October 27, 2025 • 45 mins
This week on Realty Talk, Paul “Fix-It-All” Hanson and Suzanne “Queen of the Closing Table” Seini dive deep into chaos, comedy, and crucial strategy — all wrapped in one powerhouse episode.
🔹 💰 Giveaway Alert: Win $100 — follow us on Instagram & Spotify, then comment “lockdown” on our latest post to enter!
🎧 Episode Highlights:
🏛️ Government Shutdown Breakdown — How it’s shaking up markets and buyer confidence.
🏡 Homes Gone Wild Returns! — The now-iconic story of a showing gone very wrong (hint: it involves a naked seller and orange juice).
📊 Preparing for 2026 — What real estate agents should be doing right now to dominate next year.
🧠 Pro Agent Tips — SEO, AI tools, client experience, and automation tricks to stay ahead.
😂 Paul vs. Deep-Fried Twinkies — The tangent you didn’t know you needed.
🎬 Tune in for:
Laughs, lessons, and a healthy dose of real estate reality.
Because when the market gets unpredictable… your favorite agents get funnier.
#RealtyTalk #RealEstatePodcast #HomesGoneWild #AgentTips #MarketUpdate
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Win $100. Just follow us on Instagram,
Spotify, then comment lock down on our latest episode for the
chance to win. This week on Realty Talk we talk
about the government shutdown and what agents can do to be
ready for 2026. And share, of course, another
unbelievable Homes Gone Wild story.
(00:23):
TuneIn We've got laughs, lessonsand a little bit of chaos this
week. Welcome back to your favorite
podcast on the planet, Realty Talk.
(00:43):
To my left, we have the founder and CEO of Innovate Realty,
Queen of the Closing table. Here it is, Susan Cini, and I am
the Hostess with the mostess that actually might be my new
nickname. Hostess.
I used to love like Hostess treats like Twinkies and.
Oh, OK. When I was loaded when I was
(01:04):
little. You're not eating them now.
You're not. I don't remember the last time I
had one, but maybe that'll be my.
Now that's what I was going to say.
Now I know for Christmas what toget you so.
No, I don't think I can eat that.
Yeah, I don't think I could eat 1.
Yeah, but no, Paul fixed it all.Call fix it all handsome.
I know you want to change it, but it you live it, it's.
(01:25):
You know, that's something I fixed.
I used to eat Twinkies. No, I don't.
Yeah, OK. Which by the way, we, I don't
want to get on tangents, but have you been to the Orange
County Fair? Not in a very long time, they
have. Deep fried Twinkies.
They do. Yeah.
My gosh, you didn't. No, I didn't.
You didn't dabble with the deep fried Twinkie.
Yeah, I know. That one's not in my in in the
(01:47):
diet, you know? Yeah.
Pass. Yeah.
Yeah, That, that that's a slippery slope.
We're not going to go down that slope.
A lot to talk about today. Yeah.
Some interesting stuff. Yeah.
Happening. The government is officially
shut down. Yeah.
No government. No, government, it's been a week
(02:07):
and a half. Yeah.
I think we're going into second or third week.
So you know, real estate wise, Iguess in our world, have have
you seen any effects or are you feeling anything from that?
I haven't, yeah. No, I mean, you know, we, yeah.
I mean, I'm just trying to thinkin that last week, anything that
(02:29):
would have impacted us. I mean, we haven't felt, we
haven't felt anything. Yeah.
I mean, I, my thought is I, I haven't heard anyone say this,
but the only thought that I do have as far as, you know,
impacting and the real estate space is if buyers or I mean I
think people get uneasy when these things are happening.
(02:52):
And so we do have some inventorythat we were talking is priced
well that there are are more buyers hitting the market due to
interest rates. And it just seems like people
aren't necessarily pulling triggers.
I don't know if that's related to this, but, and I again
(03:13):
haven't heard any buyers say it,but I guess you know, anytime
there's some uncertainty it it does tend to affect the market a
bit. Yeah, It feels like right now we
have 7 or 8 houses on the marketto sell.
It feels like we, the, the houses that we are selling in
the current, you know, let's sayover the last 90 days are people
that have to move like they're relocating from another state
(03:37):
for a job or you know, it's, it's something that's forcing
them to move. The foot traffic at all the
listings is up in a huge way, quarter over quarter, year over
year. But the number of offers per
property is, is way down in thatwindow.
And and it, but it also doesn't make a lot of sense because
(03:58):
we've had properties we brought back to market in the last 90
days. They did have multiple, you
know, cash buyers, you know, went really, really quickly.
Yeah. And then we have some stuff
that's very comparable that is taking a little longer to get
into escrow. It's very bizarre.
Yeah. I mean, and we're also
approaching that time of year where people just get busy.
Like we're busy. We were talking about it before
(04:19):
we started. Like getting haircuts is like
it's tough times right now. It's, they're not calling you
out or anything, but you know, it, it is getting to that time
of year where the holidays are coming and we are trying to
squeeze everything in. So I think we'll talk about that
more later about what, you know,agents and people in general can
(04:40):
do for their business to prep, but for next year at least.
But I mean, at the end of the day, I don't want to miss
because we are kind of expecting, we're expecting some
updates from the Fed, right? So does this shut down?
Do you think it will affect thator change that?
(05:02):
Yeah, it's a really interesting question.
So the Fed is not directly connected or run by the US
government. It's an independent, you know,
organization or group. So they meet on October 26th
through the 28th. I think it's the schedule.
So the federal shutdown, if thatstill continues to happen at the
government shutdown, it will notaffect the Fed meeting.
(05:24):
What it could affect is the Fed getting data or access to
information to make a decision, which would be so weird.
But that also could be leading to people, you know, kind of,
you know, out shopping hard but not pulling the trigger.
If they anticipated, you know, if a month or two ago from the
previous Fed meeting, if they ifthey anticipate additional rate
(05:46):
cuts and they thought that meantthat mortgage rates would go
down by the end of the year, they're out looking, They're
excited. Prepping and.
And then Fed says, hey, we're shut or not Fed.
But the government shutdown happens.
If the consumer doesn't understand that, that doesn't
mean that the Fed won't meet, you know, maybe that's pausing
their decision making. But I, you know, there's,
(06:08):
there's two sides of the coin. Like the Fed could have the
meeting, if they don't have the data, they could use that as an
opportunity to say, hey, no, we're not making a decision.
Right, which doesn't feel great right now for our industry, but.
Yeah, yeah. It would be very weird if that
was the if that was the case, and you'd have to think that
that Trump would be thinking through that.
(06:30):
You would have to think, but youknow, there have been a lot of
things that we, you know, we would think would be done but
you know, maybe weren't completely thought through.
But especially this since it's been such a hot topic for him
and he has put so much pressure on the Fed.
I would think that, you know, everyone would want to resolve
(06:50):
this quickly to to make sure that we're not affecting that
piece of things. But I think I think more
importantly, when we're talking about what what has been
affected by the government shutdown, I think you have a fun
fact. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. It was very exciting.
I was, I read the news sometimes, you know, like an old
(07:13):
person on, on an actual newspaper.
This one was online and I, I believe it was the Wall Street
Journal. So and, and don't quote me on
that, but so I don't know if thesource is 100% accurate, but
national parks are run by government employees, right?
So or you know, the government pays national parking employees.
So national parks are supposed to be closed in a government
(07:35):
shutdown. I read an article that was
stating there is an influx this week of homeless people going
into Yosemite National Park. And yesterday there was like 100
or 200 BASE jumpers that it hiked to the top of Half Dome
and like, had this whole BASE jumping party.
Wow. Which is illegal to do.
(07:55):
Yeah. So if you, I think if you base
jump off of Half Dome and you get caught, it's like a pretty
significant fine. Oh yeah, no fines going out
right now. If you're a BASE jumper, this is
your window. Chance.
Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. It's really interesting.
I mean it, you know, this is another random tangent we
probably haven't ever talked about on this on this podcast.
(08:17):
But you know, growing up in Utah, we have 5 national parks
and you know, we were a very outdoorsy family.
We haunted and fished and spent a lot of time camping in
national parks. We take our daughters, you know,
to southern Utah and go to national parks every year.
And it's just, it's crazy to think that that whole machine,
(08:37):
you know, will shut down for some undecided period of time.
You know, this last year we signed up my oldest daughter for
this, like, you know, kind of adventure day with a, with a, a,
it was like a tour guide essentially at Zion National
Park. And they go and they get this
little book and they have, you know, 20 things that they're
supposed to accomplish over the course of the day, like finding
(08:59):
a piece of litter and picking itup.
And then they learn about, you know, how that impacts
everything. And, and they had this section
talking about, you know, the economics of a National Park and
if people aren't working, what that could do to the National
Park in terms of maintenance. Yeah, that's why when you were
first telling me that story earlier, I was thinking like
something was happening with theanimals, like it was just gonna
(09:21):
go wild in the National Park, but.
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, but you know, it's.
Probably so much more than that.Yeah, it's probably, really, I
mean, there's probably a lot to lot to do and we've gotten
storms, you know, so if they're not there maintaining roads and
all that kind of stuff, who knows what could happen.
Now I'm scared because I am actually going to a National
Park this weekend. I'm going to Olympic in
(09:43):
Washington, so. Well, maybe not if it's closed.
I, I did check the site, it is open, but who knows, I will
report back next week on what that looks like.
But yeah, now I'm slightly terrified mainly.
I mean, last week we talked about bugs.
Oh yeah. Now I'm I'm it's, it's hitting
(10:04):
me that potentially there could be like animals running wild and
that could get a little I've. Never been to that National
Park. Yeah.
So it's it's Washington state. I mean, there's like deer and
elk and I mean, maybe a bear or two.
Yeah. But that's.
It but the National the the the Park Service aren't protecting
humans from. Animals, yeah.
But if something happens, you kind of have a good, good
(10:26):
resource that maybe you wouldn'thave.
Just take bear spray. Yeah, no big deal.
Yeah, I actually, you know, growing up in the mountains,
bears don't scare me. Yeah, even like Cougars or
mountain lions don't scare me. Moose are the scariest.
OK. Yeah, like a a Mama moose in her
calf. If you get in between those two,
it's it's over. Game over.
(10:47):
Yeah, they are angry, angry, angry.
And they're huge. I don't think there's going to
be Moose up there. Maybe there are?
All right, well, I will do that research, I will report back,
and I will avoid all moose. Yeah, moose.
Keep your Yeah, keep your distance from the moose.
Yeah, OK. So national parks are, are, are
(11:07):
shut down. Government really isn't
affecting us unless it's maybe affecting buyers.
What else is new in, in the world of, of brokerage?
I mean, you know, we've got all this crazy news about, you know,
I, I guess essentially the largest real estate brokerage
consolidation that we've seen. You know, I, I was, I was
(11:27):
talking through that actually, and I was fact checking at one
point Century 21 actually had the number of agents that that
Compass in anywhere real estate would had and they, they
crumbled, right. So it's kind of interesting.
I mean it will. Will, will Compass crumble in
the next 10 years by trying to do this deal?
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because I think, you know, we've
(11:51):
been talking about the the battle between Compass and
Zillow and the listings. And you know, there's, there's a
big argument that Compass is doing this just to kind of cover
themselves with their listing database because if they
continue to attack Zillow and potentially Zillow says, OK, no
more, we're not going to be showing any Compass listings on
(12:14):
our our site anymore. That I mean, that could put that
will take them down. Like there's, you can't stay at
the, the brokerage that if it doesn't feed on Zillow, the
consumers are using Zillow, not Compass.
So, so I think, you know, with Compass taking more listings
potentially there, they could beprepping for something like that
(12:39):
where it would be really, reallydifficult for Zillow to come out
and say, you know, not taking Sotheby's listings, not taking
Caldwell Banker and, and compasslistings.
I mean, that would that would also potentially tank Zillow.
So if they don't have all the listings, I don't think any of
that's going to happen to be honest, because, you know,
(13:00):
knowing the way that Zillow operates their, that's not their
mentality. It's more about empowering the
consumer to make the best decision.
And, you know, say what you willabout them, they have created an
amazing site that the consumer loves, you know, and trusts and
wants to use. So, so, yeah, I mean, I don't, I
(13:20):
don't think that that's happening.
But, but you know, I mean, I, I think as we talked about last
week, I'm not completely sold that the deal is actually going
to go through because, you know,I guess I mean they could be
seeing something we're not seeing, you know, I'm sure they
are. Yeah, but they gotta be thinking
through. It yeah, but but yeah,
(13:43):
financially it doesn't seem to make a ton of sense 2.
And a half billion dollars of debt, that's a lot and.
Not just that, I mean what's really interesting about the
real estate industry is that you're working with all
independent contractors. So there's no guarantee that,
you know, by 2020, end of 2026, which they're saying this is
going to happen, that any of these places will have any
(14:06):
agents left, you know, and, and.If we have anything to say
about. It Yeah, exactly why would you
go there I actually it's funny Ihad an agent call me yesterday
and tell me you know that made the transition to innovate
somewhat recently Yeah came fromDouglas Elliman, but was
previously at Compass as well and I I'm not asking anything I
(14:29):
mean I, I will take the feedbackyou know good, bad.
Yeah. It was all very positive for us
and it was really just about about kind of that massive,
massive delay for pretty much everything in a big company
where, you know, with us, it's and this isn't to just like to
(14:51):
innovate Horn, but I think the bigger a company gets, the more
removed you are from the realityof what's happening boots on the
ground. And and so, you know, I mean,
we're we're going to be there someday, but I think, you know,
right now where we are, we're really, really involved.
(15:11):
We have a pulse on the market. We have a pulse of what's going
on with the agents. We talk about it every week.
And I think that's important. That's more important for most
people than just having that name, you know, so.
Yeah. I mean, the, the bigger the
organization gets, you know, thefurther away from understanding
the way that a transaction actually flows and like, and the
(15:33):
further away from what the agentinside the brokerage needs to be
successful on a daily basis, youjust continue to get further
away from those things. So by definition, your decision
making, unless the people funneling the information to you
are perfect, continues to probably get worse.
I mean, it's, it's an interesting deal because they
will end up, if it closes and the retention stays strong,
(15:56):
they'll have 10%, I think of thetotal licensed agents in the
United States. That's not correlated directly
to the total number of deals that those agents represent, but
I mean, it could go a lot of different directions.
Yeah. So, yeah, I'm excited.
I mean, we'll, we'll, we'll keeptalking.
We'll see what happens. I mean, I, I think overall it's
good for us. Like we, we see it as a great
(16:19):
opportunity because I think, youknow, that brand is not for
everyone. I think the consumer doesn't
know that brand as much in the industry.
We know Compass, you know, but, but the consumer doesn't really
know, you know, so, so for us, it's making waves.
(16:39):
But realistically, you know, we,we could, we'll more than likely
capitalize on all of the waves in the industry.
And I think you touched on something really important.
We're going to have our directorof marketing on here next week.
So I really feel that's going tobe a really good one because he
is amazing, not just on the the marketing side, but with
(17:00):
technology. And I think that was something
that we were talking about quitea bit.
He's creating a lot of new systems that are really exciting
for us. But the reason why they're so
good is because at heart, he's areal estate agent, you know, and
he's put teams together, Yeah, to to create some really great
(17:21):
tech. And I think that, you know,
that's where once you start bringing in middle management
and then, you know, all the things that come with running a
huge company, you have to do it.You kind of lose that, that
piece, you know? Yeah.
One quick note on the on the government shutdown before we
transition. As we're sitting here, I'm
getting notifications and texts.A judge temporary block
(17:45):
temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving ahead
with mass firings of federal employees while the government
shutdown. So I think, you know, that's an
interesting update. They were, you know, my
understanding is that the Trump administration was trying to go
and push through some of this stuff while the shut.
Yeah, exactly. So I guess that's that's halted
that that could be bad news actually.
(18:07):
I mean that could delay the shutdown longer.
Yeah. Yeah.
So that's that's interesting. I guess we will see.
I do not feel that this is the time of year for this.
But yeah, at least in our industry doesn't feel like it.
I mean, hopefully some people are enjoying some time off,
maybe, you know, there's some benefit there.
(18:27):
Yeah. But yeah, we'll, we'll see.
So, OK, well, as we talk about all these wild updates in the in
the government, I think it's a great transition into our
segment, one of our favorite segments on the podcast Homes
Gone Wild. So if it's going to be this
week. I can't wait if you're a new
listener or subscriber because we have hundreds of new
(18:49):
listeners and subscribers every week right now and we love you
for that. Thank you very much.
We do a segment every week wherewe talk about a story that was
submitted. I shouldn't say we talk about
it. Sometimes we talk about it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Our listener base will submit a story.
I haven't seen it yet, but this is the story.
They send it in for whatever reason I've been designated to
(19:11):
read the stories for. Whatever reason, we know the
reason. It's likely because I find the
stories interesting in my the way that I read them is somewhat
silly. So we will we will jump right in
on this week, this week's episode of Holmes Come wild.
Oh boy, this is interesting. OK, so scene 1 the setup.
(19:36):
Oh, OK. I'd scheduled a showing for my
buyers. The seller told me if he was
home he'd let us in. If not, I could use the lock
box. We pull up to the house, I read
the doorbell once and again, no answer.
OK, no problem. I grab the key from the lock
box, unlock the door and step inside with my clients.
(19:57):
Scene 2. OK.
And I feel like we've had a similar setup before where it's
like, you know, you're going in,you're going into someone's
house, they could be there. Yeah, let's.
See. So it feels like this is called
the split. Scene 2, The house had two
wings. The buyer went left toward the
kitchen in the family room and Iwent to the right.
(20:17):
Sorry. I went to the right to turn on
the lights in the bedrooms. Everything felt normal, quiet
still until I opened the first door.
Scene 3 The discovery. I actually whoever submitted
this is doing a great job there.He was the seller, completely
(20:39):
naked, passed out on top of the bed.
For one terrifying second, I froze.
Was he just asleep or dead? My heart dropped.
Naked and passed out, Naked and afraid.
I think it's ATV show. Yeah.
Scene 4. Cut to scene 4.
The escape. It's very dramatic.
(21:01):
Trying to keep my cool, I spun around and rushed back down the
hall. Wait a second.
You didn't wake them up asking like did they check and use
this? I think I would have left too.
I don't think I'm touching any naked.
Throw something, throw your shoe.
Like the gal that left the shoe underneath the house.
Yeah, I run down. I rushed back down the hall.
Hey guys, let's check out the backyard first.
(21:23):
I said, forcing a smile while practically hurting them out the
front door. I don't want them scared for
life either by a naked guy or worse, a dead naked guy.
The scene, the check. Once the virus, once the virus
were safely outside, I went backin carefully and quietly.
I leaned over, checking for breathing.
(21:46):
I remember like when we had our first kid, we had our first
daughter, I remember being so terrified like that, you know,
she would fall asleep and not breathe.
So we'd have like the phone and all that stuff.
So I'm sure that's what they didwith.
The naked. Body, she did nothing.
But they didn't know. I'm saying that's what they did.
Yeah. The naked body, yeah.
(22:06):
Thankfully, well I don't know about this.
Thankfully he stirred. Turns out he was diabetic and it
passed out. While getting ready.
I ran into the kitchen, found some juice and helped him sit
up. Scene 6 The aftermath.
He came to embarrassed but grateful, wrapped in a blanket
and sniffing orange juice by buyers.
(22:26):
Yeah, they just had to pass on the home.
Can't really blame them. Some things you just can't see
those things. I'm telling you the life of A
real estate agent. I they're the the TV shows that
are out there, and they put all this extra unnecessary drama
like you don't even need it. Our lives are insane.
(22:49):
The things that we see at these properties are wild.
Yeah, I, I, I don't even understand.
I feel bad for the seller, he's getting ready.
Yeah. Just diabetic he passes out.
You know, I so personally, I think I would have probably
played the like, I don't think Iwould be leaning over him.
(23:11):
I don't think. I think I would have for sure
called 911 and I'd be like banging on maybe like the door.
Yeah. Making noise.
Hello. We're here.
Yeah. I don't think I'd be like naked
body, like hey Sir. We're trying to sell your house.
Yeah, so. But you know what a great
person, great story. Yeah, great story, great
(23:32):
storyteller, I think you know. Yeah, good thinking.
Go get the orange juice. They had their head on their
shoulders. It was very good.
Yeah, Bravo. It was a great episode of Homes
Gone Wild, and that was a wild one.
That is good. Yeah, I mean, I have to say I
haven't, I I've heard of like multiple naked stories now.
I think we've had a few that have been submitted, but I'm I'm
(23:54):
grateful that I've never actually seen that myself or had
to experience that myself, but. So we have we have an agent I.
Was like well I'm not bad lucky.We, we have, I'm actually very
excited for this. I'm not going to give anything
away, but we have an agent at Innovate that reached out to me
and, you know, for a different reason, but said, Oh my gosh,
(24:15):
your animation clip that you putout was so good.
I need to come on and tell my story of this one specific
buyer. So this this agents worked with
us for a while. We used to generate off market
leads a lot at by White House and we would, we would, you
know, send an advisor into the home to meet with the seller.
And so I'll, I'll cut there, butthis agent would like to come on
(24:39):
and tell the story. And it can be animated.
And it is an incredible 1. OK.
That's where I'm going to leave it.
This specific agent gets to share the rest, but it's going
to be juicy and fun. And then we got to animate it
because it's going to be great. Now that you say that, it's
really funny. We've never told this story.
I've alluded to it, but we do have a really great story that
(25:03):
has circulated about a farm animal that took a listing
agreement out of the hands of one of our So I don't, I haven't
heard this. Oh, it's so good.
Have I heard it? But that's another one that
needs to be animated. A farm may have told you.
Like the dog ate my homework. Yes.
That's not. Real.
It is real. Do we trust this person?
Yes, 100%. Was it you?
(25:25):
It wasn't me, but it was Tustin and Tustin.
This is not going to make this up.
Yeah, yeah, but a farm animal, it'll just.
Wait, just wait. We're going to get them in just
to tell this story because. It's so good.
Goodness. Yeah, we'll have them submit it
so you can read it. All right.
OK. Well, I think we should pivot to
(25:48):
the primary section of our segment this week, which is what
agents can do now to to prepare for 2026.
So we're not talking about buyers and sellers, we're
talking you as a real estate agent.
And we know that we have so manylisteners out there that are
real estate agents, not necessarily just our brokerage,
more constantly thinking about, you know, what can what can we
(26:10):
do as a brokerage to get our agents into the best position
to, you know, have a successful year.
And we're always getting feedback of, you know, what
could agents do? Yeah, inside or outside of our
brokerage. And so this is this is great.
You want to just, yeah, trade off, go back and forth you want.
Oh yeah, to kick it off, build avideo and visual content
library. So start producing short market
(26:33):
updates, neighborhood walkthroughs.
We talked about that on our podcast last week with our guest
Robert Mack and Tanya Mack, justabout how that completely
changed their business doing these home tours and lifestyle
content for every listing, mandatory video walkthroughs,
(26:53):
high quality photos. And then keep those assets.
So, you know, you don't have to use everything, but you can
scatter that, especially when you're slow as an agent and
you're just like, I've, I've hadso many agents that are like, I
just don't know what to post about right now.
But but say I mean you, you havethe content, bank the content
(27:17):
and use it later on social media.
Yeah, great feedback. Number 2 is strengthen SEO and
long term organic content. So create hyper logical or sorry
should be hyper local blog content on your website.
Neighborhood guides what to expect in this specific zip code
in 2026 and then use long tail keywords homes for sale in this
(27:42):
neighborhood in 2026 to capture full demand.
And then, you know, think about optimizing every listing page
and agent profile for search. So fast load times, mobile
optimization and then keyword rich descriptions.
I've been seeing so much more ofthat even on Instagram lately
where agents are just really going in on specific markets.
(28:05):
It's the same agents, but they're they're really, really
targeting specific zip codes andspecific areas versus that broad
approach, which is kind of what we were talking about also on
last week's podcast past where, you know, our guests were
sharing that initially they kindof took more of a broad
approach, but as soon as they honed in on their specific
(28:28):
neighborhood, they saw those results tick up.
Yeah, there's a, there's a localneighborhood in Orange County
that there's, there's one brokerage that really owns like,
I don't know, 40 or 50% of the listings, but they, they do such
a good job. I mean, if, if somebody's doing
a, a yard sale, they'll make theyard sale signs.
They do, I think a like ice cream truck every weekend for
(28:52):
the kids. They sponsor all the holiday
events, you know, the 4th of July, they're out there, you
know, doing a parade and all thestuff for the kids.
And so the, the brokerage or thebrand around it does such a good
job. If, if somebody's moving in that
small little zip code, it's the very first thing they think of,
of course. So it's, yeah, it's very, it's
it's very, very, very good advice.
(29:13):
OK, systemize and automate your communication funnel.
So build a qualification funnel pre screening leads so that you
only engage high intent leads. Create a drip e-mail or text
sequences to nurture leads over months not just days.
(29:36):
And then use your CRM to track engagement and trigger
follow-ups at the right times. I cannot tell you.
I think a perfect example of this.
Last year I went to that Queen Mary Dark Harbor.
Oh, yeah. Oh, man.
I have been getting so many textmessages from them.
And like, leading up to Halloween, I no joke.
(29:57):
Like, it was like every week they're like, have you gotten
your tickets yet leading up to October?
Yeah. And now, yeah, all the time, but
you know it, it didn't make me think though, where I'm like,
I'm not going to go again, but wasn't a good thing.
I mean, not really my thing, butbut thinking about that like as
(30:18):
a real estate agent, it's the same with any business you're
in. It's about that follow up and
about once you capture that lead, setting those systems to
actually nurture that lead. And in any business, that's
where one one person is going tobe set apart from the next.
It's all about that long term follow up.
(30:39):
So yeah. Yeah, I, this one, you know,
seems very relevant. I am in a YPO chapter locally
and this year I took the position of running membership
and, and so I, I get to meet a lot of entrepreneurs or people
that are wanting to be in a chapter and I met this specific
candidate. I would say, I won't, you know,
(31:00):
say names or even industries, but it was an incredible story.
He talked about how, you know, post college, you know, it's a
longer, you know, kind of degreethat he was, he was chasing and
that was the industry was heading down, but struggle for
two years really trying to figure out what he was going to
do in life because you're just working on files, but had done a
really good job capturing leads and, and, you know, fostering
(31:23):
those leads. And what ended up happening is
that this lead from two years prior finally came to fruition
for him and he made enough money.
And that's one case to start hisbusiness.
And now he runs one of the largest businesses in this space
in the Western Hemisphere. And he attributes it all back to
that one lead, fostering it, nurturing it.
(31:45):
Two years later, it converts andand now he's in that position.
And so, you know, to me and, and, and, and in this kind of an
industry in real estate, you never know what that lead's
going to be worth. I mean, it could be a $10
million listing and that could change your whole year.
Yeah. Yeah.
Or more in Orange County. Yeah, Yeah.
Yeah. No, it can happen.
And it really, I mean, I think what's so powerful about that is
(32:05):
you'd take that with any industry you're in.
That's it. Yeah.
OK, OK #4 double down on personal touch and client
experience. Even in a digital world,
personal calls, texts still movethe needle.
Keep that practice after transaction.
Ask for reviews and make them part of your marketing.
Social proof works in 2025. I agree with that.
(32:28):
Create memorable client experiences.
Closing gifts, check in small gestures that lead to referrals.
This one is to me, you know, similar to every other industry,
I mean, if you, if you do the work to acquire a customer that
is your most valuable asset and,and they should be your, your
(32:49):
highest converting form of lead generation through referral.
And, you know, we're in the service industry as well, you
know, at the lending side and in, in the pest control
industry. And I, I can't speak high enough
of, of small things that like you do the smallest thing and
then you ask for the referral, it comes.
Yeah. And that converts every time.
Yeah, we, we had a mastermind panel in our La Jolla office
(33:14):
yesterday and one of our agents was talking about closing gifts
and how when you personalize that, like what a difference
that makes. So he had there was a family and
young kids. He we ended up bringing the kids
bikes. How cool is that?
Yeah, And, and you know, it, it makes such a difference.
(33:38):
Like he he was talking in particular about listening to
your clients and really getting to know them versus just that
surface. So I think that's how you create
a memorable experience and that's how you set yourself
apart from the rest. Yeah, Yeah.
I mean, you just brought something up that I think we
should double click on one more time.
Listening to your clients. When you interact with somebody
(33:59):
and you transact with with them,they're going to tell you
everything you need to know to to be able to get them to be
your fiercest advocate. So if you're just listening to
what your clients needs are, youknow, that closing gift could be
incredibly customized, you know,for something that's usable.
I bought a lot of real estate and I've gotten everything from
like a $0.50 cheese board, like literally probably $0.50 on Etsy
(34:22):
or something, which you know, you grab and it's like a wow,
thank you for doing that. I actually would rather that
they save the money than give methat, you know, but but I've
also just gotten, I mean, I think back to it, the the
highest impact item that I've ever received as a gift was
actually just a letter. There was no gift, but it was
handwritten and they just explained how much doing
(34:44):
business with me meant for them,right.
And, and I, I think about them all the time when I, when I go
to transact in the future, if I can use them, I will use them
every time because they sat down, they took the time, they
wrote a letter out and it came to me and it was like, wow.
I mean, that's that's better than a bottle of wine or a plate
of cheese or something. Yeah, yeah.
OK. Test and adopt new technologies
(35:05):
and tools. So try AI driven marketing
tools, use virtual tours, 3D walkthroughs, AR tools to
differentiate your listings and then track emerging tools in
Proptech. Being on the forefront can give
you the competitive edge. So I think again, alluding to
(35:27):
next week's episode, we're goingto talk a lot about AI and how
that it, it honestly, I mean, I think 95% of the population,
probably 99% of the population is not really, you know, using
it the way it should be. I mean, I, I don't know if I
(35:47):
told you, but I remember the I met this girl that was telling
me she asks ChatGPT what she should eat for dinner, where I'm
like, OK, I mean, that's something, but that's probably
not the best use. And there are so many things
that you can actually do with that.
And so our our guest next week, I'm super excited about to, to
(36:09):
get out to the group because he built an app for a business in
two weeks using ChatGPT. So it's super, super exciting
the things that you can do. So dig in you.
Know it's great. I'm excited that I get to talk
about this one. Track key metrics and iterate
(36:31):
based on data data, data data isthe point.
So it says start tracking monthly and quarterly leads
generated versus conversion ratesource of lead, whether that's
SEO, paid ads, referrals, whatever your you know, your
lead funnels are your cost for that specific lead average days
on market for your specific listing.
And then how how satisfied your clients are.
(36:53):
You know, I get the opportunity at Innovate every once in a
while to help mentor newer agents that are coming into the
business. And in every one of those
mentorship meetings, everyone asks how I am in the position
that I'm in today. And my explanation is going all
the way back to 2005 when I wentout and went door to door and
(37:14):
sold home security systems in Cleveland, OH.
And I was not the most sophisticated communicator.
I was not a great salesperson, but I was maniacal about
understanding my data. So if I went out for 8 hours or
12 hours, how many doors did I knock?
How many conversations did I have of those conversations that
I had, how many converted all the way to the end where I was
(37:37):
able to explain my value proposition and then how many
deals did I acquire? And I think that specific focus
of looking at your conversion metrics on a daily basis allowed
for me at that stage in my life to cut time and wasted energy
out and put that time into high production areas.
(37:57):
And that separated my performance from my competition.
And I get the opportunity to share that example with agents
every week. And it, it's shocking to me how
little people think about this. They, they build in a beautiful
plan. I'm going to go and door knock
for four hours. I'm going to cold call.
I'm going to spend $1000 a monthon, you know, postcards or do
(38:19):
these things. And then I'm going to cross my
fingers and hope it works. And, and, and you know, maybe
that will work for somebody, buttracking all of those things are
going to, it's just going to build a blueprint of where you
need to take action to see better results, right?
And that's not easy to do. I mean, at Innovate, we have
(38:40):
systems for all that. So it's already built.
Yeah, I and that's what I was going to say.
I mean, I think that that is such a an underrated kind of
value that we don't talk about very often is that we actually
really want to help agents builda business.
Yeah. Whereas, you know, most
(39:01):
brokerages and and really most agents are, as you said, just
kind of hoping for the results. Yeah, or they, I know, like,
hey, I need to, you know, I probably got to sell three homes
this year and I'll be fine, you know, But I, I think it's rare
that people are having those specific conversations outside
of maybe hiring a coach, you know, that will sit down with
(39:23):
them. And that's something that, you
know, we talk about all the timeon how to how to actually build
a business, not just a like fun side hobby, you know?
Yeah. To me, this, this one like when
we talked through what an agent can do for 2026, I I think you
could kind of consolidate all these things down these six key
(39:44):
areas into a few basic things. Number one, you know, be curious
about your business, the way youspend your time in your
business. I, I always think about the
Pareto effect. Generally, 20% of your actions
are going to deliver 80% of the results. 80% of your actions are
(40:04):
going to produce 20% of the results if you can measure that
properly. You just cut the 80% it's not
working and spend as much time in the areas that that you know,
are working. And, and, but you can't do that
if you're not curious. And I would say curious without
judgment. You know, look at the
information. Don't, don't tell yourself a lie
of what you think is happening. Just look at the information.
(40:26):
So I would say #1 curiosity, but#2 you know, commit.
Like, you know, I think you, youbrought it up.
You know, there are a lot of people that maybe look at real
estate as something on the side.And if they strike gold and
they're going to go all in, that's probably not the right
industry for you. That.
And I would even challenge you to look yourself in the mirror
and say, you know, are you goingto find happiness anywhere in
(40:47):
your career if that's the way you kind of step in?
Yeah. It's like if you're going to do
it, go. I mean, this is a beautiful
blueprint. I mean, happy to publish a go
whether you're with us or somebody else, like be curious
and go execute. Yeah, we, it came up on the
panel yesterday when we asked one of our top agents, you know,
what's, what's advice that you would give to a new agent coming
(41:10):
in the business And she said it she's like, you have to go all
in. It can't be a part time thing.
It that's never going to work. I haven't we haven't seen it
work with anyone. It's you know, you've got to put
all of your effort in. And but what she did say is then
you're going to make sure when you are fighting for for every
dollar and you don't have anything to fall back on, like
(41:34):
you're going to learn what you're made of, you know, and
what's going to happen in the industry, you're either going to
make it or you're not. So it's a really great way to
know whether you're going to make it or you're not going to.
So, and you know that that is not real estate isn't for
everyone. So maybe you're not going, maybe
you decide, hey, this isn't for me.
But but dipping the toe in it just never works.
(41:58):
No, Yeah, recipe for faster, yeah.
OK. All right.
So anything else in closing? I mean, we've got some exciting
guests coming up through the endof the year here.
We do have to probably start thinking about 2026 playing.
We do, yeah. You know that's on the agenda,
so. What else for you in the last
week or looking for next week? What are you excited about?
(42:20):
What's What's keeping you up at night?
You know, I think that we're constantly talking about the
market and I know that we that'sthe one thing that we can't
control. We can't control the market.
So all we are focused on at all times is what we can control and
(42:41):
that's our agents, the opportunities that we have
coming in, the deals that we're doing.
So I'm really excited because just over the past month we've
launched a new kind of lead program for our agents that's
going really, really well. And you know, it's the same
story as always. It's about how to create
(43:02):
opportunities for agents versus just, you know, being a
brokerage that they hang their license at.
So I'm excited for those opportunities.
We always have great things coming because it feels like
we're constantly questioning, we're curious about what we're
doing in business and revisitingand making and improving.
(43:25):
So yeah, I think, I think next, next week we'll have some really
great updates. That's exciting.
Yeah. It's kind of a setup question
because what's keeping me up at night is actually this list, You
know, what, what can an agent doto be better in 2026?
We were talked throughout, you know, throughout the episode
today about compass and all these other things that are
(43:46):
happening in the world, in the market and, and everything.
To me actually, it's a really simple decision.
You can be successful in 2026 bycoming to innovate.
I know that that sounds a littlebit biased true.
It's. True, it's funny like the people
that do come and the people thatwe talked to, we've talked about
it before like what we're doing really blows people away.
(44:08):
So you know, I don't want to make this all about innovate,
but man, I, I do feel our agent that did that we were talking
about earlier that recently transitioned over.
I mean he's been in the industry20 years and he's like, I've
never seen support like this. So I think all that means to me
is we're on the right track and I'm excited for more people to
(44:30):
learn about it so. Awesome.
Well let's close there. Thank you very much for
listening or watching whatever you're doing.
Please check us out every week. If you have not hit the
subscribe button on the screen right now, please stop and do
it. It helps us out a lot.
It helps us reach everybody. If you haven't shared this with
friends, family members or Co workers, please do that and
(44:52):
check back next week for our newepisode.
Thank you.
Win $100. Just follow us on Instagram,
Spotify, then comment lock down on our latest episode for the
chance to win. This week on Realty Talk we talk
about the government shutdown and what agents can do to be
ready for 2026. And share, of course, another
unbelievable Homes Gone Wild story.
(00:23):
TuneIn We've got laughs, lessonsand a little bit of chaos this
week. Welcome back to your favorite
podcast on the planet, Realty Talk.
(00:43):
To my left, we have the founder and CEO of Innovate Realty,
Queen of the Closing table. Here it is, Susan Cini, and I am
the Hostess with the mostess that actually might be my new
nickname. Hostess.
I used to love like Hostess treats like Twinkies and.
Oh, OK. When I was loaded when I was
(01:04):
little. You're not eating them now.
You're not. I don't remember the last time I
had one, but maybe that'll be my.
Now that's what I was going to say.
Now I know for Christmas what toget you so.
No, I don't think I can eat that.
Yeah, I don't think I could eat 1.
Yeah, but no, Paul fixed it all.Call fix it all handsome.
I know you want to change it, but it you live it, it's.
(01:25):
You know, that's something I fixed.
I used to eat Twinkies. No, I don't.
Yeah, OK. Which by the way, we, I don't
want to get on tangents, but have you been to the Orange
County Fair? Not in a very long time, they
have. Deep fried Twinkies.
They do. Yeah.
My gosh, you didn't. No, I didn't.
You didn't dabble with the deep fried Twinkie.
Yeah, I know. That one's not in my in in the
(01:47):
diet, you know? Yeah.
Pass. Yeah.
Yeah, That, that that's a slippery slope.
We're not going to go down that slope.
A lot to talk about today. Yeah.
Some interesting stuff. Yeah.
Happening. The government is officially
shut down. Yeah.
No government. No, government, it's been a week
(02:07):
and a half. Yeah.
I think we're going into second or third week.
So you know, real estate wise, Iguess in our world, have have
you seen any effects or are you feeling anything from that?
I haven't, yeah. No, I mean, you know, we, yeah.
I mean, I'm just trying to thinkin that last week, anything that
(02:29):
would have impacted us. I mean, we haven't felt, we
haven't felt anything. Yeah.
I mean, I, my thought is I, I haven't heard anyone say this,
but the only thought that I do have as far as, you know,
impacting and the real estate space is if buyers or I mean I
think people get uneasy when these things are happening.
(02:52):
And so we do have some inventorythat we were talking is priced
well that there are are more buyers hitting the market due to
interest rates. And it just seems like people
aren't necessarily pulling triggers.
I don't know if that's related to this, but, and I again
(03:13):
haven't heard any buyers say it,but I guess you know, anytime
there's some uncertainty it it does tend to affect the market a
bit. Yeah, It feels like right now we
have 7 or 8 houses on the marketto sell.
It feels like we, the, the houses that we are selling in
the current, you know, let's sayover the last 90 days are people
that have to move like they're relocating from another state
(03:37):
for a job or you know, it's, it's something that's forcing
them to move. The foot traffic at all the
listings is up in a huge way, quarter over quarter, year over
year. But the number of offers per
property is, is way down in thatwindow.
And and it, but it also doesn't make a lot of sense because
(03:58):
we've had properties we brought back to market in the last 90
days. They did have multiple, you
know, cash buyers, you know, went really, really quickly.
Yeah. And then we have some stuff
that's very comparable that is taking a little longer to get
into escrow. It's very bizarre.
Yeah. I mean, and we're also
approaching that time of year where people just get busy.
Like we're busy. We were talking about it before
(04:19):
we started. Like getting haircuts is like
it's tough times right now. It's, they're not calling you
out or anything, but you know, it, it is getting to that time
of year where the holidays are coming and we are trying to
squeeze everything in. So I think we'll talk about that
more later about what, you know,agents and people in general can
(04:40):
do for their business to prep, but for next year at least.
But I mean, at the end of the day, I don't want to miss
because we are kind of expecting, we're expecting some
updates from the Fed, right? So does this shut down?
Do you think it will affect thator change that?
(05:02):
Yeah, it's a really interesting question.
So the Fed is not directly connected or run by the US
government. It's an independent, you know,
organization or group. So they meet on October 26th
through the 28th. I think it's the schedule.
So the federal shutdown, if thatstill continues to happen at the
government shutdown, it will notaffect the Fed meeting.
(05:24):
What it could affect is the Fed getting data or access to
information to make a decision, which would be so weird.
But that also could be leading to people, you know, kind of,
you know, out shopping hard but not pulling the trigger.
If they anticipated, you know, if a month or two ago from the
previous Fed meeting, if they ifthey anticipate additional rate
(05:46):
cuts and they thought that meantthat mortgage rates would go
down by the end of the year, they're out looking, They're
excited. Prepping and.
And then Fed says, hey, we're shut or not Fed.
But the government shutdown happens.
If the consumer doesn't understand that, that doesn't
mean that the Fed won't meet, you know, maybe that's pausing
their decision making. But I, you know, there's,
(06:08):
there's two sides of the coin. Like the Fed could have the
meeting, if they don't have the data, they could use that as an
opportunity to say, hey, no, we're not making a decision.
Right, which doesn't feel great right now for our industry, but.
Yeah, yeah. It would be very weird if that
was the if that was the case, and you'd have to think that
that Trump would be thinking through that.
(06:30):
You would have to think, but youknow, there have been a lot of
things that we, you know, we would think would be done but
you know, maybe weren't completely thought through.
But especially this since it's been such a hot topic for him
and he has put so much pressure on the Fed.
I would think that, you know, everyone would want to resolve
(06:50):
this quickly to to make sure that we're not affecting that
piece of things. But I think I think more
importantly, when we're talking about what what has been
affected by the government shutdown, I think you have a fun
fact. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. It was very exciting.
I was, I read the news sometimes, you know, like an old
(07:13):
person on, on an actual newspaper.
This one was online and I, I believe it was the Wall Street
Journal. So and, and don't quote me on
that, but so I don't know if thesource is 100% accurate, but
national parks are run by government employees, right?
So or you know, the government pays national parking employees.
So national parks are supposed to be closed in a government
(07:35):
shutdown. I read an article that was
stating there is an influx this week of homeless people going
into Yosemite National Park. And yesterday there was like 100
or 200 BASE jumpers that it hiked to the top of Half Dome
and like, had this whole BASE jumping party.
Wow. Which is illegal to do.
(07:55):
Yeah. So if you, I think if you base
jump off of Half Dome and you get caught, it's like a pretty
significant fine. Oh yeah, no fines going out
right now. If you're a BASE jumper, this is
your window. Chance.
Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. It's really interesting.
I mean it, you know, this is another random tangent we
probably haven't ever talked about on this on this podcast.
(08:17):
But you know, growing up in Utah, we have 5 national parks
and you know, we were a very outdoorsy family.
We haunted and fished and spent a lot of time camping in
national parks. We take our daughters, you know,
to southern Utah and go to national parks every year.
And it's just, it's crazy to think that that whole machine,
(08:37):
you know, will shut down for some undecided period of time.
You know, this last year we signed up my oldest daughter for
this, like, you know, kind of adventure day with a, with a, a,
it was like a tour guide essentially at Zion National
Park. And they go and they get this
little book and they have, you know, 20 things that they're
supposed to accomplish over the course of the day, like finding
(08:59):
a piece of litter and picking itup.
And then they learn about, you know, how that impacts
everything. And, and they had this section
talking about, you know, the economics of a National Park and
if people aren't working, what that could do to the National
Park in terms of maintenance. Yeah, that's why when you were
first telling me that story earlier, I was thinking like
something was happening with theanimals, like it was just gonna
(09:21):
go wild in the National Park, but.
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, but you know, it's.
Probably so much more than that.Yeah, it's probably, really, I
mean, there's probably a lot to lot to do and we've gotten
storms, you know, so if they're not there maintaining roads and
all that kind of stuff, who knows what could happen.
Now I'm scared because I am actually going to a National
Park this weekend. I'm going to Olympic in
(09:43):
Washington, so. Well, maybe not if it's closed.
I, I did check the site, it is open, but who knows, I will
report back next week on what that looks like.
But yeah, now I'm slightly terrified mainly.
I mean, last week we talked about bugs.
Oh yeah. Now I'm I'm it's, it's hitting
(10:04):
me that potentially there could be like animals running wild and
that could get a little I've. Never been to that National
Park. Yeah.
So it's it's Washington state. I mean, there's like deer and
elk and I mean, maybe a bear or two.
Yeah. But that's.
It but the National the the the Park Service aren't protecting
humans from. Animals, yeah.
But if something happens, you kind of have a good, good
(10:26):
resource that maybe you wouldn'thave.
Just take bear spray. Yeah, no big deal.
Yeah, I actually, you know, growing up in the mountains,
bears don't scare me. Yeah, even like Cougars or
mountain lions don't scare me. Moose are the scariest.
OK. Yeah, like a a Mama moose in her
calf. If you get in between those two,
it's it's over. Game over.
(10:47):
Yeah, they are angry, angry, angry.
And they're huge. I don't think there's going to
be Moose up there. Maybe there are?
All right, well, I will do that research, I will report back,
and I will avoid all moose. Yeah, moose.
Keep your Yeah, keep your distance from the moose.
Yeah, OK. So national parks are, are, are
(11:07):
shut down. Government really isn't
affecting us unless it's maybe affecting buyers.
What else is new in, in the world of, of brokerage?
I mean, you know, we've got all this crazy news about, you know,
I, I guess essentially the largest real estate brokerage
consolidation that we've seen. You know, I, I was, I was
(11:27):
talking through that actually, and I was fact checking at one
point Century 21 actually had the number of agents that that
Compass in anywhere real estate would had and they, they
crumbled, right. So it's kind of interesting.
I mean it will. Will, will Compass crumble in
the next 10 years by trying to do this deal?
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because I think, you know, we've
(11:51):
been talking about the the battle between Compass and
Zillow and the listings. And you know, there's, there's a
big argument that Compass is doing this just to kind of cover
themselves with their listing database because if they
continue to attack Zillow and potentially Zillow says, OK, no
more, we're not going to be showing any Compass listings on
(12:14):
our our site anymore. That I mean, that could put that
will take them down. Like there's, you can't stay at
the, the brokerage that if it doesn't feed on Zillow, the
consumers are using Zillow, not Compass.
So, so I think, you know, with Compass taking more listings
potentially there, they could beprepping for something like that
(12:39):
where it would be really, reallydifficult for Zillow to come out
and say, you know, not taking Sotheby's listings, not taking
Caldwell Banker and, and compasslistings.
I mean, that would that would also potentially tank Zillow.
So if they don't have all the listings, I don't think any of
that's going to happen to be honest, because, you know,
(13:00):
knowing the way that Zillow operates their, that's not their
mentality. It's more about empowering the
consumer to make the best decision.
And, you know, say what you willabout them, they have created an
amazing site that the consumer loves, you know, and trusts and
wants to use. So, so, yeah, I mean, I don't, I
(13:20):
don't think that that's happening.
But, but you know, I mean, I, I think as we talked about last
week, I'm not completely sold that the deal is actually going
to go through because, you know,I guess I mean they could be
seeing something we're not seeing, you know, I'm sure they
are. Yeah, but they gotta be thinking
through. It yeah, but but yeah,
(13:43):
financially it doesn't seem to make a ton of sense 2.
And a half billion dollars of debt, that's a lot and.
Not just that, I mean what's really interesting about the
real estate industry is that you're working with all
independent contractors. So there's no guarantee that,
you know, by 2020, end of 2026, which they're saying this is
going to happen, that any of these places will have any
(14:06):
agents left, you know, and, and.If we have anything to say
about. It Yeah, exactly why would you
go there I actually it's funny Ihad an agent call me yesterday
and tell me you know that made the transition to innovate
somewhat recently Yeah came fromDouglas Elliman, but was
previously at Compass as well and I I'm not asking anything I
(14:29):
mean I, I will take the feedbackyou know good, bad.
Yeah. It was all very positive for us
and it was really just about about kind of that massive,
massive delay for pretty much everything in a big company
where, you know, with us, it's and this isn't to just like to
(14:51):
innovate Horn, but I think the bigger a company gets, the more
removed you are from the realityof what's happening boots on the
ground. And and so, you know, I mean,
we're we're going to be there someday, but I think, you know,
right now where we are, we're really, really involved.
(15:11):
We have a pulse on the market. We have a pulse of what's going
on with the agents. We talk about it every week.
And I think that's important. That's more important for most
people than just having that name, you know, so.
Yeah. I mean, the, the bigger the
organization gets, you know, thefurther away from understanding
the way that a transaction actually flows and like, and the
(15:33):
further away from what the agentinside the brokerage needs to be
successful on a daily basis, youjust continue to get further
away from those things. So by definition, your decision
making, unless the people funneling the information to you
are perfect, continues to probably get worse.
I mean, it's, it's an interesting deal because they
will end up, if it closes and the retention stays strong,
(15:56):
they'll have 10%, I think of thetotal licensed agents in the
United States. That's not correlated directly
to the total number of deals that those agents represent, but
I mean, it could go a lot of different directions.
Yeah. So, yeah, I'm excited.
I mean, we'll, we'll, we'll keeptalking.
We'll see what happens. I mean, I, I think overall it's
good for us. Like we, we see it as a great
(16:19):
opportunity because I think, youknow, that brand is not for
everyone. I think the consumer doesn't
know that brand as much in the industry.
We know Compass, you know, but, but the consumer doesn't really
know, you know, so, so for us, it's making waves.
(16:39):
But realistically, you know, we,we could, we'll more than likely
capitalize on all of the waves in the industry.
And I think you touched on something really important.
We're going to have our directorof marketing on here next week.
So I really feel that's going tobe a really good one because he
is amazing, not just on the the marketing side, but with
(17:00):
technology. And I think that was something
that we were talking about quitea bit.
He's creating a lot of new systems that are really exciting
for us. But the reason why they're so
good is because at heart, he's areal estate agent, you know, and
he's put teams together, Yeah, to to create some really great
(17:21):
tech. And I think that, you know,
that's where once you start bringing in middle management
and then, you know, all the things that come with running a
huge company, you have to do it.You kind of lose that, that
piece, you know? Yeah.
One quick note on the on the government shutdown before we
transition. As we're sitting here, I'm
getting notifications and texts.A judge temporary block
(17:45):
temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving ahead
with mass firings of federal employees while the government
shutdown. So I think, you know, that's an
interesting update. They were, you know, my
understanding is that the Trump administration was trying to go
and push through some of this stuff while the shut.
Yeah, exactly. So I guess that's that's halted
that that could be bad news actually.
(18:07):
I mean that could delay the shutdown longer.
Yeah. Yeah.
So that's that's interesting. I guess we will see.
I do not feel that this is the time of year for this.
But yeah, at least in our industry doesn't feel like it.
I mean, hopefully some people are enjoying some time off,
maybe, you know, there's some benefit there.
(18:27):
Yeah. But yeah, we'll, we'll see.
So, OK, well, as we talk about all these wild updates in the in
the government, I think it's a great transition into our
segment, one of our favorite segments on the podcast Homes
Gone Wild. So if it's going to be this
week. I can't wait if you're a new
listener or subscriber because we have hundreds of new
(18:49):
listeners and subscribers every week right now and we love you
for that. Thank you very much.
We do a segment every week wherewe talk about a story that was
submitted. I shouldn't say we talk about
it. Sometimes we talk about it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Our listener base will submit a story.
I haven't seen it yet, but this is the story.
They send it in for whatever reason I've been designated to
(19:11):
read the stories for. Whatever reason, we know the
reason. It's likely because I find the
stories interesting in my the way that I read them is somewhat
silly. So we will we will jump right in
on this week, this week's episode of Holmes Come wild.
Oh boy, this is interesting. OK, so scene 1 the setup.
(19:36):
Oh, OK. I'd scheduled a showing for my
buyers. The seller told me if he was
home he'd let us in. If not, I could use the lock
box. We pull up to the house, I read
the doorbell once and again, no answer.
OK, no problem. I grab the key from the lock
box, unlock the door and step inside with my clients.
(19:57):
Scene 2. OK.
And I feel like we've had a similar setup before where it's
like, you know, you're going in,you're going into someone's
house, they could be there. Yeah, let's.
See. So it feels like this is called
the split. Scene 2, The house had two
wings. The buyer went left toward the
kitchen in the family room and Iwent to the right.
(20:17):
Sorry. I went to the right to turn on
the lights in the bedrooms. Everything felt normal, quiet
still until I opened the first door.
Scene 3 The discovery. I actually whoever submitted
this is doing a great job there.He was the seller, completely
(20:39):
naked, passed out on top of the bed.
For one terrifying second, I froze.
Was he just asleep or dead? My heart dropped.
Naked and passed out, Naked and afraid.
I think it's ATV show. Yeah.
Scene 4. Cut to scene 4.
The escape. It's very dramatic.
(21:01):
Trying to keep my cool, I spun around and rushed back down the
hall. Wait a second.
You didn't wake them up asking like did they check and use
this? I think I would have left too.
I don't think I'm touching any naked.
Throw something, throw your shoe.
Like the gal that left the shoe underneath the house.
Yeah, I run down. I rushed back down the hall.
Hey guys, let's check out the backyard first.
(21:23):
I said, forcing a smile while practically hurting them out the
front door. I don't want them scared for
life either by a naked guy or worse, a dead naked guy.
The scene, the check. Once the virus, once the virus
were safely outside, I went backin carefully and quietly.
I leaned over, checking for breathing.
(21:46):
I remember like when we had our first kid, we had our first
daughter, I remember being so terrified like that, you know,
she would fall asleep and not breathe.
So we'd have like the phone and all that stuff.
So I'm sure that's what they didwith.
The naked. Body, she did nothing.
But they didn't know. I'm saying that's what they did.
Yeah. The naked body, yeah.
(22:06):
Thankfully, well I don't know about this.
Thankfully he stirred. Turns out he was diabetic and it
passed out. While getting ready.
I ran into the kitchen, found some juice and helped him sit
up. Scene 6 The aftermath.
He came to embarrassed but grateful, wrapped in a blanket
and sniffing orange juice by buyers.
(22:26):
Yeah, they just had to pass on the home.
Can't really blame them. Some things you just can't see
those things. I'm telling you the life of A
real estate agent. I they're the the TV shows that
are out there, and they put all this extra unnecessary drama
like you don't even need it. Our lives are insane.
(22:49):
The things that we see at these properties are wild.
Yeah, I, I, I don't even understand.
I feel bad for the seller, he's getting ready.
Yeah. Just diabetic he passes out.
You know, I so personally, I think I would have probably
played the like, I don't think Iwould be leaning over him.
(23:11):
I don't think. I think I would have for sure
called 911 and I'd be like banging on maybe like the door.
Yeah. Making noise.
Hello. We're here.
Yeah. I don't think I'd be like naked
body, like hey Sir. We're trying to sell your house.
Yeah, so. But you know what a great
person, great story. Yeah, great story, great
(23:32):
storyteller, I think you know. Yeah, good thinking.
Go get the orange juice. They had their head on their
shoulders. It was very good.
Yeah, Bravo. It was a great episode of Homes
Gone Wild, and that was a wild one.
That is good. Yeah, I mean, I have to say I
haven't, I I've heard of like multiple naked stories now.
I think we've had a few that have been submitted, but I'm I'm
(23:54):
grateful that I've never actually seen that myself or had
to experience that myself, but. So we have we have an agent I.
Was like well I'm not bad lucky.We, we have, I'm actually very
excited for this. I'm not going to give anything
away, but we have an agent at Innovate that reached out to me
and, you know, for a different reason, but said, Oh my gosh,
(24:15):
your animation clip that you putout was so good.
I need to come on and tell my story of this one specific
buyer. So this this agents worked with
us for a while. We used to generate off market
leads a lot at by White House and we would, we would, you
know, send an advisor into the home to meet with the seller.
And so I'll, I'll cut there, butthis agent would like to come on
(24:39):
and tell the story. And it can be animated.
And it is an incredible 1. OK.
That's where I'm going to leave it.
This specific agent gets to share the rest, but it's going
to be juicy and fun. And then we got to animate it
because it's going to be great. Now that you say that, it's
really funny. We've never told this story.
I've alluded to it, but we do have a really great story that
(25:03):
has circulated about a farm animal that took a listing
agreement out of the hands of one of our So I don't, I haven't
heard this. Oh, it's so good.
Have I heard it? But that's another one that
needs to be animated. A farm may have told you.
Like the dog ate my homework. Yes.
That's not. Real.
It is real. Do we trust this person?
Yes, 100%. Was it you?
(25:25):
It wasn't me, but it was Tustin and Tustin.
This is not going to make this up.
Yeah, yeah, but a farm animal, it'll just.
Wait, just wait. We're going to get them in just
to tell this story because. It's so good.
Goodness. Yeah, we'll have them submit it
so you can read it. All right.
OK. Well, I think we should pivot to
(25:48):
the primary section of our segment this week, which is what
agents can do now to to prepare for 2026.
So we're not talking about buyers and sellers, we're
talking you as a real estate agent.
And we know that we have so manylisteners out there that are
real estate agents, not necessarily just our brokerage,
more constantly thinking about, you know, what can what can we
(26:10):
do as a brokerage to get our agents into the best position
to, you know, have a successful year.
And we're always getting feedback of, you know, what
could agents do? Yeah, inside or outside of our
brokerage. And so this is this is great.
You want to just, yeah, trade off, go back and forth you want.
Oh yeah, to kick it off, build avideo and visual content
library. So start producing short market
(26:33):
updates, neighborhood walkthroughs.
We talked about that on our podcast last week with our guest
Robert Mack and Tanya Mack, justabout how that completely
changed their business doing these home tours and lifestyle
content for every listing, mandatory video walkthroughs,
(26:53):
high quality photos. And then keep those assets.
So, you know, you don't have to use everything, but you can
scatter that, especially when you're slow as an agent and
you're just like, I've, I've hadso many agents that are like, I
just don't know what to post about right now.
But but say I mean you, you havethe content, bank the content
(27:17):
and use it later on social media.
Yeah, great feedback. Number 2 is strengthen SEO and
long term organic content. So create hyper logical or sorry
should be hyper local blog content on your website.
Neighborhood guides what to expect in this specific zip code
in 2026 and then use long tail keywords homes for sale in this
(27:42):
neighborhood in 2026 to capture full demand.
And then, you know, think about optimizing every listing page
and agent profile for search. So fast load times, mobile
optimization and then keyword rich descriptions.
I've been seeing so much more ofthat even on Instagram lately
where agents are just really going in on specific markets.
(28:05):
It's the same agents, but they're they're really, really
targeting specific zip codes andspecific areas versus that broad
approach, which is kind of what we were talking about also on
last week's podcast past where, you know, our guests were
sharing that initially they kindof took more of a broad
approach, but as soon as they honed in on their specific
(28:28):
neighborhood, they saw those results tick up.
Yeah, there's a, there's a localneighborhood in Orange County
that there's, there's one brokerage that really owns like,
I don't know, 40 or 50% of the listings, but they, they do such
a good job. I mean, if, if somebody's doing
a, a yard sale, they'll make theyard sale signs.
They do, I think a like ice cream truck every weekend for
(28:52):
the kids. They sponsor all the holiday
events, you know, the 4th of July, they're out there, you
know, doing a parade and all thestuff for the kids.
And so the, the brokerage or thebrand around it does such a good
job. If, if somebody's moving in that
small little zip code, it's the very first thing they think of,
of course. So it's, yeah, it's very, it's
it's very, very, very good advice.
(29:13):
OK, systemize and automate your communication funnel.
So build a qualification funnel pre screening leads so that you
only engage high intent leads. Create a drip e-mail or text
sequences to nurture leads over months not just days.
(29:36):
And then use your CRM to track engagement and trigger
follow-ups at the right times. I cannot tell you.
I think a perfect example of this.
Last year I went to that Queen Mary Dark Harbor.
Oh, yeah. Oh, man.
I have been getting so many textmessages from them.
And like, leading up to Halloween, I no joke.
(29:57):
Like, it was like every week they're like, have you gotten
your tickets yet leading up to October?
Yeah. And now, yeah, all the time, but
you know it, it didn't make me think though, where I'm like,
I'm not going to go again, but wasn't a good thing.
I mean, not really my thing, butbut thinking about that like as
(30:18):
a real estate agent, it's the same with any business you're
in. It's about that follow up and
about once you capture that lead, setting those systems to
actually nurture that lead. And in any business, that's
where one one person is going tobe set apart from the next.
It's all about that long term follow up.
(30:39):
So yeah. Yeah, I, this one, you know,
seems very relevant. I am in a YPO chapter locally
and this year I took the position of running membership
and, and so I, I get to meet a lot of entrepreneurs or people
that are wanting to be in a chapter and I met this specific
candidate. I would say, I won't, you know,
(31:00):
say names or even industries, but it was an incredible story.
He talked about how, you know, post college, you know, it's a
longer, you know, kind of degreethat he was, he was chasing and
that was the industry was heading down, but struggle for
two years really trying to figure out what he was going to
do in life because you're just working on files, but had done a
really good job capturing leads and, and, you know, fostering
(31:23):
those leads. And what ended up happening is
that this lead from two years prior finally came to fruition
for him and he made enough money.
And that's one case to start hisbusiness.
And now he runs one of the largest businesses in this space
in the Western Hemisphere. And he attributes it all back to
that one lead, fostering it, nurturing it.
(31:45):
Two years later, it converts andand now he's in that position.
And so, you know, to me and, and, and, and in this kind of an
industry in real estate, you never know what that lead's
going to be worth. I mean, it could be a $10
million listing and that could change your whole year.
Yeah. Yeah.
Or more in Orange County. Yeah, Yeah.
Yeah. No, it can happen.
And it really, I mean, I think what's so powerful about that is
(32:05):
you'd take that with any industry you're in.
That's it. Yeah.
OK, OK #4 double down on personal touch and client
experience. Even in a digital world,
personal calls, texts still movethe needle.
Keep that practice after transaction.
Ask for reviews and make them part of your marketing.
Social proof works in 2025. I agree with that.
(32:28):
Create memorable client experiences.
Closing gifts, check in small gestures that lead to referrals.
This one is to me, you know, similar to every other industry,
I mean, if you, if you do the work to acquire a customer that
is your most valuable asset and,and they should be your, your
(32:49):
highest converting form of lead generation through referral.
And, you know, we're in the service industry as well, you
know, at the lending side and in, in the pest control
industry. And I, I can't speak high enough
of, of small things that like you do the smallest thing and
then you ask for the referral, it comes.
Yeah. And that converts every time.
Yeah, we, we had a mastermind panel in our La Jolla office
(33:14):
yesterday and one of our agents was talking about closing gifts
and how when you personalize that, like what a difference
that makes. So he had there was a family and
young kids. He we ended up bringing the kids
bikes. How cool is that?
Yeah, And, and you know, it, it makes such a difference.
(33:38):
Like he he was talking in particular about listening to
your clients and really getting to know them versus just that
surface. So I think that's how you create
a memorable experience and that's how you set yourself
apart from the rest. Yeah, Yeah.
I mean, you just brought something up that I think we
should double click on one more time.
Listening to your clients. When you interact with somebody
(33:59):
and you transact with with them,they're going to tell you
everything you need to know to to be able to get them to be
your fiercest advocate. So if you're just listening to
what your clients needs are, youknow, that closing gift could be
incredibly customized, you know,for something that's usable.
I bought a lot of real estate and I've gotten everything from
like a $0.50 cheese board, like literally probably $0.50 on Etsy
(34:22):
or something, which you know, you grab and it's like a wow,
thank you for doing that. I actually would rather that
they save the money than give methat, you know, but but I've
also just gotten, I mean, I think back to it, the the
highest impact item that I've ever received as a gift was
actually just a letter. There was no gift, but it was
handwritten and they just explained how much doing
(34:44):
business with me meant for them,right.
And, and I, I think about them all the time when I, when I go
to transact in the future, if I can use them, I will use them
every time because they sat down, they took the time, they
wrote a letter out and it came to me and it was like, wow.
I mean, that's that's better than a bottle of wine or a plate
of cheese or something. Yeah, yeah.
OK. Test and adopt new technologies
(35:05):
and tools. So try AI driven marketing
tools, use virtual tours, 3D walkthroughs, AR tools to
differentiate your listings and then track emerging tools in
Proptech. Being on the forefront can give
you the competitive edge. So I think again, alluding to
(35:27):
next week's episode, we're goingto talk a lot about AI and how
that it, it honestly, I mean, I think 95% of the population,
probably 99% of the population is not really, you know, using
it the way it should be. I mean, I, I don't know if I
(35:47):
told you, but I remember the I met this girl that was telling
me she asks ChatGPT what she should eat for dinner, where I'm
like, OK, I mean, that's something, but that's probably
not the best use. And there are so many things
that you can actually do with that.
And so our our guest next week, I'm super excited about to, to
(36:09):
get out to the group because he built an app for a business in
two weeks using ChatGPT. So it's super, super exciting
the things that you can do. So dig in you.
Know it's great. I'm excited that I get to talk
about this one. Track key metrics and iterate
(36:31):
based on data data, data data isthe point.
So it says start tracking monthly and quarterly leads
generated versus conversion ratesource of lead, whether that's
SEO, paid ads, referrals, whatever your you know, your
lead funnels are your cost for that specific lead average days
on market for your specific listing.
And then how how satisfied your clients are.
(36:53):
You know, I get the opportunity at Innovate every once in a
while to help mentor newer agents that are coming into the
business. And in every one of those
mentorship meetings, everyone asks how I am in the position
that I'm in today. And my explanation is going all
the way back to 2005 when I wentout and went door to door and
(37:14):
sold home security systems in Cleveland, OH.
And I was not the most sophisticated communicator.
I was not a great salesperson, but I was maniacal about
understanding my data. So if I went out for 8 hours or
12 hours, how many doors did I knock?
How many conversations did I have of those conversations that
I had, how many converted all the way to the end where I was
(37:37):
able to explain my value proposition and then how many
deals did I acquire? And I think that specific focus
of looking at your conversion metrics on a daily basis allowed
for me at that stage in my life to cut time and wasted energy
out and put that time into high production areas.
(37:57):
And that separated my performance from my competition.
And I get the opportunity to share that example with agents
every week. And it, it's shocking to me how
little people think about this. They, they build in a beautiful
plan. I'm going to go and door knock
for four hours. I'm going to cold call.
I'm going to spend $1000 a monthon, you know, postcards or do
(38:19):
these things. And then I'm going to cross my
fingers and hope it works. And, and, and you know, maybe
that will work for somebody, buttracking all of those things are
going to, it's just going to build a blueprint of where you
need to take action to see better results, right?
And that's not easy to do. I mean, at Innovate, we have
(38:40):
systems for all that. So it's already built.
Yeah, I and that's what I was going to say.
I mean, I think that that is such a an underrated kind of
value that we don't talk about very often is that we actually
really want to help agents builda business.
Yeah. Whereas, you know, most
(39:01):
brokerages and and really most agents are, as you said, just
kind of hoping for the results. Yeah, or they, I know, like,
hey, I need to, you know, I probably got to sell three homes
this year and I'll be fine, you know, But I, I think it's rare
that people are having those specific conversations outside
of maybe hiring a coach, you know, that will sit down with
(39:23):
them. And that's something that, you
know, we talk about all the timeon how to how to actually build
a business, not just a like fun side hobby, you know?
Yeah. To me, this, this one like when
we talked through what an agent can do for 2026, I I think you
could kind of consolidate all these things down these six key
(39:44):
areas into a few basic things. Number one, you know, be curious
about your business, the way youspend your time in your
business. I, I always think about the
Pareto effect. Generally, 20% of your actions
are going to deliver 80% of the results. 80% of your actions are
(40:04):
going to produce 20% of the results if you can measure that
properly. You just cut the 80% it's not
working and spend as much time in the areas that that you know,
are working. And, and, but you can't do that
if you're not curious. And I would say curious without
judgment. You know, look at the
information. Don't, don't tell yourself a lie
of what you think is happening. Just look at the information.
(40:26):
So I would say #1 curiosity, but#2 you know, commit.
Like, you know, I think you, youbrought it up.
You know, there are a lot of people that maybe look at real
estate as something on the side.And if they strike gold and
they're going to go all in, that's probably not the right
industry for you. That.
And I would even challenge you to look yourself in the mirror
and say, you know, are you goingto find happiness anywhere in
(40:47):
your career if that's the way you kind of step in?
Yeah. It's like if you're going to do
it, go. I mean, this is a beautiful
blueprint. I mean, happy to publish a go
whether you're with us or somebody else, like be curious
and go execute. Yeah, we, it came up on the
panel yesterday when we asked one of our top agents, you know,
what's, what's advice that you would give to a new agent coming
(41:10):
in the business And she said it she's like, you have to go all
in. It can't be a part time thing.
It that's never going to work. I haven't we haven't seen it
work with anyone. It's you know, you've got to put
all of your effort in. And but what she did say is then
you're going to make sure when you are fighting for for every
dollar and you don't have anything to fall back on, like
(41:34):
you're going to learn what you're made of, you know, and
what's going to happen in the industry, you're either going to
make it or you're not. So it's a really great way to
know whether you're going to make it or you're not going to.
So, and you know that that is not real estate isn't for
everyone. So maybe you're not going, maybe
you decide, hey, this isn't for me.
But but dipping the toe in it just never works.
(41:58):
No, Yeah, recipe for faster, yeah.
OK. All right.
So anything else in closing? I mean, we've got some exciting
guests coming up through the endof the year here.
We do have to probably start thinking about 2026 playing.
We do, yeah. You know that's on the agenda,
so. What else for you in the last
week or looking for next week? What are you excited about?
(42:20):
What's What's keeping you up at night?
You know, I think that we're constantly talking about the
market and I know that we that'sthe one thing that we can't
control. We can't control the market.
So all we are focused on at all times is what we can control and
(42:41):
that's our agents, the opportunities that we have
coming in, the deals that we're doing.
So I'm really excited because just over the past month we've
launched a new kind of lead program for our agents that's
going really, really well. And you know, it's the same
story as always. It's about how to create
(43:02):
opportunities for agents versus just, you know, being a
brokerage that they hang their license at.
So I'm excited for those opportunities.
We always have great things coming because it feels like
we're constantly questioning, we're curious about what we're
doing in business and revisitingand making and improving.
(43:25):
So yeah, I think, I think next, next week we'll have some really
great updates. That's exciting.
Yeah. It's kind of a setup question
because what's keeping me up at night is actually this list, You
know, what, what can an agent doto be better in 2026?
We were talked throughout, you know, throughout the episode
today about compass and all these other things that are
(43:46):
happening in the world, in the market and, and everything.
To me actually, it's a really simple decision.
You can be successful in 2026 bycoming to innovate.
I know that that sounds a littlebit biased true.
It's. True, it's funny like the people
that do come and the people thatwe talked to, we've talked about
it before like what we're doing really blows people away.
(44:08):
So you know, I don't want to make this all about innovate,
but man, I, I do feel our agent that did that we were talking
about earlier that recently transitioned over.
I mean he's been in the industry20 years and he's like, I've
never seen support like this. So I think all that means to me
is we're on the right track and I'm excited for more people to
(44:30):
learn about it so. Awesome.
Well let's close there. Thank you very much for
listening or watching whatever you're doing.
Please check us out every week. If you have not hit the
subscribe button on the screen right now, please stop and do
it. It helps us out a lot.
It helps us reach everybody. If you haven't shared this with
friends, family members or Co workers, please do that and
(44:52):
check back next week for our newepisode.
Thank you.
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