Today’s real estate market is noisy and full of pessimism. Raise your hand. If you are hearing things or maybe even thinking things like this in your market, either from other agents or your clients, this market is so crazy. There’s not enough inventory. How am I ever going to get a house under contract houses are going for so much more than the asking price rates just went up. Now, everything is going to be even harder to afford, or there are more real estate agents than houses to sell. That’s a big one right now. And while all of this may be true, you get to decide what you do about it. And my advice is to put your blinders on and be the best dang real estate agent you can be for your clients, regardless of what the market is doing. There are successful agents, no matter what the market is doing, I’ve been a real estate agent for 20 years. I sold in the worst real estate recession in history. In fact, my business quadrupled during that time. And so this pendulum has swung the opposite way, but it’s all about putting on your blinders and focusing on doing what you can to help your clients navigate this market. That is literally our job. So learn more about how to Put Your Blinders line, what that looks like in today’s episode. Welcome to this episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. I’m your host, Jennifer Myers, listen in, as I share exactly what I did to go from not being able to sell a house for years to becoming one of the top 1% of agents in the US to even opening my own brokerage full of agents taught me serve all the clients that were coming my way. I taught those agents. The same strategies I use in date two became top producing agents. Now through this podcast and agent, rod school.com, I’m sharing those same modern marketing and business strategies with you. Most of which I learned from looking outside the real estate industry, no fluff, no theory, no outdated sales techniques or paying for leads. Just the exact steps to get you the real estate business you’ve always wanted. And the life outside your business, you’ve always wanted to let’s make it happen and dive into today’s episode. On today’s podcast. I want to talk about how noisy the real estate market is right now. It’s a lot of chatter, a lot of things happening, things like, you know, and this is just what other people say, right? Like this is a crazy market. There’s no inventory. There are too many real estate agents. There are not enough houses. There are not enough clients. And one of the concepts that I tell my students is to keep your blinders on. Don’t listen to the chatter. Don’t listen to the noise, decide the business you want to have and put your blinders on and only see that I think in this market, it is so crucial to remind yourself of this, Put Your Blinders On, put your earmuffs on to like earmark. We need earmuffs now. And liners. I saw, I asked one of our longest times students, Amy to join me on the podcast because I think she, and I talk about this concept a lot about keeping your blinders on. And I think Amy, talk to me a little bit about how this concept has helped you, I guess, navigate and truly succeed in this marketplace. Yeah. Hey, Hey Jennifer. Good to talk to you. Thanks for inviting me to chatter, but you sell in a very competitive marketplace. You’re in the Washington DC marketplace. It is, there is not a lot of inventory. There is multiple offers. There’s hundreds of thousands of dollars that every house goes above. There’s a lot of real estate agents. And yet you have, as of this, talking of this, this episode, you have eight clients under contract and six, seven of them are buyers. Seven of them are buyers in a market that, you know, no buyer can win. So how do you, how does the concept of keeping your blinders on help you kind of, I don’t know what the right quiet, everything that’s going on and just keep you focused on where you want to be and where you want to take your clients. Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think it’s a question that we should all be asking ourselves in this market, how to keep our blinders on and stay very focused on what our client’s needs are. And I think it goes back to that basic concept that I was thought an agent grad school, but no first, first a student, you know, we’re always putting our clients first, right? So, you know, putting myself in their shoes is a big one right now. I really, you know, I’m a homeowner and I think a lot about, wow, gosh, if I was out there doing this right now, how tough, how would I feel? And I would feel like they feel frustrated, angry. Some of them negative about what the market’s going to be, you know, despond when they lose, you know, after giving their very best, it’s tough. You know, it’s very tough when it’s not impossible. And you know, the fact that I have clients that are contract right now and houses that they cannot, they’re one of my clients, I signed to our closing tomorrow. She’s just so ecstatic and excited. And this was our fourth offer and they love this house and they are thrilled. And they went through all those emotions that I just talked about, you know, and part of my job is to really, you know, I don’t have time to really focus on the chatter if I’m really focused on my clients. You know, that’s what I, when I start, when I start, you know, navigating away from that and listening to other people, or let’s say, you know, cause I too am despondent. When my clients lose, I don’t want them to lose. I don’t want to lose. I want to grow this business and make, you know, make folks happy and, and myself happy too. So it’s tough. I have to be my own cheerleader. But you know, when I start questioning that and like looking outside, I hear a lot of things that are not particularly solution-oriented. Right? A lot of complaining from myself too. Occasionally, I’m not saying, you know, agents are, you know, a lot of, oh, you’ve got to do this or that, or you’re never going to get it through or I’m going to have the worst year ever because there’s no inventory and all my buyers can’t get in houses. I’ve heard that none of which is helpful. And that’s what we mean by putting, putting your blinders on. And this is something like, I’ll tell, I always, it’s like one of those euphemisms that I say all the time, like when I hear the chatter, I feel agents bring in a chatter. It’s like, you can believe that stuff. And it also might be true. But what also is true is people are buying houses. People are buying houses, closings are happening. And if you want to, if you want to kind of believe or be thrown off course or focus on the stuff, that’s not going to lead you or your clients to success, you can choose to do that. I just think it’s a much easier existence right now in this market to put your blinders on and say, well, Amy, maybe tell us what you say, because you have all the chatter. Every market is the same. DC is very competitive right now. It’s always been at a competitive market. So everything that everybody’s saying throughout the country right now is still true. It’s not like it’s like in a different market. So how does, so what are the things that you tell yourself so that you could focus, Put Your Blinders On and beat somebody who has eight clients under contract seven of which are buyers. Yeah, I think it starts again, another concept that you and I have discussed on this podcast mindset, right? I have to go into it with the mindset, that number one, I’m really listening to my clients. Right. I’m really listening what, and not just like, I want three bedrooms, two bath, this neighborhood, right. That’s very little of what really matters. Right. I’m listening to what they’re asking me for and what they’re really asking me for. They’re telling me like, here’s my life and you know, in whatever form. Right. And here are the things that are important to me. I have a client, who’s a diplomat. There’ll be leaving in two years again, as they always do. They need a rentable home as well. Right. Things like that. You know, not just, oh, I want a yard or, you know, really listening to what they’re asking me to help them build in the next part of their life. And then I go back and I brainstorm and I say, okay, I know all these neighborhoods, I know these houses, where can, where can I see them fitting into that? And I don’t try to push things that don’t work. You know, so often in this market right now, I think that people, whether they’re realtors or buyers are trying to push, you know, make it fit. And we’re all guilty of that. You know, no matter what it is close, I’m going to get any jeans, you know, or, or whatever. I don’t care what the tag says or literally make it fit. You know, the houses I’m just going to make this fit. There’s a difference between, you know, looking at, looking at a home purchase and saying, what things am I willing to compromise on versus I’m going to make this fit, you know? And the biggest thing that I’m concerned about and you, and I’ve talked a lot about this inspire remorse. That’s the last thing I want any of my clients to have. And let me tell you, I heard someone telling me that there’s going to be a documentary about all the people who bought houses in 2020, who now don’t like their houses or their houses. Aren’t great for them or they’re falling apart. I don’t know if this true or not, but that’s what there was a Zillow study, 75% of the people who bought a home in 20, I forget, it was 2020 or 2021. I forgot what the study was, was I think it was 2021, 75% regret their decision. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that’s tough because here we are two years later. And if you do, if you, you might be kind of stuck cause you had to pay a lot in 2020, right. And now you have to pay more and the rates are, you know, headed up and then, you know, especially in the last couple of weeks, so the headwinds are even stronger now, you know, and yeah, go ahead. But that’s why we all have to, again, put our blinders on as the professionals put our blinders on. And if we have to slow our clients down, help them not make mistakes. I just read it another statistic. Let me find it here. Yeah, here we go. One-third of millennial homeowners. These are people who, you know, haven’t owned that long one-third plan to sell within a year. Wow. 40 and 44% plan of gen Z, which I guess I don’t, maybe I’m gen Z, I don’t know, 40, 40 something. And above plan to sell within a year when you combine those two numbers, that is what’s for, that is 80% of the market plans on selling within the next year. Yeah. That’s a lot of people. So what that tells us two things, number one, Put Your Blinders On. The, market’s going to change. Put Your Blinders On, slow down your clients so that they don’t become 80%, 75% of the market who made a mistake. Yeah. I have one of those clients now who was not, my client is a buyer who came to me last fall and said, we made a mistake, you know? And here are the reasons and they listed the reasons for me. And they said, we were referred to you. Would you sell our home? And we kind of talked through, could they make their money back? Where would they go? You know, would they rent for a while? You know, all the things. And they learn, they’re learning. Unfortunately, we haven’t put it on the market, but they’re learning the very pathway that nobody wants to learn. You know, they put in an offer that they did not think would when there were seven offers, they said, and they went high because they thought, well, we probably won’t get it. And they got it. And that’s another thing, you know, really talking to clients, being like, are you going to love this house? If you have to pay X amount for it, your highest bid can, they can never a hundred percent know that, but in their gut, you know, because there’s no point of winning a house just to win a house. And I think that’s, what’s happening again. Put Your Blinders On. Don’t listen to the, like, we all get caught up, but our clients especially get caught up in this. Like I got to get a house and it’s like, help them put their blinders on and say, yeah, but is this the house for you? Like you’re saying, is this house worth it to you? And it, and just because you can win the house doesn’t mean it’s the right decision. One thing we were talking about Amy and I, before we started recording, when we were talking about all the shenanigans going on in the market right now. And I think this is another perfect example of a place to put your blinders on. Amy, can you maybe explain the pudding, the concept of putting your blinders on and not doing the things that the shenanigans that some of the agents are doing or, or some of the, it’s more of just the environment that is happening. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, I think it’s, you know, there’s just seems like at what at all costs, right? Like somehow like at all costs and that, you know, getting, getting a house right now, there’s no houses. There’s not going to be any houses. What are we going to do? And I think that I am very aware when I talk to my clients. They’re so aware of that more so than we don’t need to educate them on no inventory. They know because none of their friends can get houses. It’s not helpful people, you know, there’s. And so I really try to steer clear of that. I just agree with them when they say, yeah, it’s really low. And very, I say, yes, it’s historically low, but there’s a house out there for you. And we’re going to keep trying and you know, and I’ll say to them, and there was a house at the clients. It was very close to what they wanted, but it had no central AC in the whole house. And they were really thinking about it. And I looked at them and I said, do you really want to have window units for the rest of the house for the rest of the time you lived and, or sink $30,000 into south. I want you to think about that and pay a hundred thousand over asking price. And I knew that it wasn’t the right house for them, you know? And they said, yeah, no, I don’t want to do that. I said, then we got away and got it. You know? And it’s hard, you know, people want to jump, they want it. Yeah. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll make it fit. I’ll make it fit. And they have no idea how to put an AC. They have no idea. It was a very old house. And we do have a house now, you know, I had client who lost quite a few deals. You know, people wanting to do things that are stretching the limits of what’s legally allowed from what I’ve, you know, our real estate attorneys and title companies tell us here not to do the other people are doing specifically, specifically when it comes about like the rent box. So let’s talk through that. Here’s a perfect example of, you know, we always tell like, kids don’t worry about what everybody else is doing or teenagers. Right. Who cares what everybody else is doing? Put Your Blinders On. Right? So I’m telling all the real estate agents and the clients who cares what everybody else is doing specifically, what’s happening with rent backs is sellers are putting their houses on the market way too early, needing 30 days, settlements, and then wanting to move like four months from now and expecting buyers to accept a rent back. That’s longer than the, and I don’t think this is our market. I think this is a federal law that a loan disclosure, when you, when you, when a buyer signs a loan document for a home, they are occupying, it says specifically in there that you plan to occupy the home within 60 days. And what’s happening is either agents or buyers don’t understand the contract, or they don’t understand the loan terms, but what’s happening is they are doing a 60 day aboveboard and then doing like under the table, rent backs for longer. And that is 100% loan fraud. There are people doing it and yeah, they might be able to house. They probably don’t know that they probably don’t know that’s loan fraud. I didn’t know that till a title attorney told me that, you know, and was like, this is very serious and explained to me how and why, and not just to me, where he was talking to a large group of realtors, you know, but unless it’s, as you talked about, like the cash deal, right. Cash, you could do whatever you wanted. You’re not beholden to the, to the bank. But even to me, as an agent, I still see a lot of liabilities with that and would not recommend that. Certainly, but again, putting your blinders on and saying, do I want to be somebody who recommends that my clients do under the table things, even though I could get them the offer, even though the winning offer might get it right. Yeah. I lost, I lost an offer because we didn’t do that. You know? And I said to the listing agent, I’m happy to do it. We’re happy. We can do a little bit later close to you, but we’re bound to the 60 days. And she never really said anything whenever I emailed her like, oh, or anything, she just goes, well, I know everyone can’t do that. And I was like, okay, but we could do later. You know, that’s one of the reasons they lost. And then they lost made by a couple of thousand, but, you know, had they done it, maybe they would have won the deal, you know, but would I have been a good agent to have suggested that? I certainly don’t think so. Right. So again, putting your blinders on, who cares, what everybody else is doing, what kind of business do you want to operate in? Do what kind of guy do you want to be from your clients and what kind of advice and professional do you want to be? And sometimes winning the offer is not the best result. Sometimes it’s saying, here’s, we’re going to do this above board. And I’m going to explain and present the offer to the listing agent who might not understand the ramifications of what the seller is asking for. And we’re going to do our best, and we’re going to do it above board. Talk a little bit Amy about, cause I remember when he first started with, with Asian grad school, I guess 10 years or so, I feel like we talked about like, I always, always like say, Amy, Put Your Blinders On Amy, Put Your Blinders. Now you automatically know to put them on. And I feel like you never take them off maybe every now and then, but can you talk about maybe in the beginning, I think in the beginning of a real estate agent’s career, it’s really difficult not to look at what everybody else is doing or what everybody else is hearing. It’s hard to put your blinders on. So can you talk a little bit about maybe an instance or two where it was really important to put your blinders on and how that changed the trajectory truly of your career? Yeah. I remember early on, you would say Put Your Blinders On Amy and then you’d start talking about something else because you’re obviously a very busy agent and I’d be like, okay, I don’t, I don’t know what that means, but I’m just going to do it, you know? Cause I wasn’t, we didn’t really talk it through that much. Like I kind of do an event, but I also, like, I think it means to focus on what I’m supposed to do. All right. I guess I was a little confused for a while because you know, in the beginning so much is coming at you, and people are saying, do this, do that. This is a design. So I was like, okay, why don’t, you know, Jennifer’s story successful. I’m gonna keep my blinders on. Like, you know, and, and it’s evolved over the years, you know? But the important part about it is like, like keep the noise out and focus on what you’re doing with your business. And I mean like microscopically, you know, like, have you done what you said you, you set out to do today, whether that’s like send out your newsletter, write your newsletter, you know, it’s not about, did you close a deal today? Did you go in under contract? And I think particularly like, I feel this, I don’t know if it’s true, but I like, it’s almost this like giant badge of honor now people who are getting deals through, like I got a deal through, but like, like somehow they’re better than you just using the general, you know, you that, because it’s so darn hard to get things through right now, you know, and everyone is really struggling with like, and so it does you start feeling like, well, how are they better than me? Do they have a secret sauce? You know, like all kinds of things. And that’s when my blinders start opening up and I have to shut them again. Right. It’s like, no, that’s what they’re doing. That’s their client. That’s their position. And like, we’re just talking about, I don’t have any idea what their guidances or how long they’ve had this buyer or what this buyer wants or how much money they’re willing to spend. I only know how I service my clients and what I do for them and what works for me and continues to work for me. You know, I don’t do things that I stopped doing things when they don’t work. You know? So in the beginning, yeah. I didn’t always know. I really follow the script literally that you had set out for me and agent grad school people as far as the process. Right. And then I started to in, as long as I followed that script and stayed focused, like no, my business kept growing and then it’s like changed a little bit as I’ve been sorted, obviously a lot more of myself into it and I’ve gotten a lot more experience and I’ve gotten a lot more experience because I’ve had all of these clients and all these experiences and you know, it’s so it’s so important. You know, I, I’m very proud of the fact that, you know, you know, people, people were saying, agents are saying, this is the other thing too. You have to watch. Oh my God, I’m so tired. I know everyone’s so tired. Everyone’s tired. We had a meeting a week ago where everyone was talking about, we feel so bad. We know you’re so exhausted. And like I started thinking like, yeah, I guess I’m really tired. I really think about that. But I guess I, you know, like I have to be careful what goes in your mind? You know, I had not really been, I mean, I knew I was tired. You’d work all day and you were busy and lots of things happened, but like real estate, it’s busy, you know, it’s, it’s a business and it’s a very busy business. And so I knew it was a little more tired, but then it really kind of made me start thinking, yeah, I should probably do some things to slow down. You know, like all of a sudden I’m like, yeah, people should feel bad for me and my family. For sure. I feel bad. I’m working so hard, you know? Oh, that’s a perfect example of like, just Put Your Blinders On. Don’t listen to choose what you listen to and really asking yourself, is this thought going to help me go in the direction that I want to go. Right. I, yeah. I’m tired. Might not be the most helpful thought at this moment. Right? Yeah. I mean, and I think it was said in a way of, you know, trying to recognize that it is a tough market, but for me it kind of was like, oh yeah, you’re right. Maybe I am tired. I should let you know, I should give myself a break or, you know, 10 more ice creams or I don’t know. Like, and you know, I, I know that like keeping the blinders on really is just like, because being tired has nothing to do with every day. When I get up and do my business, I mean, I’m in it. You know, I have this, market’s really tough. I’m pretty, I think I’m pretty happy. And my clients are pretty happy. Is it a struggle to, to end is not fun to lose yields. Sure. It’s not fun, but you know what? We get up the next day and we start a strategy again, no, sometimes the strategy for some of these people in our contract, they’ve changed neighborhoods. They’ve changed some of their criteria, but it’s all in line still with what is important to them, right. We’re not making decisions that are like, you know, we’re, you’re going to live here and you hate this neighborhood, but you can afford it. Or, you know, w whatever, no AC having no air conditioning, that example, yes. Having the no air conditioning for someone who’s like, I know you have no time to figure that out or do any of the things. And that’s what I mean. Like sometimes if you, when you work with your clients and as you get more experienced, you know, better than they do, you’re like that they’re not going to be someone who’s going to be able to put in central AC. You know, I talked to them a lot of times, it’s about their condo and they’d had to do renovations and they had a really hard time with it. And they were very frustrated and they’re not DIY buyers. And I’m like, I knew this house is not for, you know, busy professionals, you know, and then it’s market where it’s really busy to get people to do things in your home too. And they’re going to get a great home that had already been run. It was, it was older classic home in Alexandria, but it had had a whole like big two-story extension on it with a beautiful kitchen and a beautiful, and we got the home and it actually prays for a little more than God. They didn’t settle. Right. And thank God they didn’t settle. And I think you have to really let people know, like, you know, markets come and go and markets change quickly. I mean, the smart, you know, I don’t know. I have a sense that when people start taking vacations with COVID being the numbers, being low people, really feeling like traveling and stuff, you know, it might not be, you know, 20 offers on a house. And I’m like, w we’re going to get a lot more inventory here with 80% of a huge, the largest group of homeowners about to sell their properties. Yes. Yes. So we’re going to, hopefully we’re going to get a huge amount of inventory and, you know, but even so, like, I am really proud of the fact that I can say, and I don’t mean this any like, arrogant way that like the clients I have under contract now, and most of my clients, you know, we did not make snap decisions. We did have home inspections, you know? Yes. We had to go over asking price, but we, you know, yes, we had to make multiple offers and lose, but like, I feel very good about these houses for each and every person that I work with. And I think you have to take that time to understand who, who your clients are. I mean, you should see, we’ve talked about this before you and I, about when I bring up something negative in a house and someone hasn’t worked with me for very long and they’re like, wow, did she just point out something bad that we don’t like, you know? And I’m like, yeah, because I want you to, you know, you told me you don’t want a house that has like this or that, you know, like, oh yeah. And then you start to build that trust that they know. And it’s like, this is, this is Amy trying to find this, the best house for us. It is Amy trying to sell us a house because that’s when everybody wins. I, you know, that’s my favorite thing. I’m so thrilled for tomorrow. It’s that 9:00 AM settlement. I’m excited to be there, you know, all that. And because when you do work harder for it, as these, as most buyers are doing now, it’s a little sweeter, you know, and there’s no regret and you’re not going to be the agent blamed. And you are choosing what to think about what’s happening in the market, putting your blinders on and not listening to the noise. And you’re just like, yes, it’s a busy market. Yes. There’s not a lot of inventory. Yes. You know, I could push for this sale, but it’s not the right choice. Right. And you’ve decided what lane you want to operate your business in. And I think that’s the point of what we’re trying to say here guys is like, you can have a choice in the matter don’t fall victim to the noise, just Put Your, like, I keep, like, I wish people could see them. Like I have this, like put your bumpers up and decide what kind of business and what kind of agent you want to be. And knowing that sometimes passing on the sale or sometimes losing an offer is actually the best course of action, regardless of what, you know, the inventory being nervous that the inventory is not going to deliver, regardless of the fact that, you know, there’s going to be multiple offers on the next one too. And I really like how, like, I would say like putting that patient’s hat on, which is not my strength, but I’ve learned to really grow into it. You know, it’s really trying to be patient with yourself, with your clients and tell them, you know, nobody they’re already stressed out. You’re going to be like, yeah, there’s just no inventory. You know, it’s like, they already knows that they talked to their friends. Every it’s like, I think they go into the office on Monday or they’re on their zoom and like, oh, what happened to you this weekend? You know, here’s what happened to me? How many do you put in? I put in 10, but as well, you know, they, they get it. They’re so acutely aware, you know, and you know, our job is to make them understand that like, yes, cause they’re, they’re listening to the chatter, you know? And, and you know, we, we need to be focused on our house. One house, two houses, 10 houses. Nope. You know, what have you is, is really the mindset. And I also love a challenge. So for me, this market’s like, okay, bring it on. Let’s do it. You know, but that’s why you have the results that you have, right. That’s why you have eight people under contract versus the agents who are running around and you know who they are and your own market in the same market, you know, that you hear agents saying there’s inventories, two’s tough. The market’s too competitive. There’s no good buyers. I’m going to be beat by cash. And then you’re sitting here going, yeah, that’s all true. But I also have eight buyers under contract. Right. Because I’ve never, you know, no matter what market and I’ve worked, you and I both worked in the ups and down markets or the seller market versus buyer market, there are always states of play. Right. There’s always, and so your job is to figure out how to break through that. Right. Because that is, that is the job. Yeah. That’s literally the job. Like you said, if it was easy, there wouldn’t, I wouldn’t have a job if everybody just was like, Hey, you want to buy my house? Sure. And like everybody, that’s, that’s not what the market is. And it’s my job to, you know, to break through that and to get really creative and to get really smart and to get really focused. And you can’t do that if you’re listening. And I always tell you, I think the chatter is probably as bad as it’s ever been with pessimism know, that’s what I wanted to have this episode, because I know that you know that and we both hear it all day long. And I just keep seeing some of our students like you and there’s others who put on their blinders and make things happen for their clients. And then there’s other agents out there from the same exact market. And they’re talking themselves out of being successful. So either Amy and I are saying that it isn’t tough. It is hella tough out there. That’s not what we’re saying. We’re not, we’re not saying it’s easy. We’re just saying you have a choice of what you want to, what I guess a choice of not necessarily what you think, but what you decide about what you can do about the information, if that makes sense. Yup. Yup. It’s your, it’s your decision, you know of what you, you know, and, and that’s the beauty of it. You can go all kinds of ways with this. I mean, there’s so many ways to attack this market and there’s so many, you know, it, isn’t just your buyer’s agent, your seller’s agent, you’re this, you’re that? I mean, cause lots of your classes. I think people have talked about strategies, how to win business, how to, you know, how to get new clients, how to serve the clients. You have, how to continue to help people, you know, all of these things and it, isn’t just a simple like, well it’s a seller’s market and it’s really bad. So that’s it. Yeah. You know, it’s at the end of the story, I’m like, no decide like decide if you’re going to believe that. Right. You can put your blinders on and believe that. And obviously, you’re going to understand what the result of that is going to be. Or you could say, yes, that’s true. But I’m also here to do a job. And I got to figure out how to do my job, which is to help people navigate this market and make what they want to have happen. Maybe not like right. But yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Maybe not how they thought, like you said, and, but maybe even better, you know? I mean, look, it’s, it’s, it’s much better if people are saying, you know, agents, oh, it’s going to be the worst year. Cause there’s no inventory. I mean maybe people maybe we’ll see how the year turns out. Right. But maybe people, myself who knows won’t maybe has as many sales, but the sales that I have will be like the best ever, who knows. Right? Like who knows, you know, clients that I might have for 20 more years or it might sell it, you know, who knows what might happen. And I think that’s the key. Keep your mind open, understand that things cycle you’ve got to get in there, break through the noise. You cannot get on the bandwagon and you can’t get on the either bandwidth. You can’t be on the bandwagon of like, well, it’s not hard for me. I have, I’m a listing agent and I just I’m rocking it out either. And there’s plenty of braggadocio business around. I sold this in one day. It’s like, right, okay. That’s not hard, not hard, not hard in this market and not, you know, and, and vice versa. Like I’m a buyer’s agent. I’ll never going to get any money. You know, none of, either of these things are true in my, my opinion, you know? And again, it goes back to what I was taught from you, which is we focus on our clients, what do they need? How can I help them get there? And that’s it, it doesn’t matter what’s happening. It might, it might, it’s obviously important to give perspective when you lose a contract or it’s tough or it’s not going as expected, but, but to buy into the, there are no houses, you know, it’s like, there’s a lot of reasons for where we are right now. Right. Just kind of like everything in life, you, you kind of get your cards dealt and you’re like, okay, well these are what they are, but it’s, you know how you play them as we all know. And I think you said, like you said, you nailed it. You don’t have a choice every day. How am I going to play this game? Or am I going to give up? I hear a lot of people I’m going to give up. I’m not going to be an agent. You know, it’s too hard. Can’t, can’t get any offers through, you know, that’s the part that kills me because I have agents email and I, I love the perspective for which I said, because I don’t just sit in one market anymore. I have agents throughout the country emailing me on a daily basis, which I love. But here’s what breaks my heart. I have agents who send me emails and tell me, they’re getting out of the market or they’re getting out of real estate because they can’t pay their bills and this, that, and the other. And I have students in the same exact markets who are killing it. And I say to myself, like, it’s it pains me because what I want to do is say like you, this is a decision that you’ve made and this is the belief that you have. And so obviously this is your outcome. I can remember one of our students, I had gotten an email a few days before from an agent and a perfect in a certain city, pretty big city. And they told me how this was not a student of mine, but they emailed me and told me how bad the market is in this particular city and how bad the schools are and how everybody’s moving out of it. And then what, like two days later, one of our students told me how, you know, she had 62 people wanting, reaching out to her because of a marketing piece. She put out wanting to meet with her, to buy a house in the same exact city. Yeah. I know it’s flowing. It’s mind-blowing to me how it’s not the circumstance. It’s what you believe to think about the circumstance would that will determine your results. I promise you a hundred percent and you get to really make people happy. You know what I mean? It’s like, if I go in and I’m like, yeah, well we lost another one. You know? Like, you know, I mean, it is tough to be, it is tough, but like for me, the toughness just makes me get better. You know, that’s, that’s my personality. It’s not everybody’s personality. I’m not saying you should be me or what have you. But I enjoy the challenge of it. I love nothing better. I’m a dork. I’m on my phone. Like clicking on it, little houses on maps at like midnight being like, Ooh, is that one still for sale? You know? Like what about this one? What about that one? Oh yeah. Okay. Well, maybe we’ll see this. Like, I’m always thinking about how can I get my clients, what they need, you know? And because I enjoy it, I enjoy doing that. Not everybody does, I get that, but I’m kind of a dork that way. Well, and you also Put Your Blinders On. That’s what you’re choosing to think about. So that is, and that is why you have the outcome that you have. So for everybody listening, I hope that you will choose to put your blinders on and focus just like Amy is on focusing. How can I help my clients get what they need from me? And sometimes it’s not even what the clients think that they want, right? Like the clients think they want a house with no air conditioning, but we know that they don’t. And we know that winning that offer is A, possible, but B, not something that’s going to be good. So Put Your Blinders On, decide what you are going to think and do about your job as a professional, regardless of what’s going to happen on the outside. Cause let me tell ya, we’ve all been complaining for two years about this low inventory and I’m telling you, inventory is coming and the pendulum’s going to swing. And then all of a sudden people are going to be complaining about the inventory. And so you’ve seen it cause you and I have sold 20 for 20 years, you’ve seen good seasons and bad seasons. And there’s something to complain about in any market and in any market, in any market that there’s not something to complain about. Then again, I wonder what the function is of a real estate agent, because of it’s so easy to navigate. What’s the point of us? Yeah. What’s the point? How are we going to help people? How are we going to earn our commissions that are, you know, are, are, are, are worth. And you know, I feel like we’re, I hopefully always are earning it, but I feel like, you know, we’re definitely earning it in a tougher market, whether it’s, you know, too much, you know, I’ve worked in a market where houses are in the market for 90 days. That was completely normal. You were net you, you know, you were expected. You probably weren’t going to get a full-price offer. You were always going to have a buyer ask for closing costs. None of that exists today, you know, but that market again. Yeah. And one thing I will sorry, and then people will complain about that and how they can’t sell houses with that either. But you can’t. Yes, you can. That’s where a lot of my staging work really started to come through. I differentiate myself. I knew we had to look a plus exceptional. We couldn’t just, you know, like skirt some things. And we had to look beautiful down to every detail to stand out and to get our, you know, and to be priced really well. So then I honed in, on my, all my like, you know, pricing, you know, and all of those kinds of things who my buyer was going to be. You know, everything is an opportunity. Those days were opportunities to sharpen all those skills, you know? Okay. The Tougher, the market, the bigger, the opportunity to sharpen your skills, become a better agent and truly help your clients. So Put Your Blinders On, focus on that and tune out the noise. That’s not going to lead you or your clients where they want to go. That’s great. Anything else you want to add? Amy? I just want to add one little thing. Yeah. Just one little kind of thing. So I would send a meeting with a bunch of agents and people were frustrated with, you know, well, I do all the things that, that everybody says to be competitive. I’m still not getting my offers through. And you know, it was just a discussion about, you know, things being tough, as we said, and one of the agents said, you know what, the secret? And then somebody goes, what is the secret sauce? Like the people that are getting things through, you know, contracts in the table and an agent said, the secret sauce is you. You’re the, I love that. And I was like, whoa, that’s so good. Because once you’re the secret sauce, then you, then you’re not beholden to, oh, I have to write it with no contingencies. I have to whatever. Right. Like, and that’s kind of, I guess what I’m trying to say about mindset and what we’ve talked about in this discussion, right? It’s you, your, your mindset, how you think, what you decide, that’s the secret sauce. There is no other, I think all the tricks are out there. Right? Mostly. And I think depending on what market you are, who you’re working with, a lot of the, the price and getting the highest price and all the things that we need to do to get the house right. The trick is right. Do you believe when you send that, when you send that out, every offer I sent over, I believe almost every offer. You’re going to get this. If I don’t go into it, believing that what’s the point of it right now, because I don’t get half, maybe half don’t go through, but eventually they do, you know, and it’s just the right house for them, you know? And so I kind of liked that, that made me feel good at the end. Kind of, you know, it’s, it’s you, you’re the secret sauce. I love it. Thank you for adding that. You are the secret sauce. Yep. Awesome. Okay. I’m going to stop recording. Thank you for listening to this episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. We purposely keep this podcast sponsor and commercial-free so we can focus solely on providing real estate agents with the content that will help them grow their real estate business. And how about like, they love outside the business too, but we need your help to get this podcast in the hands of other real estate agents. 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