Balancing Family, Investing & Real Estate the Right Way - Rachel Hanes

REE #305 Full Audio

[00:00:00] 

[00:00:00] Tracy Hayes: I enjoy, um.

[00:00:01] Rachel Hanes: The feeling of home. And I've always loved looking at land and kind of thinking of investment, you know, in the future. Mm-hmm. So when the opportunity came for me to get into real estate, it just felt very natural.

And to be honest, a lot of people were down on me. I was a young mom, so like, do you realize what you're getting yourself into? And I did not, but I wanted to, I wanted it really bad. So, it had been something I had thought about for a while, so it was exciting. 

[00:01:02] Tracy Hayes: [00:01:00] Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. If you are new here, this is where we spotlight Northeast Florida's most committed real estate professionals. People who don't just sell homes, they build relationships, elevate their peers, and create lasting impact in the communities they serve.

Today's guest is kind of a agent who thrives at in the intersection of business and family life. She's a former educator, turned realtor with nearly a decade of experience in the Jacksonville market, a dedicated mother of four. She balances showings, negotiations, and closings with horseback rides and tennis matches, all while growing a business.

Rooted in trust, collaboration, and investment strategy. From residential sales to Airbnb knowhow and emerging investor opportunities, she's building something bigger than just a client list. She's building a network. She views other agents, not as competitions, but as partners in raising the standard of the service.

That mindset and her track [00:02:00] record are why she stands out. Let's welcome Rachel Haynes to the show. 

[00:02:04] Rachel Hanes: Thank you. Thank you. 

you. Thank you. Thanks for having me. 

[00:02:05] Tracy Hayes: Thanks for coming over here this morning. You're coming down, right? McClenney is like northeast Coming outta there. Appreciate you coming on. you bring a different perspective.

and I really, this year in 26, I, you know, to get really down to the grassroots, and again, I was telling you about, I'm working on my book and it's the stories of, of the agents. I

hope, hopefully the book will inspire not only educate, but inspire. 'cause we're gonna find out what you're doing. as you said, most of your business this past year has come from referral business, which

I

think there's

any agent

that gets in list listers last.

That's one phrase. Yeah. The other one's that when you can sit around and the phone's ringing before you even have time to cold call people or go and market somebody else is wanting you. And it's because some friend referred you or a past client, obviously. So, Rachel, says, I always kick off the show, tell us a, a little bit about, you know, where you grew up, a little bit about your background.

you said you, you actually started thinking about real [00:03:00] estate as a young person. 

[00:03:01] Rachel Hanes: I did dream about it. I enjoy, um.

The feeling of home. And I've always loved looking at land and kind of thinking of investment, you know, in the future. Mm-hmm. So when the opportunity came for me to get into real estate, it just felt very natural.

And to be honest, a lot of people were down on me. I was a young mom, so like, do you realize what you're getting yourself into? And I did not, but I wanted to, I wanted it really bad. So, it had been something I had thought about for a while, so it was exciting. I'm gonna, 

[00:03:30] Tracy Hayes: I'm gonna have you pull that mic just a little bit, Sierra.

I got just about six or eight inches from me. Just pull it a little, pull it, closer. pull closer. You can pull it, yeah. 

[00:03:35] Rachel Hanes: Oh, like that? 

[00:03:36] Tracy Hayes: It's just on the arm. Okay. Yeah. There we go. Good. Okay. So I just make sure your sounds good.

that's interesting. You, know, I haven't talked about that topic recently, but it has obviously come up, right?

the naysayers in your life, right? Mm-hmm. And some of them are the, are the people that. Are closest to us. 

[00:03:52] Rachel Hanes: Yes. And 

[00:03:52] Tracy Hayes: that hurts even more. 

[00:03:54] Rachel Hanes: It can hurt or it can drive you. 

[00:03:56] Tracy Hayes: Yes. There is no doubt about that. 'cause there's some internal, [00:04:00] sometimes some family competition or that sort of thing. Yeah. Or I'm gonna show you, but I think the Would you agree?

The reality is we have to sit back and actually say, what does this person even know about what I'm doing? 

[00:04:11] Rachel Hanes: Yes. 

[00:04:11] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. 

[00:04:12] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. And then not, you know, people can't always see your vision and your dream, and so you can't take it personally if it's something you're really wanting to do and you're really interested in it, I think you just need to show them why it's.

something

you're passionate about. And that is with consistency and hard work. Right? you can't always just immediately earn kudos for your decisions. It takes time and consistency, and that's when then people will see your vision because they're watching you build it. So we, 

[00:04:44] Tracy Hayes: we can, we can get kudos for being

accepted

to some institution that will cost us a couple hundred thousand dollars over roughly a four year period, right?

Yes. it's easy. You get kudos for that. Yes. But to actually start a business mm-hmm. [00:05:00] That you can do,

 with

little to no money outta your pocket, more, you know, when you really think about it. Yeah. Starting a business with, you know, the cost of taking the course and, and the test. I mean, you're off.

[00:05:11] Rachel Hanes: Right. 

[00:05:12] Tracy Hayes: you can hand make some business cards if you really want. I'm sure there's stories of people doing that. 

[00:05:17] Rachel Hanes: Yes. 

[00:05:17] Tracy Hayes: That is not, applauded, which I think is, I think is just totally, I read somewhere, you said it just a few minutes ago. If people don't have the same,

and

I don't know who said this, I read it somewhere in a personal development book, if people don't have the same vision that you have, don't share your vision with them.

'cause if they don't see it the way you do or have the same aspirations, they will stop a lot. A lot of 'em will stomp on it. 

[00:05:41] Rachel Hanes: Yes. Yeah. And it will drag you down. Like sometimes you just need to keep things in here. Yeah. Work it out and let people see the evidence and then they'll get on the train of belief because you know they're gonna see you doing it.

I mean, we're humans. We all need to see the evidence. Right. 

[00:05:57] Tracy Hayes: I think more, I think more, and I think we're all guilty of it at some [00:06:00] time at one way or another in doing just that as a family member may do. But so I guess my learning lesson is, you know, think about that moving forward when someone comes to you and says they want to do something, just, you know, say, okay, you thought it out.

Okay. You know, whatever, you know, I can help you with. And 'cause you just don't know. You just don't know who's, we got kids that are, have YouTube, they're, they're not even teenagers, got YouTube channels and making millions of dollars right now, 

[00:06:25] Rachel Hanes: right? 

[00:06:25] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. 

[00:06:26] Rachel Hanes: Yes. 

[00:06:26] Tracy Hayes: imagine if their parents said, oh, that's stupid.

I don't want you on YouTube. Okay. 

[00:06:30] Rachel Hanes: Yeah, you need to, but a lot of that is also surrounding yourself with the right kind of people because mm-hmm. Like I was telling you earlier, when I first started real estate, I couldn't even afford a laptop, you know? But I had a mentor at the time who was so encouraging all the time.

I mean, my first laptop, I got off Amazon for like $300, and I remember being very proud of myself. 

[00:06:51] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:51] Rachel Hanes: So, I was really starting from nothing. And just, were 

[00:06:55] Tracy Hayes: you married at the time? How we, 

[00:06:57] Rachel Hanes: we were married and we had three children under the age [00:07:00] of four 

[00:07:00] Tracy Hayes: already. You had three children already. Yeah. So that's 

[00:07:02] Rachel Hanes: not an easy time of life.

And so looking back, I can see why people thought you're crazy. What do you think you're doing? Like, you're barely making it through the day. But honestly, real estate has. Fed my passion and given me something else that just has breathed life into me and then into our family. And it, we've been enjoying the benefits of that now for nine years.

Yeah. And it's just snowballed with consistency. 

[00:07:27] Tracy Hayes: Well, and I think, you just, just a thought just came through my head. I mean, you know, you've been doing it, you've been working and raising your family at the same time. Right. Which takes up a lot of your time. So you're not out there marketing or doing a lot of things that a, you wanna call it a full-time agent, if you wanna use that term.

or someone who had full-time time 

[00:07:45] Rachel Hanes: mm-hmm. To 

[00:07:45] Tracy Hayes: do it. But now your kids are getting a little older. 

[00:07:48] Rachel Hanes: Mm-hmm. 

[00:07:48] Tracy Hayes: You're having a little more time. They can manage themselves, I guess, at home. I don't know, whatever you Yeah. But you're able to get more time for yourself. 

[00:07:56] Rachel Hanes: It's a transition time. Yeah. To 

[00:07:57] Tracy Hayes: see where now with [00:08:00] all of the work you've put in

in the consistency, and then as you said.

This year was full of referrals. 

[00:08:07] Rachel Hanes: Yes. 

[00:08:08] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. 

[00:08:08] Rachel Hanes: What a blessing. and really that to me is the greatest way that I can know I'm doing a good job. I just can't believe, when I looked back, last night

and I

was like, every single sale last year, well, actually, not just a referral, but repeat customers. Mm-hmm.

and then working on my pipeline for the first couple months this year, lots of listings coming on the market and all of them are repeat customers except one, which is a referral. And I just, to me, that shows me why I am doing what I do and how it's affecting people's lives. And they feel that they have a partner through some, you know, those can be major life circumstances, but they know they can trust me to do the job in a compassionate way.

And 

[00:08:50] Tracy Hayes: Well, let me, it makes you feel that way, but is the real word, which I think is one of the biggest words for a real well any sale. And people, I think people in [00:09:00] general, this is an important. Confidence. 

[00:09:02] Rachel Hanes: Right. 

[00:09:03] Tracy Hayes: It's, it's now shown that, oh my, I gave that. I 

did, I thought I did. Well, or, you know, I provided my real estate services to this person.

Mm-hmm. And now they're telling me about others, or now they're calling me back. And that's really, you know, you could talk the talk, but when a

Actually what they're doing Is really an endorsement upon your, a 

[00:09:21] Rachel Hanes: huge endorsement. And I don't take it lightly at all Yes. because I, I value their trust and I wanna be a trustworthy person.

And that comes down to integrity. And I think that's something you could probably agree with. Mm-hmm. can be lacking in the real estate world or can be perceived as lacking. so I think that's why it's such a huge endorsement for me because I want people to feel that if they're coming to me with business, it's gonna be handled with integrity.

Yeah. So, yeah. 

[00:09:49] Tracy Hayes: No, yeah. we can go on about the whole family thing and the whole, the trust and the confidence and I think our friends and, and so forth, and now you've been doing it long enough. Some of your friends that may not have done business with you, [00:10:00] you know, eight years ago now would have no problem saying, Hey, call Rachel.

Right. She's, she's still here. Yeah. She's still doing it. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah, tell us, what have you been doing. What do you think you've been doing,from the standpoint of getting the referrals, have you been a stickler from the beginning on follow ups or is that something you just recently started doing to rekindle some of these relationships?

What is something you, 

do 

do you think it sparked a lot of that? 

[00:10:26] Rachel Hanes: Well, I think a lot of it just comes from being authentic and consistent. yes, reaching out on people's birthdays and saying, you know, happy birthday, thinking about you can be effective. But, it can also feel a little forced. I think it's more natural if you just continue in friendship with people and invest in their lives.

They invest in your lives. So, building my community all the time, and making people year round feel. Like they mattered to you. I think honestly, that even when it's not a holiday or it's a birthday, just, yeah, they just, I think they can get used to [00:11:00] like, you know, you get little birthday emails or whatever and it's easy to dismiss that.

I would say it's more of just every day life, like taking touch points throughout the year. Like, Hey, I haven't heard from her in six months. Let me see how she's doing. And just being authentic. That's really, are you 

[00:11:15] Tracy Hayes: planning those touch points or are you maybe going on social media and then obviously just, you know, their stuff is popping up in front of you and giving you some reason to call, say, Hey, I saw your daughter had a recital the other day or something.

[00:11:28] Rachel Hanes: Yes, I would say that is a big one. I like to use social media. It reminds me of major life events that are happening in my friends' lives and I always comment or private message them, which is even more personal. Mm-hmm. And just say like, Hey, I saw this situation, I'm praying for you or what's going on?

Is there something I can do for you? Right.

and then. Because you just, with algorithms, when you're commenting on people, it tends to broaden what you see and keep your timeline flowing, not with the same three or four people. Mm-hmm. That maybe you just text every [00:12:00] day. Right. so the more you comment, the more you interact with others posts.

I feel that I am. Widening my circle because I have my profile set on public. Mm-hmm. And it's funny, you'll have people you don't even know start engaging with you because they see that you're warm and friendly and they want that, they wanna engage with someone like that. And your circle just continues to grow from there, 

[00:12:20] Tracy Hayes: I think.

And this is, I think the simplest thing of Facebook that many people don't realize

is

when you enter into someone's circle, you know, you have a, a client. Mm-hmm. You start, you're interacting with them, their circle is seeing you interact with them. Mm-hmm. And then they start, Hey, well, who's this Rachel person?

And then they're, they're digging deeper. They're seeing you and interact. You know, because I'm sure some of these things carry on into a conversation. Right. Sometimes I need to block.

Yes. I'm like, should I come in here? 'cause how far is this going to go? Right. Well, that's 

[00:12:54] Rachel Hanes: where

the way you communicate is so important.

Yeah. You know? and that even goes into your [00:13:00] transactions when you communicate with other agents or professionals in real estate world, you know, and that's why I have that in my bio. It's really important to not view others as an enemy or like, you know, right off the bat, I'm gonna puff out my chest mm-hmm. and come at you like.

Let's find some common ground, let's find what our goals are and work together towards that. And I think that also lends to repeat customers, because if they're not in a transaction that feels tense and everybody's fighting and angry, you know, that is a negative experience. Yeah. So I don't want them to feel that way.

And I don't want the other agent I'm working on the other side of the deal with to feel that way either. It kind of trickles down. 

[00:13:38] Tracy Hayes: Well, that is an interesting topic there. 'cause,I, I, there was an agent here, recently, I won't, I won't mention her name. I, she's, not that it's bad for her, but she was, she was on social media talking about, you know, this transaction from hell, situation and it was really being caused.

A lot of those are, are be being caused by the [00:14:00] agent. 'cause a lot of, you're not communicating with, if you're representing the seller, you're not necessarily communicating with the buyer, you're dealing with the buyer's agent. Right. And, and then vice versa, the buyer's agent's not talking to the seller.

You're, they're talking to you. Mm-hmm. And this, the chest coming out, the, fri the ego mm-hmm.

the, the defensiveness. How do you, how do you handle, an agent? ' I've obviously have never done a transaction as a real estate agent with you. Right. So, I don't know if you, maybe you're one of those battlers or whatever, but how do you, how do you tone that down so you can win?

Because I always say that the ultimate goal is you have a seller who wants to sell the house. Yes. And you have a buyer who wants to buy it. And eventually they're gonna come to some agreement. They might not be totally happy. 

[00:14:44] Rachel Hanes: You don't have to like each other, they 

[00:14:46] Tracy Hayes: don't have to be totally happy either.

They just agree to sell it and sign the contracts. 

[00:14:49] Rachel Hanes: Well that, but you're really putting your client at a. Great disadvantage if you go into a transaction with that attitude, because to me, that is not. Strong negotiation skills. I [00:15:00] think it's actually very weak negotiation skills to want to argue and fight and be combative.

Mm-hmm. and as you mature and you're negotiating, you realize that is just not the way to get what you want. so whenever I have a situation like that, I try to diffuse it. I stay very professional. Mm-hmm. I don't engage in the back and forth. I just, you know, I'll answer the questions if I feel there's a lot of combativeness.

Right. I'll answer the que questions directly and politely,

but

I will not, I just refuse to engage in the back and forth arguing. And, um, 

[00:15:33] Tracy Hayes: having been in sales most of my life? you have a, a captured audience. You advertised a price and you advertised this house, which only, there's only one house with that address.

[00:15:43] Rachel Hanes: Right. 

[00:15:44] Tracy Hayes: And these people are interested in it. So it's not like they not like selling cars where they can go down the street and get the same exact car. Right. And negotiate a lower price. 'cause someone's willing to sell it to 'em for whatever less. there's only this h there's only this house. It's in that [00:16:00] neighborhood.

And there might not be that many other houses. And this is very uniqueness, right? You're, you have a captured audience and you have a someone who wants to sell, who obviously lives in the house and has come to agreement to sell it. And you have someone who says, you know, I wanna live in that neighborhood and that's a reasonable price range of house.

Let's get into it. Mm-hmm. And so you have a captured audience, so they're not, it's not like you need to get too, you know, emotional over it, right? It's just like, okay, let's, you know, mediate this situation. 

[00:16:27] Rachel Hanes: Correct. Yeah. And I mean, Jacksonville is the, what do they call it, the smallest big town in the US Yeah.

I mean, it's land mass size, huge. But really once you're around for a few years, You know, everyone, everyone knows you, even if you haven't met them. So it's really important to maintain, you know, kind of like dignity, credibility throughout the transaction and allow the other person to have dignity, because you never know when you might cross paths again.

So why would you want to approach a situation in that way? So I think it's better to be the diffuser, like you're saying, and [00:17:00] kind of take

it

[00:17:01] Tracy Hayes: and the new agents out there that may be listening, maybe you only have a handful of transactions, but you just said something very valuable. You don't know when you're going to, you might, you might be making an offer on a house with that agent again three months from now.

and you're all, you're like, oh, I got this. They wanna buy this $800 million house. This is a great sale for you, but this is a great house. And that agent's the seller and they've got other offers. 

[00:17:28] Rachel Hanes: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:28] Tracy Hayes: And you were a jerk the last time you dealt with you. 

[00:17:31] Rachel Hanes: So what do you think's gonna happen? Exactly.

And the only person that it's truly affecting is your client, because now they're at a disadvantage because you know of your interpersonal relationships, right. With other professionals in the field. So I think maintaining integrity very important. And, it can be hard. I mean, we all get in very heated situations, but, maintaining a level of calm is really important.

[00:17:54] Tracy Hayes: Do you think that there, well,

you know,

obviously if you're not experienced, you, [00:18:00] you don't know what you, can ask, what, what can

you talk about? Obviously there, I mean, you guys are, are governed by some. You know, guidelines of ethics and so forth. But when you have an agent who likes you mm-hmm.

they're like trying to help you guide that, Hey, this is what my seller really needs. Or Hey, how can we work this out? If you can get me this, if we can meet in the middle on these, we, I think we can get it done. You know, that kind of conversation start to happen. And then you guys are, the two agents are working together Yes.

To make the deal happen, which is why everyone's paying you to do it. but I don't wanna say necessarily inexperienced 'cause I think there are some experienced agents out there who have, It must be ego. 

[00:18:41] Rachel Hanes: Mm-hmm. 

[00:18:41] Tracy Hayes: Because I can't believe it's experience. An inexperienced person will be like, can I ask Rachel, you know, you know this question?

Or you know, Hey, where do we need to be at to be competitive here? You know, those type of questions to help you hopefully facilitate helping them get the deal. And of course, your seller being heavy, but that can cause an a [00:19:00] little bit of angst, but where an experienced person's having this, issue, it's more of ego than anything else.

[00:19:06] Rachel Hanes: It's true. Yeah. We all, we all have to battle the ego. 

[00:19:09] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. 

[00:19:09] Rachel Hanes: but shouldn't bring that over into your professional life. It's just not, I, in my experience, is not to the advantage of your customers. Mm-hmm.

It's just advantaging yourself and trying to portray yourself in a light that maybe isn't really authentic.

so you're having to, you know, like we said, rear up and really, and it's like. 

like. 

You're not being productive because you can't reach an agreement. And so if you're battling all the way to the finish line, I mean, there are situations you have to 

[00:19:40] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. 

[00:19:40] Rachel Hanes: But it can still be done in a way that maintains your dignity, the dignity of your clients, and get the job done.

[00:19:48] Tracy Hayes: I, think, going

back to being able to go back to your client and say, Hey, I went to battle. Here's the good news, here's the bad news. Right. You've got, that's, that's really what it's all about. Yeah. You know, Hey, I asked for what you wanted. I was able to [00:20:00] get you this. And most people actually, as we know our president does, he asked for the world, and then he settles for, you know.

Well, and then is part of negotiation, since you're of the deal, you need to anticipate 

[00:20:10] Rachel Hanes: what your client's true needs are. Yeah. So that when you're negotiating, you land somewhere much closer to what their expectations were. Yeah. What 

[00:20:17] Tracy Hayes: their expectations are. you've worked for a couple different brokerages.

Mm-hmm. since you got started. Well, let, actually, let's, dive in.

Exactly.

how did you eventually make the, the convey decisions like, Hey, I'm getting into real estate. what triggered that? 

[00:20:30] Rachel Hanes: well, being a young mom, I was teaching violin at the time and, I play violin lovet and enjoy it very much, but I thought, you know, this is my time while my kids are young enough where I can grow into this as they age, and give me time.

So I had always really been interested in it and I just, I don't even know what event triggered it, but I was ready to go and I did have a lot of pushback from people in my family. Mm-hmm. And it's understandable considering where I was at that time in my [00:21:00] life. but it was amazing. I've just seen.

Through the years, like what a service it has been to the people in my life. I mean, it's really helped me to develop into a better person, to be able to communicate better,

to

have stronger and more meaningful relationships with people in my community. so it's just really been a blessing from the beginning.

It's a lot of hard work though. Mm-hmm. So,

all of the naysayers were right. Mm-hmm. It's hard, it's long hours. Even if you're a mom, you are still a full-time agent and you need to be available. And I hope, and I believe I've been able to accomplish where, you know, my customers would never know that I am very busy with children at home because I do not want to mix my personal life with my professional life.

And it's been really great for me to kind of have that separation between the two. 

[00:21:52] Tracy Hayes: Right. You men. You said something earlier, and I don't know if I heard you correctly, your broker actually paid [00:22:00] for your 

[00:22:00] Rachel Hanes: Yes. My very first broker, which I was with them for six years. Yeah. 

[00:22:04] Tracy Hayes: So obviously there must have been How did that, you didn't just walk in and say, I'd like to become a real estate agent, but I can't afford to class.

Would you pay for it? I'm 

[00:22:11] Rachel Hanes: gonna be honest, he had an advertisement on Craigslist that he was hiring agents. Right. And that I was just, I so clueless. Right. And I had no one in my life to give me any direction. So I called and it just turns out that he was also friends with a family that invest and flip properties that I knew from, my church.

Mm-hmm. So it turned out to be good. We met up and I didn't have the money for the classes. And he said, okay, you know, I can set it up. I'll pay for it. You need to pay me back with your first closing. 

[00:22:40] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. 

[00:22:41] Rachel Hanes: so that's really. The reason I was able to, to get started. And it sounds so, you know, oh wow, what a right time ago.

That feels like, you know, but because of that and him facilitating it, my life has been totally changed forever. Mm-hmm. So, and I had one closing my first year, [00:23:00] so I was able to pay him back. Right. And

then

after that it just kept building. So it was amazing. 

[00:23:06] Tracy Hayes: Alright. So, I think it's very important,I've made it clear again, another chapter in the book is, is talking about choosing the right brokerage and, and the importance of it.

In this case, the brokerage sort of chose you, you saw the ad. Yeah. they're willing to pay for your, your course. You're like, okay, I am all in. You talk to anybody else. 'cause Yeah. 

[00:23:28] Rachel Hanes: I didn't even know. I didn't know, but I didn't 

[00:23:30] Tracy Hayes: know, you know

didn't know.

what you didn't know.

but you do, you do interact and now you're with, Hamilton House now.

Mm-hmm. 

but

You see other agents and so forth. How important is it for an agent out there to find the brokerage? That, and I'm gonna say they click with that want does business the way they do supports them the way they want to be supported. Right? More or less. Some need a lot of support. Some don't want, Hey, I, want, I'll go just go to exp or real, or whatever, and don't, you know, I'll call you type of, you know.

Right. Some people wanna [00:24:00] operate in that and that's, cool. but how important it is to, to, in your business to, to click with a brokerage like that, to find that one where you're at home.

[00:24:09] Rachel Hanes: Right. Well, it kind of depends on where you are in your business. I think there's some people that would say, it doesn't really matter, I just wanna hang my license because I have my clientele and I have my own business that I'm running.

You're basically your own, you know, business operator. Mm-hmm. In a sense. So, and that was good for me for a long time. And then as I matured through real estate, I realized I really wanted other people around me, other agents who were pushing me.

and then to have a broker that aligned with the way I do business, not just, You know, making money, but also how I interact with other people. It's been very encouraging where I'm at right now, because there's a lot of great agents that are encouraging, they're pushing me to new heights and hopefully vice versa. but having that circle that we text every day, we have a group text and we're talking about our situations getting [00:25:00] advice.

So what I love about it is it really feels like I get to pull from so many people's experiences, whereas in the past, I might have felt kind of just on my own doing my job. with this, I have a lot more experience to pull from and I respect them, so that matters to me. You know, whereas in some brokerages, you may not click with the other people, and so you don't have that to pull from.

[00:25:22] Tracy Hayes: Right. 

[00:25:23] Rachel Hanes: To just kind of strengthen your business. 

[00:25:25] Tracy Hayes: Well, one of the things I think is, is important and, and again, to go back to, you know, I, I guess I'm focusing my show to line up with my book, but these are things that I think are, or that I've seen that are extremely important in the development of real estate.

And if an agent out there right now who may, you're new or maybe you've been in the business and you, just kind of struggling, the importance of surround, you said, you said surrounding yourself with those other people.

it. Because

I believe, and I, I state this in there, is that the most agents, top agents are [00:26:00] very collaborative.

Mm-hmm. Now, what does tick them off is when you. Ask a very successful agent, Hey, can you have coffee? 'cause I want to pick your brain. If they have coffee with you and you're, you're asking for specifics and they're saying, do A, B, and C, you need to go and try at least try A and B.

Yeah. Don't be asshole. because if you, if you just like, yeah.

If you just take their, you just listen to 'em, buy 'em coffee and waste their time.

Right.

and then never actually implement it. Right. That rips a apart of, I think it rips a part of their heart away because they actually just poured into you what made them successful. Mm-hmm. And if you're not willing to at least implement some version or, or or what they're doing, or maybe you just totally disagree with 'em, which they'd rather you just say, you know what?

I totally disagree with your door knocking, idea. I cannot do that and I won't do that. Right. Okay, great. They'll part ways, but when you leave, they're actually hoping for your success. Mm-hmm. To say that, Hey, I gave that person advice. Yes. And when you don't. Take it. That really tourism. So if [00:27:00] someone, a top producer doesn't wanna have coffee with you, you just need to ask two or three times to show your persistency.

They're probably saying no upfront to test you, to see if you, how bad you really want the advice. Well, and, and 

[00:27:11] Rachel Hanes: your time is so valuable. So if you're gonna be investing in others, you need to see that it's going to be a worthwhile investment of your time. Mm-hmm. And your efforts, you know, you don't wanna be out there giving advice and people just slinging it to the wind, you know?

And so that's why having a great team, it's a small brokerage. but I think for the reasons that you, you were just saying, It's all people who are listening to implement or giving you feedback and it's honest feedback and I appreciate that. 'cause that's how I operate and I want others to be honest with me as well, so.

[00:27:43] Tracy Hayes: Right, right. Well I always see the pictures. I don't know how, what, how many are, there's like

15 agents or so now at him, there 

[00:27:50] Rachel Hanes: might be more than that, but there's 10 to 15, very strong,um, consistent. and then 

[00:27:54] Tracy Hayes: anytime I run into you guys, you guys are all in some sort of group, maybe not all of them there at the time, but much. there's always a [00:28:00] group of seven or eight of together.

There's 

[00:28:02] Rachel Hanes: so much comradery. 

[00:28:03] Tracy Hayes: Yes.

But

if you're, resonating with what Rachel's saying right now to be in a group like that, all of their transactions are experience. Every transaction, you know, of over nine years. Everyone that you have is your, you learn something from big or small. You've added a little bit more to your experience, a little bit more to your confidence.

But when you put a group together, now you have everybody's transaction in there. Yes. And you're all talking. it just, it made me think of, one of the gentlemen's gonna be at, Ari Barcamp. Mm-hmm. on Friday, Jonathan, Stein, you might wanna go in there and listen to his, his podcast. He's a, he's a broker of location, L-O-K-A-T-I-O-N, and Jonathan talks about how he's created this with ai, all of his trainings, I forget how many words he told me I was listening to the other day.

I think I kind of had it in that real whatever. Thousand, tens of thousands of words. All these trainings, all his things are all compiled into this. Ai, I mean, if you wanna call it a bot. So the agents can actually ask that as [00:29:00] if they were asking him. Wow. So if they want a quick answer and they're just at home, they don't have to call him, they can go on air.

But then, you know, obviously if it's not clear enough or whatever, then they need to call him, they move to the next step. Mm-hmm. But it obviously, clears up a lot of the simple questions. Imagine a group of agents and all their transactions and all their knowledge that they had from those transactions were in a AI bot, and that that's what it is.

Yeah. And that's what you're doing when you group up like it. Except it's real, 

[00:29:24] Rachel Hanes: it's real people, right. And

it's

real experiences and, conveyed in a way, you know, we've gotten to where we're celebrating each other's milestones and going to your weddings and your baby showers and supporting each other in our personal lives as well.

So, having an agent that's well balanced. Like that, that has a group they can lean on that isn't just out there, you know, like we said, puffing out your chest on 

[00:29:45] Tracy Hayes: an island. Yeah. Like, 

[00:29:47] Rachel Hanes: you know, being collaborative in your professional life bleeds over to your personal life. And real estate is so much a blending of the two, even with your clients.

I mean, most of the time the people you're gonna be working with are people that you're [00:30:00] doing life with or are connected through life with. So really the blending of the professional and the personal can get messy unless it's handled in a good way. And having a group that's supportive and giving good advice just really solidifies that.

[00:30:15] Tracy Hayes: That is really solid stuff you just said right there. not rocket scientists obvious, but when you put it all into one phrase, you know, paragraph like you just did right there. yeah, because you're, you're with these, you're, first of all, you're walking in hopefully their future home with them. Or you're helping 'em sell a home that they just spent a lot of time with.

So there's some personal things going on a lot of the time that you know, only you know about you. You know, your only your family knows about you. Mm-hmm. You're learning about them when you go list their house or whatever, and they're getting 

[00:30:45] Rachel Hanes: you into all of that.

Yes.

And it can be very personal,

[00:30:48] Tracy Hayes: which can drain you a little bit from a, an emotion just 'cause we're, you are humans.

Right.

That

can drain you a little bit. And as a real estate agent, you want to be on your toes. Someone working nine to five, they [00:31:00] know. Okay. You know, they go 10 and a half. Yeah. Well, they know, Hey, I, I get dressed, I whatever I get in my car, I drive, I'm there at nine o'clock. Okay. They know when they walk in the door, they turn it on.

Mm-hmm. A real estate agent's, You know, Saturday afternoon it's six o'clock on a Sunday evening, they're, you know, they're showing a last house so they can get an offer in or whatever. Tho you gotta be ready to go at, at, at a moment's notice. Mm-hmm. kind of like, almost like Superman. You gotta be ready to jump in the phone booth, whip around and you're ready to fly.

Well, and like you 

[00:31:29] Rachel Hanes: said, so how do you recharge? And a lot of time for me, it's relationally having like a group of people like my brokerage where we can. vent, we can support each other. We can coach each other through, you know, a lot of times, like you said, we're all human. There's times you get emotional and having someone come like, okay, how about we take a step back and breathe?

Think about what you're saying or doing. It just really can help ground you when you're juggling a lot of, interpersonal relationships that maybe aren't even yours. But they [00:32:00] become yours through the transaction to guard. And to protect your client's interests. So, it can be a heavy burden.

And having a group to support you makes a big difference. So, well, 

[00:32:11] Tracy Hayes: the importance of, you know, real estate agents, they're on their own island mm-hmm. A lot of times. And how close you are to the mainland is up to you. to be able to interact, with the, you know. Other women in the Hamilton group.

I don't know if you guys talk to Brad much, but it takes a lot of 

[00:32:31] Rachel Hanes: skill 

and patience

[00:32:34] Tracy Hayes: patience

to understand that they're going through the same thing you are. They 

[00:32:37] Rachel Hanes: are every day. And how, 

[00:32:38] Tracy Hayes: or maybe it was last month or last year that they did that, and now you're at that, that chapter in in the book. And to be able to sit down and relate, because like you said, you've gotta be able to blend the, the family, your personal in the work

because you

are an agent 24 7.

Right. And, and you gotta be able to go. Yeah. I think, I think that's, you know, one of the things I want to express [00:33:00] out in the book, and like I said, I wanna speak, but I think a lot of people, devalue, I think the NAR law thing a couple years ago, devalued agents or they tried to devalue agents

[00:33:11] Rachel Hanes: public.

Yeah. On a public 

[00:33:12] Tracy Hayes: level. Here's the crazy thing. As I was just at the, nefa, Kim Knapp was becoming president. I went to the ceremony other day and one of the things that, the host was talking about was the percentage of people that are using a real estate agent, I want to say 88% mm-hmm.

is that people who, for sale by owners are way down.

Mm-hmm. And I don't, you know, who knows the NAR lawsuit do that, or did the NAR lawsuit wake up the industry to do things to get, to get back on track doing, doing, as Kim Wright says, do it right. keep it real. Right. That's her. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:33:50] Rachel Hanes: I think, honestly, I do agree with you. I think the lawsuit, while it was alarming at the time, has done some good things, transparency, on our part, especially in [00:34:00] communication, just.

You know, realizing what happened with the lawsuit. You know, you take it a little more seriously when you're communicating with your client the situation when you're going to list or to purchase a home with them. but then on the other hand, I feel like it has shed some light, to the general public of what we do.

Right. And, honestly, I think it's helped to better educate a lot of people about, I mean, I know, you know, how they always say,

 a doctor is his own worst patient. I know as a realtor I need a realtor,

I

my health. And I say that to the girls at the brokerage all the time, like, what are you're gonna have to help me?

Because I know how hard it can be. and I'm my own worst enemy, only because I am walking through it with all these other people. So, yeah, I think it's been good and it's really kind of cast some. Really good light on the real estate industry and required agents to step up and, learned to be more ethical and how to communicate better with their clients.

So I think we 

[00:34:57] Tracy Hayes: could, well, I mean, with social media, you know, everything lights on [00:35:00] fire Yeah. Quickly blow up. And obviously the counteract what agents and everyone, proceeded was an attack on their, on real estate mm-hmm. Agents, which I believe it was, as attack, they countered with, no, this is me and this is why you need me.

And that, that message was pounded out there. I am valuable. Yeah. 

[00:35:19] Rachel Hanes: And I, I need to communicate. Why, why am I valuable to this transaction for you? How can it be better for you as a client? And it can be a lot better. 

[00:35:29] Tracy Hayes: Alright, so let's,just transition here a a little bit. You, you've got the experiences. you're raising your kids, you're now, I assume, you know, anyone said, what are you gonna be doing in the next five years?

You have a, a focus or, you know, obviously this, hopefully this year you have a focus on what

you're do and

do Mm-hmm. But what, where you see yourself in five years mm-hmm. as you start that journey today for the next five, you have a change of focus on some things that you're interested in, because I think it's important, you know, real estate has so many different facets that you can get your hands into.

Right. [00:36:00] but tell us a little bit about what you're focusing on. I know you mentioned investors and so forth. and obviously you're in horse country up there. Yes. The equestrian properties is always cool to play with. Tell us what you wanna focus on now and going into 26. 

[00:36:12] Rachel Hanes: Okay. The last few years, I've. Had a lot of clients that ended up having their properties in trust and then, so you either have their children, or it's a shared trust where they're wanting to reinvest the money back into real estate. so that's kind of morphed into, I have some buyers that are, looking into investing on beachfront properties.

and so that's kind of been a lot of fun because I've learned more about the different types of trust. You know how to work with the attorneys in those situations

and

even 10 31 exchanges. Mm-hmm. So I'm kind of hoping to gear myself towards that more. as this year progresses, it's looking like, that will be the direction I'll be going in.

So, education is really huge when you're kind of in a transition phase. So I'll be spending some time this year, doing some education to better [00:37:00] myself. Well, you wanna focus 

[00:37:01] Tracy Hayes: in on that if you're focusing in on that niche. Mm-hmm. Right? You, you want to be an expert in it as far as you can be. Right.

Right. So 

[00:37:07] Rachel Hanes: when you get clients and it's maybe something you're not a hundred percent, knowledgeable in, to me that's just an exciting opportunity to now broaden what you know. And so I've been doing that in the past year, and I just hope to grow that this coming year. Mm-hmm. and see some really cool investments in, the beachfront properties here in Jacksonville.

[00:37:26] Tracy Hayes: I think it's funny, the 10 31 exchange, you mentioned that, and we have trainings. You know, they talk about that and I'm all right, I'm a lender. 10 31 Exchange has got money in it. They need to use it for a down payment or buy a house outright. Right, right. Then you don't need me.

but there's money in it. I personally don't need, what education I need to know is that they need to use it by a certain period of time. Yeah. Generally, by the time someone contacts me as a lender, it's because money's in there. They have a house they're gonna use, [00:38:00] they're gonna use that money as a down payment and they gotta use it within so many months.

Mm-hmm. Which obviously you're probably educating yourself. What are the rules because. When you, someone's selling an investment property and you're listing that investment property, that should be a question the real estate agent should be talking to. Okay, what are you gonna do with this money? 'cause you have tax ramifications.

Do you know that? 

[00:38:19] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. And not only that, but you might end up having to work with fiduciaries, which is a new experience, if that's not something you've done in the past. So that just adds another layer of communication when you're working deals like that, 

[00:38:31] Tracy Hayes: right? 

[00:38:31] Rachel Hanes: For clients at that level. They'll have a fiduciary in charge of their finances and in charge of the trust.

So a lot of questions need to be answered to them as well. so that's kind of adding another partner to the team to help your client transition from wherever their properties are across the United States. To then exchanging that for investment properties in Florida. So, and the, and the tax thing, yes, you've got like 45 days once the property is sold to reinvest the monies.

but [00:39:00] there are other ways, there's other small investments that you can put your money into that actually gives you a longer amount of time Yeah. To transition. So,

sometimes, so having a 10 31, you know,

[00:39:13] Tracy Hayes: what,

what do they call, you call it fiduciary, but they probably have a type, there are companies that, that's what they do is they handle people's 10 30 ones.

Yes. And 

[00:39:20] Rachel Hanes: then they have in

investment

portfolios, they can hold the money in legally. Mm-hmm. And that allows your client more time, to look for property if they weren't able to secure something. 'cause that 45 day timeline is terrifying until you realize there's actually ways to work that, to get more, a few more months less stressful on the

transition side.

Yeah. 

[00:39:39] Tracy Hayes: I know at one time there was a little more I think they've opened it up years ago, on what.

m. Yeah,

I think there was this, the old wives tale I call it, where if you, it was a single family home, they had to buy another single family home. That is not true. they can, you know, sell a commercial property and go buy three houses if they wanted to.

Well, [00:40:00] that's well that also 

[00:40:00] Rachel Hanes: depends on if they

have other partners in the trust and they're all benefiting from the income that's being produced. So you do need to. You know, reinvest the money in properties that will produce very similar numbers because the other partners are depending on those too.

So, for example, I'm in one right now where there's three, main partners and then a couple children that then inherited, and they all have to reinvest the portfolio, but they live in different states across America. So, it's very important that everybody is purchasing properties that will produce the same kind of income they've been enjoying in the past.

so that can be a little tricky and that's where you really need to work.

Well, that's, that's another 

[00:40:41] Tracy Hayes: level. I didn't know about that. Yeah. Wow. So 

[00:40:43] Rachel Hanes: it's been a lot of learning. It's very interesting. I've enjoyed it very much. I hope to just continue educating myself because there's a lot of facets. If you're more knowledgeable, you can really help your client, in a better way.

Because 10 31 exchanges is just your basic, like you were saying, it can be a little [00:41:00] terrifying. It's a frustrat. Well, most of the time you are dealing 

[00:41:01] Tracy Hayes: with a single. You know, or a couple or whatever. And yeah, they're selling a house they've rented out for years and, you know, whatever. And Yeah. But then you got, or, or they sold a bunch of houses and they're buying one big one now.

[00:41:12] Rachel Hanes: Yes, yes. Yeah. 

[00:41:13] Tracy Hayes: Type of thing. Yes. I've, I've had, seen that happen. dealt with one recently, actually, just a couple months ago. but she's a very experienced investor. Mm-hmm. She's

bought

an Airbnb house up in the North Carolina Mountains, is what her goal was. she had just sold another unit. and then, you know, she had her 10 31 and she, you know, reinvested it into this other home.

So they just moved properties. But yes. So not all agents are experiencing it. Not all agents want to know about it. Mm-hmm. But I think obviously there's value. So how, what are some ways, and we talked about a website recently, 'cause I believe with AI, websites are back in for agents versus just tagging on your, Brokerages website type of thing. Mm-hmm. What are some other ways you're getting the word out though, that this is where you want to go. What have you thought [00:42:00] about? 

[00:42:00] Rachel Hanes: a lot of times it, I guess I really lean on the relationship thing. Mm-hmm. Um,because when you work with someone and they're happy working with you, they recommend you.

So even just that first client can be the launching board. Mm-hmm. And I, that's been my experience right now. so I'm seeing like now that I've worked with someone and working with them and they're telling others, that's how you start, you know? the other thing is social media is huge and I think what you and I were discussing, like getting a branded website, and having my social media kind of locked in, geared in that direction is gonna be crucial to get the word out to grow my clientele.

Mm-hmm.

And

get more business in that 

[00:42:39] Tracy Hayes: one area. One area I think is, underestimate, which I think would actually work. Here is another, this is another idea, because I kind of found it. With LinkedIn. Mm-hmm. one, every agent should have a really good LinkedIn. You need to update your bio there. I'll just tell you, have a really good bio.

AI can help you create a [00:43:00] good sounding, professional looking bio. Mm-hmm. Just talk to it, put all the information in the sentences. Don't even have to even be in some sort of chronological order. Right. And then say, Hey, create me a bio that I can put on LinkedIn. And then you, you know, then you have something, you have some putty to start to mold into what you want.

But anyway. 

[00:43:19] Rachel Hanes: Well, LinkedIn is a great source too because, I just actually upgraded my LinkedIn profile, to a sales version where you're able to connect with other people in your industry across the United States. Mm-hmm. and so that's been really neat. I've been delving into that the last month or two, trying to learn a little bit more about it.

but it's a great way of connecting with people that are also transitioning. Across states. Yes. so that's been neat and I'm probably gonna be delving into that a little bit. Well, especially 

[00:43:47] Tracy Hayes: if you want to get in the investment world. 'cause the investment doesn't always come from our backdoor. It's sometimes people that are out are out there, or 

[00:43:54] Rachel Hanes: even internationally.

So yeah, you have

[00:43:56] Tracy Hayes: two areas in LinkedIn you can just do a post or [00:44:00] you can do an article. And what I found was, I clicked on article, it's actually, it calls it a newsletter actually. And you can actually put your little brand and logo on it, which if you go on mine, it's my LinkedIn. Mm-hmm. But then there's the Real Estate Excellence logo under the article.

And obviously that's where I've been posting blogs about the agents that I've had on the show where, in your case, creating blogs, talking about 10 31 exchange investing in Jacks Beach, buying an Airbnb, you're putting out regular blogs like that, that people are, it's going to find you there. It's a place to start launching as well as your website.

Mm-hmm. and obviously. You would, I mean, I think our stereotypical investor is probably someone who is on a professional level. They have a LinkedIn profile. Mm-hmm. They may actually go to LinkedIn on a regular, I think LinkedIn is one of the most underutilized areas right now. 

[00:44:53] Rachel Hanes: Well, that's probably very true.

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:44:55] Tracy Hayes: So

I would, I would blog, you know, any blog I would be putting on my website, I'd be putting, I would be [00:45:00] clicking article under your thing and posting it there. Mm-hmm.

because you, you don't know who's gonna read it. 

[00:45:05] Rachel Hanes: Right. 

[00:45:05] Tracy Hayes: You know,

Yeah.

someone could just say, oh, here's this girl talking about what buying investment property in Jacks Beach, Airbnb profitable.

What?

Yes. Who's this? I'm gonna call her. You know? Right. Yes. 

[00:45:16] Rachel Hanes: And, and doing a lot of reading, like in the Jacksonville Business Journal. Mm-hmm. Making sure you are staying in on all the interneting things that are happening. 'cause there's just so much exciting development happening. Oh, in Jacksonville right now.

Yeah. It's unbelievable. Like every day I'm getting articles,

about the developments that are happening and they're all really great. Stuff you can get enthusiastic about. So, I just am excited about the future of Jacksonville for that. Well, it gives 

[00:45:40] Tracy Hayes: you reason to add value. Mm-hmm. You're sharing, you know, you're stealing it from there and putting it on your site.

But not everyone's reading the Jacksonville Business Journal. No, I don't even know where I would get, it's where you need to, that's where, where you need to, you know, 

[00:45:53] Rachel Hanes: be a source, like you're saying, for people to come to, for information. Yeah. 

[00:45:58] Tracy Hayes: One. 100%. [00:46:00] Alright, I've got some questions here that'll lead us into,well actually I want the Airbnb.

It's an area that you have a little bit of. thing I'm not, I have some Airbnbs. Two, but I don't really, I don't really call 'em Airbnbs anymore because we've gotten to the point where, we can actually find renters that'll be in there for months at a time. Mm-hmm. Versus, you know, the weekend or week rental, that sort of thing.

Because if you don't have your stuff together and budgeting for cleaning and all that, there's a logistics involved. The 

[00:46:31] Rachel Hanes: management management side is definitely important. Yeah. For Airbnb owners, when 

[00:46:36] Tracy Hayes: you, so when you're breaking down someone, someone who's fairly new to Airbnb, what are of the things that you're asking them, so the conversation you're having.

[00:46:45] Rachel Hanes: With a buyer or with a seller. With someone wants to buy, 

[00:46:48] Tracy Hayes: someone wants to invest and buy in. Yeah. 

[00:46:50] Rachel Hanes: Oh yeah. They need to already have a management company in place that they would want to immediately get started with. Or, a lot of times [00:47:00] what I've been finding is that these properties already have a management company in place, so that is also a good option if, but what you really need to do then is research their reviews and their, you know, talk to the person who's selling the building.

How did you like working with them? but it, managing an Airbnb is a 24 7 job too. It's like a hotel. Yeah. So if you have a job and you wanna invest in Airbnbs, kind of like what you're saying mm-hmm. You would almost need to hire someone else to do that full-time for you or. Change careers. Yeah. So but 

[00:47:32] Tracy Hayes: it's one thing when you got maybe one unit that's very close to your house, right.

Maybe you can figure that out. 

[00:47:37] Rachel Hanes: Right. But the hospitality side, is very trendy too. Mm-hmm. So you've got people, they're looking for a certain look and they want a certain amount of, kind of that viral look about an Airbnb. If they're going to a beach like St. Augustine or something, like, they wanna feel like they're in a beach environment and they wanna feel that their needs are.

Matter because [00:48:00] it's like, you know, they're choosing to not go to a resort to stay in an Airbnb, so they want some level of luxury treatment. Right. depending some 

[00:48:08] Tracy Hayes: u they want some uniqueness about it. Yes. yeah. There it's, and because the market is, and we obviously we're in the beach, in a beach market, there's some oversaturation Yes.

To be competitive, how do you feel you've gotta have that uniqueness. 

[00:48:23] Rachel Hanes: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And of course cleanliness, having a great, clean, clean crew is huge. Right. someone you can rely that could break 

[00:48:28] Tracy Hayes: you real early. Some bad reviews kill place wasn't clean, blah, blah, blah. Right. So that 

[00:48:33] Rachel Hanes: can be tough. So you really need to again, tap into a local source that has connections already with people that have a good strong track record of servicing Airbnbs.

'cause that's like a totally different business. Yeah. Than, and even what you're saying, like short term rentals. In that genre that are for months at a time are actually really popular too because we have so many medical people that come in for a few New construction 

[00:48:58] Tracy Hayes: too. People waiting for their house to get new [00:49:00] construction.

And 

[00:49:00] Rachel Hanes: so there's a lot of reason that people might need to come just for a few months contracted to do something. so that's actually a great, you know, niche as well. Yeah. But definitely less. Stressful or high intensity, and maybe it doesn't earn as high of a, you know, return on your investment. so I think it would depend on the client right?

And what their needs are and what their goals are with their investment property. 

[00:49:22] Tracy Hayes: Right. I, well, I think the trendy thing for the trenders are, you know, oh, the b they think they can make it rich. Really? What is your goal though? You know, you gotta get down, how much money are you putting down? This is what the payment's gonna look like.

Are you really going to make money or is it better for you just to put that, plant that money, rent it at a yearly basis? Right, right. You gotta really break that down. And I, there's another thought that you, you gave me, you were going on there about the, Oh, I lost it. That's okay. Well, we really have to dig into, well, well, finding what the, the guidelines are not every con you know, we're, we're fortunate enough, my wife and I have several condos in a complex that allow short term rentals.

Mm-hmm. And So majority of the [00:50:00] building is, you know, because that's the way it was. That's from the start of

that.

lot of condos don't do that. Neighborhoods don't allow, you have to have at least, you know, sometimes it's just a minimum of six months. Right. Let alone a year. In most of them you gotta do yearly leases.

Mm-hmm. You know, so, 

[00:50:15] Rachel Hanes: yeah. And when you're going in and looking at properties that are already being used as Airbnb, you know, a lot of times they'll say, oh, it we net, you know, 150. Well, is that really the net? You know, and you're like, you're 

[00:50:27] Tracy Hayes: getting net and gross mixed up. Yeah. The 

[00:50:29] Rachel Hanes: finances are not adding up.

So yeah. You gotta be able to dig in. Mm-hmm. And really. pick apart exactly where all those funds are going. and it's remarkable how much of them are being reinvested in the property or in the management of the property, so, right, really have to have a good grasp of that. Well, 

[00:50:45] Tracy Hayes: there's definitely some really great loans out there as well, just to throw that in there for, lending standpoint.

Mm-hmm. So, depending on your situation, obviously if someone has, you know, owned a place for years and they've got a track record, or the management company [00:51:00] has a track record, they generally have the, the book on, Hey, this is the money that's come in and this is the money that's gone out. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Those

things will help you get loans. but obviously our DSCR loans, debt service credit ratio loan is, is probably one of the most popular for these type properties. Mm-hmm.

It's, Hey, how much is the house gonna cost you? What is the going rent that's possible there in that house? And do you have a down payment?

[00:51:24] Rachel Hanes: Right? 

[00:51:25] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. yeah. The D 

[00:51:25] Rachel Hanes: scr R is that what you're talking about? Yep. Yeah. 

[00:51:27] Tracy Hayes: And if you're putting, the great thing, the DSCR we found recently, with some different investors, if you're putting 30% down, so you got a nice, nice bit of money down, and obviously you got a great credit score, the interest rates on it are actually very, very close to what you'd be getting if you were doing a full document loan.

So they, they, we call 'em equity based lenders that we use

Yes.

To fund these. Mm-hmm. You have to realize, so down payment, so if you're coming in with 10% down, yeah. There might be a loan for it, but you're gonna get hit hard on an interest rate. Right. 'cause you're only putting 10% down.

[00:51:57] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. But you're also not having to use your own [00:52:00] personal income. Well, so like True. It's one of my favorite products because of that. Yes. Like, it, it really can be a great stepping stone for someone just getting into investment. as long as they're investing it wisely. yes. Well, I guess I'm 

[00:52:12] Tracy Hayes: always thinking about Right.

But yeah, you have to step away. Sometimes the cost of the money sometimes Yeah. Is not a deterrent because of what the, you know, the reward may be. Right, right. Yeah. Gets 

you launched into that new, you know, career or path that you're investing into.and, I think one area too that people,don't, so people have changed jobs over the years, have.

4 0 1 Ks, they haven't put in their, to their current 401k. Mm-hmm. In other words, you've got it sitting out there, you can roll it over. Equity Trust is a company that I use where I two, I have two condos that are basically roll over 4 0 1 Ks mm-hmm. That I pull over there. And we paid technically cash, but they're actually my, real estate.

IRA, if you want to call it that real estate. IRA owns those two places. 

[00:52:58] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. 

[00:52:59] Tracy Hayes: You know, [00:53:00] so, you know, it just depends out what your, the rent goes into that every month and the expenses that need to be cut out come outta that account as well. What it

be, I, technically don't own it. My for my IRA owns it.

Right. You know, type of thing. So those are another, and 

[00:53:13] Rachel Hanes: and it's, it's higher yielding. Right. 

[00:53:15] Tracy Hayes: what 

[00:53:15] Rachel Hanes: would you say compared to 

[00:53:17] Tracy Hayes: well.

I'm proud of it 'cause I bought it the right time. Mm-hmm. And between the time I bought it and now the equity in it. But

I think if we really got down to it and said, Hey, there's another opportunity, Hey, we can get this unit over here.

Maybe we can fix it up. 'cause people use it to flip too, right? You can use it to flip. I mean you don't have to do long-term hold. you know, hey, we've the equity's there, let's sell these two. We can go buy these other two units that, you know, we could do some TLC and we have a higher, we can get a higher yield on, type of thing.

So

that's

like any market in that situation when you're buying and selling real estate for Right. For investment. Alright, these are the top trending questions right now. Okay. We'll put you on the [00:54:00] hot seat. 

[00:54:00] Rachel Hanes: oh.

[00:54:01] Tracy Hayes: Uhoh. Is now a good time to buy or sell and why? 

[00:54:05] Rachel Hanes: I actually do feel that it's a really great time to sell.

buying can be relative to the person's situation. So, right now I've seen a lot more activity on listings. and really what's been interesting is I've been able to kind of backfill coming listings with interested buyers before I even put them on the market, which has been kind of cool. Yeah, because the last couple years has been rough and a much tougher market.

So to me that says a lot of positive things about the start of this year. so like I already have interested buyers for things that haven't hit the market yet, but we've just had conversations because of another listing and so they're like waiting for me to give them more information. so for me that seems very positive.

the buying side, I feel affordability is still an issue. but maybe it's gonna improve this year. I don't know. Yeah. The predictions are, are that it will improve. I think it just, again, depends [00:55:00] on our specific market here in Northeast Florida and like, what are wages doing? Who's moving in, who's moving out?

so I'm gonna wait on that one, but selling is a great time to sell right now. Well, 

[00:55:10] Tracy Hayes: I was listening to Bloomberg this morning,

 the financial channel and, and what you just they were talking about, oh no, I'm sorry. It wasn't Jared James who spoke at re bar camp last year. Okay. He did a reel this morning.

it was on LinkedIn, I think I actually saw it on Facebook too, but whatever. and he was talking about, you know, affordability's not going to change. And I said, but then he went on and he talked. I said,

you

know, the inter gradual, very gradual. Decrease in the interest rate is going to be good. If we see the interest rates drop like

a

half a percent in a week, then you're gonna have sellers wanting more for their home.

Right. Because it's gonna be, it's this huge impact versus just a gradual eighth of an interest rate a month. Mm-hmm. Type of, of real incremental [00:56:00] down. And now, now we are, you know, consistently quoting people in the high 5% without any points, you know, type of thing. you know, so I think that that would be best.

I think if we saw a quick boom drop, 

[00:56:12] Rachel Hanes: can be to 

[00:56:13] Tracy Hayes: sellers will be like, no, I'm gonna hold 'cause Right.

Hey, their payment's $200 less now than it was just three weeks ago. Yes. You know, type of thing. and 

[00:56:21] Rachel Hanes: I feel like sellers are just now kind of catching on with what the market has done the last two years.

Mm-hmm. So that is partly why I feel like it's been a little easier to sell things you see. Properties coming on the market at a more realistic price range. and so that's a huge difference. And even when I am interacting with my sellers and prepping them to sell, they're being much more realistic about what they can get for their house.

So that is definitely good for buyers too, and, and possibly why you're seeing so much action on some of the listings coming up because now people aren't pricing high and then having to drop, drop, drop because they're not listening. They've been watching their neighbors sit painfully [00:57:00] on the market for two and a half years or whatever.

And so they're coming onto the market much more realistic. so I'm enjoying the, the benefits of that. So I agree with you incrementally would be so much better because, any sharp drop is going to affect the psychological, aspect for sellers and Yeah. You can understand it. Yeah. 

[00:57:21] Tracy Hayes: But you, you mentioned something earlier that you have, you actually have some buyers in your pocket, so to speak.

They're looking for a certain 

[00:57:26] Rachel Hanes: mm-hmm. 

[00:57:27] Tracy Hayes: Situation, whatever it's price point, neighborhood, whatever it may be. are you reaching out to maybe some people and saying, are you willing to sell? Yes, I have someone who is.

Interested in

a home like yours. I have these 

[00:57:40] Rachel Hanes: people looking. Yes. So, that's always a great situation when you're able to do that.

and then start, really mining the field of where you're working and get people motivated to move. 'cause we've all had the golden handcuffs for the last couple years of enjoying the privilege of a super low credit or, interest rate on our homes. [00:58:00] and so it's been hard to motivate some people, sellers, 

[00:58:02] Tracy Hayes: yeah.

Yes. To get off there. No. You know, you're feeling 

[00:58:05] Rachel Hanes: momentum. I feel momentum happening. I feel it. Yeah. And, well 

[00:58:08] Tracy Hayes: there's definitely, there's a bunch of pent up buyers and a bunch of pent up sellers. 

[00:58:11] Rachel Hanes: Yeah, for 

[00:58:11] Tracy Hayes: sure. 

[00:58:11] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. We just gotta find a middle ground here. 

[00:58:14] Tracy Hayes: How will you actually market? Okay. This, I don't know what that's, I guess is, this is a question that actually, because I asked, I said, gimme the top trending questions that are out there for buyer sellers or other real estate agents.

And this is the, I guess this is a question worded. you say, how will you actually market my home to get the most qualified buyers? So you're on a listing appointment. I can see that that's a question that someone would ask, how are you going to market my home better than another agent? Mm-hmm. What are some things that, that you do that you found successful that obviously you, you know, breach to a possible, someone who wants to use you to list their home?

[00:58:54] Rachel Hanes: well, each property is unique, so I approach the marketing based on that. Mm-hmm. but if we're [00:59:00] talking about a higher end home, you know, let's say four 50 and above, a lot of times. You need to really, you know, buyers are kind of getting sick of getting on MLS and seeing these highly edited photos, and you can tell.

Speaking of ai. Yeah. AI has been used.

Right.

and that's very wearying to buyers. so I really think the video tours and walkthroughs, but as agents, we're needing to grow with the industry. And right now that's an area we're all kind of having to transition through. I think a lot more realistic kind of, videos where people feel like they really are getting a sense for the home, right?

Because so many, we're a military town, a lot of my buyers and sellers are military. They have to purchase while they're deployed or they're in another state already, right? Or they have property here that they were renting out. Now they wanna sell it, but they live in Virginia or they come 

[00:59:53] Tracy Hayes: in and they only have a limited time.

So you need to narrow their, to make a decision their houses down, that they're gonna see the few minutes that they're here. [01:00:00] Yes. 

[01:00:00] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. Yeah. So. As a seller. I think the videos are really helping people envision the home a lot better than these highly edited photos. But obviously having a really great photographer is important.

 But then on top of that, I think not just like throwing a listing up on the market and studying on it for six months, like it's a daily activity of following up with people that have shown the home, sharing it across the United States. 'cause we have so many people moving into Florida. kind of having a strong game of communication and pushing listings out beyond Jacksonville is really been pivotal.

And, alright. Here, 

[01:00:37] Tracy Hayes: I, I get this is, this is what I, the ladies of Hamilton house conversation I'm gonna bust into here. Oh no. I hope, I think some of you may have had this conversation. I've seen some agents recently not, you know, they've spent a lot of money on their videography, 

[01:00:52] Rachel Hanes: uhhuh,

[01:00:53] Tracy Hayes: they're showing the houses and they're moving like boom, boom, boom.

And it's great for an Instagram reel to get me [01:01:00] inspired. 

[01:01:00] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. 

[01:01:01] Tracy Hayes: But when you're talking about, I wanna say authentic video. Yeah. Versus to me, that video that's flash, flash, flash,

boom,

boom, you know? Right. I was listing a home, I may say, oh, that person does video on home because I'm seeing it on Instagram.

Maybe I need to talk to them. But really that's. For our buyer. They really want more of the, the facts, the slow moving. I'm walking through, here's the kitchen, looking over here, I'm looking over there. That type of thing. Or the virtual tour that you could obviously put on websites and so forth. 

[01:01:38] Rachel Hanes: I think both have their place because, you know, you've got so many young people now, they are really interested in what like influencers think.

Mm-hmm. So there are agents out there that really have that influencer vibe and people love it and they're just all over it. That's not me. Mm-hmm. But I might be getting a little older. I might need training in that area. But, I've also had clients that have come to me that said, I literally [01:02:00] chose you because you're not a TikTok realtor.

So I think, you know, that's just where you find yourself in the world. Right. You know, like my people are probably less attracted to that. But I know that those who are doing it, you know, are seeing a lot of success. So. Well, I 

[01:02:13] Tracy Hayes: think the oh natural tour mm-hmm. Is better if you're promoting yourself as a real estate agent and you're doing it on Instagram to do that.

'cause you know you need to keep people. Yeah. That helps capture

interest to actually

do

the full re but the actual house, the actual, you know, Hey, I'm at the front door. Let's walk in, come on, let's walk in the house. Just like they would be walking in the house, you know? 'cause they're not there yet. They wanna see it on video.

[01:02:39] Rachel Hanes: yeah. What's the product you're selling? make sure that's, you know,

the folks Exactly. 

[01:02:42] Tracy Hayes: What do you, what is the goal of the video, right? The

goal of the video to sell the house? Or is it to sell me as being a representative of your house that we're not videoing right now? I think many of the agents that are out there, if they took the money they were spending on videography and do [01:03:00] what I, we talked about read Tomato got themselves a professional website and started focusing on.

video on that website. Mm-hmm. Blogging on that website and becoming an expert of whatever our Airbnbs at Jacks Beach or whatever it is. Mm-hmm. And just starts filling it because AI, I think, is going to overstep all of these things. Yeah. and that's just my opinion. Let's go on the next question.

Okay.

what are the must know pitfalls for first time home buyers in 2026? 

[01:03:27] Rachel Hanes: I would say being prepared for the negotiations. the emotional side can be very difficult. it's easy to see people get, very emotionally attached or involved, before it's their property. And there's a lot of ins and outs as you're going into the transaction.

so kind of being prepared, to let your realtor do the job. because I know a lot of times with first time home buyers, You know, there's so much real estate TV shows and blogs or whatever. So people come in thinking they have an idea. But the reality is you [01:04:00] come in, you need a professional who can negotiate for you.

So you need to find someone trustworthy that has great track record and repeat customers, whatever, great reviews, that know of these 

[01:04:11] Tracy Hayes: pitfalls 

[01:04:12] Rachel Hanes: and yes. And then just trust them. Mm-hmm. To guide you through those. You may 

[01:04:15] Tracy Hayes: not even know they're pitfalls 'cause they're just walking you over them. You can't know 'cause they already know done it.

They've already filled in the hole for you. So that can 

[01:04:20] Rachel Hanes: be tough.

Yeah.

I would say the only other thing that I think sometimes, first time home buyers are not educated on. Only because they just don't know, is just the cash that you need to have on hand before closing for the inspections, especially depending on the type of property.

Mm-hmm. Like we're not just talking one home inspection. You might need a pull inspection, you might need additional inspections on the foundation. You know, so when you are looking at a certain type of property, you know, ask your agent, what can I expect to have to spend, you know, because that may factor into your negotiations too.

Mm-hmm. So feeling that your agent is really educating you and guiding you, I think is very [01:05:00] important for a first time home buyer. 

[01:05:01] Tracy Hayes: Uh, a hundred percent agree. I'm gonna add the lender side to that. There are products that we can get you into a home. A hundred percent. The agent, if you got a good agent's gonna negotiate, could have your seller closing costs covered.

Right. But like you said, you still, in most cases, you gotta give a deposit for the appraisal.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so you gotta figure five, $600 for that.

Mm-hmm.

Can put it on a credit card, so that's easy, right? but the, home inspection. that obviously, I don't even know what the budget is for that now is a thousand dollars Uh, it's so 

[01:05:33] Rachel Hanes: much more than it used to be.

Yeah. So that's part of it is like, even for us, you know, you'll tell a client what you've known and then it's like, for the past couple years, it feels like every month, every couple months mm-hmm. Prices have been going up. And so, I'll just say one thing that I've noticed most recently is some title companies are requiring you to pay for the survey before closing.

And I've never had that happen. But apparently the reason [01:06:00] being, a lot of times these title companies are ordering surveys, the deal falls through and they're being left with the bill. Well, that's never happened before. So, you know, it's just really being with someone that's more educated on what's going on with the process and what can I expect, because it has been changing a lot in the last year or two.

Right. Um, 

[01:06:18] Tracy Hayes: I, I will put my 2 cents in. I have seen that. Now you and I are not doing a thousand transactions a month. So maybe if I saw, you know, that level of volume mm-hmm. And saw what happened. Every, there are title companies that, that we know here in town that they just see that as part of doing business.

Mm-hmm. And they'll roll the dice. 'cause personally, I don't think they, the amount of surveys that are being ordered versus the deal falling out. 

[01:06:46] Rachel Hanes: Right. 

[01:06:47] Tracy Hayes: I don't see that as high. They just roll with it. The path of lease resistance 

[01:06:52] Rachel Hanes: to your point, you know, my response was. My client is not paying for that before closing.

because they have money [01:07:00] and equity not in cash. And so, we were able to find a survey company that will accommodate that. but again, you need to be with someone that is willing to push back for you. Right. And be like, well listen, this is important to my client. We're bringing you this huge deal.

You know, let's do what's best for the client in this situation. 

[01:07:19] Tracy Hayes: I would put out the, those are listening right now, as from agents, the sellers should be paying for that survey. Mm-hmm. And if they don't have a recent survey,

they're

coming to the table looking for a cash buyer. 

[01:07:31] Rachel Hanes: Well, yeah.

And, but 

[01:07:32] Tracy Hayes: even a cash buyer should be asking for a survey now. Well, and 

[01:07:36] Rachel Hanes: why should they pay for it if something pops up and then you're owning a survey to a property that isn't yours. Yeah. That isn't exactly, yeah, that makes sense. and if 

[01:07:45] Tracy Hayes: they are looking to sell nine, unless they get a cash buyer mm-hmm.

who says, oh, I, I don't care what survey says. Right. Which to me is malpractice from their agent representing them because they should be demanding a [01:08:00] survey to make sure it is what it's supposed to be. Right. Especially in if you've got any sort of fence or a pool was put in since they moved in or all that type of things.

All those things are, catastrophic financial situations they may run into for a five, 600, $700 survey. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? So as a buyer's agent, you should banning a survey. The seller should pay for it because if the deal doesn't go through, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Now, if I was the agent in the perfect utopia world, I would say, Hey, no problem seller.

You're, giving us your credit card. Mm-hmm.

If the deal goes through. The seller will pick it up on the closing statement and you'll get it to $500 or whatever it is added to your proceeds to reimburse you for the survey you bought for your house. 'cause you're supposed to have a survey. 

[01:08:49] Rachel Hanes: Yeah. But you know, if you work with larger properties Mm.

Like 9, 10, 20 acres, it's not $500. Well that's, 

[01:08:58] Tracy Hayes: I mean, so that's where, no, totally [01:09:00] understandable. being able to negotiate that point. But if you're selling 5, 10, 20 acres, you should have a survey. 

[01:09:05] Rachel Hanes: Yes, except in my experience with people, the property has been passed down through family. Sure. So a lot of times they've owned it for 30, 40, whatever years.

Mm-hmm. They don't have store. They haven't had a sale. Well, I 

[01:09:17] Tracy Hayes: mean, there's no doubt. I mean there's, I mean, we know, we know vendors that would obviously collect at closing or whatever, but Right. that's, that's my, my my point is stop the servicing your buyer by saying you don't need a survey. or, the, the seller coming to the table and they don't have a survey.

A survey is needed in Florida. If we're gonna lend money, you know, the title company's gotta clear it. So Totally. The seller should have a survey. You know, I would not be asking the buyer to take it outta their pocket. It should come. that's my opinion. Just gimme my opinion. 

[01:09:46] Rachel Hanes: I'm with you on that. 

[01:09:47] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Pricing is big. We mentioned a little bit earlier, you know, yeah. The neighbors, seeing the others sit on the market now, wanna price? Well, how are you having that conversation, about pricing with your [01:10:00] listing? 

[01:10:00] Rachel Hanes: I'm just presenting the facts. You know, having good comps or knowing how to do comps is really important.

it, you know, if you're doing homes in a neighborhood where they're all very similar, that's easy to find the comps for. if you're doing rural properties like, you know, horse properties with large swats of land, you're really gonna have to come at it several different ways to come up with the evaluation and then be able to explain that and articulate it to your client.

And I think if you do a good job, they're gonna understand Why you're recommending the price that you're recommending. so really again, it kind of falls on the agent. To be well versed and be able to articulate why they're pricing it the way they're pricing it. still constantly people say, oh, didn't Zillow have it at, you know, every time, oh, Zillow had it in this price range.

And I'm like, okay, but you actually can get like 20,000 more than that. It's just a matter of checking these boxes. don getting these

comp

works done. So 

[01:10:56] Tracy Hayes: you brought up a an interesting thing 'cause obviously Yeah. These properties out [01:11:00] there, it's not every day that a property with 20 acres sells. 

[01:11:03] Rachel Hanes: Right. 

[01:11:03] Tracy Hayes: and

let alone a certain area.

[01:11:04] Rachel Hanes: Right. 

[01:11:05] Tracy Hayes: And you possibly ordering an appraisal before. As a seller. Mm-hmm. could be, you know, so helpful. You could undersell your house as appraiser come in and say, and that's a great marketing tool. Yeah. So just another thing in a, in, you know, to have in your tool chest is to have an a, obviously an appraiser mm-hmm.

Who is experienced

in

the, you know, rural lands farm where, you know, horse, whatever it is zoned for and having and coming and getting your pig. 'cause you could, you could undersell the house for 20 grand and that appraiser might have charged you a thousand dollars to do the appraisal, whatever, you know, whatever it might be.

Right. so you could leave money on the table by

guesstimating.

Right. So having this knowledge and then having an agent who, already, you know, already, you know, the. To comp that. Yes. You know, and, real, really narrow it down. 'cause I'm, I, you and I know there's deals that have transacted with large lots [01:12:00] of land where people have seriously undersold 

[01:12:02] Rachel Hanes: Yes.

[01:12:03] Tracy Hayes: Or people overly bought Well 

[01:12:05] Rachel Hanes: because

I think a lot of people have in their heads still like, what an acre should be worth. Mm-hmm.

And

you would be shocked what You can sell one single acre No, well, no septic for these days. Mm-hmm. And so, like a lot of times when you're calculating, you know, the value of the property, you need to look at the home separate from all these acres, and kind of look at the valuation based on what is raw land selling for?

Okay. What is land with a well already on it with no impact fees. 'cause that's all part of the evaluation, you know? Mm-hmm. If somebody's not coming in, spending 20, 30 grand before the house is even built, Yeah. That's a factor. And so it needs to be considered. Well, it goes and it goes back to having an agent who's dealt with that.

Mm-hmm. You know, hey, yeah, yeah. If you, you can buy the land for this, but before you put a house on it, you're gonna have to do all this. Yes. And let alone some of this, you know, you might have five acres, but two of the acres are [01:13:00] wetlands and you're not allowed to even get anywhere within, within a hundred feet of that, you know?

[01:13:04] Tracy Hayes: Yes. Yeah. that is, it is Florida, right? It's, this is like the ocean from property in Arizona. We could just tell you some wetlands in Florida. So you, you need an agent who, which I'm sure you've probably have done, put some boots on and gone and walked some properties. 

[01:13:20] Rachel Hanes: Yes. That's my favorite thing. I love it.

Yeah.

Out there in the woods. 

[01:13:23] Tracy Hayes: what is the biggest mistake you're seeing agents right now? 

the question is, what is the biggest mistake real estate agency sellers make? 

[01:13:32] Rachel Hanes: not prepping their home properly. I can't tell you how many listings I have shown in the last couple years. I feel in particular where the homes are just not ready to be shown and shouldn't be on the market.

I think that might be coming from the COID era where you could just like throw your house on the market and in a couple days get a full price offer. It might be. but I found like in a lot of tours, the homes are really not ready to be shown. Mm-hmm. And that's another way of leaving money on the table [01:14:00] because sometimes just the feeling of walking into a house that's clean and bright, you pay more and light bulbs are all working, can make a tremendous different experience for the buyer.

Mm-hmm. and so those are things that always bother me and I, I find that to be the fault of the agent who's not telling their client to be better prepared. Right. for the showing So yeah. I would say 

[01:14:22] Tracy Hayes: that I think people discount or deval

devalue

time, if I wanna word, you know, we could put this house in the market.

Mm-hmm. But the likelihood that someone's gonna walk in and see this vision. 'cause a lot of, a lot of buyers want turnkey. 

[01:14:37] Rachel Hanes: Yes. 

[01:14:37] Tracy Hayes: You gotta message house. maybe someone tomorrow, maybe someone six months from now, we'll deal with it, but if we clean it up, you're not only likely to sell it possibly this week.

Right. You could actually get the money, more money for it. Yes. Right. Because you walk 

[01:14:53] Rachel Hanes: into a dirty house, you feel like, I need a discount for this. I'm gonna have to clean it,

you know? and 

[01:14:59] Tracy Hayes: when it's really, they're [01:15:00] gonna clean it all out. But the vision that people have. 

[01:15:02] Rachel Hanes: Yes. It immediately leaves a lasting impression that's hard to shake, 

[01:15:06] Tracy Hayes: let alone the colors of the walls.

like, okay, it's, it's gonna, that's 

[01:15:09] Rachel Hanes: a little thing and it is a small investment, but can make 

[01:15:13] Tracy Hayes: big 

[01:15:13] Rachel Hanes: thousands of dollars worth of difference in selling your homes. So. 

[01:15:17] Tracy Hayes: yeah. Yep.

How, this is a question, this is a trending question. How do you stand out as an agent on social media without being cringe? I guess not being a ocker, you might not lemme know.

[01:15:30] Rachel Hanes: you guys are at Hamilton that's, I imagine you guys talk about this kind of stuff. What are some of the agents? Because I, I've seen the list of the agents, so I don't see them all the time. I see some of them. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like Amber, you know, posts a lot of stuff Right.

[01:15:41] Tracy Hayes: You know, family, all that kind of stuff. I see her right on there regularly. But there's others that don't, either don't do anything or I'm not seeing it. 

[01:15:49] Rachel Hanes: Right. Yeah. well we actually just hired a few new agents that I'm really excited about. They are doing a, a really good job. I've been watching them on social media.

so I [01:16:00] think it depends again on the type of clients you attract. I have found just. Being authentic and sharing my life honestly, advertises me in a better way than me always trying to like, put on something that I really am not. but then I feel that there's also a part of, like, you can't just say, well, this is the way I am and that's how I'm gonna be.

Like, you need to always be willing to grow and change. So I think social media is important because people really wanna know if they're gonna like you before they work with you. And so social media is a great way to kind of put yourself out there and, let people see who you are. And, well 

[01:16:38] Tracy Hayes: you bring up an, in an

interesting topic, not only for social media, but I think as a, as someone who is an agent.

Mm-hmm. Who is you? you mentioned it earlier, what are you creating that social media post? That you're in the house and it's flashing around and boom, boom, boom. And you know, it looks, it keeps people attracted. 'cause there's these attractive things being [01:17:00] flashed on the screen. Right? But are you selling the house?

Right? Right. So as you're, are you selling you mm-hmm. That I'm a superstar, bang, bang, bang, here's all the flashing lights. Or you actually trying to actually market the home that you have. Right? So how do I create that video? And I think, the, to to tail off what you're saying,

who is

your audience? Right?

Who or who are you? I think social media, number one. Number one reason why every agent should have social media is to stay top of mind of everyone who's in their circle. Right? That should be number one. As you've benefited from your referrals, some of those people, maybe you,

you,

know, are not regular calls or whatever you occasionally do, but because they're seeing you on social media, they think they're talking to you.

[01:17:45] Rachel Hanes: Oh yeah. They feel like they know you. Yeah. So it's easier to kind of fall in together and communicate well. but yeah, and I like to use, Facebook in particular. There's lots of subgroups, you know, you can join and it's collaborative, like being in a [01:18:00] brokerage with people, except you're learning from people all over the US or even the world.

[01:18:04] Tracy Hayes: Right. 

[01:18:05] Rachel Hanes: And that sometimes can be a great way of marketing properties too, because you're tapping into knowledge and being like, wait, there was someone looking for something like this and let me just. Send them a message and see if they're still interested or whatever. So I think it's great for networking and really presenting yourself to the world.

but I find as far as marketing my properties, a lot of it is kind of behind the scenes is unseen, the hard work, the boots on the ground type of stuff, where you're, leaning into your relationship with other agents that you know and what, who are their buyers right now, what you know. Mm-hmm. so that stuff your seller doesn't see.

so I, I like doing the social media because it assures them that you're out there putting their property out there. but a lot of times my best results are just from the work I'm doing behind the scenes to market the property. Yeah. Personally. 

[01:18:56] Tracy Hayes: Well, no, no, I totally, totally,I

totally agree with you.

The [01:19:00] top of mind of your sphere. Top of mind, your agents that you work with are part of your sphere. Hey, I've got this, property. And you're, you're, you're talking about, and obviously the person you're representing, their, you know, the seller 

[01:19:12] Rachel Hanes: mm-hmm. 

[01:19:12] Tracy Hayes: that, Hey, I am marketing your house, but you can't totally depend on social media to market someone's house.

Yeah. Unless you're putting a lot of, you know, you know, exactly, Hey, new Yorkers are moving into this neighborhood Let me buy some targeted Facebook ads to, to Brooklyn or Manhattan or Queens, wherever they're moving from. 'cause there are statistics mm-hmm. On that. And you can definitely do that.

Yes. for sure. Each 

[01:19:36] Rachel Hanes: part of town is totally different demographic, so you've gotta be tapped into that, you know? Yep. 

[01:19:42] Tracy Hayes: the total ground level is, the awareness that you are Rachel and you're in the real estate business and you gotta keep reminding people that every single day. 'cause they're not necessarily thinking about No.

Yeah. So when you get 'em, um,

anything you'd like. 

[01:19:56] Rachel Hanes: I think that's all. I've really enjoyed the conversation today. Yes, definitely. It's good. Definitely. 

[01:19:59] Tracy Hayes: We're gonna go [01:20:00] get some great lunch. Uh, appreciate everyone listening. Rachel's show notes obviously are attached. Her contact information and social media, everything will be there.

We'll be putting some blogs out as well. And, let's see, what's today is, Tuesday? This will go out on Friday on the, actually on re Bar Camp Day. it'll be going live so you can flash it around. Rachel, I appreciate you coming on. Thanks 

[01:20:22] Rachel Hanes: so much, Tracy. I Enjoyed it.