November 8, 2024 • 33 mins
PART 1.
Join us on location at Kate Martin's where we talk real estate and business with our special guest, Jenna Ferris of Ferris Realty Group. Originally helmed by the spirited Irish immigrant Kate Martin in the 1800s, this venue has evolved into an iconic local hotspot, brimming with stories and charm. Kate Martin's very own shares the remarkable transformation of this establishment, which, even amidst the challenges of the pandemic, has retained its historic essence and community connection. Listen as we explore the delightful contrasts between the sophisticated craft cocktails of Kate Martin and the laid-back vibes of Occidental, all while honoring its team's camaraderie and heritage-loving spirit.
Switching gears, Through this engaging conversation, we celebrate the powerful bonds that shape our paths, including the pivotal influence of Susan Ferris, a mentor who significantly impacted Matt's career journey. This personal connection is a testament to the profound importance of relationships in crafting our life stories.
Finally, we explore Jenna Ferris's dynamic path through the world of real estate, a journey marked by determination, family ties, and a touch of innovation. Jenna's perseverance sees her excel in the industry, building a client-focused team driven by collaboration and integrity. Her story highlights the need for professionalism and accountability. As we celebrate Jenna's remarkable success, we also revel in the excitement of her brother's engagement and the vibrant family dynamics that fuel her journey. Join us for an episode rich in history, heartfelt connections, and inspiring career stories.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Stay
Modern with Murray.
Today we're actually in KateMartin, we're actually here on
site with Jenna Ferris of FerrisRealty Group, but first we
wanted to just talk with Devin alittle bit about this unique
location.
So I've actually been toOccidental quite a few times.
My brother and his fiancee,Michelle have affinity for that
place.
They either go there beforethey go out to eat or they go
(00:21):
out to eat and then go there,but they usually always end up
there somehow.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Oh yeah, nice little hidden gem, especially
Occidental.
You know, being in that backalley, you know Cape Martin,
we're just kind of hidden inplain sight.
You know there's no signagereally that shows you where we
are, except for the vacancy sign, and you know it's always fun
to watch people try to look forthe place and they're searching
on their phones.
You get a nice little viewingwindow out here to see everybody
.
People watch a little bit Ikind of jumped over it.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Tell us a little bit about the location, your history
, everything.
It's kind of unique.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, so we've been here for a little over four
years going on five years.
We opened up January of 2020.
Great time to open up.
Just got the ball rolling alittle bit Then I had to shut
down for COVID and everything,but we're still here.
You know we've got a lot ofgreat people that have been
coming in supporting us.
You know, even through pandemic, and you know we wouldn't be
(01:11):
here if it wasn't for all youguys.
But, yeah, so this placeactually was a saloon called the
Occidental Saloon back in 1890.
It was managed and ran by KateMartin herself.
That's is uh, managed and ranby kate martin herself.
(01:32):
That's awesome, uh, yeah, soshe was an irish immigrant.
She came to nebraska in about1867 when she was about 23 years
old, uh, got married to herfirst husband and they owned, uh
, the saint charles hotel, wherewax buffalo is right now.
It was a three-story hotel withabout 30 different rooms in it.
Uh, the original bar wasactually in the basement.
Nice, yeah, they kept getting introuble with the law for
selling booze on Sundays.
Couldn't do it back then.
So, to compromise, actually,where we're sitting at, it used
(01:53):
to be just an alleyway.
So, to compromise, they put aroof on it, sealed it up and
made it the Occidental Saloon.
That's crazy.
We all love our history.
My grandpa was a historyteacher.
Keith loves his history.
One of the owners, even anadult, jay was a teacher.
We just love the history.
(02:13):
So that's why we kept thenamesake of Kate Martins.
She was one of the first femaleproprietors in Lincoln and then
we wanted to keep that namesakeand then keep the namesake of
the Occidental as well.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So yeah, yeah's awesome history.
It's funny how the irish alwaysseem to stumble into alcohol.
I'm an irish so I think irishalcohol it always my last name
is neil I'm definitely irishwell, no, that's awesome.
So have you been here since2020?
Uh?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
yeah, I came in right after we reopened the first
time.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So yeah, I've been here since 2020 how'd you get,
did you know the owners or how'dyou stumble upon it?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, I've worked with them at previous bars.
Uh, and you know it's kind offunny.
Keith and Jay I've known Jayfor about 25 years.
His cousins grew up with thesame high school as me.
Uh, keith and his Keith's momactually taught in adjacent
classrooms with my grandpa foryears and years up in North Fork
.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So yeah, so you're essentially in one building Yep.
You got Cape Martin facingnorth, yep, right and to the
meters.
And then you got Occidental onthe south, on the south side,
yep Alley, so to speak.
Is that what you call?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
it yeah, yep, the back alley by the Schwartz
building yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
And you know, if our listeners know that Tom, we got
Tom here watching me.
We got his Tomahawks right tothe gosh, right to the east,
just a couple doors down.
So yeah, just walk to Tomahawksand then stumble to your west a
little bit and come in for somedrinks.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Or vice versa.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
you know, Sometimes you do both, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, you got to get that liquid courage.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
There you go.
But so, Kate, give us thedifference between Kate Martin
and Occidental Kate Martin.
We got crafted cocktails thatare reading through your book
here.
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah.
So, kate Martin, you know wefocus on craft cocktails.
We've got a couple of wines,but you know, no beer.
Focus on the craft cocktails.
All of our cocktails are namedafter famous Nebraskans.
That's awesome.
Either dead or alive Our fallmenu.
Right now we're doing bands,indie bands, out of Nebraska.
So we've got Cherub, we've gotCursive, bright Eyes, just
trying to find something new.
Give everybody a little bit ofthat Nebraska love.
(04:13):
Did I see a Bud Crawford inthere?
Oh yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
How long has that been in there?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Oh, for the whole time Since we opened.
He's always been on there.
He's one of our favorites.
One hell of a guy.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
He just gets overlooked so much as far as one
of the premier athletes in theworld.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean pound for pound.
He's got to be one of the bestfighters to ever fight.
I could take him.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I was kidding.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I said that one time and I woke up.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Remove that from the air if he's going to listen.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I'm texting him right now.
So if he's going to listen, I'mtexting him right now.
So, yes, focus up on the craftcocktail side up here, and then
you know Occidental.
It's more neighborhood.
You know local bar beers, shots.
They've got a dartboard, acouple TVs, moscow mules with
handle, bend copper mugs out ofO'Neill no way, really, oh yeah,
that is so cool.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
That is so cool.
Yeah, the ones from o'neill.
So I have a really good buddytyler hipkey, that's from
o'neill.
Okay, that uh lived in lincoln,moved back to o'neill to stay
with his family a little bitwhile he was going to school,
invited me back there for thesaint patrick's.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh, what a great time .
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And they have a huge thing and he was working for
that company that makes the mugs.
That's what he did all day.
Yep, yeah, he was saying forthat company that makes the mugs
.
That's what he did all day.
Yeah, he was saying they werelike $100, $150 a pop, but he
said I literally hand make them.
Yep, they're cool.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yep, they're so cool, it's always a good time, yeah.
And then he said Occidental,more beer, all canned beer.
And then they got a niceoutdoor area, dartboard TVs.
I like to call it like a littlehipster dive bar, where it's a
dive bar but it's a classy divebar.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, no, I like it Well, devin.
Thank you, We'll let you getback to serving everybody here.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Thank you for opening this Thank you for the Murray
crew.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
We're all Irish man, but no, thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you for opening.
Jenna Matt Welcome, Thank you.
You know what I just thoughtabout while you were sitting
here staring at me.
I was like she probably thinksI suck because you come from
this world.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I do.
I did have a radio show.
I do frequently do radio, yeah,but I'd like to encourage you
and not knock you down.
Today it's a Friday, theweather's lovely.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So once the air shuts off, you suck no.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I'm proud of you.
It's like karaoke, right.
So I sing.
A lot of people don't sing wellwhen they go to karaoke, but
are you having fun?
That's all I care about, that'sall it matters.
And I love this buildingbecause my office is in this
building, so between occidentaland kate martin and tomahawks,
literally I just I just bouncearound.
So if you ever want to find me,this is this is, this is my.
(06:43):
Do you have a cotton back?
A what?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
A cot like a little bunk bed.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Oh, a cot in back I thought he said a cotton back
and I said I have no idea whatthat means, matt.
So I don't know if I shouldanswer yes to look cool or no,
because I have no idea what thatmeans.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
No, but let's start over, I do look good, just pouch
.
Tell us about yourself yourself, personally, professionally,
where you're from.
I know you have a cool story,so let me.
Let me.
Let me start real fast, okay,so I've had your mom on, yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Oh yeah, you have yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yes, I've had her on and I mentioned her in about
every other episode, if notevery episode.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Listen, she's good yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
She is so because, just I've said it before, if you
guys heard, susan Ferris was myfirst experience with probably
a realtor as a builder.
She sold my first house andbecame my mentor for the next 17
, 18 years, and so I talk a lotabout her.
She's my confidant whenever I'mgoing to make a big financial
decision, and I could go on andon.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
And so then I met you .
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah.
We're kind of like brother andsister.
Now because of it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, really.
And so, yeah, take it fromthere.
So I just wanted to kind ofgive an introduction to our
listeners of how you fit intothis whole puzzle.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah for sure.
So I went to high school inLincoln and then I left and I'm
one of the people I'm one of thevery few that I know from my
high school that left and I leftfor almost 15 years.
So I went everywhere, I dideverything.
My wonderful parents were sosupportive because, I swear to
you, they have no idea what todo with me To this day.
We have limited things incommon, but they're so
(08:13):
supportive and they always feltlike, jenna, you should go and
try the things and see theplaces and meet the people and
live wherever you want.
Want.
And I really appreciated thatbecause after I had done all
those things and lived inOrlando, st Louis, nashville,
new York, like all these places,I still chose to come back and
I never thought that I would dothat ever and I have three
(08:34):
brothers and they won't comeback and that's my only fight in
life with them, but whatever.
But I came back because after Ihad gone a bunch of places, I
was a touring artist, I was atour manager, I worked for
Apple's business developmentteam in Manhattan, I worked for
luxury retail.
Anyway, I've just done a hugediverse spectrum of things, but
(09:00):
after I was leaving Nashville.
I really thought you know whatmy mom has done such an
incredible job and I think thatI would really like to come back
to Lincoln and work with herand the person my significant
other at the time.
He was all for coming toLincoln, which was interesting
because he was a Florida boy.
So, I really didn't expect that.
But when I first called her andI said, hey, mom, I want to
(09:23):
come home to Lincoln and sellreal estate with you, she said
absolutely not.
She flat out told me Nope,that's a terrible idea, you
should not do that, you shouldnot come here.
And I had to take a second.
And then I said, oh, okay, well, why?
And she, just because of howclose she and I are, she had
never wanted to have thepressure of am I going to make
(09:45):
sure that Jenna has a paycheck,because real estate is so
unpredictable at times.
Right, the market is alwayschanging and you never know if
you're going to be able tosupport your family.
And I was trying to start afamily and she just felt like I
needed a lot more stability thanthat.
And I thought about it for Idon't know, probably like 24
hours, and I called her back andI said well, here's the thing.
(10:07):
I'm going to move to Lincoln,I'm going to do real estate.
I can either come and do itwith you or I will do it
elsewhere and be your competitor, but that would never happen.
So, uh, so that's what I did Imoved to Nash or I moved from
Nashville here, and in themornings I did the radio morning
show at froggy 98 and had agreat time doing that.
(10:30):
And then I would go all day fromnine to six every day.
I worked at STEM gallery, whichis a floral and gift shop, and
then after that I would go toreal estate classes and then
after that at night I would doall of my mom's marketing things
.
So I mean, it was like a and Ihad to wake up at like 4.45 in
the morning every day.
(10:50):
So I'm 4.45 in the morninguntil nine or 10 at night, but
that's what I had to do to getmy license, and I got my license
in July of 2016.
And yeah, you know.
So now I've done this for eightyears and it's been very
interesting.
Of all the different thingsthat I've done, I really think
it has prepared me so well forreal estate, because every
(11:12):
single transaction is sodifferent.
You have to be nothing but aproblem solver, and I tell
people all day long I don't sellanything, I just manage
personalities, I manageexpectations and I fix problems.
That is the true breakdown orjob description of what we do.
And you know, beyond that, I'venow put together just an
incredible team and I reallylike what I do now I the only
(11:37):
piece of it that I miss is thecreativity part, because as a
singer and a performer, therereally isn't an opportunity to
be singing in houses or you know, but you still do right with
402?
Yeah, well, so a couple ofdifferent local bands, but, yeah
, lots of cover bands, lots ofthings like that.
I've recorded a bunch of things.
I still travel to do music andconsult on music projects and,
(11:59):
yeah, my little brother's inNashville, and so music will
always be a part of my life andit does pay me.
It just can't pay all of mybills because I have a super
expensive dog to support.
So anyway, Sidebar.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
When we took the company to Nashville, didn't we
tour A facility with yourbrother?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Probably Jackalope Brewing.
Yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
He gave us a tour of the plant.
It was awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Oh, he's so great.
His name is Grant.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And if you ever go to Nashville.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
He works at Jackalope , which is a really cool brewing
facility, and he's aprofessional guitarist there,
and he just got engaged thispast weekend Awesome, so yeah.
So I'm pretty pumped about thatfor him and I really like his
fiance, which is awesome,because I can't imagine if I
didn't.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
You couldn't say, if you didn't though.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I probably would, you probably would, I probably
wouldn't on a podcast, butthere's no way my brother
wouldn't know that up front.
So anyway, you know what?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
sucks, though, is okay.
This sounds morbid, hit me with.
You usually start out likingall of your in-laws and then
like, slowly over time I don'tknow if it's they start to not
like us, or the other way aroundRight, like.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I don't, I haven't experienced that.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, it happens in real life.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
So okay, so let me say I have three brothers, two
older and one younger, and mywhole life I just wanted a
sister, like my whole life.
And so I think my oldestbrother was seriously dating his
wife when I was about 16.
So I now have had these womenin my life for an extended
period of time.
And my little brother he's theyoungest and he'll be 37 when he
(13:39):
gets married, so she's cominginto our lives later.
But yeah, I don't know.
I should say I feel veryfortunate.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The other reason I mentioned, that is, I think that
it's not, not like it's thepulling in different directions
Once you get kids and it's we'regoing to do this for
Thanksgiving.
No, we need to do this.
And then it's like the in-lawsare kind of like well, my
family's just as important asyour family and we want
Thanksgiving at our house.
And then you get this multiplepersonalities in the same room
(14:09):
and it gets a little tricky oncein a while to manage.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
But I think that's probably with all family
dynamics.
I could imagine that, yeah, butno, we've been super fortunate,
very, very blessed, and I don'thave kids, so I don't have to
do the, you know, the back andforth.
I just really have my dog andhe goes where I go, so that
works out for me, the kids makeit tough because-.
I would think so.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I'm so easy.
It's like I wouldn't give ashit what I did.
But when you have kids, it'slike, well, this kid would
really like to go do this andyou have to stick up for them.
And then this kid would reallylike.
And then it's differenttraditions.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
So, like my family for Christmas, we spend the
entire day in our pajamas, notjoking.
The entire day.
My mom makes this awesomeChristmas dinner, or you know,
we get pancakes for breakfast,but every meal, all the things
served on China all day long inour pajamas and bathrobes.
We have a bathrobe bowl.
We play football in our pajamas.
And for Thanksgiving we weartrack suits, so I call it
(15:02):
tracksuit turducken day, becausethere's usually a turducken and
you have to wear a tracksuit toget admitted into.
Thanksgiving.
But yes, everybody has theirown traditions and I can imagine
kids have opinions andtherefore in-laws do so bless
you.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
So, ferris Realty Group, did it come about?
To be honest, I don't even know.
Did it come about because youwere going to join your mom's
team, or did she have it already?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
She did.
I love that.
You are a part of it and didnot know that I know.
I didn't know when it started, Ihaven't done my job, okay.
So my mom got her license in2008 and she started at a
different brokerage and causewe're at Remax now, right, and
she had just a couple differentpeople in and out that she
partnered with and things likethat, but it ended up that she
(15:48):
had more work than she couldhandle.
So then she started at the verybeginning of when people
started real estate teams Causethat's not, that's a newer
concept right In the last decadeor so.
So then she startedinvestigating how do I put
different people, how do Ipartner with them?
Are they just going to coverfor me when I'm on vacation
seeing grandkids, or are wegoing to be a general
(16:08):
partnership?
And, truthfully, she had reallygreat people she worked with,
but I don't think thesolidifying of a team structure
came along until I did, and sowe've had just a little bit of.
We've had two different peoplethat have come in and out since
I've been an agent, but now ourteam is up to 10 people, and so
(16:28):
that, to me, is really atestament to what she started,
right?
I tell people all the time yes,I have a lot of success and it
is because I was taught by thebest.
I very frequently get peoplewho think that I don't work and
they think, oh, it's just allyour mom's work.
And I just think to myself doyou know?
She's in Canada, she's not evenin the country.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
She's playing with grandkids.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, but I would never downplay how much her
mentorship, her education,influenced me.
So when I was, you know, twoyears in, there would be agents
that I met that had had alicense for the same amount of
time, but they had maybe 20deals behind them and I had 250
deals.
And that's only because everysingle deal she took I got to be
(17:14):
a part of, like a fly on thewall, I got to learn everything.
Yeah, there is no better way inreal estate.
You, you can't read contractsand learn.
You can't read contracts andlearn.
You can't see houses and learn.
You have to go through theprocess of what does a
transaction look like.
And so Ferris Realty Group nowexists at Remax Concepts, which
is a local real estate branch ofRemax.
(17:35):
And what I think is most uniqueabout our team is we have 10
different people.
One of them is a full-timelicensed assistant, but
everybody else is an agent.
But everybody does somethingdifferent, right?
So, like for you, example, youare the team resident that you
do building, you do roofing, youcan do renovations,
(17:58):
restorations.
So when we have you said, oh,inspections, inspections.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, hey, tori Shout out.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Tori, but all right.
So you have such avenues interms of, like, the vendor side,
the construction side.
But then we also have peoplewho they own thousands of acres
of farm ground, right.
So if you have ag land needs,we've got you covered.
If you are somebody who wantsto navigate a VA loan, we have a
vet on our team.
(18:24):
We have a person who's donemillion dollar home buildings
and renovations herself.
We have people who've doneluxury, people who have
investments Adam Watson yeah,I've got Adam in Omaha who just
strictly does investment,commercial and development.
We just added a new commercialagent in Lincoln.
So what I appreciate most aboutour team is we don't have people
(18:45):
who are most worried about justthe money.
We have people who are worriedabout what's the client
experience?
And if I'm not the best personto serve you, who else on our
team is more experienced than Iam in that lane?
Because you and I both know youcan have a client that says,
hey, matt, I want to do a custombuild with Murray Custom Homes
(19:05):
and I'm going to build a milliondollar house.
Well, then when they transitionand say, hey, I also have a need
to do a new commercial building, well, even though you own a
commercial building for Murray,that doesn't mean that you know
how to go find it, how to get it, how to search it on the MLS.
You weren't havingconversations all day with
commercial agents who are ableto give you that insider
(19:27):
information, so logically wewould pass it off to another
person in our team.
But what I like most iseverybody's just truly worried
about taking care of the client.
And how can we do that betterthan somebody else If we just
keep them in the same ecosphere?
Less balls get dropped.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
We have a lot of clients that come to us that are
going to build with us, thathave a house to sell, sure, and
so they they trust in Murray,they've signed with Murray, so
why not help them with all thefacilities that we have at our
disposal?
And so I take them in and I doexactly what you just said.
We say who on our team can bestserve this client.
Is it a 250 to 350?
Is it a 550, 750?
Yeah, it is cool how we havekind of our own lanes, and it
(20:08):
feels good that.
It reminds me of my olden dayswhen I didn't know, anything
about, because we're how old,don't tell anybody.
Yeah, when I didn't knowanything about roofing Sure, and
I was just a yes man, of courseI can do that.
Can you do metal Absolutely?
And I didn't know I'll figureit out.
I know I don't have to do thatanymore, Like when people come
to me and they're like we havethis special house in this
neighborhood.
Can you do it?
(20:28):
I'm like our team can do it,Not me personally, but I'll find
you the person that can do it.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Well, and there's so much value in that because,
truly, at the end of the day,you know it's like when I bring
a client into you to the Murrayoffice and we make that initial
appointment and we talk aboutwhy Murray?
Well, I'm not officially a partof Murray, but I know love,
trust and am invested in Murray,right, so I can honestly sit in
front of a buyer and say, ifyou put the same blueprints in
(20:55):
front of 10 different builders,you're probably going to get,
you know, relatively the sameproduct in terms of just like
layout and things like that.
Maybe the quality is differenttiles, different things like
that.
But at the end of the day, whodo you want to go through that
process with?
You want it to be somebody whoanswers the phone.
You want it to be somebody thatyou know genuinely cares.
So, above everything else, whatI believe everyone on our team
(21:18):
has that sounds crazy to say isunique, but I really do believe
everybody on our team cares andyou can't teach that, right, you
can't teach that, you can'tmodel that.
It is something that peopleinnately have or they don't.
And I also appreciate thateverybody on our team is not a
(21:38):
know-it-all and is very much so,hey, I want to learn, because
if I'm learning about newconstruction, if I'm learning
about renovation, if I'mlearning about the value of ag
land, I'm able to answerquestions better and be taken
more seriously from the jump.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Sometimes it gets brought to my attention about
how we I think we overlook.
It doesn't sound like you do,but I overlook how good of
people we have and how honest weare.
Even just the other day we gotinto a conversation with a
couple about just expectationsand we document everything on
BuilderTrend.
It's timestamped.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And they were asking why do you feel like you have to
keep bringing that up?
And it's like because there'sother people out there that
aren't honest, Sure, and we hatethe.
He said.
She said, Sure, but it bringsme.
The only reason I mentionedthat is their conversation that
we had a little bit earlierwhere, um, it seems like it's a
very divisive conversationonline with the real estate
(22:36):
changes because of the unethicalpeople that we have in any
industry and the uneducatedpeople that we have in any
industry and the uneducatedpeople that we have.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
That scares me more than anything, matt.
I feel as though there are alot of people who have a real
estate license, who claim towork in real estate as an agent
very frequently, but they couldnot sit down and explain to you
what are new policies, what arenew laws, what are new rules,
what are the new policies, whatare new laws, what are new rules
(23:03):
, what are the new documents?
And that, to me, is somethingthat I think is so important
when serving a person to thebest of our ability.
Right?
I tell people all the time itreally doesn't matter if you
have $100,000 to spend or $5million to spend.
Your money is no less importantto you and you're probably
spending an amount that may ormay not be comfortable to you,
(23:24):
but you can't be confident inwhat you're spending without
feeling confident in yourdecision, and that only comes
from education.
That's it.
So people laugh at me, but whenyou come to a buyer's meeting
with me, I legitimately havelike an agenda, I have forms, I
have physical paperwork andthings that go home with you,
very similar to how you do it atMurray and people think that's
(23:47):
such a waste.
They're like just go digital,no, because you know what?
There's a lot of people in ourgeneration, right?
So I'm 39.
People that are in theirthirties and above I thank you
so much for saying that.
It's fine, I'm going to breathe,but anyway I digress.
They really do like having likea physical checklist, they like
(24:09):
the visual of it, they like apiece of paper they can put on
their refrigerator with.
Here's Jenna's 97 steps thatyou have to take.
But that's how you'll get themost money.
Because the other thing ispeople always assume that in a
real estate transaction thatwhat people want most is every
penny possible.
That is not real at all.
There's a lot of people I'm notsaying the money doesn't matter
(24:31):
to them, but to some peoplethere are other things of more
or higher value.
So some people want I just wantit sold as fast as possible,
jenna, because I've got a joband I've got to go.
Or we're getting a divorce, wehave to get out of this house,
or, jenna, I'm so stressed outbecause this is an estate and I
didn't know my person, mysignificant other, my parent was
(24:53):
dying and I just can'temotionally deal with it.
Just get it done.
I don't want to touch it, Idon't want to clear out their
things, I don't want to put aprice on it.
You just tell me what's fairand just sell it.
So sometimes it's really notabout the dollar amount.
But without being able to sayI'm a creative problem solver
and I'm the person who's willingto take the time to have that
conversation, I'm never going toknow what's most important to
(25:16):
them without explaining here areyour options.
And when you give peopleoptions, they feel so much more
supported and they feel so muchmore peace, because then they
don't get to the other side ofthe transaction and feel like,
oh shit, I didn't know that Icould have done it this way.
Jenna never told me, so that'swhy I focus a lot more on the
(25:37):
upfront.
Let's educate you on what youcan do so you can feel really
good about what you did do.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yep, so do you have?
I was thinking about this whileyou were talking because of our
conversation earlier.
We talked a little bit about atopic we're going to talk about
towards the end of this latterportion because it might take a
little bit of time about somenew changes that came about in
the real estate world.
That seems like it's not maybethat big of a deal in our local
market because everybody'sadapting really well and because
of the way that we had alreadyimplemented rules.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It's just media has blown up Media.
Who is uneducated about ourworld has spun a lot of negative
media about it.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And online.
The only forums that I followare just in complete turmoil
about it.
But I'm wondering, if it bringsa thought to my mind, of
wondering if you have anysimilar feelings or thoughts
like I have.
I find myself on the oppositeside of the coin with real
estate, as to where I am, withbuilding Sure, because in the
(26:36):
building industry, you know,I've been around long time, for
17 years, and not just that, butit's, it's everything I live
and breathe.
For sure, I mean it's, I haveyou know, between all the
companies we have 20 employeesand For sure I mean it's, I have
you know, between all thecompanies we have 20 employees.
And so, without the income fromcustom homes, not only myself
and my wife and my kids, but 20families would suffer, which,
(26:57):
like would be affected, and soand I know you take that really
seriously, yeah, which is why mynumber of 10.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I'm choking at but it , but it is good for us to hold
one another accountable asbusiness owners.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
So I get that, and so , in that regard, I look at it
like I have everything invested,all my chips are in the center,
for sure, right.
And so I can speak about it indifferent terms than I can.
Real estate, because realestate, obviously I got it
because of the industry that I'min, et cetera, and I can't lie
and say that I'm a full-timerealtor.
(27:29):
I'm a full-time realtor, I'm afull-time builder, and so when I
talk about real estate, I'm alittle bit anxious about it,
because I'm from the outside,looking in, I feel like I'm an
outsider, and so I also havethat in the back of my head
where I'm like well, are theylistening to me speak as a
builder or a realtor?
Because it could come off in acompletely wrong tone if they
took the wrong perception.
Yeah, but do you feel like thatat all?
(27:50):
And the only reason I mentionthat is the perception of these
changes that came out.
If you looked at it through onelens, it could be one way and
the other lens could be theother way.
But the only reason I mentionthat is because you have
part-time builders in town thatcan make us look really bad.
Not naming names, it's true, youknow.
Not naming names.
It's true.
I mean, if you're a part-timebuilder and it's not your
(28:12):
lifeblood, it's not yourlivelihood, you have no
employees, sure, and if you canbuild one house and do a shitty
job at it and still make $30,000, $40,000 a year, you're doing
really good.
Yeah, you know you don't have alot to lose.
So your avenues, your processes, everything's a little bit
different, right, and when we'rebeing compared with them, it's
just hard not to speak up.
(28:34):
Yeah, like I said, we're all inhere.
Yep, I mean, this is everythingwe've been doing, everything we
are doing.
And so I find myself noticingthat in the realtor community,
where you have people like you,like your mom, that are all in,
like I've just described, thenyou also have the other part of
it, which I'm kind of part ofright, but I do a really good
(28:56):
job of trying to stay educatedand do the right thing, but you
do have the other portion of itthat are probably part of the
problem.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
So it's interesting you say that because 10 days ago
I had a super sweet couple andI've done business with them and
their family members for eightyears I mean we're probably 15
transactions in and they askedme to write a contract on a
house.
We got it and it was contingentupon them selling their house
(29:25):
here in Lincoln and we wentthrough the process.
I helped them know here's howwe need to present it so you can
get the highest dollar in thefastest time, so we can then
move on to the next house.
Well, they happen to have afriend who is in a real estate
adjacent business who has donetwo transactions in his entirety
(29:47):
right, his entire time of doingreal estate, two in total in
multiple years.
And he told them I had no ideawhat I was talking about.
He did because he's bestfriends with Mr Seller or he was
my Mr Buyer, told them Iobviously knew nothing of the
market, did not know anythingabout their property, mind you,
(30:07):
I had put them in their property, all these things, and I just
thought it so interesting and Iflat out asked they are my
friends, they're my clients, butthey're also my friends.
I said did he show you anycomps?
Did he show you any informationthat negated all of the comps
and data that I showed you?
And they said, well, no, but hehas made us so frantic and so
(30:30):
panicked all day we're not evenexcited anymore.
And they backed out of theirdeal.
They did, and that's fine.
It really is fine because theyhave a young child.
I mean, he's probably 14 monthsold and it became a lot of
stress and truly it doesn'tbother me.
The part that bothers me isthis person who has no real
estate business genuinely nonethat you can respect as a
(30:54):
full-time agent or as aneducated agent.
Right, I had shown them realcomps, real data, real time.
I had walked through theirproperty, we had evaluated it.
We didn't make these numbers up, they didn't come out of
nowhere, we didn't make thatdecision lightly and he was able
to single-handedly destroytheir joy in the process, and I
(31:16):
am bitter about it because Ifeel like, if you're their
friend, yes, you have arelationship with them.
However, they have done enoughreal estate deals with me to
know this is my full-time job.
They have done enough realestate deals with me to know
this is my full-time job.
This is, you said, what theyliterally have done more than
him.
No, that's exactly correct, andI felt Good input, Shannon.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, and I just Pod God over there.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah, pod God.
Oh, I like that.
I'll be hot thunder in yourphone and your Pod God in mine.
I love it.
Don't even edit that out,that's the best, but anyway.
But my point is there are a lotof people who have a license
that don't do enough to stayrelevant or updated, and I
respect that because your world,99% of it, is on the builder
(32:05):
side.
You also tried to go ahead andbe a better builder with a
better understanding of ourindustry, which is why you got a
license.
There's a lot of people whowould go above and beyond
Instead of just having abachelor's.
Let me get my master's, let meget my PhD.
So for you, I don't see it asyou're faking anything.
I don't see it as you'respreading yourself too thin.
(32:26):
I really have seen it as Matt istrying to legitimize even
further the value of ourrelationship, the value of what
he can also provide to a buyeror a seller.
Because when somebody comes in,like you said, as a buyer to
you, inevitably they almostalways have something to sell,
and if it's in the sameappointment and you can give
them education, that adds valueto the process.
(32:49):
That's the whole freaking point.
Right Is to add value topeople's lives.
That is my purpose, that isyour purpose in life, and in
business.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I definitely, definitely, did it to be a value
add.
Yeah, just not because I trustmyself.
Just the people I've surroundedmyself with Everybody,
surrounded myself with Everybody, it's just everybody.
Like you said, I sometimes takefor granted how honest,
trustworthy and amazing thepeople that we've surrounded
ourselves with.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Which truly is like an absolute, foundational must
for anyone on our team, right?
People have looked at me andsaid things like oh, are you
trying to build this huge empire?
I don't care about that at all.
I really do feel like I'venever cared about us having a
big team.
I care about us having theright team, and I think you
operate very similarly at Murray.
(33:38):
You just have to have the rightfit.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
But no guys.
Thank you for joining us on theStay Modern with Murray podcast
.
I appreciate everyone's support.
Look forward to the nextepisode.
Thank you, guys, Appreciate it.
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Stay
Modern with Murray.
Today we're actually in KateMartin, we're actually here on
site with Jenna Ferris of FerrisRealty Group, but first we
wanted to just talk with Devin alittle bit about this unique
location.
So I've actually been toOccidental quite a few times.
My brother and his fiancee,Michelle have affinity for that
place.
They either go there beforethey go out to eat or they go
(00:21):
out to eat and then go there,but they usually always end up
there somehow.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Oh yeah, nice little hidden gem, especially
Occidental.
You know, being in that backalley, you know Cape Martin,
we're just kind of hidden inplain sight.
You know there's no signagereally that shows you where we
are, except for the vacancy sign, and you know it's always fun
to watch people try to look forthe place and they're searching
on their phones.
You get a nice little viewingwindow out here to see everybody
.
People watch a little bit Ikind of jumped over it.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Tell us a little bit about the location, your history
, everything.
It's kind of unique.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, so we've been here for a little over four
years going on five years.
We opened up January of 2020.
Great time to open up.
Just got the ball rolling alittle bit Then I had to shut
down for COVID and everything,but we're still here.
You know we've got a lot ofgreat people that have been
coming in supporting us.
You know, even through pandemic, and you know we wouldn't be
(01:11):
here if it wasn't for all youguys.
But, yeah, so this placeactually was a saloon called the
Occidental Saloon back in 1890.
It was managed and ran by KateMartin herself.
That's is uh, managed and ranby kate martin herself.
(01:32):
That's awesome, uh, yeah, soshe was an irish immigrant.
She came to nebraska in about1867 when she was about 23 years
old, uh, got married to herfirst husband and they owned, uh
, the saint charles hotel, wherewax buffalo is right now.
It was a three-story hotel withabout 30 different rooms in it.
Uh, the original bar wasactually in the basement.
Nice, yeah, they kept getting introuble with the law for
selling booze on Sundays.
Couldn't do it back then.
So, to compromise, actually,where we're sitting at, it used
(01:53):
to be just an alleyway.
So, to compromise, they put aroof on it, sealed it up and
made it the Occidental Saloon.
That's crazy.
We all love our history.
My grandpa was a historyteacher.
Keith loves his history.
One of the owners, even anadult, jay was a teacher.
We just love the history.
(02:13):
So that's why we kept thenamesake of Kate Martins.
She was one of the first femaleproprietors in Lincoln and then
we wanted to keep that namesakeand then keep the namesake of
the Occidental as well.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So yeah, yeah's awesome history.
It's funny how the irish alwaysseem to stumble into alcohol.
I'm an irish so I think irishalcohol it always my last name
is neil I'm definitely irishwell, no, that's awesome.
So have you been here since2020?
Uh?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
yeah, I came in right after we reopened the first
time.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So yeah, I've been here since 2020 how'd you get,
did you know the owners or how'dyou stumble upon it?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, I've worked with them at previous bars.
Uh, and you know it's kind offunny.
Keith and Jay I've known Jayfor about 25 years.
His cousins grew up with thesame high school as me.
Uh, keith and his Keith's momactually taught in adjacent
classrooms with my grandpa foryears and years up in North Fork
.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So yeah, so you're essentially in one building Yep.
You got Cape Martin facingnorth, yep, right and to the
meters.
And then you got Occidental onthe south, on the south side,
yep Alley, so to speak.
Is that what you call?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
it yeah, yep, the back alley by the Schwartz
building yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
And you know, if our listeners know that Tom, we got
Tom here watching me.
We got his Tomahawks right tothe gosh, right to the east,
just a couple doors down.
So yeah, just walk to Tomahawksand then stumble to your west a
little bit and come in for somedrinks.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Or vice versa.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
you know, Sometimes you do both, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, you got to get that liquid courage.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
There you go.
But so, Kate, give us thedifference between Kate Martin
and Occidental Kate Martin.
We got crafted cocktails thatare reading through your book
here.
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah.
So, kate Martin, you know wefocus on craft cocktails.
We've got a couple of wines,but you know, no beer.
Focus on the craft cocktails.
All of our cocktails are namedafter famous Nebraskans.
That's awesome.
Either dead or alive Our fallmenu.
Right now we're doing bands,indie bands, out of Nebraska.
So we've got Cherub, we've gotCursive, bright Eyes, just
trying to find something new.
Give everybody a little bit ofthat Nebraska love.
(04:13):
Did I see a Bud Crawford inthere?
Oh yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
How long has that been in there?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Oh, for the whole time Since we opened.
He's always been on there.
He's one of our favorites.
One hell of a guy.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
He just gets overlooked so much as far as one
of the premier athletes in theworld.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean pound for pound.
He's got to be one of the bestfighters to ever fight.
I could take him.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I was kidding.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I said that one time and I woke up.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Remove that from the air if he's going to listen.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I'm texting him right now.
So if he's going to listen, I'mtexting him right now.
So, yes, focus up on the craftcocktail side up here, and then
you know Occidental.
It's more neighborhood.
You know local bar beers, shots.
They've got a dartboard, acouple TVs, moscow mules with
handle, bend copper mugs out ofO'Neill no way, really, oh yeah,
that is so cool.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
That is so cool.
Yeah, the ones from o'neill.
So I have a really good buddytyler hipkey, that's from
o'neill.
Okay, that uh lived in lincoln,moved back to o'neill to stay
with his family a little bitwhile he was going to school,
invited me back there for thesaint patrick's.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh, what a great time .
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And they have a huge thing and he was working for
that company that makes the mugs.
That's what he did all day.
Yep, yeah, he was saying forthat company that makes the mugs
.
That's what he did all day.
Yeah, he was saying they werelike $100, $150 a pop, but he
said I literally hand make them.
Yep, they're cool.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yep, they're so cool, it's always a good time, yeah.
And then he said Occidental,more beer, all canned beer.
And then they got a niceoutdoor area, dartboard TVs.
I like to call it like a littlehipster dive bar, where it's a
dive bar but it's a classy divebar.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, no, I like it Well, devin.
Thank you, We'll let you getback to serving everybody here.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Thank you for opening this Thank you for the Murray
crew.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
We're all Irish man, but no, thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you for opening.
Jenna Matt Welcome, Thank you.
You know what I just thoughtabout while you were sitting
here staring at me.
I was like she probably thinksI suck because you come from
this world.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I do.
I did have a radio show.
I do frequently do radio, yeah,but I'd like to encourage you
and not knock you down.
Today it's a Friday, theweather's lovely.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So once the air shuts off, you suck no.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I'm proud of you.
It's like karaoke, right.
So I sing.
A lot of people don't sing wellwhen they go to karaoke, but
are you having fun?
That's all I care about, that'sall it matters.
And I love this buildingbecause my office is in this
building, so between occidentaland kate martin and tomahawks,
literally I just I just bouncearound.
So if you ever want to find me,this is this is, this is my.
(06:43):
Do you have a cotton back?
A what?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
A cot like a little bunk bed.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Oh, a cot in back I thought he said a cotton back
and I said I have no idea whatthat means, matt.
So I don't know if I shouldanswer yes to look cool or no,
because I have no idea what thatmeans.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
No, but let's start over, I do look good, just pouch
.
Tell us about yourself yourself, personally, professionally,
where you're from.
I know you have a cool story,so let me.
Let me.
Let me start real fast, okay,so I've had your mom on, yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Oh yeah, you have yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yes, I've had her on and I mentioned her in about
every other episode, if notevery episode.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Listen, she's good yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
She is so because, just I've said it before, if you
guys heard, susan Ferris was myfirst experience with probably
a realtor as a builder.
She sold my first house andbecame my mentor for the next 17
, 18 years, and so I talk a lotabout her.
She's my confidant whenever I'mgoing to make a big financial
decision, and I could go on andon.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
And so then I met you .
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah.
We're kind of like brother andsister.
Now because of it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, really.
And so, yeah, take it fromthere.
So I just wanted to kind ofgive an introduction to our
listeners of how you fit intothis whole puzzle.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah for sure.
So I went to high school inLincoln and then I left and I'm
one of the people I'm one of thevery few that I know from my
high school that left and I leftfor almost 15 years.
So I went everywhere, I dideverything.
My wonderful parents were sosupportive because, I swear to
you, they have no idea what todo with me To this day.
We have limited things incommon, but they're so
(08:13):
supportive and they always feltlike, jenna, you should go and
try the things and see theplaces and meet the people and
live wherever you want.
Want.
And I really appreciated thatbecause after I had done all
those things and lived inOrlando, st Louis, nashville,
new York, like all these places,I still chose to come back and
I never thought that I would dothat ever and I have three
(08:34):
brothers and they won't comeback and that's my only fight in
life with them, but whatever.
But I came back because after Ihad gone a bunch of places, I
was a touring artist, I was atour manager, I worked for
Apple's business developmentteam in Manhattan, I worked for
luxury retail.
Anyway, I've just done a hugediverse spectrum of things, but
(09:00):
after I was leaving Nashville.
I really thought you know whatmy mom has done such an
incredible job and I think thatI would really like to come back
to Lincoln and work with herand the person my significant
other at the time.
He was all for coming toLincoln, which was interesting
because he was a Florida boy.
So, I really didn't expect that.
But when I first called her andI said, hey, mom, I want to
(09:23):
come home to Lincoln and sellreal estate with you, she said
absolutely not.
She flat out told me Nope,that's a terrible idea, you
should not do that, you shouldnot come here.
And I had to take a second.
And then I said, oh, okay, well, why?
And she, just because of howclose she and I are, she had
never wanted to have thepressure of am I going to make
(09:45):
sure that Jenna has a paycheck,because real estate is so
unpredictable at times.
Right, the market is alwayschanging and you never know if
you're going to be able tosupport your family.
And I was trying to start afamily and she just felt like I
needed a lot more stability thanthat.
And I thought about it for Idon't know, probably like 24
hours, and I called her back andI said well, here's the thing.
(10:07):
I'm going to move to Lincoln,I'm going to do real estate.
I can either come and do itwith you or I will do it
elsewhere and be your competitor, but that would never happen.
So, uh, so that's what I did Imoved to Nash or I moved from
Nashville here, and in themornings I did the radio morning
show at froggy 98 and had agreat time doing that.
(10:30):
And then I would go all day fromnine to six every day.
I worked at STEM gallery, whichis a floral and gift shop, and
then after that I would go toreal estate classes and then
after that at night I would doall of my mom's marketing things
.
So I mean, it was like a and Ihad to wake up at like 4.45 in
the morning every day.
(10:50):
So I'm 4.45 in the morninguntil nine or 10 at night, but
that's what I had to do to getmy license, and I got my license
in July of 2016.
And yeah, you know.
So now I've done this for eightyears and it's been very
interesting.
Of all the different thingsthat I've done, I really think
it has prepared me so well forreal estate, because every
(11:12):
single transaction is sodifferent.
You have to be nothing but aproblem solver, and I tell
people all day long I don't sellanything, I just manage
personalities, I manageexpectations and I fix problems.
That is the true breakdown orjob description of what we do.
And you know, beyond that, I'venow put together just an
incredible team and I reallylike what I do now I the only
(11:37):
piece of it that I miss is thecreativity part, because as a
singer and a performer, therereally isn't an opportunity to
be singing in houses or you know, but you still do right with
402?
Yeah, well, so a couple ofdifferent local bands, but, yeah
, lots of cover bands, lots ofthings like that.
I've recorded a bunch of things.
I still travel to do music andconsult on music projects and,
(11:59):
yeah, my little brother's inNashville, and so music will
always be a part of my life andit does pay me.
It just can't pay all of mybills because I have a super
expensive dog to support.
So anyway, Sidebar.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
When we took the company to Nashville, didn't we
tour A facility with yourbrother?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Probably Jackalope Brewing.
Yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
He gave us a tour of the plant.
It was awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Oh, he's so great.
His name is Grant.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And if you ever go to Nashville.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
He works at Jackalope , which is a really cool brewing
facility, and he's aprofessional guitarist there,
and he just got engaged thispast weekend Awesome, so yeah.
So I'm pretty pumped about thatfor him and I really like his
fiance, which is awesome,because I can't imagine if I
didn't.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
You couldn't say, if you didn't though.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I probably would, you probably would, I probably
wouldn't on a podcast, butthere's no way my brother
wouldn't know that up front.
So anyway, you know what?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
sucks, though, is okay.
This sounds morbid, hit me with.
You usually start out likingall of your in-laws and then
like, slowly over time I don'tknow if it's they start to not
like us, or the other way aroundRight, like.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
I don't, I haven't experienced that.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, it happens in real life.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
So okay, so let me say I have three brothers, two
older and one younger, and mywhole life I just wanted a
sister, like my whole life.
And so I think my oldestbrother was seriously dating his
wife when I was about 16.
So I now have had these womenin my life for an extended
period of time.
And my little brother he's theyoungest and he'll be 37 when he
(13:39):
gets married, so she's cominginto our lives later.
But yeah, I don't know.
I should say I feel veryfortunate.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The other reason I mentioned, that is, I think that
it's not, not like it's thepulling in different directions
Once you get kids and it's we'regoing to do this for
Thanksgiving.
No, we need to do this.
And then it's like the in-lawsare kind of like well, my
family's just as important asyour family and we want
Thanksgiving at our house.
And then you get this multiplepersonalities in the same room
(14:09):
and it gets a little tricky oncein a while to manage.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
But I think that's probably with all family
dynamics.
I could imagine that, yeah, butno, we've been super fortunate,
very, very blessed, and I don'thave kids, so I don't have to
do the, you know, the back andforth.
I just really have my dog andhe goes where I go, so that
works out for me, the kids makeit tough because-.
I would think so.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I'm so easy.
It's like I wouldn't give ashit what I did.
But when you have kids, it'slike, well, this kid would
really like to go do this andyou have to stick up for them.
And then this kid would reallylike.
And then it's differenttraditions.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
So, like my family for Christmas, we spend the
entire day in our pajamas, notjoking.
The entire day.
My mom makes this awesomeChristmas dinner, or you know,
we get pancakes for breakfast,but every meal, all the things
served on China all day long inour pajamas and bathrobes.
We have a bathrobe bowl.
We play football in our pajamas.
And for Thanksgiving we weartrack suits, so I call it
(15:02):
tracksuit turducken day, becausethere's usually a turducken and
you have to wear a tracksuit toget admitted into.
Thanksgiving.
But yes, everybody has theirown traditions and I can imagine
kids have opinions andtherefore in-laws do so bless
you.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
So, ferris Realty Group, did it come about?
To be honest, I don't even know.
Did it come about because youwere going to join your mom's
team, or did she have it already?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
She did.
I love that.
You are a part of it and didnot know that I know.
I didn't know when it started, Ihaven't done my job, okay.
So my mom got her license in2008 and she started at a
different brokerage and causewe're at Remax now, right, and
she had just a couple differentpeople in and out that she
partnered with and things likethat, but it ended up that she
(15:48):
had more work than she couldhandle.
So then she started at the verybeginning of when people
started real estate teams Causethat's not, that's a newer
concept right In the last decadeor so.
So then she startedinvestigating how do I put
different people, how do Ipartner with them?
Are they just going to coverfor me when I'm on vacation
seeing grandkids, or are wegoing to be a general
(16:08):
partnership?
And, truthfully, she had reallygreat people she worked with,
but I don't think thesolidifying of a team structure
came along until I did, and sowe've had just a little bit of.
We've had two different peoplethat have come in and out since
I've been an agent, but now ourteam is up to 10 people, and so
(16:28):
that, to me, is really atestament to what she started,
right?
I tell people all the time yes,I have a lot of success and it
is because I was taught by thebest.
I very frequently get peoplewho think that I don't work and
they think, oh, it's just allyour mom's work.
And I just think to myself doyou know?
She's in Canada, she's not evenin the country.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
She's playing with grandkids.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, but I would never downplay how much her
mentorship, her education,influenced me.
So when I was, you know, twoyears in, there would be agents
that I met that had had alicense for the same amount of
time, but they had maybe 20deals behind them and I had 250
deals.
And that's only because everysingle deal she took I got to be
(17:14):
a part of, like a fly on thewall, I got to learn everything.
Yeah, there is no better way inreal estate.
You, you can't read contractsand learn.
You can't read contracts andlearn.
You can't see houses and learn.
You have to go through theprocess of what does a
transaction look like.
And so Ferris Realty Group nowexists at Remax Concepts, which
is a local real estate branch ofRemax.
(17:35):
And what I think is most uniqueabout our team is we have 10
different people.
One of them is a full-timelicensed assistant, but
everybody else is an agent.
But everybody does somethingdifferent, right?
So, like for you, example, youare the team resident that you
do building, you do roofing, youcan do renovations,
(17:58):
restorations.
So when we have you said, oh,inspections, inspections.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, hey, tori Shout out.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Tori, but all right.
So you have such avenues interms of, like, the vendor side,
the construction side.
But then we also have peoplewho they own thousands of acres
of farm ground, right.
So if you have ag land needs,we've got you covered.
If you are somebody who wantsto navigate a VA loan, we have a
vet on our team.
(18:24):
We have a person who's donemillion dollar home buildings
and renovations herself.
We have people who've doneluxury, people who have
investments Adam Watson yeah,I've got Adam in Omaha who just
strictly does investment,commercial and development.
We just added a new commercialagent in Lincoln.
So what I appreciate most aboutour team is we don't have people
(18:45):
who are most worried about justthe money.
We have people who are worriedabout what's the client
experience?
And if I'm not the best personto serve you, who else on our
team is more experienced than Iam in that lane?
Because you and I both know youcan have a client that says,
hey, matt, I want to do a custombuild with Murray Custom Homes
(19:05):
and I'm going to build a milliondollar house.
Well, then when they transitionand say, hey, I also have a need
to do a new commercial building, well, even though you own a
commercial building for Murray,that doesn't mean that you know
how to go find it, how to get it, how to search it on the MLS.
You weren't havingconversations all day with
commercial agents who are ableto give you that insider
(19:27):
information, so logically wewould pass it off to another
person in our team.
But what I like most iseverybody's just truly worried
about taking care of the client.
And how can we do that betterthan somebody else If we just
keep them in the same ecosphere?
Less balls get dropped.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
We have a lot of clients that come to us that are
going to build with us, thathave a house to sell, sure, and
so they they trust in Murray,they've signed with Murray, so
why not help them with all thefacilities that we have at our
disposal?
And so I take them in and I doexactly what you just said.
We say who on our team can bestserve this client.
Is it a 250 to 350?
Is it a 550, 750?
Yeah, it is cool how we havekind of our own lanes, and it
(20:08):
feels good that.
It reminds me of my olden dayswhen I didn't know, anything
about, because we're how old,don't tell anybody.
Yeah, when I didn't knowanything about roofing Sure, and
I was just a yes man, of courseI can do that.
Can you do metal Absolutely?
And I didn't know I'll figureit out.
I know I don't have to do thatanymore, Like when people come
to me and they're like we havethis special house in this
neighborhood.
Can you do it?
(20:28):
I'm like our team can do it,Not me personally, but I'll find
you the person that can do it.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Well, and there's so much value in that because,
truly, at the end of the day,you know it's like when I bring
a client into you to the Murrayoffice and we make that initial
appointment and we talk aboutwhy Murray?
Well, I'm not officially a partof Murray, but I know love,
trust and am invested in Murray,right, so I can honestly sit in
front of a buyer and say, ifyou put the same blueprints in
(20:55):
front of 10 different builders,you're probably going to get,
you know, relatively the sameproduct in terms of just like
layout and things like that.
Maybe the quality is differenttiles, different things like
that.
But at the end of the day, whodo you want to go through that
process with?
You want it to be somebody whoanswers the phone.
You want it to be somebody thatyou know genuinely cares.
So, above everything else, whatI believe everyone on our team
(21:18):
has that sounds crazy to say isunique, but I really do believe
everybody on our team cares andyou can't teach that, right, you
can't teach that, you can'tmodel that.
It is something that peopleinnately have or they don't.
And I also appreciate thateverybody on our team is not a
(21:38):
know-it-all and is very much so,hey, I want to learn, because
if I'm learning about newconstruction, if I'm learning
about renovation, if I'mlearning about the value of ag
land, I'm able to answerquestions better and be taken
more seriously from the jump.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Sometimes it gets brought to my attention about
how we I think we overlook.
It doesn't sound like you do,but I overlook how good of
people we have and how honest weare.
Even just the other day we gotinto a conversation with a
couple about just expectationsand we document everything on
BuilderTrend.
It's timestamped.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And they were asking why do you feel like you have to
keep bringing that up?
And it's like because there'sother people out there that
aren't honest, Sure, and we hatethe.
He said.
She said, Sure, but it bringsme.
The only reason I mentionedthat is their conversation that
we had a little bit earlierwhere, um, it seems like it's a
very divisive conversationonline with the real estate
(22:36):
changes because of the unethicalpeople that we have in any
industry and the uneducatedpeople that we have in any
industry and the uneducatedpeople that we have.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
That scares me more than anything, matt.
I feel as though there are alot of people who have a real
estate license, who claim towork in real estate as an agent
very frequently, but they couldnot sit down and explain to you
what are new policies, what arenew laws, what are new rules,
what are the new policies, whatare new laws, what are new rules
(23:03):
, what are the new documents?
And that, to me, is somethingthat I think is so important
when serving a person to thebest of our ability.
Right?
I tell people all the time itreally doesn't matter if you
have $100,000 to spend or $5million to spend.
Your money is no less importantto you and you're probably
spending an amount that may ormay not be comfortable to you,
(23:24):
but you can't be confident inwhat you're spending without
feeling confident in yourdecision, and that only comes
from education.
That's it.
So people laugh at me, but whenyou come to a buyer's meeting
with me, I legitimately havelike an agenda, I have forms, I
have physical paperwork andthings that go home with you,
very similar to how you do it atMurray and people think that's
(23:47):
such a waste.
They're like just go digital,no, because you know what?
There's a lot of people in ourgeneration, right?
So I'm 39.
People that are in theirthirties and above I thank you
so much for saying that.
It's fine, I'm going to breathe,but anyway I digress.
They really do like having likea physical checklist, they like
(24:09):
the visual of it, they like apiece of paper they can put on
their refrigerator with.
Here's Jenna's 97 steps thatyou have to take.
But that's how you'll get themost money.
Because the other thing ispeople always assume that in a
real estate transaction thatwhat people want most is every
penny possible.
That is not real at all.
There's a lot of people I'm notsaying the money doesn't matter
(24:31):
to them, but to some peoplethere are other things of more
or higher value.
So some people want I just wantit sold as fast as possible,
jenna, because I've got a joband I've got to go.
Or we're getting a divorce, wehave to get out of this house,
or, jenna, I'm so stressed outbecause this is an estate and I
didn't know my person, mysignificant other, my parent was
(24:53):
dying and I just can'temotionally deal with it.
Just get it done.
I don't want to touch it, Idon't want to clear out their
things, I don't want to put aprice on it.
You just tell me what's fairand just sell it.
So sometimes it's really notabout the dollar amount.
But without being able to sayI'm a creative problem solver
and I'm the person who's willingto take the time to have that
conversation, I'm never going toknow what's most important to
(25:16):
them without explaining here areyour options.
And when you give peopleoptions, they feel so much more
supported and they feel so muchmore peace, because then they
don't get to the other side ofthe transaction and feel like,
oh shit, I didn't know that Icould have done it this way.
Jenna never told me, so that'swhy I focus a lot more on the
(25:37):
upfront.
Let's educate you on what youcan do so you can feel really
good about what you did do.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yep, so do you have?
I was thinking about this whileyou were talking because of our
conversation earlier.
We talked a little bit about atopic we're going to talk about
towards the end of this latterportion because it might take a
little bit of time about somenew changes that came about in
the real estate world.
That seems like it's not maybethat big of a deal in our local
market because everybody'sadapting really well and because
of the way that we had alreadyimplemented rules.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It's just media has blown up Media.
Who is uneducated about ourworld has spun a lot of negative
media about it.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And online.
The only forums that I followare just in complete turmoil
about it.
But I'm wondering, if it bringsa thought to my mind, of
wondering if you have anysimilar feelings or thoughts
like I have.
I find myself on the oppositeside of the coin with real
estate, as to where I am, withbuilding Sure, because in the
(26:36):
building industry, you know,I've been around long time, for
17 years, and not just that, butit's, it's everything I live
and breathe.
For sure, I mean it's, I haveyou know, between all the
companies we have 20 employeesand For sure I mean it's, I have
you know, between all thecompanies we have 20 employees.
And so, without the income fromcustom homes, not only myself
and my wife and my kids, but 20families would suffer, which,
(26:57):
like would be affected, and soand I know you take that really
seriously, yeah, which is why mynumber of 10.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I'm choking at but it , but it is good for us to hold
one another accountable asbusiness owners.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
So I get that, and so , in that regard, I look at it
like I have everything invested,all my chips are in the center,
for sure, right.
And so I can speak about it indifferent terms than I can.
Real estate, because realestate, obviously I got it
because of the industry that I'min, et cetera, and I can't lie
and say that I'm a full-timerealtor.
(27:29):
I'm a full-time realtor, I'm afull-time builder, and so when I
talk about real estate, I'm alittle bit anxious about it,
because I'm from the outside,looking in, I feel like I'm an
outsider, and so I also havethat in the back of my head
where I'm like well, are theylistening to me speak as a
builder or a realtor?
Because it could come off in acompletely wrong tone if they
took the wrong perception.
Yeah, but do you feel like thatat all?
(27:50):
And the only reason I mentionthat is the perception of these
changes that came out.
If you looked at it through onelens, it could be one way and
the other lens could be theother way.
But the only reason I mentionthat is because you have
part-time builders in town thatcan make us look really bad.
Not naming names, it's true, youknow.
Not naming names.
It's true.
I mean, if you're a part-timebuilder and it's not your
(28:12):
lifeblood, it's not yourlivelihood, you have no
employees, sure, and if you canbuild one house and do a shitty
job at it and still make $30,000, $40,000 a year, you're doing
really good.
Yeah, you know you don't have alot to lose.
So your avenues, your processes, everything's a little bit
different, right, and when we'rebeing compared with them, it's
just hard not to speak up.
(28:34):
Yeah, like I said, we're all inhere.
Yep, I mean, this is everythingwe've been doing, everything we
are doing.
And so I find myself noticingthat in the realtor community,
where you have people like you,like your mom, that are all in,
like I've just described, thenyou also have the other part of
it, which I'm kind of part ofright, but I do a really good
(28:56):
job of trying to stay educatedand do the right thing, but you
do have the other portion of itthat are probably part of the
problem.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
So it's interesting you say that because 10 days ago
I had a super sweet couple andI've done business with them and
their family members for eightyears I mean we're probably 15
transactions in and they askedme to write a contract on a
house.
We got it and it was contingentupon them selling their house
(29:25):
here in Lincoln and we wentthrough the process.
I helped them know here's howwe need to present it so you can
get the highest dollar in thefastest time, so we can then
move on to the next house.
Well, they happen to have afriend who is in a real estate
adjacent business who has donetwo transactions in his entirety
(29:47):
right, his entire time of doingreal estate, two in total in
multiple years.
And he told them I had no ideawhat I was talking about.
He did because he's bestfriends with Mr Seller or he was
my Mr Buyer, told them Iobviously knew nothing of the
market, did not know anythingabout their property, mind you,
(30:07):
I had put them in their property, all these things, and I just
thought it so interesting and Iflat out asked they are my
friends, they're my clients, butthey're also my friends.
I said did he show you anycomps?
Did he show you any informationthat negated all of the comps
and data that I showed you?
And they said, well, no, but hehas made us so frantic and so
(30:30):
panicked all day we're not evenexcited anymore.
And they backed out of theirdeal.
They did, and that's fine.
It really is fine because theyhave a young child.
I mean, he's probably 14 monthsold and it became a lot of
stress and truly it doesn'tbother me.
The part that bothers me isthis person who has no real
estate business genuinely nonethat you can respect as a
(30:54):
full-time agent or as aneducated agent.
Right, I had shown them realcomps, real data, real time.
I had walked through theirproperty, we had evaluated it.
We didn't make these numbers up, they didn't come out of
nowhere, we didn't make thatdecision lightly and he was able
to single-handedly destroytheir joy in the process, and I
(31:16):
am bitter about it because Ifeel like, if you're their
friend, yes, you have arelationship with them.
However, they have done enoughreal estate deals with me to
know this is my full-time job.
They have done enough realestate deals with me to know
this is my full-time job.
This is, you said, what theyliterally have done more than
him.
No, that's exactly correct, andI felt Good input, Shannon.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, and I just Pod God over there.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah, pod God.
Oh, I like that.
I'll be hot thunder in yourphone and your Pod God in mine.
I love it.
Don't even edit that out,that's the best, but anyway.
But my point is there are a lotof people who have a license
that don't do enough to stayrelevant or updated, and I
respect that because your world,99% of it, is on the builder
(32:05):
side.
You also tried to go ahead andbe a better builder with a
better understanding of ourindustry, which is why you got a
license.
There's a lot of people whowould go above and beyond
Instead of just having abachelor's.
Let me get my master's, let meget my PhD.
So for you, I don't see it asyou're faking anything.
I don't see it as you'respreading yourself too thin.
(32:26):
I really have seen it as Matt istrying to legitimize even
further the value of ourrelationship, the value of what
he can also provide to a buyeror a seller.
Because when somebody comes in,like you said, as a buyer to
you, inevitably they almostalways have something to sell,
and if it's in the sameappointment and you can give
them education, that adds valueto the process.
(32:49):
That's the whole freaking point.
Right Is to add value topeople's lives.
That is my purpose, that isyour purpose in life, and in
business.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I definitely, definitely, did it to be a value
add.
Yeah, just not because I trustmyself.
Just the people I've surroundedmyself with Everybody,
surrounded myself with Everybody, it's just everybody.
Like you said, I sometimes takefor granted how honest,
trustworthy and amazing thepeople that we've surrounded
ourselves with.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Which truly is like an absolute, foundational must
for anyone on our team, right?
People have looked at me andsaid things like oh, are you
trying to build this huge empire?
I don't care about that at all.
I really do feel like I'venever cared about us having a
big team.
I care about us having theright team, and I think you
operate very similarly at Murray.
(33:38):
You just have to have the rightfit.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
But no guys.
Thank you for joining us on theStay Modern with Murray podcast
.
I appreciate everyone's support.
Look forward to the nextepisode.
Thank you, guys, Appreciate it.
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