The Jason Theory
Jason Stratton of KlopasStratton Team, a top 20 team in the nation with over 1.5 billion sold , sits down with weekly guests to talk about becoming successful, the real estate market, and crazy stories/people we run into. Visit www.klopasstratton.com to see more!
The Jason Theory
S4 E9 - Own your platform or get owned: listings are content and the rise of private marketplaces
We tour Michael Jordan’s mansion, unpack why mega-mergers won’t fix real estate, and map the content-first play agents can actually control. Then we get tactical on assistants, TCs, first-time buyer math, and the real way to refi without resetting the clock against yourself.
• Jordan’s house as a case study in brand, nostalgia, and usability
• Compass/Anywhere stakes vs ownership, licenses, and antitrust exposure
• Listings as content and the shift to walled marketplaces
• Personal branding over brokerage identity for long-term leverage
• Listing-heavy strategy, new agent hurdles, and ethical content borrowing
• Consistency, planning, and buying back time with TCs and assistants
• Team coverage, scaling without burnout, and better client speed
• Travel, family seasons, and how life cadence shapes business
• 2026 outlook on rates, inventory, and suburban vs urban demand
• High-rise headwinds, HOA math, and first-time buyer scenarios
• Refinance realities: principal vs payment, when it truly makes sense
You definitely could subscribe on any of the platforms that you have on your phone, or always you can watch on YouTube
So I went to semester at sea and it was a transport. It was an old Korean transport. It was a hunk of shit boat. Great times, but a hunk of shit boat. And and the one guy said, We're all talking. It's like, you guys got to be real careful. You know, don't fall overboard, blah, blah, blah. And the captain said, I just want you guys to know I open sea, if you fall over, we do not turn around. He goes, It takes so long to turn this boat around. By the time we turn it around, you will never be found. Jeez. And I equate that to a big business. What's the five P's? Do you remember it?
SPEAKER_04:Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. It doesn't matter how much money we get. If we don't close, it's no money, right? So no close is no money. I'm everything that I am because of my dad's death. And I wouldn't be as successful without his death. Welcome to another episode of the Jason Theory. We've got the regular clown patrol here today, all of us. I'll go down the line. We've got Natsos, we've got Floros, and we've got Youngworth. That's the right thing. That's the right pronunciation. We should have just filled it in Jesus. Yes. Yeah. All right. So let's start with that since people want to know about Jordan's house. We went there on Sunday. It was a really cool time. Thoughts? We'll go down the line. Thoughts on Jordan's home. Oh, this is this is my childhood dreams since I was what, 16?
SPEAKER_02:It's your wailing wall. Yeah, basically. So yeah, it was great. I mean, uh obviously it's an older home, but I wouldn't change anything, Ken. I know me and you talked about it. A couple things you would change, but it's perfect the way it is, I think.
SPEAKER_03:What was your favorite room?
SPEAKER_02:Favorite room. I think a lot of the entertaining spaces were cool, like the cigar lounge area, all that kind of stuff. There's a lot of underground kind of that big area with the big Jordan logo. What it was like a big what movie theater stuff. The movie theater. Yeah, that was awesome. With sunken and chain, kind of thing that was cool.
SPEAKER_03:And the two poker, I mean, there's basically you could play there's poker tables in every in every 30 feet. Yeah. Just to get that guy didn't. And bathroom. That guy had a gambling his shoe.
SPEAKER_00:And bathroom. Your favorite room. Um, dude, there was a lot of cool rooms. Every room we were going through. I was like, oh, this might be the best room. But to my own surprise, I thought the cigar and wine room was really cool. Yeah. So it's like, I don't want to call the house dated for being there for like what 30 years or early 90s. I thought that room was pretty cool, but it's such an entertainer's place that I mean, even that front area where we went and you could sit down with the really high ceilings, that was super cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, where you look out to that plunge pool.
SPEAKER_03:I think that place, I think that place would be so much cooler in the day when you can kind of see how the rooms orientate towards the center court.
SPEAKER_00:Did you say bidet or no? No. Oh, sorry.
SPEAKER_03:They do need bidet. R15 and a half bathrooms. R15, like there's no bidet. That's that's why you know it's dated. If that place was built today, there would be Zoe toilets, bidets.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but what are you gonna do? Go in there and start putting in like white oak flooring and all this kind of stuff and change it. It would change the complete like nostalgia of the place.
SPEAKER_01:That's why your favorite room, you know. I mean, the room that I couldn't stop laughing in when I was filming content was that master bedroom. Oh, yeah. It wasn't my favorite room, but just um going through the master bathroom with that sunken shower, Jordan's sink being higher. I mean, it's just sort of funny. And that was the one where you flopped down on his bed, and I just couldn't stop laughing. But my favorite room, I think my favorite room was the room that we hung out in. It was actually really cool. If it was in the daytime, that's what I'm saying. If it was daytime and I it would have been cool, it was it would have flowed, it felt like like my wife's like, How was it? I said, I felt like I was at a resort. Yes, yeah, yes, it just had that sprawling feel. I've never been in a house that's 37,000 square feet. I mean, yours was close, but not quite that big. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:And Ken, we didn't even get to see the uh, which we found out later was a skylight that we think the sky would have been cool.
SPEAKER_03:I think that's the best room because you've got the bar with the TV, and then you have the TV on the other side. That room could hold a hundred easily. When he and Ken walked outside a little bit, and there's like the fire pit, the little kind of pool pond thing that he has in the middle, just like that backyard, like great, like dude. How great would it be? I mean, I know Bannockburn, being Bannockburn is like just being a dick to this guy, but how amazing. If I could go back, how amazing would it be to be get married there? Oh, I would have like baptized my kids in that pool just a bit. I'm just saying, no, to get married in Jordan's house and like on the outside courtyard and then have all these different rooms. You could have the dance hall and the basketball court, you could have cocktail hour in different rooms, like and and it's seven acres. Yeah. Seven and a half acres.
SPEAKER_01:Nuts. They could have just had offsite parking shuttle people in so there wasn't a million cars.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I just don't know what, like, anyway.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, that's it. I did hear from my friend Andy that also toured it that they're not allowing him to do the Airbnb thing. Yeah, yeah. They changed the rules.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. At Bank, like there just for him. My brother-in-law is on the board at Bannockburn.
SPEAKER_01:So he can't do it though, weekend by weekend. It's got to be a 30-day rental. I I don't yeah. I mean, well, they're doing now that 10-day thing. Yeah, well, 10-year-old.
SPEAKER_00:So what's the market? Was it 90,000 Nikki or something?
SPEAKER_02:It's on the market for rent right now for$89,000. It started at$247,000. Yeah. And then it dropped to$150, and now it's$89,000 a month. For long-term lease, minimum six months, I think it's at non-refundable movement fee.
SPEAKER_00:I used to do that.$50,000 deposit.
SPEAKER_02:When the guy sells it, we're gonna be ready to jump on it. Exactly. Save your pennies now. Remember when we're talking about the fractional ownership? That's it. That'd be pretty cool. What would the security deposit be at that place?
SPEAKER_03:$50,000. It's at the on the MLS. Are you serious? Yeah. And you get interest on that, which is kind of nice. Yeah. And then you can hit somebody up. If they listen to this. If you did not hold that security pot deposit the right way, or you co- that's three times the security deposit. Two to three months worth. Yeah. I mean, there's got to be a way to finagle that. Let's get a lawyer on that. All right, let's talk about the next piece of business because we'll we'll talk about the fact that Compass bought 70% of the shares to anywhere, which owns a conglomerate, a ton of different real estate companies, um, and also in Sotheby's. I'm gonna just get on the record right now because people are saying the wrong thing. Jameson, where I work, is an individual privately held company. We pay a franchise fee for the Sotheby's name. So no matter how badly Bobby messes up Sotheby's, it doesn't affect us because we can always dump the name and just be Jameson. I just want to get that out there right there before we start. So stop texting me that I work for Compass. Stop it. All right. On the other hand, he works for Compass. So the difference between the App Properties deal and this deal is that he actually bought the app properties. And this is the difference. He also bought the lease, the paperwork that At had with Christie's. So he does not own Christie's, but he owns the agreement that at properties has with Christie's, which is different than what he did two days ago, where he bought Sotheby's. So the difference would be if he bought Christie's or 70% of Christie's and did not buy at, then he would own the Christie's name that at is attributed to, but doesn't own at would still be owned. Yes, at would still be owned by Vad and Michael and whoever else. Well, actually it was owned by private equity in Atlanta. But that's the difference of the two. What will go down the line too? What do you think? We've talked about it, you know, at length before this started. You know, it's a content play. What do you think, in terms of the consumer and what he wants to do, the compass brand wants to do with listings, where do you see this thing going? Not so.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know. I mean, that's the biggest thing. We always talk about the brokers, the brokers, the brokers, but the consumers are gonna be the biggest, I think, hit with this, right? Um you know, the the whole clear cooperation stuff and all that stuff. I don't know what he what the plan is. Obviously, if they're gonna hoard all the listings, um, that's gonna be something that's gonna be um so there's no money in brokerage.
SPEAKER_03:No, so hoarding the listings, you've got the content, right? Yep, yep. There's no money in the movie theaters anymore. There just isn't. A theater does not make movies, do not make money. They may say they do, they don't. How you make the money is selling the movie rights three or four or five. So my buddy that's involved in the movie business, when they do a movie, it it's not about the movie. It's about okay, I'm gonna sell it to HBO for the first two years. Then after HBO has it, I'm gonna sell it to Fox for the next three years. So a movie actually, it's 20 year span after it's built, is bought out. It's not the money up front, it's selling the content for you.
SPEAKER_02:And I didn't even realize that. Now you're saying that because my daughter's on to watch Madagascar all the time. And one month it's on HBO Max, the next month it's only on Hulu, the next month it's nowhere until the go to the state. So it goes all the way.
SPEAKER_03:I didn't realize that until you're so it goes all the way till you watch Star Wars on the U. Yeah, right. Right? So when you see something on channel 26, yeah, it's gone through every station, it's been sold 20 or 30 different times. Yeah, yeah. I didn't realize my friend is one of the first people that ever did it. And the show, the first show that was sold like that was Dexter 30, 20 years ago. Oh Dexter. And he's the person, he's one of the first people that sold content. And I said, because when Disney pulled all their movies away from, let's think about Disney, right? Disney pulled all their movies off of HBO, this and this. It was a massive. My buddy called me and I'm like, dude, what does this mean? He goes, it's going to change the industry. Disney itself changed the industry by saying it's our content. If you want it, you have to come pay for it through us. We're not going to distribute it to any other place. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's going to happen in this player.
SPEAKER_03:So that's if you're buying all this content, the only reason you're buying it is to sell it. Yeah. Now are they going to sell to the consumer? I don't think so. I think he's going to sell it to individual agents. And you want, you want your access? Yeah. You want access. You want to you want to see your listings on this platform? Because why can't he just do his own Zillow? And then if you want to be on my platform, you're going to pay me. If Zillow's making this much money that they're making, why, if you own all the content, why wouldn't you just have a computer programmer in two seconds put together a platform? It could be Compass's platform, it could be any platform. But a platform that's out there, and then all of a sudden, he's getting the leads. He's getting the Zillow flex. He's got the content. Right? So like I think that's those are my sense. Like, after thinking about it, I think that's the play. And I think about it like because I called my movie guy. I go, you know, all this is happening. He's like, dude, it's a play for the content. He goes, it's just gonna be like the movie industry. He goes, There'll be you know three or four people that own all the content and they're just gonna distribute it and sell it.
SPEAKER_01:It's like the five billionaires that own all the media companies. Yeah, it's no different.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so that's kind of what I think will happen. What do you think?
SPEAKER_00:You know, after I say that, what are your thoughts? Yeah, like I look, we didn't we haven't had a lot of time to let this all soak in. Uh a lot of people, including myself, haven't understood like the whole buying 70% majority interest in and buying 2.9 billion in debt.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So it's a publicly traded company. You're not buying fucking debt.
SPEAKER_00:Well, everyone's trying to understand, you know, Bobby's motivation here, but what does that mean for like agents? Uh honestly, like the biggest thing I think a lot of us, and we're all in multiple group chats with other fellow brokers. It's like it all goes back to like from these lawsuits, it's about transparency to the consumers, and nothing is going to improve for the consumers by compass trying to take over everything, having their own platforms, going back to even last year, where there was a lot of like roar about the whole them having their own private listings. And I'm sure if you work for Compass, you're gonna brag and say that it's a good thing. But inventory is inventory is a challenge. More lawsuits are gonna come up. Apparently, we got texted a lawsuit that's already coming up about this. But I think a lot of TBD, and honestly, I don't have too many thoughts on you know what's gonna come of this, but I don't like the direction that the industry's going with Compass just trying to buy every company. That's just not, I think, good for the industry.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, like we talked about too. I mean, the the the app properties deal, they're having problems because of antitrust. This purchase of the stock, you know, really has a let's say we're nine months out if this is even going to happen because it's got to go through the DOJ and it's got to go through the antitrust and see, you know, how much of percentages he owns and stuff like that. I've talked to somebody in in who's extremely knowledgeable in Florida, and she's like, she's like, there's no way it's gonna go through just because of the market share, and and Illinois has its own rules on that, on that type of stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Where is the DOJ on this? They were quick to jump the gun on our commissions and compensation and all that. Like, where are they at on this to well all that, right?
SPEAKER_03:All that's gotta all that's gotta be broadcasted, it's gotta be sent, and then that's I mean, there's nine months of due diligence. They're saying at the earliest, it's the second half of 2026. So there's a ton of due diligence. So they've been paid out, but he bought at to merge. I don't care what anyone says, I don't care what anything is written on. There's no way you're buying the offices if you're not merging because you don't need 17 different um managers. And that's north shore. They wouldn't have sold, right? That's they wouldn't have sold the North Shore if they weren't consolidating and wanting just to be in the city.
SPEAKER_00:Can you clear up the I I've heard the North Shore thing? What exactly happened there?
SPEAKER_03:He had a sell. He had a sell which offices they sold, they sold to Remax Premiere.
SPEAKER_02:Remax premiere officers.
SPEAKER_03:Were they at, or were they what offices? They sold all the compass offices that were in the North Shore. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:All of them. Seven of them. To who? So this big Remax. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_03:Jones Corley. Yeah. Because they they they they're trimming down to pick up other stuff.
SPEAKER_00:And was that because there was too many compass and at offices in that area? That's it because of antitrust.
SPEAKER_03:They're trying to get it into a spot. Because it's not the merger really like where he wants to go is stuck in courts.
SPEAKER_01:Do you think that was a good buy for Remax?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, it's not a good thing. Are the agents staying? Like that's the thing. Like I don't know. The value is in that, right?
SPEAKER_02:Who's gonna stay, who's gonna leave?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I no disrespect to Remax. I don't if I'm if I'm with if I'm with Compass and I like Compass, and all of a sudden I change over to Remax, I'm gonna have an issue with that. Correct. I mean, I if if all of a sudden Compass bought Jameson and there's gonna be a Compass sign outside of my office, I'm gonna have an issue with that. Yeah, I mean I didn't sign up for that. And mergers happen, it is what it is, but I you know, I'm not we're not beholden to anybody. We can do whatever the hell we want to do. Get plucked, Jameson. I mean, there's always I mean everyone, anyone, yeah. At this point, it looked like someone gives who's next. Who if someone gives if someone gives somebody enough cash, yes, you know, but what's gonna happen? Okay, so what's gonna happen with Zillow? And what's gonna happen with people, you know, all I know is the top five agents, that's gonna be a shuffle.
SPEAKER_00:That's gonna be interesting. You're talking about the flexing have Ken give his two cents on this whole thing before we go into Zilla, it's a whole different animal.
SPEAKER_01:I don't really have a two cents on this whole thing. I think it's all just crazy. And my whole thought on it is sometimes people get caught up in all this stuff and almost try to I don't know, let it affect them. I think you just gotta forge forward through it all. Yeah. Because some people I don't even think it's to the point where people are like, oh shit, they bought they bought this. I don't even know if people talk about it as much as like the first couple things that have happened.
SPEAKER_00:So how does it affect Illinois? How much of market share like like there's a number?
SPEAKER_03:Nancy Neggy told me there's a number that you can't get past, and then all of a sudden it's antitrust. I I I have I've been told the numbers, I just can't remember it. I think the only thing and the reason main reason I and I will be completely frank, the main reason I left Berkshire is that it was just too big. Of a company? Yeah. It's it if if Compass merges with at, I'm gonna tell you right now, and and you have a better handle than me. It's basically you know how long it takes to turn a destroyer? I I will tell you. So, like I I will tell you something that was told to me. So I went to semester at sea and it was a transport. It was an old Korean transport, it was a hunk of shit boat. Great times, but a hunk of shit boat. And and the one guy said, We're all talking, it's like you guys gotta be real careful, you know, don't don't fall overboard, blah, blah, blah. And the captain said, I just want you guys to know, I open sea, if you fall over, we do not turn around. He goes, It takes so long to turn this boat around. By the time we turn it around, you will never be found. Jeez. And I equate that to a big business. You get big, and that's why I left Berkshire. I mean, when I had a question, or I had this, or I had that, it had to go 3,000 people to Minneapolis, yeah, to here, to here, to here. There was no flexibility. You can't move. You're in an industry that moves daily, and I'm at a company that's a destroyer, and to change it, it's not happening. It's just going where it wants to go. And that that was the re that was the main reason I left. I mean, and and it and as and as the company got bigger as it went from GMAC to to this and sold to this, by the time it got to Berkshire and it was five years in Berkshire, I was like, man, I'm like, this is this is like this is a a behemoth that can't change with times.
SPEAKER_01:I will tell you one other thought though, I had is that this is why individual branding and having your own presence is so important now.
SPEAKER_03:You have to, because you have to move that if you have to move that presence, you have to.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You have to almost have your own website, obviously Instagram and social media, because you can't, I mean, it's hard to stick out otherwise.
SPEAKER_00:I think the best realtors, and I'll give credit to a couple of people, are the ones where, like, for example, like a Carrie McCormick, like, yes, you know she's at App Properties, but her logo, her branding, it's hers. So she could leave at properties and go to some other company, and you still just think Carrie McCormick. Yeah. You don't think that she's at EXP or at RE-MAX or wherever.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, I mean, that's any, I think that's branding is everything.
SPEAKER_00:But Ken's right, he's right on. Yeah, like it's it's gotta be your own individual branding, and the company you work for is kind of like secondary.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, when's the last time? I mean, this I may be different on this, but I mean, I I can I can honestly tell you that it's been 20 years since I've used companies like like stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like listing anything. Yeah, I don't even think people want to see that anymore.
SPEAKER_03:I I everything I have, everything is everything is made from scratch, it's our own, like our books are owned. Like, I like I would never send a website that's from Jameson or Berkshire's like their home website. I send it from my own. Like, if you want to see this listing, here's it on my platform. It's not on any other platform. Well, that's the biggest thing. I've been like that forever.
SPEAKER_02:So you mentioned that. So if this whole thing happens and if it all goes down the way they're saying it's gonna go down, what happens to the listings? All the IDX feeds that feed the MLS listings to, let's say, my website or your website, are they being populated on there? Are they not?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I'll tell you right now, we're this year, we're 75% list. We're we're we're beyond list heavy. We've never been this list heavy in a long time. We're normally like 60, 40, but we're set like I did looked at it. You have to be, you need the content. You need to be a lister. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Which is gonna be really tough for new agents. Like that's that's really I mean, everything that's happened over the last two years has been really tough for other people to join. And I think then that's led, you know, selfishly, it's led to really good years for us.
SPEAKER_04:Sure.
SPEAKER_03:Because you just can't break in now. You can't. Because if you're not list heavy and you're a buyer and you're you and you're a buyer's agent, I mean, it's that's tough.
SPEAKER_00:It's kind of like after the whole August 17 lawsuit, like all the part-timers left. Some people joined teams, some people were discouraged just to even jump in the industry, which is good because I mean, we still run into a lot of bad agents and lazy agents and people who aren't doing any homework before they show a place. So it has improved in that retrospect. But yeah, I agree with you. Like, if you're not on the list side, it's hard to be in your first year or two. You're just trying to work with anybody at that time.
SPEAKER_01:Well, on a smaller like level, that is the content. When you're listing heavy, you have your own content.
SPEAKER_03:Or if you're not if you're not listing heavy, do what a lot of people do, right? A lot of people go into other people's listings and they do that. Who's the guy that goes into everyone else's listings? He's really big on YouTube. He's an agent. He he's I it's his first name, I think, is Alex. I don't know. Do you know a company or no? No, but he was he goes, he only goes into other people's properties. Look at what's his name from um from the modern Vic. Yeah. Who his contents almost all other people's stuff? Modern Chicago homes, whatever I've seen the Instagram thing, but I don't know. Yeah, he does really well.
SPEAKER_01:Vic just told me because we had a showing uh a couple weeks ago, and he said his brother, who was in another market, started doing Instagram early. It's taken him three years to crank it up. He said he'll do 25 million from Instagram this year. That's great.
SPEAKER_00:And you guys, both of you, I know Jason, you're like the catalyst always been doing videos. Ken, man, you're impressive. You jump right in and try, but I don't think you need to have the listings either.
SPEAKER_03:You can go to open houses and you can do stuff. Dude, some of some of Maggie's biggest hits on her social media are her walking it through open houses. And like this is what you can buy, XYZ, and she gets like 200,000 looks.
SPEAKER_00:That's great. On TikTok, sorry. Yeah, TikTok. See, TikTok.
SPEAKER_03:TikTok is really good on the TikTok on those walkthroughs.
SPEAKER_00:It's good. It's good. Yeah, I haven't done TikTok much.
SPEAKER_03:It's a that's another pain in the ass. Have you done it or no? Yeah, I have like 35,000 followers on TikTok. My TikTok's bigger than my Instagram.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like TikTok in general, views and followers are like TikTok. Yeah. No, the dancing one tick TikTok.
SPEAKER_03:I don't have a personal TikTok. Yeah, thank God. I have a it's a hidden one where I'm just doing this. I'm just dancing. Just flexing. Um, so let's also want to kind of breach into 2025, where at the end of the third quarter, stuff that you and we could just be honest, stuff that you wanted to do this year that you just didn't accomplish. Personal, like business personal goals.
SPEAKER_01:So personally, business-wise, selling has been great. I have my uh website um being built. You're being very consistent with social media. That's I'm trying, but like I I can already see myself slipping, so I have to shoot some more this week. Like you almost have to shoot weekly to have enough content.
SPEAKER_02:But all these guys you sign up with are like one time a month for four hours, and you do your content. So it's hard to do that. That's what I went when we were interviewing people. It was hard because what if the stuff that's on the fly, we just can't do it. We want to get more of a manicured video versus like the phone one.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, there's there's some good phone. I like that.
SPEAKER_03:Raw content that's not manicured is not bad. Yeah, so that's that's you need to mix it.
SPEAKER_02:We overthink it. You need to mix it sure I do it especially.
SPEAKER_01:I think I think I'm gonna upload that video from um Champions Point Master Bedroom that could get some good laughs.
SPEAKER_03:I got a different angle of that, I see. I got it. So that that your content did good. What did you do?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'm starting to do content, right? Because you've motivated me to do it. That's one thing I like about you guys. We all collaborate, which I think is great. And um, websites coming where it'll sit on its own server and not some other company's server, so it'll be more optimized. And I'm doing more videos. And frankly, like that, I think will push my business a little bit. I don't have an assistant or anyone, so you know everything I do, I do on my own. It's a lot sometimes, you know. Be very honest, but I'm happy, John, that you started to do it because I've done maybe 12 to 15 videos, and your first one you had like 3,000 views. It's like incredible.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know what metric to to go off. And you know what? I was telling Nick I had a listing I was gonna about to put up, but it was a contingency. So the uh the seller they he got canceled on the buy side because he had a home sale contingency. So I was supposed to do a video in the next like few days, and I was excited for it because there's this like you do a few and you see you get some views, so you kind of get addicted in a good way. So to like Jason's point of like this year I wanted to do a lot more social media, and the year is almost over, and I just jumped in third quarter starting out. Yeah, well, I would have loved to do it earlier in the first quarter, second quarter. And uh again, I think another uh not failure, but I'd like to be more on the listing side. So Nick and I have talked about concentrating on getting more sellers because I think sellers create more content than buyers do, but you can be creative to get content out of buyers. You can, like I think you said, Maggie, on your team, you do a buyer tour, you can grab a video out of that. So being mindful of just not walking around and showing the place, but what good content you can capture to show your social media network that, hey, I'm a value, not just on the sell side, but on the fly, I could show you what I do and why my clients hire me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. Well, it's also, you know, it's a great way for people that do hire you to be able to say, hey, listen, this is my realtor, and you know, here's his Instagram, take a look at and you can see how good he is.
SPEAKER_01:Can I, you know, can I just interject? Like one thing that I think really good buyers agents do is that they will try to point out all the positives, and we've touched on this in the past. And I just had somebody come in, they mentioned all the things that I would have mentioned, and it just is more helpful, you know, versus that trying to tear you down things. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, a good agent is it a good agent is is great because you can sit back and be like, okay, I don't have to say this stuff. This stuff will be like that.
SPEAKER_01:I think you recently told me about somebody that did that for one of your lists.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, when I when there's a good agent, I when there's a if I'm selling something and the agent is good, I man, my mouth is closed. Because the only thing I'm the enemy, the only thing I'm gonna do is, you know, is I can pump something up, but why would I do that when their agent who they trust is gonna do it? Like they see it, right?
SPEAKER_01:It just doesn't have to be that for these buyers agents where they don't point out all the positives. So I think if you you do do a buyer's tour where you're videoing it and you highlight why this place is great, that's great.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's awesome. And I think another thing that we see that's good in the industry, whether I'm doing a showing with Ken and he's on the list side or vice versa, I've done it and I've had it done to me where uh it could be someone I I know or someone like, say, Jason, you're hearing me talk to my buyers, you're like, you're not gonna interject. You always try to be complimentary. You're like, hey, you got a great broker. Those are all great questions and great points that they just made.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And that way that buyer walks away saying they know they got good representation. And you know, they walk away knowing that they're like, if I'm gonna buy this place, I've checked off all the questions, everything that I should know before making a decision. So I always try to compliment that buyer's agent, or when it happens to me, I feel good about it and I feel good that my clients see it.
SPEAKER_01:Or be that buyer's agent that people want to work with, right? Yeah, because as it gets competitive, I mean, we talk about this, we've talked about it. Like who you know and those relationships that you've built really can help you in a multiple offer situation. Of course. I mean, that's everything right now, it's everything.
SPEAKER_03:What about you? I mean, it goes and holding yourself like what so let me get to one second. How are you gonna hold yourself accountable in 2026?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, we're There. Yeah, we're here. If you're not planning 26 right now, you know. Like everything we do now, starting now is for first quarter. For first quarter. So just being, I think everybody knows it, just being consistent with whatever you're trying to do, uh, being more game planning, sitting down, having meetings, talking about, you know, like tomorrow we're doing some Elmhurst content and we're gonna put that out for the whole month. So let's do that and then continuously uh game plan and then fill our calendars with recurring um activities that will keep us accountable, whether it's social media, whether it's prospecting by doing phone calls, uh planning an event. I'd like to do more events. I think the interaction with past clients or whoever you're trying to capture is always just worth the money versus just doing mailers the old school way, which still works. Yeah. Um, I think we all thrive in different places. So I think being with people and being yourself, um, I think at least for Nick and myself works very well. And I'm sure for you guys too. So trying to do more of that, whether it be quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, um, it's just like we don't have a fancy assistant either to do everything for us. So we get a little sometimes overwhelmed with so many great ideas that we have that execution is the thing. That's the biggest problem.
SPEAKER_02:Gotta come through and execute. Execution, we just get sidetracked, especially me, and you start going this way because you're busy on this deal, busy on that deal, and you forget what keeps getting the deals coming and just staying focused on that. So that's the biggest thing that we're working on. So tomorrow, for uh some content in Elmhurst, you know.
SPEAKER_03:I think a lot of times you guys may overthink the content.
SPEAKER_02:Correct.
SPEAKER_03:A hundred percent. I do, I know for sure. I mean, it's it's it's it's not, it doesn't have to be curated, it doesn't have to be beautiful, it just has to be, hey, man, these are my thoughts.
SPEAKER_02:My biggest thing is like if I'm on a tour like with a buyer or whatever, am I sitting here in my phone like, here, look at this kitchen? I feel like disrespectful to the buyer if you're doing a buyer too.
SPEAKER_03:I think you could do something like this, and then and then when you when when the buyer's done, be like, like these are two great things I saw today. This is what's happening in the market, X, Y, Z.
SPEAKER_00:You're great with content ideas to the point where, and I might hear to your horn when I was doing one, I was like, man, Jason's right. I'm already at this property. Why don't I do three reels or four reels out of it? But I never thought so far ahead, like, oh, why don't I do one about why this place sold? Because that's like a 45 or 60 day out. You know, it's a high rise, it's not going to sell quick. So why not have that content already there when you have your uh you know, video person there instead of posting a just closed? Yeah, why not just buy this forecast?
SPEAKER_03:I always do buy this. This is why it closed. This is the great things. Yeah, right. Yeah, I always do that.
SPEAKER_02:Like if I have three ones, why it closed? I've seen him post like kind of take a snippet of a like the longer reel, let's call it a longer video, and do like under contract or whatever. And you kind of use snippets of the original reel, basically. Yeah, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00:So that's great. Ken, what's your thought when, if you don't mind me asking, what's your thought when you go into your social media videos? I are you kind of looking at what everyone else is doing, or are you just like, hey, I am who I am, let me do what I'm comfortable with.
SPEAKER_01:Like in that point where I want it to be so somewhat fresh. So like I did one recently where I stood in front of Kassama, then I showed some of the eateries on division. Because I think like when you're buying a neighborhood, like, yeah, this is a two-bedroom, two-bath, like whoop-de-doo, like it's great. And I had seven offers on the one I just did. Nice, but you're also buying into this little neighborhood, so why not highlight some of those businesses, you know, because it's great. Yeah, we're so lucky to be down here. I think we take it for granted, but we just walk out our front doors and a lot of time.
SPEAKER_03:A lot of times when I do a condo or I do something that's really self-explanatory, I will have property video tours where I'm like, I'll be like, hey, Blake, let's not even talk about the house. I go, well, let's just talk about why you would want to move here and what's around. Yeah. Or like I'll do I did one video that did really good where I was in a two-flat and I was like, okay, this is like this is why you should buy a two-flat. And I just talked about investment ideas throughout the whole three-minute video as we're walking around.
SPEAKER_01:I don't remember that one, but I thought the other one that you did that was cool like that was hey, here's your front yard, Wells Park. I'm standing in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_03:That one did really good. I did like 40 or 50,000. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, because that's what you're buying. You're buying Wells Park.
SPEAKER_00:The home will the home will sell itself. Yeah. Yeah. Neighborhood sells itself.
SPEAKER_03:Needs to be sold. Tell the people about the neighborhood. Sure. I think that's a I think that's a I think that's a problem that people do on social media. And that's definitely where I'm always going now. Is like, hey, this is a beautiful home. You can see it throughout the video. Let's talk about things that really interest you while you're at this house. Yeah. Let's talk about the school. Let's talk about the the high streets. Let's talk about the where the where the public transportation is. Stuff that's actually, you know, you need to know. Yeah. And your eyes can show you the video. Yeah. So I think that's what's really I think that's one of the things that's really important. What something that you think in 26 will occur? You know, you know what I'm saying? What do you think is going to happen in 26? Now we already broke six. I'm seeing like 5.85 on the rates. What's going to happen next year with 1.8 million 1.8 months of inventory, and we're starting to approach mid-fives. There's no permits being pulled. I mean, it is is there building? Do you see building an out? Like, are they building in the burbs?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they are. But we went recently to like a kind of a broker tour. One of the brokers had a seven homes on there, and he did a tour of all the seven homes, but because they're sitting on the market, he was just trying to get brokers to come in because they're building so much, and the prices are insane right now. So in Almurst. Yeah. So you're seeing like they're building they're two five for stuff that you would see that were before was like, you know, not that. Two five. Two five. What's the school in Elmherst? Is it York? York, yeah. Yeah, York. That's a good height. So yeah. So like that's the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_03:Unless you want to play sports. If you're not a professional athlete at nine, you're fucked.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's the biggest thing. I think that I told you when we were doing the tours, I think the building in Elmherst specifically is catching up to them because there's a lot of it out there right now. A lot of new construction, a lot of proposed stuff, and the prices are where are they getting the land from, though?
SPEAKER_03:Are they just tearing out the name of the guy?
SPEAKER_01:There's a couple here and there sprinkled, but that would be 90% of it. For sure.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's interesting. So, like, are you are you still like when you talk to people like when you put an offer in in Elmher's, are there still three or four offers or depending on the price point? What's the most active price point?
SPEAKER_02:I would say between 700 to a million, your seven, six fifty to a million is just insane.
SPEAKER_03:Anything and what's shit trading over? 100 over, 120 over? And that price point? Uh not a hundred over, depending.
SPEAKER_02:50, probably 50, 30 to 50, depending on the place. Um, if at the price point, like the one down the street from me, that probably went over 190 grand over.
SPEAKER_03:Is the is the thought process in the burbs to price low and then get that to go? Or it needs to be or no one even knows what now it needs to be that springtime.
SPEAKER_02:Forget it, it's gonna be price it, and you're probably gonna get where you what you want for it, depending on price point, obviously.
SPEAKER_03:In the suburbs, when is the best time to sell? Oh because I it's very it's very dependent on the school system when you go into the school. Yeah, obviously, before schools, you got to get spring time. So people are doing so, yeah. So people buy right after school in the burbs, or is it towards August? Or because when do you have to have residency?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I was talking to my wife the other day. I was I was thinking we're gonna get to look at my daughter's kindergarten next year at you know, March, April, May. She goes, No, we're touring the school in January. I'm like, shit, I didn't realize it was that early. It's in three, four months from now. So people got started early in the burbs, January, February, March, April. Yeah. So like that's so it's the city. That's the city, it's very seasonal, like to that.
SPEAKER_01:When you say you're touring schools, aren't you living in that?
SPEAKER_02:I mean, yeah, but like I am, but I'm I haven't been in the school that she's gonna be in. So I'm going in to like do the open house and meet the teachers and whatever the curriculum's gonna be.
SPEAKER_01:That's early in the year.
SPEAKER_02:January.
SPEAKER_03:I thought it was gonna be like April, May. Of January for the following August.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so like January for September or whatever. They start school like August 12th or something.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:They'll just walk in and be like, all right, this is nice. And then and what what uh how do you like, you know, now that you have the youngest? Well, your kids are young, they're still in your stack. But oh boy, I got a lot of jokes on that. I'm gonna keep it to myself. But you you have the second youngest kid.
SPEAKER_02:No baby to yours one day.
SPEAKER_03:Like, how, like, as your kids get older, how have how have your how has your business how is your business like how like how do you how does your business change and how have you adjusted yourself? I'll get to you next because you're an empty nester now.
SPEAKER_02:So we're not I'm not in the schooling system yet. I just started realizing it now because my oldest is four and a half, right? So she's in pre-K and she's doing soccer and ballet and stuff. So now you're I'm starting to see now my wheels are turned as far as business is concerned. You start infiltrating the schools, maybe help out with some sponsorships or some like community involvement type stuff. And I'm meeting a lot of people that you're hitting a lot of real estate stuff. So that's what my new focus is.
SPEAKER_01:Schools never have enough money, so yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Giving back with that is gonna eventually over time. I'm not trying to say I'm trying to get business from them. Obviously, that'd be great, but that's that's the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_03:But how does that also like how do you see your business and your day-to-day changing as your kids are starting to grow? Do you see, I mean, do you see yourself saying, hey, I need to pull back on this or I'm going more full? Like, you want to get more involved in social media, you want to get more involved in the sell side, you want to get more involved in this and that. But at the same time, your kids are gonna be pulling at you and it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, this way, yeah. I mean, I'm gonna try to make the best of I can. Obviously, my wife's not working right now, so that's great so she can help with some stuff. But when I was a kid, my parents never missed a basketball game or this or that. So I want to do the same for them because it's just that's what you do. So I mean, I one day I get to that point, I'll kind of figure out. But I'm gonna try to make as much time as I can for that.
SPEAKER_03:And yourself, you're being an empty nester. Well, you you are an empty nester.
SPEAKER_01:There aren't all this. I honestly am struggling right now about the whole downsizing thing because I have a house in Burley, but I have no kids that go to elementary school. I think like my house would be good for a family that wants to get into Burley. So I almost feel like, in a weird way, guilty for having a house I don't really need for the schools anymore. But at the same time, I'm like, is it dumb to sell it? Because I've known a lot of people, you know, that for some reason or not they couldn't, they couldn't like sell or they didn't have anywhere to go. Their house appreciates even some more. At what point, you know, do you try to pull the plug on all that whole thing?
SPEAKER_03:So but how about your work? Oh my gosh, since you your kids are now both at Madison and you've got, do you see yourself filling the time that you would spend with your kids? Are you now filling that with content? Are you filling with the stuff?
SPEAKER_01:I'm probably doing more of that content because I have time. Sadly, I'd like to go to some hoops games, but I don't have any kids to go to hoops games with. Though my one son just got a uh um he's one of the four um managers that got hired for the UW Wisconsin hoops team. So that's gonna be cool. I think today, is it today Wednesday? Tuesday, tomorrow will be his first like practice, yeah, practice, so to speak. So that'll be cool. And I have um, you know, so that time it's like, you know, I probably use to do other things, but you know, I've always I think with uh content creation, I'm probably doing more of that and filling my time that way.
SPEAKER_03:Do you think that's gonna be your major change, not change, but your major focus going into 26 and be like, hey, this is kind of where I really want to start upping what I do, like even doing that.
SPEAKER_01:I'm already even doing that now, so even more would be yeah, obviously, more is better because like you say, consistency is key. Like you can't um go one week heavy and then one week off. And I've done that, so it's almost like you almost have to make uh you should almost like put into the calendar like today I should post something.
SPEAKER_02:Like what about you, Jason? Like you've are getting pulled in 17 different directions right now with your case.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I I think the one thing that I if I look back on 25 and like if I do have like mishaps like where stuff is getting slow or not slow, but I do do screw up on and that screw up's probably not the right word, but I'll go like two days where I don't reach out to a past client, and then I'll try to catch up. That's the one thing. Yeah, I don't miss the content, but I have an assistant that helps me with content, so like I'm in a little bit of a different boat than you guys.
SPEAKER_01:If I didn't have assistance, I'd but this is what happens when you're super type A or have a great business, like you let yourself slip and you almost it's almost like you felt like you missed two workouts. Yeah, it's yeah. So like so you're mad that you get in and hold yourself again.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I wake up like I was listening to a guy. I I don't wake up anxious, I wake up and the minute I wake up, I have my my planner. When I go downstairs, I prep my coffee at nighttime. So when I go downstairs and I hit the coffee, the first thing I do is I open up my planner and I write the things that I'm gonna do. And I do that every morning. I'm like, these are the things that I'm gonna do. And when I don't get to them, I get like upset. Yeah, but if I don't get to them and it and because I didn't get to them, I did something else that furthered my business. I I felt I feel good about it.
SPEAKER_01:I think with kids though, it keeps you more focused because you have to drop them in the morning. And you know you're pretty much nine to three is the four. Yeah, that's your best window to get stuff done.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm super like that's what I was wondering. Like, I'm but your kids are a little younger. Yeah, we're still there's half the days Monday, Wednesday, Friday right now, so it's very super regimented. And I was wondering, like, you not having kids in the house now, you could slip, right? Because you don't have to be as intentional because you've got more time.
SPEAKER_01:I get that, but like I did something last night that I needed to do for like earnest money and uploading this deal into the computer, and I'm like, thank god I did that because I quickly ran out of time this morning. Yeah, so it happens. Like if you think about doing something, it's almost like you should just fucking do it. Because you just never know. Like, I will tell you, like, no sooner than I got here, somebody said, Hey, we want to bring my buyer back to your palm olive listing tonight at 5 15. Can you do it? And then I have a six o'clock walkthrough. Those are two things that just came on my calendar morning. Yeah, you know, so you know how unpredictable your schedule can be.
SPEAKER_03:It's just like and I think that's the main thing that like I can talk to the two realtors that are upstairs that work with us. I I think what you just said is hit on the head. I think people and in life, people don't tackle what they can do now, and then the reason they can't get anything done is because life gets in the way. Like you're saying, like you've gotta you've gotta get that stuff done in the beginning.
SPEAKER_01:Or something fun could come up in your calendar that day, and you want to be able to say, Yes, I want to go. Because I got everything else, because everything was done, you know. So I don't know. I I'm like you when I have a cup of coffee in the morning, it's when I do my best sort of like computer work or docu sign. I always feel bad.
SPEAKER_03:I'm like, if someone has their ringer on, I text so many people at 5 30 in the morning. Oh jeez.
SPEAKER_02:You gotta use a sunlight. Oh, you don't have an iPhone.
SPEAKER_03:That was a later option. Oh no, I just like I'm like, I hope it's not dinging, but I'm like, this is when I get my like this is like this is yeah, this is I need to, these people need to know this stuff. I'm just gonna get it to them all right now. Then I'm like, all right, I'm done. Or I'll just be anxious as all hell.
SPEAKER_01:Well, if uh you don't want to well, I think like on phones you can have like emergency text, so like your kids could wing through if you were on silence.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, but how much do you guys? I mean, like I think we all need this, whether you have kids or your kids are still sitting in your sack and they haven't whatever it is, like we're losing you utilizing a team, I think is the biggest thing. Like, yes, you might have a 515 that randomly came up and you had uh another you had something going on with your sons or something, just at least having somebody or a couple people to jump in for you and help you. I'm not saying to take over the transaction, like a final walk through Ken, you might want to be present, but like we all lean on each other and some of our team members. And I think Jason, you probably do. That's the value of having a team is that hey, I don't want to always drop everything I have due to a last-minute request because you want to have a little bit of a life.
SPEAKER_03:You can't scale without some sort of a team. No, or you can't scale like 500 units. I mean, you you can't you can't do it, period. I I'm surprised you guys don't have assistance because at about the the the the the not the the common thread, they say, is at about 20 to 25. Well, you guys have assistance.
SPEAKER_00:We have transaction coordinators act basically like as admins and they do a lot of that. A lot of it. So like to me, like it's a less expensive way than hiring a full-time assistant. If you've got somebody, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, the fact that you do everything on your own with the production that you do, yeah. Like you're talking about uploading your ass money and organized. Doesn't at or compass driver have don't have like pods where people you can like split systems? No. But there's another reason.
SPEAKER_01:Is it because you don't want to like other 10 or no it's always on the table? Um, my dream scenario is I come here and John's my assistant. That's hilarious.
SPEAKER_03:I I I just I just think like the this is when you get to 20 or 25 million, they're like you should always have a dedicated assistant. Like that's what they say for every 25 million, you need like if we do 50, 75, 100, you need that many people. And maybe they're doing different things, right? Like one, like uh we have marketing and we have so we have two, which is right, which we're probably according to Sotheby's, we're light on assistants. They're like, you should have one more.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm like, dude, but what would they be doing? Like if they're if the other the other one is I would just be doing less. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So you you don't do any listing paperwork?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I do it. Yeah, yeah. But like if I'm in a bind, like if I'm if I'm you'll write your own contracts?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, always. See, that's good. See, this is why I I think it's hard for it's always been hard for me to let go of that control. Well, once you do it, it's nice and easy because we don't I laugh.
SPEAKER_00:You do more business than we do, and we don't write our own contracts and our own listing agreements. We review them, we review them, yes, but we have someone write them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but by the time I review it, I could have it done. And and sometimes I'm documenting and all that. Sometimes I'm very like when I write a contract, especially in this market, yeah, I'm extremely particular on how it lines up. Very fair. So sometimes it's like by the time that I review that, it's like man, I could have done it myself. There you go.
SPEAKER_01:That too.
SPEAKER_03:That too, yeah. Yeah, I I just like there's stuff that like I will do now that where I'm just like, okay, I'll I'll text one of them and be like, hey, I need you to send this to this person or this person or send this to this person or this person or this person. You know, like I I think, especially because you don't have anybody, um, at some point the value of doing a task that's beneath your pay level, yeah, it costs you money. And and and there's you know what you know what money buys you? Time.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna tell you something. It happened um money buys you time, man, and you can't you can't make more of it. Nope. I cost myself sometimes once a year. It can happen. You get a text from somebody, they're like, let's meet up. I'm interested in buying a place. You know how many texts you guys get during the day. Oh, fuck that.
SPEAKER_03:I have to pin out I'm constantly pinning texts. Yeah, you have to have that method. I got a strand of pins like this.
SPEAKER_01:I honestly miss the guy that wanted to work with me. He ends up buying in a situation where I think he knew the seller, but I missed the$1.1 million sale in the past like few weeks. Because of what your clerical work or something? Shitty follow-up.
SPEAKER_03:But I think you're missing more than that. Yeah, it could be. Yeah, that's just that's just one that's tangible in front of you, right? Like that's one that you can grab. Yeah, but I if I think I mean, I can't believe you don't have someone that could split because if you split somebody, you like you don't need your own. If you split someone, an assistant who's managing your schedule, dude, and you just go, right? You just go. Then now you have time to meet with clients, to have lunch with clients, you have time to go to a liquor store and when you meet them, give them a bottle. Like you have so much more time to do tasks that make you so much more money versus remedial.
SPEAKER_01:Like, well, it's probably now would be the time right now that I probably will go in that direction.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I think so. I think I told you I think if you get an assistant, even a 50, like if you split it with somebody or or even what you guys do, yeah. The virtual assistant.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, there are actual transact yeah, transaction coordinators. Yeah, they're not here, but yeah, they're not like VAs in like another country.
SPEAKER_03:No, no, I don't mean like I mean like like they're not in your office.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that physical. Listen, it's it's per transaction. So it it allows you to think like, okay, am I committing a$60,000,$70,000 salary? Or if you do X amount of deals, you're paying them, let's say,$400 a deal. And that's great because there's some slow months, you're not dishing out the money. And that's been huge the last couple years having that. Uh otherwise, I mean, I would see myself caught up into that. I would probably, I think, like any of us, follow-up wouldn't be there.
SPEAKER_03:So let's so let's say you pay$400 a transaction.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. And how long is how much work do you think it is for that whole transaction paperwork-wise, from start to finish, attorney view letters, writing letters. So this, this. It's got to be at least five or six hours.
SPEAKER_00:Easily, especially if it's a listing, it's way more paperwork. If it's a buyer, it's not a lot of paperwork. But what I have found to be very helpful, at least on the buyer, I always say I meet a new buyer, my assistant's gonna send you out an exclusive or non-exclusive agreement. And my assistant sends that out and it makes me look better. And then if they have questions, we go over it. Um, the same thing with the listing agreement. They'll reach out to the HOA, get me all the information I need, prep me. Then I look at it and then they'll get it done on a draft for me, and then I'll go ahead and put it together.
SPEAKER_03:You're you're you're getting almost a full day, correct? Full day of work done. That would take me forever. I'm not good at scenario.
SPEAKER_00:Uh closing. Hundred? I don't know. I've I think you spent 40,000. That's what I'm saying, right? Yeah, like you could hire an admin, but it's gonna be something 65, 70? 70. Okay. So, yeah, you save a little bit of money, but you know, you got to do the social media, the calendar planning on your own. And those are some things that are fine, you know, like but the biggest thing outside of all that is when you have somebody in this is our experience because we had some shitty assistance over time.
SPEAKER_02:We've had some good ones, is with the transaction coordinators. It's you don't deal with sick days, you don't deal with my tummy hurts, I gotta go home. It's just like if they're getting their stuff done because they have other people to fill in for them. So that's the biggest thing. You don't miss that, like it was non-employment. Yeah, there's right, there's that too. It's just straight here's the fee, and that's it.
SPEAKER_01:I would think there will be some agents that are not doing as much business. There was a time I put together a spreadsheet, and I'll have to dig it up where you could have an assistant that was like, let's say they sold three to five million a year, not enough, right? But they could handle a lot of your stuff. That's a good idea. If they sold anything, you would get a bigger cut of their stuff. That was big back in the day. Effectively, they're paying for it. Their little bit of business would be paying them, they just need the consistency. Yeah. I'm gonna see if I can dig this up for you guys.
SPEAKER_03:There's no, there I know people that I'm like, oh, that she's that person is an admin, yeah, you know, and then sell.
SPEAKER_01:But sells a little, and then that realtor would get a cut of their sales, you would give them a cut of all your sales. So let's just say you had an assistant and you gave them 10% on all your deals. So when they did a deal, you would they would give you 25%.
SPEAKER_00:So you know, we talked about a smaller pool of cash. Yeah, how competitive the market was Q1, Q2 last year. And one of the good things of like a transaction coordinator who you trust and allow to write an offer for you, I'd be out with a client. We're looking at three, four. John, I love this one. Let's get an offer in on it right away. I go, give me two minutes, make the call, shoot the email. And that offer went out while I'm with the clients. I go, look at your inbox. You already got the offer with the terms that I told you. And they're like, holy shit, this guy's quick. My people are on it. And then, yeah, there's a deadline or whatever, but we're on it in that urgency. They see that our team having those transaction coordinators accessible to us.
SPEAKER_02:You don't pay. You don't pay. You only pay till you when it closes. That's it. There's no perfect TA TC team.
SPEAKER_03:So that's their writing offers. It could be for nothing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it could be for nothing. I've had a guy just got an offer accepted and he bailed on it, but it was their like seventh or eighth offer they've done with me with that. You could, yeah. Hey, thanks for the effort or whatever type of deal.
SPEAKER_03:That's just great.
SPEAKER_00:We don't take it for granted. It's it's it's been a really helpful thing. But again, like with multiple offers, and what are you gonna do? Bring your laptop with you or wait to go home, write it up. Could be a Friday. It's always the worst times, right? Like Saturday, like you've been running around all day, someone wants to write an offer at seven, and you're going out to dinner, and now you're trying to run, get it done. You could start that earlier in the day when you've been out with the client. Yeah, by the time you get home, the offer's already submitted, and you've had a chance to build a rapport with the agent because the offer's already in. And you're like, Are you gonna take it? Or I'm gonna throw them a deadline, or I'm gonna do something. And that's been that's been great to win deals. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and they present it to the listing agent with our terms and summaries, a nice email.
SPEAKER_00:We're not reinventing the wheel. I just think it's like really good use of time. And when you are out and about doing your own showings, like, gosh, like you're just like, oh, I'm like, I gotta go meet another client, but this one's so antsy, already asking me questions about our offer. Yeah, you can pull back after the showings. I'm gonna get this offer out to you in the next half hour. These are the terms we should put in because we know we're not gonna run comps at that point because at that point it's everyone's going 50 over. What does it matter?
SPEAKER_03:A lot of times you have you also have a decent feel for the market. Like we've seen, yeah, we've seen 17 of the same places in the same neighborhood, they're all the same price.
SPEAKER_00:Those are the comps, your clients seeing them live in person.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, the boots on the ground were the comps. Yeah, I agree with that. That's interesting. That's a really good system. I like that. And it and it and it alleviates and it gives you time to do stuff with your kids or content or stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01:How many of those people you have to hire when Nick's gone for two months, even Euros?
SPEAKER_00:It's only one month, by the way. I mean, look, Nick deals like we we we have, like uh interesting, like I like just kind of maybe like you and Sophia. I do my deals, Nick does his deals. Yeah, you know, he's living in the burbs, so he does more in the burbs than I do. So we have people on the team that will fill in. I can't be uh the best person to fill in for Nick if it's in the burbs because it's further out from me. But if it's in the city, you know, like we just try to plan, and he's done a good job planning like in advance. Yeah, but she's not part of like the team team.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. We always focus, we always just rely on our team people to cover for us.
SPEAKER_00:But it's just like the same thing. It's just like it could be someone in at or Jameson, and if you don't have coverage, yeah, we have good relationships with people. It's like, hey, dude, I know you live in the south suburbs, and I happen to have a listing out there, and I'm in a bind. Can you help me? Yeah. And people are pretty good about that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, there's sometimes I go to Greece and I clients even know that I'm gone. Like they're calling me and I'm picking up the time difference. Is great for me. Yeah, it's great. 9 a.m. here is 5 p.m. there. I'm coming back from the beach, then kids go take their like midday nap around five o'clock. So I'm on the computer for a couple hours.
SPEAKER_03:How long do you think you'll be doing this trip to Greece? Um, next year we're gone, by the way. Do you want to talk to my wife? Talk to my wife. She's the wife, she's a travel guy. She's a travel agent. I'm anti-flying nine hours for something that I can get done in two. You're gonna go first class, you'll have your feet up. It's still nine hours. Yeah, it's not that bad. But for what? Take an edible. Hold up. What what remove yourself from the fact that your guys bathe in olive oil and that Greek. What is so amazing about Greece versus let's say Utah? Cabo. California. Okay. Okay, forget people. I don't really see that. But listen, if you're gonna go to Greece, you're gonna see shit that's been around for thousands of years. It's nice to dying out and looking at it. How many hours is Mexico flight?
SPEAKER_00:Two and a half hours to three hours. Yeah, yeah. Okay, Cabo's great. Don't you get sick of the same thing? Like flying seven extra hours and to do the same thing? Yeah. It's one culture that you guys are immersed in. I'm saying from listen, but when you go to Crete or you go to a different island. Island or a different village that has different donkeys and goats. Exactly. You go somewhere different, you see different levels.
SPEAKER_01:Live like the locals. Exactly. There's so much that we haven't seen now.
SPEAKER_00:Like you go there, and I was like, I was in Athens for two days. I was like, man, I go to these other islands and Sparta and other places. I go, Athens, there's so much to see that I haven't seen. And it's not like just from a tourist, different beaches, you know, different like old school things you can go do. I'm not saying go do that every year.
SPEAKER_03:But but but but you could say the same thing about going to Florence or going to Rome or going to Alaska or going to Hiroshima or going to Penang, Malaysia. Like there's to go to the same place, to sit on a beach every single month, once a year for a month and do the same thing. I don't do that. No, no, but everyone just but there's a lot of people that do that. Yes for years and years and years. I'm like, bro, there is so much more in the world. Go to the fucking wall of China. Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Go if you're gonna do a beach vacation.
SPEAKER_00:Like other stuff. Yeah, do some. I do I agree with you that it sucks when you're cultured, because when you do go to the same country, it's boring. I should go to Spain, I should go to Italy. Go to Costa Rica. That's what we used to do.
SPEAKER_01:They will pay you$6,000 a month to live in Italy and Poisicano, and they'll give you a business to run.
SPEAKER_02:There you go. Jesus. And then they give you a card. Pre-kids, we used to do that. We'd go to Greece for like the month and a week or a week and a half. We'd go to Italy, or we'd go to wherever we went to. We went to Dubai, we went to wherever.
SPEAKER_03:There's just so much more. And I'm gonna tell you another thing that the issue is, and forget about Greece or whatever. These people that leave and leave for the whole summer or leave for a month or a month and a half, their kids suffer when they get older because they have no social and that summertime you have these bonds, and they don't make those bonds. And people are like, oh, they hang out with their cousins. I'm like, that's their fucking cousins. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are they gonna do? It's like during the school year, they're gonna they're gonna call their cousin and path us and say, Let's play patty cake. My friend's kids I'm just telling you. Like you're hungry. Having older children, I'm telling you, I see it.
SPEAKER_00:These kids, these kids are socially inept. Because they lose out on their summers. Like I've I'm gonna say, my sister did 10 weeks and they worked there. They did it as a trial because my brother-in-law was born and raised in Greece. Like my nephews and a couple other friends I know that went for like six, seven weeks, their kids lose the summer of like, yeah, I got my cousins here going to the beaches great every day, but I got my friends back home. Yeah, and I wonder what they're doing. They're playing baseball, they're doing the summer stuff. The people that you're losing living with. Yeah, I know, I get it. We're not there yet.
SPEAKER_01:There's a part of that that's this is your sister.
SPEAKER_00:I met Alini or Yeah, Lonnie, they went 10 weeks and Nico and Gabriel was young.
SPEAKER_01:Ten weeks is a lot.
SPEAKER_00:It's a lot. They did, and they did it because they wanted it before they were forced to go back into the office. My brother-in-law's parents are there, and he's like, Hey, I want to do it. Yeah, that's just thinking of like that's tough.
SPEAKER_03:Like, dude, in this you you your kids played sports, their friendships are dude. That's the summer.
SPEAKER_01:Everything, everybody they met was they used to do high-five sports camp when they were young and Hamlet and soccer, this, that's the kids and other like high schools, yeah, grade schools, when they would play sports. I mean, it it is great.
SPEAKER_03:I'm just like, you know, it's it's it just it's just interesting now that I'm close, I'm months away from 52. So I'm 51 and having, you know, and having kids not as old as yours, but having a 17-year-old and seeing this and being like, and being like, you know, and then seeing other people that went that other route, super Grecian route.
SPEAKER_01:Plus, and you're like, these kids are like plus you preach to your kids, or at least I do, about relationships and networking now that they're young dudes, or getting a job. Yeah, all of it.
SPEAKER_03:Lee cut grass over the whole summer. I'm like, you want you will taught second and third graders.
SPEAKER_00:I love from what you tell me. I think uh what your kids do is awesome. Like selling baseball carts, because we were all all of us were brought up different. Like, like my parents were being old school Greek, literally. We pick up the phone, I talk to them in Greek. My texts are Greek, they're super Greek. Like, we weren't sent to like intramurals, we weren't encouraged to play sports. My dad's like, you're gonna be a dishwasher at 13, your uncle needs help. One of his guys called off. But that's also that was my sad.
SPEAKER_03:That's also why you're successful now. Yeah, I was like, I could do both.
SPEAKER_00:It's yeah, right. But you it's just it's a different thing now. Kids are encouraged, and I think it's great. Like, is your daughter in ballet? Ballet. Like, that's cool. Like your kids are involved in stuff or learning how to play an instrument. Like, ours was like the only instrument I played was guitar hero for like a year. You're a sick human being.
SPEAKER_01:All right, let's talk about something with some substance. I don't know what it is. I wear it. Let's talk about Jason's skinny jeans.
SPEAKER_03:No, I mean, that's no, that I I honestly just wanted to know what you guys felt about 26, what you're gonna do, talk about the compass thing. I mean, if you guys have a topic you want to hit real quick, if not, we can wrap it up.
SPEAKER_00:I'll say one quick thing about the 26. Yeah, you said inventory with permits and everything solo. This is just a random thing. Do you think the suffering markets of the high rises and the inventory stacking in those neighborhoods will people ever just say, like, fuck, I gotta settle because Lincoln Park, Logan, those hot neighborhoods, Southport, that I can't find something, either I'm gonna continue to rent. But if rates come down long enough or low enough, is someone gonna say, I just gotta make a purchase and take advantage of this rate.
SPEAKER_03:So I think you're gonna see, I think you're gonna see everything next year get sopped up in River North, River West, Gold Coast. I think it's gonna get what? Sopped up. Like it's gonna be bought. Yeah. I think you're gonna see rents drop dramatically as rates go lower. Sure.
SPEAKER_02:Sure, don't have to go.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, I I you're gonna see that shift. I don't have anybody, if you're and you don't have to be single, but if you're single and you're talking to me and you're a buyer, I literally say buy River West, River.
SPEAKER_02:That's what we said last podcast.
SPEAKER_03:And I have two clients that bought in River North, and I had another one that saw one of your friends' places in Ontario, and and there's a place on Kingsbury that we love. I'm like, this is your if you have a five-year outlook and you don't have dependence, and you're you want the city and this and this, you're gonna make a lot of money in those areas.
SPEAKER_01:You know what I think would be some good content because I thought about it for myself. I have two listings, one for three and a quarter with parking and one for three ten that would just be perfect for a first-time home buyer. Yeah, and I think no showings. Where are those? 860 Blackhawk at Sono. 325 of the building. I too. I would be able to do that.
SPEAKER_03:I think I sent your listing to my client. I'm like, this is a great area.
SPEAKER_01:For three, for three and a quarter? Like, why are you? In that area. What are the HOEs on that?
SPEAKER_03:What are the HOEs on that?
SPEAKER_01:Like 620. That includes everything. Yeah, yeah. Streeterville, let's see. Street of Streeterville's gonna be tough. I love it.
SPEAKER_02:I just got an offer on a listing at 680 Lakeshore listed at 450. Can offer 315 today, this morning, on the way here. And what was it listed at? 450. And it came in where? 315.
SPEAKER_04:Where is this?
SPEAKER_02:That's what I said to her. Exactly. I'm like, is this a typo? 680 Lakeshore. 680, yeah. Tough building. That's a tough building to sell. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, is that is that the one that had the treasure island in it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they should put a grocery store. They have to in there. I think that'll be a wall. Yeah, I was gonna say a lot of the stuff. It was a great little spot.
SPEAKER_02:It was a lot of like its own little mini towns within itself. Yeah, Playboy was there a long time.
SPEAKER_00:But these high-rise buildings right now, like I put up two, and God, I'm getting like no showings. Open houses are getting some activity. But my thought is is like, you know, these HOAs over the last few years with inflation and you know, especially the ones that include a lot, like if rates come down, maybe it can make the monthly payment a little bit more bearable for buyers and it'll get them back.
SPEAKER_03:Well, if they're paying four thousand dollars for a one bedroom at some point, it's insane. It's not worth it.
SPEAKER_01:At one point, at some point that's why I want to do oh, getting back to the content on these one bedrooms. You almost should do a scenario where you're gonna say, for this purchase price, this much down, here's the taxes, this is your payment. Are you paying more rent than these? That's what's gonna be my next little I did I seriously.
SPEAKER_03:I was never a first-time homebuyer like person that did like those those like rent for spy type things, yeah. Like, but one time one of the guys just like I want to do it, and I was like, Hey, listen, this is what you need to do. I said, get get uh get a rental in Bucktown, a rental in Lincoln Park, and a rental in Lakeview. At the it's a first-time homebuyer seminar at a bar. Yeah. And I said, and do that poster board and then have three places they could buy that are identical and have all the payments. And he converted a couple people and was just like that. I was like, this is what it costs to rent here, yeah, but you could buy this, this it's all simple math that people don't take the time to do it, honestly. Well, they also don't take the consideration of the tax benefits, right? So, like, and they don't take like everyone's like like like no one understands that every time you make a mortgage payment, you're paying down principal.
SPEAKER_01:Like people just it just a lack, I mean, I it just the level of simple financial awareness, yeah, because they don't teach it.
SPEAKER_03:The let the level of ignorance when it comes to finances is extraordinary. And I don't, and parents don't teach their kids that stuff. No, like I take our payment, like when we like when they were asked, my kids asked me how much the house costs. I'm like, well, let me show you how it works. And I showed I took a you know, I pulled out a mortgage payment and I'm like, here's taxes, here's the principal, here's this. And I said, and I showed them an amortization schedule. And I'm like, this is how it works. Like I was talking to a kid that I'm trying to get to move into River North, and he's like, Well, you know, he's like, he's like, What up, what do you think about refinancing? And I was like, Well, it's a scam. Yeah, and he's like, Well, what do you mean? I said, Listen, I said, banks love when you refi. Yeah, they reset because it resets the the the stuff. Yeah, I'm like, if you've been in a loan for seven years, I don't care if the rate drops by two basis points, you don't re-fire.
SPEAKER_00:Because you're already paying principal.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I go, do you understand? Like, I looked at the kid, he's 24 years old. I looked at the kid, I said, Do you understand? When you get to see your seven, eight, or nine, you're not re-fiy your payment, you're refining this small little interest payment. So 70% is this, 30% says interest payment. You're only refinancing this. That's it. And then all of a sudden, when you refinance, it's now 90% interest and 10%.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm like, you have to add a lower principal. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So all that's getting paid is the bank. That's why they refi you for free. A bank is loving it. This is why I was saying on my house, it's definitely even if my taxes go up five grand, I'm making more of that in appreciation. So you can't worry about like singular focus of taxes going up.
SPEAKER_02:I know, but like the world is like so headline focused. They see they read the headline, it freaks people out. This is happening. I had a set of explaining it like this.
SPEAKER_03:I had a buyer and he was buying a two million dollar property cash. Cash. And we left that place and the taxes were let's say were like 32. And he goes, Oh my god, the taxes are going up to 45,000. I'm like, okay. And he's like, Well, I don't know. And I'm like, you're buying a two million dollar property and you're worried about a$13,000 increase in tax. I said, that's like buying a Rolls-Royce and you don't want to spend the$500 on the hubcaps. I'm like, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, what are you talking about? Or the insurance is gonna be a little higher.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, then don't, don't, then don't buy that car. Yeah, right. Like if you can't afford the accessories, you can't afford the gas, you can't afford the tires, why are you buying a$250 to$300,000 car? Like, why are you buying a$2 million home and you're worried about the taxes going from 32 to 45? That should be like should be the last of your worries. Right.
SPEAKER_00:Have you guys I've noticed a lot lately because interesting.
SPEAKER_03:Taxes suck, don't get me wrong.
SPEAKER_00:But that should not be a$13,000 should not be a since rates hit like 8%, 7, now they're kind of coming down to six. I've found, and I'm sure all of us have that as realtors, we're talking more about interest rates with our clients. We're talking about more with numbers. Do you think that there are a lot of realtors out there that just don't know enough about it and they just push it off to their lender? Which that's why we work with lenders.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think it does. No. People that are waiting. This is the point. Like people that are waiting for that.
SPEAKER_03:It's costing them more.
SPEAKER_01:It costs them more money.
SPEAKER_03:Man, I I I we're talking to this one, the one, the one guy, the one kid, because he's young, so it's very interesting. And I was like, I was like, man, he's like, Do you think your rates are going down? I go, you know what's the best thing for you? He's like, What? Two big two-point rate hike. He looked at me, he goes, What are you talking about? I said, Man, I said, the higher the rates go, I said, the less people are competing and prices drop. Yep. I said, the lower rates go, prices go up. And so is activity. And activity goes up.
SPEAKER_00:I go, do we want rate hikes? What's that sideline look like right now with buyers?
SPEAKER_03:There's a million of them waiting for allegedly six to crack, but allegedly at 5%, there's 500,000 new buyers. Every half basis point, there's a 500,000 buyers.
SPEAKER_00:That's the metric they're saying. Yeah, I don't know how true it is. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_03:But that's the metric.
SPEAKER_01:That's the problem. Because your lines up the show in open house. So you're waiting to save a quarter point, a half a point, and pay 50 grand more.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. That's it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's where the reason.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's the refinance scam, right?
SPEAKER_00:Like, not the refinance scam, but everybody goes like, hey, just pay it at seven or eight percent, and then refi it. You can't renegotiate your price when you're up 70 grand over asked.
SPEAKER_03:I said, I said, you always should re-fi if you're in the first two years. Sure. Like doesn't make a difference. No, especially if it's a point or something. You the the flipping point, the turning point is at year seven. Year seven and eight, you really, really need to in general on a 30 or a 15 year old. You really need a massive move in rates to make it worth it to you. Yeah. Like massive. This is your a coil moment, General. Right here. This is right here. Speak to my good knife. On a 15 year, you should never re-fire.
SPEAKER_00:No, sure. Yeah. Well, why would you? Yeah, I mean, it's year seven, you paid half of it. Yeah, and you probably got a killer eight.
SPEAKER_01:I think if somebody did re-fi, like he was saying, though, you should almost use the extra money to then drive down the principal. Keep your payment the same mentality. Like, what do you mean? Like re-fixing. Let's just say you are at six and a half and you refi it at five and a half, and your previous mortgage was six, and now it's five. You're saving four hundred. Drive down the principal.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I would do? If if, and this is what I tell everybody if you're at six and rates drop to four point seven five or four and a half, or you're at, let's say you guys bought people bought two years ago at eight, and now rates are at six, and you can afford eight, and it's fine. Like your payment is well within your means. Yeah, you re-fi into a thir into a fifteen year old. So now your payments stay identical, yep, but it's all forced savings. Yep. Yes. Like that's what I told that kid. I go, listen, man, I said the first time I ever refied, I refied from a 30 year to a 15 at 2736 Wilcott. My payment did not change. But by the time I sold that place, I had no mortgage.
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, Yeah, your more is more is going to principal and it's going faster. Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_03:And the the money to you doesn't change. Right. What are you gonna do with that 150 bucks?
SPEAKER_00:That's what I'm saying, right?
SPEAKER_03:You're gonna spend it on coffee, more stupid shit. Yeah, force yourself, go from the 30 year to the 15. Because the rate drop offsets the price increase the price increase on the on the mortgage.
SPEAKER_00:On the mortgage, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That's the that that's the play on a huge rate move. I got really nothing else to say, man. And I gotta go to the bathroom. How's the plumbing in this place? It's fantastic. Any leaking from a couple of things?
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. Um I like how you guys coordinated with the backdrop. Yeah, it was great. Oh, yeah. It's a green screen. It's a green screen.
SPEAKER_03:You'll just see our heads. Yeah, it's a all right. Uh well, thank you so much for your guys' time. For people that were listening, this is what goes on. I think if this I think this episode was more for people that are our agents and want to just kind of listen to what's going on and what we think about the industry and what's happening, which I like. Every once in a while, it's good to be us. Um, thanks so much. You definitely could subscribe on any of the platforms that you have on your phone, or always you can watch on YouTube. And uh, and we'll see you soon. Thanks so much.