Mastering Real Estate Cycles: Strategies for Realtors to Thrive in Any Market

Julie Holly
00:00:00

What would I do if I were just entering this market? That's the very first thing that I would do. I would identify what is it I am after and I am targeting.

And I'm not going to target everything all at once. I'm going to be very clear. This is my number one priority and this is my number two priority.

And I don't need to worry about more so I can go after those elements. And then my grandpa, my dad always said there is plenty of room at the table for everybody. When things are easy, it's amazing.

More and more people come to the table. They always said, slice of pie. Like there's a pie. Everybody's coming to eat the pie. It's okay.

When the market shifts, people will will leave the table. And so this right now is actually the single best time since the 08 crash for people to get into real estate.

Mike Mills
00:01:00

Well, hello there all you estate search and deal seeking real estate pros.

So with the market slowing down to record low transactions these days, I know it can feel like you're riding your bike through a sleepy west coast town searching for One Eyed Willie's lost treasure.

But just like the politically incorrect PG movie from the 80s where the Goonies fought to save their town, you are on an adventure to save your business, hunting for hidden deals and uncovering opportunities wherever you can. And just as Mikey says, Goonies never die. Well, today I've broken the mirror and found the map to the treasure.

And this map promises to reveal the path to three golden keys. Keys that are going to unlock the hidden deals and fill your business with gold. So grab a Baby Ruth and settle in for today's money making adventure.

Welcome to Texas Real Estate and Finance Podcast where we help you uncover the hidden treasures buried all around you that you might have missed.

Every week I bring you top tier guests who can act as your guides, helping you avoid all the booty traps in your business while offering the strategies and insights that you need to uncover hidden deals and fill those members Only jacket pockets full of gold.

Whether you're a realtor, loan officer, or real estate professional, this podcast is your treasure map, complete with tips, tricks and obscure movie references that you didn't ask for and dad jokes you didn't really need, but all aimed at helping you stripe gold and have a little bit of fun along the way. I'm your host, Mike Mills, the North Texas mortgage banker with Geneva Financial and what I'm not reminiscing about childhood movies.

By the way, if you haven't seen the Goonies in a while. I'm almost certain that that movie could not be made again today. But.

But either way, when I'm not out here spouting 80s movie references into this microphone, I'm out there helping you and your clients secure the best home loans possible. Whether it's conventional va, fha, or those specialty loans like rehab, construction, helocs and bridge loans, I'm happy.

I am here and happy to help you find your financing needs for success. So if you're ready to uncover some gold of your own, give me a call and let's make that treasure hunt a success.

All right, before we dive in, I want to ask a quick favor.

If you're liking what we're hearing today, take a quick second, hit that like button, subscribe, and maybe even share this episode with someone that could use a little extra treasure hunt and inspiration. We're all about building a strong, supportive community here and every like share, subscribe helps keep this podcast rolling.

And for those of you that come back each and every week to hear me ramble, I really appreciate it. You guys are the true MVPs. Your support keeps this old guy motivated and I can't thank you enough for it.

So, all right, let's talk about today's guest. Well, she loves adventure on the trail. She's not a fan of surprises when it comes to her investing.

She relies on clear, proven strategies and no truffle shuffle gimmicks to grow her and her clients portfolios.

As the founder of Three Keys Investments, she's dedicated to helping investors protect, preserve and grow their wealth through stable and strategic investments. She's a third generation real estate professional.

She served as both a limited and general partner in large scale developments, showing she knows how to navigate the market's booty traps and uncover the treasure. So she's also the host of the Conscious Investor podcast where she inspires others to pursue purpose driven financial freedom.

So help me give a big hey you guys and welcome Julie Holly to the podcast. Julie, how are we doing?

Julie Holly
00:04:07

I'm doing great, but I need a Baby Ruth.

Mike Mills
00:04:10

Baby Ruth? Yeah. I don't know why I've got on this random. It's like keeping yourself from being bored, right?

I'm throwing out whatever little references to add a little bit of entertainment to it, I suppose.

Julie Holly
00:04:24

Yeah, no, I was really happy for that and excited to be here with you. I know the first time that we spoke on the phone, I think we went like an hour beyond the time that we allotted and yes.

So I know we're gonna have a great Conversation. I know that we'll, we'll serve the listeners and the viewers really well.

And if you are watching, like, man, I've been podcasting and I've, we're, we're past the 500 mark and everything, but like, give it up for Mike. Like, it's not just liking subscribing and all of that for, for you and it makes him feel great, but it also allows other people to access this show.

Like, and that's the coolest part about when our listeners, you know, subscribe and follow our platforms.

Mike Mills
00:05:08

Yes.

And if, if the recent developments in the presidential election or any indication of where media is heading, I feel like, you know, more and more these days people are tuning into podcasts and, and you know, finding their, finding their lane a little bit and listening to, you know, long form conversations which I think hold home so much more value in them than these, you know, three minute clips that you see on cable news. And so I, I think this is where you find the real gold.

And especially if you're driving in your car, if you're, you know, where I got into podcasts, I don't know about you, but I would, I'm, I mow, I like mowing my yard and I have a big yard.

I have like three acres and I sit on my mower for two or three hours over the weekend and I just drive around and listen to shows and that's, that's kind of where I got my, my passion for it.

Julie Holly
00:05:56

Okay. Well, admittedly I had, I found my passion way back when in listening to podcasts and I went through really, it's, it's okay actually.

My, this version of me is going to be okay with it, with admitting this out loud, but it was like all the smart entertainment, gossip stuff on a podcast and I think I had a newborn and I was just, you know, in that zone of transitioning to being a full time stay at home mom, which I'd never been. And that was like a little like slice of fun in my life that I added. And so that was actually what got me into podcasts, like listening to podcasts.

I've never admitted that to it ever.

Mike Mills
00:06:39

Well, I mean that's, that's the type of stuff that, you know, it's weird when you talk about podcasts, we're, you know, we're getting a little off track. But, but I love this conversation anyway. But when you look at the podcast stuff, it is very much a, you know, what's your flavor?

And that's the thing nowadays is like there's so, I mean, I mean obviously there's hundreds, you know, thousands of them out there that people can listen to. But you know, I, I have a 17 year old daughter and I have a, my wife obviously. And you know, I listen to podcasts all the time.

It drives my family crazy because if we're in the car taking a long trip, like I want to pop in something and listen to it. I don't want to just necessarily listen to the radio and it drives my wife crazy. But I found my daughter, she listens to podcasts all the time now.

She doesn't listen to the stuff that I listen to, you know, but, but she definitely, that's part of the, you know, the way that they consume media. And I've tried to kind of get my wife there a little bit.

She's just recently got into kind of the audiobook world where she'll listen to the books and you know, so we're kind of creeping in that direction.

But everybody's got their, their flavor, you know, whether it's the, like you say the celebrity smud or it's the, the true crime or the, you know, the episodic ones. Like, I'm not into that stuff personally, but I know a lot of people that are and they're very successful.

Julie Holly
00:07:50

Yeah, my, my 16 year old actually turns me on to a really great podcast. So it's a good connecting point for us and then we'll listen to some as a family.

And so there's one series, it's called Tower 4 and we listen to that as a, as a family. It's pretty intense, but it's such a fun connecting point and you're not committed. But I will admit I like you.

I always have a book or a podcast almost always going if I can listen to it. If I'm like getting ready in the bathroom, like there's going to be something coming my way. Founders podcast is probably my favorite right now.

Mike Mills
00:08:25

So, like I've heard of that one Founders.

Julie Holly
00:08:29

It's really great. I highly recommend it. So it's a very different thing than entertainment gossip. So it's all biographies. I've level.

I, I would, I want to say I've leveled up, but actually I'm learning that entertainment is really important and being able to enjoy things that others might perceive as superficial. It's like everybody needs like different layers in their life.

So, so I no longer like, I used to be a little bit like embarrassed of that part and I'm like, no, that was, that was good. It's fine.

Mike Mills
00:08:59

My personal entertainment. So you think you're weird? You want to know what my personal entertainment is? Like?

Julie Holly
00:09:03

We're getting it.

Mike Mills
00:09:03

Guys, I'm fascinated by the fact that we're having another UAP hearing in Congress today. Like, to me, that is like, all right, what. What's. What's happening now? What's. What's going on?

Tell me about, you know, Operation Constellation or whatever the heck it is like that to me. Like, I'm. I've.

I've been glued to my phone looking for updates all day long because I'm a dork when it comes to wanting to believe that there's space aliens running around out there. So, hey, we all got our things, right?

Julie Holly
00:09:28

Exactly. Exactly. We all have our things.

Mike Mills
00:09:31

Yes. So I want to get started.

Well, actually, let me ask you one more thing, because I was thinking about this a second ago, but this is something I struggle with, and I'm curious, because our con. Our consuming of information seems to be similar in a lot of ways.

But here's where I feel like I get myself stuck sometimes, is that I consume so much information. Listening to YouTube videos, listening to podcasts, reading books, like, going on. You know, I spent probably too much time on Twitter.

Like, I'm just sucking up information constantly, but I don't feel like I set aside enough time to either a process that information in my brain or just have no information in silence and think. And. And I think that's we. It's almost like we. And I feel like I do this. It's like you. You're creating yourself, being busy because you're. You're.

You're like, oh, I'm doing stuff. I'm being productive. I'm listening. I'm learning. I'm doing all these things.

But, you know, Albert Einstein sat in rooms for 10 hours a day looking out the window, and, you know, came up with some of the greatest, you know, discoveries of all time.

And as a society nowadays, I don't know that we spend enough time just thinking and being bored and not having stimulation outside of what's going on in our brain. How do you deal with that?

Julie Holly
00:10:45

Oh, my gosh. I love this. I'm going to grab a book. My good friend wrote this book. It's called Accidental Genius by Mark Levy. This book, it really.

It takes you through different free writing exercises, and when you adopt free writing, it really opens up and unleashes your brain.

So this is a long way of answering your question is that I have been giving myself an opportunity because basically, there's no nice way of saying this, but we just become like, have obese minds. Like, that's what happens. And it's like, okay, what's the purpose? There has to be a purpose for why I'm consuming this information.

Because otherwise, how am I different than a teenager on video games all day? Like, it's just my own version of that. And so I am definitely someone that has to be aware of consumption because I read voraciously also.

So creating pockets of time I have found is really important. So for example, and this is about really high level of self awareness and self regulation. Instead of listening, sometimes I will not.

Sometimes, like, generally I will ask myself, what is it I need? So we're wired to answer questions. And so if I ask myself a question, I'm going to naturally have an answer for myself.

And so I leverage that against myself quite often. So it's um, as I'm going about things, particularly I find as.

And maybe a lot of adults will relate to this is that in the car alone, driving, that's a pocket of time that doesn't come up very often. It's rare. Like, so you think about the. Where are the rare pockets of time where you have time by yourself?

I like baking cookies and making pizza dough. This weekend I might feel rude, but I'll put in AirPods like, oh, this is my time. What do I need with that time? Do I need.

Maybe I need some El Bujo playing in my ears just to get a little bit life. By the way, I love my husband turned me onto them and it's just like so much fun.

Or maybe I need something that's just more like that chill, meditative type music. Or maybe I need that podcast or maybe I need the audio book, right?

So it's not just saying like, okay, like going into default habits of oh, I get in my car and I put a podcast podcast on. It's putting one step before that and saying, I'm getting in my car.

What do I need to fuel my soul, my head, heart, mind, my, you know, like so head is our mind, heart, our emotions, gut, our intuition. What is, what do I need right now to fuel myself to bring out the best?

Mike Mills
00:13:27

So it's, it's kind of like you're being just like anything else.

You're being intentional and deliberate with your time and what you're using it for versus just automatically thrown in some headphones or turning on the music or sitting in silence. I mean you, you're going into that situation going, okay, I got a 45 minute drive ahead of Me, I'm by myself.

What do I want to accomplish on this drive other than just sitting in my car doing nothing, you know, being mindless, essentially?

Because, I mean, really and truly, a lot of times when we're listening to the podcast, we're listening to the book, or we're listening to the music, we're really not, you know, there's no growth, I guess you would say, happening there. You're just kind of existing in the moment for a little bit. Which, again, sometimes you need that, too. Right.

Sometimes you need to just, you know, unplug yourself a little bit and just not think. I mean, I need those moments as well, definitely.

If I don't take an hour or two before I go to bed and just turn my brain off one way or another, then I have a hard time sleeping. It's very, very difficult.

Julie Holly
00:14:20

Yeah, it's. It's so important. And I think that overconsumption of information of any sort is overconsumption. Right. So moderation is our friend. 8020 rule.

If we could just land at the 80%, like, we're golden. I know. In traction, they're like, 80% is greatness. I'm like, that's my lane. That's good. I'm not going to try to go for 110 ever again. So.

So we just need to remind ourselves that we need to honor that brain space. And there also needs to be pockets of time where there is no input, because it's no different than going to the gym.

Like, we're not going to go to the gym and just, like, do, like, rep after rep after rep and. And no breaks.

Like, we're going to give ourselves a little break, and then we're going to go do the next, you know, set over on the different, you know, with the different weights. So I'm just saying, like, we have to do the same for our brain.

I find since you and I are podcasters, we have a unique opportunity that most people don't have. And I will say that my husband and I also have lots of conversations. I'm sure you and your wife are the same.

So I have two verbal outlets also, where I can synthesize information and contextualize and play with it. But so that's also part of getting it out.

But if you don't have those resources and you're looking for something free, writing is super, super powerful. And now it's not just information that is, you know, it's cerebral. It's more than that. It now becomes your own, and.

And you shift it, that's powerful.

Mike Mills
00:16:00

Well, there's a lot I know, you know, we're. For anybody that's listening, this, you know, gets a little woo. But I, I mean I'm quite a woo person if I'm being honest.

Because the, the truth is, is what you were saying there is. And I, I've used different terms to relate it to. Sometimes if I'm in, if I have like something negative happen, I call it getting the venom out.

Like I need to get whatever the poison is that's inside me right now that's angry and mad or whatever. I'm a talker. So I just gotta just get it all out and then I feel better. Okay, Now I'm better.

I've said all the things that are going on in my brain and I feel better. And the other thing is one of my favorite things, I don't remember where I heard it was. Your brain is for having ideas, it's not for holding ideas.

And the thought behind that essentially is just that you're going to constantly churn through stuff in your mind just over and over and over again.

But until you either write it out like you're saying, doing that free writing and getting those ideas on paper, or putting it on your to do list or whatever the case may be, or you talk it out, you know, that's why, you know, people that I've never been to therapy myself, but I can understand the value behind it because I talk so damn much.

So I can get on here and talk to somebody for an hour and then I can record my live or my market update for 30 minutes and then I'll talk to three or four people during the day and just all kinds of stuff. And that's just how I get all the thoughts, you know, for that were forming in my brain and out in reality.

Because like I even tell my kids, you know, it's like you will think of something like I want to start a business or I want to. You know what we'll talk about today? I want to do a different type of investing. And that's. You're like, I'm going to do that.

That's what I'm going to do. But your brain doesn't connect. It just goes from A to Z. It doesn't take all of the steps in between.

And until you get that stuff out and you put it on paper and you listen or whatever, then you can't formulate that plan. And then it just becomes a thought that disappears that you never take action on.

Julie Holly
00:17:56

It's just a Dream on a Shelf is what I call those.

It's like, yes, and it's fun, but you have to decide like where do you want your life to go and what's the meaning of your life and the purpose and the intention.

As you're talking, I'm thinking about like Michael Singer's work and I'll always look around because I'm like surrounded by books in my studio and again over consumer. But Michael Singer talks a lot about what you, what you're describing as, you know, like those blockages. So untethered soul or living untethered.

And so it's like we, we have to allow things to pass through, just like you were saying. I love that. How to write it down. Your brain is for having ideas, not holding ideas.

But like we as humans are not containers intended to just be closed containers. Like everything it comes in and it never goes out. Like, no, it's intended to like flow through us.

All things are intended to flow through us in some capacity. And yeah, if something's bad, I am fully with you. Like extract go away as fast as possible.

Mike Mills
00:18:55

Yes, I use a lot of four letter words to help clear that stuff out of my soul all the time words, my favorite pastime.

Unfortunately in my house, the F word is used probably more often than it should be, but my kids have gotten used to it ever since they were little kids, so they're used to it at this point. I hate to hear what my daughter sounds like when she's hanging out with her friends because I'm sure.

All right, well, let's, let's, let's get into, you know, into it. I would say let's get right into it, but heck, we're almost 20 minutes in.

I, I wanted to ask you, you know, because today's, you know, today's market is not great, right? I mean, I, I think anybody that would, you know, are there pockets of people that are just killing it and stuff? Sure, absolutely.

But on the aggregate, you know, we have transactions in the real estate market. Transactions are at 30 year lows, interest rates are high. You know, they've been going up, up and down.

The yo yo rides been crazy the last couple of months. You know, home prices are high. We have attacks on real estate commissions.

You know, commercial real estate is even in some struggling points along the way. So you've been in real estate for a very long time. Your family has done this, you were a realtor, you had your own brokerage, all those things.

If you were to start over today, right? If you were to Come into this market today, but with all the knowledge that you've been able to gain over the years. But starting from zero, right?

What's. What, what's your game plan?

Like, how are you going to attack this market knowing all of these things that currently exist and still be able to survive?

Because people are going to make money and people are going to have success, but it's those that think differently and work outside, you know, the norms that tend to be that way. So, so what would your game plan be coming in as a new agent?

Julie Holly
00:20:38

Oh, I know, like, guests always say this. They're like, I love that question. But I'm like, I love this question, Mike, because the reality is, is that we find success in every single market.

And so I actually, I want to. Before I answer this question, I want to ask this question of you. What was the great market? Right?

We all can go like, oh, the worst market was, you know, like the 0809 market. Like, we can all kind of point our finger, say, like, that was a really, really bad market.

But like, when we talk about a great market or a good market, it's really, its perception is reality. So then it's like, okay, well, maybe we need to define our terms a little bit and say, what is our, what is our definition?

And viewers and listeners, like, think about what it is, because whatever our expectation is, that's what our brain is going to be seeking that out. Our reticulator activating system will be constantly going for that. Right? So what would you say is a great mark market?

Mike Mills
00:21:39

Well, I agree with you. I think it's a matter of perspective.

Because as a lender, right, from a mortgage loan officer's perspective, the 2020, 2021, you know, even most of 2022 was fantastic, but only from the point of view of volume of transactions, not necessarily from the point of view of what's best for the clients, right?

Because if I'm a sell, if I'm a buyer in 2021 or 2022, and I'm having to come out of pocket 30 or $40,000 over what the list price was because I'm competing with 12 other people, right? And especially knowing what I know now, right, that was not a great market for buyers. It was really bad for buyers, actually. Right. And.

But as a lender, because we had low rates, so I got refinances, I got cash outs, I got purchases. Every transaction you could imagine, when interest rates are low, they're all coming in, right? When rates go up. Now we are.

Now you can look at it and go, okay, well, now it's different because transactions are less, but there's also less competition.

So because people are getting out of the market and now rates, you're not competing with the Internet lender that employed somebody from another country to answer the phone and fill out an application because they're out of.

Julie Holly
00:22:58

Please don't. I'm interrupting.

Mike Mills
00:22:59

Yeah, please.

Julie Holly
00:23:00

Never work with an Internet mortgage lender, ever. Thank you. I just have to say that. Sorry.

Mike Mills
00:23:07

So it's just all. It's. To me, it's all perspective. But from my point of view, those two years were amazing.

And really, I got into the business right after the crash in 2008. Like, I started in 2009. And when I got into it, it was awesome because rates were low or headed down lower and we were doing a ton of transactions.

So, you know, if I'm a realtor, though, my perspective might be a little bit different depending on if I'm working sales side, buy side, you know, if I'm trying to find my niche, if I'm doing relocations, maybe things are killing it. If I'm doing, you know, my sphere and I've never really marketed myself, I'm probably having a hard time.

Julie Holly
00:23:48

Okay, see, this is exactly why I asked that question, because it's so nuanced and it depends on everything you just said. Well, am I a lender or am I going for buyers? My husband, he loves, you know, to list properties. Is it. So it's like, what are you actually going for?

Because different markets are like, somebody's going to be the bell of the ball at any given point. And it's usually everyone's not winning all at once. Except lenders really did win all at once for 2019-2022.

You guys were like, we own this whole world.

Thank you, everybody, and congratulations, because that was like a lot of buyers on the residential market side, that was like, buyers in 2011, 2012, 2013, right? Like, oh, we can buy anything. And this is amazing. So.

So there's always a moment where everyone gets to shine, and I think so it's really important that we always define what our personal expectations are and that we have something that is clearly measurable. Okay, I am going. So I can speak all. Since I'm in the commercial real estate space, but we're going to talk residential for. For this moment. Right?

My husband, he loves listing properties. That is his thing. That's what he goes for. And so as he is looking on his residential side and building out that business, he's looking very clearly.

You have to look for what is measurable. Like this is what I'm going for and what are the metrics that I'm going to use to measure if I'm getting those things.

And so for me on the commercial real estate side of life, if I'm looking for apartment complexes and assisted living facilities, then I need to know like what is my unit of measurement? What would I say is a win in this before I even start thinking about the marketplace and how horrible it is or anything.

So going back, I know that was like a long foundation to answering your original question, which was what would I do if I were just entering this market? Well that, that's the very first thing that I would do. I would identify what is it I am after and I am targeting.

And I'm not going to target everything all at once. I'm going to be very clear.

This is, this is my number one priority, two priority and this is my number two priority and I don't need to worry about more so I can go after those elements. And then my grandpa and my dad always said there is plenty of room at the table for everybody.

And when things are easy, it's amazing, more and more people come to the table. They always said slice of pie, like there's a pie like pie chart, like everybody's coming to eat the pie. It's okay.

When the market shifts, people will, will leave the table. And so this right now is actually the single best time since the 8 crash for people to get into real estate.

The competition is dwindling, so now you're not dealing with the riffraff and quite frankly I love the flesh out.

It's not always fun for everybody but it's like thank God the online mortgage lenders, they needed to go and the part time real estate agents like thank you, thank you. I'm glad that we needed you for that time because there was so much going on.

And thank you for leaving because we need full time professionals because it is a profession. It's not just this hobby or a side hustle is an actual profession. So I think when you look at it as if I'm entering a profession, if I.

And when we look at companies that are very successful, most really high end successful companies started during depression eras.

And so we can go back to that and say oh wow, you know, these other companies launched in a depression market and they found their massive success and so how am I going to do that?

So, so we've done a couple of things, we've defined Our terms, like we've defined what we perceive as greatness is because if we don't do that, we're going to get, we're going to exhaust ourselves because we're going to look for everyone else's definition and we're never going to have a standard unit of measurement for ourselves. And so we're going to feel discouraged and defeated and we're going to want to quit.

So we've done that and now we just understand this is exactly what I am going for and I know how I'm going to measure it. And then we go back to basics. The basics are still beautiful. Real estate is a relationship business, massive relationship business.

And so the number one thing that I think if I were just starting out my playbook would be to maximize all of my relationships, let everyone in my life know, hey, I am so excited I've made this career transition. I'm just going to make an assumption here, fill that in.

Mike Mills
00:28:47

Sure.

Julie Holly
00:28:47

I've made it a career transition into full time real estate investing. Maybe you were one of the part timers. I was part time, but I can see the need. I'm going to go full time and I'm so excited about this.

If you know, and then we ask that question, right. If you know, anyone, ask for the referral. But then where are we going? Out within the community.

Because the community needs to know who we are and what we offer. Now I'm going to give away some massive gold and I always hesitate because you know my husband's profession, you know, like he's a.

On the residential side. But there are some things that people need to be doing and I really should just write this up.

So if anyone's, if anyone takes this or alters this, I'm coming after you because there's a playbook that people need to be doing now that that whole settlement with NAR happened and now it's just quite a show and you could insert some four letter words with that one, like why are we negotiating? We had a really great system.

Don't get me started on, on that settlement and how that went out down because I, I'm sure my dad is turning in his grave. So all that aside, that means that now we have to actually show which this is a good thing.

You actually need to be showing the value that you are bringing to the table.

And so now just like any other sales process, any other sales cycle, I think that real estate agents in particular are really going to be called to task to have a very clear sales cycle to demonstrate the value that they are bringing to their clients, particularly on the buy side. And so I want to encourage and do you want me to nerd out on this? Because I actually have a playbook and I should actually.

Mike Mills
00:30:37

I love nerding out on all things. I absolutely do.

One thing I do want you to go back to just for brief second is you know, I see especially now nowadays there's a lot more and too and everybody use of.

You know, I don't even like the word social media because social media makes it sound like it's, you know, you're spending all your time on Tik Tok, although Tik Tok's a great platform. But, but, but the idea that this new media that's out there that people will, it goes one of two ways.

Either they, they, they think it's useless and don't want to use at all or they do it, but then that's all they do and they don't, you know, marry the two pieces together, which is, hey, most social media, especially if you're a relationship business like we do, most social media is not getting new people to call you. It is reinforcing your, your level of expertise or touching your sphere, whatever you want to call it with the people that already know you.

But in order to have people that already know you, you have to be out and about in your community doing stuff. And those two things have to go together because you don't need to get 20,000 views on a YouTube video to have success. You can get 100.

And if those 100 people know you, trust you, like you, those deals happen from that. So I want you to kind of talk about that a little bit because I've heard you.

Julie Holly
00:31:58

Oh my gosh. Yeah, you just unleashed a exciting. It's like unikitty.

Since we're talking about movie references, one, let's all just move past the whole social media. Media is a villain and a criminal. Social media is a fantastic, phenomenal resource in way.

I have met people that are so close in my life now through social media platforms. It created the bridge and the opportunity and so there's nothing wrong.

I mean like to say that social media is a villain is like saying press companies, the newspaper is a villain or because guess what? In my little small town, my husband and I went to a restaurant which will be nameless because it's so horrible. I gave it three tries.

I'm done with it. I'll never walk back into this place.

Mike Mills
00:32:48

And I give it three tries. That's pretty good. I give it one Shot usually. And I don't go back.

Julie Holly
00:32:52

It was only because actually it might have been two. But yeah, I. They coerced me, the family course, me to go try breakfast at the place. And I'm like, okay, I will.

It's not dinner, so I will, I will try another meal and see if maybe that's their, their zone of genius. It's not, let me tell you. But what's interesting is that as we were dining in this place, this is where like old timers go.

And you could look around the dining room and you could see couples sitting together, newspapers up. No, they're not scrolling. Okay, yeah, papers like, wow, we just went back in time. And so if we want to say that social media is an evil villain.

No, it's just easy to point the finger at so old time people put their newspapers up. Even now if I were to sit on my couch and pull my book out just because I'm reading a book, I mean, what am I, virtue signaling I'm better than you?

But I'm ignoring you. I'm still ignoring you.

Mike Mills
00:33:57

So like, yeah, yeah, either way, whatever the tool is, newspaper, phone book, television, you're just not spending, you're not engaging with people in front of you either way.

Julie Holly
00:34:07

So I, I just, I'm double downing that. Social media is not the villain. And it's such a great opportunity and to, to circle back to what you said so often.

I won't have, like, I don't have super. I don't worry about numbers, I don't care about vanity metrics at all. But you know, it's like, I don't care if nobody engages with the Post.

When I'm out and about at events or as I'm traveling or as I'm around my community, people will be like, oh my gosh, I saw, like, oh, yeah, you saw it. You didn't do anything with it, but you saw it. And that's what it is. It's what's called mental market share.

And so you're creating your reputation in people's minds and you are embedding that and you are training and conditioning their minds. Now that sounds really manipulative. It's not. I'm not trying to be manipulative with it. I personally choose to show up in full authenticity.

I've thrown myself under the bus on social media into like, I've. I'm very transparent. So. So for me, this isn't a problem. I'm like, oh, I'm not trying to manipulate anybody. So when you're doing this.

Mike Mills
00:35:11

But on that point, everything, I mean, it's kind of the whole of going back to the adage of, you know, people talk about planning, right? It's like, well, if you don't plan your day, your day will plan it for you, you know, kind of a thing.

It's the same, it's the same concept, you know, regardless of if you're getting in front of somebody with your message, okay, fine, yeah, you have a goal to it. You're trying to accomplish something, whatever the case may be.

But that person, whether you get in front of them or 100 stuff's getting in front of them, and it's all has the same goal, which is to get their attention. So, you know, there's no, there's no, you know, virtue of, or trying to be better, getting someone's attention or not based on what you say.

I mean, that's what we're all trying to accomplish. And if you're good at it, you're good at it. That's the bottom line.

Julie Holly
00:35:53

And you do want to be in control of your reputation.

And so the beauty of social media, you know, for any professional, is to say, this is who I am and I am going to resonate with you or not resonate with you, because you can identify and you can see these are qualities and virtues and the type of person that I want to get to know and do business with and such. And so people get to know you by the quality of the content or, or not quality, by whatever it is that you are, you are sharing with the world.

People are getting to know you like I have. And I'm sure you're in the same boat over on, on Facebook, LinkedIn, I keep it all, I keep it neat and tidy.

But Facebook, I could scroll like, there are all these friend requests. And what's interesting to me is that I will go and sometimes click on a name because I'll be like, you know, we have all these people in common.

I'll click on the name and then I will look at what they're posting to see is that in alignment, like, is what they're posting and are their interests actually, like something that we're going to be able to like, support each other in some capacity. And sometimes you go and you're like this really probably this, this isn't somebody that I can see being in alignment with where I want to.

How I'm building my life by design. And so maybe I'm not approving that request.

And so you can see and everybody's doing this, but Our brain is literally creating this value as we're going through. Like, does this align? Does this not align? Does this align? Does it not align? And so posting things, I'll encourage everyone.

And, Mike, if you haven't done this for a while, go back through your social. All of your individual platforms and scroll on some of the platforms. You can actually view it as someone who isn't associated with you.

Look at that and see what it looks like and scroll and just ask yourself, like, is this how I want people to see me? Is this does. Is this a good representation of me? And if it's not, consider extracting and deleting the things that aren't.

Or you can save them and you can start curating like, no, this is the image in the brand and who I am and how I want people to perceive me. And honestly, doesn't that raise us all up and make us better people?

If we're trying to strive into that because we're clear about who we want to be in the world, that makes sense.

Mike Mills
00:38:10

Yeah. Well, I mean, you got to have a vision of who you are if you're ever going to get there.

Because if you don't know who that is, then you're just going to be whatever, you know, whatever the outside influences on your life determine that you're going to be.

Because if you haven't set yourself a clear direction on who you want to be and where you want to go, and like I said, whether you plan your day or your day plans it for you one of the way, but somebody's. Somebody's planning something whether you want them to or not, this is how it's going.

Julie Holly
00:38:33

Oh, my gosh, that's so true.

Mike Mills
00:38:35

So, all right, so you were going to get into some nerd gold, and I want you to get into that. I got you off. I got you off track a little bit.

Julie Holly
00:38:43

No, you didn't. You're fine.

You know, you and I are both a part where we can just talk and we'll come right back to whatever waypoint, you know, like, oh, I know the breadcrumb. So when we're thinking about the sales cycle, right. We want to be really clear about that. And I'm going to focus more on.

On buyer's agents because I feel like there's a greater pressure now on buyer agents to prove their value. Because it's like, well, why can't. I should just go over to. I'll just go direct to the seller and I can. It's just an easy contract.

I can do this on My own.

And so if I were a buyer's agent just stepping into the market right now, I would take the time to develop a clear sales cycle, including just like we're talking about our own reputation. I would consider who are the buyers that I want to work with and I would create a very clear avatar.

I want to work with buyers that, that this is maybe their third house and they're leveling up. Their price point is 850,000 and depending on what your market is and things like that. Right.

So you're just kind of going like this is who I want to work, work with. Because you will get more of whatever you are going after. That is what you will get. If you want to work with first time buyers, more power to you.

That's, that's kind of like kindergarten teachers. Like we owe you. You're doing a service to the world. Like bless your hearts. And so like, and bless your hearts if you were ever a first time buyer.

So there's just so much hand holding going on in that. So, so you want to understand who are the people. Do I want to work with people who are educated?

Do I want to work with whoever it is, create a very clear avatar. And now you're going to create a sales cycle that is going to resonate with them. I know who I am targeting.

This is the type of buyer I am looking for. This is the clear value proposition that I have for them.

So when they come in through my brokerages connect type thing, because they all have them now, you know, it's like direct connect, whatever and I'm, I'm leaving all the names out because you know, different. So just fill in whatever it is that you're getting maybe a direct lead from. Now you get, you want to qualify them. Do not work with just anybody.

Because if you want to work with people where this is their third purchase and you're getting a call from a first time buyer, that's a really different zone. And of course you can do it. And some agents will be like, I work with everybody. Good for you.

Like, but if we focus our energy in one direction, we will get more traction and we'll be more successful and we'll attract more of that. So when that first time home buyer reaches out to you, direct connect like, oh my gosh, can I see 12 Main Street?

You know, it's, you know, it's priced at you $75,000. And I want, you know, you can simply say like, you know, thanks so much for calling.

Let me connect you up and you can refer that out, because guess what? That is going to distract you and keep you and prevent you from getting what you actually want.

The next thing I would do is, you know, if it is someone where it's like, oh, my gosh, this is my avatar, or this might be my avatar now it's. Wow, I'm so glad that you reached out. Here's the next. Right. So we have two pre parts that we're doing, but now we have that client.

Now we're going to actually say, I'm so glad that you reached out to me. This is a process that I use when I onboard new clients. And this is where you're already going to be showing your level of professionalism.

You're going to Mike's. Mike's face just went black. Aliens. The aliens are coming.

Mike Mills
00:42:28

Like, my. My power's still on, obviously, because my sign's on, but all of my lights just went out. I don't know. Keep going. I think I'm gonna hit something.

Julie Holly
00:42:35

You're like, I'm gonna go find some lights. Okay, so.

So now what we are going to do is we are going to say, you know, here's the process when I'm working with new clients, because I want to make sure I am providing the highest level of service for you. And so I'd like to schedule a time. Not right now. You just called me and I run.

I have a great, wonderful, filled schedule with wonderful people like you. And I honor time. I'd like to schedule time with you and maybe your partner, whoever else is part of this purchase.

And let's discuss what your goals are. Let's discuss. And you get everything dialed in. So now you actually have. We do this with financial planners. We do this in all these other professions.

But most real estate sales agents do not do this. So now you actually have a clear, delineated conversation with them about what their goals are, where they're going, and it's not in the moment.

It is a scheduled, very focused conversation that you are driving, and then you're making sure. Okay, great. I'm so glad we're working together. What I do need is I need you.

And you're going to have whatever bullet points need to be filled in in order to be able to purchase tomorrow when they find their dream house. Have you spoken with Mike yet? Because I don't want you to miss out on your home.

I know it seems like there aren't any buyers, but, I mean, Mike, you and I, and many of you listening, you have been in that situation where the house has been sitting on the market for, like, I don't know, 120 days. And you go to write the offer, and now there are three offers. Like, what the heck? It happens all the time.

Mike Mills
00:44:15

It's crazy how often that happens. Actually, we just had another one the other day.

Like, agent called me, like, hey, this house we're making an offer on, it's been on the market for like, 120 days, so we're going to be fine. And then. And then he comes back to me like, an hour later. He's like, you're not gonna believe this.

Julie Holly
00:44:29

What?

Mike Mills
00:44:29

What? He's like, they have another offer. I'm like, are you kidding me? He's like, no. And he's like, I know they do.

It's not just pulling, you know, wool or whatever. Like, they actually have another offer. I'm like, it's just. Just how that stuff works, man. Just how it works.

Julie Holly
00:44:41

It. It works that way so often. It's uncanny. So you tell that. You tell us story. If you don't have a story because you're.

That you're new, we're talking about new agents. If you don't have a story of your own, you borrow a story. You borrow a story. Oh, my gosh.

You know, how often have I heard, you know, agents, you know, my friend at the brokerage, whatever it is, however you want to share the story. And you can even share the story and not say it's your story, but share the story. It's just a story that you are.

You're passing along so that they understand how important it is that they have their finances in order. And then you give them the whole. The classic, we're not opening any new lines of credit. We're not doing.

And that's where Mike is going to groom them also. But got a tag team that. Because people do stupid things.

Mike Mills
00:45:24

I don't know if I like the word groom, but. But we'll take it.

Julie Holly
00:45:27

I know that has a. That has, like, probably different connotations now in this era, huh? You want to prepare. You want to. You want them thinking.

I was going to say condition, but condition seems worse than groom to me, so.

Mike Mills
00:45:42

Great. Either. No, it's.

It's tough because, you know, the hard part when you're dealing with a market that's slow is you want to take every deal that comes your way, obviously, because you got to feed your family and pay your bills and all those things. So it's something that you don't want to kick away. But I would say you know, in that circumstance to.

If someone's calling you and they're asking you to help them out, okay, great, yeah, go help them. Do, do what you need to do, especially if you don't have anything else going on.

But, but a lot of your time should still be sent on, spent on pointing in the direction that you're trying to go. Like, I'm trying to go this direction.

I'll take these while I'm still planning and putting it all together, while I'm, you know, building my, my, my voice online or whatever the case may be. But, but this is where I'm going.

I'm not going to let myself get distracted by these other things because I think sometimes people hear that and they're like, well, you know, I'm not going to turn down people. Not saying turn people down. We're just saying.

I mean, sometimes, you know, if you got busy and you're, and you're working on stuff, I call it punting. I'm like, sometimes punting is not a bad thing.

But, but in the meantime, if you're not having to punt because you do have a regular or, you know, your, your pipeline is slow, that's when you need to start creating these things and building this up. And I think so many realtors in the past, especially coming out of the market that we just did, we all just kind of existed, right?

Everybody just was like, hey, I live, My phone rings, I answer it, I go sell a house or whatever the case may be. And now if you're going to have success, and this is one of the things that you said very first time we talked is you have to be a professional.

Like, that's, that's, that's the job. It's not, you know, the fly by night CPAs, because those don't exist because there's not, you know, there's only a finite amount of taxes.

But when there's so many real estate transactions, real estate agents can be fly by night. They'll make it or at least make a decent living. But now if you're not a professional, you're going to have a really hard time.

Julie Holly
00:47:37

I will say I'm going to agree. And then I might do a little editing. Editing, by the way, is the nice is like the.

Mike Mills
00:47:47

I mean, you disagree with me. It's okay. I think we disagreed on a few things the first time we talked.

Julie Holly
00:47:51

I was going to say, like, that's a nice way of. Well, because it's not always disagreeing. Sometimes it truly is editing. So I actually think I Am going to just truly edit, not disagree.

But I was vacillating. I'm like, do I disagree with that or am I just editing that? So in the nerd mind of Julie, right?

So I've definitely told my husband multiple times, it happens probably once a year, like, please release that client from your existence because they're taking up so much bandwidth. And so I think that that would be the.

Again, we need to have measurements, we need to understand and have like, okay, why, what's my little checkbox to understand if I'm going to receive this client who is a one off from who I really want to grow in my ecosystem. And so when we do that, we have to say how much bandwidth are they taking from me?

So if they're going to take a ton of bandwidth and they're not the type of client that you want, then the conversation is why would I, why would I receive something that's going to distract me from that? And then I would encourage you also that too often real estate professionals do not treat this like a profession.

They treat it like an over glorified job. And so a lot of people just get into it and they're like, oh thank God, I'm my own boss and everything.

But you've held positions at companies as a W2 income earning employee, but you have never been the boss. The buck stops here, the decision maker. And there's your shoulders have to get a little bit broader and you need to have more understanding.

And so really treating your real estate business like a business and not like, ah, this is great, I can just relax and kind of. No, it's a business and you need to hold yourself accountable. So I'd highly recommend reading Traction by Gina Wickman. Implement a system.

Even if you are just you or just you and a partner, you need to have a clear system at play or you will flounder. And it doesn't matter what market, like you're going to ride the tide when the market is really good.

But if you want to have the staying power and you want to be successful in every single market, you need to treat your business like a business. Hence, create clear sales. Sales cycle. Create the clear sales cycle, you know, sales cycle that is guiding your clients through every step of the way.

They will be so loud by that level of professionalism.

Mike Mills
00:50:28

Yeah.

And you know, it's, it's, it's funny because whenever I do the, you know, the intros for these things or whenever you see videos online about, you know, especially real estate because that's everybody's favorite. Here's how to make a million dollars selling real estate. You know, they've got the secret playbook for it.

I, I love that stuff because I, I will put that in my videos and things when they go out. But it's always the same message for me as far as there is no. Just like I, I believe in pretty much all walks of life.

There is no, hey, if you just do A, B and C, you'll immediately. You're good. Like these three tricks and every. You solve all the problems, right? We all want that thing. We all want that.

You know, if I just eat these three things, I'll lose 500 pounds. If I, if I just do this one exercise in the morning, then I'll be, you know, I'll have all the muscles in the world or whatever.

And, and nothing is like that. Nothing.

And so when, when I start this intro off and I talk about, you know, the, where you can find these transactions, the truth is, and it always is, is that finding these transactions and finding deals is about structuring your business as a professional. Because there is no other way to do it. There is no other way to do it.

If you don't spend time planning, creating processes, building out what you're trying to do. You know, you can't plan into perpetuity. You have to have action along with it.

So I, you know, I want to be clear on that because I think some people are like, we'll plan forever and never do anything. You have to do these things. That's the most important piece. But if you don't sit down.

And I think most realtors, most people, even in your space, in the commercial space, they don't. They just kind of are like, oh, I'll do this deal, do that deal. And I don't think, I don't plan, I don't formulate.

I just, just all action or, or no action and a little bit of planning or just fly by the seat of their ass. And no matter what, at the end of the day, there is, I, there's no secret sauce. The secret sauce is work hard, plan hard and execute.

And that's pretty much, I don't know that there's another, another way to do it. I mean, I could be wrong.

Julie Holly
00:52:34

Time, I will say time. Time is the other thing is that like, you have to be consistent with that over time in order. And so a lot of people.

David Moran put this in his book 12 week year. He borrowed the Emotional Cycle of Change. And it's such a beautiful graph. And at the Front, it shows, what is it? Eternal optimism.

Basically uninformed. It's uninformed optimism.

And then when we start something, we go from uninformed optimism and it just tanks down on this graph, like just nosedive down into what's called the trough of despair. And this is where most people go, I'm going to be a real estate agent. It's going to be so much fun.

I'm going to make so much money and I'm not going to have to work as much. And this is going to be so great. You know, everyone will love me. Everyone says, I'm going to be great at this, this.

So we go from uninformed optimism and then we're like, oh, this would be great. And so we start doing it because. And we don't have any plans. We didn't systematize, we didn't process, we didn't do anything.

We just like go down into the trough of despair. And that's where that delineates who's successful and who's not.

So the people who walk through the trough of despair and they're like, oh, I need to get my systems in place and why am I attracting first time buyers when I want people that this is their third house? Let me reevaluate what my messaging, what my branding is. Let me, I need to go back.

Something's broken in my system because I'm attracting the wrong people.

So in the trough of despair, people who are successful are having that type of conversation and they climb out of it and they end up on the other side of this chasm. I'm trying to like, stay in the frame here. So. And they end up with informed optimism and so they're successful.

But most people, they get to the trough of despair and they're like, oh, this is horrible, this is hard, I'm in the wrong profession. And then they just go back up to uninformed optimism and they just repeat that cycle over and over and over and over again.

So remember that just because things are, are challenging doesn't mean that it's time to quit. It means this is time for this. Right here is where I just need to understand what is going on. Why am I not attracted?

Start asking those questions, get curious and roll up your sleeves and do the freaking work. Because it's work and it's, it can be fun if you're in control of it, it'll be fun.

Mike Mills
00:54:59

Yeah, no, if you enjoy it, it'll be fun. Well, I mean, back to the podcast thing.

When I first started thinking about Doing this one that I do now, I, you know, you want to do a little research, right? You go back and you look and see, okay, what shows are out there, who's doing them in my niche, in my area, like what, where do I fit here, right?

And when I just did an initial Google search on real estate podcasts or whatever, there's hundreds of them, right?

But when I actually started digging a little deeper and I click on that link that shows it's got great artwork, it's got a great description, it's like a marketing person's dream. And then I click on it and it's got five episodes and they were all made three years ago, right?

Or I go to the next one and maybe it's got 25 episodes, but that's it. And it's, it was done four years, you know, whatever. And so, so you start realizing as I threw it, there really weren't.

There was a lot that it seemed like was out there, but there wasn't very many people that actually just consistently did it day in, day out all the time. And it's not just, I'm not just talking about podcast all things.

So that, that trough of despair that you were talking about, I think that people hit that and that's where most people quit and give up.

But then the people that start climbing out of that, they look back and they're like, man, there's so many other people doing this thing, I don't know how I'm going to do it.

And they don't realize, no, just the fact that you're starting to climb out of that puts you in that 20% or that 10% because everybody was already left behind.

Julie Holly
00:56:30

Oh, just echo, echo that. I totally echo all of that because one, podcasters are notorious for starting a podcast and getting distracted and quitting.

But to your point, like, that is life. That's human nature at its finest. Because they went from uninformed optimism to, oh, no, I don't really like this. And that's okay.

There's nothing like, that's not like, oh, those are, those people are horrible, or it's not a value statement about them. They discuss something, this wasn't worth it to them. And so they, they, they left it. And that's okay to do.

I have definitely beta tested things and I'm like, ooh, actually not gonna do that. And so sometimes we can just call it, I'm beta testing and sample it and see how it goes before we fully commit to it.

John Acuff actually talks about that in his book, All It Takes is a Goal. I think that's the name of it, but it's a phenomenal book on, like, actually creating something into your life that. That is lasting.

But, yeah, you stick with it. And the other thing is that this right here, Mike, is where this is why I'm going to say this cautiously, because I want.

I want to be truthful with how I articulate this. And I don't want to be, like, divisive in any way with anybody.

But this is why sometimes we feel a distance between ourselves and someone maybe we perceive as like, they've arrived. It's because they've walked through the trough of despair. And you cannot go through that without having some scars to show for it.

And it shapes you and it refines you and it changes you. You have to change in order to climb out. And when you climb out, you are different.

You're still the same wonderful person, like your same personality and stuff, but you have an awareness and an understand.

And so if you're on the other side in the uninformed optimism, and you're looking across the valley at these people with informed optimism, you might feel that distance between the two of you. And so I want to encourage you, it's worth. It's.

Every human is so wonderful if anyone who knows me knows, like, I am rooting for everybody because I just love people so much. But. And that's not a but.

And if you're on the, you know, uninformed side of optimism and you're looking over at the informed optimists out there, just know you can join them. It's like, such the coolest place to be because these are. These are people that are doing the next level, and.

And they have courage and resilience and more compassion, more empathy, probably, than people on the uninformed side. Because they know what it takes.

Mike Mills
00:59:19

Yes.

Julie Holly
00:59:19

And that can also be why if you want to get on someone's calendar and they're on the informed optimism side and you want to get on their calendar, it might be tricky because they're really clear. Their understanding of how they're investing their time is extremely clear. Okay, so.

And most people also make time for people because they've been through it and they want to support people, in my experience. So just, I think that's a good awareness and say, go through the cycle. It's so good. It's so good.

And I feel like I'm always going through the cycle in some capacity in life.

Mike Mills
00:59:53

Yeah.

No, I think at any given point in time, whether you're taking on some new challenge or you're dealing with a new thing that's come up in whatever business that you're in, you're always going through a learning period of growth where you're trying to figure out. And if you're not, then you're in the wrong thing because you're stagnant. You're not moving in the right direction. So, you know, it's. It's the.

I don't know if it's. Was it Mike Tyson? I don't know. There's a. There's a saying out there which basically is like, you, you don't.

You don't need to be in love with the goal. You need to be in love with the journey or be in love with the work that takes you to get there.

Because that is if you want the secret sauce, if you want to know the. And by the way, I'm not speaking from a point of like, listen, I figured it out. I'm going to tell you how this works, right?

Like, I just know through immense amount of failure that, that you have to enjoy getting your head kicked in on a regular basis or be okay with it. I guess you could say maybe nobody enjoys it, but you got to understand that that's part of it and continue to press forward.

Because once you get to whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, what then, like, what are you. What are you going to do next? Like, what's the next thing? So, I mean, it never, it never stops. It's a continual thing.

So falling in love with the processes and falling in love with the systems and falling in love with the journey and enjoying that and taking, Taking, you know, enjoyment from that experience. That is what the secret to success is. Because you're always going to have a goal that you're trying to reach and achieve.

And if you're good at it, you're going to hit those goals pretty often. But. But then what. But then what do you do next?

Because you're not just gonna sit back and Twitter your thumbs and be like, oh, got it all figured out. That's why, you know, it's funny, people will say somebody like, you know, I used to say Bill Gates, but I don't like Bill Gates anymore.

So let's say Warren Buffett or somebody like that, that, you know what, how do these guys, or Jeff Bezos, like, when is enough money enough? Why don't they just, you know, just retire to an island? And why does he got to buy the newspaper? Why does he got to Do.

Julie Holly
01:01:58

Not about the money.

Mike Mills
01:01:59

Not about. It's about that desire.

The reason that Michael Jordan bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on golf games is because he couldn't get the same excitement and exhilaration that he got playing in the NBA Finals on the golf course. But he loved to play golf. But if you put a little money behind it, then that process is something that he enjoyed. I'm not saying it's right.

I'm just saying you got to have the fuel. The fuel's got to be there.

Julie Holly
01:02:22

I. I love this. And that's a really good way of saying, like, even having those people where it's like, golly, don't they have enough money already? I.

Jesus. So nauseating. Like, that's the uninformed optimism side. It's uninformed. It's like, no, this is a journey, not a destination.

It's always in this emotional cycle of change. It's something. It's a. It's a loop, and it's on repeat in different facets of our life.

And when you've been through it, you're kind of like, it kind of sucks, but because, you know, like, for me, I love mountain biking. It's like, oh, this is like riding uphill, like, at a really steep grade for a long period of time. This sucks.

And my legs burn and my lungs burn, and I love it.

Mike Mills
01:03:08

You're like, glad I did that.

Julie Holly
01:03:10

And you see who you are. And I think that's the most important thing, whether it. Whatever it is that you are pursuing is that you're having a different perception.

Like, you're meeting yourself. A lot of us think, like, a lot of people think they know themselves. No, they don't. You don't know yourself, and you don't know what's in you.

You have so much more to give and so much more potential. And so when we go through these. These refining processes, it just extracts the best parts of us, and we actually get to see it.

We're like, dang, I like that. I didn't know you had that inside of you. Nice.

Mike Mills
01:03:49

We blew by this hour. It went really, really fast. I want to be.

I want to be respectful of your time, but I also want you, you know, to go ahead and share a little bit about 3Keys Investments. I mean, you know, for anybody that doesn't know that made it this far into this. Julie's not even a residential agent.

She's been in the business, or she has in the past. Her husband is, but she deals primarily in multifamily apartment complexes, specifically and helping people grow and, and develop that.

So that's a whole other facet of real estate that if you have interest in, you know, I definitely suggest you check it out because as much as I hate to say it, but it is, and Julie and I discussed this in our very first conversation is, you know, my belief personally is that homeownership is getting very difficult for a lot of people, you know, between affordability and incomes keeping up with costs and all that kind of stuff. And without a major market correction, which is possible.

But I just, I just don't see the tea leaves in which we're going to get a dramatic more supply to the market that's going to bring home prices down and all these things. So all that leads to say that a lot of people are moving into the world of renting.

And if you're going to be in renting and you know that that's where the market's headed, then knowing how to help your money work in that world is very valuable because there's going to be, regardless of what you see right now about rents coming down, they are coming down, but that's because we overbuilt for a few years and that will reset itself a little bit. And pins are where everybody in the country is different, all parts of the world.

But, but if you have an over glut of properties, rents are coming down some, but they're going to continue to build in. And that's where, you know, I think a lot of, you know, younger generations, some people don't even want to own homes anymore.

That's, that's a trend that's least appears to be occurring. So, so tell everybody about Three Keys and what you did and you know, so that way at least we can talk a little bit about you for a change.

Julie Holly
01:05:43

Oh no, this is, I love this conversation. So I'll tell you what, if you've hung out with us this far, you have an idea in a sense of who I am and what I do.

Go check out the Conscious Investor podcast. You can get to know me better. But you can also head to 3keys Investments.com all spelled out plural s at the end of keys and investments.

And you can schedule time to talk with me and you can also download some resources there.

But what Three Keys Investments does and why I transitioned out away from investing in residential real estate, the onesies was I really realized that I could scale and support more people all at once. And so I can provide amazing investments and returns to our investors who are hands free investors. We provide high quality homes for our communities.

So we're helping residents, we're helping communities. And it's just one of those Oprah moments where everybody wins and it's beautiful.

And I mean being raised and saturated in the residential side of things, it was eye opening in my 40s to discover this whole new world. And I'm like, where has this been and why have I not been doing this for all of my life?

And so it's a really exciting way to support investors in growing their investment portfolio and residents and communities all at once. So I just love that everyone wins. We also invest in assisted living facilities, which is also growing market, insanely growing market.

And in what's interesting in that particular market. 2 comments on Both markets. On the multifamily market, we'll start there. Multifamily.

One of my friends who's very well known, he recently shared it looked in his estimation, multifamily just went through its own 2008 over the last year and a half. And so nobody's really talking about it in the way that he's talking about it, but I was like, yeah, that makes sense.

And he laid out the whole reason why the numbers and things like that. And so it's really interesting to see what's taken place. And so a lot of people might be a little more tentative, unsure.

It's still a really great asset class and this is a great time to invest in it because it just went through this massive punch in the face.

And so, yeah, and then on the assisted living side, when we look at the boomers retiring, one, I'm sorry, seven out of ten people will be in an assisted living facility at some point in their life.

And so this is something where we see the statistics and the rise and just like housing for single family and apart multifamily and such is under supplied. We have a massive under supply for our, for our elderly, particularly the baby boomers. Right. And so we, we have that opportunity.

We're actually adding on to one of our facilities right now. Like we have an opportunity to really provide high level care for that demographic. And it's, it's beautiful.

Mike Mills
01:08:50

Yeah, yeah.

It's the, the thing that I think a lot of agents don't think about is that there are so many facets of real estate that exist that having an understanding of one facet helps you in other ways too.

And if you just like you said a minute ago when you were in your 40s and you're like, there's this whole other market of stuff that I wasn't even aware of and participating in that.

If you start to explore, especially, you know, if you're not closing five deals a month or six deals or 10 deals or whatever it is, keeping yourself incredibly busy, you have to always be looking for the next thing. Or what's the thing that I might like. We were talking about you beta tested. Try it out. Maybe you love it, maybe you don't. But explore it.

Check it out, find out more information. What does it take? Oh, I must need hundreds of thousands of dollars to get in that. Maybe not. Maybe you need less than that.

Maybe you can dip your toe in.

It doesn't have to be jumping in the deep end, you know, but if you never explore that avenue and you never go down that road, then you're never going to know. You're never going to be able to get to the other side of informed optimism.

You're going to be constantly stuck on, you know, the doubt into the thing.

So I encourage taking the skills that you've developed as a realtor in this market and then using those skills and finding other avenues to generate income that maybe you weren't considering if you just explore them. And I think, I think like what you said, the multifamily side of things, the, the ex. Not.

I was going to say extended stay, but that's, but the, you know, the, the retirement homes and whatnot, or whatever the correct term is. There we go.

All of that stuff is using similar skills that you use to evaluate properties in real estate and residential side and do the same thing, just in a different avenue. You just have to be open to exploring it.

Julie Holly
01:10:40

Yeah, I actually, I've spoken at a lot of meetups on that topic, just showing how, how similar. Residential investing in residential. The onesies. Twosies. It's so similar. You're already doing all the work.

So that could, if you, if you guys ever want to have that conversation or Mike, if we ever want to have that conversation on how to do like residential to commercial. It's like it's really. It's not a big difference.

It seems like it because there's some different vocabulary involved, but it's the same underlying principles.

Mike Mills
01:11:13

Well, what I found in doing this show over the years, and I had an idea that maybe you existed this way a little bit too, where, you know, you want to talk to as many different people as you possibly can. And what I found in having that goal is that I'm not that interested in what many people have to say.

Julie Holly
01:11:34

Not everybody's fun to talk to.

Mike Mills
01:11:36

No, they're not. They're not.

And so when I find people that I enjoy talking to that have a lot to offer, that have a lot of experience and have been through, you know, the ringer, then I always want to, you know, have those people back and continue those conversations because I think they hold a lot of value.

And, you know, our intent today was kind of to go through and talk about how you can find, you know, deals and ways to make money in real estate outside of just residential. And.

And we went from, you know, basically talking about podcasting and social media to discussing, you know, the importance of going through the process and planning your business and developing it, and that there is no shortcuts to, hey, there's a whole other section of real estate that you can take your knowledge and transfer it over to and find opportunities to grow your wealth there. You just need to know what they're about.

So point being is that we'll definitely have to have a future, future episode where we'll talk and we'll get a little bit more. We'll try to maybe stay a little more focused and not bounce all over the place. But anytime I talk to people with good opinions and good thoughts, I.

I want to hear all of them. So.

Julie Holly
01:12:41

Well, we should, you know, if you're watching or you're listening, you should drop a comment and let us know one. I'm not gonna be offended. I'm a truth teller, so veritas Latin for truth. So you could drop a comment below, like, don't have Julie back on.

She talks too much and she gets off topic. Or maybe there's a topic that you're like, wow, I think that these two could actually really help me out on this topic.

You should let us know in the comments or in the reviews somehow, like, let us know what it is that would serve you if we were to have another conversation.

Mike Mills
01:13:13

One thing I want you to say, just because I'm curious, your thoughts. So, because I think for the next little while, I'm asking a lot of people this. So we just had presidential election, and the.

The country is, you know, different than it was before that. So what. What do you think that's. That means for our. For our world, for. For our real estate world? Is this good, this bad, this ugly?

Julie Holly
01:13:37

Hallelujah. I'm not gonna hide it. Hallelujah. This is good for real estate. This is so good for real estate. And the end.

What was going to take place in real estate, quite frankly, was terrifying to me.

The alternative plan on the table and having more government control and more government in house housing and having more restrictions that honestly really my estimation would have very much hurt us in the real estate space specifically. And I'm just only speaking about real estate right now. So we're not talking about culture, we're.

Mike Mills
01:14:13

Just talking about business.

Julie Holly
01:14:14

We're just talking about real estate. That's all I'm talking about.

And so I'm saying, like, I think that, you know, Trump's policies, we're anticipating getting bonus depreciation back, which is massive for real estate investors.

And that really supported the market and in having life and vibrancy because it was, the more we can transact, the more we can have people wanting to be in the marketplace buying and selling. That is great for the economy.

And so I mean, the fact that it's pretty, everyone's pretty confident that bonus depreciation is coming back and that what that means, some people call it accelerated depreciation, if you haven't heard about it.

But for real estate investors, you, instead of doing the 27 and a half year straight line depreciation, you can capture all of that in year one and apply it. And yes, there is recapture. There are lots of nuances to it.

However, this helps a lot of help a lot of real estate investors be able to cycle through a lot of deals and build and scale.

And particularly the people that I associate with, they do phenomenal work and they create wonderful housing and they are well run, you know, complexes and such. And so it's like this is really good for everybody. So I'm, so, I'm, I'm excited on the real estate front.

I was scared what was going to happen otherwise.

Mike Mills
01:15:38

It's funny, especially these days because, you know, there is so much divisiveness when it comes to, you know, this, this most recently, really. I mean, look, ever since Trump got onto the scene, it's been nothing but everybody's mad at everybody else.

Julie Holly
01:15:52

But it's always been this way. Go back to the founders, like it's.

Mike Mills
01:15:56

Oh, yeah, no, no, no. I just mean it's, it's, it's much more pronounced in the, you know, the anger that people get upset.

You know, nobody, nobody was upset about, I don't know, you know, George W. Bush and John McCain or, you know, they caused a lot of, a lot of consternation.

But my point being is that you can't walk away from what just happened and not understand that the vast majority of Americans, I mean, you know, there's a reason they call it a mandate and referendum is because when you win the popular vote. When you win the Senate, when you win the House, you win the presidency. That's the majority of people going. We don't want whatever that was.

We want this or at least some version of this. You know, I'll, I will say that my market update that'll come out. I was not previously, I was not a Trump person. I don't particularly like the man.

I think that he's a narcissistic human being that's only out for his own gain.

But all that to be said is I very much like the people that he put around him and I like the ideals that they are espousing outside of, of, you know, I think you can put extremes on things or whatever when it comes to, like, immigration stuff. But, but I'm not even, even that I got a lot of nuance there.

But my point being is that I, the team that was built is the team that I voted for when I voted for him, for him this time.

But the other side of the aisle and what they have been espousing for the last five years or whatever it's been, I think, turned off so many people in so many different ways that it just pushed everybody in the other direction. And if they don't learn from that, which thus far it doesn't seem like they're going to, then, you know, we may be here for a while.

And, and if that means, you know, more. More business transactions and, and more economic prosperity, then, hey, let's, let's go, you know, so that's where I land.

Julie Holly
01:17:54

Yeah. Yes. Yes, exactly. And it's really. I love, I love how you said that. It is, it's not just a single person.

And that one person, the president only has so much power. Like, they really, it's not like they have unlimited power. We have, you know, we have three branches to our government for a reason.

So, so it's really, I mean, it's fantastic to know, like, great, he won. He won that. But let's look at what else is going on and let's look at the people, the team that is around him and such.

Yeah, it's really, really important.

Mike Mills
01:18:29

And I think, you know, one of the. I had a guy on previously that we talked about this a little bit.

He was, he was actually worked for the Kamala Harris campaign and was a lobbyist in Washington for, for banking. And, you know, he, he convinced me I wasn't going to vote.

He convinced me to go vote only because when I asked him what was the one thing that if he was, you know, in Washington or could change something about it. What would be that thing that would make government work better, etc.

And he didn't give me the oh, we'll get money out of this or we'll, you know, change that policy or whatever he said. I don't mean to put it, but it's on. It's on you. It's on people.

He's like, if you want the senator to do vote a different way or if you want your congressman or you want actually your mayor or your city council member or whoever, because that's where you have the biggest impact, then you have to get involved.

And if you don't, and if you don't vote and you don't have a say and you don't have an opinion and you stay out of the fray, then you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. So.

Julie Holly
01:19:24

Yep. Yes. Yes. Love it.

Mike Mills
01:19:28

Well, Julie, I really appreciate you hanging on with me extra time there today. We could go on and on for hours and hours. And so eventually we will. We'll have to continue this conversation sometime here in the near future.

But everybody that stuck around, thank you so much. I appreciate you guys. I will be back. You'll have a market update that'll be published. We'll talk about rates.

I got a whole thing about the election I'll go through. So check that out. And we'll be back next week. So, Julie, you have a great week. Everybody else have a great weekend and we will see you next time.

Julie Holly
01:19:59

Bye, guys.