 addition of create a life you love. Now I've said it before and I'll say it again each and every one of us absolutely positively has a purpose and that purpose is sitting deep inside of us and when the timing is right or the circumstances appear your purpose will be known to you. Today my guest is Danny Austin. She's an amazing amazing woman, a great friend and an expert realtor. Hi Danny, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for having me. Absolutely my pleasure. Now Danny, I have a list of questions that have been emailed to me from everyone on my email list that wanted to know about you and your career and the number one most requested question was how did you know what let you know that real estate was for you? Well my mind actually comes with a little story. It was kind of interesting. I was actually looking for a house and was introduced and referred to a realtor that I just wasn't crazy about. I talked about money was very arrogant you know always bragging about you know how much money he made and I thought man if he can do this I'll kill it and that was literally how I got into it and I went to the courses and started and just found that I like it and it was it was I enjoyed helping people. Wonderful, so let's talk a little bit about where where did you get your training? What what steps did you take to get that training and where did you get it? It's changed quite a bit when I did it it was a real estate school called Robbins and Lloyd and now it's like if you go and you want to get into real estate you can take it through the broker you don't have to go you know to the classes there's online it's just changed so much since then it's not a necessity to go and get into real estate in the classroom. Right and that's it's really nice to know that if somebody is thinking about becoming a realtor they can do it part-time at home in their spare time and get that taken care of. Correct. Now how long have you been in real estate? This is my 20th year. Wow, that's a long time. That's amazing and I still like it so yeah that's that's how you know you're absolutely absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about the company that you work for. Where do you work? I work for First Webber. Okay. And First Webber is right now the number one broker in the state of Wisconsin. We're actually owned by Warren Buffett so we are part of Berkshire Hathaway family which is the largest in the United States. Excellent, excellent. That's wonderful. Now I know that you have but I'd like you to share with me now some of the awards that you won being a realtor. Well you know it's interesting because you had asked about awards and and it's like I have many awards but it's not about the awards it's about the reward and it's about you helping people versus you know how much did you make last year you know I think in this business if you focus on the money it's not it's not going to you know allow you to succeed. Right, absolutely. I think that the the awards are you know they they're gratifying in their own way but you're right the reward is how many people do you get to help right and that's kind of what the award signifies. Listen you've helped it might be a dollar amount but that dollar amount represents the number of people that you have helped along the way right and that I think that's very very important. It is important and at this point in my business my business is mainly referrals so as you help people throughout the years and they're satisfied with what you've done with them done for them then they will you know reward you by referring you to other people. Absolutely I agree with that 100 percent. Now I know I personally know this I know that you have mentored many people and you have a team now so let's talk a little bit about your team and the people you've mentored and can you tell me a little bit about that. Sure so I've always had I started this by myself and I think that you have to to figure out your path and what you're going to do and what's your best at and I've had assistance throughout the years and you know some have worked and some haven't and then just recently I was offered a assistant manager position so then at that point after 20 years of doing this I knew I needed to develop a team so that you know my clients past clients and future clients will be taken care of so at that time I had an assistant and her name is Abby and when I was offered this opportunity I decided I needed more people so I added on Steve and Cassie so I managed a team of four including myself and then as far as mentoring I trained the new agents as they come into the office so I have a pretty pretty large family of agents that I work with. Isn't that it's it's amazing though because in having this large family everybody's working together and you're all helping each other right which is I think that's really important with any agency that someone would want to work with. What it is it's a it's a culture I mean it really is and you have to be able to create an atmosphere in an office that people want to be in and we definitely have that. So when somebody is looking for a real estate company most of the time they go by the person that they're recommended to without thinking about the company but why is it important for people to think about the company that they're recommended to that the company they're working with? Well there's many facets to that I mean the one thing is that what is the company's what who do they care the most about you know the customer or the client and the agent being able to serve that client and if we can as a company provide them the tools to provide the best service one of the things that First Forever does we put out a survey and we've got a 98% customer satisfaction you know across the board. We've got the other thing with our company is we work more as a team. We've got over 70 offices and 1200 agents across the company across the state. They also need to be able to be up on technology and tools things have changed so much and First Forever provides their agents with the top of the line you know tools and it's not they don't charge large fees for it they make sure that we have all the tools so that we can market the property we can establish the client's house on the internet and and provide the service that they need to find the right buyer. I yeah that's really important I know some I know of some companies and I understand from talking to other people who have worked at those companies the way they work and there's one company in particular that I will not name but they don't when you work with one of their realtors they their policy is our listings first so there might be a listing that's perfect for you that you will never you know really get to see because they're pushing their own personal listings first. See and I think that that's that comes down to ethics I mean if you are really working for the client that's not an ethical way to do business and I think that that's number one number one thing at First Forever is the training in the ethics it's important and it it's interesting how if you don't fit in to our culture and our ethical standards it's like they just they just move on they just go away so it's really kind of a it's neat it is nothing needs to be done with it because they just don't fit in. Absolutely now we've talked about how what what type of company you should definitely what you should look for in a company now what should a person look for in a realtor? Somebody that's honest with them somebody that you can communicate with it's a relationship and it has to be one that you can respect each other I always said that as a realtor you may I may not tell you what you want to hear but I'm going to tell you what you need to hear and that's the relationship that you need somebody that's going to have constant communication I mean this process can be it can be difficult so whether it's good news or bad news you got to have a realtor that's going to pick up the phone and talk to you and I think too it's a very emotional for most people especially first-time buyers it's an extremely emotional roller coaster ride you know you see a house you fall in love with it you can't afford it or maybe it's a little bit above what you're approved for or you know you you you're seeing houses and they're just not the right fit for you so having somebody I think too that really listens and gives you what you want is just as important as and and it kind of I don't want to use the word intuitively but kind of gets a sense of what their client is also looking for even if their their client isn't necessarily able to state it completely well and that's all about getting to know your client too I mean you know most of my clients in the end they become friends because you do get to know them that well and you can walk into a property and go oh my this will be perfect for so-and-so because you know their needs and you know what they want and you can also walk into a property and if they're you know thinking that this is the it for them you can also be you know ethical enough to say hey what about this what about this are you sure this is going to work for you I think that's also part of our job I think that yeah absolutely because in the end if the person if every part of the purchase fits them they're going to be so happy with you and I know you go above and beyond to make sure that that's fact for each person that you work with well and if you want referral business that's what you should do because this is a referral business and if that person is satisfied with you and they you know are happy they're gonna they're gonna pass on your name now you work with first-time homebuyers I work with all of them and second-time homebuyers and investors and our show and you know second home you know I've sold farms it's you know it's just over the years you get you get involved I've done this new construction vacant land and as these opportunities you know come up you you get involved and you you you learn and you become an expert at them absolutely absolutely so one other quick question about you know you work with a lot of different buyers but you're also you also list a lot of different properties absolutely so tell me a little bit about take a moment to explain first what type of properties you list and second the get ready to list process for people because a lot of people they really it's their home they go no I like it like this everybody's gonna love it like this right right well um so I do probably the majority of my business is listing as you start in the business you may work with a lot more buyers but now I'd say probably 70% of my business is you know listing real estate and mainly residential but investment some commercial it just depends on you know who reaches out and what the opportunities are but as far as preparing your house I always say we all improve to move we all improve to move because you live in it and even when I sold my house last year and I put about $10,000 into it because it was okay for me you know that front door that window or whatever it was or that flooring but it all had to be done before I put it on the market so right and that's that's part of it and let's talk about this you put approximately $10,000 into it but what did that what difference did that make in the point of selling the selling probably in that market it was a very fast market and we it probably made probably a $15,000 to $20,000 difference so even though it was you you definitely got more back than you put yeah and it depends on where you put it I mean there's certain areas you don't put it in because you're not going to get it back but you know they always say your your bathrooms and your kitchens and you know buyers don't even like to paint anymore yeah you know yeah unless they're really into the art decor or the really vibrant colors right now do you stage homes when you list them or do you tell your clients to stage them or what to put where my particular house I had the whole house stage physically staged and because I've got obviously a friend in the business and she had a lot of furniture at the time so we kind of worked something out but now with technology I can digitally stage houses so vacant properties we can digitally stage every room and it's just done with technology very nice so and it's nice because then a buyer can actually see the possibilities of what they can do you know because most people aren't as visual when it comes to buying or you know they like to see things in place so perfect now let me ask you when you're listing home and you and Fort first weather have a number of ways that you can list a home everybody's on mls that's across the board equal but there are tools that you use that give you an advantage when listing a home for example digitally staging a video what are some of your favorite tools to use when you're listing somebody's home I use all professional photography I do 3d tours so you can basically go online and you can walk through the house on your computer we consider that the first showing the second showing is when they actually come into the house so they can physically walk through see the space spin around go upstairs downstairs and see the entire house and then depending on what the property is a lot of drone videos so that you can see you know the landscape and you know the area the neighborhood not 20 years ago yeah I know right yeah progress it's so beautiful I love the technology the technology we have today just enables so much for us right it's so it does it's so efficient to you know it's efficient for me and then those rooms are all digitally measured as well so all the rooms are accurately measured you get the square footage it's very it's convenient on both ends very cool I need to get back to my list because I want to be able to ask you all of these questions okay so I know you do when you work with investors and working with investors is a little bit different than working with somebody who's buying first time home or second time home correct but you you do have that experience and you come prepared and you know what they're looking for well I've I've actually flipped houses myself so I know that I mean they make their money on the buy they don't make it on the sell so if they're coming in their attitude is very different on price than you know a first time home buyer and what they're looking for right is very different than a first time home buyer with somebody who's buying to live is looking for everything done no maintenance don't want to have to fix anything where somebody who can be visual yeah they can say they can see what they can make it into that's going to lead possibly to a bigger profit margin or a higher rent right because a lot of people you know a lot of investments aren't aren't aren't they say let me rephrase that sorry they say property investment can be the best possible investment you can make over other types of investment because if you're in it for the long haul that property you'll pay it off and if you're renting it out so if somebody's interested in becoming a landlord or a what are they do they still call them landlords or what do they call somebody who has a lot of rental properties now I guess it's a landlord a land king yeah the ones that practice the buy and hold yeah that's the title for a buy and hold yeah yet nice yeah so then you know that can be long-term investments that can be retirement you know there's a lot of investors that do single family buy and hold you know they may buy it low fix it up and then they put a tenant in it and still a lot of that it's a smart way to build your retirement and then the people who want to flip it's a completely different ballgame for that correct yes the numbers are different yep yeah yeah so now you've mentioned you've done investing in the past you flip tones homes in the past and you still do you still dabble with that just a little bit yes I have a project right now in West Dallas I love that I love that no that has to be very rewarding to be able to go in and just create a new space or fix up a space and provide that home for somebody it is it is and it can be taxing depending on the municipality and how much you have to go through to provide that space but it is it's really when you take something that you know was you know an original owner and they owned it for 70 years or whatever and then you open it all up and you know put current you know and modern give it a little facelift yeah it's it is rewarding and yeah in our marketplace too they sell quickly because buyers are looking for everything to be done they just want them so when you go in and you update everything people it's it's what you I think you call walk-in ready yep is that moving ready yeah move in move in ready correct okay awesome um now here's a good question what advice would you give somebody who's wanting to purchase a property what are those steps that every property purchaser is going to need to take and things they're going to have to have because people think I want to buy a house so they call you I want to buy a house and I want a $300,000 house and your your first question is are you pre-approved and they'll go oh yeah what's that is does that happen to you often you know it happened a lot in the beginning but it doesn't as much I mean people are a little more educated now that they know and it just depends on the generation I mean there's a generation of millennials that are saving and saving and saving because they don't want to have a huge mortgage right but most people know and if they haven't I can refer them to lenders get them through that process and get that started because there's nothing worse than going into a house that you can't afford and you find out later you can't afford it's really hard to go back down it's a lot easier to go up but it's really hard to go back down because when you walk in and anybody who has looked at a house anybody who has has walked through a house and thought even when when there's so many shows TV shows out there right now and they're beautiful and then you look at you know this is the dream this is living the dream this is like MTV Cribs compared to oh this is what I can afford this is what's realistic for me not that what's realistic isn't beautiful and nice and but it's right yeah you want to know when you go in right and exactly and I think you also have to have a realtor that's going to be that honest with you too because they're just going to put you in your car in there in your car and go out and drive around and look at properties and you haven't done the preliminary stuff that you needed to it can be really disappointing and I've heard way too many stories about things like that yeah and you know one thing I have personally experienced in the past years ago and it again it was the first time I purchased and I had no idea but the push to upsell the push to get you into that you know I came in and I was adamant I was like this is my price point that's it but and then showing this particular realtor was interesting showed me the worst houses in that price point like I literally walked up the steps of a house and said I can't go in there I can't stand the smell from out here there's no way I'm walking in there and my price point at that time was nice and they didn't have all the internet stuff boy I am giving my age away but but to try to push me up and say well then you have to go into the next price point that was the tactic I didn't realize that at that time see and I don't understand that tactic at all because I sit down with people and say listen you're probably going to go into a lender they're going to tell you can afford this much but you've been being comfortable here so I just tell them you have to write that check every month yeah and you have to be comfortable writing that check and you have to be able to still go out and do your things and have dinner and you know and that's that price point is your price point it's not mine I don't determine that and the one thing people don't realize and I had a really good um my although my realtor was a poo my mortgage my bed the lender was phenomenal I was so blessed to get this lender and he said what do you have put away for an emergency and I looked at him that here's me not knowing anything about it I'm like like a hair emergency and he's like no if something breaks in the house that that thought hadn't even crossed my mind at that point but he was really great and really um really um helped me with that so yeah knowing that you need to have this much aside just you're just in case money right you're all of that that's that's really good and and I know personally I know that you will sit down with whoever comes to you and anyone on your team would do the same thing absolutely so I want you to tell people how they can get a hold of you now what's your website how can they reach you via the web okay it's the austin why austin roug team at firstweber.com um cell phone is 414-788-3264 um and you can call the team at 262-646-6800 that's our office but there's myself um abbey steve and cassey and if somebody wants to be a member of your team would they reach out to that same yes they can contact me on my cell phone yeah okay so awesome I love that and I love you Danny I love you so much I know you are as as amazing as your work is and as powerful as you are you're one of the kindest people and the sweetest people and you genuinely love putting people in a home absolutely that they are going to love and cherish and I know that about you I absolutely know that thank you I want to thank you for joining us today on this edition of create a life you love with Tony G and Danny Austin if you're looking for a home if you want to change homes if you want to invest please consider contacting Danny until next time thank you for joining us and have a great day