Mastering the Market Trends: A Realtor's Guide to Adapting and Thriving

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:15 to 00:00:28

Hello. Hello, everybody. Mike Mills with Mike Mills Mortgage and Finance here. And this is the Texas Real Estate and Finance Podcast. And today I am am bringing in a good friend of mine and realtor here in DFW.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:28 to 00:01:04

Like I mentioned in my promo, a lot of times, I have people on here that we're talking about how to video market or we're talking about how to fix your toilet or whatever, anything related to real estate. But I like bringing on local agents because especially in markets where things getting a little challenging, which they have been recently, it's nice to get a perspective of someone that's going through it because everybody always has answers and everybody always has solutions when they're not the one selling the house. But when you're actually the one selling the house and you're trying to work with buyers and find leads, it's a whole other ballgame. So I always like to get perspective on that and that's why I brought Ms. Kelsey in with us today.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:01:04 to 00:01:08

Hello. Well, let me click my little button there. Hello, Kelsey. How are you? Good, how are you?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:01:08 to 00:01:26

Cheering I always got to do cheering it's very important. That's right. So thank you so much for coming in. I appreciate it. Now, I know that you've been in this game for quite a while and you've seen all kinds of fun little markets and the ups and the downs.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:01:26 to 00:02:01

And I think we're in a place right now in our real estate environment where a lot of people have gotten into the business over the last four or five years and they're dealing with their first actual downturn in activity. Now, there's a difference between home prices and sales volume, right? And right now, home prices are still up. So everybody waiting on the crash to happen, where the prices were going to come, where they were going to come crashing down. They're still waiting because that has not occurred.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:02:01 to 00:02:39

But what has happened is that the volume has slowed down, right? We have less people buying homes, less people really well. We have less people selling. Because if you're sitting on a 3% interest rate right now and you are living in, say, a house that you bought for 500,000, that's worth 750 or 800,000 right now, which is not unheard of, then if you want to move, you're going to have to move to another to find a $900,000 house and pay seven and a half percent interest. So we're going to get into all that today and Kelsey is going to give us some insight on previous markets and what she's been through and how she's kind of made her way to stay in the business and keep plugging along.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:02:39 to 00:03:01

Because I think everybody needs a little nudge every once in a while. But let's start with, first off, how did you get into real estate? What brought you into this crazy business that you've stuck around for so long. Kept doing well, mostly past history, and I didn't want to teach anymore. I was a high school teacher.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:03:01 to 00:03:08

I taught technology classes and loved the kids. Pull that mic just a little bit closer to you. There you go. Loved the kids. Okay.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:03:08 to 00:03:20

But was not loving administration and how it goes so shocking. I know there's a lot of teachers right now that are doing that, actually. Yeah, well, I can't even imagine what they're going through right now.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:03:22 to 00:03:43

Yeah. So I left 2011. I went to graduation on a Saturday and started real estate on a Monday. So I had just gotten remarried, and that was a full last year in teaching. And my husband's like, well, if you don't want to teach, well, then do something else.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:03:43 to 00:04:05

And that's all I needed, was some support. What was it about real estate, specifically. Though, growing up, my dad was a builder, and there's a sickness in that. My brother owns a large roofing company out of Granbury Glenrose area DT roofing plug. And my degree was in computer aided design.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:04:06 to 00:04:26

Of course. I mean, that makes sense, right? I drafted for two years for architects and found out they wanted me in front of a computer for 10 hours a day. And you know me well enough that that's just not enough people interaction. So then I got a job at Farmers Insurance, which I thought, this is nothing that I was doing.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:04:26 to 00:04:38

Well, it ended up being I was a foundation adjuster. Okay. So I was back to drawing the gamut. I was back to drawing, and that's when it was covered in insurance, so now it's not. Oh, really?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:04:38 to 00:04:44

It used to be covered under the policy. Really? If there was a leak. Okay? So that was my only slab leaks.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:04:44 to 00:04:56

That was my job, to go out and find out if there was some sort of leak that was causing the house to shift. If it was Texas shift, not so much. Put some water around you right now. We need water. No more water.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:04:57 to 00:05:15

So I did that until Farmers was kind of known for just running you into the ground if you did a good job. I mean, I was working till 02:00 A.m. With babies, and I was like, I'm out. Called one of my plumbers to tell him that I love you all, but I can't do this. And he's like, well, I'll hire you.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:05:15 to 00:05:47

And I'm like, what? So I ended up you were in high demand of working for because he was doing that testing all over the state of Texas for many companies, not just us. Okay? So he had nine trucks, and every day, each one of those did a hydrostatic test, at least on a house, and met agents, and then they had to come back in while I drew all the plans and drip. He goes, you know exactly what the insurance company needs, so that would be great.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:05:47 to 00:05:59

So probably one of my most favorite jobs ever, except for maybe real estate. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's gone quickly, but I loved him, and the people were nice, and I knew what I was doing. I had my son.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:05:59 to 00:06:07

He let me bring him for a while till I was like, oh, no, take care. He's moving. Yeah. Hey, look. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:06:07 to 00:06:24

Yes. You got to have a little separation. And then it was just kind of it didn't pay a whole lot. I was driving to 75 and park every day, putting about 500 miles a week on my car, and I was driving an Expedition, so great gas mileage. Got the kids all the things eating up gas.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:06:24 to 00:06:39

So I then got a job. A good friend of mine worked for the Mansfield ISD, and they had a technology department, and they were looking new. Technology department. It is where the police station is now. It's behind the old willy pig.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:06:39 to 00:06:48

Yes. I live right across the street. You're well aware then. And they needed a CAD teacher, and I was floored. I'm like, they do not.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:06:48 to 00:06:59

It took me forever to find enough classes to just get a degree. Right. There's no way. Now they're starting them in 9th grade. They were teaching computer aided design.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:06:59 to 00:07:15

Wow. And so I started there, and I ended up I mean, that's obviously, unless you're just interested in building and architecture. Why else would you do that? And kids that are 15, 1617 years old, they didn't have that. It's really hard.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:07:15 to 00:07:42

You brought up something minute ago when you said that you got your degree in that, and then you ended up in real estate or whatever. But, you know, it's we have this we tell our kids this, too, which I don't I'm trying to get away from more and more, but we have this expectation sometimes of our kids that at 1718, 1921, 22, that they're supposed to know what they're going to do with the rest of their life. Right? It's like, you need to get your degree. You need to go and figure it out.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:07:43 to 00:07:54

Yes. But don't get me wrong. There are some kids, all right, some people that come right out of the womb, and they know exactly what they're going to be. Right. And they're gung ho from the very beginning.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:07:54 to 00:08:11

But that's not the norm. I would say the norm is they're just trying to find their way. I mean, I'm almost 45 years old, and I still barely know what I want to do. You know what I mean? It's one of those things where we put this expectation on our children to say that they have to find their path so quickly.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:08:11 to 00:08:49

And a lot of people I talk to are great examples of people that you're going to go through ten careers in some cases before you find the place that you fit the best. And I think more often than not, especially because of the way work is that you end up in a place you may not necessarily have the most passion for that particular thing, but it suits your lifestyle the best. Right. And so you gravitate to something where which is what's great about our business, is that, yes, we work, quote unquote, we work all the time, but we don't I mean, we're not working 24/7. We're just available, right?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:08:49 to 00:09:11

Available. You're available in the evenings, you're available on the weekends. That's part of being in real estate. But it also gives you an incredible amount of flexibility, because if you're a mom or I grew up and my dad wasn't always there. So for me, it was a big part of when I had kids, I wanted to make sure that I was going to be there as much as I possibly could, and my careers allowed me to be able to do that.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:09:11 to 00:09:32

And so I think that letting kids try different things and explore different options without forcing them into locking down on one particular thing, I think you're going to find your path to happiness much quicker than if you just think it's supposed to be this way. Right, right. Totally. All those moves that I made, there was always a back reason. I didn't want to be a teacher.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:09:32 to 00:09:49

I would have gone to school to be a teacher. Right. It was more that my daughter was going to kindergarten. That would put me on her schedule, and that would put me home during the summers, and it got me closer to home. I was no longer driving Mansfield, so I wasn't going that far.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:09:49 to 00:10:07

Terrible. So there was a reason behind each one. The first one was because that was my degree. The second one was because it was paying more and it was giving me a car and good benefits and things that I didn't have. Then the teaching, then from there, well, then it was the plumber.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:10:08 to 00:10:20

And to him, it was just a better environment in general. But I really needed to quit driving so much and making less. So there was always a reason. It was something that was for our life. It wasn't necessarily for me.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:10:20 to 00:10:25

Right. The real estate is for me. Yes. And you hear you're driving again all over the place, right? Yeah.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:10:25 to 00:10:42

I didn't hear him driving all over. The place saying, I'm going to need a bigger car. But that's a whole other story. So you got out of teaching and you got into real estate, and you did, if I'm correct, what a lot of realtors do, which I think is a good path, which is you went into what we would call one of the big box brokerages, right? Right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:10:42 to 00:11:08

Went right into Remax, which is where we met. And anytime I meet new agents, especially because I used to do things with champions, sponsor classes, and agents would ask different brokerages, and I would always tell them, I was like, look, I think a great place to start. Unless you have a lot of background or you have someone around you that's going to mentor you or whatever a great place to start is with the big box brokerages. Right. They have a system.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:11:08 to 00:11:43

They're all going to offer different things. The broker that's in that particular because it's all franchised, essentially. There's not always a perfect situation, but a lot of them are good because the offerings that you have, the training, the mentorship, the availability to ask questions if you're in the right place, which that was a great place that you started off, really gives you a lot of backstop when you're first starting out in your career. So tell me what your experience was like there. And then since then you've moved on and kind of got into the smaller, which is a normal path for a lot of agents.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:11:43 to 00:11:56

It is. So talk a little bit about that. Okay, so I totally agree that even getting into I've told most people I'm like get into, what do you need? Right? Do you have a sales background?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:11:56 to 00:12:25

Because really the one conversation that I think is really missing in real estate is that ultimately we're sales. And yeah, your personality gets you so far and your knowledge gets you so far, but sometimes you have people on the fence that are just struggling because it's such a big purchase. You just can't ignore that. And I think a little bit of sales training would be great, but it's usually people that don't have that, which I would say is probably 95% of people who get into real estate. Well, you came out as a teacher.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:12:25 to 00:12:30

I mean, at least you were doing the farmers thing a little bit. So you kind of had a little bit of that. Yeah, but not really. Really. I mean, not really.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:12:30 to 00:12:50

I knew homes and that was my love with home. I can sell homes, but don't ask me to sell paper or office. That would be just killer to me. Well, but even the word sales, so I have a little bit of a peeve with that because I raise up. The hair on the back.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:12:50 to 00:13:04

Well, it's got a negative connotation, right? When people say you're in sales, they're like, oh, you're going to sell me. They're thinking of the boiler room sales with my children. Yeah, coffees for closers and all that stuff. But really what it is is it's communication.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:13:04 to 00:13:24

It is. Right? How well can you communicate with another human being? How well can you make it clear when you're telling them particular information? Because you can hear the same kind of information from two different people, but one person makes it much more understandable and much more concise or simple, and then the other person's, because they don't understand it as well.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:13:25 to 00:13:47

Maybe you're dancing around a bunch of words and you never really get and so you walk away confused with this person, but then with this person, you're like, oh, okay, I understand. And that's really what sales is. We're not pushing used cars out here. We're just trying to help people understand how the process works so they feel comfortable because it is a big decision. Well, and I am of the school that I quickly learned that to me, I will over educate.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:13:47 to 00:13:57

Yes, there is a reason why a ridiculous number of people who go into real estate were teachers. It works. Yes, absolutely. You're teaching. Yes.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:13:57 to 00:14:13

Exactly what you're doing. I have had people look at me and go, I trust you. I don't need all this. Great, that's fine. But most of them appreciate I do a lot of first time home buyers, because I said, if you get tired of me talking, let me know.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:14:13 to 00:14:30

But I'm going to keep telling you until it kind of makes more sense because until you've owned a home, you're just like, oh, my gosh. Everything from insurance to I got a call of where do I turn the gas on? Who has that? And I'm like, well, here, it's Atmos. Everybody gets it.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:14:31 to 00:14:45

But it's just being part of that is my life. I've owned multiple homes and et cetera, but they're not there yet. I told them, I said, you know, you'll be an expert at this very soon. And they're like, God, I hope so. I'm like, you will.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:14:45 to 00:15:20

Yeah, it's just living. But yeah, I over educate and if they ask me to stop, I stop. So always overinform when you've got sellers that our houses are sitting longer right now, and they're panicking because they remember a year ago, two years ago, where you could barely get a sign in the yard and somebody was throwing offers at you at List and above. Would you say that was a lesson that you've learned along the way? Because I think with newer agents, especially, there is this we all want to make people happy, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:15:20 to 00:15:35

The goal is to make someone happy. We want to please them. We want to make sure that everybody's in a good mood, nobody's upset, right, the whole deal. But the problem with that sometimes is when the market's good, you can just whatever. You don't have to have hard conversations very often, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:15:35 to 00:16:02

If the houses are selling like crazy and the buyers are getting offers accepted and everybody's blowing and going great, right. But inevitably, one side of the market or the other, you're having to have difficult conversations, right? If it's a seller's market, you're having to have difficult conversations with your buyers. If it's a buyer's market, you're having to have difficult conversations with your sellers. But if you don't have those conversations, if you let the seller or the buyer drive the transaction and tell you what they're going to do, we want to offer this.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:16:02 to 00:16:28

We want to list our house for this. We don't want to do this repair or whatever. It's not that you can't do that, right? You can do whatever you want, but the success that you're going to have is going to be slow going, because you're the expert and they are the buyer and seller and you have to tell them how the market is and what's happening in this. But you have to do it in a way that doesn't piss them off, basically.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:16:29 to 00:17:00

So tell me about what was your learning curve on that? Did you go through any experiences when the bell kind of clicked on you for that one? Well, a lot of it was just confidence that, okay, I know what I'm talking about and I can do this, and if they don't, I always have ways out. So it's like, okay, we can try that price, we can try that, but we will know within two weeks. We will know within two weeks if somebody's not interested or we're not getting showings or it's crickets kind of thing, especially right now.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:17:00 to 00:17:26

That's pretty much what you run into. Yes. So it's like, sure, we'll absolutely try that, but I've told you what I see because numbers don't lie. Sometimes that bites me in the butt a little bit because there are unicorns out there, and sometimes it's just that's exactly the buyer that's out there looking for that specific house. And you don't know that until you actually put it out there.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:17:26 to 00:17:40

Anything can happen. Absolutely. So what I have learned is be willing to try just about anything. I am past the days of offering a stupid amount below live. There's still a few people that go, just offer it.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:17:40 to 00:17:52

And I said no, because if you really like this house, they're never going to speak to us. Right. They're going to be insulted. They are never going to this is their home. I mean, somebody put a lot of work and effort into that, and you're basically insulting.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:17:52 to 00:18:00

Even if it's an investor, they just put a lot of money into it. It's money. You've lost the right to have conversations with them further. Exactly.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:18:03 to 00:18:35

You went from the more big box brokerage, kind of got your feet underneath you a little bit and started to figure out how this whole game works. It's unfortunate, I think, when people get into the business, and I do think some people tell agents this, but I don't know that it happens as often as it should, where you go through all the classes, right? You go to the trainings and you do the CES, and you're just in classes, classes, classes, classes. And all the classes are great, and you need them because some of them are required. But that's not how you sell real estate, right?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:18:35 to 00:18:42

No. You got to pull the trigger at some point. And I have that conversation with myself a lot. Yes, I am a habitual learner. Yes.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:18:43 to 00:19:03

But it's normal because I think everybody suffers from this a little bit where you're working, right. You're not not doing something. You're doing something oh sure. You got up, you got dressed, you got yourself ready, you went to a class and you sat in there for four or 5 hours or whatever it was, and you learned what you learned and you walked out and you accomplished something. Right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:19:03 to 00:19:14

But that's not what the end goal is ultimately. Right? You got to sell homes and that is interacting with people. That is finding your sphere, whatever that. May be the basics.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:19:14 to 00:19:28

Exactly. So when you pushed your way, when you kind of got in the big box, you're in the classes, you're doing everything and now you're like, okay, I got this. I feel like I got this a little bit better because the splits are a little worse there. You're paying a little more commission, all that stuff. Exactly.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:19:28 to 00:19:57

So everybody takes that next step. So what was it in your mind that you decided, okay, I'm ready to kind of go out to the smaller, more boutique style place where I can make a little bit more money and maybe not have quite the same resources that I had with the bigger one. Well, with Remax, my concern there was that they did not promote that office. Okay. And so I felt like where you kind of sign up is that the name is if you're paying that the name is helping you.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:19:57 to 00:20:15

Yes, absolutely. So I just didn't feel like locally because real estate is hyper local, so they were not really doing what I thought they could do. And then a good friend of mine became the manager of our Arlington office over at Ebbie Halliday. Okay. So I went there.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:20:16 to 00:20:23

Yes. Which is another kind of bigger. It is in fact it's corporate. Very few of them are corporate like that. Which that is.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:20:23 to 00:20:39

Oh, that's right. It's not the franchise that is wonderful and great when you're new. In fact, I've told other people they wanted suggestions and they were new. I said same thing you said. If you want training, if you want a professional classy place, know they're not just going to let you go.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:20:39 to 00:20:46

Do whatever you want to do. Right. There's also going to be structure. There's going to be lots of structure. Is ebbie halliday's.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:20:46 to 00:21:04

Excellent. So where I moved from there to a smaller brokerage was because in COVID, like a lot of people, my husband took a pay cut and I really started looking at my numbers because real estate agents are not so good at that. The ones that are are brokers. Yes. Just so you know.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:21:05 to 00:21:25

Yes. So I really started looking at my numbers and I wanted to just kick myself because I had been what I would say overpaying for three years easily. Probably about thirty k a year in my split. Which not their fault. That's the way it was structured.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:21:25 to 00:21:37

I was doing you knew what the I mean, there was no growing. Yeah. There was no surprise. Like you knew what that was it. Just never dawned on me that there is a point where you start getting more successful, that you need to reevaluate.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:21:37 to 00:21:56

What'S going um hey, Marianne. Marianne's checking in with us here. Hey, Marianne. So you said the numbers thing, and I think that's a big piece of this. And I interact with agents all the time, and I'll ask them, how many transactions did you do last year?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:21:56 to 00:22:14

Or, what was your and they're like, I don't know. This is the kind of stuff you have to know, you know what I mean? But what was the realization in your mind when you actually started looking at the numbers and you got a place in your mind, you're like, oh, wait a minute. I really need to be paying attention to this, right? Yes.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:22:15 to 00:22:37

Literally. And it was simple. It wasn't that I did some weird deep dive into a spreadsheet that was just you writing it all down, looking at it, going, Hang on. Now, if I went over here and there's a lot of flat fee places now, which is where I've gone. Well, looking at the numbers, you see the transactions, you know who the buyer and the seller was, and then you go, Where did that business come from?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:22:37 to 00:22:45

Right? Did that come from a lead, or did it come from something I did with my brokerage that got me that. Don'T pay for leads? Or did it come from my sphere? Right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:22:45 to 00:23:00

And if all of those transactions are coming from your sphere, and you're paying a big portion to the big box guys, and you don't need the education anymore or limited anymore, go get it. Yeah, you can go get it on your own. Get the ones I want. Right? So then that's when you go, oh, wait a minute.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:23:00 to 00:23:21

The light bulb comes on. Yeah, big time. It's like, what was I thinking? That was my reason for the move. So speaking of sphere stuff, what have you found doing it all these years that has been the most successful for you as far as, like, your I know you do a lot of community interaction and involvement.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:23:23 to 00:24:00

I preach that constantly to people I'm like. You have to find activities to get involved in whatever they may be, because we have this back to our earlier statement about going to these classes. You feel like, oh, I'm working because I'm in this class, but working is going to lunch with your friends, is going to volunteer at the shelter, like, all that stuff. So talk a little bit about why that piece has played such a big role in your business. Well, and it was something, honestly, I heard first at Remax of agents that were there because they would take agents that were more successful and sit down with whoever wanted to listen and know, this is what I do.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:24:01 to 00:24:18

And it's always very straightforward. People think, oh, you volunteer, and you're thinking homeless or women's shelter or something like that. Your volunteering could be that you're coaching the Little League team. It could be that you are the HOA president. Don't be an HOA president.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:24:18 to 00:24:26

Nobody likes them. I'm kidding. As long as they're nice. As long as they're nice. But how else do you get to know your neighbors?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:24:26 to 00:24:44

I mean, that's awesome. Or in my old neighborhood, we have National Night Out, and I used to run the National Night Out. I would send invites, and probably the top number we got was probably about 100 people there, and they loved it, absolutely loved it. So they just kept seeing me. Yes.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:24:44 to 00:25:09

It's crazy you say that. So the National Night Out thing, I've had conversations before where like, well, I don't know what to do. I'm like, look, your neighborhood your neighborhood alone, right? If you got something in the mail or you got a Facebook message or something from people three doors down, and they said, hey, everybody in the neighborhood is getting together on whatever date, we would love to have you. We're all going to be in the street, whatever the situation is, right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:09 to 00:25:22

Not everybody, because everybody's got different schedules, but a lot of people are going to go to that, right? And if your answer to that is, well, my neighborhood doesn't have that. It's like, why don't you start create it? Create it. If not, just get involved.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:22 to 00:25:34

Yes. My last neighborhood, I did it with another real estate agent. Yeah, she's lived there way longer than I have. But that's a great way to get to know your neighborhood. You just never know.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:25:34 to 00:25:42

People click differently just because there's already r1 estate agent that's doing it. They click differently. Say more about that. So you did it with another agent. Right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:42 to 00:25:57

And a lot of agents and even lenders were like, oh, we can't everybody's always in competition. Right. So why did you feel comfortable in your mind being like, yeah, I'll absolutely do, with this other agent and not be concerned about that one? I don't want to do it by myself. Right.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:25:57 to 00:26:20

It's always easier if you've got some help. I did years of doing it by myself and thank Kevin's for my family. Yes, they were on point, but when I first started, I was on a team. Loved that woman to death. But she was definitely she had been in real estate for 40 years, I think, and she was old school.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:26:20 to 00:26:34

It was very that cutthroat that don't share what you know. I'm like, it's the same, right? We all know the same thing. There's no big secret. And I saw that, and it was just habit.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:26:34 to 00:26:51

It was not that she was trying to be nasty. It was just protecting her business. That's what she'd probably been taught. And I heard it across the board in kind of that age range. And I had an uncle that was in real estate for a long time, and I kind of remember conversations.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:26:51 to 00:27:07

With that. My dad had his real estate license, all the above. So I had heard that enough. But looking at the new group coming in, it's like because you can get stuck in. There's too many real estate agents in this area.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:27:08 to 00:27:31

Well, it's DFW there's a lot, so there's tons of them. Yes. But I tell people, all you've got to do is go drive over any overpass and look at the sea of homes that you can see and it's like, I guarantee somebody's not working that neighborhood. There's enough business, so there's plenty of business. So having that mentality and plus, that's not me.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:27:32 to 00:27:47

I used to be the one that fixed the copier. I was the one that here, let me have it, let me see what I can do. And even at Ebby, I heard a little bit of that. But we would sit around and talk about brainstorm new ideas and hey, you're doing that? Can I do that?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:27:47 to 00:28:15

Yeah, here's my tag that I put on that or whatever it was. And it just goes so much better, though, that way. And everybody has their people, everybody has their sphere and yes, they overlap. If you really want to start a brand new area somewhere, then move into a brand new area, it's just kind of up to you. But I've never seen an issue because most people are selling one a year.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:28:16 to 00:28:48

Yes, it's not a lot. So the reality is that very few people are doing this as a full time job. Well. And that's part of the thing, too, is that I've talked to several agents in here before and some that have done really well and some that are just part time and whatever, and sharing the secrets, as you would call it, of what you do, your marketing efforts, how you send people emails or how you communicate all of those things. There was, like you said, the old school mentality of keeping it close to the vest.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:28:48 to 00:29:05

But I think more and more people realize that in order for these things to work, you have to do them. Right. It's one thing to know portion. Yes. It's one thing to know that you should send birthday messages or send thank you cards or whatever.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:29:05 to 00:29:26

It's a whole other thing to actually do it right. And it's the 80 20 rule to its fullest extent, right. It's like 20% of the people are doing all the work and 80% aren't. And that's where markets like this come into play, because it's so challenging right now that if you didn't know what it was like before and you came into this market two or three or four years ago.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:29:28 to 00:29:52

We didn't have to anybody do that. If you're in an active office, you've never seen anybody do all that stuff. No, you just would wake up in the morning and every once in a while your phone would ring with somebody who knew that you had sold a house or something. And now you're doing and you're like, this is easy, this is the greatest job I've ever done. And then we get to a place where the crickets start chirping and you're going, wait a minute, what happened to all my business?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:29:53 to 00:30:09

Where did it all go? And then it's the ones that can go back to, or had been continuing doing the same efforts over and over and over again, regardless of where their business was, that have the success. And it's just work. Right? At the end of the day, it's just work.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:30:09 to 00:30:25

You just got to get up and put shoes on and go out and do it. I tell people all the time. Most of the time what I'm doing is reminding people what I do. Yes, absolutely. I mean, we've all heard the stories of somebody's uncle who forgot they were in real estate, sold their house through someone else.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:30:26 to 00:30:44

And you're just like and it's always that hits you square between the eyes. It's like it took two years before people quit asking me how teaching was. Yes, that's my fault. Yes. So what are you doing to what kind of things are you doing to remind people that you're still selling homes?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:30:44 to 00:31:03

Well, I think when you're twelve years in they pretty much got it down now. And so that's pretty much the majority of my conversations. So a lot of it is being out in the community. I go to a networking group with the Chamber just to talk to other you've got to treat it like a business.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:31:05 to 00:31:17

And plus I've been working from home and that doesn't work. I've got to get out, I've got to go get if you're going to. Be a realtor, you have to function. I need to get out. So I go there.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:31:17 to 00:31:36

I've support different charities and things, but my husband's part of the Margarita Society. Okay. And these are all very different groups of people. Now the chamber and the margarita society. Those people overlap.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:31:36 to 00:31:56

But then probably the most, I guess I could say the most business I've gotten has come from my church. Yes. Because I'm there every Sunday and when you start talking to somebody and they refer you to somebody else, I mean, that's where almost all my business is. I very rarely do I get a random show up. I don't pay for leads.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:31:56 to 00:32:09

I never have and I never will, because I don't think they're worth it. It's just somebody else running their business, trying to make more money. And they're usually junk. Very rarely are they decent. Yeah, the conversion rate on them is really low.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:32:09 to 00:32:24

There are agents that have success with it, but you have to be committed to that process. For the money that I could be putting into leads, I could throw a party for everybody I've ever sold a house to. Right. And have them come over and that'd be way more fun. Yes.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:32:24 to 00:32:39

And probably beneficial for you and beneficial. It's just like, hey, come on, I miss you people. Because you do. There's two ways to handle a deal, and this is any kind of sales, which is it's either transactional or it's relational. Yes.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:32:39 to 00:32:57

Well, I can't be transactional. Transactional is just basically come in, get what you need, sell them a house, nice to meet you, and they're gone, and they never hear from me again. That's the intention. My intention sometimes I'm not so good at it, but my intention is never to do that. And it's like, I miss my people.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:32:57 to 00:33:05

Well, you have to have a thought. So much time with them. You have to have a thought towards the future. Right? Every transaction is a transaction, but it's also future transactions.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:33:05 to 00:33:16

It's mothers and brothers referring family, other family members. Hey, we've got friends moving here. I'm going to give them your number. Great, thank you. I really appreciate that.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:33:16 to 00:33:43

And I tell them that's how my business survives. That's how it's from people like you. Well, this is something that I preach to agents all the time too. When we talk about these things is everybody in your world needs to think of you when they think of real estate. And they need to call you for everything related to real estate their roof, their plumbing, their landscaping, their mortgage, their whatever.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:33:43 to 00:34:04

It is hard to keep a list of those people. Yes. But you want them calling you to ask you questions because you want to be the source of the information. And I think this is changing now. But there was also the old school thought of an agent would get a phone call from somebody and they would say, my insurance is I think I need to shop it or whatever.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:34:04 to 00:34:11

Well, I'm not an insurance person, but here's my insurance guy, call him. Right? Or hey, rates look like they went down. I think maybe it's time to refinance. Well, I'm not a loan person.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:34:11 to 00:34:29

Here's my loan guy. Call him. So people would call, but then you just kick them off to other people, which is not a necessarily bad thing. But what I would say in the alternative is that piece of learn about that information. So if someone calls you and, you know, rates went down, I think I should refinance.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:34:29 to 00:34:46

You're like, hey, give me 1 second, I'm in the middle of something. And then you call me and you go, hey, Mike, would make sense to refinance answer right now if somebody had a rate, blah, blah, blah. And then I'll give you the answer and then you call your client back and say, hey, yes, if you're at this point, it could probably make sense, blah, blah, blah. And if they dig deeper, then you go, okay, let me pass you up person. Yeah.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:34:46 to 00:35:02

But every little bit of information that you can take in from your landscaper and your plumber and your electrician and learn the whole thing because you want to be the go to for all of that stuff. And some of that just comes with time. Yes, time and experience. I mean, you heard on my jobs. Yes, I have a few of those.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:35:02 to 00:35:28

I mean, I'm just enough to be dangerous kind of thing. But it also gave me the knowledge to be able to relate to them, say, hey, here's a professional, but let me tell you what I know and I am not the professional. This is just what I know. And a lot of times most of our job is keeping everything on the rails. Yes, it is.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:35:28 to 00:35:46

When everybody gets worked up trying to calm everybody down, some of it is also to let them know that I totally agree with you. I totally agree with why you're coming unglued empathize. Yeah. But my go to comment is in 30 days they'll be gone. Right.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:35:47 to 00:35:57

So don't get wrapped up in this person being a jerk. Do you really want the house? If you really want the house, in 30 days they'll be gone. Yes. And they go.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:35:57 to 00:36:03

That's true. Well, it's a very emotional transaction. It is. It's their home, it's their family. Understandably?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:36:03 to 00:36:16

Yes. So they're going to go through all a roller coaster of emotions and yes, you do have to be the therapist. And keep everybody calm, unrealistic and realistic and all the above. I mean, it's just the nature of the beast. Yes.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:36:16 to 00:36:26

But again, that's the sales part, right. Or the communication part and setting expectations and all of that kind of stuff. Expectations. Yes. It will save you in the long run.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:36:26 to 00:36:39

The more you say up front, the more they go, hey, she said that. She said that might happen, so it's not as big a deal. Right? Well, speaking of expectations so obviously the market has changed quite a bit.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:36:41 to 00:36:58

Again, I wouldn't say from the buyer and seller's point of view, there has been big changes. It's just normal. But for us, for agents and lenders and people in the business title companies, the volume of transactions has declined fairly significantly. Right? Right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:36:59 to 00:37:30

So we're in a place now where every person is important, every deal is important. Every person that you can find that can help you achieve your goals for the year is going to be key. So what have you found as far as setting expectation with buyers or sellers coming into this market now and going, okay, here's where we are? What are you telling people right now as they come into buying and or selling right now in this market? Well, sellers need to understand the first thing out of the gate we tell them is, this is not 2022 up to July.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:37:30 to 00:37:43

Right. I mean, literally, it stopped on a dime. We all just went, yeah, okay, for a little bit. We were relieved because it was you got to rest. It was so nuts.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:37:43 to 00:37:52

Take a breath. And it was not good. I mean, everybody kept coming up to me and saying, oh, you must just be killing it. And I'm like, no. I was like, this is awful.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:37:52 to 00:38:10

I said, I have people offering anywhere, depending on the price range, 5000 to 20,000 over and not getting it. They are good buyers and guaranteeing appraisals. And all kinds of they are good buyers. People not inspecting things, I would never recommend that, right. But just not getting it.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:38:10 to 00:38:31

And I probably wrote, I think I just deleted like 15 offers that I wrote for one couple and they ended up taking a break until they checked in and came back again the next summer, this summer, and bought one because everything, it was perfect. Everything that they were willing to wait, they just rented for one more year and it just slowed down and they were ready to go.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:38:33 to 00:38:51

But as far as sellers, I tell them, if you've priced it right, we're looking at about 30 days on the market. 15 to 30. Now, if it's like stellar unicorn, it's got all the cool stuff, it's priced right and it's ready to go. You may go sooner than that. You may get multiple offers even still right now.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:38:51 to 00:39:06

Absolutely, we still have multiple offers, just not 30. Yes, and multiple offers we're seeing on a lot of them are the ones that need all the work because they're lower priced. They're lower priced. Investors might come in. It's a big rental market.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:39:06 to 00:39:24

There's a lot of cash buyers right now. Yeah, it's a big rental market. So people, as long as they can still kind of make their money back or even they're just putting their money somewhere, a lot of these prices I go, there's no way they're going to get their money back every month. And really, it's not that. If they've got a place to put it, where it will continue to grow.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:39:24 to 00:39:51

Well, and there's very few other options right now that aren't incredibly volatile. And the stock market personally, I've had money in places and I've pretty much pulled all of it out except for proper, those are the places because you just don't know. There's too many variables right now on where the economy could go that it's just kind of like, let's wait and see. But the one thing that hasn't gone down is the real estate. And that's why you're seeing, I think, right now.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:39:51 to 00:40:09

I read something the other day, it's something like 25% to 30% of all of the transactions that are happening in the US right now are cash because big money investors or small are taking their money out and they're buying the real estate because they at least know. They see the same thing you do. It's going to hold the value right. At bare minimum. I'm not going to lose my money, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:40:09 to 00:40:43

I'll hold my money. Maybe I'll have to hold it a little longer. Maybe it'll take a little longer to sell or whatever, but I'm not going to lose money. And that's what they're scared of, because the market that we came from was incredibly unhealthy, because I'm sure we all have these conversations with buyers all the time, especially, it's like, look, yeah, in June of 2022, your interest rate would have been 3%, but you were paying $50,000 over the list price on that house. Okay, well, the price that you pay for that home, you can never change that because that's what you paid.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:40:43 to 00:40:54

Okay? Your rate can change. It can go up, it could go down if you refinance or whatever. I mean, like adjustable rate stuff, but those kind of things can move. But the price that you pay for the home is there.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:40:54 to 00:41:21

And right now, even though it's a little slower, the market is healthier because we still are still in a seller's market. I would very much argue, depending on the location. Depending, yeah, it depends on the spot. But at least now, if the house is listed for 350, you're going to get it for 350 or 375. And yes, your interest rate is going to be high, but there's a very good chance that it's probably going to come down in the next couple of years.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:41:21 to 00:41:32

And you're not tied to that. Paying 1520, depending on your price range. Yes. 15, 20,000, over. I mean, finally, and like you said, the interest rate is higher, but you're not paying that.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:41:32 to 00:41:54

And in some cases, I'm back to where some of my first time home buyers, if they need help with closing costs, they can ask for a loan yes. And get it, or just the other way around. If there's something that needs to be done to the house before after inspections, it was like, well, your choice is are you keeping it or not? Are you bailing or not? Because somebody else is right behind you.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:41:54 to 00:42:10

Yes. That will take it as is. Now it is more, hey, we've got a problem with the roof or something that would not mess with lending. So that whole sink is leaking. We need another $500, put it in seller concessions.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:42:10 to 00:42:21

Because then you have cash. Yes. Then it's not still coming out of your pocket. Well, and more often than not, if a seller is selling a home right now, they have to sell for some reason. There's a reason that they're selling, and.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:42:21 to 00:42:31

There'S a reason the buyers are sellers. Definitely. Sellers are definitely twelve months ago, people. Were just like, let's just see. I talked to a lot of people.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:42:31 to 00:42:39

Yeah, let's see what we get. I was like, you just sold your house, just cash? Yeah, why not? Let's see what happens. I mean, people took advantage of all your money sitting in your house.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:42:39 to 00:43:00

Now, you can take out loans against that and do that, but they were like, I could sell it downsize, pay off my bills, and just lighten the load in general. But then they, of course, had to find something. Yeah, well, that's the flip side of it. They had the cash typically they had a lot of cash in their house. Well, and that's the situation that we're in right now is our biggest problem is inventory.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:43:00 to 00:43:30

We don't have enough homes. And that's why the prices are so incredibly high is because there isn't enough homes for sale. And the reason that there's not enough homes for sale is because if you don't have to move, all right, and you bought your house in the last five years or refinanced it or whatever, which vast majority of people have, then you're sitting on a 3% or 4% or 2% rate and you could sell your house. But then you're going to have to turn around and buy a house in this market at a much higher price. If you're trying to go up or if you're trying to downsize, you're still going to be paying more.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:43:30 to 00:43:46

Your downsize might be the same price that you paid for the house that you're in right now. Right. Unless you're willing to be creative and just hang tight. Well, that's what I'm saying. So that's why you don't see the movement that we're having or that we're used to, is because people are just kind of in the sellers.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:43:46 to 00:44:04

The buyers are still trying to buy, but the sellers are like, I don't need to do anything right now, so I'm just going to sit tight for a little bit. But the other side of that coin is that when it does change, which it will sure. Twelve months, 24 months, it's going to happen. Right. And they could even just go down to 5%.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:44:05 to 00:44:29

We're not getting back into the twos and threes again because that was artificial. But you get into the fives and now all of these homes start coming for sale and all of these buyers. But what that does is that drives the price up because now all the buyers are like, oh, we're in now because the rate isn't 8%. And so we're still back to this kind of unhealthy market. So what have you been telling your first time home buyers who are really getting hammered by all this because prices are so high?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:44:30 to 00:44:46

How are you dealing with that? I'll give them props. They're more prepared. Yes. I mean, they are coming in and when I've got someone looking at 250 and at first I kind of cringed and then they're willing to go out a little.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:44:47 to 00:45:02

I think more people are willing to do that. They're like, you know, I don't want to be right in the middle of it. So as long as they're willing to do that, then they usually get a little more bang for their buck. A newer home, maybe, and maybe even a yard that doesn't like butt right up against the next one. Right.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:45:03 to 00:45:22

And a house that maybe doesn't need tons of work that isn't 50 plus years old. Well, the remote work thing has helped that a lot. Yes, because people can work from home, so they can decide. I'm shocked how many of them actually are, because you heard everybody going back. Well, a lot of people did go back, but there's a lot of especially first time home buyer bunch, which that's usually to me.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:45:22 to 00:45:46

That is I mean, I have how old is he? About 24 year olds, 25 year olds that are getting married and buying a house. It's still really important to them. Yes, absolutely. And they see that that's what's holding value, and they may have to hold onto it a little bit longer than the people they just watched in the last couple of years, but they are all in.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:45:46 to 00:46:03

They are all in with what? Here's what we've got. It could be they just saved their money from an inheritance that they got somewhere and this is where they want to go. Well, I've run into that quite a bit with younger home buyers in that everybody has a good old day syndrome. When I was a kid, we used.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:46:03 to 00:46:42

To, oh, sure, I do it. But I have to give credit to the younger generation, the Gen Z's millennials. I don't know the Gen Z's because they went through to some extent as children, they went through what we experienced in the housing crash and seeing parents lose retirement accounts and seeing that's what everybody talked about. Yes, job losses and everything else. And they lost a little bit of the US materialism that we've had for so many years, where you had to buy bye bye, get all the things like the boomers in our family.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:46:42 to 00:46:56

They had to own everything, credit card debt out the eyeballs, they had all that stuff. And the next generation, those Gen Z's came up and saw, wait, I don't need to live that way. I don't need to have the newest thing. I don't need to have the best car. I don't need to have all that kind of stuff.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:46:57 to 00:47:17

I can put value. And truly, there's just more education, honestly, because if you want to find something out, if you're curious about a topic, were when I was a kid, I had to go ask my crazy uncle or the neighbor next door, like, how do you do this? He's like, you know, he's telling you the truth, totally full of crap, whatever. But now you just go on YouTube and you're like, how do I buy a house? Or what do I need to do to save for retirement?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:47:17 to 00:47:30

Or whatever. And there's thousands of videos and resources out there conflicting. Well, yeah, I mean, you got to sift through, but they're sharp. They understand what's true and what's not. And once you see enough of it, you kind of figure that stuff out.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:47:31 to 00:47:45

Speaking of kids, though, you are bringing your kids into the business to some extent. Some are already there bringing themselves, and they're bringing themselves, which, hey, all that means is that they had a great example. Right. I guess, because they're like, hey, Mom's, loving this. We're going to go do this.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:47:45 to 00:48:01

So what's that been like? What's their experience been compared to what yours was when you started? Well, I tried for years to get them in it and to show an interest, even just, oh, this would be a great part time job while you're in school. Zero interest. Zero.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:48:01 to 00:48:07

Because I came up with I'm sure. So, yeah, when you're offering up the idea, it's a terrible idea. Yes. Terrible. Yes.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:48:08 to 00:48:22

So then I had one. My older daughter, Peyton, she and her husband were living in Maryland. He was working with Navy for wrestling. Well, she got into real estate and loves it. Absolutely loves.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:48:22 to 00:48:34

But he because of what he does, they move around. Yes. Every couple of years, she goes, okay, I can't keep doing that. So she's taken a break from it until hopefully knock on everything. She might be back here.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:48:34 to 00:49:01

But then and then Savannah, she actually started her real estate classes while she was still in high school. Wow. Now, she was graduating the COVID year that it was the end of that year where they didn't have a prom, they didn't have all those things. So she was that end. The other child was the okay, we didn't go to school all year, but we had a prom and stuff like that.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:49:01 to 00:49:23

So she started taking her classes, and she's been in it three years. She was the assistant to the brokerage, and she some of the admin stuff, tons with all of that and has sold some houses. And now she's like, yeah, I think I'm ready to gear this up a little bit more. But it's good. I mean, it's usually me that gets the phone call.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:49:23 to 00:49:34

Sure, you think about this, mom. And I'm like, well, that's good. Do this, do that. Make sure you communicate. It's usually in every conversation, because it took me a while for that to stick.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:49:35 to 00:49:46

The more that you talk, the more that you explain it, the less panic there is. Yes. Well, then people are clear and they have trust and they understand what's coming, and they know they feel like you. Know what you're doing. Yes.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:49:46 to 00:50:14

So when you've already said it, they're like, yeah, she told us that. Well, yeah, you're establishing yourself as the expert so they can feel more confident because exactly. Look, if you're with somebody that has confidence in what they're saying and they're sure about it now, sometimes people are sure and confident and they're wrong. But more often than not, you at least get a sense of you're feeling good because you understand that, all right, I don't know what I'm doing. I've never done this before or I haven't done this in five years or whatever the case may be.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:50:14 to 00:50:28

So I need someone to hold the reins and tell me that it's all going to be okay. Right. And that's your job. You have to be that person. And it's not always the best job because you get to deal with the good and the bad.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:50:28 to 00:50:38

Sometimes you're doing it for the other agent. Yes. Hey, that's the way it is. Yes. In any profession, I'm sure it's not just ours.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:50:38 to 00:50:58

There's good and bad in all things, you know what I mean? But I always tell people you should feel good about that because if you're having to pull slack for somebody else, then that's called job security, right? Because you know that it's like, if that's what I'm going up against, then I'm feeling pretty good, right? Yeah, that works. I'm feeling like I'm going to be okay.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:50:58 to 00:51:22

So what do you tell your daughter right now as she's getting ready to maybe start selling on her own? What kind of habits or what kind of practices are you trying to tell her that she needs to focus on? To make sure that she can make this a long term career and not just something that's good for the short term? Well, she is almost 22, so her market, her sphere, her people are very different than mine. Right.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:51:23 to 00:51:45

But it's funny how much I've told her. I said, every time you go to a house, you need to shoot a short little video and it needs to be on your reels, on your stories, on your whatever. And anytime you have an open house, throw it out there, just blanket whatever. That's where they're looking. And I said, because everybody likes to look at houses.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:51:45 to 00:52:07

I mean, that's how we all get here, isn't it? So I tell her to do that, and she's at a point right now where her age group is about to be graduating, college, is about to be getting married. And I said, they need to see you, see you, see you. Like I said, everything I do is reminding people what I do. And so it is amazing.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:52:07 to 00:52:26

So she started doing some of that stuff and it kind of cracked me up that all of my mom's friends, they're all going, Savannah's killing it. And I'm like, what? Wait a minute, hang on. We have just as much of a problem with social media in that bunch than we do. They're on it all the time.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:52:26 to 00:52:37

Yeah, but I tell her that. I'm like, see, people are watching. I said, your group may not be commenting. I said, now your grandmother's group is all over. They're all on it.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:52:37 to 00:52:52

She goes, oh my gosh. But it was just proof. That what I was saying. So she is going to have to go that route. And I told her, I said, take care of your people that you've helped before because they've worked with you before and they'll work with you again.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:52:52 to 00:53:07

But I can't remember the percentage. It is it's something ridiculous. It's like 60 something percent at least. That every time they study this, it. Is going and asking people, have you bought or sold a home?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:53:07 to 00:53:14

Yes. Did you like the experience with your realtor? Yes. He she were wonderful. Right?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:53:14 to 00:53:24

And then they go, did you use them again? They go, Would you use them again? Oh, absolutely. What was their name? They go, what is that?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:53:24 to 00:53:41

And they're asking somebody else, and it's like, what was their name? Well, it's because we haven't stayed in across I don't care how old you are. That's across the board. And those are areas I struggle. It's like I've had a VA and then a virtual assistant and not had the VA.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:53:42 to 00:53:59

And those are the structural things that are yeah. So, well, I think we all strive to be better all the time, right. And nobody's perfect. Right? You're not going to solve all your problems at once.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:53:59 to 00:54:12

You're not going to have all the answers. You're just trying to be a little bit better at what you're doing every day. And you're learning some things that work for you, and you're learning some things that don't, right? And they could work great for someone else. It doesn't go with your personality.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:54:12 to 00:54:31

Exactly. You're just trying to get to a place where you have enough activity that you're doing on a regular basis, whatever that is. And that's the thing that I think agents that are looking or grasping for something, they're always, well, what are they doing? What are they doing? And that's fine, but you have to find the thing that you like to do, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:54:32 to 00:54:45

Whatever that is. If you want to write notes all the time, if you love writing handwritten notes, then do that. But if you're writing handwritten notes three or four times a day and you hate it, then stop, because you're not going to like it. You're not going to keep doing it. Comes through in your note.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:54:45 to 00:55:08

They're like, oh, yeah, sure. Thank you. And we hear all the time now, too, and I talk about this a lot when I do things like this, but social media do social media. And the reason being isn't because of going viral or being whatever, but like you said, you have to be in front of people, right, as often as you possibly can. They have to see your face, and they have to know what you do.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:55:09 to 00:55:24

And because lives are so busy, right, everybody's going and going all the time. We all have our phones. We're in the car texting, we're sitting at lunch with our best friend, and we take a phone call or whatever the case may be, right? All this is happening all the time. It's very difficult.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:55:25 to 00:55:45

It's not the old school way. You can't just stay in front of somebody by going out to lunch with them every once in a while, because everybody's schedule is crazy. So social media is an avenue to where you can stay in front of people and see them on a regular basis. But if you don't like it and. You don't use it, either pay someone to do it for you or don't.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:55:46 to 00:56:11

I don't know know what works for but but then if you're not going to do that, then you better be a dynamo at getting the girls together and having lunch every week. Or being in the PTA, or being at your church, being a greeter. You've got to have other things, right? But the truth is everybody has to find their lane and your lane is not going to be the same as somebody else's. And sometimes it's trial and error.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:56:11 to 00:56:20

You got to try this and if it works and you like it, great. But you got to try this. You don't like it and it didn't work, then don't do it anymore. But you can't be all things to everybody all the time. It's not possible.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:56:20 to 00:56:42

You will exhaust yourself trying to do it. So where do you think all this is headed? You've been through some ups and downs in the market. If you have your crystal ball and you're going to go, okay, this is what it's going to look like in the next three years, what do you think? Well, and really my crystal ball involves listening to multiple people who are way smarter than I am talk about it.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:56:42 to 00:57:11

And then I take all those pieces and kind of say, okay, am I hearing the same thing? Am I not hearing the same thing? The last thing that I heard, I'm kind of waiting. I keep thinking we're kind of due for all that round of people to come back up and talk to us again. But I keep hearing that the economy itself is doing better, the job rates are doing better, that I think a lot of that was, hey, let's drive up the cost of everything.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:57:11 to 00:57:29

And so all those people that didn't want to go back to work had to go back to work. So we're finally seeing the results of that. And of course, as the economy gets better, then eventually they will back off on some of those rates again. Like you said, five would be great. Yes, that'd be awesome.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:57:29 to 00:57:48

And I would love it if the media would just zip it personally because they pulled up this huge frenzy and it's like, this is what the market does. This is what it does. Ask anybody older. What's the highest interest rate you've had? I think the highest I've heard is 18% that they sold a house at.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:57:48 to 00:57:53

So we are nowhere near that. No. Yes. Would we like them to come down a little? Sure.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 00:57:54 to 00:58:14

But it is not the terrifying situation that has been made out to be. It's a recency bias. It was the last major economic recession that we had was all based around housing mess. People banks were loaning money they should not correct and loan. Yes.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:58:14 to 00:58:47

Well, the entire reason we had the crash was because of housing and mortgages right where this one is completely different. It's a different situation. So everybody just expected that there would be this massive housing crash and everything would come crumbling down, and now that it hasn't come to fruition, it's like, okay, well, where's the collapse going to occur? And I do think that there's still some things that are little. Anytime you're headed into an election year, which is what we're headed into, buckle up, everybody going to be a nightmare.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:58:48 to 00:59:28

But anytime you're doing that, then there's a lot of, I guess you would call it gamesmanship that occurs with some of the numbers and what's happening in the economy, good or bad, on both sides. And so it's hard to figure out exactly what's going on sometimes and what's good and what's bad. It's like they had job numbers come out today, and they were down from where they were the month before. The unemployment rate is still okay, but it is trending downward. But the thing that gets missed sometimes in those numbers is that we're in an economy where incomes aren't quite that great and people want companies want people back in the office.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:59:28 to 00:59:47

So what's happening to a lot of people is they're saying, you know what, I don't want to do that, so I'm going to start my own business or I'm going to go work another side gig job or whatever. There's some extra jobs that are being kind of dropped into the market that maybe aren't there. But it doesn't mean people are doing poorly. It just means that they're changing. They're shifting.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:59:47 to 01:00:17

They're shifting on what they're doing. The other issue is that part of the inflation that we had, a good part of it was large companies taking advantage of the fact that the news was telling us there was inflation. They just lockstep right in. My Starbucks went up $0.50, but it actually went up a dollar because they were like, well, they'll pay a dollar extra for it, so why not get that? And now corporate profits, everybody just says, oh, everything's more.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:00:17 to 01:00:27

That's right. I still hear people say, oh, we have a supply issue. I'm like, do we? I thought we kind of solved a lot of that. I don't think we have a supply issue.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:00:27 to 01:00:45

Well, that's happening with cars. I mean, I'm in the market to buy a car. My daughter's about to turn 16 soon, so I'm looking at different cars, and I've been kind of diving into it a little bit because I'm a bad research guy, but they're just not making as many that's part of it. They're keeping the supply low, but on purpose. I think they're doing it on purpose.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:00:45 to 01:01:08

I'm like, Why don't we have these? Yes, we're all back to China shipping all their stuff and the chips and all that stuff. I'm like, there's no reason this should still be like this. The profit margin on a new car that they got Pre COVID is pretty much doubled on what they get. Their profit per car doubled and it has not changed.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:01:08 to 01:01:42

Even with the demand dropping down, it's only gone down a little bit. There's all kinds of stuff like that there's all kinds of stuff that's happening like that in the market. And so that's where I'm saying it's in this weird place where corporations are still making a decent amount of profit, but it's going down some. The job numbers are a little unsure what they are because people are transitioning into different careers and starting their own businesses and doing side gigs and getting out of the nine to five grind. We're kind of in a transitional economy to some extent and we just don't know how it's going to play itself out a little bit.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:01:42 to 01:02:07

But the anchor to all of this that has not changed again, like we said, is that real estate prices have not gone down. They have not gone down, they have not crashed. Especially in know, there's California and then there's certain markets had some problems. New York has just you know, Texas has always been solid. I mean even when it was horrible in what was that, 2008, 2009?

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:02:07 to 01:02:43

But it wasn't even as bad as what the rest of the country looked at. We've usually got I always hear it's, oil and gas is backing us up. We've got some stability. So I'm not sure if that's it or our state's just in a good position. I think when COVID happened and know, this was very prevalent on the West Coast and when everything just shut down and the government and the governor, they were telling you what to do, this is what you have to do.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:02:43 to 01:02:51

You can't go here, you can't do. Like, wait a minute, open your business. Like wait a minute, I live in the do. What about freedom? I can do whatever right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:02:51 to 01:03:04

And so in Texas we're whatever. Like, come on, let's figure it out. Florida. So everybody moved here because they were just like, okay, I can make adult decisions in Texas and I can't make adult decisions in certain other parts of the country. Yeah, we just need to keep reminding them that.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:03:04 to 01:03:15

Yes. And the land, we have an abundance of land and there will be more houses that are being built. Just takes a while to get yeah. Because they got caught. They want to be careful.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:03:15 to 01:03:44

They got caught a year ago of all these houses being on the ground and people just going interest rates are killer. It's like so they've learned to how right now the new home bunch is keeping us running. Yes. New homes, especially bigger companies because they're the builder, they're the lender, they're the title company. And then now I'm hearing some of them are the insurance.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:03:45 to 01:04:01

But when you have all of the companies, you can smudge those numbers around and make it work and like, okay, what can we get people in with? Well, right now what are they worried about? Interest rates. So it's not the price of the house they'll get them in with interest rate. And it works.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:04:01 to 01:04:29

And it's letting people get in new homes and good spots and not for crazy money. Yes, they're up and they're going to continue to go up. So I've had a lot of people have said, have you looked at New? And then you've got a warranty for solid year plus two years for structural pretty, and then you've got the foundation for ten. So people are like, oh, this isn't a bad idea.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:04:29 to 01:04:59

Yeah, I joke all the time about it, but I always say the best time to buy was yesterday because you're just not going to see prices come down. There's no crash because there's no flood of inventory coming. It's going to continue to grow, and it is a safe place to put it. Yes, rates are high, but that can change as well. But it is the safest place right now to hold your value for your dollar and also have a good idea that it's going to increase, that you're going to appreciate with that value over.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:04:59 to 01:05:01

The three to percent, four a year. Yes.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:05:04 to 01:05:08

The world's not ending. The market is still coming along.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:05:11 to 01:05:16

Your phone's not ringing. Yes, you got to work it. Yeah, you got to work. You got to work. And that's the difference these days.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:05:17 to 01:05:36

All right, well, we're over an hour already, so yeah, went really quick, but anything you want to say before we go just as far as, like, tell those agents out there, give them that spring of hope. What's your spring of hope for them? Spring of hope. The spring of hope is that do the basics. Do the basics and work it.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:05:36 to 01:05:52

And activity breeds results. It just does. That is the one thing about sales, that you can always go out and do more? Yes, you can always go out and do more. So don't feel like you're stuck or these people know more than I do, and I'm never going to be able please.

Kelsey Hicks (Guest) | 01:05:52 to 01:06:10

I know plenty of people that have been in for that have done this for 30 years. Well, they don't learn anything new, and they're kind of stagnant where they are. And some of those new things are good, but don't let the flashy distract you. Right. You're only limited by yourself.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:06:10 to 01:06:17

Right. That's the only limiting factor. Well, thank you so much for coming in. I appreciate you hanging out with me for an hour. And thank you to everybody that was listening and hung around.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:06:18 to 01:06:41

We'll be back again next week, but keep on keeping on and things are going to turn around. We're coming into school time, and now it's really going to get really going to get busy. Really and truly. August is people don't maybe don't realize this August is actually kind of a slower month for real estate because people are coming back from vacation and they're getting ready to go to school. And then once school starts, I promise you, your phone's going to start ringing again.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:06:41 to 01:06:47

Because now everybody's back into the routine and they got to figure out what they're going to do. And they have more time. That's right. They got more time to figure it out. All right, guys.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:06:47 to 01:06:51

Everybody have a good weekend, and we'll see you next time. Bye.