Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, real estate broker with Signature Real Estate Finder in the great state of Florida. And, uh, my co-host, Stacy, is not with us today. Uh, she is showing and closing and taking care of all kinds of, uh, real estate deals, and, uh, she’s gonna come back with some fantastic stories for you. Uh, but I have a very, very special guest, uh, today. I invited, uh, my good friend, uh, Dale Doyle, uh, to come speak with you today. Uh, hello Dale. How are
Dale Doyle:
You? I’m good. I am very happy to be here. I’m looking forward to the meeting.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. So, uh, Dale is the, uh, senior instructor at the Signature Real Estate School. Is that your title? Senior instructor? Yeah.
Dale Doyle:
That’ll work.
Matthew Maschler:
That’ll work. Vice President,
Dale Doyle:
President <laugh>. Just pick one.
Matthew Maschler:
So here at the Signature Real Estate Companies, uh, we actually have a real estate school. It’s a fully accredited school licensed with the, uh, state of Florida. And, uh, and Dale does, uh, are you the only teacher? There’s another teacher.
Dale Doyle:
I’m the only one at this point that does any of the, the
Matthew Maschler:
Classes. Classes and the type of classes that we offer is, uh, well, the, the, the, the most important one is called FR one, right? Yes. What is, what does that stand for?
Dale Doyle:
Florida Real Estate Commission. Okay. One.
Matthew Maschler:
And that is the class that you need in the state of Florida to become a real estate agent, um, right? Yes. The easiest description for it, fr one and FR two is, is there a refractive
Dale Doyle:
That’s, that’s the broker’s course.
Matthew Maschler:
That’s the broker’s course. So, uh, you know, sometimes we talk about the difference between an agent and a broker. Uh, I am a broker. I’m the broker of Signature Real Estate Finder. Uh, and that means that, um, I have agents that work for me. Uh, technically, uh, the, the commissions paid between brokerage firms or broker Broker. Um, so all real estate agents need to work for a broker. And, um, and, and you, you, you teach that course once a year, the two
Dale Doyle:
Course? Uh, usually once a year,
Matthew Maschler:
Yes, once a year. And, uh, at the signature real estate companies, we actually encourage all of our agents to take that course, uh, to get that advanced license. There’s a lot of designations and licenses that you can get, but what could be better than getting your broker’s license?
Dale Doyle:
Yeah, it, it, it’s a very important thing. There’s, uh, much more in-depth study of the real estate business when you take the broker’s course. So you get to look at it from the eyes of a broker rather than from the eyes of an associate. That’s a different perspective. Uh, it, the class, uh, the class deals a lot more with what a broker has to do to run a successful business. It’s not just about getting the license mm-hmm. <affirmative>, whereas the FR one class or the real estate sales associates license is designed for them to learn basically three things. I tell them, number one, you have to know and understand the law so you don’t get in trouble. Number two, you have to learn to speak the language in order to speak any language. You have to know the vocabulary. And if you can walk outta track one with those two elements in good control, uh, you’re well off on your way to doing a good career. Mm-hmm.
Matthew Maschler:
<affirmative>, you said three things though, right?
Dale Doyle:
Right. So there’s
Matthew Maschler:
The, the law, the vocabulary, and,
Dale Doyle:
Uh, I guess it would be, uh, the, the math, the
Matthew Maschler:
Math for, do you find for a lot of people that’s their hardest, uh, what, what they wear most about, and
Dale Doyle:
Yet they think it is uhhuh, but, uh, it’s, it’s a matter of show them that math is actually easier than learning words. Math is a pattern. There is a procedure. You have to do 1, 2, 3 to get the answer. It doesn’t matter what information they give you, they still have to know 1, 2, 3 in order to get to answer.
Matthew Maschler:
You know, it’s funny cause even if you heard, you know, the way I changed the question, right from, I, I was about to say the hardest, but I changed it to what they worry the most about. It’s not hard math, it’s not like high school it, but it’s what a lot of students worry the most about because they think it’s like high school. You, you know, it, the hardest part is figuring out what the formula is doing the actual math you can do. It’s just figuring out what, what, what to apply and when, you know, square footage, uh, had a, you know, the size of an acre, et cetera. Um, sometimes, uh, I think in the, uh, in the country clubs in Boca, you know, uh, trying to figure out acreage is, uh, isn’t as important. But, you know, it’s Florida. There’s, you know, there’s more than just country clubs. There’s, you know, two and a half and five acre properties and, and farm properties. So, uh, you know, we can, we can, we sell real estate by the foot or we sell it by the acre.
Dale Doyle:
Right. Exactly.
Matthew Maschler:
Uh, speaking of farm properties, where are you from originally?
Dale Doyle:
Originally, I’m from this wonderful state of Virginia. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I grew up in the Chato Valley on a farm in interesting point. Over the years, I’ve probably taught 10,000, 15,000 people. And every class I start with out where you from? Where you from? Where’d you grew up? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. The reason for that is in the state of Florida, nobody was born here. I shouldn’t say nobody, but most people weren’t born here. They were born in someplace else. Where were you born?
Matthew Maschler:
I was born in Staten Island, New York.
Dale Doyle:
So right off the bat mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the two people that are talking about this are there, and I had a class of 25 associates. They, uh, and I went through my routine. Out of the 25 associates, 17 of them are not born in the state of Florida. Wow. Was not even born in the United States. Uhhuh, <affirmative>. So when people say, I just moved here from France, I, I don’t know of any know anybody, Hey, do you know people in France? Right. You know, people in England, you know, people in South America.
Matthew Maschler:
And, and if you moved here from France, and think about the reasons you moved here from France. Uh, identify people with similar reasons and similar goals. And, you know, people like attracts, like, people want to work with people that they know and they feel comfortable with. So, you know, you know, I, I was on a buyer consultation yesterday and before he would answer any of my questions about real estate, he wanted to know about me and to see if we were compatible. You know, he liked to ask me where, what, what, what neighborhoods I like? And, you know, I told him that it doesn’t matter where what I like, you know, you know, I’m not gonna live there. Right. I, I need to ascertain what, what you like, you know, what’s your Florida dream? You know? And, and he was telling me, you know, the beach isn’t important and the golf’s not important. And, and at some point I said to him, I go, well, why did you move to Florida? So, and he, he had, he had friends here. So, uh, I go, okay, so that’s what’s important to you is to live near where your friends live. So we, we identified what his Florida dream was. Um, so it doesn’t matter what community I like, I may love a building. Right. You know, but that’s not necessarily what’s best for this particular person.
Dale Doyle:
That’s why a agents that don’t understand that are looking at properties and saying, I can’t understand why that buyer didn’t buy one of those four properties. I would’ve bought it in a heartbeat. Right. I feel like Santo, then you should have bought it <laugh>.
Matthew Maschler:
Right, right, right.
Dale Doyle:
Because it’s not, you said it’s not about what you as the agent feels important. I need to understand my buyer or my seller. Why is the seller selling? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, why did, why does a buyer say, I need four bedrooms? Everybody’s gonna have a different answer to that. I think the word why is a word that you probably should use a lot as an agent.
Matthew Maschler:
I think I agree with you a hundred percent. And also on, on the bedroom count, it’s also important for me, when someone tells me, you know, in their list of requirements, if they tell me four bedrooms is important, and, and sometimes I have str I struggle with finding the words and, and how to ask the person this question. Okay, four bedrooms are important. Would you be using all four bedrooms as bedrooms? Because some people who, who four bedrooms is important to want to use one as an office. So if I find a house that’s three bedrooms and an office that could work for this person who says that they want four bedrooms, conversely, someone who wants four bedrooms because they need actually, they actually need four bedrooms, three bedrooms in an office, that type of house would not work. So in, in their mind, when they say, when someone tells me that how many bedrooms they need, I have to make sure that we’re clear and on the same page, that they want to use those rooms exclusively as bedrooms.
They want beds in those rooms and someone’s going to live in those rooms. Um, because sometimes, well, no, I want four bedrooms because there’s just me and my wife in the master bedroom. We’d like, we need one guest room, we need one office. And then my wife needs a craft room. I’m like, okay, so this person really needs two bedrooms, as long as there’s an office and a craft room. And sometimes you have a, a nice, a nice house with, with a loft. And the loft could work as the craft room. Absolutely. Maybe not as the office, he wants a door that closes for the office, but as a craft room, the loft could, could work. And so you have to really, I listen and identify and that, and that’s what you said, 10,000 students mm-hmm. <affirmative>, 15,000 students. Yeah.
Dale Doyle:
I’ve been teaching since 1978
Matthew Maschler:
In the state of Florida.
Dale Doyle:
In the state of Florida.
Matthew Maschler:
Did you start in real estate as a teacher?
Dale Doyle:
Yes, I did. When I decided, I came down here and I was teaching public school at Pokie High School knows where Pokie High School is.
Matthew Maschler:
In Virginia?
Dale Doyle:
No, in Florida. In Florida. It’s, I live Lake Okeechobee.
Matthew Maschler:
Okay. At Pokie. I got you.
Dale Doyle:
Doesn’t make sense. An Indian name.
Matthew Maschler:
This Indian names in Virginia.
Dale Doyle:
<laugh>. This is true. As a matter of fact, I think some of my relatives are, are Indians. So it’s, it’s interesting. But, uh, lost my thought. I was doing
Matthew Maschler:
You were teaching public school in Pokie. Oh,
Dale Doyle:
I was
Matthew Maschler:
Teaching late seventies.
Dale Doyle:
And, uh, I’d decided to take a real estate course cuz everybody else was Uhhuh <affirmative>. And as a teacher, you think, you think, okay, I’ve got a lot of time during the year where I have time off from teaching that I can sell a piece of real estate. If I sold one piece of real estate, I would make more money than I did teaching the Teach <laugh>.
Right. All year. So. Right. That, that was terrible. But, uh, uh, so I, in the class, and for some reason, the instructor must have thought, he was also the owner of the school, thought that I seemed to know what I was talking about. So he asked me, what half of the class would you consider, uh, teaching course? I said, I made a mistake and said, yes, <laugh> <laugh>. Here we are 43 years later, Uhhuh <affirmative>. But, uh, I enjoy it. Uh, I think that there’s a lot to it. It’s not just words on the page. There’s understanding and meaning behind every aspect of the business. And it never change. It never stays the same. It changes all the time. You know that from your own experience.
Matthew Maschler:
Absolutely. And you know, I find that these required courses can, can be somewhat dry. A lot of schools teach you, uh, for the test. Uh, the difference between Dale and, uh, a lot of these schools, especially the online schools, is Dale will teach you more than just the test. Dale will teach you, uh, things that you’re gonna need to know as a realtor. And the way I know this, and the, the way I can prove this is, um, the percentage of Dale’s students who are working still in real estate who are successful in real estate versus the percentage of students in general. Uh, Dell has not just a higher, uh, pass rate on the test, on the, on the state test. Uh, but he has a higher success rate, uh, for, for his students. So, so of the 10 or 15,000 students he’s taught, there are countless of thousands of practicing real estate agents in the state of Florida who were taught by Dell.
Dale Doyle:
Yes. Uh, example of what can happen in a classroom. I had a broker continuing ed class, and I had eight broker associates in the class. Each one of ’em referred ’em a different part of Florida. Oh, wow. It was interesting to see how the agent in Key West dressed Uhhuh versus the agent in West Palm Beach. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> totally different. And it’s interesting to listen to the banner back and forth of those agents in the same state with the same license, with the same information, but a totally different perspective.
Matthew Maschler:
I’m assuming the, if we buy into stereotypes, the, uh, key West student was casual.
Dale Doyle:
Yes.
Matthew Maschler:
Flip flops. Yep. Shorts and a T-shirt. Yep. Uh, the West Palm student, he said,
Dale Doyle:
He said, if I dress like the guy in West Palm Beach, does they think there’s something wrong with me? Yeah. It, it’s just a different perspective, a different, but there’s, there’s, there’s an agent that understands his marketplace mm-hmm. <affirmative>
Matthew Maschler:
And this, the, the, the West Palm student and, and West Palm is, is is vast and there’s lots of different, um, you know, cultures and people and, and thing. But, but I’m guessing polo shirt, long pants, pro, possibly jeans, but long polo shirt, long pants and shoes.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah. I would say that would be the, the typical agent in today, today’s
Matthew Maschler:
World. Yeah. I, I think, and what’s funny is, um, I showed some houses in, in Palm Beach, you know, the exclusive Tony, uh, town of Palm Beach, uh, you know, high end, uh, very expensive real estate. And, um, the agents that I dealt with, um, were were dressed more like a Key West agent than a, uh, like they weren’t, they definitely weren’t wearing suits. Um, so some were wearing, you know, the, the, the polo and khakis mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and some were wearing, um, the Key West flip flops and, uh, and casual t-shirts. But, um, it, it, it wasn’t what I expected showing five and $6 million houses on the water. And I’m talking about five or $6 million 10 years ago today, those would be 15 million houses. Yeah. But the guy just came in off the tennis court and he, in his sneakers, in his, in his tennis outfit, and he is showing houses, um, so, you know, the Palm Beach and Key West, very, very different markets. Um, and with, with a similar, you know, laid back vacation vibe, um, which would
Dale Doyle:
Be the case with those. Cause the area that you’re talking about is more, um, second homes mm-hmm. <affirmative>, maybe even third homes, uh, that these people own. Yeah. And you know, they’re, there’re maybe a month out of the year or a couple weeks out of the year, or two days out of the year. Right. So yes, it, it’s more likely to be a more laid back buyer that you’re dealing with. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
And this
Dale Doyle:
Is not Well,
Matthew Maschler:
No, I’m not, I’m talking about the buyer. I’m talking about the agent. Yeah.
Dale Doyle:
Right. And my
Matthew Maschler:
Buyers, my buyers were dressed, my buyers were dressed, you know, whether it’s a suit or a sport jacket, you know, the, the, the woman in, in a nice sundress. And, uh, and I, I was wearing a suit and, uh, and the listing agents were, were were dressed, you know, key West, laid back lifestyle, um, and selling, you know, multi multimillion dollar houses. My father taught me at a young age, you know, dress like the person you wanna make as much money as <laugh>. So, so I think it’s important. Quite
Dale Doyle:
Well taken. My,
Matthew Maschler:
My my my my my aesthetic, uh, dress can, tends, tends towards the casual, the golf shorts, um, especially nowadays. But, um, but we’re, we’re here in the podcast today. We have, I don’t know if we’re doing video or not, but you have a very, very nice shirt on. It doesn’t say, uh,
Dale Doyle:
That’s funny. I get such comments. I’ve got three or four of this brand
Matthew Maschler:
That’s like, that’s Saturday Night <laugh>. That’s not a work shirt.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah, I know.
Matthew Maschler:
So hopefully, Hey, you guys in the back, you taking video? Yeah. You taking some video? We can put this on like TikTok and Facebook reels and stuff. Yeah. Cool. All right. All right. Uh, shout out to pod pop, the podcast studio, uh, that we work out of our, I did, you know, I did 80 episodes.
Dale Doyle:
80. 80.
Matthew Maschler:
Wow. So this is episode 81. We’re, we’re, we’re on our, our final chapter on our way to a hundred
Dale Doyle:
<laugh>. I wanna be on the hundred.
Matthew Maschler:
You wanna be on the hundred Uhhuh <laugh>? I don’t know what,
Dale Doyle:
You probably got a list a mile long for
Matthew Maschler:
That. Every time I start thinking about what I wanna do for the hundredth episode, I realize, you know, 80 to the hundred may seem close, but that’s, you know, 20. If I do the episode every week, 20 weeks, that’s like four months, five months away. I’ll, uh, think when, get, I can think about that after the summer <laugh>. So, uh, but we definitely have to celebrate. All right. Take a little video. Take a video, Chris. All right. So back to back to, uh, back to where, so you, uh, you grew up, you what brought you from presumably Virginia to the Lake Okeechobee area of Florida?
Dale Doyle:
Well, what got me out of Virginia was a relationship with my father. Mm. And, uh, I came back from college with my four year degree. And, uh, my intent was to teach public school mm-hmm. <affirmative> and work on the farm. Cause in, in the business of farming, majority of farmers also have outside of the, of the, uh, farm jobs. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But then I realized I was gonna be 14 when he, until he died. And I decided I didn’t want to wait around for that. And I had always thought about moving to Florida. We came here four or five times during my, when I was living at home, I had an uncle that lived, worked for Eastern, Eastern Airlines. So I figured, okay, I can go Florida. It’s a nice place to be. I’ve got my uncle there. If I need family, they’re not that far away. So that’s, and then I went in and interviewed with Palm Beach County, two, four different, three or four different schools, wound up being hired by Hek. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> worked there for two years before I took the real estate course. And then I started teaching the real estate courses July the 17th, 1978.
Matthew Maschler:
1978. Is, uh, is that school still around that you were teaching for? No. No. Okay. No.
Dale Doyle:
I don’t know if the person’s still around.
Matthew Maschler:
Uh, <laugh> you, you taught at Gold Coast Schools for a while?
Dale Doyle:
Yes. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
How, how many years did he teach there?
Dale Doyle:
Probably six, seven Uhhuh
Matthew Maschler:
<affirmative>. That, that’s where, uh, that’s where, that’s where I went for my, uh, my FR one and my, uh, and my broker’s license and my mortgage license. So I’ve taken a lot of classes over at, at Gold Coast. I, I don’t think I’ve ever actually taken, uh, your, your class at signature?
Dale Doyle:
No.
Matthew Maschler:
I’ve been at signature seven, seven years, I think. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, um, but a lot of, uh, a lot of my agents have taken your class. Um, and obviously we’ve gotten to know each other over the years, and, and it’s, you know, uh, ANMA amazing work you’re doing. I’m, I cannot wait, uh, until you start your next rec one class. I already have some, uh, prospects to, uh, to call when that class starts.
Dale Doyle:
Make sure that, uh, the, the powers to be Yeah. <laugh>, I’ll remind you that you have people looking.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. I always have people looking. It’s also a fun post for me to make on, you know, that I’m offering these scholarships. Yeah. People come outta the word work for it. What, uh, so besides the sales associate and broker’s license, what else do you teach?
Dale Doyle:
Also, the Continuing ed, which is a 14 hour course that has to be taken every two years before you renew your license. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And the 45 hour, which is the course you have to take prior to your first renewal of your associate’s license.
Matthew Maschler:
So for all of you new agents out there are thinking, becoming an agent, there is a 63 hour course, the first course,
Dale Doyle:
63 hours,
Matthew Maschler:
63 hour course, followed by a test state and a state exam. Uh, but then,
Dale Doyle:
Uh, it’s a 45 hour course.
Matthew Maschler:
Then after your state exam in, in your first year, you have to do the 45 hour course. Right. And then after that, every two years, a 14 hour course,
Dale Doyle:
If you take the 14 hour course live, I mean, not doing it online, then there’s no test. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I really tried to encourage many of the agents I can to come to the live course. Uh, it’s funny though, over the years, the same group of people show up every two years. Uhhuh, <affirmative>, uh, I remember there were people back to, as far as 25 or 30 years, they’ve been coming every two years. Uhhuh <affirmative>. That was interesting. And then as time went on, they stopped coming. Uhhuh <affirmative>, I realized why
Matthew Maschler:
They were going. They were taking it online.
Dale Doyle:
No,
Matthew Maschler:
They were out of the business.
Dale Doyle:
Well, they were out of business for a reason. Uhhuh <affirmative>, they were dead.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, <laugh>. Oh, that’s not, that is,
Dale Doyle:
But if you’re in the business for 43 years Yeah. And the average age when I first started teaching was probably 45 or 50 mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, you know, at 40 years to that. Right. If those people are still alive, yeah. It’s a miracle. I wanna know what, I wanna know what they’re
Matthew Maschler:
Doing. They might be so alive, but they’re not practicing real estate anymore. No. You find most of your students are coming to real estate as a, as a second or third career.
Dale Doyle:
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. The successful ones.
Matthew Maschler:
The successful ones, they, they did something else first.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah. They, they, they have, they have a, not so much a business memory, but from the standpoint of how good are they with working with people. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I think that’s probably the one skill that makes all the difference. That’s why, for example, teachers make good real estate agents. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, if they’re serious about it and they work at it. Cause they’re used to dealing with people, even though there’s people may be little people, they’re still people mm-hmm. <affirmative> and developing a relationship. Cause if, and you, you even hinted at it and things you’ve said here, if you don’t build a relationship with your customer, your customer’s gonna cheat on you. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
You know, and I tell that to my real estate agents, they, you know, if, if they haven’t spoken to the, to their customer in, in, in a, in a long time, you know, what, what do they expect that the person forgot about real estate? You know, that there’s, they, they have, you have to keep in touch and keep, you know, keep nurturing leads and keep marketing. Um, because you know, Hey, Matt, uh, I didn’t speak to this customer for four months, and now I found out that they bought something without me. I’m like, well, no shit. <laugh>.
Why are you surprised? Um, you know, I think it’s important if you have, you know, real estate agents, if you have listings, you know, I, I try to say like, like every Friday, like, give an update. You know, the biggest complaint that people have about the real estate agent is that they don’t hear from ’em. Right. Right. And then I’ll define my Friday as like Thursday at noon until Monday morning. Right. If, if you have a lot of customers, but customers, uh, leads, uh, listings, you know, just, you know, stay, stay in front of them. If you have a lead, you can, um, you know, you haven’t spoke, spoken to in a while, send them, send them a house that you saw, uh, Hey, I’m at this open house, or a, I saw this house just hit the market. And I was thinking of you, um, you, you, you, you have to nurture these relationships. Exactly.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah. You have to stay in front of ’em.
Matthew Maschler:
I never like, thought to like, make a list of all the things a good real estate agent needs. Right. You know, to be a per, to have good relationships with people, to understand the math, to understand the laws. Right. That, that you teach to keep up on, on current trends. It’s, you know, I’m not, I’m not particularly good with style. Right. So people are in houses and they might wanna make changes or ask about colors or, or, uh, or, or, or lighting or decorations. Right. That’s not my strength. I’m not a decorator. I’ll bring in decorators. I have decorators. Right. I’m good with people. I’m good with negotiating. I’m good with the laws and the contracts, you know. Um, but it’s a, there’s a lot of disciplines that go into, uh, making a good real estate agent. But it starts with, you know, getting a, taking a good course and building a good foundation.
Dale Doyle:
When you, when you look at this, that, uh, I consider myself an expert. Why not? Cause I know anything, because I know who does Uhhuh <affirmative>, and I can go to those resources when I need an answer to something.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah.
Dale Doyle:
Which usually happens every day in, in what I do.
Matthew Maschler:
And, you know, same here. Right. I, I think of myself as, as an expert. Um, and how often do I have to call you with a question? Yep. So that’s, that’s, that’s why the, the, that’s why the relationships, you know, go back and forth.
Dale Doyle:
I think that mo more important is knowing which source to go to. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because if I go to the wrong source, I, I will get, they’ll try to gimme an answer, but you’re gonna realize that they are not really answering what you need to know. Uhhuh,
Matthew Maschler:
<affirmative>, yes. I, you know, uh, at signature we have a, uh, a management email distribution list. And, and, and agents can, you know, come, you know, ask a question, uh, by email, they’ll get an answer. And every once in a while, I’ll, I’ll see that the answer has said, you know, that answer doesn’t really, doesn’t really match what the, what, what, what the agent’s asking there. Um, sometimes it’s hard to discern what the agents are asking. The, you know, figuring out what the question is. Uh, you know, I’m like, I, I have all the answers. Right. We just have to figure out what’s the question, <laugh>. So, um, you, you have to discern if the agent, and sometimes they don’t tell you if they’re the listing agent or the buyer’s agent. Right. You have to ask. I I have to understand why they’re asking me.
There was a question this week about, um, the pre-approval, right? That the, the buyer wants to change their bank, not use the same bank as the pre-approval. Um, buyers allowed to do that all day long. But there’s some advice that we can give, but it’s that advice is different if you are representing the buyer or if you’re representing the seller. Of course. So, um, so how we, how we see, uh, the, the, the buyer change their bank, uh, changes depending on which way we’re looking. You know, I, I, I couldn’t tell from that question. Right. Was the agent trying to advise the buyer not to do it? Like, was he trying to see if he was allowed to do it? Like there was just, there was something missing and, and, and some of the, some of the answers went in different directions. So, um, but I think being on that email distribution list has made me a better realtor. Right. And made me ask better questions.
Dale Doyle:
So it’s those things come up that you never thought of. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that’s why I like what, what I do in working with the agents and deal with compliance. Uh, there’s questions that come up every day, and I have a good idea what I think the answer is, but I’m not sure. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like I said, I go to my resources wherever that may be and get that information that makes me valuable to the associate.
Matthew Maschler:
Yes. And so tell me, you, you said compliance. What do you, what do you do for compliance?
Dale Doyle:
Uh, I’m responsible for making sure that every file has all the necessary documents in it to be able to close it out. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and that’s, that makes it compliant.
Matthew Maschler:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative> with, with, with all the state laws and regulations. You know, that was one of the biggest reasons I actually came to Signature. Uh, I knew, uh, that my files were not in compliance, uh, with state laws, uh, and regulations. Uh, my broker didn’t care, um, and didn’t supervise. And, and, and it’s on the broker sometimes it’s more, more so than the agent. So, uh, so as a little bit of self-protection, I said, you know what? They have that strong compliance department. If I bend a rule or if I cut a corner and they catch me, that’ll make me a better agent and it’ll make me stronger. Uh, and that was one of the biggest reasons why I came to Signature. There’s a lot of other reasons too, but
Dale Doyle:
Yeah. The, the compliance is something that a lot of companies can’t be bothered with. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you got the deal closed, nobody’s sued us yet. Right. Good to go. Right. But that’s not a good company that, that that’s not a company that’s gonna grow and, and, and be here down the road.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. And some people don’t realize that when they’re, when they’re shopping, uh, for brokers and brokerage firms, uh, just what goes into a file, um, because the state does, uh, does audit, um, our files and our transactions and wants to make sure that we have our listing agreements and we have our sign all, all of our signed documents and disclosures. So that’s a very important function of Dell’s job. Something he doesn’t get a lot of credit for, but it takes a lot of Slack for if he, uh, <laugh>, if, if he’s a couple of minutes late. Yeah.
Dale Doyle:
<laugh>. Yeah. I, well, I turned it in two weeks ago and I haven’t heard from him. So what do I do? I just go in and take care of what it was, and like, I’m gonna remember two, two months to go that they sent me an email when I get hundreds of emails a day, <laugh>.
Matthew Maschler:
Right, right, right, right.
Dale Doyle:
So not gonna happen. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Matthew Maschler:
So, uh, so yeah. So we have, so the licensing, uh, Dell, Dell teaches the sales license, the broker’s license, the continuing education. Um, um, what,
Dale Doyle:
What 45 hour?
Matthew Maschler:
The, the
Dale Doyle:
First they call post license. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
The post license, which is in your first year, and then every two years is a continuing education. And that’s, that’s basically all the classes.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah, that’s all, that’s all the required
Matthew Maschler:
Classes. Those are all the required classes of being a real estate agent. And that’s what what signature Real Estate School teaches. So, um, so besides Gold Coast schools, who else have you worked for over the years?
Dale Doyle:
All schools that you wouldn’t recognize
Matthew Maschler:
Them, wouldn’t recognize the names? Uh, what do you think of these? Like online, do-it-yourself? Uh, schools
Dale Doyle:
Don’t like it.
Matthew Maschler:
Why?
Dale Doyle:
Because in my feeling is I’m going to do an effective job as an instructor. I need to be in your face. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> not on your screen. Uhhuh, <affirmative>, this Zoom that we’ve been using. I don’t care for it for that very reason. Cause for me, I gotta be able to be upfront with them and, and get them involved in the, in the course.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. So there’s two. Um, so yeah, during Covid, you know, when we couldn’t meet in person, we did these, the courses over Zoom, I don’t think it was originally allowed, right?
Dale Doyle:
No, they, they allowed it in temporarily.
Matthew Maschler:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the state had to make a, a special provision. Right. Um,
Dale Doyle:
Now, now you can license the course for online, for classroom, or, or for Zoom.
Matthew Maschler:
Zoom. So yeah, the online classes are really not with an instructor. They’re with a, uh, you know, you go through a website program and it, and it, you know, you have to read a chapter and then you have to wait 45 seconds hit next to read another chapter. I’ve, I’ve taken courses like that. I find it very difficult to, um, to go through is very difficult to process the information. Um, and what we found during Covid was the people that were doing that, that strict online self-study, uh, had the worst pass rates on the, uh, on the class exam and the state exam. Uh, the Zoom, you know, live instruction via Zoom had a significantly worse, uh, pass rate than the people in class. And we, we, we know why. We know that when you’re on Zoom, you play around on your computer or you shut your, your, your, your, your video off and go make a sandwich.
Uh, and you do things that you wouldn’t do if you’re sitting in a classroom. So, you know, I know that when I talk to people and I tell ’em the importance of taking the class in person, and I’m talking to someone who’s a gen, you know, a generation or two younger, they’d be, I sound like a dinosaur, um, because they’re used to virtual instruction. Um, but I see it, I see the proof in the passing. Um, the, when, when, when they’re in Dale’s class, uh, they, they just do better. And if, you know, it’s a, if you don’t understand something and you’re on a Zoom, you’ll just let it go. You know, you’re not gonna inter people don’t want to interrupt. But when you’re in class and you don’t understand something, you could ask, do either in class or on a break, and then, um, get the instruction that you need, uh, to, so, so that it all makes sense to you so that not you can not only, uh, pass the exam, but also, you know, to Well, in your real estate career.
Dale Doyle:
Exactly.
Matthew Maschler:
How long have you been with Signature?
Dale Doyle:
Since June of 2011.
Matthew Maschler:
2011. So 12 coming on 12 years. Yep. Yeah. I have to always, I, I can never remember how long I’ve been, I always have to look up a particular address. Like there’s a house that I was selling where I met Ben Sha and, uh, and then I joined about a year later. So, so, uh, so I forget, um, I’m not gonna ask you what Ben’s like as a boss because <laugh> because we’re being recorded <laugh>. So, um, so that’s, uh, but uh, obviously you’ve been there a long time. You enjoy, um, that,
Dale Doyle:
That tells you something like that to be there that long.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Um, what, um, and what office are you working out of now?
Dale Doyle:
I’m working out of our west, uh, Raton
Matthew Maschler:
Office on Lions Road. Yes. And, and when I saw you pull up today, you pulled up in that wrapped, uh, the wrapped car, that signature wrapped car. Yes. That is awesome.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah. So I’m a driving with billboard.
Matthew Maschler:
Driving billboard. Do you, do you have trouble parking that car anywhere? Like in, in some of the, um, residential areas in town or going through gates?
Dale Doyle:
Don’t, you shouldn’t said that, because I’ve had it at home, but they haven’t said anything. Yeah. <laugh>,
Matthew Maschler:
Uh, I had
Dale Doyle:
The answer to actually two your questions.
Matthew Maschler:
Yes. Yeah. I, I had the, um, there were two, um, of these wrapped, uh, cars. So one of my agents had the other one and, uh, in the city of Boca, and they gave her problems with having a wrapped car in, uh, in her driveway. Uh, so, so people forget, like, okay, it was, there’s no hoa, but you also have to deal with municipal rules. Right. So, um, so yes. On, on, on the rap cars. And then, you know, like, like do you have, do you have trouble getting into like, HOA communities on Sundays when they say like, no commercial vehicles?
Dale Doyle:
No, I, I, I don’t think so. I, if I was going in my card and I was there to show property mm-hmm. I, I think it’s a little different, even though by classification Yes. That that van is a, a, uh, commercial vehicle.
Matthew Maschler:
Right, right. But Right.
Dale Doyle:
But I’m not there to, to work on your plumbing or anything like that.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. All. So I just looked it up. I met, uh, Ben in 2015, so I’ve probably been in signature since 2016. Um, I’m trying to remember that. Cause you’re so good with dates and, and years. It’s impressive. I’ve <laugh> I gotta learn something.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah. Well, it’s, you know, you’ve said that I’ve sailed that illustration. How long? January the second of 78 took the
Matthew Maschler:
Course. Uhhuh <affirmative>,
Dale Doyle:
Uh, I took the instruc, the, uh, fr one class and passed it in the end of May. Took the instructor’s exam June of 78, Uhhuh <affirmative>, and taught my first class July the 17th of 78, knowing nothing about real
Matthew Maschler:
Estate. <laugh> never sold a house. Never. I
Dale Doyle:
I grew up on a
Matthew Maschler:
Farm. Yeah. Never bought a house.
Dale Doyle:
No, I, I didn’t have a business background. I could take business courses. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I taught, I, I took physical education, Uhhuh, <affirmative>, and got my degree in, in that and science.
Matthew Maschler:
That’s awesome.
Dale Doyle:
So I, I have come through the business from a totally different perspective.
Matthew Maschler:
Are you a licensed real estate agent?
Dale Doyle:
Yes. Uhhuh. <affirmative>, I’ve been since 1970.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, when you, when you took that course? Yep. Yeah. When you took that course and
Dale Doyle:
Instructor then, if you took the broker’s course during the first year, Uhhuh,
Matthew Maschler:
<affirmative>,
Dale Doyle:
You qualified for the broker’s license mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I never took the broker state exam
Matthew Maschler:
Because,
Dale Doyle:
Because, because at that point in time, if you either taught or took the broker’s course, it was actually a year instead of two years then. And if you took that course and passed it, you then qualified to register for, as a broker, uhhuh after a year. Gotcha. So it’s interesting how the rules have changed mm-hmm.
Matthew Maschler:
<affirmative>. So, so now to get your broker’s license, you have to have your sales associate license for two years.
Dale Doyle:
Yes.
Matthew Maschler:
Any production requirement
Dale Doyle:
During that, during that two years, you have to do the 40 hour, 45 hour course to qualify.
Matthew Maschler:
Right.
Dale Doyle:
And then, uh, take the broker’s course in 72 hours, pass it, pass the state exam. There’s continuing ed post licensing for brokers. One course in management, one course in office.
Matthew Maschler:
That’s every two years.
Dale Doyle:
No, that’s the one. Just one time. One time.
Matthew Maschler:
Okay. You just don’t, I, I was thinking I don’t do anything different than any other agents for on the, every two years.
Dale Doyle:
No. Once you, once you get into the, every two years mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because you’ve gone actually into your second license period, uhhuh, <affirmative>, everybody’s taking the same, continuing a course. Right. So, but that’s what’s interesting about teaching the 14 hour course, uh, is because everybody in the room could be an active or inactive sales associate, could be an active or inactive broker. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So you got every aspect of licensing and how they view their position as an agent in the class. So it’s, it’s an interesting class to
Matthew Maschler:
Teach. Does the 14 hour course change much from year to year? No, it’s ba it’s the same.
Dale Doyle:
Basically anything that’s changed as far as material stuff or aspects of the law have changed, then that comes into play and that comes, but real estate’s real estate. Yeah. A contract is a contract. Right. You know, mortgages are mortgages. So a lot of times that doesn’t change it, it may be modernized or upgraded mm-hmm. <affirmative> to make the material, you know, more accurate
Matthew Maschler:
Or, or to reflect a new, a new piece of legislation. Right.
Dale Doyle:
So in other words, this business requires you as an instructor, you never stop learning. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that’s what I tell associates. You never stopped learning this business. If you stop learning in this business, be prepared to die. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, your career’s gonna be over. Right. Because you’re not gonna keep up with what’s happening out there and you’re doing well, knowing the business today, things have changed so rapidly, no different in real estate.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. And, and we saw it in the la in the last few few years. Right. 2019 and 2020 could not have been more different. Right. 2000, 20 and 21 could not have been more in, more different. And you know, we’re, we’re here in 2023 and and everybody’s looking in a million directions and nobody knows where we’re headed. Um, are, are rates going up? Are rates going down or house prices going up? Are house prices going down?
Dale Doyle:
The answer that question is yes. Yeah. They are going up and they are gonna do it and down they have for the last 40 years. Yeah. <laugh>. So, you know, it’s just, can I project which way it’s going, and can I position myself as an or as an investor to be able to weather that storm? Mm-hmm.
Matthew Maschler:
<affirmative>.
Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so that was one thing. You know, I, I always say I, I appreciated that signature. How, how quick and nimble, uh, we were to, to change in 2020, um, to go to Zoom, to do our classes on Zoom, to do showings and, and meetings on Zoom. And then to be able to understand, you know, all the, all the new concerns and socially distanced open houses and et cetera. So all through 2020, um, you know what you said, if, if, if, if, if you didn’t have the ability to learn, uh, you, you, you were stuck.
Dale Doyle:
Yeah. That’s the one thing about Signature. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, there’s enough education there to choke a horse. <laugh>, you just have to be willing to stick your nose at it Yeah. And learn it.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. And, uh, so what, um, what do you like most about being a teacher?
Dale Doyle:
Helping people?
Matthew Maschler:
Helping people mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And if you can make any change, like to the course or the requirements or to, if, if Feck would listen to you and say, Dale, if you could change one thing about the way this whole thing works, what would, what would it be?
Dale Doyle:
I, I think it may be, uh, there should be more classes.
Matthew Maschler:
More classes
Dale Doyle:
Required classes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Uh, classes that deal, which in which school and the company are offering all those courses on, you know, how do I, how, how do I get buyers mm-hmm. <affirmative>, how do I get sellers all the different things? How do I handle objections? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to me, uh, that should be part of it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But the problem with that is this, the job of the Florida Real Estate Commission is not to make me a good agent, it’s to protect the public from me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So you have to understand what their job is. Right. Their job isn’t make sure you make money. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, your job is to make, their job is to make sure that in your effort to make money, you don’t put the public in jeopardy.
Matthew Maschler:
Right.
Dale Doyle:
Cause if you’ve got a dispute between you and another agent over something, you’re not going to the commission. You’re gonna go to the local board of realtors. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So,
Dale Doyle:
I, I think it’s important to understand the idea of what Frank is there for. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That’s why I said first thing you wanna understand in the Frank one course is what can I do and what can I do?
Matthew Maschler:
Right.
Dale Doyle:
Which has nothing to do with I’m gonna make money or not. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
And that’s and Right. And it’s on the broker or the local association board to do that type of training. Yes. How do you get buyers, or what do you do when you get a buyer? Yeah.
Dale Doyle:
Right. Any, any, any good broker is gonna have a good training program. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, hopefully the agents will take advantage of it.
Matthew Maschler:
Right, right.
Dale Doyle:
And that’s the case with Signature.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. All right. So we’re, we’re wrapping things up here. Um, it was, it was great having you. Is there anything else you wanna say to the agents or people listening?
Dale Doyle:
Uh, if you wanna be successful in this business, get a good foundation first, which is getting your license, obviously. Second is Atta, uh, participating in as many as training programs that are available to the agent from the company and build relationships.
Matthew Maschler:
That is great advice. I’m trying to write it down. If you wanna be successful in this business, start with a great foundation. I love it. I love it. All right. Thank you for joining me.
Dale Doyle:
Oh, I loved it. It was great.
Matthew Maschler:
It was a pleasure having you.
Dale Doyle:
It was a pleasure being here.
Matthew Maschler:
And if you’re out there, if you’d like to take one of Dale’s classes, uh, when we start our, uh, you know, let me know and I’ll let you know when we start our new Frec one class, or our, or our brokers class, and then for all the other agents out there, um, when you have, when is, when is the 14 hours? That’s usually over the summer. Yeah. So September one is the deadline.
Dale Doyle:
No, probably the 14 hour course will be in August.
Matthew Maschler:
In August.
Dale Doyle:
Sometime in August.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. So in August when we do our, I think I have to do my 14 hours this August. Cause I don’t think I did it last summer except for two years. So, um, so in August, we’re, we’re gonna get back together. Uh, so any, any agents out there, only signature agents can take Dell’s course. So Right. That is a great reason to come to this industry, real estate companies and, um, and, and learn from the best. Thank you for joining us, Matthew ler, real estate broker real estate finder.com.
Speaker 3:
The future looks bright and the stones 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 save the best for last. Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp terms. 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. I, I’m always on time. Even if I’m, I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the sing for you. Success in my sights got a real clear view. If you dunno the time, I’ll give you a clue.
Speaker 4:
You know what, you know, what you know what time it is. You know what you know, what you know is, you know what song, know what song. You know what song? It’s, you know what song. Know what song. You know what time it is.
Speaker 3:
You know what time it, you know, you know, time it, you know what time it’s, you know whose time it’s, you know what time It’s Matthew Mania. The time it says, yeah. Got him shook, scared. Can’t look. We’re not afraid of the big bad Wolf. First comes the right.
