Jamie Hallman: "Consider It Closed" Professional TC's

REE #288 Transcript

[00:00:00] Jamie Hallman:
You're going to hit your own personal limit pretty early on. And so being able to offload and delegate that, whether, like you said, whether it's an assistant, an assistant and a TC, or—there's a thousand ways—marketing, I mean, there's a thousand different roles you can come alongside you. But I think you're only gonna get so far as you're willing to delegate and grow in this business.

[00:00:47] Tracy Hayes:
Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, where top performers in real estate share their stories, strategies, and the systems to fuel their success. Today's guest brings a rare mix of heart, hustle, and high-level organization to one of the most critical and often overlooked roles in real estate: the transaction coordinator.

After starting out as a registered dietitian and traveling the world on a year-long mission trip, she pivoted into real estate, quickly discovering that her skills were perfectly aligned with the coordination side of the business. Since then, she’s founded Consider It Closed, a high-performing TC company that supports agents and brokerages across Florida with service rooted in integrity, professionalism, and customer care.

She's also an author, speaker, and mentor who's passionate about helping others grow in both business and life. She's on a mission to elevate the entire TC—transaction coordinator—industry. Let's dive into the mindset, systems, and leadership behind her success with Jamie Hallman. Welcome to the show.

Jamie Hallman:
Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Tracy Hayes:
Thank you. Thanks for coming.

As we were talking a little bit pre-show—and I think a lot of my regular listeners know that I really make it a point with every agent that I have on, 'cause I believe many, if not all—nine outta ten of 'em—do reach a level in their business where they do need to bring on that next person. And maybe whether that's a transaction coordinator or the assistant before the transaction coordinator—everyone has their own theories—but ultimately, the transaction coordinator does come in somewhere along the line if they truly want to grow their business.

[00:02:22] Jamie Hallman:
Yes, a hundred percent. That's what we've kind of noticed as well. Again, everybody has different goals, right? They have different levels they want their business to be at, how they want it to grow. But I think for most people, you're going to hit your own personal limit pretty early on. And so being able to offload and delegate that, whether, like you said, whether it's an assistant, an assistant and a TC, or—there's a thousand ways—marketing, I mean, there's a thousand different roles you can come alongside you. But I think you're only gonna get so far as you're willing to delegate and grow in this business.

[00:02:55] Tracy Hayes:
Do you often get that question from someone who, you know, learns what you do? Or, you know, you might be out networking or something, and an agent comes to you—and they probably—I can only imagine that that's a question of: "When? When do I need a transaction coordinator?"

[00:03:09] Jamie Hallman:
Yes. And the funny thing is, it's very individual.

So we literally have agents that will only send a—I mean, they only do maybe three deals a year—and they still use us for every single one. Because maybe their goal isn't necessarily growth. Their goal is, "I don't 100% know my contract and rider and document, and I want to make sure I have an extra set of eyes and someone keeping me on track."

Then we’ll have people that—they are super high volume, and they’re bringing us in so that they can do more.

So I think whether it's from a customer service standpoint and having someone else come alongside your customers, keep them updated about milestones—whether it's the agent’s peace of mind of, "Hey, I'm not gonna miss a deadline or an important document"—or whether it's, "Hey, I need to level up and I'm not gonna be able to make as much money as I want doing this by myself."

Right? So I don't think there's a right or wrong. It’s literally—you know, whether you're doing two a year, whether you're doing 150 a year—there's literally a benefit you get from offloading. It just depends on what your goal is.

[00:04:12] Tracy Hayes:
Well, you bring up an interesting point—made me think there while you were making that statement.

You know, I know from a loan officer side, I will tell you, I'm at 30,000 feet. I can look at someone's situation, know if a deal can go or not, or whether it possibly has life to it and can be put together. But it's really—to me—the processors make me look good. Because they take it over. They're our transaction coordinators, right?

Jamie Hallman:
Yep.

Tracy Hayes:
Processing the loan, they’re detail-oriented, they’re going through and they’re going to pinpoint every single thing that, you know, obviously the underwriter wants. Or when we run it through the automated underwriting and print that report that says, “Okay, we need this, this, and this,” they’re going in through and they’re looking at the details. They’re dotting the I’s, crossing the T’s.

And that’s really what a transaction coordinator is doing for a lot of the agents that they're working for.

[00:05:01] Jamie Hallman:
Yes. We have—I’d say we have that detailed, hyper-organized, efficient mindset, which some agents have.

But let’s be real, I think it’s very unrealistic to think an agent is gonna be excellent at customer-facing and great in, you know, all of those aspects—and super detailed and organized.

And so it's kind of what I have learned is a majority of realtors tend to be very extroverted. They tend to love talking to people. They shine in that area.

But sitting down with paperwork and details—that just drives them bonkers. And not all of them are great at it.

And so we get to be—like you said—we get to be the people doing all the detail, diving into that, so that they look really good at what they do, and they get to do what they shine at.

[00:05:46] Tracy Hayes:
Well, I—you know, there, we do have a few agents out there that come from a—what’s that?—into the whole process.

Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

Tracy Hayes:
That’s where their background—mm-hmm—comes from. What’s—God, I can’t—it’s right under the tip of my tongue.

But most salespeople are not. Most salespeople are, like you said, they’re out there, out front.

You know, although they all should know their contract, but really, you know, the details of following up—making sure when the appraisal happens, did this make the schedule, and that sort of thing—they’re moving so fast on the surface level.

And they should be more out front-facing anyway, to really grow their business. They’re not making money sitting there studying a contract that they wrote three days ago.

Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

Tracy Hayes:
You know, type thing.

Exactly.

Let’s go back a little bit. Tell us about young Jamie. She's 18, 19, 20 years old. What did you envision yourself doing for a career? And tell us a little bit of the story between that gap and then obviously, you know, getting into real estate.

[00:06:43] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. Well, I think it’s not unusual in real estate for you to have, you know, started somewhere else. And so for me, yeah, I was in healthcare. I started out as a registered dietitian.

I’ve always been pretty logical. And so for me, it was like, okay, what’s a great career that I’m passionate about, that I can find pretty much anywhere?

And yeah, I was a registered dietitian—loved it. I’ve always loved health, fitness, nutrition. Found out you can make a career out of it. I’ve always loved helping people, so it was great.

I served in a lot of different roles. I taught classes, did education, did one-on-one counseling, worked at a diabetes center.

And while I loved it, I also found that I am so solutions-oriented. I’m the person that loves to see people grow and make change.

And so for me, even though I loved being the one to sit down and give people solutions, I couldn’t make them change.

And so I couldn’t make them take my advice and do anything with it. And for me, that was a really hard pain point.

And so—long story short—my life kind of got upheaved when I, in the middle of my career, I decided...

[00:07:59] Jamie Hallman:
You can imagine—completely changed everything. It changed my mindset. It took me outside of my day-to-day norm, my comforts.

And so when I got back, I did a lot of reassessing on everything—just like my skillset, what's important in life, what I wanted the future to look like. And again, it's a long story, but it kind of led into the crazy world of real estate.

And my vision was to be an agent, like, "Oh, I’m gonna be a realtor 'cause I’m great with people, I love talking," that kind of same thing. And when I got in, I had no idea there were so many opportunities and different avenues you could take. And I learned about transaction coordination and I'm like, "Oh, this is my wheelhouse."

[00:08:29] Tracy Hayes:
Who was the first—what was your first kind of, like, person to introduce you to it? Or your first taste of, “Hey, what’s this real estate industry all about?”

[00:08:37] Jamie Hallman:
Well, actually, my husband.

[00:08:38] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.

[00:08:39] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah, because he—he used to be a loan officer back in the day, and that's not what he does anymore. But he was like, “Oh, have you—like, you would be great at real estate.”

And he always loves it. He's that person scrolling Zillow and looking through houses just for fun. And so he was the one that just kept thinking like, "Man, this just really lines up with your personality."

And I’m like, "Eh, why not? Let’s try it. Let’s see what it’s about."

And once I got into it—I love the fast pace, I love that it’s different. But within my realm, there’s a lot of structure.

There is still—I think what I love that I was missing in the dietetic world is: there's always a solution. And I get to be the one to help make that solution happen.

So I don’t have to hope someone else does it. Like, "Oh, here you go. We can create an amendment, we can change this, we can talk to this person." And so I got a lot of fulfillment from that.

[00:09:31] Tracy Hayes:
That’s interesting. I forget who I had on the other day—we were talking about that. That is the high that you get, because you’re part of the deal. You’re part of making something happen.

And the agent—obviously in this case, what we're talking about, working with you—you’re helping them solve a problem.

And I think everyone likes to be part of the solution, right? And obviously you're able to take your experience, because—I think one of the values of a transaction coordinator, as is the value of a processor or underwriter in the mortgage world—is you're actually seeing a lot more transactions than the actual point person: the loan officer, or in this case, the real estate agent.

[00:10:00] Tracy Hayes (cont’d):
Because you're dealing with multiple real estate agents and seeing different situations that are going on all the time, that this agent over here may not realize you've had a similar problem over here, and this is how you solved it. And you're bringing solutions to the table—based on experience.

[00:10:33] Jamie Hallman:
That's an excellent point. And that happens all the time, where, like you said, we've seen hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of transactions.

And so pretty much—not every time—but I’d say a majority of the time, there’s a snag or an issue or a problem. We’ve—like you said—we’ve seen it before, with another deal, another agent, another brokerage.

And so it's seeing how we resolved it that time, what got worked out, what was advised. Yeah. And yeah, it's invaluable.

And so—it surprised me at first, but it shouldn’t—that a lot of our clients, they do, they come to you.

Now, I’m not a broker. I’m not a real estate attorney. I never try to be one. But they’ll come a lot or call me and, “Hey Jamie, I had this happen. Like, have you had this happen before? What do you recommend?”

Because they know—the odds are—we’ve probably dealt with it or seen it. And we have. Or I’ll say, “Hey, I’ve never seen this before, but let me get on the phone with my real estate attorney, and let's powwow and figure out what we can do about it.”

So yeah. I think that’s the difference too. I'm very much invested in—like, we’re not just like, “Oh, what’s the minimum we can do?” We’re like, “No, here’s a problem. Let’s all brainstorm together. How can we help you in this?”

[00:11:37] Tracy Hayes:
Well also, you know, obviously talking to a lot of high-level agents—they’ve worked through this process of having a circle of other top agents that they rely on and have regular conversations.

They go maybe have drinks or coffee or lunch or whatever it is—they’re meeting regularly.

Where I think there’s a good chunk of agents out there who don’t do that. So the only person they’re talking to is you.

Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

Tracy Hayes:
Especially if they’re on one of these cloud brokerages or something, they’re not really interacting or going into an office and having this.

You're that person they're confiding in: “Here’s my problems.” And then obviously, you’re giving them—helping them with their solutions, in a lot of ways.

Jamie Hallman:
Mm-hmm.

[00:12:24] Tracy Hayes:
So tell—you got started as an agent.

[00:12:25] Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[00:12:26] Tracy Hayes:
Tell us how that was. I think one of the challenges that new people coming into this industry face is choosing a brokerage.

You know, they think they know real estate. They think they see the surface level but don't understand, obviously.

And of course, you’re going even deeper. Being—to me—a transaction coordinator, just like a processor, you're deeper than even the agent a lot of times would go in our industry.

And what's going on in the—on the backside or behind the scenes, because you are behind the scenes all the time.

But tell us just your—if you were talking to a new agent coming in, and kind of foreshadowing for them:
“Hey, this is what you should expect. This is the first thing you should do.”

You know, “You need to find a mentor,” or whatever it is.

How would you coach someone—maybe a girlfriend who said, “Hey, I want to become a real estate agent”—what would you share with them based on what you know?

[00:13:18] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah, it would definitely—I went through the same phase you were talking about. I had a certain vision of real estate that—it changed quickly.

You don't realize—you are hit at the beginning with so many things at once. You're hit with the, like, "Oh, now you need to join a Realtor association," and "Now MLS," and "We have these documents and SRA..."

And before you even get to the fun stuff that you wanted to do, you're doing the one thing agents don’t tend to love—which is like tons of paperwork and tons of fees upfront and all these things.

And I think that is so important—that you do connect yourself with a higher-level agent. And even multiple agents, a broker—go to your broker, go to anyone that’s been doing this a while, and yeah, buddy up.

'Cause I’ve never met one that’s not willing to talk to someone. Or give them advice or come alongside them.

Because if you try to look at everybody as your competition, I think those are the ones that falter. If you’re just looking at everybody like, “Here’s the pie, and there’s only so many pieces,” those tend to be the ones that burn out bright, honestly.

But the ones that look at this as like, “Hey, we’re all in this together, there’s plenty of business for all of us—let me go glean from this person that has failed many times so that I don’t have to do it”—I think if I had had that, I would’ve had a much different experience.

But I was new to this area, I felt like a lone wolf, and it was overwhelming.

Yeah. I felt like I got bogged down in all the details and all the learning before I really got to, like, get out there and experience some of the fun side of it.

[00:14:48] Tracy Hayes:
Well, what's important—you know, if you think about it, I don't know, everyone says there’s 12,000 agents registered with NEFAR or whatever.

If all 12,000 of them were actually actively working their business—
There would be a fight over business.

But not everyone, I'm gonna say, gets it, understands it.

As a new person coming in:

• What is the first thing I should do?
• How do I work my circle of influence?
• How am I gonna get that first deal?
• Do I need to join a team that gives leads to get started, so I can get some hits under my belt and understand what that actual process is?

That would be the challenge, I know, for me—because I like to know what's behind the curtain, right?

You know—yeah, I'll jump in, but someone’s gotta tell me:
"Hey, when I start talking to that customer, when I start talking to somebody, I need to know where I'm leading 'em to and what's gonna happen next."

I don’t wanna lead 'em into an abyss that I don’t know where or what’s gonna happen next, 'cause it makes you look foolish.

And that’s the importance of teaming up with someone—a mentor or someone that’s experienced—
Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

Tracy Hayes:
You know, in your office. And it doesn’t even have to be in your office.
Jamie Hallman:
Absolutely.

[00:15:59] Tracy Hayes:
It could be an agent from a totally different brokerage.

But—I’m sure just as you give out advice on agents based on your experience—and we were talking a little bit before the show, working with newer agents that obviously don’t have your experience 'cause you have many transactions under your belt as a transaction coordinator, seen so many deals—

That when you give them advice but they don’t take it and then they fail—you only allow that to happen a couple times.

I mean, if you’re going to go and try to find a top agent that will mentor you—if they give you advice, they gotta see the effort that you’re putting in on taking their advice.

If they sit there and spill all this advice over lunch to you, and then you don’t do anything—don’t expect to get any more advice from them.

[00:16:37] Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[00:16:38] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

Jamie Hallman:
I definitely agree. I think there’s a mindset—and you see it all the time—between those that are successful and those that are consistent in this business, and those that aren’t.

There is a mindset difference.

And so yeah, we can always tell when we’re working with newer agents and we’re saying,
“Hey, did you realize this, X, Y, Z?”
or
“You might wanna do this,”
or
“We might need an amendment here.”

You can tell the difference between an agent that’s like,
“Oh, I had no idea. Explain that to me. Let me know.”
—someone that wants to know—

Versus:
“Oh no, we don’t need to do that. Let’s just…”

Basically, it’s—do you want to do the bare minimum? Are you just trying to get to that paycheck?
Or do you want to excel in this field?
Do you want to be the best advocate you can for your customers?

And for us—for our company—I’ve actually learned not everyone’s a great fit for us.

And that first mentality—we’re not gonna work with you very long. Because there’s not that—you know, our name is also tied to their business.

And so we want to make sure that this is a collaborative effort.

And so as long as you’re willing to learn, you’re willing to do the right thing, you want to grow, you want to do the best for your customers—
You're going to do great in this business.

[00:17:46] Tracy Hayes:
Tell us a little bit about how you—I’m going to use the word “intake”—a new agent.

Maybe they were referred to you. But we know everyone does their business a little bit differently—how they envision the transaction coordinator fitting into their business.

And then obviously you—I’m sure you have your mindset. I’m sure you have some flexibility, 'cause you have to be flexible.

I imagine every agent that you personally work with is doing their business a little bit differently, and you probably do a little bit different for every one of those people if you wrote down the thing.

How do you intake someone?
What are some of the questions, what’s the conversation like that you have with an agent when you’re intaking—so you can get to know them, so that you can fit into their business as if they were paying you on a salary as a full-time employee?

[00:18:34] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[00:18:34] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:18:34] Jamie Hallman:
That's actually an excellent question that I think a lot of agents don't think about when they're hiring a transaction coordinator. I will get a lot of people that call me last minute—like, I’ve never talked to them before—
And they’re like, “I have a contract, can you manage it right now?”

And I’m like, “No, I’m sorry.”

We actually have an onboarding process, and there's a reason for that—because it involves them and me. As the owner, I actually have a video call—or in person, if they want—but we literally sit down for like 45, 50 minutes, and we hash out everything.

[00:19:04] Tracy Hayes:
You just turn around and say, “Do you have an hour?” 'Cause that’s what we’re gonna do.

[00:19:08] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

And before I’m like, “Hey, I have time this afternoon—you in?” And some are like, “Oh, I can’t do it.”
You’ll never hear from them again.

And it's totally fine.

Because for me, I learned it’s kind of a filtering-out process on my end as well.
Because if you don’t have 45 minutes to talk about and get your processes in order so that we have a smooth transaction—it already tells me how you're probably gonna run your business.

And so I think that’s a really great thing I added—was not having that poverty mentality of like, “Oh, I gotta appease everyone, I gotta take that deal now, I gotta take…”

So no.

Because I have found having that conversation—and also having them start with me and us building that relationship—because, you know, I’m the one building the systems and kind of running the team.

And so I do get to hear, “Hey, are your preferences different over here? Do you run this a little…”

And we just get to hash it out at the beginning so that I can, like you said, kind of customize their plans—and there’s no huge surprises during that first transaction or two.

[00:20:04] Tracy Hayes:
Well, it kind of leads me—made me immediately think, 'cause we didn’t talk about it yet—your book, The Expectations Gap.

Was the book written with a little bit of—you know—this pre-conversation you’re having, setting the proper expectations?

I imagine you’ve learned over time how to fine-tune that—get really deep with the expectations.
But I imagine at first, you know, the expectation gap was pretty wide. Now you’ve narrowed it down.

But tell me about your book.
Was it written on this discussion?

[00:20:37] Jamie Hallman:
So yes and no.

So the book was written from a lot of personal stuff I learned—like interpersonal relationships and just those dynamics.

But 1000%, it has affected every way I run my business.

And so like the principles in there—all the things that I learned as far as just communication with other people—that is definitely part of my onboarding process.

That’s part of—I think we were talking about earlier—one of the big things I do as an owner is: all of my clients hear from me on a regular basis.

So like, if I haven’t heard from them in a while, I’m checking in:

“Hey, do you have feedback? What’s working well? What’s not?”

Because I have found so many people—and there’s different reasons why—people are very uncomfortable bringing up feedback to other people.

I guess they're afraid of their reaction or what they’ll say.

So when you provide a safe environment—like, “Hey, not only am I asking for it, I welcome it. I listen to it.”

It’s really interesting—the dynamic that happens and the partnership that’s formed.

[00:21:39] Tracy Hayes:
To me—it’s a mindset.

As we were talking a little bit before the show—and not to pick on real estate agents listening out there today (you know this, you're gonna laugh when I say it)—but...

You know, they can be very flighty, I guess. I don’t know if there's a lack of a better word.

But if you actually take time and realize—it’s kind of like, if you think of a sports team:

Why do you practice?

And they actually say that sports teams who physically touch each other—high-fiving, shaking hands, whatever it is, pats on the back—are actually more successful.

And they’ve done this study, and you know, video—obviously watching video of teams during contests—who are, you know, subs going in and out, high-fiving each other or whatever—are stronger together.

And taking that to our world, whether it’s a loan officer or a realtor, or transaction coordinator–realtor...

We’re sort of on separate teams, but we are on the same team for that transaction.

Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[00:23:00] Tracy Hayes:
And we need to come in, and we need to bond.

And how do we bond?

Well, we need to set expectations, and we need to be very upfront, very honest with each other:

“This is what I expect.”

Especially realtors hiring you.

And in the same way—they’re hiring you in a way—if they’re referring me, they’re sort of hiring me on the end.

“This is what I—they should be—this is what I expect out of you.”

Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

Tracy Hayes:
If I can’t—“Well, I’m not gonna do that. I can’t do that.”

Well maybe—
“Okay, so let’s just end our relationship now.”

That might happen.

[00:23:21] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[00:23:22] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:23:22] Jamie Hallman:
Absolutely. And it’s funny, 'cause it’s the agents that I’ve had the most feedback from and conversations with that we have the best relationships.

And they’re the most satisfied with us because—instead of just kind of maybe under their breath or to themselves like, “Oh, I wish they wouldn’t do that,” or “Why did they do this?”—
They came to me right away:

“Hey, can we do this a different time?” or
“Why?” or
Trying to understand.

Sometimes it’s as simple as just me explaining our why—and they’re like,
“Oh, makes perfect sense. Great.”

Other times I’m like,
“Oh, you know, that’s a good idea. We can tweak that.”

So I think people forget—yes, we’re a business and a company and we have our processes, just like they do.

But if you are unwilling to adapt and change and grow and listen to feedback—I mean, what’s the point?

So I think agents are very pleasantly surprised, especially talking to me as the owner, that I’m not—
This is my baby, but I’m not married to anything.

So if it makes sense, and it’s something we can do to make your experience better—why not?

[00:24:20] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. We can do it.

Well, I think there’s a maturity—I think “maturity” is the word, actually.

Not saying someone’s immature, but there’s a maturity in the business where you realize that every transaction’s different.

[00:24:33] Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[00:24:33] Tracy Hayes:
The reason why computers have not—and I don’t foresee in our lifetime—taken over this transaction…

It might make the transaction easier, yes—you know, checking people’s incomes and all that other stuff.

Technology, right? Makes it faster.

But the reality is—every deal has—
There’s very rarely a deal that goes through that doesn’t have some sort of little twist to it.

It could be a simple negotiation. We don’t think too much of it, but that’s a twist.

I’ve got a deal going on right now—it’s a manufactured home, but it’s got the piping the insurance company doesn’t like.
And we figured out a remedy, and the sellers didn’t actually have the money to write that check right now.

But we figured out a way for them to pay a little bit, and pay the rest of it at closing when the place closes.

So, was that a little twist? Of course it was.

Did it cause some stress? Yeah—there was a small level of stress there.

But we knew we were gonna find a way, 'cause that’s been done a hundred thousand times already.

And to have the openness to say,
“Oh, I didn’t think about doing it that way,”
—and be open—

Because like I said:

• Every business is done differently by a real estate agent.
• But every transaction is different.

It’s a different address.
Different problems with the home.
Buyers and sellers have their own things they’re bringing to the table.

Let alone, you know—their emotions and everything like that.

[00:26:00] Tracy Hayes (cont’d):
And let alone—I’m sure you’ve dealt with this—
Some of our real estate agents have some emotions that they get involved in.

[00:26:01] Jamie Hallman:
Just a little bit.

[00:26:02] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:26:03] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah, just a little.

And that’s an aspect I don’t think people take into account.

As a transaction coordinator—and really any real estate partner—you know, whether you’re dealing with title or a lender or our side—we are dealing with several personalities and preferences and people going through different things all at one time.

And that is going to impact how you communicate.
It’s going to impact how they communicate with you.

And so—we just had a deal literally this week where, on closing day—the seller died.

[00:26:38] Tracy Hayes:
That has happened.

I’ve had that happen in my 20 years—where someone in the transaction passed away in the middle of the transaction.

[00:26:45] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. And it pauses you.

'Cause in this industry, it can be very easy to just be like,
“All right, we’re just going through a deal, another transaction.”

But it’s that—and that’s something I instill in my team.

Remember: there are people behind this.

And anyone that’s bought a home—I think that helps.

When me and my husband purchased our first home—just remembering like:
It is a stressful time.
You do have a million questions and what-ifs.

And so I think just always coming back to that:

• Can we be a calming presence?
• Can we bring encouragement and support?

And like you said, when things start happening—'cause they're going to happen; it’s real estate—it’s being able to be calm:

“Oh, we can do this. We've seen this before. It’s not a big deal.”

Whereas when the agents are getting in a flurry and emotional, you know—it really carries on over to their customers.

And so I think having that team in place that they can bounce that off of—instead of letting it go to their customers—is huge.

[00:27:41] Tracy Hayes:
Share with us—to humor us—we need some good stories.

I'm gonna draw some good stories out of you, because—
Stuff happens in real estate.

And we’ve all been there.

And the thing is—don’t think when something happens (for the listeners, agents out there)...

When something really crazy happens to you—obviously it sets you back.

It measures your grit.

I always talk about grit on the show.

There’s a level of grit that every real estate agent has.

Hopefully today you're still in the business, and you laugh about that day that that stupid thing happened.

But it happens—all the time.

Tell us something. Maybe something that’s happened recently that’s on the top of your mind.

Or something that you like to tell at cocktail parties every time someone asks you this sort of question.

You know—just the humorous... but something recently crazy.

Obviously where you had to step in and help the agent out—whether it was a negotiation or how to solve a problem.

Like,
“Hey, we gotta get the pipes replaced,” or
“The insurance is going to be $5,000 a year,” or
Whatever it is to help solve the issue.

'Cause there’s the other thing we don’t talk about—but obviously some of the challenges in negotiation or solving these problems is:
There are legal and compliance issues that we have to learn how to navigate through.

So tell us something—maybe something that’s on the top of your head, if you have a story.
I’m trying to say humorous—a little bit. I mean...

[00:29:00] Jamie Hallman:
We see stories all the time—some that aren’t so cut and dry.

I mean, one time we had a vacant property, literally I think we may have just gone under contract on it—and found out someone was squatting in the home.

[00:29:12] Tracy Hayes:
Oh, lovely.

[00:29:13] Jamie Hallman:
And so it had to all be paused for a very long time while we could get that worked out.

All the way to, like I said, just really, really ugly divorce situations—even with our own customers—where one of them stops the deal 'cause they’re going back and forth, and one’s just so angry by the end they’re like, “I’m not going to help you in this sale.”

To insurance things—that’s a big one.

[00:29:34] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.

[00:29:35] Jamie Hallman:
That happens all the time where everyone’s happy, but then there’ll be—like you said—piping or some issue where,
“Oh, now we have this whole…”

So here’s the thing: I won’t say there’s always a solution, because sometimes it’s just not going to work out.

Sometimes it just needs to cancel and that’s the best decision.

But there is typically always a solution.
Now, that doesn’t mean everyone’s going to take it.

[00:29:53] Tracy Hayes:
Right.

[00:29:54] Jamie Hallman:
But there has—

[00:29:55] Tracy Hayes:
The—
I always say that the goal at the end is:
You have someone who wants to sell the house,
You have someone who wants to buy the house.

At some point, the agent has to guide them.
If there are two agents—assuming—guide them to some sort of agreement.

Are they going to be jumping up and down that this was the perfect deal for them? No.
But I think the term is:
As long as they’re 80%, you know, you’re good.

Because there’s a negotiation part.
They think that should be repaired, but the other party doesn’t.
Or they’re going to give you so much for that repair.

You know—those things are going to go on.

Bottom line is: your job as an agent is to get them to come to some sort of agreement.

[00:30:33] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[00:30:33] Tracy Hayes:
That’s satisfactory.
They might not be totally happy—but it’s satisfactory.

[00:30:37] Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

And I think that really is the bulk of the agent’s job that gets overlooked—
Is setting expectations, like we talked about,
Which involves upfront communication of their goals:
Why are you buying? Why are you selling?

And then when the negotiations come—’cause they’re almost always going to come—then that’s your job also to set realistic expectations.

Like,
“Hey, this is actually quite reasonable, what they’re asking.”
Or,
“Based on your goal, this still is a win, and here’s why.”

And so I think sometimes when agents take a back step and they’re just like,
“Okay, whatever you want to do—here’s the problem—you just let me know...”

I think that’s when we’re not doing our customers a good service.

Because it’s really—it’s your job to help guide them, educate them, and then center them back to their goals and what they’re getting out of this moving forward.

And again, there are times where the best thing for them is to cancel.
But I would say a much larger majority of the time, moving forward with a creative solution is typically in the customer’s best interest.

Because like you said—something brought them to put the contract on that house to start with.

[00:31:37] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

No, you brought up a—
Oh God, I lost it there.

You brought up a point and—I was listening to you finish—and it triggered a thought in my head.
Maybe it’ll come back here in a second.

Oh! It made me think:

If you’re a newer agent listening to this and you don’t have a lot of transactions under your belt...

The reality is—even some of the most experienced agents out there come upon new stuff all the time.

And to have someone like Jamie and her team in your corner, that are seeing these other transactions—
If you don’t have other agents that you can rely on—
You need to have a bullpen of people that you can call and say:

“Hey man, have you ever seen this situation before?”

Because if you don’t—you are going to be that agent who throws their hands up and says,
“Oh, whatever. I guess do whatever makes you happy.”

But then you lose your professionalism.

Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[00:32:00] Tracy Hayes:
Your credibility goes.

Instead, you say:
“Hey, you know what? Let me chat amongst my sphere of wise people and see if someone has crossed this bridge before—and see if we can come up with a solution.”

It would just make you—as an agent that doesn’t have a lot of experience—look a lot more credible.
Look smarter.
And wiser in your role.

[00:32:49] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. And it’s funny because agents often come to us because they want more money—they want to be able to do more, take on more, and not be overwhelmed.

But brokers tend to send agents to us because we are the guardrails.
They know if they send it to us, it's gonna be compliant, it’s gonna have eyes checked over—there’s someone that knows a little more, you know?

[00:33:00] Jamie Hallman (cont.):
Has been through a little more.
So it’s really funny to see the difference in perspective of what brokers are hoping to get out of our services versus agents.

[00:33:19] Tracy Hayes:
Because a lot of the brokerages are reviewing—especially newer agents—they're reviewing their contracts and how they're doing them before they actually let them send it over.

Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

Tracy Hayes:
Which is obviously very wise—to make sure it’s compliant.
I doubt every brokerage has that guard.

I don’t. But knowing that you’re gonna do that service for them—to go through it and make sure everything is compliant—is a huge relief.

Especially for a boutique brokerage, or, you know, a mom-and-pop shop or something like that that’s recruiting newer agents.

Let your team review it before it goes out—make sure there’s nothing on there that looks crazy.

I think there’s a big importance, especially in the addendums—like how you write some of the, you know, I don’t know if you call them special remarks or whatever...

What’s the term there?

[00:34:09] Jamie Hallman:
Additional terms.

[00:34:10] Tracy Hayes:
Additional terms, special terms—yeah.

Make sure those additional terms are written in the proper real estate legal way.

You don’t necessarily need a lawyer—you just need someone who actually has experience and has probably seen issues arise by other people’s language—

And can point out right away:
“That’s not right,” or
“This is a very special circumstance, we need to actually probably get legal review.”

Because what you’re saying here, we need to put in a little more—it’s not just ‘seller concessions.’ There’s a little more to it than that.

Oh, I get so deep in there...
I gotta pull up my—
Even though I haven’t even gone to my questions yet.

We—

What are you finding—because you’ve been a TC for how long now?

[00:34:53] Jamie Hallman:
I’ve had the company for four and a half years. I’ve been a TC for five and a half-ish.
Five... five and a half. Yeah.

[00:34:58] Tracy Hayes:
The challenges of 2020 versus the challenges of today—
That you're seeing, that you’re helping out in.

I don’t—I wouldn’t say that the transaction...
Well, maybe you can correct me—

I don’t know if the transaction coordinator issues have changed, you know, the things that you guys deal with—

Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[00:35:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.):
—Not too much.

But the things that are coming to you from the agents that you’re helping with now...

I think insurance is one of those things that has gotten—you know—a hotter and hotter issue.

Yes.

I know when I get a deal, I’m immediately—you know, which I find amazing (although I like being the referral person, referring my insurance person and so forth)—

You know, 'cause it makes me feel good to refer and then have the customer accept it. Right? Everyone likes that.

Jamie Hallman:
Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes:
But really, insurance right now—
As soon as the contract’s signed, it should be:
Schedule the inspection.
And the next email should be:

“Hey, here’s an insurance agent. Here’s your information.”

But—you know, here’s the question:

Referring.

I imagine there are situations where you are referring different services.

What is your ideology towards that?

And I want to share my ideology too—just when it comes to that and you’re noticing, “Hey, we don’t have insurance yet.”

Maybe the agent wants you to call the inspector—I don’t know what.

Tell us—how do you work that?

[00:36:23] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. So always, when I onboard—part of that onboarding process is finding out:

• “Hey, do you have preferred homeowners insurance agents?”
• “Do you have preferred home inspectors?”
• “Do you have all the things?”

Because a lot of solid agents that have been doing this awhile should have their go-to people.

And so we’re always going to—when the customer comes and it’s like, “Hey, I need some referrals”—we’re always going to go to what our agent refers them to.

But in the situations where our agent doesn’t have those, or maybe they’re new or they want recommendations—
Then I do keep a running list—kind of like my own internal vendor list—of people we have worked with multiple times that provide excellent service, they’re communicative.

So we do have our own list of people.

But we always send multiple.

So we always send like a list of three. And then, of course, we let them peruse and get back to us on their preference.

But again, that’s very individual per agent.

Some agents have their go-to person and we automatically connect them.
Some have a list.

So we kind of go case by case.

Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.

[00:37:24] Tracy Hayes:
My ideology on it—insurance agents—yeah, they’re all getting the same stuff unless they’re calling directly to USAA. I think Geico might be another one.

And then there’s this new one out—I don’t know—they’re quoting really low stuff. I can’t even remember their name 'cause it’s not a name brand that’s out there. But a lot of people—I dunno if they’re catching it on the internet or something...

Insurance—to me—when I tell an insurance agent who comes to me and wants me to send them business—

One, I really—I try to just stay with one.
Because I can’t—I don’t do the “three” thing with insurance.

[00:38:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.):
'Cause to me, they’re already doing the shopping. They’re doing the “10 to 20” thing.
They’re looking at whatever—all these different insurance companies.

And what’s going to give that client the best deal is:

• the insurance agent who’s going to have the conversation with them
• to explain Florida insurance to them.

Because it’s different from Michigan insurance.

And, you know, having the whole hurricane and all that other type of jazz added in...

That’s my requirement:
I’ll send you business, but you have to promise me you’re going to call them and you’re going to go over the policy you’re writing.

Jamie Hallman:
That’s good. Yeah.

[00:38:34] Tracy Hayes:
Because I’m worried about this one—these people went with this other company. I doubt they actually had a conversation with them.

And my guess is—60, 90 days—it’s going to be audited by somebody, and they’re going to come back and say,
“Oh, based on this and that, your insurance cost is going to be this much.”

I don’t know. Maybe not.

But that is one of my—
That’s why I stay with one.

[00:39:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.):
Because the reality is—she’s going to send them two or three different companies that are, you know, doing it...
'Cause I see that as a brokerage.

I think the “three” thing is...
Really anyone can offer three.

I’m not downgrading you—

[00:39:19] Jamie Hallman:
Oh yeah.

[00:39:19] Tracy Hayes:
I just disagree with you.

[00:39:20] Jamie Hallman:
No, yeah.
Our "but" is—what we’re doing—because ultimately, as a transaction coordinator—

[00:39:28] Tracy Hayes:
They’re not actually buying Jamie’s insurance.

Jamie Hallman:
Right.

[00:39:34] Tracy Hayes:
Jamie’s not supplying the insurance.

Jamie Hallman:
Right.
But Jamie also shouldn’t technically be the one speaking for the agent either.

Now granted, we’ll step in if we need to—but the agent should be doing what you do: vetting their referral partners.

[00:39:46] Tracy Hayes:
Yes.

[00:39:47] Jamie Hallman:
And saying,
“Hey, I work with this person because I trust them and they can do this.”
And we have—

So that’s my preference: whether it’s one or two or three—that the agent has vetted their partners.

[00:39:58] Tracy Hayes:
Because I think if—anyone listening right now—if you want to test this out:

Test how many times you refer the insurance agent or the loan officer—either way—or the inspector—

How many times, if you just give them one person, do they go with that person 100%?
Or are they going with them 60% of the time?

If you give them three—do they even choose any of the three people?

Do they go with number two?
Do they actually get to number two or three?

Because I think everyone has to have their preferred—and then maybe you have,
“Well, if you don’t like this person, call this person.”

Jamie Hallman:
Right. Yeah. The backup.

[00:40:23] Tracy Hayes:
That’s mine.

And so—as soon as I get a deal now—I’m immediately sending off that referral.

Because—first of all—I’d like a quote to go to underwriting.

At least we have a quote.
They might not actually use that one exactly,
But at least we have a quote for debt ratio purposes and have an idea what the insurance is going to run.

That’s the key.

[00:40:57] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. They don’t have to go with it, so it does streamline it.

I will say—where our agents only have one, and they just do the one—
Versus our agents that give options...

It’s always a lot faster and smoother when there’s just the one.

Because it’s like, “All right, let’s go. Let’s get rolling.”

And sometimes—again—they already have all these other decisions to make.

And when you give them a list of three among this, and then three among that—it’s more decisions they have to—

[00:41:17] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. So—yeah.
Yeah. And more delay.

Because—I don’t know—to me, the insurance is...

They’re just selling—
Selling that money.

[00:41:58] Tracy Hayes:
They’re gonna look at every insurance agent, you know.
And insurance companies are like—
Well, I mean, most people don’t realize that mortgages are sort of the same way.

They might be looking at a certain type of client—high credit score...
Or maybe they’re looking for a lot of FHA loans right now, or a lot of VA loans—
So their pricing might be better on those products at that moment in time, because they have a bucket to fill.

[00:42:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.):
You know, on the insurance side—
One insurance might be better than another, from one month to another, for the same house,
Because that company’s trying to fill a bucket of homes that fit that criteria—whatever it is.

That customer—from that same way.

Tell us—because I think the topic of insurance is important, and I’m sure you’ve probably seen some deals blow up—
Because all of a sudden the insurance comes back.

That’s why now it’s very important to get it up front.

But, what situations have you seen recently where deals have gone awry that you'd want to—you know, if you're standing down at NEFAR talking to a group of agents—say,
“Hey, these are some things I’ve seen that you might want to be educated on.”

[00:42:35] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.
I think, really—it’s just, number one, the obvious:

Go ahead and connect them with the homeowner’s insurance.

Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Hallman:
Like you said—immediately.
Go ahead and get the quotes, find out their standards.

And then as soon as you have—well, four-point, wind mit—you know,
Go ahead and automatically send those over to the homeowner’s insurance agent as soon as you get them in.

And say,
“Hey, anything flagged here? Everything good?”

I think that’s the extra step that sometimes agents wait on—until we’re near closing—
And then the homeowner’s insurance is like,
“Oh, hold on a second. This four-point... do we have…?”
And then it causes all these unnecessary—

[00:43:00] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. They’re still doing that?

[00:43:07] Jamie Hallman:
Still. Still happens.

[00:43:11] Tracy Hayes:
That’s why I just do it up front.

I don’t understand why agents don’t refer insurance more often.

You guys are hit up more than we are as loan officers.

Insurance agents don’t bother with the realtors—
They just come see the loan officers. Take us out to lunch.

[00:43:25] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. Been there.

[00:43:26] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:43:27] Jamie Hallman:
And I mean—again—it’s just part of that conversation.

It should be cluing in—when you're having the inspection report and discussions about repairs with your buyer—
Again, it should go without saying that you also need to be having those discussions in terms of the homeowner’s insurance policy.

It seems really basic, but again—

[00:43:45] Tracy Hayes:
Because you're seeing deals blow up from water heaters.

[00:43:48] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[00:43:48] Tracy Hayes:
Obviously roofs.

I imagine there’s... I don’t—
Those are—
They’re looking for—
The insurance companies now today have so much data.
And it’s probably growing every day.

They’re getting—

[00:44:00] Tracy Hayes (cont.):
More and more access to more and more data on every home.
'Cause you need a permit to replace the water heater—so they see that.

Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[00:44:05] Tracy Hayes:
So a great thing some agents are doing now—up front—like let’s say it’s an “as-is,” for example...

They’re writing in:
“No repairs will be requested, other than what is required for insurance,”
Or,
“Seller will make any insurance-required repairs.”

Stuff like that.

Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

Tracy Hayes:
Which—that’s been kind of nice.

Because it already—before we get to that point—it sets expectations.

Jamie Hallman:
That’s expectations.

Tracy Hayes:
And I love that. Because then you have a lot more negotiating power when something comes back and it’s like,
“Oh, it’s going to be $5,000 for this.”

“Hey, but we already discussed this—we knew it could be a possibility.”

So again, I think that goes back to educated agents who—
“Okay, we know this is a potential pitfall—let’s go ahead and have the discussion with our buyer and seller at the onset.”

So that if something does get flagged, it’s a much smoother, quicker negotiation process.

[00:44:53] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. Yeah.

I’m a big pre-listing inspection person.

Jamie Hallman:
Mm-hmm.

[00:45:00] Tracy Hayes:
I think everyone should have their homes pre-inspected—because I agree, especially today.

And I don’t know if it’s really changed, but you know—the inspection report is an out on anything.

And if you eliminate that—something coming up that you don’t think is big, but the buyer could think is big—
Whatever it is...

Yeah. I lead that way.

Alright, let’s drill down in this last section on your business.

Actually—I had your website up, and my computer just went out here.

Because you list—on your Consider It Closed—your services.

Jamie Hallman:
That’s me.

Tracy Hayes:
Let’s talk about the business.

Let’s do a little—almost like a little infomercial here—for 10, 15 minutes about the services that you offer.

What do you find are definitely must-dos for a lot of your agents?

And then maybe what are some optional things that some agents use but some others don’t?

00:45:52] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. Well, we are very specialized, so we literally have two services. Period. And that is by design. You know, when I
[00:46:00]
first started I'm like, oh, we could do this and that, and all the, and there's not anything bad with that. There's, companies doing all kinds of different services under one umbrella. It's beautiful.
It could be a one stop shop, but for us, I just wanna do what we do and do it so well. So we're very hyper-focused. So we have contract to close, which is typically what people think of with transaction coordination. That's when you have a offer, or excuse me, you have a contract and then you want us to get it through to closing.
So deadline tracking,
email management's a big part, document and compliance. So pretty

[00:46:31] Tracy Hayes:
much email, email management. Gimme a little what

[00:46:33] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. For our team, no. Again, each transaction coordinator is very different for our team, we pretty much are responsible for responding and replying and handling all the emails that are coming through for the transaction
now.
And that is unusual. Some transaction coordinators are not like that. for us, if our agent wants to hop in. Great. Like they can anytime they want to, but our agents know, listen, we're gonna manage all the email for this transaction, and if there's something that pops up that needs your
[00:47:00]
direct reply, we're gonna let 'em know.
And so that's a huge relief from agents because when they're out and about six hours a day, they don't have to worry if an important email came in or a customer's waiting, we're gonna ping them and tell them. Mm-hmm.
Like, Hey, appraisal didn't come in. Let us know what you wanna do. So, email management for us
needs

[00:47:19] Tracy Hayes:
are you having the, you making sure the client, maybe the agent CC'd or vice versa.
You're CC'd on everything a hundred percent. So you, so if it is a question or situation you can address, you're addressing it so the agent doesn't have to Exactly. Type of thing. Yep. It's almost like an assistant.

[00:47:36] Jamie Hallman:
Yes. I would say that is probably one thing a little different from us is we almost, we are kind of like an assistant slash tc, but.
With the caveat of, of course, everything as it pertains to the transaction. Mm-hmm. so we're not gonna help with CRM and stuff like that. That'd be more of like an admin role, but within the transaction realm. We do a lot. and then obviously, so your contract to close is a
[00:48:00]
lot of that is your documents.
So agents should not need to be sharing and hunting down documents when they work with us. We do all that. We get all the signatures and initials. again, all the reminders, all of the like, ooh, this is important. Didn't
up. just

[00:48:13] Tracy Hayes:
put a look. So FHA, the SFHA document that we need with everyone that does an FHA loan.
Yep. Generally doesn't always come with the initial package to us.

[00:48:22] Jamie Hallman:
Yep.

[00:48:22] Tracy Hayes:
Somebody's chasing that down. You're doing that?

[00:48:24] Jamie Hallman:
We're doing that.

[00:48:25] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:48:25] Jamie Hallman:
Any document at all that is needed on the transaction we're doing, if they need amendment drafted, like if we need to change the closing date or a buyer name was left off the contract, we're doing that.
Mm-hmm. Now.
We always get agent approval. That is one thing I wanna put out there is, so they always, we, our system, we use Slack, I don't know if you've heard of that. It's like a communication app. It's pretty much like text. and so we'll just drop it right in Slack, here's the amendment. All the agent has to do is give us a thumbs up or something to know that they saw it and they're good with us sending it, and it, it goes out.
So they don't have to worry about that. They don't have to worry like, oh, did I get that mandatory calls? Did I
[00:49:00]
get that amendment signed? Because we do all of that for them now. We also offer listing services, so pre-listing, so basically ordering photos, getting it in the MLS, uploading the photos, all of the disclosures and documents that we need to get signed by the seller.
So
pretty much everything you need to go live on the backend.

[00:49:20] Tracy Hayes:
How many are using that service? Do you have a lot using,

[00:49:23] Jamie Hallman:
I'd say, I'd say about, hmm. If I had to guess. 30 to 40% of our agents. Yeah. So it just depends. Some of ours are really heavy listing and they use us for all. some that maybe only get one listing a year.
It just kind of depends, but yeah. Mm-hmm. I'd say a good chunk. And then, what's a little unique about us is we have, are you

[00:50:00] Tracy Hayes:
obviously, I imagine if you're doing the listing side mm-hmm. Too, you're scheduling the photographer, but you want, you know, a lot of times obviously the agent wants to be there.
Yes. You know, so you gotta look and see their outlook and, you know, is that a time that's convenient versus having to, are you free this day or no? You
know? Right. And all the

[00:50:00] Jamie Hallman:
rigmarole. So that's why I created the lovely intake form. So anytime they want us to manage a contract or a listing, it's like a two minute, I've literally tested it.
'cause I was like, we've gotta make this easy. A lot of it's drop down. But it's stuff like that, like. Who's gonna be there for this so that we'll know who to coordinate with. Like, do you have a preferred photographer? That kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. So that we can, as soon as we get it, we can just go rolling.
Mm-hmm. now we will always confirm with seller, even if it's a vacant home, if anytime someone's going to that person's property, we of course make them aware.

[00:50:32] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:50:32] Jamie Hallman:
so even if it's just the agent, we're still gonna notify the seller and make them aware. But yeah, we get a lot of that frontend stuff from our intake forms so that we don't have to constantly,

[00:50:41] Tracy Hayes:
this is a very interesting, service you're providing.
I did not even realize this was out there. you know, I'm sure you're probably not the only one that does it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But got the idea or envision somewhere, along the line. But there are, you know, again, going back to, the agents that need to be forward
[00:51:00]
facing, if they are carrying a lot of listings.
'cause I'll see them post, I got, three listing appointments today. Okay. I mean, if you've got that many listing appointments going on, there's a
One,
a lot of tracking and it's great to have that pseudo assistant, which is basically what you're mm-hmm.
Being, making sure, hey, that's 'cause we're talking to, you know, if I had that many, loans in the same day going, I would have to sit down and separate my mind and what this person told me versus what that person told me. Did that other seller told me. Yeah. And then, okay, did I order it for that one? Did I order it for this one? Did I order, you know, and they're running around, like you said, they're not sitting in front of their computer all day.
No.
they need someone like that to say, okay, hey,
alright,
you got listing number one.
Great. Go on to listing number two. I'll go ahead and get these things going. And, by the end of the day, all those things are cleared. You have scheduled for photos and all that other stuff.

[00:51:52] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. And you can almost always tell when. A transaction coordinator's been involved in the listing or a really solid listing agent because when you go
[00:52:00]
to the documents, you've got the survey, you've got the seller's party, you've got everything you need, it's completely filled out.
so we love, we love seeing transaction coordinators on the other side because it's like, oh yes, I'll have everything I need. another thing people don't think about in the listing process is if it's a condo, oh my word. You have all those condo docs. So we go ahead and get it, then we don't wait until we're under contract and we're scrambling.
We go ahead and contact the association. We start gathering all those documents up front. So

[00:52:27] Tracy Hayes:
Bless you. Bless you. Because she knows where those documents go. The lenders need those documents. The lenders need those documents and the faster we have 'em up front in, and I will say this, as I've said on other shows when it comes to condos and lending, right now, there are lenders that don't really wanna lend on condos where there's others Here where I'm at, we have a great condo team and condos have not.
Have extra little twists to them. They've always had twists to them. Mm-hmm. But now there's extra twists with, you know, have they had their, appraisal done recently? Has
[00:53:00]
the insurance matched the appraisal? Make sure the, the whole, you know, complex is insured properly. Yeah. Those are problems that we've had arise where other lenders have dropped and just said, no, man, we ain't doing it.
Yeah. other lenders are like, yeah, no problem. Mm-hmm. You know, you know. So knowing, obviously knowing those lenders, but ob but because the important thing is getting those documents up front, the financials and everything, make sure there's no issues.

[00:53:20] Jamie Hallman:
Yes. Yeah. And then.
Even over that. One thing people don't think about is, so like in Northeast Florida when they're using real MLS, there's rules around that.
There's rules around when that listing agreement is assigned, when you have to put it live in the market. Mm-hmm. And a lot of agents don't know all these rules coming soon. How long can it be in that status? So we know these rules. Yeah. So, you know, when you're working with, they get the little nasty

[00:53:42] Tracy Hayes:
cough from the mls.

[00:53:44] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.
There's be
no nasty MLS violations because

[00:53:47] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[00:49:40] Tracy Hayes:
able to see the agents schedule you guys share? 'cause

[00:53:47] Jamie Hallman:
We know the rules and we honor them and we frequently remind our agents of them. Yeah. So it's just that, again, it's that peace of mind. Not only just, oh my gosh, I don't have to sit here for two hours and put this listing in the MLS myself. it's the

[00:54:00] Jamie Hallman:
disclosures.
It's making sure we have everything and it's making you look very professional. Mm-hmm. Because other agents are gonna see that well put together listing with all the documents and they don't have to hunt it down. And I'm telling you, it's a small world in Northeast Florida and people are gonna learn you by how you carry your.

[00:54:18] Tracy Hayes:
Now you have a team. You go on your website, you have a team of ladies there. How do they work?
with you? Are you training them? how are you so an agent calling in and may not, actually, you may, Jamie may not be their transaction coordinator, right? Correct. Right. Correct. Yep. So if, if they're put off, what should they expect?
The level of, of service, because they're hearing you right now and going, geez, Jesus, Jamie's high level, but Jamie's book is probably full.

[00:54:42] Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[00:54:42] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. so how, tell us about the team, how you train them, how you get 'em up to speed. What's the. Yeah.

[00:54:47] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. And that was exactly my heart was like, I want, I do, I have high standards, I have high expectations for my team and my clients.
and so I was like, okay, you're gonna, I'm very involved, very involved. I'm not that owner that's like kind of,

[00:55:00] Jamie Hallman:
you know, sipping margaritas on the beach all day. I'm involved, so I'm at my computer talking to my team now. We have three full-time transaction coordinators, and then we have a listing coordinator who also does our setup in compliance.
So what that means is, and I love this about our team, is instead of transaction coordinators getting bogged down, 'cause this happened to me all the time in the past, you get three new contracts in that day and a listing, and then you still have all of your task. It could be very overwhelming and the odds are.
Something's gonna get overlooked or missed because you have so much going on. So we now have someone that all she does is the listings and the setups so that our team can just come in, start their day, focus on emails, focus on deadlines. So it's a nice level of, all right, so break

[00:55:44] Tracy Hayes:
that down from, I understand the listing spark, 'cause it's,
not everyone does that.
Mm-hmm. You have a very probably unique group that is using that service

[00:55:51] Jamie Hallman:
Yep.

[00:55:52] Tracy Hayes:
Set up. What does that mean?

[00:55:53] Jamie Hallman:
Set up? So when we get a new contract in mm-hmm.
So when an agent sends
So when an agent sends us a intake form, sends us a new contract, say, Hey, get to go, you

[00:56:00] Jamie Hallman:
know, get to work. Mm-hmm. what we
do is the set up person is gonna be the first one.
What she does is review it first for execution, because you might not be surprised to find out, and we work with agents that are, they know what they're doing. I'd say 70% of the contracts come in are not executed. Even though agents,

[00:56:16] Tracy Hayes:
70%. Yeah. There's some error somewhere on, on the trend. There's something

[00:56:20] Jamie Hallman:
missing, some error.
There's either. An initial missing or what we see most commonly is agents just don't understand the wording is in section 19 of the contract, there's this section with all the addenda and disclosures you check off. They don't realize that when you check off that addenda, it is made a part of the contract in northeast Florida.
So that means if that had did not

[00:56:44] Tracy Hayes:
well all Florida, right?
These are all Florida. All Florida, yeah. Florida. Florida, yeah.

[00:56:46] Jamie Hallman:
So all of Florida. Mm-hmm. So it means if that lead base paint, for example, was checked off and it is not fully executed.
your
contract is not fully executed. And so that's one thing we do.
So the agents don't have to freak out about all these rules

[00:57:00] Jamie Hallman:
is we have our setup person reviewing it first.
They're
gonna let 'em know if it's executed or not. And then we set up, meaning set up all the backend in our system, get all the contacts, all the deadlines, all the intro emails sent out, including the stuff about like the homeowner's insurance reminders and Hey agent, here's next steps.
And so it's kind of just getting it rolling, getting that contract, a title lender, getting the binder receipt and the wiring instructions, all those like day one. Mm-hmm. Priority steps. That's what the setup person does. And then it rolls back to the TC to manage it from there.

[00:57:32] Tracy Hayes:
And I would imagine that you, that they're going, that Sally real estate agent is always going to.
One of your team? That same team member? Yes. They got the Yes. Great question. Yeah, they

[00:57:47] Jamie Hallman:
have the A dedicated tc, it's gonna be the same one. So yeah, it's not like a, you don't know who you're getting because I am a big believer in the relationship, which just causes

[00:57:55] Tracy Hayes:
confusion. Its so
much expectation. So gap there for sure.
And

[00:57:59] Jamie Hallman:
even with lenders and [00:58:00] loan offer people, we're working on the other side. It's good to have that consistency. Mm-hmm. Of Oh, okay. It's Sarah. Sarah and Sally always work together. And it also is that team. 'cause we are a team. Yeah. And so we tell them, Hey, when you're having a listing appointment, go ahead and say, Sarah's part of my team.

[00:58:21] Jamie Hallman:
This is what she's gonna be reaching out for. And so it just, it creates a really cohesive experience for customers.

[00:58:24] Tracy Hayes:
Agents go on social media and. we know. I mean, I, I can rattle off some agents' names if, but people know because I think just about everyone does it. So if they're doing social media, they're not doing social media.
No one knows what you're doing. but obviously some agents, you know, they leverage social media to make it look like they are, they're busier than they may be. because that attracts people. Like, oh man, this must be a really good agent. 'cause they're always busy. They're always showing a house or walking through a house or whatever, whatever it is.
Yeah. And I want you to expand on this a little bit. This, perception that you help agents

[00:59:00] Tracy Hayes:
do is that they are, you know, you may be an agent who might be doing one to two, deals on average a month. Maybe you do 12–18 deals a year. I think when you, again, you could comment on this number too.
I think if you're somewhere between. Six to nine million. You're start, you're probably in this market of northeast Florida. You're probably hitting your lid. Yeah. You're probably, you're maxed out and all that. If you're mixing, listing with buyers and you're busy. Mm-hmm. And you're probably not doing the most important thing, which is following up on past clients to get more referrals.
Hundred percent. And I, and anyone that that can coach you, and I've had several people on, that say they know they can coach these agents from that six to nine million to 15 million. They 15 million is about the next step
when they probably need to bring on a second person or something. And whether it's an assistant or another transaction, whatever, it's, but how your team can give even the smallest agent when they're working with that

[01:00:00] Tracy Hayes:
client.
And the client, that client in front of you right now is your billboard. that is your marketing campaign that you are about to set loose when the transaction, even during the transaction, they are now a marketing campaign for you to refer their friends and family by how you wow them. Yes. And your team could really make them look bigger than they really are and more professional because you are filling in these, you guys are focused on the cracks of the transaction and making sure nobody falls in those potholes.

[01:00:32] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah,

[01:00:33] Tracy Hayes:
yeah,

[01:00:33] Jamie Hallman:
absolutely. And reviews and referrals, as you know. I mean, we work with so many agents and brokerages and I have always told people there's a pattern. The ones that are most successful and do the most volume that we see are the ones where the. Predominantly their customers are coming from referrals and word of mouth, not people that are buying leads.
I'm not saying there's not a place for that or that you can't use that, but it's, those are the ones that consistently are keeping their

[01:01:00] Jamie Hallman:
volume up because they are focused on the customer experience. Knowing what you said, that is where it's at is, oh, my aunt just told this person about this great experience and they told that person because we all know it just takes one bad experience and one bad word of mouth to kind of kill your business.
Mm-hmm. But if you're out there and you not only have a team, but they're communicating with you regularly, you know exactly what to expect. You can always reach someone. I think that's a big thing is our agents do get busy. It's not that they're neglectful, but they might not, could take that customer's call, but they know, oh, well if I email Sarah or Ann or whoever on my team, like they know we're gonna respond and pretty promptly, they have two people now.
That they can contact with anything that they need. Mm-hmm. I think it just, yeah,
it
just elevates the whole experience. It makes them feel supported.

[01:01:48] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. the giving the agent a huge level of confidence. I mean, that's confidence is the number one attractiveness to, in any walk of life. But any,

[01:02:00] Tracy Hayes:
definitely an agent who walks around with confidence, like they've got this under control.
Knowing, you know, your team is, like I said, filling in the potholes and smoothing out everything mm-hmm. in the transaction. But I think a lot of agents also, I, I bet if I actually took a survey of literally the, I mean literally the, top agents, whether they have a small team, no, they're just solo agents or whatever, and I, I think it probably on the show, we really never mentioned some of the things they can do when they have that extra hour one day.
Could you go out and actually have lunch with your client? Build that relationship. 'cause every one of them will tell you, it's all about relationships. Yes. That's the number. It's success in real estate. Oh, it's all about relationships. Well, how do you have relationships? It's not just meeting 'em at the house and showing the house you need, you know, breaking bread with people.
That's part of building a relationship. Spending a few minutes just to, you know, chit chat about

[01:03:00] Tracy Hayes:
their lives, what's going on, their, you know, good, bad or indifferent. That's building a relationship. And when you're able to have a team like yours behind them, they're able to say, Hey, you know what, hey, after we do the showing, let's go get a cup of coffee and.
Just, you know, ladies, be ladies, whatever. You know, that's, you know, you guys chat, the chat men are a little, probably a little bit more, although, you know, there's probably some men that would probably, you know, spill, you know, spill the beans all out on, on the table too. But, I think ladies bond faster than, than men do.
Yes. I don't know. Just a

[01:03:30] Jamie Hallman:
little more open vocally. Yeah. You

[01:03:32] Tracy Hayes:
guys, yeah. do the women thing there. is there anything that its agents asked you to do that
maybe you've added on? Is there something, something that the agent,
the
agents that are out there, maybe, geez, I wish the transaction coordinator would do. Do you have any? Oh yeah, yeah,

[01:03:50] Jamie Hallman:
absolutely. Because I am so big about feedback, I get suggestions all the time and some I've had to say, you know, great idea, but that's just, it's too much for us to take on and here's why.
Right. But there's

[01:04:00] Jamie Hallman:
several things that we've either incorporated into our oral plan or, more recently, I think about a year ago, I created a additional

[01:04:00] Jamie Hallman:
package type. So we have like our essential package, which is our contract to close. You get all the stuff, but we now have an elite package based on certain feedback, of, we'll kind of custom brand our email signature to their branding and logo so it looks more cohesive.
we send out review requests that are, you know, the agent gets to choose the wording and template, but we literally text them, email them, we follow up in a week, look on all those sites to see if they left the review. If they didn't, we follow up again. So these are all things agents told us they wanted to see.

[01:04:39] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah, no, that's, initially

[01:04:40] Jamie Hallman:
I was like, that's a lot of time,

[01:04:41] Tracy Hayes:
I forget where I was. Oh. Mortgage Market Animals. A couple, few years ago I was going to their seminars and that was one of the things they talked about.
You know, and especially, you know, as a loan officer or if you have a loan officer assistant, which is basically you're being a real estate assistant in the transaction. Yeah. And

[01:05:00] Tracy Hayes:
during the process to be asking for reviews. Is there anything I can do right now to make sure you give me a five star when this transaction—what can I do right now? Or are we all—so if you catch 'em in this middle of the cycle, instead of waiting till it's all over
and
then saying, oh, hey, how did we do?
Well, you did a three and a half. So you might've been at three and a half. But if you're asking during the process, how can we correct it? What can we do better? Maybe it's more communication, maybe it's less communication. Text me instead of email me, whatever it is that wows them enough to get it to a five star.
Make sure everyone is a five star stamp. You gotta ask during the transaction. Yes. A lot of salespeople won't do that. But the third party—in this case, the transaction coordinator—is neutral. Yes. You
know, you're just helping out.

[01:05:50] Jamie Hallman:
Exactly. You're not the actual, you know, face. And you, they'll be more apt to probably tell you.

[01:05:53] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[01:05:54] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. And they've established like a relationship with us. Mm-hmm. So it's kind of a natural ask without being too pushy yourselves because we're asking on behalf of them. Mm-hmm. But they're like,

[01:06:00] Jamie Hallman:
oh, well Sarah, she's asking me. She was great. Mm-hmm. And it's funny, a lot of the reviews now, some will mention the agent and their team, or the agent and the TC’s name, but some will just say the agent and they're just, "Oh, agent was amazing," da da da.
And we know some of that was because of the team behind them.
Yeah, a hundred percent. But the agent's getting all the credit, which is—in a great transaction coordinator—that's what it should look like, is they remember you and they know you as the TC, but they're giving the agent all the credit for the experience.

[01:06:25] Tracy Hayes:
Let's, just a few minutes here and talk to those agents that are out there right now who don't have a transaction coordinator, or maybe they're not doing a lot of deals and so they think they've gotta save a few hundred bucks. Mm-hmm. And doing it, except you could talk a little bit about how you, you know, you do your pricing and so forth a little bit there.
And obviously our call to action is to call Jamie, you know, go on her—obviously in the show notes, it would be all her links and so forth to contact her, obviously.
ConsiderItClosedFL.com is there. Say tell us, you know, we talked a little bit about pre-show some of the, my girlfriend had a bad transaction coordinator, so I'm not gonna get a transaction coordinator.
The old wives' tales, I call them. And clear the air a little bit about—I think we talked enough today about why they should have a transaction coordinator. I think anyone listening today would be like, oh man, I'd love to have someone that does all that stuff for me.
And to me it's a very nominal cost for what you can now take that time to be doing, following up with past clients and so forth to get another deal.
But tell us a little bit about some of the, kind of misconceptions and so forth and clear them up for us.

[01:07:42] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. There's quite a few. 'Cause you know, I've had a lot of discovery calls. You'll hear all the reasons why—for or not. So I think one big one is: "I'm not busy enough. I don't have enough business."
They think this is for just the top agents that are rolling out deals every month. And again, I would say a big caveat to that is, like we said

[01:08:00] Jamie Hallman:
earlier with the guardrails—no. Especially if you're not experienced and you're not doing a lot of deals, the odds are you're gonna come across a lot of scenarios you've never dealt with.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So having someone—it is that experience and that expertise of—we don't know everything. We know a lot. And what we don't know though, we know—we have real estate attorneys, we have people, we have partners we've worked with for years that we can reach out and get clarification on. We have great brokerage relationships—

[01:08:26] Tracy Hayes:
While they can continue doing what they need to be doing.

[01:08:29] Jamie Hallman:
Exactly. Yes. So you don't have to sit down and try to hunt down your broker and hope you have a five-minute conversation. You, hey, come to me. Let's brainstorm. Let me help you figure it out. So I think that's a big thing when you are
low volume or new. It's that misconception of you're not just getting us to offload, even though that's the biggest advantage—you're also getting a second pair of eyes, someone that knows the contract in and out, and someone that can kind of protect you and your customers from
the things that can stumble you that you don't even know that you're doing wrong.

And then I think on the

[01:09:00] Jamie Hallman:
flip side, what I hear with people that are very organized and detail—they're like, "Oh, well I, you know, I wanna be in control of my whole transaction. Like I'm doing great as it is. I got this." And what I'd say to them is, listen, props to you. I got the same kind of personality.
But I know from experience when I was my own solo TC, we all have limitations. I am going to cap myself a lot earlier if I just leave it to myself. And that's fine. If you want less income, totally fine to do that. But for me, it's not just about income, it's also about freedom of your time and your schedule.

[01:10:00] Jamie Hallman:
And so if you wanna run yourself ragged and work 80 hours a week and cap it at this many deals, that’s fine. But if you want to grow, do more deals, more sales, more referral, and actually have some time to spend with your family, you're going to have to offload—whether that's, again, it doesn't have to be a TC, whether it’s in-house or an admin or whatever.
You're gonna have to offload. Or what I tend to see is burnout.

[01:10:09] Tracy Hayes:
Because in reality, everything that you're doing is not necessarily—I mean, I think there’s a way we could attribute it to be a money-making activity, right? That’s the phrase, right?
But it’s what you... the contract being correct is expected. Not gonna get you more business.

[01:10:28] Jamie Hallman:
Exactly.

[01:10:29] Tracy Hayes:
They don't go, “Oh wow, you write a really great contract. I need to refer you. It's such a great ride for a support contract.” Like, they’ve seen another contract before.
Making sure things are done at a certain time—most people you're dealing with are not going, “Oh yeah, I remember when I did that last transaction and things weren't done on time.” They don't.
But they respect that the times that were scheduled for this transaction are being done on time.
Because I assume if you set time, that, hey, this has to be done by this, has to be done by this—that people are operating on their behalf on a schedule, and then the transaction coordinator is all over it.

[01:11:00] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[01:11:00] Tracy Hayes:
Making you look good. That is an expectation.
So you never need to deliver it with excellence—it’s when you don’t deliver it with excellence that all of a sudden someone goes, “Jeez, maybe you should have had a schedule for that.”
That’s when the buyer or the seller starts questioning. They don’t know any better. They don’t know what they don’t know.
I mean, some maybe have done enough transactions to say, “Oh, my agent over here, they did…” You know, after they—you have wowed them—they probably do remember that though.
But from that situation, from a hundred percent—I mean, you're out there right now.

Tell us a little bit, you know, how friendly it is to use a transaction coordinator. I don’t know what you charge, I have no idea. If you want to get in detail—maybe you have different pricing things a little bit.
I imagine you do do a per-transaction.

[01:12:00] Jamie Hallman:
Mm-hmm.

[01:12:00] Tracy Hayes:
Right? That's the common way?

[01:12:03] Jamie Hallman:
We are, because maybe some agents don't know how that works.
Yes. And it does vary greatly. So I always tell people: interview transaction coordinators.
Like it doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. Much the opposite. And it doesn’t happen a lot, but when I have someone saying, “Hey, I have a couple calls with different transaction coordinators and you're one of them,” I'm automatically like, Oh, this is a good fit.
Because I'm like—they take this seriously. They're doing their homework right.

So, I am open. If you call me or text me, I can shoot you out our detailed pricing list. The only reason I'm not gonna give it now is it’s kind of complicated because we have different packages.

And then one thing we do—I know that is unique—is I actually offer discounts based on like:

• If it's a cash or land deal, you get a certain discount automatically.
• If it's new construction, you get pretty steep discounts.

Now I know some TCs don’t do that for a variety of reasons.
For me—I already know, no, yeah, that cash deal could turn into a pain in the butt and it could drag on and be complicated. We all know this. But we also know there’s not a lender involved, so there's gonna be a little bit less communication.

[01:13:00] Tracy Hayes:
Maybe not even an appraisal sometimes.

[01:13:02] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah. Yeah. So we try to be—I'm super reasonable about it. I think maybe because I was a realtor before, I'm just like:
"Hey, if things are gonna be just a little less on this side, we're gonna honor that."
And then if you want elite—if you want higher customizations and things—it’s a little extra cost. But the thing is, it’s a flat fee.

Whereas you can make potentially, you know, thousands and thousands of difference depending on the purchase price.
And there’s no cancellation fees—which is still craziness.

So we have gotten literally to the closing table—it’s not often—but we’ve gotten there where something just awful happened, and they had to cancel like day of or day before.

[01:13:36] Tracy Hayes:
The deal didn’t close.

[01:13:37] Jamie Hallman:
We did the whole—we did everything. And the agent did as well.
And we know it sucks for them, sucks for us. We don’t charge anything.

[01:13:44] Tracy Hayes:
You're in it just like they are.

[01:13:46] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[01:13:47] Tracy Hayes:
For the win.

[01:13:48] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[01:13:48] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah. That’s—

[01:13:49] Jamie Hallman:
It's unheard of. That’s—to have a service where you are guaranteeing to do the work for them no matter what, and only if they get a paycheck do they have to pay you. It’s kind of crazy.

[01:14:00] Tracy Hayes:
So that is awesome. Agents get—that’s where they get caught on the—you know, when they get stuck on like, “Oh, it’s a couple hundred dollars for…” I'm like, are you kidding me?

[01:14:06] Jamie Hallman:
Well in reality too—they also have to—I think a lot of 'em blow this one out of—they just don’t think about this.
I think—I don’t know, maybe you tell me if I’m wrong:
You're getting, you're 1099—you’re getting a gross commission.

[01:14:18] Tracy Hayes:
That’s like me getting, you know, I'm W2. They take out my taxes. They’re not taking out your taxes.

[01:14:23] Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[01:14:24] Tracy Hayes:
Those are expenses.

[01:14:25] Jamie Hallman:
Huge.

[01:14:26] Tracy Hayes:
Your business. Yes. The transaction coordinator is a business expense.

[01:14:29] Jamie Hallman:
Yes.

[01:14:30] Tracy Hayes:
So you're getting all this help—looking great.

[01:15:00] Tracy Hayes:
Feeling good. Being confident. Delivering a high level of service. You're doing a little bit of follow-up, getting the reviews for them, which is big—important.

[01:15:07] Jamie Hallman:
Mm-hmm.

[01:15:07] Tracy Hayes:
You—I mean, right there, if they want that part of the service—yeah, you're doing all those things for them.
And yeah, you're reducing what you're actually taking home. But be honest, you either give it to you, or a good portion of that’s gonna go to Uncle Sam. I mean, whatever. There’s some percentage in there.
'Cause now you reduce what Uncle Sam—what you're showing you actually made after you cut out your expenses.
And the transaction coordinator is an expense of doing business.

[01:15:30] Jamie Hallman:
And a large thing people don't think about—brokers do.
We work with boutique brokerages. Sometimes we work with the entire brokerage. Sometimes we work with a few agents.

A lot of people—the transaction fee that the brokerage charges—can be used to offset our costs completely.

[01:15:44] Tracy Hayes:
Mm-hmm.

[01:15:45] Jamie Hallman:
And I know many agents do that.
Now, some don’t charge any fee—totally fine—and it’ll come from their commission.
Some charge our entire fee as a brokerage transaction fee to the customer, and then it’s a part of just their admin and their cost.

[01:15:58] Tracy Hayes:
It’s a pass-through.

[01:16:00] Jamie Hallman:
So it's—yeah, it's almost... you could literally not pay anything from your commission.
So I think a lot of it is just lack of knowledge.

[01:16:08] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[01:16:09] Jamie Hallman:
I think people don't understand, and like you said earlier—I don’t think they always connect like, “Oh, what you're doing is not making me money.”
But in reality, it’s like you said—it’s what you’re now doing with that time.
But also—the word of mouth is probably the biggest for me.
When they have those great experiences, if you even get one, two, three customers from that customer because of that experience—

[01:16:30] Tracy Hayes:
Oh, it tenfold pays for itself.

[01:16:33] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[01:16:33] Tracy Hayes:
And I think also—one thing, when you were going through there—it made me think also, you know, you may be an agent that was referred by somebody, but that person...
They went through the transaction with you, but they may not really like you—but they may have liked your transaction coordinator.

[01:16:46] Jamie Hallman:
It’s true.

[01:16:47] Tracy Hayes:
And that’s why they’ll refer you. Because the transac—you know, “Hey, use Sally as the real estate agent, but make sure you ask for Jamie to be your transaction coordinator.”
Right? Because they actually built a better—
They liked you better than they did the real estate agent.

[01:17:00] Jamie Hallman:
Sometimes, yeah.

[01:17:01] Tracy Hayes:
'Cause that’s our aim—is take the emotion out of real estate, but always polite, always friendly, always helpful.

[01:17:07] Jamie Hallman:
Even if—let’s say it’s the co-op agent—and they’re kind of... maybe they got an ego, maybe they're kind of grumpy about things.
We’re even like, “Hey, how can we help you? Is there anything you…”
Yeah, that’s our—

[01:17:17] Tracy Hayes:
Personalities, you know—clash and everything.

[01:17:19] Jamie Hallman:
Exactly.

[01:17:20] Tracy Hayes:
And then sometimes you realize that, and you're like, “Oh, okay—let me pull out of the... Let me not do so much talking. Let Jamie do more talking.
They’re getting along with her—so let’s get through the deal.”

[01:17:30] Jamie Hallman:
Exactly.

[01:17:30] Tracy Hayes:
Yeah.

[01:17:31] Jamie Hallman:
A hundred percent.

[01:17:32] Tracy Hayes:
Let’s get through the deal. Everybody’s happy.
I appreciate you coming on today.

[01:17:36] Jamie Hallman:
Yeah.

[01:17:36] Tracy Hayes:
I hope this was fun. I hope we enlightened some people out there.
'Cause I—I really do believe if you’re going to be successful in—and you know, I’ve—this is episode 287, I think—and you know, I’ve had one other operations team on that does a lot of transaction coordinating assistant stuff.

And if you’re gonna be—agents are gonna be successful in the business—you have to have the transaction coordinator.
You have to have that team behind you so that you can still—you can be doing all those other things of money-making activities, which everyone will tell you:
Follow up, follow up, follow up.

[01:18:00] Tracy Hayes:
All right? And spending time with your customers at that moment.
You know, sitting down at the couch—as Sherra Cavanaugh, Keller Williams would say—“The couch moment,” I think she called it.
You know, taking that time.
'Cause you’re not worried about, “Oh, I gotta run home, I got this other deal going on and I gotta make sure that the photo’s scheduled.”

That doesn’t make you any money.
Let Jamie and her team do that for you.

[01:18:25] Jamie Hallman:
Yep. Absolutely.

[01:18:26] Tracy Hayes:
Appreciate you.

[01:18:27] Jamie Hallman:
Thanks.

[01:18:28] Tracy Hayes:
Thank you.