Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to Coffee is for closers. I'm your host, Tim Brigham, and if this is your first time joining us, this is your traditional coffee appointment with a realtor. But not just any this time. This is the best of the best.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: This is the guy who sets the.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: Standard in Chicago for breaking every single record, running over everybody else. Top producer multiple years in a row. The one, the only, Matt Learcy.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Thanks for having me on today, Tim. I appreciate it. We're very happy and blessed that we were able to finish as a top agent in Chicago last year. It was a challenging year. We were happy that we were able to thrive in a down market. Although it wasn't our best year ever, it was nice to still come out on top. So we appreciate you having us on.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: Also, I appreciate you joining us again. Our last interview was awesome, but I would love to hear from you on this last year and what your numbers were for. Those who don't aren't aware we finished.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: What, a little over 250 something? 255, 258, I thought something like that, yeah. 258,000,450 ish plus or minus transactions. So that's down about 40 ish million from the year before. So I just think about the losses instead of the wins. But, I mean, overall, it was a strong year. I mean, a lot of people who would do 450 plus transactions would look at that as a success. I still kind of look at it like a failure. I remind them all the time about that. We should be doing better. But, I mean, overall, it was a strong year.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: What I love about you and your social media presence is that you're always building up your team. You're always building this giant brand of who's behind you. So could you introduce your team?
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Yeah. So we have Jamie here, who's been with me for about four or five years now.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: I've been with him for almost ten.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Okay, awesome. I don't know, something like that. And she's our transaction coordinator, kind of manages everything else kind of at the office as well. And then we have Gretchen, who has ever changing last names, depending on which day of the week it is. And she handles all of our buyer side scheduling, and lately has been doing some listing site scheduling as well. So she's kind of managing a lot of the back end stuff. So if our buyers need to schedule tour last minute or have a question on property, she's one that can handle that. So these two do a lot of the heavy lifting, the background to make sure that it's a very smooth process, because at the end of the day, all people care about is having a good interaction and a good experience. And these two are two of them that really helped make it easy on.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Us, I can tell you that. I've done deals with you, and these two are fantastic. The communication is above board.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: It is impressive, and I'd love to hear from you. We know a little bit about Matt, but love to hear from you, too.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Yeah, they're like B plus. They're getting to that a category. We're hoping the 2024 is going to be the year of the a rating. We're hoping for.
[00:02:56] Speaker C: Okay, well, I've been with Matt for, I don't know, like, almost nine years now. In August?
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know. I can't remember. I remember you took. God, we've had a lot of know over the years.
[00:03:09] Speaker C: That's crazy enough to stick around.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: It takes a special breed to kind of deal with it. You have to say, like, if you're a mind reader or not. Right. A lot.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: All right, so hold on.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: You always run the show. I want to hear what you just said from her.
Why is it crazy working for Matt? What is he talking about?
[00:03:28] Speaker C: Well, volume wise, we do a lot more than anybody else transaction wise, so there's a reason for that because we have really good systems down. And you're a real estate agent. Most agents don't have an assistant on the back end helping them. They're doing everything on their own. And mainly my job is strictly on back end stuff. So when somebody has a question and he's running around with a client, I can answer that question and then he can talk to them later and be like, is there anything else that I didn't answer?
And also, just, like, emails, follow up calling somebody. So many people don't call clients. They don't explain something over the phone. And an email that's explaining something can be a lot better if you just call somebody and explain it to them and actually know what you're talking about. Because a lot of people don't know what they're talking about half the time or know how to properly explain something.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: This show is really about agents. Right. It's to inform them on how they could improve and maybe get something back. Right. You and I were talking earlier about kind of going through contracts and those types of things. Can you expand on that a little bit? How did you get to where you are today with, oh, when we were.
[00:04:31] Speaker C: Talking about this earlier, Matt, I said the first month I worked here, every single day we sat down and you walked me through the whole entire contract until I knew it like the back of my hand. That's how I learned.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think education is big on that. And I think the problem is most people don't even know the contract. I used to. I don't do it anymore. I mean, Jamie does. If there's questions. I used to go, like, line by line with every person. We would write a deal, and when we were doing, like, 20 deals, I was able to deal with that, but it's tough. But I wanted her to be able to understand it. So when the client has a question about, why does it say this in the contract? That she could tell it to them, like, in 10 seconds? And it takes a lot to understand the contract because there's a lot of shit on the contract.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Offer that to clients now, like, when they go under a contract, they say, why don't we jump on a call so we can go over what you can expect in the next 40 to 30 days so that you're not surprised when something happens.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: 30 to 40 days? Not 40 to 30 to 40 days.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: What I find the most impressive is that even though you do the volume that you do, what you're saying is that the customer experience is always the most important part. They still get treated like they're the most important client regardless the amount of volume they do, right?
[00:05:34] Speaker C: Yeah, 100%.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: What do you find is the biggest mistake that you're running into with other agents?
[00:05:39] Speaker C: I think a lot of people go on vacation sometimes and don't even call their clients back or know what's going on in a deal.
A lot of the times when something's problematic, I'm telling the other agent that it's problematic. They don't even know what's going on. Or maybe they're just acting like they don't know what's going on. And on my end, there are problems that you run into on loans, condos, and I think it's big part to call the other agent on the phone and say, this is the problem we're running into. This is the resolution I have to fix it. Can you get on the same page with me?
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Wow, that's awesome.
How do you two communicate? What's your communication style?
[00:06:16] Speaker C: Matt hates when I work from home because all we do is call each other all day.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: It drives me mean. We're an open office setting, so it is very laid back. And Jamie and Gretchen, they're two very moody people. So it's tough on me because I have to put up their. They have big personalities, and they're constantly yelling at me, and I have to come home. I have to tell my kids. I got yelled at again by Jamie and Gretchen, and it's just been, like, really tough on me. And they're both very moody.
So, I mean, like, I. I just think it's like having a good, open dialogue between all of us is what makes a big difference, you know? And being able to be comfortable enough to be able to be okay when they yell at me that I could have thick skin and feel okay about, you know, I've said this many times before, but you have to be a team that plays well together. You can't have five Michael Jordans if they don't play well.
I think everybody on the team, we really want to make sure we have the right fits. That's why we hire very slow and we fire fast. I mean, we've hired a wrong fit recently, and it's nothing wrong with the person itself. I just don't think it was the right fit for the team. And we want to make sure that everybody that is in their role is going to gel really well together. Yeah.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: I remember right down the street, I used to have my first office that we set up. My window faced, actually, your office. And so I've watched over the years. You grow your team, but you, without question, have very strategically put people on your team just because of you. See some of these people that just add so many people and you don't know if it's the right fit.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
Last year we had three less agents and, like, less people.
This year, we're still one less than we had two years ago. Overall, two less, actually, because didn't we have another system as well? Or we've had four. So maybe we're two people less quality over quantity. Yeah. And agents reach out all the time. But we've had some big agents reach out to us recently, and we're like, we just don't want to take people on. To take people on, you have to have the right fit. It's really big for us.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: How big is your team right now?
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Nine agents, nine agents, three assistants. Yeah. And we got, like, offsite marketing people now. Wow. Yeah. So twelve total, including staff, which is small compared to the other bigger teams.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Gretchen, I'd love to hear from you, too. What's it like working with Matt?
[00:08:42] Speaker D: So I've been working with Matt for two years now. It was my first time in the two short years. Two short years. It was my first time in the real estate industry. I came from exotic cars.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:08:52] Speaker D: So I had a lot to learn. I'm in the office six days a week most weeks, and I scheduled buyer tours for Matt.
And I think going back to what Jamie was saying about having that personal interaction with our clients when it comes to my job and doing the scheduling, I think that a lot of agents are looking for a shortcut and everyone wants to automate things.
People are looking to AI, what's the best CRM? And we're really old school in that were emailing everyone individually and it's not going through a system and that's how you make the least amount of mistakes you can.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: But I think it's big too, because with scheduling now, all the companies, there's a lot of virtual assistants that can do the scheduling for you. But it's tough because if you have a seller and we have a lot of sellers that are very more hands on, we'll call it right. They're a little bit more challenging. And I don't find there's anything wrong with that. It's just that you have a lot of type A personalities in big cities that have big money and they expect big results. And I compare that to when agents talk about like, well, should I automate? It's like, okay, well, have you ever called Comcast? What's your experience? Like when you call Comcast, you have a problem, right? You get very frustrated and then you end up just being like, fuck it, I'm going to get rid of it. And so that's what I think about is like, okay, well, when somebody calls my office and if we just use Showtime's virtual assistant to set up our showings, that's who they're going to call. And then of course there's always bumps in a row in some sales. Not everything sells in a day. That could be the breaking point of why they fire us, right? And then the reason we get a lot of business is because people are like, well, we heard you guys are very personal and you're very service oriented and that's the big thing. So with Gretchen, she sets up all of her viral tours and we get a lot of zillow leads and leads from online. And these people are super needy. And I don't mean that in a bad way, but they want information. They want it now. And if you're not going to give it now, you said this earlier, they'll move on to somebody else. We get a lead that comes in, they want a tour set up in 2 hours, which I mean, that never happens, right?
[00:10:49] Speaker D: Only like every other day.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So she's able to text them right away, immediately, send them an email right away, show them that we're working on it, send a calendar, invite all within 30 seconds. And then you call somebody else and it's like, well, we'll get back to it. Maybe. I mean, we're in busy season. If you're an agent and you're trying to set up a buyer tour by yourself and you get two buyer leads in while you're on a tour that's 2 hours long, it may be 4 hours before you settle back in and catch up to. Because your first thing when you get back in 2 hours later, it's not, let me set up this buyer tour. It's like, let me catch up on my emails, write up an offer because that's business now. And then get to the buyer tours where I could be in the middle of buyer tour and somebody could text me and I forward to Gretchen and you're on it. The tour is set up in ten minutes. Yeah.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: That's huge. That's huge. I see so many agents. Exactly like you said is that I'll call somebody's number that's listed on the Internet and I'm getting an office, then I got to get to a secretary. Secretary has no idea where that person is or what's going on. And I can only imagine how hard it is to get through that. If I'm a customer trying to figure out, I just want to go see the house or I want to list my property, how do I get a hold of you? Right?
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a big problem. And for us, I think now that we're still trying to fill our listing coordinator role. But when you're setting up showings, we get shown requests from agents at 10:00 at night because they've been out all day. And then if you don't answer them by 1010, they're calling you, and then by 1030, they're blowing you up. And we're like, listen, dude, I get it that you just got home and you're catching up, but you need to give us a minute. This is an owner occupied property. We can't confirm this right away.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: So their buyers are suffering because the agents.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Because of their schedule.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: We always talk about, was it Friday night? Always say at 10:00 at night? No, from Friday. From 10:00 p.m. Till midnight. That's when we get the majority of our request.
[00:12:28] Speaker C: Thursday.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: Really?
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: People don't plan out their weeks with their clients. So, like, if you know that this client's going to want to go out on this weekend, plan out your time frames so that you're preparing yourself for the whole weekend because that's the busiest time to go out. As a real estate agent, you don't plan those out and then you're piecing together a crappy schedule for somebody and not, probably not getting into every listing they want to see.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Yeah, that's great advice. We talk about this all the time, is mapping out the week. So we know the busiest time of the week is eleven to one on Saturday. Okay. So if we get a buyer that's flexible on timing, right. And you have hot buyers that you know are going to go out over the weekend. So what we do is we schedule them now. So if it's Tuesday, I'm like, okay, let's put them at ask me throw up and post 02:00 right. So this way we already have them booked and we leave that eleven one open because we know it's going to be so booked and that's a big thing to do. And we're constantly, always trying to punt buyers to time frames that are a little bit easier to accommodate for. It's also because it's hard to get into sellers, other people's listings between eleven to one because everybody wants eleven to one. That's it. So by mapping out your schedule appropriately, it's good. But the problem is a lot of agents, they don't plan ahead. So we get all these calls at eleven or midnight on Friday night and they want to see something. Eleven, it's like you just can't do it.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: So if you're listening to this, right, here's what the biggest piece that I'm taking from it, map out your calendar. Make sure that you know in advance what's about to happen. As a mortgage lender, we reach out on Thursdays to say, hey, how's it going on search? Have you looked for anything? And we're trying to get it so that way the client will reach out to the agent because you don't want them to do that on Friday night because you're probably booked solid by that point, right?
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know where to fit you in.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: Now you're trying to figure out that schedule.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: I mean, we have a good enough team and a good enough system that we're able to accommodate stuff on our listings, which is great, but other people don't. And that's like a huge, huge problem we have. And during busy seasons you could feel, I think the reason why a lot of agents are snap on us a little bit more is that they're overwhelmed and they can't handle the pressure 100%. And then they lash out at us and then they belittle us. And then when people are like, oh, that Larry is an asshole, it's like I'm an asshole. It's like you attacked me. And this is the thing I hate about this business. They're so passive aggressive. They send these complete jerk passive aggressive texts and I'm not passive, I'm just don't share a name. Give me an example, come on. I mean, I'm not going to give any example.
[00:14:47] Speaker D: There's a lot of people out there, we're more diplomatic. By the way, Matt can yell at people, we don't.
[00:14:52] Speaker C: My favorite thing to say to somebody is whenever there's a problem, I'm like, you want to figure this out with me? You don't want to figure it out with Matt.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: Yeah, well that they are, but they're supposed to be the more the level headed ones. I mean, I am hot headed and I try to work on it not to be as much, but it's tough when you have, it's 11:00 at night and you got somebody talking down to you and telling you like this is how it's supposed to be done. This is industry standard, blah, blah, blah. And then they're just talking shit. And then the problem is I'm not passive. I just go right to aggressive and then they're like, well you're an asshole. It's like, well you just told me I was a piece of shit three times in a row and then now I lash back out at you.
[00:15:26] Speaker C: I think a lot of the things too that agents reach out about are things that are already present on listings or resources that you have on the mls. They're just not looking.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: You mean agents don't read listings?
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Yeah, not at all. It's like we specifically put in there, like please open up, go under additional information for all the property information and we take our time to get rental capped reserves. And then what happens every night of the week? And it's always post 10:00 at night. And I say this because it's not that I shut down, but it's also like ten to like midnight. I'm trying to catch up myself on other stuff and deal with problems we have and I'm dealing with people being like, hey, I'm on looking at a property at 366 carriers or a rental cap, I'm like, well that information is under additional information. I'm not on the computer right now. Okay, well, when you get to the computer, go ahead and do it. I'm like, they're like, no. Well, you should know it's on yours. I'm like, listen, I'm also not on the computer right this second. I mean, I have a lot of the percentages memorized, but every now and then, I don't. And if it's 11:00 I might be foggy because I'm a little bit tired. Okay, sure. But then they start yelling at you for it. It's like, why don't you just read the information?
[00:16:30] Speaker D: And our listing coordinator, Jessica, pays attention to every single little detail, and she makes sure it's accurate because, like, I was talking about agents looking for shortcuts. People want to find an app that gives you information about the building. We don't rely on any of that. She calls the property managers directly. She calls the owners directly to find out information firsthand first.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: I can vouch that every single deal that has had you on the seller side, you have sent me all the information that I need proactively before I've even asked for it.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: But that's what we try to do, though. We try to be as efficient as possible. So I think during busy season, if people aren't mapping out their schedules and getting the information up front, it makes it more difficult, and it makes her job harder.
[00:17:15] Speaker C: Why wouldn't somebody be proactive with a client, too? The worst thing, I would think is, like, I don't want somebody asking me a question that I don't know how to address. I should be telling them, this is what I need you to do, rather than them asking me a question to close this up.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: My favorite response is, that's not my job. Yeah, because here's the thing. You're in a negotiation, right? We're trying to all get a deal done. You're telling me that you're not willing to work with me as a team player? I will do whatever you need me to do. So if I'm asking for something, that means I need your help so I can do my job, right?
[00:17:49] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: I'll do whatever, even if it's not my job. I've even gotten calls from agents saying, hey, how do I fill out this contract?
[00:17:55] Speaker C: He told me that. I thought that was crazy.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: It's a thing.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: But here's the thing, though. But I don't mind if somebody calls us up and is like, and this happens every now and then. We get new agents. They're green, and they're like, they'll say like, hey, Gretchen, I don't know how to set up. I don't know how showing time works or I don't know how to do this. And they're more asking and they just don't know. Which is like, it's fine. But what I have a problem with is when they don't know. So then they attack you because they don't know. And that's when I have lose it a little bit because it's not once they'll call you, they'll call you like eight times in a row in a ten minute period.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: And they're freaking out because they just got to get it done, right.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Yeah, because they probably got to go pick up their kid or something like that. So because they got ten minutes at that minute, it's now my problem to tell them how to build their business. And it drives me crazy. And during businesses when you get, you have to remember, I don't get one call like that. I get like 30 calls in an hour that are like that from single newbie agents. And I'm just telling you right now, you get 30 calls in an hour and four of them are from the same person.
It's a lot.
[00:18:55] Speaker D: And it'll be a listing that belongs to an agent on our team. And Matt doesn't really in charge of that listing, but his name, he's the magic broker.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: And it says call so and so.
[00:19:03] Speaker D: But it specifically says, please do not reach out to Matt, call Jamie.
[00:19:07] Speaker C: I think the problem is with a lot of agents don't understand how to use the MLS, don't understand how to fill out contracts, and there's resources with your association to do that, that show you how to do it. I took every single one of those classes.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: We require people, we talked about this.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Earlier, that you even go and go to Chicago association realtors and just do it again.
[00:19:25] Speaker C: I still do the classes sometimes because it's good refresher what's new, what's coming on? What's something that can change up like our business to make it easier for me.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: I love it. I love it. So Matt, talk to me about the future, right? We've talked about the past, we talked about transactions, but what do you see happening this year and what's your market outlook?
[00:19:42] Speaker B: So, I mean, I think we're going to have an unbelievable first five to six months. And for the first, this is being shot right now in mid February. So it's going exactly as we planned it was going to be. I mean the market's crazy, which is good. I think by June, the summer shift is going to hit. We're going to hit that shift hard. I think from end of June till November, it's going to be a very difficult market for most people. It's an election. It's going to be a very bloody election. And people are going to be very nervous to buy. There's going to be a lot of fear mongering. And then after November, actually, I think we'll have a really good holiday season. I think holiday season will be great. But I do think there's going to be about a four month period where people are going to be wondering what they're going to do and crying and hurting. And that's why I don't take vacations till July 1, because this is when you make hay. These are going to be the best seven months we're going to have. And that's what you can do.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: What'd you cancel?
[00:20:28] Speaker B: I did. I canceled my 40th birthday. I was going to do my 40th. I mean, 40 is a big birthday.
[00:20:32] Speaker C: Isn't that crazy?
[00:20:34] Speaker B: I am kind of freaking out about turning 40. I don't know what it is. I think as we're getting closer, I don't want to call your birthday. It's March 24. March 24, yeah. And I had a whole trip planned to nap. I mean, I was doing it big. I mapped it out like eight months ago, so I wanted to make sure I had it. And then after the first, I just was like, I'm canceling this, because I knew. And it was before it even got really busy. Was it January 2 3rd? Something like that.
[00:20:59] Speaker C: Yeah, he just walked in. He's like, I'm canceling my napa trip. I'm not even going to enjoy it.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: Yeah, because here's the thing, and he's.
[00:21:04] Speaker D: Telling the truth, I believe.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Yeah, you're not going to have fun because you're just going on the phone the whole time. So I punted it till July 3 to the 7th because I normally always go down on July 4 because it's slower. And those are the sacrifices you have to make when people say, like, well, how much do you want to see during busy seasons? To me, I think Ford is a big birthday. And I'm like, I'm willing to give that up, and I'm not willing to take three days off during busy season because I want to make sure that we.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: Your commitment is relentless. I mean, you are absolutely dedicated to your craft, and we all know that about you. But to hear you say that's crazy. Most people watching would be like, well, I'm not doing that well.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: All they're thinking about is when's my next day off, make enough money to go on a vacation, et cetera. And all I'm thinking about is like, I want to take every single chance I can, every day we can to try to win during these times. Because I also know what it's like when the bills come in and we haven't had money for a couple of months to pay those, and it sucks. It's stressful. So knowing that you build up a nice nest egg in the first six months to pay for the bills during those four months, that are going to be tough. And that's one thing that agents don't understand about us, is how do you budget for the year? Right? Because, yeah, sometimes she does the check. She'd be like, wow, these are great money. It's like, well, yeah, we got to make enough money now to pay bills in November, December, when there's no fucking money coming in. Because let me tell you something, the bills keep coming. It's like the thing I always hate is January is when all of our contracts are due. So you're paying all this money for just spending and spending and spending and spending money in January. Remember October, November, December is where that money comes from. It's like your fourth quarter is always our weakest, so you're not making that much money. So I'm relying on my sales in March and April of 23 to pay for bills in January of 24. So that's what I think about when money comes in, especially for agents out there thinking about, let's plan our year budget appropriately. Right now, you should be saving for October, November, December, without question.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: And it amazes me how many people are doubling down on spending money they shouldn't be spending because they think that that's going to lead to success. In reality, it's a skill set challenge, not a budgeting challenge. Right. But it's doing the things that actually.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: It'S also don't just spend the money that you make now and go on an exotic vacation.
[00:23:12] Speaker C: I was going to say that how.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Many people we know, we see, they close a big deal and then they're instagram a week later, they're know, what is it, Greece or Santorini? I don't know, something cool.
[00:23:22] Speaker C: I think it's okay to go on vacation. I know Matt's not going to like that, but I do think that you have to financially plan out your vacations and know when it's a good time to go and not just like, just because you have money doesn't necessarily mean you should spend it. Right.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Right. And plan for the future. Right.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Deals fall apart. Stuff happens. Yeah. But I mean, I think we're also thinking some expansion on our front. So beyond this year, in the next probably twelve to 24 months, we're going to start a team in the western suburbs and one in the northern suburbs. Wow, talk about that. So we referred out about $250,000,000 in the last three years to the suburbs.
And a lot of people, let's say majority of our clients are 22 to 40. They're having kids and moving the suburbs. And then we refer them out to John Smith. And then John Smith has our client and then he gets. Because you're only as good as your last at bat. Right. So now all they remember is them. And then the problem I was having is we're referring it out to these people. And then we see these people in the know now they're coming to our, like, there's no two way street. And I kept seeing it. Now I'm like, this is just BS. And with the suburbs being more popular than the city and I think that's going to be a trend probably for at least another three years, we're just leaving a lot of money on the table.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: Is that the first time you've talked about that on camera, that you're going to western suburbs?
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Is this exclusive?
[00:24:44] Speaker C: I feel like you've dabbled like kind of hinted, but yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: I mean, we're going to have a team. We're going to have a team that specifically works Hinsville, western suburb areas. And we're going to have a team that works like Wineca and North Shore areas.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: So get ready if you're in the western suburbs. Larissey's coming.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Well, there's a new sheriff coming in town. I'll tell you that right now. I'm telling you that right now. And I'm going to crush everybody and everything like a bug because I will tell you, we are going to bring our systems to these areas and we have the clientele for it. And I'm not saying this is going to be an easy road, but within the next four to five years, we will be a top five, if not number one agent in each one of those areas as well. As well as remaining King downtown.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: Save this minute to stop and then we'll take it. Five years from now, we're going to come back.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: This is great, but I believe him. I mean, everything he's touched. He does it the right way. And I'm not kissing your ass. I'm telling you the truth is that I remember looking out my window when I was nobody, and I'm still nobody. I look out the window and I.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: See this guy and I'm like, oh, there's a real estate office there.
[00:25:44] Speaker A: I didn't know anybody in the city. I was new and watched you grow year after year after year. I'm sure there was challenges here or there, but you've consistently developed a system that is fantastic and led to growth. And now your team is some of the best in the city. It's fantastic.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: Yeah, we're determined. That's the main thing. And we like to recruit people that are determined as well.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: So there's a lot of talk about commission.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Right now.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: We're getting into some conversations about some legislation and some other things that are being talked about. I would love to hear your opinion on what you think is coming.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: Well, it's a big thing we talk about. First off, people are really nervous about losing. Like, they're going to get rid of the buyer's agents. And I talk about, like, people forget in the lawsuits that happened because buyers were unrepresented and there was nobody that had their backs. So that's when the buyer agent became something big, because not me, but old school people used to charge like six, 7%. Actually, it was 7% and they would keep all of it. And if you wanted to buy my property, you'd have to pay me money on top. Right. I don't know why legislation is attacking realtors and buyer's agents specifically because all you're doing is attacking yourself. And a lot of people are talking about low income and entry level middle class people, blue collar. They're going to be the ones hurt the worst because they don't have any money for the down payment or closing costs as it is now. You're going to tell them to have buyer's agents fees. And then people be like, well, we don't need buyer's agents. Great. Let me just start naming off some buildings. What's the difference between 401 Ontario and 400 and 405 Wabash?
401 Wabash and 405 Wabash. Tell me the difference.
[00:27:13] Speaker A: I have no idea.
[00:27:14] Speaker B: Okay, so 401 Wabash is the trump. It trades very high. So one bedroom and their average is at least 600,405. Wabash is just like an entry level building. A one bedroom there average about 275,000. Why would be the difference? You would never know that. Right?
[00:27:27] Speaker A: Right.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: But now you're going to just go on lower. One of these websites, actually, Zillow won't exist anymore because they make money off buyer's agents and there won't be any buyer's agents. So you're going to have nowhere to look up for websites. You're going to have to go to a buyer's broker's office. I'm sorry, go to a broker's office. There won't be buyer's brokers anymore. And you're going to have to pay me for my listings because I'm going to sell them with or without you. And then if I allow you to see the listings I want to show you because now I could steer you because Nar doesn't exist anymore. I could show you listings I choose to show to you and then you'll pay me extra. And then you're going to pay me a buyer's agent's fee on top of that because I want to get paid to show you stuff because I paid to get that. Then I want to pay you to show you listings because that's my time and I want a commission to take my place.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: This sounds like sense. Does this make, this sounds like when I entered the business of subprime, right? That's what you just described. You described why we got Dod, Frank. You described exactly why we have the.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: Rules that we have. But how's that good for anybody who's winning in that situation? Or we're paying out two and a half percent. I get it. Sucks. Is there shitty agents out there that sellers can be pissed about? Sure. This system isn't perfect, but it's as good as you could get. You want to pay me hourly? You talked about earlier at 1030 at night, you're talking to your wife. That's overtime. How much money are you going to charge for that call? How much money am I going to charge for buyer tours? How about when you set up buyers tour schedules at 11:00 at night and then they cancel last minute and they want you to reschedule? What do we charge for that? Zero. Is your time on zero? Are you worthless?
[00:28:49] Speaker D: I get a salary?
[00:28:50] Speaker B: No, but I'm saying, well, if we don't have any money coming in, right, you got to get paid something. But everybody else wants to get paid. I understand this. We work in a job where I could show you places for nine months. I have to pay you money because you've now said that you want a salary, right? Because you don't want to work for free. She doesn't want to work for free. Okay. And do you want to work for free?
[00:29:07] Speaker C: I do not work.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Oh, she does not want to work for free. You guys, you guys got bills. It's crazy. Okay. So they got to get paid and we have to service you, but you want me to set up all this stuff, and then at the end of the transaction, it's all done. I may work for six months for you. I get $0. Right. And that's what the DOJ is saying. Okay. Now, we're also saying is that by doing it this way, with the two and a half percent coming from the seller, it's the only way that makes sense. Okay? Otherwise, if we're going to get paid by the hour, that's going to cost way more money than two and a half percent, I'll tell you that. And I think people are pissed off because, you know, what about the $4 million sales? Why should you get two and a half percent on that? It's like in any luxury product and goods, you get paid a lot of money. You sold exotic cars. Well, you were part of exotic cars. Did people who are selling a Bentley get paid less money than somebody selling a Honda?
[00:29:56] Speaker D: It's commission based.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Oh, it's commission based. Okay. The big dogs are. Not everybody off the street is able to sell a $4 million place. Well, there's only certain people that do.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: That, to your point, right? Somebody buying a Bentley or somebody who's coming to buy a $4 million listing. They're not calling somebody who started in the industry this month.
[00:30:12] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: Typically, they're calling somebody who's been doing something for 20 years, who knows their craft, who can navigate the craft and bring that resume to the transaction so that way they can look out for the buyer. Is this a good deal? Is it not?
That is what you're being paid for. But to your point, it's not like it's always, oh, hey, I want to buy this building. And you walk in and you do it. A $4 million deal.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: There's a lot of moving parts, though, and there's a lot of stuff that goes into it that you don't realize. And for you now to eliminate a buyer's agent, we have the most listings in the city. Honestly, I'll make more money. I'll charge more for my listing. I'll charge any buyer to show it, because here's the other thing people are thinking about. 99% of listings in America are on a lockbox. We don't work in a lockbox. We're working real city. Okay. So we have to actually be there for our listings. But in middle America, you call me at 10:00 at night to see my listing. You're a random buyer, and you want to see at 09:00 a.m. On a, you know, Saturday at 10:00 or Friday at 10:00 at night. And you want to see at 09:00 a.m. On a Saturday morning. What's my motivation to get out of bed tomorrow? What do you, you paying me? Honestly, what are you going to pay me to be there?
[00:31:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: And then what's going to happen is people are going to start charging retainer fees. You want to work with me, you got to pay me $5,000 up front. Right. Because I'm not going to take you around for six months and get nothing out of it right? Now.
How many times do we take buyers.
[00:31:32] Speaker C: Out and they rent?
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:34] Speaker C: They change their mind. You make zero money.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: $0. When was the last time you went to work for a month and got made $0? When's the last time it happened?
[00:31:42] Speaker A: When a borrower decides that they're no longer going to buy.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: We're in the same book. For a consumer out there. When was the last time you went, and here's the best part, is, the way you have to really think about it is consumer. When was the last time you went to work for a month? And at the end of the month, you fucking crush it for your boss. And then at the end of the month, you're like, you know what?
I'm paying you for this, all right? I'm paying you money because my time's worth nothing. My staff's time is worth nothing. So I fucking love working here. I'm going to pay you 50 grand for working here for a month. Thank you. And I know I made you money as well, but thank you. The DOJ's case makes no sense to me because all these sellers are suing, are suing. They've already made a shit ton of money.
They bought a place for 400,000. They're selling for a million. They made 600. And these hungry hung and hippos, they're hungrier. They want more, right? Why am I paying two and a half percent on top of the 600,000 I just made? Fuck those realtors. They're the ones that made me 600. Right?
[00:32:35] Speaker A: Right.
[00:32:36] Speaker B: God forbid I talk about this all the time. This Starbucks coffee cost me $5.86. I got a grande blonde americano. $5. Do you think it cost Starbucks $5.86? No. Do you think their markup is more than two and a half percent? Yeah. Okay. But God forbid, should we talk about how much a realtor actually makes? I'm the number one realtor in Chicago. Okay? If you look at how much money I made last year and you compare it to any low end attorney, I'm not even close. Do you think I make the number one? There's a guy, his name is Ken Griffin. He works at this company called Citadel. He makes 50 billion a year. Okay.
Let's talk about some politicians. There's some politicians that are making billions of dollars a year. We're not making anywhere near that. And we're the best in the third biggest city in the country. But God forbid we get paid two and a half percent because we are fucking terrible people.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: I want to close this out and move on, but I do want to.
[00:33:28] Speaker C: Say you got them really going right.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: Those are the same people that you just listed out that are coming to you for real estate advice. That's how you put that together.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: I think the biggest problem is and why it's been being attacked and come up so much is because when the pandemic hit, all these jobs went down, right? Hospitality bars, all this stuff. And all these people got the real estate license, and nobody knew what they were doing. And it was like this perfect storm of, like, there was a lot of people who walked in. It's like, I want to buy it. And then it was like that realtor that doesn't know how to work up a contract, and then the seller is like, why am I paying this guy who hasn't showed up for an inspection, hasn't set up the tour? He showed him one random property. He's getting two and a half percent. Yeah, I agree with that. Listen, I'm not disagreeing with that.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: I think.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: I think the last couple of years, there has been some instances where some people shouldn't have got paid, that did get paid, and I can see why people are pissed. But in a general last 100 year spectrum, the average realtor does a very great, very well job. But it's recently we've been shedding a bad light, I think selling sunset, I think, million dollar listing. I think a lot of these companies or shows put us in a bad light if we're sitting around having brunch. First off, I've never been to brunch in my life, but I wish I did. And we're in $10,000 dresses, and we're talking about why jill sucks. Okay? And then all of a sudden Kuching. I did a $10 million sale, and here's my paycheck. It's like, yeah, that looks terrible, but that's not real life, Matt. I'll admit it, right?
[00:34:47] Speaker A: I've been in this industry for over 20 years. I've worked with agents my whole career. It wasn't until recently, and I've talked about this openly, it wasn't until recently that I really got to see what it is that you all do for a living because I assumed what you're talking about, you walk into a property like, hey, this is great. You want to buy it, sign here. Right? It's not that there's tactical approach. There's strategy. There's all kinds of legal ramifications. There's things that you need to be protected, but more importantly, you need somebody who knows what they're doing to protect your biggest financial asset that you're ever going to buy, especially when you don't know what you're doing.
[00:35:21] Speaker C: It's number one. That's what I say to people all the time. I'm like, you're going to take all, all of the money you've ever saved in your whole life to buy a house to live in, and you're just going to use somebody you find online that you think it looks hot or your mom's friend?
[00:35:33] Speaker A: This is what I say. This is what I say. So let's forget about the real estate transaction, right? Let's forget about it. You just got a phone call, right? It's a detective saying that you're being charged for murder. Now, I don't think you're a murderer, but what's the first thing that you're going to do?
[00:35:46] Speaker C: Call lawyer.
[00:35:47] Speaker A: Are you going to go to Groupon.
[00:35:48] Speaker C: To find your lawyer?
[00:35:49] Speaker A: No. You're going to find the biggest, baddest wolf that's going to fight for you because you didn't do this, and it's your freedom right now. I don't think that's going to happen. But why would you have that same strategy of the cheapest groupon agent and instead go get somebody who knows what they're really doing?
[00:36:04] Speaker B: And yeah, they may cost a little.
[00:36:05] Speaker A: Bit more, but they're going to save you more money in the long run. They're going to get you more money for your house, whatever it is.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: That's why.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: That's the value.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: That's a great metaphor. That is. And I always say, though, do you ever see if you got money in the bank, how much money the bank makes off your money? Every single day.
[00:36:20] Speaker A: Right?
[00:36:21] Speaker B: Where's the anarchy there? I mean, I could go on for years about all the stuff that's marked up and why real estate is actually, we should probably charge more money.
[00:36:30] Speaker D: And you know who's making money in this lawsuit is the attorney.
[00:36:33] Speaker B: Yeah, the attorneys. They're making commissions, they're making billions of dollars. Billions with a b. And we're the bad ones. It. Have you ever seen an attorney charge 1000 plus dollars an hour to what, pick up a call and it's not even them on the phone. It's when they're junior assistants.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: So I want to ask your permission to put another quarter in you because I think I got another hot button that I can't wait to hear your answer.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: Right.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: So there has been some market disruption with these ibuyer type platforms. What is your opinion on some of the open door and zillow mortgage type things coming together that are starting to come into the space?
[00:37:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, they're not coming in anywhere. They won't last. I said this in 2019 on our podcast when Zillow was on there and I told them straight to their face, I said, I buying sounds really good when the market's really hot, but what are you to going do when the market's bad? Because you guys still pay taxes, assessments, overhead costs, et cetera? And they said, we'll see. I said, here's what's going to happen is they're going to fold. The minute the pandemic hit, we went to down all those companies folded or cut costs, et cetera. There's a lot of great ideas and tech companies since day one want to get into real estate and disrupt us and take us out, et cetera. And that always works really well when there's a lot of money, but when there's not a lot of money, it fails. I'm 0% concerned about people buying things online. I'm 0% concerned about these big mortgage companies coming in and buying up all real estate, and then we're all going to work for them. I think it's all fad. Things sound good now, but guess right now people forget the economy has been amazing for almost ten years. Do you remember when 2010, when you'd want to go out to dinner and you'd ask your friends like, hey, can you go out to dinner? I can't afford it. When's the last time you heard somebody say they can't afford to go out to dinner?
[00:38:07] Speaker A: Right?
[00:38:08] Speaker B: Honestly, when was the last time there used to be 50 people applying for one job, right? Right now, everybody's bitching about, I want to make $200,000. I want to sit mine away. I want to work one day a week, and there's some companies that are paying it. This is all bullshit. I don't see any concern about it. It's not going to change anything in the future. I think home buying will change in the future of VR, and some of these cool headsets will help narrow down the search. I don't think you need to see 150 properties in person maybe anymore. Maybe it'll narrow down to 20. But I don't see these companies changing real estate long term. Yeah.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: You can't remove what you do for a living. With automation, it doesn't exist. You talked about this earlier, right?
[00:38:44] Speaker B: You're not going to spend the most money you have ever and then buy it online without ever, ever seeing it. I'm not saying some people don't do it. I've done it before. Personally. We have clients that do it. But on a big picture wise. And how many people we sell virtually, how many times do we sell a house virtually? And then they come and see it. What happens? They don't like it 50% of the time.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: Really?
[00:39:05] Speaker B: 50% of the time.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:39:07] Speaker C: Reminds me, there's this movie where I don't remember the actor, but they, like, buy a place, and then they have a friend over for dinner, and a train speeds by. What movie is that?
And they're like, oh, sorry. The realtor said this was a great deal. They didn't tell us about this.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that's my point. So we talk about this open door and all this shit. That stuff doesn't concern me at all. Okay. I'm more concerned about some of the other stuff you brought up, but this is 0% concern. Like, negative.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: Got you.
That's really good to hear. Because I think that every once in a while you have these new things that show up. It's the coolest, latest thing, and it comes and it goes. So we just kind of have to deal with it. And you adapt or you die, right? Adapt or you die. Dual agency. What is your opinion? Because there's been a lot of controversy around dual agency.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: Do you do dual agency? Yeah, we do it. I mean, what. How many times? Like, maybe one a month, maybe.
[00:39:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: I mean, it happens. We got a deal. Right now. I mean, it's just about disclosure. I mean, we're an honest guy, and I always tell people, like, I'm not making enough money off this to ruin my reputation. In fact, I make less money on dual agency than I do. So I prefer you. Not almost, but the end of day, if you want to buy it and they want to sell it, it's just like you tell me one thing, I can't sell it to them. They tell me something, I can't tell it to them. It's very simple to me. It's just there's boundaries.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: It's a great answer. I mean, that's how it should be, but that's it.
[00:40:23] Speaker B: And I'm not going to be willing to lose my reputation or my license for less money.
It just doesn't make any sense. So it's like we do to each person, and I'll have some clients be like, well, what did they say to me? I'm like, I can't tell it to you. Just like, guess what? Just like when you're telling me this not to say it to them, I'm not going to do that either. To me, it's simple. And I think if people get to know who you are, they'll trust you on that front. But I'm not saying there's not some people out there that are bad. So I can see why people don't like it.
[00:40:52] Speaker A: Sure. And it's easy to get a tinfoil hat, right? Because it's like, well, you're only looking out for your sale. This is a consistent message I hear from good agents. Right, is that. It's not about that. My reputation is more important than your one deal. My mentor in the business taught me. He goes, one deal is never worth it. Doesn't matter the commission. There's never one deal that's worth whatever's going on. Matt, I really, really appreciate you being here today with your team. It's been enlightening and awesome. I would love to close this out and have you share some advice with what aspiring agents who are following your career path but really want to learn how they could be better. What's some advice that you could give some people that are watching?
[00:41:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, why don't we start with Jamie on the deal side, what would you say is the number one thing that you think these guys should know for an agent?
[00:41:37] Speaker C: Get educated on how to do things, how to work the systems that you're in and out of every single day.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: What about having a process as well?
[00:41:44] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I live by. Templates, list, checklist. Checklist. That's literally my whole life.
[00:41:51] Speaker A: I haven't heard one. Is there any program or anything that you use specifically?
[00:41:55] Speaker C: Tons of programs that people have suggested? No. My husband says this every day. There has to be some sort of program for you.
[00:42:01] Speaker D: Got to be an easier way.
[00:42:02] Speaker C: There's not.
You could do a program, but then it'll just automate out messages to people.
[00:42:07] Speaker B: Right?
[00:42:07] Speaker C: And that's like, just like, it's almost like getting spam. Like I'm literally writing an email or text message to every single person and I just keep excels and list Google Docs. Google Docs.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: Most of us Google. Because the other thing is, if you create a system, the other people have to know how to use the system, right. So it's important that we use a system that everybody use. That's why we say apple one. Because I got a one year old that knows how, know how to get on my phone and play around with.
[00:42:31] Speaker C: Month year old knows how to do that.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: And that's the thing. Gretchen, what do you think is the best piece of advice for anybody on the buy side that you run into with these agents?
[00:42:42] Speaker D: Well, I think everyone wants to be Matt Laricey, but when it comes down to it, they don't really want to be Matt Larissey, like working seven days a week, working nights.
We're just always available. And there's agents that you just cannot get a hold of via email, via showing time, via text, call them. You just need to be available. And that's part of the industry because how many realtors are there in Chicago?
[00:43:05] Speaker C: 10,000?
[00:43:06] Speaker B: 16,000 plus actually 18,000. We'll be down probably this 15,000 soon.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: But yes, if I could say one piece thing too to other realtors, just be polite, be nice to people. Don't be rude.
I honestly just always try to be so polite and nice to people and it really does get me very long way.
[00:43:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, me too.
[00:43:28] Speaker B: I've had people make a comment and.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: They say, oh, that hilariously stuff to deal with. And I ask more questions and you find out that it's because you were a dick. Like you were mean to them. And so of course they were. I do the same thing if you're mean to me. I didn't even do anything. I'm going to respond poorly, asking the.
[00:43:41] Speaker C: Right questions to represent our client and that person just doesn't know what they're doing. That's the craziest thing.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: And then they attack you. I say, anybody that's ever mean to me, it's like, well, let's back it up. How did this even get. I don't pick up the phone. I'm like, I'm yelling at you right away. It's usually something happens that triggers me to get to that point. I actually think I'm an extremely nice, easy going person. On an overall front, do I have bad days? Yes. Okay. I could be a psychopath, no doubt. I'm a human being, but overall, I'm a pretty easy, nice person. It's just that if you attack me, if you belittle me or put me down or come at me swinging, honestly, I'm bad. I am. And if somebody says I'm a terrible person, it's because you did one of those three things. First. If you pick up the phone and it's nice to me, it's like, great. I'm here in sales. I want to get a deal done.
[00:44:26] Speaker C: Or responsiveness. A lot of people don't even respond to emails or text messages. I literally actually took a screenshot. I texted somebody literally 15 times asking him for feedback on a listing of ours.
[00:44:38] Speaker B: It's crazy.
[00:44:39] Speaker C: I called him. He's blocked me. It takes 2 seconds to text somebody back.
[00:44:44] Speaker B: Yeah. What do you say?
[00:44:45] Speaker C: You could literally even say, you know what, I'm honestly, I don't remember. But if my client doesn't, if it's not still on his radar, it probably means he's not interested. Thanks for reaching out.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:54] Speaker D: And the thing is, they're going to need to contact you sometime in the future to schedule something. Yeah.
[00:45:00] Speaker C: And then I'm going to look at that text message and I'm going to see. You didn't respond to me for 20 text messages.
[00:45:05] Speaker A: My point I want to make, and I mean this, is that anytime I've ever heard, like, friction, I ask for questions. And my experience with your team has always been fantastic. And there's friction every once in a while. Stuff happens.
[00:45:18] Speaker B: It's part of it. But if you handle it the right.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: Way and you're professional, there's a way to solve problems. Right. And I think that you lead the charge in that, regardless of getting into it with somebody.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Look, that's why I would hire you. Right.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: It's that I want somebody who's going to fight passionately for my side. Right.
[00:45:35] Speaker B: You're representing. Your thing, though, too, is that I have such high expectations for the industry and for myself that when you don't bring the a game, then I'm not going to deal with you. I heard saying one time and it's really resonated. I listen a lot, like, motivational stuff. When I run in the morning and Kobe Bryant was talking about, like, shaq was complaining because he wasn't getting the ball. And it's because Shaq missed a couple of shots. And he finally said, when Shaq was like, dude, you got to give me the ball. And Kobe said, listen, you could get it if I miss. But it's not my problem if you're not going to make the basket, I'm not giving you the ball because you're not making it, know? So he kept taking the shots. And that's the way I look at it, is I'm looking at everybody else. I'm like, listen, I'm playing at a different level. If you're not going to play with me at this level and you're going to come in and half asset and then come at me after that, then I don't have the patience for it because everybody that has a problem with realtors, it's because people are half asset. They just want to get by. They want to get a quick sale to go on a vacation. And then you come at me, attacking me, and it's like, this is, see, I'm up here. I'm not coming down to your level.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: Right?
[00:46:34] Speaker B: I hold myself to a higher standard and I expect everybody else to hold this industry to here. So my best piece of advice to everybody out there is hold yourself to a higher standard and work your way to get there. Not everybody's going to get to the top right away. I mean, it took us almost 20 years to get to the top. I mean, it was 19 years before we became number one in the city. Think about that. 19 years, okay? And if you don't hold yourself to a higher standard, then nobody else is going to hold you a higher standard. And everybody will look at us in a negative way.
[00:47:02] Speaker A: It's not just your social media. It's not just your client base. It's how you hold yourself professionally. It is absolutely everything about it that you need to make sure that you are learning, constantly researching, constantly improving, having a system that works well and is efficient. Right. And I beyond appreciate everything you've shared today. And thank you for your time for coming in.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for having the time.
[00:47:26] Speaker C: Thank you.
Nice.
[00:47:28] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:47:30] Speaker B: Thank you. Appreciate it.
