Realtors in RVs - Alysia Stern with Darren Woodard & Jeff Casterline

Darren Woodard and Jeff Casterline of Innovate Real Estate were featured on Realtors in RVs, the unique podcast and video series hosted by Alysia Stern that brings real estate professionals together for candid conversations in a relaxed RV setting. During the episode, they shared their perspectives on today's real estate market, the importance of innovation in the industry, and the values that have helped them build strong relationships with clients and colleagues. Their discussion highlighted the dedication, integrity, and forward-thinking approach that have become hallmarks of Innovate Real Estate.

Throughout the conversation, Darren and Jeff also reflected on their individual career journeys, the lessons they've learned along the way, and what continues to motivate them as leaders in the real estate community. Their appearance offered viewers valuable insight into the evolving housing market while emphasizing the importance of teamwork, trust, and putting clients first. The episode is an inspiring look at two professionals who are passionate about helping others achieve their real estate goals while making a lasting impact in the communities they serve.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:16

All right. Here's how it's going down. Darren, you're gonna go into the RV, you're gonna make the coffee. Jeff, you're gonna go into the back of the truck. You're gonna get the firewood. You're gonna start the fire pit. All right? Do we got it? Are we good? Are we good?

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Alright, guys. And here we are. There's nothing like bossing your bosses around. So today's show on Realtors and RVs, I have my bosses. Actually, the owners of Innovate Real Estate, Darren Woodard and Jeff Kesterline. How are you guys doing?

unknown 0:48

Good.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

How about you? Doing great.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Good. Now we're gonna bring it back way back. I'm not talking 1984 or 1990. We're talking about the times that you well, maybe it was 1990. How the heck did you two meet? How did Innovate, well, was BRG? Was it BRG when you guys first brought it together? Like let's bring it back and then bring it to where we are today. How'd you guys meet and how'd you start your own brokerage?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

So uh back in 2004, uh we were both in the same training class together. And just sort of, you know, we were in there, we were both younger, we were both brand new in the business, and decided, you know, we were gonna kind of compete against each other and share tips and um you know just kind of work with each other uh to make sure that we were both successful and and both doing things that we needed to be. Friendly competition. Yeah, friendly competition. And that wasn't, like I said, that was back in 2004. Neither one of us sold a property, neither one of us knew what we were doing.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

So the lot has changed since then. That's 22 years ago. Wow, you guys have been working together for 22 years. Okay, so where did the light bulb go off? Like, you know what, we're tired of working for somebody else. Let's merge and let's let's become masterminds and start our own thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So, yeah, in in 2011, um, we were at a brokerage and had a team of like six of us, and there was no team there were no team-friendly brokerages back then. So we've uh you know, we we looked around, we fast forward to now if we were to redo it would probably be like crazy to open our brokerage. But back then, 2011, the the commercial uh market it was pretty inexpensive to get rent and all that, and we were just paying too much dollars when we had all of our own systems in place, all of our own lead generation and everything. So that's at that point in October of 2011 that we started Beach Realty Group uh here in the Burr of Beach Area.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

That's how BRG came to be. It was Beach Realty Group, right? Because when I started, I think we were just BRG, we weren't Beach Realty Group. Did it change the name of Bob, the brandy Bob?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Yeah, it's it's evolved now. This is the third time. Um like Darren said, in 2011 when we started Beach Realty Group, uh, we decided we had a uh somebody approach us from another market that was not coastal, and we decided to open office there, and so we kind of morphed it into VRG, which we didn't like. It just nobody knew what it stood for. Um so uh about what four and a half years ago, um, as we started to grow in other states and stuff, we decided to rebrand uh completely and we trademarked Innovate. Um about we got that trademark done about two and a half years ago, and then as you know, we did the conference in Charlotte and rebranded uh the whole company to Innovate.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Yeah, so and I worked for them. I started with a different brokerage, and I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy with the culture, I wasn't happy with a lot of things with my other brokerage, and somebody had said, I want you to give Brianne Bender a call. And I spoke to Brianne, she told me you that story, but in like a more of like a romantic, not romantic that you guys are like bros, you know, they're both happily married, we'll get you there. But like in a way that she had me at hello, and everything that BRG at the time, which is now innovate, stood for, I was like, that is me, that is me. So I I did my uh my onboarding and I have never been happier. Now you have evolved three times, which is what you just said. So now you're innovate real estate. Now you guys are hybrid, I guess. Is that what we would call it? A hybrid real estate brokerage. Can we tell the audience what that means?

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yeah, hybrid, a hybrid brokerage uh is basically so in during COVID, a lot of people go into cloud brokerages. Prior to that, it was all traditional. Cloud brokerages evolved during COVID, about two years after COVID is when I really people started wanting that collaboration, um community together again and getting back into the office, you know, going to meetings, all that stuff. So what we are able to create is the brick and mortar mixed with revenue share and equity, topped with best-in-class technology and marketing paired together to create a new model in the industry.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yeah, so we we were looking to do that, started thinking like that about five years ago. Um, and now you can see it today. Obviously, that's what people want with all these companies, the the cloud brokerages merging with the brick and more more and more traditional brokerages. So um, you know, that's kind of where our thought was about five years ago.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Yeah, so you guys were ahead of the game, ahead of the game, and now everybody's starting to jump on the bandwagon and trying to do what you're doing. But I personally I get calls all the time from other, and I'm being very honest with you, I'm a very honest person. I have other brokers calling me all the time to come over, and I'm like, well, what do you have to offer that Innovate doesn't give me? And they go through this. Well, we could do the I said they do it, what else do you do? They give me a list, they do it, what else do you do? They give me a list, they do it. I could go on and on all day about that. Nobody has offered me anything that I'm not already getting here. And this is my third year in a row with Innovate. Now let's talk about the cap because I got my license, I'm going on nine years in real estate, and I in New York, where I was the associate broker, we didn't have a cap. So when I heard that I could cap at 100%, I was like, oh my god, what what is this? What does that mean? Everything is gonna be mine, and sure enough, third year in a row, I capped at 100% within three months.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

I mean, it's it's crazy. Well, but but but if I didn't have the the all the support and all the things that Innovate offers, I may not be capping at another brokerage. So let's talk about that because I know commission and walking away with what you're walking away with in your pocket is so important to agents. You know, some have a 50-50 split, some have a 60-40, 70-30. We get an opportunity to do a hundred percent cap with Innovate. Can you please explain that to everybody?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

So so that the the cap that we created is basically, you know, fifteen thousand dollars you cap out, um, and a hundred percent the rest of uh the year of the based on your effective date. But the reason we came up with that model is because it's fairer for individuals based on what we are able to provide. Yeah, yeah, can you get some uh companies when Alicia's getting credentialed, they'll probably hit her right off the bat with where you can come get 100% here very quickly and do this. But the reality is if somebody uh in an industry where you don't have all the pieces together, if somebody joins you for money, they're also gonna leave you for money. And that's what I tell people all the time. You know, like yeah, it sounds great over there, but you put new systems and a foundation together, uh no marketing platform. I think a couple reasons people really join us and tie into the whole system is because our three units are this uh superior broker support that comes stuff that's stuff that you don't really get from a cloud broker, technology advancements and training on those technologies. But the one that really hits hard these days is a ground level financial opportunity. So in in addition to the cat, we also uh you know 15% of that goes back to revenue share. We call it a growth network. The growth network is more than just uh it's more than just the cat, you know, the commission that comes out of it, it's also the systems that we put in place to help you be more effective and efficient.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Yeah, and it's great. And I love what he what Darren is saying. Like if I bring an agent on, as long as that agent is staying with the innovate, I'm I sometimes wake up and my checking account will have like $75 or $25 to innovate, and I know it's one of the agents that I brought in is kicking ass and winning, and I'm getting a percentage of them winning. And I love that. I think I texted you. You have that new system with that new email that breaks it down. I'm like, I love this. It's uh it's motivating, it really is motivating. Now, leads, another thing that we get a lot of calls for when people say about innovate leads. I'm gonna let you do this because somebody on your team, okay. So we have an onboarding class. Uh, when I started three three years ago with you guys, or four years ago, it was called track. Now it's called launch, right? So we were in uh the launch class, and I believe somebody from your team, uh you guys have a lead pool where you give out leads at a specific percentage, you know, back to you guys for getting like ready to go leads or whatever. Over a million dollars, and you know who I'm talking about. He's now like a first responder and stuff like that. I think he's on your team. He got like either a million-dollar listing or a million-dollar buyer while we were sitting in track class, and it came from the lead pool that that innovate has to offer. We were so excited. It's a brand new agent, never did real estate in his entire life, and he's getting a million-dollar lead. Whether it was on the buy-end or the sell end, I don't remember. Come on, when does that happen?

SPEAKER_01 10:12

So I'm gonna take this a little bit different direction because he's on my team, I generate the leads for my team.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Oh, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

You got that. But we do offer a lead team within the company.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

So uh we generate leads for people on that team. There are qualifications to be on that team. You have to uh meet with the team leader. I believe they do a weekly, they do role-playing weekly, so there's certain guidelines for you to qualify to be on that team. Okay. We do offer leads for anybody that wants them based on those criteria.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Okay, so you go to the office, you you you make calls, you lead, you uh role play, and then that qualifies you to get some really good leads that that the that the office has. Okay, but that millions lead came from you. 1.8. Yeah. A 1.8. Could you imagine a brand new agent that's internet lead?

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Yeah, same as what we're doing for the company.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

I remember our entire track class was like, oh my, like that the joy that we all felt for this one agent was just overwhelming.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Like that $1.8 million lead. Um heard the story about when we first started real estate.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, when we first started, we were uh just started our company first month. Yeah. A bunch of jokers. Um, and it was me, Darren, and uh Julianne, and we're sitting in there, and this lead comes in, and it's a phone call, and it was a one uh uh one point six million dollar lead. Um, and so we decided it was the three of us in there. We decided we were gonna play uh odds and evens to see who got the listing.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Who got it? Oh, you got it.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

And it was it it was a property I was very familiar with, so it was a good again, it was a good good listing for me.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Yeah. No, you both you're not both born and raised in South Carolina, right? You're from Jersey, I think, right? But you came as a child here with your parents?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

My parents moved here in 1979.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Oh, okay, yeah. So you yeah, that's a while ago. And what about you?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Uh born in Michigan, um, left there when I was very young. Um, lived in South Florida for a while, then Greensboro, North Carolina, and been here for 22 years.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Nice, very nice. So speaking of South Florida, we have a whole branch in Florida. We have Georgia, we have Tennessee, we have Pennsylvania. Where else are we? We have offices everywhere, I feel like.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Um by the end of this week, it'll be 14 states. Um, yeah, so we're in Florida. I'll try to go in because Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Damn. Now, do you guys travel back and forth? Because I have a hard time. I'm licensed, I'm a broker in New York. I just got my own, which we had that conversation, just breaking free and gonna do my own brokerage there. I'm a realtor in South Carolina and in Florida, and I have a hard time because South Carolina is my bread and butter. The Myrtle Beach um market is insatiable. It is different than to me, different than Florida, extremely different from New York and different from all other states. But I have a hard time right now getting back to New York and getting back to Florida. Um, how is it for you guys owning the company? Are you able to fly back and forth to all these 14 states and assist? Or I mean you're work you're working with other brokers that are already established, and like how what's what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 13:29

We're actually talking about this daily uh now. We had some pretty big meetings the last two days, and so what we try to what makes it a hybrid advantage is what we you know go for is finding the right person that's influential in a market that can bring basically 10 agents and open up brick and mortar um in that in that location. So right now we got a guy many bananas, and I know I've never heard that last name, but he uh realted in New England and is uh in the processes or should I innovate, but he's owned other franchises and built companies. So we look for people that either are some sort of a team you know that want to grow, but you know, like myself, didn't want to run like a McAgatine. Once I got to 14, I was like, this is too much. I'll brought it down to basically five and the growth. But to answer your question, like going around, I travel about once a month. Jeff and Lisa and uh and you know came up there to uh and we opened three offices in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago. So basically probably ribbon cuttings is what I'm trying to do. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Okay, I mean we we just literally just got back from Pennsylvania where we had three ribbon cuttings. Um we'll probably go back up there in the next, well, I will at least in the next few months for another one. Um, and then um I was in uh St. Petersburg earlier this year. I was in Knoxville and Greenville as well. So yeah, there's some traveling that comes with it. Which one I like all the areas we are and I love our agents, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Darren goes to New York and texts me. I'm in New York with my son. He's always texts me pictures. You've had the pizza there, right? The bagels, the pizza, canish.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

John's on bleaker.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

You've got a lot. Yeah, yeah. He's he's eating really well when he goes back to New York. Now, let me do you guys ever fight? Like, I have to ask this question. Like, I feel like the like the the uh brokerage just runs so smoothly, but behind closed doors, are there ever moments like is it hard to have a brokerage with a partner? Like, doesn't how does that work? Like, is it is it challenging? Do you guys get along? I mean, I know you guys spend a lot of your time golfing, but outside of outside of golfing when you're working, is it hard? Do you ever have a situation that you want to move forward with something and you exit out, or vice versa?

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah, he's definitely he's a little bit more uh the gas, I would say, in our work relationship. So it's uh you know, 100% 22 years. I wouldn't say we fight and we have disagreements about stuff, and then we we come to a you know an amicable position about whatever we're we're talking about. So no, not really.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

We we meet week weekly and discuss things going on, and uh, you know, sometimes in the discussion there's disagreements, and you know, we respect each other, you know, uh love each other as family. So both of us are 20 years married this year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Oh, congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

So we've we've kind of gone through a lot of life, uh big life, um, you know, the whole journey together, opening a company, having kids at the same time, getting married at the same time. So buying houses, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Yeah. Now, your wife does not do real estate, right? But yours does.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, she gotta know it about it.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Carolyn is a Karen. Karen is a is a real tour, but but Joy isn't, right? No. Okay, so what is it like? I know my husband is a real tour. He's the one that inspired me to get this done, and we we battle. We have like when we're doing things together for our business or stuff, like who's he could be more creative than me and then and then I'm more creative than him. And it takes a like as a husband and wife, I guess maybe because we can be behind closed doors and we have nobody working underneath us. No, we go, we go head to head with our business. We really get into it. Um, do you find that you and and your wife battle or anything? Is she on your team?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

She is on my team.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Okay, and how does that go?

SPEAKER_01 17:18

It was funny because when she first started, um, you know, we have the uh mentoring program and a training program and all that, and uh Bree looked at her and said, I love your husband, but he's not gonna be your mentor. So she went through the mentoring process with somebody else and then came on. Well, she was on my team during that process, but um Yeah, I mean, it it's interesting because you know I forget that I've been doing it 22 years and it, you know, just kind of rolls off. But she, you know, she's new into it essentially, so she, you know, takes it all very personal sometimes and wants to please, you know, make sure everybody's happy. And um, you know, so she'll she'll go the extra mile and help with staging and you know, things like that that I'm not doing at this moment.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

But she's doing really well. She's she's crushing it right now, so I'm excited for it.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Yeah, very nice. And Darren has a huge RV, and I just asked him before the show if we could film some episodes in his. I'd love to get behind the wheel of that RV and drive it.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

And only one person other than me has driven that RV.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Really? Yeah, can I drive it around a parking lot?

SPEAKER_00 18:27

You can try it wherever you're gonna drive. I'm just telling you.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

He's sending it. Does everybody hear that? I'm gonna just drive it around a parking lot because I've always wanted to. But we're gonna be taking the show on the road thanks to Serapina Creative, the sponsor of the show. She's really going above and beyond. Wait till you see the things that she's sponsoring us to do next. Uh, before I go any further, do you guys know about my charitable mission, Cans and Crayons?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

I do not.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Okay, so I've had a charitable mission since 20, I was gonna say 2006, uh, since uh 2019. It's called Cans and Crayons. Cans and Crayons is an olive branch, and I really want to innovate to get involved. I'm actually working with CCU football coach Everett Sands right now. We're pulling some events together uh for the children in Myrtle Beach. He's giving away 300, or if not more, pairs of cleats and sneakers if everybody registers for his summer camp by June 1st. And with the Cans and Crayons program, we are a pop-up where we give art supplies uh so that children can create and dream and we donate food to local shelters in need. So I'd love to do a pop-up table at some of the innovate offices and promote uh the my Cans and Crayons mission.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

You heard it here? They said yeah, I know. All right, let's talk about golf. Every time I'm on Facebook, I see you golfing. You're always somewhere else. You're like outside of innovate. Let's get a little personal here. What do you guys like to do outside of golf or hanging out with the family and the kids? What do you got? Well who are Darren and Jeff outside of work?

SPEAKER_01 20:08

So I'll guess I'll start with this one. Um, yeah, I love hanging out with my family. You know, my kids are 14 and 16, I don't see them as much as I used to. Yeah. Um love going to the beach. Like you said, I love golfing. I'm actually the lowest handicap I've ever been in my life, but my swing looks terrible. Um Karen videoed me uh last week and I was like, I don't know what's going on why I'm the lowest handicap. I don't deserve that right now. Um love to uh love to go to the gym, love to run. Um that's kind of how I burn off steam, but I don't golf that much. Um but I do love it. Uh that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

You would do you did that big golf outing last year, right? When all the celebrities came in.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

That was a couple days ago. Oh no. Yeah, I did the celebrity program for the Myrtle Beach Classic.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Oh, the Myrtle Beach Classic. So that's every year. See, I'm not into golf, so I I don't really know, but that's every year that I'm assuming. Because I remember last year was Kevin Costner here last year and everybody was there. I felt like everybody took off that day because everybody was golfing. Oh, yeah. And that was again just a couple days ago. That was Wednesday. That was Wednesday, okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

That was a lot of fun. That was one of the most fun days I've had on the golf course. Yeah. We got paired up with two professionals and both young guys, up and comers, but they they're really good. So they both made the cut and they both did well in the tournament, so it's exciting to see that.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Nice. And and what about you, Darren? When you're not working, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Uh well, I'm trying to golf once a week, but this week didn't happen. Uh we got some really uh cool things, cool opportunities coming up with growth and stuff. So I've been getting out about once a week. Uh I went to a gentleman about two years ago and said, I've been building business for like 20 years. Could you uh you know help my swing? And he really did, so I'm enjoying that. Travel. I've like Jeff, I've got I have to have three kids. We've got a 16 and a 14 and a 12 year old. We like to get in RV and travel. I was just telling you before, I was like, that thing is costs a lot of money, but it's fun, and it's you know, you when you go to R V parks, they have a lot of cool stuff for the kids to do. I remember the first time we had a we had a camper just like yours in a pull up at RV. Park and a kid comes rolling by on a unicycle.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

On a unicycle? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

No handlebars, anything on one wheel just rolling through the park. I was like, this is cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Yeah. I love it. I bought the RV because we're we have our dogs and I wanted to travel and I I hate leaving my dogs behind. And I know Chris drove the ladder for the FCNY. So he was. Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Kramer is on the back of that big fire truck and he crashes it and he's on that's that's the ladder in New York City. My husband drove that. That's what he did for a living. He drove.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Did you let him drive the RV?

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Yeah, so I was like, you feel safer, right? If Chris is driving it. Um, so yes, I was like, oh, get an RV. My husband will definitely be able to pull it. And um, no, we haven't gotten anywhere yet. We haven't parked. I pulled it from Florida here. I pay people to pull it for me to go places because I I'm I'm still nervous, even though this is like a 35-foot.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

You just need a sway bar and a uh weight distribution for your truck.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Yeah, I have we have that with the truck, and I'm still nervous. I'm nervous getting gas at the I-95. Like, how do you pull the truck and the RV to get gas? Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

I crazy story about that, but we almost ran out of gas in 95 one time. I literally begged this guy, please open up. He was closing down. I was like, please open up so we can get some gas colluded. But it burns the gas out of the truck when you have a travel trailer or something. That's why we went to the C class after that.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Yeah, that's like my biggest fear. Is it me? And then now that I he won't I'd be by myself pulling this thing, like, oh my god, how do I do the gas with the dogs? And it's it's just so confusing for me. I said, I'll wait, I'll just pay people to pull it. If I want to go to Tennessee, can you you know you pay the people to move it and they park it for you, and then you go and you set it up. But anyway, we're with Darren Woodard and Jeff Casterline, the owners of Innovate Real Estate. My bosses, and I think I'm gonna push around a little bit more now that I have them in here. It's kind of the only time I could probably do that with them. But um, another question I want to have, Darren, ocean fund or log cabin?

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Log cabin.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Jeff, Yankees or Mets?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Neither.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

I forgot you're not from New York. Who's your baseball team?

SPEAKER_01 24:15

I grew up in South Florida, right near Dodger Town. So uh I I pull I pull for the Tigers too, because I'm a Detroit guy. Okay. All the way around. But uh I would say Dodgers first is my first love just because I've been to probably a thousand Dodger games.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Right there in my backyard growing up. So right.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Do you miss Florida? You miss living there?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

No, we visit all the time. Okay. Um so I I love the Carolinas because I love the the weather and the beach, and you know, so for me, Carolina's the same.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Yeah. Now you know what I love about the Myrtle Beach market? That's where we are. We're in Coastal Carolina on the Myrtle Beach Market, predominantly, well, for myself, between Little River, out to Conway, Anor, Galavan's Ferry, and then back down to about Georgetown. This big triangle that I serve. And I love the fact that our market is first-time home buyers, retirees, second homes, investment properties, condos, investment condos. There is so much to sell and buy here. I mean, the market is unlike any other in any of the 14 states that we are in. Is there any other market that is like the Myrtle Beach market that you guys know of?

SPEAKER_01 25:25

I would think Florida's probably the closest.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Um, but you know, it's it's and one thing you didn't touch on is the luxury market here in Myrtle Beach.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

It's really That's because I haven't sold the luxury market yet, which I'm dying to.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah, I would say Florida's the most similar to Myrtle Beach.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Now you guys were here during the COVID. I feel like I talk about COVID a lot during my podcast because when we we came down post-COVID when the prices were doubled. And I we had Chris had had a couple firemen years before, before COVID, that started investing in the Hilton Head area and Bluffton area. And Chris and I would look at each other and say, yo, you want to get a little investment property? They're like $79,000. Like, what do you think? No, no, no, no, no. We you know, we got the kids, we got this, we got that, and we never, we never did it. And then when we were ready, everything was doubled. And I'm like, we we sometimes kick ourselves, like we got in the market too late, but it's the prices here are still so amazing. I mean, my house in New York, my taxes were sixteen thousand dollars a year. We had to grieve them every year. I got them down to 14,000 when we sold the house. I bought a house three times the size, and my taxes are two thousand dollars a year. I mean, you can't beat that. But do you think with everybody moving down that that that tax, that low tax system that we're in, do you think that will change? I mean, from what you've seen in the past 22 years.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

I haven't seen a lot of change in the taxes since I've been here. I think you know, I think and I think we're in a good spot as far as the pricing, too. I don't think we're gonna see any any major blips in the radar. I mean, it's probably gonna be pretty flat for a little bit, but uh, I would think that we're gonna see some increases down the line with all the people moving here and wanting to be in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Yeah, I mean, we in Carolina Forest, we just added a couple new schools. We're really growing here. Do you have a favorite area, a favorite restaurant that you guys like to go to?

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Um, I would say the one I you know, I I stay pretty close to home when we go out, so we like uh Crave 357, you know, those those guys that are doing right. So my daughter works up there, so uh we get up there quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

How about you?

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Um I live on the south end of the strand, so we kind of saying close restaurants like uh Costa, um original Valentino's. Uh my son works down at the marina uh in a restaurant as well. So we'll go over there and be able to visit it most of us right on the water.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

Very nice. Well, now's the time, the segment in the show. We are gonna do the plugs. I want you guys to give your email, cell phone, websites if people want to utilize you, or if we have agents that are watching that want more information about the Innovate Real Estate hybrid brand that they are creating, that they have created, that's really taken off. How do people get in touch with you? Uh Darren, you can go first.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Uh Darren Woodard, um, phone number is 843-267-4627. Uh Darren at innovateonline.com. Um that's with two ends, obviously. Um, and then uh, you know, a good site to learn more information. And also if you uh you know fill out a form, it will go to our growth department stuff. It's uh foreverbrokerage.com. Because yeah, we one of the things that Alisa didn't mention is the equity and the ownership. So Jeff and I are, you know, yeah, we are the uh founders, co-founders, I guess. Uh a couple years back, we uh instead of being owners, we broke it up into you know a C Corps, what they call it, and now we offer uh you know stock equities to uh everyone. You know, the 300 and I guess 45 agents that we have in these states right at this moment. Um the goal is pretty clear to go uh you know public here in you know next four or so years, and uh hopes that we that's why this real push right now, that's why I'm calling the very little.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Yeah, we're an agent-owned company at this point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

See, you learn something new every day. Actually, I knew that, but I'm like, I'm trying we still have another five minutes. I had more questions, but I didn't ask that question. Um, I probably wasn't going to, but thank you. Yeah, thank you. That's great. Okay, Jeff, how can people get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Uh Jeff Casterline, Jeff at innovateonline.com and uh 843-424-6900. Um Innovate Online is obviously our website for the company, and like Darren said, Forever brokerage is a great place to go to learn more.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

All right, now is the time to give back. Every show we give back to the new agents that are coming on. Um, three pieces of advice that you guys could give to somebody new that's just joining Innovate Real Estate, or even if they're watching and they're not sure if they want to join, they're with another brokerage. How do we help new agents? Let's give them some advice to keep going through the tough moments.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Gosh, I mean just keep grinding. Um, you know, embrace technology, embrace AI. It's there, it's gonna stay. Um, you know, find a company that's got a good culture that has good brokers, good training, good support. Um, and I think we offer all that.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Uh I was just talking about this yesterday. We have the quarterly new agent uh lunches. Jeff and I were able to make it to both of us made it yesterday. And what it is is new agents that just are in the launch class or graduated launch, or new agents that joined from another brokerage into the company. So I was just telling a gentleman yesterday, you know, find your reach. You know, like Jeff and I, he lived in a neighborhood, we both lived in neighborhoods of Carolina Forest, and we really dug deep into selling in those neighborhoods. Uh, when I moved to Market Commons, same thing, deep into those neighborhoods. Find a mentor and then find something that's gonna drive you business. So, like Jeff and I were part of the secrets that we did back in 2005, we started building our first websites prior to all these individuals have IDNs now into their websites and all that. So you just find something that's gonna drive you uh, whether it's a referral-based thing, social media, YouTube, like you do, just find something that's gonna drive you business.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yeah. So you got some great advice from Darren Woodard and Jeff Casterline. And now I am gonna end the show with this. If you could move, pick up right now and move to any other place in the world, could be anywhere. Where would you go?

SPEAKER_01 31:49

I give two.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Um, my first love is Isla Morada down in the Keys.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Oh, yes, you'd love the Keys down there.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

We go down there quite a bit. Um, if it was easier to get to, I would say Costa Rica.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Love Costa Rica. I like the laid back place.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

I've never been there. We you know, I'm my husband's Puerto Rican. I've been to Puerto Rico several times. I've never been to Costa Rica. How to go?

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Don't hit me with that question. So yeah, we have a sum of special needs. So traveling on a plane and stuff like that, like it makes it tough. So I've I've been to several different areas, you know, like younger, you have prior kids and stuff. But I always ask that question. I like uh like I told you I was a mountain type person, but I also need to be around people, you know. So it's a really tough question. Um I like it here, to be quite frank, but maybe East Tennessee or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

I how did I know you were gonna say Tennessee? Didn't you have investment properties there as well?

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Like we own some tappins in the Gat Gatlinberg and Kitchen Forge. Yeah. Talk about selling them at the wrong time. It's tough to see when somebody tripled their money after you sold them a property.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

I know, I know, I know. I we bought our condo four years ago. It was doubled from what it was the year before because it was at post-COVID. And now the now it's dipped. And I'm like, oh man. So we're holding on to it on a rental program with it and hoping to get some money back through a rental program. That's something. You guys, we don't do a rental program with innovate, right? We're not really rental, we're more sales.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

You talking about like vacation rentals?

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

We did a long-term rental company that we grew up to about 200 properties, and then we uh decided to focus on the real estate side.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Yeah. Yeah. We I get a lot of calls about rentals, and I just I I refer them. I I like doing more sales than than rental stuff like that. That that's just me though. But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the show. I hope you got to learn all about the faces behind Innovate Real Estate. And again, one more time, let's give a plug to Innovate. How can everybody get in touch with you if they need to?

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Uh 843-267-4627.