In this coaching call, Chris Prefontaine and Debbie DiPasquale guide client Raj through a real‑estate transaction scenario. They stress the importance of confirming whether a property’s listing is "canceled" or "withdrawn" to free the client for future actions. The agents discuss their reciprocal referral network, noting that many realtors are now referring business back to them due to a tight market. They outline a concrete lead‑follow‑up process: send a hypothetical offer (AO) sample, ask the client to review it, then prompt a text or call to gauge interest, using the "toss the ball" metaphor to test responsiveness. The conversation also touches on tax strategy, warning about short‑term capital gains and suggesting a rent‑to‑own approach to extend ownership beyond one year for better cash flow. Finally, Chris highlights a "lessons learned" insight that agents often feel intimidated by high‑value appointments, but once completed they discover the experience is beneficial, encouraging agents to share such stories to build confidence. The call ends with action items to resend the AO sample and schedule a follow‑up.
Chapters
I can tell you that most have been intimidated to go to that appointment, and you pulled it off, and then you realized, oh shit, it's actually better.
Yeah, I loved it. Yeah.
Okay, so that's a lessons learned.
Hi Raj, this is Debbie DiPasquale. How are you?
How are you?
Good, thank you. I'm actually with my my senior partner Chris this morning, and I thought, oh, I want to give Raj a call and just say what's doing and talk about your. You're home. Is this a good time? Do you have a minute?
Yeah, yeah, I have a minute.
Okay.
Hi, Raj. How are you? It's Chris.
Hi, Chris. How are you?
I'm good. I'm good. Good morning.
Yes, I just wanted to give you a call. I know you have a nice property there, and I wanted to see what the status was. I didn't know. I know you had concerns about talking to your realtor.
Yeah, I did. I left him a message when he was here eight years ago, and he he I told him that I want to take it off the market and not do that sale anymore. And I would like to I put it this way over there.
Yep.
And he took it apart. He told me that well, we have a we took it off the market. Don't need it in a video contact. Well, that is not yet confirmed by me, but yeah, you'd want to, Raj.
You'd want to when you do talk with him next, just. Confirm he canceled versus withdrawn. That's just a different status to make sure you're clean. That's all.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I said you just want to make sure that he has it canceled status versus withdrawn. That's all. There's a different status that frees you up.
Oh, I can. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep. And then, and then generally speaking, you know, down the road, Debbie and I probably would want to chat with someone like that because we do a lot of reciprocal referrals back and forth because this market right now, as you know, is a little strange. So a lot of the realtors are sort of running out of options and referring stuff to us and vice versa sometimes. So it's always a good connect. Down the road.
Yep.
Great. And then we can revisit. Did I send you the the structure of the our conversation when we met? I was looking through my paperwork.
I don't begin. That's just how to be.
Yeah, I could. Resend it out.
We could send a hypothetical over, Deb. Just let's send a hypothetical over so Raj can see what, you know, just a sample of what can work.
Yeah. Yep. And then we can discuss it again. What I can send that over and when would be a good time to, to follow up with you and we can discuss it because if it's in front of you, it might be a little easier to You know, we can connect. Okay.
We had that make that morning.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we can probably— I can definitely do that. Okay, perfect. Okay. Thank you so much. I'll look forward to talking soon.
Thanks, Raj. Nice to meet you.
Okay. Thank you. Yep. Bye-bye.
Not sure where to get started? Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/getstarted. Get going for free books, strategy calls, and a whole bunch more. We're going to help you get going the wicked smart way. We've been after this for over a decade doing exactly that. Yeah, he sounded fine. So get an AO sample over to him. You know how to do the AOs now.
Yeah, I have it. I don't know why it didn't—
Oh, okay.
I put it— I'm pretty sure I have it all put together. Yeah, I will do that. Maybe I can do that so we could talk again soon.
Yes. What they do is always toss the ball in their court. So you're going to send that and you're going to say, shoot me a text after you reviewed it and we'll connect. So now you see some do and some don't. You see who's chasing you back.
Okay.
Example, the one I keep giving you, an asshole. We're finally going on appointment. Zach's going to go next Tuesday. Why? Well, at first he was like standoffish. Then he said he had trouble. His daughter ran off with a guy. And then he said his son's in the hospital. So I knew he was just screwing around, right?
Yeah.
And I kept saying, all right, fine, hit me when you know you want— you're closer to doing something. So he finally started chasing me. This is like 2 months later, and now we have an appointment next Tuesday. I'm not going to go at— I'm just going to go at their pace. I'm not going to try to push a noodle.
Yeah. Okay. So after I send it, send a text saying to give me a call after you receive it or after you review it, because I—
Call after you take a look at this so we can answer any questions you might have. Again, this is hypothetical.
Yeah, he definitely— that sounded promising because I wasn't sure if he had given up on it, but it sounds like He took action.
I was encouraged by that. He took action, canceled his relative when you told him. So this is not a weak lead. This so far is a good lead. Now you toss the ball over the tennis court again and you see if he serves it back.
Okay. He's very savvy. The appointment with him was very like he knew his numbers. We talked numbers.
The AO should make sense. It shouldn't be gray.
Yeah, he— yeah, I mean, he liked it because I brought a hypothetical with me and we, we looked at it together and he was like, I Called his partner and he was— that's why I don't know. Maybe that's what I'm thinking. I had, I had it in my hand.
I did it personally. That's fine. So if he was that responsive, you're there now. It's just a matter of getting him over the hump and he's got to make sure he's canceled. Like I said.
Yeah. Okay, perfect.
And you go online and find out who his realtor is. Keep that for when, if and when we sign it up, we sign it up, we call him because he may have had buyers that don't qualify. He tried to sell it. Yeah, he was going to appreciate you reaching out. And then in addition to, hey, if you have any buyers, I'm more than happy to pay you. And he'll be psyched because he's good, because he lost it. This is why I say with realtors, I just want the stuff that doesn't fit in your box. Well, this didn't fit for him.
It didn't work.
So now then you say, hey, let's talk about other things and you just talk about the reciprocal relationship. Okay.
Yeah. And I think he— because Raj has a lot of properties, he's probably used them a lot. So I think all 3 of us to be working.
Oh, I definitely think so. So then you're part of the team then. Hey, try to sell it, guys, if you can't. And then when you talk to Raj, did you tell him about— did you bring up short-term capital gains? That's what he's getting whacked on, short-term capital gains, depending on how his accountant has him classed. If you, if you, if you buy and sell within 1 year, it's short-term capital gains. I'm not an accountant, but I'm just— this is just basic. So for builders, if he can do a rent-to-own on this thing for 18 months, he gets it appreciated for 18 months, he gets cash flow, and he puts himself past that 1 year. Okay, good for you to know.
He may have, but this one, I didn't necessarily say he's owned for less than a year, did I?
I'm just assuming a builder buys it and then builds it and then, you know what I mean? But he might be over a year.
He's, he's not a builder.
Oh, is this property— is this property not like— this could be way more than he had. This is something he's sitting on.
Yeah, I think.
Oh, sorry.
Okay.
I think it was— he was using it as a rental.
Okay.
Okay. That doesn't fly. My bad. All right. You—
so you probably— yeah.
It's still better.
Yeah.
Okay.
Rehab. When I said builder, could have been a rehab or two.
Yeah, I don't know. He just has a lot of properties. I know he doesn't know how many. I know he has that many properties because I think it's like $17 million or $40 million or something. And maybe that's what—
And the guy's— the guy's no dummy. So he should— this is much easier to explain this to people like that than it is onesies-twosies.
That's what I was saying, that appointment was way different from any other appointment I've ever done because he was just like, okay, yeah, let's see the numbers. Yeah, this looks good. Let's talk about it.
You should put that in the Lessons Learned channel. Because you should call out that you've heard in the community people sometimes are afraid of people with experience. No, it's easier. They get it. And explain your appointment. That'll help. That'll give some people some hope because I can tell you that most have been intimidated to go to that appointment and you pulled it off and then you realize, oh shit, it's actually better.
