Matt Atkinson, a mortgage lender with Intercap Lending he comments that real estate is like a drug to him. “I just got addicted to it. I was making really good money in mortgages, and I wanted to buy more rentals.” When he started making more traditional mortgages than VA mortgages he was previously selling, he noticed that people that had more money had real estate.”

Matt continued to aggressively buy real estate and was purchased at 80 cents to the dollar. He acquired 13 new homes in one year that were fixer-uppers as he understood that these types of homes would bring in the best profit.

When you get a lead or if you’re working with a client, Rex Frazer, an agent with EXP Realty. believes that a phone call is the best way to connect with your potential or current clients. ”Real estate is a high-touch world, and I prefer having conversations because you have a more in-depth discussion.” With text, Rex points out that you can have a hard time understanding context, whereas a real conversation gives you more context about the topic your client is talking about. “We coined the phrase ‘conversations lead to conversions’ when we establish an agency.” Texting can come across as impersonal and cannot develop real connection.

Bryan Hurd with Keller Williams of South Valley shares his story of how he doubled his real estate earnings one year in just ten months in a lousy buyer’s market. Working up to 70 hours per week, Bryan would be showing houses at all hours of the day and night. “That market was going down.” Buyers were waiting to take more and more money off of the listing price as time went by.

In a fast-moving market, such as the one we are experiencing right now, Trevor Thompson with Equity Real Estate - Premier Elite Branch, has a goal is to move the home within 90 days, although he will take on projects that last up to six months. “Our main goal is to own in the shortest time frame possible, so the profit margins are great when you sell quickly, you have minimal risk.”

Mike Anderson from Intercap Lending talks about how agents can't be successful in sales or marketing if they don't understand their value and, more importantly, understand the consumers' desire for what they want, and that is driving them to use a product or service. Mike emphasizes value as the top of the list and is the crucial component to sales and marketing.

From a marketing perspective, how much of a difference do you need to separate yourself from your competition? “Mike's found that it’s about 30%.” The discount realty services grab hold of the market because they can create more than a 30% discount on the services they are offering. The question realtors should be asking is, “How can I showcase the value that is worth paying for?”.

Bree Motta with Goldenwest Credit Union shares how to keep your credit score in good standing. You want to make sure that your credit score is kept in good standing so that when you are ready to purchase a home, you will secure the loan amount you want. “Being prepared is huge!” Although, if you don’t get a loan the first time, you can still receive a loan the second time you apply. Bree gives advice and tips on elevating your credit score to be prepared for your best credit rates.

After spending ten years in corporate, Belladonna Riso with received a severance package one Friday, which created a turning point in her career. With two young children to provide for, Belladonna sat down and made a list of what she wanted out of her new career and crafted her new position from this experience.

With 45 days of income in her bank account, Belladonna went through a list of possible jobs that she could perform that would give her a good income that she would enjoy, with little or no travel to stay at home with her children. She discovered becoming a realtor was at the top of her list. The next day she enrolled in realtor school, and two weeks later, she received her real estate license and has been “off to the races” ever since 2005. Belladonna is an Real Estate Agent with EXP Realty.

Welcome to Nominations Podcast, where we chat with our nominee, Jason Cook with SilverBack Home Warranty, about what realtors need to know about home warranties, the benefits of using a home warranty, and what his experience has taught him about staying in the marketing game long term in reality and which digital marketing aspects are worth your time.

Lisa Piela, who came to us with rave recommendations from a former guest on our Utah Real Estate Podcast. She is the managing member of the My Mortgage Ladies team at Altius Mortgage in Utah.

How Lisa Decided to Join the Real Estate Industry

From her start in banking during high school, Lisa jumped into the financing world and never looked back. “This ended up being something that I fell in love with, and the reason I fell in love with this is that I had amazing mentors and leaders.” Appreciating her mentors' time and effort towards her career, Lisa has stayed in this field because of her healthy beginnings for over 30 years.

Marketing with My Mortgage Ladies

Over the years, she found people introducing her as ‘my mortgage lady.’ “It ended up sticking so much that I used it as a tagline on my signature.” The tagline stuck, and Lisa incorporated her motto into her complete branding package.

Why Mentoring is Important

“Brokers are at the top of the food chain in financing.” She considers the world as her oyster, as she brings in others from the banking and lending side of finance that is migrating into the broker world. This transition can be overwhelming, and Lisa has found a gap in continuing education in that there weren’t any tools to teach those who wanted to transition into brokering.

For the solution, Lisa designed their branch to have mentorship. This involves giving loan officers a complete internship while learning the tools and participating in the training to learn about the world of financing. “We try to make sure that we support them so that they don’t fail or fall. If they do, they have a mentor to reach out to that has the background and experience to help them.” This creates a confident lender who can carry out the process with knowledge and know-how.

Ann Atkin owner of Meth Mob, promotes education on methamphetamine contamination in homes. Ann encourages Utah realtors to protect their clients by suggesting meth testing before purchasing a home. Most homes that are meth houses are not production homes, they are owned by retirees. Grandpa and grandma's homes are the biggest offenders because grandparents will often host grandchildren and their friends. "They've got the room; they are loving and trusting." Every week, she deals with meth decontamination, with most of her business coming from homeowners who have had guests smoking meth inside their home.

Ann recommends extensive testing,” I don’t care if Meth Mob was in your home two weeks ago, test every house, every time!” The #1 user of meth in Utah is a white mother, and the #2 users are construction workers. “What house hasn’t had either of these users in them?”