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Full Transcript

(SPEAKER: Lisa Johnson Smith, Host)

Lisa: With all of the hats you wear as an agent, you should expect to turn every client into multiple deals, right? I mean, think about this. It’s pretty impressive. On a daily basis, you might be a psychologist.

[sound effect: It’s okay, take a deep breath]

A manager. Negotiator.

[sound effect: You’re gonna have to come up higher]

Financial advisor. Stager.

[sound effect: Yep, you can set it down over there]

Organizer. Or security.

[sound effect: Disarmed, ready to arm]

Shoot, I’ve even served as a babysitter

[sound effect: baby crying]

for a client or two. But how about a teacher? This is the hat that our guest this week says can help you turn every client into five deals. And she’s gonna tell you how right now. This is The Walkthrough.

(INTRO MUSIC)

Hey there. I’m Lisa Johnson Smith. Welcome to The Walkthrough. This is a weekly show. New episodes come out every Monday. This is the show where you learn what’s working right now from the best real estate agents and industry experts in the country. At HomeLight, we believe in real estate agents. We’re here to explore how great agents grow their business, stand out from the crowd, and become irreplaceable.

This week, I’m talking to Lauren Rosin. She is the owner and founder of The Rosin Team, out of Scottsdale, Arizona and San Diego, California. She’s been in real estate for 20 years, and she has a vast knowledge of the real estate world, with a master’s in real estate development. But also, she’s hands-on, as a longtime investor herself. Three times, she’s led her team to be named Team of the Year. And last year, she did $140 million in sales value.

Well, on today’s episode, you’ll hear how you can turn every client into five deals. You’ll hear us talk about the financial review you need to do with your clients, how you can teach your clients to become investors, how to get three to five solid leads from a listing done right, why you should be open to walking away from a $3 million listing, and also the role-play script that you can use for clients concerned with high-interest rates. Here’s my conversation with Lauren Rosin.

(BEGIN CONVERSATION)

Lauren: Real estate’s an amazing tool for a lot of people to build generational wealth. And so, if you can learn to do it for yourself and teach your clients, then you start creating clients for life versus just, you know, one transaction. You’re a door opener.

And so what I really do is I really try to educate my clients on, especially first-time homebuyers, right? Like, “This is your first home. Congratulations. Make one extra payment a year. Get on that principal.” But, you know, the goal is basically referrals, and we teach people how to build their wealth in real estate, and they’re gonna keep coming back.

Lisa: So you’re saying that, despite your background, anybody can do this?

Lauren: Absolutely.

Lisa: All right. All right. Well, let’s get to the good stuff. Break it down for us. What is the first step in being able to turn every client into five deals? Is there one way that you follow each time? Is there a certain process? Can you walk us through it?

Lauren: So what I like to do with any client is really meet with them and have almost a financial review. Like, what does their life look like? How much money could they actually afford to save every month?

So you’re always gonna start off with their first home. You know, with their first home, you can maybe get a grant for them from different banks. Sometimes there’s first-time homebuyer grants. But you teach them, “Buy your first home. And you’re gonna live in this home for about two years. How much money could you save a month, you know?”

So maybe they say they can save $1,000 a month for the next house. So you tell them, “Okay, you’re gonna save $1,000 a month”, and then two years, maybe three years, you know, you design it for them, and, you know, the prices in the areas that you’re selling. “Okay, in three years, you’re gonna have $36,000 saved up. That’s enough for another down payment. So the house you live in, let’s turn that into a rental property, and now let’s get you to go buy another primary. And you’re gonna live in that for two to three years, and you’re gonna save $1,000 a month again.”

And the trick with saving money is to put it in a separate bank account. It’s not to have let it be in your normal bank account. And it only can be used for investments, buying another home, right? You make a rule with yourself. And so that’s the goal.

And so if you can teach, say, a teacher, who could probably save about $500 a month, so you tell them, “Buy this house, and for four years, let’s save $500 a month, and in four years, let’s buy you another home that you move into, and we make your current one into a rental property.” Then they do it again. So tell them to save again for another four years. So in 10 years, or in eight years, you know, they’re gonna have three properties. So it’s just teaching. Because people think, “Real estate investor. Oh, I’m not an investor.” Everybody’s a real estate investor. Everybody has the ability.

Lisa: All right. So in theory, this sounds wonderful. I love it. But right now, we’re in a recession. You know, a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, and they’re still trying to buy their first house, interest rates are higher, inventory’s still low. So I mean, what about for the people who can only afford, you know, maybe $100 a month or can’t even afford that? Are you still able to turn a client into more than one deal if they can’t start with this first step?

Lauren: I think, well, yeah, I mean, there’s different ways to structure it. You know, if you bought a house three, four years ago, you probably have some really good equity right now. So maybe instead of turning that past property into a rental, you decide, let me sell this, and now I have a down payment for two properties. So there’s different ways to structure the deal.

And I think the most important thing is sitting down with them and understanding where they’re at. If they can only save $100 a month, that’s fine. Maybe you buy a house every eight-year plan, six-year plan, you know, or, like I said, you sell the home you have, or maybe you can get a second mortgage on it because you have enough equity.

The thing you need to remember about rent: Rent is 100% interest rate. So interest rates under 6% is really, really good for us. And I think people are forgetting that because we had that 2% and 3% for a few years. And I don’t think we’re ever gonna see that ever again. I mean, bonds can’t be sold that cheap for 30 years.

Lisa: Right. When you think about the ’90s, when it was 12% and, I mean, that just blows my mind, you know, just to think that I had paid that at some point.

Lauren: I was borrowing money from 2009 and 2014 for 18% hard money on buying the trustee sales and flipping homes with it. We made it work. At the end of the day, you just need to look at, what is the cost? What’s the true cost, and does it work? And in that case, it worked at 18%. Obviously, we were only holding them for a few months, but it worked.

Lisa: Yeah. So how do you identify the clients? Because I would assume, we talked about, one drawback is if a client doesn’t have the money to save, right? So if you meet that client that is not ready to save yet, is there still another way to go about it?

Lauren: I mean, the best thing to do is buy a house. Help them buy a home, you know? Maybe with teachers, a lot of times, there’s grant programs for them, where they get maybe a down payment contributed to them. So at the end of the day, there’s always gonna be products out there. And as a real estate expert, it’s your job to find them and kind of place them with the right person. If someone buys a house and never buys any other properties and just pays it off quicker than 30 years, that’s also success.

So what you wanna do is you wanna sit down with your client, and you wanna decide what makes sense for them. Not what you think makes sense for them, but, truly, what goals, what they want. What is their goal? If they had two rental properties in 12 years and made an extra $1,000 a month passive income on it, that would make them happy, then make that happen. Right? Everybody has different goals.

Lisa: Yeah. So how do you go into this? What is your best-case scenario for your client that you’re trying to work with and, you know, get them to buy into this idea?

Lauren: I mean, best-case scenario is, you know, they buy one. Two years later, they buy another one, their friends find out about it, and they wanna work with The Rosin Team.

So I learned when working with investors is that you end up getting a lot of referrals if you make them money. So if you’re teaching them to build this rental portfolio…Like, I have a group of engineers. They get big bonuses in December, so they buy one rental property each in December. But this has been 11 years. So now they have 11 properties each, but now they started telling their other co-workers and their co-workers.

So it’s like you’re teaching people to think different. When I’m out with them showing a home, the best thing to do is to start talking about the future, just planting those seeds. “Hey, in a couple years, you make this a rental property, or maybe we acquire you a different property. Maybe you wanna buy an Airbnb in somewhere that you travel often,” right? “Maybe it’s somewhere you go to two to three weeks a year, maybe somewhere in Florida.” So you say, “Let me go buy an Airbnb in Florida. That makes sense.”

There’s just so many different ways to structure it. The best thing to do is sit down with a client and just have that meeting with them. But you gotta know what they want.

You know, if they don’t want stress in their life, and they’re happy where they are, and they don’t really need the extra money, there’s no reason for them to own rental properties. Short-term rental properties, they’re a lot more work. They’re so much work. It’s more like a business. So with a long-term rental, you stick a tenant in there, and they’re usually in there for 12 months or more.

Short-term, you can have any, you know, two days to 100 days. But you’re running a business. You’re having to stock the house. You’re having to buy the furniture. You have to make the appointments. You gotta run the Airbnb and the VRBO apps. And so it’s really a business.

So I really take that into account with people. When they tell, “Oh, I wanna own an Airbnb.” “Okay, well, do you have an extra 10 hours a month to manage this thing? Because it’s gonna take a lot of work.” Where, with the long-term hold, you’re really collecting a…You know, you might hear from the tenants once every now and then to fix something, but it’s much easier.

So when I’m meeting with an investor, I’m trying to also understand their threshold for pain, surprises, you know? Things go wrong all the time in real estate. Things break. You know, if they’re gonna freak out anytime something breaks, then they’re probably not gonna be a great landlord, and they’re probably…There are people that I do believe should not own investment properties.

Lisa: So tell me what that conversation sounds like. How do you communicate that to someone who wants to do it, but you’re like, “No, I can’t see them?”

Lauren: If they wanna do it, I’m not gonna discourage them, but I’m gonna give them the truth about, you know, it’s not the easiest. With the long-term holds, I personally use property managers. It makes my life a lot easier. The short-term rentals are just higher stress, so that’s not gonna be a great scenario for just anybody. The long-term rentals are great. You plug somebody…you put a good tenant in there, and you hopefully don’t have to think about it.

Lisa: So what kind of support do you need? I mean, you have a team, and you’ve been at this game for a minute, to say the least. For a solo agent, for somebody just getting started out, you know, what kind of support should they have in mind?

Lauren: I mean, I think the best thing for anyone to do is Google “Real Estate Landlord Act” in your town or state. It’s like a 20-page booklet, usually, but really understanding the laws of the market that you’re in. And then, if you have one or two rentals, usually you can manage those yourselves. You can find the leases and everything online or, you know, get them from your Realtor. Yeah, just kind of knowing the law. But once you get to a point where you have too many, you do need to bring in the property manager, I believe. Like, I use a property manager, even though I’m qualified. I just don’t have time.

Lisa: So what other things should you look out for when you’re looking to do this?

Lauren: Well, that’s one strategy, right, to get a lot of business. The other strategy is listings. So if you have a listing, you really should be getting three to five really solid leads from that listing if done right.

So you have your sign calls, you have your open houses, and you have your online image, right? A lot of times you can get, people will call you through Zillow or realtor.com or because they see the property. So I think it’s just understanding every time you get a lead or work somebody, they know a lot of people. How do you get them to send you that business?

And you have to remember, we’re in sales, so we always think, “Oh, people are gonna refer me.” It’s not the normal. You know, teachers and nurses, they don’t work in a, “Oh, if I refer them money, it helps their career” way. They make salaries, right? And so that’s just something to keep in mind.

So I tell my agents you have to tell someone five times to send you a referral. And you wanna do it throughout the transaction. The first or second time you’re out with the home with them, “Hey if you know anyone looking to buy or sell, I would love the opportunity.” And you just keep planting that seed and then directly asking for it when you get closer to the end. “Hey, I’d love this review. This really helps my career, and if you know anyone buying or selling.”

You have to constantly keep reminding people. With an open house, you should 100% be knocking the neighborhood and inviting them to your open house. Those are opportunities for leads. Do they know anyone buying or selling?

“Hey, I have this open house coming up. We’re probably gonna have a ton of people on it, probably more buyers for it than we have property, so if anyone was looking in this neighborhood, can I keep your house in mind?” “Oh, for the right price, you would sell?” You know, so you’re starting to understand how to get business from everywhere.

Lisa: You know, I have to say that is the worst feeling ever. That recently just happened to me not too long ago. You know, someone who’s very close to me bought outside of the state where I am in, and I was like, “What? How many times have I told you to refer me?” But I guess I didn’t tell them five times. You know? And that’s just money just out the door. Out the door. That was the most frustrating thing ever.

Lauren: And earlier in your career, you’re gonna have friends and family not use you. I gotta tell you, just keep doing what you’re doing, and don’t burn that relationship, because in five, six years, once you have that experience, and they’re seeing that you’re doing well, because your social media and your online presence is strong, they’re gonna come back to you.

I think a lot of times, agents get really offended. “Oh, they didn’t use me. I’m never talking to them again.” They’re probably gonna use you because they didn’t have a good experience.

(SHORT MUSIC TRANSITION)

Lisa: Hi. This is Lisa Johnson Smith. In today’s market, there’s one thing that nearly every real estate agent can agree on. Well-informed buyers make purchase decisions faster, and that creates more competition around your listings. HomeLight’s revolutionary listing management software can help make this happen for you. Market your listings and manage all of your incoming offers in one location. You and your sellers are kept in the loop at every step, and everyone will love the simple, consistent, and secure experience. HomeLight listing management is free. Get started today at disclosures.io.

Lisa: Now let’s get back to the conversation. Okay. What other learning curves, I mean, is there? You said, you know, check the laws in your area. What else can agents do to learn more about how exactly to do this?

Lauren: They need to own their own real estate. If you’re a Realtor, and you own one rental property plus your home, you’re an expert. And you need to tell everybody. Any time you’re out with a client, talk about your rental property. It’s instant credibility.

I think the best way…Like, with me, I started doing it for myself, so then I was able to do it for my clients. Then I realized I need to learn some tax strategies. I’m paying the IRS a little too much money. But I really invested my time and learning into that for a long time. So now, when I go meet a client, I’m very educated in taxes, and legal strategies, and investment properties. I’m not gonna tell them, “Don’t consult your CPA.” I’m definitely gonna tell them, “Oh, but consult your…I think it’s like this, but consult your CPA.”

So if you become an expert in your field and a true expert, you know finances, legal, you understand loans, you understand all of it, you’re gonna do well in this business because you’re not just gonna be a door-opener for someone. You wanna be a real estate adviser.

Lisa: Right. That’s gonna make people keep coming back to you. What else, Lauren? Are there any other strategies?

Lauren: A great one is to throw housewarming parties. So if your client just closed, “Hey, I wanna help you schedule the best housewarming party.” And probably push it out two months. Let them settle. And then you help them kind of throw that party, and you’re there. You don’t have to have a Realtor badge on. They’re gonna introduce you to everybody. “This is my Realtor.” So it’s a great way to be in front of people.

Lisa: That is a great idea.

Lauren: Yeah, and it’s not expensive. They’re usually gonna pay for most of it. You just kind of pick the day and kind of get things going. And now you just gotta meet their 30, 40 friends and show them the great house you just sold them.

Lisa: So what percentage of people have you gotten as clients from an event like that?

Lauren: Well, yeah. My sister does them all the time. She probably picks up two, three clients an event.

Lisa: What other things do you do on a daily basis that you can attribute to repeat clientele?

Lauren: I mean, I’m really big on birthdays. So I think if it’s a client’s birthday, send a little personal video, you know, 30-second video, “Happy birthday. Hope you have the best day ever,” and send it to them. You’re standing out. If they have a certain kind of dog, and you’re walking down the street, and you see the same kind of dog, and you closed them seven months ago, snap a picture, “Oh, my God. This dog looks like your dog.” You become their friend, and you’re genuine about it too.

So the CRMs, obviously, you have to live by your CRM. Every morning, your CRM should be telling you whose birthday it is. And then you make a little video, or you send your message. But it’s just that constantly getting in front of them. And, you know, a lot of times you go, “Oh, I talked to them for six months. I’m done.” It’s like, yeah, but most people don’t move every year or two. Arizona is very hot. People move here every two, three years. You know, but there’s places like New York City people don’t move for 20 years.

Lisa: I mean, how often are you keeping in touch with your past clients?

Lauren: Oh. We try to touch them monthly emails. We definitely do birthday cards. We do houseversaries, so on their one-year anniversary for their house. So we just, we try to do client appreciation events. So as much as possible.

You know, if you’re newer in your career, and you’re just living in your… See, my problem is I’m 20 years in the business. We didn’t have CRMs back then. We had two piles of paper, right? I had my nighttime bio, my daytime bio. Who do I call? But now there’s just so many tools out there and CRMs. And if agents just live in those things, they’re really gonna be successful.

Lisa: What do you do that’s different, would you say, from the average agent, for your clients?

Lauren: So I do flip a lot of properties. I own a lot of rentals. So I have a lot of contractors and good crews. So what makes us different than Realtors in our area is that we will go in on a listing and get the house ready. So we usually will paint it, maybe a more modern white. A lot of the houses are yellow. We stage them, we make repairs, whatever the house needs. And so we really get them showroom ready. And by doing that, they’re getting top dollar, and they’re selling quicker, and then they’re telling their neighbor, and then the neighbor’s calling me.

So it’s almost like I made a relationship with…Like, the seller still pays all the contractors, but I’ve made strong enough relationships that they show up when I call them, in a time where it’s hard to get contractors, so I’m able to get houses ready quicker. And I do a really good job.

Lisa: Give me a real-life example of your worst experience with one of your clients that maybe, you know, you kind of turned around, or you didn’t expect it to turn in your favor.

Lauren: I would say the big…Okay, so a big difference in my career: Earlier in my life, I let sellers push me around. You know, $3 million listing, they don’t even have a bedframe on their master suite.

So now I’ve gotten to a point where if you’re a luxury home and you don’t have luxury furniture, and your house doesn’t show well or smell well, I actually make you move out. And sellers are like, “Wait, why would I move out of my house?” I’m like, “I can’t sell it with you in here. Would you like more money?”

And so a recent example was everybody told these people to list it for $1.7 million. I went in there, I go, “Where are you guys moving to?” They say, “What do you mean?” I said, “You gotta get out. I can’t sell this house.” And they moved out. We did an inspection report. It was three inches high. Got the house ready, we painted it, we staged it, which is crucial in luxury, I mean, most real estate, and we were able to sell it for $2.3 million. So they made an extra $450,000.

Lisa: Wow.

Lauren: And I didn’t let them boss me around.

Lisa: Wow. Is the conversation that simple, though? You know, like you said, higher-end luxury sellers tend to, you know, have their minds made up. What does that conversation sound like?

Lauren: You have to learn to walk away from deals. If you take a luxury listing that’s not gonna sell, and you know it’s not gonna sell, and then for 10 months you’re being tortured every time the seller calls you, you don’t wanna answer it, just don’t take it. Because think about…Time is money. So if you can save your time, so maybe you don’t get that luxury listing, but you got three $500,000 deals. Those are more profitable because they’re actually gonna close. So it’s learning how to control the clients and turning down ones that don’t make sense.

So it’s learning how to control the clients and turning down ones that don’t make sense. Real estate’s a stressful time in people’s lives. It’s a very large financial purchase or sale. So just keeping that in mind. But yeah, just, the more confident you get with these sellers… And the thing is, the more and more you do it, the more and more examples you have, the more and more they start listening to you.

Lisa: What has it been like for you in 2023 with this shifting market?

Lauren: ’23 is starting off great for us. We are in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s very sunny. So we have a ton of people moving here and love it here. So I saw the shift happening middle of last year. And I really just kept telling my agents don’t take your foot off the gas. Do not take your foot off the gas for the holidays. All those people around you are, and you’re gonna beat them.

So we’ve just been grinding on, work the leads. You gotta pick up the phone. This text messaging and email’s not working. Pick up the phone. And so we’ve just been on them, like, “You guys, you’re gonna do really well if you just keep working hard.” We’re adamant about them being on their CRMs, from 8:00 to 9:15. They should be making calls, and follow up in their CRMs.

So we’re coming into this year very strong, very structured. A lot more Realtors are applying to be on the team, which is great. So a lot of those agents that came into the business the last three years are struggling now because it’s not so easy, and they were never taught the basics.

So I’m just huge on training. We have a training program on our team. We onboard once a month. It’s about a three-week course. And we’re just trying to give them all the tools to make them successful.

But at the end of the day, it’s their choice whether they wanna be successful or not. And I can’t want it more for them than they want it, even though…So yeah, I have really high hopes for this year. I think the really strong agents that are willing to put in the work are gonna do great. You know, if you’re just doing social media and waking up at 11, then it’s gonna be rough.

Lisa: Have you had to adjust your 2023 plan at all?

Lauren: ’22 did not go as planned, I think, for everybody. But ’23, we set realistic goals, yes. I mean, 2021, I think’s gonna be everyone’s best year. Per-agent productivity is gonna be, 2021 is a really strong year. So just setting realistic goals for ourselves, not trying to be like…A lot of people were like, “Oh, ’21, I did this. I’m gonna double that in ’22.” And it’s like, how about a 5% or 10% growth? You know, just setting realistic goals. So we reset our goals for ’23, and I’m feeling very confident with them. And I think they’re realistic.

Lisa: How do you help the agents that are, you know, finding 2023 challenging? I mean, you said training is one thing.

Lauren: So a lot of role-playing. Practice, practice, practice, practice. So if you’re having troubles talking to buyers how to overcome these interest rates, let’s get on these…We have a bunch of role-plays that we run.

Lisa: Can you give me example of that? Our listeners love to hear the scripts, the role-playing. So say I’m one of your agents and let’s do a little role-play.

Lauren: Okay. So, “Interest rates are too high. I’m not buying. I’m waiting for the market to crash.” “Well, did you know that sellers could actually contribute towards your closing costs and buy down your interest rates? We also have very, very low inventory, so although it feels like a buyer’s market because rates went up, it’s still a seller’s market as far as inventory. And right now is the time for you to get in and get whatever you want from those listing agents and those sellers because when spring comes around, I think there’s gonna be competition again because there’s no inventory.”

And we’re already seeing that. Yesterday, we had seven houses on a listing of ours that’s been on the market for 90 days. Makes no sense. So you’re starting to see the turn. The last few months was a great time for buyers to get in. They get the sellers to buy down their interest rate, pay all their closing costs, fix stuff. So it’s just learning how to change the conversation when you need it, right? Eight months ago, we were like, “Sorry, you don’t get an inspection.” At the end of the day, we’re glorified problem-solvers.

(SHORT MUSIC TRANSITION)

Lisa: That’s about it. Takeaways are coming up next, but I hope you’re able to take some of Lauren’s principles and turn your clients into multiple deals. Lauren said to please reach out if you’d like more information. She is always willing to help anyone. So if you’d like to connect with her, you can follow her on all social media @laurenrosin. But, of course, I’ll share links in the show notes.

Now, let’s do our takeaways segment. Here’s what stood out to me from Episode 111, “How to Turn Every Client into Five Deals.”

Takeaway number one: Always begin with a financial review with your client to see how much they can actually afford to save monthly. Then, teach them how to think differently by looking at this purchase as a two-year residence while saving money to buy another property and later renting the first one out. Lauren says it’s about taking note of what their life looks like. Are they a person who travels often to one particular place where it would make sense for them to purchase an investment property? The idea is to guide them through each step of buying and selling properties for the next 10 years or so.

Takeaway number two: There’s no one formula to do this. You can tailor the plan that you help your clients create according to the amount of money they can afford to save monthly and spread it out to buy every six or even eight years. Whatever makes sense for the client.

Takeaway number three: Understand their personality. Do they prefer a short-term rental or a long-term rental? Keep in mind short-term rentals aren’t cut out for everyone. They are a lot more work.

Takeaway number four: Lauren says you should be getting three to five solid leads from every listing you take if it’s done correctly. And that goes for getting calls from your signs, open houses, and online marketing of that property. Lauren likes to also throw housewarming parties for all of her clients. That way, they’ll automatically introduce you to their friends and family at the housewarming.

Takeaway number five: Always be willing to walk away from a deal, even if it’s a $3 million listing. Lauren says she’d take three $500,000 listings over a difficult and unrealistic seller of a $3 million listing any day. And those are your takeaways for this week.

If you have any questions or feedback, please send an email to walkthrough[at]homelight.com. Also, you can find me in our Facebook Mastermind group. Just search “HomeLight Walkthrough.” Oh, and one last thing. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and hit that follow button so you can get all of our future shows automatically.

Well, that’s all for this week. Thanks to Lauren Rosin for joining me, and thank you for listening. My name’s Lisa Johnson Smith, and you’ve been listening to The Walkthrough. At HomeLight, we believe in real estate agents. We’re here to explore how great agents grow their business, stand out from the crowd, and become irreplaceable. Now go out there and make some moves. I’ll talk to you again next week.