Chamber Amplified
Each week Doug Jenkins of the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce talks to industry experts to help local businesses find new ideas, operate more efficiently, and adapt to ever-changing conditions.
Chamber Amplified
A Day In The Life: Local Real Estate
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In this episode of Chamber Amplified's Day in the Life series, Doug Jenkins sits down with Brian Whitta, Broker/Owner of Coldwell Banker Flag City, for a behind-the-scenes look at the real estate profession.
Brian discusses how every day is different, why relationships are the foundation of real estate, how he monitors housing trends and economic indicators each morning, and what today's housing market really looks like. They also explore why inventory remains tight years after the Great Recession, how technology and regulations have changed the industry, and why community involvement plays such an important role in building a successful business.
Whether you're thinking about buying or selling a home, considering a career in real estate, or simply curious about what happens behind the scenes, this episode offers valuable insight into one of the region's most important industries.
Topics include:
- Housing inventory and market trends
- Real estate careers
- Building client relationships
- Community involvement
- The future of housing
- Small business leadership
Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com
Welcome And Day In Life Setup
Doug JenkinsHello, everyone, and welcome back to Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Each week here on the podcast, we're talking about the things that matter most to local businesses and organizations, whether that's workforce and leadership development, could be marketing, could be IT issues, or just the everyday realities of running something that serves our community. That's really where we're focusing on this week. My guest is Brian Weta, the broker and owner of Colwell Banker Flag City. This is another installment in our Day in the Live series. We started doing this a few months ago, where at the end of each month, we just talked to someone in an industry in the community about what their day is like and what they do. We select that industry at random and we select the chamber member who represents that industry at random. And Brian, he drew the lucky ticket for this one. Maybe the short straw. It's however you want to frame it. That's how he ended up being the guest today, but we appreciate his time. We're going to be talking about the everyday realities of residential and commercial real estate. It's kind of one of those professions where you think you get it, but then you talk to someone who doesn't, and you realize there's a lot more going on there than you realize. So we'll talk about why no two days are ever the same. Brian's also going to talk about what he's watching every day before most of us are even awake and why he likes to work in the mornings. Maybe something you can template for yourself. What I really like about this discussion is we talk about building relationships. Now, certainly when you think about relationships and people who work in real estate, you think about them and the client that they're working with. But what you don't realize is there's a really unique relationship between a realtor and another realtor. They're competitors, yes. They represent their clients' interest, yes, but they also kind of have to get along, even though they're competitors. We'll explain all of that. We'll talk about why community involvement matters a lot, not only in that industry, but for many business owners. And this is important, we talk a little about 90s professional wrestling. Not much, not enough to scare you away, but if you like a good NWO reference, that's in there for you too. And if you're enjoying the podcast, don't forget to leave us a rating and review the show. Make sure you share it with others. You can also watch us on YouTube now. So if that's your jam and you'd like to watch a podcast, it's easy to find us on the Chamber of Commerce channel there. Now, let's get into it.
Early Mornings And Constant Messages
Doug JenkinsJoined on Chamber Amplified now by Brian Wida of Coldwell Banker Flag City as we do another in our day in the life series as we look at just what a day looks like for some of our members in some of the different industries that we see around Findlay and Hancock County. Brian, thanks for joining us. Well, good morning, Doug. How are you? Doing well here to talk about all things real estate. So, I mean, everything's just the same every single day for you, right? Just kind of how that goes.
Brian WhittaYou know, I'm grateful that it isn't, but there's days I wish it was.
Doug JenkinsI'm sure. I'm sure we all do. Uh so let's go ahead and get started there, and then we'll get into your backstory and everything like that. But how does an average day go for you at Coldwell? What how does the day start? What are the things that you're working on? What are the things you're monitoring?
Brian WhittaWell, you know, every day, like you mentioned, is different. I usually start my day pretty early. I go to bed early, I get up early. Um, every agent is going to handle that differently. But for me, I find that starting early works well because that's some uninterrupted time in the morning that I can not only catch up on messages that I need to catch up on, but I can check industry news, I can look at market statistics, I can get my head wrapped around what's shifting within the city, within the county, within the state, and nationally, because what happens nationally does eventually affect us right here in Findlay and Hancock County. And so it's good to be ahead of those trends. If I start my day early, um, I wish I could tell you I could end my day early, but that's also not the way it really goes. Um, as the broker, as the owner of the brokerage, uh, both on Coldwell Banker Flag City and Coldwell Banker Commercial Flag City, um, there's a lot going on because there's uh there's just a lot of activity here locally, and we're grateful for that. With every day being different, that means that some days the phone is ringing early with calls from clients, some days that is attending to um transactions that you might be working on with another agent in the market. Um, and because every agent works differently, sometimes that means you'll have an agent who's messaging you at midnight. They should all hold out one hand and slap it with the other for that, by the way. Some of us are old and go to bed early. It just doesn't work well for me. Um, but you know, we we all work differently. We're all working for our clients, trying to satisfy whatever that end goal is. And it just no two days are the same, Doug.
Competitors Who Must Cooperate
Brian WhittaThey just aren't.
Doug JenkinsYou know, there's uh a couple things I want to focus on there, but let's talk about uh in real estate the relationship from uh realtor to realtor, from broker to broker, whatever the case may be. It's interesting because you're all kind of competitive, but you all kind of have to get along, but all are trying to get the best deal for your clients. So those are some relationships that you have to manage, I would imagine.
Brian WhittaYes. Yeah, there's a lot of different personalities, a lot of different uh uh business practices, a lot of different ethical styles and how people do business. Um, we all are bound to a code of ethics, which means that we all are beholden to a national code. Um, and real estate's a little bit weird in that we are competitors but still have to work together. Um, there really isn't another industry exactly like that that I know of, at least within the United States. So, yes, there are days where you feel like you're going at one another and you are doing it for your client, um, trying to satisfy whatever your client's goal is. It it is a little weird.
Doug JenkinsIt almost feels like how all attorneys kind of know each other, especially in the business attorney world where they're out there to represent their their client and everything, but uh should you get in court with them, they're they're going to uh be rivals, and then you might see them having dinner together afterwards.
Brian WhittaUh there there is uh some very similar parallels in real estate, yes.
Market Signals Brian Watches Daily
Doug JenkinsUh let's also talk a little bit. You said uh you know you get up in the morning and you're you're monitoring things. Uh I'm just curious, what are the things that you like to keep an eye on uh that are kind of indicators that mean a lot to you?
Brian WhittaWell, I I'm a big nerd. Um, I watch the market statistics pretty closely, and so I use a third party to do that. I I don't really like to use the MLS statistics. I like to use a third party to actually analyze the data and tell us what they see trending within the city, within the county, within the state. And then again, like I mentioned, I I look nationally as well because some of those trends, much like the the wind typically blows from the west, uh, the trends typically blow from the west. And so as things are coming across the country, it's good for us to be attuned to what might be coming down the pike. I watch the uh stock market ticker pretty religiously, so I know um how things may be indicating the broader market economically. Um, you know, what what are what are the what's the bond market look like? What are the stocks doing? What are businesses saying? And specifically businesses that impact residential and commercial real estate. If we have our finger on the pulse of what's going on within commodities, then often we'll know what's going to happen with pricing on new construction or what might trickle down to existing homes or existing uh pieces of real estate for sale. So I I tend to be a little bit of a creature habit in the morning. I I like to at least have the ticker on here to the side. I know you can't see it on screen, but I have the ticker on the wall right now and I watch that just uh as one of those indicators, as one of those data points every
From Public Service To Brokerage Owner
Brian Whittaday.
Doug JenkinsI want to get into some of the uh the different aspects of of the industry. But before we do that, I want to just talk about how you got into what you do because it's never a linear path for anyone. It's been interesting since we started doing these day-in-the-life type of things, is everybody sort of started out with one thing and then it kind of evolved into this, and then it evolved into that. And I would think that your story is probably the very like that.
Brian WhittaIt is. Yeah, and and the uh the odd thing about real estate is nobody actually wakes up one day as a junior high or a high school student says, I'm going to be a realtor. Now I'm sure there are a few out there who do it, but most people in real estate are coming from another industry. I was a public servant for 15 years. Um, I worked in school districts, I worked for the Ohio Department of Education, and so I have um uh background in operations, background in uh financial things. And uh I got to the point in that line of work where I loved a lot of the people I worked with, but I said I'm tired of political nonsense, working for people who don't understand what I do, but are trying to direct what I do. And I had had a real estate license for a number of years, it was always a retirement plan. Um, I started in public employment at a young age, and so I knew that around the age of 51, 52, I would have my 30 years in and I could retire. And so I had always planned to do a mid-career shift and I would get into real estate, and that's what I would do in retirement. And as I got, I guess, really worn out by the politics of what goes on in uh public education these days, I decided, you know, I'm gonna make a shift now. I'm gonna do it. If it's meant to be, it'll work. And fortunately for me, it did. I'm not from Findlay originally. I grew up in Faustoria, and so I had to work a little extra hard to get known in the area. Um, and I'm I'm grateful for you know the strength of the community for people who took a chance on me and and helped me to build a business, and that grew over time to owning the brokerage here.
Doug JenkinsYou mentioned doing extra work to get noticed, and there's a lot of different ways to do that. Certainly, you're a chamber of commerce member. One thing is you're very active in the community, even beyond the chamber, things like that. Uh, you I how are your feet after walking around selling 50-50 tickets at Kiwanas Purse Bingo last week?
Brian WhittaUh well, I walked almost three miles within the old Mill Stream Center that night. And uh, you know, to raise $2,200 for Kwanas on a 50-50 first site, it's worth it. Kwanas does good things in the community.
Doug JenkinsMost definitely. And uh and I and I don't want to imply that you do those types of things to get notice, but it doesn't hurt in that regard either. It kind of feels two things. One, I think you have a uh a dedication to community service, but two, it's really helpful for getting to know people.
Brian WhittaYou know, growing up in Fossoria, there are a lot of people that may um look at Fawstoria as a community who's fallen on hard times, but I remember growing up there in the 80s when there were still a lot of things going on, and it was a fantastic community to grow up in. And so I come from a family of small business owners. My father was the oldest of 11 kids, and so we we just know big family, we know community, and I feel pretty passionately about building community where I am. And so, yeah, it doesn't hurt to be noticed, but I also want Findlay to be strong because not only do I own a brokerage here, my wife owns a business here, and it's important to us as small business owners that the community remains healthy because strong business leads to a strong economy, of course, but it also leads to strong people and strong networks and strong families. And so all those things are important to us, and that's why I do
Community Involvement As Business Strategy
Brian Whittait.
Doug JenkinsOver the uh the time that you've been in this, the industry has seen some radical changes. Uh uh just what is your experience with that? What are some of the big ones you've seen and how do you handle that? Because I think that's one thing I if we if I could impart on any young professional, it's look, everything is gonna change like at least five times over the course of your career. So don't get locked into a certain way of doing things because it's probably gonna change at some point, right?
Brian WhittaYou know, you can be glib about that, and I suppose say that um the only two guaranteed things in life are death and taxes. And you know, I of course I say that in jest, but they are guaranteed. Um change is inevitable in everything, every aspect of our life. And for younger people, not just those getting into real estate, but in any line of business, whether you work for uh Walmart in the back office, or whether you work for uh Rosillies downtown uh as a member of Wait Staff, or no matter what you're doing, you have to be in a position to pivot. You have to be in a position to roll with what's coming down the pike. Real estate has changed so many times over the course of my licensure. Um, you know, I remember when the multiple listing service came out on books. There are agents out there who do remember that as well. And I got my license at the point where the shift was happening from those printed books to going onto the computer. And, you know, we've had shifts in how closings occur through the Dodd-Frank Act. We've had shifts in how commission is disclosed through the sites or sites or brumette brunettes class action lawsuit, easy for me to say. Um, there have been lots of things that have changed. And it seems like every year there's a new form, there's a new process, there's something else that we need to adjust to. Realtors are great about pivoting for the most part. They're great about following the rules for the most part. They're great about doing what's right for their client. And we we work hard to ensure that not only is our client well served, but the community is well served. And that happens through those changes over time. No industry uh is successful by remaining stagnant. It just isn't.
Industry Shifts And Inventory Shortage
Doug JenkinsYou mentioned the Don-Frank Act, and this one, I think, when you look at from that point in time, around 2008, or that would have happened just after 2008, to where we are now. Would you have imagined post-housing collapse that we would go from a point where it seemed like there was an infinite number of houses available on the market to where we are now, where we need more inventory on the market in the span of what, 20 some years? Almost uh not even 20 years at this point.
Brian WhittaRight. We're we're at the precipice of 20 years since the Great Recession. And, you know, what the the error that we made nationally is not building enough real estate, not building enough single-family homes coming out of that crash. And that happened for a whole litany of economic reasons. But with not building enough inventory, that put us in a position where we were really behind the eight ball. We're seeing the fruit being yielded at this point now because we don't have the inventory. So when you hear people say there's a crash coming, we're going to tank, no, we're not. Where we are right now is a basic outcome of supply and demand. And because pricing is high right now, it's because there isn't enough inventory. So I always throw that out there anytime I talk to someone about real estate because it's important to understand that supply and demand directly drives pricing. Supply and demand directly drives consumer behavior. And so if we had built more coming out of 2008, we probably would not have seen an average of a 20% jump on valuations during COVID. We probably would not see year-over-year jumps the way we see right now. Will there be a course correction? There always are course corrections. We saw a little bit of a course correction last year in some aspects of the market, but we're not going to see anything tank. And I also don't think it's possible for us now to build to get us out of that deficit of inventory that we need. I depending on which data set you look at, Doug, I've heard people say anywhere from 4 million to 7 million units short for new construction starts going back to 2008. That's huge.
Doug JenkinsThat's almost seems like an impossible gap to make up. But then again, we never thought we would be to the point where we would have a housing shortage when we were back in 2008. So uh it's uh it's always interesting. And again, it probably goes back to those things that you you monitor every morning to to see if there's any change on those fronts. If
Advice For New Agents And Real Talk
Doug Jenkinsuh if you were to give someone advice coming into real estate now on what you've learned uh over your experience, what are the things that you would offer?
Brian WhittaSo if you're doing it the right way, first of all, it's expensive to get in, and you you need to have uh an income to invest in your own marketing, don't rely just on the brokerage to advertise you because that's foolish. You need to advertise yourself as a new agent coming in. And you need to really be genuine, like really truly genuine about building relationships with people. You need to mean it because if you're not serious about building relationships, you're in the wrong line of work. If you're just trying to bang out transactions to make this massive income that you see these influencers on social media do, that's garbage. This is a relationship business because you are helping people achieve the American dream. And investing in real estate is the way that people build generational wealth. If you aren't in it for that reason, go do something else, respectfully, of course, but go do something else. Because that's those of us that are minded that way, that's why we're doing it because we want to make a difference in the community.
Doug JenkinsI have strategically built my algorithm to only give me sports and 90s pro wrestling content. Is there a large uh uh influencer contingent in in real estate?
Brian WhittaOh, oh my goodness. You know, there they're all there are all these, I'll call them kids because I'm probably old enough to be their dad now, but there are all these kids out there, you know, doing doing uh videos with rented Lamborghinis talking about how you can leverage yourself from property to property. And holy crap, I don't know how else to say it. Why would you leverage yourself so heavily at that age? Have you ever watched Dave Ramsey? Have you ever listened to his backstory? This is how he went bankrupt in his 20s. You don't do these things. At some point, it will come home to roost if you are not 10 steps ahead of it. So, yes, there are there are tons of them out there. I try to get my algorithm to go to 90s pro wrestling, and I can't get it to go there. So all this garbage does show up because the internet knows me, Doug, and it's just it's serving me what it thinks I want.
Doug JenkinsIf I'm on YouTube, all I want to hear about is the NWO. That's it. I don't need any other information from YouTube. Uh right.
Brian WhittaWe all smell what the rocket's cooking, Doug.
Future Optimism Plus How To Reach Brian
Doug JenkinsBrian, uh, one last thing. What excites you for the future of the industry?
Brian WhittaWhat excites me for the future of the industry is uh I'll I'll start right here in Findlay is the strength of the community. I continually see private and public and nonprofit partnerships that yield really good things right here. And I think as Findlay is seen as an example outside of our just our immediate community, other communities are starting to understand, hey, there's something good going on there. That really makes me feel good about the future of the economy, of real estate, and of just relationships that we all build.
Doug JenkinsI think it's important to not rest on our laurels in that regard either, because like as you said, people are figuring out people will also try and emulate that and do their own version of it, which means that you cannot get complacent uh as a municipality.
Brian WhittaRight. Any more than you can in business. You you you know, you're it's all about RD, it's rip off and duplicate. That's what people do, unfortunately. You you really do have to be innovating all the time, always looking for ways to continually improve.
Doug JenkinsI mean, if you want to get technical, that's that's kind of the scientific method is test and retest the hypothesis and everything. So there's that to be said for it as well. Brian, I appreciate it. Thank you for uh some sprinkling in some 90s pro wrestling talk with me there as well. If uh if someone would want to reach out to you, talk a little bit more about the industry, maybe they're thinking about listing a property, what have you, what's the best way to do that?
Brian WhittaYou can always connect with us at flagcity.com, and you can reach us by phone at 419-4349000.
Doug JenkinsWell, Brian, thanks for joining us on the podcast today.
Brian WhittaThank you, Doug. Have a great day.
Closing Takeaways And Chamber Invitation
Doug JenkinsJust a few points before we close out the show for today. Real estate, not just showing houses, it's all about economics, relationships, negotiations, market analysis, and community development. So there's a lot more going on in the background than a lot of us might realize. One takeaway that applies to most every profession: stay adaptable because industries constantly evolve. I think it's really interesting to talk to people who've been in real estate from 2008 through today and just how much has changed in that time. Everything evolves. So be ready to do that. Brian also reminds us that relationships, not transactions, that's what builds long-term success. And again, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and we'll continue with our day in the life series with more chamber members from completely different industries. And if there's an industry like you'd like to hear featured, let us know and we'll do a random draw of someone in that. And uh and someone else can draw the short straw there. That'll do it for another edition of Chamber Amplify. This is a free podcast available to the community, made possible by the investment of our members here at the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. If you're looking at ways to get your business involved in the community, a lot of times the chamber is the best place to get started. And if you'd like to learn more, just send me an email, Djenkins at Findlay Hancock Chamber.com, and we can talk about how an investment in the chamber not only helps your business, but the business community as a whole. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.
