Steve McCarthy spitting fire! The competition in Sacramento is unforgiving!

The competition is so different than in the past!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I love that moving with the

(00:22):
Moreno. What's up? All right.
How are you? I'm good, brother.
I'm good.
I'm just been jampacked busy this
week. It's been wonderful.

(00:44):
We've been just attacking these
buyers and taking them to every
single place that they want to go
and it's been fun.
What are you doing?
I'm just going to get a little
bit of a pickup across the board
really.

(01:07):
I was talking to you one night
about it.
We're having a strategy session.
I've noticed a lot of the people
that are starting to come back
into the fray are people that got
beat up real bad two years ago
and are just talking about,
I think I can actually compete

(01:30):
and buy a house now.
Fantastic.
Cool, man.
Are you guys working Sacramento
much?
Yeah, we just sold a half-plex
out there.
That was a listing, but we're
really just taking clients all

(01:55):
over the place.
We were just going to go
to the store and the day before
yesterday.
Yesterday was a listing appointment
with two showings afterwards.
Monday we were somewhere else,
but we're all over the place.
It's just really wherever our

(02:17):
clients need us to take them and
get them access and representation.
We're trying to travel around.
Our Sacramento buyers are fighting
for houses right now.
It is brutal over there.
Yeah, you know, what's crazy is
Sacramento used to be so much

(02:40):
more expensive.
Do you remember that?
Sacramento being just like people
from U-B-City are like, man,
I'm going to buy a house.
I noticed a lot of the places,
like it's almost bridged the gap
to where Sacramento is not more

(03:03):
expensive at all.
I really noticed it at the million
mark.
If you're going to buy a home in
U-B-City for a million plus,
you almost get more home in
Sacramento.
It's crazy.
A lot of changes happening.
I'm not sure if you can see
that.
I was a real estate agent before

(03:25):
COVID, just as you were.
I do remember the market being
sort of similar, but nothing
like this.
There's just some quality to this
market where it's like, now we're
dipping back into a low inventory
situation, and we have a ton of

(03:46):
buyers that we're communicating
with.
I'm not as into it as at Lens
or, but I have a lot of investors
that I deal with, and they're
coming out of the woodwork, too.
That's where I see all the cash
coming, whereas a year or two
ago, all the cash is coming from
the Bay Area buying this normal
houses.
It's almost back to a normalized

(04:08):
market where investors are fighting
for their money.
I'm not sure if you can see that
in the market, but I think it's
a market where investors are
fighting each other with cash,
and then the competition on the
buyer side is really people,

(04:29):
what loan is going to get it done.
Right?
And in a multiple offer situation,
it's no longer like, oh, here's
this 115,000 over asking cash.
We're not going to be able to
buy this commercial or buy this

(04:50):
V.A.
Let's get net sheets and figure
out what the best is for our
seller.
Right?
And so to me, the competition is
kind of normalized in that
respect.
Have you noticed some of that?
Yeah, I guess so, man.
We are, like, right now, just
now I was saying, hey, they're
cool with waving the contingencies.

(05:14):
We're waving contingencies.
We're doing all that.
In U of C, we're seeing both.
You know, we're able to get some
credits done sometimes.
Yeah.
And it's just different.
It's been kind of fun to
navigate through.
It's a lot more fun to be able
to talk about a $12,000 seller's

(05:35):
credit going towards some closing
costs.
And I think we're going to be
able to do that.
Yeah.
So, I think we have a lot of
dreams planned at all.
Everybody was talking about,
do you have any buyers in that?
Yeah.
We had a couple try, but it was
gone so fast that if you weren't
in escrow, you weren't getting

(05:57):
through.
So, you know, we had to come up
with some different strategies
for those buyers, but we still
have them buying, just, you know,
the price of some of those
things.
We had a lot of people
buying them for a few weeks.
Yeah.

(06:19):
Yeah.
It cost a frenzy, didn't it?
Yeah.
Everyone jumping in for 20% down.
No mortgage insurance.
There is pros and cons out
loan.
I'm not too sure how I feel about
it, but, you know, pretty cool
stuff.
I think it's a good idea to

(06:41):
share your thoughts on that.
I think it's a good idea to share
the same high-band part.
How did you get 400 people?
Wine?
How did you get 400 people?
Wine?
What did you do?
Email marketing, man.
Everybody heard about us online.
And, you know, some of it was
that they had a blast last year.

(07:02):
And so, they're like, okay, the
last year was kind of a headache
because it was like about to rain.
It was that your new car?
I don't know.
It says, it's a car and it says
Happy Easter, and I didn't know
it was back there.
We have, my granddaughter was here.

(07:24):
She might still be here.
So, I'm going to shoot you from
home today.
Right.
I think we had a good turnout.
We had vendors back out and stuff.
So, we had less vendors last year.
But this year, I mean, we had a

(07:46):
good turnout.
I want to say like 12, 13 vendors
and, you know, hundreds of people
and just, it was a great time.
Fantastic.
Kids had a good time, got loaded
up with eggs and right on.
And we just like doing something
nice for the community.

(08:07):
Yeah, I think it's very cool
what you guys are doing out there.
So, you're going to do that
annually.
Do you have any other events
you guys are tossing around?
Yeah, so we do that annually,
and then we do the county fair.
We have a booth there.
Yeah.
And I mean, that's probably our
best lead source right now, bro.
Like, every single year that we
do the fair, we get, I mean,

(08:32):
we get to just follow up on them
and get them into whatever they
need throughout the year.
But it's fun because you get to
see the whole community.
Like everybody comes by your
booths and says hi.
You know, even if they don't want
our services, you know,
obviously real estate agents,
I mean, we're pretty talkative
people.

(08:53):
So, folks like to stop buying,
just pick our brains and get to
know us.
And it's a wonderful way to kind
of get to know us.
And I'll tell you that we're
not just doing public stuff.
And people want to know what
the heck is going on?
Are the prices up, are the down?

(09:14):
Up is interest down?
Yeah.
And there's been a ton of
miscommunication going around.
And I've been talking a lot about
this.
I've been talking a lot about,
you know, one, what I've been
or texting and emailing customers on my behalf,

(09:34):
but I wasn't calling them.
And now I've been calling my database every single day
and just having conversations, trying to bring value,
instead of, hey, I wanna sell your house.
It's a, you know, you have any market related questions
that I can answer for you today?

(09:56):
I had a guy tell me that he thought the interest rates
were at like 9%.
Yeah.
I was like, where did you get that information?
He was like, oh, Facebook and Google, you know,
just the internet in general.
And from watching the news, I said,
well, I have good news for you today.
They're not at 9%.
You know, last, at the time of this conversation

(10:19):
that I had, interest rates were locking in with my lender
at like the low sixes.
And he was like, oh, that's a lot better.
I was like, yeah, the market's not as bad
as you think it is, you know?
Big difference, right?
Big difference, you know?
But we always talk about too, you know, you,

(10:40):
what, you purchase the house and date the rate, you know,
interest rates are gonna go up and down, up and down,
but, you know, it's about doing the right thing,
making the right decision, the right time for you to buy.
Yeah, there's something overlooked too,
in the fact that like, when I bought my first house
at 6.75, and the house was, the prices were ridiculous.

(11:02):
I bought my house for 66 grand.
And it was hard for me to make the $660 mortgage payment
or whatever it is, but people overlooked the power
of what happens over the years.
That same house today, it rent for $2,000 a month.
Right.
You know, had I stayed there renting,
I would have absorbed all that and have,

(11:23):
if I still own that house, which I don't anymore,
my payment would still be 60.
Right.
You know, it's just hard at first to say, you know,
I'm gonna pay a little more than rent possibly,
interest rates are high or low,
and you're taking advice from everybody,
but the end of the day, you got on some property.
You gotta have some assets.
Yeah, I mean, you have to own something

(11:45):
that's going to appreciate and value.
And at the end of the day,
property's the only way to go.
I mean, you can play with the stock market.
And I know a lot of people do, I personally don't.
I mean, we have EXP stock,
and that's probably something I'm gonna be changing

(12:05):
about our investment strategy over the next five years,
diversifying a little bit more.
But property, that's what I wanna own.
Yeah.
And right now the rental market is so hot.
Like it makes it so easy to get someone, you know,

(12:26):
convinced that they need to step into a 30 year mortgage
and start building their equity
instead of flushing it down the toilet.
I mean, I talked to a guy that was paying,
it was like $3,700 a month in rent in Yuba City for a house.
And I was like, bro, simple, we're done.

(12:49):
We'll get you in touch with the lender.
You make enough money, I guarantee you,
let's just get this ball rolling.
And we're gonna get him into a house to where he's-
The fourth side of that though, Matt,
is if his rent never goes up in 10 years,
that $3,700 will be a steal.
Yeah, and how much is, at that point, you know,

(13:14):
10 years, I mean, close to 300 grand a day, you know?
My goodness, yeah, what we did worked out so well
was that just buying a little under what we could afford,
living in it for a while,
riding it, take the equity out, leverage,
buy another one, rent it out, buy another one.
It's so much easier than people think.

(13:38):
Right.
Yep.
But-
So you guys just got back,
I mean, I guess you just got back from Cabo, right?
Yeah, Cabo.
That was-
What was the name of that?
You know, one big fire, Cabo 23.

(14:00):
It was a mixed event.
It talked about, you know,
leveraging some of the vehicles that EXP offers.
So part of it wouldn't apply to everybody,
but they also did about half of it on production
and, you know, building your actual real estate business.
So there was huge takeaways

(14:21):
from that on generating leads and stuff.
And it comes down to, you know, when you break down,
what the different speakers say
is just really mastering the skill.
Like a lot of people are dabble in social media,
they dabble in open houses,
dabble in online lead gen,
but those that have mastered it are really doing well.

(14:44):
And while a lot of agents, you know,
and are predicted 30% of the agents
will be exiting the business,
there is a lot of us that are exceeding last year's numbers
already and we're going through the next quarter right now,
right?
So it really gonna depend a lot on mindset
and actually, you know, doing the work

(15:04):
and not taking orders anymore.
I think those days passed us by.
Yeah.
You know, I love the fact that you brought up
mastering something instead of being very,
very marginal at everything.
Figure something out.
Like Brent said it at a build last year.
He was like, if you're really good at open houses,

(15:28):
be really good at open houses.
Do nothing but open houses.
That's your new office is at the open house.
And you're just like meeting clients at the open house,
you're communicating with them
and you're getting them into your CRM.
I think that's so beneficial for listeners
and viewers right now that are in our business
that are struggling wondering, man, what the heck do I do?

(15:51):
Yeah, just figure one thing out, do it really well,
then figure out another thing, do it really well.
You know, read as many books as humanly possible.
That's helped me out in business a lot.
You know, which is probably something
that you're shocked to hear me say.

(16:11):
Not now.
Not now.
You're the only person that I mean.
But, you know, get really good at the open house.
That really helped me out before, you know,
the whole world shut down.
I got really good at open houses.
And I had fun because when you're good at something,

(16:31):
it's fun.
You know, doing these lives used to be, you know,
super, super stressful to me.
But now, you know, like I remember you went live at my
listing back in on Jewel, remember that?
And I was like, I straight up told you,
I wasn't gonna do a live.

(16:52):
And you're like, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Hey, Steve McCarthy live here with Matt Moreno.
Yeah.
Yep, they've probably seen really mean at the time.
Yeah, but check it out.
You know, I mean, the mindset changes that have happened
that have gotten us all the way,
where we're doing this kind of stuff.
I mean, yeah, man.

(17:15):
Well, people really good at one thing at a time.
You keep adding to your skill set.
That's the only thing people can do right now.
We jumped with lives, me and you jumped right in the pool.
We didn't put our toes in there.
It was, but, you know, like I know,
when you know somebody's capable of it,
you're capable of doing a live video.

(17:37):
Now you're doing it all the time.
Now I do it all the time and, you know,
Facebook just monetized my account.
Because of all of these lives, you know.
That's really cool to hear.
People overcomplicate mastering an area.
It's not that, like when you start out
something you're not good at, no problem.
My first million dollar listing,

(17:58):
I'm like, well, I don't know even,
is the open house different?
Is it the same?
Is it like, I didn't know what to do.
So I got online, I said, okay, who trains open houses?
Oh, this guy in the Bay Area makes, you know,
$10 million a year doing open houses.
So I pick him up and I call him.
Hey, Andy, say I'm a brand new agent.
I just landed my first listing.
It's a million dollars.

(18:19):
What I do next?
And he says, okay, great.
This is what you do.
Do this, sign here, do that.
Boom.
Yeah, just like people.
Having that message when people walk in the door
where it's not just you kind of like hiding over here,
like waving at him like, hey, I missed the real estate.

(18:40):
Come back and talk to me.
But it's driving them to the source
to be able to collect their data, right?
And it's a cold way of saying it,
but realistically that's what it is.
We're trying to get to know people,
but we're trying to market to them
and figure out what their needs are

(19:01):
so we can solve the problem of I don't like the kitchen
or I don't like the master bathroom, right?
It's necessary, man.
Like when I walk in in Nordstroms for a new suit,
I know well what I'm there for when the person tries
to help me, the first thing I say is, you know,
no, I don't need any help, but thank you.
Yes, I do.

(19:21):
The person take me right to the suits.
They probably can look at me and tell me what size
of a wear, I don't know if the size of a wear.
I don't want to.
You know, it's like, open house.
So like, yeah, we got to collect some data,
but it's not to manipulate somebody.
It's because I need to know why we're here today.
Like what are you actually looking for
so that I can provide a value
that actually helps you get to your goal?
Yeah, no.
Not about that.

(19:41):
Simple.
And now with all the technology is this ridiculous.
Like we're putting people right into our CRM, you know?
Back in the day, and I still like to teach people
that they need to use a guest registry.
They can have the conversation.
Hey, please fill out my guest registry.

(20:02):
I'd really appreciate it.
And just that little component,
I would really appreciate it.
People are hardwired to be like,
I don't want to let this guy down.
Yeah.
He would really appreciate it
if I just put my first, last name, email address
and phone number.
How hard is it?
And it's not like you're not going to be spamming them.
You're trying to help them, right?
So it's like, yeah,

(20:24):
well, we switched over to all tech now.
We fingerprint everybody and then we do retinal scans
so that we know exactly what they're blocking.
Yeah.
Nothing creepy about it.
You just hook them up to it.
Quite a little pretty for a blood sample.
We really didn't know our clients that way.
Just hook them up to a lie detector

(20:45):
and be like, are you really interested about buying today?
Yeah.
And then awkwardly.
Ultimately, what I'm doing in Open House
is I'm looking for sellers anyways.
And they got so often here,
oh, I didn't have any action today.
Just a bunch of neighbors kicking tires.
Oh, no.

(21:08):
Sounds terrible.
Yeah, a bunch of neighbors just wanted to see
the interior of this house.
Yeah, so they can compare to theirs
so they can put it on the market.
It's not hard.
It's not rocket science with what's happening here.
We just need to get down to the bottom of the issue
so we can solve the problem.
That's it.
I had no idea what we show up today, Steve.

(21:28):
It was too rainy.
Really?
I don't know, because dude had 30.
How many signs did you put?
A lot of times, like when it's raining,
I like to go inside a house.
And if I'm being physically funneled to an Open House,
I'm going to go to it.
If I've got the time in my calendar, I'm going.

(21:50):
Average people don't even use a calendar.
So they've got the time.
You don't market to a man.
They're going.
Rain or shine.
Yep.
Houses are not outdoor events.
By happenstance, or is it happenstance or happen chance?
Happenstance, I think.
It is, right?

(22:11):
Yeah, just stick with what you did first
and be confident about it.
That's a good plan.
By happenstance and chance, I did two Open Houses recently.
And I was dreading the time constraint of it,
being away from the business for so long.

(22:32):
But both times had a great time, great conversations.
It was fun getting out there and putting up all the sign.
Did it myself.
But all the things out myself and everything, it was fun.
Actually, I think it was you that did the same house on Beamer.
And I looked at your signs and I blew you away on one street.

(22:52):
Like, mine blew you away.
But then I looked and I said, oh, man,
there's another way to get to that house.
And you had it all mapped out going back.
And you know, that one was, we were kind of like put on the spot,
right?
Like the night before.
You still need help in aging now.
That's right.
So yeah, but it was better than mine.

(23:15):
And so you can get rusty if you don't practice.
Yeah, absolutely.
That area is hot right now.
Sure.
People want it.
It's almost like living in Northwest U of City.
Across the highway.
The highway.
Yeah, still nice area.

(23:36):
Good people over there.
I'm in love with the Northwest U of City though, since we got a house out here,
like walk in in the mornings and stuff, that people are so cool.
Yeah, I grew up over on off a stabler on Navy.
And I'm out there too.
I've always had just an affinity for that area in that part of town in U of City

(23:59):
because of the fact, you know, that it's where I was when I was a kid, right?
For sure.
I just, I really enjoy the conversations.
I like talking to people.
I was out this morning that I left the house, jumped in the pool at 5 a.m.,
5 o'clock, got dressed, hit the street, walk in, and there was probably 20 people.
It was awesome.

(24:19):
Just walking.
Just walking.
Yeah.
Very cool.
And we got the parrot guy.
I just still don't know his name.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, but the parrot guy.
You know his name?
I don't, but isn't he like a doctor or something?
I have no idea.
I see him only when I'm driving.
I've never seen him when I'm walking to actually have a conversation.
He has like a super high profile job or something.

(24:40):
And he's like, he's like all G-queued out in his day to day life.
And then, yeah, he walks around town with his parrot and his hat on or whatever.
Well, I got a lot of questions.
I'm hoping to run into him.
I mean, obviously we're in the same neighborhood, you know?
So I'm hoping to see him.
I need to know, you know, why do we fly across the street when we cross?

(25:03):
And like, why are we walking parrots?
Like, I don't know what was the thing, you know?
And there's gonna be something.
I got a question.
You need to get to know him and then introduce me so I can ask him a bunch of awkward questions,
you know?
We'll do it.
We'll do it.
Or maybe someone will see this and they'll comment on there.
Yeah, that'd be cool.

(25:23):
Yeah, for sure.
I like to think that people are watching.
Yeah, well, it is forever.
So eventually, you know, people would get to see it and stuff.
And I said, those two idiots talk too much.
Yeah.
I mean, how do they make it to the top of the game?
Geez.
Oh, it's crazy.
For sure.
Thanks for coming on with me today.

(25:48):
I appreciate it.
Love to, man.
I love chatting with you.
Yeah.
It's cool to do it right here.
Hopefully we'll learn something about the guy with the parents.
Yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to.
A follow-up conversation.
Amen.
Yeah.
All right, brother.
Thanks again.
Thanks for coming on my first set.