Kelly Bello: The Realtor MOM

Kelly Bello  0:19  

guys. This is Kelly Velo with Keller Williams Realty Atlantic partner south side. If you're looking to level up your real estate business, you need to be listening to real estate excellence podcast with my good friend Tracy Hayes.

Podcast Intro  0:33  

Welcome to Real Estate excellence making lasting connections to the best of the best in today's industry elite. We'll help you expand your circle of influence by introducing you to the leaders in the real estate industry, whether it's top agents who execute at a high level every day, or the many support services working behind the scenes. We'll share their stories, ideologies and the inner workings of how they run a truly successful business, and show you how to add their tools to your belt. Now, please welcome the host with the most Tracy Hayes,

Tracy Hayes  1:07  

Hey, welcome back to The Real Estate excellence podcast. Your host, Tracy Hayes, best of the best is what I bring you each and every week. Today, I have one of the Jacksonville Business Journal's top 100 real estates in 2020. Was it 2021? 20? 2020, 2121 21 that's you're in. We skipped 2020 that year just didn't exist. She has capped every year since her rookie year as an agent. We're going to learn about that she's on the leadership board at her Market Center, the Keller Williams Atlantic partners, which are a huge influence in Northeast Florida. She was recognized as realtor of the year in 2020 that's sort of the 2022 sort of the 2020 came in at this agent is has much more ahead, and the sky is the limit. I want to welcome Kelly bello to the show. Kelly, 

Kelly Bello  1:51  

hi, thank you. 

Tracy Hayes  1:51  

No problem. Thank you. I'm so glad to get you on you know, I follow you on Facebook, and you know, really enjoy your you know the content you put out there. I know you try to make yourself seem real. That's the, you know, telling you, I know a lot of times you're traveling in your car or taking your kids somewhere, or talking about your voice, or you're posting them always on Facebook, and that is one of the things you know, I've talked about on the show before. But listening to, you know, as a podcast junkie I've become, is people want to know you're real, and that's, that's what you're doing, and I can appreciate that as people, they want to get to know you. They want to see your face. They want to see you not only dressed up real nice today, but I know sometimes you're coming from a workout or whatever, in your car, and you're giving them that view too. So they know you're real and just like them. So I want to, I want to kick off the show, as I always do, is to get a little bit to know about you. Where'd you grow up? Where'd you go to high

Kelly Bello  2:43  

school? So I went to Kenny Bishop. Kenny, I actually was born in Miami, and then a little bit after hurricane and drew we decided to relocate to Northeast Florida. So, and it's so funny, I joke about it all the time, because when we moved here, St John's County was literally farmland, like there was nothing, right? And so I just remember going to mom and dad and going, mom, like, you're moving us to farm country, you know, coming from Miami, but, but it's just super cool. Yeah, I love Jacksonville. You know, it's been, it's just, it's been great living here.

Tracy Hayes  3:17  

I was looking at who was on LinkedIn, or no, no, no, no. I know where it was. You filled out my little pre show online profile thing and you gave yourself a title of realtor mom.

Kelly Bello  3:29  

That's it. Tell

Tracy Hayes  3:30  

me about you have two young

Kelly Bello  3:31  

boys. I do. I have one that's about to be two and one that is about to be four in January. So handful, handful, handful, and so much fun. Just they're seeing them grow up. They're just so close in age that they're like, best friends. It's, it's the best

Tracy Hayes  3:47  

cool that yeah and that, that yeah, two boys. Oh, I can only imagine, yeah, you're gonna wreck some furniture. But how do you just, since we're kind of on that the realtor mom thing, because, you know, obviously you're here today and telling people about your story, and, you know, you're out showing houses, sometimes it creates and what kind of support you have, because obviously two to four someone's watching. You have a lot of family still close, yeah.

Kelly Bello  4:13  

So tons of family. The boys are, you know, they're in school. And it was a really, probably one of the best decisions, because I was literally working from home with an 18 month old and taking him to closings and listing appointments. Now, this, this can't, you know, so it was the best decision to put him in school and, and then, yeah, I've got family that that lives close by, so it's, it's super, it's amazing, and it's a lot, you know. And I think any parent that has and that is working or not even stay at home moms, gosh, I admire them. Yes, that is a full time times too, but it is challenging and and you do value, you learn to value your time with them a little bit more when you can shut it down and read the books. Right rock, and, you know,

Tracy Hayes  5:01  

right now that is so true. I mean, sometimes, sometimes you can be with them so much that you get to the point where you actually are, but you you're away from them during the day, or your schedule, whatever, and then, then you're seeing them again in the afternoon, and then you refresh yourself with, you know, that bond, oh yes. And let's spend some time together. Let's go read a book tonight and shut the phone off or emails or whatever, yeah, for sure. So you went to Bishop, Kenny. Did you bother to go to college?

Kelly Bello  5:29  

Did my two year I went, I was working at Bank of America at the time, and it just kind of escalated very quickly. It kind of worked up the ladder very quickly, and then ended up, you know, becoming like a manager in the banking center, and then kind of realized that I wanted to change my path a little bit right, jumped into the mortgage loan origination piece and and that's kind of where it started. Yeah, yeah.

Tracy Hayes  5:52  

So you've saved yourself a lot of money, or your parents, or whomever, skip the skip the long term college degree, and actually, we're already getting experience in it. Now, what someone just say, hey, Kelly, I think you'd be a great loan officer or something. Is that something you like, hey, and we go,

Kelly Bello  6:12  

to be honest, it was, it was kind of brought to my attention, like, I think, I think you should give this a shot. And, you know, and it's funny, with Bank of America, they they didn't really take on people without experience. So they went, they opened up a new role. It was a retail role where I would work in the banking center, so I knew a lot of the customers already from just being in the banking center, and then jumped into this position that they thought that would be great for me. And I did love it, I loved it, but I also I missed the interaction with people, and I realized how much I loved real estate, and there was just so many moving parts, but I was like, you know, I think I need to jump to the other side of real estate and actually work with the people and show them the houses and do the contract and all that. And that's kind of where happened,

Tracy Hayes  7:02  

because as a loan officer, you just felt, you just, I'm just taking the application and I'm sending it off, the process and the underwriting. And really, more or less, you're, you were done at that point of, really, you know, other than, you know, drilling people's teeth for their information, you know, getting to know about their life and so forth. So you're, at Bank of America, you're thinking about the other side. I mean, did you know someone that that that it was a realtor, or how did you actually get the taste? You

Kelly Bello  7:28  

know Felix Castillo. I don't know if you know who he is. He is a an amazing rep over with Lennar. I've known him. He we've known each other for a long time. When I was going to school. I worked at longhorn steakhouse for about five years, so him and I connected, and he left one day. He was a manager at Longhorn, and he left one day and got his real estate license and jumped over to real estate. So he started at Lennar, and he's still there. And he said he called me one day and said, you know, Kelly, I think he'd be really great. Come on over. Get your Go get your real estate license. Try it. And he was the one that kind of put it into my head that I should do this. And everybody thought it was crazy. I mean, what? Why would you leave? You've been think of America for eight years. You had steady income, all of health insurance benefits. What are you doing? And so there was just something inside that just pushed me. I can't explain it to the day, but it's

Tracy Hayes  8:25  

interesting because you mentioned in this, and I'm everyone on an article, coffee and contracts, right coughing. Contracts did this nice little interview with Kelly, and I was picking through it. And one of the things you put on here when I tell you that everyone thought I was crazy for doing it. I mean it, I had the support of my parents and sister. They have always been my biggest fans. But I'm sure everyone had doubts. Do you think that was personally had doubts in you, or is it generally what most people run into? And this is from these books. This question here the personal development books, people generally fairly close to us. Don't want us to reach out. And you know, in your case, like, take that risk. You're a fairly young person. So what was the risk? I'm sure Bank of America probably would have hired you back. You know, it's a was there? Was there a real risk there? But did you find it at that time? And a lot, and you said people doubted this. You know your your success there, and knowing where you're at now and look back, but we often run in there. Our biggest naysayers sometimes are often family members, or, you know, I don't say family members, friends, people are close to us. Would you agree? Did you experience some of that?

Kelly Bello  9:32  

Maybe, yeah. I mean, I think obviously my parents were and my family, they everybody was supportive of me making it, but I think it is such a change in your life. I mean, it's, I'm going to be very honest. I mean, I took money out of my 401, K and that's what I had to live off of. You don't have, you don't you don't get to walk into real estate and you expect a paycheck in 30 days. So I think that was just their biggest concern. Was. Okay, this is what you're living off of. You can do this so, you know, and you do, you, you just, you go in. And there were moments that I was like, Oh man, I just don't, I don't know if this is for me, but of

Tracy Hayes  10:12  

course, when you have doubt, that does bring other people go, Okay, well, she's doubting herself, so let me doubt her too.

Kelly Bello  10:18  

But I think especially with family, in those moments of doubt, they were pushing me harder, like, don't give up. Don't give up. That's

Tracy Hayes  10:25  

awesome. That's really too many times, I think, in life, in you know, again, is not only personally, of people that I know. You read the stories in there where some of the closest people, whether it's they love you, but then, yes, you're, you're going to go through a little bit of your struggle. You went in your 401, K and your savings. But reality, everyone is Bank of America is only going to pay you so much. Now, if that's all you think Kelly is worth, unfortunately, she had a different idea. Yeah, you envision yourself making a lot more money than what you were making a big

Kelly Bello  11:04  

America Yeah? And it's so funny, because it's not about the money, it's, if you you get your passion, it's just driving, yeah, and, you know, it's, it's funny, because it's just not the front of my mind. That's not where it is. It's an exciting opportunity. It's, how do we work this out? It's always so there's so many moving parts, so it's just been so amazing. And it's,

Tracy Hayes  11:24  

yeah, well, the and the great thing though, I mean, in the kudos to your parents. I mean, they were there and they were behind you. Your sister was behind you. She's an agent as well.

Kelly Bello  11:33  

So she, she was a real estate agent, and then she actually is now a Maps coach with with Keller Williams. So she, she coaches some of the top agents across the United States, and she's states. And she's incredible. Oh, then I need to have her on the show. To have her on the show. Yeah, she, she's, like, been amazing to me as well, helping me through this journey. So,

Tracy Hayes  11:50  

oh, that, you know, that's so awesome. Now, she was, was she in real estate before, you or she

Kelly Bello  11:54  

went, Well, I got my real estate license first. And then, you know, of course, she thought, she thought, she thinks I'm cool. So she wanted to follow along. No, but she she was a

Tracy Hayes  12:04  

younger sister. She's older, oh, she's older. Thinks her younger sister is cool. That's pretty cool.

Kelly Bello  12:10  

She's gonna listen. I always, I'm always, like, you were three years older than me, but no, but she was amazing. She worked for she was in the banking industry as well, and she left the banking industry and did the same exact thing, got her real estate license, and she was, she worked for the edge group. I don't I'm not sure if you're familiar with that Williams, Jamie and team and Carrie housis, they, they're amazing, but that's the edge group, okay? And so they, she worked with them for quite some time. She was one of their top agents. And then she she actually just saw the coaching aspect and agree with it. So she's amazing,

Tracy Hayes  12:46  

yeah, yeah, no. And that's a, you know, to go into the coaching field, because I've been to some seminars and stuff like that. So most people, you know that you want to talk about, yes, one thing, being a real estate agent, like, I know I got to go sell a house, and that's how I get paid. You got to actually go out and convince people that you can coach them to sell more houses. That's another that's, to me, another level of things there. So I think probably in your mind, you've come a long way. And you know, from the day you got your license to today, what are you doing? Obviously, then maybe getting some coaching from your sister. What do you? What do you do to stay on time? Are you a podcast listener? Do you read books? What do you what do you do to keep sharp?

Kelly Bello  13:23  

So even my sister, being the most amazing coach, she she is not my direct coach. I actually have a the accountability is a little bit different. So, you know, I do have a coach, Christina Banega. She is amazing with maps coaching, and so I work directly with her. You know, I do listen to some podcasts. There are some amazing leadership podcasts out there, but to be to be honest, you know, she pushes me and we connect. I rely on her tremendously. And so she keeps me motivated. And so,

Tracy Hayes  13:59  

so at what level were you that you felt you needed to reach out and actually get the coach officially? Yeah, because you kind of had the unofficial coach, yeah. So how does it brought you to another level?

Kelly Bello  14:10  

So my business just was growing, and it was growing faster than I even knew, like it, it was becoming something bigger than I ever even imagined that I would ever, ever be and so I started thinking, and I'm thinking, Well, how do I how do I do this? I'm a mom. My boys are the most important thing to me. My business and my customers are so important to me. How do I balance this? So I did decide that maps coaching was the best route. My sister is like, it's time. Yeah, I can only do so much for you. You got to go, yeah. And so, yeah. So she connected me with with a great coach, and that coach, Amy McLeod, she was my very first coaches. She she left, unfortunately, she has her business was growing bigger than her, so she, she left maps coaching, but she did connect me with her coach, which was Christina. And so I. Kind of she, Christina, just said to me, who do you want to be in five years? You know, nobody's ever asked me that question. I was like, I don't even know who I want to be tomorrow. Like, I this is, like, coming taken over. I'm running on E like, I'm going as fast as I can. And so it was just she said, you've got to figure out what you want your life to look like. And you know, when you're in real estate, it's non stop. And especially for for me, because I love my customers and have such a great relationship with them, it becomes, you know, the eight o'clock calls and nine o'clock calls and, you know, and I love that. But I also had to say, you know, this, this is my time with my boys, and I've got to be able to sit down and after they go to bed, then I do what I need to do, right? And so it was really Christina that came up with this is this is what we're going to have to do. Then if this is important to you, we're going to have to leverage it. So I actually just made an amazing met an amazing person. Her name is Emily, and she is my new executive assistant. She starts this Wednesday.

Tracy Hayes  15:57  

Excellent. Yes, yes. That is so excellent, so excited for those who listened to the last podcast with the great Melissa Ricks, and she was explaining her team. And in the stuff that I'm listening to with the mortgage market animals and the freedom club from the loan officer side, is you have to hire that person that can do that, more or less. You know, there's some people that want to get out like you and I, we get out and I get out and meet real estate agent, get out meet clients, right? Some people just, they don't want that to be that front piece. They're good supporting roles, and that's what they want to do. And they're very good at better than we are, and to hire that person. And always the first ones, you know, the hardest here is you're excited about it. Just to take a lot of that daily work off of you so you can be more of you Exactly, yeah, so you can spend more time with your clients, as Melissa was explaining in the last body I mean, you know her, she doesn't let other people show homes, because she feels that's the time she bonds with those people. And I would you agree, I my vision or idea what Melissa sees. She has a long term vision. When you're, you're just out there, I'll just give it to a showing assistant. I'll just, you know, do I'm not gonna spend, oh, okay, got the listing, yeah, go see this house. But you're not playing a long term game. It's that. It's each and every client, and then, over the years. How many do they refer you? Are you doing a second or third home with them? Maybe, you know, because there are a lot of people here in Northeast Florida. They move within communities here very often. And that's everything. And it's a long term play is that is that kind of what what you see her relieving you up. And so you can spend some more time, really face to face with your with your

Kelly Bello  17:41  

peeps, that's exactly it. And I think if anyone knows me, they would know it's my heart the hardest thing for me, and they can call it, let it go. Kelly, I mean, like, literally, that's what people say to me all the time, let it go, because the I do want to be a part of it so much. But what I love the most is my customers and engaging and hearing about their life. And you know, I'm doing the second home because their family's growing, or, you know, moving, you know, because their job opportunity has taken them, or their sisters moving in the town, and they're referring you, and or their sisters moving in town, they're referring me. And you know, every single one of my customers has been somebody I've either worked with or somebody that knows me, and so it's been great. But, yeah, you're right. I mean, you have to determine, like, what you're best at, and that's what I love about Keller Williams, and is they, they give you this platform, and it's like, it works, you know, look at some of the top agents in our office that, you know, you just, you have to follow the process. And that's where I'm at, and that's it's kind of, that's where Christina brought me to like, it's time let it go.

Tracy Hayes  18:43  

The only way you can move to that next level, because you only personally have so much time in the day, and you want to spend time with your boys, so you have to make that time available. And the only way is to leverage someone else in a positive way. One of these leverage is a bad word, that's you're giving someone in employment, a good job, and probably, maybe they inspire, maybe they just love supporting you, and they're with you and affect your life as you affect theirs, and in the growth between the you know, two of you, and hopefully you have two or three assistants here, you know, in the coming year, because that's, that's really what it's all about. So you mentioned in the article. So you had this opportunity. Are you with your issue? Are you with Keller Williams and then your friend at the we will mention the builder, but the builder asked you to become a site aid and and you thought about that. No, I think a lot of lot of you know new agents. You know they're they don't know anybody. Being a site agent might be a great place to start. There's other people who obviously are senior site agents because they love what they do, because that's that's obviously important. If you're sitting in a model all weekend long, you better love what you do, right from that standpoint. But Keller Williams reached out and grabbed you. Who was this? Who was this? They. The, I guess, I don't know how you described it. This, this leader that they said, no, no, no, Kelly, you two need to match up. And I guess mentor you. Yeah. Who is this?

Kelly Bello  20:09  

So Pete Cheryl, which I don't know if you know, Margaret Cheryl. She's our broker at Keller, Williams, Atlantic partners. And so she, her husband, Pete, is our market leader. And he, he's amazing. He, I interviewed with so many brokers, and when I met him, I just knew, I was like, This is it, this is where I'm gonna land, and I've been with them ever since. But he, he, he heard I was getting a little discouraged, and that I had decided that I was going to accept this position. I think it was like a Wednesday or Thursday. And so I prayed about it, and I was like, Okay, this is, this is what I'm going to do. And I, you know, accepted the position. And he felt, he heard. He pulled me into the office. He said, We don't want to lose you like we see something inside of you. And please, like, just let me introduce you to this agent who is kind of overloaded right now with with, you know, work, and he, he's needing help. Why don't you connect with him and see what you can do to help as a buyer's agent. And so I did, and I met with him on a Friday, and I remember just going home, and literally just before going to bed, just praying so hard about it. God give me this direction, because I didn't know I was like, I've got two amazing opportunities in front of me, and I don't know what to do. And I just woke up the next day, and I, respectfully, you know, walked in and declined the position of the builder and said, Let's do this, and stayed with Keller Williams. And it was honestly the best decision I've chose thinking about it, because it's just like, can you I mean, life would have gone a different route. And different route, and it would, it may have been amazing too, right?

Tracy Hayes  21:45  

Well, that's the thing I was that's that was leading me to the quick, because I'm a John Maxwell fan, and hopefully he gets back to doing his regular thing at the Marriott in Orlando. He does couple years, a couple years ago, I went over there with Angie Bell, meaning, and just ironically, Angie and I had signed up for the same seminar. It's like four days long, but John Maxwell is amazing. But he talks about, God has a path for you. He has a path. And obviously there was he brought you to a impasse of, oh my goodness, let's wake Kelly up. What is she going to do? So you reached out over here to the builder, and then this person, well, you just mentioned, I'm sorry, Pete, Cheryl, Pete, Pete, whole set, and he reaches out and grabs you, and that made all the difference. And the fact that Austin, you start talking to Pete's like, yeah, I guess maybe I should stay. You know, the fact that you connected. And to me, that's I just feel like you said, you're obviously a woman of faith. We he was giving you direction there. You just had to shake you a little bit and kind of put you, I wouldn't say, put you down, but to bring you to what you felt was a bottom where you were, like, getting discouraged, and then all of a sudden, these people rose up in front of you, and you actually had two doors to choose from. And we don't know where the second door would have taken you, and hopefully never will, because you'll be on the path you're on right now. So successful, yeah? That it is amazing. And if people look back in their life and remember the times that they were down and these opportunities that popped up in front of you or popped into your head, you're like, where did that come from? And you just you follow it, yeah, yeah, it's amazing, yeah. And actually, that was a big section of what you got your first assistant coming on. I mean, do you see, you know, Keller Williams has a lot of teams. I mean, do you see that? Or do you see yourself, maybe just being Kelly and having a couple assistants and rock and roll? I mean, do you want to mentor other agents you have interest

Kelly Bello  23:38  

in that? Or I do, I do, and I would love that I see. You know, obviously it's hard to see what you what, what's going to happen in five years. But ultimately, my, my, my goal, would be to have some agents working with me, you know, helping them through it. You know, I think a lot of people, when they start in real estate, they forget that it's, it's so independent. You're independent, you know, you're doing your own thing. And so when you join a team, sometimes it gives you that leverage, that like that shoulder to lean on. And I loved that that worked for me. And so I hope to bring that to some, some new agents, and bring them, bring them on the team.

Tracy Hayes  24:13  

You mentioned something earlier, and it was interesting. My wife and I were talking about it last night on the way back to the Jaguars game, because we were stopped at a restaurant and there was no service there, or limited service. We could tell there was people waiting outside, but half the restaurant was empty. You served at Longhorns, I think you said earlier, I've had other agents on mentioning their time in the restaurant area in service. Has that benefit? Have you seen what you learn there about people helping you? Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Kelly Bello  24:44  

I mean, you just learn it's customer service, you know, to its to its best. So yeah, yeah.

Tracy Hayes  24:50  

I'm gonna dig in here deeper into your article. You sold your first million dollar home. What is more difficult, the $200,000 home or the million dollar. Them, oh my gosh,

Kelly Bello  25:05  

goodness, it was a breeze. I'm they. I worked with amazing people. They were amazing. But yeah, sometimes, sometimes the Yeah, yeah, she

Tracy Hayes  25:14  

doesn't want to be explicit, I could tell you right now, there's some thought, yeah, well, although I have had some, you know, higher end clients. Generally, they get their money from different places. So on the lending side, it can be a slightly more difficult I always remember a story there was people were buying it like a $1.2 million home. I won't mention the neighborhood, but it was an existing home, and the home inspection and between the leaks and the squirrel rats, whatever was up in the attic. Oh, yeah, and then the roof, the roof top, because the thing when a roof's damage on a million dollar home, when it's tile, that's a lot of money. Oh, that's not an easy, yeah, easy to fix. So sometimes you, you, you run into these issues when you're you know, I'm sure you've had, you've been doing this long enough you you've had these situations. What is the attitude that you take with your clients? And really, this is so if there's a buyer or Lister out there, when you run into these issues, because you're trying to keep the deal together, yeah, how, how do you, how do you approach that situation, when you you know, you have an inspection, you know, got a leak in it, or possible leak, how do you handle

Kelly Bello  26:20  

it? So, you know, I, I'm the most optimistic person when it comes to repairs first, you know, I do, and that's why it isn't so important when we're showing homes initially, because I can, I can kind of look around and give my best opinion from the get go. So I'm gonna tell you all this is gonna need some work. Or, you guys, this looks like it's in good, good shape. And then, you know, when the inspections come, I mean, it is, it is overwhelming for a buyer. I mean, it's sometimes 3050, 75, pages of just this is, this is all about your house. But you know, there are times where I will guide a customer and say, this may be way above what I think would work for you guys. But then there's times where it's this, this is doable, right? Let's get some, let's get some really good people and great contractors I work with, I trust, and that's huge in this business, is knowing who you trust, and that will go out and assess it and say, Hey, this is my best opinion. So

Tracy Hayes  27:14  

because you're doing buying and listing today, it's just you, you don't have a team. It's you're doing too when you're going out. You know, obviously, right now, in this marketplace, you know, some lot of listing, people don't think they need agents, right? What is your what is your approach, your presentation? Because I imagine you have a every presentation is a little bit different because you're tailoring it to the client, their home, you know, whatever, because they all the sellers do have different goals. It's not just sometimes, it's not just, yeah, we want to sell the home, that's the bottom line. But I want to make, you know, best dollar. I need to sell it in 30 days, whatever those things. What are some initial things when you go in there for that initial consultation that you are going to get to know? Because we talked about building a relationship with the with the agent, I mean, with the with the buyer, in this case, the seller. Where I think a lot of agents just go in and think, oh, they just want to sell their home. Okay, well, here's a here it is. What do you go in there to make them bond to Kelly? What's, well, I

Kelly Bello  28:07  

think it's a level of trust, and it's and it's explaining that there are so many moving pieces and that, you know, there are specialists for a reason. So I'm i There's dentists and attorneys and, you know, builders, and they're specialists for a reason, and I think that's what we do as real estate agents, is we take our best ability, our our education, our knowledge, our experience, and we apply it. Because you're, like you said, every single customer is different. Everyone is tailored. So whether you're building a new construction home with a builder or an independent builder or a large corporate builder, or you're selling your home. I mean, you need somebody on your side that is going to make sure that you're taken care of at the end of the day, right? You know,

Tracy Hayes  28:50  

I think a lot of the for sale by owners, they don't, especially in this market where you're getting multiple offers. Or just, you know, three or four months ago, you get some people were getting like, 20 some offers on the same house. How do you, how do you how do you deal with that? And they they skip, or don't understand the value of having someone like yourself evaluating each and every one of those offers to be able to basically come, hopefully come up with three or four you're going to recommend, you know, one of these is going to be your best offer, which, you know, and here's why,

Kelly Bello  29:17  

right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, in this market, especially, it's, it's, it's crazy. And, you know, I just had a house that went on the market with 21 offers, and it was, you know, how do you as a seller know that you're choosing the right lender, you're choosing the right buyer, the right product for your home. You know, if you're if do you your house is 1920 Do you really want to select a VA buyer? If there's wood rot that you're going to have to so there's just so many steps, and an agent would be able to say, this is, this is the best route.

Tracy Hayes  29:47  

I've done this a few times. Yeah, this is what you should do. There's no doubt. Yeah, I'm from a lending side. You just mentioned the VA, which I think is the best loan possible. But the VA is very sensitive to water damage, and if they see some sort of water damage. Image, they're going to want it fixed, because they if, especially if a VA buyer is going 100% they're already upside down in that house. That is like buying a car without putting any money down. So it's very important to weed through each of those things. I put this question. I kind of want to reword this a little bit because explain to us, if you could what the value? Because I assume you saw, you know, if you went back in time at the whether to go with, you know, Bank of America or become a real estate agent, if you were, if you were able, if you had that impasse and never took the Bank of America route, how is Bank of that, taking that Bank of America route and learning some of that stuff as a very young person, because it sounds like you were probably in your young 20s when you took the job of Bank of America, if not younger, and how that experience really gave you the experience of working with people, understanding loans, maturity wise, and Then just how life happens. How did that help you to today?

Kelly Bello  31:03  

My gosh. I mean, tremendously. I mean, I think that was one of the things that helped me the most, was having that background of the loan origination portion of it, because then I was, I was able to guide my customers through each program now starting out and, you know, learning them was so challenging as a loan officer, it was like, what is that? But you learn and you grow. And had I not had that experience, I don't think that I would have been as equipped to be that ready to go, jump and go for my buyers, right? Yeah,

Tracy Hayes  31:35  

and coaching, you know, I find some referral agents who are very strong and control their clients. I have some who can't seem to get quite too much control of them. And then, of course, they always told me later, Tracy, I wish they went with you. You know, they ran into these issues and so forth, because, you know, I've been lending for 16 years, and so I have a lot of at bats. You have. You have enough at bats to smell what is good, what is bad, or what may need some tweaking to get done. So when the loan officer calls you back and says, Hey, your client, here's some situation, because I got to tell you what's going on, because I don't want you disappointed in me. And I'm sure the loan officer you work readily is telling you what's going on, because you understand the terminology you understand. Trust me, we've done enough deals where we literally had to wait for the paste of the post to make sure they had enough funds in their bank account to close. Yes, it happens it's out there. God bless them that they're taking the leap in the home ownership well, you weren't here in the you weren't in the well you were, you were in the lending business, so during the downturn there so you know, you know how it can get how it can get thin. Knowing that knowledge, of course, now you're on the realtor side. What do you do to prepare yourself? As I think all real estate agents should do, but many don't. Unfortunately, in case we do, something happens in the market downturns like 2008

Kelly Bello  33:02  

know your market and be prepared for it. So it's knowing short sale processes and foreclosures and being comfortable having those conversations, setting aside you know what you need, and in the event something does change in our market, to be ready for what could happen.

Tracy Hayes  33:17  

How important is? And this is because you just mentioned that, and made me think of this question, because a couple podcasts ago, I had one of the best trainers in Florida on you can find buyers out there right now, it's trying to find the home to put them in. That's that's probably the bigger challenge, but taking the time each and every week to sharpen your sword, to get training like you just mentioned foreclosure. Some people have mentioned foreclosures because of covid and people that didn't never that has not come to fruition, not in this area as it come to fruition, because no one's a foreclose, because they can sell their house for in most cases, for some equity, right? So if they were in a desperate situation to just sell it and walk away from it, they don't have to foreclose and go through that whole process. Nor does the bank want them to go through it? But how important do you think it is to continuing to be educated in, in sharpening your swords or or having your ammunition for that day?

Kelly Bello  34:10  

I mean, it's so it's super important, because you'll be able to transition quicker, and you'll be able to help quicker, and you'll be, you will be that expert that people will need.

Tracy Hayes  34:19  

What are you doing differently? You know, like, I don't know, it's been going on maybe six months or so since was, you know, through the summer where we were, you know, you get 21 offers on your home, a home recently. What are you doing differently? Now, let's say you weren't doing in 2019

Kelly Bello  34:35  

I think for me, being able to come up with processes just to move fast for my customers. I'm doing that. I'm working more on the foundation of the business and in regards to processes and connecting and leveraging, because that's super, super important. And you know, having that foundation for them, setting the right expectations is huge. So I've been that's where my mind has been. And especially with multiple offers. I mean, if you're working with a seller, you got to move fast. You don't want to lose a buyer. So it's getting the spreadsheets ready, having the conversation, setting the right expectations up front and on the back end. So Right? Because

Tracy Hayes  35:12  

it does, it is happening quickly. When you're putting the house out there, and over the weekend, you're getting 21 offers. It does. It does not take time. So I unfortunately, buyers don't understand it's happening that fast all the time, because I still get calls from agents. We're going to make an offer. Can you can you do a pre call real quick? Well, why didn't you do that three days ago when you set the appointment ago? As you know, you need to have your gun loaded, so to speak, from that standpoint. So what are you doing? Good? We talked about relationships, and you are. You're focused. You're getting an assistant so you can spend them some more times. What are, what are you doing to keep your, you know, circle your past clients? What do you do to keep that warm?

Kelly Bello  35:50  

So I try to connect with them as much as possible. And like you said, I am very real on social media. And, you know, people are people connect with that. And it's, it's true. I mean, I'll show up to showings with my kids, and I'll be like, sorry, you guys. And they get it. These are, like I said, these are people that know me and trust me and know my story, and it's your smile.

Tracy Hayes  36:10  

Okay, they can't turn that down.

Kelly Bello  36:13  

So, you know, I just connect with them. I try to do a lot of, you know, I do a customer appreciation event. We just had, like, I told you about it today. It was amazing. And so I just try to just keep in touch with them.

Tracy Hayes  36:27  

And so let's, let's touch on that, because it's although you had a difficulty with the weather, we talked about that, and you had to go from outdoors to indoors, but you did something fairly simple, right? You were having Christmas pictures or family pictures done. You set up a place for them to go with a professional photographer. You know, I don't, you know, we don't get into the dollars, but you spent your dollars that you earned on your past clients to come and bring their family to take their family photos, which many of them, I guarantee you, would not have done that on on their own, hired, hired their own person to do their own shoot and do a nice Christmas card and have a memory that goes in their scrapbook forever.

Kelly Bello  37:08  

It's so important to me. I think for me, pictures just are timeless. And, you know, especially with kids, things happen so fast, like, I'm like, what? How are we celebrating Christmas already? What is going on? But it's just, it's a capture, it's a moment. It's something that, and it's become a tradition. So I've been doing this for years. It's the cutest thing to hear my customers talk about it and how they're, hey, Kelly,

Tracy Hayes  37:30  

when you're gonna have it. Yeah, that is cool. When you reach that level. That's cool,

Kelly Bello  37:35  

super cool. It's the best feeling in the world. And, you know, last year because of covid, Santa was not as attainable, and so nobody could sit on Santa's lap. You know, I remember doing I could do it

Tracy Hayes  37:47  

for the right amount,

Kelly Bello  37:51  

but I just remember our Christmas pictures last year were sit with Santa, like, way in the back with a mask on, I think, and like, we were far away. My kids didn't even get that interaction. So I was like, you know, this year we're gonna do it super, super. Super cool. Bring in Santa. We actually flew him down from New Jersey to New Jersey. He was the most amazing Santa I've ever met in my entire life.

Tracy Hayes  38:10  

Well, yeah, he sent me the

Kelly Bello  38:13  

coolest screenshot when he got to Florida. It was like, Florida, Santa, that's cool, but he's amazing. And, you know, it was just, it was so cool. It was just so cool to see my, my my customers, on a personal level, to just see their kids and see how much they couple years older, yeah, yeah. So it's so I know I could talk about it all day like but it is just so cool.

Tracy Hayes  38:33  

Well, I noticed I see it a lot in with me on my fellow loan officers. And I'm sure Rosa they go, Oh, well, how much would that cost? And the reality is, okay, we make good money for every loan, for every home that you sell. We I mean, if you think about it, the dollars per hour. Now, obviously sometimes we don't, but for the most part, we make pretty good money when we're working out there to go and spend, invest, because that's what you're doing to continue that relationship. Now, you're probably still going to send them a Christmas card, but to me, that's that goes beyond the Christmas card, because face to face is the number one way to build those relationships. Too many of us have, you know, we try to use the Facebook to use our face, which is good. It reminds people we're out there. But the fact that you got these people to sign and they're calling you, asking you when you're going to do it. That is so awesome, and you got a chance to spend a couple of minutes with them, maybe get some cocoa or whatever going on, and have them come in and that that's that's worth a lot, that, I hope you get a tremendous return from those people, because that that that is above and beyond not and that wasn't rocket science. It would not have to, yeah,

Kelly Bello  39:44  

and I have the best team. I have Ariel Baldwin photography. She's my main photographer. She does all of my marketing and, you know, marketing pictures and everything. But she does this with me every year. And Desiree with the parsley Manor, and they, we just came up, we and it was, it was super stressful. And I think they've. Probably need a break from me right now, they're probably like, we need a break from Kelly. It was just so crazy. But it was they pulled it off. It was amazing.

Tracy Hayes  40:10  

You know, obviously, I cater this show towards the agents, and hopefully some loan officers are watching. But the number one, they went to a seminar recently in Clearwater. Some of my listeners know, I've talked about it before, and they talked about, you know, just like I say the number one way to well, not the last the fourth way of communication right now is actually email, text message, phone call, and then the face to face, and you went face to face with your customers, which is tremendous. It's not easy to do that. They got things going on, sports and this all thing. But you may, you make an attractive value added, you know, small investment out of you, but hopefully, even if you just got one referral next year from someone who had their picture taken that just thinks you're the greatest thing since sliced bread. There's all those other people who are calling you up and asking you, when you're doing it for 2022 right?

Kelly Bello  41:01  

And it's so funny, and maybe this is terrible, and don't tell Keller Williams, but I mean, I don't there is not one piece of Kelly Velo real estate anywhere in that place when they walk through that door. It is truly an event of just being thankful. And I'm so happy to see you like it is not about that, for me. It is. It is truly a thank you. Let's start the holidays off right. I hope that you have an amazing experience with my with my amazing photographer and event planner, and have a glass of wine and let's catch up and just it was super it was just super

Tracy Hayes  41:34  

special. The only thing I was just thinking that whole project, do you have someone there that actually can make the Christmas cards for them and get their mailing

Kelly Bello  41:41  

list out. No, but that would be super cool. Yeah, this year was so cool. We did a Santa writing station. So all the kids got to sit down and write their Dear Santa and what, how they were just, I mean, just seeing Santa, it was like one of my customers said, My son hasn't stopped staring at Santa since, the whole time he's been here.

Tracy Hayes  42:00  

It was just super cool. It is amazing. Quick Santa story as we wrap up. So we typically go to my wife's uncle's. He has a house on the lake up in Milledgeville, Georgia, Spartan Sparta. Sparta Georgia is technically where it's at, because it's on the other side, like, but anyway, so all the all the young, there's six of them, my kids, my sister in law's kids and my wife's cousin's kids are all my I have the youngest and the oldest. So they're all from eight to 11 years old. And this is actually a year ago, so they were seven to 10 years old, and they're in their bunk room, and I come around out there's a deck outside, because it's on the second floor, but there's a deck you can access it. So I go out and I pound up and down, ho, ho, ho. They were talking about it the next morning. Oh, my don't think they don't believe. They believe in it. If you don't, do not spoil that for them. No, it is, it was. It's fun. I mean,

Kelly Bello  42:57  

it's amazing. It is, it is, even as an adult, okay, yes, Santa, just okay, where I'm you can believe, but it's the spirit of Christmas. Yes, it's just amazing. Yes, yes,

Tracy Hayes  43:07  

100% All right, I'm gonna go into what I call my two minute warning questions. All right, if you listen to my you haven't listened my podcast one

Kelly Bello  43:15  

time, one time, hopefully

Tracy Hayes  43:18  

subscribe, and make sure you make a comment on there, on the pot, on the Apple podcast. Anyway, is it more important who you know or what you know? Wow, that's a standard questions on every podcast. You must always

Kelly Bello  43:35  

think, I think who you know is super, super important

Tracy Hayes  43:39  

and special. Yeah, I think so, you know, in your story, as an example, I mean, it was who you know, and they knew you enough to see your potential. You know, that's that's okay. Obviously, the builder was already recruiting you over there. They saw, you know what, what potential, I think a lot of it you know people, you know in your situation, you're presentable, you're you can have conversation with people, and I don't know you that well personally, but I would imagine they saw you were coachable, and that they could actually, because you were a sponge for knowledge, and would follow through with what they were doing. And it's just made your success. So who you know gave you what you know exactly, and then you're here today. Agreed, yes, yes. All right, you're out with your your your men, your young your young boys, jaguars, Iceman or a jumbo shrimp game?

Kelly Bello  44:30  

Oh, Jaguars. Yes, we got the game yesterday. No, I missed it yesterday. But my son, my three year old, he is the biggest Jaguars fan. It's the cutest thing in the entire world. I don't know if you saw it on myself, but we went to the game, and he, even though he only wanted to sit in the seats for like, 20 minutes, right? We I toured that whole state. I could tell you everything about that jaguars, especially if there is a pay phone on the third level that he sat and played with for about 20 minutes.

Tracy Hayes  44:59  

But, yeah. So you got the two young boys you're doing well, do you have something on your travel bucket list and where you

Kelly Bello  45:05  

want to take them? Yeah, so,

Tracy Hayes  45:07  

so besides Disney World, yeah, besides that's given we live, yeah. We went to, we

Kelly Bello  45:11  

went to Disney, you know, actually. So my mom is my I'm Lebanese and Italian. To my mom, she was born in Jamaica, and so we are

Tracy Hayes  45:21  

Italian, Lebanese, born in Jamaica. Alright, go ahead,

Kelly Bello  45:27  

I know somebody, but my family, my mom's family, is, you know, they're from Jamaica. So some of my best childhood memories were in Jamaica. Just my family has, you know, this cozy little place on the water and yeah, like a little air, not an Airbnb, but a breakfast, kind of bed and breakfast, yeah, and so we're actually planning a trip this summer, so hopefully I get to, I want to make those same memories with the kids. Yeah,

Tracy Hayes  45:57  

I think it's so important. You know, of course, here in Florida, we're kind of spoiled because you, you were born in Miami, so flying from Miami to Jamaica is nothing to learn other cultures, to learn other in something. We have many cultures here within the United States. You go around different states and learn they do things differently there and but to be able to visit Jamaica and see that, and obviously family related just makes it even that much better. Yeah, super excited. But have you read Ryan Sirhan? I have not. You have not read so you haven't read either one of his books. Okay? So I have sell it like Saran and then I have his newest book. Now, since you have not read any of his books yet, I would say go in order. Okay, I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you, sell it like Sirhan, as a gift for coming on today, and then what we'll do maybe in six or eight months, have you come on and I'll give you big money energy, and we'll get an update of what's going on with you. I would love that. That would be amazing. Kelly, I appreciate you coming on.

Kelly Bello  46:51  

I appreciate you having me. This was so cool. First podcast ever,

Tracy Hayes  46:54  

excellent, excellent. And many more, yes. All right. You.