Shannon Messina: It's How Much You Care | Top St Johns Cty Realtor

REE #286 Transcript

[00:00:00] Shannon Messina: I love real estate because, one, I'm in control of how much money I make. I love that. I never did well with a boss. And all my bosses out there probably have a love-hate relationship with me. They love my performance, but I like to do things my way. And I don't think I could ever be on a team for that exact reason.

Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Today's guest brings New York hustle and heart to the [00:01:00] Florida real estate market. With a background in elite fitness management, education, and real estate investing, she's mastered the art of identifying value and unlocking potential, whether it's in people or properties.

[00:01:11] Tracy Hayes: After flipping homes in New York, she relocated to Florida and has already closed over 10 million in sales just in her first few years. Really this year, as we were just talking about, she's a fierce advocate for families, a sharp negotiator, and someone who understands community from inside out, balancing her real estate hustle with life as a mom of two highly competitive athletes. Whether helping clients find the perfect school district or advising investors, she shows up with passion, insight, and relentless work ethic. Let's welcome Shannon Messina to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast this morning.

[00:01:44] Shannon Messina: Thank you, Tracy. Thank you. Thanks for—

[00:01:46] Tracy Hayes: —having me. I, I love how AI puts that together for me. Oh, it's beautiful. I say this all the time, my, my regular listeners are probably tired of me saying this after I do this, but if you're not using it, you are missing out. And I'm not saying you [00:02:00] might fail in life, I don't think. I think that's the case, but it makes things so much easier. Compile all your information.

Mm-hmm.

And I shove it in there and I say, Hey, tell me it, word it beautifully.

Yeah.

And it words it beautifully, it picks out the key phrases that obviously you put in your bio, right?

Mm-hmm.

And, puts it in there. And, obviously it makes you feel good. And then one of the things I've been doing recently, and I, I'll go through this, to kick us off here a little bit. I asked it, gimme five things that makes Shannon exceptional.

Oh.

And unique. And this is what it told me.

Oh, okay. I'm ready. Lay it on me.

She's a high value achiever, early in her real estate career, right. Obviously the point. Diverse, a diverse professional background that sets her apart. Authentic community roots and family focus. Hyperlocal focus on St. John's County in affluent neighborhoods, which I, I think as we get into discussion today, is probably been part of your success being hyperfocused.

Yeah.

Engaging, consistent social media [00:03:00] branding. You don't agree with that?

[00:03:02] Shannon Messina: Well, I don't like social media. I hate social media actually. And unfortunately with this job I have to aggressively be on it all the time. And it has helped my business a hundred percent.

[00:03:14] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I think for anyone, whether you've been in the business just getting started or you've been in this business 10 years, you've gotta be using some level of social media as part of your, at least your marketing to your circle of influence.

[00:03:29] Shannon Messina: Yeah.

[00:03:30] Tracy Hayes: And keep, just to stay top of mind.

[00:03:33] Shannon Messina: I mean, everyone's on their phone 80% of the day, they're on a device.

[00:03:36] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:03:37] Shannon Messina: So if you're not showing up on their device, you're not relevant, unfortunately. That's just how we've come.

[00:03:45] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, exactly.

[00:03:46] Shannon Messina: It's really sad, but it's how the world is now. Everything's on your phone or on a tablet or on a computer, and that's where people are searching things.

[00:03:53] Tracy Hayes: Well. I agree. I agree with you a hundred percent on that. Because, if you think about it, we're all there. Just whatever [00:04:00] thing we need in life. And a lot of times people just, you know, have a short term memory.

Mm-hmm.

And they just result back, oh, who's the last person that was, you know, hey.

Yeah.

Oh, we need to sell the house. This has come up. Or we're talking about selling the house and the first person they think of is probably the last person they saw talking about real estate. And if you're not that person—

[00:04:20] Shannon Messina: Yeah. If you weren't that realtor that popped up.

[00:04:23] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:04:23] Shannon Messina: Yeah.

[00:04:24] Tracy Hayes: A hundred percent. And then you gotta build the credibility, which I wanna tell everyone they need to be, not only list, obviously you're listening to Shannon today, but you need to go back. My episode that's coming out tomorrow with Jim Cronin. All the real estate agents need to be listening to that and the importance of your website now with AI and so forth. Just to throw that in there.

Yeah.

A little bit. But let's kick off. Shannon, tell us a little bit about, you know, growing up in New York. Yeah, well 18-year-old Shannon, what is she, you know, aspiring to, to be in life? What was your vision at that time?

[00:04:55] Shannon Messina: Well, let's see. My high school year I was very into [00:05:00] sports, volleyball player, basketball player. And my coach in high school told me that I was overweight and slow.

[00:05:08] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:05:08] Shannon Messina: So that brought me to Lucille Roberts, where I ended up meeting my husband.

[00:05:24] Shannon Messina: Okay. Yeah. So I've been with my husband for 20 years. We've been married almost 18. And my two beautiful kids. My whole career has been fitness, based on that one comment to me.

[00:05:24] Tracy Hayes: Is that right? Is that not crazy? That set you off?

[00:05:26] Shannon Messina: I wanted to be a teacher before that. I was like, I'm gonna be a teacher. I wanna be a high school teacher. And once I joined the fitness world, I was like, no, this is where I wanna be. So I became a personal trainer. I worked for New York Sports Club for years and did their learning and development for all their new hires. So I ended up being basically like a trainee. I was training everybody—general managers, sales reps. They wrote some modules after me for sales.

And that's where I think this has helped me in every aspect of real estate—building rapport with people. That [00:06:00] was my whole thing in the fitness world, like you're dealing with vulnerable people. And I feel like real estate is a very transaction—'cause it's a lot of money. It's their prized possession, it's where they're gonna create memories, they're gonna build a family. A lot of people, you know, are spending all their money on the max of what they could afford, and it's a big deal to them. So building rapport with people so they feel like, okay, you're gonna handle this, you're gonna take care of me. You're handling my money and my future.

[00:06:33] Tracy Hayes: Well, I would imagine, and correct me if I'm wrong, I would imagine in the personal training world—

Mm-hmm.

—you may have people that hire you for a couple of sessions and then they're gone.

Yeah.

But that's not really gonna get you very far. It's not gonna help you have some peace of mind of making a living in that industry.

Mm-hmm.

If you're constantly having to, you know, fill in, you know, people every day, 'cause you only get 'em for a couple weeks and they're [00:07:00] gone. And then you gotta, you know, you gotta fill in that time slot and so forth. Where if you're building that rapport, you're being authentic, as we mentioned earlier, to that person—being personable—they wanna see you a few times a week or whatever, you know, in that training world.

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:16] Shannon Messina: I mean, I think that's why I got picked to do some training because I had the most retention. I mean, any clients of mine watching this, I had to part ways 'cause I was moving, or I had to part ways because I had a baby, or I had to part ways because I'm now in Florida. How did I keep my clients for so long? We built this relationship.

And I feel like any sales transaction, you have to build a relationship first in order to succeed and get them to where they want to go. You can't just bypass everything and "I'll find you a house." You need to know what their future goals are, where they want to go, what they're looking for, what does their family life look like, so you can make sure that they're happy where you put them.

So I feel like with any sale, [00:08:00] you really need to build rapport with that client first and get to know them before you can take any step on selling them anything.

[00:08:05] Tracy Hayes: Are you doing that—I think it comes natural to some people where, you know, I call it the gift of gab. You know, blah, blah, you know, they just start talking and asking questions and it just goes, goes back and forth.

Mm-hmm.

And it just naturally happens. Or are you measuring yourself? Are you going in there a little bit and going, okay, I need to put on my gift of gab face and I need to start talking, whether it's about real estate or anything. I need to actually start a conversation to open this can up and let these people spill out to me. And that way we can start building. Are you consciously thinking about it, or does it just kind of naturally flow with you?

[00:08:42] Shannon Messina: So I feel like when I teach this to somebody in a sales course, it could come off so phony and not genuine, and it'll never work for them. I have this curse where I think I overshare. So when I'm oversharing and expressing my own personal struggles [00:09:00] and my own things that I'm going through that maybe relate to them, it just allows this comfortability that we can open up to each other and really get to the bottom of whatever it is they're looking for.

Right.

So I don't know if it's a gift. I think it's more of me just being that person that has always naturally—

[00:09:18] Tracy Hayes: —inquisitive.

Yeah.

Of their—'cause I, you know, I’m talking to agents all the time and, you know, they call me about their transactions and "this is what I'm do," and I think this is what separates some of 'em. They don't go deeper on some of the statements that customers say.

Mm-hmm.

Because they're saying something to us and it may not be actually, you know, what their challenge is. Or they're spilling out words to us. But we've gotta really—what does that mean to them? Yes, we hear something, but what does it actually mean to them is more important. We've gotta go a little deeper on something.

'Cause I'll, I'll come back and say, okay, well, you know. They told me this and then there's a— "Well, they told me…" No, it's 'cause you didn't go deep enough to understand [00:10:00] what they actually told you. You heard something, but because you didn't ask the next question, you didn't get the meaning of what they said.

[00:10:06] Shannon Messina: Because I think people aren't really listening. They're focusing more on their next question.

[00:10:12] Tracy Hayes: Yes.

[00:10:12] Shannon Messina: They're focusing on what they wanna say next rather than taking it and feeding off what they're being given. Like, use the resources that they're opening up and saying to then ask your next question. Don't have a script.

[00:10:24] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:10:24] Shannon Messina: Let's let this conversation go wherever it needs to go based on what they're giving you.

[00:10:29] Tracy Hayes: I think if they—you know, we see these scenes on TV or in movies where the psychologist is sitting there and the person's, you know, laid back in the chair and they're asking questions and the psychologist is very patient.

Mm-hmm.

You know, asks the question and really sits back and waits to see what, how they react, how fast they react, what they say.

[00:10:50] Shannon Messina: Yeah. Therapists really say very little.

Yes.

It's almost like you are giving yourself the therapy in a therapy session.

[00:10:56] Tracy Hayes: Right. And that is really a key of [00:11:00] what you're doing in real estate. Yeah. You've gotta be opening because of all the reasons why people move. We like to assume and go, right, oh, they're moving because, you know, they're changing jobs. Well, why are they changing jobs? Right?

[00:11:13] Shannon Messina: Mm-hmm. Do they lose their job or—yeah. They're not making enough money? Their financial situation change? Are they getting divorced? Like there's so many sensitive topics—

[00:11:23] Tracy Hayes: Yes.

[00:11:24] Shannon Messina: —that come up with moving.

[00:11:23] Tracy Hayes: So I feel like you really need to be that person that they can trust and be comfortable with.

[00:11:29] Tracy Hayes: Do you find most clients, you know, that you've been working with after they warm up, after you have some of those, even questions have nothing to do with real estate, all of a sudden it starts to spill out?

[00:11:39] Shannon Messina: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like I, I've—the craziest transaction. Can I go off script here?

Yeah, yeah, of course. There's no script here.

So I'm in my second year of real estate. I did this solely because—well, we left New York because our business completely crumbled during COVID.

Mm-hmm.

So we basically had to start [00:12:00] fresh. And I flew out here by myself and I put an offer on a house, and I went home and I said, "Pack up. We're moving to Florida." My husband always wanted to move to Florida, but my whole family—we're Italian. My whole family's in New York. They're like, "You're not leaving with the only grandkids we have."

Mm-hmm.

And I'm like, ah, I had my own reasons why I had to leave New York. And we made this big drastic decision and moved out here, and it was the best decision we've ever made.

But where was I going with this? Oh, so we had to start new careers.

[00:12:36] Tracy Hayes: Yes.

[00:12:36] Shannon Messina: Yeah. We dropped everything that we were doing, all of our investments. They shut us down in New York. We had to start over.

[00:12:36] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:12:36] Shannon Messina: So we came out here and I'm like, you know what? I've—you know, every house we've ever bought, I get bored easily. So it's like I would buy a house, I'd renovate it, sell it for a huge profit, get a bigger house. Now I have more money to put down on a house. I did it. I did it like seven times. And eventually we got to that million dollar home 'cause we profited over and over and over again on all the homes that we bought and sold.

And I was like, you know what? I need to get [00:13:00] more into real estate. I love sales, I love people. I need to keep busy. I can't just be a stay-at-home mom. That's never who I was.

Mm-hmm.

And my husband's like, "I've been telling you for years to do real estate. Do it." So we came out here, I got my license, studied my butt off, and I was like, oh my God, this is really hard. Nobody knows me. My reputation is in New York, right? Like, unless I'm getting a buyer who wants to move where I just moved.

Right?

None of these people know who I am. I'm this New Yorker.

[00:13:25] Tracy Hayes: Which there’s a lot of us here, there’s a lot.

[00:13:28] Shannon Messina: I know! I have my phone number on the back of my truck, 516. And I've actually gotten business from that 'cause fellow New Yorkers are like, all right, I'll trust you. You're from New York.

But anyway—

[00:13:36] Tracy Hayes: That could work both ways.

[00:13:37] Shannon Messina: I know, definitely could work both ways. So nothing was really happening. I had somebody from New York reach out to me that was actually a security guard at my kids' kiddie care that reached out to me and was like, "Hey, I saw you're doing real estate in Florida. We're interested in moving to Florida. Can we go check out?"

So they flew out. I toured them through a for-sale-by-owner home that had cameras up and I'd only done a few [00:14:00] transactions at that point. And the seller called me and said, "I really liked the way you presented my house. I watched you."

[00:14:09] Tracy Hayes: That was something—you’re gonna say that you said something.

[00:14:11] Shannon Messina: Yeah. Well, yeah. This could have went bad too, 'cause I am sometimes brutally honest.

[00:14:16] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:14:17] Shannon Messina: But that seller asked me to re-list their home. They had a hard time selling it for sale by owner. And based on how I did on touring my clients, they asked me to re-list it. So I listed the home, found out that they were parting ways and they needed homes. So got them into homes. And then a year later, his mother-in-law needed a home. So it was like that one transaction—

Mm-hmm.

—turned into so many transactions, and it was all word of mouth and referrals and how I handle my business. And I think referrals, building relationships—

[00:14:50] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:14:50] Shannon Messina: This whole thing's gonna be about relationships for me. Watch. Yeah. Building relationships is what gets you to that next step.

[00:14:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:14:58] Shannon Messina: People talk.

[00:14:59] Tracy Hayes: Obviously [00:15:00] you stayed in touch with this person.

Yeah.

Because it was what, a year?

[00:15:03] Shannon Messina: I love them. They're like my—one of my favorite clients.

[00:15:06] Tracy Hayes: Right. Having been a business owner, now you jump into real estate, I think one of the biggest mistakes—and even some of the, some top agents now, now there's many agents I think have failed and gone to the wayside, so we never heard them say this—but one of the biggest mistakes they did is really staying on top of, you know, getting out to as many people as possible.

But every client that you actually work with, you have to treat as, I call it, a billboard. You really have—they are your marketing person. They're free—

[00:15:37] Shannon Messina: Free marketing.

[00:15:38] Tracy Hayes: Free.

[00:15:39] Shannon Messina: Yeah.

[00:15:39] Tracy Hayes: And did you come in with that sort of conscious, or is it just starting to flow with you and now obviously you're thinking—'cause you're talking about it—that you're starting to build there? Or did you kind of kick off your business with this kind of mindset?

[00:15:51] Shannon Messina: I think I've always had this in the back of my head. Like with personal training, with sales, with running a gym, I got referral business all day long. That's [00:16:00] pretty much how I did it.

Mm-hmm.

A lot of people—the fitness industry—outside prospecting, like you have to go out and hunt for your people to come in and bring them in. And that is true. But I really never had to do that. I never had to go out and hunt for food.

Right.

I always—the people that came in front of me, I held onto them and I really made sure I took care of them start to finish. And that is what brought other people in.

[00:16:24] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. You, you wowed 'em. I always liked that saying, you know, does the falling tree in the woods make noise if no one's there to hear it? And I say that because I think a lot of people don't understand—you know, they don't know if that person that you're treating really well, this customer—

Mm-hmm.

—are they actually going out and talking about you?

Right.

Or you don't know because you're not there to hear them talking about you.

Yes.

But if you're giving them all the special service, whatever you wanna do, call it, going above and beyond, all those things—all those phrases you want to use—

Yeah.

—they are almost forced [00:17:00] to talk about you because you've become part of them. And now they're, because you're pouring into so much into them, they're thinking about you a lot of times. So someone said anything about fitness, it was then, "You gotta call Shannon."

[00:17:12] Shannon Messina: Well, this is not a me business. I could not be where I am without all the people that have come my way.

Mm-hmm.

And my path—friends, family, just new acquaintances—they're the ones that are making my business thrive. They constantly have been in support. Anyone that has trusted me to help them with real estate, they have been my cheerleader.

Mm-hmm.

They have, from start to finish, have brought me, you know, new people, talked about me to anyone that they knew in their family, and it's just led to more business. And I really could not have done it without any of my customers.

[00:17:45] Tracy Hayes: Right. How many, how many of you moved from New York that were in your general area or some, um, some part of your—whether you knew them directly or they were part of your, or knew somebody in your circle of influence in New York?

[00:17:57] Shannon Messina: So I would say I've now—six families from New York.

[00:18:00] Yeah. I've moved and/or they're building and they're almost done.

[00:18:03] Tracy Hayes: That either knew you or knew someone that knew you.

Yes.

[00:18:06] Shannon Messina: Friends of friends or social media acquaintances.

Right.

Or someone who was on a Freedom Mom group, someone I went to high school with that I haven't spoken to since high school.

Right.

And they were like, oh, someone I went to school with on this, like, Freedom page—"Oh, moved to St. John's County, call her." I was like—and they called me and they're like, "Oh, someone that you went to high school with told me to reach out." And we got 'em a house.

So it's like, it's wild—

Yeah.

—how word of mouth, how social media works too.

[00:18:33] Tracy Hayes: Well, I often think if I didn't have social media, would I know where so-and-so is in their life right now?

No.

You know what I mean? How that's actually made the world that much smaller.

Yeah.

From that aspect. Are you doing anything, or maybe even have visions of maybe something to do? Because I, I think the one area that I'd like to get into is more of the Facebook targeted marketing.

Mm-hmm.

'Cause obviously the stats are there [00:19:00] that the people who are moving to Florida, besides people from Duval County moving to St.—

[00:19:24] Shannon Messina: I haven't had like a strategic marketing plan. I've been using an amazing photographer, Elise. I love her. And we've been just doing these little social reels that I do with every listing, and I post those and do all the hashtags that you're supposed to do, and they make their way to tons of views. 'Cause I've just stayed on top of it.

[00:19:43] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:19:43] Shannon Messina: And those are hitting New York people, and I'm getting calls and, "Oh, we saw, you know, that home."

[00:19:48] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I was just wondering if you put a little fuel on the fire by directing it, how much, actually, that would change the amount of calls. 'Cause you're naturally getting the calls 'cause you have a lot of friends already up there.

Yeah.

And it's going through them from that [00:20:00] standpoint. Let's step back. So you moved down here, were you already thinking about—was real estate on when you're making the move? Real estate's like, that's what I'm gonna get into first? Or you get here and start to kind of see the lay of the land and then say, Hey, maybe real estate is where I need to go?

[00:20:14] Shannon Messina: I registered for my test before officially moving down here. We found a house down here first, obviously, and then once we were under contract, I was like, what am I gonna do when we get there?

[00:20:24] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:20:24] Shannon Messina: I started studying for my course. Also, right before I moved here, I had eye surgery. I had a brain lipoma that they discovered during COVID.

[00:20:24] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[00:20:24] Shannon Messina: And at that time, you had to go to the doctor by yourself. I was like, you couldn't have any support.

[00:20:39] Tracy Hayes: You didn’t.

[00:20:40] Shannon Messina: I had these headaches. I was losing vision. Twenty-five MRIs later by myself, they're like, "All right, it's not cancerous, but it is taking your vision." I'm like, oh, great. Awesome. So I was a TA at the time in the kids' school, and I had—I couldn't drive anymore, like my vision was deployed, getting that bad.

Yeah.

It was so bad. I couldn't drive. So being very [00:21:00] active, having to be in front of people during a time of COVID and masks and whatnot, I was now stuck home. Then my kids were stuck home and I just felt like our whole lives were spiraling in a direction I didn't want it to go. So I had surgery. At this point, I could see, but it was a struggle.

[00:21:17] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:17] Shannon Messina: And it would get worse throughout the day. Stress, being tired, whatever. I had surgery and it made it a hundred times worse, but I couldn't see at all.

[00:21:34] Tracy Hayes: Oh my goodness.

[00:21:35] Shannon Messina: And this was after we had decided to move to Florida. So here I'm moving outta state, leaving my family, and I can't see. I couldn't see for nine months.

[00:21:34] Tracy Hayes: Oh my goodness gracious. Yeah.

[00:21:35] Shannon Messina: I took my real estate license with a pirate patch. My eyes couldn't focus. They were—one was down inside my socket.

Right.

And I literally, with a pirate patch, studied for my exam with one eye and took my test with one eye, passed. And then I was like, I don't—I can't even go into the public. I look like a Cookie Monster. It was really, really hard. I had another surgery with a doctor [00:22:00] here in Florida, Dr. Dss, and she saved my vision. I have 20/20 vision. I can see straight.

[00:22:06] Tracy Hayes: Wow. That's awesome.

[00:22:06] Shannon Messina: So I feel like after not being able to do anything for so long, that maybe my hustle is coming from my view of life. Yeah. Which is—it's too short. Like, get out there and do what you wanna do.

[00:22:22] Tracy Hayes: Right. I can't imagine—I just, when you said nine months without really being able to see, I've often thought about saying, man, what if—how do people that are born blind—like, I mean, 'cause I'd never seen something to be able to, like, even visualize what we're—you know, there's a street. Well, they never even seen the street before. They don't know what a curb—when you say curb, what's a curb?

Yeah.

What, a sidewalk? What, you know—all these things that we take for granted with sight. And then to lose it for nine months—

[00:22:48] Shannon Messina: I mean, we're talking about—and you got kids, cooking dinner, like cabinets, like reaching for things that you can't see and trying to figure out, like—and then my husband took a new job.

[00:22:59] Tracy Hayes: Because we moved out here. So he’s—he was [00:23:00] living—

[00:23:00] Shannon Messina: In another state.

[00:23:01] Tracy Hayes: Oh my God.

[00:23:01] Shannon Messina: So now I have no family. I have my two young kids. I'm in a new state and I can't see. It was like—I couldn't drive half the day. Like, I would have these moments where they would focus, but I couldn't drive.

Right.

You know, my kids around.

[00:23:14] Tracy Hayes: Oh my goodness.

[00:23:14] Shannon Messina: It was brutal. So I think when things kind of worked out for me with my vision, I was like, I'm not taking life for granted. I'm doing what I wanna—

[00:23:24] Tracy Hayes: Do. Well, I'm glad you bring this. This is a—and I, I hadn't built this in, but it's been something I do recently. 'Cause eventually I am going to write a book on the—'cause you're episode 286.

[00:23:52] Shannon Messina: I love that word, grit.

[00:23:53] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, you need to pick up the book by Angela Duckworth. It's really good. Everyone has grit at a certain level in their life. Obviously we're talking about real estate [00:24:00] agents, so I'm focused on that. And obviously the best ones have some level of grit. This obviously sets you back and when you came out of it and got your sight back, you had a little—you had a different vision on life and what you—

[00:24:11] Shannon Messina: Yeah.

[00:24:12] Tracy Hayes: —were going to do. But now you obviously start real estate and I know everything has not been sunshine and roses.

[00:24:20] Shannon Messina: No. Oh my God. Yeah. My life is full of obstacles and I feel like they're thrown my way for a reason.

[00:24:27] Tracy Hayes: Exactly.

[00:24:28] Shannon Messina: I do. I keep throwing them.

[00:24:29] Tracy Hayes: I tell myself that all the time.

[00:24:30] Shannon Messina: Yeah.

[00:24:31] Tracy Hayes: And I have—what are you trying to tell me now?

[00:24:33] Shannon Messina: I actually got an award from my tennis team that I'm on. My award was like, "These things only happen to Shannon." Like, if you go hiking with me, we will encounter a bear. Like, that's just the way things go for me. And I'm okay with it.

[00:24:47] Tracy Hayes: I don't dunno, a bear or a rattlesnake, which is worse.

[00:24:51] Shannon Messina: But yeah. No, I am glad you're writing a book about grit. I think grit is—

[00:24:55] Tracy Hayes: Well specifically in this thing, so I call it LLC. You gotta have your [00:25:00] LLC. And what I mean by that is you gotta love and you gotta have some laughter. And what I mean by laughter is we get punched in the gut. We fall on our face for different things in life.

Mm-hmm.

Obviously your setback with your eyes and so forth, you know, you kind of probably felt like—you know, I'm sure a lot of times were really depressed 'cause you couldn't see.

Oh, yeah.

You know, and you fought through it. And now, I wanna say I wouldn't laugh about the sight thing, but in real estate and business, we're thrown a curveball. Deal goes sideways. All of a sudden people, you know, say, "Oh no, I don't wanna list my house anymore." The buyer says, "Hey, I went to the builder and I didn't mention you, and you're not getting cut in." You know, that kind of stuff going on.

And you get those setbacks. Or a good friend goes and uses a different realtor. That's another one, right?

Yep.

And we laugh about that now.

Mm-hmm.

We're really hurt at the time and really punches the gut, and we're like, why are we even doing this? But now, you know, cocktail parties or on a podcast we talk [00:26:00] about it and laugh about it.

Yeah.

You know, that type of thing. And then C—being consistency. So the LLC. Tell me why you love real estate.

[00:26:06] Shannon Messina: I love real estate because, one, I'm in control of how much money I make. I love that. I never did well with a boss. And all my bosses out there probably have a love-hate relationship with me. They love my performance, but sometimes they just—I like to do things my way.

[00:26:24] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:26:25] Shannon Messina: And I don't think I could ever be on a team for that exact reason. I thought about that. I'm like, oh, am I getting really busy? Like, I don't even have a transaction coordinator. I like to do everything myself, start to finish. And that's probably a good thing and a bad thing. I'll never take on more than I can handle.

I don't do this for the money. I do it 'cause I really do, I really do love it.

[00:26:43] Tracy Hayes: Well the money—the money is a nice reward.

[00:26:46] Shannon Messina: A hundred percent.

[00:26:47] Tracy Hayes: 'Cause obviously it makes it easier for the kids. Go on vacation, go out to dinner when you want to go out, you know, not gotta think about it.

Mm-hmm.

[00:26:52] Shannon Messina: Yeah. But I think I do this because I'm in control of my schedule, for the most part. I make myself available 24/7, so that's a [00:27:00] lie. I don't know why I said that. Actually, that schedule—24/7 schedule—is my, yeah. I do it for the schedule to work around the clock.

I have clients that text me at 11 o'clock at night, 12 o'clock at night. And I'm available. Listen, I'm gonna get paid quite a big chunk of money. I need to be available if you have a question.

[00:27:16] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:27:16] Shannon Messina: So why I love real estate—it would be for me being in control of my future. Being able to be out in the field and talking to people, 'cause I am a people person. I am a social butterfly, so I definitely need to be out there.

I think one of the top reasons I like it is because it makes me uncomfortable.

[00:27:35] Tracy Hayes: I—

[00:27:35] Shannon Messina: I like to do things that make me uncomfortable. I've never been on a podcast. I think I hyperventilated before coming here, but I love that feeling of putting myself in a position that's really uncomfortable and then—

[00:27:48] Tracy Hayes: —doing well. Do you think that comes from the training aspect of your life, where you were—you obviously had to keep yourself fit, but then you were pushing others to do stuff that they wouldn't normally do [00:28:00] themselves?

[00:28:00] Shannon Messina: Yeah. I think that absolutely could be playing a huge part in that. Yeah. It holds me accountable too.

[00:28:15] Shannon Messina: I think that's what I liked about personal training is—I can't go around and tell you what to do if I'm not gonna physically do it myself.

[00:28:15] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:28:15] Shannon Messina: So it held me accountable to wanna stay in shape, want to eat healthy, wanna be a good model to my kids. I feel like that's with any business, like I can't go and tell you how to spend your money in real estate unless I'm actively being smart with my investments as well.

[00:28:32] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:28:32] Shannon Messina: So I practice what you preach. Yeah. So, yeah, no—love real estate for sales. I love it for the people aspect. I love it for the control of my own future. And it's fun.

[00:28:44] Tracy Hayes: Do you get a—do you get a little high off, you know, 'cause obviously you're making marketing decisions, you're doing this, and when you do something, whether it's just hold a really great open house or whatever, and you get that feedback, or obviously you're able to get a deal from something you do—

Mm-hmm.

—do you kind of get a high? 'Cause it [00:29:00] was like, yeah, that was my idea.

[00:29:02] Shannon Messina: Yeah. I mean, I'd be lying if I—no, I think we all—I mean, everyone—

[00:29:07] Tracy Hayes: Likes their idea to be successful.

[00:29:09] Shannon Messina: Yeah. And I think pride. Pride, of course, is, you know, a sin we all have. But like I do—I like to have pride in what I'm doing. Yeah. I do like to feel good if I have a success story. I broke some records recently in St. John's Golf with selling at the highest per square foot.

Mm-hmm.

And it felt really good. I went on that listing appointment and I'm like, that's a—they wanted to sell their house at that number. And I'm like, yeah, you know what, if I lived here and I did the work that you did to the home—and I've done that with my own homes. I've had—the very first time I sold my very first home we bought, I sold it for a hundred thousand more than we bought. And I maybe put 15,000 into it.

And I wanted to sell 'cause I wanted a bigger home. And I interviewed a real estate agent and she was like, "You're not—you can't sell your house for that much."

Yeah.

So I listed it with her for what she told me to sell it [00:30:00] for. And I saw her just kind of like standing there and letting people tour themselves. And I was like, I could do this. Like, why am I hiring you and I'm paying you and I'm selling it for less than what I think it's worth?

So after our contract was up, I listed it for 50,000 higher than what she told me I could sell my house for, and I sold it for 10,000 over ask. So I'm like—for sale by owner, didn’t have to pay anybody. Sorry, I'm—I’m probably ruining my own business here. But, um—

[00:30:29] Tracy Hayes: Well not everyone has that talent, and I'm gonna—that’s why I was just writing a note down 'cause I wanna make sure I go back.

[00:30:33] Shannon Messina: Selling—go deeper—selling a house as if it were your own.

[00:30:36] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:30:37] Shannon Messina: I go on the mindset of my client. What do you love about your home? What did you do to your home? Why do you think your home is worth that? And I will push that on every person I tour your home to—

Mm-hmm.

—if I believe it too. And I did in this instance. I was like, yeah, this is well above market value, but yeah, you have a one-of-a-kind home and people will see that. So I pushed it and we got it.

[00:30:57] Tracy Hayes: We're gonna go—well, I'll go back to the laughter [00:31:00] part here 'cause I wanna dig into this part that you just brought up, since it's top of mind. So many people get out, they get a listing appointment, and maybe a lot of times sometimes they're laydowns because, hey, my girlfriend told me to use you, so here's my house, sell it.

Mm-hmm.

And they don't take the time to actually do what you said—have that person sell it to you. Or, I had a great agent on—and I apologize for not remembering, it was one of the, in the last three or four episodes—where, you know, walking the sellers through their own house.

[00:31:30] Shannon Messina: Yeah.

[00:31:31] Tracy Hayes: And, you know, especially if they need some little TLC that needs to be done before obviously listing it, and going, what do you see here? What would a potential buyer see here? And really going deep into it so you can turn around and show the house. So tell us a little bit about your mindset when you have someone—a buyer. Obviously a lot of times the listing agent doesn't always have a chance to actually show the house, but obviously you could always prep. Like in my—

[00:31:58] Shannon Messina: Open houses or if I have my own [00:32:00] buyer I could bring to my listing. Like I've represented buyers and sellers on the same transaction many times now.

[00:32:06] Tracy Hayes: Oh, okay. Yeah. That's gravy right there.

[00:32:09] Shannon Messina: Yeah, that's super. And I've now done it three times this year. And it's because I feel like the trust factor, of course. They need to trust me to handle both sides.

Mm-hmm.

But I'm also giving facts like, this is what I learned about this home. This is why they love it. This is why it's priced the way it is. Do you see the value? Do you like what they did to the home? Like, if you're gonna go in and change everything, then maybe this isn't the home for you. Right? We're not gonna offer 50,000 less because you wanna change everything about the home.

[00:32:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Go find a different home. Go find a different home.

[00:32:38] Shannon Messina: So, yeah, no, I feel like you really need to know what they love about their home, what they did to their home, for you to sell it.

[00:32:44] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:32:45] Shannon Messina: Like—

[00:32:47] Tracy Hayes: They just spent so many years there, so they know all the nooks and crannies that you may—that you may just walking in the first time, second time, whatever, walking through—you might miss.

Oh, yeah.

That they didn't realize that they felt, [00:33:00] hey, the way this is set up, their outdoor kitchen or whatever it might be, is so convenient. To bring those little things up or phrases or things to point out to a potential buyer. Like you said, you've been fortunate to get both sides of the deal. Every agent would love to have both sides of every deal they did.

Right.

Yeah. They don't even have to do half as much.

[00:33:17] Shannon Messina: Those happened because they came to the open house, didn’t have an agent, and I sold them the home during the open house.

[00:33:23] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:23] Shannon Messina: Because I really show pride like as if I was selling my own home. Yeah. When I'm touring someone around my open house, I'm touring them like, this is my home. This is why it's the one for you, why you need to buy it.

[00:33:34] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:33:35] Shannon Messina: So yeah, I like—

[00:33:36] Tracy Hayes: I like that. I like that phrase and I hope we pick it up on a short, what you just said. "I show the houses like it's my own." Yes. That's important.

[00:33:43] Shannon Messina: Well, this is—that's why I got into real estate, because I had so much success selling my own homes in New York. Like I did this, this, this, and like I staged it and I painted, and it's furnished a certain way. Maybe it's not worth, you know, if you go price per square foot and what's sold in the neighborhood, but it [00:34:00] presents in such a different light based on people liking what I did to it, that it does sell. Because people sometimes don't have that vision to get the home to look the way that one of my homes looked like.

[00:34:11] Tracy Hayes: I was having an interesting conversation with Michelle Trimble. She's big on open houses. She, you know, she's very fortunate to be—do a lot of sales out in the Ponte Vedra Beach area.

Mm-hmm.

So, high price point. She likes to have champagne and everything at her open houses.

Yeah.

She puts on a show. What do you think are—what are some things that you're doing at your open houses to not only physically, but also starting from the greeting coming in? Because I think, having been in sales and having worked retail before myself, it's very important when you—when someone walks in your—the door of your business—

Mm-hmm.

[00:34:48] Shannon Messina: —is—

[00:34:49] Tracy Hayes: —that five-second rule, right?

Yeah.

Immediately you just disarm them and make them feel comfortable.

[00:34:53] Shannon Messina: Okay. So I've done some fun, funky open houses. I've had coffee trucks. I've [00:35:00] had ice cream before school—ice cream truck parked in the front.

Yeah.

[00:35:04] Tracy Hayes: Before school?

[00:35:05] Shannon Messina: Like, before school started.

[00:35:07] Tracy Hayes: Are you talking physically in the hours of the day or you're talking about before—I mean, like in the summertime?

[00:35:11] Shannon Messina: Well, during the summertime.

Okay.

It was a week—I did an open house a week before school started.

[00:35:15] Tracy Hayes: I thought you were out there at 7:30 in the morning.

[00:35:17] Shannon Messina: No, no, no. I mean, I'm good. I'm not that good. Um—but like, I'll feed off of the environment, the home. I did a Margaritaville open house recently, and I did that because the home had these amazing Margaritaville vibes, so I'm gonna play that up. So, yeah, we served margaritas and Crystal Burgers, and it was an amazing turnout.

So yeah, I think themed open houses are important. Feeding off of what the house is giving off for the open house too.

Mm-hmm.

Like some houses that I have that are very bougie and high-end—like yeah, we're gonna have truffles and champagne at this one.

Right.

We're gonna give you a vibe when you come in.

[00:35:54] Tracy Hayes: You gave me—you gave me an idea. 'Cause I think about it, you know, in St. John's Golf, the kids all, you know, go to [00:36:00] the bus stop, right?

Mm-hmm.

There's a pile of golf carts and parents dropping them off or whatever. And there's just this group there. I'm like—if you had an open house on that street or, you know, very close to that bus stop, to go there with coffee in the morning, your little coffee van—

So smart.

And talk. Because—have you found—you’ve done very well in St. John's Golf, where we both live—it's very much like many of the other subdivisions in St. John's County. People move in there because they have a friend or family member already in the neighborhood.

Oh yeah.

[00:36:34] Shannon Messina: I feel like that's our neighborhood. It's very—when you're in there, you don't wanna leave there.

[00:36:39] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:36:39] Shannon Messina: People move within the neighborhood a lot, but they bring other people to live in their neighborhood too. Because people come to visit 'em.

Yeah.

And they see, like, what an amazing community it is.

[00:36:49] Tracy Hayes: And they sell it. They brag about it.

[00:36:51] Shannon Messina: Yeah. They already did half the work.

[00:36:53] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, exactly. You know what—alright, who should we use to find a home in there, right?

[00:36:55] Shannon Messina: Right.

[00:36:55] Tracy Hayes: When you got a new listing, are you doing anything to the [00:37:00] immediate area that—to go off what we just talked about—to try to recruit some of those people who are already your own houses around to recruit this buyer in for you?

[00:37:07] Shannon Messina: Yeah. Bring your own—you know, pick your own neighbor.

Mm-hmm.

Like, who do you want to move into your neighborhood?

[00:37:12] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:37:12] Shannon Messina: Like, this is your opportunity to talk to your friends and family.

[00:37:15] Tracy Hayes: Are you doing some sort of just—are you doing a mailer, or are you just doing some flyers? What do you do?

[00:37:20] Shannon Messina: No, I—um, I have not paid for like real marketing.

Mm-hmm.

It's just conversation.

Okay.

Like—and your wife does an amazing holiday party every year. That's how I met—ha, I mean, I moved here and knew nobody.

[00:37:33] Tracy Hayes: Right. You know, and again—

[00:37:34] Shannon Messina: Me loving that uncomfortableness, I'm like, yeah, I've never lived in a community in New York.

[00:37:56] Shannon Messina: Like I barely spoke to my neighbor in New York. Sorry, but I didn't. Yeah. So now I'm like in this community where everybody knows who I was before I even moved into the home somehow. And she threw that Christmas party and I'm like, I'm gonna be uncomfortable. I'm gonna go. We had to stand up and say who we are, where we're from with our white elephant gift.

[00:37:56] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[00:37:57] Shannon Messina: I met so many amazing women. I made so many [00:38:00] good friends from that one event. So I'm like, that is what I need to do. I need to put myself out there. I need to talk to people, communicate, make connections with people. And that works well for—it works well for my kids, that's how they met friends. It works well for getting my kids into sports, 'cause I learned where to send my kids to sports. Really leaning on other people and making connections with other people helps every aspect of your life. You can't do this all.

[00:38:23] Tracy Hayes: I'm gonna cut that out, what you just said about the Christmas party, for her. Okay. I'm gonna cut that outta here so she could use it for advertising this year for any of the new moms that have moved into the neighborhood.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Because I think any and all that participate—'cause there's other women that do other things during the course of the year—Jen's just like tried to just corner that thing to be her, the Christmas one.

I love it.

So let's go back to—we got why you love real estate. Tell us about a situation that really challenged you since you've been in the business where, I mean, you were like, oh my, am I really doing the right thing? Do I really wanna do real estate? Has there been a [00:39:00] transaction? Is there something that's happened that's kind of really just kind of punched you?

[00:39:03] Shannon Messina: Yeah. We all make mistakes. I definitely have made a mistake on a transaction.

Mm-hmm.

And I owned it and I took care of it. It was over a refrigerator. In New York, you leave your washer, dryer, and refrigerator. Here in Florida—

[00:39:19] Tracy Hayes: Unless you state—unless—

[00:39:21] Shannon Messina: —you state otherwise. But nobody would think to like, "I'm taking my washer and dryer with me," or "I'm taking my refrigerator." But that is something very common here, where people take their refrigerator, washer, and dryer with them. So I got a listing and, you know, wasn't thinking much about this refrigerator situation, and they put in there that they were taking it.

[00:39:39] Tracy Hayes: 'Cause isn’t the—isn’t the—basically if what you see, they expect to get, even the ceiling fans, unless you state that that's not staying.

Yes.

Right?

[00:39:47] Shannon Messina: So I represented the buyer on this transaction too, and the refrigerator—I put in there that they were taking it.

[00:39:56] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:39:57] Shannon Messina: But then I didn't disclose that to my buyer.

[00:39:59] Tracy Hayes: [00:40:00] Oh. So now—

[00:40:00] Shannon Messina: —come walkthrough, the refrigerator's not there. And I'm like, no. And they thought like that the seller was being shady, scrupulous.

[00:40:07] Tracy Hayes: And you’re like—

[00:40:07] Shannon Messina: No, I'm like, this is all on me. Like, and I gave money. I was like, take my money outta my commission for a refrigerator. Like this—this is nobody's fault but mine. Like, don't blame anybody but me. There's more to the story, but yeah. No, I definitely—you know, people make mistakes.

Yeah.

And you have to—and I remember that feeling of when they went on the walkthrough and there was an issue with the refrigerator. I was like, oh my God, this is—I'm like, this is my fault. Like, shoot. You're juggling—yeah. This whole transaction's gonna fall apart over a refrigerator.

Yeah, no, I've had a few situations.

[00:40:40] Tracy Hayes: Well, it gave you that cold chill up your spine. But I mean, obviously it was great that you had both sides of the deal and you could say, hey, all right, I'll just buy the refrigerator and we'll call it a day.

[00:40:48] Shannon Messina: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[00:40:48] Tracy Hayes: But there—

[00:40:49] Shannon Messina: There was more to it. There was more to it. Yeah, there definitely was more to it.

[00:40:52] Tracy Hayes: That was just the tip of the iceberg.

[00:40:53] Shannon Messina: That was just the tip of the iceberg. And I feel like things are very high-level [00:41:00] stress sometimes.

Mm-hmm.

And getting it from all ends trying to get to the closing table, and things could go sideways real quick. And it's kind of how you react that will help you see the sale through fruition. And I have to take a step back, evaluate the situation, and I always figure out a way. And this is like with somebody getting approved for a loan, like, oh, we're not—

[00:41:21] Tracy Hayes: Talk about how you matured through that. Because I think one of the challenges—a lot of agents come on and they always—they'll gesture something about the inexperienced agent who, you know, obviously is getting emotional about the negotiation and so forth versus just being the conduit between the buyers and sellers. The two agents need to, you know, just be the mediators. And obviously the win is getting to the closing table.

Yeah.

And so someone's gotta give, someone's gotta take, and it goes back and forth. How have you matured in that? How did you act initially when some of these tougher negotiations—like you said, now [00:42:00] you sit back, someone calls and they're, "Oh my God, the sky is falling," you hang up the phone, you don't immediately call the next person and start—

[00:42:07] Shannon Messina: No. Now it's like, it's never an immediate—like let go.

[00:42:10] Tracy Hayes: You know, cook dinner or whatever. Let me take a half an hour. Let me come back. And then I'll—

[00:42:14] Shannon Messina: So I think this goes—you could ask my sister, my mom, my husband—

[00:42:19] Tracy Hayes: They—they’re your events.

[00:42:20] Shannon Messina: They always say like, if there's a way, Shannon will figure it out. Oh yeah. Like, if I'm told no, I will be relentless and I will figure it out. And that's with, you know, with a client not getting approved for a loan to move forward in a home. Okay, people get rejected in Hollywood all the time on movies, and they somehow become famous, right? It's because they keep trying, right? So let's call a different loan officer and like, we'll figure it out. And I've gotten people into homes that have been told no, no, no, no, no.

Yeah, yeah.

And you have to be relentless. And I think that's with anything—with negotiating deals. Like, "No, their hard line is this." Well, is it? Is that their hard line? With representing buyers and we get rejected on sometimes a lower [00:43:00] offer—I figure it, we figure it out.

[00:43:02] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I wanna—I’m gonna just tee off on your loan officer thing, since that's my world. I've been in the business 20 years, and every institution, there's some things that they do and don't do for whatever reason. It is credit score cutoffs. They don't want to deal with it 'cause there's more—obviously the lower credit score you have—

Mm-hmm.

There's a lot more things to do. It clogs up pipelines if you're doing a lot of good loans and then all of a sudden you got this batch of loans where people got challenges, people have to spend time on working through those.

[00:43:31] Shannon Messina: Yep.

[00:43:31] Tracy Hayes: And so they cut off. There's just, hey, we don't wanna do that type of loan.

[00:43:35] Shannon Messina: We're running into a lot of like, debt-to-income ratio issues, I feel like. 'Cause I feel like America as a whole is running—well, there's way more debt than we used to.

[00:43:47] Tracy Hayes: And the affordability of the houses, obviously with interest rates—

Yeah.

Where they're at versus in the price point. Yeah. Uh, all, you know—yeah. That's coming to a crossroad, so to speak. But it's—what I always commend is—the agents that are listening, it's important that [00:44:00] you have two or three agents and then you need to do a little due diligence on your, you know, US loan officers, just like the real estate people. We'll say a lot of things upfront.

Oh yeah.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll do that, we'll do that deal, we'll do that, we'll do that type of stuff." And then you get—and then they get it and they sit on it and like, oh, we're not gonna do this deal. But I can't tell her I'm not gonna do this deal 'cause I told her we're gonna do this deal.

Mm-hmm.

But I can't. And all of a sudden it sits there for a few weeks. You have to come to the mature loan officer who's gonna tell you right up front, "You know what, I don't do that. But you know what, I've been in the business long enough and I know this guy over here."

Yes.

"They do those types of loans or might be able to do that loan for you."

[00:44:34] Shannon Messina: And I hope to be working with you going forward. It's always good to have more than one. I have one that I've been working with religiously this past year, and I think that's why I use him so much—

Mm-hmm.

—is because he figures out avenues that others will just shut down on.

[00:44:51] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. They don't wanna spend any time or do some research. A lot of times—A lot of times an agent might have a question. So, you know what, I had—I actually one yesterday. Agent called and said, [00:45:00] "Hey, we've got an above-ground pool that's made in-ground. They dug a hole and put it in the ground."

[00:45:05] Shannon Messina: Okay.

[00:45:05] Tracy Hayes: So I haven't actually got the answer on that one yet—

Mm-hmm.

—'cause I've never run across that actually before. But it doesn't surprise me that someone has done that—dug a hole and put an in-ground, you know, above-ground pool, probably installed it themselves—

Mm-hmm.

—in the ground. And obviously I don't see that adding any value to a home.

Yeah.

I don't think an above-ground pool that you can buy at—well, we used to be able to buy 'em at Sears—

Yeah.

Walmart.

Yeah.

Walmart, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

—is really adding any value. But we get those questions all the time.

Yeah.

And it's like, you know what, I have actually never dealt with that before. Let me call some other guys because they may have dealt with that.

[00:45:39] Shannon Messina: Well, I love that. Yeah. I love—like if I don't know the answer to something, I don't know the answer. Let me figure it out for you.

Mm-hmm.

Rather than pretending I know the answer.

[00:45:48] Tracy Hayes: Faking it or just giving an answer.

[00:45:48] Shannon Messina: No.

[00:45:48] Tracy Hayes: Your maturity gets you there. 'Cause you find out when you start—when you start not being honest, I guess if you wanna tell it—have that integrity—

Mm-hmm.

—comes back and snaps you in the butt.

Oh yeah, of course.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's going to get you.

Well, [00:46:00] "You told me that," you know. So to have obviously—to have the resources in the lending world, because not every lender does every deal, doesn't mean that deal can't be done. It's just that lender doesn't do it.

And condos are starting to be—I think a lot of—with the restrict—not necessarily restrictions, but the law changes in the condos.

Yeah.

The law changes are—a lot of lenders have—and Florida condos have always been a—um, I remember back in 2008 and 2009 and so forth, there were many lenders that got out—no condos in Florida.

Mm-hmm.

They wouldn't do anything that had to do with a condo in Florida. So you know, that—that world’s unique. And you need to have that lender that obviously is open and not—and I think there's a good amount of lenders that'll do condos, but there's also a good amount that won't. So if you get a no on a condo—

Yes.

—you just need to research a loan officer that can get it done and has a good condo team. 'Cause it's not nec—it's not the loan officer getting it done. It's the people, the operations people behind the scenes getting it done.

Consistency.

[00:46:52] Shannon Messina: Yes.

[00:46:52] Tracy Hayes: What do you feel—and maybe you've evolved this—what do you think you're doing consistently in your business that moves the needle for you?

[00:46:59] Shannon Messina: [00:47:00] Consistently, I am in communication with everyone that's working with me. Like, there's no day off. I am consistently—I think some agents, not all, will throw a for-sale sign up and, you know, hope it sells. Like, I am consistently marketing your home. I am consistently following up with a seller or a buyer.

I am consistently—every, I have like a routine that I've set for myself.

Mm-hmm.

And I think it takes a special personality to be a successful real estate agent. And I think that's why that ratio is 12% only really continue in the business. Because you need to set your schedule and hold yourself accountable every day on being successful.

So I wake up every morning and I look for new—for all my buyers. Every morning I'm on the computer. I know every new listing that hits the market. I'm very knowledgeable on every listing that I think they may like. I do my research before I just send it to them.

[00:47:50] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[00:47:50] Shannon Messina: Like, if I know you can't afford those taxes or that HOA, I'm not even gonna send it your way to disappoint you.

Right.

So yeah, doing my due diligence every morning, [00:48:00] marketing all my listings every single day. And I know they say, um, what is the word they say—oh, call everybody in your sphere.

[00:48:06] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:48:07] Shannon Messina: I'm not—I'm not calling people saying, "Hi, did you know I'm in real estate?" to all my friends every day. But my version of that is talking about real estate, and whoever wants to listen will listen.

Right.

But I'm not contacting people that I used to talk to in high school and saying, "Hey, did you know I'm a realtor? Just wanted to touch base, wanna get coffee?" Like, I'm not doing that.

Right.

It's not happening. Every sales training class—

[00:48:30] Tracy Hayes: Well, plus they're—most of 'em are not in town.

So yeah. Well, they're not—they don't live here.

[00:48:33] Shannon Messina: So right. Yeah. No, that's my consistency.

[00:48:36] Tracy Hayes: Right. To kind of spin off that, taking from your years in, you know, working as a trainer in the business of training, you know, in running the sales teams and that sort of stuff—in that arena, obviously we talked very early about the relationship part and how that obviously helped you in the training world by build—'cause you're working personally—

Mm-hmm.

—with people. What is something else that you've taken [00:49:00] from that world that you've implemented into your real estate business, so to speak? I think you were tipping on it a little bit, but I want you to be a little bit more direct. You have the getting up in the morning and going to work type of—

Yeah.

[00:49:11] Shannon Messina: Yeah. Like, you have to get up and go to work as a realtor. You can't just sit back and hope that something lands in your lap or someone calls you. So yeah, I definitely have a strict schedule that I follow every single day to make sure that I'm staying consistent and in the loop.

But I think what made me successful in the personal training world, and what I do in the real estate world, is staying on top of education. I do not know it all. There's always something I could be learning more. I'm always looking for what extra CEs I could get. I would love to get more into commercial. I have quite a few investors that I've been working with and finding out how much revenue certain properties bring in and, you know—

Mm-hmm.

—what expenses are gonna look like for them. I'm every day trying to look on how I could know more. And I use Closing Bear, who I love, for title.

[00:49:59] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:49:59] Shannon Messina: And every [00:50:00] time I go to a closing with them, they're educating me on something new that I now could bring value to my next client. So I think continuing education in whatever field you're in is crucial. Like, you don't know it all. Any agent that is a know-it-all is not gonna be successful. There's always room to grow. There's always something new to learn. Every business evolves. Real estate definitely has evolved and changed over the years.

Things don't just fly off the shelves here right now. Things are sitting a little longer. You need to be creative. You need to figure out better negotiation skills. Like, is it just the offer or can we also look for credits from the lender to help them with this global offer?

Mm-hmm.

Can we look at, you know, our commission? Can we look at a seller concession? Can we look at, you know—is the house gonna appraise? Is there an appraisal contingency in there? There's other avenues to explore. Nothing's black and white. Nothing's cut and dry. So I think, you know, being educated and knowledgeable to figure things [00:51:00] out for your client is important.

[00:51:01] Tracy Hayes: You bring up something and I deal with this often on my side in putting the transaction together. 'Cause obviously we're—you know, some basic questions any loan officer asks: "Okay, you wanna buy this home? Great. Well, how much money you have available to do this?"

Mm-hmm.

Right. And a lot of people say, well, how much money do you have? No, it's not the question. The question is, how much money are you willing to put into it?

Yeah.

Because that's where they wanna be. They may have a lot of money, but in their head, they're thinking, "I wanna fix up the house. I wanna do this." Or, "I don't have money to do this. I have this future expense coming and I can't come off that money."

Mm-hmm.

So, you know, getting some of these details, so you are working the deal in and making the offer properly. And then knowing you're going into negotiations like, this is what my client needs. He wants to be here. Now maybe I get him to stretch, maybe he comes up with a couple more thousand dollars or whatever. But yeah—do I need seller concessions?

You know, I often find myself as the lender, which I should be, making a recommendation of calling [00:52:00] the agent back and saying, okay, I've got 'em. They can, they could do this. They want the payment to be somewhere in this area. So this is the price range that you kind of want to be high or low, including taxes, insurance, and everything. They have some money to work with, but I suggest you get seller concessions.

In my mind, I'm providing that service, but really the agent also needs to be having that very similar conversation.

Yeah.

Because one, you're the one face to face.

Mm-hmm.

And they are going to tell you why. "Yeah, I might have $20,000, but I really—if I could like not come off anything, do a, whether it's a VA loan or we have an FHA 100% product—doing something like that so I have that 20 grand because we wanna redo the kitchen or whatever it is they wanna spend that money on." And if you don't get there unless you're kind of digging through those questions, 'cause the buyer oftentimes doesn't know what to tell you.

[00:52:51] Shannon Messina: Yes. And I feel like you need to be—I've done this a few times where I've had my loan officer and I've had my client and we get on a three-way call together.

Mm-hmm.

We're a [00:53:00] team. We need to work together like on this. They want this home, they can't afford this home—how can we make them be able to afford the home? And we play with numbers together and figure it out. Like, I don't necessarily know how much cash my client has—that's, you know, information sent over to the loan officer.

[00:53:16] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:53:17] Shannon Messina: So I feel like sometimes opening up that conversation, we could be creative together. And I've gotten people into homes that they were told, "It's not gonna happen."

[00:53:25] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Tag onto that too—that kind of conversation also builds credibility. A lot of times you're referring a loan officer. They never see 'em—yeah, maybe they see 'em at closing, but they're having this conversation, they're emailing, you're building that credibility.

What I will tell you agents that are listening: never, ever talk about interest rate in front of your customer and the loan officer. Do not talk about it.

[00:53:45] Shannon Messina: Don't talk—

[00:53:45] Tracy Hayes: —about the interest rate. No. Do not talk about the interest rate. Do not start probing the loan officers if you're the customer.

Mm-hmm.

You need to be positive. You need to be, you know, asking questions for the customer in a sense of, you know, "Hey, how much should they approximately have for closing costs and settlement? How much—what's your—which most of you guys suggest as many ALTA statements as we do."

Mm-hmm.

Actually more.

Yeah.

So, you know, what a $400,000 house—the range of what it's going to be with the tax and insurance. 'Cause you've sold other $400,000 homes.

Okay.

Yeah. So now we'll work that up for you. But you don't put your loan officer on the spot right there. 'Cause obviously when you start talking about interest rate, now all of a sudden, oh, is that interest rate good? Now they're shopping interest rate versus the quality of service that you're delivering.

[00:54:29] Shannon Messina: Yes.

[00:54:30] Tracy Hayes: That's what I was getting at.

[00:54:31] Shannon Messina: Yeah. Yeah. No, I could agree with that.

[00:54:33] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:54:33] Shannon Messina: A hundred percent. Yeah. I think it's important that it's a team effort on every transaction. And there's a lot of people on the team—

Mm-hmm.

—for a transaction. Yes. And I've called my title company several times with a lot of creative questions—how to word things on a contract or how can I negotiate this. And you need help. Like you need to lean on other people to—

[00:54:56] Tracy Hayes: See, you were talking about the education. I just—if I want to make a point, I wanna let you make the [00:55:00] point, 'cause I think you'll make it for me. How important is it, especially if you—you know, there's a lunch and learn at Heron or the title company, or maybe you go down to NIFA and actually take the course—

Mm-hmm.

—the importance of meeting the other real estate agents?

[00:55:13] Shannon Messina: Meeting other agents—yeah. I mean, yeah, you could definitely learn from other agents. Everyone's had success with different things, have tried different things, and you could hear those stories and definitely learn from them.

[00:55:23] Tracy Hayes: Well, knowing—knowing—well, you weren't in the business when, you know, they were getting—well, I'm sure you've had multiple offers on some of your listings.

[00:55:38] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. You know, so—oh yeah. Working with it, knowing who's on the other end of the deal—

Mm-hmm.

—is a little, you know, makes things a little mentally easier.

[00:55:38] Shannon Messina: I felt really bad for one of the buyers on my listing because I knew what was happening.

[00:55:45] Tracy Hayes: Before—their agent wasn't up to par?

[00:55:47] Shannon Messina: Nope. It was a really lowball offer. And then they came to fold what we wanted, but then come inspection, ask for all that money back, and we said no. So it's like [00:56:00] they—I have a strong team.

[00:56:01] Tracy Hayes: Was there that many repairs that you—?

[00:56:03] Shannon Messina: I had a very strong feeling that the agent was like, "Don't worry, I'll get it for you on—"

[00:56:08] Tracy Hayes: On inspection.

[00:56:09] Shannon Messina: On inspection.

[00:56:11] Tracy Hayes: And trying to cut the corner real quick.

[00:56:12] Shannon Messina: Yeah. And that's not—

[00:56:13] Tracy Hayes: —happening.

[00:56:14] Shannon Messina: Yeah.

[00:56:14] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:56:14] Shannon Messina: So yeah, it's important who's on the other end of the deal. I've had the pleasure of working with some amazing agents that live in our neighborhood.

[00:56:22] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. They—actually many now. This—it's gotten—now it's 2025, but probably before 2020, almost every great real estate agent in St. John's County had lived in St. John's Golf and Country Club at one time.

Really?

Yes. I just believe—I know a lot of 'em that I've talked to over the years. "Oh yeah, we moved in there in 2003 and we lived there for three years," or whatever.

[00:56:41] Shannon Messina: Yeah. Can I name-drop on here or no?

[00:56:43] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, no, go ahead.

[00:56:45] Shannon Messina: Okay. So you know the Watt Team?

[00:56:45] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:56:45] Shannon Messina: Bruce was my neighbor.

[00:56:47] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:56:47] Shannon Messina: And he's part of the reason why I was like really aggressively getting into real estate. He was mowing his lawn between—we lived between that lake.

Mm-hmm.

And we started gathering and talking, and I was his new [00:57:00] neighbor. And he's like, "You'd be really good at real estate." I'm like, "Well, I'm actually studying for my test." And we talked a lot about it. And so I ran into him at the gym the other day.

Mm-hmm.

And I was like, "Well, my business finally kicked off. Thanks for the, you know, all the chats that we've had."

Mm-hmm.

And I buy lockboxes from him and signs from him. And—but yeah, we've had some really amazing teams within our neighborhood.

Yes.

And I was like going into this like, oh my God, everyone's a realtor. Like, how am I gonna do well? And I don't get upset if another realtor from our neighborhood gets one of our listings. Like, I'll find the buyer. I wanna be on the other end of it.

Right.

Where I think some people do. Like, I don't believe—and I—

[00:57:35] Tracy Hayes: I keep telling my wife, but she—there's no one, to me, in my mind, that's actually like farming our neighborhood.

[00:57:40] Shannon Messina: No.

[00:57:41] Tracy Hayes: Actually, I don't know. I don't know any—you know, I'm sure there's agents out there listening, call me, message me, direct message me if you're farming a neighborhood. Really. Yeah. Because St. John's Golf and Country Club—and not the only one. There's other neighborhoods that are hot like that. I'm sure there's 20 Mile, Nocatee, and so forth.

Yeah.

Where agents are really focused in—that [00:58:00] they are putting the blogs and so forth online, that they are the experts in that hood. And I think there's gold to be found in those cracks.

[00:58:08] Shannon Messina: Well, I've gotten a lot of business in our neighborhood.

Yeah.

But by no intent of poaching.

[00:58:14] Tracy Hayes: Which—well, not poach, but really, you know—there was a while there, and I'm trying to think, I don't think if it was Pam or, oh—Lisa Mitten, I think, was doing it. This was years ago, probably over a decade ago, where she was doing the regular mailers.

Like, "Hey, this is what recently sold in the neighborhood, this, that," that type of thing.

Mm-hmm.

And coming across—'cause those types of things, people come across that, "Hey, this must be the expert. They know everything that's being sold all the time." 'Cause they don't know any better.

Yeah.

And they're getting this monthly or quarterly postcard that's saying, this is what's sold in the neighborhood.

Mm-hmm.

You know, "Call me and I'll price out your home." They're the expert.

Yeah.

[00:58:51] Shannon Messina: I haven't done any mailers in our neighborhood.

Yeah.

[00:58:52] Tracy Hayes: I have not seen any of that anytime recently—

No.

—in our neighborhood. And our neighborhood's one of the hottest because it's got, you know, [00:59:00] LPA and obviously Beachside High.

[00:59:03] Shannon Messina: And I like that it's established. I like that. I come from Long Island—beautiful tree-lined streets.

Mm-hmm.

So, like, when I came out here, I was a little shell-shocked looking at these newer communities. Like, I was told, "You wanna be in Nocatee" by the agent that I was using out when I was coming out here. Or "You wanna be in Beachwalk, look at the Blue Lagoon."

And not saying that any of these neighborhoods are bad, but me personally, I wanted to feel like home. I was leaving home—

[00:59:26] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:59:26] Shannon Messina: Not because I really wanted to, but because I felt like I had to at that time. And I wanted to feel like home. So when I drove through St. John's Golf, I was like—just the tree-lined streets—

Yeah.

—and I just was like, oh my, this is where I want to be.

Yeah.

It just was a feeling. And I hated the house that we bought.

Yeah.

I literally bought out of desperation.

[00:59:43] Tracy Hayes: Which a lot of people were at that time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

[00:59:45] Shannon Messina: So—and I eventually now am in the home that I absolutely love.

Mm-hmm.

But yeah, no, I definitely think that St. John's Golf has a special feeling that you don't get in every community.

Yeah.

[00:59:56] Tracy Hayes: I want to touch on here before we finish up—you know, Heron. I [01:00:00] have a little corner of my heart. I love, love their—

[01:00:00] Tracy Hayes: …organization that they've got going over there.

Mm-hmm.

Christine, David, and then the other leadership there. You didn't start there.

[01:00:09] Shannon Messina: No. Started at Coldwell.

[01:00:11] Tracy Hayes: Okay. Tell us your segue, because I think this is very important for agents out there who maybe are out on their first brokerage and just aren't feeling it.

Mm-hmm.

Or if you're studying to take the test and haven't signed up with anybody yet. You're gonna make that first brokerage choice—what led you to Coldwell initially?

[01:00:30] Shannon Messina: I will be so honest with you. Coldwell is not like a strong name in New York from my understanding. So it was not the name.

[01:00:39] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:00:40] Shannon Messina: I didn't pick that brokerage 'cause of the name. I just started interviewing with brokerages and I chose the manager that I felt most comfortable with because I was a new agent.

Mm-hmm.

And I think it's very important for any new agent to work with somebody that you can call at any hour with a question, that you won't feel uncomfortable asking silly, stupid questions that you think [01:01:00] as a new agent you should know—that you think are silly.

[01:01:01] Tracy Hayes: And stupid. 'Cause they're not. No, I—

[01:01:03] Shannon Messina: And Leslie was my boss there. I love her.

Mm-hmm.

And she was the perfect fit for me. And I said that at the table. I said, "Where do I—like, I knew I was giving up a lot of commission working for a bigger brokerage like that. And I'm like, where do I sign?" I feel like she was my mama bear. Like, I could lean on her as a new agent and make sure that I could ask all the questions that needed to be asked on my first few transactions.

And I got what I needed and I had a great experience there. But I was, you know, doing my own lead generation. I preferred to do my own marketing. And that's where I was like—Heron, it was a place that I could, yes, definitely get education, get answers to questions, but it's more of a place where I felt like I could hang my license and run my business.

[01:01:45] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:01:46] Shannon Messina: And I've had a great experience.

[01:01:48] Tracy Hayes: Well, you graduated to that.

Yeah.

I don't think—

[01:01:50] Shannon Messina: I could have just jumped into—

[01:01:52] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:01:53] Shannon Messina: —a Heron. I feel like I needed to work with somebody personally, have a close relationship with somebody that I could lean on [01:02:00] as a new agent.

[01:02:01] Tracy Hayes: Well, yeah. And I think—'cause I think a lot of agents cut themselves short. You know, you said, I think you said before the show, 12% make it, right?

[01:02:09] Shannon Messina: Yeah. That was a statistic in the class. I was like, "What?"

[01:02:11] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I knew it was 80—I always use 80/20, you know, 20% make it, 80% drop out before their first renewal.

Mm-hmm.

So it's a high turnover rate because so many are actually going, "Oh, okay, hold on a second. I'm gonna get this. If I sell this house, I'm gonna get this check for this amount of money." But I gotta cut some of that to the person who is covering all my compliance, who maybe has a transaction coordinator attending on the brokerage—

Mm-hmm.

—franchise fee, they're bringing in training. I have someone I can call to, 'cause I can't call the instructor that just taught me down at NEFAR. But, you know, they're coaching me up, and their success is my success.

If I don't sell nothing, I could sit in their classes all day long and they will teach you 'til they're blue in the face—

Yeah.

—and until you don't show up anymore. Mm-hmm. And you never actually get anything until you actually sell a home.

Yeah.

And I think a lot of people cut themselves short because they're—I call it stepping over the quarter to pick up the nickel. It's like, hold on, slow down a minute.

Mm-hmm.

You don't know squat about this business. You need something to ramp yourself up. And then eventually, you know, as a lot of teams at the big brokerages—you know, I always mention Christina. I've known Christina since before she started her team, and so forth. And before my wife was in the business, she sold my in-laws to live in the neighborhood.

You know, it took her a while. You know, many agents have come on her team—

Mm-hmm.

—and have gone on, or dropped out of the business, whatever. 'Cause they got on the team, she poured so much into 'em—

Mm-hmm.

—until she finally got it right. And her team's strong and big now, and now all that—the story’s history.

But the agent's gotta really think through that process. Yeah. Do I know enough about this business, or do I need a coach? Well, how much is that coach gonna cost me?

Mm-hmm.

Because that's really what you're paying out of your—in my mind, what you should be thinking about.

[01:03:58] Shannon Messina: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And I [01:04:00] knew that, I knew that going in, that I was gonna be giving up quite a chunk. And they don't necessarily feed you leads or anything like that.

Mm-hmm.

But I felt like that's what I needed.

[01:04:09] Tracy Hayes: Well, you'd pay more for that. You'd have to.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. No one—there's no free leads. You're gonna pay.

No.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

[01:04:14] Shannon Messina: So I was—you know, when you're an agent, you think, "Oh, I'm gonna work for this brokerage and I'm gonna go in and there's gonna be leads distributed, and that's how I'll start my business." No. It's not like that at all. Like, you go in and you fend for yourself. But I needed to have the right people in my corner so that I was successful on maybe the one transaction I did my first year.

So this way I could get referrals. If I didn't have the right backbone on my first transaction—

Mm-hmm.

—the rest of my transactions were gonna fall apart.

[01:04:41] Tracy Hayes: Well, I think some of the things you said today—and the word came to my mind, I was gonna bring it up, but I didn’t want to interrupt you—what we were just talking about.

Mm-hmm.

The education part, it was something you were mentioning earlier, which made me think of this word sooner. But the confidence you have to have, that someone behind you—if you don't know the answer, you're gonna [01:05:00] call 'em and get the answer. That gives you confidence.

Mm-hmm.

You know, your experience in flipping houses helps you, I'm sure, go in and evaluate for someone like, "Oh yeah, we love this house, but we really like a new kitchen." Well, in your mind, you’re probably already calculating what that's actually gonna cost them.

Yeah.

I think a lot of agents need that.

Mm-hmm.

And they don't necessarily need it by going out and flipping homes themselves, but they maybe need to start talking to some contractors and say, "Hey, what does a job like that cost?"

Yeah.

Or, "Are you on a job right now? Can I come by and see what you're doing?"

Mm-hmm.

Maybe you refer them business later 'cause—

[01:05:40] Shannon Messina: …and having the right people in your corner definitely gives you the confidence in the business.

[01:05:46] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. What do you love about Heron?

[01:05:48] Shannon Messina: What do I love about Heron? They are very open to questions, which I thought—it wasn’t gonna be like that, right? I thought, you know, being their model that they do [01:06:00] have, I was like, oh, I’m gonna be on my own.

Mm-hmm.

It is not like that actually at all. Right? Which is what I thought. They have training schedules every week. When these new contracts rolled out August 17th, I’m like, oh my God, I just started like kicking things off and now I gotta relearn all these contracts, right? They had tons of classes to roll it out. And I was there with them printed in my hand. We went over line by line.

And I feel like I’m with some great leaders in there. There’s some really strong agents that I look up to that are a part of Heron. And that was with my other brokerage too.

Mm-hmm.

Like, there definitely was admiration with other agents that helped me strive to do better. And what, you know, what are they doing?

[01:06:36] Tracy Hayes: You—so you like the comfortability, obviously a physical office. You’re going there when they’re, you know, to go to the trainings that you want to go to—

Yeah.

—or masterminds.

Yeah.

[01:06:44] Shannon Messina: I felt more than welcome to go to trainings that they had.

[01:06:46] Tracy Hayes: ’Cause I think it’s, you know, not to knock some of the—I call ’em cloud brokerages or whatever, the Real, the EXPs, LPTs.

Mm-hmm.

Although really the LPT, the biggest LPT group has an office, you know, their grouping. But, you know, there’s agents [01:07:00] that can—you’ve got enough experience, you probably could survive going to a Real without having the physical office and so forth.

Yeah.

But there is a thing to know that, hey, here’s a space that we have. People are there all the time. We can walk in, whatever, get supplies, whatever, print something off. Yeah. Whatever it may be. But there’s regular—when they have a space, there’s regular trainings. Do you go to every one? Probably not. But you select the ones you want to go to.

Mm-hmm.

And you just have this—you know that there’s a home. And I think a majority of the agents fall into that category of comfortability.

Yeah.

Which gives them confidence when they’re comfortable.

Mm-hmm.

And versus some agents are looking at, what’s my split? What am I, you know, what am I getting? What am I getting here? Well, there’s no free lunch.

Yeah.

So, you know, if there’s no landing strip, well it’s probably cheaper ’cause there’s no—

Mm-hmm.

You know, if it’s a dirt landing strip versus a concrete one, well, the concrete one probably costs you a little bit more.

Yep.

[01:07:55] Shannon Messina: No, I thought it would be less hands-on being at Heron and it’s not. Yeah, it’s [01:08:00] actually very hands-on. They’re very involved. David—I have David’s telephone number. Yeah, I’ve texted him several times. I’ve been on the phone with him several times on transactions. I didn’t think it was gonna be like that, but it—

[01:08:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:08:09] Shannon Messina: They definitely have doors open and they have a great module with everything—with marketing, with training schedules, with awards and recognition. Like they do it all. It’s not what I thought it was gonna be.

[01:08:22] Tracy Hayes: It’s—

[01:08:23] Shannon Messina: Better.

[01:08:23] Tracy Hayes: That’s another thing. Some people thrive on that recognition stuff. I know that I do. They have their—that’s on the—

[01:08:28] Shannon Messina: Pat on the back. You lying if you don’t.

[01:08:31] Tracy Hayes: When you get old enough then it says like, okay, does that actually increase my check? Your younger crowd, you’re into the trophy. Just gimme the check.

[01:08:42] Shannon Messina: Yeah. My kids are very different. I would say one of them loves the recognition, and one could care less. And yeah, it’s a personality trait, I think.

[01:08:53] Tracy Hayes: Uh, anything you’d like to add?

[01:08:54] Shannon Messina: Any new agent that’s thinking about getting into real estate—I think you need to go in with the [01:09:00] mindset that it’s gonna take a minute.

Mm-hmm.

Not to give up. It’s the people that don’t give up that succeed. ’Cause over the three years of me starting, it has not been consistent. It has not been easy. And the only thing that led me to where I am now is giving it my all on—whether it’s a tiny transaction, one transaction—give it your all. Give that person a hundred percent and it will pay off in a big way.

[01:09:29] Tracy Hayes: Grit. Grit. I can’t wait for this book. Yes, you gotta get the book. Appreciate you coming on today.

[01:09:35] Shannon Messina: Thank you so much for having me.

[01:09:36] Tracy Hayes: Thank you.

[01:10:00] END