Social Media Won't Build Your Business... Here's What Actually Does

Guest Bio

Ben Nemec is a real estate agent and team leader in Huntsville, Alabama, running Team Nemec / Huntsville Homes For You. He got his start in real estate after his mother-in-law, a longtime Huntsville agent, brought him on as a partner following an unconventional path through hospitality management, nonprofit sports sponsorships, and a near-miss Coast Guard officer application. Thirteen years later, Ben leads a team built on referral-driven business, disciplined database follow-up, and a firm conviction that relationships — not platforms — are what actually grow a real estate business long-term.

Show Notes

Tim sits down with Ben Nemec, a 13-year real estate veteran and team leader out of Huntsville, Alabama, for a conversation that pushes back hard against one of the industry's most repeated assumptions: that social media is the engine of growth. Ben's take is blunt — it's a facet you have to lean into, but it will not bring you long-term success. What does? The relationships you build, how you treat people, and the job you do for your clients, compounded over years, not months.

Ben walks through his own unconventional path into the business, the moment he realized real estate has no overnight success stories, and the specific systems — signed calls, open houses, database touches — that have quietly outperformed paid leads for his team for over a decade. He also opens up about the boundaries he had to learn the hard way to protect his family, and gives a clear-eyed take on where AI actually fits into a relationship-driven business.

In this episode:

• Why Ben believes social media "will not bring you long-term success" — and what he tells his team instead
• Ben's unconventional path into real estate — hospitality school, the Orange Bowl, and a near-miss Coast Guard officer application
• Why there's no such thing as overnight success in real estate ("a slow burn, month after month, year after year")
• Ben's actual lead generation philosophy: sphere of influence, signed calls, and open houses over paid leads
• The #1 way agents leak opportunities they already have (and it's not lead volume)
• Why Ben credits his CRM (Brivity) for keeping follow-up from falling through the cracks
• The moment that changed how Ben protects his time with family — and why he got emotional telling it
• How Ben's team uses Claude Cowork — and where he still won't let AI near a client relationship
• Ben's advice for any agent wanting to grow in the next 12 months
• Looking 5 years ahead: what changes in real estate, and what never will

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hey there, welcome to Under Contract, where I sit down with some of the top real estate agents and team leaders in the country to talk about how they built their businesses, what's working right now, and where we see the industry going next. Today I'm joined by Ben Nemick from Huntsville, Alabama. Ben, thanks for coming on. I'm excited to have you. Let's jump right into it.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Man, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Of course, of course. We're we're excited to have you. And um I I really like to kind of set the table. I like I think understanding someone's journey gives context to everything that came afterwards. So I gotta ask, how did you get into real estate? At what point did you realize this could be uh come a serious business rather than maybe simply another job?

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, this is probably more information than than you want. I'm gonna have to go back about 15 years. Uh I was fresh out of graduate school. I got a graduate degree from Auburn University, War Eagle, uh in hotel and restaurant management. And at the time I was I was kind of floundering, honestly, in school. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I got, you know, hotel and restaurant management sounded great, but ultimately I was working in residence life at Auburn, and they were going to pay for my grad school, so I just picked something. I didn't have a technical background. And um, there's a lot to offer at Auburn, but that that's where I landed. And, you know, I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and so I have no regrets about that. And I did learn a lot there that I use now in terms of customer service satisfaction, uh all the things, okay. Um my first job out of college was with the orange bowl in Miami, Florida, and that's a nonprofit. Most people know it for the football game that happens once a year, uh, twice a year if it's also the national championship. They are a nonprofit there that that really focuses on driving tourism and sports tourism to South Florida, and um they they have a heavy emphasis on youth sports and improving that and contributing to that down there, and so it's a great organization. That was an unpaid internship for six months, and I I really thought I wanted to be in the sports world, and um so I was selling sports sponsorships for the Orange Bowl for six months, and of course helping with their activities and events and things during that time as well. And um I didn't get the full-time role at the end of that. Uh, so that that was hard. And I spent the next three months unemployed. I guess I had been unemployed for six months before that, since it was unpaid. But um, those three months were some of the hardest in in terms of career. I was looking back at my high school and college and just wondering how I wound up there after all that schooling. And uh I my dad was Air Force growing up. We moved around some, uh, maybe not as much as some military folks, but I always had an interest in flying, and I like to go fast still to this day, and I wanted to fly jets, and um down in Miami and South Florida, the Coast Guard is big. And I I really thought I wanted to fly rescue missions and support the the country in that way, and and um ultimately that that process played out. I applied for officer candidate school and had a great experience during that time, ultimately did not get that position either. But during that period of interviews and and going through the process of applying and not getting selected, ultimately, my mother-in-law, who had been practicing real estate in Huntsville for several years at that point, um, she was ready to do something a little different, take it to the next level, um, grow. And I think maybe there was some hope that we would come back to Huntsville in there as well. So before the the Coast Guard opportunity came to a close, she said, Hey, if if Coast Guard doesn't work out, consider coming to partner with me in real estate in Huntsville. And entrepreneurship was not on my radar at the time. I was not um wasn't comfortable with strictly commissioned income. Uh just that that wasn't how it was raised. Uh, it just wasn't what I had my sights set on, really, right? Um, so fast forward, my um my mother-in-law got me into real estate. We moved back to Huntsville and started a family, and I worked with my mother-in-law for about five years before she retired. So we were we were teammates. It was just us two, no admin, no nothing. And uh when she retired, it was uh I was at a crossroads. I had to decide, do I still want to keep doing this? We were pretty successful, all things considered, with no admin or or other agents on the team. And uh I decided to give it a go on my own and continue and made the mistake of hiring uh uh buyer's agent first, and it wasn't a mistake, it wasn't a mistake from the standpoint that it was the wrong person, it was a great person, and she's still on the team. Her name's Melanie. Uh it was a mistake because I should have hired an admin first, and uh, so anyway, that's kind of the start of my real estate career. I think I think that's what you ask for.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Yeah, no, absolutely, which is a great uh handoff to me because that that's first of all interesting because a lot of entrepreneurs I've known in my life have been this sort of unemployable type always. Uh, it's interesting that that wasn't the path that you were necessarily planning to be on, but you know, here we are fast forward, and it seems like it's working out pretty well for you. So um the question I have next is like every successful business tends to have a moment or two where everything changes. Like, what was the biggest turning point in your business? Obviously, it was pretty successful, it sounds like uh when your mother-in-law stepped down, but um my guess is you've come a long way even since then. And so I'm curious, like, was there a moment or two? Was it was it a hire? Was it a marketing strategy uh that really kind of changes the trajectory of what you what you guys are doing?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, you know, we see on TV uh the real estate shows make this look pretty easy. Pick up a phone, yeah, two and a half minute call, and you make three hundred thousand dollars or whatever it is. And it's um overnight success, is what this business is painted to be, and it's anything but that. I mean, I'm sure there's anomaly stories that that's the case, but by and large, I've never seen a successful real estate agent that has made it over a short period of time. It's been a slow burn, and that's absolutely the case for me. It was a slow burn of leaning in, grinding month after month, year after year, to grow a business of contacts. This is a contact sport, it's very much who you know. Yes, what you know is important, but like in many industries and and uh jobs you can have, you you rely on the shoulders you can stand on to get there. Absolutely, and I would have never gotten into the business had it not been for my mother-in-law, Barbara, and I would have never continued in this business had it not been for the people around me. And um, you know, back to leadership at the brokerage I was at then. Um my director of operations now has been with me for almost 10 years. Um it is it is really about the people that I've had the opportunity sought to surround myself with. And um again, I I do believe everything happens for a reason. And um I just every person that I come into contact with, even to this day, is another opportunity to grow personally, professionally, um, learn things. I learn a new thing every single deal I do. And now managing a team, which I'm sure we'll get to that, but that that's really been eye-opening. Uh, it's been a roller coaster, it's been very rewarding uh in many ways. And so, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Love it. Well, I mean, it's an amazing uh lens to go through life in general, through where you're talking about being able to learn from everyone that you meet, uh, every deal, because I would imagine it could be easy for someone to have done probably as many deals as you had and said, uh, this is kind of old hat. But one thing I realized about real estate, like it's what I've seen from the outside looking in, is that every deal has a slightly different wrinkle um than the previous deal. It feels like it's it's pretty interesting how every deal is slightly different than the last one. So or or or could be quite a bit. Um now I do have I want to ask you. Uh obviously, there's uh I'm not gonna ask you for your secret sauce here, but there's you know, there's mil million to two million, it depends who you ask, uh, agents in in the United States. Uh, yet only like a small percentage build truly exceptional businesses. I want to ask you, what do you believe is the biggest thing that differentiates your business from everyone else? I have a uh an idea what you might say based on some of your previous responses, but I want I want to get that on record.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah. Um we live in a culture that really emphasizes what we put out there and how we appear to the masses. And this is something that my team probably gets really tired of me, of me saying and them hearing. And social media is is while while it is a facet that we we have to lean into, it will not bring you long-term success. Um and I believe that strongly. It's the relationships that we build, it's the way we treat people, it's the job that we do for our clients, and over a long period of time grows exponentially. And yeah, that's that some people might say that's easy for me to say because I've been in the business for 13 years and I've had 13 years to do that. But there's no better time to start looking at business that way, and that's not what the media or or what um Instagram is telling us to do to grow our business, to get out and meet people and hold open houses and have conversations. It's how can we do what can we post now to get clients? And um I there's no secret to this. It's it's hard work, it's it's missing family events sometimes. It's it's a grind. And it's exhausting. And you have, if you want to be in this business long term, you've got to be willing to grind, and you've got to be able to do it in a way that works for you. That that's different things for different people. Yeah, but um, yeah, I I the the secret sauce is meeting new people every day, having conversations, caring about people, maybe more than you care about the deal working out. Um, there's there's a lot more I could say about that, but I just I really think that despite all of the technology and big businesses trying to take over real estate, home is a pretty personal and emotional thing. And yeah, there's plenty of people that buy houses online and stuff like that. But I think the the job of a realtor is not going to change, you know, although the things around us will, but for the for the clients and for the buyers and sellers that that really value a good experience and somebody looking out for them, it's not it's not the big big business, big box technology, it's not any of that. It's it's people who are pounding the pavement every day, showing houses, going on listing appointments, caring about people walking away with the most possible net and looking out for their best interests. The internet can't do that for you.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

I love this answer, by the way. I mean, look, I I use social media as a marketing tool, but if if you ask if you ask me, do I love social media? I don't at all. Um, for we don't have to go on a tangent of why that is, but um, you kind of touched on a little bit in that, you know, this is real estate's a people business, and I do I don't think whatever comes along. Look, I'm in into AI, right? But at the end of the day, that's just a tool to help you serve more clients in a better way. So um, you know, I I I couldn't agree more, but I do want to you said one thing that I I want to touch on because I like to ask. Oh, you're good. Take your time. Um, I like to ask high achievers this because you kind of hinted at it, which was it's a grind, right? But you're married, you have a family, there's the great balance that we we all try to strike uh in being, especially when you're ambitious, I think. Um I gotta ask you, because I I've seen it in real time. Uh, like it's it's it's not the easiest thing to do with family and whatnot. So uh how have you tried to manage that? And have you found systems? I because I think this is just things that agents ask me a lot, is like, how do I how do I do it all? And they see someone like you that has a team and is successful, but also has a family. Uh it'd be different if you said, hey, like, I don't have I don't have a family and I just work 20 hours a day. Okay, well that there's no secret in that. But someone that has clearly has other things and other priorities, but also is ascending in the in the real estate world, that's pretty interesting. I'd love to know your kind of thoughts around that and how you approach it.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah. Well, I still don't have it figured out. Uh, I will tell you that what today looks like for that whole topic that you just asked me about managing uh the work-life balance, so to speak. Um it looks a lot different now for me than it did when I first started. When I first started, every room I walked into where there were other people, I had this anxiety that I I'm at work no matter where I was. Whether I was at church, whether I was at a social gathering, not work-related, I felt like it was a thousand pounds on my shoulders to get business out of these people. And not in the way of like wearing my name tag everywhere where I went upside down and uh constantly talking about real estate. I I was never that way. But it was uh it was that feeling of it's all on me, I'm self-employed, it is up to me to succeed. Therefore, I have to treat every conversation, every opportunity as a business opportunity, and that will wear on you. Uh I remember, you know, when I had really young kids, my kids now are 12, 10, and 8. 12, 10, and 9, just turn nine. Um I remember giving probably my two-year-old a bath and taking a call during that. And uh I'm sorry, I'm gonna get a little emotional here, but I tell that story to people that say they want to join the team because setting boundaries is just so important.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

And um sorry, excuse me. No, I appreciate you being vulnerable.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah, you'll never you'll never get that time back. Yeah. So if you start your business that way, it's really hard to change. Okay. And it took me a long time to figure that out. And again, I don't have it all figured out yet.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

I will tell you, when I get home, unless it is an absolute emergency, which nine times out of ten or maybe more, it is not. It is it can wait until the morning. At seven, eight, and nine o'clock, I'm not taking calls that need deal doctoring or need really engaged on point advice because, first of all, they're not getting the best version of their real estate advisor. And uh my mind is elsewhere. I just I just want to take a break. Uh and we need to. Like we need a break every day, every week, every whatever, whatever you do. If it's a Sabbath on Sunday, if it's uh if it's Saturday with with the family, if it's Monday, because you worked all weekend, like you want to do it, and you have to make time for that. And I feel like a little bit of a hypocrite because I showed 25 houses this weekend and worked all weekend. Wow. And um I'll work a full day today, and uh, I just am hopeful that I can take some time off later this week, right? Yeah, the struggle is though Monday through Friday, the title companies and the banks and the lenders and the uh all those vendors expect you to be answering the phone and available, and so do your clients. And so you do you've gotta you've gotta figure that out and figure out what works for you. Um I have less of a fear now of missing a phone call than I did early on, you know. Yeah, there's this there's this feeling, there was this feeling when I was early, early on, and it was if I don't answer that phone, they will call someone else that will, and I will lose that business. And again, it's easy for me to say. I've been in long enough that most of those situations will wait 30 minutes for me to call them back. But um, it's that that's one of the hardest things about this business and having a family, it can't be done. You just have to set boundaries and stick to them.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

I love that, man. I appreciate that answer. And I don't want to turn this uh podcast into a time management training, but yeah, it does something else. Came up uh because I've I've been an entrepreneur for almost 20 years. Time management's always been something interesting to uh to kind of grasp, and so I I do understand from your perspective, but if I'm an agent that's been in the game a few years at this point, I'm listening to you and I'm saying, Well, that's great for you, Ben. Like, you've got a team, you've got uh blah blah blah. Uh like I I got kids to feed uh and I gotta make a deal happen, that kind of thing. Um, do you think it's one of those situations where you do you try to set the best boundaries you can early on, and then you sort of improve on that as you get a little bit more leverage, uh, you know, a little more experience, a little more help, obviously. Um, do you do you see that as like it's maybe not possible in year two uh to be the same agent in that regard as you are in year 10? Or is that a limiting uh belief on my part?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Uh I think it's so important to set those boundaries early on. Uh and really I I I feel like most reasonable people appreciate that. Um there may be strange instances where you're dealing with someone over in the Middle East or in Asia, and the time difference requires that you take an out-of-normal hours phone call. I mean, this is real estate, it's it's not you're not at a bank. And so there are obviously going to be situations that require you to bend those rules a little bit every now and then. If you pick up if you consistently pick up the phone at seven, eight, and nine o'clock at night, they will keep calling you train them to do that at nine, or text, or email, or whatever. If they see that you're willing to work at those hours, they will use that and they will expect you to continue. And so it's not necessarily uh sitting down with them and and saying, Hey, don't call me at seven. I'll be like answer. It it's take care of what you need to take care of when you're able to, and reserve those those moments and that time with your family in the evening or dinner or whatever it is, and and there's so many ways to do that. Um, I take my kids to school every morning, and my phone rings sometimes on the way to school, and I know my kids don't want to hear that. Sure, it's not they they shouldn't really have to, they should just be able to have a ride to school with their dad. And so, but 10 years ago, I would have taken the phone call. Sure, sure. Uh my kids need me more now than they did then. Yep. And so it's it's been a slow progression, just like the business has of learning those things. And um, so I hope that answered your question.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

No, that's great. That was actually great insight. No, that's fantastic. Um, all right, let's we're gonna switch gears here for a second. I I I love asking this question uh to uh people like yourself, which is like if you woke up tomorrow in a brand new city with no database, no reputation, no contacts, how would you build a top producing business today?

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah, that's a great question. Uh my uh my wife always says she wants to move to Florida. Yeah, I always wondered about that.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Do you get a little landlocked when you build a successful real estate business? Are you sort of like, well, well, it's hard to leave.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Uh I I jokingly say, Well, I'm done working at that point whenever we move.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah, so you have to be okay with where we're at uh financially.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah. The thought of starting over, whether that's in a new location or or whatever it is, is it's exhausting just to think about. Just because of looking looking back over the last several years and what it has taken day after day to build a business, it is daunting to think about starting over at I'm almost 40. And so I I don't know that I have the energy for that. Sure. But if I had to, I would probably join a team. I would probably join a team. And because in an area where that I'm unfamiliar with, it's going to be very hard for me to recruit people and them believe that I can help them when I haven't even helped myself yet. All right. You gotta have some skin in the game, you've got to have some street credibility. And so that's where I would start, and I would see how it goes. And you know, now knowing what I know about teams and bringing on agents and and building a team, I might build a team within a team or something like that. If and if that doesn't work out, once I feel like I'm comfortable with the area and the business there, I'd I'd break off and start my own team and I'd build it slowly. It wouldn't be uh uh let's get 10 people right away. Uh it would be a slow burn. And so I know that now that there's no overnight success in this business.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Yep. You make a good point. Uh, a couple things. One, your success uh is built over so many daily battles that you won and lost sometimes, but things that just compound slowly over time. Uh, plus, you make a good point, not the same being in your late 30s as your early 20s, as far as that young bull energy. Uh, you know, and but but I also do think that you know you have a blueprint for success. And it sounded like you sort of hinted at that there as to what you would do. Uh so that was that was really, really good. Um, I've got to ask uh change gears again, real quick, because uh I told you I'm a lead gen guy. Um how what is your philosophy around generating business as far as from from a from a lead flow prospect perspective? Yeah, I'd love to hear what the way you guys do that.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Yeah, well, I'm a firm believer that the best leads are ones that come from our sphere of influence. Uh repeat, referral, friends, family, people that we have some kind of a connection to, and that we have been recommended by those people. You have instant rapport. You don't have to build the trust as much because the person that they know had a good experience with us, and so they don't have to worry as much about is is this person looking out for my best interests? And so we do very little paid leads. Okay. Uh the one exception to that for us is Google Local Services, and that's really more um to get people looking at our website to get people to see that we actually do business, and and in turn, they see our Google reviews and you know 150 plus reviews. Uh, I feel like most people probably think, okay, they're probably pretty safe.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

So um pay very little for leads. Most of our business is repeat referral, sphere of influence. Uh, that a huge, huge piece of lead generation is sign calls for us. Sign calls and open houses, and and sounds old school, but we've got 20 plus listings right now. So that many signs and yards and people driving around and calling us for information. I mean, those are people that are actively looking for real estate most of the time. And whether they're a neighbor curious about the value or they're they want to buy a home in that location. Like that's a converse, every one of those conversations is meaningful, regardless of the situation on the other end. And um, sometimes it's hey, I live next door and the grass is tall, you need to get it cut. Well, we get somebody out there to cut it and they see that we care. Love that, and it builds rapport, and then they're in our database, and we send them stuff. And you know, it's it's uh Gary Keller. I'm not at Keller Williams anymore, but Gary Keller used to always say it's simple, not easy.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

And it's uh it's so I thought I made up that quote, but uh that's that's really good.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

He he probably didn't make it up either, but that's who I heard it from. Somebody did and yeah, and it's it's a great way to think of it, it's very true. Um there's nothing complicated about this, it's hard work though. So um, yeah, we we still encourage open houses, and yeah, again, a new agent listening to this, hey, I don't have 20 listings to have open houses at and to have signs and yards. What do I do? Well, you partner with an agent who is willing to let you hold their listings open, and you are you are encountering people walking into that listing that are that they are teed up to have a real estate conversation with you. And if you have the material there, if you know the answers to their questions, if you can carry yourself well and be the local expert, they will probably know like and trust you when they leave there.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

I love that. So we we've talked about lead generation there, but one thing I want to ask you is about follow-up, right? So, okay, we got leads. One thing that we've seen with building our AI platform is that teams they often don't lose business because they lack leads, they lose it because they because good opportunities slip through the crack. So, where do you think most agents kind of leak these opportunities, if you will, that they already have? Yeah, what are they doing wrong?

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Follow-up's hard. Uh, follow-up is is hard when you're busy and you're actually doing business. When you when you start to get a little success and you're closing deals and you're showing homes and you're going on listing appointments, follow-up tends to slip through the cracks because you're addressing the squeakiest wheels, yeah, which are the appointments and the in-person stuff you have to be at. And so a lot of times it's like, oh gosh, I'll call, I'll follow up with them tomorrow. You know, I got that sign call yesterday. I don't really know if they're serious. I talked to them, but I should probably follow up with them. Uh I'm just I I'm too busy. I can't, I my mind is elsewhere. Sure. And so uh I'll I'll give uh some credit to our CRM, Brivity. Uh it is amazing. And and not I don't say that to mean that it does it for us. It doesn't. We still have to make those phone calls and send those messages, but uh it's makes it really easy to know when to follow up and to keep track of it and to check it off and and running list of of those follow-up items you need to do each day. And um, I know there's a thousand CRMs out there. I just sure I'm I'm partial to privy. And uh I I think I think it makes it really makes it easier than going going alone or going without and just keeping a running list in your head of people you need to follow up with.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Yeah, that's a that's a losing battle, a running list in your head for sure. Yeah. Um so one thing I want to do is I always want to make sure that agents listen, by the way, this has been absolute gold so far, but I want to make sure agents uh listening walk away from these conversations and with something they can actually put into practice. So if you were coaching an agent who's already doing some business but wants to significantly grow over the next 12 months, what's one specific thing you tell them to start doing this week?

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Start touching your database. If you're not already doing that, touch your database every you know, every month, every every year, every you know, multiple times a month. Um it is it is the best way to stay top of mind. And you you've got to do that. Because when people are ready to buy, sell, or invest in real estate, they're gonna call the people that are top of mind. And if they just got a a letter from you, a postcard, a text message, an email, or a phone call, you're gonna be top of mind. And don't call people just to check in, call them with something meaningful. Yeah, I harp on that in our team meetings. You you've got to call them with something they don't already know and can't get themselves easily. And there's a lot of information available out there to the public, like they can find a lot of stuff on their own, and that's great. Yep. Uh, if we can keep them apprised of what their approximate real estate value is every month or or every quarter, like we're gonna be who they think of when they think about selling.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

100%.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

You know, and so add to your database every day, touch it, could whatever schedule you're on. If it's if it's twice a year, twice a month, every day, I wouldn't do it every day. But you know, yeah, in this age of of drip campaigns, and you know, people's email inboxes are flooded with automated stuff. That's that's not where you want to be. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

But it's it shouldn't be your main but it's a tactic, it shouldn't be the strategy, though, uh, for sure. No, I agree with you. And you know, one thing we've talked about, I have to ask one question about this because this is the world I'm in. But uh, first of all, I think we ever everyone that I speak to that is at a high success level in real estate says, you know, it's the relationships first. I think that's something we could always assume. And I don't think that's anything that should be replaced. Um, but obviously, you know, AI is impossible to ignore right now. Uh, you know, building our platform has kind of given me the opportunity to have a lot of conversations with teams about where AI is creating real value and kind of where it's maybe hype. So where do you where do you think the biggest opportunity is for AI inside a real estate business today?

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Yeah, it's uh it's overused. Um and we use it. We use it. Yeah. I encourage our team to be careful about how they use it, you know. And and I haven't scratched the surface, but I will say that um I've sat in on some on some meetings about how best practices and things like that. And the one tool that I use regularly is Claude Cowork. And it is unbelievable what it can do, and you still have to add a personal touch to things, right? Sure. If if we're having it write a blog or we're the goal is to provide information to people that are moving here from other places, they're not sure about the area. Um, we do use Cloud Co-work a good amount. I'm not using it to negotiate for me, I'm not using it to review contracts, I'm not using it for anything that directly affects the client and their net or their the the terms of their deal or or anything like that. I mean we're just not there yet. I don't think AI is there yet. Um, it may be I wouldn't argue on that. It may be at some point and cross that bridge when we come to it, but we still negotiate for our own clients on on their behalf. We still review contracts and explain things to them or walk them through things face to face or on phone or however they prefer to communicate, but we've got to be really careful about how we use AI, and there's absolutely so much good that that we can use it for. We just have to I agree.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Well, let's finish by looking ahead. So, five years from now, what change because we're talking about AI, uh, what changes do you think we'll see in real estate? Uh, because you hear these you know crazy rumors, which I don't think are actually true, that you know, agents will go away. I know that's a little bit of a fear. I don't think that's actually uh a problem at all, because I do think anybody that's probably you know over the age of 30, uh, I don't know, I can't speak to the younger generation per se, but I I think anybody over is gonna want to, for the most part, deal with a human being for the most important purchase they make uh in in their lifetime, right? But obviously, things some things will change uh over the probably the next five years, and some things will still never change. So I really want because I do know that's a conversation that goes on in the aging community. I want to paint a picture with you uh of the future, but also bring people back down to reality and say, you know, that while that may be the case, also these things will never change.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

Yeah. I couldn't tell you what the future looks like. Uh the real estate business in some ways has changed a lot since I started. But when it really boils down to it, it's the same. The people who don't appreciate what we do aren't going to appreciate it ever. So uh we may not ever be able to win those people over. But the people that call uh open door to sell their house, they either don't want or don't think they need assistance, right? That's not their goal. Their goal is just to get rid of their house. Um, that's not what we do. So those people just aren't our clients. And I I think there's always going to be that noise in the background, whether it's AI or open door or whatever, Zillow takes over internet home sales. Uh I don't know. Uh any number of things could happen. You might we might be buying homes or have the ability to buy homes on Amazon soon. Uh I have no idea. What I know to be true is there are people out there that appreciate having someone walk them through buying a home, selling a home, or investing in real estate. And that will be true for the foreseeable future. It's just this is a people business, and um yeah, I I I stand behind that, and I yeah, I I do wonder sometimes what uh this business is gonna look like in 10, 20 years when when my kids are are out in the workforce, and uh I think you could say that about just about any industry though, and what what technology is going to do to it.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Sure. 100%. Well, Ben, this has been awesome. Uh appreciate first of all being vulnerable and also kind of just we we ran the gambit of different topics here, and I think everyone we talked about, you really gave the agents that are listening this uh some real gold and some action items uh they can uh take away. But before we wrap up, I want to make sure that people who want to learn more about you and your team, where can they find you uh to check out more about what you you and the team are doing?

SPEAKER_00 44:17

Yeah, our website is huntsvillehomes for you.com. All spelled out, no numbers. Um we have all of our team members on there. Uh what we offer information about our local area, Huntsville, Madison, North Alabama, and um we have a YouTube channel as well. Uh I've done some some videos on there that I've gotten some great feedback on. And uh it's it's a lot of interviews with homeowners about why they chose to live where they live. And um, yeah, uh, you know, we're on all the major social channels, whether it's Team Nemic or Huntsville Homes for You, Instagram, LinkedIn, all that stuff. We'd love, we'd love to uh hear from the audience and um connect with you guys.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

Love it. Okay, yeah, definitely go check out what uh Ben and the team are doing. Ben, thank you again for joining me on under contract. I really enjoyed the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

I enjoyed it as well.