Amanda Houser: Houser Homes

Tracy Hayes  1:01  
Hey, welcome back to The Real Estate excellence podcast with your host, Tracy Hayes. This great agent before me has over 12 years experience. She Hayes from the bayou with a degree in tourism, hospitality, two great strengths to have when being an agent in Florida. She's an entrepreneur and a leader, as she enjoys being involved in the leadership in the real estate brokerages she's worked with. Let's welcome this leader, mom to the show the Houser of Houser homes. Amanda Houser, welcome to show. Thank you for coming on. Lot of changes recently for you, and you're continuing your broker support. Which are brokers? But as we know, you've you've changed logos, really, you're still staying on the office on 210 Are you still working out of that office?

Amanda Houser  1:44  
I am my team. It's myself and a licensed assistant. So we are still in our same office on 210 and as far as the logo change, which has been the big buzz of the last few weeks as we made some transitions, it really that's about it is that we changed our logo and our name. We have the same incredible owners, same leadership team, and we basically, they were able to go independent and become a part of the united group as independent owners away from the franchise. And really, they were able to give better compensation plans to their agents, they are able to provide more technologically advanced platforms such as websites and CRMs and lead generation and more marketing tailored to our current environment as we're in a changing real estate.

Tracy Hayes  2:36  
To touch a little bit on it, because obviously one of the things I always talk almost on every show, because I want agents to understand, especially newer agents that might be listening to the show, or some agents that might be experienced. And I realize there may be something if you're stuck and you're not moving forward, your brokerage is not growing you or you're not you need to be looking to grow. Hopefully all agents are looking to grow. It's just sometimes the people around you aren't looking to grow. And understanding the real estate industry and how it's changing constantly. Technology is a big part of it. And if you're at a brokerage who is kind of just set in their way, so to speak, and not growing, not looking to do things bigger and better, they're you're going to get beat out over, I wouldn't say, a long haul, but definitely a short road. You know, tomorrow may be okay, but three months, three years, or if you're not growing all of a sudden, you're so far behind.

Amanda Houser  3:28  
Yeah, 10 new agents, and I love mentoring and being a part of the broker support team at United real estate gallery is, I tell them all the time, with their first license, you're going to have so much noise coming at you. Yes, you need to invest in this. You need to buy this website and this CRM, and you need to buy leads from here, and you need to do this. And you need to do that when you're a brand new agent. That's really expensive, you know? Yes, especially if you're coming from where you were on a salary job and benefits, and now you're it, right? And don't even get me started on health insurance for self employed however, you know. And I tell them, you have to take the noise out of it, and you need to interview with multiple brokerages and ask them, What are they providing? Because at the end of the day, you are their customer.

Tracy Hayes  4:13  
So All right, so we're on this subject, and I this is one of my favorite subjects, when talking to every one of the top agents that we have on and influences on our industry, and how you're interviewing that broker. And you know, the brokers will tell you the other it's not, they're not going to lay label all these things out of your we're going to give because you actually have to show up, right? So you have to show that you're interested, and they'll provide if you're willing to there, you're willing to ask questions, you're willing to learn, you're willing to be coach. But how important is it that as a new agent, or if you're an agent who's stuck with a brokerage, that just you're not moving forward, you don't think is helping you expand your business, that you are interviewing those brokers that align with you? Do, because every one of them does their business a little differently

Amanda Houser  5:04  
they do. And that's why you have options, right? Because I may fit with one brokerage, and a new recruit I interview may be a better fit for a different one, so it's why you have options. And so when I interview new agents looking at our brokerage, or existing agents looking to make a change, maybe they're stagnant where they're at right? Where they're at I encourage them to ask certain questions when they're interviewing based on what their goals are, because everyone's goals are different, too, and your goals are going to change as your seasons of life change as well. And that's something that our owners have always been so great about. We really are, like, a big family, you know, they're like, you know, Amanda, sometimes you're gonna go through a season of life where you're gonna be running to karate and gymnastics and not get home at eight o'clock every night, and you're not gonna be available from three to seven three nights a week. It's just a part of life. And so you kind of have to adapt your business around it, whether you hire an assistant or you Hi, an assistant, or you have support, or you join a team, and there's all those options, but you have to know, I think, going into it, what are your goals, and then what different opportunities are there out there? What brokerage is going to help you hit those goals?

Tracy Hayes  6:17  
What are you guys doing? As far as you know, I think the big thing is finding what that agent's strength is, what's their mojo? What is it they do? Really good, especially from the prospecting end, because we it's all about prospecting. Yes, you can teach the other part, but prospecting, whether it's call reluctancy or, you know, there's people love knocking on doors. There's people like, don't even think about, you know, walking down the sidewalk. So what are you doing to really try to find what that agent's Mojo is? What is their sweet spot so that they can 10x when it comes to prospecting,

Amanda Houser  6:54  
absolutely so a lot. Again, being part of burger support team, we do specialized trainings every month for our agents, and one of the things that I love is when I do a prospecting class. So here's your overview of a bunch of different options, right? And at the end of the day, what you enjoy is what is going to give you benefits? Because if you don't enjoy doing it, you're not going to do it, or you're not going to do it to its full potential, right? So you have people that have a great sphere, and they get stuck, the market's changing, right? So even if you have a great sphere, you might need more business, because it's starting to change. And they're like, Well, I want to invest in this and so and so is doing really good at that. Have you ever done that before? Why don't you? Why don't I partner you with so and so, sit down with them for a day and see if it's for you. And if they're like, I don't really like that, don't invest in it, right? Let's talk about, let's look at your sphere together. Let's talk about things that you're not considering, that maybe you could do to expand your market reach to your sphere. Or if you're a door knocker and you don't have listings, we have agents every day that are like, we have an open house this weekend. Please do it for me. Go do that. Agent's open house. Brand it to you. They're giving you permission to do that. Go knock on doors your thing. But at the end of the day, if it's not something they love to do, they're not going to do it 100%

Tracy Hayes  8:15  
and i It's the missing link to me in talking to you know, 90 plus top real estate agents listening to our industry, you know, whether it's on the loan officer side or on the real estate side, is finding not trying to improve on your weaknesses, not you know, hey, I need to get better because I'm not really good at that. It's not that you need to find out what makes your heart sing, and steal that from Missy Katie campmeyer, what makes your heart sing, because that's what's going to get you up every day. You know, if you love cold calling people, I mean you're going to be drilling to bed. Hey, is it too early in the morning? Can I start now, whether it's cold calling, knocking on doors, or you're buying leads or the whatever it is, because there's many different ways to prospect you got to love it. And if you're really good at that, the you can learn the rest. Yes, exactly 100% so love to get that section

Amanda Houser  9:15  
out, to be willing to learn the rest 100 and that's the other key.

Tracy Hayes  9:18  
And I think one of the benefits, actually, I was the thought was, when you were finishing your statement there a minute ago, with, you know, exit real estate guy becoming United real estate gallery as large of brokerage that you guys are, there's, oh, there's a lot of top agents who don't like, you know, they get the listing, but they don't like sitting in their open houses. And so as a new agent, you know, one of the benefits of obviously, joining a brokerage like that is, obviously, there's going to be a lot of open houses to call on and say, Hey, do you want to see I'll sit at this weekend so you can, you know, get some face time experiences. You know, sitting in an open house to, you know, as you ramp your business

Amanda Houser  9:55  
up, you know, who goes to open houses? The neighbors. The neighbors, yes, right? Yes. They. Want to walk and they want to go, what is the selling for? Well, I have better backslash than they do, and I think my house is worth more. And then you start the conversation like, Well, are you thinking about

Tracy Hayes  10:11  
making a move? I think if I was an agent actually, you say that I've

Amanda Houser  10:14  
been I mean, that's people walking into you. You don't even have to go knock on the door. They're gonna just walk in.

Tracy Hayes  10:18  
How do you attract the neighbors to come in. And I'll let you answer that question. I'm gonna I would, you know, either I would put a barbecue grill in the driveway and start cooking some really good smelling hamburgers that'll get them to come by. But obviously, some of the basics, as I'm sure a lot of agents, are not going and knocking 2030 doors either way or across the street or whatever. And just saying, hey, here in the loan officer world, they're telling the new loan officers go and sit and open house, but get the real estate agents card your card and go and knock on the door and just say, Hey, we're having an open house down here. Just want to let you know if anybody parks in front of your house and you know you need us to take care of it. Here's my card, and they're going to take that number. Obviously, you're not trying to sell them anything, but you're letting them know there's an open house down the open house down the street, and we sell in this neighborhood. Here's my card

Amanda Houser  11:05  
and I we teach a class on the open houses as well. Linda White does a great one, and one of the things I always preach is don't if you're rolling up to the open house two minutes before it starts, and you're just throwing a sign in the yard, you're wasting your time, and the owners don't even go. Don't open the door, unless you're going to tell people that the door is open, right? They have to know it's open. To know to walk in. You need signage everywhere. You need to be doing a social media marketing campaign online, whether it is Facebook or Google ads, whatever your platform is, and you need to be targeting that community or radius around it several days before your open house, saying hey and that over the next few days, I'm going to be here from 12 to three on Saturday. Come get muffins and mimosas or whatever your plug is to get them in cooking burgers in the driveway. But don't open the door and sit there. If you're not going to tell them the doors open, they're not going to just happen to drive down the cul de sac street and see the one sign and walk in the door?

Tracy Hayes  12:05  
Well, everyone's got something to do on the way. Yeah, they're running. And when are they going to see that you're doing the open house when they go to run their kid to a ball game? I got to go to the ball game. I don't have time. I'm not going to get back in time by the time you know your window of opening, they're cutting the grass, yeah? Or they see it on their way back in, and they and it's already 15 minutes before you're going to close the door, and they got to unload the groceries, and so you're 100% right. Get out of front show 3045, minutes early. Get everything lined up. So as if someone, as soon as you know it's 11 o'clock that someone walk in the door and and do it. I want to You mentioned something there about the Facebook targeting ads, because you can actually target to that neighborhood. You can Is that something you guys teach over there, or something that's it is kind of required, you know, I would say required.

Amanda Houser  12:54  
There's a platform that our brokerage has a relationship with for our agents, and with a new listing, you automatically get a neighborhood targeting ad for all of your new listings. The agent doesn't have to do anything. It pulls from MLS. It does it for them. Again. The whole point is to try to generate more listing business and start establishing yourself as the professional in that community.

Tracy Hayes  13:17  
So you're using now, you're using Facebook to leverage that. Yes, it's through the ad

Amanda Houser  13:20  
works platform, and so that's a Facebook ad. And again, that's included, like a provided amenity that our brokerage provides. You also have the option to run additional ads if you choose, at a discounted rate. And so I highly encourage agents, it's a minimal cost. If you're doing an open house, run a three or four day campaign to that neighborhood target beforehand, let them know you're coming

Tracy Hayes  13:43  
this I'm just rolling with the punches here. Work with me, because I normally start off with where you're from, but since we're on this important and stuff, we'll get around to that part here in a second. When you how often you get the new agent, or even an agent is just went to a brokerage is just like, Yeah, hang your sign, whatever. If you don't show up, we're not calling you. You know, that's the type of thing. But that they have to understand the reason why you because you can make good money in real estate and 3% or really, you're getting 6% you're paying the buyer's agent,

Amanda Houser  14:18  
3% life changing money. Yeah, that's what I usually tell them. You can make life changing money, but you've got

Tracy Hayes  14:23  
to spend a little bit on one yourself, what? And we'll talk about your personal development, going to events and that sort of thing. But in this case, marketing, as big as now united real estate gallery is and the resources that you guys have access to, what are you what are you what are some of the things that you're coaching, how much an agent should be spending, how much a new agent needs to invest in their self? In this case, marketing. Since we're on that subject, marketing, and so you guys actually break it down by a percentage, or how do you have that conversation?

Amanda Houser  14:53  
I don't on a general level, just because everyone's business looks very different. However, our leadership team, our owners and the broker support. Managers. We do offer group and individual business planning sessions coming up this fall to start planning for next year, where we will give them time. We have open office hours. They can come in. We can look at their plan with them. Now I do teach a class that we did last month on running your business as a business, because a lot of agents don't realize you are your business. Okay? So do you know what a PNL report is? Have you looked at it? Do you Do you understand you can't run in the red right? Then, if you start tracking these things year over year, what were your sales? How much did you spend? Do we need to cut expenses? Do we need to add sales? What are your goals, and how are we going to get there? So I do a class on running your business as a business, which is a little more general. You know, is it time to LLC or do an S corp? Do you have an accountant? I mean, some of the very basics. And then we do sit down and we'll do individualized plans.

Tracy Hayes  15:54  
Because, I mean, how many times have you seen you've been doing this dozen years that agent get to that point, and they're not really running it like a business having some sort of budget there. You know, your lot of agents come and it's not like they have a ton of money in their accounts. I've had many agents on here who basically told me, when they started, they were basically living paycheck to paycheck, and they dove into it, and then got family helped them out here, paid for their cell phone, whatever. So it's not exactly they're coming with 10s of 1000s of dollars running an advertising campaign for themselves. How do you I mean, so my question was, you know, how many times have you seen agents over the years who are not taking time to go to that class voluntary? You're not forcing them to go. They've got to go and learn understand, and all of a sudden they start tax time and they realize, Oh my God, I didn't track this, or I didn't budget this. I spent too much money, and now I get my check and there's nothing left. Yes.

Amanda Houser  16:52  
So business in general, as you know, money and time, right? And in this business, time is money, so as much as you put into it, you should be getting out of it, okay, but you also have to audit your and you need to track your ROIs and make sure the thing I'm seeing even more recently is the last two and a half years, we've all been running. We barely knew our names. Fitness was great, and we just could barely catch our breath. So a lot of agents were spending very heavily because they had so much coming in. Well, now breaks right, interest rates are pushing seven things.

Tracy Hayes  17:28  
You're killing me. Someone posted something that their projection is eight and a half percent, but anyway,

Amanda Houser  17:35  
but I'm seeing now where they didn't pump the brakes on their spending and their production has slowed significantly from this time last year. Now they're finding themselves in situations or they didn't put money away from tax they decided they were going to spend a lot because they were making a lot, and they didn't prepare for tax season. And so we, I'm that is what I'm seeing lately, is, you know, you really, you have to be present enough and give yourself the education if you don't have it, to know when to scale your business.

Tracy Hayes  18:06  
The importance of, you know, John Brooks talks a lot about this, and Brittany, I listen to him a lot, yeah. And I love his angle. And obviously he's bringing value to his agents and teaching him, you know, it's not about the gross amount of your checks, it's the net amount, you know, how much are you spending strategically, you know? Because, like you said, you think it's rolling in so you're out there spending money on, probably, stuff you don't have to. That's not actually giving you a return on investment. And plus, you know, like I said, things are going by so fast. I mean, did anyone actually have time to actually see your ad, because it was gone the next

Amanda Houser  18:44  
day, right? And a lot of agents will subscribe to these things where it just comes out automatically monthly, and they're not ever stopping to see I've been spending 250 a month on these internet leads, and I haven't converted one, right? So like, they look at their bank statement, they're like, I've been paying for this for 17 months. That adds up really fast, right, right? And, you know, I have myself on a salary. It's funny. I laughed the other day. I was like, I haven't given myself a raise in three years. Like inflation. Start looking at that. But again, it like John says, it's about the net. It's about, you know, you set yourself up to look at the net amount, or you put yourself on a fixed salary, then the rest is in your business, and you need to manage that business. Yes, all

Tracy Hayes  19:24  
right, so we're gonna, we're, that was a good chunk of the middle of my normal routine. We're gonna go back to the beginning and learn a little bit about Amanda. You were born and raised in New Orleans.

Amanda Houser  19:34  
I was on a little island right outside of New Orleans. Interesting. What was that like? It was wonderful, little school or so. I went to a small private school off the island. We did not have a gas station or grocery store. There was one bar room where my parents could get, like, milk and bread and put it on their monthly tab. Okay, so I am 36 I'm not 66 however, it was like living back in time. It was a it was very, I guess, odd. Upbringing for someone my age, but a lot of our family lived on the island. My dad was a commercial fisherman and a fireman, and it was a very simple life, and it was a very wonderful life. And I recently moved my kids out to the country and back to some brackish water, because it's in my bones I and I kind of want them to have a little of that experience.

Tracy Hayes  20:20  
So your Were your parents, like, both born and raised there. How did they actually,

Amanda Houser  20:24  
my parents met at like, nine, yeah, my dad's dad parked his boat outside of my mom's dad's house, and they got married, I don't know, 1718, years old. Something crazy. They've been together 46 years, I believe. Wow, that's interesting. And they just, they're building a block away from us back in the country, on some brackish water, because that's how we roll in Louisiana. We all stay close together. So they're coming over here, they are building a block from us.

Tracy Hayes  20:50  
Oh, interesting. Okay, cool. Go to it was a University New Orleans. Yes, graduated from University of New Orleans, and with hospitality and tourism, basically, was your degree? I mean, what was your vision and what you wanted to do at that time as a career?

Amanda Houser  21:05  
So I started with Marriott, my sophomore year of college, my sophomore year of Hurricane Katrina came through and devastated New Orleans, which all my family is there. So it affected every single one of us. I was actually in college at the University of Louisiana Lafayette at the time, and I couldn't be away from my family. I wanted to come back, and the college wasn't even open yet, so I found a job with Marriott in New Orleans, at the JW Marriott, because they were desperate for people to work. And so I got this great job and started working in the sales office, and had some incredible mentors. And I always say Marriott kind of raised me. I was so young, and I was kind of in this corporate sales environment, and I had, again, exceptional mentors. They helped pay for my college Marriott International did, and I loved being in the sales realm. And I ended up crossing over to the catering sales realm and became a certified wedding planner, and I worked in several luxury high end hotels around New Orleans for years, and then when I got married years ago, we decided to move here and open a business, not real estate related, because I wanted children and I knew I couldn't keep up with the amount of hours and the weekends that my job demanded. I wanted to be able

Tracy Hayes  22:20  
to be able to be a present, staying in the hospitality and working in a hotel. I would sleep at the hotel

Amanda Houser  22:24  
more nights than I was home. And I was like, I don't want to be that mom. I want to have some kind of balance, which I think, as a working mom in general, you're constantly trying to find balance, right? So we moved here and I opened a franchise and not real estate related. It lasted about a year and a half. I had my son, and I was like, I hate having employees. Like, I loved having my own business, but I hated having employees, and so I sold the business. And was like, I'm a stay home for a while. Well, that lasted, like two months, because I loved to work, and so I had originally Licensed in Louisiana. I didn't do much. I did some personal transactions. I had a little

Tracy Hayes  23:02  
taste of it before you came here. Had a little taste of it. Thoughts of real estate is in your mind?

Amanda Houser  23:07  
Yeah, it was 2010 so the market in New Orleans then was awful. It was like trying to get into real estate here 2009 so I ended up relicensing here with a Florida license in 2014 so my son was just over one, and then I was pregnant with my daughter, so I was like, Oh, great, another new venture, and now I'm gonna have two under two. So I actually just worked part time in real estate and just started building my sphere in my business until they were both in school full time, which was 2018 so I really only been full time since 2018 and that's kind of been my journey. I've been with now united almost five years, and I really switched over to them when I was ready to go full time and build a team.

Tracy Hayes  23:49  
So what was the actual, the attraction, what brought you to Florida?

Amanda Houser  23:54  
We came to Florida originally because the franchise opportunity we had, this was the location. Okay? And at the time, it was eight hours from my in laws and eight hours from my parents. It was like halfway between both. It was the lesser of two,

Tracy Hayes  24:10  
eight hours time,

Amanda Houser  24:12  
yeah, especially from someone that grew up on an island that was seven male talks, yeah.

Tracy Hayes  24:16  
So you get here, you what leads you to your first brokerage? I mean, what you know, who you want to hang your sign with you were working part time, what was going to your mind and to make that choice of who so

Amanda Houser  24:28  
my I interviewed with several I interviewed with some of the national brokerages, and then I found a small family brokerage. I actually started with Davidson Realty in world golf village, and again, coming from that really strong family background. They had a lot of training, and they were willing to let me be part time, as I, you know, wanted to kind of slowly build my business. And I just love the family dynamic that was there.

Tracy Hayes  24:54  
What are some of the challenges though, being part time that you were that at any time, obviously. Time. We know time is always a challenge, but just being an agent of your to realize you've walked in some of the shoes of the new agents that you talk to, or you're mentoring and that sort of thing. What are some of those initial challenges that you had in getting your business started?

Amanda Houser  25:15  
Yeah, and so one of them was, once I got a taste of it, I loved it, and I wanted to work more. And at that point, I had two very small children. And so again, as an agent, your goals change as your life changes, and I was ready to go a little more full time. But has anyone seen the cost of daycare? So I remember at one point they were both in part time daycare, which was just three days a week, so I would make all my appointments on those three days, and I would spend time in the office, and I would sit with experienced agents, and I would work floor duty, and I would just listen and learn as much as I could. Attend trainings on the three days a week. The kids were in daycare. And even that was a leap, because I think back then, it was like 1600 a month, and I still had to stay home two days a week. So that was a big leap of faith of one of those. Sometimes you got to put a little out to get it back right. And it ended up evolving to the point where I was having to pull other agents into deals and say, Hey, will you partner with me on this? Because I'm not available on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I have my children at home. And so that's when I got the idea, like, I think I'm ready to build a team, and that way I can still be present until they start school full time, but still be able to service my business as me.

Tracy Hayes  26:30  
Well, the really key points that I just got out, you know, got that short story there. You'll block your time. You utilized your time to the fullest. Yes, you didn't just sit at home, play on the computer and wait until your kids got done and waiting for someone to call you to sell their house. You actually, because education is one of those themes that I had you actually in your education was going in and being next to those experienced agents showing up to the office and being present, because you had to hear the other transactions going on, one to stay motivated, but to understand actually why real estate is a human business. And you know, people argue with me, this will never be done electronically, because there's too many emotions. Emotions are in there. Emotions is one of the words. But really, our business properties are unique. Everything, every There's nothing. There's no cookie cutter title work, yeah, you can't just plug these things into a computer, because they're all so unique. You need the human interaction. So you have to hear every and you'll agree every transaction is different, because you got different people, you got a different house, the different title, work, you got different financials coming in, and you can getting them approved every loan. And if your loan goes through, like a hot knife through butter, praise the Lord. Because very rarely it ever, there's always something. Now we'll that's our job as from the lending side to the realtor side is overcome those little issues and stamp them out and go but otherwise a computer could not do that.

Amanda Houser  28:04  
So that's a question I get a lot from our newer agents, is they'll go through a training. They're like, how did you learn all of this? And my best advice to a new agent, you're not expected to know everything, but you are expected that if you don't know, to find someone who does. And that is how I learned. If I didn't know, I found someone who did, and I was willing and open to learn from them. And that's that is my best piece of advice for a new agent. Don't try to feel like you have to know it all, but make sure you're set up with a brokerage that has support. And don't be afraid. The worst thing you can do is try to guess, and now you're in a situation, right, right? Don't be afraid to find someone who knows, because

Tracy Hayes  28:44  
you were going in the office, and there's, you know, we pre show, we talked about, you know, some of the top names in the area that you mix. You were meeting the top people in the area, and that had, whether it was a year or 10 years, previous experience on you. You now have built a relationship. So they're going to answer your call, and when you call them with a situation, they immediately want to pour into you, yo, whatever they can do to help you through it.

Amanda Houser  29:10  
And that's the other side of this. Is a relationship business. It's not just the relationship with your customers, it's the relationship with your preferred vendors that are going to your lender that's going to pick up the phone on a Saturday night when things are going sideways and your customers are freaking out on you, and you just need someone that knows what you don't know to help you talk them off the ledge, right? And having those other industry professionals that you look up to or that respect you as well. I mean, when we were in situations where we have 15 offers on a house, it was kind of nice to look at that spreadsheet and go, Well, I know three of those agents, and they're solid, you know, right? Or when you're on the other side and you're offer 13 out of 15, and you're like, that agent knows me and respects me, right? It makes a big difference. It's truly relationship, not just with your customers.

Tracy Hayes  29:57  
Well, I mean, to the story. Stories that I've heard in the last 18 months on those multiple offers. You know, the there's a lot of buyer's agents who just will send the email over with the offer, and they're not following up and so forth. I don't know whether it's because they don't have a relationship with the listing agent, so they don't feel, you know, they're shy, which you got to overcome that, because you got to break the ice and do it at your job. But obviously, or if you're that person that's shy about calling someone you don't know yet, well maybe you got to show up to the office, show up to some of the social show up to some of the events. As I know, you know, you and Cole work together a lot. Cole, you know, being involved in the community and of everybody, whether it's you're at nefar Neph or just the community in general. So you people know who you are. It could even be on social media, because I think you from what I understand, and I totally agree it's happening, because I see it myself. If you're on social media, as an agent should be posting you are actually building relationship. You don't even realize you are. People get to know you, because your mind does not differentiate between the video in someone sitting right in front of you. Yep, and you are actually building a relationship. And when you run into that person, you're like, Hey, how you doing? You act like you're you know, you hang out every weekend, yeah, because you're watching each other's social media.

Amanda Houser  31:17  
I actually got a handwritten card sent to my office about nine months ago from a customer of mine, and if this is on Facebook, hopefully she'll see it. But I sold her house in the Cascades, I don't know, six years ago, maybe longer. It was one of my first sales. It was a walk in off floor cash sale, 55 plus. I was so excited. It was a day my kids were at daycare, so I was there. And you know, I've kept in touch with them over the years with email updates and invited them to my customer appreciation party and mailers and those kind of things. And I've never really heard a lot back from them. And she sent me a handwritten note, just saying that she can't get over how beautiful my babies are growing up and that she follows me on Facebook and enjoy seeing pictures of my children. And I was like, That's someone that I really haven't personally heard from. She took the time to send a note to my office, and it meant so much to me because, like you said, you don't know who's watching exactly, you know, she feels like we still have that strong relationship. But of course, I do too. Now I didn't know that, you know.

Tracy Hayes  32:15  
Well, it just goes, Tracy, and we're gonna, I'm gonna have the breakfast with content on Friday thing. And sorry, you don't know who's watching and, but you have to stay, you know, one of the key terms we talked about education a second ago, how, you know, being around people, educating as well as you know, taking the formal classes. But consistency in what you're doing, consistency of, you know, you you're putting some your kids on there. You're putting some business on there. I mean, everyone has their you know, how many times you're supposed to do it? I don't know how they figure that out. Somebody, some algorithm, some computers, probably telling them what's getting the likes. How they even count, not the likes. But I guess really they want interaction. You want to say something pretty but the important thing is, you're staying top of mind to that person, and I guarantee you if we did a blind realtor taste test with them and asked them who the agent you're if you're not one, you're number two, because you're staying top of mind, and the only reason probably someone might beat you out is someone they know personally is now in the business, or their neighbor is in front of their face every day, a little closer than you are, but you are saying top of mind of that family, and that's the power of the social media.

Amanda Houser  33:24  
It is. It's an incredibly powerful tool, yeah. What are you doing?

Tracy Hayes  33:28  
You know, your broker support, so you're in leadership now, or we have been, you know, with actually real estate now, and, you know, United real estate gallery. What do you do to besides listen my podcast? Could you do say, do that to get some visits. What are you do you follow anyone? You book reader? Do you listen? Is there other podcasts? Buffini? Who do you?

Amanda Houser  33:49  
Yeah, so a little of all of it. I mean, I love to read. I wish I have had time to read recreationally, but I am a big fan of I learned the hard way, after some burnout a few years ago, that I have to take one day a week to either work from home and like, do my laundry and cook and like, get my mental state in order, or I'll go out to my property and go in my hammock, and I do bring a business book, but I try to give myself, like, one day a week, because there's a lot of times I am working on the weekends, right? So to have that one day to just catch up personally and get my house in order and get and do something for my business that is going to help develop me professionally. So I do I actually have a stack of books in the back of my car right now. I look like a mobile library, because I'll just see other people's recommendations, and I'll just go on Amazon, order it, and then I'll get it out the mail. Out the mailbox and put in the back of my car, so wherever I'm at and sometimes it's I'm waiting for gymnastics to finish, and I can sit in a chair and get a few chapters in. I started with busini When I started in real estate in Florida, and so he I love his platform. I really structured my business initially after kind of hit. Whole platform. I started following a lot of investment books. I built a spec house two years ago with a partner, and that was my first major investment that I've done in real estate personally. And so I really enjoyed that. I want to be able to do some more of that. That is on my personal goal list, and it was really a fun experience, but I've been doing a lot of investment books lately too, because I'm trying to give myself more education on that.

Tracy Hayes  35:28  
Well, the market has shifted a little bit too that, you know, renter rents are in high demand. Yeah, there's not enough rental property. So if you're able to get your hands on a property that you can rent out, and you're also working with buyers who or maybe even buyers and sellers. Anyone involved in real estate, you've got to learn a little bit of that gaming, because you don't want to fear it. Someone says, I want to come, I want to buy an investment property. You should be great. Let's you know, you're these areas that would you're going to get the rents, you know? Or if they're Airbnb, if that's what they want to do, what you need to be knowledgeable that, because in this area, we have as much as we have people from different areas of the country. You know that, you know there's, you name the state, that we can go up and up the street, and I guarantee we can get most of the 50 states, somebody's from one of those other states, yeah. And they have different ideas and different things they want to what real estate they want to buy, big house, condo, investment properties for family, you know, multiple family homes. So you got to have, you don't have to be an expert, but listening to some of these podcasts and so forth, the bigger pockets podcast is one, I mean, the name many others listen about, yeah, and have some sort of working knowledge of what that buyer is looking for. I think we deal a good percentage of those 50 if not more than 50% a majority of them, the buyers who want to get investment don't already have no experience in investment properties, exactly.

Amanda Houser  36:53  
And that's what I was going to say. If you're in real estate, you need some kind of basic knowledge of investment. Also, you should be investing yourself personally, because you know this business more than any other consumer. Again, going back to that stat that most investors have new experience. They like the idea of it. They don't know where to go. You need to practice what you preach, right, you know, and that's an opportunity to set yourself up to work smarter and not harder, but there's a rents are so high here. There's such an opportunity for people to invest. And again, when they come to you, what you have to what you have to know is you don't have to know it all. You just have to know who to go to if you need a little more information. And sometimes you also have to realize that an investor's goals are going to be different than what maybe your goals would be. So like, I had a gentleman come to me a few years ago. He lived in our neighborhood. He's like, we want to buy an investment property. Okay, well, here's what it looks like right now. Like he we knew he wanted a town home, he didn't want a condo, but he wanted something low maintenance. And he's like, I just want to make this much a month off of it. And I was like, Are you sure? And he's like, Yeah, and I want something and hold long term. And so he did, and he's happy we met his goal, right? He also purchased it several years ago, and if he wants to sell it now, forget how much a month he made off of it. The last three years, it's doubled in value from when he purchased it, 10% because it's in this area, and it's in high demand,

Tracy Hayes  38:21  
and that note's been paid down by the renter, correct? And so

Amanda Houser  38:25  
by my original investment that I made, I did not know I was investing. It was 2008 in New Orleans. I closed on my first house the day I graduated college. I had moved back in with my parents for six months to save for a down payment, right? Because you have to understand, it was post Katrina, New Orleans, there was still a shortage of homes. So while the rest of the market was kind of down, we were still had an inventory shortage. And so my dad's like, you were spending so much money in rent on this little apartment, just come home for six months. You know, I had been gone since I graduated high school, so I was like, I don't know how I can do that. I'm so independent. And he's like, I'm telling you, just suck it up for six months, come home and you'll have a down payment in six months. Buy a house will be cheaper than renting. So I did, and I closed on it. In fact, at my post graduation party, we had all the men in the family loading my stuff out of my parents house and moving it to my new house, because I was ready to go. But I bought that house for $125,000 it was a brand new construction spec house. Okay? My interest rate, I think, was like 5.75 or 6% at the time. Well, then the market crashed all over, and I moved to Florida in 2011 and I could not sell it for what I owed on it amazing. So I rented it because I wasn't willing to take a credit hit or a loss. Some people didn't have that option. But I was like, You know what? We're gonna move to Florida, and we're just gonna

Tracy Hayes  39:54  
rent for a while, and there's a housing shortage. So someone was there to rent

Amanda Houser  39:57  
somebody was there to rent it. And so they signed, like, a three. Release. And then I tried to kick them out, because they kind of destroyed the house a little bit. And then they wanted another three year lease. So I put another lease on it, and just made little stronger criteria. And when they were responsible for replacing and So, long story short, seven years later, I sold it for what I paid for it in 2008 however, I walked away with cash because someone else had paid that mortgage down for me for those seven years, right? And so it, I didn't buy it, thinking I'd be an investor. And that's what I love about real estate, is there's always an option. You know, you can buy and hold, you can flip, you can buy land and build new there's so many options. It's not just put into one, one little basket.

Tracy Hayes  40:47  
There's, I mean, people have a they Well, they want to think our natural thing is saying, Whoa, what if, well, in 2000 in 2006 you're paying at that top high dollar for every home, right? People were getting exuberant amount prices. You have the collapse and seven and eight and go in there. Now you got foreclosures and everything else going on in the marketplace. If you had bought that home in 2006 and went and rented that out, because people still need a place to live, there may be a housing or something, you know, in this case, it was a financial, you know, bad loans causing the situation, but that house you bought in 2006 I don't want, I guarantee I know what I bought our house for in 2009 and I know I can get well more than twice of what we paid for it right now. I mean, even you think, well, the value if you bought the house for 125 and the value is $50,000 a year later, where you're still collecting rent. Who cares what the value of it is, right? Unless you need the cash out, just because the value you wait around long enough it's going to come back. And, you know, with rent demand, there's going to be people are going to like we have here now. Their renters are now looking to buy because the rent is going up so high, it's crazy. Yeah, we're doing, I'm doing a lot of applications right now. Of people who are been renting, they're not necessarily have the greatest credit, their little touch and go on some stuff, and I'm working with them. And hey, we need to pay this down. When you do this collection removed, get your credit up to a minimum score. Then we can get you out looking at a home where we're doing a lot of apps right now.

Amanda Houser  42:21  
It's and so what you're doing is you're educating and turning someone that's curious into a customer. That's the it's the same thing in real estate in general. You need to not only have the education, but put out there your knowledge, because you never know who you don't you don't know what they don't know. That's what I tell my agents all the time, like you can't assume that you know what your customer knows. So even if it's just a friend or family member, you have a conversation about something relevant in the marketplace that's going on, like roofs, getting insurance companies dropping people over roofs. Interest rates going up, buy down rate, two, one, buy down programs, which are huge right now, if you go out into your network, your sphere, your community, and you're educating people on the things that are relevant. You don't know who that might turn into a customer, because they're like, oh, you know what? I read an article about that. Amanda knew that. Oh, yeah, she was talking about that the other day.

Tracy Hayes  43:14  
It's that point of you don't have to be the expert, but just know enough to have a conversation about it. Yeah, understanding. You know, if you listen to bigger pockets, they sell you on that it's not selling. They offer it to you, as well as other podcasts on these that are talking about investment properties, on how to evaluate a property and whether or not it's a good property to buy and rent out. They have spreadsheets that you can just fill in.

Amanda Houser  43:38  
They I have, I don't even know where I got it from, like, four or five years ago that I someone shared in some group I was in this spreadsheet on how to evaluate if it's a good buy or not. And I still have it in my Google Drive, and I still refer to it for my customers and myself personally. And there are so many free resources out there,

Tracy Hayes  43:57  
and so to touch, go back to circle back to what we were having that investment buyer, which there's more. Now, some of them have no experience, but you have a little bit of knowledge, and get a hold of one of these spreadsheets very easily. You're evaluating, you know what the going rent is. You're a real estate agent. You can dig in and find out what's the good areas. And now you sound like an expert. And now you're, you are a unicorn in our marketplace. Because, let me tell you, agents, most of you, I get the calls you hear investment buyer, you're like going the other way because you think it's going to lead you in some more place you didn't know. Listen to a podcast. There are plenty of investment podcasts. These guys will tell you what to do so you sound halfway intelligent to lead your client to the right property that's either going to spin off cash every month or at least break even, and the value the home is going to slowly appreciate. And you know, is there

Amanda Houser  44:50  
any other thing about investors? They don't care what the interest rate is. They're looking at what is, what are they making every year versus what's going out? Are they making a profit? Because they know that. Homes historically are going to continue to appreciate at a slower rate. Okay? So they don't care if the interest rate is three or eight, as long as they're meeting the numbers that are important to them, right? Or they have cash interest rate doesn't matter at all. So investors need to be a huge source for agents. Right now, it's kind of an untapped source

Tracy Hayes  45:21  
that is actually a very brilliant statement, and to someone listening to what she just said, to reword it, if you didn't, they're not worried about the interest rate. If you can show them that, look at, okay, yeah, that's going to be your payment. The interest rate drives what your payments going to be every month. Your cost of that business, because it's a business, it's an investment property. But if I'm getting this much rent, if you're sitting here looking at the interest rate and not looking at what the rent you can get, and hey, I'm still going to make three or $400 a month or whatever it is on that property, you're not worried about the interest rate, you're just worried about getting the property, because I'm going to get that rent and I know the payments going to be here, and I'm going to have a profit, or whatever the appreciation value. I know a lot of people. In the last half a dozen years, we have so many new new construction neighborhoods going up. Yes, get in there early, because that's when you're going to get that price. By the time they finish the project, in most cases, those homes are going for $100,000 more than they were five or six years ago when they started the community. Yeah, you know. And so immediately, I know a lot of people that are savvy real estate agents. They're putting their families into those situations where they're going in, buying that pre, you know, pre construction price. And soon as the house is finished, they got a renter already ready to go, ready to go. And then just so in all times, the question is, time, right? How long do you want investment it's going to turn around? You can sell it in a year for a profit. Or you're like, Hey, I just want to spin off money until I retire 1015, years now, everyone has a different goal. All right, education we talked about, we talked about showing up, right? Without showing up at the office. Important thing, what are, you know, obviously, where you're the broker support you you have a hotline to, you know, Sonny and Ray and the leadership there, but what are some of the things you do to surround yourself with top people in the business?

Amanda Houser  47:07  
So I have been, I was involved in NESPA, SMC for two years, on the Sales and Marketing Council on model meetup, and that was a lot of fun. I've done a lot of new construction in the past. I typically, average close to 40% of my business a year is new

Tracy Hayes  47:23  
construction. Your office is right in the middle of new construction.

Amanda Houser  47:26  
It's right in the middle of it. And so I have averaged, again, about 40% of my business is new build. So I got involved with SMC because of that, and that helped me grow my relationships with the site agents, with the lenders that are partnered with these builders, with independent contractors, and just getting to know the people within the NEFA family, and they provide great education as well. So that's something that really, I think, helped elevate my business.

Tracy Hayes  47:49  
How important is the loan officers? I think, is, I don't know, and people will disagree with me. I personally from NEPA not see unless you are the lender of the builder, or if your builder doesn't have a lender, you're, you know, one of their two or three, whatever preferred people. You know, otherwise, the builders really don't want to talk to a loan officer from you know, if they're not, you know, we're not related. I agree with that. But from a real estate agent standpoint, to know who is to know the vice president or the whatever it is you know that that person, because new construction there's throwing these homes up. These are not custom built homes. They're not people are not spending the extra money for the these are track homes that are going up at a rapid pace, and problems come up. And to be have that inner circle. And anyone listening to you, go get involved with Neff of your real estate agent and get in there and shake hands with some of the builders. Course, right now, they love on you right now. They want, they just want to get, they want to get, they want to take you out the drinks, everything right there. So having those relationships, it's so

Amanda Houser  49:02  
funny, because when I started in this business in Florida, it was, that's how it was, like, I think the first person I met was a site agent that walked into the office and I was on floor duty, and they're like, Oh, here's a bottle of champagne. And like, please bring me all your buyers. Like, I don't even know anything about this yet. And like, they would whine and dine you. And then I have my agents that started in the last two years when builders are like, we're not paying any realtor fees and we're not paying your closing costs, and you're gonna bid highest and best on a lot, and then we'll tell you if you can put the house you want on it, you know? And they're like, builders did what I'm like, no, they used to pay bonuses. They would bring you champagne. They didn't believe it. And so, like, it's funny how the tables have turned so quickly. And believe me, I have some of my favorite site agents that I've worked with for years that I just love dearly, but it's important in you know, the latest DFARS stat that came out, inventory wise, I think it was August 22 was the last one I looked at. Inventory is up in Northeast Florida, 143% so that's a four. That's a big number, right? However, we're still only at like 2.3 months of inventory. So keep in mind, a balanced market is five to six months. So in our area, specifically, new construction is a huge part of our inventory. So you need to know about it, and you need to be networked with these site agents and building those relationships, just like you would with other agents that you're might work a deal with, because it is a huge part of your potential sales.

Tracy Hayes  50:29  
100% having worked with a builder very closely for most of the last three years, I could not understand the common sense of treating the agents the way they were, they weren't in a rush to actually, not that they didn't want to, as they didn't have to.

Amanda Houser  50:47  
Somehow they're great well, because demand was huge, demand was huge,

Tracy Hayes  50:53  
demand was huge. But I would have an agent, you know, they're looking for a certain value of home, you know. And they were thinking more, you know, possibly an existing home. But I look, I look over my builder, I know the fees and so forth. I'm like, You know what? And I would reach out over to the builder side of the building and say, Hey, do we what spec homes do you have? Because they're looking to buy in the St Johns County, because loans fall out, right? And so forth. At that time, was the demand, usually, if a spec home was a home was available is because a loan probably fell out, but they, I'd have to, like, pull it out of them. And then they had, then they did go, here is the turn of the year to just building spec homes, because they could not predict the time for supplies and so forth. So to reach out now and say, here's all our spec homes that are coming online now. They're having to do that. They weren't. It's like they didn't think of doing that before. Why would I? Don't know. I just my psychology major wannabe in me, just

Amanda Houser  51:49  
blows my mind with that. It was very helpful when we were in that situation not so long ago, to be able to pick up a phone and have the cell phone number of a site agent that I've done 20 plus deals with and say, What do you have that's not being marketed? Do you have anything coming out of the ground, right? Tell me anything you can right? Or at least, or,

Tracy Hayes  52:10  
you know, might be coming back online because the loan fell out, exactly? We have a lot of that right now, because, let me tell you, because of interest rate. Yeah, people, they were in January, they built a home. Now the home's finished, and the interest rates have doubled, and they're like, we can't afford this.

Amanda Houser  52:25  
We're seeing people walk away from deposits on builder contracts because the interest rates gone up so much and they didn't have too big of a deposit, and they can turn around and buy a spec with a different builder in the same community that's offering a two, one rate buy down. That's the same square footage, but is 30,000 cheaper than they were under contract. Is there a new customer? Because they're a new customer to that builder? Yeah, we're seeing some of that. Yeah, because they're recouping the cost and the lower interest rate and the price of the house is 40,000 cheaper than six months ago.

Tracy Hayes  52:58  
The important thing is the experience connected real estate agent. Yes, and Amanda, is that a new agent coming on, you can duplicate what you've done. Get out there. Get involved. You show up. Circle yourself with important people. Go to the NEPA events, introduce yourself to those vice president, ask them for their business card, get their cell phone number and have it programmed in your phone.

Amanda Houser  53:22  
Yeah. And conventions, you know, I love the Florida Realtors convention. I have a team out of Orlando I met three years ago, and we meet up every year at convention now and have lunch or dinner, but they're my referral partner down there. You know, it's another income stream of business where I just happen to meet them. We vibed in a session, and three years running, we still meet up. We still send business back and forth. And you know, if you do feel like you're getting stagnant in your local market, look for conventions and conferences outside of your market, because you'll get re inspired, and you'll learn something that maybe isn't in your marketplace yet, but that someone else kind of took the lead, and you can come back and be that pioneer that starts something new in your marketplace.

Tracy Hayes  54:03  
You know, great point. And you're the fact that someone will refer you, you know, they're over in Tampa. Oh yeah, Amanda, son, this my sister or neighbor, one needs to move over to Jacksonville. Job transfer. I know an agent over there. They want to be that influence. And then the fact that you guys actually get along and enjoy having drinks or dinner, lunch or whatever when you're at the thing, that's even better. Yeah, yeah, awesome. All right, I don't think we've talked about this word here, consistency. What are some things that that you've been doing you're if you've got a new agent, your mentor, and you're trying to bring in, what are some things that you've been consistently doing or that you feel moves the needle in your business, no matter how little it is. I don't know something that you have to do. I know you talked about taking your day to get your brain recharged. That's working on you. Personally, you're consistently on that the actual business of moving that needle.

Amanda Houser  55:00  
So with the actual business, I am very big on time blocking and calendars, because I have a busy life. I have two small children, and we're running all over the place, and I have a business that I'm running, and so I am big on time blocking. And one of the things I've taught anyone that's ever worked on my team is you never delete a calendar item. You can move it, because life's going to happen. School's gonna call your kids puking. You gotta go or, you know, you woke up sick. Or this other webinar popped up, and they are only doing it now, and you can do this other task later. So one of the things is, I don't allow deleting off the calendar. We can reschedule it for another time. Especially number one, if it is an income producing item, and those are your things, you need to focus on your income producing tasks at your most efficient part of the day. I'm a five, 6am riser. I am sleeping by 830 if you call me after 830 you're not going to get me and but I am most efficient in those early morning hours. I can go to my office after car line, and I can knock out eight hours of work in those four hours that I have, because that's my most efficient time. So I tried to schedule all of my income producing activities during that timeframe, also, because if I am going to be out showing property or open houses, those are usually evenings or weekends anyway, so my priority needs to be focusing on bringing business. You have to prioritize that, and you have to be consistent. And I can tell you 100% again, I went through burnout a few years ago. The minute you stop being consistent, your business feels it immediately, and it takes a while to get it back so that consistency, I cannot stress enough how important it is for your business.

Tracy Hayes  56:35  
What is your go to prospecting? What prospecting activity do you? Is your love is she's like, Yeah, I love doing this part. And you try to 10x Yep.

Amanda Houser  56:46  
So I have a really big referral sphere based network for my business. So every the first Monday of every month, I send out a CMA and nut sheet to anyone that closed that month ever with me, and I send a little handwritten note anniversary or anniversary month, yep. Like, Hey, can you believe it's been three years since you purchased 123, Main Street? Here's an updated value. In case you need it for any kind of he lock, or if you're thinking about selling, here's an updated value. Can you believe you have $212,000 in equity in three years? Like, I will write, then I will do the calculation of what they paid for it, in that note and send it to them. So you personalize each of these. I do. I personalize the handwritten note, and I send that out on the first Monday of every month for anyone that closed in that month ever with me before, no matter how many years ago it was. And then I again, I like working in investments. So recently, guys, MMT, tax records and MLS. It's part of your dues. You have access to it. It's a great tool for trying to solicit listings. So I love to go back and look at what properties are not owner occupied that were purchased between like 2012 and like 2019 before the market went real crazy, because those guys have a significant amount of equity and cash in and I look for out of town owners, because, again, if they're an investor that they're sitting and holding and rents keep going up. It may be with a property manager. They may not have even thought about this house in the last six years, but if I send them a handwritten note with what their homes valued like. Hey, you may not realize this, but home values are an all time high in Northeast Florida, if your tenant decides not to renew their lease, here's what the current value is. You have about this much equity from the time you purchase it to now and so again, if you put that in front of their face, they're gonna look at it, yep, if they decide to list it a lot of times, they don't call their property manager, because they're like, oh, they only do property management. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but they know that you list and you provided them with some important information.

Tracy Hayes  58:53  
You were, you were the first one. And, I mean, and you could even twist that into, hey, you know, you have so much equity on this right here that you could actually sell that, take that equity and buy two investment properties

Amanda Houser  59:05  
over there and buy two more. Yeah, right. 1031 exchanges are a great opportunity to, I think, people sales from the same customer.

Tracy Hayes  59:14  
You bring up the 1030 ones. 1030 ones are nothing difficult. Guys, some things, they actually have a class on it.

Amanda Houser  59:21  
I took it like two weeks ago.

Tracy Hayes  59:22  
As a lender, they show us their 1031 account is like they get a statement how much money is in it, and they, they the buyer knows how when they need to spend that money by they know they know what to do. So there's nothing really special you have to do just because they're using a 1031 to buy a house. The great thing is, for you as a loan officer or real estate agent, is they got to do in a certain amount of time? Yeah, so they're pressed to go do something.

Amanda Houser  59:47  
If you have investors sitting on an a lot of equity right now, and they're talking about investing again, you need to have that 1031, exchange conversation with them, because more often than not, they can sell that one property. And 1031 exchange it into two. Guess what that means for you as a real estate agent, three transactions, your listing and your it's two sales that you have to identify within less than three months, and the 1031 exchange mediators do pretty much all the work for you. Of course, you still need a basic education on it. You need to understand the process. But you know, again, thinking about working smarter, not harder. Who wouldn't love one customer within three months to give them three transactions?

Tracy Hayes  1:00:27  
Well, turn around, we're kind of beating a dead horse. But if you have that spreadsheet, we're able to you suggest to them, Hey, you know, if you sell that house and you're going to get $250,000 in equity, I can go buy these two other town homes over here, which look at these prices and look at the rents they're getting. I mean, that's a slam dunk. A lot of times, unless someone's had issues in their life, need to sell and just get the cash and then deal with it ever but I mean suggestive selling, and I'm finding that Luke newcomer, he was bringing that up on the podcast I had with him a couple weeks ago where he's literally just knocking on doors and just saying, Hey, you got a beautiful home here. And do you mind to take a look at it and then go and then explain to them what it's valued at. Some of these people like, oh, you know what? Yeah, that might be the push to go do what they really want to do, which was go move somewhere else, right? Because you're now suggestive selling, because they were procrastinating a little bit, yeah, that's lot of great nuggets right there. Lot of great nuggets right there. All right, in your 12 years, what has been your biggest mistake? And from that, when you're talking, when you're training a new realtor, that you would say, Yeah, I've done that did not work for me, I wouldn't recommend it for you, or don't do it

Amanda Houser  1:01:43  
at all. I would say I don't know so much is the biggest mistake. Bigger is not always better. There are ways to scale your business. You know, you have giant teams like Christina Welch is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She I look up to her like I met her through SMC. I feel very privileged to know her. I love to watch her business, and she is incredibly successful. I thought I wanted that type of business until I realized, personally, I didn't, and I actually had to take steps back to rescale my business. And I'm actually happier now with where my business is now than when I was trying to be this big, giant thing in the marketplace, right? So my biggest thing is, don't think you have to be everything else what works for you. Look at your bottom line, right? As far as mistakes like transaction wise caution when you work with friends and family. Okay, you know everyone, my friends and family are going to support me, and that's going to be my first few transactions. Like you, most consumers are highly emotional. In a real estate transaction, your friends and family are very emotional. And then they also, like, look at what you're making, and they're like, they just get weird about it. I don't know how to explain it. It's some phenomenon. But just caution when you work with friends and family, stay very professional. Try to keep the emotion out of it, because they will bring enough of it for you. You know that's that those would be friends and family. I regret.

Tracy Hayes  1:03:17  
I love your analogy about Christina, her personality, how she operates her business. You know, she's gone, you know, and I've talked about on episodes, I've seen her growth, because I've known her since 2009 everything in that business that she has today, and number one is in Jacksonville Business Journal, wasn't, you know, she was always, they were always successful, because you had great people, but people came in the door and out the door now that now she's learned how to keep that team intact, and then she's growing now at exponential things compared to where she was, you know, 10 years ago. Yeah, she's grown into that. But she has a personality. Not everyone has that personality and that focus, and then there's no doubt. And she will tell you she has surrounded herself by top people, yeah, and her core, inner core circle is they're all bought into what she's doing. So it makes life easier, versus, you know, your vice president changing all the time, you know, shit, and it's all on you and the weights on you. And then she has surrounded herself, and everyone's bought in to what she's doing, and her team has grown. But not again, like said, Not forever you have that's just great. You have to check. How is it to you want to see your life in five and 10 years? What do you want to see yourself? You know, doing? People ask me that all the time, I'd love to be going around and doing podcasts at every loan depot location, if loan Depot store, or whatever, whoever I'm working for, and help bring in top agents and introduce them to the company and let them you know you'll go from there and start building relationships. Help other people build relationships by the podcast, because I love doing the podcast. You. I get high on that's my high. So you got to find out what is your high and go after it and exit, and hopefully you can turn it into money. All right? Close, close with our before I do my two minute warning questions, you're the broker, so you're representing United, but you also have your own team within this, right? I do? Yeah, so why? If there's an agent out there right now who's looking, or someone new might be looking in the business, give them the a little sales pitch of united, and then, how's your homes?

Amanda Houser  1:05:32  
Yeah, so united. And again, I'm a creature of habit, so what I love about United is how consistent they are. Okay, these broker owners started this business 15 years ago. They are the exact same leadership team that's always been there, and they started this brokerage when the market started crashing right after so you had established brokerages that were shutting their doors when we had the big crash. These guys figured out a way to not only keep their brand new doors open, but to expand in this marketplace, you know, we have eight offices and around Northeast Florida, and that's huge that not only did they not shut their doors as a brand new business, but they expanded. And so it's one of those things they're able to adapt and leverage their opportunities. And that was a big part of the brand change for us recently is they're leveraging the opportunity that the market is starting to shift. And if they're going to keep talent, they have to make changes and make and provide things that other people aren't right, not only to keep talent, but to attract it. And I wish that they would have been at the United place that they're at now when I first started, even part time, because as a brand new agent, I would have walked into everything I needed without having to spend money on it, or time trying to research it, or sampling this, and then being like that doesn't work out. Let me try this. That stops a lot of your progress. I think it would have

Tracy Hayes  1:07:01  
been such a little bit of a plug and play. Yeah, these you're, if you're an inexperienced agent, you can plug into a system, a process.

Amanda Houser  1:07:09  
Yes, and I, again, creature of habit. I have used the same CRM for years that I pay for out of my own pocket. Okay, I'm giving it up November 1, because United now provides one that meets my standards. Okay, same with my website. I've had my own website. United now provides one that has the features that I want. Right November 1, just between my CRM and my website, I will be saving over $700 a month in business expenses. That's huge, huge, huge, yeah, for me and my team,

Tracy Hayes  1:07:42  
that's car. It's a good car payment, right there. But how's it? I want you to close on you, though. Why? Why in your office there on 210, why? If you're in North in especially north northwest St Johns County, you kind of sometimes want your office because close to home, maybe. But why should they come work directly under you or directly with you?

Amanda Houser  1:08:05  
Yeah, at the end of the day, our we are over communicators on our team, so we track every email, every text message, phone calls. You're never gonna have to reach out to us and wonder what's going on. We send updates every week to our buyers and our sellers. It has summaries of showings and feedback.

Tracy Hayes  1:08:24  
Yeah, 14 there you have some transaction coordinator. I have a

Amanda Houser  1:08:27  
licensed assistant that works four days a week with me in the office. And if I work from home, some days, she will actually come to my house instead of the office, because I work very well with her right there. We accomplish more, we get more done. So I have her four days a week, right?

Tracy Hayes  1:08:43  
So they're supporting your team as well. Absolutely, she's doing helping you fill in the gaps.

Amanda Houser  1:08:48  
Once your new agent takes a lot of the non income producing tasks off my plate. So not only building my business, but as far as my customers, the reason I have such a referral sphere based business is my customers are still working with me. They're not going to get to the point of a contract, and now they're only going to hear from the transaction coordinator. They're still working with me. She may type the email, but I'm going to proof it and send it, and that's just, again, scaling my business. I've been able to increase my volume and increase the amount of business I have coming in because I have such a personalized system in place with my customers,

Tracy Hayes  1:09:22  
which is a huge tip, because, one again, all the top agents, every single one of you, the loan officer, said the same thing, is taking that step to have that assistant that's going to take those non income producing tasks off of your plate, so you can do what makes you money and when you make that leap. So to be with Amanda and understanding she's gone through that already when it's time to do that and what tasks they should be doing, is so important, because I think that that's out there. Everyone has an opinion on it. No one's acting on it. You've got to get you want to play. Again, to brokerages, processes in place, and trust me, that is one of the biggest ones. And when it's time to let someone else do those other tasks, you are, trust me, you are not the best at it. You may think

Amanda Houser  1:10:12  
you are right. You are not, you're good at and know what you're not right.

Tracy Hayes  1:10:15  
If that other person sounds better than you, then you probably need to hire that someone else because they you want them to be focused on that. All right. Two Minute Warning question. We'll wind down here. What is your favorite thing the kids, your family, your favorite and talking about lifestyle Northeast Florida, what is your favorite thing to do in Northeast Florida?

Amanda Houser  1:10:36  
Oh, in Northeast Florida, so

Tracy Hayes  1:10:37  
well, like destiny, world's out.

Amanda Houser  1:10:39  
Oh, yeah, we did that last week. It's a lot. We love to be outside. And so we actually purchased some acreage in South green Cove springs almost two years ago, and we've been in the process of building, and we love to just be outside. I mean, it doesn't matter if we're on the dock fishing, if we're just riding the golf cart around between dee, dee and Papa's house and our house. Or sometimes we'll go out at sunset and look for rabbits and deer and, you know, ride in the tractor. I mean, there's just, there's always something to do. They planted a fairy garden last weekend on the property. I love having that time outside with them. We were in a neighborhood for since they're born, and so it's been really nice because we are so busy with work and school and activities that at the end of the day, my favorite thing in Northeast Florida is when I can go home, away from all the noise and truly have that no iPads, no cable TV, and have that time together as a family, because it does go so fast, right?

Tracy Hayes  1:11:36  
100% and you're over there in a gold mine South green coast. Green Cove is a green Coast brings us, has its hay day several times after World War Two, and it's coming again. Yeah, when that new expressway is connected across there, and you guys are in a great spot, as far as you know, I don't know if it's gonna be quiet. Might be quiet for another five or 10, that's my fear. Yeah, by the time the kids are gone, you might be ready to go somewhere else, but you're in an area where there's no doubt equity growth. So get a hold of Amanda if you want to learn about South green Coast springs and what she's got going over there. Because especially if you're an investor right now, great place to invest in.

Amanda Houser  1:12:15  
North Putnam County, no tax fees. Yeah, you pick up some land cheap and put a spec house, rent it, turn it around and sell it. Put a couple

Tracy Hayes  1:12:23  
manufactured homes on it, yep. So the rent, there's no place to rent, so put a couple minutes single or double wides on there and rent them out, yep, get an income producing property. All right, last question asked on almost every one of my shows, the couple shows I forgot, yeah, is it more important who you know or what you know? And why?

Amanda Houser  1:12:43  
Oh, that's a tough one. I don't know if I have a good answer for that. Part of me is like, who you know is important because, but you can always meet new people too, if you're open to it, right? And then what you know, of course, is important. However, you can always learn more too. So that I really don't know if I have the good answer for that. I mean, evaluating your me, I hate that I don't have a good answer, but I really don't. I think you knowing

Tracy Hayes  1:13:09  
a little bit your career, you ran into some keep it like Sonny and Ray. I mean, obviously you work with Cole for a little bit. Those people kind of showed you what you need to know? Yeah, absolutely, you're incompetent, and you still got to go learn, right? Knowing the people that are going to hopefully avoid the big mistakes, right? Yeah, we're all going to make mistakes. We're all you're not making mistakes. You're not moving forward, but hopefully they're going to show you you know how to avoid their pitfalls and narrow your big mistakes down, right? Yeah, I think I'm

Amanda Houser  1:13:40  
very appreciative of who I know, because, like you said, each of those people have helped grow my career, or restructure my career and give me opportunities. And again, like, I'm very grateful for the people in the industry, like, like, when Cole and I work together, like Christina Welch, that take the time with you. You know, either one of them would have no problem sitting down with any agent, and neither would I. They just have a lot more experience than I do, but none of us would say no to sit down with an agent and give them some advice or talk them through anything, no matter the stage of their career, and that's where who you know does become extremely important.

Tracy Hayes  1:14:19  
Oh man, I appreciate you coming on today. Thank you. This is fun. Yes, yes, when you get sunny on, that's our next goal. Yeah, I have access to his kids. Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna do, we're gonna do that. He's, I sort of said yes already. We need to narrow that down and hopefully get him on. Pretty much in November, I'm already booked out here for restaurants, but thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me.