 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My books, Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game are about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence. And the reason I wrote the books is to inspire greatness and excellence in as many students, parents, sports teams, and businesses as possible in the world. My special guest today is the very successful and highly respected realtor and owner of Karan B. International. She is Karan Davis, and today we are going beyond real estate. Hey, Karan, welcome to the show. Good morning, Rusty. Now, Karan, you and I know each other for many years, and I know that you were born in Sydney, Australia, but tell me about how you first got interested in real estate. Oh, Rusty, I came here in, what, 86 with a backpack and $1,000 didn't know anybody, and I was motivated to succeed. And my first job was selling closet systems. I did over 3,000 closet systems, and, you know, you outgrow it after a while, and everyone's like, you know, you should be a real estate broker. And so I thought, well, do I really wanna do that? And I interviewed with five different companies who all wanted me, and I couldn't believe it. So it became a game where I wanted them to say yes, and I'd say no. And I actually went with the person who gave me the toughest time, and they were a fabulous boutique company. And I think my first year I helped 24 families, that was over 32 years ago, actually. So, Koran, what did you learn about your time doing sales before getting into real estate? Oh, sure, you know, sales, it's about, you know, contacting people, listening to their needs, following through, being honest, always thinking of the client first, and the rest happens. No, that's really good to hear. And Koran, I know that you have exceptional market knowledge in real estate. And I wanna ask you if you can share your thoughts about the current market situation in Hawaii. Certainly. Well, you know, Rusty, as everyone knows, real estate's a hot topic, you know, COVID, it's just, you know, it's so busy out there. And the inventory's so low, we only have about 450 houses available for sale on Oahu. That's about a third of what we used to. Contamydia market's staying relatively the same, but even if I take now the luxury market, last month, 48% of those sales sold at asking price or above asking to give you an idea how hot this market is. No, I've been noticing that when units or houses go on the market, I mean, it's getting sold for way above the asking price, right? Correct, and it's so important, you know, to educate our clients, where will the price be? We really don't know actually, we're in one of those marketplaces. And so we really have to help buys with their expectations. We have to help sellers price at a certain point and really look at what their personal needs are and help them along the process. So what would you say, Koran, is it more of an opportunity for buyers or sellers or both? I believe it's both because interest rates are down, you know, one day they'll be a little below three, then they'll go up to about three and three quarters. So buys can really buy a lot with that low interest rate. And we've also got some programs right now where it's only 10% down with no mortgage insurance. And just one little other facet, VA mortgages, which are military, it's unlimited. I actually helped a client with a $3 million property with nothing down at 2.5% interest. And people don't know this, and this is why I'm bringing it to your attention. And as far as sellers, great time to make that lifestyle change with getting top dollar. Well, Koran, that's why you're a super realtor. Hard work, you got to know about super. Now, Koran, I know your family very well, your husband, Doug and your son, Angus. And Doug is, you and Doug work together and you guys are such a great team together. Why is that? Well, let me give you a little history of my husband, Doug, is we were dear, dear friends like, oh, probably 25 years ago, we were like the number one realtors in our companies. And everyone said you should get together and talk about the business and we did. And we were very dear friends for many years. Then we lost track of each other for 10 years and then we bumped into each other. And we're really a great team in our marriage and also business. And I believe the reason for that is we're both very good at what we do and we're very different. And we help each other on what our strengths are. We look at each other's strengths. And also, we're both studying the same kind of life philosophies, having the same values and core values in life. And also really respecting each other in this business. So as, I think Doug is the broker in charge of Karan B. And what do you feel is Doug's biggest strength? Oh, when things get tough in real estate deals, which they do, he gets tough and he's great. And he helps all the women in our office. And oftentimes I'll say to one of our agents, oh, is there something I can help you with? And I go, oh, I just need Doug right now. So it's making people feel comfortable in very difficult situations. Doug is very technical with the contract. He's very matter of fact. He loves complex problems. I love the pretty marketing and sales. So, I mean, the combination is extremely successful. No, I like hearing that. I love talking with Doug as well. And your son Angus, I worked with him in tennis for many years and I absolutely love Angus. And don't you like how Angus is learning so much about life through tennis? Oh, absolutely. I always say, Rustin, I always remember your book. I said, oh, it's beyond tennis, beyond the lines. And I'm just so thankful with tennis, he's learning accountability. He's learning that if you work hard, things happen for you. He's learning camaraderie, good sportsmanship. So he's learning to manage his time. So between school and playing tennis, 20, 30 hours a week, you have to manage your time well. And they're all success traits in business, I believe. Yeah, I totally agree with you. And Karan, I know that you care about every member of your team. You had asked me to be a guest speaker for your team members a few years ago when my book was coming out. And I know that you have really high standards for yourself and your team. But I wanna know, how do you keep your team striving for that superior culture of excellence? Well, I believe a lot, I said an example. I don't have a personal office anymore. I actually sit right next to everybody in the company. So they hear me on the phone. They hear how hard I work. They know I'm out there and I'm trying to make things better. Is I also put things down to systems. Like if we have an issue, it's like, okay, where do we need to improve our system? So the client has a better wow experience with our company. We have meetings all the time. And on our meetings, one of the questions I ask every week is, what was your personal and professional best this week? And what did you learn this week? Because without learning, you cannot expect to grow and by growing become better and better. So we're very constantly in education without team. No, I really like how you're really caring about the individual growth of each team member, which really affects the whole team together. And Karan, what do you feel are some things that separates you and your team from other companies? Certainly, I believe, you know, the reason I started my own company Rusty is because I really saw that we could not service the client they needed to be serviced. It's not, my belief system is, is you need a team to service one client where you have five or six people help that person buy, sell a home, a condo, whatever it may be. And everyone is an expert, is better at something than the other person. And what we do in our company is really identify what are your strengths and what may be your weaknesses and how we can work together and work with everyone's strengths. So when we service our clients, we're using our strengths and they get this amazing experience with our company. And it's, I believe that's where we're different. And I, you know, where I see it on the field is, you know, as oftentimes if you're a one man show, you can't show a listing or you can't be there. I do not agree with that. I mean, if someone's paying me that commission, you better be available 24 seven. So, you know, constantly we have an order of people to, you know, take care of business if one of us isn't available. And we're available 24 seven and Doug is a brokerage charge. I'd set that example where he's on the phone at 11 p.m. sometimes with our agents. No, you guys definitely have superior service. And I like how you brought up about strengths and weaknesses. And you know about for me when I talk about having people really try to make their strengths stronger because they're on your team or they're in your business because of their strengths. And it's really important, I think, to really make their strengths as strong as possible. What are your thoughts about that? Oh, I totally agree. And, you know, through that, you know, if somebody's strengths is in, like we have a concierge service in some property management, I'll see things come over my email. I think, oh, she may want to do this course because she'll be really interested in even becoming better at what she's doing. And I just, I believe with the strengths, it's, you know, Doug and I have saved our agents and our administrative a little, a lot of time because we know the courses that are great out there. We know the people. We use other resources. Each week in our business, I'll give you an idea, is we update our vendor list. Who's working out? Who's not working out? Who should we add? Who shouldn't take off? So, you know, we're using our resources and finding the best resources as well to compliment our team. No, I like hearing that, Karan. And, you know, you definitely know the vibe and pulse of your team. And I know you're a great leader. And what do you feel the best leaders do, Karan? Oh, sure. Well, what I see is I, what I see when I go, when I meet another leader in the community, I observe what they do. Cause I don't believe we're born as leaders. We educate ourselves to become great leaders. And you take the time to hear other people's story. You become interested in other people. You care. I think you provide accountability for people. So they know they're important. They're responsible for a certain task. And as a great leader, I think compassion's huge and giving people confidence. You know, I'll have an agent and they'll be, you know, sometimes with this new marketing COVID, they're quite burnt out because it's tough to get off as accepted sometimes. And I just said, why don't you just go to the beach this afternoon? You know, just take care of yourself. You know, so it's not all about business. It's about taking care of them personally, which is really important in today's world, of course. Yeah, and then they know that because you really care about them, I mean, you have empathy for them. You care about their wellbeing and not just as an employee. And Karan, how has COVID, you know, this pandemic for the last year and a half, how has that affected your business? Well, you know, Rusty, you know, we talk about adversity and things happening and it was huge when it came down, I was like, whoa, I sort of stuck. But then I had to put a brave face on for the rest of the company, of course. And then I thought, okay, how do I turn this into an opportunity? And, you know, these adverse situations and two things huge. Number one, I wanted to give back but it was hard to physically be there when I had to take care of everyone in the company. So we became very involved in the food bank. So every time we make a new appointment with a client, it could be Zoom or in person, back then it was Zoom when we're on lockdown. We would donate 10 meals. So in the last 15 months, we've donated nearly 5,500 meals. So we put that system into order. And of course, the other one is Facebook. Doug's doing our stuff on Facebook and I do a segment on Fridays and we wanted people to know who we were because the other side of that was I'm very social. So I thought, oh my God, I can't get out there socially to let people know about me. So I pushed myself to do the Facebook and so did Doug and we're quite enjoying it now. So we turn that adverse situation into positive opportunities. And same with our agents, yeah. That's so good. I mean, I see that the greatest leaders always adapt and adjust. I mean, they find a way to succeed and they're never complacent and that's you. I mean, you're a great leader. You're always looking to find ways to be better. And Karan, I wanna know for yourself personally, what do you do to keep improving yourself as a leader? Oh, certainly. Well, education, I love being creative. I think one of the most positive things about being a leader is the creativity and just really being intuitive and taking that time about each individual person and how can I make a difference in their life? A lot of personal growth courses I've done over the last 20 years and I continue to do those today because I'm evolving, so are our clients of 30 years evolving. So it's really important to really personally evolve as you're helping people professionally. And Karan, isn't it true that you also did a Tony Robbins training? Oh, yes. We certainly did and Doug came with me and we did it for like two years together. Every course he did and it was absolutely fantastic to put us on the same personal development page. And now we look at other sources out there, but I think the biggest value we got out of there is what are your core values? What's your big why in life? And if we live that way versus having a huge ego on who we are versus fighting the why in life, it really brings this very peacefulness to your life, to the companies, to our clients, and you're genuinely there for that person. Oh, that's good to hear about the core values and Karan, I wanna thank you for really being a great promoter of my books. I mean, you are absolutely fantastic. Well, tell me what are some things that really stood out to you in the books? Oh, Rusty, there's so many moments. I read through that and I think standing out is how you logically put all the great leadership skills in a very easy format for someone to follow. I love your four Ps, people, purpose, performance, and if you have to help me with the... Process. Process, process which is systems, right? But so much of that is what we do, what you talk about. And I just think you bring an amazing book and program to businesses to make it very simple for people to follow, to bring that great company to greatness. Well, and Karan, I mean, you're doing so many of those things too, which has to be very validating for you. And I wanna ask you about risk because I talk in the book about how risk promotes growth. And can you share an example of a time where you took a risk? Certainly. Well, I think we take a risk a lot in real estate. You know, we put ads in magazines, you know, and they cost thousands of dollars, whether it will work or not. And, you know, and I am an art, but somehow if you have a positive moment on that, it does make a difference. It might sell a house, it might bring new business down the road. Another risk was we hired a huge management company a few years ago. Was it worth it? 50-50, but we take what we could out of it. So risk does move you forward and you just gotta focus on the positive. Yeah, and don't you think that it's good to try some of those things to know if it worked or didn't work versus always wondering like what if? Absolutely, absolutely. I think every time you're moving in life and you're moving, making changes, you know, there'll be positives, there'll be negatives, but if you keep focused on that positive, it will grow you and move you forward. Karan, I wanna ask you now, you know, we've all been through challenges and adversities, but what would you say is a big adversity that you've dealt with in your life that you overcame? Oh, well, you know, when Doug and I first got together, you know, we really put down, as I mentioned, core values again. And what I realized is I had some key people in the company where we really weren't going the same direction. And, you know, when you decide to part ways with people who are, quote, special in your life, it's really tough, but when you're not going the same directions, it's something you need to do. And I would say that was one of my biggest, you know, adversities of, you know, of making that commitment of, okay, is everyone on the same, you know, bus literally as they say. And when you're not making that change is important, but it's tough when you like the people, it's very tough. Now, how, like, let's say, Karan, if you're having, if one of your team members is not really pulling their weight and all the other team members are doing, you know, striving for that high standard of excellence, what do you do as a leader in that situation? Well, I wanna talk to you about a positive experience. I literally took someone, it was just a few years ago now and I went and I said, come on, let's go have lunch, let's talk. And I say, you know what, this is, you know, I don't know if you wanna do this business and we have to be honest here, what do you want here? You know, what, where do you see yourself in five years? She goes, no, I really wanna do it. I say, well, then let's see how it goes in the next two months. And she thanks, she's one of our most successful realtors right now and she thanks me for giving her that talk where I was so honest in a very polite way, either, you know, do what you need to do. I mean, I was way softer than this, but literally I was saying, look, are you gonna do what you need to do as you know, or what you need to do is maybe there's another industry you'd be a better fit. Yeah, that's good to have those heart to hearts and honest feedback, but also to understand the personality types of the person that you're talking with. And Karan, one of your many strengths is that you have a fantastic innovative marketing skills. Why is that? Well, I have a passion for marketing, Rusty. I love marketing and I love creativity. I'm very intuitive with what people want, you know, a lot of people hire me to sell their properties because I know what kind of buyer we're looking for. I know how to stage your property, how it needs to be photographed. And, you know, it is a talent and there's very few of us in the business that actually have that marketing experience or know-how on bringing forth certain properties or marketing the company, but it's a passion of mine. I love marketing. Yeah, when I reflect back on, you know, just some years ago in terms of how some of these properties were being marketed, now there's all these videos and drone footages of properties that, you know, you don't really have to be there in person, so to speak. You can just, you know, see it on video. So how has things evolved in such a short period of time? Oh, well, especially with COVID, right? COVID times, people need the videos and one of the, they've got the 362ers out there. They've got staging, which is done with the computer versus generated versus real furniture. But it's, I believe it's become more cost-effective for people. So now we see a lot more people in the industry using it. But I also believe you have to use the best people in the industry because everything's so visual in what we do and it'll constantly get better. And technology is getting definitely more reasonable. It doesn't mean you should do it yourself. You should always use professionals. Some people try to do it themselves. No, use the best always. Yeah, it's okay to pay for quality, right, Karan? Absolutely, absolutely. Now, Karan, another strength of yours is you have superb negotiation know-how. Now, how did that come about? I mean, why are you such a great negotiator for your buyers and sellers? Well, I've been selling now, I just all give away my age, but I've been selling, I can't remember now, I've probably been selling for 36 years. I've been in sales 36 years. And believe it or not, when I first came to Hawaii, I worked for Penny Saver ad and I used to jump in and out of my cow 20 times a day to sell these $50 ads. So I've had lots of experience in sales to selling closets and now the real estate. And, but constantly educating myself, constantly caring about what's best for the client. You know, I was really sensitive to that. And I remember when I first started real estate, you know, 32 years ago, it was hard for me to think, oh, I just showed this house, but I know there's issues with it. And I need to tell them, you probably shouldn't buy this house. So when you're in sales, you have to stop yourself. This is not the right thing to do. So that was a new experience for me, actually. But of course, you know, doing right by the client's huge and listening, listening and always putting the client first, the rest happens. Yeah. No, that's so good. The honesty, the integrity, I mean, that's so huge. And Karan, when you reflect back on your life so far, what's a very important lesson you've learned? Oh, you know, Rusty, the most important lesson, like when I first started in real estate, I wanted to be the number one in my company. I wanted to be the top realtor in Honolulu, which I think I was for a moment there. But you know what? We've got to put ego aside and really get into the depth of what's important and the big why in life. Why are we doing what we're doing? And stay away from ego. Ego will, it'll ruin somebody. It won't allow them to be who they really can be. Yeah, I totally agree with you there, Karan. And yeah, people have to have the right perspective in terms of, you know, winning, being number one in business or winning a championship. But if they do it the right way, the results will happen. And I see that over and over again. And Karan, I want to ask you about this. You know, you've had many team members through the years that you help grow and nurture. And some just develop into super, you know, realtors like yourself and others don't live up to their potential or they fail. Why do you think some of those people, they just fail or they don't live up to their potential? Well, I honestly feel it's a discipline, Rusty, and you know, when I first started in real estate, I think I was working at 6 a.m. till midnight. I was putting in 15 hour days for 10 years and people don't know that or see that about me. And now I've done it for a while. I don't have to work 15 hour days unless of course a client needs me or a team member. But I think realtors come in thinking they're gonna make a lot of money. It looks like a fun lifestyle, but they don't realize there's certain things they need to do every single day and be educated every single day. And have the right mentor. I think having the right mentor also is huge. And where our team members are very fortunate is they work with Doug and I one-on-one. And when I first started in real estate, I worked with a company owner one-on-one. And I think that makes a huge difference when you have a great mentor also. The people who haven't worked out that we've tried to train basically weren't willing to do what it takes to be successful in real estate. And I totally agree with you about mindset and really giving that personal touch. And Koran, I wanna ask you one more question before we wrap up. What gives you fulfillment? Fulfillment now and it changes all the time but fulfillment for me is putting in a great day at work and I always wake up every morning what am I grateful for? What are my top three intentions today? And I love seeing my agents growing and make sales. Actually I was just emailing an agent this morning saying, I'm so happy for you that you sold a super high-end home. And I said, I know this has been a goal of yours and I'm just so happy for you. You know, in expressing my happiness to my agents. And also my clients now have become some of my best friends. And that fulfills me too because when you do care about the client and get into your client's life, you really become quite good friends. And it's a very fulfilling career and life that we have, Doug and I and Angus. Oh, for sure. And Koran, I really know how your team members, I mean, you look at them like they're your second family for sure. And Koran, I really wanna thank you for taking time to be on the show today. Rusty, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. It's been fun to go through this with you. And I'll get you on the tennis court soon and I'll see you soon. Sounds great. Okay, take care. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit rusticomori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that Koran and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.