Staci Garcia:
Welcome to Signature Real Estate Finder, and I am Stacy Garcia, and I’m starting without Matt cuz he’s at the Lynn University career fair. So if you are thinking about what do real estate agents do, how do they make so much money when they don’t work every single day, nine to five and what does it take to sell a house or buy a house? Then if you go to Lynn, you’ll probably be meeting Matt and the team. And if you don’t, um, and you have questions, feel free to email me. Stacy, with an i@realestatefinder.com. We can answer any questions that you have. I have three boys that are, you know, late teenagers and I try to explain to them all the time that there are a lot of jobs that you don’t see every day or that you don’t come into contact with unless your parents did it or their friends did it.
And, um, not just the everyday jobs that you see and that people are recruiting you for, but also jobs that you might not see. And one of them would be a real estate finder, a real estate agent. What do they do? How do they do it? How do they make money? And I try, my kids see it, I saw it when I was a kid cuz my mom was a real estate agent also, but other jobs also. And I, I think it’s really great when you get to meet a whole bunch of people that do jobs that you’re not familiar with. So you can learn what you might wanna do when you’re older. And the key to being happy is to do a job that you love. I don’t always love this job and I’ll definitely give you that disclaimer, but for the most part, this is the most flexible job that I’ve ever had.
And I’ve had a lot of jobs. This is a job that you sometimes take home at night and that’s not the most fun thing, but it’s a job that if you get it right, it really paced off. So, um, I’m sure that’s true for most jobs, but some you cap out at a certain income. This job, you can make as much money as you want depending on how much you put into it. So I just wanna tell like single moms and anyone that is struggling, if you want to join our team and you wanna learn how to do real estate, this will make you independent and not stress out over money every single minute. And that has been my story. Um, I definitely came from, well I have a college experience. I went to college for 10 years, but I’m not a professor and I, I wanted to be one and I probably could still be one.
But the money is definitely an issue when you have three children, I think it’s really smart to find out what people do for a living and whether they love it. And if you wanna be interested in a certain thing and it overlaps with what that job is and you think you might love it too, then pursue that. And don’t always think that that decision has to last forever. You might change it’s a person and change what you love or you could change, um, and have a lifestyle that is different and doesn’t really work with your job. I happen to be working at F FA U and Lynn University teaching and then I ended up wor working for my husband and with him, uh, in a limousine service that was 24 7, 365 and never ever took a day off. And that did not work for me. So this is the kind of job that you can say, okay, I have all my, all my deals are headed towards contract.
I can take a month off if I wanted to and if you can afford to. And I think that is really important to keep you, you know, sane. You have to have, um, happiness in your personal life and not feel like you are a slave to your job. And that’s one thing that I know that people in Europe do that’s different than here is they don’t work to be happy and to live. They just work and then are happy. And they, they keep work to a small amount. They don’t work for things. They work so that they can afford their life. And that’s a big difference here. I don’t need to be independently wealthy, I just don’t wanna worry about money all the time. And this job affords me that peace of mind. And Matt, Matt wanted to say, uh, you know, tell a few things about real estate since it’s just me.
One of the things about real estate that I like is that I have, I’ve been in real estate for a really long time prior to joining my team and getting my license because my mom was a real estate agent and prior to that she was also a teacher. Obviously teaching doesn’t pay and it’s, um, when she was a teacher in Pennsylvania, she had the best students ever and best experience ever. And but also was married and had, um, only to bring in half the income for the family. And when we moved she couldn’t maintain that, be a teacher here and still be a single mom. So she became a mortgage broker and then also a, uh, real estate agent. And my mom did real estate for since 1986 to 2006 without me really, um, not having my mom present, for example. She was always with me.
We went to see colleges, we did a bunch of fun things all the time. And I never once felt like her job was taking up all of her time. And uh, I think that’s really important cuz that’s the main goal why I did it. I wanted to be with my kids and I wanted to go to their school events and I wanted to participate in their lives and be present. And this job allows that to happen. And when it doesn’t, then I, then I slow it down a little bit. You know, I definitely don’t want to be the mom that says, wait one minute when I’m done, wait, I’ll talk to you when I’m done and then is in a bad mood and never gets done. I want, I want you. Uh, it’s really important to prioritize and this job allows you to have the luxury of prioritizing your life and, and still making money.
And so when, when it comes to the actual job, you can, you can decide when you wanna work. The only time you can’t decide is really during the inspection period when people are coming at you all hours of the day or during an open house when you’re trying to actually sell the house. And, and maybe the, the last part is when people really want to buy and they are anxious and they want all of your time, but you put the limits on um, on what time you’re gonna allow people to use your time. And my mom used to say yes to everything all the time. She never said no to anyone. And I thought, well, I wish she would say no to people cuz then they would imagine that she’s busy aside from real estate and they would value the time that they are using her time and she would see more valuable and more, um, more important than if she said yes and she was there available to them all the time.
And so I tried to explain that to my mom that if you always do things for people and you always say yes, then they’re not gonna appreciate your time because you’re never not available. And I think that was the biggest mistake that she made in her job. And also now when I do this job, I completely agree, it’s hard to say no. And there are times when I don’t say no when I want to because I really want to make the sale or I really want to keep my clients or I really wanna make them happy. And I guess unknown caller that is, sorry, that is, uh, one of the things about real estate, you have to know when to say when. So, um, as far as doing the job, there’s, there’s a work-life balance. Sometimes mine’s not even, but I know that it’s going to be when, as soon as I get my deals under contract, then I’m gonna say, okay you guys, let’s go to a hockey game to my kids and um, let’s do something.
And then my mom did do that, but there were a lot of times where she was run down by her own clients. Um, and one more thing that I think is important. My mom never chose her clients. Uh, her customers used to come to Boko West and, and there was a round robin kind of situation where they all were up at a certain time. So the first person that was up, then the next one, the next one, and they all got a customer as they walked in the door. Uh, that’s fine and everything, if you are, you know, you have to work in your office and get the newest client and so forth, you need the customers. I happily don’t wanna be in that, that situation. I don’t wanna walk, I don’t wanna work in an office, number one, that’s a big deal for me.
I don’t wanna be around people <laugh>, even though I like people, I just don’t want them near me. And I am notoriously, um, I’m a hypochondriac so I don’t wanna get sick. And I’m a germaphobic hypochondriac and I think everyone that I work with knows it. So I stay home when I’m sick and I don’t want people around me who are sick and I don’t wanna feel uncomfortable if someone comes into a place where I’m working and says they wanna work with me and they’re sniffling and sneezing. And this was way before Covid. So I’m a, I’m a person who likes to keep people at a distance so I don’t get sick. Cuz once I get sick, I’m down for the count and I don’t get better. So, and I think there are, as a whole population, though, I could talk about this for hours of people who are scared to get sick, even if it’s cold, because it lasts for a really long time when you have, uh, other issues.
So my mom used to be on a round robin kind of situation in Boca West, and she was, if the more customers that she needed or wanted, she would stay in the office. And when she, it was her turn, she would get people who walked in the door. Those were sometimes people that weren’t really buyers. And I still get those people, but it’s easier to filter them, filter them out. You can tell that they’re not real buyers because they don’t only wanna go out when it’s raining and they only wanna go out when they have something, you know, scheduled, but it fell through. And now they wanna see whatever’s going on, but they’re not really, most people you can tell when they’re actual buyers and when they’re just sightseeing. And there was a long period of time where my mom showed Boko West constantly to people who were never buyers.
They just wanted to see other houses while they were in Boca West visiting or staying. And that really wears you down. And in my life, I’ve learned one thing about that is that I don’t wanna be a, I’m not a tour guide and we talked about this in the beginning of our podcast a long time ago. I don’t wanna show property to people who aren’t buying. So I do, um, ask for proof of funds, which is a document from the bank that says how much money is in their account, you know, or that there’s enough money in the account to buy a certain, um, property at a certain price. And I say, um, I need your proof of funds if you wanna go to see property. And then they, they really don’t wanna give it to you if they’re not gonna see property and buy it because they think that that’s a lot to ask.
If you have an ask like that and they think it’s big, then they’re not real buyers in my opinion. If they really wanna see something and buy it, it’s a piece of paper. They could even print out the bank statement. But I always ask for a banker’s letter that says that they could be, they can afford what they’re looking for. If you don’t, you could easily get used, um, by people who are bored. And this is Florida, so there’s tons of gorgeous, amazing mansions for sale that are, that will blow your mind. But that’s not my job to be a tour guide. And I think that I put that across when people are, uh, when I meet people and they say they wanna see, you know, this, that, and the other properties, I vet ’em out so that I don’t have to, um, waste my time.
I want to get paid. And you don’t get paid unless you close the sale. And so I think you have to put your feet down or, um, you have to be, uh, an a somewhat aggressive person to say, this is my job. If you wanna just, just see houses all day and just pretend you’re rich and so forth, then I guess if you wanna write me a check right now, <laugh>, we can go see houses and make it fun. But if not, I’m not here to be a p tour guide. And a lot of new agents kind of get stuck and they don’t know when to say, this is my time and my time is valuable and I would like to work for you if you’re a real buyer. And if you’re not a real buyer, then thank you. And when you do decide to buy, you have my number.
And then just stand strong. Uh, people can get worn down and people down here have a really good, easy way of ripping a real estate agent apart. They’re not, uh, it’s not the career that people love to, um, embrace. And I’ve been told many times by people you know, that live near me and, and neighbors and other people that real estate agents are paws gum. And I absolutely love it because it eventually, um, they’re gonna need a real estate agent to wade through the mess that they create by doing the real estate job themself. But it’s not for everyone. This job, it does take a lot of, um, I wanna say a, a backbone to, to tell people when, when you wanna say no, you say no. And I get beat down probably once per uh, transaction where I’m like really tired and I just wanted to close.
And if you’re out there and you’re a real estate agent and you’re wondering, is this job for me? I I think that even the most successful real estate agent, uh, and even Matthew will stay, there’s always a time during, um, this job that it seems like it’s not for you. And probably that happens in every person’s job, no matter what they do. I know that I would be happiest being a professor and I loved public speaking and I loved talking to students, even students in the, um, Florida Atlantic University education program, which is, uh, it’s every other or every third weekend at F AAU for executive, for executive level, uh, executive mba, um, that they’re searching for or they’re trying to achieve their mba. So it’s the executive program. So it’s for people that are in the market and who are already working. And I love talking to them as well.
They’re clearly trying to better their lives with a degree and maybe they’re not happy with what they’re doing currently or maybe they wanna make more money with a degree. And I, I loved teaching that, um, this job is less exciting. But you know what, sometimes it’s really more satisfying when I get paid and I know that I did the work and it’s, I feel it’s a personal achievement. And one of the things I wanted to discuss while Matt’s not here, is how thankful I am to be working on my team with Matthew. So I’m gonna just dive into that for just a second. And I wanted to not praise Matt and while he is not here, but also explain it cuz I know he is humble, that when you work at this job, you’re working by yourself and you’re doing everything by yourself and there’s not a person kind of in your background saying, here, do this, do that.
But when you work on this team, you have a bunch of people and you can ask any one of them as a resource, should I do this or should I do that? What would you say I should do right now? Um, how does this work? What does this mean? Can you answer this question for me? What should I write here? All of these things are questions and things that come up because this job is never the same two days in a row. So for all of the years have been doing it. Now as a real estate agent, I’ve never had just a transaction that I never needed help with or a question I just, I went through without a single thought about asking anyone else anything. I’ve always had a question, something always came up cuz it’s constantly, um, changing. And I think that’s what I like about it, is that it’s kind of challenging because if it was boring, I probably wouldn’t like it.
And one of the things I like is that you can ask someone on your team or Matthew, um, a question. So I do ask, I text him questions every day and not just to discuss on this podcast, but we ended up discussing most of them. I text him questions that sometimes he has heard before and he’s thought of or maybe he hasn’t heard before and he wants to talk it out. And I respect always what he has to say because we always have different opinions on things and we can toss ’em back and forth. But Matthew’s also an attorney and I’m not, so I appreciate the, um, an attorney’s perspective on what we’re talking about. Sometimes I know that this job is, it will beat you down and it’s not because you’re doing it wrong, it’s because people take advantage or you’re just tired. There’s a lot going on and you have a real life also besides the people that you’re helping.
And there might not just be one party that you’re helping. You could be har helping five people buy homes or sell homes at the same time or 10. And if it’s just you, I it’s a, it’s, um, it’s like juggling a whole bunch of balls in the, in the r at the same time. And one of the things that I think if you’re doing it alone, it gets overwhelming. So that’s why I’ve talked in the past about how I group my transactions all together, uh, in a time period. So if I have two transactions and they’re both heading towards open houses, then I do ’em at the same time or on the same weekend if they’re heading towards trans, uh, inspection periods, I try to make them line up so that I don’t have to remember too many dates, even though I could easily look in the computer on my CRM or on my, um, total brokerage, which is our computer software.
But I like it. I like to know, like yesterday was the end of inspection period for two properties I’m selling. And then now we’re in the home, home straight like the headed towards home base on a, on a, a grand slam. And in my world, and I have two properties now I have three properties heading towards closing, but one already was headed that direction and now I don’t worry about anything really until the very end when right before closing, I make sure everybody’s got their, um, stuff lined up the way they should have. And I think that if you, you know, in my world I like to line things up, maybe other people like to scatter things out so they’re not all at one time. And when you’re doing it, you’re a one man show unless you have a team that you can ask help for.
So I wanna tell a story real quick about how my team helped me, um, do a job that you couldn’t do if you were just one person. And it’s, it’s a, it’s a great, uh, it’s a great reason to join a team, but it’s just 1, 1 1 story when there are oh, a million stories. But I’m gonna tell you real quick. So I had a client in town that had found Matthew through Zillow and he had been doing Zillow ads and then he gave me the lead. I had been talking back and forth with the person via email and sending him properties and he came to town, he wanted to see, told me in advance, he only had one day and he wanted to see 10 properties. I lined up all the properties to show, gave them all about 20 minutes each. And I printed out all of the, uh, listing sheets, put ’em in a, a a twice a one packet for me and one packet for him in the order of which we were gonna see them.
I got his driver’s license, I took a picture of it, I sent it to my team and then I went to meet him because I don’t know if you’re gonna get killed here, at least they know who you’re with. And then, um, and you know, just remember women always do that so everyone knows who you’re with when you’re meeting someone cuz it’s not that safe. You can’t always assume you’re meeting someone that you don’t know. Anyway. So I meet him and we see the first house and it’s nice and he thinks, okay, this is nice, but I don’t, I haven’t seen the second one yet. I said, okay, well just go to the second one. We see the second one, we see the third one, and we’re driving her all around, he’s following me and we get to the fourth one and he decides, well, you know what, let’s put an offer in on the first one.
I said, okay, if I were just one person, I could not write that offer right at that moment, but I’m not one person on a team and my team has my back. So they’ve already got the driver’s license of the person I’m with. I say, here’s the property. And then they write the offer for the, you know, for this amount at this much inspection time, um, cash deal, all I tell them all the things that I need in the offer and they’re writing the offer. While I’m at the fifth property, I get to the six property, the offer is ready to be signed, he signs the offer electronically and we go to the seventh property. So now my, the whole, the ball is moving on the first property and I’m still showing property. You can’t do that if you’re not with other people in your team that are, that have your back.
And anyone on my team knows I’ll write an offer for them and I will go show a property for them. I’ll have an open house for them. I’ll do the opposite. If they can’t do something, I’ll do it depending on what it is, I’m sure that I could do it and if I’m available and, and the way my team works is whoever’s available does whatever the other person can’t do. And now that there’s so many people on the team and we’re all aligned, then we have this ability to be like nonstop production. And just like in any other job when there’s a team, you get more done. I don’t see my team ever <laugh>, especially with Covid, but I totally appreciate them. And I, I know that like when an, when an offer goes out or when a uh, when a a person on my team is doing something for me, I completely appreciate them and I would do the same for any one of them because I know what they do for me.
So if my, if if someone on my team needs me to show property and they’re out of town, I show property, it doesn’t, I never say no. And I love when people never say no to me and I don’t, I don’t mean never say no. And like I said in the beginning, and wear yourself down. I mean, never immediately say no as an impulse. Say, okay, let me see if I can fit that in. Okay, yeah, I can do that and then be open-minded and that makes the team work so much better. And so I appreciate so much my team because I can do more than one job at one time. And I don’t just have one buyer and I have three sellers and I have couple buyers coming in and, and buyers in town that always are looking for this job is, it’s, it’s a whole bunch of things going on at one time.
So if it seems like your real estate agent is not doing a good job, you might wanna just politely ask them if they have other listings or they have a bunch of buyers, what do they have going on? A lot of people ask me, I don’t, I wanna sell my house, but you seem really busy. And I’m laughing because I’m like, you know what? I am busy but that doesn’t mean I can’t sell your house, number one. And the reason I am busy is because people like you let me sell your house. So, um, let me, let me try to sell your house. And it’s not just me. There’s a huge team behind me that really cares about whether I’m successful or not and they want me to rock and roll and I’m ready to go. I know I say no if there’s something I don’t wanna do.
Definitely. Or if I something I know I can’t do I ask, you know, someone else on my team if they’re better at it. One thing I’m really serious about is I don’t wanna do a job that is out of my area because then I’d have to travel and that’s less time for me and my kids. So I try to stay in Boca or Parkland and now and, uh, coconut Creek, Deerfield, Delray kind of in the area. I don’t, I don’t have a problem taking a listing out of town, but if it’s gonna be go and show it all the time, I’m the person that does it in person. So I need to know that it’s gonna be worth my while. And I definitely would do it if I have a relationship with my client and I know that they appreciate it. If it’s anyone else, no.
So you choose this kind of job that you want, you set limits on the things that you feel like uncomfortable doing or that you’re out of your, uh, area or that you just don’t wanna do. And it’s really important to know when to say no and you can’t do something. Matthew always says under promise overdeliver. And that is really important. You always want people to be, um, happily surprised that something went their way and not disappointed that you over promised and underdelivered. So I always want my clients to be happy. I always want them to feel like they got the best possible results working with me and that they could refer me to whoever they know that’s buying also or selling. And that’s how I do my job. I don’t do it for the one time, uh, transaction. I definitely am looking forward to the future.
I know that when my mom was doing real estate, she had, um, her, her first transaction was, would be the parents buying a house then that she had the kids buying their houses. And it just was a, a lifetime of people that she worked with. She had recurring transactions, eventually they wanted to sell their house and downsize or they wanted to get a bigger house after their first house. And so a lot of my mom’s clients became her friends and that lasted a 30 years and I think it’s, it’s very awesome. One of her, the her first client ever asked me to sell her house, um, that my mom helped her buy had 30 years before or more than 30 years before. And I was, I was in target when she called me and asked me to sell her house. And I was crying because it was so, it was so full circle for me, um, to do something like that.
And so I know that people think of this as a job and they do it and they’re either unhappy or overworked or you know, whatever it is, it should be something that you enjoy doing. And I do enjoy doing it. I love the search. So a lot of people enjoy talking to people, being in person, doing an open house, that sort of thing. My favorite part of the whole, uh, real estate experience is doing the search, which I do at home all the time and I’m a bit obsessive about it. So I used to do word words with friends and I did mind games to keep my mind busy. My mind game of choice is always to find the property that people are looking for, that are looking to, to buy. And the people that I work with are investors. And so I’m constantly looking for the perfect purchase.
It’s not easy now because obviously everything’s overpriced in our area and most of the um, properties that are coming to market are renovated. So it’s not that often that you see an original owner property that needs work. And if you have one, please contact me cuz that’s what my buyers buy for cash and with a quick close. So, um, definitely if you know someone with an original owner house or with a house that needs work, a handyman, whatever it is, contact me 5 6 1 2 3 9 1 4 4 9 or Stacy with an iat real estate finder.com. So I spend a lot of time doing the search, that’s why I always know what’s available. In fact, I’ve done done the search for so many years all the time that I recognize houses when they come back to market renovated and I know what they sold for cuz I remember these strange facts. I know what they sold for when they were purchased, you know, three or four years ago or last year and what they’re selling for now. I recognize them and now that I get a little obsessive about it, but not in a bad way, in a good way as I recognize houses that are being sold, renovated. And I love that cause I’ve been in Boca since 1986. Matt or Matthew.
Matthew Maschler:
Hi everybody. Okay, I’m sorry I couldn’t join you still in school or graduating and wanna get their estate license so bit, see if they wanna stay. They’re graduation to meeting. I’m meeting a lot of people, about five people who are actually taking their real estate class right now. Oh, nice. So yeah, so I, I’ve given some advice about, uh, what to do, uh, to prepare for the, especially, uh, taking the class online is uh, can be a little difficult and challenging. So I have some strategies on what to do between class and taking the state exams and then offering them, uh, the ability to, uh, join, um, signature, uh, once they get, some of these are getting, getting their license for a specific reason they wanna shoots or real estate in their family business. Um, and I help with, uh, what it’s that they, um, they do.
So, um, so it’s really interesting someone, me and I said, well, it’s all about connections and networking. Uh, you know, as a broker I’m not looking for people who wanna buy or sell houses. I’m looking for people who wanna real estate agents, so around leads email follow up, um, and see if, uh, they want, um, get their real estate license or join signature once, uh, once they do have their license. So, um, it’s definitely a productive, my goal, obviously get estate agent, I was certainly, uh, do this again next year. There’s, uh, some other real estate companies, um, here as well. Um, I got my pitch down
Staci Garcia:
Pretty,
Matthew Maschler:
Pretty good. Yeah. Um, I never plan on what I wanna say before I say it. No, I know. And um, and yeah, so things are good. I didn’t realize was, I forgot about the conflict between, uh, Tuesday podcasting day and the Tuesday, but I’m very happy to be here. I’m Neil and, um, down on the way here. Oh no. So we Ubered, we Ubered, we left the car in a parking lot and Ubered the rest of the way.
Staci Garcia:
Wow. Well I hope you find somebody fun,
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. Yeah, definitely have a lot of, uh, I really like, I’m very impressed with, uh, students here. Um, it’s interesting to some students who are, you know, dressed up for the career, very eager. Some students who are, you know, probably curiosity, right? Just been talking to the, the marketing majors doing social media marketing and trying of uh, if I have any for, uh, an intern I’m than getting them to, um, getting other than getting them
Staci Garcia:
Well, sounds busy.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Yeah, it’s very busy. Um, the first hour was we were crushed and then Little’s 10 30 12 Thirty’s 1145 now. So we’re in the second hour and it’s, uh, it, it’s weird. It’s, it’s more people but less busy. Right. If that, that somehow makes sense.
Staci Garcia:
Well that’s good. Find somebody cool.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. So, uh, yeah, that’s what we’re, that’s what we’re looking to do.
Staci Garcia:
Okay, well I’ll let you go do your thing and uh, all
Matthew Maschler:
Right, thanks, thanks for taking podcast Weth, right?
Staci Garcia:
I know maybe we’ll always we’ll all show up. All right. Yeah. Thanks Matt. Yep.
Matthew Maschler:
Thank you. You got
Staci Garcia:
It. Bye-bye. I wanted to finish out with one more thing that Matt made me think of is that I just told my kids this too. The job that you choose right out of college is not the job that you are stuck with for the rest of your life. And I love that it might seem clear to some people and not clear to others. So I know I didn’t know what I wanted to be or do and I wasn’t sure what I liked or what would be fun. And I did a whole bunch of different jobs and of course there were fun jobs and there were great jobs that made money and some of them were the same fun and good and great money, but they weren’t forever. And so one of these, uh, the things about real estate is you could get your license and not do this job full-time.
It could just be something that where you refer to real estate agents when you get somebody who’s looking and you’re friends with them or you met them or you know them, or it’s a family member or a neighbor and you refer them to a real estate agent and then you get a piece of the money that they make when they work with the client that you’re sending. And when the client closes, you get paid for not doing anything at all. So, um, in some respects it’s a great license to get if you have a big circle, um, a networking circle because you don’t actually have to do the job. You can refer to someone and you can say, this is the best person they help me, or this is the person that I would definitely work with. If, if you wanna connect you, all you have to do is make the connection between two people and you make money.
And so there’s not a lot of jobs where you can do, well, you can get residual income on life insurance or something like that, but in this situation you can make a connection and all you have to do is make a call to Matt or to someone on the team and you get income without doing anything at all. And I can tell you it feels great to get a check without ever, without ever showing the property or doing an open house or doing anything at all. All I do is make a call to someone, whether it’s someone out of our area and I’m referring real estate, um, client to them or even someone in our area. I referred, uh, last month in December, I referred to another agent in my, in my company to, to take over, uh, a client that they would know more about, uh, an over 55 community that, uh, agent closed the property with my client and I didn’t do any work at all.
And I made a commission. It was the best money I made. Cause I didn’t do a thing except call the other agent and say, do you mind working with these people that they’re looking to buy in your community where you specialize? And sometimes I have a feeling that they’re gonna get a better experience with the person who specializes in that property rather than working with me where I’m trying to find out all the information that I can. I know for a fact, and I I’ll vouch for this one anywhere, the person who lives in the neighborhood knows the most. So I don’t live in every neighborhood in Boca, but I can tell you I’ve lived in over 20 places in Boca Raton and I know those neighborhoods better than anyone else. And to sell them, I’d have no problem telling you all the pros and cons.
And I think in my neighborhood where I am now, I am the best person qualified to tell you all the pros and cons about living there. I can tell you what every other property is worth, what every property is sold for, what’s on the market, what’s what should be coming soon. Um, so the person that’s hyper local to wherever it is that you’re, um, looking for is the person who knows the most. Maybe it’s not the most about the market, but it’s the most about the actual location. They’re gonna know whether your house is in a flight, um, pattern or if you’re, there’s a train nearby or if there’s, uh, a bus stop that you don’t know about or there’s people living in the woods behind it, they’re gonna know every every good thing in every bad thing. And that’s why I choose to be the expert of my own community.
And I sell that, that fact I, and I look for properties where I’ve lived because I know them the best. And, um, and what I was going to say is that, uh, if you’re not doing the job and you’re just handing off the referral, you don’t have the pressure of actually having to know all of the job. You just made the connection. It’s really a good way to get a feel for real estate without actually doing the job, especially if you have a, a lot of connections. I’ve told my kids, um, you could get your real estate license and then anyone that you meet at Palm Beach State or F AAU or anywhere else, if they’re looking for a place, I’ll just take the referral and they get paid. But you have to have your license to do that. And by the way, to get your license, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist.
Um, not everybody’s great at testing and that’s why they have, uh, the schools that you go to or you can learn, you know, online. But I did a one week course at Gold Coast. I did it, it was eight to five I think, every day. And then Sunday was the Gold Coast test. And I passed it barely, but, and I’m not a great test taker. And then I went to take the state test in person and I passed it. And you don’t get to find out how you did, you just know whether you pass or fail. And I passed it. And then the next day, I think it was the next day or the day before it might have been, I had two people, one wanted to list her house with me and one wanted to go see a house before I was even like, the ink was dry on my test.
And I was like, wow, this is awesome. I, I’m on fire and I did a, I got a listing and I did an open house and I had no idea what I was doing, but I had a whole team to come in and help me and say, here, do this, do that. Sign this. Let’s read this contract. Let’s get a listing agreement in place. Let’s, let’s print out listing sheets and put them at the listing. You know what I mean? Let’s schedule all your open house and here’s what you, here’s a checklist of things to do. Matt’s big on a checklist, we have tons of them and they just help you remember what the things are that you need to have done or in place or lined up so that you have everything correct. Um, so I can’t emphasize enough. If you want, just get your, get your license and you might find out it’s not for you.
But then you can still make money by referring whoever it is that wants to buy or sell. I mean, you could be down in Boca making money without really doing anything at all except referring real estate agent, real estate buyers to a real estate agent. So I definitely recommend it and, and don’t think that you have to do this job. You don’t. You just could make the connection. And one of the things that’s most important to me and what I, I feel like is most my valuable asset that I have is that I have a huge network and I’ve been building my network for like, I wanna say let’s say 30 years of people, um, I’ve stayed in contact with and they know that I’ve done a bunch of different jobs, but they know what I’m doing now. So I make them aware of what my expertise is and become the source, uh, that they want to come to, to get, you know, whatever it is.
So if they want to sell their house, they know that my network is huge. One of my valuable assets to people is not necessarily my knowledge, but it’s my network. So I know that people say this all the time, but my network is large so that people know if they’re gonna list a house, a lot of people are gonna find out about it if they list with me. And that’s 10 times more if you go with Matthew because he also has a huge network that’s way bigger than mine. But if you’re on a team, you don’t just have the network power of yourself or at Matthew, you have the whole team and that way people that know, friends of friends and so forth, they’re gonna find out about your product. If it’s your house that you’re listing or um, you know, the search is gonna be 10 times larger.
So one of the things to take away from today is try to find something that you love to do and do it, it might not be real estate forever, but it’s an easy way to make money if you get licensed and refer clients to others like me, <laugh> and I definitely will take your referral. And I do do the same thing. I refer to another, uh, agent or any agent in my company that I think could do it better if I’m busy. But also remember, it’s not the only job in the world and you might wanna try it and not if you don’t love it or like it go do something else. But then remember you can still refer and keep your license going. So that means to do continuing education. I think it’s every two years or whenever it is to keep your license active, which isn’t that hard to do.
You can hang it anywhere and it doesn’t cost money to do that. You don’t actually have to do the job to keep the license. And um, another thing is to think about when you’re doing the job, think about who you wanna work with. You might not see these people ever. I barely ever see Matt, I see ’em on Tuesdays. I don’t always see the rest of the team. Um, I work for myself in my house and I am with my clients more than I’m ever with my team, but my team is one text away and I ask them things, you know, or they ask me things. And I think being on a team keeps you going. Cuz if you don’t, if it’s you by yourself and you are a solo, you might lose your your way and you might feel overwhelmed if you have no one to ask questions to or no one, uh, to help you.
Like I did when I was showing 10 properties and I needed an offer written on the first one. Um, so I definitely recommend working on a team. I love our team because we don’t have to ask desperately, please can you help me? Um, it seriously is one question and five people are right there to help me. And I know I’m one person that’s right there to help any new agent on our team. And that’s one thing I also love on our team. We have new agents like Matt’s trying to meet people today at Lynn University. I love helping new agents. I don’t want them to get, um, turned off towards real estate If it doesn’t work out within the first week, I want them to know that it gets better. And real estate’s like pushing a car. It’s really hard at first, but then it starts rolling and then it starts rolling really fast and then you just gotta keep up with it.
So a lot of people come up to me and tell me, oh my God, you’re doing so well. Well it took me a long time to push this car and it’s actually rolling really fast and I’m just trying to keep up with it. And I love it cuz it’s every day it’s something different and I’m always busy, but if I wanted to take a break, I could because I have my team and I also can schedule things on my own schedule. So that’s another benefit to doing the job. Um, try to keep it so that your life work balance is still intact at the end of the day, uh, because it’s just makes, it makes your life easier when you know that you have priorities. My priority is not my client. Um, probably would be, you know, if my client was paying the bills and everything and I was so desperate.
But at some point my priority started this way to get into this job. My priority started as it’s gonna be me and my family and my kids so that I can be present in, in their lives. And then I’m gonna do this job at every minute that’s not occupied by me and my kids. And so this job has allowed me to get that done. Not many jobs do. And that’s one of the things that, um, attracts, you know, people to do the job. It’s not just because of the money or because it seems fun to show houses. It’s because you can do it when you need to do it and still do the hockey game or the school. Uh, you know, the, all of the basketball games and all the football games, my kids were in everything and all of the band concerts and everything that you go to and still do this job at the same time without feeling like you gotta take time off or you’re losing out at work.
So I think that I’ve covered a lot of stuff. I think I just remember that real estate is an option and especially like I lived here since 1986. One day I’d like to move and, and do winters in a colder place. So if you have a real estate opportunity in Colorado or Utah, I would take it, but I still would have to know everything there is to know about wherever I live because then I would feel confident selling it. And that’s what, that’s what it is all about. If you don’t know enough, find the knowledge and learn it. And I’m hoping that there would be another team in another place that I could join because I would, I would definitely wanna be part of a team and not work on my own. Um, because I want to get the knowledge that they already have. I don’t need to reinvent the wheel wherever I go.
I know that someone already has done it and they do it the best. I wanna work with that person and glean the knowledge that they have. And that’s kind of why I work with Matt. Matt and I are friends and I did refer a ton of stuff to him and he said, sta, why don’t you get your license? If you got your license, you’d have made all the money already. And cuz all the work that you refer to me is so crazy, you would’ve made a ton of money. And I was like, Hmm, maybe I should do that. But I kept putting it off because it seemed like a hard job that my mom didn’t like. And then when I thought about it, I thought, you know what? He’s right. I know that one year my mom made $80,000 in four months and I was turning down that opportunity by giving him all the work without getting paid cuz I didn’t have my license.
I was turning down the opportunity to get paid for doing nothing. So I got my license, but as soon as I got my license, everything else started to fall into place and everybody asked me to work for them and sell my house and buy me a find, find me a place to buy. So it kind of was a natural fit. Um, it might be the same for anyone else or it could just be a part-time thing, but whatever it is, just know that it could not be forever or it could be forever. For me it feels like a totally natural fit and I’m glad it worked out. I know that now when I choose to work with a certain real estate agent based on a transaction that I’m doing, if they only work part-time, I get cuz I think, well, you know what? They either don’t know what they’re doing or they don’t really, they’re not dedicated to do this transaction for the whole part of their day.
And I do judge in a way, people that only do real estate part-time unless they’re so good that they need to take off for a reason or they’re so good that they don’t need the money. But either way, I, I definitely want someone to work with me who’s gonna always be available and to get back to me in real time quickly. So, um, there’s a lot of pros and cons for a part-time agent. Either way though a bunch of different angles that you can do if you, uh, wanna try real estate. And you know what, if you have real estate questions, ask me and Matt, um, come in and talk to us and, um, maybe you could join our team. Thank you for listening to Real Estate Finder. This is Stacy Garcia and I hope you have a great day.
Speaker 3:
The future looks bright and the storms pass by the sky’s dog. Blue. When it’s almost that time, light shows cameras flash when I pass living in the moment. Forget about the past. They saved the best for last Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp turns, gotta keep pace while the hands on the clock turns hot Sticks. Five star real estate. I run a show. You can tell the boss center place electricity, energy, vibrate. I’m always on time. Even if I’m late, I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the same for you. My got a real clear. If you don’t know the time, I’ll give you a clue.
Speaker 4:
You know what time, you know what time, you know what time Its, you know what time, you know what time, you know what time is, you know what time. You know what time. You know what time. Its, you know what time. You know what, you know what time it is.
Speaker 3:
You know what time Its, you know time. Its, you know what time. It’s Matthew Mania. The time it says, you know what time its, you know whose time it’s, you know what time It’s Matthew Mania. The time it says, yeah. Got show scared, can look. We’re not afraid of the big bad walk. First comes the right.
