Built To Serve: Real Estate Lessons From Angi Standish

Want proof that service scales? Angi Standish joins us with a candid, energizing tour through nearly three decades in real estate—starting with a third attempt at the licensing exam and arriving at leading a high-performing Lake Norman office. 

Along the way, she built a mixed-use community, weathered a recession, detoured into banking to sharpen her leadership, then returned to coach agents with calm, clarity, and systems that actually stick. We dig into the real story behind today’s market and why headlines can mislead your clients. 

Angi lays out the local data—new listings up, closings up, median price holding, and average days on market under two months—and explains how pricing to condition still sparks multiple offers. For buyers, she makes a practical case: you only know today’s rates and prices, inventory offers more choice, and rent is 100% interest. Get pre-approved, move thoughtfully, and lock payment certainty while others wait for perfect.

Angi also details the traits that drive sustainable success: abundance, positivity, tenacity, knowledge, and confidence. Then she stacks the veteran playbook on top—systems, expectation-setting, and adaptability—so you stay in flow during longer ownership cycles. 

We spotlight open houses as growth engines when you treat them like events: abundant signage, neighbor invites, social promotion, fast follow-up, and sincere conversations that lead to listings. 

On the digital front, Angi shares how one agent turned short-form video into 60% of her business, and why outsourcing content is a smart move if you lack time. The throughline is servant leadership: show up, teach, mentor, encourage, and solve problems with authenticity so people become who they want to be.

Listen for practical scripts, market clarity you can share with your sphere, and real-world tactics you can run this weekend. If this conversation helped you find your next step, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help more agents lead with service.

Transcript

Meet Angie Standish And The Goal

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Reality Podcast. Special guest today, Angela. Angie Standish. Angie, how are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I'm great, Gary. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

I have been fired up about this one. I'm just going to read a little snippet from Angie's bio, known for agent development, deep market expertise, and the ability to guide clients and professionals with clarity, strategy, and integrity. And I have worked with Angie for four years. And I can confirm and validate clarity, strategy, strategy, integrity for sure, and absolutely agent development, colleague, which I would say leadership development, and deep market expertise. Absolutely. So thanks for joining reality podcast. What are we going to talk about today?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Oh my gosh. Well, I'm so flattered now. I don't know that I'm going to be able to talk about anything else. Thank you. Thank you. Who are you talking about, Gary?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah, I was talking about you. And uh so anyway, so so excited to have you today. You know, we're in the fourth year of reality podcast. And, you know, we tell our listeners all the time the goal is simple, Angie. They can get three things from our conversation today that makes their tomorrow better. We've won the day.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

And people say, gosh, that's a low bar, Gary. I said, no, it's a realistic bar. Too often we make this long list of things we want to accomplish, and it's so long, and we don't accomplish anything. You and I, I can guarantee, we'll leave our listeners today with three things. And they're going to listen to this podcast right around somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. What an opportunity, as they put their finishing touches on their 2026 business plan to take a nugget or two or three from Angie Standish. So, my favorite question: why on earth did you get in the real estate business in 1996?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

That's what I want to know. Right? That was a long time ago. So, right out of college, and I and I think as most people do, um, I fell into real estate. And then I fell in love with it. So, my first job after college was working as a property manager for a private club. I was working with their vacation property um rentals. And I worked very closely with the sales team who was actually selling these properties to the consumer, um, to the club members. And that exposure sparked my interest in real estate. Um, I also have two older siblings that have had lifelong careers as realtors, and my husband's a builder. So a lot of this was very natural for me. Um, what I learned in the last 20-some years, almost 30 years, is that we are designed to be of service to others. And that's what real estate, this business, has really taught me. And we're so lucky that we are allowed to serve others every day by helping them through the most important transition transitions in their lives. Um, so that's the why. That's the why.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Well, the why must be powerful because you've been doing the why for a while. And uh, but but again, you didn't start out today. Angie is the the branch leader uh of our Lake Norman office, does an incredible job, has an incredible team, uh, makes you know really awesome contributions to the to the bigger whole of our leadership team. But you didn't always do that. You were doing new homes and property management and listing and selling. So just you know, walk us a little bit through the journey to where you are today would be great.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Um, so I started um, well, I received my license 25 years ago um after moving to Charlotte. Took my real estate license, the pre-licensing course, did not pass it on the first try, um, like others uh that have been successful after trying several times. I think I was on my third try when I finally passed it. Um, so that was fun. That's a little bit of tenacity that I think we all need to have instead of.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

A little bit of vulnerability, a little bit of a and vulnerability.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

You're only in your first 10 minutes of the podcast and you're already saying, hey guys, I didn't pass the test the first time. So I'm just giving a heads up to those listeners who are either in the class or thinking about taking the class. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Don't give up. Don't ever give up. Absolutely. Um, so once I passed that class, I went on into new home construction. Um, I worked with a prominent uh production builder, national builder, for several years. And then I was just so lucky to find a developer that I worked closely with for the next 10 years. Um, a developer and also eight who had a team of eight custom builders. We worked um creating a mixed-use neighborhood in Concord, North Carolina, and it was one of the first of its kind with a lot of different products, a lot of different um clientele because we had price ranges from$50,000 studio homes up to$700,000 single family homes. And it was walkable, uh, of course, with restaurants and uh different mixed use. So it was really different in our market at that time. Um, what I loved about my time um with our developer and builders was that we worked so closely as a team. And these are all local, small custom builders from creation to design to um pricing, every step of the way we work together as a team. And it was always to serve the individual who was going to buy the product, right? It's always what can we do to serve the downsizer? What can we do to serve the homeowner homeowner who is growing their family or or growing or transitioning from a different state? How can we serve best? So that was a just a great experience for 10 years. And then the recession happened, um, which was really fun to be in the business during the recession. Um, and we learned a lot more. So we we we pivoted from new construction to selling resales, and then serving our clients who had purchased those new construction homes. Um, and now they were in a position where they were selling and some were renting. And so we went into a whole general brokerage model at that point in time when new construction stopped. So a lot of learning, a lot of navigating, a lot of problem solving, but always with a team. And and that is what resonates so deeply with me now is that 10 years was very formidable for me as not just with communication, but that's a lot of it with communicating, but also knowing that you're part of something bigger than yourself and working with a team to create something bigger than yourself and serving others.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

So, one of the many things I love about interviewing on reality is I get to learn things I did not know. Like I knew the new home experience. So let's uh take me into this neighborhood, this planned unit neighborhood, this walkable neighborhood. Well, where where is it? I know it's still out there.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

It is. It's it's um so the name is Afton Village. It's in Concord, North Carolina, and um just great, such still so dear to my heart, right? Um, such a great, great place. And it's we all read a book in the beginning when we were starting. It was called The Great Good Place. I can't remember the author's name. Um, but when I say we all, the whole team, builders, um, ourselves, commercial and residential side, and the developer. And we created the great good place. And that's how I still feel about it. And it has proven to um to be that good place.

New Construction, Afton Village, And Teaming

SPEAKER_00 8:39

So Angie took my last question, which is do you have a book that you would like to recommend? The good, great place. I may ask you for more. So uh, okay, so uh you you went through the 10 years. When did you get into uh well that's this? I should know this, but I don't exactly. When did you join uh Howard Hannah Allen Tate?

SPEAKER_02 9:03

So again, I was lucky enough uh to have some friends in the business. And uh one of those uh acquaintances at the time was Stephanie Gossett. And Stephanie, um, and it was through another mutual friend, but she said, you know, we might have an opportunity here in um Cornelius, which is where we lived. And Tony Jarrett was at that time Stephanie's RPP. Um I interviewed with Tony. The position for which I believe Stephanie was thinking about at the time, um, was not the position that I'm in now or that I started with at Allen, at Howard Hannah Allen Tate. Um, but interviewed with Tony. I wasn't quite ready for that leadership position. And but he but I he saw something that he liked. And uh so he kept talking to me for the next two years. Tony Jarrett, such a consummate salesperson, would continue to talk uh and say, I was at the bank for two years and in a leadership position, which was helpful. Um, so that was a segue.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

But you left the home building into the banking business.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Yes, yes, yes, into the banking industry. Sorry, I missed a whole bit of a big thing. Oh no, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

I I I love this.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

It was great. Um, so for two years, I had the opportunity to be part of the wealth division for a large bank in the area. And um I led a team of recent college graduates who were on the path to being financial advisors. So that was, you know, fish out of water, total fish out of water. Again, had a friend, lucky enough, all that great stuff. But I had to learn a lot. And I had to learn a lot about leadership. And so that was really that those two years was some formal leadership training. And I only took the job because Tony didn't give me this other job here at Howard Hannah Allotate, but he kept talking to me over the next two years. How's the bank? He just, you know, I knew I was on some kind of an auto flow with him because he'd pick up the phone and he'd call, or he'd shoot a text, or he'd shoot an email, just touch touch and face. Two years later, he said, you know what? If you're interested, I think we might have something in your neck of the woods. And we met, we met for coffee at Starbucks, and happened to be this location in Cornelius, the Lake Norman office, which he he kept hidden for a minute. Um, but it was the right time. And I was dying to go back into real estate. I loved what I did with the bank, I loved the people, but I missed this industry so very much. And it was such a great opportunity to come back in as sales manager. And it was under Stephanie Gossett, who I knew and respected. And um, it was just a wonderful return to real estate. Um, so sales manager here from 2013 to 2019, and then broker in charge for the last five years in this Cornelius office.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

And I say every day I am honored to work for the agents I work for. I look forward to coming to work every day. We hire nice people and we have nice people and we all support each other. And it is, it is, I've always kind of joked when people say, Oh, you know, my work family. And I'm like, no, this really is my work family. Like I they keep me going, they keep me happy, they keep me up, and I hope that I'm always giving back and doing the same to them.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

So just just really lucky. You certainly pour into them. You know, if our listeners uh were listening as intently as I was three times as Angie was walking through her uh career journey, she said, Oh, I I was lucky because I knew this person. I was lucky because I knew that person. I'm reminded of my college football coach Rocky Reese. Uh we called him the rock. The rock always said to me one day I went in and I said, I said, Man, I just I got lucky. I got lucky. A couple guys got hurt. He said, Scotty, luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity. That is true. That is true. My point to our listeners, there is nothing lucky about the success and the journey that Angie has had, and that it is a it is about hard work. But I also think I always love to find the learnings. Think about what she said about Tony Jarrett. So most of our listeners, most of the time, are real estate professionals, and we prospect for buyers and sellers. We have a database that we're supposed to stay in what? In flow with. But it's about consistency. He had a system, he had a plan, he was patient, and it was all about timing. Had he not connected with you for that two years and called you randomly, while it still may have worked out, it would have been different. So uh thank you for it absolutely would have been different.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

And he made me feel special. You know, that's another thing. You make making people feel special, making people feel like they are wanted, whether it's as an agent or as a client. Those are important things too.

Banking Detour And Path To Leadership

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah, for sure. Uh that would be number two takeaway. Make sure that your database is feeling uh not one of your however many, but that they are the one in the moment. Be present, show up. We talk about that as I know you are a staunch ninja uh strategist. Um, let's take a minute, let's talk about the market, Angie. I mean, you know, you're up at Lake Norman, you know, you certainly have a lot of those beautiful. We are lucky, we uh we represent a lot of buyers and sellers buying beautiful homes on the water, but you know, we sell everything from everything up there. So just from your perspective, describe today's real estate market.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

So it's it's interesting you asked that. I just had a good friend call me yesterday. Um, and she lives in Lake Norman, and we don't talk much about real estate, but uh very good friend. She of course knows what I do. And um, she said to me, I know now is not the right time to sell, but here's what we're thinking. And I was like, why does she think that? Like, that's the immediate reaction. I'm like, why does she think that? So picked up the phone and it was a text. I picked up the phone and I called her and I said, Tell me what you're thinking. And she said, Well, I hear that it's just not a not a good time to sell. I said, Did you know? Did you know how healthy our market is? New listings are up, closings are up. Our media price point is still up. Uh in our area, it's up around 2%. And our average days on the market for the entire Lake Norman area, including some of Charlotte, where we sell, of course, too, is still less than two months. We're about 48 days on the market. It's a very healthy market. Buyers are now able to have a thoughtful process and make very clear decisions. And sellers, when priced well, and by well, I mean by condition, priced according to condition, we're still seeing multiple offers. And so it's interesting what we might hear from the media, just snippets, that are ingrained. And I have a good friend who is seriously considering putting a house on the market and delaying that for possibly three years because she doesn't think it's a good time, just from what what she may have heard here and there from the media. So, as you know too, Gary, the market is uh it's healthy, it's good. We are in four months um of inventory, it is right around where we are in certain parts of Lake Norman, but in others, we're seeing, you know, it's some locations, it it's things are moving faster.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Well, I think yeah, I love the description. It's a healthy market. Uh, we have to always caution ourselves on the media. So here would be a takeaway that I'm gonna tee up uh for everybody, and it's important for you to stay in contact, in the flow with your sphere. We've already talked about it, but in a way that you educate them. I was on a uh, I interviewed Dave Childers from Keeping Current Matters the other day on a podcast, and his comment was when you see somebody that's in your sphere that you haven't seen, ask them the following question Has anyone spent five minutes with you sharing with you the current state of the real estate market in the neighborhood? And 99 out of 100 are gonna say no. And then that gives you permission to do what you just did. But my my the point to that is you know, Angie responded to a text. So to our full-time salespeople, call everybody at the holidays, wish them a holiday and say, hey, I just have a question. And actually, I'm embarrassed to say, I haven't called and asked you. Has anybody really walked you chapter to verse through the real estate industry? Because I think there's a lot of miscon misconceptions, a lot of misperceptions. And you said it right. Price right, right condition, flying off the market. Too high, not taken care of. It's sitting around for a long time, right? Right. That's right. That's right. You you kind of answered the next set of questions that is, you know, why is it a good time to sell? I think, you know, you you kind of you answered that. So I'm a buyer. Interest rates have come down, you know, clearly better than they were, not as good as they once were, but they'll never be probably what that was. Why is it a good time to buy? What do you tell that that uh buyer who says, I'm thinking about buying, but I think I want to wait. What do you tell them?

Prospecting, Consistency, And Feeling Special

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Well, we only know what we know today, right? And if we wait, what could happen? What could likely happen? Well, likely the pricing is going to continue to rise. Prices will continue to rise. Also, do we know that interest rates are going to go down? We do not. We have been in uh this, I think we do have buyers do now have a sense of stability for interest rates, which is a good thing. Um, at first, what 2022, when we saw the shift from a 4% interest rate to A 6, 7% interest rate. Those were pretty big shifting years from 2021 to the end of 2022. That was when it was hard for buyers to, gosh, gosh, I started looking, and interest rates were so much lower. Now my payment's going to be so much higher. But now we have been a very we're in a very stable market for interest rates. And yes, they have recently reduced some, which is great, helpful with our buying power. But we know with certainty what we have today. We don't know with certainty what we might have a year from now or two years from now or more. And the other thing is rentals are expensive. Renting a property is very expensive now. It is not, um, it's not cheaper to rent. Um, so it's a great time to buy. Plus, we're not in a market of frenzy where buyers don't have the opportunity to investigate and to have this thoughtful process and also be able to do clarity is very important in this process. I think that that is um that word clarity is so important for both buyers and sellers, and to have clarity on what you're purchasing and how you're going to get from A to Z with out making a bad decision. That's what we're all scared of is making a bad decision. Um, so for buyers, say let's go for it. Let's let's pre-approval process is number one, and then let's start looking.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Awesome. Number one, they have more choices. Number two, they have a little more time. Number three, you lock in to a interest rate and a mortgage payment. That provides, you use the word clarity, which I love, but also certainty versus a rental, you're going to get up, go up 3%, go up 3%, go up 3%. And then our longtime favorite is you're worried about 6% and your rent's 100% interest.

unknown 22:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

You know, and so I do think, you know, one of our challenges as an industry is the age of the first-time home buyer just continues to rise. The age of the average buyer and seller continues to rise. Now, part of that is the good news is people are living longer, which I love. I mean, part of the the baby boomers not putting their properties on the market is they're healthier, they're living longer, and they're not sure where they're going to go. And they, as you said, they built a lot of equity uh in their property. So let's talk about, you know, one of the things about your career, your job, your role, your responsibility is, you know, you're a coach, you're a head coach, you're a head coach. I think there's 74, 77 players on your team. And, you know, you uh you do a great job of hiring brand new to the business. You also are very fortunate or very uh successful at attracting experienced agents from the competition. Talking to those two constituents, it can be very, very different. So uh I think our listeners on reality range from I'm debating getting in the business, to I've been in it 30 years and I'm thinking about getting out of the business, do I've been in it 20 years and I want to reinvent my business. So to the person brand new to the business, keys to their success.

State Of The Lake Norman Market

SPEAKER_02 23:28

So I think the brand new to the business keys are also the same keys that the experienced agent will have, has, but then the experienced agent has even more because they build upon them. But for the brand new agent, it all starts with mindset. It all starts with mindset for all of us. It's it's how we start each day, it's how we show up to ourselves each day. That's what really matters. And if I had if I had to give you exactly five, I would say an abundance mindset is number one. And positivity overlaid with that is number two. And tenacity and resilience, you know, if you have to take that test three times, that's okay. Um, but tenacity and resilience is very important to innately have and build. And of course, uh knowledge of your market, hands down, knowledge of your market, contracts, um systems. And if without knowledge, you're you're gonna lack the confidence. And so once you have the knowledge and you have that abundance mindset and you have that resilience, then I would say number five would be confidence to have the confidence to serve your people. And those those are the successes. Um, those are when I look at our agents that we've hired um from New to the Business and how they've grown and built great businesses, they all have these five traits abundance, positivity, tenacity, knowledge, and confidence.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

I I love it. I think a lot of times when I ask that question, it's answered differently with strategies, where I think you answered it beautifully about characteristics, traits. I'm reminded of uh when I got into this business 40 years ago and had a couple of my conversations with my father, and he would always say, um, if you fear rejection, you probably need to find something else to do, which is that resilience and tenacity. You know, when that friend of yours that you thought was a friend of yours also had another friend who was in the business, and you drive down the street and and our friend lists with somebody else. And I remember as a young real estate agent back in the 80s, that that like was such a hard thing for me to understand that you know, I would, I would, uh, they'd be in my sphere of influence, I'd be connecting with them, they seem to be engaged. I just didn't know they had another best friend that was a better friend than me, right? And and so I do think that's that resilience, or you're you show somebody 25, 30 houses, whatever, whatever they buy for sale by on. You know, that's that yeah, it's an asset. It happens, it it happens all the time.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

It happens, that's right. And and it's um to have that resilience and to know that you are at the end of the day, all we're doing is serving others. That's what that I keep coming back to that, but we are serving others, and in order to serve the best we can, we those traits are incredibly important. And I do think some are natural, but I also think they're they can be learned.

Why It’s A Good Time To Buy

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Yeah. I think that's a we did a leadership program last week. Uh and the question was, are leaders born? Um, are they born? Are lead are you are you a born leader? Now, we are born with a DNA that, you know, and then but then we're raised those first five years. And then I go back to an exercise we did at a leadership advance, which I'm gonna talk about a little bit because you know, I think many of us can attribute much of our experience, exposure, and success to mentors. And uh one of the exercises I've been really passionate about over the last 30 days is everyone that I speak to as a group, identify your mentors and let them know. And and you did on that day, and you you reached out to somebody, and inevitably the response comes back. You have no idea the perfect timing of your text message, your phone call, your personal note. It it's a it's almost a hundred percent. And and so I've been doing it every every chance I get, Angie, to speak to a group. I I tell everybody I want you to write down the three mentors. And I want you to, what is the characteristic about them that you like that you're uh that you're embodying? And have you ever thanked them? Have you ever said, gosh, thank you? And so uh I know that you lean in, you know, you pour into those that you work with, but you lean in to other leadership partners. Uh the other thing that is really compelling when you take a look at your uh resume is just your your your community, your passion for community, your community involvement. And again, Angie's used the word serving many, many times. Uh, one of the things you said is the five characteristics are brand new or experienced, but there's some more that comes with the experience. So uh expand on that one just a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Sure. And I'll I'll follow up with that. The one thing I didn't say about uh the new agents, which also go for the experienced agents, showing up. Showing up is huge in everything we do. Um, but long-term or and long-term success for experienced agents, it's all about consistency. It's leading your business with intention. We're in a relationship business, we're not in a transactional business. So leading with intention meaning stay in flow. Stay in flow with your database. Make sure you're you're making the calls, just like Tony did. Make sure you're making the calls once a month, at least. Have auto flow set up, have systems set up so your sphere does not forget about you. They do not forget that you're the best realtor out there, and you're gonna take care of them because we take care of others. So strong systems and structure, staying in flow, being a confident problem solver, there's a lot of there's something every week that comes up. And after 25 years in the business, there's still something that comes up every week. And I'm like, gosh, that's a doozy. I don't know. Let's think about this. So there's a lot of, you know, it's it's a complicated, sometimes transactions are very complicated. Um, so we have to be problem solvers and we also have to be confident problem solvers. So our clients see the calm. They know they remain calm because we're helping them and we're solving that problem. Um clear communication, setting expectations. I think this is a very uh key um important factor to set expectations with clients, um, setting expectations with your peers, setting expectations with cobrokes, always setting expectations. Um and and moreover, those experienced agents who continue to grow, continue to be adapt to continue to adapt, those are the just hugely successful agents. Um and we have agents in our office who have been with us for 30, 35 years. And they continue to adapt as real estate changes. I mean, we we had what last year we had three forms changes in one year. Right. Um we continue big some big changes. We are always changing and we're always learning and we're always growing. Um, but I those agents who embrace change, those are the ones that really continue to create this uh beautiful business of helping others in their real estate space.

Traits Of Successful New Agents

SPEAKER_00 32:08

One of my favorite statistics, and you talked about you know staying connected with your sphere, right? One of my favorite stats, and we share it all the time, is an NAR has been doing poll doing this poll for 40 years. And what they do, uh, and many of our listeners have heard this, is 30 days after a closing, they interview a buyer and a seller, and they ask this question would you use your agent again? And KCM, which is a service that many of us look at, you know, gives us empirical data, basically said that 90 to 92 percent of the people that are that are surveyed say, I'll use my realtor again. But when it finally comes time for them to have a real estate need, only 8% actually do. And the reason is because they can't find the realtor that they had used prior to, right? And right now in our industry, we've got one of the most unique time frames, and it's uh it is the the it's the longest tenure and the sh in the shortest turnover and the smallest turnover. People living in their house for 11 years, and this past uh study shows that 2.8 out of every thousand are buying or selling versus 4.04 not that long ago. So fewer people are transacting, which means it's longer and longer, which really speaks to Angie's point. If you are a longtime, full-time, how are you gonna stay connected to get referrals during that year zero to 11? And then making sure that when that agent has that need, they've already said they'll use you again. They already said that. You gotta know where you are, and you have to continue to bring value to them. Um great stuff. Let me uh I'm gonna shift now. We talked a little bit about the market, we talked a little bit about, I want to talk. Uh there's a couple strategies, and and one of the things that I believe is the more things change, the more things stay the same. So I'm gonna get a little bit on my high horse today. Um, I am passionate about open houses. I think open houses work. They do, and absolutely work. Let's just you and I take a minute and let's talk about like how do we make them work? What are the keys to leveraging open houses to not just sell that listing, which is always a goal, but to grow your business. And I know you've had this happen to you. I've had it when I was managing an office. Agent would come in and, uh, you know, open houses don't work. Well, I always say open houses don't work. If you don't really work open houses, that would be my that would be my response. You know, you you're really in the in the thick of it with your team. Let's talk about what makes us what makes an open house successful. Because I think that when we come into the first part of 26, Angie, I think the market's gonna be pretty brisk.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

So I have uh two stories from this weekend. One was I have a uh acquaint a friend who I saw at a party on Saturday night, and she said, Are you are you guys having a big open house weekend or something? And I'm like, No, we're not, but why do you ask? And she said, I see your signs everywhere, or I saw your signs everywhere today, everywhere last night. I was driving home and I saw them all over XXX Road. Um, so I thought you were having a big open house event. And I said, nope, that's just our agents doing their jobs. So it's not about the open house, it's about creating an event around the open house. It's yes, it's signage, it's social media, it's creating something exciting because it is exciting. We want people to come and tour that our beautiful listing, it's very exciting, but it's also your preparation and then going to that open house early, knocking on the doors of the neighbors, inviting the neighbors to the open house, having conversations about the market or their beautiful flowers or whatever may it be, because those are building the relationships in that specific street community on the street in that community, and then creating that goodwill come and take a look at this open house and and please tour it. We'd love to, you'd love, we'd love the opportunity for you to pick your neighbor. So there's so many things that you can create conversation out of around that specific open house and create relationships and create more community. That's really it. It's about creating community too. And we're serving our seller because we're exposing that open house in the in the best way we can. Um, so our agents, the second story I have is um when I walked in the office this morning, two of our agents did an open house together yesterday. And it was a highly successful open house. It was a large house, so we had two agents together. Neither agent was the listing agent. And a couple who walked into the open house, telling you open houses work, a couple who walked into the open house who was driven by signage, they asked our agents to come back for a listing consultation last night. So they had a listing consultation last night directly from that open house. And they're coming back for the second, second appointment today. Um, in hopes of listing a house. We've already, they've already connected the uh potential our potential clients to our mortgage loan officer for a bridge type of loan. And um we're so hopeful that it's gonna work out for both parties. So just a great story. But it worked because of the effort that they put into it.

unknown 38:01

Yeah.

Systems, Adaptability, And Staying In Flow

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Well, I I think the opportunity to meet the neighbors, you know, we took that you're adding people into your sphere of influence, right? And I always used to say that when you're doing an open house, you're you're really interviewing the neighbors for a future listing opportunity. How you how you reach out. Do you send a personal note after you meet them? Well, you know, do you knock knock on the doors? And I just think, you know, open house cannot be, I'm checking the box because when I did my marketing plan for my seller, I told them I would do an open house. You know, that's right. You've used the word intentional. Like be intentional. Open houses, and the only other advice I have is, you know, typically in you if you can get a listing early in the listing term, you know, you get it on the market Thursday or Friday, you're open Saturday or Sunday. Yeah, it's just it's the energy as you as you talked about. So I think open houses are are significant. You mentioned social media. I am sure you, I know you and I have seen this evolution of social media. I actually think you have a really highly productive agent who would say TikTok is 50% of my business. So uh I'm not gonna ask you, I'm not gonna ask you to talk about TikTok today necessarily, but just talk about how you've seen the evolution of social media. And as you coach your team, particularly some that may say, that's not me, that's not me. Just share a little bit about social media. I think it would be uh contagious.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

Sure. So we have seen um the agent you're you're speaking about, um Mason Mitchell, she she just did, she started out on Instagram, fell into TikTok a few years ago, and created a massive following. Um she I actually think her 60% of her business this past year came from TikTok, which is pretty amazing. Now, in saying that, the TikTok is the introduction. She creates the relationship and moves the relationship, which is great. But we have a lot of people like me who are, we did Facebook in 2008, 9, and 10, and we're still using Facebook about the same way as we did in 8, 9, and 10. And I would 100% rather hire that out than learn how to do reels and all the other cap cut movies. I mean, I look at it and I'm like, these, these are amazing. But maybe our agent, like I, don't have the bandwidth to do it. So let's hire it out. Hire it out because social media does work. And those the algorithms, the, and we all know this, the followership that you can receive through social media, the energy that it creates, we all scroll, even when we don't want to, we'll catch ourselves and we're gonna see something that interests us. And we're gonna see that house. And then maybe that those houses start kind of following us, right? From that whatever the algorithms or or other words that I can't think of help us to do. So I would say it's it's very important for all agents who are who want to do a strong level of business and continue that strong level of business to have a good presence on social media. And and that's again also what we do to serve our clients because the their listings are that's the exposure for the listings. Um so, but it's the energy behind it. So I guess my my takeaway here is if you can't do it yourself, hire it out.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

So so I agree with that. You know, it's uh it's that time of the year where we all do a SWOT analysis, and you know, uh, for years we identify our weaknesses and we try to strengthen them. No, no. You identify your weaknesses and you hire somebody else to do them. That that's a big learning. But I think the other thing about social media is it's about consistency.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Yes.

Open Houses As Growth Engines

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Like the random doesn't work, it's it's about consistency because that's what triggers the uh the followers and and all of those things. So um we're gonna tie a bow around this. Uh, so I'm gonna ask you one question. Leadership. You know, I think that every single person in our company is a leader. I think that we lead communities, we lead each other, we lead families. You know, uh you and I, I know agree on this. A title does not create a leader. A leader is a belief and an attitude, a servant you talked about. If you were to speak to our emerging leaders that we had in here last week, and you were to say to them, you get one bit of advice to people that are considering being in, I'll call it official leadership in our business, a branch leader. What's that one piece of advice?

SPEAKER_02 43:16

So you said this, Gary. You said we pour into others, and we do, and we do. And I don't know if this is advice or just how I really feel in my core, but leadership is about doing the very best we can do every day for the people we serve. And the the tip or the takeaway is when you're doing it with authenticity, and because you're really coming from a place of caring, of wanting to help someone in their business, that's the golden nugget. That's all. And in it, I mean we have a lot on our plates, we all do. Um in in all industries we do. But when we're coming, when when we're very clarity, when we're clear about where we're coming from, and we are all in leadership, not for the money, we're in leadership to serve others. And I know I've said that many times. Serve is a word like support, they're just words, but they have so much meaning. But I'll I I'll say it in an interview. I work for my agents, they don't work for me. I work for my agents, and I'm honored to work for my agents. So we teach, we train, we mentor, we problem solve, we motivate and we encourage. And occasionally we may have to do a little correction, but it's all in the support of helping you be where you want to be, be who you want to be in your career. And there's nothing better than to hire a due-to-the-business agent, and three years later, they're going to summit, which is our which is our top 150. And they're doing that from from a lot of work and a lot of grit and a lot of showing up. And when you're behind them coaching and helping, that's just such a great feeling. And um, so you know, I I don't know if I've answered your question, but if we can be the best to the people we serve, that's all. That's what it's and I I do believe we're designed as human beings to serve others. So it's kind of a I don't know, big woo-hoo fulfillment piece for me. But um, that's that's it.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

You just said, I don't know if I answered the question. Here's what I would say to our listeners Minute 41 to minute 46 was incredible. And usually I tie a bow around it. You just did. Angie Standich. Thank you for being with us. You were amazing. It's great to catch up with you always. I should see you more often, but uh uh you have left everyone that uh is listening to this podcast a little bit better and a little more positive and a little more clarity about uh the opportunity to make a difference in people's lives.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

Gary, thank you. You do this every day. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Have a great day. Take care.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

You too. Thank you.