\n<\/p>\n
The signs of a bad real estate agent<\/strong><\/a> aren\u2019t very clear if you\u2019re a new investor. But, after trial and error and a lot of deals done, you\u2019ll be able to weed out the basic agents from the rockstar realtors<\/strong>. If you\u2019re brand new to real estate investing, there\u2019s no need to sort through ten agents just to find out what makes the good ones great. Today, we\u2019re giving you a shortcut as we pick the brain of one of the top real estate agents<\/strong> in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the country!<\/p>\n Johnny Hoang<\/strong><\/a> just began his real estate agent journey only a short two years ago, but he\u2019s been able to close on an astounding $67M in home sales<\/strong> despite having such a short time in the market. Even with things as hot as they are, that\u2019s a very impressive number from any agent, let alone a rookie! Of course, it should come as no surprise that Johnny is a student of David Greene<\/strong> and works with David daily.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s show, David and co-host Rob Abasolo break down what it means to be a great real estate agent<\/strong>. They walk through different scenarios and situations with Johnny so you, the listeners, come away knowledgeable of the difference between an agent who will help you grow your portfolio and an agent who purely wants a commission check<\/a>.<\/p>\n David: Johnny: David: Rob: David: Rob: David: Johnny: David: Rob: Johnny: David: Johnny: David: Johnny: David: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: David: Rob: Johnny: Rob: David: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: David: Johnny: David: Johnny: David: Johnny: David: Rob: David: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: David: Johnny: David: Johnny: David: Johnny: David: Rob: David: Rob: Johnny: Rob: David: Johnny: Rob: Johnny: Rob: David: Rob: David: Rob: David: Johnny: Rob: David: \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Help us reach new listeners on iTunes by leaving us a rating and review! It takes just 30 seconds and instructions can be found here<\/a>. Thanks! We really appreciate it!<\/p>\n
This is the BiggerPockets Podcast Show 583.<\/p>\n
If you want to get to X amount of income a year, we\u2019re going to need to do these things within your savings rate, we\u2019re going to need to do these things with your assets. Whether it\u2019s selling it, whether it\u2019s doing a cashout refinance, and then we\u2019re going to come up with a plan where you can acquire one every single year for the next five years to hit this milestone of yours.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s going on everyone. It is David Greene, your host of the BiggerPockets Real Estate podcast. The show where we teach you to find financial freedom through real estate. Now, if you are looking to have a better life and real estate is the way you want to get there, you, my friend, are in the right place. At BiggerPockets, we are a community of over 2 million members that are all committed to the same goal as you, to find real estate to hit financial freedom.
We do that by bringing in experts in the field, subject matter experts, people who have walked the path you\u2019re trying to walk and are looking back at showing you what they did to get there, as well as people that made mistakes so you can avoid them. Today\u2019s guest is actually a close friend of mine. It is Johnny Hoang, an agent on the David Greene team, here to talk about what to look for in a realtor to have success.
Joining me is going to be my co-host, Rob Abasolo, who helps me to take on this incredibly important topic of picking the right agent to represent you. And it\u2019s fitting because Rob and I recently had to go through this exact same process ourselves for the houses that we are buying. Rob, welcome to the show.<\/p>\n
Howdy, howdy, man. I\u2019m excited because we\u2019re really unpacking a lot here. One of the things that Johnny talks about that really I don\u2019t think a lot of people give enough thought to is that working with a good realtor is a two way street, right? It\u2019s a partnership in that both parties are expected to give effort. And when one party doesn\u2019t give effort, then the other party moves on. So, we talk about things like, what\u2019s a kiss of death when you\u2019re a realtor? What are some things that a potential client can say to you that may deprioritize them on the list?
We also talk about things that you can tell your realtor in the making that\u2019s music to their ears? It was really nice to talk to Johnny, because clearly, he is one of the best at what he does, and that\u2019s always an exciting thing to get to talk to someone that is so good at their craft.<\/p>\n
Yeah. So, you\u2019re going to hear about this, but Johnny owns real estate himself, he\u2019s also an investor, he is a house hacker, and then he helps clients do the same thing. And when I buy property in the Bay Area in California, Johnny is actually the person that I have represent me. He just put me under contract on a $2.2 million place in Moraga that he negotiated all himself. It was a deal he found me that had actually expired. It was not on the market. So, we were able to negotiate directly with the seller\u2019s family.
There was a couple other people that were sniffing around it too, and Johnny got so many compliments from the seller that I said, \u201cMan, he\u2019s just doing so good. We got to bring him on here so he can share what he\u2019s doing well.\u201d Then that gives everyone a blueprint of what they should be looking for when they find their agent. I\u2019m excited to let you guys hear about this. I think this was full of a ton of really good, actionable practical steps.
Before we get to the show, let\u2019s take a quick word for today\u2019s quick tip. Today\u2019s quick tip is go to biggerpockets.com\/agentconnect, A-G-E-NT-C-O-N-N-E-C-T. There, you can type in the name of an area that you are interested in investing in and get a list of agents that you can sort of do your research on to see if they might be the right person to help you with your deal. BiggerPockets provides them. If you\u2019re using a BiggerPockets agent, you are much more are likely to find somebody who invests in real estate themselves, understands what you\u2019re trying to do, and listens to the same annoying voice that you are right now on this podcast, me, and Rob with a slightly less annoying voice, teaching how to get this done.
Now, it\u2019s not a guarantee that they\u2019re going to be a Johnny or a Rob or a David, but you have a great place to start. And in today\u2019s show, we are actually going to tell you what questions you should ask them and what answers you should expect to receive. Rob, is there anything you want to add on that before we bring in Johnny?<\/p>\n
I want people to just pay extra special attention because Johnny does give us some of those secrets for finding these unicorn realtors as well. I think it\u2019s really great to hear it straight from the source.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s awesome. All right. Let me tell you guys a little bit of about our guest today. All right. BiggerPockets, I have a special treat for you today. Joining us on this podcast is a real estate agent on my team, The David Greene Team, Johnny Hoang. Johnny is my top agent. He sold $67 million worth of real estate in 2021 in only his second full-time year in resale real estate. Johnny has done 20 deals and currently owns 10 properties across three different states. He also invests in virtual real estate, cryptocurrency, NFT, stuff like that. Like he\u2019s one of my coach when it comes to that side. And he is joining us today to share with us what to look for in a really good agent,.Johnny, welcome to the show.<\/p>\n
Thanks, David. And thank you for such an elaborate introduction. I feel honored to be here.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s basically the only reason that I\u2019m on this show.<\/p>\n
Yeah. His introductions are always the best, man. Quite the accolade list. $67 million on your second year. I mean, I got to imagine that\u2019s a very small percentage of people out in the realtor world that are actually doing that. Right?<\/p>\n
I would think so. Based on the data I\u2019ve looked up, we\u2019re one of the top producing teams. So, yeah, I would think so.<\/p>\n
Well, where did you rank in Keller Williams overall?<\/p>\n
I believe it was, in NorCal, it was 11 I believe, if I\u2019m not mistaken. Our team hit top five from my understanding as well, but me personally, it was 11.<\/p>\n
But you were in the top 100 agents of all Keller Williams, right?<\/p>\n
Yes, I was.<\/p>\n
Okay. That\u2019s pretty impressive for the second year. Johnny\u2019s definitely doing something right. You also invest in real estate. So, we are here to pick your brain about what to look for in an agent. Here with me is Rob, who is not a real estate agent. I love that we\u2019re getting to come at this from two different angles, right? Someone that sees behind the curtain and somebody that doesn\u2019t know what the heck is going on, on the other side of the curtain, because our listeners sort of straddle both sides. Rob, if you don\u2019t mind, what\u2019s like the first pressing issue that you\u2019ve always wanted to know about what happens in the world of real estate agents that you\u2019ve always been afraid to ask.<\/p>\n
Mm, I guess, for me, it\u2019s, I\u2019m always very curious for a realtor. How do you prioritize which phone calls to take and which phone calls to decline? Because I got to imagine, at your level, you\u2019re selling a lot of houses. $67 million, that\u2019s a lot of houses. I got to imagine you get a lot of phone calls every single day. Is your phone just blowing up every single moment of the day?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a great question. We do have a system in place in terms of how we prioritize people that need to buy a house now versus the one that have to buy a house later. The main way we prioritize that in my opinion is just understanding what their goals and their timelines look like and seeing how we can help them and how we can create a plan to help them. We would never shy away from anyone. There\u2019s always going to be a place for someone that comes to us.
We just have to figure out a game plan and a timeline of what that looks like. But to answer your question, Rob, our main priority is to help the people that need a house ASAP. These are going to be the people that are renting a home, their lease is ending, and they need a transition into a new home as soon as possible. These are going to be the ones that are looking to sell their homes, and again, need to relocate for a job opening they just had that is requiring them to work a month later.
Versus the ones that are still playing with the idea of investing in the market and just want some information about how to get started, when to get started, how much capital they need to build up. We also have a plan for them as well. To answer your question, it\u2019s really just, what does the overall timeline look like and what type of expectations do we need to set to see if we can come to those terms?<\/p>\n
Yep. Very fair question. I\u2019m kind of curious, I mean you\u2019re 28, so obviously millennial. I think you\u2019re a millennial. You\u2019re a millennial, right?<\/p>\n
Yeah. I just hit the cusp.<\/p>\n
Okay. Yeah. I\u2019m on the opposite side of that cusp, but do you prefer if someone is contacting you out of the blue, are you a phone call guy or a text message guy? Is a text message a bit of a breath of fresh air?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like text messages that much, to be honest. I like to pick up the phone. I like to hear someone\u2019s voice. I like to hear the tone. I like to hear the energy. I just like those conversations to be completely honest. I feel like there\u2019s so much that can be misconstrued in a text message and there\u2019s not enough information for me to really understand how to help someone through a text message. I\u2019m a phone guy. I love Zoom meetings as well, of course. And most importantly, I like to meet them in person. But to answer your question, phone guy all the way.<\/p>\n
And David, obviously you\u2019re a millennial yourself. What are your thoughts on the matter? Are you a text message guy or a phone call guy whenever you\u2019re talking to clients?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s funny because I\u2019m a millennial barely on the other side. Like, I\u2019m one year within before I would\u2019ve been like gen X or whatever it was. I, believe it or not, I\u2019m the opposite of Johnny. My voicemail full because I don\u2019t like people leaving voicemails. I probably get 30 phone calls a day. 15 of them are from spam. So, if I get a number that I don\u2019t recognize, I just don\u2019t answer it because it\u2019s almost always some kind of a fraudulent call.
What I tee each people on our team to do is, if you call someone and they don\u2019t answer, you send a text message saying who you are, because that\u2019s what I need. You need to text me and say, \u201cI\u2019m so and so, I\u2019m calling for this purpose.\u201d And then I can either schedule a call or kick them to the right person, or call them back. But I think, Rob, you\u2019re asking a very good question because this is one obvious problem people have when connecting with an agent is, if you\u2019re calling and they\u2019re a text person, you\u2019re going to be really frustrated they\u2019re not getting back to you.
And if you\u2019re texting and they want a phone call, you\u2019re going to be frustrated that they\u2019re not communicating the information that you\u2019re looking for. I mean, kudos to you. You\u2019re already starting this thing off with some really good questions.<\/p>\n
Well, I\u2019m really just diving into my pain points here because I think that\u2019s a very fair bit of advice here. I always call my realtor first because I get a lot of people that send me emails and text messages and direct messages. If I\u2019ve never met them before, there\u2019s really no reason for me to respond if I don\u2019t know them. But if I talk to someone via Zoom or via phone call, I can at least \u2026 There\u2019s a human element there. It\u2019s like, oh, that\u2019s a real person. Here\u2019s their tone. So, what I do is I typically will call my realtor. Hopefully they\u2019ll answer.
I can\u2019t expect that from super, super busy realtors, but if they do, we have a conversation and I\u2019ll say, all right, I\u2019m going to summarize what we talked about in a text message. Here\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for. If you could get me on a list, here\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for. Let\u2019s say that someone contacts you Johnny and they\u2019re like, \u201cOkay, hey.\u201d They got you to answer the phone. Can you sort of give me two directions here on how this phone call can go? If you write someone off immediately, for example, what is like the kiss of death that someone can say to you in that first phone call that sort of deprioritizes them amongst kind of that group of people?<\/p>\n
Sure. In a broad statement, I would say someone that doesn\u2019t have the right expectations. So, it\u2019s going to be someone that calls me and says, \u201cHey, I just listened to the podcast and I want to buy in San Jose. I currently have 5K, but I\u2019m talking to 10 other people to raise some capital. I want to do a bird deal where I can get 150% cash on cash. Don\u2019t tell me I can\u2019t do it because a lot of people have told me I can do it.\u201d In a situation like that, of course, I would take on to unpack it, to really understand where they got this information, and figure out if I can come up with a plan to adjust their expectations to match the market that they\u2019re giving.
If it\u2019s a battle between the two of us and I just feel like everything I\u2019m saying to them is just going one ear out of the other, they\u2019re giving me just a lot of retaliation as to why it would work, that\u2019s a relationship that I don\u2019t want to get involved in. Because I can just tell that our expectations aren\u2019t going to be aligned. I won\u2019t be able to serve them correctly. It just won\u2019t be a good relationship. Typically, when people are really out of line with their expectations and they\u2019re not listening to someone that\u2019s been in this market for quite some time and has done quite a few deals, that\u2019s my sign to just say, \u201cI\u2019m not the right fit to help you. Maybe I can give you some information to better educate yourself about this market, but at this time, I\u2019m just not the right one to help you.\u201d That\u2019s essentially what would be a red flag for me and the ones that I can\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
What about you, Dave? I\u2019m sure you got a couple of kiss of death statements here that you\u2019re like, \u201cOh man, I can\u2019t believe I have to unpack this.\u201d Can you give us an example of that similar to Johnny\u2019s?<\/p>\n
Yeah. There\u2019s two kinds of people. The first is someone who says, \u201cI need help buying a property and I want someone to represent me.\u201d And they\u2019re checking to see, can I trust you? Are you good? Are you competent? Are you skilled? And then there\u2019s the other person who just wants information from you. They\u2019re saying, \u201cHey, what can you educate me on in this area?\u201d And they haven\u2019t really decided if they actually want to buy or if they want you to be the one representing them.
When you get a client that\u2019s telling you, \u201cHere\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do in this market.\u201d And, as the expert, you\u2019re explaining to them why that might not be a good idea. You\u2019re just basically checking to see like, is this person open-minded or are they stubborn? Because everybody eventually comes to the same conclusion. It just matters how fast you get there.
Do you get there because you willingly took this advice that made sense or do you have to go the hard way and you have to bang your head against that brick wall over and over and over? And meanwhile, prices go up $50,000 to $100,000 while you\u2019re waiting. Part of what I think a good realtor\u2019s doing is they\u2019re not letting their client have unrealistic expectations. They\u2019re not telling them what they want to hear, just so that they can get them signed up.
If a realtor doesn\u2019t have a lot a business, if they\u2019re not that good, if they\u2019re not making that much money, they\u2019re going to say whatever they have to say to get that client signed up, knowing eventually the client\u2019s expectations are going to shift, but I want to lock them up now. I think what Johnny is describing is a more honest way to do business, but it will often lose you a lot of clients. Everybody wants to hear what they want to hear. They don\u2019t want to hear what the reality is.
I was going to ask you Johnny, when someone\u2019s looking for an agent, or when you\u2019re looking for an agent, because you, like me, invest out of state, do you look for someone that tells you what you want to hear or do you look for someone that tells you what it is, and how do you gauge how honest they\u2019re being?<\/p>\n
I would say it\u2019d be the second scenario. The first scenario I would want to speak to real estate agents and clients here, just to give you some tips. Someone that is being very agreeable, for example, if you have an intro call with an agent and you\u2019re throwing all these grand ideas to them and they\u2019re saying, \u201cYes, Johnny, I can do it. Yeah, that\u2019s no problem. I can do that 60% cash on cash. We do those all the time.\u201d You really have to pay attention to how agreeable they are and if they even have experience in doing these things.
Because I\u2019ve noticed the top agents are super direct. They tell you how it is, and they give you examples of what can actually be done in the market, and they give you data points, right? They\u2019re just not the yes, man. Typically, what I\u2019ll look for an agent when I\u2019m buying houses is someone that likes to explore ideas with me, but also puts me in my place.
Someone that can tell me, \u201cNo, Johnny. You can do this in this neighborhood. But you advise me that you don\u2019t want to be in a bad neighborhood. So, if you want to be in a good neighborhood, you\u2019re going to have to pay a premium in exchange for cashflow if you want to be in this type of neighborhood.\u201d I\u2019d rather have someone tell me that I have to pay more to be in a better neighborhood and lose out on profits than someone to tell me that, \u201cNo, you can buy in this neighborhood. It\u2019s a great neighborhood. You\u2019ll still get the cashflow.\u201d
And then down the line I find out it\u2019s a horrible neighborhood and my house is just not performing the way I want it to perform. So, to answer your question, David, I would say pay attention to someone that\u2019s super agreeable, because that\u2019s for me at least, always a red flag. For me, I would always want to check the information that they\u2019re confirming with me, right? If I\u2019ve done these analyses, but I\u2019m not quite sure if it\u2019s going to hit these numbers, but they keep telling me it\u2019s going to hit these numbers, again, that would be kind of a red flag for me.
Sometimes I\u2019ll even test the agents and I\u2019ll tell them, \u201cCan I do a 40% cash on cash here? This is what I\u2019m seeing.\u201d And if they tell me a little fib just to try to push me along, that\u2019s probably not someone I want to work with. I want someone to assess my situation and really understand where I\u2019m coming from and tell me what I can and cannot do in this market.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s really great, man. I test my realtors with caution, right? I don\u2019t necessarily expect them to know the nitty-gritty of what I\u2019m looking for, because honestly I expect myself to really be analyzing all of these different things. Really what I want to stress check for is if there\u2019s something that I\u2019m missing. I\u2019m really more looking for a realtor to point out flaws in my plan versus helping me formulate the plan.
If I come out at them and I say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m looking for a 40% cash on cash in this neighborhood,\u201d it\u2019s exactly what you said, I want them to say, \u201cWell, theoretically, what you\u2019re saying is correct, but I wouldn\u2019t do it in that neighborhood for this reason, this reason, this reason.\u201d I definitely think that there\u2019s a little bit of compromise that needs to come from both sides. Setting those expectations at the very beginning, I think, is something that I\u2019ve learned over the years, is a lot easier to maintain the status quo when you can have that conversation at the very forefront of your conversation.
Kind of want to shift the gears here a little bit. I mean, we\u2019ve touched on this a bit, but Johnny, can you give me an example of something that a client might call you and say, that\u2019s like music to your ears? What\u2019s something, if it\u2019s the first phone call, client says this to you, what would make you say, \u201cOh thank goodness, I love these kind of clients?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, sure. Music to my ears. If a client were to call me and say, \u201cHey Johnny, I\u2019m currently paying $2,500 in rent right now. I want to find a way to get into real estate that doesn\u2019t cost me too much and will enhance my living situation. Can you help me?\u201d That type of client, I just love them because it\u2019s very common for us in the Bay Area to pay $2,500 in rent. But if you can find a way to get into the real estate market and reduce those living expenses while reaping the benefits of being a homeowner, depreciation, tax incentives, I feel like that\u2019s a win all day long.
Because that\u2019s essentially what we teach here on The David Greene Team as well is just how to buy houses every single year using these strategies. So, when I hear someone with that type of situation, it\u2019s music to my years, because I know I can help them. I know the expectations are going to be aligned there. As soon as they hit their first deal and then we work on the second deal the next year later, and they start seeing that passive income come in, and the financial burden being lifted off their shoulders after every single deal, that\u2019s what excites me. That\u2019s what fulfills me.
That\u2019s why I got into the resale space, to help other investors realize that this is the path you want to take if you want financial freedom. It\u2019s going to take a little while, but every house you buy is just, I feel like you just buy more time. That\u2019s kind of long-winded but I hope I answered your question.<\/p>\n
You did great Johnny. You did great. Yeah, so if I\u2019m hearing this correctly, we\u2019re basically, when I\u2019m talking to a realtor, I want someone that can listen to my needs. Hey, I need a house. I\u2019m paying this amount. Set the right expectations. Hey, if I\u2019m paying $2,500 a month, I want to keep it at that. It\u2019s your job as a realtor to come in and say, \u201cWell, in this market, you can spec this.\u201d And then carve out a plan. Is that the process that you take whenever you\u2019re talking to new clients?<\/p>\n
Yeah. That\u2019s exactly the process. I mean, I think the successes I found in resale was being able to listen to the consumer and coming up with the game plan for them to allow them to just follow it throughout the following years. Can I give you guys a little antidote in the beginning stages of my investing career?<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
Okay, cool. As a child growing up, I always knew I would be a millionaire. I just didn\u2019t know how I\u2019d do it. I just didn\u2019t know how I was going to get there. And through BiggerPockets, that was when I found that vehicle, and I knew that, okay, this is what\u2019s going to get me to my first million. This is what\u2019s going to get me to 10K of passive income a month. All I have to figure out is, how many homes do I have to buy and how many homes do I have to have in my portfolio to produce me X amount of income every year?
And how many homes do I have to buy in the next five years? And how much equity do I have to have within these homes? And when is the equity going to compile up to where I make my first million? When I found out how to create that blueprint, well, I didn\u2019t create it. It was just from BiggerPockets. It was stuff I put together that I found on the forums, but I don\u2019t want to take credit for anything that I didn\u2019t fully create.
But yeah, when I found out how to come up with the blueprint based on what I\u2019ve learned from BP, I just felt like that financial weight on my shoulders, it was just lifted, right? Because now I know, if I save up X amount of income every single year and I buy X amount of homes in the next six years, that\u2019s when I\u2019m going to net my first million. In the next six years, that\u2019s when I\u2019m going to have 10K in passive revenue if I stay consistent and continue to act and buy a house every year.
That was a very broad way of explaining it. But typically, someone that comes to us, we\u2019ll assess their situation and see how much liquidity they have, see what type of assets they have. Then we\u2019ll tell them, \u201cOkay, if you want to get to X amount of income a year, we\u2019re going to need to do these things within your savings rate. We\u2019re going to need to do these things with your assets, whether it\u2019s selling it, whether it\u2019s doing a cashout refinance, and then we\u2019re going to come up with a plan where you can acquire one every single year for the next five years to hit this milestone of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
I guess what I like about that is you aren\u2019t just looking at their situation, but you\u2019re using your experience to sort of help them carve out a plan for themselves. I mean, how often are you finding yourself, sort of in a sense, not financial planning, but how often are you relaying some of this personal anecdote and journey that you\u2019ve had and helping people carve out similar things for themselves?<\/p>\n
I would say it\u2019s pretty often. I mean, think it\u2019s at least 70% of the clients that we work with. Because another thing I want to mention too is, when I first started investing, we didn\u2019t really have anyone to walk us through this process, and outside of BP, I mean, I\u2019ve always said I\u2019ve had hundreds of mentors through the podcast and just listening to people\u2019s failures and successes. But to actually have someone physically there and someone you can pick up the phone and call to bounce ideas off of each other, I think that\u2019s invaluable when you first start on your real estate journey.
To be able to cultivate that type of environment and that type of service, I think, is very important. To answer your question, Rob, I feel like yes, 70% of our clients come to us, and that\u2019s basically what we do for them. We help them plan ahead. You can kind of see it how it\u2019s a win-win for both of us, right? As they grow their portfolio, it grows our exposure. I think it\u2019s just a win-win for everyone.<\/p>\n
Yeah, Johnny, one thing I want to ask you, of the 67 million in real estate you sold in 2021, what do you think was your most common client\u2019s profile? What were they looking for and how did you help them?<\/p>\n
Yeah, sure. So, I would say the most common profile would be the house hackers. Typically, they\u2019ll come to us with about $2,500 that they\u2019re currently paying in rent. They\u2019ll have maybe 100,000 to 150,000 in maybe stocks or just sitting in the bank that they want to deploy. And they\u2019re looking to reduce their living expenses by 30% to 40% through using real estate as that vehicle. I would say that\u2019s a bulk of them. I think what was really cool was, in 2020, when I, towards the end of the 2020, I should say, when I started getting some traction, a lot of the people I helped in the end of 2020 started buying again with us the following year, because they\u2019ve built up enough equity.
They\u2019ve been able to convert their single family homes operate like a multi-family, so they\u2019re cashflowing in most cases. Now, those same people I helped in 2020, I\u2019m helping them again in 2022. Most of these people that we\u2019ve helped in the very beginning, it\u2019s really cool to see that they\u2019re learning a lot and they\u2019re able to grow by just repeating the same process. But yeah, I would say the house hackers, that\u2019s the main bulk of where the volume came from.<\/p>\n
So, do you have a deal that one of your clients did you can walk us through, that was a house hacker, and kind of explain what the numbers worked out for that person?<\/p>\n
This is a recent deal that we closed on about two months ago. This deal was in Upper West open, which is a very good area in the Bay Area. And purchase price was right around 1.2 million. They did a Jumbo loan at 10% down. So, down payment was about 120K. We were able to get a 25K closing cost credit. So, they basically just had to come in with a down payment, which was again, 120. The rehab amount was 30K. So, the total cashout lay on this deal was 150K.
Before I go on, I\u2019ll back up just a little bit to convey what their situation looked like. This is someone that was paying $2,500 in rent every month, or $30,000 a year. And they wanted to get started in investing in real estate. They told me they\u2019d been paying rent for last five years, which amounts to 150K that they\u2019ve been paying to their landlord, which amounts to the down payment they\u2019re paying now, ironically. They wanted to park it in real estate and figure out a way that made sense to them.
This property, again, was $1.2 million purchase. And what was cool about it is the main house was a three, two. It also came with a two bedroom, two bath detached ADU. It was converted from the garage, which is very common in this area. And the kicker to this is that the basement level also has another two bedroom, one bath that\u2019s partially converted. It has all the rough plumbing in there. Just doesn\u2019t have the dry wall and Sheetrock up, but pretty much partially converted for. Their total PITI in this is $6,000 of paying a month. And total rent they\u2019re getting is $3,500 for the main three, two.
Then for the ADU, that\u2019s a two bedroom, two bath, they\u2019re renting out one bedroom for 1,200 bucks to one of their buddies, and they\u2019re living in the other room. In this scenario, they\u2019re basically paying $1,300 a month to live in a good area of Oakland. So, it was an opportunity to basically reduce your living expenses by half, from 2,500 to 1300 bucks, plus with the tax incentives you get for owning real estate as well, and the value add opportunity with that basement floor that they plan to convert down the road.
I just love these type of situations because it really just takes one or two deals to really change your life. Right? A saying that I really like is you\u2019re always one decision away from changing your life. I felt like this is like these type of decisions that we can help people understand to help them grow.<\/p>\n
100% agree. One of the things I get asked a lot is, I live in expensive market. Should I invest out of state or should I stay here? It frequently comes up, because I wrote the book, Long Distance Real Estate Investing, but when your house hacking, you can get away with 3.5% down, 5% down. When you\u2019re investing out of state, you\u2019re probably going to be at 20% to 25% down in almost every scenario. And when you\u2019re investing out of state, you\u2019re not saving in the rent money that you\u2019re paying if you\u2019re currently renting.
One of the things that I tell people all the time is you should house hack a deal every single year. And anything in addition to that, use the bird strategy, use long distance real estate, some combination of the two. But if you could get a house for 5% down, 3.5% down, even 10% down, that you can rent out, and then when you move out of it, you\u2019ll have another unit that can generate more revenue, that\u2019s in no brainer.
I wanted to ask you, Johnny, of the clients that you\u2019ve had, have you had any that just had a hard time going forward with a house hack because they had their heart set on long distance investing or have most of them sort of understood that house hacking is going to make more wealth if you\u2019re in expensive market?<\/p>\n
I feel like a lot of them come to us wanting to understand how to invest out of state because they think it\u2019s more beneficial. In some cases, it is. But in most cases for the people that come to us, it\u2019s not. I would say a lot of eventually understand that starting off with a house act is a lot more viable option and a more beneficial one. Because I mean, what I always tell them is, to put things into perspective, if you look at the overall cash outlay that you\u2019re deploying, let\u2019s say you\u2019re looking into a market like Texas, for example.
Let\u2019s say average purchase price is 200K and you\u2019re doing a 20% down. So, you\u2019re basically deploying 40K out of your pocket. Let\u2019s say we look at a house hack here that\u2019s 800,000 with a 5% conventional loan. You\u2019re still deploying that same 40K. Although in one market, you\u2019re assuming more debt. So, essentially that\u2019s a little more risk, versus the other market where it\u2019s a little less debt assumption, so it\u2019s a little less risk some would say.
But if you really put it in perspective, if you look at appreciation gain, 6%, 7% on a house that\u2019s 200K versus 800K, substantial difference. If you look at reducing your living expenses where you can pay less in rent, which is a profit in its own that is not tax, I think when people come to that conclusion, they\u2019re like, \u201cOh, okay, there\u2019s a light bulb. I can buy something in the high appreciating markets.\u201d It probably does make more sense right now, like buy a couple of these in a high appreciating market, build that equity, whether that\u2019s just letting the market continue to go where it\u2019s at or do a little forced appreciation, have that be my nest egg, take that equity, extract it and move it into a different market. Usually, people see that it\u2019s more beneficial to house hack, but we do have certain situations where they want to go out of state versus house hacking.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just so uncommon to find a realtor who can break down what you\u2019re doing and help them see the value in why it would make more sense to house hack in this case. That brings me to a problem that Rob, you and I were facing when we were looking in Arizona Area to buy a property. We were looking in a couple different cities and we had a couple different agents. I remember saying, \u201cLook, if we\u2019re going to do this, we need to get an agent who specializes in this type of real estate and has background into what we\u2019re trying to do.
And you were like, \u201cGot it, Dave, I\u2019m on it.\u201d I remember thinking, is he really going to be on it? Did he understand what I was saying? And you did. You ended up finding a really, really good agent. I wanted to ask you if you could share what the process that you went through was like to find that person.<\/p>\n
Yeah, definitely. I knew that we were going to be going into a luxury buy here. It\u2019s not very common for a lot of realtors to necessarily have $2, $3, $4 million listings that they own. It takes an experienced realtor. I didn\u2019t want to just call up anybody. I just went and I looked up most successful brokerages in that city. I found one, I called them, and the receptionist was like, \u201cWhat are you looking for? Give us some details here.\u201d And I was like, \u201cWell, I\u2019m looking for a very specific realtor. I\u2019m looking for someone that A, specializes in luxury, and B, and this is more important, specializes in short-term rentals.\u201d
Because it\u2019s always really nice to have a realtor that I have some common ground with, just so that they don\u2019t \u2026 So I can pull my weight in the relationship if you will. And they were like, \u201cOkay, great.\u201d They set me up with this realtor and I talked to them, and I did the mini interrogation of like, who are you? What do you do? No, but I talked to them for a bit and I started kind of asking, probing for more short-term rental related questions, to the point where they were like, \u201cOkay, yeah. I don\u2019t actually know too much about short term rentals.\u201d
I was like, okay, that\u2019s what I thought, no big deal. And they said, \u201cBut I do know one guy, one guy who\u2019s just the short term rental sniper out here in Arizona. He\u2019s the guy you need to talk to. He owns a property management company. He owns five luxury rentals. He is a luxury specialist in the short-term rental market.\u201d And I was like, \u201cOkay, great. That sounds too good to be true. You\u2019re just giving away a $3 million lead? All right. Sure.\u201d
He was buddies with this guy. We connected, I talked to him and he completely wowed me. I finally met somebody that I could go toe to toe with on the short term rental side and actually educate me in the luxury space. I remember I talked to him and I was so fired up, and I called David. I was like, \u201cDude, I think I found him. I found the guy. He\u2019s smarter than me in short term rentals and he\u2019s going to help us.\u201d And David was like, \u201cHa-ha, yes. This is exactly what I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, I think part of why you really liked him was he owns them himself. Right? He owned short-term rentals in the price point we were looking at in that area. I don\u2019t think you could find a better agent than someone who literally is doing what you\u2019re asking them to help you do. And that gets passed up a lot, is if you\u2019re an investor and you\u2019re looking to find a real estate agent to help you, and they are not an investor, you\u2019re going to be frustrated a lot when you\u2019re wanting information that they just can\u2019t provide. So, I kind of wanted to turn that to you, Johnny, and ask, how much do you think your own investing experience played a role in your success representing people that were trying to do the same thing?<\/p>\n
I think that played a huge role in my success because I personally wouldn\u2019t want to go to someone for advice if they haven\u2019t done what I\u2019m seeking advice for. It just doesn\u2019t seem productive to my goals. I think being able to convey the mistakes and the successes I\u2019ve had, being able to convey what plans have worked for me and what plans have not worked for me, and being able to just speak with confidence when it comes to that because I have that experience, I think it\u2019s definitely the game changer. I definitely think it\u2019s contributed to 80% of my successes within this space.
I think it\u2019s just a breath of fresh air when you know someone that knows more than you and knows someone that\u2019s been there, done the mistakes so you don\u2019t have to do those mistakes yourself, and really has a plan in place and has executed on that plan. So, I would say it\u2019s a huge percentage of my success in this space, David.<\/p>\n
I wanted to quickly kind of ask a follow up here because obviously you\u2019re crushing it. You\u2019re crushing it in the realtor game and you are also investing. For you, personally, where are you at right now? Are you want to heavy up in investing? Does the idea of investing fuel your desire to be a realtor? How has that arc really panned out for you personally, Johnny?<\/p>\n
Yeah, sure. I feel like they both coincide with each other because I do enjoy helping other investors get started in their journey, but I also do really enjoy buying houses and building my portfolio for sure. But I think both of them coincide with each other. For me personally, I want to have the opportunity to help over a hundred people this year and I also want to have the opportunity to have 50 doors at the same time. To answer your question, Rob, it kind of coincides with each other. Because the more I learn from investing, the more I can then convey to clients as well. It just feel like a full circle in my opinion.<\/p>\n
Awesome, man. That makes sense. I like to see that you\u2019re still wanting to grow, right? Because this is the same thing that I went through with my Arizona realtor, where he\u2019s got a property management company where he manages 60, 75 luxury properties. He owns six luxury short-term rental properties and he\u2019s a realtor. I was just like, \u201cWhy are you doing this to yourself? Just focus on any of those three things and you\u2019re probably going to be fine.\u201d I think he just genuinely love connecting with investors, especially investors in his specific niche because they\u2019re few and far in between.<\/p>\n
Yeah. [inaudible 00:35:21] really cool about the resale space is like, through the mentorships that we can provide to people and seeing them grow, it\u2019s like I bought the houses to be honest. We\u2019re bouncing ideas off of each other. We\u2019re coming up with these game plans, and just seeing them actually come to fruition, it\u2019s like, damn, that\u2019s basically like my deal too. I always like that creative side of real estate where you can come up with different plans, whether that\u2019s buying a single family house, chopping it up into three different units and really extracting the cashflow and seeing it all come to fruition. It\u2019s pretty cool to me. That aspect of the business, I enjoy a lot as well. Just kind of the more project management side and kind of the more visionary side, if you will.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got to imagine that, in your journey now, you\u2019re on year two, as we\u2019ve talked about, you\u2019re crushing it. Year one, I have to imagine, was the year that Johnny marketed the heck out of himself. You were just out there marketing and building your reputation and your brand as a realtor. Year two, I got to imagine that maybe it flips a little bit where you don\u2019t have to market as much and people are finding you. So, can you give us an example of how we find our Johnny, how we find this unicorn realtor that is seasoned investor that knows about cash on cash returns and house hacks and appreciation, all that kind of stuff? How do I find a good realtor like you?<\/p>\n
Yeah, I would say, first and foremost, BiggerPockets, going through their forums. What I really like about their forums is because you can see how other people are \u2026 How helpful they are. I\u2019ve had countless times where people would reach out to me from an old post that did two years ago about house hacking or about one of my flipping posts. And they just reached out because they thought my answer was very constructive and it was very helpful to them. So, I would say, for me personally, I like to scavenge through the BiggerPockets forums and look for agents that are having these good responses and people that convey that they know what they\u2019re talking about within their market.
Agent Finder is a great place to do that. And just reconfirming that again, what the responses they have within the forums. Outside of that, I really like what you did, Rob, because that\u2019s something I\u2019ve done in the past as well. Just call different brokerages, different high producing brokerages, and look for the top producing agent. But I would say nine out of 10 times I did that, they always referred me to someone else. Because the top producing agent is typically pretty busy, and I think coming from a more investment background, they just wanted to refer me out to like another producer.
But to summarize everything, I would say use the forums that \u2026 Use it as a resource because it\u2019s a really big one. That\u2019s where I found most of my business and one of realtors, I should say. Then use your technique of just calling different brokerages and trying to find a top producer and interviewing the one that just makes the right fit for you.<\/p>\n
I do want to touch on the power of a good forum. I mean, just in the past couple years, I\u2019m an online guy, I like being online. I like talking to people on the internet. I\u2019ve posted so many things on Reddit that years later, people will still send me DMs on Reddit and say, \u201cHey, I really like this tiny house or the shipping container that you\u2019re building,\u201d or whatever, and all that kind of stuff. It\u2019s so crazy, the DMS that I get, exactly the same way on the BiggerPockets forum too, where if you put thought into your post, if you post something or you have an answer that\u2019s just super well thought out, the amount of DMs that just come from that, people that are just wanting to pick your brain on that subject, or work with you, it\u2019s really pretty impressive. I think.<\/p>\n
Yeah, it stays there too. Right? I mean, I don\u2019t know what type of backend work BP does, but my post that I get a lot of traction about was almost like from four years ago. Now, I\u2019ve seen some posts date back to like six, seven years ago that I still refer back to, and I\u2019ve screenshotted to put into my syllabus. Those posts are there forever. So, it\u2019s a good way to market yourself without having to really market yourself in my opinion.<\/p>\n
Yeah. What about you, Dave? I mean, obviously you gave me the secret sauce here.<\/p>\n
When I wrote Long Distance Real Estate Investing, I put in there several ways that you can find top producing agents or people that will help you. One of them was using BiggerPockets, and it was just like Johnny said, is you go through the forums, you look for people that are engaged, and when you call them, here are some questions that you ask. A common mistake that I see is people assume all agents are the same and you just grab the first one you see and then you go look for the house. What happens is you end up doing all this time and energy and effort and emotion looking at properties, and then you send them to your agent to say, \u201cTell me this, tell me that.\u201d And you wear the agent out and then they just stop responding to you.
Then you start calling the listing agent yourself and you start saying, \u201cWhat about this? What about that?\u201d And the listing agent\u2019s like, \u201cYou\u2019re not my client. You have your own agent. They should be finding that out.\u201d And you end up in this agent purgatory where nothing\u2019s getting done and you can\u2019t figure out why. I look at it differently. I look at it like an agent is an asset, just like the real estate is an asset, and I have to go hunting for it. I can\u2019t just assume every deal\u2019s the same.
I can\u2019t treat people like that either. I have to find the agent that will help me. The one you found for us, Rob, is an asset. When we looked at our numbers, we thought, these are too good to be true. There\u2019s no way that it\u2019s going to generate that much revenue. And he came back and said, \u201cNo, that\u2019s probably the low end. It\u2019s probably going to do more than that based on these six properties that I own myself.\u201d And the 50 properties that are managed, that he has access to seeing that data.
Johnny is an asset. He owns property in the area that he\u2019s helping people in. He knows what they\u2019re going to rent for. He has contractors that he can refer you to that can do a lot of this work. He can even help you with what the bid would be or what the approximate bid would be to convert a basement or add a bathroom. He\u2019s that knowledgeable because he does this. So, you got to put the same effort into finding your agent that you do into the property. You start with that. You look for the agent first. There\u2019s a lot of frustrated people that are frustrated because they\u2019re going at it the wrong way.
Now, one thing that is available now that wasn\u2019t when I wrote Long Distance Investing is BiggerPockets has actually created a way for you to find an agent faster. Rather than having to just go through the forums and look for someone that might be in that area and might be good, you could go to biggerpockets.com\/agentconnect, and then type in the area that you want to invest in. And it will pull up a list of agents that are also BiggerPockets members.
I really like that, because if they\u2019re a BiggerPockets member, they are more likely to understand real estate investing than if they\u2019re just someone that you found on Zillow or another site. You also can then see how many deals they\u2019ve done for other BiggerPockets people. So, if they\u2019ve done zero deals versus my profile, which probably has a hundred or a couple hundred on there, you can see how much action we\u2019re getting and then you can read reviews from the people we had.
You can look and see what properties other clients bought, right? So, if you go look up our profile for The David Greene Team, you\u2019ll see, these are the areas that we helped clients in and these were the houses that were bought. You could do a lot of the research right there because BiggerPockets made it easier. Now, you still have to do the research. You can\u2019t just find any agent on BP and be like, \u201cWell, they\u2019re a BP agent so we\u2019re good.\u201d That would be like just finding any house that\u2019s for sale on any platform and assuming that it\u2019s going to be good.
But when you \u2026 I get all the time, people will email me and say, \u201cHey, David, what am I supposed to do with this? Will the bank approved me for this kind of loan?\u201d The answer is usually, \u201cWell, did you ask your loan officer?\u201d \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t ask them. I thought I had to know.\u201d No, their job is to tell you that or tell you how to do it. Why are you asking me a question about title. Your title company is supposed to tell you that. And there\u2019s just this thing with investors that think they have to do it all.
Now, if you\u2019re looking for off market deals and you\u2019re trying to put together creative things like seller financing, because you\u2019re not going to get a conventional loan. In that space, you do sort of have to operate by no everything yourself. But if you\u2019re looking at something on the MLS, you should have an agent that can direct you to what to look for. They should have connections for a lot of the things you\u2019re going to need.
The loan officer should help you the same way. And I just want to encourage everyone who\u2019s trying to pick up some traction, if you\u2019re having a hard time it\u2019s because you don\u2019t have a Johnny. If you had a Johnny, you would just say, \u201cWhat can I expect to this market?\u201d And Johnny would tell you. Well, how much would it cost to fix that? It\u2019d be approximately 30 to 50K. Well, what would that do for the rent? It would be about this much. You get a really good understanding by using the experts. And there\u2019s too many people in our field that don\u2019t understand the asset class of real estate.
Rob, I know you have seen this with as much real estate as you\u2019ve bought, where you come across that agent and you think, I know more about this than you do, and this is your job. It\u2019s maddening. I wanted to kind of throw that back to you, Rob, and then to you, Johnny, what are some things that you have noticed when you picked the wrong agent that lets you know, I need to move on and find somebody else?<\/p>\n
For me personally, well, we\u2019ll start with, what\u2019s wrong in an agent? Or what I find to be not as attractive in an agent. My expectation of an agent is to find the correct deals for me and convey why the deals will work but based on the criteria I\u2019ve given him. Red flags for me is someone that\u2019s not communicative, someone that doesn\u2019t send me deals, someone that doesn\u2019t put an effort to be in front of me.
Versus a good agent, I\u2019ve noticed that is one that\u2019s constantly sending me deals. Hey, Johnny, this is one you should buy. These are the reasons why I should buy it. Here\u2019s the Rentometer. Here\u2019s the P&L. Worst case scenario, I think you\u2019ll be here. Best case scenario, you\u2019ll be here. It\u2019s literally just like laid out for me like, oh crap, he put everything together. They\u2019re in these organized folders. And all I have to do is reconfirm the math, do my due diligence real quick and say yes or no. That experience works really well for me.
I\u2019ve noticed that when I\u2019m on the other side as a real estate agent, helping our clients, it works really well for them as well. Because they\u2019re coming to us looking for some type of guidance. Of course, as a client, you still should have a game plan in place and double check everything. But I really like the experience where they lay everything out on the table and it\u2019s as simple as yes or no. And I think that\u2019s what makes a good agent, someone that does a lot of good follow up and someone that can just lay everything out for you and consistently provide you deals where you can look at it and review everything they\u2019ve given you, and it\u2019s as simple as, does it meet my criteria or does it not? And you say yes or no.
I think the ones that create challenges are the ones that just blindly send you deals and say, has a little bit unpermitted work. I don\u2019t really know what to do with it, but let me know what you think. That becomes an issue of, okay, now I got to take time from my W-2 job and look at this and spend hours researching about it, which it is part of the game. It is part of buying real estate, but what I would prefer and what I find in a good agent is someone that has listened to me in the very beginning and conveyed all the items that I need to understand to be comfortable to move forward.
Switching it back to the client side, I think that\u2019s very important too, to be able to come to the agent with some type of general consensus of what you\u2019re trying to do. Not saying like, \u201cHey, I have to 20K. I\u2019m not really sure what I want to do. I don\u2019t really know what the next couple years look like. Can you just find me a deal and get me a return on it?\u201d Versus someone that says, \u201cHey, Johnny, I have about 50K. I\u2019m looking to reduce some of my living expenses. I\u2019ve looked through Zillow and looks like the price points of these homes are 800.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019ve talked to a lender, they said I can get approved for 800. I\u2019m just trying to figure out how to get started. Can you help me?\u201d They\u2019re vastly different in terms of the two outlooks. So, to summarize my thought process there, I would say a good agent is someone that\u2019s proactive, someone that\u2019s communicative, and someone that just lays everything out for me so I can make an easier decision. A bad agent is someone that\u2019s completely opposite of that, that\u2019s not as responsive, that gives me an extra job when their job\u2019s supposed to be making me more comfortable and making me understand that this is the right deal for me or not. That\u2019s basically how I\u2019ll grade the two different sides.<\/p>\n
What about the clients, Johnny, that are going to ask you to do a lot of research that you may think is not an agent\u2019s job? Before Rob you answer, I just want to get Johnny some follow up. What are something people will often ask of their agent that you would say, that\u2019s something that they should be doing on their own?<\/p>\n
I would say, although I know a lot about permitting and how to do those things, because I\u2019ve done it multiple times personally, I still think a client or a newer investor, they should put the legwork to do it themselves the first time around so they can understand how that process works. Although I do run numbers for our clients, I always tell them, \u201cThis is what I came up with. These are the tools I use. I want you guys to then do it yourself to see what you come up with.\u201d And we can both put our heads together to see if it makes sense.
That was kind of not a direct answer to your question, David, because I think it really depends on what type of expectations are set in the beginning. Because I do have clients that they\u2019ve purchased a couple deals, and they\u2019re like, \u201cJohnny, I just need you to send me a good deal, give me the rents, and I\u2019ll run everything else myself.\u201d Then I have the other end of the spectrum where they tell me, \u201cJohnny, I really want to learn how to invest. Can you walk me through what it looks like for the first couple deals and show me how you run the numbers, and eventually I\u2019ll get to a place where I can do it myself?\u201d
It\u2019s hard for me to directly answer that question because it\u2019s different for every client. But my standard answer to that, I guess would be, whatever you\u2019re trying to figure out from your agent, you should try to look for the answer yourself from two different resources and then go to the agent to ask them. But it also, again, ties back into what expectations were set from the very beginning and what that communication log looks like between the two of you and what you decided on before working together. Again, David, that was kind of a running around to your answer because it\u2019s just so different client to client.<\/p>\n
No, I was more getting at the idea that a client may say, \u201cHey, agent, I\u2019m not pre-approved and I\u2019m not going to get pre-approved until I find the perfect house, but here\u2019s 50 houses I want you to show me. And I just want to text you randomly and have you take \u2026 Because that\u2019s your job is you should take me to see these homes.\u201d Then you go look at the house. You say, \u201cWhat do you want to do?\u201d And they say, \u201cOh, I\u2019m not in a rush. I\u2019m just going to wait and see.\u201d And you find yourself in the situation where the client is kind of running the show.
And they\u2019re telling you, \u201cThis is what I want. Go do it for me. That\u2019s your job.\u201d You can see, as the agent, they\u2019re never going to get success from that. At what point do you feel it\u2019s appropriate for the agent to put their foot down and say, \u201cIf you want to hit your goal, the way you\u2019re going about this isn\u2019t right, that\u2019s not something that I can help you with?\u201d<\/p>\n
Immediately. I feel like you have to do that right away. Right away, upfront. Because at that point, you\u2019re setting the wrong expectations, and then the relationship is just going to be bad throughout the whole time period. It\u2019s funny because I think a lot of agents do this. I feel like, when you\u2019re working with clients, and this is for clients as well, you\u2019re entering into a partnership where you guys are both helping each other build wealth,.
Whether that\u2019s through someone that\u2019s selling the house or whether that\u2019s through someone acquiring their property, you\u2019re still in a partnership together. So, you have to lay out all of those things and really, really find a level of commitment on both sides, right? Because it\u2019s just, it doesn\u2019t make sense for someone that\u2019s not pre-approved, but expects an agent to show 50 houses to them, because it just shows that you\u2019re not committed and you\u2019re not committed to making this partnership work.
I feel like people should understand that because time is very important and you should enter into a partnership with someone with a win-win attitude. So, in that situation, David, to answer your question, I think you really have to have that difficult conversation up front and immediately because that\u2019s just going to tarnish the experience for both people as you get further into it.<\/p>\n
Rob, same question to you. When you are working with an agent, what are some of the red flags that you notice and you think, \u201cUgh, I don\u2019t think this one\u2019s going to work out, I need to cut bait and find another one?\u201d<\/p>\n
There are a couple things here. I would say one, I do like to know that they have some investment experience. I mean, it\u2019s not required, but I do want to know that they play the game a bit. That way they\u2019re not just speaking to me in conceptual terms. They actually have tactical things that they can help, anecdotes like Johnny has, that helps me understand certain situations. That would be one. Two would definitely be the Rolodex. Hey, do you know a contractor that can help me with this basement conversion or a landscaper that can help me de-weed this plant box, or an electrician that can help replace that floodlight?
If the answer is no on the majority of those vendors, I\u2019m just going to move on because it\u2019s so much easier for me to find somebody that knows all these people. That way I don\u2019t have to Google electricians, landscapers, pest control, all that kind of stuff. It\u2019s very helpful. But really, I would say there\u2019s two things that really irk me when I\u2019m looking for my realtor. Thing one is when I call and I lay out my expectations and what I\u2019m looking for. And I say, \u201cCan you put me on a list?\u201d And they say yes, and then they don\u2019t put me on the list. That\u2019s very frustrating.
Usually, I give it about a week depending on how urgent it is. And if I follow up and say, \u201cHey, haven\u2019t gotten that list yet.\u201d And then they say, \u201cOh so sorry. Yeah, sorry. I\u2019m working on it.\u201d And if they don\u2019t send it again, then that\u2019s basically, I\u2019m like, okay, I\u2019m going to move on. That would be one thing. Second thing here is whenever \u2026 And I\u2019m a little bit more flexible than Johnny here. I mean, I don\u2019t necessarily expect a deal to be outlined because I can do my own research.
But there\u2019s a really big difference to me when a realtor out a deal, right? Like crazy off market deal. And I\u2019m on BCC list. Versus when they shoot me a text message with a deal that they\u2019ve picked out. Like, our Arizona realtor, he texts me houses from Redfin all the time.<\/p>\n
[crosstalk 00:52:43], Robby.<\/p>\n
When he sends me a Redfin listing, I\u2019m like, oh, he actually was in the Redfin app. And he said, \u201cRob would like this.\u201d And then he sends it to me, and I\u2019m like, oh, this fits my criteria. This is exactly what I was looking for. He doesn\u2019t have to bring me the off market juice. It doesn\u2019t have to be the craziest off market gem. I just want something that\u2019s curated based on my expectations.<\/p>\n
I love that you said that, Rob. I really do because I think that\u2019s what separates a successful agent versus a unsuccessful agent, is someone that\u2019s more proactive in just sending the deals and not just putting people on listing alerts. I know that was your first thing. Because part of what I think made me very successful in this space is, what I\u2019ll convey to the clients is, before we even hop in a car to go view any houses, I\u2019ve already done some research on it to see if that meets the criteria that you\u2019re looking to get into.
For example, if we\u2019re going to go look at three houses, I\u2019ve already called the listing agents ahead of time to understand what offers we have to be at, what type of offers are coming in, if they have any special terms, like a rent back for example, and just see that those type of turns meet what the client\u2019s looking for. Then once I do all that research upfront, I\u2019ll present it to the client because we know that we have a good shot at it. I know that, this is more advice for the agents, I know that takes a lot of upfront work, but it creates such a good experience for both people, right?
Instead of going to all these houses and then finding out after you view 10 houses, you only have a shot at maybe one, right? Opposed to just canceling out all the noise and digging deep and doing that upfront work to provide a better experience for your clients. I think that\u2019s another thing clients should look for as well, is someone that can do that research on the backend and bring deals to you that are tangible.
Especially in a high appreciating market where it\u2019s very competitive, half the time you don\u2019t even know, this is what people have told me, half the time their realtors took them to places they didn\u2019t even know they can compete against. I think that\u2019s another thing to look for in an agent and that\u2019s another thing to do as an agent, because it just saves everyone so much time and creates a better experience.<\/p>\n
Awesome, man. Well, I really like to hear it from the other side, Johnny. I appreciate you putting it out there because I\u2019ve learned a lot, even just doing this podcast. That my expectations or what I want oftentimes, aren\u2019t necessarily realistic, and it\u2019s because I don\u2019t just sit down and talk to my realtor and say, \u201cHey, what would you like to see?\u201d I think you summarize it perfectly. I don\u2019t actually hear a lot of people say that it\u2019s a partnership. I\u2019m in a partnership with my realtor.
I have to put forth effort, and so do they. And if they put a lot of effort out there and I don\u2019t reciprocate, well, they\u2019ve just put a lot of time and wasted it. I think, if you could start thinking of your realtors as partners in your investing journey, that will be a very fruitful relationship for many, many, many years.<\/p>\n
All right, Johnny. If people want to reach out and contact you, I know you\u2019re pretty active on BiggerPockets, but let\u2019s say that they want to use you as an agent to buy or sell a house out in this area, how can people find out more about you and where can they reach you?<\/p>\n
My Instagram handle is investingjohns. Spelled I-N-V-E-S-T-I-N-G-J-O-H-N-S. And yeah, that\u2019s how they can reach me.<\/p>\n
And by the way, do you happen to know your BiggerPockets profile name, or your username, or handle on there?<\/p>\n
Yeah, so they can find me at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> That\u2019s spelled J-O-H, and then [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n
Awesome. What about you, David? Where can people find you, my man? And how can people find you on the BiggerPockets forum too?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not too hard to find on BiggerPockets, believe it or not. If you search for David Greene, you should be able to find me. I think my profile name on BiggerPockets is also davidgreene24, just like on all social media. My YouTube is youtube.com\/davidgreenerealestate, but everything else is davidgreen24. And if you are an agent, if you\u2019d like to get trained by us, if you\u2019d like to join our team, if you\u2019d like to join what we\u2019re doing, please do reach out.
Johnny is a great example of what it looks like when you get an agent that loves real estate, invest in real state, wants to help people, and is pretty smart, and they all come together. And he\u2019s one of the top 100 agents in the biggest real estate brokerage in the world in his second year. Johnny, I\u2019m very proud of you. I\u2019m very glad to be in business with you, and I appreciate you joining us today. Rob, I got to say, I\u2019m proud of you too. You asked some really, really good questions.<\/p>\n
Thank you. Thank you.<\/p>\n
I thought you were going to say, do realtors poop in the toilets when they\u2019re showing homes? No one knows, and I was wondering if that\u2019s where it\u2019s going to go, but you actually avoided the poop joke and you stuck to really relevant stuff.<\/p>\n
Well, I did ask it, but it was edited out in post, so what can you do?<\/p>\n
All right. Well, thank you very much, Johnny. Anything you want to leave us with before we get out of here?<\/p>\n
No, I think this was a great talk. Thanks again for having me, guys. This was awesome. This was very surreal to me. Yeah, my utmost gratitude to you, guys.<\/p>\n
Awesome, man. Well, thanks so much.<\/p>\n
All right. This is David Greene for Rob poop joke Abasolo, signing off.<\/p>\n