July 19, 2024 • 51 mins
Chuck Bear, a real estate agent with two full-time jobs, shares his insights on time management and balancing multiple responsibilities. He discusses his health issues and how he has overcome them while maintaining a successful real estate career.
Chuck also highlights the benefits of working at EXP Realty and the importance of setting expectations with clients. He emphasizes the value of being genuine and taking care of customers, especially first-time homebuyers. Chuck also mentions his interest in motivational speaking and comedy.
Chuck is a caring and knowledgeable real estate agent who goes above and beyond to help his clients. He emphasizes the importance of being prepared and getting pre-approved before looking for a house. He also discusses the significance of credit scores and the impact of soft and hard credit pulls.
Chuck and Rick both highlight the importance of working with lenders and agents who genuinely care about their client's goals and dreams.
Chuck's expertise in construction and home maintenance sets him apart, and he uses social media to educate and engage with his audience. Both Chuck and Rick express their gratitude for veterans and their commitment to helping them navigate the homebuying process.
To Contact Chuck Bear
Call or text 317-698-3339
Email- ChuckBear.Realtor@gmail.com
Visit Our Podcast Page
https://www.podpage.com/indys-real-estate-gurus/
Contact Hard Working Mortgage Guys
https://hardworkingmortgageguy.com/
Rick Ripma NMLS# 664589
Call or Text 317-218-9800
Email--rripma@advisorsmortgage.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rick Ripma (00:00):
Would it be helpful to learn how to handle two jobs,
two full time jobs at the sametime, especially if you're a
real estate agent. Lot a lot ofnew agents are doing this. Well,
Chuck bear is on my show today,and Chuck has two full time
jobs. He's a full time realestate agent. He's a guru. He's
killing it. He's doing a greatjob, doing lots of, lots of
(00:22):
business, and then he works atLafayette schools, so he has to
drive up to Lafayette. Worksthere all day. And he's able to
somehow do, do huge, hugevolume, throw into that some
health problems that he's hadover the last year or so. And
it's fascinating to hear whatwhat Chuck has to say, and how
(00:43):
he's able to put that alltogether. I think anybody
struggling at all with with timemanagement, trying to figure out
how to do everything, whetheryou have two full time jobs or
just just one, I think, I thinkthis could be very helpful. So
please listen, and please letChuck know that you know your
care. You care about him.
Thanks. Well, Chuck bear, you'vecome out of hibernation. I have
(01:08):
come out of hibernation. You'vebeen you've been off, you've
been on before, but this is yoursecond time on. But it's been a
while, right? It's been a while.
Been a couple years, coupleyears, and a lot of things have
happened in your life sincethen. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (01:20):
we've had a lot of health scares, and I've changed
companies. I'm with exp Realtynow. Started with them in
October of 23 and it's been agreat transition. I really do
enjoy the the atmosphere of EXPand how they offer, what they
offer, to their agents, and it'sbeen, it's been a really good
growth for me to be at exp.
Rick Ripma (01:42):
That's awesome.
That's, you know, it's, it's,it's one of those things that's
just so important that you'rehappy where you're at.
Chuck Bear (01:49):
Yes, I was happy at carpenter. It's just, I think I
outgrew carpenter is a reallygood company to start out with
and to work with. But I justfelt that there's another side
to the industry I wanted tolearn and be a part of. And it's
just been a really goodtransition. Well,
Rick Ripma (02:07):
that's, yeah, that that's awesome. I was trying to
figure out this camera so, soyou, let's, let's talk about the
you've transferred to exp. Whatis it that that you really, you
know, what is really benefitingyou, there for you, beneficial
for you being there.
Chuck Bear (02:25):
The benefit for me, going there is the freedom we
have within you know what we dowith the listings and in the
commissions we're allowed tooffer. The benefit is their
training is really fantastic.
Their communication is verygood. And you know, you have a
big network of other agents thatyou can work with across the
(02:51):
whole country through theirlittle it's similar to Facebook
type of thing. I can't rememberwhat it's called, but you if you
have a question, you have awhole network of over 5000
agents across the country thatyou can communicate with and
talk with and learn more from.
Well,
Rick Ripma (03:11):
I gotta think that there's not much that somebody
in that 5000 network of realestate professional real estate
agents that you can't get ananswer to pretty much anything
you need
Chuck Bear (03:20):
an answer. You get an answer for everything. And,
you know, you just, you're outof all of them, you find the one
that's most common, and you gowith it. You know, sometimes
you're just wanting to know aquestion, just to make sure
you're you know what your yourthought process is in the same
line as everybody else, yeah,
Rick Ripma (03:35):
that's just that seems like a that's a really
cool thing to be able to do ishave that many people who can
who can help you. Now you talkedabout you have you had some
health issues.
Chuck Bear (03:47):
So what's going on?
So 2021 had some breathingproblems, went in, had a CAT
scan done. The CAT scan showedhigh classification of my heart.
And then I spent the bestinvestment money I ever had was
a 4999 heart scan at Hendrixcounty hospital, and they found
that my my calcification wasover 2600 which is extremely
(04:11):
high. Anything over 400 is, youknow, danger zone.
Rick Ripma (04:17):
Yours was 2600 Yeah, it was 400 is danger zone? Yes.
Wow,
Chuck Bear (04:22):
yes. So then I got hooked up with my cardiologist,
and we did a catheter, and wefound we had some pretty big
blockages, and then we tried totreat with medicine, and
medicine didn't really help memuch. Six months later, had
another catheter and had a heartstent put in. And then in July
of 22 I had an emergencysituation happen where I had two
(04:42):
more heart stents put in, andjust it's just been diagnosed
with severe coronary heartdisease and also pulmonary
fibrosis in the lungs.
Rick Ripma (04:51):
Wow. And now, I mean, how you feeling that?
Chuck Bear (04:54):
I feel great. I feel great. The doctors have done a
great job. We got the we got thearteries clear. Weird for now,
and we're keeping a close eye oneverything by doing, you know,
our doctor visits every sixmonths and doing heart scans and
things like that. Andeverything's getting
Rick Ripma (05:12):
better. You know, one of the things that impressed
me about you originally, and itstill does, and now even more,
okay, so here you are. You'redoing a phenomenal job as a real
estate agent. You're you'regoing through health issues, and
you actually have two full timejobs, not only the real estate
(05:32):
agent, but you also work for,
Chuck Bear (05:34):
I work up at Lafayette School Corporation and
facilities department,
Rick Ripma (05:38):
okay, and and so there are so many people I talk
to that's either, either are inin a job, they want to come in,
they want to become a realestate agent, or maybe they are
and they're trying to work twojobs, and they have trouble with
that. So how do you do it?
Chuck Bear (05:57):
Time management. You know, 90% of my clients are my
buyers or sellers my friends.
They want to do most of thebusiness Monday through Friday,
after 5pm and then Saturday andSundays. You know, I'm an empty
nester. My kids are grown.
They're adults now. So we havetwo grandchildren. And you know,
(06:20):
we manage our time. We do. Youknow, I set my time aside for
them, and I upfront and honestwith everyone who I work with.
I'll let them know this is thesituation. If I need to take
care of something, I do havesome freedom where I can take
care of something during thedaytime. Generally, it doesn't
very happen very often. But, youknow, we get things done, and
(06:43):
once you get your templates andeverything put together, then
it's all plug and play, youknow? And it doesn't take as
much time when you haveeverything set up in the orderly
fashions and have everythingdetailed already out so and
everybody gets 100% of my time.
I am. I'm 100% for everyone whoI work with, because I want them
to have the greatest experiencethat they can have. I want them
(07:06):
to be able to say, You knowwhat, we had some hiccups, but
man, did we just go through themso smoothly and didn't really
notice them that much, and wegot things done, and it's all
about the experience for them aswell. So I make sure there's
time allotted for everybody?
Yeah,
Rick Ripma (07:22):
you know, it's, there's, there's always hiccups.
It seems like in real estate,yeah, you know. And it's really
how you react to it, right? Andit sounds like you know exactly
what to do now, time management,so it was one of the things you
do. And if you do, how do you doit? Let your customers know,
your your your, everybody knowwhen you're going to be
(07:46):
available. So do you set thoseexpectations so they know that,
that there's certain times youjust aren't, aren't available.
The very
Chuck Bear (07:52):
first meeting, our very first meeting, I listen to
them, we talk, and I heareverything that their wishes and
wants and don'ts and all that.
And, you know, I make themeeting about them as much as
possible. And then at the veryend, I'll say, now I'm gonna
throw in this little caveat. Ido have a daytime job, and these
are my hours. I am accessible bytext message and phone calls
(08:14):
during those hours if you havequestions, but for meetings and
to go out and look at homesMonday through Friday. It's from
five until respectful time of8pm and then Saturday and
Sunday, as long as we have itset up, I'm open all day. So
those are the expectations. Andreally, everybody's been on
board. I have not lost a clientor customer or buyer or seller
(08:36):
yet from being upfront andhonest with them from the get
go? Yeah,
Rick Ripma (08:42):
and I think that's the key. And one of the reasons
I want to go over that is somany people struggle. Real
estate agents struggle withcontrolling their time at all.
Somebody calls, they run and dowhat they got to do, right? They
drop what they were doing. Youknow? They could have dinner
plans. I'll go a little crazy,dinner plans with the president
United States. And somebodycalls and they say, sorry, I
(09:05):
can't make it, Mr. President, Igotta go show a house, right,
right? Probably wouldn't dothat, but they will drop their
best friends that they've beenhaving. You know, have an
appointment on the books forfour months because a million
dollar possible client just callthem, right? And, and I'm
finding that there are agentslike yourself who are able to
(09:27):
kind of set the expectations,and then people work within
those expectations, and yoursare reasonable expectations.
Yeah,
Chuck Bear (09:35):
yeah. I mean, everybody's got to work. You
know, there's not that manypeople that work, second, third
and fourth shifts that aredemanding. You know, a big
portion of everybody works tonine to five or six to 233,
o'clock, and everybody's prettyunderstanding with all of that.
I do know there's a lot of themore experienced agents out
there saying, You know what, I'mnot working Sundays, no more
(09:57):
that they're actually taking afull day. I. Not to that point,
because I really likeinteracting and working with
people, and it's not like it'severy day, eight hours a day,
but you still have to give thoseexpectations and people, people
understand. They really do, aslong as you're upfront and
honest with them, they reallyunderstand and they go along
(10:18):
with it. Yeah, well,
Rick Ripma (10:19):
I would say that's, that's something about you that
I've learned is you're upfrontand honest with people. Yeah,
I'm
Chuck Bear (10:25):
not afraid to tell people, you know, upfront,
honest. I will tell you this.
The craziest time we had was myfirst I got into the business in
19 and that was right at theheight, or beginning of the
height of the whole, let's hurryup and buy a house and overspend
and things like that. And thatwas kind of tedious, but, you
know, that's what helped me getto the point where I am right
(10:46):
now, with being able to just be,you know, hey, it'll be there.
And if it's not there, believeme, there's gonna be another
house come up, very similar tothat one.
Rick Ripma (10:56):
You know, I think that is very wise advice. I My
son just bought another houseand and both times he bought a
house, I told him the samething, you just there isn't. In
fact, most people I've seen theythey go and they look at a
house, they think, Oh, this isit. And if they don't get it,
(11:18):
they're all depressed andeverything. And then maybe the
second one, and maybe even athird one. And back then, it
might have been nine or 10 ofthem they didn't get right. But
what I found is every single oneof them, when they did get it, I
don't care if it was the secondhouse, the first house, the
second or the 21st they realizedthat was the right house. Yeah,
that the house they ended upwith was the house they actually
(11:40):
wanted.
Chuck Bear (11:41):
Yep, exactly. That's why I try to explain to so many
people who go into these houses,you know, don't go into the
house to buy it just because youthink it's the only time you go
get to buy that house. You'llknow when that house is right.
And it's so much fun for me towatch that when that happens,
because their face lights up.
They try to be cool and not showtheir poker face, but I'm
telling you, when they see thehouse, and their eyes start
(12:03):
getting bigger, and you startseeing the eyebrows raise up,
and, you know, you get the oohlook. And you know that, you
know that's the house for them.
And you really work harder toget them into that home. And you
know, they look at the little,small blemishes, they're like,
You know what? We can fix thatin other homes, when they see
(12:24):
those small blooms, oh no, Idon't like that. But when you
see the same thing there, it'slike, oh, wow, oh, wow. And I
tell everybody, I go, don't lookat the pictures online. Don't
let me look at them. But don'tlook at them. Just browse
through them, because lot ofthem are photoshopped, and some
of them will make the house lookimmaculate and some won't, but
(12:47):
you won't know for sure untilyou're actually in that house,
because then you're seeing itfor live, because pictures are
deceiving. And a lot of peoplesay that to me, I say, oh my
god, the pictures made thisplace look immaculate, or oh my
gosh, the pictures made hisplace look dingy and horrible,
but it's beautiful. So, youknow, you have to go and see the
houses and to see what you'regetting. Yeah.
Rick Ripma (13:08):
And, you know, the pictures I've had, people tell
me, yeah, you go in and thehouse looks so big in the
pictures, yeah, yeah. And itdidn't, it didn't look so big. I
can tell you, I love cars, ifyou can't tell you already knew
that. And and I got a lot of carauctions, and if you bought the
car, I don't understand howpeople can do this. If you
bought the car by just lookingat the pictures, you have no
(13:31):
idea most of the time whatyou're getting none. If you
bought the car from 20 feet awayand never got close to it, you
still have no idea. Right?
Exactly. Exactly same withhouses. Yeah, you got it. You
got to go look at them. You gotto see them. You just, it's just
what you have to do now, Chuck,if somebody is listening, they
go, You know what? I need to buya buy a home, or I need to sell
(13:51):
a home. And Chuck's the guy Iwant to work with. How would
they get a hold of
Chuck Bear (13:56):
you? Just somebody call me or DM me at
317-698-3339, I'm strictly goingby phone number now. It's the
best way to get a hold of me issend me a text or DM at
317-698-3339, but Hey, Rick, Igot a question for you. How do
people get a hold of you? Well,that,
Rick Ripma (14:14):
you know, I'm glad you asked, because the best way
to get a hold of me is go tohardworking mortgage guys.com,
that's hardworking mortgageguys.com, or you can give me a
call. I'm trying to get overthis number, but my problem is I
cannot remember the number I'vegot, you know, I have seven
numbers. Now, how do youremember? It's crazy. Every time
I pick up, you know, I do a CRMso I can keep in touch with
people. And it gets you haveanother number. So I'm trying to
(14:37):
get them condensed, but this oneis 4632239592463, 22239592463,
is a new a new exchange inCarmel. It's actually a caramel
number. So 469, or 6346, see, Idon't know it. 463-223-9592, or
hardworking mortgage guide.com,thanks for asking. Appreciate
it. You're welcome. I It's notsomething I normally. I. You
(15:00):
know, I normally have done andthat that helps. And so we
talked about, you know, you howyour business, you know, you've,
you've made the change. So nowthat you're at exp, and you've
been there a year,
Chuck Bear (15:14):
roughly about eight months, about eight months,
Rick Ripma (15:16):
so now, when you got there, did, did everything just
kind of transfer over? Did youhave to do anything to really
get the business going again?
Oh,
Chuck Bear (15:24):
you have to start over. You have to start over.
New marketing, new everything.
It takes about a month to geteverything going. It was, it
was, man, there's a lot oftransitioning. You have to go
through. It takes about a weekto week and a half to go through
all of the, what's that called,when you onboard? Oh, yeah,
onboarding. It takes a long timeto onboard, especially when
(15:47):
you're not as savvy with thetechnology as I am. I mean, we
didn't grow up with that, youknow. And I just kind of, in my,
in my world, you just had, likea doll system really still, you
know, and now you got all thesefancy things out there to learn,
but onboarding took me a littlebit of time. And then I had a
(16:08):
little bit of the health scaretowards the end of last year,
and I just took that threemonths, two or three months off.
And then I in January, I startedhitting it hard, really jumping
on the social media platform,doing more videos, more more
what I'm going to say messagesonline. You know, I do the bear
(16:29):
joke thing. Still, I What's thebear joke thing? Let
Unknown (16:35):
everybody know, it's a
Chuck Bear (16:37):
once a week. It's the bear chuckle of the week.
And we, I just, I just eitherfind some pictures and put the
bear joke together and do that,or I'll find a funny bear dad
joke and put that on there justto draw attention, draw maybe,
you know, bring a grin to somepeople's chins, bring some
laughter in somebody's heart,and give them a brief moment of
(16:59):
thinking about somethingdifferent.
Rick Ripma (17:00):
Yeah, so I know that you're looking at getting
retiring from your job at theschools at some point here soon.
So you're gonna your second job.
Then going to be a comedian? Areyou gonna be a stand up? Because
you're hilarious. You'reactually you're not showing it
so much today yet, but you are afunny guy. Well, I
Chuck Bear (17:17):
appreciate that. I would like to do that. I'm
obviously not introverted enoughwhere I don't want to get up in
front of people. I'm going tostart off, I would like to do
some speaking gigs and talkabout some motivational things,
and maybe what it takes to, youknow, live in this diverse world
a little bit and never give upon your dreams and your goals. I
(17:39):
like to, you know, go out andspeak. I get to speak to some
high school football players andathletes once in a while, and I
really enjoy doing that. Afriend of mine that I graduated
with, he is a part timecomedian, and I've always told
him I'd love to do it at leastone time. So my wife and I were
going on a cruise, and if theyhave a night where they'll let
people come up on stage, moretwo jokes. I might go up and do
(18:02):
a couple, but no, I know, yeah,I would like to do at least
once.
Rick Ripma (18:07):
Yeah, you know, I can see you doing it, but I, you
know, it's like anything else Idon't. At least for me, the
first time I do it, it is awful.
Yeah, whatever it is I'm doingwhen I the first radio show I
did, I am so glad that at leastanywhere I can find, if not
anywhere anybody can hear it,right? It was horrible, right? I
(18:29):
know some people are listeninggoing, Well, you haven't really
got much better, but it's somuch more comfortable today than
it was then. I didn't I didn'tknow what to do. Didn't know
what to say. I was intimidatedby the mics and all that. Just
like everybody is when theyfirst do this, right? Yep. So
it's a it's just you got, youknow, if you I think probably
(18:50):
what happens to people, I'veheard is they get up there,
whether they bomb or not, it'slike, oh, yeah, this is it.
Yeah, I want to do this. Or it'slike, Nick No, I don't want to
do this ever again. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (19:03):
I think the problem I would have would be with
hecklers. I'm not very good withcoming back on things like that,
but I tell you, I want tocompliment you. You do a great
job with this program, and I'vereally enjoyed watching it grow.
Sorry about that. It's it's funwatching it. And all the other
agents that you have on here,they all do a great job with
you, so you do a great job withthis program.
Rick Ripma (19:23):
Thank you. I think the agents do we've had, you
know, it's one of my beliefs,and I can't say it always has
been my belief, but one of thethings I've learned from the
show and talking to all thethese phenomenal agents like
yourself, is that Indianapolisand maybe, maybe everywhere, but
Indiana is blessed with not justgreat real estate agents, but
(19:46):
these people are like yourself.
You're great people, yeah, and,and it's and everybody I've had
on, I think, to a person, it'snot about the money, not that,
not that. I mean, let's face it,every, every. Anybody knows
you're doing, you need to earn aliving, right? But in fact, I'll
say everybody, when it comesdown to it, if there's an issue
(20:07):
and it's between me making themmaking their commission, or them
not making the commission, buttaking care of their customer,
they choose taking care of theircustomer. Yeah, and I don't
think that's the reputationthat's out there, but I think
that's the truth. And I think Iknow for myself, I get very, you
know, I put my guards up when Iwhen I'm in a situation where I
(20:30):
don't know somebody that well,or I'm in, you know, I'm buying
something, but a real estateagent is is different. And if
you get the right one, andthere's there's like yourself,
they get somebody like you,you're always going to watch out
for them, because that's who youare, and that's how you built
your business. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (20:50):
exactly right. Being genuine, being genuine, and just
being being a person who lovespeople and making sure people
are not being taken advantageof. I really love helping first
time homebuyers, because they'recoming in, they're so green,
and, you know, most of them arescared, because they know
they're going to spend 200 300$400,000 on an investment that
(21:12):
they don't know if they're goingto make their money back or even
make some money off of it yearsdown the road. And it's just so
fun going through that wholeprocess with first time
homebuyers and helping them withunderstanding how the loan
process goes and getting preapproved. And that's the main
thing that a lot of peoplereally need to get understood,
is you have to get yourself preapproved, even almost to
(21:35):
underwriter pre approval, andknow what your budget is, and
not get yourself house poor, youdon't that's why I see a lot of
people doing in not evenrealizing they're doing it and
getting themselves house poor.
And I do everything I can tokeep that from happening to
them, because I want them toenjoy their home. Yeah, you
know, I want them enjoy whatthey have. I want them able to
(21:56):
go out to dinner, whether it'swhite castle or Ruth Chris, you
know, go out to dinner. Yeah,you know, yeah,
Rick Ripma (22:04):
I obviously pre approval is really, obviously
important to me, because it'swhat we do and what you said. I
agree 1,000% not only a preapproval, but give us time to
get it underwritten. And whywould they want it underwritten?
(22:26):
Because when you can tell thembetter than I, but when it's
underwritten, they they are nolonger they can close quicker.
Yeah, the the seller knows thatthere's very little that can get
in the way the appraisal. Ifthere's an appraisal required,
the purchase agreement, if it'snot up to snuff, which it always
(22:46):
is, so that's never really anissue, and the title work,
right? Yep, other than in theinspection, yep. But in our end,
that's the inspection isn't partof what we do. So when, when you
have a fully underwritten, whatwe'd call a conditional approval
from an underwriter. How doesthat? How does that help? When
you're making offers,
Chuck Bear (23:06):
it gives you a lot more strength over someone who
just has a general pre approval.
It gives you a lot of strengthbecause, like you just
mentioned, the other agent says,Wow, all they need is an
address. We give them theaddress and then we just wait
for title to come back withanything, and we're pretty much
75% done. Instead of waitingfor, oh, man, are they going to
find out that they had a debtissue 10 years ago? Are they
(23:32):
going to find out that maybetheir debt to income ratio isn't
where it should be, type ofthing, and it just gives the
seller side confidence that thistransaction is going to go
through smoothly and we're goingto get everybody to the closing
table. It's just a confidencething for everybody on board.
Yeah,
Rick Ripma (23:54):
I agree, obviously.
And the other thing I think thatpeople have to understand. And
when I said, you can't, you knowyou want to give us time, one of
the things that I think that alot of people make an error on
is I get a call at two o'clockon a Saturday afternoon. I've
never talked to them. They founda house they want to buy and
(24:16):
they want a pre approval letter.
And for some people, that'sfine, okay? I mean, you pull
their credit, you look ateverything, everything's
perfect. There is no you know,okay, we can do that. But if
there's anything in there,especially a first time
homebuyer, that's usually thatthey need a little more time, or
(24:36):
a self employed borrower, or ifthere's any issues, let's say
your credit's frozen. If yourcredit's frozen, I can't pull it
right, okay, I can't give you apre approval of your credit's
frozen. And when you go tounfreeze your credit, it doesn't
always unfreeze it the secondyou do it, it takes. It can take
some time. So it's, it's one ofthose things that's extremely in
(24:57):
my book, important. And I wouldsay, give. Give a lender a week,
or a little a little littlemore, possibly, depending on, on
the on the volume, so that theycan get it underwritten, yeah,
so that they have that time,
Chuck Bear (25:13):
just the minute I really, I really help try to get
them to understand the minutethat you're thinking about
buying the house, get it done,because it's not going they're
not going to draw too much awayfrom your credit score. And at
least you have an idea what'sgoing on with all of that. I had
a thought a minute ago, and Iwish I could remember what it
was, because it was I was goingto ask you a question, what your
(25:35):
opinion was on something, andI'll remember here in a minute.
But
Rick Ripma (25:39):
it's the problem with getting older, it is just
one of the many it
Chuck Bear (25:44):
is. So, you know, you hit the nail on the head.
It's really hard for people toget a pretty much when someone
calls you at two o'clock in theafternoon, all you're able to
give them, really, is a prequalification, that's right, you
know. And it's not really a truepre approval. You know, that's
why people understand, you gotyour pre call, you got your pre
(26:06):
approval, and you got yourunderwritten, conditional,
conditional approval, and that'sthe one that you need to get. I
mean, it gives you so muchstrength, so much strength,
yeah, but you know, and like youYou know, there's good lenders
out there that will bend overbackwards for everybody and do
what they can because they're inthe same situation. They love
(26:27):
people, they want to help peopleachieve their goals and dreams.
And you know, you guys have beenover backwards for these people,
even on Sundays, when you'rejust walking out of church, you
get that text message fromsomeone in a frantic deal. It's,
oh my gosh, you know, and youknow, we're not in 2021 22 right
now, right? We do have time,right? And if it's just, it's
(26:48):
just being good to people,that's what's about. Yeah,
Rick Ripma (26:52):
it's just better if they met, if they they plan, I
think what happens. And you, youwork with them directly. So you,
I'm just as I'm kind of high,I'm guessing. But you can tell
me if I'm right or wrong. Ithink people think I'm going to
go look at houses, but I'm notgoing to find anything. So I'm
not going to go ahead and talkto the lender, and I'm not going
to get pre approved. I'm goingto go look and see if there's
anything out there. And thenthey walk into a house, and just
(27:13):
what you said there, you cantell this is the house, yeah.
And now all of a sudden, oh my,I want to make an offer, but
they aren't. They didn't getprepared to make an offer and
and now today we we pull. It's asoft pull, okay, the first poll
is a soft pull. It's not goingto affect your credit score. And
(27:35):
we'll do a we'll do a hard pulllater on. Now a hard pull is
better because there are thingsthat don't show up in a
softball. Yeah, all right, thatyou just have to understand soft
pull is not going to be as goodas a hard pull, and the hard
pull only hits your credit scorethree to five points. Now that's
no big deal if you're if you'rein the higher level of credit
(27:55):
score, meaning that every 20points so it's basically starts
at, we'll say 626 20 to 639,then 640 to 649, then 650, to
679, right? So you can kind ofsee how that I'm sorry, 660 to
679, I can't, I can't counttoday, but it's every 20 points,
starting at at 620 so if you're,if you were at 639 a poll is not
(28:21):
going to hurt you any, right? Ifyou're at six 921 it's not going
to hurt you on that poll.
Because you're going to be at621 it's going to hurt you on
the next poll. Yeah, okay, youdon't want to have to have pull
a second time. Now, you can pullwith another lender within a
certain amount of time, but youknow, it's just one of those
things, and we're beating thatto death. I just, I just, I
just, it's very important to me,and I Sorry, sorry. I get unto
(28:42):
it. I get it's kind of likecars. I can't stop talking about
them when I get going. So Iapologize. So what? What would
you, you know, if somebody's outthere listening and they say,
you know, why? Why should theynumber one? Why should they work
with Chuck, and how do they geta hold of Chuck?
Chuck Bear (29:04):
Well, they should get a hold of Chuck because
Chuck cares, and I care a lotabout people, and I'm going to
give them the best that I cangive them at all times. I do
have an extensive backgroundwith construction, with
building, maintenance, home,maintenance home. I understand
the homes and what, especiallynow, with my experience that
I've had, I understand whatinspectors are going to look
(29:26):
for. I have the knowledge ofthat I especially if it's FHA, I
know exactly what FHA is goingto ask them for, and I can help
them understand what's going tohappen. So with my with my
knowledge and my background, Ihave a pretty good experience.
Be able to help them to get ahold of me, give me a phone call
or DM me at 317-698-3339, that'sthe best way to get a hold of me
(29:49):
is either text DM or call.
317-698-3339, but when someone'swanting to get their pre
approval or even talk abouttheir options of. Of being able
to get a loan. Well, how shouldI get hold of you? Rick, well,
thank
Rick Ripma (30:03):
you for asking. And the best way to get a hold of me
is go to hardworking mortgageguy.com. That's hardworking
mortgage guy.com. But of course,if it's on a Saturday at two
o'clock and you need, you needto talk to me. You can give me a
call, and I'm gonna have to lookup my numbers, 463, I remember
that part, 463-223-9592, that's463-223-9592, you can call or
(30:26):
text that number. And one thingabout the weekend for me is, if
you're, if you're contactingabout the weekend or after
hours, I'll get back with you asquickly as I can. But as you
know, if you're, if you're doingsomething, you can always get
back right away. Sometimes, youknow, I even try to bring my
computer to almost everything Ido, but sometimes I just don't,
I just don't have it right,right? And so I need, you know,
(30:49):
it may take me a little bit alittle bit longer just be
patient, because I'm going toget it, I'm going to take care
of you, and I'll get you what Iwhat I can, but it's best to not
do it on Saturday at twoo'clock, do it that Monday
beforehand, so we can get itdone correctly. And everything's
great. So I'll get off my highhorse just one of those things.
(31:13):
So what is one strategy that youuse that a lot of other real
estate agents don't use
Chuck Bear (31:22):
I do a lot of social media. I'm getting more and more
into doing reels and shorts onYouTube, Tiktok, Facebook,
Instagram. I'm even jumping overto Pinterest and doing things on
Pinterest. I've been listeningto a lot of Gary Vee and a lot
of Dustin Brahm and, you know,other agents, Simon Sinek. And
(31:48):
just learning from those who aresuccessful, especially Gary Vee,
he's got a lot of good points onsocial media. And getting out
there, I told when I hired inCarpenter, I told them, I say, I
won't focus on social media. Idon't like doing the whole cold
calling. I'd rather just get infront of people. And then I hear
(32:10):
everybody say, Well, I don'tlike doing cameras. I don't feel
comfortable doing cameras. And Iasked my how you got doing open
houses, like, Well, those areokay I go. But wasn't you
nervous the very first time youdid it, and the second time and
the third time goes well, youhave, how many have you done
now? Well, quite a bit. How youfeeling now? Well, I'm very
comfortable. That's the samething with doing videos and
(32:31):
doing this. I mean, you eventouched on that a little bit
earlier, right? When you didyour first one, you just thought
it was horrific. Now, you'reawesome. I mean, you're doing a
great job, and it's just you'rewe're comfortable with it,
right? It's like anything else.
The more you do it, the morecomfortable you get, and more
fun you start, you start gettinggoofy. You start having some fun
with us, telling them dumb dadjokes or, you know, making up
words and just having a greattime. So make it fun. Do social
(32:53):
media. I do videos. I'm notdoing as many as I want to, but
I'm getting to that point. Myopen houses, I try to keep them
fun, keep them enlightened. Idon't do anything extravagant,
Adam, but I try to keep it agood experience for people
coming in. So those are twothings I focus on. I know you
asked me about one, but openhouses and doing videos well,
Rick Ripma (33:15):
and I think that's awesome. And I was wanted to
touch on your social media, butbefore we do that. And I'm kind
of putting you on your spothere, so you may say, Listen, I
don't gotta do that right now.
But can you tell us either adumb dad joke or any joke? Do
you have anything in yourrepertoire that you can just
because people need to know howgood you are at it, you're
you're how funny are? Yeah,
Chuck Bear (33:38):
I'll give you one.
So I went, I went out to see Mr.
Farmer last week. He wanted tosell off some of his ground. He
had 20 acres. He just wanted toget out. He wasn't doing no
good. And we're sitting therelooking at his cows, and I asked
him, I go, how come we got bellson those cows? And he looks at
me square in the face as serioushe could go. He goes, sir,
(34:00):
that's because their horns don'twork. So there's your bear
shuffle of the day.
Rick Ripma (34:06):
But that's pretty good. I gotta say that's, that's
pretty good. You know, you knowwhat my probably me telling
jokes is, I get all the way tothe punchline. I can't I forget
it. And, no, that's not funny.
Chuck Bear (34:17):
Yeah, it is. It is, really, I do the same thing. And
I thought, you already screwthat one up. I nailed it. So
nailed it,
Rick Ripma (34:25):
yeah, you nailed it, yeah. I know I heard on, I think
it was on Bob and Tom. I heardhim tell a joke. It was for
Halloween, and it was ascarecrow walked in, walked into
a bar, and he said, Give me,give me a beer and a mop. Now, I
think that's hilarious.
Everybody I tell it to looks atme like you did.
Chuck Bear (34:47):
That's funny. I think it's hilarious. That is
hilarious. I
Rick Ripma (34:50):
mean, I get it right, makes total sense to me.
So social media one of thethings you touched on social
media, but you really do some.
Unique things on social media.
Chuck Bear (35:03):
I do, I am I'll do some scenarios like I'm talking
on the phone to another agent,and what I'm trying to do is
educate. And I do, I did acouple about the debt to income
ratio, how we were getting readyto close, and this, and most of
these are really things thathave happened. Was here to go
(35:23):
close. We had a closing in 24hours, and got a phone call from
the agent said, hey, they justlost their debt to income ratio.
And I'll let you explain whatthat means here. Okay, and so
I'm like, crap. What we do? It'slike, well, it's not gonna get
cleaned up, because he reallydid something bad and he went
out, or this particular buyer,went out and purchased a new car
(35:47):
and some and some furniture forthe house, and it just knocked
him below his debt to incomeratio. So I do them on that, and
sometimes I'll do them on homeinspections. And, you know, try
and make them, some of them fun,some of them not so much fun.
And then I'll do, I got oneseries I'm doing now where I'm
going to my grandson's baseballgames, and it's called spitting
(36:10):
seeds through a fence. And I'mtrying out different sunflower
seeds, and I'll promote thatsunflower seed. And we're
spitting seeds through a fenceat the ball games, you know. And
a lot of travel parents knowwhat that means, and it's fun.
And I do, I do some with someother agents, so I try to keep a
variety and keep them fun. Andsome of them are informational,
(36:31):
yeah.
Rick Ripma (36:32):
Well, I remember, I remember several, but the one I
one of my remember is you didone, and you were at your car,
and you, you were gonna givesomething for the first 20
people who posted at your carwith the sign that you had in
the back of the car, that Ithought that was, you know, a
(36:53):
really brilliant way. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (36:56):
I am. I was promoting, uh, Hoosier, Hoosier
coffee, which was it is aveterans own coffee company out
of Brownsburg, okay? And I knowthere's the guys who own that.
They are veterans. They allserved over in Iraq and
Afghanistan during all the warsthat we've been over there from
91 until today. And they startedup Hoosier coffee. It is a it's
(37:22):
just two veterans that startedup out of Brownsburg, and their
coffee is really good. And I waslike, well, I won't help you
guys out, and I will try to getpeople come. And we had a couple
people show up. It was prettygood. I gained a couple good
friends out of that, and Ihelped a couple people buy some
homes from doing that. And itwas productive. It was fun doing
it. I had a lot of peoplestopping and talking and stuff
(37:42):
like that, but
Rick Ripma (37:44):
I know how you are.
It's really not about yougetting customers out of it. You
cared about the veterans andpromoting their business so that
they you're helping them succeed100% Yeah, it's what I try to
do, and this in the podcast isI'm just trying to help others
succeed. And I think it'simportant that clients hear
great people that they can thenwork with.
Chuck Bear (38:06):
Yes, I, you know, the veterans, I got a special
place in my heart for veterans.
And you know, I was honoredenough to get to do the honor
flight with a good friend ofmine who was in a Vietnam era,
okay, and we got to go out toWashington, DC for the day and
come back home. Yeah, the HonorFlight is just something
special. And I know we weren'tplanning on discussing this, but
we brought the veterans up. Theveterans are very special to me.
(38:27):
You know, for anyone to give uptheir their their lives, for me
to be able to do a podcast withRick rip is very, you know, I
can't, can't think the familiesenough and and pray for them
enough to go through all ofthat.
Rick Ripma (38:50):
Yeah, it, it's one of the things I think that that
you have is your, there's a lot,but you're, you're grateful. I
think that's an extremelyimportant piece of somebody, to
be grateful for what they have,and to realize it's, you know,
none of us are where we arebecause of only us.
Chuck Bear (39:14):
No Right? No. We got to have, we got to have help get
where we're going. Got to
Rick Ripma (39:18):
and some of them, we didn't. We never met the person
who who went to war for us. No,right? Most of the time, no. So
Chuck Bear (39:27):
you know the, and I don't want to get on a tangent
with this, but the Vietnam vetsare the ones that really have my
heart. I have family membersthat went to Vietnam, and I
watched their lives as I wasgrowing up, and what they was
going through. And, you know,every time I meet someone who
served her in Vietnam, I alwayswelcome them home, and I get
(39:47):
some funny Felix on that, andI'm like, You never got that
before, and I want you to knowI'm I'm glad you're here. I'm
glad you made it home, and I'mthankful for everything that you
did in a conflict that reallywasn't ours, but you. Over, and
you did what you could to makesure that we were safe and that
we had our freedoms, and otherpeople could have freedoms. And
you know, for that, Sir, I wantto make sure, ma'am, that you're
(40:10):
you're thanked, and that youknow that we're not, at least
you're welcomed home. Yeah. Soyeah. Now, do you work with a
lot of veterans? And yes, I do,yeah, I do. I do help several,
probably about 30, 35% of my ofmy bases with veterans. So, you
know, sometimes you get to hearthe fun stories, and sometimes
(40:32):
you get to hear that so funstories, right? But, yeah, I
really enjoy helping them andhelp them get through their FA
or their VA loans, when you knowit's just VA loans are
interesting. Yeah, you know, butyou know, I'm glad. I'm glad we
have that to offer to them. AndI'm, I'm excited. I always get
excited when they tell methey're a veteran, and it just
(40:54):
means a lot. Yeah,
Rick Ripma (40:56):
yeah. I think on the on the VA loans, my, my problem
with the VA loan is, is it makesit hard for the veteran to get
an app, to get a offer, youknow, accepted and and they
need, you know, I know they'retrying to protect their veteran,
but you're keeping them frombeing able to get a house,
(41:19):
especially in the market we'vebeen in, if somebody gets five
offers, and one of them is VA,from what I've seen, they don't
even consider the VA offer.
Chuck Bear (41:29):
Yeah, that's a shame. That's a travesty.
Rick Ripma (41:32):
It is a travesty.
It's it is absolutely Iunderstand why somebody would do
that. I wish it wasn't that way.
And I wish VA would change it sothey didn't put the veteran and
put the person in that thatshape, because most of them,
they would like to take the VAloan. They are the VA, but they
can't have the they don't feellike they can accept the risk of
(41:57):
that loan not closing because ofthe requirements VA has,
Chuck Bear (41:59):
right? And you know that's that's really sad, but I
understand as well. Mom willgive you a happy story on this.
Okay, last year, I had a client,I had a buyer, and they had a
good offer, and we were going,we put this good offer in on a
home, and the Miss seller was aveteran himself and our offer
(42:23):
was higher than the other offer,and the seller declined our
offer and took the other offerbecause it was a VA loan. So I
had no problem with that. I hadno problem with that at all,
because, you know, he and hetook, he took care of the VA, he
(42:44):
understood what was going tohappen. And I think every agent,
and we're supposed to, by law,but they have to show him and
explain to the seller, right,what's going on. And Mel, when,
when the agent called, said,look, it's a VA loan. And this
guy's a VA, you know, he's aveteran, and he wants to help
out his brother. I was like, Igot no problem with that. And we
(43:07):
went the next day and put anoffer on a house, and they got
it again. There's houses outthere, and we'll find a home,
Yep, yeah.
Rick Ripma (43:14):
And that that's, that is absolutely a fact.
There's plenty of houses outthere, and you will find one.
Just keep, you know, you justhave to keep at it. But we had,
I had a customer who actuallycalled in from one of the
podcasts and and she was aveteran, and she was, she was
(43:34):
60, mid 60s, never owned a homebefore. Oh, wow. Didn't think
she could lived in a trailer.
The trailer didn't have hotwater running, and we qualified
her, and she was able to go geta house. And it's, it's like,
that's, that's so fulfilling,you know? It's really, you just,
it's like, I'll do that all daylong for nothing. You know, I
don't that's, there's nothingabout what you're going to earn
(43:57):
or anything else you just wantto take care of that person.
They
Chuck Bear (44:01):
deserve it. Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's why.
That's one reason why I got intoreal estate is because I wanted
to be that one that people couldbelieve that is not out there to
just worry about the commission,yeah, that they're going to do
what they can do to help getthem into that house. I can't
tell you how many times I wentand actually done the repair
work to help get the thingprocessed through. And I work
(44:23):
hand in hand with the sellers orthe buyers agents, and let them
know my background, and they getcomfortable with it, and they go
see the work and like, holycrap. That's better than what we
want to hire someone else. So Igo, that's because I care and I
want, I want these people toenjoy this home buyer or seller,
and that's, that's one thing Italked to the other agents
(44:43):
about. So okay, we got thenegotiation down. Now you and I,
I don't care that we're ondifferent brokerages. We're a
team now, and we need to worktogether on getting this to the
closing table to help yoursellers to be able to get a new
chapter in life. And for my forthe buyers, just get in. Home
that they deserve and start anew chapter in their lives. And
(45:03):
that's our goal, is to helpthose two make it to the end.
Rick Ripma (45:07):
Yeah, and that's, that's, it's just one of those
things that we're all in itonce, once you have a purchase
agreement, it's your lenders init, right? Both agents are in
it, title companies in it.
Everybody involved that it'severybody involved is now part
of that deal. And you see,again, you're grateful, you're
appreciative, you you get that.
(45:30):
And that's, I think that's athat's a big deal. You know?
What would you say? Maybe thegolden rule of negotiating,
because negotiating is a bigdeal and it can be kind of
confrontational. Well, is thereany golden rule you have with
negotiating?
Chuck Bear (45:50):
No, just keep it clean and keep it factual. You
know, usually my I haven'treally had a tough negotiation
yet. I know that kind of seemsweird, but, you know, I let the
buyer or the seller who I'mrepresenting understand they're
going to come in with thisoffer. It's going to seem kind
(46:10):
of below, but you know, they gotto start somewhere, and you got
to start somewhere, so we justgot to find that happy ground of
where everything's at. Andgenerally, I have not had
anybody thrown back. Well, thishouse is the, oh, you know what?
I did have that happen. I had alisting that we went like, just
closed this week. The lady livesin the neighborhood. She was
(46:33):
buying it for her, she's gonnalet her mom live in her house.
And they offered quite a bitlower and then she was
nitpicking the house. And, youknow, the house just got on the
market, and I just said, simply,I said, Look, we're new. We're
just now in the market today,and other houses in this
neighborhood are going for thesame amount, and they try to
(46:54):
throw out. Well, those houseshave this, this, this. I was
like, this house only has onesmall defect on it. You know,
you're talking cabinets. Theycan change cabinets out. They're
gonna live in it for years. Thisneighborhood's value raises
every year. I go, No, we'regonna hold off. And the very
next day, we got a full priceoffer. So it's just about being
(47:15):
patient and explaining to theother agents in a respectful way
that this is why we're offeringit this way. This is why we have
it. And, you know, thenegotiations, if I think I'm
coming in low when I'm offeringI will go find comps and send
those comps and say this iswhere we're getting our value
at, and show it that way, thatway. They don't think I'm just
(47:37):
coming in a low ball for noreason, right?
Rick Ripma (47:39):
Yeah, and that's that's important, because you
got to be on the same pagecommunications, obviously very
important to you too. You makesure you communicate real quick,
because we're running out oftime. But I wanted to say, I
think one of the big, one of thethings that really helps and
sets you apart is your knowledgeof construction and and
(48:01):
maintenance and all that. Itjust matters to somebody,
because most of us don't havethat right? And I think my my
niece, is a real estate agent inNorth Carolina, and she, and
she's, she said she didn't knowanything about it, so she had
guys take her, you know, theshe'd go out in the inspectors,
and they would show her, youknow, they, she not. This is not
this is not something I woulddo. You probably would do this,
(48:22):
but I'm not crawling in thecrawl space. I've done it
before. I never want to go backin another crawl space. But she
crawled in the crawl spaces,right? Because she wanted to
learn, yeah, and that's, that's,you don't have to, you can't
you're gonna crawl because youknow, you know what you're
looking at. I would have noidea. So what good is it for me
to get in the crawl spaceanyway, right? That's my excuse
right there, right? But ifsomebody wants to get a hold of
(48:44):
you, and they want to work withChuck, they want to buy, sell,
just talk maybe. Are you hiringpeople, any, anything like that?
Are you? Are you? Are youbuilding a team? No,
Chuck Bear (48:55):
I'm not building a team right now. But I do want to
promote exp. I do want to try tobring on some more client agents
over to exp, if you got anyquestions about why I moved over
and from carpenter over. Exp,I'd be more than happy to sit
down with you and go over that.
I do have the spreadsheets onwhy I did that and why it's a
better fit for me and how itcould be a better fit for you, I
(49:19):
would love to help other agentslearn more about exp so they can
make a decision on their own.
There's so many people out therethat bash other companies. I
don't understand why they do,but you know, if you want to
learn more about exp, pleasegive me a call at 317-698-3339,
(49:40):
or text me and I'd be more thanhappy to go over why I went EXP
and how it could benefit youover their exp. And you know,
exp is not like for everybody,just like all the other
companies around are not foreverybody. You have to find your
fit and what you what you loveto do and who you would like to
work with. But, yeah. Feel freeto give me a call. 317-698-3339,
(50:04):
and I'll be more than happy towork with you on learning more
about exp awesome,
Rick Ripma (50:10):
or to buy a house or something, or buy a house or
sell your house. Yeah, at all. Ican do it all, and you can help
them with their their socialmedia. You're great at social
media. And one
Chuck Bear (50:17):
more thing, if you want to learn more about
buildings and buildingstructures. Rick just hit the
nail on the head. If you're newto real estate and you don't
understand homes and stuff likethat, get with your home
inspectors and go over to ahardware store somewhere, they
have full body suits that youput on, like coveralls that are
(50:38):
disposable or non disposable,and have those in your car, and
you can cover up your niceclothes and everything. And
don't be afraid to go underneaththe house or go with the
inspector and ask the inspectorsquestions, because they really
want to help you as well, andget to learn to build it,
because that's going to help youin the end of gaining more
clients. Yeah,
Rick Ripma (50:57):
it makes, I think it makes a world of difference. And
to get a hold of me, go tohardworking mortgage guy.com
that's hardworking mortgageguy.com or you give me a call at
463-223-9592, I know you'rethinking, How come you can't
remember that number? But Ican't, 463-223-9592, maybe I
can. I'm just afraid I'm gonnasay it wrong and Chuck, thanks
(51:20):
so much for joining me. Iappreciate it. You're an awesome
agent, but it more important tothat you're you're an awesome
person. I You're just a greatperson. I appreciate it.
Chuck Bear (51:28):
Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate doing this with
you. Ranch. NMLS number
Rick Ripma (51:31):
33041, recruitment.
Mmls number 664, 589,
Unknown (51:35):
Arnold NMLS number 1995469,
equal housing opportunity. Somerestrictions apply.
Would it be helpful to learn how to handle two jobs,
two full time jobs at the sametime, especially if you're a
real estate agent. Lot a lot ofnew agents are doing this. Well,
Chuck bear is on my show today,and Chuck has two full time
jobs. He's a full time realestate agent. He's a guru. He's
killing it. He's doing a greatjob, doing lots of, lots of
(00:22):
business, and then he works atLafayette schools, so he has to
drive up to Lafayette. Worksthere all day. And he's able to
somehow do, do huge, hugevolume, throw into that some
health problems that he's hadover the last year or so. And
it's fascinating to hear whatwhat Chuck has to say, and how
(00:43):
he's able to put that alltogether. I think anybody
struggling at all with with timemanagement, trying to figure out
how to do everything, whetheryou have two full time jobs or
just just one, I think, I thinkthis could be very helpful. So
please listen, and please letChuck know that you know your
care. You care about him.
Thanks. Well, Chuck bear, you'vecome out of hibernation. I have
(01:08):
come out of hibernation. You'vebeen you've been off, you've
been on before, but this is yoursecond time on. But it's been a
while, right? It's been a while.
Been a couple years, coupleyears, and a lot of things have
happened in your life sincethen. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (01:20):
we've had a lot of health scares, and I've changed
companies. I'm with exp Realtynow. Started with them in
October of 23 and it's been agreat transition. I really do
enjoy the the atmosphere of EXPand how they offer, what they
offer, to their agents, and it'sbeen, it's been a really good
growth for me to be at exp.
Rick Ripma (01:42):
That's awesome.
That's, you know, it's, it's,it's one of those things that's
just so important that you'rehappy where you're at.
Chuck Bear (01:49):
Yes, I was happy at carpenter. It's just, I think I
outgrew carpenter is a reallygood company to start out with
and to work with. But I justfelt that there's another side
to the industry I wanted tolearn and be a part of. And it's
just been a really goodtransition. Well,
Rick Ripma (02:07):
that's, yeah, that that's awesome. I was trying to
figure out this camera so, soyou, let's, let's talk about the
you've transferred to exp. Whatis it that that you really, you
know, what is really benefitingyou, there for you, beneficial
for you being there.
Chuck Bear (02:25):
The benefit for me, going there is the freedom we
have within you know what we dowith the listings and in the
commissions we're allowed tooffer. The benefit is their
training is really fantastic.
Their communication is verygood. And you know, you have a
big network of other agents thatyou can work with across the
(02:51):
whole country through theirlittle it's similar to Facebook
type of thing. I can't rememberwhat it's called, but you if you
have a question, you have awhole network of over 5000
agents across the country thatyou can communicate with and
talk with and learn more from.
Well,
Rick Ripma (03:11):
I gotta think that there's not much that somebody
in that 5000 network of realestate professional real estate
agents that you can't get ananswer to pretty much anything
you need
Chuck Bear (03:20):
an answer. You get an answer for everything. And,
you know, you just, you're outof all of them, you find the one
that's most common, and you gowith it. You know, sometimes
you're just wanting to know aquestion, just to make sure
you're you know what your yourthought process is in the same
line as everybody else, yeah,
Rick Ripma (03:35):
that's just that seems like a that's a really
cool thing to be able to do ishave that many people who can
who can help you. Now you talkedabout you have you had some
health issues.
Chuck Bear (03:47):
So what's going on?
So 2021 had some breathingproblems, went in, had a CAT
scan done. The CAT scan showedhigh classification of my heart.
And then I spent the bestinvestment money I ever had was
a 4999 heart scan at Hendrixcounty hospital, and they found
that my my calcification wasover 2600 which is extremely
(04:11):
high. Anything over 400 is, youknow, danger zone.
Rick Ripma (04:17):
Yours was 2600 Yeah, it was 400 is danger zone? Yes.
Wow,
Chuck Bear (04:22):
yes. So then I got hooked up with my cardiologist,
and we did a catheter, and wefound we had some pretty big
blockages, and then we tried totreat with medicine, and
medicine didn't really help memuch. Six months later, had
another catheter and had a heartstent put in. And then in July
of 22 I had an emergencysituation happen where I had two
(04:42):
more heart stents put in, andjust it's just been diagnosed
with severe coronary heartdisease and also pulmonary
fibrosis in the lungs.
Rick Ripma (04:51):
Wow. And now, I mean, how you feeling that?
Chuck Bear (04:54):
I feel great. I feel great. The doctors have done a
great job. We got the we got thearteries clear. Weird for now,
and we're keeping a close eye oneverything by doing, you know,
our doctor visits every sixmonths and doing heart scans and
things like that. Andeverything's getting
Rick Ripma (05:12):
better. You know, one of the things that impressed
me about you originally, and itstill does, and now even more,
okay, so here you are. You'redoing a phenomenal job as a real
estate agent. You're you'regoing through health issues, and
you actually have two full timejobs, not only the real estate
(05:32):
agent, but you also work for,
Chuck Bear (05:34):
I work up at Lafayette School Corporation and
facilities department,
Rick Ripma (05:38):
okay, and and so there are so many people I talk
to that's either, either are inin a job, they want to come in,
they want to become a realestate agent, or maybe they are
and they're trying to work twojobs, and they have trouble with
that. So how do you do it?
Chuck Bear (05:57):
Time management. You know, 90% of my clients are my
buyers or sellers my friends.
They want to do most of thebusiness Monday through Friday,
after 5pm and then Saturday andSundays. You know, I'm an empty
nester. My kids are grown.
They're adults now. So we havetwo grandchildren. And you know,
(06:20):
we manage our time. We do. Youknow, I set my time aside for
them, and I upfront and honestwith everyone who I work with.
I'll let them know this is thesituation. If I need to take
care of something, I do havesome freedom where I can take
care of something during thedaytime. Generally, it doesn't
very happen very often. But, youknow, we get things done, and
(06:43):
once you get your templates andeverything put together, then
it's all plug and play, youknow? And it doesn't take as
much time when you haveeverything set up in the orderly
fashions and have everythingdetailed already out so and
everybody gets 100% of my time.
I am. I'm 100% for everyone whoI work with, because I want them
to have the greatest experiencethat they can have. I want them
(07:06):
to be able to say, You knowwhat, we had some hiccups, but
man, did we just go through themso smoothly and didn't really
notice them that much, and wegot things done, and it's all
about the experience for them aswell. So I make sure there's
time allotted for everybody?
Yeah,
Rick Ripma (07:22):
you know, it's, there's, there's always hiccups.
It seems like in real estate,yeah, you know. And it's really
how you react to it, right? Andit sounds like you know exactly
what to do now, time management,so it was one of the things you
do. And if you do, how do you doit? Let your customers know,
your your your, everybody knowwhen you're going to be
(07:46):
available. So do you set thoseexpectations so they know that,
that there's certain times youjust aren't, aren't available.
The very
Chuck Bear (07:52):
first meeting, our very first meeting, I listen to
them, we talk, and I heareverything that their wishes and
wants and don'ts and all that.
And, you know, I make themeeting about them as much as
possible. And then at the veryend, I'll say, now I'm gonna
throw in this little caveat. Ido have a daytime job, and these
are my hours. I am accessible bytext message and phone calls
(08:14):
during those hours if you havequestions, but for meetings and
to go out and look at homesMonday through Friday. It's from
five until respectful time of8pm and then Saturday and
Sunday, as long as we have itset up, I'm open all day. So
those are the expectations. Andreally, everybody's been on
board. I have not lost a clientor customer or buyer or seller
(08:36):
yet from being upfront andhonest with them from the get
go? Yeah,
Rick Ripma (08:42):
and I think that's the key. And one of the reasons
I want to go over that is somany people struggle. Real
estate agents struggle withcontrolling their time at all.
Somebody calls, they run and dowhat they got to do, right? They
drop what they were doing. Youknow? They could have dinner
plans. I'll go a little crazy,dinner plans with the president
United States. And somebodycalls and they say, sorry, I
(09:05):
can't make it, Mr. President, Igotta go show a house, right,
right? Probably wouldn't dothat, but they will drop their
best friends that they've beenhaving. You know, have an
appointment on the books forfour months because a million
dollar possible client just callthem, right? And, and I'm
finding that there are agentslike yourself who are able to
(09:27):
kind of set the expectations,and then people work within
those expectations, and yoursare reasonable expectations.
Yeah,
Chuck Bear (09:35):
yeah. I mean, everybody's got to work. You
know, there's not that manypeople that work, second, third
and fourth shifts that aredemanding. You know, a big
portion of everybody works tonine to five or six to 233,
o'clock, and everybody's prettyunderstanding with all of that.
I do know there's a lot of themore experienced agents out
there saying, You know what, I'mnot working Sundays, no more
(09:57):
that they're actually taking afull day. I. Not to that point,
because I really likeinteracting and working with
people, and it's not like it'severy day, eight hours a day,
but you still have to give thoseexpectations and people, people
understand. They really do, aslong as you're upfront and
honest with them, they reallyunderstand and they go along
(10:18):
with it. Yeah, well,
Rick Ripma (10:19):
I would say that's, that's something about you that
I've learned is you're upfrontand honest with people. Yeah,
I'm
Chuck Bear (10:25):
not afraid to tell people, you know, upfront,
honest. I will tell you this.
The craziest time we had was myfirst I got into the business in
19 and that was right at theheight, or beginning of the
height of the whole, let's hurryup and buy a house and overspend
and things like that. And thatwas kind of tedious, but, you
know, that's what helped me getto the point where I am right
(10:46):
now, with being able to just be,you know, hey, it'll be there.
And if it's not there, believeme, there's gonna be another
house come up, very similar tothat one.
Rick Ripma (10:56):
You know, I think that is very wise advice. I My
son just bought another houseand and both times he bought a
house, I told him the samething, you just there isn't. In
fact, most people I've seen theythey go and they look at a
house, they think, Oh, this isit. And if they don't get it,
(11:18):
they're all depressed andeverything. And then maybe the
second one, and maybe even athird one. And back then, it
might have been nine or 10 ofthem they didn't get right. But
what I found is every single oneof them, when they did get it, I
don't care if it was the secondhouse, the first house, the
second or the 21st they realizedthat was the right house. Yeah,
that the house they ended upwith was the house they actually
(11:40):
wanted.
Chuck Bear (11:41):
Yep, exactly. That's why I try to explain to so many
people who go into these houses,you know, don't go into the
house to buy it just because youthink it's the only time you go
get to buy that house. You'llknow when that house is right.
And it's so much fun for me towatch that when that happens,
because their face lights up.
They try to be cool and not showtheir poker face, but I'm
telling you, when they see thehouse, and their eyes start
(12:03):
getting bigger, and you startseeing the eyebrows raise up,
and, you know, you get the oohlook. And you know that, you
know that's the house for them.
And you really work harder toget them into that home. And you
know, they look at the little,small blemishes, they're like,
You know what? We can fix thatin other homes, when they see
(12:24):
those small blooms, oh no, Idon't like that. But when you
see the same thing there, it'slike, oh, wow, oh, wow. And I
tell everybody, I go, don't lookat the pictures online. Don't
let me look at them. But don'tlook at them. Just browse
through them, because lot ofthem are photoshopped, and some
of them will make the house lookimmaculate and some won't, but
(12:47):
you won't know for sure untilyou're actually in that house,
because then you're seeing itfor live, because pictures are
deceiving. And a lot of peoplesay that to me, I say, oh my
god, the pictures made thisplace look immaculate, or oh my
gosh, the pictures made hisplace look dingy and horrible,
but it's beautiful. So, youknow, you have to go and see the
houses and to see what you'regetting. Yeah.
Rick Ripma (13:08):
And, you know, the pictures I've had, people tell
me, yeah, you go in and thehouse looks so big in the
pictures, yeah, yeah. And itdidn't, it didn't look so big. I
can tell you, I love cars, ifyou can't tell you already knew
that. And and I got a lot of carauctions, and if you bought the
car, I don't understand howpeople can do this. If you
bought the car by just lookingat the pictures, you have no
(13:31):
idea most of the time whatyou're getting none. If you
bought the car from 20 feet awayand never got close to it, you
still have no idea. Right?
Exactly. Exactly same withhouses. Yeah, you got it. You
got to go look at them. You gotto see them. You just, it's just
what you have to do now, Chuck,if somebody is listening, they
go, You know what? I need to buya buy a home, or I need to sell
(13:51):
a home. And Chuck's the guy Iwant to work with. How would
they get a hold of
Chuck Bear (13:56):
you? Just somebody call me or DM me at
317-698-3339, I'm strictly goingby phone number now. It's the
best way to get a hold of me issend me a text or DM at
317-698-3339, but Hey, Rick, Igot a question for you. How do
people get a hold of you? Well,that,
Rick Ripma (14:14):
you know, I'm glad you asked, because the best way
to get a hold of me is go tohardworking mortgage guys.com,
that's hardworking mortgageguys.com, or you can give me a
call. I'm trying to get overthis number, but my problem is I
cannot remember the number I'vegot, you know, I have seven
numbers. Now, how do youremember? It's crazy. Every time
I pick up, you know, I do a CRMso I can keep in touch with
people. And it gets you haveanother number. So I'm trying to
(14:37):
get them condensed, but this oneis 4632239592463, 22239592463,
is a new a new exchange inCarmel. It's actually a caramel
number. So 469, or 6346, see, Idon't know it. 463-223-9592, or
hardworking mortgage guide.com,thanks for asking. Appreciate
it. You're welcome. I It's notsomething I normally. I. You
(15:00):
know, I normally have done andthat that helps. And so we
talked about, you know, you howyour business, you know, you've,
you've made the change. So nowthat you're at exp, and you've
been there a year,
Chuck Bear (15:14):
roughly about eight months, about eight months,
Rick Ripma (15:16):
so now, when you got there, did, did everything just
kind of transfer over? Did youhave to do anything to really
get the business going again?
Oh,
Chuck Bear (15:24):
you have to start over. You have to start over.
New marketing, new everything.
It takes about a month to geteverything going. It was, it
was, man, there's a lot oftransitioning. You have to go
through. It takes about a weekto week and a half to go through
all of the, what's that called,when you onboard? Oh, yeah,
onboarding. It takes a long timeto onboard, especially when
(15:47):
you're not as savvy with thetechnology as I am. I mean, we
didn't grow up with that, youknow. And I just kind of, in my,
in my world, you just had, likea doll system really still, you
know, and now you got all thesefancy things out there to learn,
but onboarding took me a littlebit of time. And then I had a
(16:08):
little bit of the health scaretowards the end of last year,
and I just took that threemonths, two or three months off.
And then I in January, I startedhitting it hard, really jumping
on the social media platform,doing more videos, more more
what I'm going to say messagesonline. You know, I do the bear
(16:29):
joke thing. Still, I What's thebear joke thing? Let
Unknown (16:35):
everybody know, it's a
Chuck Bear (16:37):
once a week. It's the bear chuckle of the week.
And we, I just, I just eitherfind some pictures and put the
bear joke together and do that,or I'll find a funny bear dad
joke and put that on there justto draw attention, draw maybe,
you know, bring a grin to somepeople's chins, bring some
laughter in somebody's heart,and give them a brief moment of
(16:59):
thinking about somethingdifferent.
Rick Ripma (17:00):
Yeah, so I know that you're looking at getting
retiring from your job at theschools at some point here soon.
So you're gonna your second job.
Then going to be a comedian? Areyou gonna be a stand up? Because
you're hilarious. You'reactually you're not showing it
so much today yet, but you are afunny guy. Well, I
Chuck Bear (17:17):
appreciate that. I would like to do that. I'm
obviously not introverted enoughwhere I don't want to get up in
front of people. I'm going tostart off, I would like to do
some speaking gigs and talkabout some motivational things,
and maybe what it takes to, youknow, live in this diverse world
a little bit and never give upon your dreams and your goals. I
(17:39):
like to, you know, go out andspeak. I get to speak to some
high school football players andathletes once in a while, and I
really enjoy doing that. Afriend of mine that I graduated
with, he is a part timecomedian, and I've always told
him I'd love to do it at leastone time. So my wife and I were
going on a cruise, and if theyhave a night where they'll let
people come up on stage, moretwo jokes. I might go up and do
(18:02):
a couple, but no, I know, yeah,I would like to do at least
once.
Rick Ripma (18:07):
Yeah, you know, I can see you doing it, but I, you
know, it's like anything else Idon't. At least for me, the
first time I do it, it is awful.
Yeah, whatever it is I'm doingwhen I the first radio show I
did, I am so glad that at leastanywhere I can find, if not
anywhere anybody can hear it,right? It was horrible, right? I
(18:29):
know some people are listeninggoing, Well, you haven't really
got much better, but it's somuch more comfortable today than
it was then. I didn't I didn'tknow what to do. Didn't know
what to say. I was intimidatedby the mics and all that. Just
like everybody is when theyfirst do this, right? Yep. So
it's a it's just you got, youknow, if you I think probably
(18:50):
what happens to people, I'veheard is they get up there,
whether they bomb or not, it'slike, oh, yeah, this is it.
Yeah, I want to do this. Or it'slike, Nick No, I don't want to
do this ever again. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (19:03):
I think the problem I would have would be with
hecklers. I'm not very good withcoming back on things like that,
but I tell you, I want tocompliment you. You do a great
job with this program, and I'vereally enjoyed watching it grow.
Sorry about that. It's it's funwatching it. And all the other
agents that you have on here,they all do a great job with
you, so you do a great job withthis program.
Rick Ripma (19:23):
Thank you. I think the agents do we've had, you
know, it's one of my beliefs,and I can't say it always has
been my belief, but one of thethings I've learned from the
show and talking to all thethese phenomenal agents like
yourself, is that Indianapolisand maybe, maybe everywhere, but
Indiana is blessed with not justgreat real estate agents, but
(19:46):
these people are like yourself.
You're great people, yeah, and,and it's and everybody I've had
on, I think, to a person, it'snot about the money, not that,
not that. I mean, let's face it,every, every. Anybody knows
you're doing, you need to earn aliving, right? But in fact, I'll
say everybody, when it comesdown to it, if there's an issue
(20:07):
and it's between me making themmaking their commission, or them
not making the commission, buttaking care of their customer,
they choose taking care of theircustomer. Yeah, and I don't
think that's the reputationthat's out there, but I think
that's the truth. And I think Iknow for myself, I get very, you
know, I put my guards up when Iwhen I'm in a situation where I
(20:30):
don't know somebody that well,or I'm in, you know, I'm buying
something, but a real estateagent is is different. And if
you get the right one, andthere's there's like yourself,
they get somebody like you,you're always going to watch out
for them, because that's who youare, and that's how you built
your business. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (20:50):
exactly right. Being genuine, being genuine, and just
being being a person who lovespeople and making sure people
are not being taken advantageof. I really love helping first
time homebuyers, because they'recoming in, they're so green,
and, you know, most of them arescared, because they know
they're going to spend 200 300$400,000 on an investment that
(21:12):
they don't know if they're goingto make their money back or even
make some money off of it yearsdown the road. And it's just so
fun going through that wholeprocess with first time
homebuyers and helping them withunderstanding how the loan
process goes and getting preapproved. And that's the main
thing that a lot of peoplereally need to get understood,
is you have to get yourself preapproved, even almost to
(21:35):
underwriter pre approval, andknow what your budget is, and
not get yourself house poor, youdon't that's why I see a lot of
people doing in not evenrealizing they're doing it and
getting themselves house poor.
And I do everything I can tokeep that from happening to
them, because I want them toenjoy their home. Yeah, you
know, I want them enjoy whatthey have. I want them able to
(21:56):
go out to dinner, whether it'swhite castle or Ruth Chris, you
know, go out to dinner. Yeah,you know, yeah,
Rick Ripma (22:04):
I obviously pre approval is really, obviously
important to me, because it'swhat we do and what you said. I
agree 1,000% not only a preapproval, but give us time to
get it underwritten. And whywould they want it underwritten?
(22:26):
Because when you can tell thembetter than I, but when it's
underwritten, they they are nolonger they can close quicker.
Yeah, the the seller knows thatthere's very little that can get
in the way the appraisal. Ifthere's an appraisal required,
the purchase agreement, if it'snot up to snuff, which it always
(22:46):
is, so that's never really anissue, and the title work,
right? Yep, other than in theinspection, yep. But in our end,
that's the inspection isn't partof what we do. So when, when you
have a fully underwritten, whatwe'd call a conditional approval
from an underwriter. How doesthat? How does that help? When
you're making offers,
Chuck Bear (23:06):
it gives you a lot more strength over someone who
just has a general pre approval.
It gives you a lot of strengthbecause, like you just
mentioned, the other agent says,Wow, all they need is an
address. We give them theaddress and then we just wait
for title to come back withanything, and we're pretty much
75% done. Instead of waitingfor, oh, man, are they going to
find out that they had a debtissue 10 years ago? Are they
(23:32):
going to find out that maybetheir debt to income ratio isn't
where it should be, type ofthing, and it just gives the
seller side confidence that thistransaction is going to go
through smoothly and we're goingto get everybody to the closing
table. It's just a confidencething for everybody on board.
Yeah,
Rick Ripma (23:54):
I agree, obviously.
And the other thing I think thatpeople have to understand. And
when I said, you can't, you knowyou want to give us time, one of
the things that I think that alot of people make an error on
is I get a call at two o'clockon a Saturday afternoon. I've
never talked to them. They founda house they want to buy and
(24:16):
they want a pre approval letter.
And for some people, that'sfine, okay? I mean, you pull
their credit, you look ateverything, everything's
perfect. There is no you know,okay, we can do that. But if
there's anything in there,especially a first time
homebuyer, that's usually thatthey need a little more time, or
(24:36):
a self employed borrower, or ifthere's any issues, let's say
your credit's frozen. If yourcredit's frozen, I can't pull it
right, okay, I can't give you apre approval of your credit's
frozen. And when you go tounfreeze your credit, it doesn't
always unfreeze it the secondyou do it, it takes. It can take
some time. So it's, it's one ofthose things that's extremely in
(24:57):
my book, important. And I wouldsay, give. Give a lender a week,
or a little a little littlemore, possibly, depending on, on
the on the volume, so that theycan get it underwritten, yeah,
so that they have that time,
Chuck Bear (25:13):
just the minute I really, I really help try to get
them to understand the minutethat you're thinking about
buying the house, get it done,because it's not going they're
not going to draw too much awayfrom your credit score. And at
least you have an idea what'sgoing on with all of that. I had
a thought a minute ago, and Iwish I could remember what it
was, because it was I was goingto ask you a question, what your
(25:35):
opinion was on something, andI'll remember here in a minute.
But
Rick Ripma (25:39):
it's the problem with getting older, it is just
one of the many it
Chuck Bear (25:44):
is. So, you know, you hit the nail on the head.
It's really hard for people toget a pretty much when someone
calls you at two o'clock in theafternoon, all you're able to
give them, really, is a prequalification, that's right, you
know. And it's not really a truepre approval. You know, that's
why people understand, you gotyour pre call, you got your pre
(26:06):
approval, and you got yourunderwritten, conditional,
conditional approval, and that'sthe one that you need to get. I
mean, it gives you so muchstrength, so much strength,
yeah, but you know, and like youYou know, there's good lenders
out there that will bend overbackwards for everybody and do
what they can because they're inthe same situation. They love
(26:27):
people, they want to help peopleachieve their goals and dreams.
And you know, you guys have beenover backwards for these people,
even on Sundays, when you'rejust walking out of church, you
get that text message fromsomeone in a frantic deal. It's,
oh my gosh, you know, and youknow, we're not in 2021 22 right
now, right? We do have time,right? And if it's just, it's
(26:48):
just being good to people,that's what's about. Yeah,
Rick Ripma (26:52):
it's just better if they met, if they they plan, I
think what happens. And you, youwork with them directly. So you,
I'm just as I'm kind of high,I'm guessing. But you can tell
me if I'm right or wrong. Ithink people think I'm going to
go look at houses, but I'm notgoing to find anything. So I'm
not going to go ahead and talkto the lender, and I'm not going
to get pre approved. I'm goingto go look and see if there's
anything out there. And thenthey walk into a house, and just
(27:13):
what you said there, you cantell this is the house, yeah.
And now all of a sudden, oh my,I want to make an offer, but
they aren't. They didn't getprepared to make an offer and
and now today we we pull. It's asoft pull, okay, the first poll
is a soft pull. It's not goingto affect your credit score. And
(27:35):
we'll do a we'll do a hard pulllater on. Now a hard pull is
better because there are thingsthat don't show up in a
softball. Yeah, all right, thatyou just have to understand soft
pull is not going to be as goodas a hard pull, and the hard
pull only hits your credit scorethree to five points. Now that's
no big deal if you're if you'rein the higher level of credit
(27:55):
score, meaning that every 20points so it's basically starts
at, we'll say 626 20 to 639,then 640 to 649, then 650, to
679, right? So you can kind ofsee how that I'm sorry, 660 to
679, I can't, I can't counttoday, but it's every 20 points,
starting at at 620 so if you're,if you were at 639 a poll is not
(28:21):
going to hurt you any, right? Ifyou're at six 921 it's not going
to hurt you on that poll.
Because you're going to be at621 it's going to hurt you on
the next poll. Yeah, okay, youdon't want to have to have pull
a second time. Now, you can pullwith another lender within a
certain amount of time, but youknow, it's just one of those
things, and we're beating thatto death. I just, I just, I
just, it's very important to me,and I Sorry, sorry. I get unto
(28:42):
it. I get it's kind of likecars. I can't stop talking about
them when I get going. So Iapologize. So what? What would
you, you know, if somebody's outthere listening and they say,
you know, why? Why should theynumber one? Why should they work
with Chuck, and how do they geta hold of Chuck?
Chuck Bear (29:04):
Well, they should get a hold of Chuck because
Chuck cares, and I care a lotabout people, and I'm going to
give them the best that I cangive them at all times. I do
have an extensive backgroundwith construction, with
building, maintenance, home,maintenance home. I understand
the homes and what, especiallynow, with my experience that
I've had, I understand whatinspectors are going to look
(29:26):
for. I have the knowledge ofthat I especially if it's FHA, I
know exactly what FHA is goingto ask them for, and I can help
them understand what's going tohappen. So with my with my
knowledge and my background, Ihave a pretty good experience.
Be able to help them to get ahold of me, give me a phone call
or DM me at 317-698-3339, that'sthe best way to get a hold of me
(29:49):
is either text DM or call.
317-698-3339, but when someone'swanting to get their pre
approval or even talk abouttheir options of. Of being able
to get a loan. Well, how shouldI get hold of you? Rick, well,
thank
Rick Ripma (30:03):
you for asking. And the best way to get a hold of me
is go to hardworking mortgageguy.com. That's hardworking
mortgage guy.com. But of course,if it's on a Saturday at two
o'clock and you need, you needto talk to me. You can give me a
call, and I'm gonna have to lookup my numbers, 463, I remember
that part, 463-223-9592, that's463-223-9592, you can call or
(30:26):
text that number. And one thingabout the weekend for me is, if
you're, if you're contactingabout the weekend or after
hours, I'll get back with you asquickly as I can. But as you
know, if you're, if you're doingsomething, you can always get
back right away. Sometimes, youknow, I even try to bring my
computer to almost everything Ido, but sometimes I just don't,
I just don't have it right,right? And so I need, you know,
(30:49):
it may take me a little bit alittle bit longer just be
patient, because I'm going toget it, I'm going to take care
of you, and I'll get you what Iwhat I can, but it's best to not
do it on Saturday at twoo'clock, do it that Monday
beforehand, so we can get itdone correctly. And everything's
great. So I'll get off my highhorse just one of those things.
(31:13):
So what is one strategy that youuse that a lot of other real
estate agents don't use
Chuck Bear (31:22):
I do a lot of social media. I'm getting more and more
into doing reels and shorts onYouTube, Tiktok, Facebook,
Instagram. I'm even jumping overto Pinterest and doing things on
Pinterest. I've been listeningto a lot of Gary Vee and a lot
of Dustin Brahm and, you know,other agents, Simon Sinek. And
(31:48):
just learning from those who aresuccessful, especially Gary Vee,
he's got a lot of good points onsocial media. And getting out
there, I told when I hired inCarpenter, I told them, I say, I
won't focus on social media. Idon't like doing the whole cold
calling. I'd rather just get infront of people. And then I hear
(32:10):
everybody say, Well, I don'tlike doing cameras. I don't feel
comfortable doing cameras. And Iasked my how you got doing open
houses, like, Well, those areokay I go. But wasn't you
nervous the very first time youdid it, and the second time and
the third time goes well, youhave, how many have you done
now? Well, quite a bit. How youfeeling now? Well, I'm very
comfortable. That's the samething with doing videos and
(32:31):
doing this. I mean, you eventouched on that a little bit
earlier, right? When you didyour first one, you just thought
it was horrific. Now, you'reawesome. I mean, you're doing a
great job, and it's just you'rewe're comfortable with it,
right? It's like anything else.
The more you do it, the morecomfortable you get, and more
fun you start, you start gettinggoofy. You start having some fun
with us, telling them dumb dadjokes or, you know, making up
words and just having a greattime. So make it fun. Do social
(32:53):
media. I do videos. I'm notdoing as many as I want to, but
I'm getting to that point. Myopen houses, I try to keep them
fun, keep them enlightened. Idon't do anything extravagant,
Adam, but I try to keep it agood experience for people
coming in. So those are twothings I focus on. I know you
asked me about one, but openhouses and doing videos well,
Rick Ripma (33:15):
and I think that's awesome. And I was wanted to
touch on your social media, butbefore we do that. And I'm kind
of putting you on your spothere, so you may say, Listen, I
don't gotta do that right now.
But can you tell us either adumb dad joke or any joke? Do
you have anything in yourrepertoire that you can just
because people need to know howgood you are at it, you're
you're how funny are? Yeah,
Chuck Bear (33:38):
I'll give you one.
So I went, I went out to see Mr.
Farmer last week. He wanted tosell off some of his ground. He
had 20 acres. He just wanted toget out. He wasn't doing no
good. And we're sitting therelooking at his cows, and I asked
him, I go, how come we got bellson those cows? And he looks at
me square in the face as serioushe could go. He goes, sir,
(34:00):
that's because their horns don'twork. So there's your bear
shuffle of the day.
Rick Ripma (34:06):
But that's pretty good. I gotta say that's, that's
pretty good. You know, you knowwhat my probably me telling
jokes is, I get all the way tothe punchline. I can't I forget
it. And, no, that's not funny.
Chuck Bear (34:17):
Yeah, it is. It is, really, I do the same thing. And
I thought, you already screwthat one up. I nailed it. So
nailed it,
Rick Ripma (34:25):
yeah, you nailed it, yeah. I know I heard on, I think
it was on Bob and Tom. I heardhim tell a joke. It was for
Halloween, and it was ascarecrow walked in, walked into
a bar, and he said, Give me,give me a beer and a mop. Now, I
think that's hilarious.
Everybody I tell it to looks atme like you did.
Chuck Bear (34:47):
That's funny. I think it's hilarious. That is
hilarious. I
Rick Ripma (34:50):
mean, I get it right, makes total sense to me.
So social media one of thethings you touched on social
media, but you really do some.
Unique things on social media.
Chuck Bear (35:03):
I do, I am I'll do some scenarios like I'm talking
on the phone to another agent,and what I'm trying to do is
educate. And I do, I did acouple about the debt to income
ratio, how we were getting readyto close, and this, and most of
these are really things thathave happened. Was here to go
(35:23):
close. We had a closing in 24hours, and got a phone call from
the agent said, hey, they justlost their debt to income ratio.
And I'll let you explain whatthat means here. Okay, and so
I'm like, crap. What we do? It'slike, well, it's not gonna get
cleaned up, because he reallydid something bad and he went
out, or this particular buyer,went out and purchased a new car
(35:47):
and some and some furniture forthe house, and it just knocked
him below his debt to incomeratio. So I do them on that, and
sometimes I'll do them on homeinspections. And, you know, try
and make them, some of them fun,some of them not so much fun.
And then I'll do, I got oneseries I'm doing now where I'm
going to my grandson's baseballgames, and it's called spitting
(36:10):
seeds through a fence. And I'mtrying out different sunflower
seeds, and I'll promote thatsunflower seed. And we're
spitting seeds through a fenceat the ball games, you know. And
a lot of travel parents knowwhat that means, and it's fun.
And I do, I do some with someother agents, so I try to keep a
variety and keep them fun. Andsome of them are informational,
(36:31):
yeah.
Rick Ripma (36:32):
Well, I remember, I remember several, but the one I
one of my remember is you didone, and you were at your car,
and you, you were gonna givesomething for the first 20
people who posted at your carwith the sign that you had in
the back of the car, that Ithought that was, you know, a
(36:53):
really brilliant way. Yeah,
Chuck Bear (36:56):
I am. I was promoting, uh, Hoosier, Hoosier
coffee, which was it is aveterans own coffee company out
of Brownsburg, okay? And I knowthere's the guys who own that.
They are veterans. They allserved over in Iraq and
Afghanistan during all the warsthat we've been over there from
91 until today. And they startedup Hoosier coffee. It is a it's
(37:22):
just two veterans that startedup out of Brownsburg, and their
coffee is really good. And I waslike, well, I won't help you
guys out, and I will try to getpeople come. And we had a couple
people show up. It was prettygood. I gained a couple good
friends out of that, and Ihelped a couple people buy some
homes from doing that. And itwas productive. It was fun doing
it. I had a lot of peoplestopping and talking and stuff
(37:42):
like that, but
Rick Ripma (37:44):
I know how you are.
It's really not about yougetting customers out of it. You
cared about the veterans andpromoting their business so that
they you're helping them succeed100% Yeah, it's what I try to
do, and this in the podcast isI'm just trying to help others
succeed. And I think it'simportant that clients hear
great people that they can thenwork with.
Chuck Bear (38:06):
Yes, I, you know, the veterans, I got a special
place in my heart for veterans.
And you know, I was honoredenough to get to do the honor
flight with a good friend ofmine who was in a Vietnam era,
okay, and we got to go out toWashington, DC for the day and
come back home. Yeah, the HonorFlight is just something
special. And I know we weren'tplanning on discussing this, but
we brought the veterans up. Theveterans are very special to me.
(38:27):
You know, for anyone to give uptheir their their lives, for me
to be able to do a podcast withRick rip is very, you know, I
can't, can't think the familiesenough and and pray for them
enough to go through all ofthat.
Rick Ripma (38:50):
Yeah, it, it's one of the things I think that that
you have is your, there's a lot,but you're, you're grateful. I
think that's an extremelyimportant piece of somebody, to
be grateful for what they have,and to realize it's, you know,
none of us are where we arebecause of only us.
Chuck Bear (39:14):
No Right? No. We got to have, we got to have help get
where we're going. Got to
Rick Ripma (39:18):
and some of them, we didn't. We never met the person
who who went to war for us. No,right? Most of the time, no. So
Chuck Bear (39:27):
you know the, and I don't want to get on a tangent
with this, but the Vietnam vetsare the ones that really have my
heart. I have family membersthat went to Vietnam, and I
watched their lives as I wasgrowing up, and what they was
going through. And, you know,every time I meet someone who
served her in Vietnam, I alwayswelcome them home, and I get
(39:47):
some funny Felix on that, andI'm like, You never got that
before, and I want you to knowI'm I'm glad you're here. I'm
glad you made it home, and I'mthankful for everything that you
did in a conflict that reallywasn't ours, but you. Over, and
you did what you could to makesure that we were safe and that
we had our freedoms, and otherpeople could have freedoms. And
you know, for that, Sir, I wantto make sure, ma'am, that you're
(40:10):
you're thanked, and that youknow that we're not, at least
you're welcomed home. Yeah. Soyeah. Now, do you work with a
lot of veterans? And yes, I do,yeah, I do. I do help several,
probably about 30, 35% of my ofmy bases with veterans. So, you
know, sometimes you get to hearthe fun stories, and sometimes
(40:32):
you get to hear that so funstories, right? But, yeah, I
really enjoy helping them andhelp them get through their FA
or their VA loans, when you knowit's just VA loans are
interesting. Yeah, you know, butyou know, I'm glad. I'm glad we
have that to offer to them. AndI'm, I'm excited. I always get
excited when they tell methey're a veteran, and it just
(40:54):
means a lot. Yeah,
Rick Ripma (40:56):
yeah. I think on the on the VA loans, my, my problem
with the VA loan is, is it makesit hard for the veteran to get
an app, to get a offer, youknow, accepted and and they
need, you know, I know they'retrying to protect their veteran,
but you're keeping them frombeing able to get a house,
(41:19):
especially in the market we'vebeen in, if somebody gets five
offers, and one of them is VA,from what I've seen, they don't
even consider the VA offer.
Chuck Bear (41:29):
Yeah, that's a shame. That's a travesty.
Rick Ripma (41:32):
It is a travesty.
It's it is absolutely Iunderstand why somebody would do
that. I wish it wasn't that way.
And I wish VA would change it sothey didn't put the veteran and
put the person in that thatshape, because most of them,
they would like to take the VAloan. They are the VA, but they
can't have the they don't feellike they can accept the risk of
(41:57):
that loan not closing because ofthe requirements VA has,
Chuck Bear (41:59):
right? And you know that's that's really sad, but I
understand as well. Mom willgive you a happy story on this.
Okay, last year, I had a client,I had a buyer, and they had a
good offer, and we were going,we put this good offer in on a
home, and the Miss seller was aveteran himself and our offer
(42:23):
was higher than the other offer,and the seller declined our
offer and took the other offerbecause it was a VA loan. So I
had no problem with that. I hadno problem with that at all,
because, you know, he and hetook, he took care of the VA, he
(42:44):
understood what was going tohappen. And I think every agent,
and we're supposed to, by law,but they have to show him and
explain to the seller, right,what's going on. And Mel, when,
when the agent called, said,look, it's a VA loan. And this
guy's a VA, you know, he's aveteran, and he wants to help
out his brother. I was like, Igot no problem with that. And we
(43:07):
went the next day and put anoffer on a house, and they got
it again. There's houses outthere, and we'll find a home,
Yep, yeah.
Rick Ripma (43:14):
And that that's, that is absolutely a fact.
There's plenty of houses outthere, and you will find one.
Just keep, you know, you justhave to keep at it. But we had,
I had a customer who actuallycalled in from one of the
podcasts and and she was aveteran, and she was, she was
(43:34):
60, mid 60s, never owned a homebefore. Oh, wow. Didn't think
she could lived in a trailer.
The trailer didn't have hotwater running, and we qualified
her, and she was able to go geta house. And it's, it's like,
that's, that's so fulfilling,you know? It's really, you just,
it's like, I'll do that all daylong for nothing. You know, I
don't that's, there's nothingabout what you're going to earn
(43:57):
or anything else you just wantto take care of that person.
They
Chuck Bear (44:01):
deserve it. Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's why.
That's one reason why I got intoreal estate is because I wanted
to be that one that people couldbelieve that is not out there to
just worry about the commission,yeah, that they're going to do
what they can do to help getthem into that house. I can't
tell you how many times I wentand actually done the repair
work to help get the thingprocessed through. And I work
(44:23):
hand in hand with the sellers orthe buyers agents, and let them
know my background, and they getcomfortable with it, and they go
see the work and like, holycrap. That's better than what we
want to hire someone else. So Igo, that's because I care and I
want, I want these people toenjoy this home buyer or seller,
and that's, that's one thing Italked to the other agents
(44:43):
about. So okay, we got thenegotiation down. Now you and I,
I don't care that we're ondifferent brokerages. We're a
team now, and we need to worktogether on getting this to the
closing table to help yoursellers to be able to get a new
chapter in life. And for my forthe buyers, just get in. Home
that they deserve and start anew chapter in their lives. And
(45:03):
that's our goal, is to helpthose two make it to the end.
Rick Ripma (45:07):
Yeah, and that's, that's, it's just one of those
things that we're all in itonce, once you have a purchase
agreement, it's your lenders init, right? Both agents are in
it, title companies in it.
Everybody involved that it'severybody involved is now part
of that deal. And you see,again, you're grateful, you're
appreciative, you you get that.
(45:30):
And that's, I think that's athat's a big deal. You know?
What would you say? Maybe thegolden rule of negotiating,
because negotiating is a bigdeal and it can be kind of
confrontational. Well, is thereany golden rule you have with
negotiating?
Chuck Bear (45:50):
No, just keep it clean and keep it factual. You
know, usually my I haven'treally had a tough negotiation
yet. I know that kind of seemsweird, but, you know, I let the
buyer or the seller who I'mrepresenting understand they're
going to come in with thisoffer. It's going to seem kind
(46:10):
of below, but you know, they gotto start somewhere, and you got
to start somewhere, so we justgot to find that happy ground of
where everything's at. Andgenerally, I have not had
anybody thrown back. Well, thishouse is the, oh, you know what?
I did have that happen. I had alisting that we went like, just
closed this week. The lady livesin the neighborhood. She was
(46:33):
buying it for her, she's gonnalet her mom live in her house.
And they offered quite a bitlower and then she was
nitpicking the house. And, youknow, the house just got on the
market, and I just said, simply,I said, Look, we're new. We're
just now in the market today,and other houses in this
neighborhood are going for thesame amount, and they try to
(46:54):
throw out. Well, those houseshave this, this, this. I was
like, this house only has onesmall defect on it. You know,
you're talking cabinets. Theycan change cabinets out. They're
gonna live in it for years. Thisneighborhood's value raises
every year. I go, No, we'regonna hold off. And the very
next day, we got a full priceoffer. So it's just about being
(47:15):
patient and explaining to theother agents in a respectful way
that this is why we're offeringit this way. This is why we have
it. And, you know, thenegotiations, if I think I'm
coming in low when I'm offeringI will go find comps and send
those comps and say this iswhere we're getting our value
at, and show it that way, thatway. They don't think I'm just
(47:37):
coming in a low ball for noreason, right?
Rick Ripma (47:39):
Yeah, and that's that's important, because you
got to be on the same pagecommunications, obviously very
important to you too. You makesure you communicate real quick,
because we're running out oftime. But I wanted to say, I
think one of the big, one of thethings that really helps and
sets you apart is your knowledgeof construction and and
(48:01):
maintenance and all that. Itjust matters to somebody,
because most of us don't havethat right? And I think my my
niece, is a real estate agent inNorth Carolina, and she, and
she's, she said she didn't knowanything about it, so she had
guys take her, you know, theshe'd go out in the inspectors,
and they would show her, youknow, they, she not. This is not
this is not something I woulddo. You probably would do this,
(48:22):
but I'm not crawling in thecrawl space. I've done it
before. I never want to go backin another crawl space. But she
crawled in the crawl spaces,right? Because she wanted to
learn, yeah, and that's, that's,you don't have to, you can't
you're gonna crawl because youknow, you know what you're
looking at. I would have noidea. So what good is it for me
to get in the crawl spaceanyway, right? That's my excuse
right there, right? But ifsomebody wants to get a hold of
(48:44):
you, and they want to work withChuck, they want to buy, sell,
just talk maybe. Are you hiringpeople, any, anything like that?
Are you? Are you? Are youbuilding a team? No,
Chuck Bear (48:55):
I'm not building a team right now. But I do want to
promote exp. I do want to try tobring on some more client agents
over to exp, if you got anyquestions about why I moved over
and from carpenter over. Exp,I'd be more than happy to sit
down with you and go over that.
I do have the spreadsheets onwhy I did that and why it's a
better fit for me and how itcould be a better fit for you, I
(49:19):
would love to help other agentslearn more about exp so they can
make a decision on their own.
There's so many people out therethat bash other companies. I
don't understand why they do,but you know, if you want to
learn more about exp, pleasegive me a call at 317-698-3339,
(49:40):
or text me and I'd be more thanhappy to go over why I went EXP
and how it could benefit youover their exp. And you know,
exp is not like for everybody,just like all the other
companies around are not foreverybody. You have to find your
fit and what you what you loveto do and who you would like to
work with. But, yeah. Feel freeto give me a call. 317-698-3339,
(50:04):
and I'll be more than happy towork with you on learning more
about exp awesome,
Rick Ripma (50:10):
or to buy a house or something, or buy a house or
sell your house. Yeah, at all. Ican do it all, and you can help
them with their their socialmedia. You're great at social
media. And one
Chuck Bear (50:17):
more thing, if you want to learn more about
buildings and buildingstructures. Rick just hit the
nail on the head. If you're newto real estate and you don't
understand homes and stuff likethat, get with your home
inspectors and go over to ahardware store somewhere, they
have full body suits that youput on, like coveralls that are
(50:38):
disposable or non disposable,and have those in your car, and
you can cover up your niceclothes and everything. And
don't be afraid to go underneaththe house or go with the
inspector and ask the inspectorsquestions, because they really
want to help you as well, andget to learn to build it,
because that's going to help youin the end of gaining more
clients. Yeah,
Rick Ripma (50:57):
it makes, I think it makes a world of difference. And
to get a hold of me, go tohardworking mortgage guy.com
that's hardworking mortgageguy.com or you give me a call at
463-223-9592, I know you'rethinking, How come you can't
remember that number? But Ican't, 463-223-9592, maybe I
can. I'm just afraid I'm gonnasay it wrong and Chuck, thanks
(51:20):
so much for joining me. Iappreciate it. You're an awesome
agent, but it more important tothat you're you're an awesome
person. I You're just a greatperson. I appreciate it.
Chuck Bear (51:28):
Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate doing this with
you. Ranch. NMLS number
Rick Ripma (51:31):
33041, recruitment.
Mmls number 664, 589,
Unknown (51:35):
Arnold NMLS number 1995469,
equal housing opportunity. Somerestrictions apply.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.