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Real Estate Fight Club is a podcast for realtors, hosted by Jenn Murtland from Team Synergi Real Estate and Monica Weakley from My Coach Monica. Tune in to hear two different viewpoints about topics agents face every single day! Jenn’s direct, ‘no holds barred’ approach is in opposition to Monica’s softer, 'more relationship-based' approach, and when the two get together… it is a battle for the ages! No matter who you align with, you will walk away with solutions for today's real estate challenges from experienced real estate professionals.
Episodes
Wednesday Oct 30, 2019
Wednesday Oct 30, 2019
In Episode 5 of the Toe-2-Toe Podcast, hosts Jenn Murtland and Monica Weakley duke it out over whether pre-listing inspections are critical. This conversation will help you understand how pre-listing inspections can affect a transaction. Will this strategy be another great way to help your clients sell their homes for the most amount of money possible?
Episode Highlights:
- Is it critical that you encourage your seller to do a pre-listing inspection?
- Jenn says yes, you should encourage your seller to do a pre-listing inspection.
- Not a lot of agents require a pre-listing inspection.
- 50% of the time the buyer does waive the inspection contingency.
- Jenn includes the inspection report along with the receipts and a list of the items that were fixed.
- A lot of buyers are looking for safety concerns. If those are fixed, half the time they're good to go.
- Monica does not do pre-listing inspections.
- She waits for buyers to say what’s important to them.
- If you have a willing seller that's motivated, then you can get through an inspection no matter what.
- Jenn compares a pre-listing inspection to a nice tuneup.
- There's so many houses where there are just little things for them to do that can impress buyers.
- Jenn does not pose pre-listing inspection as a question. It is a given.
- She thinks this is the best way for you to get the most amount of money for your house.
- Monica commends Jenn for taking the lead as the agent.
- The house has to be ready for the buyer to buy and move in.
- Jenn has sellers pay for pre-inspection in a variety of ways.
- 75% of agents they surveyed said they did not require a pre-listing inspection.
- Monica concedes that pre-listing inspections are a great idea.
- Jenn’s inspector gives her clients a special price.
- If you use pre-listing inspections, how many of your buyers release the inspection?
3 Key Points:
- Some realtors require clients to do a pre-listing inspection.
- Some realtors prefer to wait to address issues that are important to the specific buyer.
- Pre-listing inspections cut down on surprises in the transaction and help your client get the most money possible for their home.
Resources Mentioned:
- Jenn Murtland LinkedIn | Facebook
- Monica Weakley LinkedIn | Facebook
- Toe 2 Toe Podcast Facebook Page
Wednesday Oct 23, 2019
Wednesday Oct 23, 2019
In Episode 4 of the Toe-2-Toe Podcast, hosts Jenn Murtland and Monica Weakley duke it out over whether agents should give their clients gifts at closing. Listening to their conversation will help you find clarity on your gift-giving standards and policies. You’ll also gain valuable insight into meaningful ways to incorporate gift-giving in your most valuable client relationships.
Episode Highlights:
- Should you give clients a gift at closing?
- Jenn does not give clients gifts at closing.
- Jenn doesn’t get gifts from her accountant, her dentist, or other service providers.
- Buying or selling a home is a business transaction.
- Jenn feels that the excellent service she provides is itself the greater gift.
- Gift giving at closing just doesn’t feel right to her.
- Monica does not give gifts at closing either.
- However, she does give her clients gifts strategically to build relationships.
- She will take a client that can send her referrals that is also someone she can help.
- She will demonstrate thoughtfulness to that client through gift-giving.
- She incorporates a one-year post-close plan to stay in touch with clients.
- Jenn asks how many people Monica thinks she can handle.
- Monica says she can handle 36 “A” relationships.
- Jenn maintains relationships with her clients through time spent.
- They discuss the value of knowing someone’s love language.
- When you know how someone receives love, then you can choose to show them love in that way.
- What if someone does not receive love through gifts?
- Monica distributes an All About You form to get to know clients’ preferences.
- Monica provides examples of how to listen to clients differently throughout the transaction to maintain the relationship beyond the transaction.
- For example, she asks thoughtful questions that generate specific responses.
- Jenn and Monica sent out a survey asking realtors if they provide closing gifts.
- 80% of respondents answered that yes, they give closing gifts at least sometimes.
- Agent Lorrie Hayes says she often provides gifts for buyers.
- Hayes suggests buying personal gifts. Find out if they have collections. Pay attention to what they ooh and ahh over.
- In Monica’s closing statement, she reiterates that thoughtful gift giving will enable you to strengthen and deepen relationships.
- These relationships should be with people you know you can help too.
- In her closing argument Jenn repeats that while she doesn’t give closing gifts, she agrees that purposeful giving can have a positive impact.
3 Key Points:
- Some realtors do not give closing gifts because they feel they’ve already provided great service in a business transaction.
- Some realtors want to use gift-giving as a way to deepen and strengthen relationships.
- Consider developing a thoughtful gifting strategy that will help you maintain client relationships across time.
Resources Mentioned:
- Jenn Murtland LinkedIn | Facebook
- Monica Weakley LinkedIn | Facebook
- Toe 2 Toe Podcast Facebook Page
- All About You template
- 5 Love Languages
Wednesday Oct 16, 2019
Wednesday Oct 16, 2019
In Episode 3 of the Toe 2 Toe Podcast, hosts Jenn Murtland and Monica Weakley duke it out over how to deliver bad news or honest feedback about the condition of your seller’s home. Heavyweight realtor Sandy Jewell weighs in with her advice on how to handle these tricky conversations.
Episode Highlights:
- How do you deliver bad news or honest feedback about your seller's home?
- Jenn thinks you should leverage your stager.
- If the house has an unpleasant odor, that will stop it from selling.
- Jenn finds it to be a slippery slope. When she begins to offer any feedback, she wants to tell them all the reasons why their house isn't going to sell.
- She thinks you can let the stager be the bad guy.
- Monica understands the importance of stagers and uses stagers.
- She finds it essential to discuss the home’s perceived value with sellers.
- The buyer’s perceived value is the condition plus the price.
- Realtors must discuss condition issues with their clients.
- Jenn will discuss some condition issues, such as the presence of a powerline.
- Monica asks what Jenn does if the stager delivers bad news and then the sellers confront her with that news.
- Jenn says she preps the stager and preps the client to avoid that scenario.
- We have to be honest with sellers.
- You are doing your clients a disservice by not figuring out a way to get comfortable with hard messages.
- Sandy Jewell, a heavyweight agent, weighs in.
- Sandy says you need to be authentic with your client.
- The biggest struggle is letting clients know how cluttered their homes are.
- She encourages sellers to turn their home back into a house.
- What does Sandy do if a home has a distinct odor?
- Sandy walks us through her sensitive procedure for giving the seller major hints about pet smells.
- Most owners are noseblind to odors because they live with them.
- There’s no gentle way to tell someone their home smells unpleasant.
- Monica argues that we have to be willing to talk to sellers about the things buyers care about.
- Ask permission. Ask if you can be honest with them, then deliver the news.
- Jenn would rather focus on selling the house and leave this conversation to a stager.
- Jenn almost always uses a stager unless someone has an incredibly beautiful home.
- A staged home is much better for the seller.
3 Key Points:
- Some realtors want to leave sensitive feedback about the home’s condition to the stagers so they can focus on selling the house.
- Some realtors want to find a sensitive way to have uncomfortable conversations about the condition of the home because they want to be very honest with sellers.
- Find a way to deliver sensitive information about the home’s condition to the seller so they can receive a better financial reward than they would otherwise.
Resources Mentioned:
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
In Episode 2 of the Toe 2 Toe Podcast, hosts Jenn Murtland and Monica Weakley duke it out over whether you should provide pre-listing packets and deliver them prior to listing appointments. Heavyweight realtor Brian Kelly weighs in with his take on this issue.
Episode Highlights:
- Should agents use pre-listing packets and should they deliver them prior to going on the listing appointment?
- Monica has never used a pre-listing packet.
- Her rigorous pre-qualification process makes a pre-listing packet unnecessary.
- A pre-listing packet is not necessary to earn and win business.
- Jenn asks about Monica’s pre-qualification questions.
- Jenn feels that the pre-listing packet is important because it contains her marketing plan.
- Clients want to know what you’re going to do for them, how long it is going to take, and how much money they are going to get.
- Jenn even includes the price she thinks they should list the house for.
- The pricing piece helps them understand that they may not be able to get the amount they were hoping to get for the house.
- Monica asks what happens if another agent comes by while the client is still in the grief process about the price Jenn has suggested.
- Jenn says that never happens.
- Monica shares more about her pricing strategy meetings.
- In her presentations, Monica does a deep dive into supply and demand.
- These strategy appointments help Monica stand out because she’s offering something different.
- Jenn says the packets help her stand out.
- Jenn includes the contract in the packet and often she’ll walk into the appointment and the contract has been signed.
- The point is to stand out. Figure out a professional way to stand out from other agents.
- Realtor Brian Kelly weighs in.
- Brian does not use listing packets. He feels they might distract from his focus, which is talking with clients one-on-one and building the relationship face-to-face.
- Brian uses Facebook as his digital resume.
- He highly recommends using video.
- In the past two years, he has dramatically increased his number of listings.
- As a top-producing agent, Monica never used pre-listing packets. Therefore, they are not necessary for success.
- Jenn feels you definitely need the packet so you can answer your client’s important questions.
3 Key Points:
- Some realtors do not use pre-listing packets because they feel their listing presentations and pre-qualification questions make packets unnecessary.
- Some realtors insist that a pre-listing packet is necessary for answering important questions and setting expectations in a professional way.
- Find a way to stand out from other realtors, whether it’s through your amazing listing presentation, a pre-listing packet, or something entirely different.
Resources Mentioned:
Wednesday Oct 02, 2019
Wednesday Oct 02, 2019
In Episode 1 of the Toe 2 Toe Podcast, meet hosts Jenn Murtland and Monica Weakley. Their goal is to help the fearless realtor find a path that feels authentic to them. During today's throw-down, Jenn and Monica duke it out over whether you need to pre-qualify a buyer 100% of the time, before you take them out to see a house.
Episode Highlights:
- Should you pre-qualify a buyer 100% of the time before you take them out to see a house?
- Monica believes in the power of connection, face-to-face at the house.
- If you take them out when they’re not pre-qualified, you show them in good faith you're ready to step up and serve them.
- Jenn thinks they need to show you that they’re ready to buy a house.
- Monica’s main point is the connection with them.
- Jenn believes a professional should treat the whole process as a professional.
- Jenn thinks realtors should own the home buying process.
- Monica believes you have to sometimes give a little to create the relationship.
- Jenn feels that people who aren’t willing to speak to the lender first are generally lookie-loos.
- Monica says that a lot of agents fail because they don’t have a system to put the clients into.
- What are a few pre-qualifying questions you could ask the buyer?
- Monica feels that if she can show up and create a real estate connection, that’s a win.
- Guest Andy Scherer weighs in.
- Andy would never leave the chair if the buyers are not pre-qualified.
- Monica agrees that systems are critical, but feels that sometimes you just need to show up.
- Jenn argues that you can’t help clients if you don’t understand the details.
3 Key Points:
- Some realtors will take clients out who are not pre-qualified in good faith to build the relationship.
- Some realtors will never show a home to someone who is not pre-qualified.
- Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. Your approach may depend on whether you care more about wasting time or potentially wasting an opportunity.
Resources Mentioned: