Top Agents Playbook: The Podcast For Real Estate Agents Presented by Ray Wood

A few weeks back, my friend Danny Wood tapped me on the shoulder while I was watching a speaker at Toronto's REALiTY+ Conference and told me I had to meet someone.

I followed Danny out into the foyer and was delighted to meet Howard Drukarsh, a fellow podcaster, career real estate legend and co-founder at Right At Home Realty, Canada's largest independent real estate brokerage with almost 6000 members.

We only chatted for a few minutes but right there I knew I had to somehow get Howard on the show.

In this interview, Howard and I share our thoughts on what agents need to be doing in this current market to not only survive but grow their business and their brand while many of their competitors are wondering what on earth to do.

Many thanks to Howard for joining me on this call and sharing his very best ideas and strategies.

Howard's podcast guest list reads like a who's-who of Canadian real estate excellence. Can I suggest you check it out here:  RealEstateWithHowardDrukarsh.com

email howard: [email protected]

About Howard Drukarsh

​Howard was born and raised in the working-class neighbourhood of Downsview in Toronto Canada. He spent his formative years working in the family variety store and snack bar before deciding to pursue post-secondary education, he was the first member of his family to do so. Howard attended York University and after graduating with a degree in Political Science he took a position at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Audience Relations. While at the CBC he recognized that for him to move forward in his career he would need an education in business, to that end he enrolled in the University of Windsor and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Seeking new challenges Howard began to work in Advertising, he had several positions with boutique agencies but soon felt that his true calling lay elsewhere. He wanted to explore his entrepreneurial side and decided that Real Estate would provide the best opportunity for him to do so.

Howard worked with several brokerages before settling at Johnston & Daniel A Division of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage, it was here that he met the late Arthur Bartram and the two decided to start their own brokerage. Arthur had seen a new business model attracting hundreds of Realtors in the US and thought that with some tweaking it could be successful in the Canadian market. This new venture required funding and after a few setbacks in that regard, they were introduced to Ron Peddicord who possessed the business and financial expertise needed to scale up the operation as well as attract investment. Ron soon joined Arthur and Howard as the 3rd co-founder of Right at Home Realty. In May of 2004 Right at Home Realty opened its doors, 16 years later it has grown to become Canada’s largest independent brokerage with close to 6000 members.

A consummate Realtor with a vast and insightful knowledge of Canadian real estate, Howard is often asked to provide comment on issues affecting the real estate industry. Over his career, he has had the pleasure to serve on the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) Board of Directors, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), and continues to serve on the Board of Right at Home Realty.

 

What started out as an everyday interview between an author and a podcaster, ended in a very frank and revealing discussion about the current property market, some interesting economic warning signs and perhaps, most importantly, one experienced investor's informed view as to what might happen in the year ahead and what real estate agents should be doing to build their war chest of investment opportunities going forward.

What's John's message? We don't get too far into our call when John reveals his true opinion about the banks (He calls the 'Banksters') and the faceless Wall Street investment giants that are pre-occupied with lining their own pockets with your money.

Instead, John advises to take the time to be aware of what's happing in the world.  MAKE the time to read the Wall Street Journal or your local financial daily and study and follow the better and more reputable financial advisors who don't have a secret agenda to sway your thinking.

John finishes our call with a powerful message to his real estate brothers and sisters. He says that we work so hard to build wealth for our clients and often ignore or neglect the investment opportunities that will determine our ultimate wealth position.

John Michailidis, MSIRE, JD, is an attorney and entrepreneur with degrees in economics, international real estate, and law. As a young man he served with the U.S. Army as an 82nd Airborne paratrooper. With a career spanning 30+ years as a broker, property manager, author, educator, mentor, group investment sponsor, and coach he actively works with those interested in fortifying their futures, preserving their assets, and leaving a legacy that lasts.

email John at [email protected]

I'm a BIG fan of setting up your farm to win more listings and make more sales.  But where do you start?  How big should it be and what are you doing to reach out and connect with the folks that live there? To get the answers to these questions and more, I went to Ryan Smith from Launch Your Farm

 

Ryan believes farming is the future for real estate success

He’s on a mission to share his new project “Launch Your Farm” with the real estate world and to ignite the same excitement in other agents.

Ryan became passionate about geographic farming after relocating a number of times over his 14 years in real estate forcing him to rebuild his business multiple times.

Having tried almost every strategy in the book, he quickly realized that combining your strategies and tactics in a hyper-local fashion was the best way to build momentum and success in real estate. That was when he became a real farming fanatic.

After coaching, training and interviewing some of the top agents across North America, Ryan realized his true passion was in showing other agents how to reach their full potential by helping them develop systems and tools to build the best geographic farming foundations for their local markets.

To learn more about geographic farming and how to grow your business, head over to LaunchYourFarm.com to get access to Ryan's podcast, marketing ideas, resources and more.

In this episode we get into:

How do you select your farm area?

How big should your area be?

How often do you reach out?

What reach-out methods are working?

The best ways to engage homeowners in your farm

The main mistakes agents make when farming

Why most agents don't farm

Check out Ryan's Podcast here

Last year, Troy Kincaid (Colac Victoria) cracked the magic $1 Million in GCI. In fact, Troy recorded gross commission of $1.2 Million and he says it's largely due to the 2 PRICE DRIVE campaigns he and his team commit to twice this each year. In this video, Troy takes us step-by-step through the entire process including the lead-up or pre-launch campaign, the 6 ways he reaches out to sellers in his area, and the marketing materials he uses. Bestagents members can access everything here

For over three decades, Louise has been an industry leader in New York City’s residential real estate market. With career sales expected to exceed $5 billion in 2022, she is considered one of the elite Power Brokers in Manhattan. With a list of accolades to her credit, she has been able to foster and maintain strong relationships and is regarded by clients and colleagues alike for her market insights, thoughtful guidance, and consummate professionalism. She also has passion with which she approaches each interaction, littered with extreme optimism, which is something that carried her through the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Louise Phillips Forbes: Business and contact page

This is happening and it's happening now!

Savvy realtors are cleaning up helping property owners short term rent their properties with the help of some amazing technology.

Okay Okay, Airbnb is huge and has massive market penetration but did you know there are dozens of other players in this space?

Also, there's a way to cut out the middle man and earn 'substantial' rental management fees if you know what you're doing.

My guest today is Jessica Larsen and she's going to show you how you can get involved wherever you are.

The following is the email Jessica sent me after our call:

Hi Ray,

Thanks for a good chat!  It’s always nice to talk to someone with as much passion for the industry as I have, it makes for a better discussion :)

Here are a couple of helpful links:

Link to book a chat w/Jessica - www.calendly.com/capecodsquad

Link to Jetstream’s website for Real Estate Agents (there’s a quick and helpful video I made at the bottom of the page): https://jetstreamtech.io/short-term-rental-marketing-realtors/

Link to Jetstream’s own OTA, Leavetown.com

In the interview, I mentioned my newest partner on Cape Cod, real estate agent and property manager Sarah Rock of Rock Properties had launched her first listing this weekend.  Here it is on Leavetown: https://leavetown.com/accommodation/44957787.

This same listing can be found on VRBO and Airbnb - all perfectly synced; more platforms to come soon.

This is a great example of how the listing distribution tech works.  She’s up to 7 bookings since her launch this weekend and she’s already off and running signing her second listing today!

Direct booking sites are for partners with 3 or more properties.  Here is a link to my branded direct booking site: www.FiveStarCapeCod.com

I have also attached the Distribution Schematic we were looking at in the interview as well as my Presentation Deck for Real Estate Agents & Brokers.

If there is anything else you think would be helpful, let me know and I’ll do my best to produce it to you.

Many thanks and all the gratitude for your time and the opportunity to be on your show today.  I appreciate you!

Warmly,

JESSICA LARSEN

 

One CRM to rule them all!

If you’re sick and tired of ‘Frankenstiening’ digital platforms together to automate your real estate funnel and generate leads on autopilot then I have an idea.

I bet you want to FULLY AUTOMATE your business but getting all your online platforms to seamlessly connect is harder than winning the lottery!

And let’s not forget the time suck and tech rage you’ll suffer as you try to build your ‘monster’

C’mon, you’re not a nerdy coder, you’re a real estate agent who wants to dedicate every waking minute to getting listings and making sales.

You want to do what you love not what you hate!

Have you ever thought to yourself “Wow! It’s 2022. Why isn’t there one simple platform that can do everything I want without the time-wasting, frustration, tech rage and BS?”

Let’s say you want a complete system under one roof, one login and one domain that stores all your contacts, manages your leads with a state-of-the-art email and texting feature, offers a bunch of awesome landing pages, an epic-looking stand-alone personal website and custom websites for every listing.

These features don’t need add-ons or widgets to talk to each other because they ARE each other.

…and it’s not only a dream to drive, you get unlimited one-on-one zoom support calls whenever you want! Who the heck offers that??

And what if this WHOLE system was developed first for mobile (rapidly becoming the consumer weapon of choice) but also delivers the most amazing user experience on any hardware and browser?

Let me ask you a question. If the digital tool that does all this is available now, is SUPER affordable, and used by more than 7K raving-fan agents, would you not be prepared to crawl naked over broken glass to find out more?

In this interview with Realia.me founder Zach Koerber, you'll get up close and personal with what I believe is the most feature-laden, real estate-specific CRM available today ...and the really GREAT news is that this baby is so easy to use.

Check out Realia.me here

I'm so impressed with this platform that I have set up a very sweet deal for agents I'm working with.  If you'd like more info, please email me at [email protected]

 

It's worth the time and trouble to set up your real estate funnels to win leads on autopilot. McGrath agent Trent Pool is smashing it right now with his funnels. In this episode, Trent takes us through the steps required to set up your funnels and how his funnels are working 24/7

 

I'm confident this is one of the most important interviews of the year to date.

Meet Levi Lascsak. A Dallas Texas Realtor who made the decision on day one to go all-in with just one social media platform.

iPhone 11 with the wide-angle lens  Note:  Levi suggests filming yourself with the camera lens facing you, not your screen.

 

 

Afghanistan in 2009 must seem like a lifetime ago for former 'Special Forces' Green Beret, Levi Rodgers but I would bet what happened on that day is never far from his thoughts.

When the military vehicle in which Levi and four of his teammates were traveling, detonated a 400-pound bomb, Levi was the only survivor and despite serious burns and many broken bones, he ultimately recovered and realized his Green Beret days were now behind him.

I was unsure how deep to dig in this session when it came to Levi's traumatic past but, as he shares during this interview, your story is what makes you and a powerful story like this one, stays with people and becomes part of their lives forever.

These days Levi runs The Levi Rodgers Group in San Antonio Texas and is helping the Veteran community not just get involved in owning a great real estate investment, his team is 55% former US military as well.

But I think what I like most about Levi's story is that this highly decorated, Green Beret with a Purple Heart, a Legion of Merit and four Bronze Star Medals overcame a traumatic and near-death experience to honor his fallen teammates (as you'll hear during this interview) and create a business from scratch that gives so much back to his city and the local military community.

Thank you for your service Levi