The truth about Real Estate

What is it really like to start a career in real estate?

In this episode of the Contacts and Contracts by Hepler Realty, Nathan sits down with Realtors Matt Matteson and Russell Smith to discuss how they got started in the real estate business, the challenges they faced as new agents, and what keeps them passionate about helping clients today.

We dive into the truth about being a new Realtor, the ups and downs of building a business, lessons learned from real-world experiences, and the advice they would give anyone considering a career in real estate.

Topics Covered:
 • How Matt and Russell got started in real estate
 • The biggest challenges new agents face
 • Mistakes and lessons learned along the way
 • Their favorite parts of the business
 • What makes a successful Realtor
 • Advice for new and aspiring agents
 • The realities of working in today’s real estate market

Whether you’re thinking about becoming an agent, buying or selling a home, or simply curious about the real estate industry, this episode offers an honest behind-the-scenes look at the profession.

🎙️ Subscribe for more interviews with local experts, real estate professionals, lenders, attorneys, tax officials, and community leaders.

📍 Hepler Realty, Thomasville, North Carolina
 🌐 www.heplerrealty.com

#RealEstate #RealtorLife #HeplerRealty #ThomasvilleNC #NorthCarolinaRealEstate #RealEstatePodcast #RealEstateAgent #DavidsonCountyNC #MattMatteson #RussellSmith #HomeBuying #RealEstateCareer

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

All right, we are here with the me and the meth and the legends Matt Madison and Russell Smith. How are you guys today? Good, good.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Good. Good. A little warm. A little warm. Is the air ever gonna kick over here?

SPEAKER_02 0:25

The air in the uh in the studio we might have to work on here. We're gonna have to work on the coming somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

I just got a hoodie. It's cold outside. It's the middle of May. It's summertime.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Yeah, it's like one of those degrees. It's like one of those uh anti-earthwarming days here. Um 96 the other day, and yep, whatever it was yesterday it was like six jacket today. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

It's gloomy, raining, cold. I'm walking around in a hoodie. Yeah, that's right. And shorts. Shorts, shorts on a hoodie.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

We'll start with Matt. Um, how did you get into this crazy, crazy career here? It's his fault.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

It's Russell's fault. It is. Um now um Russell's to blame. My my we made the decision my wife was gonna be a stay-at-home mom. It was what was important to us. Yeah. And uh, you know, naturally you lose an income when that happens. So, like I was hustling all the time. Just doing whatever. Primary job, and then I'd go have side hustles. And um, you know, I've been friends with Russell for years, um, way before real estate ever started. I got to talking to him one day, and he had kind of him and some other guys that we kind of mu m mutually knew um had went in this real estate venture. And at the time I knew absolutely nothing about real estate. I knew And we still don't know busy. We still don't. Um So I I had, you know, not really a whole lot of information about it. So I got to digging and asking him questions and um, you know, learned a little bit about the path to get there, what you needed to do. Um, and at the time, you know, I was looking for something a little bit more sustainable on top of my full-time job, um, just to make ends meet, man. And, you know, hearing some of the stories from these guys about, you know, the potential for income with it, you know. So, you know, I bounced the idea around for, I don't know, maybe a year. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. It was uh that long. I didn't even realize that. I didn't realize it was that long. I think you got you got your license, what, about a year, year and a half before I got mine? Yeah. So um I kind of toyed back and forth with it. You know, the schedule that I worked um wasn't like super conducive to going to school. Um ultimately I was able to work it out, but finally, uh I think it was I think when we had this conversation, I was already in real estate school. So you were. It was towards the end of 2017. I think in the fall of 2017, I went um and took the pre-licensing class at uh Jan Secor School of Real Estate in Greensboro. It's a pretty good program. It was flexible. I will say, I don't know how it is now, but at the time for somebody that had, you know, full-time obligations somewhere else, they offered like a part-time basis, daytime class, and the same thing at night. Night class was like six to ten, daytime class was somewhere from like eight to one, somewhere around in there. Started at nighttime, and I was like, nah, nah, I don't want to do that. Yeah, on top of everything else. So I worked it out with my schedule like two or three days a week, class will meet from eight to one. So I get to talking to him while I'm going through class. I'm I'm almost at the end, you know, to where you take the big class test and then you go off and take your state test. And uh, you know, I was talking to him at lunch one day and he's like, Yeah, I got I got two closings coming up. And I'm like, man, it's Christmas time. Like, how long does it take to get paid? And he's like, as soon as you close and record, like a couple days after that. And I was like, man, maybe this is legit. So uh I go through, I pass the class, uh, go to take my state test, the first time it was a place in Winston-Salem. Um pass the national portion and failed the state by one.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

And I was like which, by the way, guys, not many people pass it the first time. No. No, no, no, no. For those that don't know, like that it's it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

It was a bear. Um there's a lot of law, um, like license law in there, and that's the most difficult, especially, you know, taking a layman that has no idea, like you know, how the law works. So I went back when I failed the test, I was like, man, this is it's not cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Do I need to do this? Yeah, do I need to do this?

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Because I think it was like 165 bucks a pop. Oh man. Somewhere around in there. That sounds about don't quote me on the price, but that's about right. It's like, you know, so I've already spent, you know, five, six hundred dollars on the class on the books. You know, I've got time invested. Time invested. At this point, I've got like 160 bucks invested in a test that I just took, and I'm like, man, what what the heck?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

And you and you also were, I remember you were concerned. Hey, I'm not here, I'm not there making those, those side, that side money you were doing. Right. You had you were investing that free time into this class.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Yeah, absolutely. So, like my side hustles that I were I was having to cut back from that. So I basically not gonna say I put all my eggs in that basket, but I had you had to commit to it and take it seriously. You're not gonna pass because that test ain't for the meek. I'm gonna tell you that right now. I've got several licenses through the state and I've taken several state exams, and to this day, the the real estate test is probably hard as yeah, it's it's it's pretty hard. So anyway, I go back, uh, I study. A couple days later I go back and take the test and I pass it. So um I started with a um an agency in Lexington, um, which is you know 25, 30 minutes from my house, but uh I knew the guy at the brokerage. Um and so I started there in uh I think the end of January in 2018. Um learning the ropes. You know, by this point I've got the class, the books, two tests, MLS dues, national dues. So I, you know, I'm close to $2,500 in the whole at shape. Sure. Easy, easy. Yeah. And I'm going to the office every day that I'm all that that I can go, and I'm trying to learn and figure it out. And this office that I worked at provided leads. Uh, but honestly, man, if you're new in the game and and you get a hot lead come through the phone, you don't know how to talk to people. Yeah, you don't know. I mean, you know how to talk to people, but you're like, uh, how do I follow up with this person? Um, so I get one under contract and um started looking because it was just too far. Driving to Lexington every day was too far. It wasn't really relevant to my community. Uh really the only person I knew in Lexington at the time was Russell. Um he was at the, I think you were at that firm too. Because I came to that firm. Yep. Um, so I got one under contract, figured my way through it, decided that I wanted to go somewhere a little closer to home. Um, and I ran into a guy that that knew you. You had actually sold him a house. Oh, yeah. He had his real estate license and and he was here.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, I hadn't heard this because I I was curious how that even lined up.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

So I think we both knew Stratton.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Yeah. We boo we both knew Stratton, um, but I also knew Ricky because I had done some some part-time work with him where he works full-time. I've had a lot of jobs, by the way. I think everybody that knows me um knows that like I've always I've always hustled. You a hustler, man. Jack of all traits.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

You're a hustler.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Jack of all traits. Um so he put me in contact with you. Um I remember I called Nathan one one afternoon, and uh, you know, in Thomasville, when you hear real estate, Heffler Realty is probably one of the one of the names that pops up. I mean, you've been in business here for what? How long how long? 20 years. Twenty years. A little over twenty years. Twenty years. So, you know, you've got your Ed Prices, you've got your Keller Williams, you know, you've you've got these other Caldwell banker, you know, you've got these these firms that everybody knows. They're they're big name firms and they do well. They've been in business for a long time. But like in Thomasville, you've got the the small town local office. So I ended up having a conversation with you, and uh I think in April of 2018, was it? April. That's right. Yeah. Um, I transferred here, and uh the rest is kind of history. I didn't run him off somehow. No, you didn't run me off. Actually, um, yeah, this place has been awesome. Like that, that should speak that that's that in itself should should speak for something. I mean we're going on. I I've been here over, I've been in real estate over eight years, and I've been here over eight years at this point. Yep. Um it's had its ups and downs. Obviously, I don't do this full time, um, but I have survived what I'd like to say somewhat of a crisis in real estate, you know, post-COVID, during COVID. That's tough. The the balloon happened. Yeah, man. I mean, there's a lot of people. I think there's only two or three people that I went to real estate school with that are still in it. Yeah. That's crazy. And one of them I know for sure, um, she's very successful. Um, she works for a firm in High Point. So uh it's been good to me. It's it's helped bridge a gap, it's helped take care of my family, it's helped support my family. Um, it's probably taken some years off my life. Now the truth comes out. Yeah, it's it's taken some years off of my life, but uh, you know, I don't really have anything, you know, super negative to say about it as in a whole. Um there's been times where, you know, not doing it full time, not out here blasting advertisements. So I have a a circle of influence that I typically work with, typically work. I mean, I'll work with anybody, but most of my clientele's people that I know. Yeah, yeah. And then repeat business in word of mouth. Um there's been a couple times where business has been slow at no fault to anybody else but myself, you know. You know, we our focuses shift here and there to do what we need to do to make things meet. Family life, adding kids to the family. Yeah, you know. Um, so I'm glad that I've stuck it out. There was I remember there was one time where I called you and I was like, man, I don't have anything in the pipeline. Uh and whoever whoever thought it was a good idea to get billed the month of Christmas for next year's dues? Like, come on.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Yeah, we're talking about uh MLS dues. Is there anybody on MLS listening to this, man?

SPEAKER_01 11:39

How about y'all put this in like July or like or May or or October? But like, come on, man, over over a thousand dollars due the week of Christmas. Come on, that is that is tough. Come on. That is tough. So but it's been good to me. It's been a good journey here. Uh it's good to hear. Nathan's been good to me. We got good people in the office, everybody's willing to help. So that's kind of my story in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Yeah. I I can remember some of the time, you know, when you started. I don't remember probably as much as you do. I'm a little older, just a little bit. So I'm I'm having I'm having flashbacks. I was like, that's right, you did come from there and you didn't, you know. So that's good. Russell, what um what did your journey start with as far as in your getting in your real estate career?

SPEAKER_00 12:22

So kind of like man, some of these mutual mutual friends we have um had gotten into the real estate world from really from I mean all different industries, you know what I mean? Um I'm not sure what what pinged their interest in it, right? But they got in it and and just through conversations, lunches, whatever, you hear this and you're like, hmm. And and kind of like Matt, we you know, I I lived through what he's done just a few years earlier with, you know, going from a two-income household to a single income household, um, you know, grinding out whatever we needed to do so we could have that that life at home for our family. And and, you know, sometimes I look back and wonder if that was the smartest thing. But you know what I mean? Yeah. Like where, you know, now you're you're thinking about retirement and you're like, man, I probably put myself behind a few years, but what what quality did we give to what's important, right? So I don't regret it at all. But like him, probably looking for, you know, a a replacement, so to speak, yeah, sure, for that income that we lost. And um, you know, uh talking to people is is I think that's probably been a a strong suit for both of us. Yeah. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 13:45

I would say so. I think both of y'all are probably better at it than I am, you know, as far as you know, being able to communicate and um communicate effectively. Yeah. I think y'all do a great job of that.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Don't run into either one of us at the grocery store if you got somewhere to be. Yeah. You wouldn't have talked about it. I'll tell you down on aisle eight.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

We'll be we'll talk for a while. But um, I think that helped though, and and in having that ability, you know, to build rapport with people, to and just and just to maybe just um just just to be real with people. You know what I mean? I feel like I mean some of my first dealings with real estate agents, they were great, professional, right? But maybe a little intimidating. Uh whether that was just not knowing not knowing the industry, probably being most of it. But um, you know, for me, um if I'm looking at a home, I don't I don't need anyone showing up in a you know in a suit and you you know what I mean. Like and I I think sometimes just being being real, being, you know, local, local to this area. I think it does matter. Um maybe eases some of that. It's it's a big decision. It's it's a lot going on, especially for first-time homebuyers, right? I mean, that's a that's a huge deal. That's exciting, it's big. Um being able to build that rapport and kind of have maybe a uh uh more natural approach to it, maybe. I don't know. I like to think sometimes that helps, but I think you're right.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Being non-robotic.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

I've I've gone to show and dress like I'm dressed right now.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Oh absolutely. Well you you know your clientele, right? You know there's some that probably feel more comfortable you showing up like that. So but yeah, just so uh probably probably mainly initially was was was to replace that income that we had lost. And um man, and it was it was kind of busy. It was kind of uh uh we were I feel like we were kind of at a peak when you and I both got in it. Yeah um the market as a whole. Right, it was definitely on an up for sure. 18, 19. And I don't I don't know that that made it easier. No because things were moving pretty, you know, they're moving at lightning speed and we're trying to grasp any info we could and and and figure out what exactly was going on in the midst of that. Uh but um yeah, that was, you know, that was my I guess my interest kind of sparked from just conversations with with folks that that we knew.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Yeah. Um if you was to say, you know, maybe talk to or conversate with somebody may be listening on uh getting into real estate. What do you think you would tell somebody, you know, say, hey, if you're gonna start, this is what you need to do.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

You know, I hadn't really thought about that, but I I would say um and this would be the hard part, I think it's the hard part for anybody doing it right. And and I there's a a mutual friend we have that told me this from the get-go. Oh, and I never and and maybe I couldn't have at the time. Yeah, you know, but just do it full time, right? Like Russell Smith is saying be in a position, right? And that's not to deter anybody if you can't do it. Maybe that's you know, Matt and I both had to go about it a different way to get to where we're at now. Sure. But if you could facilitate that because it you it takes that, right? It takes the the time, the the mental.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yeah. Because you miss stuff, right?

SPEAKER_02 17:17

I mean, it's tough. It's tough with the time. People don't realize how much time you might have in a transaction that you might show 25, 30 houses to. Everybody's like, oh, that's all you did. It's like a whole no. Yeah, it's definitely not. You know, it's definitely not the only.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I would I would say I don't disagree with what you said. Um obviously our story's a little bit different, you know, kind of what what I do full time is like my life's work, whatever. This is probably pretty second because this oh yeah, there's there's been years where it's made just as much, if not more, than what I make at my full-time job. But sure, I would tell uh get some perspective and have realistic expectations. Um a lot of people and I was guilty of it too. I didn't realize that you know I was gonna have, you know, $25, $2,500, $3,000 tied up in something and I have I I don't think I saw my first commission for almost a year after I started.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Started, spent the money and invested. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

And I was just fortunate to when I was going through school, I had a pretty big circle of people uh that I was almost putting myself out there. I'm in real estate school, you know anybody needs to buy or sell a house, hit me up. That's all I knew how to do. Yeah. And, you know, about six months to a year after I came here, all of those things in that pipeline that have been building for two years hit it one time. But for sure. Real estate, and you know, you ask ten different realtors, they're probably gonna give you ten different answers. This is a prospective thing. Sure, sure. Uh, but real estate is not a get rich quick thing. It's not it's not a guaranteed get rich thing. No, at all. At all. Um it really ain't. Yes, you are paid very well for what you do, but what people don't realize is there's a lot mentally that you take on as a realtor. Yeah. So, you know, you just have to have the expectation going in that I'm gonna have to put a lot of work in and a lot of time in up front to uh get to the point where you're actually making money.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

You know, I remember I was like, man, you know, I've done all this stuff and all this work and all this class and all this study and these state tests and burning gas, going to an office, sitting there staring at a computer, looking at MLS, not knowing what the heck I'm doing. And at a point you start to, man, I'm doing all this work for free. And so you just need to have anybody that's gonna get into this, you need to realize that there's a lot of people that do this. Agents are a dime a dozen. Um I've worked with a lot of really good agents, man. I've worked with some fantastic people, and I've worked with some agents that uh not so much. Um maybe need a little more training.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Those here lately tend to be a little more few and far between.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Um probably probably we've probably dropped some agents, right? Like as a state. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

A lot of these, a lot of the agents that didn't do so well uh maybe came into the game with the wrong expectations.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Um because you you like in your era of getting I I would say there's probably a lot of men and women that probably dropped out. Right? Like I feel like you survived.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah. I'm thinking You survived 08, man. 08, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

08 it definitely went down. Yeah. Right. That you know, I I seen I remember, I don't know how I remember this because I can't remember, you know, stuff from yesterday, but the weird stuff that don't nobody cares about, I remember. It was like 70, 75,000, 80,000, you know, licensed agents. You know, now we're uh, you know, well, not well over, but we're over a hundred thousand in the state of North Carolina. Right, right. But in twenty in two thousand and eight, I remember it dropping. I was like, I was kind of looking at the number because it would come out here and there on a little bit of social media. And I thought, well, that's odd. You know, agents are quitting the industry, you know. And then I really got into you know what happened in 08 and 09 and selling $30,000 houses. It's like, okay, I understand it, because you know, what people were feeding their family on was, you know, probably back then $150 to a $200,000, $250,000 house, and now we're selling $30 to 60s. Yeah. And and really showing and offering probably 20 to 40 to 50-ish range to get one. Right. Um, you know, so nothing was selling. Nobody was buying nothing back then. So yeah, it w it's definitely different. Uh I'm going through oh eight and oh nine. And now I I do see that a little bit, you know. Uh I see agents that have fell back a little bit from, you know, killing it in twenty three. Twenty three was, you know. 22 and 23, pretty easy. Not saying easy, but you know, that it just came a little bit just flowed, yeah. Yeah, it came a little bit easier, I think, for the market. So yeah, I totally get that. My answer is always how many people do you know and just understand that that's the most important thing? Because certain certain people get a license, you know, and they'll come to me, which they have, and they'll, you know, I'll ask, probably y'all may not remember this, but I'll ask how many people's in your phone? And they'll say like 70, and I'm like, you know, I'm like, uh, you're gonna need some contacts. Those are rookie numbers.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

We need to bump those numbers up. Yeah, we've got to bump those up.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

We we're gonna have to get some contacts, like hundreds, maybe thousands, and they look at me like, how, and you know, I don't know. Nobody knows that many people, and you know, that's what it really takes. It's so many people. I might talk to on the client side, I might talk to probably realistically 20 to 25 a day, and maybe two of them actually go through a transaction. You know, so it's it's tough when you're talking to so many, you're communicating so much. You can't, if you don't watch, you can get burned out, you know, on that for sure. It's like, you know, sometimes I'll go home and everybody in the house is wondering why I'm so quiet. It's like I've had 92 calls today. Um I'm good. I'm gonna go over here and sit in a closet, you know. Um, what do you what do you both think um the future, you know, for you personally, you know, both of you making money in different places, and that's great. Um, what do you think the future looks like for you guys in the world of real estate?

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Made it eight years so far. You know be stupid to stop now. Oh, yeah, and you've had closings this year, both of you have, you know, so got one in two weeks. Um so I've just kind of tailored what I do to how it fits in with my life. Um I'd like to be a little bit busier. Um I'm I'm like a bulk guy. So, you know, I'll go three, four, or five months. I'm not a lot going on, and then you know, I'll get six under contract, close all six of them in a four-week period. And then I'm like, I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Let me tell you all the truth about both of these gentlemen this year. I won't see these guys, both of them. Russell was the started it. Russell started it, it was kind of a running joke with me and Russell. I was like, man, I ain't seen you in three or four months. And then you come over here and you got like seven houses under contract and you close them all, and then then I don't see you for about three or four months, and then you come back with three or four, and it's just kind of like running. Matt does the same thing. I don't see him for a little while, and he's like, Hey, I got these three. I'm like, what you know, where'd they come from?

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Well, so some of that really the basis of that is because I think we both work like our d our sphere of people, right? Right, right. It's organic, you know, you know, you've done a lot better job, I feel like, than I have with the with the social media and kind of marketing, which I love. I need to do more of that. I think I'm ready for that, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Oh, yeah, absolutely. But well you're on it right now, you know what I mean? That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

But um, I think that's that it's kind of a product of of having just that organic circle too. Yeah. You know, you have, you know, somebody in your circles doing this, making a move here, whatever. And that it it kind of comes and groves like that. I feel like, versus being, you know, big on social media, you know, working with with people you don't know that were picked up by a post or a lead or whatever, you know, that that may give you something more steady.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Right. Um those deals though, because I've had several of those. I've had some deals come from um a post or something on social media. Ultimately I was tied to that person somehow.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

Mm-hmm. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Because either a friend of a friend or or whatever. But those deals are the ones that have typically been the most problematic for me.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

It can be.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Because um there's there's never I've been very fortunate in my real estate career. I've only had um I've only had two terminate.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

And one of them was two terminate like last month.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Go ahead, don't.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Well, I mean, you also do 14 times the volume that I do. Right, right. Um Yeah, but if they all terminate, it don't matter. Yeah. One was just because uh it was a perfect storm, and you literally had buyers and sellers that just absolutely refused to work with each other. Yeah, yeah. It was and the agents that I worked with for those transactions were fantastic. Like if there was something to be saved, there was. But I've been fortunate to where I've only had-comment on that. Yeah, where I've only had those two, but the non-organic things that I've done tend to be, in my experience, and I could be completely wrong, you could ask another agent that does this full time and they'll tell you a different story. Um it's just a little easier to work through things when you have that relationship. You already have that rapport. Yeah, you have the relationship rapport established with somebody. That's the first thing I do. Like I'm uh I'm a people person sometimes. Kinda. I think most of the time I see that you're a people person.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

I don't well, I maybe I hadn't seen it.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Well, I mean, I don't know. Um, but I always try to establish that with somebody and kind of have that line of communication with them. But it's to me, it's it's always easier when it's an organic thing because they're the ones that know you. Um I may straight up just I'm not gonna say blunt, but I try to try to be straightforward with people about things in a in a real estate transaction. Sometimes many people want that.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Yeah, at the end of the day, everyone wants that. Yeah, like let's lay it out black and white.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

And it's it's hard to do sometimes, man, because our job is not to give people our opinion. Like I don't I don't offer my opinion. I will only give somebody like I had um I had a transaction just recently that um had multiple offers and they were they were close. And uh they were like, What do you think? Which one should we go with? And I'm like, ooh. I was like, I don't know if I want to give you that opinion. And they're like, Well, I'm specifically asking you for your opinion. So I gave them my perspective on you know each deal, the pros and cons of it, you know, what the to the best of my ability, you know, obviously, but at the end of the day, I was like, this is my breakdown and my opinion of each, but I'm not gonna tell you which one to go with. Like that's all that ain't on me. You're not gonna put that on me. Um and they respected that. I was like, this is a decision you're gonna have to make. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Absolutely. At the end of the day, you they you want them to be happy.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

So um sometimes you have to tell people things. I I'm not one of these realtors that um is gonna tell you what you want to hear just to push the sale, because ultimately at the end of the day, like I don't I don't want to get a reputation of being that guy that's just trying to trying to get to sell. I mean, all of us want to make money, all of us want to get to the closing table, all of us want to get quantities right is always better.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Yeah, I think y'all do a good job, but you know, what I try to I may not be vocal enough about it, but you know, like your next closing could be from somebody from the past. So we're always, you know, like, all right, let's let's make sure that they realize, you know, that we're trying to get them what they need and what they want without saying, I would do this or I would do that. So I think y'all both do a good great job at that. Um for sure. I think um I think we've all three have had some kind of uh issued, I I'll call it transaction with clients. And sometimes, you know, in every industry you've got, you know, people that make your job or your career harder that it there's no reason for it to be harder. Uh so you know, like I've I've had people, I mean, change their mind. I don't know if y'all have at closing, you know, and that's you've done your job, you've, you know, found them the house, maybe even find you know found them a house that they found first where you showed them the house that they found and you're at closing and they just oh I I've changed my mind. I've had that. That's really tough to to want that client or to you know to say, hey, I want you to come me back in 90 days and whatever again. It's tough because you've already done, you know, people don't realize a whole transaction sitting at the closing table, it's some time. It's you know, it's it's a lot more time than most people think. What is y'all's um what is y'all's thoughts on the real estate career in a whole as far as other careers? Since y'all have experience in other careers, what do y'all this is this is for somebody that might be listening to this, um, that's wanting to get into real estate as well, uh, as a positive note, you know, as a firm, here we are, you know, real estate firm. What what do y'all think compared to other um careers as far as time making money to somebody uh that's new, do you think it's average as far as time per dollar? Or do you guys think that it's better or it can be better, depending on, you know, obviously you're you're you know lots of variables there.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

I definitely think it can be better. Oh, right, absolutely. Uh time invested to the reward. Um But definitely, I mean, you that's a loaded question, yeah. That's a loaded question.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

I get asked that a lot. That's why I ask you guys. Well, when you think about time, most people compare their hourly wage to like time on a clock. So like you're Monday through Friday, nine to five, eight to five, whatever it is that you work. You check in or you clock in at a at a time, you do your job, you clock out, and you go home. You you basically from for most of the time, I'm not gonna tell people, I'm not gonna say that people that aren't in real estate don't take their work home with them because they do. There's a lot of things that happen to work that you can't. Yeah, let's let's tell them realistically what happens.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

We know we know our teachers take it home, right? Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

So but when you start breaking down time, especially if you have got a transaction, um, you know, one of the worst things you can do, and I think anybody that cares about their clients is gonna do this, but one thing you gotta be careful with is like not getting too emotionally attached to the transaction. Oh, yeah. We could talk um about that. I've got some some good friends right now um that I've got under contract with stuff, and I just want the best for them. You know, I want it to turn out in their favor the best. Um, and then obviously you've got the agent working on the other side that wants the best for their client. You're just trying to when you get emotionally attached to stuff that's hard to put a number on an hour. Let's just say that you close a deal and you you make five thousand dollars. All right, you're under contract for 30 days. Um like you're answering the phone at ball games, you're responding to emails at ball games. Yeah, you know, you're thinking about something goes wrong. Oh, cool. The inspection revealed that we've got termites. You've got sellers that are dead set that there's nothing wrong with their house and they're not fixing nothing. I don't know about you guys, but um I that that constantly stays on my mind. So when you break it down time into what you're getting paid for, those mental hours count.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

The mental hours I think is the most uh unheard of because we don't talk about it, but man.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

Those are what take you from your family. Absolutely. You can literally be present at a kid's ball game. You're there eyes are watching your kid play ball, but your brain is over here thinking about all the balls.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

I'm gonna get this deal back on the tracks.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

I I need it on the tracks because I've got mortgage coming up, I've got bills, I've got baseball bats to buy, I've got uniforms to buy, cleats, summer vacation. If this doesn't close, how does that get paid for? So you start thinking about all these things. So in some cases, what we get paid breaking down hourly is very good. Very good. And there's some deals that are so easy, and you're like, man. This is okay. This is all right. Yeah, this is great. And then there's some where you're like, I'm gonna go slam my head into that door right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Um you earn the other ones off of those deals. So you have you guys had the transactions where it actually made y'all think, do I want to keep doing this? Have y'all had that? Sure. Have you ever year? Every year.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

If you ask my wife, if you ask my wife every single transaction, with the exception of a couple, because there's always something, and you know, I'm guilty of it. I'm sitting here telling people not to get emotionally invested with stuff.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that's important, but it's dope.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Yeah. I you know, your organic leads, yeah, those are the ones that tend to be the less problematic, but on the flip side of that, those are the ones that you're more emotionally. Because like if I'm representing you, we've been friends for a year.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Okay. You get in a contract with a house, you and your wife love it, you've got to have it. Yep. And then something comes up, and you're like, crap, man, this house needs you know termite eradication or it needs a new roof, and then you've got these sellers that are like, nah, I ain't doing it. We ain't doing it.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Yeah, what do we do there?

SPEAKER_01 35:31

And then you're like, man, like, what do I do?

SPEAKER_02 35:34

So it is a thing that I, you know, I had one uh, well, I've got one right now that's still technically pending, right? I had never in 20 years, I've never had one this high. The repair estimate $79,000. Oh my. This is on like a $210. So it's not like a million dollar house. Like we're talking like Did it get hit by a tornado or something? Well, it's got it's got some issues. Okay. It's an old house. It's been remodeled though. They kind of, you know, they remodeled it theirselves, that kind of thing. And so I'm, you know, here I am thinking, well, we'll just get some repair estimates like I usually do, you know, in past 15 transactions, all had something. And uh get the repair estimate and open it up, and I'm like, is it there's too many digits in this thing. You know what I mean? Like I can see seven, but 79. So you're always uh learning, you know, still. I'm learning just like you guys. Y'all think, you know, oh, he's been in it a while. He knows I don't, you know, it's it's it's something almost every single transaction that I'm like, hadn't seen that. Almost every single one. It might be a, you know, a way that a lender, you know, did prepaids or something small, but it's something different almost. So it's not none of them are the same. None of them are, it's very hard. It's very, very difficult to say, you know, I've got all of this down and everything, you know, everything that comes across, we've got a an idea to fix it. It's it's tough. It's tough. And that's the mental part that you're talking about. You know, it's you know, I've probably had eight or nine hours this week just, you know, completely off of work and still thinking about the hell in the world, am I gonna get this deal, you know, like 79 grand. And people don't see that, you know, even your family don't see it. They know that you're halfway, you know, you're halfway present, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Let's do let's do some quick math. Just this is like I don't know, ballpark. Yeah. So let's say, you know, 30 days. All right. So you got 30 days transaction.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

In a usual transaction, 30, 35. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Usually, you know, with the client, it could be way longer than that. I mean, you could have 60 days. Dude, I've there's been some clients that I've shown 25, 30 houses and wrote multiple offers. Man, 2021, 2022 was terrible. There was one client I had, I think we wrote 25 offers. And this is back when people were bringing appraisal gap addendums to the table. Sure, sure. We're saying, oh, well, the house only appraised for 300. Well, we'll bring $30,000 to make our offer, right? This is a great this is outrageous. Yeah. So we'll take that out of the equation. Let's 30 days, okay? Once you get it under contract, those first couple of days are pretty, pretty hands-off. You know, you're scheduling your inspections, you're communicating with lenders, communicating with attorneys. So, you know, we'll we'll change that number to 20 days. All right. And you figure maybe with the mental load, maybe four hours a day. So you might have, and then we'll just say, you know, plus another ten for others. So that's that's 90, roughly 90 hours. 90 hours. Okay. And this math may sound stupid. I'm just trying to be bull here. This is great for somebody new. Let's let's say that your your commission after you're split, depending on what what firm you're with, let's just say you make 5,000. That breaks down to $55 an hour. If you've got 90 hours in a transaction, breaks down to $55,000. Now, $5,000 at the rate houses are selling right now, you know, commission, commission percentages have dropped. But average of what I'm seeing right now, uh, most of the time is two and a half. Yeah. Like I I still see threes. You know, they're obviously there's no industry standard of like what you've got to charge, but like most of the time it's two and a half to three. I've seen some twos. Um, but even still, you know, five thousand dollar commission in this market is on the lower side of normal. Sure. So you think you take that right there, fifty-five bucks an hour, that's that's not bad. You know, somebody somebody making fifty fifty-five dollars an hour working forty hours a week, you know, that's $105,000 a year. Yeah. Yeah. So that's working a 40-hour a week job. Now you take that number right there, and let's say you close one at one a month. Um, I don't know what the average full-time agent's closing. You know, there's some agencies around here that have got some rock stars that are just killing it. You know, but let's just say you do that twice a month. You know, that's a pretty decent live. Now, in this economy, when gas is, you know, $4.20 a gallon and you're spending, you know, three, four, five hundred dollars a week in groceries, and you know, you've got a eighteen hundred dollar a month mortgage and you've got two car payments, and I mean, uh that's not really that great anymore.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

That, you know, um the $100,000 benchmark, let's just say as an annual income, that's uh that's the old 70. Yeah, I mean, really it is. When I got into real estate And that's forever changing, like we could bring generation after generation in here, everybody's got that story. Right, it's so much lower. It's forever going.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

It's changed since we started. You know, if you would have told me in 2018 that I could make my gross to me $100,000 a year, I'd be like, man, that that's doing something.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

Yeah, well, that's probably why we initially got in. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

I mean, it was that was driven, it was a it was a financial drive, but I also realized that there was a lot of work that goes into it. But now, you know, in order for a like family of four or five to live comfortable, yeah. And this ain't, you know, going to Disney every year and living this like outrageous life, but just to live comfortable, because let's just be honest, like the days of people having paid off vehicles, like I've got paid off my all my vehicles are paid off. I drive old stuff for a reason. Yeah, that's smart. But the average family, you think about it, man. How many people do you know that don't have a car payment?

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Right. Well, some of these conversations with these lenders, and we've got, you know, they're they're getting them pre-approved or doing the doing the deal on a home, and it's you know, $2,600 in car payments and this and that.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yeah. And they make $70,000. They combined household income, they make $140,000 a year. And the lenders, you know, oh yeah, you're we can pre-approve you or approve you for $500,000.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

Having a good lender is uh is key in this industry for sure. Any time. You've gotta have you've gotta have a good lender.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

And that's a whole that's a whole nother podcast in itself talking about lenders. Yeah, oh yeah. Um to get back on the wagon trail to load a question, depends on the transaction. For the most part, we're paid well for what we do, but there's a lot. If you're a decent agent and you're a good agent and care about the transaction, you're gonna have some time.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

Especially on the listing side. But that's back to to anything, right? If you enjoy what you do, right, right what what is it to you? You know what I mean? Right. Take the numbers out of it, take the hours out of it, you know, take the financial numbers out of it. If you're happy and you do a great job and you serve your clients well, it's gonna come back to you. And you're happy, that's that's where and and that's back to the new agents. Like, yeah, what do you want out of it?

SPEAKER_02 43:17

I think if yeah, I think you're right. If they enjoy it, that's half the battle. If they don't enjoy it, that's with anything.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

With anything, really. Thomas Bus, right? Yeah, absolutely. If you if I mean I know guys still up there, couldn't pull them away. Oh yeah, right, couldn't pull them away. Not being funny, I wouldn't go do it for what they're for what they're making. And that's not yeah, uh that's not a poke to to anything there by no means. I'm just it's not for me. Right. You have to find what's for you.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Yeah. You um if you're not a people person. Or at least know how to communicate with people and not be a robot, that's probably a lot of work for you. Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:57

Communication's key.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

Communication is big. Communication, how many people you're it willing and able to communicate in, say, a 30-day period. It's a lot more than people realize.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Well, look, you're a you're a realtor, you're a finance expert, sometimes you're a marriage counselor, sometimes you're a therapist. Sometimes you're an anger management professional. Like, somet there's so many things that we have to do as a realtor in a transaction sometimes that like you you shouldn't have to deal with. Yeah. But if you want that transaction to work out Well, that's why you love it or you don't.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

There's been times where I'm like, you know what, there ain't no money in this world worth dealing with this.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

With this. Uh he he wouldn't mind me telling this. I've got a client that's that's still current. Um, you know, this would throw off somebody new that's wanting to get in this career. Every time I showed him a house, he would walk to a closet, walk in the closet, and close the door. And, you know, some of the stuff that you see, in other words, if you're new to this, you're just like, what is happening? School what's going on here? You know, yeah. And that was just one of the things that he he had to do. Every house. Great guy, great guy, great friend. But he would do that on every single house. He would walk to a closet, close the door, and you're standing there in the living room, like, what is he doing?

SPEAKER_01 45:21

Hey man, what are you doing? I had some people turn down houses because they didn't like the light fixtures. And I'm like, you know you can change that, right? Right. It's not permanent. You can you can change the light fixtures. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. I don't like this chandelier. And I'm like, okay. Well, that chandelier don't have to stay. Yeah. Literally, the only thing that they didn't like about the house was the light fixtures. And like five or six houses. They were the dream house. The spouse was like, I love this house. Not like these light fixtures. I can't get past it. And I'm like, all right, on to the next.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

Yeah. I think patience too. You know. Must have patience. Oh my god. Must have patience. I think definite patience. Patience.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

I think I knew that. I don't think I knew that. I did not know that.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

And I still don't know that.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Right. Like, like I knew, but I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 46:10

Yeah. You know? Yeah, the patience that you've got to have, for instance, you know, I I they won't mind me. It's it's a running joke on social media right now. It's a family great family. Um I ain't gonna put their name out there, but I showed them 175 houses. That's my well, that's my record. That's gotta be a record.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

That is is that's your is that your line in the sand now? That's a pretty that's a pretty far out line, man.

SPEAKER_02 46:32

I'll tell you when this was though. This was um 12-ish. I might have started in 2011 with them. Anyway, 2011-12, the market was different. Yeah. And you're like, I gotta buy her. I'm showing them everything. Yeah. So I was showing 19 a day. Uh we'd get in the car on Saturday morning and just look at every single house that was, you know, on the market. And they finally bought a house uh in High Point. It was a great house, big house, you know, decent price for then, for you know, for that time period. And I was thinking, let me just see. I know it's up there. I mean, and back then it was before I completely went digital, and I literally wrote every showing on their folder, on every client's folder. Oh wow. So I was like, you know, I started counting and I was like, I know there's no way I went to trendy. I probably miscounted that. So I counted it again. And I was I was like, did I show them 175 houses? And she actually kept up with it too, and she thought it was more than that. So I was like, she's like, Yeah, we've almost seen 200 houses. I was like, Yeah, some inventory. Yeah. That was back when, you know, you put something on the market and you're already trying to figure out how you're going to extend it and get them to re-sign. That was a different time. You know, it's like, all right, this is probably not gonna sell. Right. So I'm gonna, you know, work the work the the listing, if you will, and make this client happy so they'll re-sign with me. That's literally what happened. Um, so that's my record on far as showings as far as patience. Patience. That one, that was probably my record. I don't think I've even come close to that since.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

I I think my record's 40. And that was in 2020. That's a lot. I mean, if you think about it, that's a lot. That was in 2022. Yeah. 2122.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

And we we both know that Russell just like snaps his fingers and people just go buy something. You know, there's like a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 48:14

You sprinkle that you sprinkle that fairy. I'm up there at that 36, 37 mark. Are you? Are you really?

SPEAKER_02 48:19

I figured yours is a lot lower. I I figured yours was like 10 or something.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

Yeah, there was there was an average of five, right. I mean, but I do have some 30. Do you have a 30, 30 some. And it and and it doesn't stick because it was bad. It was actually, you know, but i everything was fine. They're just in a different market. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just different market. I don't really know that we have the inventory right now. No, you would you'd be going to have that many. Unless the area, the search area is just so broad if they were just so open to price so many things. Yeah, you know. Um I've got one that I'm starting that could be a little different because we they do have the ability, you know, they're not confined to a certain area, certain school district. Um you know, also open to land to build, you know, they have the ability to where, you know, if we find land they could they could buy land and build. Um so there's a lot of variables of what we're what we're looking at or what we're looking for.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

So what's y'all's favorite type of you know, as far as real estate transactions? Is it land? Is it new construction? Is it I mean, we do a little commercial here. Obviously, Stretton does probably the majority of uh I've had a a really I guess the last year and a half, a really good run with new construction.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

Um Is that your new favorite? I think it is. Yeah. It is. And and I don't know it's not necessarily that. I mean, I don't want to play it off like it's easier because there's still some tape taping that for sure. Um But I I like I like that. And it it's been well it's been good the last year and a half too. So what's your favorite?

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Matt's like, whatever for pest is nice to take. Yeah, the l the the ones that aren't problematic. I'll do it all. I'll do it all. Yeah. Um here lately, man, I've done a lot more listings. Um and I have been fortunate that my math and comps have worked out good. Um I try to keep a common sense approach. Yeah. Uh tend to be a little bit more conservative on pricing because people always see that high number and they're like, oh, all right, let's go. And I'm like, I ain't gonna press for that. Right, right. Um so fortunately I've had good clients that actually listened and the appraisal came in right at the contract. So um So residential listings. I'd say that they're probably split between residential listings and and buyers. Uh there's more work on the front end for a listing, yeah. There's more work on the back end for a buyer.

SPEAKER_02 50:48

Matt did his first commercial uh deal. Uh went, I would think, fairly smooth. Pretty smooth. I mean, I don't think smooth. I don't think it had any really bumps.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

I mean, I wasn't in the transaction, but the the transaction was the transaction itself was pretty pretty smooth. Pretty normal. It was actually more than normal. It was very easy. Was it very little? Like the buyers were uh super straightforward. They knew what they were getting, they already had a plan with what they were gonna do with the building. The seller was you know happy to get it moved. The only downfall motivated. Yeah, yeah. The only downfall that I think that there is to commercial is just time. So you know residential stuff, once you get it listed to get it under contract, 30, 45 days at closes. Typically problems that arise can be dealt with a little easier when you're dealing with commercial stuff, especially in the industrial you know, you start messing, you start looking at the EPA and you know, health stuff. They sit longer. Payouts are usually a lot more on a commercial property, but that commercial listing that I closed out on the market for almost a year.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

Sure. I didn't even know the time frame. I should have looked it up.

SPEAKER_01 52:00

Uh it I listed it last June and it closed in March. Oh wow. So um, you know, you you do the work, you list it, you make changes as you need to make changes. Sure. Um I enjoy the digital marketing side. Um I like being able to be creative with listings and the advertisement videos.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Um and you've really hit on that here lately.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

Drone footage, you know. I've I've had two of my last few listings. Honestly, the drone footage that we did and the video that we made from the drone footage is what sold the house. Sold it, and that's a guy feeling I had a guy text me and was like, hey, I just watched this video on Facebook because this is so-and-so's house. I'm like, yeah. And they're like, Oh, well, my brother's looking, I'm gonna send him the video. Next thing I know, I get a show request from an agent. Boom, it's the guy goes under contract, smooth as butter.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

What does that make you want to do on the next one? You know, I mean, makes me want to make another video.

SPEAKER_01 52:58

So creativity-wise, I feel like you've got a little bit more control on the listing side. Right. Um, I think so far in eight years, I'm probably 50-50. I've done just as many sales as I have listings. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

So as far as buyer side or listing side. Yeah. What do you think you've been on? I I don't know the numbers either.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

So there's no wrong answer. At least for the last year, I've been 80% listings. Listings.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

I I feel like that's primarily been your game is listing because you got to.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

Yep. And like my, I mean, that's that is the you can be creative, you can get, you know, I mean, I I enjoy that side. I love working with a buyer. You know, some of these listings turn into buys. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 53:35

They do. They do. I've had a lot of doubles.

SPEAKER_00 53:37

I know a lot of this where I you know, getting back to where I was talking about the new construction. There there's not a buy on the back end of that, right? It's the new construction listing. Yep. Um, but I I love that. That's that's kind of where I've I don't want to say settled in. I'm I'm open, right? But that's uh that's a good little spot for me to be in. I like that. That's good. I like that. So we just gotta keep it.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

I think mine is listings, you know, listings as well. Uh the creative side of marketing it and you know, feeling like at least that your marketing hours and and and uh you know what you're trying to do actually sells the property for the client. That's that's what I like. That's what makes me feel like I'm you know accomplished at the end of the day when somebody's seen something that I created, you know, and then ultimately showed, you know, looked at the house and um hopefully offered on it. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

I I'll say I'm not gonna say this is my favorite. One of the coolest things um that I've done, and it's just happened in the last year. Um I've done two land deals probably in the last five months. Um both of the land deals are with one of them was with a very, very, very close friend of mine, probably one of my best friends.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

Um wait, I thought I thought me and Russell were there. Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 54:56

I said one of them. I said one of them. Um, but they have had this vision for years of buying land and building a house on it, you know, kind of like a homestead for their kids. They've got they've got kids now. Um so we got their house listed. Um priced it realistically, they made money on it. It helped them go towards the next step. That's good. Um and then we found some land. And I learned a tremendous amount on that deal, just what goes into to buying land and preparing the land and getting it ready to build on. Again, that could be a whole nother podcast in itself. But being able to go through the steps and still to this day, the transaction's over with. Like commissions have already been paid, they own the land. Still to this day, I'm involved in helping them. Number one, it's just a good friend of mine, but yeah, being able to help him through, you know, making that goal come a reality. That was that was really cool. Yeah. Like just the process of the perk and you know, construction permits and build and you know, well permits. Right. Like, there's a lot that goes into that. People don't realize on land. So I'm actually getting ready to watch a close friend's like vision unfold. That's awesome. And um I've got to be a good feeling, too. I've got one under contract right now that you know they're also they're also friends of mine in the community. And um, you know, that one hasn't been hasn't been bad, but it's it's been a there's been a couple more bumps in it. But uh it's just cool to know like once the finished product is there and they've got their home site there, you're like, man, I hope that was cool to help them do that. And sometimes it's tough to look at people like, oh, I love helping people accomplish their dreams and you know, the sappy stuff. But when you actually get to do that, it is and there's meaning to that, and you're not just saying it as a business ploy. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 56:57

It's pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty cool. So I'm with you on that. Well, um, we're hitting about our time. I hope you both know, you know, how appreciative I am of your time today, and obviously not just your time today, but you know, sticking in with Help of Reality. We appreciate your years of oh, yeah. We can call it years of service now. We're talking eight years. Yeah, a little over eight years now. So that's pretty awesome. It's been a cool ride. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:23

I'm not ready to get off at the bus stop yet. We're just getting started. Yeah. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

That's right, that's right. Well, I appreciate you guys again. Um I will put, I'm gonna put both of your numbers on here, obviously. But again, if you've got any questions about real estate, uh definitely Russell Smith. You can call him or text him, email him, or Matt Madison. And uh we appreciate you guys coming in and listening or watching. Thank you guys. You guys have a great day. We'll see you later. Contact Russell Smith at 336-688-9099 or Matt Madison. 336-430-1204.