Episode 3: So You Want To Be A Realtor?

Speaker 0 00:00:00 <silence> Speaker 1 00:00:02 You are listening to the realestate podcast.ca, brought to you by jnc Toronto Real Estate Group. Speaker 2 00:00:12 Oh, well, hello everyone, and welcome back to the realestate podcast.ca. I'm John, one of your hosts, along with Nicole and Cheryl. We make up the J c Toronto Real Estate Group based here in Toronto, actually here in our shed in Leslieville, <laugh> Toronto, Canada. We started the Real Estate Podcast to share our experiences as Toronto realtors, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our goal is to educate and entertain. This podcast is for anyone that's interested in real estate, from the general public investors, enthusiasts, realtors, landlords, 10 and more. We are real estate for the masses. Uh, and before we dive deeper into it, our disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. Speaker 3 00:00:57 If I can say this, I think sometimes the views and opinions of us might not represent us tomorrow. <laugh>. That's Speaker 4 00:01:03 True. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:01:05 Changing viewpoints are kind of a given when it comes to our team, Speaker 3 00:01:09 And, uh, and also, you know, you never know what's gonna happen tomorrow. That changes what we said. So, Speaker 2 00:01:13 Um, so yeah, today's episode is called, so you'll want to be a Realtor. Uh, Cheryl, how many times have we heard, oh, you're a realtor. I was thinking of getting my license. What do you usually say Speaker 3 00:01:25 Is the question? How many times have I heard it? Or is the question, what do I usually say? Speaker 2 00:01:29 <laugh>, let's call it a two part question. <laugh> answer the Speaker 3 00:01:31 Question a lot because people have, um, a false assumption that it's an easy job and you can make lots of money and you can run your own schedule. I mean, you can, but if you wanna be successful, it's all the time. Yeah. Um, and what I usually say is probably different than what you two usually say, <laugh>. Yeah. Let's go do what everybody says. Sure. I'm like, same as cruise ships. Don't do it <laugh>. And not as your disclaimer. It's not because I don't love my job, it's just because I know how hard it is. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:01:58 It's not for everybody. No, Speaker 4 00:01:59 It's so funny. Goes tell the personality. So you say, don't do it. I say, oh, <laugh>. And then I let them talk more. And then, Speaker 3 00:02:07 And then you decide if they're, if it's worthy to tell them how hard it is or what you have to do. Oh, Speaker 2 00:02:13 I think a lot will depend on what they say as to why they want to become a realtor. Right? Yeah. True. Yeah. So you get to choose your own hours, you make great money. Like, we're gonna cover a lot of these points that are positives and negatives and misconceptions. Speaker 4 00:02:26 I hear a lot, and I can see how people would think this, but I really like houses. Like, it's so little of it. It's such a smart Yeah. Speaker 3 00:02:32 That's not smart. It's such a smart part of our job, honestly. A small part of our job. Speaker 2 00:02:36 Hey, I live in a house. Yes. So I should be a realtor. Speaker 4 00:02:38 Yes. I love houses. Speaker 3 00:02:40 We have to know houses. We have to know the ins and outs of what it takes to build a house or what to look for in a house. But you're right, it's such a small portion of what we do because we're entrepreneurs. That's right. So we're self-employed and there are so many levels of what it is that entails our Speaker 2 00:02:57 Job, and we're gonna dive deeper into that, the entrepreneurialship part. Um, Speaker 3 00:03:02 Can I ask you? Sure. What do you say? Speaker 2 00:03:05 Oh, I say, okay. That's, that's great. You know, um, it's not the easiest of jobs, but for the right type of person, if I say, if you're driven and if you're motivated and you've got a really good mindset, sky's the limit. However, there's a lot of people that just, I know that would not be great realtors, including some of our friends, family members, colleagues, clients that, uh, I don't think would be a good fit. But hey, who am I to judge? Speaker 3 00:03:29 Mom, you would not be a good realtor. <laugh>. <laugh>. Imagine. Speaker 2 00:03:34 Quit picking on your mom. Yeah. Um, well, we thought we would do an episode on just what it is like to become a realtor. Um, how exactly do you become an agent? Um, and you know, we get asked all the time, what is it like? Do we like it? And you know, there's a lot of people that have said, oh no, I was thinking of trying it out as soon as I hear trying it out. Yeah. It's like, okay, Speaker 3 00:03:55 You gotta kind of be all in to make it work. Exactly. Speaker 2 00:03:57 That is that while you're gonna be doing your regular job, uh, you know, as a marketing person or tech or it or car salesman or Plumber Canada or electric. Yeah, exactly. Did Speaker 3 00:04:08 Somebody from Buck Canada, how many be Canada people? Do you know? <laugh>? Speaker 2 00:04:14 Um, yeah. So we're gonna be brutally honest, give you some pros and cons, and of course we're gonna give you some anecdotes just for s and giggles. Speaker 3 00:04:21 Well, our experience, right. Because I think all of us decided to do it for different reasons, and all of us had different assumptions on what it would be like. And you know, our are words are escaping me right now, <laugh>. And it's a wild ride. Our journey, our journey have all been, our journeys have all been a little bit different. It is a wild ride. I think all of us can say without a doubt. Although we're different people. We've all had a wild ride. Yeah. Completely different from one another. Speaker 2 00:04:46 And if we had four or five other realtors, their journey and their story would be totally different. Absolutely. So multifaceted, it's not a one size fits all job. Speaker 3 00:04:54 No. Right. And which is I think why people think that they would like the job. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:04:59 And there are people with very different personality types to ourselves, different, uh, uh, friends and family groups, different business experience that can become fantastic realtors. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yep. You can have a wide variety of skill sets that can be beneficial to being a realtor in certain areas, Speaker 3 00:05:15 But at the top I think you have to have entrepreneurial mindset. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You have to be driven. Speaker 2 00:05:21 For those of you that think that we're just door openers, and I do get some people that say that. I wanna talk, um, just a little bit about some of the hours that we have put in. Um, we covered in our holding offers video, uh, that we did, and also our holding offers podcast, which was episode two, that it can take a few hours to do comparables, uh, before even deciding to book showings. And that's if we're working with a buyer client to see if, you know, a, a client sends over 10 or 15 properties, you know, you have to have a, a deep dive into those, um, maybe before you even choose to go and see which ones you're gonna look at. And that can be, that can be hours. Uh, by the way, how many properties did you show last Speaker 4 00:06:01 Week? Class week? I was just sad to Jo. So I haven't counted the seven day, but in five days we did 51 properties. Okay. And nevermind even just doing comparables, but silly stuff that you don't think about, like Google mapping the route and then trying to book it and then getting bumped on confirmations and tenants and this and that. And even that would take hours, right? Speaker 3 00:06:20 Yeah. So even if you say one hour for travel and showing time, one hour maybe for prep and comparable time, that's already 50 hours and you haven't even decided, or your clients having you decided they like any of them, right? Yeah. And then if they like them, then what that entails. That's Speaker 4 00:06:37 Right. We haven't even started yet, really. Right. We're still at the door opener phase and it's already been. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:06:42 Yeah. And that's, you know, comes to the territory that's part of be being a realtor, but I want folks that are thinking about becoming a real estate agent to, to realize, to realize this. Uh, Cheryl is our numbers queen, as we all know. And, uh, we were just doing some tracking with a couple that we've been working with for over a year now. And, uh, how many properties have they sent over to you that you've actually done some comparable work on? Speaker 3 00:07:03 I wasted a couple of my hours a couple of days ago, because we're at a point where we need to have some difficult conversations with them on how many houses they've sent over and wanted more information on, wanted to know if it was gonna sell in their budget, wanted to know if there was a home inspection, et cetera, et cetera. This is just me go, like going and searching their email address and my email and going through quickly. So I may have missed some, but 170 mm-hmm. <affirmative> properties that we've done information. And a lot of times I can say to them, by looking at it, this isn't gonna fall in your budget or this, you know, dependent on whatever they've said to us about what their wants and needs are. Like maybe this doesn't, you know, fit your wants and needs. So a lot of it is showing them why. Yeah. So you do still have to do those comparables and say, this is the reason why it's gonna sell outside of your budget, or why it's not gonna fit your wants and needs here. Yeah. Yeah. So 170, that was what they had emailed over. We've shown them, I think, 40 or 50. We've offered <laugh> on 10, um, and Speaker 2 00:08:03 Unsuccessfully. Speaker 3 00:08:04 Unsuccessfully more to do with their risk aversion. Yeah, yeah. Of wanting to come in. We might be able to figure out exactly what a property is gonna sell for because we've had good communication Yeah. With the realtor, and they're not willing to, to code that amount because they are afraid for whatever reason. Speaker 2 00:08:20 So we're, we're talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Speaker 3 00:08:22 Hundreds and hundreds of Speaker 2 00:08:23 Hours. We don't wanna go too deep into that. Okay. Sorry. No, that's fine. I, I think that gives us, got carried away. But that gives us an idea of, and then Cheryl's been an agent for about seven years now. So she also has the experience of being a numbers driven and oriented person that she can have a quick look at doing comparables for a new agent. Good at it. You know, it might take you a couple hours to to look at five. Speaker 3 00:08:42 Yeah. Okay. That's fair. Because we talk about it being 30 to 60 minutes per Yeah. But a new person, it's gonna take more. Yeah. And what if you don't know the area very well? Yeah. You've gotta, 'cause every neighborhood, like some streets are gonna sell better than others. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, some are gonna look better than others. And it takes time to kind of dig deeper on that, even if you live on that street <laugh>. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:09:02 Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So that's just touching on, you know, working with a buyer and those kinds of hours that are involved. But, uh, let's bring it back around to just a couple of the points with regards to becoming a realtor in our market. 'cause we're here in Toronto, uh, there are over 70,000 Toronto region real estate board members. So that's 70,000 plus agent is competitive. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, you know, there's 70,000 of us, um, and there's only so many clients. There's only so many transactions and purchases and sales that have every single year. So for somebody that's coming in brand new, you're also in many cases going up against, uh, two or three or four realtors that are, people might be interviewing to work with them first without question as a seller, if you're gonna list the property, uh, and in some cases buyers will interview multiple, Speaker 3 00:09:49 Not even interviewing. I think your choice becomes endless. Yeah. You know, you don't as a consumer necessarily understand what it takes to be a realtor and what a realtor their job entails. So you don't know if you're choosing, you know, your friend who just got their license or the popular agent in the area, or Aunt Sally or whatever it might be. You don't know what their level of experience is. Good Speaker 2 00:10:10 Old Aunt Sally <laugh>, here we are again. <laugh> Speaker 3 00:10:12 Aunt Jane. Yeah. That's whatever Uncle Frank. Yeah. Um, but you don't know, like, because it's confusing to the consumer on what exactly you need to be looking for in a realtor. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:10:22 It's because what do we do? It's not really that clear to people. It, it seems like, oh, anyone dang, Sally can open a door just as good as anybody else. Speaker 2 00:10:30 There's no job description because Speaker 3 00:10:31 It's, there really Speaker 2 00:10:32 Isn't, it's not just a, a cut and drive. Speaker 3 00:10:34 And because we're self-employed, everybody totally does their business different. Speaker 2 00:10:37 Absolutely. I'm gonna get to that. That's, that's a very good point. Just a couple of points along, um, 50% of those 70,000 plus agents either exit during a year or do zero to one deals per year. And we got this from someone that was at the, uh, buzz conference mm-hmm. <affirmative> who'd run their numbers. So, Speaker 3 00:10:53 And those numbers have been the same, I think almost or similar in percentages wise. That's right. To as long as we've been realtors. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:11:00 So you, you can figure it out if half the agents are only doing zero or one deals per year or deciding that, okay, I've tried it and it's not for me, wouldn't call them the expert. No. There there's a lot of turnover. Speaker 4 00:11:10 And also to that though. So, you know, you could say, well, some of those people that became realtors, they weren't very good at it, whatever it may be. But we talked about when we discussed having this podcast that even us in our first year of business, and I'm just gonna go out and say that we are good realtors. All of us course we're great realtors, of course. Right. But my first year of business I made about like $12,000. That's more than we made <laugh>. So if you wanna be a realtor, do you realize that your first year of business you are not making any money? Like you're still, Speaker 3 00:11:33 And you're grinding, you're definitely, Speaker 4 00:11:35 And you're grinding and you usually spending money on licensing fees and trainings in the whole nine years. Speaker 2 00:11:39 We're gonna cover that too. For sure. So you gotta hustle. You real people don't realize that when you get, uh, your license, it's not like, uh, these clients magically show up and you've joined a brokerage. They don't magically provide you with, you know, leads, uh, potential clients. I Speaker 3 00:11:53 Think that's a big one to talk about. Speaker 2 00:11:54 We will talk about that later on Speaker 3 00:11:56 For sure. And remember that we're self-employed. Yeah. So when you're first starting any business mm-hmm. <affirmative> usually what the government allows the first couple years to show a loss. Yeah. It's the same with real estate. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:12:06 Because even though you spent, you made say, well we made like 7,000 or something Yeah. Our first year. Yeah. Uh, how much do you think we paid out your marketing for your license for? Speaker 3 00:12:15 Well, I think just do licensing fees. Just all of the, like, TREB and Rico and all that stuff, I think was four or five or six or seven or 8,000 <laugh>. Yeah. It was our first year. So we had all the initial fees. Right. That's right. That's right. Speaker 4 00:12:25 Plus you're paying off your, your courses still. Yeah. You haven't been working. Yeah. 'cause you've been taking the courses. That's Speaker 2 00:12:31 Right. Or you've working for time at least most people that we all decided to get into real estate full-time. So, and we recommend people that want to become a realtor, want Speaker 3 00:12:38 To become a Speaker 2 00:12:38 Successful realtor, successful realtor. We have that candid discussion with 'em saying, okay, are you going to concentrate on real estate full-time or are you going to try to juggle multiple careers, uh, while trying to grow a business? And it's not like you're just getting into a career. You're starting a business, because I have it here multiple times in my notes, that you're an entrepreneur and you are running your own business. There's costs involved. You should have a business plan, you should have really good training. Now, when it comes to the training aspect, it starts with taking all the courses and getting your license. Very useful courses. The barrier to entry in this segment of, uh, in this job segment is very low. It's very low. You know, we've all taken the courses. I know that's changed a little bit since when we've done it. It's now I've heard Speaker 3 00:13:21 It's, it's in some levels it's more basic. Yeah. They do have the, that, I don't know what it's called, but when they do the like Speaker 2 00:13:28 Icing No, Speaker 3 00:13:29 It's, it's when you a Speaker 2 00:13:30 Hands-on experience kind of idea. Speaker 3 00:13:31 Yeah. Like it's that kind of thing. I wish they had more of that because I think there has never been a realtor I've spoken to personally who has come out of those courses and went, I'm ready. I learned all I need to learn. All you really learn is basically don't wanna get Speaker 4 00:13:44 Some Speaker 2 00:13:44 Bounces. Yeah. Don't wanna get food. There's very, there's very little practical training. Yeah. In the coursework, we Speaker 3 00:13:49 Learned about farmland that we knew we would never, ever Speaker 2 00:13:51 We in Toronto. But they obviously they're doing training for agents all across Ontario. Yes. So there's gonna be a lot of rural agents as well. Um, they're not gonna be dealing with condos like are human. Speaker 3 00:14:00 We're still calling it training. I don't think it's training. No, it's not. It's just getting a license. Speaker 4 00:14:03 It's licensing. Yeah. It's courses we've talked about. And most people, you come outta those courses, you go to write your first offer. Yeah. You don't know how to write the offer. You don't dunno what papers you need. If someone's not there to help you, you don't have the right papers. We often know when a new agent is offering on one of our properties because they send us all the wrong papers. Yeah. The right ones too. But extra ones they didn't need to send us. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 3 00:14:24 Yeah. It's hard. Speaker 2 00:14:25 So, um, you know, and you're on your own if you join a discount brokerage, let's talk about training. Right. 'cause training's totally separate once you get your license, uh, a big decision on whether or not in our opinion is, uh, if you're gonna be successful is if what kind of brokerage that you join. And there's a lot of shortsighted agents that are like, how much do I have to pay this brokerage thinking that, you know, your splits, uh, that you pay to the brokerage, uh, or if it's a, a discount brokerage where there's very little fees that you pay out, it doesn't equal less money in your Speaker 3 00:14:53 Pocket's. Let's not call them shortsighted. Okay. Because even you and I, we were not shortsighted, but of course, course when you start and you have no money and you're trying to sort of balance your new business, you're trying to look for the most inexpensive option you can get while still putting forward what it is that you want to do. And every person runs their business differently. So like a discount brokerage might work for somebody who's already coming out of some sort of entrepreneurial job. Sure. So they already understand certain things, but Right. Speaker 2 00:15:20 But you may not have a lot of good training to Speaker 3 00:15:22 But it all, but you might, you don't, you do it on your own. Exactly. And I think a lot, some people do get into the business and understand that they're gonna sign up for coaching and they're gonna go do the Buffini or the Tom or Mike Ferry. Like they're gonna do those trainings on top of whatever it is they're paying their brokerage. So not everyone looks for training within their brokerage. So I don't think that shortsighted is the correct word. I know that you're speaking in terms of the majority of the the majority. Majority. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:15:46 Yeah, exactly. But you know, you're, you're kind of on your own a little bit more, uh, for the most part, if you join a discount brokerage, unless you have some people that are already agents that are close to you, that could be a good mentor Yeah. That could walk you through it. But not everyone. And Speaker 3 00:15:59 There's masterminds that are like from a apart Speaker 2 00:16:01 And we'd recommend join these masterminds. Yeah. Seek out experienced agents if you're going to start your career in real estate because, uh, that training, that mentorship, that camaraderie can really help launch your career and make you a happier realtor as well. Speaker 3 00:16:15 We belong to a couple of Facebook groups that I think are great communities. Yeah. We don't use them ourselves, but we see people helping each other all the time on those Facebook groups. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yes, that's true. I'm new. I don't have a mentor. How do I do X, Y, and Z? Speaker 2 00:16:28 And do, do you think? Speaker 3 00:16:28 Send me an email. I'll help you out with that. Speaker 2 00:16:30 Absolutely. And do you think most new agents will be helping out friends and family members with their first couple transactions? It depends. I'm saying most, um, and they may not have the experience to, to deal with a, you know, $2 million sale difficult property, uh, commercial. Yeah. So, you know, how confident are you as the consumer to be using someone that's licensed and brand new if they don't even have that experience, you're, you're dealing with millions of dollars of responsibility mm-hmm. <affirmative> or largest financial asset to have that in the hands of someone that's brand new. It it's gonna happen sooner or later. New agents are are out there. Uh, we were new agents at one point in time, but if you have, uh, if you join a good brokerage with or you have good mentorship, uh, you can lean heavy on those people with their experience. Speaker 3 00:17:12 So your point being, once you are new and you're licensed and it doesn't automatically happen, don't expect that maybe the consumer is going to trust you yet. Right. Yeah. You've gotta sort of build that trust up. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:17:22 'cause a lot, we hear it a lot. So people wanna get their license just so they can do it one or two deals a year. Yeah. That's for family members. Speaker 3 00:17:28 You're not doing those people justice one or two deals Yeah. A year. Speaker 2 00:17:31 They don't necessarily have the knowledge or experience to be competent in our, in my opinion, it sure might be fine, but what if it isn't? Yeah. Right. What if it isn't means it could be litigious lawsuits, uh, opening yourself up a big can of s and just Speaker 4 00:17:45 Not doing the best, you know? Right. This is your family member. These are people that you care about. Don't you want them to get the, the most amount of money for their property? Totally. Totally. Speaker 3 00:17:51 Um, can I just, I don't know if you have this on your list, but we were talking about what it means to be a realtor. Do you think that there's a general perception that back to we open doors and it's just about houses. People assume listing agents, you're selling a house. People don't talk as much about the buyer agent and buying a house. Like people are always assuming, oh, there's one agent. They're selling a house. You're selling a house. True. Don't Speaker 4 00:18:14 Even a house don't know. Everybody realizes the Speaker 2 00:18:16 Concept. I didn't realize it. Most people before I was an agent. Yeah. We've Speaker 4 00:18:18 Seen people that don't realize Speaker 2 00:18:19 It. There, there's, there's two agents that, uh, account for the majority of the transactions. Someone representing a buyer and someone representing a Speaker 3 00:18:26 For a good reason. Absolutely. But, but so do you agree that most people just assume 'cause you know, staging all that kind stuff. Yeah. They put real estate. It's mostly listing. Yeah. Not thinking about the buyer agent. Not even thinking about the landlord and tenant agents. No, no. Of course. Which those exist as well. Right. Speaker 2 00:18:39 And, and I think the majority of transactions done by new agents tend to be working with buyers as well. Or tenants. Or tenants. Yeah. Oh gosh. Speaker 4 00:18:47 Leases just when we're talking about Yeah. How did we make these 12,000, $7,000 our first years mostly lease leases. Yes. The underworld of the real estate industry. But that's where people start. Speaker 2 00:18:57 People need places to live. If they can't buy, they're gonna be needing to, to rent. And there's landlords out there, investor clients that we work with definitely. That are going definitely need the help of an agent to get those properties leased out. Speaker 3 00:19:06 And it's less, um, pressure because it's a smaller amount. It's more pressure on, I was Speaker 4 00:19:11 Gonna say, in some ways it's more pressure, the Speaker 3 00:19:12 Emotional, more work and the emotional aspect. Obviously if you wanna take good care of your client, it's just as stressful for a tenant. Especially in the Toronto market where there's always low inventory for rentals. But they're from a perspective of learning. Yep. Yes. You don't have the weight of the world, that $2 million house on your shoulders. Right. Which, you know, like it's part and parcel emotional is such a big part of real estate for your landlord, your tenants, your buyer, your seller. But also there's this big thing that's called a huge chunk of your life. SA savings, probably the biggest purchase or acquisition you'll make in your lifetime at that point. Speaker 2 00:19:45 Big responsibilities. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:19:47 It's amazing to me when I think sometimes and I think about people that, um, don't really know what we do. And like it's amazing how much people that we just meet and they trust us. I don't know if they realize right away, but they are trusting us with so much mm-hmm. <affirmative> money. And so it's their housing where responsibility, it pon it's their entire life. Yeah. Yeah. And it's very, um, I'm very grateful that our clients Speaker 3 00:20:05 It is. It's also something I think that when you're getting into real estate, it's not about pretty houses. Like there's, there's a psych, a psychology to it of making sure that those people feel like they can trust you with that. Yes. And that we take that seriously. And I keep saying 2 million, but it could be 300,000. Yeah. Yes. But it's still a huge deal to somebody. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:20:26 Okay. I want, I, we could go on and on. This could be a two hour podcast, but I'm gonna move it on, but bring back around. Yeah. Um, what do you think the hardest part of being an agent is? Cheryl Speaker 4 00:20:35 <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:20:35 There's many, but we general, what usually say, the first thing we usually say is dealing with other agents. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:20:40 Because that's the, for Speaker 3 00:20:42 Me personally, I like the emotional aspect because I think you guys too, 'cause we're people, persons Yeah. And we're customer service focused. So that is hard. The management of doing real estate is hard. Learning about houses is hard, but dealing with other realtors. Yeah. 'cause we don't, and the different levels, different levels, Speaker 2 00:20:59 Different experience, Speaker 3 00:21:00 Different ethical ways of behaving. Speaker 2 00:21:03 Are they willing to work with you or are they kind of working against Speaker 3 00:21:06 You? Are they adversarial or are they looking for a win-win? Speaker 2 00:21:09 Yeah. And, and communication is key. And, and you know, there's, there's agents that that list two, $3 million properties. They don't even have their phone number on the listing, so, or Speaker 3 00:21:16 They don't do professional photos. Speaker 2 00:21:17 Exactly. So, no. Yeah. So, and that could be a whole other podcast, but you Speaker 3 00:21:21 Said, what's the hardest part of our job? What was the answer? What do you, do you say the same thing? Speaker 4 00:21:26 Oh yeah. No, I mean I think that the, um, and I don't know what people, I'm so curious. We should almost have like a guess a random guess. Like what do you actually think about realtors? But the hardest thing for me, you know, and I, people think, well, this is just our job and we're just helping them, you know, and they're bidding and they can't get a house and it's stressful for them. And the hardest part of being a realtor is like, when we go home, we're not just like, well days work done going to sleep. I lie there at night thinking about these people and thinking about their houses and thinking about things they didn't quite like and trying to get rid of that. Like, those emotions you're absorbing. You can't live a regular life every week. You're in some new, you know, scenario where Speaker 2 00:22:03 Certain people take you home with and it's in the back of your mind a lot. So that, that's, that's interesting to hear that. That's one of the toughest parts I, that you find. Speaker 3 00:22:10 I think that's a good answer actually, because I like how many times have I shows you care? I've cried over our clients not getting something. I've been up all night waiting to hear if we've got an offer accepted like the, Speaker 2 00:22:20 The first year or two as well. If we had say a listing or we had an offer Speaker 3 00:22:24 In, if you carry their Speaker 2 00:22:25 Stress, oh my gosh, yeah. I lose sleep. Speaker 4 00:22:26 You're trying to purposefully absorb it from that Speaker 2 00:22:28 Stomach aches my ulcer acting up. Right. Just because you care Speaker 3 00:22:31 About your Yeah. But that is true because part of our job is to make it a less stress, less stressful experience for them. So where we're absorbing it from them. Okay. Yeah. That's a good answer. Good answer. But you would say that realtors thing as well, because, and I talk about it all time. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:22:45 Carry on, carry on. Yeah. Some of the most fulfilling and enriching um, parts of the job is also working with great agents on the other side. Yes. Yes. You know, like having someone come together with you to bring a buyer and a seller together for a mutually beneficial end result. And, uh, it's, it's very rewarding. It is. Speaker 3 00:23:02 It's also very, uh, what's that word? When, when you're like on the other end you're like, oh, you think just like me, Speaker 4 00:23:08 When you find out it's like meeting like your husband. That sounds, but like a listing as a buyer's agent. What you mean listing agent all of a sudden you realize you're actually on the same page. It's like, oh my gosh. Yeah. We could just Speaker 3 00:23:19 Kiss you. We want a happy buyer and a happy seller. This is exciting. That's Speaker 4 00:23:23 Right. Speaker 2 00:23:23 Alright, let's talk about if you do wanna become a realtor, like costs involved. Um, and Cheryl, we're gonna lean on you 'cause you probably know how much each one of these are there. There's board fees with the Toronto. Uh, Speaker 3 00:23:35 Okay. No. So I'm looking down at this list in front of you that I made and I was like, well, I wish you would've told me I would've collected all the numbers because I knew you were gonna say that. Yeah. I I honestly don't like, I know that we just, it's Speaker 2 00:23:47 Thousands of dollars per year. Speaker 3 00:23:48 Yes. It's a few. I think that all of the fees in, it's like, like two or 3000 per person Speaker 2 00:23:53 On the YouTube video. I'm gonna put the exact numbers, uh, right there. Treb orea, which is the Ontario Real Estate Association. Korea, which Canadian, you have your insurance, then you have what you pay to your brokerage depending on what brokerage and your arrangements. They're splits, desk fees, which Speaker 3 00:24:07 Are your monthly Speaker 2 00:24:08 Marketing fees. You know, um, Speaker 3 00:24:10 And these, these are the basics. Yeah. Because you're not talking about that. Some people need an admin. You're gonna need an accountant. You might need a bookkeeper. You know, like Speaker 2 00:24:18 All those costs that are, they're yours part and parcel to running a business. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, and then of course the cost of your courses initially as well. And if you're gonna go into it full-time, make sure you have a buffer. We also have, when you first get started, of course the cost of taking all the courses, which Speaker 3 00:24:37 Is, and it's more expensive. The fees are more expensive the first year. Right. Speaker 2 00:24:39 So we actually had, uh, a client who became an agent. Uh, I wrote this down because when I was doing the notes, she was, she's leaning on us, uh, had leaned on us quite a bit 'cause she's feeling a little bit, uh, defeated because it is so competitive. Um, she's not a full-time agent. But, uh, you know, we are here to, to help them out. We like to help lift other agents up, especially if we know them. Um, and it can be a really, you know, nice community if, if, if you want it to be. Speaker 3 00:25:03 We were productivity coaches and you really leaned into that. You really enjoyed, you know, Speaker 2 00:25:07 I liked helping new agents. Yes, I did. So let's talk about some misconceptions. Um, number one, you get to make your own schedule. Oh. How often do we hear that? Yeah. If you're on Speaker 3 00:25:18 Schedule, do you wanna know when our schedules are? Do you wanna Speaker 2 00:25:20 Just Yes. Speaker 3 00:25:20 Really quickly. Okay. So I wake up. Usually you get up at five 30, I'll get up at like 6, 6 30 and I almost always will go directly to my computer and Speaker 2 00:25:27 Can Yeah. I, I shouted her for that. I'm like, sure. Speaker 3 00:25:29 I'll just, I need, I know I need to like buffer some live Speaker 2 00:25:32 Work balance is always some more balance Speaker 3 00:25:34 Always. But if we're really busy, generally as soon as I get up Yeah. Until basically as soon as I go to bed. Because you're usually doing something right near the end of the night. Yeah. You might have days where yeah, you can fine take a couple hours for lunch or dinner or go for a walk. But there are days where we work all the way through and, and, and it's seven days a week for sure. There's Speaker 2 00:25:52 Seasoned agents that have been around for years and years and years. Oh yeah. Um, that can have a little bit more flexibility. Speaker 3 00:25:59 Uh, I'm really bad at work life balance. Yes. So I should not be looked at as the average <laugh> No Speaker 2 00:26:04 <laugh>. But brand new agents might be if you say no to stuff, like if you're make yourself not available. Exactly. So you have kind of, Speaker 4 00:26:10 I wanna say peaks and valleys. Right. So we, when we say like, when we're very busy, but just as sort of a disclaimer. So we tend to be really busy like five to six months out of the year, let's say, where we are literally working from the moment we get up to, and Sean, I talk about we literally sit in bed at night after everything is done. And I have a list of things, things that need to be done today, you know, could be done tomorrow, could be done this week, and literally work through that list of things because I will fall asleep inevitably. So I have to prioritize it. 'cause if I fall asleep while doing something that could be done this week, it's no big deal. I can do it tomorrow. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we're literally working ourselves to sleep. Sleep Yeah. <laugh> and then sleep with our computer often in the bed. 'cause you wake up and you put it to the side and then you wake up in the morning and then you, you're starting again. Speaker 2 00:26:49 That's true. And there are a lot of books out there. The Millionaire Real Estate model, the one thing. Um, and there's all different coaching models where they have it so that you are very time blocked for your schedule. Mm-hmm. It's so difficult to do because Speaker 3 00:27:04 You're not working on your schedule. No. You're working on your client's schedules as well. Speaker 2 00:27:08 You might have one month, you might have six clients that you're working with another month and you might have one or two. Speaker 3 00:27:12 And you still need to fit in those regular things of running the business. Yes. And making sure your expertise is up to a certain level, that you're always keeping yourself fresh with knowledge. Speaker 2 00:27:20 So that's a big one. Yeah. Making your own schedule. And there is, again, flexible work hours. That's what people say. Sure. It flexible. Speaker 3 00:27:27 It's flexible. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:27:28 You can work all night in the middle of the night. Yeah. Every day. So flexible. Well, we're nine to five flexible. That's a definition of flexible, but Speaker 2 00:27:33 It's not when we've been super busy. It, we've been flexible in the fact that calm down. Okay. We, we have to run and do, uh, appointments. Uh, we've got a listing appointment, we've gotta do some showings. But then we're like, Hey, we have three hour break in the afternoon and it's sunny. So we'll go sit on a patio. Yes. Right. And Speaker 3 00:27:47 Send Nicole a picture. <laugh>. Yeah. Usually. Speaker 2 00:27:49 I know. And if, uh, if you're a nine to five job, there is no flexibility. Yes. There's so yes. You're flexible if you can turn yourself into a pretzel. 'cause we have to do that quite often. Speaker 3 00:27:57 So we're saying this almost like as fear. Okay. You have to understand, you are not really making your own schedule. You actually, what it is, is you have to have an open schedule. Yeah. And you get lucky and get breaks. We're trying to do this as a fearful tactic, but in reality sometimes it does work very well in our favor as well, because you can make that doctor's or dentist appointment and book things around it. I'm Speaker 4 00:28:19 Very grateful that if Noah is sick, I can stay home that day and take care of him. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> stuff has to be rebooked. Or sometimes he is gotta ride around the back of the car. But <laugh> Speaker 3 00:28:28 Don't parp on the client. Speaker 2 00:28:30 Misconceptions. This is another one. We will kind of wrap up the misconception part. Uh, I think reality shows Yeah. Give, give a false preconception of the glamorous lifestyle. Yeah. You know, it's not all sunshine and rainbows and driving Ferraris and million dollar, $2 million listings transactions. Like you see on H G T V, million dollar listings selling sunset. It says Speaker 4 00:28:53 Eating cold burritos in your car in the seven minutes between showings. Speaker 2 00:28:57 That's more like it. Yeah. Or Speaker 4 00:28:58 It's a hot burrito, but it's like not good hot. Like I might get salmonella, but I'm so <laugh> I Speaker 2 00:29:02 Hot because it's sitting in your Speaker 3 00:29:03 Car. Yeah. Like always you miss your workouts three days that, that week you're, you're snacking on, you know, protein bars you've had in your purse for, you know, too Speaker 4 00:29:12 Long Yeah. That for some reason smell like fish. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:29:14 Sorry. So, okay. We're gonna, we're gonna go, we just did misconceptions. Let's do some realities. And it's not all bad guys. Okay. We're gonna get to benefits and pros, but why do we do all this? Speaker 4 00:29:24 I know. Craziness. Uh, the Speaker 2 00:29:25 Realities are, and we hear this from a lot of agents when they first get started, is that it's lonely. Speaker 3 00:29:30 Yes. Speaker 2 00:29:30 You know, if you're, you're a one person show for the most part, unless you join a team, and a lot of folks will. I, so I forgot about that. But we hear that it's you're not lonely. I'm not lonely. You're not lonely. Yeah. Were you only when you, before you joined with us, um, Speaker 4 00:29:42 No Speaker 2 00:29:43 <laugh> Speaker 3 00:29:43 Thanks. But wasn't that part of the reason why is that you wanted more camaraderie? Yes. Speaker 4 00:29:48 Yes. I thought I knew I would be at the very beginning. I guess at the very beginning. You're just so excited and you're not, you're spending so much time doing stuff and you're slow. And I remember being self-conscious about being slow, so you didn't even really want someone looking over your shoulder. You wanna get it, but once you do get the basics Yeah. You wanna talk to somebody about, Speaker 3 00:30:04 And it's competitive because we're all looking for the same business. <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. So it's hard to find, again, you get excited when you find people who have sort of a come from abundance, you know, mindset mm-hmm. <affirmative> so that they don't mind sharing with you and talking about the things they've gone through. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:30:19 Yeah. And it's, it's funny, some of these realities we've already covered, um, just with our banter in our conversation. But I'm gonna go through these and then, um, we'll check in a point by point check and then if there's anything that you ladies want to add. Okay. Okay. So lonely. So lonely. It's a high divorce rate amongst realtors. Oh, yeah. Um, yeah, <laugh>, that's it's true. Um, and we'll touch on that. Um, we know quite a few real estate agents who, uh, tend to drink a lot. Yeah. Oh, as a high rate of alcoholism. Um, we talked about the rate of attrition is very high, Speaker 3 00:30:50 Which is also not good for your general mindset. Like it can cause depression. Like what am I doing wrong? Speaker 2 00:30:56 Yeah. And these are the realities. Many are part-timers. So you're dealing with part-time agents in many cases. Uh, or if you yourself as a part-timer, it's difficult to really become successful. What you focus Speaker 3 00:31:05 On. How much fun is it being a part-timer if you're working nine to five somewhere, and then you have to spend your five to nine hours like doing work? I can't imagine. And there's agents talk about that's how they got successful is they did have a, a full-time job at first. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:31:16 However you do Right. Speaker 2 00:31:17 You usually don't make much for the first few years, not months. Years. Yeah. Um, there's multiple 16 hour days a week when you're busy and, you know, it's, it, it's a good problem to have in some cases. It means you're busy. Yes. It means you're working hard, but Speaker 3 00:31:33 If you have children or family or a spouse that's not a realtor, <laugh>, Speaker 2 00:31:38 Hence the high divorce rate. Um, and you know, there might be multiple 16 hour days earlier in your career because you're hustling or slow, uh, or slow, but, but you're doing, you're doing leases now. Leases are usually the first few transactions and you can do, you know, like it's 40 hour weeks for a single client in some cases. So Oh, yeah. They're a lot of work. It's feast and famine for many agents. Uh, it's nice if you, which is scary, keep your, yeah. It's, you don't know where your next paycheck is coming from. No. Steady pay paycheck, no guaranteed salary for the most part. I know there's some people that work in pre-construction, uh, as licensed agents that do get a salary. But we're talking for your, your typical real estate agents and, you know, it's usually better if, uh, if it is a, a married couple and you're a realtor if your, your spouse has a good paying job. But there's gonna be a lot of dinners apart. There's gonna be a lot of plans having to be changed last minute dropping of things. So, um, so there's that. Anyone wanna touch on those realities? No. Speaker 4 00:32:33 Let's talk about the benefits quickly. Almost. I'm getting si. Okay. Speaker 3 00:32:36 All right. I quit <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:32:39 Um, it's not all bad. No. There's some great things about being an agent. First of all, let's talk about it. There is a, a potential to earn significant amounts, you know, if you're willing to hustle. It doesn't happen for everyone as matter. It's the exception to the rule in many cases. But, but the so many eight people that wanna become agents hold onto that as the main reason why they wanna become an agent. They, they figure out the cost of a house and they can figure out what the compensation would be. It's, it's not a guarantee in many, many cases and Speaker 3 00:33:07 It's a lot of hours. It's a, Speaker 4 00:33:08 But you know, to that benefit and that is a huge benefit. I was think about this the other day. What other industry can you get into with a high school deploy like, I don't know, Amway or something. Yeah. And have the potential to make that this much, uh, income to have this much of a successful business without business training. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:33:24 So can I just break down when you talk about like the money, the potential to earn, say somebody sells a million dollar house. Okay. Like we didn't even talk about the fact that you've got lead gen, you've gotta work that lead, you've got that lead needs to buy, you're gonna need to find a house after. Maybe you lose out on 10, I don't know. Yeah. But you get that $25,000 paycheck and you're like, oh yeah, I'm rolling it. Then you have to pay like 8,000, 10,000 of that to taxes. Yeah. At least. Yeah. Uh, maybe another, I don't know, Speaker 2 00:33:49 Whatever your splits are. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:33:49 Like a few thousand to your split. Yeah. Maybe even more depending on what your split is. Yeah. Then you have to take all your fees outta Speaker 2 00:33:55 There. And if you were the listing agent, if you're full service is a good chance that a, a good chunk of that you've already spent, uh, as part of your service offering on the listing. Like we pay for staging, for example, things like that, home inspection. Um, so, so that's, that's our business model. We don't mind doing that because we know that that gets our clients a better result. But there, there's lots Speaker 3 00:34:13 Of But from a buying, buying agent perspective Yeah. So not even a listing agent's perspective, this is even gonna be less money. Yeah. But say it's like somewhere between five and $10,000 that you're getting and that's on that one transaction that you've hustled your butt off for. Yeah. Now you need that to happen consistently. Yeah. Which means you have to be busy all the time if you wanna have that earning that has Yeah. Potential program. For sure. So I think people need to understand that you're not taking home $25,000. You may be taking home 10 or less. Yes. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:34:40 Yeah. Another benefit. And I, I think that's a benefit. It's challenging if you like to be challenged. Yes. If you like to be pushed. I Speaker 3 00:34:48 Think that's a Speaker 2 00:34:49 Benefit. I think so too. Yeah. But that's if you like it, some people don't, you know, like, and, and every day is different, every transaction's different, every client is different. Every property's different, which is you have to think on your feet and that is a challenge. Hmm. But it keeps it fresh. Speaker 3 00:35:01 I think that's just fun. I love that stuff. I love the, if people, um, like to sit and do scheduled work in front of their computer nine to five, this might not be the job for them. No, no, not at all. Because you have to be able to think on your feet if you get anxious when things aren't controlled or if you're O c d, this might not be the job for you. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:35:17 Yeah. Um, and if you like to deal with people, that can be a nice benefit. Speaker 3 00:35:22 I wrote it's a people industry. It's, I think that it's not a benefit. I think that if you like people, if you do, this Speaker 2 00:35:27 Is a good, and I, and I have, there's a couple agents that we know that don't necessarily, um, gel with working with the general public every day. And some of them will work as a realtor doing pre-construction for example, or investing and not being out as much in the, uh, day-to-day with, with clients and, and networking and things Speaker 3 00:35:45 Like that. Can I tell an anecdote? Sure. So this doesn't mean you have to be a super outgoing or social person, which both of you are very social by nature people and you're both very outgoing and not afraid to talk. I am not like you two. And we've had these conversations amongst ourselves before. I'm the extroverted introvert where I actually don't like to be in front of people and I don't like to be the one talking. And I don't want it ever cold call or door knock where you guys door knock and like it, you like meeting new people. I am not person next week. Yeah. So I didn't think I could be successful doing this because of that. But for all of you listening, if you are shy, we know some shy realtors. Yeah. Or if you know, you are better at not talking face-to-face or if, you know, if there's things that you think, oh, I'm, I'm a people person, but I don't have these skills to get out there and meet people. Yeah. There are agents out there who are successful and found their niche and their way to make it work. And I have done that and now I realize like there isn't, it's not like one way to do it. No. Or even 10 ways to do Speaker 2 00:36:43 It. Like how many times were you told Cheryl that emails, sending emails don't work to get clients. Don't count, don't help for conversion. Yeah. Generation, we told all it's gotta be face to face. Isn't that? 'cause Cheryl's an amazing communicator both verbally and around people, but she takes the time, the effort, she's articulate and uh, she provides so much good information in her communications that our clients have been drawn to that. And her, her email communications are, are warm, they're well structured. Uh, there's a lot of them and a lot of follow up because she's so scheduled and that has absolutely, uh, gained a lot of business for us. So thank you. Speaker 3 00:37:18 I think that also is combined with, you know, that I do like people and I remember birthdays and kids' names and I'm interested in people 'cause Im Speaker 2 00:37:23 Terrible's lives Speaker 3 00:37:24 Have Speaker 4 00:37:25 To though. As long as you have people's best interest at heart, however you do, however you're able to convey that it will Speaker 3 00:37:30 Work. That is exactly it. If as long as you have people's best interest at heart, it will come across. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:37:36 So we just finished talking about the benefits. Let's talk about the, the good and the bad. Um, you know what I like and I think that's good is, uh, appreciative clients, you know, it makes me feel pretty good when you have people that are really appreciative and, and convey that to you and thank you and you know, you've made a difference in their life. Finding a home for them, whether it be renting, whether it be buying, Speaker 3 00:37:56 Maybe it's not appreciative clients because like obviously we would hope that most people would appreciate it's clients that you can you feel their happiness. 'cause as the same as we take on their stress Yes. When they're excited that they've just bought or sold or rented even. Like, you feel that excitement and it's the thing that warms you inside. Like, I just help somebody and look at how happy they are and this is the best feeling ever that I got to share in that. Totally. Speaker 2 00:38:19 Yeah. We've, we've gone by and dropped even for some of our lease clients, drop by a little bottle of bubbly and they, they have a bottle of wine for us. It's like, oh my God, you did not need to get us anything. And so you get the warm and FSS for things like that. Not that we're expecting gifts from any other fine Speaker 3 00:38:32 By music as well. No, but you're also, it's a thing, it's a bit of a thankless job because people make this assumption that we get that $25,000 and that we work no hours and we're following and that's Speaker 4 00:38:40 All we care about. Speaker 3 00:38:40 Yeah. Yeah. Which I think a lot of realtors do not care about that stuff. No. But yeah. So when they go, I saw how much you worked and I appreciate mm-hmm. <affirmative> that you cared about me and you, you know, remembered my kids' names or whatever. And Speaker 2 00:38:52 How many of those clients that we've worked with for months or sometimes years, you develop a relationship with them. And some of our clients, many of them have become good friends. Yes. Speaker 4 00:39:00 Which is, you can't, I I it's the trauma bond. Yeah. Guys, this is Toronto. It's hard to get a house. And whether I was thinking about this, whether clients, the trauma bond, they just end up trusting you and do what you say and you're able to get them a house and you're like, you don't have any idea what happened to you and I'm so glad we were able to work together and make this work. Or they get every single part and you're like, you could be a realtor Now what e both of those people realize like, this was one heck of a job. Yeah. And, um, the Speaker 3 00:39:24 Trauma, the trauma bond. The Speaker 4 00:39:25 Trauma bond, that's my new thing. That's why we're so attached, I think to our clients because Speaker 3 00:39:29 We're speaking from our experience. Yeah. And the three of us are relationship builders. We want to build our relationship based on having these bonds with our clients. Like, we don't wanna work with people who are just looking for a transactional thing. We, we don't wanna work with people who we don't sort of gel with as people or personalities. So I think when we speak about this, we're speaking very specifically about how we are, Speaker 2 00:39:51 How we work. Yeah. And there's there, I know that there's a lot of agents out there that the vast majority of their sales and and buys come from new clients. Transactional. Yeah. And that, and they don't spend time following up to keep the relationships going because it might be six or seven years before that client chooses to, to buy or sell again. But heck, we've Speaker 3 00:40:06 Trauma bonded and we like <laugh>, we're gonna invite them to the shed for a client appreciation event, which we've done. Speaker 2 00:40:13 Well, hey, you know what as well, for you agents that are thinking, people thinking about becoming an agent, let's say you have that trauma bond, it's absolutely amazing. You buy a house with 'em and then three years later you drive by even after you've kept in touch with them and there's someone else's sign on the lawn. Oh, can't think of personally. It feels, feels like you've been cheated on or something. It Speaker 3 00:40:28 Feels like you've been gut punched. But this is another part of the business that, that happens all the time. And you can't take it personally because nobody is thinking about what we are going through. They're thinking about what's best for them Speaker 2 00:40:39 And they don't owe us anything. We say that they don't owe us anything all the time. Yeah. But you said gut punch. It feels like a gut punch. And I want to talk. We've done the good, uh, couple of the bads. Um, these types of things can happen. Uh, you know, we essentially in many cases do work for free. There's not a lot of jobs out there where you might do 80 hours or more work and then not be compensated at all for it. And that has happened to us many times. Many times. Speaker 3 00:41:06 It's part Speaker 2 00:41:06 Of the business. It is part of the business. And, uh, you, you Speaker 3 00:41:08 Have to understand that if you get into the business, if you decide you wanna be a realtor there, you have to understand you will be working for free a lot of Speaker 2 00:41:15 The times. Yeah. And you will, you will have people not, uh, honor contracts and you know, that there's, that's a whole other can of worms that we can do. Yeah. Uh, and you know, what do you do? Do you, do you let it go? Um, sometimes people say let it go because it's good for the soul. Other times fo focus forward, focus forward. Other times, uh, is there accountability anyway. So there are some, um, some bad things that can happen as well. Uh, and Speaker 4 00:41:35 And what you're talking about is almost, you know, when someone sort of purposefully does it, but many times people will spend a hundred hours or six months or eight months looking for a house and then be like, you know, I, I've just kind of changed my mind. You gotta be okay with that. No malice. I just, this isn't gonna work. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:41:49 So that's enough for the bad. I got a couple questions for you ladies. Speaker 4 00:41:52 I'm excited. <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:41:52 So now you've been an agent for years and years and years. Um, a Speaker 3 00:41:55 Hundred of them actually. Would Speaker 2 00:41:57 You, is there anything that you would do different? Would have done different? Speaker 4 00:42:00 I would become a realtor. <laugh> starting out, I guess, eh, Speaker 2 00:42:04 Yeah. Maybe starting out. What would you have done differently, if anything? Are you happy where you're Speaker 3 00:42:09 At? The kind of, if I knew then what I know now? Yeah. Like what, how would you have structured yourself better? Speaker 2 00:42:13 Which could be some good advice for some maybe, Speaker 3 00:42:15 And maybe it's nothing. Maybe you can be glad that you did things the way you did it. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:42:18 And, and I am glad And so just to, you know, for newbie structure. So I started, I was by myself. I guess I said I wasn't lonely earlier, but I must have been because I joined a team and that didn't work out. That type of team I was. Then you joined another team myself. Then I joined another team. That type of team didn't work out either. And then, which, you know, there's just different personality types. It's not 'cause it was bad, it just didn't really Speaker 3 00:42:37 Work out. But before even that, you were the listing coordinator and admin for a team. That's right. That might have been helpful too, if somebody wants to get into real estate that they start in the non-licensed SEC sector. Speaker 4 00:42:48 And it was, it's very helpful to see what's gonna go down and not have your life and your job hanging on that. You, you see it and you see the cycle of it and you see it's gonna work out. It's gonna be okay and what you do. And it, it does help, uh, make it all. Okay. But no, I'm very happy. And then I forced John and Cheryl to work with me and all of those were good decisions. All of them. Speaker 3 00:43:08 So you wouldn't do anything differently? Nope. You'd still start out in an, an admin role. You still would go through the trying out teams to see what worked. Because Speaker 4 00:43:15 Those helped me really figure out what did and didn't work. Speaker 3 00:43:17 This is a good fail forward. 'cause you're gonna fail a lot. Yes. As long as you take that information and make sure you can use it going forward. Yeah. So make yourself a better person, a better agent, whatever it might be. What Speaker 2 00:43:25 About you Cheryl? What Speaker 3 00:43:26 Would I do different? Speaker 2 00:43:27 Yeah. Would you do anything different? Speaker 3 00:43:29 I don't think so. Okay. I think that I, because I have such terrible work life balance, I would've tried to figure out how to balance better time blocking a bit better. Better. I don't know. Like, because I don't know. Yeah. That's the only thing I, I have, I think I have the most issues with is that there have been so many times where I've lost myself in this job because I'm trying to do such a good job for our clients. Yeah. That I forget that I also need to take care of me first. And had a couple breakdowns over the years that I, you know, looking back now, I'm like, how could I, how could I have avoided that? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:44:02 Yeah. I think that if I were to do anything different, I probably would've, uh, concentrated a little bit more on geographic farming starting out. Yes. You know, maybe a few years earlier than what we're doing, but, um, yeah. Speaker 3 00:44:14 Earlier because when we first started we were living on the esplanade. Yeah. We moved around. We couldn't have done that. So. Yeah. That's Speaker 2 00:44:19 Um, do you have any big misconceptions that you remember when you first got started? Speaker 3 00:44:24 Misconceptions. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:44:26 I just remember, um, and I've heard this misconception a lot, so maybe now I'm remembering more 'cause I've heard it, but people, and I've already sort of said it, that Oh, I like houses. Like being a realtor has something to do with, I mean, it of course it has a little bit to do with houses. Yeah. But it has to do with like being people's therapists, being people's lifeline, being people, Speaker 3 00:44:45 Accountant, you know, Speaker 4 00:44:46 Being good at emotions, being good at statistics, being good at schedule. There's, it's Speaker 2 00:44:51 So many things. It's Speaker 4 00:44:52 Just the so many things that Yeah. Speaker 2 00:44:54 Multifaceted job. Speaker 3 00:44:55 So do you think you understood what it meant to be self-employed and be an entrepreneur as a realtor? Did you think that's a misconception that not knowing that you were gonna be all these different levels of things, plus going to be running your business? 'cause all of that is kind of part and parcel. Speaker 4 00:45:10 Maybe. I didn't know how emotional it would be 'cause I had a business before. Oh, right, right, right. So I was knew that. I just didn't, I don't Speaker 3 00:45:17 Know that you were gonna need to carry on boxes of Kleenex in your car. Speaker 4 00:45:20 <laugh>. That's exactly it. <laugh> Speaker 3 00:45:23 To pull over to the side of the road, start Speaker 4 00:45:25 Cry, nap, cry, put the kleenexes over my eyes to nap Speaker 3 00:45:30 To stop the mascara from your tears when you sleep. It's okay. We're joking, but it's kind of, it's not. If you talk to any realtor who's a fulltime realtor, it's true. We all have these stories broke. Agent <laugh>. Yeah, yeah, Speaker 4 00:45:41 Yeah, Speaker 2 00:45:41 Yeah. Follow some of these, uh, actually, agents broke agents. Yeah. Broke. It's, it's funny. Speaker 3 00:45:45 Um, what are your, what was your biggest misconception? Huh? Speaker 2 00:45:49 Uh, I, I knew nothing. Like I absolutely, I had no clue what went into, you know, real estate transaction, John. The fact that there was two, two ends. So usually represented by either, either side. I, again, I was one of those people that thought, oh, I'll be a real estate agent. The one agent that buys and sells a house. It's like, it's not, and, and they're vastly different experiences working with a buyer, working with a seller. So, uh, and other things, I didn't realize how many hours it's, it was gonna be like, and Cheryl works way harder than I do. I have a different kind of skillset because as you can see, all this tech around us is one of the big things that, that I do. Which, which comes into us marketing ourselves and, and, and marketing our listings and, and things. But just the, the sheer you, you, you have to put a lot of hours in if you wanna be successful. And I think you, you have no matter what exactly with anything. Speaker 4 00:46:38 I thought of one, can I say it quickly? And we hear this a lot and I didn't. Like people had said it to me and I was like, yeah, that's true. That sounds great. But this doesn't happen. If people think okay, you know, you're looking at, you're making your 2.5% and people are like, God, if I could just sell two houses a year Yeah. That'll be a great, oh my god. And sure it would be if you weren't paying all your splits and if that were actually possible. No one's selling, they're selling like no houses and doing a few leases. It's either or. They're selling lots of houses. Yeah. Or they sign Speaker 2 00:47:03 20 <laugh>. Yes. Speaker 3 00:47:03 There's whoa in between here. Back to your stats. You didn't talk about it. You said 50% do zero or one, but there's like literally the top 10% do the majority of Speaker 2 00:47:11 Business. Oh yeah. And I have this, the top 10% do about 80 or 90% of the business. Right. Speaker 3 00:47:16 And we come across the same people over and over again. Yeah. Because we're all full-time Speaker 2 00:47:20 Active realtors. And to break into that takes years. Yes. So something to think about. Uh, do we have any regrets or is it No reg regrets. Speaker 3 00:47:30 No reg regrets. Speaker 5 00:47:31 I, I would like to go to the washroom. I'm Speaker 2 00:47:33 Kidding. No, no. Oh, okay. <laugh>. Sorry Doug. No. Doug's regretting helping us do this podcast. Speaker 3 00:47:38 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:47:40 Thank you Dougie Dad. I should say. Um, yeah, but because we're gonna go to takeaways after if, uh, I like to say no regrets. We, we we're here. I have none. Speaker 4 00:47:50 No, I have none. I mean, if anything, any, the only regret I'm like spinning around in my mind is like I, before I started working in real estate, I wish I had paid more attention to the market. I feel like I only really started paying attention six years ago. And so when people referenced stuff before that I feel a little, I mean I can look at statistics and the stories, but I feel a little inadequate 'cause I wasn't really paying attention before. And so, I dunno, it's a random regret, but I wish I knew more before I started. Right. Speaker 3 00:48:17 Do you know, I wanna go 'cause I didn't answer the thing about the misconception. I remember when we first started and just not understanding why there were like the same is that we get contacted, I saw a listing on your website. Yes. But it's the m l s feeds all of the websites. It's so confusing for the consumer. Yep. And I was like, I don't understand what this means and how to like, break into a brokerage <laugh>, you know, I don't even know how to sign myself up. What do I do? Yeah. Where do I park my license? I don't get it. How Speaker 2 00:48:45 Does it work? Speaker 3 00:48:46 And I don't think that was a misconception. I really truly was like fish outta water. And as you know, I wasn't as, and maybe this would be a reverse regret. I didn't wanna be a realtor. I was worried about working together still. There were all these things. I was like, but I don't know what I wanna do. And we're already have the ball rolling, so we'll see where this goes. And I know I'm a hard worker and I know I'm driven. Yeah. And I was afraid of the people person stuff. And knowing that I was a little introverted, I have a reverse regret. I am so happy that we chose this because I didn't realize how much I love relationship building, how much I love statistics. I didn't realize I was that much of a numbers person. You grade grade at it too. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I like obviously like the design aspect and all of that too. So Yeah. Speaker 2 00:49:29 Thanks for that. Cheryl. <laugh> <laugh>. Uh, okay, so I re reverse regrets. So let's talk about maybe some takeaways. Uh, I wanna touch on this. For all those people that think that becoming an agent means that you get business handed to you, you don't Yeah. Uh, you don't usually get new clients. Leads passed on to you. You have to, the biggest part of the job, in my opinion, and most people will say is client acquisition, getting lead generation, lead, lead generation. You have to do that. Um, you may, if you join a team, a big team, have them pass some leads on to you, you Speaker 3 00:50:02 Still have to convert Speaker 2 00:50:03 Those leads. You still do have to convert them. And if you join a team, you also have to pay, uh, considerable splits to that. So that's definitely something to keep in mind for those people that are thinking they're becoming an agent. Yeah. Um, other takeaways? It can be very lonely or not <laugh>. Right? It can, if you're a people person, you, I think you can choose to, to, if you're outgoing, if you join a good brokerage with mentorship, Speaker 3 00:50:24 Find people. I think though, if you're taking the, uh, averages, most realtors would talk about the lonely aspect Yeah. And how they've overcome it for themselves in their business. Yes. Speaker 2 00:50:33 Yeah. Uh, it can be very rewarding or not. <laugh>, here's another takeaway. Yeah. You know what, uh, 10% of the agents doing 90% of the business and they're the ones that have been there. It's, it's hard to, to break in. And it usually, it takes two to three years before you're, you're making decent. Speaker 4 00:50:48 It probably usually takes more than that. Yeah. Like that was sort of our experience. Oh, it takes two to three years. I'm sure there's people out there. It's taken much longer. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:50:56 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:50:56 Uh, it can be a lot of hours or not <laugh>, but usually, Speaker 3 00:51:01 And if, and when we say successful, if you wanna be successful, it will probably take a lot of hours. But success means something different to every person. I think a successful business owner is somebody who is making a, the comfortable amount of money that they need in order to run that business and sustain their lifestyle or have their work balance or whatever. Yeah. But you still, like, you're not gonna probably have a successful business if you're only doing one or two deals per year. Speaker 2 00:51:24 Uh, and I, I think this is the biggest takeaway for all of you listening, that you as a realtor are an entrepreneur and a business owner. Yeah. You're not an employee in most cases. So don't accept a clock in, clock out and get a, get a paycheck and have, uh, a really defined, uh, job description or scope of work. Uh, your and, and how you choose to run your business. Your business is gonna be different than a realtor X, Y, and Z Speaker 3 00:51:49 Very simply. You get your license, you need to park said license at a brokerage in order to trade. At least this is the way it works in most of Canada and the U s A, um, the brokerage does not pay you. You pay the brokerage. The brokerage is never going to check in on you to see if you want to go to training. They might offer training, but that is up to you to join those training. So you are on your own. 100%. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:52:14 Um, what else do we have here? You know, so much is gonna depend with your success as a realtor on your motivation Speaker 3 00:52:21 Mindset. Speaker 2 00:52:22 Highly motivated and driven people are usually the ones to succeed. Mindset is everything with life usually as Speaker 3 00:52:28 Well. Yeah. And that doesn't mean type A personality. No, it doesn't have Speaker 2 00:52:30 To be. Doesn't Speaker 3 00:52:30 This too many. I have a question before you go further. Do you love your job? Oh yes. Do you love your job? Speaker 2 00:52:36 Absolutely. Do you love your job? Speaker 3 00:52:37 I love my job. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:52:38 I couldn't, I'm ruined. Couldn't do anything. Speaker 3 00:52:41 I, I think about that now too. Like obviously because this is very time consuming and sometimes can be very difficult emotionally and all that for us. What would I do if I wasn't doing this? Blame Ben cry <laugh>. Like, I don't know. Yeah. And also, I love you guys. I know <laugh>, we Speaker 2 00:52:56 Want you, this is a really nice way to, to finish it because we talked, we didn't, I didn't want this to be negative. And yes, we talked about the pros and cons and there's misconceptions and there's the ugly that goes along with the bad and the good. But, uh, you know, you're talking to three agents here that, that love what they do. It's taken us years to get to where we're at. Uh, we don't want to have anyone listening, not choose to become a realtor just because of what we said, but we want you to have all the information. Realistic. Be realistic. Exactly. Speaker 3 00:53:22 So you think the takeaway that all of us had, we came off with a certain voice of do you think somebody should be a realtor if they come and ask you the takeaway? Our answers were all the same. Yeah. Yeah. If you have the right mindset, if you're driven enough, if you are getting into it for the right reasons, a hundred percent do it. Speaker 4 00:53:41 If you understand all the con all, everything that it entails, and don't think that the courses are gonna teach you that or help you with that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I, I don't know what is in those six courses we take. Yeah. Can't remember. There's nothing in there that's useful. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:53:55 Uh, okay. Well on that note, um, just wanna thank everyone for listening. Uh, this is the end of the show. Uh, as always, we're gonna give a shout out to a local business. Uh, I wanna talk about good neighbor. Um, I love Good Neighbor. It's there on Queen Street East. Uh, we end up buying quite a few, uh, bits for closing gifts. There's one in CIE as well. There's, there is. So East Side and West Side. Um, and, uh, you know, if you wanna know about, uh, some of the local businesses that we've worked with in the past, uh, you can go to support local gta.com. Uh, we love to give back and we love to support local. Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's podcast and any of our other episodes, please don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and others. Uh, it's also on our social media accounts, Facebook and Instagram and YouTube is at j and c Toronto Group. Most importantly, you can find out all about us and access our podcasts and additional [email protected]. Speaker 4 00:54:48 Hmm. Speaker 3 00:54:48 You can find out more about us if you knock on our door and start asking us questions. You Speaker 2 00:54:52 Could do that too. <laugh>, drop us an email slip into our dms. <laugh>. Speaker 4 00:54:57 Is that, I don't know if we know what that means. No. You not sure. We should say that you're Speaker 3 00:55:02 Dating. Don't you know that somebody please call us and tell us what that means. Yeah. We Speaker 4 00:55:05 We're too old to know what that means properly <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:55:07 All right. Thanks again folks. Uh, and we'll see you on the next one. Speaker 3 00:55:10 Bye-Bye. Bye. Speaker 0 00:55:12 You Speaker 1 00:55:13 Have been listening to the realestate podcast ca. 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