From Southtown Vision to San Antonio Strategy: Agents, Builders, Absorption Rates, and the Truth About Affordability

Join host Mark Jones in this insightful episode of the Key Factors Podcast, where real estate experts Sandra Rangel and JJ Garina share their extensive knowledge and experience in navigating the San Antonio real estate market. This episode delves into the current market dynamics, personal growth strategies, and the evolving landscape of real estate. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the industry, this discussion offers valuable perspectives and actionable advice to help you thrive in today's challenging environment.

Link to Google Doc with Q&A - Value Add Sheet
  docs.google.com/document/d/1yan-cwffvpvixk... 


Key Topics Discussed:
1. San Antonio Real Estate Market Trends:

• Current market conditions and neighborhood insights.
  
  
• The impact of affordability and buyer mindset on market dynamics.
  
  

2. New Construction vs. Pre-Owned Homes:

• Pros and cons of buying new construction versus pre-existing homes.
  
  
• Interest rate considerations and long-term investment strategies.
  
  

3. The Role of Social Media in Real Estate:

• The influence of TikTok and social media on new agents and market perception.
  
  
• Balancing personal branding with professional expertise.
  
  

4. Personal Development and Growth:

• The importance of mentorship, coaching, and continuous learning.
  
  
• Strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome and building a successful career.
  
  

5. Industry Challenges and Opportunities:

• The rise of part-time agents and its implications for the industry.
  
  
• The potential impact of major mergers and acquisitions on market dynamics.

Chapters

• 0:50 Opening & Guest Intros
• 5:30 New Construction vs Resale Tradeoffs
• 11:00 Absorption Rates & Pricing Reality
• 20:30 Payments, Empathy, and Seller Expectations
• 27:00 Skill Gaps, Mentorship, and EQ
• 35:00 Builder Rate Buydowns & “Fake Inflation”
• 42:00 Social Media, TikTok, and Real Reach
• 52:00 San Antonio Market Stats Unpacked
• 1:02:00 Part-Time Agents and Client Risk
• 1:12:00 Personal Development, Coaching, Accountability

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 0:50

And welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast, Real Estate AF, where the AF stands for and finance. And I'm your host, Mark Jones. And today we're going to be talking about um what's going on in today's market and a couple of things that maybe you can do in the personal development side of things that'll keep you going through a market where everybody says it's down, but uh we've got some folks that uh think otherwise. So I want to introduce my guests today, and they've both been on the show before. Um, and they're both pretty badass people. Uh so without further ado, let me introduce my guests. I've first got Sandra Rangell. Sandra, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_01: 1:29

Thanks for having me again.

SPEAKER_04: 1:30

Absolutely, absolutely right. And then I've got JJ Greena. What's going on, JJ? How are you doing, brother? Doing very well. Um, so guys, we want to first give you just a quick moment to tell the folks who you are, um, just in case they are not wanting or willing to go back to previous episodes. Um, but yeah, just tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_01: 1:54

So I've been in real estate for 18 years now, maybe 19 by the end of the year. And uh depending on the market is right.

SPEAKER_00: 2:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 2:03

Um real estate, residential, uh, no commercial, like JJ one day. But uh loving what I'm doing, keep going, just that's it.

SPEAKER_05: 2:13

That is not your bio. Sandra Gill. Yeah, Sandra Gill is a monster real estate agent. She's with real, she was with KW back in the day with me. She, you know what? She was the first agent that opened up all of like when everyone was like uptown near San Antonio College, downtown. Sandra had all the listings down there with TerraMark. She's the one that brought like that that urban living to San Antonio, if she wants to admit it or not. Yeah, we we were all like, what is Sandra doing listing all this crazy stuff? Yeah. Like, who's gonna buy that? And Sandra had a vision, and she I'm being serious. I talked about this all the time.

SPEAKER_04: 2:46

One of the top realtors, Hispanic realtors in San Antonio.

SPEAKER_05: 2:49

Yeah, still one of the top Narrep realtors. You're ranked in Narrep, like you're it was three times that I ranked number one. Three times number one Crm. I do real estate. I do real estate 18 years. Like, no, no way. But what I know about Sandra, like what I really talk about is like when we were all like, what is this girl doing? She's she she brought, in my opinion, she brought Southtown to light, she brought uptown to life. Uh, and she was the first one in the downtown area because Bobby, my business partner, was like, I love all of her listings. And I'm like, dude, I don't even want to park my car down there, right? But Sandra was just with with different builders and killing doing infield stuff, doing what it took. Without Sandra, there's no uptown, no, no Southtown. I'm just gonna say I like that. So, JJ, who are you, dude? I'm her assistant.

SPEAKER_04: 3:33

It makes perfect sense now. Makes perfect sense now.

SPEAKER_05: 3:36

Uh uh 21 years uh in August. This is my Duncan year. Congrats, thank you. Um, do commercial real estate just only, no, no residential. Well, I say that, but my business partner, I think he's he's retiring on me. He's on a plane every three weeks, so I do jump in okay, like once a month when he's out of town, but um just commercial primarily um with exp, which is like real uh put a little bit.

SPEAKER_04: 3:59

I've been seeing a couple of pictures here and there on social with some residential closings. Are the are those his closings? That's what I'm telling you when he's out of town.

SPEAKER_05: 4:07

Like I say, I'm not in residential, but uh he literally is on a plane every three weeks, so I'm I'm always back in it. So um, so yeah, commercial primarily with EXP. I'm certified coach with Success Magazine, Disc, the six motivating factors, uh EQ, all that kind of stuff. So I've been coaching for probably about 13 years now.

SPEAKER_04: 4:26

Man, you know, I did I didn't know that you were well versed in the EQ. Uh it makes perfect sense now, having all the discussions that we've had and the way that they go. Um, but yeah, eventually I want to have a conversation with you about that because it's one of the biggest things, in my opinion, that realtors, lenders, salespeople don't have that they can acquire is EQ.

SPEAKER_05: 4:48

Emotional equivalency.

SPEAKER_04: 4:50

Absolutely. You can work on it.

SPEAKER_05: 4:51

You know, I know I'm uh when I when I looked at my results and it says that uh, you know, I uh I'm not in tune with my emotions. And and I'm like, nah, I am, but looking back, I really am not because what I'll do is I'll someone will say something to me, or especially someone that's close, like my mom or my girlfriend, or and then I'll be like, I don't want to kill them, you know. But like it's but it comes later, right? Right, you know, instead of being immediate, and then you know, they're like, You good? I'm like, I'm good. And then later I'm like, Oh, I'm not good. I wasn't good. Bad, I'm way bad. So I have to learn how to like wait till I react because uh the if not the bull candle erupts later. That's right.

SPEAKER_04: 5:30

That's right. We talked about that a lot on the last discussion. Um, so let's get into our discussion today. And we've got quite a few topics to to cover. Um, and I want to start with today's market insight from those that are actually in the field, uh shaking and moving, doing what it takes to get closings, get people into homes, get people into buildings, into new leases. Um, and as we know, real estate is always about location. Uh, in addition, real estate is very local. We can't talk about the California market and compare it to the San or Vegas market or any of the other markets. Um, and most of our listeners are tuning in because they're in or around San Antonio. Um, what are you guys seeing out there? What neighborhoods are are selling more frequently than others? What price point is kind of hitting the mark with this whole affordability issue? And and with me, I don't necessarily fully agree that it's an affordability issue versus a mindset issue of of the actual buyers. Um, but yeah, somebody uh go ahead and dive in. What what are you seeing out there, Sandra?

SPEAKER_01: 6:41

So when you're talking about, you know, which areas, I think it's more the buyers are looking for affordability, even though they want to be, you know, inside 1604 for the convenience of the commute. A lot of the affordability is being pushed out 1604, you know, either it's west and northwest. And what are we seeing more? These builders that are having affordable, you know, but still close together, you know, not the mature neighborhood that they're really wanting, but having to settle because, you know, the payments.

SPEAKER_04: 7:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 7:11

Um, and then also the struggle, obviously, you know, pre-existing interest rate and new construction interest rates. You know, that carrot that they're dangling get a lower interest rate. But you still have the clients that are savvy and saying, well, if I buy now pre-existing, when rates come down, I can refinance. Right. If I buy down right now with new construction, if the rate comes down, I'm not gonna be able to refinance. So I'm like locked on that payment. Right. So making those decisions and helping them navigate through those decisions. So a lot of the times they're being pushed outside 1604 for the payment affordability.

SPEAKER_04: 7:46

It makes perfect sense. And and you brought up the idea of builder versus pre-owned. I want to get into that. And the idea of um the folks that are taking these lower rates but higher uh sales prices, let's say, will they have the opportunity to refinance? Sure, they'll have the opportunity, but I don't believe that it is going to make sense. Number one, you're already below what the rates are gonna be at when they drop. Um, number two, when you go to refinance, it still has to make appraised value again. And that's one thing that I'm seeing that um as we progress, uh prices are coming down, but those are continuing to rise.

SPEAKER_05: 8:27

It's odd. Well, I want to get into the market, but just starting between new home and pre-existing. So if you remember back in the day, if someone got a new home, I would tell them, hey, I hope you like it here, because it's gonna take you seven years to break even. Like you, you, you can't call me in six years, five years, four years to sell because you you're not gonna you're gonna come in with cash. These newer agents, that's all they do is they rely on new home sales agents uh like reps to help them close. They they rely on new home uh blocks of of interest rates to be bought down for their clients. And then I tell, because you know, I have 144 agents in my organization. I tell them, look, be careful because if you want to repeat business, which is where me and Sandra have hung our hat over two decades, then you have to have repeat business. And repeat business is when you you have an you put someone in a situation where they will have enough equity to you know refinance, like you said, or to move in the next three to five or seven years. The average in in the US, I think, is six and a half years someone moves, but in San Antonio it's lower because of military. But the agents aren't looking at that, they're just they're just like putting stuff online, like, hey, this is only$1,500 a month, this is only$1,600 a month. Well, in that case, then you might as well rent in a lot of ways. And I hate to say that, but it's true because if you are not going to live way out off 211 and and and 90 and and be willing to do that for seven years, then you should really look at the the retail market because back to Zig Ziggler going and coaching in. Sure, is it price or is it cost? Like, what is that gonna cost you um in time? What is that gonna cost you in commute? What is that gonna cost you uh in everything, right? Like, so is it right now? I think the the the dichotomy of the real estate market is it is new homes versus I did a little, I'm a nerd. It's like 42% new homes versus retail, which is crazy, it's never been that high. Um, and you know, is it should I go new home because it's a lower interest rate? And interest rates is theoretical. Let me tell you what what I mean by that. Unless it's your hospice house, you know, my mom's in her hospice house. I tell her she likes she laughs, but unless it's your hospice home, you're gonna move.

SPEAKER_04: 10:38

And and what what JJ means for that, just to break it down a little bit more, just you're gonna die in your reference. Yes, you're gonna die. Um, and for most out there, it's not the last home that you're purchasing.

SPEAKER_05: 10:52

They have to look at it as a six, five to seven year decision.

SPEAKER_06: 10:55

Investment.

SPEAKER_05: 10:56

It's a it it's a it's a long-term, I mean, that's longer than almost every single hat. Exactly. So like it's it's a serious decision. But what I think it was happening, to be honest with you, is this is what's happening. Um, people work at USA, right? And then they'll have someone that has a listing, like Sandra will have a listing, and they're not looking at they're not looking at absorption rate. Right. They're looking at market analysis. The market analysis is, you know, it's it is what it is. But absorption rate has been here since I think in 1972. They the economy looks at the real estate market in three ways is it a seller's market, an even market, or a buyer's market? A seller's market zero to three months of inventory. That means if I if I dropped a little bit of this uh overpriced coffee and I could just wipe it up with a cocktail neck, and that's a a small absorption. Right. Um, four to six months is it, but like if I dumped it all and we had to get a beast towel, that's high absorption. Right. And it's and it's figured out by how many times, you know, I I have videos on this, but how many times uh a house is sold in a neighborhood in the last 12 months and you divide it by the current inventory. Now, if it's zero to three months, there are neighborhoods like that. Like I my best partner put up a house in um in um in the northeast side, and he sold it in four days with multiple offers. Now, we also have a house uh that's you know east of downtown. Uh, this is her fault because she made that popular, but in in Diggy, Diggy Heights, right? And so in Dignity, there's a 17-month inventory. 17 months is the past 12 months, and so that goes into an investor market, right? Correct. So if I was imagine if someone goes into we're two employees are at USA and they're like, damn, JG sold my house in four four days. He's awesome. And they're like, Well, Sandra has had my house in Dignity Hill for 13 months, and we don't have any show-ins, they think she's terrible. Correct. But it's not her and it's not me. It's location. Well, yes, but it's the absorption rate of each uh individual area, and more importantly, what's not happening is the the seller is not being told that. And so their expectation is not is not hitting reality, and so they're disappointed, right? So that's what's the market is doing right now. It's disappointing sellers.

SPEAKER_04: 13:10

And you had discussed this on a previous podcast a while back when rates just just so happened to come up. We we we had a podcast, um, and we were talking about the idea of you're not necessarily selling the price of the home, you're selling the payment. And in those case scenarios, even dropping the payment down in those locations may not affect the payment a great deal, right?

SPEAKER_05: 13:36

Like when we sit with sellers, and uh, my best friend was out of town for Europe for like 11 days. So I was talking to a seller, and they're like, they got offended, they got a lower offer than people asking for closing costs and everything. And I said, Don't take offense. Um, and I showed her in a mortgage calculator, like this person's paying$3,200 a month for your home, and you can see yours like, oh wow. Say, like, yeah, like I love your home and I know you love your home, but would you pay$3,200 for it? Yeah, because when you got it, it was for like seven cranberries or whatever, you know, whatever it was. Yeah, yeah. That's right. Yeah, so yeah, showing them that, like, hey, you have to be empathetic to the other side. Um, and and but what's really happening, and if if it was only me and Sandra and people like me and Sandra on the market, it would be a hot market. But what's happening is there's newer agents that were born in the the the 2020, the hot market. Absolutely, yep. Anyone with a super key could open up a house and make and make money. There was no skills, no one worked on their, you know, there's 17 closing tactics, no one's worked on that. They don't know if they're visu uh visual or auditory, auditory, digital, or kinesthetic, they don't know how how they speak in sub-languages, they're not working on their game. And so what's what's what's happening is is buyers are dictating um what agents should do, and sellers are dictating where where prices should be at. And and we're we're facilitators uh of the of that thing. We have to set expectation for both sides. We have to use information that's available, like and showing time and absorption rate in CMAs to like let both sides know like, look, I know you want$10,000 off of this, but if you look at the absorption rate, it ain't gonna happen. Right. Or on the other side, say, hey, you you're in Dignality Hill, there's 17 months of inventory. If you can't wait 17 months and we got a drop, right? And if we and those conversations aren't happening, and that's where the market is.

SPEAKER_04: 15:28

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_05: 15:29

There's there's there's there's agents that can't set expectation for their clients, and it's not their fault. Here's another thing, too, that that it's not their fault. I'll I'll come across an agent and and and I'll I'll have to close both sides and say, like, dude, you should tell your client this.

SPEAKER_04: 15:43

Now, I'm gonna stop you there. Do you really think it's not their fault? And and hear me out on this, because after doing something over and over, getting the same results, it must not be me, right? I mean, you've got a coaching program that teaches me these things. Those agents have so much out available out there to learn to be able to catch themselves up on what you're discussing right now, and whether they're let's say they are practicing and and and getting into coaching and fine-tuning their craft and actually being a student to the game, just not actually applying it.

SPEAKER_05: 16:27

Well, I want to ask Sandra how she got good because she's incredible. But how I got good is that I used to like drive my coach around. Seriously. He would say, Hey, I'm showing houses Tuesdays and Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And I would drive him. Yeah. Like, and he would be, you know, just making banging out calls, and I'm listening to him banging out calls and osmosis, just absorbing. And then he'd be like, What'd you learn on from that phone call? I'm like, Well, I learned that you're a high D. Like you punked that other person pretty hard. Uh, but it taught me a lot. Like, taught me how to to to talk to clients, you know, how to close in person, how to set expectation. Um, I think there's now like so much information online. Like, this podcast is amazing, and there's so many things online that I think a new agent's like, oh, I'm just gonna figure it out on my own. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna figure it out on my own. I'm gonna watch a bunch of like, you know, pretenders, uh, not you, by the way, but like pretenders that are on on TikTok and and Instagram, and and they're gonna have like these really shallow one-on-one versions of how to be a real estate agent, and they're and then they think they can just apply it, or they don't understand that you need to go and and be under her, you need to go be her agent for for for six years, and and you know, that's that's mentorship is like I want to be like Sandra. So I'm gonna do what Sandra does, because if I do what Sandra does, then I'm gonna have her is the B do have her. I'm gonna be like Sandra, right? I want to be like Sandra so I can do what she does and so I can have her business. That's not happening anymore, right? It's like I'm gonna internet it out, gang gang, and let's see what happens. And that ain't working. But it's not their fault because our old school ways of learning is is is out the like, you know, it's it's and then you and we're talking best from cloud-based companies too that don't have offices, right? That's true. So like so we also don't have offices to like to like listen in. Uh that and those are the hot chicks right now, you know, exp and real. And so there you go. We have, you know, how do you create that that culture of learning when we're all siloed and and and um you know in in our own pajamas or chones or whatever you want to call it, watching Ellen in between calls is is you know, they don't see that. Um, I mean heritage still has it. I love heritage and I love KW in general, but you know, those those, you know, and I want to talk a little bit about how Compass has now bought, you know, most of the the real estate industry. You can't beat them by them. And so what's gonna happen to these legacy markets and it's gonna be a big change.

SPEAKER_04: 18:50

I totally agree. That's gonna affect the market. And before we get into that, I want to hear what Sandra has said. I want to know how she got good. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 18:56

What is what is she got good?

SPEAKER_04: 18:59

Well, I just think it's also like you said, pull that mic closer to you, old school, you know, doing what you need to do.

SPEAKER_01: 19:05

But me coming into real estate, it was more coming in to serve that was very important to me. Customer service was like priority, right? And then knowing that I'm not gonna put my client in a bad position, you know, the feeling of hurting their finances or anything. So making sure that I'm taking care of them like their family, you know.

SPEAKER_04: 19:24

And funny word called fiduciary.

SPEAKER_01: 19:26

Yeah, you know, but it's more of like I want them to be able to come back and I want them to be able to refer me because they had such an amazing experience. And I basically really took great care of their interests versus mine, and it wasn't about the paycheck. Hey, this is not the house for you, let's move on, let's continue. And not being afraid of do that, doing that because then they sense that, oh wow, you know, standard didn't just have me sign this and move forward so she can get paid. Right. Many times I will tell my client, I don't think this is the house for us. Um and I think a lot of that is, you know, I always tell people prepare yourself for, you know, the winter, right? And so if you're always keeping busy and having things in your plate, then when the situation comes, it's like, oh shoot, I need that closing. I'm gonna push my client, like, yeah, it's a good deal because I need that check. So being comfortable and said where, you know what, you're not depending on that one transaction to skew how you're directing your client to go. Yeah. And then also, like you were talking about, JJ, is that you really didn't have equity in your home when you sold, you know, for five years. And you would always hear clients, you know, you're gonna buy your home, you're not gonna have equity into it until after five years.

SPEAKER_02: 20:43

Minimum.

SPEAKER_01: 20:44

Yes. And then after COVID, that was different. But it's like knowing that commitment, you're gonna stay here, you know, committed to five years or more in your home. And even when I bought my first home, I was told, oh, you'll probably stay just five years. And I'm thinking, it's not a car. Why would I want to keep trading in it?

SPEAKER_02: 21:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 21:00

And then yes, five years, just boom, life changes, I'm moving. And you know, yes, I did have a little bit of equity, but not to say humongous, but I bought because I could afford it, the rate was fine for me.

SPEAKER_06: 21:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 21:14

But it's just different things like that, you know, how you look at things back then and how you look at things now.

SPEAKER_04: 21:20

And you personally, as you both have been in the business for many years, um, as you went through different markets, because we've we've seen different markets, not one similar to this, this one's a little different.

SPEAKER_05: 21:34

Um, homie, this is my fourth recession. My dad was in real estate too. I remember in 1987, it was tough. Yo, like you know, bankruptcy tough, right? And then, you know, I remember 2001. I was in 08, that was totally my fault. I'm so sorry. I was putting if you could fog a mirror, I was putting you in a home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 21:49

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SPEAKER_03: 21:56

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SPEAKER_05: 22:51

And then this is another one. This is the weird one, though. If we are in recession, or I think we are, but if we are in one or not, this is a weird one because it's uh it's uh fake inflation, right? It's meaning what we're just talking about when when when builders are able to buy blocks of money and then compete against us. That's never happened before. Right. Um, and I say us because we're the retail market, but we're also the new home market. Um, and you know, San Antonio in general used to be the turtle that won the race. Like we you know, we wouldn't be like Austin. Austin would go up and come down. I've seen them come up. So true.

SPEAKER_04: 23:26

That is so true.

SPEAKER_05: 23:27

We were always a turtle that was like, yeah, we you know, military time USA, we have VA buyers all day long.

SPEAKER_04: 23:31

You know, like we have regardless of the market.

SPEAKER_05: 23:33

No matter, don't matter. Um, so this is a uh fake inflation where builders are I hope these builders don't get mad at me. But where builders are, you know, they're competing amongst themselves. There's Nasdaq traded companies that are uh competing amongst themselves for the business of our clients, and where the land is available is super far. So they are creating like these submarkets that we've never seen before. Like Almo Ranch should be its own city, going all the way to 211. If like uh and I want to be the mayor, just kidding, but like it should be its own its own city, have its own fire department because everything's built that way. Uh, we're in Bernie right now, as we speak, that's a totally different submarket. So um it's this is a different one because it's it's being propped up by fake uh low interest rates.

SPEAKER_04: 24:17

Now, a question for you both. Um, on the and this is the last thing I'll say about the builder stuff, but do you believe that the builders are doing something that may or may not be a bit deceptive to continue to satisfy their stakeholders?

SPEAKER_05: 24:41

Not deceptive. I mean, they they're in in a lot of ways they're servicing the general public because they are you know buying buying blocks of of of money, right? And they're and they're allowing it to go down in in or they're allowing to to hold it in in different oh that's me. No, not me. Not me. Not me. Um but so they're servicing a lot of the need. I feel like if we didn't have them um doing what they're doing, then what would our sales be at that point, right? I feel like it would feel a lot more like 08, you know, than than if they weren't doing what they're doing. So I don't think they're doing anything deceptive. I feel like they are providing a need for for a group of people here. The only problem that is in that situation is I don't know if those group of people understand that they gotta be there for seven to nine years. Right. And um, you know, we've seen all these subject two things happening and all that. Like they will be the you know, the best way to that I was told as a kid of how a market is is like imagine your sprinkler head breaking or busing. There'd be water all like in the middle of the yard, the water's all over your yard and it goes out to the to the outskirts. The outskirts are the outskirts of the city. That's where you know water is gonna get a lot where it usually doesn't. Outskirts is also like second home markets like um Rockport and you know, all that kind of stuff. Sure. You know, um where you're really feeling right now is the lakes, right? Like Canyon Lake. Yeah. So when people have a lot of money, there's a lot of water, there's a lot of money, cheap money, then you'll then you know, Canyon Lake started going up. Remember we've seen like half a million dollars in Canyon Lake. I was like, what the hell? Now, when you fix that sprinkler head, which we just did, it's so like soaks it back in, it gets all dry. So the outer areas of town, second home markets are gonna be the canaries in the coal mine. So I always talk to my Rockport agents, and I'm like, How y'all doing? And they're like, Canyon Lake agents are like, like Heather Knox, she's a monster out there. She's like, mmm. And when I that's a canary in the coal mine that we're adjusting, we're we're fixing the sprinkler system, right? And it should just be like Alamo Heights, Bernie. Like it should just be like, yeah, that's what's gonna be constant no matter what. If you know, like right now, Bernie is kind of recession proof, Alamo Heights is a recession proof. There are neighborhoods that that are recession proof, they're right, they're not gonna eat eat it, um, and they're gonna still continue to go up. The other ones is is where you should be afraid of, and that's where the builders are building. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 27:00

Well, let's switch the gears real quick. And you had mentioned something that I want to bring up, wasn't a topic here, but uh a question that I have for you guys. No, no, no. The compass thing we'll get to. Oh, okay. Um, but it it's even simpler than that. TikTok. Um I want to get you guys' thoughts on what you believe TikTok has done for our market, our industry, um, the way that the newer agents get their business. Um, and I want Sandra you to start simply because after the first podcast we did together, she's been on a video, she's a video queen went nuts on video, and it is awesome. It is awesome. But I will tell you, you are one of the few from the let's call it um uh seasoned veterans that one of the old ones that's what he said pretty much what he said that um are jumping on there, getting on camera and being consistent with it as opposed to the newer agents, newer lenders. They don't know as much as we do, they don't have as much experience, so uh nor do they have the contacts or the um book of business, the reputation, all of these words that describe somebody that is a seasoned uh expert. So, what do they do? They jump on social media, they jump on TikTok, they make a clever, funny video that really has something to do with real estate, but not really. And all of a sudden they have customers from a demographic that believes, oh, if they're on there, they must be an expert or they must know what they're doing. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01: 28:44

So, yeah, I do see a lot of that, but coming from someone seasoned as myself, I know that I have to keep up with the Joneses in a sense.

SPEAKER_04: 28:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 28:53

But the thing is as I am not comfortable as you know with video, but I have to put myself in uncomfortable situations. And if I'm not gonna do it myself, then I need to hire hire professionals to help me with it. And so it's more of like continuing like coaching. You have to have multiple you know, pillars of you know, income. So being the seasoned agent with my sphere and having that clientele from there, sometimes it's a little slow. So what am I going to do? Just continue that and then you know, stay slow? No. I'm a workaholic, so I'm not going and looking what else do I need to do to get more business, you know, but still service my sphere. So then that's why I see everyone's doing the videos. I know I need to do the videos. So I started doing the videos, started with home tours, and that was great. But I was like, what else? I'm not getting followers for just the home tours. Not everybody was wanting to buy a home.

SPEAKER_04: 29:53

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 29:54

So how am I gonna attract more eyes? So I started doing hotspots. So I started, you know, basically. Giving back to the community, spotlighting local places, businesses. So I looked at it as I'm helping them, but it's also helping me because then people are following me because they want date night.

SPEAKER_02: 30:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 30:11

You know, what do I do for next date night? Oh, you know what? Let's see what Sandra had posted. And also restaurant new place is coming up, you know, elsewhere too is coming up. That one did really well. Everybody's asking me, how do I get a job there? I'm like, I don't work for them, but I'm just helping promote, you know, because I think I'm excited for it too. So sharing things like that is really helping open up more, you know, eyes, more communications, more DMs. So that's really great. But I'm also keeping my image of what I want is that the professional and still showing that I'm fun, I'm laid back. Yes, I'm a workaholic. I look serious and mean sometimes, but I'm very approachable.

SPEAKER_02: 30:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 30:51

So I know that was very important for me because people would think that I was not approachable. And if it's like you guys, you know me, you're like, oh no, Sandra's really cool. But the people that don't know me, so I felt that I had to share that side of me as well, even if I was uncomfortable doing that. And so it's really been really great. I I'm enjoying it. You know, I have video day on Wednesday, 10 videos in one day. So I have everything coming for the next couple of weeks. But it's doing that. And I know that there's a lot of people doing the fun videos. Yeah. And everybody has their tribe, everybody has what's going to work for them. And I get it, you know, and I'm not here to knock anyone's, you know, process. But I'm going to continue to do what works for me. And I think if we all did that, then we would still be, you know, successful at the route we're going.

SPEAKER_04: 31:42

I appreciate that response, but I'm going to press you a little bit. Um, and the reason being is let's say, and I think this happens quite often, you being the experienced agent that you are, are now finding yourself on the other end of a deal that the agent is less experienced and they got their transaction, whether it's on the buy side or the sell side, from a TikTok video. What are your thoughts on that? Like, I know that you're the type to help both sides, regardless to get the deal done just like JJ would, just like I would. But as a whole, has TikTok the influence of videos helped or indifferent in our business?

SPEAKER_01: 32:30

I know a lot of people, you know, because I hear feel like it's taking away from the serious realtors. Okay. And I know sometimes when this younger generation comes out, you know, silly videos, all that, but when you actually make the time to talk to them, some of those young ones are pretty bright. You know, I think it's not knowing them or getting to know them, then people are quick to judge. And um there's there's some really good ones that I've met and seen their videos, and I'm like, oh my gosh, she's pretty smart. You know, which I I'm excited about that. I don't feel like it takes from my business. Okay, because I'm secure in what I've created. And if I do have a newer agent on the other side, either, you know, they got their business, TikTok, whatever. I like to know when they are fairly new because then it allows me to guide them and they're open to it. If they're not open to it, then that's different. And it's just like, uh, you know, but when they're open to it, then guiding them and if they're willing to accept my guidance, then it's a win-win. I I started, right? I was new once. So I'm not gonna be upset on how they got their business. Obviously, they're doing great to be seen.

SPEAKER_02: 33:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 33:51

And now that they got the business, you know, hopefully they have the mentorship to help them figure out what to do with that business, making sure that the bigger picture is, you know, making sure that we take care of the client.

SPEAKER_04: 34:04

Solid response. Um, JJ, I want to get your response because at the beginning of this discussion, you had mentioned that what kind of market are we in? We're in a market to where it's not necessarily buyer's market, seller's market, this, that. It's an agent lack of education, lack of training, lack of being able to tell the truth and uh give their customer what they need to hear versus what they want to hear. I'm gonna go into coaching mode here a little bit.

SPEAKER_05: 34:34

Let's go. Okay, so um, have you ever heard the uh the analogy between marketing and the circus? Uh I have not, I don't think so. Okay, let's say we own a circus. We're gonna get a big billboard here on I-10 and we're gonna say, come to the circus. That's this October 4th, Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Come on, come all. That's an advertisement. Agreed?

SPEAKER_04: 34:54

Yes, my ADD was going nuts for a second. You said the circus, I'm like, right here.

SPEAKER_05: 34:59

Exactly. Sorry, chuggling. So now you take that advertisement or advertisement, you put it on to our elephant, and we slap the elephant's butt, and an elephant goes into downtown Bernie, and everyone goes, Oh my god, and they take videos of it. That's a promotion. Yeah, you agree?

SPEAKER_06: 35:12

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05: 35:12

Now, let's say on the way to downtown Bernie, the elephant stomps all over the mayor's flower bed, uh, and case at 12 picks it up. Well, that is um uh publicity. Yeah, you agree? I do. Okay, let's say we go down there, you and I, when we go to the mayor of Bernie, we go, oh we're so sorry, we didn't mean for our, you know, our elephant to stomp all over your flower bed, and and she he or she laughs about it. Well, that's public relations. Yes. And of course, if they show up on Saturday to our circus and me and you are there and say, hey, we have the dopest rides, the funnest time, and and and you gotta buy a lot of tickets because we have the best food and we sell a lot of tickets, that's sales. Yes. Marketing is if we thought all about if we actually plan it all out from the beginning. All of that would be very true, yeah. That being said, I have this the I feel like we're in a conundrum because um when I'm coaching agents and I'm like, well, I really keep them on KPIs, key performance indicators. There's lags and leads. So I go, what are you trying to accomplish with your videos? What's the lag? And they're always like, Well, I want a lot of you know customers, customers like like Sandra. I go, okay. Um, then what kind of videos are you doing? Well, I'm doing these real jackass videos, and you know, and because this other person has them and they have a lot of followers. I go, Well, how much business does that person have? Because if it's followers and likes, that is not necessarily business customers. That's right. So when I'm coaching someone, I'm like, I I know that person has a lot of like whatever thousands of if they're true followers, sure, sure, but they have but look at their business, just look at their business. Because I want Sandra's business. I don't, you know, like if I like if you want to pick Sandra's business, again, it's gonna go back to be do you have that. I want to be like her, I have to do what she does and have what she has. Yeah, she doesn't have jackass videos, she doesn't cuss in her videos, she doesn't downgrade our our you know, in my opinion, our uh industry at all. Like, like I want I I'm looking to see what Sandra's doing because you know, we all want to be like Sandra. So I think it comes down to there's a group of agents that are like following, they're looking for followers and likes, yeah. Which doesn't equate to business. But now I gotta cut myself off of there and not be, you know, have a limited belief. I also believe that branding is your reputation times times your reach. That's what branding is, it's it's multiplication, it's your reputation times your reach. So then I'm like, how do I tell an agent not to get a broader reach? Good point. So there is a I'm I'm in a conundrum. You know, I'm you know, I've been on the TV show for seven years, you know, uh the American Dream TV. Yep. I just told Sandra I haven't told anyone, but I'll say now we're doing a spin-off. It's just me. Okay, it's my own show, right? It's called it's not even branded with American Dream, it's called Deep in the Heart of It. Okay. It's like Deep in the Heart of Texas. And and so, and we get like 42,000 views per segment. So I'm not gonna tell some coach someone, say, Hey, don't go get reach. Because see, me and Sandra have a reputation already. So all we're doing is we're adding, we're we're we're just branding to our reach. But it's hard for me to have a a new agent that you know to say, like, oh, don't do that. Because maybe they're just building, building that that reach and then financing. And coming back to the reputation. So I'm in a conundrum of how to coach on that. Because when I see new agents not doing the things that they need to do to get actual business and they're spending all their time trying to be viral, yeah, then I'm like, You're gonna you're not gonna make it. But then who am I to tell them not to go viral? Because if they have that reach and then they and I we've seen that. We've seen someone like who the hell is that? And then all of a sudden they have a reach and then they build in a reputation for that reach, and then now they're players. Yes. So as a coach, I'm I'm for and against it. It's it depends on on how it's being built.

SPEAKER_04: 39:07

Yeah, I have to side with both of y'all because in in on my side, on the lending side, nobody wants to talk about mortgage, nobody wants to talk about lending. It's just uh it's boring, it's boring. It really is. It's the non-sexy part of real estate, um, but very necessary. So I take an approach that I'm gonna give them education, education, education, time to make them laugh. Education, education, that concept. Totally. Um, and thinking about it now, you're right. It does grow the audience, and then coming back with the education and the real experience and the real valuable information that they can actually use for whatever to purchase to refinance, whatever the case may be, it fine-tunes that audience of who's actually viewing. So that's a good point. Um, yeah, thank you both for that. So, last topic on this um, what's going on in the market, and I want to throw this stuff up, JC. If you can throw this on the screen, um, so we can just look at some stats. Um, Zillow, based on San Antonio value trends, the average home value is at 258,873, which is down 3.7% year over year. Um, and I bet if we went two years back, three years back, four years back, it's down quite a bit. Um, and then we've got realtor.com, uh, median listing homes price as of August 2025 is at 295. Um, it's with a slight decline year over year. And then look at that. Kim Howell's on here. Tim Howell, San Antonio Real Estate Market Agent, uh, reports that single family home prices rose uh by 5% year over year, uh, while inventory increased 15%, um, and sales fell 7%. That's an odd little equation there. You you've got uh home prices rose, inventory also increased, but the sales number of sales went down. Um let you guys dissect that or just think about that for a moment.

SPEAKER_05: 41:11

What that means to me is that prices are are fixed uh into we're still affordable. San Antonio is still affordable, it's not even debatable, I don't think, right in the national level. Um, but there's you know, the people that are just throwing crap against the wall in 2017, 18, 19, and 20, that's not working anymore. Correct. So only the, you know, it's always like find the motivated, only the motivated sellers and the motivated buyers are are are making deals. Um motivated buyers are because they moved here or military or whatever, and motivated sellers are. I think everyone's saying, oh, they're gonna stay on their 2.875% interest rates. But if you look at other stats of um credit card debt, we're at the highest we've ever been since the history of mankind. So and I know Sanders knows this. Like when we sit down with people and say, hey, you know, here's your net sheet, you're gonna make this all this money. The first thing they go, like, well, we're gonna pay off debt. So it's the first thing they do. Like, they don't say, like, we're gonna go to Vegas. Like, no, they go, we're gonna pay off debt.

SPEAKER_04: 42:09

No, they go to Vegas like a week before closing. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05: 42:12

And ruin it, ruin it all. No, they go, we're gonna pay off debt, and then we're gonna have a down payment. And then so um as debt rises, pressure mounds, sellers start to get and and if you look at the real, you know, NER had a stat that said that 76% of people that bought between 2018 and 2020 regret it, have buyers remorse. So it's just uh it's this pent-up demand. Um, and it's gonna just and I think all these macroeconomic things are making people feel uneasy, like tariffs, are we gonna pay them back, feds, the Fed rate. I mean, there's all these like macroeconomic things that are making people oh, they're they're they don't they're not pulling. I I was hoping they would pull out of, you know, as a commercial city agent, I was hoping they're gonna put out pull out of the actual, you know, market with their money market, but now it's soaring again artificially. So there's all these macroeconomic things that are influencing, and I hate to say it, but the the average consumer just doesn't understand all that stuff because they're not watching it like like we are, and so they're they're like scared, and and then their parents scare them even more and say, like, you know, oh you can't, you know, that's not worth 400,000. Yeah, right. When my mom, if she saw like houses, she's like, that's not worth it. I'm like, mom, it's it's it's the market. You know, that's that's where we are. Yeah, yeah. Look at your house and look at how much it it it um increased in value. So I think that's what that says is only only the motivated are doing stuff, and so finding that is the game.

SPEAKER_04: 43:43

That's a good message. Uh, only the motivated are doing stuff, and and and I would go as far as to say the motivated and well educated uh with a plan um at hand, or it kind of goes back to motivated, sure, being very motivated.

SPEAKER_06: 43:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_04: 43:57

Um so with that, um and we talked about why the market is the way that it is. How do you feel? And this is for both of you, feel that, and I'll I'll answer for the lending side. Uh, I want you guys to give us some in insight on the real estate side, but the idea of part-time agents. Um, I feel as though it is has been rising since gosh, for the last, let's call it three years now. Um, it has just been rising. I'm seeing in social media groups. Um on my side, I'm in a bunch of lender groups where it's like, hey, I'm a part-time uh loan officer. What are you guys doing to stay this, to stay relevant? Or can I be a part-time loan officer and still succeed? And you've got tons of people motivating or or or encouraging that type of behavior. Yeah, you can do it. I I'm able to do it. I do this and I do that, and I'm still able to do it. And I think it's all relative, um, as far as number one, how many people do you want to help? Um, do you want to be the person that uh kind of helps them or just gets a paycheck? Uh, because for me, on the lending side, if you're part-time, you are doing your, and I'm gonna say this, you're doing your client an injustice. Um, why? Because it's all about experience scenarios that have come about. What I've found, uh, being that I own loan bot, review my mortgage, we see a lot of different lenders around the country that are needing leads, that are talking to customers. And the idea of if you're learning learning as a new to the business loan officer, three years in, four years in, but have been part-time, not fully committed, and you've only learned one or two programs, what good are you to the customer that comes to you and does it fit that mold type concept? Um, but what are you guys' thoughts? Because it's a little different on the real estate. I'm not gonna say you can learn real estate a lot faster, but you definitely have a broker that you can lean on. You've got plenty of tools out there, but is it something that we should promote or not?

SPEAKER_01: 46:21

Well, I know me coming into real estate when I first got my license. Obviously, I had a corporate job working for the Toyota plant. So that was my career, had my degree. So when I got in real estate, I was able to pour myself into it for evenings and weekends because my husband worked evenings. And uh but I threw myself in it and I was learning as much as I could because I knew the time was gonna come where I'd have to make a decision to quit my career because I I looked at it as I have a career, you know, real estate, it's real estate, right? I didn't see it as a career at the point yet. So then when it got to the point, I quit my full-time job and made real estate full-time because I knew that I can't half-ass, you know, yeah, working whole ass right here. Exactly. So then once I did that, I went all in. So I know that there is that transition period, but for people to continue to be just part-time, right now I can barely keep up with what I have. And so education, continuing classes, you know, Zooms, trainings, and all that, I think it's really difficult when you have a full-time job and doing this on the side to be able to balance all that and keep educated and keep up with what's going on in the market. And I have, you know, part-time agent on my team. Perfect example during COVID when everything was moving. Right, kick and tail. So he he was still helping, you know, friends and family, you know, because he had his corporate job. But it was a perfect example because he was submitting an offer and he was getting outbeat. And he's like, what's going on? And you know, this is crazy and all that. And I'm like, call him out, Rick. I said, Rick, this is what we're dealing with right now. That's right. Like you've been kind of out of the picture because you're doing it part-time. This is what we're experiencing.

SPEAKER_02: 48:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 48:16

So I feel that not being in the flow constantly, you're missing out on what is affecting our market. And so, how can you service your client in in the best manner that way?

unknown: 48:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 48:29

Therefore, go along. In a nutshell, uh, you are doing your customer an injustice.

SPEAKER_05: 48:34

Like she said, there's a transitional period. I came from real estate professionals, so I do understand, I understand what it took. And this is what I would tell anyone that wants to be in real estate save up nine months of all of your burn rate, every all of your expenses, your car, your car payment, child support, credit card payments, money for dues, money for marketing, because it takes nine months to really know, right? And then burn the boats. Absolutely. Because if you don't burn the boats, then you're never going to be a competitor. Uh, no one's ever killed it part-time. And and and I've been here for 21 years watching. Uh, they they can get out the gate good. Sure. Because they have a really good database or they have a really good mentor or sphere, but then there's a there's a really low ceiling, and there there is too much, right? There's too much to be a professional on that. And I would ask people this and they think it's a job, not a business. So if we were gonna open up a taco truck, you're not gonna do a part-time. You're the end all be all, right? That's right. And that's for a taco truck business, right? So, and then even more so, like, you know, my stepdad's uh retired judge, and you know, people go like if someone's gonna sue you, are you gonna pick a part-time real lawyer?

SPEAKER_04: 49:39

That's a good point.

SPEAKER_05: 49:40

And and you're not gonna part-time doctor, yeah, exactly. Part-time dentist, I'll be like, no, I'm good, bro. Yeah, so if this is the biggest But they're giving me one percent back, exactly. They're like, Yeah, but the Nova Kane's cheap, right? So, like, but like if if this is the biggest thing that some that most families invest in, there's the biggest highest ticket item that they're gonna invest in. Picking someone part-time is crazy. Uh, because like she says, like, there's no way you're gonna learn like the the moment you figure it out, they change it. Yeah, and you know, the whole NAR thing, and I don't want to go back to that because well, good luck, Zillow. Um, is that you know, the biggest complaint that that I heard was like this brand new agent that just got her license six months ago and me make the same amount of money, that doesn't happen in any other profession. You know, like the better you are as a dentist, the better you are as a plastic surgeon, the better you are as a lawyer, the more money you make. Me knowing all of the players like Sandra, you know, I you pick lawyers based on if they know the judge or not. These so if you if I know all the top listing agents in San Antonio because I take time to network and and be with them, then shouldn't I get paid more than the brand new person? And that's why I was kind of like, well, no wonder. Right? Because because if if I'm worth the same as someone that's that's been in the game for five months, then there was a problem. So we've adjusted for it and now we're good. But yeah, part-time, you if you're out there, you're thinking about real estate, it's not a job, it's not a part-time job. Burn the boats, get nine months of all of your bills paid, and just talk to Sandra and see if she'll have you.

SPEAKER_04: 51:11

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's a great point. Um, so uh we've talked about the market, we've talked about what's going on in today's market, we've also talked about how um it's being affected by different uh forces, different characteristics and traits of people in real estate. But I want to dive further into the people in real estate and the personal development, the growth, the uh lack thereof, the mindset of those and what they could or should be seeking, because at the same time, there are plenty of agents out there that do want to grow, that do want to get to the point that they can say, you know what, I'm not a part-timer anymore. I have pulled the plug, I've gone all in, but not yet. And when I say not yet, it's more of a when they feel ready financially, I would have to say, in addition to the confidence level of I can produce for my family, myself, etc. on just this type of income. Um that being said, what what type of um what type of personal development, what type of uh basics? Because for me, a lot of it is guys, get back to basics, learn your basics, where is your foundation? Well, you start a house with the foundation concept um that I'm preaching to loan officers. Um on your side, what are some of the things that you would recommend or that you're actually seeing done um in the market that people are inclined to learning, doing, going through? Um matter of fact, the other day we were talking about um we were we throw classes, I throw educational classes, you do it all the time, and for some odd reason the butts aren't full all the time, as they used to be before this market, the way that it is. And is it because they are at their other job? Is it because they don't have the the idea, you know what I'm saying? They don't have the um fire to want to learn more, to help their customers more, to be the best that they can. What are some things? Uh let's talk about that stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 53:36

I mean, why they don't show up? I don't know. There's various uh reasons for that. But I do feel that the more training you get, you know, the more you put yourself in those classrooms. You know, I attend a lot of JJ's, you know, classes that he has. You know, I see he's there, I take that opportunity for free training for JJ. But I think also, too, depending on your season, you know, coaching, you know, hire somebody that's gonna hold you accountable because what I'm seeing a lot is that accountability, like even for myself, you know, right now doing an accountability 30-day run and 10 o'clock, I'm ready, go up, take a shower, go to bed. Done. Yeah. I said I commit it to my mile run every day, and I have not stopped, you know. So I'm almost done. But I think that's where, you know, JJ is it's very important to have somebody within, depending on your seasons of where you are in your business, to have that accountability partner if you don't have the money for a coaching. But good point. Even there's different coaches to where you can start with one at another, or even have two at the same time. You know, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just one could be mindset, one could be, you know, life.

SPEAKER_04: 54:50

Life coach, business coach, correct, uh uh, a health coach. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 54:55

So I think understanding that we all need someone, we all need that encouraging, even with me with a team. I loved having the team because we would motivate each other. You know, Jacob Delgal was on my team. Now he's um running, you know, first choice webs, but he joined my team because he wanted to start a team. And so he wanted to learn from me and eventually go on his own. So we already knew that we were gonna have an extra exit plan. And so we still today collaborate. But it's like having that person that you know it's gonna help you get where you want to go. And I think it's very important.

SPEAKER_04: 55:32

Uh, I would advise you add sauna and cold plunge to that, it'll change your game. Just saying. Don't do it.

SPEAKER_05: 55:39

Don't do it. Don't do it. Just kidding. No, I I think uh coaching, mentoring, and and training all get mixed in and they're totally different. What Sandra's an incredible mentor, we besides Jacob, she's created other monster agents. Absolutely. And when mentoring, mentorship is I want to be like Sandra. So whatever Sandra tells me to do, I'm gonna do whatever she does, I'm gonna do. That's mentoring. Um training is uh I'm gonna teach you something you didn't know, right? Or I'm gonna reinforce, or I'm gonna expand your mind on something you kind of know, but I'm gonna make you know it better. And then coaching is is really like holistic in a lot of ways. It's like, hey, if you want to get from good to great, is really what it is. Like there's a lot of good agents out there, but you want to get great at anything. Like, you know, if you if you're gonna run a triathlon, if I was gonna do a triathlon, there's no way I'm gonna just like look on YouTube and see what I should do and then go out there, right? That's it, that's yeah, but people get triathlete coaches, people get uh personal trainers, people get like, and that's where you see these huge transformations, yeah. Gains, yes. So if you want a true transformation in your business, you have to like I have done, except for seven months of my career, you have to pay someone to hold you accountable or and or expand your your limited beliefs because the more you pay, the more you pay attention. It's just how it is. Skin of the game. It is. I remember when I had a personal trainer, I was like, man, the alarm would go off, and I'm like, dude, I don't want to go. It's cold, it's dark, but I know he's getting paid no matter what, and it would just prop me up and run over there. Now, what what ends up happening with all of this is we I'm gonna pull the the curtain of Oz, okay? So we are we are focused on results. So I hate the award season in the beginning of the year because it's like, oh, you know, Sandra's number one, whatever. That's this results, but we didn't see the the next level, which is Sandra's actions to get those results. I think the curtain. Yes, she does these cute videos and she's awesome, but she I know she she works, right? So those are the actions that people don't really look at, but there's a level above that, which is potential. Maybe you don't know what Sandra knows in order to do what Sandra does, so you have to go learn what Sandra knows how to do. That's unlocking your potential. That's where training and mentoring really come in. The level above that, though, because we could actually know what we're supposed to do, still not do it, still not get the results. So the next level um is beliefs. Do you believe you can do it? Um, there's a lot of imposter syndrome out here in the game. And when I talk to people, I hate to call her out, but my one of my agents, Mel Roel, Melissa, she's a rock star. And then she's like, Oh my god, all I did was 32 transactions your first year.

SPEAKER_04: 58:16

I was like, girl, check the scoreboard, ma'am. I worked with her, she's outside.

SPEAKER_05: 58:22

I'm like, Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_04: 58:24

Like, I actually invited her on here to be doing one after she gets her braces off. I'm like, get your ass.

SPEAKER_05: 58:29

Another poster synonym. So I'm like, girl, you you belong on you, you have a seat at the table, sit down. So there's this belief. Like, do I believe that I can do it? Do I believe that it can be done? Um, you know, like the four-minute mile and Roger Manister, like, no one did a four-minute mile until the four-minute mile was. Yeah. So there's people like, oh, I don't think I can because I'm a Southside person, or because you know, I I didn't grow up in this, or I, you know, whatever. There's there's that belief. Because if you don't believe you're not gonna do it, then and there's a level above that. There's what you there's values, like what do you what do you value? And I think that's what a lot of people are are kind of they don't know what they like what's important to them. Like, for instance, if I was going to get to my BMI, my body mass index, I would have to like what I what I value, what I what I would care about, right? Yeah, is not eating carbs after three. Is not, you know, you know, all these things that I have to care about to get there. Like you with your running, you have to care about stuff. So you have to tap into your what you value in life. And then of course the level above that is you have to have an identity. Like I believe my girl's becoming a runner, right? That's an identity. There was there was there was a time where you weren't a runner, and now you're a runner. So you've had do you see that? So like your identity has shifted, and that takes like a commitment. But those are the levels, it's results, actions, um, you know, learning, you know, uh unlocking your potential, uh, believing that you can do it, valuing what you need to value, and then and then your identity happens. If if you try to skip any of those steps, it ain't gonna work.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:00

God, that's a good point. That uh raises so many uh good points and questions that that can come about uh in regards to these agents that are um, like you say, imposter syndrome, where you whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right. Um and sometimes even if you believe you can't, but you've got the skills, the work ethic, and the people behind you, you get there and it hopefully something that you realize, oh shit, I did. And that changes your mindset to being able to get out of that imposter syndrome and get into your real skin and start growing, uh, start fine-tuning, start uh educating yourself with the right people, aligning yourself with the right content. Um, that takes your business to another level. Um but I mean, that that being the case, um, where should we go from here? We've probably maybe another 15 minutes on some stuff. What do you guys want to talk about?

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:58

Compass.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:59

Talk about compass a little bit. That's that's uh you need some data? No, okay.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:03

Um sounds like he has something on his own.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:05

Well, I'm I'm just a nerd of the game, and so you know, but like it's very interesting that all the legacy brands are banding together, and then so it's gonna be the legacy brands that compass buys, and it's gonna be KW, and there's gonna be the the us, you know, the um outliers. Well, not anymore. I think we were the outliers, and now we're the the concept, right? Where it's the cloud-based brokerages and that have that give people skin in the game, and it's gonna be a very interesting dynamic because uh besides like when you do a merger, I just don't understand the merger and acquisition. You guys both were real? No. I didn't okay.

SPEAKER_04: 1:01:41

I was like exp, expensive code Pepsi. Yeah, okay. I was like, wait a minute. But we get along, yeah. Oh, 1000%.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:48

Yes, no, we love each other, and and I'm so happy for everything that Sandard does. Um, but yeah, it's just it's it's a really weird merger and acquisition. I've been, you know, when you think about why would you merge and acquire?

SPEAKER_04: 1:02:00

Um there in the mortgage business, uh, Black Knight has been doing it quite a bit. Um, and there are mortgage companies, guild buys Academy. Academy was already a big company. Why'd they buy them? Well, I mean, they're adding something to their book, which may be servicing, which may be another branch of their business that they didn't already have. Um, and in many cases, it's time to let's say you've got a great job of doing margins at 10%, they've got a good 10%. Well, how do we get to 20? Let's acquire them, and now we've got 20% margin.

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:38

So, yeah, it's I mean, it could be that simple. Usually buying power, yep, right? Because the more you can buy the bulk, the better. But this is real estate, so that doesn't work. It should be um centralizing, like a one HR department, yep, instead of 20. Absolutely. Um, branding, marketing can all be that um, which could kind of make sense, but think about like how extreme these legacy brands are. We have C21, we have Better Homes and Garden, like they couldn't get more different, right? All being bought by Compass. And they Compass comes from the we can't beat them by 'em, which is I've never we've never seen that before in our game. So the only thing that I can think about, because I've been thinking about this a lot since it happened, was um from monopolizing data. So Compass, they're the ones that say, Hey, we're just gonna have our own internal MLS. Um, so you know, we're but now that they have what 73% of all the real estate that's means sold or something like that, they can just say, you know what? If you want, if you want to know about the properties, come to compass.com. And and we're gonna be like, wait, it makes sense. So I so that's my prediction.

SPEAKER_04: 1:03:45

You can and if they have enough of the market share, they become the market share. Well, yeah, they become the mover, they become of the needle.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:52

Yeah, so like think thing that's the only thing I can think of is they're gonna be like, Oh, we have all the listings. So if you know, so now we go now. It's funny, residential's gonna look like commercial where I'm not with CBRE, I'm not with JLL, I'm not with the big boys, I'm not with Riatta, right? It's like me and Uri like going out there, and we're like these like little Davids against Goliaths. And you know, we have clients that are like, hey, I want to know what what that that development cost is on you know 211 and and whatever. And I'm like, well, I've called the guy five 15 times, I've emailed him, I've you know, I've texted him, they've ignored me, and then they they they hold out until your buyer goes to them directly because they want to keep it all in-house.

SPEAKER_04: 1:04:35

Could it also be something along the lines of and and example? Well, could it be something along the lines of do all of these different one-offs have let's say a book of business under management? And similar to let's say I'm I've now retired and I've got all this money, but I want my money to last, so I'm going to buy something that someone has created versus creating something.

SPEAKER_05: 1:05:07

But think about that. If I told you 10 years ago that Brook Char Hathaway, C21, like I named all these legacy brands were gonna be bought by anything, you'd be like, no.

SPEAKER_04: 1:05:17

No, they're they're powerhouses on their own.

SPEAKER_05: 1:05:20

No, these are legacy brands. We're not talking about like Chinga that are realty, like we're talking about like huge brands, absolutely. And so now I I it's it's gonna it's gonna disrupt the market for sure.

SPEAKER_04: 1:05:31

No, um, you guys keep talking.

SPEAKER_05: 1:05:33

I'm gonna search up here real quick in regards to does because when when you started, who were the biggest brands out there? It was C21, Remax, Remax, Cobalt Baker, Remax, Keller Williams. KW. Well, I started with KW and 04. I think we were seventh in the city.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:47

Because I interviewed um Keller Williams Remax.

SPEAKER_04: 1:05:50

Who's another one? Better Home and Garden? Are they in there? Better Home Home and Garden uh have um property like management? Yes, under management. Uh can you segment it? Oh, I would like to see because if that is, yes, all four of those, okay. Because similar to what I'm saying, it's just an idea of okay, they're making X amount in brokerage fees. We're losing X amount in brokerage fees because of models like you guys have. How do we supplement that? Well, we buy all the books. Uh, you're not giving me any data. Uh most majority makes a that's an optimistic way of looking at it.

SPEAKER_05: 1:06:40

Like, hey, we're just gonna get a bunch of management up, you know, we're gonna consolidate management. Right. And that might be part of the structure because I know they put money behind it. They they, you know, they he whatever you want to say about the guy that runs companies, he he can he can raise funds. Um but it's gonna, I think this is gonna disrupt us a little bit because no one's had this much market share. Even when KW, I went with them from I think it was 69,000 agents up to 188,000 agents where we we we were the biggest, or they are still the biggest, you know, independent brokerage. Um we still didn't have like all the listings, you know. I mean, sure. Like we're talking about a massive um, you know, like pool together. Yeah, and we've never seen this. Yeah, no, you're right. And no one's really talking about it. But the moment I heard that and I realized, well, first of all, I was like, are they any antitrust things? Like, because you know, you you are monopolizing now the real estate market, and it's by a Nasdaq traded company, it's not like some billionaire, like you know, because you know, what's his name? Own Brooksha Hathaway, and he started I don't know if you remember, he tried to disrupt stuff in the mid-2000s. Warren Buffett. Warren. Warren was like uh he he stopped paying real estate aid. Do you remember this? He thought he he was he if if in fact Kellow Williams, we was like, Oh, we're only giving one percent to Kellows and not anyone else. Yeah, so he started to try to disrupt on his own, say, hey, I'm gonna buy a brokerage and see if I can you know change the game a little bit. He thought we're getting overpaid back then, even so um, but no one's seen this before, and I don't think anyone's really thinking about it yet. But there's only one thing that I feel that is gonna happen is mon monopolization of of the data, which is all the listings. That's a good point. And and and now that people are running away from NAR in in a lot of ways, um, and people are like they could create their own MLS and then leaves the rest of us out to either band together and have our own MLS, or that's that's what I was gonna say is is what does that end up doing for folks like you guys?

SPEAKER_04: 1:08:39

Well, you tend to do the same thing, and now you've got these two competing mammoths, and you all did this so that you could be different, and you could be different, but now we're all the same, right?

SPEAKER_05: 1:08:51

And it's gonna be like, hey, can we go? Can we show their properties? Can we see their properties? Um, are our buyers able to see their properties? Uh, are we gonna have to list on their stuff and then they're gonna list on the the regular? Right. So do you see how much power you can have?

SPEAKER_04: 1:09:05

In addition, does that not kind of tote the line of messing with free market? It is toting the line.

SPEAKER_05: 1:09:11

Yeah, it is creating like you know, like, hey, you're either with us or you're or you're and this is how Kate, uh this is how commercial is like the commercial boys, they they don't they're like, no, we you're not part of CBR, so we're we're gonna keep it. They always tell me we're just gonna keep it in-house. I was like, what does that mean? They're like, we're gonna we're gonna find buyer and seller in-house, like we don't need you, and so be careful. This is gonna be a disruptor, I promise.

SPEAKER_04: 1:09:34

Wow, it's gonna be something that's what do you think the time frame on something like that?

SPEAKER_05: 1:09:38

Well, they just came to there's no way to know, so well, they just came to uh to a price, so I'm assuming we'll start filling it quarter one of 2026. I mean, depending on I mean, that's a lot of different things to manage, absolutely might be a year, but we'll we'll see whatever their intent is. But uh that's a huge and what's weird is compass is also like they they didn't make it here in San Antonio, real TSA, and so their model's not working because their model was like signing bonus. I'm gonna give Sandra a signing bonus to bring all of her listings over to us and give her stock. That didn't work. So they were they're they're buying, right? Like they they oh, they're like, hey, they were trying to act like uh finance boys. They're like, hey, we're just gonna buy your book of business, we're gonna buy your book of business. Um, the problem with that was um when you give someone like a signing bonus like that, especially an agent that usually hunts and kills, well, they stop hunting.

SPEAKER_04: 1:10:35

Well, I I compare it to somebody that is, and we've had this discussion, someone that adds people to their team and what and they do it because they believe that we're growing, this is the only way I'm gonna be able to do more business, but you don't add more people to a team that's not working. Like if it's not working right now, people isn't gonna help it. You gotta figure out right, you gotta figure out what works first, then you add the people to what is working, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_05: 1:11:04

You know what? Uh, if we have a couple of minutes, I want to talk about that. Yeah, I think five minutes, let's roll. So, teams, okay agents, what they should expect. What do you think they should expect from a team?

SPEAKER_04: 1:11:13

I I will tell you, and you guys tell me observation, and this doesn't answer your question, but I have seen more and more teams shrink and shrink and shrink back to the individual, myself included.

SPEAKER_05: 1:11:25

Sure. What do you think they should expect from a team?

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:28

And I'm where you're at right now and trying to figure out do I want to grow back a team, you know, especially with the literally, I'm right there with you. But when I had first started the team, it was more everyone just wanted support. And I was more the mentor. I was there to show them what I do, how to how to be a successful realtor, and helping them. So I feel like now the expectation is like joining a team, feed me leads, and let and that's all I needed to do. That's all I need. That's right. So that shifted for me that now it's like adding a team. And I'm like, well, maybe I don't do a team again. Maybe so I'm still trying to figure out which is going to be my cloud-based model, my network, help them grow, or adding the team and finding that fit to pour enter them like I'm accustomed to doing.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12:17

Correct.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:17

You know, they're coming in knowing we're all independent, self-employed, just because you join a team or cloud-based your sponsor, we're here to help you, not hand you a lead. That's right.

SPEAKER_04: 1:12:30

And I think you and I are both in the same scenario in the sense that we've grown several teams, we've lost members, and did we really lose them or did we coach them too well that they could do it? But that was the intent the whole time. Well, I mean, you and I, we're not gonna not tell you something that is for your benefit if it makes you a better person and makes the team a better fit. Um, but it it is very difficult in regards to timing, in regards to how much value we've put out there, then going back to our market, there's less business going around. I mean, there's no, well, I've got all this business. Okay, great, but it as a whole, it is less business, period. Um I'm kind of liking being the head of the snake again and not having to worry about it. But at the same time, at what point, because the the market's gonna shift, they always do. Uh, everything is gonna come back around, how long it's gonna take, we don't know. And you're only one person. Correct. That's my struggle.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:32

Like I like having a team, you know, even if I have one more. Like just today, I received a text from an agent that was on my team 10 years ago offering any services because she's slow. And it's like, okay.

SPEAKER_04: 1:13:47

Come on, but here is something I need you to sign.

SPEAKER_05: 1:13:50

Seriously. Seriously. No, I think the MRA disrupted our industry, milliner real estate agent, Gary Keller. Great book. It's the Bible, right? It's like how to leverage yourself up to seven levels or whatever. But here's the problem. I don't think any of us really wanted a seventh level business in the end. And if you mess up at any level, you get I hate to say a bitch slapped back down to production. Yeah, and so I think uh her and I are are anomalies because we have I didn't build teams to to walk away from them, right? I built teams to pour into people and make them, you know, knowing that they're gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna create a competitor. Sure. And that sounds weird until you get into our brokerages and that makes more sense because they they stay with us forever. You can let the pajarito like, you know, fly. So uh I think that anyone that's seeking a team should really under like really again try to figure out what they're getting from it. Are they are they getting a temporary fix to a to a long-term problem? Or which is like, hey, someone's gonna give me leads, take more than half of my money, and then I'm not gonna have any sales under me, like they're all gonna be in the sales of the the lead agent. So I I get no reputation that is extremely important. Absolutely. So it becomes a jail cell. Yeah. Because you you're now giving up more of your money for leads because you didn't go hunt them, but then you didn't learn how to hunt, so you don't know how to go hunt your for yourself. And and if you're in those situations, then it might be like a personality profile that you have, and you're like, hey, I'm good with that. You know, like I wanna, you know, there's people that just don't want to be the you're right, the the head of the snake, and that makes sense. But if they're not that person, if they're more like Sandra or I, then um just think about it. I think people just like they have a friend that's killing it on a team that's a well-welled machine, like you know, the Neil and Neil team or the Castile group or Levi Rogers or Maloof, like they have well-oiled machines that are awesome, yeah. Right. But they're also, you know, they're also just just spitting agents in and out. And so you got to figure out if you want a team or not. Figure out what you want. You want leads, you want mentorship, you want training, you want coaching. Because that doesn't necessarily mean a team, they could just be in your organization, they can just be in my organization, and they can get almost all of that.

unknown: 1:15:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_04: 1:15:55

Yeah, well, guys, we've talked about a lot in this. Um, when I asked you guys what what kind of topics do we want to bring to the table? We didn't have any. We didn't have nada. But uh, I think yeah, I think the folks out there would be uh extremely satisfied with the the information, the perspective, and the insight that you guys have provided today. Um, is there anything else that you'd like to tell our listeners um that maybe they can, like I used to say, take the bank in cash?

SPEAKER_01: 1:16:22

Plus us out.

SPEAKER_05: 1:16:24

Uh take the bank in cash. Um the the market is definitely um changing. And if you want to like get good or great in your game, you have to find a mentor. You have to find a coach because uh this is a serious industry and we can keep it serious, but we have to take it seriously. And so I think that's if you don't have a mentor coach her, then I I would say seek it out. Um, no matter who it is. She's an incredible mentor, she creates monsters. You know, I've I've been doing this for a very long time. Just reach out, just see what you what you're lacking, because there's there's something out there that you're probably lacking, and the best way to do it is just go find it.

SPEAKER_04: 1:16:59

Love it. I love it. Um, guys, I want to thank you for joining me today. Uh, always incredible conversations, high level, um, and and for the good of everyone, to be honest. Um, those of you listening to this, um, I hope you're getting something out of it because there was plenty to get. And I want to remind those out there that each one of my guests that join us, um, they are high-level experts. They are practicing in the trenches of what we do, and they're not being paid to be on here. Um wait, what? Um, but we're doing this for the betterment of all of what we do as real estate and mortgage. Um, and at the same time, we're also getting better at uh at what we do, public speaking, speaking uh in front of people. Um, so we too have to continue to sharpen our tools and work on our craft. Um, so I hope that you continue to listen and subscribe and jump in and all that good stuff. I promise to and commit to continue bringing you guys experts that will be honest and always keep it real. Um that being said, we'll catch you on the next one. See ya. If you're still sending out pre-approval letters and praying your realtors send you the next lead, you're already behind.

SPEAKER_03: 1:18:22

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