April 8, 2025 • 28 mins
The salient point of this discussion centers on the imperative for real estate agents to possess a comprehensive understanding of their local market dynamics. It is imperative that agents convey pertinent data to their clientele—buyers and sellers alike—to elucidate the current state of the market, thereby facilitating informed decision-making. The conversation also underscores the necessity of maintaining an active connection with one's sphere of influence, as these relationships can yield significant opportunities in terms of referrals and business. Furthermore, Amy Chorew emphasizes the importance of a structured approach to technology adoption, advising agents to maximize their existing tools before venturing into new technologies. Ultimately, this episode serves as a call to action for agents to refine their skills in market articulation and to strategically engage with their networks.
A profound exploration of the intricate dynamics within the real estate industry unfolds as the conversation transitions to the importance of local market knowledge. Emphasizing the necessity for real estate professionals to be acutely aware of their surrounding environment, the dialogue underscores the critical data points that should be utilized in articulating market conditions to potential buyers and sellers. The speaker elucidates the distinction between superficial social media statistics and the nuanced understanding required to effectively convey market realities. This foundational knowledge serves not only to inform clients but also to empower agents in their strategic decision-making processes, thereby enhancing their overall efficacy in the market.
Takeaways:
- Understanding local market dynamics is essential for real estate agents to effectively serve clients.
- Effective communication of market data to buyers and sellers is crucial for informed real estate transactions.
- Establishing a strong connection with one's sphere of influence can yield substantial long-term benefits in real estate.
- A well-structured onboarding process can significantly enhance the experience of new agents in a brokerage.
- Agents should focus on mastering a few essential tools rather than getting overwhelmed by technology.
- Developing a clear value proposition and articulating it effectively is vital for new agents to succeed.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I think agents need tounderstand what's going on in their
local market. There are datapoints that you see people post on
the on social. That's notwhere it belongs. It belongs in your
articulation to buyers andsellers so they can understand what's
going on in the market.
(00:21):
You're listening to the RealEstate Sessions and I'm your host,
Bill Risser. With nearly 25years in the real estate business,
I love to interview industryleaders, up and comers and really
anyone with a story to tell.It's the stories that led my guests
to a career in the real estateworld that drives me into my ninth
year and nearly 400 episodesof the podcast. And now I hope you
enjoy the next journey. Hieverybody. Welcome to episode 345
(00:47):
of the Real Estate Sessionspodcast. You know what I'm going
to say. As always, thank youso much for tuning in and thank you
so much for telling a friendtoday. It's somebody I've known about
since the beginning of thepodcast, yet failed to have her on
until now. Definitely mymistake, my bad. I'm talking about
Amy Chorew. Amy is currentlywith Curated Learning, but Amy has
(01:09):
a broad history in the realestate space going back to the late
80s, and I'm very excited totalk to her about what she's doing
today, some of the greatthings she's done in the past, and
let's get this thing started.Amy, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you for having me, Bill.So excited.
Yeah, I am so glad to have youon. We run into each other at conferences
(01:31):
and events and differentthings, but I've never really had
a sit down conversation withyou. And so I'm really excited about
this. I'll just find out alittle more about you. Maybe some
of your friends and some ofthe people who've worked with you
over the years are going tothink this is old hat, but there's
a lot of us that need to knowmore. So we'll get this started with
my favorite first question. Itend to use this a lot and I know
(01:52):
you live in the GreaterHartford area and you've been there
for a long time. Are you anative? And I'm going to screw this
up and I'm going to give it mybest shot. Is it Connecticutian?
Is it Connecticutian? Is itconnectian? What's the native of
Connecticut?
It's actually nutmegger. Theycall them nutmeggers. They're hard
on the outside, hard to crack,but once you do, they're mush. That's
(02:16):
what they call Connecticutpeople nutmeggers.
I love it. I play golf with anutmegger every Sunday. Anthony Malafronte.
I don't know if you knowAnthony, but I do.
So you have to tell him nowthat he's a nutmeg maker.
Yeah, he's New Haven, sothat's cool. Good, good. So are you
a native?
No.
Nut maker?
No. I am from New York. Myparents are from West 187th. It was
(02:40):
the Heights. What? You nowknow the Heights. We lived right
near the Cloisters. My grandpahad buildings. Had a building right
there, Fort Tryon Park. Andthen I grew up in Rye, New York.
I met my husband, a Jerseyboy, in college and he was hired
to run. He's a builder, and wemoved up here so he could start his
(03:01):
building career.
Awesome. Okay.
Long time ago.
Yeah. So you've been there along time. Obviously you still like
Connecticut a lot. Give meyour favorite thing about Connecticut,
and then. I know it's toughbecause you've been there a long
time, but what. There's gottabe a worst. Everybody has that thing,
right? So what's your best andyour worst?
There is a worst, actually. Sowhat I love about Connecticut, it's
(03:21):
gorgeous, beautiful, and Ihave access to everything. I can
be skiing in two and a halfhours. I can be at the beach in 45.
I can be in Manhattan in undertwo hours. And of course, Boston,
too. So I love. I love that Ican. That's my playground. So I love
that about Connecticut. Theworst. It's actually when I first
(03:42):
got here, being a New Yorker,we have a story for everything. And
my husband used to kick meunder the table. He goes, shut up.
Because they don't care. So itwas learning how to be that stoic
Connecticutinian, whatever youcalled it. But now I do have an amazing
network of friends here.
(04:03):
That's very interestingbecause. Yeah, that. That New York
kind of thing, you know, I'min. I'm in St. Petersburg, Florida.
We do have a few of the NewEngland people on this side. Generally,
we're more Midwest in St.Pete, and everybody else is in Fort
Lauderdale, but I absolutelyknow what you're talking about. So
I have to ask you this as wellthen, because you came up from New
York, your husband came upfrom Jersey. I think you've answered
(04:24):
this question. But Hartford'sroug roughly halfway between Boston
and New York. So it's got tobe Yankees or Red Sox, Giants or
Patriots. I'm just going toguess you're sticking.
With New York yes, sir andyes, sir.
Yeah. So that. That wholestretch where the Patriots were just
unbeatable. Unbelievable.Except in two Super Bowls by the
(04:46):
Giants. Had to be rough attimes and also kind of fun.
Well, you know, I was actuallythinking during the Super Bowl, I
was thinking about Tom Brady.It's like we needed a Tom Brady at
the last min for the Eaglesand we didn't get it.
So the. The jersey side ofyour husband being so close to Philly,
he probably had a little bitof a love for. To help, you know,
(05:08):
see them. When he had no tieto Kansas City, no one really did.
If you're in the. Up in the.
No, my son's in Philly, by theway. He lives in Fishtown.
Ah.
Yeah. So we go to Philly quitea bit.
It's gonna be a long. It'sgonna be a long off season for the
Eagles. That was their game. Good.
So let's.
Let's go back. Young Amy. Youknow, you just get out of high school,
(05:29):
college is staring at you. Areyou. Is real estate anywhere on your
radar? Are you even thinkingabout it?
Nary a thought. I went toschool in Rhode island, and my degree
was art therapy, and I tookcourses at risd, which is. I didn't
go to risd, Rhode IslandSchool of Design, but I loved art,
(05:51):
so I took courses there and Iwent to my college in art therapy.
But since I married my husbandwhile he was in college, much to
my family's chagrin, becausethey thought I was going to marry
a doctor, lawyer, Indianchief, as many people from New York
do, ended up marrying abuilder. So when we moved to Connecticut,
(06:14):
I hated real estate. And as hewas interviewing the real estate
companies to manage thesubdivisions, because the contractor,
that was one of the things thedeveloper wanted my husband to find
a good real estate company.And one of the companies was a century
21. I was nasty Bill. I wasmean because I thought they were
worse than scum of the earth.And I told him what I thought, and
(06:37):
he goes, I challenge you. Hegoes, you would be great in real
estate. I'm going to pay foryou to get your real estate license.
I'm like, I'm on. I'm like,what the heck did I just agree to?
So I have never used my degreeonce. I have been in real estate
my whole career. 1987 on.
So that was the thing. Thatwas what? It's always an interesting
(06:58):
story as to how someone getsinto real estate. Yours is awesome.
Who was your first broker?Where'd you hang that license? When
you first got your license.
Still really good friends.It's century 21. It's all points
realty. They're the biggestcentury 21 in Connecticut. My husband
still has his license withthem. I am with Better Homes and
Gardens for right now becauseI used to be working for them at
(07:21):
corporate. Sure. But, yeah,century 21.
So you've always been. You'vealways been part of the. We'll call
it Realogy now. It's anywhere.
Yep.
Yeah. You've always been apart of that family. That's cool.
I like that. Yeah, that'sgreat. You know, you. You've really
created a career out ofeducation, training people, really
helping, consulting, all thesethings. Where did that come from?
(07:42):
Right. Because it wasn't likeyou had a career in that before.
It wasn't. It wasn't somethingyou studied in college, to be honest.
So where did that come from?
Sunday school. My kids were inSunday school. And the rabbi came
up to me. He goes, you are anamazing teacher. And I loved it.
And I hated this in realestate. I hated all the CE classes
(08:05):
where people would literallymake your eyes burn out of your head
because it was so boring. Iwent back to school Bill at a local
community college inConnecticut, and I went back for
Instructional design and Adultlearning theory because I wanted
to make sure. Because I wantedto write content, but I wanted to
make sure I was doing it theright way. And my eyes were opened
(08:28):
and I have a secret sauce. AndI'll tell you why my content was
always so effective. It wasfrom those classes. And I started
writing courses and work.Started working with Matthew Ferrara
back in 2004 and just hit theground running. And then in 2009,
NAR asked me with Bill Lublinand Ginger Wilcox to rewrite EPro.
(08:51):
I had no idea what a big dealthat was.
Yeah.
And that. That's what reallygot me on the map going forward.
But that's how I got in.
Wow. I'm gonna just guess thatbecause, look, you know, a lot of
real estate educators, Idabbled in it when I was with Fidelity,
you know, was nowhere near thelevel a lot of you are. But for.
To have that background, tohave that actually to go back and
(09:13):
pick up some courses on thosekinds of things. That's generally
not the path for mosteducators in real estate. Right.
No. And that's. It'sinteresting. I am working with a
company now putting educatorscourse online. And only a couple
of them who really understandthis. It's easier for them to put
(09:35):
their courses online. Everyoneelse Has a really hard time because
they're really. They have anamazing idea. They've had great success.
So they can talk. They cantalk and do it and everyone loves
their classes. But to create acourse where the people actually
are able to implement is awhole nother level. So it's been
very interesting coaching them.
(09:57):
Yeah. Let's talk aboutMatthew. He's an amazing guy. Right?
I mean, I've talked to him onthe show before. Just an incredible
speaker trainer, whatever youwant to call Matthew. How fun was
it? And I'm sure you picked upa lot of great stuff through those
years with him.
We still talk almost weekly. Iactually spoke to him yesterday.
(10:20):
Whenever I'm working with anew client, we just touch base on
what we're doing and we justbrainstorm with each other on better
ways to support our clients.I've known him forever and he comes
from a really humblebackground and he really, because
he was so brilliant, got somegreat opportunities. But he had that
(10:44):
single working mom. One of my.I'm going to just tell him one of
my favorite stories is he wentto a prep school. He got in like,
because he was so super smartand he was the local kid with his
mom's old clunker. But he waspopular because he had this car that
probably had no muffler.Brilliant. And one of the nicest,
(11:07):
nicest guys. I mean, we'vebeen friends since 2000.
Yeah. That's great. I didn'tknow that about you. That was one
thing in the research I do. Iwas. Wow. I didn't know Amy and Matthew
were connected at some pointin time. That's really cool. You
are not afraid of technology,race technology. And I'm going to
(11:29):
guess, you know, because youTalked about the EPro with, with
ginger and Bill, which isfantastic. That's. That's great.
That I'm going to guess youwere an early adopter of lots of
things, including social. Wereyou right there just trying to figure
out how this was going to workin the real estate space?
Absolutely. I remember beinglaughed off stage. I think it was
(11:50):
triple play. Matthew was thereactually in the back of the room
and people thought I was crazy2004 and basically said, I hope you
enjoyed the donuts and coffeethen today. And I literally had to
walk off stage and now whatwere you talking.
About that made that happen?
Social media, how you're goingto have to bring that into your business.
(12:11):
Yeah, LinkedIn around at thattime and there's, I mean, even a
goofy little MySpace wasfloating around, but still, people
were using stuff.
Yeah, people were using stuff.So yeah. Pretty early adopter.
Yeah. That's, that's great.Let's, let's talk about when you
are working with a customer.Maybe it's a client. It could be
consulting with the brokerage.What's the most common mistake that
(12:34):
you see agents or brokers makein their. When they're trying to
figure out what they're goingto do with their technology? I mean,
or when they're using theirtechnology. Is there something that's
maybe a common thread?
I'm going to approach it fromthe broker side and the agent side.
Okay.
From a broker side, I findthat working with the agents where
they are in their career and Iquartile agents into four groups
(12:57):
that top echelon, who, thattop 10, 15% who are going to use
their own software anyway. Howdo you support them? Then that next
group, which is I call yoursolid citizens. How are you supporting
them? Then you're up andcoming and then the people are struggling.
I think you have to look ateach person where they are in their
career and find out whichpieces of software they need to grow.
(13:22):
So from a broker, that's whereI go from, from an agent. I think
we all have shiny objectsyndrome. I think right now with
the business plan, here's theinteresting thing, Bill. I have had
a business plan from the firstyear I was in real estate.
Wow.
And I can't, maybe it was mybackground, but I see people not
(13:42):
knowing what their goals are.And part of your goals are what systems
and tools are you going to useto get to your financial goal.
Right.
And that automatically helps.I find agents figure out where they're
going to be. So is it yourCRM, your marketing platform? So
(14:03):
I approach it from there. Butagain, you don't need a lot of tools.
And I see people, I get reallyoff into craziness. Like the whole
thing now with the AI, youknow, it's brilliant, it's fun and
I've seen products alreadyputting it into their products like
a trust scout. And I believewise agent, which are CRMs, have
(14:25):
already put the AI in there.So I think it's better to. It's fun
to play. But whatever you'reusing, I always say don't, don't
invent, implement. What do youhave? Just max it out and then go
on to the next thing.
Yeah. Trying to create a wholeStrategy with like ChatGPT to like
(14:46):
create your. Some, somemarketing content for you. Why do
that? It's, it's going to Beother places. Just. Let's let the.
Maybe the experts pull thatstuff into their systems. Yeah, that
makes sense.
I mean, are you good atarticulating who you are? What's
your value proposal? And doesyour sphere know what you do? So
as soon as someone talks aboutreal estate, are they on the phone
(15:06):
with you, like, number one, Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't. Idon't see AI helping with that piece.
Not yet.
No, that's. That's. Unlessthey can pick up the phone and imitate
you and do a perfectimpersonation of your voice, it's
not going to work.
Your phone just heard you saythat. It's going to happen.
It's true. It's sitting righthere. Okay. I mentioned earlier,
you know, your time, you know,century 21, better homes and Gardens,
(15:30):
working for. For real in thatrealogy space because you were working
for them and development. Anddevelopment and helping with platform
and things. Talk about, youknow, the value that comes from,
you know, having to work atthat level. I mean, you're talking
about hundreds of thousands ofagents in that. In that. In that
company. What was that like?
(15:51):
I had no idea what I wasgetting into, Sherry. Chris asked
me to come on board, and onceI did, I realized I had no idea what
it was like to work in thatenvironment. I want to say that Sherry
was the person who helped mefigure that all out. She helped me
(16:11):
work the building, know who totalk to, who to not. She helped me
understand how to work thebuilding. The things that I learned
there, I think, was how to bea leader, emotional intelligence,
how to actually act withcertain levels of people, whether
they're above you or belowyou. So learning how to communicate
(16:32):
up and what they need to hearand learning how to communicate down.
One thing that separated me,which I was, Which I was surprised
to learn, but I did later on,is that having that entrepreneur
mindset that I had, I pushedlike many people would not push in
that building. And I actuallyhad an HR person attached to me the
(16:56):
first couple of years becausethey had to talk to me. But I think
the one thing about Sherry,she loved that. And that's why I
think we were able to get somuch done, because I didn't realize
some of the politics that Ishould have been following when I
was there. But really,emotional intelligence and learning
(17:17):
how to communicate in aFortune 500 company environment,
which those skills I'm foreverthankful for, and I'm using them
now as I'm working as a consultant.
Right. Yeah. I moved from theFidelity family another Fortune 500
working for basically astartup out of Australia. Right.
(17:37):
My agent with 100 employees.And when you want to do something,
it happens very fast. And whenFidelity wanted to do something,
it took years. Sometimes itfelt like.
You know what's interestingthough, with the prop tech companies
that many of them coming outof startup are finally getting funding
now, there is a niche thathelping those companies quickly get
(18:02):
to being a company operatinglike a real company, not the bootstrapping
if there. That is a. A needthat many of those companies need
and they know they need it,but they're still like juggling so
many plates in the air.
Yeah, they are, absolutely.And it's been for me, I wish I was
younger when I made thechange, but it's still been a blast.
(18:24):
I mean, it's coming up on twoand a half years and super exciting.
I love it. Well, let's talkabout what you're doing now. Let's
talk about curated learning.Tell me what that is, where that
idea came from, what peopleneed to know about it.
Curated learning came out ofwanting to go back to be an entrepreneur.
(18:46):
I had given the time atanywhere and I was very thankful
for that. But in my gut, I'man entrepreneur and I saw a couple
of holes. One was onboardingis not done well at brokerage level.
So I've been working, we'veworked with about five companies
and we're putting together aplatform where there's tools for
(19:08):
very small companies all theway up to enterprise. I think agents
need a better experience whencoming onto a company, understanding
that it's seamless,frictionless and having a great experience.
So they'll automatically buyinto the company and then actually
knowing everything that thecompany offers. So we've created
(19:28):
some great tools forcompliance and the culture of the
company. And it ranges from aPDF with clickable links jotforms,
all the way to a learningmanagement system with everything
with videos and all of that.So that's been fun. In the interim,
I'm also putting some of mycourses that I've loved and written
(19:50):
over the years online. They'realmost ready, so they'll be on demand.
Written a value prop class, aclass on crypto and tokenization,
and writing a new agenttraining. Those are the three that
are out there and that'sreally what curated learning is doing.
But what's kind of crazy iswhen I left, I got asked by prop
(20:13):
tech companies to help bringtheir product to market. And right
now I have two companies. I'veworked with about five companies
I have two contracts right nowand what I do is I analyze how they
reach the customer, how theyonboard them and then how they continue
engagement. And for somereason I have a knack and I work
(20:35):
with operations, I work withlearning, I work with marketing and
I work with sales with thoseteams. So that I did get that from
my experience at Realogybecause I was that VP of platform.
So I helped launch most of thetech out. You know, being an agent
helps because many of thesetech Companies don't understand the
(20:56):
8 mindset of a realtor.
Right, you're absolutelyright. Yeah, that's. We, we, we might
reach out and give you a call.I mean onboarding a client, onboarding
a realtor, a specific, thatspecific mindset of onboarding a
realtor is very, it's not justa really easy hey, here's how you
(21:16):
do it and away you go. You'vegot to understand the relationship
between what is that techdoing? What is, where's that, as
you mentioned before, where'sthat agent in their, in their career
or their place inside yourquartiles? I mean, what are you doing
there? That's pretty, that'simpressive. I probably will talk
to you after the show. Whatright now? What has your attention
(21:39):
right now? And then what doyou think agents should be thinking
about as we move forward?Because I think that things are always
changing in our world. I meanwe know there are the big cycles
and we've come into a cyclethat I have a feeling that wasn't
as traumatic as we thought itwas going to be. It's still, it's
(22:00):
still a downturn, but it's. Idon't think we're going to see this
giant recession and all kindsof things, hopefully. What's your
take on all of that, Bill?
I am a data geek. I run about74 data points from my MLS just because.
For fun. Because that's funfor me, which is weird. So I have
(22:22):
a good pulse on what's goingon in my local market. I watch what
I call price banding and thenI look at things like list dependings.
I watch how many actives and Itrack that and I've been doing that
for years. I watch LawrenceYoon every month because he's got
great information. So he's gotthe macro and then I have the micro,
(22:46):
the local. And what I'm seeingis we're getting back to your point
where we are. That was a bigintro to what you asked my question,
but I had to throw that in.
No, that's good.
So like for example nationallywe usually have five to seven months
of inventory. Some areasthey're still at one month, we're
(23:06):
at three now. For me I thinkagents need to understand what's
going on in their localmarket. There are data points that
you see people post on the, onsocial. That's not where it belongs.
It belongs in yourarticulation to buyers and sellers
so they can understand what'sgoing on in the market, what they
(23:28):
should be doing for pricing,how people should be offering. If
they understand what's goingon there, that is the kind of information
you can then share to yoursphere. For me right now it's staying
in touch with your sphere withnon threatening information because
they're the ones who are goingto know about the people who are
going to be selling. You wantthem calling you. So right now really
(23:50):
doubling down with the sphere.I do think there's some great ways
to generate leads online butfor me if you haven't mastered your
sphere, that is a pot of goldthat will give and give every year.
So for me having some kind ofdata, for me it's, it could be staging,
(24:12):
it could be anything. But whatare you giving back to your local
market? Staying in touch withthem so they know for me it's the
data.
Yeah. Is that, is that part ofyour value prop class that you have
up? So that just. That's goodto know. If anyone listening.
It's called the Zen ofNumbers. We, we teach a companies
how to do that and a friend ofmine actually wrote that. Her name
(24:35):
and a shout out to RobinErlenbush. Robin owns a, an ERA in
Bozeman, Montana.
Wow.
We almost bought propertythere and we didn't. But she and
I have been friends for 17years and we wrote that whole course,
it's called the Zen ofNumbers. And she, she does her data
out there, I do my data andit's really fun to see the different
(24:55):
markets.
Yeah, it seems like a brokershould embrace that and like why
can't a broker roll that outto their, their agents every month?
Right.
It's funny, I see in sociallike someone saying days on market
list to sale to the consumer.I'm like that does nothing like.
But if you run into someone inthe grocery store and that's why
(25:17):
I also like Steve Harneystuff. Keeping current matters.
Yes.
Because he sends stuff. It'slike you know that they say, you
know, why are you so smart?Well I read Steve Harney stuff. So
someone says what's going onin the market? I don't See? Brutal.
I'll say something that Iheard Lawrence say on a thing, something
on Steve Harney said or my owndata. I'll go, you know, it's interesting.
(25:39):
Normally we have five monthsof inventory. We were at 1.4, six
months ago, but we're back atthree. And the person goes, wow.
Well, then they'll say, areyou think, well, what do you think
about me putting my home onthe market? I go, you know what?
I. And then I get anappointment. But it's giving something
back like that.
Yeah, yeah. It's not. We'renot asking someone to memorize a
(26:02):
whole bunch of data. Just knowa couple of bullet points that you
can bring out and explain.And, and for a consumer, they're
going to have no idea thatthat's the way things are. They just
don't. It's tough to get it.It's tough to get the local stuff
from, even from the localmedia, right?
Yep. It's very hard. Andremember, it's three months old.
What I'll do is I'll give youa list so you can put it on your,
(26:23):
at the. For your podcast ofthe data points people should be
looking at.
Awesome. Yeah, we'll put it inthe, we'll put it in the show notes.
That'd be awesome. So we'regetting close to that half hour mark,
Amy, so I'm going to ask youthe same final question we've asked
everybody since day one. JayThompson got this, the first, first
guy to get this question. Whatone piece of advice would you give
a new agent just gettingstarted. We might have touched on
(26:46):
it, but what, what would youtell them to focus on?
What I would tell a brand newagent is find, first of all, find
the right company thatresonates with you. Visit them twice.
Don't just go in that firstinterview, go back and make sure
that they're the same company.And then when you're there, make
(27:06):
sure that you understand yourvalue prop who you are, how to articulate
it and get connected with yoursphere because it will take you five
years to really get thatgoing. But if you're in for the long
haul, that will pay dividendsover and over.
Yeah, Amy, if somebody wantsto reach out to you, what's the best
way for them to do that?
(27:27):
I amysharu on all social andmy email is amymysharu.com Very simple.
Good. Amy, this was so muchfun. Thank you for your time. I'm
sorry this took so long and,and I'll be looking for you at a
conference somewhere near us soon.
Yes, we definitely need aconference. Fist bump or hug if we're
(27:50):
doing that by then.
Sounds good. I appreciate it.Thank you so much for your time.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you for listening to theReal Estate Sessions. Please head
over to ratethispodcast.comresessions to leave a review or a
rating and subscribe to theReal Estate Sessions podcast at your
favorite podcast. Listening Applause.
I think agents need tounderstand what's going on in their
local market. There are datapoints that you see people post on
the on social. That's notwhere it belongs. It belongs in your
articulation to buyers andsellers so they can understand what's
going on in the market.
(00:21):
You're listening to the RealEstate Sessions and I'm your host,
Bill Risser. With nearly 25years in the real estate business,
I love to interview industryleaders, up and comers and really
anyone with a story to tell.It's the stories that led my guests
to a career in the real estateworld that drives me into my ninth
year and nearly 400 episodesof the podcast. And now I hope you
enjoy the next journey. Hieverybody. Welcome to episode 345
(00:47):
of the Real Estate Sessionspodcast. You know what I'm going
to say. As always, thank youso much for tuning in and thank you
so much for telling a friendtoday. It's somebody I've known about
since the beginning of thepodcast, yet failed to have her on
until now. Definitely mymistake, my bad. I'm talking about
Amy Chorew. Amy is currentlywith Curated Learning, but Amy has
(01:09):
a broad history in the realestate space going back to the late
80s, and I'm very excited totalk to her about what she's doing
today, some of the greatthings she's done in the past, and
let's get this thing started.Amy, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you for having me, Bill.So excited.
Yeah, I am so glad to have youon. We run into each other at conferences
(01:31):
and events and differentthings, but I've never really had
a sit down conversation withyou. And so I'm really excited about
this. I'll just find out alittle more about you. Maybe some
of your friends and some ofthe people who've worked with you
over the years are going tothink this is old hat, but there's
a lot of us that need to knowmore. So we'll get this started with
my favorite first question. Itend to use this a lot and I know
(01:52):
you live in the GreaterHartford area and you've been there
for a long time. Are you anative? And I'm going to screw this
up and I'm going to give it mybest shot. Is it Connecticutian?
Is it Connecticutian? Is itconnectian? What's the native of
Connecticut?
It's actually nutmegger. Theycall them nutmeggers. They're hard
on the outside, hard to crack,but once you do, they're mush. That's
(02:16):
what they call Connecticutpeople nutmeggers.
I love it. I play golf with anutmegger every Sunday. Anthony Malafronte.
I don't know if you knowAnthony, but I do.
So you have to tell him nowthat he's a nutmeg maker.
Yeah, he's New Haven, sothat's cool. Good, good. So are you
a native?
No.
Nut maker?
No. I am from New York. Myparents are from West 187th. It was
(02:40):
the Heights. What? You nowknow the Heights. We lived right
near the Cloisters. My grandpahad buildings. Had a building right
there, Fort Tryon Park. Andthen I grew up in Rye, New York.
I met my husband, a Jerseyboy, in college and he was hired
to run. He's a builder, and wemoved up here so he could start his
(03:01):
building career.
Awesome. Okay.
Long time ago.
Yeah. So you've been there along time. Obviously you still like
Connecticut a lot. Give meyour favorite thing about Connecticut,
and then. I know it's toughbecause you've been there a long
time, but what. There's gottabe a worst. Everybody has that thing,
right? So what's your best andyour worst?
There is a worst, actually. Sowhat I love about Connecticut, it's
(03:21):
gorgeous, beautiful, and Ihave access to everything. I can
be skiing in two and a halfhours. I can be at the beach in 45.
I can be in Manhattan in undertwo hours. And of course, Boston,
too. So I love. I love that Ican. That's my playground. So I love
that about Connecticut. Theworst. It's actually when I first
(03:42):
got here, being a New Yorker,we have a story for everything. And
my husband used to kick meunder the table. He goes, shut up.
Because they don't care. So itwas learning how to be that stoic
Connecticutinian, whatever youcalled it. But now I do have an amazing
network of friends here.
(04:03):
That's very interestingbecause. Yeah, that. That New York
kind of thing, you know, I'min. I'm in St. Petersburg, Florida.
We do have a few of the NewEngland people on this side. Generally,
we're more Midwest in St.Pete, and everybody else is in Fort
Lauderdale, but I absolutelyknow what you're talking about. So
I have to ask you this as wellthen, because you came up from New
York, your husband came upfrom Jersey. I think you've answered
(04:24):
this question. But Hartford'sroug roughly halfway between Boston
and New York. So it's got tobe Yankees or Red Sox, Giants or
Patriots. I'm just going toguess you're sticking.
With New York yes, sir andyes, sir.
Yeah. So that. That wholestretch where the Patriots were just
unbeatable. Unbelievable.Except in two Super Bowls by the
(04:46):
Giants. Had to be rough attimes and also kind of fun.
Well, you know, I was actuallythinking during the Super Bowl, I
was thinking about Tom Brady.It's like we needed a Tom Brady at
the last min for the Eaglesand we didn't get it.
So the. The jersey side ofyour husband being so close to Philly,
he probably had a little bitof a love for. To help, you know,
(05:08):
see them. When he had no tieto Kansas City, no one really did.
If you're in the. Up in the.
No, my son's in Philly, by theway. He lives in Fishtown.
Ah.
Yeah. So we go to Philly quitea bit.
It's gonna be a long. It'sgonna be a long off season for the
Eagles. That was their game. Good.
So let's.
Let's go back. Young Amy. Youknow, you just get out of high school,
(05:29):
college is staring at you. Areyou. Is real estate anywhere on your
radar? Are you even thinkingabout it?
Nary a thought. I went toschool in Rhode island, and my degree
was art therapy, and I tookcourses at risd, which is. I didn't
go to risd, Rhode IslandSchool of Design, but I loved art,
(05:51):
so I took courses there and Iwent to my college in art therapy.
But since I married my husbandwhile he was in college, much to
my family's chagrin, becausethey thought I was going to marry
a doctor, lawyer, Indianchief, as many people from New York
do, ended up marrying abuilder. So when we moved to Connecticut,
(06:14):
I hated real estate. And as hewas interviewing the real estate
companies to manage thesubdivisions, because the contractor,
that was one of the things thedeveloper wanted my husband to find
a good real estate company.And one of the companies was a century
21. I was nasty Bill. I wasmean because I thought they were
worse than scum of the earth.And I told him what I thought, and
(06:37):
he goes, I challenge you. Hegoes, you would be great in real
estate. I'm going to pay foryou to get your real estate license.
I'm like, I'm on. I'm like,what the heck did I just agree to?
So I have never used my degreeonce. I have been in real estate
my whole career. 1987 on.
So that was the thing. Thatwas what? It's always an interesting
(06:58):
story as to how someone getsinto real estate. Yours is awesome.
Who was your first broker?Where'd you hang that license? When
you first got your license.
Still really good friends.It's century 21. It's all points
realty. They're the biggestcentury 21 in Connecticut. My husband
still has his license withthem. I am with Better Homes and
Gardens for right now becauseI used to be working for them at
(07:21):
corporate. Sure. But, yeah,century 21.
So you've always been. You'vealways been part of the. We'll call
it Realogy now. It's anywhere.
Yep.
Yeah. You've always been apart of that family. That's cool.
I like that. Yeah, that'sgreat. You know, you. You've really
created a career out ofeducation, training people, really
helping, consulting, all thesethings. Where did that come from?
(07:42):
Right. Because it wasn't likeyou had a career in that before.
It wasn't. It wasn't somethingyou studied in college, to be honest.
So where did that come from?
Sunday school. My kids were inSunday school. And the rabbi came
up to me. He goes, you are anamazing teacher. And I loved it.
And I hated this in realestate. I hated all the CE classes
(08:05):
where people would literallymake your eyes burn out of your head
because it was so boring. Iwent back to school Bill at a local
community college inConnecticut, and I went back for
Instructional design and Adultlearning theory because I wanted
to make sure. Because I wantedto write content, but I wanted to
make sure I was doing it theright way. And my eyes were opened
(08:28):
and I have a secret sauce. AndI'll tell you why my content was
always so effective. It wasfrom those classes. And I started
writing courses and work.Started working with Matthew Ferrara
back in 2004 and just hit theground running. And then in 2009,
NAR asked me with Bill Lublinand Ginger Wilcox to rewrite EPro.
(08:51):
I had no idea what a big dealthat was.
Yeah.
And that. That's what reallygot me on the map going forward.
But that's how I got in.
Wow. I'm gonna just guess thatbecause, look, you know, a lot of
real estate educators, Idabbled in it when I was with Fidelity,
you know, was nowhere near thelevel a lot of you are. But for.
To have that background, tohave that actually to go back and
(09:13):
pick up some courses on thosekinds of things. That's generally
not the path for mosteducators in real estate. Right.
No. And that's. It'sinteresting. I am working with a
company now putting educatorscourse online. And only a couple
of them who really understandthis. It's easier for them to put
(09:35):
their courses online. Everyoneelse Has a really hard time because
they're really. They have anamazing idea. They've had great success.
So they can talk. They cantalk and do it and everyone loves
their classes. But to create acourse where the people actually
are able to implement is awhole nother level. So it's been
very interesting coaching them.
(09:57):
Yeah. Let's talk aboutMatthew. He's an amazing guy. Right?
I mean, I've talked to him onthe show before. Just an incredible
speaker trainer, whatever youwant to call Matthew. How fun was
it? And I'm sure you picked upa lot of great stuff through those
years with him.
We still talk almost weekly. Iactually spoke to him yesterday.
(10:20):
Whenever I'm working with anew client, we just touch base on
what we're doing and we justbrainstorm with each other on better
ways to support our clients.I've known him forever and he comes
from a really humblebackground and he really, because
he was so brilliant, got somegreat opportunities. But he had that
(10:44):
single working mom. One of my.I'm going to just tell him one of
my favorite stories is he wentto a prep school. He got in like,
because he was so super smartand he was the local kid with his
mom's old clunker. But he waspopular because he had this car that
probably had no muffler.Brilliant. And one of the nicest,
(11:07):
nicest guys. I mean, we'vebeen friends since 2000.
Yeah. That's great. I didn'tknow that about you. That was one
thing in the research I do. Iwas. Wow. I didn't know Amy and Matthew
were connected at some pointin time. That's really cool. You
are not afraid of technology,race technology. And I'm going to
(11:29):
guess, you know, because youTalked about the EPro with, with
ginger and Bill, which isfantastic. That's. That's great.
That I'm going to guess youwere an early adopter of lots of
things, including social. Wereyou right there just trying to figure
out how this was going to workin the real estate space?
Absolutely. I remember beinglaughed off stage. I think it was
(11:50):
triple play. Matthew was thereactually in the back of the room
and people thought I was crazy2004 and basically said, I hope you
enjoyed the donuts and coffeethen today. And I literally had to
walk off stage and now whatwere you talking.
About that made that happen?
Social media, how you're goingto have to bring that into your business.
(12:11):
Yeah, LinkedIn around at thattime and there's, I mean, even a
goofy little MySpace wasfloating around, but still, people
were using stuff.
Yeah, people were using stuff.So yeah. Pretty early adopter.
Yeah. That's, that's great.Let's, let's talk about when you
are working with a customer.Maybe it's a client. It could be
consulting with the brokerage.What's the most common mistake that
(12:34):
you see agents or brokers makein their. When they're trying to
figure out what they're goingto do with their technology? I mean,
or when they're using theirtechnology. Is there something that's
maybe a common thread?
I'm going to approach it fromthe broker side and the agent side.
Okay.
From a broker side, I findthat working with the agents where
they are in their career and Iquartile agents into four groups
(12:57):
that top echelon, who, thattop 10, 15% who are going to use
their own software anyway. Howdo you support them? Then that next
group, which is I call yoursolid citizens. How are you supporting
them? Then you're up andcoming and then the people are struggling.
I think you have to look ateach person where they are in their
career and find out whichpieces of software they need to grow.
(13:22):
So from a broker, that's whereI go from, from an agent. I think
we all have shiny objectsyndrome. I think right now with
the business plan, here's theinteresting thing, Bill. I have had
a business plan from the firstyear I was in real estate.
Wow.
And I can't, maybe it was mybackground, but I see people not
(13:42):
knowing what their goals are.And part of your goals are what systems
and tools are you going to useto get to your financial goal.
Right.
And that automatically helps.I find agents figure out where they're
going to be. So is it yourCRM, your marketing platform? So
(14:03):
I approach it from there. Butagain, you don't need a lot of tools.
And I see people, I get reallyoff into craziness. Like the whole
thing now with the AI, youknow, it's brilliant, it's fun and
I've seen products alreadyputting it into their products like
a trust scout. And I believewise agent, which are CRMs, have
(14:25):
already put the AI in there.So I think it's better to. It's fun
to play. But whatever you'reusing, I always say don't, don't
invent, implement. What do youhave? Just max it out and then go
on to the next thing.
Yeah. Trying to create a wholeStrategy with like ChatGPT to like
(14:46):
create your. Some, somemarketing content for you. Why do
that? It's, it's going to Beother places. Just. Let's let the.
Maybe the experts pull thatstuff into their systems. Yeah, that
makes sense.
I mean, are you good atarticulating who you are? What's
your value proposal? And doesyour sphere know what you do? So
as soon as someone talks aboutreal estate, are they on the phone
(15:06):
with you, like, number one, Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't. Idon't see AI helping with that piece.
Not yet.
No, that's. That's. Unlessthey can pick up the phone and imitate
you and do a perfectimpersonation of your voice, it's
not going to work.
Your phone just heard you saythat. It's going to happen.
It's true. It's sitting righthere. Okay. I mentioned earlier,
you know, your time, you know,century 21, better homes and Gardens,
(15:30):
working for. For real in thatrealogy space because you were working
for them and development. Anddevelopment and helping with platform
and things. Talk about, youknow, the value that comes from,
you know, having to work atthat level. I mean, you're talking
about hundreds of thousands ofagents in that. In that. In that
company. What was that like?
(15:51):
I had no idea what I wasgetting into, Sherry. Chris asked
me to come on board, and onceI did, I realized I had no idea what
it was like to work in thatenvironment. I want to say that Sherry
was the person who helped mefigure that all out. She helped me
(16:11):
work the building, know who totalk to, who to not. She helped me
understand how to work thebuilding. The things that I learned
there, I think, was how to bea leader, emotional intelligence,
how to actually act withcertain levels of people, whether
they're above you or belowyou. So learning how to communicate
(16:32):
up and what they need to hearand learning how to communicate down.
One thing that separated me,which I was, Which I was surprised
to learn, but I did later on,is that having that entrepreneur
mindset that I had, I pushedlike many people would not push in
that building. And I actuallyhad an HR person attached to me the
(16:56):
first couple of years becausethey had to talk to me. But I think
the one thing about Sherry,she loved that. And that's why I
think we were able to get somuch done, because I didn't realize
some of the politics that Ishould have been following when I
was there. But really,emotional intelligence and learning
(17:17):
how to communicate in aFortune 500 company environment,
which those skills I'm foreverthankful for, and I'm using them
now as I'm working as a consultant.
Right. Yeah. I moved from theFidelity family another Fortune 500
working for basically astartup out of Australia. Right.
(17:37):
My agent with 100 employees.And when you want to do something,
it happens very fast. And whenFidelity wanted to do something,
it took years. Sometimes itfelt like.
You know what's interestingthough, with the prop tech companies
that many of them coming outof startup are finally getting funding
now, there is a niche thathelping those companies quickly get
(18:02):
to being a company operatinglike a real company, not the bootstrapping
if there. That is a. A needthat many of those companies need
and they know they need it,but they're still like juggling so
many plates in the air.
Yeah, they are, absolutely.And it's been for me, I wish I was
younger when I made thechange, but it's still been a blast.
(18:24):
I mean, it's coming up on twoand a half years and super exciting.
I love it. Well, let's talkabout what you're doing now. Let's
talk about curated learning.Tell me what that is, where that
idea came from, what peopleneed to know about it.
Curated learning came out ofwanting to go back to be an entrepreneur.
(18:46):
I had given the time atanywhere and I was very thankful
for that. But in my gut, I'man entrepreneur and I saw a couple
of holes. One was onboardingis not done well at brokerage level.
So I've been working, we'veworked with about five companies
and we're putting together aplatform where there's tools for
(19:08):
very small companies all theway up to enterprise. I think agents
need a better experience whencoming onto a company, understanding
that it's seamless,frictionless and having a great experience.
So they'll automatically buyinto the company and then actually
knowing everything that thecompany offers. So we've created
(19:28):
some great tools forcompliance and the culture of the
company. And it ranges from aPDF with clickable links jotforms,
all the way to a learningmanagement system with everything
with videos and all of that.So that's been fun. In the interim,
I'm also putting some of mycourses that I've loved and written
(19:50):
over the years online. They'realmost ready, so they'll be on demand.
Written a value prop class, aclass on crypto and tokenization,
and writing a new agenttraining. Those are the three that
are out there and that'sreally what curated learning is doing.
But what's kind of crazy iswhen I left, I got asked by prop
(20:13):
tech companies to help bringtheir product to market. And right
now I have two companies. I'veworked with about five companies
I have two contracts right nowand what I do is I analyze how they
reach the customer, how theyonboard them and then how they continue
engagement. And for somereason I have a knack and I work
(20:35):
with operations, I work withlearning, I work with marketing and
I work with sales with thoseteams. So that I did get that from
my experience at Realogybecause I was that VP of platform.
So I helped launch most of thetech out. You know, being an agent
helps because many of thesetech Companies don't understand the
(20:56):
8 mindset of a realtor.
Right, you're absolutelyright. Yeah, that's. We, we, we might
reach out and give you a call.I mean onboarding a client, onboarding
a realtor, a specific, thatspecific mindset of onboarding a
realtor is very, it's not justa really easy hey, here's how you
(21:16):
do it and away you go. You'vegot to understand the relationship
between what is that techdoing? What is, where's that, as
you mentioned before, where'sthat agent in their, in their career
or their place inside yourquartiles? I mean, what are you doing
there? That's pretty, that'simpressive. I probably will talk
to you after the show. Whatright now? What has your attention
(21:39):
right now? And then what doyou think agents should be thinking
about as we move forward?Because I think that things are always
changing in our world. I meanwe know there are the big cycles
and we've come into a cyclethat I have a feeling that wasn't
as traumatic as we thought itwas going to be. It's still, it's
(22:00):
still a downturn, but it's. Idon't think we're going to see this
giant recession and all kindsof things, hopefully. What's your
take on all of that, Bill?
I am a data geek. I run about74 data points from my MLS just because.
For fun. Because that's funfor me, which is weird. So I have
(22:22):
a good pulse on what's goingon in my local market. I watch what
I call price banding and thenI look at things like list dependings.
I watch how many actives and Itrack that and I've been doing that
for years. I watch LawrenceYoon every month because he's got
great information. So he's gotthe macro and then I have the micro,
(22:46):
the local. And what I'm seeingis we're getting back to your point
where we are. That was a bigintro to what you asked my question,
but I had to throw that in.
No, that's good.
So like for example nationallywe usually have five to seven months
of inventory. Some areasthey're still at one month, we're
(23:06):
at three now. For me I thinkagents need to understand what's
going on in their localmarket. There are data points that
you see people post on the, onsocial. That's not where it belongs.
It belongs in yourarticulation to buyers and sellers
so they can understand what'sgoing on in the market, what they
(23:28):
should be doing for pricing,how people should be offering. If
they understand what's goingon there, that is the kind of information
you can then share to yoursphere. For me right now it's staying
in touch with your sphere withnon threatening information because
they're the ones who are goingto know about the people who are
going to be selling. You wantthem calling you. So right now really
(23:50):
doubling down with the sphere.I do think there's some great ways
to generate leads online butfor me if you haven't mastered your
sphere, that is a pot of goldthat will give and give every year.
So for me having some kind ofdata, for me it's, it could be staging,
(24:12):
it could be anything. But whatare you giving back to your local
market? Staying in touch withthem so they know for me it's the
data.
Yeah. Is that, is that part ofyour value prop class that you have
up? So that just. That's goodto know. If anyone listening.
It's called the Zen ofNumbers. We, we teach a companies
how to do that and a friend ofmine actually wrote that. Her name
(24:35):
and a shout out to RobinErlenbush. Robin owns a, an ERA in
Bozeman, Montana.
Wow.
We almost bought propertythere and we didn't. But she and
I have been friends for 17years and we wrote that whole course,
it's called the Zen ofNumbers. And she, she does her data
out there, I do my data andit's really fun to see the different
(24:55):
markets.
Yeah, it seems like a brokershould embrace that and like why
can't a broker roll that outto their, their agents every month?
Right.
It's funny, I see in sociallike someone saying days on market
list to sale to the consumer.I'm like that does nothing like.
But if you run into someone inthe grocery store and that's why
(25:17):
I also like Steve Harneystuff. Keeping current matters.
Yes.
Because he sends stuff. It'slike you know that they say, you
know, why are you so smart?Well I read Steve Harney stuff. So
someone says what's going onin the market? I don't See? Brutal.
I'll say something that Iheard Lawrence say on a thing, something
on Steve Harney said or my owndata. I'll go, you know, it's interesting.
(25:39):
Normally we have five monthsof inventory. We were at 1.4, six
months ago, but we're back atthree. And the person goes, wow.
Well, then they'll say, areyou think, well, what do you think
about me putting my home onthe market? I go, you know what?
I. And then I get anappointment. But it's giving something
back like that.
Yeah, yeah. It's not. We'renot asking someone to memorize a
(26:02):
whole bunch of data. Just knowa couple of bullet points that you
can bring out and explain.And, and for a consumer, they're
going to have no idea thatthat's the way things are. They just
don't. It's tough to get it.It's tough to get the local stuff
from, even from the localmedia, right?
Yep. It's very hard. Andremember, it's three months old.
What I'll do is I'll give youa list so you can put it on your,
(26:23):
at the. For your podcast ofthe data points people should be
looking at.
Awesome. Yeah, we'll put it inthe, we'll put it in the show notes.
That'd be awesome. So we'regetting close to that half hour mark,
Amy, so I'm going to ask youthe same final question we've asked
everybody since day one. JayThompson got this, the first, first
guy to get this question. Whatone piece of advice would you give
a new agent just gettingstarted. We might have touched on
(26:46):
it, but what, what would youtell them to focus on?
What I would tell a brand newagent is find, first of all, find
the right company thatresonates with you. Visit them twice.
Don't just go in that firstinterview, go back and make sure
that they're the same company.And then when you're there, make
(27:06):
sure that you understand yourvalue prop who you are, how to articulate
it and get connected with yoursphere because it will take you five
years to really get thatgoing. But if you're in for the long
haul, that will pay dividendsover and over.
Yeah, Amy, if somebody wantsto reach out to you, what's the best
way for them to do that?
(27:27):
I amysharu on all social andmy email is amymysharu.com Very simple.
Good. Amy, this was so muchfun. Thank you for your time. I'm
sorry this took so long and,and I'll be looking for you at a
conference somewhere near us soon.
Yes, we definitely need aconference. Fist bump or hug if we're
(27:50):
doing that by then.
Sounds good. I appreciate it.Thank you so much for your time.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you for listening to theReal Estate Sessions. Please head
over to ratethispodcast.comresessions to leave a review or a
rating and subscribe to theReal Estate Sessions podcast at your
favorite podcast. Listening Applause.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.