Real(ty) Talk
Real(ty) Talk
Innovative Strategies, Hunting and Navigating Real Estate in the Holiday Season
While many take a break, we discuss strategic approaches to staying active and seizing opportunities from motivated sellers. We highlight the importance of timing, pricing, and making a strong market debut, even when others might be less active.
We delve into the challenges and opportunities in the real estate industry during the holiday season.
We take a journey into the world of hunting and its deep-rooted family traditions, and lifelong experiences in Utah. We explore diverse perspectives on hunting and dietary choices, including my own transition from vegan to pescatarian. Our conversation wraps up with insights into brokerage strategies for success, showcasing how Innovate Realty's agent-focused philosophy provides genuine opportunities and solutions in a competitive landscape. Listen in for valuable insights and strategies to keep your real estate momentum going strong.
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Welcome back to your favorite podcast on the planet Realty Talk Podcast. I've got my fearless host, the queen of the closing table, suzanne Sr. Next to me, ceo and founder of Innovate Realty. What's up?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know what's up with you. I feel like we haven't caught up in a while, so is there anything exciting that we should be sharing with our listeners? That's been happening in your life.
Speaker 1:The Chargers are 7-3. Okay.
Speaker 3:That's exciting. They won last night.
Speaker 1:I am a little bit conflicted about it because I have season tickets. I've been a Chargers fan for a long time. The way I explain it to people is that it's like having a terminal illness that you know is never going to get better.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because they just always let you down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that feels like jets, like I feel like jets fans. I know quite a few that say something similar.
Speaker 1:So I gave my seats away to one of the guys in our accounting department. Big bangles fan. Never been to a game before. I gave him to him at the start of the season and I'm like we're probably gonna lose that game so I don't want to go on a sunday night and it's a sunday night game, which is awesome yeah uh, actually they changed it to a sunday night game a couple weeks ago, so uh, I thought, oh, no big deal, I'll just stay at home and watch it with the kids and uh, so I was secret.
Speaker 1:I mean, I obviously want the chargers to win yeah but part of me I'm like, ah, what it would be cool for him to go and see the bangles win yeah, that's nice of you, but the charges won.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw him this morning in the office and he kind of gave me one of those. We didn't talk about it. He gave me one of those. Looks like, okay, that was. You know, that was brutal. Yeah, I don't know. Outside of that I mean, you know, I I got to.
Speaker 1:This is probably not the right environment for the people that are listening, but I'm in a business kind of. It's a professional organization called YPO. I've been in for a long time and every year we go on this big trip. So in our chapter there's 40 members. We cap it at 40 members and we do that to drive participation, but it's a member-run organization and I've been in for a long enough time. I've had like little jobs, but it's a member run organization. And, um, I've been in for a long enough time. I've had like little jobs but nothing significant. And two years ago one of our uh, one of our members that was going to be the chapter chair. So the gentleman that's going to run the chapter, for the year asked me to plan the president's retreat, which is kind of a big deal.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And um, so I did that, I agreed to, agreed to it, um, and in our chapter we're supposed to go international one year and then stay stateside the next year, just to try to limit, you know, travel and whatnot. But that hasn't happened for like nine years yeah, we've been traveling all over the world yeah and he was like we've got to do something stateside yeah so when I agreed to do it, I'm like, oh, this is gonna suck, because last year you know one of my close friends planning the trip.
Speaker 2:We went to Spain and we ran with the bulls and we did all this awesome stuff. Yeah, how do you top that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we finished in Ibiza for a night and it was like a crazy awesome trip and I'm thinking the whole time like, oh, this is going to suck, Like we're going to go somewhere stateside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1:Yes, but uh, you know, the recommendation was to do something that's like personal and try to create an experience, you know, for people that they wouldn't normally do.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So that's what we did. I am so glad to be done with the trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Coordinating and planning and doing all that I know.
Speaker 2:We actually haven't caught up on that trip yet, because of course I knew you were planning the trip, yes, but yeah, it was like you were so busy with planning the trip and then you were very busy with work as soon as you got back. So, yeah, we still need to debrief on the actual trip. It went well, I mean.
Speaker 1:so you know, I grew up in Utah, I love to hunt, and so I took 36 members that have. Probably we didn't tell them what we were going to do.
Speaker 3:But we went elk hunting and buffalo hunting. Probably we didn't tell them what we were going to do.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, but we went elk hunting and buffalo hunting and uh, it was a really complicated thing to go and do because in the hunting world you know getting a license- is really difficult yeah. And then harvesting an animal is also very challenging.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:So we didn't. We didn't tell anybody and we didn't know if anyone knew how to do it. So we put like all this time into you know, planning contingencies and coordinating, making sure people would be safe. There's a couple of CEOs of like publicly traded companies. So I'm worried that someone's going to get hurt or whatever. Anyways, it went very, very smooth and uh, yeah, it was. It was an awesome experience. So we got to hunt for three days in Utah and then we went and finished the trip in Aspen.
Speaker 1:Uh yeah, it was, it was a great time. But, um, I and then we went and finished the trip in Aspen. That's fun, yeah, it was a great time, but I got to share that with people, which was probably one of the coolest things of my life is going in thinking okay, I thought that there was going to be a third of the chapter that enjoyed it, a third of the chapter that hated it. Right, like with a passion.
Speaker 2:But you were like, we're going to do it anyway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to do it anyway.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to press forward. Yeah, yeah, make them feel uncomfortable, and then a third of the chapter.
Speaker 1:That would be kind of like it was something I'll do once, but never do it again. We had two people that didn't like it in total, and everyone else was like in love with it, oh wow. Over the moon. They fully dove in. Yeah, so I I took I think. I had probably never told you this, but I went five years without eating any red meat that I didn't harvest myself.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, I was like wait without eating any red meat, are we sure? No, okay, but you didn't harvest yourself, Got it?
Speaker 1:Yeah and I. I never felt better. I felt so powerful and and, um, you know, and then I I hadn't had the opportunity to hunt for a while, so I I actually really just didn't eat a lot of red meat for a period of time, but yeah, it was. It was a cool experience to share. I think that's really the only new stuff outside of business stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh no, I I mean nothing that exciting, definitely. Um, it's I will just share. It was really funny Over the weekend. I just flew quickly to Phoenix for a friend's birthday to surprise her, and so her sister had planned it and asked her you know, where do you want to go for dinner? So she picks. I don't know if you've been, because you lived in Arizona too, but there's this restaurant called Papa Do's. Oh yeah, it's like in, you know, kind of like an interesting area, like there's nothing else really around there to do, and so she picks this In Arcadia or near Arcadia.
Speaker 2:No, it's actually. It's off the I-17 in Peoria.
Speaker 1:So it's like Okay, so it's up north Like there's literally like nothing else around there that we're going to want to do so.
Speaker 2:Anyway. She says she wants to go to Papados. So we're like all right, we're going to papados tonight. It's just like a seafood. They have alligator on the menu. New orleans yes, exactly. So morning of she's like you know, I'm just not really feeling like going. Can we just cancel? And so her sister had to come up with this whole story that she's like no, they're putting on this whole new or themed event.
Speaker 2:There's jazz like just made up this whole um story for her to rally and come to the dinner and then you know we were there and surprised her another friend that um lived out of town and we all grew up together. So it was a big emotional moment. But yeah, that's about it. I mean, I yeah nothing, um, nothing too interesting with any hunting any.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, you didn't kill the alligator. No, I did not kill.
Speaker 2:I didn't eat the alligator? Yeah, vegetarian, so you know.
Speaker 3:Yes, well, pescatarian you eat some fish right, Pescatarian, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So getting you out on a hunt is gonna be difficult one day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's probably not my thing. Yeah, once you get really like I initially went vegan and I just did it for health reasons, but, um, but I do feel, once you're in that world and you know, since then I I do eat some fish and I I'm not fully vegan, but once you're in that world you're really exposed to just too much where you're like it does become a little more emotional, you know, and like you just see things that you, that there's not really any turning back from, at least for me.
Speaker 1:So yeah, no, I mean, I feel the same way. I mean I think you know there's a really famous uh, I mean he's he's an author and he has a podcast and TV show. His name is Steve Rinelli. Talks about hunting and that's really he's like a professional hunter, Um, but you know he talks about if you eat a steak from a supermarket, you're hiring a supermarket. Hit man.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so if you don't know where that came from, so you probably shouldn't put it in your body, um, you know. So that that definitely I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, and I understand what you're saying too. Like I, I do respect you know that style of you, know the, the way that you eat and knowing where everything comes from, and you know I'm not one of those judgmental. You know vegan vegetarians, but, um, yeah, no I I think everyone has to do what works for them and their body, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I remember when I, when we told everyone when we got to the ranch that we were going to be hunting, I think in their head they all, they all had the misconception that we were going to be like sitting in a tree stand or a blind drinking beer and like shooting at stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and.
Speaker 1:I've never, I've never done that.
Speaker 3:Like.
Speaker 1:I've always hunted, you know, western mountains Um, you know so. I think the first day we hiked like 11 miles, you know, with the group that I was with and we ended up harvesting a big elk and it was in the bottom of this Canyon. That was like not a great place to be. Yeah, uh, just from like carrying the animal out standpoint. And at the end of the day, one of the guys came up to me and he's like I get it now. I understand it, like this is really hard work, yeah.
Speaker 2:What I get it now. I understand it Like this is really hard work. Yeah, what was the first memory that you have of hunting Like, is there? Is there something that stands out, Cause you said you've been doing this, you know your whole life?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's. It's kind of complex because the very first memory I have is actually not of hunting, it's of uh just being with family. So my uh again, I probably haven't talked about this in this area but or on the podcast, but I was adopted at a very young age and my father's family, you know. They grew up, I guess, post Great Depression and so in Utah if you were going to eat meat you had to go and like harvest it yeah, get your meat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, find your meat and my grandpa was a principal of a high school, so he was like middle class, but his parents were like extremely poor and so you know this wasn't like a fun thing you go and do. This was like the whole family, and actually I'll rewind a little bit. In Utah it was actually a state holiday the deer hunt and the elk hunt so they would take school off for like a week and families would just go out and do that.
Speaker 1:And so my earliest memories were actually just two, three, four years old. I probably don't remember those years, but being around the campfire with family and having a desire. You know the people that got to go out. It wasn't just males, like you know. Women would go, but the younger kids and people would stay back at camp. But where we hunted, specifically in central Utah, I mean, we would have like 60 or 70 people camping in our family, so it was like a family reunion.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 1:Grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it would be. You know, the people that were hunting would go out early in the morning. Um, you know they come back in the evening and then you just, you know, eat and sit around a fire for hours talking about all of this amazing stuff. And so it was. It was never like really a desire, it was just part of the culture of the way that I grew up, and I was a terrible student growing up.
Speaker 1:I mean, when it comes to like spelling and reading comprehension, I think I'm dumber than a monkey and like when you take the college admission test, I believe that that was like factual. I think 36 is perfect.
Speaker 2:I think I scored 34 in math and science and 19 on reading comprehension and I think a monkey filled the test math and science and 19 on reading comprehension.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think a monkey filled the test out and got like 21 on reading comprehension. We'd have to fact check that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I took it a second time and improved, but anyways my mom would say listen, you know you have to pass your spelling test and the whole year I would get, like you know, 50%. But the week leading up to the deer hunt if I got a hundred percent then I got to take three days off and get to go and continue hunting with family and I got a hundred percent every year.
Speaker 2:The incentive was there.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was like, okay, this makes sense, I'm going to study and actually do this, um, but anyways, yeah, I mean I would say, like my earliest members, memories are not actually of of the hunt itself. It was more just being with family and, um, you know, spending quality time in like just the most beautiful areas on the planet where you, where you, hunt deer in Utah, it's in these big mountains, and you know there's different seasons, but we would always be up there when the leaves were changing, so the weather was beautiful and I mean those are my earliest memories.
Speaker 1:I mean of actually hunting. You get to do that when you become 12.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so I had this desire to use the same gun that my great grandpa and my grandpa and my dad used. Oh yeah, but it was, we have it still. But my dad was like no, you're not going to do that because I'm worried you're going to like drop it or hurt it or something it was starting to become kind of a valuable you know valuable piece. So I didn't get to do that on my first animal, but Okay.
Speaker 2:But did you ever get to use it?
Speaker 1:I've never shot it. Oh okay, no, I get the gun. You know's got that under tight. You know lock and key got it. So yeah, but that's, I mean that's a crazy. You know it's a whole nother area of my life. That's very bizarre totally, yeah, yeah it's.
Speaker 1:it's a complicated, you know, passion because when I, you know, I I had the desire, I I became an archery hunter at a really young age. I had the desire to shoot a big elk with my bow and it took me 15 years of putting in for a lottery system to have the opportunity to go into it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And when I finally drew the tag, I was dating Rachel, my wife now yeah. And she came on the hunt with me and it was awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to see that experience.
Speaker 1:She's also pescatarian.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Doesn't eat meat.
Speaker 1:but uh, you know she got in there and saw the whole thing, so it was pretty fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1:Who knew? Today you would be telling the pescatarian all about the the kills.
Speaker 3:I actually. You know that part for me is not the fun part.
Speaker 1:I mean, I can imagine I can't see that being the fun part for you, but it's, it's not but the, the by-product of having like a clean source of protein is awesome, yeah, really more like the time being in the mountains, like it's a really good reset, yeah, so yeah, and you have a special place because it's you know, it brings that.
Speaker 2:You know those memories and the nostalgia of being with family. Yeah, yeah, it's something totally different.
Speaker 1:So but we're digressing. But I do have a question for you. Papa does. Have you been to new Orleans before?
Speaker 2:I have been to new Orleans.
Speaker 1:Have you been for Mardi Gras?
Speaker 2:I have not been for Mardi Gras, but I felt like it was Mardi Gras while I was there. But no, I mean I haven't reached that level.
Speaker 1:I went on a guy's trip to Mardi Gras like three years ago and I was thinking, oh, this is going to be crazy. Yeah, my experience wasn't that.
Speaker 3:Oh OK.
Speaker 1:So we didn't go to like we, I mean we went there for like a little bit of time. Yeah, the main crazy street or whatever, and that place is just wild, yeah, but the rest of it's actually like a family environment. The parades are like a month long and there's like it's not like a bunch of topless chicks hanging out.
Speaker 2:Yeah like what everyone thinks. It wasn't that.
Speaker 3:That's only on Bourbon Street.
Speaker 2:That's right. And that's not just Mardi Gras, that's all year long there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I came back home and told Rachel I'm like we have to take the girls to Mardi.
Speaker 2:Gras.
Speaker 1:She's like, what are you talking about? Like, are you crazy?
Speaker 2:And I'm like coming together, the food is amazing. The food I actually found, like the people there I mean because we're like it's a different part of the country like I found the people to just be so nice and yeah it um, yeah, no, I really like it there we're gonna have to plan a top producer event at mardi gras there you go. When we announce it, people are gonna be like what are you?
Speaker 2:this is not okay. Yeah, all right. So real estate, yeah, no, I mean, I think we're approaching the end of the year.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I feel like we should talk a little bit about how we're going to get through the rest of the year and really what that. How do you keep momentum going when it almost feels like it's not necessarily our industries, I think it's just the whole country and the whole world is like it's holiday time, you know, and not even you know consciously. It's like you're wrapped up now in other things, and so how do you guys keep the momentum going?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's an interesting question Because I mean, if you just look at the schedule, you've got Thanksgiving, which falls on a Thursday, so people usually take Wednesday off Totally. They're not productive Friday and you know the weekend is dead.
Speaker 1:And then you're spilling into all of the. You know whether you're Jewish or you know Christian, regardless of what you're celebrating. You know people generally have a packed schedule in December and, uh, obviously, the 25th through the first are kind of like. People call it kind of just a dead week, um, but what we've found, at least on the buy-by-house side, is that's the best time to buy deals, right, because if somebody listed their house in late October or let's say they did list it in November and it's not getting offers, it's not moving they likely did that because they have to move.
Speaker 1:This isn't like, hey, we'll list it and see what happens. It's like we have to get an offer, and so we tend to find that that's the best time of year for us to purchase new inventory, and on our side, we target very specific durations. So we're trying to get into a deal and out of a deal within six to nine months on average, and so it's a beautiful time to buy because we're not going to be dealing with coming back to market during those windows, right? So, yeah, I mean it is kind of interesting. We have a really kind of unique problem now in that we bought some deals that took us a longer period of time to get through and permitting, um, you know, and so we might have held it for a year or whatnot, and we're wrapping construction, like now yeah so we have to make the tricky decision.
Speaker 1:Do we go and list during that time? Yeah um, but I think there's kind of the argument on both sides of the coin, which is, if there's not a lot of inventory in a specific pocket, we're bringing something back that's fully remodeled, move-in ready, fully permitted. There's an argument that somebody, if they're going to be buying, has to buy. So I think obviously, if we're bringing something back in the next six to eight weeks, we've got to price it appropriately. But I think we'll probably end up bringing three or four big listings back.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That in a normal cycle we might not. Yeah, but you know, this year it feels like we kind of need to for a lot of reasons and not necessarily need to. I mean, we can always wait, you know, until January or after. The Super Bowl is what people talk about.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But two specifically. I won't give out the addresses but, they're in neighborhoods where there's just no inventory right now, and they're there. If there is inventory, it's tired.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:So having a brand new move in ready property, I mean, I think makes sense to bring back.
Speaker 2:but I mean, I don't know what do you think, yeah, no, that's exactly how I feel. That's, you know, the same way we operate as well, where you know if it makes sense. I mean if, like you said, if there are a ton of other properties just sitting on the market, you know, maybe it's not the time. I mean what we've been seeing I think we were just talking about it we really expected an influx of buyers post-election that we really haven't seen. So, and it's surprising.
Speaker 2:And you know, interest rates did tick back up a little bit. We had a little bit of excitement, thinking that rates were going to be down, and I think they probably will go down a little more coming up. But really, I mean we do have some inventory sitting and so it really has to make sense, um to to list something. Uh, because really, I mean, as an agent and I say it all the time like you have one chance when you first hit the market, like you need to. It needs to be a big splash and everyone needs to see it. Everything needs to look perfect, because that is your opportunity, that you are going to get in front of everyone when it first hits. So you know, things have to be perfect and the stars have to align. But if they don't align, I mean sometimes it makes sense to hold it, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you say hold it, you mean take it off market and then wait until the buying season kind of picks back up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't even know if I would say take off market I mean not for some inventory that's been sitting a long time, but really coming to market.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you really have to chat with your agent and really strategize on if it makes sense to come to market this time of year. I mean, on the real estate side I feel it's very similar where I think, ultimately, all that really matters is that most of the there, there are a lot of people that are taking a pause over the next few months, but there are people that can't and that, like you said, that have to move, that have to sell, and so do you want to be the real estate agent that seizes that opportunity, or do you, too, want to be on vacation and that's that's really what it comes down to over the next few months. So I think you know that's the message I would say in all industries, and especially the type that we're in. It's you know, whether you're taking time now to prep or just be available and be ready, I mean everything you're doing now is going to set you up, especially in our type of a situation with real estate. It's going to set you up for next year.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, I mean. So my background, you know, is heavy sales focused. As an entrepreneur. We've always had a you know businesses that are heavily reliant on direct to consumer relationships and selling, and what I've always trained is that the harder the lead is to acquire the lead, the less competition you're going to have, and that is a good lead, because your conversion should be a lot higher. So the action to go and actually kind of compete for that tougher lead is somewhat difficult, or you know that means either knocking on doors or you know cold calling or doing something that a lot of other people aren't willing to do Right.
Speaker 1:But my opinion is that if you're doing those things on a regular basis, and especially during the time when other people are kind of taking their eye off, the ball you're going to establish a foundation for yourself and likely find business that you wouldn't have found right.
Speaker 1:Definitely, and so I guess my perspective on kind of the end of the year is that's just like a mental like it's almost just a dumb excuse. I agree For people to get lazy, you know, which I understand if people are tired or whatnot, but I don't think that's the right time to do it.
Speaker 2:No, I mean, I think it's what sets people apart. You know, it's like, yes, december is going to be busy, but guess what I mean? August was busy, july was every month. There's always things happening and there's always holidays and there's always things going on. But it really is a mental game and if you can stay in it you'll win, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also think that there's something interesting If you're in the business of listing real estate or finding buyers to purchase, you've got to have a reason to talk to somebody outside of just their house.
Speaker 1:Because I go back to like consumers are the most basic creatures, because I go back to like consumers are the most basic creatures. We buy things from people we trust and if we understand the value proposition, so it's trust and understanding. If you trust somebody and you understand their value proposition, why wouldn't you do business with them? I mean, it's kind of illogical, right. It basically just means you don't have the need and so having something outside of hey, is this the right time to sell, for you to talk to the person about?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is a really good way to increase contact.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And you know Thanksgiving's coming up. Are you hosting at your house? It's a beautiful way to just touch base, have a conversation, yeah. Yeah, and the more conversations you have, obviously the the deeper that relationship gets. I think, the the higher your odds of of winning that business become. But yeah. Yeah, execution is where it all.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Ideas are great Execution stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:Is this a good time, you know, in the brokerage, to be recruiting? Is this kind of? Is that what happens at the end of a year?
Speaker 2:It is. I feel like everyone has that January let's start fresh and make a change. And so you see other brokerages really picking it up with recruiting. I think for me and for us, we are recruiting all year long, long and because, in my opinion, I think people get bombarded this time of year with, you know, a ton of messages and calls and everything else and and so you know, I think, what people are interested in making changes. But I also think if, as a brokerage, you're doing the right thing, you have a good product, you have a great reputation, you can be doing that all year long.
Speaker 1:So why? I mean we haven't really talked about it on the podcast, but why, if you're at one of the other shops right now, why switch to Innovate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's a good question. I think most brokerages operate, you know, I would say number one. They want to scale and we're surrounded by some big box brokerages and I think that the way that they approach their agents is is really focused on them and their brand, versus the agents and what they can actually do for their agents to generate business. And I think that's the one thing that really sets us apart, because the constant thought in our minds is why innovate and how can we solve for problems in the real estate space? And I think, with us solving for problems in the real estate space, it makes an agent's job a lot easier and gives them a lot and have every option to solve any of their problems because of what we provide at Innovate. I think that I mean, why wouldn't you want to be there? You know why?
Speaker 3:would you?
Speaker 2:go somewhere else when really I mean the big brands really their only claim to fame is that, like that, they have a name, you know. But the other thing I will say that I noticed quite a bit with the bigger brands is the agent is just a number at that point too, because you know, they are just talking about their brand and they are recruiting everyone they possibly can, whereas I think we take a different approach. You know we do want a little more quality at the brokerage, but I think you know these agents, any agent that has left Innovate, there's not a ton, you know. But when they do, I often hear that they do feel like just another number and that their brokerage really doesn't care about their success, because most of the time, to be honest, they don't.
Speaker 2:They've got hundreds or thousands of other agents, so they really don't care that much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think the well, we talked about it a little bit a week ago, I think the only people that have left Innovate have left because they have some sort of personal dynamic that's requiring they leave right, which happens everywhere when you start to scale. But yeah, it's interesting, I mean. I guess what you're saying is we actually can provide value, yeah, and we are constantly trying to provide more value for the agent.
Speaker 2:I think, and we are constantly trying to provide more value for the agent, I think you know we are in a position, with you know what we've kind of created, that there are so many actual opportunities that come to agents as well, where you know, I mean you're not going to be at a Douglas Elliman and the broker of record is going to say, hey, here's a listing for you Like that's just not going to happen, whereas we are constantly, you know, generating actual business because of our relationships with Bye Bye House and Center Street Lending.
Speaker 2:And you know we're bringing listings to agents, which is, I mean, that's crazy, and especially in this type of a market.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's interesting that you bring that up too, because this hits on all the topics we're discussing. We had this transaction at Bye Bye House, where it's in Beverly Hills. It's a bigger price point, not like huge, but it's like a $3-plus million listing, and we're wrapping construction mid-October and we're like, oh, shoot, do we?
Speaker 3:bring this to market.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if we bring it to market, who's the right agent? You know, and obviously we exclude not exclusively, but 99.9% of the time, you know innovate lists, our activity, our properties that we're, that we're bringing back to market. So you and I have the conversation like oh, is this the wrong time? And actually I remember being very confused. You know this is three weeks ago. Should we list this right now?
Speaker 2:This is a big one for us.
Speaker 1:And so we had a lot of conversation around it, and the data just told us that it was the right time because there's no inventory at our size and price point. Right, I mean a quarter mile away, there's a $100 million plus listing.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so we're coming to market, you know, with a $3 million, you know, 26, 27 hundred square foot house. If you have to live in Beverly Hills for your ego or your kids or whatever it is you know. Uh, then this is like a value. This is almost like a first time home purchase, in that pocket in Beverly Hills.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and so, uh, you know that's. That's a great example, though, because we, I think you, you did a phenomenal job selecting the agent. The agent was over the moon, you know, for the opportunity. Uh, go, especially going into the end of the year. I think that specific agent looked at it. I mean, he mentioned that to me.
Speaker 1:Man if I can get this into escrow by the end of the year, this is going to be the best year I've ever had by a long ways. You know, we priced it aggressively, we did everything we could and, yeah, we got into escrow in eight days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and within the first week. Basically yeah.
Speaker 1:I think there were only like three or four people that walked it within the first two days, because it's just where it's at. Yeah, yeah, so that's. I mean that's interesting, but you're not going to get that opportunity anywhere else.
Speaker 2:No, never. Yeah, and and you know not to say that we're just tossing out listings to everyone, but I think it's the mentality of how do we bring opportunity to our agents, and that is just one example of the many ways that we are constantly thinking at Innovate, how do we? Bring more business to our agents, and I think no one else is thinking that way yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean in November so we're almost mid-November at this point but we'll probably I mean, even if we take a couple of those listings and push them to next year we'll still probably bring back $10 million worth of real estate by the end of this year, like we'll list $10 million worth of real estate with agents inside of our brokerage that are just, you know, buy-by-house, you know owned assets that we're going to bring back to market.
Speaker 1:It might be a little more than that. It might be closer to 15, you know, depending on those other two deals, yeah. Where are you going to get that opportunity?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you're not.
Speaker 1:So if you're a top producer and you need to, and you need to do more business you just have to come to innovate Full circle with the recruiting end of the year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. What else I mean? I guess the other question I have you know is how do you use the next, call it 45 days to prepare for 2025? I mean, is it, is it really just focus on all the actions today and then kind of the same thing, or do you? Do you find some time to reset for for next year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think it's important to reset, but I think you should reset whenever you need to reset. You know it doesn't have to be end of the year, like, if anything. I think end of the year gets really hectic, so you should see the same results that you would see. You know it's it's more of the message that you can't slow down and if you do have some down time, you know take what you need to reset. But also don't forget that you know real estate is a 60 to 90. I mean, sometimes years later you're working with clients. So what you're doing right now matters every year, all year, every day. You never know when that opportunity or when that client that you're working with is going to come to fruition. So you know it's instead of focusing on, you know, the distractions or the negatives of like, oh, nothing's really happening anyway. No, there's a lot of business still happening and you can set yourself up for next year if you're putting the right actions into place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great point.
Speaker 2:I feel like we nailed it.
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Speaker 1:Hunting yeah, hunting, I would say, like an active, you know, ceo and founder of a not small or medium brokerage, at this point a big brokerage that's regional, in Southern California. And then, obviously, from my vantage point, what's happening in the investment side? Every once in a while we get the grace of Steve uh with us and uh, hearing what's happening in the lending space. Uh, I can't wait for him to come on soon. We've got some really exciting updates, you know, um, you know happening in that world. But, uh, the intention is just to share that information, um, but sharing it with other people. You know, the easiest way for us to do our job and share it, you know, at a global level, is for you to subscribe and share it with people that you think would find value out of it. And to Suzanne's point, you might get some random tidbits about hunting or Papa Do's the greatest New Orleans restaurant in Peoria.
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