Rita Markoz | The Michigan Realtor Who Figured Out What Most Agents Never Will

🎙️ The Elite Real Estate Podcast | Hosted by Jimmy Nelson

This week, Jimmy Nelson sits down with Rita Markoz, a Michigan realtor who is doing the work, building the business, and showing up in a market that doesn't reward average. Rita brings a perspective that is real, relatable, and refreshingly honest about what it actually takes to build a real estate career worth being proud of.

This isn't a highlight reel conversation. This is the behind the scenes — the grind, the growth, and the moments that shaped who she is as an agent and as a person.

We get into: 🏡 Rita's journey in Michigan real estate and how she built her business from the ground up 💪 What separates agents who survive from agents who thrive in today's market 🔥 The real challenges Michigan realtors are facing right now and how to push through them 🤝 How she builds relationships that turn into repeat clients and referrals 💡 The mindset and daily habits behind a sustainable real estate career

If you're a Michigan agent, this one is going to feel like it was made specifically for you. And if you're anywhere else in the country — the lessons Rita drops in this episode travel well.

🔔 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE so you never miss an episode! ▶️ Watch more episodes: youtube.com/@theeliteedgenetwork 🎧 Find us everywhere you listen to podcasts — Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, and more. Just search "The Elite Real Estate Podcast"

📲 Follow Jimmy Nelson: 🔗 EliteEdgeNetwork.com 📸 Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | TikTok — @JimmyNelsonRealEstate

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 Elite Edge Network is where human intelligence meets AI. We help entrepreneurs communicate better, scale smarter, and build businesses that support their lives—not consume them. Coaching, systems, and AI working together. 

 Elite Edge Network is where human intelligence meets AI. We help entrepreneurs communicate better, scale smarter, and build businesses that support their lives—not consume them. Coaching, systems, and AI working together. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Auto home business life or health insurance here to protect what matters to you most. You can check them out at RoyalOathInsurance.com or give them a call at 586-238-3535. And of course, today's episode is brought to you in part by our friends at Connection. The CRM built for closures. If you're a real estate agent, entrepreneur, or small business owner looking to automate, follow up, and close more deals, and stay top of mind, and Connection is your secret weapon. Go to yourconnection.com and take control of your pipeline today. Now, whether you're tuning in live on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter X, catching the replay on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, wherever you stream, we're glad you're here. Do me a favor, hit that like button, drop a comment, and share this with a friend, and make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode. All right, guys, let's get locked in. We've got a powerhouse show lined up today. And if you're in business of real estate or just building something big, this one is for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Good morning, good morning, good morning, everybody. Welcome into the Elite Real Estate Podcast on another fabulous Friday morning here. And uh, as everybody can see, I have an in-studio guest today, which always makes it a lot more fun when I have someone in studio. So, Rita Marcos, how are you, my friend? And welcome in.

SPEAKER_04 1:07

Thank you. I'm very well. Thanks for having me, Jimmy.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Of course, of course. I know a lot of real estate agents are like 7:30.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Actually, I I'm up at 5 a.m. every day. This is nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Like lunchtime for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Well, it you know, I I appreciate you coming in, right? People can't see it, but you're pregnant right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Yes, I am a little very a little too pregnant.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

When is your due date?

SPEAKER_04 1:31

June 15th.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

So June 15th. So we were cutting it close, but we got you in um because we met at spring showdown a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

We did.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

And uh that was a lot of fun. Spring show. So much fun. Yeah, so much fun. A little bit different climbing into a boxing ring.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

It you know, it's crazy. Like, no, nobody understands, like it's it's it's not your typical scenario when you're speaking to a client. Right. You're up there, you gotta answer an objection under a minute. You're in front of like 400 400 plus, yeah. You know, in the audience, it's just it's I'm not gonna lie, I almost threw up like what I had to put my game face on, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

That's right, that's right. The game face goes on, and uh, and then you start to figure out like once you get in there, it's then you gotta do it.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

You gotta do it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah. So how did you get started in this business? Like, I I want to just kind of break this down for everybody of like how long you've been in this business, and because you do a lot of things, and I don't know if people know how much stuff you do.

SPEAKER_04 2:27

My problem is, Jimmy, I don't know how to say no. That's my problem. And and like I have to sometimes I gotta sit back and I gotta look at my schedule. I'm like, okay, I'm doing all these things. I I really gotta set some time aside to like I I gotta really focus on like making money, right? Yeah, but you know, um, I mean, I but I love doing things like that. Yeah, yeah. So previously, um uh I well, let me start with this. I've been in the business for about eight years. Okay, it hasn't been full time all eight years. Um, maybe the last, I would say maybe the last five years has been like super full time, just because within the last eight years, I've I've been, you know, I I got married in 2017. I had my um, you know, first daughter in 2019. So I've literally and all my kids are you know, I've had them back to back. So I literally been pregnant for the past like six years, if you want to say that. So I've always worked throughout my pregnancies. Um, I was, you know, I was a previous teacher. I've taught, I've been in the education field for about 15 years.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

Um, I've recently worked for Rochester Community Schools. And as I was doing that, I was always doing this part-time. Like I wouldn't and back then, you know, I was married, I had no kids, so I had all the time in the world. I would, you know, I would work all day, like from eight to three, and then I'd do my showings like four to or even if I had showings, I'd I do them after school.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:50

If I didn't have showings, I'd go to the office and I would prospect. So that was my schedule until I had, you know, I had my first child, and then I was supposed to go back back to work. I, you know, my maternity leave was over, supposed to go back to work, found out I was pregnant again. So my girls are like 11 months apart. Oh crazy.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

It's funny, maternity leave was over, and now I'm a maternity leave.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

Yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna lie, my district was pretty upset with me. They're like, we're paying you for your maternity leave, and now like you gotta do it again. I was like, Yeah, I can't do it. And it was during COVID. So I went back. You know, I I you know, I couldn't go back. So I had to accept my maternity and it was game over from then. And then, you know, and from then, you know, I I like would literally sit in my classroom and I would watch people on their social media, and I'm like, man, I was just so used to like eight that eight to five schedule. I'm like, man, I can never do anything during the day. Like, I can't even have lunch with my husband. I can't have lunch with friends, I can't do anything during the day because I'm just literally stuck in this nine to five, you know, um, schedule. And like I I would envy other people, like, oh wow, they're out at lunch or on vacation during the week. I was only able to take vacations during our school vacations. So like it came to a point when I would see people doing showings and it just kind of motivated me. I'm like, wow, maybe this is something like you know, I'd be into.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

And one day during my break, like I just I called my husband one day. I was like, you know what? Um, no, my husband is Mark. I'm like, Mark, what what do you think if I got into real? I don't know. I I have this really crazy idea. I don't know. I I I may be crazy, just shoot me down if I am. But what do you think if I got into real estate? You know, I'd go get my license, maybe do it part-time. I don't know. I'm just I'm just thinking of things, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Um thinking out loud.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Thinking out loud. Yeah. He's like, I honestly I think it'd be a great idea. So literally, and I'm the type of person that like if I think of something, I have to do it right away. Because if I if I dwell on it too long, I'll so many things will go through my head and I'll just be like, okay, I I changed my mind. So when I got my license, I I literally signed up for the class, got my license, and got a job within 30 days. Took my test, passed it the first time, got a job with like, you know, in 30 days. Yep. And it was game over and I just loved it. I loved it. I was you know, I was able to, you know, go go get new business outfits. It was just such a different environment, you know, be myself.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah. And then typically everything we have has mimosas or something in it too, right? So it's like we were just talking about the real producers' event. So I get to go to these events and then I get to have mimosas in the morning.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

Exactly, exactly. You know, it's it's super fun, honestly. You know, um, aside from that, I think like the whole political part of like education just kind of held me down.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

Just um the salary part, you know. You know, I heal like we would, you know, I had my I had my master's in education. And it just it just got to a point in my life, like, you know, it was going to take I would we would, you know, every year we would go up like half a half a stop on like on our salary scale. And I came to realize it was going to take me 20 years to make a salary cap of like 90,000. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like this is crazy. And then I had my first deal in real estate, and I'm like, this is like this is crazy. Like I wasn't used to that type of money.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:05

You know, especially like, you know, and I obviously I didn't go into education for the money, I did it for the passion. I loved it. I just I love educating people, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

Um, so it just came to a point in my life I'm like, I I want to control how much I make.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Yeah. And I think this is the funny thing too. So I I know a lot of people, so so I was supposed to be a teacher too. So social studies, social studies English. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Okay, I'm a history major. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Yeah. So but but I feel like there's a lot of us that were in education or got were thinking about it, and then nobody ever grows up thinking I'm gonna be a real estate agent that I talk to. No, nobody's like, I can't wait till I become a real estate agent. It's like all of us back into this career somehow.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

But I think the trend that transition though, because you you're teaching every day, right? At the at a in a school and all, but like that's what you're doing with your clients. Yes, you're right, you're sure you're teaching them and showing them how to get through this process. And I it's it's such a very similar thing, right? That you're just educating people on now, you're educating them on a hot water tank and the age of the roof, and like all the things that we're learning about houses, and now you're just educating your clients on that.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

Absolutely, yeah. It's just a different audience, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

And I think the biggest part of that though is is how you take care of your client.

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

And that's where you get all your referrals from.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

Yeah, and to be honest, in the beginning of my career, I I was hesitant about leaving the the education field because majority when I first started in the business, majority of my clients were the parents.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

You know, so because I used to teach their kids and they all they've already trusted me.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

And till this day, like I'm um, I like we just went under contract um with one of my clients, uh, who whose kids I used to teach.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

Which was it's like amazing. Yeah, you know, it's like the second second house that they're they're buying for me. Yeah, it's just nice keeping that relationship with them.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And and I coach they still coach high school basketball. So I've coached high school basketball for 20 years. So it's funny because now I've got some of the kids that I coach coming back to like coach, can I buy a house? Because they're 30 now. Oh, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, so they're so they're but but that's interesting because because you do build that trust, that interest, and that's the biggest. I think that's the key to real estate though.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

If you can build that trust and with people, they'll they'll refer you.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

Absolutely. I like I I don't know how people just go into the business and just go business mind mode. Like you can't, yeah. And you know, and we were talking about it at the Breakfast of Champions, and you know, we were interviewing the top in you know, the top panelists, and we were talking about social media and what they what they put out out there on their content. And I just really touched on like, you know, when people look at your social media, what what are like your what what do they think of when when they think of you aside from real estate? Let's just say real estate is is out the door. What do they think? What what do they think of? You know, um, like are are you a blogger? Are you are you a mother? Are you a mommy blogger? Are you um are you a sports fan? Are you constantly posting about food or books or whatever it is? So I feel like in this business, people really need to connect with you on a personal level. And once you break that barrier, then you can kind of go in into like into the business. It's you can't you can't do it the other way around.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah. Yeah. And I so and you're you're a mom and you're you're you're doing this thing every day. Like, where do you find your balance at? Like, do you find or do you find balance?

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Yeah, that's I'm not gonna lie, I'm I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It's it's one thing I have been struggling with, but I think um, you know, I just hired a business coach this um you know in January, which has really, really helped me, keeping me on my toes, you know, in this business, no matter no matter if you have family or not, you have to be self-disciplined. Yeah, you it's not a nine to five job, but you have to treat it like one, right? And and and like for for me, I think just I'm just so used to routine and schedule, especially just coming from the education field that like and lesson planning, right? Right. And if if I don't have my schedule down in front of me, if I don't have my routine down, I'm my mind is all over the place. Like and with me, I I have four children. I I have to be on schedule.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

So just really writing it down and following it is um is really what what keeps me going.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Because like as soon as when I'm at home, I'm intentional with my kids. I I really try not to bring business. I mean, sometimes yeah, I have to answer phone calls, but I really, really just try to be intentional with my children when I'm at home. And then when I'm at work, it's work mode. Like I don't even I barely socialize in the office. Yeah. Because I my time is so valuable. I only have four and a half hours at work before I have to go back and pick up my children. So I'm literally just work mode. I lock myself in my office, I'm working. And I mean, really, it's just it's just really being intentional with your routine and your schedule.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah. You're so spot on with all this stuff. And I I this and this is number five then. It is so mom, five kids married and killing it in real estate. But I think the the point is that you that four hours, right? That four, four and a half hours that you get is just super dialed into what you're doing.

SPEAKER_04 12:10

Super dialed in, super laser focused. Um, and I've learned, you know, this past year that you have to leverage your business. You know, we have this mindset like we were cut, you know, 90% of agents are control freaks, right? It's really hard to hire to bring in a new hire, a new agent, because nobody does it the way that you do. Like, I've been in the business for eight years. I'm like, how am I gonna have the time to train someone? Right. I just hired my first TC like like maybe a month ago.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

And let me tell you, because your coach told you to hire a TC. She did.

SPEAKER_04 12:45

She's like, you have to hire a TC read out. I don't know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:49

And let me tell you, like, it's been such a relief, you know. And then I and then I and she another thing she adds to her services is and putting my listings. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is one thing that I don't like to do. Yeah. And and you know, and and like sometimes I'll sit down, I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't feel like doing this paperwork. It's taking so much time away from me just re-generating and just making connections with my with my database.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

And I can't even tell you, Jimmy, like it's it's taken so much load off my shoulder. And um, it's it's been the greatest thing I've ever I've ever done.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yeah. I I I have this conversation with agents all the time that I that I that I'm coaching. And so, like, through my coaching too, like we'll see well, they get to this point of this pain point of all right, my business is growing. Um, I'm doing pretty good at it. What's my first thing? Is it a TC? Do I bring an agent on? Like what, you know, so you but you have to figure out what the what the next step is first, right? And we all know what none of us are good at. Yeah. Paperwork.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

Oh, right. I mean, I'm I mean, I'm okay with paperwork because I'm I'm like the type of I'm the type of person. Again, like coming from the education field, all my T's have to be crossed, dot my I's like we we have to do that, right? Um, but like me coming from Keller Williams, we have this Keller Williams model. You know, Gary Keller is a founder of Keller Williams, and we follow the this eight-step model. Basically, the way to become a mega team, your very first hire should be either an admin or uh or a transaction coordinator. Yeah, you people always make this mistake where they're hiring a buyer's agent before a TC.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

Okay, you're hiring a buyer's agent, but who's gonna do like are you who's gonna do all the TC work if if if you're what if it's a brand new hire? Are you are you going to teach them how to run the business and do paperwork? No. I like I think you need to get your ducks in a row first, hire a transaction coordinator, maybe hire a personal or admin, yeah, and then go into hiring help with like a showing agent or you know, buyer's agent, however you want to structure your team.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

And and I think that's most crucial because like a lot of people just make that mistake and you know in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Yeah, yeah. And and and Gary's model, like that to build a team is the best model to build a team.

SPEAKER_04 15:04

The best model.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

You know what I mean? Like that's the the model to build a team. Um, because that's where he that's where it started. Teams really started with Keller, right? That was nobody was doing teams before that.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Um, it was kind of a newer thing back then, right? Where it was like, because the brokers always wanted to keep everything to themselves, and Gary was the first one to like let people grow.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Under them. I started at Keller Williams. So I was a productivity coach at KW Metro.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Um, but so but but that but that model is is right. It's like, all right, here's the first thing you need to do. And it's like it's like check marks to your business. Okay, I got from here to here. Now what if I want to grow from here to the next, what do I need to do? Right. And it's like, how can I take things off my plate?

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Right? Because, and again, that's one thing you'll hear all the time. Like, uh, Go go, Bethke talks about this all the time. Is what what's my hourly rate, right? So if you think about how much you made last year and think about what your hourly rate is, right? Divide it by how many hours you worked and figure out what your hourly rate is, you shouldn't be doing anything less than what that rate is.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

And I just it's funny you say that because I I I was talking to my coach and she literally just calculated my hourly rate. And I was like, wow, I, you know, and end up being like I think like 200 an hour, maybe a little bit more. Yeah. Like, wow, I didn't realize how much I'm worth an hour.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:21

And now I think about it, I'm like, do I really want to go show houses that are an hour and a half away? You know, like I had a client asking me like at five o'clock and asking me to go to go look at a house in Ann Arbor in the next hour. And I'm like, you know that I live two hours away. But I don't ever make it seem like it like it's me. Yeah, I'm too busy. I I can't make it. I I don't I don't ever want to have that image on like my clients, you know. But but you're right. Like I think in order to succeed in this business, you have to leverage. Yeah, you need help. Like I just I you know, I I was at uh have you been to family reunion in mega camp when you were at Cal Williams?

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Yeah, so I did and I did maps coaching too. Perfect.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

Okay. So I just came back from film reunion and one of the breakout sessions, it was how to run your solo team as a solo agent, and you know, how to run your how to run a mega team as a solo agent. And the majority of the content was uh leveraging. And there was this one agent, I can't remember her name on top of my head, but I think she's from like Washington. Oh my gosh, she she does millions. And one thing that she does is she she hires, she hires she has a hire for everything. Someone to do her laundry, yeah. I mean someone to go grocery shopping for her, someone to put the groceries in her fridge, someone to like clean her house. I'm like, yeah, that's great. I'm like, that's great. It's she's leveraging, and the only thing she has to focus on is just making connections.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Right. And um, you know, and again, I I I just feel like you need to find different types of hire where you just you use space more time because your time is very valuable. Yeah. So she's with someone mama, you know, mama for wanting to spend more time with them.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Right. Because that's that's not there's not an hourly rate for that.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

No, no, there isn't. There isn't right.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

That's not an hourly rate for that. That's very expensive time. It is, yeah, it is, and it's very important time. Like, you know, I have two boys and uh they're 22 and 15, so they're pretty sustainable on their own at this point, I think. Um, but but no, but I like I want to be at the game and I want to show up at the things, and I don't want to, you know, that's why I'm big on calendar, right? I'm big on schedule and I put everything in there. Uh my son's game, right? So if I if he has a game tomorrow at six and a client says, I want to go tomorrow and look at six, I can't. I got an appointment tomorrow at six that I can't move. How about we go the next day at five or the you know early in the morning, right? So because I want to be there.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

I worked in corporate America prior to getting into real estate. Yeah, I couldn't be there sometimes, right? Because it was I was it was working.

SPEAKER_04 18:55

Right. And and I can't, and that's what I love about this business is you know, I volunteer a lot at my at my kids' schools and I do a lot for them. Like I I was part of the daddy-daughter committee, which took a lot of my time. Like it was crazy. I I'm a room mom, like it's crazy, but these are the things that I enjoy because I like to be with my kids and I just I don't want them to miss out on it because time is precious, right? Um, and and again, you know, if it's like when I'm creating my schedule, I that's the first thing I put in my calendar, and these are my non-negotiables. Like, if I have something going on with my kids' events, I'm sorry, like I can't be there. Yeah, I'll prospect a different time of the day, or I'll pick up pick a Saturday morning and go prospect. Like, I I just can't.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Yeah. And I this is one thing I want to touch on with what you just said. I'll pick a Saturday morning instead of that time, or I'll find another time during the day. That's the that's the important part of the message, right?

SPEAKER_04 19:47

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Because you have to have to do it at some point.

SPEAKER_04 19:50

You have to make it up. Yeah, you have to. You have to set goals for yourself, and I think that's that's what motivates me. Like when I have a goal, um, and I don't know, I I I just I like challenging myself. I've always been someone who challenged myself. I've always been competitive with myself. Um so when I write my goals down and I'm like, okay, this is my goal. I I need to make this many contacts, two hours a day. If if if I don't, you know, if I don't do it on Monday, I have to find somewhere in my schedule to do it. I I have to. Otherwise, I would go home. You know, I'm spending time with with family, I wouldn't feel productive that day.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Yeah. Yeah. And what so could kind of circle back a little bit, when you first got into the business, what was that like that transition from teacher to real estate agent?

SPEAKER_04 20:36

Um, you know what? It, you know, it's crazy. Like I didn't have a hard time um learning the business. Like my like one of my first deals, I connected with um a lender, he threw me a deal. It was it was like a it was like a$170,000 deal, which it was good. Like it, I remember it took me two hours to write a purchase agreement that day.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

I now takes about five minutes, right? Oh my gosh, I do it in my car.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

Sometimes I'll go show a house, offers will be due in the next hour. I'll literally do it in my car. I always bring my laptop with me. Like it takes two seconds. But yeah, but I remember, but you know, I think just learning the paperwork took me a minute. Um, but other than that, as far as like prospecting, like I I remember I got one of my first um, you know, uh first clients, it was a parent, and we ended up buying a house from a FISBO. So it was like my first conversation with like a for sale by owner, and like just learning the business because I was so interested in, I was all in. It it didn't take me, like I'm a quick learner, so you know, um as long as I'm interested in it, I'm a very quick learner. So it didn't take me, it didn't, I didn't really have a really hard time transitioning from the education field to real estate is because I was so interested in it. Yeah, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

I mean, there's something to be said about that too. And and I feel like a lot of us um learn the same way too, where it's like, just give me the thing, I'll fill it out. Like I just give me the stuff, I'll figure it out. I don't I'm not gonna like I I don't like adult learning. Learning is completely different than than youth learning, right? It's completely different thing. We're not good at sitting in a classroom. Like, especially with agents that are ADHD and like me that can't sit in a classroom and just stare at somebody talking to me about contracts. Like I can't. No, I get it.

SPEAKER_04 22:59

It's it's it's funny because like I'm a classroom learner.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Like when I did my real estate um real estate class.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Took your class, passed your test.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

Yeah, and and I'm not look, look, I can I I'll tell you this. I'm very, very like real with you right now. I am not like with my with my state test, with my like my teaching state test, it probably took me three times to pass it. I will give like I I'm really good in the classroom. I'm really like if you give me like an essay, you know, little like an assessment where I have to write an essay, I'll I'll I'll succeed in like a second. Give me like a multiple choice test, I I suck at it. For some reason, real estate, my real estate test, it I don't know how, but I think just because I was so drawn into the into the content, like I passed it my first time. Yeah, which was which was like crazy. I was really shocked. It was crazy to me.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Yeah, it's funny. It's uh it's you're right. I I'm not a classroom learner. Like I like looking back, I'm 53. So like at my age, we didn't know what ADD was. Like it was just like sit down, shut up. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

It was uh, but like so, but like looking back on things, I'm like, I totally was never gonna sit in a class, right? Yeah, it wasn't it just it's not for everyone.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

It's not no school isn't definitely not for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

And I think like I'm a hands-on person, right? Like you said, like give me give me the thing, I'll figure it out. Like, I'll figure this thing out. And so that's a difficult time sometimes when people first get into the business because you do have to sit down and listen for a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. It's crazy because like I I would leave work from like you know, I would leave like around four, and then I would drive to my class from six to nine. So I had to take the night class because that was the only time I was able to take it. I mean, it took me about like a month, month and a half, but then I mean, uh it was a lot of work because I had to do like my homework in between, but I was just so interested in the content. Yeah, like it motivated me to learn. Like I'd go home or like read in between my breaks or whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

So it was but not different too than like you said, lesson plans.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Like figuring out all right, what are we doing for the next week? Like laying everything out.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

And I think that if that's a big thing I think takeaway for real estate agents to is like if I plan out what my next week will look like, it's you can change everything.

SPEAKER_04 25:08

Absolutely. Yeah, and I'm huge on communication too, just because that was like a number one um thing that we have to do with you know, especially like in the classroom. I'm huge on communication with my clients. Yeah, but I cannot stand it when I'm dealing with an agent on the other side that just does not communicate. It drives me nuts. Like, answer your phone. Like, and I don't know, maybe it's the in the the in me just being impatient. Like when I like when I ask, like what when I when I ask a question or like I I guess I I expect a response right away.

SPEAKER_03 25:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

And that's how I feel with my with my clients. Even if they're texting me at nine o'clock at night, whatever. I mean, I'll text them back right away. I just I can't, I can't keep people, I can't keep people waiting.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Right.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

So I'm not like that.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

You know, it's I was trying, I I I wrote an offer a couple weeks ago for a client and I wrote the offer, sent it over. I but I so so I'm a big communicator. So I'm always on the way to the showing, I text the listing agent. Like, hey, go on to show your property one, two, three, Main Street. You know, I'll let you know when we're done. I get done, and then if I'm like right when I'm done, I'm like, all right, my client's really interested, or like, hey, thanks, but we're moving on. We're done. Either we're gonna, either I'm writing something or we're not. And so like I text, like, then I'll text where hey, I'm heading back home, gonna get you an offer written up. Do you need it tonight? Like, I want to get it in as soon as possible. When are you looking at offers? Blah, blah, blah. So I've already communicated two, three times before I even put an offer in.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

You have to.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah. Before I even put an offer in. So I had an agent we I put an offer in, same thing. Um, and I was texting with her, and I we were we were negotiating because she had another multiple offer. Yeah, it's not shocking that we're in this. She texted me and I called her and she didn't answer. Oh, I'm like, you're I know your phone's in your hand. You just texted me. Like, pick up your phone.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Oh, I'm sorry, my voice is getting blown off. Yeah, don't you hate that?

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah, I'm like, just pick up the phone. Like, I gotta now I gotta text this long. I'm like, I could have just told you this in three seconds. Yeah, now I gotta text it up because then I don't want anything in a text to get lost in translation.

SPEAKER_04 27:09

100%.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Right? That's why I'm like, just pick up the phone.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

100%. And even just being on the other side, like as a listening agent, when when you have all these multiple offers, in your mind, I don't know, you I guess as a listening agent, I would aside from the offer and stuff, I would really look at who am I going to be working with, who's been communicating with me the most, and and very transparent, you know. And I feel like agents like that. If you if you're huge on communication, you've been communicating with them throughout the entire process, even before your offer is accepted, like you already know how they're gonna be with the entire transaction.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

So yeah, that's the thing. That's like as a listing agent, the ones that are communicating with me a lot, that's the one that I want to lean to. I want to lean to that offer.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

Absolutely, and I would feel bad saying no to them, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yeah, because I'm like, I know this is gonna be a smooth transaction.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

This is gonna be a lot easier than the person that hasn't picked up the freaking phone yet.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Yeah, yeah. Like, I just accepted an offer on one of my listings from an agent that has been communicating with me, like maybe two days before the house we went on the market. Yeah, like literally all week, and then we uh he ended up giving me a really good offer, and it and like I felt bad because like he wrote he wrote me an offer, and then offers weren't due until the like two days later, because you know, we had showings and he was so patient with me. Like, luckily he didn't he don't walk away, and um, you know, we took his offer just because he he's been so great, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah, and it does make it a lot easier, right? To get through the finish line because we know it's tough to get through the finish line.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

It it is, it is, and that's I think a lot of agents don't realize that, right? Yeah, it's really building your relationship with the other side and trying to get to the finish line. Many people in this business don't know how to navigate that.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Yeah. What's the key to that? I mean, obviously it's communication, right?

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Yeah, so I I feel like with this um with this business, you you need skill. Right. A lot of people get into the b this business and all they're taught is prospect, lead generate, get business, put your same put your put your name out there, let everyone know you're a real estate agent, right? Get business, tell let your friends and family know. But then they get into the business and they're like, okay, now I got a client, what do I do? I have this offer, what do I do? This inspection came back, and I I feel like every other in this business are doing things backwards, right? They're they're they're they're selling a house, they don't know too much about the product, they don't know floors, they don't know they don't need product knowledge from floors to to to countertops to the type of foundation. Like how are you selling a how are you selling a house without knowing the product, right? And how if an inspection comes back, how are you able to navigate that if your buyer is afraid of mold? Right? Like, yeah, the first thing comes to mind, oh no, there's mold in the house, we want to walk away. Okay, we need to communicate with our buyers. How are you gonna navigate this? Okay, well, mold isn't a big deal, it's it's not, I mean, you know, really edu again, it goes back to education. Yeah, how are you going to make your buyers my excuse me, your buyers feel comfortable enough to stay in the transaction and really educate them on okay, we're don't worry about it. Just put your trust in me. We're going to navigate through this inspection process and we'll negotiate this. Like we'll get the sellers to to to repair these, we'll get the price reduction, you know. Don't don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

And a lot, if you don't have that skill, I mean, many, you know, the buyer's gonna walk away and the deal's gonna fall apart if that agent doesn't know how how to handle that transaction.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Right.

SPEAKER_04 30:45

And then and then you get into the appraisal process, right? What if the appraisal falls short? What is your skill? How are you going to navigate that? Are you just gonna, if it falls short, are you just gonna be like, oh, sorry, we're walking away. Or you're gonna be like, well, hold on here, let's let's work this out, you know. And and you and I know, like at times you're two days from the closing table. Sometimes it comes down to our commission. Like if if it comes down to our commission where it's going to hold a deal together, you're gonna give up some of your commission just to close this deal.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

Especially if it's a deal that's been going on for like 60 days, like just want to get over it. Yeah, it just gets to that point. And I and I feel like these are things that a lot of agents lack is how to navigate through it through the process.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Yeah. And I think you brought up a couple good points in there to like to dig into that, is right, like I I I teach a lot of like emotional intelligence, right? So it's like, who do I who do I want to be? What does that person do on a daily basis to get to have what that person won't has, right? Um, and I think you're right. Like and we're not we're not saying and advocating to real estate agents that you should know all the products, right? But you should know surface level on things, right? Granite, quartz, right? Like those you should know the difference between those two things, right? Um, because there's value there, right? Uh the age of a hot water tank, like the furnace, the roof, like just knowing the the the age of those things, when do they age out? Like, what am I getting my client into?

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

And I think you're right. I don't think a lot of agents take a lot of time to learn that stuff. And my biggest thing for newer agents is I'm like, go to the inspection. Oh, yeah. Go to an inspectant and just follow them around and ask questions. Most inspectors will answer with you, right? I've had a few that are like, yeah. But but for the most part, yeah, you can learn so much going through an inspection.

SPEAKER_04 32:28

Absolutely. That's how I learned.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

Like my inspector was great in the you know, at the beginning, and I still use him till this day. Like I have him for tomorrow, like later today, I have a section with him later, later this evening. But like just having that knowledge, so when you're speaking to your buyers, you feel confident.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Right? It's like imagine going into surgery and you're asking all these questions, right? Well, what if this happens? What what if A, B, and C happens? Like, what are you gonna do? And the the doctor hesitates. Are you gonna wanna are you gonna wanna have open heart surgery with him? Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah, or if he just goes, ah, you know, we'll worry about it when we get in there.

SPEAKER_04 33:02

Yeah. Like it's I mean, I don't want to say it's the same thing, same scenario, but it kind of is. Like you have to trust, you have to show confidence in your clients and be like, everything's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Yeah. So what was your learning curve like that with the beginning, right? Like, what was that from hopping in from being a teacher to being a real estate agent? Like, what was it you obviously going on inspections and learning that, but what was that learning curve like for you to figure out like all the different things for the house?

SPEAKER_04 33:29

Um, you know what? I so I I took um Ignite, if you're you know, yeah. I taught it. Yep. Uh you taught it, yep. Yep, I think we all did. Um, so that really helped me because it it it it helps you teach you okay how to work with buyers, how to work with sellers. And then, you know, I I've me, I like I always told myself, if I was like, if I was a millionaire, I would probably be taking college classes for the rest of my life. Right. I just I love learning. I love it. Yeah, but um for me, any any class that like my brokerage offered at that time, I I would take it. I just wanted to really, you know, learn everything everything that I can because I really wanted to feel confident. So I mean, I took an appraisal class, you know, you know, someone that came in teaching about appraisals, how to um, you know, how to run comps, just like really the basics of real estate.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

Um, and I just honestly, I just really wanted to feel confident when I was working with clients. That was like a huge learning curve for me.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

Especially with the inspections.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Yeah, because there's I mean, again, you don't need to know a lot of it. Like I, but I growing up, I'd work construction. So like I yeah, I have an advantage that I'd work construction, and then I worked at Quicken, so I did mortgages. So I kind of got a background on a little bit, yeah, a little bit of all of it, which circles it back to real estate. Um, but you know, then it's different too working on the luxury side, right? Because now that's a different product.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Then, you know, we can sell a hundred and seventy thousand dollar house or we can sell a$1.7 million house.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

You got to sell those two things differently. Yeah. Right? You don't treat your clients any different, but like the the knowledge that's expected of what am I buying for$1.7 as opposed to$170,000. You know, absolutely getting that product in there.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

Yeah. And and also even with um writing offers, like what what is what what's selling in the area? What is the price per square foot? Like, I I love it when a buyer's like, well, what should we offer on this house? I mean, I don't know what can you afford. You know, well, according to the data, I mean, you know, and and I don't just run comps like for for my clients. I I I pull out like the entire the the data report where um where it shows like the the percentage of um of sale or the the percentage of offers that that are accepted within within that within the area. So I look at the percentage. Okay, well, this house accepted um 101% over asking. This one accepted 99%, this one accepted 105%. So more than likely, this house is going to go into multiple offers and it's going to go over asking. So just really educating them like on the data, yeah, is really going to help you navigate how to write a really successful offer.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah. I I I'm glad you're saying that because that's very important for a lot of agents to hear, right? For a lot of agents to hear that part of it, because again, you can just sling an offer together and send it over, right? Like that's not a problem.

SPEAKER_04 36:16

Yeah, anybody can write an offer, but it's you know, you you have to know how how how to really be creative about it.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:25

You know, communicating with with the agent and and how to win it. How are you going to win that offer? How are you gonna be how are you gonna set yourself apart from other offers and other agents?

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 36:34

To make your buyer look good.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

I'll give you my my line that I use all the time for the listing agent when I'm on the buy side. Is outside of price, what's the most important thing to your client?

SPEAKER_04 36:44

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

Like, is it occupancy? Is it keeping the lamp? I like I don't know. Like what what can we throw in here to make this a little more attractive to you? Uh-huh. You know, um, what makes that hard sometimes is like nothing.

SPEAKER_04 36:58

Like get to the closing table. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

That's nothing. Um, but for the most part, like we've I try to dig in and find something, right? If we can pay transfer tax, if we can pay like whatever we can different stuff we can pay it to figure out to make our deal more sweet.

SPEAKER_04 37:12

Right. And you know, I just taught a seller's workshop class like a few weeks ago, and these are things that I touched on. Like, what are buyers looking for these days? What is something, you know, that sellers can offer at this time that, you know, I like I I had clothes on a property at the end of last year, and it was an investor. He was a real estate agent, he like flips 100 homes a year, and he has this sheet that was attached to the documents. Like, these are things that I have I have to offer. Like I can pay people I can pay for your taxes, I can pay, you know, the HOA fee ahead of time. Like, there's just so many things that he was just to get his property going. Yeah. And let me tell you, I checked off 10 when I wrote my offer, I got 10, 10 out of 20 out of those things off that list. You know, so it really depends. Like, what how are you really going to um you know make your offer creative? It's funny, I've seen offers that were like, well, buy you a large pizza when you move out during during moving day. I'm like, really? Is that pretty creative?

SPEAKER_01 38:10

You're gonna spend the extra 20 bucks, huh? Right.

SPEAKER_04 38:13

So just being it's just being creative.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. And I think being creative is one thing. Now, what about on the the list side, right? Like, what's your education for your client like on the list side?

SPEAKER_04 38:23

Oh, that's like a whole different. Oh it's like, oh my gosh. So I I work a lot with expireds and like for sale by owners. And with them, I think it's basically just really navigating through what do you think your house is really worth? You know, and I'm the type of person I hate paperwork. Um, I guess you just have to know that type of that that person's personality. Like if you came into my house and you're like, here's datas and graphs and this and that, and I'm like, I don't care. Tell me how much you're gonna make how much how much I'm gonna make. That's just my personality, right? But then if I know I'm working with an engineer, oh, I'll bring every single data and graphs and charts, you you name it. So going in there and you know, I like I said, I I don't when I run comps, I don't have a paper full of like paperwork of a folder full of paperwork with all these comps and folders and all that. I bring my laptop and I do everything live in front of them. I'm like, look, I'm going to run, I'm gonna run comps on your house just as of an appraiser and come and do it and do exactly how they're gonna go be doing it. I'll run comps and then I'll really compare their house with you know with the comps and I'll ask them if you're a buyer, I mean, who whose which house would you buy? Would you buy yours or would you buy theirs? You know, like and then we we we talk about staging, we we talk about decluttering, talk about really just getting the home ready for sale to get top dollar for their house.

SPEAKER_03 39:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:47

And honestly, like knock on wood, I've um I've I've never had issues. I've probably had one issue in my career like on a low appraisal, and it's because he made a mistake on it. And other than that, I've never really had issues with pricing a house. I and usually like I play this game with my sellers, like, okay, I'm gonna think of a price. You think of a price according to this data that we just discussed. What do you think your house is worth?

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:10

So I'm I'm gonna write this number down, you write this number down, and let's just see for close. And usually we're we're off by like five to ten thousand. Yeah. So it, I I, you know, like I I really just educate them and we're really not that far off on price. And if we're really, really far off on price, it's like have like a come to Jesus moment, you know.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

If they're living in fantasy land, right? Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 40:33

And and you're gonna get those sellers, yeah. And then it's up to you to decide, okay, you want to spend the effort on work on working with someone who's not motivated. That that's that's just a decision you have to make. And there are agents out there, they're like, oh, I'll take an overprice listing all day.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Yeah. You know, yeah. I take it you won't.

SPEAKER_04 40:52

If I know, if if if I have like this seller that's just so adamant, like, no, no, no, I won't sell if it's not, you know, I don't have to sell. I mean, I guess it just depends on the scenario, right? And it depends on like if if he's willing to drop the price down, and this is another conversation we have to have. Okay, we'll price it this high, but there's three different pricing options.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

We can have this auction pricing, right? Which means we we price it really, really low, and you're gonna get buyers, you know, buyers in where you get into multiple offers, or we're gonna price it at market value, or we're gonna go over or we're gonna price it, you know, oh way overpriced it. And it's just a conversation we would have to have within the first within the second week on the market.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:36

And then I and then what I did with my seller's workshop class, and I do that with my listing presentations, is okay, let's look at this house. This seller wanted$1.2 million for his house. So let's take a look at how it looks. Let's look at the the the um the history, the pricing history. Let's look at the pricing reductions. How many price reductions did they have? What did they end up proposing at? How many days on the market was it? Oh, it was 120 days. So they went from 1.2 and they end up getting$765 on it. Let's look at this house. Let's let's look at the this is real data. Literally, a house in Rochester. Yeah, it's crazy. Another one, days on the market, two days. They listed it at$750. They end up getting, you know, eight. 920 or$890 for it, right? What what what let's let's compare the difference with this? So it's really just asking questions. What do you think? What do you think? You know, I don't ever go in there and be like, your house is worth this much. This is what we're gonna list it at.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

Right.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

I I you know, I like to look at it like we're a team. We're let's come up with the price together.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's the other thing is too, for it's making them feel like they came up with the price. Right. Like it's making them feel like they came up with the price. And I I tell agents all the time that I that I coach, like when you're when you do, um, when you go to your listing appointment, know what this estimate is because they already know what it is too.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

They already went and looked.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

And when you can say what do you think your house is worth, they're gonna go, I don't know. They know.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

They already know. Oh, they already know. They already know, 100% they already know. Um, they at least have some sort of thought in mind, right? They are they have some sort of idea of like what they want to get for it. Um and I think that it's again goes back to the education piece of educating them, right? Of saying, all right, we we can do this here, but no, we're gonna sit on the market for a little bit longer. Right? If we do it here, we'll we'll be okay. Like we'll we'll get some traffic. If we do it here, we are gonna slam this thing. Yeah. Right. And I think that's one of the biggest things. I I I just had a conversation with an expired listing this week, and um same thing. She they had started her house at uh 254.9, which to me is a weird pricing strategy at 254.9 because you're missing everybody at 250. Yes, but you're going 254.9, which you're missing everybody at like 260. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 44:02

And and that's one thing I mentioned to them too. Like, we're missing all these, yeah, you know, the the buyer pool.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Yeah. And so she had eventually gotten down to 249, right? But it had been on the market for 60 days, and then yeah, nobody goes and looks at it anymore. Yeah, or they're sending an offer at 230.

SPEAKER_04 44:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Because it's been on the market for a long time and they think you're desperate. Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 44:24

I tell them like first impression is is crucial.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:27

Within the first two weeks, you know, like if if if you don't make that first impression on on buyers, that that's it, you'll you lost that chance.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Yeah. Yep. And then everybody thinks there's something wrong with the house.

SPEAKER_04 44:38

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

Because if it's not selling in the first weekend, there's something wrong with it.

SPEAKER_04 44:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Which we know there's not.

SPEAKER_04 44:43

Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Just depends on the house and the thing or whatever else. But I'm finding too, and I don't know if you find this too, but I think where some clients are getting scared off right away because the assumption is it's going over asking anyway.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

So if you price it a little bit higher, you're scaring people off right away.

SPEAKER_04 44:59

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:01

Yeah. And again, it goes back to the education. Like, what how are you educating them?

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

Right? It's not just okay, get this listing. What do you do next? Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

What do you do? Put a sign in the yard and have an open house, right? Exactly. What is what's your what like what's your marketing for for a listing? Like if you were to get a listing today, what would you be your marketing plans?

SPEAKER_04 45:23

Um, so I I like I do things a little bit different. Um, and again, like I really just try to find a different way to, you know, a a different nugget that I learn every year that I can just add in my business. Like, you know, aside from open houses and my marketing campaigns, my reverse prospecting, you know, I I I do a lot of, you know, expired and FISBOs. So um I I mat I I buyer and seller match. So I mean, obviously if if I have a listing and I'm prospecting for another listing and they're you know, if if I have a listing in Rochester and I'm prospecting in Sterling Heights and the my Sterling Heights seller wants to, you know, wants to buy a house in Rochester, I've just matched that. You know, so that's like my way of um when I'm calling expires, like, hey, look, I have this other house that I'm listing. Why don't we list your house? And I I, you know, maybe I can get you in, but before it hits the market. Let's do that. You know, so it's really just um thinking outside of the box, yeah. Right. I do a lot of um handwritten notes. Like I I hire, I hire someone to do my handwritten notes for me. You know, kind of like farming the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:32

So I I've done that. I've done like three different ones where I did one like a coming soon. And then I did it, um, I I did I would do a second round of like, hey, home went into multiple offers, and I would do a third round of hey, your home, you know, this your neighbor's house just sold for this much. Yeah. So it's um a lot of handwritten notes, a lot, you know, a lot of just really matching buyers with sellers, um, aside from all the social media stuff.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

Right, right. I know the the social media thing is uh it's interesting. We were talking about that a little bit before the show started, right? About social media. And I think that's a there's a lot of imposter syndrome, right? People are like, oh, you know, that this person's doing this and that, but are they really doing that? Right, right. Yeah, or do they or do they just look like they're doing that? Uh-huh. Right. And I think there's a lot of that going on out there. Like, what's your feel on social media for agents?

SPEAKER_04 47:25

Um, I mean, I mean, obviously social media is key, right? And now that AI is in place, you know, I I think we should really utilize it. I've been taking a lot of like content classes on AI. And I mean, one thing I learned is you have to utilize it.

SPEAKER_03 47:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Because eventually people are not, you know, it's replacing Google. And if you're a if like for example, if you're trying to list a house, like, okay, who's the best real estate agent that can list with in Macomb Township? My name doesn't pop up, then your your your AI doesn't know you. So you have to train your AI the way you want it to be trained. And that means posting on social media, um, just creating content out there, just really, you know, training your AI to get to know you. So when someone else try, you know, tries to figure out who's the best agent in the area, your name, your name's gonna be the first one to pop up.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Yeah. And that's the other thing is because clients are going to social media.

SPEAKER_04 48:24

They are.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

Right. They are going to social media. I was doing a a text campaign in my in my CRM the other day. And the they they hit me back and said, What's your what's you where can I can I find you on Instagram? And I said, Sure, I sent them my text to my stuff on Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:39

Because I that's they wanted to go see if I was a real business.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Right? Like that was the and I I don't blame people because we're doing the same thing. We're texting, we're emailing, like we're we're trying to, we're trying to just get business, right? Just like any other businesses. Uh-huh. And and then when that but you have to build that trust.

SPEAKER_04 48:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

Because they want to see if you're that real person or not.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

You know, and like you said, with AI now. And I was at UWM yesterday for UWM I and I don't know if you were there or not. I wasn't. No, I missed it. One thing Matt Ishby said was like AI, it's like electricity, it's here to stay.

SPEAKER_04 49:13

It is.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

It's not going nowhere.

SPEAKER_04 49:14

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

And it's only getting better, right? So, and I've been in a pretty deep dive with AI for about two years now.

SPEAKER_04 49:21

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

Um, it does I I have it do so much for me.

SPEAKER_04 49:24

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:25

Building websites, you know, all the things it does. It does so much for me.

SPEAKER_04 49:29

It's amazing. It's like our little assistant.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Yeah. Even for the show. Uh I looked up who Joe Joe Rogan's producer was. His name's Young Jamie. Uh-huh. So I've trained a section in my AI to be Young Jamie, the producer for Joe Rogan's podcast, and he produces all his stuff for me.

SPEAKER_04 49:43

I love it. I love it. So much leverage. Yeah. And and I've and I've and I've you know considered hiring a virtual assistant, but now I'm like, what do I need one for? If I can just you can build one 100%.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Yeah, you can build a vert a VA in in your in your and I use Claude. That's what I use. I I switched over from chat to Claude.

SPEAKER_02 50:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

And it's it's mind blow. It's mind blowing. Um, because it does so much for me. But yeah, it's wild.

SPEAKER_04 50:08

Yeah, I know it is. I I just took a AI class with uh Lauren Lucas, she's a KW um realtor. I think she's from Washington. Oh my gosh, she's and she taught herself just from YouTube. Yeah, it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Yeah, you can learn so much, and again, it goes back to the some of the things we just have to do it, right? And it's like just jumping in and doing it.

SPEAKER_04 50:28

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 50:29

You can't be afraid of it. No, you know, no. I talked to some my first contract that I wrote up, my first purchase agreement that I wrote. I wrote a 10-day inspection period and a 10-day review period. Oh. It's because I didn't know what I just wrote 10 and 10. Okay. I got it accepted. Did you?

SPEAKER_04 50:47

Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

My very first contract I ever wrote because nobody told me anything. I just wrote it. Yeah. And I was like, I was, and then you know, I was trying to think. Like I wanted to do it on my own.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

So I was just trying to think, all right, we're trying to think back to test and everything else. Like, what do I write? I was like, I'll just write 10 and 10. Yeah. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 51:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

But I got the offer accepted. There you go. We didn't take 10 days to return it.

SPEAKER_04 51:09

But yeah, yeah, there you go. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Well, yeah, I had no idea what I was doing, but I did it anyway.

SPEAKER_04 51:15

I told you it took me, it took me two two hours to write my first purchase agreement.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:20

I wanted to make sure, oh my God, you know, in in real estate class, they teach you, you do this, you you have the real estate police after you. So you want to make sure you don't get you don't get caught, right? Want to make sure you do everything the right way.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Let me ask you a question. So what's changed in our business the last couple years is that we have to the NAR lawsuit and everything that happened. What's it have have you had any trouble like buyer agency getting people to sign buyer agency?

SPEAKER_04 51:44

I mean, I have and I haven't. Yeah. You know, I mean, really, I I don't know. I guess I do things a little bit differently. You know, I I don't like to pressure people. Like, like for me, I like to build the rapport. And once we build it, like, okay, then then they're comfortable, they're comfortable with signing. Like, all I worked with is Zillow and Realtor.com.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

Right.

SPEAKER_04 52:05

For six years. Can you imagine you get a call? Like, oh, well, I can't show you this house unless you have a buyer agency. They're like, okay, they're gonna hang up on you and go back to the listing and click contact agent, and they're gonna it's gonna go, it's gonna reroute to another agent.

SPEAKER_03 52:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:18

So I don't know. I guess we were trained back then. I I guess before the whole NAR was like used. Like, don't ask for buyer agency right away.

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Yeah. No, remember the all we did was get buyer agency. So the buyer agency, purchase agreement, it all got signed at one time.

SPEAKER_04 52:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

But back then.

SPEAKER_04 52:34

Exactly. Exactly. And and now, like with showings, you can't schedule a showing without a buyer agency agreement.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:40

So I mean, sometimes I kind of use that tactic, right? Or sometimes like I'll show them the first house, right? Blame my broker. I I'd show them like maybe one or two houses, and then at that point, I'm like, okay, well, I'm you know, by law, like we have to have the sign.

SPEAKER_03 52:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:57

Sometimes I have an issue, sometimes I don't. I mean, it is what it is. You can't force people to sign.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

You can't, but how like so? And I think it just goes back to what you said too, but it's about everything else. It's the it's the education piece.

SPEAKER_02 53:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:08

Right. And and our my our broker with exp that like Nick Coppola said, he's like, Could you imagine? He goes, think he goes, you guys have to start thinking about this differently. He said, Could you imagine going to a listing appointment and not bringing a listing agreement with you? Like going to a listing appointment and not bringing a listing agreement. Right. He goes, You're going to a buyer's presentation and you're not bringing a buyer's agreement with you.

SPEAKER_04 53:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

He goes, You got to think about that a little differently.

SPEAKER_04 53:34

It's it's funny to to to go back to touch on that buyer's agency agreement. I just closed on a house that where the buyer agency agreement saved me.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

See? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:42

And it was, oh my gosh. It was I'm just happy it was.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

That was an eye roll and a deep breath right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:48

It was it was a crazy train. I'm just happy it closed. You know, like at one point, like they they wanted to use another realtor for no reason. Yeah. Like nothing, nothing happened. And usually if someone says they want to use a different realtor, I'm like, that's fine, go ahead. You don't want to work with me. You don't want to work with them. Like, but it just came to the point, like, I was working with these people for like two, three years, ghosted me, came back two years later, got an updated pre-approval, showed them houses, wrote offers. I wrote wrote two offers in multiple offer situations, got them accepted just for them to back out. So I I've done a lot of work with these people just for them to be like, oh, my brother met a realtor at the gym, we're gonna use him. Like straight up that that was exactly that was a reason. I was like, you know what? No. I was like, we have a buyer agency agreement. Um, in order for for you to break it, you and I need to meet and figure out what what happened.

SPEAKER_03 54:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:40

You know, I mean there was a language barrier there, so I don't think they fully understood you know why. But I'm like, no. And they're like, well, this other agent has been showing us houses and we also have a buyer agency agreement with him. I was like, well, that's irrelevant because you signed mine on February 22nd and on August 22nd, because I do him for six months. I was like, so if you're if he wants to come come after me, he can he can contact my broker. And you know, our broker, like he KW, they they will they will stand by your side when it comes to commission stuff, right? So um they just ended up sticking with me. Yeah, I got him, got him a house.

SPEAKER_01 55:17

Yeah, it's it's interesting because because that's a it's a big thing, right? Like the the NAR, everybody was upset about it, right? Obviously, there was a lot of whatever happened with NAR and everything. Um, but it does end up like now it's like saving people. It is people are now like, no, but I hated it, but it it saved me.

SPEAKER_04 55:36

Yeah, I'm I'm having more issues on the list side with the whole gnar situation. Like, are you are you having like I don't have to pay the buyer? Yeah, I'm like, you don't, you don't have to pay anything. Yeah, but you want your house to sell.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 55:48

You know, like I oh my gosh, I had my I had I had a for sale by owner, it was my neighbor across the street. Never met him, but he, you know, I was following up with him for like six months. He ended up calling me to list his house. I go there and I I turned down a$750,000 listing. I turned it down. He was my neighbor across the street. I was like, you know, at first I I was going to take it just to use it as leverage for marketing and farming my neighborhood. Yeah. But then it came to a point I'm like, he wanted me to work for one percent. He wanted to do a total of three, three percent.

SPEAKER_03 56:19

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 56:19

So I'm like, okay, so you want me to take one? I was like, so what if I get you the buyer? He's like, oh, I'll give you two. I was like, oh, so you'll give me an extra percent if I bring you a buyer. He he he would let it's just crazy because he's willing to pay a buyer's agent too, and I'm gonna be doing all this work for only one. Right. So I call him like, I'm sorry, I can't. I can't. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not taking your listing.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

When it comes to like 20 commission. That's one of the things I had. Um, and I told a uh a client one time, you know, I went to the listing appointment, we're talking about everything, and the first thing uh she said was like, Oh, great, I don't have to pay the buyer's agent. I'm like, Well, you never really did.

SPEAKER_02 56:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

Commissions have always been negotiable. It's kind of how this has always worked out.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

And I, you know, I went through the whole thing and I said, What we can do, I said, if you don't want to pay that 3%, we'll list your house for 3% less than what we're gonna list it for. Oh, I don't want to do that. I'm like, right.

SPEAKER_04 57:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

We don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_04 57:14

So what I do is when I bring comps, I'm like, well, I called every single, because now we, you know, um before commissions used to be displayed, right? Before we told Nar thing. So now what I do is I when I print out my comps report, I'm like, well, according to these that sold in your area that went over asking, all these uh sellers offered a 3% commission. Yeah. So these comps are based off of 3% commission that was offered to the buyer, to the buyer's agent. So based on your house, this is what it's going to be worth if you were to offer the 33%.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

Yeah. And sometimes it goes back to the education piece though, right? If you're not educating your clients, because when I went through that with a couple of my clients, they didn't re their assumption was that they were gonna have to to pay the three percent on top after the offer. Right? Like the if like the offer was 350, they thought they were gonna have to pay 3% above 350.

SPEAKER_04 58:06

Got it, right?

SPEAKER_01 58:07

And I'm like, no, no, that's not it all, it's all encompassing, it's all in one. Oh, and they didn't, they really just didn't know that. But it's hard because it they people don't know how we work, right? For the most part. So they just assume that we just willy-nilly this out here.

SPEAKER_04 58:21

Like this this listing that I just had, I just got under country a couple of days ago. He only wanted to do five. I'm like, okay, well, you know what? I like I got to the point like I'm I'm I'm tired of negotiating my commission. I'm like, I'm not taking less than three, like, I'm doing all this work for you. You want to pay the buyer's agent two? I mean, the buyer's agent can can at this point they they can negotiate their own commission. I'm I'm tired of negotiating other agents' commission, right? So he's like, I'm like, well, let's do this. We'll keep it at six. What if I were to get you an over asking offer? He's like, if you gave me an over asking offer, we'll pay up to six. But again, you have to that's something you have to write on the contract, right? Right? Like it's up to six, but depending on the offer, let's we'll negotiate it's all part of negotiation. Yeah, I mean, I got him 25 over asking. He ended up paying the six, the full six. Yeah. So I mean, it's how again it goes back to your skill. How are you going to navigate that conversation?

SPEAKER_01 59:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Yep. Yep. We got a couple minutes left. What's your biggest piece of advice to an agent that's starting today?

SPEAKER_04 59:22

I would say um, surround yourself by a really, really great mentor, someone who's been in the business for a while. Um, it's gonna be a lot of hand holding in the beginning. Really, really indulge your education on as much as you can. Learn, learn, learn, learn, learn skill. Set time on the side, put in your calendar, set your calendar, and um, do a lot of skill skill building before you go out and start talking to people so you can feel confident.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

Yeah, yes, yeah, build that confidence up. Yes, build that.

SPEAKER_04 59:52

I would say that would be the best advice before you start getting business.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

And where can be everybody find you? Social media.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:00

You can find me on social media, Rita Marcos Real Estate, Instagram and Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:05

Instagram, Facebook, find her out there, Rita. Thank you for coming in and joining us.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:09

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

Yes, we got uh again the the in-studio guests are are unbeatable, right? So when you're in studio, I appreciate coming in and sharing your time with us this morning. I know you've got the four kids to get home to.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:21

Well, they're at school.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

So I appreciate it, guys. Thanks for joining us this week on the Elite Real Estate Podcast. We'll be back next week. Uh, same time, same channel, but you can find us wherever you find uh podcast, uh iHeartRadio, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you find your podcast, and also on uh YouTube at the Elite Edge Network on YouTube. So, all right, guys, I appreciate it. Take it easy. We will see you next week.