Know Your People

Know Your People - Iris's Story - Resilience, Relationships, and Real Estate

• Bob Kelley • Season 1 • Episode 5

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Episode 05: Resilience, Relationships, and Real Estate
In this episode of Know Your People, host Bob Kelley sits down with Iris Zettler to talk about her journey into real estate and what it truly takes to succeed in the industry. From starting later in life to building experience across different fields, Iris shares how resilience, empathy, and strong relationships have shaped her career. The conversation also highlights the importance of teamwork, guiding clients through emotional decisions, and staying grounded in integrity.

Chapters

[00:00] How Iris Got Into Real Estate
 Starting later in life, early challenges, and building experience through other industries.

[02:00] Early Team Experience & Transition
 Lessons from a difficult first team and why finding the right environment matters.

[05:00] The Value of Team Culture
 Support, collaboration, and how the right team makes a difference in daily work.

[07:00] Balancing Work and Family Life
 Managing real estate while prioritizing family and personal time.

[09:00] Working with Buyers (Especially First-Time Buyers)
 Empathy, guidance, and building trust through the buying process.

[11:00] The Importance of Financing First
 Why buyers must understand their numbers before starting the search.

[13:00] Understanding Client Goals
 Asking the right questions to find the right home and long-term fit.

[15:00] Managing the Transaction Process
 Guiding clients through contracts, expectations, and next steps.

[17:00] Preparing and Selling a Home
 Advice for sellers on pricing, presentation, and handling showings.

[20:00] Pricing Strategy & Market Reality
 How pricing impacts demand and final outcomes.

[24:00] Challenging Deals & Ethical Lessons
 Real stories that highlight integrity and problem-solving.

[29:00] Why Being on a Team Matters
 Support systems, mentorship, and navigating complex deals.

[32:00] What Real Estate School Doesn’t Teach You
 The gap between theory and real-world experience.

[34:00] Working with Families in the Buying Process
 Handling multiple opinions and keeping clients confident.

[37:00] Life Outside of Real Estate
 Family, traditions, and maintaining balance.

[40:00] Final Thoughts: Representing Clients the Right Way
 A commitment to treating every client like your own.

Connect With Us

Support the Show: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on your favorite platform! Your support helps us bring you more stories from the people who know this industry best.

Follow Iris Zettler
Email - iriszettler@bobkelleyteam.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/izettler6
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/iris.zettler


Follow Bob Kelley:


SPEAKER_00

Joining me today is someone who truly goes to bat for her clients, and trust me, she is as tough as they come. Iris is loyal, relationship focused, and brings persistence and passion to every single deal. She's a real gift for guiding clients through the process, especially when challenges come up. And when she's not fighting for her clients, she's a proud wife, mom, and grandmother to seven. So she can handle just about anything. Let's welcome my dear, dear friend, Iris Zettler. All right, I'm thrilled to have Iris Zettler from our team join us today. She is uh one of my favorite people in the whole industry, one of the favorite agents. She's super loyal and um and she's just a great all-around person. Iris, thanks for taking the time to jump on.

SPEAKER_03

You're very welcome. Glad to be here. Glad to share my stories with you, Bob.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Iris has been with us for a long time and and um you know, maybe uh 10 or 11 years at this point, I think 2015, right? And uh, but worked in the real estate industry before that, and then worked in some other industries leading up to that. Why don't you take a minute or five minutes or however long you need, sort of share share how you got started in the business, kind of a little bit what you were doing before, and then you know, a little bit about kind of joining our team, if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Originally I wanted to start in real estate a long time ago. I've been around a while. And so when my kids were real little, I decided I want I went to real estate school, took the course for the whole time, and when we we were ready to get the exam. I was told, oh, don't expect to see any money for about a couple of months till you know you put things under contract, till you start seeing money. And at that time my kids were babies, I needed babysitters, I had to pay for money. I'm gonna this is not gonna work.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

So believe it or not, I went into the car business. Manager in a in a car dealership. From there, I believe it or not, left there and went into mortgages. So I do have a big background in mortgages. I did that for a while. When my kids were older and finally off to college and out of high school and things like that, I'm like, okay, now I'm free. I'm gonna do that real estate that I always wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Went back, did the real estate, took my exam. I said I have to pass it because that's exactly, and that's how I got into real estate.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was awesome. And then you worked at another firm before joining us, and and a little bit of background. Obviously, I knew your husband Andy, great guy, great loan officer. If people need a mortgage, they can contact him. And as you heard, Iris has uh has has great knowledge in that area as well from past life. How about a little bit of that process, transitioning from one brokerage to another, one team to another, and and and what that looked like for you?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I started out in another team right out of um real estate school, not knowing any different. I worked for somebody who was a little psycho to say the least, to be nice about it. Um, that was demanding, you know, all of my you have to report, you have to do this, you have to do that. And when I started getting experience and I was working with actually a friend of mine to buy a house, and he wanted me to drop her, and I'm like, no, you know, I was insistent on following through. You know, you know me, Bob. I don't give up.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. I mean the hardest loyal and persistent.

SPEAKER_03

The hardest deals I'll tackle on. If there's an ounce of just um being able to follow through or make this work, I will try. I have to know that I gave it my all.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And so I I refused to listen to him. And of course the deal did fall apart, but not until the end. And he said, see, you didn't listen to me. And so I'm like, that's it. I I can't be with this anymore. And luckily at that time, my husband knew you and said, you know, Bob is starting a team, and you know, would you be interested? And it was the best move I ever made, which is why you ask me why I'm loyal, because I've been with others. And um yeah, people that start out of the business going on your team don't realize how good it is and how spoiled they could be.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you. We can end the podcast, and it's perfect. It's a great episode. And we'll move you up the rankings of his favorite now. I'm I'm just gonna listen.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you know, yeah. When we've when we've moved from uh office to office, it was never a question of the brokerage, it was a question of working with you, working with the team. The team is great. We pick we have the best people on our team. I mean, every single one of us contributes something. We all help each other out, it's the best.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I would say that, and I I typically we talk about this with team members that were on, but maybe we'll just kind of go out of order and talk about it now. Like it has been um honestly awesome for me to to see, and right? And when you started, you know, we were less than a year into having team, maybe about a year and into having the team at that point. It was Tony and Anthony that are with us, one other who is no longer with us, and um, you know, it was you know, then trying to figure out, all right, well, when am I putting my hat on as production? What am I what am I what am I giving you, right? Like, why do you want to be on this team? It's a question I always ask. And um and it means a lot in seeing that transition. I mean, why don't you talk a little bit about you've you've seen it basically almost from the beginning. I mean, Tony and Anne were here before you, but you know, the others that were here are no longer in the business. Talk about that, like kind of how the team has evolved and and you know, some of the things that you've seen.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, exactly. And just to go back, we had a saying in my first team that I was at, though, you know, another one bites the dust. Nobody can ever stay. I was the only one that lasted for like a couple of years with that team. But here, everybody, I mean, when we were over originally at Berkshire the first time, if you remember correctly, there were agents on other teams that would see us come out of meetings, laughing, having fun, joking with one another, um, supporting each other, and they only wanted to be on our team.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And they left other teams to come with us because we do, we get along, and you know, and it starts at the top. I know you don't want to hear it, but it is true. It starts at the top, and we do. We all have a great time, whether it's you know, supporting each other on helping each other out when we go on vacations and cover eating each other or sharing deals when perfect example is Anthony's working with me on this um commercial deal.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I can sell buildings, I've done come, you know, commercial deals, but I have never sold a business. This particular one has a business, including the real estate.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

So Anthony's got the business background. I'll call on him. Yeah, he'll help me with the business. Um, when I had a deal in Jersey, I'm not licensed in Jersey. Michelle, Michelle's licensed in Jersey. She would drive an hour each way, anything, and we work the deal together. It's great to work with everybody.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's awesome for me to see that too, because it's um, I would say people are on our team, from what I hear from other team leaders and other people I know in industry, uh, a little bit more generous instead of saying, oh, I'm gonna go do that, and maybe they're kind of like not not kind of meeting the measure on the service to the client. Everyone here is is open and easy enough to say, like, hey, it's great, I'm gonna take care of you, I'm your person. But in Jersey, instead of us kind of like, not let's tap in somebody else, we'll all share on that, and we'll just make sure the client has the best experience. And same thing with the commercial stuff with Anthea. That's that's it's really it's really neat to see. It's really cool. And and you you kind of spearhead that for our team all the time. So thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing that.

SPEAKER_03

Well, you know, it's important. I mean, there are times, listen, I have a family, you know. I'm I'm proud of being a grandmother.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

Seven seven grandchildren.

SPEAKER_00

Just seven.

SPEAKER_03

And yeah, Gina just started, maybe she's no pressure. Yeah, and it but um so I need time for my grandchildren. I like to be able to go to their baseball games on the weekends, um, go and support them when my daughter had her baby recently. Um, if I have medical needs and I need time off, and we're always there for each other's back to cover each other. And that's real important to me. Yeah. So I know, and the other ones that I mean, I know most of the people on the team are young enough to be my kids, but they have little kids themselves. You know, you you have uh teenagers that you want to go on college trips. I mean, you know, we we have a life outside of this also, and so we all have to be there, and we all understand that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. And there's other people I know that like that that I would say, quote unquote friends of the team that that I know that work at other brokerages or even within our brokerage that they're trying to manage all that on their own. And and it it's it's a challenge, right? It's a you have to live your life at some point. It you know, if you want to be successful, you have to put a lot of work into it. But sometimes you have family stuff to be out. I mean, I have a I have a senior day coming up in a couple weeks for my for my daughter. Uh, I will be at that field for a few hours, and that's just what it is. It doesn't matter if it's a five million dollar property or anything else. For those couple hours, I'm I'm blocked blocked off, and that's it's okay. But if you need something for real estate, here's all these people that can fill in and help you out for that set amount of time.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's cool. It's cool. When you think about real estate, Iris, with you, like one of the questions I've been dying to for you to come on to ask you is I see the way you kind of care for for buyers, especially buyers and sellers both, but when I see you with with buyers, is there is there a client that you get like forget about the money. We all want to sell like a hundred million dollar house, but is there a client you get the most satisfaction of helping in in a in the process?

SPEAKER_03

100%. Believe it or not, I mean, I know the ones with a lot of money um are easy and that's where you make all your money. But the ones that are struggling and the ones that are first-time home buyers, I think I could relate to first-time homebuyers because I think of my kids also when they were first starting out um and struggling and trying to and not understanding. So I'd love to be able to work through the steps, have them feel confident. Listen, I'll I'll guide you. I'm there to represent you. Um, I always tell buyers all the time, I don't sell homes, I work for you as your representative. So whatever your interests are is my interests. Whatever works best for you works best for me. I mean, that's that's what I care about the most. And I think you're right. Probably maybe that goes more towards buyers than I mean, sellers, yes, I do too, but I guess I feel a lot of empathy towards buyers.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. It it comes through to me. Like it clearly comes through to me, like like guiding those people through. And on the sell side too, when people I I I know you've helped people in a lot of really challenging and tough situations, whether it be a death of a of a parent or a spouse or a divorce situation or some financial distress, like you you've stepped in and you know, we joked about earlier, take on take on those tough deals that a lot of other agents shy away from, but you do a great job kind of pouring into those people and and getting them all the way through the finish line.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I get a lot of satisfaction in doing that. I'm working right now on that one deal that's you know, you know that the one I have uh I'm representing the seller.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And um I have a couple of people, new buyers that want that want the hat property right now. And I'm pushing and pushing to try and get what I can for him. Yeah, I I totally understand that. But yeah, I guess I do have a little bit of more empathy for those buyers that are struggling.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That that's great. Let's well, let's continue, continue on buyers. I I ask all of our agents the same thing. Like, if you were gonna give uh a couple tips to buyers who are just starting out the process, whether they're brand new or whether they haven't bought a house in a decade plus, if if we're meeting for the first time today, what what are a couple things that you're telling them that are important?

SPEAKER_03

The first thing to do is if you are going to be financing, you know that's how I feel 100%, especially being married to a mortgage broker and having done mortgages in the past.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

You need to be the more educated you are, the better the process is going to be for you, for me, for the seller, for everybody. So do all your homework first. I mean, I hate meeting somebody, showing them a property for $500,000 to only find out, guess what? They fall in love with it, then they speak to somebody and find out they can only afford $300.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_03

So get find out first, you know, oh yeah, I can afford a $3,000 payment. Well, guess what? The bank won't give you a mortgage for $3,000. That's not how it works. Um understand how it works with taxes. If you're going to be putting down less, if you need an escrow, I love uh you know, you uh you have to work through and get all of your information beforehand. Um work with an a uh mortgage company that will work with you and teach you all of that, explain everything to you, don't just walk into your local bank and they say to you, okay, fine, you're approved for blah, blah, blah, and don't explain anything. I need you to understand everything about the process.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great. That's great as a first tip. And what do you typically tell people? I know that I have a style that I go through when I'm talking with uh buyers who are just starting out, whether they've bought a house with us before or they're just starting out brand new or they're young or they're older or whatever the case may be. When if you get any like resistance and like, well, listen, I just really love that neighborhood and I know that we can afford it, what's like a like a not like an objection handler, but like kind of a small objection handler of like kind of do you give them a lesson or a story or anything you try to try to kind of nudge them in the right direction of getting that process started earlier in the pro it's earlier in the home buying process?

SPEAKER_03

Well, first I'm trying to find out what they're trying to accomplish is do they need a certain school district? Yeah, do they need um, you know, I I have a buyer right now who's pregnant and I know she's expecting her first child. Her goal is her husband has to work from home, but just finding out what their needs are. Why do you want that particular neighborhood? Maybe you could move out a little bit further and get that same house, a little bit less expensive, maybe less taxes, find out what their goals are. Their goals are the most important thing.

SPEAKER_00

Of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that that that's great. That's great. Yeah, and and I do think that you, I've noticed this over the years and and all of our teams great, but I do know that when after you meet with buyers, you sit down and kind of talk through the process, whether it's in person or on a phone call or whatever. When you go through the the steps of sort of the agreement of sale, like, hey, here's the order of operations of we're gonna get pre-approved, we're gonna set up your search, make sure we set it up the right way, you ask all those probing questions. Why are we looking where we're looking? You know, price range stuff kind of falls back onto the mortgage part. And then other pain points. Do you find it um sometimes it's a little eye-opening to buyers when you start getting into sort of the the paperwork stuff of all the steps of the transaction? Do you do you do you find that kind of does both things that sort of puts them at ease and opens their eyes to sort of what's involved in buying a house?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but I and I assure them, I know you're great with a lease, with our administrator, with making sure. And I tell them the first thing that's gonna happen is you're gonna get tons of emails from the office. And there's gonna be, you can put them in your in your calendar if you're comfortable and you want to follow through. If not, that's what my job is. Count on me. You're not gonna breach get breached the contract. I will walk you step by step and tell you what to do. If you need an inspector, I'll I'll I'll suggest that. If you do need the mortgage person, I can suggest that. Whatever you need, that's my goal, and that's what I try and walk you through. And you're right, and I tell them the easy part was finding the house and getting the the contract. The hard part is what they're gonna be going through, and I warn them ahead of time, especially if they're gonna be mortgaging that you know, how difficult it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, mortgages, appraisals, the whole, the whole nine yards. We had all those on the phone right before we started with you know dealing with uh a couple questions that came up on an appraisal for a few conditions not to be met.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. And now that we do DocuSign on a lot of our contracts, I literally will get on the phone with them, especially if it's a first-time home buyer, and walk them through every step of the contract as they're doing it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I will explain all of the documents, I will explain what I send to the selling agent, what we need for our office, um, etc., you know, and and break down and why we do everything that we do.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do a good job kind of shepherding them through through through the transaction, through the process, for sure. For sure, for sure. Um, yeah, that was a lot on buyers. How about on on the seller side? Are there a couple things that you think are sort of staples? If you're someone who's listening to this and you're getting ready to list your home and you're gonna call Iris, because she's great, by the way. Um, all of our information's in the notes below. Um, but you're gonna call Iris. What what are they what are they gonna hear from you? What are you kind of telling every seller, like, hey, these three things or five things or two things? What what what are some of the staples for you when you're when you're meeting with sellers?

SPEAKER_03

Well, the first thing when I go to meet with them is I try and get some comps so that we because I know number one is price. Well, how much am I gonna get from my house? Okay. And then I show them the pictures, I show them what the other houses are getting, obviously. I'll walk, I'll do a walkthrough with them, maybe make some suggestions about maybe you know, paint this, do this, cle clean up everything. Everybody wants a you know something clearer. I mean, if I have a buyer, I mean a seller who is moving out of town, for instance, if they can at all at all, or if they've already purchased their other house, get out first. I always advise them, let's move out. If if you can afford to do it, and let's let's put your house on the market after you're out of here. The the selling process is really not fun. People dr coming through your house, cleaning up, you have kids, you have animals. It's it's a hassle. I don't I don't, you know, I'd be I'm honest with it. It's not gonna be easy. So, like I'm saying, if you can possibly do that at all, do it. If we can financially find a way to do it, it's not always easy, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. I say I say to clients all the time, I feel like you have a string in my back, and there's like 10 sayings I say all the time. But I always tell them the worst thing about having your house on the market is having your house on the market. None of us live in a show ready house, no matter if you're the biggest clean freak in the world listening, like you just don't live in a show ready house. And having people come through. If it's once or twice, it's not a big deal. But when we have those listings, especially um the market the past couple years where the inventory's been really thin, we have those listings where you're just bombarded that first weekend. I have people this weekend where kind of urge them, money, you know, if you can get away for Saturday and Sunday, it might be a good idea, or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday if they can, right? Every family is is different.

SPEAKER_03

Again, it depends on the location. If you know it's an area that you know you're gonna sell fast and you might have some bidding wars, but you know as well as I do, we get some that might sit on the market for a little while. And so um, you know, um they have to be prepared for it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's a that's a good point. Let's talk about that from the seller side. When you have a listing, because you've you've been through, like me, you know, all the markets, the ups and downs, the the you know, things are going really hot, things are not, you know, people forget there's a world where you know it it takes you know a couple months to sell a sell a house. That's not like a a crazy market, but it's crazy compared to the last couple of years. What are what are some things you tell sellers when you have a listing that's just maybe it's stale, maybe it's maybe you're struggling to get traffic on it, or or they're having a hard time selling it at the number they're at. What are some of the things you walk through with sellers in that scenario?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I you know, uh if I go in, I could usually you could usually tell when you walk in right away, yeah, this is gonna be a quick seller or this is gonna be a nice. You know as well as I do, everybody loves the beautiful house.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, the one that's gorgeous. But you're not gonna tell a seller to go in and put $20,000 into the house to start out with, you know, and hoping, I mean, but it again, it depends on the area, it depends on the price point. Um, if it just takes a little maybe painting or whatever, we'll reassess the house. I've gone in and I look at feedback and I show it to I show every feedback to the seller. Why aren't you interested in the house? Oh well, um, I don't have the money to rebuild that deck, and the deck looks like some of the wood. So let's let's put some new wood in. Oh, a quilt. Anthony's my great go-to. And Anthony goes, oh my God, poor Anthony. I drive him nuts because he does a lot of my fixer uppers and and and just sometimes simple things that could be aesthetic that you don't have to put a fortune into, but but the feedback from your um the the people that have come through the house are really important and we and we look at that. And maybe we are too price, you know, too pricey at that time. Um you remember when we went through COVID when we couldn't even show houses then. Um I mean i i it was really, really hard. So we you know, and houses would sit, so we do what we have to, but we just go in and reassess the house, and if it has to be lowered, it has to be low, lowered. It also depends upon the seller. Uh, do do they have to sell it right now?

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_03

Um, are they anxious? Can they sit on it and wait for a while? Yeah. You know, it depends on what their situation is also.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's good. Tailored solutions always the best answer for the service for the client. Like what are they looking to do? A lot a lot of times we talk about price and uh price is important. I say that all the time. I mean, I sit at listing appointments and I'll say you can find a prettier face than mine, but that price is gonna be the Be the thing that markets this house better than than a lot of the agents. So let's make sure that we we are kind of aligned on price. And I do that with sellers all the time. I know you have over the years too, where if you're meeting with someone and they don't have to move for job, for family, for you know whatever the case may be. But hey, if we get this number, we would sell it. We make a business decision. Yeah, we'll we'll we'll partner up on that with you. We'll we'll market the house. And we know it might not be a quick sale. I think where a lot of agents who get into trouble in our industry is they don't have that, they're they're a little nervous or or shy about having the open communication about the price, right? You have to, you know, and you certainly are are fine doing that. What when you have a seller, not on a listing appointment, but let's say you've taken a listing and it's and it's a little higher, or the seller wants to price it high, um, and you're not getting trup traffic, what are some things that you kind of tell them about what's going on with the market? Are you showing them comps? Are you taking them to any properties? Like what are some things, how do you handle that when you have have sellers where you have a big discrepancy on price?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, I usually go in if I um I'll I'll always list the price and I'll tell I'll tell them the pros and the cons. Both sides, what if we do it lower and maybe we'll get a bidding more? What if we go it higher? You know, you're putting people out of the market. Um, and so I'll go in there and I'll list it at what, you know, listen, it's their pri their thing, they want it, they're going in educated, they know the pros and cons, and I'll list it whatever they want. If it's been sitting for a while, uh, and I'll tell them ahead of time, um, let's wait a couple of weeks, let's see what happens. If nothing, let's start moving it down a little bit. Because what happens is you get to a certain price point and you start knocking people out of that thing. So say hypothetically we're listing it at 500, um, and there are people that are up to going up to 475 or whatever. So you're not, and we can lower it to 475, um, maybe bring in all those 475 buyers now, but um at 500, we're knocking them out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. And a lot of times when you do that, what happens is I mean, and we've seen that in this market too, where things are still moving pretty quick, but you have a couple that are taking three or four weekends, then they lower the price, then they'll then they'll get two buyers bidding up, and then you get the better terms out of it.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. So they end up getting their price anyway.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They'll end up getting there eventually, eventually. Cool, cool, cool. Um, you know, you've had a lot of transactions. We joke around a lot because you've had a couple challenging transactions over the year. You've helped people through short sales, you've helped people through bankruptcies, you've done commercial deals, you've done residential deals. Is there one that like sticks out in your mind as like, hey, here's here's a really tough transaction, and kind of here's how you got through it without sort of naming names?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I had a short. Well, okay. You know, okay, Bob, we're laughing because I know you know what I'm thinking.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um, even um Megan, a title mentioned.

SPEAKER_01

She's great.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Um, yeah, I had one where the seller was um, there were three people that owned the house.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

One was in jail.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

One was the woman who lived there, her husband was the one in jail, and her brother was the builder.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And every time we needed a dock to be signed, again, I represented the buyer. Every time we needed a doc to be signed, it had to go to the jail to sign it.

SPEAKER_00

He was the most responsible one, by the way.

SPEAKER_03

Right. He's the only one. They didn't know where any docs were. He's the only one that knew where everything was. He knew, and it I guess he must have taken out a second mortgage on the house that the mu that the wife and uh brother did not know about. And we go to settlement and and um the their their agent, who I won't mention and who's this was very unethical, yeah, did not tell them ahead of time that there was a second lean out for fifty thousand dollars. Yeah, and sounds and did not, I mean, you have to be so I mean so open and honest with with your people. I mean, that's the most important thing about being a realtor.

SPEAKER_00

Of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So he so they go and they sign off everything and they go, Why is the check fifty thousand dollars less? I guess they just trusted him to that he would he goes, don't worry, we'll talk about it later.

SPEAKER_00

I I will never forget because I was in the room that was a wild setting, just just 50k missing.

SPEAKER_03

And we all looked at each other like, what the heck?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And um, yeah, I mean I mean I d I have another one I want to just say real quick.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, please. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

The woman had cancer and she was um in treatment, and so she was always really sick. So she couldn't come to the settlement. And I had this crazy agent, this buying agent. Oh yeah, that she needed to move to an apartment, by the way. She needed the funds from there. Her husband had passed away, and so she needed to m move into an apartment. And he would go there behind my back, not telling me, and be taking her and looking at apartments because I knew I know I found out later on that yeah, he gets a commission from the apartment complex. A rental couple bucks anyway, whatever. I I didn't really care about that. She was taking care of, I worried about her. Yeah, and while we're sitting at the settlement, um, I call her just to go over everything and make sure everything's okay. And she says to me, Oh, she says, um, the buying agent has his um contractors here. I go, what are they doing? She goes, they're digging in my garage, they're looking for something. I don't even remember. It was so long ago. I don't remember what they were looking for. I go, what are you talking about? She goes, Oh, I thought you knew about it. I look at him and I go, how could you do this? This poor woman is sick with cancer, she's under chemo, she's take advantage of her like this and just send these contractors, and she had no idea. So I I says, So I uh we signed everything, walked away because she had pre-signed signed everything ahead of time. I go, you're not getting your deposit back.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And I just kept it, we kept it for like six months, I think. We had to do it for the six month thing. And I just did it to be because he was just obnoxious.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and that was a and that's a big that was a big time agent in team, too. That was uh I I I remember talking to him at one point during that process.

SPEAKER_03

Uh yeah, he says he's a big time agent out in Westchester.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's important who you matter. I'm sorry, it's it's important who you matter. It mat it it matters who you hire, it's um it's important that you trust them. Uh if I could speak English, that would be helpful. Right.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I basically, oh, I told him he was being unethical. And I after I said that to him, I guess he thought I was gonna bring him up before the real estate commission. So he refused to answer me or write me or everything after that. I wasn't writing anymore. I didn't I didn't do anything, but we, you know, she was just happy she got her money, and that's all that mattered. But um, yeah, wasn't too bad.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's listen, it's clear that you've been been through the wars and you have all the battle scar scars from from all of it. One one of the things that I that I like to talk about on here, um, and you do a great job with this. So you know, I always tell you thank you on anywhere. Thank you. You do a great job with this with everyone who joins our team. If you if you were talking to somebody who was thinking about getting their real estate license now, or they're an experienced agent that's struggling, what's a couple tips that you kind of give to agents um to kind of kind of get themselves going again in in the business? Like what do you think's important?

SPEAKER_03

I'm real, real strong on being on a team because you don't get because yes, you know, the brokerage will give you, they'll give you all of the information you need, but you really need support, which is why, yeah, I mean, I have enough experience to be on my own if I wanted to, long time ago. But the support you get from the team, and you know as well as I do, every deal is different. How many times, even after all these years, do I'll call you and I'll say, Bob, what do I do in this situation? I'll bounce things off of you all the time. And so um it's just important. I mean, I think yes, I might have started on this crazy team, the other team that I was on, but I learned a lot. Sure. I mean, you just I mean, you just need the support. I mean, when I went to get off of that team, the broker on that that company asked me to stay on uh, you know, stay as a sole agent. Um you know, I I wouldn't. I just the the team concept to me, and of course the right team is real, real important. And for a new agent, you need the support, you need someone to stand there. I remember you going with me on a coup my first couple of sales or whatever, if I needed help or whatever. Yeah, it's important. That's the number one I would say.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, still, still do it for a lot of agents on the team who are great agents, and they just you know just want to bounce the ideas off of us. And for me, that's that that's honestly my favorite thing about one being on our team and being the team leader is it's it's not just oh, a new agent has questions, you know, it could be could be anyone, you know. Yeah, agents who do more business, I feel like always have more you have more stuff going on. So there's more stuff we haven't even learned something new every day in this business. It's great.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, you know, I brought in one of the new agents. Right. And he he was a real estate agent in India. Yeah. So it's not like, you know, but it's totally different. I mean, it you know, and he and I expressed to him, you know, how important it was to be on a team, and he knew that too.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and he's he's doing great. He started with us when, like late last summer, early fall. He's done a number of deals. He has a couple investors that he's working with. He just put up his first listing the other day. And he even needed help, you know, your first time going through. You learn all that stuff in Bright the first week, but you're not using it. So, you know, it was the first time he's putting up his own his own listing and just kind of walking through that. Here's what it looks like on our team. Every team operates differently, but on our team, like, here's how you order photos, here, you know, you'll get them back. And this is like a typical time frame and you know, the lockbox, and then entering the the information in the Bright. And then after that, the next day, he um, you know, had to go through yesterday was helping out with showing time because he entered the listing really late the night before paperwork, entering the instructions, and all all that stuff is is great. And um, yeah, he's he's been a great addition to the team.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and the other thing is when you say somebody else has just gone in there blindly, took their real estate exam, passed it and everything, what you learn in the class and what you learn, what you they you study for has nothing to do with what'll happen in real life. I mean, you know, again, it's dealing with people. Um, you have to be willing to deal with all time dealing with the public, you know that. It's not the easiest thing in the world. Yeah. Whether and it's sales any way you look at it. So you have to be able to know how to, you know, work with people and work, you know, with each individual, whether they're, you know, hard to work with, easy to work with. I have the easiest clients in the world, um, and the toughest ones in the world.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. And we're and and to be and to be fair too, like we're getting people sometimes at really challenging moments of their life, whether you know, if they have some family pressures going on or a job move or something like that, or oh my God, we got to get you know junior in the school before the school year starts. That's stressful. And then even if it's not, packing up a house to move isn't fun. It's not, it's not, it's not a great time. No, the destination is usually great. You're move if you're moving up, or hey, we've raised a family here and now we want to get into that adult 55 and downsize. That's great. Like all those things are great, but the process is a stressful one. It's a ton of money. So that that's a lot of our a lot of our job. Like I say all the time, like you have to know the paperwork, you have to have all the people skills and and sales skills for when we're negotiating, but you have to have like a little psychology kind of hat in there somewhere too, in your in your drawer for for all the jobs that we do during the day. You're just you're you're you're getting people at different moments of their life, and it's uh that can be taxing.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. And and you know, when you work with young people, I have a young couple I'm working with right now, and she keeps texting me, she goes, My mom said to ask this, my mom said my dad. And I go, why don't you bring them with you on showings? I welcome that. Because again, if they're buying something and the parents are behind them and they support them at it, it would get it makes it easier for them, more comfortable with the buying process. And I said, just bring them. I like parents. Listen, I'm a I'm a parent. I know, you know, I guided my own kids on their own housing. So, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you handle that. That's a thing too for like the if any general public's watching this. There's a lot of memes about the dad showing up to the home inspection, causing all types of problems, right? In our in our world. But you welcome that. And Iris, I will tell you, you handle that the same way I do. If that person's important to you, we're our job is not to replace mom or dad. Get the hell out of here. We're not doing that. We're just helping you kind of get through the real estate transaction and and and we're and we're masters about it. We're great. So make no mistakes about it. We're we're gonna know that process probably better than your mom or dad will. But trust them. They've owned a house. You already have trust with them. Bring them along, have them part of the process. I uh the agents who struggle with that, I feel like they're they're putting up this like guarded wall. And it's like, hey, whatever's best for the client. If it if they want to have the approval of the mom or the dad or the uncle who can, you know, change a ceiling fan for a case of beer, bring them, like bring them into the process so you feel better about what you're buying or selling.

SPEAKER_03

I have I had one, you talked about it, who they they left a couple of items in the basement trash that they should have the seller should have thrown out. And so the dad was like flipping out. This is supposed to be broom, you know, cla whatever, and and the they shouldn't have left it. I literally called the agent from the walkthrough, tell them to and the seller came over and took out the trash while we were still sitting in there. Because the father was flipping out on it. So whatever. I says, okay, if that if you just because I even said to them, all you have to do is put it at the corner when you move in. Just pick it up a couple of the chairs or whatever they are. No, no, no, they weren't okay. Fine. I'm not gonna argue with you. Whatever.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's and that's maybe a good call to the public. Be a good partner in the transaction. You were buyer and seller, you are partners for you know, whatever 60 days, 45 days, 90 days, depending on it. Be be nicer to each other. Get get do all your stuff to get your mortgage if you're on the buy side. Do your stuff a favor as a seller, keep the house clean so we can have a clean, clean transaction.

SPEAKER_03

The kids didn't care. The kid said it was dad. Dad, I'll just throw it out on the coin. No, no, no. That's okay. Yeah, I'm not gonna argue. Yeah, let's just let's just get rid of it now.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, you touched on Iris, you touched on your family life. So obviously, you you and you and Andy have a great family, great kids. You now have grandkids. I know it's a big part of your life. For people who are kind of just hearing from you for the first time, share a couple things that that are important to you. A little bit of family stuff, a little bit of stuff that you and Andy like to do, and you like to do a little bit of travel. Share some of that stuff.

SPEAKER_03

We, well, the most important thing to me is once a year we have a family vacation.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

This year it's gonna be Ocean City, Maryland. Um, and we took out like I have um one of my sons lives in Virginia, he has three kids, my the other one's in Bluebell with three kids, and my daughter just had her first. So we literally have a house, a single family house with like three apartments in it. So we're each gonna have our own apartment here. But we do it every year. We've you know, we've gone all over. Um, Andy and my my boys love to play golf.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um, so they play golf all the time. We just came back from Kiawa Island, we were there for a couple of days. My son was down there with his kids, so I had to get on me and Andy would get away for a couple of days too, which was really nice. So, but other than that, I enjoy going to my girls, the the girls dance recitals, the their classes, which is um my boys, my daughter grew up, you know that she grew up as a prof as a dancer, yeah. And she was in the professional life, she was in the movies and whatever and singing. And so the boys hated going to her performances growing up. And now both of them each have two girls that are both in dance, so I love to tease them. They have PTSD from their dance. Yeah, exactly. One of them, the little um f she just turned five, is trying out for competition now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And he flipped out, but his boy is alright to play soccer, yeah, baseball, and golf. They he's playing all three of them right now. He's in travel soccer, um, travel golf, and his baseball team.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So that's okay. But I go try and go to the games as much as I can, and like I said, we do our family vacations and whatever.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. And these kids and grandkids will will run all of us crazy because the the it's funny you mention you know, dance. My daughter used to do dance and she's a softball player. But like the sports parents kind of like lose sight that, like, hey, these kids that are doing some other activities, they may be playing an instrument, they may be doing dance or or or something, and maybe they're a mathly, right? They're just you know wicked smart and are doing stuff with that. Like, it's all a lot of work and it's all a lot of time, and it's all a lot of money that you're putting into it. And it takes it takes the village, right? Like, I know when my guys were little, shoot without my mom and and and my in-laws uh helping out. There were there were days we just weren't gonna get to stuff. So I know I know you've like relish being in that role now.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. You know, when my daughter had the baby, I was there practically every day for a while. The baby just turned four months. And so, um, and she used to live out in California, you know, and I'm like, I wonder how she says to me all the time, Mom, I don't know how I would have made it if I was out in California by ourselves out there, because her in-laws live in Florida, so um, you know, she would have had an it's hard. You really do. You really need everybody around you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For for sure, for sure. You do, you do. All right. Well, Iris, before we wrap up here, any parting words, anything that we missed or anything that that people should know about you if they're hiring you as an as an agent to represent them, uh, whether they're selling or buying.

SPEAKER_03

The best thing I can tell you is that um I will do my best to represent you as if it was my own. And that's what I tell everybody. If I'm selling the house, I'm selling it, I would sell it just like it was my own. If I'm representing you to buy the house, if it's an older couple like mine or you like me, go into a and I have many clients that are looking at over 55s. Well, I'm right there. I can I can relate 100%. If it's young kids looking for their first time or moving up, I've had that with my kids, their first-time homes, and then they've sold those and moved on up too.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So I can relate, and that's what I do. I mean, that's basically what I you know I try and do.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We'll have all of your information in in the in the show notes or in the comments um below, depending on where people are listening to us. But I I can't thank you enough for over the years, your loyalty, your friendship, your mentorship, your your family to me. And I I just I really appreciate everything that you kind of bring to this team and represent for everybody on the team. And it means the world to me.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it's been the world to me too.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. All right, well, we'll wrap it up and we'll catch everybody uh next time.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, thanks, bye.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks for checking out. Know your people. If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor. Follow or subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a quick rating, and tell a friend to check us out. You can find us on social media at Bob KellyTeam across all platforms. And if you want to connect with our team or today's guest, the info is in the description below. Go show some love.