Keeping It Real Podcast • Secrets Of Top 1% REALTORS ® • Interviews With Real Estate Brokers & Agents

Welcome to the March edition of Coaching Moments with Ryan D’Aprile!

If you listened to last month’s Coaching Moments, you know that Ryan D’April of D’Aprile Properties spent a full hour on lead generation. We had such an overwhelming response from our listeners that this month he spent another full hour answering your questions! Don’t worry if you missed the last episode – you can jump right in with this one. Ryan has coached (and continues to coach) some of the top brokers in Chicago, and his methods are simple and effective. If you’re a broker looking to increase your production by even one deal a month, you NEED to listen to this episode.

Ryan D’Aprile can be reached at 312.492.7900 and [email protected].

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00Today’s keeping it real episode is brought to you by not standard a premium luxury custom menswear experience in Chicago with the highest quality fabric source from the top mills in the world and more than 7000 customizable details each not standard product is as unique as you are booking an appointment with trusted stylist Lauren Lipton at not standard.com That’s kn o Te standard.com forward slash Lauren, L A u r e n and mentioned in DJ Paris, me to enjoy a complimentary shirt and 15% off your first purchase.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers for Chicago real estate brokers also for brokers all over the country because we are starting to get more traction and people from many different states have written into us. So I know it’s not just local, but we are interviewing and talking with local brokers here. We only talked to the top 1% If you’re a new listener, this is coaching moments with Ryan’s APR. And this is a really super fun series that we do. Ryan comes on every single month, and Ryan’s passion is coaching. By the way, if you’re not familiar with Ryan, let me give you a little bit of information. Here, Ryan, April’s a progressive thought leader, he’s focused on providing for his agents and staff in particular, Ryan’s passion is coaching. His strengths are motivational skills, his coaching style and dedication to training. And what I want to mention is Ryan has a visit right? You have 13 offices, is that right? Yes. Yeah, so write us 13 offices, several 100 brokers. And Ryan spends the vast majority of his time traveling from office to office coaching his brokers. So we’re so honored that he spends time every month doing that here for the 1000s of listeners we have so and by the way, Ryan is also on vacation. So this is primetime that he is taking away from his family to do this for you. So on behalf of all the listeners, Ryan, thank you and welcome.

Ryan D’Aprile 2:15It’s my pleasure. Thanks so much. Yes, I’m down here in sunny Miami. It’s in it’s fantastic, by the way, because I think of where we are when I left I think was about 25 degrees, what’s the temperature there now?

D.J. Paris 2:25It is 30.

Welcome to the March episode of Investor Insights With Brie Schmidt!

Use coupon code REAL for a discount on Midwest Real Estate Summit on June 1-2 in Chicago. Click here for details!

Brie Schmidt is one of the most well-respected buy-and-hold investors in Chicago. Each month we’ll be discussing an investment topic brokers should master.

This month we’re talking about house hacking, the principle of buying a multi-unit, living in one unit, and having the other tenants pay the mortgage. Brie talks about loan limits for conventional (20%) and FHA (3.5%) for multi-unit investments. She also shares the Home Possible program (by Freddie Mac) with allows for a 3% down payment based on borrower’s income relative to median income.

Links discussed in episode…

HomePossible Program Details

Conventional and FHA Lending Limits

Use coupon code REAL for a discount on Midwest Real Estate Summit on June 1-2 in Chicago. Click here for details!

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00Today’s keeping it real episode is brought to you by not standard a premium luxury custom menswear experience in Chicago with the highest quality fabric source from the top mills in the world and more than 7000 customizable details each not standard product is as unique as you are booking an appointment with trusted stylist Lauren Lipton at not standard.com That’s kn O T standard.com forward slash Lauren L A u r e n and mentioned in DJ Paris me to enjoy a complimentary shirt and 15% off your first purchase

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers for Chicago real estate brokers. And I really should stop saying that because we have people listening from all over the country, but we do focus predominantly in the Chicagoland market but we welcome listeners from all over today is the newest episode of our monthly series investor insights which we paused briefly last year and we just got too busy and so we are so excited to continue this speeds it’s the number one most requested feature on our show that we sadly just weren’t able to do for a while so we are so excited because we have a brand new host of the series and she if you are involved in the investor community, whether it’s nationwide or here in Chicago, you probably have heard of the name Bree Schmitt, she has all over bigger pockets. I call her the queen of bigger pockets. So if you’re a bigger pockets person, you probably have come across her or you certainly will. After listening to her today. Let me tell you a little bit about Bri Bri acquired her first investment property in 2011. She left the corporate world in 2014 when she became a full time real estate investor. Bree is the managing broker for own firm which is Second City Real Estate, a full service brokerage, working with new investors and also seasoned investors looking to expand their knowledge of the industry and their portfolio. abri utilizes her extensive knowledge of building and managing a portfolio to teach clients and brokers all about aspects of buy and hold investing.

Brother and sister top 1% producers Sophia Klopas and Jason Stratton of the Klopas Stratton Team at Berkshire Hathaway continue to grow their business year over year. In this episode they talk about how their skill sets compliment each other such that clients truly get two-for-one for the best possible consumer experience. They also talk about how knowing their hourly rate and becoming hyper-local doubled their production. Last, they discuss why they never perceive discount firms as competition, and why it’s okay to walk away from clients that aren’t a good fit.

This episode is brought you to by Knot Standard custom men’s clothing consultant Lauren Lipton. Mention D.J. Paris to get a custom shirt free with your first order!

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by not standard a premium luxury custom menswear experience in Chicago with the highest quality fabric source from the top mills in the world and more than 7000 customizable details each not standard product is as unique as you are booking appointment with trusted stylist Lauren Lipton at not standard.com. That’s kn O T standard.com forward slash Lauren and mentioned me DJ Paris to enjoy a complimentary shirt with your first purchase.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers for Chicago real estate brokers also brokers who listen from all over the country. So I should probably update that. But we interview the top 1% of Realtors in Chicago, there’s 40,000, we only talk to the top 400 And ask them how they built their business and what advice they have for other brokers who may be listening. And they share their strategies, their secrets, and what has made them successful. So we gosh, we’re coming up on 100 episodes, and we keep getting more listeners. So we’re super grateful because we have as we spend no money on marketing, but I would like everyone who is listening, if they want to help us if we’re helping you. Here’s a couple of ways you can help us number one telephone if you know any other brokers in the industry that would love to hear what top producers are doing so that they could replicate that success. Tell them right anyone in your office, you know, give them a link to our show. The more listeners, the more people we can help second, go to our Facebook page. So it’s facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod why because we post links to all of our episodes, exclusive content, and just a great way to stay in touch to find out what we’ve got going on. And then third, if you are an I an iOS and Apple user, subscribe to us on iTunes, do a search for keeping it real podcast. If you’re an Android person, you can go to Google Play and do the same or just use whatever podcast app podcast app you have. And search for keeping it real podcast, you’ll find us subscribe so you never miss an episode. And then one last thing, this is kind of cool. You know how you have an Alexa at home? Probably everybody does. And it just sits there and you don’t use it. I use it to turn my lights on and off. And that’s literally all I use it for. Well, you can actually now use it to play our podcast. So there’s one step involved, which means go into your Alexa app on your phone or your mobile device and go to the skills and do a search for keeping it real podcast you’ll see we have a skill you have to activate that skill takes two s...

Welcome to the February edition of Coaching Moments with Ryan D’Aprile!

In this episode Ryan spends a full hour on lead generation – the most important component of a broker’s business. Ryan spends time on the difference between lead gen and marketing, and gives the exact strategies his teaches his brokers on how to add more contacts to one’s database and how to stay in touch over time. Also, Ryan reveals that in every broker’s contact list, there are a minimum of 32-64 transactions per year (and how to capture those deals)!

Ryan D’Aprile can be reached at 312.492.7900 and [email protected].

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:14Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers for Chicago real estate brokers except I’m going to change that and say it is made by Chicago real estate brokers, but it’s for brokers all over the country. We do have listeners everywhere. So I’m going to teach myself not to say should just for Chicago brokers. Anyway, today is our monthly episode with Ryan Day, April. And this is called coaching moments. And Ryan is with us if you don’t know Ryan, you should, because not only is he the owner and operator and head coach of the April properties, they have 13 offices all throughout Chicago and the suburbs. He has hundreds of Realtors, lots of top 1% producers, and Ryan spends pretty much all of his time coaching and developing the careers of his realtor. So we’re so honored to have him on the show. He’s a legend in the Chicago market. And we’re really honored to have him today. So Ryan, welcome once again.

Ryan D’Aprile 1:10Thanks, CJ, it’s good to be here. Oh,

D.J. Paris 1:12let’s plug your let’s plug your company’s website. It’s deep, real deep, real properties.com. That’s it? All right, great. And if you’re a realtor out there and you want to study or interested in maybe joining Ryan’s team, go to do properties.com. And you can contact them and you can find an office near you and and schedule a phone call or consultation. Or if also if you’re a buyer seller or renter investor that’s interested in working with with one of Ryan’s brokers, you can do that there as well. So anyway, I’ll turn it over to Ryan.

Ryan D’Aprile 1:43All right. Thanks, DJ. Well, thanks for having me appreciate I’m really looking forward to our our monthly meetings. And these are coaching moments that we’re doing. So let’s talk about what we want to cover today. And last month, we covered a morning routine, right? So what I’m going to do today is go over what I review with our agents and what we call our coaching one session. And so I have coaching session one at coaching session two and then we have workshops. And in summary what coaching session one is about it’s it’s kind of it’s like the game of real estate and life in general that we’re going to reveal and so workshop is we’re we’re sleeves are rolled up and we’re doing work. This is more instructive. And just showing everybody like let’s relate it to a board game Monopoly it could real estate board game. And so what we’re gonna do is we’re not going to play the gam...

Welcome to the February edition of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick!

In this episode Carrie discusses how the market slowed last year, but that in 2019 we’re starting to see some increases in activity. With rates being down, Carrie is noticing her buyers are poised to purchase and provides a tip on how to prep them now with a sample contract. I also talk about contacting past clients to discuss the possibility of a refinance.

Carrie can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 312.961.4612.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:15Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the only podcasts made by Chicago real estate agents for Chicago real estate agents. This is our monthly series called them the Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick. If you are a new listener and haven’t listened to one of our Monday market minutes before Carrie is a top producer without properties for over 20 years has been a top producer. Last year she finished in the top 15 of all realtors in Chicago and that’s out of 40,000 Realtors. So we are so honored, she comes on once a month and tells our listeners what they need to know about what is happening in the Chicago real estate market. And also, before I bring carry on, everyone should follow Carrie on Instagram, just do a search for Carrie McCormack real estate. That’s the thing, you can also find her on Facebook as well Carrie McCormick real estate, and welcome to the show. Carrie,

Carrie McCormick 1:06thank you, thank you Happy 2019

D.J. Paris 1:10Happy 2019.

Carrie McCormick 1:12So just to get started, the one thing that people have been focused on is interest rates. And with the Fed holding off on further interest rate increases, we see that this year is starting off very good. So we’ve seen a lot of activity in the market. All of us that have been in the market for a while we know that q2 was kind of flat. So last year of 2018. Really after, I’m gonna say like July, the rest of the year was just flat. And the reason going back and looking at that, you know, interest rates were increasing, taxes were increasing, there’s a lot of talk about increasing taxes. And you know, the second bill came out and people were worried about that. And actually, the wage growth wasn’t as favorable either. And it just created this affordability issue. And people I think were just hesitant about buying. People were out looking, but they weren’t actually pulling the trigger and buying. So I do still think that housing affordability is going to be an important storyline this year. But we are definitely seeing buyers starting to get out into the market. And they’re getting motivated to buy, which is great. So also, one thing to look at is last year in 2018. Because of the interest rates and taxes, a lot of people have just decided to rent. Right? So now we’re seeing an uptick in the rental rates just because of the whole supply and demand factor. So rental rates are starting to tick up this year, which now those renters are saying like, why would I rent or pay more in rent, now let’s go by, right, because interest rates are going down. So again, looking just at the economics of the market, we’re gonna see a shift this year. But we’re going to be tied to those lease months,...

Michael Hall finished 2018 as Baird and Warner’s second highest producing broker in Chicago and also placed in the top 50 of brokers in Chicago (this is out of 40k brokers!). As a top agent for twenty-four years, Michael talks about how open houses started his career, how listing presentations are like dating, why he encourages brokers to spend 50% of their time searching for new clients, and why he knows that you can grow your business in any type of market with the right attitude.

Michael Hall can be reached at 773.398.4359 and [email protected].

Prior to becoming a top Chicago real estate broker with Compass, Josh Lipton had careers in private equity and as an attorney. When he made the switch to real estate, he earned CAR’s coveted Rookie Of The Year award, naming him the highest producing first-year broker in Chicago. Two years later he became (and remains) in the top 1% of ALL brokers in Chicago. In this episode Josh talks about why he visited college campus in his first year which resulted in 70+ rentals, how he uses Facebook lists to stay connected to clients, why he orders a pre-inspection for his sellers, and a dozen other strategies that brokers can implement today to increase production!

Josh Lipton can be reached at [email protected] and 312.504.5409

Welcome to the January episode of Learning With A Lender with Joel Schaub!

In our first Learning With A Lender episode of 2019 Joel Schaub, Vice President at Guaranteed Rate, talks about how how the government shutdown is affecting lending rates, providing a real estate broker with an amazing opportunity to add value when contacting clients. I take a listener question to ask Joel about the difference between a pre-approval letter and a pre-qualification.

Joel Schaub can be reached at [email protected] or 773.654.2049.

Welcome to the January edition of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick!

In this episode Carrie looks back on 2018 and provides insight on how real estate brokers (as well as buyers and sellers) should be thinking about 2019. Listen to hear why Carrie is optimistic and learn some tips about what to tell sellers during the winter months. I provide a marketing tip on how to add more rentals to your business during slower sales cycles.

Carrie can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 312.961.4612.

For our first episode for 2019, we’re excited to announce that Ryan D’Aprile will be hosting a monthly series titled Coaching Moments!

Ryan D’Aprile personally coaches over 300 brokers at his real estate firm, D’Aprile Properties. Each month Ryan generously shares his exact systems, strategies and methods that have produced many top 1% real estate brokers. His passion is coaching, and we couldn’t be more honored to have him as a partner.

In this episode Ryan talks about best practices for starting off each workday. He explains in detail his pre-work routine which includes gratitude, meditation and journaling. Then, he pivots into his morning work routine discussing contacting your sphere of influence and tips on how to find discussion points. Lastly, I provide a suggestion about how to hire an accountability partner for $10 a week!

Ryan D’Aprile can be reached at 312.492.7900 and [email protected].