 All right, we're lucky to have Ricky Caruth here. I want to thank you traveling all the way from Alabama And I got to say the corny joke you didn't get stuck in the mud, right? We're in it No, it's funny. I was just telling you I just loved a podcast where they're literally it's 30 minutes away They're literally in the sticks and you're like that's okay. That must really be crazy coming from you But the thing is is where I'm at in Alabama and right on the beach. Okay, right? So it's right where Florida I'm right on the Florida, Alabama line So the the beautiful white sandy beaches of Florida, Destin, Panama City, Fort Walton of our Pensacola, it extends right into Alabama for a good 40 miles or so So we have literally like Caribbean type, you know Not that rural my cousin's in Alabama that everybody thinks of which actually wasn't even filmed in Alabama That was in Georgia. Exactly, exactly. Most people don't know that. Georgia's way more Alabama than Alabama So I've heard so I've heard so that's where I'm out. Anyway, I grew up there and you know, so mostly go-front condos down there, okay, but People don't realize that so like I just left Vegas and did a big event there There was a thousand people and stuff and I said I was from Alabama and in the slides I had to have a picture of the beach like this is where I live, you know Because I know you guys have a weird image that's a lot more similar to Long Island with the beaches. Yeah, so Yeah, and how did you get into real estate? So I was roofing houses with my father as a teenager did that for like five or ten years, okay? And I went to college. I went to four different colleges in two years. I flunked out of the University of Alabama I fell to history class and Honestly, I didn't know what I was gonna study anyway, right? I was just kind of there had a football scholarship in Missouri and then You know, it was too far away. I was 18. It was like the 20-hour drive was like I can't deal with this So and I always wanted to play at Alabama. So or at least go to the school. So I Yeah, yeah, and so I Yeah, so I yeah, I had a football scholarship to Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri and then but it was too far away So but again, I didn't know what I wanted to do in my life stuff, you know, but So when I felt that history class at Alabama, I I was like, all right, let me go You know, real estate's one class One class. So it's like doctor ten years lawyer ten years real estate One class. Okay. So I was like, you know, all right Real estate agent has just as much or even more opportunity than a doctor or lawyer But I only have to go to one class to get started. I'm gonna take that. So that's kind of why I chose it Revenue and your own Well, I mean, I didn't even get that far. I was just like I want to be some I want to do I want to be somebody I'm limited income potential that attracts a lot of people, you know, yeah, I mean, yeah Yeah, I mean the income was part of it but I knew real estate agents because my mom owned a real owned a hair salon and she cut a lot of the local real estate agents and political guys cops and lawyers she cut all their hair and like I used to hang out In the shop when I was little because they didn't they didn't have anybody babysitters So talking goes on we came. Yeah, we came to work me and my brother came to work with my mom and stuff And that's I mean honestly, that's how I got in a roof with my dad He was just bringing us to work and then I mean before long we were like clean up the job site and roofing houses but Anyway, I knew real estate agents I knew real estate agents. They were friends of the family and stuff and my my homeroom teacher middle school's Husband was a very one on real estate agent and actually one of their daughters was in the same grade with me We were good friends. So Anyway, it all kind of came together I ended up going to work for him in the very beginning and but I got my light I took the class funny story. I took the class and probably a longer answer than you want but anyway, I took the class and My whole thing was Well, when I took the class, it's like, okay, once you get past the class You got a year to take the test then you got 90 days to find a broker to work under it Then you got to take take your post license da da da da da and I was like, wait a minute This sounds like way too much come in. I don't even know if I want to do this Yeah, you're giving me deadlines and timelines and I thought I could take my real estate license And then like it stamped on my driver's license like a boat or a motorcycle I drive around in case I need it then I could just go sell property if I want to in 10 years and I'm good I didn't understand a continuing ed and fees and all this stuff. So as I realized that I was like, oh, you know If I want to do this, you know, like this is way too much commitment for me And but I came home from college, you know after I passed the class. That was my last class and I went back home and I got back on the roof with dad for like four days and I was like, okay I'm gonna do real estate and I'm gonna at least give it a try So I went took the test because at that point I hadn't even decided that I was gonna go even take the test That's all good. That's how uncommitted. I was Yeah, I was like I want to take us I went home roofed for like four days with dad And I was like, okay, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna at least try this. So I took the class. I took the test I passed the test. I got my license, you know, I had the interview I put it under a broker and I was like see dad. That's it. Like I'm retired Roofing like I'm out of here, dude. Peace, right? I go in the office and work full-time for 30 days Sell absolutely zero and I'm like dad I need something to do I'm fixing to like drowning bills. So I went back to roofing So like I roofed on as a teenager went to college to try to get out of that went back You know then left because I was like, alright, let me go do real estate Then selling things and now I'm back to roofing like it always comes back the way. Yeah, right But anyway, I got in because I wanted to help people. I thought let me help first-time homebuyers That's my passion. That was my first like thought and then when I got in the business I've worked with like two or three first-time homebuyers and I was like I don't want to work with home first-time homebuyers at all. Yeah, because They're They're you there's so much you have to educate them so much more than a Current owner who already has bought and understands the process and understands maintenance and utilities and taxes and closing costs and lending and rules and how to close it You know when you take a person that already owns property You literally cut out like 80 or 90% of the time you spend educating the first-time homebuyers on what the process is That I could then take that time to go spend to help more people Instead of just focusing on all that time on one person because the other side of me is is I'm Constantly trying to become more and more efficient. Where can I squeeze some time here to deploy? Into scaling more, you know in another area where can it you try and bring more value? So I ended up Selling Gulf ron condos, which was like the big money like and they turn over so much It's more of an investment. It's the gray area between commercial and personal because they buy it because it brings in money While they're not there so that there's with the investment factor. How much does it make a year? It's gonna appreciate all that investment stuff, but then they also buy the condo They want to spend time with their family to make memories at the beach and stuff because I'll have a few weeks out of the I really keep it for the owner value and so it's really cool because it's like They it's for me It's like the gray area between commercial and those cold buyers that are only looking at numbers But there's also the emotional side of it You know we're gonna get some because the people like I really want this condo because my wife really loves this condo And we want to spend time here So it's it's cool because it's like they're buying something they love that they're gonna make money on and So there's the cold side of it and it's like it's like the best of both worlds and all my clients are out of state Well, I know exactly what you mean so I never see them, right? So it's it's like perfect scenario for me to be with my efficient self to be able to scale because I don't have to see them every day and you know what I mean They're not popping by the office to you know to check you know me and stuff I'm able to actually spend all my time just grinding and talking to people About con so I got into that over the first time homebuyer thing and I just kind of fell in love with that that niche How long did it take you to find that need to like a lot of people try on different hats And they wear them all but immediately so you went right you went right all into the to the water that you wanted to be in Yeah, yeah, because like that's what the guys in the office were selling. Okay, and so it's kind of learning from them So like I was around other agents who were selling go-front condos So it you know, obviously I since I'm learning from them. They're teaching me how to sell them And so I think it was more the environment to you know And I saw how much money they were making and stuff and I was like wow, you know This is I want to be like these guys So after the 30 days, I went back to the roof It took me eight total months from getting my license to closing my first deal So I'm roofing and selling real estate, you know all at the same time You know so that was interesting, but yeah, I finally got a deal I closed two deals on the same day my first Deal and then I kept roofing for like another couple weeks And I got two more under contract and then when I got the next two under contract I think I'm gonna hang my roofing. I'm gonna get my roofing tool box up But you know to make a long story short the funny part of the story is is a couple years later Well, I made a million dollars and I'm only like 22 23 at this time and I start flipping houses and You know, it's not a good idea. It wasn't a good idea in 2003 4 and 5 because the crash right? So I ended up losing everything they took my home my car Cars houses, you know everything I was bankrupt Sleeping on friends couches sleeping on my car that a friend gave me, you know people's refrigerators and stuff And I was like dad, huh had your battle back on that roof again Yeah, I was like dad, you know, but the thing is his dad wasn't roofing anymore He was he had got into real estate by that time with me. I got him in a real estate and He went straight and worked on an oil rig when everything kind of crashed and burned I went to roofing and I was roofing with just a random roofing company around town because that's really what I knew how to do and After he worked on the oil rig for a year. I got a job out there. So now I'm working on an oil rig every other week Anyway, I got laid off from the oil rig in 2008 and got back in real estate So I took everything I learned from losing everything right and so the two things I learned that was the most important things I'll learn was that when I was on that oil rig I was I realized because I kept studying the market because I'm like I got to figure out why I failed Because I'm the most honest hard-working dependable guy. I know what if you can do it. Why did I fail, you know and What I came up with is that Sorry What I came up with was that The clients that I was representing when things were great we're still buying and selling when I was on the oil rig And on a roof right and so it hit me. I'm like, oh my gosh, it's about people If I'd have maintained the relationship with these people Know that I would have been representing them instead of another agent during this time They were selling bad a loyalty factor. Yeah, they were they were selling bad assets and buying great assets cheaper, right? And I was like, oh, right I think I have I'm on to something here the other thing I realized was that closings happen every single day Forever no matter what no matter what regardless of the market conditions, you know dot-com crash 9-11 2008 pandemic people need to live during all of those Really incredibly scary times economically. There were unlimited amount of closings, right? So when I realized okay, the markets never going to zero and a lot of agents and mortgage people and everybody in the industry There's a lot of people that don't understand that philosophy and so they're kind of They have fear of the market, but it'll never go to zero. I mean your experience right now So many people are fleeing you'll have fluctuations where you have more transactions the less transactions prices all this kind of fluctuates But it never goes to zero, right? And there's always opportunities and and when you build your business around Relationships with people and you build that database really large where all these people love you You're gonna get you're always gonna have business no matter what it may not be as much this year the next year Or more that's like when the market exploded in 2021 You know a lot of agents and mortgage people did incredibly well It wasn't because they did anything different from 2020 or 19 to 21 It was because the market kind of the rest of people said the surge right so the market will help you and deflate you Like that will happen But I'll never take it to zero as long as you're continuing to build the relationships talk to new people and you have a great System on the back end to kind of stay in touch with everyone, but after I learned that In a lot of other things I we can get into whatever you want to get Did you reapproach the first time home buyers when you no no Okay, I went straight for condos the second time around and it was a different conversation because before people could I Could make ten phone calls find somebody that wanted to make a hundred thousand They would take me up on it and I would list it sell it in a day close on it. They made their money I made twenty thirty thousand and then I never they never talked to me. I didn't talk to them They weren't gonna really there was no follow-up system. Yeah, well, they weren't longevity of the client They weren't gonna rebuy in that market that was inflated. They just made a hundred thousand They're not gonna buy something for a hundred thousand more than what yeah, they bought it. They just cashed out They cashed out. It was an investment. So they're they're going back and you know, that's it And I didn't wasn't worried about getting staying in touch with them. I was 20 years old making 30 grand I could just make 10 more calls find somebody else make another 20, but they have friends and they have a success story now to tell those friends, right? Yeah, I mean Those clients honestly probably didn't do anything until the market crashed and then they were the ones that bought in 2007 8 9 and 10 right? But I didn't I didn't think about all that stuff at the time, right? So so the conversations I had were very cold in the beginning. It was just like here's what we do Here's you know, the numbers. Okay sign here get it sold blah blah blah done When I came back and I had this Different outlook every conversation I had where prospects was completely different because when I talked to a prospect I Don't care if they want to buy or sell anything now, right? I just want to See if I can make a connection See if they really feel like I care about them See if I feel like they care about me see exactly what it is They do want to do why they want to do it and then everything else kind of falls into place whether they want to buy today Five years down the road ten years down the road. It doesn't really matter to me at that point I'm just trying to build numbers of people who know who I am that's in the market That will use me when they decide to do something I'm gonna close deals now by doing that because I'm gonna run into people that want to do deals now And if they love me Because they know what care about them because the way I talk to them then they're gonna do that deal with me If they do a deal later, that's fine, too So the conversations were completely different. I was like, oh man, like I'm getting it You know, so I built my business up by 2014 to a hundred deals a year single agent Did that for eight years in a row one assistant number one remix agent in Alabama for a while number one in my entire MLS all eight years That was one assistant. Yeah, I'm beating 20 20 agent teams and everything this How many assistants that it take you to find the one? That's that's a lot of people. I think I went through like three maybe I think this one I have now She's been with me since 2014 the one I have now To me I find that one of the hardest things is when you get to a level of success that you want to duplicate yourself Finding the right person. That's that's that's sometimes the biggest struggle So that's the biggest thing with agents that are making a hundred thousand a hundred fifty thousand You know, they're like I want to scale it up to five hundred a million. I'm like, you know Do you have an admin or something then basically like most of them that are at that level? They said they have a transaction coordinator that only does That little sector of your business That's like they don't handle all this stuff, right? Like you need somebody Setting up showings for people that want to see your listing setting up your showings when you want to show buyers putting things in MLS sending contracts to get electronically signed Your database or follow-up all that stuff, you know, I actually still do do all that myself, but Taking all that off my plate where I can just focus on clients You can't scale unless you have someone sitting that is a problem because the next thing they ask is okay How do I find that person? Right and that's I'm kind of like I don't know. Yeah, that's like the needle in a haystack that the first one I had was like my dad's girlfriend. She worked there for a while and then the next one I had was a Like a friend that I knew in high school and stuff, you know, she worked for like a year or so and then she got another job She was okay. She wasn't the one and then I was like, what am I gonna do? So like I put an ad out and I found and like I had a couple people come in and they were horrible I mean just bad like one of them was like I could type so many words a minute and Like they came in and like I could tell they did not even know what the keyboard was nuts Like how did you tell me you type so many words a minute? And it's like you don't ever think I'm gonna figure that out. You can teach a business. You cannot teach personality They could not type at all. Oh They're like, where's the letter type thing? Oh, I thought you were saying they could type but they couldn't do anything else But they couldn't even type. All right. We're a little worse No, she's like I typed this many words for a minute and it was like, wow You can type that like that would be really good if that if you can really do that Literally could not even find the letter on the keyboard. You know what I mean speak that many words a minute But but the one that I have now it was actually She was working for another broker in town like a big broker And I got downwind that she was not as thrilled to be there anymore So this is somebody with experience, you know in the market already knew MLS How to navigate it already knew a lot of the agents around town, you know what I mean? and And so, you know My advice is, you know, just keep trying find someone and you know, if you can find someone with some Experience, you know, that's always the best But I don't want to be in that position where I'm looking for an assistant because that literally is the key because a great Assistant will double your business overnight Bad assistant will drive your business straight into the ground Organic sales people have trouble matching that Sentiment that they even went like you spoke about how you spoke to your clients. Yeah That's something often that you can't teach you can teach well the mathematics you can teach the calculations You can teach MLS you can't sometimes teach people the approach how to how to give a confidence and how to how to How to show loyalty how to show that you're putting the clients needs first All these things that when you're speaking there in tennis that go up, especially if you're dealing with seasoned investors These aren't you know novice people that you could just you know Put together a spiel for so yeah, that's often I find is the biggest struggle. What would you say? What would you? Suggest people like what was the key to your success with your when did you know she was the right person? Because you went through three so when you found this person she had the experience when did you hear on the phone that time? You said yeah, she's got she's got it and not just the experience, but she's got your she's echoing your sentiment Well, you know for me You know, I never really put her on the phone at all. Okay, she might have talked to agents No, not at all. Okay. So so talk about that setup because that's something that really people I mean if you don't mind that's I think well, I mean You know, you know for me. It's like I got to deal with all that, you know, like If somebody wants to see property, I need to understand why they're looking to buy, you know I have to understand that to make the client Exactly so that that's kind of the thing for me is like, you know The admin takes everything off your shoulders so that you can focus everything on people and your clients and relationship building Negotiations, you know closings showing property Things of that nature, you know, so my business is like this I My my bread and butter like my big secret sauce is a weekly email Okay, right a weekly email to my entire database on the same day of the week Wednesday forever been doing it since 2007 it's literally in 2017 I quit prospecting altogether continue to sell a hundred deals strictly off the weekly email No social media. No direct mail. No follow-up to see how people are doing nothing just complete Just servicing clients that are calling me that have known me forever through the email are gonna deal with me or referred to me or whatever Today I've got 19,000 people on there 7500 open it every week So it's a nice solid Brand there. It's a nice solid You know Avenue And so I still do that email like I've Like at this point back in March of last year Wow I'm working on a year at this point, which is crazy to me that I stepped out of production My dad at this point handles all showings listening appointments negotiations So he's doing that and it allows me to step back and just do social media full-time So I like I'm full-time Creating brainstorming filming doing podcast and zoom calls and traveling and speaking and doing all that stuff full-time And then building other businesses on top of that brand Which is a much bigger opportunity but He so so at this point where my business is now is as I still do the weekly email It's basically my only responsibility in the business in the actual real outside of Him and I consulting about deals because he'll call me and we'll talk about the deals and what we should do Because it's our business and he wants me to have a say so he Makes the executive decisions most of the time, but he'll so we work out every morning together as well At six o'clock, so we're able to spend that time together talking about life and business and deals and stuff So that's really cool. It's so valuable to just the father son. Yeah, exactly He just started doing that you can't put a dollar on that value He just started doing that a couple months ago probably five or six months ago because his doctor was like you need start working out You know and so I was like we'll come to the gym and like he hasn't missed one day since Shoot like normally I'll miss a day like here and there, you know if I'm a little tired or something We haven't missed a single day because I know he's gonna be there. He's there before me every day It pisses me off Yeah, right, right, but um But yeah, he does all the the back end like day-to-day and then she handles everything else But she doesn't talk to the clients the only reason she would talk to the clients is if it's a owner that has a listing and We have to go through the owner to show it Then she might talk to the client in that situation just for the appointment structuring it. Yeah. Yeah, so I don't know I think people try to automate too much nowadays Yeah, I think on the phone Yeah, exactly. I think that like you should take advantage of technology and the communication You know arrow that that's come through But if you can combine if you can take the best parts of this new modern world and the best parts of the old school You know world and combine those two into your business and kind of form your business around Both instead of just trying to let AI and automation do every little piece of it Or instead of doing everything on your own Then you would be super super dangerous and that's what I did, you know That's that's that's why I was so dangerous is because I kind of combined both old school and new school You know into my business I'm probably still a little too old school You know on the real estate side But you know like I got a coaching program right totally free And we've had 50,000 agents go through it over the past six years since I've been doing it And I've got agents that basically were new when it when it started That are number ones in their MLS, you know, whatever this, you know top five top ten So what I do and what I teach and how I built my business Still incredibly relevant because regardless of where you get your leads from you got to talk to them And so my thing is is how do we talk to them? Right what the real objective is when we're talking to them. What's our follow-up? How do we make them feel special because like if you You know, it's like how do you follow up with people in this sea of real estate agents to really stand out and stuff like that? And the real secret is is the initial contact that like they first impression Yeah, you were like unforgettable to them, right? And they like really felt like you cared and were super genuine and that stood out And then you have a mechanism on the back end that hits them like month a weekly email But whatever your mechanism is then they never forget that first impression And then they always kind of put you on a little bit of a more pedestal than just your everyday agent That's just trying to stick out. Would you sell your house today? It's like, you know, shut your ass. I'm gonna slap your mom So what would you I mean, we're coming into such a different market, but you know based on your you've seen this market before You know, you you've seen the credit you've seen the O3 you you went through the fix of it So what do you what are you taking? I guess from the lessons that you learned back then? What did you brace yourself in for this in this market? The thing is is when you go through something like that and you realize how these cycles really work You don't really change much, you know that slow and steady wins the race Yeah, exactly, you know that year to year is gonna change 2018 was different than 19 was different than 20 different than 21 22 is gonna be different 23 is gonna be different 24 25 They're all gonna be different So what does it matter? You know if it's a bit if it's a surge like 21 if it's average like last year Only last year was average like where's five million transactions and prices ended up the year higher than the year before, right? They're down from the highs, but year over year. We ended up higher Then last year only like 1% or so right but still it's right. We're record highs as far as like Where we ended up at the end of the year on a yearly basis So we're out like on a year-to-year basis record highs We had five million transactions last year. That's just an average year I mean before the pandemic we were having four and a half to five million transactions a year 2012 we had like four and a half million sales or something like that You know, which is what some of the experts are calling for this year That was a heck of a year like 2012 was just absolutely an amazing year, trust me I was there in my business and I was like man, and that's kind of what we're looking at probably this year I don't believe that I think we'll have more transactions than that I'm getting messages right now from agents all over the country in the past week or so of multiple offers of lines around the corner for open houses of You know 15 showings first day on the market now We're at lower prices, of course But the thing is is as inflation comes down 30 year fixes coming down, which is spurring people, you know to To one of I mean there's demand we have more formations of families, right? Which people coming into their their early 30s more formations of families right now than we've probably ever seen and It's gonna continue for a while just based on the birth rates in the 1980s Like and that's true demand. That's people that need houses It's not like people that want houses because they're tired of their house They want to upgrade to something nicer. These are people that need houses The condo might make it past the first kid, but by the second kid you got to get out Exactly, exactly. So these are people that need houses and that that real true demand is gonna be there super strong this year Next year the year after builders are down 30 for 40 percent, you know, they've cut back on production 30 40 percent So like the cost of everything is skyrocketed inventory of new houses is plummeting, right? Interest rates are coming that is coming down with with inflation and just your normal everyday inventory is coming down I mean 65% of mortgages have less than 4% 24% have less than 3% interest rates right now Those people aren't necessarily gonna sell, you know, they're gonna some of them are but like we're not gonna see a huge wave right so with formations paying more based on the The uptick in the interest and there and some of them are gonna be okay with that because they really want to upgrade or whatever Right plus they can use buy-downs and you can get a better rate I mean like the rates like six percent whatever right now you can get a much better rate like you can find a bank That'll do five right now. Like I know people Even even even regular conventional loans. I'm hearing of people quoting around five percent on some stuff here and there Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean there and then and then when you bump it down to a 15 you're alone You're really good. I mean you can go out and get good more good rate right now And so but nevertheless, you know, they're still locked into a lower rate You know and like the masses are gonna say well, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep this, you know Yeah, 3.5 and I get it. I'm in like a 3.2 right now. Luckily enough. It's like our dream home We never planned on like we closed April 17th, 2020 like it was during the 45 day shut down But we bought the house that we plan on staying there, you know till our daughter's you know gone She's three years old right now so But anyway, like what I see is is people already starting to come out, right? 50% more people are googling house for sale houses for sale than they were back in November Right, so that's an uptick and just regular online searches And now you have inventory dropping that it drops this time every year till about February Even in 2021 when the market surged, right inventory went up, you know And then back every year it goes up and back down up and back down and nobody really wants to talk about that We're like half the listings we were pre-pandemic And now it's gonna drop and now buyers are coming back because interest rates are easing off and now inflation is starting to get So many people found a comfy cozy spot right up on that fence last year The end it was like a market exhaustion coupled with the increase in rates and they were so tired from like, you know The rates surge. I don't know what's gonna happen next and I'm just gonna sit right here and see what happens next year So it's like that first quarter so far right in 23. We've seen an uptick. We've seen more calls We've seen more people getting back out there. We've seen, you know, oh, I heard the market softening in I'm gonna get Oh, can you update my pre-approval? What's the rate today? I'm gonna start looking again I put it on whole, you know, so it's like a lot of people kind of just go into the holiday They hit Thanksgiving and they're like they want to see their family, right? We went through COVID a few years people didn't have that family, you know atmosphere and they were just tired I find sometimes it's just human nature to just you know, they were exhausted It needed it, you know when you're paying $50,000 more than the last Than what they're asking and you're getting zero terms. You're paying all the closing costs You're paying you're not even you're not even getting the right to inspect the property Yeah, you know the market needed to I mean these people were waiting on lines in the cold and You know going back and forth taking turns going into the cars warming up husbands and wives and putting the kids away And and I'm you know meeting my realtors and serving hot chocolate and I'm like we felt like we were in a twilight zone We were you know, that's not normal Yeah, but you know what we're fixing to be back not in the same position In my opinion, I mean rates would have to get back down where they were like two Two and a half percent or whatever report to get that crazy again But honestly, we're gonna be in a similar type situation Comes to supply and demand demand is so strong and Keyboard warriors on my videos, you know, you know Demands, you know, 20 year lows and You know, you're not counting in this and that you know It's gonna crash so hard housing is done and all this stuff. It's like Okay, show me some data behind this these statements. Yeah, because I show straight data in all my videos You know, and they don't they don't give me I'm like, please give me some like real data some numbers to go by because I'm going by numbers here You know, and they're like well mortgage applications are down a 20 year low or something like that And it's like well, this is gonna happen in stages ladies and gentlemen if you spike interest rates higher It's quicker than they've ever been spiked before in a market when prices are highest as they've ever been You're gonna have a temporary slowdown, but you know, let me ask you this What do you think all these 50% more people searching for houses are gonna do right? They're gonna start filling out mortgage applications before long They're searching online later. It's gonna turn into physical showings and it's gonna be mortgage applications That's gonna be pending deals and closings It's gonna take several months for this to start to so I always tell people about appraisals the appraisals are Appraising the homes that went into contracts four months ago three months, you know, they mean so it is the leg in that as well But it's a it's a very interesting market that we're heading into I think it's a very fun market I think so too. I think it's I think it's one of the one of the most fun Exciting markets that you know the 2021 market came out of nowhere I say come and I know where I did a video in the complete shutdown that 45 days were locked down I released a video like April 20th, you know, the economy reopened May 1st Mm-hmm, and I did a video and I said about to see the largest real estate search we ever saw Of course, I didn't understand how big it was gonna be and how crazy was gonna be it was really out of nowhere But what we're moving into now is totally telegraphed Right that you couldn't really tell what was gonna happen. This it's like the writing is on the wall here Relative, right? I mean five percent didn't sound good when you're coming off two and a half or three percent It sounded atrocious, but now when we broke seven in that, you know, fourth quarter of 22 And people saw that the national average go to seven point one nine percent Now five percent's looking a little more attractive, right? You know, I'm gonna leave this right here for the video But I think that this year will I think we'll still hit five million transactions I mean and and honestly, that's an average year from your lips to God's ears. Let's take it I think we're gonna have an average year and you know what's so cool though Is that if you want to reach the upper echelons of the mortgage business or real estate agent business, right? Once you understand closings happen every day and the market doesn't dictate your success Okay, that'll get you to an average, you know success But to get to the upper levels of success Then you have to start paying attention to the market and start kind of betting on and preparing for what you think is the most Certain outcome of the market, right? And so If I think five million transactions are going to happen Or if I feel like interest rates are going to come down with inflation It's going to spur a lot of buyers to come out the woodworks at five and a half When it fits five and a half percent which I do And inventory is also going to be plummeting until that happens and we're going to run into basically the same kind of market We were in just not as fierce And I go and I say okay to me that's the most certain outcome and then I prepare for that outcome And like put all my eggs there. What's so cool about it is if the five million transactions doesn't happen or the Um, the surge I'm talking about doesn't happen. The cool thing is is you're living on the surface though Unless your backup plan is a fact that it doesn't matter if that happens or not So you prepare for it. You go hard. Oh, what's the worst case? You sell more property now. I'm over the paired Even if the surge doesn't happen You still sold more than you would have sold if you wouldn't have tried to really go for it and really prepare for What you think's going to happen And so You really start to realize that this industry is a win win that there's no way that you can lose only if you Start to kind of fall into the trap that the market Your success is predicated on the market or You know that you know, oh no interest rates So, you know or there's no need to really hit it hard right now because nobody's buying or whatever Whatever you tell yourself. That's the only way you lose, you know is by you have to take an active role You know killing yourself in the business 100 percent Well, I appreciate your time if you have anything to leave us with words of wisdom for this uh I know you've given me many I I just didn't want to you know hard stop you if you have anything you want to leave us like I mean that could open up pandores box. We could sit here and talk We could we could we could sit here and like really spit it for another hour or two You know as far as everything I'd like to say to people out there. Yeah No, it's nice to meet you and thanks for having me on and Um, you know keep doing what you're doing