Hey guys welcome back to the podcast. Thank you so much as always for listening today, we're going to unpack why a 700 million dollar producer and a 42 million dollar producing agent joined forces and the future of real estate. That is the topic of the day. So if you're a longtime subscriber, thank you so much if you're new to the show make sure you hit the subscribe button and uh, because we just want to keep creating cool stuff just for you, so i have two amazing people here.

They are the point of this show today: andy dane carter, long beach, california, tim smith, uh coastal orange county california, fellas you've both been on the show separately now you're together. Is this a trend? What the heck is going on here timmy! I want to start with you what is going like like? Actually, no i'm going to totally like no editing ever andy andy. You went like zero to 42 million dollars in sales and then you joined tim smith. Can you please give us the like the uh, the audience, the listeners, what the heck were? You thinking, man sure it's all because of tom ferry and the tom ferry organization and their skills um no so far hold on man every every manager is going to be.

Like wait a minute tom ferry's recruiting people not like that, not like that at all. So here's how the whole thing in, like a small little nutshell: yeah literally happened. So i'm speaking at summit two years ago - and i walk into this place - and it's like this crazy event - rockstar, but it's my first summit ever and i was like yup what is going on here. This is incredible.

Every person i talked to from so many different countries and all over the place, all these different brokerages. I was like what are you feeding these people? This is crazy. Everybody was amazing, i'm sitting backstage i'm talking to tim, i'm talking to the gala, i'm just talking to your whole world and i was like i'm missing something here. I've been like a strategic investor for a long time.

I go but this like traditional real estate thing like it was it was this weird kind of calling that was really really burnt out with the stuff i was doing before, and i decided right there at your event, i was like i'm gon na create a little Team like a little seal team, six as you guys call them and i'm gon na, try my hand at this and see what happens, and i literally just took all the tools that you teach tom i signed up for coaching, i'm like i'm just gon na, do Whatever i'm told just like tim did 2008 and i'm just gon na listen, i stayed very coachable i marketed my face off i did was i would i i loved a branded market, as you guys know, and it worked and it worked really well, because i was Just willing to work really really hard and like fast forward a year. I was like i kind of want to be with the best and i you know - and i was slowly watching tim set these records and i'm just like that. Guy's a machine - and i just vibed with tim - and you know here we are so andy - i think the future and timmy. I want to get your perspective here.

I'm going to make the statement in 2015 tim, you were there. I came out, and i said there are six major trends that are going to impact real estate going forward over the next few decades. Number one thing was: total team domination teams are basically going to eat up the earth number two teams are going to start to sell, which i was kind of right and kind of wrong, because some teams sold about 65 teams documented sold in the last five years. Like bought for cash, but a lot of teams were acquired by just writing checks and giving stock right so kind of off there a little bit, but we should talk about that.

We should talk about that too. We are going to talk about it, but now i've seen in the last in the last probably five or six years, i've seen these 25 30 million producers join into a team, and i want to i want to unpack. Why do we think that's a trend, but tim from your perspective? Why did this happen before we get into all the trends and sort of analyzing all this? Well, so we've gone back and forth for years. Do i play do i coach? What do i do and i've always kind of had the same size team? We haven't grown much, but i always had kind of like this big lofty goal.

I wanted to get to half a billion on my own and for some reason once that hit we had a discussion and then things just kind of unfold and, to be honest, our transition up and through through our transition is similar and in his eyes, transition is Similar to when i started coaching with you, because all of a sudden, we start doing this and we start really pushing pushing pushing no we've been like this, but as of an hour ago, we just got that listing signed yesterday, which will be record sale. I remembered why i love this business so much we had a listing appointment. The people fell in love with us. They're like family, like we are gon na, be their family.

They sign the listing today, and i remember like what this is all about, because sometimes you get so like. I got ta do this many especially when you have a record year. We sold 705 million like how do you follow that up? How do you have like? A super bowl performance and go right back into it, and sometimes you forget why you're doing it. But when annie - and i sat there for two and a half hours yesterday and we were having heart to hearts about kids and this, and that and these people are like we love you guys like there's like a true like love and not only a true love, But there was a true respect: both doctors, three sons, that are doctors, so they understand being an expert in the top of your field.

They had like so much respect for what we've created and they basically said. We want you just to do what you do so we'll sign the listing we send it over. We got pricing to them, so that's, but when i met what i've always wanted to be grow, a team where people have the same values and andy. And i, although our first couple of listing appointments, were a little choppy one i got thrown out, of which we can talk about which was really awesome.

I have to talk about that, but i helped him. I helped him get the listing. I think, because i was that bad, that there was only one agent left in the room and he was trying to co-list it with me and he got that list and he sold it, which i don't know things happen for a reason. I've never been thrown out of a listing appointment before um, but as he as we started connecting more.

I thought i'd like to build something, and instead of making all about economics, it's it's become about growth and if you can focus on like the growth and if you can take it and the one thing that i saw, that was really i mean it stood out To me you said why would a 704 million dollar and a 42 million andy's got a brand and capacity to do three? 400 million? I don't know exactly how he gets there. I know you see the same thing tom. It's about how we support and how we push and how we get to where he will, because in a decade i think that he'll be there and for me i want to be a part of that, so i can't help, but think so. I know it's early on in this relationship and take take music as an example or the nba as an example like there's very few rolling stones where the core band, with all those egos, you know mick and keith, probably be in the two primary right, which we Like you, two there's very few that survive there's way more stories of the beatles.

I don't know if one of you has a yoko ono that we need to be nervous about, but like there's way more teams that blow up because of like ego and all that stuff. How do you guys? How are you gon na get over that? How are we gon na keep this thing united and fun and fresh not for the year, but for the next two decades? I think what how i would answer that it's just like any people perish without a vision as long as we're a part of like the same vision of growth, and it's been a challenging three months right andy, i mean it's been a difficult start like what was The best year ever last year has become like the most constrained inventory. Ever every seller wants too much or they want to pay you nothing to sell their house. So we're having like these weird, like growing pranks right when we're starting you know.

Last year andy went on, i think, around 10 listing appointments, how many of you gone so far this year, uh 29. I went on seven last year, so 29, so it's like all you can do is focus on doing the work and, like yesterday we literally listed the best house in still beach we're gon na sell with multiple offers. It is a it is a stunner, but it's just like that's that's like it's kind of you do the work and the the universe supports it through other channels. You know what i mean, and so i think my answer would be as long as we have vision and we have vision and we're working towards that, even though it can get frustrated that economics can change this.

All these things happen. I think that's the thing that keeps us through the next decade, but otherwise i think, like all the people that i've worked with, that, i don't work with in the past. There's very few. I don't have great relationships with so i'm happy to be a part of anybody's process and anybody's journey love it andy.

How do you keep this thing together? It's really easy for me and i got really clear at the very beginning. I have zero desire to beat tim smith zero. I want to support tim. I want to support his growth.

He wants to support mine. We both love to film, we both love to market, but at his core and at my core we're customer service fanatics like we truly care about our clients at such a deep level that, like it, it's it's never going to be about ego. For me, you know what i mean and we have a very similar moral compass we like to parent. Similarly, like we like a lot of the same stuff, but at the same time we have a similar world view and i think that's where a lot of people get confused where it's like, like like i'm, i'm not trying to go into newport and crush it.

You know what i mean like i like, where i'm at i'll take seal beach to long beach to the south bay all day. That's why i i mean he's not he's going to help me for sure and explode the playground that i want to be in, but, like i don't want to beat tim and tim doesn't want to be me and we'll stay in like he's, got incredible talents, and So do i and i think, we're just going to support each other in those, but at the end of the day it's got it's got to be about business. There's got to be a scoreboard, i'm clear on that right if it doesn't get to that it just doesn't work right. So it's like yeah and i think that's where you've helped me.

The most stay focused like if there's anything, i think, would say my strengths and i have a lot of weaknesses. I'm very hyper focused on the basics blocking and tackling listing appointments and contracts, you're going to have ups and downs. But if you go on enough listing appointments and have contracts, you're never going to really need anybody else right, your your you can support. You can help produce, but it's like that's like the key and that's what what i really want to see, because andy's brand is big enough where it seems like he should be doing three or four hundred million right, and i know that he can't because he's got The skill set, so it's just like how do you get from there to there and how do we do it together so timmy? How many? How many listening appointments have you been on? You know stated goal of 300.

How are you doing here today? I think i'm probably i could get the exact, but i'm probably around 82-83, so i'm i'm behind, but i'm pretty close yeah yeah, you know so it's like. I have to go on. Basically, you know 25 a month which i'm pretty close, yeah so 25 and it hasn't been easy. It hasn't been easy this year, like this year yeah.

So, let's, okay, let's talk about this andy, why did tim get thrown out of a listing appointment here? We go. Okay, so this is - and it's here's it. This is by the way, the moment that i want on instagram and all things that get cut up. This is this is the talk.

Why did tim smith get thrown out of a listing appointment as soon as i left that appointment? I called tim and i go look bro. I'm never gon na breathe a word of this to another human. Like i was already in like dude. I got you mowed.

No one's gon na know, like all that kind of stuff, perhaps probably the most weird and odd scenario i was in in my life, we're in this beautiful home, marble front custom, build and rancho palace verdes, absolutely gorgeous property. I'm like look. Here's here's the vision for the property and i really think that tim is the perfect partner, he's a marketer, i'm a marketer and we're going to crush this thing together and tim comes in. You know, he's, like you know, he's doing his thing.

There's a cool little cadence, going on they're both like super excited, tim's kind of talking over him a little bit he's kind of talking over tim a little bit. Everything in my mind was fine. It's tim on the couch, the seller on this there's a huge couch. Another couch me and his wife and we're all just kind of talking doing our thing.

The dude goes. You want to rub me one more time and i was like: where did that come from right? He was super triggered and i was like so i started to think like what's that about right, it's not about tim like right, it's like! What's it about sure enough about two minutes later tim was trying to finish a very clear point on this and pricing. He stands up and goes get the out of my house. You interrupted me again like and then storms out of his own house and i'm sitting there just like i'm like what just happened.

But that is exactly what happens so he storms out the back door and he's walking and pacing and the guy's a nice guy like i don't know what it is. Sometimes you just there's just a so me andy his wife and i his kid are looking at each other like so i stand up and i just go over to him and we're nose to nose in his kitchen and i'm like dude we're gon na get like I'm gon na take a blow right now. I just said hey, i am tremendously sorry. I didn't.

I guess i didn't understand the cadence of us going back and forth, no disrespect happy to leave and he's a great guy. I bolt that was it. It was so intense he's actually become a very close friend now he knows that tim and i have partnered he's like that's. Such a great deal he's a good dude and i was like.

Where was that in your living room bro, he was out, he was upset. His home was on the market for almost two years, with four of the top agents in southern california. Didn't sell, got really frustrated tim, basically teed it up. For me to be the rock star of the century, i sold it 60 days from that day.

Cash in the middle of covid and he was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, yeah um, and then we had another listing with this other gentleman and that didn't really go so well. We had a bunch of conversations, but it was like just enough time for, like tim and i like to just kind of jam together and i was like. Oh, this is going to be fun yeah and the thing that we're teamed up after i literally got get the out of my house is what he said and i was like i didn't know so then, instead of like just walking out, i wanted to apologize. Make sure he understood like this was a miscommunication and it was like nose and nose and i think, annie thought he's like i thought like like you guys were gon na duke it out right in the kitchen and then for sure he was gon na punch.

You, like he's that guy too he's. Definitely that guy was like dude if he hits tim, i'm gon na have to get up and tackle him like this is not gon na go down right now. I just wish chris stacy was: there see he's the one that does all their films i wish chris was there filming this whole thing that would have been legendary. It was so incredible.

Wait time. I have a question for you. I have a question yeah go ahead. What happened with compass, i didn't even know it sold until it sold.

They went ipo or whatever tell us about that. Yes uh. Well, they released their s1, which is the statement and they went public. Was it last week.

I want to say it 20 a share. I don't know what it's trading at now. I think it went down to maybe 18., so does that mean all these agents out there now searching in the middle of my own podcast so doesn't mean all these agents out. There are like all wealthy now, they're all gon na retire, so we'll have less agents.

No, i just i just heard that there's more there's more real estate agents right now in the united states of america than there are listings uh fun fact. That is absolutely the case and i think we're north of like 1.55 million licensed agents in the us, but an interesting stat. Now an older stat. So in fairness, get this uh midway through march 40 of the agents had not closed a transaction in the single greatest real estate economy.

I've seen in 31 years think about that 40 and the balance i describe is - and it's i think, there's something to it here with the two of you guys think about this guys. The balance are all selling houses but they're either stuck or they're scaling they're, either stuck they're out of time. They can't get listings right. So it's a resource play, that's holding them back versus the scaling team, which is you guys, partnering up one plus one equals five right.

How do we help more people? How do we take what we've done, those brilliant basics and scale it larger? That's who's killing it right now. But yes, that's! That is true. There's one part of the equation. You didn't say, as i've been thinking, i've been thinking this, so we were lucky to be represent the deal or one of the parties in the deal.

That was for 61 million last year right, i've been saying as long as i've been a tom ferry height, that orange county real estate is the most undervalued real estate of any of the major metropolitan areas. We compete against right, and so i was thinking about this and i've been thinking, i might say, i'm saying it's like i was in vegas and i was at a private country, club and they're selling paired homes that have a view of a couple fairways and the Strip for six and a half million and they're less than 3 000 square feet right. I can't even get that for bayfront stuff, sometimes right right. So then i was thinking when i was driving through chronol mar and i see the altman team, the oppenheim team, the all these teams coming down here, the kermit team and i'm thinking to myself.

You know what they're like the grunion right. Grunion are the first two fish that go and check out the beach for a rail they have like where the demand is everybody's. Coming to orange county. I don't care what happens from a tax standpoint, because it's about lifestyle.

Now everybody wants a place: southern california and from south bay to san clemente, like all we need, is a very small percentage to be the largest team in the in the world and we're gon na get it. We need the right players and we all have to be selfless and we all have to think about what the vision is right, but we are in that area. I uh, i concur a thousand percent, but let's, let's get tactical on the podcast for a second here. Andy, you went from seven to 29 listing appointments in in 12 months, be put on your put on your teacher head for just a second here.

Tell people how you did it. What's that? What's the lesson, what was the tactics? What was the approach? How did you go from 7 to 29 and we're only at april 6th or 7th yeah, and it's because of that guy right there he goes, let's literally cut out all the stuff, that's not creating money yeah! I can get stuck in the marketing the white board. I'm going to this meeting i'm doing a podcast and he's like look man like if you want to hit your goals, here's what you got to do, and it was i mean it was a quick meeting. It was maybe like 15 minutes and i was like all right.

I got to go on three listing appointments a week. The first thing my brain said was, like i don't know, i'm gon na do that yeah, and so i was like. I got ta get better on the phone, so got a phone coach. I decided to like just cruise through my phone and start calling people yeah and that's what i didn't do last year.

I was super successful last year and like full transparency, i probably made 20 phone calls the whole year, but not all at once. No matt did you imagine that yeah. It's so funny, though hearing it, it's almost like a diet dude. He just basically went on a diet.

He just got everything out of his life, but what's interesting is this is a different year if you would have done that. Last year last year, people wanted to spend money and people want to list houses, unlike i've ever seen right. All you had to do is just kind of work. Last year yeah this year's different, like it's a grind, everybody's thinking, more about what they're going to make and costs, and this and everybody knows it's the greatest so but the inputs the same right.

You start eating the right food, then you start reducing the body fat. So the income will come and right now we're there, because it's like okay, we have these listing points. We have these listings they're, not selling as quickly as we yeah we're not generating the revenues we want to make this, but then you have, like a you, know, a grand slam yesterday, which is going to be like we're going to take this listing and blow up Long beach, because it's that listing with the greatest collateral ever like i've already - and it's like it's a you - know - 12 million dollar listing. But it's like a double lot on the beach at sill beach.

They call the gold coast 44 homes. They never come up right. We're just it's gon na be like the springboard to opening up this new whole geo and digital farming in that whole area. Okay, we're gon na get into marketing, but i want to go back and say so andy, so so no! No! It's perfect tim! I love the yang and yang here.

Timmy says to you: look man cut out the fat right, get on the phone call the people in your database. What like so so? What did you do? How often? What did you say like just give us some like give us some hacks, give us some tactics. I completely fumbled the first three weeks like i was calling my friends like dude. You want to sell it like i would.

It was the worst, because i i could. I could literally grab a microphone go on stage in front of 10 000 people and just crush yeah. You tell me to pick up the phone and call my friend for business and i'm like hey bro. How are the kids ever think about selling your house like it was? I was terrible that just wasn't my thing so yeah i put all the ego aside, got super.

You know just transparent with myself and just said. Look, i'm just going to do this and then i still fought it. Then one day i made 79 calls on a friday and i was just like, and that was the thing that broke it and i was like look. I got i mean i got hung up on from all these different super random numbers, but i was just like this is the basics that i know will work.

I got to get out of my own way and then it became a little easier and i work with my coach on a couple things to say, and then we finally got really clear on like you're really good at talking to investors, because you're, an investor yeah. How about you talk to the people on a bunch of twos, threes and fours, and now we're getting granular with like who lives in these high-end homes, on the water that oh yeah have a couple properties as well, so i call them not to talk about their Home, like you know here on the water, i would like to buy their income property and it's just a way for me to have that conversation with them. I build trust rapport. Hey.

Can i come by and talk to you about your, oh, what beautiful home you have here in naples? You know it's. Just it's gon na take a little bit of time as everything does yeah, but i'm just like again. This business is so basic, it's painful, but you have to be really really good at the basics and i skipped over all of it. I literally got my license.

I started flipping houses, yeah, yeah and then buying duplexes and then raising capital and buying. You know multi-units and right so so so timmy. What? How are you go ahead? You're going to make a comment i want to know. I want people are probably listening going.

The guy's got he's done 82 listing appointments this year, like how is that possible like give give people some context, some flavor around your daily disciplines around follow-up reaching out to your database like give people some context? Okay. So, but i was just going to comment. That's a perfect, please, it's not just about being intense and intentional. It's about being consistent like this is a uniform yeah.

This is what we wear. This is who we are and like whatever is keeping you from making calls and whatever it is. It's good reasons mine. I have too many listings that we're bringing on i have to go meet with my all my people that are remodeling and make sure the house is there and we're going through all these renovations right now, so whatever it is.

So for my scale, it's like. I shouldn't be doing that then i should have somebody else meeting the stage or the painter that that i could do, and so it's being really intentional about those basics and it's something that it's so simple. But it's so difficult to do. And especially, i mean the the thing that's interesting about this market and why i haven't had to prospect as hard as i have in the past is because there's no open houses, there's no broker previews right, so it's like - and i am such a digestible call for Anybody right now and it's really like hey tom, and we could have this call right now.

You now live in dallas. We have your house listed. We will get it sold for over market because that's where we're at right, but who do you know? Who else do you know that's thinking of selling like honestly? Who do you know right now? Do you know anybody like in your circles from shady canyon? Are there people, you don't have to tell me their names or you don't have to hook me up, but do you like know any person? That's like thinking of moving out you, i know like five people. So yes, no, i can't say the name on my podcast.

Okay, so, okay, so that's but that's, but that's what i'm doing right so hold on andy. When you hear that like i, i don't think you could have done that. I don't think you may be potentially either in your own mind or whatever in the universe. You earn the swag but timmy.

If timmy calls anybody and he goes right into it because, like like that's tim smith, your vive attraction tribe, everybody loves timmy, we all know what he does. We know he does it. In a high volume, he's got a beautiful wife. He's got a beautiful family he's got this high-powered business.

He does these crazy films. So it's almost like an expectation where i think, if you tried that maybe in the beginning, you'd whiff it or what are your thoughts. That is exactly what i did, but i took that page because that's exactly what tim does he goes. I literally call people, and i say who do you know that's thinking about selling i'm like that's it he's just like all day over and over everybody, and it was just like huh and then sure enough.

I mean i take notes. I listen to tim, i'm super coachable super trainable and i just will just try it and then, like you know, it's my own little thing, but it's the more you do it. It's it's just like working out. Business is so much like working out, especially this part of it like yeah.

You have to be consistent. You have to do a lot of crunches to get abs, but you also got to eat really healthy. You know what i mean so for me it was like what am i not doing was clearly wasn't making. My calls last year clearly wasn't going on nearly close to enough listing appointments and the first thing he asked me too.

He goes so so those seven. How many did you take and i'm like? I took them all and he's like? Well, you should be taking about sixty percent. I was like what yeah that's a problem. Yeah, i i go i'm in yeah.

I was in no man's land with how i was supposed to be doing it and now i'm much clearer. So so, let's, let's go a totally different direction. Listings are really hard to get right now and and there's a lot of sort of chatter on all the social channels and private facebook pages of i can get the listing as long as i overprice it by 10 or 15 percent, and i take the commission at Like one and a half percent or two percent right, so so i'm curious from you guys perspective. You know what are the things you're saying or doing or demonstrating maybe differently from the past.

That is winning you the listing at a reasonable, a reasonable range of price and and a fee that makes you satisfied. What are you guys doing? You start andy yeah. So so i just took seven listings. Last week i had a horrific first quarter.

It was my worst in five years um, and that was you know just me all me, but i like i look at them and they are all completely different. They were all totally different conversations. You know uh, seven completely different sellers, four different motivations. I think it's like a singular thing where it's not just like a blanket where it's like here's, where you got ta, be you really have to listen to what the sellers are motivated by and and like just be very, very firm with that, and it's like you Know like there was one that we took at a discount, but we're also listing two of his properties and we're probably going to sell them in a week.

So for me i was like you know it's worth it so like for me, it's a case-by-case basis, but it's just to listen to where their pain points are and build, that bridge for them and then hold their hand and walk them across and, like my number One thing is: i want clients for life and you know what so, if i give up a little bit or just to tell them like look here's what here's, what this results going to be like, if you use me or use somebody else, it's it's going to Be different because they're not going to market the property like we are yeah, so i agree with that because i think there's a case-by-case basis. However, i'm kind of in a point in my career, where i don't really want to work with people, i don't want to work with right. I just don't i don't have to, and i don't want to - and you don't always know that at the listing appointment. But i can tell you, you know going having the best year ever and doing yearly planning with you tom, i kind of if you've ever heard, like that story about you know one day a kid goes out: the goose has a golden egg and then the next Day he goes out there and like a week, i don't know what basically this golden eggs and he's really excited about these golden eggs.

Then he starts needing these golden eggs and then before he go before he knows that he goes out there one morning and he chops the goose's head off to get the golden egg. Like there's an element to that that, sometimes you forget about the people when you in you're, like you, get really hyper, focused on planning and appointments and how much money i have yesterday in the listing appointment, i remembered what i loved about sales and it's like. We spent the first hour and a half talking about kids and seeing two excellent parents that are both doctors, that have that are crazy about their kids and talking about 80d and all these things - and i remember thinking like this like human connection - it's what it's about And i think the other thing for me is like there's been a lot of listings i haven't taken because i wouldn't discount my fee and i've regretted some and i haven't regretted my biggest thing on negotiating fees. The people that always want the lowest fees seem to it seems to be like they're, always consistently the hardest to work with.

You know what i mean, because it's like they want a pound of flesh plus they don't want to pay any fees. That's what i'm trying to get away from, because i think there's times that you do have to discount and i think there's listings that i should have taken because they were strategic that i wouldn't take, and so i'm rethinking that. But the thing that's consistent for me. I got ta feel comfortable with these people because once you start discounting your fees, you're, given a pound of flesh you're giving daily calls there's unrealistic expectations.

That's the thing i don't want to deal with anymore. You know i'm going back to that. 2015 trends. Conversation.

One of the trends that clearly played out - and i want to talk about this kind of this future of real estate conversation is, i remember, saying, commission compression is going to be greater than you've ever seen and - and i wasn't thinking andy back then relocation's at 42 - Referral fee, you know home light, is at 25 zillow and - and you know, realtor.com we're now at 35, and i listen, you know for everybody out there like pay attention, it could just as easily be 40 or 42.. There is no doubt like that's, also commissioned compression. So, let's, let's transition: let's talk about the future of real estate when i say to you zillow and realtor and homelight and the 75 other not including loan depot rocket. All these companies that have figured out most agents don't market effectively, so we will and then we will pass on that client and take a a substantial piece of the action which i'm not arguing for or against.

It is what it is. Arbitrage has been around for a million years. How do you guys think this plays out? What do you guys think the future of real estate is when it comes to these major players? Talk to me so it's interesting when somebody comes in the business. What they're faced with like what are you faced with get a farm? Well, how do you farm three postcards a month be relevant? Do this? Do that, like the opportunity is going to be those people that really add the most value to the marketing process? When you really start thinking of geofarming in a pandemic, it's very difficult because getting face to face so the people that are willing not only to have those great ideas but also to be able to execute, are going to be the ones that win and make no Mistake about it, people that are hyper focused on cost sellers that are hyper focused on cost, always end up with less than the end yeah right.

So how do you present? What are you offering? What's your value added like yesterday, there was no talk of discounted commissions like i need more of those. How do i add more value to our geographic forms? Besides postcards, what do i do digitally? What do i do personally? What do i do so that we are that you know when you're driving down you see the big, whatever the things on the side of the freeway the? What do they call those billboards, yeah billboards, billboard? We are like the billboard at every exit like how are we getting in their computers and their phones in their face and they're and doing it in a way that we're being like good people and we're being service oriented, because really that's what's up yeah, so you're. Actually answering my my second question, which was: how do you defend your position and you and i, as always, are very aligned on this, but i'm gon na go back to andy. What do you think is the future man, let's let's, let's just say that uh zillow and open door and redfin um per my buddy spencer raskoff, who also just took another one of these companies public in a spac.

I want to say he said there was something like point: five percent of all real estate transactions in the country. I need to get some data around that so tristan just a little reminder, but that means that 99.5 percent aren't but they're just it's eye buyers. Just beginning and arbitrage has been around forever. Arbitrage has been around its relocation, businesses that have made a fortune because they find the client andy.

What are your thoughts on the future of real estate when it comes to all this stuff? So we have big. Tech has come into the real estate space if you guys think for one second they're just going to be like now, we'll just go away, you're out of your minds, it's going to continue to grow you're, it's like anything else in business. You have to adapt. You have to be malleable in business in general and you're going to have to see what works for you and your business.

I know plenty of people here in long beach, they're a hundred percent of their business model is from buying zillow leads and realer.com leads. They work with buyers, they get some listings, that's it and they make their money those go away, which they're not going to that's a problem. You know, and i really think, the twos threes and six deals a year agents they're going to either join teams, big machines and they're, going to actually do some business or they're gon na slowly suffocate out of the business as the big tech continues to grow. So, but here's the thing i just believe, especially from exactly what we did yesterday.

It is a belly to belly. Sport like there's always going to be that human touch. There's always going to be that person who wants to buy a tesla from their computer at home. They're going to click all the buttons hit ship it to my house: that's cool! That's always going to be there! Those two sweet doctors that we talked to for two and a half hours yesterday that wanted to personally walk us through their house and show us why they love it so much, and then we can paint that picture for them digitally how we're gon na market it To the world better than any other company on earth is a special experience that i don't care how much tech comes in.

You can't replace tim with tech. You can't replace tim specifically answering that doctor's questions. Like a ninja, he even said you ask fantastic questions and, like he literally hammered every single one of them. That is an experience that i think will never go away.

Yeah there is something to uh. There's a wonderful book called the uh. I want to say it's: humans are underrated. Everyone should read that book or get the audio book, and it basically talks about the five superpowers of humans that that it will take hundreds of years for ai to be able to become tim smith on a listing appointment right like it's an interesting question, because every Other industry, their fees have been compressed to nothing right.

One of my best friends is a the biggest multi-family guy in utah and he did like a 300. He he's got the record for a hundred million dollar and, like he says his commissions when he gets to his team, like that's like a 20 million dollar house cell, like how do you even like, but but keeping that aside, you know one of the things that I think like is interesting about what you're saying with like a tech and like the jason mitchell model. You got to figure out. What's right for you, you got to trust your gut and go to work right.

There's no, i mean the problem with opportunity. Is most people it comes dressed up in overalls. In a tractor, it's work right. So it's like that's the biggest problem that people have and then there's so much to question the conversations, but just purely going back to the basics right.

If you stay in front of it, it's going to be, and the thing that's different about that, i think on the luxury end, there is no tech company, that's going to take agents out of the super high end. It needs that it's like there's too many adjustments. There's no avm that can price a house, that's 146 feet of frontage on the bay in newport. It just doesn't and the thing is it wouldn't come with a competent presentation, but there are those people that will because they want to do it for one percent.

That will sell their houses for less. They just don't know they're selling them for less yeah. Going back to what you said earlier tim, i think it'd be interesting for us to to go back and document every seller, because we've got all the data of every appointment. You've been on and look at those that were grinding, you on fees and then research, their final sales price versus your original proposed list price right, because if you actually have the tim smith report that actually could document 197 presentations in the last five years, these people Ground me down on this this and this and ended up selling for seven and a half percent less than what i would have marketed the home for or what i would have sold it for what i proposed like something like that.

I think would be really interesting because you made the statement earlier and remember you always got to be mindful of like do we have the facts like i know your intuition and your experience tells you it's true, but boy. If you could document that wowzer. That would be a killer killer. Part of your presence, i mean i agree, and we have this spreadsheet, but one of the things that's been interesting recently is how many people are listing their house below market yeah.

Do this auction bid up? I don't even know how you sell that, like okay, so your house is worth 4 million or let's say your house is worth 5 million, but we're gon na list it at 3.9 and we're gon na get you 4.2, but wait. A second. Your house is worth 5 million not like how does that sales pitch even work right? I don't i don't know, but it's interesting. I've had more people recently tell me like they just want to get their house sold.

They don't want to like i'm like no, no, but your house is worth more like this is the data. This is the trends. This is why we set records. This is why we sold 243 homes last year and 107 were records in their product type.

It's not like just a coincidence. It's like a recipe. If you put these ingredients in you, give your sellers the best chance to get the most. If you don't, and these ingredients actually cost more than one percent.

I have to remind me, i got to send you the seth godin blog talking about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and this whole thing was it's all about process. If you can deliver the right process over and over again you're going to win he's like peanut butter and jelly like you got to put the bread down first, you do the peanut butter. Then you do the jelly, then the other bread. He goes.

What if you started first with like the peanut butter on the plate, and then you smashed it in all the elements are there, but the order and process is why you have success right and there's just it's a it's a beautiful example. You could share with people, but i want to go. I want to go back to i'm going to make a statement to you guys that i want your input. I believe that, right now, the vast majority of people listening to this, they are under attack and they don't even know it.

They think the attack is interest rates. They think the attack is a possibility of inflation. They think the attack is a shortage of inventory and i would say no. The absolute attack is the unlimited amount of money coming into our marketplace with people that don't give a blank about how it's always been done and the arbitrage game, i think, is going to continue to gobble up it's the slide.

I showed four years ago at the summit: hey it's eight or nine percent is fsbo and the balance is all agents. Then it's eight or nine percent. I think this year, when you look at the data, when all the numbers come out, we could be as high as 20 percent of every transaction had a referral fee associated to it and i think they're just beginning competition. I think it's probably more than that.

I think it's more than i think i would say that with all your agents, i bet it's probably 50 of transactions have a referral fee. I i will let the data we'll let the data ultimately decide, but whether it's 20, 40 or 50 that number, whether it's an agent agent referral fee which everybody's good with but again that's a 25 hit on your you know on your gci right after your split And everything else it begins to really add up now, the obviously for a lot of people out there listening if your sales price is high you're, like yeah yeah yeah, that's kind of the way the world works, but i think about my client, that's selling in normal Illinois and their average sales price is 178 000 bucks and they have to sell 50 or 60 homes a year. To like have a living. I mean it's nuts and the medium sales price in the u.s is what 380 now, which is bonkers in and of itself, but going back to my point ready.

So if, if we are, dare i say under attack, i keep asking myself: what can we do to sort of warren buffett build a moat around our castle to protect ourselves as much as possible? Here's my list number one. You have to have a google business page right. You guys with me number two you have to over index on google reviews hard. That doesn't mean tim, send your entire list, an email saying: please do this, because if you had a thousand reviews on a tuesday added, google would say you're spamming and they would eliminate almost all of them, but like having the google review machine being a part of Your business, like zillow reviews, has been forever and word of mouth has always been in this business.

Number three you've got to create content at scale and become the most memorable top of mind agent in your marketplace. Right and you two have done this times. 10. number.

Four you've got to be a geographic farmer and understand that direct mail guys i just had a mastermind in dallas with like 12 agents and the the three most successful agents in the room were doing a hundred thousand direct mail pieces, sometimes twice to three times a Month to their communities a hundred thousand a month, they didn't start there. They built up to there you with me and then, following that, it's billboards, it's every grocery store. Like everywhere you go, you saw them online and offline timmy to your point earlier. Then you ready email marketing, the one that every agent has missed and i've been.

I am writing these down right now. I know this is good. Well, it's good we're scratching off our next coaching session. Here it is email, marketing, listen, my friends for everybody watching you're listening right now, facebook well, canada, privacy laws are becoming u.s privacy laws when it comes to digital, so facebook instagram google advertising as we know it in 18 months, could completely evaporate.

So if you're not building up your email marketing list, which we all know, spend a dollar on email, you make 44 on average, it's like the greatest roi. Only next to the ror of you know, relationships right, so email marketing and then the last one is make your damn phone calls. Those are my six for creating a like a defendable position in the marketplace to be the force to be reckoned with, doesn't matter who comes in? Where am i right? Where am i wrong? What am i missing talk to me? I got a lot of ideas around this that i want to flush out, but it's like the only thing i would say is there needs to be different ideas for face to face pandemic aside we're still going to have these vulnerabilities of no broker previews, no open Houses, so all those things are building a mode, but there still has to be a real strategy to get in front of people, yes and and that the people that are most creative with that over the next five years, while they're doing all this yep. You just said, and i wrote it all down because as soon as i get done, i'm going to go tell my team wait, wait, wait! Wait! Where are we on all these things, because, like constantly just driving it but being face to face, is going to the other thing, and i don't want to digress, but jason mitchell.

I've still never connected with him. We've had a few phone calls, but now for some reason, because i talk about him, he's in my instagram feed yep like i'm, really interested in his model. But it's like so hard when we go start meeting with mello, holmes and zillow and truly and blah blah, and we start going through the process and the conversion rate is one and a half percent yeah and the leaves that they're sending me are worse than all Of the leads that i have that i'm not working in my like database right, so i'm just like, but then i'm gon na give you 42 to give me. The only good leads i'll probably get are leads that they get that are from my leads that i'm then paying them 42 percent to work.

My business, which is maybe we should be like anti all lead generation. So i don't know if i would go that far, but i want to hear from andy first and then let's, let's have a conversation about this all right. So andy. What do you think? How do we defend our position? How do we be really? What we're saying is, if you don't feel you're under attack good on you um.

We should probably have a separate conversation. How do we create a a defendable position in the marketplace where they're? Like look, of course, i'm gon na go to that website. Then i'm gon na call andy right. So, for me, like this, is year two right, so i'm literally trying to do all the things that you just said just to get market share, just to get my name out there with brandy and we're split, testing everything and seeing what's working, what's really working well For branding - and this is always going to work - is facebook and instagram.

The facebook leads that come in, i can just throw in the toilet. We've worked them every which way from sunday they're terrible they're, just terrible so like there's strategic things were sending out these blasts and these emails to touch people. We just started doing probably seven. Eight months ago, these city-specific blogs that pull traffic through facebook back to our website, which has been really cool like hey, here's, the five best places to get some really good ice cream in long beach, don't even talk about real estate.

What's the best place to get a craft beer, here's the sixth place it's like, and then we reach out to those businesses and say hey. Why don't you come on the podcast we'd love to hear how you survived during covet now they're sharing that to their whole database on facebook? So i'm trying to do like a lot of branding to put this face in front of all the people that, like oh yeah, he does real estate, that's right, and then they get my thing in the mail. It's like. Oh, he just sold this really cool property and then he gets an email.

It's like here's. What i love to hear it's my favorite, this guy's everywhere or andy you're everywhere, right all those things you're gon na have to do to defend against this. This you know tech and to tim's point earlier all these things with these low prices to bid stuff up. But your house is worth five sellers just want to sell, because i truly believe there's a lot of people that really remember 2008 and if you're 49 to 69, and you lost a large sum of money.

You're like it feels like 2007, not sure if that's gon na happen or not but like they would rather get out a little bit early than be late like last time, and i'm i'm just feeling that just within, like my little crew, i would argue for um. So jason mitchell and i've been talking a bunch, so tim we have to. We have to connect a big shout out to jason if you're watching or listening uh - very, very cool guy jay gaskill. Obviously you know who we also both know.

I i'm making the argument for the mega teams and for brokerages that they need to have their own eye buyer strategy. So for that person that is the let's call them the convenient seller right, i don't want it held open. I just want to get out. I just want to sell this property: hey sell my mother-in-law's house, you know yada yada.

Tragically, they passed away, not my mother-in-law but like as an example um. I think that we need to have that solution in place and, whether andy it's your money or it's uh, you know you get a huge line of credit or you just go to the bank of tim smith, like whatever you do.