Episode 25 Stefani Howorth Making Real Estate Worth It

Hey, what's up you guys? Welcome back to the podcast, The New and Experienced Investor Podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Alex Barnett. I'm the new guy.

And I guess that makes me the old guy. I'm Joe Homs.

The experienced one.

Oh yes.

You gotta stay on brand, Joe. Let's do it. Um, today we have a very special guest. We are super excited. We have someone in here who is Making Real Estate Worth It. Awesome agent from Orange County, Stephanie Howarth. How's it going, Stephanie?

Hi, thanks for having me here.

Yes, and it's already been a, uh, fun-filled day. We were all hanging out earlier down in San Juan and we were checking out a property, and, um, maybe you could fill us in on what's going on with this property down there.

Well, Joe has a couple listings down there, 8 total. And he's been gracious enough to allow me to shadow him on this and see what these listings are all about. They are investment properties.

Okay.

And we're trying to offload them from the investor.

Okay.

And get them sold for the highest value that we can. And so I'm fortunate enough to do an open house down there. Cool.

Okay. So this was, this was a process that the tenants were there living there, and we gave them a 60-day notice. And honestly, I thought they were going to stay until we sold it, but surprisingly, they moved out in 30 days. So I wanted Stephanie to see kind of what the process was. So they moved out, and then we went over there, and maybe you tell everybody what, what we found inside.

Well, what's great about this neighborhood is they are colorful people.

Okay.

So you walk into the main living area and it is purple. I'm not saying lavender, I'm saying purple, my friend.

I noticed that.

Yeah.

And then you go upstairs and one of the secondary rooms is guacamole green. And then in the third bedroom, it is like a sky blue.

Yes.

A little more palatable.

Right.

But colorful. And it gives you an insight on the condition of the property when you see it just after the tenants left and none of the cleaning or repairs have been done. And you see the quality of your tenants loud and clear.

Yeah, and the area, you know, the color scheme is not unusual for the area whatsoever. I've been buy-and-hold investor down there in that area for over 43 years. In fact, my first flip that I ever— first purchase I ever bought was down there, and I still have that today. But they are very bright, colorful people, let's say, and so they like those type of bright colors. I was actually telling my wife the other day that when my kids were growing up, we used to take them and Uh, you know, you go paint this room, you go paint that room, whatever. And, and my daughter, my youngest daughter, uh, who's— I won't say her age, but she's like 35 now.

That is saying her age.

But she was like 7 or 8, and we just literally gave her a paintbrush and said, here, start painting this. Okay, just, uh, you know, I'm having anxiety right now. Did you, did you prep? Did you let—

oh my gosh, did you redo carpet? Did you do— I, I can't handle this.

We did carpet. Yeah, carpet was in. But we— that room was painted like a lime green.

Mm-hmm.

Did we paint the whole house inside?

Her choice.

Um, no, because it was the area and that's the colors that they like. So we wanted to keep the same color that was there because we knew we could rent it out really easily. I mean, if we would have done white or, you know, earth tones or something, I know that I'm getting a call, Joe, is it okay if we paint the house inside? Paint away, you know. So just kind of saved that call. I— we just painted it the way I like, lime green. Yes.

They loved it too. When they moved in, they loved it.

Oh, they did. Yeah, they loved it. Yes, absolutely. Yes.

And so this investor has 8 properties down there?

Yes.

Wow.

Has 8 properties. We've got, uh, 4 of them on the market right now. I've got one that's going into escrow. Uh, Stephanie is going to do open house on Sunday. She's going to have that one in escrow, hopefully on Monday. Um, and, you know, I like giving agents the opportunity to do things and learn things. And that's why she's really kind of here today is to let us know, what have you learned? When did you get licensed? And what, what is that process? What have you learned since you've gotten your license?

Well, I have been licensed since May of 2022. And it's now October 2023. So not even a year and a half. And—

Sorry, my button was undone and the producer's calling it out.

Oh, sorry.

Keep going.

I'm like, squirrel.

No, you're fine.

So the first year in any real estate agent's life in that career is going to be drinking from a fire hose of knowledge, and I, I don't have the bandwidth for that. Most humans don't. And so it really is allowing all the information to kind of flood in, and then hopefully you grasp, you know, the, the items that you really are— really is essential to you and resonate with you to get through it, because there's this overwhelming, like, and daunting pressure to get it all. And you're not going to. So I think that's the first thing that I'm, you know, reconciling with is that I'm not gonna get it all, but I'm gonna get what I need, you know, from that outpour. Oh, you know, like someone like Joe has been like throwing me, you know, information, and he's a wealth of knowledge, right?

But I throw a lot.

You do throw a lot, but generously.

Like, I've met new agents. You don't seem like a new agent. So where does that come from? Where does all that come from?

Great question. So I'm happily divorced.

Okay. All right. Okay.

But there's a lot of good things that came from that time of marriage. And one of them— I mean, there's 4 of them that are awesome, you know, the kids is nice, right? You know, uh, but the, the one thing, um, from him to me is that I watched his real estate and loan He was a loan officer, a mortgage broker.

Oh.

And he did some real estate. He did it all. He did it all. And so I got to sit on the sidelines and watch him.

Gotcha.

And I attempted to get licensed in 2011. I was scouring, you know, Redfin, Zillow, just as a side hobby for fun, because we moved a lot too. I think we moved like 13 times in our 20-year marriage.

Wow.

We realize now what that did to the kids, but we were just okay with doing our DIY flip. It was kind of like a buy and hold flip. So I wouldn't recommend that with kids again, but it's what we did. You know, it's the way we lived. So a lot of escrows, a lot of transactions, and I was on the sideline watching it go down as a homeowner. Does that make sense?

That does. Yeah. Okay. So you do have the experience of the transactions.

A little bit.

Yeah, I mean, I'd say like you don't seem like a new agent. Like Joe has new agents in here and you'd be surprised, like he's holding their hand and they're like, what do I do? And I clicked the wrong button. Is that okay? And like, so you're not doing any of that.

I am, I am. But here's the thing, Joe's a mentor to me, but my broker is dealing with what you just said. So I do, I do, you know, find yourself a broker. If you are a new agent, find yourself a broker who is patient with you. Because there is a lot to learn. Yeah, a lot. And you're not going to retain it all. Don't be hard on yourself.

So if you don't mind me asking you, how much money did you make that first year?

$875.

If you want me to— if you don't mind me asking you, you made $875 that year. You were nice enough to go down to San Juan with me today. Okay, I hadn't offered you any money other than the opportunity to do the open house and stuff. Is that kind of normal practice? Is, you know, once you get your license, is, is that kind of what's to be expected?

Well, you bring to the table what you bring, right? Like, I'm not going to do real estate the way Joe Homs does it, right? I'm going to do the way Stephanie Howarth does it. Uh, my giftings and my skills are what I bring to the table. So if I'm going to be a little pit bull about it and say, hey, can I do your open house? Then I think that's what I bring to the table, right? And I get in, I get my foot in the door. But I found some— a mutual, you know, uh, agreement with you, I guess, that you welcome that kind of, you know, ambition.

Yeah.

Right? So You know, there's others. Everyone comes, it comes with their own like angle or strategy or the way to get their foot in the door. And sometimes that's traditional, sometimes that's outside the box, sometimes that's alternative. I don't know.

Yeah.

So I mean, it was, I guess what I'm trying to get was, was there any expectation when you passed your real estate license that you were going to be a millionaire the next day and anything like that?

Well, I was hoping for that.

Everybody's hoping. I mean, you don't get any—

Yeah, yeah. No, the reality is, uh, the market tanked the moment I had my first open house.

Oh, you're the one that caused it.

Yeah.

I've been looking for that person.

It's kind of like I'm the one that washed my car and then it rained, right? Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, I started the whole thing.

Let me, let me draw a picture for you. You're, you're 22 years old, you get your real estate license, uh, Mr. Nice Guy Joe gives you some opportunities to list some homes for him, but it's mostly just training you how to list homes and also training you how to flip homes. So I say, I'll give you this opportunity, I'll pay you $2,000 for the listing. Would you do those listings?

I think that it— there's so much stumble and learn here in real estate. I think that would be cruel to a 22-year-old.

Why?

Well, you're giving them an opportunity, but they're gonna fail. I mean, this whole year for me has been like live and learn, right?

So don't give them the listing.

Uh, I— this is what I wanted as a 50-year-old, right?

Um, I didn't say that.

Happy birthday to me! This is my 50th year, right? Like, it's, it is what it is, you know? Like, you have these expectations for your life, and this is what I'm doing, right? So, uh, Anyway, the first brokerage I was with, I felt like I had to be the whole business all by myself. So if you were opening a storefront, right, and it was expecting you to be the bookkeeper and the barker out on the sidewalk and the cashier and the salesperson on the floor, like all these things need to be done and you've never run a business before. You've only seen, you know, it from the Sidewalk, right? And so there's just a lot of expected know-how, and it's a lot of pressure. So for me, I went to that broker and I said, I want to do some speed dating with your 200 brokers. And I don't mean to get in the sack. Yeah, you know what I mean? Let's keep it fresh, right? Okay. I mean to do business. Like—

But you have her number just in case. Go ahead, go ahead. No, I'm just kidding.

Go ahead. Okay, so, so anyway, um, I wanted to do like with those who wanted to do the same in the brokerage, whoever didn't want to be a maverick, whoever didn't want to be a one-man band, whoever had, had the fresh desire to be in the business but couldn't really get all the components in there and be efficient with all the components, right? So I wanted to you know, speed date with other, you know, realtors in the, in the brokerage. And, um, it didn't happen, you know. And the pairing up that I tried to, it wasn't synergistic for me. And I also am countercultural, you know.

Mm-hmm.

So, uh, I just decided that's when I left and started the new year with an investor. group. And then I learned like the scrappy side of the business, and I loved it because then you're not dealing with the retail side. You're learning the numbers, and that you're— I wrote like 15 offers in less than 3 months, and I didn't have that practice. None of them went through, but I didn't have that practice until then.

My question is, is, you know, where do you start? Where do you start out as a brand new agent? What kind of— whether you're 20 or 50, What kind of help are you looking for?

I think there's— I would want brokers to have a better understanding of matching people up as a team. I think the team is really what a newbie needs, a team part. And that's why I reached out to my broker, because he— I can rely on the fact that he's going to close the deal.

Okay. And so what does that mean, a team?

Well, for me, I know what I need. I know who I am.

Okay. And I've gotten a lot of So maybe describe what, what do you get out of this team monetarily, if anything?

Right now?

Yes.

I don't know if I have Al's permission to disclose that. Do I?

I, I don't know. It's up to you. I'm just saying, well, it reveals your monetary expectation.

No, no.

Okay.

No, we—

you've answered it. Yeah. Yeah. So for me, whether it's an agent 20 years old or 50 years old, I'm going to start them on a path of really educating themselves. And a lot of people learn the way I do. I like to do.

So definitely.

If I tell you I've got a couple of listings here and I want you to handle it so that you know how to put it on the MLS, you know how to do a property description. And you're going to handle all the agent phone calls. You're going to handle all the offers that come in. You're going to obviously send them to me because I'm the owner of the property, and I am only going to pay you $2,000. And the reason I say $2,000 is 2008, we had the downturn, and we were literally— my investors and I were buying. Probably 100 homes a month. Um, and I had one of the investors call me and said, hey Joe, uh, you know, looks like you know what you're doing. You know, you've been doing it for a while. I need somebody to list these homes and, uh, handle all the paperwork and stuff. Would you do it for $2,000? And I said, let me think about it. Because I, I still had that traditional real estate agent brain that I want 6%. Which nobody gets anymore. But anyways, 6%. And then I'm thinking like, what am I even thinking this for? Um, so I called him back. I go, well, how many listings are you going to give me? He says, 10 to 20 a month. I said, oh, I get it. $2,000, 20 listings, that's $40,000 a month right there. So I said, sure, I'll do that. My daughter got her license. My son got his license. Thank God, because it was 3 of us working these deals. Um, and that's kind of like feet to the fire that I put them under. I said, here, you take this listing, you do this, you do that. So that's kind of the way that I train people. Um, but I don't know, maybe we're in a new generation here where maybe I shouldn't be talking to 20-year-olds anymore because I recently got a no thank you. From somebody. Yes. I don't think that they thought it all the way through because, like, if I were to give you a listing, you also have the opportunity to double in that listing, hold the open houses, do your social media stuff, which I know you do a lot of. So I'm on a— I guess I'm on a rant here, but—

But that's why we're on a podcast, so you can rant.

But that's, that's another question, you know. That I want you to answer because you're brand new, kind of.

Yeah, well, I think, I think for you and I, you had your dad.

Yes.

As a role model. And I had my ex-husband as a role model, you know, and the realtors and so, you know, people that we got in contact with, you know. Um, but for someone who's 22, I like your idea. And the people that say no to you, they prune themselves away from the opportunity. I think that's like a—

Gets it, man.

I think that's, that's natural, uh, pruning. Not— my mom would say natural consequences, right?

But do you think, do you think that decision was made because it's 2022?

It's less than 1%, you know. It's— no, it's— whatever factors are going on in that person's life, they missed an opportunity. Right?

I think so.

But it's kind of like the person who asked you for $20 back at your, um—

Oh yeah, let's not bring that up.

Right. But my point is, yeah, my point is that one person is representative of less than 1% of who you have in your sphere. And your sphere is like wide—

what do you—

wide net, you know? So focus on the people who are in the net.

Okay, so let's talk about networking. What are you doing networking-wise?

Okay, this is what I love to do, is engage with people, build relationship, and have that, that energy going on in my life. So some people say there's nothing getting done at those things, and right now in a slow market, nothing's getting done in anything, right? So, uh, for me personally, it's the energy I need to put in the wind in my sails. Otherwise, sometimes I'm crawling in bed again after I get the kids to school, right? Like, it's depressing. It's a roller coaster. It's hard, you know? So to go to these like meetups and networking and stuff, that feeds me just personally. If you are like my broker, he does not need that. He doesn't, he doesn't need any networking and he's successful.

How long has he been doing real estate?

Since '96.

Yeah, see, I mean, so he's got all the networking stuff down.

Yeah, but I don't think he needed it then either. It's just the way he's suited, right, for the industry.

Okay, so, uh, speaking of networking, so again, we went out to San Juan Capistrano. My clients were there, husband and wife were there, and then I see, uh, Stephanie, you know, pulled the, uh, wife aside and, you know, was having a really good conversation there. I don't know what was said, but there was definitely some networking going on there.

Yeah, I like that.

That's the other— the other listings that are coming, are they not coming my way now?

Or you thought that was infringement? Lord, oh my gosh, no, because you are a good networker. Yes, and I'd like— I would like to just stay in that lane. Yes, but you're asked to be— you're asked to be this and this as well, and that's where I have the pressure of producing You know?

Yeah.

And I'd like to be— how can I just be this and be in my lane and be good at what I do and the master of my world here? But no, you need to know this too and this too. That's what stresses me out.

Yeah, but that comes with time.

It does, but you need— in order to survive in a downturn market, you need to produce.

Yes.

And so that's where it's gut-wrenching.

But you're You're very outgoing. You're good at networking. How long ago did we meet? We met what, a month or two ago?

I well, here's I don't yeah no probably early this year started going to Sunset.

Yeah yeah. When was that? Has it been that long?

I remember it seems like this is how we met. This is how we met. I had too much to drink. That's no.

And then this patriarch.

That's right.

That was the first night, wasn't it?

Yeah yeah. This patriarch here. Was just making sure that I had someone to talk to while I sobered up, because, you know, 2 drinks for me is too much to drive. And so we just needed an extra hour to kind of process what I drank, right? And, uh, you took care of me. You just showed your nature right there.

Thank you.

That the first time we met. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was at networking.

That was at networking. Yes.

I think the team approach is, is great, like what you're saying, because there are people that are good at certain things And if you're willing to split the pie, I mean, in real estate, you need to.

The first—

the pie's huge.

Yeah. Until you're ready to go on your own, you need to for the, you know, I have a friend, um, Antho. I'll give him a little shout out. Antho Zwick. Yeah.

He's your friend. He's not mine.

Yeah. He, he door knocked. He, you know, for the first year, like door knocked and, and he had like English lessons for the Chinese community that was farming and like, he just put his heart and soul into it and, you know, Young guy. I don't think he has a significant other, so call him. And I'm talking to the camera, ladies in the audience. Um, and, uh, no kids, you know, so he could put his heart and soul into it. Like, he, he could be driven and focused and not distracted. And, uh, it's paid off, you know. I see his signs out on in lawns and stuff, and I just like it. Like, I'm— my heart swells for people who are tenacious, right?

Yeah.

Um, but I think for the first— if you can't do that, if you, you know, if you're split attention like I am, you know, I have double duty, um, triple duty it sometimes feels. And just getting that leg up the first 3 years, or having the first year on a team, you know, and being able to be Okay, I'm ready to go out. I'm ready to launch. Hey, Mr. Broker, I want to launch. When do you think would be a good time for me to do that and split away from the team? You know what I mean? Kind of have a plan so it's not like this abrupt leaving of the team. But yeah, I would have loved to have a split on a team my first year.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, single divorced mom of 4, right? And I made $875. I'm gonna break the mic right now, right? On a lease for a sphere. It wasn't even like, you know, sphere of influence. It wasn't even, uh, something that I was— it's just a friend, right?

So you're—

yeah, yeah.

Okay. Anyway.

Yeah.

And it's— I mean, when you're joining a team, so it's— you have to provide value in some way, you know? So you— maybe you were new and you, you You're looking at it maybe like they should have given you a handout. But if you would have said like, I'm a networker, I can get out there and meet the people, that's my lane, let me join the team, let me bring the value, then I'll earn that split. But I think some people think that, okay, I'm going to join the team and then I should just get handouts.

No, I, I think I knew because of my age. I think I knew who I was. I knew I was a barker on the street. I knew I wasn't cashier. I knew I wasn't bookkeeper. Hell, fuck no. You know? But that's why I look for people who are bookkeepers. And I'm like, I want to align with you because my strengths lie elsewhere. And I need you, you know, I think we complement each other.

Absolutely.

Right.

Have you read the book Rocket Fuel? Check that out because it's all about, there's 2 like sort of mentalities in a business. It's visionary, which is kind of what you are. And then there's the integrator. And that's the person behind the scenes that's like keeping track of everything. And then the visionary has like the, the big picture, and you're like, I need to go from A to B. I don't know how to get there, but I know I need to go from A to B, and you're gonna help me do that. Yeah. And when both people team up, then magic— we got rocket fuel.

So magic. And upon that glory is my success this year, right?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's crazy. I thought you'd been doing it a lot longer.

Behind the scenes.

Yeah, behind the scenes.

Exactly.

It rubbed off.

Yeah, totally. I mean, just having that experience, like you said, of doing whatever— how many times you guys moved— just that in itself, like, that's the live-in flip that many times. That's, that's more flips than a lot of flippers right now, you know.

So I don't think we flipped every one. Well, some of them were downsizing back into the condo. Sure, you know. So I mean, but still, no glamour. Here.

Oh yeah, but still, I mean, it's, it's those reps that really, you know, make you a master at the craft. So yeah, that's great.

Yeah.

Okay, well, I mean, what's, what's going— what's the plan for the future? I mean, it just started, but what's the plan?

Yeah, I feel like I'm just tapping into the beginning of a snowflake that's going to turn into a snowball. That's how I feel. It's just now taking off. And, uh, you know, I'm tenacious. I want to stay in Orange County. I want to purchase my own home. So I have my why. I want, I want my kids to be able to land, and I don't want to ever move them again.

That's great.

Why?

Yeah.

Yeah.

What areas are you looking for?

What?

What areas?

Well, I still have 2 in school.

Oh, okay.

So I would like to hunker down in Rancho Mission Viejo.

Okay.

And get the last 2 through school. Um, but I'm so ready for coastal. You know, I've had, I've had the homes in Coto and Rancho and, you know, hot temps, and I just love San Juan Capistrano.

Nice.

Hey, I've got a 2-bedroom, 1-bath for sale.

I've got 4 kids. Ones and zeros.

Bunk beds.

Bunk beds.

I'm sure some of those condos have like—

The avocado room. The guacamole room. It would be perfect for the kids.

Let them paint it whatever color you want.

And then the closet.

Remember the closet?

It's a closet with a slide.

They're bigger than you. The vert ramp.

Yeah, yeah.

That's perfect.

That was interesting.

That's where you, you seriously, at like a ski rental place, they used to have those so you can just like, yeah, try on the boots and get an idea.

Yeah, just like get up there, you know. My kids used to get up there all the time. They love that room. It's, it's a closet. It's a walk-in closet. It's right above the stairs, so they cut that out and it's like Sliding stairs basically is what it is. My kids loved it. Oh my God. If they were here today—

The smaller the kid, the bigger the hill looks. Right.

True.

Yeah.

Yeah, true.

So, yeah.

So maybe you could break down— you're gonna be doing the open house at these properties we're talking about. Break down the benefit of an agent putting on an open house for maybe somebody else's listing. What's, what's the move there?

Okay, well, uh, open houses are not for buyers. They're for prospects. And so I go and I talk to people who are in the market to buy. And typically an open house doesn't draw the buyer into the house that you're showing, except for Vista Portola, I think.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was sold during an open house. Yes, that's right. You held that one open as well.

Yeah.

Yes, thank you.

And I spent time with Those buyers.

Yes.

You know, and I think that's also what I like is being able to be, uh, co-teaming with the agent even though I'm not going to see a split on that. You know, I think that good that I put out, it comes back to me. And if you have that mentality that you're putting out— like, I think, Joe, I think this is why we align, is because you put that good out to, you know, and whether you get something back from it or not, like, you're putting that good out there and it is coming back to you.

We align. Oh my God, really? I'm not sure.

You prove every day that you are a child in a man's body.

I was talking at the meetup that we go to the other day, and I was like doing a hand gesture like this, talking, and she thought I was like telling her not to be, you know, to be quiet or something. And I— and she looked at me, he goes, don't be telling me to be quiet.

I don't think that would have been me, but I think she was triggered. I think there are 6 love languages. Have you heard of the 6 love— or the 5? The 5 levels, you know? Yes, 5.

I forget what they are.

Oh, do we need to run through it? Okay, yeah, you can Google it later, but basically it's like different languages that you speak love through, right? Like gifts or quality time.

Joe's is lunch. Is that— that's one of them, right?

Yes. No, no, I was hoping it was, but I think that there's— I had half of my week covered this week from investors that met with me and bought me lunch.

Yeah, it's like, that's a good week right there.

Is that—

yeah, yeah, yeah. So that would probably be food. So that's a 7th love language, I think, food. Okay, I don't know. Okay, but the 6th one, I think, you know, I'm coining the phrase that there's a 6th one and that it's drubbing. And I've drubbed people since kindergarten or earlier.

What's drubbing?

Like teasing and giving them a hard time. Oh my God. And like, I feel like I'm a fraternity boy trapped in a woman's body sometimes, and I just want to haze and tease and whatever. And it actually is love. And I think—

That's what you're doing?

Yes, it's love.

Really?

It's love. Yes.

Wow.

Yes.

I thought she was just being mean to me.

I know most people— and the people who don't get it, because you stick around and you still like are nice to me, uh, but the people who like don't like it It's a way of weeding out the people that shouldn't be in my life. Yes, right? It's it's sick, but it works.

Yeah, no, you got to be able to be roasted. So you know, that's what it is.

Yeah, and roast and be roasted. And if you can't be roasted, then go have life without me because I'm gonna roast you.

Yeah, and you don't have a sense of humor, and it's like yeah, exactly.

You gotta have this.

Yeah, you got.

You won't make it in life without one.

Yeah, yeah.

Let things go. Okay, I've let it go. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I've officially let it go.

That's been the mantra of the week, I think. Just letting a lot of things go.

Officially let it go. Okay, okay.

That's good.

That's great.

Yeah, that's good. So we worked through something. Wow. This is almost like a therapy session for you.

I'll invoice you guys later.

Thank you. Yeah.

I'm a daughter of 2 therapists.

Oh, okay.

Well, there you go. Now I know where you get all this from.

Yeah, she's in your head. She's in both of our heads.

She planned this whole thing.

Wow.

Now it fell right into the trap.

Wow.

Oh wow, that's good. That is good. Okay, so, um, any other listings coming up or available?

I am on the prowl for referrals from my sphere of influence.

Nice.

Uh, so that's what I'm asking for for Christmas.

Yes.

Happy New Year is what I'm looking for. Um, and Listings. Yeah, we have a couple off markets that might come to you know the market if they don't get scooped up before they get to the market. But nothing really my own.

Yeah, that's okay. That's that's totally fine. Yeah. How can people get a hold of you? I mean, what's the best way?

Follow me on Instagram.

You're on there all the time.

How worth it?

Yes. Yeah.

H O W O R T H I T.

I— that was another thing. I, I saw her on Instagram and she says, well, Joe, you didn't like it. And I go, how do I like it? I didn't even know how to like these things. She says, well, you have to like double-click it or something, or do the heart or whatever. And then she goes, well, you have to subscribe to me too, right?

Follow me.

Follow you, whatever.

Subscribe, subscribe and like on YouTube. Follow, follow.

Yeah, subscribe and like. On YouTube.

Yeah. Yeah.

Follow on Instagram.

Follow on Instagram.

Mm-hmm.

So now I'm following her.

You're getting it, boomer.

And she like is on there all the time. I see her at the lake in Mission Viejo, walking around, telling people everything about the lake and, you know, a lot of stuff, right?

I think that one was a reel and it was highlighting the lake, but it was, it was more about, uh, what was the tagline on that one? Um, the best time to buy real estate was yesterday.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, something like that.

That's true.

Yeah. So I told you we were going to make you famous. Oh, okay. By coming on this podcast. So I don't want anybody out there to disappoint. So you have all her contact information. If you've got anything real estate related going on, please reach out to her. She's happy to help you. She's very experienced. She's very energetic, and you'll have fun at least working with her.

Thank you, Joe.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, and we win escrows. That's our branding.

Oh, amazing.

Do we have any questions?

No questions.

Oh my God.

I have a question.

Question.

For each of you. If you had— you can take time to think about this one too. I'll give you time. But if you had hype music walking you into a ring, what would your hype music be?

Ooh, that's good.

Um, I, I don't know because I don't really listen to much music, so it'd have to be— I, I know, it'd have to be '70s music.

I was gonna, I was gonna say that.

It'd have to be Doobie Brothers.

No, no.

I like ZZ Top.

Oh, there we go. Now we're getting somewhere.

She's got legs.

That's your hype music.

I love ZZ Top.

That's that's she knows how to use them.

That's it.

That's your hype music. You come into it.

Yes.

Okay. Yeah. She's got legs. Yeah.

She's got legs.

Joe Holmes got got got legs. It doesn't roll off the tongues. I can't. I can't.

I can't do it. Alex took me to a meetup one day and a famous guy— I won't say his name, but a famous guy was going to be there. We waited 2 hours for him to show up. He shows up with this entourage. I kid you not.

Did he have hype music?

Did he have—

was it Baby Bunny?

He had hype music.

Who was this one that we just talked about?

But he had, he had an entourage of people and it's like, I'll get to everybody in a minute, you know? It's like You know, I'll shake your hand in a minute. You know, it's like, well, whatever. But he did not have the hype music.

Yeah, he should have.

He was missing that.

Yeah, he's— it sounds a little pretentious, and you don't come off as pretentious, but you do have hype music.

Yes.

Yes, you enter a room, there's some hype music there.

Really? What music do you hear when I walk into a room?

I would say The Who. Something from the Who. Something like guitar-driven, you know, '70s classic.

Who's the Bee Gees? Staying Alive? That's what I hear when you walk in.

No, he's not glossy.

No, it's not the Bee Gees. More like, uh, like— oh, I'm thinking of the Beach Boys.

No. Yeah, the Bee Gees.

The Bee Gees. Yeah.

Well, I asked Joe.

They did, um, like the disco stuff, didn't they? Yes.

And I asked Joe, I was like, Joe, did you ever go to a disco? And he's like, yes, actually.

Yes.

Can you imagine?

In New York?

No, in Tijuana.

Oh shit.

Yes, in Tijuana, baby. See, that's where we used to go because we weren't of age. Yeah, so the wife and I, the cousins, everybody go down to Tijuana.

It's a family party in Tijuana. The wife and I.

Yes.

Wow.

Yes. And we weren't married yet.

All the cousins.

All the cousins. He's in bell bottoms. And those were the days we came back going through the border, and cars back then had 2 keys, one to turn the ignition on and one to open up the trunk. Okay, well, my cousin forgot the key for the trunk, and the guy goes, can you open up your trunk?

Oh no.

He goes, I'm sorry, I, I don't have—

Smuggling toddlers.

Yeah, so he pulled us over in the secondary station.

No, all the Cokes in the back.

And we had to call his dad to come bring the key, open it up, Obviously nothing there, you know.

And then I've had I've had one of those where I didn't have a front plate, so the officer went to the back at the border at the back to the back bumper to type it in. Yeah, and I thought he was letting me go.

Oh my gosh!

No, no, they were on me like fly on.

Oh, I thought you like I'm done.

No, no, I crawled out of there thinking I was I'm okay to go, right?

And they're like.

No, and so they pulled me over and then inspected my vehicle. Like I had someone hanging underneath.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like whoo!

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

I'm like putting my hands out the window. Like I got no gun.

Fun days.

What's your hype music?

What's your hype music?

So I picked possibly three.

So no, you had one. Yeah, you have to narrow it down. You need to be decisive in this industry, sir.

Okay. Well, these. the top 3, and then I'll pick one at the very end.

I will pick it then.

If you're gonna tell us 3, we can pick it.

Um, I guess there's not 3 in there.

There is 3. There is 3.

Okay, okay, okay.

Uh, Metallica, Master of Puppets.

Okay.

Michael Jackson, Beat It, the guitar part.

It's like over.

And then, or, um, Bob Marley, Get Up, Stand Up. So those are the 3.

Uh, hi.

And which one are you picking? I'm saying she's right. It's like you picked 3 ends of the spectrum here.

You're versatile, we'll say that. You're versatile.

Thank you.

And Bob Marley, because that's, that's a crowd pleaser, right? The other ones, the other ones are a little—

There's a movie coming out with him.

Yeah, it's a documentary.

Oh, it is?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't know.

I'm all about that.

Bob Marley.

Yeah. Who shot the sheriff?

Yeah.

Who shot the sheriff?

What about you?

My hype music? Oh, I thought we were running out of time. Right now, the one that I love right now is Miley Cyrus. That oh, Joe.

Come on, Joe.

Dear me.

Better than that.

He's on Instagram. He knows who that is.

Tori, what's that song by Miley Cyrus?

Used to be young.

Like I used to be. Used to be crazy. Used to be fun. And and Miley says, well, that's when I used to be young.

Oh.

And I love it because she's owning her.

Yeah.

Womanhood.

That's a thumbs down for you.

She's a Swiftie though. That's why my my daughter my daughter's.

We just went to the Eras Tour. Did you guys go?

I made $875 last year. I did not go to the Eras Tour.

Yeah, I brought up a sore subject.

Okay, well, she's coming back around.

Let's move on. Let's move on.

Yeah, there's success in my future.

Well, when I went, I went with Lauren and I was like, it's, it's moms, daughters, and then like guys like looking around that had to go, that had to accompany, or, or 2 types of guys. The Swiftie guys.

Did you hear about the Sphere? I had no idea about the Sphere until they posted it on social media. I had no idea it was happening. U2 and— oh, out in— yeah, I didn't even know the venue was going up. Like, that's how my head has been in the game and nowhere else.

Yeah, yeah.

So she's a Swiftie, so we know.

I'd love to go to the Sphere.

Yeah, Sphere would be cool.

Yeah.

It's a new venue in Vegas.

Thank you.

Joe, would you like to go to the Sphere? Do you like concerts?

No.

What do you do? What do you do for fun, Joe?

Straight up, this is what I do for fun.

I know, but outside of work, outside of work and, um, family gatherings, because I know those two are huge for you.

Yes.

Okay, and what do you do for fun? Do you have like— do you play Sudoku or something?

Cruising.

No, we do a lot of cruising.

That's vacationing though, like on a daily basis for fun.

Matinee.

Do you have a motorcycle?

No.

Matinee.

Movies. Movies, yes. I go to a lot of movies.

What's the most recent movie that you saw that was pleasantly surprisingly successful that you liked?

There's not much out. Oppenheimer was really good. Thank you. Sorry, there's not much out there right now. Oppenheimer and, uh, I'm a Tom Cruise fan, so why anything? That's what people say, but I don't know why I like him.

Sorry, why?

It's my choice. I like him.

Yeah, Risky Business. There you go.

That's when they liked him, when he was young. That's not fair.

Yeah, no, I, I like—

I can't get to the gun.

Like, did you like the original? And then I saw—

yeah, did you like that? I couldn't even get past the pool hall when the younger Goose— I was like, I can't, I can't do this movie. Like yeah, I I just felt like they're pushing a storyline that didn't need to be put.

I don't know. And anything Star Trek. Oh, I'm a Trek.

Can you do it?

Yeah.

Is it with the thumb out?

Yeah. Okay.

That's good. And then Mork from York.

Oh no, this this is yeah. That's okay. We won't go into that.

Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was Mork from York.

They're trying it. Yeah. Yeah. It it takes a little bit of practice. You don't have no idea what this is, but wasn't this Nanu Nanu? No, this is Vulcan.

Okay, but what was Nanu Nanu?

I don't know what was Nanu Nanu.

That was Robin Williams.

Robin Williams.

Yeah, Mork and Mindy.

Now, you remember he said something, but I don't think it was—

I thought that's how they shook hands. And now, and now you're saying it's a sexual innuendo?

I'm not saying that. Okay, did you say that? Nobody said that. I didn't say that.

I'm sorry, I didn't say that. I innocently—

did you hear anything?

I innocently Producer, shake your hand.

Roll the tape back. Let's see what happened. I don't know what happened.

Something happened.

I'm so sorry.

That's fine.

I'm so sorry.

It's all good.

Okay, so now we know my personal life. Yeah.

Do we? No, this man is a mystery. Yeah, this man's a menace. He's— you're a mystery.

Thank you.

You're like James Dean incarnate.

A mystery.

Yeah. No one knows your age. No one knows if he's married.

Do we care?

No one knows about his family until we meet them.

Yeah. Do we care?

Yeah, we care. I think we do. I think we do.

See, that's— we were talking the other day about different events, and that's why I don't go to the realtor social event. It's like, I'm not social. What do I want to socialize?

No, I get that.

With other people.

Well, and your phone's blowing up and you're managing a lot of your— even though they're not your employees, you're managing them like you're They're your agents, right? So that's a lot of management. Where I'm carefree, I'm a free agent, right? And I get to go out and do all that networking.

Like a butterfly.

Yeah, and then bring it, bring the information back and the connections back to the brokerage. Yeah.

Yeah. That's good.

Yeah, but one of the, what do we call them? Not vendors.

Affiliates.

Affiliates.

Ah.

Was asking me why I don't normally attend these Meetings.

And I know why.

I attended one with you guys, remember?

Food.

I could have told him in one answer, food.

Well, and we knew it was gonna have food. We knew it was gonna be good food. That's why I'm like, he's gonna be here. Yeah, he's gonna be here.

Yeah, but that was— yeah, they do have food. They don't have as quality food that was last time, last week.

No, usually it's like a half a banana and yogurt and some donuts or something, which, you know, donuts is a big draw for me. It depends on the affiliate that sponsors the breakfast. Yes, or it depends on the speaker.

It's really just like you know a social event is is all I can describe it as. No one's doing deals.

It's like well Joe.

Oh here's Stephanie. Joe.

Come sit over here with me.

All right. Take your seat.

Take your seat.

It's like okay. I'm past that, right? Yeah.

No, you're not.

You're not. Yeah. It's like come on.

The thing is Joe Joe is. Seeing it from perspective in a down market when there's nothing to talk about on the white sheet, hot sheet, whatever they call it. And, um, so yeah, it's, it's not fun to go to broker preview if there's no action, you know. And we want some inventory action. We need inventory, inventory, good speakers, actions. There was one speaker out of this whole year that kept, you know, fresh in my mind, and it was about It was about, um, cleaning up the house after like bodily fluid, you know, um, contamination.

Oh wow.

Yeah.

I was there.

Yeah, see, it was engaging. It was engaging.

It was to a point, but then he stopped. He says, I'm not going to show you the gory stuff. And I'm thinking, what do you think I came for? I want to see the gory stuff. It's not like we have You know, young children out here, right? I want to see what— you know, you're telling me you clean up all this gory stuff. What is that? I want to see what that is.

See the crime scene.

Talk about gory stuff. Yeah, what did we see yesterday? It was a lot of gory stuff during our eviction. 6 dogs in a house, probably 10 to 15 people in the house. They're not cleaning up after their dogs, so they've got, you know, poop all over the place. The giant pig in the garage, which is still there, by the way. We're trying to figure out a home for this pig. So a home—it's like a barbecue or a home—one of the two.

So anyways, a nice size bigger.

That's what I wanted to see from this guy was the gory stuff. But he—he said no. I'm not gonna show you.

I think you're being cute right now. No, I'm not. Okay.

I'm being serious.

No. Oh no! I didn't want to see that stuff. I don't want to see. That's why I'm just saying. He told us the his profession, what he faces, how they do cleanup, how it's hazmat, and just it was fascinating to me because it it was a topic that you know you don't run across every day. Yeah, and it wasn't true interest rates are still strong and holding. You know, it wasn't that stuff, or you know, I'm an affiliate that can corner the market and be your best lender, and you're like you know so.

We did. Did we? I believe we asked him how much he charges on some of these cleanups.

And I think he's the only one in South Orange County.

Do you remember what he said?

No, because I'm not a numbers girl. Oh yeah, you asked.

Charging like probably the house that we were at yesterday, he charged us $10,000 to get rid of everything. Yeah, it's not cheap.

It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Do you see what I just did there?

Nice. There you go. How worth it is it? Okay, got it. Yeah, yeah. Beat somebody with a bag and clean the poop.

No, no, because he was saying, he was saying how it's underneath the floors. So handy tip for, you know, as we close out this Podcast. If you have hydrogen peroxide, did you hear that?

She wants to close it.

No, no, we can keep talking. It's a good. It's a good. It's a good tip. Hydrogen peroxide in an area where you have like pet, you know, fluids or excrement or bodily fluids or anything, right? You pour the hydrogen peroxide on the floor where you've cleaned up everything, and if it bubbles up through the flooring, you have human— you have, you have stuff that you have to take care of underneath the floor. So—

She learned things.

Yes, she did. Yes. So I moved into an apartment in May, and there is some lift to luxury vinyl. I don't like that word, luxury vinyl, but anyway, there's Lyft to the Luxury Vinyl, and I'm like, did a dog like go here all every time, you know, and like cause warping or something? And so I took my hydrogen peroxide and nothing bubbled up, and I'm like, okay, peace of mind, peace of mind.

Black light.

I don't know, in the hotel room.

Yeah.

At the Airbnb and figuring out if there's videos in the Airbnb.

Yeah, he does have a black light.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Oh, he does. Yeah, he does. Oh yeah, he does.

Bioluminescence of the— yeah, whatever it is.

Gosh, is that what bioluminescence is? Whale sperm?

I was going down to the beach the whole time.

That's crazy.

That's an actual organism. Oh yeah, that creates that.

All right, he said organism. Yeah, organism. Let's just keep going. Let's just keep going. Make him uncomfortable. Get his face red.

Oh boy. Producer, how we doing?

Looking good. 52 minutes. Nice.

Wow, there we go. That's good.

Wow, I told you 45. Yeah, so I've kept you a little bit longer. I appreciate it. I don't mind. We've got— I love this. We've got an audience now, so that's, that's awesome. Yeah, she's clapping.

Nice. Love it.

Yeah, yeah.

So, um, yeah, definitely, uh, reach out to Stephanie if you guys You know, and need any sort of agent needs, or if you are another agent, you want an open house hosted. Is that something you'll do for just anybody, or it's got to be the hookup?

I love working with others. So yeah, works well with others. There you go. Because there could be someone out there like that little.

Yeah.

Could be someone out there who's also looking to team up with somebody, you know, and there you go. Maybe we'll be a matchmaker.

Do you know who a lot of team members that do that are? People that take listings not in their area. So like if an LA agent had a listing over here in Orange County, uh, he would not necessarily come over here and do open house. So that's where agents have that opportunity to reach out to somebody like that and offer to do open house for them.

Nice. Yeah.

There's, there's so many opportunities out there to make money. You just have to learn about them and be willing to do it.

You have to be willing to do it. Yes, you have to be inspired. There's also a lot of, um, hemorrhaging energy that's not necessary. So you hemorrhage your energy into things that are futile. Um, and true. And that's, that's why I think it's cruel to put so much, you know, pressure on a new Um, any, any career.

No pressure. There was no pressure.

There's no pressure. No, there was no— no opportunity. No, for me, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Give yourself time to grow.

Yeah, well, when you— the bills need to be paid and you're divorced, right? It's just—

Don't worry.

Yeah, I know, right?

You can't live on $875 a year. Come on, what are you doing with your money? You know, come on. So you got all that, uh, COVID money that was sent out to everybody.

Yeah, grab a little bit.

That went to him.

They even sent money out to the kids as well. Like, everybody got money. I got money. Everybody got money. Yeah, they didn't ask how much money you make during the year anyway, so they gave out to everybody. Gave it out, you know, whether you made— worry about it later. Yeah, whether you made, you know, $800 that year or a million, doesn't really matter. Here, it's yours.

Yeah, we'll just print some more.

Why not? Okay, now we're getting into politics. Oh yeah, we gotta move on.

When Joe starts talking politics, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna move on.

We gotta end it. Yeah, we're gonna move on. Just remember, 10% for the big guy.

10% for the big guy. That's, that's a good rule all around. But, uh, thank you guys for watching. We'll be here next Thursday, um, talking about some creative lending. Yeah, yeah, I got a good guest lined up. Um, and so please share this podcast with any new or experienced investor. And we'll see you on the next one.

See you later.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks for having me. Thank you. If you want some more advice on real estate investing, reach out to us one-on-one.