NAR Settlement Discussions with a Consumer and Client!

My media manager, my brother in law, like all kinds of things, my counselor a lot of times. So it's great to have somebody with such wisdom at his age behind the camera and hanging around with me. So he gets to see a lot of what I'm doing. And there's a lot of questions coming from his side, being not only the behind the camera at the event, but being a consumer, being a client, which by the way, he bought a house from us in a weird situation during COVID which was a little different. And so welcome, Garrett. You guys got to finally see who is behind the camera all the time, making all the content. This is the man responsible for it, all of it. And Christian, my oldest, is in training now. He's sitting in the chair operating. So here we are. So let's have a good conversation. Garrett and I have questions that we're going to go through that are really important. And then at the end of this, we'll jump into some Q and A. Is that cool? So one of the things I want to bring up that some of you may have experienced and may not have is the comparison in the 2008 market, when the market crashed to 2024, and what I'm seeing our industry do right now as like it's the major interruption right now. And it was a major interruption back then. So I lived through that times and back then, I mean, it did financially ruin us and it wasn't the reason because the real estate market dropped. It's actually because of my own financial situation that I didn't structure, which was super frustrating, but I had to learn from. You know, we did really well in the 05 06, which comparison to the last couple of years, 2019 through 2022, we all did really well and made a lot of money. And there was a few of us that learned from the last time and said, I'm not going to spend every penny I make. I'm not going to increase my lifestyle. I'm going to invest in some assets and I'm going to put some money away so that when shit does hit the fan, I don't have to live in fear of what's happening. And I know that a lot of the industry is living in fear right now. So this conversation is going to be about addressing those fears and really talking through and being confident in what you're presenting to your clients and what you can do right now. So, Garrett, let's. Let's dive into this, man.

Awesome. All right, why don't you give us.

A little background on Yourself. And then we'll, we'll jump in. Since you never really get to intro yourself. Oh, gosh.

A little background. Yeah. Technology. I think there's an old song stated like that. Yeah. Well, we moved out here. My wife and kids and I moved out here in 2021. My wife is from here. We, I'm from the Midwest, so that's where we were living. And we were ready for a big change. So we came back out here to the Valley. My parents moved out here. My one sister was already out here, but the other sister came with as well. So we kind of all abandoned the Midwest at the same time and decided that we would come take over Phoenix. So, so we did it because in Illinois, where we were living, it's rare that their housing market is good. So we tried to ride that COVID wave of, of the housing market, and we, we all jumped ship while we could.

What's funny about Garrett's family is they all lived in at one point in time, Rockford, Illinois, which was the most depreciating real estate market in the country.

I love that you said one time. It still is. It's back on the list.

It was the worst. I mean, it's terrible.

Yeah. It's how that was. It was a, it's known as a boom town. So after the great Chicago Fire, a lot of the people moved out of the city. And that's kind of was the birth of Rockford. So it was very industrial. But then also in the 90s, and you look at things like, you wonder how politics can affect you, like the NAFTA trade.

Right.

It actually was a city that was, I think was 13th on the list in the 80s for most millionaires in the city.

Wow.

And within 10 years, so many of those industries shipped jobs overseas, and all of a sudden it became like, I.

Don'T know, you became the mayor real quick.

Guns and gangsters, bro. Like, that's just what happens next when you have abandoned buildings.

Oh, that's awesome. All right, you've got question number one.

Yes. All right. A ton. Really? But there's so much. When they, when this lawsuit came out, if I wouldn't be around you all the time, I probably would have had no idea that this lawsuit came out.

Right.

Or I just would have assumed that this industry was over based on the reaction of how everyone reacted. And so I, I, I just had to Google certain things. Like, I don't even know what n is. That's great. Is this good? Is this bad? And I think I came next day. I Was like, is this a good thing or a bad thing? I. I don't know what's happening. And from what I gathered, I was like, bad for you, good for me. Is that. Is that how this works? And then I was like, wait, but if I'm a buyer, it's bad for me. There's just a lot going on. So trying to figure out in my, as a consumer, first off, like, my first goal is going, all right, what do I need to be aware of? Because I'm not aware.

Right.

And to the average person, even something as I'd say, as simple, but as it's complex, the contract for a house is very. It's just a lot of things.

Right.

So I think I still have like, my housing document is like this thick at home.

Right.

So trying to be prepared for that stuff.

Yeah. So that's great. And then so you're thinking it's. It's great for you, could be bad for me, but it's definitely going to be something you've got to navigate. So let's go back to your actual real estate experiences. Like all we were talking about it yesterday, just cracks me up the way the reputation of the industry, not any of the people on this call, just how things are handled. So you essentially, and I don't even think you realize what you did, but tell me about the first experience that you had when you were talking about your sister's neighbor's house.

Yeah, well, I don't know if part of it is comes from being stubborn or being a dude. One of those. The combination is probably terrible.

Probably both. And you were probably 30.

But I. Yeah, my. My sister's neighbor was moving. They were looking to sell their house. After conversations, we're like, oh, well, maybe we should buy this house. And Rachel and I, my wife, we kind of. The first time that we had talked about maybe being positioned to. To purchase a house, it was our first time. So we were like, well, let's see. Let's see what we could do. And they're like, well, we're going to. We'd like to sell the house for like 135. Again. This is like 2011, 2012 in Rockford, Illinois. So that, you know, although here probably wasn't much different back then.

No.

So, no, we looked at it and I was like, well, let's pay for an appraisal. So we got the house appraised just on our own accord, came back at 110. So we put an offer in at 110. And at that point, the people Stopped communicating back to us. After I hand delivered the appraisal, I was like, hey, this is what it came back at. And the guy had a real estate agent contact me who was a buddy of his.

But the property wasn't listed. You had just had conversation with the neighbor. So you presented your offer to them, and then you got a call from his agent.

Yeah, well, there's kind of a sob story attached to it. They were an older couple, but they wanted to move to California where the kids and grandkids were. He had a terminal sickness that was approaching, so they were just looking to spend the last decade out there. And so we were like, oh, this could be. You know, this could be a win win. You guys could get on the move. We could be next to my sister. And so it's kind of awkward then when a real estate agent contacted me, really just letting me know how much I offended his friend and his client. And I was like, what? And he was like, they want to sell for 135. Then he gave me a sob story of how much work and effort and blood and sweat and tears went into the house. Which, keep in mind, this house, I kid you not, was like 1500 square feet with a basement that was, like, finished. But it was like those basements. It's like maybe seven.

It was handyman finished.

I mean, he was good. He was a good little contractor, you know, but. But it was all sentimental. So I had to, like, tell the real estate agent, who was not really kind, I was like, hey, man, the. I understand. I totally understand sentimental value. It's like the house I grew up in, but the bank won't lend to me on sentimental value. It'll lend him what it's approved at.

Good point.

So I. After I said that, I. I didn't hear back. And then Rachel, I went back to the drawing board and ended up finding a house that we really like. But I was like, well, tell you I'm not calling a real estate agent because they suck. Right? Yeah. So that was kind of my first go. And then we ended up. Actually, we did find a house, but. Stop there.

But.

Well, so in that case, it's so fascinating because if you really look at the numbers, this is like the critical part. As. As. As we solve problems for people.

And.

And I think that the real estate agents, like that guy, called to defend his client rather than calling to figure out how to solve the problem and.

Talk them through it.

Because the reality is the difference between 110 and 135, if you start throwing Commissions and closing costs, things that we're not that far off. But for the agent to not take his client and go, not take something personally and go, I understand where you guys at. You got an appraisal. But he didn't explain to Garrett that you get five appraisers out there and get different values and that he didn't even try to solve the problem. So what happens when we do this as agents is we actually give our own industry a terrible reputation. So thank you for whatever goober did that to you early on, because it sucks. Because now your opinion in that moment is every real estate agent sucks. Like, I have no reason to call any of you guys, because you're not going to call me back. You're going to leave me down the wrong road. You. And go f yourself. I'll do this on my own, because I can do this better than you. And I think that that's the next experience that you had.

This is like, yes. So I definitely went to the drawing board and used what every skilled adult does, and they make their own decisions based on Zillow. Zello, our best friend, right, is the Swiss army knife of how I could find the right one. But actually, I had found a house, and I was like, oh, it took me, like, forever. The pictures weren't on Zillow. I had to, like, go three different real estate agencies deep to find the original listing pictures of the house. But when I found him, I was like, ooh, I like this. Because part of what me and Rachel had to do was, like, decide what we actually wanted in a house. And we realized the house we looked at would have been terrible for us, but we never asked those questions ahead of time. We just were about to have major buyers remorse. So, thankfully, it didn't work out. And we got to take a breath and really figure out what we were looking for for our needs. And what's funny is, coincidentally, Rachel had also looked at that house with her mom. They drove by it, but because how overgrown it was, they. They pulled in the driveway and pulled out. They're like, ugh, gross. No. But I was like, oh, all right, I found it. So I finally found someone. But I was like, oh, I got to call a real estate agent to let me see the inside of this house. Dang it. And I think I just had this epiphany the other day because we, you know, we went in, we looked at it, and I was like, ooh, we want this house. And it was listed for 125. And I knew we could Qualify right about that range. And so we drove back to our apartment, and I was like, I really like this house. He walked in, I feel like you could dream for it. It just was a good fit. And Rachel goes, I feel like it was listed 124. She goes, I feel like we should offer, like, 114. I kid you not. 20 minutes later, the real estate agent called me back, and she's like, hey, just want to let you know it was a foreclosure. No one was living in it. So she's like, I just want to let you know tomorrow this house actually publishes at 1:14. And I was like, I'll call you right back. And I called it right back. And we. We just bid 115 without really having a plan. I just used my parents as a backup plan because I didn't know what else to do. I knew I wanted that house. And the next day, three more offers at 114 came in, and we got it. But I didn't.

You still don't know who represented you?

No, that's right. That's what came on the conversation. I was like, wait a minute. Well, I didn't pay anyone a commission. You're like, not that you know of. And I was like, wait a minute. Hold on. What? Because now, talking about this NAR thing, how much I would have been so angry at going, sweet, we got it. My cost is 115. Wait, I got to pay what now? Out of pocket.

But you didn't have to in that situation, though.

No, because you didn't hire a real.

Estate agent to walk you through the process. You did it on your own. So that agent ended up keeping both sides of it. So that was a little different. But you still didn't know who represented you just out of purpose. And my. My point is, like, when we go through dual agents and we go through the contracts, even though the consumer is signing everything, it's an emotional thing. Do you see how excited he was when he's talking about it? He didn't care what he signed when he signed it, nor does he know anything about it at this point. All he knew is he ended up with the house and sold it later. And that is. That's fascinating because I think a lot of times we sit down with the consumers and we expect them to go through and know what we're talking about as we use coe and title and escrow and all these words and pre quals and ar, and we realize, like, oh, man, I need to dumb all this down to the third grade. Level and go, what do you know about this process?

I. I've been in this room with you for like two and a half years and I still don't know what half those acronyms mean. And I thought you were going to say AARP and then realized I wasn't old enough for that. So I don't know what the other thing was. But.

So, okay, so now let's go to one more transaction when you sell that house. Yes, tell me about that two for one experience with your mom. And as we're relocating out here.

Mom's. My mom's. My mom called me and said, hey, I got you a real estate agent. I was like, what? I don't, I don't know if I want a real estate agent. Mainly because I already. Yeah, I already know how I feel about real estate agents. I'm going to sell this. I'm going to sell my own house. Like I bought my own house. Right? Is what I told myself because I was still thinking that I did that old lady never told me any different. So that was my plan. I was like, I'm going to take some photos, create my own Zillow listing. It's going to be done. I didn't really think about writing a contract or a note or in a RP list, whatever CCO2 47 things are. But that I would have hired a lawyer sure to figure that out for me. Maybe that's not true either, but hadn't really thought that far ahead. So my mom brokered a deal for. To use the same real estate agent for like it was like a 2.4 commission on each house right in. In order to get both listings. So which is fine. But at the same time we were working out the crazy deal with the house out here. So we, we actually, we were ready to move out here, but we weren't ready to sell our house there. We were looking to finish up some things with, with jobs and a Season of Life and kids and all of that. So the hard part is the way the market was shifting out here. So there was a whole lot of creative finance strategy to acquire the house out here.

Right.

With some holding costs with some other things for us to sell our house out there. I, I don't. You guys all know Steve, so you know how that craziness works as a consumer. I just went along for the ride. But the difference in experience was wild because my house got listed in Illinois and I'd be like, check in three days later. I'd be like, check with my agent. Be like, hey, how's it going? Do we like, we have movement on anything? And it would be like 48, 72 hours before I heard back. And out here it's like whether it was like your team, whether it was Kelly's team, whether I could go down the list. It was like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. And the slowest part was working with anybody in the Midwest. I was just like, it's fine. It's average. It'll take a few weeks. It's no big deal. Sit tight. I kid you not. At one point, this is a random story. I'm just gonna tell it because Steve's letting me. He's just sitting here. I went, I went to the pool. I got a private club with my sister. We were like, at this golf course pool. And because my parents had already moved out here, and so we lost the summer pool, you know, so we, we got like a summer membership. And I'm in the pool and I look across the pool. It's like a Friday afternoon, and I just see my, my real estate agent. He's in the pool like this. After ghosting me for like three days straight, he's got a drink in hand. He's standing in the water up to here. And I was like, this joker, it's Friday afternoon. You should be selling my house, not drinking a margarita in the pool, dude. So naturally I went over and.

Oh, God.

And I didn't harass him, but I was like, hey, man, you know, I can get a house on a golf course. He was like, actually. And I was like. And then he recognized me. He was like, oh, hey. And I was like, hey. And I just tried to be cool because I didn't want to be that guy. But.

But did you check his social media to see what he was really doing that day?

Never. I never even saw if he had a social media right. He did. He did get good photos of my house to put them on Zillow. I knew that's how you sold the.

House, that, that coming from a photographer, that was the only good thing he did.

And he did offer me one good piece of advice. But, you know, that, that's fine.

That's.

That's a lot. It's a lot. But that whole experience would be way different for me, especially as a first time buyer after listening to how all this stuff has shifted.

So I'm, I'm curious from your perspective, though, in all of that, even though your mom created a deal with the realtor. So follow this for a second, everybody. You, as a consumer infer as much reading and due diligence as you do, why you never stopped and went, I'm going to interview and ask some questions based on my past experience of other agents and called some agents and checked around and said this is better for me. Was it just because the consumer mom said, hey, this is a good thing. So I'm going to trust mom's judgment and go in that direction.

Well, part of it is my mom's deal is already done and over. She's already out here.

Right. So I know I sold her a house. Yeah.

Uh, so the other, my mom literally bought his mom's house. Yeah.

It's called getting paid to connect the dots.

Your mom, your mom goes over and hangs out in her old house. I love it. She hates it. She misses it. That's, that's the best part.

Yeah.

So, so part of it I didn't, I didn't really thought about it to be honest, because I feel like I got a lower rate commission wise or at least at the time. But I also because of where the market was at, I didn't feel like I had to worry about.

Right.

Any of those things because I kind of figured it was a great house, is in great shape. We did a lot of great stuff I knew is going to sell itself.

Yeah.

All right. But now I think there's like to go down like consumer questions. I guess I wrote a bunch of questions down.

Yeah.

If I, if I were to go back and say if I was a first time homebuyer now.

Yep.

Right. What, what shifts or what would I not be prepared for? Because I feel like the only thing I ever know, any of my friends as first time home buyers, they're only thinking safe for down payment. Not safer, other Cash out of hand.

Right out of pocket.

Out of pocket. Experiences out of hand. About to be out of hand. So how does that shift now? And it's weird talking these rules because I do think they're not done shifting.

But they're not.

That's its own conversation, I guess. So knowing like it's 2.5 or some people are worried, don't use, don't use 3% because it could be taken as negative later. But also if you're an agent worth 3%, shouldn't you say 3%? Is it worth paying 3? Like as a consumer, how do you read through the line? Just go, how do I, ah, give me an agent worth its salt because this junk is weird and messy. So what are some creative ways you've been thinking about how to represent like the first Time, home buyer, this part of the community.

Well, I think, I think it's fascinating for all of us because I think that's the biggest concern is if we look at it from our position, is how are we going to help people and get compensated for the guidance we're giving for the people that only have enough money to do what they're in. So take Garrett, take my son, who's on the other side of the camera right now is like, what is it? How does that impact him as. I just bit my tongue, sorry about that. So that the thing is like, how do we start doing that? Well, I start thinking about different perspectives of how do we go outside the box to solve the problem for the consumer and still give them good guidance without making them feel like piece of crap. Because I think that that's some of the things that I'm hearing from people. There's a question coming up and I'm just going to go ahead and throw it out there, you know, because this is what frustrates me about our industry, and I'm sure it does everybody on this call. I sat on a panel last week gripping a microphone, trying not to crush it as I listened to an agent from the audience. His only question and concern was, how am I going to guarantee I get my commission when these rules come into play? And my only thing that I wanted to say in front of 200 people was, if you actually do your job and provide value for somebody, you won't have any worries about getting paid. But if you're the atypical agent that drops somebody off at a new build, signs them in and walks away after six months, you don't deserve to be paid, my friend. You might deserve the, the Uber charge to take them there, but that's about all your value is at this point.

Yeah, that's wild. So I was in the back and I thought, how do I guarantee that I don't accidentally hire that guy?

Right? So I mean that, that is the consumer perspective. And one of the things which totally off cuff here, but I think it's a good place for it, is in your case, in the case we've talked about, I actually, my opinion on the NAR lawsuit is really going back to the consumer. And I want to know how many of those people in that lawsuit had a shitty transaction because they hired a shitty real estate agent? That's more of my question. Right, because we all know consumers that go through and they take the referral from somebody that they kind of know, but they never actually interview them. So I do want to challenge all of you as a follow through on this call when we talk about value to start thinking about your resume and what that looks like. And I also think that we should be coming up as agents. One thing we can do that's not going to change is hey, why don't we give a list of interview questions to our clients, to our community and say hey, if you're thinking about buying, selling, here are some questions you should ask anybody that's been referred to you for your real estate agent. Right. Like get in front of it and provide some value that they can use if you are going to be competing with somebody else and then show your value. Right. Here's my resume.

Consumer's perspective. Added value for me as a consumer, that's the next question Came to, came to a couple of things. One and I actually I see this all the time and I've seen it play out so many times with you now I got, I did get one solid piece of advice that steered me away from a transaction or from like an offer that maybe could have gone awry a little bit. So I appreciate that neck guy. But what I've watched you do so many times, you even did it when I bought my house out here. But you know the areas so well and I know there's like in the industry like there's things like steering and like you. But I listened to you give advice without saying move here or don't move here.

Right.

It's none of that but it's understanding, oh well this part of town has this type of sewer line and statistically they've been, they've been needing to be redone. So it's like knowing that the roofs in this area, if it's not redone, it's passed overdue. Like you've just been able to help add value to for projected expenses. Whether it's been for a flip, whether it's been for a purchase that has really helped the consumer go okay, that's. I need to more so probably buy something that's not going to have XYZ or I'm looking for a good flip. What area can we go in? Like there's just small ways that you add value without having to be like a master problem solver that the everyday agent probably could bring if they just studied or new areas a little bit more as well.

Yeah, 100%. I want to, I want to go back to the original question then come back to that is that you asked about some other areas that we can do. So I'M going to give you my, my outside the box, like my five opinions that I'm actually talking to an attorney about and some other things just as what if. And let me explain where this comes from. There was a time that my brother, his brother in law, his uncle, we had a conversation with my dying father at a patio table in San Diego talking about this investor that he had spent so much time and the investor made so much promise to him and he worked tirelessly for this guy, making him millions of dollars. Now my dad had a mentality of working for people for a paycheck without going, well, what are some other angles here that might make sense? Now this is where it came from. I said it from stage and I'm definitely going to research it. What if my dad sold that guy a thousand homes back in 2008 during trustee sale and he had taken a 5% future equity standpoint on every one of those houses rather than taking a paycheck. When that guy exited this market and everything went up like 300%, how great of a return on his commissions would that have been? And so think about this, our consumers, when they're in a point where they don't have any money to give, do you think that they'd be willing to give you paper money right there? There is a way to do that and I think that it's a great way to figure out like, hey, as an agent, as some of you are a real broker, some of you are not, this is part of future, this is part of the not having instant gratification right now. Can I start putting some stuff off for the future? And I'm really helping somebody solve a problem that's pretty powerful. You look as another way around the problem and going, well, maybe I'm going to have a bunch of partners in the business and I'm going to own a lot of equity and a lot of properties for giving up my time now for future. And let's talk about what that looks like in the attorney business. What do car accident attorneys do? They take 33% of the settlement. Right? So as, as an, like let's just take the word agent out of this. As a real estate professional, we start thinking about these things and, and by the way, we get into a commissions like I want to like stop talking about commissions and stop talking about the investment for solving the problem, right? I think the bigger the problem, you've all heard me say this, the bigger the problem you solve, the more income is earned. So if you're solving a big problem for somebody that doesn't have any money, can you take an equity share in it and not feel like you're doing stuff for free? Right. That's a great way to do it. I'm also talking to an investor right now who emailed the other day. She's like, I have a problem. I'm in really bad money and I need to refinance this in 60 days. Can you help me solve this? I'm like, I think I can help you solve it. And is it worth an equity piece in the property? So it doesn't cost her anything now, but in five or 10 years when she decides to sell that rental property, it'll be a nice check that comes in when she refinances herself. I still solve for. I still helped her. She just gets to pay me down the road. So consider that as one thing.

Okay, so talking. We'll talk about solutions as well. I know actually going into this month for this call, that's a story that if these people have followed it at all, probably need closure on because they're. I don't know if you guys even saw that video or the email or any of those things that have. If you didn't get the email, check.

Your, check your spam.

It's probably in there. So put Steve in your contact so those emails go to your inbox. But shameless plug since you know, trying to help the back end. But there was the. That house where he basically got fired from. But then at the same time frame, after this lawsuit situation we've been talking about going, can you be put on retainer? Can you like lawyer fees? Is there like there's so many different options and things but it kind of ties in with that as well.

Yeah. So that, that's some of the next thing is can, can we start taking retainers now? Remember, this is an opinion. So you have to check with your states how things look. Remember, retainers can be taken on credit card and some other things. They're not a commission, they're a retainer. You need to check with your brokers how it runs through the brokerage, if it has to be run through the brokerage or if it's a line item on your P and L in. So these are ways that we start thinking about how big is the problem or how minor is the problem or the dilemma or the vice that's needed. And can we do a retainer on this? Is there short, is there short term finance options for commissions if that becomes an issue? You know Chris Harder, one of my mentors he's creating a peer to peer lender app. It's private lending over an app that somebody can finance pretty much anything up to $10,000 in this app at different interest rates. We just have to think how to help the consumer. Not that we want to add more debt to them, but we're so focused on ourselves. At least that's what I'm seeing on the Internet. Right? Either half of us have packed up our offices and left the industry and the other half is like, well, what do we do now? Where do we go? Well, thank you for the half that exited. So the last. The rest of us are left here and figuring these things out. What if you had a hundred clients that you helped, that you took payments on commissions or retainers over two years? That'd be a nice stream of monthly income right now there's more things in credit collections and those types of things. So you have to determine different ways to do it and the trust levels with certain people. And you also have to be careful to not be a bleeding heart and try to be somebody's hero at the same time. Right. These options that I'm looking at are really with people that I know and that I trust and in my sphere and, you know, as I get into signed calls and cold leads, that may take a little bit more to look at these options. I bring these up so that you're starting to think like, hey, there's other ways to navigate this for now and later that change the business and it brings more value to who you are and how you're operating at the kitchen table with your clients when we can do this. Because guess what, it feels a lot better when you're helping somebody out and going, hey, you know what, we have this different solution. It's not going to cost you this much money on up front. We're going to take a little bit up front. We're going to spread this out over time or whatever that looks like. And for us as agents, the cool part about this is, holy crap, wouldn't it be nice to have a little bit of cash flow from some clients and some other things at the end of the transaction to where we're not great. I have seven things in escrow, but I have no money coming in this month. This sucks. We've all lived in that roller coaster. So I'm telling you, like, there is going to be some new ways to create some passive income, which I can tell you that is the biggest conversation that I have from most people is like, I want to create passive Income, Cool. Where's the value that you can start creating in this business and representing people and finding ways to create other sources of passive income to where our income isn't tied to the old school real estate goals of transactions and gci. Now it's income producing. It's how many problems am I solving and where am I solving and how much money am I earning for those problems? Right.

So it's like a vastly, it's weird because it's got to coincide, but it's a vastly different thought process than the mindset that was in the room that we were in the other day, which is that like, how do I make sure my commission's paid and is it okay? Can I still charge 3% commission? Is that allowed? And same thing like, I think I even asked you, right? Going, so if I were to buy another house, could I try to structure my own deal and then just pay you a one time fee of three grand, five grand, whatever, Whatever. You would negotiate to just make sure my deal is good?

You know what, all of those options have always been on the table. And that's what's frustrating about the lawsuit is like this stuff has always been negotiable. You've always been able to think outside the box. And you know, I still think I, I love the premise of the lawsuit and how it's going to separate things. I think that's amazing and I think that's always what should have been done. It's never really made sen sense to me and it's never really made sense to me why the buyer agent side of the community lets the selling side of the community dictate their future earnings. This never made sense. We go get a client, we don't get a buyer broker. We go get in the car and we pull the listing that they chose. You're like, I only get to do this for a 66% discount today because we didn't have the conversation, we didn't talk to them about it, and we didn't have standards and set boundaries that says I'm only willing to do this for this. And if it comes down to there's only a 1% paid, then I'm going to take equity in your house. We're going to work something out. But if we don't have those conversations up front, you're just at the, at the mercy of the listing agent as to what your income is going to be every time you jump in the car with the buyer and we refuse to do that. A couple of years ago, I'm Like, I'm not doing this anymore. Because when Covid happened and the agents are like, oh, I'm going to keep more commission because this is really easy to do. Like, well, you go ahead and do that, but I'm going to make sure that, you know, I'm not losing money because you're being greedy over here. Right. And it's not. It's not a greedy thing, to be honest with you. That's all right. As listing agents, as long as we're having the conversation with the seller and the impact it's going to have on them if we do those things. And I don't think a lot of those conversations were truly happening at the kitchen table. I think it was just like Garrett said, papers were being signed and some agents were throwing in the 6 or 7% and keeping 5 or 4 and pushing down the buyer compression and going, well, if I hold the listing, I hold the money. They don't have a choice.

It's a really interesting space.

Right.

And maybe, I don't know, you guys can talk to this, but because it's. It's an entrepreneur world, but it's different than most entrepreneurs because it's. It's not just a buy my product. I am an entrepreneur before I'm a small business before I can scale. So it's everyone doing their own entrepreneur thing, but you're halfway through the deal before you know if you're going to get paid on the deal. So it's this weird space, I feel like, for real estate agents having watchy coin. Oh, are. Are you doing a disservice if you don't know your own worth, your own value and. And what you can charge? And do you feel like you can clearly communicate that before you put in hours so that there's a clear understanding and you get to go home confident that night be before the deal even has to happen?

Right, Right.

It changes the mindset for every entrepreneur, I feel like. But that's also one of the hardest conversations to learn to have for any entrepreneur, for any salesperson, for anyone that's selling anything, especially themselves or something that they're delivering is, am I able to pitch my worth?

Right. Well, and it's. It's also not just your worth, but your commitment. And when we really, like, dive deep into this, there's no attorney on the face of the earth that doesn't have an engagement letter and a consult fee. And basically, you interview them, they interview you, and then you start down the process with an agreement. And yet our industry is so good at like, oh, look at your cute smile. I just met you on the side and you're so nice and sweet. Why don't you get in the car and I'll drive you around all over God's green freaking earth showing you houses with no agreement and hope I get paid at the end of the freaking day. Why do we do that? I don't understand.

I can't wait to hire you.

Not happening. Drive your own golf cart.

All right, so basically I did walk away now knowing that compensation from a seller to a buyer's agent in the future never has to happen again.

Pretty much. I mean that that is what it is now. The seller eventually, that, that is not going to go away. There's going to be a thing where the sellers are going to offer something out. It's just not going to be published. That's, that's it. Some sellers will offer. It's going to be a lot of communication and that's where the breakdown is right now. Nobody knows how we're going to communicate. The one thing is, is that commissions cannot be published. So if a seller is offering something, it can't be published and we're going to have to make lots of phone calls.

So what I don't understand again, consumer, feel free to unmute and chime in at any point during this conversation because you supposed to be a part of this too. But what I don't understand from the consumer side is to me that makes it more confusing and more gray area because now I feel like any tricky dick agent could just like be like, let's we're really going to negotiate this. But now they're just trying to bury their commission into the deal more so as as to draw more buyer's agents to be like, we're both taken care of and no one's ever going to know because it's not published.

But it's, it's not. But again, the publishing thing goes back to the agents are not going to be guaranteed anything and they're going to have to make calls and talk to the seller agent.

They're not guaranteed anything because they don't have a buyer broker agreement.

Correct.

Which is the. What you would have me sign if we were going to work together.

Let me back this up for a second. What's going to happen now? Same conversation which we're going to get into in just a second on the buyer broker is the conversation should be happening now with your investment. To me, whatever percentage based on or dollar amount based on the solution that I'm going to provide is going to be there in black and white and that's what you agree to. The second part of that conversation is, hey, we've agreed to this and there may or may not be some seller compensation out there. I'm going to do my best to try to negotiate either this money into the deal or get something from the seller. And guess what? Now I have to go to negotiate and perform on your behalf in order for me to get paid. I'm not just guaranteed to get paid because I showed you the freaking house. Yeah.

No, but what's stopping you from saying, well, you. I'm actually going to do 7% and I'm going to work into this deal. It won't come from you at all.

Well, it's always coming from you because it's going to be buried in the price of the house. Right. Because like, let's look at it. We all saw the comments, right? Oh, the real estate market's going to go down by 3% because they're not paying commissions. Look, if I can save 3%, I'm going to keep it in my pocket. Let's be honest. It's not going to decline the market at the end of the day because of commissions. And we do know that the lenders are in the process of figuring out how to add commissions to the buyer side of contributions. So that stuff's all to come. And again, we, we spend too much time with the what ifs rather than the what we know. Now. The last thing, as we've bounced around, you talked about our. Could we potentially go to hourly or discounted or those types of things. The honest opinion is the discount brokerages have been around forever. In Arizona we had help you sell for many, many years. That was like the 1% broker. It was really 4% at the end of the day and you're like, cool, I got a cheap service they put in MLS. They don't negotiate anything. And yes, they got paid 1%, but they still had to pay a buyer's agent 3%.

So is 72 sold still thing?

I think they're going to be like 990something somebody. That's what Carl and I were joking.

Well, that was the thing, right? 72 hours to sell your house.

Well, that, that works for a certain market. But anyway, we don't need to go down that road.

I don't know. I just thought we saw the commercial, see what happens. I haven't seen this. Come on. That's. Yeah, I don't see the commercials in.

The real estate world. And we're here. We can't talk about other brokers.

They're all great. Almost as great as real.

All right. The hourly thing. So one of the other pieces that I'm actually going through in our team process is can we go through and operate similar to an attorney, not as an attorney, even though in some states, like Arizona, we're not an attorney state, so we are potentially acting as an attorney, which is fascinating. And then some of you are operating in attorney states. So think about the process with an attorney, if you've ever hired one, is you have an engagement letter, you have a consult, and you're paying for these things. And you're also interviewing the client. You're figuring out what the problem is, and then you're coming back with a strategy or a potential investment for what they're going to hire you for. Right. So it makes it a little bit classier going through it, and it's also a very good process. So why is that important for you is that, remember when we're having these meetings, it's fascinating to really put yourself in a position of your boundaries and. And interviewing the clients and whether or not you want to work with this person. Because now that we're doing buyer brokers, guess what? You got to live with that person. It's just like taking a listing. So you want to be careful with who you're putting in your car and who you're taking on as a client. Because some people, if you find out, they're like, oh my God, they're going to want to offer 50 cents on the dollar on every house. I show them like, no, thank you. Right. There's 999 down the road, will represent you all day long. Right? Please go down there. And that is okay to have those reference points and go, hey, we're just not a good fit. And in the past, I think a lot of us I know that's what I was trained on, was you do anything for everybody. You're like a real estate hooker. And that was just the way my dad operates. Like, we work with everybody. I'm like, well, I don't like that guy. I don't want to work with them. And so we have those choices now, and I think those are important. I think it's fascinating as well that you all should do. And I would challenge you to do it. Any clients you've recently worked with go. There's a couple of different apps. I don't have them in front of you that you can track clients by hours or minutes. If you remember to do it. Start thinking about from the time you talk to them to the closing on the transaction, including your staff hours on it, and then go. If I was charging the same amount as my real estate attorney, which right now we pay 500, actually it's $650 an hour for our real estate attorney. Right. And he charges us on the 15 minute increments. How expensive is that for the consumer? Right. I mean, I can look at a couple of clients that I know between my staff and I, we've got at least 20 hours into. Right. On. A $400,000 purchase might be a little bit more than what the commission is. So I think this is also the value in showing people what we actually do. Did you hear what Garrett said? He doesn't know what we do. He knows. No idea. Value wise, even. I'll be straight transparent with you. It moved so fast when we connected the dots for him when he bought here. He doesn't even know how he did it.

I got a good grasp on it now. I just can't repeat it.

Right, that's, that's one of those pieces. So interesting part with Garrett and his family, when we start talking about values, we get in. This next question is when I look at Garrett, his mom, both of his sisters, and my, my brother, which is married to one of them, every one of their transactions has been some sort of weird anomaly. One was a lease purchase on a four million dollar house that we executed during COVID That was mine. Yeah, I mean, I sat in the conference room in the next room for eight hours with the sellers, the buyers and the agents until we figured that freaking thing out. And it was pretty bananas what we did. His house was a past client of mine that we ended up swapping through and moving through with everybody. So this is where value comes into play, is how you can start connecting the dots and showing people. And again, the bigger the problem you solve, the more income that you earn for those things. So like question on that though.

I bought that house on FaceTime.

I know. Well, Megan and I looked at it too. So in that consumer position, let, let's go back what you know now in the company and you had to go do this again. We've heard a lot of people in a lot of the panels and I know a lot of you guys have too. You gotta show your value. Does anybody. Is anybody asking the consumer? If I come to you and ask you, you're gonna sell your house, right? 650, $700,000 house. It's a $21,000 investment for you to sell that house. What value are you expecting from somebody for that type of investment?

You know, honestly. So the biggest grievance I have that I've actually never aired to you about you, that whole transaction would be this only because I've now I've watched you do it a million times and it's something that I feel like people always try to figure out how to have the conversation or they're nervous too, or they don't know what to do with it. But you sold this house. What are you going to do with the money? I wish I would have had that conversation after I sold that house because we put X amount down on this house to get in and then basically blew through the rest, which I would have rather invested, like done something and we just didn't. And so now I like constantly looking, I'm like, ah, that's the number one question you should be asking your, your own client is, hey, that's great, we're selling this house. It's listening. What are you going to do with the money? And if they're like, this is being used for this, this is being used for this, this, I don't know, I guess I'll go to Ikea, like park it somewhere so it can grow and move down the road. Like, that's what I feel like. I've watched you do so successfully. That has helped so many clients that I've watched so many agents around the country in this valley go, how are you doing this? How are you helping people do that? That's, I feel like one of the biggest things as a consumer going, that was an option.

Well, I think part of it in your case was it, it wasn't all of an option because the money putting down for the loan we were doing, I don't know that we could have gotten there, but it definitely is a conversation in this day and age. Let's let, let me ask a better question. You're not in this space and you go back to the last house you sold and you sold it. Now you're a buyer. You know all the things about the commissions and things. If I sit down with you and have a conversation or any of these people on the conversation, how do they provide value to you in writing that says, this is absolutely worth my investment in your services in this process?

Yeah, I think one, you probably remember how many, how many requirements my wife had for a house. So it's like, I think you probably looked at like one other house and then you really helped us hone in what those things were because there were too many scorpions at that house. So I think part of it is really going. I'm gonna do. I'm gonna. Having someone ask all the right questions to draw out of us what we are looking for, the needs we have. The next season of Life.

What does it look like for kids? For what are 1. Active listening. Ask more questions.

Learning the needs of the client.

Okay.

I feel like is a huge thing. And it. I'll make up a name. I'll call him Robert because I don't want to use his real name. But I went with you to, you know, just to an appointment the other week. Right. I was behind the camera, but it was a couple. And he was the saver. She was the spender, which is somewhat close to my own real life, except I think we're both spenders. That's a problem. But. Right. But she was really wanting to get out of the house. She wanted to get into a new build. She just wanted to.

Oh, yeah.

He wanted to upgrade a house, and he was nervous because he. He wanted to save as much money. He didn't want to spend any money. And it was just. We also walked in, I could tell there was a little apprehension, like, who's this guy? Because it wasn't your listing. It was another agent in town that was, like, not sure what to do with this house because the house is. Is maybe gonna get knocked down. Who knows? It's. It's a. Not in the best shape. And so I was trying to figure out. So here comes, you know, Steve, and most people are like, oh, here comes this big investor. He's gonna just try to, like, swindle me, like, whatever. And so I think that was the fear. But I listened to you calm all nerves and build the relationship of. Of trust. And when I think when they realize, like, oh, he's just learning us. Mm. I feel like the agent I had, the only agent experience I ever had before, never learned us. If I can say that phrase that doesn't make sense.

You guys catch that? Like, that is the absolute key to your success in any part of this business. Don't worry about the freaking house. Worry about the people, because people are even moving. They're either moving away from something or they're moving towards something, and we have to figure out what that is. And when somebody calls, says, I want to sell my house, they're moving away from something or moving towards something, and your goal is to figure out what that is so that you can create the correct strategy for them. And know what the time and money they're going to have to invest to execute that strategy. So when I go through things and this is where your value comes in, I think where we're going off is like, Garrett wants somebody to come in and get to know him and his wife and their needs and then be able to talk to those needs rather than what a lot of us do. Because I know what Garrett would do with this. He would kick me out the front door if I came in with my iPad.

Okay, go ahead. So I've learned that there are just two. Just two types of real estate agents.

That's it.

One who walks in with a briefcase and one who doesn't. That's it. My first. But the first agent I had in Illinois.

There's the fly in here.

Came in. My first time meeting him again, super kind. He was crazy tall. But we sat at my kitchen table and I was expecting, like, I literally. I don't even know his last name. I couldn't contact him now if I. If I wanted to. I have no idea what his last name was. He was just in my phone as Josiah the realtor. Great dude. But our first sit down was the buyer broker. And he just explained. I guess he explained the buyer broker.

I don't really remember.

He just explained that we could bail any time and not pay. That's all I heard. And I was like, sounds great. 2.4. You got it? And it went back in the briefcase. And then he was like, we're gonna schedule photos. But it was just that, like, this is professional. I drive by through my neighborhood and I can see a guy walking up the driveway tucked in Polo with a briefcase. And I'm like, that's a real estate agent.

He drive away Mercedes.

Maybe.

If you guys don't follow Brad the realtor on Tick Tock or Instagram, it's hysterical. His demeanor about real estate age is pretty funny.

But I've also sat on enough of these calls with you too, over time to know the amount of times that you try to help people understand. And as a consumer, I couldn't agree more. The consumer and. And Christian actually could even speak to this. And it's literally week two for him. He's behind the camera. Okay. We. We went to a listing appointment for another agent to go help speak to it. And the wife got there 20 minutes after we had already just began the conversation. She walked up and she was like. You could tell. She was like, who's this guy? He's not our agent. He's gonna. Oh, he's trying to buy this house out from under us. And then she realized what was happening is like, oh, he's always, oh, wait. And he was just giving options of what they could do with the property. You didn't make a dime. You didn't buy a house. You didn't sell a house. You're not a listing agent. You literally went there and added value to that agent who was a friend of yours and that you mentor. I know he's on this call.

No, Sean isn't.

And so it's one of those things where I've watched you a million times to go, this is about relationship, and it's about helping the consumer. And when you. When that is the seed you sow, the harvest that grows, multiplies, and that you get enough referrals that come back, people that go, wow, this really is great value. Like, that's the kind of person I'm looking for, someone who will create value over and over and over again, because value equals trust to someone like me.

There you go. Like you heard it from the consumer. So here's some very practical, tactical things right now that you can apply. I know we're. We're almost to the hour, so I'm going to stay here. We're going to finish this. It's recorded. Some people are live. So if you guys have more time, awesome. If you don't, it's recorded, come back to it. But here's the important part, because I want you guys to have time for questions and answers. Practical and tactical is this. We all have buyer brokers in our states. We know that the commission is still going to be published for the next 60 to 90 days. We have those two things, which means we can start the conversation right now. And I want to give you my process for it. It's very simple. I will show a buyer a couple of homes before they have to come into the office. And I say they have to come into the office. I don't want to do it at Starbucks. I don't want to do it a coffee shop. Some of you, you know, may not have offices, but find somewhere that you can do it that's quiet. Here's why it's really important. I don't want to show them houses and have them pick why they're in the emotional standpoint, because you all heard what Garrett just said. So my process is actually a buyer consult. It's a mock contract that is fully presented with their price, with their earnest money, with all their things, if that's what we're asking for. And we will go through those 30 pages of documents as if we're writing a contract. And at the very end of it, we'll go through the buyer broker and I will tell them this is your investment based on the strategy that we've just talked about. So if you're buying a house up north, if you're buying an investment property, all those are different. So depending on the client, I will change the structure of that buyer broker based on the strategy we're providing.

Is there, is there anyone on this call that's having to do that for the first time? The buyer broker agreement situation, is that a universal document? Do you make your own. Does every.

Every state has different ones. Okay, so there's in that conversation right now, you bring your buyers in, you go through the contract, you set them up for success by not having them look at that contract when they're full of emotion and wanting to buy the house. Right? Because now when you do show them the house and they're excited, you're not dumbing down the excitement with all this legal jargon. They know about the inspections, they know about the appraisals. They know what costs they're about to endeavor on. They know that they have to wire in an earnest money check. And we now don't have to go through that process. Every time they see a house and want to write an offer, when they decide they want to write an offer, there's three or four points to it. We get those done, we send it to them to sign. And we don't feel guilty about the signatures because we've already explained the contract. And then you have that buyer broker, you've shown your value, shown a couple of houses, they've gotten to know you. And now commitment needs to happen in order for you to spend any more of your time with that person. These are conversations that can be had all the way until this changes. And by the way, the conversations stay the same afterwards. The only difference now is we're going to have to figure out what the sellers are offering for compensation and how to plug that into this and what new documents are to come. And until all that stuff changes, you can do that buyer consult, get a buyer broker and show your value. The last piece of that is depending on what your value proposition. If you're a 2% or 3% or 10%, whatever that is, or maybe it's a 5,000, $10,000, $15,000. Okay, that number goes in and then on the second page in the AR, not AARP, buyer broker is the conversation that I put in of Mr. And Mrs. Buyer, the sellers typically offer between 2 and 3% in the current market. And whatever is compensated there goes towards the initial investment that I've asked you to make. And whatever the difference is, you will have to pay out of pocket if I can't negotiate that in closing costs or whatnot. So it's a very clear conversation with them and it's a very clear conversation that you all can have and make sure that, hey, look like this is really important to really understand. If you do the buyer broker and you just throw out the two and a half because that's industry standard, then you're just being law of average. And I imagine if you're on this call, you're above average in the value that you bring. And you need to start being confident in what you are willing to invest in those clients for the return on investment. Right? That is the important part. So I can tell you that our clients will invest in above industry standard investment for our services. And that is my boundary. That should be your boundary and your confidence. And I believe that the more experience you have, the more confident you have, the more confidence you have to address that with your buyers and set those boundaries. Because here's what happens if we do this. You take on a client that is just a total pain in the rear end and it's less money because they negotiated you down on it. You just created obligation. And when you create obligation, it creates resentment to people that now you're working so hard for. Now you just resent the hell out of them. And it never is good when you do that. So you really need to have your boundaries honed in on what you're willing to accept in your clientele. And I think that there's no better temperature in the market to start those boundaries and figure out who you are, the confidence in who you are and the value that you are going to bring to the table. And so that you're very confident when you get in front of somebody like Garrett. Because here is what is exactly going to happen. The rest of the industry is going to fumble hard in this conversation because they don't know their value. But you are not, because you're going to spend time honing in your value and your skill set so that the consumer sees this confident person versus the last person they talk to, like, oh, hell no, I'm not experimenting with this person over here. And I think there's going to be a lot of that in this business. And I think that we need to stand Our ground with our value, not rush to the bottom like some of these brokerages where, again, they're just going to become real estate hookers. You know, it's a volume game. We did the volume game during the foreclosure days. It sucks. It's so much work for that. So I think that, you know, as an industry, I think we start looking at the quality, not the quantity of the business that we're doing, and we start setting targets on what income we want to earn and how we are going to drive that in our business. And again, the bigger the problem, the bigger the solution, the more income you deserve to earn. And that is where you have to have that confidence level make sense. All right, let's open us up for Q and A. And my first question for you guys. Q and A. Will you chime in as to how you like this call? Do you like the conversation versus the me being behind the screen with a PowerPoint? I feel like I'm just talking to you guys, and I really want to have better conversations and help you through this, this current market and any market that we're going through. So chime in. Let's go. Let's have a conversation for a few minutes. It is so awesome.

Every single time.

Steve, I.

You just.

Your brain just never ceases to amaze me. Thank you, Barb. I appreciate that.

It was awesome. Steve. I love how this storytelling aspect of it was. It's super helpful because, you know, we've been in, you know, for those of us that have been in the business for a minute, right? It's. We know what we're doing, but we really have to put ourselves in the consumer world, you know, like Garrett's, you know, experiences, because they don't know what this terminology is. I mean, when I first got in the business, I didn't know what an appraisal was, but I was expected to be the loan officer's assistant and process the stuff, right? And so you do. You kind of get thrown into it and you kind learn as you go. But from a consumer standpoint, Garrett is. What are just the, like, top three things that you want from your real estate agent if you were to hire somebody not knowing the industry? Right. It's obviously building relationships, right. Because that's important because of the emotion and the connection there. But what other thing would you expect from an agent as a consumer, I.

Think for me, a huge one would be avoiding pitfalls. So it's. It's silly. But, like, honestly, watching the sewer line journey for people terrifies me. When it's like, oh well, it's going to cost another 40 grand because we got to dig this up. And I know you're new to this house, but it's on you. Sorry. And you're like, wait, what? So, so there's like some of those things that I think I don't know enough about and it freaks me out. So I, I know it's a. You're a real estate agent, not like a construction type person, but I'm, I, as a consumer, I'm looking to you as the house expert person. So I'm counting on you to know all the things there is to know about this house that I'm about to buy. That might not be part of your job description whatsoever, but in my mind it is that that could be totally unfair. So I think I'm looking for someone who's aware of the areas that I'm looking to buy as well as maybe that could have solid financial literacy. Because there is zero financial literacy in the education system in this country. And there's no development to help people understand the movement of money, how money works, what to do with money, the ability to leverage assets, creativity. I literally, I just thought it was like you get a loan from a bank, that's the only option unless you're lucky enough to have someone with family that has money. Like the creative solutions that I've seen the last couple years, I just never knew was possible. And the amount of real estate agents I've watched had light bulbs go on on the same TV that you're on now, I think has blown my mind. So going forward, even though I feel like I, I know a little bit more than maybe the blind consumer, that's definitely something that someone who's not a first time buyer is counting on is going help me structure a deal where I'm gonna win the most. And that's not just necessarily where I'm gonna profit the most.

Right.

Because people I watch, everyone pay probably more for convenience than they do for profit. So convenience is a crazy powerful thing. So how do we make this a win for everybody involved? That's great for the business standpoint, but selfishly, as a consumer, I wanna know how I'm, I'm gonna be set up the most. Like, oh, I never would have known a 1031 exchange mattered like that was a possibility. How that functions, I don't know if you just saw it in the last 24 hours, but the new proposed capital gains tax is 44% by the current president. 44%. What I'm out. Help me, help me. I don't know what to do with that.

Yeah, so, you know, that's the interesting part, you know, in, in the consumer journey. So, Lisa, does that, that answer what you wanted?

Yeah, absolutely. It really does. Thank you.

Who else got some?

I got some. Steve. Hey, this is the way that, that people are going to start engaging more and more. It's an educational film background. So you asked, is this helpful? I mean, at one point I saw 19 people on this call. So very helpful to take out, you know, an hour out of their day in the middle of the day to come talk to you guys and, and what we're going to see. I've been in real estate for 30 plus years and despite, you know, military background, I was still, I was still doing it. Buy and sell and renovating and commercial and residential. So I haven't, I haven't been active in terms of buying and selling residential is strictly commercial. But what we're going to be seeing, to tag on what you're saying and for the viewers here is a lot of people, if they haven't saved appropriately in the nest egg, they're going to be weeded out. For the people on this call, which you already mentioned, that's a fantastic opportunity. So no more chasing this, this commission because obviously if you don't sell anything, you don't eat. But it's building the relationship. This, this hot word of community. This is where it starts.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, Tyler, just so you guys know, this is the fascinating part as you kind of step out of the industry in different worlds. I met Tyler at a recent round table with my mentor, Chris Harder. And Tyler's actually very fascinating. Fifteen years in the military, pilot, all the things super sharp. Here's the crazy part. Dudes in the military, owns several houses free and clear. Was super smart as he did things. And by the way, his dad owns the largest car wash brokerage in the world. And brokerage, he only sells car wash. So if you have to sell a car wash, you go to Tyler's dad. And Tyler's got a real estate license and his, his passion coming out of the military is helping kids like my son figure out their finances and their life. And it's super dope. And so he's got a real estate license. I'm like, dude, you got to be in here and just kind of like feeling around. So thanks for being here, Tyler. Shameless plug on you, but love you.

Yeah.

I'll say to one Tyler, thank you for your service, dude. I think that's awesome. I appreciate you because I get to live my life every day because people like you. So the other thing with that is I've watched, I feel like the more I've watched this specific industry as a consumer, there's I guess, two other types of real estate agents or the same two just fall in this category.

Right.

But, but one is the competitive one who's like, they're just, they're after their, their commission. So it's just like they're trying to outgun everybody else or undercut everybody else. Just very competitive. And then there's this other side that's like camaraderie and we got to stick together and help one another. And I can educate you and you can educate me and there's like, we can all actually develop. And then the, it's like that whole like rising tide lifts all ships mentality where everybody becomes more educated, which is better for me, the consumer. And I'm like, oh yes, how do I weed out those people? Because that's what I want.

Yeah. And you know, so on that, that whole piece, there's the, the value comes into who do you know, who are you connected with? How are you solving the problems? You know, and, and I, many of you understand the world that we live in, which is the off market side and the financial side. And what Garrett said is very true in the fact that the deals and the creativity is where the value is. And sometimes we can talk about that in appointments as you start to learn it. Guys, it is fascinating to really dig into my world and this is a great thing to, to go ahead and share with you. You all, as we're, we're building a little bit different community where I'm really going to pour a lot into you guys online and in person moving forward. I've done a lot of this stuff. I've built the portfolio, I've done the things and now I'm ready to pour in and back in and really hone in on this for you guys because you need to have these skills. And, and I'm going to, I'm going to share with you one last story and just the skills and where this is the reason I am not freaked out about this market, about this change is because my mindset has already been through everything of the changes and I know what opportunities are possible. Right. And, and you guys have heard me say different things about. This is a fascinating part. Everybody's so concerned about their 2 to 3% and what they may or may not make on a buyer. And nobody's like, well what are the other options? And by the way, am I worth more than 3%? Is this problem worth more than this? So I'm going to give you an example. This morning we finally crossed the T and dot of the I on a seller, okay? The seller has gone through this thing. We bought his house. In fact, a brokerage tried to put it on the retail market, it never would have sold. He was referred to me by another agent and the house is trashed. The guy is 70 years old, he's a hard worker, he's like, look, just make this simple for me and then help me find some land that I can put a manufactured home on. I don't want to go through this. Technically he would have been a wholesaler, maybe put it on the market with somebody. Thank God he ended up with me because you know what happened? The deed, the title report on this thing is so effed up because it was co signed with his parents or his, his in laws. They got divorced, ex wife died, her interest was deeded to her mother in law. Like you see where we're going. And by the way, the mother in law died and now we have a probate issue with the heir that she wants half of his equity. Do you know what we dug through and finally found this morning at his house? The original quit claim deed from 1997 that was notarized and never filed. And we went to our attorney, we're like, hey, are we good? He's like, it doesn't matter that it wasn't filed. It's notarized, it's here, we're clear, she gets nothing, we get to buy the house. And by the way, do you know what I just did for him and do you think that I as the problem solver just saved him half of his equity? I don't want half of his equity, but I am going to negotiate a little bit more on that house because we did just save him half of his equity. And any other agent wholesaler would have been out on this transaction or they would have wholesale somebody else that would have it up. So this, this is where the value comes in and this is where you get to start digging in. Here's the big piece guys. The coaching that I want to do in the future is for things like this, coaching through situation. I can tell you guys this all the time, right? Coaching situation, situationally, when you're in it with your client is much easier for me to guide you through that process when it's happening. And the coaching piece on that, it's going to be just consistent with a referral fee. And by the way, I can strategize with you guys anywhere in the country when shit gets weird. And that's the way that I can figure out how to partner with you. Compensate for time, strategy. And guess what? You don't have to pay for a long term coaching program. You're just getting paid for a solution that you're learning on the job while you're there. And that's what I'm really excited about because it's been really hard. Although Isaac's been through coaching, Danielle's been through coaching, Dan's been through coaching with me. Several of you have. It's great in theory. It's way more useful when it's like in the mix of it. So that's, that's where I want to go. That's what I want to share with you guys. So I'm super excited as we start to roll that out and I appreciate you guys. You guys have any other questions as we wrap this up?

I'll say too if you guys any more questions. But it's hard because the coaching thing, it's like you need like as on their side. It's like they need the case by case, like they coaching straight for this overarching tip. How do I apply it to this scenario?

That's where the questions come.

The shameless plug I'll make is also. I've watched you use a lot of specific scenarios that you have solved and put them in 90 seconds or less on Instagram non stop. So for the fact that we make a lot of stuff, but there's just constant stuff on places like Instagram. We're also building out Steve's YouTube stuff. So it's just if you're looking for constant strategies and insight and trying to jog ways of thinking, Utilize the platforms, people.

Any other questions? Christian? We open up the chat real quick, make sure there's nothing in there. Oh, he's got the button. Cool.

Cool.

All right, we're gonna get out of here. Thank you for being here and staying late. Like that's pretty amazing. I feel like we did a good job today because everybody stayed on the call. So I appreciate you guys. If you guys are good with us doing more of this, this is probably what we're going to do more of. It's kind of fun to have the consumer in the room and who doesn't like Garrett, right? All right, you guys have an amazing week. Appreciate you.

Thanks guys.

See.