January 28, 2025 • 43 mins
🎙 Season 2 is Here!
We’re kicking off Season 2 of Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back - A Real Estate Podcast with none other than Sheila McKenna Olsen! With over 30 years in real estate, Sheila has seen it all—from shifting markets to major industry changes.
In this episode, we cover:
🏡 The biggest changes in real estate over the last 30 years
⚖️ How the NAR lawsuit & MLS changes impact real estate agents
💡 The importance of negotiation & agent training in today’s market
📱 Why social media & digital tools are crucial for success
❤️ The power of giving back & community involvement
Sheila is known for her unwavering support of agents, industry expertise, and commitment to mentorship. Whether you're a new agent or a seasoned pro, this episode is packed with valuable insights that will help you navigate today’s real estate landscape.
Tune in and stay ahead of the game!
🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Thank you for listening
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Work Hard, play Hard and Give Back a
real estate podcast.
I'm Mike Blitzner, broker ownerof Coldwell Banker American
Homes.
Welcome to Season 2, episode 1.
And today we have the pleasureof Sheila McKenna Olson joining
us.
She's the branch leader of ourEast Meadow office, our oldest
and long-standing office.
(00:27):
A very important group ofpeople there, because you also
got the corporate offices backthere.
Sheila, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi Mike, Thank you for having me.
Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
So, sheila, let's jump right into this right Go
ahead.
Let me see what we can get outof you here, because I think our
audience is going to be excitedto hear from you.
So you've been with cobaltbanker american homes for over
30 years.
Can you share with our audiencewhat brought you to the company
and, and and really what haskept you here all these years?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
oh, that's a long question.
All right, I actually.
What brought me to the companyis my husband yeah I mean, let's
know, you guys were trying torecruit my husband.
Yeah and he finally saw theopportunity and went over and
agreed and he said can you help,can you have Sheila come?
I mean, it really was kind ofright.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You're still here, right, and what?
What's that doing for audience?
He's still with us.
Oh yeah, oh no, he's still withus.
We often, oh no, he's stillwith us.
I don't want anyone to thinkwe're off to them.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, no, he's still with us, but he works at the
assessment office in NassauCounty.
But yeah, you were interviewingmy husband and I kind of came
along as like a sidekick.
So that's really how it allkind of started.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Real estate wasn't your first calling, you know it
was welcome to adulthood.
Here's your real estate license.
So what's Sheila McKenna?
Because this is before you wereOlson what's Sheila McKenna's
path into real estate?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
All right, you really want to go there.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay, well, I was actually a house painter and
then I became a union painter inthe local 1486.
Great job, great, great income,really a good position, oh we
were recruiting for the paintersunion and what had happened was
I was kind of tired of beingdirty you know being in dirty
(02:18):
clothes and working hard and Isaw an ad.
So I called on an ad and I gotpulled into a century 21 and it
just kind of built from there.
You know, unfortunately, thatcentury 21 I won't mention who
it was when kind of upside downbecause he played the races.
And then I went to anothercentury 21 and he had issues of
(02:38):
his own.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, and so playing the ponies is a bad.
It's not a good idea.
Does it mix well?
It's not a good idea for me.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
For them it might have been beneficial, but for
the staff and people it wasn't.
It wasn't the strongestplatform and my husband actually
you guys had been recruitingafter him and he went for an
interview and just kind oftagged me along.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
And the truth is, from the day I walked in, I
started earning income.
Yeah, I started learning.
It was what I was looking for.
The other two brokers, theyjust they didn't offer it, and
I'm not just saying that to blowsmoke.
They really you guys kind ofhad it together and we had had
it together.
And it just from the moment Iwalked in there, the first day,
I wrote an offer and I beggedyou to come with me to present
it Back in the days when weactually went in person to
(03:30):
present an offer and the sellingagent actually presented their
own offer in front of thelisting agent at the homeowner's
house to the homeowner directly.
I don't know how we ever gotaway from that.
I miss those days.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I think it's the negotiations a little bit of a
lost art in our business.
100% Fundamentals need to comeback.
We should get back to themBecause you know what happens.
We've had all these changes inour industry this year
especially right has this notbeen the most upside down year,
with all the change and impacton our industry, and yet somehow
(04:03):
we need to get back tofundamentals.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
You know, I know I don't want to get too old and
corny here, but evenpre-qualifying the buyer and
helping them understand whatthey're doing, what their
monthly expense is going to be,guiding them along, that my
agents don't necessarily.
They don't have to do it nowbecause I guess we have the
mortgage brokers but we've lostsome of that communication with
(04:26):
the consumers and beingface-to-face presenting offers.
Oh my, I wasn't responsible forthe offer, you were.
You present it, you put it outthere on your own terms and, to
be honest with you, I thinkthat's beneficial to both the
buyer and the seller.
Cut out the middleman.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Well.
Or the buyer and the seller,yeah, cut out the middleman,
well.
Or the misinformation, tooRight, you know the?
He said, she said Right.
It goes right.
Direct communication eliminatesambiguity as they say right,
correct.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I agree with that.
Oh the good old days.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, sheeler is, for our audience, our longest
standing employee over 30 years.
God bless her for hanging inthere and dealing with Tom and I
, but you've seen a lot ofchange and a lot of different
impacts to the industry.
Yes, so in your scope of theindustry, of your longevity,
what would you say has been thebiggest change since you started
(05:17):
?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, there's a lot of changes since.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I started.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The biggest.
You know what?
I think the biggest change isthe agent giving up their rights
or they're presenting their ownoffers, communicating with
attorneys on both sides.
You know, I feel as if theagents you know you have the
right to present an offer, eventhough they get a letter, but do
(05:46):
they really have the letter?
We just follow the sheep andsay, oh okay, here, I'll fax it
over.
I get faxes, you still getfaxes.
What's a fax machine?
You're right, I still getemails and there's no
communication.
They just send it out.
And I think we've lost that,that professionalism.
Not that agents aren'tprofessional, yeah, but it's
(06:08):
changed.
And they've lost control, andnot that I'm a control freak,
but they've lost control of someof the details that are really
important and pertinent to thetransaction and I don't think
they need to.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's something we need to get back to a great yeah
I agree.
So obviously we've gone throughthis year more change than ever
before, right?
So, whether it's statelegislation, with property
condition disclosures, or whatabout the NAR changes, how do
you think that's impacted theindustry?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I think it's left the industry in complete confusion.
I think that I, honestly, Imight get in trouble for saying
this.
I think MLS is not doing us anygreat service.
I don't think that Well, I feelit's probably the board.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Long Island Board of Realtors owns the MLS.
Just for our audience, so theydon't understand structure.
The Long Island Board ofRealtors is a trade association
which wholly owns the MLS onekey MLS, so to speak, and that's
our networking amongst brokersso that we can share,
potentially, listings and buyersand bring people together to
(07:14):
the right property, as opposedto just one of my properties,
right.
Okay just to be fair enough, Iwant to make sure for those who
aren't in real estate who mightbe listening.
Correct.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And it really is a positive because it's exposure
for our homeowners.
You know the listings are outthere and everybody has access
and it's exposure which is whatyou want.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
But I think when the rule changes came in I don't
know that they're reallyhandling it clearly or you know
they put on the listings thatyou can do a seller's concession
.
You know, technically is itreally a seller's concession?
I have a written agreement.
That's part of my duty with myconsumer, I think we got to go
(07:53):
back a few steps.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So, let's go.
So the changes are brought byNAR, which is the National
Association of Realtors, whichNISAR, the New York State
Association of Realtors, whichNYSAR the New York State
Association of Realtors is kindof under their umbrella.
And then Long Island Board ofRealtors is under NYSAR's
umbrella, so our board also hastheir political action
(08:15):
committees and interacts withthe Department of State who
controls licensing.
So again, I just want to giveour audience a little structure
so that we don't lose themtalking our own industry talk
there.
So I think the other thing hereis I want to frame this a
little bit for clarity but theNAR changes didn't come down
because of innovation in ourbusiness.
(08:36):
It came down because of legalprowess.
I think it's a money grab.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Honestly, I have another word for it, but I'm
just saying yeah, agreed, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I don't know that this is.
It's been done in the name ofconsumer protectionism and yet
the only one who's gotten richor made money are the attorneys.
So, and one of the veryobnoxious quotes I've heard and
correct me if you think I'mwrong on this is the lead
attorney who accused the entirereal estate industry of being
greedy put in for their hoursonce the settlement started
(09:12):
coming in and was charging$1,500 an hour.
But I don't know how manypeople charge $1,500 an hour.
So there's a lot of hypocrisythat went into this.
And yet these changes wereforced upon our industry and yet
I don't see that there's acohesiveness yet in the industry
.
Is that better said?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That is better said, I feel, as if I believe our
agents have been trained very,very well when it comes to the
change and how to actually helpit, to help them, help their
consumers.
So there's a lot of otheragencies out there that maybe
(09:54):
they don't train their agents aswell and I'm not coming down on
them, but I know our agentshave a definite path, they
understand the changes and thatwe need written agreements and
you know it.
At the end of the day, itactually is a little bit better
for everybody because there'stwo separate sides of the
transaction yeah, if, if theindustry buys in completely does
(10:16):
the industry have a choice?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
we'll see, since the Department of State has still
not weighed in officially.
So this is being driven fromthe inverse side.
You would think things wouldcome down from licensing first,
but it's coming from the otherdirection.
It's coming in from consumer.
Well, legal pressure.
That's probably the betteranswer, right, right?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
But it is.
However we've gotten here we'rehere.
And we have to actuallyfunction within all our new
guidelines.
So I really believe that,american Homes, we took the bull
by the horn and we have reallyhelped our agents to up their
game.
And you know, our agents noware actually earning, I believe,
(11:03):
better fees for their services,for their value, for what they
bring to the table, and itreally the definite line is
there, but the problem, or thefrustration, is that not
everyone is on the same page.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I think the goal is supposed to be transparency and
more transparency, is supposedto be transparency and more
transparency.
But again, I think thechallenge and correct me if I'm
wrong is that not everybody,every brokerage slash, even the
board, is exactly on the samepage with how that transparency
is supposed to be delivered.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Correct, and that's why when I first started this
with the seller's concessionit's not a seller's concession.
It's not A seller's concession,is something that's added onto
the transaction, that the buyeruses towards closing costs.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Traditionally.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Traditionally right.
Well, most realtors that 30years ago presented face-to-face
this is what they believe.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yes, yes, I think so.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
What I believe the other outside agents are just
not grasping is that it'sinclusive.
If I have a written agreementwith a purchaser, that agreement
gives me permission to includemy fee.
Just the way it was beforeAugust 17th Every offer that was
written had a commission in it.
The difference is now it'sclearer the consumer, it's
(12:31):
actually protection, or, youknow, the consumer can negotiate
their own fee with the agentsand the agents can actually put
forth that they're notrestricted to what another
agency is offering.
Right, because maybe it's not afee that is worth that agent's
value, right, a fee that isworth that agent's value, right.
So now this agent, because ofthis new rule or new guidelines,
can actually negotiate a fairvalue commission with their
(12:51):
consumer.
I think our agents are in tunewith that.
Well, you keep hitting that oneword value.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Oh, so you have to show your value, and I think
that's what we try to reallydrive into our agents is to
understand their value, bebetter trained, have more
information, be a better serviceto your client, both buyer or
seller, which means you bringvalue.
If you're a licensed agent andessentially you're a glorified
(13:21):
Uber driver, then you'reprobably not trained enough or
bringing enough value totransaction.
And I I'm okay if those peopleeither get challenged and forced
to raise their game or theychoose not to stay in the
business because we as anindustry need to constantly
raise our bar.
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
enough.
I absolutely agree with that.
But the frustration, though,for the agents is they're
they're educating other agentsout there in the industry
because they're just sayingyou're paying my fee, right
right.
The seller's paying my fee.
No, you're on your own two feet.
You need to negotiate with yourown consumer about how your fee
is going to be straightened out, and it is a lot of turmoil
(14:05):
because people just want toleave it the way it was.
But that's not the way it'sgoing to be.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Agents don't like change?
No, they do not.
But here we are.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I am on the phone many times because I tell my
agents when they get veryfrustrated and they're not
communicating well with theother agent, I'll talk to them,
put them on the phone with meand I do get on the phone and I
do break it down and explain thethought process and what I
believe the new way, the newreality is going to be.
(14:35):
I cannot tell you how manytimes agents from other
companies have said whoa.
No one's ever explained it likethat.
That's different.
That insight is a little uniquecompared to what I've been
hearing.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Part of it is because they want to do it the same way
.
Right, but they come up againstour agents and we're not doing
the same way.
We're more of a visionary.
We know where it's going to goand we're going to be there with
our teams before anyone else.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I totally agree with that.
Yeah, you know what'sinteresting for our audience
here.
You know you keep saying myagents, which is which is no,
but that's okay, it's a goodthing.
So when you came into thebusiness obviously painter agent
, you know different dynamic andstuff at what point Did you
(15:30):
make the leap of faith to comeinto a leadership role?
So because, again, officemanager, how many licenses you
have?
70?
, 71, yeah, 71, I knew 70 pluslicense agents.
And these agents choose tobuild their business on our
foundation and that's a lot oftrust they put in you especially
(15:51):
.
I know they speak beautifullyof you because they know you got
their back and what have you.
But what's the major biggestdifference, you see, from when
you went from agent to aleadership role?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I cry more, I get frustrated because you know but
I mean all kidding aside it'snot that I ever go through my
career like this, but it's notabout me.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
It's about them.
It's about what they're doing,it's about how they're going to
succeed.
It's about helping them becomethe best that they can be, or
the best version that they wantto be.
I tell them all the time youbring the commitment, you bring
the effort.
I am with you.
We've got this.
But they have to do that, andthat is a big difference between
(16:43):
doing it on my own and now notreally about me anymore.
It's about them, and you knowit's hard when you first do it,
because you know it's like waita minute, that should be my deal
.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I know those guys, no , no, you can't be competitive
with your agents.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
You need to be supportive one of the biggest
things I learned from one of ourprior managers that I worked
with under you used to telleverybody oh, I taught her
everything she knows she didright.
She taught me to never putmyself first right.
Never, because I could see timeand time again she wasn't on
(17:19):
that same path that I would everpresent myself as a manager to
be right and to me, the thereally the biggest thing is now.
I worry about their deals, Iworry about their health, I
worry about you know, did theirkids make it to school?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I know that's silly yeah but it's a part of it, like
they're my family yeah they'remy family yeah, it's a very
challenging role but, by by theway, being in the leadership
role, so it's like everyone'spressure, so everyone's problems
sit on your shoulders, so youneed to have broad shoulders you
(17:53):
, you do, yeah, you do, and it'syou know.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I tell them all the time stop it, it's not your
monkey, you know.
Let's examine this.
Let's look at what you're goingthrough.
You're taking on aresponsibility that's not yours
to take on Right In a managementrole.
I have to take on a little bitmore.
I can't have that self-talk andsay it's not your monkey,
because it kind of is my monkeyand I got to get the peanuts and
take care of it.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No, that's great.
So you're known for being afierce advocate for your agents.
What's the craziest storiesthat you have encountered while
supporting one of your agents?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Am I really known as a fierce?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, I think that's a compliment, by the way, you
know what?
Because it's like if someonemesses with your agents, it's
like messing with your familyand you're like you know, big
sister, you're going to givethem noogies.
I do.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I know Sometimes I have to reel myself in.
You know it's funny.
I had an agent come down andsay, sheila, I have a Section 8
rental and the agent told methey will not take Section 8.
I said give me your number andI got on the phone in the office
and I didn't realize.
Well, I get on the phone in theoffice and I call this agent
(19:06):
and I have a conversation and Idon't go to be fierce, I go to
really educate.
So I say you know, this is whatyou said.
Well, my seller won't take myrent, my landlord won't take it,
they don't want any part of it.
And I said do you not even knowabout fair housing laws, like
what you're saying to me and toanother agent?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
you're wrong.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
You know, I said you know what I think.
Maybe what I'm going to do ishave a conversation with your
broker, Rona yeah she said I amthe broker Rona.
Wow, I was like what?
Now I got a little aggressive.
I'm like are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
because a broker should know better.
You have the right and tomanage other agents and you need
to know the rules.
You need to know the law.
This is not just a rule, it'sthe law it's the law and I said
that to her.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
I said what is wrong with you?
I said, look, I'm going tospeak to you now as, like a
owner to owner I'm not an owner,but a manager to an owner I'm
like you need to stop now.
What you're doing is againstfair housing and you're
blatantly putting it out there,blatantly right.
Are you out of your mind?
And I said do you realize?
Right off the bat, just forsuspicion, you're in fair
(20:19):
housing, you are guilty andyou've got to prove yourself
innocent.
I don't care what anyone says.
That's how it comes down.
I said just start again.
It's a ten thousand dollar fine.
What is this?
The risk you're willing to takebecause you don't understand
fair housing laws?
I'm like are you out of yourmind?
And we went back and forth andwhatever, and we hung up.
My agents filmed it.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
They didn't tell you up front.
No.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Wow, no, they did not tell me and I wasn't paying
attention.
I was busy having thisconversation, but that was to be
a broker owner and to notcomprehend fair housing yeah
that you know.
There's no excuse for that sothat's my worst story all right.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Well, that's an interesting one I wasn't
expecting you to go there.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't know.
I could come up with anotherone no look, it is what it is, I
think our audience wants tohear the the real day-to-day
grit of real estate.
That's part of what we dealwith, so let's skip a little bit
.
Technology it's constantlychanging.
(21:22):
Certainly in real estate it hasYou're known for embracing it.
What's a recent tool or trendthat you think has been a game
changer for you and your agents?
Game?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
changer for you and your agents.
You know, I guess the sky slopewould become once we get our
handles on it.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Right, right.
So for our audience, whodoesn't?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
who don't know A digital platform?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It's a digital document platform, e-signature,
so you can do paperlesstransactions, and it replaces
the places, the old file cabins,because everything's correct
clouds, and it is not just theone particular type of digital
platform.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah just digital platforms in and of itself, yeah
, has absolutely changed theindustry.
Yeah, and you know agents wentkicking and screaming.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yes, they did.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
They, it was a nightmare and I tell the story.
I have an agent who always saysto me you can't teach an old
dog new tricks.
You can't teach an old dog newtricks.
We go through COVID.
Well, that old dog was barkingat me and needed help.
And she embraced it and itreally changed the way she does
business.
So, I think the digital platform, regardless of which one it is,
(22:32):
has made it convenient, hasgiven the agents protection.
You can't tell me you didn'topen something.
You can't say you didn'treceive something, because I see
it right on my dashboard.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, everything's recorded.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Everything is there.
So I think that's given theagents more authority or more
leverage in this world, whenused correctly yes, oh.
Correctly, yes, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
And the interesting thing, just so again for our
audience to stay caught up withus to say, because we've been
doing this for so long, so Ithink we're bouncing into our
own tune.
We moved from pen and paperessentially to a digital
platform back in 2017.
Yeah, and when Sheila says theywent kicking and screaming,
(23:19):
she's correct.
But when COVID hit, oh yeah.
Now the need, the inability tomaybe meet face to face, and
having the ability to sendthings digitally without having
the paper, without havinge-signatures.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
All their whining and carrying on the minute COVID
hit.
You would think it was thegreatest thing in the world that
we gave them.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yes, I remember an agent saying something to one of
our managers like once they nowwere forced with COVID to learn
it, they go wow, this isawesome, when did we get this?
And it was like yeah, aboutfour years ago.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
But they don't like change.
You know, whenever we do changeand I do this all the time at
my meetings I have oneparticular agent.
When I first started managing,we first implemented email we no
longer had the all books andthe email my agent stood in that
office I was new to managingstomping her feet.
I want my book back.
This is ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
On and on and on the physical notes, the notebook in
the office where we recordoffice happenings.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Email goes down and she's the first one to call me.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
What's wrong with my email?
Why isn't this working?
I don't understand.
Don't worry, I put a notebookin the office.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
But it's with change and agents have a hard time with
change, but once they realizethe benefit and how it helps
them, it's terrific yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I would say, when we went through COVID agent,
adoption more than doubled.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And that was again so industry-wise.
It's unfortunate, sometimes anunfortunate situation forces us
to change our behavior in orderto see the benefit.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
But I think, but how great for our agents that they
were with a company that wasahead of it.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That had it already.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Absolutely Like.
Think about that and that'ssomething that you always say.
I always tell this story whenI'm recruiting or speaking to an
agent.
Yeah, your big analogy manytimes did I say that word right
Is that a hockey player doesn'tskate to where the puck is.
They skate to where the puckgoes.
I tell anyone that'll listen tome when I'm interviewing or
(25:26):
they're considering our company.
That's what we do and havingthat digital platform in place,
we didn't know COVID was coming.
That old dog with new tricks.
My son to this day will sayhow's the old dog with new
tricks?
Speaker 1 (25:39):
He doesn't even know her name.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
But they were fortunate enough to work along
with the company that has avision.
I think that if there's onething about I could brag for a
minute.
Sure, I really believe,especially you, not that Tom
doesn't, but you have a visionof where your business is going
to be.
You're never happy with beingat this level.
(26:03):
It makes us crazy.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
But there's always a thought of what's next.
We were the first ones to comeout on Newsday Right.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
When you want to talk about kicking and screaming,
yeah, the old classified adstalk about kicking and screaming
.
Yeah, paper, yeah, the oldclassified ads.
Agents kicking and screaming,oh my God, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
But we came out of it and you didn't take the money
and put it in your pocket and goplay golf.
Right, you invested it in thenew platform.
Right, you invested it in whereyou felt and where we were
headed, and you were 100%correct.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, 100%.
I hope Gallagher's going to seethis episode.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
He even went kicking and screaming yeah, so let's
pivot a little bit as an officemanager.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
one of the biggest tasks is taking on new agents
and teaching them the industry,teaching them how to have a
business worth owning.
So what are three things abrand new agent should do to get
their career off to a goodstart?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
A business plan.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Good, I like that one .
I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Plan of action and you know a sphere.
They need to work on getting asphere and developing that and
social media.
Social media is a reallyimportant.
You know what better way to leteveryone you know and love what
you're doing.
You know, and I even tell them,we'll help you, we'll give you
properties that I list.
(27:25):
You know you promote with itbecause you're not saying you
listed it, but you're saying,look, this is for sale.
And you start building yourimage yes, listed it, but you're
saying, look, this is for saleand you start building your
image yes, building your image.
It's just that, that's ahundred percent.
Build the image, work on yoursphere right.
And what was the first one?
um you're not even listening tome what about education oh well,
(27:53):
education goes without saying,as mel kasoi would say yes your
mind has to be like a parachuteit should always be open there
you go and I like that yeah Ireally like that.
Even in my where I am in myworld, I do, I watch youtube
videos, I do any training thatcomes around that you can go to
(28:14):
because you could learn just onething.
Yes, that will cause you tomake earn more income.
There's nothing wrong with thateducation.
I know our training and thingsthat we have.
I I am a big my meetings.
I always do my best to bringone thing that they can learn
right, one tool that they coulduse in their daily business to
(28:36):
better understand or to takeadvantage of.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Absolutely right, and sometimes agents get stuck in
their own lane.
It feels like it's like oh, Ihave my own thing, I'm doing it
my way and I don't.
You know, we wrestle with thislead follower, get the hell out
of the way.
So you want to get out of theway if they're successful.
But it's like you can alwaysimprove.
You know I can always be moreeffective, more efficient, more
(29:02):
productive.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
You know, and being more productive doesn't mean I
have to work more hours.
You've got to work smarter.
Yeah, exactly so challengingthose agents is important?
I feel it is, but if they bringthat important.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I feel it is.
But if they bring that heart,if they bring that soul and they
want to do it, we're going todo it.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yes, exactly, okay.
So I just want to call out toour audience, real quickly, a
quick reminder If you'reenjoying today's episode,
remember to like and subscribe.
We'd love to have you as afuture subscriber of the podcast
.
Also, please make sure you stayaround for the drop the mic
question at the end.
It's always a lot of fun I'mscared you should be, you should
(29:42):
be, but it's always fun to seewhere it goes.
All right so, all right sosheila um, let's pivot a little
bit, okay, so when you're notleaving the east meadow office,
what are some ways you like torelax or recharge?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
oh, I like to like to read.
I love to read.
Believe it or not, I go tochurch.
Okay, I you know.
Most people are like you go tochurch, I do, I like to walk,
hearing some of those swearwords in between.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I know Now.
I know why you go to church andI'm being good now?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
No, I do.
I like to go to church, I dolike to read, I like to work out
, I like to hang out with my son.
We do hiking.
I do a lot of hiking and rockscrambling.
I like a challenge out there.
I guess there's something wrongwith me, but I do like you know
, I like to Like hiking people,oh, hiking, but we hike hard and
(30:28):
we do scrambles, it's fun.
It's a challenge that I like.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
So here's something else.
If you could spend a dayanywhere in the world, where
would it be and why?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Anywhere in the world .
You know it's funny.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Don't say East Meadow , no.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I won't be saying East Meadow.
You know what?
It's funny.
I think my bucket list.
I'm going to Italy.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
You haven't been there yet, right?
I'm going to Italy.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Okay, you haven't been there yet, right?
No, all right, it's a greattour and we're going to the
Vatican.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
And it's funny, when they said, you know we're going
to go to Italy, I was like, okay, my sister goes, we're going to
go to the Vatican, she goes.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I know you want to do that, yeah, and I do.
So you know what?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'm going to be experiencing it in April.
By the way, I'm taking time off, oh geez, I'll let HR know.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Thank you, that's awesome.
Now you did touch on somethingelse, by the way.
You touched on your son, eddie,right, and now Eddie is a
pretty phenomenal drummer.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
He is.
Yeah, you know he is.
So what's it?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
like being a drummer's mom.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Loud.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Loud, very loud.
So who's the hell's idea?
Is it to buy a kid drums anyway?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Well, his father is a drummer.
So Eddie grew up with a drumset in the house, there's no
doubt.
And there was Eddie, hiscousins, they could play at any
time.
And Eddie, when he was inelementary school, they said all
right, you have to pick aninstrument.
So the common thing was allright, I'll do the drum.
He really wasn't like.
He's like I'll do it.
The first parade he walked inhe had to carry that big drum
(32:00):
and hit it in in like fifthgrade or whatever it is.
He comes over the finish line.
We go to pick him up at the endof the parade line and I'm like
eddie that was great.
He was sweating, he took thething off, he goes.
I am never doing this again,never, I'm done.
And we were like really, andnow he's got like six drum sets,
he records, he does videos.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
He's in a band, right yeah he plays live music.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
He's working with somebody now that is doing their
own original music and he'sdoing the bands, the drums
behind it.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
So what's it like as mom to go see him perform?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Ed is good because Ed goes and I'll say was that good
?
Because I don't know.
And he goes, that was great.
Something happens, I go, wasthat Eddie?
Yeah, he made a mistake.
It's very nerve-wracking for mebecause I'm blown away that he
actually can get up in front ofan audience and do something
(32:58):
like this.
So as he's doing it more andmore, I'm getting a little bit
less panicked about it.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Ah, there you go.
Speaking of family right.
Family traditions are good.
So do you have any familytraditions that you look forward
to throughout the year?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
yeah, there's a lot, but I think my favorite family
tradition is christmas yeah theyall come over.
There's probably, and on a goodchristmas there's 35 of us yeah
and I make them play gamesstructured chaos.
Yeah, we play games.
I make them, they all.
We have to go around the tableand I'm like, yes, we do, and I
make them go around and say,what was your favorite gift that
you ever got?
You know like I try to.
(33:37):
I don't know, I get a kick outof that and what I love now my
great nieces and nephews.
I was.
They slept over a couple ofweeks ago, right after christmas
yeah and we were upstairs in myroom all laying on the bed
talking and they go okay, let'splay a game.
I go all right, what caleb hegoes, let's play what was your
favorite.
So the games that I teach them,they are now playing back with
me.
I love it and that's atradition.
(33:58):
And left right center is atradition, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Well, that's because you're playing for money.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yes, right, that's right.
That's a classic.
I like that one.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
So all right, Sheila.
I want to pivot a little bit togiving back.
So obviously I think there's atremendous giving culture within
American homes and you'redefinitely a big part of that,
you know what have you felt madea real difference with one of
your agents or the community?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
There are many moments yeah.
And I have a lot of individualagents doing really good things.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yes yes.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
But what blows my mind and I could almost get
emotional over it, but it reallytickles me my agents every year
say what family are we adopting?
And they don't know that we didit.
The family, it's completelyanonymous.
Sometimes we get it from theschool, sometimes we get it from
the foundation and Carol Popealways runs it and even if I
(34:54):
don't bring it up, my agents areon me Did you get a family?
Yet we're going to do adopt afamily, right, what are we going
to do?
And there is one family that wegot from the foundation and the
foundation supported a littlebit.
It's a grandma with fourchildren and mom and dad are not
in the picture and it's reallyyou know what.
This grandmother stood up andsaid I'm raising my four
(35:15):
grandchildren and if she coulddo that we can support her so
the foundation did it once andwe've done it two times, I
believe for christmas, yeah,where even brian carp has
contributed that to me.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
We made a difference in that person's life, yeah so
when you say adopt the family,just so everyone's on the same
page, it's for the holiday.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
We do the holiday shopping gifts and stuff so that
they have a meaningfulchristmas yeah, every child
should wake up on christmasmorning and be excited, yes,
even if it's only for that day.
You know they're surrounded bya lot of maybe not so nice
things right so my agents go at.
We had.
We had a customer come in onetime with maybe like a
(35:57):
three-year-old kid and the child.
When my agent went outside, thechild was in a car seat, facing
backwards with their knees upagainst the back of the seat.
The child should have beenturned the other way.
The car seat wasn't designed todo that and the parents didn't
have money for a car seat.
We got a car seat in an instant.
They came in and said Ma Sheila, this is what's going on.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
You're like the house , mom.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
I feel badly, we have to do something, and we went
okay, and a car seat was boughtfor this family and no fanfare.
We called the family and saidcome back to the office handed
them the car seat and wentinside.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
What I like about it?
It's not about the bows, it'sabout the results, which is
great.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
But it makes them feel good.
See, that's the thing.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
You know, we had an agent that had cancer and
radiation and chemo and we setup a drive schedule and we would
pick the agent up and my agentsdid this.
It wasn't my idea.
We pick her up, drop her off,pick her up, bring her back and
it was my turn to drive.
She's like this is ridiculous,tell them to stop doing it.
I said I will never tell themto stop doing it.
(37:08):
She goes I'm embarrassed, don'tdo this.
I said look, it's not about you.
It's not about you.
I know you got an issue here.
It's not about you.
It's about how they feel,knowing what they're doing to
help you.
Don't take that away from them.
Yeah, it's like okay, fine.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
And it was helpful for oh, sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah, but you know you don't want to be looked on
as Pity door pity.
They weren't pitying her, butright right.
Yeah, but that's see, that, tome, is just so strong.
It's the foundation, it's thepeople that we have, it's what
they do and I love it.
I love being a part of it.
I think it's really a good partof this.
(37:49):
So how do?
Speaker 1 (37:50):
you encourage your agents to get involved in giving
or in the communities.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
To tell you the truth , I don't really have to
encourage.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
They find a circumstance and they come back
to me and go this is what'sgoing on.
What do we do?
I don't you know.
If there's like the communitypride day and all that kind of
stuff, yes, I'll bring that tothe table, right, right, but
circumstances, things that go on, they they rally, they do
themselves.
They come to me.
I'm actually, wow, I shouldhave thought of that.
But no, they areself-sufficient on that end.
(38:21):
They come up with stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I kind of feel like it's such a big part of the
culture there that when somebodya new agent meaning joins that
office they plug right into thatvibe.
It's impossible to miss.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
It is, it is and they'll.
You know they'll end up with amentor or someone there that
they do connect with.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
You know they don't well, my agents.
You know my office.
They're not my agents, I don'town them, but they're not afraid
of other agents coming in andstealing their thunder or you
know they're very open to themore, the merrier they.
You know I'm not your bestrecruiter.
However, my agents come to meand say this is a person you
(39:03):
should be calling this.
That to me that's, that'spowerful, and they're not afraid
of other agents coming in andstealing their business or doing
better than them.
It's just a really good,wholesome group that we work
with at East Meadow.
Yeah now.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Now, obviously, we have the Heart of American Homes
Foundation, which is ourin-house arm for charity.
What's a charitable cause orinitiative that's especially
close to your heart, and why?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
St Jude's.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
You know what?
I'll give you all the money inmy wallet.
Don't make me listen to thestories about what these kids go
through.
I could get emotional sittinghere thinking about it.
We've been to conventions, I'veleft.
I've actually gotten up andwalked out of the auditorium
because I can't listen to it.
It is so heartbreaking some ofthe things that go on and St
(39:55):
Jude's is there for them.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
So yeah, St Jude's would be my St Jude's is one of
my favorite too and one of thethings I always pride about.
On a charity, I think or I lookfor it, maybe I should say is a
high dollar amount orpercentage should be going to
help people Absolutely.
I know there's overheadsometimes, but St Jude's has a
(40:17):
great track history of having avery high percentage of every
dollar actually going to helppeople.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
How could you have a charity and that not be?
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Well.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I know I can't.
I won't give to those unnamedcharities.
I won't.
I always look before I give.
Yeah, so do I, and St Jude's isone of those that I love.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
It's a great call on that.
And the other thing I loveabout Heart of American Homes is
that it's 100% goes back,because it's a complete
volunteer.
You know staff, so to speak,board of directors.
There's no employees.
It's housed rent-free withinour offices, Even an accountant
just you know donates Any timethey've got to reconcile the
books, so we're able to get 100%of the money out to the
(41:02):
community.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
You know it's funny.
I was going to say I give themost money to Heart of American.
Homes, but they didn't want tolike do that if I had to do an
outside charity.
But I totally agree with youand St Jude's is on that level,
yes, and it just kind of takes alittle more specific for the
children that are having healthissues.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Oh my God, how that could be.
I can't.
All right, so I want to youknow, really just remind our
audience real quickly again ifyou like what you're hearing
here.
But we'd love if you subscribedand liked.
And it is now time for our Dropthe mic question.
What's a secret ambition orguilty pleasure that no one
(41:39):
knows about?
For me.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Yeah, I want to be a pole dancer.
No, I want to dance.
Wow, a secret ambition.
You know what I would like tobe?
This is going to sound soboring.
I would like to be like a isgoing to sound so boring.
I would like to be like aMartha Stewart not Martha
Stewart.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Is that Martha Stewart in jail or is that
Martha Stewart?
Better living Martha.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Stewart with Snoop Dogg.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
No.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Like, I like homemaking, I like decorating.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
And I like I.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
just I like the warmth and like if I, if someone
said, okay, this is it, maybein retirement to take furniture
and flip it, to really becreative and make an old piece
of furniture a new life.
I know it's boring, but I thinkthat would juice me.
I like that.
There you go.
(42:34):
That wasn't so bad.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
No, I would not have guessed that.
That's awesome.
Yeah, so all right, great.
Well, sheila, I want to thankyou for joining our show today.
If anyone in the audience wantsto reach out to you about
whether it's about real estate,a career in real estate, uh,
charity, just uh.
How do they reach SheilaMcKenna Olson?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Well, you can call me in the East Meadow location or
certainly on my cell,516-322-1946.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Great Sheila love having you on the show.
You did a fantastic job.
Thanks for having me All rightand look forward to seeing you
guys in two weeks for our nextepisode.
Welcome to the Work Hard, play Hard and Give Back a
real estate podcast.
I'm Mike Blitzner, broker ownerof Coldwell Banker American
Homes.
Welcome to Season 2, episode 1.
And today we have the pleasureof Sheila McKenna Olson joining
us.
She's the branch leader of ourEast Meadow office, our oldest
and long-standing office.
(00:27):
A very important group ofpeople there, because you also
got the corporate offices backthere.
Sheila, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi Mike, Thank you for having me.
Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
So, sheila, let's jump right into this right Go
ahead.
Let me see what we can get outof you here, because I think our
audience is going to be excitedto hear from you.
So you've been with cobaltbanker american homes for over
30 years.
Can you share with our audiencewhat brought you to the company
and, and and really what haskept you here all these years?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
oh, that's a long question.
All right, I actually.
What brought me to the companyis my husband yeah I mean, let's
know, you guys were trying torecruit my husband.
Yeah and he finally saw theopportunity and went over and
agreed and he said can you help,can you have Sheila come?
I mean, it really was kind ofright.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You're still here, right, and what?
What's that doing for audience?
He's still with us.
Oh yeah, oh no, he's still withus.
We often, oh no, he's stillwith us.
I don't want anyone to thinkwe're off to them.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, no, he's still with us, but he works at the
assessment office in NassauCounty.
But yeah, you were interviewingmy husband and I kind of came
along as like a sidekick.
So that's really how it allkind of started.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Real estate wasn't your first calling, you know it
was welcome to adulthood.
Here's your real estate license.
So what's Sheila McKenna?
Because this is before you wereOlson what's Sheila McKenna's
path into real estate?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
All right, you really want to go there.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay, well, I was actually a house painter and
then I became a union painter inthe local 1486.
Great job, great, great income,really a good position, oh we
were recruiting for the paintersunion and what had happened was
I was kind of tired of beingdirty you know being in dirty
(02:18):
clothes and working hard and Isaw an ad.
So I called on an ad and I gotpulled into a century 21 and it
just kind of built from there.
You know, unfortunately, thatcentury 21 I won't mention who
it was when kind of upside downbecause he played the races.
And then I went to anothercentury 21 and he had issues of
(02:38):
his own.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, and so playing the ponies is a bad.
It's not a good idea.
Does it mix well?
It's not a good idea for me.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
For them it might have been beneficial, but for
the staff and people it wasn't.
It wasn't the strongestplatform and my husband actually
you guys had been recruitingafter him and he went for an
interview and just kind oftagged me along.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
And the truth is, from the day I walked in, I
started earning income.
Yeah, I started learning.
It was what I was looking for.
The other two brokers, theyjust they didn't offer it, and
I'm not just saying that to blowsmoke.
They really you guys kind ofhad it together and we had had
it together.
And it just from the moment Iwalked in there, the first day,
I wrote an offer and I beggedyou to come with me to present
it Back in the days when weactually went in person to
(03:30):
present an offer and the sellingagent actually presented their
own offer in front of thelisting agent at the homeowner's
house to the homeowner directly.
I don't know how we ever gotaway from that.
I miss those days.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I think it's the negotiations a little bit of a
lost art in our business.
100% Fundamentals need to comeback.
We should get back to themBecause you know what happens.
We've had all these changes inour industry this year
especially right has this notbeen the most upside down year,
with all the change and impacton our industry, and yet somehow
(04:03):
we need to get back tofundamentals.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
You know, I know I don't want to get too old and
corny here, but evenpre-qualifying the buyer and
helping them understand whatthey're doing, what their
monthly expense is going to be,guiding them along, that my
agents don't necessarily.
They don't have to do it nowbecause I guess we have the
mortgage brokers but we've lostsome of that communication with
(04:26):
the consumers and beingface-to-face presenting offers.
Oh my, I wasn't responsible forthe offer, you were.
You present it, you put it outthere on your own terms and, to
be honest with you, I thinkthat's beneficial to both the
buyer and the seller.
Cut out the middleman.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Well.
Or the buyer and the seller,yeah, cut out the middleman,
well.
Or the misinformation, tooRight, you know the?
He said, she said Right.
It goes right.
Direct communication eliminatesambiguity as they say right,
correct.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I agree with that.
Oh the good old days.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, sheeler is, for our audience, our longest
standing employee over 30 years.
God bless her for hanging inthere and dealing with Tom and I
, but you've seen a lot ofchange and a lot of different
impacts to the industry.
Yes, so in your scope of theindustry, of your longevity,
what would you say has been thebiggest change since you started
(05:17):
?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, there's a lot of changes since.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I started.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The biggest.
You know what?
I think the biggest change isthe agent giving up their rights
or they're presenting their ownoffers, communicating with
attorneys on both sides.
You know, I feel as if theagents you know you have the
right to present an offer, eventhough they get a letter, but do
(05:46):
they really have the letter?
We just follow the sheep andsay, oh okay, here, I'll fax it
over.
I get faxes, you still getfaxes.
What's a fax machine?
You're right, I still getemails and there's no
communication.
They just send it out.
And I think we've lost that,that professionalism.
Not that agents aren'tprofessional, yeah, but it's
(06:08):
changed.
And they've lost control, andnot that I'm a control freak,
but they've lost control of someof the details that are really
important and pertinent to thetransaction and I don't think
they need to.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's something we need to get back to a great yeah
I agree.
So obviously we've gone throughthis year more change than ever
before, right?
So, whether it's statelegislation, with property
condition disclosures, or whatabout the NAR changes, how do
you think that's impacted theindustry?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I think it's left the industry in complete confusion.
I think that I, honestly, Imight get in trouble for saying
this.
I think MLS is not doing us anygreat service.
I don't think that Well, I feelit's probably the board.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Long Island Board of Realtors owns the MLS.
Just for our audience, so theydon't understand structure.
The Long Island Board ofRealtors is a trade association
which wholly owns the MLS onekey MLS, so to speak, and that's
our networking amongst brokersso that we can share,
potentially, listings and buyersand bring people together to
(07:14):
the right property, as opposedto just one of my properties,
right.
Okay just to be fair enough, Iwant to make sure for those who
aren't in real estate who mightbe listening.
Correct.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And it really is a positive because it's exposure
for our homeowners.
You know the listings are outthere and everybody has access
and it's exposure which is whatyou want.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
But I think when the rule changes came in I don't
know that they're reallyhandling it clearly or you know
they put on the listings thatyou can do a seller's concession
.
You know, technically is itreally a seller's concession?
I have a written agreement.
That's part of my duty with myconsumer, I think we got to go
(07:53):
back a few steps.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So, let's go.
So the changes are brought byNAR, which is the National
Association of Realtors, whichNISAR, the New York State
Association of Realtors, whichNYSAR the New York State
Association of Realtors is kindof under their umbrella.
And then Long Island Board ofRealtors is under NYSAR's
umbrella, so our board also hastheir political action
(08:15):
committees and interacts withthe Department of State who
controls licensing.
So again, I just want to giveour audience a little structure
so that we don't lose themtalking our own industry talk
there.
So I think the other thing hereis I want to frame this a
little bit for clarity but theNAR changes didn't come down
because of innovation in ourbusiness.
(08:36):
It came down because of legalprowess.
I think it's a money grab.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Honestly, I have another word for it, but I'm
just saying yeah, agreed, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I don't know that this is.
It's been done in the name ofconsumer protectionism and yet
the only one who's gotten richor made money are the attorneys.
So, and one of the veryobnoxious quotes I've heard and
correct me if you think I'mwrong on this is the lead
attorney who accused the entirereal estate industry of being
greedy put in for their hoursonce the settlement started
(09:12):
coming in and was charging$1,500 an hour.
But I don't know how manypeople charge $1,500 an hour.
So there's a lot of hypocrisythat went into this.
And yet these changes wereforced upon our industry and yet
I don't see that there's acohesiveness yet in the industry
.
Is that better said?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
That is better said, I feel, as if I believe our
agents have been trained very,very well when it comes to the
change and how to actually helpit, to help them, help their
consumers.
So there's a lot of otheragencies out there that maybe
(09:54):
they don't train their agents aswell and I'm not coming down on
them, but I know our agentshave a definite path, they
understand the changes and thatwe need written agreements and
you know it.
At the end of the day, itactually is a little bit better
for everybody because there'stwo separate sides of the
transaction yeah, if, if theindustry buys in completely does
(10:16):
the industry have a choice?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
we'll see, since the Department of State has still
not weighed in officially.
So this is being driven fromthe inverse side.
You would think things wouldcome down from licensing first,
but it's coming from the otherdirection.
It's coming in from consumer.
Well, legal pressure.
That's probably the betteranswer, right, right?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
But it is.
However we've gotten here we'rehere.
And we have to actuallyfunction within all our new
guidelines.
So I really believe that,american Homes, we took the bull
by the horn and we have reallyhelped our agents to up their
game.
And you know, our agents noware actually earning, I believe,
(11:03):
better fees for their services,for their value, for what they
bring to the table, and itreally the definite line is
there, but the problem, or thefrustration, is that not
everyone is on the same page.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I think the goal is supposed to be transparency and
more transparency, is supposedto be transparency and more
transparency.
But again, I think thechallenge and correct me if I'm
wrong is that not everybody,every brokerage slash, even the
board, is exactly on the samepage with how that transparency
is supposed to be delivered.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Correct, and that's why when I first started this
with the seller's concessionit's not a seller's concession.
It's not A seller's concession,is something that's added onto
the transaction, that the buyeruses towards closing costs.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Traditionally.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Traditionally right.
Well, most realtors that 30years ago presented face-to-face
this is what they believe.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yes, yes, I think so.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
What I believe the other outside agents are just
not grasping is that it'sinclusive.
If I have a written agreementwith a purchaser, that agreement
gives me permission to includemy fee.
Just the way it was beforeAugust 17th Every offer that was
written had a commission in it.
The difference is now it'sclearer the consumer, it's
(12:31):
actually protection, or, youknow, the consumer can negotiate
their own fee with the agentsand the agents can actually put
forth that they're notrestricted to what another
agency is offering.
Right, because maybe it's not afee that is worth that agent's
value, right, a fee that isworth that agent's value, right.
So now this agent, because ofthis new rule or new guidelines,
can actually negotiate a fairvalue commission with their
(12:51):
consumer.
I think our agents are in tunewith that.
Well, you keep hitting that oneword value.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Oh, so you have to show your value, and I think
that's what we try to reallydrive into our agents is to
understand their value, bebetter trained, have more
information, be a better serviceto your client, both buyer or
seller, which means you bringvalue.
If you're a licensed agent andessentially you're a glorified
(13:21):
Uber driver, then you'reprobably not trained enough or
bringing enough value totransaction.
And I I'm okay if those peopleeither get challenged and forced
to raise their game or theychoose not to stay in the
business because we as anindustry need to constantly
raise our bar.
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
enough.
I absolutely agree with that.
But the frustration, though,for the agents is they're
they're educating other agentsout there in the industry
because they're just sayingyou're paying my fee, right
right.
The seller's paying my fee.
No, you're on your own two feet.
You need to negotiate with yourown consumer about how your fee
is going to be straightened out, and it is a lot of turmoil
(14:05):
because people just want toleave it the way it was.
But that's not the way it'sgoing to be.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Agents don't like change?
No, they do not.
But here we are.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I am on the phone many times because I tell my
agents when they get veryfrustrated and they're not
communicating well with theother agent, I'll talk to them,
put them on the phone with meand I do get on the phone and I
do break it down and explain thethought process and what I
believe the new way, the newreality is going to be.
(14:35):
I cannot tell you how manytimes agents from other
companies have said whoa.
No one's ever explained it likethat.
That's different.
That insight is a little uniquecompared to what I've been
hearing.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Part of it is because they want to do it the same way
.
Right, but they come up againstour agents and we're not doing
the same way.
We're more of a visionary.
We know where it's going to goand we're going to be there with
our teams before anyone else.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I totally agree with that.
Yeah, you know what'sinteresting for our audience
here.
You know you keep saying myagents, which is which is no,
but that's okay, it's a goodthing.
So when you came into thebusiness obviously painter agent
, you know different dynamic andstuff at what point Did you
(15:30):
make the leap of faith to comeinto a leadership role?
So because, again, officemanager, how many licenses you
have?
70?
, 71, yeah, 71, I knew 70 pluslicense agents.
And these agents choose tobuild their business on our
foundation and that's a lot oftrust they put in you especially
(15:51):
.
I know they speak beautifullyof you because they know you got
their back and what have you.
But what's the major biggestdifference, you see, from when
you went from agent to aleadership role?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I cry more, I get frustrated because you know but
I mean all kidding aside it'snot that I ever go through my
career like this, but it's notabout me.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
It's about them.
It's about what they're doing,it's about how they're going to
succeed.
It's about helping them becomethe best that they can be, or
the best version that they wantto be.
I tell them all the time youbring the commitment, you bring
the effort.
I am with you.
We've got this.
But they have to do that, andthat is a big difference between
(16:43):
doing it on my own and now notreally about me anymore.
It's about them, and you knowit's hard when you first do it,
because you know it's like waita minute, that should be my deal
.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
I know those guys, no , no, you can't be competitive
with your agents.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
You need to be supportive one of the biggest
things I learned from one of ourprior managers that I worked
with under you used to telleverybody oh, I taught her
everything she knows she didright.
She taught me to never putmyself first right.
Never, because I could see timeand time again she wasn't on
(17:19):
that same path that I would everpresent myself as a manager to
be right and to me, the thereally the biggest thing is now.
I worry about their deals, Iworry about their health, I
worry about you know, did theirkids make it to school?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I know that's silly yeah but it's a part of it, like
they're my family yeah they'remy family yeah, it's a very
challenging role but, by by theway, being in the leadership
role, so it's like everyone'spressure, so everyone's problems
sit on your shoulders, so youneed to have broad shoulders you
(17:53):
, you do, yeah, you do, and it'syou know.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I tell them all the time stop it, it's not your
monkey, you know.
Let's examine this.
Let's look at what you're goingthrough.
You're taking on aresponsibility that's not yours
to take on Right In a managementrole.
I have to take on a little bitmore.
I can't have that self-talk andsay it's not your monkey,
because it kind of is my monkeyand I got to get the peanuts and
take care of it.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No, that's great.
So you're known for being afierce advocate for your agents.
What's the craziest storiesthat you have encountered while
supporting one of your agents?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Am I really known as a fierce?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, I think that's a compliment, by the way, you
know what?
Because it's like if someonemesses with your agents, it's
like messing with your familyand you're like you know, big
sister, you're going to givethem noogies.
I do.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I know Sometimes I have to reel myself in.
You know it's funny.
I had an agent come down andsay, sheila, I have a Section 8
rental and the agent told methey will not take Section 8.
I said give me your number andI got on the phone in the office
and I didn't realize.
Well, I get on the phone in theoffice and I call this agent
(19:06):
and I have a conversation and Idon't go to be fierce, I go to
really educate.
So I say you know, this is whatyou said.
Well, my seller won't take myrent, my landlord won't take it,
they don't want any part of it.
And I said do you not even knowabout fair housing laws, like
what you're saying to me and toanother agent?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
you're wrong.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
You know, I said you know what I think.
Maybe what I'm going to do ishave a conversation with your
broker, Rona yeah she said I amthe broker Rona.
Wow, I was like what?
Now I got a little aggressive.
I'm like are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
because a broker should know better.
You have the right and tomanage other agents and you need
to know the rules.
You need to know the law.
This is not just a rule, it'sthe law it's the law and I said
that to her.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
I said what is wrong with you?
I said, look, I'm going tospeak to you now as, like a
owner to owner I'm not an owner,but a manager to an owner I'm
like you need to stop now.
What you're doing is againstfair housing and you're
blatantly putting it out there,blatantly right.
Are you out of your mind?
And I said do you realize?
Right off the bat, just forsuspicion, you're in fair
(20:19):
housing, you are guilty andyou've got to prove yourself
innocent.
I don't care what anyone says.
That's how it comes down.
I said just start again.
It's a ten thousand dollar fine.
What is this?
The risk you're willing to takebecause you don't understand
fair housing laws?
I'm like are you out of yourmind?
And we went back and forth andwhatever, and we hung up.
My agents filmed it.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
They didn't tell you up front.
No.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Wow, no, they did not tell me and I wasn't paying
attention.
I was busy having thisconversation, but that was to be
a broker owner and to notcomprehend fair housing yeah
that you know.
There's no excuse for that sothat's my worst story all right.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Well, that's an interesting one I wasn't
expecting you to go there.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't know.
I could come up with anotherone no look, it is what it is, I
think our audience wants tohear the the real day-to-day
grit of real estate.
That's part of what we dealwith, so let's skip a little bit
.
Technology it's constantlychanging.
(21:22):
Certainly in real estate it hasYou're known for embracing it.
What's a recent tool or trendthat you think has been a game
changer for you and your agents?
Game?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
changer for you and your agents.
You know, I guess the sky slopewould become once we get our
handles on it.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Right, right.
So for our audience, whodoesn't?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
who don't know A digital platform?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It's a digital document platform, e-signature,
so you can do paperlesstransactions, and it replaces
the places, the old file cabins,because everything's correct
clouds, and it is not just theone particular type of digital
platform.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah just digital platforms in and of itself, yeah
, has absolutely changed theindustry.
Yeah, and you know agents wentkicking and screaming.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yes, they did.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
They, it was a nightmare and I tell the story.
I have an agent who always saysto me you can't teach an old
dog new tricks.
You can't teach an old dog newtricks.
We go through COVID.
Well, that old dog was barkingat me and needed help.
And she embraced it and itreally changed the way she does
business.
So, I think the digital platform, regardless of which one it is,
(22:32):
has made it convenient, hasgiven the agents protection.
You can't tell me you didn'topen something.
You can't say you didn'treceive something, because I see
it right on my dashboard.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, everything's recorded.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Everything is there.
So I think that's given theagents more authority or more
leverage in this world, whenused correctly yes, oh.
Correctly, yes, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
And the interesting thing, just so again for our
audience to stay caught up withus to say, because we've been
doing this for so long, so Ithink we're bouncing into our
own tune.
We moved from pen and paperessentially to a digital
platform back in 2017.
Yeah, and when Sheila says theywent kicking and screaming,
(23:19):
she's correct.
But when COVID hit, oh yeah.
Now the need, the inability tomaybe meet face to face, and
having the ability to sendthings digitally without having
the paper, without havinge-signatures.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
All their whining and carrying on the minute COVID
hit.
You would think it was thegreatest thing in the world that
we gave them.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yes, I remember an agent saying something to one of
our managers like once they nowwere forced with COVID to learn
it, they go wow, this isawesome, when did we get this?
And it was like yeah, aboutfour years ago.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
But they don't like change.
You know, whenever we do changeand I do this all the time at
my meetings I have oneparticular agent.
When I first started managing,we first implemented email we no
longer had the all books andthe email my agent stood in that
office I was new to managingstomping her feet.
I want my book back.
This is ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
On and on and on the physical notes, the notebook in
the office where we recordoffice happenings.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Email goes down and she's the first one to call me.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
What's wrong with my email?
Why isn't this working?
I don't understand.
Don't worry, I put a notebookin the office.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
But it's with change and agents have a hard time with
change, but once they realizethe benefit and how it helps
them, it's terrific yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I would say, when we went through COVID agent,
adoption more than doubled.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And that was again so industry-wise.
It's unfortunate, sometimes anunfortunate situation forces us
to change our behavior in orderto see the benefit.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
But I think, but how great for our agents that they
were with a company that wasahead of it.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That had it already.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Absolutely Like.
Think about that and that'ssomething that you always say.
I always tell this story whenI'm recruiting or speaking to an
agent.
Yeah, your big analogy manytimes did I say that word right
Is that a hockey player doesn'tskate to where the puck is.
They skate to where the puckgoes.
I tell anyone that'll listen tome when I'm interviewing or
(25:26):
they're considering our company.
That's what we do and havingthat digital platform in place,
we didn't know COVID was coming.
That old dog with new tricks.
My son to this day will sayhow's the old dog with new
tricks?
Speaker 1 (25:39):
He doesn't even know her name.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
But they were fortunate enough to work along
with the company that has avision.
I think that if there's onething about I could brag for a
minute.
Sure, I really believe,especially you, not that Tom
doesn't, but you have a visionof where your business is going
to be.
You're never happy with beingat this level.
(26:03):
It makes us crazy.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
But there's always a thought of what's next.
We were the first ones to comeout on Newsday Right.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
When you want to talk about kicking and screaming,
yeah, the old classified adstalk about kicking and screaming
.
Yeah, paper, yeah, the oldclassified ads.
Agents kicking and screaming,oh my God, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
But we came out of it and you didn't take the money
and put it in your pocket and goplay golf.
Right, you invested it in thenew platform.
Right, you invested it in whereyou felt and where we were
headed, and you were 100%correct.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, 100%.
I hope Gallagher's going to seethis episode.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
He even went kicking and screaming yeah, so let's
pivot a little bit as an officemanager.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
one of the biggest tasks is taking on new agents
and teaching them the industry,teaching them how to have a
business worth owning.
So what are three things abrand new agent should do to get
their career off to a goodstart?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
A business plan.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Good, I like that one .
I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Plan of action and you know a sphere.
They need to work on getting asphere and developing that and
social media.
Social media is a reallyimportant.
You know what better way to leteveryone you know and love what
you're doing.
You know, and I even tell them,we'll help you, we'll give you
properties that I list.
(27:25):
You know you promote with itbecause you're not saying you
listed it, but you're saying,look, this is for sale.
And you start building yourimage yes, listed it, but you're
saying, look, this is for saleand you start building your
image yes, building your image.
It's just that, that's ahundred percent.
Build the image, work on yoursphere right.
And what was the first one?
um you're not even listening tome what about education oh well,
(27:53):
education goes without saying,as mel kasoi would say yes your
mind has to be like a parachuteit should always be open there
you go and I like that yeah Ireally like that.
Even in my where I am in myworld, I do, I watch youtube
videos, I do any training thatcomes around that you can go to
(28:14):
because you could learn just onething.
Yes, that will cause you tomake earn more income.
There's nothing wrong with thateducation.
I know our training and thingsthat we have.
I I am a big my meetings.
I always do my best to bringone thing that they can learn
right, one tool that they coulduse in their daily business to
(28:36):
better understand or to takeadvantage of.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Absolutely right, and sometimes agents get stuck in
their own lane.
It feels like it's like oh, Ihave my own thing, I'm doing it
my way and I don't.
You know, we wrestle with thislead follower, get the hell out
of the way.
So you want to get out of theway if they're successful.
But it's like you can alwaysimprove.
You know I can always be moreeffective, more efficient, more
(29:02):
productive.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
You know, and being more productive doesn't mean I
have to work more hours.
You've got to work smarter.
Yeah, exactly so challengingthose agents is important?
I feel it is, but if they bringthat important.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I feel it is.
But if they bring that heart,if they bring that soul and they
want to do it, we're going todo it.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yes, exactly, okay.
So I just want to call out toour audience, real quickly, a
quick reminder If you'reenjoying today's episode,
remember to like and subscribe.
We'd love to have you as afuture subscriber of the podcast
.
Also, please make sure you stayaround for the drop the mic
question at the end.
It's always a lot of fun I'mscared you should be, you should
(29:42):
be, but it's always fun to seewhere it goes.
All right so, all right sosheila um, let's pivot a little
bit, okay, so when you're notleaving the east meadow office,
what are some ways you like torelax or recharge?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
oh, I like to like to read.
I love to read.
Believe it or not, I go tochurch.
Okay, I you know.
Most people are like you go tochurch, I do, I like to walk,
hearing some of those swearwords in between.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I know Now.
I know why you go to church andI'm being good now?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
No, I do.
I like to go to church, I dolike to read, I like to work out
, I like to hang out with my son.
We do hiking.
I do a lot of hiking and rockscrambling.
I like a challenge out there.
I guess there's something wrongwith me, but I do like you know
, I like to Like hiking people,oh, hiking, but we hike hard and
(30:28):
we do scrambles, it's fun.
It's a challenge that I like.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
So here's something else.
If you could spend a dayanywhere in the world, where
would it be and why?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Anywhere in the world .
You know it's funny.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Don't say East Meadow , no.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I won't be saying East Meadow.
You know what?
It's funny.
I think my bucket list.
I'm going to Italy.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
You haven't been there yet, right?
I'm going to Italy.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Okay, you haven't been there yet, right?
No, all right, it's a greattour and we're going to the
Vatican.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
And it's funny, when they said, you know we're going
to go to Italy, I was like, okay, my sister goes, we're going to
go to the Vatican, she goes.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
I know you want to do that, yeah, and I do.
So you know what?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'm going to be experiencing it in April.
By the way, I'm taking time off, oh geez, I'll let HR know.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Thank you, that's awesome.
Now you did touch on somethingelse, by the way.
You touched on your son, eddie,right, and now Eddie is a
pretty phenomenal drummer.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
He is.
Yeah, you know he is.
So what's it?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
like being a drummer's mom.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Loud.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Loud, very loud.
So who's the hell's idea?
Is it to buy a kid drums anyway?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Well, his father is a drummer.
So Eddie grew up with a drumset in the house, there's no
doubt.
And there was Eddie, hiscousins, they could play at any
time.
And Eddie, when he was inelementary school, they said all
right, you have to pick aninstrument.
So the common thing was allright, I'll do the drum.
He really wasn't like.
He's like I'll do it.
The first parade he walked inhe had to carry that big drum
(32:00):
and hit it in in like fifthgrade or whatever it is.
He comes over the finish line.
We go to pick him up at the endof the parade line and I'm like
eddie that was great.
He was sweating, he took thething off, he goes.
I am never doing this again,never, I'm done.
And we were like really, andnow he's got like six drum sets,
he records, he does videos.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
He's in a band, right yeah he plays live music.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
He's working with somebody now that is doing their
own original music and he'sdoing the bands, the drums
behind it.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
So what's it like as mom to go see him perform?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Ed is good because Ed goes and I'll say was that good
?
Because I don't know.
And he goes, that was great.
Something happens, I go, wasthat Eddie?
Yeah, he made a mistake.
It's very nerve-wracking for mebecause I'm blown away that he
actually can get up in front ofan audience and do something
(32:58):
like this.
So as he's doing it more andmore, I'm getting a little bit
less panicked about it.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Ah, there you go.
Speaking of family right.
Family traditions are good.
So do you have any familytraditions that you look forward
to throughout the year?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
yeah, there's a lot, but I think my favorite family
tradition is christmas yeah theyall come over.
There's probably, and on a goodchristmas there's 35 of us yeah
and I make them play gamesstructured chaos.
Yeah, we play games.
I make them, they all.
We have to go around the tableand I'm like, yes, we do, and I
make them go around and say,what was your favorite gift that
you ever got?
You know like I try to.
(33:37):
I don't know, I get a kick outof that and what I love now my
great nieces and nephews.
I was.
They slept over a couple ofweeks ago, right after christmas
yeah and we were upstairs in myroom all laying on the bed
talking and they go okay, let'splay a game.
I go all right, what caleb hegoes, let's play what was your
favorite.
So the games that I teach them,they are now playing back with
me.
I love it and that's atradition.
(33:58):
And left right center is atradition, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Well, that's because you're playing for money.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yes, right, that's right.
That's a classic.
I like that one.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
So all right, Sheila.
I want to pivot a little bit togiving back.
So obviously I think there's atremendous giving culture within
American homes and you'redefinitely a big part of that,
you know what have you felt madea real difference with one of
your agents or the community?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
There are many moments yeah.
And I have a lot of individualagents doing really good things.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yes yes.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
But what blows my mind and I could almost get
emotional over it, but it reallytickles me my agents every year
say what family are we adopting?
And they don't know that we didit.
The family, it's completelyanonymous.
Sometimes we get it from theschool, sometimes we get it from
the foundation and Carol Popealways runs it and even if I
(34:54):
don't bring it up, my agents areon me Did you get a family?
Yet we're going to do adopt afamily, right, what are we going
to do?
And there is one family that wegot from the foundation and the
foundation supported a littlebit.
It's a grandma with fourchildren and mom and dad are not
in the picture and it's reallyyou know what.
This grandmother stood up andsaid I'm raising my four
(35:15):
grandchildren and if she coulddo that we can support her so
the foundation did it once andwe've done it two times, I
believe for christmas, yeah,where even brian carp has
contributed that to me.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
We made a difference in that person's life, yeah so
when you say adopt the family,just so everyone's on the same
page, it's for the holiday.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
We do the holiday shopping gifts and stuff so that
they have a meaningfulchristmas yeah, every child
should wake up on christmasmorning and be excited, yes,
even if it's only for that day.
You know they're surrounded bya lot of maybe not so nice
things right so my agents go at.
We had.
We had a customer come in onetime with maybe like a
(35:57):
three-year-old kid and the child.
When my agent went outside, thechild was in a car seat, facing
backwards with their knees upagainst the back of the seat.
The child should have beenturned the other way.
The car seat wasn't designed todo that and the parents didn't
have money for a car seat.
We got a car seat in an instant.
They came in and said Ma Sheila, this is what's going on.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
You're like the house , mom.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
I feel badly, we have to do something, and we went
okay, and a car seat was boughtfor this family and no fanfare.
We called the family and saidcome back to the office handed
them the car seat and wentinside.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
What I like about it?
It's not about the bows, it'sabout the results, which is
great.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
But it makes them feel good.
See, that's the thing.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
You know, we had an agent that had cancer and
radiation and chemo and we setup a drive schedule and we would
pick the agent up and my agentsdid this.
It wasn't my idea.
We pick her up, drop her off,pick her up, bring her back and
it was my turn to drive.
She's like this is ridiculous,tell them to stop doing it.
I said I will never tell themto stop doing it.
(37:08):
She goes I'm embarrassed, don'tdo this.
I said look, it's not about you.
It's not about you.
I know you got an issue here.
It's not about you.
It's about how they feel,knowing what they're doing to
help you.
Don't take that away from them.
Yeah, it's like okay, fine.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
And it was helpful for oh, sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah, but you know you don't want to be looked on
as Pity door pity.
They weren't pitying her, butright right.
Yeah, but that's see, that, tome, is just so strong.
It's the foundation, it's thepeople that we have, it's what
they do and I love it.
I love being a part of it.
I think it's really a good partof this.
(37:49):
So how do?
Speaker 1 (37:50):
you encourage your agents to get involved in giving
or in the communities.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
To tell you the truth , I don't really have to
encourage.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
They find a circumstance and they come back
to me and go this is what'sgoing on.
What do we do?
I don't you know.
If there's like the communitypride day and all that kind of
stuff, yes, I'll bring that tothe table, right, right, but
circumstances, things that go on, they they rally, they do
themselves.
They come to me.
I'm actually, wow, I shouldhave thought of that.
But no, they areself-sufficient on that end.
(38:21):
They come up with stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I kind of feel like it's such a big part of the
culture there that when somebodya new agent meaning joins that
office they plug right into thatvibe.
It's impossible to miss.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
It is, it is and they'll.
You know they'll end up with amentor or someone there that
they do connect with.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
You know they don't well, my agents.
You know my office.
They're not my agents, I don'town them, but they're not afraid
of other agents coming in andstealing their thunder or you
know they're very open to themore, the merrier they.
You know I'm not your bestrecruiter.
However, my agents come to meand say this is a person you
(39:03):
should be calling this.
That to me that's, that'spowerful, and they're not afraid
of other agents coming in andstealing their business or doing
better than them.
It's just a really good,wholesome group that we work
with at East Meadow.
Yeah now.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Now, obviously, we have the Heart of American Homes
Foundation, which is ourin-house arm for charity.
What's a charitable cause orinitiative that's especially
close to your heart, and why?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
St Jude's.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
You know what?
I'll give you all the money inmy wallet.
Don't make me listen to thestories about what these kids go
through.
I could get emotional sittinghere thinking about it.
We've been to conventions, I'veleft.
I've actually gotten up andwalked out of the auditorium
because I can't listen to it.
It is so heartbreaking some ofthe things that go on and St
(39:55):
Jude's is there for them.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
So yeah, St Jude's would be my St Jude's is one of
my favorite too and one of thethings I always pride about.
On a charity, I think or I lookfor it, maybe I should say is a
high dollar amount orpercentage should be going to
help people Absolutely.
I know there's overheadsometimes, but St Jude's has a
(40:17):
great track history of having avery high percentage of every
dollar actually going to helppeople.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
How could you have a charity and that not be?
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Well.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I know I can't.
I won't give to those unnamedcharities.
I won't.
I always look before I give.
Yeah, so do I, and St Jude's isone of those that I love.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
It's a great call on that.
And the other thing I loveabout Heart of American Homes is
that it's 100% goes back,because it's a complete
volunteer.
You know staff, so to speak,board of directors.
There's no employees.
It's housed rent-free withinour offices, Even an accountant
just you know donates Any timethey've got to reconcile the
books, so we're able to get 100%of the money out to the
(41:02):
community.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
You know it's funny.
I was going to say I give themost money to Heart of American.
Homes, but they didn't want tolike do that if I had to do an
outside charity.
But I totally agree with youand St Jude's is on that level,
yes, and it just kind of takes alittle more specific for the
children that are having healthissues.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Oh my God, how that could be.
I can't.
All right, so I want to youknow, really just remind our
audience real quickly again ifyou like what you're hearing
here.
But we'd love if you subscribedand liked.
And it is now time for our Dropthe mic question.
What's a secret ambition orguilty pleasure that no one
(41:39):
knows about?
For me.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Yeah, I want to be a pole dancer.
No, I want to dance.
Wow, a secret ambition.
You know what I would like tobe?
This is going to sound soboring.
I would like to be like a isgoing to sound so boring.
I would like to be like aMartha Stewart not Martha
Stewart.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Is that Martha Stewart in jail or is that
Martha Stewart?
Better living Martha.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Stewart with Snoop Dogg.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
No.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Like, I like homemaking, I like decorating.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
And I like I.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
just I like the warmth and like if I, if someone
said, okay, this is it, maybein retirement to take furniture
and flip it, to really becreative and make an old piece
of furniture a new life.
I know it's boring, but I thinkthat would juice me.
I like that.
There you go.
(42:34):
That wasn't so bad.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
No, I would not have guessed that.
That's awesome.
Yeah, so all right, great.
Well, sheila, I want to thankyou for joining our show today.
If anyone in the audience wantsto reach out to you about
whether it's about real estate,a career in real estate, uh,
charity, just uh.
How do they reach SheilaMcKenna Olson?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Well, you can call me in the East Meadow location or
certainly on my cell,516-322-1946.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Great Sheila love having you on the show.
You did a fantastic job.
Thanks for having me All rightand look forward to seeing you
guys in two weeks for our nextepisode.
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