If anyone tells you that 2023 is a tough market, just have them call Ali Garced, a “special” agent out of Tucson, AZ. In only her 2nd calendar year as a Realtor, Ali has already closed 50 units and is on track to close 65-70. Ali’s secret is to be tactical as well as methodical. She is the queen of going deeper with her clients by way of probing questions followed up with meticulous note taking. She uses her CRM to store any piece of data possible because any piece of intelligence can be used either to spot a buying sign or to use to start a future conversation. Ali has been known to jump into her CRM while at the grocery store to look up intel on a client she sees walking around before she approaches them to chat and catch up!

She is also methodical about tracking the conversations she has daily because she knows that 6 conversations per day equals 42 per week and 2100+ per year! Conversations lead to closings!

Connect with Ali on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ali_the_agent/

Want more from Ali? Check out The Agent Goldmine, an agent-focused podcast she hosts alongside Shelby Johnson.

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

Its all about networking!

Shelby (Osborn) Johnson started her professional life in the military. Over time, she realized that she wanted a career that would give her more freedom while also giving her potential to grow with no ceiling. After reading Rich Dad Poor Dad she decided to go into real estate investing, and a  short year later, she took all of the discipline from the military and pivoted it to closing 50 units and winning KW’s Rookie of the Year.

A large part of her success was starting “Pints and Properties” in Charlotte, NC to host and casually meet up with other real estate industry professionals (and clients). Over the next 4 years, she doubled and tripled her business and her income. Pints and Properties became infinitely scalable, and she provides the event template & strategy to other agents at no cost.

She moved to create a traditional team, Five Pillars Realty Group, which closed 500+ transactions in the first 2.5 years. In mid-2021, Five Pillars evolved out of the traditional team and into what it is today — “Five Pillars Nation.”

Five Pillars Nation is where Agents go to stop being Agents & start being Business Owners. It’s not a firm, it’s not a team. It’s an entrepreneur incubator that allows individuals to grow their empires alongside peers. Shelby also has years of experience flipping, wholesaling, and acquiring rentals (both short-term and long-term).

Want more from Shelby? Check out The Agent Goldmine, an agent-focused podcast she hosts alongside Ali Garced.

Connect with Shelby:

• https://www.instagram.com/theshelbyshow__/
• https://bemore-agents.com/
• https://www.theagentgoldmine.com/

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

Today’s episode listens like an episode of Selling Sunset or the most salacious real estate show available on streaming—only it's all real and all took place in one agent's career between the mid 80’s and today. Nico Lundborg-Griffith is a top producing real estate agent listed in the RE/MAX Hall of Fame. Nico is not only an award winning and top producing REALTOR but is also the award winning author of Pandora’s Lockbox: A Wild and Wacky Real Estate Memoir.

While reading her book, originally for amusement, I found hundreds of nuggets and comparison to today’s real estate market. Nico outlines how she coped with high rates in the 80’s and thrived despite them. She also covers her unique strategy for “people farming” instead of farming geographic neighborhoods. With more unique and funny stories than usual in this episode, we hope you enjoy!

Read Nico's book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Lockbox-Wacky-Estate-Memoir/dp/1737719924

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

Do you treat your real estate like a side hustle or like a business? There is a big difference between those who passively take clients as they come in and then sit around when there arent people to sell houses to VS those who are regimented and have a plan that they follow, know their numbers etc. In this episode we talk to Louisiana broker Antonio Cousin about his journey to becoming a top performing agent/broker. We discuss everything from how to leverage closed Facebook groups to keep clients engaged to marketing the concept of house hacks to convert more renters to buyers.

Connect with Antonio here: https://www.service1stre.com/

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

What is the one thing that AI can't do?

Do you really think you are smarter than a system that can catalog all of the real estate knowledge in the world and deliver it back in 2 seconds? The big differentiator between you and a machine is the ability to empathetically think and come up with ways to imbue customized excitement and positive emotion into the real estate transaction and into your client relationships.

Jay O’Brien , NAR 30 under 30 Realtor and founder of Client Giant joins us to explain how he transformed his business into a referral machine by going deep for his clients and creating experiences so memorable that clients referred him with passion. Jay explains the difference between passive and active referrals and dives deep into the idea that most referrals are passive and the person referring you doesn’t seriously care whether their referral uses you or not. He provides ideas for ensuring that your clients are so hyped about you and their experience working with you that they shout your name from the rooftops.

Connect with Jay online at: clientgiant.com

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

Some people use family and having children as the excuse for why they couldn’t do more business or for other things that go wrong in life or their career — our guest does the opposite! 

In today’s episode, Mary relays how her family is actually her greatest business asset. From past client events that focus on kids, to having customized kids listing agreements she leverages the power of family to make both her business and her community a better place. We also touch on the importance of having a plan when it comes to social media, and she explains how to use the tool Answer The Public to get ideas for social media and video content. Finally Mary and Matt discuss how to build credibility when you are new, and specifically how to work with strangers when your own friends and family don’t trust you yet.

Find Mary Harmon online:

• https://www.pritchett-moore.com/real-estate/agents/mary-harmon-young
• https://www.instagram.com/maryharmonyoung/?hl=en

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

You don’t have to spend lots of money on online leads! Just take your current clients and find ways to go deeper with them. It's easier to get more referrals from people who already know and like you! 

In this episode we sit down with Brian Tash, REALTOR with The Agency in St. Louis, MO. A career Realtor for 18 years, Brian kills it in his local suburban market where in 2022 he sold 60+ homes for over $20,000,000. Having a small team of administrative staff helps Brian go deeper with the clients they work with, and truly make them his number one referral source.

Connect with Brian online:

• https://www.theagencystl.com/team/brian-tash-licensed-real-estate-agent
• [email protected] // 314-893-7870
• https://www.instagram.com/briantash.saintlouisrealtor/?hl=en

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

In this episode, Matt chats with Kendra Cooke, coach to the real estate industry’s top 1%. To get to the top, Kendra recommends creating your own inventory because it puts you in control, and can be planned. Everything in real estate comes down to having a plan and sticking to it, and in this short episode Matt and Kendra cover numerous topics that with planning and accountability can take your business to the next level. 

Kendra Cooke relocated to middle Tennessee from southern Illinois in 1988 to pursue a career in law, but quickly changed paths and immersed herself in real estate. Over the last 28 years, Kendra developed a successful real estate career, delivering great service to more than 100 families annually while working less than 40 hours per week. In August 2017, Kendra took on additional responsibility at CORE headquarters as senior leadership of the Realtor® coaching program and providing leadership and mentorship to the sales team. The old cliché, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person,” rings true for this southern belle, who still finds time to run, read, and volunteer for several non-profits. 

You can connect with Kendra here:

• https://www.thecoretraining.com/kendra-cooke/
• https://www.thecoretraining.com/thesummit/

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.

Learned something new, or have a suggestion? Message Matt Muscat on Instagram! 

In this episode we talk to a guy with a seriously cool character story. 

Syed Mohsin immigrated to the US when he was a high schooler in 2006, he experienced culture shock upon starting school in Detroit realizing that real America didn’t look like the Disney and Marvel world he had seen on TV. He found a love for technology early on that he pivoted into real estate. Over the years Syed has built his business up and refined his strategies for generating, converting and closing online leads. Now armed with a database of over 100,000 people in his community Syed and his team consistently convert 5-10 per month into closed clients, all while generating more leads. 

On this episode, Syed discusses not only his story but the logic behind why he goes about real estate and lead generation in this way. Agents who are new to an area, or whose families don’t trust them early on enough to send them business will resonate!

Connect with Syed on social media:

• https://www.facebook.com/thesuccessbroker/
• https://www.instagram.com/thesuccessbroker/

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon. 

Short Easy Episode Alert!! There are two crucial elements to good marketing – a target audience and a message to deliver. In this episode we learn about a super “sticky” message that real estate professionals can first understand and then market. HUD Homes. These were the big thing in all conversations among agents, clients and lenders back in the last recession but as the market got stronger and stronger they fell out of vogue. However as the market has gotten more competitive, our guest Jeremy Drobeck found that HUD Homes were the perfect option for many of his clients who were losing out. In this episode Jeremy answers all things HUD Homes and explains how your client could get keys in their hand for as little as $100 down, and in some cases even wrap some repairs into their loan. Some questions that he answers include:

1. What is a HUD home?
2. Where can I find a list of HUD homes for sale
3. What kind of financing options are available?
4. With these being foreclosed homes aren’t they in bad shape? 
5. What options are available if they need repairs?
6. I read something about lead based paint being a problem with HUD homes, can you tell me about that?
7. What do I do if I want to see a hud home?
8. How do I make an offer on a HUD home?
9. Can I buy a HUD home as an investor?
10. How do I get preapproved for a HUD home?

If you have a client moving to Kalamazoo, MI or the surrounding area, Jeremy Drobeck is always looking for new clients and is a great referral partner. You can find him online at 1stclassmortgageservice.com

The Neighborhood Realtor is proudly sponsored by Treadstone Funding and Neighborhood Loans. For more tangible tips in real estate marketing, check out Matt's book, The Tangible Action Guide for Real Estate Marketing available on Amazon.