Willie Lane: Building Trust Top Agent Jacksonville Beach

REE #277 Transcript

[00:00:00] Willie Lane:
The work we do today is gonna pay off in 12 to 18 months from now. Yeah. So, that's what I preach and preach to my team that. Put your head down, do the work, and trust the process, and it's gonna pay off in 12 to 18 months.
That's a long time from now. Yeah. You just gotta trust that process and do it.

[00:00:55] Tracy Hayes:
Who brings more than a decade of local real estate expertise to every
[00:01:00] client he serves. With deep rooted market knowledge and a passion for helping people navigate the home buying and selling journey, he's made a name for himself specializing in luxury homes and condos along the beaches throughout Duval, St. John's, Nassau, and Clay Counties.
Known for holding himself to the highest professional standards, his results and his reputation speak for themselves. Beyond real estate, he's a dedicated family man, avid outdoorsman, and an active supporter of the Boys and Girls Club.
Whether he is surfing, golfing, fishing, or cheering on his Jacksonville Jaguars, he brings the same passion to life as he does to his business. Let's welcome Willie Lane of the Willie Lane Group, Compass Realty to the show.

[00:01:40] Willie Lane:
Hey, thank you. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Glad to have you. Hey, excited to be here.

[00:01:43] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. Really, really interested in your story. You know, Doug, I try to dig in as much as possible, so I obviously have some really creative questions. But like you said, you don't have LinkedIn, so that cripples me a little bit. So we're gonna, we'll be creative, but you've had success and I think there's gonna be a lot of agents that wanna hear your story.
[00:02:00]

[00:02:00] Willie Lane:
Cool. Yeah, I'm ready to tell it.

[00:02:02] Tracy Hayes:
I always like to kick off with an easy one — 18-year-old Willie. What's he envisioning himself doing as a career? What did you, where were you at and what were you doing?

[00:02:11] Willie Lane:
Oh boy. 18 years old, off to college. Yeah, didn't, didn't, you know, went to a good school. Not a good student. Not a good student. And I didn't have a whole lot of hope. I didn't know what, I had no idea what I was going to do. But between my junior and senior year, I had an internship selling advertisements here locally.
It was for a UNF publication and, you know, I learned a lot. I went through a sales training program at UNC and went, you know, spent the whole summer selling advertisements. And that really taught me a lot about the sales process. It taught me that I probably didn't wanna sit in an office all day,

[00:02:49] Tracy Hayes:
Right?

[00:02:50] Willie Lane:
And, you know, so when it came time to graduate, I, you know, I kind of wanted to — I thought it'd be smart to have something lined up before I actually graduated. Then, “Oh no, now what?”
And so I was going through some interviews with some different sales agencies and positions and went and interviewed with, you know, my former brokerage, the CEO there, and thought, hell, why not, you know? And had no idea what I was getting into. And here we are.

[00:03:15] Tracy Hayes:
So you got in real estate very early in your career. What? I mean, we do have some really young real estate agents around. I've said numerous times in the four years I've been doing it — obviously when I grew up, stereotypical real estate agent was generally an older woman, even older men, most of them. And obviously in second parts of career, which we have a lot of successful people that have done that.
They've been in corporate America for 10, 15, 20 years and getting into real estate. But what's it like? Yeah, 22, 23 years old. You don't own your own place yet. Most people don't even know how to spell, like, mortgage, right? I mean, what was that feeling like walking in that first day?

[00:03:55] Willie Lane:
That was tough. You know, I was living at home — my parents. I moved back from college, back into my home,
[00:04:00] mom and dad's house. And so that was, you know, going into the office. Here I am trying to help someone with one of their biggest purchases or biggest assets of their lifetimes, and I don't own that for myself.
Right. Right. And I was young. It's hard, you know, how do you trust a kid, you know, just fresh outta college? I was among — I was by far the youngest in my office. Right.
And shortly after I joined, you know, a few other younger folks joined the industry and kind of trickled in. But at that time it was kind of weird. That was 13 — 12, 13 years ago. Yeah. So it was different then. It was the white-haired old ladies and a few guys here and there. Yeah. But mostly females.

[00:04:34] Tracy Hayes:
So yeah, tell us a little about that first year. I mean, what did they do for you? Especially, you know, coming in, like you said, you don't even —
Like, how do you spell mortgage? You know, your house. Okay. Because we've all been there — 22 years old. And then you weren't even thinking about doing this and your mom wasn't doing it, so you just, you know, you're thrown in there.
What are some of the things that helped you get started? Did you have a slow start or were you able to jump out?

[00:04:56] Willie Lane:
No, you know, interesting. I see some — now I see these newer agents. Some
[00:05:00] will have just a quick start, quick success, and that's great. You know, it's awesome.
I had a very different start to my career. My first year, I probably spent as much as I made. I had a few sales under my belt in a year. And the next year I made a few bucks, and then the next year it kind of started to take off. It's just — that's kind of the — the first couple years of it was really slow.

[00:05:26] Tracy Hayes:
Because obviously when you go back, we're talking about like 2011, 12…
[00:05:33] Willie Lane:
2013.
[00:05:34] Tracy Hayes:
2012 or 2013?
[00:05:34] Willie Lane:
Yeah.
[00:05:34] Tracy Hayes:
Obviously it sounds like, you know, mom and dad were supporting your quest.
[00:05:38] Willie Lane:
Sure. Yeah.
[00:05:39] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm. From that standpoint, 'cause you stuck with it, you had some grit. 'Cause obviously, I'm sure in that first couple years where things weren't, you know, rolling, you were thinking, should I do something else?

[00:05:49] Willie Lane:
Oh, I — the whole, I mean, for the first five years I thought that. Even when I was making money in real estate, I'd sell a house and then not have a contract that's in place right now. And I'm thinking, “Am I gonna have to have a side job? Or am I gonna have to find
[00:06:00] another career?” You know?

[00:06:01] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
[00:06:01] Willie Lane:
That really kind of stuck with me for quite a while. And even when I had more success, I still kind of had those thoughts. And it didn't really go away for, I don't know, the first five years, I would say.
[00:06:11] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.
[00:06:12] Willie Lane:
So yeah, that certainly was on my mind for years. You know, I'd sell a house and then not know where the next piece of business was coming from. That was an uneasy feeling.
But then you just have the faith, put your head down and work. And I tell my team nowadays — I tell them that story.
[00:06:26] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
[00:06:27] Willie Lane:
You know, it takes a while. This is the long game we're playing. And you know, everyone now — sure, you may have a need for financial resources, and therefore you may need to have a second job or whatever it is.
But if you can stick it out, put your head down, roll up the sleeves, and trust the process — you know, it works. The work we do today is gonna pay off in 12 to 18 months from now.
So that's what I preach and preach to my team. Put your head down, do the work, and trust the process, and it's gonna pay off in 12 to 18 months.
[00:07:00] That's a long time from now. Yeah. You just gotta trust that process and do it.

[00:07:02] Tracy Hayes:
If you were to go back — 'cause I think this is a very interesting topic, because again, we do have a lot of young agents. And I think it’s advantageous — our market, you know, there's still a huge demand.
Only, you know, the top 25% are actually doing deals. And really, we know that probably 5% are actually doing 90% of the deals.
5% that are out there. So a young person can enter this game and compete.

So looking back at that first 12 to 24 months, what are some of the things that you would've done differently, knowing what you know now?

[00:07:38] Willie Lane:
Well, that's a —
[00:07:39] Tracy Hayes:
That's a good question.
[00:07:39] Willie Lane:
That's a good question. I think what I would've done differently... I think I really kind of had — I preach to my team what I did.
[00:07:46] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
[00:07:47] Willie Lane:
And that, ’cause that seemed to work out. At least I have — I think I'm successful.
[00:07:50] Tracy Hayes:
Well, could you have done it better? I mean, there's — I'm sure there's some things you could say…
[00:07:53] Willie Lane:
Yeah, yeah. That's a good question, yeah. Well, you know, I started off slow. I try to coach my team into saying, “Well, let me fast-track — I really help you not
[00:08:00] do what I did,” I guess, too.
And, you know, I think I probably would've... Good question, Tracy.

[00:08:08] Tracy Hayes:
Well, it is. It is a great dig-deep question. Anyone listening to the podcast — I mean, you know, especially 12, 13 years in, you're still young. So your mind’s still growing. Not like mine. I'm 20 years older than you. But to look back — especially for new agents coming in, or like you said, if you're gonna expand the Willie Lane Group and bring in some of these young hotshots — how can you get them off to a great start?
'Cause most people are not gonna last as long as you did. You had the grit to last the 24 or more months before you started going, “Oh, okay, I might have something here.”

[00:08:42] Willie Lane:
Good question there. Yeah. And so I guess I would say that, you know, when you're a new agent starting out...

[00:09:00] Willie Lane:
I didn't have a team member — I didn't have, or a team leader, I should say. I didn't have a team leader. I had a mentor in my office who was the office broker. And Don Line was, I mean, the reason I stuck with the business. I owe a lot to him.
But, you know, I'd say besides that though, it felt bad walking into his office every day and bothering him. He's got a whole office of agents to manage.
[00:09:07] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.
[00:09:08] Willie Lane:
In a tough market coming out of the recession. So I think maybe those agents who can find quick success, maybe latch onto a team — go find a team that you trust, to work with people you like to work with. And hopefully they can provide some leads — that's helpful — but also the right kind of training.
But you have 24-hour access to someone that's closer to you than maybe just an office broker, you know?
[00:09:34] Tracy Hayes:
Almost like a mentor — a mentor, someone you can pick up the phone that will pick up.
[00:09:37] Willie Lane:
I tell my team, “Hey, you reach out to me — I'm gonna drop what I'm doing to get to you.”
That’s priority — your success, your career. I’m really investing in it. So I want to make sure that I'm fast-tracking you, getting you to where you want to be in your career. And so whatever that takes. But I'm gonna be full access for you, and my years of experience I think is certainly gonna — I hope — get you there quicker than otherwise.
There's a lot of obstacles we face, and you know, it's helpful to have someone that's gonna hold your hand, really.
[00:10:04] Tracy Hayes:
Right. Based on how you started — and I imagine you’ve, you know, when you're starting with someone, even someone who's already had a career and is coming into real estate but just new to real estate — are you hoping that you're gonna set a schedule?
Or do you say, “Hey man, this is how we wanna start the business”? Tell us what your ideology is.
Because I think a lot of — there’s very successful people who get in, and right away they’ve had corporate experience. So they come in, they're used to working nine to five, so they come in and work nine to five.
There are others — which I think fail more often — that are a little footloose and fancy free. They’re not really holding themselves to some sort of schedule, getting certain things done during the day that you need to do to build that 12- or 18-month, you know, window that you were talking about.
How are you teaching your young agents that are coming into your group — what's your mindset on that, to get them off the ground?

[00:10:54] Willie Lane:
You know, I've had some that have had that — where they’re kind of regimented already from a previous career or whatever it is.
[00:11:00] They just have better habits of daily work life. Others are really not. I mean, they came from not working to now doing this. And so they ask a lot of questions — “How do I fill my day up?”
You know, and I tell 'em, you know, we provide — at least my team — we've kind of got our systems and processes in place. We put them on paper. We have an onboarding process, and we have — I’d say trainings — but we have a few training pieces that will get you started, you know?
And those training pieces include daily steps for success. And the daily steps for success are, you know, easy. It’s not gonna fill up your entire day, but you know, you have a few handful of tasks to do daily, right?
And that’s — it’s really the basics. Going back to old-school real estate, or really old-school sales in general.

And then from there, I say, you need to be having coffee, lunch, and happy hour or dinner — whatever it is — with somebody.
[00:12:00] With somebody. Three meetings a day, essentially. Even if it's a friend or whoever, it doesn't really matter.
You go have a coffee, a lunch, and a beer with somebody, and that’s gonna fill up your day. In between that, you do some of those daily habits for success. And that’s a day right there — and do it again the next day.

[00:12:05] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. You know, not that that’s rocket science, but it’s actually brilliant.
Because I know — I don’t know what the sales book is, but there’s one out there that talks about: “Do not eat lunch alone.”
It’s the whole thing — so you’re having lunch with somebody every day. But it makes total sense.

Wake up and call a friend you haven’t seen in a while.
[00:13:00] Whatever — your neighbor. And go have coffee with them and spend 45 minutes with them, whatever, at Starbucks or, you know, these nice coffee shops we have around. And one, get to know each other a little bit better, but also now you’re starting to bond and starting to create a relationship.

And maybe your neighbor, who you wave to every day but you don’t have a relationship with, just say, “Hey, you know what? I’d love to have coffee with you, or lunch,” or obviously like you said, grab a beer or something at the end of the day.
I mean, if you did that every day... There was a trainer over here at Landmark Title about a year or so ago — he came over from the West Coast. He’s successful over there. And he was talking about — he had a Taco Tuesday every Tuesday night at his house.
But it could never — he made a thing — it could never be the same person. He had to invite someone different to Taco Tuesday every Tuesday night in his house.
It became a ritual, but he started to bond. You break bread with someone, you start to bond with them.

[00:13:24] Willie Lane:
That’s true. Exactly right. Even just waving to your neighbor, like you said, down in the street — maybe spending the extra several minutes in the driveway, or out on the road, just talking to 'em, you know?
I think that the more you do that — and again, it doesn’t come as easy to some, you know? And maybe it didn’t come as easy to me — it’s all kind of a learn. It’s — you can learn.
So I think, yeah, exactly right. You know, I haven’t read all the sales books and the real estate books...

0:13:56] Willie Lane:
Longer process to get where I am now. Mm-hmm. But those are easy tools for your daily — daily success. Daily habits for success, I should say.

[00:13:59] Tracy Hayes:
Well —
[00:14:00] and you are a hundred percent right from the standpoint that it's not easy for everyone to do that — you know, in creating that relationship.
But if you have enough guts to say, “Hey, you know what? Let's grab coffee tomorrow, next week, Monday before work,” or whatever — they know why you're sitting down.
I mean, you're — that’s like, to me, I think that’s just a signal: “Hey, I want to get to know you.”
Mm-hmm. Because the reality is, you're not selling.
It’s like — they don't do a mortgage every day. They don't buy a house every day. So there's nothing for them to buy or sell or...

[00:14:33] Willie Lane:
No, that's true.

[00:14:34] Tracy Hayes:
You know, we're not selling something that they would buy at that moment in time, typically. But you are getting known. And at the — obviously, at the end, to say, “Hey, I appreciate — I wanted to let you know what I'm doing and how passionate I am.”
’Cause I know — you know, I think one of the John Maxwells — and I use this one all the time — I think it's 25 Ways to Influence People — is introducing people to other people and asking them to introduce you to some of their friends.
Either, you know, whoever it may be, casually or
[00:15:00] whatever, but now they know, “Hey, my real estate friend across the street,” you know?

[00:15:03] Willie Lane:
Exactly right. And really it's, you know, you don't want to go into the coffee, lunch, or beer — whatever it is — and have an agenda of trying to sell them on something.
I mean really the key to this is being genuine, you know? And allowing them to — you want someone to trust you as much as possible.
We need to be trustworthy and express that.
[00:15:30] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
[00:15:30] Willie Lane:
But the way to do that is be genuine. And ask them about them. You know, the best conversationalists — or How to Win Friends...
[00:15:34] Tracy Hayes:
And Influence People.
[00:15:35] Willie Lane:
You just ask them questions.
[00:15:36] Tracy Hayes:
They want to talk.
[00:15:37] Willie Lane:
Yeah, and just listen. And then ask 'em a follow-up question on what they just, you know, what they just talked about.
It's just — you know, and again, it's not as easy as — it’s easier said than done, I should say.
[00:15:46] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.
[00:15:46] Willie Lane:
But again, those are — I think a lot of people, when you are the first person — it’s what I call breaking the ice. But you make the gesture, now that ice is broken, and then you open up.

And then people — yeah. There is that first, you know — people are a lot of... whatever it is here and there.
[00:16:00] But as soon as someone just says, reaches out, and just breaks that ice — “Hey, let's have coffee,” or, “Let's have lunch,” or whatever.

[00:16:06] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. Let's go back — you know, so first couple years, you're kind of trudging along.
How did you handle the age thing? Was the age and experience something that had to be in the back of your mind — and something that you had to obviously protect your client from, knowing that you had it in the back of your mind?

[00:16:25] Willie Lane:
Right. Exactly right. No, totally. It was in the back of my mind. Absolutely.
And again — protecting that.
For them not realizing that that is what my subconscious is overcoming — because I'm young. And how do you trust me, you know?
[00:16:39] Tracy Hayes:
Right.
[00:16:39] Willie Lane:
Like, how are they gonna trust me if I’m self-conscious about that?
So no — it was totally — I was young, inexperienced. And, you know, I think the one thing that made me feel more confident going into meetings was having the backing of — I mean at the time it was Berkshire Hathaway.
I thought it was the number one in the game.
[00:17:00] You know, number one brokerage — or at least it was Prudential, then Berkshire Hathaway during my time. But that felt good, knowing I'm with at least a powerhouse in the game.
That someone's going to have my back. If there's an issue, I've got — you know, we had a good in-house attorney. We had great brokers. Great training.

Other — I mean, the highest-producing agents in town at the time were in our office. And so that felt good — to know that I can walk in the office and maybe ask a question to someone else that knows what they're doing.
[00:17:22] Tracy Hayes:
Right.
[00:17:23] Willie Lane:
You know, but to the image to a client was — and I had some actually tell me, “Hey, well, we trusted Berkshire Hathaway.”
They trusted the name. And so that helped them, I think, trust me more than they otherwise probably would've.
I also dressed nice. I was wearing — I’m wearing a damn suit.
[00:17:40]
[00:17:41] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.
[00:17:42] Willie Lane:
Casey, I was wearing a suit every day, man. I was wearing...

[00:17:42] Willie Lane:
...just sort of like, this is all a trial and error. And for me, it’s taken a much —
And I’m in t-shirt and shorts today, but I do still dress up. But I was doing that every day, nine to five. I was wearing a — I mean, button-down, slacks and —

[00:17:49] Tracy Hayes:
Well, as a young person, you have to look the part.
[00:17:52] Willie Lane:
You do. Yeah. And I did that. I did that.
I mean, I was door knocking on Saturdays, sweating through my suit, you know?
[00:18:00] That was the first couple years in the business.
It's weird — and I may look back on that and think, “At least I put the time in,” you know?

[00:18:04] Tracy Hayes:
For a young person, you have a sphere, but your sphere is mostly filled up from other people your age who are just trying to get out in their careers and really may not be ready to buy a home yet and so forth.
And I imagine — did you feel the family and maybe some of your parents’ friends and so forth were like, “Let’s see what this kid does — see if he sticks with it long enough before we toss him some business”?

[00:18:28] Willie Lane:
They still do that, Tracy.
I mean, my family's well plugged in here. We're long-time Jacksonville — I mean, they've been here forever. And they've got a great name in town.
And yeah, my parents have a great network, and I'm not sure if I've had a piece of business from them still. You know, I mean — maybe one or two.

But it's funny. I'm like, “Oh come on, this is a big source of business right here,” and I'm still waiting. You know?
So yeah, I think that's exactly true — where they sat back and were like, “I mean, we saw him grow up. Let’s just see what this kid does.”
[00:19:00] Yeah, exactly right.

Yeah, it's funny. So I had to make my way with my own clients, and my own sphere, my own network — meeting new, you know, new folks.
I mean, new — making friends with strangers. And that’s how I built the business. I’d like to say I was doing a lot of business from my network of family here in town, but it was really more so me getting out there and doing it — which was so out of my comfort zone.

[00:19:21] Tracy Hayes:
So, you know, some people might have a quick start because they do tap into that.
Being a young person is a little different.
And, you know, building up and doing some of those things — shaking hands and meeting people — all of a sudden…
So you're in roughly your third year before you really start to see a consistent pace of work — 2013, ’14 now?

[00:19:44] Willie Lane:
Yep.
[00:19:44] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.
So housing industry — just to give everyone perspective that may not realize this, I’ve mentioned this on the show before — when we had the collapse in ’07 and ’08, the housing industry — new construction — went under any previous 50-year low.
So 50 years prior to
[00:20:00] that, had not — we went below that low.

It did not get back up to the equivalent low until 2014. So you entered at a time where things were starting to rise — but very slowly.

[00:20:14] Willie Lane:
Yeah, yeah. It was a time where there weren’t many agents.
I think so many had left the industry, and you know, I came in at a time — one of the youngest, by far the youngest.
There were a few veterans around, but then we had some trickle in after I arrived to the industry.

But yeah, it was a time where — I mean, my whole career, real estate has been going up.
[00:20:34] Tracy Hayes:
That’s a —
[00:20:34] Willie Lane:
Great time to get into the — right time to get in.
So I was lucky for that. Timing-wise, really. Graduation and then just right into it. I mean —
[00:20:43] Tracy Hayes:
Right.
It wasn’t too fast — like, you know, if you entered in 2020, ’21 — crazy — where you kind of got spoiled. And then when they pulled the rug out, you’re like, “Oh my God, what’s going on? The world's coming to an end.”
You came in where things are just starting to rise at enough speed to get your bike growing.

[00:20:59] Willie Lane:
Yeah,
[00:21:00] it was. And I was obviously having a slow start, because I was young and we just decided — everything we talked about.
But that was — at least it was on the rise. We were still doing the basics of real estate. It wasn’t putting a sticky note on the door and selling it within 24 hours, like it was like five years ago — or four years ago, whatever.
So, you know, we were doing the basics and being able to sell. But prices were — it was like the normal increase of 3% annually.
[00:21:26] Tracy Hayes:
Right.
[00:21:27] Willie Lane:
Or whatever. So yeah, that was a good time to enter.

[00:21:29] Tracy Hayes:
What are some of the — imagine, you know, you’ve — well, a couple things have evolved over this time too.
The use of social media and obviously, you know, the internet in general — obviously is improving every single day.
So you're kind of in that wind as well.

What are some things — you talk about that — it’s like some of the things you were maybe doing at the beginning, you slowly have tweaked.
And obviously, you’ll continue to — I think we always gotta continue to tweak what we’re doing.
But some of the things that you started — or maybe weren’t doing a lot of then but you are now — and how
[00:22:00] you kind of progressed from the standpoint of using...

[00:22:00] Tracy Hayes:
...technology, social media, and those other things for, you know, advertising — top-of-mind type of...

[00:22:07] Willie Lane:
Sure.
So to social media — you know, that was a tool that I realized was helpful. I was posting on my own personal Facebook page — I don't even know if you had Instagram at the time. I really don't. I don't think — it was not at the beginning.
[00:22:20] Tracy Hayes:
No.
[00:22:21] Willie Lane:
If it was, I wasn't on it right away.
I just didn’t use it very often.
[00:22:25] Tracy Hayes:
It had just come out.
[00:22:26] Willie Lane:
Yeah. I was on Facebook. And I was, you know, an occasional Instagram post, I suppose. But yeah, Facebook was the thing then. And I — you know — I’d post, “Oh, I started work at Prudential Network Realty,” and then I’d post a Saturday picture of me at the desk doing desk time, you know, open house.

And I just didn’t use it as the tool that we do today. It was just really like me posting my personal page as you would post about, you know, Tracy out having lunch at whatever place, you know?
[00:23:00]
[00:23:01] Tracy Hayes:
Right.
[00:23:01] Willie Lane:
And so that, though — I learned — my sphere, my network was on social media. Not my parents' friends and network, but mine were.
And they would see that and associate: “Willie = Real Estate.” “Willie = Real Estate.”
That became sort of synonymous. And that’s what I realized started to work.

You know, I would see buddies out, and we hadn’t seen each other in whatever time —
[00:23:24] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
[00:23:24] Willie Lane:
They’d ask about real estate.
And I tell my team members now — I preach to 'em — like, you want to be — don’t go into a party and start talking about real estate.
You want to be asked, “How’s the market doing?” That’s the one question you want. So you be ready for a 30-second pitch.
[00:23:39] Tracy Hayes:
That 30 seconds — that’s kind of the test that you’re doing the right thing.
[00:23:42] Willie Lane:
Exactly. Exactly. So you want someone to see you and think real estate.
That’s the goal — is to go out there.

So for the longest time, you know, I had my personal page sort of act as my business page too — which we've done away with.
Now my personal pages, which are public — I still kind of post about real estate on there —
[00:24:00] but I have a business page dedicated to my real estate, to our team, our brand, our brokerage, and all that.

And we post daily. But, you know, at the time, it was really trying to be — my name’s synonymous with real estate.
You think “Willie,” you think “real estate.” Or you see me, and you immediately want to ask me a question offhand — not even knowing it — and that’s exactly what I was going for.
And it achieved it. And that was a good feeling.

So I preach — you want the question, Tracy.
You want to be asked, “How’s the mortgage business?”
[00:24:15] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:16] Willie Lane:
“How are rates? What are rates doing today?” People are gonna come up to you — that’s all we want.
[00:24:19] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah, because — well — sometimes with the podcast, I was told, this was a couple years ago.

We were at a JAX Real Producers — I’ve told the story before — but afterwards, the event, 'cause I was — Kristin and Brian allowed me to broadcast live at the JAX Real Producers thing.
I did it a couple times. It’s two hours of just live — like you and I are doing here — but I’m standing there and just anyone going by, I’m grabbing, talking, like kind of like a red carpet thing, right?
[00:25:00]

And afterwards I brought them over to close out the live stream. And I’m like, “Hey, how’d it go, Brian?”
Kristin and Brian are like, “People think you’re like a celebrity. They’re afraid to approach you.”
I’m like, “Whoa.”

So I might be doing it too much at that point — but you're 100% right.
I think that is the true test.
And I don’t think anyone’s ever actually said that — but it’s true.
You go to a social gathering, and someone who you may not talk to all the time comes up to you and says, “Hey, how’s…?”
You know — because they are seeing your face all the time on the social media, talking about whatever it may be with real estate.

Let’s talk about the Willie Lane Group.
At what point did you go from Willie Lane to The Willie Lane Group?
When did you start wanting to expand?
Again — and the reason why I ask this question is — and maybe you can lead the answer to it — is I feel there’s a lot of agents out there who have maximized what they can do as an individual.

[00:25:00] Tracy Hayes:
They’re really good — pretty much as much time in the day as one person can do — ’cause they’re doing all their transaction coordinating, they’re doing all their marketing, everything.
And they reach that — I call it “the lid.”
And then it’s just like — they max out somewhere.
I think it’s sub $10 million — somewhere between seven to ten million also — they’re just maxed.
Tell us how you evolved a group. And then obviously, you’ve brought other people on...
[00:26:00] and what’s that done to your business?

[00:26:01] Willie Lane:
It’s funny — you clearly have heard the story before because you nailed it on the volume.
Yeah, no — I reached a sales volume, and at one point I remember having like 15 contracts at one time.
And I remember telling a neighbor of mine — who was also in real estate — and Clay, my wife too...

Yeah, I was like, “This is just... I need help.”
And I went on like that for an easy six months — probably 18 months — like, “I need help, I need help.”
And I just didn’t know how to get it.

I tried the transaction coordinator once or twice. And I don’t know — I just... I certainly needed the help.
And I was at the lid of — “Well, I can’t take on any more business. I am stretched thin.”
My goal was always to provide that level of service to each client — as they expect and as I expect.
And when you have that many contracts at one time, that becomes tough to do. And you have to make sure you do it.

It was about four or five years ago — probably five years ago — I decided to...
[00:27:00] Well, I finally decided to go ahead and find the help I needed — as far as finding an assistant.
What I really wanted was an assistant, you know — an all-around, all-encompassing personal and business [assistant].

Like, I didn’t have time to take my dry cleaning to drop it off — I just didn’t.
You know what I mean? Or it seemed that way at least.

So yeah, I hired — really what I wanted was a full-time assistant.
And so I hired one of my good buddies to be a team member.
He got licensed too. But what I really wanted out of him was to be an assistant.
And I felt bad — he was kind of my guinea pig. Austin.
Honestly, people make jokes about working with your best pal — but it ended up being fine, luckily.

But that was my guinea pig.
But I realized there that — okay, what I do need is a transaction coordinator.

I have an assistant. And I want a team member who’s licensed.
And that’s where it started with Lane Group.
[00:27:53] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
[00:27:54] Willie Lane:
And that’s really — I think today — the model I hold.

I want someone who has some experience, at least, to come.
I tried the new agent stuff — that’s tough to do. It takes a lot off the plate — or adds too much to the plate when it’s really supposed to be taking off at a certain point, right?

[00:27:53] Tracy Hayes:
You mean bringing on a new agent onto the team, and then you're trying to coddle them?
[00:27:57] Willie Lane:
A brand-new agent to the industry? Yeah. It’s very tough to do when they don’t otherwise have any experience.
There’s just so much — there’s just so much to know and so much to learn.

And it takes so much — adds so much to my plate — when I really want to train these agents and bring 'em up.
And I’m always there for them — but at a certain point, it does alleviate some of the...
I can’t be in two places at one time.
So someone who has some experience can go handle things for the team lead. And then I can handle things for them in turn, you know?

But yeah — the Willie Lane Group was a long process. A long time in the making.
And yeah — here we are with, I think, a model that’s sustainable now.

[00:28:33] Tracy Hayes:
So how long were you in the business before you started to get these 10, 15 deals at the same time and started to...
I mean, I think for most people, three or four — they’re starting to feel overwhelmed, let alone 10 or 15.
What kind of time period are we talking about here now?

[00:28:48] Willie Lane:
Yeah, that’s about... It must have been 2019–2020.
Yeah, 2020, I would call it. And so that was five years ago.

And so yeah — 2019–2020.
That’s when I was stressing about needing some help and just didn’t seek it — or didn’t go out to find an assistant or whatever it was.
And then finally I just started the group.

[00:29:05] Tracy Hayes:
What I find interesting is — this is not new to the real estate business.
I’ve talked to so many different agents that are at different chapters of their careers.

Some have only been in the business a few years and are doing really well.
You know, you’ve been in it — what, 12, 13 years or whatever — you’re there.
And I’ve obviously talked to someone like Mandy, who’s been in [it] a couple decades.

And everyone has reached — has graduated — up to this point where they reached a lid.
And yet we still have agents out there who are scrambling and trying to find out, “What do I do next?”

Even though — if someone actually wrote a book — they would have this as one of the chapters of the real estate... the life of a real estate agent, a career or whatever.
And the importance of it.

I imagine you probably went for some advisement on what to do.
[00:30:00] Who were some of the people that you spoke to, and some of the people that really gave you good advice on how to structure this?

[00:30:05] Willie Lane:
Yeah, the advice — I did speak with some others who were more peers than they were maybe like mentors, etc.
You know, spoke to some that... I mean, they just — I think they just encouraged me to get an assistant.

And that was kind of — the team thing when I started, at Berkshire — with Prudential at the time — wasn’t a thing.
At least they didn’t encourage the team structure.

[00:30:05] Willie Lane:
...there was just — there was one team maybe in my entire eight, nine years I was there.
[00:30:10] Tracy Hayes:
Right.
[00:30:11] Willie Lane:
Right. So I was unfamiliar with how that structure looked. I had no idea.

We had a broker at Compass — office manager, I suppose he is — who had successfully run huge teams out in Colorado.
And, you know, I leaned on him a lot. I was like, “So what does the structure look like? Right? How does this...?”

Sure, I was at the offices and we’d have the weekly or biweekly sales meetings, and, you know, we’d go over a handful of topics.
So that was sort of already in the back of my mind.

Then I just sort of...
[00:31:00] Once I spoke with my office manager, he gave me some tips on how to operate with a team.

Then I took my prior experience and just kind of said, “Well, what did it look like when I was a new agent at my office? Right? What did we do there?”

Okay — I actually went back in my — I kept a lot of my materials just in folders. I don’t know why, but I’ve got these boxes full of files.
And I went back and found some old training programs, training materials.

And I had my assistant take those and put my header on it — our team logo, our team name — and tweak a few things.
She’s really good at technology. I’m terrible at that stuff. Her strengths are my weaknesses, and vice versa.

So anyways, yeah — we took these training materials and...
[00:31:38] Tracy Hayes:
Structured.
[00:31:39] Willie Lane:
Yeah.
[00:31:40] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah, exactly right.

And I know Keller Williams — and not saying they are the only ones, 'cause I know Christina Welch very well — and she’s always told me she has played the Keller Williams playbook.

They have a playbook for that. And I guess what I want to express across — 'cause you’re a perfect example (you used the word guinea pig before) — but you’re a perfect example of someone who grew their business to max...
[00:32:00] Basically, you’re pulling your hair out with 15 deals at the same time.

That agents who are in this business who may not have hit the lid yet should start talking to people.

If you’re going to stay in this business and you’re doing well, the longer you stay in it — obviously the more people you touch — and your business starts to snowball.

I don’t know anyone, unless they just refuse to work, but if you’re putting in the work ethic (which you’ve explained here), you’re going to reach that point.

So start aligning yourself with some of these people. Start seeing how they’re structuring their deals.
'Cause it is true — there are many teams, and they all have a — just like you guys do your real estate business a little differently — every one of these teams is structured a little differently.
[00:32:45] Willie Lane:
Yep.
[00:32:46] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.
[00:32:47] Willie Lane:
That’s true.

You know, I think for starters, I’ve heard that some agents — or maybe some brokerages — encourage you just out of the gates to get a transaction coordinator.

I don’t really believe that.

I think you should cut your teeth and learn everything.
Like, learn how to communicate with title, lenders, the other agents to obtain documents.
How do you ask for them in the proper way?
[00:33:00] At what point in the transaction do you ask for them?

I mean, that’s important to know.
How do you run a successful real estate business and have never done those things?

I just think that that’s important to know. So I do encourage those new agents — or newer agents who have time and are not stretched thin yet — to not have the transaction coordinator right away.
And to work those deals start to finish themselves.

There comes a time when you should have one, certainly.
And that’s going to take a lot off your plate and allow you to do what you need to be doing — which is bringing in new clients, bringing in the new business, and handing off the admin stuff to someone who’s able to work it.

[00:33:42] Tracy Hayes:
It sounds like — 'cause you said you went through some transaction coordinators — you’ve worked with a handful of different transaction coordinators over the years.
[00:33:50] Willie Lane:
Yeah, yeah.
[00:33:51] Tracy Hayes:
And from what I’ve gathered talking to so many agents — everyone has a different vision. Again, just like their businesses are all different, their teams are all different.

What they want that transaction coordinator to do is very different.

So if you’ve never cut your teeth and you don’t know what they’re supposed to do — when you’re really producing and you need a transaction coordinator — like,
[00:34:00] you can hire one full-time because you’ve got that many deals.

You need to know how to align them with the way you do business.

Because I think one of the reasons for failure — and you can agree or disagree with this, maybe you have some insight — is you’ve got to communicate with that transaction coordinator on how you do business and how you want them to support that.

You know what you want them to do — because I may want them to do something a little differently, a little bit more, a little bit less.

When do they communicate with you? Is it first thing in the morning? Late in the afternoon? Mondays? Fridays?

Right. I’ve heard all the different things.

Every — so it’s very important, I think, to understand what’s going on beyond... in the whole transaction so you can actually communicate.

[00:34:55] Willie Lane:
Yeah, exactly right.

And knowing — you know, when that transaction coordinator... I mean, that’s exactly what you need to know — is being able to tell your transaction coordinator what you want from them, what you expect, etc.

Knowing when they should be reaching out to another party to obtain a document or whatever it is — or stay on time.

And what they should be saying. And how you want them to say it.

[00:35:00] Willie Lane:
Right? And those are important pieces.
You know, there's sometimes where a transaction coordinator messages someone — maybe too many times — and it's like, “Hey, you know, this is... that’s not how I prefer to do it. Let’s wait. Let’s give 'em [some space],” or whatever it is, right?

You know, there’s different nuances that go into that.
And I’m — I guess I’m pretty particular maybe on how I operate my own business. Not every transaction’s the same, but more or less you have a process of your own.
And if it works, it works — and you want to be able to express that to somebody and tell them how to — well, how to…

[00:35:48] Tracy Hayes:
There’s a comfortability in your skin and a transaction coordinator that’s been around the block a few times — they can have very confident conversations with your client because they know what’s gonna happen.

They’ve seen
[00:36:00] it happen hundreds of times already and, you know, help you foreshadow and all those things that you guys do to make sure the transaction goes through as smoothly as possible.
You know, learning how people communicate — is your customer a text messenger?

I’ve done complete deals over Facebook Messenger, texting, email — I mean, everyone has a different way they want to communicate.
Obviously, verbally — some people, you know, want to come in face-to-face.
I don’t have that — it’s not as often on my side.
Obviously you spend more time face-to-face.

[00:36:31] Willie Lane:
Right. Yeah, I mean there’s certainly different communication styles out there. But yeah, I think that’s important.
I think, you know, just knowing how a transaction works — start to finish.

With cash. A loan. What type of loan?
You know — a VA buyer, FHA...
Have you done a short sale or foreclosure?
Have you worked it all the way through?

You know what I mean?
Those are — man, then you figure out how the industry works.

You figure out who — okay, now I need to call title. But yeah, I need to talk to an
[00:37:00] attorney this time.

Or like — you notice. And you know more. You learn more.
And I’ve probably done it the long way and the hard way. I have — it’s just the way I learn in life in general.

But those are important things I believe in.
I think that you do some deals on your own before you get a transaction coordinator.
Yeah. I’m a firm believer in that.
You learn more that way — and then you know better how to communicate with a transaction coordinator, a team, etc., in the future when you do get busy enough to have those people in place.

[00:37:25] Tracy Hayes:
So we were talking about the — we’re talking about the processes.

Let’s dig into your ideology for those clients who may never have worked with you before.
Maybe you’re training your team on just the way — you know — some of the things that you feel are very important and have proven...

I’m sure there’s a lot of things you do upfront to make sure — foreshadowing, setting expectations, all those things — that the transaction goes through.

So, you’re going out.
I think listings are — I mean, I imagine you’re probably sitting on a bunch like everybody else is right now.

Talk a little bit about the
[00:38:00] conversation you like to have when you go into a listing appointment with someone you’ve never met before.
You weren’t referred, so you can’t really cut corners — you’ve got to give the full presentation.

What’s your mindset going in?
What are you doing prior to actually going over there, and then the meeting itself?

[00:38:15] Willie Lane:
Yeah. Prior to — really — is the conversation with the client.
Finding out about the property. About who they are — the story.
So you’re prepared.

Your materials are prepared.
You know, obviously we have a pre-prepared — I guess pitch book, if you will — you know, but it’s just about us, about the team, what we offer, etc.

Then I can supplement — add customized pages or materials in there for the client.
And yeah, sure — I’d like to mention something about the market somewhere in some fashion, right?

If it’s a listing appointment, you know, I want to make sure I meet them and see the property before I really give kind of hard numbers or anything else really that’s concrete.

[00:39:00] I want to talk to them and see them in person.

My biggest thing is getting the appointment — being there.
That’s when we can really show our genuineness.
And through that, you gain the trust.

That’s all we’re there for.
Look, I have the experience, the knowledge, and we offer a lot — but there’s other agents who offer a similar set of skills.
And the good ones in town — they do.

So what sets you apart?
It’s getting there and getting their trust.
Because they could consider someone else — and also probably trust someone else — who’s just as successful or more.

So I think it’s getting that client to trust you.
And I think personally, I do best in face-to-face, in the moment — and expectations.

[00:39:31] Tracy Hayes:
So you’re consciously going in there — because you mentioned trust very early on in our talk.

You said that’s the number one: getting people to trust you before they’re gonna give you business. Right?
Before they’re gonna refer you business.

And in this case, you’re — what are some things that you like to do?
And I imagine, you know, you — as in any sales — you build the routine.

Obviously you change it, you cater it to the customer who’s sitting in front of you.
Like what questions you may ask.
But what is — what is your mindset, you...

[00:40:00] Tracy Hayes:
...when you go and you sit there — to build that trust.
Because I would guess it's not just — I call it verbal, uh, diarrhea — just blah, all these numbers and all this stuff.
You understand: I need to build this person's trust.

What are some of the things that you do to do that?

[00:40:12] Willie Lane:
I guess what I do sometimes — to give away some tricks instead of mine —
I’ll tell them, “You know, look — the next guy down the road is gonna tell you a higher price to list it for. And that seems pretty attractive, right, Tracy?”
“Well, you know, that’s not always the case. And here’s the pitfalls of doing so.”

And I just — I tell them, “Look, this is maybe not the sexiest price, or maybe not exactly what you wanted to hear, but this is the price I believe is going to be a selling price. What’s going to get us positioned correctly in the market — to sell.”

And that’s — you know, they want to — I think, I find for the most part, sellers want to hear something to that effect.
There’s some that just don’t. You know, they have a number in their head, they have a number in their head. Or, you know, whatever it is —
[00:41:00]
“Hey, this guy's gonna sell it for more,” whatever. And that’s fine. Maybe they don’t. Whatever.
You know — but I didn’t get the business, and that’s okay. I’m not gonna sell the house to everybody. I realize that.

But that’s something I do.
During the meeting, during the process — whether they have...
Maybe my number does align with them. Maybe it’s lower than what I actually came out with.

But I do explain to them — “I don’t know what others are telling you, but this is what I’ve come up with through my own analysis of the market.”

And again, some guy down the road may come in here with a lower commission and a higher price to list — and that may be more attractive, I understand —
But this is what I believe is going to be the key to success.

[00:41:26] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
You know Mandy enough — I assume you guys have been working together for a few years.

She’s talked on her show — and it really makes sense — not that she’s the first person to mention it, but really going fairly deep with a customer.

One: to gain the trust you’re talking about.
But also, in conversation — you know — that one little extra question’s going to just get you a little bit closer to understanding the importance of what their actual goals are.

Which oftentimes are not on their sleeve. You have to actually ask a few questions to dig a little bit to get that kind of hidden goal that only they talk about —
[00:42:00] if they’ve even... you know, if the husband and wife have even talked about it.

[00:42:07] Willie Lane:
Exactly. Yeah.
You know, maybe Mandy has more of a precise way of doing so — I’m not sure if I do.
I go in there and have a conversation.
That’s really kind of what we’re there for.

And again — that shows your genuineness.
Those are two things I keep talking about, but those are the things I think are most important.

As far as getting to know their story — I mean, I wear it on my sleeve, you know?
And so I think sometimes that helps bring it out of others, though.

I think if I — I tend to do that — and so I think others feel more comfortable putting it on their sleeve if they don’t already.
And so that’s been helpful — to kind of dive down and dig deeper into what they’re really looking for.

Because that’s what we want to know — is what are you really looking for?
What’s going to make you most satisfied in this transaction?

[00:42:53] Tracy Hayes:
Right.

With today’s market — you know, we’re in July of
[00:43:00] 2025 — it’s a buyer’s market.
A lot of top agents are sitting on double-digit listings. Some of them — teams — are sitting on 100 listings right now. Big teams and so forth.

What are you doing — what are you coaching your team members — in the sense of properly setting expectations?

Because I don’t think people realize — non–real estate agents — don’t realize that every day that house sits out there, you guys are...
There’s a level of stress that you have.

Another week goes by. Another weekend goes by.
Another open house. And maybe you're getting some offers, but they’re soft — or no offers at all.

What kind of conversation are you having with those sellers right now?
’Cause I imagine you probably have a few of these.

[00:43:44] Willie Lane:
Pricing.
Pricing is the key.

Pricing, I think, is the biggest — the number one single factor — in getting your home sold.
I mean, there’s a lot — there’s marketing, there’s this and that — but I...

Pricing is the number one, number one singular factor
[00:44:00] in selling your home quickly — and at the highest price.

And right now — it is.

You unfortunately have to maybe come in under what others are listed for, maybe under what another one sold for.
And that’s hard to swallow or hard to accept.

So as far as coaching my team — we drill down on price.
We want to push the envelope — and we always do —
[00:44:25] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.
[00:44:26] Willie Lane:
But we need to be mindful about where we price. And that’s the most important key factor.

After pricing — it’s positioning.
You know — the home, on the market, for sale.

The marketing piece is also huge.

And it’s going back now, because homes are — you know — days on market are longer.
Now they’ve increased.

[00:44:56] Willie Lane:
And so, you know, we're going back to the basics of real estate.
We're going back to when I started in 2013, when things were — yeah, the average days on market was like 90 days or whatever it was then, right?
So, you know now, yeah —

[00:44:58] Tracy Hayes:
The people are panicking at 30.
[00:45:00] You're like, oh, it's—

[00:45:00] Willie Lane:
Been forever.
I'm like, well, you know, relatively — it has not been that.
So, yeah — we’ll keep the faith, you know, and trust the process, and we’ll get there.

But I think if pricing is number one and marketing is number two, from there, there’s other things.

[00:45:17] Tracy Hayes:
I mean again — talking to some other agents is what you’re at — and those who are listening — like you say, the price is—
You could go in and offer that competitive price, but I know there’s parts of this town — like you can go over to Nocatee and there’s a dozen million-dollar homes.

Okay, well — first of all, when you put “million” behind your price point, you’re in a different category of client.

Well then, the fact that — you know — five years ago, a million-dollar home was a rarity. Now it’s common, right?

[00:46:00] And to have multiple million-dollar homes in — at least here in northeast Florida — maybe in California or other areas, that’s common —
But in a general, planned urban development like Nocatee to have million-dollar homes when they’re really — they’re not custom built —
And you’re competing against dozens — let alone a builder who’s not that far away still building homes.

And to set the price point to get showings —
’Cause you could set the price point — and I hear from a lot of agents — it might be a great home, but if you’re overpriced, no one even bothers to come by.

[00:46:26] Willie Lane:
We just had to pull a condo off the market, you know?

And, you know, others were like, “Oh, you should stage it, you should stage it.”
Well, we didn’t have a showing.

The problem wasn’t we’re having showings and we’re not selling — we couldn’t get anyone in the door.
That’s a price issue.

And there’s reasons why maybe we go with a different price — it’s not our suggestion, it’s maybe the client’s, and there’s a need for it, etc.

But yeah — I think pricing is a big piece to it.

I’ve had listings recently where they’re in a subdivision where the builder — still, D.R. Horton or whoever — still has 140 units to go.

[00:47:00] And we’ve got to put ours on the market — and, you know, “We have to make how much out of this?” because the client bought it a year ago.
And, you know, it’s tough. Yeah — it’s quite tough.

[00:47:05] Tracy Hayes:
Do you sell a lot of new construction — your team?
What would you say your percentage of new construction is?

[00:47:09] Willie Lane:
Well — and I’m lucky enough, I’ve got a great builder I’ve kind of grown up with.
Not grown up — I mean, in my career I’ve grown up with.
It took me a few years to get in his business and now we’ve got it.

And so we do — he does some new construction, mainly in the Beaches area.

[00:47:23] Tracy Hayes:
Okay. More — it’s custom built?

[00:47:25] Willie Lane:
He’ll do both.
He would do all — he would do just custom.
He’s not the big publicly traded—

[00:47:29] Tracy Hayes:
He’s not?

[00:47:29] Willie Lane:
No, no, no.
He’s smaller.
But we will do spec houses.
We’ll identify properties, can lock them down, and we’ll do multi-unit.

So we’ll do several specs.
Yeah, sure — we work with new construction.

We’ve sold in Nocatee and — gosh — yeah, ICI and all those others.
Seven Pines and Tamaya and all those other— you know.

[00:47:46] Tracy Hayes:
When working with the track builders — your big publicly-owned who’ve got 140 more units to build —

I think people have found out here, especially recently —
To have that conversation with that buyer —
Say, “How long do you see yourself here?”

[00:48:00] Exactly.
Because if you’re only going to be here a year or two — and they’ve got 140 more units to go —
You’re going to be in a hard situation.

Especially — I think anyone selling to a veteran right now — or an active duty member, I should say — who could likely get moved in a year or two —

Putting them in new construction, unless it’s the last couple houses in that complex or subdivision —
Steer them away.
Because you’re putting them in a bad spot.

[00:48:24] Willie Lane:
Exactly right.
Those are the questions you ask.
I mean — like, I think — again, this goes back to maybe having some experience, which—

[00:48:56] Tracy Hayes:
Know, for those who may not have that experience — but you’ve gotta ask questions, you know?
[00:48:58] And maybe if you don’t — maybe you run it by — maybe you talk to a mentor or somebody who can look at the set of questions you just went over with your client and kind of help identify the best places for you to search for a purchase, right?

[00:49:00] But just like you talked about, we don’t want to put a veteran in a new construction community where it’s like D.R. Horton — they still have, again, half the community to build out — and you’re getting a unit and—

[00:49:00] Willie Lane:
Yeah.

[00:49:01] Tracy Hayes:
A year, two years in —

[00:49:01] Willie Lane:
They’re having to come out with money outta their—

[00:49:01] Tracy Hayes:
They didn’t put any money down actually—

[00:49:02] Willie Lane:
Yeah. You got paid to sell it. I mean, like, literally pay — I mean, you’re in the red.

So, mm-hmm, that’s important. Yeah, it’s something to look at.
You want to know, again, the market.
You wanna know the areas of town.
You wanna know kind of what’s going on with the inventory and all sorts of things.
Try to forecast if you can.
It’s hard.
We don’t have a crystal ball.

[00:49:19] Tracy Hayes:
Still staying on the new construction topic — inspections.
Do you recommend to have an inspector from start to finish, especially on these tract builds?

[00:49:23] Willie Lane:
Yeah, I certainly do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:26] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. You’ve seen a lot with the— yeah.
You’ve seen a lot.
I’ve had an inspector actually kind of get into it with one of the supers on site.
These good old country boys — I’m like, man, you’re — you’re gonna get beat up here in the parking lot, buddy, you know?

These guys — they don’t love the inspectors.
But I really think it’s important, you know?

[00:49:47] Willie Lane:
Yeah, because they’re calling out things that these other guys are kind of used to just doing on every other build.

[00:49:51] Tracy Hayes:
I don’t understand myself because — you know — it’s one thing — we know some of these big builders have multiple subdivisions in northeast Florida.

But the amount of slabs being poured and all that stuff —
It’s not happening so fast that they could not have one or two quality control people to go out and actually do the internal inspection themselves — to make sure the plumbing’s put in the slab and all that stuff like it should —
And the toilet is spaced properly, distanced from the shower — that, you know, you’re not literally gotta put one leg in the tub.

[00:50:27] Willie Lane:
You’d like to think that they have a quality control guy or someone doing that.
Maybe they do — but it’s like proofreading your own work.

Maybe they’re going to look at the same slab — because there’s, you know, how many — 200-something units in the neighborhood — and they’re like, they see the same thing.
They’re like, “Oh, it looks fine,” ’cause it looks the same as the last one they just looked at.
And then it’s just— yeah, I don’t know.

[00:50:46] Tracy Hayes:
Well, it’s interesting.
There’s no doubt there is — you know, a lot of the stuff is done in an office.
Design the house or whatever — they’re never actually out at that lot to see how that house is actually going to be positioned and so forth.

Because — I’m sure you’ve seen it — we had a good friend buying new construction.
It was the last house in the neighborhood, actually.
And the way it was positioned — they wanted the windows facing out to the retention pond, which everyone would.

[00:51:00] Not.

The house turned around facing the house next to it and looking at someone’s walls.

And from what I understand, there’s some of these builders — they’re putting all this nice glass in, and all you’re doing is you’re looking at the neighbor’s side of their house.

[00:51:21] Willie Lane:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It’s designed in the office — and they didn’t, right — yeah.
They just — it’s going to go in a lot, but they don’t know the lot.

[00:51:27] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah, and how it’s positioned.

So, yes — having a good real estate agent who’s on top of those things — and let alone hiring a — you know, getting a recommendation for an inspector from start to finish on these new constructions —

Because the inspectors that I’ve had on —
There’s no doubt, if you get lucky and catch it during the first year, a possible warranty issue — but after that, you’re on your own, brother.

[00:51:50] Willie Lane:
You are.
And, you know, again, like I said — the supers, man — they’ll push back.

And so you need an agent also who’s going to push back against them.
Like, “Hey — no, it’s not right actually,” you know?
And I don’t care.

I mean, me and the inspector noted it.
You’re pushing back, and — can agree with that — doesn’t look right, you know?
So anyways, it’s important to have that on your side.

[00:52:06] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. Sometimes you don’t even need just a truly licensed inspector — just someone to go out and look at it and go, “Dude, that doesn’t look right.”

[00:52:14] Willie Lane:
It could be that simple. Right.

[00:52:15] Tracy Hayes:
Oh man.
We will finish here — these last 10, 15 minutes here — just kind of go, kind of recap some things.
Maybe bring up some topics to the agents that are listening and so forth.

Yeah, you’ve been in the business over a dozen years.
You’ve come through some markets.
You’ve seen the crazy.
You started on the upswing as housing started to get back —
Kind of a, I don’t know if it was a plateau — but it just made a gradual—

[00:52:50] Then all of a sudden, 2019, 2021 — it’s crazy.
You’re getting multiple offers.
And now we’re back, you know, into this—

[00:52:56] Tracy Hayes:
I think, obviously, the interest rates are slowing things down.
Would you agree — the demand of buyers is out there?
And I think there's a demand of sellers who aren't selling right now because the rates are too high.

So they're like, "Well, if I go over there, I'm not gonna get much more home and I'm gonna pay more because the interest rate I'm gonna get now versus what I have."
There's a lot of pent-up demand on both sides right now.

[00:53:08] Willie Lane:
There is.
Look, the market — it really isn't bad.
It's a good market, I gotta say.

It's definitely different than where we were a few years ago, right?
Some of those rates were fictitious almost.

I mean, you would agree — it'd be hard to ever see 3s again.

[00:53:20] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:53:21] Willie Lane:
Fours again?
I mean, I'd be surprised if we see five.

[00:53:25] Tracy Hayes:
I've said it a thousand times on the show — we get below six — where we can do a 5.875 30-year fixed — it'll be a frenzy.
It’s gonna be a frenzy.
If we see the fives again — wow.
You know, it's buckle up.

What was the question?

[00:53:39] Willie Lane:
That's alright.

[00:53:40] Tracy Hayes:
Well, you agree with me on that part.
But the pent-up demand — we do have a lot of sellers and we do have a lot of buyers that are sitting on the sidelines.

Even though business is going on — which, you said, the business is good —
There are agents who are listening right now — I can guarantee it — that, you know, obviously showed up in 2021.
They were doing deals because as soon as you stuck the sign in the yard — you sent a Post-it Note on the door — a thousand people were, you know, making offers.

But we've noticed 70-something percent of the agents didn’t even do a deal in ’24.

[00:54:19] Willie Lane:
Yeah.

[00:54:20] Tracy Hayes:
Why do you think agents like yourself are still thriving, where a lot of agents who were doing good have dropped off?

[00:54:27] Willie Lane:
Yeah, well, I think it’s really maybe the number of years — and having this sphere right now where at least I have a good book of business that’s coming, and being referred to me, etc.

But I think it's positioning — or adjusting to the market.
And I think there's a way to do that that’s sustainable and that continues your growth in your career.

There’s different ways to do that.
Certainly, if you're selling a home in this kind of market — where inventory has increased, days on market has increased —
You know, buyer demand has stalled — pent-up — buyers are on the sidelines, at least half of ‘em maybe.

So it’s all about positioning the listing on the market correctly.
And there’s different ways — different factors that go into that.

The buy side — getting someone to pull the trigger —
There’s always a need to buy or sell.
There’s always those usual needs — job transfer, divorce, whatever it is — you know, life.

But getting to someone — and again, I don’t want to sell a house to anyone.
I don’t need to sell a house.
I want them to buy a house that they want.
And then I’m gonna go do my job — get them that house.

That’s really — I mean, sometimes you get someone into a house that they didn’t realize they wanted, but—

[00:55:45] Tracy Hayes:
Or needed.

[00:55:46] Willie Lane:
Yeah. Yeah, right.
But I’m not there to sell you a house when you’re buying.
I want you to find the house that’s right for you — and I’m gonna go get that house for you and do it right.

But yeah, I think, you know, there’s a way to get buyers back in the buying game when, you know, maybe they’re on the sidelines.

Look — the rates are actually — they are still below the historical average.

[00:56:00] Tracy Hayes:
We’re actually average.

[00:56:02] Willie Lane:
Yeah.

[00:56:02] Tracy Hayes:
Is it average?
Okay. I think we’re about — well, since I’ve been in the career — average in 2005 when I started in mortgages, right up to October 2008 — the rates, if you saw 5.875, that was an anomaly.

Most of the time it was basically 6.25 to 7%.
Okay. That’s where you saw it in ’05 to ’08 — until the quantitative easing and the government started buying our own mortgage-backed securities to drive the rates down.

[00:56:11] Willie Lane:
So rates aren’t high.
I mean, they are higher than what they were —

[00:56:15] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.

[00:56:16] Willie Lane:
But they aren’t high.

[00:56:16] Tracy Hayes:
The prices are higher.

[00:56:17] Willie Lane:
The prices are higher.
That’s — the prices are higher.

And we can negotiate right now.
We can negotiate a lot from the sellers.
And sellers — you know, typically they have a reason to sell.

I mean, that’s — you know, and they’re not selling so they can go get a higher rate on another house, right?
And to pay more.

[00:56:36] Willie Lane:
I mean, they're selling because they have a reason to — and need to.
And buyers are in a position to negotiate now.
And so that's a way to get buyers off the fence and into the buying game.

[00:56:41] Tracy Hayes:
I don't hear as much talk right now — and the builders are doing it — they're doing their buy-downs, they're buying money in blocks and getting it out on the street in a period of time.

You know, they figured that game out when they had to — in May of '22.
I'm not hearing as much talk amongst agents and loan officers pushing the buy-down, which I think is a home run right now — and has been.

Because we've really moved to a buyer's market — to incentivize the buyer, say, "Hey, we're gonna give you $10,000 to buy that rate down."
Somewhere in the next two years, the rates will drop — and then you refi from that, right?

Artificially... semi-permanent — no, temporary.
Temporary buy-down, that’s what it's called.
And then you jump over to the fixed rate, and when it refis — the rates go below six — you're great.
Because it’s a buyer’s market, you can ask for stuff like that.

[00:57:31] Willie Lane:
Exactly right. Yeah — and you should.
It depends on how many inspection items we need to ask for, right?
There's always a limit on how far we can push — but you should definitely be asking for — have an agent on your side that's gonna help you negotiate incentives as far as your closing costs go.

You know, maybe it’s toward a rate buy-down.

[00:57:51] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.

[00:57:51] Willie Lane:
I do think that — or at least I hope — that we're gonna see the low sixes or maybe upper fives again.
Right? That's the hope.
I don't know if it's gonna be true or not — but that'd be great, you know?

And so in that case — to your point, Tracy — yeah, you refi once you—

[00:58:00] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:58:00] Willie Lane:
And at what point is it — about a one-point difference in your interest rate when you wanna refi, or what did you say?

[00:58:12] Tracy Hayes:
It depends on how big — how big the loan is.
When I started my career at Quicken Loans — now Rocket —
If the loan was big enough and the rates dropped enough and we could drop someone a quarter percent and take $1,500 and do it for no cost — makes a ton of sense.

"Oh, you're not gonna cost me anything? I go a month without a payment? You refinance me and my payment comes out 50, $70 less on the other end?"
Great lenders can figure that out.

It just isn’t how much lower they have to be.
I had a customer actually say, "Oh, this other lender said they would refi me and not charge me."

I said, "Sir, that all depends on where the interest rates are.
You don't know what the interest rate’s gonna be when he calls you.
Maybe it's 5% — and, you know, for anyone who's willing to pay costs.

But at 5.375, I got enough credit to pay most or all your costs.
And I could call you — and you're at 6.375.
So 6.375 to 5.375 no cost? That's a no-brainer."

[00:59:05] Willie Lane:
Yeah, absolutely.

[00:59:06] Tracy Hayes:
But you could pay cost and get 5%.
Well, why would you pay cost?
I'm gonna wait around until maybe the rates drop again and do another no-cost.
We were doing no-cost refis all over the place — wow.
I mean that — especially during that time period.

Of course Quicken started to service loans at that time.
So we had a huge servicing portfolio — buying up GMAC stuff.

When the rates started to drop — it was October — I remember it was Halloween of ’08 — the rates were 6.25.
By Thanksgiving — because my wife and I came to this area and bought a house — we locked in 5.375 on a 30-year fixed and thought, “Oh my God.”
The rates kept dropping.
We didn’t close until almost New Year’s — and the rates kept dropping.

During that time period, we ended up refinancing, I think, one other time — got the rates into the 4s — and then we jumped to a 15-year at 2.75%.
And we’ve been in that for, I don’t know, I guess at least a dozen years now.
We're almost paid off.

Because the payment didn’t go up that much when you go to 2.75 vs. 5.375.

[01:00:00] Willie Lane:
Wow. Interesting.

[01:00:00] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.
But obviously — one — having a good real estate agent.
Good real estate agents got good loan officers working with them as a team.
And, you know, this is the whole process of keeping ‘em incubated within the system — of, you know, us feeding each other back and forth on that.

But yeah — the 2-1 buy-down — I think everyone should be talking about that with their sellers.
So if you’re not — say, "Man, let me get with my loan officer and see what a buy-down would cost you."

And roughly, you’re gonna find — it’s gonna be about probably like 9 or 10 grand on the average home.

[01:00:57] Tracy Hayes:
You know, five, $600,000 home, something like that.
And he had the 2-1 buy-down — I mean, that gets them through.
'Cause I think most people have the attitude right now — especially with the administration putting a lot of pressure.

There’s already — I was watching Bloomberg this morning — they’re putting a lot of pressure on the Fed to lower the Fed funds rate.
Even though it’s not directly correlated, there’s a number of those Fed Chairmen that are going to be talking about it.

So really, people think September is going to be for sure.
[01:01:00] So if you’re buying a house right now today, I would float it for a few weeks and see what happens.
I would not lock in my interest rate. That’s my personal opinion.
It’s your money, so you gotta make that choice — but I would float and see what happens.

Because you have a good chance — if they almost guarantee that Fed funds rate’s gonna drop — the mortgage rates will drop before that.
They’re gonna predict that — if they feel that’s where it’s going — and the mortgage rates will soften a little bit and you’ll get the best rate possible at the day you close.

[01:01:25] Willie Lane:
Yeah. That’s great advice.
And I think as the agent, you know, there’s a lot of different things that we need to be looking at as far as what the buyer needs.
And sometimes we need to negotiate more, and we have to forego a 2-1 buy-down or whatever it is — any sort of rate buy-down.
But that’s a huge piece — I mean, that’s definitely huge for a buyer — is having that buy-down.
That’s great advice.

[01:01:47] Tracy Hayes:
What are — 'cause you do a lot of stuff out at the beaches area primarily —
But insurance has become a bigger factor here in the last really 24 months, I think, than ever before.

We used to wait till almost the end of the transaction — “Oh yeah, we gotta get an insurance quote, we're gonna close in a week.”
Now you wanna get that insurance quote almost like...

[01:02:03] Willie Lane:
Right after you order the inspection. It is really — yeah, exactly.
That’s always my process. Every time we do the inspection, as soon as I get that four-point and wind mit back, I send it off to the insurance person.
And make sure that we’re good before we get out of our due diligence periods.

[01:02:16] Tracy Hayes:
Have you run into some things that have come back on you — like the insurance?
'Cause these insurance companies now, with technology, they can go — they’re going in and they know when that water heater was changed out and the roof and other things.

Have you had some things kind of come back at you where you had to renegotiate because of insurance?

[01:02:30] Willie Lane:
Yeah, sure. I mean — you know, it was the roof.
We had one that was a 13-year-old roof. You didn’t think there was an issue there, but insurance has increased — it was through all the carriers.
And they didn’t have many options. The options they did have were increased premiums — and that was an issue, so we had to go renegotiate.

And you think, “13-year-old roof, what’s the deal?” You know? That should be fine.
We have at least — I mean — a handful of years before they’re gonna have an issue with it, right?
That wasn’t the case here.
So there is — you know, I think typically — but I’ve had ones where the roof was older than that and we didn’t have an issue.
Sometimes I can’t make heads or tails of it.

[01:03:00] But for the most part — insurance has gotten — it’s been tough.
And so we need to make sure we navigate it correctly.

[01:03:09] Tracy Hayes:
Well, you know, going back to the seller conversation — I would imagine those are some due diligence things that you need to do on the house too.
'Cause you’re gonna prep your seller:

“Hey, we don’t want to get in process and then — boom — they turn back and find you have an 18-year-old roof.
So what do you want to do here?”

Because what’s gonna come back?

[01:03:27] Willie Lane:
And that’s what happens a lot too — you know, you close and then it’s not long after closing that they’ll say,
“Oh, well, you need to switch this out, you need to change that out.”

So it’s really one — we need to get ahead of that for our buyers —
And try to forecast or foresee that coming somehow.
That’s doable — now we know what we’re looking for.

[01:03:44] Tracy Hayes:
Well, I just — I was talking about — you know, I’m a pre-listing inspection supporter, fan.

Because — having been in sales long enough — and I’m sure you’ve experienced this as well —
Everyone signs that contract.

[01:04:00] At some point within the next 48 hours, there’s some sort of buyer’s remorse or question:
“Did I — am I buying the right house?”
“Is this where we really want to live?”

You know, all this is going through their mind — and of course they’re listening to all these other people going,
“Oh, you should’ve bought in this neighborhood,” or “Oh, you know...” — all this crap, right?

So if their issues come up — doesn’t matter how small they are on that inspection report —
It’s giving them that support to say, “Ah, we want out.”

So as much as we can eliminate — and now insurance is part of that —
The water heater may be fine, but the insurance company’s like, “Well, your water heater’s old — you need to have it replaced.”

Or, like I said, the 13-year-old roof — had no issues, there’s no leaks, looks great. Shouldn’t be a problem.
But the insurance company comes back — now there’s a reason for them to escape.
The buyer to escape.

So really prep your sellers with all these things prior to putting it on.

[01:04:51] Willie Lane:
Yes, exactly right. And then those are conversations — there’s a lot. Those dominate the conversations quite honestly.
Those conversations dominate our time together, really.

[01:05:00] Talking about the age of the roof and how we’re gonna navigate that when it comes up — or the HVAC, or the hot water heater.
Really, I mean, it’s just silly, but hot water heaters, you know?

[01:05:09] Tracy Hayes:
To me, just go and replace it — that’s an easy replace. That’s an easy — guy’s out in a few hours.

[01:05:14] Willie Lane:
Exactly. Right. And hey, it’s $1,000–$2,000. I mean, if you have the right guy, maybe $1,000. But, you know, that’s a relatively affordable — when we’re talking about the grand scheme — item.

So yeah, those kinds of conversations dominate our time together as far as, “Okay, well what happens when this comes up?” Or, “We have a feeling this is.”
So a pre-inspection is always a good idea.
We don’t necessarily always push for that, but we can talk about all the points in the home —

[01:05:46] The four points plus more — that are gonna matter, and have an idea of where we’re positioned when that time comes for the inspection.

[01:05:46] Tracy Hayes:
I heard something the other day — and this might be hopefully the learning lesson for those who might be listening, and even the buyers and sellers who possibly could be listening this far in.

This agent had — I won’t mention her name — but had this beautiful home.
I actually went to it one day with her for an open house over in Nocatee — a million-dollar, little bit more than a million-dollar price point.

The people made an offer on it, but they found out — I guess through the inspection or whatever — that there was a leak.
They fixed it, but they didn’t put it on their — what do they call it — seller’s disclosure.

[01:06:23] Willie Lane:
Yeah. It is — the short answer — yes.

[01:06:25] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. So they had done one, but this didn’t... you know, just life goes on.
Like, okay, we had a leak, fixed it. It wasn’t any major reconstructive surgery of the house.
And that was their ticket out.

So it’s doing those — I think sitting down with your seller — and I think you would agree — to build trust with the seller is working through all these:
“This is what we’re gonna do if this happens.”
“This is what we’re gonna do if that happens.”
“If they come back on this, we’re gonna — either we’re gonna fix it now or this is what we’re gonna do when it happens.”

[01:06:57] Willie Lane:
Yeah. It’s funny 'cause I always like to say, “We’ll cross these bridges when we get there” — for just most things.
Because there are so many different moving parts in the transaction.
Let’s just cross this one bridge, and we’ll cross that one when we get there. You know?

[01:07:00] But honestly, we’ve been having so many conversations where we’re playing hypotheticals and doing those and running the scenarios:
“Okay, well if we get here, then what?”
“Well, if this, then what do we do when they ask for this?”

You know, we’re having a lot of those conversations.

[01:07:22] Tracy Hayes:
Especially in pricing.
“If we go three weeks without an offer, this is what we need to do.”

[01:07:26] Willie Lane:
Exactly.
And during the inspections:
“If they come at us with this, then are we gonna respond with that?”
“Do we hold this back so we can use it as a leverage piece to add in?”

“Well, we’re gonna do the irrigation 'cause we’re gonna do that anyway — let’s hold it back.”

[01:07:39] Tracy Hayes:
Throw in the golf cart.

[01:07:42] Willie Lane:
Yeah, we’re gonna throw in the golf cart!
There are things that, like — it’s so case by case. So case by case.
But we’re having a lot of those hypothetical conversations: “If this, then what?”

[01:07:51] Tracy Hayes:
Well, it just goes back to hiring a professional to do it.

And this is just my perception:
The reason why 70% of the agents didn’t do a deal is because there’s some level that they’re not getting to —
That people like yourself, and many others that are out at your Compass office — if there’s any one office that has truly some, like, a good group of heavy hitters in town — they’re doing something different.

[01:08:00] And I think for the agent — if you’re struggling right now, you’re two or three years in, or maybe you’re ten years in — if you’ve gone stale for whatever reason...

[01:08:32] Tracy Hayes:
You need to go and find someone like you, or Mandy, and others in your office. What are they doing differently?
And I bet it’s having these deep conversations and strategizing, and people going, “Oh, this person knows their stuff.”

[01:08:40] Willie Lane:
Yeah. If you're listening this far into the podcast — thank you very much.
I also will say, you know, if you are early on in your career, have some experience and have questions — I’m always willing to answer questions.
Just sit down and have a coffee, just talk real estate. Anytime. That makes me happy and I enjoy it — helping others and giving advice.

But I also — you know, I like a small group, but hey, we could always use a great, hungry agent who wants to work, right?
I want to align myself with people who want to work. Not because I want them to work — but because they want to work.
So anyway, if you're listening and you have some experience — maybe you’ve gone stale or things are a bit slower — you want to take the next step,
maybe I can provide a platform for you that can elevate your business.

You know, but hey, if anything — I’m here for advice.

[01:09:26] Tracy Hayes:
How important is it — and I don’t know if you're tapping into it — but I know that was one of the things my wife mentioned when she signed up with Compass recently:
Being the fifth person in the room.

Being in an office where you do have just — you know, like people like Mandy with years and years of experience.
You know, I’ve had Shelby on the podcast before — she’s wonderful. These people that...

And the word I want to use is collaboration.

Like you were just talking about: “Hey, you want to have coffee and just strategize.”
You want to get into the Beaches market. Everyone wants to do luxury homes, right?
Because everyone dreams of a higher price point.

But the way to be there is to learn how to — I think it was Sharon Mill who said —
“If you want to sell luxury, you need to know everything about it.”

You need to know everything about that home, in and out.
How the trash compactor works, how the — you know, all these things that luxury homes have.
You need to know all these little things. But also, hang out with others who are selling that price point as well — to collaborate.

[01:10:24] Willie Lane:
The conversations are different with those types of agents who are really producing — and producing at a high level.
The conversations are different.

You watch them in the office and they’re doing things differently than others.

And yeah, I think being around that environment is really important.
That’s where you’ll learn a lot — even just being a fly on the wall.

But more so, if you can be in that environment and have the opportunity to reach out and ask a few questions here and there — maybe even extend the conversation,
sit down with somebody for coffee or whatever — that’s pretty invaluable.

[01:10:57] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. Do you have a few agents — you don’t necessarily have to mention their names —
but are there people you call when you get thrown a curveball or something you haven’t seen yet?

[01:11:07] Willie Lane:
Oh, to this day? Yeah.

[01:11:10] Tracy Hayes:
Whether it’s now, or back in the day.

[01:11:12] Willie Lane:
I will tell you — I’ll shout out Don Klein.
Greatest manager, broker ever.
He’s the reason I stuck around Berkshire Hathaway, even though I loved the brokerage itself.
But man, that man means a lot to me in my career — personally and professionally.

So yeah, there’s others.

[01:11:50] Willie Lane:
There’s John — back in the day, I used to sit by his desk. He was always in the office, though.
He’d sit by his desk, so I’d just ask a question — but he was a wealth of knowledge for me, right?
On these other deals that otherwise might not have worked.

But even now today, I have a business partner, Natalie.
You know, we’ve partnered on some very nice listings and projects together.
So, I wanna thank her.

She has about five to seven years on me as far as time in the business — and she’s been fantastic.
She’s a high producer, and I’ve learned a lot from her just in our short time of kind of partnering up together.

[01:12:01] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah, I think it just reiterates — it is surrounding yourself with others.
Not only to push you into doing things, but you’re not really competing.

Because everyone — you know, you’re not competing against Mandy. She’s at a different chapter in her life, in her career.
And I think you'd agree — there's plenty of business out there.
But to get more is not by really taking it away from someone — it's you getting better, and then it's gonna come to you.

[01:12:27] Willie Lane:
Oh, 100%. It’s gonna come to you.

You just put your head down and trust the process, roll up your sleeves — that kind of work.
It’s not rocket science. It really isn’t rocket science.
And it’s just improving everything — your knowledge.

And that’s the biggest key too — improving your knowledge, staying genuine, and working.
Being in the right environment.

[01:12:46] Tracy Hayes:
Anything you’d like to add?

[01:12:48] Willie Lane:
Thank you, Tracy.
Man, this is great. I appreciate you coming by. This was awesome.

[01:12:52] Tracy Hayes:
I got something — we’ll talk about some properties of your builder here after I shut the recordings off.
But I appreciate you coming by today.

[01:12:59] Willie Lane:
Absolutely, man.
Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.