December 7, 2023 • 27 mins
Barbara Carter, a distinguished associate broker from New York, shares her expertise on building a successful real estate team. Barbara is known for her deep connection to her community and her ability to foster lasting relationships. She delves into the importance of local expertise in real estate and discusses how her upbringing and lifelong residency in Ulster County have been instrumental in her approach to generating leads and maintaining a strong presence in her niche market.
Barbara's journey in real estate is a testament to the power of team building and specialization. She reveals how her team at Century 21 Alliance, composed of professionals with diverse expertise in areas like listings, buyer representation, land, commercial real estate, and construction, operates cohesively to provide comprehensive services to their clients. Illuminating the strategic advantage of having team members who bring unique skills to the table, enhancing the team's overall performance and client satisfaction.
She also touches on the challenges and adaptations faced by the real estate industry during the COVID-19 pandemic and experience of navigating this tumultuous period, highlighting the resilience and adaptability of her team. Her story is one of perseverance, adaptability, and the importance of community ties in real estate. Listeners will gain valuable insights into the nuances of building and sustaining a high-performing real estate team, as well as the evolving landscape of the industry in the face of unprecedented challenges.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to real estate leads uncovered the podcast that delves
into the dynamic world of lead generation in the real
estate industry. Hey, I'm your host, Lisa Carter. And I'm
excited to guide you through the challenges, the strategies and
success stories that revolve around one of the most crucial
aspects of real estate generating leads
(00:20):
live from the hottest real estate market in America, Tampa Bay, Florida.
This is the real estate leads podcast with the CEO
and founder of the Olga system. Your host, Lisa Carter.
This episode, we will explore generating leads by mastering the
art of turning leads into
lasting relationships. New York, associate broker Barbara Carter will drop
(00:45):
in with our hidden gems on wisdom and share her
insightful anecdotes on building a class, a team for your
real estate business. Hey, Barbara, it's great to have you
on the show today. When you and I met, I
walked into your office and I'm like Mrs Carter and
you said Mrs Carter and, and we had this great
exchange and, and, and I didn't realize how
(01:10):
awesome of a person you are and how connected you
are to the community. Um And so when I started
to learn a little bit more about who you were.
I realized like you are a force in your community.
How you know, that takes, it takes years. Um You,
you have a team but you stay true to that region.
So when you, when you, when it's so easy to
(01:33):
get distracted,
um But it is so easy. So how do you
stay disciplined to say I'm gonna niche down, I'm gonna
be in this community. I know this community and my, I'm,
and I'm gonna, I'm gonna excel and I'm gonna thrive
right here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I was born and raised in Ulster County in Highland.
I've lived here all my life. So, I mean, I
have
that connection, you know, I've always used, I've always gone
to church here. I have, you know, the same banks,
the same store. So we all know each other. And,
um that, that's where most of my business comes from
(02:13):
is people that I've known for many years.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So that's really playing the long game. And, and I,
I feel like there's a new, you know, and kudos
to that trainer that said to you,
you know, stick with what, you know, um play to
your strengths, which is that, you know, this community, you know,
these people and they'll be most likely the people that
you bring in as a lead and convert and it's
so hard when you're particularly in this chaotic environment um
(02:39):
to stay disciplined. Uh You know, how are you, you know, have,
have you had to pivot over the years and say
it's my, my back, my, my five mile farming area
is just not cutting it. And I, I need to
expand or is that organically come to you? Because you've
been so disciplined. It, it
Speaker 2 (02:54):
does, it does come organically to me. But I did.
So I did when I first started, I took that
five mile radius very seriously. And then, um as time
went on, I did take work out of my comfort
zone and I saw it wasn't the best thing
(03:15):
for me or for my clients. I know this area,
you know, so if somebody has a question, if I
don't have it, I can get it really quickly from
somebody who has more knowledge than I do. I know
the connections. I know how to do that. And once
you go beyond your comfort zone, you can see, you know,
(03:36):
that you're wavering, you don't have the self-confidence in um
in the area with the knowledge.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So, yeah, and so you start to say, well, this
isn't really playing to my strength. Yeah, playing my strength. So,
so you, you, you took that, um you were disciplined
enough to really follow those. It works for you by
the way, because that's where you felt comfortable. Um And
then you
jump out of your comfort zone and become a broker.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, I, and that was sort of, uh I knew
that they were changing the requirement to get your broker's license.
And I knew I never wanted to be a full
fledged broker, but I thought having my associate broker's license
would be advantageous.
So, it was, I was actually the last class before
(04:26):
they increased the hours and I went to Goshen because
I went to, uh, Hudson Gateway. They were just offering
it like two weeks before this change. And, um, so
it was, it was good. It, it was a difficult course.
And um, but I was glad I did it, you know,
(04:48):
it
really, it doesn't affect the knowledge you have or it
just is an added bonus for somebody to see that
you have your associate broker's license. A lot of people
misunderstand that and think I am the broker. I'm not
the broker. I still have a broker over me. I'm
still a
um a teammate on Century 21 Alliance and
Speaker 1 (05:11):
you have a, you have a broker who I, I
know personally. Um and, and that's very, and, and, and
encourages that. And so that's also part of, you know,
surrounding yourself with people who encourage you who and lift
you up. Um And I'm sure that was another, you know,
uh um being really happy that you, that uh people
are thriving in the organization is, is definitely a team
you wanna join and you do that, you do that
(05:33):
for your team. I'm, I, I, I've, I've been around
you with your team. It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah. Yeah, I have, I have the best team and, um,
it took me a while but I, I was really
busy and, um, I wanted to cut back a little, myself, personally,
cut back. And, um, what I decided was, let me
see if I can work with cause at the time, um,
I guess it's been about five years, teams were becoming
(05:59):
more popular and you were hearing more about teams and
to me, it made sense because I don't know everything,
you know, so I had to find a way to
put a team together that would be mutually beneficial for
everyone on the team. But what we have is we have,
I focus on listings. We have Angela Paul and Andrew Centr,
(06:25):
they're buyer's agents. If somebody calls
um we direct them to Andrew and um Angela, we
have Dominic Martarano who's specialist in land. He was um
on the planning boards of Ulster County and the town
of Lloyds. So he knows everything there is to know
about land. And um then we have Dave Stock Rocky
(06:49):
who's a commercial specialist and Rich Miller who has a
home inspector's license. He
um builds modular homes and um so he has a
lot of knowledge about um building and construction and um
so this pool, these are all like minded people
(07:10):
with the same. We share all the same goals and values,
but we're all available 24 7 to each other, you know,
so when a question comes up on a land or
what the uses are, it takes a call to Dominic
and you have the answer and you have an expert
answer immediately for your client. So that's, yeah, it's, it's awesome.
(07:33):
I am so blessed to be working with
Speaker 1 (07:36):
that couldn't have happened overnight. It's not, it's not easy
to get a group of people all on the same page,
the same work ethic and then each person bringing something
different to the team. And so, you know, those are three,
you know, first finding people that have the same work
ethic and mindset. Two finding people that have different skills
(07:56):
that they can bring expertise that they can bring to
the team.
Um Those are not easy and been willing to wait
until you can gather those people and not just, you know,
kind of saying I'll just do for now. Um
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yes, it was, it was, and it fell into place.
I mean, there was some, we had, you know, it
took a while to get the right team to put
this group together. But um
now it just, it functions so smoothly and everybody has
so much confidence in each other that it's amazing to
(08:32):
sit in the office and hear Angela come in and
she has a question and she throws it off Dominic
and he, he gives her the answer shows her how
to search out, say it's a flood zone or something.
He'll sit with her and show her, this is what
you do and we know that we're going back to
our clients with good
solid professional information. So, yeah, I am blessed it. It's
(08:55):
an amazing group.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
There's, there's an old African proverb that, that basically says,
uh we go farther together. And so, um have you
seen the growth happen with everybody staying in their lane
and then, you know, obviously cross functionally helping each other,
but you've put together a bunch of experts and versus,
you know, the time energy and then,
you know, at the end, the the rewards of growing
(09:18):
the business. Yeah, that is.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, and the thing that um is great for my team, we,
we all um we care, we care. So, I mean,
we're always like picking um a charity, let's let's donate
to this, you know, let's so it's, it's not about us,
it's about the a bigger picture, you know, that we,
everyone here sees that there's a bigger picture. This goes
(09:43):
way beyond us. And to me, that's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
That was this team to team together before, you know.
So New York was one of the places that I
first experienced the hardship, you know, or the challenge that
it comes with being a real estate professional. Um I
met a bunch of your team members um in March
of 2020.
Um You all were on the, on a call that
(10:09):
your broker had put together um with myself, just introducing
organic lead generation and what that means and marketing yourself
and getting yourself online, everybody was excited and by three o'clock,
uh the state was shut down due to COVID.
Right? And you today, are you, your business is on fire.
(10:30):
How did you make that comeback? Because one thing I
say to newbies, new agents is COVID, put everybody back
on the on the s on the starting line.
Um experienced agents um were thriving. New agents were coming
in and all of a sudden everybody is on the
starting line. How did you jump back to the starting
line and then get back in place where you were
(10:52):
over that two year period.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah. You know, um
I think having that team, we had weekly um zoom
calls where we kept each other up, you know, and
it wouldn't always have to be about real estate. It
would be how you doing, you know, do you need anything?
Is there anything I can do for you? And um
so we kept each other, we kept each other up
(11:18):
through the whole thing and you know, it was different.
It was crazy. We were selling houses on site unseen
and all asking BECA because we're um we're fueled by
New York City and at that time, a lot of
New York City buyers
were able to do work remotely. So they were looking
to get out of the city,
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Barbara, tell me about the first phone call, you guys.
So you guys were shut down like March 15th 16th
at 12 o'clock. I was talking to you guys. I
was like, hey, this is great. Let's talk. You know,
I would love to come down and literally I get
a phone call at three o'clock saying Lisa, we're all
shut down like we can't,
we could do nothing. No. Open, you got, you probably
had open houses scheduled that afternoon. Oh,
Speaker 2 (12:00):
yeah. Yeah, I had, I had a showing on one
of my listings and the agent called said these people
want this house. I had just listed it. And so we're,
what am I, what are we gonna do? And we
weren't even supposed to be letting
people into other people's houses. At first. We, you know,
we had no idea what this was, you know, how
(12:22):
to handle it. This was new. So I called the owner.
I said, what do we do? She said, well, I'm
happy to go for a walk. She said, if he'll
come in and wear a mask and put on whatever.
So he walked through the house with his client on
facetime and then he called me and had a
answer questions and this person actually never saw the house
(12:45):
until the day of closing when they did the final walkthrough.
They actually got to go into the house and see it.
So that was uh
Speaker 1 (12:54):
that that's like, oh yeah. Ok. So you say buyer
but back then, you know, going back three years, that
was unheard of somebody buying a house without being physically.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, it was, it was a crazy, crazy
Speaker 1 (13:12):
little. Did you know that? That was like the beginning
of this swell of New York City findings County, Ulster
County was like, ok, we're
Speaker 2 (13:24):
still experiencing that because the
Speaker 1 (13:27):
immigration.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, the prices have inflated. So we're not getting listings.
People aren't listing their homes because they have no place
to go, you know, so we still have loads of
issues that, that want but inventory issues, you know, and
um it, it's a lot of counseling going to talk
(13:49):
to someone about selling their home. And the first question is,
where are you going to go? And um so, you know, it,
there's a lot of balancing having the team is again
great because I'll, you know, ok, this is where they
want to go. This is what they want. Does the
team know of anything. So the buyer's agents know of
(14:11):
anything that would suit this person. So it all becomes
back to the team work.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You got a, you got a system going on. I
love this.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
We do. Yeah, we do. And
Speaker 1 (14:22):
so the other day they just announced last week that
the average apartment in Manhattan
is 5588. I remember those numbers. It's $5588 a month
for as the average, right? So now, you know, like
you said this hasn't stopped this in migration or out
(14:42):
migration of New York City into um you guys. So,
Dutchess County, you're about an hour,
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Duchess. And yeah, we're about 90 minutes. Um give or take. Yeah,
and we have um
we have the train stations. So we have Metro North
and Amtrak that come
right to um into Dutchess County and it's right across
the river from Ulster County. So we, and we have
(15:08):
bus stations. So, you know, I've talked to many people
that um work remotely part time and take the bus
down three days or, you know, take the train down
every morning and it becomes the new, the
Speaker 1 (15:21):
new norm. The new norm. I was in New York
City in March. I came in on a Friday and
I'm thinking, ok, it's gonna be like no traffic. And
what
I was told when I got there by some friends is, yep,
everyone comes. Uh they basically work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
Monday and Friday are typically a hybrid day um where
it is starting to be the norm. Years ago, I
worked for Staples Corporation. I had done um for Staples
(15:44):
because they were an office supply store. What was the
year 2030 gonna look like in the workplace? So it
was always gonna be 75% remote workers. So I don't
care what the media says. This was always going to be,
it just COVID pushed it up 10 years. COVID pushed, pushed,
accelerated this move to remote work. Um And then once
employers start to realize that the cost savings of coffee
(16:07):
and water and extra office space, we, we know that
this is not gonna go away for you for, for
a 90 minute commute when you don't have to be
in the city, but two or three days a week now,
that's no longer a challenge. That's actually a nice getaway.
I get out of the get to the city for
one or two days a week.
And so you're in migration is still happening um which
(16:29):
is great. So, sellers, right? Inventory. So one of the
things that we talk about and, and um I love
your feedback on this. There are still uh motivated sellers
because of milestone life zone events. So unfortunately, that people
are still dying, there's still death taxes we can't get
rid of. And another thing that's um that's still not declining.
(16:50):
Um
I don't know about New York City, New York State,
but divorce. So are you finding any leverage in those
three areas? Uh probate. Um Folks just aging out um
uh or, or hes also utilities and taxes and the
cost of living uh to maintain some of the houses
that people bought during the pandemic. So what are you
(17:13):
seeing in your market in terms of where the motivation
is coming from?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, we see all of it. Um We see all
of what you just mentioned. Um you know, um,
the, the taxes are an issue, you know, so that
becomes a problem. But the majority is
estates. We have a lot of estates that are selling
homes and what a lot of people don't realize is
(17:40):
that this has to be probate many times, has to
be probated before a home can be listed. 50%
Speaker 1 (17:46):
of Americans. Barbara, 50% of Americans die without a living will.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah. Yeah, I believe me, I see it all the
time and, you know, so then the family is
taking care of the cost of the taxes, maintaining the home. And, um,
so we, you know, we get those listings, we try
to work with our, uh,
the families and know that you, you know, get to
(18:14):
the attorney, get this filed in the surrogate court as
soon as possible. And,
Speaker 1 (18:21):
and so, you know, the system, you, you know, the,
you know, the court system, you know, the laws. Yeah. Right. And,
and it's gonna touch it with 50% of the country. It,
it will touch all of our, you know, someone in
our family. We, we, we know, so having that team
and so, um, I know that in a lot of
the southern States we get agents who say I got
(18:42):
a call from, you know, the cousin in Ohio or the, the, the, uh, the,
the granddaughter that's living in Portland, Oregon. And so, you know, the,
they're searching online, um, to find a agent who,
Speaker 2 (18:55):
so I have many, many of those situations where I
work with, um, families that I've never met,
you know, have to be, be their feet on the
ground here because they were, they're living in California and
their grandmother passed away here or, you know, something similar
to that. So we have to be aware of this,
(19:17):
you know, and explain what New York, what this looks
like in New York State. You know, what does this
look like that you inherited this home and now you
have to
sell it, you know, so there's a lot of counseling
that you do and, um, you don't, we don't give
legal advice, we just tell them the process to take,
(19:38):
to get the legal advice. And, um,
Speaker 1 (19:44):
that's, that's, that's wonderful. You also mentioned land. Um, and
I saw a great quote the other day, you know,
buy land, they're not making it anymore. Um,
so, so with the land, um, you know, it, it,
it a lot of people don't have experience with land.
So that's definitely a competitive edge your team has. Um,
and you're starting to see those families that generationally always
(20:07):
held on to that land. Um, I live in uh,
rural New Hampshire and so I see it all the time.
They've held on to it for several
and this next generation doesn't want any part of it, um,
Speaker 2 (20:19):
does not want it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So, um, you have an expert in your team, that's
understanding what people want to know about the land, right?
They want to know about
Speaker 2 (20:29):
it, right? And land is land is challenging because you have,
there's so many factors is
the wetland, you know, is this buildable, will this get
a board of health approval to put in a sewer
and a septic? Because most of our, our area requires um,
septic tanks and wells. You know, most areas do not
(20:50):
have sewer and
Speaker 1 (20:52):
sewer and water
Speaker 2 (20:53):
water. Right. So, um, you know, there's so many
and then, um, does it meet the setbacks that you have?
So having Dominic, I mean, he's, he's amazing. He can
go out and pretty much look at a property and
tell you, ok, these look like the challenges that you
should look into. So, um, you know, and
(21:14):
from there, you know, we, um, we have a list of, um,
excavators, you know, that we recommend and, um, engineers, I
Speaker 1 (21:25):
was gonna say you have an external team too when it,
even when it comes to probate, right? You're pulling in
those external experts and, um, with the land you have to.
And so, you know, and, and letting, uh,
buyers and sellers know that you have a external team
that you can help, like with, even with probate. Right. So,
while that hou house is in probate, who's mowing the lawn,
(21:46):
who's taking you the. Right. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Exactly. Yeah. So that's quite often if the, the person
is living out of state,
it comes to the agent, you know, to hook up the,
the owner with the proper contractors that's going to be
there to mow the lawn every week to plow the snow.
So if we have a showing, nobody's falling on ice,
you know, there's so many things that need to be
(22:11):
addressed that you have to have this all, you know,
ready so that you can advise your client.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Well, you guys have one of the hardest working teams
um in, in America because you guys are working overtime.
You know, the, the take away that I'm hearing about
putting together a team and there's so many people that
are struggling, you see the recruiting videos all the time,
the recruiting ads, it's not easy. And this uh this
business was fairly um uh you know, a lot of
(22:39):
agents came in. So there was a lot of, you know,
there's a lot of folks that came in during the
pandemic said this isn't really thing. Houses are selling houses
selling in hours.
This is a career for me and keeping those people
they haven't been through, you know, the different markets that
you've been through. Um So how are you keeping them motivated?
How you, you know, look, this is just a blip
(22:59):
in time, things will get better.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, I, when I started, I got my license in
2007 and I had the best broker. I, I talk
to him all the time we were in a small
office and um, we, we had our
desks facing each other and it was the, the market
was crashed and it was 2008. By the time I
(23:23):
got going,
Speaker 1 (23:24):
everybody, I, I just want to say this again, you
got licensed in 2007 and one of the worst housing
crisis in history.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I, I've seen it all.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
So this is nothing you're like. Yeah. OK. Just let
me just take it. Let me have a somthing and
wait this one out.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Well, that's what my bro, I, I used to say
to my broker because I, at that time,
the internet was just starting, you know, people were starting
to use the internet for marketing and I thought, I
thought now this is where it's at. This is uh
you know, I wasn't really into technology.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Technology.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, I was doing postcards
but I was also investigating how do you get yourself online?
I started doing a blog and I wrote a blog
on active rain for many years. And uh
and my, my broker was there and I used to say,
I feel like a hamster on a wheel. I'm running, running, running,
(24:23):
I'm so tired, I'm getting nowhere. He said, just keep
doing what you're doing. Don't give up. He said, if
you give up, you lose it all. He said you're
on the right track and he just always motivated me
to just keep going. Barbara, just keep going. And I,
I often, yeah, I often at the end of the
(24:44):
year reached out to him
and say this is because of you because I would
have given up. I
Speaker 1 (24:51):
mean, what business can you open? I don't care if
you're even a pizza place, what business can you open?
And two days later people are buying from you. So
if you think about like, you know, for all these
agents that come into this, you know, it's been six
months and I haven't sold anything. What business do you start?
Where you, unless you're putting a bunch of money in
the marketing, you know, it's really hard to, to, you
can't just put a shingle out and they will come,
(25:13):
you know, that was in full, the drinks, it's not happening.
Um, and in this market. So, um, I think you,
you've given some great, um, insight as to, you know,
you started in the worst market you held in there,
you kept going. Um, when I mentioned your name to
anybody in your market, they're like, oh my gosh, she's
a rock star. So, and so they, you're right, blood
(25:34):
sweat and tears. Uh, is, it, is how she got here. Um, it,
it is not easy and the thing is, is that you,
you made your business and now you brought in the team,
um, to share that and I've talked, I talked to
you quite often and you're always concerned to make sure
that they're making a living that they're getting these things. Um,
(25:55):
and so, you know, that all wraps up into building
a good sound business. You can't just hold things for
yourself as an associate broker or broker. You wanna make
sure that the people in your team excel because
is that African problem? We go farther together. And, um,
and so, and thank you, you've given us referrals. II,
I love working with you and I'm so glad to
(26:16):
have you on the show because this is the stuff
that people need to hear. You didn't open you. You
came in at the worst market you could have
stopped six months later and said, ok,
Speaker 2 (26:26):
this is it, I'm done
Speaker 1 (26:27):
right. But if you look up, you, you have your
award winning agent and it was about consistency. And also
the other thing that I loved about what you said
today is you play to your strengths even when business
may have been a little down in your area. You're like, no,
this is, this is the long game, this is a marathon.
(26:48):
This is no sprint people.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
That's right. Exactly. That's right.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Barbara Carter, uh, Ulster County and Dutchess County award winning agent.
Thank you so much for being on the show. Thank
Speaker 2 (27:01):
you.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Thank you. Have a wonderful, wonderful week. Thank you. You too. Ok,
bye
Speaker 2 (27:07):
bye.
Welcome to real estate leads uncovered the podcast that delves
into the dynamic world of lead generation in the real
estate industry. Hey, I'm your host, Lisa Carter. And I'm
excited to guide you through the challenges, the strategies and
success stories that revolve around one of the most crucial
aspects of real estate generating leads
(00:20):
live from the hottest real estate market in America, Tampa Bay, Florida.
This is the real estate leads podcast with the CEO
and founder of the Olga system. Your host, Lisa Carter.
This episode, we will explore generating leads by mastering the
art of turning leads into
lasting relationships. New York, associate broker Barbara Carter will drop
(00:45):
in with our hidden gems on wisdom and share her
insightful anecdotes on building a class, a team for your
real estate business. Hey, Barbara, it's great to have you
on the show today. When you and I met, I
walked into your office and I'm like Mrs Carter and
you said Mrs Carter and, and we had this great
exchange and, and, and I didn't realize how
(01:10):
awesome of a person you are and how connected you
are to the community. Um And so when I started
to learn a little bit more about who you were.
I realized like you are a force in your community.
How you know, that takes, it takes years. Um You,
you have a team but you stay true to that region.
So when you, when you, when it's so easy to
(01:33):
get distracted,
um But it is so easy. So how do you
stay disciplined to say I'm gonna niche down, I'm gonna
be in this community. I know this community and my, I'm,
and I'm gonna, I'm gonna excel and I'm gonna thrive
right here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I was born and raised in Ulster County in Highland.
I've lived here all my life. So, I mean, I
have
that connection, you know, I've always used, I've always gone
to church here. I have, you know, the same banks,
the same store. So we all know each other. And,
um that, that's where most of my business comes from
(02:13):
is people that I've known for many years.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So that's really playing the long game. And, and I,
I feel like there's a new, you know, and kudos
to that trainer that said to you,
you know, stick with what, you know, um play to
your strengths, which is that, you know, this community, you know,
these people and they'll be most likely the people that
you bring in as a lead and convert and it's
so hard when you're particularly in this chaotic environment um
(02:39):
to stay disciplined. Uh You know, how are you, you know, have,
have you had to pivot over the years and say
it's my, my back, my, my five mile farming area
is just not cutting it. And I, I need to
expand or is that organically come to you? Because you've
been so disciplined. It, it
Speaker 2 (02:54):
does, it does come organically to me. But I did.
So I did when I first started, I took that
five mile radius very seriously. And then, um as time
went on, I did take work out of my comfort
zone and I saw it wasn't the best thing
(03:15):
for me or for my clients. I know this area,
you know, so if somebody has a question, if I
don't have it, I can get it really quickly from
somebody who has more knowledge than I do. I know
the connections. I know how to do that. And once
you go beyond your comfort zone, you can see, you know,
(03:36):
that you're wavering, you don't have the self-confidence in um
in the area with the knowledge.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So, yeah, and so you start to say, well, this
isn't really playing to my strength. Yeah, playing my strength. So,
so you, you, you took that, um you were disciplined
enough to really follow those. It works for you by
the way, because that's where you felt comfortable. Um And
then you
jump out of your comfort zone and become a broker.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, I, and that was sort of, uh I knew
that they were changing the requirement to get your broker's license.
And I knew I never wanted to be a full
fledged broker, but I thought having my associate broker's license
would be advantageous.
So, it was, I was actually the last class before
(04:26):
they increased the hours and I went to Goshen because
I went to, uh, Hudson Gateway. They were just offering
it like two weeks before this change. And, um, so
it was, it was good. It, it was a difficult course.
And um, but I was glad I did it, you know,
(04:48):
it
really, it doesn't affect the knowledge you have or it
just is an added bonus for somebody to see that
you have your associate broker's license. A lot of people
misunderstand that and think I am the broker. I'm not
the broker. I still have a broker over me. I'm
still a
um a teammate on Century 21 Alliance and
Speaker 1 (05:11):
you have a, you have a broker who I, I
know personally. Um and, and that's very, and, and, and
encourages that. And so that's also part of, you know,
surrounding yourself with people who encourage you who and lift
you up. Um And I'm sure that was another, you know,
uh um being really happy that you, that uh people
are thriving in the organization is, is definitely a team
you wanna join and you do that, you do that
(05:33):
for your team. I'm, I, I, I've, I've been around
you with your team. It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah. Yeah, I have, I have the best team and, um,
it took me a while but I, I was really
busy and, um, I wanted to cut back a little, myself, personally,
cut back. And, um, what I decided was, let me
see if I can work with cause at the time, um,
I guess it's been about five years, teams were becoming
(05:59):
more popular and you were hearing more about teams and
to me, it made sense because I don't know everything,
you know, so I had to find a way to
put a team together that would be mutually beneficial for
everyone on the team. But what we have is we have,
I focus on listings. We have Angela Paul and Andrew Centr,
(06:25):
they're buyer's agents. If somebody calls
um we direct them to Andrew and um Angela, we
have Dominic Martarano who's specialist in land. He was um
on the planning boards of Ulster County and the town
of Lloyds. So he knows everything there is to know
about land. And um then we have Dave Stock Rocky
(06:49):
who's a commercial specialist and Rich Miller who has a
home inspector's license. He
um builds modular homes and um so he has a
lot of knowledge about um building and construction and um
so this pool, these are all like minded people
(07:10):
with the same. We share all the same goals and values,
but we're all available 24 7 to each other, you know,
so when a question comes up on a land or
what the uses are, it takes a call to Dominic
and you have the answer and you have an expert
answer immediately for your client. So that's, yeah, it's, it's awesome.
(07:33):
I am so blessed to be working with
Speaker 1 (07:36):
that couldn't have happened overnight. It's not, it's not easy
to get a group of people all on the same page,
the same work ethic and then each person bringing something
different to the team. And so, you know, those are three,
you know, first finding people that have the same work
ethic and mindset. Two finding people that have different skills
(07:56):
that they can bring expertise that they can bring to
the team.
Um Those are not easy and been willing to wait
until you can gather those people and not just, you know,
kind of saying I'll just do for now. Um
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yes, it was, it was, and it fell into place.
I mean, there was some, we had, you know, it
took a while to get the right team to put
this group together. But um
now it just, it functions so smoothly and everybody has
so much confidence in each other that it's amazing to
(08:32):
sit in the office and hear Angela come in and
she has a question and she throws it off Dominic
and he, he gives her the answer shows her how
to search out, say it's a flood zone or something.
He'll sit with her and show her, this is what
you do and we know that we're going back to
our clients with good
solid professional information. So, yeah, I am blessed it. It's
(08:55):
an amazing group.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
There's, there's an old African proverb that, that basically says,
uh we go farther together. And so, um have you
seen the growth happen with everybody staying in their lane
and then, you know, obviously cross functionally helping each other,
but you've put together a bunch of experts and versus,
you know, the time energy and then,
you know, at the end, the the rewards of growing
(09:18):
the business. Yeah, that is.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, and the thing that um is great for my team, we,
we all um we care, we care. So, I mean,
we're always like picking um a charity, let's let's donate
to this, you know, let's so it's, it's not about us,
it's about the a bigger picture, you know, that we,
everyone here sees that there's a bigger picture. This goes
(09:43):
way beyond us. And to me, that's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
That was this team to team together before, you know.
So New York was one of the places that I
first experienced the hardship, you know, or the challenge that
it comes with being a real estate professional. Um I
met a bunch of your team members um in March
of 2020.
Um You all were on the, on a call that
(10:09):
your broker had put together um with myself, just introducing
organic lead generation and what that means and marketing yourself
and getting yourself online, everybody was excited and by three o'clock,
uh the state was shut down due to COVID.
Right? And you today, are you, your business is on fire.
(10:30):
How did you make that comeback? Because one thing I
say to newbies, new agents is COVID, put everybody back
on the on the s on the starting line.
Um experienced agents um were thriving. New agents were coming
in and all of a sudden everybody is on the
starting line. How did you jump back to the starting
line and then get back in place where you were
(10:52):
over that two year period.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah. You know, um
I think having that team, we had weekly um zoom
calls where we kept each other up, you know, and
it wouldn't always have to be about real estate. It
would be how you doing, you know, do you need anything?
Is there anything I can do for you? And um
so we kept each other, we kept each other up
(11:18):
through the whole thing and you know, it was different.
It was crazy. We were selling houses on site unseen
and all asking BECA because we're um we're fueled by
New York City and at that time, a lot of
New York City buyers
were able to do work remotely. So they were looking
to get out of the city,
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Barbara, tell me about the first phone call, you guys.
So you guys were shut down like March 15th 16th
at 12 o'clock. I was talking to you guys. I
was like, hey, this is great. Let's talk. You know,
I would love to come down and literally I get
a phone call at three o'clock saying Lisa, we're all
shut down like we can't,
we could do nothing. No. Open, you got, you probably
had open houses scheduled that afternoon. Oh,
Speaker 2 (12:00):
yeah. Yeah, I had, I had a showing on one
of my listings and the agent called said these people
want this house. I had just listed it. And so we're,
what am I, what are we gonna do? And we
weren't even supposed to be letting
people into other people's houses. At first. We, you know,
we had no idea what this was, you know, how
(12:22):
to handle it. This was new. So I called the owner.
I said, what do we do? She said, well, I'm
happy to go for a walk. She said, if he'll
come in and wear a mask and put on whatever.
So he walked through the house with his client on
facetime and then he called me and had a
answer questions and this person actually never saw the house
(12:45):
until the day of closing when they did the final walkthrough.
They actually got to go into the house and see it.
So that was uh
Speaker 1 (12:54):
that that's like, oh yeah. Ok. So you say buyer
but back then, you know, going back three years, that
was unheard of somebody buying a house without being physically.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, it was, it was a crazy, crazy
Speaker 1 (13:12):
little. Did you know that? That was like the beginning
of this swell of New York City findings County, Ulster
County was like, ok, we're
Speaker 2 (13:24):
still experiencing that because the
Speaker 1 (13:27):
immigration.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, the prices have inflated. So we're not getting listings.
People aren't listing their homes because they have no place
to go, you know, so we still have loads of
issues that, that want but inventory issues, you know, and
um it, it's a lot of counseling going to talk
(13:49):
to someone about selling their home. And the first question is,
where are you going to go? And um so, you know, it,
there's a lot of balancing having the team is again
great because I'll, you know, ok, this is where they
want to go. This is what they want. Does the
team know of anything. So the buyer's agents know of
(14:11):
anything that would suit this person. So it all becomes
back to the team work.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You got a, you got a system going on. I
love this.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
We do. Yeah, we do. And
Speaker 1 (14:22):
so the other day they just announced last week that
the average apartment in Manhattan
is 5588. I remember those numbers. It's $5588 a month
for as the average, right? So now, you know, like
you said this hasn't stopped this in migration or out
(14:42):
migration of New York City into um you guys. So,
Dutchess County, you're about an hour,
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Duchess. And yeah, we're about 90 minutes. Um give or take. Yeah,
and we have um
we have the train stations. So we have Metro North
and Amtrak that come
right to um into Dutchess County and it's right across
the river from Ulster County. So we, and we have
(15:08):
bus stations. So, you know, I've talked to many people
that um work remotely part time and take the bus
down three days or, you know, take the train down
every morning and it becomes the new, the
Speaker 1 (15:21):
new norm. The new norm. I was in New York
City in March. I came in on a Friday and
I'm thinking, ok, it's gonna be like no traffic. And
what
I was told when I got there by some friends is, yep,
everyone comes. Uh they basically work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
Monday and Friday are typically a hybrid day um where
it is starting to be the norm. Years ago, I
worked for Staples Corporation. I had done um for Staples
(15:44):
because they were an office supply store. What was the
year 2030 gonna look like in the workplace? So it
was always gonna be 75% remote workers. So I don't
care what the media says. This was always going to be,
it just COVID pushed it up 10 years. COVID pushed, pushed,
accelerated this move to remote work. Um And then once
employers start to realize that the cost savings of coffee
(16:07):
and water and extra office space, we, we know that
this is not gonna go away for you for, for
a 90 minute commute when you don't have to be
in the city, but two or three days a week now,
that's no longer a challenge. That's actually a nice getaway.
I get out of the get to the city for
one or two days a week.
And so you're in migration is still happening um which
(16:29):
is great. So, sellers, right? Inventory. So one of the
things that we talk about and, and um I love
your feedback on this. There are still uh motivated sellers
because of milestone life zone events. So unfortunately, that people
are still dying, there's still death taxes we can't get
rid of. And another thing that's um that's still not declining.
(16:50):
Um
I don't know about New York City, New York State,
but divorce. So are you finding any leverage in those
three areas? Uh probate. Um Folks just aging out um
uh or, or hes also utilities and taxes and the
cost of living uh to maintain some of the houses
that people bought during the pandemic. So what are you
(17:13):
seeing in your market in terms of where the motivation
is coming from?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, we see all of it. Um We see all
of what you just mentioned. Um you know, um,
the, the taxes are an issue, you know, so that
becomes a problem. But the majority is
estates. We have a lot of estates that are selling
homes and what a lot of people don't realize is
(17:40):
that this has to be probate many times, has to
be probated before a home can be listed. 50%
Speaker 1 (17:46):
of Americans. Barbara, 50% of Americans die without a living will.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah. Yeah, I believe me, I see it all the
time and, you know, so then the family is
taking care of the cost of the taxes, maintaining the home. And, um,
so we, you know, we get those listings, we try
to work with our, uh,
the families and know that you, you know, get to
(18:14):
the attorney, get this filed in the surrogate court as
soon as possible. And,
Speaker 1 (18:21):
and so, you know, the system, you, you know, the,
you know, the court system, you know, the laws. Yeah. Right. And,
and it's gonna touch it with 50% of the country. It,
it will touch all of our, you know, someone in
our family. We, we, we know, so having that team
and so, um, I know that in a lot of
the southern States we get agents who say I got
(18:42):
a call from, you know, the cousin in Ohio or the, the, the, uh, the,
the granddaughter that's living in Portland, Oregon. And so, you know, the,
they're searching online, um, to find a agent who,
Speaker 2 (18:55):
so I have many, many of those situations where I
work with, um, families that I've never met,
you know, have to be, be their feet on the
ground here because they were, they're living in California and
their grandmother passed away here or, you know, something similar
to that. So we have to be aware of this,
(19:17):
you know, and explain what New York, what this looks
like in New York State. You know, what does this
look like that you inherited this home and now you
have to
sell it, you know, so there's a lot of counseling
that you do and, um, you don't, we don't give
legal advice, we just tell them the process to take,
(19:38):
to get the legal advice. And, um,
Speaker 1 (19:44):
that's, that's, that's wonderful. You also mentioned land. Um, and
I saw a great quote the other day, you know,
buy land, they're not making it anymore. Um,
so, so with the land, um, you know, it, it,
it a lot of people don't have experience with land.
So that's definitely a competitive edge your team has. Um,
and you're starting to see those families that generationally always
(20:07):
held on to that land. Um, I live in uh,
rural New Hampshire and so I see it all the time.
They've held on to it for several
and this next generation doesn't want any part of it, um,
Speaker 2 (20:19):
does not want it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So, um, you have an expert in your team, that's
understanding what people want to know about the land, right?
They want to know about
Speaker 2 (20:29):
it, right? And land is land is challenging because you have,
there's so many factors is
the wetland, you know, is this buildable, will this get
a board of health approval to put in a sewer
and a septic? Because most of our, our area requires um,
septic tanks and wells. You know, most areas do not
(20:50):
have sewer and
Speaker 1 (20:52):
sewer and water
Speaker 2 (20:53):
water. Right. So, um, you know, there's so many
and then, um, does it meet the setbacks that you have?
So having Dominic, I mean, he's, he's amazing. He can
go out and pretty much look at a property and
tell you, ok, these look like the challenges that you
should look into. So, um, you know, and
(21:14):
from there, you know, we, um, we have a list of, um,
excavators, you know, that we recommend and, um, engineers, I
Speaker 1 (21:25):
was gonna say you have an external team too when it,
even when it comes to probate, right? You're pulling in
those external experts and, um, with the land you have to.
And so, you know, and, and letting, uh,
buyers and sellers know that you have a external team
that you can help, like with, even with probate. Right. So,
while that hou house is in probate, who's mowing the lawn,
(21:46):
who's taking you the. Right. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Exactly. Yeah. So that's quite often if the, the person
is living out of state,
it comes to the agent, you know, to hook up the,
the owner with the proper contractors that's going to be
there to mow the lawn every week to plow the snow.
So if we have a showing, nobody's falling on ice,
you know, there's so many things that need to be
(22:11):
addressed that you have to have this all, you know,
ready so that you can advise your client.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Well, you guys have one of the hardest working teams
um in, in America because you guys are working overtime.
You know, the, the take away that I'm hearing about
putting together a team and there's so many people that
are struggling, you see the recruiting videos all the time,
the recruiting ads, it's not easy. And this uh this
business was fairly um uh you know, a lot of
(22:39):
agents came in. So there was a lot of, you know,
there's a lot of folks that came in during the
pandemic said this isn't really thing. Houses are selling houses
selling in hours.
This is a career for me and keeping those people
they haven't been through, you know, the different markets that
you've been through. Um So how are you keeping them motivated?
How you, you know, look, this is just a blip
(22:59):
in time, things will get better.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, I, when I started, I got my license in
2007 and I had the best broker. I, I talk
to him all the time we were in a small
office and um, we, we had our
desks facing each other and it was the, the market
was crashed and it was 2008. By the time I
(23:23):
got going,
Speaker 1 (23:24):
everybody, I, I just want to say this again, you
got licensed in 2007 and one of the worst housing
crisis in history.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I, I've seen it all.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
So this is nothing you're like. Yeah. OK. Just let
me just take it. Let me have a somthing and
wait this one out.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Well, that's what my bro, I, I used to say
to my broker because I, at that time,
the internet was just starting, you know, people were starting
to use the internet for marketing and I thought, I
thought now this is where it's at. This is uh
you know, I wasn't really into technology.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Technology.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, I was doing postcards
but I was also investigating how do you get yourself online?
I started doing a blog and I wrote a blog
on active rain for many years. And uh
and my, my broker was there and I used to say,
I feel like a hamster on a wheel. I'm running, running, running,
(24:23):
I'm so tired, I'm getting nowhere. He said, just keep
doing what you're doing. Don't give up. He said, if
you give up, you lose it all. He said you're
on the right track and he just always motivated me
to just keep going. Barbara, just keep going. And I,
I often, yeah, I often at the end of the
(24:44):
year reached out to him
and say this is because of you because I would
have given up. I
Speaker 1 (24:51):
mean, what business can you open? I don't care if
you're even a pizza place, what business can you open?
And two days later people are buying from you. So
if you think about like, you know, for all these
agents that come into this, you know, it's been six
months and I haven't sold anything. What business do you start?
Where you, unless you're putting a bunch of money in
the marketing, you know, it's really hard to, to, you
can't just put a shingle out and they will come,
(25:13):
you know, that was in full, the drinks, it's not happening.
Um, and in this market. So, um, I think you,
you've given some great, um, insight as to, you know,
you started in the worst market you held in there,
you kept going. Um, when I mentioned your name to
anybody in your market, they're like, oh my gosh, she's
a rock star. So, and so they, you're right, blood
(25:34):
sweat and tears. Uh, is, it, is how she got here. Um, it,
it is not easy and the thing is, is that you,
you made your business and now you brought in the team,
um, to share that and I've talked, I talked to
you quite often and you're always concerned to make sure
that they're making a living that they're getting these things. Um,
(25:55):
and so, you know, that all wraps up into building
a good sound business. You can't just hold things for
yourself as an associate broker or broker. You wanna make
sure that the people in your team excel because
is that African problem? We go farther together. And, um,
and so, and thank you, you've given us referrals. II,
I love working with you and I'm so glad to
(26:16):
have you on the show because this is the stuff
that people need to hear. You didn't open you. You
came in at the worst market you could have
stopped six months later and said, ok,
Speaker 2 (26:26):
this is it, I'm done
Speaker 1 (26:27):
right. But if you look up, you, you have your
award winning agent and it was about consistency. And also
the other thing that I loved about what you said
today is you play to your strengths even when business
may have been a little down in your area. You're like, no,
this is, this is the long game, this is a marathon.
(26:48):
This is no sprint people.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
That's right. Exactly. That's right.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Barbara Carter, uh, Ulster County and Dutchess County award winning agent.
Thank you so much for being on the show. Thank
Speaker 2 (27:01):
you.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Thank you. Have a wonderful, wonderful week. Thank you. You too. Ok,
bye
Speaker 2 (27:07):
bye.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.