 so what would you say like to new agents like you started 11 years ago and now you went through the crash and now you're you know moved like twice two or three times like you started over in different markets like you have tons of experience like you have been through the worst market as basically a new agent you went to different markets which a lot of agents asked me about you know like i'm moving to a new area what should i do and stuff like that what would you say to somebody who is having is having to move to a new area how do you get started like what do you do how do you how do you operate how do you stay positive how do you you know how do you do it well i would say whether you're new or moving to a new area melody what is up not much how's it going so just so you guys know how this all came to be um melody follow me on instagram your broker said to yes okay so her broker said to follow me on instagram and i reached out to her and said how are you doing and stuff and then i literally asked her because she's been in business for 11 years like what their secret is and then she gave me this paragraph of basically exactly what i would have said and i was like what i got to have you on my podcast so tell me exactly like give me a little background like your story how you got real estate and like give me the whole thing i want to hear about it okay so i have been a realtor for 11 years prior to that i was in the navy for eight and a half years so got out was living in Hawaii uh decide i was going to sell real estate started my career there sold in Hawaii from 2007 to 2011 then my husband was still in the military we transferred to san diego then i went to work for one of the number one agents uh in san diego i think she might be like number five in the world or something kind of crazy i had some good mentorship there moved back to hawaii the husband retired then we moved home to texas with his family so there's kind of been there's been some shifts in starting over and learning areas and all that stuff so yeah yeah and so and that brings you to today so what i really want to know is is like we're okay basically when i asked you what your secret was you were like it's all about the people and da da da da like basically everything that i say and preach so my question is like how did you come to that conclusion like how did you did you were you like that from day one or like did you go through life change or was there something that happened or what was there a mind shift somewhere or what tell me about this so when i first started sell real estate i think that i thought it was easy mainly just because i had purchased a few properties of my own yeah you make money on them and you're like oh the realtor i'm not even sure what they're doing this and that you think it's so easy right so i get into the business uh turns out it's not that easy i got really lucky i had a sale within the first 30 days thereafter i didn't have any sales for six months and it was all my fault because every person that came across my desk i was chasing them and i wasn't i wasn't making it about them it was more like i'm trying to get the sale and i want to get this thing closed and it showed so one day i was just an open house and i was like you know enough of this i'm not going to try and sell myself to anyone the first person that walks through the door i just ask him you know to him and his wife how are you doing today how's it going we just start talking story i'm like what'd you do this weekend they went to the beach we start connecting and then from that point on it was like oh i see i can't sell to everyone like this is not you don't just sell you have to get to know someone so i probably spent the next like 45 minutes talking to those people um ended up picking them up at an open house and sold them something 45 days later so yeah i just put in my practice get to know the people don't be desperate people see it they know it get to know them so from that point on then it just grew and then i started to get to know that guy's friends and then that guy's friends and then we all just kind of got to know each other and it all just grew from that point on it was never uh from that point i'm telling you it was never about the sales it was like i just want to know you what can i do kind of crazy you know i mean and then i'm like oh this stuff is working so first year uh i guess it had a sale within the first 30 days then six months later got tired of it had three or four more sales after that and then the next year i went on to be one of my office top producers by asking people how they were doing and how i can help them rather than are you pre-qualified what do you want to do what are you looking for you know do you have an agent yeah it all started you know just trial and error and i figured it out and it worked so i mean isn't it crazy so like at what point was so so at so at the beginning it was kind of about the deal and about the the money and the closings and then you had this open house like what what happened like was there like did you just say i'm tired of living like this or or did you like there was a huge shift in the market you gotta think i was in the west coast in hawaii and this was 2007 when i started with all short sales and arias forecasted in the future and you know i didn't know that the only thing i knew was i got a license and i'm a realtor so when you're talking you know mid you know going into 2008 and the market was a total crash like i really had to help people because there were people that they bought their homes you know a year before and then they're 300 000 under they can't pay their bills they've got these adjustable rate mortgages and it was no longer selling it's like i actually have to help you so i had no choice it was like if you want to be successful you have to find a way to help these people rather than selling you know so i think it was the the market that kind of forced it if you want to know the truth i mean it was either get in with it or get out that that's just how you have to do business so yeah you know that's what happened to me too that's like how i figured it out was because the market crashed on me but you were lucky enough to figure it out why you're still in the like you never had to get out of the business right what's that ricky i'm sorry you never had to like get out of the business right no no but i've definitely had gaps in business when we moved and it felt like i got out of the business because you later on i was an experienced agent trapped in basically a new person's body starting over in new markets if that makes any sense yeah so yeah that is so interesting we kind of had the same path there you started later than me but you the market crash and then you learned it was relationships over transactions and then that changed everything and now that's how you make it through a market crash like you know changing it from transactional to relational for sure so like give me some like meat meat and potatoes of what you do like like how do you how do you create business do you do like for subowner expires fire leads cold calling you know spear of influence what's your bread and butter so a little bit of everything so i basically i sum it up and just say it's good order and discipline with everything every day so from basically 8 30 to 11 every morning i'm either calling people from my sphere of influence even the ones in san diego and why because i'm still getting those referral fees on the back end referring them to people that will take good care of them because they knew that i would take care of them um stand open house at least three times a month um i am doing zillow which i know there's a big lot of people don't like that but it works for me so i do that um and i haven't called on any expires in a long time but i actually have said that i'm gonna start doing that again this year because when i worked in um san diego that was also 2011 it was kind of where it started coming back up and i worked on this big team and we had this big prospecting room that was the size of a real estate office and i go in and call uh notice of defaults and expires all that every day so i have some experience with it i just haven't done it in a long time because open house and zillow work well for me especially open house because that's kind of like macy's someone's in their shopping so they're in there for something so why not just spend three hours there to meet people so you know like you said it's whatever works i mean that sounds like almost opposite of what i would do you know i'm saying like i don't know i would probably just say you know um i don't live in san diego or how or hawaii anymore and you know i'm gonna concentrate on my area so i probably wouldn't do that and then i wouldn't do certainly wouldn't do for so but i mean uh open houses or zillow but it's such an interesting like business because everything works like as long as you have the attitude of what in the world can i do for you and you're like a hard worker and you know i'm saying you want the best for people and you realize how to communicate that then you're going to succeed whether you do zillow leads or you know like it doesn't matter what what you do because the zillow lead buys something and then now you have a relationship with a new property owner who's going to refer three people to you and then resell that property and buy another one you know and you know seven years so no i mean you can do it any like there's not a right or wrong way there's a doing it or not doing it you know i'm saying yeah and there's a real term for everyone so at the end of the day you know i mean if you've got a name and phone number in front of you whether it's zillow whether it's you know expired for redx or whatever you know maybe not every person is a good fit for me they might be a better fit for ricky you know i don't know but it's just reaching out and being human because people with people they don't want to work with sales people like attracts so yeah so what would you say you're out of the all of that do you have like a main source of business like would you say zillow produces the most or open houses or hawaii or what's your main source you think pretty equal i would say it's pretty equal zillow and open house is over 50 percent i i do get some company leads every now and then some relocation i am in the greater Houston area we have the biggest energy corridor it'd be crazy not to work that stuff you know some stuff from them but i only company stuff is maybe 35 percent of my business and the rest of stuff i'm just out getting it on my own and this is only my second full year working in Texas so now i'm starting to get repeat business and referrals so i'm not having to work as hard on some of the other stuff with like zillow and open house because it's already coming around full circle so right what's your what's your like somebody who you know somebody you show property to that doesn't buy or you know an open house person that you know you created a relationship with but you know decided they didn't want to do anything for a couple years or wasn't too serious or what not what is your follow-up process with those kind of people so i have that well i have them of course like on the regular you know monthly newsletter email drips they're getting something from me they know that i'm alive but i put a reminder in my database you know every six weeks or so make a phone call send an email reach out see how they're doing and actually right now i have a guy that's an escrow that perfect example i met him in 2017 and he's just now an escrow in early 2019 just by you know taking that time in the morning and remaining disciplined during my prospecting hours and going through and go oh okay michael i haven't talked to him in six weeks he did say that he'd be moving here late 2018 you know just stick into it following through yeah that's the name of the game i mean you know i'm saying like you got to have something that like makes your business like glue like mine's a weekly email i do a weekly report every wednesday and like i have 13 000 people that get it and like you know 2500 like 2500 to 3000 open it up and it's like property owners in the area and stuff like that and like and like uh that's the glue because i'll talk to somebody five years ago and then you know they i i kind of forget who they are because it's been so long but they've been getting my email then they call me and say i've been getting your email for five years i'm ready to do something you know buy or sell something and you got to have that glue like you know like one thing is communication and like connecting with people on the spot over the phone and the other part is what's that glue that holds it all together and keeps people keeps you in front of people you know what i mean um yeah so what would you say like to new agents like you started 11 years ago and now you went through the crash and now you're you know moved like twice two or three times like you started over in different markets like you have tons of experience like you have been through the worst market as basically a new agent you went to different markets which a lot of agents asked me about you know like i'm moving to a new area what should i do and stuff like that what would you say to somebody who is having is having to move to a new area how do you get started like what do you do how do you how do you operate how do you stay positive how do you you know how do you do it well i would say whether you're new or moving to a new area first off is mindset so don't deviate from anything that you want uh and understand that our job at the end of the day it's not a job it's a career so you have to stick with it and not quit but um also understand it's not rocket science you can have a high school diploma and do this it doesn't require a master's degree or a doctorate like don't overcomplicate it so take your time and learn the markets don't get on the car the first day you get a license in a new place and buy some zilla leaves and think that you're going to go off and get to the end of the century you know check the hot sheets a hundred times a day go out preview the properties get to know the agents because those are going to be the guys that you're working with get to know the areas meet the people in the h o a's uh learn where all the local businesses are learn where all the schools are at because these are things that people are going to ask people if you're not prepared what what value do you bring you bring to the table then just a good conversation you know i mean people want a good conversation but they also want someone that can actually help them not someone that they're going to just be friends with if that makes any sense they want both yeah yeah they want a professional that like knows what's going on and knows where the school zones are and you know what streets are you know quicker to get out of town and you know like the little things like that which all that stuff's kind of like tough to learn like on the spot you know what i mean like it takes time to learn how long did it take you to like are you comfortable yet like you've been there for two years are you still learning the area and figuring out those things or how long did it take you to learn this i feel like every day there's something new just because we have so much going on you know in the greater houston area there's always new stuff there's always new roads so you have to stay with it so i'm never i never know at all i think i could probably work here 50 years and never know at all just because it's such a a big area but um i stay up to date on that stuff i mean i'm not like i'm not sitting inside my house waiting for deals to fall out if i don't have anything going on i'm going out and i'm learning i'll even i'm learning about the new development being built down the street meeting those people staying up to date so so you drive around and talk to people is that your strategy there uh when i'm learning the area yeah yeah or like or like when you're learning the development down the road or is that you making a call to somebody you know is involved or are you driving over there and talking to people on slide over and talk to all of them introduce myself sat on melody with wiker realtors you know i'm an experienced agent but i just moved here what can you tell me about this and then you just get the whole and they're happy to work with you let you know all that stuff because the guys that work for the developers need us anyway to bring fire right so it's so they're so you're talking to the agents that represent the developer the listing agents yeah i mean why not let's learn about the the new product that's coming out right down the road and i mean you know i mean that's that's your new inventory you know like you might as well know everything there is to know about it all the time all the time and even when i get listings this is going kind of off the subject but you know i'll do reverse prospecting and call those agents that the listings have been sent out to you could probably see it in your mls also introduce yourself say you sent it out to your your client or whatever if they want to see it let me know if you can't make it you know i mean like i'm always doing that always meeting new people and always whether they're in the industry or not so so so that brings up a really cool little strategical move there so what so which when you list something and then you get the email about the reverse prospecting that goes out to other agents buyers that they had automatic emails going out to you call those agents every single one of them yeah just how are you doing stuff yeah and i just say hey you know i've got a listing you know at three seven one four file in court i see you sent it out to a client they've got it saved as a possibility you know let me know if there's something i can do to get this guy in so you you could show the property i mean i always make it easy for them because at the end of the day it all creates the same thing we just want to get the job done right you know i don't know how you do not know how much i love that like because you're not only helping your seller try to sell that property and following up with a possible lead right but you're also simultaneously developing a further relationship with local agents yes you know what i mean and letting them know that you're here to help them that you know like what wouldn't you say like local agents are just as important as your clients absolutely because at the end of the day we want clients for life but they do come and go and guess who's still left when they go it's all of us you know i mean and when the markets get strong and there's multiple offers they're going to say that melody she's got her stuff together i might not be the highest and best offer but they know i'll get the deal closed and that i'm solid so it helps it just does you know i think developing like really deep relationships with the local agents is is such a key thing like i i actually wish i could do more of it i throw it in there as much as i can i follow up with agents who show my properties as much as i can just just to like create some engagement with them and let them know i care and i want to talk to them and stuff so no that's that's really good stuff too so okay so like going forward 2019 what is your what's your thing what do you what do you want to accomplish what's your what's your goals what's your aspirations 10 million in sales what'd you do last year uh just a little over five okay you know it's only my second year here so i'm not beating myself up plus i took a lot of vacation last year so you know i kind of did that to myself but um i didn't have a bad year like i said for only my second year in texas at all i think that's incredible what's the average price uh my average price is around 315 mines 350 so we're pretty pretty close so okay you've been there two years so when you got there the market you got there in 2017 right in the market kind of exploded that year right uh well yes we actually moved here in 2016 but i didn't become licensed here until 2017 because i had so much overflow from hawai and like i said i was learning the area i didn't want to go out and fail myself you know on top of other clients so yeah so when i started working here um the market was very balanced it still kind of is if you want to know the truth there's enough inventory for everyone that's in like that like three to five hundred thousand dollar price range uh but like 250 and below that stuff goes in a day so there's not much of that so right well what what i was getting at is is like 2017 the market kind of like exploded somewhere like it really was a good year 2017 right yeah yeah and then like and then 2018 did it kind of flatten out if you will over there i think that it was hard for people that weren't working because it interest rates have you know they keep ticking up you know they have been for a year and a half i mean and as interest rates tick up and where we live there's some really really high property tax rates so you put that population in and people have to qualify they have to be comfortable with it and it did slow down a little bit uh but 2018 was still a great year for me uh i don't want to brag but i was the top salesperson in my office that year it wasn't hard you know it slowed down but i just kept doing what i was gonna do no no no no like you made it through the crash the first time like you're gonna you your sales are gonna continue to be good i'm not saying that like i did the same numbers in 17 that i did an 18 which to me was i was happy with because it kind of the market kind of lost some steam and of course i'm like coaching writing speaking all over the place so like to do the same numbers i was pretty happy with that but like like the market though like like you know like the market slows and flattens and prices you know flatten out and go down and go up and they'll do different things like did the prices flatten out is what i'm saying there it kept going up in 18 no um but they just remain well they remain the same i guess yes that's what you're trying to say they didn't go down they were right yeah yeah yeah we had a little more business though you could look at even my colleagues and all their business picked up in 2017 through 2018 because of all the oil and gas through location stuff okay okay so yeah exxon brought in like another 400 500 employees uh in and out so he still remained brisk but the the median sales price did not go up no yeah okay that's what i mean harvey there was that too oh yeah yeah whoa yeah got all about that pretty big thing that was a serious situation um cool yeah now here like transactions and prices are about flat from what they were in 18 which is not bad i mean in 17 which is not bad because that was 17 was a really good year um you know like i nobody knows where the market's going you know what i mean like but it doesn't matter you know i'm saying no it doesn't it at all i'll tell you none of us have a crystal ball i think the market comes in cycles i don't think we're in for this being crash a lot of friends with west coast that are saying it's quiet you know there's a shift in this and that at the end of the day it's not going to be like how it was in 2007 or eight but it will slow down the lifecycle real estate you can look at it it's been like this before you and i were born you know i mean it is so yeah the market slow like the market doesn't slow down agents slow down you know what i mean exactly like they like see prices dipping and less buyers out there and they just like get scared and run for the hills you know i'm saying yeah yeah i mean they're like when the market crashes there's so much urgent business because the buyers that come out of the woodworks and want to buy when it's cheap they're like wanting to buy right now before it goes up you know and like the sellers have to sell they're in trouble you know i'm saying there's all the urgent business happening and you know the agent most agents leave the business and leave all that for us it's crazy um so you want to do 10 million this year do you what is your what just to kind of maybe finish it up and see if you have any questions for me what is what are you going to do differently or what are you doing anything differently or what is your plan to get there to 10 million so what i'm going to do differently this year is work more if that makes any sense like i told you last year i took a lot of vacations yeah i did a lot of traveling so there'll be a lot less traveling and a lot more prospecting so that that's really all i'm going to do that's different okay hey melody stop going to the beach as much you know and it'll happen because it's it's you know kind of like the market cycles i can say i come in cycles so there have been years where it's like 15 20 million then 5 million then 10 million then 7 you know i mean it just depends on how much i put into it that's it that's it it's all predicated on how much you want so so you're going to do some prospecting that you didn't do last year yeah i told you i'm gonna get back on those expireds i haven't done it in a long time so kind of rusty yeah so yeah you should try circle prospecting too yes i should i will i'll try to add that because like circle prospecting is calling you know a subdivision or something and like no agents are doing like like there's like 10 agents calling each expired you call the expired and they're like oh god another agent but you circle prospect and the owners like well how are you doing miss agent you know what i mean they're like really happy to see and talk to you and stuff so yeah it's uh i like what i like i think the best combination is to circle prospect and do expireds and kind of mix it up you know what i mean that's kind of my thing i've kind of come into that like i built my whole business on circle prospecting like i did very little expired and all that stuff but now that i'm where i'm at like it's fun to me to like do expireds you know because like i don't care if i get it or not like i know i can just call 50 more people and like somebody's gonna like me you know yeah so cool was there anything else i can do for you no this was just it was also i'm just glad that we got to speak so yeah yeah for sure if there's anything in the world i can ever do for you um you know or whatever definitely reach out i'll be glad to you know help in any kind of way let me see if anybody has any questions on the live feed real quick before we get out of here let's see i think everybody was just kind of enjoying the uh the conversation 10 millions a good number somebody said 10 million you go let's see yeah no real questions or anything which is fine i really basically wanted to bring you on because i love what you said in that dm on instagram and i just wanted to like get somebody on the program that kind of have the same views as me and it was really cool listening to your story you know going through the crash and realizing that you got to switch it over and and all that good stuff so um yeah any last words or anything no you know i mean well i guess i do have one last word you know just do what ricky's doing do what i said just be good to people and people will be good to you right back stop selling be yourself and you will build a great business so yeah couldn't have said it better myself thank you so much for for doing this and good luck on your on your 10 million this year let me know let us know how it goes i will i will thank you ricky all right bye guys