guaranteeing you're gonna go to your broker at that point. But hey, I've got you on the line. Yeah. Might as well ask this question.

SPEAKER_01: 9:02

Yeah. I mean, honestly, that's how it started. I just would tell them all, like, hey, you know, I am new. If I, you know, left something off or I didn't put something in there, please just let me know. And, you know, they they all were very welcoming. They all, you know, were very helpful. But yeah, for probably the first 10, 15 deals, yeah, it was, you know, I was 12 by five. Yeah, yeah. I'd call the broker a lot. I'd ask questions, you know, hey, you know, about this. I would do a ton of classes that had to do with contracts and things. I didn't want to mess up my contracts. I used a transaction coordinator for the first, you know, several because I wanted to make sure that, you know, I'm not missing anything. I'm not getting my clients in trouble. You know, I also would ask other agents, you know, just that I hadn't met, like in networking events, things like that, you know, can I see like a copy of your, your contracts? And just, I mean, I just literally just used whatever I could to figure it out. And then I got about a year in. At this point, it's been my first year. Uh, y'all mentioned it the other day. I had sold 30 something homes my first year. And I had posted on Instagram and I was kind of disappointed in myself because there were some other agents that I followed, you know, like influencer type agents that, you know, gave the impression that, man, you know, they're selling like 100 homes a year. So I was like, man, I suck. Like, how can I get to be where they're at? This is when I met JJ and reached out to me, had coffee with him. He ended up so that so a year in is when I got my first mentor. Like the first year was totally on my own. Like, I I really feel like I had to kind of like just like they sink or swim. Sink or swim. Yeah, I think it's like, like they're gonna throw you out there in the water and it's you're gonna figure it out or not.

SPEAKER_07: 10:43

So pause right there before we get into the second year. I want to go back to the first year and and see if there's any lessons that others could pick up with the first two groups that you're with. The first one being relatives, and and obviously, lesson is it's tough to work with family, it's not impossible. I've done it a couple of times. Yeah, but yes, it is closer than needing to be for a business type concept that emotions start getting involved. Even things from the past start bringing why? Because they know, you know. Yeah, what was going on in that? If you feel comfortable, if you don't feel comfortable, by all means you do not have to move on to the phone. So I don't know. Okay, well, there you go. Yeah. I mean if you see this, you know she made it, baby.

SPEAKER_01: 11:29

Yeah, definitely. It it's a it's a tricky situation. I mean, we started off. I've I've been with in the family for 17 years, so we were very close. Over the years, we would have little issues, you know. So I kind of I should have known.

SPEAKER_07: 11:43

Sure.

SPEAKER_01: 11:44

You know, I should have known it wouldn't work out, but maybe the red flags were orange, not yet. Yeah, yeah. They were light red. So I should have known. But I just think that we the only thing that I would say is if you're gonna work with family and you've haven't and you've already kind of realized over the years that y'all can kind of butt heads a little bit, don't do it. You know, there are plenty of teams and things that you can join that, you know, will help. I never was on a team because I didn't make it, but you know, I mean, I didn't, I couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_07: 12:18

And that that's totally fine. Like I go back to when you walked out of the office the first time, I said, man, she's gonna be high maintenance, but that one's gonna be worth it. And the reason I know that and could have sensed that day one, the questions you were asking, the the openness to which you were willing to receive the information and the relentlessness to ask follow-up questions after that, just in one session, tells me, okay, that that's a real one. She really is going to buy into what we are doing and she's going to become a student of this game. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. So yeah, I mean, the idea of working with family is tough, but at the same time working on a team versus not, that's something that folks out there are gonna have to determine on their own.

SPEAKER_01: 13:07

Definitely. I think that, you know, there are so many, there are so many different personality types in real estate.

SPEAKER_04: 13:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 13:14

I just don't work on a team, you know, but that doesn't mean that others wouldn't, you know. I recommend them 100%. I get mentors, I mean, I get I mentor some new agents that come into EXP and I and I let them know, like, hey, I'm here if you have any questions, if you need to reach out. Yeah. But if you want like that side-by-side hand holding, you might prefer a team, you know. It's they're not bad. They're just they're just different. It's a different way of going about the business. They'll, you know, like they'll, you know, give you leads, they'll give you mentorship, they'll teach you, they'll train you, they'll do all the things. And some people, you know, do better like that. I just am, you know, a kind of person that's like, look, I'm, you know, painfully independent. And it's not, you know, but but yeah, I mean, there's nothing wrong with teams for sure.

SPEAKER_07: 14:00

So we learned a little bit about the first. Now, how about the second? What was going on with them?

SPEAKER_03: 14:05

Oh man.

SPEAKER_07: 14:06

With you, with them, it could have been you, could have been it's not me, it's you, it's you, it's me. I don't know. So what happened? Things that we can learn.

SPEAKER_01: 14:14

Yeah. I just think we just need to be careful, you know, just kind of like who we choose to put ourselves around. I, you know, I don't have anything bad to say, or I don't really want to, you know, you know, but I just I think that as long as we're mindful of our environment and who and we know ourselves enough to know where we fit in and where we don't, and leaving, you know, when you don't feel welcome anymore. Yeah. You know, that's that's really all I can say about it. I mean, I'm not saying, you know, anyone's to blame or any one part was more the problem. It's just I'm a kind of person that it's like when I when it's I'm not feeling it anymore, I'm out. Like it's just just like that.

SPEAKER_07: 14:57

And I can also you tell me if I'm wrong in this without you saying much about that situation. I feel it may have been a situation to where you're joining their group, but you are also the one that is running circles around the concept of I want more, I want to learn more, I want to do more. Who's going to show me more?

unknown: 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:20

I don't know if that's true, but I mean, yes and no, a little bit. I mean, without, you know, going too much into it, it it kind of became an environment of maybe they thought they were taking in someone who wasn't capable or whatever. And my personality is just like It's time to move on. I hit the ground running and I'm like, like you said, I want more. I like the sky's the limit for me. I don't settle for just, you know, sitting around and having someone feed me. Like, like if I say this a lot, like it's you know, it's a little irrelevant, but it's kind of irrelevant. It's like if you don't set my soul on fire, I don't want to be even anywhere near you.

SPEAKER_07: 16:00

Like, oh that's a great way to look at it, actually.

SPEAKER_01: 16:02

You know, yeah, like to me, it's like if I'm not, you know, constantly feeling like, you know, for one, that the vibe is good, but also to feeling like I'm welcome. It just became it just became a you know kind of a point where you know that it was a couple and you know, they were just a little bit like too much going on.

SPEAKER_07: 16:25

Yes, not enough time for malicious.

SPEAKER_01: 16:26

Too much going on, yeah. And it just it just, you know, I just had to go. I had to part ways, yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 16:32

So now here you are, one year into the business, setting your soul on fire and San Antonio in your in your way. What does year two look like? You mentioned it's time to get a coach, a mentor, something. Someone that is in the business that can look bird's eye view, tell me what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, what I can focus on. I would assume because you wanted at least a repeat of the previous year.

SPEAKER_01: 16:59

No, I wanted better. I mean, a repeat was like boring to me. Like a repeat was like, no, and which I am kind of like at a repeat of last year, and I still feel like, you know, I don't know. So yeah, I wanted, I wanted to find that one that was gonna teach me how to sell a hundred houses a year, you know. I wanted to, and I didn't even know I was looking for a mentor at the time. Like when he reached out, I was over at a brokerage where it's you're on your own. Like it's a cloud-based brokerage. There is, I mean, it's nothing. You show up every day or you don't. No one cares. Like no one's gonna check in on you, no one's gonna ask how you're doing. That's it. You you do it or you don't. And I and I thought it was fine, you know. I I said, well, you know, I can do this. And I was doing it. I was I was doing fine. He reached out and I met with him a couple of times and and just just he holds me so accountable. Yeah. Like I can't, I can't get away with anything. Like there, I can't just, you know, say, oh, well, I'm trying. Like, yeah, right, try harder.

SPEAKER_07: 17:58

You know, let me ask, you're paying at this point, correct?

SPEAKER_01: 18:01

No, I'm not paying. Still.

SPEAKER_07: 18:02

Okay. Then that is a mentor.

SPEAKER_01: 18:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 18:05

1000%.

SPEAKER_01: 18:07

Yeah, definitely. Like he, you know, if I would tell him, oh, I have a problem or, you know, whatever, he's like, Well, what are you, what are you doing to, you know, about the problem? How did you get here? How can you fix it? How can you make sure it doesn't happen again? You know, just being held accountable on a different level. Cause like last year I just was like winging it. I just was kind of like, yeah, whatever, you know. And then the next year it was more so of like, well, where do you want to be in 12 months? And I'm like, well, I don't know. And he's like, Well, what do you mean you don't know? Well, how, you know, and and so I just was forced to go like a different direction and like really plan and not just show up every day and wing it, not just, well, okay, well, what are your goals? And then I would say, Well, these are my goals. And he's like, Well, how are you gonna get there? And then, well, what are you gonna do to get to that? And then what I'm like, you know, I had not thought about that.

SPEAKER_07: 18:52

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 18:53

He's like, Well, then you're not gonna get there, right?

SPEAKER_07: 18:55

And I'm like, Okay, you know now that's literally the question I was gonna ask you is had you not stumbled upon this mentor, JJ, do you think you would have at least repeat what you did? And second part to that, would you still have your sanity?

SPEAKER_01: 19:14

Oh, sanity, no. So my brain was fried last year. I remember there would be there would be times when you know I'd have two or three pending transactions and I literally would just like want to cry. I mean, there are so many deadlines and dates and you know, things that, you know, and I would just my brain just felt fried. And now my brain's peaceful. I, you know, I talk to Nicole all the time, and I'm like, you know, my brain's peaceful. I I have systems that handle these things. I have, you know, checklists that I look at to where that I'm I'm not constantly trying, did I forget this? What am I supposed to be doing? You know, it's it's automated now. So that's something that was learned. Last year I didn't have that. Last year it was just figure it out, you know? And so yeah, I think that would I have been the same, probably. I, you know, because I do, you know, it's just me. I probably would have, you know, still get it. Yeah, one way or the other, you know, hard the hard way or not, but definitely it's changed just like my quality of life of doing that. Because now I can have I have six pending transactions right now and I don't even think about it. Right. You know, I have a set time that I look at it on the calendar every day, I do what needs to be done, and then it's out of my mind. I if I hadn't have learned those things, I don't know how long I could have stayed on that trajectory. Like it, I probably would have burnt out really quickly.

SPEAKER_07: 20:39

Yeah. And and we talk about the burnout that both lenders and realtors have when they're grinding. And without the team and without the roadmap and plan to get to where you're going, the it it almost takes over you. Uh that is that becomes you instead of, like you said, I'm me, this is my business, and my business runs this way, type concept. And and I wanted to emphasize that for the listeners. I hope that you would answer it that right that way, because in my opinion, the folks that do figure those things out are able to prosper for a longer.

SPEAKER_03: 21:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 21:19

Because of the sanity piece. That's why I added that second to it.

SPEAKER_03: 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 21:24

In regards to systems and processes, what are some of those things? And you touched on them a little bit, but what are some of those things that could possibly help this newer generation of realtors that are getting in? Maybe they're having some good luck, some good fortune, and closing some deals and wanting to do more, but they don't have any systems in place. They're not looking at the couple of months down the road, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01: 21:53

A few of them, definitely. Number one is your Google Calendar. Okay. If last year I didn't even use a Google Calendar, I mean, I would just say, Oh, I have an appointment on this day. Hopefully I remember it. Yeah. You know, so your Google Calendar is huge. Time blocking things are huge. You can't allow people to just suck the life out of you and expect you to be everywhere all the time, you know, responding to everything. So you set aside certain times that I'm going to respond to these things. One thing JD says all the time is nothing is going to kill a residential deal in 24 hours. So if I'm at, you know, like a birthday party or whatever, before I would have been like, oh my God, I got to respond right now, you know? Now it's like, okay, I have a certain time that I look at these and I will respond when it's that time. You know, I have a certain time that there's another system that I created on the Google, Google Files or whatever it is, Google Docs or something like that, where I put each, he sent me like a checklist and he and he even laughed because I had to make it my own. I just couldn't do it the way they did it. But I put it into like a Google, like these Google Docs, and then I put, you know, the the person's name, the client's name, address, and then just all the dates, like important dates on there, you know, and it's it's literally like 30 things long. So when you have a whole bunch of pending transactions, whatever's in red needs to be addressed. So every day at a certain time, I look at it and I say, okay, this is in red. Am I able to find this today? If not, we look at it again tomorrow. I I forget about it. It's out of my mind, you know, once I look at it. So that's that's one system that I couldn't could not do real estate without that one. My Google Calendar, the task section on your Google Calendar. I didn't even know about it until probably six months ago. You can create a task. And then instead of trying to put it all in your notes or write it on a piece of paper and lose it and things like that, the task section has been huge for me. Every day I look at that task section. I say, what can I, what can I do? What needs to be moved to the next the next day, et cetera, whatever. And then as soon as you're done, you can clear them out. And then being able to see all the tasks we cleared out does something to your brain. Like it really does. And then probably aside from a CRM, CRM's huge, you know, following up with people. If you don't follow up with them, you're gonna forget about them. I closed deals sometimes that I met seven months ago. You know, and if if you meet them one time, then you forget about them, like they're gonna find another realtor. It's just that simple. They're not gonna care to reach out to you later unless you're their friend or whatever.

SPEAKER_07: 24:21

And even unless they've got your loan bot.

SPEAKER_01: 24:24

Um, so yeah, that the CRM and following up. And then lastly, I would say is my lead tracker.

unknown: 24:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:31

It's it's just a document I got from another realtor. It's a, it's, it's literally just being able to see a list of what leads have come in and who are they and where are they at? Like what's going on with it. So I put little notes on the side of it, I switch it out every month. And then sometimes I'll go back to the months before and call them and just check in on them and I'll put it in different colors and I'll say, like, if this is someone that's, you know, they're approved, they're ready to go right now, like I'm gonna check in with them daily. So that's in a different color. If they are, you know, someone that's like, oh, I was just kind of wondering how it is, blah, blah, blah, whatever, maybe checking with them every couple of weeks or, you know, once a month, maybe even every three months, just depending on the conversation. So the lead tracker, the Google Calendar, the task section on your Google Calendar, and then that thing that I created, I saved my life.

SPEAKER_07: 25:19

So basically sitting down, looking at your business from a bird's eye view and going, okay, what things need to be delegated, automated, set on autopilot? What can I use technology for to leverage to make me a better producer, wife, parent, et cetera? So for the folks listening out there, one simple way to start something like this, and it doesn't even need to be super intricate, but I used to do this practice with our loan officers, and I would have them create a could do, should do, and must do column, like uh three separate columns. And each week or each day, however often you'd like to do it, you go in and you list all the things that you could do this week or this day to make your business better, to get another buyer, shopper, seller, et cetera. Then from that column, you move some over that you should do today, this week, et cetera. And then from that column, you move over the things that are must-dos. And you start with your must-dos and move to your could do's. And then you at the end of the day, you go, okay, did I do everything that I should have done, could have done, and must have done type concept. And it's just an easy way to go about what you're talking about, yeah, which then turns into a time-blocked, consistent needle moving practice that I do every day at this time, etc., without exceptions.

SPEAKER_03: 26:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 26:50

Yeah. So we're still in your second year, we're going strong. What is this year like? Without talking about systems, what is this year like for you being in the market that we're in and painting the picture or framing the market? We're in an affordability crisis. We are dealing with what consumers believe are higher interest rates because they're still comparing them to our 2020, 2023. And we're short on inventory on the pre-owned side, but the new construction's giving away everything. What is today's world like for you and getting deals done?

SPEAKER_01: 27:32

So I feel like everyone has their own situation. Everyone is different. I definitely have seen the issues with, you know, not having a lot of pre-owned inventory. I think my biggest hurdle has been these lower pre-approval amounts, which are not necessarily low. They're just low for what we currently have. And so I just I just try to make it work. So I didn't, I didn't really sell very much new build at all until kind of more recently. I was very predominantly pre-owned. But I just kind of look at at the situation as a whole. And I so in weddings, I was a photographer, a florist, and a coordinator. And as a coordinator, as a wedding coordinator, I don't look at the problem. I look at like, what are we gonna do to fix this? You know, I tell my kids all the time, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

SPEAKER_07: 28:26

Amen to that.

SPEAKER_01: 28:26

So I don't want to be part of the problem. I want to be part of the solution. So every person that I meet that explains their situation, whether it's I need this payment, I need these closing costs, I need, you know, whatever the case, I say, okay, well, let's figure out how we're gonna make this work. I don't want to tell someone like, oh, I'm sorry, you just can't buy a house. Right now, sometimes that is the case. There's nothing that I can do about that. But for the most part, the ones that can, we do, you know, and we don't just figure it out up front. I mean, like, we don't just give up right away if it's not easy. Most of them are not easy. Right. You know, every now and then we may get lucky and get an easy one. But, you know, most of them are hard and they take a little, you know, work and and moving around. But it's so new build definitely does offer a lot of incentives. But I'm very upfront with with my clients. Like, hey, are you planning on selling this new build within the next three years or something? And if they're like, no, I want to live here forever, I'm like, okay, the new build may be a good idea for you.

SPEAKER_03: 29:21

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 29:21

But if you meet someone that's like, oh, I'm not planning on living this forever, you know, I just want this to kind of be like my starter home, whatever. I'm like, how soon are we talking? Because you're not gonna sell that thing. You know, you're gonna be competing against the builder and their incentives, and you're you're gonna be stuck here for a while. Well, I'm glad you had that conversation. Oh, a thousand percent.

SPEAKER_02: 29:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08: 29:38

No, that's exactly the last two or three uh shows. People are saying that the realtors and with the sales contract aren't being upfront about that. Yeah, yep. That's exactly right. Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 29:47

Yeah, I'm a thousand percent. I tell everyone, it's I even kind of jokingly tell people you may not like everything that I'm gonna say, but I'm gonna tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_07: 29:56

That I'm very very proud. That you say that. Weird to be proud, but but a lot of folks are scared to say that.

SPEAKER_03: 30:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 30:06

A lot of folks are scared to say the truth.

SPEAKER_03: 30:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 30:09

But I feel as though the ones that are serious about their craft, serious about being the best at their craft, have almost a fiduciary responsibility to being honest about those things.

SPEAKER_01: 30:24

A thousand percent we do because even just two years in, most of my business comes from repeat clients or referrals from those past clients. If you want to be transactional and maybe sell a deal every now and then, fine, whatever. Go lie and say whatever you want to say. Right. But if you're expecting these people to come back and trust you, like I meet these people my friends, like part of my family. And I truly, truly mean it. Like I don't just meet if I meet someone and I don't like them, it's obvious. Like I don't have a, you know, I don't, I, I don't have a, you know, a good poker face. It's like if I meet you and we don't, you know, really mesh well, you'll know it. So the people that I meet and I just absolutely love, I loved weddings. I used to tell the people at the weddings all the time, like, man, I feel like I'm more excited than y'all are. Like, so when you when you truly care about people, I I made a I make videos all the time, but one of the videos that I made, it's I said, you know, when you truly love like what you do, it's not hard to sell, you know. I'm selling myself because it's real. And and like I say, you may not like everything that I say, but I'm gonna tell you the truth. And there's times where I have those hard conversations with my clients where I'm just like, I'm not gonna lie to you. No, that's not gonna work. And no, you know, they're like, oh, I want to put in no, you know, and but they love that. They love me for that. They come back, they I, you know, I send them cookies to their kids on their birthdays because I'm just like, I just really love these people.

SPEAKER_07: 31:54

That's right.

SPEAKER_01: 31:54

And the ones that I don't, they know it.

SPEAKER_07: 31:56

They know it. That's right. And and not everyone is a good fit, not not every deal is a good deal. It's not worth losing your sanity or the way that you do business, which essentially is your foundation, your beliefs, your structure, your mission statement, all of the things that you can say that you stand for when you do business, yeah, it would be untrue to that.

SPEAKER_01: 32:19

So I tell people, you know, say I go to a listing appointment and this house is not gonna sell. I I say, look, I'm not in the business of just putting my sign in your yard and then you hating me later. You know, I would rather you hear the truth up front. Right. And or same thing if I'm going to put in an offer and they're like, Well, can we offer$50,000 under? And then I say, Look, you know, no, let's be realistic.

SPEAKER_07: 32:42

We can, but do you not want to hear back from the sellers?

SPEAKER_01: 32:44

That's why I say, are you a serious buyer or not? You know, like are you are what's like what's our end game? Are we trying to get this accepted?

SPEAKER_04: 32:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 32:52

You know, and and they appreciate that, you know, but it's it's really just the truth. I, you know, I I've never had a problem with the truth. No, me neither. You know, I I'm very like, you know, it's whatever. And I I guess that that that works. But yeah, so pretty much that's kind of where I've been.

SPEAKER_07: 33:08

It it really does work. I speaking from someone that operates business the same way. I've got customers that love me because of that, and then I've got customers that don't take well, but we don't end up working together, and that's okay with me because at the end of the day, I'm going to give you your real advice. I'm going to paint the real picture for you. I don't want you to come back to me. I'd rather you come back to me because you went with someone else and say, hey, you were right. Yeah. Versus you sticking with me and saying you were absolutely incorrect because I wanted to get the business.

SPEAKER_01: 33:42

Yeah. And that happened recently. I don't know if you saw my post, right?

SPEAKER_07: 33:45

No, tell me.

SPEAKER_01: 33:45

Today I turned. Matter of fact, tell us. Yeah. So recently I had posted on Facebook that today I was going to tell the story of how I turned down a showing that last year I bet I'm not a showing, a listing. Okay. That last year I begged for. Okay. I literally begged the lady.

SPEAKER_07: 34:00

Tell us about it.

SPEAKER_01: 34:01

Okay. So last year it was pretty early on. Now, just because of the training and things that I've had, I would say that I'm an expert in listings. Like I know them pretty well. Last year, buying a house is not the same as sell like the listing side. They're two totally different things. So I wasn't great at it. I kind of knew how to run comps, and that was about it. You know, like literally that was it. So if I went to a listing appointment, you know, I would be like, sure, you know, like, yeah, I'll sell it. And and maybe I did or maybe I didn't, you know. Now I can pretty much predict if I can sell this house or not. I can tell the seller about how long it's going to take me to get it sold. I could, you know, there's there's so many aspects that go into selling a home. So last year I get a call from a lady. I I actually go and I meet with her. I'm sorry, I called her. It was a for sale by owner. I actually I went to go meet with her. She was priced, she wanted a price way too high. And I didn't care. I was like, what do I need to do to get this listing? I'll cut my commission. Like, just tell me, like, what is it? And she was like, I'll let you know. And I thought, I thought the meeting went well. Like, I really thought she was gonna hire me. I met her and, you know, we had a conversation for like an hour and a half long. I really was convinced she was gonna hire me. She never did. A year, and I followed up with her every couple of months, ignored me. She would not respond to my call, she wouldn't respond to my text, but I would periodically look online to see if it had sold and it hadn't.

SPEAKER_04: 35:26

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 35:26

I really wanted the listing.

SPEAKER_04: 35:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 35:28

So a year, a little over a year, goes by, and I get a call the other day and it's her. And I was like, oh wow, like weird. Um, so I figured maybe she was gonna ask me about something else. No, she still hadn't sold this house.

SPEAKER_07: 35:41

Which you knew.

SPEAKER_01: 35:42

I knew. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 35:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 35:44

So she calls and she says, Hi, you know, I still haven't sold my house. And, you know, I've had it on the market, and I'm, you know, I'm about to have to pay taxes again, I'm about to have to pay insurance again, and you know, and it's just too much. And, you know, I really need to get it sold. So I was like, oh wow, like I can't believe she called me back. So I tell her, you know what, let me go run some numbers again and you know, I'll give you a call back. I go, I do a CMA on it, and I call her back and I'm like, you know, this is the range that you can sell in. These are how many active listings you're competing against in the neighborhood, these are how many have sold in 12 months. You know, I'm telling her all these things, and she's still adamant on keeping that higher, that higher price.

SPEAKER_07: 36:28

What was her reasoning or logic behind that?

SPEAKER_01: 36:31

She owed, she owed some money and she wanted to be able to pay that off and still have, you know, after closing costs and everything, she wanted to still be able to have a good amount of money left over. And then she said, Well, and I and I so I was explaining it to her line by line, like these are gonna be your closing costs and you know, things like that. And then she said, Well, you told me last time that you would cut your commission. And I said, That's cute. Yeah. And I go, unfortunately, like I I'm number one, I'm not gonna cut my commission, but number two, I still don't want, I still am not a good fit for this listing. Right. And I said, I I really, you know, wish you well. Let me know if you ever, you know, have any questions or need anything from me. But it's just, you know, unfortunately for me or, you know, for you or whatever, but this listing just isn't gonna be, I'm not gonna take it. And she, you know, she was like, Oh, okay, well, thank you for letting me know and things. But it's crazy be how we go full circle because like I said last year, I literally was begging this lady. I was in the driveway with her saying, so what do I gotta do? You know, I mean, I was like, is it the commission? Is it is it this? Like, you know, and and I'll let you know, I'll let you know. Here we are, and I've really mastered my craft, which I still have a lot to learn, of course.

SPEAKER_05: 37:37

You're a student to the game, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 37:39

You know, but I I've I'm just a total different agent than I was in that time. And now I'm like, not only I'm not gonna cut my commission, I'm not even gonna take that listing.

SPEAKER_07: 37:47

You know, well, a couple of things from that story that I'd like to dig in deeper. First off, the idea of you cutting your commissions because it's being asked that leads me to the NAR settlement thing. When that was going on, you were still in your first year. Was that scaring the hell out of you? Did you know what was going on? Did anybody kind of preface that, hey, we're in Texas, we already kind of do something like that, make sure to state your value.

SPEAKER_01: 38:20

Yeah. It didn't really scare me because it's kind of like all I knew. You know what I mean? They were already talking about it like right when I got my license. This is this is kind of they hadn't made the actual decision yet, correct? But they figured it was gonna go that way. So they were kind of already like any of like the broker meetings and stuff we would have, they would say, you know, this is the direction we're kind of already taking anyway. So I mean, I just I didn't even know any different.

SPEAKER_05: 38:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 38:44

So, and I guess like the first few deals when I would put in an offer, I'd call right away and I'd say, Hey, I just want to know how much commission you're offering, and you know, this and that. And and then I started to realize, like, look, I'm gonna put in the offer, you know, whatever. And and then this happened recently, and I actually had the conversation with the lady about with the NAR about the NAR settlement.

SPEAKER_04: 39:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 39:04

I went to put in an offer last week. And in the offer, I put mind you, the house had been on the market for over a year. I gave a really good offer. I went in full price. I only asked for a little bit of whatever our max concessions, but it's um, you know, it was a conventional loan. So yeah, so it wasn't much. Yeah. So it wasn't much on the concessions, and then I asked for my 3% so that my buyer doesn't have to pay for it. Mind you, I wouldn't make my buyer pay for it. But anyway, and I put in my 3%. Well, this lady is an actual broker and reaches out to me and says, you know, we accept your offer as is. Five minutes later, she's like, actually, there's gonna be a couple of there are gonna be a couple of changes. One of them is we're only offering two and a half percent, and the other one is we're not gonna pay for a survey. And I said, so we went kind of back and forth for a minute and I and I explained to her, you know, had we known, she said, you should have called me up front and asked me what we were offering. I said, first of all, what you're offering is irrelevant to me.

SPEAKER_05: 39:59

Agree.

SPEAKER_01: 40:00

My 3% that I'm gonna ask for is a package deal based on data of the offer. I don't care what you're offering up front. I'm going to look at how long has this home been on the market? How good of an offer am I am I giving? And I'm gonna put my 3% in there. And then you as an agent should be educating your seller on the benefits of accepting my offer. Not, well, we agreed to begin with that it would, I don't care what y'all agreed with to begin with. And I even explained, I said, you know, with EXP, we don't do broker-to-broker compensation anyway. I said, so you're welcome to amend your listing agreement because she's and then she throws in, well, I lowered mine and I that was on you, ma'am. Yeah. I said, you know, I said, I love how you discounted yours and were willing to discount mine. I said, but you know, unfortunately, I feel like you would be misleading your client if you let him think that this was the norm because there is no norm. That's right. And you also are kind of failing him if you don't explain to him the benefit of accepting this offer.

SPEAKER_07: 40:56

That's on the table. That's right.

SPEAKER_01: 40:57

You know, in with all of the details at hand, you've been on the market over a year. Yep. You know, are you turning away good offers based on half a percent?

SPEAKER_07: 41:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 41:06

You know, and so she ended up accepting.

SPEAKER_07: 41:09

Yes. When there is literally a mountain of cash waiting for your seller.

SPEAKER_01: 41:14

I told her I said I have a ready, willing, and able buyer. That's right. If you want it or not, and she accepted my offer.

SPEAKER_07: 41:19

Ready, willing, and able. I've always said that is buyers have to be three things. They have to be ready, willing, and able. If they're not one of those things, you're not gonna get them across the finish line. I'm glad you said that.

SPEAKER_01: 41:28

Yeah, I can't take credit. JJ says all the time. It's not a lead unless they're willing and able. But yeah, so she accepted my offer.

SPEAKER_07: 41:34

Yeah. So in that instance of the negotiation back and forth, number one, you're right. You don't have to call her, even if you did, and she said, Yeah, we're offering two and a half, you submitted at three. Absolutely. So that means nothing. Is it a courtesy? I I don't know. I don't even think it is a courtesy. I don't think it is. I don't because you guys negotiate on contracts. Yeah, you don't have to.

SPEAKER_01: 41:57

And if someone called me as a listing agent and asked me, what are you offering? I wouldn't give them an answer. That's right. Submit your offer. Submit your offer and we will look at it as a whole. Yeah. So I just kind of do the same thing, you know. I there is no standard the way she, you know, made it seem.

SPEAKER_07: 42:13

Right. No, and I totally agree with that. Do you think that let's say someone in your position of last year, your first year in the business, the way you were trying to get that listing so so bad, cutting your commission and throwing everything at it to capture that business. Do you think that there's a lot of that going on, which is spreading the narrative of lowering the realtor's value? Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01: 42:42

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I do think there is a lot of that going on. I think that, you know, a lot of agents think that some business is better than no business. And I, and and I'm not saying I've never cut my commission. You know, I have. There are times where, you know, my seller doesn't have enough with the offer that's can't come in to, you know, close without paying out of their pocket. And, you know, we're gonna go buy as well. So, you know what I mean? I've I've I've I make it work for them because ultimately they are the most important. Yeah, of course, I I want to be paid for my my work, but I don't want to put my clients in a bad place, you know. So I have lowered my commission before, but I also don't think that all business is good business. There's some times when it's just not a good, you know, fit or it's just not a good, and I don't think that lowering it lowers our value so much because any any person who has bought or sold will tell you that a good real estate agent is worth their weight in gold.

SPEAKER_05: 43:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 43:42

Because most, not most, but a lot of agents, and I know because I've worked on the other side of them, don't have a clue of what they're doing.

SPEAKER_07: 43:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 43:51

And and I'm not saying that like I'm the best or I'm the smartest or anything like that. I still have a lot to learn. I've said that. Yeah. But there are a lot of people that are just kind of like flying by in the seat of their pants, and you know, and a lot of these questions that they ask or things that they'll put on the contract. And but I mean, I know that I was in that place at one time. So I, you know, I'm kind about it, but I can just see like overall, like a lot of people just like there are a set of good ones, and then there's the rest. Yes. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05: 44:19

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_01: 44:19

So yeah, all real estate agents know. I don't think that everyone should be, and I've I've said this before, there are some that kind of like do it part-time and their family know that they're agents and maybe throw a deal in their lap every few months or whatever. But the ones that are working every single day, you know, hours on hours on hours on hours, we're sacrificing. I feel like, yeah, we should be paid because I work hard and I make sure that they're getting a good deal and I fight for my clients. And there's a lot of things that I use my experience to prevent them from some muddy waters, you know. A lot of agents wouldn't know that. A lot of them maybe just, you know, get them to the finish line and we hope that nothing comes back and bites them later. But for the most part, there are a lot of things that, you know, shouldn't make it to the finish line with most people, and they do because of experience. Not just my own, but a lot of people, you know. I there are times where, you know, like I said last year, I wasn't, you know, like the greatest. I didn't really know what I was doing. And those listing agents carried the whole deal. You know, they there would be some things that were happening, and you know, I would have been like, all right, well, you know.

SPEAKER_07: 45:23

And well, I mean, I want to give you a little bit more credit because you say I wasn't the greatest. And no, matter of fact, you can strive to be the greatest. That's why I had keep a brass number two in my office because there's always someone better. So keep chasing, keep improving, keep learning, being a student to your game. Because no matter how good you think you are, there's somebody better, and that's okay. You know, who the hell do we have to learn from if there's not?

SPEAKER_01: 45:49

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07: 45:50

And in the instance of the what are I guess your first year trying to do what you did, and and I talked about this in maybe two discussions ago, the idea of part-time versus full full-time, and you brought that up. So I want to know your thoughts. Is this game industry possible to do part-time? Go for it.

SPEAKER_01: 46:21

No, I mean, you you can you can get a license and you can be broke paying all those fees that we have if you want to do it part-time. And like I said, you may sell a house here and there when you know, like you have a family member that knows that you do it and then they bring it to you. But no, it takes it takes consistency and follow-up and hard work every single day. Yeah. You know, in one form or the other, whatever it is that each person chooses as their lead generation or whatever, it takes that every single day. Because even if, like I said, you sell a couple or whatever, you're constantly going to, you know, just have such inconsistency. And these fees are expensive. Absolutely. You know, so no, I've had people that reach out, you know, that you know, knew me from before and they send me a message like, hey, I see you're doing so great. Like, I want to get my real estate license and do it like as a backup or part-time. And again, and with them, I'm honest too. I'm like, good luck.

SPEAKER_05: 47:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 47:20

Good luck. You know, I mean, it's it's not some there are it's just there's so many ins and outs and things that if you don't just really eat, sleep, and breathe real estate, then you're just gonna waste a lot of your time.

SPEAKER_07: 47:35

And I think that is a uh recurring issue that will continue to plague our industry, which is the idea of the barrier to entry being so low. You go take a couple classes, you pass a standardized test, and guess what? Yeah, pay a fee and you're a realtor.

SPEAKER_03: 47:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 47:51

But because you have a license, does that, yes, it gives you the ability to sell, but the are you doing the right thing for your customer if you're not shadowing somebody that is a top producer doing what they're doing, seeing what they're doing to see if this is something that you even want to get into.

SPEAKER_03: 48:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 48:12

But it is such a low barrier to entry that you get in and like always, we close our first deal that's a family member, a friend, a close friend, the sphere of influence kind. And it's that was easy.

SPEAKER_02: 48:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 48:25

And then you go down the road, month two, three, and you're like, wait a minute. Yeah, where's the business?

SPEAKER_02: 48:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 48:32

So that leads me to my next topic, which is you being in the business so new. Where are you getting your business from, if you don't mind talking about that? Because the idea of where you get your business from isn't going to be the same as anyone else. And even if it is, they are still different uh pools, if that makes sense. Like I say, fish where the fish are. Well, my fish are in a different pond than your fish.

SPEAKER_01: 48:57

Thousand percent. Yeah. So when I first started, I had no idea where to get leads from or anything like that. So I did the only thing that I could think of. I just pick my phone up and just start talking into it.

SPEAKER_07: 49:10

And I that's that's that's gosh, what's his name? Uh the speaker that I always I've seen twice now. Oh goodness, you know him. Everybody, Tom Ferry. The Tom Ferry saying right there. Yeah. So pick up your phone and start dialing.

SPEAKER_01: 49:24

That's I mean, no, not even dialing. I'm talking about I would just make videos.

SPEAKER_07: 49:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 49:28

Yeah. So I see that a lot of people, and to each their own, I'm not judging. I think, I think the ones that take a funny approach to it or a comedic approach to it, great. Like it works for them. I mean, I'm pretty funny, like in just a normal setting, but as far as like being like an actor in a video, like I I don't have it. So all I all I knew to do was just kind of pick up the phone. I hold it right out in front of me. There's no fancy production, anything like that. And I just would start giving as much information as I could. So I would teach as I learned. So from day one, and then one of my biggest things that I've focused on since I've got into real estate is I was also a first-time homebuyer just recently, you know, and and there's like this big myth that it's so hard to buy a house and you need 20% down, and you gotta have an 800 credit score and you gotta have all of these things because even that's what I thought, you know, two years ago before I bought a house. Even though I had family members that were in real estate, I didn't have a clue how to buy a house. I never even considered it. And I'm, you know, I'm in my older years. I'm not, you know, my young 20s.

SPEAKER_07: 50:29

You are a spring chicken still. So, you know, we're the same age, so yeah, easy on that.

SPEAKER_01: 50:35

Well, you know what I mean? Like I wasn't, I'm not it's not like I'm this young college student that's just naive to life. Like I'm older, so you would have thought I I knew how to do it, and I didn't. So that's kind of the approach that I took. When I would learn something, I would teach it. When I would do something, I would share it, you know, just like that, and it's just picked up. So I don't get my my business from strangers for the most part on social media, but just staying top of mind with people that already know me, that's where it all comes from is you know, referrals from them or you know, just them, or now it's been mainly past clients and repeat clients. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 51:09

There you go. There you go. And I think a lot of folks are scared to share, like you're talking about, because then people will go, oh wow, you just learned that.

SPEAKER_03: 51:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 51:19

Yeah, you may be thinking that, but the person that saw it that as I'm actually gonna help respects the fact that I just shared that.

SPEAKER_03: 51:26

Yeah. That was it.

SPEAKER_07: 51:26

So it's two sides of the token. The one that is judging probably isn't looking for business themselves.

SPEAKER_01: 51:33

Yeah, probably sitting around doing nothing.

SPEAKER_07: 51:34

There you go.

SPEAKER_01: 51:35

Yeah. So, and I I share it all. And I even I even say, like, hey, look, I practice what I preach. I bought a starter home. I didn't, I didn't just say, well, I can't buy a$500,000 house, so I'm just gonna stay renting forever. No, they told me, y'all actually told me you can buy up to$250,000. And I wanted to be in this specific neighborhood so my kids can stay in the school because we rented the same house for 13 years. So I said, okay, I have up to$250,000. I know I need a four-bedroom, two-bath, and I need to be in this same neighborhood so my kids can go to the same school. So I had like four houses to choose from. There you go. They weren't nice, but you still took that seriously. I took the opportunity and I have fixed my house up to where I love it. I tell I say all the time, I don't think I'll ever sell this house. That's awesome. You know, I did a ton of work on it, and I and I even jokingly say one paycheck at a time. Like I built my dream home, one paycheck at a time. So I try to share that. Like, like, look, I'm not standing up here telling you, oh, go buy an ugly house. Like, no, I'm right here with you guys. Like, like, come buy a house, whatever you can afford, fix it up little by little. And then, you know, if you want to sell five years down the road or whatever, leave with your check, and then you can go buy something bigger. You posted that before, which I thought was really cool because it even gave me hope of like, yeah, that's really cool. He went from this, and then a few years later he went to this, and then a few years later he went to this. And when you share those things, even people, you know, that I'm not even looking for that information, but I came up across it and I was like, that's pretty cool. You know, same story. Yeah, and same here with me. I mean, it's I I'm explaining to people like, look, I do it, I did it too. I'm not here just telling you because I'm trying to sell you a freaking house. Like, I'm telling you, if you want to own a home, this is where we start, and you know, and then we'll get there later. But, you know, start somewhere. And some people appreciate it and some don't. I get a lot of rude comments. I don't really care. I delete that. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_07: 53:29

You know, you know what? They they they feed the algorithm.

SPEAKER_01: 53:32

I for sure.

SPEAKER_07: 53:32

Yeah, you know, and I'm glad you kind of brought that up, which leads me to another conversation, a bigger conversation about the and I've been trying to bring this home, oh gosh, on every other discussion, and hopefully it'll spread maybe a movement of people and their lack of understanding or willingness to sacrifice to get what they can now to work towards what they couldn't at the time if they're gonna be. Yeah, and and the the folks that well, I'll start with this. Are most of the folks that you're helping right now, let's say on the buy side, are they folks that truly need some help, but they're willing to actually accomplish that goal?

SPEAKER_03: 54:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 54:22

And and I and I I I knew that because this market has bred those type of buyers, all of the ones that rates are too high. This is the there are a ton of people that could care less about the rate right now and want to own a home so they can start building some equity and work towards that next home and the next home, etc. But they understand the fact that I've gotta kind of live in that for now and build up to the next. What are you seeing as far as buyers' expectations and willingness to compromise in that aspect?

SPEAKER_01: 55:00

I love that. So that's one of the first conversations that I have with people. I went through kind of hell until I realized look, if you don't set expectations, you are going to be miserable. So they are and we are. Okay, very good. Yeah, they they are and I am, right? There's there's a big gap between reality and and not. And if you don't set those expect expectations up front, it's it's gonna be miserable. So I do get a lot of, you know, buyers that are like, oh, I and it's not only just first-time home buyers. A lot of times it's someone in the$500,000 range, but they want a$700,000 looking house, you know? They just haven't really kind of grasped that. Look, I don't know what you're used to, but this is what it is. And I and I I let them know up front, there's gonna be a compromise.

SPEAKER_04: 55:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 55:50

Unless you have an unlimited budget and you can check every box for your dream home, unless you have an unlimited budget, you're gonna be have a compromise. Now, is that compromise gonna be on the location? Is it gonna be on the size? Is it gonna be on the age? Is it gonna be on the upgrades? Is it gonna be on the, you know, whatever?

SPEAKER_05: 56:05

Correct.

SPEAKER_01: 56:06

There's gonna be a if you're not willing to compromise or you can't compromise on your budget, then be ready to compromise on something else.

SPEAKER_05: 56:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 56:13

Don't come and say, I need this, this, this, this, and this, but I will not go above this, this amount. Okay. Payment. Then I then I let them know that's not gonna happen. Do you want to find something or do you not? Right. You know, because there is gonna be a compromise. Now I can find you, you know, I can check some of your boxes, you know, like maybe you say, because like I said, it's not only the the lower, like first-time homebuyer budgets. It's a lot of times it's like those$500,000 people too. They want something that's in like looking in the$700,000 range. I want five acres, but the house needs to be brand new and this and that. And I let them know. Yeah, or yeah. So I let them know. I say, hey, we can, what are your must-haves? What are your deal breakers? And let's work on that. Yeah. Because thinking that we're gonna get everything, it's not gonna happen. You know, so what is that gonna be? Are we going to compromise on the size of the home? Are we gonna maybe move a little further out of the city, you know, kind of on the outskirts so that we can get something bigger, maybe a bigger yard, or you know, a lot of them will say no HOA. Okay, well, now you just wiped out half of the inventory. You know what I mean? Absolutely. So what are we, what is the most important to you? Pick those and let's discuss that, and then we'll see what we can throw in from down here. But having that conversation is so important if you don't want people just to bring you over.

SPEAKER_07: 57:29

So JC, how much time are we at?

SPEAKER_08: 57:34

One hour and two minutes.

SPEAKER_07: 57:35

Okay, so we can wrap this up here in a bit. But what allows you as a second-year realtor, the courage, the cojones, whatever it is, to be able to have that conversation? Because that is another thing that I can tell you it separates you from any other that doesn't have that conversation and spends weeks upon weeks upon now, it's a month, then another month, and they still haven't found a home. Why? Because you haven't set the proper expectations of what they're even looking for.

SPEAKER_01: 58:11

Yeah. One, I mean, it's just my personality. Okay, okay. Um, but two, I think it just comes with experience. It comes with getting tired of being like, oh my God, I'm exhausted. Well, you know, this is where the mentorship comes in. You know, I would go to him and be like, dude, I'm done. Like, I'm exhausted with it. And then he would walk me through it and say, What expectations are you setting? Are you having these harder conversations? And I would be like, No, okay, well, then get out there and have them or get out of my face, you know? That's right. And so the same way he sets those expectations with me, I turn around and set those expectations with them because the same way he doesn't want to hear me complaining about the same crap over and over. I also don't want to keep having the same conversations over and over about, you know, oh, but why it it doesn't exist. So let's find what does exist in your must-haves and in your, you know, your deal breakers and what's most important to you and try to see how many boxes we can check, unless you're just not a serious buyer altogether, you know, and sometimes they're not, sometimes they're not.

SPEAKER_07: 59:07

That's exactly right. Some people need to be willing, yeah, you know, in that that aspect. So, Melissa, the last two final questions I want to ask you, and you don't have to answer right away, but the first one is what's some advice you would give to a brand new realtor trying to jump into this industry today? And then the second piece is going to be what's some advice you would give to a buyer that is jumping into this market today?

SPEAKER_01: 59:33

Uh to the brand new realtor, I would say take a real deep look at who you are as a person and what you need to succeed and what you need just see who you are, kind of, you know, look at where I would fit in, what do I need, and and adjust from there. Not everyone's gonna be the same. Some people are far more organized than I am, some people are, you know, they hustle more than I, whatever the case. Just see what it is that the kind of person that you are and base your decisions on where you go from that. Because if you just take advice of go join a team, if you just put everyone on a team, clearly we don't all need a team. A team would have been the opposite of beneficial to me.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:18

But others, you know, that's that works for them and they can stay on a team for life. And and there's nothing, there's nothing wrong with them. Everyone has their own, you know, way of learning and their own personality types and things like that. So kind of find out who you are and what you need and stay freaking organized. If you're not organized, your brain's gonna fry and you're gonna be burnt out really quick.

SPEAKER_07: 1:00:38

That's good advice on that side. So now how about buyers? Buyers out there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:42

Buyers, I just give I the piece of advice that I would give is there's something for you. I'm not asking you to settle, I'm just asking you to buy, to look for what is in what works for you right now in your budget or your price range, and just work towards building equity so that someday you can have whatever you want, even a few more times like you did. You know, I went to this one and then I went to this one, I went to this one. But when you completely cut out the idea of ever starting from the beginning and you try to just jump right to the middle, you're gonna be there's you're never gonna get to that. You're gonna constantly be saying, I'm gonna keep saving, I'm gonna keep saving. But this the in the time that you're saving, home prices are going up.

SPEAKER_03: 1:01:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:27

You know, so unless, you know, unless you're planning on getting, you know, like you're in school to be a doctor and then you're gonna be a doctor and you're gonna be rich, okay, whatever.

SPEAKER_07: 1:01:35

Not all doctors are rich.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:36

I know, yeah, I know. But, you know, just having that idea of like, I'm gonna wait, I'm gonna wait, I'm gonna wait. I don't recommend it. But just pick your pick your must-haves, you know, write out a checklist of, you know, these are the things that I will not compromise on. These are my must-haves. And obviously, budget's probably gonna be one of them. So you got to be mindful of what's out there. A lot of, you know, buyers will think that you're gonna send them 10,000 houses. And it's like, no, once we start typing in the criteria on MLS, it goes from here to like, mm, yeah. And then you send them 10 homes and they're like, that's it. And then I'm like, no, that's really it.

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:10

You know, so just being mindful of realistic expectations. And as long as you're able to compromise, you'll find something and you'll make it into what you love and you'll live in it for a little bit because you're gonna, if not, you're renting anyway, you know. And then maybe someday you can have something even better. But like I said, I'm still in the same one that, and I have no plans on buying anything else.

SPEAKER_07: 1:02:32

So I like that. Melissa, I'm actually gonna ask you one more question. I think I'm gonna ask every one-on-one guest this moving forward. What is some advice you would give yourself today if you could tell yourself something day one in real estate? One thing. And it can't be run.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:56

I mean, I would just tell myself that you know who you are, you know what you're capable of. Just get through the hard parts. The hard parts are never going to end, but they will get, you know, a little less heavy to carry, and you'll find your way.

SPEAKER_07: 1:03:15

Well, that was said very nicely, and I know that you mean that. Ladies and gentlemen out there, today was a pretty cool discussion because we've been talking about the COVID agents, the folks that got into our industry 320, 20, what? 2020, 2021, 2022, that era. And for the most part, a lot of them are are having a tough time. That's not my opinion. That's just the the overall consensus of it. And today I've had a great discussion with Melissa, who is an outlier. But you also got to hear what it took for her to become that outlier. You also got to hear what she had to sacrifice, what she had to go through in order to be where she's at today. And I have no doubts that she's gonna continue to help more buyers and learn more and continue to be a student of this game, this crazy world called real estate that we live in. Melissa, I want to thank you for joining me and telling your story transparently, as difficult as it seemed up front. Not too bad, huh?

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 1:04:25

An hour feels like 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:26

For sure.

SPEAKER_07: 1:04:27

There you go. Well, guys and gals, thanks for tuning in. We are now, JC, throw up on the screen. Let's see here. Let me hit refresh on this thing. Where are we sitting? Where are we sitting? We're at 31.2,000 subscribers and growing. I really appreciate you guys. So if you're watching this, uh, if you get something out of it, make sure to share with somebody that could also benefit from it. Um, like, subscribe, all that stuff. And um, we will catch you on the next one.

unknown: 1:05:16

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