August 12, 2025 • 48 mins
Andrea Gordon shares her 27-year journey as Berkeley's top-producing real estate agent for Compass while pursuing multiple creative passions. She created her podcast "Realizations" to educate people about what realtors actually do after feeling frustrated about NAR lawsuits and commission misconceptions.
• Real estate agents meet clients at major life transition points that are inherently stressful
• Most people don't move unless they have to—requiring agents to have both market knowledge and emotional intelligence
• Effective marketing strategies like consistent bus bench advertising for 23+ years
• Increasing marketing during economic downturns helped establish stability when others pulled back
• Understanding when to help clients overcome fear to make good decisions
• Pushing past fear is essential for both clients and agents to achieve success
• Andrea balances her real estate career with multiple passions: pursuing a PhD in her 60s, writing plays, publishing children's books
• Working with a realtor is crucial even for experienced investors to handle comps, listings, and sales
• The value of teamwork in real estate: "Teamwork makes the dream work"
• Andrea's life philosophy: "If not now, when?" and "What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?"
Leave a five-star review to help the podcast reach two million downloads! Find me at dwanderful.com and on all social media @Dwanderful.
Thanks again for listening. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a FIVE-STAR review.
Head to Dwanderful right now to claim your free real estate investing kit.
And follow:
http://www.Dwanderful.com
http://www.facebook.com/Dwanderful
http://www.Instagram.com/Dwanderful
http://www.youtube.com/DwanderfulRealEstateInvestingChannel
Make it a Dwanderful Day!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (00:02):
Hey everybody , welcome to THE MOST DWANDERFUL
REAL ESTATE PODCAST EVER! I amso super excited to have you on
the show today.
If you haven't listened for awhile.
We just reached 1 million views, so I am not views, downloads,
so I am so excited to hit themillion mark.
That was a really big deal forme.
(00:24):
So you all know me.
First thing I did was like isone million downloads good?
And turns out it makes you inthe top 5% of all podcasts.
So I was like woo.
So my new guest here today, msAndrea, is just learning this.
So I'm so excited and it's allbecause of you and I just thank
you and love all of you so much.
(00:44):
Now, as you know, this is themost Dwanderful Real Estate
Podcast ever.
I took my name Dwan andwonderful and I made a new name.
So over here, we are Dwanderfuland our motto is people before
profits.
So if that's something thatfits in with you, you're at the
right place and I'm your girl.
So if that's something thatfits in with you, you're at the
(01:05):
right place and I'm your girl.
So I just want to jump rightinto my guest, ms Andrea Gordon.
And here's the thing Most ofyou know my first name is
actually Andrea.
So it's Andrea Dwan and hers isspelled the same, but it's
Andrea.
So now I have to be super awareto say Andrea.
That's the same thing assomeone calling me Dawn, which
(01:29):
you all know I hate, they allknow.
I've had a few people that havebeen on my show and they call
me that and I was like All right, miss Andrea, andrea, miss
Andrea, I'm going to make thatphonetic because of my own name.
So I've been crazy.
All right, ms Andrea, andrea,ms Andrea, I'm going to make
that phonetic because of my ownname.
So I've been crazy.
All right, girl.
So we just throw our guestright in.
(01:51):
We want to know who you are,how do we find your social media
?
And just a couple sentencesabout what you do, and then I'm
going to ask you a bunch ofquestions.
Andrea Gordon (01:59):
Very, very cool.
My name is Andrea Gordon andI'm'm a realtor in Berkeley,
california.
I've been a realtor for 27years at this point and I am the
top producing agent in Berkeley, oakland, albany, el Cerrito,
kensington, all of the innerEast Bay for Compass, which is
(02:24):
really cool.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (02:24):
That is well, congratulations.
Thank you, thank you very muchTo be the top, top realtor in
any area that is.
I mean people that don't know,don't know how much work that is
.
Andrea Gordon (02:35):
It's a lot of work.
It really really is.
I have my own podcast, which iscalled Realizations, and I got
really angry about the NAR, dojlawsuits and all of the
commission lawsuits and stuff,because what I realized was that
nobody really knows what we do.
They don't understand what wedo, they don't understand the
depth and breadth of it.
They don't understand how manyvendors we have to deal with all
(02:57):
of the ins and outs of what itis to do real estate.
And so then I thought ratherthan be mad, because that's not
a great healthy thing foranybody that I would create a
podcast myself that wouldaddress and educate people as to
what we really do, why itmatters, what's important about
what we do in society, in thecities we live in, in the
(03:20):
communities we live in thecharitable ways in which we give
back, live in in thecommunities we live in the
charitable ways in which we giveback, and so I've been having
everybody from mayors ofdifferent cities, to the head of
Compass, to painters and To me,soon to be on your show, yeah,
okay.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (03:36):
So let's pause right there just for a
second.
Give me all your socials,because I want everyone to be
able to find you, and peoplesometimes just read the show
notes and take a few things andthey move on.
Andrea Gordon (03:47):
You can find me really at Andrea@ Andrea Gordon
Real Estate, pretty much onevery platform, and you can
email me at Andrea at AndreaGordon dot com, and you can go
to my website, which is www.
AndreaGordon.
com.
You can also find my podcast,which is called Realizations
capital R-E for real estate andit's on Hulu, spotify, apple,
(04:13):
youtube, amazon you name it,yeah yeah, and you can also find
my book.
I have a children's book out.
It's on Amazon.
It's called Yo-Yo in a Tree andit's all about how a Senegal
parrot got out and was able toget home after flying far, far
(04:35):
away, and it follows theadventures of these two little
children, Stanley and Emma, whoare desperate to get the bird
back.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (04:44):
Oh, I love that.
I love that.
Okay, so now what you say Iagree with.
So I have been a real estateinvestor for about 35 years.
I've flipped, I've wholesale orflipped over 2000 personal
deals.
I've helped, I don't know.
I have over 500,000 students.
My husband and I are basicallyrehabbing an entire town, but
(05:06):
I've never had my real estatelicense.
I started off as an investor.
I started rehabbing houses 35years ago and I just stayed into
the business like that.
But I tell people all the timeif you're going to be a real
estate investor and not have alicense, you have to be able to
work with someone that is a realestate agent, because we can't
(05:31):
be investors without real estateagents.
Andrea Gordon (05:36):
Well, it creates so much liability for you
besides everything else.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (05:39):
Yeah, it's not even a liability.
It's like you know we needsomeone to help us with comps,
especially if we're new.
We need someone to help us witha listing agreement.
If we're doing short sales, ifwe rehab and we put our houses
on the market when they're alldone, we need someone to sell
our houses.
Hang on, I'm trying to get thatthere we go, I lost my camera.
Then we need someone to help ussell our houses.
Andrea Gordon (06:01):
Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (06:05):
And I always tell people listen, don't, don't
do everything, Don't have alicense and be, try to be a
contractor and be a rehabber andbe an investor.
You know, find the people thatthat's what they do and let them
be on your team.
Exactly, I feel like team.
I just don't.
I always tell my grandkidsevery day I'm like teamwork,
they go, makes the dream work.
Yeah, I tell them that everysingle day when I'm with their
(06:26):
kids.
We make them put groceries awayand do all these things.
And there's four of them andthe little one's three and the
big one's 10.
But now everybody helps.
Teamwork and they go, makes thedream work.
I'm teaching them, embeddingthat into their brains now,
because they have to grow up andrealize you, you know you can't
just be a one man act and bewealthy and successful without
(06:48):
people helping you.
Andrea Gordon (06:49):
Yeah, exactly, I mean people.
People collaborate all the time.
They don't call itcollaboration, but really you
know when you have community,when you have, you know every
place where you go, you havepeople that are buoying you up
and you're putting them up, andthat's part of what makes life
worthwhile, honestly.
It's how, it's how friendshipsdevelop, it's how resilience
(07:10):
develops, it's how people becomeproductive and not
self-involved.
So these are all reallywonderful things.
Yeah, when I sell one of my ownproperties, I hire a real poor,
by the way.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (07:23):
And you know and you should.
It's like you're too close toyour own projects.
I don't know.
I swear I feel like I preach tothe choir.
I'm always telling people thatand I get like someone again
like, oh okay, someone thatactually understands what the
deal is, you just can't do itand I have people going to be
commissioned.
It's like, but you're, if I fixa house up and I selling it,
(07:44):
I'm making money.
Why should the realtor not alsomake money?
You know, because investors arelike I'll just sell my own
house, like yeah, but do youknow what to do?
Do you have the experience,like do you know how to sell
houses?
Andrea Gordon (07:57):
right no, I'm like well again people people
focus on the commission andthat's why those lawsuits were
so utterly stupid.
They focused on the commission,which is that's why those
lawsuits were so utterly stupid.
They focused on the commission,which is the smallest piece of
any of it.
You know, on average I get mysellers 11% more than most other
realtors do in the areas that Iserve.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:18):
Well, you know my husband is a Mike Ferry
trainee.
Yes, he worked with Mike Ferry Iguess we both, I guess, got
into real estate, both at around1990.
And he was an agent for yearsfive or six or seven years and
sold like 500 houses and helpedsomebody in foreclosure and I
(08:41):
guess the way he tells it islike some light bulb went off.
He's like, well, I just helpedsomebody in foreclosure and I
guess the way he tells it islike some light bulb went off.
He's like, wow, I just helpedsomebody in foreclosure and this
was like I guess it felt moremeaningful to help his family.
So I got to do this again.
So next thing, you know he washung up his license and he's an
agent, so it's funny to listento him.
We do our boot camps becausehe's got all the Mike Ferry
(09:03):
scripts so and he'll say, okay,top question.
Someone's like you know youcan't.
Can we lower my commissionbill's like no, any other
questions, right?
And I laugh because I haven'tlistened to the mike ferry tapes
.
Andrea Gordon (09:18):
It's like, oh my gosh, that's so funny yeah, I
worked with um tom ferry, hisson yeah and then I actually, to
this day, I work with a coachnamed fonda martin, who was one
of tom ferry's coaches.
She actually was one ofmikeerry's coaches, way back
when too.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (09:34):
But Bill went for Mike, then he worked with
Tom and then we actually becamefriends with Matt and his wife,
Cause they're not, you know,they're not into the real estate
side anymore.
But it's just because I'velistened to the tapes filming
times with Bill listening tothem.
I'm like gosh, that's a lot ofgood.
Andrea Gordon (09:58):
Cause the scripts .
The scripts are so important,and it's not only that, it's
it's that they teach you to beaccountable to yourself.
Yes, and that's.
You know, I don't compete withother agents, I compete with
myself.
I I have a production trackerthat vonda gave me way back when
, when I was working with tomferry, that I still use to this
very day.
Compass has come out with theirown version of it, but I
actually like the one I've beenworking with forever better, so
(10:18):
I use it and that way I can tellyou, down to the penny, how
much money I make.
I can tell you.
I can tell you how manyconversations I need to have
every single day in order tomake the money that I want to
make.
So there's a way.
It's a way of stabilizing yourincome and and moving forward,
understanding what you need todo in order to make this all
(10:40):
work.
And a lot of people get intoreal estate thinking it's going
to be easy, thinking they'rejust going to work two hours a
day and make millions of dollars.
It's a very, very, very hardjob.
Beyond being a very, very hardjob, you have to be consistent
in your marketing efforts.
You have to be consistent inyour in your prospecting.
You have to be consistent inyour follow through and follow
up.
It takes a lot.
(11:01):
It's really it's it's kind ofamazing.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (11:03):
Actually, I say all those same things as
investors, but what I want I dowant.
What I want to touch on is yousaid that you know you help
people really understand, like,what you do.
And I think, like people justthink, oh, I'm going to list my
house, and they don't reallyunderstand what it is that you
do.
That's why they're like oh,lower your commission, you take
(11:23):
this, you know, do this.
And that it's like hey, listen,that person has to stand up for
their own worth and their ownself-value and they are also
working and doing a service andthey're helping you.
But I think people think you'relike you put it in the computer
and why can't you take less?
But there's so much to it.
So I like the fact you startoff saying you basically teach
(11:45):
people like that's, yeah, that'sthe whole point of what I do
depth of it.
So I want you to like, if I'mbrand new and I'm talking to you
, what some of the things youwould say to me because your
approach is so great.
Thank you.
Andrea Gordon (12:00):
Thank you.
Well, one of the first thingsthat I mentioned when I'm
teaching people is that you'remeeting people at some of the
most stressful points in theirentire lives.
Even if it's good stuff likelike, let's say, they've just
gotten married and they want tobuy a house, or they've had a
baby, or they've had anotherbaby You're meeting people in
(12:20):
real estate who have beenthrough a major life change.
Generally speaking, most of usare pretty inert.
We don't want to move any placeunless we have to.
You know, my husband and I, formany, many years, we would buy
a house, fix it up, live in itfor a couple of years and then
sell it.
But then we found a house wereally, really, really liked in
2004.
And we've stayed here becausewe really love this house and we
love the land and we love allthat about it.
(12:43):
But most people don't moveunless they have to.
Most people, you know, and itcan be exciting things.
It can be you get a big bonusat work and therefore you can
now afford to buy a housewhereas you've been renting
before.
Or it can be you got divorcedor your kids went off to college
, or, but it's always someincredible pivot point in their
(13:04):
lives.
So, realtor, not only do wehave to be really, really astute
as far as marketing isconcerned, we also have to be
really, really astute as far asdealing with concerned.
We also have to be really,really astute as far as dealing
with people in very stressfulmoments of their lives.
Usually, people aren't at theirbest when you're working with
them as a realtor and you haveto learn to let that stuff just
roll off your back and feel likeit's not personal.
(13:26):
There's a wonderful, wonderfulbook called the Four Agreements,
which I read to everybody allthe time because you, you, when
you read it, you realize that,yes, that that whoever's having
that problem, it's not reallyyour problem, and if you take it
on, you become less effective.
So part of your job is to staya little bit away from any of
(13:49):
the emotionality of thesituation, to be compassionate
and empathetic, but also to alsoto be the person who can act
and isn't paralyzed by thesituation and problem.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (14:03):
See, I'm dealing with people that are in
foreclosure yeah, something hashappened there too and a death,
a divorce, job loss, all thesame things.
I'm I think I'm with them alittle further down the road
because they you know mostpeople will try to sell their
house first, sometimes like theyjust can't.
It's too much disrepair, toomany things are wrong.
(14:24):
And I always tell my investorsI'm like, listen, you're meeting
them, just like you said, atprobably, and in my case, one of
the worst times in their life.
And if you don't want to heartheir story and try to help them
and like, for me, I pray withthem and if you don't want to do
all those things like that, youdon't have any business being
(14:45):
in this business, because thesepeople need help.
Like, real help is not aboutwhat you're going to make.
They need real-life help, right.
Andrea Gordon (14:52):
No, absolutely I like that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (14:53):
You emphasize that because I don't think
enough people do.
Andrea Gordon (14:57):
Well, and that's so.
That's part of the job.
Another part of the job isbeing a top-notch marketer.
You have to know how to marketproperties to be a realtor, and
that takes an awful lot rightnow.
I mean, there are a lot ofpeople that are not terribly
tech savvy.
If you aren't tech savvy andyou don't have the gene that
will enable you to be tech savvy, hire someone who does.
(15:18):
I mean that's.
The other part of all of thisis that people are frightened to
spend money.
People really really reallyfear spending money.
The best investment I ever madewas hiring my first assistant,
my business.
As soon as I hired an assistantand I had been very low I'm
very I don't know what the wordis, but I'm kind of anal about
(15:40):
about numbers and things, andyou know and I actually do know
how to do absolutely everything,and so I was trying to do
everything myself andessentially I was my own
assistant.
So you know, there I was doingwhat I could pay somebody you
know $40 an hour for inCalifornia.
I don't know what it iselsewhere, but $30 an hour in
(16:00):
California for something thatyou know.
My job pays more like $ and yousupervise them and you figure
it out.
At this point.
I have two listing coordinators, I have a full-time transaction
coordinator, I have a virtualassistant in the Philippines and
(16:22):
I have buyers agents thathandle buyers for me.
I'm almost entirely listings atthis point in my career and it
works out really, really wellfor me.
I'm not a major team.
I mean I hear about some ofthese mega teams that they have
at, like Keller Williams, wherethere's, like you know, there's
one guy in Oakland, california,who has a team of 369 people.
(16:45):
I am sorry, you are not a team.
If you have 369 people workingfor you, you're not really.
I mean, I doubt that guy hasbeen in house for for several
years at this point.
So so it really just depends onhow you want to set up your
business, and there's so manydifferent things you can do in
real estate, like look at whatDwayne is.
I see I did it now.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (17:09):
That's okay, we're even, we both are now.
Andrea Gordon (17:12):
Look at what Dwan is doing.
She is working on foreclosures,flips, investing all of those
things.
That's a job in real estate.
Appraising is a job in realestate.
You can become an inspector andwork with real estate.
There's so many differentcompanies and different ideas of
businesses that are associatedwith what it is we do companies
(17:33):
and different ideas ofbusinesses that are associated
with what it is we do.
We are an entire.
We're like the biggest segmentof the us economy now you are,
you really are.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (17:41):
I think there's more realtors than any
other type of a job class.
There's more people that are inthe real estate agent, real
estate investor agent side ofthe business.
There's more agents than likeany other, like versus
stockbrokers or versus this orversus that.
Andrea Gordon (17:58):
Yeah, there are almost as many attorneys, but
there are, there's a lot ofattorneys.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (18:03):
That's because we're too sue happy.
Tell me about a couple of yourmarketing.
I feel like I know that at myage, at 66, you know, I was not
born with a computer at myfingertips but I have gotten
pretty good at learningmarketing.
But I've taken a lot of classesat a lot of weekend workshops
learning marketing.
(18:23):
What are some of the topmarketing things that people
need?
Because I don't?
People are like, well, I'm justgoing to get my license and
people will find me.
It's like they won't find you.
There's like 100 billion peoplethey're not gonna find you.
Andrea Gordon (18:36):
Okay, so a few things.
Just a little bit of backgroundfor me.
I used to teach at differentuniversities, I'm a theater
director and playwright.
My work has been producednationally, I have directed all
over the country and with thatand $2.50, I could buy myself a
cup of coffee.
So the arts are not very wellfunded in this country,
(18:59):
especially now.
And so what happened for me was,at that point in time, most of
my friends in theater would gowork at a restaurant.
They'd be a bartender or awaitress or a waiter and I
instead went to work for HalReinion Partners, which was an
advertising agency in SanFrancisco, and I became yeah, I
(19:19):
was their in-house castingperson for a while.
I left to direct a productionof Death of a Salesman in Los
Angeles, but that's a wholeother story.
But the point being, I learneda lot from when I was there,
watching how advertising iscreated and what's important and
how campaigns are created andwhat they do, and I think that
that has really, really helpedme in my work as a realtor ever
(19:42):
since then.
I learned how repetition is key.
I learned how, like if you putone ad in, it's meaningless you
have to have consistency.
You have to keep doing it overand over again.
Many, many years ago peoplelaughed at me because I got bus
benches.
(20:02):
So I have bus benches.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (20:04):
I have bus benches too.
I love them.
I have so much business of busbenches.
Andrea Gordon (20:09):
Exactly, they, they, they are subliminal.
People drive by them every day.
They are subliminal Peopledrive by them every day.
They see your name on there.
By the way, I have never, ever,had my photo on my bus benches,
because I kind of come offlooking like a potato and I
always forget to wear makeup.
What have you?
You're like beautiful.
People always think my pictureis on my bus bench and they
(20:31):
remember me.
Like, I went for a massage atthis massage place and the
person who was giving me amassage went oh, you're the real
estate lady.
And then, of course, proceededwhile she was doing the massage
to talk to me about real estatevalues.
That's so funny.
But I've had those bus benchesfor, like I want to say, 23
(20:52):
years now.
Yeah, and they are worth gold.
During the economic downturn in2008, I actually added bus
benches.
I actually increased myspending on my marketing during
the downturns because I knewthat if I was the last person
standing in that situation, thatpeople would be like, oh, she,
(21:13):
she, she survived, she did well,she's OK.
And so I I upped my marketingand that's something that's very
hard.
It's like, it's like what's hisname?
From Berkshire Hathaway, theguy that's that's retiring now.
He's wonderful, the oldergentleman who is, who is like.
I can't remember his name.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (21:33):
Anyway, I can't remember, I'm sorry, we'll
figure it out.
Andrea Gordon (21:36):
Anyway, he, warren Buffett, oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, warren Buffett,during downturns, he buys stock,
he buys, he buys.
That's the thing.
The biggest thing that holdseveryone back is fear.
Fear is the most dangerousthing in the entire world.
(21:56):
Fear stops people from doing.
I remember when I was a kid,when I was like 18, some people
that I knew were getting marriedand I knew it was going to be
the best wedding on the middleof my nose right before the
wedding, and I have regrettedfor my entire life that I did
(22:18):
not go to this wedding, whichpeople to this day still talk
about, because it was so muchfun, because I was so worried
that people were going to belooking at this gigantic
carbuncle in the middle of myface.
Now, the reality was it wasn'tmy day.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (22:32):
Nobody would have given it down.
Andrea Gordon (22:33):
No one would have cared day.
Nobody would have cared, no onewould have cared.
But I had fear, and fear wasthe thing that stopped me from
doing something wonderful thatwould have made me happy and
giving you all those memorieswith shared memories exactly so.
Whenever you have fear, mybiggest advice to you is to look
at it really, really take itout of you like it's a thing and
(22:56):
put it on the table in front ofyou and think about why it's a
problem.
And if you cannot come up witha genuine reason why your fear
is real like sometimes, fear isreal like you know, but if, for
some reason, if you realize it'syou putting an obstacle in
front of you doing something,then you just have to knock that
(23:19):
away.
Yeah, you need to.
You need to pass right throughthat, because those moments in
time when you evade fear are themoments where you have
breakthroughs.
Yes, I agree.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (23:32):
I said so much of my life earlier being
afraid of things.
I finally went.
It was just like you know,screw people I'm afraid.
And now I'm just like.
I don't even care what peoplethink, what you think I say
about me, I'm not afraid to tryanything.
None of that stuff even fazesme.
Yeah, and that and that suredoes when.
Until you overcome it, exactlyexactly.
Andrea Gordon (23:54):
And you know, I I look back on pictures from from
my youth and I keep thinkingabout the things that I was
pursuing and and it makes me sadin a certain way, some of the
things, because I didn't realizehow great something was, I
didn't fully appreciate themoment, and and that's you know
this, last week, actually twoweeks ago, my best friend, who
(24:17):
is 94 years old she's anincredible playwright she had a
major stroke.
She lost the ability to talkbecause of the stroke.
It hit her in left temporallobe of the brain and the day
before, my other best friend,ellen, and I had gone out to
lunch with her and we had thisincredible conversation and we
(24:38):
were talking.
Actually, because I'm in a PhDprogram, by the way, I decided
to go back to school and so I'mtaking, like you know, two
classes a semester, which meansthat by the time I'm 80, I'll
have my PhD.
But it's never too late,exactly Well, that's my motto.
My motto in life is, if not now, when?
(24:58):
If not now?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (25:00):
when I've had that motto.
I developed that a long time.
It's like you know, if I'mdoing it, what am I waiting for?
People like wait.
They wait for something tohappen before they start
something.
But it's like the waiting iswhat kills you.
Like just do it.
If it doesn't work out, dosomething else, but stop.
Andrea Gordon (25:16):
Same issue.
It's the same fear thing.
Honestly, you know, fear offailure is like a big.
I have a, I have a, I have apaperweight.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (25:26):
I don't know if you can see this Some of it,
your screen's in the way alittle bit, anyway, it says what
would you attempt to do if youknew you could not fail?
Andrea Gordon (25:37):
And I'd attempt to do everything.
I mean everything, everything I, you know.
And so I have started at thispoint in my life, because by the
time you hit your 60s you sortof feel like you, you might as
well.
I mean, what is there to loseat this point?
Yeah, so I went back to school.
I wrote a children's book.
It's called Yo-Yo and a Tree.
(25:58):
You can look it up.
It's on Amazon.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (26:00):
It's actually I'll get it from my grandkids.
Andrea Gordon (26:02):
My illustrator is this guy named Tiago Moto that
I met.
He's in Portugal and he'sbrilliant and wonderful.
We're actually already workingon a second book, um called
Stanley and Emma go to the birdstore.
I check, I looked, I researchedit a little bit, and there are
no children's books that arebased on on birds, and so I
thought oh, a niche.
All right, that's fun, yeah, so,in any case.
(26:25):
So I wrote a children's bookand I wrote a play, and the play
was very, very personal to meand I've been writing plays my
whole life, so it's not likeit's unusual for me to write a
play.
But what was unusual was Isubmitted it to a bunch of
different contests all over thecountry and it was a runner up
in like three of them, and thenthe Magic Theater in San
(26:49):
Francisco actually produced itand I produced.
I created a production companybased on putting all of this
stuff together called RainbowZebra Productions and created an
LLC.
Because you want everything tobe all kosher, oh yeah.
And subsequent to that and thatwas in 2023 that this all
(27:10):
started happening Subsequent tothat, my Rainbow Zebra
Productions has now become nameda resident theater at the Magic
Theater in San Francisco.
Good for you.
Uh, resident theater at themagic theater in san francisco.
Um, and yeah, and I sponsor aplay reading um uh series, that
is, all plays written by womenover the age of 55, with great
(27:32):
parts for women over the age of55, and we are anthologizing
them into books, um, so, so thiswhole project started just from
the germ of me going.
I want to do the things I wantto do.
When I turned 60, I startedtaking piano again when I was a
little little girl, and MrsHooties, my Danish piano teacher
(27:55):
, used to whack me over thefingers with a ruler, and I got
so annoyed that I quit, and I'dalways regretted it my whole
life that I didn't go back to it.
And when I turned 65, I wasgood enough that I bought myself
a Steinway Grant.
Wow, nice for you.
And I'm still taking lessons.
So.
So there's this wonderfulcellist named Pablo Casals.
(28:19):
You might have heard of him.
Somebody asked him when he was86 why he practiced every day,
and he said because I think I'mgetting better.
So what I want to do is justget better and better and better
and better and better.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (28:32):
And as far as real estate.
Andrea Gordon (28:34):
Real estate is the sort of thing that you can
do and get better and better andbetter, and it will teach you
everything about life.
By the time you're done in realestate, you will have been
through vicariously, of course,both as a participant, as the
agent, but also as an observer.
(28:55):
You'll have learned so muchabout human nature.
It will be amazing to you.
It's a great teacher, it's awonderful, wonderful teacher,
and I actually was asked byCompass to teach a masterclass
in real estate closing becausemost real estate agents don't
know how to close.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (29:14):
They just don't, they don't.
It seems like at a closing,everyone is kind of rambling
about and no one really knowswhat's happening.
Andrea Gordon (29:23):
Yeah, it's, it's.
What happens is Thank you,darren.
A long time ago, a long timeago, people got the idea that as
real estate agents, they werejust trusted advisors.
So what happens when you're atrusted advisor?
You advise Does anybody evertake your advice?
Does anybody automatically do?
(29:45):
No, every once in a while youhave to push somebody a little
bit off of a cliff so that theywill actually do something.
And if you don't know how to dothat, you will not succeed in
real estate.
Because there's not a singleperson on the planet, except for
possibly, dejuan, who walksinto a house and wants to spend
a million dollars.
Oh yeah, there is not a person.
They put every obstacle theycan possibly put in front of
(30:08):
themselves because as soon asthey actually want something
like that, all the doubts, allthe fear, all the incapability
comes back in and they starttalking themselves out of it in
and they start talkingthemselves out of it.
So part of your job as arealtor is to slightly push them
off the cliff, and it's notbecause you want the commission,
it's because it's the rightthing for them to do it is.
(30:32):
I just got somebody intocontract yesterday who had
written an offer on a propertyabout a week ago and the offer
that she wrote was really nambypamby and she has plenty of
money, by the way, she iscapable of doing this but she
was fearful and so that offerthat she wrote a week ago on
(30:55):
this house that I didn't thinkshe really really wanted was not
meaningful and ultimately, ourarea is still experiencing lots
of multiple bid situations.
There were nine offers and heroffer was not at the top, she
was in the sixth, she was thirdfrom the bottom and we talked
about it and I said to her youknow, I told you during the
(31:16):
course of this that I didn'tthink that was the right house
for you and you just went for itanyway, but you didn't really
go for it because you didn'treally want it.
And so then another house cameup almost immediately afterwards
and it was a lot more expensive, but I also knew she had the
money and it was exactly perfect.
(31:37):
It was like like the day that Itaught I do.
I do an intake with every clientthat I have and I write down
what it is they want and whatare the things that seem to be
important to them.
I asked them a bunch ofquestions so that I really get
to what's important to them,because you have to go in depth
with people about this stuff.
You do, sure, and so this housecame up and it was perfect, I
(31:58):
mean all the way down to ashared communal garden.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (32:01):
And it was perfect.
Andrea Gordon (32:01):
I mean all the way down to a shared communal
garden.
How often do you?
Oh, wow, that's nice, yeah.
And I was like don't let thisone go, don't, let don't pass
this one up.
And we decided on a price.
And between deciding on a priceand me having to go to a risk
management seminar that wasrequired by Compass for everyone
yes, she was working with myassistants and she cheaped out
(32:22):
by $100,000.
And I got out of the thing andthe agent who was representing
the seller called me and saidhey, andrea, you have this offer
in here and I have to tell youyou're not at the top.
They loved her letter.
They thought she was wonderful,they thought she was great, but
it's not enough.
(32:43):
And I said what would be enough?
Would this number be enough?
And she said oh, she would getit.
She would get it, she would beahead of.
There's an all cash offer.
That's a little bit behind that, but they liked her letter so
much I think they would go withher.
So I went back on the phone withher and I said you need to.
You need to do this if you wantthis house, and otherwise
(33:06):
you're just going to be sittingthere and not getting this house
and we're going to continuelooking for another six months
because this is a rarity, thisis a unicorn.
You're not going to see thisagain.
I can tell you already.
I know all the inventory in theareas I serve and you are not
going to see this sort of thing.
She stepped up to the plate andshe got the house.
Yay, and that's why they needyou.
Yeah, that's why.
(33:26):
That's why all, all clientsneed a realtor.
But you need to be, you need tohave strength and you know I
was going to say balls, but thatseems rude you need to.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (33:38):
You need to.
You gotta have balls.
You have to have balls to be inbusiness and to get a PhD and
to write plays and to writebooks.
You got to own us.
Andrea Gordon (33:50):
Anyway.
So so, um, you know I I taughtthis class at compass and I
transcribed it and it's turninginto a book called Realizations.
It's a guide for people whowant to be realtors and it's
just basically addressing thethings that are the real issues.
And whether you're successfulor not in real estate, you need
(34:13):
to learn all the laws.
You need to learn all the forms.
You need to know what to do.
You know when to have somebodytalk to an attorney.
You need to know when youshould be talking to your
manager.
You need to know what to do.
You know when to have somebodytalk to an attorney.
You need to know when youshould be talking to your
manager.
You know what.
You need to know what thequestions are to ask.
But there's a lot that youdon't need to ask anybody about.
You just have to figure it outfor yourself.
And that's what, and that'swhat my book's about.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (34:34):
Nice, I love it.
So let's jump topics for aminute.
I love everything.
You are a plethora ofinformation.
Thank for a minute.
I love everything.
You are a plethora ofinformation, thank you.
Tell me and let's so we'regoing to talk about just you
personally for a minute.
Tell me what's your favoriteband of all time?
Oh, my goodness, the beatles.
I love the beatles.
I do love the beatles.
(34:54):
That's one of the first bands Iprobably I remember back in the
day.
So I was born in 59.
I listened to the Beatles andmy mom loved Elvis.
Yep, yep, yep, yep, so like as akid I was like oh, I love the
Beatles and I love Elvis, I'mgoing to marry all of them.
Andrea Gordon (35:12):
They seem so creative and cool.
My favorite Beatle was John.
My best friend's favoriteBeatle was Paul, and we would
play that we were married tothem.
It was very stupid no, it's not.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (35:26):
No, it's not.
My daughter was working at theritz carlton um down in denver
and ringo she worked on the vipfloor.
Ringo checked in oh wow, andyou're not allowed to ask for
pictures.
Not allowed to.
You know, you can't tell yourfriends they're here at the
hotel Because they want thediscretion.
But her favorite Beatle isRingo, oh my God.
(35:47):
And she's like, and she callsus.
She's like oh my God, if that'sgoing to throw up.
I'm walking him, I'm showinghim around his suite, I'm
getting things for him, I'mdoing this.
I hands behind his back.
She's like groovy, groovy.
(36:07):
This is great.
She's like.
I wanted him to take a pictureso bad, but I couldn't ask.
She just stood in the elevatorlooking at him.
She had tears run down.
I was like oh.
I said it, but they're notallowed to ask, like they
actually get fired.
And she's like I was just like,please, please, please, ask him
.
I want to take a picture withyou.
I'm funny she still talks aboutto this day like what a just
like being alone in an elevator,take him to his room and just
(36:27):
everything she did.
She's like it was justunbelievable and I was like I
know the beatles had such animpact on everybody.
Andrea Gordon (36:30):
I think.
I think they did and they hadan impact on music.
I was going to tell you areally weird thing in my life is
that I have been in bathroomsthree times in three different
continents with Yoko Ono.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (36:42):
Seriously, seriously.
Are you a Yoko?
Andrea Gordon (36:47):
Ono fan, not particularly I.
Just it's like one of thoseweird things that happened I
used to.
I grew up in part in New YorkCity and they used to live about
six blocks away from me whenthey were at the Dakota.
I was was the time atGristiti's, what have you?
So it wasn't three continents,two continents.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:07):
I saw.
Andrea Gordon (37:07):
I saw her in Europe, and I saw her in New
York and in Los Angeles inAmerica.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:13):
So in the bathroom, no less.
That's a fun story Washinghands together in the sinks.
That's a fun story.
What's your favorite food?
What do you love to eat?
Andrea Gordon (37:24):
oh, lord um.
What do I love to eat?
I, I love italian food.
I I you know I I'm not a foodie.
I I eat like a six-year-old.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:33):
I love all the stuff that's like pasta and
cheese and I tell my husbandsometimes like I don't know what
happened once we got the kidsout of the house and just eat
whatever we feel like eatinglike.
We eat like teenagers.
We're just like you know hotdog.
I'll make up some mac andcheese as I have it for the
grandkids like this.
Stuff's really good the stuffI'm eating is so bad.
(37:53):
What's your favorite time ofday?
Where's your super happy placewhen you think, oh, this is the
best time of day?
Andrea Gordon (38:00):
I I love sunset yeah, me too.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:04):
You know a lot of most people always say,
oh, early morning I get upbefore.
I'm always like, why, like, why, why I'd much rather watch the
sun go down than the sun come up.
It's just, it's the.
Andrea Gordon (38:19):
We have a really really.
I have a my.
Probably not for you, but ourlot it's the.
We have a really really.
I have a my.
Probably not for you, but ourlot here is enormous.
I have a 24,000 square foot lotand it looks like a park.
Oh, wow, and and at nighttime Idon't have the city view, I
have a canyon view, but atnighttime, the way the sun
dapples off of the leaves, it'sjust exquisite right.
(38:46):
Oh, that's gotta be so beautifulit is.
It's gorgeous, it's absolutelygorgeous and makes me happy.
That's why we didn't leave hereis because it's so peaceful and
beautiful.
And to be in the middle of anurban area like Berkeley and to
have this incredible yard it's Iwould stay for the yard too.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:57):
We have nine acres up here in the mountains
and the sun, just beautiful, andgoes down over the trees.
It's like that's so pretty.
It's like you couldn't pay meto live in denver and be all
around all those people all thetime I I could not do that.
Andrea Gordon (39:11):
That's why I couldn't take new york.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:13):
It was too much and I love new york.
It's my favorite places tovisit.
But yeah, there's covid andlike just some, some more
violence and things and all theriots and I love that.
It's like I don't even have thedesire to go there anymore
right now.
Andrea Gordon (39:31):
Yeah, when I was a little kid, I would get home
from school and I would be sooverloaded by all the people in
the street and the smells andit's New York smells really bad
most of the time, by the way andand I would be vibrating, I
would have to calm down becauseit created anxiety for me.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:48):
Yeah.
Andrea Gordon (39:49):
So you know, coming to California was just
felt like freedom to me.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:53):
Yeah, california is beautiful.
My daughter lives in LA rightnow.
She loves California.
She's pregnant.
She's getting ready to have ababy.
She's 38.
She's pregnant.
She's getting ready to have ababy.
She's 38.
She's got a big job working forI think they're called
Insomniac.
They do all the concerts andthe EDCs.
Oh, very cool, she's like thesecond charge.
(40:14):
She's loving California rightnow.
Andrea Gordon (40:16):
Every part of the United States feels completely
different.
I feel really blessed that I'vebeen to most parts of the
United States and there everypart has their charms.
But there's something aboutCalifornia for me that is just
so freeing and liberating andbeautiful that I always want to
come back here.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:35):
So I have a house.
When I met Bill, I lived inFlorida, so I have a house in
Florida.
Florida is my happy place.
I love I mean I love themountains, but I'm in Florida,
I'm on the lake, the beach isright there.
It's like everything in theworld is perfect.
That's what I'm talking about.
No, I get it.
I get it Okay.
Last thing I would like you to.
(40:55):
I always like our guests toleave us with a word of wisdom,
but just one single word not two.
Andrea Gordon (41:09):
Nope, okay, then I guess the word I would say is
breathe oh, okay, now hang on.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (41:18):
Uh.
So at my wonderful world, overhere, we have a word of the week
, and when people listen to theshow, I say write the word down,
stick it on your mirror, on asticky, and every day you're
brushing teeth, you're brushinghair, say the word, breathe and
just say the word.
So that way.
So we have a word of the week.
Andrea Gordon (41:37):
So I, uh, so that's why it has to be a single
word, but I do want to knowwhat that word means to you if
you take the time a few times aday to just stop and take six
really doesn't have to be likecrazy deep breaths, but just
breathe deeply six times youwill find that it's resets your
(42:03):
inner clock in a funny way.
I mean, all of a sudden,everything that's been annoying
you will stop, you'll see thingsmore clearly and you'll feel
revitalized.
So it's a very good thing to do.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (42:15):
I agree, I do the 10 deep breaths.
I do them twice a day and then,since I started doing it, my
anxiety has incredibly gottenlower.
I followed like a video of howto like hold them in so many
seconds, breathe out the wholething, and I was like you know,
breathing is a great thing.
People just don't.
They don't do it.
Andrea Gordon (42:33):
Most people breathe very shallowly and you
know, in my training I used toteach voice addiction at
different colleges.
What have you?
And breathing is so important.
People don't realize howsignificant your breath really
is, and so just taking a momentto remember to breathe because
people don't, I mean it's, it'sautomatic.
(42:53):
You know, by the way, somethingelse I was going to tell you
about my friend, the one whojust had the stroke.
She has something calledexpressive aphasia and she can
say phrases like I love you, ohthat's terrific, oh how
wonderful.
Yes, those are words that gotbeaten into her brain by how
(43:18):
many times she says them.
And now that she can't sayanything else, it's kind of an
interesting thing.
All of the goodness that she'sbeen manifesting her whole life
is what's is what's left.
So whenever you're talking,remember that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (43:38):
I love that.
Oh, thank you for sharing that.
That's very, very sweet.
I'll be praying for your friend.
Thank you, please.
She needs it.
Well, I pray for everyone, butwhat can I ask her name so I can
put it on my prayer board?
Lee?
Andrea Gordon (43:51):
Brady.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (43:54):
Okay, yeah, I have a little board I write
everyone's names on and I prayover everybody, so it'd be my
honor, that is sweet andbeautiful, thank you.
Yeah, no, I have been my honorto pray for her and you know
what?
Andrea Gordon (44:05):
hopefully she'll have a full healing and you know
, what I love is, that is that,even though she's 94, they see
how, how fit she is and they seehow capable she was, and they
also see how many friends shehas and they are really working
hard to rehabilitate her.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (44:24):
Well, you know my aunt is 98.
She has no health issueswhatsoever and she still walks
like three miles a day.
Perfect, 98.
She just has a little walkingstick and she walks.
And you know I shouldn't driveanymore.
But I mean she doesn't have ahealth issue, nothing.
She doesn't even take like aTylenol, nothing.
It's like I don't understandhow you can be that crazy
(44:47):
healthy.
You're 98 years old.
I'm happy about that because mymom's 80.
She's healthy too, and I'm 66.
I'm like, okay, I am claimingthat healthy longevity of my
family.
I want that healthy longevityof the women in my family.
So it's never too late.
She can have a great recoveryand live another 10 years and do
some more amazing things.
Andrea Gordon (45:08):
That's what I hope.
That is my strong hope.
So that is my hope with you.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:12):
All right, everyone I want to thank you,
and Ms Andrea, I definitely wantto thank you.
You have just been so much fun.
I'm going to have you back onhere again so we can talk about
so many things.
You got the theater and you gotthe things.
You got the real tour.
You are just a wonderful person.
You have so many greatinterests and I wish more people
were like that.
Andrea Gordon (45:36):
Oh, thank you, and I'm really looking forward
to having you on my show,because I have no doubt that
you're going to be a fascinatingguest.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:39):
Well, we'll find out pretty soon, won't we?
Andrea Gordon (45:41):
Yeah, we will.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:42):
All right, everybody.
Again, find me at dwanderfulcom.
All social media is DwanderfulD-W-A-N-D-E-R-F-U-L.
And on the podcast, I want youto leave a five-star review.
Write something, because themore reviews and the more nice
(46:03):
things you say, the moredownloads I get.
And help me reach two millionand we'll be back next week,
Same bat time, same bat channel.
And remember that the truth isin the red letters.
All right, everybody.
Thank you, Ms Andrea, thank you, Bye All right.
Andrea Gordon (46:23):
Thank you so much .
Hey everybody , welcome to THE MOST DWANDERFUL
REAL ESTATE PODCAST EVER! I amso super excited to have you on
the show today.
If you haven't listened for awhile.
We just reached 1 million views, so I am not views, downloads,
so I am so excited to hit themillion mark.
That was a really big deal forme.
(00:24):
So you all know me.
First thing I did was like isone million downloads good?
And turns out it makes you inthe top 5% of all podcasts.
So I was like woo.
So my new guest here today, msAndrea, is just learning this.
So I'm so excited and it's allbecause of you and I just thank
you and love all of you so much.
(00:44):
Now, as you know, this is themost Dwanderful Real Estate
Podcast ever.
I took my name Dwan andwonderful and I made a new name.
So over here, we are Dwanderfuland our motto is people before
profits.
So if that's something thatfits in with you, you're at the
right place and I'm your girl.
So if that's something thatfits in with you, you're at the
(01:05):
right place and I'm your girl.
So I just want to jump rightinto my guest, ms Andrea Gordon.
And here's the thing Most ofyou know my first name is
actually Andrea.
So it's Andrea Dwan and hers isspelled the same, but it's
Andrea.
So now I have to be super awareto say Andrea.
That's the same thing assomeone calling me Dawn, which
(01:29):
you all know I hate, they allknow.
I've had a few people that havebeen on my show and they call
me that and I was like All right, miss Andrea, andrea, miss
Andrea, I'm going to make thatphonetic because of my own name.
So I've been crazy.
All right, ms Andrea, andrea,ms Andrea, I'm going to make
that phonetic because of my ownname.
So I've been crazy.
All right, girl.
So we just throw our guestright in.
(01:51):
We want to know who you are,how do we find your social media
?
And just a couple sentencesabout what you do, and then I'm
going to ask you a bunch ofquestions.
Andrea Gordon (01:59):
Very, very cool.
My name is Andrea Gordon andI'm'm a realtor in Berkeley,
california.
I've been a realtor for 27years at this point and I am the
top producing agent in Berkeley, oakland, albany, el Cerrito,
kensington, all of the innerEast Bay for Compass, which is
(02:24):
really cool.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (02:24):
That is well, congratulations.
Thank you, thank you very muchTo be the top, top realtor in
any area that is.
I mean people that don't know,don't know how much work that is
.
Andrea Gordon (02:35):
It's a lot of work.
It really really is.
I have my own podcast, which iscalled Realizations, and I got
really angry about the NAR, dojlawsuits and all of the
commission lawsuits and stuff,because what I realized was that
nobody really knows what we do.
They don't understand what wedo, they don't understand the
depth and breadth of it.
They don't understand how manyvendors we have to deal with all
(02:57):
of the ins and outs of what itis to do real estate.
And so then I thought ratherthan be mad, because that's not
a great healthy thing foranybody that I would create a
podcast myself that wouldaddress and educate people as to
what we really do, why itmatters, what's important about
what we do in society, in thecities we live in, in the
(03:20):
communities we live in thecharitable ways in which we give
back, live in in thecommunities we live in the
charitable ways in which we giveback, and so I've been having
everybody from mayors ofdifferent cities, to the head of
Compass, to painters and To me,soon to be on your show, yeah,
okay.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (03:36):
So let's pause right there just for a
second.
Give me all your socials,because I want everyone to be
able to find you, and peoplesometimes just read the show
notes and take a few things andthey move on.
Andrea Gordon (03:47):
You can find me really at Andrea@ Andrea Gordon
Real Estate, pretty much onevery platform, and you can
email me at Andrea at AndreaGordon dot com, and you can go
to my website, which is www.
AndreaGordon.
com.
You can also find my podcast,which is called Realizations
capital R-E for real estate andit's on Hulu, spotify, apple,
(04:13):
youtube, amazon you name it,yeah yeah, and you can also find
my book.
I have a children's book out.
It's on Amazon.
It's called Yo-Yo in a Tree andit's all about how a Senegal
parrot got out and was able toget home after flying far, far
(04:35):
away, and it follows theadventures of these two little
children, Stanley and Emma, whoare desperate to get the bird
back.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (04:44):
Oh, I love that.
I love that.
Okay, so now what you say Iagree with.
So I have been a real estateinvestor for about 35 years.
I've flipped, I've wholesale orflipped over 2000 personal
deals.
I've helped, I don't know.
I have over 500,000 students.
My husband and I are basicallyrehabbing an entire town, but
(05:06):
I've never had my real estatelicense.
I started off as an investor.
I started rehabbing houses 35years ago and I just stayed into
the business like that.
But I tell people all the timeif you're going to be a real
estate investor and not have alicense, you have to be able to
work with someone that is a realestate agent, because we can't
(05:31):
be investors without real estateagents.
Andrea Gordon (05:36):
Well, it creates so much liability for you
besides everything else.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (05:39):
Yeah, it's not even a liability.
It's like you know we needsomeone to help us with comps,
especially if we're new.
We need someone to help us witha listing agreement.
If we're doing short sales, ifwe rehab and we put our houses
on the market when they're alldone, we need someone to sell
our houses.
Hang on, I'm trying to get thatthere we go, I lost my camera.
Then we need someone to help ussell our houses.
Andrea Gordon (06:01):
Yeah.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (06:05):
And I always tell people listen, don't, don't
do everything, Don't have alicense and be, try to be a
contractor and be a rehabber andbe an investor.
You know, find the people thatthat's what they do and let them
be on your team.
Exactly, I feel like team.
I just don't.
I always tell my grandkidsevery day I'm like teamwork,
they go, makes the dream work.
Yeah, I tell them that everysingle day when I'm with their
(06:26):
kids.
We make them put groceries awayand do all these things.
And there's four of them andthe little one's three and the
big one's 10.
But now everybody helps.
Teamwork and they go, makes thedream work.
I'm teaching them, embeddingthat into their brains now,
because they have to grow up andrealize you, you know you can't
just be a one man act and bewealthy and successful without
(06:48):
people helping you.
Andrea Gordon (06:49):
Yeah, exactly, I mean people.
People collaborate all the time.
They don't call itcollaboration, but really you
know when you have community,when you have, you know every
place where you go, you havepeople that are buoying you up
and you're putting them up, andthat's part of what makes life
worthwhile, honestly.
It's how, it's how friendshipsdevelop, it's how resilience
(07:10):
develops, it's how people becomeproductive and not
self-involved.
So these are all reallywonderful things.
Yeah, when I sell one of my ownproperties, I hire a real poor,
by the way.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (07:23):
And you know and you should.
It's like you're too close toyour own projects.
I don't know.
I swear I feel like I preach tothe choir.
I'm always telling people thatand I get like someone again
like, oh okay, someone thatactually understands what the
deal is, you just can't do itand I have people going to be
commissioned.
It's like, but you're, if I fixa house up and I selling it,
(07:44):
I'm making money.
Why should the realtor not alsomake money?
You know, because investors arelike I'll just sell my own
house, like yeah, but do youknow what to do?
Do you have the experience,like do you know how to sell
houses?
Andrea Gordon (07:57):
right no, I'm like well again people people
focus on the commission andthat's why those lawsuits were
so utterly stupid.
They focused on the commission,which is that's why those
lawsuits were so utterly stupid.
They focused on the commission,which is the smallest piece of
any of it.
You know, on average I get mysellers 11% more than most other
realtors do in the areas that Iserve.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (08:18):
Well, you know my husband is a Mike Ferry
trainee.
Yes, he worked with Mike Ferry Iguess we both, I guess, got
into real estate, both at around1990.
And he was an agent for yearsfive or six or seven years and
sold like 500 houses and helpedsomebody in foreclosure and I
(08:41):
guess the way he tells it islike some light bulb went off.
He's like, well, I just helpedsomebody in foreclosure and I
guess the way he tells it islike some light bulb went off.
He's like, wow, I just helpedsomebody in foreclosure and this
was like I guess it felt moremeaningful to help his family.
So I got to do this again.
So next thing, you know he washung up his license and he's an
agent, so it's funny to listento him.
We do our boot camps becausehe's got all the Mike Ferry
(09:03):
scripts so and he'll say, okay,top question.
Someone's like you know youcan't.
Can we lower my commissionbill's like no, any other
questions, right?
And I laugh because I haven'tlistened to the mike ferry tapes
.
Andrea Gordon (09:18):
It's like, oh my gosh, that's so funny yeah, I
worked with um tom ferry, hisson yeah and then I actually, to
this day, I work with a coachnamed fonda martin, who was one
of tom ferry's coaches.
She actually was one ofmikeerry's coaches, way back
when too.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (09:34):
But Bill went for Mike, then he worked with
Tom and then we actually becamefriends with Matt and his wife,
Cause they're not, you know,they're not into the real estate
side anymore.
But it's just because I'velistened to the tapes filming
times with Bill listening tothem.
I'm like gosh, that's a lot ofgood.
Andrea Gordon (09:58):
Cause the scripts .
The scripts are so important,and it's not only that, it's
it's that they teach you to beaccountable to yourself.
Yes, and that's.
You know, I don't compete withother agents, I compete with
myself.
I I have a production trackerthat vonda gave me way back when
, when I was working with tomferry, that I still use to this
very day.
Compass has come out with theirown version of it, but I
actually like the one I've beenworking with forever better, so
(10:18):
I use it and that way I can tellyou, down to the penny, how
much money I make.
I can tell you.
I can tell you how manyconversations I need to have
every single day in order tomake the money that I want to
make.
So there's a way.
It's a way of stabilizing yourincome and and moving forward,
understanding what you need todo in order to make this all
(10:40):
work.
And a lot of people get intoreal estate thinking it's going
to be easy, thinking they'rejust going to work two hours a
day and make millions of dollars.
It's a very, very, very hardjob.
Beyond being a very, very hardjob, you have to be consistent
in your marketing efforts.
You have to be consistent inyour in your prospecting.
You have to be consistent inyour follow through and follow
up.
It takes a lot.
(11:01):
It's really it's it's kind ofamazing.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (11:03):
Actually, I say all those same things as
investors, but what I want I dowant.
What I want to touch on is yousaid that you know you help
people really understand, like,what you do.
And I think, like people justthink, oh, I'm going to list my
house, and they don't reallyunderstand what it is that you
do.
That's why they're like oh,lower your commission, you take
(11:23):
this, you know, do this.
And that it's like hey, listen,that person has to stand up for
their own worth and their ownself-value and they are also
working and doing a service andthey're helping you.
But I think people think you'relike you put it in the computer
and why can't you take less?
But there's so much to it.
So I like the fact you startoff saying you basically teach
(11:45):
people like that's, yeah, that'sthe whole point of what I do
depth of it.
So I want you to like, if I'mbrand new and I'm talking to you
, what some of the things youwould say to me because your
approach is so great.
Thank you.
Andrea Gordon (12:00):
Thank you.
Well, one of the first thingsthat I mentioned when I'm
teaching people is that you'remeeting people at some of the
most stressful points in theirentire lives.
Even if it's good stuff likelike, let's say, they've just
gotten married and they want tobuy a house, or they've had a
baby, or they've had anotherbaby You're meeting people in
(12:20):
real estate who have beenthrough a major life change.
Generally speaking, most of usare pretty inert.
We don't want to move any placeunless we have to.
You know, my husband and I, formany, many years, we would buy
a house, fix it up, live in itfor a couple of years and then
sell it.
But then we found a house wereally, really, really liked in
2004.
And we've stayed here becausewe really love this house and we
love the land and we love allthat about it.
(12:43):
But most people don't moveunless they have to.
Most people, you know, and itcan be exciting things.
It can be you get a big bonusat work and therefore you can
now afford to buy a housewhereas you've been renting
before.
Or it can be you got divorcedor your kids went off to college
, or, but it's always someincredible pivot point in their
(13:04):
lives.
So, realtor, not only do wehave to be really, really astute
as far as marketing isconcerned, we also have to be
really, really astute as far asdealing with concerned.
We also have to be really,really astute as far as dealing
with people in very stressfulmoments of their lives.
Usually, people aren't at theirbest when you're working with
them as a realtor and you haveto learn to let that stuff just
roll off your back and feel likeit's not personal.
(13:26):
There's a wonderful, wonderfulbook called the Four Agreements,
which I read to everybody allthe time because you, you, when
you read it, you realize that,yes, that that whoever's having
that problem, it's not reallyyour problem, and if you take it
on, you become less effective.
So part of your job is to staya little bit away from any of
(13:49):
the emotionality of thesituation, to be compassionate
and empathetic, but also to alsoto be the person who can act
and isn't paralyzed by thesituation and problem.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (14:03):
See, I'm dealing with people that are in
foreclosure yeah, something hashappened there too and a death,
a divorce, job loss, all thesame things.
I'm I think I'm with them alittle further down the road
because they you know mostpeople will try to sell their
house first, sometimes like theyjust can't.
It's too much disrepair, toomany things are wrong.
(14:24):
And I always tell my investorsI'm like, listen, you're meeting
them, just like you said, atprobably, and in my case, one of
the worst times in their life.
And if you don't want to heartheir story and try to help them
and like, for me, I pray withthem and if you don't want to do
all those things like that, youdon't have any business being
(14:45):
in this business, because thesepeople need help.
Like, real help is not aboutwhat you're going to make.
They need real-life help, right.
Andrea Gordon (14:52):
No, absolutely I like that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (14:53):
You emphasize that because I don't think
enough people do.
Andrea Gordon (14:57):
Well, and that's so.
That's part of the job.
Another part of the job isbeing a top-notch marketer.
You have to know how to marketproperties to be a realtor, and
that takes an awful lot rightnow.
I mean, there are a lot ofpeople that are not terribly
tech savvy.
If you aren't tech savvy andyou don't have the gene that
will enable you to be tech savvy, hire someone who does.
(15:18):
I mean that's.
The other part of all of thisis that people are frightened to
spend money.
People really really reallyfear spending money.
The best investment I ever madewas hiring my first assistant,
my business.
As soon as I hired an assistantand I had been very low I'm
very I don't know what the wordis, but I'm kind of anal about
(15:40):
about numbers and things, andyou know and I actually do know
how to do absolutely everything,and so I was trying to do
everything myself andessentially I was my own
assistant.
So you know, there I was doingwhat I could pay somebody you
know $40 an hour for inCalifornia.
I don't know what it iselsewhere, but $30 an hour in
(16:00):
California for something thatyou know.
My job pays more like $ and yousupervise them and you figure
it out.
At this point.
I have two listing coordinators, I have a full-time transaction
coordinator, I have a virtualassistant in the Philippines and
(16:22):
I have buyers agents thathandle buyers for me.
I'm almost entirely listings atthis point in my career and it
works out really, really wellfor me.
I'm not a major team.
I mean I hear about some ofthese mega teams that they have
at, like Keller Williams, wherethere's, like you know, there's
one guy in Oakland, california,who has a team of 369 people.
(16:45):
I am sorry, you are not a team.
If you have 369 people workingfor you, you're not really.
I mean, I doubt that guy hasbeen in house for for several
years at this point.
So so it really just depends onhow you want to set up your
business, and there's so manydifferent things you can do in
real estate, like look at whatDwayne is.
I see I did it now.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (17:09):
That's okay, we're even, we both are now.
Andrea Gordon (17:12):
Look at what Dwan is doing.
She is working on foreclosures,flips, investing all of those
things.
That's a job in real estate.
Appraising is a job in realestate.
You can become an inspector andwork with real estate.
There's so many differentcompanies and different ideas of
businesses that are associatedwith what it is we do companies
(17:33):
and different ideas ofbusinesses that are associated
with what it is we do.
We are an entire.
We're like the biggest segmentof the us economy now you are,
you really are.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (17:41):
I think there's more realtors than any
other type of a job class.
There's more people that are inthe real estate agent, real
estate investor agent side ofthe business.
There's more agents than likeany other, like versus
stockbrokers or versus this orversus that.
Andrea Gordon (17:58):
Yeah, there are almost as many attorneys, but
there are, there's a lot ofattorneys.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (18:03):
That's because we're too sue happy.
Tell me about a couple of yourmarketing.
I feel like I know that at myage, at 66, you know, I was not
born with a computer at myfingertips but I have gotten
pretty good at learningmarketing.
But I've taken a lot of classesat a lot of weekend workshops
learning marketing.
(18:23):
What are some of the topmarketing things that people
need?
Because I don't?
People are like, well, I'm justgoing to get my license and
people will find me.
It's like they won't find you.
There's like 100 billion peoplethey're not gonna find you.
Andrea Gordon (18:36):
Okay, so a few things.
Just a little bit of backgroundfor me.
I used to teach at differentuniversities, I'm a theater
director and playwright.
My work has been producednationally, I have directed all
over the country and with thatand $2.50, I could buy myself a
cup of coffee.
So the arts are not very wellfunded in this country,
(18:59):
especially now.
And so what happened for me was,at that point in time, most of
my friends in theater would gowork at a restaurant.
They'd be a bartender or awaitress or a waiter and I
instead went to work for HalReinion Partners, which was an
advertising agency in SanFrancisco, and I became yeah, I
(19:19):
was their in-house castingperson for a while.
I left to direct a productionof Death of a Salesman in Los
Angeles, but that's a wholeother story.
But the point being, I learneda lot from when I was there,
watching how advertising iscreated and what's important and
how campaigns are created andwhat they do, and I think that
that has really, really helpedme in my work as a realtor ever
(19:42):
since then.
I learned how repetition is key.
I learned how, like if you putone ad in, it's meaningless you
have to have consistency.
You have to keep doing it overand over again.
Many, many years ago peoplelaughed at me because I got bus
benches.
(20:02):
So I have bus benches.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (20:04):
I have bus benches too.
I love them.
I have so much business of busbenches.
Andrea Gordon (20:09):
Exactly, they, they, they are subliminal.
People drive by them every day.
They are subliminal Peopledrive by them every day.
They see your name on there.
By the way, I have never, ever,had my photo on my bus benches,
because I kind of come offlooking like a potato and I
always forget to wear makeup.
What have you?
You're like beautiful.
People always think my pictureis on my bus bench and they
(20:31):
remember me.
Like, I went for a massage atthis massage place and the
person who was giving me amassage went oh, you're the real
estate lady.
And then, of course, proceededwhile she was doing the massage
to talk to me about real estatevalues.
That's so funny.
But I've had those bus benchesfor, like I want to say, 23
(20:52):
years now.
Yeah, and they are worth gold.
During the economic downturn in2008, I actually added bus
benches.
I actually increased myspending on my marketing during
the downturns because I knewthat if I was the last person
standing in that situation, thatpeople would be like, oh, she,
(21:13):
she, she survived, she did well,she's OK.
And so I I upped my marketingand that's something that's very
hard.
It's like, it's like what's hisname?
From Berkshire Hathaway, theguy that's that's retiring now.
He's wonderful, the oldergentleman who is, who is like.
I can't remember his name.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (21:33):
Anyway, I can't remember, I'm sorry, we'll
figure it out.
Andrea Gordon (21:36):
Anyway, he, warren Buffett, oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, warren Buffett,during downturns, he buys stock,
he buys, he buys.
That's the thing.
The biggest thing that holdseveryone back is fear.
Fear is the most dangerousthing in the entire world.
(21:56):
Fear stops people from doing.
I remember when I was a kid,when I was like 18, some people
that I knew were getting marriedand I knew it was going to be
the best wedding on the middleof my nose right before the
wedding, and I have regrettedfor my entire life that I did
(22:18):
not go to this wedding, whichpeople to this day still talk
about, because it was so muchfun, because I was so worried
that people were going to belooking at this gigantic
carbuncle in the middle of myface.
Now, the reality was it wasn'tmy day.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (22:32):
Nobody would have given it down.
Andrea Gordon (22:33):
No one would have cared day.
Nobody would have cared, no onewould have cared.
But I had fear, and fear wasthe thing that stopped me from
doing something wonderful thatwould have made me happy and
giving you all those memorieswith shared memories exactly so.
Whenever you have fear, mybiggest advice to you is to look
at it really, really take itout of you like it's a thing and
(22:56):
put it on the table in front ofyou and think about why it's a
problem.
And if you cannot come up witha genuine reason why your fear
is real like sometimes, fear isreal like you know, but if, for
some reason, if you realize it'syou putting an obstacle in
front of you doing something,then you just have to knock that
(23:19):
away.
Yeah, you need to.
You need to pass right throughthat, because those moments in
time when you evade fear are themoments where you have
breakthroughs.
Yes, I agree.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (23:32):
I said so much of my life earlier being
afraid of things.
I finally went.
It was just like you know,screw people I'm afraid.
And now I'm just like.
I don't even care what peoplethink, what you think I say
about me, I'm not afraid to tryanything.
None of that stuff even fazesme.
Yeah, and that and that suredoes when.
Until you overcome it, exactlyexactly.
Andrea Gordon (23:54):
And you know, I I look back on pictures from from
my youth and I keep thinkingabout the things that I was
pursuing and and it makes me sadin a certain way, some of the
things, because I didn't realizehow great something was, I
didn't fully appreciate themoment, and and that's you know
this, last week, actually twoweeks ago, my best friend, who
(24:17):
is 94 years old she's anincredible playwright she had a
major stroke.
She lost the ability to talkbecause of the stroke.
It hit her in left temporallobe of the brain and the day
before, my other best friend,ellen, and I had gone out to
lunch with her and we had thisincredible conversation and we
(24:38):
were talking.
Actually, because I'm in a PhDprogram, by the way, I decided
to go back to school and so I'mtaking, like you know, two
classes a semester, which meansthat by the time I'm 80, I'll
have my PhD.
But it's never too late,exactly Well, that's my motto.
My motto in life is, if not now, when?
(24:58):
If not now?
Dwan Bent-Twyford (25:00):
when I've had that motto.
I developed that a long time.
It's like you know, if I'mdoing it, what am I waiting for?
People like wait.
They wait for something tohappen before they start
something.
But it's like the waiting iswhat kills you.
Like just do it.
If it doesn't work out, dosomething else, but stop.
Andrea Gordon (25:16):
Same issue.
It's the same fear thing.
Honestly, you know, fear offailure is like a big.
I have a, I have a, I have apaperweight.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (25:26):
I don't know if you can see this Some of it,
your screen's in the way alittle bit, anyway, it says what
would you attempt to do if youknew you could not fail?
Andrea Gordon (25:37):
And I'd attempt to do everything.
I mean everything, everything I, you know.
And so I have started at thispoint in my life, because by the
time you hit your 60s you sortof feel like you, you might as
well.
I mean, what is there to loseat this point?
Yeah, so I went back to school.
I wrote a children's book.
It's called Yo-Yo and a Tree.
(25:58):
You can look it up.
It's on Amazon.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (26:00):
It's actually I'll get it from my grandkids.
Andrea Gordon (26:02):
My illustrator is this guy named Tiago Moto that
I met.
He's in Portugal and he'sbrilliant and wonderful.
We're actually already workingon a second book, um called
Stanley and Emma go to the birdstore.
I check, I looked, I researchedit a little bit, and there are
no children's books that arebased on on birds, and so I
thought oh, a niche.
All right, that's fun, yeah, so,in any case.
(26:25):
So I wrote a children's bookand I wrote a play, and the play
was very, very personal to meand I've been writing plays my
whole life, so it's not likeit's unusual for me to write a
play.
But what was unusual was Isubmitted it to a bunch of
different contests all over thecountry and it was a runner up
in like three of them, and thenthe Magic Theater in San
(26:49):
Francisco actually produced itand I produced.
I created a production companybased on putting all of this
stuff together called RainbowZebra Productions and created an
LLC.
Because you want everything tobe all kosher, oh yeah.
And subsequent to that and thatwas in 2023 that this all
(27:10):
started happening Subsequent tothat, my Rainbow Zebra
Productions has now become nameda resident theater at the Magic
Theater in San Francisco.
Good for you.
Uh, resident theater at themagic theater in san francisco.
Um, and yeah, and I sponsor aplay reading um uh series, that
is, all plays written by womenover the age of 55, with great
(27:32):
parts for women over the age of55, and we are anthologizing
them into books, um, so, so thiswhole project started just from
the germ of me going.
I want to do the things I wantto do.
When I turned 60, I startedtaking piano again when I was a
little little girl, and MrsHooties, my Danish piano teacher
(27:55):
, used to whack me over thefingers with a ruler, and I got
so annoyed that I quit, and I'dalways regretted it my whole
life that I didn't go back to it.
And when I turned 65, I wasgood enough that I bought myself
a Steinway Grant.
Wow, nice for you.
And I'm still taking lessons.
So.
So there's this wonderfulcellist named Pablo Casals.
(28:19):
You might have heard of him.
Somebody asked him when he was86 why he practiced every day,
and he said because I think I'mgetting better.
So what I want to do is justget better and better and better
and better and better.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (28:32):
And as far as real estate.
Andrea Gordon (28:34):
Real estate is the sort of thing that you can
do and get better and better andbetter, and it will teach you
everything about life.
By the time you're done in realestate, you will have been
through vicariously, of course,both as a participant, as the
agent, but also as an observer.
(28:55):
You'll have learned so muchabout human nature.
It will be amazing to you.
It's a great teacher, it's awonderful, wonderful teacher,
and I actually was asked byCompass to teach a masterclass
in real estate closing becausemost real estate agents don't
know how to close.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (29:14):
They just don't, they don't.
It seems like at a closing,everyone is kind of rambling
about and no one really knowswhat's happening.
Andrea Gordon (29:23):
Yeah, it's, it's.
What happens is Thank you,darren.
A long time ago, a long timeago, people got the idea that as
real estate agents, they werejust trusted advisors.
So what happens when you're atrusted advisor?
You advise Does anybody evertake your advice?
Does anybody automatically do?
(29:45):
No, every once in a while youhave to push somebody a little
bit off of a cliff so that theywill actually do something.
And if you don't know how to dothat, you will not succeed in
real estate.
Because there's not a singleperson on the planet, except for
possibly, dejuan, who walksinto a house and wants to spend
a million dollars.
Oh yeah, there is not a person.
They put every obstacle theycan possibly put in front of
(30:08):
themselves because as soon asthey actually want something
like that, all the doubts, allthe fear, all the incapability
comes back in and they starttalking themselves out of it in
and they start talkingthemselves out of it.
So part of your job as arealtor is to slightly push them
off the cliff, and it's notbecause you want the commission,
it's because it's the rightthing for them to do it is.
(30:32):
I just got somebody intocontract yesterday who had
written an offer on a propertyabout a week ago and the offer
that she wrote was really nambypamby and she has plenty of
money, by the way, she iscapable of doing this but she
was fearful and so that offerthat she wrote a week ago on
(30:55):
this house that I didn't thinkshe really really wanted was not
meaningful and ultimately, ourarea is still experiencing lots
of multiple bid situations.
There were nine offers and heroffer was not at the top, she
was in the sixth, she was thirdfrom the bottom and we talked
about it and I said to her youknow, I told you during the
(31:16):
course of this that I didn'tthink that was the right house
for you and you just went for itanyway, but you didn't really
go for it because you didn'treally want it.
And so then another house cameup almost immediately afterwards
and it was a lot more expensive, but I also knew she had the
money and it was exactly perfect.
(31:37):
It was like like the day that Itaught I do.
I do an intake with every clientthat I have and I write down
what it is they want and whatare the things that seem to be
important to them.
I asked them a bunch ofquestions so that I really get
to what's important to them,because you have to go in depth
with people about this stuff.
You do, sure, and so this housecame up and it was perfect, I
(31:58):
mean all the way down to ashared communal garden.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (32:01):
And it was perfect.
Andrea Gordon (32:01):
I mean all the way down to a shared communal
garden.
How often do you?
Oh, wow, that's nice, yeah.
And I was like don't let thisone go, don't, let don't pass
this one up.
And we decided on a price.
And between deciding on a priceand me having to go to a risk
management seminar that wasrequired by Compass for everyone
yes, she was working with myassistants and she cheaped out
(32:22):
by $100,000.
And I got out of the thing andthe agent who was representing
the seller called me and saidhey, andrea, you have this offer
in here and I have to tell youyou're not at the top.
They loved her letter.
They thought she was wonderful,they thought she was great, but
it's not enough.
(32:43):
And I said what would be enough?
Would this number be enough?
And she said oh, she would getit.
She would get it, she would beahead of.
There's an all cash offer.
That's a little bit behind that, but they liked her letter so
much I think they would go withher.
So I went back on the phone withher and I said you need to.
You need to do this if you wantthis house, and otherwise
(33:06):
you're just going to be sittingthere and not getting this house
and we're going to continuelooking for another six months
because this is a rarity, thisis a unicorn.
You're not going to see thisagain.
I can tell you already.
I know all the inventory in theareas I serve and you are not
going to see this sort of thing.
She stepped up to the plate andshe got the house.
Yay, and that's why they needyou.
Yeah, that's why.
(33:26):
That's why all, all clientsneed a realtor.
But you need to be, you need tohave strength and you know I
was going to say balls, but thatseems rude you need to.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (33:38):
You need to.
You gotta have balls.
You have to have balls to be inbusiness and to get a PhD and
to write plays and to writebooks.
You got to own us.
Andrea Gordon (33:50):
Anyway.
So so, um, you know I I taughtthis class at compass and I
transcribed it and it's turninginto a book called Realizations.
It's a guide for people whowant to be realtors and it's
just basically addressing thethings that are the real issues.
And whether you're successfulor not in real estate, you need
(34:13):
to learn all the laws.
You need to learn all the forms.
You need to know what to do.
You know when to have somebodytalk to an attorney.
You need to know when youshould be talking to your
manager.
You need to know what to do.
You know when to have somebodytalk to an attorney.
You need to know when youshould be talking to your
manager.
You know what.
You need to know what thequestions are to ask.
But there's a lot that youdon't need to ask anybody about.
You just have to figure it outfor yourself.
And that's what, and that'swhat my book's about.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (34:34):
Nice, I love it.
So let's jump topics for aminute.
I love everything.
You are a plethora ofinformation.
Thank for a minute.
I love everything.
You are a plethora ofinformation, thank you.
Tell me and let's so we'regoing to talk about just you
personally for a minute.
Tell me what's your favoriteband of all time?
Oh, my goodness, the beatles.
I love the beatles.
I do love the beatles.
(34:54):
That's one of the first bands Iprobably I remember back in the
day.
So I was born in 59.
I listened to the Beatles andmy mom loved Elvis.
Yep, yep, yep, yep, so like as akid I was like oh, I love the
Beatles and I love Elvis, I'mgoing to marry all of them.
Andrea Gordon (35:12):
They seem so creative and cool.
My favorite Beatle was John.
My best friend's favoriteBeatle was Paul, and we would
play that we were married tothem.
It was very stupid no, it's not.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (35:26):
No, it's not.
My daughter was working at theritz carlton um down in denver
and ringo she worked on the vipfloor.
Ringo checked in oh wow, andyou're not allowed to ask for
pictures.
Not allowed to.
You know, you can't tell yourfriends they're here at the
hotel Because they want thediscretion.
But her favorite Beatle isRingo, oh my God.
(35:47):
And she's like, and she callsus.
She's like oh my God, if that'sgoing to throw up.
I'm walking him, I'm showinghim around his suite, I'm
getting things for him, I'mdoing this.
I hands behind his back.
She's like groovy, groovy.
(36:07):
This is great.
She's like.
I wanted him to take a pictureso bad, but I couldn't ask.
She just stood in the elevatorlooking at him.
She had tears run down.
I was like oh.
I said it, but they're notallowed to ask, like they
actually get fired.
And she's like I was just like,please, please, please, ask him
.
I want to take a picture withyou.
I'm funny she still talks aboutto this day like what a just
like being alone in an elevator,take him to his room and just
(36:27):
everything she did.
She's like it was justunbelievable and I was like I
know the beatles had such animpact on everybody.
Andrea Gordon (36:30):
I think.
I think they did and they hadan impact on music.
I was going to tell you areally weird thing in my life is
that I have been in bathroomsthree times in three different
continents with Yoko Ono.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (36:42):
Seriously, seriously.
Are you a Yoko?
Andrea Gordon (36:47):
Ono fan, not particularly I.
Just it's like one of thoseweird things that happened I
used to.
I grew up in part in New YorkCity and they used to live about
six blocks away from me whenthey were at the Dakota.
I was was the time atGristiti's, what have you?
So it wasn't three continents,two continents.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:07):
I saw.
Andrea Gordon (37:07):
I saw her in Europe, and I saw her in New
York and in Los Angeles inAmerica.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:13):
So in the bathroom, no less.
That's a fun story Washinghands together in the sinks.
That's a fun story.
What's your favorite food?
What do you love to eat?
Andrea Gordon (37:24):
oh, lord um.
What do I love to eat?
I, I love italian food.
I I you know I I'm not a foodie.
I I eat like a six-year-old.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (37:33):
I love all the stuff that's like pasta and
cheese and I tell my husbandsometimes like I don't know what
happened once we got the kidsout of the house and just eat
whatever we feel like eatinglike.
We eat like teenagers.
We're just like you know hotdog.
I'll make up some mac andcheese as I have it for the
grandkids like this.
Stuff's really good the stuffI'm eating is so bad.
(37:53):
What's your favorite time ofday?
Where's your super happy placewhen you think, oh, this is the
best time of day?
Andrea Gordon (38:00):
I I love sunset yeah, me too.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:04):
You know a lot of most people always say,
oh, early morning I get upbefore.
I'm always like, why, like, why, why I'd much rather watch the
sun go down than the sun come up.
It's just, it's the.
Andrea Gordon (38:19):
We have a really really.
I have a my.
Probably not for you, but ourlot it's the.
We have a really really.
I have a my.
Probably not for you, but ourlot here is enormous.
I have a 24,000 square foot lotand it looks like a park.
Oh, wow, and and at nighttime Idon't have the city view, I
have a canyon view, but atnighttime, the way the sun
dapples off of the leaves, it'sjust exquisite right.
(38:46):
Oh, that's gotta be so beautifulit is.
It's gorgeous, it's absolutelygorgeous and makes me happy.
That's why we didn't leave hereis because it's so peaceful and
beautiful.
And to be in the middle of anurban area like Berkeley and to
have this incredible yard it's Iwould stay for the yard too.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (38:57):
We have nine acres up here in the mountains
and the sun, just beautiful, andgoes down over the trees.
It's like that's so pretty.
It's like you couldn't pay meto live in denver and be all
around all those people all thetime I I could not do that.
Andrea Gordon (39:11):
That's why I couldn't take new york.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:13):
It was too much and I love new york.
It's my favorite places tovisit.
But yeah, there's covid andlike just some, some more
violence and things and all theriots and I love that.
It's like I don't even have thedesire to go there anymore
right now.
Andrea Gordon (39:31):
Yeah, when I was a little kid, I would get home
from school and I would be sooverloaded by all the people in
the street and the smells andit's New York smells really bad
most of the time, by the way andand I would be vibrating, I
would have to calm down becauseit created anxiety for me.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:48):
Yeah.
Andrea Gordon (39:49):
So you know, coming to California was just
felt like freedom to me.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (39:53):
Yeah, california is beautiful.
My daughter lives in LA rightnow.
She loves California.
She's pregnant.
She's getting ready to have ababy.
She's 38.
She's pregnant.
She's getting ready to have ababy.
She's 38.
She's got a big job working forI think they're called
Insomniac.
They do all the concerts andthe EDCs.
Oh, very cool, she's like thesecond charge.
(40:14):
She's loving California rightnow.
Andrea Gordon (40:16):
Every part of the United States feels completely
different.
I feel really blessed that I'vebeen to most parts of the
United States and there everypart has their charms.
But there's something aboutCalifornia for me that is just
so freeing and liberating andbeautiful that I always want to
come back here.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (40:35):
So I have a house.
When I met Bill, I lived inFlorida, so I have a house in
Florida.
Florida is my happy place.
I love I mean I love themountains, but I'm in Florida,
I'm on the lake, the beach isright there.
It's like everything in theworld is perfect.
That's what I'm talking about.
No, I get it.
I get it Okay.
Last thing I would like you to.
(40:55):
I always like our guests toleave us with a word of wisdom,
but just one single word not two.
Andrea Gordon (41:09):
Nope, okay, then I guess the word I would say is
breathe oh, okay, now hang on.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (41:18):
Uh.
So at my wonderful world, overhere, we have a word of the week
, and when people listen to theshow, I say write the word down,
stick it on your mirror, on asticky, and every day you're
brushing teeth, you're brushinghair, say the word, breathe and
just say the word.
So that way.
So we have a word of the week.
Andrea Gordon (41:37):
So I, uh, so that's why it has to be a single
word, but I do want to knowwhat that word means to you if
you take the time a few times aday to just stop and take six
really doesn't have to be likecrazy deep breaths, but just
breathe deeply six times youwill find that it's resets your
(42:03):
inner clock in a funny way.
I mean, all of a sudden,everything that's been annoying
you will stop, you'll see thingsmore clearly and you'll feel
revitalized.
So it's a very good thing to do.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (42:15):
I agree, I do the 10 deep breaths.
I do them twice a day and then,since I started doing it, my
anxiety has incredibly gottenlower.
I followed like a video of howto like hold them in so many
seconds, breathe out the wholething, and I was like you know,
breathing is a great thing.
People just don't.
They don't do it.
Andrea Gordon (42:33):
Most people breathe very shallowly and you
know, in my training I used toteach voice addiction at
different colleges.
What have you?
And breathing is so important.
People don't realize howsignificant your breath really
is, and so just taking a momentto remember to breathe because
people don't, I mean it's, it'sautomatic.
(42:53):
You know, by the way, somethingelse I was going to tell you
about my friend, the one whojust had the stroke.
She has something calledexpressive aphasia and she can
say phrases like I love you, ohthat's terrific, oh how
wonderful.
Yes, those are words that gotbeaten into her brain by how
(43:18):
many times she says them.
And now that she can't sayanything else, it's kind of an
interesting thing.
All of the goodness that she'sbeen manifesting her whole life
is what's is what's left.
So whenever you're talking,remember that.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (43:38):
I love that.
Oh, thank you for sharing that.
That's very, very sweet.
I'll be praying for your friend.
Thank you, please.
She needs it.
Well, I pray for everyone, butwhat can I ask her name so I can
put it on my prayer board?
Lee?
Andrea Gordon (43:51):
Brady.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (43:54):
Okay, yeah, I have a little board I write
everyone's names on and I prayover everybody, so it'd be my
honor, that is sweet andbeautiful, thank you.
Yeah, no, I have been my honorto pray for her and you know
what?
Andrea Gordon (44:05):
hopefully she'll have a full healing and you know
, what I love is, that is that,even though she's 94, they see
how, how fit she is and they seehow capable she was, and they
also see how many friends shehas and they are really working
hard to rehabilitate her.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (44:24):
Well, you know my aunt is 98.
She has no health issueswhatsoever and she still walks
like three miles a day.
Perfect, 98.
She just has a little walkingstick and she walks.
And you know I shouldn't driveanymore.
But I mean she doesn't have ahealth issue, nothing.
She doesn't even take like aTylenol, nothing.
It's like I don't understandhow you can be that crazy
(44:47):
healthy.
You're 98 years old.
I'm happy about that because mymom's 80.
She's healthy too, and I'm 66.
I'm like, okay, I am claimingthat healthy longevity of my
family.
I want that healthy longevityof the women in my family.
So it's never too late.
She can have a great recoveryand live another 10 years and do
some more amazing things.
Andrea Gordon (45:08):
That's what I hope.
That is my strong hope.
So that is my hope with you.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:12):
All right, everyone I want to thank you,
and Ms Andrea, I definitely wantto thank you.
You have just been so much fun.
I'm going to have you back onhere again so we can talk about
so many things.
You got the theater and you gotthe things.
You got the real tour.
You are just a wonderful person.
You have so many greatinterests and I wish more people
were like that.
Andrea Gordon (45:36):
Oh, thank you, and I'm really looking forward
to having you on my show,because I have no doubt that
you're going to be a fascinatingguest.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:39):
Well, we'll find out pretty soon, won't we?
Andrea Gordon (45:41):
Yeah, we will.
Dwan Bent-Twyford (45:42):
All right, everybody.
Again, find me at dwanderfulcom.
All social media is DwanderfulD-W-A-N-D-E-R-F-U-L.
And on the podcast, I want youto leave a five-star review.
Write something, because themore reviews and the more nice
(46:03):
things you say, the moredownloads I get.
And help me reach two millionand we'll be back next week,
Same bat time, same bat channel.
And remember that the truth isin the red letters.
All right, everybody.
Thank you, Ms Andrea, thank you, Bye All right.
Andrea Gordon (46:23):
Thank you so much .
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
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.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.