Hello everyone and welcome to another

episode of Selling Greenville your

favorite real estate podcast here in

Greenville, South Carolina, I'm your host

as always Stan Mccune realtor here in

Greenville and you can find all of my

contact information in the show notes if

you need to reach out to me for any of

your real estate needs I'm your guy and

please reminder as always please like

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whatever the case may be all of those

things would be would make me

grateful okay because I don't get

anything from the show except for other

potential real estate clients that

might come to me through the show and so

getting the show out to as many people

as possible I would really appreciate

that so thank you guys for those of

you that have already done that and for

those of you that are going to do that

now that I've mentioned it I really

appreciate it I am standing at the

moment in in case you're one of those

that like to watch these episodes on

YouTube I have I'm usually in a

sitting position when I'm recording but

I feel some energy at the moment I'm

feeling like standing so if the angle

and what not of the video is different

it is it is in fact different because

I'm standing versus sitting

but I just wanted to to clarify that

for those of you that are curious

about those types of things today I

want to talk

about something that I don't really want

to talk about to be completely honest

but I feel like I need to I feel like

this is something that needs to be

addressed and that's the fact that there

are currently several class action

lawsuits dealing with real estate

commissions that are happening as we

speak and probably a good number of you

have seen at least something on the news

about these about these class action

lawsuits because a major one known as

the sister Bernett case recently went to

trial and the jury in I believe just

three hours which is insane to me ruled

in favor of the prosecution that the

National Association of Realtors and

several large brokerages engaged in

anti-competitive Behavior conspiring to

inflate realtor commissions okay so that

is all the the that Realtors right now

are talking about when they're not

talking about the market itself they're

talking about these lawsuits

specifically czor brunette because this

lawsuit has been in the works for a

while but nobody up until the past few

months thought that that the National

Association Realtors had any shot at

losing it for a variety of reasons

but the reality is that they did lose

and now we need to talk about what this

means

what exactly is happening in the real

estate industry what are going to be the

aftershocks now the nitty-gritty of

the the prosecution's argument is

that sellers when selling real estate

have to use a realtor which I personally

disagree with I see for sale by owner

transactions I've helped a lot of buyer

clients with for sale by owner

transactions over the years nonetheless

the argument is that sellers must use

a realtor when selling a home and that

when using a realtor they have no choice

but to also pay a commission to a buyer

agent and that the commission amounts

have been fixed by the National

Association of Realtors and these large

brokerages that were named in the sitzer

Bernett suit and now more since that

suit happened now there's more

lawsuits now targeting other brokerages

and other organizations and this is just

going to keep going because once one

class action lawsuit wins a bunch of

other class action lawsuits follow

now as I already kind of alluded to I

assume that for the purposes of the show

that most if not all of my listeners

have heard at least something about this

case so I'm not going to get into any

more nitty-gritty about the details of

the case than I already have but I do

want to give my two cense on it because

if you're wondering what I think about

it as many of you frequently will

text or email me saying hey what do you

think about this what do you think about

that I figured there's probably a few

people that that listen to the show

or that watch the show that want to know

what I think about this lawsuit and the

lawsuits in general and so that is why I

want to talk about this because I

figured that it's going to be

interesting content for some of you now

let me start by saying that the idea

that large brokerages are conspiring

together particularly with the National

Association of Realtors from my point

of view this is completely asinine

now let me clarify I always have to do

this I'm not an attorney so this is not

a legal opinion obviously and it's

also not legal advice in any way I do

not give legal advice that's a felony

for me to do that because I am not a

lawyer so so don't understand

anything that I'm saying here as forming

any sort of legal opinion or

representing other legal opinions

these are just my own personal non-legal

opinions and there's no legal advice

in here

but with all of that out of the way I

just want to clarify something about

these these big brokerages conspiring

with each other the big companies like

Keller Williams Remax Berkshire haway

Home Services allent Tate go down the

list they despise each other they hate

each other they're not getting together

going to conferences together having

coffee together and figuring out how to

inflate commissions they do not talk to

each other it doesn't happen I I I'm

telling you right now they are not

conspiring like it's it's it's a

ridiculous thing to use that type of

language now were they engaging in

anti-competitive

Behavior maybe again I'm not a lawyer

I can't really answer that question but

from me as a realtor from the outside

looking in to think about it as a

conspiracy seems absolutely ridiculous

and I think it's important to to also

understand that a big company like Kelly

Williams which was one of the main

companies named in in cister brnette

Keller Williams is really just an

Umbrella over a lot of smaller

brokerages for instance in Greenville we

have multiple Keller Williams offices

and they're they're essentially

independent right they they are under

different Brokers they are not

working together if you're an agent with

one Keller Williams office you're not an

agent with all Keller Williams offices

that's just not how these brokerages

work and Gary Keller the the famous

famous person who is on the Keller

Williams name who's very influential

in the real estate industry as a

whole he isn't controlling what the

local Keller Williams offices are doing

that is not how real estate

Works they the various offices they

operate

independently and even the offices

that are under the same Umbrella so like

for instance multiple Keller Williams

offices even though they have a

friendly relationship with each other

for the most part they are also in

competition with each other so even if

you get sometimes multiple offices that

are under the same Umbrellaent multiple

Keller Williams or multiple Allen Tate

offices or whatever the case may be

they might not have great opinions about

each other they might be friendly they

might not so for real estate companies

to be truly conspiring right this would

have to be something happening across

the country you would need brokerages

from all 50 states getting together and

discussing these things strategizing

trying to figure out how to how to keep

commissions high and that's not

happening because the local brokerages

don't even talk to each other let alone

the national Brands again they hate each

other this is not a friendly competition

between brokerages I don't know if

people like fully understand that now we

as Realtors when when we are dealing

with other Realtors we don't hate those

Realtors we don't hate their brokerages

that's that's where it breaks down and

so people don't understand that but at

The Brokerage level it is not

particularly friendly the Dynamics

are are just different when you get up

to that level cuz why they're competing

they're competing for agents that's what

brokerages are doing they're trying to

get as many agents as they can and so

these other brokerages are saying you

know hey we have the greatest education

the greatest technology all these

different things and that may or may

not be true but that irritates obviously

if you're a competing broker that

irritates you to hear well this other

broker is just saying all of these

things I can say all of those things too

and I want to recruit as many agents

as possible right if I'm a broker which

I'm not I'm just a realtor but again

they they are all competing against each

other in that way and it's not really a

friendly competition so that's that's

one thing context wise that I think is

important that I don't think that the

general public like fully understands I

definitely don't think the jury

understood it because I and again I

didn't read through the case but I have

a hunch that the that the National

Association Realtors did not make that

argument because the the N you know

they want to think that it's a friendly

competition they don't want to to give

out this this impression that it's

it's Cutthroat between these brokerages

but the reality is that it it quite

frankly is cut Cutthroat between the

brokerages and perhaps n should have

should have portrayed that so then the

fair question is and I heard I heard

someone asked this recently on a on a

different podcast where they were

discussing this case why have commission

structured stayed the same for so long

why has it been a general rule really

for decades now that when you sell a

house you pay a roughly 6% commission

give or take sometimes a little bit

higher sometimes a little bit lower but

6% has kind of been The Benchmark and I

think a history lesson is in order here

okay real estate sales as a profession

the way I understand it in the US it

started on Wall Street okay as a lot of

things when it comes to sales agents

not Realtors they didn't have Realtors

back then they were just agents real

estate agents would help people sell

real estate by the seller essentially

telling them what they wanted to sell

for and the agent would simply try to

get get more than that and any more that

the agent got was essentially his

commission so for instance if someone

wanted to sell their house for

$500,000 and the agent was able to

sell it for

$550,000 the agent pocketed the extra

$50,000 right and the seller just got

what they were asking for which was

$500 if that sounds familiar it's

because that is exactly what real estate

wholesalers who are not Realtors that's

what they do today it's essentially the

exact same system except their process

involves assigning a contract to another

buyer and then they get the difference

between those two contracts which is

their finders fee but otherwise it's

basically the exact same thing that

wholesalers do today but the system

changed for agents and later when

when the idea of a realtor a

professional standard for real estate

agents came about they changed the

system to a percent system to protect

consumers from predatory agent practices

let me say that one more time we have a

percent commission system now to benefit

buyers and sellers not agents trust me I

could make a lot more money if this was

not a percent system if this was similar

to the old days of real estate where

someone just told me hey I just need to

sell this house for 250,000 you see what

you can get above that I could make a

lot more money and I know that because

I've seen wholesalers doing this

constantly and I've seen instances where

in a wholesale transaction a wholesaler

is making basically a 50% finders fee

way more than the 6% that sellers would

have paid had they just used me to to

list their

home so I I think that that is some

very important background now to

tease this out further now the question

is well why has these standard 6% stayed

6% for so long that is really the

strongest argument for this being an

anti-competitive type of environment

is that there has just been there hasn't

been a a change in the system and it

just seems like well obviously there's

got to be some kind of a conspiracy

happening here's the way I see it I've

already said I don't think there's a

conspiracy I think the free market

determined that number it was a number

that worked for buyers Sellers and

realtors for decades and kept everyone

happy there's no conspiring between

Brokers to keep that number at 6%

anymore than Pepsi and Coke keeping

their prices similar to each other is a

conspiracy I mean it's very simple Pepsi

can just see what Coke's prices are and

Coke can see what Pepsi's prices are and

they can just determine what people are

willing to pay just on on the basis of

what they're paying the competition

and so on that basis you typically see

Pepsi and Coke have pretty similar

prices because they're a similar product

and they can simply keep their prices

similar and that's that same thing for

gas you shop you shop at different gas

stations they have different pricing

obviously but the pricing is not that

different right at the end of the day

you're not going to find one gas station

that's 20% cheaper than another one

unless you know perhaps like Costco or

Sam's Club or something like that might

be a very rare exception but generally

speaking they're all looking at each

other's gas prices and and essentially

determining what price they are going to

do on the basis of what everyone else is

doing obviously there's other factors

like like the price of crude and supply

and demand all these different things

that that factor into all of that

that I am not particularly

knowledgeable about so I'm not even

going to pretend like like I know it's

happening when it comes to that but

just from the standpoint of take a

snapshot of what all of the gas

stations are doing they're looking at

each other's prices and determining

their prices off of the competition

and this is literally what everyone does

like right every single store does this

I used to own a frozen yogurt shop I had

to look at okay what are the other

frozen yogurt shops selling frozen

yogurt for because usually you're not

able to sell for dramatically more than

the competition unless you offer a

product that is dramatically better than

the competition okay I went on a

little bit of a tangent I didn't plan to

go on there so let's let's just ring

this back in let's talk about a little

more history right let's keep this

history lesson going the idea of Buyer

Agents didn't even exist until a few

decades ago I don't know exactly when

the concept of the buyer agent was

birthed it was a few decades ago and

prior to that there were only listing

agents only only agents that listed

homes and sold homes but the market

determined that buyers they wanted

someone on their side they didn't just

want to work with the agent who

represented the seller and so buyer

agency was created but the original idea

which makes a ton of sense was that if

the listing agent only marketed the home

but didn't bring the buyer they

shouldn't get the full commission they

should share the commission and so the

idea of splitting or sharing the

commission for the the sale of the

home with the buyer agent was then

formed and so that's how we have the

system today where the seller

essentially compensates both the listing

agent and the buyer agent that is the

history behind roughly speaking how

that all happened obviously I'm

simplifying a lot of things here I

don't want some kind of real

estate history buff to to get on me and

say that you know hey you left out this

detail that detail I'm leaving out a lot

of details but I'm I'm feel like I'm

presenting this issue honestly this is

roughly how this all this whole system

of real estate commissions came

about now we don't know what the

aftermath of these lawsuits will be but

there's a good chance at some point down

the road that these lawsuits will

completely eliminate Buyer Agents and

and literally dial back the clock

several decades to when we didn't have

Buyer Agents anymore now don't worry

it's not happening this year it's

probably not happening next year but it

could very well happen before the end of

this decade now here's something

interesting that I learned through all

of this that I never knew only about a

third of the states in the US have

actual buyer agency contracts South

Carolina if you ever bought a house

in South Carolina you know that South

Carolina is one of them and our contract

between the buyer client and the buyer

agent specifies the amount of

competition that the buyer agent will

get paid and it specifies that if the

full commission cannot be paid out of

the transaction I.E paid by the

seller in one way or another or paid by

the listing Brokerage in one way or

another then the buyer is responsible to

pay for the commission amount that's

specified in the contract

so every time I pick up a new buyer

client I explain this to them and they

have to assume that they are going to

pay my commission although I will

obviously do my best for them to have to

pay as little of it as possible and the

vast majority of the time my buyer

clients don't end up paying me anything

but there are exceptions and quite

frankly the only times I've had people

get upset about the fact that they are

having to pay me as their Buyer Agents

is a very Niche situation I've had

happened more than one time

unfortunately which is where I'm dealing

with adults in their mid-20s who

are looking to buy their first home and

after they've gone through the entire

process of looking at a bunch of homes

you know maybe making multiple offers

who knows then their parents get

involved at the very end and tell their

children that they shouldn't be paying

me anything even though the parents

have no clue what I've done to help out

their kids up to that point that's the

only time I've run into in into

people being upset that they have to

compensate me most of the time when

my clients when my buyer clients are

having to pay a portion of my commission

which again is pretty rare because

usually we can get it paid out of the

transaction some way but most of the

time they're they even express that

they're very happy to pay that that they

know that they got good value for for

my services and and they are not upset

at all that they're having to compensate

me for that but I digress okay here's

the important detail for Buyer Agents

ultimately to be able to justify their

cost they have to bring value okay right

seems obvious it does not appear obvious

to a lot of Agents right now who are

freaking out about this case and so

yeah in the after aftermath of the

sister Bernett case I've heard and seen

a a lot of people make the argument

non- agents just random people in the

public make the argument that they don't

need to pay a buyer agent they just need

to get into a house and then have an

attorney write up a contract and that's

it easy peasy I don't need an agent I

can I can handle everything else myself

and and I'm sure and and I know that

there are people out there that are like

that people that have you know bought

five six seven homes and have you know

done so recently understand the process

have go-to people you know maybe

they're a contractor so so they don't

need the help of of of an inspector all

these different things but the vast

majority of people I communicate with

need someone on their side representing

their interests and helping them with

the process not just of buying the

house but often helping with things well

after the house is closed I'm constantly

I I mean multiple times this week I've

had client from years ago reach out to

me for help with something with the

closing that we had again years ago you

know as simple as asking

for contractor recommendations to way

more complex like trying to figure out

okay I've got a mobile home here that

that needs to be moved off off this

property that I bought and I don't

have the title for the mobile home

anymore and I can't figure out what to

do and the DMV can't you know isn't sure

what needs to happen and the

county is directing me to the DMV and

the DMV is directing me to the county

blah blah blah blah blah these are

the types of things that happen well

after closing that that a good

realtor ends up having to do and I don't

get paid for helping people after

closings but I consider that part of

what I was paid at the beginning and I'm

happy to do that I'm always here for my

clients well after they close on a house

because I consider

clients I I mean at the end of the day

consider my clients my friends right

they're not just people that I extract

money out of and then say okay we're

done never going to talk again that

would be bad business but it's also just

not what I would want okay now I

think it's also important to understand

that the home buying process is not what

it was 30 years ago and this is this is

where I do get irritated sometimes when

those parents get involved and it's like

the last real estate transaction they

did was like 20 or 30 years ago and it's

like you have no idea what the Market is

like now the market isn't the same as it

was even four years ago if you bought a

house four years ago you have no idea

what the market is like right now based

on that four year ago experience

now but particularly you know 30 years

ago it was very different before the

internet you know opened up access to

information it was basically

impossible to find homes to find

listings without dealing with Realtors

but talk to Realtors who have been in

the industry for 30 years and you'll

find that basically their entire job

back then was connecting buyers with

homes for sale and the rest of the

process was pretty pretty simple I

mean they might not if you talk to

someone they might not say oh yeah it

was pretty simple it it depends on who

you talk to right they they might try to

Puff it up like like it was more complex

but trust me I've talked to some of

these realtors that have done it for

years and years and it was very simple

in some cases they weren't even putting

offers or contracts in writing it's just

verbal offer verbal contract here we go

get an attorney involved boom it's done

but the home buying process is

dramatically more complicated now than

it was then and so the realtor's role

has shifted from merely a house finder

into a general real estate expert and

for me to really help my clients I have

to know I mean just all sorts of things

the local market the broader economy

local government construction standards

Insurance what's happening in taxes

zoning codes local Builders Etc I

mean I could I could I could go on for

for probably 10 minutes just rattling

off just all these different things that

that I need to have at least a basic

understanding of in order to do this job

well in addition to that I have to have

a network of trusted Professionals in a

lot of other but closely related

worlds like lending Engineers insurance

agents contractors sub

contractors etc

etc so where all this is going and

and I'm going to kind of shift gears a

little bit

here I've been

contemplating whoa whoa whoa whoa

knocking my knocking my microphone

here around this is what happens when

I stand I'm I'm doing a lot more big

hand gestures and I just smacked my mic

okay so one thing I've been

contemplating in all of this is that I

really need to better explain to

potential clients potential buyer

clients what I do as a buyer's agent

because a lot of people don't fully

understand what they're potentially

paying for when they hire a a realtor a

buyer's agent so what I would like to do

for the rest of this episode if you guys

will entertain me is is to run this by

you guys and I'd love feedback in

terms of of if what I'm about to say if

it makes sense if it resonates with you

I'd also love feedback if you hear this

and you don't think it's a good

representation of my service or value

basically any feedback on what I'm about

to to discuss would be great I would

really appreciate it and here here's

what I'm going to discuss these are some

of the things that I think and and this

is still in progress this is

certainly no finished

product but as I'm trying to think

through how to encapsulate my value in

this post sitz or Bernett world

because quite frankly I see a world in

which Realtors will probably end up

getting sued as part of all these

class action suits and I don't think

that I deserve to be sued but I also

understand that sometimes things if

if I don't do my job of explaining my

value and making sure that people

understand what they're paying for that

is part of the complaint right now

that's going around to people so I tried

to list out some of the things that that

I think are what I offer as a buyer's

agent and again I'd appreciate feedback

if if you guys are willing to listen

to this and and give me your thoughts

again my contact information is always

in the show notes for you to do that all

right so here are some of the things

that come to mind when I think about

what my buyer clients are potentially

paying for when they hire me as the

realtor first off one thing I do that is

like opposite HGTV opposite what

everyone thinks about Realtors again

that I've referenced a podcast that I

listened to recently about the sister

Bernett trial and they propagated all

these stereotypes about realtors that

are just trying to extract as much money

out of people as possible I feel like I

am the complete opposite of that and

I will and I frequently do try to talk

clients out of a deal if I feel like

they're spending too much money on a

property and as a full-time realtor of

seven years I study the market every

single day I know what's fair or not for

a property I also study when I'm when

I'm showing listings I will study that

listing in advance I will actually

prepare for it I know a lot of Realtors

they just show up they don't you know

they've not looked at anything with

regard to the listing that they're about

to show and admittedly there are

sometimes where you know if someone

sends me a listing and it's like a same

day kind of thing they're like hey can

we look at this you know later this

afternoon

I might not have had time to study it

but if assuming I do I will study the

listing in advance to see how it

compares to others

and based on that information I will

make recommendations to my clients

because I understand the market and and

I don't want them at the end of the day

to overpay I also say because I

represent both buyers and sellers I

understand how the market works from

both perspectives right I and this gives

me a massive leg up versus just straight

up buyers agents who never list homes I

cannot express you enough I look at

contracts differently I look at

negotiations differently I look at

everything differently because I can see

it from both perspectives and if you've

only ever been on one side of the table

you cannot do that I'm sorry I and I'm

saying this because there are a ton of

Agents out there that are Buyer Agents

only that never list any homes there are

some companies that they're structured

that way where they have Buyer Agents

and then they have listing agents and

they make it like it's it's an advantage

here's a buyer agent specialist here's a

listing specialist it is not an

advantage it is just like listen you go

to a chef and all the chef knows what to

do is to work the grill versus a chef

that knows the entire kitchen what what

do you think is going to be a better

Chef it's really really

simple all right and so all that to

say that again I went a lot longer than

I thought I would on that point I will I

know the market I understand what's

happening on a day-to-day basis from

multiple perspectives if a client is

making a bad in my opinion a bad

financial decision I will let them know

similarly those of you that listen to

the show a lot know that I used to be an

insurance adjuster and I have flipped

houses and own rental properties now for

roughly 10 years and I can see major

concerns with a home because of this

experience that others don't when I walk

into a home that I'm potentially

interested in buying myself I don't do

inspections I don't you know need to

have contractors go through or anything

like that I just I know what I'm seeing

I know what I'm seeing and and that's

part of of my experience that then I can

bring to bear with my clients and I will

point out right away if there are things

that I see that are a concern I'm going

to point those things out right away to

my clients and many Realtors see

showings as an opportunity to determine

if their clients like a house or not for

me i' take it a step further I'm not

just trying to help my client determine

if they like a house or not although I I

do try to be a sounding board in that

way but I will also try to tell them

here's what you can

expect after you close a year from now

five years from now 10 years from now

here's some of the things that you might

run into if you purchase this house even

if they really seem to like it I'm going

to give them those warnings you know

I I could give a gazillion examples of

this but one of my favorite and

again differentiating myself from other

Realtors there was and I've given this

example before but it was years ago

on the show so I apologize if if you've

been listening for years and you

remember this but there's one time with

the client I pulled up to a house and we

were actually all in the same vehicle

and I actually gasped when I pulled up

it the the so the house was actually on

a a downward slope so the it was

below the street was where the house was

located so steep driveway down to the

house but from street level you could

see the entire roof and I could see

unbelievable hail damage on the roof and

again I used to be an insurance adjuster

I'm sensitive to that type of thing I've

been on a bunch of roofs I've helped

people get hail damaged roofs

replaced for many years I did

that and and so I I called the

listing agent I was like are you aware

that there is really really bad hail

damage on your listing and she was just

like oh no I I didn't know that but it's

okay cuz we already have multiple full

price offers anyway and I was just like

well

not going to recommend this house to my

clients and so they we we still

looked at it obviously because we were

there but I talked them out of that

because it was like this roof is not

insurable do you want to buy a house

with a roof that if you have issues your

insurance is going to say sorry that's

pre-existing damage you have to replace

the whole thing yourself and fix any

interior damages that were caused no

nobody nobody wants that nobody should

be dealing with that when they're buying

a house so that's some of the value that

I provide here's a few more things off

Market or I shouldn't say off Market

necessarily but at least off MLS deals

okay some of these are off Market deals

I have a lot of contacts in the

off-market world with investor

clients and the like wholesalers and the

like that are presenting off Market

deals that if I see one that matches a

client then I will let them know but

also my company which has several

hundred agents we have brokerage

exclusive listings and in South Carolina

we have the option for listing on MLS or

listing brokerage exclusive if they're

brokerage exclusive you cannot find them

anywhere unless you're working with an

agent that works for that brokerage and

the way it's it's structured at least

the way I understand it it it's it's

not just for your specific office it's

for your sister offices as well so

again in my case hundreds of agents that

we have with cedan Jord Realtors and

let me see I will tell you right at

right now right at this moment how many

off Mar off MLS properties that we have

that are listed with brokerage

exclusive listing

agreements we have our own special

internal website where we can see this 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 okay so that

might not sound like very much but this

is an incredible low inventory

environment and so for me to potentially

be able to deliver you something that's

off MLS is of huge value another

thing that I offer is obviously

knowledge of local Builders small and

large local Builders and house flippers

and this is something that's that's I

feel like is really valuable right now

particularly again in this low inventory

environment a lot of people buying new

construction and people ask me what do

you think about this Builder what has SP

your experience with this Builder I can

give an educated opinion on Builders and

house flippers based on based on my

knowledge and and that's something that

not everyone can provide in this market

obviously I have access to my network of

inspectors contractors appraisers

Engineers Etc and this is a a very

deep Network right I mean do you need a

plumber I've got a plumber do you need

an HVAC guy I've got that these are

people that I've worked with in many

cases for years but I'm also constantly

refining the list if if someone comes

along and and this is one thing that

really annoys me a lot of Realtors are

really committed to to people that

they like I ran into this with a

Warranty company last year I had a funny

thing where I had a actually this may

have been two years ago time flies

when you're having fun right there's a

warranty company that I had a really bad

experience with and I felt like it was

worth telling other people in my company

which my company C danjo Realtors is a

very good company with very professional

Realtors and and I thought it would

be helpful to let everyone know in a

professional way hey I had this bad

experience here's what happened just be

aware because it might help you with

your clients you you might not want to

use this this Home Warranty company

anymore well guess what I had a bunch of

people respond to me a bunch of these

old crusty agents respond to me that

they were unhappy with my email that

I sent out to the whole company because

they have a close relationship with

with someone in in that Home Warranty

company and and and the the funniest

part was that some people said please

unsubscribe me to this thread it's just

like I I sent out the email to the whole

company I can't unsubscribe you you need

to you know shut off your email or

something but but that blew my mind

guess what you know what's hilarious

about six months later the person that

that they all had this relationship she

left the Home Warranty company and so

all of this angst that these people had

it turns out I don't I don't even know

why she left the company but I have a

hunch it had to something to do with the

frustrations that I had with that

company so really really funny I

don't just stick with someone because

I've always stuck with them I'm

constantly refining my network of of

these various vendors that I'm

working with and by the way before I

became a realtor literally my job was

was maintaining the network of vendors

that the company that I work for worked

with we called them

Affiliates and and so this is

literally something I've done even well

before I became a realtor and I feel

like it's it's something I'm good at

I I know how to work with good people

and that's what that's one thing I

really pride myself on

another another point that I think

is an important point right I have a lot

of people who can fill in for me in a

pinch if I get sick you want to look at

a house you're not stuck right I can

substitute someone else to show that

house for you now are they going to

do the showing the same way that I would

no obviously but they can at the

very least do the bare minimum and then

even if I'm sick I'm going to you

know help you with the paperwork help

you with with Strate with your

strategies for trying to get under

contract all these different things

you know I've had before seizures where

I'm in the hospital and can barely think

people are texting me I'm in my hospital

bed texting and and responding to people

getting stuff done I've had closings

happen while I'm in a hospital bed I

mean let me tell you I can work this

job remotely and I have processes in

place to do it if you're interviewing

Realtors it's a great question to ask

what is your process for when you're on

vacation what is your process for when

you're sick what do you do to to handle

things very revealing answers that

you'll get I'll mention as well

another part of my value is access to me

365 days a year I even this is this is

one of the funny things so earlier

this year I went out to

California we did kind of a national

parks tour and I knew that there would

be some times where I wouldn't have

great self receptions so I bought a

satellite device that literally allows

me to send satellite text messages when

I don't have cell phone reception I gave

out you know that number to a bunch of

clients that that potentially would

need to reach out to me while I was gone

I am accessible it doesn't matter where

I am I could be anywhere in the world

I am accessible 365 days a year now next

year is Leap Year so I don't know should

I be saying 366 days a year maybe I'll

just take off leap year I I don't know

but regardless I'm I'm jesting

obviously I am as accessible a realtor

as you can find and and I I'll mention

as well I work around my client's

schedule not vice versa I I had a

situation a few years ago where I was in

a different community that had a

community

pool and I get a message I'm at the pool

with my family I get a message from

from someone saying that hey I've

just countered an offer that you sent

earlier today well it ends up being

like a really intense thing because it's

a multiple offer situation I don't even

have time to like dry off and and go

home I have to do the entire thing there

at the side of the pool and I did it's

like 9:00 p.m. because we were there

like late until it until it closed in

the middle of the summer it's like 8:30

9:00 p.m. and I'm there at the side of

the pool like texting like getting stuff

done I mean I I could I could tell

you guys the gazillion stories me having

to send

DHL mailings from from punana

to help out a client I I me I mean

it's it's just it's crazy but I will

I work around my client schedule not

vice versa you talk to some agents and

and they're like you know hey from

9:00 to 600 you can reach me after 6

o'clock I'm spending time with my family

on weekends I'm spending time with my

family or or you know maybe I take off

every Monday you know if if you need

something on Monday I'll get back with

you on Tuesday all these different

things I think that that's a bunch of

bull right we have Realtors we have a

ton of flexibility in this job and part

of that comes with the fact that there's

a an an element of inflexibility baked

in as well for us as Realtors and I just

try to be as flexible with my clients as

possible and work around their schedule

and I don't tell them here's what my

schedule is now you work with my

schedule it just doesn't work that way

and and and so that's I pride

myself on that as well

technology I've just got a few more

points here I have a full Suite of

technology I use for my clients if they

want it every single thing in a real

estate transaction can be done remotely

if need be I've had multiple real estate

transactions over the years where the

the buyer never even stepped foot into

the house until after they closed and

again I can do it all we can do it all

remotely I have the technology to

handle everything with you being in a

different country if if you want to be

on the flip side if people don't like

that and some people you know older

folks or whatever the case may be they

might want to do everything in person on

paper I will do that too right I'm not

stuck to my technology but I have the

technology if people need it as much

technology as you could possibly want

negotiating let's talk about negotiating

for a second real estate negotiation is

is supremely personal because the real

estate transaction is very personal I've

had plenty of clients with sales

backgrounds over the years make

suggestions to me for how to negotiate

this or how to negotiate that and the

real the reality of the situation is

that a real estate negotiation is just

different than negotiating in

nonpersonal contexts now there's

obviously always going to be overlap

between good negotiation tactics I'm not

saying that but in general real estate

negotiation is unique and I take a very

Nimble and human approach that varies

based on what I perceive from the other

agent I'm dealing with for instance and

these are are both very simple examples

is it an agent that likes to text and

will send a one-word response when I

reach out to

them well I'm going to keep my thoughts

abbreviated and make sure that that I

don't overwhelm them with information

that they're not going to respond to

on the flip side is an agent that's a

verbal processor and I'm going to get

on the phone

sorry are they a verbal processor and

they like to be on the phone a lot

and and they just like to to talk

through things in that case I'm going

to get on the phone with them and talk

to them for as long as they need in

order for me to gain their trust now

that's just high level and there's

obviously much more that goes on behind

the scenes in negotiating but I'm not

going to reveal all of my secrets to you

guys in this podcast another point I

think that's easily

forgotten I have a great reputation

for saving contracts for falling through

I have saved so many deals and I'm not

I'm really not trying to brag here

but literally I have saved dozens of

contracts over the years using creative

problem solving and and here's the way

it oftentimes happens agent will call me

or you know some party to a transaction

will call me and they'll say we're

backing out we we this isn't going to

work this listing that you have it needs

too much work we're backing out and

and I have literally turned those

conversations around and said no we can

work through this we can make it work

now if it's my client my client wants to

back out I'm not going to try to talk my

client out of it I'm going to try to

understand it and if they're if they

want my input I will give my input but

if if they call me and they're just like

I'm backing out I didn't sleep last

night we can't handle this I'm not going

to argue that's not what I'm talking

about but what I am talking about is

when my client is good but it's the

other party that's upset I'm going to I

have a great success rate of bringing

that other party from off the ledge back

into the transaction and getting the

transaction saved all right last but not

least contract

writing I can tell by just reading a

contract written by another realtor if

they know what they're doing or not and

a lot of people think that you know the

only important details in a contract are

just like a few details I did it again

knocked over I really apologize I knock

keep knocking over my my

microphone here I'm just GNA put my

hands in my pocket okay here we go hands

in my pockets no more hand gestures no

more Irish hand gestures hand gestures I

can't even talk

okay a lot of people think that

that there's really only a few important

details the price closing date you know

things of that nature in a contract but

really those things are important but

the in my opinion the devil is in the

details and what really makes a good

contract are usually things that that

people just haven't even thought of

there's a lot of very creative things

that you can put into contracts that

make them more attractive

particularly in a multiple offer

situation I also know how to write a

contract to protect my clients in the

maximum way possible and and as we're

looking at contracts or writing a

contract or countering I will discuss

all those things here's the pros and

cons here's where you're putting more

skin in the game and here's why that

might be advantageous or here's why I

wouldn't recommend putting more skin in

the game when it comes to this contract

all these different things so there

you have it that is a a list that I'm

working on currently for explaining my

my value to clients obviously I need to

get you know this is all still

formulating in my in my mind how to

verbalize this and so I'm a little

bit long-winded at the moment but if

you're still listening man thank you I

really appreciate that for those that

are still listening I would love to hear

your feedback what your thoughts are on

that like I said all feedback is good

feedback I will not be offended if you

don't like something that I put in here

so please just let me know contact

information in the show notes like

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things with the show and we will talk

again next time